Attack of the Box

by Matthew Penn

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure
Length: 7205

Sometime after the events of "The Box," dark forces come to Equestria to reclaim their valuable possession.

A month after the events of The Box, Pinkie Pie's turn to the dark side and her epic battle with Gamma-Ray is faded from memory, and the box is seemingly lost forever. Things look bright for Rainbow and Pinkie as they rekindle their friendship. But hostile alien beings are on a mission to find Rainbow's box, and they won't let anypony stand in their way!

Little do they know, the box is in the hooves of the most unlikely pony in Equestria…

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-01-17 03:02:50 UTC

Gwendolyn

Dinky loved her new box. She loved looking at the glorious light that filled her eyes. Ever since she found it all that time ago, her perception of reality changed. Before, she believed nothing in the world would bring her happiness. Not even getting her cutie-mark would make her smile. Now, after finding the box that fell from the sky, her happiness was localized in one small brown cardboard cube.

She lay on the edge of her bed on her stomach. She intently set her eyes on the perfect shape of the paper cube. She had so many questions. Where did the box come from? Who does it belong to? She lifted the box and looked at the black printing on the bottom: PROPERTY OF THE SECRET SOCIETY OF SECRETS AND WONDERS. What kind of organization is that? Why do they keep secrets? And what kind of secrets do they have? She put the box down and put her hooves on the top. She slowly opened the lid and a small ray of bright light touched her eyes. A grin emerged on her gray face and the light became greater.

No matter how many times she opens the box, it always felt new to her. She got tired of opening the box several after she had done it the first time. With each look at the bright light, she felt alive. She felt all the negative things in the world burned away once the light touched her face.

“Dinky, dinner!” her mother yelled from downstairs. She closed the lid tight and slide it quickly under her bed. “Dinky?” She could hear her mother’s hoofsteps walking up the stairs. Dinky made sure that the box was safely secured under her mattress. The door to her room opened and her mother, Derpy Hooves, was there. “Dinky, are you okay? Dinner is ready.”

“I’m fine mom, I was just taking a little nap,” Dinky said.

“Okay, dear. Come down, we’re having your favorite - potato stew with mushrooms.” When her mother left the room, Dinky checked under her bed again. Her mother did not see the box. Feeling relieved, she exited her bedroom and traveled downstairs to join her family for dinner.

Dinky allowed herself to be seated at an end of a circular table that included Derpy and her coltfriend, Time Turner. In front of the three was glass bowls filled with hot stew made from potatoes mixed with herbs and other garden vegetables. She looked at the bowl with uncertain eyes; hopefully this would be better than last time her mother tried to make stew. The family of three silently ate their meal, seemingly unconcerned for the day’s events.

The silence made Derpy feel awkward and uncomfortable. She glanced at her daughter who was playing with her food instead of eating it. She thought it was a good time to break the quietness in the air.

“Dinky, how was school?” Derpy finally asked.

“School was okay,” said Dinky uninterested.

“... Did you learn anything new?”

“Not really, just same stuff we learn everyday.”

“... Are there any nice kids in your class?”

“... No.”

“Uh… Dinky,” said Time, “there has to be some nice ponies in your class. What about the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“They’re okay, but they would never want to play with me,” said Dinky solemnly.

“Have you tried talking to them?”

“No… they’ll think I’m weird.”

“You’re not weird Dinky,” said Derpy, “You shouldn’t let what other ponies think get to you. There’s a chance that they might really want to be your friend.”

“Nopony wants to be my friend!” Dinky said with frustration in her voice. She glared at the two adult ponies seated on both sides of her. “Nopony will ever like me!” She push herself out of her chair and ran upstairs. Derpy flinched when she heard the sound of the door being slammed shut. Time reached out to wrap his forearm around her.

“I’ll talk to her,” Time said. He rose up and walked straight up to Dinky’s room. Derpy was left alone with only her thoughts to accompany her. She gazed around the empty dinner table and the bowls of half-eaten stew. She bowed her head in a defeated fashion and held her head on her hooves. She sighed heavily and whispered something that she never wanted to hear herself say:

“I’m a terrible mother.”

Dinky was back in her room. She sat on the end of her bed with her hooves pounding the blankets. She stared at nothing in particular, save for the mirror in her room. She sent her eyes downward, too ashamed to look at her reflection. She wanted to take out the box from under her bed and gaze upon its beautiful light.

The doorknob slowly turned and from the other side, Time Turner allowed himself in. When he saw the frowning filly on her bed, he gave her a warm, friendly smile. Dinky turned her head away from him, to a window. The only thing that occupied her thoughts were that of the box under her bed.

“Dinky?” The response given to him was a small sigh of discontent. The stallion walked closer and sat on a spot next to her. “What was that all about?” The gray filly remained unresponsive. “Dinky, we didn’t mean to make you feel bad. Your mother just want you to have a good life.” Dinky turned her head from the window, but lowered it to the floor. “I know how it feels like to be alone.”

“You do?” Dinky said softly as her head rose.

“Oh yes. When I was your age none of my classmates wanted to be friends with me. They used to call me awful names and such. And it hurt. It hurt right here,” said Turner when he pointed to his heart.

“Why are kids so mean?” Dinky asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re mean because… because they are trying to hide their true feelings. Like a defense mechanism.”

“What’s that?”

“A defense mechanism is something the mind creates to help cope against anxiety. Maybe some of your other classmates are mean to you because they don’t feel good about themselves.”

“Like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? They make fun of me all the time.”

“Possibly,” said Turner with a slight chuckle. “But as your mother said, you should not let all those mean things affect you. And you may never know, but there might be somepony in your class you have a lot in common with. All you have to do is talk to them.”

Dinky still wasn’t sure if she could take his advice. Deep down, she could feel the eyes of her classmates surround her when she did or said something odd. But with the smile that Time gave her, she couldn’t possibly say no.

“Okay Mr. Turner, I’ll try.”

“You don’t have to call me Mr. Turner - Time would do just fine,” said the stallion. He patted Dinky on her back and left her room. She was alone again on her bed. When she was certain that she will receive no more visitors, Dinky’s little hooves reached under bed and pulled out the box. She removed the square lid and was hypnotized by the gorgeous light that danced in her eyes. Once more, all the troubles of life vanished in a flash of light.

****

It has been a couple of weeks since the destructive battle between the mysterious Gamma-Ray, Rainbow Dash and the mind-controlled Pinkie Pie and the status quo had finally returned to Ponyville. Construction ponies worked tirelessly, but efficiently, to rebuild the demolished buildings caught in the crossfire. Houses, offices, and roads were reconstructed as if no harm had come to them. The townsponies generously forgave Pinkie for her brief turn to the dark side, and to another extent, Twilight for scaring them half to death with her magical helmet.

On a saturday afternoon, Rainbow and Pinkie were walking along the town road. The tension between them that set them apart long ago had been forgotten and the two were friends again. However, both of them had scars and bandages on themselves from their fight against each other.

“Pinkie, how did you learn to fight like that?” asked Rainbow.

“I don’t know. I guess it happened when Twilight cast that weird spell on me. It’s probably gone by now.”

“That’s too bad, that could really come in handy the next time Equestria is in danger.”

“That’s okay Dashie, I wouldn’t want to end up in these bandages again.”

“Yeah I hear ya. The doctor said it would be another week before I can fly without feeling pain again.”

“Hey Dashie, what happened to the secret box?”

“The box? It’s probably gone forever. And there’s a chance I’ll get kicked out of the Secret Society of Secrets and Wonders.”

“Sorry about that,” Pinkie said with a hint of remorse.

“That’s okay. It was a lame club anyway. I don’t know why I even joined.”

“How did you joined?”

“I can’t remember. It started out as this small thing that got out of hoof. Either way, I’m glad I’m out. It’s no good to keep secrets from your friends. Even if it’s for a club.”

Pinkie and Rainbow walked on a trail that led them to the park. On both sides they could see ponies either playing, lying on the grass or just flying in circles. Rainbow was about to stretch her wings and soar with the other pegasi, but remembered she had bandages on them. She closed her wings and sat herself on a park bench. Pinkie sat next to her, the two of them content with enjoying the scene of ponies enjoying the afternoon sun.

“Sure is a nice day, isn’t it?” Rainbow asked.

“It sure is!” Pinkie exclaimed. “I love days like these! I hope it doesn’t rain.”

“Not unless the weather team has something to say.” Pinkie giggled at Rainbow’s little joke and the two friends continued to watch ponies enter and exit the park. In front of her, Rainbow saw a little water puddle on the stone pathway and birds bathing in it.

“Hey Pinkie, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“... How did it feel like? Being… evil?”

Normally, Pinkie would be quick to answer anypony’s question, but the question from Rainbow caused her to dig deep inside herself and find the right answer. After looking at the blue sky and puffy clouds above her for inspiration, she answered.

“It felt horrible. Because I was so desperate to find out what was in your box, it drove me to the deep end. I could see myself doing all these terrible things to ponies who didn’t deserve it, but for some reason I couldn’t stop myself.”

“Pinkie… I--”

“I didn’t even know I hurt Scootaloo until after.”

Small tears crawled their way out of Pinkie’s eyes. Rainbow wrapped her arm around her and brought her close. Pinkie’s hoof dried her misty eyes of droplets.

“Pinkie,” Dash said, “when I heard you attacked Scootaloo… I didn’t want to believe it. In fact, I refused to believe it. But when I saw you fighting Twilight, I had no choice but to intervene. Scootaloo is like my little sister to me, and if anything ever happened to her…”

“I know, Dashie. In some ways, I’m glad you stopped me. But I never want to fight you like that ever again.”

“Me too. When I fought you, when I punched you in the face… I cried a little.”

“You did?”

“Yeah… just don’t tell anypony about it.”

The pink pony giggled and Rainbow wrapped her other arm around Pinkie and closed her in for a hug. They stayed seated at the park bench, with nothing but their company and desire to move forward.

In the early hours of the morning, Twilight was meditating in the living room. She closed the curtains on her windows and moved the furniture from their places so she would have room to concentrate. The unicorn shut her eyes let go of her feelings and searched deep inside herself to find inner peace. Her horn glowed and encompassed her body.

The meditation ritual was something Zecora had taught to her a long time ago. Through the mystical zebra Twilight learned that all ponies, not just unicorns, can use the magical forces inside themselves to communicate with the universe and be at tune with the soul. Twilight found her meditating each morning before she began her usual tasks.

As the ritual continued the room around her grew eerily silent. Silent and unusually darker. The silence crept and sent chills up her spine while the darkness pound itself against her. Twilight felt a strange sensation inside her horn and there was a surge of energy that coursed throughout her. She could feel the strong magical forces lift her body. Rather than scream, Twilight let it happen.

Her room went pitch black. For a moment she thought she went blind, or worse, dead. Then white light exploded in front of her. The light surrounded the black space around her. Twilight felt the force of the light pulling her soul into the center. As she was being carried toward the source, she heard mysterious voices coming from all directions and the white flash turned into streams of multicolored luminous light against a dark blue background. Twilight was floating on a lone cloud among the stars that were spread across the background. Never before was she this close to the magnificence of space before. Like an artist’s canvas, the majesty of the heavens were coated with swirls of color and hues. Twilight was lost in her fillylike gaze of the cluster of stars. She didn’t noticed until symbols flew by her face.

The first symbol that appeared in front of her looked like her cutie-mark. The exploding star-shaped mark floated above her eyes and stayed there. Another cutie-mark appeared next to it; this time it was group of three apples - two of them rotating the center apple. Then a brightly lit diamond with smaller rotating the larger one appeared next in a flash of light. Small party balloons inflated out of thin air, supported by an invisible hoof. A mighty strike of lightning produced a smaller lightning bolt cladded in many colors. Then three butterflies flapped passed Twilight’s head and joined the other cutie-marks, flying circles around them.

Twilight ears flinched at the faint sound of humming that became louder. A giant blue cube, levitated from below and trapped the cutie-marks inside it. After the cutie-marks were inside, the cube was trapped in an infinite size-changing motion.

The size-changing cube hypnotized her instantly. While the cube changed, the cutie-marks retained their original sizes. Twilight wondered how this was accomplished. She edged closer to the cube and reached her hoof out to touch it.

Darkness suddenly enveloped the herself and the cube. The stars and bright colors had faded as they had appeared. The only source of light was the infinite cube. Out of thick darkness, a pair of glowing evil eyes materialized. The sickeningly yellow eyes cast its sight down the frightened lavender unicorn. Gray metallic wings emerged from both sides of the encompassing darkness, followed by a pointy, black and gray beak and head. The dark figure closely resembled a nightmarish, fear inducing hawk. The hawk opened lowered its head and opened its beak, and devoured the cube, along with cutie-marks.

After consuming the cube, bluish-white lines glowed around its body, including its once yellow eyes. Twilight’s heart and lungs could not perform their specific duties, and she felt gravely sick from the disturbing image. She fell on her backside and crawled away from the menacing hawk. The creature approached her from out of the dark and it soon opened its steel mouth. Twilight was cornered by the hawk as light glowed inside its beak. She closed her eyes and turned her head away… preparing for the worse.

The hawk drew closer and closer, and with a screech so foul, unleashed a violent beam that shot from its metal beak. Twilight was blinded by the rays of light and feeling was so strong, she found herself being pushed away. She screamed into the abyss until the abyss consumed her.

The unicorn opened her eyes and found herself lying on her stomach in the living room. The curtains were still closed and the furniture were in the corners of the room as she left them in the morning. Twilight sat up put her hoof on her chest, and felt her heart beat irregularly. After she felt her heart, she found out she was sweating immensely. Her purple mane and coat were damp from the intense meditation session. She hesitantly stood on all fours and used her magic to open the curtains and put the furniture in their proper place.

“Twilight?” a male voice called out. “Twilight?” the voice called out again. Twilight turned around and saw Spike approaching her. “Twilight are you okay?” he asked with a worrying expression on his face. “I heard you whimpering and screaming! I wanted to do something, but you were meditating and… I didn’t know what to do…”

“It’s okay Spike,” said Twilight as she gently hugged him, “I’m okay.”

Spike shook his head and said, “No you’re not. Something’s happened. You’re sweating all over. What happened Twilight?” The unicorn released the dragon from her loving grip and walked toward a window. The sun was sitting brilliantly in the blue sky and ponies to and fro carried on about their business. She sighed and turned to Spike with uncertainty in her face.

“Spike… while I was meditating… I saw a vision. A horrible one.”

“A vision? A vision of what?”

“In my vision, our cutie-marks were floating around me. Then they all went inside this glowing cube… that changed size. It was weird but… oddly miraculous. Then it became dark and this thing that looked like a monstrous hawk came out and… ate the cube, along with cutie-marks…”

“Whoa,” was all Spike could say.

“Spike… I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Should we alert the Princesses?”

“I’m not sure. I wouldn’t want to worry Princess Celestia or Luna over a vision, but… if anything strange starts happening we’ll let them know, okay?”

“... Okay.”

Twilight used her horn to put the last of the furniture in their proper place. After the living room looked like a living room again, Twilight gave Spike a little nodded gesture to let him know they have work to do. Spike nodded back and went to another room in the house. Twilight walked out of the living room… only to come back. She approached a cabinet and placed her hooves on the knob. She opened the door and the golden helmet she used to combat the magically-brainwash Pinkie Pie was sitting there, staring at her with no eyes. The unicorn and the helmet exchanged lengthy glances before Twilight closed and locked the cabinet. She walked out of the living and moved upstairs, joining Spike.

“No… not this time.”

****

“Dinky,” said Derpy as she nudged her head through her daughter’s bedroom door. “Dinky, it’s morning. Get up or you’ll be late for school.” The gray filly sat up and yawned, stretching every limb on her small body. Before making a stop to the bathroom, she crawled under her bed to make sure nothing had happened to her box. Dinky carefully removed the lid and she felt that familiar warm glow touch her face.

Dinky smiled and said, “Good morning, Gwendolyn.” Gwendolyn did not respond, but it did not matter to Dinky. To the filly, the fact that Gwendolyn would always shine her light whenever she needed it the most was enough to make the troubles of life seem small. “I have to go to boring old school today, Gwendolyn. We can play when I come back home, okay?” Gwendolyn said not a word but continued to embrace Dinky’s face with her precious light.

“Dinky, are you getting ready?” Derpy called out.

“I’m coming mom!” Dinky answered. “Bye Gwendolyn, I’ll be back soon. And be nice to Mister Cuddlebear, okay?” The filly closed the lid and tucked the box gently under her bed. Dinky opened her closet door and grabbed her pink backpack, then ran out of her room. When she was finally downstairs she saw her mother with her mail carrier hat and brown saddlebag.

“Are you ready to go?” Derpy asked.

“Yes mommy.”

Derpy opened the front door and she and her daughter exited the house. Walking to school every morning was a favorite activity for Derpy and Dinky. When they walked they would always wave to everypony they knew. Derpy would perform her mailpony duties during their walks. When certain ponies pass them by, she would stop them and give them their special delivery. As they walked, they spotted Applejack with her apple cart.

“Howdy Derpy and hello there little Dinky,” she said. The way she greeted Dinky made the filly’s gray cheeks turn a shade of bright red.

“Hi Applejack, how’s the family?”

“Growing stronger everyday! Would ya like an apple ma’am?”

“Yes please. Oh, make that two, one for Dinky.” Applejack gave two apples to Derpy and Dinky and the gray pegasus placed money on the farmpony’s cart.

“Dinky, what do you say?” Derpy asked.

Dinky twiddled with her hooves and meekly said, “Thank you.”

“You’re quite welcome, sugarcube,” Applejack said.

Derpy and Dinky waved goodbye to Applejack and continued their trek to Ponyville elementary. They waved to more ponies they knew and Derpy delivered another packaged to a random pony. Along the way, Dinky’s thoughts focused only on Gwendolyn. She giggled to herself about when she thought about all the fun activities the two would do together when she got home from school.

The schoolhouse was in view and they could hear colts and fillies laughing and playing in the schoolyard. The pleasant thoughts Dinky had completely vanished, now having thoughts of how the schoolchildren would torture her today. An uneasy tingly feeling climbed Dinky’s spine when she saw Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle; collectively know as the infamous Cutie-Mark Crusaders. She turned her head and looked down her hindquarters straight at her “blank flank.”

They are nice sometimes, Dinky thought to herself. And they do talk to me… she frowned and lowered her head slightly and thought, but they’ll probably never let me join. She heard another pair of fillies laughing and talking to each other, and immediately hid behind her yellow mane. In front of her, A pink filly with a tiara on her head and a gray filly with glasses laughed at a colt who just fell on the grass on his face. The pink filly was named Diamond Tiara, and the gray filly Silver Spoon. Derpy watched the fillies in utter disgust, she heard a small whimper coming from beneath her.

“Dinky, what’s wrong?” Derpy read her daughter’s face like a book and gave a compassionate smile to Dinky. “Them? Don’t worry about those two, Dinky. You just focus on having a good day at school. Promise me?”

“...Yes.”

“... Pinkie Promise?” Derpy kneeled down on Dinky’s level and the two began a series of arm gestures and chanted: “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” The gray pegasus hugged her little filly and said, “I’ll see you soon. I love you, Dinky.”

“I love you too, mom.”

Derpy kissed Dinky on her forehead and flew off to continue her postal services. Dinky found herself surrounded by colts and fillies who had not noticed she arrived. She walked to the front entrance of the school, passing the jovial schoolchildren without so much as looking at them.

“How are things with you and Pinkie Pie?” Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo.

“She apologized for hurting me and we’re friends again. But I still feel weird around her sometimes,” Scootaloo said.

“Why do ya say that?”

“Because with Pinkie, you’ll never when she will snap. That was the first time I ever saw her go crazy. And not the ‘Just Pinkie Being Pinkie’ crazy, I mean psychotic!”

Sweetie Belle raised her hoof and said, “What I don’t understand is why she hit you. Why would she do something like that?”

“I think she was under control by some dark magic,” Scootaloo answered.

“Really? I didn’t know that. How did that happened?”

“I don’t know, but what was even more weirder is what she did to me with her powers.”

“What did she do?” Apple Bloom asked.

“She touched my head and all of a sudden, it felt like something was pushing me out of my mind. Then I blacked out. I can’t remember much of what happened, but it felt strange.”

“Maybe Twilight knows something about that,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Don’t forget about that fight between Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie!” said Apple Bloom. “Those three were going at it like gosh darn superponies!”

“I know! Rarity was freaking out when that happened,” said Sweetie Belle.

“I think we were all freak out,” Scootaloo commented. “Can you believe it? Three best friends beating each other up like that? I hope that never happens to us.”

Apple Bloom put her hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder and said with a serious face, “It will never happen. You have my honest word.” Bloom gave her an assuring smile, which made Scootaloo smile back.

“I can’t believe this whole thing happened because of some box,” Sweetie said. “Who goes through all that trouble just for a stupid box?”

“It wasn’t just a stupid box,” said Scootaloo. “That box had something amazing inside it.”

“How do you know?”

“... Rainbow Dash showed it to me.”

“... What was inside?”

“It’s kind of hard to describe in words, but if you really look at it… if you stare at it long enough, everything around you disappears into nothing and its just you and the box. I only saw it once but… it was amazing!”

“Whoa,” said Sweetie, “I wish I’d seen it!”

“I wish you guys seen it too.”

The sound of the schoolbell ranged in everypony’s ears. The colts and fillies moaned and marched like prisoners inside the building, ready for another day of learning.

“Well, all I have to say is that the whole situation with the box is behind us now,” said Apple Bloom. “It’s time to move on. Granny Smith said if you spend so much time looking back, you ain’t never going forward.”

That’s true,” Scootaloo said. “Still, it would’ve been awesome if you two had seen it.”

“How did it get lost?” asked Sweetie.

“I think Rainbow dropped it by accident while she was flying. At this rate, I don’t think anypony would find.”

The children entered the classroom with not-so-bright-faces and seated themselves at the desks that were lined up in perfect rows. The Cutie-Mark Crusaders took three seats next to each other. When all the children took their spots, a purple mare with a light-pink mane entered the classroom with a smile as sweet as sugar. The mare was their teacher, Miss Cheerilee.

“Good morning class,” she said.

“Good morning, Miss Cheerilee.”

“Okay children, I hope you all had a fun weekend, because we have a lot of work to do today,” she said behind her grinning face.

All the students in the classroom showed their displeasure by collectively moaning. All except for one filly who sat in the very back. Dinky paid no attention to the world around her and began to draw on a piece of paper. Her artistic creation was that of a crudely drawn version of herself and a blue alicorn that was just about her size, if not slightly taller. She christen the alicorn “Gwendolyn.”

Reluctance

Rainbow Dash sat at the edge of her bed staring at the top of her dresser. Her eyes focused on the empty spot that used to contain her box. It was between her first Daring Do novel and Best Young Flyer trophy. When her eyes could no longer bear to look at the invisible box any longer, she threw herself back on her bed. She ran her hooves through her hair in anguish.

“I can’t believe I lost it,” she said to herself. “They trusted me with it, and I lost it.” She climbed out of her bed when she heard knocks on her door. Rainbow walked through the clutter of books and socks that were spread over the hallway floor. Her arm reached for the doorknob and a gray pegasus was hovering in front of her.

“Hi Derpy,” she said with no emotion.

“What’s wrong, Rainbow Dash?”

“Nothing, just… thinking about stuff.”

“You’re not upset about anything, are you?”

“Well… kinda.”

“Maybe the two of us could find time to talk about, if you want to…”

Rainbow sighed under her breath and said, “That’ll be great.” Derpy lowered her head into her saddlebag and emerged with a yellow envelope in her mouth. Rainbow stared at the yellow envelope, know well who it was from.

“Is that for me?” Derpy nodded. Rainbow took the envelope away from Derpy’s mouth and placed it on a mantelpiece near her. The mailpony flapped her wings and hovered away from the blue pegasus’ front door. Before going any further, she turned to her again and said, “If you need anything, or just want to talk… just call me.”

“I will,” said Rainbow. The rainbow-maned pegasus watched Derpy fly away to her duties. She closed the door behind her and fell on her couch. She covered her face with her hooves and mumbled something to herself. She peeked at the yellow envelope that was sitting on her mantelpiece, but quickly covered her face again.

Rainbow slowly got up from her couch and grabbed the envelope. She was about to rip open the top, only to pause. The envelope had no return address or any stamps, only that it was address to her. She carefully tore open the top of the envelope and was now holding a single piece of paper. She began to read:

Dear Miss Rainbow Dash,

Because of your irresponsibility and neglect of our rules and regulations, you are hereby expelled from the *Secret Society of Secrets and Wonders. We trusted you with one of our most valuable possessions, **The Mysterious Cube, yet you failed to safely return it to our grasps.*

An anonymous source has informed us of your recklessness and we must enforce the rules of our club. Your membership will be terminated starting next Monday.

SSOSAW Committee

Rainbow crumpled the letter and threw it across the room. She knocked over the mantelpiece with her hindlegs and ran to her bedroom, slamming the door shut. Once she was in she screamed so loud that Tank hid in his shell. The turtle watch Rainbow unleash her fury from the protection of his glass tank.  She cursed and swore incoherently and jumped on her bed, her face buried in her blankets. Her muffled screams were enough to make her attack the mattress with her hooves.

The pegasus collapsed on her bed and laid motionless. She turned her head and stared at the blue wall. Her moisty eyes were blood-shot red and her bottom lip quivered. Rainbow buried her head on the pillows, weeping softly.

As Rainbow cried on her bed, Tank poked his head out of his shell. The turtle’s arms and legs emerged from his bodily shield and walked toward the pegasus. He stopped for a moment, remembering that he was contained in glass. Tank had no choice but to watch his owner wallow in her misery.

****

Miss Cheerilee released her young students outside for recess. She watched them pile up on her door, eager to enjoy their twenty minute break. She couldn’t help but chuckle under her breath as they push and shove to bask under the warmth of the sun. When the children were finally outside, she settled herself behind her desk and continued her duties.

Cheerilee grabbed a piece of chalk with her mouth and wrote something on the blackboard. Suddenly, she stopped writing and placed the chalk back on her desk. She turned around and saw that Dinky was still in her seat. The filly was coloring on a sheet of paper. Cheerilee furrowed her brow and approach Dinky.

“Dinky, why aren’t you outside? It’s recess.”

Dinky’s attention shifted from her drawing to her teacher. The filly looked out the window and saw the kids run after each other, playing ball or on the playground. She frowned and brought herself back to her drawing. She answered with a soft voice, “I don’t want to go outside.”

“Why not?” Cheerilee asked.

“... I just don’t want to.”

Cheerilee sat on a chair next to Dinky and examined her. The filly paid her teacher no attention and focused her energy on her crayon art. Cheerilee allowed herself to take a peek at Dinky’s artwork.

“What are you drawing?”

“My best friend.”

“Your best friend is an alicorn?”

“Yes.”

Cheerilee scratch her head and said, “I didn’t know we had an alicorn in Ponyville.”

“Her name is Gwendolyn,” said Dinky as she reached for her blue crayon, “and she lives at my house.”

“... Is she nice?”

“Yes. We play lots of games together. And at night, when I’m scared, she uses her horn to make the room brighter.”

Dinky spent much of her time telling Cheerilee about her best friend. She talked about the activities they do, the games they play, and times when Gwendolyn would always find a way to make Dinky happy no matter what. The mare listened with fascination and confusion, not even keeping track of the time for when the children should return to class.

The schoolchildren played every game they could think of on the grass surface. While some where swinging on monkey bars or riding on merry-go-rounds, fillies and colts divided into groups and either played ball or hopscotch.

Some other ponies, like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, wish not to socialize with the one’s they deemed “undesirable.” They isolated themselves into a corner on the schoolyard and discussed topics that were important to them.

The Cutie-Mark Crusaders sat under a tree and thought of ways to achieve their ultimate goal: to make their cutie-marks appear. Apple Bloom thought of outlandish ideas while Scootaloo wrote them down on a notebook. Sweetie Belle mostly sat there and listened to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo talk.

“We could get our cutie-marks for being wizards,” said Apple Bloom, “like Barry Trotter!”

“I don’t think so,” countered Scootaloo. “I think it takes years to be a great wizard, even if you’re a fictional character.”

“How about skydiving?”

“We’ve done that. Six times already.”

“I know, I just like skydiving.”

“I thought we could ours in golf,” Scootaloo said. “I love playing golf!”

“I dunno. I don’t like golf as much as Big Mac. Or Uncle Apple Crust.”

“Well we gotta think of something, Apple Bloom,” said Scootaloo. She held her head on her hooves and stared grumpily at the notebook.

“Hey Sweetie Belle, you’ve been quiet all day. What gives?” asked Scootaloo. The young unicorn was unresponsive. She was looked toward another direction while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were having their important conversation. Scootaloo waved her orange hoof up and down Sweetie’s face, but she did not seem to return to reality. Apple Bloom nudged her a little on her head, which made the unicorn blink and turn to her friends.

“Oh, hey. Did I miss something?”

“Jeeze Sweetie, you’ve been staring at that window like a zombie,” said Apple Bloom. “What the heck’s wrong with ya?”

“I… I was just looking at that filly who stayed behind.”

“You mean Dinky?” Scootaloo asked.

“Yeah, her. I wonder why she never wants to play outside with the rest of us?” Bloom and Scoots positioned themselves so they could see Dinky inside the building. They also saw that their teacher, Miss Cheerilee, was sitting next to her.

“Maybe she just likes to be alone,” Apple Bloom suggested, “Big Mac is always like that.”

“Why are so worried about Dinky, anway?” asked Scootaloo.

“I don’t know. I guess in some ways I just feel bad her,” answered Sweetie Belle. She walked out of the shade of the tree and into the sunlight, then stood where she could have a good look at Dinky. “Poor Dinky.”

“I don’t think she looks so sad,” said Scootaloo. “I mean, look, she’s been coloring all this time.”

“She seems happy, but… but what if she’s really sad inside?”

“I never thought of that,” Apple Bloom said. The three continued to observe Dinky until the schoolbell rang again. The children ceased their activities and lined up in a straight row. Like dungeon prisoners they march inside the building. Bloom, Scoots, and Belle were the last ones to enter the school.

Miss Cheerilee and Dinky continued to talk until the bell rang. Miss Cheerilee had not noticed that so much time had passed and ran like a cheetah back to her desk, preparing her class for their next lesson. Dinky put her drawings of herself and Gwendolyn back into her backpack. The children were now back inside class, taking their respective seats.

When Sweetie Belle took her seat, she slowly turned her head backwards. She pretended to look around the room so Dinky would not noticed her. Sweetie saw the gray filly stare out at the window with her emotionless expression.

Poor Dinky, she thought to herself. I wish I could help her.

****

Fluttershy knocked on Rainbow’s front door multiple times, but nopony had answered. “Rainbow, are you there? It’s me, Fluttershy,” she called out. She received no response from the sporty pegasus. “Why aren’t you answering? Are you okay?” she asked again. Rainbow’s cloud home remained silent. Fluttershy flew on all sides of the home to see if Rainbow was occupying any of the rooms. She poked her head onto windows, squinting her eyes to see through the darkness. The last window she looked was her bedroom on the other side of the house.

The curtains were closed. The next best thing she could do was knock gently. “Rainbow?” she whispered, “Rainbow? It’s me, Fluttershy.” She stood there until the curtains were opened by a dreary blue pegasus. Dash had layers of bags under her red-shot eyes. Tracks of tear stains covered her cheeks and her mane was an unkempt mess.

Fluttershy flew inside Dash’s room through her window and cried, “Rainbow, what happened?!”

“Something you wouldn’t understand,” Dash mumbled.

“What are you talking about?”

“... I just want to be alone.”

“Please, Rainbow just talk to me.”

Rainbow said nothing and crawled into her bed, her back facing Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus hovered next to Dash, then sat next to her. She put her hoof on her shoulder and pleaded, “Please tell what’s wrong, Rainbow. I don’t like seeing you like this.”

“Go away,” Dash said from under her pillow.

“I’m not going anywhere until you talk to me.”

Dash’s head remained glued to her pillow. An air of tension filled the room between the two pegasi. A few minutes later, Fluttershy stood up and spoke to Rainbow’s back.

“Fine. You don’t have to talk to me, but hiding your feelings isn’t the way to go through things. I’m leaving now; when you’re ready to talk I’ll be in my home.” She flew herself out of Rainbow’s room and back to Ponyville.

When Fluttershy disappeared, Rainbow’s head rose from her pillow. She climbed out of her bed and walked out of her dark room. She walked aimlessly around her house before she decided to lounge in her living room. As she set her legs into the large room she stepped on something. Rainbow found the crumpled up letter from the Secret Society of Secrets and Wonders. She sat on her couch with the destroyed letter on her hoof. She placed it on the table in front of her and tried to straighten it. The wrinkles refused to disappear, but most of the writing was almost readable. Holding the letter up to her face, she read it again silently to herself. Despite it being a second reading, the choice words of rejection still managed to pierce her heart. She lied on her back on her couch and closed her eyes, with the letter sitting by her side.

****

“It’s nice to see you again, Sparkle. Now, tell me about your troubles,” said Zecora. Twilight took one sip of the zebra’s herbal tea and thought about what to say.

“This morning, I had a vision while I was meditating. In my vision… I was in space. Everything around me was like something from a painting. It was so beautiful, so majestic… my gosh it was full of stars…”

“Tell me more.”

“As I was sitting there my friends’ cutie-mark, and my own, floated in front of me. In perfect harmony. Then this giant glowing cube appeared and our cutie-marks went inside. The box was in an eternal state of morphing, but our cutie-marks retain their sizes. It was miraculous.”

“A grand vision you have had, but I guess things went from good to bad.”

“You’re right. Everything went black. I was surrounded by darkness. Then… a monster came out of the darkness,” Twilight said with a shudder. “It was a metallic hawk of some kind.” Twilight closed her eyes, gathering all of her thoughts and memories from her vision, then swallowed the ounce of fear she had in her. She opened her and continued, “The hawk… ate the cube along with our cutie-marks. Then these blue lines started to glow on its body and then… oh gosh, it’s too horrible. Zecora what does all this mean?”

“Your vision is a warning, for something is approaching.”

“A warning? A warning of what?”

“Dark forces are conspiring against this world. An otherworldly evil will unfurl.”

“Otherworldly evil? What do you mean?”

“Something, or somepony, from beyond the stars will wage war. For whatever reason, we cannot possibly ignore.”

“Something from beyond the stars. This is worse than I could imagine.”

“The hawk is a symbol of a grand authority, such as an empire. The way it devoured your cutie-marks makes the situation even more dire.”

“... What can we do?”

“Inform the princesses if you can. We can not let this threat stand. The urgency is far too great, for I feel this is an evil nopony can escape.”

“Thank you Zecora.”

“My pleasure, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight bid the zebra farewell and exited her hut. The visions were still fresh in her mind, and there was no telling what might happen in the coming days. The sky above her was clear blue with small white clouds scattered yards from each other. What was once a symbol for the promise of peace was now an ominous reminder of a threat from the heavens. Twilight spotted the tiny marble dot that was Canterlot Castle sitting on the edge of the mountain.

“I hope we can stop this…”