What Path to Choose

The cool night air was flowing gently into the room through the open windows. Silver had decided to take the time they had to wait for the Emperor, to take a small nap. Dash on the other hand couldn’t get her nerves to settle. After they had their small talk Silver had passed out. Dash was on alert and she wasn’t sure why. Something just felt wrong about the whole thing, but she just couldn’t put her hoof on it.

She went back to the window looking out at the beautiful night sky, feeling the cool air on her fur, the smell of summer still clinging to it. She smiled and took in a deep breath remembering the scent. Back when Applejack and she had been together, they would go out on nights like this and just take in the sight of the beautiful night and the summer air. It was one of their favorite pass times. Tonight’s beauty was bringing back those memories, reminding her of why she had fallen for Applejack in the first place.

She loved Drako she knew it, but he didn’t make her heart skip a beat like Applejack had, he also was stuck working all night which left him little time to spend with her or Scootaloo, and on top of that he was to marry the princess. She knew he told them that he didn’t want to and he wouldn’t, but he couldn’t really stop it. She knew something was going to fall apart, either Drako would go against the wishes of Celestia and be banished, or he would do what she asked and marry Luna. Either way she would lose him. Her other problem as if she didn’t do something about it soon she would not just lose Drako, but she would lose Applejack as well.

“You look like you have a lot on your mind Rainbow Dash.” Silver said from the bed

Dash looked over at her and said “I see you woke up finally, and I do.”

“I’m sorry about that, sometimes I randomly fall asleep, I think it has something to do with staying up for days at a time.” Silver said yawning

“I see.” Dash said Looking back out the window.

“Want to talk about it?”

“I’m not sure it would be wise, I don’t know you well enough, and at the same time you also work for the princesses and I really don’t want this getting back to them.” Dash said looking back out the window.

Silver got up and walked over by her and said “Remember earlier when I said I had to talk to you about something?”

“Yeah, I was wondering what it would be about, but now I have a good idea that it’s about Drako and our Relationship.”

“Well you’re right; I also think it’s what is bothering you as well. I do work for the princess, that is true, but at the same time I’m also a fellow mare that understands what it feels like to fall for somepony you can’t have.” Silver said with a smile “Somepony who has had their heart taken by a princess.”

Dash looked back at her and was shocked to see a small sign of sadness deep in her eyes. She turned and said “How do you know what it’s like? Don’t tell me you had feelings for him as well.”

She laughed a little at that “Ha that’s rich. No Drako is a great stallion and all, he’s also strong, he has everything I look for in a pony, but sadly no, the person I fell for was one of the captains of the royal guard Shining Armor. We worked together for a long time and I fell for him. Sadly for me, when I told him how I felt he told me he had promised his love to Princess Cadence. It hurt me deeply for a long time when I found out I couldn’t have the pony I wanted, but over time I was able to find new happiness.”

“You fell in love with Twilights brother? That’s kind of funny now that I think about it, though it still isn’t the same as what I am going through.” Dash said

“It may not be the same, but its close enough, you love Drako I can tell, but you are not in love with him. When I watch you I see how you pull away some, how you seem to be thinking about what to say. With true love you don’t think you just do. Do you know what I mean?”

Dash felt tears starting to fall from her face as she looked away trying to wipe them away, she wasn’t going to cry in front of this mare. But as she tried to hide her tears Silverwing took a hoof and pulled her head up looking into her pink eyes, and she smiled at Dash. Dash sniffed and said “I…I don’t like to cry in front of other ponies…not even Drako.”

Silver wiped away Dashes tears and said “It’s ok to show your emotion Rainbow Dash, I also know that you will cry for one pony. I know this because I talked with her before I came over to your place today. She has true love for you, and I know you feel the same for her.”

“You don’t know anything about me.” Dash said a little more emotion in her voice than she meant to show.

“If I’m wrong Rainbow Dash then you can prove it to me right now. I have two tests for you to do the first one is this, I want you to think about your time with Drako, past and present, think about all the good times and the bad. That is all you need to do, just don’t speak only think.”

Dash closed her eyes and did as Silver said. Silver let her face slide out of her hooves. Dash took that time and though about Drako. She remembered back to when they were young, how she felt when she watched Drako start to date Derpy, she remembered the look in his eyes when he told her about his dreams of becoming a great flyer just like her. His face had been so full of life when he had gotten the job at the flying school. He always loved to help others and protect them even from himself if he needed. It turned him into a hard pony though. He wasn’t the same fun pony he’d been when he was a colt. The death of his parents and the loss of his home changed him. Derpy coming back pregnant had thrown him over the edge.

She thought about how that made her feel. She had feelings for him for a long time, but they weren’t the same kind of love that she had been telling herself it was. If anything her love for him was that of a close friend, the same kind of love she felt for her other five friends. She couldn’t see her life being complete without him around, but she didn’t need him to be her partner in life. In reality she felt bad for Scootaloo losing her big brother again. She loved having the filly around, but she needed her family much more than she needed Dash.

Finally she opened her eyes and looked at Silver. She was smiling at her as she said “I had a feeling I was right on that one. Now don’t talk, I want you to now think about another pony, close your eyes and think about your former lover Applejack.”

“Wait a moment…”

“I said don’t speak…now do what I ask…please.”

Rainbow Dash did and once again she closed her eyes starting to think about Applejack. As she did a flood of emotion hit her all at once time. It took her a moment to start to sort them out. She took hold of one emotion and remembered how she first fell for the farm pony. It had been last summer when she was helping Applejack with bucking apple trees. Big mac had been out of town at the time and she needed help. It had been a long work day, so they took the time to sit back and rest drinking some of the apple family’s famous apple juice.

Applejack turned to her as the sun was setting and asked “Tell me Rainbow, What’s it like to be with another mare?”

It was so like Applejack to throw a quick, to the point question like that, but it still shocked her at first. She took a moment to think then said “It’s kind of hard to explain. I’ve always liked both, but there is something about the feeling of another soft form under you like you only get with a mare that is just breath taking.”

“I see.”

“Why do you ask anyway, you always seemed to scoff at my flings?”

“I was only wonderin’” she said

“Applejack don’t lie to me. It goes against your nature.”

She blushed and said quickly “I like you!” then with wide eyes she tried to get up and run.

She only got a few feet away before she was stopped by Rainbow Dash landing in front of her. She had made her say it again and explain herself. Applejack went on to tell her how she had feelings for Dash for a while, but had always been too scared to say anything to her about it. She told her how she has wanted to kiss Dash so many times, but couldn’t work up the courage to do so. She just kept on going on and on about it. Dash finally couldn’t help herself, Applejack was just so cute, and she just leaned forward and kissed her, right under a large apple tree.

They spent most of the night under that tree talking and kissing off and on. They hadn’t even done anything apart from that. That had led to their small romantic fling. They waited almost two months before they made love, and it was one of the best nights of Dash’s life. The rest of the summer and most of the winter they saw each other in secret.

She remembered how Applejack always smiled wide when she came over to Dash’s place, how she looked when they sat under the moon after a nice picnic, how she moaned when she first made love to her. Applejack was also the only pony she has ever been able to cry in front of and not be scared of what she would think of her. The memory of that was overwhelming, a flood of emotion that Dash wasn’t ready for.

The night it first happened was a month before winter wrap up. Scootaloo just got hurt from one of her Crusaders missions. She almost broke one of her wings, and also had a bad concussion. It has been a hard two days for Rainbow Dash as she waited at the hospital. They had to keep Scootaloo overnight to make sure she didn’t sleep and to make sure she didn’t have anything worse wrong with her.

Applejack came over to her that night as she sat in the waiting room and said “Sugar cube you need get a little bit a sleep or something.”

“I can’t leave her here, what if something happens to her.”

“She’ll be fine Dash. Listen come take a walk with me and clear your head. If you keep worryin’ like this you will end up in here yourself. Now get on your hooves and walk with me.” She said.

Dash had done as she asked and they ended up walking down to the park near the fountain. They sat under a tree looking up at the night sky, the moon full and bright. When she looked up at that moon she remembered him, Drako Moon, he was the one who left Scootaloo to be raised by her. The flood of rage and pain filled her and before she knew it she was crying into Applejack’s shoulder.

“She’s hurt, and he isn’t here to help her. I’m sure she’ll be ok, but what if she wouldn’t have been. I promised I would look after her and I would take care of her, but what if something would’ve happened. She has no one left in the world apart from him and me. And he isn’t here like he should be.” Dash cried into her arms.

“Shhh, its ok Sugar cube, it’ll be ok.” Applejack said rubbing her mane as she cried.

The two of them sat like that for a long time, Rainbow Dash just letting herself cry and Applejack holding her close. Afterward they went back to the hospital and Dash felt a lot better. Scootaloo was able to get out the next day and life went back to the way it had always been, only with one exception. She had grown closer to Applejack. Now that Dash thought back on it, if it hadn’t been for their fight at the start of spring and Drako showing up right afterward, they wouldn’t have broken it off.

As Rainbow Dash thought about it she realized something; she started seeing Drako, someone she cared for and knew, because it was the only way she could get over Applejack. Everything she had been pushing out of her mind over the past couple of weeks started to slip into place. She did love Drako, but she loved Applejack even more. She was the one who’d been who made Dash’s heart flutter and her knees go week. Applejack was the one who made Dash feel like a mare for once in her life not a tom pony.

When she finally opened her eyes to look at Silver and she smiled saying “Silverwing, I think I am starting to understand.”

She smiled back “Do you now? See when I had you think about Applejack your face glowed and your body calmed and relaxed. When you thought about Drako you were tense and ridged, though you showed some love.”

“So you weren’t just working for Celestia to help her get her way then?”

“I was yes, but I really work for Luna, She is the one who really sent me to talk with you and she is the one who made sure I had you chose what you wanted. Celestia wanted me to make you break it off with Drako, but I didn’t need to do that. When I talked to Applejack and put it all together all I had to do was get you away and talk with you.” Silver said smiling at her “Helping people find their true love is part of my Special Talent”

“Is it really…I thought you were a worrier?” Dash said

She winked at Dash and smiled wide “Guess you’ll never really know will you.”

Dash went back to looking out the window, up at one of the towers “I just don’t know how I’m going to tell….” Before she could say anything else there was a flash of light from the tallest tower and a small boom.

Silver changed from calm to ready for action in a second, jumping over by Dash and saying “Get ready to run we won’t have much time.”

“Ready for what?” Dash said whipping her head back to look at Silver “What in Celestia’s name was that.”

Silver rushed over to the door and said “If I know Night Stalker as well as I think I do, that was most likely him breaking the Prince out of his cell. That is another reason why I needed to get him to come with and to go off without us.”

“Wait a minute; I thought we were here on a diplomatic mission for the Princess?”

“We are in a way, the truth is our spies found out that the Emperor is working with someone to take over Equestria, but we don’t know how. When the prince was put into prison we knew something was wrong. We heard that he was the one plotting against us and not his father. If that is true then Drako will know what to do, if not then he knows the prince well enough to get him to trust us and help.” Silver said her voice going to only a whisper as guards passed by the door, their armor making small clanking noises as they moved.

“Then why are we here, more importantly why am I here?”

“Because as I said before, the Emperor is a fan of yours and you are a fast flyer, we’re here to sneak into the emperor’s chambers and see if we can find his plans.”

Rainbow Dash smiled and said “So are we spies?”

“You could say that, I am not an ambassador as they think. I have been posing as one for a couple years to keep an eye on them. Night Stalker was supposed to help me finish this mission, but he was reassigned to Ponyville, I had to talk Luna into letting him go to help me out. We figured why not get two birds with one stone.” Silver said as she moved to open the door quietly “So are you ready to help your country?”

Rainbow Dash smiled and said “Let’s do this.” And with that the two of them moved out into the hall and started to sneak down toward the throne room…

Meanwhile Drako and Telcon flew high over the throne room, Drako knew he didn’t have long to get Telcon out of here, the magic tool he used to open the prison had sent enough of a noise and a flash that he knew someone would have seen it. He also knew with what was going on, he had to get Dash and Silverwing out of the palace.

“Drako we don’t have a lot of time, we should see if we can sneak in through the throne room and see if my father left his plans there.”

As they flew lower Drako said “If know Silverwing, I’m sure she had this all planed out. I’ll bet she is already moving to do just that, what window goes to your father’s study?”

Telcon looked for a moment then pointed at a large open window, through which you could see a few book shelves saying “That should be it, and if my eagle eyes aren’t wrong I think I see Ms. Silverwing and what looks like a Rainbow haired pony in there right now.”

“Yeah that would be Rainbow Dash, I really wish Silverwing wouldn’t have dragged her into this as well.”

“I thought that was her; there aren’t too many Rainbow haired ponies in the world.”

Drako laughed a little “Name one other.”

“No fair…I don’t know everypony in the world…for all we know there may be another one out there.” He said then his face turned into a frown as he looked down at one of the open hallways that lead to the study and throne room “Drako look there, I think the guards have discovered something’s wrong.”

Drako looked over and saw twenty armed guards making their way down the hall. They were heading for the study, so they must have been looking for them and hadn’t found out that Telcon had escaped yet. Drako tucked his wings and dove for the open hallway saying “Telcon we can’t leave without them. How about we show them who the real danger is?”

Telcon grinned and followed Drako, diving alongside him, wings folded tight to his side. Drako felt the quick wild joy of free falling, wind rushing past his ears, his main flowing down his back. He wanted to hoot at the feeling rushing through him. It brought back the wild joy he used to get when he worked with the C.P.S.F. But he knew he couldn’t, Drako forgot his joy and looked at the place, and he needed to be putting his mind back on track. He looked over at Telcon and nodded, and then he snapped his wings open.

It changed his momentum drastically pulling his body up and throwing him toward the armed guards. Telcon followed Drako’s example, the two of them silently, yet quickly going toward the un-suspecting guards. With a loud clang the two of them slammed into the first six knocking them out with the power of their attack. Before the other fourteen could react, Drako and Telcon were on them. In quick secession, they had the rest of them down. One was left unharmed shaking a little as he looked up at them.

“Who sent you here?” Drako asked his eyes bearing down on the gryphon guard

“It was the Emperor. He said that the two ponies that came had come to steal valuable information from us.” he said shaking harder, and then he looked over at Telcon “My prince, you are ok? We were told you were killed by Celestia’s ponies earlier today.”

“I am ok, but my father is trying to start a war. Listen I can’t stay here not with my father feeding the lies he is to the people. Sargent can I trust you to keep what you saw here a secret?”

The gryphon stood and was at attention quickly saying “Yes sir, on my honor. Your father hasn’t been kind to us and you always have been. If you ever need me just let me know. But I will keep what I saw to myself.”

“Good, then I’m sorry about this.” Said Telcon

“Sorry about what….” He started to ask but Telcon knocked him out.

“Did you really have to knock him out?” asked Drako grinning his lop sided grin

“He would have been in danger if I hadn’t.” said Telcon looking back toward the study door “Now let’s get your friends and get out of here.”

Drako nodded and they started to walk toward the door…

Silverwing pulled open another drawer, looking through more papers as she and Dash had been doing for the past ten minutes. They made it down the halls and into the study without many problems, though she knew their luck couldn’t hold out for much longer. She had to finish this mission, because the fate of Equestria rested on the information she could gather here.

Silverwing looked up when she heard the distant sound of guard’s armor. It sounded like fifteen or a little more, but in this kind of palace with its open halls, she knew they were farther away than they seemed. It also told her they were out of time, if they didn’t find something in the next couple of minutes she would have to call the mission and they would have to leave.

It was Rainbow Dash who broke her from her thoughts though saying quickly “Silverwing I think I found something!”

“Are you sure?”

“Take a look for yourself.” Rainbow Dash said holding out a scroll.

She took it and started to read,

Dear Emperor,

I was pleased with your idea on how to take out the royal sisters, but your plan is flawed, you see since Luna is back, Celestia has much more power at her disposal. Trust me I know, this is not the first time I’ve had to deal with them. On top of that she also has the Elements of harmony on her side. So I think we must change the plan a little.

We’ll need to distract the sisters and gain their trust, you’ll need them to think there is a plan to take them in down in your empire, but you are trying to stop it. With that done all we’ll need to do is wait until the end of the summer. Because on the last day of summer as the weather is changed, it will be the start of the Fall. I dare not say more on the matter, but I’m sure you know what I am talking about. Once that is started we’ll only need to have one of the elements of harmony to be taken out or rendered powerless then we’ll be ok.

Please be hasty in your reply and start on the plans right away. Stay strong and let chaos rain free.

Yours Truly

The Queen

“Oh no, this isn’t good they know about the Fall. We have to get this information back the princess at once. Damn I knew we should have taken a unicorn with us as well.” Silverwing said in a panic

“What is The Fall, and what is going on? I really didn’t understand what that letter meant.” Said Rainbow Dash

“All I can say is it isn’t good.” Silver started, but before she could go on there was a loud sound of clashing armor from outside the door “What was that?”

They got their answer a moment later when the doors opened to revealed a large black gryphon and Drako who was grinning at them. He looked around the messed up study then back at Silverwing and Rainbow Dash and said “Looks like I missed one hell of a party.”

Silver walked over to them and said quickly “Night Stalker I’m glad to see you figured out the true mission as I knew you would.” She then turned to Telcon “Prince Telcon, Your father is a traitor to the land and has broken the treaty declared long ago. I had a spy here who found out about your capture. I wish we could take a moment to talk this out, but we are out of time.”

“What is it you found?” asked Telcon.

“A letter from someone who looked like they knew too much and they’re helping plot out how to take down the sisters. We need to get this information to Celestia at once.” Silver said opening her wings

“One moment then.” He said running over to the same desk Rainbow Dash found the letter in. He reached under the desk and popped open a hidden cabinet and pulled out a tube that held a few scrolls in them. He looked back at them and said “This should help as well, along with my help; we should be able to fix this before it starts.”

“Good work Prince Telcon, now Night Stalker and Rainbow Dash you two need to get going, you are the fastest flyers I have ever met. Take this information and get out of here.” Silver said handing the letter to Dash and The tube to Drako.

“What about you two?” he asked looking at them both

Telcon smiled at said “I know a way out of here and I’m quite a fast flyer myself as you should know. You two need to get the information out of here though.”

“Telcon and myself will draw them away giving you time to get away.” Silver said “Now go Night Stalker before you run out of time, and Dash Remember what I said to you.”

Drako wanted to ask what she meant, but he was too well trained to disobey an order from Silverwing. He nodded his head and opened his wings, jumping into the air with Dash, the two of them gliding off into the moon lit sky…