Cloudsdale Dash and The Revenge of Dr. Negative

by Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch

Rating: teen
Tags: Rarity, Adventure, Daring Do, Sweetie Belle, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Rainbow Dash, Romance
Length: 67648

When a mysterious accident pulls Rarity, Twilight and Rainbow Dash into a world of high adventure, they'll have to find and defeat a sinister Madpony if they ever hope to find a way home.

Lapis-Lazuli presents...
When a strange and mysterious magical accident drags poor young Sweetie Belle through a rogue portal in space and time, it will be up to Twilight and her friends to rescue her from an unknown fate. Of course, they're going to have to rescue themselves as well, seeing as how they have no idea how to get home. Faced with madpony scientists, ruthless mobsters and fanatical pony supremacists, it will take every ounce of gumption, style, and genre savvy for them to survive long enough to find a way back to the Equestria they all know and love. But the strange new world they find themselves in does not want to let them leave, and it's not alone in its desire to keep them there...

Published 2014-04-14 20:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2014-06-18 05:50:22 UTC

Chapter 2 - If Adventure Had a Name

~~~~~~~??????~~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash had a philosophy after all of these years spent palling around with the Elements of Harmony. It was arguably the only thing that had kept her from just flipping out and going as crazy as Pinkie Pie. The only way to get through the crazy adventures that happened to them on a regular basis was to just take things in stride. So when a crazy looking magical portal had sucked them through the fabric of time and space to Celestia knows where and dumped them into the middle of a dusty warehouse dressed up like Daring Do characters, she just went with it.

Twilight on the other hoof still hadn’t quite learned that lesson, and looked about two breaths away from completely losing her cool. Fortunately there was a crisis to solve and Twilight was really good at focusing when there was something she could apply logic to. Of course, it wasn’t a big help to Dash that Twilight had suddenly turned into a purple version of Princess Luna. And given that Dash was already kinda… sorta… crushing on Twilight and Princess Luna...

Quickly, Rainbow Dash picked her way through the narrow passages between, under, and around the stacked crates while trying not to think too hard about the implications of that. Not that she’d told either of those ponies about how she felt. Besides being completely insane, I mean, they’re princesses and even though I am pretty awesome that’s kinda pushing it, it would’ve been way too awkward to bring it up with how gossipy her friends could be. Thankfully, neither Twilight nor Rares seemed to realize she was trying to hide a faint blush every time she looked at Twilight moving that hot flank- Gah! Get your head in the game, Dash!

As they walked through the mildly creepy warehouse the voices became louder and louder, and more identifiable... "Look, I don't know who you creeps think you are, but you'd better let me go.” The voice was achingly familiar to Dash’s ears, but there was something just subtly off about it that made her doubt her instincts. Whoever that somepony was, she was brash and arrogant and altogether too confident in herself.

A braying, sinister laugh answered the other somepony even as Rainbow Dash tried to figure out how she could get closer without making herself a target.. "Or else what ya little filly? Ya gonna go cry to yer momma?" A number of other voices laughed in response to that, and some slapped thighs and hoots followed as well. The sound of a hoof smacking a face echoed through the warehouse, the voice now growling dangerously. "Yer just lucky the boss thinks yer worth the trouble, else me n' my boys would be havin’ a little party of our own right now!"

Dash looked over at Twilight, who looked both angry and mortified at the sound of that suggestion. Dash bit at her lip, then pointed her hoof up and made flapping motions with both forelegs, hoping to get across her desire to take flight. Twilight looked concerned, but nodded. Dash spread her wings carefully and slowly rose above the line of crates. Looking up, she spotted a series of strange looking overhead lights hanging from what looked like metal lamp shades, each one sending a pool of faint gold light to the ground.

Eventually, Dash poked her head above a tall pile of crates and saw… She had to bite her lip to keep from yelling out. Daring Do had been lashed, wings and all, to a stiff backed wooden chair - surrounded by four burly looking earth ponies wearing cheap suits and ties, and ratty hats. All of them were mud-colored, and the one who was right in Daring’s face had a spectacular sneer on his face while also looking weirdly familiar. Daring herself was in full adventuring gear and glaring fiercely back at the pony, eyes narrowed. “Yeah? And since when does the Big Apple break her word, huh Crispy?” She growled out the words with more disdain than Dash had ever heard from her before.

Dash stared in shock as the earth pony turned his head away and growled at her, “This isn’t about the Big Apple, bitch. This is about you gettin’ my brother and our friends sent up the river.” He spat to one side and glared at some of the other drab looking earth ponies. “What’re y’all standin’ around for? Go watch out for the Doc.” He turned and sneered at Daring, his eyes narrowed. “He’s gonna fix you up proper, little filly.”

Dash could only just see Daring’s face, but it was clear even from here that her body had gone rigid in fright. Who the Doc was Dash could only speculate, but she sure as Tartarus wasn’t going to let somepony get away with threatening her friend. Dash coiled up the muscles in her back and flared out her wings, gathering up strength in her hindlegs and poising herself for takeoff…

Then, utterly without warning, there was a roaring sound from somewhere on the opposite side of Dash. Almost predictably, all of the thugs turned to stare at the source of the sound. One of them even went so far as to say "What the-" before some kind of crazy looking cart came crashing through the crates and crushed one of the thugs under its wheels spectacular fashion. The cart careened through more crates and vanished behind a wall of collapsing woodwork, leaving the remaining thugs to stare in its wake.

Dash didn’t wait for another second. She flung herself out from behind the crates at top speed, spinning in midair and decking the gangster that had threatened Daring with both her rear hooves in a massive flying dropkick. The thug went spinning away from her and crashed into a set of the crates... the upper ones promptly falling down and burying the thug beneath their miscellaneous contents. It was without a doubt one of the most satisfying blows she’d ever delivered in her life.

Behind her, that bright and familiar voice exclaimed happily. “Cloudsdale Dash, you crazy son-of-a griffon!! About bucking time you showed up!” Dash turned her head, barely keeping the grin off her face at the sight of Daring looking fiercely happy. “Now get me out of this - LOOK OUT!”

Dash ducked instinctively at the warning, and felt something big and heavy whiff over her head. “Your left!” Daring yelled, and Dash pivoted in place as the heavy thing smacked into the ground with a metal sound. Dash gave off her best warrior cry and spun into a roundhouse kick that collided with the thugpony right in his jaw and sent him unconscious to the ground. “Nice one, kid! Now get me outta this thing!”

Dash whirled around and grinned at Daring. “Stay cool DD, I’ve gotcha covered.” She quickly trotted over and grabbed hold of one end of the rope in her teeth and began to tug. “Ugh, thith tath like butt!” She muttered around the rope and kept pulling on it to try and unknot the rope. She glanced up and tried to look around for Twilight… only to see the blur of an incoming blow from a new thugpony coming right at her face. Time seemed to slow down, and Dash knew she wouldn’t even have enough time to block.

Fortunately, the thugpony didn’t have any such time either as a lily white hoof took him clean off his hooves and sent him tumbling to the ground with a dumbfounded look on his face. “Don’t you dare put your filthy little hooves on my friend, you ruffian!” Rarity sniffed disdainfully, somehow not even putting a single thread of her dress out of place in the process of the punch. How she did that, Dash was sure she’d never know.

“Thanks Rarity.” Dash muttered with a sheepish grin. and shook her head. “Could you help me with this rope? And where’s Twilight?” Rarity shook her head as though she didn’t know, and quickly put her unicorn magic to work on the rope. The knot was stubborn, but Dash knew that no one could undo a knot like Rarity could.

For a few moments, all was calm and Dash had a moment to glance around her. The area looked like it had been purposefully cleaned out just to provide a space to hold Daring, and now that she wasn’t freaking out she could see the words ‘Port of Manehatten’ stamped onto the outside of many of the crates around them. Well, at least we’re not that far from Ponyville. It was a relieving thought, though a wrinkle still remained. What had happened to Twilight, and why were they all wearing these strange costumes?

She didn’t know, and unfortunately given the sound of pounding hooves quickly approaching them, they probably didn’t have much time to figure it out. “Hurry up, Rarity, we’re gonna have company any minute!” Dash knew that was a cheesy line, but what else could she say? Of course, moments later a crowd of angry looking earth ponies charged around the corner at them yelling obscenities. Dash whirled to face the crowd, though she had to admit feeling a bit uncertain about taking on such a huge mob.

Luckily, it never came to that.

Twilight Sparkle dropped down from the ceiling and spread her wings to their full and awfully impressive length before the gang, all of whom came to a skittering halt in front of her. One and all they stared at her with awed and terrified eyes, and Twilight spoke in her sweetest and most reasonably voice to them. “I think you all need a little time out.” Her words came out in a sing-song, and a moment later her horn blazed with a magical power Dash had only rarely seen Twilight wield before. In an instant, every last earth pony thug vanished, seemingly into thin air…. only to have the faint sound of hooves pounding on the sides of crates reveal what she’d done.

Twilight heaved out a sigh, then sucked in a deep breath. “Sweet Celestia, I didn’t know I could do that.” She whispered reverently, a familiar tone of excitement creeping its way into her voice. And it didn’t take her very long to go into full on geek out. “Ohmygosh, I just translocated twenty three ponies into specific locations within a fifty meter radius! I successfully completed the same transmagical relocation maneuver that Star Swirl invented! Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” Twilight started bouncing up and down in place and then started doing little circles with her hops.

Dash sighed. “Twilight, you’re such an egghead.” She sighed and then laughed faintly, shaking her head before turning back to Daring Do. Her kinda-sorta friend was dusting off her jacket and re-securing her pith helmet. “You okay, Daring?” Dash asked cautiously, giving her a once over but not seeing any kind of permanent damage.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She half grumbled in good humor, then tipped her helmet at Rarity. “Thanks for the help, Ma’am. So. Dash.” Daring eyeballed her, looking a little dubious. “Do you mind telling me when you started hanging out with Royalty?” Dash stared at her for a moment, wondering where in the heck that had come from. Daring nodded over her shoulder. “Where’d you find the Lady? And who the heck is she?” Daring was adjusting her helmet and looking a little nervous. “Not that I mind doing work for the Lord and Lady, but I’ve never even heard of an Alicorn that looks like her.”

All at once, Dash felt her heart clench and her blood go cold. She had almost been sure things had gotten simple, once she’d seen Daring and found herself in Manehatten. She had been sure that all of this was just another madcap adventure by one of the coolest ponies she knew. But Daring knew that Twilight was a princess. Sure, she looked really weird right now, that still didn’t mean she was unrecognizable. But Daring wasn’t bluffing one bit, she seriously didn’t recognize Twilight or Rarity.

Something told Rainbow Dash they weren’t anywhere close to home. “That’s uh…” She coughed, trying not to dance about nervously. “That’s kind of complicated, DD.” She put on her best grin for the moment, trying to project confidence past the worry.

A few moments later, Twilight trotted up happily next to them and Daring Do sighed with tolerant amusement. “It always is, Cloudsdale.” She eyeballed Twilight then shook her head. “Let’s go find Scooter and her car. We’ve got to get out of here before the rest of the mob shows up.” She quickly began trotting off in the same direction that the strange machine had gone careening.

Twilight of course, had to speak up. “What’s a car?” she asked, curiosity bright in her voice.

~~~~~~~

Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Magic and Equestria, personal student to Princess Celestia and total geek for all things mechanical had to pause, even in that moment of danger and panic to marvel at the device before her. The chassis was obviously some kind of steel, beautifully shaped into sleek curves around a set of large spoked metal wheels bound in some kind of black springy material. Rubber, maybe. The whole machine was done up in slick and shiny chrome and a dark red paint job that looked, in no uncertain terms, awesome.

Inside the machine, a red-headed teen aged mare sat in the front seat while wearing a dark jacket and a pair of flight goggles. In front of her was a large steering system of some kind, that looked like a wheel attached to some kind of shaft that went down into the belly of the beast. The mare turned and grinned broadly at the grouping of them as she pulled up alongside, the strange machine purring like a massive tiger. Her voice was almost distractingly familiar, and carried a very cheeky tone, "Ain't no time for gawkin' pretty fillies. Get yer flanks in here and let's move! The Doc’s got another wave of goons coming from the south warehouses as we speak!"

Twilight traded looks with Rarity and Rainbow Dash, but Daring Do was already hopping into the seat next to the new mare. Rarity shrugged and after a hesitant step on a side panel, gracefully hopped into the back of the vehicle. Dash joined her a moment later, and gave her a sardonic look. “Come on, Twi! You can gawk at it later!” That was enough to get her over the edge and into the rear seat.

“I really don’t see how this could be faster than fly-iiiiiiiiiiiiing…” Twilight’s words were drowned out as the machine roared to life and took off under the lights of the warehouse at an astonishing speed. She’d been taking more and more lessons in flight lately under Dash, and had come to really enjoy the sensations of flying. The wind in her mane and through her all too sensitive feathers, the sight of infinite sky before her and all the possibilities that flight brought to her life.

But this was so much more intense. The roar of the vehicle nearly drowned out the roar of the wind around her as the red-headed mare steered the thing using the large wheel. The pure, unrestrained energy of this thing was utterly intoxicating. What was left of Twilight's normally rational mind coldly noted that wheels were turning at a truly fantastic speed as they blazed down a central 'hall' of boxes through the warehouse. The front wheels are steered by that central column, which is attached to the smaller wheel. Simple leverage - clever. Those wheels are obviously filled with air. Also clever, cushions against bumps, provides minimal contact with the road, increases energy efficiency.

The rest of Twilight's mind, however, was much too preoccupied with the speed. This was like flying right above the ground through a densely packed city. Any moment could bring disaster or impact into one of the structures but somehow their new found friend was in full control, deftly manipulating the steering column as she bobbed and wove through the warehouse. Ahead, a large metal door of some kind was raised to reveal an inky black night outside.

Seconds later, they were outside and Twilight was plunged into darkness… only for as long as it took up to see the world they’d been plunged into. Lights covered the horizon and traced up into the sky on the sides of dozens of tall buildings. Far away, the bright lantern of the Mare of Liberty hung proudly in the night. This was Manehatten, there was no doubt about that, but this was not Manehatten as Twilight knew it.

It was all she could do to stare in awe at a city so much bigger than she'd ever imagined existing. The roads were even paved differently, made out of some kind of pitch black material that ran silken smooth along the ground. She could smell the tang of the salty sea not too far away, and the stars shone brightly overhead. It was a perfect sight, marred only by the knowledge that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong. Manehatten was a huge city, there was no doubt, but this was easily twice the size of the Manehatten she knew.

“Aw, buck me.” Daring Do’s voice cut through her thoughts, and when Twilight turned to look at her, she was gazing up into the distance. “Neightzi’s. Why the buck is it ALWAYS Neightzis?!” She smacked the side of the vehicle with her hoof, and after a moment of tracing her gaze, Twilight saw what she was looking at. Four looming, bulky black forms against the sky advancing towards them.

They were massive and vaguely spheroid in shape, and though the night was dark they each had a set of lights along the side which illuminated a strange red-white-and-black symbol on their side. They were also unmistakably coming straight for them. “They must’ve been the ones who hired those lunkheads to grab me. Scooter, do we have a safe house around here?” Daring’s voice was sharp, agitated, and easily identifiable as scared.

‘Scooter’ shook her head. “Uh uh. It’s a good twenty minutes from here to the Blue Note, and that’s the closest place I can think- HEY!” Scooter’s exclamation was preceded by a blur of rainbow magic taking off from the back seat of her car. “What in the world does that crazy pegasus think she’s going to do!? They’re not going to throw bad language at her!”

It instantly clicked for Twilight, of course. Rainbow Dash was aggressive, foolish, and reckless as all get out sometimes, and especially when her friends were in danger. Rarity’s hooves came up to her mouth as she figured it out a moment later. “Gracious me Twilight! Surely she isn’t going to-”

“I think she is Rarity!” Twilight replied, and bit at her lip. “We need to get under some kind of cover, Miss Do! My friend is…” She looked up and swallowed, Dash had already crested the top of her flight path high above their heads and was coming down in a plummeting, meteoric style. “About to show off her very best trick.” She could not describe the knotty feeling of worry and horror in her stomach, and wished that she dared try to go up there to stop her. But no matter what she might feel for Rainbow Dash, she knew she’d just be getting in the way.

Both of the other mares stared at her for a moment, then whipped their eyes back up where dash had become a tiny streak of bright white light rocketing towards the airships. All around her, tiny explosions seemed to be trying to desperately catch up to her, but Twilight knew they were all in vain. Daring spoke a moment later, her voice astonished, "Waitaminute... Cloudsdale can’t fly that fas-." was all Daring Do got out before a flash of bright white light scorched the horizon.

Twilight felt her stomach lurch in the oddest way she’d ever felt it. She had no idea why it’d done that, nor why she suddenly felt a sense of awe as the rainbow ring began to spread outwards from the impact point and engulf the three strange aircraft. Something had just happened that wasn’t supposed to happen, and there was no telling what the consequences might be.

~~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash was not afraid to admit she was a bit of a hothead sometimes. She knew that sometimes, when her friends were in danger especially, that she was prone to doing really stupid things. But hurt her friends? You didn’t do that, no matter who the buck you thought you were. She’d never heard of Neightzi’s before, but they sounded like seriously bad news and that was all Dash needed to know.

But it also became really clear as she soared into the air above Manehatten that this was not the Manehatten she knew. This was a city easily twice the size of the one she remembered, with strange looking ships sitting in the harbor and way more lights than she remembered from their brief trip. But way more distracting was the three huge bulks hanging low in the air, somehow utterly unsupported by either clouds or obvious magical propellers. They looked like nothing more than ultra-sized versions of Twilight’s hot air balloon… and that gave her an Idea.

So she crested her ascent, almost a thousand feet above the strange balloons and felt a grin cross her face. These losers thought they could try and kidnap Daring Do and get away with it? They were about to find out just how dumb an idea that really was. So she swept out her wings and began to flap as hard as she could, the gentle breeze of the height she had stopped at turning into a blaze of wind right into her face.

She poured on the speed, the baseball cap that adorned her head somehow refusing to fall off until she was halfway into her dive, when it finally ripped away by the sheer force of her flight. The first explosion came seconds later, barely missing her and forcing her to adjust her course just a little in mid wing beat. What the buck was that?! Her mind thought, even as her body poured on the speed. She could feel the heat and shockwave of more explosions behind her as she flew, but the white magic of her speed began to strain in front of her, and soon that was all she could think of.

Moments later, the Sonic Rainboom came with the same exultant feeling as it had every time she’d done it before. The energy from the pure speed rushed through her body and left a trail of Rainbows in her wake. She couldn’t see the shockwave behind her, but there were no more explosions to follow her path. By the time she’d properly banked in the air, still high on the potent magics of the Rainboom, she could see the three airships slowly descending towards the water below.- Their balloon envelopes ruptured and the steel and spars warped and beaten to hell all around them.

Satisfied, she turned in place and raced towards the speeding vehicle in which Twilight still sat, staring up at her in awe. Now that that had been taken care of, it was time to find out into what crazy adventure Daring had dragged them into… and what had happened to Sweetie Belle.

~~~~~~~

A massive wave of wind and sea spray slammed into the three ponies standing on and next to the mechanical vehicle, and the wave of energy rushed over all of them as it slowly dissipated into the atmosphere. Daring's helmet went flying off her head and rattled to the ground some twenty feet behind her, and the red-headed earth pony spoke in awe, "Sweet Solaris, it's a Sonic Rainboom." She whispered, practically bouncing on her seat as she said it and reminding Twilight rather strongly of Scootaloo. That oath was odd though...Solaris?

Rarity sighed and brushed an invisible speck of dirt from her dress. “That’s our dear Rainbow Dash for you. Always overdoing things.” She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Still, she seems to have brought our pursuit to a rather decisive halt.” Her lips twitched up into a smile, and she touched her hoof there. “Really, Twilight. We need to find more constructive ways for her to impress you.”

“What!?” Twilight snapped, almost out of reflex. Emotion hammered in her heart, and it took a lot of hard work to keep it from hammering out of control. “That’s ridiculous, Rarity. She’s just overprotective. Impressing me.” She snorted in a very un-princess like fashion, then glared up at the incoming pegasus.”Still, I wish she wouldn't overdo it so often.”

“Um… if I might interject, uh… Your ladyship?” Scooter rose her voice, Daring still staring dumbfounded up at the cresting Rainboom. Twilight turned to regard the young pony, and wondered why she seemed so familiar. “Was that… really a Sonic Rainboom? I mean…” The mare swallowed, but her grin was fit to burst out of her face. “I knew Dash had been trying to pull that one off for her entire life, but I thought it was supposed to be impossible.”

Twilight began to nod and speak, but Daring shook her head slowly. "No way. It is impossible. Rosetta proved that there wasn’t any pegasus alive who could do it. Cloudy’s been trying to pull that one off since she was a filly. This is..." Daring Do, the heroine of so many books Twilight had read and loved rubbed hard at her eyes for a few seconds, then went to recover her helmet. "Well, at least I don't gotta worry about the damn Neightzi's for the moment. C'mon Scooter, we better go meet up with Cloudy... and then we can all sit down for a nice long chat."

The look she gave Twilight and Rarity was cloudy at best, but there was also a strange sort of hope there. What was she thinking in that moment? “Because I think we’ve all got some stories to tell.” Daring finished as the vehicle lurched to life, and began to pull away down the road.

Author's Note

DUN DUN DUN MYSTERIOUS!

Updates to come every other day or so until I get my sea legs under me again. And if I do.... well, we'll see how fast I end up cranking this one out.

Chapter 3 - Mysterious Meetings

~~~~~~Dock 88 Customs House, Port of Manehatten~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash had been in a lot of locker rooms in her lifetime, which was the kind of thing that happened when you wanted to be a pro athlete. This particular locker room was on the low end of the scale when it came to niceness, but it was improved by the presence of her very favorite egghead. “Hold still Dash.” Twilight muttered, and dash winced a little as she applied disinfectant to a cut she hadn’t even felt run up her right forehoof. It wasn’t a bad cut, but Twi wasn’t taking any chances with it.

Actually, it was more than just that. Rainbow Dash was not the world's most observant pony when she wasn’t in the air, but this was not normal behavior for Twilight. Normally, Twilight would get exasperated but amused at Dash's injuries - usually followed by some lecture on personal safety. But Twilight was acting like Rarity or AJ did when their sisters got hurt. Both of them tended to freak out over the littlest thing, though AJ had gotten better about it recently.

Still, she was wondering what had brought this on. “There,” Twilight said primly, tightening the clean bandage around the cut and then rolling the sleeve of the white shirt she wore up back over it. Rarity had already stitched the slash in the shirt back up, and Dash had to admit she liked how tough it made her look. “You really need to be more careful, Rainbow.” Twilight’s new long, slender limbs brushed some dust off her vest and her voice descended into a mutter. “We’re all in a serious pickle here, and I don’t think we’re going to get out of it without you.”

Twilight was right, and that was what brought Dash's eyes to peer out the window of the small restroom and out towards the incredible skyline outside of it. Manehatten, writ large. Daring Do not recognizing Twilight. Daring actually calling her by that silly ‘Cloudsdale’ nickname. Dash couldn't wrap her head around what was going on as it was and Twilight acting all strange hadn’t helped… Which is probably why her mouth opened and started yammering before she realized what she was saying. "What can I say Twi? I like having your hooves all over me." She replied in a saucy tone of voice.

A bare second later she slapped her hoof over her mouth, hoping that comment wasn’t about to get her smacked. Luckily, Twilight appeared to be too distracted to really parse it, and she half chuckled. “Very cute Rainbow.” She paused in the middle of her chuckle and visibly swallowed. “We’re in deep trouble, aren’t we?” She whispered. It wasn’t really a question. “I mean… I know more about magical history than most ponies, and even I’ve never even heard of a portal between worlds.” Her head dipped a little, and she rubbed at it with a boot clad hoof. “It’s like something out of a ponytale.”

At that, Rainbow couldn’t help but laugh softly. “Uh, hate to break it to you, Twilight,” She began, hopping down onto her hooves and giving herself a nice long stretch. extending all her muscles and body forward while her wings flared out back as far as they could go. “But we’ve been living the stuff of ponytales for about three years now, Miss turned-into-an-alicorn.” Dash giggled faintly, unable to contain her amusement. “I mean, seriously!” The giggle turned into a full on laugh.

Twilight blushed a little, then joined in her laughter. She leaned in against Rainbow Dash, and Dash was pleased to find she wasn’t a whit heavier than she’d been before. She held up Twilight from under her shoulder and the pair of them got the stress out with a good solid chuckle. “Oh, Celestia. You should’ve seen the look on your face, Rainbow.” Twilight giggled, her eyes sparkling happily. “Okay, you’re right. I need to stop freaking out about this right now. We need to find Sweetie Belle, and then find a way home. Once we’ve managed that, then I shall freak out.”

“That’s the spirit, Darling.” Rarity’s arch voice soared through the room, and she slipped into it with all the pizzaz of a model stepping out onto the runway. Her eyes were steely and determined, and Dash was very glad for her presence right then and there. “I’m afraid that we may be up a rather more violent river than we’re all used to, however.”

“Regardless,” Twilight said firmly, standing up and shaking her worry off, “we’d better go talk to Daring Do.” She looked to Dash, and then to Rarity. “For the moment, I think we’d better assume that everything we think we know about her and Manehatten is wrong. And I think we’d better not bring up meeting A. K. Yearling, either.”

Dash had to nod at that, then looked towards the door to the main room. “She kept calling me Cloudsdale Dash, Twilight. That’s the nickname she gave me in her book.” Dash bit at her lip, then took in a deep breath. “Has it occured to you that we might very well be inside a Daring Do book?”

Twilight nodded slowly. “I’ve considered that as a possibility, Dash. But right now we need more facts before we make any assumptions.” Nodding her agreement, Dash hopped down off the stool and trotted alongside Twilight and Rarity back into the main room of what Daring Do had called the 'customs house'. It was a pretty worn down spot, but it had this seedy sort of charm to it. A slightly dim sparklight hung from the ceiling and cast a gentle gold glow over a pair of beaten-to-heck sofas that might have once been a bright blue. A couple of ratty coffee tables and a work desk on which was piled an interminable amount of paperwork in front of a row of beaten up file cabinets along the wall completed the scene, and Dash couldn't help but imagine it as something straight out of... well...

Daring herself was perched on one of the sofas with a mug of something steaming in her hooves, and the earth pony with the flaming red hair was sprawled out lazily on the other couch. There was a small pile of scattered papers on the coffee table Daring was brooding over as the pair entered the room. "Thanks for waiting, Miss." Twilight began slowly, then took a deep breath. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I’m not exactly from around here.” She paused for a moment. "And I'm afraid if you're hoping we have answers, we're pretty short on them ourselves."

From the couch on which she sat, Scooter waved a hoof airily at that statement. "Lady, we've dealt with ghosts, demons, Aztrot demigods, gangsters, spies and the bucking royal family of Equestria. Trust me when I say there ain't nothin you could throw at us that’s going to make us blink.." Then she turned to Rainbow Dash, and her grin cracked even wider. “Well, almost nothin’. I mean, come on, Cloudy. When did you finally figure it out?”

Dash felt her cheeks flame red, but before she could open her mouth Daring Do interjected. “More importantly, where’ve you bloody been?” There was real hurt and concern in Daring’s voice, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You told me you were going to look for that long lost friend of yours, and you’d be back in a couple weeks. That was almost a year ago, kiddo.” She rubbed her temple and closed her eyes for a moment, before looking at Dash with something like relief and exasperation. “I came to Manehatten to look for you after that mess with Doctor Negative got sorted out, and then I got jumped all over by those goons…” She looked from Twilight to Rarity, both of whom had fallen silent, and then asked softly. “What the heck did you get yourself into this time, Cloudy?”

Rainbow Dash bit at her lip and tried to figure out what to say. Or maybe she was trying to come up with a good lie. But in the end, she decided… “Daring, I don’t think I’m…” Her words only got so far, and then… “ARGH!” The pain split straight through her skull, like someone had just hit her straight through the brain with a steel spike. “Wh...what’s going...MF!” She fell headlong off the chair she was sitting in and her head began to swim like she’d had too much salt.

“CLOUDY!” Daring screamed.

“DASH!” Yelled Twilight.

“SHADDAP!” Yelled… the other one, and Dash felt a pair of hooves shove her onto her back. “Get some cold water! Daring, grab a clean rag, I got some in the back seat!” The words seared into Dash’s head, and every loud noise was like a running of the leaves inside her own skull. “Shit. Dash, close your eyes!” The one called ‘scooter’ told her, and Dash was happy to oblige given how swirly the room was going.

With nothing but stompy sounds and muttered words to interfere, Rainbow Dash could see snippets of events swimming before her eyes. It was really freaky, and not the good kind of freaky that ended with cuddling. It was an intense pain that throbbed in and out of existence, followed by scenes from a life that was not her own. She hadn’t crashed out of the Sonic Rainboom, she’d pulled it off. She hadn’t run away from home… she hadn’t… she wasn’t…

The chill of a cold cloth hit her eyes and shocked some of the pain out of existence. “Just breathe, kid.” That was Daring’s voice, gentle and firm in her ears. “Solaris help me, I don’t know what’s happened to you and I don’t care. You’re my friend, and we’ll help you get sorted out somehow.”

“She’s our friend too!” Rarity’s voice cut in, razor sharp and as prickly as her needles. “And she’s not the only somepony in trouble. My precious little sister Sweetie Belle is missing too, and-”

Scooter’s voice cut in a moment later, "Wait a sec, ma’am! Did you just say 'Sweetie Belle'?" Twilight nodded at this, and Scooter worked her mouth around a little in consternation. "Daring, I know that name. That's the new kid they've got singing at the Blue Note lounge! But she’s been there since…”

“Right around the time Silver went missing.” Daring’s voice went soft, and Dash wished she could see… and then she felt the headache lance through her mind again and suddenly was glad she couldn’t. Sweetie Belle? Here for months? That was beyond crazy! But what was even crazier were these strange scenes she kept seeing in front of her eyes. What was going on?

“Wait, my little sister is singing at some sort of lounge?!” Rarity nearly shouted, and was shushed down by the others in the room. “But that cannot be! She certainly has a sweet voice, but no place would put a little filly up on stage amidst ponies drinking and carousing!”

There was an embarrassed cough, and Scooter spoke quietly. “Ma’am, the Sweetie Belle I know ain’t no little filly. She’s got this pink and light purple mane and a white coat, and she’s probably one of the prettiest mares I’ve ever seen…” Scooter’s voice trailed off, and Dash could have sworn she heard the tones of a pony crushing on somepony hardcore.

“I think we have a serious mystery on our hooves, Miss Do.” Twilight sounded shaky, but she also sounded pretty determined. “And I think it’s going to take more time than we’ve got to waste to unravel it. We need to keep exchanging information and keep moving, and find someone who can help Rain-” A pause, a swallow. “Who can help Dash.”

There was a pause, and then a sigh. “You’re right. Fortunately, I know just the pony.” A ruffling of hooves. “Scoots, go find a phone and call Rosetta. Tell her to meet us at the Blue Note and bring her medical bag lickity split.” Scurrying hooves hurried outside, and then there was silence for a long time. Almost a full two or three minutes, but Dash was thankful for it. Finally, though… “What are you, really?” Daring said, in the quietest possible voice that Dash could still hear.

“An Alicorn from another world.” Twilight replied, in an equally quiet voice. “And somepony who is very, very concerned for the health of our mutual friend. We can settle any suspicion you have of me when she’s safe, but right now I’d like to avoid getting into a shouting match.”

More tense silence, then… “Agreed, but we’re going to go have words with Lord Solaris and Lady Celestia once we’ve got things sorted with Dash. I don’t know where you’ve come from Miss Twilight, but they’re the only someponies I can trust to handle you. ”

If Daring had been expecting any other kind of reaction from Twilight, Dash knew she would probably be disappointed at Twilight’s gentle giggle. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, Miss Do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's so big." Twilight Sparkle whispered as she stood outside of the dockside house, her eyes ranging over the gloriously glowing skyline. It was like something out of a fairy tale, or... well, a Daring Do novel. Has it occurred to you yet, Twilight? That you might very well be in a Daring Do novel? Twilight slowly shook the thought out of her head. It was impossible to travel inside of a book! Beside, they knew Daring Do personally! It was all just fictional!

Yet as Twilight's eyes slowly ranged over the sleek and shiny vehicle Scooter had called a 'Motor Car' she was beginning to wonder if ‘impossible’ was simply the order of the day... She still had no idea what the thing ran on, but it was clearly a mechanical device and not something strictly magical. I'm beginning to think there are a lot of things that are going to be 'impossible' here. She thought wryly.

Dash sat quietly in the back seat, laid out on her back with a still cool cloth laid over her eyes. She’d insisted she could walk, but Twilight wasn’t going to take that chance until they got her to see a doctor of some kind. “She’s a hell of a pony. I’m glad to see her safe,” Daring said over the gentle roar of the engine as they navigated the roads of outer manehatten. “I just hope Silver’s safe too.”

For a moment she was confused, but then...Oh... she must be talking about Manehatten Silver. Twilight thought faintly and bit at her lip - there was no way she could possibly bring the subject of him up like this. Especially when Dash hadn’t even gotten to that chapter yet. "I'm sorry." Twilight hedged with, getting a surprised look from Daring. Crap! Twilight cover! Cover fast! "I mean.." She continued, looking a little hesitant. "I hope you find your friend too. It sounds like he might be pretty special to you.”

Daring Do blinked and nodded once. "You're pretty observant. Yeah, he’s a special kinda guy even if he is a jerk sometimes..." Her eyes hardened a little as she turned away from Twilight. "I don’t know where he is, but I know him going missing is no coincidence." She shook her head slightly. "Let's forget about that for now. We'll tell our stories once we meet up with Rosie." Daring turned back to Twilight with a slightly more confident grin. “We’ll get Dash a quick check-up, and see if this Sweetie Belle is the same as your friends sister.”

Twilight sighed. “This news of her being older makes me wonder if we’re not flying up the wrong tree. Still, we need to eliminate every possibility.” She shook her head firmly, and looked at Dash. “I hope she’s okay. She’s… she really is special.” Twilight swallowed and hoped she wasn’t showing any sign of nerves. The emotions inside of her were roiling at a steady boil, and she wasn’t entirely certain how long she could keep it up. She needed to think of other things, and fast. “Ugh, I should probably be thinking up a disguise instead of waffling about like a filly.”

Daring nodded a little in response to that. "Heh, you sound like Rosie." She said, oh-so-softly... and in a way that sent a little shock down Twilight's spine. Did she...? But that was foolish to speculate about right now. "Anyway." Daring shook her head out. "We'll save the rest of our stories for the Blue Note." She eyeballed Twilight up for a moment in a way that made her blush. "Gonna have to scrounge up something for you to wear, though. This is Manehatten after all. Pony not wearing anything on the street's gonna attract attention where we're going."

Twilight nodded once. She’d been to manehatten, and she knew the truth of that statement. Fortunately, she hoped it wouldn’t be too hard to cook up a disguise. "What did you have in mind?" She asked, hoping that Daring already had some alicorn sized clothes for her to fit herself into.

~~~~~The Blue Note~~~~~

"Twenty minutes to curtain Sweetie! Hey... You okay in there, kiddo?"

A very pretty - and very worried looking pegasus with a powder blue coat and bright blue eyes poked her head through the door with a smile. "Hey, me and the girls are gonna grab some grub up at the Cat's Deli after the show. You in? My treat." She asked in her cheery voice, her head tilted at an angle so her long dark blue mane fell in waves over her shoulders.

Sweetie Belle turned on her little stool and smiled up at her - Bluebell was one of those ponies who just had a habit of looking out for everypony, but she'd always been extra nice to Sweetie Belle. "Sure thing, Blue." She said in a surprisingly happy sort of voice. "I'll meet you out front?" Blue nodded at that, and then vanished out of the door. Sweetie Belle had never heard the saying 'you can get used to anything', but if she had she'd have agreed with it. Four or five months ago, she'd have been in here crying a little almost every single night. And every single night, Bluebell would stop in and give her a hug with those big feathery wings of hers and tell her it'd be okay.

The other girls here were pretty okay too, considering how incredibly new everything was to Sweetie Belle now. Discreet Whispers and Pleasurable Company had both been really super nice to her too, even if they were usually busy at night doing whatever they did at the club. The bartender, Dry Martini had never failed to be there when Sweetie needed some advice about something she'd never encountered back in Ponyville. Even the club manager, Miss Kitty was always willing to take a little time out of her day for her. Of course, she'd been the one to bring Sweetie Belle in after... well, after everything had happened to her.

But now, eight months down the line from the incident which had torn her away from everything she ever knew, Sweetie was starting to accept her new life. She really, really missed Scootaloo and Applebloom, not to mention her big sister, but Sweetie knew just how insane her situation sounded. Who could she tell? She'd tried sending a letter to the Princess but either it hadn't gotten to her, or maybe she'd just been dismissed as a kook. She wouldn't have been surprised if it had been both of those things.

Rarity had always told her there were something’s you just couldn't change, and maybe this was one of them. She looked up into the mirror into the pretty and made-up face that looked back at her, and she had to smile. Besides, it wasn't all bad. There was plenty of good stuff too. Bluebell and Discreet and Pleasure were all really good friends, and Martini knew how to mix up the best milkshakes. That, and... well, there was the one other thing that had changed for the better.

She lifted the dress off of its hook by the door, slipping it with a practiced ease over her sleek white body. Pausing only for a moment to turn her hip a little towards the mirror and smile at the sight, before tugging it all the way on. She quickly trotted out the door and into the backstage hallway, gently levitating a packet of sheet music in front of her as she decided on the songs she'd sing tonight.

Yeah, things weren't so bad. After all, if you got to do something you loved to do, got to have wonderful friends and good times with them, and got to live in this fascinating and amazing world she'd fallen into... what was there to complain about? She only hoped Rarity was okay, wherever she was.That was what she kept telling herself, anyway, as she passed a tall, pink coated earth pony with a slow smile on her face. "Evening Sweetie. Big crowd out there tonight."

Sweetie Belle smiled at Miss Kitty. She might have looked a lot like a certain pink pony she’d known once upon a time, but there was no way they could be the same pony. "Good night for tips then, Miss." She replied with a chirrup of happiness. "What kind of mood is the crowd in?" She asked casually as her eyes watched Lotsa Laughs send the club into peals of uproarious laughter after one of his trademark slapstick jokes.

Miss Kitty purred a little before speaking. "They're gonna need a nice cool down after Lotsa's act. Arpeggio and her sister are here tonight, so I figured we could use something a little smooth and jazzy. Think you can manage that?" She asked, tilting her white and purple streaked mane with that slow and sensual smile of hers, somehow smoky, heated and suggestive all in one facial gesture.

Sweetie chuckled softly, leaning up just a little to kiss Miss Kitty on the cheek, like she'd done for her new big sister so many times before. "You got it boss." She winked, and pulled out a dozen or so old favorites, humming softly to herself as she did so. There were some things you just couldn't change. It was better to enjoy what you had, and make the best of it.

Sweetie kind of liked it that way.

~~~~~Manehatten Harbor, some time later~~~~~

Iron Resolve stood silently on the shoreline as the bright spark lights bobbed up and down across Manehatten Bay, marking where the three great Air Fortresses had fallen to ignominious defeat. On the shore, a battered and bruised pony wearing a much ruffled uniform knelt on the sand before two black coated officers, both of whom were speaking far too quietly for most ponies to hear. Fortunately for Iron Resolve, his hearing was quite excellent, which was why he had been attached to this security detail.

“Surely you do not expect me to believe such a fantastic tale.” Generalfeldmarschall Panzer growled in his most intimidating voice. He was really a fine and jovial fellow most of the time, but he could just as easily be a cold blooded monster if need be. And right now, he was putting on an exceptional show for the surviving soldiers of the fortresses by making their captain absolutely terrified.

“It is true, mein kommandant! I swear to you, on all that I hold sacred!” The poor surviving Hauptmann of the three Air Fortresses was practically pissing his uniform with fear. Nopony liked the direct attention of the High Command, but to attract the attention of those two was the worst of all. “It was a Sonic Rainboom! My mother took me to the gallery in Cloudsdale where they have the paintings!”

“We will see, täuschen” The mare next to Panzer said, her voice impossibly calm and quiet. The Lady’s name was not spoken except amongst the highest ranked officers, but she was legendary for never raising her voice above a normal speaking tone. She didn’t need to. Her ability to inspire and terrify those who served her and those who opposed her was without equal, and so she needed no histrionics.

“Kommandant! We have recovered the tapes!” A rubber-clad diving pony dragged his way up the surf, bearing a trio of large and bulky cases on his back. Several white-coated technicians hurried over to the devices, and for several long minutes Panzer looked on in silence as they worked their techno-wizardry on them.

Iron Resolve waited patiently, knowing that one way or another there would be orders for him to shortly carry out. He was not wrong, as the General nodded to the technicians and turned away from the still shaking captain. “Astonishing.” Was all Panzer said at first, his eyes half closed and his hoof on his head. “We must report to the Fuhrerin immediately. The loss of Daring Do will need to wait to be addressed.”

He turned to Iron Resolve, and his eyes were hard. “Major Iron. The crews of these vessels have performed to our satisfaction, but the surviving officer has not. Deal with him.” He turned and walked away a moment later, The Lady in close attendance to him and the three bulky cameras loaded into his official vehicle for transport.

Major Iron Resolve turned to the poor Hauptmann, and drew his service pistol. Two precise shots rang down the shoreline, and then nothing more. “Get rid of him,” The Major growled to the remaining crew of the vessels, and glared out into the bay where the salvaging operations would likely be going on for days. So much waste. But if the story had been true, perhaps a profit might be gleaned from it.

The Major turned away and stepped into the official car along with his General. The Fuhrerin needed to be informed, and the General would need for him to give his report as well.

~~~~~In front of The Blue Note~~~~~

Down on the streets of Manehatten, five figures stepped out of a swank looking speed-machine and slowly moved towards the entrance of the club. Two beady eyes watched them slip inside, and then slipped away into the shadows. It grasped at the battered old payphone and shoved a bit into the slot. A few presses of buttons later, and the figure waited until the line clicked. “She’s with them, just like he said she would be.” A pause, then a rasping chuckle. “I will make certain they do not know she is gone until it is too late, Mein Doktor.”

Author's Note

Well, THAT was a disappointing debut.

Oh well. I promised a story and a story I shall deliver.

Aithors Note - A Hauptmann is a german equivalent of a Captain, though the term is typically used navally. A Generalfeldmarschall is roughly the equivalent of a 5 star general, though in this context he's more of the supreme commander of these... mysteriously germanesque forces.

Chapter 4 - Manehatten Blues

~~~~~Manehatten~~~~~

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel a little bit claustrophobic as they slipped out of the car. The massive, towering buildings looming over them were more than a little intimidating. The city itself throbbed with life, the sound of distant sirens echoing through the alleyways as ponies of every shape, size, and tribe wandered the sidewalks. All were immersed in their own lives, their own stories, and Dash couldn’t remember a time when she’d felt so very small.

It didn’t help that the city was absolutely huge. It was easily twice the size of Cloudsdale, and Cloudsdale was already a fair bit larger than Manehatten was. Scooter had offhandedly commented that more than seven million ponies, griffons, and other creatures lived here. Dash didn’t remember most of her Equestrian civics classes from the Academy, but she was pretty sure that number was way too large to be possible. She wasn’t sure there were that many ponies in all of Equestria! And yet…

Yet, staring up at the towering structures of the city, she could almost believe it. Being told that lots of the ponies lived outside of downtown proper helped a little. All pegasi understood the basic concept of the suburbs, since they were kinda the only way Pegasi knew how to keep from getting all up in each others business. Still, that was way too many ponies for Dash to wrap her head around, given that it was still aching pretty bad.

The visions, at least, had stopped. There were no more images swimming before her, depicting a life she’d never lived, and that was definitely a plus. “You okay, Dash?” Twilight’s soft voice was kinda soothing in an odd way, and she replied with a nod. Of all of her friends to have here for this, she was glad Twilight was one of them, and not just for the obvious and pervy reasons.

Twilight, even moreso than AJ, was a kind of pillar in her life. A rock she knew would always be a safe port in a storm. She made Dash feel safe, even with all of this insanity going on around them. “Good,” Twilight said that with her confident little smile, turning back to regard the world before them. They were going to some nightclub, where apparently somepony who looked a lot like Sweetie Belle had been singing and performing for quite some time now.

Rarity had initially dismissed that, but now she just looked worried and anxious. She was fiddling with her hooves way more than normal, and in spite of the fact that not a single strand of her mane or tail was out of place she gave off an air of disheveled concern. It was kind of strange. They’d all been rushing around, and Rarity had always complained about how hard it was to keep herself looking ‘fresh’. Yet she looked… exactly the same as she had when they’d fallen out of the portal. Utterly in control and sexy as all get out.

Of course, she wasn’t quite as sexy as… well...

Twilight sat primly in the seat next to her, wearing a tight fitting white blouse with a cute little black ribbon around the collar. A spell she’d cast had hidden her wings and ethereal mane, but left her long-limbed body, which made her look like a Twilight Sparkle version of Fleur De Lis. A short, black skirt and a pair of thin rimmed glasses, and Dash didn't care what the style was called, Twi looked hot. Dash bit down a little on her lip and turned her eyes away from her, trying to focus instead on the important matters at hoof. “Hey DD. Just who were those guys back there? You said something about Neightzi's?" The word stumbled over her lips, both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. And why was she reflexively calling Daring ‘DD’?

Daring sighed, rubbing at her chin as she leaned over the back of her seat, bright lights and other vehicles slowly whooshing around them as they pulled down an alleyway. "Well, I'm pretty sure those guys in the warehouse were members of the Apple Mob." Dash felt her heart clench at that name. It had to be some kind of coincidence. "Didn't get a look at their cutie marks, so I can't say for sure. As for the Neightzi's? Ugh. I hate those jerks." She shuddered a little and glared upwards. "You really should know that yourself, but just to keep a long story short, they're Pony Supremacists."

Her lip curled in disgust. "They think that all the other intelligent species are ‘lesser’ to ponies and that we have some kind of ‘divine right’ to rule the world. We don’t really know who the leader is, but they had a lot of folks who agreed with them or just went along out of fear." She waved a hoof in the general direction of the sea. "They've been stirring up trouble all over the world ever since, even after Lady Celestia supposedly spanked most of them out of Equestria."

Dash slowly nodded, biting at her lip. I really don't want to ask this but... What choice did she have? If she had to live with the idea that a certain somepony might be her enemy here, she'd better know now before things got sticky. "What did you mean by the Apple Mob?" she asked cautiously. “We know some Apples back home, you see.”

For a moment Daring went quiet, then spoke in a soft voice. "Gangsters. They run the biggest hard cider distillery in northern Equestria." She shook her head slowly. "But that's just a front for everything else they're into. Gambling, extortion, racketeering, smuggling, and a lot of brute thug work. Unlike most of the other mobs, they're actually pretty damn cohesive. They're a literal family, ya see." She blew a sigh, pensive. “The boss isn’t such a bad pony, but she’d do anything to protect her family.”

Dash had to nod at that one, and glanced over at Twilight. She was deep in conversation with Scooter, for reasons that sounded awful technical to Dash. Rarity, on the other hoof, was still staring at the floor. Daring nodded at her, then turned back around in her seat and giving them the illusion of privacy. Dash scooted over a bit and wrapped a hoof around Rarity’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay, Rares.” She quietly whispered to her, making sure that Twilight couldn’t hear them. If she did, she’d start worrying her pretty egghead off about stuff she couldn’t fix right now. “We’ll find Sweetie, I promise.”

Rarity’s head came up with a jerk, but she nodded cautiously. “I am just worried about this news of her singing in some sort of nightclub.” She shivered a little, though the weather was anything but cold. “My dear little Sweetie Belle isn’t ready for such an environment. So many ponies who could take advantage of her…” She trailed off, staring into the city. It was all Rainbow Dash could do not to sigh and hug her, but she did squeeze Rarity’s shoulder firmly to try and lend her some support.

Rarity shook her head and half smiled. “I know. Sweetie is many things, but she does know how to keep safe.” Rarity’s eyes sparkled a bit, and a bubbly laugh came out of her. “Still, isn’t this terribly exciting? It’s like we’re in one of my favorite romances.” Dash stared at Rarity, even as she clapped her hooves together. “It’s like that time we were in that comic book Spike had except… well, more adult.” She fluttered her eyelashes and smiled broadly at Dash. “More opportunities to be ourselves, do things we wouldn’t otherwise do… isn’t that right, Rainbow Dash?”

Dash felt her cheeks heat up really, really quickly as she tried to rally with some kinda snarky comment, but Rarity was rolling right over her already. Her lips split into a wicked smile, and her eyes sparkled. “Come now, Rainbow. I’m hardly blind.” She winked. “Though I fear our dear librarian might be if you don’t step up your game.” Then she turned away, obviously much cheered by the little exchange and went back to gawking at the city around them.

As for herself, Dash just turned back to stare at Twilight Sparkle, and wished she was half as good at putting stuff into words as Rarity was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight was fascinated. Scooter had been only too willing to talk extensively about the mechanics of her Motorcar. To think! Combustion using refined earth-tar! Professor Maillard is going to flip when I get back home, he’s been saying this for years! Even better, she seemed to know all about why the entire city was covered in the usually expensive spark-lights and other mechanical wonders.

Much to her amusement, it appeared that a slight change in history had turned the Flim Flam brothers from a pair of con-artist frauds into industrial magnates. The ‘for want of a nail’ theory of history verified! All it had taken was somepony giving them a chance with their earliest invention. A single show of faith and now they were not only legitimate businessponies, but considered to be some of the most honest in all of Equestria.

But it was the mechanics of all these marvels that most fascinated Twilight. The possibilities they opened up were nigh on endless, and she fully intended to spirit the knowledge of their creation back home. To think, I could finally bring an end to the clean-water problem in Trotsdale! Or the issues of food shipping from the Unicorn Range! I could improve the Friendship Express Rail system! Twilight was practically giddy with excitement over the possibilities.

She was also more than certain now that she was in some kind of other Equestria, one that had taken dramatically different historical paths. More importantly, one that still sat under a deadly threat. Twilight looked up at the pale moon that hung over Manehatten. One where two equine faces faced one another with mournful looks, etched into the surface. Twilight didn't yet understand why there were two, but the meaning was painfully clear to her.

Worse still, Daring and Scooter had both behaved as though the Sonic Rainboom was still a thing of myth and legend. Even in her own time, the recorded Sonic Rainboom Dash had pulled off as a filly was known long before the pony who’d done it had come out into the light. Yet… They reacted as though it was impossible, and Daring had said Rosetta had proved it was impossible. The implications of that were… not good.

No Rainboom probably meant no Elements of Harmony. Even worse, it might have meant a whole lot of other events not happening that should have, and… Twilight felt a cold shiver go up her spine, and clutched at herself for a moment. It was definitely something she needed to speak to Princess Celestia about, but for now she had to focus on what she could accomplish. Which meant finding Sweetie Belle and then figuring out how to get them all home safely.

The car rolled to a halt in front of a garish facade that Twilight supposed had to be The Blue Note. A massive neon sign of bright blue flickered on and off in a simple animation, showing a musical note dancing with a cocktail. There was quite the sizable line in front of the place, but Daring, Dash and Rarity were all already heading for the door itself. Twilight moved to follow, but Scooter held up a hoof and shook her head. “Wait. Daring can get us in ahead of the line, we just gotta give her time. Your glamorous friend will help, considering she looks like Canterlot nobility.”

Twilight nodded faintly as Daring struck up a conversation with the doorpony, a burly looking earth pony in a three piece suit and sunglasses. Rarity was pouring on the charm too, slipping up close to the doorpony and fluttering her lashes coquettishly. Lacking anything else to pass the time other than watching Rarity flirt her way into the club, she decided to see what information she could wean out of Scooter about everything else that was going on. "So, tell me about this Rosetta mare," she said, sticking extra close to the flame-haired pony so they could be heard over the general din of the crowd. She knew all about Rosetta from the books, of course, but… well, it paid to be thorough.

Scooter nodded, face sober. "Yeah, Rosetta Stone. She's a pretty damn smart unicorn, she's known Daring forever. They had something of a fallin' out a few months ago and things've been kinda strained, but they're still really good friends. Leastwise I think they are." Scooter frowned a bit. "Even if they get a lot grouchier at one another nowadays. Nopony more reliable when it comes to crazy stuff like this. She’s a super genius, ya see." She waved her hooves, her eyes wide. “Like, scary smart. She works at the University of Manehatten as some kinda researcher, and reports directly to the Lord and Lady.”

Twilight frowned a bit at that. Something happened between Rosetta and Daring? But the book didn’t say anything about that… "Falling out? What happened?" she asked off hoofedly, trying to remain casual. “I’d rather not get in the middle of an argument if I can avoid it.” It was hard to keep the emotion out of her tone, but she guessed Scooter had interpreted it as her trying to be courteous and was half smiling at her.

Scooter snorted. “Manehatten Silver is what happened.” She grumbled a little, turning her head away. “I don’t like talking bad about other ponies, but she should never have gotten involved with that grave robbing SOB.” Twilight stared at her for a moment, trying to suppress her surprise. Scooter kept talking though, as though she hadn’t noticed. "Yeah, stay away from the subject of Manehatten Silver. If either of 'em brings it up, try to steer the conversation someplace else or we're gonna have issues, ya dig?"

Scooter seemed a bit grim, and Twilight nodded her acquiesce. Scooter sighed and shook her head. "Good. Sorry about getting overly emotional there but…” She glared into the distance. “Look, it’s nothing you can do anything about. Oh, and one more important warning. You look like a sweet kid, but you've never been in Manehatten before," Scooter said softly, turning to regard the club with a strange emotion on her face. Something between longing and sadness, if Twilight was any guess.

Scooter smiled faintly as Daring motioned for them to follow. She picked up her hooves and started trotting as she spoke. "Just be careful what kinda offers you accept from other ponies, or you might find yourself in hotter water than you can handle.” She turned her head to wink at Twilight, suddenly looking very cheeky. “We wouldn’t want your marefriend to get the wrong idea, you know?”

She hurried towards the club, and it took Twilight a moment to realize what had been said. Her cheeks turned a bright red and she felt the embarrassment burn in her chest. Rainbow Dash? Her Marefriend? Where had that come from?

~~~~~~The Blue Note~~~~~~

The doors to the club were made of old and much polished oak and brass, and swung open at the touch of the suited bouncers. The floor had been richly carpeted beneath their hooves, plush and deep enough to sleep on. The lighting of the entire place was just bright enough to see other ponies, but dim enough that if you were careful and stuck to the shadows you could probably get away with a lot in the secluded little corners. All around them, the air was rich with the smell of fancy cigars and potent liquor and the entire place reeked of sophistication and style. Quite a far cry from the cheap looking exterior of the place.

A pretty pegasus mare with a bright blue coat was waiting for them at the top of the steps into the main room. She spoke in a smooth and silky voice that made Dash’s wings give a little fluff. "Welcome to the Blue Note, my name is Bluebell and I'll be... taking care of you tonight." She winked saucily, which got a grin from Scooter and an eyeroll from Daring... and a very distinct blush from Twilight. "Nice to see you, Miss Do. I see you've brought some new lovelies this evening." Those bedroom eyes drifted over Rainbow Dash, and made her rather acutely aware of just how long it had been since she'd engaged in any... unusual forms of exercise.

Bluebell giggled faintly, her bright eyes sparkling. “Oh, this must be the famous Cloudsdale Dash!” She advanced with a smooth and rolling walk that looked designed to draw attention to the mare’s flanks. Bluebell giggled again, and tilted her head at Dash before speaking. “Just like Daring said, you’re such a cutie.” She grinned brightly, and purred into Dash’s ear. “Don’t be afraid to let me know if there’s anything I can do for you…”

“Lay off her Blue.” Daring Do said in a thoroughly annoyed and amused tone. “She’s been through a lot tonight. Can we get our usual table? We’re waiting for Rosie to join us.” Bluebell slipped back so fast even Dash had a tough time following her. Bluebell winked at Daring and turned around with a flounce of her tail. Dash felt her wings give a little involuntary ruffle at the sight of the blue mare's rolling flank as she walked, and bit her lip firmly to get under control. This was exactly the wrong place and time for that kind of reaction.

“Sure thing, Miss Do. Right this way.” Bluebell winked over her shoulder and descended the stairs into the Blue Note’s main room. The first thing Dash noticed was the tables were spaced just far enough apart to encourage privacy without wasting room. There was a single lit candle at every table, but very little other lighting except for the stage. The air above the tables hung with just a little bit of smoke coming from pipes or cigars being enjoyed by many of the patrons.

It was actually quite the strange and exotic assemblage. Suited business stallions, uniformed soldiers both mares and stallions alike, shifty eyed ne'er-do-wells, this place had it all. There was even a table full of earth pony stallions and mares who looked a lot like the ones they’d fought earlier tonight. Discreet mares wearing... rather risqué outfits slipped in between the tables bearing platters of food, drink and other sinful pleasures. As dash had just been thinking, it was perfect for the nightclub rendezvous scene in any respectable Daring Do book. In fact, that it was so perfect was beginning to send a chill up Dash’s spine even though she couldn’t say exactly why.

They reached a cozy and out of the way booth that still had a good view of the stage, and the pegasus mare cooed in a voice that made Rainbow Dash shiver just a little. “Here you go, sugar. Your favorite spot in the house.” Dash dragged her eyes to the stage where a little white sign sat upon a stool that read 'On break, back in 10 minutes.' Well, damn. She had been hoping for something to distract her, but apparently no dice.

They had all just slipped into their seats when Bluebell gave off a little suggestive sound, grabbing the attention of all five mares at once. “We've got a full bar and Bell Pepper's in the kitchen tonight, so the food's divine. Take a moment..." She slipped a menu deftly into Rainbow Dash's hooves as she sat down. "To see just what we can offer you." She winked. "I'll be back in a minute or two." she said all breathily, before slipping away into the dark room. Dash turned to Twilight and was immensely thankful that she was blushing just as much as Dash was right then.

Daring actually chuckled softly. "Easy there girls. We're here on business, not pleasure." Scooter made a disappointed sound and Daring smacked her across the back of the head with her hoof. "Quiet, Scoots. At least we've got a waitress we can trust, Bluebell is a damn good pony." she observed, gently lifting the slim menu to glance inside for a moment and then shut it with a snap. "How much longer we got, Kid?"

Scoots pulled out - much to Dash's amazement - a brass pocket watch and checked it coolly. "Twenty minutes. Better order something, Daring, we don't want Miss Kitty giving us a hard time again. Especially not with new fillies around. You know how she gets when..." She stopped in mid-sentence as Dash and Twilight stared at her together and then chuckled softly. "Let's just say Miss Kitty's got a healthy kind of appetite... and you two are exactly the sort of dish she enjoys indulging in. Catch my drift?"

Twilight colored up extra prettily, and Dash had to enjoy the sight. To be honest, she probably wouldn't much mind that sort of attention from somepony right now, but Twilight might give her a hard time about it. Besides, the pony she'd rather be getting that attention from was sitting right across the table from her and… and Dash probably shouldn't be thinking that stuff right now. So she slipped open the menu to take a look, wondering if a place as fancy as this had hay fries and fish sticks.

Much to her delight, the thing wasn't packed with overly complex appetizers and too-expensive fancy meals, but with the same kind of working-class faire that Dash was used to seeing back at home in Ponyville. Of course, there were also listings for rather more intimate services right there on the second page, and Dash's jaw had to drop at the sight of it. Sure, she wasn't so naive as to believe this sort of thing never went on in Ponyville, but this was a little much!

Luckily, Twilight hadn't even opened her menu before the soft sounds of applause distracted the whole table of ponies from further discussion over the menu. A pair of elegant looking mares walked out onto the stage and took up positions next to a large standing piano and a huge double-bass. Rainbow Dash wasn't entirely sure but... well, the mare at the piano had a white coat and was a unicorn, and the one on the bass was an earth pony and had a grey coat and dark mane.

Sure, the unicorn's mane was different - but if Dash didn't know better... "Hey Twi, doesn't that look like Vinyl and Octavia?" She whispered to her, and Twilight nodded slowly. Things were getting weirder and weirder, and Dash was beginning to wonder just how much stranger things would get.

Then she got her answer.

The room went silent as the pair of mares began to play soft sort of tune, the kind of thing that tickled at Rainbow Dash's memories in an odd way. For a few moments, she was confused... until a sweet and sexy sort of voice began to project out from the stage, obviously being amplified magically somehow. The sound of it sent a shiver up her spine and set her neck hairs to standing on end at a voice at once familiar and strange.

♪♫ "Now.... You... say you're lonely.

You cried the long night through...

Well you can Cry me a river...

Cry me a river....

I cried a river... over you..."♪♫

A sleek white hoof stepped out onto the stage wearing a glittering back heeled shoe, then was followed by a second hoof wearing the same. Dash's jaw slowly dropped as she watched the elegant mare in a sleek and glittering blue dress slowly pace out onto the stage, her long mane fetchingly done up to emphasize her bare shoulders and beautiful face. The soft red lipstick and blush simply made every movement of her lips enticing, and for a moment Dash tried to force herself to believe that this name was just a coincidence.

But Dash couldn't deny it for very long. The mane color was too perfect, the body shape - while obviously much, much older looked far too familiar. She was the spitting image of Rarity, except somehow all of Rarity's grace and elegance had been transformed into this glamorous and beautiful little starlet of the stage. Every step she took was just a little smoky, and every turn of her head was just a little suggestive. What convinced Dash the fastest though, was that voice. There was no mistaking it, that was Sweetie Belle alright.

♪♫ " Now... you... say you're sorry,

For bein' so... Untrue...

Well you can Cry me a river...

Cry me a River....

I cried a river... over you." ♪♫

"Celestia help me, she can sing." sighed Scooter, looking nothing so much as absolutely in love with the mare on stage. Privately, Dash had to agree with that sentiment. Heck, even Twilight was nodding slowly, her eyes riveted to the stage as Sweetie slowly came back to the stage, slowly perching herself up on the tall wooden stool. She even managed to make that look sexy, the silk of her dress slipping over her body and legs as she moved sinuously, her forehooves keeping her balanced on the chair as she crossed her legs a little.

♪♫ "You drove me,

Nearly drove me... Outta my head.

While you.... never shed... a tear....

You remember, I remember.. all that you said...

Told me love was too plebeian,

Told me that you're through with me... and now...." ♪♫

Dash felt her gaze tugged over to Twilight, and for just a moment their eyes met as the soft sounds of the song wafted around them. Dash didn't entirely know what she was doing, and for once she didn't care. Her hoof slowly stretched out under the table, blindly looking for another to grasp - and for a moment, she found it - Twilight's hoof gripped tightly around hers and the two of them looked at one another as the world moved around them

They’d found Sweetie Belle, alright. They’d found her easily seven years older, and looking totally and completely at home in the bizarre new world they were now in. She fit into the world around her like a hoof into a sock, so perfectly that if Dash hadn’t known better she would have sworn this was where she’d been her entire life.

Rarity’s hooves were up at her mouth and covering all but her wide and astonished eyes. Twilight was biting at her lip and Daring was watching them both pensively. “We’re in big trouble, aren’t we Twilight?” Rarity said softly from behind her hooves. Dash knew the answer to that.

They were in really, really big trouble… and she was beginning to doubt that there was going to be any kind of easy way to get out of it too. So she held on tightly to Twilight’s hoof and tried to keep from hyperventilating. She needed to stay calm, she needed to be cool. She needed to… to come up with some kind of plan.

And just like that, as if the thought had summoned it into being, all of her anxiety vanished in an instant to be replaced by a solid sense of total confidence. What in the buck was she so worried about? DD was right there with her, and Scooter had the wheel. Rarity could get them through the frou frou stuff, of course. And Twilight…. Well, so long as her best girl was right there with her, there wasn’t a single damn thing they couldn’t do.

So she put on a cheeky grin and squeezed Twilight’s hoof soothingly. First thing was first. They had to spring Sweetie Belle from this birdcage, lickety split. Now if she could just find an angle to work...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight was just about to break through the awe that Sweetie’s voice had inspired in her when the song came to an end. The room filled with raucous applause, and the sweet and sensual looking Bluebell appeared by their table with that pretty smile she’d been wearing since they walked in. "Sweetie's sure got pipes on her, doesn't she?" The waitress observed, with a fond look over at the stage before turning back to the table. "So what'll it be, fillies?" She asked in a sweet and brisk sort of voice, suddenly all business. That was a relief for Twilight, who really needed a few moments to collect herself.

"I'll have a double scotch on the rocks, and the dandelion club." Daring Do noted, and then gave Scooter a stern sort of look.

Scooter sighed. "I'll have the usual, Bluebell. No help in the lemonade though." She said with a mournful look at Daring, who seemed to be smiling in patient amusement.

Rarity's arch voice quietly joined in. "A pot of green tea, and..." She shook her head. "That will be all, dear."

Dash looked startled and then bit her lip before responding. "Gimme a tequila sunrise with extra orange juice and uh.." She quickly flipped through the menu for a moment before saying. "The spinach salad with a side of hay fries." She handed over the menu with a slight blush on her cheeks, and Bluebell gave Dash a small and cute smile.

Which for some reason annoyed Twilight, but now wasn't the time to get snippy with the help. "Large spring water." She indicated smoothly, wanting to be at her absolute best tonight. "With the grilled cheese and tomato soup, thank you." She finished, floating the menu back primly. It wouldn’t do for a Princess to show too much overt jealousy.

Bluebell nodded and slipped off into the darkness again, giving Twilight a few moments to indulge herself in self-examination - tuning out the music and the quiet sounds of Scooter giving Dash a ribbing about how she'd reacted to Bluebell. Sweetie Belle looked like a fully grown, if still kind of young mare up there. She hadn't aged eight months - she looked like she'd aged eight years. The rift that had carried them through time and space had been powerful enough to awaken new things in all of them, but for Sweetie it had been even more dramatic.

Twilight was scared. Incredibly, undeniably scared - what if they were changed so dramatically that it'd be impossible to go back home? Worse still... what if there wasn't any way to go back home in the first place? And what if the longer they stayed here, the more a part of this world they became until they didn’t even know there was a world to go back to? Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack… her friends, her dearest friends were all waiting for her back at home. Which didn’t even bring up the problem of Princess Celestia...

Twilight knew the Princess. If that portal was a threat to Equestria, she'd close it in a heartbeat. She would only hesitate a few seconds to mourn the loss of her student, but the Elements of Harmony were no longer a consideration. She might weep and rage at the heavens for the necessity, but she would still close the portal. Twilight didn't know how Dash had known she needed somepony's hoof to hold, but she was glad for it. She'd been a hairs breadth away from completely breaking down when that realization had hit her.

The minutes passed as Twilight silently worried over her problem - before she knew it, the food was hitting the table and the golden brown toasted bread of her sandwich was a welcome sight. No matter how odd this world was, grilled cheese was still grilled cheese and for that she could be thankful. Two bites later though, yet another new thing intruded upon her world... something that she knew, instinctively, was going to change more than just their situation.

Out of the dim lights of the club, a new unicorn mare walked into the little pool of light surrounding their table. Twilight dropped her sandwich onto her plate in mid bite as she sashayed into view, the light gleaming off of her spectacles. She had a dark blue coat that was perhaps just a shade or so off from the color of Twilight's mane, and her mane was streaked with bright pinks and purples. She wore a buttoned up suit and tie that looked very collegial.

Twilight lived and breathed being observant about everything around her - she'd known that Rosie had to refer to Rosetta from the books, but what she hadn't been prepared for was what she looked like in pony. Twilight knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that if she were to stand next to Rosetta in the same outfit, the only way a pony would have been able to tell them apart was by coloration. She even looked the same way Twilight did when she was aggravated about something.

It was like looking into an enchanted mirror, and when Rosetta spoke her voice was pitched only a little bit above Twilight's. She was fiddling with some strange looking scientific device, her voice distracted as she spoke. "I do hope this was important, Daring. Our instruments just recorded a physical impossibility right over Manehatten Bay and..." She paused, as her eyes caught the serious and sad look on Daring Do's face. Immediately, Rosetta's whole attitude changed to one of concern. "Is everything alright, Daring?" There was worry in her voice as her eyes traveled over Twilight and Rainbow Dash and she gasped with an almost absurd dramatis. “Cloudsdale! You’re alive!”

Without a second of hesitation, she threw her forelegs around Dash’s neck and hugged her fiercely. Even from where she sat, she could see the glitter of faint tears going down Rosetta’s cheeks. “Oh, thank Solaris you’re safe. We’d thought… I’d thought…” Rosetta sniffled as Dash awkwardly patted her on the shoulder, and turned to give Twilight a pained and desperate look. Dash plead silently for help! when Rosetta began to smack her shoulder. “You stupid, reckless, overblown, egotistical fool of a pegasus! You’re a thousand times worse than Daring!” Rosetta kept smacking Rainbows shoulder for several more moments as her sobs began to subside.

A few minutes later, Rosetta slipped back and gave off a little sniffle as Scooter offered her a hanky and she used it to clean up her tears. “I’m sorry, Rosetta.” Dash said in her quietest voice, and tucked her hooves in her lap in something that looked like shame. “I didn’t mean to make everypony worry, I swear.”

That was worrying. Really, really worrying. Dash hadn’t left these ponies behind, she’d never BEEN to this world before. It was time for direct action, before the magic of this universe got out of hoof. “We ought to get back on topic, I think.” She spoke in a firm voice which grabbed everypony’s attention instantly. “We have a lot of ground to cover and no idea how much time we have before things get completely out of hoof.”

Rosetta looked startled and nodded, hopping up into the booth a moment later and leaning over the table with her hooves folded as she looked at Twilight with appraisal. "Yes, I think there's quite a lot we've all got to talk about. Why don't you go first, Miss..." She trailed off, the look in those bright and intelligent eyes sending a shiver down Twilight's spine.

Well, nothing for it. Better to show confidence than anything else, Twilight. She leaned in herself and folded her hooves in a mirror image of Rosetta's pose - which wasn't hard, considering it was the kind of look she adopted when she was thinking. "Twilight Sparkle." She indicated, and then her eyes traced for just a moment to the stage. "We've probably got some time until she's done anyway." She noted, before staring back into the eyes of... well, herself. "Ask whatever you'd like, Miss Rosetta. I'll answer what I can."

Twilight had a feeling though, that the night's excitement was just getting started. There were more than a few mysteries left to solve, not the least of which was what had happened to Sweetie Belle and the rest of them. Twilight only hoped that the answers could be found in time, and in the case of how to get home... that the answers existed at all.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay guys. Plot issued had to be resolved.

In exchange, here's an extra-long chapter.

Chapter 5 - Perilous Parallels

~~~~~~The Blue Note, One explanation later~~~~~~

"... And that's what brought us to here." Twilight’s explanation concluded, although Rarity honestly could not say she’d paid a whit of attention to it. All of her focus was on the mare that graced the stage in front of her, currently sipping at a glass of water while the band ruffled with sheet music. “Rosetta, I think what we really need to do is try to figure out why our worlds suddenly connected with one another…” Twilight’s voice faded into the background, and Rarity tried her darnedest not to let her emotions get the better of her.

Sweetie looked beautiful. She was still every inch Rarity’s sister, but all of the chubby young curves and bright eyed enthusiasm had been translated gorgeously into a sleek and devoutly feminine package that threatened to overwhelm her own poise. Her voice was gorgeous, her stage presence immaculate, and if Rarity had not known better she could have sworn that Sweetie was actually flirting with the crowd. It was a complete change of pace from her old self, and that was perhaps the most frightening thing of all.

Rarity could deal with physical transformation, really. Such things happened all the time in the upper crust world of the Canterlot social scene. She could handle Sweetie being a bit older, too. After all, nearly a year had apparently passed since she’d come here. But Sweetie looked like she was Rarity’s age now, and that seemed to break all of her usual coping mechanisms for the strange and exotic.

She wanted to rush the stage and hug her, or perhaps try and spirit her away from this dreadful place. But Rarity knew enough about show business to know better than to try such things. There would undoubtedly be some rather burly looking ponies hanging nearby to watch for those who might try to get too close to the stage, especially with such a pretty filly in that absolutely gorgeous dress upon it.

Finally, the musicians got their act together and began to play a slinky and smooth jazzy tune. For the first few minutes, Sweetie just tapped her hindhoof to the beat and bobbed her head with a little smile on her face and her eyes closed. She looked… happy. Content, almost. It was an astonishing thing for Rarity to contemplate at first, but then the truth hit her like a sack of wheat. You really can get used to anything, can’t you Sweetie? In a way, it just made her all the more proud for her little sister’s courage. She could not conceive of what it must’ve been like for her, suddenly trapped in a strange world surrounded by strange ponies.

The music swelled a little louder, and Sweetie slowly slipped off her wooden stool, the gentle glitter of her dress shimmering across the crowd as her mouth opened and a sensual sound flowed out. Her body swayed gently from side to side as she slowly descended a staircase Rarity had previously not seen, down into the floor of the club as a spotlight followed her.

♪♫"You had plenty money when you were... twenty-two...

You let other fillies make a... fool of you...

Why don't you do right...?

Like some... other colts do...."♪♫

Sweetie gently leaned over to a handsome looking business stallion as she hit the floor, tracing her hoof along his chin as she passed his table with a slow and sensual smile on her face. Rarity fought down the urge to yell at her little sister, knowing it wouldn’t do anything save cause a scene that none of them could afford right now.

♪♫"Get outta here...

Get me some money too..."♪♫

To her right, Rarity caught sight of Scooter staring with wide and vacant eyes at the slinky movements of Sweetie as she strutted slowly around the club floor. "Poor girl's completely besotted." She remarked in a very low voice, and Twilight nodded in agreement.

Rosetta cut in keeping her voice pitched low as to not disturb the other patrons. "It's my turn to tell a story. I'll keep it short and to the point... you don't need to know the gory details, just the facts." She sucked in a deep breath. Rarity could hear the distress in her voice, and wondered why she’d chosen now of all times to tell the story.

♪♫"You're sittin down and wonderin.... what it's all about....

If you ain't got no money, they will.... put you out.

why don't you do right...?

like some other.... colts do...."♪♫

"It all started about six months ago, shortly after Daring finally cornered that madpony, Doctor Negative. When things finally calmed down a bit, she and Silver started... going steady." She remarked, the pain in her voice evident to Rarity, who blinked a little at that. It was nothing compared to the strangled noise Dash made though, and was quickly silenced by her hooves clamping over her muzzle.

Rosetta quietly sighed as Sweetie Belle slipped around another table with a slow sway of her hips, the two scenes tearing Rarity’s attention into two. "I've never hidden the fact that I dislike Manehatten's methods and his attitude, but Dee seemed happy enough." She swallowed visibly, and Rarity had to feel a little brush of sympathy for the mare. It wasn’t like she hadn’t faced the jagged spears of unrequited love before.

♪♫"Get outta here...

Get me some money too..."♪♫

Sweetie Belle was getting closer to their table by the moment, and Rarity felt her heart pounding in her chest. She wanted nothing more than to reach out and speak to her, but… The last thing Rarity wanted was to cause a ruckus that could get them all in trouble. Unfortunately, Rosetta was oblivious to what was going on, so caught up in her story she was. "When Silver went missing, we were nervous. When Cloudsdale went missing too..." She looked up for a moment, straight at Rainbow Dash. “We assumed the worst.”

♪♫"Now if you hadn't left me all those... years ago...

You wouldn't be a wanderin now from.... door to door....

Why don't you do right...?

like some other colts.... do.... "♪♫

"Ever since then, we've been chasing ghosts." Rosetta remarked softly, never looking away from Dash. "Every time we had a lead, it vanished into nothing, until tonight, apparently... we got a... very high level tipoff that the Apple Mob had information regarding Cloudsdale’s whereabouts.. I didn't know Daring was going to go in there tonight, or I might have been there to keep her out of trouble.” She narrowed her gaze at Twilight. “It’s not that I’m not grateful to see Cloudsdale again, Miss Twilight. But I have to be a touch suspicious at your sudden appearance alongside her, you understand.”

♪♫"Get outta here...

Get me some money too..."♪♫

Sweetie Belle was there just outside of their table, softly running her hooves down Scooter's shoulders with a slow and sensual kind of smile - and for just a moment, her eyes met Rarity’s. There was a flash of recognition, and her irises narrowed to pinpricks, but she didn’t miss a single note. Rarity felt her heart breaking as Sweetie barely took a moment to wet her lips with her tongue before slowly slipping away from scooter with an almost imperceptible brush of her lips across the flame-haired pony's cheek. Twilight took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I don’t blame you, Miss Rosetta. In your hooves, I’d be thinking the same thing." Twilight remarked quietly. “But I will be willing to swear to you, we’re just as confused as you are. You must believe we are just as concerned for Dash as you are.”

♪♫"Get outta here...

Get me some money too..."♪♫

Rosetta nodded as the music slowly came to its jazzy end all around them, with Sweetie Belle slowly slipping back onto the stage. "We've got to be careful. Once we've spoken to your friend there, we need to get in contact with…” Her eyes darted to Daring, who nodded once. “Certain high level individuals in Canterlot. Once we’ve done that, we'll go back to the University here and I can consult my data - and perhaps come up with a plan of action." Her eyes scanned the room for a moment.

Rarity followed her gaze to a beautiful pink-coated earth pony with an elaborately coiffed pink mane. She wore a sleek burlesque style dress and mesh stocking hooves ending in heeled boots... and not for the last time today, Rarity could only feel awe come over her. Those bright blue eyes could belong to nopony else. They met one anothers gaze, and for a brief moment she could have sworn she saw recognition in that gaze.

♪♫"Why... don't you... do right....

Like... some other colts.... do.....?"♪♫

The notes from an unseen Sweetie Belle echoed in her mind, and it was in that split moment that Rarity felt a bolt of pain lance through her, and the whole world went black as the night.

~~~~~~The Airship "Liebe Kristall", Somewhere three hundred miles west of Manehatten~~~~~~

The conference room was dark. Only the flickering light of the film projector depicting the most momentous event in the history of the world cast any color over the inhabitants. Iron Resolve stood silently at his post next to the Fuhrerin’s desk, where the Kommandant had ordered him to stay until he was needed. The film slowly flickered to it’s grainy and damaged end, and the nervous unicorn technician looked towards the Fuhrerin for orders.

"Again." Commanded the smooth, sultry female voice from behind the desk. The technician fiddled with the machine to re-spool the film. A few moments later, the recorded video once again replayed the scene from just a half hour earlier that evening. Their flight to the Liebe Kristall had been quite swift, but Iron Resolve supposed that he should not be surprised. When the Kommandant wished to make haste, he was as swift as any pegasus alive.

"Incredible. Eight centuries, beloved. Eight Centuries since any pegasus was born capable of the Sonic Rainboom. Just look at her..." The Fuhrerin gestured at the screen as the film zoomed in to the rainbow-maned pegasus as the white streak showed her breaking through the very air itself, detonating it in a display of power. "She is magnificent. That mane, that sleek form, so honed in its physical beauty. She is..." The Fuhrerin raised her hooves up, as if in ecstasy. "She is perfect. The perfect pegasus, as I live and breathe."

In truth, Iron Resolve could not disagree. He considered himself a professional soldier in the purest sense of the word, and as dedicated to the purity of the Equine race as any pony standing in that room. Yet, he could not deny that the mere sight of her ruthlessly cutting down his comrades was a highly… arousing sight. The technician halted the film at the last clear image of the pegasus, her eyes wide and her mouth baring an exultant grin. She was the very image of Commander Hurricane, like a force of nature straight out of myth and legend.

"Mein Frau Fuhrerin... you will pardon my insolence." Colonel Stahl, a black-coated unicorn with dark eyes burning under the brim of his hat growled into the silence. "But that 'perfect pegasus' thwarted our plans to seize the special warehouse, and destroyed three of our Air Fortresses." He eyeballed the video disdainfully. "It is an impressive display, but she clearly is a threat to us." Iron Resolve did not much like Stahl, but there was no doubting his devotion to the cause. Even if there was substantial doubt about his intelligence, the stallion was a ruthlessly efficient officer.

The Fuhrerin laughed disdainfully. "Are you jealous, Herr Colonel? Do you think she will supplant you in my favor?" A slow and sensual smirk crossed her face, and the unicorn Colonel flushed under her gaze. "She very well may if you continue to show such stupidity. Of course she thwarted us - she knows nothing about our righteous cause. She was led astray by that confounded Daring Do, her ears filled with lies and deceit. It is likely she was told we were a threat to her unicorn friend." She pointed to the still image on her desk, that of a strangely maned unicorn, half hidden behind a crate. The image was not a good one, but it was the only security camera footage they had left. She looked distinctly odd for a unicorn, though. Her horn was unusually long and slender, much like…

The Fuhrerin waved her hoof dismissively. "It does not matter. We must have her for the cause. Her perfection will birth untold foals of superior genetics, and in due time they shall all grow to be capable of that momentous feat. With a dozen Sonic Rainbooms to rain destruction upon our foes, even Celestia will have to acknowledge the truth of our belief." Her hoof slammed into the desk. "Once she is in our hooves, we will be able to bring her around to our way of thinking.”

All of the ponies present nodded their agreement. Even if Iron Resolve privately doubted she would be so easily cowed into becoming a brood mare, he would obey the orders of the Fuhrerin. The Fuherin reached over to the Kommandant, and stroked her hoof down his cheek. “Beloved. Bring her to me, along with her friends. We must have her for our cause. You must even ignore that confounded Daring Do if it means succeeding - she will be incapable of stopping us with the power of the Rainboom at our command."

The Kommandant bowed over her hoof, kissing it gently. "Jawohl. Your wish is my command, Beloved. Colonel Stahl." He snapped a moment later, and the other Unicorn snapped to an even stiffer attention. "Inform Lady Butterfly that we have an assignment. I shall meet you down in Bay Six in one hour."

The unicorn Colonel snapped his hoof up in salute. "Jawohl, Kommandant." He replied, and quickly trotted out of the command room. Iron Resolve may not have liked him, but he was obedient. The Kommandant and the Fuhrerin glanced at each other with a smoky smile and the technician pony quickly evacuated the room. Iron Resolve marched to the door and slammed it shut, then took his post next to it with absolute efficiency.

The Kommandant would likely require him when he was done.

~~~~~A dark office, somewhere in Manehatten~~~~~~

Four battered and bruised earth ponies sat in rough wooden chairs, snappy stetson hats sitting on the table in the middle of a room bathed in the light from a single sparklight. In the corner, a red maned earth pony slowly and deliberately rain an oiled rag down a gleaming metal weapon with her eyes boring into them icily. Said red maned pony quite enjoyed making them nervous, given how stupid they had been tonight. She wouldn’t be surprised if she was asked to… take out the trash.

The door to the room slammed open, pouring in more light from outside for a brief moment before slamming shut. “Whut in the name of Celestia’s Plothole were you idjits thinking?” The dark and growling voice of her sister thundered through the room. It was like literal thunder, in that it made everything in the room shake except for her. “Do you boys realize what you’ve done?” The voice sounded calm now - scarily calm. The three earth ponies would probably have been pissing their pants if they weren’t afraid of messing up the Bosses floor.

One of them managed to get his mouth open, only to have his head nearly taken off by a hoof smashing him in the jaw and sending him to the floor. "I don't care what they did. I don't care what you saw. I don't care what he offered you. I do. Not. Give. A. Fuck if Celestia herself walked up to you and gave you a Discord-damned happy ending!" A pair of hooves slammed into the cheap wooden desk, and the three suited Earth Ponies left sitting winced away from the massive crack she’d just put in the table. "You do NOT take jobs from ponies I don’t personally know without consulting me! You do NOT fuck up said jobs, and then come to me asking what you should do cuz you're afraid of what your client’ll do to ya!! And worst of all, you DO NOT get Daring Fucking Do involved by not knowing how to keep your damn traps shut!"

The pony who’d tried to speak before got to his hooves, but before he could speak he was shoved back into his chair, her sister’s eyes narrowed to slits as she half screamed at him inches away from his face. "No excuses! Do any of you dirt for brains know what I'm gonna hafta do to smooth this over? How many bits it's gonna cost the family?"

The red-maned pony chuckled, and shook her head slowly. It wasn’t gonna be that expensive, all told, but they didn’t need to know that. "You realize I'm gonna hafta explain this to Granny, right? I'm gonna hafta explain this to our investors? That I'm gonna hafta call Daring Do into one of my own damned offices and apologize because you cider-addled idiots made me break my word about staying out of her way?"

That got a terrified look on the faces of all the mooks standing across the desk from the Boss, who looked about ready to send them all to the bottom of the river wearing concrete hoofboots. "So this is what yer gonna do.” Her sister said in a quiet and intense voice. “You boys are gonna go find Daring Do and tell her I want a meeting at The Macintosh Club tomorrow for lunch. Tell 'er I am personally guaranteein' her safety from now until midnight tomorrow. An' then you, an every other member of your crew… And I do mean every BUCKING ONE O’ YA!” She snarled loud enough to cow every last one of them. “ Are gon' go and make fucking sure that nopony brings so much as a shred of harm onto Daring Do or any of 'er friends heads until I've had a chance to explain the situation. Do I make myself one hundred per'cent fucking clear?"

The four suited ponies all nodded repeatedly, and then piled out of the small dark office as fast as their hooves could take them. Leaving the pony next to the table and of course, her own self. "Things’re gettin complicated, Sis." She remarked quietly as she rounded the desk to lean onto the chair the other mare was sitting in. "They probably ain't the only crew our mystery stallion’s got wrapped around his hoof. Ain't gonna be terribly obvious who we can trust. Mebbe we ought'a think 'bout helping out old pith helmet with this problem?" She suggested, tilting her head so her deeply colored mane shone in the dim light of the office.

Her sister plopped down behind the table and blew out a sigh. "I reckon you might be right." She paused for a moment. "Put a kit together. Go get the latest from Inkwell. We're gonna need a peace offerin' anyway." Her sister leaned back into her chair and rubbed at her eyes. "Buck my life. Neightzis horning in on our territory, some crazy stallion doin’ some kind of insane experiments and kidnapping fucking celebrities, a gorram Sonic Rainboom over the bay, and now Daring Do is gonna have me by the little apples for this disaster. What the buck else could go wrong?"

The Red maned pony didn’t know, but she did know that it was probably going to all end with a lot of violence. So she heaved Tommy over her shoulder and decided to get to work.

~~~~~~~The Blue Note, Private Lounge~~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash was waving a spare menu at Rarity’s face like Rosetta had told her to while sh attended to Rarity with her medical kit. “I thought I was bringing this thing for Cloudsdale,” Rosetta muttered. “If I’d have known it would be for a unicorn I would have brought horn salts instead of cloud bandages.”

“Hush, Rosie,” Daring said softly, tucking a rolled up towel under Rarity’s head and glancing at the half open lounge door. Rarity’s sudden fainting spell had been bad enough, and fortunately it had been easy to explain it off as her merely being ‘overwhelmed.’ A paper thin explanation helped only by Rarity’s elegant appearance and manner of dress, and maybe by the stink eye Twilight had been giving anyone who looked belligerent.

Fortunately…. “Is she alright?” Bluebell hovered in the background, her eyes constantly darting to the lounge door she’d flung open mere moments ago. “I’ve called Doc Dream down too, Daring. I hope that was alright.” Bluebell was fluffing her wings and dancing in place so much she was nearly lifting herself up off the ground. If Dash herself wasn’t almost as nervous, she might have giggled.

Daring nodded. “Thanks, Blue. Just see if you can’t keep out Miss-” Her words got cut off by a pink earth pony in fishnet stockings and a flowing black and red dress sailing right through the door. “Kitty.” Daring sighed, rubbing at her forehead as if trying to hold off a headache.

Dash blinked at the name, and then took a far closer look at the pony who’d just walked in. Oh yeah, there was pretty much zero doubt who this was, but Miss Kitty? What kinda name was that? “It’s my job to know what’s going on in my club, Doctor Doo. “ Miss Kitty cooed in a deep, sensual voice that sent chills up Rainbow Dash’s spine. That was sure as buck not a voice she’d ever heard Pinkie use before! “Besides, I wasn’t about to let my little Sweetie in here all alone.” ‘Miss Kitty’ cooed just seconds before a blur of white body and multi-hued mane blurred in through the door.

Up close and personal, and with her stage charm now fully turned off, Dash could see every inch of the filly that had once been Sweetie Belle in the newly grown mare. She might be a fully-sized pony now, but her eager energy and earnest emotions hadn’t changed a whit. “Whoa there, filly!” Scooter cried out, intercepting Sweetie before she could charge in on the still patiently working Rosetta. “Give her some space! She’s in the best of hooves.”

Sweetie Belle, Celestia, it feels weird to think of her like that. Huffed at Scooter, but finally settled a little as Rosetta dusted off her hooves and Rarity began to stir. “She’ll wake up in a minute. Be gentle with her, she’s still partially in shock.” She huffed softly, shaking her head. “This makes no sense at all. No physical signs, but she’s got all the physical symptoms of a minor concussion.”

Dash could no longer stay silent in the face of all this ridiculousness. “Wait, what do you mean a concussion?” Head injuries were something every competitive flier was aware of if they wanted to get past their first stunt-routines, since crashing headfirst into things was a pretty common ending to a lot of early work. You learned how to recognize the symptoms and causes, and most importantly, you knew what to do when one happened. “That’s impossible, she didn’t hit her head or anything!”

“No, but she did look at… Miss Kitty.” Twilight turned, her voice going soft and her pupils dilating to small points. “Just like Dash had a headache when she started talking with Daring about Cloudsdale…” Dash could almost physically see all the tiny gears that composed Twilight’s brain spinning into sudden overdrive. Her lips locked together and she sat down with a thunk that startled everypony except for Dash.

Rosetta’s lips were pursed too, and she sat down next to Twilight while adopting a ‘thinking’ look that was so comically like Rosetta’s that they could have been oddly colored twins. Rarity’s voice slipped through the air, a little unsteady but firm. “I’m fine, Sweetie darling, just let me sleep for a few more moments. I’ve those suits to finish for Mr. Rich today…” Rarity coughed and tried to turn over and snuggle into the towel… at which point she jerked a little and took in a sharp breath. “Sweetie?” Rarity’s voice had descended into a bare whisper lush with relief. “Oh, thank Celestia, you’re alright!”

Rarity shakily leaned up and hugged Sweetie Belle tightly, and a few moments later Sweetie’s eyes filled with tears and she began to fiercely hug back Rarity. “Of course I am, big sis…” She sniffled, burying her head in Rarity’s shoulder. “You know I’m a big tough filly.” She sniffled again, and Dash looked up to see Miss Kitty and Bluebell both smiling broadly, Miss Kitty herself pushing tears away from her own eyes. “I knew you’d come and find me, Rarity.” Sweetie whispered just loud enough to be heard before the hugs took over.

Dash could feel her head begin to swim, and shoved open the door to the lounge before stumbling out into a back hallway of the club. No one spoke up, so she kept moving. She needed some air, and fast.

Author's Note

Sorry this one took so long guys. Ugh. *Head desks*

Chapter 6 - A Blue Note

~~~~The Back Rooms~~~~

Dash didn’t know where she was going or why she was going there. She needed some air, but she had no idea where the way out might be. So she just kept moving, blindly climbing staircase after staircase in the hopes that she’d run out of building sooner than later. Up and up through the club she went, passing surprised faces in a blur of speed. Her chest started to hurt, lungs heaving as the world tunneled in, almost like she was flying too high.

It wasn’t until she came upon a barely-latched ceiling hatch that relief came. Slamming through it without so much as a thought, she burst into the cool night air of Manehatten, the sweet scent of the fresh breeze instantly banishing her anxiety. Unfortunately it did nothing for her body, which collapsed to the strange, flat roof, shuddering with deep and desperate breaths. An effort to speak just left her coughing and hacking.

Deciding it best to do as little as possible, Dash flopped to the ground, turning over to stare at the glittering lights overhead. The night sky seemed strangely starless, save for the very brightest points of light. But the city itself had replaced the distant stars with closer ones, shimmering off buildings and the skies high above them, where the cloud-dwellings of the pegasi were undoubtedly hovering out of sight.

Her mind was swimming with images from a life that was hers, and not hers. She couldn’t sort them out either, just kinda shove them into the back of her brain along with all the other ‘bad’ memories she’d often had to deal with. She drew in one deep, purposeful breath after another. Twilight had taught her that weird stress thing Cadence did, but it never seemed to help, so instead she did what she knew worked, just taking lots of big breaths.

Before she could really think about it, her heart was beating normally again. Her hooves weren’t shaking either, which meant whatever had caused this particular spell had passed. “Dash? Are you up here?” Twilight’s voice drifted across the roof, and her head poked up from the thrown open hatch.

“Here, Twi.” She raised up her hoof to wave a little then flopped it back down to the hard roof. Was this slate? It felt like slate. At least what the roofs were made of hadn’t changed.

The sound of hooves against the slate was oddly calming, and the warmth of her friend so close was a good thing too. “You okay, featherbrain?” Twilight asked quietly, nudging her shoulder. Dash nodded silently, turning to face the mare of her dreams. Literally of her dreams, point of fact. Ponyville might have a much higher number of fillyfoolers than most other towns, but she had been the one mare Dash had never been able to figure out. It was maddening sometimes. “I’m glad.” Twilight looked away, yet scooted closer.

Dash was very glad for that. She reached out for a familiar hoof and found it, squeezing firmly. She didn’t need to say what they were both thinking, so instead she went another way. “I keep seeing someone else’s life, Twilight. Like… Why is that?” Twilight would at least have an idea. She always did. Maybe she could help Dash figure out what to do….

For a few long seconds, Twilight said nothing. Then she sighed irritably. “I think we’re actually in some kind of….” She shifted, and Dash could smell the peach shampoo she used for her mane. “Alternate universe. Where all sorts of things that happened in our world didn’t happen, and it changed history. But… the ponies who were us still existed, they just grew into different ponies.”

Twilight shifted again, and this time Dash could feel her laying down next to her. She only had to turn her head to meet those vibrant eyes. “We don’t belong in this world, Dash. But Magic abhors paradoxes, so the magic of this world is… trying to compensate for us, somehow.” Dash blinked, and tried to make herself more attentive. She usually couldn’t understand Twilight’s magic-babble, but this was making an unusual amount of sense for her.

Twilight was glaring into the distance, her ‘thinking face’ on. “I don’t know why you’re seeing somepony else’s memories, Dash. I don’t know why I look…” She shivered a little, and Dash gave her hoof a squeeze. “The point is, we’ve found Sweetie and we’re going to get home. Then we can have a good laugh about all of this.” Twilight tried to put on a confident grin, and just ended up looking silly. It helped anyway, though.

“Yeah.” Dash turned back to gaze up at the distant stars, blowing a long sigh. She had to stay cool, or else she was going to end up a wreck. Then… Twilight shifted and rolled over onto her back and splayed out just like Dash was, practically snuggled up to Dash’s side no less. That was…. really, really nice. So she just did what she always would have done and pushed back up against her until she was extra comfy. “Thanks Twi.” Dash whispered, ducking her head to hide her blush.

“No problem, Dashie.” Twilight gently teased, nudging Dash’s shoulder with a hoof. Dash hated that nickname coming out of anypony except Pinkie Pie, mostly because Pinkie was the only somepony she couldn’t get to stop saying it. But it sounded kinda nice coming from Twilight. Not that she’d ever admit that. “We should go back down and talk to Daring and Rosetta. We need to figure out what we’re going to do nex-”

The air split with a bloodcurdling scream, cutting Twilight off and sending Dash to her hooves in an instant. That sounded weirdly familiar. Why did it… The thought crashed to a halt as a voice cut through the night. ”Sweetie Belle, RUN!”

“RARITY!” Twilight yelled, and that was all the encouragement Dash needed. Her speed from a solid stop was pretty damn good, all things considered. But she went from zero to near maximum speed faster than she’d ever done before, peeling out and down through the tight hallways of the club in search of her friend.

~~~~A little earlier~~~~

Rarity woke up to a feeling of warm softness that smelled strongly of Sweetie Belle and reminded her of the bed back in her shop. It wasn’t the best cloth, but there was nothing wrong with a nice high thread count linen and a foal couldn’t usually appreciate the subtleties once you got above four hundred threads. And she was stalling from opening her eyes to be faced with the stark truth of this world she’d been thrown into. Come now, Rarity. Stop being such a scaredy filly.

So she cracked open her eyes to see the mare sitting next to her bed, her hooves crossed over one another and her eyes hidden behind a long, curly, silken mane. She was lovely, easily Rarity’s equal and probably her better when it came to pure physical beauty. Her mane looked effortlessly well-coiffed, and her coat was almost shiny with how well brushed it was. And… she was crying quietly.

Perspective was a funny thing, sometimes. “Come now darling, It’s not all that bad.” Rarity tried to speak confidently, but her throat was a touch dry and it came out a little shaky. Odd. She didn’t feel shaky at all. Sweetie’s head came up quickly, her careful makeup simply ruined by whatever crying she’d been doing. Rarity tsked and muscled herself up into a sitting position before tapping the bed. “Come here, dear,” she commanded, opening up her forehooves with an expectant look.

^

Sweetie Belle was blessedly predictable. She only hesitated for a few seconds before scrambling out of her chair and into Rarity’s forelegs. Rarity held her tightly, squeezing with as much reassurance as she possibly could. “Hush.” Rarity cooed, stroking a hoof down Sweetie’s back as the gentle tears turned to sobs. “You’re safe now, Sweetie. I promise.” It had been a lot easier to soothe her as a little filly, but the principles here were the same.

“I thought I’d never see you again.” Sweetie whimpered, and held on tightly enough to drive a little of the air out of Rarity’s lungs. “I was… I didn’t know what to think… After that thing sprung up and dragged me in, I…” She sniffled heavily, over and over again and then finally gave up speaking to bury her head in Rarity’s shoulder.

Rarity sighed silently, but never stopped stroking Sweetie’s back. Slowly, very slowly, Sweetie began to calm down and let Rarity breathe normally again. She wasn’t quite certain how long they sat there together, but time was sort of irrelevant at this point. Sweetie was safe, and that was ultimately what mattered. Remember Rarity, dear. So long as you stick with your friends, everything becomes possible. So she continued soothing her little sister as best as she could, trying very hard not to notice what a gorgeous young mare she’d grown into.

Not that she’d be able to dodge it for long, but she fully intended to ignore the inevitable as long as she possibly could. Sweetie sniffled faintly and nuzzled her cheek against Rarity’s. “Sorry, sis.” Sweetie sniffled again, and pulled back to rub her eyes hard with the back of her hoof. “It’s been hard to keep things together sometimes. Ever since I woke up as old as you, with a cutie mark and everything…”

Rarity felt a thrill go through her. Sure enough, there was a little red heart with a music note on her little sisters flank. A musician, another creative soul in the family, and Rarity could not have been happier for her little Sweetie. Except…. She doesn’t look happy. Far from the excitement Rarity had expected to see over the pronouncement, she instead seemed rather downcast at the mention of her newly-acquired mark.

The reason wasn’t precisely complicated, and Rarity knew it. “Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were supposed to be there.” Sweetie muttered quietly, confirming her suspicions instantly. “It’s… not the same without them around.” She looked away at that, probably to hide her tears… which Rarity was going to have none of.

She turned that little filly around and hugged her to her chest, kissing the top of her head gently. “We’ve all changed a bit to get here, Sweetie. I’m certain that once we find our way home, we’ll be back to normal.” Sweetie looked up with teary eyes, and Rarity swallowed her own doubts as to the accuracy of that statement. “And if not, we’ll speak to the Princess and set things aright. I promise.”

Sweetie looked up with her big, beautiful eyes and smiled just a little. “Okay, sis.” Sweetie spoke with an absolute faith in her, one that shook Rarity’s spirit right down to the core. Truth be told, she had no idea if there was even a way to get home, and even if it existed Rarity was certain that accessing it would not be so easy. But Sweetie was relying on her, and she was not going to let her down no matter what.

Rarity took the moment of quiet to examine her surroundings. It looked like a loft room of some kind, small but cozy. It was cramped, but the walls were covered in mementos of one kind or another. Drawn pictures, photographs featuring Sweetie and the waitress they’d already had tonight, a couple of little blue ribbons, even a few newspaper clippings. The side table was covered in little things like a bits-wallet, a portable makeup kit, room keys….

Every little detail of the room kept jumping out at her. “Sweetie…” Rarity began, very slowly and very quietly. “Do you even want to go home?” It was a hard thing to ask. It was a hard thing to even THINK about, especially given what Rarity would have to tell their parents, but… Sweetie wasn’t looking at her anymore. “Sweetie Belle…” Rarity injected a warning tone, and tapped her hoof on the soft bedspread.

Sweetie blew out an annoyed sound between a sigh and a grumble. “I…” She began, and ducked her head. “I dunno, Rarity.” She sounded sulky and quiet, and was rubbing her hooves together in fits and starts. “I mean… I really do, you know? I want to get back to Apple Bloom and Scoots, and Miss Cheerilee and momma and poppa, but…”

Sweetie Belle scooted about on the bed, turning to face the window. “But Bluebell is super nice, and I finally know what my special talent is here.” Her voice was soft, beautiful, and whisper-quiet. And Rarity had to admit, she felt a cold chill around her heart. “I’m… I’m so happy to see you, but I’ve already changed so much.” Sweetie’s cheeks were a faint red, and Rarity had to wonder just what her poor little sister had gone through since she got here.

Sweetie sighed gustily and shook her head. “I’m being a silly filly again. We don’t really belong here, do we, Sis?” Sweetie turned, her question surprisingly… What? Mature? When she looks like she could seduce any stallion clean out of his three piece suit? Rarity firmly quashed that thought, just in time for Sweetie to nod a little. “But… maybe we could. That’s the problem I think. I think…” Sweetie looked her dead in the eye. There was something strange going on here. Some kind of strange tension….

“I think that here wants us to stay.”

There was a strange shattering sensation to the world, and for a moment Rarity felt faint again… just long enough for her to sway and gaze out of the window. In that precise moment, a ghostly white figure came careening out of the night and headed straight for the window. It was all too coincidental, but Rarity didn’t hesitate. “Duck!” She thrust her hoof onto Sweetie’s head and pushed her down and away from the window.

The white pegasus came crashing through it, wearing wicked sharp taloned hoofboots and a mad gleam in his eye. “You are coming with me, little-” he snarled, but was instantly interrupted as Sweetie Belle screamed at the top of her lungs with enough power to be heard at the back of an opera concert hall. The note was absolutely astounding, and the pegasi threw his forehooves over his ears at the ear-splitting sound. Rarity did it too, staring in amazement as Sweetie held that note for a full eight seconds before dropping off the opposite side of the bed, rolling and coming up with a strange oblong metal object held in her unicorn telekinesis.

The white pegasi glared at her, his hooves planted on the ground and a mad smouldering hatred burning behind his eyes. “Reach for the sky, cloudbrain,” Sweetie said in a calm, hoarse voice. The device had some kind of long circular barrel she was aiming square at the intruder. “Maybe Miss Kitty will go easy on you if you’re lucky.”

The pegasi’s eyes darted to Rarity, still sitting on the bed between them. “I think not,” he growled. There was a flash of movement far too fast for Rarity to see. A massive thudding sound roared through the room and a flash of light like a fireball right before her eyes. Heavy hooves grabbed her before she could register what was happening as Sweetie Belle screamed wordlessly.

The white pegasi had grabbed her quite rudely, and that simply wouldn’t do.

Instinct took over. Instinct that Rarity didn’t even know she had until it started to move her body like a snake. She slithered bonelessly out of the thugpony’s grip, grabbing hold of his forelimb with her own and a bit of her magic. She twisted in place as her hooves dropped to the ground, her body flicking like a cracking whip to hurl the stunned-looking pegasus into the wall.

The pegasus impacted with an audible smack, collapsing in a heap. Rarity pirouetted back to her four hooves and tossed her perfectly-coiffed mane with a huff. “No. I do not think so, you ruffian.” She spat at him, strength and skill surging through her limbs. She’d taken self defense courses like any mare of quality, but she had never been able to perform the special throws quite like that.

Sweetie Belle whistled softly. “Dang, Sis. Where’d you learn to do that?” She actually sounded impressed, not just jealous or in awe.

Rarity opened her mouth to answer, but there was no time, as three more pegasi in various dull shades of white and light gray crashed through the rest of the window. “Sweetie Belle, RUN!” she screamed, ducking under a hoofpunch to grab one of the assailants around his chest and suplex him right into the floor. The sound of clattering hoofsteps signaled Sweetie’s retreat, Rarity ducking under another blow and dancing to one side, putting herself between the strange attackers and the door. “You really think It’ll be so easy to bring me down?” Her voice had taken on an eerie, deeper quality. Her muscles brimmed with strength and her heart sang with a fire she could not describe. “I’ve faced down ancient gods and demons the likes of which you cannot possibly understand! And you shall not lay a single hoof upon my sister!”

Her bold declaration didn’t seem to frighten them much, the one she’d thrown into the wall pulling himself up. WIth a battlecry that came from a place Rarity didn’t even know she’d had, she hurled herself at them. Hoping beyond hope that she could buy Sweetie enough time to get help.

~~~~~~~~~

Twilight’s mind was racing in a way it never had before.

She could remember the time Rainbow Dash had described her method of learning things. How she became hyper-observant during flight, and her brain instantly processed information at a rate and speed that had left Twilight flabberghasted. For months after, she’d tried to study Rainbow’s method and apply it to her own learning process with dismal results. Whatever allowed Dash to perform her astonishing trick, it was clearly something that couldn’t be learned.

Now, though….

Twilight knew the exact layout of the building from travelling through it exactly once. She knew the type of wallpaper in the third floor corridor, and that there was a squeak in the forty-eighth stair going upwards. She knew that there was a red pegasus in room number thirty-three and a white earth pony had been sleeping with an orange unicorn in room seventeen. She knew the exact angle (forty-eight degrees to be precise) she would need to turn at to clear the corner of the staircase in order to preserve the maximum amount of momentum.

Information and understanding poured into her mind and was instantly processed, categorized and lined up like ponies in a queue for cider. Her body was moving on pure instinctive motion, and within eight-point-four-four seconds she had caught up to Rainbow Dash. “This way!” she yelled, or at least she was pretty sure it was a yell, and then turned a corner to take them to the other side of the building. Given the volume of the sound, the refraction of the sound wave reaching them, and adjusting for local weather conditions, Twilight was ninety-seven percent certain that would be Sweetie Belle’s room where Rarity had undoubtedly been taken.

Sweetie Belle was nowhere to be seen, and other ponies were fleeing the scene at varying speeds. Ahead of them, two burly earth ponies in rough suit coats were duking it out with a small gang of pegasi with wild eyes and a sickly look to them. Beyond them, Rainbow Dash had tackled one of the attacking pegasi and vanished into an open door. ”Rarity!” Dash screamed, and that was just one bit too much for Twilight.

She snarled silently and called her magic into her horn… and it came. She was filled with a power that went beyond mere moustache tricks and transmogrification spells. It was a power unlike anything she’d felt before in her life, and it was glorious It sang through her, a power so great it threatened to overwhelm her senses. She grasped onto it, wrestling it under control. Without even thinking, she flung stun bolts at the writhing mass of pegasi and sent all of her foes careening to the ground with stupefied looks.

She strode past the earth ponies, utterly dismissing their looks of sudden awe as they flung themselves prostrate. They were unimportant right now. Her friend was in danger, and that she could not abide. She strode through the doorway, only to find Rainbow Dash sitting in the middle of the floor with her wings drooped to the ground.

The room itself was littered with the bodies of unconscious pegasi and broken glass, and there was no sign of Rarity. Rainbow Dash was quietly sobbing, and that was not like her, not one bit. “Dash?” she asked quietly. Why was she so calm? Rarity was gone, and clearly it had been these madponies that had taken her. Dash hadn’t gone chasing after Rarity either, but perhaps she’d simply been too late to see where they’d gone.

Dash heaved a little sob and then sucked in a deep breath. “Who the buck would take her? Who the heck cares that we’re even here?” Dash asked nopony in particular, and Twilight had to nod. She didn’t know who had, but she was going to make them suffer for their decision to harm somepony she loved. Dash turned to face her, and her eyes went wide as teacup saucers. “Twilight, your disguise!”

Disguise?Oh. It was an oddly distant thought amidst the crashing waves of power and knowledge that rolled through her mind. She was supposed to be keeping things low key. Replacing the illusion took the merest thought, and she brushed the dust off her coat calmly. “We’ll find her, Dash.” She turned to the unconscious forms and eyeballed them. They’d probably take a few hours to wake up. No sense in wasting power.

She let the magic go, and suddenly the world rushed back into sense and understanding. Gone was the mind-boggling power that she’d summoned up, and her body felt drained and exhausted in an instant. Twilight could dimly feel her body collapsing to the ground, and Dash’s voice echoing in her ears.

“Twilight!”

~~~~~Canterlot Castle~~~~~

Princess Celestia felt her eyes snap open as an indescribable power rushed through her. It sent her body into a slow arc upwards as it surged and surged, her mouth hanging open in a silent scream… and in an instant, it was gone, like a snapping rubber band. She collapsed to the bed as her lungs heaved, her mind trying to process what had just happened, racing with a thousand different scenarios and dismissing them all.

The most important of those possibilities was that it was decidedly not the day of the Summer Sun celebration, so it surely could not be Luna’s return. No, this was a new power. A power she had never felt before, and could not possibly begin to identify. It certainly had not been her wayward niece or her husband, and it most definitely hadn’t been- “Celly! Are you alright!?” The powerful male voice thundered through the room and the doors to her balcony were flung open.

At that, she rolled out of her bed with a groan and hit the carpeted floor with a dull thunk. “I’m fine, Solly,” she managed to grumble, rubbing at her eyes. “What was that?” she muttered, trying to shove herself back up to her hooves and slipping on the silky covers. She really didn’t expect Solly to have an answer this early in the morning, but it gave her time to rally her thoughts.

“I do not know. You do not think it could be…” He trailed off, and suddenly his unkempt but short beard and big bushy red mane filled her vision. He’d been sleeping too, even though he was technically supposed to be on night duty. He took such duties even worse than she did, and the smell of rum was thick on his breath.

“No. It is not the right time, nor have the stars begun their motion.” Celestia’s mind was clearing swiftly, and she finally managed to stand up. Draped in her blankets like a Roaman diplomat, she tried to shake the fog of sleep off. “No. This is something new.”

She looked up, to the stained glass window that hung in her room. A window that glittered with faint colors and seemed to glow in the moonlight. “This is something important.” The thought hit her like a royal ton of bricks. A jolt of sudden power and excitement ripped through her, instantly awakening her better than any strong cup of coffee could. She whirled about. “We must consult with the Harmonic Astrolabe, immediately.”

She tried to turn and charge off across the room, only to fall into a heap of tangled blankets and pillows. Solly, predictably, burst into laughter. Celestia sighed. “Maybe some coffee, first.”

Author's Note

I can't tell you guys how good it feels to put something out there. It feels.... really, really good.

Hopefully, this is the beginning of the comeback.

Chapter 7 - A Sword of Damocles

~~~~~The Blue Note~~~~~

Rainbow Dash had been angry plenty of times in her life. But never quite this angry.

She felt… enraged. That was the word Twi might’ve used if she was conscious, but now she was the one laid out on a bed instead of Dash or Rarity. She shoved her way out of that room, feeling that smouldering fury bubbling up in her belly. Miss Kitty and Daring were standing outside in the hallway, glaring at one another like cats. “Just what’ve you dropped on my doorstep this time, Doctor Do?” That was Miss Kitty, snapping at Daring with a huff. Dash ignored it, like she was ignoring everything else right now.

She turned the corner and stalked towards the room of interest. Namely the one where the attacker Miss Kitty seemed to think was in charge was being held. “How was I supposed to know his insane minions would attack here!? I thought he was dead!” Daring shouted back. Dash tuned out the voices. They were distracting her, and she wasn’t going to be distracted right now.

Two burly earth ponies stood before the door. One almost looked like Bulk Biceps back home, but his mane wasn’t buzz-cut. They crowded the entrance, giving her stern looks, trying to intimidate her… but whatever they saw in her eyes made them step aside. Unlocking the door, she stepped into the tiny room, finding that the white-coated pegasus was tied to a rough looking wooden chair.

If Dash had cared, she might have gotten a little squeamish at the dark stains that surrounded the chair. She might’ve felt a little conflicted about the sight of what had to be nasty implements bolted to the wall. If she’d cared, she might have even wondered why somepony who looked a lot like Pinkie Pie would need these things. But right now, Dash didn’t care about any of that. Right now, she cared about Rarity.

The captive looked up, a crazed gleam in her eye as Dash locked the door behind her. “So. The dead walk,” the pegasus hissed at her, her voice oddly… normal. Almost conversational. “I could have sworn I buried you under Mount Talon, Cloudsdale Dash.” Her eyes were familiar… almost hauntingly familiar. Who was this pony? Why did she feel like she knew her? Did it matter?

Maybe it did. The memories of somepony else lurked somewhere in her brain, but she had other things to deal with right now. “‘Fraid not,” she quipped, planting her hooves. This strange mare was making her nervous and angry all at the same time. “Where’d your thugs take my friend?” She had no experience in being intimidating or even trying to be, but there was some tickle in the back of her head that was coaching her. She put her shoulders forward, narrowed her eyes and tensed her muscles. “Why’d you come after Rarity?”

“The blue-maned one isn’t who we came for, you stupid whorse.” The pegasus retorted with a mocking edge, her bright blue eyes glittering maliciously. “She just got in the way. I don’t know why the other morons decided to take her. Can’t tell two white unicorns apart, apparently.” Her voice was a mad sort of sing-song, and it was setting Dash’s teeth on edge. “As for where she went… Pfft. Maybe you hit your head a little hard on those rocks I threw you into.”

For a split second, Dash felt a lancing pain rip through her skull, as though she’d just cracked her head on something hard… She winced it away, focusing on the pony in front of her. “Quit jerking me around and tell me where you took her, you madpony!” The white pegasi continued to grin, and Dash felt a heat start to grow in her chest. Her voice was rougher as she spoke, and she wasn’t sure why. “Tell me know, you stupid bitch, or I’ll…” That made her stop in her tracks, and Dash realized all at once that she was breathing very heavily…

And the other pegasi was giving her a cold, calculating look. “Or you’ll what, Cloudsdale? You’re no criminal or killer.” There was an odd quality to her tone. She drawled in a mockery of Applejack’s accent, but Dash could see the cunning behind that gaze. Sharp eyes that didn’t miss much at all. “Or maybe you are now. Maybe death changed you into something like me.” Her lips peeled back into a toothy, nasty grin. “I’m not going to tell you, either way. You’ll never be more frightening than Doctor Negative, puddin’.”

The name sent a dull shock through her body, and Dash felt herself take a step back. She opened her mouth to reply, but another voice cut her off. “She might not be that frightening, dear. But I am.” Dash turned to see Miss Kitty standing silhouetted in the doorway with a mane as sleek, shiny and straight as Missus Cake. Her blue eyes were ice cold, and in spite of the burlesque outfit she wore Dash felt a thrill of trepidation run up her spine.

Then… then her eyes turned to Dash, and softened considerably. “I am sorry for what happened to Lady Rarity, Cloudsdale. Your friend should be waking up soon, and Miss Do wishes to speak with you privately.” She paused, then reached out to gently squeeze Dash’s shoulder. “Please, leave me to my business. I will find out what happened to your friend.”

For an instant, Dash didn’t want to leave that room. She didn’t want to take the chance that her only source of information on Rarity was going to get away… but there was something hard in Miss Kitty’s voice, something weary and resigned that made Dash realize that her being there wasn’t going to help anypony. “Okay.” Dash didn’t like saying it, but… she shook her head, trying to clear it.

Miss Kitty stood aside, and Dash slipped out of the room. The door swung to close behind her, and… “Thanks, Dashie.” A voice whispered from beyond it, before shutting with an ominous click. Dash swallowed something in her throat and forced her hooves to keep moving. Memories were swirling around in her head, and right now she didn’t have time to deal with them. So she’d deal with them later, once she dealt with everything else.

The hallways were easy for her to figure out now that she’d been through them a few times, and finding her way to Sweetie Belle’s rooms was surprisingly simple. Daring stood outside the wrecked doorway, staring in with a brooding look. “What happened to you, Dash?” Daring’s voice cut through the silence, long before Dash had a chance to get close. Daring turned to face her, looking oddly pensive. “I know it’s you. I’ve known you longer than almost anypony else I call friend, and you’re not some clone or fake.”

Daring took a hesitant step forward, reaching up with her hoof to push a lock of Dash’s mane back. “But you look so lost, so scared, like you can’t remember a single thing we’ve been through together.” Daring Do was really, really close to her right now. Her voice was full of concern, her eyes were soft and… boy, did she smell awful nice. Waitwaitwait. Holy Celestia, is Daring Do into me!? It was a shocking thought that made Dash try to swallow the bird-sized lump in her throat.

Dash took a deep breath and exhaled. “Daring… I don’t know what’s going on here. I don’t know what’s happened to me, or you, or Twilight, but… But I’m glad I’ve got another friend here to back me up.” She put on her best grin, and tried not to think about the implications of the words of the madpony she’d left behind. “Look. We both know there’s nothing the two of us can’t solve if we stick together, right DD?”

That startled a laugh out of Daring, who shook her head with a soft smile. “Nice to see that no matter what happens, nothing can keep you down.” There was just a moment that Dash thought she was going to get a kiss, until Daring bit her lip and pulled away, squeezing Dash’s shoulders. “I’m glad to have you back, Dash.” Daring’s lips twisted up into a little grin that was much more reminiscent of the Daring she’d met not so long ago.

Dash found herself nodding. “Yeah. We’ll figure all of this out somehow.” She paused and chewed at her own lip. “My friend Twilight is really smart. She might be able to help us.” And maybe she can help me get my mind off of all this ridiculousness.. Dash put some distance between her and Daring, turning to head down the hallway.

Daring fell into step with a faint smile on her face. “So come on, Dash. Tell me how you met this Lady.” She asked in an all-too-casual voice, and Dash had to sigh. Daring laughed softly. “I’m not going to stop asking till you tell me, Dash.”

Dash paused, and shook her head slowly. For just an instant, she thought about telling the whole story. About a pony from Canterlot and the Elements of Harmony, about Discord and Nightmare Moon and Queen Chrysalis. The whole crazy part was Daring would probably buy into all of it… except for the beginning of the story. So instead, she just said: “Trust me, DD. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

~~~~~~~~

Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes slowly and took in a deep breath. Her mind was calm, quiet, and all too ordinary. Gone was the power of the universe at her command, and she was left with an odd feeling of being hollow inside, as though all of that power had filled something up she’d never been aware of before, and now couldn’t ignore.

The room was wallpapered in bright blue, and the walls themselves were covered in posters of competitive flying teams. The Wonderbolts were there, though the poster looked strange from this angle. “Good. No magical shock.” That was Rosetta’s voice, but it sounded oddly far away and detached. Twilight struggled to push herself up, but felt firm hooves keeping her down. “Thank you, Bluebell.” Rosetta’s voice drew closer, her head swimming into view as Twilight began to realize she was splayed out flat on somepony’s bed.

Rosetta levitated a tiny pen-like tube into view, and a bright light suddenly emitted from the tip and caused her to squint. “No sign of magical contamination, either. Okay, you can let her up.” The feeling of hooves went away, and Rosetta’s face came into sharper focus. She was staring at Twilight through a pair of pince-nez glasses with a look Twilight could only describe as ‘worried’. “Are you okay, Miss?”

Twilight took a deep breath and slowly pushed herself up, flexing her wings in the process and then freezing in mid motion. Alicorn. Disguise. Right. Except it was a bit too late for that, with Bluebell staring at her in awe. “It’s alright,” Rosetta sighed, leaning back into a stiff backed wooden chair. “I needed an assistant, and Bluebell here knows how to keep a secret.” Rosetta turned to glare at the blue pegasus, who blushed brightly.

Twilight shook her head and wished she had a comb to put through her automatically flowing mane. She didn’t need it, but it would’ve made her feel better. She took a moment to do a little self-examination, and found herself just as large and lanky as she had been when they first appeared in this realm. “What happened to me?” She half-asked herself, and Rosetta by extension.

“Magical Surge.” Rosetta responded so quickly that Twilight felt a bit of surprise. “Technically, any unicorn can surge, but the effect is much more dramatic in Alicorns. I’ve observed it in Lady Celestia before.” Rosetta spoke in a very matter-of-fact tone, adjusting her glasses unconsciously. “You basically lost control of your natural limiters on magical flow through unicorn horns, and…” She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, you pretty effectively took out a small mob of ponies without so much as breaking a sweat.”

Twilight nodded absently, trying to twirl a lock of mane that wasn’t there to twirl. She’d surged before, and was familiar with the concept. But she’d never heard of Alicorns- “Wait, what do you mean ‘took out’?” Twilight snapped out, turning quickly to face Rosetta’s all too calm face.

“As in you killed them. Quite efficiently.” She made a little drawing motion across her neck. “Snapped their spinal columns with a single blast. Very efficient, totally painless. They were dead before they hit the ground.” Twilight felt her stomach hit her hooves in record time. She’d been using stun blasts, not kinetic blasts. Hadn’t she? Rosetta ploughed on, as though she didn’t notice. “Seventeen of the madponies, every last one of them with a bad record. They won’t be the last though, Doctor Negative always seems to find the worst of the worst to do his bidding. You did the world a major favor tonight, Lady Twilight.”

The news that she’d murdered bad ponies wasn’t much of a comfort at all, no matter how Rosetta tried to paint it that way. Seventeen dead ponies, because she’d lost control of her magic. The nightmare scenario, and the only thing that kept Twilight from completely breaking down and losing it was the knowledge that she might very well do it again if she did. Rosetta, though, seemed oblivious. “Bluebell, would you go and get me a bottle of something stiff and soothing from the bar?” Rosetta spoke in a voice quite reminiscent of a school teacher, and Bluebell seemed quite eager to obey. She leapt to her hooves and trotted out of the room, leaving the pair of them alone.

Rosetta began to count. “Five, four, three, two…” And then at one, she shut the door firmly with her magic. “There. We’re alone.” Rosetta turned resolutely to Twilight, and pulled off her spectacles. “Before you say one more word, I want you to listen very carefully to me.” Rosetta pushed herself out of the chair, and Twilight couldn’t help but stare as she marched up to the head of the bed and glared right into her eyes. “You couldn’t have done anything else, Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight tried to speak, and got a mouth full of hoof for her troubles. “I said shut up. You couldn’t have done anything else. Those madponies would have murdered your friends and plenty of other innocent ponies in the process without a second thought. Whatever you might’ve been taught about your magic, every single one of those rules goes out the window when other ponies lives are on the line.” Rosetta’s words hit her like hammer blows to the gut, over and over again. And she wasn’t done either. Rosetta’s eyes were all too familiar, and as hard as diamonds “Mourn the necessity. Feel guilty. That’s what separates you from them, in the end. But don’t you dare fucking question that it needed to be done. You understand me?”

For a few long moments, Twilight felt dazed and conflicted… and then the pain slowly receded from her middle. She felt like Princess Celestia had just slapped her around and given her a stern lecture about guilt, before sitting her down and telling her to think about it. “I think so,” she said softly. She could still feel the wrenching pain of the knowledge that she had taken life. But put in the context Rosetta had set for her… “But we still lost Rarity,” she all but whispered, tucking her hooves about her middle.

Rosetta nodded. “Taken by Doctor Negative. I fear what he plans for her, but I promise you Lady Twilight. We’ll get her back.” She reached up and squeezed Twilight’s shoulder, and put on a weak smile. “We’ve beaten his sorry flank before, and we can do it again. But before we do that, I need to know something very important: Are you from our world, or not?”

Twilight’s head felt like she was going to get whiplash with all of these shocking turns of event, and she sighed the instant she did it again. “We’re not. Not me, not Dash, not Rarity. Not Sweetie Belle either. Our Equestria is much different from this one.” She shivered a little, glancing about the room. It would have been an ordinary room, if it weren’t for the countless little mechanical marvels that were carelessly scattered about. “Much different.”

Rosetta nodded once. “I have a theory about what’s been happening to you, then. You are from a different Equestria, but your bodies are from here.” She tapped the bed slowly, as if trying to make a point. “Or rather, the forms you’ve taken are the ones you ought to have here if you were from here.” She bit at her lip, as though uncertain. “Hence why your Dash looks, smells, and thinks a lot like the Cloudsdale Dash me and Daring are familiar with.”

Twilight took a deep breath and nodded slowly. “It would explain why we’re seeing memories and having thoughts that are otherwise alien to us.” She paused, and shook her head. “It’s a textbook example of Starswirl’s-”

“Third Law of Universal Constants.”

They spoke in absolute unison, and Twilight felt a little bit of shock at that. She knew all of six other ponies back home who were even aware that Star Swirl the Bearded had done work on trans-dimensional travel. Rosetta was staring at her too, and for a few moments silence reigned. Then… Twilight decided to see just how far this rabbit hole went. “But that would mean that we’re subject to the…”

“Sixth Energy corollary, right.” Rosetta finished, rubbing at her chin. “That being true, that would explain the memory transfers. But if that’s the case then we’ve got a big problem.” Twilight could feel the dread settling into her chest. Oh yes, they had a big problem alright.

“Law of Conservation of Magical Energy.” They both said in unison again, both voices heavy with resignation. Twilight facehoofed and shook her head. “Magic Abhors a Paradox. Summoning one-oh-one. The universe has to compensate for us being here, and so it’s transmuting our personal magic. Which means…”

“You’re on a time limit.” Rosetta said flatly, and Twilight could feel the tension bunch up right behind her skull and kick off a nice stress headache. And there’s no telling how long we have without figures that we’ve got no hope of getting access to without the Canterlot Library. Twilight’s thoughts began to run in circles, slowly but surely building up to a freakout that she simply couldn’t afford.

“Fortunately, I’ve already sent a letter to Lady Celestia.” Rosetta’s voice was much warmer, much more happy than it had been mere moments before. And Twilight couldn’t disagree with the mood change, since a flood of relief went straight through her veins. It didn’t matter that this was an alternate world. It didn’t matter that time, magical physics and madponies were against them. Celestia could help. She always had.

Then the door opened, and Rainbow Dash walked in with a faint smile of her own. “Hey there, Princess.” Dash said in a teasing, softly cheerful voice. “Get your flank out of bed. We might be down, but we’re far from out.”

Twilight nodded. Dash was right. It wasn’t time for the final exam yet. She had plenty of time to study, but she had to get moving. “Right. Let’s go talk to Sweetie Belle.”

~~~~~Elsewhere…~~~~~

Rarity was trapped in darkness and pain. Well, not much pain, but enough to make her wince with every jostling movement she was subjected to. Her body passed through many changes in temperature from hot to cold to quite nice, really. Hooves slammed into stone and metal, and she tried to writhe in her bonds. The thick, heavy iron of the magical limiter around her horn itched something fierce, and felt even more outrageous than the rough hewn ropes around her limbs. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she was shoved quite unceremoniously onto a soft mattress, and the sounds of other ponies drifted away slowly.

Rarity was trapped in her bonds, with only her heavy breathing and some dark thick fabric obscuring her vision for company. So she began to twist and turn, knowing it was going to do a number on her nice dress, and tried to work her way free of the bonds to no avail. But then. “Lady, do me a favor an’ don’t get violent wit’ me… I’m just gonna untie ya.” A rough, roguishly charming voice spoke quietly from some distance. It sounded cautious, but intrigued, and Rarity considered her options.

It was either her captor, or a fellow cellmate. And given his rough speech, she was certain it was the latter. “Very well, but be quick about it.” She muttered softly, and worked herself into a more respectable position. It would be impossible to hide her red cheeks or the unladylike positions she’d contorted into, but she could rally from this. Careful hooves worked on her ropes, and a few moments and a tug of teeth later she was freed. She threw off the blindfold and…

And found herself face to face with a surprisingly handsome stallion. He was an earth pony with a light tan coat and a dark brown mane desperately in need of a trim. He also looked like he could badly use a shave, but he had a chiseled look that suited the roughness.

The room she was in was surprisingly posh in its design and layout. A large four-poster bed, elegant red silk hangings and tapestries, soft rugs, elegant dressers and vanities… it looked like a well-off noblepony’s bedroom. Of course, there was also only one bed, and that could present a problem. It was then she noticed her new companion was giving her the once over, then nodded. “Ya look mostly unhurt. That’s good. What’s your name, filly?”

She would’ve taken offense to that from anypony else, but right now was not the time to stand on formalities. “Rarity. And yourself?” She kept it short, glancing around the room to find a doorway… but not seeing one. The walls seemed to be rock solid in every direction, with only a few large metal vents set high up on the sheer walls to allow circulation. The room itself was lit with a collection of candles and lanterns, though Rarity could not tell how one could get high enough to light those lanterns.

The stallion made a tip-o-the-hat gesture and half smiled. “Th’ name’s Manehatten Silver. Welcome to the personal prison…” He waved his hoof around airily. “Of the madpony Doctor Negative.”

Rarity’s heart sank. Her blood ran cold, and she felt herself falling back onto the soft bed she’d been laying on mere moments before. “Oh, dear.” She whispered, the memories of the events that had lead up to all of this nonsense now becoming painfully clear. Oh, goddess. Twilight is going to kill me, she thought with a wince of pain, then opened her eyes to regard the laconic Manehatten Silver. An odd name, but right now... “I think you’d best tell me everything you can about our situation, Mister Silver.”

He nodded. “Welp, it all started about a year ago…” he began, and Rarity settled in. Knowledge was power, and she was going to need every ounce she could get if she was to reverse her mistakes and get all of her friends out of this pickle safely.

~~~~~Also…~~~~~

“Jahwohl.” The stormpony saluted, and quickly trotted onto the awaiting air-cruiser that would take them to the ground. Iron Resolve turned and eyeballed the rest of those who would be accompanying them. A bare dozen guards, not nearly the force he would have preferred to bring. Yet the Kommandant had been adamant that they only bring enough to ensure safety against the rabble. And so a tiny honor guard it would be, with the Kommandant only wearing his suit coat and not his full uniform.

Their other companion, however…

She looked striking in the black sable of the Intelligence division. Her eyes were clear and her mane bright, and she waited with an almost unnatural stillness. “Something troubling you, Lady?” The Kommandant asked in a quiet voice as they began to board the airship. His demeanor was protective and kind, as it always was around the Lady.

“You are certain her mane was a Rainbow?” The Lady asked quietl\y, the ramp slowly raising up behind them as hooves clattered on the metal and their guard secured themselves into their seats. The Kommandant would sit when he was ready to, and so Iron Resolve remained standing as well. The Kommandant nodded once, and the Lady turned her head away. She remained silent for a full minute before speaking. “I shall be fine. But I must insist upon the opportunity to speak with her first, before we attempt any other persuasion.”

“It will be as you request, Lady Butterfly.” The Kommandant doffed his soft cap with a faint smile. “Was she an acquaintance of yours, once upon a time?”

The question was uttered into a strange sort of silence, one that lingered awkwardly in the air. The Lady’s calm demeanour was legendary amongst the troops. She never allowed herself to stray even a hair out of her calm and serene shell. Yet here, for the first time in his life, Iron Resolve saw that shell crack for just a moment. The Lady’s voice was sad, barely concealing the sob in her breath. “Yes. She saved my life once, and in turn sacrificed the life she’d always dreamed of having.” Lady Butterfly drew herself up, as tall and strong as any mare could ever dare to be. “And now it seems, she has recaptured that dream. And so at long last, I will be able to face her again… and finally thank her for all she did for me.”

Tears ran unheeded down Lady Butterfly’s cheeks, and her lips spread into a glorious smile. Her voice was the barest whisper, but Iron Resolve could hear it clearly. “I had always believed you would return, my beloved Rainbow Dash.”

Author's Note

This chapter is probably a bit rough, but I was so excited to have pumped out a full chapter in a single night again that I couldn't resist posting immediately. Please forgive any minor errors you might find.

Chapter 8 - If I were a Belle...

~~~~The Blue Note~~~~

They found Sweetie Belle in her room, sweeping up the last of the broken glass and staring moodily out her busted-up windows. “Well, at least it’s summertime.” She muttered, not noticing the company that filed into the room. Dash glanced over at Twilight and Daring, and then back to Rosetta out in the hallway, who shook her head wordlessly when Dash cocked an brow at her.

“Doctor Daring Doo, I presume,” Sweetie Belle said softly, turning and casually leaning on her broom. There were dark rings under her eyes, but she showed no sign of fear or exhaustion. Just sadness. Her eyes went from Daring to Twilight. “Please tell me you’re going to go find my sister,” she said all too softly.

“Of course we are, Sweetie,” Twilight snapped, sounding a little shocked that she would even have to ask. “We’ll get her safely back, don’t you worry one bit.” Twilight bit her lip and took a deep breath. “So what about you? Are you going to come with us, or should we arrange for someplace to meet up?” Twilight was in taking-charge mode now. Her head was held high and her voice was bright. Dash grinned as a scrap of parchment and a freshly inked quill soared into view, the clear signs of a list all ready to go upon it.

But Sweetie turned away, propping the broom up in a corner and settling on the edge of the bed. “I don’t know what I should do, Twilight,” she said quietly, hugging her her hindlegs to her chest. “I feel… I feel like I oughta jus’ stay here.” There was a heavy pause, and Dash knew what was coming next as sure as she knew anything. “An’ not just till you find Rarity, Twilight.” Sweetie finished, voice barely a whisper.

Twilight’s mouth sagged a bit at that, then snapped shut. She was muttering under her breath as the conversation died on the operating table, and Dash shook her head faintly. She had to step in before Twilight did something stupid. “Do you want us to bring Rarity back before we go home?” Dash tried to inject some reassurance there, tried to play it casual as well. The last thing she wanted to do right now was make Sweetie feel guilty about what she’d said.

Sweetie looked up at her and visibly swallowed. “I don’t…. I don’t know.” She tensed, trembling visibly. “I love her so much, an’ I want her to be safe, but I dunno if I could tell her I can’t go back to Ponyville…” She sniffed faintly, bundling herself up into a tighter ball. “Don’t get me wrong… I miss Scootaloo and Apple Bloom plenty, but…” Her voice drifted off into gentle sobs, her shoulders beginning to heave.

There was dull thunk as a glass bottle hit the ground and bounced, a blue pegasus shoving her way into the room and dashing the gap to the bed. Big, beautifully fluffy wings flew open and wrapped around Sweetie Belle without a single spoken word, and the mare named Bluebelle pushed herself up onto the bed to hold Sweetie. “Shh… It’s okay, Sweets. It’s gonna be okay,” Bluebell cooed softly, Sweetie turning to bury her head in her shoulder.

Twilight scribbled something on her parchment, Daring Doo looking on with what seemed a quiet resolve . Dash shook her head only once, motioning silently to the door. As Twilight nodded and Daring moved to follow, Dash looked to the poor, sobbing filly on the bed, her voice soft. “You be safe, Sweetie Belle.” It was all she could say, and so she made her exit.

The door shut softly, Dash taking a deep breath and exhaling. “Buck me,” she growled in frustration, smacking her hoof into the wall. Everything had gone completely pear-shaped. Rarity was gone, Sweetie Belle had gone native, and Twilight and her were both suffering crippling migraines for no bucking apparent reason. It was enough to make a pony want to scream and punch a cloud.

Twilight spoke first, her voice low. “We’ll go see if Miss Kitty’s found anything, then we’d better find a place to bunk down for the night. I’m exhausted, and right now I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to win a chess game, much less try and figure out the machinations of a madpony.” Daring nodded her agreement, Dash doing the same.

Rosetta huffed in frustration, but shook her head. “You’re probably right. We won’t be able to accomplish much more tonight.” She turned and began trotting down the hall. “Daring, come help me collect Scooter from whatever depravity she’s attached herself to and we’ll get the car started.” She paused, arching a brow at Twilight. “We should probably keep you out of sight for the time being, just in case.We’ll have to put you two up at Manehatten U.”

Daring hesitated, then nodded and moved to follow. “Yeah, and we can have a talk too.” Daring said under her breath. If Rosetta heard it, she gave no sign, already moving down the stairs to leave Twilight and Rainbow Dash alone once again.

Dash reached out her hoof, and Twilight took it. “We’re going to find her.” Dash said, surprised at her own intensity she squeezed Twi’s hoof, perhaps a bit too hard. “We’re going to get home. And nopony else is gonna get hurt because of us being here.” She looked up into those beautiful violet eyes of the only unicorn she knew she could trust right then, and she couldn’t help but ask. “Right?”

Twilight nodded silently, and nuzzled her cheek up against Dash’s. They stood in companionable silence for a few moments, as Dash tried to soak in the comfort of Twilight’s presence. The only way things could be more encouraging is if Applejack was here, and Dash truly wished for the presence of her earth pony rival. Dash might have the speed, and Twi might have the brains, but neither of them were real brawlers… and against a madpony with an army of insane minions, that might get real relevant, real fast.

But there wasn’t time to be standing around. Face it Dash. You’re stalling, You don’t wanna see more of crazy-world Pinkie Pie. “Come on, Dash. Let’s go talk to her.” Twilight was being hesitant too, which was a small comfort to Dash’s ego at least. But their hooves began to move anyway, in spite of her fears.

They traveled through the club’s back halls, now punctuated by lusty sounds and soft conversation. The smell of spicy vegetable stew hung thickly on the air, reminding Dash of just how long ago it was since her last full meal. Her stomach then elected to announced this to the world with an audible grumble that made her cheeks burn, Twilight laughing softly.

Dash soon joined in, glad for the excuse to let out some desperate cheer. “Always liked the sound of other ponies laughing.” A faintly familiar voice cut through their giggles, the pair shutting up mighty quickly as the pink-coated earth pony slowly walked into view. Her smile was the merest ghost of Pinkie’s usual beaming grins, but Dash could see the unmistakable resemblance. “Wish I could hear it more often.” She sighed, then shook her head. “Old Pale Face wouldn’t give me much, but at least she isn’t likely to be a problem for a while.”

The casual way she said it almost seemed to punch Dash in the gut, but some strange part of her felt oddly vindicated at the news. Miss Kitty kept on talking, regardless. “I couldn’t get where her boss’ base is, but I do know she’s not going to be harmed immediately or anytime soon. The mad doctor wanted somepony with a connection to your world safe and sound.” She frowned, darkening for a moment. “Why he wants her, I don’t know. But I do know you’ve got a least a week before things get dicey.” Miss Kitty sighed, and hung her head. “I wish I could give you more.”

“That’s more than we had to start with, Miss.” Twilight piped up, injecting some confidence and assurance into her voice. “We’ll figure things out, don’t you worry.” Twilight was putting on a brave face, but it was about as phony as Flim and Flam had been. She was nervous as buck, and it wasn’t getting any better as the moments went by. Dash needed to get her alone and fast.

Miss Kitty nodded. “I’ve given Rosie the name and number of the detective who’ll be in charge of the investigation. He’s a good kid, smart and tough. If anypony in the Manehatten PD can help you, it’ll be him.” She turned, and then paused before she turned fully away. “One more thing, Miss Twilight.” Kitty turned back, her eyes soft. “It’s… it’s probably not my place to ask, but… but I need to…” For just an instant, Dash could see past the cool resolve and the elegant clothing. There was a desperate, quiet pony behind that mask, and a tremulous smile that was all too familiar. “Are you two going to stay too?”

The words hit Dash in the chest hard, and she winced away from pain. She snapped her lips shut around her knee-jerk response- Of course not, we’ve got a home to get back to! But that wasn’t the answer she could give. To somepony else, maybe. To an alternate haughty Rarity, she might’ve been able to deliver that stinger, but this wasn’t Rarity or Applejack. This was Pinkie Pie, no matter what name she might be hiding behind.

Twilight looked pretty stricken too. Her head was down, eyes shut. There was no good answer here no matter which way they sliced it. “I don’t know, Pinkie.” Twilight said, her voice quiet and small. “But… I promise that if we are going to leave, we’ll come back and have a little party first. Even if it’s just a short one, I wouldn’t leave without that anyway.” Twilight smiled just a little, but her eyes told the tale of her sadness.

Miss Kitty didn’t even blink twice at the name, she just nodded faintly, and rubbed firmly at her eyes. “Okay. I suppose that’s all a pink pony could ask for.” She shook her head and came up with a genuine grin. It was bright, beautiful, and it filled up the room like a wave of warm feelings. “I’ll keep my chin up until then, no matter what happens.” She pivoted in place, and smiled sensually at… herself? “Oh, and I’ll make sure Sweetie stays safe and happy until you can get back. She needs to talk to her sister before she leaves, no matter what she might think. I hope you’ll be back soon, Dashie…”

And then she was gone around the corner in a dead run, leaving a confused Rainbow Dash to stare at her for a moment. Twilight chuckled quietly. “Remember what you’ve always told me, Dash,” she said dryly.

Dash thought for a minute, and gave a gentle laugh. “Just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie.”

~~~~~Later That Night, Canterlot Castle~~~~~

Lady Celestia carefully withdrew her horn from the doorway as magic sparkled off of it. The ancient doors parted with a breath of stale air that never failed to make Solly twist his nose in vague disgust. The room they were about to enter ought to have been open for anypony to come in and see. It ought to have been the birthright of a nation of ponies, to look into the fabric of space and Harmony and see the awe-inspiring wonder of it all. It ought to have been, but there were good reasons that it was not.

And so they slipped in together in silence. There was no need to light a lantern - the Harmonic Astrolabe gave off its own light. It was a massive piece of artifice, the last great work of Star Swirl the Bearded. Thousands of tiny gems glowing with arcane power swung about on enchanted threads, all circling a meticulously crafted globe that represented their world. There were any number of ways to use this device to divine future events and look into the very nature of Harmony itself, but tonight there were only six gems that Celestia and her companion cared about.

“There.” Solly pointed, and it took a moment to follow his hoof. Swinging perilously close to the giant diamond that represented the moon was a blindingly bright purple amethyst. It was moving at a remarkable speed, zooming about the Astrolabe like a pegasus filly finally given permission to fly alone. There was just one, tiny, insignificant detail that set it apart from the others. It had no thread to hang from. It was moving under its own power, levitating by itself in the middle of a magical artefact without so much as a care in the world. It was a piece of Harmony itself, utterly disconnected from this world and just as utterly out of place.

Celestia brought her hoof up to her mouth and tried not to gasp. Solly muttered a very ungentlecoltly curse, staring as it happily zoomed along. “Mother preserve me, whoever that is, they must be strong. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Solly sounded rather awed, his sleepy eyes fully alert. He cantered around the device, watching the tiny glowing gem from every angle as it zoomed about. Oddly, it seemed to be making some kind of constantly repeating pattern... Solaris squinted and hummed. “Wait a tick…”

“See something else?” Celestia was curious. Solaris had always been better than she was at spotting minute details in the device. She was more inclined to the broad sweep of things, seeing patterns he would miss in looking for the specifics. Like in so many other things, they complimented one anothers’ strengths, and compensated for weaknesses.

“Yeah, I think so… but I’m not sure what to make of it.” He reached carefully with his magic, pulling around a long telescopic device from an attachment on the ceiling and gesturing for her to join him. “Take a closer look at the gem, and tell me if you see something else odd. It’s passing a specific point every twenty seconds, so just give it a moment.”

Celestia arched an eyebrow at that bizarrely vague command, but put her eye to the device and waited. The gem was moving at an astonishing speed, but the device to her eye right now was designed to make it so one could see such fast moving gems. Sure enough, the tiny amethyst had one other anomaly to it. There was a second gem - a sapphire - that was orbiting it like a planet and giving off a faint rainbow trail as it traveled.

A sapphire. Giving off a rainbow trail.

Which was utterly, completely, totally impossible.

Except it was happening right before her eyes.

“Cloudsdale Dash.” She whispered, her head coming up as a surge of hope coursed through her body. “She’s alive.” It was good news. No, scratch that, it was tremendous news. So tremendous that Celestia completely forgot herself, and threw a massive hug around Solaris’ neck. “She’s alive, Solly!” she cried out with a burst of laughter, collapsing atop his massive form and sending them to the ground in a heap of giggles.

It took Solaris several long minutes to get back to a place where he could talk without her hugging him, coughing with a grin. “You’re missing the other important piece of information, dear.” He pointed at the Astrolabe. “She’s following that very peculiar gem in a way we ought to be very familiar with.”

Celestia froze in place, falling to her flank as a sense of awe came over her. “The colors?” She asked no one in particular, but Solaris was nodding with a huge grin of his own. “We’ve… we’ve got to hurry then.” Her voice cracked in mid-word, and she ran a hoof through her mane. “Where…” she began, then smacked her forehead. “The intelligence reports. We’ll know in the morning.”

Solaris nodded, and pulled her to her hooves. “We should get some sleep while we wait. We’ll need to be ready to move the instant we know where to go look.” She couldn’t argue with that logic, no matter how much she wanted to right then and there. Instead, she wrapped a hoof around his neck as they walked out. “We’re going to get them back, Celly,” he whispered, unable to keep the excitement from his voice.

“Yes.” It was an exultant feeling to know, at long last, that the endgame was in sight. Luna… It won’t be much longer, my beloved sister… she whispered silently up to the baleful moon, closing her eyes in remembrance. And before she knew what had happened, sleep reclaimed her.

~~~~?????~~~~

Rarity quietly ran the exquisite comb through her mane in a motion that was more habit than art. She’d wrapped herself up in a soft bathrobe following the hot shower, and now she knew she was doing little else but kill time until she could force herself to sleep. Her new companion, the rough but kind pony named Manehatten Silver, was sleeping on one of the lush couches, a short-brimmed hat tucked over his face and his hooves crossed on his chest. He was also a very quiet sleeper, something Rarity was thankful for in this moment.

The story he’d woven for her was a complex one, if you spent your time worrying about the details. Boiled down, it was frighteningly simple. She was in the clutches of some kind of madpony, who thought he needed somepony from their home universe to further his sinister plans. He’d gone after Sweetie Belle, but gotten her instead. In a way, that made her feel a trifle relieved as they were likely not going to waste further resources going back to take Sweetie now that they had her.

Unfortunately, Manehatten had confirmed her worst fears. There were indeed many ways out of this room, but the only way to open the doors was from the outside and every time they opened them, they did so with a platoon of guards at the waiting. Meals at eight, noon, and six on the nose. Pitchers of fresh water on request, so long as they did not harass their jailors. The rest was so much stuff and nonsense in the grand scheme of things, and frankly had little to do with Rarity’s thoughts at this present time.

In fact, the only thought she was able to dwell on was her foolish mistake in not making absolutely certain as to the source of the little… self indulgence she’d purchased. After the incident with the comic book, Rarity had to shamefully admit a fascination with the idea of stepping into somepony elses’ shoes for a while. Especially if said shoes came with a handsome stallion to pass the evening with.

The first few purchases, secured from a reliable source in Canterlot and made specifically for those of a more adult outlook on life, had been excellent in helping her let her mane down, so to speak. But the one she’d most recently acquired… You should have been patient, Rarity. I know it had been a stressful week, but look at the trouble you’ve caused. The thing had been… sketchy. But it hadn’t appeared dangerous, just rather more risque than she normally indulged in.

She’d just invoked the thing when Sweetie Belle had walked into the room, and then…Then you panicked, Rarity. You panicked, and look what’s happened. She winced from the thought, and put the brush down firmly. She needed to sleep. She needed to NOT think about how the rough looking stallion on the couch looked an awful lot like the protagonist in the comic… and how the antagonist had been, well…

She shivered at the thought, and pushed away from the vanity. The lights in the room began to snuff out one by one, and she quickly pulled herself up upon the lush bed. It was as comfortable as her own from home, but she knew it would be difficult to sleep well tonight. She wished one of the girls were there. She could have used a touch of warmth. But instead, all she could do was wrap her forelegs around a large pillow and imagine Sweetie Belle with her instead.

And if she shut her eyes tightly enough, she could almost smell Sweetie’s mane shampoo.

~~~~Manehatten University~~~~

Twilight shoved the door open with a weary sigh, glanced around with only half-hearted interest. The place was familiar in its design: Dormitory beds in this universe didn’t seem much different than those in her own, though the mattresses did look a bit fluffier. The blankets were a dull, overwashed blue and smelled strongly of cinnamon and lavender, but there was nothing wrong with that.

Dash was tucked under her foreleg, and in a weird way they were each supporting one another as they stumbled into the dimly-lit room. It seemed as though the many fatigues of the day were hitting them all at once now that there was no danger to face. Dash hoofed the door shut behind them, and between the dull glow of her horn and Dash’s keen vision they managed to get to one of the beds without issue.

Twilight felt herself being lifted and pushed into the softness of the blankets, and she had to admit they felt much nicer than she’d originally anticipated. Maybe they’d just been laundered enough to get out any of the rough qualities of the fabric, or maybe she was just really tired. She began to push down the sheets and covers until she found the bedsheet, and was just about to pull it over her when a second warmth joined her in the bed.

She turned her head to see Rainbow Dash curled up against her side, her hooves tucked up under her wings and her eyes half closed. She wasn’t spooning Twilight, but she was pretty close. Twilight opened her mouth to say something… and couldn’t bring herself to do it. Rainbow Dash, more than any of her friends, had a vulnerable side that she worked very very hard to keep concealed from the rest of the world. She didn’t like other ponies seeing that she was frightened or nervous, and she especially didn’t like ponies calling attention to it.

So she kept her mouth shut, and pulled the soft sheet over both of them, then turned to rest her hoof on Dash’s shoulder. “Good night, Rainbow Dash,” she whispered, pulling the curtains to the room shut with a touch of magic to black out the city’s lights. A few moments later, the warmth of Dash’s body had scooted up against her, and Twilight extended her hoof for Dash to grab. She did so, and held onto it silently like a comforting stuffed animal. It reminded Twilight of how Spike had often been their first few months in Ponyville, and it made her smile.

So she lay down her head, not all that far from the faint smell of fresh rainfall that was Rainbow Dash’s scent, and drifted off to a quiet sleep.

~~~~~~~

Outside in the lab, Daring Doo sat with a glass of whiskey and stared at the wooden table, brooding. “It’s not her, Derry,” Rosie kept trying to tell her, but Daring wasn’t having any of it. That was Cloudsdale Dash in that room, and she knew it. “Derry, please don’t get your hopes up,” Rosie said softly, betraying a touch of desperation. She even reached out to pull her hoof away from the booze… and Daring wasn’t inclined to stop her. She really shouldn’t be drinking right now as it is.

“Rosie, it is her. I know it’s her, and so do you,” Daring snapped at her old friend, trying not to look too close at the hurt and concern in her eyes. “Silver’s probably dead, Rosie. We might as well accept that. But my eyes aren’t lying to me, and neither is my nose. That’s Cloudy in there. She’s just… lost her memories or something.” It was a hard thing to swallow, but Daring would get over it. Whatever had been lost could be found again if she worked hard enough at it. That was kind of her job, after all.

Rosetta just shook her head slowly, then sighed and sat down next to her. Silence took over the conversation for a few minutes, until… “I’m sorry about Silver, Derry.” A gentle foreleg wrapped around her shoulder, Rosetta leaning in to give her a gentle hug. “Is there anything I can do for you right now?” Rosie sounded awful sincere, and Daring knew she meant every word. Even if she hadn’t liked Silver.

Daring looked at the room where Cloudsdale was sleeping, her voice barely audible. “I could use a good cry, if you’ve still got the shoulder for it.” She needed to get all the crap she could out of her system tonight. Tomorrow was shaping up to be a busy day.

Author's Note

You hear that sound? That's the sound of the engine revving up again. That's the sound of momentum, baby.

Chapter 9 - Apples for Breakfast

~~~~~Manehatten University~~~~~

The night passed without drama or incident. Rainbow Dash’s sleep was dreamless and quiet, and she was thankful for both when her awareness finally came back to her. She was uncommonly warm, a fact she could not understand until she felt the fuzzy form of her friend curled up next to her. Directly against her, and practically holding her to her chest in a comforting pose.

Dash’s mind froze up. She remembered climbing into the bed, in a vague sort of way. Had she been sleeptrotting? Or had Twilight simply gotten into bed with her and tried to find comfort of her own in a friend? Dash had no idea what had happened, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t appreciative of it.

Twilight was a quiet sleeper, as Dash had long suspected. Even in the dim light of the morning, she could see her face softened into relaxation. No worries or stresses laid upon her face, just a quiet innocence that made Dash smile faintly. It was too early to wake up after the long night they’d had, so she closed her eyes again and tucked her head under Twilight’s chin to complete the snuggle.

It felt just as good as she’d dreamed it would. Soft, warm, and with a faint tingle in the air that followed Twilight around like a persistent rain cloud. It made her feathers feel electrified in a way no other pony ever had. Twilight would have probably described it as her powerful magic making some kind of complicated sounding aura, blah blah blah. Dash preferred to think it was because… well, she was Twilight.

She was magic personified, a goddess come down from the mountain-city to be her very closest friend. Heck, when Dash actually sat down and thought about it, she was basically palling around with royalty and it felt like the most natural thing in the world. That was outright weird but it was the good kind of weird, like when Pinkie Pie showed up at the door to her home when she wasn’t feeling so hot. The fact that she was wearing a giant bunch of balloons and carrying a cake wasn’t really important, it was just good to have her friend there when she needed her.

Twilight wasn’t waking up, and the room was getting brighter. Normally, that wouldn’t bother her but she wanted to keep up the experience of having finally gotten Twilight into bed with her. The thought made her faintly giggle, and she dragged a square of sheet over her eyes so she could imagine it was still the middle of the night and they were just cuddling up for bedtime. C’mere, Twi. She silently beckoned, and oh-so-carefully wrapped herself up around Twilight’s sleek body.

It wasn’t quite everything she’d dreamed about, but it was darn close. Twilight unconsciously cuddled up next to her, and it took a lot of willpower to not let out a cute little squee. She actually had to clamp her muzzle shut with her hoof, but it was so worth it. It was soft, and warm, and smelled vaguely of honey soap and books and it was hypnotic in a way that made Dash blush a very bright red.

The morning slowly spun on, and it wasn’t until Dash could feel the warmth of the day’s sun slowly seeping into the bed sheets that Twilight began to stir to wakefulness. Dash could feel the air ripple with a static charge not unlike a pegasi working with a lightning cloud. It ran straight up to her pinfeathers and made her shiver a little. Dash tossed the blanket over her eyes away quickly, and tried to fake being asleep.

She could hear the purposeful intake of breath through Twilight’s chest, the soft thump-thump of her heart beating a little more rapidly. Twilight yawned. Dash could feel her muscles stretch beneath her coat, and then she froze up for just a second before coming down in relaxation. “Poor Dash.” Twilight half whispered, and a gentle hoof stroked down Dash’s spine in just the right way. “I’ll get us home safe, somehow.” Twi’s voice broke on the last word, and her body went tense again in a way Dash didn’t like… and wasn’t going to stand for.

“Course you will, egghead.” She whispered back in response, and Twilight nearly jerked herself out of the bed in surprise. Fortunately, Dash was holding onto her, so they just kind of rocked back and forth on the slightly stiff mattress. She peeked up from half opened eyes to see Twilight’s jaw hanging down just a little, and Dash couldn’t help but giggle at the look on her face. “Close your mouth, Twilight. You’ll attract butterflies.”

That had been Mom’s favorite saying when Dash had been little, and the way Twilight’s mouth snapped shut and she started blushing told her it probably had been one of her mom’s too. “I didn’t realize you were awake,” Twilight nearly stammered out, shifting in preparation to swing herself out of bed. “We’ve probably really badly overslept anyway, we should get ready for today-”

“Give it a minute, Twilight.” Dash held on, though she wasn’t sure why. It only took Twilight a moment to give up struggling and settle back against Dash, her face a study in confused emotions. Dash gently scooted herself up to get face to face with her friend. “You okay, Twi?” She tried asking quietly, reaching over to squeeze her shoulder.

Twilight didn’t wince away so much as she shivered unconsciously before Dash touched her. “I’m…” Twilight began, stopped, and took a deep breath. “I can feel the magical charge in my body right now, Dash. It’s the most intense thing I’ve felt that didn’t involve the Elements.” She was breathing very evenly. So evenly that Dash could tell she was about a smidgen away from a full on Twilight Freakout. “I don’t… I can control it, and it’s so easy to do it that I’m scared. I shouldn’t be able to handle a magical power this strong, Dash.”

Twilight’s eyes had gone distant, and the magical disguise fell away to reveal the long-limbed Alicorn she’d become as they’d stepped into this new world. Her mane was flowing like Celestia’s, but it was full of sparkly looking stars and whirling twinkles of colored light. She barely fit onto the bed, and it was in that exact moment that Dash realized something a little frightening… Twilight’s illusion had been so complete that Dash hadn’t even realized she’d been sharing the bed with somepony easily half again her size and weight.

That was power on a scale Dash couldn’t even begin to comprehend, the kind of stuff magical legends and mythology was made out of. Twilight was even spacing out, and the electrical feeling along Dash’s wings told her she really, really didn’t want to be in that room right then and there. And none of it made one bucking whit of difference. “Twilight!” She shouted. That got Twi’s attention instantly, and her eyes snapped back into focus. “Get your head in the game, filly! This is no time to be losing your cool!” She took on her ‘coaching’ voice, the same one she used when she’d been teaching Twilight how to fly.

That got a reaction, just like she knew it would. She instantly sat up on the bed, and Twilight’s wings snapped to attention. Gosh, those things are huge and fluffy here… It was an odd thought, but Twilight’s breathing went regular and natural and her whole body drained of tension. Twilight’s head came up in her ‘listening’ pose: Ears forward and perky, her wings in the lower position, and she’d even found a quill and parchment from somewhere to start taking notes. It was actually kind of cute.

Then Twilight’s face shifted, and took on a look of mild annoyance before settling into weary humor. “That was mean, Rainbow Dash.” she growled, and then smacked Dash in the side with one of her newly embiggened wings. “But effective. Thank you.” She shook out her feathers and carefully folded her wings back, and the powerful electrical charge in the air began to dissipate. Twilight’s horn came to life with a bright and familiar light, and a few moments and a bright flash later she was looking at good old normal Twilight. “I’ll be okay now. I promise.” She crossed her heart with a hoof and winked at her cheekily.

Dash squinted her eyes to give Twilight a searching look… she seemed okay, but it was obvious she’d need to keep a close eye on her. “Okay, Twi.” It wasn’t the end of todays’ work, but right now it would be good to get Twilight focused on something else. “Let’s go wash up and grab some breakfast, and then…” She exhaled, slowly. She had to be cool, for Twilight’s sake. “Then we can focus on getting Rarity back.”

~~~~~~

Twilight stepped out of the locker room style shower and grabbed the big fluffy purple towel off its hook as if she was back in her library. She wasn’t, of course, but this place truly was fascinating enough to make her forget about that. The shower had been the source of a nearly unlimited supply of piping hot water, and it had felt absolutely marvelous on her coat after a night of ridiculousness.

While a hot water bath and shower were entirely within the budgets of most citizens of Ponyville, they were sourced by carefully tended copper boilers and the occasional magilectric device. One had to go to a major city like Canterlot to find such a thing as proper indoor plumbing, and even in Canterlot there were limits as to how far hot water could travel in the pipes before it lost its punch. Here? No such issue, unless they were hiding boilers under the floor tiles.

Leaving the shower room, she was surrounded on all sides by sundry mechanical wonders. It seemed that Rosetta was an enthusiast for technological things, and the halls of her ‘lab’ were filled with so many things Twilight was certain she could easily become lost with fascination. Fortunately, the more primal parts of her body..Grrrowlff Namely, her stomach, had other plans.

The smell of fresh oatmeal filled the air, along with the spicy scent of cinnamon and sweet apples. Twilight simply followed her nose, and found Rainbow Dash already nose deep in a bowl of the stuff. Daring Do was minus her famous jacket and helmet and showing many of the very same eating habits as Dash did. Rosetta was nowhere to be seen, but there were two obviously dirty bowls in the sink. One likely belonging to Scooter, the other to Rosetta.

Twilight herself fetched a clean bowl from the counter, ladled out the delicious smelling foodstuff and hopped into a chair. “Morning, Lady.” Daring pulled her snout out of the oats to greet her with a chipper grin. “Rosie’s off sending the letter to Lady Celestia, and Scooter’s keeping watch for trouble. When she gets back, we’ll get to work on finding yer friend.”

She nodded silently in response, and cast her eyes about for the second scent that was now filling her nose… and was thankful beyond all reason to see the familiar sight of a steel percolator on the stovetop. Three mugfulls and a bowl of the oats later, and Twilight felt a heck of a lot more like her normal self. Even if the magic flowing through her was on a scale she wasn’t quite ready to believe.

Was this how Princess Celestia felt all the time? Brimming with a power so great you feared to wield it, lest the effects spill over onto those you loved. Twilight could feel the lump settle down into her throat and she felt the need to take deep, calming breaths. Instead, she got another cup of coffee. Relax, Twilight. If the Princess can do this, so can you. You’ve been taught how to handle supernatural control procedures, so stop waffling about and act like a big unicorn!

Right. SCP would keep her occupied. The most important of which was to isolate the cause, which she had already done. Somehow, crossing the transdimensional barrier had turned her into a fully realized Alicorn. That meant she had to presume her power was on par with Luna’s or Cadence’s at least, which meant she had to be cautious about how much power she poured into a spell.

Last night, she had killed ponies. Criminal ponies, insane ponies, ponies who would have hurt Dash and Rarity and Sweetie Belle very badly. But they were ponies none the less, and Twilight knew she could never allow that to happen again. That meant she’d have to throttle back her power significantly when she got angry, or there could be more casualties… and if she wasn’t careful, one of them could be her friends.

Fortunately, her telekinesis was working just fine without modification, and so were the half a dozen other every day cantrips she tried. Her coffee stayed hot in the mug, her coat remained free of dirt and dust, and she was easily able to strip the liquid off her spoon after stirring the mug. So, at least her every day magic was unaffected, which was a small miracle she was happy to grab hold of and squeeze the life out of.

Unfortunately… “Derry! DERRY!” That was Scooter’s voice, shouting through the lab. Dash sat up straight, Twilight whirled around to regard the door where the sound of many hooves was echoing down the corrridors. “It’s the Apple Mob, Derry!” Scooter cried out as she rounded the corner into the kitchen, skittering on her hooves and…

Oh, sweet Celestia. Scooter was lacking the heavy coat she’d been wearing all day yesterday, and now Twilight could see why she wore it. ‘Scooter’ was an orange coated pegasus pony, about teenaged years, and her wings were… damaged. They were ragged about the edges, the trailing feathers were all ragged and the feather sheaths at the outer edges of her wings looked burned and scarred.Twilight didn’t even have to turn around to hear Dash’s strangled gasp, as they both made the same conclusion at likely the same time.

Scooter was Scootaloo.

Daring Doo’s voice cut through the shock. “Fuck!” The expletive burst into the room, and a clatter of heavy furniture made Twilight turn around to see the squarish kitchen table upended in the middle of the floor. Spoons and various detritus went everywhere, and Dash was dragged down behind the cover of the table., “Lady Twilight, get your flank back here!” Daring yelled over the edge of the table as Scooter dashed to the other end of the room, pulled shut an unseen kitchen door and threw a metal bar across it.

Twilight hesitated for a moment, and then quickly obeyed. She knew that she could handle almost any threat, but she was not ready to start testing her ability to keep her magic under tight control. So she dove behind the table, soon joined by Scooter. Twilight turned to see Daring… and she was holding some strange, long metal object and loading shiny looking short red tubes into an opening on the side. The table they’d upturned had a solid steel bottom to it too, and seemed to be attached to the floor on hinges. “Just what kind of company do you normally get here?!” She blurted out, unable to comprehend the ridiculousness of how prepared she seemed to be.

Daring grinned at her. “Rosetta knows how to entertain all sorts of guests!” She slapped the last red tube into the oblong object and worked a big metal loop of a lever at the base. The device made a satisfying ca-click sound, and then Daring turned with the device tucked into her shoulder to aim it over the edge of the table. “Don’t you bucking whorses know it’s impolite to interrupt breakfast!?” She shouted over into the hall, and the rumbling sound of hooves came to a sudden and echoing halt.

Twilight licked her lips as the silence dragged on for several long seconds. Dash rolled her eyes and peeked around the side of the table… and Twilight couldn’t help but do the same, with Scooter giving them astonished looks as she did so. Just a little shield. That’s easy enough. She called the tiniest amount of force she could into her horn and projected a little glowing purple shield around their faces so they could watch from safety.

The hallway was still painfully empty at first, but a little white flag on a stick was thrust out from the hallway and waved about. “We come in peace, Doctor Doo!” A drawling Apple-Family style voice called out from behind the wall. “We ain’t here to cause no fuss, we’re jes’ here on behalf of the Big Apple.”

Daring didn’t waver in her aim, and Dash looked right at Twilight and mouthed the words “Big Apple?” at her. Twilight shook her head minutely, and put her hoof up to her lips. They had to keep silent about the possibility they were both considering, or there could be serious consequences.

Fortunately, Daring didn’t seem terribly interested in their byplay. “Oh yeah? Why don’t you tell me what your boss has to say about breaking our agreement, Caramel?” That name shocked Twilight, but that wasn’t the last shock she was going to get. She knew the Daring Doo books like the back of her hooves, and she’d never seen a part where Daring had contact with mobsters of any sort that didn’t end in a fight.

The flag withdrew, and a familiar face poked around the corner. Well, sort of familiar. Caramel Apple of Ponyville and Dodge Junction had been a shy and unassuming earth pony not given to airs. This Caramel Apple was wearing a smart three-piece suit and a sharp looking hat and had a sneer of vague arrogance on his face. “We ain’t breaking anypony’s agreements, Doo. We’re here cuz the Boss needs to talk to you, an’ wants you to come down t’ the Club to see her. Says she knows somethin’ about where your missin friend’s being kept.”

Dash chose that moment to do something rash. Twilight chose that same moment to keep her from doing it. Before Dash could charge around the table, Twilight had already planted her rear hoof on Dash’s tail and her forelegs around Dash’s middle. It still took most of the air out of her lungs to keep Dash from charging around the table to engage the earth pony, and once again Daring kept talking over the scuffle. “Oh yeah? Then show me the bucking proof!” She snarled, and there was a tense moment.

Then Caramel ducked out of sight, only for a new pony to saunter around the corner. Of course, after identifying Scooter Twilight probably shouldn't have been surprised. “Ah’m here, an’ I ain’t shot at ya. That proof enough for ya, pith-helmet?” The yellow-coated, red maned earth pony drawled with a cock of an arrogant eyebrow. She too was wearing a sharp suit and a hat, but hers was of obvious higher quality. Real silk went into the making of that outfit, which didn’t make it’s presence on the pony who was wearing it any less shocking.

Daring lowered her device, and Dash was muttering something rather rude under her breath as she spoke. “Donna Apple Bloom.” Daring’s voice sounded vaguely surprised, then she shook her head. “Shit. Why did this have to get complicated all of a sudden?”

~~~~Manehatten Telegraph and Telephone Office~~~~

The words flowed from quill to paper slowly and evenly. It wasn’t exactly the kind of message she’d penned before, but training had taken over from emotion. The letters were as neat as her hornwriting teacher could have asked for, and in spite of the message being the very first of it’s kind she’d ever done, it would have made her mentor proud. She eyeballed the one time pad at her side, and double checked her work. The coding was good. At least she hadn’t lost any skills recently.

The black-uniformed pony in the telegraph office knew her well. They’d been working together a very long time now, ever since she and Daring Doo had begun their adventures together. But today, the look of shock on her face as she scanned the missive was one Daring would likely never forget. Nopony ever handed him something already written into code unless it was of a security clearance he didn’t have. And the only clearance this pony lacked was the Black Level of the very highest threats and issues that crossed the lines.

Rosetta nodded curtly. “Transmit it quickly. Make sure that you give the top priority signal.” She commanded quietly, and the pony nodded rapidly. His hoof went to the telegraph button and began to rapidly tap out the message. A phone call would have been ludicrously unsafe for something like this.

The only thing that would serve was an encoded telegraph, set to a specific one-time encryption. The only ponies who would be able to translate it would be directly under the supervision of the Lady and the Lord, and none of them would be able to betray their nation. When the transmission had been sent a few minutes later, she watched as her old friend burned the paper thoroughly, and then processed the ashes through a magical disassembler. The dust that came out was fed into a vent, where it would be scattered into the sky so thoroughly no spell could ever retrieve it.

She hadn’t told Twilight a lie, truth be told. It would indeed take much longer for a Telegraph to reach Celestia than most other modern forms of communication. While a letter would take days to reach Canterlot, though, this message would be there in hours. She could not afford to wait any longer than a day for assistance from the Lady and the Lord. Doctor Negative was still alive, after all. And that demanded action of an immediacy only her words could provide.

She turned and marched out of the office, holding her head confidently high and raising a hoof to summon a Taxi. Hopefully, Daring hadn’t gotten into any trouble back home.

~~~~~Canterlot Castle, mere hours later.~~~~~

The message zoomed from station to station, down the lines that hung between trees and atop the modern ‘telegraph poles’ that were starting to pop up along the railway tracks. If anypony was curious at the gibberish, nopony took much notice of it. Coded messages were a highly common thing in the machinations of the nobility, and nopony wanted to get in their way if they could help it.

Why the message had a government priority tag though, nopony knew. Somepony was probably going to lose their job over being bullied into using the tag, but they kept putting that message to the head of the que whenever it appeared in their pile.

By the time the message reached Canterlot Castle, it was nearly lunch time. All manner of other things had already happened back in Manehatten, but in the Castle, the message was received by the black uniformed ponies of the Secure Office. When the encoding was first written down, a runner was dispatched to retrieve the first available royal. By the time the message had been double checked, Lady Celestia was already present.

She snatched up the document, and gave the receiver a smile of thanks before dashing away. The message she translated as she walked briskly to the throne room, where Solaris was still fending off the attentions of the Griffon Ambassadors desire for better trade agreements. She gave him ‘the look’ and quickly turned into their private discussion room.

Solaris joined her a moment later, his face set into a grim line. “What is it? Diamond Dog raids? Border skirmishes? Neightzis?” He cocked an eyebrow at that last one, his lips threatening to twitch into humor.

Celestia took a deep breath, the words of the telegram tumbling over in her mind. “No. Simply a greater complication than either of us could have anticipated.” She turned over the translated paper to him, and could hear the words as his eyes scanned the page.

To: Castle of Canterlot, Secure Office

Priority: BLACK, LDY And LRD Immediate

EIS Security Protocol Delta : DESTROY AFTER TRANSMISSION

Black lvl Crisis in Mnht. [stop] CDD Alive. [Stop] Possibly Amnesiatic. [stop]

UNKNOWN ALICORN. [stop] Power level extreme. [stop] Not NMM. [stop]

Sonic Rainboom Confirmed. [stop] Subject could be CDD. [stop]

Rosenbridge Suspicion High. [stop] Request Immediate royal assistance. [stop]

Tacite In Munere Solis.

Dr. Rosetta Sparkle.

“Oh, Dear.” Said Lord Solaris, and then shook his head. “That… could be a problem.”

Author's Note

The fuzzy cuddle scene at the beginning of this chapter is dedicated to Ambris, because that guy is awesome.

If you'd like more, Ambris - let me know. I'll give you a whole fic's worth to help cheer you up.

Chapter 10 - Marephy's Law

~~~~Outside Manehatten University~~~~

The sun shone down brightly from the sky, illuminating the beautiful campus of Manehatten U. Dash’s dad had wanted her to go here to study weather management like he had, but she’d gone to Cloudsdale Academy instead. Mostly to keep her eye on Fluttershy, but also because CA had the best athletic facilities in all of Equestria. There, she’d trained herself for years on the academic dime while just barely managing to scrape by on her classes. She’d graduated, but it had been a formality.

The train of thoughts that had brought her to that moment were distinctly odd, but so far the entirety of the past two days had been like that. Odd thoughts and memories warring with an entirely new set of them, and leaving her confused and vaguely annoyed. Because now, in addition to remembering what she’d actually been through… “Nngh!” She winced, putting her hoof to her head as the stupid memories lanced through her brain. A mixture of jumbled images about how she’d come to Manehatten young and met a young archeology student named Daring Do…

No! Cloudsdale! Fluttershy! Dash turned and smacked her head against the shiny body of the motor-car. Elements of Harmony, you featherbrain! Get your head out of the clouds! It was hard, but she managed to finally stuff all the other memories back into the box she’d put at the back of her mind. Just in time for Twilight to appear right in front of her and give her a concerned look. She shook her head and put on her very best Rainbow Dash smile, hoping she could keep Twilight from worrying her egghead into scrambled egghead.

Twilight brightened a bit at her smile, and after a moment of fiddling pulled the door to the vehicle open with a proud grin. “Fascinating technology.” She squee’d, and was probably one more doohickey away from bouncing around the place like Pinkie Pie. She slipped into the comfortable enough seat in the back, and Dash scrambled up after her. The cushions were covered in some kind of smooth, soft material that made her think of velvet.

Then the door on the other side of the car swung open, and in stepped the living embodiment of everything that was weird with this world.

Apple Bloom looked… fancy. Almost Rarity levels of fancy, point of fact. Dash wasn’t an expert on fabrics, but she did know the good stuff when she saw it and this was Canterlot grade material. Her suit was sharp, stylish, and edgy enough to even make Dash of all the ponies in the world kinda want one. She was also hauling a massive metallic object, almost the size of her teenaged mare body, slung over one shoulder as casually as Dash might hold a sandwich. There was a massive wooden stock on one end of the thing, which transitioned into a blackened steel with a big loop and what looked like a little curved lever inside of it. A big circular drum was attached a bit further down, but before the big, thick pipe that seemed to go the length of the device. Whatever it was, every single one of Rainbow Dash’s keenly honed senses of danger were telling her this thing was bad news.

Apple Bloom herself smirked as she glanced over at Dash. A smirk of confidence, arrogance, and total self-assuredness. She was even still wearing her bright red bow behind her snappy looking hat. “Ya’ll look like ya never seen me before, Cloudbutt.” Apple Bloom cooed sarcastically, then chuckled richly. “Gotta admit though, it’s good t’see y’all ain’t dead. Ah missed teasing ya’ll.” Her hoof shot out and socked Dash hard in the shoulder, but it was a friendly sort of smack.

Dash rubbed at it and flashed her best confident grin. The last thing she wanted was everypony to start getting wise to the fact that she wasn’t from here, and that meant she had to fake it till she could get back home. “Yeah, I just bet you did. What, you don’t get enough practice in on your sister?” It was a gamble, risking bringing up Applejack in a world where practically nothing seemed to make sense….

But Apple Bloom just snorted and laughed. “Yeah, right! Like ah’m gonna give her the same bullpucky I give you. I’m nuts, not suicidal, Cloudbutt. “ She rolled her eyes and settled her metallic thing across her lap, leaning back into the seat with a sigh of happiness. For just a moment, she looked like regular old Apple Bloom… Just a little older. Then Scooter hopped into the drivers seat of the car, and Apple Bloom’s smile turned into a half scowl, half grin. “Well if it isn’t DD’s personal penguin.”

Dash didn’t know what a penguin was, but the way Scooter stiffened up made it clear it was some kind of insult. “Keep your trap shut, you treebucker. I’m not in the mood today.” Scooter scolwed past the back of her seat, then tugged a belt over her chest and snapped it into place with a safety catch. Dash blinked a bit at that, then shook her head. No different than any flight harness, if she was looking at it the right way.

Apple Bloom just sniggered, then Daring finally got into the car. “You know where to go, Scooter. Drive casual.” Daring glanced into the back seat, eyeballing the three ponies there for a moment. “Donna Apple, we’ve got a guest with us. Would you mind explaining the basic etiquette to Miss Twilight?” Her eyes darted to Dash, and she made the most minute of nods. The message was clear that she’d better pay attention too… in case she’d ‘forgotten’ anything.

“Not like it’s hard.” Apple Bloom grumbled, then turned specifically to Twilight. “Look, th’ Boss is pretty laid back. Jes’ treat her with the same respect ya’ll would give anypony important. Miss is fine, an don’ get too fancy with the titles.” Apple Bloom paused, then reluctantly continued. “An I wouldn’t refuse any hospitality she might offer ya. She’s a stickler ‘bout that sorta thing.”

Apple Bloom went silent and turned back to stare outside the car. The vehicle itself was in motion, and the wind blowing through Dash’s mane was distracting enough that she didn’t much mind the lack of conversation. Of all the ponies in the world, the one they were going to see was the one Dash was sure would be alright. No matter what weird crap went on, Rainbow Dash couldn’t imagine Applejack being anypony but herself.

~~~~~~

Twilight soaked in every inch of the city as the sun slowly creeped higher in the skies. Manehatten was just as impressive during the day as it was during the night. She marveled at the soaring skyscraper towers and the ancient roaman architecture merged with modern design aesthetics. The streets were packed with other ponies on hoof and on a myriad of vehicles, but in spite of all that everypony seemed relaxed in enough in getting to wherever they were going.

The crowds began to thin as their journey continued, and were replaced with scenes of ponies living out everyday lives. Working on construction, fillies and colts going to school, sharing a moment with a neighbor. It was all so… ordinary. It was like looking through the glass of a science exhibit, and seeing the outside world. Would she ever have a life as ordinary as this ever again? It was a thought that had troubled her, long before they’d come to this world. But never before had the difference between her old life and her new one been so starkly different.

The vehicle began to slow, and Twilight sharpened her wits. They were pulling up to what looked like a fairly well-to-do drinking establishment, built in a Dodge Junction style. The sign out front read “Sweet Apple Acres Bar”, and right on the porch stood Big Macintosh, sweeping imaginary dust off of it with a slightly dour look on his face. He glanced up at the approaching car, and leaned on his broom with his eyes following them as they pulled up and to a stop.

Apple Bloom was out of the car first, hoisting her strange weapon over her shoulder and shouting with a cheerful tone. “Heyla, big brother!” She waved her free hoof and trotted up the porch. “When are y’all gonna stop lookin’ so glum all th’ time?” She was obviously teasing him, but there was a distinct note of concern in her voice that Twilight was pretty certain only she had caught.

Big Mac shook his head, watching as they all piled out of the wondrous vehicle before responding. “When you an yer sister come back t’ the farm, Apple Bloom. Y’all know that.” His voice was as quiet as it had ever been, but somehow rougher. He turned to the rest of them, as Twilight, Daring and Dash all mounted the porch. “Howdy y’all. Mah darnfool sister is waitin inside for ya.” He tipped a plain looking bowler hat towards Daring. “Miss Doo. Sorry fer everythin’.”

“Not your fault, Big Macintosh.” Daring’s voice was surprisingly warm, and she patted his shoulder gently. Apple Bloom just rolled her eyes and trotted past the open front door to vanish inside. Daring watched her cautiously before speaking in a low voice. “I’m sorry too. You’re a damn fine pony, and shouldn’t have to put up with this.”

But Big Mac just shook his head. “Family’s family, miss Doo. Don’ matter what they get up to.” Then waved them off to keep sweeping. Dash’s mouth opened, and Twilight immediately slapped a hoof over it. The last thing any of them needed was to start interfering with this world’s status quo. There was already no telling what the ramifications of her arrival here were going to be, and she needed to make sure the damage was minimal.

Stepping past the doors was like stepping into a strange dimension. The place looked like it could have come straight off the Apple Family farm, and it even smelled the same inside. But no Apple Family residence had been full of strange suited ponies cleaning even stranger weapons, drinking liquor and watching them cautiously. “If I might ask, Daring…” Twilight began hesitantly, wondering how to breach the subject.

Daring shook her head. “It’s no secret. Me and the Big Apple haven’t ever really gotten along. We’ve been competing with one another since I met her at Manehatten University.” She snorted derisively as they passed a large group of earth ponies playing cards. “She was an upper-crust trust fund filly, an’ I was the scrappy kid who’d gotten in on luck and skill. We kinda rubbed each other the wrong way, mostly on account of me not giving her any respect.” She grinned broadly, her eyes sparkling. “We’ve both kinda grown up a bit since then, but truth be told? She still annoys the crap out of me.”

Daring shoved her way past a burly pair of earth ponies standing outside a private dining room, and there she was. Her hat was still there, like some kind of universal fixed point that would make sense to nopony except Twilight. But the rest? She came off as a completely different pony. Applejack had always had a certain amount of humility to go with her self confidence, but here all of that had been replaced by a powerful self assurance that dominated the room.

Her personality loomed, larger than life in every respect, as she stood quietly chatting with Applebloom. Her suit was of the very finest materials, and not for the first time today Twilight wished Rarity had been there to see it. Twilight had learned a thing or two about fashion just by being in close proximity to the fashionista, and she knew that Applejack’s clothes wouldn’t have disgraced a Canterlot social function. That she wore them with such total ease and familiarity was doubly disconcerting.

And when she looked up…

Twilight could only stare into those infinite green eyes. Somewhere deep inside of herself, where the power of Harmony and magic lived inside her body, she knew that this was still Applejack. There might be dozens of layers of a different life lived in a different way over that core, but this was still the same pony who’d felt so guilty that she hadn’t won a prize that she’d been determined to earn the money before coming home. Instantly, Twilight could feel her whole body relax as a little voice whispered in the back of her mind.

Everything is going to be just fine.

“Well, howdy there, Miz Daring Doo.”

~~~~~~~

“We have confirmed their location. It is not good news.” The Stormpony, behind his face obscuring helmet, spoke in crisp and decisive tones. “They have gone to visit one of our enemies, and they are now surrounded by armed ponies.” He stood at rigid attention, which made Iron Resolve nod approvingly. It took guts to deliver bad news to the commanders, and it took a lot more of those to do so without losing one’s cool.

“Doctor Doo is nopony’s fool, Kommandant.” Lady Butterfly spoke in her quiet voice, tossing her mane over her shoulder. “She is obviously arranging for better security for herself and her guests until her friends from Canterlot can arrive.” The news that a coded transmission had been sent earlier this morning to Canterlot had been nigh-on panic inducing. If they came to Manehatten, there would be no possible way to extract the pegasus from under their protection.

The Kommandant nodded shortly. “Which means we are left with no choice. We shall have to assault them directly.” He sighed heavily, pointing at the Stormpony. “Have our soldiers prepare their weapons. We won’t have time to secure motor vehicles. We shall have to drop in from the air.” The Stormpony saluted and quickly ran off into the back compartments of the transport.

Once alone again with the pilot and the Lady, the Kommandant sighed. “This is going to greatly complicate matters. I had hoped to resolve this without leaving signs of violence.” He snorted, and Iron Resolve had to agree with that sentiment. Violence would leave indelible signs of their passing, and if they were involved, it would be only a matter of time before they were traced back to their origins. One could not hide a fleet of warships in the sky, no matter how much one tried.

The Lady nodded once, then blew out her own sigh of frustration. “It cannot be helped. I can but hope our pegasus is not so weak hearted that she cannot forgive us the blood that will be shed.” Then she giggled faintly, a hoof daintily pressing to her lips. “Perhaps we shall be able to convince them to deliver her without conflict. Surely none of them wish to die.”

The Kommandant actually chuckled at that suggestion, shaking his head once before pulling open the arms locker with his magic. “I think that you are being a trifle too hopeful there, Butterfly.” Within the locker, the matte finish of the Kommandant’s battle armor gleamed in the dim light of the morning sun. The Kommandant doffed his uniform cap and shook out his mane before tossing off his jacket to follow it. “Rarely are we so blessed to have violence turn out to be unnecessary.”

The Kommandant glanced at him, and Iron Resolve turned to his own weapons locker. His gear was a great deal heavier than the Kommandant’s, but such was a necessity for a body guard. The sound of whirring mechanical gears filled his ears as he neatly divested himself of his cloth uniform before stepping into the solid-steel boots of his armor. Darkness closed in around him while the machine slowly bolted the plating to his sides, and he put his mind towards the mission to come.

~~~~~

The folder hit the table with all the grace of a filly hitting the couch cushions after a long day. “Th’ Doctor’s been a pain in our flanks for months now. His crazyponies have been harassing our runners and trying to intimidate our neighborhoods.” Applejack’s crisp delivery was so unlike her that it gave Dash a bit of whiplash every time she spoke, but the accent was the same at least. “We’ve been tracking his goons back to the old Manehatten University labs outside the city. Near as we can tell the Doc himself ain’t there, but we know they’ve been sending out regular shipments of…” Applejack waved her hoof. “Whatever they’ve been stealing recently. We tried following them, but we’ve not had much luck.”

Dash licked her lips and slowly drained the last of the cider out of her mug while Rosetta eyeballed the contents of the folder. Twilight scooted over to add her eyes to it, and Dash trusted Twilight enough to tell her whatever she needed to know. For now, Dash simply poured herself another mug of the delicious cider. Granted it wasn’t quite the cider of home, but it was close enough that Dash genuinely didn’t care.

Applejack planted her hooves on the table and leaned over it like an overpaid executive. “Miz Doo, I hope you can accept my apologies in regards to the behavior of certain members of the family. I told them not to take jobs from that madpony, but it seems he’s been waving big sacks of bits around town and a few of my boys thought they could get in on the action without getting caught.” She sighed gustily, sounding a little too much like Rarity for Dash’s liking.

Daring snorted, then sipped her own cider… she’d had more than a few mugfulls too, Dash had noted. “So long as you understand that I’m not going to hesitate to beat them down if they come at me again.” Daring muttered, but she did look a little less pissed off than before. “Then yeah, we’re square. Rosie, what’ve we got?” She quickly moved to change the discussion, and AJ looked pretty happy to be doing that herself.

Rosetta adjusted her spectacles in the same way all nerds did when they wanted to make a point. “Given the direction the trucks were heading, we’re probably going to have to raid the old labs to know for sure where they might be going.” Rosetta tapped the paper, her eyes narrowed. She’d arrived a few minutes after they had. How she’d known where to find them… Dash shook her head. She needed to be here somehow, so she was. Simple as that. “That’s not going to be an easy job, Daring. I was there when they decommissioned those labs, they’re a labyrinth of old construction and Harmony only knows what might’ve been hidden behind false walls and old staircases.”

AJ pursed her lips and looked pensive. “I’d rather you not go there alone, Miss Doo. I’d feel a mite responsible if you got yourself killed.” She glanced around the room, and Dash noted Daring’s eyebrows going up into her helmet… then. “Apple Bloom. I want you to go with ‘em.” Applejack’s tone was firm and decisive, and it was enough to get a look of shock both from Apple Bloom and Scooter. Apple Bloom had barely gotten her mouth open to object when AJ slapped the table. “No buts. They’ll need somepony who can handle a gun if things get hairy, an I wanna know what’s goin on there myself. You’re going, and that’s final.”

“As though I don’t know how to handle a pistol.” Rosetta muttered, but there was a smile on her face. “We’d appreciate the help, Miss Applejack. We’ll do our best to make certain she stays out of trouble.” And she grinned at Daring, her mouth going wide. “And of course, she’ll help me keep poor Daring out of trouble as well.”

Applejack nodded, Daring Doo groaned, and Twilight giggled. Dash shook her head with a wry smile, then went to sip her cider again…thumpthump Her ears swiveled in place, and she paused at the edge of her mug. ThumpThump The noise was louder, and she set down her mug. “What was that?” She half said, half muttered under her breath.

The room went instantly silent, and Apple Bloom sat up straight in her chair. THUMPTHUMP Those sounds were loud enough to be heard by everypony present. Applejack eyeballed her sister, then nodded. “Somepony check upstairs!” Apple Bloom shouted into the next room, swiveling her strange device - probably that ‘gun’ AJ had spoken of - and aiming it in the vague direction of the hallway.

Outside the hall, Dash could hear dozens of hooves milling around and the sound of mechanical devices working with clack-clack noises. For an instant, the world was still with an almost electrical tension… then BANGBANGBANG! The sound ripped through Dash’s ears like a dozen massive crates all hitting the ground in cadence. Applejack snarled and pulled an instrument like her sister’s from under the table, and worked a sliding mechanism for an ominous clack-CLACK before speaking. “Daring, get the buck out of here!” She screamed, as another rattle of sound ripped through the building.

Dash moved on instinct. She grabbed Twilight around the waist, getting an ‘eep’ of sound out of her just before Dash took off like a shot. She had to make sure Twilight was safe, above everything else. Daring was right behind her with Rosetta equally in tow. Scooter was still out with the car, supposedly. Applejack ran out behind them and towards the front door at a speed Dash knew all too well was fast even by pegasus standards.

Dash turned the corner towards the front of the establishment… where looming, dark figures stood outside the windows with strange devices strapped to their sides. Only instinct probably saved her in that moment. She peeled off of her flightpath and dove behind a thick wooden post just in time for a barrage of sound to assault her ears from the front windows. The sound of breaking glass and splintering wood cascaded through the front of the bar, as something shot out of those things started tearing up wood, tables, chairs, and even the main Bar.

Twilight was yelling something, but Dash couldn’t make it out amidst the noise. The banging sounds stopped, and she took that moment to move. The bar seemed to have weathered the assault pretty well, so she went there next and found Daring and Rosetta huddling there too.

A quick glance up and Dash felt her eyebrows raise at the sight of a thick steel plate embedded in the side of the bar, and all the way down. Oh. Right. Gangsters. Her mind reminded her, just in time for Twilight to grab her by the neck. “I can make a shield, you know!” She hissed into Dash’s ear, and Rainbow Dash felt her ears flop over in embarrassment. Twilight just huffed and glanced at Daring. “How do we get out of here?” She yelled, as another barrage of sounds assaulted Dash’s poor ears.

Daring pointed with her hoof towards what looked like a swinging door just past the end of the bar. Dash couldn’t see much else from here, but that was enough for her. “Fuckin’ Neightzis!” Applejack’s voice screamed over the din, and a different cadence of noises came from the other direction. Heavy thuds, like something hitting the floor followed the noise. “GIT YER FUCKIN’ FLANKS OUTTA MAH BAR!” Ah. THERE was the AJ Dash knew and loved.

“Go!” Rosetta whispered over the sudden quiet, and Dash nodded. She grabbed Twilight again, if a bit more politely this time, and quickly pulled her past the bar and through the swing door as subtly as any pegasus flying at speed could. The room turned out to be a supply hallway leading back into the kitchen, and Dash was sure there had to be a door back there somewhere. Daring and Rosetta appeared moments later, and Twilight shoved herself to her own hooves. She began to speak in her very bossiest of tones, “Sheesh, Rainbow. It’s like you think I haven’t been through this nonsense befor-”

Then a crashing sound interrupted her. A very loud, very wood-splintery and glass-breakingly loud sound that was swiftly followed by all of them getting knocked off their hooves by something impacting the building. A dozen louder such sounds, all of these single BANG’s filled the room they had just left with a cacophony of sound and bright flashes of light. And then…

An oddly familiar male voice rang through the bar. “Fraulein Apple! We have been told you have guests that are of interest to us!” Dash blinked. She felt like she ought to know who that was, but there was something distinctly off about it. Maybe it was the germaneic accent, or maybe it was the fact that her head was ringing from all of the ridiculous noises that it’d been subjected to.

“Y’all coulda knocked!” AJ Snarled back at the voice from somewhere, and was followed by a torrent of moving hooves and clattering weapons. Dash glanced at Rosetta and Daring… and Rosetta had gone deathly pale. Daring was swallowing nervously, and Twilight just looked very confused.

Then… the soft beat of pegasus wings. Gentle hoofsteps upon the wood that seemed to echo through the room, and a voice Rainbow Dash would have known anywhere. “Frau Applejack. Our apologies for the violence, but I am afraid I must ask you to surrender the rainbow maned one immediately.” She sounded oh-so-reasonable, and oh-so-polite….

And oh, buck me… What’s Fluttershy doing here, looking for me?!

Author's Note

Sorry this one took so long, guys. I frankly got into some bad lazy habits, which I intend to fully kill as of today. Expect another chapter tomorrow, let's get this trainwreck a-rollin again.

Chapter 12 - What Should Have Been

~~~~~??????~~~~~

She knew that the room was precisely twenty two feet and seven inches wide, twenty two feet and four inches long, and fifteen feet and nine inches tall. She knew that, with the materials available to her, she could construct eight small contact explosive devices, four smoke bombs, two flash bombs, two hoof daggers, a climbing rope rated for two hundred and eight pounds, a garrote and something to carry all of it in. She knew that the three vents were all too small for her to squeeze into, and that breaking down the door would require more force than she could bring to bear with any ease. Oh, if only she had a little Potassium Chlorate!

She knew that if gas began to come through the vents in the wall, she would have approximately five to seven minutes before it came too high up to avoid breathing in. She also knew that if she blocked the vents with available materials, she would have approximately thirty eight and a half minutes before seepage would be a danger. If she had at least an hour of warning, she could increase her breathing time by an hour or so, but then she risked it affecting her eyesight.

She knew that her roommate could likely lift several hundred kilograms more than his body weight, which she estimated to be around two hundred and fifty, give or take a few grams. She knew that he was likely capable of withstanding significant bodily damage, and had a slight limp in his right leg that may or may not reduce his running speed. She knew that he had at one point been a smoker, but had long since given up the habit for chewing gum. She knew that he was used to carrying a gun, under his right foreleg point of fact, and was very uncomfortable without it by his side.

And for the life of her, Rarity could not figure out how in the name of Celestia’s blessed smile that she knew all of these things. It was as though her mind was feeding her knowledge she never had before needed, wanted, or studied. She needed but only glance at her desk full of cosmetics to see the destructive potential in the base chemicals inside of them. She needed but take a single look at the various conveniences at her disposal to understand how to turn nearly every single one of them into a deadly weapon.

Every time a guard or servant entered the room with food, or other amenities, she instantly was able to assess the difficulty of disabling them. Unfortunately, their captor was clever and cunning enough to never give her a real chance to do so - there was always just one too many of them for her to directly confront. Even with Silver’s help, there was no guaranteeing she’d be able to take them all down before an alarm could be raised or shots fired, and since either would only leave her in a bad position, she had bided her time. Besides, it had only been a day or so since she’d been taken, if her internal clock was correct. (And it always was.)

So instead of moping about, she decided to use this time constructively.

It had been less than forty-eight hours, (thirty seven hours, eighteen minutes, her mind reminded her relentlessly,) since she’d lost poor Sweetie Belle to that dreadful portal. And yet somehow, she had been physically unable to panic about what had happened. Her mind was swollen with total, complete confidence that she could get her sister back and get her home. There was no room for even the feeblest inklings of doubt. She’d never failed a single mission before in her life, and she was not about to start now.

And there was that word again, echoing in her mind: Mission. As though this were some sort of common task for her to complete, and not a terrifying set of circumstances fit to make even the most even keeled pony tremble in fear. She was locked into a room with no reasonable means of escape, her friends had no knowledge of her location, and as near as she could tell her captor was some sort of madpony who found her beautiful enough to expend considerable resources to kidnap her.

Oh yes, had her mind not mentioned that? The ‘good doctor’ had already sent her a ‘romantic’ missive. Deranged rantings on the subject of her purity, and how together they would soon rule the world. She’d seen such nonsense before and was hardly going to let it bother her, but she felt like she ought to have at least been a touch creeped out. But no. Nothing. She was as cool as a cucumber. She wasn’t stressed over Sweetie, or angry about this mad Doctor, or even her handsome but slightly uncouth room mate. She was… fine.

And it was incredibly disturbing to feel fine in such a situation.

“Miz Rarity, ya’ got a minute?” The gravelly voice of her companion caught her attention from across the room, and Rarity shook off her reverie to push out of the soft chair and onto her hooves. She would just have to keep moving, that was all. The room itself was so posh, getting across it was a simple enough matter, even with the detritus of Mister Manehatten Silver all over the place.

Like most stallions, the poor soul had no sense of organization. But unlike most stallions, he was a brilliant schemer and very light on his hooves. He had already proven his mettle by stealing hoofkerchiefs from the second ponyservant to bring them food today, and had been passing his free time since her arrival with explaining what he’d discovered about the room they were in. It had all been useful information, but she was still hung up on how to apply any of it. “Yes, darling?” She queried as she pulled up to his desk, where he’d roughly sketched out what they’d managed to glean about the contents of the hall outside their room on a scrap of paper.

He poked at the paper. “I think I got an idea.” He cocked his head at her, his bright blue eyes gleaming. “I figure we’ll get one shot at this though, so we’ll need t’ make it count.” He mouth turned into a roguish grin, and he cocked his head to one side. “There’s a flaw in how they come into the room.” He put a pair of wine corks on the sketch in the hallway, and four candle stubs just inside the door. He added a much battered bit next to the stubs, and a pair of little thimbles on their beds. “Two guards in the hall, two in the door, one guy carryin the stuff. Seems pretty bullet proof, right? But they come inside in a glob.”

He bunched them together, showing how they’d walked into the door bunched up together. “No discipline. So right when they first walk in the door, they’re vulnerable. They do it the same way every time, too. Been seein it for weeks, but one pony can’t handle the job.” His grin grew wide, and he moved the thimbles just so. “But now that there’s two of us... I figure maybe we can rig up a li’l surprise for em.”

Rarity leaned over the desk, rubbing at her chin. Her mind raced with thoughts and ideas that a designer of clothing simply shouldn’t have. But wherever they were coming from, Rarity knew all too well that without them she was going to be far too vulnerable to survive long enough to save Sweetie Belle. So she focused on the task, and put aside her concerns. Manehatten Silver was not wrong - that was a weakness that could be exploited. She had at first thought there was more to it than that, that they could not possibly be so silly as to make such a rookie mistake. But if this was constant behavior…

Rarity tossed her mane over her shoulder and put on her prettiest smile. “I’d say you might have something here, Mr. Silver. Whatever did you have in mind?”

~~~~~Sweet Apple Acre’s Bar~~~~~

swiff...swiff...tinkletinkle...swiff…

Dash could almost meditate to the even strokes of the broom wielded by Big Macintosh as he slowly sorted out the wreck of his bar. All around them, a dozen other earth ponies brought out new chairs and tables. The front glass windows had already been removed, and new ones were apparently already en route. There had been no sign of the Guards, and Dash was beginning to think there wasn’t going to be.

Applejack was sitting at the table. Her suit was gone, and her wounds were bound up in neat white bandages provided by a surprisingly calm Rosetta, who herself was wearing a bandage wrapped around her head. Daring was outside. She’d gone out there after Rosetta had been verified fine, and Dash was sure she’d seen Daring shaking a little as she left. Not surprised. I hate other ponies seeing me cry too. It was a sobering thought, to realize how close they’d all come to getting killed. How they probably would’ve been… if it hadn’t been for Twilight. As usual.

Twilight herself was exhausted, but somehow still awake. She’d torn into a massive spinach salad that somepony had brought for her, and was already working on a second. She looked like she’d just spent three days awake, and studying every minute of it. Dash should know, she’d seen her like that before once. But more than anything Dash was also sure that Twilight looked even more Alicorn-like than she had when they’d first dropped into this world, and it was kinda scary.

Applejack finally spoke up, her hat on the table, and her golden mane braided back into an all-too familiar ponytail. “Y’all saved my family, Miss Twilight. Saved me too, but th’ family’s more important.” She spoke with a firm conviction, and many of the ponies around them nodded in agreement. Even if they weren’t part of the conversation, Dash got the impression they’d support their boss no matter what. Applejack half smiled, and folded her hooves together. “I gotta tell ya, Miss Twilight. Ah can’t remember the last time somepony stuck their neck out for me an’ mine like y’all just did.”

Twilight sucked down another mouth full of greens and smiled faintly. “Miss Applejack… Explaining why would take a lot longer than any of us have, but I would have done that any day of the week for you.” There was a strong warmth in Twilight’s voice, and she seemed to perk up a bit for having had said it. She eyeballed her spinach, and took another big bite before speaking again. “I wish this wasn’t all so complicated.”

Applejack snorted. “Y’all are tellin’ me! I expected somethin’ bucked up with ol’ Pith helmet involved, but royalty? Neightzis? This is a coupla’ levels bigger than normal, even fer her!” She slammed the table with a boof, and an instant later there was a foaming mug of cider at her side. She grabbed it and pounded back the liquid, a piquant smell on the air confirming it’s alcoholic nature just before she slammed the mug into the table. “We gotta do somethin’ about this.” She muttered, staring into the table.

“I beg your pardon, Miss Applejack. But could you better explain to me just who those madponies were?” Twilight was chewing at her lip as she spoke, and casting her eyes to the corner. There, two dozen ponies of various races had been bound up hoof and leg. Every last one of them was completely unconscious and was showing no signs of coming to, either. Rosetta had said they were physically fine, but Dash privately doubted that. They’d gotten hit with what had looked like the same power the Elements of Harmony used, after all.

Applejack raised an eyebrow at them, then nodded. “I suppose I’d best, if’n ya don’t know who they were.” She sighed and put her hat back on her head. “I was jes’ a youngin’ when it happened. Livin’ with m’ Aunt and Uncle here in Manehatten.” She gestured with a hoof, broadly. “There was some kind’a political thing in Canterlot. The Lord n’ Lady had an argument with somepony pretty high up in the government, an’ that somepony started the whole business. They’re…” She twisted her lips, looking a bit disgusted. “Ain’t no two ways about it, they’re convinced ponies are… and I’m meanin’ Unicorns, Pegasi and Earth Ponies only, understand? They think we’re superior t’ all the other creatures in the world. Better’n griffons, Dogs, Dragons, the works.”

Dash blinked in astonishment at that kind of thinking. Superior? Sure, ponies were awesome, but there were plenty of things other races were better at than they were. “An it goes one further,” Applejack continued, looking uncomfortable. “They’ve got a problem with the pony races interbreedin’. Says it dilutes the blood, makes us lesser.” Her eyes narrowed, and she huffed out a breath. “As if an Apple’s any less an Apple jes’ cuz their momma was a pegasus, or their poppa was a unicorn. It’s fuckin’ stupid, that’s what it is!”

Dash shook her head. It was just a given that the various pony races interbred with one another. Heck, that’d been going on since before the Tribal war! Commander Hurricane herself was famously the daughter of a pegasus warlord and a Unicorn duchess, and there wasn’t a pegasus alive who would say she hadn’t been the very epitome of the pegasi race. This was insane, that’s what this was. Some kind of crazy, small-time cult…

Applejack shook her head slowly. “Problem is, they got support somehow. Started out as jes’ a few ponies, followin’ the charisma of the leader. Then things got nasty. Opposition to ‘em got violent, even against the Lady’s commands. There were bombing’s, attacks on prominent members of the movement.” Applejack sagged in her chair, rubbed at her eyes. “Even an’ attack on Manehatten Uni. It was lookin’ like there was gonna be a revolt.” Applejack fell silent, looking up at Twilight with vaguely curious eyes.

Twilight stared back, as though a thought had just occurred to her, and then Rosetta’s voice came cutting through the silence. “And then the Fuhrerin appeared.” Everyone at the table jumped a little, except for Dash. Applejack was blushing and so was Twilight. What was going on here? Rosetta kept speaking, absently. “There was a political revolt within the Neightzi movement. The original leader was quietly assassinated, and replaced by the Fuhrerin and her loyal followers. Kommandant Panzer joined shortly after, and Lady Butterfly was made the head of their Intelligence corps.” Every eye turned to Rosetta, who was staring at the table as she spoke. “There was some sort of secret meeting between The Lady and the Fuhrerin. Overnight, the direct attacks against ponies came to a halt, and all of the movement’s supporters began to move to a large island off the eastern coast of Equestria.”

Applejack nodded, quickly joining the conversation again as her cheeks slowly lost their redness. “They became a kinda’ mob all their own. They smuggle weapons an’ other stuff into Equestria, an fly their crazy little airships all over the place recruitin stupid ponies an’ harassin the locals.” She shook her head and snorted derisively. “Ah don’ know why the Lady puts up with ‘em, but the rumor is they got some kinda’ agreement.”

Rosetta opened her mouth, then shut it firmly… and then. “I’m going to go check up on Daring.” She said, quietly shoving off the stool and quickly leaving the table before anypony could say another word. Twilight looked bewildered, and Applejack just looked suspicious.

AJ sighed, then glanced at Dash before giving Twilight another look. “I’d like a private word before ya leave, but right now I gotta go check up on my boys that got hurt. If ya’ll would excuse me.” She quickly shoved away from the table a moment later, leaving Twilight alone with Dash for the first time since this morning.

Twilight was silent. She’d finished her second salad, and was staring at her hooves as though she didn’t know what to say. Dash scooted her butt and her chair closer to her, and flared out a wing to wrap around Twilight’s shoulder. “You saved our butts there, Twi. Thanks.” She said it quietly, hoping that she could impart some comfort to her distressed friend.

Twilight smiled briefly, but it vanished a moment later. “I felt… I was so angry, Dash. I completely lost it. I didn’t even feel… remorse.” She was shaking, just a little, now that nopony else was watching her but Dash and possibly Big Macintosh. “I turned into some kind of monster. I just unleashed a spell so powerful it could’ve blown this entire city block into rubble, and I didn’t even think twice about the possible consequences.”

Twilight was outright shaking now, and Dash extended her hoof with her wing to wrap firmly around Twi’s shoulder. “Simmer down, egghead. It’s okay.” Dash tried to soothe her, stroking her hoof along Twilight’s shoulder but it didn’t seem to help. Then… she got a rather cheeky idea, and grabbed Twilight’s tail. It elicited a squeak from Twilight, until Dash tucked it into Twilight’s forehooves and then went back to hugging her.

Twilight slowly stroked at her tail with her hoof, and the shaking slowly reduced in intensity. “Thanks, Dashie.” She murmured, and leaned her body against Dash’s shoulder. She was warm, and smelled like home, and it felt good to have her there, even if she was considerably larger than she’d been before.

Fortunately Dash was pretty strong for a pegasus and could take the extra weight, but geeze. “You really put on a few pounds, Twily.” She wasn’t sure if using Shining’s nickname was appropriate here, but it drew a chuckle out of Twilight anyway. “We’re gonna have to put you on a diet. No more sweets from Sugar Cube Corner for you for a while.” That got a faint giggle out of Twilight, and Rainbow heaved a silent sigh of relief.

She had to steer the conversation back onto something they could handle. “Something happened to you and me in this world.” Dash said quietly, looking at Big Mac leaning over his broom and brooding silently. “That’s why Shining Armor and Fluttershy got caught up in this. Something bad had to have happened to us, but what?” She bit at her lip, trying to worry out the answer by gnawing on the flesh a bit. “Like… I’ve never seen Shy look so totally in control of herself. She was almost a different pony entirely.”

Twilight nodded a little, still leaning warmly against Dash… and almost squirming up against her, like they were cuddling. Dash felt her cheeks go a bit red, and twisted her head to hide it. “I think Rosetta knows something, too.” Twilight mused, her head now resting in Dash’s shoulder. “She keeps getting squirrelly around us. Like there’s something she wants to tell us but….” She shook her head in Dash’s shoulder, and hummed softly. “We’re getting off track. We’re going to be in serious trouble if we can’t find Rarity, so we’d best focus on that.”

Dash nodded a little, and squeezed her hoof more gently around Twilight. It felt natural to do it too, like this was something they’d done together before. But… well, they’d hugged before, sure, but not really snuggled up like this. Why did it feel like this was the way things were supposed to be? Dash felt the fur on the back of her neck stand up, and an instant later she could feel Twilight tense too. “Something’s happening.” Twilight half said, her voice preoccupied. “I’ve been feeling it all day, but now it’s stronger… Like…”

Twilight sat up straight all at once, and nearly sent Dash crashing out of her chair… only for her to fall across Twilight’s chair and send them both crashing to the floor in a heap of limbs and bodies, staring into one another’s eyes. Dash couldn’t take her gaze off of Twilight, and Twilight swallowed visibly before her eyes. She was more beautiful than Dash had ever really thought of, especially like this. Her bright ethereal mane was splayed attractively all over the floor behind her, and it would be so easy to just reach in and…

And…

And what in the world was she thinking?

Dash shook her head back and forth, as an ache seared through her head. Her vision clouded, as images of another life raced past her eyes….

Fluttershy standing on the cloud, holding a checkered flag in her mouth….

The two dumb jock ponies, mocking her friend…

The race. The fateful race that had set her life on the path that would lead…

The Castle of the Two Sisters… The Elements of Harmony… to Nightmare Moon…

Right?

Rainbow Dash, taking off at top speed…. and then, seconds later, her ears caught a sound.

A scream.

Fluttershy.

Falling.

So fast. She couldn’t fly.

Dash turned, forgetting the race.

She had to save her.

Speed and tears blurring the world.

She couldn't see anything...

Anything except the terrified eyes… of her friend.

Rainbow Dash nearly screamed. It took every single ounce of strength for her to hold it back, and she could feel the pain burning through her mind. Memories that weren’t hers. Memories that shouldn’t be hers. She buried her face in Twilight’s chest, and wrapped her hooves firmly around her. She was hyperventilating. She was going to pass out of she didn’t get a hold of herself.

Twilight’s forelegs wrapped around her, softly. The world stopped blurring, and slowly came back into focus. The memories faded away, replaced by the ones she knew were hers. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Twilight. The Elements of Harmony, Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra. The world returned to sense, but her body ached from the struggle. Dash lifted her head to stare into the limitless depths of her friends eyes, and whispered: “Thanks.” Even speaking hurt - she winced.

Twilight winced at the same time she did. “This world’s magic…” Twilight whispered heavily, her chest heaving up and down in a very naughtily attractive manner… Get your head out of the gutter, Rainbow! This isn’t the time or place! Twilight was still talking though, working through her own headache. “It’s… It’s like I can see it tugging at the threads of reality. Manipulating chance and circumstance… It’s trying to wrap us up, Rainbow. It’s trying to make us part of itself…”

The pain vanished as quickly as it came, and Dash found her hoof grasping at Twilight’s as firmly as she could manage. “We’ve gotta get Rarity and get out of here.” She said quietly, and Twilight nodded. They slowly drew themselves up to sitting and huddled in one another’s forelegs for a few moments, waiting for their nerves to settle down. They had to hurry. The clock was ticking.

But for some reason, Rainbow didn’t feel afraid. Not so long as she was wrapped in Twilight’s forelegs. No. She was suddenly afraid of what might happen if she ever lost this feeling of…. of…

Was this Love?

~~~~~~

Twilight Sparkle strode through into the back room of The Sweet Apple Acres’ Bar, where a simple and rough hewn wooden desk sat under a gloriously painted canvas. It was Sweet Apple Acres to the life, with the sun just peeking over the horizon and sending a wave of color and shadows over the orchards. Applejack was sitting on her desk, papers and other office supplies scattered everywhere as she stared at the painting.

Twilight shut the door quietly behind her, only to find an all too familiar photo staring her in the phase. Young Applejack, Big Mac, Granny Smith, and baby Apple Bloom. They were smiling, and hugging each other, and it was the same picture AJ had on her desk back at home. “Sometimes…” Applejack drawled, not even pretending her Manehatten accent anymore. “I think I should’a gone back. I shouldn’ta given up on the farm.” Her voice was rough, and she almost sounded… drunk?

There was a sweet, sickly smell of something not unlike Brandy in the air as Applejack kept speaking. “I couldn’... I jes’ couldn’ admit that I’d been wrong. So I stayed. I went t’ school an’ made Aunt and Uncle Orange proud. Made myself a proper society mare. Got a degree.” She pointed at the wall, where Twilight could not help but stare in astonishment at a Masters in Economics from the University of Manehatten. “Even Granny was right impressed by that. Said I was th’ first Apple since m’ Grampa to get a proper education.”

Applejack turned around, draping her rear legs over the desk edge and cradling a fancy looking glass bottle in her lap. “But I jes couldn’t admit I’d been wrong. Ah couldn’ work in the fancy offices. It jes’ wasn’t fer me. I’d already moved out of my Uncle’s place, an I needed money, but what could I do?”

Then AJ sighed, twisting the bottle in her hooves.”Lucky I was still jes’ as strong and tough as I’d been as a filly. So I got a job under the table. Breakin’ legs for the Gaspacho’s.” She waved her bottle around. “Ten years later, an’ here I am. Boss of half of Manehatten. Guard Captains an’ Royal Agents afraid t’ cross me. Got the freakin Duke of the region in my back pocket. We’re swimmin in bits. Farm won’t ever need to turn a sliver of profit, an we could buy the whole rest’a Ponyville without breakin’ a sweat.” Applejack’s speech slurred a bit, and she was about to take another hard pull of the liquor before staring at the bottle for a long, somber moment. “An yet…” She half whispered, staring into the liquid.

It was one moment that Twilight simply couldn’t stand.

She grasped the bottle with her magic and tugged it away from Applejack. The earth pony mare didn’t resist as Twilight dumped the third-still-full bottle into the trash and crossed the room boldly to gently take Applejack’s hoof in hers. AJ stared down at the held hoof, and a few wet tears fell from her eyes. “Ah’ve tried to do right by the family, Miss Twilight. Tried mah darnedest.” The tears hit Twilight’s hoof, and Applejack grasped even harder. “Why issit I can’t look at’cha, an’ not see my little sister growin’ up happy an normal, an me buckin’ apples down on th’ farm?” Applejack looked up, and she was obviously working hard to fight back the tears. “Ah feel like I oughta’ know you. Like we shoulda’ met years ago. Like… Like…”

“Like you’re seeing the life we all should’ve lived?” Twilight asked, trying to pitch her voice low. Applejack nodded once, sniffling and driving back her tears. Twilight looked over her shoulder, to the picture of Sweet Apple Acres in all of it’s glory. The way things should have been, if only they hadn’t been different. Then… then she heard Princess Celestia speaking gently, as though she was standing right next to her. The voice was ghostly, and echoed…

”Perhaps… the way things could still yet be?”

She turned quickly to try and find the voice, but saw only a faint glow of light vanishing into nothingness. When she turned back to Applejack, she was surprised to see her staring right where Twilight had been looking a moment earlier. “Miss Twilight… Would y’all make me a promise before ya leave?” Her voice was quiet, but as strong and unshakable as the earth itself.

And as she spoke, Twilight could feel a pressure of emotion in her heart as hard and sharp as a dagger.

“Would ya kindly stop by fer one more drink a’fore you try gettin’ home?”

Chapter 13 - The Storm Gathers

Chapter 13 - The Storm Gathers

~~~~Manehatten University, several hours later.~~~~

The whole apartment smelled like garlic.

Not in a bad way! Just… Garlic. Strong, bold and flavorful. The sizzle of oil in a pan, and the gentle sweetness of sauteeing onions provided a counterpoint in the air, and served as a fair distraction from the thoughts that were making Twilight’s head swim. She was alone in the ‘living room’ as Rosetta had called her, her wings tucked up tight against her and her flank planted in a marvelously soft chair. The room was piled high with artefacts and scientific equipment, and Twilight’s hooves itched to organize it.

Sadly, she didn’t know if it was already organized or not, and so she kept herself from the task. Which was quite a shame, given how much a good organizational binge would help her get some of the stress out of her system. Instead, she was left alone with her thoughts while Dash did what Dash always did. She’d taken off into the sky to do some acrobatics, presumably without performing a rainboom, and probably try and clear her head.

Twilight might’ve joined her, if she hadn’t been nigh certain that the sudden appearance of a bloody Alicorn Princess in the skies above Manehatten wouldn’t cause untold issues. No. She would have to wait inside until she regained enough strength to build a much more robust illusion to hide her new self. The fact that she had to hide in the first place… Back home, it was just some new wings and a title… here…. She glanced up to one of the windows, unable to not see her dimly glowing reflection in the glass. She had wanted to be like Princess Celestia her entire life, but never quite like this.

Gentle hooves wrapped around her. The smell of fresh rainclouds and apples, and soft fluffy wings.“Hey.” Dash whispered, and didn’t say a single other word. She didn’t have to given how close she was curled up against Twilight’s side. Twilight turned and felt a nuzzling cheek meet hers, Dash squirming about behind her to try and get a better position and finally giving up and just flopping against her. It was comforting, in a slightly awkward sort of way.

It was enough to make her smile. “Hey Dashie.” She giggled faintly, and bumped her cheek back against her friends. “I hope you didn’t come inside just for me. I’m fine, I swear.” Well. Maybe not fine, but she was doing okay enough that she didn’t want to interrupt her friend’s flight. The last thing she needed was to start turning into a full blown drama queen, especially with all the other problems they were wrestling with.

Dash shook her head, pushed her back against the couch cushions and clambered around until she was curled up right against Twilight’s side. She was very warm, very soft, and very distracting sitting there like that, and the words she kept saying weren’t helping much. “Nah. It’s too chilly up there tonight, somepony on the weather team must like cold evenings.” She snorted derisively, and craned her neck to look up into Twilight’s face. She had a sly smile on her face, her eyes mischievous. “So. Fess up, egghead. What’re you stressing about this time?”

Twilight wanted to open her mouth and deny everything. She wanted to do that, but instead… “Dash, we’re moving too slowly…” Dash snorted at that, and Twilight smacked her on the shoulder. “I’m serious! Dimensional magic is one of the least understood kinds, and right now we’re practically marinating in it!” She had to huff in exasperation, now more annoyed than worried. “We’ve got to find Rarity as fast as we can, and-”

“Twilight, stop for a second.” She held up her hoof, and Twilight snapped her mouth shut in surprise at Dash’s stone faced seriousness… which turned into a wry grin. “Sheesh, Twi.” She gently bonked her on the head, giggling faintly. “You’re supposed to be the egghead. Stop for a minute and think about where we are.”

Twilight blinked, trying to parse that statement… “Uh… Manehatten in an alternate reality?” She half questioned, half stated and felt thoroughly confused by whatever train of logic Dash had hopped onto.

Dash rolled her eyes. “Twilight, we’re like… literally in the middle of a Daring Do book. Everything that’s happened feels like some weird mix of The Caverns of Dr. Killponi and The Antikythera Device books.” She paused, scratching her chin. “And I suppose a dash of those detective novels Spike likes so much, but that’s not the point. Things are gonna happen in their own good time, and worrying our tails off about it isn’t going to help us. We should be working on a plan for what we’re gonna do when we find Rarity.” She grinned brightly, full of vigor and confidence. “And we’re gonna find her, Twilight. I know it in my feathers.” She flapped her wings against Twilight, tickling her and stirring up a gust of wind.

Twilight had to laugh a little at that, and shake her head. “Well, I suppose it’s possible. Alternate dimensions could be working off of universal laws of magic that simply don’t exist in our world.” She blinked, rubbing at her chin as the dominos fell in her brain one after the other. “I suppose that might even explain why all of these crazy events keep happening one after the other. But…” She frowned a little. “If that’s the case, then what could’ve happened to bring us here in the first place?”

Dash hummed, tapping her chin. “Well, Spike said there was some kind of magical accident. Maybe Rarity got her hooves on some kind of magic gem and didn’t realize it? She might not’ve noticed if it was shiny enough.” She snorted. “I swear, sometimes I think Rarity must be part dragon.”

Twilight had to giggle at that… if only just a little. “Possibly, but unlikely.” She shook her head slowly, staring out of the window. “It’s so like our world, but so utterly unlike our world. There’s just enough that’s the same…”

“That you gotta wonder how we got here.” Dash finished for her, half smiling. “You gotta admit it’s kinda cool, though. We’re the first ponies in history to go to another world!” She bounced a little in place, suddenly energetic. “I mean, can you imagine what we could do if we can smuggle some of this stuff here back home? They’ve got little machines that can make rice in like, ten minutes! And you don’t even have to watch them, they’re automatic!”

Twilight stared at Dash for a minute. “Rice?” She balked, trying to wrap her head around why that was such a big deal. But no matter what she thought, it didn’t make sense.

“Well ch’yeah.” Dash huffed, looking slightly dreamy. “Faster rice means faster Sushi. Mmm…” She licked at her lips faintly, her smile turning “Tuna Nigiri, Unagi, Hamachi… Celestia, I could go for some of that right now.” She was even rubbing her belly and looking like Pinkie Pie talking about eating frosting. It took her a few minutes to notice Twilight’s confusion, then blinked. “Oh yeah, I forgot. You grew up in Canterlot, didn’t you? So you probably have no idea what I’m talking about.”

Twilight nodded slightly, hoping her confusion wasn’t too obvious. Sushi? What in the world was that? Dash grinned and shook her head. “I’ll tell you later. It’s mostly a Cloudsdale and Los Pegasus thing.” She seemed oddly happy about that, and Twilight supposed she could understand. It wasn’t every day Dash knew something Twilight didn’t.

Still, she mulled over what Dash had said a little earlier. “You’re right. It is kind of neat that we’re the first ponies to do this…” She couldn’t help but smile a bit brightly. Every cloud really did have a silver lining. “Ha! And you’re right. We could do so much good in Equestria just with the special heaters and stoves we’ve seen so far… and mass produced sparklights!” She had to clap her hooves at the thought of that. No more dangerous candles around her precious books!

Dash giggled faintly, and Twilight was astonished to realize how… relaxed she suddenly felt. “Thank you, Dashie.” She said it quietly, only intending for it to be a compliment to a friend… but it came out so much warmer than that. “I don’t know… I don’t think I’d be able to do this without you.” She swallowed, and Dash’s smile got a lot softer than that. “You’re always the first one to help pick me back up, no matter how crazy things seem to get…”

Twilight felt herself sniffle a bit, and Dash’s hoof touched her cheek. “You’re one of my bestest friends, Twi. I’d do anything for you.” She lifted Twilight’s chin again, and she could see Dash’s bright smile. She spoke softly, like she couldn’t quite believe what she was saying. “You’re pretty special to me, Twilight.” And suddenly, Dash’s cheeks colored a bright red as she realized what she’d said. Twilight was blushing too, though she was sure it couldn’t be quite as bad as Dash was.

For a few seconds Twilight couldn’t speak. What could she possibly say to that? How could she possibly respond? Why was her mouth moving on it’s own? “You’re pretty special too, Dashie.” She couldn’t keep the warmth out of her tone, nor could she keep her hoof from gently hooking around Dash’s neck and pulling her in for an all too close hug.

And for a moment at least, she felt safe and warm again.

~~~~Aboard the Liebe Krystall~~~~

Iron Resolve came to attention as The Fuhrerin entered the room.

She was beautiful, of course. Nopony who served the cause did not swear to that fact with utmost devotion. She was ruthless too, and as sharp as the blade of a bayonet. Her eyes were clear and bright, and she carried the weight of the Equestrian kind on her shoulders. “Kommandant…” She spoke softly, with almost a whisper of wonder in her voice. “Is it true what our Lady tells me? She is alive? You saw her?”

The Kommandant nodded, his armor scattered across the floor of his quarters and his chest bare. His coat was pure white, the sign of the very highest class of Unicorn in Equestria and his horn came to a strong point. There was no finer example of unicorn stallion, and Iron Resolve knew it well. He’d been fending off unicorn mares from him for years now. “Yes.” Was all he could say, as he slowly turned a scrap of gold and violet metal over in his hooves, and repeated the motion over and over again.

The Fuhrerin slowly crossed to him, picking up his scattered armor and settling it in it’s proper place on the stand. “This must be… a wonderful moment for you.” She hesitated over her words, in the way she only did around the Kommandant. But her voice firmed up quickly, as it always did. “But why did you not bring her to us? And why was she with the rainbow maned one?”

The Kommandant sighed, and shook his head. “She has clearly lost all memory of what happened to her at the University. She is almost like the pony I knew as a child - her Cutie Mark is even different.” That elicited a gasp from the Fuhrerin, and Iron Resolve muttered in anger that he had missed such an obvious sign. “But it is her, Fuhrerin. I would swear it on my life, it is her. She was bright of soul, and powerful in magic.” He lifted his head, and he was fierce with pride. “Very powerful.”

Then he sucked in a breath and went rigid. “I will take responsibilty for not retrieving her, Fuhrerin. But she begged me to trust in her, and said she was looking for a friend. I must presume it was somepony she met in whatever place she has been kept all these years.” His face fell, and his eyes snapped firmly shut. “Somepony must have recovered her, and secreted her away… I cannot even begin to think of what must’ve been done to her. She is frightened, and uncertain.. and she has enough power to level Manehatten on her own lonesome. She wielded a Word of Power, Fuhrerin.”

Iron Resolve felt his own blood go cold. He was not a unicorn, and did not know their mysterious ways well, but he did know the legendary power the great wizards of the past had wielded. The Words of Power could only be spoken by those so utterly in tune with the forces of Magic that it could be said they were avatars of it. Even the Kommandant, with all of his power, could only speak one of them, and he had never done so in Iron Resolves’ presence.

The Fuhrerin lowered her head, and took a deep breath. “There are not many who could do such diabolical work, Kommandant… but if it was anyone, I am more than certain it was not Celestia.” The Kommandant’s head shot up in surprise, and even Iron Resolve had to pick his jaw up off the floor. The Fuhrerin shook her head. “I am much critical of Lady Celestia and her political decisions. I may even dislike her greatly for the many painful losses we have all endured from her weakness. But make no mistake about it, Kommandant. Of all the things she is, she is not a monster.” The Fuhrerin’s eyes narrowed. “No. But there is a monster who lives again, and his sudden reappearance makes me wonder if perhaps he is the one who has held her all along.”

The Kommandant’s eyes narrowed to pinpoints. His voice turned into a throaty growl, and his muscles radiated with power. “Doktor Negative.” The Fuhrerin nodded, and the pair looked at one another heatedly. “It seems that the goals of my sister, and the goals of my Fuhrerin are as one.” The Kommandant’s voice grew more powerful, and very happy.

The Fuhrerin grinned. “I shall dispatch you tomorrow, with my own personal guard to command. Find the Doktor. Find out what he has done to little Twilight, and then destroy him utterly.” She ran a delicate hoof over the Kommandant’s chest, and Iron Resolve knew where this was going.

“Jahwohl.” He responded, with a heated growl. Then the Kommandant smiled, if only just faintly. “Join me on my bunk this evening, Herr Fuhrerin?”

The mare responded with a slow, sensual smile that made Iron Resolve adjust his armor a bit.

~~~~~~~

The kitchen table had been completely cleaned off and replaced with a set of blueprints for what Dash had to presume was the old Manehatten U labs. “This place is a maze.” Rosetta said shortly, dropping a heavy metal object in the middle of the table. Dash now knew, thanks to a quick word with Scooter, that this was called a ‘gun’ and it was very dangerous. Why Rosetta had dropped it in the middle of the table, she wasn’t quite sure.

Rosetta snorted, snatching up the device and laying it more carefully to one side. “Eight floors and three sub-basements, this used to be where Manehatten U did all of it’s dangerous magical experiments. That’s not including the big underground central chamber…” She lifted several layers of blueprints to show a massive circular room, covered in all sorts of notes. “Where they were doing some kind of work on Star Swirls’ amniomorphic theories.” At Twilight’s sudden and bright eyed enthusiastic grin, Rosetta smiled wryly. “Sorry, Miss Twilight. I’m afraid our work was classified. Lady and Lord’s orders.”

Twilight drooped a bit, but kept paying attention. Dash could’ve giggled. Typical Twilight. Rosetta huffed out a breath and tapped the blueprints. “These are woefully incomplete plans. There was a lot of ancillary construction over the years. We had to run a lot of conduit into that place that it was never designed for, and so the room we took over had to expand outwards. By the time we shut down the lab when they built that big facility on Trellis Island, the place was as complicated as a rabbit warren. I doubt the time it’s spent mostly unattended in the last three years has improved it much.”

Rosetta sank into a chair, and all the eyes in the room went to her. Apple Bloom, Scooter, Daring, Twilight, and her own. Five ponies, and they were trying to get through that place? It looked complicated enough in it’s original drawings! Daring had put aside her helmet, and was leaning over the table, and Dash wondered what had to be going through her mind. Rosetta fixed her gaze on all of them, before speaking reluctantly again. “The best theory I have to go on is they’ve probably converted the sub-basements for use, and are using the old loading docks…” She pointed to a spot on the first floor, a big wide open warehouse style space. “As a lookout and entry point. They could use the cargo elevators there to get to every level of the facility, assuming they’ve bypassed the old security measures.”

Twilight nodded. “Lets focus on those then.” She levitated the other pages to one side, leaving only four sheets on the table and making Dash a little nervous. Sub-basements? Meaning underground? Uh oh… “How accurate do you think these plans are?” Twilight glanced at Rosetta, her tone firm and businesslike.

Rosetta winced and shook her head. “They’re not bad, but they’re not great either.” She waved her hoof over the inner rooms, “These are probably still all full of the conduit we were using. We pulled almost all of the wires, but the shells are still there. They weren’t worth it to pull out at the time, and no one has picked up the salvage contract for this place since it close.”

Apple Bloom tilted her head. “Yanno, th’ family made a bid on it.” That made Rosetta blink in surprise. Apple Bloom grinned and leaned back in her chair, hooves over her chest. “Sis thought we could scrap all the metal in there an’ turn it into a casino, but they told us they weren’t sellin’ it no matter what we offered.” She shrugged her shoulders and half smiled. “We’d mighty appreciate it if ya’d have a word with the University, Miz Rosie.”

Rosetta stared at her for a moment. “That’s… odd. They kept telling me nopony had ever made an offer.” She rubbed at her chin and shook her head. “A mystery for another day. I presume you’ve been there, then? Taken a look around?” Apple Bloom nodded, and Rosetta exhaled softly. “Well, at least we won’t be flying blind.” She nodded to Daring. “You’re up.”

Daring nodded and stood up, tapping the plans. “Okay. So presuming Doctor Negative is the one behind this, we’ve got some advantages. The Doc is a madpony, but he’s a very well organized madpony.” She paused, and then grinned. “Too organized. Every time we ran into one of his labs, he had it set up the exact same way, using really specific distances between things. Rosie’s got the list.” She pointed at a pad of paper, which Rosetta held up with a cheeky grin.

Daring glanced at all of them, and her face turned serious. “Which brings us to our disadvantages. The doc liked to use innocent ponies who’d been drugged or hypnotized into submission as his basic guards and minions, and psychopaths he’d freed from mental institutions as his hoofsoldiers. It’s also impossible to tell the difference between the two until you’re too close for it to matter.” She ducked her head, and stared at the ground for a moment. Dash couldn’t help but swallow a little at that information. But… In the book…

Daring exhaled a little. “The last lab we went into, I had to make that call. It wasn’t an easy one, and I’ll never know for sure if I made the right one. But it was a call I had to make.” She looked up at them, glancing from side to side. “If we go in here, especially if we’re going to break somepony out, there’s a strong chance that’s gonna come up again. I know Cloudsdale can handle that… but, you, Miss Twilight…”

Twilight spoke up sharply an instant later, “I’ll do what needs to be done, Doctor Do. I might not like it, I might hate myself for it, but I’ll do it. I’ll deal with the rest when Rarity is safe.” She shook her head once, and glared at the Blueprints. “My friend is in danger, and for all I know the only pony who can tell us how to get home is the one holding her hostage.”

Dash felt her blood go cold at that, but it made sense. Somehow, all of this had to tie back to Doctor Negative and his improbable escape from certain death. Somehow, that escape was tied in to the portal that had opened in Rarity’s shop back in her world, and somehow still it was tied into the mystery of why Sweetie Belle had arrived her months before they had, even though mere minutes had passed in Equestria before they were sucked into the portal.

It was as convoluted as a rubix snake, but there was a thread of logic there that Twilight had somehow grasped onto. Now they just needed to follow it to it’s conclusion… one way or another. “Me too.” Dash felt the need to add her own bit, but Daring just nodded as though it was expected. “So what’s the plan, DD? How do we go in?”

Daring arched an eyebrow at her, then turned back to the blueprints. Rosetta coughed faintly, then smiled. “We’re certainly not going tonight, Cloudsdale. We’re going to be having visitors in the morning, and I expect they may have the ability to assist us when they arrive.” Twilight’s head came up suddenly, and Daring blinked, turning to stare at Rosetta… who smiled slyly. “The Lord and Lady will be dropping by for a little consultation, you see.”

Apple Bloom spit out what Dash was pretty sure was coffee. Scooter fell out of her chair. Daring yelped and scrambled for her helmet, clutching it to her head… Rosetta just smirked, and Twilight Sparkle’s eyes lit up, and a smile Dash hadn’t seen since they left Equestria lit up her face. “Princess Celestia is coming here already?!”

~~~~Aboard the Forward Unto Dawn~~~~

“Lord Solaris. Manehatten is now in sight, sir. First Air Wing wishes to report in on the situation in the city.”

Lord Solaris, Monarch of the Moon (as ridiculous as that concept was, Celestia insisted on switching off who took care of night watch, and that meant a ridiculous title,) adjusted his helmet and nodded. “Bring them in, Captain.” He took a moment to try and neaten himself up, and then gave it up as a bad job. At least he’d managed to trim his beard today.

Three ponies dressed in dark blue flight suits with dark gold lightning bolts on the side landed in neat formation, and Solaris had to smile a little. “Well well, Captain Lightning Dust. Good to see you’re still alive. Astonished, actually. Why hasn’t anypony shot you out of the sky yet?” The airpony just grinned confidently at him, and Solaris nodded to the other two who were present. “Captain Spitfire. Captain Thunderlane. Good to see you. Where’s Commander…?”

Lightning Dust cut in, “Busy working with EIS again, Sir. You know the Commander, she just can’t keep her nose out of you-know-who’s business.” She grinned fearlessly, her eyes sparkling, then sobered up quickly. “Things are heating up in Manehatten, sir. We had an incursion from Neightzi stormponies today, and they got into a firefight with the Apple Mob.”

Solaris could have sworn up a storm, if he didn’t have subordinates on hoof. “How bad is it?” He’d better find out now. Celly was going to be absolutely furious if this was anypony of importance. “And have the Apple Clan filed any formal charges?” The last thing he needed was the powerful Apple Clan’s lawyers crawling up his flank looking to sue for damages…

Lightning Dust shook her head though. “That’s the funny thing, Sir. There was some kind of major energy fluctuation on site, and though we’ve got eyewitnesses they’re all telling different stories. And all of them are kind of nuts.” She scratched her head, looking confused. “And the Apple Clan basically told us to go to Tartarus when we went in to Investigate, even though Big Mac’s bar was basically a huge wreck.”

Lord Solaris bit at his lip, trying to parse that. The Big Apple was never hesitant about using the courts to throw her weight around, which meant that something really big must’ve happened at that bar… and that probably meant Rosetta had been involved somehow. “And the Neightzi’s?” He had to ask, hedging against hope that he wouldn’t have to tell Celly…

She nodded. “They withdrew from the airspace pretty fast, sir. Tails tucked between their legs and all.” Then she looked a little nervous, “Which is why we’re kinda worried sir. All intelligence reports that Kommandant Panzer and Lady Butterfly were on board, and present for the confrontation.”

Solaris stared at her disbelievingly, but Lightning Dust didn’t have a habit of over-exaggerating anything but her own flying skill. If those two were involved, that meant they had been there on the direct orders of the Fuhrerin. That meant… Oh, dear. They were after the source of the Sonic Rainboom, and had suspected that Rosetta and Daring had been harboring the pony. And that was the very last somepony Solaris could afford falling into the Fuhrerin’s hooves.

He took a deep breath to steady himself, then nodded. “Thank you, Captain. Continue your overwatch of the city, and tell the Wing Commander that she’d better get her flank in gear and set up a proper response team. We may need their help if things get dicey.” Captain Lightning Dust saluted, and she and her comrades took off into the sky. Solaris watched them go with a bit of longing, wishing he could spread his wings and just do a few acrobatic tricks today…

But if the Fuhrerin was directly involved, Celestia needed to know now. He sighed. She was going to be so very, very crabby. Maybe if her brought her some cake….

Chapter 14 - The Sun'll come out...

~~~~~Manehatten University~~~~~

Twilight could only stare as the massive structure slowly swam its way over Manehatten, its very existence a challenge to everything she knew about industry, science and physics. The vague black shapes of the Neightzi airships could have been any size in the skies over Manehatten Bay, but in the sunny light of the dawn the sheer mass of this thing was undeniable. “The Forward Unto Dawn. Largest airship in all of Equestria, and flagship of the fleet.” Rosetta said with an understandable ring of pride. “I helped design the propulsion system when I was fresh out of college, actually. It’s a heck of a machine.” Her eyes sparkled as she said it, and Twilight had to imagine what ‘helped’ might imply.

The Forward Unto Dawn shone in the sky like a gold and silver shrine to to Equestria. The massive prow of the ship bore a pair of carved golden icons side by side: One easily recognizable as Princess Celestia, and the other a strong-jawed, bearded alicorn wearing a frilled helmet that had to be this mysterious ‘Lord Solaris’. The thing easily had to be four hundred yards long, and easily a hundred yards wide. Probably wider than that.

A massive, oblong shaped balloon dominated much of the bulk of the craft, but the rest was no less impressive for that. Long and wide steel barrels extended out of ball-shaped turrets along the length of the craft on its side, interspersed with clusters of smaller barrels on swivel-mounts, where Twilight could just barely see pegasi in coats and flight goggles slowly turning the things as they scanned the skies. Along the bottom, she could see what looked like an armored passenger cabin that rode the length of the vessel and it too bore the signs of large armaments all along its length.

Rosetta pointed up at the icon’s on the prow. “That’s actually something of a misdirection. The central command post is in there, along with all of the steerage and communication. It’s a fully functioning warship, though we’ve blessedly never had to test it in the heat of real battle.” She grinned, slightly. “It’s fast, too. Not as fast as the fixed-wing attack craft out there or even a lot of the skirmish airships, but anypony who thinks that thing is going to be slow and ponderous in the turns has another thing coming.” She chuckled brightly. “I’m actually surprised. I didn’t think the Lord and Lady would bring it here.”

Twilight blinked at her. “Why not? It’s obviously very impressive, and probably a lot more convenient than flying themselves. It might even give us a little protection from those Neightzi’s.” That seemed logical anyway.

Rosetta wasn’t in agreement though, she shook her head as she continued to scan the skies. “That’s a major piece of military hardware right there, and it’s not nearly the fastest vessel they’ve got. If they weren’t expecting trouble, they’d be in their own personal vessel. That would be the Andromeda Ascendant which ought to be.. Ah!” She pointed, and Twilight had to squint to see the much smaller, but still very impressive looking airship flying alongside the flagship. It was colored a vibrant, dark blue and seemed to be moving at a remarkable speed in the air. “It’s actually something of a technological and magical marvel itself,” Rosetta said quietly, but then she shook her head slowly. “But exactly why’s a bit of a secret. The rest of the support fleet should be coming in soon, but I think we ought to get ready to meet them. If they’ve brought both vessels, that means they’re expecting trouble.”

“Are they wrong?” Twilight felt the need to quip sarcastically, and Rosetta gave her a wry smile in response. Descending back down into the Manehatten University labs where Rosetta lived was a relatively speedy trip. Downstairs, Rainbow Dash had already changed into what looked a lot like a dress shirt, a black tie and a blue vest, but that was impossible. “Dash?” She half whispered, astonished at the fact that somehow Daring Do had gotten Dash into nice clothes… and had even gotten her to comb her mane back.

“What?” Dash snapped, then grumbled. “Not as though I don’t know how to clean up you know. I did have to learn how to wear a uniform for the Wonderbolts.” She cast a worried glance at Rosetta then, but the other unicorn was just smiling faintly. “You sure this is a good idea, Twilight? I keep getting this weird vibe about this meeting…” She shivered a little, and her feathers frayed out like she’d just been hit by lightning. “Like something big is going to happen, and it might not be a good thing.”

Rosetta shook her head. “You shouldn’t worry, Cloudsdale. It’s not like this is the first time you’ve dealt with the Lord and Lady before.” She half smiled, then nodded to Twilight. “I’ll go fetch Daring. We’ll meet you two downstairs.” And off she went, hurrying out through the apartment. Dash was still looking very worried, though… She was often so very sure of her gut feelings, since they served her so well in the air.

Twilight wanted to dismiss that feeling… but she really just couldn’t do it. Something was itching at the back of her mane, right where she couldn’t reach. She knew it had something to do with the magic that filled the world around her, but she couldn’t figure out why it was spazzing out. It’s weird, too. Like I should know this feeling, but I’m not sure from where. That was more annoying than anything else, but it did worry her a little.

Still, she couldn’t stress about it now. “Dash, don’t worry so much.” She put on her best smile, and Dash smoothed her feathers out nervously. “We can handle whatever it is, I’m sure.” She offered up her hoof, and Dash gave her a bump with a tremulous smile. “Besides,” Twilight felt her lips peel into a grin.”It’s Princess Celestia, for pete’s sake. Like she would ever do anything to hurt us!”

Dash gave her a wary look, and shook her head once. “Hate to break it to you Twilight, but this is ‘Lady’ Celestia…” She turned to gaze out the window at the encroaching airship. “And we don’t know a single bucking thing about her.” Twilight wanted to dismiss that statement, but the sight of the massive airship made her wonder. Princess Celestia had never been one for shows of military force as a means to accomplish goals… So whose idea had it been to bring that thing along?

~~~~Aboard the Forward Unto Dawn~~~~

Goddess, why do I feel so… tense?

Celestia tried very hard not to fiddle with her torque or any number of other little twitches that might give away her nervousness. If she did, Solly would undoubtedly tease her for the rest of the month about it. Certainly, she was excited to see Cloudsdale Dash alive and well… but well, truth be told, she wasn’t truly nervous for that. She was nervous about… the other one. This mysterious, purple Alicorn that was sending shockwaves of magic throughout the Harmony of her world.

Usually something powerful enough to get her attention was just another magical threat to the peace of Equestria. On the rare occasions that it wasn’t… The last time was a thousand years ago, and a young wizard named Star Swirl… She sighed softly. Too often, those powerful enough to be peers were the leaders of other nations or those who simply wished to observe the world as it passed them by. It was far too rare to find anypony powerful enough to share her life with. Even her mortal pony friends, as close as they could be to her…

Then Solly gently touched her shoulder. “Relax, Celestia. It’s going to be alright.” As always, he took on a teasing tone and poked her side. “I have a good feeling about this.” He sing-songed the words, and kept poking at her middle.

Celestia rolled her eyes at him. “That’s what you said when we met Discord for the first time, in case you’ve forgotten that.” Solaris snorted at her, but didn’t argue the point. Of the two of them, she had most definitely had the best instincts for this sort of thing. She sighed silently, and glanced around her as the dozens of young pegasi soldiers scurried about the deck as they prepared to make port. “At least we ought to make her think twice about sending soldiers into our cities again without asking first.” She huffed softly. “At least then we’d know for certain what they were after…”

Solaris hummed softly. “I don’t think that’s much of a mystery, dear. I’m fairly certain she’s after the same things we are. Though how she gets her information…” He shook his head once and stomped his hoof down. “Funny, I thought you’d be a little more critical of bringing the Flagship.” He eyeballed her suspiciously. “You had to have another motive for letting me get my way.”

“Aside from the fact that the Liebe Krystall is a rather dangerous vessel all its own?” She faintly smiled at him, wondering sometimes how they ended up so alike. “Because I do not wish to take any chances. If there is a powerful new Alicorn in this city, this is the one and only vessel capable of containing her should she prove dangerous.” She shivered once, and took a deep breath. “Or have you forgotten why we’ve spent the last three hundred years preparing for the worst?’

Solaris’ teasing face went solemn, and he nodded once. “I don’t think it will come to that, Celestia.” He glanced over the railing, down at the brilliantly colored city below. “No, I think this is going to be something much more complex. I can already sense her down there…” He looked up with a grin. “And yes, I can tell it’s a her and not a him. She’s hiding behind some fairly substantial shields, and oddly enough seems to be suppressing her power fairly hard.”

That made her both elated… and worried .Why would she feel the need to hold back her ability? What exactly had been happening in this city over the past few days? “We ought to be ready then. Can you go consult with the Wing Commander?” It was a basic precaution really, informing the First Air Wing of their intentions on the ground. So… why did her heart ache to give the suggestion? Solaris nodded at her once and left without another word.

Celestia stared back into the city, and felt as though something was tugging at her heart. What was Harmony trying to tell her now? Had she missed some vital thing about their strange guest? Or was fate about to throw another wrench in her carefully planned works…

She didn’t know. That frightened her. “Port, ho!” Yelled a voice from high up, and Celestia shook her mane out. Whatever her concerns, they were about to become utterly and thoroughly moot.

~~~~~~~~~

The rush of air through her wings was a lovely counterpoint to the necessities of remaining on board during voyages. Silly necessities, but it kept the Fleet Admirals happy and so Celestia was prepared to indulge them. But now they were here in Manehatten, one of the crown jewels of Equestria, and winging their way towards their planned meeting at Manehatten University. Doubtless Rosetta would have copious amounts to report to them and Daring would just as predictably try to angle in better funding for her archeological studies, but they were not the reason for this trip.

They’d been flying for all of ten minutes when First Air Wing took up guard positions alongside them. The unmistakable uniforms of the Wonderbolts blended well into the bright skies around them, and made it possible… for a little while, anyway… to pretend she was alone in the sky with Solaris, and naught between them and the world but the clouds. That wasn’t going to happen again for a long time, of course… not until this business with the Neightzi’s was straightened out and certain un-named individuals brought firmly to heel anyway.

But she could enjoy the illusion and so she did so, pirouetting in place and performing a respectable mid-air barrel roll before executing a textbook aerial dive towards the University. Behind her, Solaris squawked like a parrot and beat his wings to catch up with her while the Wonderbolts just kept pace alongside her. She knew that below them, her wonderful little ponies were likely taking in the show with a little bit of scandal and a whole lot of excitement. It was not often that the Wonderbolts went on tour these days, but when they did the shows were never anything short of spectacular.

And Celestia loved to join them whenever she could. The freedom of the sky was one of the few she could always count on to cheer her up, even in these difficult times. It wasn’t until she hit about half a click from the ground that the feeling hit her, like ploughing into the water at speed. It nearly threw her off her wings, but she had been far too well trained to let a wind buffet make her crash. The aura of magic was so thick she was astonished that the local Mages’ guild hadn’t come investigating it. But then… perhaps they had simply been too afraid.

What power… She had to whisper. The strength was an order of magnitude greater than every other unicorn in Equestria. It was powerful enough even to give her a moment’s pause as she began to pull up for her landing, Solaris pulling up alongside her with a concerned look of his own. She could level the city if she wanted to. She might even be able to hold one of us to a standstill. There were all of seven other individuals who could do that sort of thing in the entire world, at least that she knew about. One of them was imprisoned in stone, two on the moon, one in Tartarus, one in the forgotten Crystal Empire, and the other two, well… If we are lucky, they shall be happy with the treaties we have signed and we need never fear their wrath.

That put her new little guest in very… elite company, so to speak. So intimidation was right out, then. So was aggressive negotiations. No, she’d have to bring on the soft sell for this one, and that meant she had to be very careful. Very, very careful. “Are you ready, Celly?” Solaris’ quiet voice shook her out of her thoughts, and she nodded at him. She had to be, didn’t she? He nodded. “Right. You’re up first. I’ll be right behind you if you need it.”

Celestia took a deep breath, and dove for the rooftop garden where the answers awaited.

~~~~~~

Twilight shifted uncomfortably in place as she gazed up at the two figures descending from the sky. It was distinctly strange, as all of her instincts screamed in happiness at the familiar sight of that multi-hued mane descending from the heavens. Celestia is here! All is saved! Her mind chanted over and over again, waving tiny Celestia banners and doing little dances. She wanted to facehoof until she remembered nopony else could see those mental images.

Good thing too, since she wasn’t entirely certain that her instincts weren’t just lying to her. She was the picture-perfect image of the Princess that Twilight had known for most of her life. The crown, the torque, the boots, the mane, the smile… it was all there, like it ought to be. Except with every wingbeat she took, Twilight was more and more conscious of the fact that they were strangers in a strange land. And here, there were no guarantees that all of the rules would be followed.

But still… She had to have some faith.

Celestia landed gently, flared out her wings and then folded them against her back in a single smooth action. An instant later, a second figure landed next to her and made Twilight’s throat go tight. He was broad shouldered and easily a foot taller than Celestia was, with a square jaw covered by a full, flaming red beard and military cut mane. He wore a flared, ancient pegasi styled helmet and a full breastplate of armor. Even his boots were far more militant than Celestia’s delicate jewels. But his eyes… His eyes were the same as hers. Calm pools of bright violet that regarded with world with a sparkle of hidden humor. Stern, oh yes, stern… but kindly and loving all the same.

Another moment later, and six more figures hit the ground, each wearing the unmistakable uniforms of the Equestrian Special Air Unit… “The Wonderbolts,” Dash half whispered, and then let out a strangled sound as her eyes crossed the lead flier. Her mane was considerably more under control than the last time they’d seen her, but it was unmistakably her. Dash’s face turned into a mask of professional control, and Twilight took a moment to eyeball the rest. Spitfire and Soarin’ were there, but so was Thunderlane and Cloudchaser. The sixth pony Twilight didn’t immediately recognize, with her bright blonde mane and white wings.

The six glanced around for a moment, and finally Lightning Dust nodded, turning her head to speak into a little box strapped to the collar of her uniform. “Area is secure, wing commander. Dispersing to primary guard positions.” She turned and half smiled at Dash, and Dash blinked in surprise. “Good to see you in one piece, Cloudsdale. Make sure to come up and say hey to the wing commander. We all missed you, and I owe you a drink.” She grinned fearlessly, and before Dash could say anything herself they were skyward again in a flash of energy and the tang of lightning hanging in the air.

Dash stared at them retreating, and Twilight shook her head in wonder… a wonder she didn’t have time to really think about as Celestia slowly walked towards her. She turned to face her mentor-that-was-not-her-mentor head on, lifting her head imperiously. Celestia paused in mid-step and set her hoof down. “I rather don’t think we’ve any need to hide anything now, do we?” She glanced to each side at the rest of those assembled. “It would be rude not to put all of our cards on the table, now that we’ve come this far.”

Twilight swallowed, but nodded. Unweaving the illusion was the work of a moment, and seconds later she was nearly looking eye-to-eye with Celestia herself. It was almost a relief to realize she was still a little shorter than Celestia, since it made walking around in this bizarre form a great deal less awkward. They were three feet away from each other, and Celestia’s eyes had gone wide. Not from surprise, no… from something else.

Twilight felt the lump melt away in her throat, and marveled at the sea of emotions that washed over Celestia’s face. “You…” She half whispered, her eyes darting to Twilight’s cutie mark and back again. “You’re…” Celestia stumbled over her words again. What was so wrong? Why was she looking at her like…”I remember a little purple filly…” Celestia began, as though she couldn’t believe what she was saying.

And in an instant, Twilight could see the faint images of a very young her, sitting on the ground in a mess. A little doll lay forlornly at her side, and she was crying. “I remember finding her on the steps of my school, crying her heart out. Her dreams in shattered shards all around her.” Celestia took an unconscious step forward. The ghostly little filly was surrounded by scattered bits of ripped up paper. A rejection letter, her mind told her… and somehow she knew what it had to mean. “I’d seen other foals like her before, but never before her had my heart so ached for one.” Celestia swallowed around a lump in her throat, and Twilight could feel the tears threatening in her eyes. Why? It wasn’t her… and yet in a sense, it was her. Just a her she’d never had to meet, because Dash had changed everything…

Celestia sat down next to the little ghost, and whispered. “I wanted to help her so very badly, but I did not know how. She’d been rejected by my school, and even I could not intervene with that. So I found out her name,” She looked up, and half smiled. “I did what I could for her, even if I could not be the somepony she needed… It’s been so very long since I learned that name, that I’d almost forgotten… Twilight Sparkle.”

For an instant her eyes closed. “I failed that little filly, in the end. And now here she stands, back from the dead…” Celestia opened her eyes, and she smiled beautifully. “Two mares I’d thought long lost to me,” Her eyes traveled to Dash, and she beamed with all the pride of a parent, “Alive and well. Harmony be praised…” Her voice caught on the last word, and Twilight had well and truly had enough.

She marched across the ground that had separated the two of them. “Princess Celestia, I-” Twilight had wanted to speak in firm tones. She wasn’t the mare Celestia remembered, and neither was Dash. They didn’t belong here, and neither did Rarity or Sweetie Belle. But she got within a foot of the Princess, and she couldn’t bring herself to say it. There were barely withheld tears in her eyes, and a smile so bright it could’ve been the sun itself.

Celestia’s hoof came up and stroked down her cheek. “Ha… I remember when you called me that the first time.” Her eyes shut and she giggled. “You insisted somepony as pretty as me had to be a Princess, even if I hadn’t been one of those in centuries.” Twilight… did remember that. She remembered that because she’d said the same thing when they’d had their first lesson together. She looked up, blinking away tears as Twilight wrestled with her own heart. “And you, Cloudsdale Dash…” Her voice turned stern and motherly, “You get your fat-flank over here right this instant. Making me worry like that…” She huffed, and a few moments later Dash was right next to her, looking confused and awed.

Twilight didn’t know what was going on. It scared her, looking up at Celestia and knowing that speaking the truth would only bring her pain… She had to say something. “Celestia, I’m not…” She bit at her lip unconsciously. “I’m not… the filly you knew.” It took a lot of effort to force those words out, but when they were it felt so much better. There, now we can get on with solving this problem...

But Celestia was just smiling at her. “No, Twilight. You’re so much more than that now.” She eyed Twilight’s broad wings, and turned to gaze directly into her eyes. “Though how this came about must be a truly incredible story. I must hear every detail.” She turned to smile at the male Alicorn - the one everypony had called ‘Solaris’ - and winked. “Go take Rosetta and Daring downstairs, Solly. I’d like a few minutes alone with…” She paused, and in that single instant Twilight could feel a massive snap of energy pulse around them. When she spoke next, it was with a ring of quiet triumph. “Lady Twilight Sparkle.”

~~~~~~~~~

Solaris had been worried before. Now? Now he was panicked.

Daring was already out of her dress shirt, as he’d expected of her. Rosetta though, was standing stone-faced in the stairwell and watching her retreat into the apartment. Solaris grabbed her shoulder and pitched his voice as low as he could. “You could’ve warned me, you know.” He half growled at her, and instantly regretted it.

There was a look of pain in her eyes unlike any he’d seen before, save for once. “I was hoping that I was wrong.” Rosetta whispered back to him, her hooves tucked around her body. “I was hoping she’d have forgotten about that day, all those years ago.”

Solaris shook his head slowly. “Celly never forgets things like that, Rosie. You know that.” He wanted to bite at his lip, but instead he stared off into the distance. “They can’t be from our world. Neither of them. Which means…”

“Cloudsdale is likely dead,” Rosetta spoke in a purely professional voice. Cold, detached, determined. “Probably when she went to go look into Skull Mountain for us. Whatever world they’re from, Cloudsdale never went through…” She bit off the last words, and Solaris didn’t blame her. She’d always hated them talking about that day. “It gets worse. Butterfly already knows about her, and the Kommandant has already seen the other too.”

That made Solaris want to swear, a very great deal in fact. “So what do we do? They’re not going to want to stay, Rosie. But I know my…” He huffed out a breath. “I know Celestia. She’s seen salvation for her soul, and more importantly they’ve both got a powerful connection to the Lost Artifacts.” He made it clear in his tone what he was talking about, though he dared not speak the name of them in public.

Rosetta did swear, then. “Oh, fuck me.” She leant her head against the wall and stared up into the ceiling. “If they’re connected to those, the Lady is going to be willing to do anything to keep them here. Which means…”

Solaris grit his teeth. “Which means we’re in deep trouble.” He shook his head slowly. What could he do now? Gather information, and plan accordingly. He fixed her with a glare. “Alright, Agent Rosetta. I want a full report on everything that’s gone on here, and fast. I need to know absolutely everything before Celestia gets downstairs. Then I need to know your plan for getting their friend back as quickly as possible.” He rubbed his eye with an armored boot, and hoped he wasn’t about to get a headache.

Rosetta nodded, and gestured for them to go downstairs. “Sir, before I do… I need to know.” She looked nervous, and that was never a good sign. She looked at him with those soft eyes of hers, the kind she always got when her emotions got tangled up with her job. “Is them staying here… really such a bad idea?”

Solaris stared at her for a moment, and wondered where that thought had come from. “I don’t know yet, Rosie.” He had to admit it, even if he didn’t much like it. “But with your help, I hope we can find out before the decision is taken out of our hooves.”

Author's Note

And so we finally come back to therabouts where we left off the LAST time we did this dance.

Hopefully, I can keep things going better this time. Heh.

Thank you all for your patience with these slow updates. *grumbles*

Chapter 15 - What Dreams May come

~~~~Manehatten University~~~~

The meeting in the dormitory kitchen had the air of extreme oddity about it. Actually, the word ‘surreal’ came a lot quicker to Rainbow Dash’s mind than anything else. Twilight was tense as she’d ever been before, and the Princess was watching over her like a mothering hen. “I’m afraid there is not much we will be able to do directly to aid you, Lady Twilight.” The gruff voice of the decidedly male Alicorn was still enough of a shock to make Dash jump a little in her feathers. “While we could order First Air Wing to assault the compound with you, I am afraid it might force the villain's hoof and he could potentially…”

The stallion who Dash now knew as ‘Lord Solaris’ looked down mournfully at the table. Daring Do glared at him in annoyance and then sighed, “Yeah yeah, Doc Negative is a madpony who might kill her if he thinks you’re coming at him personally. I know, Sir.” She leaned forward, becoming suddenly intense. “What I’m asking for is help with getting out of there in one piece once we’ve got her back.”

That put a considering look on Solaris’ face, which gave Dash time to focus on Twilight. She hadn’t taken the conversation upstairs terribly well, and it was pretty obvious to everypony in the room that she was distressed. “Hey, folks?” She waved her hoof and the conversation around her crashed to a halt. “I think Twilight needs some time to let some of this settle in, yanno? Can we be excused for a moment?”

Celestia frowned, and looked like she was getting ready to object, but… “Of course. It’s likely been a stressful few days for both of you. We’ll give you a shout if we need you to clarify something.” He bent a stern look on Celestia, who withdrew gracefully and nodded to both of them.

Dash put on her best smile. “Thanks kindly, your Ladyship.” She doffed her ballcap to bow over it, as if she’d done such a thing a thousand times before. Twilight was so spaced out that she was even able to get her moving with nothing more than a tug on her hoof. It took a few moments to get her out of the kitchen and down the hall, but once she had her in their shared dormitory room she was able to let out a sigh of relief. “Twi?”

Twilight’s head came up suddenly, and she sucked in a shuddering breath. “This is bad, Dash. Really, really bad.” That was probably the understatement of the year, but she gestured for Twilight to go on. “So, I’ve been trying to figure out exactly why this world is so different, aside from the obvious fact that we… never met.” That she said with more than a little fear, and it made Dash squeeze her hoof tighter. “And I’ve finally figured it out, I think.”

Dash nodded slowly, and Twilight looked out the window. “Dash, do you realize what year it is?” That made her blink a little. Why in Equestria would that matter? “What Celestia said up there, about my… my other self’s past.” That made her shiver in fear, more than a little. “I kept doing the math in my head while I tried to tell her about us, and it kept not adding up. I was smart as a filly, but I wasn’t so smart that I could’ve graduated from Manehatten University that fast. Not without Princess Celestia as a teacher.” She bit at her lip. “Even with everything else that was different, it didn’t make sense. Not until I considered something terrifying.”

Dash was blanking out on this one. “Twilight, what in the hay are you going on about?” She was worried that Twilight had finally cracked under the strain of all this, that maybe she just couldn’t handle all the things that were different.

Twilight snorted. “Dash, the one-thousandth Summer Sun celebration had to be more than fifteen years ago.” She snapped out, and Dash nearly took a step back at the anger. “But Nightmare Moon is still the Mare in the Moon! Celestia’s magical aura is completely out of whack, and she’s been forced to share her Alicorn duties with another! Do you have any idea what all that has to mean!?”

Dash did take a step back then, feeling a cold grip of fear around her. She had all the numbers, but the math wasn’t clicking for her. “Somehow…” Twilight began, slowly and agonizingly, “ Celestia and Solaris are keeping Nightmare Moon and…” She paused, and huffed. “And whatever her male counterpart is called completely contained on the moon. Do you have any idea how ridiculous the amount of magic they must be using to do that? Without the Elements of Harmony to focus her power…” Twilight stopped, as though she’d come to a revelation. “Which, of course, explains just about everything else too!”

Now Dash was really lost, and she must’ve looked it because Twilight was giving her a salty sort of look. “Princess Celestia would never tolerate some kind of hate-army in her borders, unless she had an incredibly over-riding reason. She wouldn’t even have allowed the situation to get out of control enough to get to that point if she’d been able to stop it. She would never allow a powerful madpony like Doctor Negative to operate as he has without dealing with him personally, unless she couldn’t.” She gestured skyward. “I’ll bet you my entire first edition set of Daring Doo books that she’s spent the last fifteen years scrambling to find The Elements of Harmony and their bearers. And in that vacuum of personal power, all manner of other things have stepped in to fill the gaps.”

Her hoof fell to the ground, and with all of that laid out before her one thing more clicked for Rainbow Dash. “Oh, shit.” She swore softly, and Twilight nodded numbly. She had to have come to the same conclusion Dash had, given that she’d probably been thinking about this since the Princess had landed. “No wonder she was so…” Dash shook her head slowly. “Buck me, she want’s us to stay.”

Twilight buried her face in her hooves. “It’s even worse than that, Dash. There’s a strong possibility that your alternate self is dead in this universe. It would explain why you keep reliving her memories.” She swallowed softly. “It would explain why I am an incredibly powerful Alicorn, already imbued with the magic of Friendship. I would even be willing to bet that Rarity’s connection with the elements might have something to do with how she accidentally opened the portal to here.” She looked at Dash, absolutely terrified. Dash had never seen her that scared before, ever. “And why you and I were sucked through that portal too.”

“That’s… Insane!” Dash tried to protest, but it sounded hollow even to her. “But we’ve got no proof of that! And how the heck could something like that happen, anyway?! I mean, wouldn’t it take some stupidly powerful magic to cross dimensions?” Then she stopped, all at once. “Of course it would.” She facehoofed hard enough to hurt. “The Elements of Bucking Harmony. Again.”

“Eeeyup.” Twilight drawled, doing an oddly out of place Big Mac impression. “I’ve always theorized they had some kind of vague magical sentience to them. And since it feels like every aspect of reality has been turned up a few orders of magnitude here, why not the Elements too?” She laid her head on the ground and closed her eyes wearily. “The Elements call to us, Dashie. It’s part of why we’re so tightly connected to each other. And when some kind of magical flaw in the fabric of reality opened, they exploited it and brought us here… to fight the same battle we’ve already fought before.”

Dash’s flank hit the floor hard and… and what? All she could do is stare at the hardwood flooring, in all of it’s overvarnished glory, and feel the little gears tick over in her head. “Son of a whorse.” She snarled, and Twilight practically jumped. Had she been that loud? “The universe is bucking guilt tripping us, Twilight!” She slammed her hooves into the wood, and Twilight jumped again in shock.

Twilight’s jaw dropped a little, and Dash glared at her. “Think about it. If the real Cloudsdale Dash is dead, then that means no Element of Loyalty.” She smacked her hoof into the ground. “If something bad happened to you, that means nopony to be the Element of Magic either. So what does this place do? It kidnaps the real deal from somewhere else!” She threw her hooves skyward, only to flop back onto the hard floor and stare at the ceiling.

“Dashie?” Twilight whispered, sounding very concerned… But why shouldn't she? Dash had this world all figured out. Right down to the freaking details. It made sense, when you saw all the pieces in place, but that didn’t make it any easier to live with.

“Think about it Twilight.” She said, keeping her voice soft. “What happens when we go home?” She waited a few moments, for Twilight to turn that information over in her head. “Unless there’s somepony else who can do our job…” She kept going, when Twilight proved to be kind of dense about something for once.

“Nightmare Moon.” She whispered softly, and Dash nodded once. It didn’t matter that they didn’t belong here, or that they had their own world with its own problems to deal with. If they walked out now, it would be tantamount to tossing the dice on condemning this world to Eternal Night. Sure the Element Bearers might appear in such a situation - Dash was developing her own theories about the way this stupid universe worked - but there were no guarantees. And with Celestia now fully aware of their presence and their connection to the Elements of Harmony….

She winced away from that. Twilight had basically spilled the beans on everything about them from the other world. How they’d gotten here, why they were still here, the works. Dash hadn’t even been able to get Twilight to shut up about how this wasn’t the way they were supposed to look. And the Princess had just stood there and politely listened to every last word of it and didn’t even crack so much as a chuckle. She’d taken them stone-faced serious on every account, and that really, really worried her.

Worse still, it wasn’t just Nightmare Moon. Ooooh, no. They couldn’t be that lucky. Discord was probably still waiting in the wings somewhere for his big moment, and if anything might reawaken that jerk it would be the kingdom falling under an eternal haze of night and the panic and chaos that would follow. Who knew what the Bug-Queen was up to here, too. And then there was the little matter of Sombra and his Empire…

It was hard to fathom sometimes just how often they’d been on the sharp end of world-ending events. How often they’d managed - somehow - to come out on top. But there was no such advantage here, no ace in the hole to solve the problems. One decision had changed all of that, but how? Why would she have stopped going for the Sonic Rainboom? Or what might have stopped her from accomplishing it? So she’d turned around to go save Fluttershy, so what? She’d always thought she could do something incredible like that if she worked hard enough at it…

She winced, a spike of pain pressing into her skull but no visions swam into view. Whatever the memory was, it was buried awful deep. Deep enough that her brain didn’t want to go digging for it, so she left it alone for now… Maybe Fluttershy could tell her. If Fluttershy hadn’t gone batshit insane, and was just putting on a show of sanity to keep her from running away. She didn’t want to consider that to be possible, but she had to anyway.

Twilight’s hoof curled around hers, and they squeezed them together. “I don’t know what we should do, Dash. Our friends need us too.” Dash opened her eyes to see Twilight staring off into space, the dark signs of tears in her eyes. “What can we do?”

“I dunno, Twilight.” She admitted, and slowly sat up. “But the first thing we need to do is get Rarity back.” That much was obvious to her, and she took a deep breath, “And the second thing we need to do is figure out how to get out of here before Celestia decides we need to stay… weather we want to, or not.”

~~~~~????~~~~~

“There,” She smiled brightly with satisfaction as she carefully seated the last of the jury rigged explosive caps into place. Really, she’d never quite mixed her makeup chemicals in exactly this way before, but there was something rather satisfying about building something she knew was going to make a very impressive boom. “That ought to do it for that one.” She dusted off her hooves, even though she hadn’t made use of them in the crafting of this thing.

“Always a pleasure to work with a dame who knows her stuff,” The gruff detective spoke with a surprising amount of warmth in his voice. Since she’d begun to break down the contents of their room into weapons and devices to aid in their escape, he had warmed to her considerably and started stealing glances of her with a glint of interest in his eyes. “Where’d you learn to do alla this, anyway?”

“Oh, here and there, Dahling.” She cooed, fluttering her eyelashes at him. The little flirtation was a wonderful way to dispel some of her stress, even if she was quite certain it wasn’t going to go past that. “You’d be surprised what a Lady needs to learn to stay ahead of the game in this world.” That was entirely true, but she had no clopping idea where she’d learned to make explosives like this. Not that she was going to admit that. “Be a dear and hoof over my stitching, won’t you?’

Manehatten Silver - Or as he preferred to be called, just ‘Silver’ - hoofed over her stitching ring and the needles and thread that went with it. She found the old and familiar activity to be rather soothing, even if she lacked the materials to design any dresses. Fortunately, the guards did not seem to see the needles as any kind of threat to their well being. It might have been the goggles they were wearing, but she wasn’t quite sure.

Silver himself stuck his hooves up on the table and snatched a sharp bit of steel from its hiding place under the table, and set it to work on a bit of wood he’d been carving since they’d started in on this little scheme. “What’s that for, if I might ask?” She was always curious about the arts, especially ones she wasn’t familiar with.

“Ah…” He looked a trifle embarrassed for a moment, his cheeks turning red before he spoke. “M’ Dad was a salvager on a sailing ship. He made little sculptures out of some of the wreckage pieces he found, if they weren’t worth nothin’ else. Called em ‘scrimshaw’, though I dunno why.” He examined the wood, and shrugged. “He used to say they carried the spirit of the things they were, an he liked to give em a proper send off.”

He fell silent then, whittling away at his wood in a way that suggested… well, a desire for silence among other things. Rarity hummed quietly, then went back to her stitches. A stylized Sweetie Belle was already emerging in the threads, little by little. A smiling face of a little sister now long gone, and it took a great deal of willpower not to cry about that. Which was strange, given how well she was handling everything else. Why had she suddenly decided that becoming emotional was acceptable? Perhaps because they were plotting something that could prove very fatal to them both?

Death did have a peculiar way of making things seem far more immediate. Where did that thought come from? She’d been having a lot of thoughts like that today. They seemed so odd, so out of place in her usually very well organized head. Like they were the thoughts of somepony else, somepony that was her but also was not her. After all, Rarity, the fashionista of Ponyville did not go in for blowing the doors off hinges and fatally wounding any number of guards in order to escape a bad situation. True, it would probably be much easier to escape if I could devise a stealthy path out of here. Perhaps if I simply let them recapture Silver..

Had her hooves and horn not been busy, she might have smacked herself. How could she possibly even consider such a terrible betrayal? That wouldn’t do for a Lady of her standing, and that was that. No matter how much simpler it might make her escape, it was simply wrong to even consider… She huffed silently and tried to focus on her stitching. The silence dragged on though, and she was never one for eternal peace and quiet.

A touch of levitation magic dropped the needle onto the gramophone, and a gentle river of classical music flowed into the room. Sweet sounding cellos and violins, gentle woodwinds, soft percussion. Lovely. Silver rolled his eyes at it, of course. His taste in music was decidedly more… contemporary. Not that she didn’t mind a rollicking good dance tune, but now was not the time for it.

The stitches flowed slowly, and she tried hard not to think about what she was going to do about Sweetie. One thing at a time, Rarity. Focus. Yes, she did have to be alive if she wished to aid Sweetie Belle after all. She would be no use to her little sister dead, or worse: Unfabulously brainwashed. More stitching, finishing the basic outline. It was very pretty, and it made Rarity want to cry very badly.

“You okay, Miz Rarity?” The way the brusque stallion pronounced her name - rare-a-tee - was oddly charming. He did look genuinely concerned though, glancing at her stitching ring. “Somepony special to ya?”

“Ah…” She wanted to clam up all of a sudden, shut her mouth and not talk about her family. It was always safer not to talk about them when she was on the job, but- Job? She was a prisoner! This was no job, this was a matter of life and death! “Yes… My sister, Sweetie.” She had to force the words past a lump in her throat, and Silver nodded slowly at her. “I hope I’ll be able to help her in time.” She truly did. She was worried they might not have enough time if she didn’t hurry up and get out of here…

A surprisingly gentle hoof touched hers. “Don’t mean to pry, Miz Rarity, but if ya’ll got somethin’ in your heart it might be good to let it out.” He said solemnly, his eyes expressively wide. “I know it can hurt to pen it all up inside, no matter how much ya think you might be doin’ yourself a favor.”

She glanced down to his hoof and squeezed it if only for a second. “I’ll cry when we’re both safe and sound, Mister Silver.” Saying it back like that felt kind of fun… saucy. Flirty, almost. She felt herself smile in spite of her worries. “I’ll be happy to use your shoulder as a hankerchief then.”

He tilted his head at her and grinned a little. “I’ll hold ya to that.”

~~~~~Big Macintosh’s Place~~~~~

The gentle sweep of broom against wooden floor was familiar enough to send pangs of nostalgia through her mind. “Evening, Pi- Miz Kitty.” Big Mac smiled at her in a way that felt warm and inviting… a reminder of a life she’d almost had. Should’ve had, maybe. But she never would have walked in here if it hadn’t been for that phone call…

“Evening Mister Macintosh. We’ve missed you.” She fluttered her eyelashes, as was her way, and put on her most lascivious smile. “Red Velvet wanted to know when you were going to come see her again. She said she wouldn’t even charge this time.” That put a bit of blush in his cheeks, and made her giggle happily. She was never more satisfied than when she could see other ponies relaxing and enjoying themselves.

“We’ve had a mite of trouble lately, Kitten.” The slow drawl, the soft high-brow accent, and the strange but compelling dissonance between them could only mean one pony in the world. She turned and felt her heart warm at the sight of her out of that dreadfully stiff suit she usually wore, and standing in nothing but all her muscular glory and legendary hat. “Besides, ya’ll said you’d come visit here too.” There was a dangerous glint in her eye, but she was undoubtedly teasing.

“Well business has been booming for us, ever since little Sweetie joined on.” She sighed happily, her mind going back to the angelic voice of her girl. “She’s going to be a star someday, Miss Applejack. She might even give your brother a run for his money.” She winked at Big Mac, who was blushing even worse. “But really, Miss Apple-”

“Jes Applejack, Kitten.” The way she said that, in a soft and familiar voice, sent a shiver up her spine. She hadn’t heard her talk like that in… years. More than years. It was an incredible shock, actually. But Applejack was… was… smiling at her. “I think it’s been too long since we sat down an’ had ourselves a talk.” She hoofed over her shoulder to an impressive looking keg sitting on the bar.

For a moment, Miss Kitty… the pony formerly known as Pinkamena Diane Pie felt a strange surge inside of her. She smiled at Applejack faintly. “Yeah… It kinda has, hasn’t it?” She eyeballed the keg with a small smile. "Is that Cider?"

~~~Manehatten University.~~~

“Fifty.”

“Call.”

“Three of a kind, Aces. Suck it, Scooter!”

“Full house, Ladies and Lords, Applebreath! Read ‘em an weep!”

”Fuck!”

Applebloom shoved her bits across the table, scowling a little… but there was a glimmer of a smile on her face none the less. “When was th’ last time we played cards?” Applebloom asked quietly, shuffling the deck back up for another round.

“Ages ago. Just before your sister made you a sub-boss, I think.” Scootered chawed on her favorite chewing gum, stacking up the bits and setting a few aside. One of these days, she would earn enough to take a fine mare like Sweetie Belle out on a date. One of these days. “You got real busy then. What happened to us?”

Applebloom snorted and flicked out some cards. “You got skeevish about my work, and I got annoyed at ya’ll not taking that chance to compete on Thunder Road.” Just the mention of that moment made Scooter scowl and turn her head away, wishing that AB hadn’t brought it up. “It was your big chance, Scooter,” AB’s voice was oddly soft as she spoke. “Why didn’t ya run after it?”

Scooter shuffled her cards without looking at them, wishing her gum still had a bit more flavor to distract her. “AB…” She tried to take it slow, but Applebloom was giving her a flat look. Scooter snarled a bit in frustration. “Look, I wasn’t ready, okay? Not after what happened with-” She bit it off, and Applebloom’s look changed instantly. “I couldn’t… I couldn’t handle the speed for that long. It was too much like-” She bit it off again, and looked away. “Lets drop it for now, okay?”

Applebloom bit her lip, but nodded once. “Okay, Scoots.”

It had been so odd. Why had AB brought that up? And why did she just call her ‘scoots’?

~~~~~~~~

Lord Solaris scowled out into the night as they broke for lunch. It was happening again- the weft and weave of Harmony itself distorting around their two very troublesome guests. “Have you told them about what happened to you yet, Rosie?” He turned to fix his troublesome special agent with a fierce glare which did nothing to affect her poise.

“No, sir.” Her voice was sharp, her delivery crisp, and her eyes narrow. All three signs that she wasn’t going to tell them diddly until she was well and truly ready to do so. That was troubling, but what could he do?

He was about to open his mouth when the two subjects of his troubled day walked in, looking rather solemn. “So what’s the plan, chief?” Cloudsdale asked him, and it was nearly impossible not to think of her as Cloudsdale Dash.

Rosetta spoke up, warm and gently. “We have some ideas. We’re going to be leaving tonight once we’ve raided the armory and the Lady has called in a favor for us.” She smiled brightly and professionally, a feat Solaris wasn’t sure he could’ve managed in her position. “Provided nothing goes horribly wrong, we ought to be fine from here on out.”

Then the other Alicorn - the one who called herself Twilight Sparkle - muttered softly. “Isn’t that always the moment when the roof falls in on you?” It was a sentiment that, negative or not, Solaris could completely identify with.

Author's Note

For anyone wondering why these are taking so long, we're accomplishing a LOT of writing on the Two Between sequel right now. Almost 12k words every weekend, and since we're on such a roll I've been giving that some extra attention. Things should pick up soon though.

Chapter 1 - Carousel Catastrophe

~~~~~The Golden Oaks Library~~~~~

The distant sound of thunder and lightning lent the words on the page a strange sense of urgency. The patter of rain against the windows were like soft footsteps rushing across a stone floor as the tale within the book wove through her imagination.

“We’ve got to hurry!” Shouted Daring Do, eyes wide and anxious. The walls of the ancient temple around her were painted blood red with the sickly light of dark, sorcerous powers. “Come on, Silver! Move that flank!” she snarled, the scruffy older pony grunting as he tried to keep up.

“I’m comin’ Derry! Quit yer moanin!” he barked, putting on an extra burst of speed. “We’re gonna make it!” he snapped at her, but she barely heard him. There was no way in Tartarus she was going to let Rosie get hurt because she’d been too stupid to figure out what the Doctor was up to.

“This is so awesome,” Rainbow Dash whispered happily, quickly sipping from her root beer soda before turning the page with a deft flight of her primaries. A few steps away, Twilight Sparkle sat with forehooves folded as she carefully turned the page of her own book. Two copies were kind of necessary, since Twilight could read almost as fast as Dash could fly.

She didn’t much mind. She prefered to talk her way through the story, even if she did it in a really quiet voice. Which reminded her...

“You can’t stop me now, Daring Do!” The malicious cackle of Doctor Negative rang in Daring’s ears. His red eyes were wild with a madness that couldn’t be contained, his hooves holding the sinister length of his injection gun to Rosetta’s neck. “We’re going to change the world, my dear little Rosie and I.” His voice turned from madness to an almost sickeningly saccharine tone…

“Twilight, what does Sac… Sac…” Dash bit at her lip and glared at the offending word, trying to figure out how to pronounce it for a few moments before just going for it. “Sac-car-ine mean?”

“Saccharine, Dash.” Twilight replied absentmindedly, emphasizing the ch sound and turning ANOTHER page. “It means overly sweet. In that case, it means he sounds really syrupy and lovey dovey.” Twilight sing-songed the last two words, which were Dash’s preferred choice of vocabulary for lovebirds. She liked teasing Dash about her simple language sometimes, but it was never in anything but good fun.

“Thank you.” Dash replied as politely as she could, and turned back to her book. Sheesh, why couldn’t Daring just use normal language like a regular pony? Maybe it was some kinda way to keep her cover. She always talked way simpler in person.

”Daring, help me!” Rosetta cried out, tears trailing heavily down her cheeks and setting a fire of anger in her chest. Her closest friend in the whole world was in danger, and the last thing she was going to do was let that monster get his way.

“I’m not going to let you down, Rosie.” Daring Do whispered menacingly, and gathered up all the strength she could into her haunches. Doctor Negative laughed maniacally at her, as lightning began to strike at the uppermost rods of his sinister invention, pumping massive amounts of magical power into it.

“It’s too late for you, Daring Dumb!” The Doctor sneered as she spread her wings wide, remembering the takeoff trick her sometimes assistant Cloudsdale Dash had taught her…

At that, Rainbow Dash couldn’t help but giggle. But only a little. She had to maintain some dignity in front of Twilight, who was smiling just faintly. Another suck of the root beer, and back to the action!

And off she went, at a speed few pegasi in the world could match. Doctor Negative’s eyes had just enough time to go as wide as dinnerplates before she crashed hooves first into him, sending his injection gun clattering to the ground and hurling him over the safety rail of the raised platform. Daring herself ran headlong into the rail, nearly crashing through it. “ARGH!” She half-screamed, scrambling to hold on and unable to find a place to grab.

Fear surged through her as she tried to throw open her wings only to find them trapped by a mass of metal bars from the railing. Daring Do scrabbled her hooves against the metal as the weight began to drag her down, flailing desperately for something to hold on to. Her hooves slipped free and she began to plummet to her doom when a blur of color came out of nowhere and grabbed her by the collar of her jacket. “I gotcha!” mumbled Manehatten Silver around a mouthful of cloth and fabric, his sturdy earth pony frame keeping her from falling into the pit below.

Several seconds later, Doctor Negative’s body impacted on the ground inside of his own containment cells, surrounded by the poor ponies whose minds he’d warped.They moaned in unison, and began shuffling mindlessly towards him, hooves outstretched and a dull madness in their blank eyes. “What?” Doctor Negative said blearily, rising to his hooves slowly only to realize his peril. “W-... NO!” He screeched, flattening himself against the wall of the pit as the shambling hordes began to descend upon him.

“Ohmygosh!” Twilight squealed, her hooves coming together in what had to be the cutest pose Dash had ever seen her make. That got her attention instantly, as Twilight never reacted like that unless something of astronomical importance happened. She stared at Twilight, hoping for a moment that she might shed some light on the situation, but the alicorn just giggled and waved her hooves at the book.

Dash blinked and turned back to the page, wondering just what could possibly get Twi so worked up.

Daring’s chest heaved over and over again as she stared up into the dim light of the underground lair. The hard steel of the platform dug into her back as somepony pulled the railing off of her wings and threw it to the side. “You okay, Derry?” Manehatten Silver glared into her eyes, his hoof thumping into her chest. “You don’t look so good.”

“I’m fine.” She croaked, and rolled herself over while trying to ignore the ache in her wings. “Check on Rosie, willya?” Silver glared at her for just one second less than her patience before rumbling off. Daring rolled herself over on the catwalk and glared down at the Doctor, who was staring up at her with fearful eyes. He had nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide from his own monstrous works.

“Save me.” He mouthed up at her, his hooves trying to find purchase even as his horn lit up to project a feeble shield behind him. It would not keep his attackers away from him for long, and for a long hard moment, Daring glared down at him before turning her head away. “Do? DOOOOOOOO!” The Doctor’s voice screamed behind her, then went suddenly silent.

“Whoa… Um… Twilight?” Dash felt her voice go a bit quavery at that one, turning to her closest friend for a little comfort. “Did uh… did Daring say if this book was real this time or not?” It was kinda hard to tell sometimes when Daring was actually writing about her adventures, and when she was just having a good time.

Twilight chuckled softly. “She said this one was just her having some fun.” Her eyes sparkled a little as she smiled at Dash, which caused her heart to flutter just a little stronger. “Worried about Rosetta, are we?”

Dash felt her cheeks heat up instantly at the insinuation. “W-well maybe a little…” She muttered, turning away to hide her embarrassment. “I was more worried about the thought that Daring might actually choose not to help somepony in danger.” A cold lump settled in Dash’s throat. That just wasn’t right, no matter how you sliced it, no matter how much of a scumbag Doctor Negative was…

Twilight’s voice cut through her thoughts, “Keep reading Dash,” she said before returning to her book. That was really odd behavior for Twilight, but Rainbow Dash turned back to her book anyway with her feelings of unease still lingering. Sometimes, it was awesome to have Twilight so far ahead of her, while at others it was just plain annoying.

Rosetta and Manehatten Silver were standing there looking at her as she slowly limped her way across the platform, head hung low. It had been a hard choice, but it wasn’t one she’d made easily. “He was a madpony, Derry.” Manehatten growled quietly, without so much as a moment of prompting. “He’d just have gotten out again, and you know it.”

Daring Do brought up her head and nodded once. “Let’s go home.” She said quietly, falling into place next to Rosetta as they all began the long trip down to the ground. Her thoughts roiled over what she’d done, setting a whole new light on the life and choices of the stallion mere inches away from her.

By the time her hooves touched dirt again Rosetta was back to her old self - prim, proper and totally in control of things. “I’m going to get Scooter, you two should probably make sure nothing dangerous is left behind.” Her voice was remarkably calm, and she showed no signs of the fear that had engulfed her features mere minutes before. Daring nodded once, knowing that Rosie probably just needed a few minutes alone to let some of the shakes out.

Besides, she had something she had to settle with Manehatten Silver. Alone.

Rainbow Dash felt her chest tighten. Daring Do really wasn’t gonna give any credit to that no-good graverobber, was she? Her hoof quickly turned the page, wondering if Daring was really gonna pull something cheesy like that, when a massive bolt of lightning made her jump all the way to the roof of the library as the sound and light crashed through the room. ”Holy Celestia!” Dash squeaked just before her head impacted on the roof of the library and she crashed to the ground in a tumble of feathers and limbs. She stared into the ceiling, and croaked out, “What ‘n the hay was that?”

Twilight’s voice drifted over from one side, sharp and clear. “That was not normal lightning, I can tell you that much.” The sound of clattering hooves spurred Dash to action, and she rolled herself back to her hooves just in time to see Twilight grabbing her saddlebags and pulling out a pair of rain-ponchos. “We’d better go check up on the town and the weather team,” Twilight began just as the door to the library burst open and a little purple dragon ran through it at top speed.

Spike tumbled to his knees, huffing and puffing as he tried to catch his breath, his claw gripping at his chest dramatically. "Twi... light... trouble… help..." He wheezed out, the sight of the storm lashing outside framing him in an all too dramatic fashion.

“Spike!” Twilight’s eyes went wide, and she rushed over to him. Spike slowly recovered his breath as Dash shut the door firmly in the face of the wind and rain, knowing that Twilight would freak out if too much got into the library. “What happened?” How Twilight managed to stay calm even through all the ridiculousness she got put through on a regular basis, Dash would never ever know.

“Twilight!” Spike gasped as he finally seemed to realize his ‘big sister’ was standing next to him in abject worry. His claw came up to grab at her mane firmly, his eyes wide with panic. “She... they... help! It’s horrible!” His voice came out in fast pants. "Rarity... Sweetie Belle... magical accident at... boutique! You gotta... Gotta go help her!" He kept wheezing, slowly getting his breath back.

Dash’s stomach twisted at that. Sweetie Belle was only supposed to be practicing her magic with Twilight, and everypony in town knew it. “What happened Spike?” Twilight insisted, but the baby dragon seemed to have taken just too much to give her a straight answer. Twilight snarled in annoyance, then grabbed her bags from where they laid beside the door with one grip of magic while tucking spike into a little bed with another.. “Come on Dash!” She yelled, already throwing open the door and running at top speed. Dash had no choice but to follow, folding her wings against the stiff wind and trying to keep up as best as she could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The storm raged around Twilight Sparkle with a strength and ferocity that worried her greatly. This was NOT the gentle lightning storm that had been planned for today. There were only about a dozen things which could cause the weather to spiral out of control like this, and all of them had to do with magic that was of a magnitude greater than anything Rarity or Sweetie was capable of.

Thousands of feet up, Twilight could see the pegasi working their flanks off trying to corral the storm back into sanity. “I should be up there!” Rainbow Dash yelled, dancing in place and looking torn. Twilight honestly didn’t blame her for that, but…

“I might need you to get to the Princess if something is really wrong, Dash!” Twilight had to yell to be heard over the whipping winds. That was all it took to break Dash’s hesitation and soon enough they were both running across town again. Fortunately, it wasn’t that far to Rarity’s place, but Twilight spent the entire few minutes it took going over every conceivable thing that could have happened. Of course, she really didn’t expect to see a pitch black whirlwind of clouds hovering over the Carousel Boutique.

Wait… those aren’t clouds. Her mind instantly replied to the stray thought, immediately beginning to try to analyze what they were. They were giving off prodigious amounts of magical energy in the form of lightning and whorling in place right above Rarity’s shop. There was no telling what could possibly be fueling the thing, but it was clear that whatever was doing it had to be an incredible force. “Sweet Luna.” Dash whispered, staring up at the column of clouds with her mane hanging wetly over her face. “W… what should we do, Twilight?”

Twilight knew what she wanted to do. She wanted to immediately turn tail and fly as fast as she could for Canterlot, get Princess Celestia, and bring her back here. But that would take time, time that neither Rarity or Sweetie Belle might have if something really serious was going on in there. That meant she had to make a decision, and it was blessedly one she knew was right. “We need to get in there and find out what’s happened. Come on, Rainbow!”

Twilight lowered her head stubbornly and charged for the otherwise innocuous door, Rainbow Dash joining her mere moments later. Magic threw the door open, and the pair of them dove into the chaos of the shop. Twilight came to a screeching halt mere seconds later, more because of the flying white unicorn which intercepted her than any other reason. “Oh Twilight! Thank Celestia you’re here!” Rarity sobbed into her shoulder, clutching Twilight close. “It’s S-S-S-Sweetie Belle!”

Twilight Sparkle had seen no few incredible things since she’d come to Ponyville all those years ago. She’d seen gods of chaos, semi-sentient forests, shadow demons, an ancient and evil alicorn, and Pinkie Pie doing the dance of the eight veils. But she’d honestly never seen anything like the raw and crackling portal that hung in the center of the room, whirling and seething like some kind of living thing. “What in the world…?” She whispered, unable to take her eyes off the thing. It was a living impossibility right before her eyes, and if she wasn’t so worried about Rarity she’d probably have already panicked.

Dash grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her out of her reverie, before turning to Rarity. “Whoa Rares, what happened in here?!” Dash’s harsh words and faintly panicked tone steadied Twilight. Her friends needed her, and that made all other considerations moot until the danger had passed.

Rarity’s cheeks went beet red, and she turned her head away. “I… I was doing a little… p-personal magic.” She blurted out, in a tone that made it clear she wasn’t going to explain any further as to what that meant. “Then there was this massive, dreadful bolt of lightning seemingly out of nowhere.” She waved her hooves in the air, eyes wide. “It blinded me! Stunned me completely, and when I came to I saw some strange looking unicorn madpony standing in the middle of my shop and that thing behind him!” She pointed at the portal as dramatically as she ever did anything. “We stared at each other for a few moments and then Sweetie Belle walked into the room….”

Rarity slowly fell silent, her hoof coming down limply and her chest heaving in slow sobs. “I… I yelled at her to run, but the madpony grabbed her and looked like he was running for the door.” Rarity’s tone turned stubborn and angry. “I hit him as hard as I could with my magic, and he dropped Sweetie Belle, the uncouth ruffian. Then…” She took in a deep breath and exhaled heavily. “Then there was another big flash of light, and that… that… thing sucked my poor little sister and the madpony back through it.”

Twilight felt a huge lump settle into her throat, and she had to work to swallow it. Everything Twilight knew told her to expect the absolute worst possible scenario, and in this case that meant… Sweetie Belle could quite literally be… anywhere. It was a terrifying thought, but with no real time to spend examining the portal and none of the appropriate tools to try and trace the portal’s ultimate destination, Twilight was in a quandary of the absolute worst kind. I need to get a message to Celestia. She’ll know how we can save Sweetie Belle. She thought, with as firm a conviction as she’d ever thought before.

An instant later, there was another massive flash of light and the howl of hurricane force winds springing up out of nowhere and throwing the entire shop into anarchy. Rainbow Dash wrapped her hooves around Twilight’s middle, and Rarity grabbed onto Rainbow Dash in a moment of reflexive fear. All three of them screamed together as Twilight beat her wings with all the might she could possibly muster as Rainbow Dash did the same.

Twilight knew it was useless though. Whatever force had taken in Sweetie Belle was still hungry, and as the winds twisted in tighter and tighter, sucking in tables, chairs, and bolts of fabric, Twilight knew there was only one thing they could do. “Hang on everypony!” She yelled and held on as tight as she could to her two friends and folded her wings in tight. Moments later, they crossed the event horizon of the portal and the world swirled into an inky blackness all around them.

~~~~~????~~~~~

Twilight’s eyes cracked open and slowly adjusted to the dim but clear light all around her as she tried to stand up on slightly sore hooves. Twilight winced silently but held her position on the stone-cold floor, gently checking with her hoof for blood or other serious injuries and... miraculously, finding none. Still, she felt very odd for some reason as she pushed herself up to her hooves and looked around, her eyes adjusting to the dark gloom of the... warehouse?

“Ungh…. My head.” Rainbow Dash’s voice echoed towards her, and a few moments later Twilight summoned her magic into her horn to shine a little light. For just a moment, her magic seemed to… to flicker, before settling into its normal hue. How strange, It seems to be coming from higher up than its supposed to... She found Dash pretty easily, sprawled out over the busted remains of a packing crate and covered in packing hay so deep she could just barely see her shock of rainbow mane. “I’m good, Twi… Where’s Rarity?” Dash’s voice was slurred, but more in the stunned way than the brain damaged way.

Twilight didn’t see Rarity though. She cast her light about from left to right, but could only find stacks and stacks of crates all around them. “I don’t know…” Twilight whispered, fear striking into her heart. What if Rarity had somehow gotten lost in the portal jump? What if there’d been a horrible accident? What if- Knock knock came a faint sound from inside the crate next to her, sending her leaping away from it in surprise and nearly crashing into the pile of crates directly behind her.

“Um… If somepony could let me out, that would be ever so helpful.” Rarity’s voice squeaked out from inside of the box, and Twilight exhaled in relief. Examining the side of the crate, she easily found the simple nails which kept it shut and worked them out with a little burst of magic. As if on cue, the whole side of the crate fell open to reveal… “Well, now that’s certainly better.” Rarity huffed, and tossed her elegantly coiffed mane.

Rarity was wearing one of the most stunning dresses Twilight had never seen on her. It was tightly tailored to her every curve and sparkled with tiny diamonds and sapphires across an expanse of pure white silk that flared out into a fetching skirt across her flank. She looked every inch the high society lady, and was even perfectly made up in lipstick and eyeshadow. “Rarity, you look…” Twilight began, tripping over her tongue for a moment before rallying her thoughts. “Absolutely beautiful. But where in Equestria did those clothes come from…?”

Twilight trailed off as she turned her head to look at Rainbow Dash, who wore a battered but respectable dark beige vest and baseball cap, a large adventuring satchel slung over her neck. She looked, with perhaps a bit of improvement, exactly the same way she’d looked on the cover of Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny. She was also staring at Twilight with a dumbfounded look on her face, her jaw already halfway to the floor. “T-Twilight? I think that clothes are the least of our worries…” Rarity’s voice dragged her attention back to her.

Twilight turned her head to look at Rarity, who had produced a large vanity mirror from… somewhere. A vanity mirror which showed a reflection that absolutely could not possibly be her. Her mane wafted ethereally in an unfelt breeze in the same way that Celestia’s did, and was filled with breathtaking stripes of color similar to that of her mane that wove and pulsed and mixed together all at the same time, to the background of six twinkling little stars in six very familiar colors that zoomed around one another in constant motion.

More incredible still, her horn was long and slender and her body had stretched to similar dimensions as that of Princess Luna. Long limbed forelegs and hindlegs attached to a graceful and slender torso that was the very image of pony beauty. Her wings long and elegant. All that remained the same were her eyes, which had not changed one whit of color, size or temperament. She looked like nothing less than a complete alicorn Princess, fully come into her power. She was even wearing bright platinum hoof boots and a torque with a beautifully inset topaz, both shamelessly copying the same style of such worn by Princess Celestia. All that was missing was her crown.

Twilight licked her lips, which felt slightly dry and cracked all of a sudden. “I… I …” She could not find words. Her breathing came in sharp intakes and fast exhales, the speed of both increasing by the second. She was hyperventilating and she knew it, but she couldn’t seem to stop it. “I don’t. I. don’t.” She was babbling too, a clear sign that her mind was overwhelmed with information. She simply couldn’t handle the data overload.

Which is exactly the moment that a massive crash interrupted her thoughts with all the subtlety of Ditzy Doo. Twilight whipped her head around, the new data instantly interrupting her flow of thought. The crash was followed by a grunt of pain, and the sounds of physical confrontation. “Bring her over here!” A nasty sounding male voice yelled, followed by the sounds of more physical fighting. “Ya’ll are a buncha’ sissycorns! Git that filly tied up and in the chair! We’re on a schedule, ya gits!”

Dash was next to her in a heartbeat. “Twilight, freak out later.” She whispered intensely. “Somepony’s in trouble!” Her voice hissed as low as she could make it without losing the intensity, her body now leaning forward and seething with a desire to spring into action. Wait. That’s an odd way to think of her like that…

“She’s right, Darling.” Rarity joined in a second later, looking both utterly out of place amidst the blue collar surroundings and yet utterly assured of her right to be there. Her tone was haughty and cautious, and she had those narrowed eyes Twilight knew only too well. “We’d better go see what all the fuss is about.”

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to steady herself in the way Cadence had taught her to all those months ago. She lifted her hoof to her chest and slowly exhaled the strain, and then nodded. “Right. Let’s go.”

Author's Note

Are you ready for a Rip-roaring adventure?

I hope so! To those of you who are returning for the reboot, please note that these chapters have been almost entirely re-written from the ground up. So pay attention, because the ride is just getting started!

Chapter 11 - Stranger than Fiction

~~~~~Sweet Apple Acre’s Bar~~~~~

Breathe in. Breathe out. Just like Cadence taught you. In. Out.

Twilight forced her chest to stop heaving. She forced herself to be calm. She had to be calm. Rainbow Dash was on the edge of panic, and if she panicked they were going to be seriously screwed. She needed to focus. So deep breaths in, deep exhales. The sound of gentle hoofsteps were echoing through the bar, and Daring and Rosetta were exchanging horrified looks. Twilight didn’t want to believe the source of that voice was who her brain was telling her it was, but something told her she’d better stop being so naive.

The pony spoke again, still gently enough to have been the original. “I will ask again, Capo Apple. Where is the one with the rainbow mane?” Silence answered her at first, then a shuffling of hooves and the sound of many mechanical clackings and crackings. The mare sighed softly, then her hooves shuffled. “Kommandant Panzer, would you be so kind as to assist me in the negotiations?” Her voice rose to carry to the outside, and Twilight raised an eyebrow at a confused looking Dash.

“Panzer?” Dash whispered, her eyes going a little cross. She took on a thoughtful look at first, and then looked up in pure shock. “Wait. Isn’t Panzer germane for-” She began, only to be cut off by heavy, floor rattling hoofsteps. “The buck!?” Dash nearly swore loud enough to be heard, but clamped her hoof over her mouth to keep it from being much more than a squeak. Luckily, the heavy hoofsteps drowned her out.

“Panzer.” Rosetta half whispered, her eyes going wide and her pupils dilating to tiny points. Her voice rushed out in soft, hushed tones that were moving at the speed of real fear. “Daring, we need to get Miss Twilight out of here right now. Take her out the back, I’ll get out with Apple Bloom. Go.” She shoved Daring in the shoulder, who had an incredulous look on her face at Rosetta’s command. Suddenly, the academic pony’s voice became very sharp, hard and strangely familiar. “If you don’t go right now, I’m going to tell everypony what your real name is.”

Daring went suddenly stiff. “You wouldn’t…” She began, then went deadpan at Rosettas smirk. “Of course you would. Fuck me.” She quickly scrambled over to her, and gave her a severe look. “Miss Twilight, there’s an extremely dangerous pony out there. I know you’ve got power to spare, but he’s like almost nopony else. We can’t risk them getting a hold of you and…” She swallowed, visibly. “Look, those are really nasty someponies out there. They’re not going to treat you nicely. I can smuggle you and Dash out of here, but we’ve gotta go now.”

Twilight couldn’t help but hesitate. She wanted to get out of here too, and keeping Dash and the vital information they’d collected safe was a top priority. But… but she couldn’t just leave Rosetta behind. Not if these ponies were as nasty as Daring had said. Somepony’s got to stand up and do something about them, before somepony else gets hurt. The voice in her mind whispered softly, and even if it wasn’t a voice she knew well… she knew that it was telling the truth.

“No.”

It was a reverberant word, one that seemed to stun poor Daring Do and leave her other friends staring at her. “I’m not going to leave a friend behind if they’re as nasty as you say.” Twilight could hear her voice go deadly quiet, though she wasn’t quite sure why it had. She stood up, and all of the adrenalin and fear generated by the attack seemed to have vanished. “I’m going to go out there,” She began, turning on her heel and summoning her magic into her. “And I’m going to politely ask them to leave before I get cross with them.”

She marched slowly, assuredly to the door. She heard a soft snort and a sharp laugh behind her. “That’s my Twilight.” Rainbow Dash said, her voice ringing with pride. A moment later, she fell into step alongside her with a cocky grin on her face. “These guys are nothing compared to Discord. Am I right, Twi?” Somewhere along the line, Dash had pulled a baseball cap onto her head and had tilted it to a jaunty angle. It made her look bold, and just a little flippant.

Twilight had to admit, she liked the effect. “Right. Or Chrysalis.” She felt a smirk curl across her face, and the sound of Rosetta choking down a cough only made her grin grow wider. “I’m sure they’ll be reasonable once we’ve talked to them. That’s worked before, I’m sure of it.” She mused aloud as they reached the doorway, feeling a little giggle bubble up.

Dash laughed, and cracked her neck. “Well, it eventually works. Usually after we’ve kicked some flank.” She glanced at Twilight, and for the first time since they’d arrived in this world, things felt right. So long as she had her friends, there wasn’t anything they couldn’t do together.

“Now now, Dashie.” She murmured softly, making sure her illusion was wrapped tightly before pushing open the door. “Who knows? Maybe it’ll work right away this time.” She suggested with a quiet grin, and shoved the door aside. The main bar area was full of splintered wooden columns and wrecked tables, overturned chairs were strewn across the floor, and a dozen pony head turned to stare at her as she sauntered out into the open.

They were wearing full gas masks over their faces, and solid steel helmets painted pitch black. All of them wore long black coats over bulky looking and angular armor, and carried the same strange weapons that she’d seen so many of this world’s inhabitants holding. What had Scooter called them? Guns? Odd word. She’d have to investigate its exact meaning later. “Mein Kommandant!” One of them called out, his voice muffled by his facemask.

Twilight did not wait. She summoned up her power into a crystaline purple, perfectly spherical shield and planted it right around herself and Rainbow Dash. It was a shield she’d learned from her brother, and she was certain he would have been proud of her for producing it. She glanced to the side to the tune of yet another massive shock this world had in store for her.

Fluttershy.

She was wearing a sleek, shiny coat that wrapped tightly around her body but left her pegasus wings exposed and free. Her mane was streaked with black highlights and her eyes were nothing like the Fluttershy she knew. She walked with a purpose and a confidence that looked utterly alien on her, as though she was the mistress of all she surveyed. She marched swiftly into the room, and her eyes passed over the pair of them to stop on Rainbow Dash. And in that instant, for just an instant, everything about her changed.

Her eyes softened, and the barest hint of tears filled them. Her posture spoke of unfathomable relief and happiness, and the iron-hard control vanished from her face. Her lips parted, and she spoke in a gentle, loving voice. “Rainbow Dash.” It had been the first time in this world that anypony had called Dash by her given name. In that single moment, Twilight could believe that this was the Fluttershy she knew and loved so dearly. Then the mask came back, though less severe than before, as she took a second look at Twilight. Her jaw fell open, and her pupils reduced to pinpoints. “You! You are- Impossible! KOMMANDANT!” Her voice rose to a clarion yell, and heavy hoofsteps came scrambling from one of the back rooms.

Then the second shock hit her, like when she’d had her first hard crash landing after getting wings. His armor was different in many ways. It was far heavier, more angular and covered more of him, but the purple sparkle on his chest that was her cutie mark was still there. His eyes were more sunken and had dark rings, but they were the same bright blue she’d been looking up to for her entire life. And his mane still rebelled against every single form of styling he tried to put into it, and was tousled under the brisk peaked cap he wore.

His steps slowed as their gazes met, and then stopped altogether. The silence stretched across the room like a blanket, and nopony seemed willing to move or speak. Dash was staring at Fluttershy, and Twilight had to admit she couldn’t blame her. The two ponies they had been individually close to were standing across the room in the uniform of those Daring Do had said were the enemies of good ponies like them. It was so utterly absurd that for a moment, Twilight couldn’t possibly believe it was really him.

Then he opened his mouth. “Twily?” He said quietly, pulling off his cap and letting it fall with a muffled thud to the floor. He took a step forward, slowly moving towards the center of the room and Twilight felt herself stepping forward to meet him. The masked ponies backed away quickly, as she left her bubble shield behind to protect Dash and moved opposite of him. “Is that really you?” His voice descended into a whisper, full of disbelief. She couldn’t hide all of her new height, so she was almost eye to eye with him as they stopped, mere feet away from one another.

Emotions ran hot across his face, starting with disbelief and slowly transforming into awe and joy, tempered by a strong undercurrent of disbelief. “Major!” His voice snapped out, cracking like a whip. “Is there any sign of fakery? Is this a changeling? An illusion?!” His voice was strangled, almost begging the ‘major’ to tell him what he wanted to hear.

But why? What had become of Twilight Sparkle? “There is a faint aura, Herr Kommandant.” A heavily armored pony spoke in a crackling, almost hissy voice. “But it only conceals cosmetic differences. Cutie Marks and magical auras do not lie. She is related to you directly.” His head turned, and Twilight could have sworn she heard the faint whine of some kind of mechanical device as he did so. “Of course, the power of her aura is frighteningly strong.” he half muttered, as if under her breath.

But Kommandant Panzer was no longer paying attention to him. All hesitation vanished, and his muscles tensed as though he was preparing to throw himself across the room. Then he stopped himself, and shook his head. “You were dead,” He began, his voice cracked. “You… She told me there had been nothing they could do. A betrayal within the agency.” His steps were timid, as he came inches closer to her. For some reason, she felt both drawn to him and frightened… he was speaking madness. She had been killed here? What agency?

He stopped, then shook his head. “You do not remember,” His voice turned bitter, but it was not anger at her. “I should never have stopped watching over you. I do not know what that-” He bit off the word suddenly, and took a deep breath. “Whatever has happened to you Twilight, you must come with me.” His eyes turned to Rainbow Dash, and his eyes narrowed. “You and your friend.”

Twilight took a deep breath, and forced herself to remain still. “How do I know you’re not a threat to her, Shiny? You haven’t exactly given me a lot of reason to believe you’re here to be helpful.” She gestured to the projectile ridden bar around them. Shining Armor, to his credit, did look a trifle embarrassed at that. “And what in the name of Equestria is with that armor? I might be fuzzy, but I know you treasured your Royal Guard regalia like nothing else.” She kept her voice sharp, and tried to keep her emotions from getting out of hoof.

Shining Armor ducked his head, his eyes hidden by his tousled mane. “I gave up that armor when I lost you, Twily. I had lost the right… and the desire to wear it.” He took a deep breath and looked up into her eyes. “I swear to you, Twilight. Neither of you will be molested or harmed in any way. We will find out what was done to you.” His voice became hard, but it was still Shiny. “Please, Twilight… I cannot..” His voice broke suddenly, and he closed his eyes. “I cannot lose you again. You must trust me.”

Twilight stared him straight into his eye, then took a slow breath. “If you want my trust, Shining Armor, then you need to let me leave here with Rainbow.” She kept her voice cautious, and her magic on the very edge of use. “We have to go find our other friend, Shiny. We need to figure out what’s going on ourselves, and we can’t do that if we’re mewed up behind legions of guards.” Shining Armor’s eyes had narrowed, but he hadn’t taken on that stubborn jut of his chin yet. He was listening to her, at least. “I don’t know entirely what’s going on here, Shiny.” She admitted, letting some of her own quiet desperation show, “But if you’re the BBBFF I remember, I know you’ll trust me enough to let me figure this out first.”

Shining opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. He shook his head slowly, ruefully, and a faint smile crossed his face. “All these years, and you haven’t changed one bit…” He said, with a fondness that was all too familiar to her. He sighed gustily, then licked at his lips while his face became a study of thinking. Then he nodded, as though to himself. “I will speak personally to the Fuhrerin. The situation has changed enough that we must consider this new information carefully before proceeding.”

Twilight could feel a surge of hope run through her, and it only grew stronger as Fluttershy nodded. “Something more is going on here. Should we move without care, we may stumble into a bramblebush.” Her voice was calm and clear, but her gaze never left Rainbow’s face. She took a step forward, and spoke in a clear voice. “Rainbow… I know it has been a long time since we have seen each other, but… “ For just the tiniest moment, she hesitated, then kept going in her almost unrelenting voice. “I swear to you, I will explain everything soon.” She turned her gaze to Twilight, and once again there was a snap of all too familiar energy there.. “You will keep her safe for me, Agent Sparkle. Else I shall become quite cross with you.” It sounded all too odd to hear her speak like that, and yet… it was strangely suitable for her.

For just an instant, Twilight was certain things were going to work out. Then… “TRAITORS!” A high pitched voice screamed, and then - “KILL THEM! SEIZE THE RAINBOW ONE!” The voice yelled again, and all tartarus broke loose.

Shining Armor tried to yell something in Germane, but it was drowned out by a sudden hail of weapon fire. Twilight flung up a brand new shield in a single instant, and tiny metal projectiles ricocheted off of it in every direction. “Kommandant!” The mechanical voice of the heavily armored pony cut through the sound, and Shining and Fluttershy were soon being dragged out of the room physically by the armored pony. Moments later, they were gone, and the entire room was a sea of confusing bodies and ricocheting projectiles.

Twilight hesitated for a moment, remembering the effects of her power on those poor ponies back in the Blue Note. She had no idea how much juice it would take to keep her bolts safe. Just the idea paralyzed her for ten agonizing seconds, as Dash huddled near to her and her shield… another barrage of fire hit the bar, splintering the wood all around her and shattering what little glass remained standing. “Panzerfaust!” a voice screamed, and Twilight could just barely make out the silhouette of a large metal tube with some kind of shield mounted on the side. Moments later, a massive column of smoke and flame rocketed past her and struck the wall a few feet to her right…and exploded with enough force to nearly send her sprawling to the ground.

Out of the smoke and rubble, a voice screamed. “Rosie!”

And just like that, all of her hesitation vanished.

She stood up straight, and let the illusion of her normal self fall away. She could just envision her body growing taller before her attackers eyes, her mane sparkling and lengthening into an ethereal energy that slowly undulated in an invisible breeze. She could imagine their fear, as her horn lengthened to the full mightiness of an Alicorn. Her wings grew longer and larger than ever, as she took upon her the visage of a Goddess of Magic. “Get them.” She half growled, and Her shield vanished for just a moment… and a blur of Rainbow in her vision was all she could see of Rainbow Dash as she bolted outside the bar.

She drew up her shield again, and planted her hooves into the wood. The world shook around her, and shards of wood and glass began to lift from the floor around her as she summoned the full might of her power. These ponies cared nothing for the safety and lives of others. They had threatened her friends. They had threatened her brother. They were spraying deadly projectiles everywhere with no regards for the consequences.

No matter what the cost to herself, they had to be stopped.

She dug down deep into her knowledge of the arcane. Countless hours studying in the Canterlot Library. Countless hours studying at Golden Oaks. Countless nights spent practising, memorizing, and honing her skills, limited only by her own unicorn power. A unicorn power that now had seemingly no limits at all. She opened her mouth, and did something she had never dared to do before in her entire life: She spoke a Word of Power.

“ǼþER!”

For a single instant, the entire world went still. Time seemed to stop completely, as the tip of her horn turned into a spot of light with the power and brightness of a star. The world silently screamed as she forced one of the fundamental forces of magic itself to bow to her will, and although it struggled mightily with her… it was no match. She was the Alicorn of Magic, and this power was her right.

Time swung back into motion, as tiny motes of power slowly seeped into the air around her and began to sparkle in six distinct colors. Colors she knew well. Colors that lived in her heart, no matter where she went or what challenges she faced. The sound of crashing metal and lightning strikes filled the air outside, but it was but a minor dustup compared to the maelstrom she was about to unleash. An instant later, she could feel her power surge and the world was filled with an endless white light. She felt her hooves leave the ground without the need for wings, and then the spell unleashed itself.

It was a Rainbow. Just like she knew it would be. A beam of power that spiraled out of her horn and struck one of the armored soldiers square in the chest… and he fell to the ground in a heap as it obliterated his armor and left only an unconscious pegasus pony in its wake. The rainbow beam split into six colors, all of which she knew all too well - and spread out like the tendrils of an inescapable octopus. It spread all throughout the building, and struck down those who were trying to harm the innocent ponies within it. It happened in just a few seconds, and culminated with a massive rainbow column shooting up into the sky and then vanishing into nothingness with a shower of sparkles all around.

The magic receded, achingly slowly, where it had once filled her entire body. Her hooves hit the ground with a gentle thud and she felt her knees buckle as utter exhaustion waved over her. An instant later, Dash was by her side and supporting her weight, holding her up with a concerned and astonished look on her face. But within her, the power of Harmony sang like a thousand pony choir. It resonated deep in her soul, where the memories and love of her friends lived.

“Sweet Celestia.” A gentle, hushed voice spoke to her right, and there stood Applejack. Her suit in tatters, and her body cut and bloodied, but her hat stubbornly stuck to her head. Gone was the sophisticated mob boss. Gone was the pretensions towards lack of Apple Family accent. She doffed her hat, holding it across her chest as she stared at Twilight. “Ah… Ah know you.” She half whispered, as if she was struggling with the words. “or… Or I feel like Ah ought’a know you somehow.” She took a hesitant step forward, then another. “How… why?”

Then she stopped, and swallowed visibly before speaking one more time. “Sweet Lord ‘n Lady, will somepony please tell me what’n tarnation is goin on here?”

~~~~The Airship ”Forward Unto Dawn”, Somewhere along the eastern coast of Equestria~~~~

Celestia grabbed at the railing as the wave of power hit her like a cresting tide, smashing into her body with all the physical force of a wave of the sea. Solaris too staggered under the force of it, his eyes lighting up with an enthusiasm she had rarely seen in him over these last thousand years. “It is her.” He whispered in a voice so full of childlike glee that she couldn’t restrain the smile on her face. He started prancing around on deck with all the limitless joy a young colt could produce when something exciting had happened. “HA HA!” He burst into happy laughter, thrusting his hooves skyward.”It is her! It could be nopony else! What intense power she has!” His hooves hit the deck of the airship, and he breathed in astonishment. “It must be the Alicorn that Rosie spoke of. How she has ascended without our noticing, though…”

Celestia shook her head once. “That is the mystery. I am beginning to believe that it is tied in with those disturbances we have been sensing. It may be that she is not from this world at all.” It was a sobering thought, but as Celestia gazed out over the fluffy white clouds below her, she found that she really did not care. Wherever she had come from, she was now here in a world that desperately needed her.

Solaris sobered up a bit himself, nodding sagely. “We must advance with caution then. If she can call upon the forces of magic like that, she may very well be our equal in sheer strength.” He blew out a deep breath, then a deep belly laugh rumbled out of him. “Faust preserve me, I wonder if she’s cute.”

Celestia couldn’t help but roll her eyes at that, and smacked her tail across his flank. “Keep it in your armor, Solly.” She scolded him in a mothering voice. “The last thing we need is you putting the moves on that poor filly when she could be incredibly scared and confused right now! Besides.” She stuck her tongue out at him. “We had an agreement. I get first dibs.”

“Only because you cheat at scrabble.” He stuck his tongue out at her, and smacked his own tail against her flank, sending a rush of pain up her spine and making her giggle. He shook his head slowly. “We should be more sober, Celestia. Something drove her to draw deeply upon the power of Harmony and Magic itself. I fear that if she feels threatened enough to do that, what might she do the next time she is put into a dangerous situation?”

Celestia hadn’t considered that. And now that she had… “Solly, would you be so kind as to tell the captain to put on some speed,” She said, quietly. “I have a feeling we will be needed in Manehatten very soon.”

~~~~~

“Who gave that order!? I’m going to have him drawn, quartered, and strung up as an example!” The Kommandant snarled in the angriest voice Iron Resolve had ever heard him use. He was beyond angry - he was furious in a way that made Iron Resolve tremble in his armor. The Kommandant was in the kind of rage he had never seen before, and it terrified him. Nopony in the Stormkorps had reached the prestigious fighting force without hearing the tale of what the Kommandant had done to those who had supposedly murdered his sister.

But now, that very sister had reappeared alive. Alive, and incredibly powerful to boot. Something had happened. Something had been concealed from the Kommandant. And then, somepony had been foolish enough to attack her just when it seemed as though his sister had been restored to him. But whoever the fool was, Iron Resolve did not doubt that said pony was long since gone.

“Peace, Panzer.” Lady Butterfly soothed, touching his foreleg gently and focusing her legendary gaze upon him. The Kommandant swallowed and nodded once, much of the tension rushing out of him. “She undoubtedly has already dispatched her assailants. Surely you felt that wave of magic as well.” Her eyes cast back through the window of the airship as they made haste away from the site of the attack. The Equestrian Air Corps was tolerant of their presence here, but after that debacle there would likely be far less tolerance. Months of bribes and careful diplomatic maneuverings ruined due to the foolish pony who had opened fire.

The Kommandant nodded once. “I saw. I felt it.” He shivered, and took a deep breath, staring up into the iron-wrought cieling of the troop compartment. “What have they done to her?” His voice was wrought with agony, and filled with grief. “Did that damnable Celestia turn her into some kind of weapon? Was her death staged, so that she could be transformed into some kind of abomination?” His hooves came up, and for the first time in many years, the Kommandant wept openly. His shoulders heaved and the tears struck the wooden slats beneath his hooves. Had there been a single other Stormpony around them, likely he would have not indulged… but the remaining living troops were below, waiting in fear to see what wrath the Kommandant would visit upon the traitors.

Lady Butterfly cast him a glance, and when their eyes met Iron Resolve could feel himself paralyzed by her gaze. “Leave us. Ensure nopony enters this room until I give the word. Go. Now.” Her voice brooked no disagreement. And for all of his willpower and strength, not even Iron Resolve could refuse the direct orders of the Lady. He turned on his hoof and left, pushing the compartment door shut just in time to see the Lady’s lips touch the Kommandant’s tenderly, and her hooves start to remove his armor.

It was a piece of information he would need to sit on, like so many others he had.

Author's Note

Guess what guys? INKY IS BACK!

Lets see if I can't get my update schedule back too!