Unraveling a Rainbow

The full moon crept higher into the midnight sky of Equestria. A myriad of stars slowly panned across the void left by the moonlight, filling the gaps with little flickers of their own. All was finally quiet after an anxious afternoon following the postponement of the royal wedding. Tomorrow would begin anew for all the ponies of Canterlot as their dreams descended into an ebony sea, with the exception of a still bustling castle.

Canterlot’s guards kept themselves on high alert, doubly focused on ensuring the safety of its citizens from their newest threats. The reemergence of ancient, despicable evils seemed to be a never-ending theme in recent history, beginning with the return of Nightmare Moon and followed closely by Discord’s second chaotic reign. Now, they were faced a forgotten mythical race of shape-shifters only the most obscure tomes had mentioned in passing. With the recent invasion, old stories of oddities had proven to themselves be far more factual than mythical.

On a more positive note, the day’s search had gone fairly well. The invasion was fairly short-lived so most ponies had located and reunited with their friends and families, however, a fair amount of ponies were still missing without a trace.

This was painfully obvious to nerve-wracked Nightstride, who hadn’t seen head or hoof of his wingmare, Duskstar. Normally, it wouldn’t be so disconcerting for the Moori Lunar Guard. Everypony knew Dusky had a bad habit of sleeping in late before shifts, but every guard was scrambled during the surprise attack, including the nocturnal, bat-winged Moori. At the very least, somepony should have seen Dusky.

His situation was only made worse as the two had been charged with guarding the Elements of Harmony for the night. Nightstride nearly choked when a passing unicorn guard noticed the lack of a right door guard. His dread throttled his breathless neck upon seeing the embroidered rising sun on her armor, denoting her superior position in Celestia’s Dawnguard division. He saluted acknowledging her higher authority as she drew closer to his post.

“Good evening… Ma’am,” Nightstride gagged, trying not to eye the vacant spot next to him.

“You are Lieutenant Nightstride, yes?”

Nightstride wished he’d paid more attention to his daytime superiors’ names. Female guards were about as rare as Moori so this should be a no-brainer. Unicorn, beige coat, orange and yellow mane, dignified stride in her step, kind of cute, and… still nothing. He scrawled blank after blank trying to come up with her name. The dark spots forming under her red, cracking eyes detailed the extent of her utter exhaustion. Maybe she wouldn’t notice his improper greeting.

“Yes ma’am,” he replied with fake confidence, attempting to keep his eyes locked on a high-hanging chandelier so his gaze wouldn’t wander arousing any suspicion of broken protocol. He couldn’t help sneaking a few furtive glances when the Dawnguard sifted through several papers from her saddlebag.

“It’s Silver Spear. Captain Silver Spear,” she retorted as she eyed a missing guard report, glinting a telling smirk behind the paper.

“Yes, Captain Spear,” he stopped trying to think of some excuse other than ‘I never bothered learning your name’, but no other reasons seemed to be much better. “Sorry, Captain Spear.”

“I prefer Captain Silver. There’s already a Captain Spear in the Royal Guard with Captain Armor. The spear and shield suit each other, you know,” quipped the captain, trying to lighten the mood, but her attempted humor faded when she flipped through the missing Moori section. “It seems Lieutenant Duskstar hasn’t been found yet. Tell me, how long have you known her?”

This was a potential conversation he had prayed to Luna would never happen. Alarm bells sounded off in his head after overhearing rumors of forged identities and falsified family records beginning to surface earlier in the day. He knew Duskstar could be odd at times, not talking much about herself, rarely taking time off, no apparent relatives or relations outside of work, and, most baffling of all, never really enjoying the taste of fresh fruit from harvest time. What Moori wouldn’t be absolutely ecstatic sinking a fang into a perfect golden delicious from Ponyville?

Still, Nightstride couldn’t let himself think that Duskstar could be one of… them. She was his wingmare! Of course, a lot of ponies would probably have thought the same of their friends who could turn out to be changelings, but Duskstar was no liar. She simply kept to herself.

“Lieutenant?” Captain Silver pursed her lips after she asked, tapping her pencil on her clipboard waiting for the bat to break the silence with some sort of answer.

The Elemental Hall’s doors suddenly flew apart, slamming open leaving dark shimmers of magic in their wake, breaking both ponies away from the impromptu inquisition. Duskstar and Silver Spear steeled themselves for any oncoming assault. They had barely mustered a defense when a bolt blue as midnight shot between them, hitting the door’s hornlock with deadly precision. Energy surged through the wooden frame, bursting their powerful seals instantly allowing access to the Elements of Harmony. Barely a second passed as they saw their princess of the night streaking towards them at speeds once thought reserved only for the fastest Wonderbolts.

“Princess Lun-AH!” Captain Silver shrieked as the midnight blur shot past them, the pressure wave knocking both guards off their hooves.

Nightstride barely managed to catch himself with his wings while Silver was skipped across the marble floor like a smooth stone. He sped into the chamber to his princess’s side. Frantic was too weak a word for her demeanor. He gawked seeing her thrust the box open, mimicking a child ripping through a toy chest when searching for their most important stuffed animal before bed.

“Your highness! M-may I ask what in Equestria you are doing?” Nightstride squeaked as the princess tore the Element of Loyalty from its resting place.

Nightstride shrank as Luna turned to face him, her eyes pierced his with a near godly wrath. He thought he had seen her angry during Nightmare Night. However, the scowl now cratered upon the moon-wielding alicorn seemed to scare light itself away from her face. The bursting supernovae in her mane displayed the most beautiful array of fury, loathing, and dread.

“Praying I am wrong.”

Waning sunlight stirred Fluttershy from her shock as she slowly lowered her hooves in somber recognition of a voice barely remembered. Rainbow Dash registered her message had been received crystal clear with a terse nod. Silence lingered as Fluttershy was at a loss for words.

“We don’t have much time,” ‘Dash’ hushed weakly in a tri-toned voice, “if I am discovered by anypony, Rainbow will—“

“Fluttershy? Where are you, dear?” Rarity interrupted, trotting inquisitively around the bend.

“Perfect…” ‘Rainbow’ snorted, “Plan B: Stall, Now!”

Just as they had flashed open, Rainbow’s eyes regressed to her familiar magenta as they rolled to the back of her head. She collapsed in a heaped mess to the floor. Fluttershy quickly leapt to her hooves, barely registering the command from Dash. She bolted towards the door, thrusting herself uncomfortably close in front of Rarity.

“O-oh my! There you are,” Rarity remarked, brushing her hoof of soot and backing away to gain some much needed personal space. “Well, I just finished cleaning that nasty mark on the rug, and dare I say, did quite the lovely job for lacking the proper cleaning equipment. Roughing it can be so exhilarating, don’t you agree?”

Rarity blinked waiting for a reply from the blank-minded Fluttershy. “Umm… I suppose so,” she quavered, searching for words to string together in the form of a sentence. “Burn marks...”

"Yes?” Rarity cocked her brow while waiting for Fluttershy to say something, which could be a long while given her trepidation.

“T-there are more of them,” Fluttershy trailed off with a small, nerve-wracked grimace.

“Of course, darling, there was an invasion after all.”

“Do you clean a lot?”

“… Yes. Yes I do.”

“Umm… so do I. The chicken coop gets dirty a lot because… it’s outside all the time, too?” Fluttershy forced from her mouth as a question in barely audible squeak.

“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?” Rarity deadpanned, having lost all patience with a painful charade of small talk. “Did something happen in the hallway?”

“Yes.” Fluttershy wished she hadn’t said the first thing on her mind.

“Really? What was it?”

“A pony.”

“A pony? Who?” Rarity asked while trying to peer around the bobbing pegasus blocking her view.

“… An old friend.”

Rarity’s muzzle scrunched in frustration as the conversation was quickly going nowhere. Fluttershy lost her composure more and more as their worthless banter continued. Rarity bounced back and forth, trying to get past her aggravating companion.

“Fluttershy, let me through.”

“Not yet…” Fluttershy quavered.

“Why not?!” Rarity shouted indignantly.

Her dictionary had run dry as her excuses spiraled down the drain. “Because I’m stalling!” Fluttershy cried, hoping Rarity would miraculously lose interest.

“That’s it.” Rarity enveloped Fluttershy with magic and pulled the strange pegasus to the side. “Honestly, barring an encore of this afternoon, I can’t think of a single thing that could have possibly upset you so much,” Rarity exasperated as she rounded the corner to see this old friend of Fluttershy’s.

“… and that’s when we decided to split up,” Twilight finished, anxiously clacking her front hooves together after reporting to the attentive Princess Celestia. Shining Armor was listening in as well, cradling his sleeping Cadence in a nearby bed.

Celestia levitated her cup of water to her face. The glow wasn’t nearly as bright as usual, a side effect of the ether-infused bandages wrapping around her slender horn. She slowly sipped her water, savoring its crisp chill. It was one of the less cryptic sign’s Twilight had picked out of her mentor’s conversation repertoire meaning she was deep in thought. The swig had been slightly more audible than usual, informing Twilight that Celestia was more troubled than she was letting on. Confirmation all depended upon how she lowered the cup. Would she levitate it near her hoof or put it down on a nearby table?

Celestia slowly set her drink to her bedside nightstand. ‘Definitely worried’  Twilight concluded, the infectious drop of concern spreading to Twilight’s cringe. If Celestia had caught her, Twilight estimated an 85% chance that the next sentence out of the Princess’s mouth would be something comforting to address the slightest hint of fret her mentor might have accidentally loosed.

“Rainbow Dash is a resourceful pony, Twilight,” Celestia affirmed. “I’m confident she will return to us safely in due time.” She brandished her best calming smile of assurance. If nothing else, Celestia proved as predictable as her morning sunrise when it came to interpersonal dealings.

Twilight nodded, suppressing her curiosity in favor of respectful silence. Calling attention to Celestia’s regal mask had never ended well in the past, and there was no reason to start that now.  They knew the day had been trying for everypony. Celestia had enough on her plate with Prince Blueblood’s panic attack upon hearing about the forged records from his secretary. No doubt he and his dignified rabble would start something stupid to make things worse. There were already talks among the castle ponies of changeling ousting parties forming all around Canterlot. She hoped Shining Armor’s background check of the missing guards would have delayed such outbursts, but noble ponies always had a knack for finding the worst things to get stuck up their—

“More water, Princess?” Nurse Heartthrob inquired with a bow. Celestia offered a polite nod in reply, prompting the pegasus to fill the tall paper cup.

“Pardon my intrusion, your highness,” Doctor Triage apologized as he cycled through notes of a binder labeled Celestia, Princess: CR 900-Present, detailing her more recent medical history.

“There is no need for that, Doctor Triage. I am your patient right now, aren’t I?” Celestia corrected, making herself more comfortable on her large, royal medical bed, cup in hoof. “Tell it to me straight, doc, I can take it!” Her gleeful tone reveled in the cliché she’d always desired to say.

“R-right,” the bewildered earth pony stuttered as he brandished a folder of their latest health notes. “As you said yourself, the blow to your magic reserves was extreme, but aside from the surface charring on the outer keratin and slight head trauma from the impact, you’re perfectly fine! It’s this physician’s expert opinion that you may lower the sun at any time. You have that unfathomable alicorn resilience of yours to thank for that, I suppose. I’d expect nothing less from the perfect picture of health you’ve always been... well as far as our written records go any way,” Triage joked, placing the folder back into the plastic tome.

“Tsk, tsk Doctor,” she remarked, waving her hoof in a parental ‘no-no’ fashion. “You should never poke fun at a lady’s age. That’s poor bedside manner,” she corrected again while giving Triage a toothy grin.

Triage paled at Celestia’s innocent teasing, obviously taking the wrong conclusion to the extreme. Twilight rolled her eyes at the doctor’s fervent apologies to Celestia, who replied with only the best assurances that it was only in good fun.

A piercingly loud, blood-curdling shriek resounded throughout the hallways, breaking the silly back and forth between reeling doctor and his royal patient. Its volume lingered in the ears echoing between the ear drums as if the howl had been yelled directly into the ear.

“Rarity!” Twilight remarked at the ear-shattering screech, knowing only one mare who could reach that notably shrill octave.

Fluttershy’s devastated senses slowly returned with pained ringing in her ears as she slowly came out of her sound-induced delirium. It was the second time today she witnessed an earth-shattering blast first hoof. Rarity was sprawled on her back in a rather undignified manner, having passed out at the sight of what appeared to be a dead Rainbow Dash.

“Maybe nopony else heard that…” she lied to herself, wishing it would be true.

Her hopes were soon crushed as an entourage of guards galloped and flew down the hallway towards the source of the incredible, octave-shattering shriek. They slowed upon arriving at the side of the three mares.

The group’s brusque commander eyed each mare back and forth, trying to make some sense of the situation. “Get a stetcher,” he commanded a duo of gawking pegasi, both having lost themselves upon seeing the condition of one of their fellow fliers. “NOW!”

The pegasi sped off before offering even the slightest salute. They soared into sky, bringing back a small cloud to carry Rainbow off to the castle’s emergency room. Their commanded nodded at their ingenuity. Barking several orders to the other ponies around them, he quickly gathered Rarity and rushed off toward the medical wing. Fluttershy followed slightly behind, knowing the next few hours would be tricky given Rainbow’s… unique condition.

Luna stirred slightly before dusk. She usually wasn’t one to sleep in given the nature of her cosmic duties, but recent night watches drained her. Every night she kept an ever-vigilant eye out until midmorning while maintaining the shielding spell whenever Shining Armor had to sleep. On top of that, she alleviated the nightmares of the ponies that feared the unknown threat against the throne. She had dispelled all manner of frights ranging from frenzied dragons storming the city to a giant candy-coated cupcake raining delectable destruction upon all Equestria. She blamed Discord’s temporary reign for that particularly tasty terror.

She applied the finishing touches to her royal countenance, sparking the nebula of light into her ethereal mane and tail. With a quick flourish, she lowered the silencing spell she had placed over the room to quiet noises from the wedding festivities which would sabotage her much-needed rest. The stillness of her room was quickly replaced by frenzied rapping upon her door. She readied to rebuke the assailant until she noticed she had sealed it. Her force of habit resulted in a lock only her sister would manage to open it from the outside. Dispelling the alicorn runes, she cracked her door with apprehension, hoping nothing had occurred during her slumber.

Outside the royal bedroom was one of her lunar guards panting for breath from his flurry of blows to the door. The powerful stallion had managed to chip the wood, revealing he spent a great deal of time “knocking”. The corridor had not fared any better as it was covered from floor to ceiling in scars of a terrible struggle. Magical burns littered the hallways, paintings tossed aside, tapestries torn asunder, and various other forms of destructions were scattered outside of Luna’s private chambers. The maids and guards both rallied to clean up the lingering ravages of the fierce battle in the princess’s presence.

“It would seem as though I have missed something,” Luna remarked nonchalantly, hiding the churning in her stomach behind a regal mask.

“I…” the guard uttered between heaving breaths, “have a message… from Princess… Celestia.” He reached into his saddlebag producing one of Celestia’s usual sealed scrolls. He saluted before wobbling back to his post, his rear legs sore from bucking the door to alert the princess.

Luna began a slow trot through the hallway, hesitantly unraveling her sister’s letter.

Dear Beloved Sister,

You have likely noticed the castle’s apparent disarray this evening. Canterlot was besieged by a changeling queen and her hive. Evidently, she had masqueraded as Princess Cadence for nearly a week prior to today’s events before revealing herself at the wedding ceremony. I fear that she may have injured several of our subjects during the invasion as not everypony has been found and some will still likely be missing when you receive this message. I ask that you search the Dreamscape for any ponies who may be unconscious from the assault. I would aid you in the search, but unfortunately I was also injured in their assault and would rather not risk anything beyond lowering the sun. Do not be alarmed, dear sister, it is nothing at all serious and I will be fine by tomorrow morning.

Though it is important to locate every missing pony, I ask you first focus your efforts on finding Rainbow Dash. She was lost in the attack and you know as well as I do that being an element bearer, finding her takes priority. Twilight Sparkle and the other elements started looking for her earlier this afternoon, but if this is the only message you have received from me, assume that she is still missing when you start your search. I have the utmost confidence in you Luna. Please help my faithful student and her friends.

Your Loving Elder Sister,

—Celestia

P.S. You may want to consider weakening the seals on your bedroom door ever so slightly, Lulu. I would’ve gotten you up earlier myself, but I’d rather not risk melting half the castle just to wake you.

Luna’s dark coat was insufficient in hiding her flushing cheeks burning with embarrassment. Mayhap it would be prudent to lower the threshold of her bedroom seal a smidgen. After all, the threat of an assassination of the royal alicorn sisters had greatly diminished over the past thousand years, despite the most recent threat.

Luna was grateful that they had won the day, but the thought of anypony lost and alone during this harrowing time weighed heavily on her for not acting sooner. She had become quite familiar with loneliness in her banishment. Luna trotted to an eastward balcony overlooking the darkening horizon. Opting for a less grandiose display to raise her precious moon, her horn lit as she abruptly stomped her hoof, settling for a slightly early moonrise. A flick of her tail speckled the sky with her familiar star pattern which would glitter into existence once Celestia brought the sun down. To the princess, it was as easy as flipping on a switch.

“You! Guardspony!” Luna beckoned towards two of Celestia’s royal guards. The identical stallions exchanged a puzzled glance wondering which their princess was referring to. “You on the left… my left,” she corrected. Why Tia was so obsessed with uniformity to the point she enchanted every set of armor with illusion spells was beyond Luna’s grasp.

“Yes, your highness!” ‘Lefty’ barked with a salute.

“Inform my sister I have awoken and will begin my search within the Dreamscape. Also, inform Scribbling Sage she is to attend Night Court in my stead. She is only to take notes and leave a report on my desk for review upon my return,” Luna commanded the unknown guard.

“At once, Princess Luna!” ‘Lefty’ replied before bowing and galloping off to relay the messages.

The remaining guard was treated to a spectacle rarely seen. Luna crafted a delicate circle of mystic light in the air. Placing a hoof carefully at the frame’s epicenter, she lurched forward as the air itself beveled into a translucent lens. The area behind the emerging portal warped from a fish-eyed obfuscation of the royal garden into a brilliant sea of colorful threads of light. Princess Luna immersed herself in the gateway, letting a current envelop her as she drifted through the opening. As the last curl of Luna’s ethereal tail escaped into the Dreamscape, the lens sealed itself away in a faint twinkle, vanishing as beautifully as it had appeared.

Twilight rushed into the hallway towards the wedding chamber. She was met by guards rushing opposite of her towards the doors she’d left behind her. Rarity was splayed across a rather imposing guard’s back, but the cloud that two pegasi whipped past her with panicked fervor proved to be far more disconcerting. Before Twilight could get a good look, the fliers stormed the medical ward, hastily towing the cloud into the emergency room.

“Twilight!” a small voice called out before she could give chase.

“Fluttershy! What happened?!”

Fluttershy paused, trying finding an easy way to say it. “We umm… found Rainbow Dash…” she quavered.

All the unicorn’s neurons fired at once. The cloud must’ve been carrying somepony to the ER and considering it was a cloud, it must be carrying a pegasus and a fainted Rarity could only mean…

“Oh my gosh, Rainbow!”

Twilight burst into the busy ER with Fluttershy in tow. Several doctors were already prepping themselves as the guards lowered Rainbow Dash onto the bed. They carefully dissipated the cloud as she made contact with the mattress. Twilight used every last shred of willpower to stay out of their way, but even from a distance, she could tell Rainbow was in dire straits. The nurses linked every machine and IV they could to the battered mare. Twilight felt her breath quicken as her heart started racing. She retraced her thoughts, looking for positives to take solace in before neurosis kicked in. Twilight knew Rainbow was afraid of needles so at least she hadn’t been conscious to fight back. That unhelpful observation wasn’t the silver lining she was seeking.

The entire medical staff bustled around Rainbow Dash analyzing her condition and taking notes before passing their observations to the head physician. Several unicorns scanned the body with magic, feeling for broken bones and other internal damages.

“Triage! I can’t get a clear reading!” one of the nurses shouted in alarm.

“Calm down, Salve. Refocus and try again slowly.”

“No sir, that’s not it,” Salve cried back trying to remain calm, “my magic is being blocked! I can’t see anything!”

“Horseapples!” Triage cursed. “Get a telemetry booster and scan again. Magic or not, we need that X-ray!”

A swarm of possibilities descended upon Twilight’s thoughts whirling like a hurricane of dread.  Perhaps the emission of magic from the repulsion spell hadn’t yet dissipated, scattering any readings. Or maybe whatever had injured Rainbow Dash had inflicted a magic-scrambler, blocking all healing magic! She began running through a list of species capable of doing such a feat before a hint of reason kicked in. If it had been anypony, it must’ve been a changeling. All the while, she could swear somepony repeating her name over and over.

“Ms. Sparkle! Ms. Twilight Sparkle!”

Twilight slipped out of her neurotic episode without an utterance.

“Are you familiar with Magical Tomography?” he asked with a flatter tone, satisfied with her eye-contact.

“Oh, yes! It’s one of the cornerstone spells in Medicinal Magic for the Mending Mare. Never know when running into another pony can—“

“Great, good, perfect,” Triage interrupted her unnecessary explanations in a hurry. “See if you can get a reading on Rainbow Dash. You’re probably my best bet right now if there’s any magical interference or whatever you spell-ponies call it.”

Twilight frowned upon Triage’s semi-racist comment, but chalked it up to frayed nerves, now having a more important matter to attend to. It was a task, exactly what she needed to help calm her nerves. Twilight was just happy she could be doing something to help Rainbow Dash. Looking at the moon rising high in the east after a long day, Twilight knew everypony around her braced for an even longer night.

Luna let the flow of the Dreamscape ebb as she felt the cords of dreams unfurl around her. Fillies, colts, mares, stallions, all the slumbering imaginations of Equestria gathered in an endless ebony sea. Each thread bore its own color and personality, all leaving a print uniquely their own in a swirl of color and light. Luna usually let herself drift through the current as the currents were drawn to the nightmares of her subjects calling out for her hooves to help dispel them. Dreams revealed the deepest and darkest recesses of a pony which granted a unique opportunity for revelations in the secret world.

However, the princess’s task this night was evocation, an ability not utilized since she... was not quite herself. Even before the darkness had taken her, she could not recall when last she evoked the subconscious of anypony, let alone one she never encountered in her dream walking. In her musing, it dawned upon Luna: not once had any nightmare drawn her to Rainbow Dash. Even in the most harrowing of times, terrors never plagued the stunt flier’s slumber. If Rainbow Dash was asleep, locating her thread would prove to be a feat most difficult to perform.

Before attempting such a blind evocation, Luna thought it best to warm-up. She fluttered through the numerous cords rising from and wafting in the void below her. The night was still young and not many were asleep now. Additional sleepers would clutter the Dreamscape, making her job all the more difficult. Still, she thought it best to work up to the task slowly. There was no guarantee that Rainbow Dash would even be asleep, which she assured herself was the true reason for her trepidation.

A particular tangling pair of ribbons caught her attention, a most uncommon of occurrences in the Dreamscape. Such issues occurred when two or more ponies became intertwined in the same dream, usually caused by unicorn magic missfiring when asleep. Sometimes on accident during a slumber party, rarely on purpose by particularly engaging pairs of ponies, but all dangerous if left unattended. To say the least, nightmares become quite messy when two or more minds become enthralled.

Luna reached out, grabbing the two threads in her hooves. One was a thrashing cyan refusing to be still for even a second, but the other was far more eye-catching. It was a brilliant sterling silver, shining brightly in the dark. It waved methodically about as it coiled around its partner. Such a beautiful woven string reminded Luna of her sister’s illustrious cord. Perhaps Tia had recovered faster than she had anticipated and started searching for Rainbow Dash’s consciousness as well, her thread’s discoloration a remnant of whatever injury she had sustained.

“Y’all said what now?!” Applejack was absolutely livid after hearing the story from the two pegasi escorting her and Pinkie Pie to the medical ward.

“But… that’s what happened,” one of the pegasi remarked defensively, not wanting to be bucked by a farm pony. “We found her right outside the wedding chamber and took her straight to the ER once she was on the cloud.”

“But that don’t make a lick a’ sense! We checked behind every nook n’ cranny around that froufrou room, and there’s no way we coulda missed her if she was in that bad a shape!” Applejack southern drawl boomed in ferocity. “On top of that, if her wing’s as bad as you say, one of your folks shoulda spotted her from a mile away!”

The pegasi had no answers for Applejack as the group broke into the medical ward. Even Pinkie Pie was on edge after hearing the details of Rainbow’s condition. She mentioned earlier she didn’t want the celebratory “Dashie Found” party turned into a no-fun-funeral, a concern Applejack echoed. The guards led the ponies into an observation gallery outside the emergency room. Their faces sank upon seeing Rainbow Dash’s beaten form. The guards had warned them before of the extent of her injuries, but their description hadn’t done the scene justice.

“Princess Celestia!” Pinkie Pie yelped noticing the alicorn in the room for the first time. Applejack and Pinkie Pie began to bow instinctually until Celestia raised her hoof in objection.

“Please, not now,” her gaze not faltering from the scene, Celestia beseeched the two to spare the courtesies of court in such harrowing times.

Pinkie Pie pressed her face against the window, trying to get the best look possible. Applejack noticed Fluttershy off to Rainbow’s right, gently stroking Rainbow’s good hoof trying to garner some response from the unconscious mare. Twilight rushed back and forth with the nurses as they waged their arcane-fueled battle against time. Applejack opened her mouth to ask.

“Twilight is trying to find a way to break through a magical barrier around Rainbow Dash,” Celestia answered to the unasked question. “At first, the doctors thought it was just interference preventing them from getting a good scan, but we soon discovered not even my magic was getting through to her,” she detailed to the two. Applejack stole a good look at the Princess, her regal mask torn to shreds as deep concern wracked her ancient eyes. Twi had mentioned Celestia was quite familiar with death, but when it presented itself before a pony’s time, it weighed heavily upon the princess’s heart. “Whatever has done this to her is indeed powerful. If we cannot break through the barrier, I fear we may not be able to help her.”

“Couldn’t we just use the Elements of Harmony to break through to her? They seem to be able to solve everythin’ else.” Surely Twilight and Celestia had thought of that, but Applejack asked figuring there was no harm in a friendly reminder.

“That would totally work!” Pinkie interjected with a desperate grin. “All we gotta do is wake Rainbow up and we can all break that mean old barrier into bits!” Applejack realized the flaw in the plan as Pinkie Pie planned it aloud.

“We kinda need everypony to use ‘em, huh Princess?”

Celestia nodded solemnly. “Yes, and even if Rainbow Dash did awaken from her slumber, she is in no state to wield her element herself,” she added.

“And… and if she—“

“We will cross that bridge once we come to it, my little pony,” Celestia interrupted. “Perhaps there is still hope with my sister if she finds a way through.”

The dreamers’ threads had put up quite the fight against Princess Luna, but in the end it was her victory. The trophy she had waiting for her upon entering the dream was well worth the struggle. The realm she fluttered into was simply magnificent.

Grassy fields flowed forever towards the endless mountains resting on the horizon. Warm daylight stroked the night princess’s face accompanied by the faintest hint of a fresh summer wind offering its gentle, caressing breeze. All the wonder absorbed by her senses complimented the absolute perfection surrounding her. To Luna’s left, a majestic oak tree thrust skywards, scraping the heavens with unfeasibly gargantuan branches. The superstructure of wood and leaves climbed higher into the sky until its enormous trunk faded out of perception. Luna found the wondrous sight deserving of the utmost admiration. This paradise was beautiful in its simplicity, yet paradoxically complex at the same time. It reflected a brilliant mind in every way, expertly crafted down to the last blade of grass.

“There you are, Princess!”

“GAH!”

Luna whipped around to see her multicolored quarry hovering behind her. Not once in her entire lifetime had anything had caught her completely off-guard in a dream.

“‘Gah’? Yeesh, you sure are jumpy tonight, Princess.” Rainbow Dash deadpanned. “I told you I was gonna be practicing right over there while you were doing your, whatever stuff. You promised you’d race me, remember?”

“Rainbow Dash? Wait, this is your dream?!” dropped any semblance of royal dignity she bore previously as she questioned her presence here.

“Uh, yeah?” Dash quizzically answered. “But you already knew that, right? I mean, you were the one who told me you could waltz into other pony’s dreams. Wait, are you real, or am I dreaming of you wanting to race me now? I’ve never met another pony in a dream before. This is so confusing,” she mumbled rubbing both her temples.

Impossible was the only word that came to Luna’s mind. She admitted not being well acquainted with the Element of Loyalty, but not even Starswirl the Bearded had managed expertly crafting such a utopian place. This brash pegasus would not have a prayer of fabricating and maintaining such an awe-inspiring landscape in her mind. Usually there would be at least some degradation of the surroundings when a dreamer’s focus was drawn, but not so with Rainbow Dash. Now that she thought about it, Rainbow Dash was already well aware she was asleep before Luna had addressed her.

“Rainbow Dash, how have you managed to dream of this place?” Luna demanded firmly, regaining her royal mindset.

“Come again?”

“Not even my sister has the ability to construct such an existence so flawlessly. This level of mindscape should not be possible for a pegasus.”

“Really? I thought everypony dreamed up something like this,” Rainbow pondered aloud. “I always come here when I fall asleep. In fact, this is where I do a lot of practicing for my new stunts! Check this one out!”

Rainbow launched skyward, twirling into a triple aileron roll while corkscrewing in several streaking U-shapes in the air, only to come to a crashing halt after losing control of her reckless spinning.

“Heh heh, without beating myself up too bad either,” she amended nervously to her practice regiment.

Luna lifted herself for a moment before settling on the ground. ‘Normalized gravity as well?’ Luna perplexed. This was not right. Rather it was right, but far too right to actually be considered right.

“Rainbow Dash, you mentioned I spoke with you earlier?” Luna asked, remembering her quarry had said something to that extent before.

“Yeah, something about an ‘important’ spell you needed to do first before we raced,” Rainbow said, throwing quotation hooves up, stressing the word “important” in her reply. “I mean, I wasn’t thinking you were going to cheat or something,” Dash quickly corrected, “but then again, I’ve never seen another pony while dreaming so… nevermind. Are you ready, yet?”

“Not quite, Rainbow Dash.”

“OH, COME O—I mean, of course, Princess, take all the time you need,” Rainbow coolly remarked after failing to stifle her complaint. “I don’t mind waiting, Heh heh… hrm.” Rainbow furrowed her brow, flapped her wings, and stretched before takeoff. As she gained altitude, she looked back noticing the other lunar mare in the distance. “Hey, maybe you can help yourself hurry up so we can finally get some flying in before I wake up!”

Luna raised her brow inquisitively and glanced over her shoulder. Sitting in the distance was… herself.

“Catch ya later, Princess Luna!” Dash quipped before blasting off again to practice all the new stunts she dreamed up.

Luna let the aspiring Wonderbolt fly off, instead opting to trot over to herself. Her doppelganger appeared smaller than Luna’s usual self. As she drew closer, she noticed the dream Luna’s coat was a brighter shade of blue than her own and also lacked her flowing, star-filled mane. It was her as she had appeared right after Nightmare Moon had been defeated, leaving her weakened self in its wake. Luna slowly walked around the lesser Luna, surveying the spell crafting she was performing. Ancient motes and runes floated in front of her as the young princess looked lost in thought while gazing at diagrams of pegasi wings. Luna noted how accurate Rainbow’s imagination had presented itself.

“Excuse me, Luna,” the princess asked her dream self, “what is it that you are doing?”

Dream Luna barely acknowledged the superior presence of the real Luna, instead opting to focus on the task at hoof. There was a slight pause before she eventually answered. “We are planning our method of attack before competing with Rainbow Dash in a race most glorious.” She stoically answered, not gracing the true Princess of the Night with a glance.

The illusion preoccupied herself with the images of wings before her. She skillfully moved motes around as she manipulated the one of the wings in front of her. Luna noticed that one of the rings was fractured while the other was being deconstructed and reconstituted in various broken ways. Every so often, her lesser self would feel her right wing, as if trying to get a grasp on some structural aspect. Luna could only guess this was Rainbow’s interpretation the “preparations” she mentioned Luna was busying herself with.

“Me? Cheating? Of all the foalish things for that prismatic fool to imagine!” Luna fumed under her breath, stamping the perfect grass under her royal hoof. “I will have to have a word with Rainbow Dash about her low opinion of my character later.” Luna waved her hoof, dispelling the illusion of herself.

After nearly an hour of fighting, the fatigued Twilight Sparkle cracked a smile as she felt the curve of a femur with her magic. She bounced up, nearly losing her balance from exhausted glee, looking in the direction of her mentor and friends. Rarity had since woken up and joined her friends in the gallery outside the ER.

“Guys! I’ve got a bone! I can feel a bone!”

Nurse Salve joined in as she began her scan as well. “She’s right, the barrier’s gone!”

Triage reared up on his hind legs, kicking his hooves in excitement, almost forgetting he was carrying his notepad. “Finally, Some good news! Princess Cele—“

Celestia was already focusing a great deal of magic on the wounded pegasus. Bursts of light surrounded the wounded mare with waves of healing light enveloping the broken body, encasing it in light. Twilight gasped as a pained expression tore across the alicorn’s face. Celestia’s horn burned brightly with ancient power while she infused an immense fount of magic into the hovering runes, having obviously cast all sense of her own injuries frivolously aside.

Doctor Triage waved his arms frantically trying to grab the princess’s attention. “Your highness, that’s quite enough,” he pleaded as the Celestia continued her agonizing spell. Against his better judgment, he pounded loudly against the glass pane, shouting to snatch the diarch’s attention.

“STOP!”

Celestia blinked curiously before stifling a blush with her hoof. “Doctor’s orders?”

“Doctor's orders,” Triage confirmed with a smile, bonking his own head with his hoof to remind Celestia of her horn. Celestia offered her warm smile and curt nod in reply.

With Celestia’s sense restored, Twilight strode to Rainbow’s side, casting the tomography spell on her broken wing while the other nurses worked on rendering images of the rest of the mare’s broken body. Twilight felt around the magical picture she was receiving, relieved to finally be getting a response. Her small smile fell to an inquisitive furrow which then descended into a confused frown as her magic felt more and more around Rainbow’s wing.

“Is something the matter, Twilight?” Twilight looked up to meet Fluttershy’s concerned gaze questioning the glower her friend as wearing.

“I… I don’t know. It’s not that something feels wrong, per se…”

“Then what is it?”

Twilight carefully retracted her magic from Dash. She shot a blast, enveloping a piece of black imaging film pinned to the wall. She flipped the backlight on the image as it beamed its information. Dash’s humeris was broken clean through the center, straining the connecting ulna and radius. The blade of the scapula was bent at an odd angle, but nothing too serious. She looked over the other bones noting nothing else was broken. Looking back at the shattered wing, her horn clearly had not taken the image properly.

She peeked over her shoulder towards the rest of the ponies, also curious about the conflicting information Twilight had gathered. Salve did a quick scan herself to reevaluate the wing, only to produce the exact same image. The doors burst open as Rarity made it a point to enter dramatically.

“Let me see that photo!” Rarity exclaimed floating a stool under Twilight’s image as she galloped towards the backlight. She stood upright, resting her forehooves against the wall while her blue eyes buzzed back and forth over the image. She absorbed every last detail with scrutiny befitting the attentive seamstress.

Doctor Triage glanced over the fashionista playing doctor quizzically. “I was told you were a dress maker. What do you know of pegasi skeletal systems?”

“It’s not so much that, rather more of an uncanny resemblance, I assure you,” Rarity offered in reply. “Do you, perhaps, have a copy of Dash’s other wing injury from a few months ago?”

Nurse Heartthrob nodded, reaching into her folder for her previous tomography images. She pulled the most recent picture and strung the image up by hoof. The backlight’s strobe was met with silence falling over the room.

Twilight stumbled over her words and garbles when comparing both the older and newer images, both mirroring each other in every detail.

“But that’s…”

“…Impossible...” Luna finally uttered, frozen in shock. Where other visions would simply vanish, her lesser self remained, unfazed by the princess’s absolute power over dreams. Luna attempted a second time, only to feel her magic dissipate the other Luna’s spell casting before meeting the resistance of what was a very real presence.

“This complicates things,” the doppelganger asided to her lost progress.

“DECEIVER! WE DEMAND TO KNOW WHY YOU IMPERSONATE US SO!” Luna rang out with her the traditional Canterlot voice.

The other grit her teeth as the pressure blew against her face and mane. “You don’t have to yell. I was quite capable of hearing you before resorting to your ‘royal we’,” the imposter quipped. She summoned back the image she had been working on. “Great, now I have to start all over…”

“SPEAK, WHELP!” Luna demanded, slamming her hoof into the ground, causing a large rift in the dream shattering any semblance of concentration her imposter had mustered.

Fake Luna sighed. “Well, there goes plan D and E. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting company, and with Fluttershy utterly failing to hold up her end...” she trailed off noting the growing impatience of the real Princess. “Fine, fine. I’m play this part out of convenience. Dash heard some legend from Twilight about your powers which, sadly, was not an exaggeration,” she bemoaned the untimely appearance of the real Luna.

“Also, it seems my interpretation is…” she trailed off, inspecting the royal mare’s regal self, “slightly outdated.”

With that, the imposter took to her hooves, growing taller in a shimmering light reflecting the silver thread from before. Each fraction of her coat flipped like a waterfall of silver bits as she shifted into Luna’s more recent appearance. Her mane and tail glowed a brightly as it began flowing like the star-filled nebula Luna sported herself. Even her regalia trimmed itself to her new stature as both Lunas stared each other in the eyes.

“DOST THOU APPROVE OF OUR IMAGE?” Faux-Luna inquired royally with a smirk.

“THINE INSOLENCE SHALL BE THY UNDOING!” Luna shouted, taking to the air with fury of the blackest night. She supplanted the warm sky with her cold midnight, hoisting an icy-white moon above them. Luna called forth power from the Dreamscape, summoning a shining column of lunar fury from its cratered surface.

“BEGONE, DEFILER OF DREAMS!” she commanded before thrusting the massive pillar of energy upon her foe. At once, Faux-Luna disappeared under the harsh moonlight enveloping the area around her, a beacon of banishment from the princess herself. Not even the mightiest of dream parasites had withstood her brilliant onslaught, though mayhap she had gone a tad overboard in her anger.

“Princess! What the hay is going on over here?!” Rainbow Dash asked, bolting towards the airborne princess summoning her awesome super-death beam from above. “You know this is just a dream, right?”

“Fear not, Rainbow Dash, we were just dispelling a rather impudent presence from your slumber,” the Princess stated proudly, content with having vanquished the—

“Indeed, for we only wish the best for our most beloved and loyal subject’s nightly well-being.” Faux-Luna joined in with bubbly banter. “The safety has been doubled, literally!” she added, eyeing her counterpart with a toothy grin.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes darted back and forth between both royals. Faux-Luna’s face beamed accomplished joy as Princess Luna’s face contorted with astonishment and resentment at her unscathed doppleganger’s callback to her embarrassingly boisterous presence last Nightmare Night.

‘No illusion has ever resisted such a blast before, unless…’ Luna sighed at her realization.

“How silly of me to make such a simple mistake,” Luna muttered, raising her hoof to dispel the real illusion. She waved her hoof in front of Rainbow Dash to eject the image from Faux-Luna’s dream. She had a few choice words to give this ill-mannered ingrate for impersonating a princess in her own presence.

Both Luna’s eyes shrank back as the princess’s power hit Rainbow. The agonizing raspy scream resounding through the moonlit utopia quickly shattered half of the vision around them. Her body began phasing away as the magic strangled the life from her. Luna quickly retracted her hoof as her spell bounced back into her horn. Like a fly swatted from the air, Rainbow plummeted towards the remaining grassy knoll still below them.

“What have you done?!” Faux-Luna seethed as she dove down to catch the fallen Rainbow. She carefully stroked the colorful mane, bringing life back into the doubly unconscious mare. She cooed with ancient magic as Dash reconstituted back into existence with silvery light.

‘Neither of them were dreams?’ Luna puzzled as she lowered herself to the ground. ‘No, Dash nearly vanished whereas this cocky shape-shifter…’ she trailed off as the gravity of situation suddenly dawned upon the Princess of the Moon.

“I think you’ve overstayed your welcome, night princess,” Faux-Luna growled, pushing unconscious Rainbow Dash into the ground below. She drifted below the surface further into the safe recesses of the Dreamscape.

“I think not. I hold authority here,” Princess Luna retorted darkly, desiring to show the deceiver her place, “and if it is as I fear, you shall be held accountable for a most foul use of dream magic to impersonate the Element of Loyalty, changeling.”

“Impersona—" Faux-Luna began questioning before bursting into a fit of laughter. Among her uncontrollable guffaws, her voice slowly slipped into a tri-tone mockery of Luna’s own. “See, this is where you are wrong, night princess. Your ‘authority’ means nothing without the power to wield it,” Faux-Luna spited back, her eyes burning with scarlet intensity.

Luna’s eyes shimmered with starlight as she took to the air to muster her powerful retort. She opened her mouth as a mass of dark tendrils shot from below, coiling around the real princess, ripping her from the sky, and encapsulating her in shadow. The tendrils thrust themselves down Luna’s throat, choking out any reply she would have offer otherwise.

“You may hold power over the dreams of Equestria, but I control my own imagination here,” Faux-Luna spat as the princess emerged gracefully from the entangling prison.

The princess unfurled her wings at the zenith of her flight, towering before her doppelganger. “You dare try to strike against the princess of—” she snapped her tongue upon hearing her words uttered with a familiar frightening intensity.

A quiet pool of still water formed below Luna, allowing her to gaze at her terrifying reflection. Her ultramarine mane smoked with a nebulous energy bellowing around her newly darkened coat, a colorless void deeper than the strongest black hole. She inspected her hooves, covered with an accursed iron matching her familiar set of cosmic armor adorning her head and body. Once again, Luna became the aspect of the night everlasting.

“How can this be?!” Nightmare Moon reeled back, horrified by her ghastly visage. Her horn burst with magic as she flailed around to expel the darkness in her body, but it was to no avail.

Faux-Luna devilishly quipped an evil limerick, as she slowly allowed her true self to shine forth. Her real voice cackled a broken three part symphony of terror, all demanding total submission from whomever had the misfortune to hear it.

Luna, the Herald of Night,

Suffers from the silliest of plights,

Her silver body flashed brightly, unveiling a rainbow of colors which shot from her neck. The strobe of colors formed into a fiery, prismatic ethereal mane. It danced around with ferocity, bringing to mind that fateful harmonious blast that had once banished Luna for a thousand years. Her volume increased as energy bellowed around her.

She runs to and fro,

Scared of her shadow,

“Dream… It’s just a dream. There is no real power in this,” the quivering Nightmare Moon tried assuring herself as the very cosmos seemed to turn against her. The creature radiated with the intensity of unfiltered sunlight, casting away every possible silhouette. Nightmare Moon could barely keep her eyes squinting to see the shape-shifter shoot her beautiful wings out. A primal prismatic power flowed through colorful, translucent feathers, loudly charging a colossal energy. Suddenly, there was eerie silence. Nightmare Moon’s adversary’s scarlet stare burned as she finished with her poem’s last line.

A darkness which grants her true might…

The spectral barrier shattered with a violent explosion of colors blooming from the silver assailant’s launch at Nightmare Moon. The sharp horn connected in milliseconds, thrusting into Moon’s heart at supersonic speeds. The grassy fields shrank away as Nightmare’s peripheral vision stretched out towards infinity, shrinking the broken landscape to the size of a pincushion. As she was ejected from the dream, a feeling she hadn’t expected lingered as she fell through her ebony ocean.

Pain. Truly agonizing, throbbing pain felt from the dreamer’s strike.

There was no mark left to show where she’d been impaled, but the endings of her nerves fired distressed signals all the same registering the heart had been utterly destroyed. Moon sank through the bottomless void of the Dreamscape, threads dissolving around her when she lost her connection to the ebony sea.

Fizz Poppy walked with purpose towards Luna’s bedchambers as tonight’s spur-of-the-moment royal mailmare between the two sisters. Normally, the Lieutenant would dutifully charge with his orders in hoof, in fact, he had started a gallop upon receiving Princess Celestia’s letter, but after calling him by name, she insisted he take his time with his mission. Celestia said it would likely take some time for Princess Luna to return from the Dreamscap, so there was little point in rushing off. She even requested he make a stop by the royal kitchen to grab a fresh bottle of Stalliongrad’s finest “Strawberry Popinski” for working so late into the night. He wasn’t sure what impressed him more, how considerate the almighty alicorn was for her subjects or that she knew his name and favorite drink from his hometown. Regardless, he was thankful from the bottom of his soda connoisseur cutie mark for her generosity.

With the green, delicious half-filled bottle stowed safely in his saddlebag, Fizz made his way to Luna’s bedchambers to deliver Celestia’s royal message upon Luna’s return. He admired the progress his fellow ponies had made cleaning up the castle’s battle scars as he neared his destination. Aside from a few cracks in the walls, most of the damage and decorum was either repaired or replaced around the hallways between the Towers of the Two Sisters. A glimmer caught the corner of his eyes, a beautiful comet trailing blue and white sparkles made its way across the horizon. He guffawed heartily having such a beautiful ending to such a terrible day. He took another swig of his bubbly drink to savor the event as he watched the blue star streak beautifully across the marvelous night sky…

… until it crashed loudly into the side of Luna’s bedchamber.

Poppy broke into a blazing gallop towards the scene. Bursting through the double doors, he witnessed a harrowing monster groggily pull herself to her hooves. Flipping through his mental rolodex of “Possible Threats Against Equestria”, he listed the black mare’s frightening features starting with her armor and ending with her fangs.

“Ni figa sebe, Nightmare Moon!” he exclaimed, slipping into his native tongue.

Nightmare shot up immediately upon hearing her own accursed name. The Mare of the Moon sprinted to her reflection, taking in her terrifying appearance in the mirror with a mix of terror and confusion. Calling back to his training, he stood firm, favoring the diplomatic option with the Queen of Eternal Night showing signs of weakness.

“You need not do this Princess Luna,” he stated nearly verbatim with as much feeling as he could force from his memorized script. “You are much loved by the free peoples of Equestria as our beloved protector of the night. Uhh… do not falter—fall into despair as you once did so many moons ago, your highness.”

“Be silent, I am trying to focus!” Nightmare snapped back, eyeing him briefly in the reflection as she struggled with her own magic.

Her dark horn glowed from midnight blue to pure white moonlight as she forcefully dispelled the baleful illusion. Poppy sighed in relief as the monster shrank down to his more familiar benevolent princess. The earth stallion had little desire to test his hoofticuffs against a corrupted alicorn’s dark magic. His contentment was short lived as he noticed Luna sitting silently, glowering with solemn introspection. Fizz wasn’t sure if delivering the message or returning to Celestia in failure would prove to be more dangerous with Luna’s sour mood. He brandished the rolled parchment considering his options until a crumpling from the scroll nudged Luna’s ear.

Wordlessly, she ripped the scroll from his hooves breaking the royal seal. Her eyes quickly scanned the contents as the burly stallion shuffled his hooves like a frightened filly. With each passing second, the diarch’s eyes flared with confusion, anger, and terror as she neared the bottom of the letter. Her ethereal hair erupted with supernovae as the mix of emotions raged across her body. Poppy heard her mutter something about making little sense and changelings, but his eavesdropping was met with her icy glare.

“How long ago did my sister write this message?”

“Maybe an hour ago?” Fizz bounced back, distancing himself from the princess.

“And you have no word on Rainbow Dash’s condition since?!” Luna trotted Poppy into a corner demanding answers.

“I-I know nothing of the sort,” Poppy stammered back, as he pressed his flank against the wall “I met her highness outside the medical wing only for a moment! I don’t even know a Rainbow Dash!”

Luna rose, nearly pressing her horn against his muzzle before she backed down from her intimidating trot. Poppy lowered himself to all fours from reeling against the wall. Luna thrust the letter back in front of her face as she made sense of with what little she had to work with.

“If magical interference is blocking even my sister from reading Rainbow’s condition…" she trailed, pausing briefly as she connected mental dots to herself. "Heavens help us!”

Luna took to her wings, preparing to dart out the opening in the wall as she lit her horn with a powerful magic. Fizz raised a hoof to request further orders until Luna shot a glance back down to him.

“You are dismissed, Lefty,” Luna replied.

The midnight blur bolted from the room, streaking towards the Hall of the Elements, and leaving the newly nicknamed Fizz ‘Lefty’ Poppy alone in the tower with a gaping hole in the wall. He took one final savory gulp from his soda before leaving to find somepony with an architectural cutie mark.