Chapters Rainbow Dash's Last Chance
Rainbow Dash had been standing for what seemed to be forever. Her wings were growing restless, and everytime she subconsiously flew into the air, Twilight yelled at her.
"Twilight, It has to have been hours since we started, can't we take a break?" Rainbow begged, her legs wobbling from 'exhaustion'.
Twilight turned to look at the time. "Dash, it has been ten minutes. You can hold yourself together." She responded with a sigh.
"Twilight, I am begging you, pleeeaaase... " the pegasus said, elongating her words in the most obnoxious way she could.
"TWO minutes." she caved in. "But if you don't get back here in time, I will find you Rainbow Dash. And you will regret it." she threatened emptily.
"Yep." The pegasus rocketed before she could even hear the last of Twilight's threat. Her wings flew her in graceful loops, Rainbows weaving in and out of them, when she decided to pick up the speed. From the ground you could only see a flurry of colors, her mane leaving rainbow streaks across the sky. Her body twisted in her Aileron roll, the ground taking turns above, and below her head. Her spinning leaving candy cane stripes through the sky. When the mare was almost done, her wings finally satisfied, she turned to meet back with Twilight. Her body flipped, waves of dizzyness hit her. She buckled and crashed into Applejack's barn. Blinking her eyes, the pegasus finally came to her senses. Even though the world was spinning around her, much to Rainbow's discomfort, she landed on her feet.
"Rainbow Dash, what in tarnation are ya doing in..." Applejack followed the sounds of splintering wood. "My Barn! Rainbow Dash get outta here." The earth pony commanded, obviously from stress and the fact this particular incident was not the first. Rainbow Dash loved to crash into her barn. Sometimes multiple times in the same day. "Ya really need to stop breaking all of my buildings." She said with a roll of her eyes.
"Wait, what time is it?" Rainbow Dash worried.
"Well I don't know, but I guessin' about noon since the sun is at the top of the sky..." Applejack responded, looking at the dazed mare. "Are you late or something?"
"Oh my gosh! Twilight's gonna kill me! She said to be back in two minutes ... that was about thirty minutes ago..." Rainbow Dash shook her head to get rid of the last of the nausea, even though it did not work. Her cyan wings spread and in an instant, she was gone, leaving only a rainbow streak, and a hole in the door where she had broken through.
"Didn't even open the door..." Applejack sighed. "That mare is gonna kill herself one day."
Rainbow spun in the sky, frantically searching for the road right before Sugar Cube corner. With Dash's innate sense of misdirection, and the dizzyness and head trauma she had recently suffered, it would have been a miracle if she could figure out which way was up. Blurs of color wizzed by her head, ponies were leaping out of the way. To everypony on the ground, it looked as if Rainbow was practicing an extremely complex, fast and dangerous new routine. Loops and spirals of rainbow color were glittering the skies.
Twilight looked at the clock. Ten seconds later she did the same. She looked around and saw her friend, flying.
"I swear that Rainbow Dash has gotten it this time. She says I can rely on her to help me with my new experiment?" Twilight was muttering to herself. "Bah! She couldn't stay still for ten minutes... she's up in the clouds, messing around." With all of her expiremental powders and metals tucked in her satchel, she turned to return to her library. If she hurried, maybe she could salvage the rest of the day. Twilight walked away from the 'light's show', still very disappointed. The sound of wood breaking and metal clanging grew louder behind her. Swiftly turning around, she was caught with a blow to the chest, a blur of colors. All of her magical components flew out and hit Rainbow Dash in a flurry of sand, dust and powder. Rainbow landed with a thud behind the alicorn princess.
"Rainbow!" Twilight said, whipping her head around to face the mare. "You could have killed me! If I was a normal mare, I would have no doubt I could have been nothing more than a stain on the ground! What were you thinking?! Not to mention you were late, do you...." Twilight's voice was blurred in Rainbow Dash's ears. Wincing, she could vaguely make out the shape of her friend. She stuck her hoof in front of her face. Rainbow squinted to see her hoof.
"Wait are you brain damaged or something Rainbow Dash?" Twilight yelled, exhausted. "Yeah, you have hooves." she rolled her eyes. "You're lucky that those magical elements didn't react. Though it took me months to find them all. At least you didn't explode ! You aren't listening to any of this are you? Rainbow, come on! You have to..."
While the mumbles of Twilight's lecture continued, Rainbow Dash felt a headache beginning to form. That is the last time I fly dizzy. Rainbow Dash felt like she was going to vomit. Which she did. All over the place.
Twilight sighed. "Okay, come on Rainbow Dash. Let me get you fixed up." Now that Twilight had gotten all of her anger out of her system, she just wanted to help her friend. Twilight grabbed the pegasus's hoof, bringing her to a wobbly stand. Rainbow tried to rest one hoof on Twilight's back, but lost her balance. Her forehead knocked on Twilight's horn, adding the final ingredient to Twilight's spell. Magic.
"ZZZZP!" the noise filled Rainbow's ears for no more than a second.
If Rainbow Dash had a minor headache before, then now, she would feel like she was hit with a car. She could tell the familiar pain was like being on the end of a teleportation spell, only multiplied ten times. Or perhaps only nine times... Ow... This math is making my brain hurt even more... She fell suddenly on her already injured left wing. Most of bones felt broken. She laid there, sideways, waiting for the pain to stop for what must have seemed like eons. Her right wing stretched out above her, occasionally flapping as if it were trying to fly. The soft breeze calmed her at least. Her face was pressed against the cool, smooth surface, and she was content to let the floor numb her injuries. Rainbow Dash was a very tough and strong pony, but even know she worried if she would make it. Eventually, sleep found her, and her conscious mind was finally put to rest.
Rainbow's eyes did open, much to her surprise. The room around her was painted grey. Blue paint was painted in strips like wires, glowing with electricity.
"It's alive!" A shrill voice cheered in the background.
"Our savior." She heard another say. Rainbow's eyelids closed with effort,
Rainbow Dash's Last Chance
Author's Note
You should probably prepare yourself for tons of ellipsis, I don't know where they came from, but just don't make eye contact, and don't make any sudden movements, and you should be fine. Okay, take a deep breath, and release. It will take some skill, but hopefully you can make it out of this chapter alive, just remember:
...We... are... your... ruler... now...
I Love Ellipsis...
Rainbow Dash lifted her head to see some very strange creatures...
"It's alive!" one of the creatures shouted, lifting his skinny hooves above his head, erupting into a fit of mad laughter.
"Must you do that?" asked a purple creature, her eyes rolling in a familiar manner.
At least it's something. Even if she couldn't tell what they were, she at would at least have a clue what they were thinking. But their faces were still so otherworldly... Duh... Rainbow thought to herself, I am in another world.
Rainbow looked at the ponies around her... except they weren't ponies... or griffons for that matter. They were not dragons, nor were they phoenixes or wyverns or thestrals or... anything Rainbow could think of. In the vast land of animals and ponies, Rainbow couldn't think of anything quite like these things. They stood on two legs, like a chicken. But they didn't have wings. The torso was solid, but at some point it looked like it thinned into flaps that could protect their legs and arms. The armor color varied. It was usually white, but the ones in front had pastel colors. Their claws looked... squishier, then they should have been. Rainbow took another look at these creatures. So strange.
The creatures surrounded her on all sides. Erm... Rainbow felt a bead of nervous sweat working its way down her cheek. What do I say? Should I say anything? Ugh, stupid formal alien manners are hard! Rainbow stood up, feeling the material under her bounce a little bit, the soft padding comforting, if not disorientating.
Rainbow forced a nervous laugh. "Uh... Hello?"
One of the purple creatures gasped in mock suprise. "Oh dearie me, Hello, and forgive me for being so rude." She walked up to the small bed the mare was standing on. "Oh! Aren't you the cutest!" She pulled Rainbow into a hug, rubbing her cheek all over the mare's cyan fur.
"Bettie! Geez! you can't just make contact with an alien that way! You have no idea where that thing has been!"
"Woah, woah, woah." Rainbow Dash said, pushing the purple one away from her. "Number one, I am not cute, I am awesome and intimidating." Bettie let out a sqeal of laughter. "Second, I am not filthy! Can you get any ruder? My coat is silky smooth, tangles are not aerodynamic." She flipped her mane back in a display of grandness.
"Magic pony! How can you not get excited!" Bettie shouted, throwing her arms in the air, and stomping her legs up and down. "My childhood dream!"
As far as Rainbow Dash could tell, this was not normal behavior for ... whatever these were, based on the looks the other members gave Bettie. She was definitely a very eccentric ... thing? Neveremind, at least somepony was excited at the arrival of the best flier in Equestria. Which is of course, me, Rainbow Dash. Thought I guess I am technically NOT in Equestria anymore... nevermind.
Wait... Rainbow dash remembered, My wing! I was badly injured! "Hey!" she said, getting the attention of the small group. Rainbow Dash thought of a question, "Where did you find me, I mean, I feel much better, what happened?" Well, that was more than one question...
"Oh! We found you near an alleyway at a part of the residental zone near Quasar Junction. Wonderful piece of town, it's layout is simply great." Rainbow rolled her eyes, yawning softly into her hoof. "It was super lucky that we found you... well, Monty specifically here, found you" Monty waved from the back. "We all helped though, we brought you here and fixed you up as... best as we could." He rubbed his hoof... tentacles together. Claws, kind of. Ugh... nevermind.
"Wait... what's wrong with me?" Rainbow bluntly asked.
"Nothing wrong!" he denied, putting his claws in front of him, shaking his head. "Just... different." he mocked a smile. The group looked at each other, giving worried nods of agreement.
"It isn't my wing is it?" Rainbow worriedly asked. Please, don't be my wing... not the wing, not the wing, not the wing...
"Well, yes." Rainbow almost fainted. She wanted to faint, her blood ran to her hooves. It could have been anything wrong with her, broken knee, lung cancer, well... not lung cancer. Lung cancer is not a joke.
Her eyes shrunk, and curiousity demanded she found out the problem. Rainbow spun in circles, trying to see what could possibly was wrong with her wing. Darn... get over here you stupid thing! Please don't be broken! Come on!
"Sir..." one asked. "Is it uh, chasing it's tail?"
"You evade me fiend!" Rainbow was out for blood, not her blood of course. The life blood of knowledge.
"Monty, could you go fetch a mirror, so it doesn't drive itself crazy?"
"Uh, sure." he said, strolling off to the nearest shower.
"Hey! Rainbow pony... thing. Stop that!" the leader shouted, pointing his finger at the spinning mess of a pony. "Seriously stop!"
Woah... I should stop ... Rainbow Dash, nearly falling over front hooves, slowed to a stop and fell of the bed. "Geez, am I having issues with keeping the floor still today?" Her eyes rolled like cherries on a plate.
"Oh my gosh, sir! I think it's mentally challenged ..." she whispered the words.
"I heard that." the lady jumped. "Seriously, what is wrong with my wing? Ugh..." despite her heavy encouragement, the floor was only slowly rolling to a stop.
"Got your mirror!" Monty came through the door, handing it to him.
"Here," passing the mirror to Rainbow Dash, she held it akwardly in ther hooves. With a decent amount of moving and readusting the mirror, she finally saw her wing. The mirror shattered on the floor, seven years of bad luck, she was not concered about at all.
"What..." The word came out slow and shaky, as she turned slowly to see the atrocity attached to her left side. The cold, dark metal jutted out unnaturaly, revealing a fan of glass blades with circuits etched into the surface. The colors matched the colors of her mane, only setting in her mind it's connection to her. The glass shimmered lightly in the blue of the room.
"You know... the material we used to make the circuits on your wings, they actually are supposed to be white, um... we don't know why they match the color of your mane, guess that's pretty cool huh?" the creature nervously laughed.
Rainbow stared at the disk at the top slowly spin, the rainbow revolving around a screen on nonsense code in dark green. Rainbow stared intently at it, the lines slowly scrolling upwards.
"... did you do to me?" she said, finishing her sentence.
Rainbow Dash's Last Chance
Inquiry and Some Missing Ponies.
"Oh!" Pinkie Pie grinded to a halt, nearly toppling the stack of cakes resting on her muzzle.
"Dear!" Miss Cake, walking into the room. "Let me help you." Pinkie Pie, now without her load, ran out of the shop.
"Twi! Twilight!" she shouted, spotting her friend.
"Pinkie, not now, I need to get a book from the Canterlot Library, I was just leaving... what do you want?"
"Look! My tail is twitching, my ears flopped three times, and my knees shook, so...?" Pinkie paused, waiting for a response.
"Pinkie, I don't have my chart of crazy things you say right now, so just tell me what that's supposed to mean." Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Ugh, do I have to explain everything?" Pinkie sighed loudly. "It means one of my best best BEST friends had something happen to them. So then my left eye twitched, then my right knee shook, and that means it was one of my pegasus friends, and then my whole body shook, then my knees, and my left eye twitched, my knee started aching, and then my ear flopped twice, and that means sompony lost something very dear to them."
"Pinkie, look I need to find a spell strong enough to let me see very far away, so I can find wherever Rainbow Dash got teleported to. My head aches, and I feel like throwing up, so could you please, give me, five hours of peace?" Twilight brought her head close to the ground, her eyes closing in pain.
"Twilight! Either Fluttershy lost something dear to her or Rainbow Dash did!"
"Well we don't know it's Rainbow Dash..."
"Fluttershy!" Pinkie screamed at the flying mare. "Hey Fluttershy!"
"Oh, hey guys." Fluttershy landed. "How is it today? Oh Twilight! You look awful!"
"I feel awful." she muttered.
"Fluttershy, did you lose anything dear to you lately?"
"Well, I lost my hair brush." she responded, rolling with Pinkie's nonsense.
"Noo, like something so very dear to you, you couldn't live without it?" Pinkie questioned.
"Not recently, no. Sorry?" With that, Fluttershy flew off with her basket of fruit.
Twilight sighed. "So if it wasn't her..."
"Rainbow lost something so VERRY important to her!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Yeah Pinkie, she lost us?"
"No, silly, if it was that, then I would have noticed it when she left, not now. It's been two days since she left."
"Well then... " Twilight brought her head up as it dawned on her. "May Celestia have mercy on whatever planet Rainbow Dash is on."
"Twilight? What's wrong?"
"Pinkie, what is the one thing Rainbow Dash loves more than anything else?" Twilight questioned, putting her hoofs on each side of Pinkie's face.
"The Wonderbolts?"
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Pinkie, it can't be anything here, if anything bad happened, Rainbow couldn't know about it. She lost something she brought with her." Pinkie raised an eyebrow. "I think she lost her wings."
"No!" Pinkie backed away from Twilight's grasp. "Their screwed."
"Who?"
"The creatures on Rainbow's planet."
"How do you know...?" Twilight sighed. "Nevermind, I have a book to find."
The crowd watched as Rainbow ran in circles, screaming and crying.
"Whhhhy?" she screamed, "Whhhhhhhy?"
"Er, magic pony?"
"Charles, I wouldn't."
Taking a deep breath, Charles walked to the front. "Hey!"
"What?" Rainbow replied, not stopping.
"Calm down, okay? Just slow down."
Slowly stopping in front of Charles, Rainbow realized how tall these things were. Almost tall as Celestia.
Tears were still heavily pouring over Rainbow's cheeks. Her eyes flared in a burst of anger. "How dare you! Not only am I ripped from my own planet, I lose the single most important thing, the thing I love nothing more that anything else!"
Charles was backing away, "It was the only thing we could do! You're wing was too heavily damaged to save, all the nerves were severed, your bones were destroyed! In the end we made a decision to... amputate it."
"We made absolute sure that your new wing is the same weight, down to the very gram. It's all distributed the same! If nothing else, you can still fly."
"I'm a racer, I fly everyday, faster then anypony! I am Rainbow Dash! I can't learn to fly again, I should know how to fly!"
"Well?" The female asked, elbowing Charles. "Console her."
"What? Oh no no no no no. I am NOT going to babysit the magical talking pony." he whispered.
"Do it or your fired." She demanded.
"Well, Betty, looks like like were a team. We get to babysit Rainbow Dash."
"Yay! Betty and Charles, fighting crime!"
"Not crime, not fighting. We're just taking care of a pony." Betty stuck out her tongue.
"... are you guys even listening to me?" Rainbow asked. "My life is ruined!"
"Look, we were just talking, and you get to come with us, to where you will be staying." Betty waved. "We are going to my apartment now, so come on."
"Pfft. I'm not following you to your crummy apartment." she sat, making herself comfortable.
"You can't stay here in the hospital!"
"I'll make cookies!" Betty bribed. Rainbow Dash raised her eyebrow at this.
"What kind?"
"Chocolate chip!" she exclaimed.
"Well, okay."
"Really?" Charles asked. "Bribery?" Bettie just smiled in reponse.
The trio walked out the door, Bettie leading the way with her smile.
"Hi Junior, oh hi Darthy! You still have cancer? Oh, well take care," Charles rested his hand on his eyes as Bettie continued to say hello to every person in the hallway.
"Geez you guys look absolutely weird." Rainbow commented.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It just means that you look like Discord put you together with whatever he had in the junk drawer."
"I don't know how that is, and I am greatly offended."
"Good."
The silence between them was loud, growing in size with every second until...
"Bettie, when did you get a robot?"
Rainbow's ears perked up, hearing footsteps. "Oh I didn't..."
"It's mine!" Charles exclaimed, leaning towards Bettie whispering, "Bettie! Seriously, this planet hadn't seen organic life in over 300 years. Shut up."
"Stahp." Rainbow Dash's face was being smushed by two hands.
"So lifelike! Where did you get it?"
"I had it built by a friend. Isn't it so great?"
Rainbow, realizing the situation, did what any smart mare would do. Stop bending her knees and move in jerky motions. "Beep Boop! I am a calculator! Error, muffins are ready!"
"Uhh, is something wrong with your robot?"
"No it's just stupid." Charles kicked Rainbow Dash's back leg.
"Sweet Celestia!" Rainbow cried, cradling her leg.
"Well, okay then..." walking off, Rainbow let her 'disguise' go.
"Nice move, Rainbow." Charles rolled his eyes. "Your disguise was seamless ."
Author's Note
I like Bettie. She is really like Nora Valkyrie in alot of ways. Hmm... I can't tell if that is a good thing or a bad thing. :D
Rainbow Dash's Last Chance
It seems Manehatten is royally screwed.
The large doors opened for Twilight, leading into a great hall of windows. Getting to the rich, happy city of Canterlot had been the hard part of the trip, now she had to find the particular book in the maze of a library Twilight used to call home.
"Canterlot Library." Twilight whispered to herself. "Smells just as it did so long ago." The rich aromas of the bookcases were subtly sweet, their soft wooden structures of solid pine. Twilight made herself at home, and let herself get distracted by the vast amount of books around her compared to her own oak residence.
It was hours later, Twilight spending the whole day relaxing. The ordeal concerning Rainbow Dash had caused a large amount of stress to her. What if another crisis had happened, and the Elements of Harmony were incomplete? What if Rainbow never came home? What if... Twilight had let herself be caught up in all of the thoughts of failure, as she had a habit of doing. After a day of winding down, Twilight realized how silly it was to worry about those things. Worrying about it would only make her go crazy. Twilight sighed, her mane touching the cool stone of the balcony. She had a week reserved for non-stop study, dedicated to finding her friend. Hopefully, she could find her, in one of all those stars. It was a weird thought. Looking up, that she might see a glimpse between the stars. That maybe, she could be staring at the exact spot Rainbow lays in, and not realize it. Without a powerful enough telescope, she could stare at the spot in the sky and never know that was where her friend was. So, so far away.
"Twilight Sparkle!" A familiar voice called, opening the door with a loud burst of alicorn magic. "Is thee truly in Canterlot, and not inform us of thou's departure?"
"Luna!" Twilight turned quickly to meet the Princess of the Night. "I... er, I was just-"
"No! There is no excuse. Our feelings are hurt."
"Luna, I didn't mean to-"
"All is well then!" Luna donned a devilish smile, and Twilight stood back in fear. "Now come! I believe a belated 'girls night out' shall be in order!" Grabbing Twilight's hoof, the two met the closed doors of Celestia's room.
"Tia! We are going on a 'girls night out'! We wish for your accompaniment! Come! We shall throw red paint all over downtown Canterlot! Again!" Luna was a good three feet above Twilight, her front hooves banging on the door. "We request assistance with such joyful activities!" She was giggling like a mad mare now, her giddyness overwhelming.
"Luna! I am in no mood to party right now. Everytime we 'hit the town' you know, 'just a couple of sisters on the town', I always have to drag your drunk ass back to the castle."
"Celestia!" Twilight raised an eyebrow. "What? I happen to have a respect for the finer ciders. Celestia! But it is not the royal 'we', it is as in Twilight Sparkle and ourself!"
Twilight was slapped as the door opened to reveal a white alicorn. "Luna! Why didn't you say so! Oh what a treat to see my dearest student, you never visit!"
"Well, I needed a book from the Canterlot Library..."
"Oh, Luna, do you hear that? Books! Twilight loves books, and how I love Twilight! Always you and your silly books."
"Yeah Twilight, what is thine fascination with books so prevalent? I am thy dearest Twilight Sparkle, how do I love papers with ink on them." Luna was above Twilight, pretending to read from a book. "Books, I love books so much, I live in a house of books!" Celestia snickered at this.
"Luna stop, you'll hurt Twilight's feelings."
"You know I'm fine." Twilight stiffly put. "I do have a... fascination with books." Twilight burst into laughter. "You could say, I am simply smitten with books!"
The trio of princesses burst into laughter. "Twilight, would you say you are in an intimate relationship with books?" Celestia chuckled.
"Shh! Celestia, don't shout it!" Twilight giggled.
"Oh Twilight, thine fascination with twilight is simply unhealthy!"
"Like I would read that garbage! Just because my name is Twilight doesn't mean-"
"You know what? We aren't gonna party in Canterlot." Celestia declared. "We are going to destroy Manehatten!"
"Yeah! Manehatten!" Luna agreed.
"You know what? Let's do it. I need to relax, just have a night out, and have some fun!" Twilight declared, the three ponies shouting in unison.
"Watch out Manehatten, here come the three princesses!"
Rainbow Dash turned to Charles. "What? Now you are trying to convince everypony else I'm a robot?"
"Look, the thing is, this world hasn't seen organic life in a... very long time. Who knows how people would react. No doubt they would try to, like, harvest you or something!"
"Harvest me? I'm not a crop, Charles, I'm a pony. And I need to get to my friends."
"Look, I just would rather be safe then sorry. Just roll with it, okay?"
Rainbow agreed begrudgingly.
Bettie stood in front of the doors. "Hey magic pony, Welcome to the scenic, beautiful city of... Westerfield!" She opened the double stained glass doors. Rainbow Dash stopped.
The city was... beautiful. It took time to think about the city. Overhead, Rainbow could hear a train's wheels grinding across the tracks. Ahead, she saw a pathway, lined with blue lights. She stood by the edge of the path, and below she saw a bustling city. There was lights shining of all colors. Reds, greens, blues, purples shone in little dots across the expansive ground of the city. She turned to see a giant glass window, two moons shining brightly.
"What's outside?" she whispered.
"That window lets in alot of light during the day. It helps alleviate energy costs for the city. There is one on all four sides, plus the ceiling."
"Two moons... you have two moons."
"Actually we have three! You just can't see the third right now." Betty smiled.
Rainbow looked out the window. The stars entraced her, they were so unfamiliar. Rainbow was never one for astronomy, not like Twilight anyway, but somehow she felt like she needed to know these stars. Twilight would be proud.
"Come on, lets go." Charles led the pony down some spiraling stairs, leading her into the bad part of town. Brown, grey buildings lined these streets. "Welcome, to my humble abode." They stood before a brick building, the height towering over any building Rainbow had seen. They walked inside, to apartment 6A.
Rainbow Dash's Last Chance
In time, now let's watch television.
Rainbow approached the large, cold metal plating of the building. Her hoof lightly grazed the tile, sending cold shivers down her spine. It was taller than any building she had seen, except for perhaps Celestia's wing of the castle. The metal took on more of a grayish blue, the more she looked at it, but perhaps that was just the light coming from the moon. Charles opened the door, waiting for Rainbow Dash to finish... whatever she was doing.
"Rainbow Dash?" Bettie asked in a small voice, grabbing hold of her hoof, gently trying to coax her into the building.
"What is this?" Rainbow whispered, almost to herself. She didn't look at Bettie, who was slightly pushing her towards the door. Rainbow look at Charles, waiting for an answer she wasn't going to get.
"Come on." Was all he answered, as he walked into the building. Rainbow looked at Bettie, wondering if she could trust the two who had brought her here.
"RD, come on!" Bettie whined.
Rainbow tried to tear her hoof away from Bettie, but still she was determined to hold her hoove. Rainbow swung her hoof wildly, sending Bettie into a summersault and into the wall. Rainbow stood back up with all four hooves now.
"Don't call me RD." She said, biting down on her lip. She walked into the open doors, into wherever Charles had gone.
Rinbow walked into the cold room, the air much colder than it was outside, if you could even call it outside. Rainbow had yet to see a tree, a plant, or even a weed anywhere. Her mind wandered to her conversation with Charles. Perhaps is that what he meant? Ugh, all this thinking was making her brain hurt. She muttered to herself and sat beside Charles. She heard the door close, and looked to see Bettie at the front door, frowning. Rainbow turned her head away, ignoring Bettie's massive frowns at the back of her head.
"Hey Rainbow Dash, what kind of technology do you have at your planet?" Charles idly asked. Turning his head for the first time towards Rainbow Dash since they entered the building.
Rainbow thought for a moment. "Well we have um... trains and I guess lamps. I don't know. That is really the thing you should ask Twilight..." Rainbow's ears dropped. She paused, looking at Charles in frustration, her wings flapping akwardly.
"I may never see them again..." She deflated, falling back onto the couch. Rainbow felt one of the creatures claws rub her back as if to comfort her. She wiggled out of their grasp and walked off the couch. She looked at the walls around her. The dark grey walls were drab, almost depressing other than electric blue lines that ran into the ceiling. She watched as some lit up, and some dissapeared into the grey of the wall, only to lite up again. She stared, wondering how her friends were doing, if they were worrying over her.
"Rainbow Dash." Bettie quietly voiced. "We can worry about that in time. Now let's watch television."
Her ears perked, catching the unfamiliar word. "Television?" She questioned wordlessly.
Bettie patted the couch next to her, beckoning Rainbow in a manner she could understand. She sat next to them, watching in confusion as they stared forwards at the grey wall-
Bursts of color popped, moving as though the objects were there before them. Rainbow moved her hoof in front of her, trying to reach the distant objects, her hoove only meeting air. Slowly, she crept forwards, her eyes determined until she ran into glass and toppled over. She became panicked, shooting into the air, only to akwardly forget how to catch herself, and fall back onto the floor.
She heard barely uncontained laughter behind her, Bettie giggling like a madmare. Charles just smiled, and sipped his yellow drink. Bettie toppled over onto the floor with Rainbow Dash, laughing hysterically. Rainbow begrudgingly stood, dusting off her coat and her... wing. She sat back on the couch, stepping over Bettie as she continued to laugh uncontrolably.
"Guess you have never seen a television, have you?" Charles chuckled.
Rainbow grumbled a response.
Charles rolled his eyes. Even he could see Rainbow was barely over her teenage years. Still just a child, in his eyes. "Rainbow Dash?" He asked. Rainbow looked at him without a response. "How was your first time watching television?" He smiled brightly, which only worsened her mood.
She looked back at the T.V., now knowing the effect was just an illusion, she began to enjoy it. so much that, she wanted to watch it all. She saw all of the sitcoms staring her favorite human. "Greg" was almost on every channel, every show. He had light brown skin light walnut wood. Nopony was purple, or red, or any color. At least Rainbow could tell Bettie and Charles apart. Bettie was dark like Chocolate, and Charles had dark tan skin.
"Charles, why do all of these shows have the same person, as like, every character?" Rainbow whined.
"What do you mean?" Charles asked.
"Look! There is Greg, and there his is again!"
Charles just laughed. "I didn't think of different species would work too." He almost said to himself. "Rainbow, it's called the cross race effect, or I guess the cross-species effect. You can't tell us apart because you didn't grow up with us. If you were raised here as a baby, then I guess you wouldn't have this problem, because-"
"My brain hurts!" Rainbow shouted. "You could tell ponies apart, I mean, I'm blue, and Twilight is purple, and it is so easy to tell us apart! Why can't you all look different?"
"I dunno." Bettie butted in. "Marketing scam?"
Charles frowned wordlessly at Bettie. "What? Um, what are you talking about?"
"Don't listen to her," Charles rolled his eyes.
She sat on the couch beside Charles, watching the many shows the screen had to offer. They laughed, and they cried. Bettie was on her belly in front of them, watching everything like a child watching cartoons. Rainbow started to see subtle differences in the characters, one had long hair, another had spiky blue hair. She could tell the difference, even if she struggled a bit. All the while Charles talked to her during the 'commercials'. He talked about hands, and fingernails, and he talked about super gross things, like when ponies kissed and licked each other. Even though in the back of her mind Rainbow knew she was learning, she didn't think it was uninteresting. It wasn't like reading a book, it was... living a book, seeing how these ponies could design, and draw, and do stuff. It was all so exciting.
"Rainbow?" Charles asked. She immediately snapped to attention, and realized Charles was no longer beside her. "It's 3 in the morning."
"I'm not tired!" Rainbow whined, reluntantly looking away from the T.V. to look at Charles.
He sighed, rubbing his hands on his head in frustration.
"Besides, I didn't even get up until, like..." Rainbow stopped trying to count the numbers in her head.
"Fine." He said, too tired to argue. "Just turn the volume down, I'm trying to sleep."
Rainbow grabbed the remote in her mouth and searched the buttons for the volume. The remote was obviously designed for somepony with fingers. Rainbow grumbled in frustration as her entire hoof pressed almost every button at once. The T.V. started to buzz, and the screen only showed black and white dots furiously flickering. Frantically, Rainbow started to press even more buttons, and turned up the sound and made the T.V. beep constantly. Rainbow started to panic, the television louder than ever. Quickly, she ended the madness when she hit the 'off' button.
Perhaps Rainbow should go to bed...
Author's Note
A transition chapter... sort of. Ugh, this chapter is so akward I don't know what it is. So, sorry.
Rainbow Dash's Last Chance
Celestia rested a hoof over her most faithful student's shoulder. It was just the begining of a very eventful night. Already their royal carriage had gotten some attention from the humble (ish) citizens of Manehatten, and already they were attracting attention. They turned heads as they crossed the street, their glowing manes and silken wings shining bright in the glowing moon above.
"Humble citizen, shall you show us to the nearest watering hole?" Luna asked gracefully of a passing stallion.
He bowed before Luna before answering. "Uh, yes. There is one just down the street and to the left, it's called... uh, Diamond Hearts, or something..." He trailed off. He flashed a quick smile and went on his way down the paved street.
"I see your private lessons have paid off my dear sister." Celestia acknowledged happily.
"As the face of Equestria, us princesses must always act with certain dignity and poise."
The glass mug with the table with a thud, the contents emptied into the seemingly bottomless pit known as Luna's stomach. "You call this a drink?" She hollered at the bartender, idly polishing a glass. "I drank stronger cider on the MOON!" She bellowed, taking an audible breath of air before continuing. "There isn't any bars on the moon though... Pity. That would have taken the edge out of a thousand year banishment!" She turned to Celestia, frowning.
"Celestia, what is with Luna?" Twilight asked, obviously putting Celestia between Luna and herself. She was idly sipping a fancy drink that was sent to her by the stallion beside her. Of course when he noticed she was an alicorn he let up on all attempts to woo her. She still took the drink though.
"Luna is a mean drunk." Celestia sighed as her sister, once again, emptied another round of cider. "She can hold her liqiour, but she cannot stop. She once drank fifteen sea stallions under the table. In a row."
"What is this? Your serving me water!" Luna cried out. "Water! I could disintrigrate you if I wanted! Look!" She turned and lifted a stool to the counter and pointed her horn at the base. She closed her eyes, and clenched her teeth. Twilight looked concerned from the sidelines as Luna produced only sputters and sparks of light from her horn.
"Just a second." She licked her upper lip and focused, squinting at the stool in obvious frustration. "Wait, I can get this."
Celestia sighed, and slammed several bits on the counter. "Thank you for your hospitality." The bartender nodded, and Celestia dragged Luna out by her tail with her magic.
"Place sucked any ways. Kept serving me water." Luna mumbled from behind, her light blue horseshoes scratching on the pavement as Celestia dragged her.
"Twilight you know any good places here?"
"Well, only one princess. Just an underground club my best friend Rarity showed me..." Twilight said with a smile.
Loud dubstep music was bumping and whipping in the background, a loud dance floor full of ponies. Luna was among them, a small gathering of ponies watching as she drunkenly breakdanced on the floor. They cheers her on, even after she almost puked on somepony's shoes. She was cool though, after Luna apologised. It seemed everypony was having a good time, except Celestia.
She sat at the end of the bar, twirling the straw in the bars signature drink, Head Explosion. She seemed content to watch her sister make a fool of herself the entire night.
"Celestia, whatss are yoou evenn doing heree?" Twilight slightly slurred. "Come on." Twilight grabbed the Princess in her hooves. Celestia sighed, abandoning her full drink.
They were in the middle of the crowd of moving ponies. It was a sea, a tornado of dancing, as pegasi flew overhead, bumping into each other. Twilight danced wildly, almost impaling several ponies with her horn. Celestia apologized, and eventually everypony stood back, in a circle to watch the princesses dance.
"They want to watch thee! Celestia, dance!" Luna encouraged from above. Celestia uncomfortably stood there, trying to stay out of the way of their swinging hooves.
Luna flew off for a moment, bringing back a pair of bright green glasses. "Here, drink this." Celestia sighed, grabbing the neon drink in her grasp, and gave it a taste. Delicious, it was so good she downed the whole thing in one gulp.
"We are the champions, my friends!!!" The three ponies shouted, gathering onlookers from everywhere. They were more or less on the side walk, forehooves in a hug, as they walked / crawled down the street.
"Chochocho bum" Cried Luna, intent on covering what seemed to be the drum part of the song.
"And weee'll keeep on fighting! Till the end.."
"Bum bum bum..."
"We are the champions, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!"
"No time for losers!" Screamed Twilight.
"We are the champions." Gathered an unwelcome voice. "Didn't expect to see the princesses drunk on Manehatten Way."
"You didn't?" Luna teased.
Sombra replied with a roll of the eyes. "You know if I wanted to, I could take over equestria right now."
"No you don't!" Luna lighted up her horn, gathering an amount of sparks and sputters. "Wait, just a second."
"I learned my lesson with the Crystal Empire. I want to help you," Sombra replied in a convincing tone.
"We aren't falling for your tricks, Sombra." Twilight spat.
"Oh really?"
"You know what is worst about Crystal ponies?!?" Sombra shouted, slightly slurred. "They blind you. Sunny, beautiful day, and bam. Everything is like staring into the sun."
"But they are sooo preety..." Twilight cried. "They are just like a buunch of diiamond, shiining in the skyyyy..."
"No, they suck... All their stupid love, and happiness . It's digusting!" Sombra took another swig of his drink.
"But it'ss so sweeet. They looove each oother!" Twilight burst into tears, her head resting on the dirty bar. "I wish I wass a crystall poony..."
Celestia sighed, taking a sip of her drink.
"What are you doing here?" A particular foalsitter hollered.
"Oh crap, it's Cadance! Hide!" Luna shouted, immediately ducking under a table.
The slowest of the group at the moment, Twilight was grabbed by Cadance's magic, helpless.
"Are you drunk?" Cadance asked Twilight, who could only reply with a nod.
"That's it! Everypony with me." Cadance declared.
"Even me?" Sombra asked.
Cadance looked horrified. "No! Just, turn back to dust or whatever."
"Okay..."
And that is how the party that lasted two full days ended. It was a wild ride, with barely any sleeping, and a hangover that was recorded in history. Mostly because Celestia was so hungover she slept through an entire day cycle, and was recorded as the first time in some decades that Celestia forgot to raise the sun. Needless to say, school foals everwhere were delighted at missing an entire day of school.
Author's Note
Years later the day became tradition, always ending with Cadance crashing the party. Soon the day became hide-and-seek for the princesses, and for everypony else, "nail your things to the floor day" because the darkness brought heightened levels of crime.
(Sorry for lateness)
