Dreams and Reconciliations
Dreams and Reconciliations
“I can’t believe it.” Twilight sighed. “My friends…have become complete jerks!” She stared at her former friends who were departing the scene already, all of them grey. Twilight hated them for getting so easily caught by Discord’s trap, and for how easily they had been turned. She also hated herself for not being able to save them; they were her friends after all. “Well they’re not my friends anymore.” A single tear fell from her eye which fell to the ground in the shape of a broken heart. Slowly she turned back to the half destroyed library, its side broken from when she threw “Tom” through it. As she walked the color drained from her, she looked a shade of her former self.
“What’s the matter Twilight, feeling down? Why don’t you go play with your friends?” Discord said tauntingly whilst floating above the unicorn.
“They’re not my friends anymore, and leave me alone!” Twilight grunted irritably at the draqonequus. He simply laughed in victory and vanished, leaving Twilight alone once more. Twilight continued onward towards the library not much caring about the errant chaos around her. Upon entering the library she was confronted by Spike who showed concern for her sudden change in appearance.
“What’s wrong Twilight, why do you look so grey?” Spike’s concern for Twilight worsened when she continued past him.
“Come Spike we’re leaving.” Twilight called as she continued up to her room.
“Leaving? Why?” Spike asked confused.
“Because this town’s gone crazy in case you haven’t noticed, and also everypony here is a…” Twilight stopped as she saw a large pile of letters bearing Celestia’s seal. “What are these?”
“I don’t know, Princess Celestia sent them here shortly before you came back, gave me one heck of a stomach ache.”
Twilight approached the rolled up letters and examined them. “They’re all my friendship reports, all the ones I’ve written since I arrived in Ponyville.”
“Why would she send them back to you?” Spike asked giving Twilight a confused look.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care.” Twilight stated as she dropped the paper she had been levitating. “Burn them.”
“What!?” Spike sputtered in shock. “Why would you want to do that?”
“Because,” Twilight sighed, “I don’t have friends anymore, these reports are meaningless.” As if in emphasis she levitated the Element of Magic off her head and tossed it into a nearby trash bin. With a helpless look Spike picked up the pile of scrolls and carried them to a nearby fireplace, with a deep inhale he set them ablaze with a normal fire. The scrolls quickly caught in the hungry flame and soon all that remained was a pile of ash.
“Good, now pack your bags we’re leaving.”
“Now?” Spike asked a frown on his face.
“Yes, now or I’m leaving without you.” Twilight said exasperated.
Hurt Spike gathered up a few of his important possessions and followed Twilight out of the hole where the door used to be. He looked back at what he feared would be his last sight of their home, a speck of order about to be consumed by the chaos around it.
Meanwhile…
Rainbow Dash lay on a small cloud overlooking a field her once prismatic mane and cyan coat now different shades of grey. Her head resting on her hooves she sighed, everything was great. She’d made it back to Cloudsdale in time to stop it from collapsing, she was a hero. She had kind of left her friends though, meh what did she care they were taking too long and if she hadn’t left who knows what might have happened. Nope she wasn’t concerned at all for them, they were grown mares they could take care of themselves. Strange though she had felt so bad for leaving them but now she didn’t particularly care. “Ahhh” she yawned, it was getting late maybe she ought to grab some shuteye. It was so awesome, not caring about anypony else, it felt like a huge weight was lifted from her back. Laying her head down Dash dozed off into slumber.
Dash opened her eyes and found herself looking at what a black void filled with a strange fog; it reminded her of the interior of a huge storm cloud. Startled she shot up, finding herself standing on what seemed like empty space, “Where am I?” she questioned.
Suddenly dozens of spheres materialized around her each sphere emitting a soft glow of colored light. The lights condensed into the figure of a pony, “We’re in your head, silly.” A voice which sounded exactly like Dashes came from the multicolored collection of lights, as it spoke the lights brightened gently.
“Wha...Who are you?” Dash asked.
“I’m you, or rather a part of you.” The lights explained, “I’m the part of you that is Loyalty.”
“What do you mean!? I’m me not you…and I’m plenty loyal.”
“Really? Then why did you leave your friends alone when they needed you most?”
“Because if I hadn’t left Cloudsdale would have been doomed, I had to do it!”
“And that is why I love you.”
“Huh?” Dash was puzzled.
“Because you did the wrong thing for all the right reasons.” Seeing that Dash was still confused Loyalty continued. “Your friends each lost their elements, yours remained, which is why I’m still here. You remained loyal even though you were twisted to Discords purposes. Now you have to help your friends find their elements again.”
“Why should I?” Dash countered.
“Humph, you already know the answer you just have to remember it.” Loyalty paused, “Time to wake up.”
Dash sat up abruptly and observed her surroundings; they were the familiar – mostly – normal area she had fallen asleep in. “That was one weird dream.” Dash looked down and saw her coat and mane once again had color, but it was faded like it had been when she first left her friends. “Huh, I wonder what they’re up to.” Not that she really cared but she was bored so she might as well check on them. She wondered if they’d be upset that she’d left them but she didn’t particularly care. Stretching her wings Dash took off in the direction of Ponyville.
Upon arrival Dash noted one thing, Ponyville had gone to Tartarus. Buildings and land masses floated upside down in midair while the ground itself had been turned into what looked like a checkerboard. Dash headed towards Twilights library, which looked like somebody had thrown a boulder through it…twice. Shrugging Dash headed inside only to find it unoccupied, “Hello anypony home?” She called tentatively. No response. “Huh, she must have gone out for some fresh air or something.” Exiting the library Dash headed to Sugarcube Corner to look for Pinkie.
Dash poked her head inside the door of the bakery, to her surprise she saw a very grey Pinkie Pie wrecking the place. Pinkie seemed to have taken a vendetta against all things cheerful, smashing everything colorful she could find. “Pinkie what are you doing!?” Dash shouted.
Pinkie stopped mid bounce and turned her attention to Dash. “What are you doing!? Her to get a laugh out of me!? Well you’re not going to!” Pinkie was in Dashes face immediately; she then picked Dash up with surprising strength and tossed her out the door which she immediately slammed.
“Well that was strange.” Dash stated the obvious. “Guess I’ll head somewhere else.” She took off and headed to the Carousel Boutique.
Upon entering the boutique Dash noticed Rarity lying atop a large boulder stroking it gently. “Uh Rarity, what are you doing?” Dash questioned as she approached Rarity.
“Get back!” Rarity growled, “He’s mine you can’t take him from me!”
Brow furrowed in confusion Dash backed out of the boutique slowly. “Well…um…guess I’ll go see AJ.”
En route Dash reasoned with herself over what was going on. “Ok so Twilight is missing, Pinkie is angry for no particular reason and Rarity is in love with a rock, what happened in that labyrinth?” Dash tried to put her thoughts together but she felt like her head was in a haze. “Maybe AJ will have a better idea of what’s going on.” Hopeful Dash landed outside a large barn only to be surprised by Big Macintosh bursting out of the ground licking her then immediately burrowing down again. If she wasn’t confused before she definitely was now.
“Ah have no idea what’s goin’ on.” Applejack said which earned a not very amused look from Dash who could easily tell she was lying. “Whatever it is it’s clearly your fault, Ah mean if you’d been with us we wouldn’t a had to replace ya’ll with Spike.”
“Wait, What!?” Dash burst out, “You replaced me…with Spike? Some friends you are.”
“Ah know right, we all thought it was what ya’ll deserved after ditching us.” Applejack continued ignoring Dashes anger.
“Ugh I can’t believe this! I was definitely better off alone!” Dash flew off in a rage.
“I’ll just head home I think, these ponies don’t deserve a friend like me.” Dash thought to herself. On her way to her cloud house she passed over Fluttershy’s cottage, Dash considered stopping but she spotted Fluttershy trampling flowers and yelling at any animal who was unfortunately enough to cross her path. “Nope.” Dash concluded as she continued to fly by.
Upon arriving at her cloud house a realization struck Dash, it was upside down… “Yeah it’s definitely not my day.” She sighed as she opened the door and flopped down on the…ceiling. Somehow all of her furniture remained attached to the floor which was technically the ceiling. Dash groaned in frustration and exhaustion, “Definitely not my day.” She repeated nestling into the ceiling which was soft due to being a cloud and quickly dozed off.
Dash opened her eyes to find herself once again in the strange void-like area she had dreamed of earlier. However, this time the spheres of light were already in front of her. “How was your day?” Loyalty asked genuinely.
“Oh it was just great, one of my so called friends left, two of them are angry at I don’t know what, one’s a liar, and one’s developed a rock fetish. Oh and to top it all off they tried to replace me.”
“I didn’t say it would be easy, but do you know why you have to help them, why you have to make them see reason?”
“No, I don’t! They all seemed better off without me, and it’s not like they wanted me back.”
“That’s not the point.” Loyalty would have sighed if she had a mouth. “The point is being loyal isn’t always easy, you’re going to have to fight for this friendship if you truly want it and I know you do.”
“Why should I fight for it, it’s a lost cause.” Dash frowned, being alone was supposed to be freeing but right now she just felt miserable.
“I told you before, you already know the answer can you remember it yet.”
Dash contemplated what to say, she felt clarity flow into her, “Because they’re my friends and that’s all that matters.”
“Well…that’s less poetic than I would have put it, but pretty much.” The spheres which composed Loyalty flew into Dash and were absorbed. Dash felt like a part of her which was missing had returned. “Now let’s go, we have work to do.”
Dash awoke feeling renewed, everything seemed so clear now, passing a mirror she noticed that her mane and coat had been restored to their normal awesome colors. “Aww yeah, we’re back in business.” She cheered as she headed out the door to find her discorded friends.
“Hmm, I should probably go to Fluttershy’s first, she seemed really out of sorts yesterday.” She also felt guilty for not caring about her the previous day. Upon landing at Fluttershy’s cottage she noticed that the lights were on, which was strange considering it was still early. Dash approached the door and knocked.
Fluttershy answered the door, “Humph, what do you want loser?” Dash was taken aback by Fluttershy’s unusual mood.
“Uh, I came to check up on you, and to apologize for leaving you in the labyrinth. I should have stayed, I should have protected you.”
“Hah, don’t bother I didn’t need you to protect me then and I don’t need your apology now!” Dash moved closer to Fluttershy in an attempt to put a hoof around her in comfort but Fluttershy abruptly slammed the door in her face.
Rubbing her bleeding nose which she hoped wasn’t broken Dash sat and tried to think of what to do. “How am I supposed to bring my friends back together if they’re so uncaring?” An image flashed into her mind, the Element of Loyalty. “I’ve got to find that necklace, but where is it?” Maybe one of her friends knew where it was, but who should she ask? Pinkie and Fluttershy seemed like they were in no mood to talk and Applejack was lying compulsively, which left… “Oh great, Greedity.”
Dash arrived back at the Carousel Boutique to find Rarity still petting the giant boulder which she’d somehow fit into her room. “Still at it huh?”
“Oh but of course, he’s my little sweety-pie.” Rarity cooed not taking her attention off the rock.
“Blegh” Dash stuck her tongue out in disgust. “Whatever, have you seen my Loyalty necklace?”
“Why yes I have actually, it’s right over there.” Rarity pointed to a nearby ponyquin which had the Element of Loyalty strapped to it.
“Oh thanks!” Dash moved to retrieve the necklace only to be stopped when Rarity leapt in front of her.
“You can’t have it, it’s mine!” Rarity growled at Dash.
“Oh brother.” Dash sighed as she tried to move around Rarity. “Listen Rarity that’s my necklace not yours.”
“Not anymore; finders keepers, losers weepers!”
“Sorry about this!” Dash said as she tackled Rarity and leapt for the necklace. Dash got a hoof on the element before she was tugged back by a magical glow around her tail. “Eeh, let go Rarity!” Dash struggled against the magical pull and managed to grab the necklace before being tossed across the room by Rarity’s magic.
Skidding across the floor Dash groaned that was going to leave a wicked rug burn. But it was worth it as she saw the Element of Loyalty wrapped around her right hoof. She quickly slid it on her neck and turned to face Rarity.
“You give that back it’s mine!” Rarity screamed in outrage. She attempted to use her magic to rip the necklace off of Dashes neck but as soon as the aura surrounded the necklace it rejected her violently. Rarity found herself wrapped in a cyan aura which matched the color of Rainbow’s coat. “What the…” Was all she managed before the aura seeped into her, restoring her colors and her personality.
“Uugh,” Dash groaned as she rubbed her head, “how did I do that?”
“I’m not sure; your element must have reacted to my magic and brought me back to my senses.” Rarity shrugged. “Whatever happened I’m glad it did, thank you Rainbow Dash.”
“You’re welcome, but how do I use it on our friends, they don’t have magic.”
“I’m sorry I don’t know, maybe Twilight could…Twilight!” Rarity gasped, “We left her! She must hate us! Oh we’re horrible friends!”
“Slow down there, we can find Twilight later, first we need to get our other friends back together. They’re not looking so great.” Dash calmed Rarity down as they paced the room trying to determine their next step. “Oh yeah, what was with you and that boulder?”
Rarity blushed, “Oh, um, I thought it was a diamond…” Upon receiving a confused look from Dash she continued, “Look I was out of my mind please let’s not speak of this ever again.” Using her magic she tossed the giant boulder out of the building through a wall.
“You have my word Rarity, Pinkie promise.” Dash swore, “Speaking of we should check on her.”
“You’re right darling, let’s go.” Rarity agreed.
The two arrived at Sugarcube Corner, the interior of which was a wreck. Upon entering Pinkie approached walked, instead of bounced, over to the pair. “You guys again, didn’t I tell you to get your amusement elsewhere!”
“Pinkie we’re not here to laugh at you, we just want to talk.” Dash said trying to be diplomatic.
“Talk? Can’t you see I’m too busy to talk?”
“Uh, you’re not doing anything…” Dash reasoned.
“Well, I don’t want to do anything with you, all you do is laugh at me!”
“I’m not laughing at you!” Dash yelled back getting irritated; she took a deep breath and tried to focus. Concentrating Dash felt the warm glow of magic emanating from her necklace; she found that she could direct the flow of the magic with her thoughts. This must be what unicorns feel like Dash thought. Dash opened her eyes which glowed white with magical energy and willed the magical energy over Pinkie. Like before the magic surrounded her in a cyan aura which she absorbed.
Dash opened her eyes again, which had returned to their normal state, to see Pinkie rolling on the ground giggling. “That tickled” she laughed. Suddenly struck with inspiration Pinkie bolted upright, “We should have a party, ooh I’ll get everything together I just need to get some streamers and bake some cupcakes and…”
“Pinkie!” Dash interrupted shooting her a serious glance.
“Sorry, I guess that’ll have to wait for later, we’ve got friends to save!” The three left towards Sweet Apple Acres to find Applejack.
Dash, Rarity and Pinkie arrived to find Applejack sitting against a barn uneating apples. “Well if it isn’t my former friends, Ah expected you to turn up sooner or later.”
“Applejack listen, we don’t have much time we have to get back together and find Twilight so we can fix all this chaos.” Dash reasoned.
“Why should ah care, it’s not like any of this is my fault.” Applejack replied.
“Fine be that way.” Dash started to concentrate a magical aura building up.
“Waitwaitwait!” Pinkie interrupted, “Let me try!”
“Um…ok” Pinkie dawned a serious face and concentrated. A pink aura built up around Applejack.
“What the hay?” She gasped struggling against the magic. There was a sudden explosion of light and all four of the ponies were pushed in random directions.
Dash shook her head to stop the spinning stars she saw. “Remind me not to let you try that again.” She said to Pinkie who was lying on a nearby fence.
“Ugh good idea.” Pinkie moaned looking sick.
The spell at least had its intended effect as Applejack’s colors had returned. “What happened?” She asked rubbing her head.
“You turned into a big grouchy liar liar pants on fire!” Pinkie explained, “We all did but Dashie here saved us.”
“Anyway we still need to find Fluttershy and Twilight, we’ll explain more on the way.”
Fluttershy’s cottage looked much the same as it had that morning, with the difference being that Fluttershy now stood outside with a menacing look on her face. “Best not to talk to her until after I use the necklace on her, she almost broke my nose last time I talked to her.” Dash said beginning to focus the magic of her element.
“Oh no you don’t!” Fluttershy shrieked, leaping forward and tackling Dash. When the two made eye contact Dash realized too late that Fluttershy was using her stare on her. Dashes concentration broke instantly, her only desire seemed to be obeying Fluttershy. She could feel the color draining from herself again, except this time it felt like someone was violently ripping out a piece of her, her thoughts became muddled and confused. Before the process could finish though a lasso circled around Fluttershy and pulled her away. With the eye contact broken Dash recovered, albeit she was slightly nauseous. Applejack stood over Fluttershy hog tying her legs.
“Thanks, she almost broke me there.” Dash said as she rubbed her temples to alleviate the headache. Focusing her magic once again this time, with her eyes closed, she cast the spell over Fluttershy who like the others recovered her color.
“Oh I’m sorry Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy apologized and hugged Dash after being untied.
“It’s alright Fluttershy you weren’t yourself.” Dash comforted Fluttershy who sat on the ground tearing up a bit. “Now we have to find Twilight…but I have no idea where she went.” Seeing the unknowing expressions from her friends she sighed, “Great what do we do now?”
“Um, I saw Twilight yesterday as she was leaving.” Fluttershy said quietly with a slight blush, “I kind of poured another bucket of water on her.” Fluttershy looked down in shame.
“Where was she going?” questioned Dash.
“She was headed into the Everfree Forest, it’s the one place Discord’s magic isn’t able to touch.”
“Well I guess we have no choice we gotta go in after her!” Dash cheered, followed by shouts of agreement from her friends.
It took about an hour to reach the castle ruins where the group of friends had first discovered the Elements of Harmony. They hoped that Twilight was here, they couldn’t imagine where else she would go in the Everfree Forest. Sure enough as they entered what had once been a great hall they saw Twilight lying next to a concerned looking Spike.
“Twilight!” The group burst out excited.
“What do you want? Can’t you see I don’t want to be with you jerks?”
“Aw come on Twilight you know that we only acted that way because Discord forced us to.” Dash tried to explain.
“No! I don’t care you’re not my friends anymore!” Twilight rose to her hooves in a mix of desperation and anger. “Now, leave me alone!” Twilight wrapped each of her friends in a magical aura and prepared to mass teleport them away.
“Sorry Twilight.” Spike said as he smacked the unicorn’s horn causing her to lose concentration and canceling the spell.
“What was that for!?” Twilight growled turning to Spike.
“I’ll tell you what it was for.” Dash spoke up causing Twilight to turn back to face her. “He realized that sometimes you have to fight for your friendships because they’re not always easy. Also, he probably did that because he’s tired of hanging out in a broken down castle in the middle of a forest.” Twilight gave her a deadpan look. “Anyway, the point is we want you back as a friend so we came to apologize for leaving you and for the way we acted.” Dash and the other four ponies plus one dragon put on hopeful smiles.
“Ugh you guys are so sappy.” Twilight sighed, “But I guess I am too.” She smiled as color flowed back into her. With a cheer the six ponies and dragon piled into a group hug.
“I hate to be the mood killer but I think it might be a bit early to celebrate we still have a world to save.” Dash said breaking the hug.
“Right, we’ll need to go back to the library though I might have thrown out the Element of Magic while I was under Discords corruption.”
“Got you covered Twilight.” Spike said as he pulled the crown out of a backpack. “I figured you’d come around eventually.”
“Thanks Spike, you’re the best assistant a pony could ask for.” Twilight said as she donned the crown. “Alright girls let’s go.” The group left the ruins in the direction of Ponyville.
As they exited the forest the seven realized just how bad the chaos was getting, every hour they delayed the chaos spread further. It wouldn’t be long before it spread to the four corners of Equestria. As they headed further into Ponyville they saw Discord on a throne atop a hill basking in the chaos he was causing.
“Discord!” Twilight yelled as they approached the base of the small hill.
“Oh hello Twilight Sparkle, are you still here? I thought you’d left already.” Discord said nonchalantly, “Ah and I see you brought your little frienemies, even the one who left you to your fate.” He motioned towards Dash.
“Even with all your power you couldn’t break our friendship for long.” Twilight challenged.
“Oh don’t be ridiculous Twilight, it’s unbecoming of you. I broke you once I can do so again!” Discord raised his clawed hand and Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Fluttershy were ripped off the ground in surprise.
Dash stood unaffected, looking down she saw a blue aura which matched her coat encasing her. When she looked back up she saw that Discord was draining her friends colors out of them forcefully, each of them looked like a fruit having the juice squeezed out of it. “Not on my watch!” Dash cried as she flew up into the middle of her friends, focusing she expanded the aura around her into a light blue bubble protecting her friends from Discord’s magic. The group slowly floated to the ground which changed back to normal when the bubble touched it. “You’ll have to do better than that Discord!” Dash taunted.
“Ugh, spare me your boring speeches and hurry up already, I’m missing out on some delectable chaos.”
“All right ladies let’s show him the power of Harmony!” The group formed up around Dash as a white aura of magic encased them. The necklaces and crown shone brightly and even fired off bolts of energy at Discord, who was realizing too late that the Elements were actually going to work this time. The Element bearer’s eyes flashed open burning white with raw magic. A rainbow cascaded out of the Elements and arched into the sky. The rainbow crashed onto Discord whose body turned to stone, the rainbow then expanded into a dome which grew further to cover all of Equestria. When the magic faded everything was back to normal, Discord was again a statue and harmony had been restored at last.
The six friends floated to the ground and fell into a quick embrace. “Wow Dash how did you do that?” Twilight asked I’ve never seen a pegasus wield magic before.
“I’d love to tell you Twilight but I really have no idea.”
“You must have used your body as a conduit for your Element’s power. I’d never have thought that possible for anything but a unicorn or alicorn to do.”
“Well, it must be because I’m the most awesome pegasus around!” Dash gloated.
“Some things never change do they.” Twilight sighed.
