The Cold Cave

Inside the cave, beneath the pale pink glow of her horn, Twilight sat in silence. In the hours that passed, the rain outside had turned to sleet and then to hail. The chilling cold had long since clawed its way inside the cave. The water dripping down the walls had become liquid ice.

For those past hours, Rainbow Dash had sat before her. In her hooves lay Spitfire’s limp and frail form, lips slightly parted and eyes closed. Were it not for the red matting her coat, one may have thought she was sleeping.

In the time since she had cried out, Rainbow Dash had hardly moved, staring at the bodies of her two friends with the stillness of a statue. The tears had stopped some time ago. Her shoulders had sunk. Even as the water and blood in her coat turned to frost, she remained in place, her body wracked with shivering.

Eventually the cold forced a sneeze from her. She reached up to wipe her snout, but jerked her hoof away when she smelled the blood on it.

Her gaze turned to Twilight, her eyes widening slightly as she seemingly remembered someone else was in the cave with her. She let go of Spitfire and stood.

“She took care of me,” she said, her voice cracking. “Now she’s dead and I never managed to do anything but drag her down. Why did she take care of me?”

She backed away from the bodies. Her shoulders sagged even more as she stopped a short distance away. “Back in training, there was this other pegasus, and we butted heads constantly. He called me a liar and said I was just making things up. He made fun of something I said, and the next second all the pegasi I was originally telling the story to started laughing at me.”

She let out a chuckle, humorless and dry. “I can’t really remember what the story was, or how he made fun of it. All I remember was feeling really embarrassed having everyone laugh at me like that. Then Spitfire stepped in and she…” Rainbow Dash wiped her snout, sniffling. “I guess it doesn’t really matter anymore now, does it?”

Fresh tears sprung up as she bowed her head. “Soarin was such a clown, and he always managed to make her smile.” Tears trailed down her cheeks. “Damn it. This isn’t funny anymore.”

Rainbow Dash gave a choked sob, her body shaking. “We left you down here,” she said. “We left you down here to this. The pegasi abandoned everyone else, and for what? So we could slowly starve in the safety of the clouds?” Her voice raised to a shout by the end. She slowly shook her head. “Why is the world is like this?”

“It wasn’t,” Twilight said. “Not always.”

Rainbow Dash stiffened. “What do you mean?”

“It used to be that the world was bright. The air wasn’t filled with dark magic, and the moon and the sun spent an equal time in the sky.”

Rainbow Dash’s nose wrinkled. “The sun is just some myth ponies tell their foals about as a bedtime story. It never really existed.”

“I have reason to believe it’s not a myth. There are too many old carvings and murals depicting the sun. Most tree branches are completely barren of leaves, but the old murals depict them covered with leaves, leaves touching side by side all along the branches. They still have those branches, but since the sun is gone, they don’t have enough energy to create as many leaves along them.”

Rainbow Dash gave her a tired, incredulous look. “If that’s true, then why are you out here? What about the ponies back at the Crystal Empire?”

A frown tugged Twilight’s lip. “I tried to tell them, but nopony believed me. I wasn’t the first to try arguing that the sun was real, and a lot of my research was based on what others found before me. Most of those ponies were met with ridicule, expulsion from the academic community, or even exile when they tried to argue their findings. I was lucky enough to come from an influential family, but even they did their best to keep me from speaking to anyone about it.” She sighed. “So I came here, searching for answers.”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes. “You’re not just yanking my chain here as a part of some cruel joke, are you? You seriously think the sun existed?”

“Not just existed, but exists,” Twilight said, her tone completely serious. “I have reason to believe some part of it is still out there. The White Witch knew of my curse without seeing the mark, and she spoke of divining things. I mean to travel back to the Everfree and find out what she knows.”

Rainbow Dash glanced over her shoulder, her ears drooping. The bodies of Spitfire and Soarin lay next to each other, Spitfire’s head resting on Soarin’s shoulder. Rainbow Dash clenched her eyes shut and tore her gaze away from them, turning back to Twilight.

“You think we can change things to how you say they were? No more fear of the dark? No more struggling to stay alive?” She finished, barely above a whisper. “No more losing ponies we care about?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “But I think it’s worth it to find out.”

Rainbow Dash started to look back again at the bodies, but stopped herself. She forced her legs to lock and stood up straight, despite the bags under her eyes or the way her body shivered. “I said I would help you in your journey if you helped me find my squad.” She swallowed. “Well, you did. So I will.” Her resolve faltered as she glanced back at the bodies.

“She told me she joined the Wonderbolts because she wanted to create someplace where ponies could feel safe and call home. She joined to try and make Cloudsdale that home, but after seeing what it’s like down here…” Stiffening, the cold forced another sneeze out of her. She sniffled, turning away from the bodies. “The rest of the pegasi might have abandoned you on the ground, but I won’t. I can’t. Not after seeing what it’s like down here.”

“You realize that if you agree to go on this, there’s no clear end in sight. I mean to follow this trail I’ve chosen wherever it will lead me, even if it’s to the most forsaken corners of this land.” She closed the distance between them and looked Rainbow Dash in the eye. “Are you so readily willing to sacrifice what you have left?”

“What I have?” Rainbow Dash croaked, growing angry. “The two ponies I cared most about are the ones you see on the ground behind me. I have nothing.”

“You are alive and you have a home,” Twilight said. “Where I am going, I can guarantee you neither.”

Twilight’s words gave her pause. Her anger vanished and she stared down at her hooves in thought.

Seeing her anger slip away, Twilight’s gaze softened. “I’m sorry about what happened. I know the pain you’re feeling right now.” She slipped off her travel coat and wrapped it around Rainbow Dash. Her eyes lowered to glance back at her now-visible darkened curse. “I know what it means to lose those closest to you.”

Rainbow Dash raised her head. She seemed to mull something over as she nodded. “I want to go with you.” Twilight opened her mouth to object, but Rainbow Dash continued, “I don’t want to be alone. And despite how you push others away, I don’t think you want to be alone either.”

Twilight’s mouth closed. She fell silent.

“So yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, “I’m going with you back to the Everfree, or wherever you go.”

Twilight hesitated a moment. “If you’re sure of this…”

After a glance over Twilight’s shoulder at the mouth of the cave and the world outside, Rainbow Dash nodded. “I am.”

Twilight looked past Rainbow Dash. “Would you like to take them outside and bury them? Maybe say a few words?”

Rainbow Dash looked back at Soarin and Spitfire, her ears flattening. “In Cloudsdale we would have a sky burial and scatter the pegasus’ ashes to the wind. I visited one for a Wonderbolt who died during a trip to the surface. Spitfire was there with me. She said it was their last flight.” Rainbow Dash sniffed and wiped her muzzle. “Could you lend me your fire?”