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Chapter One, or "Dear Princess Celestia, Please Forgive Me"
Twilight Sparkle stared at the picture she held in her hooves. It had been four months since Dash had left her and two weeks since she had gone silent. Since she had left all of them. “I… I thought you were my friend…” In tears, she telekinetically threw the picture at a wall, causing the glass panel to shatter. “I thought you said you’d come back. I thought you said you would be fine. I… I thought you said that friends don’t die on friends. I thought you said you l—”
The door slowly creaked open. “What do you want?” grumbled Twilight, attempting to keep her voice from cracking.
“I… just wanted you to know I’m fine.” Twilight couldn’t believe her ears. She looked towards the door, and saw Rainbow Dash standing there.
“Where have you been? You made us blame ourselves for your disappearance! Pinkie hasn’t talked to anypony since you left, Rarity’s clothes she designs are grey and lifeless, Applejack won’t even touch apples anymore, Scootaloo quit her hoofball team, Fluttershy will barely even leave her house, and I’ve been too upset to write any friendship reports lately. Why were you gone for so long? Why didn’t you come back sooner?”
“Twilight, is Spike here?” says Rainbow Dash, seemingly trying to avoid her questions.
“That didn’t answer my question, Rainbow Dash.”
“Tell Spike to get some paper.”
Twilight sighs in defeat and trots upstairs. “Spike, are you awake? I need you to get the parchment!”
Spike groans, and with a tired voice he replies, “Twilight, did you set the calendar two days ahead? Your next friendship report won’t be needed to be written before Friday!”
“Spike, get up, Rainbow Dash needs you to get some parchment.”
“But she’s dead!”
“No, she isn't dead.”
“But her funeral was, like, two months ago! Is she a ghost? Or did you bring her back to life with some crazy ancient magic stuff?”
“Well, there wasn’t a body at the funeral since nopony would, or could, go through after her, Spike, so we didn’t know if she really was dead.”
“So she isn't dead?” Spike asks.
“That’s exactly what I said!” replies Twilight with a frustrated groan.
Almost four months ago, six multicolored pastel equines stood in the center of their local library. Two were unicorns, both their horns lit aglow as if by some magical force. A yellow pegasus fluttered her wings nervously; what if it went wrong? An orange earth pony dug at the ground, with the same thoughts as the yellow pegasus. A pink pony smiled, hoping she’d be the next pony to go through if it worked. A final blue pegasus floated in the air with a daring smile on her face. “You ready yet Twi?”
“Almost, Rainbow Dash!”
The blue pony’s grin widened when the portal opened, emanating a bright grey light over the room. The actual portal itself was a shimmering silver orb which was emitting the light. Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and flew through the portal.
The group waited nervously for her to return back to tell them what it was like on the other side. It was about three minutes until a hand emerged from the portal and gave a thumbs up. All the ponies in the room breathed a sigh of relief and a purple unicorn spoke out, “I can hold the portal open for about half an hour, just get some pictures and come back!”
“Will do, Twilight!” called out Rainbow Dash from the other side of the portal. She took several pictures, as evidenced by the rapid clicking noise coming from the portal, until Twilight suggested that she try recording a video using her camera. Her magical camera filtered light through a magic lens and into a crystal which stored it. She did so, and then called out, “Hey Twilight? Is the portal supposed to be shrinking?”
“No!” Yelled Twilight, her horn glowing brighter. “Quickly Rainbow Dash, get through the portal!”
“I can’t! It’s too small for me to fit through!” replied Rainbow Dash frantically. “What happened to thirty minutes?”
"Somepony is interfering with the portal! I’m sorry Rainbow Dash, I don’t think I can reopen it any further!” Twilight yelled out.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure you can reopen it later. I’ll be fine, just rest until you can make the portal again.” Replied Rainbow Dash, trying to remain calm.
“I’m not sure if I—”
Suddenly, a shockwave sent the five remaining ponies in the library and the human on the other side of the portal flying. As the unicorns’ horns dimmed, the portal snapped shut and Rainbow Dash was stranded, unconscious, in an unknown world with only a handheld camera and her clothes Twilight had provided for her.
Several hours later, Rainbow Dash came to under a tree as the sun was setting. She rubbed her head; it felt like she had slammed into a tree. When she removed her hand from her head, the blood on her hand confirmed it. She had been sent flying into a tree by some unknown force and had hurt her head in the process. When she had arrived the sun was at its zenith; it had to be almost seven now, as the sun was at the horizon. Rainbow stood up and surveyed her surroundings.
She was in a relatively normal park. There was nobody near her, probably because it was getting late. She couldn’t see much due to the nearby trees, so she decided to climb up one a few meters away to see past them. As she scaled the tree, she grabbed a large but flimsy branch and it shook the tree, sending Rainbow and someone else falling towards the ground.
The human Rainbow had accidentally knocked out of the tree slowly recovered as Rainbow was startled from her fall.
“Hey, why’d you knock me out of that tree? I was just minding my own business, lying in a tree, watching the sunset, and what do you do? You shake the whole tree and knock me down! You could have killed me, you know that?”
“Whoa! I didn’t know you were up there in the first place! It’s your fault for being up there anyway, why not sit somewhere else like someone normal? Besides, it’s barely a seven foot fall onto your ass. I’ve fallen further and complained less.” Replied Rainbow. Of course, then she was a pegasus, but still. He at least shouldn’t blame her for him climbing into a tree and falling.
“Because it’s quiet here, or it was until you showed up.” He replied, annoyed with the girl who had appeared out of thin air. “How did you get here anyways? The park’s no entry after 5:00.”
“The same way you did, through the gate.” She lied. “I’ve been here longer than two hours, you know.”
“Doing what? Not like there’s much to do here.”
“I’ve been practicing my f—” Rainbow Dash stops herself and continues, “running. I once came in first place in a competition!” Well, it wasn’t a total lie, Rainbow Dash reasoned. She did win the Best Young Fliers competition, but she doubted that humans had such a thing. She decided to go on the safe side and change it to avoid suspicion.
“Yeah, whatever. I never knew someone so small could have such a huge ego.”
“Who’re you calling small, huh?” she said, poking him in the chest. She was easily a good three inches taller than him, making him sink down a bit.
“Hey, chill, I was just kidding.” He replies quickly. “No need to get in a fight over it.”
“All right, but the next comment I hear from you and—” she makes a gesture with her finger across her throat, “understand?”
He nods. “Yeah, all right. But we’re gonna get kicked out of here soon, so we better get going.”
“About that…” she mentions, rubbing her neck. “I kind of don’t have anywhere to stay.”
He sighs. “I think I have a tent I can put up in my backyard, if you don’t know anyone else who you can stay with.”
“Thanks, uh…” she pauses, waiting for his name.
“John. What’s your name, anyway?”
She thinks for a moment, and then remembers some random gibberish Twilight said involving some language from ancient Roam and magical rituals. “My name’s Iridis.”
He blinks. “Well, that’s something I haven’t heard before. Is that Latin?”
“Uh… I think so?” Great, now Rainbow was wishing she actually paid attention to all that stuff Twilight never stopped talking about.
“Anyways, we better get out of here before we get forced to leave. My house is only fifteen minutes or so away, so it’s not that long of a trip.”
“All right, lead the way.” She wasn’t eager to have to sleep in a tent, but she supposed it would give her more time to use her camera. It had a magical link to Equestria, which worked even if the portal was closed due to the relatively small amount of mana needed to transport the video and sound. Even better, it worked both ways, so if Twilight figured out how, Twilight could send Rainbow messages.
The ride lasted about twenty-five minutes due to traffic, so Rainbow was irritable when they finally pulled into John’s driveway. “I thought you said it would only be fifteen minutes?” she says.
“It was five o’ clock traffic, what did you expect?” retorts John. “It’s not my fault I can’t just snap my fingers and teleport here!”
“Of course you can’t, do you think you’re Discord or something?” she replies.
“Who?” asks John.
“Nevermind, it’s a long story and you probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.” She replies, sighing. “Probably his fault I’m stuck here.” He unlocks the car doors and they both step out before he locks them back.
“So… this guy can just snap his fingers and teleport? Sounds kind of familiar…” he mumbles. He unlocks his front door, and opens it for ‘Iridis’, who mumbles ‘thank you’ under her breath as she looks around.
Overall, it wasn’t that impressive of a house. It had one bedroom, two closets in the hallway, a kitchen, bathroom, living room, and dining area. Not to mention his basement, which had so much old junk in it he’d probably get poisoned due to asbestos exposure if he went down there.
“The tent’s in this closet, it should only take five minutes for us to get it set up outside.” Says John, as he opens the closet door and takes out the tent. He carefully maneuvers the tent through various doorways and opens the back door with his arm, before walking into the yard and setting the tent down. “We’ll have to clear out the pinecones on the ground before we set it up, but it should be pretty comfortable considering it’s a three-person tent.”
They quickly get to work clearing the area of rocks and pinecones before laying the tarp, staking it down, and putting the poles into the tent itself. After they open the vents on the side, they attach the rainfly and make sure the zippers work.
“All right, you’re all set. Looks like it’s going to storm, so remember you can always close the vents if the wind picks up.
“Yeah, yeah, I know a lot about weather. Can you leave now so I can get set up?”
“Okay, jeez, I’m going!” says John as he goes back into the house.
Rainbow Dash pulls out her camera and begins recording. “Twilight, it’s me, Dash. I just wanted to tell you that I’m fine and that I’m sure you’ll find a way to get me home. Remember Twi, I—” Her words are cut off by thunder, and she stops recording and sends it to Twilight.
Meanwhile in Equestria, the library was in total chaos. Twilight was frantically checking all her lab equipment, trying to see if there was a way to reopen the portal.
“Calm down, Twilight, Rainbow is fine. She has the camera, which is still linked to the receiver.” She says, trying to calm herself. “Besides, the elements have a fail-safe system in them. If a bearer is in a situation where the other bearers cannot help, they will create a bubble of protective magic around the bearer in danger, which can be tested. And seeing as there has been no magical activity from the elements since the portal’s opening, Dash must be safe.”
All the other elements were worried sick in the dining area of the library while Twilight was in the basement. She frantically shooed them out of there as soon as the portal closed.
“What do you think happened back there?” asks Rarity.
“I dunno, but I reckon that Twilight’s worried sick because her ma—” Applejack is cut off by an ecstatic squeal coming from the basement, and Twilight running up the stairs.
“Girls, girls! Rainbow sent a message!” yells Twilight, before practically leaping down the stairs. She taps a glowing facet of the receiver crystal and it begins an illusion spell.
“Twilight, it’s me, Dash.” The image distorts and wavers for a moment, and the sound crackles. “wanted to tell you I’m fine—” the image and sound pause for a moment, before continuing, “sure you’ll find a way to get me home. Remember Twi, I l—” The booming sound of thunder causes Fluttershy to shriek and hide, and the message ends.
The group begins cheering, clapping, and celebration that their friend is okay. All except Twilight, who has a melancholy look on her face.
“It’s my fault, I should never have let her go through the portal. It was unsafe and reckless of me.” She says, looking down at her hooves.
“Twi’, it ain’t your fault. None o’ us could’ve guessed what was gonna happen. But please, Twilight, don’t blame yourself.” Replies Applejack.
“It’s all my fault! I did something stupid and now Dash is gone! Who knows if there’s even a way for her to get back?” argues Twilight.
“The elements’ fail-safe would have activated and created a magical waypoint, which would create a link between here and there for the portal. Remember, Twilight, Dash knew the risks of this, and we can get her out.” Says Rarity.
“Yes, she knew the risks going in. With how she is, though, I don’t think she really understood them. She’s the type of pony who takes risks and jumps to action, then asks questions. I know I shouldn’t beat myself up over it, but I can’t help but believe that part of this is my fault.” Says Twilight.
“None o’ this makes any sense, though! You did all that magic stuff to keep the portal open, how did it close?” asks Applejack.
“You’re right, it doesn’t make sense…” She narrows her eyes. “And I know just who to ask.”
Chapter Two, or Stranded in a Strange Land
“What do you mean, you didn’t do it?” asked Twilight furiously. “You’re the only one who could have done it with all the magical protection I placed on the portal!” she exclaimed, her mane beginning to smoke.
“What I am saying, dear Twilight, is that I did not modify, tamper, or interfere with the portal in any way, shape, or form. Besides, I cannot enter or modify their world. My place in Equestria is to keep balance and order. With too much harmony, the world becomes frozen and unchanging.” Discord freezes Twilight and her friends, minus Rainbow Dash, to prove his point. “No seasons, no plants growing, nothing. My chaos magic helps me keep the world moving, quite literally.” With a snap of his fingers, he unfroze the group of ponies.
“But conversely, with too much chaos, and the world becomes quite a cruel place. The weather changes on its own, ponies commit terrible crimes, and so on.” He said, beginning to continue until he was interrupted by Twilight.
“So you’re saying that I trapped Rainbow Dash in a giant Everfree Forest?”
“Oh Twilight, so worried about your marefriend.” Twilight blushed and began to protest, before Discord continued, “No, the human world is not quite as bad as that. They seem to be quite capable of taking care of themselves, if not without a little bit of trouble along the way. But if I stepped foot through that portal, or so much as touched it, I could quite possibly destroy their entire world. Seeing as those elements of yours haven’t put a magic bubble around all of you, I couldn’t have caused your poor marefriend Rainbow Dash to become stranded in the human world.”
“She’s not my marefriend!” replied Twilight, still embarrassed by his earlier remarks. “And if you didn’t do it, who did?” she asked accusingly.
“Any number of ponies who would like the elements to be non-functional or at least separated. Celestia herself may have even attempted to sever the bond between you six in order to regain the power of the elements for herself.”
“How dare you suggest Celestia tried to kill Rainbow? She wouldn’t do that!”
“Twilight, you have lived for a fraction of her life. Do you really know her all that well?” Twilight looked down, thinking, with a melancholy look on her face. “Besides, I’m merely throwing ideas out there. And considering we were having tea when the portal closed, I doubt either of us could have closed the portal from the moon.”
“You and Celestia were having tea? Together? On the moon?” replied Twilight.
It was about dawn in the human world, and Rainbow was tired as hell.
“Of course I had to come here and sleep in a tent the one night it rained.” She said, wrapped in blankets and shivering on John’s couch as he sat at his small dining room table and ate cereal. The forecast on the television said that it would be sunny the rest of the week.
“I told you to put the rainfly up, didn’t I?” replied John, smirking.
“Oh, shut it!” said Rainbow.
“You didn’t, you left the tent open all night.” He retorted, still smirking.
“If I weren’t freezing, I’d go over there and wipe that smirk off your face.” She replied, chattering her teeth.
John began to reply before he heard a loud snore coming from the couch. Rainbow definitely didn’t get enough sleep and was now passed out on his couch. A loud thud corrected him. She was now asleep on the floor, and still snoring. John sighed and continues to eat his cereal, ignoring the snoring coming from the floor by his couch.
Five minutes later, John was almost done with his cereal and Rainbow was still sleeping. Her arm was still up on the couch, with her hand holding a camera with no visible label on it. If someone looked at it at just the right angle, they would almost see it glow or shine a little, as if by some unnatural force. He shook his head; it was probably his sleep-deprived imagination. He hadn’t gotten much sleep either, thanks to the storm, although it appeared he was better than Rainbow at working with little sleep. Looking back to the camera, he noticed it has brightened significantly. Shielding his eyes slightly, he moves over towards Rainbow Dash, and poked her.
“Iridis, wake up. I think your camera might be about to explode.” ‘Iridis’ groaned.
“Ugh… thanks for waking me up.” She said, as she processed what John said. “Wait, what?” She sat up and looked at her camera. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.” She ran out the back door, leaving a confused, milk-covered John holding a, now empty, bowl of cereal. He groaned and walked to his room to change clothes.
“Hello Rainbow Dash, I have news. I haven’t been able to find out why the portal closed, but I’m still working on it. Also, did you know Discord and Celestia are dating? Weird, huh?” Twilight chuckles. “Apparently Discord thinks we’re in a relationship. Crazy, right?” Dash, for some reason, looks embarrassed and a little… disappointed? “But yeah, anyways, I’m working on getting the camera to receive and transmit audio and video at the same time. It’s all theoretical now, but I’m working on a test model here, and if all goes well I can implement it in your camera. Although, you’ll have to perform the changes to your camera yourself.
“Alternatively, if I get the portal working for small objects again, you could possibly send the camera over to me and I could work on it here in Equestria, then send it back over to you. If we do that, though, it’ll leave us out of touch for a while, or at least until I get enough magical energy stored to reopen the portal. I’m sorry I can’t open the portal for you to return yet, but transporting items will be the next step, seeing as we already know magic can transfer between worlds just fine.” She pauses. “Sorry, I’m rambling again aren’t I? Anyways, I just wanted you to know we’re still trying to get you out of there, so don’t worry. Bye for now, reply if you can.”
The camera screen went dim and Rainbow Dash sighed softly.. “Yeah, crazy.” She thought over the rest of what Twilight had said. Knowing me and my skills with magic , she thought, it would be easier for me to just give it to Twilight . “Well, I guess I have to find something to do…”
John sighed. He had all the chores around the house done, and didn’t really trust her with his money to go grocery shopping. Although, considering the girl looked bored out of her mind, he could take her to go shopping with him… though, her rainbow hair might attract some strange looks.
“I have to wear what?! ” shrieked Iridis, when she saw the hat John got out. “What’s wrong with my hair? Why do I have to wear a hat? ?” John sighed again. This was going to be a long day.
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Chapter Three, or A Pony Turned Human Goes To Wal-Mart
“What do you mean, my hair’s not normal? It’s natural, I’ve never dyed it!”
“Never dyed it? It’s rainbow colored for goodness sake! What do you mean you’ve never dyed it?”
“I mean that I’ve never dyed it. This is my natural hair color!” insisted Rainbow Dash.
“But… but that’s biologically impossible!” John said. “How can it be your natural hair color?”
“But it is!” She sighed. “Fine. I’ll put on the hat, now let’s go.” She said, frowning as she put the baseball cap on.
John grinned triumphantly before realizing that the hat did nothing to hide her hair due to its length. “Uh… I don’t think a baseball cap will work, Iridis…” he said tentatively.
“What do you mean, it won’t… oh.” She said, as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She paused for a moment to think, and then said, “Do you have a hoodie?”
A half-hour later, John had finally managed to find a hoodie that Iridis would agree to wear. He sighed, and then grabbed his keys… or at least, he would have if they were there.
“Iridis, have you seen my keys anywhere?” he asked, lifting up the couch cushions.
“Uh… maybe they’re in one of the hoodies I tried on?”
“You tried on all of my hoodies, Iridis.”
“Well then it’s probably in one of them!” she retorted, picking up a hoodie and searching it relentlessly for his keys. However, it was fruitless as the keys weren’t in the hoodie. “Not this one.” She moved onto another hoodie, and searched it, also to no avail. John kept looking around the house in every nook and cranny, but couldn’t find his keys.
“Now where in the world could they be?” he asked with a groan of frustration. “I had them this morning…” he said, as he moved onto another piece of furniture.
Twenty minutes later, they had finished searching the living area to no avail, as the keys were nowhere to be found. “Maybe they’re in the kitchen?” suggested Iridis.
John sighed. “I guess it’s worth a shot.”
This continued for about another hour and a half, and it was about one o’clock in the afternoon once they had finished searching every room in the house, and turned up keyless. “I really needed to get groceries, not to mention I need my keys anyway, and now they’re missing…” said John, searching the living area once again.
Rainbow Dash groaned in defeat and collapsed down onto the couch and put her hands into the muff on her hoodie. Suddenly, her eyes opened wide with surprise. “Uh… John?”
“Yes, Iridis?” asked John, with an annoyed tone in his voice.
“I found your keys…” she said quietly.”
“What?” John walked over to her. “Let me guess… it was in the hoodie you’re wearing?”
“Yeah… sorry about that.” She said, looking out the window and avoiding eye contact with John. “I didn’t think to check… I’m always so reckless and stupid…” she said to herself, sighing softly. “Twilight was right… I never think things through, that’s why I couldn’t get into the Wonderbolts, and—” she continued, beginning to get hysterical.
“Hey, it’s okay. I haven’t known you for very long, but you’re not reckless and you’re definitely not stupid. You’re the one who suggested we look in the hoodies for my keys, remember? It’s not your fault you didn’t think to check the one you were wearing. I probably wouldn’t have, either.” He said, trying to comfort her.
Rainbow sniffles. “Thanks…” she said, wiping her face off with the sleeve of her hoodie. “I’m not usually all sappy and emotional like that. It’s just… the reality of my situation just caught up with me. I’m stuck in a place I’ve never been before, living with a stranger, and separated from my friends. No offense.”
“None taken. I guess I just didn’t realize the magnitude of your situation right now. How far away are your friends?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“All right. I guess we should head out to the store before it gets too late.” Armed with his keys, John went out the door to his car, with Iridis following behind.
“Jeez, I’ve never seen so many people in one place…” said Iridis. John sighed.
“Did you live on a cloud or something? There are barely any people here.” said John, as he placed some squash in his cart.
“Uh… you could say that.” nervously replied Iridis.
John grumbled an incoherent response and grabbed a cart. “Okay, We can get the groceries together, but you have to get your clothes yourself. Deal?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever.” replied Iridis, with a bored expression on her face. They began to walk towards the meat aisle.
“Do you eat meat? I just want to check before I buy anything.” asked John.
Rainbow thought for a moment. “Yeah, I eat meat.” she replied. Before she went through the portal, Twilight lectured her on human diets. Ponies don’t eat meat because it is unhealthy for them, not because there is anything morally wrong with it. There are plenty of non-sapient animals in Equestria that the Gryphons eat for food, and since (according to Twilight’s research) there are no sapient animals that are commonly eaten in the human world, she should be fine… right?
“All right then. I didn’t want to offend you or anything.” he said, as he picked up some ground turkey and placed it in the cart. He then moved further down the aisle and picked up some bacon. “Sweet, juicy bacon! Oh, I have missed you so!” he said, as he placed the bacon in the cart.
“Are you okay? You’re acting kinda… weird.” commented Rainbow.
“Oh, uh, sorry about that Iridis. It’s just… I haven’t had bacon in a while since I’ve been unemployed, but now that I’ve gotten a job again, I can finally have bacon!” he said, practically foaming at the mouth and grinning madly.
“Whoa, okay, calm down. You can get the bacon, but you’re weirding me out. And probably some of the other customers, too.” replied Rainbow.
“Sorry, I just… really like bacon.” said John sheepishly. “Honestly, I expected you to attract more attention here, with your glowing camera and rainbow hair, but I guess I’ve actually attracted more attention than you.”
“Yeah… wait, did you say glowing camera?” A glance down at the camera hanging around her neck confirmed that her camera was once again glowing. “Ugh. Hold on, be back in a couple of minutes.” Rainbow took her camera and ran into an empty aisle.
“I retract my earlier statement.” mumbled John, as he advanced towards the dairy section. “I hope she’s not lactose intolerant…”
“Please make it quick, Twilight, please make it quick…” whispered Rainbow Dash as she pressed a button and the screen on the camera lit up. Immediately, Twilight’s panicked face appeared on the screen.
“Okay, so I’ve managed to perform some adjustments to your camera remotely, but I’m not sure if they’ll work. Can you say something?”
“You did WHAT to the camera?” quietly exclaimed Rainbow Dash, trying to keep her voice hushed. “Jeez, Twilight, I mean we’re best friends and all so I can forgive you this time, but next time, could you ask first? What if you had broken the camera and I got stuck here forever?”
“Oh, good, so it works.” Twilight said, visibly relaxing. “I’m sorry for not asking, but I was sort of impatient and wanted to see if it worked.”
“Oh, sure, that’s a great reason to put your friend in danger.”
The screen began to flicker between her and static, and Twilight exclaimed, “What now?”
Suddenly, the video stopped flickering and stayed on static for a few seconds, before cutting to a video of Discord.
“What do you want?” asked Rainbow Dash, angrily. Discord opened his mouth, before Rainbow interrupted, “If you’re gonna make some snarky remark, save it, because I don’t wanna hear it!”
“Actually, I wanted to tell you that I wasn’t involved with the portal closing, and me and Celly are working on finding a way to create a stable portal. Your marefriend Twilight—” Rainbow Dash blushed.
“She’s not my marefriend! Okay?!” said Rainbow angrily, in a defensive and hushed tone. “Besides, she doesn’t like me. She’s not even into mares!”
“I notice you didn’t mention your preferred gender.”
“Shut up!” she replied, blushing. “It’s none of your business!”
“Fine, fine. I just wanted to say that, as Celestia’s special ‘somepony’,” Discord said, snickering, “I get access to certain ponies…”
“You wouldn’t …” whispered Rainbow Dash.
“Oh, I would. Did you know Luna’s dreamwalking powers extend into other realms, as well?”
Rainbow Dash blushed yet again. “All right, that’s IT!” She hit the camera with a hand, and it went back to static before switching to Twilight.
“Sorry about that Rainbow Dash. It seems there are still problems with it. You’ll have to send the camera over here in order for me to fix those… problems.” said Twilight.
“Sure, whenever you get the portal ready, Twi.” replied Rainbow Dash. “Also, you didn’t hear any of that, did you?”
“No, I didn’t. Why? Was it something bad?” asked Twilight, curiously.
“N-no, nothing! I was just wondering! Sorrygottagobye!” said Rainbow Dash, before shutting the screen off and putting the camera back around her neck. She groaned and walked over to the produce section, where she spotted John.
“Jeez, what took you so long? And what were you doing, anyway?”
“Uh… fixing my camera. The screen messes up sometimes, causes it to do that glow-y thing.” she says, making up an excuse.
“‘Glow-y thing’?” asked John, making air quotes with his fingers.
Rainbow sighed. “Yeah. If you have a better name for it than that, tell me. Later.”
“Whatever. I have all the stuff we need here. How about you go and get your clothes, and I pick up the rest of the stuff? We’ll meet up outside the store, okay? Here’s some money. I don’t know how much clothes cost here, but I suppose $150 should cover it.” John said nonchalantly.
“Wait, you’re just giving me $150? Why would you give a total stranger a hundred and fifty dollars?”
“You live with me,” pointed out John. “Besides, if you stole from me you’d have nowhere to stay. And besides, you don’t seem like the kind of person that would betray someone.”
“Yeah, I’d never betray any of my friends.” replied Rainbow, smiling and thinking fondly of her memories of her friends back in Equestria.
“Uh, Iridis? Earth to Iridis? You need to get your clothes now, remember?”
“Oh, uh, all right. Meet you outside, I guess?”
“You’re back, finally.” said John.
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” replied Rainbow sarcastically.
“And you didn’t run off with my money.” observed John. “Change and receipt, please?”
She sighed and pulled the change and receipt out of her pocket. “Here you go… Now unlock the trunk so I can put all this junk in there.”
John obliged and unlocked the car. He opened the door and pressed a button, causing the trunk to open automatically.
“Eep! What was that?!” said Rainbow, startled.
“Calm down, I just opened the trunk.” said John, smirking.
“I just asked you to unlock it…” she grumbled.
“All right…” he said, loading the groceries into the back of the car. When he finished, he got into the car. “What are you waiting for, Iridis? Hurry up, it’s getting late.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. It’s just… I was reminded of something back home, is all.”
“Well you can reminisce about your home in the car . Now hurry up, slowpoke.”
“I am NOT a slowpoke!” yelled Rainbow. She got into the car with a sigh, and sat in silence for the rest of the trip home.
Chapter Four, or Dealing with Distance
Rainbow Dash peered around the corner, her friends hurrying up the stairs behind her. “Is it safe?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“Yeah, I think so. Hurry, before they catch up.” replied Rainbow Dash.
“All right. Make sure you barricade the door behind us to hold them off.” said Twilight.
“Aye-aye, Captain!” said Pinkie Pie, somehow pulling a hammer and nails from her, aptly named, hammerspace. She quickly got to work on nailing the door shut.
“Come on, we don’t have much time to get to Shining!” yelled Twilight, as the group of makeshift militia members continued down the long hallway.
“Does it seem… a bit too quiet in here to you?” asked Applejack, looking around apprehensively.
“Yeah, now that you mention it, it does.” replied Rainbow, cautiously peering back. A flash of blue and black going past one of the windows quickly caught her attention.
A thunk sounded from the door behind them. “Um, girls?” said Fluttershy, in a soft, quiet tone. “I think there’s—”
Without warning, the door collapsed into the hallway and a stream of mind-controlled royal guards began to chase the group of six mares. “Run!” shouted Rainbow. Everypony began to run away from the rapidly approaching group of guards at full gallop. They had almost all made it around the corner when a bolt of magic caught Twilight in the hoof, and she stumbled and fell. She put up a bubble shield, but it wasn’t going to hold for very long.
“Somepony, help!” she yelled, her voice muffled by the shield, making it sound like she was submerged in water. “I can’t keep this up much longer!” The group of guards had completely surrounded her and were casting bolts of magic at the spell to weaken it.
Rainbow Dash only hesitated for a fraction of a second before she sprang into action, running towards the guards at full speed. “Hey! All of you! C’mere!” she yelled, taunting the guards, who were confused for a moment.
“What in Tartarus are you doing, Rainbow?” said Applejack. “You’re gonna get yourself and Twilight hurt!”
What Applejack said only added to her fury. “Nopony hurts my family! Nopony hurts my friends! And NOPONY hurts my Twilight!” she screamed, bucking a guard in the face.
“This is for my father!” she said, as she hit another guard in the chest, catching him off-guard and sending him to the ground, winded. “This is for all the ponies in Ponyville you’ve hurt!” she yelled, sending another attack to a guard’s throat, leaving him on the ground, gasping for breath. “And THIS is for TWILIGHT!” she screamed, leaving her throat raw and her voice scratchy. She sent a final buck at another guard, sending him flying out a glass window. “Now come, and get me!” she yelled, covered in bruises and cuts from fighting.
Now here was the real fight. Guards swarmed around her, and it was clear (to her, at least) she only had two options. She could distract the guards and let Twilight escape, or she could flee like a coward and save herself. She had to choose between herself and Twilight. Almost instantly, her choice was made, and she sprinted towards another stained glass window. “I may not be able to save myself, but I’m taking as many of you with me as I can!”
“Rainbow, no! Please stop, I can handle them!”
She burst through the window, and the guards didn’t realize to stop until they had already followed her. She tried to extend her wings to glide to relative safety on the side of the mountain, but too late she realized a guard had cut one of her wings, making it agonizing to open it.
“Rainbow Dash!” yelled Twilight, looking down out of the remnants of the window. Rarity was beside her, and both their horns were aglow trying to catch her and stop her fall. “It’s no use! She’s falling too fast!” she said. In spite of that, their horns both glowed brighter, as they poured even more raw magic into the telekinesis spell.
Rainbow Dash was helpless to do anything but stare as the rest of her friends could do nothing to help her. “T...Twilight…” she says, her voice scratchy and inaudible over the wind. She repeated herself, trying to yell as loud as she could manage. “Twilight Sparkle, I… I lo—”
Rainbow bolted upright in her sleeping bag. “It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream…” she repeated to herself. “No reason to get worked up about it. Twilight’s probably still asleep. Actually, she’s probably still awake, reading something nerdy.” she said, rubbing her face with her hands. She was surprised when she felt something wet on her face. “Was… Was I crying?” She paused for a moment. “Naaah, Rainbow Dash, the best flier in all of Equestria, would never cry! Especially not over a silly dream , where she sacrifices herself for all her friends in a shortsighted attempt at protecting Twilight, and if she had stopped to think could probably have done something smarter—” she said, suddenly stopping. “Okay… maybe I was crying a little. So what? I’m not a crybaby or anything.” she said, walking into John’s house from his backyard.
When she saw her reflection in the mirror, her shoulders slumped. Her eyes had bags under them from a night of restless sleep, her face was wet with tears, and her rainbow hair was messy and sticking up everywhere.
John walked in and got himself a bowl of cereal. “Hey, you okay?” asked John.
“Yeah,” she croaks out, “just a bad dream.” She sniffled and poured herself a bowl of cereal and slumped down at the chair across from John. She picked up her spoon to begin eating, but didn’t eat. She just absentmindedly stirred her cereal, thinking.
“You know you can talk to me, right? Keeping your emotions to yourself doesn’t help anyone in the long run,” said John.
“It’s nothing. Like I said, just a bad dream.” She paused for a moment, and ate a spoonful of cereal. The motion seemed forced and mechanical, like she was having a hard time keeping herself together and was trying to hide it.
“It’s not nothing. Please, Iridis—”
“I’m fine!” she retorted.
“No, you’re not!”
“Yes, I am!”
“Iridis, please, you need to talk about this.”
“No, I don’t. Now leave me alone,” she said, returning to her bowl of cereal.
John sighed. He paused and almost continues asking Iridis about her dream, before deciding against it. It would have to be dealt with later. But for now…
“Don’t you have some way of contacting your friends? A cell phone or something?” John blurted out.
“Huh? Uh… I don’t think so. We didn’t have that sort of stuff back home.”
“So were you Amish or something then?”
“Uh… no?”
“Hm. Then I guess you lived in a rural area?”
“... You… could say that, yes.”
“Which means no way to contact your friends.”
“Mhm.”
"Not at all? Not even mail?"
"Nope. I don't think mail could even reach there."
"Not even by plane? Where'd you live, some other dimension or something?" John said, laughing.
Rainbow suddenly looked startled. John looked at her and said, "Wait, are you serious?"
She managed to compose herself and looked at John, before bursting out laughing. " Oh man, I gotcha good, huh? No, of course not, that'd be nuts!"
John looked embarrassed. “I knew that! But still. There has to be SOME way to contact them, and I know you’re not telling me everything.”
“Well…” she began.
“Go on…” replied John, eager to get some information out of the secretive girl.
“No, it’s nothing. Nevermind.”
John looked disappointed. “Please?”
“No. I can’t tell you.”
“Can’t, or won’t?”
“Both. At least, not yet. Just… give me some time.” she replied, exasperated.
“But—” John began, before deciding against it. He resigned himself to asking more about it later and instead finishing his breakfast, as the day before it had been spilled all over him by a certain rainbow-haired girl.
Once again, Rainbow was passed out on John’s couch. After finishing her breakfast, she had apparently managed to drag herself into the living room before passing out. John mentally reminded himself to just let her sleep on the couch, as she seemed to be getting no sleep in the tent. Although it was weird to have a stranger sleeping in your house, the girl wasn’t a stranger, she was his friend… right?
He began to think about how much he actually knew about the girl. First, she was an athlete. A pretty good one, too, if her claims were true. Second, she lived in a rural area, unreachable by pretty much any form of travel. Third, she was hiding something, and John just had to figure it out; she was a puzzle, and puzzles needed to be solved.
Was Iridis even her real name? It sounded suspicious. It definitely wasn’t a common name. She didn’t even tell him her last name, (although, admittedly, he could not remember informing her of his own) and he didn’t know if she even had one.
John took another glance at the sleeping girl. He pretty much knew nothing about this girl who was sleeping in his house— wait, not like that! She was basically mooching off of him, paying nothing in return. He’d have to make her pay rent eventually, if she stayed.
Suddenly, her camera once again glowed. It was lying on the coffee table, and rapidly increasing in intensity. With yet another look at the sleeping girl, he decided that whatever was going on with her camera, he could handle himself. She obviously didn’t get a good night’s sleep, and needed the little rest she could get.
He picked up the camera and examined it carefully. It was a dual camcorder and camera, to be exact. He opened the LCD screen on the camera, and followed the instructions onscreen, which was to press “OK.”
Suddenly, audio burst forth out of the camcorder’s speakers. “Hey R—” A voice began speaking, but was cut off by a short burst of static. “I’m working on the camera, but there’s a l— of interfer— messing with the signal. I’m almost finished recal-ating it, just hold on.” The static cleared up, and John was clearly able to hear the sound of… something, hitting the floor repeatedly. Probably some kind of shoe. High heels, perhaps?
The screen showed your standard chemist’s lab. A bunch of chemicals, held neatly in test tubes, which were in turn held neatly by test tube holders. A bunsen burner was gently heating a vial of some bubbling purple chemical, and a beaker sat on the table with a glass stirring rod in it. Light was being bent by several crystals precariously held on the table, and being sent through some strange device. He could do nothing but stare at the screen incredulously. Was this a communication device, and not even really a camera?
Suddenly, John sees a flash of purple. However, whatever that purple flash was had unfortunately gone out of the frame too fast, not allowing John to identify it.
“There. Can you hear me now, Rainbow?”
The girl on the couch stirred in her sleep. John quickly cupped his hand around the speaker to stop it from waking her. Who was Rainbow? Was that a nickname for Iridis? It certainly fit.
More clip-clopping drew his attention back to the screen. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes when a vial, filled with a purple liquid sloshing around inside of it and sealed with a cork, levitated across the screen.
“Rainbow? Are you… there?” said the voice, trailing off as she came into view of the camcorder. “Oh. Oh, no.”
The pair’s eyes met. “What… even…?”
