The lightning bearerby HopeChaptersChapter 1. SolidsChapter 2. LiquidsChapter 3. GasChapter 4. PlasmaChapter 5. The end.Chapter 1. SolidsIdea given by Markus (Freescript the bard) written by Erica (Hope) Chapter 1. Solids The skies were supposed to be clear, and for the most part they were. Clear blue, in shades of cerulean that encircled the sun, shining down on a spring afternoon, with whisp white flecks left from pegasus flights and dust kicked up by the well known pink pony that tended to vanish and reappear in those little puffs all around the town of Ponyville. Yet the sky was not wholly clear. Just out of sight of the earth ponies and unicorns of the town, land bound and busy with their tasks, but pondered on by the distant town of Cloudsdale, and by a few pegasi who flew high enough to see over the surrounding hills, a cluster of Cumulus clouds seemed to have been bound to a small valley, tightly pushed together, immobile, and quite artificial. But nopony paid it much mind. But deep inside that sphere of white, a sky colored pony worked. Rainbow Dash stood on a circle of metal, salvaged from a stop sign and anchored into the ground, she circled it’s edge while looking up at the dome she had made. “It’s not enough...” she finally muttered, kicking an iron rod away, to tumble to a stop in the gloom that the enclosed space provided. “It’s not enough, maybe Twilight can help...” With the crack of air protesting, the pegasus shot from the platform, blowing a hole through her carefully assembled clouds, and arcing across the hills, rainbow contrail ruffling leaves and kicking up a second trail of dust, on her way to the house of her friend, Twilight Sparkle. “It’s not possible!” The lanky alicorn threw her hooves up in frustration, the heavy tome she had been holding landing on the table like a slap to the face. Rainbow just rolled her eyes, reaching out to close Smithing and Smelting before slipping it back into the bookshelf it had come from. “You don’t deal with lightning, Twilight. You’ve never caused it, or felt it. I know lightning! I know this could work, you have to trust me! Okay? Just trust me on this one.” Huffing, Twilight struggled to find an argument, as she looked from Rainbow to her books, and back. But she settled on a plea instead. “Where did you even get this idea, Rainbow? It’s crazy, this isn’t one of Ditzy’s ideas, is it?” Dash bristled at the last sentence, and shook her head. “Ditzy has better ideas than this. She’s smart, I just... Listen, I got it from a book, is that enough for you?” This caught the curiosity of the bibliophile, and Twilight nodded slowly. “Fine. I’ll help, but I still need a spell, or something from the princesses. I’ll send the letter off tonight.” Zipping over to her, Rainbow Dash gave her friend a hug, grinning with ambition and determination. “You wont regret this, Twi. Thank you.” With that, she vanished through an open window into the mostly clear sky, and the library was once again quiet, except for the tapping of claws on wood, as Spike arrived, the young drake seemed curious, but no more judgemental than a scribe ready to get to work. After all, the blank scroll and quill showed that he had been listening to the conversation. He sat, laid out the scroll, and nodded to Twilight, who took a deep breath before speaking in slow and measured tones. “Dear Princess Celestia. I hope this letter finds you well, and in good spirits. I need to ask for a favor, on behalf of Rainbow Dash. This favor might be unusual, but I hope it is not too much of a bother. Rainbow has decided, for whatever reason, to make a foray into metalworking. She wants to do this, without using a forge or magic, but rather lightning. This might be impossible, but she has assured me that it can be done under the right circumstances. However, she believes that it needs considerably more electrical energy than she can harness on her own. Thanks to my recent ascension as an alicorn, she thinks I might be able to handle the creation of large, dense clouds necessary for this project. If you know of an alicorn spell that can be used to do things like this, I would appreciate getting to use it, as I am not currently skilled enough to create clouds on my own. Thank you for your consideration Your faithful student- Twilight Sparkle” In the canterlot castle marked as capital of Equestria, Celestia lowered the scroll from her vision to rest before her, as Luna paced across the room, scowling. “I should be there. I have more experience than any alive in--” “And if this were an emergency, you would be there, sister,” Celestia reminded her, extending a wing, and waiting for the surly princess of the night to prowl over to her. She then sat beneath the white feathers, which quickly embraced her. “If these young ponies can develop new technologies, we should not... steal their thunder, don’t you think?” Luna smirked, and jabbed Celestia in the side with a hoof. “”’Tis not a joke, sister. these children could hurt themselves. ‘Tis dangerous magic, which could run out of control. I don’t wish to have their injury on my conciousness.” Gently bowing her head, Celestia conceded the point. “Though I agree, we cannot prevent every injury. We cannot halt progress for the sake of our own fear, when it comes to mortality. We will give her the spell, and caution her on it’s dangers, but I have faith in Twilight’s prowess. She has certainly proven herself in these last months.” With a half hearted shrug, Luna rose, and strode to her dresser. “Very well. Give her this, at the least it will prevent some harm should lightning strike her.” The silver necklace was swept up in a shimmering gold magic, and in a flash, a response and the jewelry were gone. “Let us hope for the best, and celebrate regardless,” Celestia said with a wry smile, before leading Luna to the door, and out into the castle. Chapter 2. LiquidsThe massive black thunderhead that hovered over the small valley had caught the attention of many pegasi by the next day, as it grew and stabilized. A few weather managers even flew in to check that Rainbow had all the paperwork in order. As Twilight flew a slow circuit around the tower, the silver chain around her neck glittered in the reflected light off of the clouds. The spell had certainly been complex, to control this cloud and to concentrate the energy contained within, and it appeared to be working just as well as the princesses had described. With sweat dripping off her cheek, Twilight broke off from the edge of the cloud and swooped down to land next to Rainbow, who was assembling a variety of metals on a large flat stone, bundling them all together with wire. “Why… Exactly… Are you making a sword of all things?” Twilight panted as she touched down next to her friend. Rainbow chuckled as she propped the bundle of metal rods upright, building up rocks around the base to keep it from falling. “Come on Twilight, you’ve read the Daring Doo series, don’t tell me you haven’t read her latest work.” Twilight blushed and crossed her forelegs. “I may not have had the time, but what… You’re trying to recreate a fictional weapon?” she said, quickly trying to change the topic from the fact that Rainbow had read a book she hadn’t. “Daring Do is real, or did you forget that we went on an adventure with her?” Rainbow said with a chuckle. “She is, but her last three books have been actual works of fiction. She’s rewriting ancient tales with a modern twist. Whatever you are trying to create doesn’t exist,” she asserted. Rainbow spun around and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “That’s just what I needed to hear!” she said eagerly. “It is?” “Of course! It’ll be even more awesome when I make it real!” Twilight groaned, shaking her head, but before she could speak, Rainbow took off. She flew up to the top of the cloud Twilight had built, and started to hop up and down on it, pausing every few moments to put an ear to the cloud. “What are you doing?” Twilight asked from next to her. “Gah! Warn a filly when you’re sneaking up behind her, sheesh,” Rainbow patted her chest before resuming her work. “You’re going to initialize the lightning strike, but I don’t think you have good enough control to make sure it’s as powerful as it can be. I’m priming the cloud with pulses of energy so that when you set it off, it will already be at max capacity.” Twilight, for once, wasn’t sure if she understood a technical explanation. “I’m charging up the cloud battery,” Rainbow said in response to her dumbfounded look. “Oh!” “Yeah. I just want you to show up to the weather factory someday and talk to my boss, you’d be lost,” the pegasus smirked. Both of them took off and flew back down to the ground, where Twilight examined the metal rods. “So, you don’t have a binding agent here, when you are welding together dissimilar metals…” “Yeah, this isn’t welding,” Rainbow told her, as she started dumping sand in around the base of the pile, filling in the cracks of the stones and getting it almost up to the top of the metal rods. “This is forging, and according to the books I read I am going to be getting the metals hot enough to mix with eachother just by, like, gravity.” “Okay… I’m not going to be down here, right?” Twilight said nervously, looking up at the black ceiling a few hundred feet above them. “No, Twi. You’re up at the top, giving it a nice big alicorn sized kick. I’m going to be down here with a hammer, and I’m going to try to get the mass into a sword shaped piece. Who knows, this is my first try.” “But you’re going to get struck by lightning!” Rainbow sighed and went over to where her metal hammer was laying, in a good sized hole which she ducked into. “Bam. No lightning for me. Can we get started now?” Twilight nodded and flapped her wings a few times. “Two minute count starts now?” Rainbow ran over to her hole and put her hoof to the button of a stop watch. “Starts… Now.” Both ponies clicked watches, and Twilight took off. Rainbow, meanwhile, trotted back to the nub of metal sticking out of the sand. “You’re going to be awesome. Just you wait.” She then flew over to her hidey hole and hunkered down, hammer in the crook of her hoof and metal tongs in the other. She pulled on a heavy apron, and slid goggles down over her eyes. Then she waited. Chapter 3. Gas“Fried feathers, scorched mane, first degree burns, and possible lung damage!” Rainbow chuckled from her hospital bed, nodding along. “Yeah, it was pretty awesome, Twi.” Twilight sat back on her haunches and sighed, looking at the medical report. All in all, considering that Rainbow had run headlong into the fray and tried to wrestle with a molten piece of metal, it hadn’t been that bad. The bulk of the actual damage had come from the metal being so liquid that hitting it with the hammer just made it splash. Of course, Rainbow just saw it as progress. “So, what’s the next step?” Twilight asked. Rainbow sat up a bit more and smiled. “Okay, so it’s obviously working, our process is good, I think that I need to make a mold though, instead of trying to forge it. Have the metal pour into a mold that can hold the liquid. That would work, right?” Considering the proposal, Twilight nodded. “That sounds quite reasonable, okay. I’ll go get a mold produced, is there a particular design you’d like?” The book that Rainbow raised to show Twilight happened to be the only book in the Daring Doo series she hadn’t yet read. On the cover, Daring Doo held aloft a sword crackling with energy, stylistic and very pointy looking to Twilight, it was actually based on a mythical weapon so Twilight knew where the measurements were. “Alright. I’ll have a mold made. Anything else?” “Yeah, Twi, can you bring me some real food? The jello is really starting to get on my nerves.” “You only end up here every other week,” Twilight quipped. “Maybe they don’t want to encourage you to keep up the habit.” With that, Twilight headed out to design a sword mold, something that hadn’t been manufactured for near to a millenia. Naturally, her first inclination was to return to her library, but she had to pause and remind herself that the library was gone. She then turned and headed towards the castle instead. Buzzing with activity, Twilight avoided the crowded entryway by flying up to her balcony and entering the library from there. A few ponies were browsing the shelves, including the new royal librarian, a title that Twilight had been incredibly reluctant to give up. She approached the stallion and did her best to be polite. “Good afternoon Helvetica. How is the library today?” The unicorn looked up at his employer and rolled his eyes, immediately making Twilight bristle in annoyance. “I’ve been undoing your misguided labeling system, which entails undoing a great amount of damage from those little stickers you were so fond of. But I am sure you have more pressing matters to attend to than charred books and spine damage.” For a moment, Twilight was sorely tempted to say that she did and walk away, but Helvetica was just doing his job, and he was the best rural librarian she had been able to find on such short notice. With a sigh, she attempted to guide the conversation back on track. “That system was in place when I got here, but I’m very happy that you are rectifying the situation, especially with the new stock coming in. Speaking of, in the new books have--” “Have I found any problems?” He snorted. “Only in every box. They sent us only one of Starswirl’s almanac, but three of his collected works. What rural library needs three collected works of Starswirl?” he scoffed. “I’m sure that Canterlot will fix the mistake soon, but what I meant to ask was if you had seen any books having to do with ancient weapons manufacturing.” Helvetica paused and actually considered her question before shaking his head slowly. “I would have remembered a book like that. As a bit of an ameture historian myself, I would likely have checked it out. No, you’ll need to write Canterlot archives or request it from a specialist. What do you need a book like that for?” Twilight blushed a bit and tried to straighten her mane with her hoof as she replied. “Well… Rainbow Dash has me involved in a bit of a personal project, fashioning a weapon of sorts. I’ll, um, go ahead and write Canterlot, thank you!” Before he could start asking more questions, Twilight rushed off to find Spike, trying to shake off the nervousness that the librarian somehow instilled in her despite having held his position just a few months prior. After checking the throne room, kitchen, and lounge, Twilight headed to the bedrooms and knocked on Spike’s door. “Come in!” Twilight pushed the door open to find Spike in the middle of writing out something on his little desk. He looked up and gave her the biggest smile. “Twilight! Hey, I’ve been talking with Celestia about figuring out how to use my fire to send to different ponies. How is Rainbow?” “Oh, she’s fine. She gets herself into the hospital all the time anyway, it’s not like this is any worse than the time she tried to do a sonic rainboom backwards,” Twilight sighed. Spike shrugged and sat back down, as Twilight sat next to him. “Well, I’m glad she’s okay, but you look like you’ve got something else on your mind,” Spike said as he finished his letter and then sent it in a swirl of green flame. Twilight got a piece of parchment from his stack, and started writing out a letter herself. “Well, I’m still helping Rainbow, and it seems like we need to make a mold for the sword, to pour the molten metal into you know? Well, I can’t find a book that has instructions on this, so I’m going to send a letter to the princesses asking how to best design one.” Spike chuckled as he watched her write. “Sounds fun. Also sounds dangerous. I’m surprised that she didn’t ask me for help. After all, if I can bathe in lava, I don’t think some molten metal would be much of a problem.” “Hehe, yeah, I…” Twilight stopped writing as she actually considered the idea. “You know, Spike… Would you want to help out?” “Sure! Listen, this whole thing with Celestia and my fire breath, it’s fun but I really need to get out of the castle,” he insisted. “I’m starting to drool when I look at the walls, and that’s not good.” Twilight gave him a hug, before rolling up her letter and sealing it. Spike sent it off and she looked at the clock on the wall. “Tell you what, Spike. Let’s go get some lunch. I’m sure we will get a letter back by dinner, and then I can go get Rainbow released from the hospital.” She paused and smiled. “If she’s been behaving herself.” Spike laughed, and they left the castle to get some well overdue food. Meanwhile, Rainbow was enjoying herself at the hospital. “No way, broken wing is totally worse.” The unicorn in bed next to her rolled his eyes and gestured at the cast on his forehead. “This hurts every time I think.” Rainbow just scoffed and crossed her forelegs, ignoring the bit of pain from the bandages shifting over raw skin. “Broken wing hurts every time you breathe. I can go a whole day without thinking, but just you try to go a few minutes without breathing.” The unicorn chuckled, covering his mouth as Rainbow realized what she said and started to snicker at herself. “Hey, at least I’ll be fine if I ever break my horn,” she joked. “Well yeah, aren’t all of you element bearers going to go all… Princess-y eventually anyway?” he asked. Rainbow stuck her tongue out and shuddered. “I hope not. No offense to Twilight but I do not need that extra stress and bulk. Have you seen how big she’s gotten?” “Yeah, but Celestia’s bigger and noone thinks that’s anything less than beautiful,” he replied. Rainbow shook her head. “No thanks. I like being me. Sleek, fast, and awesome. I don’t need fluffier wings and a horn to know I’m the best.” The stallion looked her over and nodded before settling back in. “You should be an inspiration speaker.” She tossed a pillow at his stomach. “Never. That’s the most boring thing I could imagine. I bet--” She stopped as a sealed package of jello bounced off her head. She turned to look at him with a wicked smile. “Oh, you wanna play?” “Eight hundred and seventy bits worth of damage, Rainbow? Seriously? I can’t cover all of your expenses if you keep doing this,” Twilight said as she followed the ground bound pegasus on their way towards the castle. Rainbow just snorted. “I already paid, I just wanted you to see the bill. Come on, I want to see what the princesses said.” The entryway was less packed than it had been earlier in the day, but there were still plenty of ponies to gawk at the two as they crossed the atrium and headed upstairs. Spike was waiting for them in their sitting room with two scrolls. He was busy reading one, but held out the other to them as they sat down. “Okay, let’s see how they can help,” Twilight mumbled as she unrolled it. Instead of a letter, the scroll was a diagram with various details. A sword mold made of artificial sandstone, with a few strategically placed holes to let air escape. Rainbow leaned over to get a better view as her smile grew progressively wider. “Awesome.” Chapter 4. PlasmaThey didn’t bother to form the cloud first, wanting to set up the stack of mold and material first. Spike helped hold the mold vertical while rocks were stacked around it to hold it in place. Sand was poured onto the pile to fill in the cracks and offer a base on which the bundle of metal rods was stood, the bottom of the bundle just touching the top of the mold, so it would theoretically pour directly in. Examining the whole thing, Twilight looked over to the small hole where Rainbow had put her gear, and shook her head. “You’re moving.” Immediately, Rainbow crossed her forelegs in a huff. “I am not.” “Yes you are! You don’t need to be so close, since the mold should capture the metal. In fact, we won’t even be approaching the pile until several minutes later. You should be over there.” As she pointed at a rock outcropping a good hundred pony lengths away, Rainbow growled. “Fine. But I’m going to be watching. No boring hunkering down if I’ve got to be that far away from the action.” She started moving her things as Twilight checked the pile for the third time, adding a few rocks to steady the rods. Spike brought over some planks of wood that they then put against the sloping side of the pile to keep any of it from shifting. “Happy?” Twilight looked back at where Rainbow was, peeking over the distant stones. “Very!” She replied as she flew over to her. “So tomorrow, we can make our attempt, try it again. Okay?” Rainbow pumped her hooves in victory. “Yes yes yes! I’ll see you then, Twi! I’ve got some things to take care of.” With that, she zipped off, and Twilight winged her way back home with Spike on her back. “It’s almost done. Tomorrow we will actually make the sword.” Silence, and Rainbow shifted slightly in her seat, looking out of the window at the moon, gauging in one look what time it was, the atmosphere’s moisture content, even getting a bit of insight on the winds from the tree tops. “Come on, I came all this way to let you know what’s up, I’m going to be running on barely any sleep, you can at least let me know if this will work.” A sigh, and a shape shifting in the darkness of the isolated home, all the lights doused. “Yeah… Yeah, it’ll work, it’s… Heck, this might be just as good a weapon as the original. You said that it was going to have lightning in it? How is that accomplished?” Rainbow shrugged, smiling a little. “Don’t ask me, Doo. I’m not the unicorn. Twilight said that she could make it ‘receptive to atmospheric energy’ during the melting process, I’m guessing that means there’s gonna be lighting in it. But will it work? I don’t want to make you a dud weapon.” Daring doo leaned forward, the moonlight catching the side of her face and showing her mane a mirror match for Rainbow’s, a bottle of light blue coat dye next to her on the table. “Yeah. It’ll work, and Dr. Caballeron will think that I’ve really retired, and make his final mistake in underestimating ‘you.’” Rainbow nodded firmly and bumped hooves with Daring, grinning. “Just make sure to stay awesome while you’re using my name. If anybody can live up to the legend that is me, I’m sure it’s you.” Chapter 5. The end.“We know you are here, Doo. To not even move after our last encounter, you must surely be a fool. I apologize, should I call you by your real name, Yearling?” The laugh echoed in the mostly empty house, as Dr. Caballeron and his four henchponies strode through the living room. “You fell for that?” a quiet but roughly feminine voice said from the top of the stairs that led up. “Daring Doo thought for sure you’d figure it out.” Dr. Caballeron paused, and looked up. In the shadows, rainbow colored hair was barely visible. “See, Daring is dead,” the figure said bitterly and angrily. “But she knew you’d come for me. I just thought you were smarter than that. You never thought why I was with her after your first attack here? You never wondered why I was at the conference with her?” Slowly, she stood and began walking down the stairs, glaring at Dr. Caballeron. “Rainbow… Dash?” Caballeron said uncertainly. “We know of you as Element of Harmony,” he said more firmly. “Not a writer.” “Oh no, of course not,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “Because publishing an adventure book under my actual name about one of my friends would totally not be suspicious,” she said before laughing, spreading her wings. “Now, either get the hell out of my house, or get ready for an Element of Loyalty flank whooping.” The henchponies exchanged uncertain looks, but Dr. Caballeron narrowed his eyes. “You are the writer, and Daring has passed away? If this is true, where has she been buried?” Rainbow laughed, shaking her head. “Why would I know? I wasn’t even told about her funeral! I’m not family, just a friend, and she was in Canterlot when she passed away.” “How did she die?” “Cancer. Probably not helped by your stress inducing escapades, she’d been hiding it for months.” Dr. Caballeron hesitated but he nodded his head slowly. “The last time we fought, she seemed tired… Coughing before we’d even traded blows, and her coat looked thin… Damn it, damn it all. Well, regardless of my nemesis's fate, I am in search of a sword. I believe that she may have left it here, so I will now search your home to find it. Get out of our way.” “No,” Rainbow said simply. “Because the last thing she wanted in the world was for me to get that sword to the Canterlot Royal Vault safely, and I will not let her last wishes be in vain.” “Well that tells me two things,” Caballeron said casually. “First, that it is in this home, and secondly, that you are a fool.” “What?!” Rainbow squeaked, suddenly uncertain as the five stallions all started stalking towards her. The pegasus flew backward up the stairs with a yelp, before two of the henchponies charged up the stairs. They descended again rather quickly as a wooden log was launched down the stairs, ripping a hole through the wall and slamming into the ground outside, barely missing the two stallions who had flung themselves over the railing and onto the bottom floor with painful thuds. “Come on, boys. You can’t give up that easily,” Rainbow taunted from upstairs. One of the henchponies charged up the stairs, shouting angrily before there was a loud crack and a few quick smacks before he came tumbling back down. “The sword must be upstairs,” Caballeron said angrily. “Go, go! She cannot get you all at once!” The two uninjured henchponies charged up the stairs, but as Dr. Caballeron was about to join them and the sounds of combat began, there was a cough from the door. “Catch you at a bad time?” He turned, to see Rainbow Dash at the door, sitting back on her haunches as she drew an ornate sword from it’s scabbard, crackling with electrical energy. “What, but… Who…” The bad doctor didn’t have much time to react to the duplicate pegasus, as she slashed out at him with the sword, forcing him to dart backward as a henchpony tumbled down the stairs, hitting the landing hard enough to knock him out while the two ponies that had tossed themselves off the stairs earlier struggled to stand before backing away from Rainbow. “Hey! Sorry I’m late!” she shouted with a grin. There was a groan from upstairs before the fourth hench pony was tossed unceremoniously out of a window to crash into the ground outside. The other Rainbow poked her head down the stairs at her twin. “Dash.” “Rainbow,” the newcomer said with a smirk. “Come on, these guys giving you trouble? We’ll have them tied up and in chains in ten seconds flat.” “Is it that you can’t come up with new catch-phrases, or is it that you think reusing them indefinitely is somehow okay?” the one at the top of the stairs groaned. “Hey! My catchphrases are awesome! You’re the writer, you give me some better ones.” “Well… I… later, we need to take care of them.” Both of them returned their focus to the three remaining confused stallions. “Ladies, I believe that we may have a misunderstanding. I came here for that sword, and will happily leave if I have it,” Dr. Caballeron said as his hoof edged under his coat towards his holster. “Oh, well that seems reasonable,” Dash said with a smile, twirling the sword. “No it doesn’t. Daring Doo’s last wishes were to have that sword safely in the vault in Canterlot,” Rainbow replied, shaking her head. “Then I suppose we must do this the difficult way,” Caballeron said as his hoof found his pistol. He pulled the pistol and took aim, only for the sword to slam into the metal barrel, knocking the gun to the side before the rainbow-maned mare spun on her hind hoof and brought the flat of the blade in a wide arc before thudding into the stallion’s head and sending him to the floor, groaning. “Woah. I didn’t think you had it in you, sis,” the other pegasus said, still standing by the door. “Sis?” Dash mouthed silently with a raised eyebrow, looking back at Rainbow. She shrugged, and Dash rolled her eyes before looking back at Caballeron. But in her moment of inattention, he sprung up and kicked her in the side of the head, before kicking out at her hoof, knocking the sword to the ground where it clattered over next to one of the still conscious henchponies, who snatched it up just in time to block a hoof from the mare not fighting Caballeron. The battle became an uncertain frenzy as the two henchponies fought a retreating battle against Rainbow, and Dr. Caballeron used his skill and trickery to put Dash on the defense. Gradually, the two combats worked in an orbit around eachother. Abruptly, Caballeron tossed his coat off at Dash, forcing her to take to the air as he lept on Rainbow, striking her three times in rapid succession while she did her best to defend herself. Once she was somewhat pushed back, the three stallions took off at a gallop out of the front door with the sword. The two spectral-maned pegusi slumped to the floor, taking a moment to catch their breath as the two remaining henchponies groaned from where they were on the floor and dirt outside. “I can fly faster than you can run. Stay down, and we’ll be nice, not mentioning the violence to the cops.” Two sorrowful whimpers responded, and the twins grinned a bit. Slowly, Rainbow chuckled, before letting out a full laugh. “Oh, ow. Ow, laughing hurts.” Before long, they had both the stallions tied up and secure in the upstairs bedroom, while they relaxed downstairs waiting for the police to arrive at Daring’s remote cabin. “So, you never explained why it was so important he get a fake,” Rainbow Dash said quietly as she laid herself out on Daring’s couch. Daring kept the disguise on, though to any of Rainbow Dash’s friends it would be easy to tell she wasn’t their friend. Her eyes were a slightly darker maroon, compared to Dash’s ruby eyes. “The original is more than a weapon, it’s… A ritual keystone,” Daring said with a yawn as she poured herself some water and sat nearby. “I don’t give two feathers if Dr. caballeron is making money. I don’t care, to be honest. What I do care about is the risk of his employers getting their hands, claws, or slimy tentacles on things that could spell trouble for our world.” “Ritual… Faking your death and manufacturing a legendary weapon is a long way to go to prevent a single ritual from taking place,” Rainbow pointed out. “What kind of ritual?” “The kind of ritual that calls down the Nightmare to take over a host,” Daring said darkly. “The type of ritual that required pony sacrifices.” The dark room was lit only by the light from a single unicorn, who was holding a cloth wrapped sword carefully, and wearing pure black robes. Around her, five other ponies worked in the darkness of the long undisturbed tomb, arranging the artifacts that she had painstakingly assembled. Arcane symbols were carved into the stone where dust and grime had obscured the originals, and four candles were lit, so the mare could drop the light of her horn. She gently removed the cloth from the gleaming sword, and stepped up onto the alter. Gesturing to an earth pony mare, she had the other lay down on the altar as the unicorn rose up on her hind legs, holding the sword with the point down towards the earth pony’s barrel. “In the darkest night of this year, in the deepest tomb of the fallen warriors of the Lunar army, in the humble robes of the Lunar priestess, I call upon our willing sacrifice, to bring to life the Nightmare in her heart. To have her reborn in darkness, to reclaim the world. She drove the point down, and it pierced the mare, who let out a scream that shook dust from the ceiling. The six ponies waited, but no darkness poured from the shadows. No manifestation of evil claimed her body. The earth pony mare sobbed, and they all realized the blade had just cut into her rib and glanced to the side. It was a painful wound but she would certainly live. Someone cleared their throat, and the six all looked towards the tomb’s entrance. Sitting there as though she was sitting in an office, concerned about having disturbed an important meeting, Princess luna sipped a disposable cup of coffee before smiling around at them all. “You called?”
Chapter 1. SolidsIdea given by Markus (Freescript the bard) written by Erica (Hope) Chapter 1. Solids The skies were supposed to be clear, and for the most part they were. Clear blue, in shades of cerulean that encircled the sun, shining down on a spring afternoon, with whisp white flecks left from pegasus flights and dust kicked up by the well known pink pony that tended to vanish and reappear in those little puffs all around the town of Ponyville. Yet the sky was not wholly clear. Just out of sight of the earth ponies and unicorns of the town, land bound and busy with their tasks, but pondered on by the distant town of Cloudsdale, and by a few pegasi who flew high enough to see over the surrounding hills, a cluster of Cumulus clouds seemed to have been bound to a small valley, tightly pushed together, immobile, and quite artificial. But nopony paid it much mind. But deep inside that sphere of white, a sky colored pony worked. Rainbow Dash stood on a circle of metal, salvaged from a stop sign and anchored into the ground, she circled it’s edge while looking up at the dome she had made. “It’s not enough...” she finally muttered, kicking an iron rod away, to tumble to a stop in the gloom that the enclosed space provided. “It’s not enough, maybe Twilight can help...” With the crack of air protesting, the pegasus shot from the platform, blowing a hole through her carefully assembled clouds, and arcing across the hills, rainbow contrail ruffling leaves and kicking up a second trail of dust, on her way to the house of her friend, Twilight Sparkle. “It’s not possible!” The lanky alicorn threw her hooves up in frustration, the heavy tome she had been holding landing on the table like a slap to the face. Rainbow just rolled her eyes, reaching out to close Smithing and Smelting before slipping it back into the bookshelf it had come from. “You don’t deal with lightning, Twilight. You’ve never caused it, or felt it. I know lightning! I know this could work, you have to trust me! Okay? Just trust me on this one.” Huffing, Twilight struggled to find an argument, as she looked from Rainbow to her books, and back. But she settled on a plea instead. “Where did you even get this idea, Rainbow? It’s crazy, this isn’t one of Ditzy’s ideas, is it?” Dash bristled at the last sentence, and shook her head. “Ditzy has better ideas than this. She’s smart, I just... Listen, I got it from a book, is that enough for you?” This caught the curiosity of the bibliophile, and Twilight nodded slowly. “Fine. I’ll help, but I still need a spell, or something from the princesses. I’ll send the letter off tonight.” Zipping over to her, Rainbow Dash gave her friend a hug, grinning with ambition and determination. “You wont regret this, Twi. Thank you.” With that, she vanished through an open window into the mostly clear sky, and the library was once again quiet, except for the tapping of claws on wood, as Spike arrived, the young drake seemed curious, but no more judgemental than a scribe ready to get to work. After all, the blank scroll and quill showed that he had been listening to the conversation. He sat, laid out the scroll, and nodded to Twilight, who took a deep breath before speaking in slow and measured tones. “Dear Princess Celestia. I hope this letter finds you well, and in good spirits. I need to ask for a favor, on behalf of Rainbow Dash. This favor might be unusual, but I hope it is not too much of a bother. Rainbow has decided, for whatever reason, to make a foray into metalworking. She wants to do this, without using a forge or magic, but rather lightning. This might be impossible, but she has assured me that it can be done under the right circumstances. However, she believes that it needs considerably more electrical energy than she can harness on her own. Thanks to my recent ascension as an alicorn, she thinks I might be able to handle the creation of large, dense clouds necessary for this project. If you know of an alicorn spell that can be used to do things like this, I would appreciate getting to use it, as I am not currently skilled enough to create clouds on my own. Thank you for your consideration Your faithful student- Twilight Sparkle” In the canterlot castle marked as capital of Equestria, Celestia lowered the scroll from her vision to rest before her, as Luna paced across the room, scowling. “I should be there. I have more experience than any alive in--” “And if this were an emergency, you would be there, sister,” Celestia reminded her, extending a wing, and waiting for the surly princess of the night to prowl over to her. She then sat beneath the white feathers, which quickly embraced her. “If these young ponies can develop new technologies, we should not... steal their thunder, don’t you think?” Luna smirked, and jabbed Celestia in the side with a hoof. “”’Tis not a joke, sister. these children could hurt themselves. ‘Tis dangerous magic, which could run out of control. I don’t wish to have their injury on my conciousness.” Gently bowing her head, Celestia conceded the point. “Though I agree, we cannot prevent every injury. We cannot halt progress for the sake of our own fear, when it comes to mortality. We will give her the spell, and caution her on it’s dangers, but I have faith in Twilight’s prowess. She has certainly proven herself in these last months.” With a half hearted shrug, Luna rose, and strode to her dresser. “Very well. Give her this, at the least it will prevent some harm should lightning strike her.” The silver necklace was swept up in a shimmering gold magic, and in a flash, a response and the jewelry were gone. “Let us hope for the best, and celebrate regardless,” Celestia said with a wry smile, before leading Luna to the door, and out into the castle.
Chapter 2. LiquidsThe massive black thunderhead that hovered over the small valley had caught the attention of many pegasi by the next day, as it grew and stabilized. A few weather managers even flew in to check that Rainbow had all the paperwork in order. As Twilight flew a slow circuit around the tower, the silver chain around her neck glittered in the reflected light off of the clouds. The spell had certainly been complex, to control this cloud and to concentrate the energy contained within, and it appeared to be working just as well as the princesses had described. With sweat dripping off her cheek, Twilight broke off from the edge of the cloud and swooped down to land next to Rainbow, who was assembling a variety of metals on a large flat stone, bundling them all together with wire. “Why… Exactly… Are you making a sword of all things?” Twilight panted as she touched down next to her friend. Rainbow chuckled as she propped the bundle of metal rods upright, building up rocks around the base to keep it from falling. “Come on Twilight, you’ve read the Daring Doo series, don’t tell me you haven’t read her latest work.” Twilight blushed and crossed her forelegs. “I may not have had the time, but what… You’re trying to recreate a fictional weapon?” she said, quickly trying to change the topic from the fact that Rainbow had read a book she hadn’t. “Daring Do is real, or did you forget that we went on an adventure with her?” Rainbow said with a chuckle. “She is, but her last three books have been actual works of fiction. She’s rewriting ancient tales with a modern twist. Whatever you are trying to create doesn’t exist,” she asserted. Rainbow spun around and put a hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “That’s just what I needed to hear!” she said eagerly. “It is?” “Of course! It’ll be even more awesome when I make it real!” Twilight groaned, shaking her head, but before she could speak, Rainbow took off. She flew up to the top of the cloud Twilight had built, and started to hop up and down on it, pausing every few moments to put an ear to the cloud. “What are you doing?” Twilight asked from next to her. “Gah! Warn a filly when you’re sneaking up behind her, sheesh,” Rainbow patted her chest before resuming her work. “You’re going to initialize the lightning strike, but I don’t think you have good enough control to make sure it’s as powerful as it can be. I’m priming the cloud with pulses of energy so that when you set it off, it will already be at max capacity.” Twilight, for once, wasn’t sure if she understood a technical explanation. “I’m charging up the cloud battery,” Rainbow said in response to her dumbfounded look. “Oh!” “Yeah. I just want you to show up to the weather factory someday and talk to my boss, you’d be lost,” the pegasus smirked. Both of them took off and flew back down to the ground, where Twilight examined the metal rods. “So, you don’t have a binding agent here, when you are welding together dissimilar metals…” “Yeah, this isn’t welding,” Rainbow told her, as she started dumping sand in around the base of the pile, filling in the cracks of the stones and getting it almost up to the top of the metal rods. “This is forging, and according to the books I read I am going to be getting the metals hot enough to mix with eachother just by, like, gravity.” “Okay… I’m not going to be down here, right?” Twilight said nervously, looking up at the black ceiling a few hundred feet above them. “No, Twi. You’re up at the top, giving it a nice big alicorn sized kick. I’m going to be down here with a hammer, and I’m going to try to get the mass into a sword shaped piece. Who knows, this is my first try.” “But you’re going to get struck by lightning!” Rainbow sighed and went over to where her metal hammer was laying, in a good sized hole which she ducked into. “Bam. No lightning for me. Can we get started now?” Twilight nodded and flapped her wings a few times. “Two minute count starts now?” Rainbow ran over to her hole and put her hoof to the button of a stop watch. “Starts… Now.” Both ponies clicked watches, and Twilight took off. Rainbow, meanwhile, trotted back to the nub of metal sticking out of the sand. “You’re going to be awesome. Just you wait.” She then flew over to her hidey hole and hunkered down, hammer in the crook of her hoof and metal tongs in the other. She pulled on a heavy apron, and slid goggles down over her eyes. Then she waited.
Chapter 3. Gas“Fried feathers, scorched mane, first degree burns, and possible lung damage!” Rainbow chuckled from her hospital bed, nodding along. “Yeah, it was pretty awesome, Twi.” Twilight sat back on her haunches and sighed, looking at the medical report. All in all, considering that Rainbow had run headlong into the fray and tried to wrestle with a molten piece of metal, it hadn’t been that bad. The bulk of the actual damage had come from the metal being so liquid that hitting it with the hammer just made it splash. Of course, Rainbow just saw it as progress. “So, what’s the next step?” Twilight asked. Rainbow sat up a bit more and smiled. “Okay, so it’s obviously working, our process is good, I think that I need to make a mold though, instead of trying to forge it. Have the metal pour into a mold that can hold the liquid. That would work, right?” Considering the proposal, Twilight nodded. “That sounds quite reasonable, okay. I’ll go get a mold produced, is there a particular design you’d like?” The book that Rainbow raised to show Twilight happened to be the only book in the Daring Doo series she hadn’t yet read. On the cover, Daring Doo held aloft a sword crackling with energy, stylistic and very pointy looking to Twilight, it was actually based on a mythical weapon so Twilight knew where the measurements were. “Alright. I’ll have a mold made. Anything else?” “Yeah, Twi, can you bring me some real food? The jello is really starting to get on my nerves.” “You only end up here every other week,” Twilight quipped. “Maybe they don’t want to encourage you to keep up the habit.” With that, Twilight headed out to design a sword mold, something that hadn’t been manufactured for near to a millenia. Naturally, her first inclination was to return to her library, but she had to pause and remind herself that the library was gone. She then turned and headed towards the castle instead. Buzzing with activity, Twilight avoided the crowded entryway by flying up to her balcony and entering the library from there. A few ponies were browsing the shelves, including the new royal librarian, a title that Twilight had been incredibly reluctant to give up. She approached the stallion and did her best to be polite. “Good afternoon Helvetica. How is the library today?” The unicorn looked up at his employer and rolled his eyes, immediately making Twilight bristle in annoyance. “I’ve been undoing your misguided labeling system, which entails undoing a great amount of damage from those little stickers you were so fond of. But I am sure you have more pressing matters to attend to than charred books and spine damage.” For a moment, Twilight was sorely tempted to say that she did and walk away, but Helvetica was just doing his job, and he was the best rural librarian she had been able to find on such short notice. With a sigh, she attempted to guide the conversation back on track. “That system was in place when I got here, but I’m very happy that you are rectifying the situation, especially with the new stock coming in. Speaking of, in the new books have--” “Have I found any problems?” He snorted. “Only in every box. They sent us only one of Starswirl’s almanac, but three of his collected works. What rural library needs three collected works of Starswirl?” he scoffed. “I’m sure that Canterlot will fix the mistake soon, but what I meant to ask was if you had seen any books having to do with ancient weapons manufacturing.” Helvetica paused and actually considered her question before shaking his head slowly. “I would have remembered a book like that. As a bit of an ameture historian myself, I would likely have checked it out. No, you’ll need to write Canterlot archives or request it from a specialist. What do you need a book like that for?” Twilight blushed a bit and tried to straighten her mane with her hoof as she replied. “Well… Rainbow Dash has me involved in a bit of a personal project, fashioning a weapon of sorts. I’ll, um, go ahead and write Canterlot, thank you!” Before he could start asking more questions, Twilight rushed off to find Spike, trying to shake off the nervousness that the librarian somehow instilled in her despite having held his position just a few months prior. After checking the throne room, kitchen, and lounge, Twilight headed to the bedrooms and knocked on Spike’s door. “Come in!” Twilight pushed the door open to find Spike in the middle of writing out something on his little desk. He looked up and gave her the biggest smile. “Twilight! Hey, I’ve been talking with Celestia about figuring out how to use my fire to send to different ponies. How is Rainbow?” “Oh, she’s fine. She gets herself into the hospital all the time anyway, it’s not like this is any worse than the time she tried to do a sonic rainboom backwards,” Twilight sighed. Spike shrugged and sat back down, as Twilight sat next to him. “Well, I’m glad she’s okay, but you look like you’ve got something else on your mind,” Spike said as he finished his letter and then sent it in a swirl of green flame. Twilight got a piece of parchment from his stack, and started writing out a letter herself. “Well, I’m still helping Rainbow, and it seems like we need to make a mold for the sword, to pour the molten metal into you know? Well, I can’t find a book that has instructions on this, so I’m going to send a letter to the princesses asking how to best design one.” Spike chuckled as he watched her write. “Sounds fun. Also sounds dangerous. I’m surprised that she didn’t ask me for help. After all, if I can bathe in lava, I don’t think some molten metal would be much of a problem.” “Hehe, yeah, I…” Twilight stopped writing as she actually considered the idea. “You know, Spike… Would you want to help out?” “Sure! Listen, this whole thing with Celestia and my fire breath, it’s fun but I really need to get out of the castle,” he insisted. “I’m starting to drool when I look at the walls, and that’s not good.” Twilight gave him a hug, before rolling up her letter and sealing it. Spike sent it off and she looked at the clock on the wall. “Tell you what, Spike. Let’s go get some lunch. I’m sure we will get a letter back by dinner, and then I can go get Rainbow released from the hospital.” She paused and smiled. “If she’s been behaving herself.” Spike laughed, and they left the castle to get some well overdue food. Meanwhile, Rainbow was enjoying herself at the hospital. “No way, broken wing is totally worse.” The unicorn in bed next to her rolled his eyes and gestured at the cast on his forehead. “This hurts every time I think.” Rainbow just scoffed and crossed her forelegs, ignoring the bit of pain from the bandages shifting over raw skin. “Broken wing hurts every time you breathe. I can go a whole day without thinking, but just you try to go a few minutes without breathing.” The unicorn chuckled, covering his mouth as Rainbow realized what she said and started to snicker at herself. “Hey, at least I’ll be fine if I ever break my horn,” she joked. “Well yeah, aren’t all of you element bearers going to go all… Princess-y eventually anyway?” he asked. Rainbow stuck her tongue out and shuddered. “I hope not. No offense to Twilight but I do not need that extra stress and bulk. Have you seen how big she’s gotten?” “Yeah, but Celestia’s bigger and noone thinks that’s anything less than beautiful,” he replied. Rainbow shook her head. “No thanks. I like being me. Sleek, fast, and awesome. I don’t need fluffier wings and a horn to know I’m the best.” The stallion looked her over and nodded before settling back in. “You should be an inspiration speaker.” She tossed a pillow at his stomach. “Never. That’s the most boring thing I could imagine. I bet--” She stopped as a sealed package of jello bounced off her head. She turned to look at him with a wicked smile. “Oh, you wanna play?” “Eight hundred and seventy bits worth of damage, Rainbow? Seriously? I can’t cover all of your expenses if you keep doing this,” Twilight said as she followed the ground bound pegasus on their way towards the castle. Rainbow just snorted. “I already paid, I just wanted you to see the bill. Come on, I want to see what the princesses said.” The entryway was less packed than it had been earlier in the day, but there were still plenty of ponies to gawk at the two as they crossed the atrium and headed upstairs. Spike was waiting for them in their sitting room with two scrolls. He was busy reading one, but held out the other to them as they sat down. “Okay, let’s see how they can help,” Twilight mumbled as she unrolled it. Instead of a letter, the scroll was a diagram with various details. A sword mold made of artificial sandstone, with a few strategically placed holes to let air escape. Rainbow leaned over to get a better view as her smile grew progressively wider. “Awesome.”
Chapter 4. PlasmaThey didn’t bother to form the cloud first, wanting to set up the stack of mold and material first. Spike helped hold the mold vertical while rocks were stacked around it to hold it in place. Sand was poured onto the pile to fill in the cracks and offer a base on which the bundle of metal rods was stood, the bottom of the bundle just touching the top of the mold, so it would theoretically pour directly in. Examining the whole thing, Twilight looked over to the small hole where Rainbow had put her gear, and shook her head. “You’re moving.” Immediately, Rainbow crossed her forelegs in a huff. “I am not.” “Yes you are! You don’t need to be so close, since the mold should capture the metal. In fact, we won’t even be approaching the pile until several minutes later. You should be over there.” As she pointed at a rock outcropping a good hundred pony lengths away, Rainbow growled. “Fine. But I’m going to be watching. No boring hunkering down if I’ve got to be that far away from the action.” She started moving her things as Twilight checked the pile for the third time, adding a few rocks to steady the rods. Spike brought over some planks of wood that they then put against the sloping side of the pile to keep any of it from shifting. “Happy?” Twilight looked back at where Rainbow was, peeking over the distant stones. “Very!” She replied as she flew over to her. “So tomorrow, we can make our attempt, try it again. Okay?” Rainbow pumped her hooves in victory. “Yes yes yes! I’ll see you then, Twi! I’ve got some things to take care of.” With that, she zipped off, and Twilight winged her way back home with Spike on her back. “It’s almost done. Tomorrow we will actually make the sword.” Silence, and Rainbow shifted slightly in her seat, looking out of the window at the moon, gauging in one look what time it was, the atmosphere’s moisture content, even getting a bit of insight on the winds from the tree tops. “Come on, I came all this way to let you know what’s up, I’m going to be running on barely any sleep, you can at least let me know if this will work.” A sigh, and a shape shifting in the darkness of the isolated home, all the lights doused. “Yeah… Yeah, it’ll work, it’s… Heck, this might be just as good a weapon as the original. You said that it was going to have lightning in it? How is that accomplished?” Rainbow shrugged, smiling a little. “Don’t ask me, Doo. I’m not the unicorn. Twilight said that she could make it ‘receptive to atmospheric energy’ during the melting process, I’m guessing that means there’s gonna be lighting in it. But will it work? I don’t want to make you a dud weapon.” Daring doo leaned forward, the moonlight catching the side of her face and showing her mane a mirror match for Rainbow’s, a bottle of light blue coat dye next to her on the table. “Yeah. It’ll work, and Dr. Caballeron will think that I’ve really retired, and make his final mistake in underestimating ‘you.’” Rainbow nodded firmly and bumped hooves with Daring, grinning. “Just make sure to stay awesome while you’re using my name. If anybody can live up to the legend that is me, I’m sure it’s you.”
Chapter 5. The end.“We know you are here, Doo. To not even move after our last encounter, you must surely be a fool. I apologize, should I call you by your real name, Yearling?” The laugh echoed in the mostly empty house, as Dr. Caballeron and his four henchponies strode through the living room. “You fell for that?” a quiet but roughly feminine voice said from the top of the stairs that led up. “Daring Doo thought for sure you’d figure it out.” Dr. Caballeron paused, and looked up. In the shadows, rainbow colored hair was barely visible. “See, Daring is dead,” the figure said bitterly and angrily. “But she knew you’d come for me. I just thought you were smarter than that. You never thought why I was with her after your first attack here? You never wondered why I was at the conference with her?” Slowly, she stood and began walking down the stairs, glaring at Dr. Caballeron. “Rainbow… Dash?” Caballeron said uncertainly. “We know of you as Element of Harmony,” he said more firmly. “Not a writer.” “Oh no, of course not,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “Because publishing an adventure book under my actual name about one of my friends would totally not be suspicious,” she said before laughing, spreading her wings. “Now, either get the hell out of my house, or get ready for an Element of Loyalty flank whooping.” The henchponies exchanged uncertain looks, but Dr. Caballeron narrowed his eyes. “You are the writer, and Daring has passed away? If this is true, where has she been buried?” Rainbow laughed, shaking her head. “Why would I know? I wasn’t even told about her funeral! I’m not family, just a friend, and she was in Canterlot when she passed away.” “How did she die?” “Cancer. Probably not helped by your stress inducing escapades, she’d been hiding it for months.” Dr. Caballeron hesitated but he nodded his head slowly. “The last time we fought, she seemed tired… Coughing before we’d even traded blows, and her coat looked thin… Damn it, damn it all. Well, regardless of my nemesis's fate, I am in search of a sword. I believe that she may have left it here, so I will now search your home to find it. Get out of our way.” “No,” Rainbow said simply. “Because the last thing she wanted in the world was for me to get that sword to the Canterlot Royal Vault safely, and I will not let her last wishes be in vain.” “Well that tells me two things,” Caballeron said casually. “First, that it is in this home, and secondly, that you are a fool.” “What?!” Rainbow squeaked, suddenly uncertain as the five stallions all started stalking towards her. The pegasus flew backward up the stairs with a yelp, before two of the henchponies charged up the stairs. They descended again rather quickly as a wooden log was launched down the stairs, ripping a hole through the wall and slamming into the ground outside, barely missing the two stallions who had flung themselves over the railing and onto the bottom floor with painful thuds. “Come on, boys. You can’t give up that easily,” Rainbow taunted from upstairs. One of the henchponies charged up the stairs, shouting angrily before there was a loud crack and a few quick smacks before he came tumbling back down. “The sword must be upstairs,” Caballeron said angrily. “Go, go! She cannot get you all at once!” The two uninjured henchponies charged up the stairs, but as Dr. Caballeron was about to join them and the sounds of combat began, there was a cough from the door. “Catch you at a bad time?” He turned, to see Rainbow Dash at the door, sitting back on her haunches as she drew an ornate sword from it’s scabbard, crackling with electrical energy. “What, but… Who…” The bad doctor didn’t have much time to react to the duplicate pegasus, as she slashed out at him with the sword, forcing him to dart backward as a henchpony tumbled down the stairs, hitting the landing hard enough to knock him out while the two ponies that had tossed themselves off the stairs earlier struggled to stand before backing away from Rainbow. “Hey! Sorry I’m late!” she shouted with a grin. There was a groan from upstairs before the fourth hench pony was tossed unceremoniously out of a window to crash into the ground outside. The other Rainbow poked her head down the stairs at her twin. “Dash.” “Rainbow,” the newcomer said with a smirk. “Come on, these guys giving you trouble? We’ll have them tied up and in chains in ten seconds flat.” “Is it that you can’t come up with new catch-phrases, or is it that you think reusing them indefinitely is somehow okay?” the one at the top of the stairs groaned. “Hey! My catchphrases are awesome! You’re the writer, you give me some better ones.” “Well… I… later, we need to take care of them.” Both of them returned their focus to the three remaining confused stallions. “Ladies, I believe that we may have a misunderstanding. I came here for that sword, and will happily leave if I have it,” Dr. Caballeron said as his hoof edged under his coat towards his holster. “Oh, well that seems reasonable,” Dash said with a smile, twirling the sword. “No it doesn’t. Daring Doo’s last wishes were to have that sword safely in the vault in Canterlot,” Rainbow replied, shaking her head. “Then I suppose we must do this the difficult way,” Caballeron said as his hoof found his pistol. He pulled the pistol and took aim, only for the sword to slam into the metal barrel, knocking the gun to the side before the rainbow-maned mare spun on her hind hoof and brought the flat of the blade in a wide arc before thudding into the stallion’s head and sending him to the floor, groaning. “Woah. I didn’t think you had it in you, sis,” the other pegasus said, still standing by the door. “Sis?” Dash mouthed silently with a raised eyebrow, looking back at Rainbow. She shrugged, and Dash rolled her eyes before looking back at Caballeron. But in her moment of inattention, he sprung up and kicked her in the side of the head, before kicking out at her hoof, knocking the sword to the ground where it clattered over next to one of the still conscious henchponies, who snatched it up just in time to block a hoof from the mare not fighting Caballeron. The battle became an uncertain frenzy as the two henchponies fought a retreating battle against Rainbow, and Dr. Caballeron used his skill and trickery to put Dash on the defense. Gradually, the two combats worked in an orbit around eachother. Abruptly, Caballeron tossed his coat off at Dash, forcing her to take to the air as he lept on Rainbow, striking her three times in rapid succession while she did her best to defend herself. Once she was somewhat pushed back, the three stallions took off at a gallop out of the front door with the sword. The two spectral-maned pegusi slumped to the floor, taking a moment to catch their breath as the two remaining henchponies groaned from where they were on the floor and dirt outside. “I can fly faster than you can run. Stay down, and we’ll be nice, not mentioning the violence to the cops.” Two sorrowful whimpers responded, and the twins grinned a bit. Slowly, Rainbow chuckled, before letting out a full laugh. “Oh, ow. Ow, laughing hurts.” Before long, they had both the stallions tied up and secure in the upstairs bedroom, while they relaxed downstairs waiting for the police to arrive at Daring’s remote cabin. “So, you never explained why it was so important he get a fake,” Rainbow Dash said quietly as she laid herself out on Daring’s couch. Daring kept the disguise on, though to any of Rainbow Dash’s friends it would be easy to tell she wasn’t their friend. Her eyes were a slightly darker maroon, compared to Dash’s ruby eyes. “The original is more than a weapon, it’s… A ritual keystone,” Daring said with a yawn as she poured herself some water and sat nearby. “I don’t give two feathers if Dr. caballeron is making money. I don’t care, to be honest. What I do care about is the risk of his employers getting their hands, claws, or slimy tentacles on things that could spell trouble for our world.” “Ritual… Faking your death and manufacturing a legendary weapon is a long way to go to prevent a single ritual from taking place,” Rainbow pointed out. “What kind of ritual?” “The kind of ritual that calls down the Nightmare to take over a host,” Daring said darkly. “The type of ritual that required pony sacrifices.” The dark room was lit only by the light from a single unicorn, who was holding a cloth wrapped sword carefully, and wearing pure black robes. Around her, five other ponies worked in the darkness of the long undisturbed tomb, arranging the artifacts that she had painstakingly assembled. Arcane symbols were carved into the stone where dust and grime had obscured the originals, and four candles were lit, so the mare could drop the light of her horn. She gently removed the cloth from the gleaming sword, and stepped up onto the alter. Gesturing to an earth pony mare, she had the other lay down on the altar as the unicorn rose up on her hind legs, holding the sword with the point down towards the earth pony’s barrel. “In the darkest night of this year, in the deepest tomb of the fallen warriors of the Lunar army, in the humble robes of the Lunar priestess, I call upon our willing sacrifice, to bring to life the Nightmare in her heart. To have her reborn in darkness, to reclaim the world. She drove the point down, and it pierced the mare, who let out a scream that shook dust from the ceiling. The six ponies waited, but no darkness poured from the shadows. No manifestation of evil claimed her body. The earth pony mare sobbed, and they all realized the blade had just cut into her rib and glanced to the side. It was a painful wound but she would certainly live. Someone cleared their throat, and the six all looked towards the tomb’s entrance. Sitting there as though she was sitting in an office, concerned about having disturbed an important meeting, Princess luna sipped a disposable cup of coffee before smiling around at them all. “You called?”
