Fading Rainbow

by aliphoenix

Rating: everyone
Tags: Dark, Adventure, Tragedy
Length: 3799

When one pony returns to her place, Equestria will change forever.

Twilight Sparkle is Princess Celestia's faithful student. She's never doubted her.

Until now.

Equestria is falling down, and only one pony can change it all.

—————————————————————

This is NOT a story about Rainbow Dash. The "Rainbow" in the title refers to another pony. Just if you wanted to know.

The main character in this fanfiction is not a Pegasus. The names are a coincidence.

Improved cover art will be loaded shortly. This one is a placeholder.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-06-05 04:00:18 UTC

Prolouge: Bitter

3 alicorns tumbled out of the room.

"Rainbowshine! Celestia! Luna!  It's Second Hour, if you three want to go to Miss Moon's party, stop playing!"  the alicorn's mother shouted from the other end of the palace.

Rainbowshine, the oldest, followed by Celestia, the middle sister, concluded by Luna, the youngest, quickly ran to the chariot outside.  Gasping for breath,  Rainbowshine levitated herself and her sisters into the chariot.

"Go, Mirror Edge!  Run to 2nd House on Nighttime Street!"  Rainbowshine shouted at the stallion pulling the chariot.  The chariot moved forward.

"Okay, Tia and Lun, did you guys bring gifts?  If you didn't ... I'll teleport my childhood doll into the chariot."  Rainbowshine asked her sisters.

"You're supposed to get gifts for me because I'm gonna be the Queen when I grow up and you both will be kicked out of the palace!"  Celestia answered.

"Celestia!  Don't say that kind of thing, it's mean!"  Rainbowshine remarked.

"I don't care, servant."

Rainbowshine hoof-smacked her face.  "Ugh..."

Luna reached in her pocket and pulled out a small stuffed penguin.

"Good, Lun."  Rainbowshine picked up the tiny Luna and put the small alicorn on her lap.

"Get her off!  I don't like that,"  Celestia shouted at Rainbowshine.

"Celestia!", Rainbowshine shouted.

"Big deal, Rainbowpoo,"  Celestia said in a mocking tone, directing a murderous glare at Rainbowshine.  "My parents never will get mad at me.  I'm the next Queen."

Ignore, Rainbowshine, ignore that brat.  She's not going to become Queen anyway.  Rainbowshine reminded herself.  She sighed.  Coronation Day was in three weeks.  On Coronation Day, 1 or 2 of the current royal couple's foals were picked to succeed their parents.  To prove their worthiness, the succession had to lift the sun and the moon at the same time.  It was a really big date, but Rainbowshine reminded herself about the present.

She thrust her magic through the fabric of MST (Magic-Space-Time) that constructed all matter and tightened her own magic on her childhood doll and carried through MST to teleport it onto Luna's back.  The small toy quickly slid off Luna's back and fell into a net of Rainbowshine's magic.  Using a spool of ribbon that she had teleported from the palace, she wrapped the doll with a bow-knot, then thrusted it upon Luna's back again.  Luna picked it up with her magic and threw it on Rainbowshine's face.  The doll slid off her face and rested upon Luna's back again.  Luna and Rainbowshine smiled at each other.

"Miss Rainbowshine, Miss Celestia, and Miss Luna,  we have arrived at your destination.  Would you like me to escort you to the gates and carry your luggage?"  Mirror Edge asked the three.

"Sure...thanks." Rainbowshine replied as she gingerly levitated all three of them out of the chariot.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Celestia walk to the gates with her head held high, like one of those snob city elites.

"You do not have to thank me, miss." Mirror Edge answered.  Rainbowshine nodded, and Mirror Edge picked up their gifts and walked with Rainbowshine and Luna to the fancy iron gates, bowing as he turned back to the chariot.

Rainbowshine stepped into the luxurious mansion garden.

Three weeks later...

Dear Diary,

I GOT PICKED AS ONE OF MOM AND DAD'S SUCCESSORS TODAY!  THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!

Let me tell you what happened today:

So I got up and put on  my fanciest dress.  I took an extra long shower and "prepped" Luna's magic and my magic.  And then I put a dash of perfume on and I bolted down to the Outdoor Palace Hall, sitting in this area called "Backstage".

Then Mom silenced the crowd of ponies and she did a little short speech:

"Hello, everypony!  It is great to have you all come to such an occasion today, because our minds are starting to falter.  We need new rulers to give Equestria the BEST!  So today we have picked the extraordinary foals that are going to lead are country in a hundred years!"

"We welcome... Luna!"

Timid, cute Luna stumbled on the stage and yelled,"I AM GOING TO RAISE THE SUN TO SHOW I-I'M READY FOR THIS!!!!"

Her magic falters, but soon we see a ball of red rise from the east.  Luna did it!  Yay!  I feel so happy for her as I hope Mom and Dad picked me as Luna's princess assistant.

"And we welcome Rainbowshine, her assistant!"

YYYYYEEESSSS!!!!!!!  I gallop onto the stage, hold my head high and boom,"AND I AM GOING TO RAISE THE MOON!"

I hold the sun steady as I reach for the moon.  No one except the royal family know:  the Moon and Sun are sentient beings.  I whisper to the moon, "It's Coronation Day!  Go join your brother up there in the sky!".

The Moon replies,"Okay..."

Then I pull the moon up with all my force and it pops in on the east.

I did it!

Then we have a big party all day.  SOO FUN!  I danced to music, ate cake until I felt like I would explode and then I teleported all the party supplies in various places on the patio and I had SO MUCH FUN! Today was PERFECT!!!!!

Wish me well on my princessdom!

-- Rainbowshine

Rainbowshine lifts her pen off the paper.

As she crawled into bed, she felt a strange tickling on her neck.  Looking down, she gasped.  A knife, held steady by Celestia's magic, prepared to cut into her throat.

Rainbowshine let out a bloodcurdling scream, teleporting away, never to be seen again in 4500 years.

Chapter 1: An Unexpected Visitor

So today was an ordinary day.  I woke up, took my shower, and fell through the sidewalk on my attempt to reach the grocery store.

That was a first.

I had smashed my beautiful face on some sort of giant crystal-thingy.  It hurts.

I just sat there, doing nothing, beautiful smashed face and all.  After sitting there for about fifteen minutes, a small voice crept into the silent nothingness of my current situation.

"Princess Celestia?  Is that you?"

I tried to say "not", but it didn't work.  My name is not "Celestee", it's "Rainbowshine".  I am also not a "princess".  I wonder how smart the owner of this voice is.

"My god!  Princess Celestia, what has happened to you?"

I try to say "not" again, but it comes out as a muffled groan.

"Oh, let me help you, dear!"

I feel myself being picked up - though I felt no hands on my - hoof!?

Where did this hoof come from?

"Princess Celestia?  Why is your mane...different?"

I don't have a mane.

Or do I...?  I already have a hoof, so why would I not have a mane?  Am I a horse?

Lifting my head up,  I see a small white unicorn looking at me with eyes of concern.  She has a very curled purple mane, and three cute little blue diamonds on her flank.

I wonder if she made this thing.  After all, she likes diamonds so much she glued them to her flank.

"H-hello?"  I stammer.

"Oh my!  Your face has been hurt badly! I must tell Twilight about this instantly!"  She hurries off, still holding me in this very funny blue flowing thingy.

Hmmm...  I ponder about this.  Am I unconscious?  Well, I don't think so, because I wouldn't be having random pony dreams if I was unconscious.  What if this is a simulation?  But I don't think those tech geeks had that advanced technology to make this.  Wouldn't they also ask for consent?  This place is really funny.  And what's " Twilight"?

The white unicorn returns with a purple alicorn with a six-sided pink star glued onto her flank. She has a dark purple mane with magenta and pink stripes on it, with bangs hanging over her face. The purple one should be "Twilight".  I wonder if those thingies glued onto their flanks are fashionable - why else would they do that to their poor little flanks?

"Who are you?" the purple one asks.

"I'm Rainbowshine.  What's your name?"

She ignores my question.  How rude.  "Why are you here?"

"Because I went grocery shopping and then I fell through my sidewalk and smashed my face here."

"Are you an imposter?"

"No."

"Why would I believe you?"

Wow, this feels like interrogation, "Twilight".  "Because I haven't done anything to you yet and I plan to make my way home."  I mouthed the word "soon".

"And my face really, really hurts."

Her expression softens as she makes a small first-aid kit appear out of nowhere, her horn covered in a pink version of the blue flowy thingy surrounding me.

"Well, I guess I could get your face fixed up a bit here."  The first-aid kit is surround by the pink flowy thingy.

As she works with some bandages, wrapping them around my bloodstained face, the white unicorn yells "SPIKE!!!  BE A DEAR AND GET MY FAVORITE SNOWBOOTS READY!"

Who's "Spike"?  Maybe he's like ... another unicorn, I guess?

"Spike" turns out to be a small light purple dragon, and he's wingless.  He's carrying four small blue, diamond-adorned boots, but he drops them as soon he sees my bandaged-up face.

"Who-who's that?"

"An unexpected visitor.  Her name is Rainbowshine.  We need to take her to Nurse Redheart's to get her face fixed up because she smashed it on the floor rather badly.  Shall we go, Twilight?"

"Twilight" finishes with the bandages, wrapping the last one on top of my muzzle.  Agh, I'm a horse.  I wonder if "Nurse Redheart"  is a horse or a dragon.  What if she's a cross between a horse and a dragon?  I shiver as I picture a demented, monsteruque creature, staring down at me with bloodstained fangs.

"Uh...what's your name again?"  I ask "Twilight".

"It's Twilight Sparkle."

"What's your name, uh...white ... unicorn horsey?"  I ask the white unicorn.

She looks annoyed, but she replies "I'm Rarity."

"No offense, but why did Rarity glue three blue diamonds onto her flank and Twilight glue a six-sided star onto hers?"

The previously nervous-looking Spike falls down laughing.  "Uh...they're cutie marks and they appear naturally - laugh - when a pony finds their special talent."

"You have one too, dear," Rarity points to my "flank".  I notice a pink six-star identical to Twilight's.

"Isn't that my cutie mark?"  Twilight asks, her face looking confused and disgusted at the same time.

"Well, you have little six-stars around yours, and mine has five sparks.  I don't even know what that means."  I tell her.  Yay, I was sad that we might have the same talent.

"Good to know."  Twilight eyes me suspiciously.

"Can we go now?"  The presence of weird unicorns, alicorns, and dragoa, was making me very nervous.  After all, they were three things here, but at Nurse Redheart's there was only Nurse Redheart.  Maybe she would know how to get me back on that sidewalk.

I find myself walking with four legs easy.  I don't know...it seems like some sort of distant memory to walk like this.  How do I know why I have that?

Chapter 2: A Doctor Appointment

Chapter 2: A Doctor Appointment

Hi.  My name is Nurse Redheart.

So today began the normal way - a couple pony pox, a feather flu.  Thunderlane got the feather flu!  He's in the intensive-care ward.  His case is pretty bad.

An hour after Sunhigh, I began my afternoon shift.  It ends when Luna raises the moon.

Another pony pox from Derpy Hooves (pony pox is one of the most contagious diseases known to ponies, especially because it can target all three kinds of ponies), and then I saw Twilight walk around the corner, just outside my window.  Twilight?  She never will get sick because she's an alicorn.  Oh no, is one her friends hurt?

"My goodness Twilight!  How extraordinary of you to drop by!  Is there anything I need to do?"  I ask her when she opens the door.  She rarely comes here, even more rarely now.  No sight of Pinkie.  Good.  She's the last pony I want to see in my office, because she has thrown 102 surprise parties around the hospital already.  Disturbs my work.

"Yea..."  She looks at the door, when Rarity and then ... wow.  A huge alicorn outranking even Princess Celestia herself in size, stumbles in. She even has the flowing tail and mane.  She has a white coat and a rainbow gradient mane and tail, and a cutie mark very similar to Twilight's.  I wonder if she has the cutie pox ... wait, they're different.  Good.

"That's Rainbowshine.  She fell into my castle today and smashed her face on the crystal floor."

Someone larger than Princess Celestia herself!  She has a bloody face poorly wrapped with bandages.  I must admit Twilight's handiwork was not very good.  She's not the type that is very good at medical work.

She says, "Hi."

The only thing that you would logically say is "hi".  Once, I had done an experiment on that.  It destroyed part of my reputation.  "Hi."  I reply.

"Where does it hurt the most?"

"Muzzle...miss?" She points to her muzzle with a hoof, and then falls over because she has bad balance similar to a toddler-foal.  I help her up.She should be able to balance okay, for a mare of her age.

"Well, I'll have Sharp Ray over at the X-Ray station, room 204, and Twilight, you can show her the way, right?"

"Yep, Nurse.  Rainbowshine...want to go?"

The X-Ray results come back.  Her bone's not broken.  It's probably bruised.  I walk over to my medicine table and fish out a bottle of morphine pills, writing: "TAKE BY MOUTH TWO TIMES A DAY.  NO REFILLS.  REST WELL."  on the prescription sheet.  Then I stick it on the bottle, place it in a paper bag, and call through the intercom,"Will Twilight Sparkle and Rainbowshine come to Room 2.  Will Twilight Sparkle and Rainbowshine come to Room 2."  I plop down on my chair.  It was a chair from my great-great-great-great-grandmother passed down; all the way to me.

Five minutes later, Twilight knocks on the door.

"Come in, Twilight."

Twilight opens the door.  I nod, and she picks up the bag with the bottle with her magic.

"Thanks, Nurse Redheart."

"Your welcome, Twilight."

She leaves. No sight of that extraordinary mare.

"A-achoo!"  From the sounds of it, it's the pony pox sneeze.

I hate the pony pox.

Chapter 3: A Single Spell

"Why are you reading History of Equestria, Twilight?  I thought you wanted to go see that Star Swirl the Bearded book that just got on the markerts.  Didn't you want to read that one?"

I look up.  Spike is watching me with a confused expression.  Sighing as I set the book down, I said, "I thought since Rainbowshine's an alicorn with the ethereal mane and tail and all, I thought I could look up the history books.  Nothing here.  I have no idea where's she's from."

"She did tell me the first memory she has was as a human, fully grown, on Mr.  Tist's front lawn."

"Fully grown!? And who's Mr. Tist?"

"No idea.  But don't you think that's weird?"

"Yea.  I keep wondering if she's faking it.  She walks pretty normally, other than that time she almost smashed her face again on Nurse Redheart's room."

"If I was a secret agent, I probably wouldn't smash my face on the floor.  Too painful.  Yea, I agree about that walking thing.  If she really is from the other world, why didn't she try to walk on her hind legs?"

"But she could just be lying about that.  She's not Applejack for sure."

"TWILIGHT!  WHO'S THAT ... GIANT ALICORN THINGY?"

"Hi ... I have no idea, Rainbow."  Rainbow Dash was staring at melike half of the castle had blown up and sprouted black crystals or the Elements exploded or something.

"I was talking to Twilight about Rainbowshine.  Not the Rainbowshine that's a Pegasus, but the giant ... alicorn thingy."

"What is she's spying on us? It's time for an ... interrogation!"  She dramatically put on a pair of sunglasses and sped off to the guest room.  She's the dramatic kind of pony.

"Well, I guess we have to follow her.  If she tried something bad..."

"Then let's go.  You know how fast Rainbow is."

I galloped to her room and heard muffled voices - one low (Rainbow Dash) and one frightened(Rainbowshine).

I listened.

"I'm not taking that you just forgot everything."

"I did!"

There was a sound of a chair breaking, an explosion, and then dust seeped out of the room.  I coughed.

Rainbowshine face, now smaller than it used to be, stared out of the crack and saw me.

"Uh, h-hello ..."

"Hi, Rainbowshine."

"Could I help you?  I mean, I don't know who this rogue horse is, and I do have to clean up the room."

I walked in.  The room was in a mess.  Pieces of wood and crystal slices were thrown across the room.  Blood was on the wall.  "What happened?"

"Blue hor - pony came in.  She asked me these weird questions and I felt my horn get warm and ... yea."  She waved her hoof on the floor, fell down and pointed to the wall.  "Mine, from my face,"  She stood up again and levitated Rainbow Dash up.  "I'm getting better at it.  Now I can lift stuff and teleport.  Is that normal?"

"Most ponies can't do teleportation.   I wanted to ask you if you could let me cast a spell so I can enter your mindscape."

"What's my mindscape?"

"It's like ... it's hard to explain, but it's basically where your memories, dreams, and thoughts live."

"Oh.  So you could see my memories and stuff like that?"

"Yea.  I can also see what you're thinking.  I won't do anything bad, just take a look.  Is that okay?"

"Okay?"

"That's good."

Now, I lit up my horn, teleported Rainbow Dash to her bad, and started the mindscape spell....

Her mindscape's really small. I feel a little bit claustrophobic, like the walls are closing in.

"Twilight, are you okay?"

With a nod, I tell her the news.  "I think part of your memories has been cut off,"

"By a amnesia spell."

She forces a weak smile and asks, with terror in her voice, "You c-can reverse it, r-right?"

"Of course!  It's actually not that hard - I do the spell, you sleep for one night, you wake up, and your memories are back.  It's not a hard spell at all.  I did it five times on each of my friends once, but it was a little different because Discord used a different version of the spell.  I'm sure it will go perfectly fine."

Rainbowshine's face lights up, and her mindscape is filled with lots of rainbows.

"I'm going to start now."

Her eyes turn slightly nervous, but she nods.

I exit her mindscape, reversing to reality, and then I fire up my horn - again.

Let's do this.

Chapter 4: Expectations

Celestia,  I need you ...

Come back please, oh ...

When you come back I'll be so happy,

I'll glow.

My back itches.  Why does my back itch?  I was sleeping on a large bed in Twilight's Castle, right?

I open my eyes.  No.  NO.  She hasn't changed.  It's been 2000 years and she hasn't changed.  Why did she become a careless snob in the first place?  She used to be the best.  Now I am.

The black iron bars are in front of me, telling me the bitter truth.  She hasn't changed ... yet.

Well, at least I should.  I apply myself a little stretch spell.  Good.  Now it's time to get the magic limitor off my neck.  My favorite's the icebeam spell, so I use that and shoot at some of the hay across me.  It freezes as the limitor plunges into it, torn off my neck by the sheer force of the blast.  I'm confused.  Usually these limitors are stronger.

"Get her!"

Some guards are running toward my cell.  Concentrate.

The wind blows across my face, and the castle is about 56 hooves away from me.  I make out the images of guards hollering at the balcony.

Three magical signatures I don't know are racing toward me.  Pegasi magic.  I turn around and see them.  They stop, take a metal spear and throw it at me, magical signatures of more ponies are embedded in them.  Following Spears.

I conjure a magical shield charged with chaos magic to overcharge the following charm on the spears and as they hit them, they shoot at the ground.  I teleport them into a lake.  Don't want them shooting innocent ponies.

The guards now race at me, eyes glittering with malice.  Gosh.  Do they want to kill me?

I shoot a levitating icebeam at their wings and they are suspended in midair.  Now I realize they don't have horns.  Maybe they got cut off.  I feel sorry for them.  I wish I could give them horns, but I really don't have time.  I need to talk with Celestia.

Throne room, throne room, there.  I teleport.

I see the figures of Celestia and Twilight talking.  Twilight notices me.  "You're back!"  Her voice is filled with relief.  Celestia, on the other hand, shouts, "GET OUT OF HERE!"

"WHY? YOU'RE GOING TO BANISH YOUR OWN SISTER!?"

"You two are sisters?"

"Of course she's my sister, Twilight.  Murderous brat though."

I feel the hate.  "YOU'RE THE MURDEROUS BRAT!  YOU TOOK LUNA, YOU KILLED MOM AND DAD, AND YOU BLAME IT ON ME!  WHERE'S THE REAL YOU?"

Twilight looks confused.  "You had parents!?"

"Of course I had parents!"  I shout.  "She" - I pointed to Celestia - "killed both of them!"

Twilight looks hurt.  With tears in her eyes, she says, "But the Princess Celestia I know wouldn't do that!  You got the wrong pony!"

"She murdered them, Twilight, and I stopped her in time from murdering Luna!"

"I didn't!"  I stepped forward and looked Celestia in the eye, lit my horn and said in a calm, serious tone: "Where is the real Celestia?"

Her eye expression flickered from loathing to a pleading sort of look as she said, "Help!  He got me, I can't, I ca -", and then it changed back to loathing, as if two souls were wrestling and one momentarily got the body but then the second took control again, as she said, from the same mouth, "Get out.  If I see you in Equestria again, I will kill you too.  Don't worry about Luna.  She's under my control and you can't do anything."

"If that's the way you think you should treat your older sister, be it."  I teleported away and changed into a pony missing a pair of wings.  The ponies here are missing wings, horn, or both, so I will blend in.  I made myself small and blue, with curly pink hair and a pair of slippers for a cutie mark.  I stepped out of the bush, walked for five minutes, and asked a purple pony with flowers for a cutie mark, 'Where's Twilight's Castle?"

"Over there down in Friendship Rd."

"Thank you, Mrs..."

"Cheerilee.  You're welcome."

I found Friendship Rd.  fifteen minuted later and knocked on the door of the castle.  A pink head popped out.  She gasped, then she closed the door.  I sighed, then I knocked again.  The same head popped out and said, "You're new!  I'm going to throw you a Welcome to Ponyville party!"  Then she closed it again.

I don't need the attention of a party.  I need to explain everything to Twilight.  When she gets back.

I teleport into my bed and hide under it and drift off to sleep.

Chapter 5: My Heart Is Bleeding

I can't believe it.  The memories.  They come back to me.  A knife on her throat.  Now it all made sense.

Princess Celestia, the pony she loved most, tried to murder her own sister.

Images of Princess Celestia, kind, benevolent, murderer come to me.

I sob.  I cry.  I kick.  I scream.  I've been like this for days and my friends come visit me every day.  Rainbowshine does too.  I told them yesterday, and they were so surprised.

How is it possible?

I feel like my heart is bleeding.

I launch into another round of sobbing.

Chapter 6: A Relapse

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