The Devourer

Chapters

Ch. 1 - Thickening Clouds
Ch. 2 - The Gathering
Ch. 3 - Barred Inside
Ch. 4 - Look Homeward, Angels
Prologue - A Heart and a Name

Ch. 1 - Thickening Clouds

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
and with straight aeons even death may die.

H.P. Lovecraft, The Nameless City

Five days before the last sunrise

“I’m so happy it’s finally happening!”

“Me too,” he replied dreamily. His voice was shaking with excitement. “Me too. Even though I had to wait so long… it was worth it… if this is what comes out of it, every second of waiting was well worth it.”

She teared up. “I’m so sorry that I’ve been so blind. I couldn’t see that you’re such a wonderful, nice, charming and downright attractive dragon! You don’t deserve me! You hold so much love in your heart that it would be enough for every pony in Equestria!”

“But still, I have chosen you, Rarity.” He took her hoof in his claws.

“Spike, dearest, embrace me with your strong arms.”

His green eyes were sparkling as her perfect hair was fluttering around his forehead and cheeks. A gentle breeze caressed her perfectly kempt fur and the flaming sheen of the setting sun was drawing beautiful pictures on her body. The lush summer pastures were glowing on the beautiful hill where they had been hiding. The air was full of the gulden dust of dawn. Birds were chirping in the trees and the rustling of leaves filled their ears but in this moment the only sound that mattered were the sounds of their beating hearts.

It was the perfect moment. It was perfect for Spike and Rarity.

“Every gemstones pales in comparison to you, Rarity.”

“Oh Spike…”

“I’ve been seeing my whole life, but still I was blind before I met your beauty, my dearest Rarity.”

“Spike…”

“I love you, the most beautiful of them all.”

He pursed his lips to kiss his beloved.

“I would love for you to open your eyes.”

“They are open. You have opened them for me, my darling.”

“No, Spike. Really.” Now he noticed a shift in her voice. Immediately the perfect moment was blurring. “You should open your eyes and wake up for once.”

Somepony started to giggle and in this moment everything vanished: the light, the birds, the whispering… and Rarity. Her snow white fur and her sapphire blue eyes were darkening and her bouncy mane was straightened. The sky was approaching fast and marked by lines that started to form shelves full of books.

Twilight giggled again. “Slept well?”

Spike needed a few moments to realize that this had all been a dream. He rubbed his eyes when he suddenly realized that he had almost been about to kiss Twilight. Twilight, who just moments ago had been the pony of his dreams – in every sense of the word.

Spike winced and wiped his mouth. Embarrassed, he looked away from the violet pony and could feel the blood rushing through his flaky head. He cleared his throat. “Twilight! Twilight, I, uhm… well, I… good to see you’re finally awake… uhm… did you, did you sleep well?” The baby dragon kneaded his claws and avoided to look his counterpart in the eyes. The claws on his feet were digging into the cushions of his bed.

She raised an eyebrow and looked at Spike amused as well as sympathetic. Then, she tilted her head and grinned wholeheartedly. “What’s good is definitely that you didn’t kiss me, Spike.” She chuckled again.

“Yeah… about that… I would say we just forget that.”

He mumbled the last words so much that Twilight was hardly able to understand him. The unicorn shook her head in disbelief. Oh, Spike… she thought and rolled her eyes when she turned around and went down the stairs. “Just stand up, sleepyhead!” she called when she stepped on the first step.

Spike smote his forehead. “Always at the good parts,” he mumbled and yawned. Only now did Spike realize how tired he still was. He took a look at the clock and rubbed his eyes again because he still could only see fuzzily.

The clocked showed 08:03 a.m.

Let’s have breakfast, just eat something…

He got up, stretched and went downstairs too. With her back to Spike, Twilight was sitting at a table and reading a book while scribbling down a few notes. Spike cleared his throat again but Twilight didn’t react. He licked his lips but it was to no avail – they still were as dry as before. A little bit lost, he stood in the middle of the room and shifted his weight uncomfortably. Every now and then he opened his mouth without saying something. Bright sunlight streamed through the window and Spike could see dust particles spinning around in the rays of light. Somehow, Spike was yearning to be like a speck of dust: floating through the air, empty-headed, careless and free.

“Spike?”

He flinched.

“Please send this note.” She passed him a scroll. Without a word he took it and burned it with his magical flame after he had opened the window.

“Do you think she will answer this time?” he asked. His gaze was following the flying sparks of the message.

“I hope so,” Twilight said and turned her back to him once again. A trace of worry resonated in her voice. “I’m waiting for a message for two days now. The Princess never is late with her messages!”

“But why?” Spike closed the window now.

“Who knows… she’ll be very busy, don’t you think?”

“Or something happened to her.”

Twilight wheezed and looked over her shoulder. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said confidently. “Princess Celestia is the ruler of all Equestria! What in the hay could possibly happen to her?”

And what about Nightmare Moon? Spike thought, but didn’t voice his concerns.

“I’m sure there’s nothing wrong. And, to be honest, two days isn’t that much after all. You’ll see, this evening at the latest we will hear from her again. And there will be a logical explanation for this. There always is.” After a short pause she addressed her books again.

“Yes… you’re probably right.” He rubbed his arm and took two small steps forward. “Ah and I wanted to say, you know, because of what happened earlier…”

“What do you want to say?” she asked kindly.

“… did I talk in my sleep again? Did you hear a lot of what I was saying?” He bit his lips.

“Oh no, no!” she laughed. “Don’t you worry. I didn’t hear much at all, you just babbled the whole time. And now be a good assistant and get me Magical Mysteries and Practical Potions.”

“I’m on it!” Spike got up, pleased that he could be of service. He walked into the next room. “Ah, there it is… Magical Mysteries and and and and… oomph… argh… puh. I always forget how heavy this book is.”

“I am sure,” Twilight exclaimed, “that this is no problem for your strong arms!”

The next sound she heard was the hollow thud of a thick leather binding when Spike dropped the book.

“… Rarity will never find out about this, okay?” he asked after a few moments of silence.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Of course, Spike,” she assured him while he dragged the book to her. Without so much as looking at her he put the book on the table and sneaked upstairs. Suddenly he felt the overwhelming desire to bang his forehead against the wall. Again and again, until he had forgotten everything about this morning.

“Of course,” Twilight mumbled again, but no one could hear her in the otherwise empty room.

You’ll see, this evening at the latest we will hear from the Princess again.

She had yet to see how right she was with that assessment.

~ ~ ~

It was a warm and calm morning. The day promised to be hot – the blue sky was a deep ocean, the rising sun a lonely ship, the few fleecy clouds a sparkling spray. A few ponies were on the street, holding down their jobs or playing. But most of them were at breakfast or even still sleeping. The air was full of insects whirring and birds chirping. Sunlight was reflected in the windows, almost as bright as the sun itself.

Spike stretched himself. “I am so hungry,” he groaned.

“You’re right, we’re really late with breakfast,” Twilight answered, leaving the library after Spike and locking the door.

“I can’t even imagine why this took so long,” Spike retorted, not even bothering to hide the sarcasm.

“Well, Spike,” she began and started with her teaching voice as if she was in front of a class, “knowledge doesn’t come from nothing. The brain is like a muscle – if you don’t train it, it gets weaker and weaker every day.”

“Yeah yeah, something something,” Spike yawned bored.

“Even the ancient scholar Soar Graces once said: There is only one good for ponies: knowledge. And only one evil: ignorance.”

“But wasn’t this the same pony that said: The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing?”

While they talked they were walking along the streets. Around them voices rose and fell when foals played together or laughed out loud. Doors were opened and closed, pedestrians were crossing their path and gone the next instant.

“This is knowledge, Spike,” she said impatiently. “This is something you only learn after a life of studying. Many ponies are studying every day but aren’t any wiser at the end of each. Of course you don’t simply understand like that.”

“I didn’t say that I wouldn’t understand it!”

“Oh, so you do understand it?”

“Urgh… I can’t think with an empty stomach.”

Twilight wheezed. It felt good to get confirmation. But there was one thing she actually agreed on: her stomach was growling. “Okay, what do you want to eat?” she asked while she looked at the innocent plays of a group of foals.

“Creme cake would be awwwwesome!”

“Well then let’s – wait, what?” Twilight was struggling to get her thoughts In order. “You want to have cream cake for breakfast?”

Spike blinked at her. “What makes you think I would?” he finally asked after five seconds of silence. “You wanted the cream cake.”

“No. I would know if I did.”

“Well, I certainly didn’t say it.”

“Well, I did.”

Now it was Twilight’s turn to blink confused. She gazed up in the sky - where the voice was coming from. “What in the hay…”

“Ewww, Twilight, why would you want to eat hay when you can have a big greasy cream cake?”

Like an oversized party spider with only four legs Pinkie Pie rappelled down a balcony attached to a huge paper streamer.

Twilight raised an eyebrow while Spike was laughing at the sight of Pinkie Pie. “Why are you up there, Pinkie?” she asked even though she didn’t have much hope for a clear answer.

Her assumption was right: “I was lurking.”

She hesitated. “Well, that’s an alarming thought,” she finally replied and smiled precariously.

Pinkie Pie rappelled a little bit more until only a few inches were separating the ponies. Her eyes were wide open and her head tilted. With a wide grin, she showed all her teeth. Twilight could feel her warm breath on her mane. Seconds were passing. Pinkie was grinning. And staring. And staring. And grinning.

“I’m hanging here since yesterday.”

“You’re joking…”

“You took your time to finally come here!”

“So you want to tell me that you’re hanging here since Wednesday because you were waiting for us?”

“No,” party spider Pinkie replied. “It’s Tuesday.”

“Pinkie, it’s Thursday.”

Grinning. Staring.

Staring. Grinning.

“You’re just putting me on your hoof.”

“No, Pinkie. I’m serious.”

“You’re weird, Twilight!”

“I’m weird?” she asked with vigor. “You are the one who is clinging headfirst on a paper streamer!”

“I’m not clinging, silly. This would be way too tiring. Nono. I’m glued to the paper streamer. My newest invention.”

“In-vention?”

“Yessss.”

“So you’re…. Inventing… things?”

“Yes yes yes.”

Deep furrows appeared on the violet pony’s forehead when she raised her eyebrows. “Please tell me that’s not true.”

“Okay. It’s not true.”

Twilight drooped. And Pinkie grinned. And stared.

Stared. And grinned.

“Hey, Twilight!” she shouted enthusiastically. “What’s orange and sounds like a parrot?”

“Pinkie, I really don’t have time for your…”

“A carrot!” Pinkie snorted. “Funny that you don’t know that with all the books you’ve read. I mean, how likely is that? Maybe you didn’t read the books at all but just pretended to? Did you? Did you?”

Twilight made a long face.

“Hey Twilight. What about the cream cake now?”

Spike was answering before Twilight had the chance to. “Just… let her be,” he tried to pacify and touched the unicorn’s shoulder. “She’s just being herself. Come on, let’s go eat.”

“You’re right.” She paused and smiled a bit. “It’s too early in the morning and without a proper breakfast you shouldn’t have too much… Pinkie Pie.” Spike smiled too and together they went their way.

“Twilight!” the earth pony shouted behind them. “Twilight! Spike!”

They ignored her shouts. “You know what bothers me even more than the fact that she is lurking on other ponies?”

“What's that?” Spike asked.

“Twiliiiiiight!” Pinkie’s voice was getting quieter and quieter the farther away they were.

“Her inventions. I really don’t want to know what exactly Pinkie thinks of as an invention. Or… what she already did invent.”

“True… a scary thought.” Spike scratched the back of his head. Just thinking of Pinkie’s inventions made him shudder. He wouldn’t put past anything past the pony.

“Well, as long as she doesn’t work on an invention to transform all of Ponyvillle into a giant cupcake I think we’re safe. Oh, thinking of that, I wanted to study a new spell with which I can make her sweets grow bigger. As a surprise. We really have to work on that.”

Spike pulled out parchment and a quill. “Let’s put it on the list.”

“While we’re on that, please take notes: Memo for myself…” And so they went on. The pony dictated, the dragon took notes. After a short time Spike and Twilight were hidden behind the corner of a house. Pinkie was looking after them. She still was hanging headfirst on the balcony and a fresh breeze made her swing like a pendulum. They hadn’t reacted to her calls – and the streets were suddenly completely silent. No pony was showing. The earth pony just had one question:

“How in the hay shall I get down here now?”

She pedaled her legs and pulled on the streamer but it was to no avail. The glue was holding her firmly in place.

The party spider dangled alone and sad in the air. Meanwhile big clouds were showing on the horizon – harbinger of a storm.

~ ~ ~

They finally decided for a bistro at the market square. Twilight ate a sandwich with turnip chips and a salad. Spike was fine with only a plate of hay biscuits that were garnished with a few small emeralds. The bistro was well attended at this time of the day and it took them over ten minutes until they were finally being served. The waitress – a young earth pony with a honey yellow fur and a mane the color of cinnamon – apologized profoundly for the delay when she brought them their food. It seemed as if she hadn’t been working there for too long because she had trouble balancing the plates on her hooves. When she turned around her tail hit Spike in the face.

“Well she definitely won’t get a tip,” he said sourly while rubbing his cheek. “But the cook is my friend. I love emeralds!”

“Well, we’ve been in Ponyville for a long time now. Many ponies have put gems on the menu now that there is a dragon living among them,” Twilight explained. “Of course, this also shows on the tab. But hey, these are things you do to keep your friends happy, right?” She giggled. “And don’t be too hard to the waitress. You see how full this bistro is.”

“Do you know her?” Through his full mouth his voice sounded muffled.

“She borrowed a book last week. Collected works – Pony Literature and Pony Poetry of the Last Two Hundred Years. I’m not surprised you don’t know her,” she anticipated his question. “You went shopping if I recall correctly.”

Spike licked the empty plate that was now showing only his reflection. “What’s her name anyway?”

“Glory Morning. A very talented actress, they’ve told me. She needed the book for her theater rehearsals. At the end of the month she has a performance in the theater in Trottingham.”

Spike whiped his mouth. “If she is that good why is she working here?”

“She says that her parents don’t have money to pay drama school for her. At first she had a few minor rolls in the theater in Ponyville but then she got a lead because the other actor was unavailable. And just during this performance – call it chance, call it luck – there was a member of the Canterlot theater in the audience. He discovered her talent and took her in. And because they were so pleased with her performance she now is allowed to perform in Trottingham.”

“Wow, that’s really cool! But…” Suddenly, Spike seemed very worried.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m feeling bad now because I didn’t want to give her a tip.”

“Aww, you’re cute, Spike.” Twilight giggled again. She ate the remainders of her meal with a smile on her face and put the money on the table. Spike gave something of his own money in order to quieten his conscience and breathed a gasp of relief. Then, they left the bistro.

This was a moment that Twilight and Spike would remember for years to come.

“What did you do before you found out?” they would ask. “Where were you? With whom did you talk? Did you suspect something?” All of these questions had yet to be asked, by themselves as well as by others. Because as they opened the glass door and left the building, as they stood in the bright sunlight, as they looked into the sky and caught sight of a horde of pegasus ponies, as they looked at each other in confusion and as they finally found the cause of the babble of voices…

As they did all this, life the way every pony knew it stopped.

This summer morning would go down in history as the morning in which peace was leaving Ponyville and all of Equestria. The morning when Princess Celestia entered the town with hundreds of ponies of all races: haggard, tired, and distressed.

They were far away from the city boundaries but they could still hear the noises – the mumbling, the stomping of hooves – miles away. Twilight and Spike weren’t the first at the scene of action. A lot of curious onlookers were already there, some of them just arriving.

Ponyville’s city boundaries at this place were right next to grass plains that separated the houses of Ponyville with a small forest, not nearly as big as the Everfree Forest but nevertheless lasted until the mountains. A well-worn street, almost nothing more than a dirt track, was laying beneath the treetops of the broad-leaved trees. Normally hardly used by anypony except for a leisurely walk, this was now the showplace of a bizarre scene that was beyond words. A never ending flow of ponies were following the trail thoughtful and calm like a huge funeral march. Their eyes were looking straight at the ground or blank into the distance. Some of then had already arrived at the grass plains and were hesitating as if they weren’t aware what was happening, where they were or what they should do now. When it seemed like they would stand still or even turn around, they finally started to go on – albeit very slowly. They didn’t speak, they didn’t make any attempts to notice the world around them.

In front of all them was Princess Celestia, flanked by three royal guards on each sides, all of them in golden armor. She walked with the grace worthy the ruler of Equestria: proud, noble, beautiful. But something about her behavior was different.

Even from the distance, Twilight noticed that her motions were stiff and lame, almost forced, as if she was barely able to stand up.

As soon as Celestia was appearing from the trees Twilight walked towards her – ran towards her – finally started to sprint. “Princess! Princess Celestia!” she shouted when she finally was in front of her.

In her eyes she could confirm what she already had suspected: something sinister had clouded her mind. The Princess looked Twilight in the eyes, obviously trying to hold her composure up. She opened her mouth but couldn’t find any words. Her lips were quivering and her gaze was not unlike a mother’s gaze that had just found her daughter after a long search. It surprised Twilight even more that the Princess passed Twilight without a word.

She looked after her. The way the Princess had looked at her – the aura that had surrounded her – all of this stopped Twilight to walk up to her and ask her every question that raced through her mind. Silent like phantoms the ponies were sneaking past her – as if they were nothing more than fog that was filling up a deep valley. She recognized a lot of them from her time in Canterlot and even knew some names.

Suddenly a shadow was falling from the sky and tumbling directly on top of her. The shadow had a voice and Twilight needed a few seconds to understand why it was the voice of her friend Rainbow Dash.

“What is happening? What does the Princess want? Did you know about this?”

A few moments passed. “I know as much as you do,” she finally said.

“What’s with this crowd here?” She didn’t even try to quieten her voice although she didn’t try to address the ponies of Canterlot. It seemed like she felt as much as Twilight that nopony would actually answer them.

“I don’t know…”

“Something big is going on, don’t you think?”

“Rainbow, I just don’t know.”

They were both silent. More and more ponies were surrounding them. Rainbow Dash looked around, squinting her eyes and protecting them from the sun in order to see better. “I don’t see the end. There are so many ponies. And… what…” She gasped. “See you later!” she said tensely and flew away. Twilight couldn’t see where she was going or what she had seen.

All the while Princess Celestia had arrived at the city borders. The latecomers were gathering behind her back. Twilight who up to this moment had stood still like a statue now ran back to the city, leaving the late ponies behind and pushed past the ones that were in front of her. She went to the other clueless ponies in the hope of finally finding an answer to what was happening.

A minute or so had passed and both sides were growing: the curious onlookers on the one side, the silent ponies on the other side.
“Your Majesty, may I ask what this is all supposed to mean?”

Mayor Mare was stepping forward. Everypony was staring at her and the seconds that were passing between the question and the answer were stretching like an infinity, filled with breathless, deadly silence.

Finally, Celestia answered: “My beloved subjects, citizens of Ponyville. I’m coming to you with a huge request. These ponies” - here, she spread her wings to add weight to her words (Twilight noticed that they were full of dust and dirt) – “need your help. An inconceivable disaster has plagued them and I don’t doubt they didn't come here in in vain.”

“But what…”

“I know that this is really a huge request,” the Princess ignored the mayor’s words. “I know that there are a lot of questions. And I will answer them – tomorrow. There will be a gathering at the market place, at 10 o’clock, and I will explain everything. Until then all ponies that arrived with me have to be housed in this city. Please give them board and lodging and care for the wounded.”

A cry of horror flashed through the crowd, followed by loud mumbling. Terror was reflected in the faces of everypony – there was not even one pony that didn’t looked sorrowful or was snuggling against a relative. They all were looking for the answers that they didn’t get.

“Dark times have begun in our beloved land,” the Princess continued. “A time of turmoil. Something unthinkable has occurred. Now more than ever we have to stick together to avert doom. As ruler over all of Equestria I’m declaring a state of emergency!”

And with that, there was silence.

Ch. 2 - The Gathering

“What I’m about to tell you can never leave this room. You are smart enough to know why as soon as I’ve told you. I trust you. You know what you’ll have to do and I know that you’ll understand my reasons. Okay?”

She is silent.

“No one can find out”, she insists. “Do you understand?”

Reluctantly, she agrees. Her head is heavy and hurts as if someone hit her temple.

“I know that I put a huge pressure on you. But it has to be this way. Otherwise, everything would have been in vain. If this plan doesn’t work out they died for nothing. I need you. Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

She lets out a huge sigh of relief. You can feel how flimsy the thread is that is weaving the scheme.

“We don’t have much time”, she says. “Let’s begin. The sooner we begin the better we can prepare for tomorrow.”

Four days before the last sunset

To know or not to know. It’s always about what you know and what you don’t. It differs what exactly is better – depending on the situation and the pony. Many ponies strive for more knowledge, to learn and better understand the world and everything in it becomes their most important goal, their meaning of life. Twilight had always thought herself to be this kind of pony. But now, the day after Celestia’s announcement, she too asked herself the question: to know or not to know. To not know what happened in Canterlot… or to know who has managed to flee.

And with this knowledge, also knowing who wasn’t as fortunate.

No one could say exactly how many ponies had arrived with the princess, but the town was bursting with ponies although most of the pegasi had already been brought to Cloudsdale. Every house sheltered at least two other ponies – Rarity’s boutique even housed nine – the Red Cross of Ponyville was working day and night with lots of volunteers; the hospital didn’t have enough beds for everyone so many doctors and nurses had to tend to the ponies at home. There were varying types of wounds, ranging from small scratches to broken wings and damaged horns, lacerations and traumatic brain injuries. Absolutely all ponies had a weird expression in their eyes – one moment you thought they were gray and blind, the other moment you could swear that a whole unspoken nightmare was showing in them. But they didn’t remain unspoken. The ponies that dared to open their mouth soon told the others about last night in Canterlot, this dreadful night in Canterlot. And soon everypony knew about the events, the dark things – and the dead ponies.

But nopony knew concrete details, so the market square was full of ponies as it had never been before in the history of Ponyville. The uninformed were waiting there for over two hours and between them, right next to the hastily built podium, there was Twilight Sparkle with her best friends. She knew one thing for sure: her family wasn’t among the refugees. She had looked for them to no avail.

It was seventeen minutes before 10 am, the air was full of suspense. Breathless silence and upset mumbling was turning like the tide. The majority of waiting ponies was composed of Ponyville ponies and a few pegasi from Cloudsdale – only a few ponies from Canterlot were there. Among them there were a few famous ones from High Society but they melted into the background in view of the latest events. Most of them – even those without any physical wounds – chose to stay in their quarters, sleeping or at least trying to and resting. Trying to process the darkness in their memories.

Every pony seemed to count the seconds until 10 o’clock, their eyes were glued to the clock tower that watched over the city like an imminent, steep cliff. The city hall behind the podium, deserted on this murky day, looked like a gray image of itself. Heavy clouds were hanging in the sky because nopony had bothered to watch over the weather schedule. It should have been a day full of sunshine – but now, there were only shadows.

“It’s so terrible,” Rarity mumbled. You could see the fear in her eyes. “Horrible, simply horrible.”

“Th-- this can’t be happening,” Fluttershy cried.

“But it does,” Rainbow answered drily.

“I can’t believe it, no…”

“Well, you should start believing it now!” Rainbow Dash snarled at Fluttershy who hunkered down and started stammering apologies while tears dampened her cheeks.

Applejack pushed the two pegasi apart. “Now that’s no reason to scream at her. You know that this is worrying her to death.”

“Aha.”

“So?”

“So… what?”

“Apologize and stop with that horse crap.”

“Don’t tell me what I have to do!”

“Rainbow Dash, how can you be so horrendous?” Rarity intervened.

“I’m nothing like that.” Rainbow spread her wings angrily, looking at them. “This is all horse crap! Why didn’t the princess tell us everything yesterday? This stinks, like, all the way up to the moon! I want to finally know what happened in Canterlot and I want the princess to tell me in person. I don’t want to know it from you, or from the other ponies here, and definitely not from – from Spitfire.” She was crying angry tears. “She lied to me, it has to be, she didn’t even manage to look me in the eye. It’s so – it’s just – it’s…”

“Dashie?”

“What, Pinkie, what?” she shouted and turned around.

Pinkie Pie looked at her sadly without saying something. She laid a hoof on her friend’s shoulders and smiled pained. Then she gulped.
It was unbelievable but somehow Pinkie’s actions sparked something. Rainbow Dash cramped and felt heat crawling into her limbs but the next second all her anger vanished. She let her wings and head down and closed her eyes. Pinkie hugged her. “She's sorry,” she then said over Rainbow’s shoulders to Fluttershy who was sitting next to them.

When Pinkie released her hold on Rainbow, she took a deep breath. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“That was for yesterday. We’re even now.” Pinkie let out an amused wheeze. Rainbow Dash looked at her and laughed too, although it didn’t sound very convincing. She could remember how she had managed to break Pinkie free from the paper streamer by tugging on it until it broke. The memory of her looking for a nice quiet place to take a nap was still vivid, and then… then she had seen them. Them. The others. She could feel everything in her boiling up again and bit on her lip to prevent her from saying something wrong.
While Pinkie tried to calm Fluttershy now, Rarity leaned over to Applejack.

“She really doesn’t want to acknowledge what happened,” she whispered and gestured to Rainbow Dash.

“Do you want to?”

“No, I mean… I meant…”

“No one wants to. None of us. The question is if we can or not and apparently, Rainbow can’t.”

“Well, no surprise. Think about what Spitfire told her yesterday. She was devastated. I’m pretty sure she didn’t sleep at all last night.”

“She isn’t the only one. Look around. Show me a pony that can say that they are fine and I can assure you they are lying. Even our Twilight looks like she’ll keel over anytime soon.”

“What do you think the princess has already told her? Do you know anything?”

“I’m pretty sure she told her about her family.”

“But there has to be more.”

She shrugged. “If she only wanted to tell Twi it probably was something important.”

They looked to Twilight who stood a few feet away looking paralyzed. Spike was with her, patting her and whispering in her ear but she didn’t seem to acknowledge him. Her eyes were red. From time to time she looked into the sky and mumbled something. It seemed like she was talking to an unseen entity up in the clouds - or maybe beyond them.

“I’ve been told that she threw up. Yesterday. And her whole body had shivered. Spike had to watch over her the whole night long. The poor, poor thing. I wanted to do something for her so bad but I didn’t know what.”

“Me too,” Applejack agreed. “But Sweet Apple Acres was on fire yesterday. We were nonstop giving out apples for every hungry pony. And we prepared everything that was still left for the next days.”

Rarity gulped. “Or weeks.”

“Maybe, maybe not. We have to be prepared for everything.”

“I just hope that this nightmare will be over soon,” Rarity said after a short while. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy now were reconciling and were watched by Pinkie Pie.

“We all do.”

“What do you think?”

“What? How long it will last? No idea. After everything I’ve heard…”

She didn’t finish her sentence. Rarity knew what she was about to say.

“And do you… do you think… that it will end well?” Rarity asked, hoping to receive a comforting answer – no matter if it was actually true. She had to force herself to not automatically add “If it ends”. She remember the faces of the ponies whom she was giving shelter to. She could feel tears welling up inside her and tried to compose herself.

Applejack stared into the distance. She searched for words with care but not quite knowing what she wanted to say. But it all became obsolete because a scream was starting in the midst of the crowd, growing like the waves on a still pond when someone threw a stone in it. Within seconds every last pony was screaming and everyone knew that the door of the city hall had been opened.

It was 10 o’clock. The princess was stepping onto the podium, the mayor in tow.

“Citizens of Ponyville!” she said. A magical surge carried her voice through the crowd – everypony could clearly hear what she had to say although she wasn’t speaking louder than normally. Everypony went silent. Even the birds stopped singing. The world stood still.
“Citizens of Ponyville,” she repeated. “You all know me very well. During all of my years as a princess I’ve never asked for anything. I never wanted anything else than you living in peace together. But I don’t want this to be an apology nor an excuse for what I had to ask of you yesterday – and what I still have to ask of you. I’m sure some of you already know what happened and why we’re all here in this depressing hour.”

She paused as if waiting for acknowledgment but other than a few nods here and there no one moved. “Three days ago, the city of Canterlot and their dear citizens has been the victim of a brutal and vicious ambush. No one had even dreamed about such an iniquity – but it’s true. We were attacked.”

Dismay started to appear on the faces of the ponies. The words that came out of the princesses mouth had made the stories of the wounded a bitter, definitive truth that was undeniable. The princess raised a hoof and spread her wings to show that she wanted to continue and everypony was silent again.

“I can’t remember an event similar to this. In the history of this – our – beloved country there is no incident with a similar violence, cruelty and brutality. The attack came without warning and caught us offhand. They came to the gates of Canterlot under cover of darkness, managed to get in and started – ”

“Who or what are they?” a voice in the crowd asked.

Celestia hesitated. When she finally spoke her words sounded very ominous: “It were ponies that were attacking us. No, no, let me talk; they were more like creatures that mimicked ponies but they were as black as the night and possessed by an unquenchable desire for corruption. In their wild fury they were attacking everypony and everything that was in their way, but: their attacks weren’t random. They were organized soldiers of the night.”

“And nopony did something?” a citizen shouted upset. His words were met with the approval of some other ponies.

“As soon as we recognized the threat we started taking appropriate measures,” the princess assured them. “Many brave ponies have fought against the superior ponies; I’m saying they were superior because they were hundreds, if not thousands. But almost everyone of our brave ponies died because of the cruel ways of our enemies or was severely wounded. My own guards have been pushed back although they had been fearless. Even I tried to stand in their way to protect my subjects, but it was to no avail – I’m embarrassed because I couldn’t stop them, not even with all my magic. I could do nothing against them.” Her voice didn’t change, but anypony that looked her closely in the eye could see the pain that she tried to hide very carefully. “Magic cannot harmed them. An inconceivable power is surrounding them that even I cannot penetrate.”

“But there has to be someone,” another voice shouted, “Who can prevail against them!”

“Yes! The Wonderbolts!” a different voice from the other end of the crowd said. “The Wonderbolts can help us! The Wonderbolts can fight them!”

Rainbow Dash could already guess what the answer of Princess Celestia would be, but she still hoped and told herself that it would somehow be contradictory to what Spitfire has told her when she had left Twilight and crashed into the stream of refugees where she had seen the pegasi. Her lips quivered, her eyes were burning and she fought the truth that she already knew because it couldn’t be true, it just couldn’t be true.

Then, the princess said the same sentence Spitfire already had mumbled:

“There are no Wonderbolts anymore.”

The crowd went as silent as tombstones on a gloomy graveyard; it was unbearable.

“When we saw the threat the Wonderbolts bravely tried to stand in their way to stop them while the city was getting evacuated – but only one pony returned. They sacrificed themselves and many ponies’ lives were saved. Do you now understand the gravity of this situation? Do you understand the kind of emergency we’re in?”

During the next words Twilight was grinding her teeth: “I don’t want to withhold anything from you. You should know the whole truth because it concerns everyone of you. The motives of our enemies are unknown as of now. We were attacked and we’re all still in shock. But we mustn’t let our fears lead the way. The enemy is on it’s way to this town. Every day that will pass is a day on which they will destroy life. If we don’t do anything this will be the end of this country – no, the whole world! We can flee – but where? We can hide – but for how long? It’s not easy for me to ask for this because it seems like an unsolvable task: the destiny of the whole world and every living creature and every generation from now on is entirely in your hooves.”

“Her majesty is giving us a choice.” The mayor was now speaking. It was more than apparent under what kind of pressure she had been the last few hours. “I discussed with her the last few hours very thoroughly and… the choice is ours. We can either flee from this terror and leave Ponyville forever – or we try to stop whatever it is that is out there; we can flee, or we stay and defend our home.”

Screams of fear were yelled; the horror the ponies were feeling was almost tangible like a thick fog over the market square. Defend? Fight? This was impossible, no, no! The mayor tried to reassured the crowd but it was only for Celestia’s voice that the crowd finally fell silent.

“I know it seems impossible,” she started, knowing that the situation could escalate again at any time – the silence was as fragile as thin ice, “But you have to know that we can beat this enemey as long as we’re working together. We can win! As the mayor has already said, I’m giving you a choice. Either leave your home and all of your belongings behind and flee into a future where the shadows will come and get you some day – this is certain. Or we stop them once and for all, here, in Ponyville. Listen to me for a few minutes and I will explain to you how to fight them. Will you trust me? Or don’t you trust me that has been ruling this country for centuries kindly and fairly? Please listen to me, I beg you.”

This seemed to reach the audience. Most ponies were calmer but still remained tense, wondering what the princess had to say.

“If we decide to fight them – and I really don’t want to say this word – then we’ll have time. Not much, but some time to prepare for their arrival. It’s a big army, they are slow and have to take a detour through the valley; this will delay them and gives us a chance we’ll probably never have again. But they travel day and night. Sunlight is their biggest weakness, it makes them tired and slow; they have to march under the safety of a huge black cloud that protects them from the light. While we were travelling to Ponyville I’ve sent scouts to watch them. We only have a few days to build or defenses. If you decide to stay and fight I will make arrangements immediately. There are messengers at my disposal who will set out to the surrounding cities and call for help as soon as I order them to. We’re not alone in this time of need because this is the destiny of every citizen of this land. I know you’re hesitating because you hear the word ‘fight’ - this is only natural. Peacefulness is maybe to most important quality of ponies. But let me melt at least two of your fears: you won’t be fighting defenseless. If you decide to fight and defend Equestria I will see to it that your bodies will be protected by the fury of the enemies – no harm will come to you as long as you are acting cautiously and observantly. And don’t be afraid to try everything to defeat the enemies: you cannot kill them, they’re not alive, they are nothing more than the shadows’ puppets. If you attack them their soulless vessels will disintegrate into dust. These creatures – they feed on their own hatred. It’s the hatred of anything alive that’s giving them strength. They will attack you without hesitation, they don’t know mercy, they don’t feel pity. This is why you have to fight against them. I said that I will see to your protection, but you’ll have to find your courage for yourself and the ones by your side. And you will need courage to face them. We’ll need every pony that’s able to fight. Old, sick and young ponies should leave the town as soon as they can – at least for now. We will evacuate the city in two days so we can get enough space between them and the enemies. But until then we’ll need every hoof to set up the defense. Of course I understand if you want to flee rather than fight – and of course no pony should ever have to make that choice because it is against our nature. This is why I won’t hold it against you if you want to choose flight: there is no wrong decision and I will support you no matter what you do in order to stop as much bloodshed as I can. If you don’t choose to defend you will have to pack immediately everything you need. Only take the bare necessities. And tomorrow, before midday, we will leave this place forever.

I give you time until dawn – we can’t wait any longer. Until then I will stay in the city hall and prepare for everything. Everypony can visit me and tell me their decision – or you decide together. If you have further questions or sorrows you can also always call for me. But think about this: we will probably never again face another chance to eliminate the enemy before they are at their full power. I trust all of you. The future is in your hooves.” With these words she left the podium and stepped back into the city hall.

The mayor directed a few last words to the crowd: “Please, think about this thoroughly. Don’t decide rashly, weigh everything up. Trust the princess, trust yourself and also, trust me. I’ve already made my decision. Think about it. I beg you.” With that, she too left. When she closed the door to the city halls behind her, a surge dispersed – you could feel it spiraling into the sky and volatilize. With it’s disappearance sounds from the outside reached the crowd again: wind, leaves rustling and birds chirping.

A tremor ran through the mass of ponies. They were looking at each other as if they were slowly waking up from a never ending dream. Someponies couldn’t find words, other could find more than necessary. Here and there a few discussions started, a lot of ponies were still too numb to realize what had just happened. Foals were nuzzling against their parents that were staring at each other helplessly. The words of the princess were looming over the day like ominous wings and every little gust of wind was ripping a hole into the masses on the market square until the ponies were dissolved completely, wandering around town aimlessly, afraid and not knowing what to do.

It’s always about what you know and what you don’t. And now, the knowledge turned into fear.

~ ~ ~

As soon as the princess was gone nothing could keep Twilight on the market square. She forced herself through the rows of ponies while they were listening to the mayor’s words. Some ponies let her pass immediately, others didn’t seem to even notice her until the unicorn shoved them to the side. Finally she managed to leave the crowd and was able to breath freely.

“You’re going home?”

“Well where should I go, Spike. There is no other place I could go to.”

The dragon didn’t leave her side. “How are you now?”

She sighed heavily. “I don’t know. It’s tearing me apart. I don’t know what to think; I need some distance.”

“Wow, I’d never have thought you’d say something like that.”

“Well you also wouldn’t have thought that Canterlot would be razed to the ground, yeah?” Her voice was soft.

“Well who has these kinds of thoughts… Twilight, please, how do you feel?”

“How should I answer this? I don’t even know it myself! I’m torn… On one side I’m shocked and appalled because of what happened. On the other side I’m… I’m… I’m happy, Spike. Really, really happy.”

“Your family?”

She nodded. When she hadn’t found them amongst the refugees she was already expecting the worst. But when the princess told her that they hadn’t even been in town when the attack had happened she almost collapsed. She played the scene in her mind for the maybe thousandth time and still, tears of joy welled up inside her. She sent her thank yous to whichever powers that had decided that her parents had made a spontaneous trip to Fillydelphia with her brother. Thinking about almost losing them had made her puke. The whole night long she had played multiple horror scenarios in her head, only occasionally finding sleep and if she did, she woke up after only a few minutes, tormented by nightmares and fear.

“What the princess has said really upset you, right?”

“Not only this…”

“You mean yesterday.”

“Yes.”

“Have you already decided?”

Twilight was silent.

“Twilight?”

“You know what I have to do. I don’t have another choice.”

“You still trust her.” It wasn’t a question.

“I don’t have another choice,” she repeated. “I have to trust her. I have to.”

“Yes… and it’s not that I don’t trust her, but… it frightens me that she lied to us.”

“We’re all afraid.”

“Yes, but – argh. It’s hard.”

“Hard to believe?”

“Yes, that too. Or to even imagine it. That she thought about everything and so on. That she planned every little detail.”

“She knows what she’s doing, Spike. The princess never left us alone.”

“Yes I know, but don’t you think…”

“Of course I have doubts!” she exclaimed. “Not because of her, never. But because of her practices. I don’t know if I should approve it – or even can. Why do you think I was so upset during her speech? She lied to all of my friends and they don’t even know it! You and I, we’re the only ones who know. I shouldn’t even have told you.”

No one must know about this, the voice of the princess resonated in her head.

“I know the princess for more than half my life. But I never experienced her like this. You should have seen her face, Spike. She would never admit it but she’s desperate. I could see it, I could feel it even today. She relies on me. I can’t disappoint her. I have to rest before I start. I need a break. This will maybe be my hardest test to date.”

They were silent for a while. Then Spike asked the question that had been burning inside him since Twilight had told about her conversation with Celestia: “How can you be sure that she didn’t lie to you?”

He never got an answer.

~ ~ ~

About two hours before the end of the deadline only a few ponies had made their decision. No one seemed to want to decide; everypony was afraid to disappoint the others with their decision. Under them was Applejack. Usually the hard-working pony was never shy to decide but now she longed for the night to come. Her mind was dizzy and she had a headache so she tried to work to lift her mind. So, Rarity found her working at Sweet Apple Acres when she arrived there at the late afternoon. Her greetings were short.

“What do you want here?” the earth pony said tired and deposited a wagonload apples in front of the barn. Big Macintosh started to put the apples into the cellar. Rarity and Applejack went for a walk on the plantation.

“I could use a little distraction,” Applejack confessed. “Big Mac and I have been working the whole day long. And there’s still more to do. Most apples aren’t really ripe, but what can you do? And tomorrow we’ll have to do the same.”

“I’ve decided, Applejack,” Rarity ignored her speech.

Applejack wasn’t surprised. “Did Twilight visit you?”

Rarity nodded. “Twilight visited us all. She talked to everypony.”

“And you agreed with everything she said?”

“… You have to understand.”

“I understand very well,” she said honestly. “But I guess not everypony is agreeing to you?”

“Fluttershy said straightaway that she would decide against fighting. But she didn’t talk to the princess yet. Rainbow Dash has chosen directly after you left. You can probably imagine what she said. And Pinkie is hiding in Sugarcube Corner. But I think she will decide to stay, too. Hard to imagine Pinkie making such a huge decision.”

“Why are you here?”

She didn’t answer immediately. “I just wanted to see you. That’s what friends do, right?”

“Sure.”

“So anyway… I had to be alone for a bit. I mean, not really alone, just… alone, you get it? All the commotion is bad for my fur.” The joke didn’t land but they both didn’t care. “I just needed some silence… went for a walk… brought Sweetie Belle to our parents… a little bit of everything. Just go outside for a bit, I’m sure you can relate, right?”

Applejack turned away from Rarity. “I have to keep working now. Big Mac is probably waiting.”

Rarity stamped her hooves. “You want the truth? Okay, have at it: I’m afraid. Yes I’m horribly afraid. And I wanted to talk to you to – to feel better! To be sure that I make the right decision!”

“And this is why you've come to me?”

“You’re strong, Applejack. Stronger than me and many ponies here. And you’re smart. You could always handle these kinds of situations best.”

“These situations…” She almost spitted the words but there was no malice in it. “So you want me to justify your choice? Is that what you want?”

Rarity didn’t answer.

“Go home,” Applejack said and turned to leave. “There is no right or wrong and there definitely is no solace. But if you want to hear the truth,” she said without turning around, “I have no idea. As long as you can believe the pony you trust the most I think you’re making a wise decision.”

Rarity stood lonely between the trees. The day was drawing to a horrifying close. A cold wind made the leaves whisper but even they couldn’t tell her how to decide.

~ ~ ~

The night came and the sun died down like a huge spark on the horizon. Darkness was spreading over the land like a dusty coat. The world was dragged down to the depth of an unknown future by a monstrous creature called night. In front of the market square the masses were gathering again. Muffled whispers were spreading and buzzing through the air like moths.

The ponies had decided. A minority had opted out of voting, amongst them Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. At first no one had dared to visit Celestia but as time passed a huge crowd had gathered in front of the city hall. Only a few ponies were talking openly about there choice: they were entering the city halls and emerging swiftly; a few relieved, a few depressed, but everypony ashamed as if they had committed a horrible crime. But one pony didn’t hesitate to spread her opinion: Twilight Sparkle went through the crowd with her head held high. Everyone knew of her relationship to the princess and she was a celebrity in Ponyville. She had been walking through Ponyville all day long, talking to a lot of important ponies; everypony knew that she was fully committed to Celestia and Equestria. She would stay and fight.

This had been two and a half hours ago – now Twilight was standing at the edge of the crowd and watched everything with a certain distance. Her friends were all with her but she was certain that only Spike was really standing behind her. Because only he had been able to look behind her mask.

For the second time today the doors to the city hall opened. The princess and the mayor were walking up to the podium surrounded by masses of ponies. Immediately, a surged swept through the crowd.

“The decision has been made,” the princess said. The tension was infinite, everyone was captured.

Princess Celestia held her head high and declared the decision.

“We won’t give up our home. We will stay. We will fight.”

The words soaked the minds and hearts of the ponies like water that was flowing through a broken levee. Everypony could feel the icy cold gripping them. They had decided – but could anypony be happy about this? About this decision that gave sole responsibility for the destiny of the world to one city?

The sun set. Magical lanterns were ignited, insects dancing around them. Twitching shadows were cast onto the street and Twilight closed her eyes one more time.

Ch. 3 - Barred Inside

Three days before the last sunset

Somepony walked on by the window with a lantern in their hooves. When Rarity woke up she could just barely see the window cross casting fleeing shadows in the corner of the room like scurrying ghost. Then the carrier of the lantern was gone, it was dark and empty again. The hissing noise of the rain was all-consuming. Her ears were full of the constant pounding, her heavy eyes murky with blackness; they had stopped sparkling the way they used to just a few days ago. But her mind was only thinking about what she had seen before she had woken up and plunged into this night.

Looking at the clock she could see that it was still very early in the morning. At least this time she had found a little bit more sleep than last night. There was a quiet creak when she got off the couch in the ground floor. Her neck was pulsing with a sharp pain that always came up when she turned her head just a little bit to the right. Even her temples were pulsing menacingly. Almost as if a huge black raven was behind her forehead, swinging his huge long wings. And trying to peck at her visual nerve, pecking at her eyes.

It was night. The rain fell.

She walked through the corridor, through two doors that were silently lying In their hinges when they were softly opened. She didn’t turn on the light. It was so silent that she was positive she could hear the quiet breaths of the ponies on the first floor. Rarity opened a cupboard with her magic and levitated a glass on top of the counter, followed by a crystal carafe full of lemonade. She filled the glass up.

Then she noticed the dark figure at her kitchen table.

“Why aren’t you asleep?” she asked the figure.

They didn’t answer immediately, at first taking a sip out of their cup. It smelled like tea. “Did you have one of your dreams again?” the figure asked.

She hesitated at first but eventually sighed. “Yes. They’re becoming weirder and weirder – and more real…”

“And it’s always the same?” The figure’s voice was throaty and rough, sounded old and dry, but still was unmistakably female.

“Almost… I always wake up in the same room… it looks like the foyer of the boutique but it’s not, not quite, everything is just a little bit off and crooked. I go outside and see the Princess on her podium… and I’m afraid… and I don’t know how it got that way but I’m afraid of her… and…” She shivered.

“And you’re afraid when you remember how real these dreams feel?”

“No, no… that would be ridiculous… they’re only dreams…”

The figure snorted. “Do you think it will ever stop?”

“Why don’t you tell me,” she answered after a moment. “Will it? Will it ever stop?”

“The sun will rise soon,” the figure said and stood up. “Then the shadows will come back and grow longer. You should go to sleep.”

“But I can’t sleep,” she answered irritated. She could feel the raven inside her head spread his wings.

“Then you will never wake up.”

With that, the figure vanished. Everything vanished.

A rumbling sound woke Rarity up from her dream.

~ ~ ~

She tiptoed upstairs and softly opened the door. A small magic fire was levitating next to her head, sometimes faintly, sometimes intensely glowing depending on how he she held it; a spell she had learned from Twilight. Right now she was holding it almost all the way down so it was only a small violet glimmer, just bright enough to see the room. It was still dark outside; she hadn’t looked at the clock though for good reason. She estimated it to be not more than two hours before sunrise.

She opened the door and peeked through the slit to see the source of the rumbling. The magic fire showed dim outlines in the darkness. Her bed, a blanket on top looking gray in the twilight, under it two ponies sleeping. On the floor: seven smaller beds that Rarity had made with blankets and fabrics from her boutique; the other ponies were sleeping in these. In the dark they looked like heaps of earth made by moles. She stood there for maybe three minutes, in her slippers and sleeping gown, completely still. Apart from the breathing of the ponies it was silent. Nothing was moving beside the rhythmical up and down of the blankets, slow and steady as if the last days hadn’t happened; nowhere an impulse or another sign of the rumbling that she maybe could also have dreamed, but there – a cryptic sparkle on the floor, only three steps away from her. At first she thought it was her imagination, but no, something was blinking at her in the darkness so she held the fire higher – not much, only a few inches, so it would be a little bit brighter in the room – and looked into an eye that was watching her.

Rarity stood completely still while the one eyed thing slowly rose. He slid out of his bed without a sound and was next to the unicorn within a second. He was larger than her by at least one full head and he nodded into her general direction, facing down the stairs. The fire was framing his body and showed a square-jawed face. His one eye was sparkling. Then, they went downstairs.

Shortly after they sat opposite of each other on the kitchen table. Rarity had levitated the magic fire into the middle of the room where it now was shining brightly. The one eyed pony was watching it as if he had never before seen something so beautiful. White bandages had been applied tightly onto his torso, with openings for his wings. His fur was dark red like a dying rose, his mane and tail were a pale yellow with few darker strands in it. He looked healthy but the magic fire was putting dark shadows under his eye which made him look older and more tired than he actually was. Rarity knew his name; he had introduced himself as Harmony when he had searched for shelter in this house. This had been the only thing he had said. By comparison, he now looked healthier than before despite the early hour.

Before… it had only been two days. Before seemed like an eternity.

Rarity cleared her throat – a quiet, elegant tone fitting for a lady – and called his attention to her. Harmony smiled at her shyly as if he wanted to apologize for ignoring her.

“Thanks, Miss Rarity,” he finally said. “That you let us live here.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Sweetheart.”

“Oh I do! It’s the least I can do.”

“Everypony would have done the same. It was my duty.”

“You’re really caring well for us. Please let me do something to repay it, Miss Rarity. Is there something I can do?”

“It would be a start to stop calling me Miss – not under these circumstances. Even though it flatters me, Rarity is enough.”

“Rarity… yes…”

“Does it still hurt?” She leaned forward a little bit.

“The eye, yes, a little bit.” Harmony put a hoof in front of the patch that was covering his right eye but didn’t touch it. “Sometimes more, sometimes less. It feels like… a small iron ball in my head that is glowing from time to time. But it’s manageable. And my back? It’s alright. As you can see I can already walk quite well. But I’m not well enough to fly. Nevertheless, I’m grateful. It could have been worse.”

“How did it happen?” she asked frankly.

His eyes darkened.

“Oh, I’m sorry. How very rude of me.”

“No, no, it’s alright. I don’t mind. Well, it was during the night.” They didn’t have another word for it, just the night. “I was still up to think. I do that quite often. Oh and I’m actually very sorry that I woke you up. I tend to walk around a bit while I’m thinking, although I tried to just tiptoe around the other ponies like a ghost. But I stumbled. At least the other ponies didn’t wake up. They are even worse off then me… where was I? The night, yes. So. There is, or rather was, a huge garden, almost like a park, that I used to wander through. I don’t even know how long I’ve been there but the moon had already traveled quite a bit. Then the attack started. At first I didn’t realize what was happening but I think most ponies didn’t. So anyway from one moment to the next suddenly I started to run. With the others I mean, the refugees. Wait no, that isn’t right, my brain is really messed up. I’m sorry. I only know that something came crashing down on me. As it turned out, it had been a pegasus. One of the dark ones. It disintegrated to dust like an old book the moment it hit me – but the impact was enough to make me fall to the ground. Oh no, now I confused something! I have a few problems with my memory concerning the night. The thing with the eye had happened before the Princess was there.”

“Celestia,” Rarity nodded.

“No,” he answered back. “It was her sister.”

“Luna? Princess Luna?”

“Yes of course. Why are you surprised?”

“I didn’t know that she was also in town.”

“Didn’t Princess Celestia mention that during her speech?”

“She didn’t even mention her in the speech.”

“Oh well. Who knows, she probably has her reasons. Can I go on?”

“I’m sorry, of course.”

“So, Princess Luna came. I didn’t recognize her at first. She was putting herself between me and the dark ponies. They were fighting. Of course I helped her but not even five seconds had passed when a hoof was hitting me in my face. At first I thought it wasn’t that bad but when this one pony looked after me – I don’t know her name anymore. She said that I’ve been very lucky. If the kick had only been a little bit off… well. That’s how it went.”

“And have you seen the Princess after that?”

“I was unconscious for a moment; when I woke up she was gone and the dark pony too. I haven’t heard anything from her since.”

“You don’t believe…” Her worried gaze finished her sentence for her.

“I hope that she’s well.” His voice was shaking a little bit. “Otherwise Celestia would have said something, right?”

Rarity looked away. Maybe she didn’t because of it she thought.

“Come on, let’s talk about something different,” Harmony said. “Can I have something to drink? My throat feels like sandpaper.”

“Of course. Lemonade?” She opened one of her cupboards with magic and made two glasses levitate onto the table, followed by a precious crystal carafe. She poured them both a glass. “I got this carafe in Canterlot,” she proudly explained. “Finest glass with beautiful ornaments. Do you see the engravings on the sides? And the color gradients under the openings? Beautiful and elegant craftsmanship. Of course it was expensive but a mare in my standings… what’s wrong? You’re not drinking?”

“There’s nothing inside.”

She looked stunned.

“It’s empty,” he said and turned over the glass. Not even one drop was inside.

Rarity was looking at the stallion and the empty carafe alternately; the carafe was showing her distorted reflection on it’s cold and dry profile. She began to stutter, not knowing for a moment if she was still dreaming or never woke up; then, Harmony reached over the table and took her hoof. They looked at each other and Rarity thought she could see his soul in the deep brown of his eyes. She could feel warmth spreading inside her, felt safe.

“We’re all a little confused right now,” he said quietly. He let go of her hoof, filled the glasses with water from the tap and sat down again. They both drank. Rarity looked at him but he seemed distracted. His one not bandaged eye looked at a point somewhere behind her.

They were silent for a little while. Then, Harmony asked Rarity about her boutique and she told him extensively about her work and the recognition she got from everywhere; of course without being too braggy because a lady never bragged. But still she felt a huge burst of satisfaction and validation when he told her that he had already seen a few of her collections in Canterlot. Even though he had to admit that he knew as much about fashion as a dog knew about art. The longer they talked the more open they were with each other. She started to get along very well and managed to suppress the memories of the last days for a while.

The horizon started to brighten slowly like a washed-out piece of cloth that was once black and now slowly became gray. There was not one speck of the imminent blood red sunrise to be seen. The dawn of another morning before the last day. When Rarity finally finished talking she asked Harmony in return about his job.

“Well, the things I do aren’t made that well with hooves and admired with one’s eyes, rather with your ears and your soul – I am, you can say, a poet.”

“A poet? How noble.” She smiled impishly.

He returned the smile. “Maybe not the way you think. I mostly write poems and songs, from time to time I write for theaters in Canterlot or Manehattan. I do it for fun. Even as a young filly I knew my purpose.” Now he showed her his flank and presented his cutie mark: a full ink pot next to three scrolls.

“Oh, this sounds exciting! I can see it in front of me…” She rested her head on her hooves and the hooves on the table and took a deep breath. “The theater is filled with chivalrous ponies, all of them in nice clothes. The curtain opens and a stage design appears, fondly created with great detail; then, on the right, the first actor walks on stage in silky robes, he begins to sing and dance while more ponies appear in the background and they all sing your song! Your song that you’ve written in sleepless nights! Isn’t that exciting? Oh, my heart would melt if I could be in the spotlight for this!” She sighed. “This surely has be very freeing? When the audience is stomping their hooves in enthusiasm?”

Harmony laughed cautiously without being able to stop it. It still came so naturally over him that it was almost ridiculous thinking about it later. “And it’s even more intense when you’re standing on the stage yourself.”

She looked at him questioningly.

“Well,” he explained. “A few times I was on stage myself as a singer. But only two or three times. This kind of excitement is not good for me.”

“Now I’m really curious.” She leaned and looked at him with her huge blue eyes.

“Oh no, no, seriously…”

“What do they say: One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and, if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words. And you can’t start early enough. You don’t want to deny me my wish, do you?” She lowered her head so her puppy eyes only became more intense, her vibrancy even more striking.

Harmony could feel the blood rushing into his head. He cleared his throat. “Okay. One, but only one.”

Rarity giggled.

“That I really got roped into this… what do you want to hear?”

“Your newest song,” she quickly answered.

He stopped. “I don’t know, that would be… maybe… I don’t know.”

She looked at him begging: puppy eyes and puckered lips. And Harmony of course fell for this trick.

“I… okay… fine! Alright. But apologies in advance, my voice may be a little rusty.” He stood up, cleared his throat again, went through the text in his head and started his song. In contrast to what he had claimed his voice was completely clear, strong and high-pitched, but not too high; he hit an ideal tone. He sang:

As the springtime flowers bloom
And their scent wafts through the air,
My soul breaks free from all the gloom
That fills me with despair.

Near the small pond’s waterside
Shines the meadow’s gaudy hue,
And amidst it I shall stride
Whether the sky is grey or blue.

As I wander past many a flower
All my thoughts are trained on her,
And her beauty’s radiant power
Sets my aching heart astir.

So with longing I am struck
For the one that I adore,
Since, if her I dared to pluck,
She’d be gone forevermore.

He went silent.

“Go on,” Rarity whispered. “Please. Please go on.”

Something in her voice hit Harmony right in his heart. So he went on:

Every day I make my way
To her; her fragrance shakes my core.
In the meadow she shall stay,
By the pond’s enchanting shore.

Alas! One early summer day,
As I arrive, she’s gone.
And neither plain nor vale nor brae
I find her standing on.

I seek her, searching far and wide,
Betwixt the grass and moss,
But she has vanished from my sight,
And painful is my loss.

A fellow might have longed for more
So he tore us apart.
She’ll bloom three days for him, or four,
But always in my heart.

The song was over. For a moment he still stood there, eyes closed. Then he sat down, dropped down on his chair, weak as if he had breathed out his whole life force with this song.

“I’m speechless,” Rarity said honestly. She looked at him with awe. “Bravo! I can’t say it any other way.”

“Thanks. You’re flattering me way too much I fear.” Harmony looked tired.

"Who is she?”

He looked at her.

“Who you’re describing in the song? Who is she?”

“Was,” he says tightly.

Rarity understood. “I’m so sorry.”

He waved it aside. “It’s alright. It was long ago. I was still young then. And easy to impress.” He looked down for a few moments until he found his words again: “We met in the park where I still go occasionally today; well, until a few days ago, that is. Doesn’t that sound like a huge cliche? Young poet meets the love of his life during a walk… I know the moment I first saw her eyes, these beautiful bright eyes that reminded me of the color of freshly plucked corn. It had started to rain, only a light summer rain that had painted a rainbow onto the sky. I was on my way home, passing by the huge chestnuts in which the birds were chirping – and between the trees I saw her, only for a moment. But I’ve never been able to forget her. I’ve looked for her every day after that, a whole week without meeting her again. Just when I wanted to give up I met her again. And so it went. One thing lead to another. And before I noticed I lost my heart to her. We met for one year. Every day.” He hesitated for a moment, collecting his strength for the next words. “One day she didn’t show up. I waited for her in our usual place. One day. Two. Even the third. Finally I went to her home… and they told me that she suddenly got very sick and that… well, whatever, it doesn’t matter. I never had the heart to tell her about my feelings because I was afraid that I would be rejected; some day it was too late.”

Rarity wanted to grab his hoof but he flinched. “Is she the reason why you can’t sleep at night? Are you thinking about her?” she asked after a while.

Harmony sucked in a breath. “It doesn’t leave me alone. I tried to ignore it for a long time. But my thoughts always returned to her. Finally I tried to find an outlet for the pressure in my mind and I found it in poetry. I’ve written so many songs about her; this one, too. Even if it doesn’t have a title. Celestia help me! If only I had… I was too afraid to pick her, my flower. I abandoned her. I wanted to put her into a vase so she would be mine forever. But she was taken away from me. I abandoned her…”

“Flowers wilt away in vases, too.” She didn’t know what else to say.

“But if you dig them up with her roots and plant her into a flower bed, carefully, they’ll live on.” He covered his face with his hooves, then he stood up so abruptly that the chair almost fell over. “All these talking has made me mellow.”

“Please, stay…”

“No, Miss Rarity. No. I don’t want to plague you anymore.”

“Please, I’m sorry.” But he didn’t listen. Without a word he left the kitchen and went upstairs.

Rarity sat there alone and looked at the door, hoping he would come back. When it didn’t happen she looked at the now empty glass of water and out of the window. They had been talking for almost one and a half hour. Now that the talk was over the menacing events from outside this room were looming over her. Slowly the first rays of sunlight were crawling over the city. Rarity filled the glass with fresh water but didn’t drink it. Then she put the dishes back into the cupboard, extinguished the magic fire and went into the bathroom to prepare for the day because she surely wasn’t able to sleep anymore.

~ ~ ~

The sun was lurking on the horizon like an insect; the light was transforming the clouds in the sky into a painting of a battle in red and gold. It was still cold, many buildings looked abandoned. Although it was still early many ponies were bustling around the streets. To prepare everything. To be prepared.

The way to Sugarcube Corner seemed endless for Rarity. With every step she took she felt as if she would only veer further away from it. When she finally arrived she felt relief. There was light inside the building. Of course; the ovens were going full speed. Every bakery, restaurant, bistro, every pony that was working with food was busy to provide food for the whole town, the injured from Canterlot, the auxiliary – how bad this word sounded in Rarity’s head – that was scheduled to arrive in a few days. They were preparing for the storm that was approaching.

She opened the door.

“Pinkie? Mr. and Mrs. Cake?”

She waited but no one was answering. The counter in the foyer was empty so she went into the kitchen. She wrinkled her nose when she saw the chaos: there were lemon peels, empty paper bags, a measuring jug and two or three bowls on the floor; flour was in the air, cupboards were wide open, the desktops and walls were full of spots from various resources. In the corner there were a few sacks and bags with different names on them and a few of them had spilled bread rolls, muffins, cookies and other pastries onto the floor. On the left next to the door Rarity was standing in there were half a dozen black baking trays – full of cupcakes with glazing and croissants – like an ugly mosaic. On the opposite side of the room stood Pinkie Pie with her back to Rarity. She was covered with baking ingredients, leaning over a huge bowl with dough that she was kneading.

“Pinkie?” she asked cautiously.

“Hi, Rarity.” Her voice was as loud and shrill as ever but – considering the chaos here even more frightening – it sounded rough, almost hoarse, monotonously and lifeless. For a second Rarity thought that Pinkie was the figure from her dream.

“Pinkie… what happened here?”

“Oh, this? I’m sorry. I didn’t manage to clean up here. I was busy.” She didn’t even bother to turn around. Instead, she continued to knead the dough.

“And your mane?”

“Hm?”

“It’s so… different. It’s… flat.”

“I washed it,” she said clipped. “It must still be wet.”

“Oh.” Pause. “Well you shouldn’t walk around with a wet mane. You could get a cold.” She giggled awkwardly.

Nothing.

“And it’s not good for your hairdo.”

Nothing.

Rarity sighed. “Pinkie, is – are you well?”

“Hm-h.”

“Everything okay?”

“Everything okey-dokey-lokey.” It sounded wrong, dishonest.

“Do you need he-”

“No.” Fast, cold, sharp.

Thirty seconds or more passed by. Every single one of them was sheer torment.

“Please, Pinkie!” Rarity finally blurted out. “Talk to me. I know, this… whole thing is bothering you, but you’re not alone. Your friends are always there for you. You can’t forget this.”

“You know what’s funny about all of this?” she asked as if she hadn’t heard Rarity. “It’s so easy.”

“E- easy?”

“Yes. Think about it. You only have to ask the right questions. Then everything will be easy. Look: everyone is asking if this is really happening. If this can be true. This is much too complicated. You can only answer ‘yes’ to all of this. But what’s the point? There isn’t one. Because it will still get denied. You saw Fluttershy yesterday. And she wasn’t the only one. You know I was similar, too. But last night I just thought about it. And accepted it. I suddenly clicked. Since then I see it from a totally different angle. If you think about it for a moment you can notice too what’s so weird about this situation. We are the problem. Ponyville is the problem. It’s in our minds. And we have to turn it off. Then we can see everything more clearer. If we only try to get to bottom of the important things – our mind.”

No it was Rarity’s turn to be silent. She looked at her friend – and didn’t recognize her anymore.

“Your food is somewhere on the right,” Pinkie finally said. “There’s your name on one of the sacks.”

She looked and found the right sack. It was directly next to the kitchen door. She looked inside, surprised. “But that’s much less than I ordered! This is not even enough for the next two days. We’re nine ponies in the boutique, ten if you count myself. Why is there only so little food?”

“It has to be enough. This is the sack for the next five days.”

Rarity looked at her stunned.

“Everyone gets less,” Pinkie explained. “We have to lower our sights. Princess Celestia ordered it. We have to ration everything. Until it gets better.” She whispered the next words. “They don’t eat much anyway.”

They. The others. Still the others.

Again a heavy silence weighed them down; only interrupted by the drumming noise of the ovens and the quiet sounds Pinkie made when she started to roll out the dough. Rarity couldn’t stand it. As much as the incoherent rambling of the giggly earth pony was unnerving at times… it was even worse if she was like this, completely serious and rational. It was a slap to the face, a sting in her heart to see her that way, abrasive on the outside and locked inside her own head.

The door was opened.

“Oh, you’re still there.”

Mrs. Cake was entering Sugarcube Corner with her husband and was beside herself for a moment. “I thought you were gone when we come back. Well, that’s how wrong you can be, right, darling?”

“Of course, sweetheart.”

Both looked tired. They were carrying saddlebags and baskets filled to the brim with bags of flour and other ingredients.

Rarity looked over her shoulder and watched Pinkie Pie who was cutting shapes out of the dough. Then she said: “I was just about to leave. I can see that you’re very busy here. I don’t want to stand in your way.”

“But of course not, my dear! Please, stay a while. Can I make you a tea? Or do you want something else? Please, sit down, I can make you something, we can take a break for five minutes, we were up for the last two hours to get supplies, right, darling?”

Mr. Cake nodded. He didn’t look convinced.

Through the whole town, such a hard work, but we’ll have to go again in the evening… there’s so much work to do… do you really don’t want to sit with us for a few minutes?”

“No, really not; I mean, I can’t.” She pulled the sack with her name on it to her. “I really have to keep going, I’m sorry.” Only in her mind she continued: a five minutes break from all of this, this sounds heavenly…

Mrs. Cake forced a smile. “Well then,” she said cautiously. “But let me help you with this sack, it’s way too heavy for you. Let me do this – darling, can you take this?”

“Of course, sweetheart.” Mr. Cake put the bags down.

“No, that’s not, please, I really don’t want you to…” To no avail. Mr. Cake took the sack and was already on her way outside. Rarity tried to talk him out of it for a while and so they left Sugarcube Corner together. Mrs. Cake watched them, snorted, sighed, wanted to put her groceries away but then she decided to veer into the kitchen.

“Oh my god,” she said breathless and looked around. “I’m going to clean this up, this is a huge chaos.”

“It’s alright, Mrs. Cake. I’ll do it. I just want to finish these cookies.”

“You’re baking cookies? … Pinkie you know we should rather bake appropriate products.” She spoke with many intermissions: Pinkie. You know. We should rather. Bake. Appropriate products. “This is not the time for sweets even if you like them so much, don’t you think?”

“Only this tray,” Pinkie said. She hadn’t turn around one time since Rarity had stepped inside the room. “Then I’ll clean up. And then I’ll continue. Bread. Bread rolls. Everything we need.”

“Why don’t you take a break, you’ve been working for hours without a break. Let me do this, dear.”

Pinkie didn’t answer. She took a cloth into both of her hooves, opened the oven door and took out the hot baking tray where another charge of cookies were steaming.

“You’re so withdrawn, Pinkie, dear.” Mrs. Cake looked helpless. “Let me help you, I beg…”

An abrupt, unbelievably loud clash of metal made her fall silent.

Pinkie Pie had thrown the tray onto the desktop. Many cookies had fallen down. She put her hooves down onto the desktop. Mrs. Cake could hear her breathe.

“Okay… then… I’ll just leave you to it if you don’t want to talk now.” She wanted to turn around and tend to the groceries that were still in the saddlebags. But wait, there was… something.

“What’s this sound?” she asked Pinkie.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“No I’m sure I’ve heard it. A whiz. There! Again. Only very short. There! Don’t you hear it?” She listened intensely. Pinkie was silent. “Well,” Mrs. Cake said cautiously, “maybe I’m just imagining things… it wouldn’t be the first time.” She stood there for a few seconds until she went back into the foyer to her bags and baskets.

Whizz.

Pinkie still stood in front of the baking tray. She started to put the cookies back onto the tray but she was shivering – a few cookies were breaking in her hooves. She breathed heavily. Pushed a few crumbles away. Her mind was full of thoughts that were whirling through her mind like debris from a tornado. Hitting against her skull from the inside. Tearing it up, crushing it, breaking it. Breaking it.

Pinkie was alone. Another tear was falling from her face, unseen, onto the tray and evaporated.

Whizz.

~ ~ ~

They didn’t talk at all on the way to the boutique. Mr. Cake looked absent-minded. His gaze was wandering around and he looked so intently at the most normal things like a flower bed or a butterfly that he had almost crashed into another pony. He didn’t react to her questions aside from nodding or shaking his head so finally Rarity gave into the silence. When they were at the boutique he put the sack down, said a short goodbye and went back. She looked after him. He was wobbling with every step and had his head down.

Rarity put the sack into the kitchen. It wasn’t too heavy, she could have carried it without trouble but she suspected that it was… kind of a relief for the Cakes to do something else than just bake. A little bit diversion, no matter if it’s a big task or only a sack that had to be carried. When she stepped into the kitchen she hoped that Harmony would sit there – but only her furniture was greeting her. She prepared nine plates with parts of her order and decorated it with some carrots and celery that she had bought ahead. Then she carried the plates upstairs. It was still dark in the room because the curtains were closed but she didn’t open them. She wanted to let them sleep. Harmony lied on his bed with his back to the door but she could feel that he was awake and only pretended to sleep. When she left the room she hesitated for a moment because she felt the need to say something. She opened her mouth but didn’t find any words so she finally closed the door quietly and went back downstairs.

She stood on the edge of the stairs for five minutes, staring into the room. She could hear the house breath and creak. She could hear herself. Then she walked around the room a little bit, looked at the cold furniture, touched it a little bit as if she could breathe life into it. Something was keeping her occupied. Rarity turned around one last time and sat down on the couch. Her gaze was serious and focused. She could feel her heart beating faster. It wasn’t even nine o’clock but she felt as if she had already experienced a whole day. Rarity did what Pinkie had said to her: think. And she thought about what Harmony had told her, about whom he had told her: Princess Luna.

She had been in town. That was a fact. No one had bothered to tell anypony – it hadn’t seemed important. Did anyone else know this? She couldn’t tell. Was it important?

Was it… the solution?

Rarity thought about all that had happened with some kind of distance. Princess Celestia moved into the spotlight of her thoughts again and again. She tried to remember something that she could have missed; an emotion on her face, a shiver in her voice.

It didn’t help.

Back to the beginning. What did she know? On Thursday she takes a break from work. She walks a while and sees Princess Celestia approaching when she comes back. A huge mass of ponies is accompanying her. Rarity joins the other ponies to understand what the Princess is saying. Then she vanishes into the city hall. The ponies start to care for the wounded. Rarity goes to the boutique and prepares for her ‘guests’ who she tends to for the rest of the day with the help of Fluttershy and a doctor. On Friday she’s up early, cares for Harmony and the others and goes to the market square where she talks to her friends. Then the speech. The Princess is talking at first, then the mayor. And then…

She shakes her head. Too complicated, Rarity thinks.

Again.

Celestia appears out of nowhere with a huge crowd of injured ponies. She talks to them. She announces a speech. Vanishes into the city hall. On the next day there’s the speech. She gives Ponyville a choice. In the evening they choose.

Nothing.

Again.

Celestia appears. The injured. The announcement. The city hall. The speech. The choice. Their choice.

Rarity sighed. “This has no point,” she says flatly.

Had this all only started two days ago? It seemed unreal. The pictures inside her head were blurred, washed out like an old dream. A memory and a corruption, because she had missed something, she couldn’t hold it, it fell through her hooves like the silk she used to tailor her clothes out of.

She closed her eyes and counted to five. Tried to clean up the mess in her mind. Then she opened her eyes and didn’t think about anything for a moment. She looked outside the window and now saw even more ponies then before on the streets. Most of them were walking in the same direction and those who didn’t just came from that direction. Wood trusses and bars were getting carried. There was a huge construction site where a new building was supposed to be erected but now the materials were used for other things, on the front line where they erected barricades and dug trenches. The path from the construction site to the front line crossed the Carousel Boutique but not Fluttershy’s house; the pegasus pony had to leave her house the day before the attack because it was inside the danger zone. Rarity had almost forgotten that Fluttershy wanted to come by in the evening. Bandages had to be changed, she wanted to look at the wounds to see how good they were healing. Now it came to her mind – and everything was clear.

Rarity stood up. Of course! She hadn’t missed something, but somepony. Somepony who had talked to the Princess, who knew her better than anyone in this town, how knew her for years and was taught everything by her: Twilight. What had they talked about? Why was Twilight so withdrawn? What did she have to hide? How did Luna fit in all of this?

She got restless from her own thoughts and paced up and down.

Then we see everything more clearer. If we only go to the bottom of the right things.

She couldn’t get one thought of her head, a simple, uncomplicated thought.

Sometimes a weak impulse was enough. A small pebble that triggered a rock slide. A small drop that causes the barrel to overflow. An image that feeds a terrible suspicion. The conversations with Harmony and Pinkie had sparked off an idea but she was afraid of it – because she knew what it would mean if she was right.

Nothing was keeping her here anymore. She left the boutique and made her way to the library.

~ ~ ~

The opening door cast a bright area of light onto the floor. It was dark inside. No lamp was burning and the curtains were closed; it was stuffy and warm. A soft wind was blowing through the open door. You could receive the impression that the building had been empty for years. Involuntarily he had the picture of an abandoned ghost house in his mind. One time, it had been a few years go when the world had still been in harmony, he had read a horror story. Only for fun. He hadn’t made it to the end, just after half of it he felt so bad that he had closed the book with a loud bang and never looked at it again. This story had been about an old, decayed house made out of cold bricks and whispering wooden boards. He couldn’t remember the name anymore but as he stood there in the empty library he could remember one sentence from this sorry that he had never been able to forget: Silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of the house, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

A few feet in front of him was a huge book with a folded card on top of it. He picked it up and read what was on it.

“Twilight?” Spike exclaimed and shut the door.

No answer. Only silence was creeping out of the shadows. He waited until he could see better in the dark and called her again.

He heard rustling upstairs. “I’m here,” a soft voice said.

The small dragon went upstairs and stubbed his feet on a pile of books that was on the very highest step. He looked around – everything was full of books but Twilight was nowhere to be seen.

“Where are you?” he asked confused.

“Here.” The unicorn appeared out of thin air on the bed.

Spike startled. “Never do this again!” he told her. After a short pause he continued: “You can do this invisibility trick pretty well by now.”

She hummed in agreement.

“But why are you sitting here so… well… invisible?”

She spoke very slowly as if she had just woken up. “Somepony’s been here before. I don’t know who it was. She wanted to talk to me but I rather hid. I did this very often in the last days. Actually practically every time. If I don’t talk to anypony I can’t lie to anypony. Or disappoint them.”

Spike looked at her sadly. “Oh Twilight…” he sighed. Then he pulled back the curtains and opened the window to let some fresh air and light in.

“It was Glory Morning.”

“What?”

“She was here before.”

“How do you know?”

He showed her the book. “This was downstairs. Read the card.”

She took it. Collected works – Pony Literature and Pony Poetry of the last two hundred years was the name of the book, written in huge red letters on the dark green cover. The handwriting on the card was neat and written with silver ink. Glory Morning’s name was on it. Twilight held the card in her hooves like an old dusty family picture reminding her of happier times where everpony had been easygoing and not afraid of the future because they didn’t have to think about it. They had been sheltered and protected and was able to wake up in the morning and say: “I’m free!”

Twilight, not free, put the card away without unfolding it.

“So you don’t want to right now, hm?”

“Did you read it?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“What do you mean?”

“Is there something written there?”

“Yes, of course.” He looked at her confused.

“Is there something written about how do turn back time?” She didn’t hide the sharpness in her voice.

He let his shoulders slump.

“Is there something written about how to undo lies? Or how to prevent Canterlot from being in ashes and dust? … No, I don’t want to read this card right now, Spike.” She turned her gaze away.

Spike stood there for a few moments, affronted.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said remorseful. “I didn’t want to take this out on you. It was nasty and unfair. Especially to you. It seems like I only do the wrong thing nowadays.”

He smiled or at least he tried but it looked more like a grimace. “Hey… that… forget that. That was nothing. Really. Everything’s okay. You don’t have to be say sorry.” Spike patted her shoulder reassuringly.

She leaned against him. Their cheeks touched. He could smell the salt of dried tears on her. “I feel so lost, Spike. I’m afraid of what will come. The Princess will make everything better, everything better. But I don’t know if I can ever forgive myself. Whatever happens I’m responsible. At least partly.”

“Don’t say that. What happened isn’t your fault. And it’s also not your fault if something goes wrong.”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

“I just know it.”

They were silent.

“Would you do it differently?” he asked. “If you could start over what would you change? Could you change anything?”

“…”

“No. You would do it exactly the same. Because it’s right.”

“But it feels wrong, so wrong.”

“Well some things just do. You’re not at fault for what happened or what will happen,” he repeated.

“Yes I do. Every injured or dead pony will follow me into my dreams. I’ll have their deaths on my conscience.”

“No, you don’t.”

“If I could only believe it… I feel so lost and empty. The Princess is trusting me but I don’t even know if I can hold up. It pulls the rug out from under my hooves and I can only hold onto you. Please… please don’t let me fall.” Her voice broke because of the last words.

“Shh. It’s alright.”

“Promise me,” she begged.

“I swear,” he said. “On my life. I will be always there for you.”

She kissed him. It came as a surprise and he struggled to hold his balance. Her lips were hot on his. After three seconds it was over. He pulled her in his arms and stroked her mane. She started to whimper quietly and he had to use all his will power to not start, too. Spike didn’t know how long they were standing there in this embrace. It could have been a minute or fifteen. He could feel her heart beating. In this moment Spike noticed how much he loved her. Not like a stallion loved a mare but rather like a brother his sister or a father his children, wholeheartedly, earnestly, and deeply.

Some time – time had become so useless – Twilight left Spike’s embrace. She looked at him, still with tears glistering in her eyes.

“We can do this,” he said.

“Yes?”

“Of course.”

“Who told you that?”

“I just have a good feeling. And when was I ever wrong?”

Twilight laughed. Yes, she could still laugh. Cautiously and quietly, but honest. A beautiful sound in these difficult days. Spike looked at her lovingly. He had wished that he could hear her laugh.

“Why are you even here right now?” she sniffed. “I thought you’d come later.”

“Everypony’s doing fine right now, they don’t need me, so I thought… well I thought I’d take a break and look for you. Seems I was right.”

Twilight smiled. “Thanks,” she whispered.

“When I see you like this I don’t want to return. They’re calling it the front line. Gives me a chill every time somepony says this… and I’m just standing around anyway. I could be of better use for you.”

“Oh Spike… but the Princess herself has made you foreman.”

“We both now that she only did this so I don’t feel useless.”

“No, not in the slightest,” she smiled at him.

He looked at her piercingly. “You’re sure of that?”

She nodded. “I’ll be fine. It already helped just to talk to you. At least you made me smile again. Just go. I just need to rest a little bit. I’ll be better soon. I have to regain my strength. And that doesn’t work if a small bright dragon is running in circles around me.” She looked to her site now. “A small bright dragon that means so, so much to me.”

Spike turned red. He cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. “Your last word?”

“Yes, really. I mean it. You can’t neglect your duty just because of me.”

“Okay, fine. But only under one condition!”

“Which would be?”

“I come back regularly and look after you.”

Twilight had to grin. “Well your negotiation skills are so good I can’t refuse, right?”

He hugged her again. “Everything will be okay,” he said. “I’ll come back in an hour. Rest now.” With these last words he want downstairs again, turned around one last time and was gone shortly after that.

Twilight closed the window but left the curtains open. She actually felt better. And she really believed that she could endure this day and maybe even the following if she could only get some time for herself now, withdrawn, but not in an ivory tower like just a few minutes ago. Then she closed her eyes but simply couldn’t find rest. The door downstairs was opened. Had she fallen asleep? For a moment she wondered if one hour had already passed and Spike had come back so she called out his name. But when she saw Rarity who was running upstairs in a frenzy she felt a shadow casting over her heart. She suspected the worst.

“We have to talk,” Rarity said breathless.

“I already feared that,” Twilight mumbled.

“What are you saying?”

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “What’s wrong? You look really bothered.”

Rarity composed herself. “Twilight,” she said more calmly. “There’s a problem. And I would like to talk to you about it. Because I have a suspicion and I hope that it doesn’t come true.”

“Well that doesn’t sound good.” While she stalked she stood up and sighed. “Okay. So what happened?”

The beautiful unicorn lady bit her lip and shifted from one hoof to the other. At any other time Twilight maybe would have made a joke and ask Rarity if she needed to go the toilet. But the time for jokes was over.

“Come one, say it. There’s something bothering you.”

“Yes! I mean, well, I don’t know how to say it…”

“Just straightforward is probably the best possibility.”

“If you say so.” She took a deep breath and just blurted everything out. “I think the Princess lied to us.”

Twilight froze and then started to shiver. Her tongue was glued to the roof of her mouth like leather. She was grateful that Rarity continued to speak because she wouldn’t have been able to say one word herself.

“I know it sounds absurd but let me ask you something: Did you know that Princess Luna has been in Canterlot during the time of the attack?”

She blinked at Rarity but didn’t say one word. How do you know? she thought and was afraid for a moment that she had said it out loud. But she was silent and Rarity interpreted it wrong.

“So you didn’t.” She seemed to shrink. “I’ve already suspected that. If she hasn’t even told you then, I think, I’m right. I really hoped I would be wrong! This will sound very confusing and absurd at the beginning but Twilight, hear me out first, after that you can still call me crazy. You know, it all sounds so unfeasible, but it’s just a simple thought: if she hadn’t told us about her sister what else has she hidden from us?” She went around the pile of books and took a step towards Twilight. “I didn’t want to believe it at first too, but now that even you don’t know the whole truth this only confirms my suspicions. You’ll probably want to say something but let me speak to the end.”

Twilight – not able to produce one sound – looked at her with eyes wide open from sheer terror. She was afraid of what Rarity would say. Have they been found out? Obviously. How? Did somepony else knew about this? Quiet, quiet, she had to tell herself, just listen to what she knows.

“Okay,” she started again. “I just want to say that I cannot prove anything of this. But isn’t it weird? Why hasn’t she been a refugee? I mean, Luna is her sister, where is she? I can tell you what I think… I think that Luna has stayed in Canterlot. I know that she fought against the darkness. What if she, you know, didn’t make it? And if she did – why isn’t she here?”

“You think Luna is dead?” Twilight had found her voice and was surprised how calm she sounded. You couldn’t hear her inner turmoil.

“It looks like it! But it doesn’t end here: I haven’t thought about it before and I think I can safely say that nopony did, but how likely to do you think it is that a town like Canterlot is destroyed and we only hear about it after two days? It’s not like there’s a whole world between our cities. Celestia didn’t want us to know. She has to… she must have done something so we wouldn’t know. And why? Because she wanted to have us here. Here. She wanted us to stay in Ponyville, to gather around. I can believe her that she didn’t know about the attack; this would make sense. But was she really as defenseless as she said? And how can it be that the dark ones are attacking our town? There are other cities that are nearer to Canterlot and are more important. Shall I say what I think happened? They were lured here. The Princess has done something to make them march straight into Ponyville. And you’ll probably ask: why Ponyville? The reason for that is probably you; because I think that she wants to have you near her. But there’s more. Yesterday during the speech she said that she would send some pegasi when the choice was made. Have you seen even one pegasi flying away since yesterday? I didn’t. I think Celestia was certain that we wouldn’t notice because we were too busy with the choice. And that’s the next weird thing! All of her efforts would have been for nothing if we had chosen to flee – the Princess had to make sure that we would stay. Just remember her speech; you’ll see that all she did was trying to convince us to fight. But even if it wouldn’t have went the way she wanted it to it would have been very easy for her to manipulate this election without us knowing! And for an emergency she had one trump card: you. I’m afraid that she somehow… manipulated you to stay on her side. It can’t be too difficult because she had taught you for years. She probably asked you to trust her during your conversation yesterday, right?”

I need you. Do you trust me?

Twilight nodded without realizing it.

Rarity seemed disappointed. “I knew it. It looks like a bad joke, but… Twilight… she planned all of this. She planned every little detail of this.” She sat down, tired. It must have cost her a lot of strength to say all of this.

She chose her words wisely. “But why would the Princess want that?”

“Luna,” she said. “Luna is the reason. If she really was killed in Canterlot the Princess would want to revenge her. And we’re her puppets.”

“How do you even know about Luna?”

“Har… one of the injured ponies that I care for has told me. He has seen her in Canterlot.”

“And have you talked to him about your suspicions? Or to somepony else?”

Rarity looked at her. “I don’t know how that…”

“Just answer the question,” she snapped.

“No,” she answered after a short pause. “I didn’t talk to anypony. Twilight, is everything okay? Are you angry? If you know more than me please tell me, I beg you. I still hope that I’m wrong. So please, object if you know more.”

Her mind was full of thoughts. Rarity somehow made the right conclusions but only – hopefully – accidentally. She hadn’t talked to anyone, had directly come to her after getting these ideas. The injured pony didn’t seem to suspect anything. Twilight was sure he had only talked about Luna casually and didn’t think about it. How late was it? Did she still have time until Spike’s return? He wasn’t allowed to see Rarity here. She didn’t have much time.

“We have to talk,” she finally said. "Not here, not now. It’s too dangerous. If somepony hears us this can have dire consequences.”

Her eyes widened. “You mean I’m right? I’m right with my suspicions?”

Twilight tilted her head. “I can’t tell. We have to be cautious. How much time do you have? Do you have further appointments?”

She shook her head.

“Good,” Twilight said quickly. “Okay, we’ll do it this way… we will meet in two hours at the edge of the Everfree Forest and …”

“Why there?”

“No one will listen to us there. Two hours. Please be careful that nopony is following you. We can talk about everything there. Now go. Don’t talk to anypony. Nopony. This has to stay between us. The fate of everypony is in our hooves.”

Rarity sobbed, nodded shortly, stood up hesitatingly and went downstairs. When she left the library she was careful not to be seen and tip-toed away.

Twilight sat on her bed, alone. Now that Rarity was gone she let her tears flow freely. She once had read that tears were cleansing your soul. If that was true she was confident she wouldn’t need the invisibility charm anymore soon because she would surely be as clear as glass. All these lies were spoken without hesitation, almost as if the lies themselves had become the truth, and wasn’t that the truth? In the last two days, hadn’t she lied like never before in her life? The lies became her truth and her chaos.

She waited almost half an hour until Spike came. Somehow she managed to not let him on about anything and after ten minutes she managed to get rid of him without looking like she didn’t want his company. After that she left herself. When she closed the door behind her and walked around town invisible she could almost hear a part of her soul or whatever else it may be breaking and rotting away.

~ ~ ~

“Somepony is asking questions.”

“Who?”

“It’s…”

“It’s one of your friends, isn’t it?”

Nothing.

“Please, Twilight. Who is it?”

“… Rarity. She knows something.”

“What does she know? And how?”

“She knows about your sister. Somepony has seen her in Canterlot and told her. He doesn’t know anything.”

“Does anypony else know?”

“No.”

“So she didn’t talk to anypony about her suspicions, only with you?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure of that?”

“One hundred percent.”

She thought about it.

“What did you tell her?”

She told the Princess about the conversation and ended it with: “I had to get rid of her somehow to talk to you… I told her I would meet her at the Everfree Forest. In”, she looked at the clock in the city hall, “forty minutes.”

“The forest… it’s probably a good place for it.” The Princess didn’t think for a second and said what she wanted straight forward: “Then we don’t have a choice. You know what to do.”

Twilight hesitated. “W-what do you mean?” she asked, already sensing the answer.

“She can’t talk. She knows too much.”

“But… she’s one of my best friends. If I tell her that… that she can’ tell anypony she won’t do it!”

“We can’t risk anything.” She looked her student in the eye. “It’s a huge disaster that she was able to guess so much. She has a sharp mind. We mustn’t underestimate her. If we let her walk freely she’s going to be a huge threat. We can’t risk riots. You get that?”

“What do you want to do with her?”

Princess Celestia told her. “She’s going to be a huge threat,” she said. “We have to get her out of the way. Our whole plan will alter because of this. But it would be a disaster if she would share her knowledge with others. We’re walking a thin line. Every small tremor can make us fall. And your friend Rarity is a tremor.”

“But she will be missed. She can’t just… vanish.”

“Make up a good excuse. She only has to be considered missing for one day, until tomorrow evening. After that we can say that she was evacuated with the other ponies. No one will notice in all this mess.”

“And the ponies in the boutique?”

“I will make arrangements.”

Twilight looked down.

“It’s best for everypony,” the Princess charmed her. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes.” Blind. “If you say it…”

“Look at me, listen closely: I’m so proud of you. You’ve learned so much in the last years and you are so bright. I’m sure that you already know in your mind that we have to do this, even if your heart tells you otherwise. If you think about all this you’ll see that this is the path we have to walk in order to do everything as planned. It’s for the greater good.”

For a few moments they only stood in silence.

“Promise me that nopony else will suffer… once the time has come?”

“I promise you.” She stepped forward and embraced her student with her wings.

“And…” She had to swallow to make room for the next words. “And you promise that this will all end well? You’re sure we’re doing the right thing?”

“Sometimes we have to make sacrifices and live through bad times to get to our destination,” she explained. “I promise you. When everything’s over there’ll be no shadows anymore that will darken the sun for us.”

Twilight leaned against her mentor. Her soft fur and her confident voice comforted her considering what she was about to do.

“Go now,” Celestia said after they had spent five minutes in silence. “It’s time.”

~ ~ ~

In the evening, shortly before the sunset, there was a knock on the library door. Spike opened.

“Hello, Fluttershy,” he said surprised. “Why are you here?”

“Hello, Spike, ehm,” she said softly. “Ehm, I only wanted to visit Twilight, quickly, to ask her something, but if it’s not a good time now, uhm, then I’ll come back another time if that’s alright.”

He invited her in. “She’s in her bed upstairs. But be gentle, she isn’t well.”

“Oh no, what’s wrong? Is she sick?”

Spike shrugged. “At noon she was better but now she’s somehow… sinking again. If you get what I mean. I don’t want to claim that it got worse but… well tomorrow it will all be better, I think.”

“I h-hope so.” She looked worried.

“So why are you here?”

“Well, I wanted to, uhm, ask something about Rarity.”

“Did something happen to her?” Something in her voice set the alarm bells off in him.

“No, no. I mean, uhm, how can I say it? I don’t really know.” She got a suspicious look. “That’s why I’m here, you know?” They went upstairs to Twilight.

“Who’s there, Spike?” she asked. Her voice sounded muffled through the blanket that she had put over her head.

“It’s me, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “I don’t want to bother you, if you’re busy I’ll come back tomorrow. I just wanted to ask you something.”

“Go on,” she sighed.

“It’s about Rarity.”

She tensed her muscles.

“I had an appointment with her for… well the ponies that are sleeping in her boutique. I just wanted to look after them, care for them, make sure they’re alright. Stuff like this. And Rarity wasn’t there, so I waited and waited, and then I – well I made everything myself. I don’t want to complain… but, hm, well, it’s just that – do you know where she is? Have you seen her?”

A moment passed.

“Twilight?”

“No,” she said quietly. Her voice was quivering: n-n-no. “I haven’t seen her. Maybe she’s with her parents?”

“Oh! Hm. Yeah, maybe. Okay, so, uhm, if you haven’t seen her, I’ll just… go. I don’t want to be a bother. Good night, or get well, or, uhm…” She got quieter and quieter and finally stopped talking. Then she said her goodbye and left without making a sound.

Spike stood on the edge of the stairs and looked down. “Where might she be?” he thought out loud.

Twilight didn’t say anything. Didn’t see anything. Didn’t hear anything. She was just grateful that the thing with Rarity hadn’t taken too long. It hadn’t taken long at all – not as long as she feared it would have. Of course it cost her quite an effort but then she saw the Princess in her head: that gave her strength. And finally it had become a matter of course. It definitely was better if Rarity wasn’t there anymore. If she was lucky nopony would notice. But did she even care? If everything was ending wouldn’t she be freer if everypony knew? Could she receive absolution from her sins? Of course not… somehow all her efforts were foiled because of this. But personally, Twilight could only hope that she could tell somepony sometime so the burden wouldn’t squash her from the inside. She was already splitting. Like an old, blotchy mirror that only reflected the truth blurry, she disintegrated into separate parts. She had already cracked two days ago, but Rarity transformed more and more into a bullet that made her facade crumble. The first push that made all the dominoes fall over, a huge chain reaction, and she stood at the end of it. And it would crumble her. This, she knew with terrible certainty.

The dark warmth under her blanket was beautiful, it distracted her. Almost cozy. If she would die one day she would want to have this cozy feeling, she told herself. This would take away her fear of the end. And maybe let her forget everything that she had done for the Princess and that she had expected of everypony around her.

Ch. 4 - Look Homeward, Angels

“Your friend Rainbow Dash,” she says contemplatively. “I read in your letters that she is very short-tempered and adventurous. Is this really true?”

“Definitely,” Twilight answers and is almost surprised because of her own happiness. “Why do you ask?”

“Well,” she says slowly, gaze lingering in the distance, “I think we can use this for our purposes.”

“I – don’t understand.”

The Princess smiles softly. “Just imagine a crossroad,” she says. “There are two ways you can go: left or right, but both will bring you to your destination. Can you see this?”

“Yes.” And then immediately: “But what is…”

“And now imagine you are at this crossroad. And there are two signs: one pointing to the left and one to the right; but the second sign also has the word Danger printed on it. What are you doing?”

“I… go left,” she says unsure, helpless.

“And why, Twilight?”

“Because it’s safer.”

“And how do you know this?”

“The sign warned me about the right path.”

“And do you know with absolute certainty that this path is dangerous? Or different: do you know that your path is safe?”

“I… no… no…” She looks embarrassed.

Celestia nods. “So you took this path. But now imagine: the left path is much longer and cumbersome. You can go this way but you’ll need a lot more time. Would you decide to get your hooves sore or would you rather go back to the crossroad and try the allegedly more dangerous path? Be honest.”

She thinks about it for a moment. “I would try the other path,” she admits.

“Now if we let your friend Rainbow Dash choose a path,” the Princess says, suddenly more serene, “If we put her at this crossroad and tell her that the right path is dangerous and the left one is too long; what do you think she would do?”

Twilight holds her breath. “Why would we do that?”

“Today is Thursday,” the Princess replies. “That means that new recruits from the other cities will come in three days at the earliest. I fear that until then a few ponies will regret their courage and try to evacuate.”

She hesitates as she thinks about this more and recognizes the intent of her mentor. “You want… do use Rainbow… do manipulate the others? So that they don’t flee before the end?”

“Manipulation is such a big word,” the Princess says, sounding like she wants to talk about the weather. “Let’s call it visualization. I’m sure that some ponies will be very happy to hear the message that help is on their way. We just have to… show it to them.”

“And why do we have to show them the right way if the left one already fulfills your intents?”

The Princess again smiles softly. But Twilight can see the fear hiding behind this facade – like a huge, crooked beast.

“We have to contemplate everything,” she says knowingly. “Let’s send Rainbow Dash on an adventure. I’m sure this will be fun for her.”

Two days before the last sunset

Dust means earth. Earth means life. Life means death. Death means dust. The circle of life, never ending, there from time immemorial. Coming and going, rising and falling, awaking and sleeping, everything is one under one sky. In it there are clouds, symbols of the never-ending transition between disappearing and being reborn. How are we different from these clouds? How does our life differ? Theoretically we are the same: we appear, we cast shadows on the world wherever we go, we cast adrift, some rain out, other try to make place for the sun to make somepony happy – and it doesn’t take much to let us disappear again.

Normally Rainbow Dash never thought about the clouds that she would remove; normally you could say about her that she didn’t have any further thoughts during work. But this Sunday morning it was different. This is the last on Earth she thought with a lot of pathos when she tore another hole in the cloud cover. She could feel the familiar transition of cold shadows under the clouds and the damp blindness inside them right to the warm, quiet realms above. Her fur shimmered like it was made of gemstones in the blinding light when she rose above the sky. Greedily she took in the fresh air. This feeling of total independence was beyond words and something she would never want to miss. If she hadn’t already been a Pegasus she would be jealous of every flier there is. The wind that ran through the strong wings, the whisper in her ears and the air that would caress her fur, the rush deep inside her blood, the adrenalin that would always flow through her when she broke into the heights – it was an incredible experience, every time. For a short moment Rainbow Dash could feel the satisfaction that always made flying a special experience. Then she opened her eyes again and looked through the freshly made hole down upon Ponyville. Around the proud flier new holes were getting torn up when new Pegasus ponies came through the cloud. The sky had to be cleared. Light was the most important factor in the fight. “Let them come,” Rainbow said confidently to nopony in particular. Here, up in the sky, you could still be confident. The depression and fear of the ponies that had to stay on the ground was nothing up here. Or at least it was endurable.

She plunged back into the gray and thought about the day that she had been kicking a cloud for the very first time. She had always feared that the clouds would resist. Small Rainbow Dash had been accustomed to clouds feeling like a solid ground where she could walk and play. But it hadn’t been this way – not even remotely. You could simply slip through them, they were softer and warmer than every feather, you could feel something but at the same time felt nothing. “It’s like catching sunshine,” she had heard one day. “You can feel the warmth but you will never hold something in your hooves.”

Yesterday had been a tough day. From the dawn of the day until very late in the evening she had been busy with most other ponies from Cloudsdale – bringing construction materials from one place to the other. When they completed this they had to help the Earth ponies to erect a scaffold for the ramparts that were constructed this hour. When Rainbow had fallen into her bed on this Saturday she had fallen asleep immediately. She wasn’t averse to hard labor but somehow this had been more straining than everything else, more tiring. She traced it back to looking at the distressed and scared ponies. Up in the sky you could at least vent your frustration on the innocent clouds and disappear from time to time.

Rainbow shook her head and tried to shake the thoughts away. With a quiet sigh she dropped back into the clouds and was swallowed up by them.

It was rather quiet apart from the wind rustling. That up in the sky there were no birds that you could hear and the ponies were silent. Everypony was working alone, in their own world in which they were their own ruler, and when these worlds would collide the kings and queens would act politically correct, just nodding at the others silently or greet them with a short salute. More than a few words were seldom spoken. It almost looked like they tried to remain within a safe distance with each other. Yesterday it had looked very differently. Despite the hard work they had been engrossed in conversations with the others even though most of them sounded forced and clunky. Discussions about the smartest arrangements of the front line had been heard the most often. How long should it be? How strong, how tall? Which type of wood would be the best? How many trenches would make sense and at which intervals should they be made? Pro and cons of the vastly different opinions had been discussed. They tried to encourage each other; looking at the construction material and knowing what needed to be built with this within the next 72 hours had pumped them all full of adrenaline. Everything seemed possible, the impending doom less dangerous.

As Rainbow Dash emerged from the cloud and the sunlight blinded her she didn’t see the shadow at first. Even when her name was called she didn’t react. She needed maybe fifteen seconds before she saw the Pegasus pony with the yellow fur and the flame-like mane. And she needed ten more seconds to recognize that this pony was Spitfire. Without her Wonderbolt costume Rainbow Dash could hardly identify her. It was a little bit like when a good friend who you’ve known for years suddenly wears glasses or a different haircut; it’s a sight you have to force yourself to get used to. Nevertheless, Spitfire without her outfit looked lost and unsure; she was exposed with all her weakness, standing in front of the world.

“Rainbow Dash, hey!” she called again, landing on the cloud and looking up to her, expecting Rainbow who was a few feet above her to join her.

The blue flier took a deep breath, her jaw twitched. Then she let herself fall. She went through the cloud and tore it to pieces. She came out at the bottom, bit her lip, made two, three somersaults and flew upwards again, getting nearer to Spitfire without standing directly next to her. Instead she stayed at least a wingspan away from here in the air.

“What do you want?” she asked sharply.

Spitfire made a step backwards and tried to smile a pained smile. “I just wanted to see you.”

“Why? Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Yes… yes…” She searched for words. “I just wanted to see you. And, if you have time, talk to you.”

“Talk about what?” Rainbow folded her hooves.

“About the night.”

“Then we don’t have a thing to talk about,” she said quickly.

“I think we do.”

Rainbow Dash hissed. “What do you know? Nothing.” And then she repeated with a voice full of disdain: “Nothing.”

“I understand,” Spitfire said hesitantly. “I just wanted to… talk to an outsider. And I just thought of you first.”

“Why do you think this would be something that concerns me?”

“If it wouldn’t, would you be so angry with me?”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes. Only three days ago she would have given anything to have such a hero as Spitfire talk to her or even know her name. But now everything was different, it was a whole new game.

“I’m sick of this,” Spitfire added, “To just sit in this house in Ponyville, alone and abandoned. The walls are suffocating me. And I can’t go outside.”

“But still, you’re here,” Rainbow stated.

Spitfire looked frightened for a moment; as if she hadn’t realized where she was. “I mean, I couldn’t go out,” she corrected herself. “It wasn’t possible. I lay in my bed, crying and shivering and sweating, sometimes alternating, sometimes at the same time. But today I couldn’t stand it anymore. Today I feel fine.”

“How is that?” she asked with a faked interest.

Spitfire looked at her. “I took something.”

This involuntarily humor – the slightly crooked gaze – left Rainbow fuming and she had to bite hard on her lips to not scream at Spitfire.

“She gave me something,” she continued. “This weird pony. No, oh, it was a zebra.” She made a short pause to let Rainbow Dash help her out with the name – but she didn’t do her the favor. “The zebra gave me a tea, to calm down. It makes the memories soft – that means, more tolerable. Now I feel better. Now I can think about the death of my friends…”

“Be quiet,” Rainbow whispered.

“And talk about it without breaking down.”

“Be quiet.”

“I wonder what exactly was in this tea that it makes me so calm. I’m not troubled or tired because of this. I can even fly again. And enjoy it.”

“SHUT UP!”

Spitfire looked at her upset. Rainbow Dash was breathing heavily and her face was contorted to an angry grimace. Her chest was rising and falling in a flurry and the other ponies that could hear them – so almost every pony up here – looked at them surprised.

Her gaze was manic; you could think she wanted to tear Spitfire’s fur from her flesh just by staring at her. Her jaw was clenched, her teeth were grinding, the tendons on her neck were showing and made Rainbow look like a furious wild beast. “With everything that is holy,” she pressed through her teeth, “with every pony living on this earth and in the name of every animal that has ever lived, I swear here and today that if you ever open your damned mouth again I will make sure that the whole world will see that you really are just pitiful and miserable. Only one word and you’ll get the shock of your life.” She hesitated before she made her final strike. And she, said almost like in a trance, but still with never-ending wrath: “I despise you. I – hate – you.”

A dog that had been almost beaten to death couldn’t possibly understand the agony that Spitfire was feeling in this moment. Her mouth was open, forming a big O, and hot tears were welling up in her eyes. She didn’t know what was happening; like somepony who was watching a row in the distance and freezing because they can’t even comprehend what is happening. Spitfire looked distant and unworldly, but if you could see her face from up close – and only two ponies apart from Rainbow Dash were close enough – you could see that the loneliness and absent-mindedness was slowly merging into a deep lack of understanding without any sense, and the lack of understanding very quickly became fear. Now she covered her still silent mouth with her hooves to not lose any words, and her tears were flowing freely. You could feel the many questions she wanted to ask Rainbow Dash: Why? How? What? Her legs were trembling until they finally gave in. She fell and banged her chin against the cloud – which would have been painful if not for the soft fabric of the cloud. During all of this she didn’t once turn her gaze away from her torturer. She didn’t show one bit of regret in her eyes. She lay crying before her and couldn’t understand a thing. Horror was controlling.

This is the last thing on Earth.

“Go away,” Rainbow Dash spat at her. “Get lost. Beat it.”

One pony approached them. The young mare had a fur as blue as Rainbow’s but with a dark patch on her nostrils and a mane and tail the color of cream. “What did she do that you’re treating her this bad?” she asked cautiously and ducked her head as if she expected a punch.

“What she did?” Rainbow shouted without looking at her. All of her attention was on the wretched figure that was cowering before her. “She knows what she did! Look at her!”

“Don’t you think you’re exaggerating a little bit?”

“There’s nothing to exaggerate when it comes to this coward. You should be ashamed,” she said, now talking to Spitfire again, with a quivering voice. “You should be ashamed to be such a coward. Once you were the best flier in all of Equestria, you were envied by everyone, you were well-respected and had fans everywhere… I was your fan! And now look what has happened to you. Shame on you and on everything that you were and aren’t anymore! How can you even dare to show up here after everything that has happened? I don’t care how much you took or what somepony gave you! Don’t even think that I could forgive you! Your friends, you say? You don’t leave your friends to die! You murderer!” Her voice swelled and was slowly starting to sound more like a hysterical screeching that she had never did before. “How do you dare? What did you think? Who do you think you are? Why are you here? HOW DO YOU EVEN DARE TO STILL BE ALIVE?”

Now she was lowering herself down a bit and put her hooves into a cloud, tearing out pieces of it and throwing it at Spitfire. The cloud pieces were vanishing on her body without actually touching her, but the emotional pain still showed up on her face and the tears, tears, tears, were flowing. “WHY – ARE – YOU – NOT – DEAD?” Rainbow Dash shouted at her accusingly in the rhythm of her volleys. “WHY – ARE – YOU – NOT – DEAD? WHY – ARE – YOU – NOT – DEAD? WHY – ARE – YOU – NOT – DEAD?”

You could feel the tension in the air. All ponies around were shocked, looking helpless; but they didn’t do anything. It was a terrifying, unreal spectacle and the Pegasus ponies from Ponyville and Clousdale were frozen witnesses during the final act when Rainbow Dash was raising the dagger with every piece of cloud and thrusting it deep into the soul of the former Wonderbolt captain with every hateful shout.

“WHY” - throw - “ARE” - throw - “YOU” - throw - “NOT” - throw - “DEAD?”

Deep, deep into her heart, a story of a buried life. Spitifre, helplessly extradited to the barrage, chased by her own demons, shivering and coated with tears and snot, suddenly jumped up, the hooves pressed so hard on her mouth that she could hardly breath, and tried to flee this hell with her last strength; she flew erratically and lost height every now and then, hardly staying in the air until she somehow escaped the stares of the others. And Rainbow Dash

“WHY”

was

“ARE”

screaming

“YOU”

her

“NOT”

lungs

“DEAD?

out, throwing pieces of cloud around her. She had her eyes closed, didn’t see anything, didn’t even notice Spitfire disappearing. This bizarre spectacle lasted for over two minutes until she tried to grasp new munition but didn’t find any: in her rage she had dug a huge hole in the cloud. Now that she noticed this she was frightened by her destruction. For a second a shadow showed on her face, but soon her eyes were sparkling with anger. Her hooves cramped and felt like she would be torn apart. Then she remembered the gaping crowd. “What are you staring at?” she shouted huskily. “Go back to work! These clouds won’t vanish by themselves – come on!”

Seemingly thankful that they had an excuse to leave, the ponies started to move immediately. If they had been quiet before, now they were dead silent.

Rainbow Dash could feel her heart beating in the rhythm of a fevered dance and the blood circling wildly in her veins. Suddenly she soared right up into the sky until the air was so thin that she could hardly breathe. Then she turned and flew down quickly until she stopped short over the cloud cover and flew back up again. She did that four times until she slowly let off enough steam to shrink the fire inside her and to not let the flames lick at her soul. When she flew downwards again and decided to do this again one more time, she was held back. Two chunky stallions were shouting at her, signaling her to come to them and soon after that Rainbow recognized their golden armor in which the sunlight was reflecting: they were guards of the Princess.

She swallowed and stood before them.

“Rainbow Dash?” the left guard asked with a deep voice.

She nodded.

“Her majesty Princess Celestia wishes to speak to you,” the right guard now said with a similar tone and added with emphasis: “Now.”

“Do I have a choice?” Rainbow asked and tried to look nonchalant.

The guards didn’t bother with an answer. Instead they took her to the city hall where the other guards were positioned. The two guards opened the doors and stepped inside, putting Rainbow between them like a prisoner. “Your Majesty,” they said simultaneously and reverentially. They bowed down and left the city hall immediately.

Rainbow Dash was alone with the Princess who stood at the end of the big entrance hall. Through the window there was light flooding the room and granting her a mystical glow; her white fur was shining and her mane and tail were sparkling daintily. But she looked very serious. almost spiteful.

“Come here,” she said.

Rainbow obeyed.

“Do you know why I called you?” the Princess asked.

“I think I do,” she answered defiantly.

“So?”

Rainbow fluffed her wings up. “If you want me to apologize then – then I refuse!” she exclaimed with a mix of resolution and insubordination. “I don’t see why I should regret what I said.”

The Princess looked at her with an observant gaze. Rainbow tried to withstand the examination but she could feel herself shrink.

Then the Princess said surprised: “What are you talking about?”

She almost fell forwards. “Y- you mean you didn’t call me because of Spitfire?”

“I think there has been a misunderstanding,” Celestia said after a while, composed again. “I called you here because I have a mission for you.” She turned around and went to a table. “Come.”

Confused but relieved she followed the order and stepped to the table. She looked at the princess and saw what was spread on the table: a big map that was pinned down with an ink pot and a small vase so it wouldn’t fold. There were a few tears at the edges but apart from that it was in a mint condition.

“Here,” the Princess said and pointed at the middle. Ponyville. On the north-west side of the city there were a few lines in different colors, obviously portraying the front line and a few other things. In the city and between Cloudsdale and Ponyville there were other lines with descriptions like “material transport”. Other arrows were making the map hard to read for the untrained eye. The map showed a huge chunk of the city's surroundings, big enough that places like the market place, the city hall, the library and Sweet Apple Acres were shown, but not big enough that Canterlot was on it; instead there was a huge arrow in the upper right corner with “to Canterlot” written on it.

The words had been struck through by somepony else.

The Princess let her hooves wander to the east of the city and indicated a circle. “Do you see this part of the forest? It’s almost an hour of flying away.”

“I can do this in less than an hour!” Rainbow said confidently.

The Princess smiled. “Oh I’m sure of that. I’ve been told about your flying skills.”

The flier was preening, happy about her skills being praised.

“What is there?” she finally asked.

“Somewhere in this area there will be the first of three troops that will support us.” She moved her hoof a bit to the north-east and indicated another small circle. “Here is the second one, and down here –” she moved a good chunk south, “the third. Manehattan, Hoofington and Appleloosa,” she said and tapped on the circles in this order. “At twelve o’clock, so not quite two hours away, they’re supposed to meet at this positions; that was what was ordered so that we can give this whole thing a bit of a structure. The messengers that I sent are right now onto the task of leading the ponies here. That means that I need somepony from here to check that everything goes according to plan.”

“And that’s where I come into play,” Rainbow said. “Don’t worry, Your Majesty, I won’t disappoint you.”

“I don’t doubt you,” Celestia murmured. “Your readiness is pleasing. But you have to start soon. For if something isn’t right or goes wrong we need enough time to initiate possible other plans. And you’ll have to choose two companions.”

“Why?”

“Three positions, three messengers,” the Princess stated simply. “That’s the fastest way. And I have something for you.” Around her horn a golden corona started to shimmer and soon after that a drawer opened in a cupboard behind her, letting three scrolls levitate towards them. Rainbow took one of them and opened it – it was a map, too, only smaller than the one on the table. On it there were three crosses, marking the meeting place.

“You’ll have to leave in half an hour,” the Princess said and let three amber saddle bags come out of the cupboard; the royal symbol was engraved on them. “Search for your companions right now.”

“You can count on me!” she assured, excited that the Princess was trusting her with such an important mission.

“This mission is very important. Do you have any other questions?”

Rainbow thought about it, putting a hoof on her chin. “I’m not sure.”

“Not sure?” the Princess asked.

“Well… yes I do, I think. There’s one thing I would love to know, but I don’t know if this is related to the mission.” Actually she did believe to know what it meant. She went back to the huge map on the table. “What’s this mark up here?” She pointed to a dark stain at the upper edge of the map. An arrow was pointing out of it.

Celestia’s face went bleak. “Stay away from there,” she ordered Rainbow. “The arrow indicated the movement of the darkness. And this mark is indicating their most probable whereabouts.”

“Why only most probable?”

“Well, not many messengers dare to come near this spot. And I don’t force them to. The last messages confirmed the movements so new spies are unnecessary. Only the bravest ponies dare to travel north.”

Rainbow followed the slightly bent arrow in her mind. The bravest ponies, she thought.

“Now go,” the Princess said in a commanding tone. “Time’s of the essence.”

“Of course!” she exclaimed erratically. She put a map into each saddle bag, put all three of them on her back and left the city halls after she had bowed down in front of the Princess for the last time. When she passed by the guards she held her head high.

When she had left, Celestia called the two guards in front of her door. They stepped in immediately.

“I need total privacy,” she told them. “Nopony is allowed to bother me; only Twilight may enter if she has a good reason. I have to concentrate. I will be in the upper chambers and prepare the city for the cleansing. If it’s an emergency – and only then – I will allow a disturbance. If the scouts get back they shall talk to the mayor – she will know what to do.”

“As you ordered, your Majesty,” the two guards said simultaneously. Heeding her sign they stepped back outside and closed and locked the door while the Princess – as she had done the days before – stepped upstairs and started to concentrate her power because she knew: if the cleansing wouldn’t go according to plan it would have disastrous consequences for them.

~ ~ ~

The enthusiasm of the other Pegasus ponies was almost non-existent. After the quarrel with Spitfire nopony wanted to take the chance to be Rainbow’s companion. When she had flown back up and explained the mission, many ponies had already been gone because the cloud cover above Ponyville had almost completely vanished. There were only a few spots in the south of the city left where the Pegasus ponies had migrated to. The ponies that were still there were just now putting away the last pieces. Then they had seen Rainbow Dash and started feeling unwell immediately.

“Does nopony want to accompany me, really?” she asked again and tried to make the mission more palatable: “Our Princess Celestia has given me this really important mission and you have the chance to be a part of it. Just imagine: if all this is behind us, we’ll be put in the history books!”

Nopony moved. They tried not to look Rainbow in the eye; they watched their hooves or their gazes were going here and there, everywhere and nowhere, apparently fearing that they may had overlooked a few clouds.

Rainbow could feel shame and anger bubbling up inside her. She knew why nopony wanted to talk to her. Murderer, she had screamed at Spitfire…

“I ask for the last time,” she said exasperated. “If nopony is willing to do this I will just order someone to; and don’t think you can just disobey a royal order.”

She looked around when suddenly a hoof was in the air.

“Aha!” she exclaimed with a smile. “I knew there is still somepony here who is actually –” But when she saw whom the hoof belonged to she choked on her own words. Why her? Rainbow thought. “Uhm, well,” she stuttered. “Good. Good, now we know that you’d be ready to follow me just in case. But I feel like there are more ponies willing to volunteer. Right?”

Nothing happened.

“Really nopony?”

Still only one hoof.

“Not anypone else?”

Absolutely nothing.

Rainbow sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose and finally gave up. “Well okay. I guess I’ll have to take what I can get. Come here, Derpy.”

The mouse gray pony with a blonde mane flew to her. She swayed a little bit to the side as if she were drunk and her sunny, innocent smile was only direct towards Rainbow.

“We’re in a team!” she said proudly.

“Yes, of course.” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Okay. So half of it is done. Now there’s only one pony missing…” She searched the crowd and actually a new hoof was in the air. A pony called Spirit who Rainbow knew for a few years already but with whom she had never talked too much. Still, she was pleased.

“See, it’s possible.” She let both of them stand in front of her, looking at her companions: Wid Spirit was a slim stallion with a messy, beige mane that was always in his face. His fur had the color of mustard, his tail was very short. He looked strong-willed but a little bit agitated. And Derpy was – well, you couldn’t describe Derpy with words. She was just… Derpy.

She faced the crowd once again. “These two ponies here have more courage in one of their feathers than all of you combined,” Rainbow said presumptuously.

But she knew that the others were simply relived that Derpy and Spirit basically sacrificed themselves. If the crowd could have decided they would have avoided her for a few days – maybe even forever.

Derpy shook her hooves with Spirit who wanted to tell her in his weirdly nasal voice that the had already greeted each other today. Rainbow gave the two ponies their saddle bags and took the map out of her’s. Then they set out.

Just short after their departure, the first limits made themselves clear. Rainbow Dash as the leader tried to make them go fast and would have loved to simply dash forward without the ballast that was holding her back. But she respected the words of the Princess and didn’t say anything, just looked at the map every now and then to make sure they were flying in the right direction and gave tips to the others if they had to correct their course.

Derpy was always by her side. She was clinging to her, smiling excessively, humming a melody every once in a while and let her head circle in the form of an eight, completely unbothered. Spirit was a stark contrast. He let himself fall back a bit and held about five feet distance to the two mares. His red eyes that were deep inside their sockets were heavy with tear sacs as if he hadn’t had more than three hours of sleep a night ever in his life. His cutie mark was a big top because behind the harsh persona was an acrobatic genius hiding. He had visited the same classes as Rainbow and Fluttershy but had been shy and reversed even back then. He had never been abrasive, but with every year he had been more introverted and shut himself away – at least to the day when he discovered his passion for acrobatics and started to try risky aerobatics; he had gotten more social since then. When Rainbow became part of the weather patrol, Spirit joined a small traveling circus. At first a mere extra, he started to become a crowd favorite soon. His at times breakneck performances had attracted ponies en masse and soon he was a regular guest in the biggest cities of the country, even getting invitations to perform at big private festivals. But his longing for home brought him back to Cloudsdale after four years where he then continued to perform. But after a performance gone wrong he hurt himself so bad the he had to stay in bed for almost four months and had to spend another two months at a health resort out of town. The long time of doing nothing had taken his toll on him: he had become more and more choleric, bordering on a complete and total rage some time so that he had shut himself away more and more again and only let the nursing staff get to him. Just five weeks ago he had started working on his comeback, but his rage had been revealed time after time again and crossed his plans. Only very slowly he changed and overcame the imbalance in his mind until he would be the same again. His easily agitated mindset was nevertheless still present.

While Spirit was lost in his thoughts behind them, Rainbow Dash was roped into a conversation she didn’t particularly like. She liked Derpy well enough, but having to do this mission with these – she didn’t find a better word for it – weird ponies made her a little cranky. But the worst thing was Derpy being co clingy – Rainbow had to look out that their wings wouldn't cross.

“I really like it that we can do this together, Rainbow Dash,” Derpy said loudly. She always spoke loud, never mind the situation. And she called everypony with their full name. It wasn’t very soothing. “Normally I’m always last when it comes to making teams but when I noticed that you have a hard time deciding on somepony I wanted to come forward immediately.”

“This is not a game, Derpy.”

“Of course, I know that.” She laughed.

“I somehow doubt this.”

“No no you can believe me. As sure as I’m standing here in front of you! Well – next to you. And flying. As sure as I’m flying next to you!” She laughed again.

“How can you be so happy?” Rainbow asked. “This is a serious business.”

“Well I’m always happy. I just am. I don’t like being sad so I’m just – not. I think the others could do this, too, but many of them want to be sad.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well I think if you want to be sad you will be sad. And you want to be sad so that you can feel better some day. But I don’t like this. I’m rather happy all the time.”

Rainbow smiled at this simple thought but she had to admit that she wished she could laugh about everything the way Derpy did.

“Ask me another question! I’m so happy to talk to you, Rainbow Dash.”

Somehow, Derpy was really sweet. Only, sadly, jus as naive.

“Okay,” she finally said when she made up her mind. “I’ve always wondered about your eyes. Why are they so askew?”

“Oh, that,” she laughed. “My mom told me about this when I was still very small. My mother could always talk about things so well that I could easily understand her. She told me that when I was a foal I was visited by two angels every night. And they talked to me and moved so fast that my eyes couldn’t keep up. So I had to start to cross my eyes to see them. My mother told me that my eyes are a gift from heaven. She said that I can see a lot of things other ponies can’t see. Whenever I cross my eyes that means that there are angels somewhere, protecting me.”

“Wow… that sounds… crazy.”

Derpy laughed. Derpy always laughed.

Under them the scenery flew by. East of the city there were mostly sparse woods. The air was golden in the morning and in the evening when rays of sunlight shimmered through the tree tops. Wild animals were browsing between the colorful flowers that were heavy with bees. Birch and beech trees were standing around beautiful clearings. The bark of the happily bending trees were not as dark and rugged as the ones in the Everfree Forest. Here, everything was friendly and safe.

Now the land started to split up: north east it started to rise up to the mountains, south east it started to decline. The trees that were moved by playful breezes were dwindling and revealed the huge grassland that touched the horizon. In the east the forest became thicker, the ground barely declined and was some kind of a layer between the mountains and the valley.

“There!” Spirit suddenly exclaimed. Dash followed Spirit’s gaze and signaled them to stop: in the wood under them something was moving, shadows very scurrying and they could hear the swelling sound of trampling hooves when they flew a little bit lower.

Between the branches they could see herds of ponies. These were the troops that were from Manehattan and they were marching strong.

Rainbow looked at the map. “We’re still a bit away from the actual meeting point and we started at around twenty minutes before eleven o’clock. Since then we maybe flew half an hour. They are way ahead of schedule!” Her winning smile was back on her lips and a hot, happy prickle was crawling up her neck while she was watching the silhouettes down below. She estimated about two hundred ponies but about as much were probably hidden from view. When this were four hundred ponies from this troop alone, how much would it be with the ponies from Hoofington and Appleloosa? The hot prickle turned out to be pure joy.

“That means I don’t have to wait here?” Derpy asked legitimately and Rainbow was surprised for a moment how fast she had understood the situation. The plan had been that they would fly to the first meeting point together which would take them about an hour. Derpy was supposed to wait for the troops at this point – this seemed to be the safest option for everypony because they thought that Derpy couldn’t possibly do anything wrong while waiting – while Spirit would fly north and Rainbow south. They could both fly fast, though Spirit was still inferior. From the first meeting point they would need about thirty minutes to the other meeting points. After successfully completing this they would return to Derpy and fly back home together. But now that Manehattan was so early everything would shift a little bit.

“I don’t know,” Rainbow contemplated. “You could wait here; we need you as a sign to find everything easily. If I’m honest I would rather have you wait here. You would only slow me down – no offense.”

Derpy laughed.

“You could of course go with Spirit,” she continued. “I think you’d take about the same time. Why do we have maps, anyway?” And then you can pester somepony else, she thought, but not angrily.

“Yes!” she exclaimed.

Spirit didn’t say anything. His ruby red eyes were shimmering for a moment but that disappeared quickly. He looked at his own map, then around and looked to get started. Derpy followed him and waved at Rainbow.

Rainbow rolled her eyes, looked at the way and then put the map away. The piece of paper would only get in the way if she wanted to fly as fast as she intended to. Then she looked around. Spirit and Derpy were only recognizable as small dots. The sun was up high and blinding her. For a moment Rainbow searched for her shadow on the tree tops under her but even her shadow seemed to have left. She was alone – a lone pony. If you want to outpace everypony, you leave them all behind eventually. After all the commotion because of Spitfire, the pride after the meeting with the Princess and the joy over the ponies from Manehatten, she now felt the weight of the morning, bordering on melancholia. Loneliness. A big word. For who is not forever a stranger, prison-pent and alone?

She shook her head. Where did these thoughts come from? They seemed alien, like they were implanted in her mind. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and tried to breath evenly. In – out. The voice in her head that questioned everything got weaker. In – out. Finally, her practical side was in charge again. She opened her eyes and dashed forward like an arrow. Everything around her became blurry because she was so fast. She started grinning automatically. The speed was intoxicating and she let herself feel everything. It didn’t take long for her to get lost, so she stopped. Looking at the map she saw that this was the exact meeting point. How long had she been flying? It couldn’t have been more than five minutes. Well, in reality it had been more than three times as much.

The valley was wide open. High grass was swaying with the soft caress of invisible hands of air, here and there you could find bushes and fern looking like small islands. Five minutes passed. Ten. Impatiently she started to fly in circles. Nopony was showing. Then she decided she would simply take matters into her own hooves and fly towards the Appleloosa troops. She flew strictly south, watching the horizon. After 10 miles still nopony was visible; she started to worry. Looking at the sun it should be almost twelve o’clock. They should be clearly visible by now, where were they?

Rainbow started to soar to get a better view. The valley looked like a bowl, deep in the middle and rising in every cardinal direction. The higher she flew the more she could see. She had to protect her eyes from the sun – looked at one, then in the other direction – and then suddenly they appeared. They looked like a dark spot from afar, crossing the land like a dark shadow. But they were too far away in the south. Rainbow looked disappointed. Coming back with bad news: she hadn’t planned this. She took a pencil out of her bag and wrote a note about the delay on the map.

Then she started to return. At first she tried to take her time and was angry about this huge delay. The angrier she became, the faster she got – and soon everything in her world narrowed down to the never-ending fight between her and the air. Rainbow could always prolong it with her speed, but never win.

Some time after, she came back to the point where they had split up and found Derpy and Spirit already there, waiting; she hadn’t expected that. Both were sitting on a small cloud that they had found somewhere and were talking to each other with their backs to Rainbow so that they didn’t see her arrival. She couldn’t hear much but it was enough to notice that Spirit and Derpy were talking about her. Rainbow Dash perked up. On her hooves she tip-toed to them without making a sound, trying to listen to the conversation.

“… can’t believe it,” Spirit just finished his sentence.

“Oh I don’t think that she was this mean on purpose.”

“Not on purpose? You were there. You’ve heard just like everypony else how she attacked Spitfire. If you say that she hasn’t done this on purpose I can’t believe you.”

“You don’t understand me. I just said that she wasn’t mean on purpose. I didn’t say that she didn’t handle on purpose because of her anger. That’s a difference, somehow. I bet she regrets this.”

“I doubt this very much.” He stretched himself before lying down; if he would bend his head just a little bit more he would see her, the topic of their conversation – but he didn’t. “Maybe she knows that she exaggerated, yeah… but regret? I don’t think so.”

Derpy stretched her back to enjoy the sun on her fur. The soft breeze let her hair fall into her face. “I’m very sure that she will say sorry sometime.”

“Spitfire would be crazy to let her nearer than a wingspan away.”

“Could be, maybe. Many of the other ponies were angry because of Rainbow Dash. I don’t understand this.”

“Don’t understand this?” he repeated, and you could hear the dark look on his face.

“Well, Rainbow Dash is a good pony. No matter what happened. She knows that what she did wasn’t okay and she will say sorry for this. I don’t know why she was angry with Spitfire, it must have been a misunderstanding. But if she just wants to she won’t be angry anymore.”

“You mean like you said before? Why you are never sad?”

She nodded excitedly. “That’s the same reason I’m never angry. With nopony. And definitely not with Rainbow Dash. We are friends, you know? We’ve known each other for such a long time, I just can’t imagine being angry with her. This wouldn’t be fair. She is a good pony. And maybe I’m not a smart pony but I know who’s good and who isn’t. And in the end the good always win.”

“Did your mother tell you this, too?”

Derpy laughed.

“Maybe she already left the town,” Spirit said after a while and crossed his hooves behind his head. “Spitfire, I mean.”

“No she didn’t.”

“How do you know this?”

“I just do,” she said, shrugging and smiling.

“Okay… but even if not. Today during the evacuation she will probably leave. And to be honest, you should do so too.”

“Me?” she asked confused.

“M-hm. In two days everything will start. You could get hurt.”

“Why? I have everything under control.”

“Well I feel very uncomfortable giving you a weapon. If we even get some, that is. What do I know what the Princess has prepared for our safety? But still, I feel even worse thinking about you getting hurt.” He swallowed.

Derpy looked at him. “Don’t worry, Wild Spirit. I can manage everything.”

Spirit ran his hoof over her back – it looked forced, static.

Rainbow used this pause. “Wake up you snails!” she shouted and acted like she had just come there. Her appearance didn’t fail to have the desired effect: both were turning around, Spitfire scared, Derpy happy. She jumped up and greeted her with a wide grin while he stood up, sighing quietly.

“If we had time to rest the Princess wouldn’t give us these missions,” Rainbow instructed them. Her gaze rested on Derpy.

“What did you find out?”

“Hoofington is right on time,” Spirit said nasally.

“How many?”

He shrugged. “Hundred, maybe one hundred and fifty ponies. They were on time at the agreed meeting point. What about you?”

Rainbow reported what had happened. Spirit replied with a snort. “Then we can get back when everything is finished?”

She hesitated. “Yes… almost.”

He lifted one eyebrow.

“I have to do something,” she said. “You fly ahead and tell the Princess everything. I have to fly somewhere.”

“Does the Princess have another task for you?”

“Uhm…”

“Can’t we know about this?” he guessed. “What are you hiding from us?”

“Nothing!” she barked. “Really, nothing. It doesn’t have anything to do with the Princess or our task.”

“Then you can just as well tell us.”

“You can’t force me.”

His jaw twitched, but he didn’t say anything. He pierced Rainbow with a sharp gaze.

“I just want to look at something, that’s all,” she said. “I don’t need your permission for this and I don’t need to justify myself.” She put the map that she had took out during her report in Derpy’s bag – she didn’t want to come near Spirit – and said: “All you have to do is tell the Princess what we’ve seen. I’ve put a mark on my map so that you don’t forget it. Got it?”

“Got it!” Derpy exclaimed.

Spirit didn’t stop watching Rainbow. The glimmer in his ruby red eyes was back. “Derpy,” he finally said. “You can find your way back alone, right? I guess I’ll go with our mystery monger here.”

“More than got it!” she laughed.

Rainbow looked at him darkly. He reciprocated. She could see in his eyes that he wasn’t backing down no matter how much she would argue. “Fair enough,” she sighed. “If you insist. But before we start I want to talk to Derpy.”

She led the other mare out of earshot.

Derpy looked at her happily, asking: “What do you want, Rainb…”

But she didn’t finish. Rainbow cut her off – and hugged her. She embraced her and pulled her on her chest, burying her face in her shoulder. Her hearts were aligned with each other; they were beating the same beat.

“Thanks for believing in me,” was the only thing she whispered. Derpy didn’t say anything. After a while she added, a little bit louder: “Sometimes I'd love to see the world with your eyes. I’d really love to.”

“It’s okay, Rainbow Dash.”

“Fly home. We’ll come back later. It will only be a few hours, not more.”

“Whatever you say. I will be back to the Princess in no time.”

“Yeah, I trust you,” Rainbow said when she stopped hugging Derpy. And in that second shivers were running down her spine. What had Derpy said? Whenever I cross my eyes that means that there are angels somewhere, protecting me.

Her eyes were crossed. Crossed in a way like never before. Only for a few seconds but you couldn’t miss it. Which angels were watching over her in this second, trying to bring her safe back home?

Home – and not north?

Derpy flew away after she had said her goodbyes to both of them. During the flight she swayed from side to side like before. She got smaller and smaller.

Spirit approached. “What did you tell her?”

“That she shouldn’t be afraid,” she lied.

He snorted. “And where are we going now?”

“North.” Rainbow watched him in the corner of her eyes. She could watch fascinated how his almost indifferent calmness bloomed quickly into a flower of disbelief.

“North?” he asked unsure. “Into the eye of the storm?”

“You can still change your mind.”

“You wish.” But she could hear the tremor in his voice.

She smiled boldly. “Then let’s get going. We have a long way ahead of us.”

And with a last gaze to the west they left this place.

~ ~ ~

The huge area north of Ponyville was one of the most remarkable areas in all of Equestria. There was a wide aisle of short green grass that looked like a dead snake, meandering through the mountains in the east. There were trees all around this aisle that was called the Green Plank by romantic souls and had been filling the minds of poets and singers for centuries with wild ideas. The surrounding area had the most forests in the whole world. The knotty roots were full of secrets; it was a fertile land that had inspired many myths and legends. The most well known probably was the fairy-tale of the Lonely Giant. Many different variants of this tale were circulating the world but the most important points were the same: the tale was about a giant who had existed long before the first ponies had been awoken in this world; he had fallen in love with the beautiful sight of the starry sky. He had been wandering around, climbing hills to be nearer to them, jumping up in the air and pounding huge valleys and canyons into the earth when he landed. One day he found a place where he could see the stars perfectly. Night after night he laid down and gazed at the circle of these magic lights. When the nights were long in the winter he couldn’t stop marveling at the beauty that had been brought to him. But in the summer when the days got longer he was so saddened by the love he had lost that he sat down, from dawn till dusk, to cry. His tears would slowly form a huge river, and in the river bed he cleansed the land and took away all the trees. The Lonely Giant (how he would later be called) didn’t want to move anymore; he just wanted to look at the stars. So it happened that after a thousand years he became one with the land. He became stone – he became the mountains where eons later Canterlot had been built into the hillside. As soon as he had turned into stone the rivers of his tears had stopped and got covered with grass – but no trees wanted to grow anymore. That was how the Green Plank had been born.

The legend closed with the poetic remark that the giant would be tied to this place until the nights would finally cease to exist and the ever-lasting day would start. When that would happen he would rise and bury the world in the waves of his longing tears.

The Plank was winding it’s way down from the most northern mountains in a huge arch towards the west, finally turning to the south and stopping just short of Ponyville between Sweet Apple Acres and the Everfree Forest. If you wanted to walk the distance by hooves you would need about two days if you didn’t take the shortcut through the forest – and nopony did that because you could get easily lost in this dark city of trees. The Plank was twisty, at some points it even transformed into a serpentine that made it impossible to go too fast.

“Just a safety measure,” she explained for the fifth time. Rainbow and Spirit could find the Plank without the map. They were flying swiftly and chose the shortest way which made them pass Ponyville. “The Princess said that it’s not necessary to send somepony up here, but if something unexpected happens it’s important to know about this.”

“Okay, but we shouldn’t get too near,” he warned.

“We’ll see how near they’ll let us.”

“It could be dangerous, Dash.”

“Danger is my specialty,” she said arrogantly.

“Maybe yours – but not everypony’s.”

“You didn’t have to come if you’re only complaining.”

“I’m not com-”

“Coward.”

“I’m not complaining. I’m just stating the facts. And I’m stating that it is definitely sufficient to be within range of sight.”

“And if it’s not enough?”

“We turn around.”

“Well you can turn around right now if you want,” she said. “I will fly as near as I want to.”

“Exactly who do you want to impress?” he mumbled. “Nopony is here besides us. No applauding crowd that celebrates your courage. If you want to, fly there and risk your life, but leave me out of this. I said I’ll come with you and if something happens I will help you. But if we get in danger because of your stubbornness you’ll have to manage on your own. I won’t vouch for you.”

“For somepony who has risked his life during all of his acrobatics you’re really lacking ambition.”

“That’s completely different!” he exclaimed tired. “How can you compare this?”

“Forget it!” she said annoyed. “I didn’t expect you to overreact.”

“That’s huge coming from you,” he mumbled.

Rainbow looked at him; he noticed and stared right back, his face distorted into a you’ve-heard-me-grimace.

“Hey,” she said sharply. “If you want to tell me something, do it.”

He stayed silent.

“That’s what I thought,” she said satisfied. “You’re just a coward after all.”

“You want to boast about what you did?” he suddenly blurted out. “Do you even know what you did? I don’t want to imagine what Spitfire is thinking right now. But everypony that has been there wants to avoid you right now, probably forever. Nopony wants to talk to you.”

Her head got red. “If that’s so why did you come with me? Why did you volunteer?” she screamed.

“That didn’t have a thing to do with you!” he screamed back.

“Oh? With who then?”

“With who? With who? Of course with… with…” He went quiet and turned his head away from her.

Rainbow still stared at him. “Don’t tell me this is about Derpy?” she asked spitefully.

Spirit bit his lip and tried to pass by her. She watched him and could feel her anger vanishing when she noticed that his was a peculiar topic for him. She caught up with him. “Did you really come with me because of Derpy?” she asked, more friendly. He didn’t answer. “Do you have… feelings for her?”

“That’s none of your business,” he said without force.

“So I’m wrong?”

He took a deep breath when he slowed down. His anger seemed to have vanished, too. He ddin’t speak but Rainbow could see the truth in his gaze; suddenly scenes from the last few hours whirled through her mind, only this time she watched them from another angle. The slow raising of his hoof after Derpy had volunteered; the cautious distance he had held during their flight; the glimmer in his eyes when they had separated; his worry during the conversation on the cloud and the soft caress of her back – not static, but rather tense because of the feelings it inspired.

They flew a few minutes without talking. Spirit’s mind was obviously somewhere else. Every now and then a smile started to crack through his stonelike mask that was hiding his face and Rainbow could almost see the memories in his head every time the corners of his mouth twitched.

The silence got unbearable.

“We will have enough distance to them,” she promised. “We look at where they are and then we’ll be out. And before dusk we’ll be home.”

“Thanks,” he said without looking at her.

“Why didn’t you fly with her?” she asked. “You could have been alone with her but instead you came with me. Why?”

Spirit snorted amused. “Have you ever been really in love?” he asked.

She negated.

“Then you can’t understand this,” he said simply. “Sometimes we do things that we can’t explain, you know?”

“Yeah… you’re right…”

(Murderer)

“Have you told her?” She tried to shove the image of Spitfire away into the furthest corner of her mind.

“No, no. Of course not,” he said, sounding like she had just asked if he had ever robbed Granny Smith. “I didn’t get the chance.”

“You’ve been alone with her earlier. You could have done it then.”

“Just out of the blue? That, no, that doesn’t work that way.”

“How long have you been feeling this way?”

“I don’t know. A few weeks before my accident, I guess.” He had to giggle. “It's like I’m talking about a disease.”

“That’s almost half a year ago. You can’t tell me that you never had the chance to tell her,” she said sourly.

“Maybe I am a coward,” he said, almost sounding like an excuse. He looked sad.

“You know,” she started after hesitating, “I’m really not the pony with whom you can talk about stuff like this. Feelings and all this stuff, that isn’t my style – but if you want to hear my opinion: I think you should just get your ass in gear and tell her how it is. What could possibly happen?”

Spirit looked at her but couldn’t hold her gaze. He smiled crooked.

“It’s not important right now anyway,” she said then and pointed to what she saw.

In front of them there was a gape between the trees and they could see a wide grass belt: the Green Plank was winding it’s way through the world. Above it, far away, there was a shadow in the sky.

“What is that?” Spirit asked.

“Don’t you know what the Princess said? The Dark are getting weaker in the light. They are marching under a huge black cloud to be safe.”

He hummed in approval. “Good. Now we know where they are. Let’s get away from here.”

“Wait, we can go nearer.”

“You said…”

“I know what I said. But look how far away they are! We can go on, a few miles. Maybe we can see how many there are? This would be really valuable and completely safe.”

“If you say so,” he grumbled. He didn’t feel good thinking about this.

They kept on flying. With every wing beat towards the darkness it got colder. The warm sunlight didn’t seem to reach them so far away from everything that was good. An ominous wind started to get tangled up in their manes. Her wings started to get numb and heavy.

“Hey, Dash.” He had trouble speaking. Something supernatural was going on out here. “We should turn around. This doesn’t bode well.”

“Soon,” Rainbow said. She tried to ignore the nervous twitch of her eyelids. “Just a little bit. We can see them soon. Only a little bit.”

Spirit didn’t answer.

The trees started to move under them, reach for them as if they wanted to stop them. Or catch them. Trap them in their branch prison for all of eternity. The wind blew stronger and small black flowers were appearing in her eyes. The blood in her was too thick; her temples were pulsing and her mouth tasted like copper. Rainbow felt like she would faint any moment.

“Okay,” she whispered. Then, louder: “Okay, okay. We go back. Something is wrong… here, I… Spirit? Spirit!”

Nopony answered her.

Wild Spirit was gone.

Rainbow Dash looked around. A forbidding murmur was filling her eyes, vibrating in her bones. Her focus got blurrier with every heart beat, the black flowers exploded and tore holes in her perception. Then something weird started: the trees that had just been way under her suddenly started to grow and grow over her. She wanted to get out, started to panic, screamed on the top of her lungs, or did she only do this in her mind? Out of her mind she started to fly in a zig zag, got caught in invisible spider webs that took her breath and made her slow down. She could hear the creak of branches, the rustling of leaves and the trickle of resin that was oozing out of the pale bark while the webs were cutting into her flesh. Then she could see the ground, covered with dry leaves, that came nearer without any reason. Then she could feel the earth on her face.

Then the darkness embracing her.

Then, nothing.

~ ~ ~

Rainbow’s head felt like it had been filled with lead. The world was circling her in crazy rounds. Everywhere lights and shadows were flickering. Her guts were cramping and for a moment she thought that she would throw up. But then everything was over, everything was back in his usual place and her fatigue was vanishing.

She could see a green shimmer on the ground that was crawling towards her like thick fog, touching her. It was night. A bright purple light was pulsing at the horizon, tearing apart the darkness every few seconds and letting Rainbow see her surroundings: statues of huge ponies were around her, ash was on the ice cold ground that was omitting an unnatural drumming noise like one thousand hooves; sharp rocks were looming like broken teeth in an abyss. A cold wind was playing around her fur.

She stood up. The green shimmer was receding but immediately thin fog crawled out of the ground, stinking like sulfur. Her legs were shaking, she could hardly stood upright.

“Is somepony here?” she asked breathless. For a moment her question was lingering in the air before it got whisked away. The sound of her voice let shivers run down her spine because it was rough and sounded almost like a whimper. She gazed in every direction, looking behind the statues and the rocks.

“Where am I, goddammit?” she murmured. Her voice started to gather strength and let her find her courage again. “Hello? Is somepony here?”

No answer. Not even an echo.

A fluttering noise started above her head, almost as if a bird had been startled. On instinct she ducked. Then she felt as if she was being watched – an intense and piercing feeling of being at the mercy of something; of fear. She couldn’t shake it off, it got stronger with every minute and forced her on her knees.

Did the statues just move?

When she first saw the twitching movements she thought that she had been the victim of an illusion. But it was true: the statues had moved, had come closer, had stretched her hooves towards Rainbow hungrily.

She moved back screaming, got stuck at a chasm, lost her balance and fell against a cliff. It gave in easily as if he was made of flesh. A swarm of huge, yellow flies were bursting out of the top, the drumming noise of her giant wings suffocating every other noise. Suddenly a shrill scream was piercing the night, leaving her shaking. The statues turned her black heads into the sky and screamed, too. Rainbow pressed her hooves against her ears and could feel warm blood trickling down her fur.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

The screams stopped and left a high frequent whistle behind that rang inside her ears. She looked around: didn’t somepony just speak? An old, warm voice? It almost felt like it had come out of Rainbow herself but she could feel the presence of another pony.

Then the voice spoke up again:

“No. It’s terrible. Ugly. And that which is ugly is to be hated.”

Rainbow sank down. The soft rock where the flies had flown out was now a normal hill made of stone – and on this hill there was a pony – and this pony was as pale as ashes, no wings, no horn, no mane and only a thin white tail.

“Who are you?” asked Rainbow; she wasn’t sure if she should be happy about the appearance of this strange mare. “Where am I? What’s happening?”

She didn’t answer; instead she stared into one direction.

The flier followed her gaze – and could see a mountain of giant magnitude with titanic, rough mountainsides that seemed to stretch into infinity.

“This is beautiful, is it not?”

She looked the stranger in the eye.

“Do you want to see it?” The voice somehow sounded familiar. It reminded her of the rustling of leaves when she flew above autumn forests.

“Who are you?” she asked again. “What is this supposed to mean? And where am I?”

“You shouldn’t talk about powers that you know nothing about,” the strange mare said monotonously. Then, with more strength in her voice: “Come, come with me to the mountain top!”

The earth twitched. The fatigue started again and she fell on the ground. Her guts felt like they were impaled with hot bones.

The stranger lend her a hoof to help her up. The pale fur felt weird; as if it wasn’t fur but rather old paper. Rainbow stood up and shook her fur off. Everything around her was different. The statues, the rocks, the flies, the fog – everything was gone. This was a completely different place.

“Come,” the stranger said. “I have to show you something.”

Rainbow looked at her warily. Everything just became more bizarre. But in order to get answers she would have to stick to this weird mare; Rainbow knew this. She didn’t exclude the possibility that this was an enemy, so she followed her cautiously when she led her to the edge of a slope where they stared into the depths.

Rainbow shivered with fear what she would find there. But as she looked down she was consumed with an existential, eons old fear: the realization that in reality you are just small and trivial. At the same time she could feel awe in the light of everything that had been crated, life itself, maybe in a way that nopony had ever felt before. Her mouth was wide open and her heart leaped in her chest.

“Yes!” the stranger exclaimed. “Look at all this glory!”

They were on the top of the mountain, this unbelievably high mountain that had been so far away just seconds ago. And under them – like on a tablet – the whole world was lying before them: Equestria and everything beyond.

She could see areas and landscapes of her home that looked like they were painted onto the ground but there was more – so much more, corners of the world that she had never heard of before: mountains, lakes, oceans, valleys, canyons, steppes, swamps, deserts. Was this really her world? Or a constellation of all words?

Rainbow shivered. She could feel her cheeks getting wet. Her wings were hanging down loosely.

The strange mare looked at her. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

She did not - could not - answer.

“That’s what I see every day. Time after time I see it the way it is. The boundless beauty of life.” She paused. “Now close your eyes.”

“What?” she asked like in a dream.

The stranger puffed air into her eyes. Rainbow blinked. When she could see again the world – or worlds – had changed. Everything seemed dead. Red dust was covering the ground where there had been fertile earth before. The lakes were parched, rivers and streams lost their water, the mountains were smoothened, furrows that were miles long were glimmering with a deadly glow and a sinister flicker was in the air.

“What happened?” Rainbow asked softly.

“This is the future,” the stranger said sadly. “This is what will happen to the life that I love so much when the Devourer can unfold his whole power.”

“The what now?”

She got a taunting gaze. “It’s pitiful that you don’t know a thing about the world that was given to you,” she said reproachful. “Be it as it may, I can’t really hold it against you. Even the world itself seems to forget what inhabits it.” The pony turned around and left.

Rainbow followed her. “Who are you? And where exactly am I?” she asked again.

“You should ask other questions, for I shall not answer these.”

“Why not? What do you have to hide?”

“Let me put it differently: I can’t answer these because your mind couldn’t possibly comprehend everything I could tell you. You’re a sorry creature of this one-dimensional world of yours.”

When Rainbow Dash didn’t answer, she continued: “What is the last thing you remember?”

“We flew,” she answered quickly. Her eyelids started to twitch again, but only for a moment.

“We flew?” she helped along.

“Yes, me and…” Her eyes got big. “Where is Spirit?”

The strange mare gave a crooked smile. “Good question! I knew you could do it. Come on, he’s already waiting for you.” In front of them the ground opened and stairs appeared, leading into the mountain.

“Did you bring us here? Wherever… we are?”

“Yes, I brought you here. You resisted unnecessarily – if you hadn’t you wouldn’t have woken up in this terrible place. I hate it myself: it’s a place of dried up memories.”

“Wait…” Rainbow thought back to the weird occurrences before she had lost her consciousness. “So you were responsible for all of this?”

“The weird winds? The numbness? The trees? Yes – I needed to hide you.”

“Hide?” she shouted excitedly. Her voices echoed back from the cold walls ten times as strong.

“Hold your horses,” the stranger said. The stairs ended and they stooded in front of a gate that was shimmering in colors that Rainbow Dash had never seen before and couldn’t possibly describe. As soon as the stranger stepped forward towards the gate it opened quietly. They stepped inside a huge room. Instead of a ceiling made of stone Rainbow could see a never ending sky; stars were sparkling in it like candles. In the middle of the room – although you could hardly call it that in lieu of the stars above it – there was a small throne made out of granite. A dark creature was sitting on it.

Spirit! She wanted to shout but her lips didn’t move. She ran towards him. His head had fallen onto his chest and his hooves seemed like they were melting into the throne.

“He is fine,” the strange mare said, not waiting for Rainbow’s question. “He is only unconscious.”

“Then wake him up.”

“He must sleep.”

“Wh–”

“This is not about him.”

“Wha–”

“We’re here because of you and you alone.”

“Stop-”

“Reading your mind?” Her gaze pierced through her like an icy spear. “You are not in the position to make demands. This is not your world.”

She had to gather all her strength to not say anything. Rainbow couldn’t look her in the eye for too long. An unknown feeling was running down her spine when she saw her face.

“All in due time,” the stranger said. “There are… things about this place that you should know. One: this is my home, although I wasn’t born here. It obeys me and only me. Whatever you see, hear or feel has already been seen, heard or felt by me. There is no place in here where I couldn’t find you. So don’t even think about hiding from me. As long as you’re here I will see you. And this is the second thing I want to tell you: you are nothing in here – only a copy of life. And I brought you here for a reason. So don’t resist and don’t make me angry. I promise you, you would regret it.”

Rainbow’s muscles tensed. “And what if I don’t want to?” she asked with hardly concealed sharpness in her voice. “If you think I would just sit still and let you give me orders you don’t know who’s in front of you. This trick of yours with the mountain might have been cool but don’t think you can just take me or Spirit as a prisoner.”

“You simply cannot fathom what I am capable of doing,” the strange mare said.

Rainbow spit. “Yeah? What're you gonna do, huh?”

“Whatever pleases me!” she shouted and her scream got carried away by a huge blast that threatened to carry Rainbow away. The flier tensed her wings to not get blown away but then she could feel that something was keeping her in place. The next second she could see roots coming out of the earth, entangling her.

Rainbow tugged at the roots but as soon as she had got rid of one two new ones sprouted. “Order them back!” she said. “Let me go! Now!”

“This defiance,” the stranger said sharply, “next to your loyalty is one of your most important character traits, Rainbow Dash from Cloudsdale. But it has no place here.”

“How do you know my name?” Now amazement had found her way back into Rainbow’s mind – that and disgust because of the winding roots.

“I know everything that you know. Your mind is an open book for me. At least as long as we’re here, in my spheres. Will this answer suffice? If not, you can ask me what I know – but you shouldn’t do this. Even without the impending doom you would more than one lifespan to learn about everything that is crossing my mind in one second.”

Rainbow shivered because she had to face the terrible truth: she was completely at the mercy of this pony – no matter who she was. And she began to believe that she wasn’t anything here. Who was she, compared to her? What good was it to be the fastest flier in Equestria if there was somepony who could form space and time with only the thoughts of his mind? She looked at Spirit who was sitting lifelessly on his throne. A dozen thoughts were crossing her mind. Finally she asked the question that was the heaviest on her mind:

“Is this real?”

The stranger pursed her lips approvingly. "An excellent question,” she said. Then the floor under them started to spin, everything got shifted a bit and an intense, slowly increasing drumming noise was moving in the air. Rainbow, still entangled by the roots that were slowly making their way up her body, got moved around a few degrees until she was looking directly at the throne. The throne lowered down until the back rest vanished. Spirit’s head got pulled backwards. The strange mare took a few steps in a circle around the two ponies.

“Reality,” she said when the spinning slowed down. “What is reality? A thin line between perception and truth. From every angle it seems like one – yet it is not. Our ears and eyes are deceiving us. What we think is the shadow of a mountain is in reality the shadow of a pebble. What sounds like the gurgling of a stream is the wind in the trees. What is truth? What is delusion? Where do we draw the line, the invisible border that separates us from everything that we can’t grasp? It is only in our minds, thoughts, ideas.”

She went to the still unconscious Spirit and lifted a hoof that started to transform. Five thin stumps were growing out of it, bowing and freezing; several clicking noises could be heard in short intervals, the hoof grew flat and soft, the fur vanished – the hoof had transformed into a hand. She put the hand on Spirit’s forehead and lifted his head up a little bit so Rainbow could see him.

“Truth and delusion. Where is the difference? What things do you think are real, irrevocable laws of nature?”

She started to run her fingers through Spirit’s mane, slowly as if she wanted to remember the texture of his mane forever.

“The sun follows the moon… the moon chases the sun… life as you call it… it’s not what you think it is… it’s nothing more than a sequence of occurrences… accidents and incidents, foretold or not.”

Every time she paused, her fingers ran through his mane.

“Life… an unshaped chain.”

She combed his hair.

“Time… mere illusion.”

Spirit’s face started to twitch.

“Death… only a circumstance.”

His skin started to tighten.

“The border is at a thin edge… and we hold balance… as good as we can… but only one… small push, and we…”

She ran her fingers through his mane one last time. Spirit’s face was contorted, his eyes were slits, his nostrils wide, his lips grimacing.

“… fall.”

As soon as she spoke the last words the skin on his face started to rip open like the seam on the back of a doll that had been worn out – it felt like she had pulled at his life force with every combing gesture. Spirit’s head looked like it had been split open by an axe, a huge gap from his forehead to his lips. There was no blood, instead sand was trickling out of him, grain after grain. The bones were cold and pale.

Rainbow wanted to scream, but couldn’t. The roots had already reached her face and closed her mouth shut. What was happening here? What did she see with her own eyes? Had she been the victim of an optical illusion? Tears were streaming down her face. Where they touched the roots small leaves started to sprout and cover her fur. She couldn’t move her wings. Only her neck had been untouched.

The hand transformed back into a hoof and she went back on four legs. At the same time Spirit’s mane was vanishing with his fur and the skin that was slipping off his head like a hood and scattering into tiny pieces that were flying into the sky, putting new stars into it. Only the skull was left: a silently grinning memorial.

“Delusion or truth, Rainbow Dash from Clousdale,” the stranger said when she approached her. “Where do you draw the line? Is it real or is it fiction?”

Suddenly one single huge wing started to come out of the torso of the earth pony with feathers as white as light. The wing blocked her view of Spirit for a moment. When she lowered it again – it was melting and trickling away into the ground – the throne had become a pile of sand and Spirit was gone.

“I’m asking you, Rainbow Dash from Cloudsdale,” the stranger said like a judge who was proclaiming his sentence while around them the drumming noise became louder and louder: “Is this real?”

It had to end, it had to! She could feel her heart in her chest beating agitated, she thought it had to explode while panic was starting to well up inside her. She couldn’t speak because the roots held her firmly. So she thought it, and the strange mare could hear her.

She smiled. “There you have your answer,” she said. The drumming noise was gone as quickly as it had started.

“Now I will explain to you from whom – or rather, from what I had to hide you, you and your little friend.” Her gaze was drawn to the pile of sand which scattered immediately. “There are things,” she started, “that the Princess of Ponies hadn’t included in her thoughts. She is doing her best, I don’t want to deny that. Thinking about how quick she had to decide she managed to show greatness. When Celestia decided to send you north she put a lot of thought into this. The mind of ponies is so easy to manipulate, it’s laughable. Hope and fear. The Princess toyed with that, and the stakes are your lives. She wants to give you courage and scare you at the same time so you’re ready, but not over-confident. What she didn’t know, however, was that there is another power apart from the Dark that has something to say in this war. This is a world full of life and I simply cannot watch how it gets destroyed. But I have to admit, my effects on the physical world are limited. I can only seldom bring something from the other world into mine. No, it’s not my task to forge the destiny of the ponies; but I can give them a nudge. You asked who I am. Well, I can’t give you a name. There aren’t enough – yet too much. But you aren’t the only pony to whom I talk. You know her. Very good, in fact.”

Who do you mean? thought Rainbow.

“Your friend, Rarity,” the strange mare answered. “I’ve visited her two nights ago in her dreams. I’ve been speaking to ponies this way since the dawn of time: I’m the voice in their dreams, the prophet of their unconsciousness. I wanted to see how far I could go, wanted to tell her so much more, lead her to the right path, but I couldn’t help it – I didn’t have enough power. Celestia doesn’t know about me. And still she managed to lock me out of Ponyville even though I can hardly blame her. I can get through the barrier but it’s just not enough. I can’t withstand the magic of the living creatures, not in your world, that is.”

What barrier do you mean?

“It’s a shield,” she said. “An invisible shield. The whole city is trapped in it. Didn’t you notice? A faintly noticeable glimmer in the air, silver, almost like a warning for the light, like snowflakes? Couldn’t you feel the fatigue every time you had to go through the barrier while you obeyed Celestia’s order like the marionette you are?”

Rainbow could remember a tiredness that had befallen her and everypony after work, she could remember the silver shining that she had seen from above.

“It’s Celestia’s shield. She made it and sustains it which costs her a lot of strength. This is why she is hiding in the city halls every day. But she can’t sustain it forever. Soon it will break down. Very soon.”

Why does this barrier exist?

“This is the reason why I had to hide you,” she said and lifted her head. “The core, the Dark how you call them, isn’t as blind as you might think. The night sees everything, Rainbow Dash from Cloudsdale. The core has sent its spies, invisible phantoms that are watching everything. Right from the beginning they were following Celestia – when Canterlot burned, and she could feel their presence. She couldn’t prevent them from following her to Ponyville. The phantoms are the eyes of the core. Because of them it could see where Celestia was going – and because of this they know where they have to attack. But this is all according to her plan. Yes, flier. Ponyville hasn’t been chosen randomly. As soon as Celestia came to your town she started putting up the barrier. She locked the phantoms inside this town in order to blind the enemy. Nothing can get in, nothing can get out. The inside of this barrier is just a white spot for the core – it can’t see anything inside. But outside they are still patrolling. They watched you when you flew east. And they almost got you when you flew north. Celestia couldn’t know that. It was naive to think that the night only had a few spies. This is why I had to hide you, flier. This is why I brought you here. I couldn’t risk you to get caught by them. You’re too important for that.”

Why me? thought Rainbow. The roots were holding her tight, only her eyes were still visible.

“I can see the future,” she said. “Not always – but from time to time. And your image has always been in my visions. You will play an important role in this conflict.”

In the blink of an eye, she suddenly stood right in front of Rainbow, despite the fact that she had been several yards away only a heartbeat before. The stranger forced Rainbow to look her in the eye and she could hardly take it. Her white eyes were as deep and limitless like space itself and she could feel herself getting lost inside them if not for the stranger’s help. The strange mare now whispered: “Things will happen, Rainbow Dash from Cloudsdale. You will see a lot of despair and disaster. Your friends will die, they will die right before your eyes. They will die because of you, they will die for you, and all of this only for one splitter of hope. But you can’t prevent this; as soon as you wake up you will have forgotten everything I just said. You couldn’t change it anyway. And, even though I don’t like to admit it, neither could I.”

Why? she thought desperately.

“Well, that is the nature of dreams, is it not? As soon as you open your eyes you forget about them. The only thing left is the feeling that you have just seen a glimpse of another world. It isthe scourge of your world that you don’t know a way to take something out of them.”

So all of this is a dream. It’s not real?

“Just the fact that you think it’s a dream makes it one.”

Why do you tell me this if I'm bound to forget?

“Because one day, if the world should last that long, you will remember this. And when you do you will come back here. But this is still far away. It’s not important right now. Just listen, I have a message for the Princess; you will forget it, too, but the memory will come back to you very soon. If I have to tear it out of your mind.”

Her voice got even quieter; she didn’t even move her mouth anymore, only communicating telepathically with Rainbow.

The stone is a vessel that was broken, the voice said. The Devourer needs a vessel, yet the vessel is no more. He has to be imprisoned, lest the world will be crushed in his wake.

For a terrible moment everything was silent. Rainbow could feel the stranger with the pale fur still being in her mind. The roots were now covering her eyes. The night was embracing her.

Now you have to sleep.

Why? Rainbow thought breathless when the roots started to get tighter and tighter. She was afraid. Terribly afraid. For this truly was the last thing on earth: darkness.

I already told your friend, the stranger thought. You have to sleep. You mustn’t resist. If you do, you will never wake up.

The roots were crushing Rainbow.

I will close the gap in your mind. You will see what I have seen up north and it will suffice. Otherwise you will have doubts. And if you have doubts, you won’t move.

And with that, the voice was gone.

She could hear her bones rubbing against each other as they got closer and closer. But she didn’t feel fear or pain anymore. There was only a small spark of bewilderment with the striving for revelation, but even this need stopped after a while. Finally she became a breeze, condemned to cross the circles of the otherworldly spheres, searching for an exit, a way out.

Maybe a way to redemption.

~ ~ ~

lo?

ou okay?

hear me?

se, wake up, please, wake up!

ppened?

Dash, can you hear me?

Come back to me, please, something has happened!

~ ~ ~

She woke up in a black world. A harsh, always moving and flickering horizon was contrasting the darkness. Noises she couldn’t identify got to her ears; dull word piles that only slowly started to make sense:

“Dash, you have to wake up! Can you hear me? Can you see me?”

The horizon grew wider and colors started to emit from the light, scattering, starting to from outlines, silhouettes, finally bodies.

“Thank Celestia, I was so afraid!” the voice exclaimed after a long sigh. Rainbow looked the young stallion in the eye and needed almost ten seconds to connect a name with the beige mane and the ruby red eyes that were deep inside the sockets.

“What happened, Spirit?” she asked and stood up. She was still wobbly on her legs and got supported by him until she could stand herself. The sun was setting, the sky was a fiery red. In the east you could already see a few stars.

“I don’t know,” he said tired. “I woke up, right next to you. Damn, I thought you were…” He didn’t manage to say the word and instead spilled a silent tear.

She sat down because she felt dizzy again and shook her head. Her forehead was pulsing when she put it on her hooves. “Are we still at the Plank? How long have we been out?”

“We’re home, Dash.”

She looked up to him in disbelief.

“Ponyville,” he insisted and gestured into one direction. Rainbow lifted her head – her heavy, heavy head – and saw the town from the top of a small hill. The lights were on and she could see ponies like little dots, wandering around.

“As I said, something happened.”

“What do you remember?”

“The Plank,” he said after a while. “We where up north. Saw a huge cloud – then I don’t know anything.”

Her mind felt like a pile of broken glass. She could see how far away a huge dark spot had been mounting up. But then everything was gone.

Same for me, she wanted to sigh tiredly. Then something weird happened: almost feeling like she was watching a movie, she started to remember things. Almost as if she had been experiencing them right now. “We flew,” she said automatically. “We were very near, we could see them. Yes, yes, I remember. You became unconscious. I put you on my back and brought you here.” It sounded like she was reading it from a piece of paper.

He listened astonished. “Really? Why did I become unconscious?” And, almost with the same breath: “You said you wouldn’t fly so close! What if something had happened?”

“We were safe,” she answered. Although he had just been snarled it she didn’t feel anger, not even annoyance. No. The usually stormy ocean inside her was calm and without any wave. “I brought you here because you couldn’t fly yourself… I saw them. They were so many. And they will need exactly one and a half day. When the sun is at her highest point on Tuesday they will be here. This is true, I know it.”

He sighed. “I really don’t know how you want to know that or what even happened up there, Dash – but I think I have to thank you.”

“It’s okay,” she said quietly. In her mind several things were happening at once. She felt like she had just lived a whole day in the last two hours; but the most pressing issue was that she could remember the flight back, but almost like she had seen it in a photo album and nothing more. And her feelings felt strange, too. She didn’t know what exactly she felt in this moment: somehow she was completely lifeless, then she felt regret, guilt, melancholy, sadness, self-pity. Depleted, her character was laid out in front of her, she could see it and was disgusted by it. Everything seemed to have lost its sense. Life seemed pale, exposed, the hidden demons had been freed, but she couldn’t see or even feel them; they were hidden and free at once. The knowledge about something that she had never known; visions of things that she had never seen, that she couldn’t remember, but that she seemed to know, then she saw a door that she had never found, a leaf that had never fallen, a stone that had never been apart from it’s rock, a stone, a leaf, a door not found, and all the forgotten faces were dancing in front of her inner eye.

She felt like she was about to burst.

“What do we do now?” he asked and wanted to lend her a hoof to help her stand up.

She declined the offer and continued to sit.

“Should we tell the Princess? I mean, we started out on our own accords.”

She almost shook her head. “Yes, we’ll tell her. No, wait, please, can you do that? Please.”

“Why, are you afraid of her?” he asked, forcefully relaxed. Rainbow looked at him from the ground. Her formerly beautiful eyes, now scarred with burst veins, were glassy and full of tears.

Spirit stooped down. “Dash, what’s wrong? Is everything okay?”

“Yes.” No.

“Should I bring you home?”

“I have to go somewhere else.” She stood up and breathed heavily. “Go to the Princess. Please. Tell her that they’ll be here in one and a half day. Not a moment later. And there are too many, too many.” With that, she turned around.

“What do you do now?” he called after her.

“Searching for a door,” she answered. The feelings that had been implanted in her, as if she had been confronted with life and death and the termination of her own existence, were growing like a tumor inside her, but with every step she took away from Spirit she also gained distance between her and the things that were straying in her mind. The thoughts of the other world were shifting into higher mental planes that she would never be able to reach fully conscious. Pieces of it were nesting inside her without being able to be found, without her noticing, and soon she had forgotten that she had ever felt that way. It didn’t change her character but it made her more open for the sufferings of others, gifted her with the understanding of things that she wouldn’t have understood before.

Like an uncomfortable truth that she had denied because of egoism and self-protection.

Silent and alone with her inner conflicts, she went her way.

~ ~ ~

“Is somepony home?” Rainbow shouted when she stood at the open door, going inside Fluttershy’s house without knocking.

The lamps were giving up a generous light and the dwindling sunlight that was crowning the tree tops of the Everfree Forest was falling in through a window. In the open window there were wind chimes singing quietly along. The living room was almost disheveled for Fluttershy’s standards. Everywhere were small and big boxes, some empty, some filled with band-aids, gauze and syringes, opened and closed ampules, bottles of disinfectants, compresses and a brochure about first aid. On the covers of the boxes there was a red cross. On the couch there was a hastily put together blanket. In the corner there was a sack from Sugarcube Corner with FLUTTERSHY written on it. The small animal shelters were empty.

Upstairs a door was opened. “Who’s there?” a voice asked that didn’t belong to the shy Pegasus pony. Rainbow swallowed but didn’t say anything.

“Who’s there?” the voice asked again. Now she could hear a hoof cautiously stepping on the first step.

She took a deep breath.

The creaking of the steps continued as the voice went downstairs. “I ask again: who is there?”

“It’s me, Rainbow Dash,” she said with unknown diffidence.

The voice went silent.

“I’m here because of you, Spitfire,” she called upstairs. Then, suddenly, a huge rumbling started when four hooves turned around and galloped back upstairs, followed by the bang of a closing door.

Rainbow looked sadly at the stairs. She climbed onto the window sill, out of the window and flew upstairs. Then she looked through the bedroom window and saw Spitfire, cowering down in front of the door, her ear pressed against the wood. She pushed gently against the glass; it wasn’t locked, so it swung upon silently.

“Spitfire…”

The flier turned around in surprise and looked at her, scared. A high wail escaped her lips before she put her hooves in front of her mouth not unlike this morning. She pressed her shivering body against the door as if she wanted to go through the material or melt into it. Her hind legs were scratching against the floor, her hooves were leaving behind ugly scratches on the wood.

The sight… it was pathetic. Rainbow Dash wanted to cry. That was her work, her wretched doing. She stepped off the windowsill without stopping to look at Spitfire and sat down on the floor, her head tilted against the wall. Their eyes met.

“I just want to talk to you,” she promised softly. “That is all.”

A few moments of silence passed. Spitfire calmed down a bit. The drumming of her hind legs stopped slowly but she still had her hooves pressed against her mouth.

Rainbow stood up and made a step towards her – Spitfire reacted by drawing a sharp breath and tensing. She looked at Rainbow like a small foal looking at the closet door at night: huge eyes that were taking in every moment, in permanent fear of the monster that they suspected behind the calm exterior. And Spitfire had already seen it.

She took another step.

Spitfire turned her head around and nodded. Rainbow could see that she was looking at a pile of paper. She went to them, took a few pages and a pen. She put both in front of Spitfire with a little distance and went back to the window.

Spitfire wrote a short note, then scrunched it up and threw it to rainbow as if it was poisonous, putting her hooves back onto her mouth after that.

She took the paper, unfolding it.

What do you want here?

“I told you I just want to talk to you. Because of this morning.”

Spitfire wrote another note, scrunching and throwing it:

I don’t believe you.

And soon after the next note:

You will scream at me again.
You want to see me dead.

Rainbow read the last line again and again, devastated. “That... that’s not true,” she said, shaking her head. “I swear, I just want to talk to you. I want to say sorry, really.”

The next message:

Why should I believe you?

She didn’t know what to say to that. Another message came:

You wish I would have died in Canterlot too

The next:

You hate me.

And the next:

Why do you want to say sorry now?

“Spitfire, that’s…” She was amidst a circle of unfolded slips of paper and looked at every single on, reading their content. “I did something terribly stupid,” she said, the regret weighing heavy on her voice. Spitfire took out another piece of paper, but now Rainbow Dash recognized how laughable all of this was. She took a step towards her before she could scribble the first word.

“Put that away, Spitfire,” she tried to convince her.

She turned around from Rainbow, arched her back and hid the paper from view.

“Stop this, come on, don’t do this!” She tried to snatch the paper away from her. Spitfire shook her head vehemently and resisted – the paper was torn when they both pulled at it. The former Wonderbolt flier let herself fall to the side as if this cut had also destroyed her will. Her hooves were pressed on her mouth and she cried, the tears streaming over her cheeks that were hollowing every time she tried to breath. Her whole beautiful form was twitching epileptically, her mane was glued to her face, her wings fluttered every now and then as if she wanted to take off at any given moment – away from here, away from this vale of tears. This picture moved Rainbow Dash, still holding the torn slip of paper in her hooves like an ancient relic, to tears. She hated herself for what she had done – almost a week ago she had dreamed of being so close to Spitfire. Now she wished to be anywhere, not here. But she had to say what was burning in her mind.

Rainbow lied down cautiously and approached Spitfire until her warm bodies were touching each other. She tried to force a smile and said nothing. Sptifire didn’t have any strength left to flee. She let it happen. Seconds became minutes, passing by silently. Eventually she started to calm down. She breathed normally, her tremors ended, her cheeks weren’t hollowing. Rainbow took her hooves and slowly pulled them away from Spitfire’s mouth. Saliva was dropping from her chin.

“Everything’s okay,” she said as if talking to a child.

Spitfire took the pen again.

“No,” she said conciliatory. “Speak. Tell me.”

She didn’t find a paper, so she started to let the pen dance on the ground.

Rainbow put a hoof on her shoulder and caressed her soft fur. Spitfire started to cry again, the tears forming dark dots on the ground. She let go of the pen. Rainbow read what she had written. It was only one word:

Why?

She took the pen and put it away. Spitfire leaned against her chest.

“I was angry at myself,” she whispered, stroking the flame-patterned mane. “I wanted to blame myself – if I had just worked harder and you had taken me in because of that I would have been in Canterlot that day. I could have helped. I questioned my whole life. What did I do wrong? Where did I fail? I spent the first night doing nothing but shouting into my pillow. It couldn’t be real. My biggest idols – just gone? After the meeting I just flew around, and after a while my self-hatred began shifting towards you; I always feel better when I can put the blame on somepony else. I tried to distract myself with work. But when I saw you this morning, everything came back. I imagined how it had to be when everything came to its end. Somehow, it felt as if it had been me back then. That I had seen them dying – not you. I wanted to stay away from you. It just hurt too much to see you. And the fact that you forced this pain on me made me despise you. I was angry at you because you stirred up all these feelings in me that I had shoved away since Saturday. And… it just built up. The more you said, the bigger the pain and the anger within me grew. Until everything just came bursting out. I didn’t know… no… I did know they were your friends, but I stubbornly denied it. And I just wished that you had died with them. Then I wouldn't have to live through this hell that you had put me in, according to my ignorant views. And since you were so calm because of this stuff that Zecora gave you... I just got so angry that I saw everything through a red curtain. I’m so unbelievably sorry.”

Her voice broke when she thought about how much she had shouted, how pitiful Spitfire had flown away, how everypony had stared at her, but most of all how Derpy hadn’t once doubted that she was a good pony during her conversation with Spirit. Everything came back and pushed tears into her eyes.

Tears of regret are saltier then tears of sadness, always.

“I never want to be angry again. I never want to hurt other ponies as much as I hurt you. Can you forgive me? Ever?”

Spitfire sobbed quietly. Her face was buried in heavenly blue fur.

“Please, say something,” she begged. Silver linings on her cheeks were melting into the golden shimmer of the last sun rays that bedded the two Pegasus ponies into the night. The shadows grew longer and played around the soft curves of their bodies. Crickets were chirping in the grass. The house was creaking slowly and the walls watched how Spitfire, after minutes of silence, opened her eyes and lifted her chin to get to Rainbow’s ear. And she whispered, completely exhausted, spent, but cleansed by the sharp glow of hot tears and calm, without paralyzing fear that had forced her to stay inside Fluttershy’s house for far too long: “Yes.” Then she put her head down again. She could feel Rainbow hugging her even tighter and pulling her against her while she whispered broken thanks.

The night came to Ponyville. The sky became black and infinitely deep, full with myriads of unblinking, brightly shimmering eyes that looked upon the world. The moon was a thin sickle at the firmament that bathed the city in pale silver light. A soft wind from the west made the branches of the trees and the heads of the flowers teeter. It blew from the Everfree Forest through the open window into the bedroom, danced around the ears of the two fliers and robbed Spitfire of the memories of her home. On cold feet the wind tip-toed back outside, and the images of the former noble city that haunted Spitfire every hour followed him silently. Over the wide spread landscape the wind and the thoughts moved towards the east, occasionally passing a pony or wild animal that felt a faint, sudden feeling of yearning that they couldn’t explain. They circled each other and were tumbling around, melting into one searching whole, sensing the land, dipping into an ocean full of fantasy images until they climbed the crumbled walls of Canterlot and scattered around the stone. Before sleep claimed her, Spitfire's imagination travelled up to those far away eyes in the sky, looking down in hopes of finding the images that had been stolen, believing that at least the stars could give her what she missed so badly: her home. For who hasn’t been a stranger throughout their lives, imprisoned, alone?

O lost, and by the wind grieved, ghost, come back again.

~ ~ ~

When Fluttershy came home that night her house was still brightly illuminated. She tip-toed up the stars and looked through the door that was open a crack. On the floor were Spitfire and Rainbow Dash. With a soft smile on her lips they had fallen asleep.

She fetched a blanket and carefully spread it over the two ponies. For a moment, she stood there and looked down on her guests. Then she left the room, turned off all the lights and went to bed.

Prologue - A Heart and a Name

The Devourer

written by Dandelo
translated by Triss
original language German
original title Der Vertilger

At the cycle's center,
They tremble, they walk
Under the tree,
They fall, they are torn,
They rise, they walk again.

James L. Dickey, The Heaven Of Animals

What is so special about the night that so many ponies fear it? What is the night? How many countless shadows does it cast on the world, how many unseen places does it consume without anypony suspecting something? When the sky above the animals, the treetops, the mountain peaks disappears, everything is lost in darkness. The night is blind – but sees everything. It’s the night that feeds our fears, that leaves its mark on even the most adventurous stories, fairy tales, myths and legends. It’s the night that provides a shelter for the most gruesome creatures anypony could think of, the night that breathes life into the darkest spots, far away from every light. It’s the night that transforms the smallest silhouettes into…

Giants.

Huge. Lonely. Dark. Silent. Lost.

This is the night.

Every night, covering the land with a cerement, year after year since the dawn of time, has its own core. It comes and goes, just like the darkness, and is never the same. The shadows are different – but their core, their place of deepest despair, stay. In these cores the night lives on. There, its force is as pure as a beating heart, its pulse consuming the air until you can’t hear anything except the echoes of your own fears.

Huge. Lonely. Dark. Silent. Lost.

Gigantic.

The night is blind. But it sees everything. Nothing escapes its grasp, not even its servants. They exist between the shadows where nopony can find them. Until they reveal themselves.

They see. Wait. Watch. Watch…

~ ~ ~

When she woke up she couldn’t see her own hoofs before her eyes.

Trixie had managed to find sleep after tossing and turning around in her bed for two hours, but it was uneasy and of no account. The last days had been hart and full of shame. Not even one month had passed since the incident in Ponyville, but word has gotten around what had happened. And what really was up with her.

No one believed the lies of the “great and powerful” Trixie anymore.

Leaving Ponyville she had been heading to the next villages. With the little money she had left she managed to buy board and lodging but soon her reputation had preceded her. Laughed at and frowned upon, disdained and outlawed: through the course of a few days her once so bright star had sunken. Her credibility, her identity, her life – everything was gone. She was a nothing; nopony wanted to deal with her anymore. Not even in her dreams she could find peace. It was so surreal, almost as if the taunts chased her into her dreams – as if it wanted to whip and torture her and chase her into the darkness. The militant neighing of her tormentors hit her, blank skulls snapped at her and the laughter of these pale faces sounded like the dry rustling of leaves. She flew into a dark forest, far away from civilization, but even between the deep furrows in the old trees and the mazy branches of young bushes there were phantoms, leering at her, laughing incessantly. Everything was drawn into a swampy vortex in which eerie flashes cast antic shadows. The world before her eyes alternated between murky and clear, the sounds ebbed away and swelled again. Out of every corner her name was hissed: Trixiiiie, Trixiiiie, Trixiiiie.

Even a few seconds after waking up she couldn’t distinguish dream and reality because in her sleep she managed to run into an actual forest. Moonlight danced on top of old trees. She didn’t know the name of the area – she couldn’t even be sure how much distance she had covered. It could be a forest near the village where she had rented a room, but considering how exhausted she was it was also possible that she had come a long way. The trees were so close-packed that no light was able to reach the forest floor. But Trixie didn’t use her unicorn magic to light the way – she didn’t have too. Soon her eyes had adjusted to the darkness and she could see outlines and shapes; this was more than enough. She could see a small trail, made long ago and now overgrown but it still caught her eye as well as the place the trail was leading to. She could feel it with all her senses: she saw, smelled, felt, tasted, heard it. Alone in an unknown forest, far away from the safe surroundings of a city, many ponies would have been paralyzed by fear. But not Trixie. Not today.

Not now.

This place melted her fears. She felt connected with it, it was… it was right to be there. Something has led her to this place, had called her

(Trixiiiiiie Trixiiiiie Trixiiiiie)

and wanted to lead her even further. Between all the destitution of the past few days these unknown feeling was intoxicating. Something was blocking her thoughts, but thoughts would be wasted in this place anyway. There only longing counted – longing for what, whatever.

Encouraged by this foreign force Trixie ran to the place. Her legs didn’t belong to her anymore and the desire for the unknown obscured her mind. She couldn’t even remember the way, just that she suddenly was standing in front a massive stone wall. The thick trees with their greyish bark were giving a wide berth to the stone wall that didn’t look like a natural occurrence. It emerged approximately 16 feet into the air and was maybe two or three times as long. At the sides it decreased until it touched the floor.

Awestruck, Trixie looked the stonewall up and down. She swallowed, but her throat only clicked dryly. “What is this strange place?” she whispered soundlessly and was lost in the silence that entangled her.

She approached the weird formation up until four steps – stopped – why did it felt like she belonged here? - tiptoed nearer – only one more step. Finally the tip of her horn touched the wall. Right this second the floor jolted and dimly lit sparks embraced her. The light spots were floating and dancing before her eyes, concentrating until they formed a pearl of burning blaze that melted into the stone and set it on fire. The stone wall lit up like a flare and the fire was reaching for Trixie. The shock suffocated the scream that wanted to cross her lips. But the fire was burning cold. It didn’t hurt when the flames engulfed her fur and melted the flesh from her bones that vanished into the air shortly after. She was all burnt, but not dead. The memories of her body flowed into the stone, pierced and penetrated it until it reached through it.

Even the back of the wall was burning. There, Trixie was born again, like a phoenix out of the ashes. But what she saw in this place was more hideous than anything she had seen before. The flickering fire drew twitching shadows under the strange bulges on the walls; bulges that actually were an uncountable number of pony skulls – exactly like in Trixie’s dream. The huge holes where once friendly big eyes had sparkles were now staring into the empty, but for Trixie it seemed like every gaze focused on her.

And this was only the beginning of what was slowly unfolding in front of her.

She was in a huge, oval room, the ceiling too high to make out clearly. To her sides there were six big, pale porcelain masks seated between the skulls. A cold wind blew through the mask’s wide open mouths and produced different sounds from each mask. All sounds together were composing a hideous melody that crawled under your skin. The sounds changed with every tilt of your head but every variation of this shrill song sounded like the scratches of rusty nails on a slate and remembered her of a deeply buried panic. More importantly, the masks were watching Trixie, and it wasn’t just her imagination.

The masks were angled exactly towards her.

The floor was from another world. It looked like normal ground in the light but where the shadows touched the soil it glistened in a dark red. Thin wads of smoke emerged out of the earth. In front of her stakes were dug into the ground, confining a narrow path. Trixie couldn’t say if they were made from wood or bones – but she didn’t necessarily want to find out. On top of the stakes were shallow bowls bubbling up violet, red, yellow and white smoke. Trixie followed the path – and had she turned around she would have seen the masks watching her curiously. She didn’t want to; she had to. Something pulled her deeper into the horror that slept in this underground bone prison. Dry dust stuck to her fur and covered her hoofs. She could feel its weight, could feel the dust infiltrate her and sucking the warmth out of her body.

Nevertheless, she went on.

The path wasn’t long. Twelve flat steps led to a circular plateau. In the middle there was a low, black marble table. Dark statues stood around the table.

But the statues were alive.

They were twelve unicorns, above average size. Each one of them had jet black fur, mane and tail. Their hoofs showed a symmetrical zigzag pattern. Around their necks there were thin pale patterns looking like chain links. Right above the sternum the markings were forming a rune that Trixie couldn’t interpret. Every pony had a different rune, but apart from that they resembled each other perfectly.
What unsettled Trixie the most was the fact that the ponies didn’t have eyes – her skulls were covered with fur in the spots were their eyes should be. She felt a twinge in her heart when the singsong of the porcelain marks came to a halt. In this moment she could feel the fear that didn’t want to arise before. But now it was there; now she was paralyzed. Half of her wanted to flee – the other flee was yearning for the morbidly homey feeling that the twelve eye-less creatures omitted. She felt like she had to tear apart.

The pony that was nearest to Trixie came to hear and spoke: “Creature of the night. You are home.”

Her fear left as swiftly as it had arisen.

“You were out there for too long. The light has confused your mind and slowly poisoned it. But now we can welcome you again.” His voice was split into three parts: he spoke with a deep man’s voice, a high-pitched woman’s voice and a third one that sounded like the thuds of dozens of bones on a dusty ground.

“Where… am I?” Trixie asked hushed. Her gaze was on the ground.

“Home,” the first pony answered.

“The cradle of your power! ” the other eleven ponies chanted. Their voices were split in three parts, too, and echoed in the dark. Trixie felt like there were countless ponies everywhere staring at her, talking to her all at once.

“This is the core,” the first pony said and tilted his head in a circular movement in every direction. It sounded like coarse sand getting crushed by giant gear-wheels. “And it is…”

“What core?” Trixie asked.

“The core of the night!” the other ponies screamed. Trixie dropped to the ground and buried her face in her hoofs.

The first pony continued unperturbed: “... destined for you, Trixie.”

She hesitated to address the pony. “You know… my name?” she asked trembling without looking up.

A murmur filled the room; the ponies laughed. “We are the servants of the night,” the first servant said.

“We are blind!” they chanted. “We see all!”

“We have followed you. Our voices lured you to the core. To your home. To your destiny.”

Trixie peered through her hoofs. “Why me?” she whispered.

A few seconds passed. “Our sister has betrayed us,” the first pony finally answered.

“Nightmare Moon! Nightmare Moon betrayed us!”

“She went back into the light and betrayed her brothers. She was weak. She wasn’t a true servant of the night. But behold!” His voice rose. “Now you are with us! Sister!”

“Daughter of the Night!”

The first pony turned towards the marble table. “You’ve lost everything,” he said. “You trusted the light and it stole everything from you. Its minions stole what you are, who you are…”

“… who you were…”

“… who you can be once more.”

Trixie straightened up. “I can be who I was again?” she asked hopefully.

“The night knows who you were before, Trixie.”

“The great and powerful!” they chanted.

“They robbed your glory. The glory that defined you – stolen and destroyed by the light.” His voice entered her mind, darkened it, disoriented it. “We can give it back to you. We are the servants of the night.”

“We are blind! We see all!”

“Yes…” Trixie murmured numbly. She could feel her power coming back to her. The feeling of supremacy that she had felt during every performance, manipulating the ignorant and gullible, gushed inside her again.

Until this day in Ponyville…

“How can Trixie become the one everyone bows down to again?” she barked, incited with new volition, speaking of herself in the third person for the first time in a long time.

The first pony bowed down his head. Twelves runes that were spread around the table – the same the ponies had above their sternum – began to glow. Trixie approached the black table. It was only slightly taller than the flat steps.

“The core welcomes you, Daughter of the Night.”

“The great and powerful Trixie!”

She knelt down.

“A night for a life…”

“A life full of power!”

Her horn was touching the cold marble.

“Give yourself away…”

“And it will give you everything back!”

In the middle of the runes a new symbol appeared. It looked like a baroque and slightly crooked B and shimmered in a dark red. The glow transferred to Trixie’s Horn and captured her body. A bright mark formed on her throat and the symbol now shone forth on her chest and soul.

“What was and what is…”

“... what will be and will be gone…”

“... what will live forever and be mighty for eternity, that is the night. And we, her servants, are part of her divinity.”

The floor was raised a few inches and formed a thirteenth step. The porcelain masks, singing their shrill singsong again, where amended by a thirteenth mask, too. The skulls were quivering under the tremendous power that was awakening in their midst. And Trixie, lost in the delusion to get her old power back, darkened her mind and poisoned it with deadly thoughts. A deep rumble began to soar under the marble pedestal. Black smoke rose.

“Trixie, the great and powerful!” the first pony said.

“The great and powerful Trixie!” the ponies chanted.

“Witness your resurrection…”

“We are blind! We see all!”

“And with you, the night will rise.”

The choral began singing a fast, dark song, composed in a dead, hideous and gruesome language.

The earth quaked. The shadows grew longer.

The night rose.