The Visitor

“Rainbow Dash?”

Despite Twilight’s tracking spell, they had spent a good while searching for the athletic flier. Eventually, it had been Fluttershy who had suggested looking around Sweet Apple Acres. It was a mystery to Twilight how Rainbow could sleep like this, lying in a tree with nothing but a piece of cloud as a pillow.

“Rainbow?”

Rainbow Dash raised her head, her ruby eyes darting around aimlessly. When they found Fluttershy, she immediately jerked backwards, causing her to lose balance, falling off her branch. With a few hasty flaps she caught herself, coming to a soft landing beside the trunk.

“What is she doing here?”

“I came to apologize,” Fluttershy said, her eyes fixated on the ground. “I’m so sorry. I can’t do more, but I... I want to be friends with you again. If you can forgive me.”

“No.”

Fluttershy bit her lip, responding nothing. Rainbow’s gaze flipped between them, and she seemed to expect more to come. When nothing happened, she huffed, stroking over her muzzle with her left wing.

“You’re with her?”

“Yes.” Twilight bowed her head, taking a step closer toward Fluttershy to underline her comment. “Completely.”

Rainbow’s eyes narrowed. “You’re the one who has the next biggest reason to be angry at her.” She took a few steps closer, but Twilight didn’t retreat, and though her fear was apparent, neither did Fluttershy. “Are you-”

“I’m not being mind controlled,” Twilight said, not snappy or unfriendly, but firm. “Do you really think I would’ve taken another drink from her?”

“Then why?”

“Because... Fluttershy...” Twilight gulped. “She’s been dealing with some horrible problems, Rainbow. Things we two probably can’t even imagine. She has desires that can overwhelm her, and... and a long time of not getting what she wants.”

Rainbow’s expression gave no hint as to what she thought of this answer.

“And what’s that?”

Beside her, Fluttershy visibly cringed, but Twilight didn’t give the answer that she knew her friend had feared.

“Affection.”

“Affection.” There was a pause. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Animals aren’t enough, if that’s what you mean.”

“Do you think I’m stupid?” A shudder went down Twilight’s neck at that comment. Never before had Rainbow been so cold towards her. “Why don’t you call it what it is? It’s sex.”

Twilight shook her head. “It’s affection.”

“She had friends.”

“How often have you hugged her? For more than a few seconds?”

Rainbow’s nostrils flared. “How often do you think other ponies have hugged me?”

“You’re not her.”

“Clearly not.”

“Rainbow Dash. You don’t know what it is like to want something so badly and not get it. I don’t know what it is like. Not anymore. And don’t even try to compare it to yourself.” Her eyes shot daggers at the blue pony, who had already opened her mouth to say something. For the first time, she seemed to be more flustered than angry.

“I’m not saying she’s without fault, but you have to understand that we made it harder for her, not easier. Teasing her and not delivering, that’s the worst we could have done, even if none of us could have known. And she did come clean. She could have gone through with it and neither of us would know.”

“After she’s already raped me.”

“Yes, well.” Twilight lowered her voice at that; the words still hurt. “As I said. Not without fault.”

“I’ve dreamed of you for too long, Rainbow,” Fluttershy whispered. “I couldn’t resist.”

Rainbow’s gaze flickered toward her, and for a few moments, neither of them broke eye contact.

“I want to remember.”

“Uhm. I have no idea how that-”

“Twilight?”

“...” It took her a few seconds to process the chance of topic, and to formulate a response. “Well,” she began carefully, “I’m not an expert on the field, but I do know the basics. There are two fundamentally different ways to make somepony forget something. A, you erase the memory, or B, you trick the mind into not remembering it. With A, your memory’s gone, period. But with B, it’s relatively easy to recover. There is a potion for it. Where it gets more complicated is if you do tricks to cover it up more thoroughly, but-”

“I told her that she would never remember ever again,” Fluttershy spoke up. “Uhm. I... I wanted to make sure.”

“I don’t think that matters,” Twilight said hastily. “Because Rainbow wouldn’t know how to do these tricks unless you gave her detailed instructions. We know that the Parasite – that’s the potion Fluttershy used – gives you extended control over your mindscape – in exchange for your willpower – but even in that state, I doubt that you’re capable of erasing your memory. So, if I’m not wrong, and I could be, then I’d say that it’s B and it’s a simple lock.”

“So we just need the stuff?” Rainbow sounded relieved. “Cool. How do we get it? Does Zecora have it?”

“Uhm...” Twilight hesitated. “Probably? It’s an important enough potion that a shaman of her caliber should have in in stock.”

“And that potion brings back every memory you’ve ever lost?” Fluttershy asked skeptically.

“No, but the potion is the same no matter what you want to get back. All you have to do is to direct it to the right time frame.” At Rainbow’s confused glance, Twilight elaborated. “Choose a memory of something that’s close to the event that you want to remember. Close temporally, I mean. Think about that and then drink the potion while you do. That’s it.”

“If I can trust you not to rip Fluttershy’s head off,” she added, “I can get it for you. You two can use the time to figure out which memory is closest to when... it happened.”

Fluttershy looked terrified at the prospect of being left alone with Rainbow, who herself once again didn’t show any reaction. Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“If I can’t, then we can also go into the forest together.”

“Nope. Get it. I’ll leave Flutters alive.”

Twilight exchanged a long look with the yellow pegasus, who eventually bit her lip, giving a weak nod.

When she returned, Rainbow was leaning in a slump against the trunk of the same tree they’d found her in earlier. Fluttershy didn’t appear to have moved at all, and neither of the two was talking. Worriedly, she cleared her throat to call attention to herself, showing the flask she was carrying to both of them, which was filled to the brim with a colorless liquid.

“I got it.”

“Great.” In a flash, Rainbow stood beside her. “Hoof it over.”

“Not so fast.” Twilight threw another gaze at Fluttershy. She couldn’t detect any injuries. “How far apart is the memory from the incident?”

“A week, maybe. Does it matter?”

“Yes, it does matter.” Twilight produced a second flask, along with a small piece of paper. “The amount you have to drink depends on the time span. You can always drink more, but this potion isn’t exactly easy to make, so...”

Giving a frustrated sigh, Rainbow nonetheless seemed to give thought to the question.

“It’s at most two weeks.”

“Okay.” Twilight threw a gaze at her scroll. “Two weeks, that’s four and a half ounces.” She tilted the flask, pouring about a third of its contents into the other one. “Here,” she said, floating it over to Rainbow Dash.

“Now, remember to think about it while you drink it. That’s not a joke. It won’t work if you don’t.”

Rainbow nodded. Taking the flask between her teeth, she let a few seconds pass, before tilting her head backwards, emptying it in a single draw.

As they waited, Twilight counted the seconds down in her head, being reminded of just how long a minute could be. When she reached eight, Rainbow suddenly shook her head, biting her lip.

“Is it coming back?” Fluttershy spurted out.

“There’s other stuff coming back, but not...”

She interrupted herself. A shadow hushed over her face, and she pressed her lips together. Something hit Twilight at her left hoof, and as she turned her head, she could see that Fluttershy had clutched onto it, apparently close to panic.

“Bitch.”

Fluttershy winced, and Twilight’s body tensed, prepared to cast a defensive spell at a moment’s notice if necessary.

“At least it didn’t take long.” Rainbow made no attempts to attack. Her eyes closed, she seemed to comprehend the memories she had recovered. Twilight instinctively folded her ears at the comment, avoiding to throw a look at Fluttershy.

“And you didn’t use it to ask me stuff...” Rainbow sighed. “I need time to think.” And without another word, she shot into the air and fled off towards Ponyville.

Twilight’s heart seemed to sink an inch as she spotted the closed sign on the outside of the boutique. Was Rarity taking this whole mess so close to heart that she didn’t want to deal with customers anymore? Or was it just coincidence?

There was no immediate response as she pushed on the doorbell. Twilight chewed on her lip, already thinking about where the fashionista might have gone off to. It could be a bar or a restaurant, or it could be something related to her work. It might also be the Spa, though that seemed unlikely, just because she usually went there with Fluttershy, and going alone would surely raise too many unwanted memories...

But her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of steps from the other side, and a moment later, Rarity opened, who was wearing her mane not in its usual, eloquent form, but in a simple ponytail.

“Twilight. Come in.”

Twilight nodded, her worried gaze following Rarity ahead of herself, who lead them upstairs into her private room, which Twilight had only ever been to once before. There was an opened book lying face-down on the bed.

“I had no plans to leave the house for today.”

“That bad?”

“No, not that bad.” Rarity gave her a look and a smile. “I just wanted a bit of time for myself. And it’s the end of the season. Not the most important time for customers.”

Twilight nodded, stepping in front of the bed to get a better look at the book Rarity must have been reading. She raised a curious eyebrow at the title.

“‘The Lunar Empire?’”

“It’s a fictional piece. It rewrites the history of Luna’s rebellion, a version where Celestia doesn’t confront her directly, and instead the issue is settled through war.”

“Huh.” Twilight levitated the book up to get a better look, careful to let no pages flip. Indeed, the image on its cover depicted a well-drawn scene of war. The other thing Twilight noticed was just how thick it was. Combined with a look at its font as she turned it around yielded an estimate of over three-hundred-thousand words, which was roughly double the length of a medium-sized book.

“You read this kind of stuff?”

Rarity shrugged. “Sometimes.”

“And here I was, thinking Rarity only reads light romance.” She put the book back on the bed. “I guess since ponydom’s never had a war, you have to tweak history a bit for this kind of story.”

“I read romance, too. But this piece is somewhat of a classic. I would have expected you of all ponies to know it.”

Twilight shook her head. “When I read fiction, I usually do it to take a break from learning, and then I prefer lighter stories.”

Her eyes on the cover, Twilight was about to bring up the issue which surely both of them could feel hanging in the air, but something else crept into her mind instead... a thought that seemed inappropriate, not to mention unfair, and yet...

On their visit two days prior, the visit that had gone so terribly wrong, Twilight had overheard a short passage of her friends’ conversation. Fluttershy had apologized, and Rarity had forgiven her, essentially right away.

But... why?

Back then, it had seemed like genuine friendship, but now? Could there have been another, deeper reason? Did she relate to Fluttershy in some way?

Her eyes flickered toward the fashionista, who looked strangely different with her mane in this state. She is naturally beautiful, Twilight thought. Even without doing anything to her appearance, she was already more attractive than either Twilight or any of the other girls. And yet, right now, Twilight almost felt afraid of her. ’If that’s just you, then how much are the other girls hiding?’

No, not almost. She did feel afraid. Her eyes met Rarity’s, and a shiver ran down her spine. Did she know? Did she know what she was thinking? Was she in danger? Right now, in this moment?

“Twilight?” Rarity squinted her eyes, taking a step closer. “What is troubling you, dear?”

Twilight took her time with the answer. The voice in her head told her that she had to lie now. That it was dangerous to tell the truth.

And she almost listened to it.

“I’m sorry.” She trotted over to the bed and sat down on its edge. “I... I’ve been thinking about when we visited Fluttershy. Why you were so quick to forgive her. And... if you’re also hiding something.”

“Everypony is hiding something, Twilight. But if you’re asking if I was forgiving towards Fluttershy because I did something similar myself... then no.”

Twilight gave a crooked smile at that. “Of course, if you had a secret, you would deny having it.”

“Would I, though?” Rarity took the book in a white cloud, and without looking at the page number, she closed it and put it onto a shelf, then she sat down next to Twilight. “If we had just asked Fluttershy before she did it, she might have told us everything.”

She gave Twilight a friendly poke at her shoulder.

“I don’t have a terrible secret to hide, darling.”

Twilight looked at her, nodding.

“Unless you’re a changeling.”

“I suppose.”

“Can I check?”

“Is there a way?”

“It would be an easy spell.”

“Go ahead.”

Twilight nodded. Closing her eyes, she lit her horn in an improvised spell to match Rarity’s appearance against her true self. The result was unambiguous.

“No changeling.”

“For a moment you had me doubting myself.”

“Mhhh...”

“Now I do have to ask, though. Do you...”

“No.”

“But Fluttershy did.”

Twilight bit her lip, shifting backwards on the bed, drawing up her hind legs.

“Yes.”

“Maybe she’s a changeling. Did you check?”

This caused a series of giggles from Twilight.

“Then why did you?” she asked once she had calmed herself.

“Forgive her?”

Twilight nodded.

“I... I’m not sure. I suppose it would be because I thought to know that she’s kind at heart, so whatever made her do this, it must be... must be a terrible thing. There must be something she is fighting with.”

So she was right all along. But she didn’t have the full picture... not yet.

“If... if she had done it to another pony before me... and if she had gone through with it...”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “Did she?”

Twilight nodded.

“Rainbow Dash?”

Twilight nodded. Rarity’s gaze left hers, and she slid a bit closer, hugging herself.

“Shit.”

“I know.”

Rarity sighed. “We might have cut her off there, two days ago. Maybe... maybe she was about to tell us.” A shiver ran over her body. “Poor...”

There was a knock coming from the door.

“... Rainbow Dash. Do you think it’s her?”

“Why would it be her?” They both slid off the bed. Rarity shrugged.

Together, they descended the staircase, making for the entrance hall. When Rarity opened, Twilight could only blink in surprise.

It was her. But that must have been a coincidence.

The thought was wiped away as she saw the expression on the athlete’s face. Something was wrong. Twilight’s heart sank. Not again. Not again! Why couldn’t things just go back to normal?

She didn’t have enough time to come up with a suspicion of what it was, but nothing she might have thought of would have prepared her for what she heard.

“Fluttershy is dead.”

Twilight was falling. Her mind was blurry, her body cold. Beside her, Rarity voiced her shock. Rainbow said something about having found the pegasus dead in front of her cottage. Rarity asked how it had happened. Rainbow said she didn’t know. Rarity was asking why-

“I’ll bring her back.”

Both Rainbow’s and Rarity’s head spun towards her. Rainbow’s eyes twitched.

“What?”

“I’ll bring her back,” Twilight repeated. “I can. I know. I’ve been looking into this for months. I have-”

“Bring her back from the dead?”

“Yes,” Twilight said breathlessly. “Yes. I know they say it’s impossible. The princess can’t do it. Nopony can do it. But I know who can. And I’ll... I’ll” She gulped. “I can get her to do it. I hope.”

“Twilight. She committed suicide.”

Twilight shook her head. “There’s no way this was suicide.”

“Are you saying it was coincidence?” Rainbow’s voice was in equal parts skepticism and panic.

Twilight nodded. “She lives beside the forest. There are enough ways it could have happened. Listen. You were not there yesterday. Neither of you was. I know she didn’t do this. She would not give up her life. Not now.”

“Even if you’re right.” Rarity took a step outside the boutique. “How could you-”

“Doesn’t matter, does it? Rainbow.” She turned toward the athlete. “When did you find her? How do you know she’s dead? Who else knows? And what did she die to?”

“I was there two minutes ago.” Rainbow gestured frantically with her left wing. “I... I don’t know anything else! She didn’t seem hurt, she was just lying there, not moving, or breathing-”

“How do you know she’s dead, then?” Rarity cut her off.

“‘Cause her body was cold-”

“But that doesn’t mean she’s dead!” Rarity stomped at the ground, staring disbelievingly at the pegasus. “Rainbow, there are animals which can turn you to stone, or freeze you, or-”

“But she wasn’t stone!”

“And you know that there isn’t also some creature who just paralyzes ponies and somehow makes their bodies run cold? Why in Celestia’s name didn’t you bring her with you?”

“Because I didn’t want to have others-”

“Rarity’s right,” Twilight cut her off, her mind racing. “We have to check. Rarity, tell the other girls. We’ll meet at the library. Rainbow Dash, fly me to the cottage.”