Done by a Single Night

Chapters

Twi has a box of weapons...?
To business!
Hitmare!?
13th Hour?
Best. Nap. Ever!
First link...
Spitfire?!
BONUS: Persona History
Fugit atque fulges
Engo
Weekend! Woo!
Mental Movie Theatre?
I. HATE. Mornings.
A... normal pony. Um, wow.
We're trapped...
Let's frickin get out of here!
Well, finally

Twi has a box of weapons...?

I reread the letter on my table again. How the hell could he have done this to me?!

I bucked the cloud wall, which just puffed a bit. Not the big explosion I was heading for. Soarin' may have been idiotic enough for me to catch him cheating with another mare, but he really did finish things up. He got Spitfire to write a frickin letter tellin me I ain't never getting to become a Wonderbolt. Damn bastard.

Anyways, after the whole incident, I just wanted to sleep. And sleep means dreams. The usual, right? Wrong. Big mumbo jumbo from random disco-suit glowing mares. Knowing what an egghead Twi is, I figure she has an interpretation.

I flew over to her treehouse and flung open the door. I jumped onto her couch. I didn't know she had a couch.

"Hey there Rainbow Dash! What're you up to?" Spike said. He was carrying books around, as usual, with no purpose I could discern.

"Not much, Spike," I responded. "Say, is Twilight around?"

"Yeah, she'll be here in a moment." He closed the door, and went upstairs.

I sat down, and looked around. If I knew Twilight, right now she'd be probably working on some new spell or something. It could be between minutes and hours before she'd be back. I sat down on her sofa. It had a price tag that said it was... from her quill shop? Yeah, I still don't understand that guy. Quills and sofas. She must've got a discount or something on it, she's such a regular shopper there. Next to the sofa was a large crate, that I couldn't help to be drawn to. Probably more books... I assured myself. I reluctantly pried my eyes away from it, and to the shelves.

"Daring Do and the Adamantine Helm... Daring Do and the Cards of Catastrophe... Daring Do and the Book of Horizons... Aha!" I picked up the newest book in the series. "Daring Do and the Chakram of the Skies!"

I jumped back onto the couch and looked at the cover. Daring was flying above a crowd of angry-looking dragons, clutching a starry disk to her chest with one hoof. Well, I got time to read.

Daring Do was panicked. The door simply wouldn't open!

"C'mon..." She pleaded. "How does it open?!"

She looked over the celestial spheres beside her. Both had two rings, one going around its circumference level with the ground, and one exactly perpendicular to that. The glowing golden sun had a ring of the Zodiac, and the light-seeking moon, the map of the heavens, each of the Zodiac's constellations.

That must be it! You set the rings!

But what date? This is no help!

She had about thirty seconds before the whole place crumbled. "Quick Daring... you've got to know the code... what date would be important enough for them to build an entire temple?! I mean, besides hosting the- That's it!"

Cancer, the zodiac of the summer solstice. It would be an extremely important date, the dragons of this tribe were always very celestially attuned.

The door still didn't budge.

W- what's wrong?

Oh... right.

Sagittarius faced its friend, the two aligning.

The two symbols glowed, and the door soon opened. She jumped out as the temple ceiling crumbled behind her.

"Well... all in a day's work."

I wasn't how sure how much time had passed, but when I looked up again, Twilight still wasn't there. What could be taking her so long?

I searched the room again, looking for whatever could keep me from being bored. Twi's desk had a Neighton's cradle on it, and that sufficed to keep me excited for a whole eight seconds! ...Yeah, I was still very bored. Spike still wasn't down yet. I wondered what Twilight was doing that was so important. My eyes were, again, drawn to the strange box in the corner. I couldn't help but feel that there was something important in there.

Dash, you can't open it; Twi will be mad. Plus, its not your stu-

What if she's hiding a secret?!

Why should you care? I mean, its just a freakin box-

OPEN THE BOX!!!

No, I shouldn't, its not right-

Do it! You know you want to!

...Fine, I suppose you're right.

Cautiously, I went over to the box and parted its lid. There were... four more boxes! Wonderful.

I opened one of the boxes, and out fell a- dagger?

It wa- what?

It came with a black sheath, one made of a material I couldn't describe. It withered at the touch, as if it begged to be unsheathed. I pulled out the dagger.

The handle was already something to see. Tapered clearly for a firm grip, it was made of... glass? Inside sloshed a purple liquid, which served no purpose as far as I could tell.

Did I mention it was used recently?

That's right. The knife's blade, a simple white contoured flat piece of metal, was dripping with blood.

Why would Twilight... I don't even...

A soft tapping came from the stairs behind me.

I quickly sheathed the dagger, and threw it into the box. I whipped around to see the mare in question coming down the stairs.

"U-uh hey Twi!" I said shakily.

Twilight gasped for breath. "H-hello Rainbow... Dash... Sorry for the uh... wait..." She then panted a bit and caught her breath. "So, what brings you here?" The confused look on her face was quickly replaced by one of excitement. "Oh! Did you hear? The new Daring Do came out!"

"Yeah! I kinda read it while waiting..."

She chuckled softly. "Yeah, sorry for all that. Well, what do you need? I'm sure I can help."

I shuffled my hooves. "Well, er, its complicated. I'm not sure if you'd be able to understand it all..."

"Dash, you're talking to a mare who helped discover the Hooves Boson."

"Ghesundheit. Anyways, what I came here for is a dream interpretation."

Her face darkened. "I can't help you there. You should probably talk to someone who knows a bit more about the Arcane arts, like Zecora, or maybe Pinkie, or-"

"That's not what I meant. I know you have definately read on psychology, and- wait, Pinkie?"

"Yeah. That and Pinkie has her Pinkie sense, and she's checked out some books from here on gypsies."

"...Okay... moving on... Anyways, I need you to help clear some things up for me. Recently, I've been having some odd dreams when I go to sleep."

"What kinds of dreams?"

So, you ever dream of falling? Yeah, I had dreams of rising. I rubbed my eyes and woke up... in the dream. Well, it felt pretty realistic though, like I was awake... but I knew I was asleep.

Why?

Well, first off, I wasn't in my bed. Or anywhere I had been before. I was on a white rock, floating in the sky.

The sky around me wasn't much either. Just an ever-stormy cloud drop, with lightning cascading down. It went on for miles, and the land below was an endless abyss of darkness.

All I felt was a cold floor under me, made of some sort of gemstone. The floor glowed softly, like the moon. The material kinda was like pearl, I kinda can't describe it any other way.

But yeah, other than the floor, there was practically nothing.

"Is anyone there?" I shouted out into the endless void. Not expecting, nor receiving a response, I sat down again and looked at the ground. The pale substance reflected back my face. Then, all of a sudden, my reflection moved.

"'Sup?" She said, pointing a hoof at me. I looked around, surprised. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" I looked down at my reflection, and jumped. My alter ego just sighed, and put her head in her hooves. "C'mon, answer me!"

"W-who are you? How are you doing that?"

"Isn't it obvious? I am you. A part of you, at least."

"No, I'm me."

"Yes, and I am you also. I am just a bit of you, amplified."

"Stop speaking in riddles, this makes no sense. Who. Are. You."

My reflection sighed again. "Fine, if you need call me something else, you can call me 'Lexis." She faded from the mirror, very slowly, as if tiny bits of her were being torn out of the ground. At the same time, a fine white mist came from where she once was, and swirled until it assembled itself again, in the shape of an earth pony.

Now, she claimed she was me, but aside from body size, she was nothing like me. She was bathed entirely in a white glow, matching the room. It was so intense, you couldn't figure out what her coat color was. Her mane branched out behind her, floating as if she was underwater. Kind of like Celestia... I thought.

She gave out a chuckle. "I am quite a bit different than Celestia. Now, I know you told me to stop speaking in riddles, but this is customary..." She cleared her throat. I still found it odd to be speaking to a mare with my voice. "I am Intellexis Cognitare Calculatus. Keeper of Your Thoughts, Librarian to the Soul's Memories. I have surfaced from the sea that is your soul to provide assistance."

"...What?"

"Long story short, I'm here to stay."

"So, again... who are you?"

"Must I go through that again?" She said with a bit of a pout. "I am Intellexis Cogni-"

"No, no, its fine! Its just uhh... what does all of that mean?"

She smiled. "It shall all make sense soon enough. Now, let us get to buisness." She pulled out a slip of paper, and floated it over to me. "This is a contract."

"For?"

"Nothing much. All it says is that you take full responsibility for your actions. I assure you, there is no fine print."

I looked down at the paper. At first glimpse, I couldn't read it, it was just a bunch of jumbled scribbles. But somehow, I don't know how, I was able to read it.

"Okay... why am I signing this?"

"You'll see. There are no ramifications of signing it, as I assure you you already take responsibilities quite well. Now, do you with to sign?"

"Erm, yeah." Just as I said those two awkward words, in the lower left corner of the contract, my cutie mark formed out of nothing. It kind of looked like reverse burning, as if somepony had recorded the picture being burnt, but then played it in reverse.

"So, who are you, for the last time! I need at least some of an answer!"

"She who wishes for answers must first ask questions."

"That I did."

"Yes, but I am not the one to answer that. Now, awake, as you have your answer to seek."

She leaned forward, and tapped me on the head with one of her hooves. I remember nothing more, but than the soft light of the room getting brighter, and brighter, until its intensity blurred out my vision. I closed my eyes in self-defense, and when I opened them again, I was staring at the roof of my room.

Though I half-expected Twilight to be asleep by this time, or at least bored, but she had surprisingly listened to every word I said. With every passing sentence, her eyes got wider and wider, almost impossibly so.

"Gee Rainbow, thats an uh... interesting dream..." Her voice seemed pretty calm, but there was a shaken undertone to it. I couldn't tell if she was actually thinking, or just pretending to to help draw me away from her voice, but either way, she looked as if her mind was reeling.

"What are you thinking about Twilight? You seem a bit apprehensive." I posed.

"You see, its uhh... oh! Apprehensive! That's a very nice word you used there Rainbow, you've learned quite a lot by reading, and uhh.... who knows what else you could learn?"

"Twilight, you're stalling. Plus, I've known that word since I was in flight school, and that's saying something."

In the corner of my eye, I swear I could see her glance at the box.

"So, Twilight, I'm pretty sure you know something about my dream. What's putting you off?"

"Uhh... n-nothing..."

"C'mon Twi. I'm the Element of Loyalty. I can't stand to watch one of my friends troubled, and I know something is bothering you. Is your diagnosis for my dream scary? Or something along those lines? Or do you have your own problems? Look, I am here to help you."

"Well, you see, umm..."

Suddenly, a third voice interrupted us.

"Umm, uh, hello? Twilight? Did you get the package?" A familiar yellow pegasus stepped into the room, and let out a small "eep!" when she saw me. "O- oh hey, Rainbow Dash... What brings you around here?"

"Oh, I was just asking Twilight about my dream. I had a very... strange one last night."

I didn't see it, but behind me, I swore I could hear Twilight making begging motions toward Fluttershy. She apparently got the message, and stalled.

"Umm, I have an idea! Why don't we have another sleepover? I mean, if that's fine with you..."

I shrugged. "Sure, why not. I'll go get the others." I opened my wings, and walked up toward Twilight's window, right about to take off when-

"Wait!" Fluttershy said at an abnormally high volume. "I mean, uhh... wait? Please?"

I turned around and closed the window. "What is it, 'Shy?"

"What I meant uhh, is, a sleepover, just the three of us."

I raised an eyebrow? "Oookay...?" Why would Twilight have begged Fluttershy to ask me to have a sleepover like this? A few moments ago, she was very shocked by my presence, wouldn't keeping me around be worse? Because she surely would know I'd ask her again.

"Great!" Twilight yelled, a little too loud. "So, I'll go tell Spike, get him out of the Library for tonight. Hehe."

"Umm, are you sure you don't want me to he-"

"Nope! I got it all under control. Yep! Mhm." She practically shoved me out, toward the door. "See ya then!" She slammed it shut, and I heard the sound of locks clicking. What about Fluttershy? If Twilight had something important to do, then why didn't she tell Fluttershy to leave also?

I flew home, thinking about it all the way. But when I stepped foot to the cloud, it all clicked for me. The strange looks they gave each other. How often they met up during night. The private conversations they'd always share.

Twilight and Fluttershy were dating.

To business!

I'd known both Fluttershy and Twilight for quite a long time, but I only realized today that they had been dating. It all added up; ever since about two weeks ago, they'd been doing very... suspicious things together.

They'd always walk each other home, and at restaurants they'd most always sit together. Every day, when I flew home, I'd see Fluttershy sneak up to Twilight's library at dusk and slip notes under the door. And, sometimes, while I was checking out a book, I'd see her even go up the stairs, to Twilight's bedroom... and not come down. Seriously, they have the indecency to go at it while I'm there?

Seriously. Uncool.

But honestly, I may have been overreacting. Maybe they were just... having a very... private and long game of checkers, or something, that was very secretive because... something. Yeah, seriously, it got more fishy the more I thought of it.

I've never seen Fluttershy leave by the front door, or even the windows. What are they doing that's so secretive?

Maybe they have a really quiet book club on... interesting books. Yeah. Like the ones I've seen Rarity slip secretly to them. That would sure explain a lot, as I'm not sure any of them would want to be caught reading something like that. But where was Rarity? And wouldn't it be easier, and make more sense to hold the meetings at Carousel Boutique?

I couldn't take it anymore. The suspense was killing me. I was about to swan dive off the roof of my house when I remembered. I was gonna go there anyways for one of Twilight's sleepovers, so why not prepare?

I went to my bedstand and picked up the saddlepacks Rarity tailored for me. They were just a plain blue like my coat, and had my cutie marks emblazened on both of the straps. She offered to do more, but I thought this already too flashy.

Moving over to the bathroom, I quickly grabbed some basic supplies. I threw in a toothbrush, toothpaste, some shampoo, and other random things. I then went back to my room for my sleeping bag. Seemed like flight school all over again. Except I actually was excited. And was going to learn something interesting, something I hadn't known all before thirty times through.

Satisfied with my work, I went back to my bed for a quick nap.

When I woke up again, I was in a room, but not the white plains from last time. The white here was quite more plain, and the room was very small.

The walls were, to begin, blank. I thought: "Where am I this time?" but as I spoke, the words burned themselves onto the walls. "That's strange." Appeared under them. Everything going through my head would find itself on the walls. The walls kept on getting painted more and more, never stopping. It was beginning to hurt my head. I tried to close my eyes, to stop having to look at the walls, but I was frozen in place. When I thought I just couldn't take it anymore, a stallion galloped out of the walls, slammed his left hoof into the ground, and whitewashed them over again. His body was about as plain as the walls, but slowly, coming up from his hooves, there were cascading rainbow colors, that kept swirling and changing. He raised his hooves, and the walls started to expand.

I don't know when it was over, but soon enough I was back, at the white plains.

"Hello again," the mare said in a voice like bells. I turned to face her. "Remember this?" She twisted a hoof as if turning a key, then flicked up, revealing she had a thin slip of paper. I'm not sure how, but she materialized the contract from earlier.

"Erm, yeah. What about it?"

She chuckled softly. "Oh, nothing. Just checking to make sure you are following it." She tossed it across the room, and it slowly shrunk until it was just a mere card. It hovered in front of me, perpendicular with the ground. Subconciously, I reached a wary hoof out to it. On the contact, it suddenly convulsed wildly and began to glow with power. But quick as it began, it slowly stabilized again.

"Anyways, to business."

I raised my hoof. "To business!"

"What?"

"Oh, I thought you were proposing a toast..."

"...Okay then... anyways, I assume you have met this colt before." She gestured to the white stallion.

"Erm, yeah."

The colt started to speak. "I am Canvas. Painter of Worlds, Equus ex Nihilo, the Wild Card. I am close within your grasp. The strongest weapon against a mare is herself. Learn to control your thoughts. Then you'll be able to control the wild beast of random that is me."

I didn't know what the buck he was saying, but the last sentance caught me off. "Erm, I'm not that kind of mare."

He facehoofed. "Look, this is just standard, I have to say random riddle junk like this. Basically, long story short, you have to be able to clear your mind. Then you'll be able to control me."

"I said, I'm not that kind of mare. I'm not going to conquer you, not once nor twice."

The white mare snickered. "Toldja she's this dense."

"Hey!"

The white earth pony sighed. "You shall wake up soon. But before you do, remember. Feelings are only what you make of them. True pain is from manifestation."

I was about to open my mouth to ask what the hell that meant, but when I tried, I collapsed to the ground in a great sleep.

Hitmare!?

BEGIN SOUNDTRACK

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A quick glance at the clock confirmed it was time I left. All throughout the flight, I thought of my strange dream. After a short glide, I had arrived at my destination. Looking up, I took in all the stars. Luna really did her job well tonight. The moon was filled to the brim, a perfect pearl. Glancing back down at, and saw two silhouetted figures. They looked like the mares in question. With a level of quietness that would've impressed Fluttershy, I gently flapped my wings to a hover barely outside their window.

"...if need arises. But otherwise, I think just weapons should work." Twilight said.

"Mmk. But I can still use Virga, right?"

Weapons? Virga? Were Twilight and Fluttershy planning to kill somepony? With the mines from earlier? Or did they also have a second plan, to hire a hitmare named Virga. It seemed very unlikely, as I'd be here tonight, surely to see them. It made no sense. And why would they want to kill somepony?

"Well, you can't use her forever. You'll get tired."

Wait, so making somepony else do the work makes Fluttershy tired? What?

"What about my voice?"

"Yes, that would be good too, but it also wouldn't be infinite."

Erm... I can't imagine Fluttershy commiting murder, much less using her voice extensively. Or Twilight, either for that matter.

"This is a lot better. I won't have to just use my knives anymore, but using my voice would alert ponies..."

Okay, so she herself owns not just one knife, but a collection... okay...

"Don't worry, they can't hear you, remember?"

What's that supposed to mean?

"Well, enough about this. Rainbow will be here soon, and we need to set up the equipment."

What equipment?

My train of thought was interrupted by Fluttersy opening the window. She waved a golden hoof. "Hey Rainbow! Glad you could make it! Come on in!"

I stuttered something along a welcoming, and flew towards the window.

"Oh, uh, not here! Don't enter here!" Fluttershy warned, surprisingly loud. Her voice then dipped back down. "We wouldn't want you to uh, track in mud with your hooves."

"I flew here."

"Well, we wouldn't want you to track... cloud in."

"Clouds don't condense very well at this pressure. They'd dissapate. I'm pretty sure you learned this in flight school."

Fluttershy looked like she was going to panic. "Erm, don't track... air in?" She made one of her adorable, trademark squees.

Something suspicious was definately going down... I thought not much of it, and instead just entered the library.

Twilight bolted down the stairs. A look at the corner, and the box was gone. Maybe they really were using the mines... But that'd be pretty darn loud, and overkill... heh, overkill... I'm such a heartless joker.

"Hello Rainbow! Great, you're here!" She smiled, almost too wide. "But all the Daring Do books are checked out, so you can't read any."

That's odd, I didn't ask about the Daring Do series... but what did it have to do with the rest of the stuff they were saying? It was very unlikely one pony would check out all the books at one time... And, how is this related to murder?

We then set up our bags, and began our activities. Luckily, she wasn't using that damn book this time.

She finally was starting to not do things so... methodically. After a round of Fluttershy's quiet game, and a bit of s'more making, (why the hell did Twilight light a fire in a TREEHOUSE?) we reached truth or dare. Should I ask them? No, that'd be- Ah, buck it, might as well try.

"So, Rainbow," Twilight asked. "Truth or dare?"

"Duh, dare."

"Okay then, I dare you to tell the truth."

"Oh come on!"

"Are you a... a fillyfooler?"

"Why the hell does everypony ask me that?! No! I mean, yes. I mean, maybe. Why do you ask, are you one?" Score. Not only do I keep my reputation in check, I also redirect the question AND get one of my own questions answered, without my turn.

"Hmm, I dunno." She said, cooly. She then blushed as she realized something. "Wait, do you want me to be one?"

I stuttered horribly. "U-uh no..." DONT ASK HER DONT ASK HER DONT ASK HE- too late. "I thought you were with Fluttershy already." Damnit. Well, look at the bright side, you get to know why they're so secretive.

"WHAT?!" Two voices said at once, one substantially less audiable. Surprisingly, that one was Twilight's.

Quick idiot, you started it. Think up a defense! "Erm, you two are always hanging out together... I mean, especially more. And I've seen Fluttershy slip love notes under your door. And," I gulped. "I've seen her go up to your bedroom... and not come down for a long time."

My case rested, it was their turn to hassle. "Well, erm... I- we, umm... gee, that's a good question..." A very fazed Twilight started. Again, surprisingly, Fluttershy was the one to have strong linguistic skills at this point.

"Look Rainbow, I know it looks very... compromising, but trust me, nothing obscene is occuring! We are just planning a surprise party for Applejack," she said strictly. Her face then fell to one of desperation. "But don't tell her!"

"Fluttershy, AJ's birthday was two months ago." Damn, I'm good at this.

"Rarity. For Rarity. Applejack's helping us."

It was true that Rarity's birthday was coming up in about two weeks. "Really? I've never seen Applejack go upstairs with you two... and if so, why isn't Pinkie and I in this? I'm pretty sure you'd get Pinkie to be the one planning the party."

There you go Dash! You're such a Philomena Wright... yeah, no.

Twilight frantically interrupted both of us. "You know, it's full moon. We're all pointing knifes at each others' throats. But trust me Dash, we aren't dating." I liked her choice of words, 'knifes'. But yeah, it was indeed a full moon... and I guess we all were very irritated.

"So, you're buck buddies?" You know, you should really have shut up already.

"Hell no!" Twilight assured, but I could see Fluttershy's wings stiffen in the corner of my eye. I looked at her and gave a wink, but didn't say anything. Meh, probably just a reflex Rainbow, don't get so worked up. I mean, I bet your wings are working too. I looked, and indeed they were. I snapped them back before anything compromising happened.

"Let's just go back to the game. We all just don't feel that awesome, so how 'bout we continue. I believe its my turn. Fluttershy, truth or dare?"

She quickly pried her wings down before Twilight could notice. "Uh, truth."

I really should have cooled it already, but where's the fun in that? I still had questions, anyways.

"Have you ever used a weapon?" Heh, got you now!

Fluttershy seemed more than a little distraught. "Uh, no!"

Okay... suspicious...

"Okay, maybe once..."

Aha!

"But that colt was asking for it! I mean, I couldn't dare do it in an alleyway, especially with a drunkard like him! Its not my fault he's sterile now!"

...well, actually it kinda is your fault...

"And I didn't TRY to give him a concussion, I just wanted him to have brain damage so he'd stop trying to fondle me!"

Fluttershy, that is trying to give him a concussion... but yeah, he probably deserved it.

Twilight seemed to have a similar response. "Well umm... okay then..."

"So uh, Twilight, truth or dare? I mean, whatever's okay for you..."

Three hours of similar activities later, it was time to go to bed. We all slept on the bottom floor. Twilight was first to fall asleep. Fluttershy came second, and of course that left me to be alone. Before I slept, I thought. What was all of this? What were they planning to do tonight? They were going to kill somepony, tonight, probably, and maybe hire a hitmare named Virga as a backup plan.

Fluttershy and Twilight both had weapons. And they, of course, had the mines, which had dissappeared somewhere... But if they were going to kill somepony tonight, why would they invite me over? Why would they need me-

Buck.

Were they trying to kill me?

C'mon Dash, maybe its somepony else... yeah... I thought about anything else that would explain it, but unfortunately I could think of nothing. Were they really going to bucking kill me? Why me! I did nothing wrong... right?

But all the signs added up, and there was no way around them. I checked Twilight's door. Locked, of course. All the windows? Locked. Up to the observatory? Locked. There were no ways out of here...

Maybe, if I disarmed them, I could have a chance. Yeah. I can take on Fluttershy and Twilight... right? Not with their magic and The Stare...

I went over to Fluttershy's saddlepacks and opened them. She was breathing with difficulty, as if she was having a nightmare. Probably about the events to come... I'd be scared too.

Looking through her bags, lo and behold, Fluttershy did indeed have a knife. It was a vegetable one. Really Dash? She probably just has it for cooking. I mean, she did cook a meal for us. But, not with this knife. To my great horror, the knife's edge was chipped. I really doubt cutting carrots would do that. In the second saddlepack was Fluttershy's comb, toothbrush, shampoo and... land mine.

Why would she keep an explosive device in here? I doubt they'd kill me with this, especially in here. And wouldn't they keep all of them together?

Ha, I'm such a weirdo, thinking of the ideal ways to kill myself. And not in a suicidal way.

Plus, there'll be other things than the Wonderbolts... you could make your own team. Outshow them in a wink.

My assuring thoughts did not push out my fear. I really was going to die here? I thought about the mines. There were four of them... Wait, four? Were they also going to kill the others? A horrible chill ran down my spine as I dropped both the knife and the mine. Twilight heard, and began to stir. With a quick jump, I flew into my sleeping bag and pretended to sleep, but angled my head so I could look.

Twilight got up, and looked around. She stretched, then looked down at me. She poked my head with a hoof. Buck, here it comes... I prepared for her to snap my neck, or something equally horrible, but she instead withdrew her hoof. "Okay, maybe they aren't trying to kill me, you're being stupid Dash!", I thought.

As if just to disprove me, she woke up Fluttershy, who, as if she did this many times before, just picked up her knife and mine. With one deft twirl of her hoof, she spun the knife so it rested like a dagger, then back up again all in one swift motion. How the hell did she do that? It was getting more and more evident that Fluttershy was a serial killer...

Twilight, seeing Fluttershy's weapon, simply facehoofed and went and got her own, which was a metal disk that looked suspiciously like a metal wagon wheel. However, it had a shoddily created hole in the center, and a few thumbtacks melted onto the sides. She twirled it in her hooves also, spinning it quickly and rotating it at an angle, making a kind of cone with surprising grace. She also picked up another of the mine things.

Maybe they are going to kill me... why else would they have these weapons... and such experience weilding them? What would drive them to kill me?

I waited for them to turn toward me, at which point I'd try to knock their things out of their hooves and fly through the roof. But, I probably would be dead first. And even if I got an opening, I was way too frightened to move. The time never came though, they both nodded to each other and went upstairs.

Maybe... they're masochists? But, both of them are dominatrices? I dunno... they said they had nothing going on, and even if they did, I seriously doubt they'd do it while I was here. Plus, those weapons looked seriously hardcore... Well, at least they weren't going to kill me. But wait, what if they're just sharpening their knifes or something?

A new wave of fear washed through me, but I remembered what the strange colt in my dreams did. Clearing your mind can save you from chaos. Those taken in the throes of fear are never really hurt... I am really only making it worse by pondering.

Enlightened by this new thought, all the fear in my system suddenly washed away. I suddenly felt calmer. In the depths of my mind, I heard something snap. A shattering sound, like a glass being broken. And like that, I suddenly fell into a deep sleep.

Up at Twilight's top floor...

Twilight was huddled over a large machine. It was very simple, nothing on it but a dial for channels, a switch for power, and a screen with many numbers and diagrams, all being updated constantly.

"So, does she have the potential?" Fluttershy asked Twilight. She was currently twirling her knife, bored.

"I'm not sure, it doesn't sa- hmm, that's weird."

She put her knife down. "What?"

"Rainbow Dash is awake."

"We probably just woke her up, nothing big..."

"She's thinking pretty deeply by the looks of it... I doubt she'd just wake up and start pondering her life... wait, what if she is? I mean, last week we all saw what Soarin' had done to her. She's pretty good at facades..."

"Don't worry, she'll get through it. I just know it. Now, she doesn't have the potential?"

Twilight's voice was very flat, almost sad. "No, she does- WOAH!" The graph on the screen convulsed madly.

"What happened?!" Fluttershy's voice was dripping with worry.

"It's... it's amazing..."

"What? Please explain!"

"Right now, in front of us, Rainbow Dash just unlocked her full potential."

"Wow... um, yay."

"But, this is strange. Just as she unlocked it, she fell down, sleeping. And not only that, guess what."

"What?"

"She's zero. Not seven."

13th Hour?

When I woke up again, I was at the white plains. But there was a new addition to them. Right in front of me was a large, dark blue mansion. It looked like a mansion, at least. Really, it was only the size of a small house. I don't know why, but I had a very strong and uncanny will to step in. My weight now meaningless, I was drawn towards the door like a magnet, which opened up for me. The light coming from inside was extremely bright, somehow able to be bright in an already bright area... yeah I don't know how that worked. It looked awesome though. I kept getting dragged through the light, against my will. It took about a good thirty seconds of movement before the door closed off into a room.

Looking around, I gasped. The inside was quite larger than the outside. The walls were all a dark velvety blue. It was quite an open room, with most of the furniture against the walls. Though it was only a bit larger as of floor space, the sides went up into oblivion. I couldn't tell how far up it went. There were railings on each floor, and doors in the walls behind them with plaques, so it looked a bit like a really tall motel.

In front of me, sitting behind a rather large desk, was the white mare 'Lexis. She had a wide smile on her face. "Come Dash. Take a seat." Rising out of the ground, inch by inch, like it had sunk through a bog and brought up again, came a chair. The back was odd, a thick, flat rectangle with rivets on the sides of it. I didn't pay much attention to it though, and sat down. "It is about time you came. We are very impressed."

"What did I do?" I suddenly grinned. "Will whatever I did be something I can tell the Wonderbolts? Would they be impressed?"

She chuckled softly. "Oh, if they knew the whole truth, they'd be practically bowing to you. But, alas, they never will understand."

I made a pout and kicked the ground with my hooves.

"Why, although they'll probably never know of your accomplishment, you should be very proud of yourself. Anyways, you have unlocked your potential."

"Potential for?"

"Personas."

"Erm, I don't follow..."

"Trust me, your friends will fill in for you. All that matters is you pay attention to this." She waved her hoof. "Canvas!"

The said colt came out of one of the rooms on the second floor. He jumped off and landed on the ground with a loud thud.

"Ready?" 'Lexis asked.

"Ready." Canvas said steadily.

Canvas stood in the center of the room, behind the desk, facing me. 'Lexis got up, and the floor suddenly started to turn. She walked in a circle around the room, until it stopped rotating and the desk now faced the doorway. However, my chair seemed to not be attached to the floor, and hadn't moved at all, as if it floated above the ground. Now, Canvas had his back to me and 'Lexis was facing him. She closed her eyes, and a pattern appeared on the floor and began to glow, shifting different colors. From somewhere up in the abyss that was the endless ceiling, a giant picture frame came down and slammed into the ground. I jumped back in surprise. Seriously, that thing could kill somepony. Anyway, Canvas stepped forward toward the frame.

When he got close to it, he kept walking. Once his muzzle touched the picture, he started passing through. A muzzle appeared on the drawing. As he stepped through, and his forelegs went, the drawing now had the body of a pony to his forelegs. Within seconds, the drawing was complete, and Canvas was gone. The lines on the ground suddenly flared up with multicolored fire, and the big painting began to glow. It came off the ground, and floated in the air, spinning. The floor shifted back. 'Lexis opened her eyes and walked behind the desk as if this were normal.

Now there was a big painting whirling above our heads. I felt more than a little scared, as I had seen how hard it struck the ground before.

"Don't worry, it won't hurt you," 'Lexis said with a smirk, seeming to read my thoughts. "But when it does fall to the ground, I doubt you'll be scared."

She raised her hooves, and the painting rose higher... and higher... until it suddenly started to fall, really fast. Of course, even though she just told me it wouldn't hurt me, I was still very terrified. But while it fell, it seemed to get smaller, just like the contract. By the time it had reached the desk, it was as small as the contract had become before. It hovered gently, then slammed into the table vertically and melted through.

"We have faith in you, Dash. Now, you may leave."

Just as if in reverse, the chair melted through the floor and I was thrown back, out through the white door, back to the plains, where I landed on my head. I fell unconscious. I still find it odd that falling asleep there makes me wake up here. I mean, seriously. What the hell?

I looked around. I was in Twilight's library. And I wasn't dead, or chopped to pieces. Good! But it was still rather dark. A look at the clock said it was 11:15. Twilight did hold her sleepover rather early... And speaking of her, she just entered the room, with Fluttershy trailing. She saw that I was awake, and looking straight at me. She didn't even act surprised when I noticed her weapons. "Hello Rainbow Dash. I think I can predict what your dream was about... please, follow us."

Both of them looked as if they expected me to be awake. They weren't surprised at all. It was almost as if they had prepared. "We've been seeing that you have shown the signs," Twilight said, looking at one of her shelves upstairs. "Of potential. So we've been preparing for this..." Okay, apparently they had. "Aha!" Twilight saw a particular book on the shelf.

"A Mare and Her Persona," I read aloud. "Erm, Twi, isn't this book just some emotional self-guidance junk?"

"It is," she explained. With a punch, she hit the book, and it sunk into the shelf. "Its all about being your 'true self' and not holding away from others, all stuff everypony probably knows already. The title is just... easy to remember for meaning. But in all true Applejack honesty, I hate this book almost as much as... as..."

"Twilight?" Fluttershy suggested (asked?)

"Yes?" Whatever she meant, it still got answered. If Fluttershy was to ask anything then, she'd get cut off, as the bookcase swiveled, opening up a passage.

"Wha- what? Since when was this here?" I said, flabbergasted.

"Mmm, quite a long time ago." Twilight walked in, and Fluttershy motioned for me to follow. "The original librarian had this installed to be able to help keep his personal books separated, but seriously, even I don't have that many books. I use it for much different purposes." Fluttershy walked up to the bookcase and pushed it, setting it back in place to the wall.

The whole inside of the room was fairly sized, a little smaller than the library's foyer. On the roof was a dome skylight, which I didn't think was physically possible to be installed there. But, apparently that wasn't all of it, as there were three doors in the room. "The inside is a lot larger," Twilight explained. "It has a magical ward. Apparently the guy before me had quite the collection..."

Somepony having more books than Twilight? Next, I'll learn that Fluttershy is secretly a professional monster slayer.

"So, you may have figured this out already, but Fluttershy and I are professional monster slayers." Touche...

I was going to voice an objection, or laugh, but I made the amazingly sophisticated retort of "Um, yeah." Nice going Rainbow. Soon you are being able to beat Applejack inside languageistics, an- oh Celestia damnit.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, whether it be at my remark, or my futile attempts to the short circuits out of my brain.

"You're taking this awfully well," Fluttershy pointed out.

I stood silent for a bit, thinking, then threw up my head and laughed. "Did you two really think you could prank me? Nopony has been able to do that since flight school! And that was only because I was distracted by the upcoming test! You can't exactly jump me in on a prank like this," I said, still laughing. "C'mon Pinkie, come out, we all know you're here."

Silence. Fluttershy just stood there, shuffling her hooves. "Erm, uh, Rainbow, Pinkie isn't here," she said cooly. "In fact, she's never been here and probably also never will be..."

I laughed again. "I really didn't think you two had it in you. A prank, by yourselves? By Luna! I never thought this would ever happen."

Twilight pointed at a clock on the wall, that now read 11:58. "Erm, Fluttershy, I think we need to get ready soon... You know..."

"Know what?" I said.

"Yes, I suppose you're right." Fluttershy pulled out her vegetable knife, and threw it in the air, making it twirl in a circle. When it came back down, she had caught it in her hooves, and it was now a much more battle-orientated knife. It came out of a black handle, with a silver blade about the width of my hoof in size. On the other end of the handle was a ball, probably the other end of the knife, and for weight.

"W-where did you get that?"

If she heard me, she didn't respond. Twilight simply slipped her wagon wheel under her hoof, and it had changed, now a golden band. It looked a suspicious lot like one of Zecora's neck rings. But it was thicker, flatter, and had an extremely sharp outside edge. The inside edge was blunted, though.

I was going to ask another question, but was interrupted by a loud gong- the sound of Ponyville's clock tower in town square.

BONG! BONG! BONG!

"Get ready, Rainbow Dash."

BONG! BONG! BONG!

"Prepare yourself."

BONG! BONG! BONG!

"It will start soon."

BONG!

"Welcome,"

BONG!

"To the"

BONG!

"Dark Hour."

As Twilight finished that last ominous sentence, the skylight began to falter in its transparency. I rushed to the center of the room in a panic, knocking down the table, and looked up. Slowly, ever so slowly, the full moon began to wash over, slowly, from its benign, soothing white to a malicious yellow. It now bathed the land in a malevolent green hue. I looked down again, to the walls of Twi's library. The walls began to seep- no, that can't be. Is that blood?

Fluttershy yelled for me to wait, and come back, but I bolted straight out of the library, breaking through a window. Looking down, the streets were filled with spilled blood.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled. "Get the buck down from there!"

I was about to ask why, when a giant stone pillar came out of nowhere, and punched me out of the sky. I fell to the ground, landing in a pool of blood. My body hurt all over, and I didn't think I could get up. Looking back in time, I could see the pillar go back through a portal in the sky, which then vanished.

I saw Fluttershy and Twilight standing on the balcony. Twilight yelled something to Fluttershy, and stood on the railing. Twilight said something, then managed to somehow leap over three houses over to me, and land without a hitch.

"Be careful Rainbow," Twilight said disapprovingly. "No flying allowed."

"What?"

"Erm, so, every day, between 12 AM and 1 AM, there is a 'hidden' hour. You probably haven't experienced it before. Anyways, everything you know about the world gets jacked up, and it'll be really hard to explain, but I think it'd be better if we did this back at the tree, where its safe, and nopony can... oh buck."

She pointed a hoof behind me, and I turned. Standing before us was a large... thing. It was a monster, composed entirely of a black goo. It was just a mass of the material, about my height but twice as wide as me across. Out of the lump came two large hooves, one reaching for me, the other for Twilight. Amidst it was a single mask, half white, half black, with a black eye on the white half, and vice versa. Under the two eyes was a single curved mouth, edges pulled up in a mocking smile.

Twilight pulled her land mine out of nowhere. I had no idea how she did that. She held it in one of her hooves, and rested the other firmly on top of it.

"What the hell are you doing! You'll get us all killed!" I protested. She didn't hear me though. The monster took a hoof, and sweeped it under Twilight, who got pushed back into a nearby house. The mine fell out of her hooves, and she lay there, unconscious.

Apparently that wasn't good enough for the monster. It went up to Twilight and pushed on her forcefully with its dark hooves. I heard the sound of bones breaking. It stood there for a good minute, simply massacring her as I watched in abject horror.

When it was done and pulled back, I could see that her ribs were all broken by the looks of it. A slow trickle of blood escaped her mouth, and her back was stained with it also. Her lungs had probably been punctured, and she was most likely dead.

I had just watched one of my best friends get mauled in front of me, and I could do nothing.

"Razamafoo!" I heard Fluttershy shout from the balcony. In a split second, Twilight and I had been teleported to the balcony in a puff of smoke.

"This is terrible!" I shouted to Fluttershy, tears in my eyes. "Twilight is dead! What will we do! What will the others think! What will-"

Fluttershy put her hooves on my shoulders and shook me profusely.

"Oh, you look so cute when you're worried, Rainbow," Fluttershy said with a chuckle.

"What are you saying?! Twilight's bucking dead, and-"

She raised a hoof to silence me. She produced a small orb in her hoof, that glowed with a strange green light. It looked as if it was made of glass. In the inside of it, a small spark glowed, and it was filled with a cloudy, starry look, like the Milky Way.

"Put this under her tongue," she commanded. As I took it from her, it seemed to burn with energy in my hoof. I could feel its heat, but it was kind, like a mother's touch. It felt like life radiated from it. I slowly opened Twilight's bloodied, mangled mouth and did what she said.

Fluttershy stood up, and put her front hooves on Twi's shoulders. "Iterum!" she shouted, loud yet clear. Well, not the loud part.

Twilight's body was surrounded with a green orb, just like the one I put under her tongue. It too, filled with the starry dust, but when it cleared, Twilight was alive again.

"Twilight! You're alive!"

She banged her head a few times. "Y-yeah, I guess I am."

"Umm guys," Fluttershy said, pointing down at the street. "We still have a problem."

"I'll go," Twilight said, getting up. Just as soon as she did, she fell, clutching her side.

"Twilight, you can't expect a pebble of life to work wonders."

"Hey, I think it does," I said, holding up my hoof.

Twilight laughed, then proceeded to cough a bit. "It only works during the Dark Hour," she explained. "And only on those who have died within the same dark hour. Also, we don't have that many of them, so try not to die. And, as you can see, they aren't perfect. Just kinda like, a kick start. Won't exactly put you back to perfect condition."

"Oh uh, Twi, I um, think your ribs might be broken... I'll need to keep full watch on you."

"But what about the Shadow down there in the street?" Twilight protested. So that's what they were called...

"I'll get it," I volunteered.

"Um, pardon me for saying this Rainbow, but I mean, not that I don't think you can survive, but I think it'd be best for you to stay here."

"I agree with Fluttershy. Its too dangerous!"

"Oh come on, has dangerous ever stopped me?"

I saw Fluttershy raising a hoof to object, but she was too late. I had hopped off the balcony already. As I fell, right when I was about to hit the ground, I put out my wings so-

SLAM!

Okay, so the anti-flying pillars get you for just using your wings to glide three inches, but not for dropping off a three-story building. Go figure.

I groggily got up, and made my way down the street to the shadow. It was still pacing around, looking for Twi's body. And on the wall there was the lovely crude cutout of her body, surrounded with blood. Goodie. It was all just from the floor already... right?

I didn't take too much time to answer that. "Hey! You! Wanna fight?!" I yelled. It apparently did. It was too late, but I just realized that I didn't take anything for fighting it.

Buck.

I scanned around, looking for an improvised weapon. A glint of metal sparkled in the corner of my eye. I looked over, and it was probably the worst possible thing to use in a fight. I should've probably not used it altogether, but my body seemed to not respond to my actions. I walked over casually, as if doing nothing more than some grocery shopping, and picked it up. I set it on the ground in front of me. Slowly, ever so slowly, I moved my right hoof over to it.

"What are you doing?" I asked myself. I got no response. I commanded my hoof to back off, but I had seemed to lose control. My hoof inched closer.

"Don't!" I wanted to yell. My hoof touched the metal.

"Stop!" I pulled back, reeling in for a punch.

"I'm so screwed."

My hoof came onto the mine at full force, and it hit the mine, sinking the top down entirely with a CLICK!. But instead of exploding, from the small ridge where the mine top met the base, a big blue glow erupted, like an ancient volcano reawokened. Electricity coursed throughout the mine, and from the slit on its front, a single slip of paper flew out, onto the ground. I didn't catch what was on it though, as it began to float into the air, twirling. Just like 'Lexis's portrait, I thought silently. The card kept rising, until it floated high above me. It shattered into dust, which then floated down and started to form a large cloud.

"Thou art I," I heard a booming voice state. Somewhere I'd heard it before.

"And I am thou." It finished. Was that-

"From the sea of thy soul I cometh." He seriously sounds like-

"I am Canvas, the Celestial Painter. I have surfaced in your time of need for assistance." The dust began to clear, and standing there now, in front of me, was no other than Canvas himself. Outside of my dreams, he was quite larger than me. He let out a bloodcurdling roar, untamed, wild as the ocean.

He jumped up, and in midair drew something with his hooves. Where he moved his hoof, glowing white lines appeared. He traced the outline of something, and snatched it out of the air. He came down on the Shadow, thrusting the object into it. When he pulled back, I recognized the object as a sword.

"Ahi!" He shouted. A small flame flickered, then blazed to life on the monster. Canvas then drew back, for the final blow, and tossed his sword. It impaled itself on the Shadow's mask, right in the forehead. The mask split in half, down the midline, and fell to the ground. Canvas turned around, winked at me, and disappeared.

The Shadow howled in agony. It clawed for the skies with its hooves, slowly smoking and burning. It collapsed to a pile of ashes, and in the middle of them was a silver blade- Canvas's sword. I walked over, and picked it up.

"Rainbow Dash!" I heard Twilight yell behind me. I turned and saw her, slung across Fluttershy's back. "That was amazing, especially for a first timer. How did you do that?"

I smiled weakly, but was suddenly overcome with a wave of nausea. My vision began to blacken, and I hit the floor.

AN: Props to you if you can figure out where the fire spell came from. Or should I say Nu'i lo'a mo'ihi? No, it isn't a corruption of Agi.

Best. Nap. Ever!

I stood on the precipice before the cloudy tower and- wait, what?

I looked around. Since when did this area actually have physical elements? Before it just was all flat. And, last time I checked, the only building here was a Victorian mansion... Okay?

The cloud tower came up, and definitely represented the interior a lot better... well, in terms of size. Its style was way off though. It composed of a smooth cylinder that came up to the skies. I don't know how, but I knew that it wasn't done, and was still being built up. On the sides of the tower, two swirls came up, that were streaked with rainbows. They looked a suspicious lot like stairs. At intervals up the swirls, bridges of light came out into doors, as if that was the only way to get to the rooms.

I walked into the building. The interior was the same as usual. 'Lexis was grinning behind the desk. She got up and shook my hoof. "Congratulations Dash!" She said. "Come, sit."

She waved her hooves, and the regular desk fell through the floor like my chair. A larger, round table fell from the sky into the center of the room, and three chairs came out of the floor with it. Canvas came, vaulting off the balcony again, and we all took our seats.

"Now," 'Lexis said, raising a wineglass. Did it fall down with the table? Wouldn't it of shattered? "To business!"

"What are you doing?" Canvas mumbled.

"I'm proposing a toast!"

"...Okay..."

"So er, what's the celebration for, guys?" I picked up a wineglass. It began to fill itself with a golden, clear liquid, which was filled with bubbles. And when I said golden, i really did mean golden. It looked like melted gold, except clear, and ice cold. It didn't look alcoholic though. Or like any drink I knew of for that matter.

"Oh, don't pretend you don't know Rainbow. You were there, I was there, Lexis was there... c'mon."

"Umm... I still don't follow."

"What Canvas is trying to say is, you've summoned a Persona for the first time."

"A what?"

"A Persona. Per-SOH-Nah." Canvas drew out slowly.

"When you use an evoker - those mines your friends have - it allows you to channel what are called Personas. The whole concept of Personas is very hard to understand, and it isn't exactly understood completely either. Heck, I don't really get it. Canvas, who's a Persona himself, doesn't even understand it either."

"I try not to think about it too much," he said.

"So umm... I didn't kill myself?"

Lexis laughed. "Not yet."

"Okay, good. Wait, yet?"

"So, to business!"

Canvas and I raised our glasses. "To business!" We both said.

"What are you two doing?"

He was confused. "But I thought you were- oh never mind..."

"So, we would like to give you two gifts. Well, more like two sets of gifts. Canvas, if you will?"

Ooh, what am I getting? I can't wait to find out!

He traced the outline of a rectangle in midair, and the rough shape of a card materialized. He hit it with his hoof, and it flew up, hovering over the table, and began to deal cards. I counted about like, eighty of them. When all had been laid on the table, they all converged in the center, forming a deck. On one side, a covering appeared, and the rest of the panels materialized around the deck, forming a case for it. Canvas picked it up, and gave it to me.

"Thanks! Uhh... what is it?"

"So, to your next gift." I felt as if they were avoiding my questions. Were they? Probably. "Now, this isn't a physical gift, but I think you'll find it amazing. So, I guess you'll want your dreams back. And you want to stop passing out randomly on the street. Right?"

"Erm, yes, that would be good."

"Well here's your solution!" Lexis thrust a back hoof into the ground, and suddenly everything around me disappeared. Looking around, there was nothing but a bluish hue like the Cloud Tower's inside. Speaking of which, why did it change? I'd better ask them when I got back. Anyways, I seemed to be on a platform, which limited my movement, unless I wanted to fall into a neverending void.

"Ready?" I heard Lexis say from somewhere.

"Ready for wha-"

"I take that as a yes!"

Suddenly, a flash of light blinded me, but when it faded I was surrounded with a tornado of colors. Every hue ever seen by ponykind was flashed in front of my eyes, all in the span of about three seconds. When it was over, there was another quick flash of light, and I was sitting back in my chair. Well, I fell out of it, but whatever. I could practically picture my eyes rolling around in my head.

"Are you feeling different?" Canvas leaned over me.

"Definately at least seeing different..." I said groggily. After a few minutes I was able to figure out how many hooves I had. "So, what was that all about?"

"Lucky for you, you won't have to randomly drop unconscious every time you walk three feet anymore!" Lexis extended a hoof and helped me get up.

After I had been sure that the chair was indeed not moving. I asked her "What's that supposed to mean?".

"We've given you probably one of the most important spells you will learn," she said.

"Woah woah wait, important? Spells? What are you talking abou-"

"Two, to be precise. But there will be more to come. First, you must prepare your spells. Take any one of your two front hooves, and picture it in your mind. Close your eyes, even."

I didn't know why I had to so intensely ponder my left leg, but okay...

"Now, picture it turning white, and glowing, just like the ground outside this room, as if it had been turned to the stone."

With difficulty, I did.

"Take your right hoof now."

How did she know I chose my left hoof first? Hmm...

"Imagine it turning dark blue, like this room. Ready? Now, open your eyes."

I did, and gasped when I saw my hooves. Just as she said, my left hoof now glowed a color akin to the outside hills. But it wasn't like, turned to the substance, it looked more like paint splattered on it. And it was covered in that fashion. Kind of like Canvas's hooves. My right hoof was glowing a more space-like dark blue, like the room around us. My left hoof kind of like, sparkled in the light, but my right gave off a ghostly glow, as if it were on fire.

"Erm... what did I just do?"

"We have given you two spells: Alia, and Corporeus. Now, think of them a bit like... keys, which let you get from place to place. Now, currently, you have your hooves selected to the spell 'Alia'. That means, you are in this dimension. If you want to get back to Equestria, imagine your hooves turning blue as the sky, and green as the grass. Then shout 'Corporeus!' You'll get transported to Equestria automatically, and vice versa. Now, if you go around with your hooves glowing like that, you'll get funny looks, so bang them together a few times and they should nullify out. Capice?"

"Uhh, yeah... I guess..."

"Great! Now, you should probably go back to Equestria now, your friends are all worried."

I imagined my right hoof turning green as the Equestrian leaves, and my left turning blue as the sky, which was pretty difficult seeing my coat color. Anyways, in the end I somehow got it to work, and, after finding my left hoof was surrounded in a white fire-like glow, I figured it was probably easier just to imagine the white part, and the rest would fill.

"Corporeus!"

When I opened my eyes again, I was in a hospital gown, in a hospital bed... at the hospital. Wow, I wonder who saw that coming?

I got out of the bed, and dusted off my clothes. I heard somepony sobbing by the doorway, so I got up and went by the door to check it out. There was Nurse Redheart there, talking to my friends.

"...so unfortunately, I do not think she will ever wake again. I'm very sorry. It is kind of a pointless cause; no tests have shown any signs of her being alive. With such a thick coma, she is probably and most likely dead."

"Why! Why did she have to die!" Rarity wailed out. Jeez, what a drama queen.

"Uh, guys, I'm right here..." I said awkwardly.

"R-rainbow Dash?" Twilight wiped a tear and turned to see me, a dumbfounded expression on her face. "How did you-"

My vision blackened for a split second and I heard a loud "WHUMP!". When my vision cleared again, Applejack was on top of me, pinning me to the ground.

"RAINBOW DASH!" She yelled at me. "Don't ya EVER scare me like that AGAIN!" She drew back and got off me, her voice retreating to a softer tone. "Ah wouldn't know what t'do if you were really gone..."

Leaning forward, I tried to get up, but was quickly pushed back down again, this time by Nurse Redheart. "Th-there's no way! I haven't gotten a diagnostic wrong in SEVEN years!"

I calmly pushed her off and rolled to the side. "And I haven't been in the hospital for seven weeks."

"Well, eleven actually, but-"

"Whatever. So, what am I here for?"

"You were asleep silly!" Pinkie seemed awfully bubbly, even though everypony else was crying about thirty seconds ago.

"Umm, I'm not sure how that requires me being in the hospital. You guys know how often I nap around Ponyville."

Fluttershy raised a shaky hoof. Apparently she was back to being shy outside of the Dark Minute, or whatever its called. "Rainbow, you were unconscious for a whole month..."

"Wait, one month!?" I exclaimed. How could that be possible?

"Three hours and fourty-six minutes." Okay, how could Twilight have memorized that? I mean, come on. I wonder if I can get her to memorize my to-do list for me...

"None of us are quite sure of that, darling." I can't believe Rarity hasn't passed out by now, or at least done her signature 'Worst possible thing' catchphrase. She probably had said it about twenty times daily while I was sleeping. "No doctors in Equestria have ever seen something like this before..."

"Well, I'm fine now, so I'll just be heading back home."

I turned, and jumped off the window, flying for my cloud house. When I got there, Fluttershy and Twilight had already arrived. I need to get Fluttershy to teach me that teleportation thing...

"Need some stuff cleared up, Rainbow?"

Sorry for late upload! Again, props to you if you can figure out the spell names. Nopony has even GUESSED at what they mean yet. I mean, c'mon. You don't get penalties for being wrong.

First link...

"Well? I'm pretty sure you don't completely understand everything that has happened," Twilight said.

"Yeah, I fell asleep again and had another dream."

Fluttershy laughed at the understatement. "So, what would you like to ask first?"

"Umm... well, when I first fell asleep the room was a Victorian mansion, but just the last time I came, it had changed into a cloud tower..."

"Wait, you visited the mansion multiple times?" Twilight asked, surprised.

"Err, yeah, haven't you?"

"Umm, we both only visited once, and that was just for the contract..." Fluttershy said timorously. Damn, outside the Dark Hour, she's a whole different pony, all shy and stuff, and- wait, what am I saying? Other way around... Shoot, its getting to me...

"Well, maybe I got lucky?"

"I don't know Rainbow, once you activate your potential, strange dreams tend to tell you things... You never get told something for no apparent reason. Unusual nightmares or things like that always mean something."

"Ah... so, why did it turn into a cloud tower?"

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. "Hmm..." After a few moments of silence, her head sprang up. "Aha! So, Rainbow, I think the reason why-"

"Wait a sec, this sounds like its going to be a long talk, let's go sit down at the table." I gestured them over and they sat down at my kitchen table. "Be right back, just gonna check my mail."

Surprisingly, there was quite little in my mailbox. Nothing but today's newspaper, a box with a muffin in it, and a brown, unlabeled package. Derpy must have gotten rid of the stuff outdated. I'd thank her next time I saw her.

I popped the muffin in my mouth, and brought the box over to the table.

"Uh, pardon me for asking Rainbow, but what's that?" Fluttershy cautiously extended a hoof in the direction of the box.

"Erm, I'm not sure... let's find out!" Using a technique I didn't know I could do, I managed to swipe my hoof across the string tying it together, and somehow cut it. Now loosened, it fell off. I tore through the package greedily.

In it there was a box. I was about to open it, but withdrew. "Oh, I'll open it later." I tossed it up into the roof, and it sunk through into my bedroom. The cloud mass quickly recoagulated. "So, what were you saying Twi'?"

"The room clearly has been used for quite some time. I mean, paleo-pony era buildings are pretty out of style. So maybe it updates?"

"Uh, Twilight?" Fluttershy's voice was feeble as ever. Or rather, as feeble as before. "I mean, not that I think you're wrong or anything, but I thought the room was located on the inside of a cave..."

Something snapped in Twilight's head, and it did so ferociously. I could see a fuse or two get blown. "That's it! Its customized for each pony! That could also explain weapon off-states!."

"Say what?"

"So, as you have probably noticed, when it is not the Dark Hour, our weapons look quite more... pedestrian. Like, Fluttershy has a vegetable knife instead of a one-hoof-long-black-iron-Lethe-tempered-double-edged-blade-of-destruction." She paused to catch her breath.

"Ah, so its an illusion to stop ponies from going crazy and arresting us."

"Well," Twilight pondered. "I guess it kind of is an illusion, but it also kind of isn't. When magical weapons are outside of The Dark Hour, they do indeed assume the look of household objects, but... they are still weapons nonetheless. Maybe its because of detecting the Veil? But, that wouldn't be true as then safe spots wouldn't... hmm. I never really thought about it..."

"Wait, what's the veil?"

"The Veil. During the Dark Hour, the world is enveloped in a strange mist-like fog called the Veil. It is a kind of medium for Shadows to travel through. But, instead of being errant like fog, it avoids selective areas. Like, my house. Shadows don't seem to be able to get near it. But, its radius of protection is extremely small, as you can see."

"Can you at least try to not mindbuck me so repeatedly?" She was making no sense.

Fluttershy laughed quite quietly. "I'll try to sum it up. So uh, every day, after twelve, there is a "hidden" hour, called the Dark Hour. During it, monsters called Shadows come out and try to feast on pony flesh. Now, as a defense mechanism, most ponies "play dead" and turn into coffins, except for us. We are able to protect ourselves with these things called "Personas", and stay awake during this hour.

"Now, when we say Dark Hour, you have to realize that it isn't just an hour long. It can be longer, under certain circumstances that I won't really get into. But just realize that it can last much longer than that.

"Anyways, back to the Veil. Every Dark Hour, this fog thing comes out to help Shadows travel. Shadows are unable to leave the Veil. Now, this is generally a good thing, but you have to remember that the Veil literally is everywhere. There are only some places where the Veil doesn't flow. Some areas are always protected. Other times, there are just sporadic paths that change every day. So um, yeah, that's err, it..." For somepony who had just delivered such a large speech, she was still pretty quiet.

I let that all sink in. "I... think I get it... Well, time to open this package!"

The package seemed to know I was going to open it. As if by magic, the lid was suddenly enveloped and thrown off by a purple glo- oh, wait, never mind...

"Wait, Twi? I have another question."

She dropped the lid. The package was filled with packaging peanuts, so I didn't know what was in it still. "Yeah?"

"Why didn't you use magic to protect yourself?"

"Same reason why you can't fly. Well, kind of not the same reason. That's because the Veil doesn't want anyone to escape. Anyways, during the Dark Hour, normal magic cannot be used. Of course, you've probably noticed how there are exceptions, like Fluttershy's teleportation spell thing and how your Persona could use a fire spell."

"Hmm. Oh. I feel as if we're stalling. Let's open this thing!"

The peanuts flew out and in the box were four things. The glass from the Velvet Room that I didn't drink from, the two halves of the Shadow's mask, the deck of Tarot cards Canvas gave me, and some... shiny thing. I took the cup out and set it on the table.

In front of my eyes, it suddenly filled up with the golden liquid, the water level slowly rising. I still didn't know what the buck the drink was. But its refilling was very slow. It only rose a tiny bit from the bottom of the glass, about half the width of a pencil.

Apparently Fluttershy knew what the drink was. "Is that-"

"Indeed." Why is it that they always know something I don't?

"Is it what?"

"That is the drink of life."

"A what?"

"It goes by many names. Amrita, Ichor, Nectar, the Elixir of [Chinese Legend Dude Name], just to name a few. Just shut up and drink it, you need to taste it yourself."

I rose the glass to my muzzle and cautiously took a sip. Which was practically drinking all of it. It tasted very... familiar, just like... Oh no. It can't be.

The cup slipped out of my hand in shock. It fell onto the floor, and passed through. Fluttershy saw this, and jumped out my window, racing down at pretty fast speeds for her. Which was still kind of slow.

I however, was still in shock. That flavor... there's no way it can be…

Twilight knew exactly what I was thinking however. "Taste brings back memories?" She said, knowingly.

"H-how did it- how did you-" I was unable to form any words, currently.

"The drink will take the flavor of whatever you hold dearest. Anything that will make you happy. For example, when I taste it, it tastes of a vanilla milkshake, specifically one from Smooth Whip's shop down in Canterlot..." She sighed, reminiscing. "Boy, Moondancer and Lyra and I had good times there, back in school... One day I need to take them back there... Anyways, while you may not feel it, it will help patch you up when you're hurt a bit. Just minor injuries, like snapped tendons."

"Minor?" Somepony did that once in flight school. Damn, it looked like it hurt bad. Guy couldn't move. And he definitely didn't have a cloud of butterflies waiting to catch him.

"Don't worry about it," she said.

Fluttershy had come through the window. She held a glass in her hooves. It wasn't shattered, which I found odd, looking at how long it took her to find it.

"It... didn't break," she said curiously. She went over and set it on the table, and it began its slow fill again.

"Should I be worried about it? Like, will it overflow and start seeping through the floor and fall down? Because I think Applejack would get really mad at me..." Whatever you do, long as you live, absolutely never. Ever. Try to prank her by filling her watering can with red wine.

"Well, I'd assume that it would naturally stop filling when full, and would only fill on a relatively flat surface. Why it fills at all beats me however."

"Hmm. Well, I'm hungry. What about you guys?"

"I could go for some food," Fluttershy said.

"Well, when I cook it, its nowhere near food. Its more like... something that has been created with cooking ingredients. Wanna eat out?"

Twilight shrugged. "Why not."

We went down to Twi's favorite sandwich shop. Waiters there are fancy, but what they serve isn't. Which is good, because I hate fancy restaurants.

Though we were indeed at a sandwich shop, I ordered instead a fillet of fish. I asked for some liquid rainbow. Much better than most hot sauce. But does leave a strange aftertaste. And makes your tongue itchy somehow. Its a very strange thing to use as a condiment in general... which is why I usually use a distilled version.

"What is that?" Fluttershy said, pointing at my plate.

"A fish... haven't you ever tried them before?"

"Staple of Las Pegasus. High revenue rates. Extremely hard to fillet." Twilight took a bite of her daisy sandwich. I noticed she ordered it soggy. Heh, I must've gotten her to like the flavor. Pretty odd, if you ask me...

"Uh, no, I mean the rainbow... can I try some?"

"Sure." I cut the fillet in half and gave her some. She ate it with two butterknifes. Hopefully nopony else noticed. Twilight took a sip from a vanilla smoothie I didn't realize she had before.

"So, Twilight."

"Yesh?" she responded, mouth filled with soaked sandwich.

"Before, when you were telling me about the drink of light,"

"Life," she corrected.

"Gezheundheit. Anyways, you said something about drinking vanilla smoothies with your friends Lyra and Moondancer."

She set down her sandwich and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "Back when I was at Celestia's school for gifted unicorns, I actually did have friends before. Lyra and Moondancer. But when Celestia started to tutor me more privately, I got to see them less and less... I don't think she really knew about them. Lyra, as you know, came here to Ponyville. But Moondancer... I've lost touch with her..." She looked at the table thoughtfully. "I really wish I knew where she went off to..."

I finished my dinner and began my walk home. It was a perfectly normal day in Ponyville. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were busy trying to fire a watermelon at a scarecrow. Applejack was busy trying to convince them not to. Derpy Hooves was delivering mail. Spitfire was going into Carousel Boutique and- WAIT WHAT!?

Author note: Soon I will be releasing a oneshot for Labor day.

Spitfire?!

"Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh!" I said, somehow able to say that without passing out. I felt near ready to. "OMG Spitfire! I'm such a fan of the Wonderbolts! Well..." I said, voice slowing down a ridiculous lot, looking down a bit. "Most of them, at least..."

She blinked. "Hey, I know you... you're Rainbow Dash, aren't ya? Best Young Flyer, saved my life, and you... used to date Soarin', right?"

I flinched at the name.

"Hey, sorry for bringing that up." She pat me on the back. "So, what brings you here?"

"I should be asking you that? Why would you visit here, of all places?"

"Oh, our old headquarters burned down. Something about how Foehn Fast tried cooking Soarin' a pie to cheer up him while he was in jail." She shook her head, smiling. "Tried to put a file in there, eh..." she muttered.

"Wait, what?!" I was incredulous. "Soarin's in jail?" In the back of my mind, I was chanting over and over 'bastard got what he deserved. Bastard got what he deserved.'

"Yeah... two reasons. First, as you can see, he forged paperwork," I remembered the letter I received. "And also, apparently, he had some suspicious dealings with other mares. If you'd been with him any longer he might of... ya know what, how 'bout I stop talking. Anyways, we definitely fired Foehn. City life is too fast. Too crowded. Figured it'd be better to come out somewhere peaceful, yeah?"

I desperately commanded for my brain to reboot and start understanding words. "So... you guys are moving here? Permanently?"

She laughed. "Yeah, as long as my other teammates remember that nail files aren't legitimate cooking ingredients."

"A-a-awesome!"

"Well, I need to go commission some new outfits." She pointed to Rarity's boutique. "See ya round, RD!"

I waved her goodbye. I couldn't believe what had happened. The Wonderbolts... coming here... to my town?! YES!

I flew ailerons on the way home. Crashed into bed first thing, like normal. It was actually getting pretty dark outside.

Hey! Guess what extremely original and unpredictable thing happened! Yes, that's right! I woke up at the Velvet Room.

In the corner, Lexis was twirling a pencil. Next to her, Canvas was painting a glen, with two ponies in it. Leaves literally were coming off the easel. One fell to the floor in front of me. It was damn real.

My weird painting chair came out of the floor, and I sat down on it. Lexis was shuffling cards.

"So, anything new happen lately?" She said it with a smirk, as if she already knew. Which she did.

"Well, I was eating a fish, then-"

"Yes. Well, no. You know what it is, but that's not what caused it. Do you still have the deck Canvas made?"

I looked over at him. He was still attacking the easel furiously.

"Er, yeah, why?"

Just to watch me squirm, Lexis made said deck fall from the sky... again. It landed on the table with an impossibly loud crash. It still succeeded to scare me.

"C-can you stop doing that?"

"Doing what, this?" A folding chair, frying pan, and a shipping crate all fell by Canvas, who dropped his brush. He shook his hoof madly at Lexis.

"Yes! That!"

By the look of her now devious grin, I was scared. "I don't know... maybe..." She laughed. "So, back to the deck. Its a standard, seventy-eight card Bridle Wake deck. Now, you only have to worry about twenty-two of these cards. Let's take a look at them.

She spread part of the deck on the table with her hooves. Twenty two cards, like she said.

"So, each of these cards is part of what is called the Major Arcana. A standard Tarot deck has both the Major and Minor Arcanae. But for now, lets just focus on the Major one.

"There are twenty-two cards in it. And the only one you have to care about is this one." She pulled out the card I saw before. The Magician. "Well, for now. Anyways, each card is represented by a pony, somewhere out there in Equestria. And you'll have to find all twenty-two of them."

"WHAT?!"

"Don't fret!" She put up her hooves in a surrendering pose. "Its guaranteed you'll meet every single one of them, eventually. You see, there is no definite pony for each one. Its just the fact you'll eventually find somepony who represents each card the best. Anyways, when you meet one of these ponies, you establish what is called a Social Link with them. Their Arcana is powered by it, and through this you can power up your Persona."

"I... don't understand."

"Take your friend Twilight for example. Though you have known her for quite a while, you haven't actually legitimately established an Arcana link with her. Her Arcana is..." she shuffled the deck as if it would help her figure out. "The Magician. Anyways, Canvas now has stronger magic."

"Hmm... I guess I get it."

"Each link levels up by getting to know the pony. But its not like knowing their favorite pie flavor will do it. You need to legitimately understand something about them. Now, say, if their family was known for piemaking, that may work. It all will come in time. So, there are ten levels the link can go through. Currently, you only have the Magician link, and it is only level one. But I trust you will find more ponies in time. Now, go forth. Your friends await you."

Instead of sucking me out the door again, Lexis made a really big rock drop from above. It sent out a shockwave that managed to launch me up to the sky. Instead of dreaming of falling, I was dreaming of rising. I woke up with a start and banged my head on something hard.

"Ow!" Twilight yelled.

"Sorry! Wait, why are you here?"

"The Dark Hour will be upon us soon."

"Why can't I just sleep through it?"

"Your house isn't a safe spot," Fluttershy explained. "And also, we need you." It made me happy to know my friends cared that much for me.

We walked to my balcony. I still had no idea how they got here. The fact they stormed into my bedroom kind of creeped me out. Luckily it was two ponies, not just one. That would have been awkward. Well, I guess you could argue that with tw- wait, what am I saying?!

Ponyville underfoot was asleep. Except for the occasional pony or two, nopony else was present. Which was probably a good thing. "Oh, I forgot," Twilight said. "Here, have this." she handed me one of the metal bomb things, just like hers. It came with a strap, that fit over my shoulder to my waist. And Fluttershy gave me a belt that she'd put Canvas's sword on.

"So, today," Twilight began. "We will try to train you. First, lets find a Shadow for you to solo."

Twilight jumped off the balcony and somehow landed on the ground without a hitch. I wonder if she has a groundwalking spell too, that lets her walk on the- I mean, makes the ground softer. Me, I jumped off and was about to spread my wings when I realized what would happen. But I was already off, and I fell on my face. So graceful. Its amazing.

Looking around Ponyville, I began to notice what they meant by the Veil. I could see some areas where it looked a bit blurry and distorted. I still didn't see any Shadows however.

We kept walking a bit until Fluttershy froze in her tracks. "There!"

I looked in the direction of her hoof, and saw, by Sugarcube Corner, a... floating chair?

"Shadows sometimes possess objects for defense, mobility, and other things," Twilight explained. "This one seems rather weak however, to have to possess such a sturdy object. It should be easy for you to take down."

"You guys aren't coming with me?"

"Its best if one learns by themself. If we were there, it'd be harder for you to learn anything, right?"

"Okay..."

I snuck over, something I normally wouldn't be able to do because of Pinkie living there. I pressed my body against the side of Sugarcube Corner, peeking around it. The chair still didn't seem to see me. Unsheathing my sword extremely slowly, I quickly turned the bend, jumped up, and brought the sword down in an arc, straight down onto it from above.

Now, if the Shadow didn't die, the chair would at least have been cut in two. But, looking at my luck, that didn't happen. Instead, I was blown back. I landed on the ground, on my side, about eight bodylengths away. My head hurt. I couldn't see out of my left eye. There was something in it. I put a hoof up to it and rubbed the substance off. It was my own blood. I felt really like just sleeping there; my body hurt all over. In the corner of my eye, I could see Twilight and Fluttershy rushing over.

The chair had obviously seen me by now. Damn chair. I noticed that on the back of it, it was wearing a blue mask, like the one the first Shadow had. Except this one had large, empty black eyes, and a glossy blue sheen to the face. At least, I thought it was blue through the red light filter I got on my eyes.

Twilight was going over in the direction of the Shadow, and Fluttershy came over to me. She pulled out her summoner thingy and stepped on it. "Virga! I summon thee! Come forth and lend me thine aid!" The form of a pegasus mare surfaced in midair above her, like Canvas for me.

From the little bits and pieces of what I remember from Flight School, I could deduce that this pony was indeed part of the Pre-Commander Hurricane Era Cloudsdalean Military. Third Dynasty. She was probably a General even. I vaguely remember the name Virga Mist... wow, I actually remembered something from Flight School. And not only that, but in actually pretty decent detail. I should get hit upside the head more often. "Dia!" Fluttershy yelled. From somewhere above me, a shining light came down. How typical. I felt better, all of a sudden. But it didn't evaporate my blood or anything. It did close the gash, I think. Shakily, I stood up.

"Thanks 'Shy."

She blushed and muttered something that sounded like "You're welcome." I looked over the the chair. Twilight had burned it to ashes. Above her, an Earth pony wearing really stupid-looking scholar robes. In one hoof, he held a clear crystal orb that seemed to be filled with black murky ink, and countless stars. His hat made me really angry for no apparent reason. He wore really long white robes. Resting on top of them was a weird colored medallion. His other hoof clutched a book. In his belt, sheathed like a sword, was what appeared to be a wand. "Kitalpha! Return!" Twilight's Persona disappeared.

"Do we have to yell all this stupid stuff when we summon our Personas?"

"Generally no," Fluttershy answered.

"Then why are we-"

"I have no idea." Good enough of an answer for me. "So, how are you feeling?"

"Pretty horrible..."

Fluttershy laughed. "You'll feel better soon. Now let's go check on Twilight."

We went over to her. She was still breathing quickly and staring at the ashes. "That was... th... that was... unusual..."

"What was?" I asked.

She stopped to catch her breath. "Physical attacks not only didn't work on it, but they were reflected."

"So um, in essence, I just slashed myself in the skull?"

"Er, yeah..."

"So, how did you kill it?"

"I killed it with fire."

"I mean, how did you do that?"

"So, there are some spoken words that can cast spells. Like, Fluttershy's Dia for example." A light began falling from the sky onto us. Twilight shook her hoof at it. "Quit it damnit!" The light quickly faded. "Anyways, my fire spell is a- wait a second."

She picked up a stick and threw it into the air. "Ahi!" It quickly burned and faded. "Okay, that would have been bad if I didn't have a target."

"Why?"

"It would burn whatever was directly in front of me."

"Ah, yes... that would probably have been not the best idea. Anyways, can I try?"

"Erm, sure." She handed me another twig. "Ahi!" Nothing. "Ahi! Ahiahiahiahiahiahiahiahiahiahiahiahiahiahi!" Still nothing. "Ahi damnit!" A small flame began to burn on the twig. It quickly died. "What the heck was the problem?"

"You have to say it with conviction," Fluttershy explained. "Like this. AHI!" The twig flared up and burned in a second, leaving nothing behind.

I tried again. And again. Eventually I was able to get a small flame to get going on my first try, but it was puny, and would probably be put out with any turn of the wind. "How are you two so good?!" I protested.

"I um... practice?" Fluttershy said humbly, with a squee.

Twilight sat and thought. "Hmm... maybe, we could get you something that could help amplify your powers, like, a magic wand!"

"Are you bucking kidding me?"

"Err, no, actually. Close your eyes, no peeking!"

I did as she instructed. "Okay... perfect! Now you can open them!"

Looking around, I noticed Twilight was holding something. She gave it to me. "Ta-da! Your brand new wand!"

"Umm, Twilight..."

"Yes?"

"This is a rock tied to a stick with a piece of string."

"Oh, it really doesn't matter what its made of. You just have to believe it will work, that there is magic in it. As there is magic in everything. You just have to amplify and bring it out. For example, instead of saying 'ahi,' you could in theory just say 'fire'. Its just the fact that you don't believe saying that would work. If you truly did, then it'd be hard for you to talk. But now that you don't believe this wand will work, it might as well be broken."

She snapped it in half and threw it over her shoulder before snapping a twig off a dead branch on the ground. "Here. Take this."

"I still don't think its very magical."

"Fine. Maybe later we can get Rarity to make you a more magical looking one, with jewels or something. I don't know. Would it help if I wrote spells on the stick?" She was sarcastic.

"Actually, to be honest, yes..."

"Hmph. Fine. Fluttershy, can I borrow your knife?" She took it out and began to whittle the stick.

"Also, just for the record, I actually am going to ask Rarity for another wand..."

She stuck out her tongue to me playfully. After just carving it for about five minutes, she handed it back. There were weird swirly designs all down it. "Umm, these are just- you know what, I'll just take it."

I picked up my sword and looked at the broken remains of the old wan- stick on the ground. I pointed the sti- wand at it. And focused hard. Real hard. With conviction. Right. "Ahi!" the twig burst into flames. And the ground underneath it was on fire also. Which is probably a bad thing. I stepped back. "Okeey... well that was... thorough."

"That was... amazing," Twilight said, staring at the fire as if it was just handed down from Prometheus himself. "For a first timer too. Its strange though..."

"What is?"

"You were extremely weak empty-hooved, but you managed to use a wand as a catalyst. Not only that, but to ridiculously amplified extents..."

"Um, maybe I'm just lucky?"

"Hmm... maybe..."

For the rest of the night, I trained with Fluttershy and Twilight, before heading home to my bed.

When I woke up, I was in a dense fog. Like, really dense. Dense-you-can't-see-your-hoof-wave dense. I blundered through it like an idiot, feeling the walls of a labyrinth wrap me. Eventually, the fog began to clear, and I was standing in the ancient castle of the Royal Pony Sisters.

"Thou art I, and I am thou." I'd recognize those lines anywhere. Except whoever was saying these lines was putting a kind of sarcastic, mocking tone to them. I was yet to figure out who was saying them however.

"I hath surfaced from thine mind." Okay, well, now its getting off-script.

"I challenge thee." What?

"I challenge thee, Rainbow Dash." Challenge me to what?

"I challenge thee, daughter of-" I covered my ears. There was no way I wanted to hear those accursed names again.

"I challenge thee, sister to Fluttershy, sister to Moonbow Corona." Not exactly sisters... unless she means honorary, yeah. Moonbow... been some time since I heard that name... good times, we had.

"I challenge thee, bringer of the reborn." Who got reborn? Also, where have I heard that voice before?

"I challenge thee, mother of myself." Wait, I may have had my fill in Flight School but I am not a- wait, I know who that voice is.

In front of me, as if being formed by shadows (the non-vicious kind) out of the ground, was an image of myself. She gave off a dark aura however. "I challenge thee, mineself. I hath arrived, and thine duel is to start." Okay. I've seen weirder things, I decided. I looked to where my belt should've been, but there was nothing there. Luckily, she didn't have weapons, so I have a fighting chance, right?

Okay, I was wrong. Shadow RD banged her hooves together with a clop and something fell down from the sky. It impaled itself into the ground with a loud thud. Who does she think she is, Lexis? Well, I guess Lexis is me, and she is me, so... ah, never mind.

She grabbed it with her hooves and yanked it out with a grunt. It was a large scythe, glowing purple and black, like a universe being brought into existence. I could literally see shadows dripping off of it. All of a sudden, she began to run at me. Which isn't easy when you are carrying a scythe, thankfully.

I jumped back and flew. She followed suit. I decided it would be best to have a land battle, as a downward slash from a scythe would be generally not a good thing to handle. Crashing into the ground, I dusted myself off and began to ran.

If I want at least a chance to live, I needed a good weapon. What around could serve as such?

There was nothing to be seen. Maybe I should make a dash for the door...

She beat me. That happens when you choose the door farthest away from you. Another clop with her hooves- I mean, of the sound variety- wait, that didn't improve it at all. A glowing purple bar like her scythe appeared, inside the handles so I couldn't open it.

I chose a smarter door this time. It didn't open however. As I was busy opening it, Shadow RD jumped up and brought the scythe down in a deadly arc, like I tried to before on that Shadow. Ha, irony. Except here, I knew she wouldn't miss.

Somehow, I managed to dodge, luckily, and ran. She had her scythe impaled in the door, and was trying to yank it free. "I'll get you, you just wait!" Yes, I think you can definitely get me while you are busy trying to- gah, me and my big mouth.

Running towards the center of the room. Probably not the best idea, but hey, if I could get on top of the stone podium thingy, that'd be good. Maybe I could wrench the scythe out of her hooves somehow without cutting myself.

SLICE! Okay, scratch that... hmm. Well, back to the old plan.

I jumped off and ran in a large arc around the room. The door she impaled was now open, split in half. But she saw my plan before I did.

With a jump, she managed to clear the room and slam her scythe down across the door. It barred me in, but now she couldn't use it'; the blade was in too deep.

"A hoof fight you want?" she said, turning around slowly. "Fine, your game."

Okay, maybe now I can win. Maybe.

Shadow RD ran at me, but she was much faster than me. Faster than she was before, by a lot. She nailed me across the muzzle.

Now, it didn't hurt physically, but mentally the hit was taking its toll. I began to feel like giving up. All optimism was fading, and I was feeling very tired.

No.

I can't give up now! Quick, how can you kill that bastard?

Maybe I can take her scythe and-

Are you crazy? That thing's about two hooves deep into the wall!

Yeah, but it went in, so it can go out, right?

Well... ah screw it, go knock yourself out.

So, I ran around the circumference of the room like a deranged headless chicken. Shadow RD just stared at me blankly as if I was a foal who'd just figured out that fire is actually somewhat hot. Realizing this would further delay her, I kept up the shenanagins.

"Ah! It burns! Its stings! Aaaaah!"

"..."

"It really really hurts! Ow! Ow! I am in pain right now!"

"...um, er, yes... right?"

"Ow! I am totally not pulling a quick one on you right now!"

"No, you are not an- wait a second..."

I yanked the scythe out of the door with a grunt. Damn this thing is a lot heavier than it looks.

"Y- you don't know what that does." Shadow RD looked damn scared right now. I could see why Lexis enjoyed dropping soda cans with such fervor.

I inched closer to her.

"Do y- do you not accept the full consequences of using that?"

Ever still closer. She backed up into the corner.

"I-I'm warning you. Drop it now, and we can settle this like gentlecolts."

Ahaha, no. She backed up even further, scrunching into the wall a ridiculous amount.

"P-please drop that!"

I reeled back for a swing.

"Aah!"

She shut her eyes closed, as if sheer mental willpower could avert the blow. Seeing her powers, she probably could actually do that. But looking at how scared she was, maybe not.

I brought the scythe down in a deadly arc, cutting her across the ribs.

For a few seconds, I thought I'd done it. Shadow RD collapsed, golden ichor spilling from her chest.

"Y-you don't know what you've done..." she coughed out.

I stood there, trying to look cool and all, when I felt something trickling down my side. Right there, where Shadow RD was wounded, was a large cut of my own. They looked identical, even.

Well, it wasn't long before I collapsed beside her. The scythe skid out of my hooves, blood still fresh on it.

"F-finish what you've started."

"What?"

She gestured to the weapon. "End this... Please."

Eventually, after a long time, I got up. Then I slipped on my blood and fell again.

Crawling on my stomach, I inched closer and closer to the scythe. I rested one hoof on it.

Bit by bit, I slowly rose, dragging the weapon. It was even heavier with the lack of strength.

I got closer to Shadow RD. She just stared off into the distance, away from me.

I rose the scythe, and let go, letting gravity carry it down to her neck.

Yes it hit. No it did not go all the way through. Now my neck hurts a lot.

She writhed in pain, but said nothing. Another rise and fall. Still not done. By now the floor is a mosaic of gold and red.

One final pass. I brought it up, and let it fall. Well, all I can say is that I don't think her neck survived. But I wasn't there to see it.

Darkness. Nothing but darkness. And an awful lot of fog. And another labyrinth. And me blundering through it like an idiot. Was this designed by Lexis's sister or something? Does trolling run in her family? I don't know.

Eventually, I came back to the Royal Pony sister's castle. The door was still split. There were still blood starbursts on the floor. But two things were new.

First off, there was a big trapdoor on the floor that just opened up. But that wasn't important.

In front of me, staring out the window, was Shadow RD. She still had a head. Which was good, because it meant I did also.

"Thou hast proven thyself worthy, Rainbow Dash." she smiled, as if we'd shared a private joke.

Slowly, casually, as if she were a classy buisnessmare selling some random thing, she turned around. "I reveal my true self."

Sands, from somewhere on the floor, began to lift up and swirl her. When they settled, she was a whole different pony.

Oh.

That's where I knew that voice.

But that can't be her.

There's no way-

BONUS: Persona History

So, this is one of a few bonus things I will do to both A. Stall and B. Teach you ponies about stuff.

Yeah. So um, every name for anything that I've had to make up has some history behind it. Except for OCs. Well those are technically not mine, they're done a by a friend, MrBossMan. Anyways, so I will be updating this with every new Persona I add. This is where I will list the history of each of them. Spoilers abound. So if you want to try to figure it out yourself, stop reading now.

Lexis: Technically not a Persona, but I'm explaining anyways. If you remember her full name, then its obvious. Anyways, her full name (which I don't remember, and I wrote this XD) is like Intellexis Cognitare Calculatus or something like that. Which basically means Understand Think Calculate in Latin. And from the first part, I shortened Intellexis to 'Lexis. And just for added effect, in Greek, Lexis means Word. As in Lexicon. So um, yeah...

Canvas: Well, this one I don't think I have to explain. Wow. Um, next...

Virga: Okay, so this was actually originally going to be intended to be an OC, back when the fic was way different and would have nothing to do with Personas or anything like that at all. But, I kept the OC MrBossMan gave me, and thought up a different way to use her. Anyways, a Virga is a streak of rain or ice crystals that you can visibly see falling from a cloud, but evaporates or dissolves into the air before it ever reaches the ground. Pictures:

I do not own either of the pictures.

Anyways, if you want a better explaination then me, here is an extremely untrustworthy source!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virga

Kitalpha: So in the constellation Equuleus, which literally means in Latin "Little Horse," or pony, its brightest star is... you guessed it. Kitalpha.

Again, do not own image.

So yeah, just these for now, because I don't want spoilers. The end list will be ridiculously long. I'll try to keep it simple.

EDIT: Okay, if you guys read the chapter thingy, scratch the parts about the new Magician persona. I realized that it'd make it too complicated, with there already going to be ** number of personas in the end, so um, I don't want to double that number. Oh wow that just gave it away. But, I'll list the personas I had planned, too, I guess.

Ignaculi: Okay, like the report above, this was a scratched character. Basically, ignaculi means "little light" in Latin. Its based off of the word igna, which just means fire, but the ending -culi is a diminutive, meaning "small fire". Like how a homunculus is a small human. Anyways, he was based off of that enemy dude from Mario that I can't find a picture of. And, last note, originally, Lexis was going to be named Ignaculi. I didn't like the name, however. This was going to be headed towards a kind of a "guiding light in the darkness" kind of thing.

10/5 EDIT: Going to do this timestamp so you guys know stuff is new.

Demise: Okay, so this was originally going to be RD's first persona. And- oh snap I got another dislike XD. Okay, back to thing. So anyways, as you all know, this persona is not in the story... But he was basically going to be Canvas. I scrapped it for reasons pertaining to plot relevance, and will not indulge such information until the time is right. (Ha!) Anyways, he is kinda the reason behind two things: why the hell Canvas rants about fear's manifestations and why Chapter 2, "To business!" is so short. There was originally going to be a really long scene with Demise playing matador with RD, blah blah blah, etc.

11/12 EDIT: So these are ponies, not personas. Whatever.

Zenith: is the point directly overhead you on a celestial body. Not Celestia's body. So, when the sun is at its zenith, if I had a stick, it would cast no shadow. Capice? Perfect 90 degree.

Erebus: Who was going to be named Nadir until I realized that'd be unoriginal (a nadir is the opposite of a zenith, point directly below). Erebus is Greek god of Darkness. Wow, a new black alicorn. Not only that, but THE first alicorn! And it was black! The first black alicorn! I didn't add to a terrible trend! Award me a fucking medal!

Ultor: Is Latin for- oh wait I'm not spoiling for plot relevance. I bet all of you are going to go search that up now. Damn you all. Well, I don't think it will cost to much to divulge due to the recent chapter. Ultor means "revenge" or "avenger". As in Mars Ultor. Mars, Roman (because they ripped off Ares, like every other god) god of war (not the game), had the title of "Ultor" as he avenged the Empire. Every god had a few titles. I don't know all of them. Like Hermes Trimegistus. Well that doesn't exactly count. Mercury Pompaeus. There. Will Psychopompus count? I don't know. By this point most of you are thinking I'm drunk right now. Go eat some bacon.

12/20

Vega: Is the brightest star in Lyra. The constellation. Umm, Lyra was never going to be a Persona wielder. I forgot why I even had this...

Epona: Is not just the name of Link's horse. I had this in play while Applejack was still a candidate to this story. I do not say she will never be in a sequel or anything though. Anyways, Epona was the Celtic goddess of Farming, Horses, Fertility, and Work.

Fugit atque fulges

Wow, first dislike on story. Coincidentally, I got two favorites at the same time. And, I have more favs than likes. Idk what's up with that :P.

Also, I apologize for the late sending. Mostly been brainstorming. And playing TF2.

Terr'bly sorry for late upload. Also 'unno why I'm spelling like this. Sometimes I speak like this, like saying "'parently" to mean "apparently" but um, yeah.

I woke up in a cold sweat.

It was still nighttime. A glance at the clock said it was just eleven o'clock.

Well... that was an... eventful dream. Turns out my best friend from flight school isn't dead. Just... not alive either. Hmm.

Its almost twelve; Fluttershy would probably be awake right now. She could help. Probably.

I flew down from my house. I took a turn to Twilight's library, and went in.

Yes! Finally figured out how to enter without a window. Turns out that you have to grab the handle on the door in order to turn it.

Okay, where was I.

I flew up the stairs (literally) and chose that horrible book from the shelves. They parted and flipped open. Seeing the passage clear, I walked in.

The next few seconds were a blur. I just felt the ground get yanked from under my feet, and the next second, I was hanging from the ceiling by my right back fetlock, dangling from a rope.

"Gotcha!" Twilight yelled. "Oh, its just you."

She threw her disk thingy and cut the rope. Its a miracle she didn't miss. Then I'd have to get my head miraculously reattached yet again. I tried teaching her how to play hoofball once, and she had near zero accuracy. Maybe she was faking it. I don't know.

I fell, and didn't miss the floor. "Ugh... why would you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Set up that big thing."

"Oh, we um... are pranking the pizza delivery colt, whom we ordered a pizza from."

"You'll have to do better than that. Nopony knows about this place."

"Well er I um... Why didn't you take the hatch?" Gee, nice save. That was really smooth and cool. I definitely didn't suspect a thing.

"Hatch?"

She made a quick recovery. "Oh, you know how we were talking about all the hidden entrances? Well, right under your house, there's an apple tree. And under it, there's a hatch, hidden with grass. Its magical. You can't find it unless you know what you're looking for."

"But, that's just one tree out of millions."

"It grows three different colors of fruit, all on the same branch."

"Oh."

Well umm... okay...

"So, ya seen Fluttershy?"

"Erm, no, why do you ask?"

"I have a dream."

"Had."

"Gezundheit. Anyways, I saw an old friend from flight school, one who I'm certain died in a train accident. And didn't you say strange dreams mean things?"

"Err, yes, but I don't think that applies here. Maybe you just really are sad about her?"

"That was back in flight school. I've moved on. Well, not entirely but... I haven't had any dreams about her." Okay, maybe a few, but those were the kinds of dreams I really don't want to talk about.

"The subconscious is weird... don't think about it too much."

"Hmm. Well, I best be going over to Fluttershy-"

"Wait, one sec." She rifled through a file cabinet that I swore wasn't there before, and pulled out a picture. It was all weird, red and blue. It looked like Canvas's knife. Now that you mention it, it kinda looks like a really big sewing pin, like the ones Rarity uses. Except with a lot more holes. And its flat. And it has a hoofguard. And it has a handle. And it's sharp on the sides too. And it- Okay, fine, its not that much like a big sewing pin.

"Err, is that my... sword?"

"Yes. I think the reason why your wand was so good wasn't the wand. [size=7]That was a placebo...[/size]"

"What?"

"Err, the point is, your sword is like a magical amp. Its bucking amazing. I want one for my birthday. Can I have one? Please?" She smiled like a schoolfilly. One that was begging for weapons. "Oh, but make it a chakram like the one I have currently."

"Um, yeah, I'll see what I can do. I'll ask Canvas if he cou-"

I was grabbed in a crushing hug. "Thanks!"

"Don't... mention... it... Twi... air... please..."

I flew down to Fluttershy's cottage. The lights seemed as if they were out, which was a bit odd, seeing how- wait, its eleven o'clock. Damn this is getting to my head.

I like it how I can use a door normally everywhere else, but within like a two-bodylength radius of Twilight's library, all prior knowledge of non-window entrances just disappears.

"Yo! Fluttershy! Open up!"

"WHAT ITS THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!" Damn, that was scary. Where did Fluttershy go. Her house prolly got robbed, and the robbers are trying to fake me out. Can't fool me. Imma storm in there and whoop those ponies' faces.

I hear hoofsteps. I think they're about to open the door. Any second now...

"Oh um, sorry Rainbow Dash, I uh, didn't know it was you." Wow um... that... err... hmm...

"So, its almost time. Want to go?"

"To where?"

"You know, fight some Shadows!"

"...we don't do this every night, you do know that, right?"

"What?"

"Yeah, we have other things to do... I mean, it may not be part of other ponies' schedules, but we still get up at the middle of the night."

"So, what am I supposed to do?"

"Er, sleep? I mean, if that's okay with you." Rokay, took it from eleven to seven... or negative three.

"I thought you said my house wasn't a safe zone?"

"Yes. Was."

"Explain?"

"Twi installed something, I'm not exactly sure how it works though. Anyways, we go hunt Shadows like, every other day or something. Now um, not to be rude or anything, but can I um, go back to sleep?"

I left, and went back to my house. Right when I stepped on the cloud, I facehoofed. I didn't get any info outta that. Hmm... well I don't want to have to wake her another time. Maybe I can ask Lexis something?

Okay, how do I do this again? Visualize your hooves turning color... and... CLOP!

Yay, it worked...

I looked out at the now-rugged landscape. Out in the distance, I saw a purple speck. Well that's odd... I flew over, and saw it was... Twilight?

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" She said excitedly, as if she didn't notice the bland landscape around her, or the fact she saw me. I thought not much of it, and just went in to the Velvet Room.

I slammed my hooves down on the desk, then realized that I couldn't reach the desk from my chair, and fell on the ground. Lexis looked at me inquisitively, so I got up and pounded my hooves loudly on her desk.

"I have some questions!"

"Err, could you stop yelling? Also, since when did you get into slamming things? I like it!"

"Oh no, don't you-"

"Too late!" Six desks fell from the ceiling and passed through the floor, but of course managed to collide with something.

"Um, yeah... so, I had a dream, and-"

"Have."

"Gesundheit. Anyways, like I was saying, wai- wait what?"

"You haven't finished your dream yet." She laughed. "Go back to sleep, and maybe something will happen. Some of the greatest things to ever happen never did, as one never truly finished their dream."

I didn't know what that meant, but it sounded serious. I'm being yelled at for not taking a nap? Heck yeah!

I clopped my way out of there- well, not exactly- and jumped into bed.

First few hours was stereotypical dream stuff- just like, me flying through the clouds with the Wonderbolts (still couldn't believe they'd moved to Ponyville) but eventually, it changed, somewhere. And it was very weird.

I stood on top of a mountain. From how high I was, but how flat the top was, it was like the mountain had gotten the top cut off. Except it was still damn tall. Around me, a thunderstorm swirled. It seemed as if it curved up, reaching for that spot where the top was. Rain fell heavily at an angle, stinging my coat. Down on the mountainside, I could see nothing due to clouds, but there was a perpetual sloshing noise, like a dark ocean sent into turmoil somewhere down there.

In the center of the flat plateau were two earth pony colts facing each other. From the aggressive stance they took, it looked as if they were bitter, hardened rivals. From one glance, I could see an entire history of fights, backstabs, and treachery. But it would all end here. I could feel it.

They both had clearly not just competed; they were at each others' throats. One of them, who had a white coat and a silver mane, wore armor made entirely of solid gold. In the center of each piece were excessive amounts of gems. More than Rarity would've used. He managed to look extremely stuck-up and cocky in it, but also really regal. I had to resist the urge to both bow to him and knock his teeth out.

His eyes were brighter than his armor, and probably would cause blindness given twenty seconds of direct contact. Lying against his body was a gleaming scepter, which didn't look as if it was meant for combat. The numerous gems on it, coupled with the platinum flares and intricate patterns kinda gave it away. It seemed more expensive than all the minerals in the mountain. And probably heavier than the mountain. Again, look really cocky, get your teeth knocked out.

The other pony, who looked to be his polar opposite with such a dark black coat, didn't mess around. He actually had a scythe. It radiated dark energy, and made me extremely terrified. Made of purple crystal and- wait- it was the exact same scythe Shadow RD pulled on me. Hmm. Doesn't exactly seem off-the-shelf to me. His armor was made entirely of blue crystal, and actually looked like it didn't weigh a million tons. Looked like Luna's slippers made into full body scale. Doesn't seem off-the-shelf either.

The white one opened his mouth to say something, but it was in a language I didn't know. One that sounded as if it died out thousands of millennia ago. It was very beautiful, but every word sounded like a death sentence. I don't know how, but I was able to roughly understand what he was saying.

"You have no chance to survive make your time." Said the white colt. Well, I think.

"Worry you should now."

"Is not thing I see."

Okay, this was beginning to hurt my brain, and decreasing my already-down-to-Tartarus vocabulary. Luckily, I felt a warm pulse envelop me, and the translations cleared up.

"You should not be here," said the black colt.

The white one laughed. "I have all reason to be."

"...I'm warning you."

"And you'll do what? Poke me with your little stick again?"

The black one didn't respond. He just grunted angrily and twirled his scythe. "This ends now."

He started to back up, preparing for a dash. The white colt tried to just casually reach for his weapon for a block, but accidentally knocked it. The designs on it made it roll, all the way to the edge, and it fell off the mountain.

Clearly his opponent didn't withhold. He continued on, before jumping up and bringing his scythe down in an arc.

"No." I heard a mare's voice say from somewhere. "No!" The terrible cry echoed throughout my head before my visuals got cut off.

Blackness. You get used to it. By now, the screams had faded, but a new voice replaced them. It sounded ancient, and malevolent. While it had the same grainy feel, it felt more neutral. Though I felt safe with it, I also felt very scared by it.

"I am the Spirit of the Stone Oracle. Your words, I deliver.

"One week will be given. Seven chains shall be shown.

The sibling and sister reborn shall rise.

The single harpists' mind's demise.

One of three bridges will have the key,

Other two not so immediately.

Mother's plight, tossed and lame,

Mind like a storm, tossed, untamed."

Mists began to swirl around me, and when they cleared, I was in my bedroom again.

What the buck was that?

Well whoever that was did say they were indeed an oracle. Figured they'd be speaking nonsense. And have learned to successfully rhyme.

Twi'll understand it. She knows everything.

I crashed into the window. I like how I can see the door perfectly well at midnight, but not at eight AM.

"Ow..."

"And you've forgotten how to use a door again already. Welcome back."

I began picking up the books I knocked off the shelves. By now, I've practically become another librarian, having to always reshelve. Minus the reading that comes with it.

"So, what did you come here for?" Twi asked, once we'd finished.

"Erm, so I had another dream about-" I was going to finish my sentence, when the world suddenly grayed around me.

"You are honourbound to redact such intelligence." I heard the oracle say.

The lights resumed.

"-uh, I um, got into the Wonderbolts."

"Ah. Oh, I heard they moved here! Something like this would be great for Ponyville's tourism!"

"Err, yes. Um, bye!"

I Dashed out of there, and headed to Ponyville's weathercloud. Each living area in Equestria got one of these mass-produced weatherstations. They were simple, really, just big, flat permaclouds with a single wall, and an umbrella. The one wall was enchanted, and would display a map, along with what you were supposed to do, and all this other info. it also somehow kept stock of rank and other things. And they were really light, but wouldn't move unless a pony physically pushed it, so you could move them on pioneering advents.

When I arrived, my coworkers were already there. "What took you so long, Dash!" Thunderlane said, clearly annoyed.

"Hey, cut me some slack! You know how I love my naps." Well, not so much anymore...

"Well, just cut it, we need to start working. Cloudsdale's planned for straight thunderstorms this week, its growing season."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Anyways, let's start by getting some cumulonimbi and..."

Well, that was easier than it looked. If only the Wonderbolts could see me.

"Great job out there, Dash!" I heard somepony yell from below.

"Thanks, don't mentio- Spitfire, you again!"

I managed not to faceplant the ground.

"So, we really having rain for a whole week?"

"Apparently."

"Mmm. Well, that will certainly help with building, I guess. We wont have any water issues."

"What?"

"We're revamping our HQ design entirely. Land is quite a lot cheaper here than up at Canterlot."

"Ah. How much bigger did the build get?"

"Oh, you know... about like um... uhh..." she drew something in the air with her hooves and squinted. "Like, uh, four acres?"

"...W-what?!"

She chuckled. "Startle you much?"

"Its just... wow... doesn't that cost a lot?"

"Oh, we sporadically cater for the Royal family, and trust me, their few commissions travel far. And then there are those numerous random elites who want the sounds of wind rushing by as they eat their five-hundred bit two-bite meals." Ah, yes. The Royal Wedding, thankfully, had actual food.

"Well, I need to go put the finishing touches on the cloud cover."

"See ya later, Dash."

After pushing the cloud cover tighter together, and adding a few more, I was ready to put the finish my job. I went back to the floating cloud station and grabbed a few nimbostrati.

The last clouds we ever do are the ones directly above the center of town, so ponies get a good warning before the storms actually happen.

I pushed the last cloud into place, as tradition said that the head captain should always do the last one. "And... move it to the left a bit, Dashie... perfect!" Well that's a familiar pony.

"Umm Pinkie, you aren't on the team."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I can't be super-duper great at arrangement!"

"I guess... Welp, let it rip!"

Rearing up the way Applejack taught me, I bucked the cloud hard with my back hooves. After a few seconds of recoil, it, along with the other clouds, began to start raining.

"Well, its about time I got home."

I walked home, as flying during thunderstorms is dangerous for semi-obvious to completely not-obvious reasons. Right as I turned the corner of- err, round thingy of Carousel Boutique- I heard an angry yell. It was wild, and uncontrollable, with no traces of being pony in any way.

"...not so... ...yeah right... ...heard... ...stupid..." It was really hard to year it, but I could identify the voice as one of a mare. It was threatening. I walked toward the location of the voices.

There was a second voice now. "You really are no good." It was a stallion. "You're just a wall-eyed buffoon with a bastard daughter you don't deserve!"

Woah, that was way over the line. Who is this they're talking to? Nopony deserves to have to listen to this!

I was going to turn the corner and yell those two down, but right before I could, the mare in question ran out. It was Derpy Hooves.

She galloped a few steps, then jumped off and took flight to the sky, tears in her eyes. She didn't stop until she was pretty far away.

"Serves her right," the stallion said, now out of the alley. Hey spat on the ground.

"Wh- how- y- you monsters!"

"How? She's the monster out of any of us," the mare quipped.

I had nothing to say. I just turned around, and said nothing. I flew off in disgust, in the direction of Derpy Hooves.

"Derpy!" I yelled. No response but the rumble of thunder.

It was too dark to see anything. There was a flash of lightning coming down, and I could see the whip of a yellow mane. I chased it.

"Derpy!!! Derpy Hooves!"

Still no response. After a few seconds, I heard a choked sob. "Th- that's not my name."

"Sure it is!"

She began to cry even more. That did not help at all. I mean, hey. I'm just Element of Loyalty. There's no Element of Not-Hurting-Ponies-Feelings-Accidentally, right? Um, I think so...

"I- its ponies like you that are ruining my life!"

"What do you mean? De- I can help!"

"N- no." Her answer was firm, and she was beginning to sound angry. "No, you can't. Leave me alone!"

Another rumble of thunder and a flash. I saw her fly out of a tree, and out, away from me. I chased her.

"Seriously! I can help! If there's anything I can do, I wi-" A bolt crashed down, missing me by mere meters. "Stop flying! Its dangerous!"

She didn't listen. Somehow, she managed to weave through the clouds with surprising grace, avoiding strikes of lightning.

I continued my pursuit.

"C'mon! At least let me talk to you!"

She kicked into high gear. So did I.

I neared closer and closer to her, but she had enough drive to evade me.

"Please! Let me help you!"

"No!"

She used her last shard of strength and bolted out, leaving me behind. As I watched her flee, there was the sound of a roar, and a flash.

My body shook all over. It was a very tingly sensation, one that made me feel really weird, as if my flesh were trying to escape my bones. My strength left me, and I fell down, slowly to the ground, as the falling rain accompanied me.

"Thou hast learned the spell Fulg. It will rain lightning down on thine opponents."

W-was that all I was to Derpy? An opponent? A captor? A tormentor?

I could not know.

But I could not think.

I slept there on the ground that day.

Engo

I'm gonna try to release at least ONE of my WIP oneshots soon...

Also, took out actual cards for same reason as taking out extra Personas. Just too much stuff, you know?

I also did it so that you guys can't predict who is a link, and who represents what. Because then you can probably predict stuff if you're familiar with Tarot.

Also, I was just staring at the wall when I realized that almost every sad shipfic I ever read was based off of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Have I discovered a new kind of hero's journey?(Whatever a story archetype is called) I do not know. I probably just ruined my chances of releasing that sadfic, which, looking back on, surprisingly had the same frame, too. Dayum.

There was a deep fog, and I was wandering through it like a blundering fool.

The mists cleared, the walls disappeared, and the tiny bit of motor control that wasn't smashed to bits was recaptured.

Shadow RD stood, looking out of the window, in my form.

"You came back," she said, still with Moonbow's voice.

"You certainly didn't," I said. "You were dead!"

"Me? I never was dead. And I never was alive."

"What?"

"What I said is true: I am you, and you are me."

"But, you are Moonbow!"

She laughed, the kind of laugh that isn't exactly evil or happy either, just one that is like 'my henchmen just got sic'd on you.' It was scary. "I am you. I just... am represented by the dead one you most miss."

"...okay... so um... why am I here?"

"I don't know. You can be here for whatever reason you'd like. If you want, you can leave right now."

"Err... well I'm here already, so umm... what do you want to do?"

"You can't ask for information. You can only ask for answers."

"What?"

"I... deal in knowledge. Knowledge you already have, yes, but knowledge nonetheless."

"...I don't get it."

"You don't have to get it. But you will in time... aside from that, you're here for a reason."

"Yes?"

"Soon, you will find the path... soon..."

A glowing square appeared on the ground, and my vision turned into inky blackness.

"Goodbye," she said sleepily.

"Good morning Fluttershy."

"Oh, hello Rainbow... Did you sleep well?"

"Not reall- why am I in your house?"

I looked around. This certainly wasn't my lodging.

"Well I uh, saw you were um, on the floor outside my house and I um, thought I could bring you in... you aren't mad at me, right?"

"Of course I'm not! Thanks pal!" I pat her on the back, and she flinched. "Well, I better get back to my lodgings to rest up, as storms are scheduled for tomorrow."

"Oh, before you leave, can you um, help me get stuff at the supermarket first?"

I pondered it. This would mean less napping. "Shoot, why not."

We flew together down the dirt road. What I never got is why pegasi built so many roads if we could fly. I mean, Cloudsdale became practically known for its roads. There's sayings about it. Its one of their known accomplishments. But everyone was up in the clouds so really what was the point of putting roads down below. I mean still, even if they do connect clouds, we can fly, and its really stupid to-

I bumped into Fluttershy and fell on my face like a pro. "Um, we're here Rainbow," she said, seeing my most certainly planned-out amazing dance move.

"Ah, yes. I knew that."

I felt really tired for some reason, I couldn't remember... Something about something happening sometime yesterday. Amazing deduction. Right.

"Um, well, thanks for the help."

"You're welcome. I didn't know walking was so helpful! If only I could get paid lots for that..."

Speaking of money, I saw Diamond Tiara's father walk her to the schoolhouse. What's his name again...

"But c'mon Filthy, I don't want to go to school!" Ah, that.

"Diamond Tiara, I am your father, and you will adress me as such. And you have to go to school."

"But why?"

"You have to learn things."

"But I don't wanna go to school!"

"Too. Bad." Damn, that's rough. But yeah, he has a point. Well more like three.

"Now Applebloom, ya'll better git goin'." a familiar earth pony said. "Oh, hey Rainbow."

"Sup AJ. What are you doing here."

"Whaddaya think... Ah'm doing..."

"Oh. Right. So err, anything new happening in school?"

"Not much. Well, kind of."

I swirled my hooves around in a motion I intended to mean 'please explain' but ended up looking more like 'help me shovel snow into my intestines'.

"Ya want me to... help shovel snow inta yer intestines?"

"Yes. I mean, no. Please explain."

"So, ya motioned fer me tah shovel snow inta yer intestines, and thus the only thing anypony woulda thought was that you'd want them ta-"

"No, I mean, what you are doing here."

"Whaddaya think... Ah'm do-"

"Just explain!"

"Well t'be ter'bly honest Rainbow, Ah think its pretty dern obvi-"

"Ex. Plain."

"So uh, there's a big play comin' up. They scheduled it fer two weeks from now. Ah think the sign to yer left woulda toldja..."

I looked to my left. 'SCHOOL PLAY IN TWO WEEKS'. Okay...

"So anyways, mah sister got chosen t'direct it. An' this is good, as she's no use around tha farm anyways, an' she thinks she can get her cutie mark."

"Ah. So, what's the play about?"

"Ya see, this is the problem... she has no frickin ideas. She has technicians, and she's set up the stage an' everything, but she doesn't have no story."

"Hmm. Well that's a problem."

"Wait, Ah know! Maybe you can help her!"

"...no I can't, AJ, and you know it."

"Yeah, Ah know, Ah jus' wanted t'say that. Well... guess Ah need t'keep looking."

"Wait, maybe I can help!" Oh no no, what are you doing Rainbow, this is not good, this is not-

"Really?"

Don't say it don't say it don't say it "Yeah! It'll be fine!" Too late...

"Thanks RD!" She pounded me on the back with her hoof. "But... t'be honest, what ideas do ya have?"

"I have no clue..."

I went down to that weird stage thing that the school somehow was allowed to use. I saw a table with papers and an unfinished glass of chocolate milk on it.

"Applebloom! Applebloom!"

"Yes?" A certain yellow filly responded, coming out of the curtains.

"Your sister sent me to help. And of course that will not happen. But I'll try."

"Ah. Thanks! So... how do ya wanna start?"

"Well, to start a story, first we need... a setting."

"An how are we gonna do that?"

"TWIIIIILIIIIIIGHT!!!"

I swear I saw the tree shake.

"You only need to knock once, Rainbow." Ahaha, she knew it was me without opening the- oh yeah she heard my voice. Right.

She opened the door. "Oh, hello Applebloom. What brings you two here?"

"Ah'm directing the school play!" she said proudly.

"Oh. Good for you!"

"Yeah, but Ah have no idea what to do."

"Oh. Not good for you! I'll see what I can do."

"You mean what I can do," I said smugly.

"What?"

"Brace fer impact," Applebloom said.

I drew back and ran into the library's side.

When the dust cleared, Twilight got up angrily. "What the hay was that for?!"

"Ah found it," she yelled.

"Ya see, my plan was that we mess up your library, and the first book we find not on the shelf is the time period we use."

"...while I do not agree with your methods, I suppose that is an adequate way of acquiring a theme. But a better way would possibly be, I don't know... Asking your damn librarian?!"

"Woah, woah, tone down the language for the filly!" Yes, I get to mortify Twi some more! Twi some more!

Applebloom set her book down on a table and opened it. I leaned over.

"Magical Renaissance? Seems a bit difficult to do a play with..."

"Yeah... I don't exactly think people will stay awake," Twilight said. You know its bad when Twilight thinks something in history isn't exciting.

"Naw, Ah think Ah can pull this off."

"...Well, try your best."

"So, what's next on the list?" I asked Applebloom.

I pulled out the dartboard, and nailed its center onto the wheel. "Are you sure this will work," I asked, looking up at the intricate contraption Applebloom built.

"Ah'm positive."

"...okay then..." I put on my flight goggles and ran on the treadmill. The dartboard began to spin really fast, just a blur of color.

Applebloom put on her blindfold and threw a single dart. I stopped running.

On the board, the dart had landed on the space marked 'mystery'. So we're doing a Magical Renaissance Mystery. Yeah, this will definitely work. Yep. What problems are you talking about, fine sir?

"Err... I uh..."

"This is good, this is good! We jus need a main character now!"

Please don't mess this up please please please!!!

"Hmm... well AJ told me 'bout how one of Celestia's scribes once-"

Oh no...

About three hours later, when Applebloom said we were finished, the frame looked something like this:

ROBOTS FIGHTING POLITICIANS DURING MAGICAL RENAISSANCE WHILE HUNTING A MYSTERY SOLVING CHEF.

I have no idea how this will work. But that doesn't concern me anymore. I had to take Applebloom back to school. Apparently in preperation for the play, every monday she gets to do whatever while everypony else at the school prepares to do whatever.

When we came up to AJ's house, Applebloom proudly displayed her work. She took one look at the paper, recoiled like it was on fire, and looked at me oddly. I made a hoof gesture I wanted to mean 'I-have-no-bucking-clue' but ended up looking more like 'I-broke-my-shoulders-because-of-a-rogue-raccoon'.

"You... broke your shoulder-"

"No! I mean," I leaned in to whisper. "This was not my idea. I think you should kind of ask her to change it."

"Oh, wow, Ah wonder where ya'll found that amazing idear?"

"Hey, c'mon! I at least tried to help."

She sighed in defeat. "Ah guess I'll help her. Well, bye."

I was woken by the sound of thunder. It was about eleven thirty. Well, I don't feel like taking another nap. Must be that five hour difference from those other ones...

Okay, so looking for that tree they told me about.

Well, that was extremely obvious. Only apple tree with three colored fruit.

I have no freaking idea how, but I climbed three steps and then slipped, and managed to fall into Twilight's secret room thing. I guess I'm destined to damage her property. Must be fate.

Fluttershy said every other day, or something like that. And apparently that was true, as they were there.

"Sup all."

"Hello Dash," Twilight said. She was looking at yet another weird metal box.

"What's that device for?"

"We're investigating some rather strange thunderstorms."

"Oh, like the ones you know... I built by hoof?"

"The ones over Everfree, stupid!"

"Hey, it wasn't that obvious..."

"Well, when there's a problem, we fix it. Lets go."

As we were walking over, I really thought about why the hell we had to fix this for everyone else.

"Um, why are we doing this?"

"Because its mysterious?" Twilight suggested.

"No, I mean like... ALL of this. We can sleep through all of this, why not? What's your reason for fighting?"

Twilight stopped walking, and stared off into the distance. Which was mostly composed of trees. "You want the short version? Well, when I was admitted into Celestia's school, my parents were really happy. And their proudness never ran out. By the next year, in anniversary, they threw a big party. Like, a really big one. And well... I don't exactly remember what happened next, but all I know is that I woke up in my bedroom, and the world around me was fire. Just... all fire.

"Right when I thought the flames were going to consume me, a pony seemed to come from nowhere. Now I know that he actually indeed did. He was a Persona-user, just like us. He saved me, and when I turned to thank him, he was gone. But in the dirt, he left a single evoker and a note -

"'Serve the justice of our nation.'

"My parents didn't survive. But I didn't need them."

After walking some more, we eventually came to Everfree. I saw a red bolt of lightning fall down, then a black one and finally a golden one. This all happened within about five seconds, so I could see what they meant by weird. Well, even if it was over the span of say, eight hours, that'd still be unusual.

"So, Fluttershy... you still haven't told me your reason for fighting."

She retreated behind the silky shield that is her hair. "Oh, I'd rather not talk about it..."

Knowing her, and my experiences with her in school, I shouldn't press further. That would generally not be a smart thing to do. Unless I wanted to slip on piles of tears down the mountain to my immaculate doom.

We kept following the strange fulgs, trying to find the site of them. Right when we thought we got there, a really big lightning strike came down. Guess we're here.

In front of us was the Castle I've been visiting for the last two days.

"We should probably go inside," Twi said. "The lightning isn't very safe..."

And that we did.

The room looked the same.

"Well um... I think the lightning is uh, telling us to um, go here..." Fluttershy mumbled. "[size=7]I'm scared...[/size]"

What was that thing that Shadow RD told me about? A trap door...

I walked over to the big pedestal with the orbs. Somehow, I could sense where the trap door was.

"What are you doing?"

Its here somewhere... I brushed my hoof around, and almost as if being dusted off, a glowing square revealed itself. It pulsed blue, and for a second, it flashed some runes, then disappeared. The door faded along with it, turning to mist.

"A- are you sure this is a good idea?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. Positive."

"Eep! I'm still scared..."

We went down the trapdoor, step by step. Twilight had given me a sachel with random stuff in it, and among them was not a candle. Every four seconds we had to yell "AHI!" over and over. In retrospect, it was pretty funny.

"You know, you could actually just say fire. Its the idea, not the word that counts. its just that the word 'fire' has been used so much its been tainted. Fire's been used to mean much more than fire, and there's like comical drawings of fire, and stuff. My theory is that if we could-"

"Twi, can you um, stop setting my tail on fire?" Ah. I wondered why we had so much continuous light. Maybe we should give Fluttershy a haircut, then we could make a bunch of candles. Nah, bad idea.

"Oh. Sorry."

"Lemme try that," I said. "Fire fire fire! Fire- buck. Fire! Buckfire!"

Not nearly as effective. It seems to always light Fluttershy's tail on fire, too. Obvious problems.

We walked in silence for a few more minutes. Well, not silence. Not close to that. It was more like walking in fire. I mean, "Fire!".

"Are we there yet?"

"No. I think not."

"Ahi. Why is this of our concern?"

"Why not."

"Can we take a break?"

"No."

"Fire. I mean, ahi. Sorry Fluttershy... can we at least start saying something instead of fi- ahi?"

"Do you know anything else to do?"

"Hmm... fulg."

"What is that supposed to me-"

CRACKLE!

A bolt of lightning flew out from somewhere behind us and whizzed by, illuminating the cave with it, like a firefly. A really big one. That looks like lightning. Okay not really like a firefly.

The bolt kept going for about fourty-five seconds until it hit a wall, somewhere out there.

"...this is gonna be a long walk."

We got to the wall. And realized we had to turn left and go down a few stairs again.

"Celestia da-"

"Fulg! Ahi! Ramen! Damnit, no ramen." I was seriously getting hungry. I guess it is easier to make ramen by hoof then by magic.

"Oh, I um, just in case, I uh, brought some snacks," Fluttershy mumbled.

"What?! And you didn't tell us?"

"Sorry... please don't be mad, I was just thinking, we could-"

"Don't apologize! Hoof it over!"

We have... "Rectangles!" I shouted.

"Rainbow, they're just chocolate bars."

"Shadup! They're rectangles! Magic rectangles!"

These rectangles... amazing!

"Err, I just bought these from the store-"

"But they're still rectangles! Aahahahah!"

I may or may not be getting drunk visually off of the rectangles. Even though visibility is at like zero.

We continued walking, me not unwrapping the amazing gift.

"How long have we been walking?"

"I think like, two hou- wait, what?"

"What's wrong?"

"The weapons are still in activated state... so we are still in the Dark Hour."

"Dark Two Hours."

"That doesn't have the same ring to it."

"No, no it doesn't..."

"Maybe uh, this structure um, continues Dark Hour past one hour?" Fluttershy suggested.

"Hmm… Iunno."

We just kept walking, walking, walking. We kept turning and going down, deeper and deeper, until we hit a dead end.

Twilight was furious. "What? That's it?! We have to go all the way back now and-"

I stepped forward involuntarily. Just like the trapdoor, I brushed the wall, and a door began to form. It was a shade of gray, and was very old-looking. Not physically, but in design. I opened it.

Behind it was… a normal city. We'd come out of one of those old telephone booths. Ponies were just living there like anywhere else. They were eating, walking, talking with their friends… everything was usual. But there were a few things odd.

First off, everything was shades of gray. Second, everything was old. The clothes, the buildings, the styles… everything. Third, nopony had a cutie mark. And finally… nopony gave a damn.

They didn't notice the three strange non-gray mares come out of the telephone booth together. They didn't see we had notably dangerous weapons. And they didn't see that there was an army coming down the street.

A colt walked by us and accidentally brushed my shoulder. "Terribly sorry m'lady." It can't be that they can't see us…

"Well… this is… interesting," I said, taking it all in.

A gray sun above us blazed. "Err, yeah…"

We turned around to go into the booth, but it was walked. Through the frosty glass I could see some random mare with a particularly nice-looking hat chattering on the phone about something.

"Well, we're screwed!"

"Hmm… well, we need to leave. Must be a red herring," Twi said. "Just a spacial anomaly. Made tons of those back in magic class. Let's just find out where we are and leave."

We walked down to a cafe, where the gray colts could read their gray newspapers with their gray coffee. "Um, Mr. Barista, could you uh, tell us where we are? We are um, travelers from… Erikstajisticlan…."

He raised an eyebrow but said nothing about the wondrous country. "Welcome to Engo. Everyone is happy here. Censuses are done every friday. Last check: population 16,386." He continued spitting out facts like a machine, hit gaze into nothing not averting. "Our main agricultural exports include but are not limited to-"

"We get it. Umm, thanks. So, is Engo a country or a city."

He looked genuinely puzzled. "What is a city? Well, we live in Engo. Engo is a large country."

"How big?"

"Umm… I don't know. Six, seven maybe."

"Seven what?"

"Maybe nine…"

We just decided to walk off and find somepony else. There was another colt outside, selling newspapers. He looked about Sweetie Belle's age.

"Hey, um, mister, terribly sorry for uh, bothering you, but uh," Just get to the point Fluttershy!

"Extra! Extra! Engo captures Erikstajisticlan!" The colt yelled. Is that an actual country? Awkward…

"Oh, terribly sorry for disturbing you," Fluttershy said as she slinked away.

"Now hold on!" he said. "Sorry, have to yell that every ten- Extra! Extra! Engo captures Erikstajisticlan!" Now that's dedication. "So, what were you asking?"

"Oh, we are um, travelers from uh, Everfree, and," don't tell him that! "We were wondering, uh, what day is it today?"

"Hm? The day? I don't really know…"

"Doesn't it say on the newspapers?" Twi asked.

He picked one up and turned it over. "I don't know, I don't read these…" That seemed a bit odd. Even I read them, which is saying quite a lot. "Hmm… can't find any sort of date."

"Well, is there a date referenced in an article?"

"No. None, in fact."

We thanked him for the trouble, and left.

"Well, we haven't found any good resources yet."

I unwrapped my not gray candy bar.

"We don't know where to go. Lets just wait for the mare in the booth to finish, and we're home free."

We walked back to the booth, and on the way there, the colt suddenly had an entirely new stack of papers.

"Extra extra! Engo captures Everfree!"

AN: Sorry for the delays. Will release oneshot soon. Probably. You probably shouldn't be able to understand what this all means. Its gonna be hard. But itll make sense in time.

The name Engo is one of many. i got this one from a random letter generator. It was originally spelled Engoe though.

Weekend! Woo!

Okay, finally back. Will release oneshot. If you don't get the reference below, it will be extremely awkward.

The morning sun has vanquished the horrible night.

Well, I don't know why I decided to just randomly freeze and say that.

We were clocked fifteen hours or so overtime so I thought 'hey. Why don't we just take a break for a few days, catch up on life?' the others agreed it was a good idea, so I decided to leave. Little did I know how bad of an idea this was.

First thing I did, walking out the door, I already had a problem. It presented itself in the form of a certain mailmare's glare across the cloud cover.

"Uhh… morning' Derpy!" she said nothing. Even though I did nothing, really. Probably associates me with evil. Most ponies do that.

"Look, I'm sorry. Was… working overtime, you could say. Couldn't think straight. Probably should've stopped them, not gone after you."

After a long silence she looked down. "Why do you care."

Why… do I care? I really can't answer that. Why do I care about any of this? The Dark Hour, Shadows, puppet governments with smaller-than-puppet-size rulers… just why? I don't really know. It is fun, I guess.

"Umm… why not? Look, I can't just stand back and watch somepony get bullied. I mean, I did get my cutie mark for stopping a few colts from picking on Fluttershy." That sounds legit enough to me.

She thought about it, staring at the clouds. I didn't see the fire die in her eyes, though. "…I guess I can thank you for at least shortening that session. Thanks."

"You're welco- session?" she talked about this like it was a usual occurrence.

"Well, I have more mailboxes to potentially fill. Bye." she flew off, too fast for me to ask anything. Well, at least I'm on good terms with at least somepony now.

Time for more exciting things. I get to catch up on Spitfire now! Where did she say she was going? Carousel Boutique. Should still be there; 'parentally Dark Hour is just extra time. I wonder if I still age when there. I mean, if I keep doing this, I could get lag and die like, twenty years earlier than all my friends for no reason. Hmm.

The familiar round walls that I seldom crashed into welcomed me… as I crashed into them. I heard a yelp from inside. So Rarity's home. I waited for her to go all OCD on me and jump out with an army of construction tools to go fix up whatever nicks I put in there.

I waited. She didn't come. It was starting to worry me. Did somepony kidnap Rarity? There's no way she wouldn't come out of there… unless…

I went inside and was immediately seized by her. "Oh. Sweet. Celestia. Rainbow! Guess what?!"

"You got an important order?"

"Yes! Guess who its for!"

"Sapphire Shores? Um, Photo Finish? That dude I forget the name of?"

"You should be ashamed of yourself," she said, brushing dust off her coat.

"Why?"

"Because! My order is to create the new uniform for the Wonderbolts!"

"Wh- wha-"

"Yes!" she looked up with stars in her eyes. Like, literal stars. I still don't know how to do that. Everypony else seems to be able to do that.

"So- you and Spitfire-" she nodded.

"If I fulfill this order, you know how much prestige I'd earn? This is like, the order! I may have tailored for other celebrities, but the ponies are there for the music; those uniforms have nothing to do with their profession. On the other hoof, the Wonderbolts rely on good uniforms. Flying, endurance, whatever."

"And the money. Don't forget the money."

"Yeah yeah that to- the money! Right! Coupled with that, I might be able to expand my business!"

"Hmm. Where you planning?"

"Canterlot!"

I let that sink in. "Isn't that… a little expensive?"

"Oh, you don't understand." she pulled me over and showed me a check. I whistled.

"I haven't seen that many zeroes since… well… never."

"I know, right!" right as I recognized the Ursa Major in her eyes they went back to normal. "But, there's one problem…"

"Yes?"

"I know nothing about flight. Which means I have no idea how to make this uniform work." she looked down, then quickly snapped up. "Oh! You can help me!"

"What, I uh-" I was beginning to back up slowly. She pursued.

"Come on! It'll be fun!"

"I don't like fancy clothes-"

"Rainbow. Honestly now. You really thought I would force somepony into something like this? Really now. That is most unbecoming of a lady."

"But what about that one time-"

"Yes yes whatever. You do realize this is the Wonderbolts we are talking about. You are a pegasus, but not only that a fast one. If you idealize the uniform, and it performs better for the Wonderbolts than their last one-"

"Then they'll think its cause of me!"

"Indeed. Now, do you fully acknowledge the dire importance of this?"

"Indeed. I mean, yes."

"Great! We can start tomorrow!"

I left, then realized what I walked myself into, but just sighed. There's no way I'm getting out of this one.

Well… I'm bored. And from the sounds of it, Spitfire isn't here anymore. I'm hungry. Waffles are good. Pinkie will have waffles.

I flew over there, as, hey, I get weekends off. I mean, who wants rain on the weekends? Or the week? Well then I wouldn't get paid. Plus, we have farms.

"Pinkie! Open up shop! Its the freaking weekend!"

The doors were still tinted. A certain pink mare didn't respond.

"C'mon! I'm hungry! Don't you want money?!" still no response.

Why hadn't they opened shop yet? If Pinkie forgot, surely the Cakes would have opened shop.

I flew down and picked up a rock with my hoof. It arced up and hit the window, which I hoped was Pinkie's bedroom.

"Waa! Waa!" the sounds of foals crying filled the air. Damnit. Out of all the wrong windows I could choose…

I heard a groan from the other window. The one I should've bucking hit. Well, now I know which one's right.

"I'm coming! Just wait!" Okay, that is Pinkie's room, more specifically.

"Yo! Open up! I'm starving out here!"

"Wha- just wait a sec Rainbow I-"

"Waa! Waa!"

Well, she doesn't seem very happy. After about ten minutes she was done with… whatever, she'd finally gotten the door open.

I scanned her tired face. "You don't look so good…"

"Wha? Yeah…"

"Where's Mr. and Mrs. Cake?"

"Huh? They uh… went away cause um… err…" she began to fall asleep. I shook her.

"Wha- oh um, so what?"

"Why are they out?"

"Oh, so um, they got a special order… big wedding cake… Canterlot... three weeks..."

"Wh- three weeks?!"

"Yeah... foals... babysit... three weeks..."

"That sounds... like a big deal..."

"Hmm? Yeah... well I asked for it though, so-"

"Why... would anypony ask for that?"

"Huh? Iunno I'm tired gimme a break..." she closed the door. Well, looks like I won't be eating there.

Well... Fluttershy has free food.

I wonder what she'll have this time. I tend to rely on other ponies for food as, well, my kitchen's a war zone. Loyal, not generous or honest.

Over the forest, down to the valley and... she's out with her animals. Go figure. Who else has food. Lemme think. Rarity's working. Fluttershy's out. Pinkie's masochistic. Applejack's bucking trees. And Twilight's rea- wait, yeah. She probably doesn't have to read that much. Right?

When I got to Twilight's tree, she wasn't there. But there was a table out with a set of weird sciency vials and stuff. 'Scrolls into drinkable potions', a book nearby read. That doesn't sound tasty. At least its edible. I looked around. She still wasn't here. Maybe I can make myself a food potion? That sounds like a good idea.

Food conjuring scroll... okay, so I need a fruit, a leaf, and a vegetable. Nearby apple definitely not stolen from Applejack. Check. Leaf also definitely not stolen from Applejack. Check. Carrot that legitimately wasn't stolen from Applejack. Lucky break.

Okay, so, I put them all on top of a piece of 'enchanted parchment', which looked like normal paper to me. This is like cooking from a cookbook. Except the difference is that by now, I haven't killed anything. Which is generally a good sign.

So, the bottle... right. You put the scroll into the bottle thingy, and seal it with wax and stuff, and there.

Let's see what this tastes li- oh dear... that floor looks nice...

*WHUMP*

"Rainbow. Get up. Rainbow. Oh Celestia this isn't good..."

"Mmmph..." I groggily got up. I was on Twilight's couch. "...y-yeah?"

"Oh, good! You aren't dead! I mean, paralyzed. I mean, asleep. Right."

"Wha- oh, okay..."

"...so... what did you make? Did you potentially destroy something valuable by chance?"

"Err, just my stomach..."

"Great! So, why are you here?"

"I'm hungry..."

"So you poisoned yourself with magic?"

"...yes."

"...let's find something more edible for you to have."

Of course, Twilight being the file cabinet she is, we went over to the exact same restaurant we did last time.

"Is this the only place you go?"

"Erm... no. Sometimes you guys invite me to other places to eat..."

"That doesn't count."

"Well, yeah... I guess..."

"C'mon! Don't you have anywhere else?"

She scratched the floor with her hooves. "...no."

"...Twi, no offense, but that's kinda sad..."

"I know..."

"Don't you ever try something new?"

"Never find the time..."

"Well, you don't have to study all the-"

"Mares," a dude in a fancy suit pulled up. "May I please take your order?"

"Oh uh, I'll have a skip sandwich."

"And, I'll have the daisy sandwich."

"Thank you." he walked away.

"See! You did it again! You always get the daisy sandwich. Now, where was I... oh yeah. So umm, you don't have to study all the time... so, why don't you just go out, try to have some fun sometimes?"

"...I don't know... I'm not used to it... Celestia always wanted me to study. Never really gave me time with my friends, which I guess could kinda account for me not knowing where the Tartaros they are..."

"Hmm. Well, this can only mean one thing."

"What?"

"Its time for me to get you a life, because it doesn't look like you can find one."

"Hey!"

"What. Its true."

"But not now. I have some spells to practice when I get- oh. I see."

I nodded. "Tomorrow, then. Try not to get yourself into more research."

"Okay, fine, fine..."

"Now, our food's going to arrive soon. Let's eat!"

I felt the effects of the skip sandwich already. I dashed into my home 20% faster.

The sight of my bed filled me with happiness. Then I remembered what kinds of dreams I've had in it That made me embarrassed, sad, angry, and tired at the same time.

Can't let that stop me now. Its so comfy...

AN: So freaking sorry for late upload. At least I uploaded a few oneshots. Like this! And this.

Mental Movie Theatre?

"Welcome one... welcome all..." I heard a voice say. It was familiar. I think it was one of the three from earlier.

"We want to welcome you here..." Yes it was...

"This is not our place to be, however... we will leave soon..."

"Just remember... Hehe... remember..."

"Don't forget! Don't forget!"

"Make sure you-" And then their voices seemed to echo off and dissappear. Good. They're kind of annoying sometimes, with their three-part scripting and all that stuff.

Okay, so where am I?

Before me was a giant movie theatre, the kind of one with the big old-style billboard with the lights all around it and stuff. It was really bright, almost blinding. This seemed to be on the corner of blackness and nowhere.

So, naturally, I went in.

There was a doormare, with a fancy suit and a nice-looking hat. She didn't say anything while I passed by.

Eventually I came up to the ticket colt. He looked over me with a solemn, dead look. "I presume you are to be seeing the movie?"

"Yes, she will be," I heard a female voice say behind me. I turned, and there was Moonbow, looking dead as ever.

"Err, I will?"

She somehow levitated two tickets over, whirling her hoof like she was stirring a spoon.

The ticket colt looked over them as if they were the most interesting thing he'd seen in his whole life. With a poker face. An observant poker face.

He waved without looking back and a set of doors next to him opened. Moonbow led me in.

We took our seats. Nopony else was there. Just like old times. Except this place isn't made of clouds. And Fluttershy's not here. And I didn't persuade them to come. And- okay, maybe its not so much like old times.

The lights dimmed and the screen flicked on. It was... interesting.

It started off following a white pony, same one from that dream with the black one. He kept walking up a path to the top of a mountain, and when he got there, he saw two others: the black pony, courting a gray mare I'd never seen before.

He was on his back legs in a way as if he was about to propose... then the white pony picked up a rock and threw it. It hit the black pony perfectly in the head. He got knocked out and fell.

The gray mare turned to run, but the white one grabbed her by the neck and his eyes went all golden. The gray mare's eyes rolled back in her head.

While she was unconscious, the white one muttered something, and she woke up. They talked, and a few minutes later, the black one did too.

The black one got all angry, and said something to the gray mare. Unlike the last time, I couldn't understand what they were saying. She shook her head all confused like. He got onto his knees and started begging. She still couldn't seem to remember anything.

In despair, he jumped off the side of the cliff. Damn, that must be something deep.

The gray mare said nothing, all poker faced like, 100% concentrated on the white one.

She was about to take his ring when the earth opened up beneath them and they fell.

I turned to Moonbow for an explanation. She was gone. Then I woke up.

"That was by far the most pointless thing ever," I mumbled as I got out of bed. Then I slammed into a wall because it was eleven o'clock.

I peeled my face off the wall. "That too was the most pointless thing ever."

I saw a rock fly through my floor and out the wall.

I looked down from the balcony. Twilight was throwing rocks with her magic. I really need to teach her how to throw. Well, she can throw the disc thingies. "Oi! Rainbow! Get your stuff!" Okay...

Well, erm, I don't know what to bring. Sword. Right. Umm, the sheath and all that random stuff. This will be longer than an hour, so I packed a saddlebag with granola bars. No rectangles, unfortunately. I looked over to the table. For some reason, I wanted to bring the glass from the Velvet Room.

No Dash, what the hell are you thinking, that's just-

Bring it! Bring it! Bring-

Shut up! There's no reason for that. Its a freaking glass, what do you think-

Bring it! Bring it! Bring it!

...fine...

I slipped the glass into my satchel and hoped to high Tartaros it wouldn't break.

Okay, that looks good enough to me. Let's go!

"So, you haven't legitimately killed anything, so training." They brought me out to Everfree. "Out here are these monsters that have fangs. Bring back like, ten pairs of them." Twilight gestured to one. "Good luck!"

"You aren't gonna like, show me good techniques, or come with me, or-"

"Best training has no form. Go!"

I walked slowly, looking behind me every few steps. Twilight just smiled and nodded. Fluttershy mumbled some words of encouragement. Can't bail out now...

So, first thing I saw was a wolf, made of Shadow. It looked friendly, almost cute even... until it bared its fangs and charged at me.

I brought up my sword and tried to slash through its chest, but it was too fast. It came down on top of me. Luckily, in doing so, it pushed the flat of the blade across my chest, and I could pry it off.

It took the break and charged at me. I dodged to the side, but it anticipated and turned. I used that. I waited until it got closer... and closer... and right when it lifted its head to sink its fangs in, I plunged the sword through its chest. It looked down as it dissipated, until nothing was left but a pair of bone fangs.

Nine more... this is going to be a long night.

I located another, but managed to sneak up on it and finish it off, one stab to the neck. Easy.

Then there was a pack of three. That was a bit more difficult. They cornered me against a few trees, each coming from a different direction. I stabbed the one on the far right through the face, and ran in that direction. The other two followed. The middle one dashed up to Dash, ready to get stabbed... by his companion's fangs. Talk about bad teamwork. The last one, confused at what he did, I simply just sliced across the chest.

Five more...

The next few were a blur, and soon enough, I had ten sets of fangs.

I was walking over to where Twi and Fluttershy were, them probably being undoubtably bored, when I heard a rustle behind me. By the time I turned, an eleventh wolf had already jumped, pinning me to the ground.

It looked upon me angrily, ready to sink its canines into my neck. I rolled to the side, but it got one of my forelegs instead.

It burned like hell, and I couldn't concentrate... I tried swinging with my other hoof, but I accidentally let go... and killed it somehow. Wow.

I couldn't really think about what I just did because I was laying on the ground. Black spots danced around my eyes. My bag fell open next to me. My legs were starting to hurt; I couldn't walk back. I was feeling very sleepy, and closed my eyes, ready to sleep forever.

Then, I heard a soft crystal 'tink' and a splash, and I jolted awake as if I just got struck by lightning. Which I have been, on multiple occasions. The glass next to me had tipped over, spilling over my leg. I watched as the two holes sealed up, right in front of me.

Well... that was... eventful.

The glass was beginning to refill. I picked it up, and put it in my bag.

"Good work, but um, I mean, not that I don't think you did well, but uh, could you try faster next time?" Fluttershy said.

"WHAT?!"

I went back to sleep, and got an opportunity for something useful: talking to 'Lexis.

Canvas was now painting a bowl of fruit. I watched as a guy inside the painting came over and took a banana. Canvas's paintings still confuse me.

"Sup Lexis."

"Hey Dash." she was throwing a glowing blue ball at the wall over and over. She looked at me sideways. "So, what's new?"

"Err, I have a question. So I've seen a few strange things happen, in recurring dreams. Just now, I saw three ponies."

Lexis fumbled and didn't catch the ball on its return. "Uhh... yeah?"

"So, one of them is white, one of them is black... and there's a gray mare."

Canvas looked around. "Err, I have um, yeah, bye." he drew a trapdoor on the floor with his paintbrush then opened it and jumped in. Again, I don't understand his paintings at all.

Lexis looked really scared alone. "Uhh... I got to go too, you see, I have-"

"C'mon Lexis! Answer my question!"

She sighed. "Well... maybe... I guess you do deserve to know..."

I sat down in the chair; this seemed like it'd be a long talk.

"The first two- the original two Persona users, well, they weren't exactly friends.

"The three of them were some of the first ponies to ever exist. The white colt was named Zenith, the black one, Ultor, yet the mare's name has been lost to history. That doesn't matter, though.

"The two fought over her, Ultor making the first move. He courted her for a long time, and they almost got married... almost. When Zenith saw this, he was furious. He cast the first spell ever, making the mare forget all about Ultor, and instead be infatuated with Zenith.

"This didn't rest well with him, clearly, but the wrong was never righted. Zenith and the mare were married, and Ultor, in despair, threw himself off a cliff."

I let that sink in. "Err, so why does this matter?"

"...let me finish. Ultor wasn't really dead. He was always a bit more god than pony. He didn't summon the first Persona- he was the first Persona. In his anger, he burned away all his mortal parts, leaving nothing but a tormented soul.

"He battled Zenith for days, and almost killed him, but the mare, she saved Zenith, and he defeated Ultor."

"Err, still don't know reason for all of this." I mumbled.

"Be patient! You're lucky I..." she coughed. "Zenith and the mare had three children: two earth ponies, and an alicorn named Erebus.

"Erebus wasn't your normal pony... well, besides the fact he was an alicorn. You might think being an alicorn was awesome, but his parents were disgusted by him, as he was... different. He hated them, and they abandoned him.

"He was about to run away from home when Ultor appeared before him, offering a choice- to have the power of a god, or to forever be the outcast, the only alicorn to ever live. And we can see what he chose. He was Ultor's champion, and killed Zenith. Ever since, every generation, the two are reincarnated somehow, and they fight... to the death."

"Err, I haven't seen any of this make headlines."

"Not directly. But it does happen. It doesn't matter who, or if they want to do it or not, they are chosen. And they must fight."

"Um, example?"

"...Luna and Celestia."

"What!?"

"Yep. Luna got lucky though, she was technically Nightmare Moon when she got killed, so she didn't actually die... physically."

"I still don't know how this ties into me."

"...I don't know. The Theatre isn't a part of your mind, its more its own entity... it gives knowledge to those who it thinks will meddle with fate. I cannot tell. Goodbye Dash..."

AN: Going to jump into plot, because I have no real storyline as of now. Expect more. I hope you all can figure out the three names' origi- you know what, i'm adding it to the personas list.

I. HATE. Mornings.

You probably thought getting Thanksgiving break meant you'd be able to relax, at least have enough time to write one new chapter.

NOPE!

Sorry for the delay. Been working on oneshots. I promise future ones won't involve Ditzy so much.

Damnit, thing didn't save. D: So here's this two-line appendix you guys missed.

I turned to leave. "Oh, and Rainbow?" I turned. Lexis stood up. Her eyes glowed a fierce gold, and her voice growled like a dog.

"Y͜ou ̸a͟i̴n͢'t̨ ̛goi̶n n̢owh͡er̶é.̢"

I woke up in a free fall, white all around me.

More white... more white... oh, green. Hey, is that a tre- oh buck no...

I spread out my wings to try to slow myself, but I was too slow. I slammed into the ground with a thud... and didn't die! Amazing.

I looked over my body for damage. I didn't feel any pain, or see any wounds. Magic. Well, not magic.

Magic... hmm. My body did have a slight blue glow to it, like, a radiant blue, like ice. Heck. The whole world kinda seemed bluish right now.

Well that's strange.

How the hell did I pull that one off...?

Better not to question it.

Where's Twi? She oughta be able to explain this.

Seems I crashed by Fluttershy's house. Better check with her first.

As I approached her house, I heard sobs. The door was open, so naturally I intruded.

Fluttershy was crying in the corner, and next to her was a dead bird. Okay. Nothing out of the usual here. I should probably leave her alone for now.

I flew over to Twi's house really fast. No wind today, it seems. Still, ridiculously fast. Like, really really-

SLAM!

C'mon, I didn't knock anything over... please please please... I don't want to have to listen to a lecture again. "Spice the tweed, store times the fopping distance, yeah yeah whatever."

I walked back and slowly opened my eyes. I saw Twilight through the window, writing an essay like nothing happened. Good.

I opened the door and walked in. "Twilight!" I yelled.

She didn't respond. Must be one hell of an essay.

"Yo!" I got closer to her. "Twilight! I have some questions, and-"

"Hey, Spike, can you get me a new bottle of ink?"

"On it!"

"Thanks."

...Okay, so she's not deaf. Or completely tuned into that.

"Hey, Twilight, I have to ask you something."

"Gah!" She whipped around.

"Yeah, so Twi, I-"

"S- Spike? Do you have the feeling as if somepony is watching us?"

"No, not particularly."

"...I guess you're right."

How can she not see me? I'm right here! I tapped her on the shoulder.

She quickly turned around, horn aglow. A beam shot out of her horn, passed through me, and knocked a bookshelf over.

"...Interesting..." she muttered.

I slowly backed away and left.

Since Twilight is obviously in one of her crazy state thingies, I decided to go home.

I opened the door. Whelp, when nothing else works, take a nap. The logic of champions.

I walked up the stairs to my bedroom when I cast eyes upon my bed. In it was... me. I was lying there was if dead, no movement. What is happen-

Gee I'm feeling really sleepy... Maybe I sho-

THUMP

...

... ...

...

... ...

"Your savior has arrived!"

"G- GAH!" I jolted awake. The color filter was gone, and I was laying in bed. My body tingled with electricity. In front of me was a white earth pony in golden armor, floating above the ground by a few inches. He glowed like a lightbulb.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am your savior!" He said with a wide smile. "Are you not impressed by my might?!"

"Err, I guess. Why are you here?"

"Why, I am your savior!"

"...In which way?"

"I saved you! You see, your soul and your body were out of sync!"

"Meaning...?"

"Your soul was wandering! Its dangerous to do that. If you find out that you are but a soul disconnected from body, you lose synchronization, opening you up to the creatures of darkness!"

"...I don't get it."

"Let us put it this way: I saved you! I am your savior! Be grateful for my radiance!"

"...Um, thanks?"

"Yes! That is the spirit! I shall ensure you that you shall not have to do this again."

He pointed at me and a small wisp of golden energy fell off of his hoof. It inched towards me and went into my right tear duct. It stung with electricity.

"Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow... what are you doing?!"

He was busy concentrating on something. "Hm? What's this? Oh, yes... this will be interesting..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"So, umm... who are you?"

"Your savio-"

"Name. Profession."

He chuckled. "You need not know that. I am the Bane of Darkness, the Knight of Light, He Who Raised the Earth From its Dias!"

"...What?"

"Bringer of Sunlight, Sword of the Sun, El Fuego, That Really Awesome Guy, The Angels' Shield, the-"

"That's real nice. But I'm kinda pressed for time, so um, who are you?"

"Like you do not know," he said with a smile. "We've certainly met before. I'd like to say in a dream, but I know that's wrong."

Something stirred in my mind. "Yeah... I know you... Z- Zip- Zeno... Zil..."

He laughed again. "Yes, this will certainly be interesting. I find you will remember in due time. Or maybe learn again. Now, your friends should have plenty to worry about given your absence. But, a parting gift." a sword fell from the sky and came through the roof. It was identical to my other one, except this one was made of gold. "I expect we shall meet again, however."

He then flew through the ceiling and disappeared.

Well... that was... interesting. What did he say? 'Given my absence?' They didn't seem to worry that much. I was just sleeping, I do that all the time.

Interesting. Well, I'm bored.

I walked outside and jumped off into free-fall. I didn't land into a bale of hay. And I thought shelving books was hard. Lucky you Applejack.

Where can I go. Scratch Fluttershy. Twilight looks busy too. Pinkie is at work, Rarity is... at work, Applejack is... also at work. Am I the only pony who has nothing to do right now?

I mean, being head at the Weather Station is nice because you have less shifts, like, ridiculously less shifts, but in general, you kinda get bored. The few times you do go to work there's not much to do. But the pay is good, and that's really all that matters.

I can probably make a few extra bits helping out Applejack.

But that would take effort.

I can probably also make some money helping Rarity.

But that would take skill at sewing and/or posing as a model in a fancy outfit for a couple hours.

Pinkie?

I suck at baking, and she's a bit... eccentric.

Well then. I'm really really bored now.

I wonder if you can enter the abyss place when it's not the Dark Hour?

Whelp, I got all day to find out. Let's go!

Apparently so. The door seemed to work perfectly.

I jumped into the trap door and walked the ledge, expecting to take the long trek again... but instead I fell.

...maybe not.

Well then... um... I'm kinda dead now, aren't I...

I'd fly out, but there's no light, I could rip my wing on something, fall down again, and if I don't die on impact I'll certainly bleed to death. Fragile things, wings.

Ha! I rhymed. They should put that on my tombstone.

Always laugh in the face of death... that's one of the guiding principles of pegasi. Except for Fluttershy.

If you're a Weatherpony: laugh in the face of death. Those storms won't make themselves.

If you're a Wonderbolt: laugh in the face of death. Its either him or the ground you'll have to laugh at.

If you're a Veterinarian: actually, still laugh in the face of death. Some of those monsters can get pretty damn scary.

Should I have hit the ground already?

Iunno. Can you use spells right now, too?

I conjured a single bolt. It flew down... and hit something. I skid to a brake. I summoned a flame above my hoof. I looked up.

Well, that's certainly a drop.

...I'm here already, how bout I see what's going on.

There seemed to be a single tunnel.

Maybe this is a bit, dangerous, I'm alone and I-

Nah Dash, you're more than awesome enough for this!

Okay.

I looked around. This place is very different when its not the Dark Hour.

"Welcome, traveller," I heard the sweet voice of a mare say.

I turned around. She had a beam of light bathing her light cream hide. She wore a tunic with a very particular shade of blue that matched her brown mane. Somehow, I knew she was-

"Lexis?" I asked.

She laughed and swiped a hoof across her face. Her disguise faded, which wasn't much of a change seeing how her coat is very whitish and she's usually glowing like that. "Yes, yes, it's me. Its been a long time since I've-" she coughed. "Well, you've come to the right place."

"Meaning?"

"This is your sanctuary. Call it what you will. A good way to think of it is a more... physical Velvet Room. Except the difference here, is nopony can guide you. Not even me, or any of your personas." She frowned a bit. "I'm only allowed to introduce you. This place is designed for only you to discover yourself. Explore it. I can't explain everything for you now, can I?"

"Hey, you haven't done that mu-"

"Sword. Cards. Elksta. Canvas. Velvet."

"Ah, yes. Um, okay. Well err, can you at least give me a light source?" This place was pretty dark...

"Let there be light! Ha. I always wanted to say that."

A cheap chandelier was now hanging from the ceiling. It dangled and threatened to fall. Of course. It was a gift from Lexis.

I was going to protest but she had gone already.

I glared at the candles above. She had infinite power to do whatever she wanted, yet she summons... this. I can't complain though.

So, what is this cave exactly?

It seemed to consist of only a small square room, no bigger than my bedroom. No doors, just solid stone walls.

This place needs a bit more flavor.

Hey, Rarity knows colors. And Pinkie's great at throwing parties. I could invite the two of them down and-

"You are not allowed to invite any others." I heard a stern voice say.

Oh.

"Why?" I asked mentally. "I mean what's wrong wi-"

"You are not allowed to invite any others."

"But really, there's-"

"You are not allowed to invite any oth-"

"Yeah yeah I got it. C'mon, leave me alone."

"You are not allowed to invite any others."

Is there a broken tape recorder persona? I figure I should shut up lest I want more yelling. Its like that one judge at flight camp who flew around with earmuffs while evaluating you. "Where did you learn to fly?"

Well... I don't know what to do here, honestly. Lexis's lamp illuminated some of the room, but not all of it. I wonder how big this room is?

At once, almost as if responding to my thoughts, the lamp grew brighter until the walls were revealed.

On each wall was its own painting. I could only see one of them, though. It was worn and covered with ash, as if it was the only surviving thing from a long war. At the same time, though, it looked almost indestructible. It gave off an aura that was hard to describe.

The picture, though, was a lot easier. It was simply a pony, surrounded by white light, walking into the darkness. With his triumphant gaze, he looked as if he thought his mere presence expeled it. He kinda looked like the weird knight dude form earlier.

In his hoof, he held a golden staff, topped with a ruby.

"Beautiful mural, isn't it," I heard a gravelly voice say behind me.

I turned to see a black colt wearing a suit. He looked down with an emotionless face characteristic of a buisnessmare, a slash wound across his left eye stretching from ear to mouth.

"Um, yeah. Who are you?"

"...a guider, a traveller, whatever you wish it be called. I am here to help."

"I thought I wasn't allowed-"

"To get help from anypony else, or personas. Yes. And that is completely true." He smiled cruelly.

"...Okaaaaay... um, what are you helping with?"

"Everything. Well, what I will be helping with." He put a hoof on my forehead. It burned like poison.

He frowned. "What's this? Hmm..." He lifted his hoof, but the pain still lingered. "I suppose he wins again. Most powerful user of the millenium and he wins again." He sighed, then quickly smiled again. "Wait... I remember you."

I still felt queasy from the touch. "Wh- me?"

"Yes... I think I've finally won. Before the game started." He laughed and unsheathed a dagger from his belt. "Good luck, Rainbow Dash." He stabbed himself through the chest and disappeared.

The pain was beginning to subside. Why do I always get the characters? I haven't met a single normal pony in my life.

Again, sorry for late upload. Almost have a new oneshot out. Yay.

A... normal pony. Um, wow.

Author's note: Damn you Season 3! You messed up my master plans with canonical information!

At least, I thought that. Then I had a brilliant idea.

My fanfic takes place after the events of... whatever.

Anyways, I have a collab to attend to.

Expect a Dark Octavia fic soon.

Unrelated to the following paragraph (YEP DONT READ THIS), whoever that pony's name was in the Wonderbolt episode, you know the one who accompanied Dash? yeah, her! I can write a revenge dialogue for her! Which isn't related to the following paragraph!

I have no idea how to use the Author's note function. I can't see it. If you can, please tell me. I have no clue how this works.

West Manehattan - One Year Ago

A firm knock tapped the door to the small apartment. The resident knew who it was. The sweat fell down her brow in large drops. She opened the window. It was best she fled as quick as possible.

Right as the latch was undone, a voice pierced the silence.

"You there?" The gruff landlord knew something was amiss.

A shiver cracked through the mare's spine. She slowly lowered the hatch and turned. "Y- yes?"

He opened the door and entered. He threw a bill on the ground in front of her. "Your apartment fees are... starting to stack up ridiculously."

"D- I- I'll be able to pay them back soon, I promise!" Her knees wobbled. She knew it was a lie. Like all the others.

"You said that six months ago."

"..."

He picked up the scroll and unfurled it, looking over the numbers. "The figures we're looking at here... quite a few bits."

"I... I think I might be able to make the money..."

He knew his tenant's profession. Not like he cared. At one point, she would have laughed at the notion of living here. This was the poorest part of the city. The apartment was not much better than the dirtied streets and allies outside.

"I'm fairly sure your cheap tricks won't do you any good. They didn't work once. They didn't work twice. It will never work, no matter what you think."

She could only sigh in defeat. It was true. It was all true.

"Does this mean I have to leave...?"

The stallion thought for a bit, and eventually smiled. He urged closer to the quailing mare. "No... I'm sure you can pay it back in... other ways..." The heavy bolt slid shut.

I... think I've actually, for once in my life, met a normal pony.

Then I realized she was so unexplainably normal that that made her abnormal.

I just bought the dang picture frame and left.

I put it up on the wall. Excellent. A frame with nothing in it. Brilliant art. Take that you damn art freaks!

I think I'm getting better at actually hurting and potentially killing things other than myself. For the past two weeks, I've practically been doing nothing but that. And trying to figure out what the weird sanctuary Lexis showed me is about. It disappears during the Dark Hour, though. I only died eight times this week! Yay!

What happens if we all die, or we run out of pearls? I guess if that happens, I won't be able to figure out.

Work's easy. I guess life is kinda at a standstill now. That is, until one thing changed.

I was just out with my friends, wanting a perfectly normal dinner... when I saw a flying manticore enter the room.

Nopony else in the restaurant had noticed yet, nor any of my friends. I just sat back, the only one angled to see it and rubbed my eyes.

I tapped Fluttershy on the shoulder. She looked up from under her shield of pink, and her eyes widened. She looked down again.

I suppose she's no help outside the Dark Hour.

I looked at Twi, and gestured with my eyes, which really didn't work. But, she got it anyways.

She stood up "...I have to use the restroom."

"Bye!" I said.

"Ahem."

"What?"

"*cough* AHEM!"

"Oh, right. Um, me too. Yeah."

I walked backwards awkwardly while everypony else just watched.

We went outside.

"...Wasn't one of those things the first thing that I killed?"

"You mean, killed you."

"Whatever! Still. It's like, four o'clock. How the hell did it get here?!"

"I don't know! I was going to ask you! You're the one with a freaking mental librarian!"

"Well you are a librarian."

"Yes, but I don't know everything..."

"But I can't tell if-"

"Uhm, Ah'm assuming this ain't a good time." AJ suddenly was there, watching. And I thought I had crazy powers.

"...No, no it isn't. Umm, could you help us?"

"Sure. What can I do you fer?"

"We have a... problem." Nice understatement Twilight.

"An Ah ain't Miracle Mare. But Ah'll try to help."

"So, um, could you distract everypony else and get them out of the restaurant and as far away from here as possible?" I smiled.

Twilight punched me as hard as she could. Which wasn't that hard.

AJ opened an eye. "...Okay...?"

She stared at us awkwardly.

"...Sure!" She turned around and went in. I heard someone scream in pain as a frying pan flew out of the roof.

Soon enough, ponies began running out of the door like their lives depended on it. Which probably was true.

We just stood back. When everypony had left, AJ flipped the sign to closed. "Well, that was fun. Ah'll see ya'll later."

She left.

"...Why did she agree to this?"

"I don't know. Let's go."

When we entered the restaurant, we saw that the manticore had two other friends. They each could fly, but were substantially smaller than any manticores I've seen. And they all faded blue, like a ghost.

Of course, like anypony would think, I blasted it with fire.

I unsheathed my evoker and stabbed myself through the chest. Canvas appeared, floating over my head, and lit them on fire.

Their form flickered, but nothing happened.

He looked at me and shrugged before disappearing.

Thanks a lot.

Okay... well, hack and slash as usual.

I sliced the first to shreds. The gold blade, I noticed, was a little over the length of my foreleg, while the silver one was about half that length.

Hooray for extra reach.

The first ghost manticore jumped at me. I used the silver blade to deflect his claw, and sunk the gold one through his chest while he was open.

His form flickered before fading into mist.

One down, two to go.

Twilight stabbed herself in the arm and Monocerotis appeared. His hat was as angering as ever. He raised his orb into the air, and her disc thingy began to glow. She threw it, and it sliced the second through the ribs like it was made of butter. It didn't bounce off the walls or anything. It didn't come back like a boomerang. What did you expect? Idiots...

One more.

The last one was a bit different. Unlike the other two, it looked a bit more ghostly. It charged at me... and passed right through.

Little help here, Canvas?

Fire.

But we already figured out that didn't wo-

Trust me.

Okay...

I sliced my hoof with the evoker one last time. Canvas, this time more confident, raised his paintbrush, and the manticore burned. Sure, it did nothing, but its form became more... corporeal.

I took that as an opening and sliced it while I still could.

Nice job, eh?

I looked around. Nopony's gonna come back here for a while.

All in a day's work.

Now we have a night's work...

"So what do you think's the problem?" I asked Twi. She was oiling her disc thing.

"I don't know... Shadows normally cannot leave the Dark Hour. There could be a Chrono-Spacial influx that could lead to a dimensional pocket, and potentially-"

"Erm, laymare's terms?"

"...A piece of the continent might have been replaced with the Dark Hour. But we would notice that. So that's out anyways."

"Next!"

"I'm not a dictionar- okay, maybe I shouldn't say that. Anyways, another possibility would be that the Shadow transcended time. But if three did that at the same time, that would cause a major influx in space at the same time, and there'd be big leylines forming from nowhere, and I'd definitely feel that. So, the only conclusion I can draw is that the Shadow somehow got the power to physically leave the Dark Hour..."

"And this is important because?"

"Everypony in the town could get mauled, without them knowing anything."

"Oh. Gotcha. Solution?"

"None, that I can see."

"Great. Well, we're screwed."

"Well, I've studied the area around the Castle, and the leylines should prevent any abnormal fluctuations in space up to about 3 cuils, so-"

"Meaning?"

"It's not a big deal, as long as we're vigilant."

"Ah. Okay. We should still check out the den, see what's the problem."

So we went down there, and I had to drag Fluttershy. She seems scared... again. She was fine last week. What's wrong?

Anyways, I brought both swords, and Twilight gave me a double sheath. Said it's an ancient Chineighse invention. However, it was impossible to use. I mean, physically impossible. The swords were practically magnets, and wouldn't go in, for some reason. Well, that's out.

The portal went to Engo, which seemed normal enough to me. Why do Shadows come from here? Looks like a perfectly normal city to me... even if they are brainwashing their citizens in a fake forest.

Whelp, time to figure out.

I looked around. Black-and-white sky... everything looked just as we left it.

Except for one thing.

Nopony was in the streets.

A little odd, for a government that wants their citizens to spread word of their nation's amazingness. But no matter.

The posters that usually filled the air with propaganda and cheerfulness were all tattered, colours faded.

I have no clue what happened here.

We went up to the palace, which had begun to fade out into monotones like the rest of the city. The statue hall, however, was as shiny as usual, but this time, it was... different.

There was only one statue, the others were now solid pillars. It stood at the end of the hall, and showed nothing more than a simple Earth pony, smiling triumphantly. He held a spear tipped with solid gold, and pointed it to the sky as if to say 'fight me!'.

I had to admit, if I had somepony as confident as that as my leader, I wouldn't feel too bad about being his subject. Hard to impress me. But he somehow did it.

If that was true, then why was everypony gone?

"The statue could be magical, and this is an abandoned town," Twilight suggested. "Or, it could be made by a conquering ruler, who set this up to remind everypony they've been defeated."

I suppose. That old ruler was... weird.

Anyways, the walk to the palace was short-lived, as a big pillar had fallen and blocked the way. Twilight blasted through it with some explosion command that I didn't know. Remind me not to get her angry again. Her flaming mane is ridiculous enough...

We walked up to the big mountain where the throne was before, but nothing was there but an elevator.

There was only one button: "BF9". What happened to Basements 1-8?

Why not. Let's go down. Answers must be had.

The elevator slammed into the ground with a thud, and the doors opened with a click.

There was a small room, about as tall as the statue outside, but only about as wide and long as the library. It was hollowed ground enforced with solid rock, and the only light sources were four torches in the corners.

Across the room, I saw a colt, staring at a portrait of the old king on the wall.

We slowly approached him, and he responded surprisingly quick, still not turning. "What business have you here?" He said in a steely tone.

"That is no concern of yours." Twilight responded.

"You won't understand anyways," Fluttershy added.

"We simply seek answers. If we find them, we will leave as soon as we came." Twi bowed courteously.

"You aren't leaving. You never will."

That answer was... abrupt. "Why?" I asked.

"Don't question it. I don't trust you. You aren't leaving. Know your place. And your place is not here."

He turned, and I instantly recognized him as the colt whose statue was now outside. But he was... different. The charismatic smile was replaced by a stern scowl. The open eyes of warmth were now two cold orbs of ice. His courageous stance was now askew and awkward.

"Who are you?" I asked. "What have you done to the king?"

"The king is a fool. We're better off with him gone."

"I do admit he seemed a bit... off in the head. How did the country rule?" Twilight asked.

"Simple. That was me."

"Wha- the- why does it look different outside now?" Fluttershy's voice was feeble as ever, but the stallion in front of us managed to hear it on his first try. That's a major achievement in my eyes.

"Rules change. And so do kings. You see that statue outside? That was me. Was."

"Then why did it use to be the other guy?"

He sat down and thought. "That other king was, as you probably suspect, a figurehead. I really told him how to rule. I'm his brother. The country prospered. But that was a weak country. Nothing got done. I decided that things should be taken up a level.

"First, I revealed to everyone that 'king' was a lie. I ordered him to be exiled. He did nothing for the good of the people, anyways.

"Next, I erected a statue to edificate my rule. And everyone was happy. But again, nothing got done.

"The final part of my rule, the honest part, I redid everything. I burned all the laws, and started from scratch, but this time more... extreme. But it brought more order. Our nation prospers now." He stood up, his triumphant smile returning.

"But... outside, everypony seems... dead."

"Pah. You will never understand. Look. Ponies may want what is optimal for them. The rule that seems easiest. But they aren't doing the best rule. They're too stupid to see the better methods. Like mine. If nopony steps up to be the voice for the millions, then their feeble cries will be lost to history, faded and chaotic."

"That's... cynical."

"But it's true. They may whine about my 'strict' methods, but they cannot see it is for the better. If I do not step up now, they will be led to failure later."

"...I suppose."

"Yes. But you, you are new. You are not from here. Your look, your actions, your thoughts, they are not of here. You must be eliminated. If my people observe the wonderlust of a nation that is not theirs, they will surely flee."

He paused and rung a bell. "I'm sorry our meeting was short."

He disappeared like smoke in a tornado, and several giant Shadows dropped from the ceiling.

"They are like you," he said from somewhere unseen. "They are not of this land. But they are not pony, like you. They are undefeatable. They are from magics lost to your naive, pitiful minds."

I blew a strand of hair out of my face. "Yeah right. We got this!"

I drew my swords and charged.

Because I'm too lazy to write another fight scene. Ahahahaha. Trust there will be other worlds, and thus more stuff. Took me way too long to do this, I'm very sorry. Many fics are in the making and will be made.

We're trapped...

Author's Note: Dreadfully sorry for such a late upload. I'm working on a really big story... that won't be published under my name for reasons that, well, you'll have to wait to find out. I'll still get 100% credit, but just in case you don't find it, I'll post a link when it's done.

Also, you have no clue how long it took to bold that guy's voice.

Or research the Tarot.

I'm making excuses. Again, really sorry. I'll try to juggle uploads on this to verify that I'm not dead or slacking. Or slacking dead.

North Ponyville - 2:36 A.M. - Present Time

"Who's there!?" Spitfire whipped her head around.

Nothing but the soft trickle of rainwater and a cold moan from the trees answered.

"Heh, military persona's gettin' to ya... I really need a break..."

She walked slowly over to the empty Wonderbolts HQ. She literally lived at the Headquarters all her life, and this was no exception.

It was in construction, however, so she had to live in a small lean-to outside the building. It was surprisingly comfy, as long as you had an oil lamp going.

Her stomach growled. Where's that backpack?

Last time she had it was back at- oh. Right.

She begrudgingly got up and went out into the cold rain again. She hadn't rested at all yesterday, and sleep was taunting her. The bag was back at the Boutique where she commissioned those uniforms, probably. At least it's a short walk.

Well, complaining won't do anything.

She walked down the old cobblestone road. Left, not right. Right is to the bar. Right.

The air around her simply whispered the same tones over and over, a dim hum that faded out and entranced the listener. Spitfire had to take extra care not to fall asleep.

But, there was something else. Like, a smoother whirl, but more fierce, like a bullroarer's-

THUMP.

Spitfire frantically tried to get up. Her hooves didn't move, the night not revealing the source. In addition, she couldn't move her wings, having landed on them.

The stress of staying awake too long was getting to her. She yelled at herself to stay awake, but there was something else here that stopped her. It wasn't magic, it wasn't fright, it wasn't anything she could describe.

As she slipped into a sleep, the last thing she felt was the frantic touch of cold, greedy hooves over her body.

Why would you even suggest that?!

We're all dead now.

I'm literally dangling from the roof on a string tied to my leg.

Twilight had this simply brilliant idea that we all try to cut their feet off and they'd fall down and we'd be able to finish them.

How in Tartarus would that even work?

Their legs are about as thick as trees! Even if it was easy to 'cut their feet off', that would do nothing! We'd still have like four more to do that too, and we're just ants to them! They'd just grab us and throw us into the wall!

But they didn't. We scratched their ankles with a toothpick, and they picked us up, and hung us from the roof like Hearthswarming ornaments before disappearing as if they had no other jobs.

I've got lucky streaks that I can count on, though. They're in my mane.

But I'm unable to do anything right now because of somepony's great plan.

"Okay, fine, I'll fix it," Twilight said next to me.

What, you're saying that as if it wasn't your fault!

She unhooked her disc and tossed it.

It nearly cut my leg off before curving up and slicing Fluttershy free, who would've probably cracked her skull open if she didn't have wings.

Twilight blushed and looked away.

Well... at least Fluttershy has aim.

Seriously, I'll teach that mare to throw if it kills me. Which will probably happen in the process.

So, we're here on the ground. The elevator is closed, and there's no way out. Great.

And there's no stairs, which breaks some law somewhere.

We're trapped. There's no way out.

Twilight tried exploding the walls, but they seemed to be either too thick or explosion-proofed. Why in Tartarus would anyone ever think of that? It seems like such a random thing...

I suppose we just have to wait.

I sat down and opened my saddlebag. Nothing but my two swords, Lexis's bottomless wineglass, and a magic rectangle.

I opened it up and ate it instantly.

Okay, I feel better now.

"So, what are we gonna do?" I said, wiping my mouth with the back of my hoof. You know, that expression doesn't make sense, there is no defined backside.

"I don't know," Twilight said, twirling her disc around her hoof. "He doesn't sound like he'll be coming back."

"Maybe we could, um, try to dig a hole out?"

"No ways," I responded to Fluttershy. "Twilight can't blow a hole, we don't have anything that can cut rock, and I don't know how to make a wormhole. Wait a second... That's it!"

I used Lexis's weird paint thing, covered my hooves, and slammed them together explosively.

"You do realize you can't take your friends here, right?" The white mare said almost instantly when I arrived. "And that you aren't getting any closer to escaping by coming here."

"Nah, I'm bored. Plus, ditching them will make them think I'm gonna go get help. And morale is everything!"

"I suppose."

"So... do you have any ideas about how we can escape?"

She grinned. "No clue."

"...Thanks."

"Well, since you're here, I might as well annoy you. Do you have an object for me to destroy?"

Knowing her, I should probably hand over something before she-

"Too late! I'm choosing it."

She levitated my bag out of my reach, and made it rotate above us as she looked through it with leisure.

"No, you'll need that... and that... why don't you keep any junk on you? C'mon! Everypony needs useless trinkets! And th- what's this?" She took out the golden dagger.

"Hm? Oh, I got that as a second sword from some... guy."

She twirled it in her hooves by the tips carefully as if it were a bomb. "I... haven't seen this in a long time." She set it down on the table, and for a second, I thought it flashed into a different form- a ruby-tipped golden sceptre.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop, and Lexis was frowning. "I... yes, that would be it."

"What?"

"Leave, Dash. Your friends have found a way out."

With a wave of her hoof, the walls around me vanished, and I was back in the basement, sitting on the floor like an idiot.

"I've got it!" Twilight yelled right as I stepped back in.

"We can leave? Oh, that was quick."

"Wait, no, that won't work."

"Dangit."

"...Maybe, if we channel enough latent magic from the leylines, we could get a way out!"

"Brilliant. Wait, I thought you said magic doesn't work."

"Not if we use Persona magic."

"...Okay..."

Twilight closed her eyes. The glowing form of a robed unicorn appeared into the air. His hat wasn't any less infuriating.

She looked at him. "Hey, Kitalpha... can we have some help here?"

He blinked and stared at the crystal ball in his hooves. It was filled with a thousand glowing specks, like the universe was crammed into a goldfish bowl. But that's not important, what really is important was his hat. Man! I felt like ripping his hat to pieces! There was just something about it that made you-

"Help must be initiated with a request. Your query has insufficient detail. What do you seek? A sandwich? The knowledge of how to get the Water Waltz in Pony Fantasy 6? Or do you wish that-"

"Umm, an escape route."

He waved his hoof over the orb. A glowing circle appeared on the floor, which opened up like a whirlpool.

"Do not enter yet, however." He said. "Any opening requires two ends. I have taken it implied that you want one end of the portal in close proximity. However, the other end, you have not specified."

"Ponyville."

"Where in Ponyville? It is quite large, albeit small compared to much bigger towns such as Canterlot, but it still has quite the-"

"Err, my library."

"Where in your library? It may not be as large as Ponyville, but it certainly has many complicated-"

"Blue rug. Thirteen centimeters from the left side."

"Left from which perspective?"

"Entering from the front door."

"Front from which perspective?"

"...Screw it, just put it in the middle of the blue rug."

"Fine, it shall be so." He waved his hoof over the orb again, and disappeared into mist.

"Does this happen all the time?" I asked Twi.

She hung her head in her hooves like she had a headache. Which she probably did."Unfortunately so."

We jumped into the portal and fell through.

"Wow. Man... I... wow. This is certainly unexpected." I looked at the scene around me. "This rug is a lot softer than I thought it'd be."

"...Err, yes. I suppose so."

"I don't know about you ponies, but um, I have to go see if my animals are fine... I don't know if they're okay, I mean, time is all weird there and stuff, so um, if you don't mind..."

"Sure Flutters. See you later."

"B-bye..."

Floating about two inches off the ground, she went out the door. Graceful as ever. Minus the knives and glowing vials of unspecified liquid she had strapped to her belt.

"Well, I'm bored." I muttered. "I wonder what's changed since we've gone."

It was almost the second I walked out the library when a frantic Scootaloo ran up to me.

"Hey, what's up, Squirt?"

"Dude, Rainbow Dash, did you hear? Spitfire's in the hospital!"

"Wait, WHAT?" My voice was about an octave higher than it usually is. It was painful to hear.

"Yeah! Come quick!"

I didn't have time to waste. I picked up Scootaloo and flew over to the hospital as fast as I could.

"She'll be in room seve-"

"Ah, thanks. Bye."

I flew through the halls, carrying Scootaloo underneath me like a basket.

Nurses complained as I barely dodged fancy metal tables.

This was serious. What if Spitfire was badly injured?

"Or she could just have feinted from minor dehydration," my inner Twilight Sparkle said.

Shut up. She also could have been hit by a train.

"Very unlikely."

But still possible.

Anyways, where was I? Did she say room seventeen or seventy? Or just seven? Seventy-six? Seven-hundred?

Nice one, Dash.

I set Scootaloo down and looked around. "There!" she yelled, and pointed somewhere.

I followed her hoof to see an orange tail whip around a corner.

"Spitfire?"

She nodded. "I'm sure of it."

What was Spitfire doing outside of bed?

Is it really that big of an overreaction?

Then why is she in the hospital?

I hurried over.

Oh, that's the room number.

I opened the door and walked in.

And Spitfire's suddenly in bed again. Well, at least Scoots was right.

"Yo! Spitfire, what happened?"

Her voice sounded weak. "Not much, just have a bit of a cold."

She coughed a few times. I was worried, but I had to agree, it didn't exactly look like anything serious.

"Err... then what's the hype about?"

She flipped her mane with a hoof. "I was sleeping outside in the rain all night yesterday. Didn't have a choice, somepony knocked me out."

"Wait... what?! Di- did you see who it was?"

"No."

"Did you get stolen from?"

"Err, kinda. Exactly half of all my things were stolen. Very meticulous thief, to the Bit at that."

I exhaled in relief. "Well, at least you're okay."

"Another fangirl?" I heard someone say behind me.

I turned to see a pegasus mare with a fiery mane like Spitfire's, and a coat of electric blue. I estimated her to be a bit younger than me, but not by much. She wore flight goggles on her head, and had a loose-fitting sash over her shoulder that identified her as a very high-ranking Wonderbolt.

Spitfire sighed. "Missy, she's a friend. It's fine."

The mare smiled and offered a hoof. "I'm Misfire, Spitfire's sister. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

I shook it in turn. "I'm Rainbow Dash, head of the weather team here. Nice to meet you too, Miss Fire."

"No," she said, laughing. "Misfire. One word."

"...I... um..."

She looked down to her hooves, sadly. "Yeah... Anyways, why don't we get to know ourselves better? Wanna grab a bite at the Cerulean Diner?"

"Heck, why not. Bye Spitfire!"

"See ya."

I turned around to find nopony there. I hadn't heard a single wingbeat.

Spitfire laughed. "Let's just say Missy really likes doing things the most... 'efficient' way possible."

"Where is she?"

"The restaurant. Well, by right about..." she waited a few seconds. "Now. She's there already."

"What?!"

I jumped out the window and flew over.

How could she fly that quickly? No wonder she's a Wonderbolt! I mean, she is like, Spitfire's sis and all, but that's ridiculous! And she was about as quiet as Fluttershy at the same time!

I really needed to figure out how she did that. Not even Spitfire can fly that fast.

I pulled up to a stop by the diner to see she had already sat down at a table.

"Oh, hey there Dash. Took the liberty of reserving a table."

I panted for breath. "How did- but I- It... all... wh-"

She chuckled. "Don't worry about it. You look tired. Have a seat!"

As soon as the waitress arrived, I drained my glass of water, coughing. "Seriously... that was fast... you don't even look tired!"

"Everyone tires, I just try not to show it."

"That calmly?"

"Practice."

"I... wow. I honestly need to relearn how to fly, and from you at that..."

As I said that, her eyes flickered. Her smile faded, and she stared off.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Hm? Oh, nothing, just remembered something..."

Our lunch arrived without a word from Misfire.

Through the whole sitting, she simply looked down.

I figured as much that something was wrong.

I finished my sandwich and nudged her. She looked up. "Hey, um, you look sad. Wanna race?"

She flinched, and looked scared. Not in a This-Movie-Is-Scary way, but more like in an In-Front-Of-The-Bloody-Sacrificial-Altar sort of way.

Eyes agape, she dashed out the door of the store.

I opened the door and looked out. She wasn't there to be seen.

Well, that was certainly... unusual.

Probably had to go run a quick errand or something.

I didn't think much of it as I went home.

"Rainbow Dash!" a booming voice shouted. It enveloped me like the thick folds of a blanket. A fierce wind blew in my face, and the world around me was dark. I couldn't see anything.

"Do you have** any *idea of what you've done!*"

I rubbed my eyes and got up. Under normal pretenses, a voice like that would've made me run and hide, but I was used to divine forces trying to rip my skull out.

I brushed off my coat and stood up. "No, not particularly."

"You think this a joke."

"No, I just can't take this seriously. Too cliche."

"Your friends are more than just simple ponies. They serve a grander scheme, one that your pitiful mind cannot comprehend."

"Hey, I'd never abandon my friends!"

"Yes, but can you say the same for them? You've done a terrible thing to Misfire. She curses your name, and wishes death, and a thousand years of suffering upon your head."

"...All because I challenged her to a race?"

"Yes."

"...Yeah, I don't buy it. Umm, still, what's the importance of this?"

I heard the sound of a deep breath, followed by an exhale. A glowing rectangle- not to be confused with a magic rectangle- fell from the ceiling. I was certain it wasn't Lexis's doing, too slow.

It was... a deck of cards. Where have I seen this before...

"I believe a friend bequeathed this upon you?"

"Err, yes, it was a gift, but I don't know what it is."

"This is a Tarot deck. There are seventy-two cards in it, each representing a different characteristic of a pony. This characteristic can be good, or bad, both sides of the coin in one card. Understanding of it takes twenty seconds, mastery takes a lifetime, but knowing its meaning... That is truly a hard thing to do. That's why you're here."

"I am?"

"Yes. The seventy-two cards, alone they represent mere things, but together... they represent life, death, and eternity itself."

"I don't get it."

"You will in time; that is your destiny."The cards shuffled and fanned themselves, their backs facing me. "I can see your fate, woven into the cards..."

Now, to think that something as big as my entire life could be interpreted through a bunch of cardboard slips kinda threw me off. Why would I believe that? Then again, I'd figured I should expect crazy things to happen.

"Err... what's it say?"

"Hard to compose in but a few words. One moment, please."

In the black darkness, I could see a white mist appear and spill out on the floor. It eventually morphed, and formed into the crude shape of a pony. His eyes glowed with a mad light, but the rest of his face was textureless and devoid of emotions.

He fell to the floor, and gestured for me to sit. The deck fell to his side.

The deck shuffled itself madly. All the while, he stared at me with his emotionless eyes. They were unnerving, and very shiny.

"That should be about enough. Just to show you I haven't cheated, you can cut the deck."

"How do you cheat at a Tarot reading?"

"The same way you cheat in Poker."

"...?"

"Right. You do know that modern playing cards were based off of Tarot, right?"

"Poker represents life, the universe, and everything?"

"No, that's what Solitaire is for."

"What?"

"Okay, so, onto your destiny."

The first card fell off the top of the deck. It fell down, revealing a dodgy- looking pony with a suave black hat. He was smiling, and above him floated a golden infinity sign. One hoof pointed up triumphantly, the other pointed down modestly. His cocky smile made me think he was up to something. Around him floated four objects.

The first was a sword. Around it flew zephyrs, chasing each other in dancing circles. It looked like a really convenient vegetable slicer.

The next was a stick. It was on fire, but didn't seem to be burning. Judging by the conspicuous ruby in its tip, and the fact that it was a lot bigger than the sword made me think it would be better to call it a wand.

Behind that was a really big coin. Probably had little to no mint value, that thing was gigantic. But oooh, it was shiny. If that was solid gold, it'd be worth a fortune.

Finally, and probably most boring, was a cup. Wow. A mysterious liquid sloshed around in it, and judging from the smile he had on his face, it could be anywhere from moonshine to kerosene, and millions of things more.

Now, from his stupid smile, he could either be A: Trying to sell me yet another fruit juicer, B: Trying to steal bits from my bag, C: Recite a cheesy pickup line, D: Do some stupid magic trick, or E: Laugh as he made me swallow a firecracker.

That smile... it made me torn between the decisions of slapping him, giving him a pat on the back, or yelling at him to get out of my house.

"This card is the Magician. Arcana one. He represents your present- all that you think of the world as it is around you, and what you aspire to happen."

"I'm being sold 'magic' sponges?"

"No. Well, maybe. I don't know if they're actually as absorbent as they claim. Anyways, the Magician means that currently, you've been given a new chance at life, to try to do it all over again, and harness hidden potential. Your talents have not been realized yet, and attaining that power will require an initiative."

I thought of all that had happened to me recently. It wasn't exactly miracles I was doing, and I was quite new at them, but that matched perfectly. "I... guess that makes sense."

"Whelp. Onto the next card. This one is going to be the Challenge- something you must overcome to achieve your goals."

He placed this card not on the Magician, but sideways.

This card was of a mare, who rested regally on her really red throne chair oh, screw this.

On the left and right of her, there were two pillars, one white, one black.

Her white-blue dress fell to the ground, where what appeared to be a crescent moon laid, half-covered with the trailing gown. On top of her head rested a three-tiered crown, the bottom one golden and flared like a rising sun, the middle of silver covered in thousands of dazzling stars, and the top one a dark blue metal with the crescent moon's favor.

She wore a veil over her face, but from underneath the cover of her eyes, I could see a satisfied smirk. Clearly, she knew something I didn't. And she would do anything she could to keep that away from me. You know, she kind of reminded me of-

"Luna?" I blurted out loud.

The dark pony tilted his head in thought. As he blinked, his form flickered. "...These cards are archetypes. It's entirely possible for you to be reading through them."

"Hmm."

"This card, like I said, is the Challenger."

"Bring it on, Luna!"

"If you ever challenged somepony like that to a fight, you'd probably be incinerated the instant those words were uttered."

"Nah, I hear that half of all Alicorns failed their magic combat tests."

"There's only two ponies from whom we could collect that data. And Luna was banished the day before she'd have taken her test."

"Yeah, but that's still like, fifty percent, right?"

"Touche. Anyways, this card is the High Priestess. Arcana two. Secrets, lies, mysteries, hidden knowledge. How do you know for sure she is Luna? Are you sure that's the real, natural moon, and not an artificially flavored one? Does she reach for a glass of lemonade or a scimitar? Is she really a pony, or, say, a cabbage in an outfi-"

"Thank you."

"She is the opposite of the Magician- while he was open with his intelligence, and knew everything he needed to, the Priestess is more... calculating. She bides her time. Maybe she knows what to do. Maybe she doesn't. But she has resources unrevealed, which she can tap at will."****

**"This card is... weird. Why is Luna standing on the moon?"**

****"Because it's awfully hard to swim on the moon."****

**"..."**

****"The moon represents ultimate wisdom. Usually such a goal flies high above us, unreachable. But the Priestess, she has the moon at her beck and call. She is able to, at will, use nothing more than pure knowledge. Aside from that, this card usually is a good thing- you have unraveled mysteries. Blah blah blah. But this time, it's what's called Reversed."****

**The card slowly spun around until it lay perfectly on top of the magician, so that it was upside-down. I stared at it blankly. "What's different?"**

****"If upright is 'good', then Reversed is 'bad'. But like the Priestess herself, the real meaning of this card is a bit... unclear. Dodgy bastard. It has a variety of interpretations. It could mean you aren't listening to your conscience. Maybe there's something you know that you're ignoring. Or, someone's keeping a secret. It could be you. Or, lack therof. A secret may be out. But I don't know."****

**"Wait, I have a question. If cards can be reversed, and playing cards are based off of Tarot, then how did-"**

****"So people couldn't read the cards, find the winning side, and rearrange their hand."****

**"?"**

****"You know, you can read your hand to predict the exact number of bits to bet."****

**"...Interesting."**

**He slapped me and threw another card down.**

****"Bam! You didn't see that coming!"****

**I rubbed my face. "...Okay?"**

Let's frickin get out of here!

There are no capitalization errors in this. Think about it.

"...what?" Twi asked.

"A letter came in! Engo has captured Everfree successfully?"

"...are you sure? Where is Everfree?"

"Err... they didn't say. All they've told us is that it was a really powerful nation, but we were able to defeat them with sheer power and the might of the country!"

"...that's nice."

I looked at Twi for an explanation.

"Err... I don't know. The paper colts make their country look stronger by making them 'conquer everything?'"

"Nopony can mail letters that fast. Or deliver."

"Hmm. Well idk. Let's ask the pony who did the conquering!"

"Rainbow, they'll never let us meet the king. He probably has important duties to attend to-"

"Oh, the King?" the newscolt interrupted. "Everypony is allowed to meet Him! My mother had tea with Him last sunday."

"W-what?"

"Yeah! In fact, I can show you how to arrange an audience with Him myself! Come with me."

We followed him to a large building that looked like the palace. It was really fancy, like, fancier than I'd think a palace would be. But what was stranger was that this place was actually in color.

No gilded pillars. They were all platinum. No fonts of water. They all flowed with wine. No polished marble. They had damn solid gold blocks. No velvet. All velour.

This place was... expensive is the only word I can use. It wasn't exactly good looking, just... made with expensive stuff.

"I wonder what the king looks like?" Fluttershy said.

"Maybe like... that." I pointed at a giant statue of a man wearing a crown more annoying than Twilight's Persona's headpiece. He held a scepter that I felt I'd seen before.

"Oh. Sorry..."

"Ah, I made the same mistake," the newscolt said. "There are far too many different statues of Him, hard to figure out His real look." What's that supposed to mean?

"Here is the Hall of Statues," he said with a flourish. I don't know why he suddenly has switched professions to tour guide.

Well.. this certainly is a lot of statues. Not a hall. More like a road.

Each statue was different, some with him as a daring pegasus, a sly unicorn, a tough earth pony. And right in the middle, was a cheesy Alicorn statue.

"Didn't expect that at all," I remarked.

"Nope," Fluttershy added.

"Not in any way," Twilight finished.

Well... my idea of this pony has no form. We continued walking until we reached two doors.

"The King is behind these doors. He's expecting you."

"Well that was fast. Thanks!"

The doors opened by themselves and we walked in.

Inside the palace was... the tallest flight of stairs in the world. "Come, travelers," a booming voice said from above. I looked up the undefined slope that was the stairs, and saw... a bunch of fog. We climbed the stairs.

It took forever, but we got to the top. The fog cleared, and sitting in a massive throne was... a scrawny, short earth pony. "Welcome. Are you not amazed by your Ruler?"

"Err... yeah..." was all I could say. With all those statues and how everypony looks up to him, I'd expect him to at least be able to look me in the eyes. Didn't Applejack tell me she'd never met a weak earth pony? Well here ya go.

"Behold!" He yelled, putting down a cone amplifier. I heard a switch flick, and a halo of light came from behind him. The illusion would never work; everypony could see above him to the box. "Your Ruler! He asks of your names!"

"Umm... I'm Twilight..."

"I'm uh, Fluttershy..."

"I'm Rainbow Dash."

"Yes, yes, I promise nothing in the means of remembering your names. Uh, what was it, twilight, fluttershy, and umm... rainbow cr-"

"Yes, yes, close enough."

"Ah. So what have you consulted your Ruler for?"

"Erm, we wanted to hear... some war stories, from our all-conquering overlord," Twilight asked.

"Yes, yes. So we were out, Me and about sixty colts." Seems a bit low for me. "And we were carrying, each pony, six swords, and eleven spears!" Okay... "And we um, threw the spears and um, it demolished the enemy army. And we captured their flag and won." What...

"Ah. Um, what were the uh, spoils of war?"

"What are spoils of war?"

"You know, what you got in reward..."

"Oh, um, we found err, mountains of gold! Yes!"

"No money?"

"And, twelve million err... whats the currency here called again... Sovrins! They're named after Me, yes. My name is Sovereign Staff, yes?"

"Oh well um... why didn't you say so?"

"More refer to Me as King, or Ruler, or Overlord. It works better for them, yes?"

"Ah. Well, we um, best be going..."

"Goodbye, fools!"

We backed up slowly, then realized there were stairs, and just turned and ran.

That was... interesting.

"Well, we still don't know how to escape," Twi said.

"I'm scared..." Fluttershy remarked.

Who could I ask for help... Oh! "Hey guys, I'll be right back for a sec, just um, stay here."

I turned a corner into an alley, and glowed my hooves. "Alia!" The world spun, my vision blurred, the lights cleared.

"Hello, Rainbow." Lexis said from behind the desk.

"Hey." How will I explain this... erm, make small talk first. "How's your um, mane doing?"

It was still floating behind her in a slow, nonexistant breeze, just like Celestia or Luna.

"Oh its um, great. Hard to wash though."

"Ah. So err, how will I say this... we're trapped underground in a black-and-white city with short kings and eccentric paperboys and colorful fountains of wine."

She blinked twice. "What?"

"So there's a big city with weird smiley old-fashioned ponies that-"

"Can I have a name?" she conjured a floating file cabinet that matched her exactly. I was surprised she didn't slam i- "Oh, I almost forgot!" okay, scratch that.

"Err, Engo."

She shuffled through it and pulled out an also-glowing white folder. "You want an exit, right? This here says there's one in the Elksta forest. Ask the locals."

"Really? Thanks!"

"No prob."

I clopped my way out of there.

When I came out of the alley, I saw Twilight and Fluttershy in a ring of other ponies, all of them looking intently at something. I went up to them. "What's happening?"

"Its so horrible! I can't look!"

"Fluttershy. They haven't started fighting yet. Plus, any blood will be grey. Basically Rainbow, this guy here," she pointed at a colt wearing a suit and matching fedora. "Ran into the street yelling something about the government. Cop's trying to catch him."

"Yes! Its true!" He yelled. "Listen! The government! They're controlling all of you! How can you not see it! They're in the walls! They know everything about you!" He waved his arms around.

"Ignore him," the pony I assumed to be a police officer said. "He's probably delusional."

"No I'm not!" he turned and looked me straight in the eye. "They're controlling everypony! They will monitor you! And if they find, you they will-"

"Shut up."

"I'm not afraid of you," the pony said back to the cop. "you think you have power, you think you-"

"Hey," the policecolt said, his voice turning to the one of a kind father. "The King has invited you over for tea."

The pony's eyes glazed over, and he blinked thrice. "Yes..." he said, like in a trance. "that would be... lovely..."

The cop lead him over to the palace. "Everypony, go back to work." they all picked up their parasols, adjusted their ties, and left like nothing happened.

"Does this happen often?" I said to a mare next to me.

"Does what?"

"You know... all of... that."

"I don't know what you mean..."

"The fight? The policecolt?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know..."

She left and bought a sandwich.

"Okay... well, at least I have information. There is an exit in the Elksta forest."

"Hmm. I'll go check that map," Twi remarked.

She walked off to do whatever.

"Hey, kid." I heard a stallion behind me say. I turned. He came up to me. He wore a long trench coat and a black, white-rimmed fedora. "Ya really goin to Elksta forest?"

"Erm, yeah, why?"

"That place... it..." he was quiet. "Just... don't go there. Its... scary, and not in the fear way, in much... other ways..."

He disappeared into an alleyway.

Well, that didn't help at all. Probably just trying to scare me. Ha.

"So um, the reception mare didn't want to divulge such info to me, but she reluctantly gave me directions after some effort."

"So you found a map?"

"Erm, yes."

"Brilliant! So, where is this 'Elksta Forest'?"

Okay, this is the most stereotypical dark forest I've ever seen.

It was dark, and gloomy, and had fog, and yellow eyes peering from the shadows. Amazing work, director.

The fact that it was also colored did nothing to prevent us from knowing how stupid it was.

There was a path that snaked into it, which undoubtedly led to a bridge that was most certainly broken.

We did the natural, stupid, and brilliant thing to do. We walked in like cocky bastards.

Twi's weird circly thingy kinda illuminated the darkness with a bluish, moon-like glow. The leaves cast shadows onto the wall- wait, what?

Walls?

I ran to the side. The trees made it hard to get there, but I just went around them. The trees were made of plastic. I went around it. There was a solid, dark backdrop, with yellow lights implanted in it, and a fog machine. The sky was the same.

I motioned for them to come over. We were in a big room. This whole forest must be fake.

Twi pulled out the map. "Oh. Oh! D'oh!"

"What?"

"I knew this forest looked funny. Look at its bird's eye-view."

I peered over and saw nothing.

"Oh... I see..." Fluttershy mumbled.

"Am I the only one here who does not understand this?"

"Look. The forest is basically a rounded off, perfect octagon." It did kinda look like that, if you lobbed off the trees and other stuff.

"Ah..."

"This must be the most expensive stage set in the world. Its pretty realistic."

"Yeah... not really."

"I have to agree, um, this kinda isn't really the um, best... I mean, not that its not good, but its not... good..."

Well... this is awkward.

"So where's the exit?"

"A better question would be where's the entrance."

"What?"

Twi pointed. The entrance was completely gone.

"How is that possib-"

"Remember. This is a set. There's probably moving doors or something, Idunno."

We walked deeper into the forest, when there was a brilliant flash from in front.

"What's that?"

We went closer. There was a pony, wearing just brown, simple garbs, and a metal helmet with a black slit for an eyehole. It looked scary, and told you nothing about whoever was in there.

He was whispering down the neck of somepony else, strapped to a big operation chair, which was propped up.

"Everything's fine... don't worry..."

Whoever was on top of the metal table thing struggled. "No! Nothing's fine! Nothing's-"

A big flash of light came from the brown pony's eyeslit. "Everything's fine..."

I realized the one on the table was the pony from before, the one yelling.

We walked around to get a better view. The rogue's pupils were dilated, and he had a glazed look on. "Everything... is... fine..." he snapped out of it. "No! Nothing-"

Another flash. "Everything is fine. The king is good. He has invited you for tea. Will you accept?"

"I... would... love that..."

He then passed out. The colt wearing the brown robes carried him away over his shoulder.

Behind him, casually, walked another identical guard, leading another unconscious pony over to the table. "Everything is fine..."

We've been wandering around this forest and still haven't found anything. Apparently, they lock this place up most of the time, and only open the doors when they're taking ponies in. I don't see where an exit would be here.

"...there. I see it." Fluttershy pointed over to a collection of rocks.

"I... don't see anything."

"Are you sure that's right, 'Shy?"

"Positive." She walked over with surprising confidence, and hit the rocks with her hoof. Something red glowed on it for a second before the rocks split, revealing a staircase.

"Umm, Fluttershy, aren't we supposed to be going up?"

"This will lead up. Trust me."

I didn't question that. Enough strange stuff has happened already. We went down the stairs. They lead out into a flat area. I don't know when or how, but after walking through it for about three minutes, we came out of the door to Twi's basement laboratory.

I turned around and opened the door again. It was Twi's basement. "Wh-what?"

"Magic." Thank you Twi. That totally explains everything.

I looked out the window. It was night.

"Aw shoot, how long have we been gone?"

"Just like eight hours, why?"

"Its night. Maybe time is different down there... how long have we been gone? At least a day. What is everypony thinking?"

"Oh... no... lemme go check." Twi ran out and tripped over something.

"Aah! It wasn't me!" I heard Spike yell. He was in the pantry, eating sapphires. "Oh um, I can explain-"

"Go to your room, mister."

He slunked off, trying to palm some gems out of view. "Okay, so no time has passed," Twi deducted.

"Either that or Spike's a naive, heartless idiot."

"Which he isn't."

"Noted."

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I want to go sleep."

"Sure."

"That would be nice..."

We said goodbye, and went to our respective homes.

I was standing on the edge of a chasm. I didn't know where I was or where I was standing, but I could see an endless black abyss from below. There was a voice whispering from somewhere down there.

"Ponykind is foolish," it said.

"They know nothing," a second agreed.

"But this one, she knows," a third replied. I could not tell what gender the voices were, the age, or really anything. They were just... voices.

"Yes, she knows."

"She will know."

"She has known." They all talked in turn, the first voice, the second voice, the third voice, perfect order.

"This one... what will she work for?"

"The guiding light of the future?"

"The breaking fires of destruction?"

"Or maybe... something else..."

"She will have to choose."

"Nay, she already has."

"Or is she choosing right now?"

"Decide... decide... it is what you must do..." they said in perfect harmony. "We teach you... we will... we have... we do... we hope the first lesson will approach..."

The voices faded, and my dream stopped, going back to that better one with the Wonderbolts.

Don't worry guys, gonna get back to the social links soon...

Well, finally

Got a chapter done, blah blah blah, but basically, I realized something.

I haven't said what the hell I'm fooling aroudn with

If you havent noticed already im typing this quick, have work to do

here you are

http://www.fimfiction.net/group/197373/in-a-little-group-in-ponyville

Basically its a project that's supposed to remake people's love in grimdark

Everyone's an idiot who hates darkfics

we're tryihng to change that

my misspellings suck right now, don't have time to edit

So far, we only have one fic done:

http://mobile.fimfiction.net/story/32848/ialtcp-1-stone-spiral

And this was from last year

You see, this project is acrtually a redo of a former one which bombed

Obviously we don't have any fics out yet

But we will soon

Currently, I've convinced someone to write us a quick fable to verify our not-deadness

So err, yeah