Author's Note

Wow. It’s been a year. And I’m still alive! Yet. Um. My hovercraft is full of eels.

Much has happened. Likely to the disadvantage of this story’s reputation. Will it be concluded now? Who knows. The goal is in reach...

Chapter 26

Twilight looked at Rainbow. Rainbow looked at Twilight.

“You do look terrible,” Rainbow said.

“You too.”

For a few seconds, nopony said a word, until Rainbow started laughing. Though the situation was hardly funny, Twilight felt an urge to join. She resisted.

After a while, Rainbow’s laughing turned into a cough, and without much ado, she dropped herself downward, lying squarely on the library floor.

“I thought we were toast, Twilight. I didn’t think we’d make it out of there.”

“Why, what happened?” Applejack asked, visibly disturbed.

“The place was massive,” Twilight replied. Suddenly, she realized that she had tears in her eyes. “Um... a hundred and sixty miles wide and over a thousand miles tall, if what I calculated is... accurate. Without Rainbow, I’d have never made it out.”

“Woah! Did she-”

“-fly us all the way?” Rainbow finished her sentence. “You bet.”

Twilight swallowed, trying to calm herself. “It was pitch-black the entire time,” she said, and in doing so first realized that it was also dark now. “What time is it?”

“Ought to be ‘round one AM by now. Pinkie was waitin’ here ‘till midnight, then I took over.”

“One AM... do you think we should just let them sleep, and report in tomo-”

“Ponyfeathers, Twilight! No-one’s sleeping! Y’all had us worried sick!”

“Okay, okay. But... I really don’t want to go out, and I bet Rainbow doesn’t, either.”

“I think they’re all at Pinkie’s place. I can get ‘em.”

“Alright.” Twilight let out a long breath. The beating of her heart was loud in her ears. “We’re alive... we’re back...”

Applejack gave her a worried glance. “Well... I’ll go get ‘em. See y’all in just a bit.”

With a tip of her head, she excused herself.

“I wanna take a shower,” Twilight said a while after she was gone. “Rainbow, what about you?”

Rainbow raised her head. “You mean together?”

“Don’t see why not. They won’t need long.”

“So, you were right, Rarity,” Twilight concluded. Just as Applejack had said, the others had all been at Sugarcube Corner, and none of them had been sleeping. It had taken barely ten minutes for all of them to arrive at the library once Applejack had left. “Without Rainbow... I’d have died of exhaustion. Or thirst. We shouldn’t... we shouldn’t have gone in.”

“Oh darling!” Rarity rushed forward, drawing Twilight in an unexpected embrace. “I was the one who encouraged everypony not to come! If Rainbow had listened to me, you’d be dead now! Because of me!”

“Rarity...” Twilight mouthed, weakly returning the gesture. “That’s such a bad way to see this. If I hadn’t tried to get in in the first place...”

“But... but we should have all come with you. Like we usually do.”

“Uhm.”

Rarity let go of Twilight so both of them could turn towards Fluttershy.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. It sounds like the only reason they made it out is because Rainbow was strong enough to fly them... that far. If we all had come, then... uhm, Rainbow couldn’t have carried all of us, so...”

While she spoke, Twilight was reminded of her talk with Rainbow, as she had been at the peak of her exhaustion. Then she realized she had just been hugging Rarity a moment ago.

“Fluttershy’s right,” she now said. “And that’s what bothers me. We’ve been lucky. Really, really lucky. And the phoenix wasn’t supposed to put us in a situation where we need luck to make it out.”

“Was he really s’pposed to do anythin’?”

“I guess not, I just... I thought we’d be... safe.” As Twilight said this, she realized just how true it was. “I trusted him. I trusted Peewee not to put us in real danger. But I was wrong. Clearly.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow said after a while, “yeah, you really were. But it’s cool, y’know.” She gave Twilight a friendly poke. “We’ve been lucky before. It always worked out in the end.”

“Right,” Twilight murmured. “... so far.”

Upon this, no-pony else said a word, until the silence began to feel uncomfortable.

“So...” Pinkie Pie eventually asked, “what now?”

What now?

For the first two weeks after the incident, Twilight had felt no desire to go back. She had made no progress in understanding Peewee, and no preparations for another visit, but neither had she messaged the princess. She had simply put it on hold. Fluttershy was still taking sessions, and they were still very short.

Then her brother had gotten married.

After two days of dealing with a Cadence that was so very unlike her old foalsitter, Twilight had confronted the other girls about it. None of them had shared her suspicions, but none of them had known how Cadence used to be like. Fluttershy had been the first to suggest that they should cover their grounds regardless, and Rarity the first to agree. Collectively, they had paid Shining and his wife-to-be a visit at the end of that day, planing to stay as long as necessary to talk things out.

As a progressively more devastated Twilight had brought up their shared past and memories out of sheer frustration, things had taken a turn which none of them had expected. Twilight had held her own for the better part of ten seconds in an open fight with Queen Chrysalis, and Luna, who had come to their aid almost immediately, for about twice as long.

Twilight wasn’t sure how things would have turned out if not for what had come next.

Would Celestia, who had only taken another minute to show up, have been able to beat Chrysalis, who, as Luna had later said, must have run on the combined power of dozens of subjects?

If not, would Chrysalis have seized control over Canterlot? Would she have attempted to... rule? Imprisoned everypony who would oppose her?

Or would she have murdered Celestia and Luna?

They would never find out. But whatever had been at stake that day, someone or something had decided it was enough to interfere. Twilight had not even seen it happening; she and Luna had been held down and fully blinded by the changeling queen. But the others had told her. Told her that there had been no fight, no sign of warning, not even a real confrontation. Philomena had simply flown in on Chrysalis, there had been a flash, and Chrysalis lifeless body had hit the ground.