The Heart's Shell

Rainbow Dash, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia approached the caves with great caution. They had made it to the entrance and stood still at how big it was. Rainbow Dash gulped and was shaking. Princess Celestia put her wing behind Rainbow.

“You will be fine” she said.

“But you and Princess Luna said I might not make it out” Rainbow replied.

“We did say that. But there was something we forgot to mention to you”

“What was it?”

“In order to completely destroy your demon foal, you must find five gemstones. When they are activated, you will be able to have enough power to destroy the foal”

“What are these gems?”  Rainbow Dash asked confused. Princess Luna stepped forward.

“They are the Amethyst of Failure, the Topaz of Loss, the Diamond of Disappointment, the Opal of Cruelty and the Sapphire of Harshness” she said.

“Whoa, very specific names!” Rainbow replied “But how will I know where to find them?”

“They will appear on your way to your demon foal” Princess Celestia replied. “Now you must go. There is little time”

“Now I really have to do this on my own?”

“I’m afraid so, Rainbow Dash”

Rainbow Dash ran to hug the princesses. They were surprised at first, but of course they realised that Rainbow might never see them again either.

“I’m going to miss you” Rainbow said as she tightened her saddle bag and headed towards the entrance. She took one last look at Equestria until she headed towards the darkness.

As soon as she fully went through the door, it suddenly closed shut behind her. Rainbow turned around and tried to unlock the door. It was no use. Now she definitely knew she was on her own.

“As the princesses said; I have to face my demons by myself. I can’t have any help from any pony. Not even my best friends. Though it does hurt, it makes more sense. Here goes nothing”

She inhaled and exhaled as she moved forward.

Rainbow Dash entered a realm full of giant test papers. The sky was dark amber. The archway of the realm said “Failure”. This definitely told Rainbow one thing; that there could be ponies who experience grief from failing, If they care about it a lot that is. The test papers all had big fat Fs on them. She was starting to find this place pretty eerie indeed.

“Twilight Sparkle would not like it in here” she said to herself. She also thought about what the princesses told her. The gems that she had to find in the caves themselves must have had similar names to the titles of the realms. For example; one of the gems she had to find was called the “Amethyst of Failure”. Since this was the Realm of Failure, she thought she might find the first stone here. Suddenly, she could hear a filly crying. She then figured she was not the only one in the caves.

“Hello? Any pony there?” she called out. The crying continued until she could hear where it was coming from. A dark purple filly was behind a rock crying. She was just dark purple all over, more of a smoky figure than an actual pony.  She had straight hair that was cut neatly on her forehead.

Rainbow Dash approached the filly with great caution to make sure it wasn’t a trap and responded with a “hello”. The filly flinched and turned around to see Rainbow Dash standing before her. Now that she had opened her eyes, they were bright white.  There were no pupils, just white.

“W-who are you?” the filly asked.

“My name is Rainbow Dash. I’m kind of lost out here. Do you know where my demon foal is located?”

“What’s a demon foal?”

“You’re a demon foal” Rainbow patiently responded.

“No I’m not. I’m a unicorn!”

“A unicorn?”

“Yes. And I’m not just any unicorn; I’m Princess Celestia’s prized pupil!”

“You are Princess Celestia’s prized pupil?” Rainbow Dash asked. Then she gasped and realized something. Rainbow knew who this filly was. “Twilight Sparkle?” The filly flinched again.

“How do you know my name?”

“There’s only one pony I know who would be the prized pupil of Princess Celestia! And back where I’m from, we’re best friends” Rainbow Dash replied as she crouched down to Twilight’s height “So why are you crying? If you’re Princess Celestia’s prized pupil, shouldn’t you be happy?”

Twilight looked down at her hooves.

“Well, you see, this is what happened: Soon after I got my cutiemark in magic and became Princess Celestia’s pupil, I started taking magic classes to control my magic. I was good at all of the subjects I was taking at the time; levitation, appearance, etc. But the one subject I was not good at was potion making, and that was a very important subject to learn. Every time I practiced potion making, I always ended up getting it wrong.

One day, the potion making exam was coming up. I was trying my best to pass the class. I tried following the instructions as best I could, but this time, I managed to make an explosion in the classroom. Princess Celestia came up to me:

‘Meet me in my office’ she said. I was very scared of what she was going to say. The other fillies in my class just stood there in silence as they saw me leave. I sat down on the chair opposite of Princess Celestia’s and she began to talk to me:

‘I’m worried about your progress in potion making’ she said. ‘You are doing so well in the other subjects being taught here but you continue to struggle with potion making, a vital part of your studies’

‘I’m sorry’ I replied ‘I’m trying my best to practice, I really am, but I seem to be getting worse and worse at it every single time’ I just hung my head in shame as my tutor got up from her seat.

‘The exam is in two days. If you’re not able to pass this subject, I will have to give you an F on it’ she said in a stern matter. I gasped in shock; tears started welling up in my eyes.

‘But Princess Celestia, I don’t want to fail!’ I replied trying to catch up to her.

‘Then make sure you practice, or you can also forget about being my pupil!’ she used her wing to push me out of her office. I just ran off crying after that”

“But you passed that test, right?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I don’t know that, all I can remember is me running off”

‘Oh yeah, Demon foals only remember up to when they were created’ Rainbow Dash thought. Twilight went back to sulking and sighing.

“If I don’t pass the exam, I’m never going to be good at magic!” Twilight said as she started to sob again. Rainbow tried to think of some way for her to stop, until she came up with an idea.

“You know what, you do pass that exam. And you still continue being her pupil” Rainbow Dash replied.

“How do you know that?”

“I told you, I’m your friend remember?” Rainbow Dash said “When you a full grown mare, you travel to Ponyville, my home town, because Princess Celestia sent you there to make some friends, including me. You soon discover that we are the spirits of the elements of harmony and we defeat Nightmare moon”

“I defeat Nightmare moon?” Twilight asked.

“Yep. You, me and the rest of our friends.”

“That’s so cool!”

“But that’s not all! You make friendship reports to Princess Celestia until she makes you an alicorn, the princess of Friendship!” Twilight started to smile and run up to Rainbow Dash for a hug.

“I can’t believe I’m destined for all of these great things!” she said. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash”

Suddenly Twilight started to glow a light shade of purple.

“What’s happening?” Rainbow asked herself as she moved further back to shield herself from the bright light. As the light dimmed, a hologram like shape of fully grown Twilight was present.

“I am the amethyst of Failure, now cleansed as the amethyst of magic. You have four more gems to find. Once they are all activated, you will be able to defeat your demon foal”

The hologram lit up again and formed a light that swarmed around Rainbow’s wrist. A bracelet with a star shaped amethyst in the middle.

“The first gem, Twilight’s demon foal was the first gem! Maybe the rest of my friends are the rest of the gems I need to find!” Rainbow said to herself as she kept walking.

Rainbow set off into the next realm. This realm however was much darker than the last one. The sky was a dark navy blue, like the night-time with storm clouds. The realm was covered with grave stones. It was the Realm of Loss.

"Ok, this realm is even creepier than the last one, what’s with all of these graves?” Rainbow asked herself. She stopped suddenly as she perked her right ear up. She heard another filly crying; another demon foal. She went to go see who it was.

The filly this time was a dark, smoky orange instead of dark purple like the last one. Her mane and tail was tied up with special hair ties on the ends of her hair.

“Why’d ya have to go?” the filly sobbed “It’s all my fault that you’re not here anymore!” Rainbow Dash observed. She soon recognised whose demon foal this filly was.

“Applejack?” Rainbow whispered. The filly turned back and was very defensive this time. She was almost in anger towards Rainbow Dash.

“What’re tryin’ to do? Give me a heart attack? How did ya know my name?”

“You see, I’m best friends with you in Equestria. My name is Rainbow Dash”

“That’s nice to hear, I guess. If my parents were ‘ere, they’d be nice to see ya”

“What happened to your parents?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, it happened at the start of school. I was very excited because I found out I got my cutiemark. My best friend Rarity came up to me, running in delight.

‘Look! Look! Applejack! Yesterday I got my cutiemark!’ she squealed.

‘Wow, that’s amazing!’ I replied. ‘How did you get it?’

‘I discovered that I had the power to track gems using my magic. I was trying to fix costumes for the performance yesterday which I fixed using the gems I used. Then, three diamonds appeared on my flank!’

‘Well, that’s a mighty fine coincidence, because I also got my cutiemark yesterday’ I replied as I showed my cutiemark to Rarity.

‘You got your cutie mark too?’ Rarity asked ‘How did you get that?’

‘Well, I kind of ran away to Manehattan to stay with Uncle and Aunt Orange. But I missed home, so then I returned and my cutiemark appeared’

‘So that’s why you were absent from school last week. You got your cutiemark by going to a place then going back again? You make it sound so easy’

‘Not really, I first thought that my talent was bucking apples. But no cutiemark showed up. I guess it was the loyalty to my family that made it appear’

‘That makes sense’ Rarity replied.

‘I can’t wait for my little sister Applebloom to finally get her cutiemark!’

‘Applejack, darling, isn’t Applebloom only a newborn filly?’

‘I know she is, but I can’t wait!’

‘I have some more exciting news!’

‘What is it?’

‘You know how you have a little sister. Well I found out from my parents that I might become a big sister soon!’

‘Really? That’s amazing!’

‘I can’t wait! I hope it’s a little sister. Then I can braid her hair and make her clothes and it will be so cute!’

The school bell rang.

‘We’d better go to class’ I said. We ran off to class. When the day ended, we were skipping outside to get fresh air.

‘Well, I’d better get to the Apple Orchard before my parents worry about me’ I said. Rarity’s smile disappeared.

‘But you said that we were going over to my house to play!’ Rarity responded.

‘I know that, but the work load has gotten bigger since Applebloom has entered the family’

‘You’re a filly? Why do you already have work?’

‘You have work too; we get work when we get our cutie marks remember?’ Rarity started moving backwards as I started moving forwards.

‘It’s not work if it’s a hobby’ Rarity said.

‘Well it kind of is’

‘Why must you take the fun out of everything?’

‘Like blindly walking onto a raggedy bridge?’ I asked. Rarity noticed that she was on a wobbly bridge that looked pretty broken.

‘Applejack, help me!’ she shrieked. I wish I could’ve done something, but I wasn’t strong enough. But there were a couple of ponies who were.

‘Hang on Rarity. I’ll get my parents, they’ll save ya’

‘Please hurry!’ Rarity yelled as she clung on to the bridge.

I ran to where my parents were as fast as I could. They were busy bucking apples with my big brother Big Macintosh.

‘You’ve gotta help! My friend Rarity is dangling from a bridge!’ I panted. My parents were fast on the trail, and so was my big brother. They came as soon as they could. Suddenly, the other end of the bridge snapped and Rarity clung on to it as it came closer to us. Big Mac, Mom and Dad pulled the rope of the bridge with all their might with Rarity clinging for her life. Luckily she was safe.

However, Big Mac noticed there was a crack in the ground and quickly moved out of the way. And just like that, I saw my own parents falling to their deaths, never to be seen again. Big Mac ran away back to the apple field, I collected the hat that dad wore. Tears started to come out of my eyes, I started to cry.

‘Mom and Dad are dead!’ I cried. Rarity started to cry too, silently. ‘I’m an orphan!’ I sobbed into the hat, Rarity tried to comfort me.

‘It’s all my fault, I’m sorry Applejack’ Rarity sniffed as she ran away from the scene, leaving me all alone with dad’s hat. Because of Rarity, my parents are dead!” Applejack continued to sob loudly as Rainbow Dash looked concerned and worried.

‘That’s what Applejack didn’t want to say to me that one day. Her parents are dead; she didn’t want to put me down anymore’ she thought. ‘Little does she know that I’ve been through that pain before too, but not with Tank, with something else’

“Hey kid. Don’t let the past get to you. I made that same mistake” Rainbow replied.

“What’re you talking about?”

“Just hear me out. The Applejack I know doesn’t cling on to the past as much as you, obviously, she uses the pain and grief she has to help others in that situation. She tries to be mature about it, and sometimes she’s stubborn about it too, but new exciting things wait for you like your little sister Applebloom getting her cutiemark” Applejack’s eyes widened.

“Applebloom has her cutiemark?”

“She does. In fact, she has the same cutiemark as her friends Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s little sister, and Scootaloo, a Pegasus”

“Rarity has a little sister?”

“Yeah. And don’t say that it’s your fault your parents died. Don’t beat yourself in the past. Look in the future. You even understood what I was feeling when I was sad about Tank hibernating and was able to help me get over my mistakes. I made the same mistake as you did and I totally accepted it for a while. Applejack, you are the most hardworking pony I know”

“Thank ya, Rainbow Dash! That means ‘lot”. Same as with Twilight, Applejack turned into her full grown self in front of Rainbow Dash.

“I’m the topaz of loss, now the topaz of honesty. You have three more gems to find. Good luck to ya” Applejack finally said as she transformed into a yellow topaz the shape of a hexagon left of the amethyst.

“Two gems, three more to go” Rainbow Dash said as she trailed forward yet again.