Night of Change

by starshine_dash

Rating: mature
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Tragedy, Alternate Universe
Length: 5535

Wondering why Dash is blind in my AU? Read this.

Rainbow Dash notices that a hoard of dragons are approaching Ponyville and everypony prepares for possible evacuation. Fluttershy, worried for her animal companions, gets lost in the Everfree Forest. Dash and Twi hunt for her as the dragons land for the night very close to town. The night ahead will test them more than anything before. Death looms for one brave pony as her friends try to save her.

Not into gore or dark fic in general? No problem, it's briefly mentioned in the next chapter of Midwife Crisis what happens in this story.

Published 2012-07-13 22:04:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-07-17 07:04:53 UTC

Fluttershy

What follows are the events of one summer evening several weeks after the end of Season 2. The faint of heart should turn away now. Those who want to know the short version of why Dashie is blind in my AU will find out next chapter of Midwife Crisis.

It was the day before the Summer Sun Celebration, and in Ponyville the day was passing with the minor preparations they made each year for the festival. None nearly so extravagant as they had prepared a couple years ago when Celestia herself was to present, but they were still holding a day of fun and games. It was their duty to take advantage of the longest day of the year with fun, friends, and family. Most of the village was out and about today as well, shopping for decorations or simply checking out the events ahead of time.

Fluttershy found herself in the market square, attempting to stay out of everypony's way. She really hated having to come in and shop on a day like today, but the animals needed supplies, and Angel bunny had been insistent that she get him some fresh carrots to have for the celebration tomorrow. She decided that she would simply treat herself to something small and sweet at Sugarcube Corner before returning home. The pegasus was just approaching Carrot Top's well-stocked stall when she noticed a familiar blue and rainbow blur flying overhead. The blur was making a beeline straight for the library near the center of town. The mare never admitted it, but she had something similar to Pinkie's infamous Pinkiesense, and the niggling feeling at the bottom of her gut told her something serious was up. She paid for the bundle of carrots she had absentmindedly picked up and headed off in the direction of the library.

On approach, she could hear two voices shouting through the thick wooden door. Her ears picked up the concise, educated cadence of Twilight's voice as well as the brash, almost masculine tone of Rainbow's. The now terrified mare approached and pushed the door open silently. Dash and Twilight were in the center of the library arguing as books came and went in the unicorn's magical field.

"I'm tellin' you, Twi! Those dragons are on their way here!"

"That's absurd, Rainbow. There's nothing in any of my books to suggest that dragons ever deviate from their normal migration pattern for any reason."

"Listen, I know you're supposed to be the expert on everything, but you gotta believe me on this. There are thirteen of them, and they are coming this way!"

"D-did you say... Dragons?" Fluttershy asked, shaking in the doorway.

The other two mares finally noticed her presence and turned to face her. Twilight looked apologetic and Dash still looked scared. To make the fearless prankster scared, it had to be serious. Finally, the lavender unicorn spoke up, "Dash is just concerned because she thought she may have seen some dragons heading in the general direction of Ponyville. It's really nothing to worry about, Fluttershy."

"Alright, that's it!" shouted the blue pegasus, grabbing Twilight under her chest and streaking out the open door. Shy barely had time to duck out of the way before they nearly took her mane off. The sounds of the unicorn's protests were quickly lost in the wind as the two flew off to the west.

Calming herself and flattening her wings, Fluttershy returned to the market to finish her errands, looking up at the sky constantly to see when Dashie and Twi would return. As she finished picking up some apples from AJ, who had her stand set up like usual for a good market day, she spotted two ponies flying toward the market. Dash set Twilight down, looking smug while the Unicorn cast a spell to boost the volume of her voice.

"Attention citizens of Ponyville. It is my duty to inform you that a hoard of dragons may be passing close enough to Ponyville to pose a problem. I will be sending word to the Princess in Manehatten, but I suggest everyone make ready to leave if necessary. As you're aware..."

Twilight's speech continued, largely unheard by the yellow mare who was now quivering with fear next to her friend Applejack. The earth pony put a hoof on her friend's back and smiled, "Easy now, sugarcube. They only might be comin' ahr way. No need ta fret."

"Oh, but, even so, I should make sure the animals are safe. Let the others know where I'll be, please, Applejack," Fluttershy said, galloping off in the direction of her cottage.

She was incredibly concerned for her little animal friends. Some of them, like Harry, could probably hold their own against the smaller dragons, but most of her friends would need to hide or go someplace else. Her hooves thudded against the ground as she ran, worry and fear gripping her heart.

Once the pegasus had reached her home, she quickly dumped her saddlebags by the door and flew into the backyard. Most of her friends were there, doing what they would usually do in the early afternoon. She quickly told them the situation and they all promptly vanished. Some went east to get as far away as they could, while others hunkered down in their burrows. She sighed, until she noticed a large group of raccoons heading to the west. Her eyes went wide as her concern for their safety fought against her fear of dragons. The mare had managed to stand up to one, but that was one, and not a large group of them.

Her duty and her fear continued to argue while rashness took the opportunity to nudge her off towards the woods. Logic threw up its hands in defeat and left the three to duke it out for control of their charge. Fluttershy dove headlong into the woods, clearing the distance between the relatively safety of the woods nearest her house and entering the Everfree Forest in record time. Tracks went off in every direction, but she decided to follow the largest concentration.

When that too split off into smaller sets, she stopped to catch her breath. All of a sudden she realized where she was: Somewhere deep in the Everfree Forest, possibly out of time, and definitely lost. The pegasus looked skyward through a gap in the thick growth of trees and saw the sky dimming as dusk approached. Given the small view she had however, she was unable to determine which direction she should run in to make it back to Ponyville.

She settled for picking a set of raccoon tracks at random and following it, hoping to get at least one animal back home safely. The light gradually faded until finally turning to full night. Muttering to herself the pegasus continued to wander in the woods, hoping that the dragons would pass her by, or her friends would find her.

Tired, she leaned against the trunk of a tree and sighed, looking through the woods. Slowly, Fluttershy became aware of a series of loud crashes heading her way. The crashes grew in volume until a full sized green dragon crashed through the trees. It looked around for a moment before flopping onto its side and sighing. Two baby greens came out of the woods behind their parent and began to roughhouse in the impromptu clearing. The pony stood absolutely still. She was unafraid of the babies; they were cute. It was their parent that caused her to imitate statuary.

Standing stock still and breathing with shallow, silent breaths, the mare stood there, watching the two play. Unfortunately for her, one of them got too close and bumped into her leg. It looked up, noticed the pony, and squeaked in surprise. The other one ran back to the lazing giant shouting for Momma. Their mother rose and glared at the little yellow interloper. Fluttershy promptly took off into the woods, encouraged in her flight by the loud roar of an angry dragon.

Failing to truly be able to see where she was going, and unable to convince her wings to function as anything more than dead weights attached to her sides, Fluttershy hit a tree root and began to fall. Bouncing down a hill was no fun even without tree roots, rocks, and sharp bits of fallen branches smacking into you the entire way down. At the bottom of the ravine, the poor mare tried to stand, but found herself too dizzy to do so. A quick inventory of her condition did little to help matters. One wing was laying limply along her flank, definitely broken, as were two or three ribs on the same side. Her rear leg was twisted and sprained, possibly broken as well. The pegasus definitely had a concussion, and blood was pooling in her vision from a gash just below her maneline. To make matters worse, it appeared that she had landed directly in front of a particularly grumpy looking red dragon. Before she lost conciousness, she saw it's maw open as it inhaled, bright light appearing at the back of its throat. She also thought she heard somepony calling her name, but that was lost to the coming blackness.

Rainbow Dash

These chapters all overlap at certain points, so I've skipped things that I feel can safely be dropped.

Dash watched Fluttershy run off towards her cottage while Twilight droned on about proper evacuation procedures and things to do in the event of attack by dragon. It was incredibly boring to listen to, but she wanted to know what Twi wanted her weather ponies to do. Turns out they were to help warn everypony and provide regular reports on the status and location of the dragons.

She took off to gather together her crew of pegasi and brought them all to a cloud bank where they could observe the movement of the hoard, "Flitter, Cloudchaser, if you two can keep those things under watch, I want to know the instant their course changes, or they set down. Every thirty minutes I want a report on how they close they are. Got that girls?"

The two pegasi nodded and stared out to the west at the approaching group of dragons as Dash turned to the other assembled ponies, "The rest of you, we've gotta tell everyone in town. Make sure that you warn Zecora, okay? She may live in the Everfree Forest but she's still a Ponyville Pony as far as I'm concerned, got that?"

The assembled ponies all nodded and started looking between each other. They were figuring out who would draw the short straw for heading into the forest, she knew. Sighing and looking at everypony, she nodded once and they all flew into action, except for the two watchponies, who took up positions on the cloud bank to keep an eye out. Rainbow Dash quickly returned to town, finding her assembled friends and landing next to Twilight. She smiled nervously at each one in turn. Rarity was clinging to Applejack, obviously petrified. The six of them had managed to handle one dragon, but it was Fluttershy who had really saved the day. Thinking about it, Dash had no idea where the sixth member of their little cadre was. She was about to speak up when AJ decided to ask first.

"Has anypony seen Fluttershy? She said she was going ta warn her animals, then ah figgered she'd be back."

"She's probably making sure that all of them are well hidden. I'll go check on her. You girls help everypony else with the evacuation preparations."

"No word from the Princesses then, darling?" Rarity asked.

Twilight shook her head, "Spike sent the letter, but I haven't gotten any response. Come on, Rainbow, let's go find Fluttershy," she said to the blue pegasus next to her.

Rainbow nodded and flew slowly alongside the unicorn. Her mind wandered off into things that could be preventing Fluttershy from returning. Angel bunny tying her down until she fed him. A flock of birds carrying her off to safety. There were plenty of options. Once they reached the cottage, having made the trip mostly in silence while watching ponies prepare to leave if they have to, Rainbow's concern grew. Her concern was given a giant growth spurt when she spotted the tracks of a pony and several small animals heading off to the west. The same direction the dragons were coming from, "Twi... she's gone into the woods."

Twilight looked over and spotted the tracks as well, "Oh sweet Celestia. Of course she'd go chasing off after some of the animals! She's going to get lost out there. Dash, see if you can find her, I'll head back to town to see if there's anything else I can do."

Dash nodded and took to the air, heading in the direction of the tracks. She weaved in and around trees, her keen eyes able to discern the tracks even as the sky slowly darkened. This was taking too long. If she didn't get back to town soon, the dragons would get there before she could warn anypony. Her loyalty to her friends kept her flying though, dodging tree limbs and trunks as she pursued the yellow pegasus into the woods. She paused at a small clearing where the tracks seemed to split off, looking at the packed dirt to try and see the path of her friend.

Her search was interrupted by the roar of an angry dragon. Dash immediately burst through the treetops and spotted a copse of trees moving particularly violently. She soared over and spotted something yellow in a ravine. Her eyes focused and she recognized the familiar figure and mane of her friend. She also spotted the red dragon getting ready to breath fire. It was a snap decision, but she was diving straight at it's mouth, smacking her front hooves into the to jaw of the beast, knocking it closed and pushing it away from her friend.

Pulling up, she hovered in the air and started making faces, "Yeah, c'mon, up here ugly!" she taunted. The dragon turned towards her and opened it's mouth. Her wings kicked in and she swerved, the fire missing her by inches and singeing her tail, "Hey! That's a national equestrian treasure!" she shouted as she flew around and angled a kick against the side of the brute's head. The impact resulted in a crack, and it took a split second before she realized it was her leg. Wincing in pain, the pegasus couldn't react as the dragon swung a clawed hand and caught her in the side. Its claws punching easily through her coat and gouging long gashes down her side. The force of the blow sent her flying into a tree, snapping a few ribs in the process.

Author's note: You may want to click here for this part

"Is... that... all you got... you... big ugly... brute?" Rainbow said, flying into the air above the treeline. Despite her injuries, she was absolutely determined to keep Fluttershy safe. Zooming skyward, she went as high as she could go before running out of air to keep her aloft. Despite the fact that she doubted the dragon could hear her this high up, she glared down at it as her speed built, "You think... you could hurt my friend? Burn her alive? I'll show you what we do to beasts like you around here. I'm Rainbow Dash! And this is the SONIC RAINBOOM!" she shouted, breaking that magical barrier between here and the world faster than sound. The dragon stared at her as she approached, the ring of rainbow power flying outward above the forest, the shockwave chasing her towards the ground. The trail of power behind her helping her push past the laws of physics as they were known to ponykind.

The dragon opened its mouth and inhaled as the brightly colored pony missile approached. It exhaled a great gout of blue flame just as Dash entered range. She flew straight through the blaze and past the dragon. In the split second the flame touched her, she had flinched and missed her target by a hairs breath. Trailing fire, she crashed into the trees on the other side, crashing through trunks as the flames ate away her fur and mane. She impacted the ground at top speed, carving a gash into the landspace and breaking most of her bones. Burning, in pain beyond measure, she turned towards the dragon as the shockwave of her Sonic Rainboom collapsed the trees around them and blew out the flames that were consuming her. It stood, looking disdainfully down at the broken and bleeding pegasus as it approached. The beast took a clawed appendage and swung, picking the pony up and flinging her into another tree, even as its claws punctured her lungs. She hit the ground and tried to stand again only to have her world filled with blue fire as the dragon struck her with its breath.

The pain lasted only a split second until her nerves had burned away. She risked opening her eyes as she collapsed to the ground to find the world in them bathed in purple light as ball of purple flame hovered behind the dragon. A smiled crossed her lips as they burned away and her last breath exited her lungs.

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight watched Rainbow Dash take off after Fluttershy and sighed. That yellow pegasus friend of hers could be far too easily worried about her animals. Surely she could find her way back to her cottage with the animals in tow before the dragons got too close.

The unicorn made her way back to the center of town at a brisk trot. Upon her return, she spotted her remaining friends assembled by the town hall. Trotting up, she explained the situation. "Rainbow Dash went after Fluttershy. She'd gone off into the woods to chase after some animals that must have panicked."

"Ah'm sure Dash'll find her and bring her back real quick," AJ said with a worried smile. The earth pony leaned against Rarity as the unicorn whimpered softly. "Easy, Rare. They'll be fine."

As soon as Applejack finished the sentence, Pinkie Pie started spazzing out, her body contorting and parts of her moving in ways that a normal pony probably shouldn't if they wanted to continue walking. "This is huge, everypony! I've n-never h-had one of these before!" the pink mare shouted before her tongue slurped out to lick an ear. The rest of the group watched with wide eyes. Twilight managed to suppress her urge to shout her doubts about the Pinkie sense.

"Pinkie Pie, darling? What is it?" Rarity asked nervously.

"Oh my gosh, this is terrible. This is the worst thing that Pinkie ever sensed with Pinkie sense! Twilight, someone has to go find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy or somepony won't be at the 'Ponyville is safe from Dragons' party next week!" Pinkie said between twitches.

Twilight took a moment to process the statement before realizing the gravity of her friend's words, "I'll go. Girls, make sure if the town needs to be emptied, it gets done!"

The other three nodded as the Twilight turned and galloped towards Fluttershy’s cottage. As she neared it, Flitter flew up next to her. "Twilight! I can't find Dash."

"She's busy, what’s wrong?"

"Well, I'll tell you then. The dragons landed in the Everfree Forest just west of town. They seem to be settling down for the night."

"Go find Applejack and tell her, I have to find Rainbow and Fluttershy!"

"Right!" Flitter said, pulling up to the left and circling back toward town.

As Twilight reached the break in the treeline where her friends had entered, she called up a spell she'd learned when she was just a filly. It had helped her win most games of Hide and Seek, assuming the ponies remained grounded. Her horn glowed for a moment and the hoofprints of her friend began to glow with a soft purple light. The unicorn took off at top speed and followed the tracks deep into the forest. It quickly became obvious that the poor pegasus had gotten herself completely lost.

The tracks wound around trees and over limbs. As the unicorn ran she heard a roar in the distance. A dragon was definitely angry. The tracks seemed to be leading directly toward it as she galloped along. Reaching the edge of a ravine, she spotted Fluttershy lying at the bottom. A fair distance away, Rainbow Dash was taunting a huge red dragon. Twilight ran down the ravine wall, using her magic to keep herself from taking a tumble, to the yellow pegasus' side. A quick magical scan confirmed a vast list of injuries.

There was little she could do to help Fluttershy at the moment. She would need trained medical care back in Ponyville. As the unicorn was looking around for something to use as a stretcher to carry the other mare back to town, she heard the deafening boom of the sound barrier being shattered by Rainbow. Looking up, she saw the pegasus standing weakly in a copse of trees that had been flattened by the sonic boom. Her coat was singed and she was bleeding profusely from several gashes. Twilight looked down at Fluttershy, then started galloping towards Dash.

As she did, she watched the dragon sweep Rainbow aside with a claw, sending the pegasus into a tree. She stumbled to a halt as the dragon blew flame over the prone form of her friend. Every fiber of her being cried out to run away, take Fluttershy and teleport back to Ponyville. Every fiber save one. This fiber was locked away in the back of her mind, hidden by the analytical part of her personality. Rainbow Dash's loyalty had lead to her sacrifice to protect Fluttershy. Was her loyalty to her friends any less? The fiber holding the unicorn back snapped.

Magical power exploded around her, forming a sphere of purple energy that levitated her into the air. Light shone from her eyes as the being formerly known as Twilight Sparkle glared down at the red dragon beneath her. She regarded the creature beneath her with pure rage, the magic around her crackling. The unicorn became aware of every dragon in the area. They were all watching now. They would all see.

Reaching out with her thoughts, she formed the energy around her into two blades, sharpened to within a micron. She wondered, idly, if the beast knew what was about to happen to it. It had turned towards her and breathed more flame, which dissipated harmlessly against her magic shield. One of her blades sliced down, cutting easily through the creature's thick scales as if they were no more than tissue paper. It lodged itself perfectly, bisecting the creatures heart and flame-producing sacs. The other blade cleanly severed the dragon's head, which was grasped immediately in Twilight’s telekinetic grip.

The unicorn used more power to ascend higher above the tree tops, holding the head for the assembled hoard to see. Speaking clearly, the powerful sorceress uttered a single word, which could be heard as far as Ponyville. "Leave."

Not a single dragon disobeyed. They immediately took to the air and fled back toward the west. Twilight's form descended, landing next to the charred remains of Rainbow Dash. Once she touched down, the sphere of power vanished. Only the otherworldly glow of her eyes spoke of the true power latent inside. "Dash... I'm sorry... I wasn't fast enough... but I can fix it..." she whispered.

The horn atop her head glowed, wrapping herself and her friend in fields of magic. Arcane glyphs flowed over both ponies as Twilight channeled the spell. Beneath her, Rainbow's flesh began to heal. Bones knit themselves back together, muscle tissue healed and regained their strength. Feathers returned to the wings and her rainbow mane and tail grew back to their normal length. The caster was not entirely unaffected by the spell herself. Around the pink stripe in her mane, a shock of pure white took over the purple. The same appeared on her tail. Subtle lines of age appeared on her face. Finally, the spell finished, the pegasus breathing yet unconscious on the ground. The light dispersed in Twilight's eyes and she collapsed next to Dash. Breathing heavily, she smiled softly. "I did it, Dash... I saved you... I saved all of us..." she gasped out, before exhaustion took her into blackness.

Aftermath

The soft beeping of three pulse monitors and the breathing of six ponies were the only sounds in the Intensive Care unit. Rarity and Applejack were cuddled together on a provided couch. Pinkie Pie was sprawled out in a chair, snoring away.

Fluttershy was the first of the injured trio to regain consciousness, blinking her eyes open and looking around. Twilight lay next to her with IVs and a breathing tube trailing from her. Past the unicorn lay Rainbow Dash, likewise equipped.

The conscious mare took a moment to realize that one of her legs, both of her wings, and her chest were bound up and held immobile. She coughed on the breathing tube in her throat and tried to swallow, finding her throat incredibly dry. In an instant, Pinkie was awake and at her side with a glass of water. Gratefully, Fluttershy took the offered straw in her mouth and swallowed several small sips of cool water, "Th-thank you, Pinkie..." she whispered.

"No problemero, Shy! Rarity, AJ! Fluttershy's awake!" the party pony bounced happily.

The other two dozing ponies woke slowly, Rarity speaking first, "Pinkie, dear, do be a bit quieter. We are in a hospital after all..."

"Sorry, Rarity, I'm just glad she's finally awake!"

Fluttershy's eyes flickered back and forth as Applejack yawned, waking from her slumber. She smiled and asked, "How are Twilight and Rainbow Dash?"

A dark look crossed their features, even Pinkie's smile flinched downwards for a fraction of a second, "We'll let the doctor explain, now that you're awake," Rarity said before standing and exiting the room to summon the physician.

While they waited, Fluttershy drank some more water and worried. Thankfully, Twilight began to stir as the doctor entered, followed by Rarity. Hopefully, Rainbow would wake soon as well.

Twilight's struggle back to the waking world was not an easy one. Trying to discover words for the images and symbols flitting across her vision would take her months. She moaned as she opened her eyes, deciding the migraine was the worst part once the lights above hit her sensitive retinas. Squinting against the pain, she moved her right foreleg up to block the lights, noticing the tube trailing from it. She also realized there was a tube down her throat. She tried to speak, but only a rough rasp came out.

Rarity levitated a glass of water to her friend's parched lips as the doctor checked on Rainbow Dash, giving her time to quench her thirst. He looked over the readouts and nodded before turning to address the expectant ponies. "Well, I have to say I'm glad to see you two have regained consciousness. Would you like the good news or the bad news?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Good news is always good!" exclaimed Pinkie.

The doctor chuckled, "Alright then. The good news is that I expect both of you, Miss Sparkle, and Miss Fluttershy to make full recoveries. Miss Sparkle, you will need to take it easy with the magic for a while. You have, as the saying goes, blown a fuse. It'll take a while to heal, but you'll be back to casting spells with the rest of us unicorns eventually. Miss Fluttershy, you've got some broken bones, but nothing that can't be mended. You'll need some physical therapy after the casts come off, but otherwise you should be fine."

Twilight nodded, filing away the information for later. Her main concern at the time had to be for Rainbow Dash, "What's the bad news?" she asked with a concerned look to her friend.

"Ah, well," the doctor said, taking a deep breath, "Miss Sparkle, I'm afraid to tell you that... Well, we can't explain it, but you appear to have aged approximately ten years as well as lost all pigment in a good chunk of your mane and tail.

Twilight took a moment to let that information sink in. Aging a decade and having an interesting coloration to talk about was a small price to pay for having her friend alive and hopefully well.

"Wh-what about Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy asked.

"Miss Dash should be just fine once she wakes up," the doctor replied with a smile. As he began to exit, a soft moan escaped the mare's lips, "Ah, speak of the devil. Welcome back to the world of the waking, Miss Dash."

Rainbow fought her way through the murky sea of partial consciousness. Sound came back quickly and she responded with a weak smile and a cough to the doctor. She opened her eyes, expecting to see her friends gathered round. All she saw was nothingness. The pegasus knew her eyes were open, and forced herself to blink a few times. Her mouth went from the weak smile to a look of pure terror.

"Rainbow? What's wrong?" Twilight said from somewhere off to her right.

Dash gulped and felt a straw touch her lips. She took a few quick swallows managed to gasp out a few words, "I can't see."

The statement hung in the air in the exact way a brick shouldn’t. Nopony knew what to say. The doctor pulled out a flashlight and begin to shine it into the unseeing eyes of his patient.

"Is anypony still there?" she asked to the silence.

"We're all still here, Dash," AJ said from somewhere in front of her.

She felt a tingle of magic envelop her head briefly before she heard the doctor's voice again, "Miss Dash... You can't see anything?"

"Nothin', Doc. Absolute nothin'."

"I've never seen anything like this. All the parts are there, but none of them are working."

Twilight sighed, "It's my fault... The spell I used to save her life has a cost. The cost is different both for the caster and the recipient. I lost ten years of my life... She lost her sight."

"Twi? You... So I WAS really dead..."

"You were... I had to save you. I'm sorry. I'll do whatever I can to get your sight back as soon as I can."

"I've only ever heard of one spell that can do that, Miss Sparkle. I'm amazed somepony as young as you was able to cast it," the doctor put in.

Twilight nodded and stared at Dash with tears in her eyes. The pegasus continued to look around, unseeing, "I'm so sorry, Dash."

Dash tried to smile, though her eyes still expressed sadness, "H-hey! No worries, Twi. I'm alive, right? That... That's all that matters!" she said, trying to hide the sobs that were slowly forcing their way out.

The doctor excused himself and left the ponies to themselves. No one spoke for quite a while, until Pinkie finally perked up and produced a cake out of nowhere, "So who's ready for the 'Everypony's Alive and Awake' party!?"

Nopony really knew what to say, so nopony said anything. Pinkie distributed the cake and took it upon herself to feed Dash. The pegasus savored the cake, despite her inner turmoil.

"So... When can we get outta this dump? I need to stretch my wings!" she said with an off-tilt smile.

Pinkie laughed and everyone joined in after a few moments. That little pink pony’s laughter was infectious.

They all sat together and worked out what happened after the confrontation with the dragons. After the rainboom and a report that the dragons were fleeing after a crazy lightshow, everypony had spread out into the woods to search for the three mares. AJ managed to find them and get enough other ponies to carry them back to Ponyville. They'd been out for three days, but the town was safe and everypony was grateful for whatever it was they had done.

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy with a knot in her gut. She had saved her friends and her home, but at a cost she was now regretting having to pay. Not her age or her manecolor, but the loss of Dash's sight and the cold blooded murder of a fully grown, intelligent dragon. It was an act she had hoped she would never have done, nor would do again. The fact of the matter grew clear. Whomever had performed the acts of that night, it was not Twilight Sparkle. Somepony else buried inside had done all that. It couldn’t have been her.

She thought for another few moments. The logic of the situation was clear. It had been her. There was no way around it. Twilight Sparkle, faithful student to Princess Celestia, had murdered a dragon. With a sigh, she pondered how to word the letter to her mentor. It was definitely a lesson nopony would forget.