Chapters -Authors Note-
Sorry to ruin momentum, but just so you know, Zecora is in this next chapter. Please don't hate me if the rhymes are bad, I did my best.
-End Note-
Sky was standing in a dark room, with hard concrete beneath her hooves. She looked around vaguely, wondering where she was. Strangely, she saw herself walk past. Not wanting to be alone in the darkness, she followed herself, ignoring the surreality of the situation. Before long, Sky found herself and... Herself... In a large room, with candelabras lining a red carpet down the middle of it. In the middle she saw herself kneeling in front of a large dark green pony... Or at least, she might’ve been a pony. Sky knew that she hadn’t seen many ponies with holes in their legs, and wings like a bug. She trotted closer, but the voices of herself and the... Her mind held up a card....Queen. So the voices of her and the... Queen were muffled, as if she was listening through a pillow. She got closer and closer. And the voices started to clear. Suddenly the Queen looked over Sky’s head, and looked right at her... --which even confused Sky herself... Never mind-- And locked eyes with her. The... What she was guessing was the dream her spun around, and she heard herself say;
“What is it, my queen? What do you see?” The real Sky suddenly felt herself shaking with fear. She was terrified of this Queen. Whoever she was, Sky wanted to get as far away from her as she could. She turned to run, but the queen commanded:
“Stop! Face me!” Sky turned around obediently, and saw the dream her doing the same thing. What was going on?
“What is it my queen? What have I done?”
“Never mind, Sky.” The real Sky was extremely scared of this strange queen. Without meaning to, she started screaming. It started low at first, but ended up at an ear-splitting volume. She tried to run, but felt somepony holding her down. The queen laughed evilly.
“See you again soon, Sky.” Before she woke up, she heard the dream her ask;
“What do you mean, my queen? I am right here. And what is that sound?” Then darkness clouded her vision and she fainted.
Or... Sky woke up. She wasn’t sure. She opened her eyes and saw a pony holding her down. She tried to kick out, but her hind legs were tangled in something.
“Calm down girl! It was jus’ a dream! Stop your screamin’! Ah’m not gonna hurt ya! Sky!” Sky realised that she was still screaming, and that it was Applejack holding her down. She tried to stop screaming, but the vision of that... Queen was stuck in her head. She finally stopped when her voice cut out.
“Sky! What was the reason fer that? Ah wouldn’t be surprised if you woke up half o’ Ponyville with that screaming.” She saw that Sky was struggling to speak.
“I’ll get ya a glass o’ water. Wait here.” Sky tried to call her back, but her throat felt like she had swallowed sandpaper. She just curled up into a ball and tried to remember her dream. She felt it was important. She didn’t hear Applejack slowly come in to the room and sit on a chair next to the cot. Sky probably would have screamed again when Applejack spoke.
“Sugarcube? You okay? What didja dream about? Like Ah said, Ah’m surprised you didn’ wake up half o’ Ponyville.”
“Umm... Nothing...” Sky said, after taking a few gulps of water.
“Come on now, you can’t lie tah me. Don’ worry, I won’t tell anyone. Trust me.” Sky looked at Applejack and saw that she was telling the truth.
“I... I don’t remember much... I just saw... Something... Do you know of anypony, pretty tall, buggy wings, holes in her legs? Likes being called queen?” Applejack looked surprised for a moment. But then she looked right at Sky.
“That... Abomination... Calls herself Queen Chrysalis. She a bad one, she is. Queen of these things called changelings. Now... Tell me, what did she do... You know, in your dream? Tell me.” Applejack looked slightly stern. Sky found herself inching backwards.
“Umm... She was... Talking to me... Um...” She decided to just say it.
“I called her ‘My queen’! What if I’m actually on her side? What if I’m a changeling? What if I’m evil and just don’t know it?” She started shaking. If she didn’t calm down soon she would probably tear her throat apart screaming.
“Sky! Calm down, sugarcube. Ah doubt you are a changeling. They can’t get back into Equestria. Maybe she’s trying to trick you? Ah guess we’ll find out when you talk to Zecora. Ah can take you now if it’d make you feel better.”
“I wouldn’t want to bother her...”
“She’s usually up early. Ah see her in town sometimes in th’ mornings.”
Sky nodded and Applejack walked with her through the town. While they walked, Applejack told Sky about Princesses Celestia and Luna, and how they controlled the sun and moon respectively. Applejack told her about the elements of harmony and how Twilight had been reading about them recently. She told Sky about how there had been a seventh Element, hundreds of thousands of years ago, before Discord had ruled Equestria. The Elements had been created and there had originally been seven. But when a pegasus, or an earth pony, or a unicorn became an element, the other two races where jealous, because they weren’t given the honour. So the original creators had altered the spell, and destroyed the seventh element, making it equal, while still keeping the power of the six together. They had also changed the spell, making it random, so that two unicorns, two pegasi, and two earth ponies would receive it randomly when they were required to.
She told Sky about how she was the element of honesty.
They soon found themselves on the edge of the Everfree forest.
Sky followed Applejack through the dark trees, and past the dead bushes. Soon they came to a gnarled old tree, with masks hanging outside.
“Zecora! Zecora! Are you there?” Sky jumped when she heard a deep, yet feminine voice say:
“Applejack, to what do I owe
Finding my good friend, outside my window?” There was a Zebra standing in the window, looking at them with a knowing smile on her face.
“Well, howdy Zecora, Ah just wanted you to meet my friend Sky Blue. She needs some help with her memory. She doesn’t remember any of it.”
“Come on in friends, I’ll take a look,
And see if I can find an answer in my book.”
They came in and sat down at Zecora’s table. She started chanting. Sky sat their awkwardly for about ten minutes and considered leaving, when Zecora stopped chanting and opened her eyes.
“Sorry, although I have tried my best,
This is quite a difficult test.
I don’t think this amnesia is magical,
Instead I think it is quite psychological.
You just have to wait to recover your memory to return,
And those lost secrets you will relearn.”
Sky felt like she was about to cry, or scream, or do both. She still didn’t remember anything. She was starting to think she would never.
“Well thank you anyway Zecora. What’s you fee?”
“Applejack, how could you insult me,
By asking to pay any sort of fee?
I am happy to help a friend of a friend,
Even if it comes to no end.
If your friend recovers her memory,
Make sure that you come tell me.
I wish to know how it comes back,
No matter how much information you lack.
Now I will see you later Applejack,
To Ponyville, you should go back.”
“Alrighty then, see ya later Zecora!”
Sky smiled.
“Yeah, thank you anyway Zecora.”
“Goodbye, little Sky Blue,
And don’t worry, your memories will come back to you.
Now follow Applejack back to town,
Or you will be lost here all on your own.”
Sky looked behind her, nodded and ran after Applejack. As they walked back into town, Applejack looked at Sky.
“Sorry, sugarcube. I thought Zecora could help you.” Sky looked at her and decided to just tell her the truth.
“About that dream. I don’t think it was a trick. It felt too real to be a dream. I think it was... A memory...” She heard Applejack gasp and stop walking. “I’m sorry... I’m evil and I don’t even know it!” She didn’t even look at Applejack, she just spread her wings and flew away, as fast as Rainbow Dash. She didn’t even hear Applejack yelling for her to stop. Applejack immediately regretted her reaction. She should’ve realised that Sky was still really fragile. Without thinking she bolted in the direction of Twilight’s library. If anyone would be able to make some sense of this, she would.
Meanwhile, Sky was flying faster than she could’ve ever imagined. She saw the town go past under her. Twilight’s library, Sugarcube Corner, Rarity’s Boutique --she had gotten to know Rarity last night--, and Rainbow’s cloud home. She was flying so fast she didn’t realise how she was affecting the ponies on the ground. In Twilight’s library, books flew across the room from the sheer force of Sky flying past overhead. In Sugarcube Corner, Cupcakes and Cakes alike exploded in their display case, reducing Pinkie to tears. In Rarity’s Boutique, Dresses flew around the room, strongly distressing Rarity. And Rainbow’s house actually shifted a few feet, throwing the cyan pony out of her bed. She didn’t know what was happening. She didn’t know what was going on, but usually Twilight knew these things. She decided, in her sleepy confusion to go and see her.
As Sky flew ever faster, she flew over Fluttershy’s house, where the shy pony was trying to get Angel to finish his breakfast.
“Now, Angel,” She said, saying phrases from the book exactly as she had read them.
“You know that bad things will happen to you if you don’t eat your food.”
She had read about how it could affect his appetite, and he could starve if he didn’t eat enough. Just then, Papers flew around the room, a chair hit the wall, and even an uprooted tree flew past the house. Before the commotion was over, and Fluttershy had opened her eyes, Angel had eaten all of his food. He was now looking at her in awe, as if to say ‘You said bad things would happen, but wow, that was something.’ She smiled and patted his head.
This would require a lot of cleaning.
As Rainbow approached the library, her head was beginning to clear. Only Pegasi could move clouds, and she knew that every Pegasi in Ponyville knew not to mess with her house. There was one, though. One who had only just begun to fly, and yet was almost surpassing Rainbow herself. She dismissed this thought as she stumbled into Twilight’s library. There were books everywhere, and she saw Twilight, obviously struggling to stay calm. Surprisingly, Applejack was there talking to her.
“And... And she said that it wasn’t a dream, it musta bin’ a memory. Ah... Ah just gasped! And then she flew off. Almost lost mah hat in the wind.” She said this, obviously trying to lighten whatever mood she had set.
Twilight nodded.
“I wonder what this means...”
“Hey! Are you talking about Sky?” Twilight and Applejack jumped.
“Watch it, sugarcube! You surprised me. I was talking about Sky. She’s gone. She flew away when she told me about a dream about that Chrysalis thing.” Applejack quickly explained what had happened. Rainbow Dash nodded.
“Well, I guess you’re going to need the fastest flier in Equestria to catch her huh?” Applejack and Twilight nodded. Twilight looked at Rainbow and said
“But be careful! She’s very fragile at the moment, and we don’t want to send her straight to Chrysalis. For all we know, it could be a trick. We won’t know until we have another look at her. Applejack, can you get Zecora? I have a feeling she can help.” Applejack nodded and galloped off toward Everfree forest.
“Now, I’ve got to clean up around here. What are still doing here? Go!” Twilight pointed at Rainbow, as the cyan pony realised she had finished talking.
“Oh! Of course. I’m on it!” She did a little salute and shot out through the open door.
As Dash flew over the slowly brightening town of Ponyville, she saw quite a bit of carnage below her. Pinkie was lying down in the street, crying and mumbling something about Cupcakes and Cakes never being eaten. Rarity was running around wildly, collecting the fabrics strewn about. And as she flew over Fluttershy’s cottage, she saw a scene equivalent to the aftermath of a tornado. Rainbow would’ve stopped there, but she Fluttershy with a little broom in her mouth, trying she shift a huge tree trunk. Rainbow kept going, following the bent tree trunks and bare dirt. She was shocked that the pegasus she had met, who didn’t know how to fly, could tear the very grass out of the ground with her speed. Then... It calmed. The trees were no longer bent, and the grass was safely in the ground. She did a U-turn and went to where it stopped. She landed lightly, and was about to yell out for Sky, when she remembered that Twilight had said she was fragile. So she carefully walked around, looking for a hint of cyan fur, that would lead Rainbow to Sky. She didn’t know why, but for some reason Dash was...
Worried.
It was a strange feeling, and she wasn’t used to it. She had always been able to handle situations like this. She decided to use her ears instead of her eyes, and listened for any hint of sound in the trees around her. Then, in the distance she heard crying. But not regular crying. This was practically wailing. Rainbow was surprised she hadn’t heard it before. She followed the sound, and saw snapped branches, and some coloured feathers on the ground. She slowly made her way through, until she was stopped in her tracks, and saw a large sharp branch, with some blood on it. Rainbow realised she couldn’t hear Sky anymore. Fearing the worst, she bolted in the direction she had heard Sky. She didn’t know why she cared so much. She had just met this mare today. She put it down to her being the Element Of Loyalty. As she approached, she saw Sky lying on the ground, bleeding. She had a large gash on her side. Rainbow flew over to Sky and knelt next to her. Sky was mumbling something in her feverish state. Rainbow leaned in closer to hear it. It was a random string of nonsense. Rainbow couldn’t even understand the words. She sat back for a moment, but jumped up when she saw the gash in Sky’s side slowly healing, as if it was being stitched by Fluttershy. Rainbow leaned in again as the wound closed, and Sky sighed in relief. She started mumbling again, still random things, but this time in plain Pony-ish. Rainbow Dash could just make out a few things.
“How do I tell her, should I tell her? What if she doesn’t like what I tell her? Why do I have to tell her? When should I tell her?” Rainbow was confused by this, but disregarded it as Sky’s gibbering took a strange turn.
“She wants him, She wants to bring him back. Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis, Changelings, CelestiaLunaChrysalisChangelings. CelesLuChrysChange.” Her speech was speeding up and she started to sweat. Her Green eyes flew open and locked with Rainbow’s pink ones. She looked like she was struggling with something, as if she knew she could only say one thing and didn’t know what to say. Then she said one thing before fainting.
“Discord.”
Rainbow sat in silence for a few minutes looking at her friend. What was all that about? What about Discord? And Celestia? And Luna, and Chrysalis, and the Changelings? Rainbow decided that Zecora and Twilight would better understand. So she managed to get Sky on her back, Her left hooves over Rainbow’s left side, her right, likewise. Rainbow managed to gain a small altitude, but knew she couldn’t go too fast, lest she drop Sky.
Then the Sky would be falling. She chuckled as she flew, but immediately berated herself for it. This was serious. She flew towards Twilight’s Library in silence. When she arrived, she quietly touched down. She walked into the main room, and put Sky down on an empty desk. She heard Zecora and Twilight approach behind her. She also saw Rarity, Pinkie, AJ, and Fluttershy standing in front of her. They crowded around her. Rainbow realised how this would look if Sky woke up, and told her friends so.
“I she attacked AJ when she was trying to help, then imagine what she would do if she saw us around her like this.” They all nodded and backed away, with the exception of Twilight and Zecora. Rainbow knelt next to the desk.
“Do not worry, little Rainbow Dash,
I should have your friend better in a flash.”
Rainbow would have yelled at Zecora on any other day, but today she just ignored the soft jab. Zecora, realising how serious this was, said
“Now tell me, my colourful friend,
How did she end up like this, with so many mental wounds to tend?”
Applejack stepped forward.
“Ah think that would be mah fault, Zecora.” Applejack told them what had happened when they had left Zecora’s, and Rainbow continued from there, telling them about how she had found the bent trees, and the feathers and the blood. And about how she had used magic to heal herself --Twilight had gasped and run off to research this-- and the things she had said about Celestia and Luna, and the others. She left out the part about the “Should I tell her etc.” because Rainbow had a feeling that it was private. Zecora listened to the entire thing, with a strange look on her stripy face.
“Very well, I know what I must do to her,
I just hope she doesn’t hate me for it later.
I must go into her deepest consciousness,
And try to sort out this mess.”
“Wow, I never knew you could do that Zecora!” Twilight had reappeared at Rainbow’s side.
“You can read other ponies minds?”
Zecora looked slightly disgruntled as she said;
“I try to keep it a secret,
Lest you ponies are afraid of it.” And with this, Zecora closed her eyes and began a low chant under her breath. Twilight tried to listen, but it was too fast to follow. She noticed that Rainbow Dash was holding back tears.
“What’s wrong Rainbow? Are you okay?” Twilight looked at her with some concern. Rainbow shook her head vigorously and when she looked back at Twilight, she had a forced smile on her face. Her eyes were glistening with tears.
“I-I’m fine. Don’t w-worry, I’m R-Rainbow Dash, the c-coolest of the c-cool. I’m just w-worried, and I don’t know why. I just feel like something bad is about to happen.”
Twilight was taken aback. She had never seen Rainbow acting like this.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be fine. We’ll warn princess Celestia about what Sky said, and Equestria will be perfectly fin--” Rainbow interrupted Twilight, looking at her with anger in her eyes.
“You think I’m worried about that? I know that Equestria will be fine, but what about Sky? Or did you forget about her while you were drafting your next letter to Celestia?” Twilight stumbled backwards. Rainbow was standing up now, and approaching her angrily.
“Our friend is lying there right now, dreaming of Celestia knows what, terrified that she’s evil, and you care about something that Celestia could deal with with a little order? How dare you! Of course Equestria will be fine! How foolish are you to see that Sky Blue might not!” Rainbow was shouting now, and Twilight was standing against the wall. The others had stopped their quiet conversation, and were staring at Rainbow in shock. They knew Rainbow could be hot-headed, but this was something else. Applejack trotted over to Rainbow and put her forehoof around Rainbow’s shoulder.
“C’mon, let’s get some fresh air, you just need a nice walk in the light of Luna’s beautiful moon. C’mon. That’s it.” She looked at Twilight, a worried look on her face. She was worried about Rainbow more than Twilight, even though the purple pony looked on the verge of tears. There were a few tears running down her cheeks.
“Rarity! Look after Twi’, and Fluttershy, make gosh-darn sure that Sky is okay while Zecora does her stuff, and Pinkie... Just... Make some cookies or something.” The white, yellow and pink ponies nodded and did the things AJ told them to do respectively. Fluttershy went and got a bowl of water and a cloth and started to wipe Sky’s forehead, to help her feel a bit more comfortable. Rarity put one of her hooves around Twilight’s shoulders and led her into the kitchen.
“Come on dear, let’s get you some tea.” Pinkie bounced after them, though not as cheerfully as she had earlier in the day.
As all of this commotion was happening in the real world, Sky was actually dreaming quite a happy and relaxing dream. She was flying with Rainbow Dash, soaring above the clouds. They weren’t racing, it was just a nice easy pace. Fluttershy could probably keep up with them going at this pace. They touched down lightly on a cloud and knelt across from each other. Her and ‘Dash knelt in awkward silence for a while. Sky felt herself blushing enough to make a tomato envious as she looked Rainbow in the eyes.
“Um... Listen... Rainbow, I’ve got something to tell you. It is really important, so please don’t interrupt. Ever since I met you, although it was only a day ago, I felt something for you. I probably would have been among the first to say love at first sight is ridiculous, but when I met you, Rainbow Dash, I believed in it more than ever.” Her eyes had lowered, and she locked eyes with Rainbow’s once more. “Rainbow Dash... I... I love you.”
“Awww. It looks like one of my best troops is in loove! We’ll just have to do something about that, won’t we!” Sky looked around wildly for the source of the voice. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. She huddled into a ball as the cloud and Rainbow twisted and melted away, leaving her in pitch black darkness.
“It doesn’t matter what you and your petty new friends do, nothing can stop the return of Discord! MWUHAHAHAHA! Soon we shall control all of Equestria.”
Sky uncurled herself and looked around.
“The Elements of Harmony beat Discord before, and they will again!” She shouted this into the darkness, her words being swallowed and muffled.
“Hahaha... You little fool. If you hadn’t of been careless and let your conscience take over, you would know how untrue that statement is.”
“What do you mean, let my conscience take over? Tell me!”
“That isn’t a very nice way to address you master.”
“What do you mean? I don’t even know who you are!”
“Hmm. Stop fooling yourself Sky Blue. You know I am the one and only Queen Chrysalis, soon to be the ruler of all Equestria!”
Sky rubbed her head. She was remembering some things vaguely. She was starting to get a headache.
“Just answer me! What did you mean about my conscience taking over?”
“All in good time, little Sky. For now, I might just have some fun messing with your min-- wait, what’s that? NO! GET OUT SHAMAN!” Sky felt the presence of Queen Chrysalis fade away, and she saw Zecora galloping towards her out of the darkness.
“There you are, little Sky Blue,
I have been looking all over for you!
Your mind really is quite a mess,
And before you ask, the answer is yes.”
Sky closed her mouth, the question ‘Did you hear that?’ dying on the edge of her tongue.
Sky just knelt down and began to cry.
“Do not cry little Blue,
I will not reveal what is felt by you.”
“So you heard what I said to Rainbow? Or at least, how I feel?"
“Like I said, do not worry,
For these feelings, you should not be sorry.
Love is a wondrous thing,
It can make your heart sing.
Now let us leave your mind, and see the others,
Just being near her makes me shudder.”
Sky felt her hooves leave the ground and floated away, into her chaotic conscious world.
As Sky slowly awoke she noticed a few things at once. First, there seemed to be someone rubbing her forehead with a wet towel. Second, she could hear someone crying. And third, She could hear Zecora chanting next to her. The third one didn’t last long, though, as she slowly stopped and stood up. Sky slowly opened her eyes and looked around. She heard Fluttershy gasp and run in the direction of the crying. Then she felt someone lean in and say,
“Get up now little Sky Blue,
There is much clean-up to do.
It would seem there was a fight,
And Rainbow is with Applejack out in the night.
You should go and speak to her now,
And try to sort out this row.” Sky nodded weakly and rolled off of the desk she was on. She trotted unsteadily out of the library. She heard Rainbow speaking. She walked over to the sound. Her and Applejack were standing in the light of Luna’s full moon. Oddly, the light seemed slightly dimmer than usual. Sky ignored it and approached ‘Dash and AJ. She could hear quiet crying.
“I don’t know why I’m so worried, AJ. I actually yelled at Twilight! I just, I just got so angry at her. I’m worried that she won’t wake up. I don’t know why I’m feeling like this. This isn’t me! I’m Rainbow Dash! I’m twenty percent cooler than anything in Equestria! And yet, I’m falling to pieces over a mare I met, what, two days ago? What’s happening?” AJ rubbed her shoulder with her forehoof.
“Don’t worry sugarcube, she’ll be fine. Ah promise you.”
“Well, AJ, that’s one promise you can keep.” Rainbow and Applejack jumped and spun around. Before anyone could say anything, Rainbow had leapt forward and pulled Sky into a tight hug. Sky stroked her mane for a second, but then AJ cleared her throat and they separated. They stood there awkwardly for a few minutes, but then Fluttershy was next to them.
“Rainbow, Applejack, Sky, I’ve been calling you for five minutes! I-I’m afraid I might have woken someone up I was shouting so loud!” Rainbow chuckled and walked back into the library. Aj gave Sky a funny look --good or bad she couldn’t discern-- and followed Rainbow. Sky pawed the ground for a moment, but Fluttershy tapped Sky on the shoulder.
“Um... Sky? Are you coming?” Sky shook her head, her train of thought derailing into the deep ditch of distraction.
“Yeah, yeah, sorry, I’m coming.”
As Sky walked back into Twilight’s Library, She saw Zecora talking to Twilight. After a muted discussion, she nodded to Twilight and turned to leave.
“Ah, it looks like the pegasus Sky Blue,
Is finally looking good as new.
I was just telling Twilight of what I saw,
And don’t worry, I did not recount it all.” Zecora said this when she noticed the grimace on Sky’s face.
“But now I must go back home,
Twilight has given me this interesting tome.”
She waved the book in front of Sky.
“I will leave you to explain,
What you saw inside your brain.” With that, Zecora wandered off, towards the outskirts of Ponyville. I guess she doesn’t feel like staying. That was a pretty dodgy excuse for her leaving though. The author must be getting tired. She shook her head, dislodging this strange thought. She walked over to where her friends were huddled. She noticed that Twilight and Rainbow were avoiding each others’ gaze. AJ was the first to speak.
“Alright, now tell us. What in tarnation happened in there? We asked Twi’, but she wants you to tell us.”
“Alright, but promise me one thing.”
AJ continued to act as the voice of the group. Even ‘Dash seemed subdued.
“And what would that be?”
“Don’t hate me after I finish.” Applejack looked confused, and looked to Twilight for support. She nodded. AJ looked at the others, and they nodded too, although with as much confusion as Applejack was displaying on her face.
“Alright. But, let me say this. If you ever think anything could make us hate you, you are sorely mistaken, Sky.”
“I guess we’ll see.” She knelt down, and the others followed suit. She then proceeded to tell them about her nightmare. She left out the part with her and Rainbow, vaguely saying, ‘Oh I was just flying around.’ Applejack, who had a thing for detecting lies, looked unimpressed. But as Sky continued on, telling them everything about what had happened, She slowly curled up, fearing her friends reactions. By the time she had jerked to the end of her story, Sky had tears running down her cheeks, and her face was completely covered by her blue mane.
“I understand if you do hate me. I wouldn’t expect you to keep that promise after hearing that.”
Silence.
Complete. Utter. Silence.
She pushed her mane away from her face, and the others looked shocked.
“I hate myself too.”
Applejack shook herself, and with a bewildered look on her face, said;
“Sugarcube, why would we hate you? You said that that... Chrysalis... Said your conscience had taken over! The bad guys usually don’ have consciences! Ah don’t know what you did, or what she meant, but all that matters is that you are good now. The past doesn’t matter, only the present. Ah know that Ah for one wouldn’t hate you fer that!” The others nodded and murmured in agreement.
“Really? You don’t hate me? You... You heard the story right? She called me one of her best troops!”
“Man, you’d think you wanted us to hate you.” Rainbow giggled, and hugged Sky. She felt herself blushing from the sudden embrace. Rainbow whispered in her ear;
“Never ever tell anypony, but I was really worried for a while.” She stepped back, and when she did, she had her normal indifferent look on her face. They all reassured Sky, and made her sure that they didn’t hate her. Sky yawned.
“I guess we better go home and go to bed, huh?”
“Um, Sugarcube? Look outside.”
Sky turned and saw Celestia’s sun on the horizon.
“Oh damn.” Pinkie Pie bounced over towards her.
“Oh, come on! Don’t be such a silly filly! You just spent most of the night sleeping!”
Sky looked Pinkie right in the eyes, and the pink pony stopped bouncing.
“No offense, Pinkie, but I wouldn’t exactly call what I was doing sleep. Sleep is where you rest. I did not rest. Far from it, in fact.”
“Oh! Sorry, I wasn’t thinking, hey want some cookies?” Sky blinked for a few seconds. Was that one sentence? She was amazed that Pinkie had gone from apologising to offering treats without missing a beat. Twilight patted her shoulder, and she must have been reading Sky’s mind because she said;
“You’ll get used to it.”
Sky smiled and they all dispersed. It had been a hectic night, and Twilight had to send a message to Princess Celestia, informing her of Sky’s vision, and the possible return of Discord. Sky remembered that she had promised to help Applejack on her farm, and asked what she could do to help as they walked back.
“You’ve got ta be kiddin’ me, Sky. After what you’ve been through, Ah think you should have a rest.”
“No. I want to help. If Big Macintosh isn’t there to help you harvest apples, you’ll be there for a month.” Applejack thought back to when she had unintentionally caused utter chaos throughout Ponyville by not accepting help.
“Well, if you’re sure. But Ah don’t want you straining yourself.”
“I’ll do whatever you need me to do. Maybe having a Pegasus will help you out?” Applejack reluctantly nodded.
“Alright then, if you’re really sur--”
“Applejack! I’m helping, no matter what you say.” Applejack nodded again, and they continued on in silence for a while. Then, as they trotted into Sweet Apple Acres, and Applejack pointed out the trees Sky would be bucking, she remembered something;
“Sky, when you were talking about that dream, what did you say was happening at the start?” Sky remembered how skeptical Applejack had looked when she had answered with her vague ‘Oh I was just flying’. Why does she care?
“Sky, did something else happen? Something you couldn’t tell the others? What could be that bad? And you know you can’t lie to the element of honesty.” Applejack saw Sky’s face go blank.
“Um... Nothing, It doesn’t matter.” She flew off in the direction Applejack had pointed.
What does she know? Does she know what the truth was? Is that what she meant by the whole ‘Element of Honesty’ thing? I guess I’ll find out when she questions me later.
Sky just shook her head and tried to remember what Applejack had said about applebucking. Just kick the trees, collect the apples. But, she had said something about putting buckets under the trees first. Sky didn’t want to go down to the barn, because she knew Applejack would be there. She thought about it for while, and realised that she didn’t have to answer Applejack’s questions anyway. She flew toward the barn, and landed lightly in front of the big red building. She saw Applejack only just walking through the white fence into the clearing where the building sat.
“Wait! Sky! Just tell me what’s wrong! You know Ah wouldn’t judge ya!” Sky stopped for a moment.
“Being the ‘Element of Honesty’, you would already know, wouldn’t you? Augh! Not even my feelings are private!” She went to fly away, with two buckets strapped to her back.
“What d’you mean, feelings? Ah can’t read your mind, Sky.” Sky immediately regretted overreacting, and was afraid Applejack would be able to figure out what she meant.
“Never mind.”
“No! Sky, what do ya mean? You can tell me!” Sky was barely containing herself. “Are you still worried?” She couldn’t take it anymore. Sky snapped.
“Fine! If you have to know my personal feelings...” She hesitated, but Applejack had an expectant look on her face.
“I... I...” Her mouth was dry. Oh screw it.
“I think I love Rainbow Dash!”
Silence.
Applejack looked flustered.
“W-w-what? When you said it was about your feelings, Ah th-th-thought you meant you were nervous. Ah’m s-sorry Sky. Ah should’ve d-dropped it.” Applejack pawed the ground nervously.
“I’ll see you later AJ, I’m going to go and harvest those apples.” Sky turned and flew away, leaving Applejack standing uncomfortably in the dust. She hadn’t counted on hearing that.
As Sky flew she silently berated herself. Damn Damn Damn! I just had to choose that moment to snap, didn’t I? It was just a crush. Was. But then I had to say it out loud. Now I am starting to believe it. AUGH! I hate myself. Now AJ is going to tell everyone. No, she wouldn’t do that... Would she? Maybe I’ll just talk to her, and try to explain. But first I’ll do this ‘applebucking’. Sky touched down softly and started kicking every tree she could see, Taking some of her frustration out on them. Unfortunately, she almost kicked a tree in half, which just made her scared. Is this because Chrysalis was altering my strength, making me able to fight? She shook herself, for the fiftieth time in as many hours. That was just insane. But Sky nevertheless made sure she was more careful from then on.
As Celestia’s sun went down, a little quicker than normal, Sky flew back to the Farmhouse, her buckets laden with apples. She trotted over to the barn, and put them on there, locking it as she walked back to the house. She trotted through the creaking door, and saw Applejack sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying a slice of apple pie. But it wasn’t AJ that Sky noticed. It was the cyan pegasus pony seated next to her.
Rainbow Dash.
Sky almost snapped again, then and there, but she decided just to see what was going on. Maybe Applejack hadn’t told her? She felt a strange sense of calm when she locked eyes with ‘Dash.
“Oh hey Sky! I just stopped in here when I smelt AJ cooking some of her apple pie! Come and have a slice!” Applejack smiled nervously at Sky. If looks could kill, Applejack would be a smear on the wall. But she calmed down, and looked at AJ and nodded to ‘Dash, who had buried her face in her pie. She saw AJ give a slight shake of her head. She sagged with relief. She wanted to tell Rainbow in her own time, in her own way. She smiled as Rainbow sat up and grabbed another piece of pie between her hooves.
“OUCH! HOTHOTHOT!” She dropped the piece on to her plate with a small splat. Sky was by her side in a flash.
“Come on, let’s get that under some water.” She didn’t know what had come over her. Well, she did, but that sounds so much better. She just didn’t want to see Rainbow hurting.
“Ummm... Thanks, Sky.” Rainbow said this as Sky ran water over her burned hoof. She locked eyes with Rainbow and they stood there, with Sky holding one of Rainbow’s hooves in her own, under the cold water. Sky felt a blush coming on, when she heard a voice from somewhere far away.
“Um, guys? Ah got to pay for that water, you know that right?” Sky and Rainbow snapped back to the real world. Rainbow turned away quickly as Sky shut off the water. Did she see a hint of red on that cyan face? Or was it a trick of the light? Oh, I should just forget it. She doesn’t feel that way about me . They sat and ate in silence for a while, occasionally exchanging some words, when Rainbow Dash looked at the old cuckoo clock on the wall.
“Woah, it’s getting late, I better go. Um... I’ll see you guys tomorrow, alright?” Sky felt that the blue pegasus had left a little quicker than was necessary. Stop it! Remember? She doesn’t feel the same way about... Me. Yo--I should just give up. Sky decided to get some sleep too.
“See you in the morning, AJ.”
“Alright Sugarcube, Ah just got to clean this mess up.”
Sky trotted up the stairs to Aj’s room and lay down on the cot. She looked out the window at Luna’s moon. Oh Rainbow... I wish I could tell you how I feel. Ah! How many times must I--you---I repeat yourself? Rainbow. Is. Straight. Nothing can change that. This odd thought just sent Sky into a deeper pit of despair. She felt herself crying, and did so until she fell into a shallow sleep.
As Sky woke up, she knew it must be really early, as she heard Applejack’s soft snoring behind her. She had had a horrible dream. Not as bad as the others, but still bad. She had been walking down an odd corridor. She didn’t know how long it was, and she didn’t know why she was following it, but she knew that wanted whatever was at the end of it with all her heart. So she had walked.
And walked...
And walked some more...
Until she was hungry and thirsty and tired. But then she saw what she had been doing it for.
She saw the beautiful cyan coat.
She saw the gorgeous multi-coloured mane,
And the deep pink eyes.
Rainbow Dash.
She didn’t know why, but she flew over to ‘Dash and knelt in front of her. Before she could stop herself, she was pouring out her heart, her soul, telling Rainbow Dash how she felt.
Rainbow had blinked a few times, and then she said the words that had brought tears to Sky’s eyes, even now, after she had woken up.
“Sorry Sky, but... But... I think we should be just friends.”
The world had dissolved, and Sky felt herself falling into a deep abyss. She saw the faces of her friends, all with disapproving looks on their faces. Rarity spoke first.
“Unnatural abomination! And to think I called you fabulous!”
Then Fluttershy.
“If you like mares, then I’m sorry, I can’t risk you falling for me. I don’t want to be your
friend.”
Then Applejack.
“I was holding back before, but you Fillyfoolers are disgusting. Ah can’t stand you... You... Things!”
Then Pinkie.
“EWWW! You like girls? That’s GROSS! And to think I threw you a party! With real confetti! My last bag!”
Then, finally Twilight.
“Sky, you aren’t right. We can’t have you messing up our harmony. We have to banish you from Equestria.”
Then Sky continued falling, falling into even deeper despair. Then she woke up, holding back a scream. It had all been a dream. But what her friends, however imagined, had been right... Or... Had they? You know what? I’m going to go and talk to Rainbow. And if she doesn’t like me, then... Then... We’ll just be friends... I guess. And to hay with what the others say! Zecora had said she shouldn’t be sorry for these feelings. If a wise one like her knew that, then surely the others would too. She knew what she had to do. No matter what happened, she had to tell Rainbow the truth. At least she would know. And if anything, at least AJ wouldn’t have to lie to anyone.
--Sorry if I offended anyone with the dream sequence and what the ‘dream’ ponies said, I just wanted to emphasize what the antagonist was doing to her. It killed me writing that, as I have a very accepting family when it comes to those matters, but I knew it was important to the story. Anyway, stop reading this note and keep reading the story! Remember to comment with advice! Anything is accepted. Good or bad, I will read it ALL.--
Sky slowly got out of her bed and saw that the time was 5:00. Strange. Usually the sun would be peeking over the edge of the horizon. She disregarded this and climbed down the creaky stairs. She stuck to the sides, as there would be more of a foundation there to hold her weight. She walked through the dark kitchen, grabbing an apple as she went through, past the darkened photos of Big Macintosh, Applebloom, Granny Smith (Sky was just speculating here, as she hadn’t met Granny Smith as of yet.) and Applejack. She swung the door open quickly, to avoid it ominously creaking open. She closed it just as quickly, being careful not to slam it. She spread her wings and flew off at a leisurely pace towards Rainbow Dash’s cloud palace. She went slow on purpose, so she could think about what to say.
I could say that thing about love at first sight, or I could just come right out and say it, or I could build up to it, or... AUGH! This is so hard. But... For some reason my mind feels clear. Clearer than it’s been since I had that nightmare. The first one, that is. I wonder what it could have been? It just felt like my mind was in chaos, like there was some parasite on it, pumping... Venomous... Thoughts... CRAP! Chrysalis! She must have been doing it! And... Now that I think about it, I was having some really weird thoughts last night. And that dream didn’t involve Chrysalis. Maybe she thought she had beaten me? Hah! I’ll prove her wrong! I can’t believe I was thinking of never telling Rainbow how I feel! I love Rainbow Dash, and even if she doesn’t love me back, nothing will stop me telling her! Her train of thought was derailed yet again, as a familiar grey pony collided with her and threw her off course.
“Ohh! Soorry! I wasn’t watching where I’m going!” She flew away unsteadily, her saddlebags filled with mail, some of which was floating softly to the ground. Sky shook her head and continued in the direction of Rainbow’s place. She could feel her heart beating faster. What if she likes me too? What would I do? Would I kiss her? Hug her? Give her a slightly amorous high-hoof? Whatever I did do before I lost my memory, it definitely wasn’t romantic. Sky started to feel a sense of apprehension, and slowed to a stop. But... If she doesn’t like me? What then? Would I just leave? Would I beg for her to like me? I should think about this. This could change my friendship with ‘Dash forever. Sky blinked. How could she go from so confident to nervous in such a short--
“CHRYSALIS! GET THE HAY OUT OF MY HEAD!”
A few early rising weather pegasi looked around in shock. Sky realised she had said this out loud.
Ah. You have figured out my little scheme. Never mind. I don’t need to keep it up anyway. It was fun while it lasted though. Although Sky could tell the voice was intended to be smug, she could practically feel the heat of the barely restrained anger the Queen was trying to hide. Then the presence faded. Sky hovered for a few seconds, then decided to continue heading for Rainbow’s place. She decided to tell Twilight about it later. For now, she just wanted to tell Rainbow how she felt, then she would go straight to the library and tell Twilight. She was apprehensive though, but not about the impending confession. If anything, it was because she knew, somewhere in her mind, that Chrysalis would not give up that easily. This wasn’t over. She just shook her head, dislodging the thoughts, chalking them up to Chrysalis residue. As she arrived at ‘Dash’s house, though, she knew something was wrong. Whether it was the eery feeling the place was giving off, or the pitch-dark interior, or the screams from--
Wait, screams? Oh hell! RAINBOW DASH! Sky flew forward through the front door, blowing it off of it’s hinges. She went straight to the bedroom and saw Rainbow struggling to escape the blankets on her bed, all while she was unconscious. Obviously this was a pretty bad nightmare, so Sky just let her instincts take over, and jumped over to the bed and lay her arms over Rainbow, so the cyan mare didn’t hurt herself with her struggling. Then, without thinking, she put her forehead against Rainbow’s. She could feel the fear and pain her friend was feeling. She almost recoiled from the strength of it, but she persisted. She agonisingly pushed past her friends mental defenses and how she knew how to was beyond her. As she neared the center of Rainbow’s mind, she saw the cyan pegasus struggling to get away, as if she had been tied down.
“STOP IT! I DON’T WANT TO SEE ANY MORE!” Sky almost retreated there and then, hearing her friend screaming so, but it was for the same reason that she pushed on, with more determination. When she reached what could be called Rainbow’s ‘Inner Sanctum’ of her mind, she saw Chrysalis standing over her, her hooves pushing against ‘Dash’s forehead. She noticed vaguely that it looked like a large cloud, stretching out in infinite directions. “SSSTOOOP IIIT!” It tore Sky apart to hear her friend screaming like that. She moved her attention back to the struggling pegasus.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!” Sky screamed this, and the mindvision of Chrysalis flickered for a moment. “STOP HURTING HER!” Chrysalis looked over at Sky and smiled.
“Why should I? I’m having fun!”
“If you keep hurting her, I will destroy you, Chrysalis. I will fight my way through your army barehanded and tear you into millions of pieces if you hurt the mare I love. Even if she doesn’t love me back, I will kill you if you hurt her.” Chrysalis just laughed.
“Ohh, I’m so terrified. But I think I’ll keep going. This one has so many feelings to toy with.”
The way Chrysalis said this made Sky look at ‘Dash. Her eyes were slightly open.
“S-S-Sky? Wh-what are y-y-you d-doing here? What did you j-just say?” Her voice was so weak, Sky went from terrified worry to volcanic fury in record time. She charged Chrysalis, and before she could react, Sky had smashed into her, and knocked her over. The queen yelled in her fury;
“Grr. THIS IS NOT OVER! I WILL SEE YOU PAY SKY BLUE!”
“Maybe I’ll pay for your funeral. Then again, there won’t be much left of you to bury.” Chrysalis actually looked scared for a moment when Sky said this. Her voice had been so low, and yet so powerful at the same time.
“You will pay Sky. This is not over.” Chrysalis flickered into nothingness. Sky looked at Rainbow one more time, walked over to her, stroked her mane, and then she pulled out of Rainbow’s mind, not wishing to intrude any longer. It was bad enough she had said that she loved Rainbow. She had hoped at least for some kind of build up. Now Rainbow knew, and it was time to find out how she felt.
As Sky came back to her own body, she pulled her forehead away from Rainbow’s, and turned to leave. She didn’t want to see the look on ‘Dash’s face.
“W-wait! Sky, don’t go, please.” Sky stopped and turned around to see Rainbow sitting up in her bed and smiling weakly.
“Do... Do you remember anything from... From your dream?” Rainbow nodded.
“Yes. And Sky, thank you for that.”
Sky looked at Rainbow and smiled. ‘Dash must not remember her confession.
“I’m glad you’re okay ‘Dash.” Sky trotted over and hugged Rainbow. At least now I’ll have some more time to thin-- Sky was hurled away from this thought as Rainbow leaned up and kissed her. Sky almost fainted there and then.
“And I love you too. I didn’t realise it until that dream. Thank you Sky, for making me realise that.” Sky stroked her mane.
“I didn’t know it was love at first either, but... I don’t know. It was during the first nightmare I had.”
“Wanna tell me what really happened now?”
“Nothing really, we were flying around, landed on a cloud and I confessed how I felt. But I was afraid what other ponies would think. I heard someone talking about... What was it? Fillyfoolers? And I saw it as derogatory, the way they were talking.”
Sky was taken aback when Rainbow burst out laughing.
“That’s why? Because of one prejudiced pony? Sky! You shouldn’t let that hold you back!”
“But what about our friends?” Sky said, trying to explore all the negatives, although they barely outweighed the positives, i.e. Being with Rainbow.
“As long as we are happy, they will be. If they’re good friends, they’ll love us no matter who we love. I don’t think it matters whether they are a colt or a mare.” Sky nodded, tears in her eyes.
“I love you more than anything Rainbow. I don’t think I have ever felt this way. You can forget experiences, but not feelings, especially ones as strong as this.”
Rainbow smirked.
“Okay, enough of the sappy stuff. We’ve told each other how we feel, so I think it’s obvious that you want to be my marefriend, right? ‘Cause I want to be yours.”
“Of course I do!”
“Okay then, how about we go for a fly to celebrate? We’ll tell the others later, when they are all awake.”
Sky nodded and they set out.
“I think we should tell them one-by-one, instead of all at once.”
“Why, Sky?” Rainbow chuckled at her little rhyme.
“You’re not Zecora, calm down. I just think it would be easier.”
“I dunno. I just want to get it out, not leave someone with the information and risk having someone left out.”
“Good point. Can we at least tell AJ alone? I just want to gauge her reaction.”
“Alright, fine.”
They changed their course for Sweet Apple Acres.
“So, why AJ?”
“Well, if she is the Element of Honesty, we’ll be able to tell if she is lying about how she feels about this whole... ‘us’ thing.”
“She’ll be fine.”
“We’ll see.”
They flew on for a few minutes, and touched down on the outside of Sweet Apple Acres. They hugged for a moment, and Sky gave Rainbow a kiss on the cheek.
“I’m so happy you feel the same about me.”
“Of course I do. You’re almost as cool as me. Almost. And I’ve never faced a pegasus that could keep up with me like that.”
“Oh, come on. You barely broke a sweat!”
They headed for the farmhouse.
“Just because I didn’t sweat then doesn’t mean I didn’t at all. Once you get as athletic as me, you learn to control those things. But you can’t make them go away. When I got home I sweated like crazy.”
“You don’t have to lie to me. I’ll never be as fast as you.”
“I’m not lying! And, you have a point.”
They walked along happily towards the farmhouse, when they heard shouting.
“SKY! SKY! WHERE ARE YOU? Damn!”
“AJ! I’m fine, I just went to see Rainbow!” The feeling of relief swept off of AJ like a tidal wave.
“Thank Celestia! Ah woke up, and you were gone, and Ah just worried that you had had another nightmare and...” AJ trailed off as she saw how close Sky and ‘Dash were standing next to each other. She blinked.
“Wh-what?”
“I woke up and I made a decision to tell Rainbow Dash how I felt about her.”
“Wow! You actually did it! When you told me...Ah... Um...” She stopped talking when she saw the look on Rainbow’s face.
“What? You told AJ before you told me? Why?”
“She forced it out of me! She just kept asking what I was hiding, and I just... I just snapped.”
“Rainbow, Ah didn’t know that was what she was hidin’, Ah swear! Ah just kept pushing... And, like she said, she just snapped.” Rainbow shrugged.
“Alright, I believe you. Just tell me earlier next time... If there is another situation like this.”
“Thank you for believing me. Anyway, yes, Applejack, I told Rainbow how I feel, and she feels the same way. We... We are... We’re together! And my mind feels so clear now. I love Rainbow, and she knows it.”
“Same here. Like I said before, let’s just stop all of this sappy stuff and hear what AJ has to say, okay?”
Applejack just looked at them for a second, then she smiled hugely.
“Well, that’s just great! And to think, yesterday, you thought you were evil, Sky! Does this prove you wrong?”
“You know what? It does. I don’t care what I was before my amnesia, whether self-inflicted or not, this is who I am now, and I don’t care what Chrysalis says!”
They all smiled, and decided to eat some breakfast. As Applejack made some apple oatmeal, Sky remembered something.
“Last night, when I was washing your hoof, were you blushing Rainbow?”
“Um... Yeah. It just felt so weird, having you touch my hoof like that. Now I know why it felt so strange.” Sky nodded, and they ate their oatmeal while conversing happily about anything they could think of. When they had finished, Rainbow and Sky told AJ to meet her at Twilight’s library. Then the new couple split up to go and get the others, so they could tell them all what had come of such a long night. As Sky flew, she felt her heart soaring even higher. But this feeling stopped when she realised the sun was still down.
It has to be at least 6:30, why hasn’t Celestia raised the sun? I guess even princesses have to sleep in. Sky just kept flying toward Sugarcube corner, hoping Pinkie would be awake. She saw a light on in one of the second floor windows, and headed straight for that. She slowed to a stop, and hovered in front of the window, tapping it lightly. In an instant, they had burst open, and Sky saw the familiar bouncy pink mane, and the equally bouncy pony, with a big smile on her face.
“Hiya Sky! Why are you up so early? Ohh! Do you wanna have a party? Just let me get my party cannon and we’ll go!”
“Wait! Pinkie Pie, I just wanted to tell you to meet me at Twi’s Library!”
“Okie Dokie Loki! I’ll see you there!”
Sky flew away, glad that she had dodged seeing what the ‘Party Cannon’ was, while hoping Pinkie wouldn’t have it with her when she arrived. She set a course for Rarity’s boutique and was there in a matter of seconds. She touched down on the soft road and ran to the Boutique’s door.
“Rarity! Rarity! Are you up?” She heard some groggy hoofsteps approaching the door, and it opened slowly.
“Oh, hello Sky. May I ask why you are bothering me at such an ungodly hour? I was getting my beauty sleep!” She yawned loudly to emphasize the point.
Sky decided flattery would probably help.
“Come on, a pony like you needing beauty sleep? You’re beautiful enough as it is!”
Rarity looked pleased when she smiled, all traces of tiredness gone.
“Why, Sky, such an obvious attempt at flattery must mean you require my presence somewhere, correct?” Sky, wishing to end this and meet ‘Dash at Twilight’s library, just sighed.
“Yes, I require your presence Rarity.”
“Well, I would be happy to meet you...?”
“At Twilight’s library. I have some special news.”
“Very well. Just allow me to ready myself before I leave.”
“Fine, see you at Twilight’s library in five minutes.”
“Five minutes? Do you think I just wave my horn about and I end up looking like I do each day? I will require at least an hour to ready mysel--”
“Five. Minutes. This is important. Really important.”
“Fine, if I absolutely must.”
Sky flew off, just happy that she didn’t have to try anything on. It was bad enough Rarity had tried to measure her during her welcome party. Sky just kept flying, happy that soon everypony would know.
As she touched down at the library, Sky knew something was wrong. Maybe it was the door, creaking on it’s hinges, or the smashed window, or Applejack lying outside it, unconsciou-- Damn! I have to stop leaving those things ‘till last! She ran over to AJ, to see if she was badly wounded. She looked pretty banged up, with a few cuts and scrape, and... Were those... Burn blisters? How did she get burned? Well, I’m not going to find out just sitting here. Sky walked to the door, and knocked on it quietly. She leapt back as the door burst into flames. What the hay was that? She decided the door was too dangerous, and so flew up to an upstairs window. She saw Twilight in the middle of the room, inside a purple bubble, with Spike, her assistant, trying to break through it with his flames. They weren’t working, even Sky could see that. His green fire was just too weak to break it. He looked tired, and that was when a purple bolt flew out of the bubble and hit him square in the chest. He flew across the room and hit a bookcase, books tumbling down on top of his spiny head. Twilight would never hurt Spike like that! What’s gotten into her? One word popped into her head. Chrysalis. That. Is. It. She has too hurt too many of us! I have to send her a message, one she won’t forget. With this, Sky smashed through the window and flew towards Twilight’s bubble. She realised later that this may not have been the plan that made it on to the top ten list of good, smart plans. It was definitely not smart. Sky realised this when a bolt hit her, and she was stopped in her tracks. Well, almost. She kept going, even as she felt the bolt draining her energy. It seemed to never end, but somehow Sky managed to push through, into Twilight’s bubble. Panting with exhaustion, Sky put her forehead against Twilight’s, as she had done for Rainbow, not two hours before. She pushed through Twilight’s defenses and ended up in her ‘Inner Sanctum’. She noticed it looked like a library. She could hear Twilight yelling somewhere in the distance. Then she heard a smooth male voice in her head.
“Oh look! Someone new to toy with! This is going to be fun. And I just love fun.” Sky looked around wildly, but saw nothing. Then, in a flash of light, a large figure materialised in the air in front of her. By the way it was put together, it definitely looked like it was late when the body parts were being handed out, having to take the leftovers.
It had a maroon body,
A ponies head,
Two horns, one that looked like a spear of ice, one that looked like a tuft of hair,
It had an eagle’s talon, and a lions arm.
It had a green dragon leg, and one horse’s,
It had a snake’s tail.
It had a pegasi wing, and a bat one.
And it’s eyes. One was big, with a large pupil, the other was slightly smaller, with a dilated pupil.
Discord.
Sky didn’t know why, but she couldn’t tear herself away from those eyes. So, interesting, and lopsided, and hypnotic. Wait, hypnotic? CRAP! She tried to look away, but couldn’t. She found herself slipping into a trance. Great. What is he going to do to me? Make me hate my friends? Make me hate... Rainbow? This is Discord, after all. But... I don’t want to hate her. I love her. An image of Rainbow’s face, with her mischievous grin popped into her head. I’ll never hate Rainbow. Ever. But Sky could feel this voice getting weaker. Her mind went fuzzy, and Chrysalis’ voice popped into her head. COME ON! YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS!
But Sky felt that this wasn’t an insulting message from the Changeling Queen. It was... A memory ? Sky listened to it, with her last ounce of free will. She heard the Queen speaking, like a teacher to a star student. She heard this, and knew it wasn’t a trick. This was going to be the first real thing she remembered about her past, and she hoped it would help. Time seemed to slow, and the last tiny bit of her self felt Twilight’s sanctum-library fade away, and saw herself in a courtyard, with Chrysalis standing across from a definitely younger Sky. It looked like a dark, drab place, and Her younger self’s coat and mane seemed out of place. She jumped when she heard Chrysalis’ voice ringing through the courtyard.
“Now! What have I told you? Let us go over it again.” Sky’s mind practically melted with the memories she got from hearing the definitely younger Chrysalis’ voice. She didn’t get anything concrete, but she saw vague images, such as sitting at a large, dark table, eating happily while Chrysalis sat at the other end, observing her. She saw Chrysalis looking incredulously at her, as she spread her wings for --what she guessed-- was the first time. She saw one more thing. Her sitting at a small table in a huge, gloomy library, jumping happily around at the arrival of her cutie mark, while a stunned Chrysalis watched incredulously as the filly hopped in circles around her. She snapped back to the slightly more present past when she heard her own, small voice say happily;
“I could be captured by Celestia if I’m not careful, and she could try to hypnotise me to get me to talk!”
“Good. Now, what should you do in case of this happening?”
“Umm... I should... Remember that I can’t be hypnotised if I don’t want to?”
Sky was happy to hear this, as it meant she had a way to fight back against Discord, but her hopes where dashed when she heard Chrysalis speak again.
“That would work against a lesser hypnotist, but against Celestia, you wouldn’t stand a chance. What else?”
“Okay... I should... Clear my mind?”
“No! That would make it easier for them to break your will! Try again!”
“I should...” Chrysalis had an expectant look on her face. “Fight it with all my strength!” Chrysalis actually jumped with...Joy? Could it be? No... It must have been pleasure at teaching me something new.
“Alright, I’ll try and hypnotise you now, don’t worry if you can’t beat me, I am nearly as strong as Celestia with my abilities.” Chrysalis lowered her head, and even though it was a memory, Sky could practically feel the force of Chrysalis’ mental jab. She saw herself recoil, but recover quickly, and start to fight back. After a few minutes of this, Chrysalis stumbled back in shock.
“What... How did you... That was... Very good Sky. You actually managed to hold me back. But don’t get your hopes up, I am very tired at the moment.” Nevertheless, Chrysalis looked very pleased with her students’ results.
Sky felt herself pulled backwards, out of the memory, and was suddenly back in her own head. She felt Discord mentally flinch, and it was enough for Sky to get a hold back in her mind. She used as much force as possible against Discord’s considerable strength. Sky felt some joy from Discord, and heard him say;
“Very good. Not even little Twilight sparkle, the element of magic itself lasted this long. Chrysalis taught you well, young pony.” Sky ignored this and felt a little bit of disappointment coming from Discords chaotic mind.
“Oh come on! Do you know nothing about epic first-meeting battles? The bad guy makes fun of the good guy, the good guy loses their cool, slips up and is pounded in to the dirt. It’s practically a rule!” Sky couldn’t help herself as she said;
“Rules are made to be broken!” And resumed her onslaught, pushing at Discord’s mind like a butterfly pushing a train.
“Ah! A rule breaker! My kind of gal!”
Sky felt her energy running out as she pushed against Discord’s mind.
“Ah, looks like it’s the lesser known ‘Good guy just isn’t good enough’ ending. At least this way there won’t be any troublesome second meetings.” Sky almost succumbed then, but she suddenly felt something else, something incredibly powerful joining the mental battle. Or more like six somethings. She felt the combined power of her friends’ minds joining together and pushing Discord back.
“Oh well. Something for the record books! The Elements of Harmony have beaten bad old Discord without the elements themselves! Hahaha. This isn’t over girls, I will be back, and you won’t be able to defeat me with the six elements you have.” And with that, Discord’s mind left, and Sky pulled out of Twilight’s mind from sheer exhaustion.
Sky flew faster than she consciously had before, the time she caused havoc among her friends notwithstanding. She hit the ground hard, stumbled and hit the door of Twilight’s library, going right through.
“Twilight! The moon--”
“I’ve noticed, thank you.” Twilight was reading through one of her books, casually turning the pages without a care in the world. Sky was confused. Even more so at the lack of Colour the pony possessed.
She was just grey.
Sky trotted forward.
“Well, aren’t you going to do anything?”
“No. I think I might just stay here thanks.”
“Twilight! What has gotten into you?”
“I dunno.”
Sky just growled and left the library at speed. She flew towards Rainbow’s cloud home, were the Rainbow Pony was sleeping on a hammock suspended between two cloud pillars.
“Rainbow! Rainbow!”
She noticed that the normally colourful pony was also greyscale. What is going on?
“Rainbow! Do you know what’s happening?”
“Yep.”
“Care to elaborate?”
“Nope.”
“Please?”
“Nope.”
Sky just flew away, confused at her friends indifference. She flew towards Fluttershy’s cottage, were the place was devoid of the normal critters. She saw a small brown bunny, similar to the one Sky had seen when she first arrived, running away at speed. Sky looked around and saw nothing. What the hay is happening? Suddenly her vision went blurry, and she was freezing cold, as a bucket of water was dumped on her head. She looked up, and saw Fluttershy holding it.
“Aw, did that get you?”
“Yes *cough cough splutter* It did. Fluttershy, do you know what is going on?”
“Yep.”
“Care to tell me?”
“No.” And with that, Fluttershy slammed the bucket down on Sky’s head, driving it into the ground. She used a spell that popped into her head to melt it away.
“Fluttershy! Dammit!”
Sky flew away again, and headed towards Rarity’s boutique. She landed in front of it, and tried to open the door. It opened half an inch. She looked through the window and saw furniture piled up against it. From inside she heard a shrill voice screech;
“GO AWAY! NO-ONE IS TRYING TO TAKE TOM FROM ME AGAIN!”
Sky just left then and there. She flew towards Sugarcube corner, thinking that Pinkie Pie would be able to make some sense of the situation. But when she got there, Pinkie Pie was kneeling sullenly outside. Sky nevertheless, tried to talk.
“Pinkie Pie! I am so glad to see you.”
“Why? Need a good laugh?” Sky was taken aback by this and realised whatever had happened to the others must have happened to Pinkie as well, and so she flew away as fast as she could.
“What is happening?” Maybe Zecora knows something? I don’t want to see what AJ is like at the moment. Sky changed her course, and headed for the Everfree Forest. But when she tried to fly in, a brick wall appeared in front of her and she crashed into it, slowly spiraling towards the ground, blood streaming from her mouth. She heard the all-too familiar voice of Discord.
“Oh no, I can’t let you get through that easily can I? Play my game, and I’ll let you through.” Discord appeared in front of her, a smile on his mismatched face.
“I’m not a fan of games.” Sky said this, then blindly attacked Discord, chanting a spell she hoped would keep him in place. Her newfound memories had come with memories of some of the spells she had learned. She knew it was working when she heard Discord trying to move.
“What have you done, little Sky Blue?” Sky could tell he was trying to keep his voice in the light mischievous way it usually was, but there was a slight note of panic in there.
“I have just used what Chrysalis taught me.” And with this, she jumped and head-butted him right in his chest, actually making him stumble.
“How did you do that? You’re more powerful than she said...” With this, Sky broke the spell and Discord teleported away. Sky ran straight into the Everfree Forest. She only just realised the pain her jaw was feeling, from the hit to the brick wall. She just blindly ran through the forest, not really knowing where she was going. She vaguely noticed a broken cliff as she ran down a worn path towards the bottom.
She could’ve sworn she saw a manticore.
She didn’t see anything for a minute, just vaguely creepy trees.
And at one point she saw a large purple tail as she crossed a river.
Then she came to a broken rope bridge. She knew that Zecora’s House was very far away at this point, but she kept moving. She just flew over the gap, and saw a large ruined castle. She wandered through the crumbling doorway and saw a huge plinth.
It was empty.
“That’s it? That’s why I came all this way, to see an empty damn plinth?! Come on!” Sky wanted to leave right then and there, but she found herself drawn to it. There were six stone platforms, enough for a small sphere to rest on, jutting out. She looked at each one, and saw the inscriptions on them.
Loyalty.
Honesty.
Laughter.
Generosity.
Kindness.
And the last inscription was rubbed off, but she knew it said Magic.
So this is where the Elements of Harmony once rested. But why am I here? Is it to find this mysterious seventh element? Wasn’t it destroyed? Maybe the fragments were kept? I guess all I have to do is look. Then I can take it to Ponyville, and maybe it will show who is the seventh element. I just hope it works. AJ told me that the spell had been changed.
It should. No, it will!
Rainbow told me that last time they had got through because Twilight had healed them with a memory spell. I just hope someone else knows one. Sky looked around and saw nothing.
“Dammit!” Sky shouted, stamping her hoof on the ground. To her surprise, the plinth shook for a moment and a small door opened up in the base. Sky, slightly suspicious, walked in and saw what she had been looking for. A small stone sphere was resting on a small pedestal in the middle of the interior. Sky flew up and grabbed it, and went to fly back to Ponyville, but before she had left the castle, it slipped out of her hooves, and plummeted towards the ground. She heard a voice in her head, yelling;
“NO! DO NOT LET IT HIT THE GROUND!” Suddenly the sphere flew back upwards and Sky caught it. What was that? Never mind, I just have to keep moving. She flew back to Ponyville without any major incident, but when she got there, something was wrong. It was probably all the grey ponies running around, causing havoc. She stepped away from the element for a moment to try and see what else was going on, but when she turned around, Fluttershy was flying off with it.
“Ha, ha! It’s mine now!”
“Fluttershy! Give that back!”
She flew into the air after Fluttershy, catching up with her in seconds, and slamming in to her to make her drop the sphere. But Sky overshot it, and hit Fluttershy too hard, sending the sphere flying towards the ground, and tangling with Fluttershy from the force of the hit. Sky went to chase after it, but Fluttershy grabbed her, and Sky could do nothing but watch as it flew towards the ground, hitting it and shattering.
“NOT AGAIN!” Sky heard this echoing around her head.
“NO!” This was from Sky herself, who struggled out of Fluttershy’s grasp, and once again let her instincts take over. She pushed her forehead against Fluttershy’s, and entered the pegasus’ mind. She pushed through Fluttershy’s mental defenses like a flaming knife through ice, and found the pegasus’ inner sanctum easily. She noticed it looked like a large forest clearing. Sky looked around, and saw the yellow Fluttershy surrounded by butterflies. At first this confused her, but then she heard that they were speaking in a voice similar to Discord’s, just with a higher pitch. They were talking to her, telling her to be mean, to just fight people and insult them and hurt them. Sky charged forward and stopped in front of Fluttershy, getting in between the Discord-Flies and her.
“Get back Discord! Stop saying those things! GET OUT!” The force of her words were so powerful, the Discord-Flies just faded away. Fluttershy stood up shakily and looked at Sky.
“Oh, thank you so much for that Sky!” Fluttershy hugged her and Sky pulled out of Fluttershy’s mind. When she was back in her own mind, Sky shot towards the ground, knowing that no matter what she did, the Element was gone. She heard Fluttershy land next to her.
“We’ll never beat Discord. The seventh element, whatever it was, is gone.”
“Oh... Rainbow Dash didn’t tell you?”
“What?”
“When we first found the elements, Nightmare Moon shattered them, but when we realised which element each of us represented, they became our necklaces, and Twilight’s crown.”
“What? Brilliant! We just have to free the others and find whoever is the seventh element! Finding out what it was would help.” Sky went to fly away, but her vision flickered, and she fell to the ground. Oh, COME ON! Now of all tim-- Sky lost her train of thought when she blacked out.
Again.
This time she was in what looked like a huge throne room. Chrysalis was standing in front of a large dark green throne. She saw her not-so-young self --Probably about twenty this time-- standing up, an angry look on her face. Sky was confused, until she heard what was being said.
“So, the Elements of Harmony have been restored? And they have been used to defeat Nightmare Moon, who, you told me, years ago, was trying to free Equestria? And yet, I have heard, ‘My Queen’ --” Young Sky said this with a sneer on her face. “That Nightmare Moon was trying to take over. She was trying to seal the world in eternal night. Tell me, how does that sound, in any way, like freeing Equestria? What else have you lied to me about?” Young Sky was shaking with rage at this point.
“Fine. I have lied to you. We are not the... Ugh... Good guys. We are the antagonists of Equestria’s history, but would you rather be remembered as a villain, or not at all ? I have been trying to free Nightmare Moon and Discord both for over a thousand years! I want to be in control of Equestria.” Young Sky took a few steps back.
“And... My parents?”
“Killed in a raid instigated by my troops, looking to feed.”
“Celestia?”
“Good, honourable, and currently ruling a free Equestria with her newly freed sister.”
“Discord?”
“Evil, wanting to rule Equestria and send it into chaos. We agreed, a thousand years ago, that we would split the land three ways. Admittedly, Nightmare and I were making a deal with a statue, but he did speak to us in the first place.”
“So... All this time... The training has been for...?”
“The inevitable war with Celestia. I only let you live because of your tremendous mental abilities.”
“And if I leave?”
“You will lose the only true home you have ever known.”
“But you are evil!”
“But I let you do whatever you want, I give you meals, I give you education, a place to sleep. It is only fair that I get payment for these gifts. And you would probably be attacked within minutes of passing into Equestria.”
“Fine... But... I just want you to know... I trusted you... My Queen. I thought you were good.”
“I am, in a way. I am only looking to feed my people.”
“But, conquering Equestria...”
“Is the best possible solution to sate our growing hunger.”
“Fine.”
Sky watched this in silence. So she had been good, but had been blackmailed into serving Chrysalis. The throne room faded, to be replaced with a dark balcony, overlooking a near-barren grey landscape.
“So, Discord was freed?”
“Yes, but not of my will.”
“But... My Queen... Why did we not move then?”
“Luna was not ready. She needed more... Conditioning... To our beliefs.”
“You mean brainwashing.”
“Sky, if you were anyone else, I would destroy you for that. She just needs to be... Reminded... Of our promise with Discord, one thousand years ago. She isn’t ready, and with nightmare night coming up, I have to lay off the... Conditioning... For a while, lest it be noticed.”
“How has Celestia not noticed it yet?”
“Hmph. I learned how to shield those things from her years ago. She knows nothing.”
“When will we strike?”
“I have a plan. A royal wedding is coming up. Weddings are usually saturated with... Love. It will be the perfect place to lower the defenses of Equestria, and attack Canterlot at last. After all, no-one would suspect the bride, would they? Hahaha. They will never know what hit them.”
“Very well, My Queen. Where do I fit into this plan?”
“You don’t. I do not wish to send you into open conflict yet. I prefer using your abilities from afar. I must say, even I was impressed with the Hydra you summoned to attack the elements. Too bad it wasn’t good enough. And the Parasprites? I would never have thought of that. Having Celestia losing faith in her protégée by ruining her visit was inspired.”
“Thank you... My Queen. May I request permission to speak freely?”
“Yes.”
“Then may I?”
“I’d have thought you would figure that out.”
“Sorry, My Queen. I just want to say, that... I think that this plan is extremely ill-advised. There many things that could go wrong.”
“I have my spies gathering information on the bride-to-be, Cadance. I will know enough about her to make sure my cover is perfect.”
“Something will still go wrong Chrysalis. I mean, look at Discord, and Nightmare!”
Chrysalis looked annoyed that Young Sky had used her name, but kept talking.
“I will not make the same mistakes as them. I will prevail. By then, I should have...conditioned Luna, and she will be ready for the final part of my plan, and then together we shall free Discord, and rule Equestria!” Chrysalis had a far away look in her eyes as she said this.
“But... My Queen, you know that they will want more land, and what are you going to do if they decide to start a war?”
Chrysalis sighed.
“Have you ever heard the saying, ‘Honour among thieves?’ It means, that while we don’t care about others, we still honour the agreements, and in some cases, treaties made among ourselves. Whether third-rate burglars, or Villains like us--” Young Sky flinched at the thought of being called a villain, “-- We still have some sense of honour. They will stick to our agreement.”
“Very well, My Queen.” The vision faded once more, and Sky expected, no, wanted to see more, but all too soon, she felt consciousness pulling at her, and she awoke to the eyes of Fluttershy, who was softly shaking her.
“Sky? Sky? Are you okay?”
“Yeah... Yeah... I’m fine.” Sky sat up, and looked around for the fragments of the last element. She saw them a few meters away, and bolted for them, looking for a place to keep them. She saw a small pouch on a string held in front of her, and saw Fluttershy offering it.
“Here you go, Sky. I keep this for when I need to hold on to something special.”
Sky took it and put the fragments into the pouch, tightly closing it and putting it around her neck.
“Thanks, now let’s go and find the others.” Fluttershy nodded and they headed for the nearest landmark, which was Rarity’s Boutique. After a quick spell, Sky disintegrated the furniture forming the blockade, and walked in, only to have a few spools of wool thrown weakly at her.
“No! Twilight tricked me into thinking that my beautiful Tom was just a rock! Not again! GET BACK! GET OFF ME!” Rarity said this as Sky pushed her down and put her forehead against the grey unicorn’s.
As she pushed through Rarity’s defenses, Sky saw that some of them were a little cracked. That must mean she was trying to resist whatever Discord is doing to her. She pushed through into Rarity’s Sanctum, and saw that it looked like a huge walk-in wardrobe.
She saw Rarity in the middle, surrounded by floating Diamonds, with Discord’s face reflected in them. They must be apparitions, not Discord himself, otherwise they would have attacked me. Good. This should be easier than I thought. Sky flew towards Rarity, who was staring at the diamonds in awe. In an instant, Sky had smashed through them, shattering them, and silencing Discord’s voice. Rarity shook herself, clearing her mind.
“Sky? Wh-what happened? I saw... Oh, no. I was worshipping the rock again, wasn’t I?”
Sky just nodded and pulled out of Rarity’s mind. She pulled away from the unicorn, who’s colour was coming back. Then Sky’s vision flickered, again. Not again! I want to see more, but not right no-- Sky stopped thinking as she descended into yet another memory. This time, Her only-slightly-younger self was standing next to Chrysalis, as she surveyed her troops.
“Very good. Soon we shall have lowered Canterlot’s defenses, and we shall finally be in control! Luna has been feeling sick of late, and won’t be attending the wedding. I wonder what is wrong with her?” She chuckled quietly.
“The wedding is in two weeks, and by then I shall have enough information to impersonate Cadance perfectly.” Young Sky looked at the large Queen, and Sky could swear she saw something on her face. Was it... Hate? Regret? Sadness, even? Sky couldn’t tell.
“Yes, My Queen.”
“Now, remember, I want you to stay here until I return. Do not leave the castle under any circumstances.”
“Yes My Queen.”
“Very good.”
Sky felt herself waking up, and figured that this was just a short memory. But it had to be important, or she wouldn’t be reliving it so directly. She woke up, and immediately rolled on to her hooves, and bolted out of the boutique.
“I’ll see you at Twilight’s Library in five minutes! I’m going to go and free Pinkie!” She didn’t wait for an answer as she flew at speeds that would impress Rainbow towards Sugarcube Corner. Needless to day, Sky was at Sugarcube Corner in ten seconds flat. Pinkie was yelling at one of the grey ponies, one of which had discoloured flowers on her flank. She was laughing at Pinkie.
“I don’t know why I ever told my students not to bully others! This is so fun! Hahahaha!” She pointed at Pinkie, with a sneer on her face, and continued laughing.
“STOP IT! STOP LAUGHING AT M-- GET OFF ME SKY! Is this some kind of practical joke? GET AWAY!” Pinkie struggled like mad as Sky put her forehead against Pinkie’s.
Sky felt herself enter one of her friends minds for what felt like the fiftieth time in as many hours. She pushed past Pinkie’s defenses, and found herself in another ‘Sanctum’. This one looked like a huge party hall, with Party food and balloons everywhere. But some sinister-looking balloons were hovering around and laughing at Pinkie, who was on the ground, crying. Sky flew over to them, but the other balloons in the room pushed her back. She just pushed and pushed against them, but to no end. Sky racked her brains for a second, and remembered a spell that would help. She said the words quietly under her breath, and the balloons burst into flames. She then ran over to Pinkie’s shuddering body, and popped the balloons by jumping on them, one by one. When the balloons were gone, Pinkie looked up, tears on her cheeks.
“Did you get rid of them?”
“Yes Pinkie. Don’t worry, they’re all gone.”
“It’s no fun when they’re laughing at you.”
“We would never laugh at you, Pinkie.” And with this, Sky left Pinkie’s mind, and immediately her vision flickered, signaling a new memory was about to be remembered. Sky just lay down, and let it come.
Sky was standing on a large balcony, almost like a place for multiple ponies to take off and land safely together. But instead of Ponies, there were changelings running around, and Sky saw herself and Chrysalis standing on the sidelines. Sky flew over to them, wanting to hear what was being said.
“Now, remember, you are not, I repeat, not allowed to leave the castle. I can not risk losing you... your abilities, that is.” Chrysalis took on the form of what Sky guessed was Cadence, and her voice changed dramatically when she next spoke.
“Now, just... Study... Or something. We must go. The wedding is in three days, and I need to capture the real Cadence and assimilate myself.” With this, Chrysalis flew off, with a swarm of Changelings on her tail.
“Yeah, study ." Young Sky took off for the library. Sky followed her, and soon found herself looking at a large book of spells. Her young self was looking at an extremely complicated spell, and was writing something on a small sheet of paper. She heard her young self muttering quietly.
“Okay, I just need to get away from the castle, then I need to find somewhere to wake up. Not too far away from a town. I’ll need to leave some hints for myself, but it will mostly need to stay hidden. Can’t have myself coming right back here.” There was a creak from the back of the room, and Young Sky said a word quickly under her breath, and the paper disappeared. Sky saw a changeling walking up to the small desk where Young Sky was sitting. She had quickly turned the pages of the book, to make it look like she had been studying hypnosis spells.
“Excuse me, ma’am. The Queen wishes me to keep an eye on you.”
“How many times must I say it, don’t call me ma’am. That is why that last guy is still looking for his teeth. Call me Sky.”
“Very well... Sky.”
“Alright. Now I need something to eat, I just had to look something up about hypnosis.”
Sky felt the tug of consciousness, and once again woke up and looked into the eyes of one of her friends.
“Hey Pinkie. Meet me at Twilight’s library, okay?”
“Okie dokie!” Sky flew off towards the library, and landed on the threshold, kicking the door open.
“Twilight!”
“Oh, hey Sky...”
Sky just ran forward and tackled Twilight.
“Oh, great. Now what are you going to do?”
“Just SHUT UP!” Sky put her head against Twilight’s, and entered yet another mind. Sky was starting to feel tired and weak, knowing that Rainbow would be the toughest to heal, and dreading the healing itself. Then she remembered that she had to find AJ as well.
She pushed back into the familiar library, casting away these thoughts, and saw purple and white stars, like the ones that made up Twilight’s cutie mark hovering around her, saying nothing. Sky didn't care as she charged them, and hit one, shattering it. Sky made short work of the others and helped Twilight stand up.
“Wh-what happened? I don’t remember anything, except... Well... Nothing! I just felt, numb, almost.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in a minute.” Sky pulled out again, and fell directly into another memory. A familiar one. She was standing on a dark stone floor., and she suddenly saw herself walk past. Keeping in mind what had happened last time she was in this memory, she followed herself... again. She found herself, and... Herself... Kneeling in front of Chrysalis again. This time Sky could hear what was being said, and, based on what she was saying, Chrysalis was keeping very calm.
“You were right, Sky, the mission was a complete failure. The pony, Twilight Sparkle, blew my cover, and I was forced out of Canterlot. But now we know that we can get in. We just have to be more careful next time, and gather more intelligence.” Suddenly Chrysalis looked up, straight at Sky.
“Ah, it would seem we have a visitor.” Sky froze as her maybe-a-month younger self turn around.
“What is it My Queen? Oh. It’s just you.” Sky was confused for a moment, then turned around and moved out of the way of a changeling who was walking towards them.
“My Queen, we need you immediately! Our researchers have discovered some information regarding freeing Discord once more!” Chrysalis nodded.
“Very well. Sky, leave us.”
“Yes My Queen.” Young Sky wandered away, and Sky followed her, not wishing to leave the boundaries of her memory. She followed close behind, and heard herself talking quietly. Sky leaned in and heard Young Sky saying;
“I hope you’re listening to me, me. If you are seeing this, you are obviously getting our memories back. Just hang on for a little longer, and I will be able to explain. Just keep doing whatever it is you’re doing, and you will get an explanation.” Sky gasped, and felt herself pulled back once more. She woke up, and saw Twilight looking into her eyes.
“Sky, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, I’m just dreading having to heal the others. I don’t want you to, no offense. It’s just, every time I free one of you from Discord’s spell, a special memory comes back. Don’t interrupt!” She said this as Twilight opened her mouth. “The one I just saw was about a month ago, by my reckoning. I told... Me... To hang on and I would get an explanation.”
“Well, at least let me heal Applejack.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I already did.”
“What?”
“While you were unconscious, Applejack came in and I saw that she was grey, like when Discord had made her a compulsive liar. I just couldn’t stand those lies anymore coming out of her mouth, and I used the memory spell on her. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Rainbow should be enough to give me that last memory.”
“Well at least let me help.” Twilight’s horn glowed brightly and Sky felt some of her fatigue fade. “I gave you some of my energy. I hope it’s enough.”
“Thanks, Twilight.” With these two words hanging in the air behind her, Sky flew off out the door towards Rainbow’s Cloud Palace.
As Sky touched down, she saw Rainbow still lying in her cloud hammock. She decided not to go for the direct approach, and strolled casually over to where Rainbow lay comfortably.
“Hey, Rainbow, mind if I lie with you?”
“Of course not! Finally someone else sees how much easier it is just to lay down and relax every once in a while. Or, lie down and relax for quite a while.” Sky climbed on to the hammock and hugged Rainbow. She leaned in and kissed Rainbow on her cheek, and in the same movement, brought her forehead forward. As it touched Rainbow’s, Sky put as much energy as possible into pushing into Rainbow’s mind. She shoved passed the defenses and found herself in the familiar cloud Sanctum at the middle of ‘Dash’s mind. There she saw Rainbow surrounded by clouds, occasionally firing off a rainbow coloured lightning bolt at Rainbow herself, as she tried to escape them. She saw Sky, and shouted;
“A little help would be nice!” Sky immediately charged forward and said something else in that strange language, and when she finished the spell, the clouds exploded with a kind of firework effect. Sky kept galloping towards Rainbow, who was watching in amazement. Sky tackled Rainbow and hugged her tightly.
“I was so scared that Discord would be in here.”
“Don’t worry, I could have driven him back in ten seconds flat!” With these encouraging words from 'Dash, Sky faded out of Rainbow’s mind, her fatigue coming back tenfold.
She opened her eyes and saw Rainbow looking at her in relief. Sky’s vision flickered violently and she yelled out. Rainbow suddenly looked worried. Sky just kissed her softly on her lips, and said two words.
“Love... You...” Then she blacked out, vaguely hearing someone screaming her name.
She opened her eyes, and found herself about a hundred feet in the air. She yelled out, and her wings unfolded, saving her from falling. Suddenly a blue streak flew past her, and she recognised herself flying past. She was shocked to see that it was her how she looked the day she had woken up in the forest outside Ponyville. She quickly gave chase to the-only-three-days-younger Sky, and landed with her on the dirt road leading into Ponyville. She saw Young Sky look around for a second, then she began to speak.
“Alright. This is a message for me... Or at least... Me when I am ready to recover my memory. If you are seeing this, then you must have found the other breadcrumbs I left. Or... Am going to leave... Never mind, I’ll just talk about this in past tense, to get rid of confusion as I talk. I made sure you would see the lesson about hypnosis, as I knew that Discord would try to hypnotise you when he inevitably escaped. And I knew that I would wonder if I was evil before I lost my memory, so I made sure to have a breadcrumb leading to that encounter. Now, I know you want to remember everything. I know I will, so you obviously must too. Just say this word--” She said a word in the strange language Sky had been using for her spells. “-- and make sure you put as much magical energy as possible behind it. Summoning spells aren’t easy. What you will get is a note. It is the one you saw me writing after Chrysalis-slash-Cadence left for Canterlot. It should explain everything. I hope it will answer all the questions I will inevitably have. I would tell you now, but I know you only have a limited time to see these memories. I just hope the breadcrumbs spell works. It only activates if you really truly want to remember something, or when you find yourself under intense mental stress. The memory spell I am using is so powerful, not even Celestia would be able to tell it was magical. It completely alters the psyche of the target, making it seem as if they have just chosen to forget everything. Part of me just can’t wait to forget my past. But I know it is necessary to get it back, just as it is necessary to lose it. If I don't then I will never be able to form relationships, because of my connection with Chrysalis. As you must know by now, that town is Ponyville, where the six elements of harmony reside. I just hope you have managed to befriend them. They will be invaluable in defeating Discord. That’s all I have to say. Except... Remember, that you aren’t evil. This is just circumstances screwing with your life. One day, maybe we will find someone to spend the rest of our lives with. I guess I’ll see. Maybe you already have. I can only hope. I just wish you could answer me. Anyway, I have to do the spell now, and I have nothing else to say, except remember that word!” With this, Young Sky knelt down and started chanting. Sky immediately recognised the memory spell, then the quickly phrased breadcrumbs spell, and then, finally, as Young Sky’s eyes went blank, and her memories faded into nothing, she whispered a knockout spell, and fell asleep on the side of the road. Sky just stood there for a moment, then felt consciousness pulling her back into the real world.
As she woke up, Sky felt someone hugging her tightly as she lay on a comfortable bed. She also felt something running down her shoulder. Tears? Then she heard a soft whispering.
“Please... Sky... Don’t be dead... Please don’t be dead... Sky... Please wake up... Please ...”
“Rainbow...” Sky managed to croak.
The hug suddenly got tighter as Rainbow gasped.
“Sky! You’re alive! You just passed out twenty minutes ago, and I thought it was all too much, and the stress got to you... And...” Rainbow trailed off.
“Can’t...breathe...” The pressure was released and Sky breathed in deeply.
“Oh... Sorry...”
“Don’t be.”
“What happened to you?”
“I saw the last memory that I needed to. Oh yeah! That reminds me.” Sky sat up, and remembered the word her memory self had told her. “Cnawan .” And as Sky said this, she put the last of her magical strength into the three short syllables. There was a bright flash of light and a scroll, not unlike one of the friendship reports that Twilight had shown her the previous day, appeared and fell onto the bed. Sky used some of the little magic she had left to open it and flatten it out. It was written in an untidy scrawl. Sky read it through, and after about three or four lines, Rainbow couldn’t tell, she clutched her head.
“No, no, no, no, how could I have been so blind.” She kept reading, and Rainbow sat and watched her for about five minutes. By the time she had finished, she leaned back against the soft headboard of the bed.
“Sky, what is it?” Rainbow enquired.
“I can’t right now, just read it.” Rainbow leaned forward and look at the untidy lines, and started to read out loud;
“Sky,
Obviously by now you must have seen the last memory you needed to be shown. You must have used that spell that I told you to use. That spell, while bringing this letter back from the place we banished it too, also acted as the last breadcrumb. By the time you finish reading this you should be starting to remember things. The first and foremost thing you should remember;
about six months ago, you were curious about the elements of harmony, and searched Chrysalis’ library for information regarding it. You came across a small black book. It had a picture that you had seen before, with the six elements of harmony on the cover. But this one was different. It had seven elements on the cover. Intrigued, you took it and started to read. You should remember this by now, but I want to get this on paper so you won’t have to explain anything to the other elements, with whom I hope you have met and befriended. Alright. In this book, you read about how there had once been a seventh element. Probably one of the most powerful, and most dangerous elements in existence. It was so powerful, that whenever one of the three races; Pegasi, Earth Pony, or Unicorn, had one of them receive it, the other two were jealous. So, hundreds of thousands of years ago, the original creators destroyed the seventh element, and changed the spell. But it wasn’t strong enough to last this long, and the spell is wearing off. As I wrote, the seventh element was the most dangerous. It is the one thing that not enough ponies are born with and not enough search for.
Knowledge.
The reason this element was so powerful, is because it granted the wielder knowledge of a language millions of years old. According to history books, it was originally used by a bipedal race, with no knowledge of magic. They instead used it to argue, to converse. It was so powerful, even in the mouths of these bipeds, it was able to start wars, and in some cases, end them. Then we came along, and the elements were created. This language allowed the race that used it to use the talents they weren’t born with. If, say a Unicorn wielded it, they were able to fly, and Pegasi were able to use magic. Earth Ponies could do both.
Sound familiar?
That’s right. Twenty three years ago, the spell finally wore out. The day it wore out, a small blue Pegasus was born on the outskirts of Equestria. She lived for seven years peacefully, when her parents were killed in a Changeling raid. She was so skilled with these abilities she was born with, that she even managed to impress the Changeling Queen. This blue pegasus spent sixteen years with her, until she finally gathered up the courage to leave what had been her prison, school, and home all at once for most of her life. She traveled to a forest outside a small town called Ponyville, where she cast a spell that completely wiped her memory. Now, I have no idea what happened from there. I can only hope that she managed to befriend the other elements of harmony. Okay, time to stop talking in third-person, which I hoped you had figured out by now. That’s right Sky, you are the seventh element.
You are Knowledge personified.
You are the last hope for defeating Discord. Obviously you remember now that Chrysalis had been using dark magic to increase Discord’s power. Now only the other six elements together can repair the seventh element, and bring it back into the original seven. Complete the cycle! You have to remember the spell! We must have read it thousands of times, in order for this moment! Please... Just defeat the three that wish to take over this beautiful land. You should know that Discord has hidden them again. But you should know where Sky.
Now, go out there and defeat them once and for all!
Hoping this finds you,
Sky.”
Rainbow put the letter down, and lay next to Sky.
“Wow. You are the last element? The one that Twilight read about recently? That is awesome!” Rainbow hugged Sky. “So you have your memory back? You remember everything?”
“More or less. It is definitely coming back, but it’s more like a leaky pipe than a dam breaking.”
“Well, do you remember that spell that... You wrote about?”
“Yes... I think it was...reviviere.” Sky put the last little bit of her energy into this word, and she felt the fragments in the pouch Fluttershy had given her rattle a bit.
“Did you hear that? They moved! They responded to the spell! But, I don’t have enough energy. I might need the others’ help with it.”
“Well then why are we sitting here talking about it? Let’s go!”
And with that, Rainbow pulled Sky off of the bed and they shot towards Twilight’s Library.
As they flew, Sky thought over the events of the last few days, trying to remember the last time she hadn’t been more confused than a primary school-mare in an advanced physics exam. She was still trying to figure out what was going on, and trying to piece things together, as her memories were coming back, and she was beginning to remember the sixteen years she had served Chrysalis, the last three of which she had realised what she had been doing. She remembered being a filly, and how she had learned to read and write, and how to do maths, and all the other things it would take a normal filly weeks to learn in a matter of hours. She remembered the first time she had used an offensive spell, and had almost killed about fifty changelings in the process. Her head was beginning to hurt as her mind was assaulted with the repeated recollections. Sky just wanted to sit in a dark room for a few hours and live through these memories again, --as she had remembered a spell that allowed her to do that-- especially the vague ones she had of her parents. For now she just flew over the dark town of Ponyville, as the gray ponies below continued to cause havoc among the few coloured ones. Sky still kept moving, avoiding the occasional missile from the ground. Her and Rainbow landed on Twilight’s balcony and headed inside. The others were waiting there, sitting and chatting quietly. Sky and ‘Dash jumped down, causing the other five to jump in surprise. Rainbow Dash and Sky explained all that had happened to them, and Sky mercifully left out the part where Rainbow had been crying and hugging her, and Rainbow Dash whispered a small ‘thank you’ as they went to sit down. Sky took the letter out of the pouch, without the Element Fragments falling out, which was difficult, when all you have is hooves to do it with. After some fiddling, Sky took out the letter and passed it to Twilight, as she knew the purple pony would just read it without stopping. Twilight read it out loud to the group, and when she finished, the other five ponies sat there in stunned silence.
“So... When Ah was telling you ‘bout the seventh element two days ago, Ah was talking to the seventh element?”
“Yes. I didn’t know at the time, obviously. But... Now that I do... It feels... It feels right. I was wondering how I was able to use those spells.” She looked at Twilight, who she knew had been researching it.
“I couldn’t find anything. I saw a reference to something called an ‘Alicorn’ and it said that they were unicorns with pegasi wings, and so I figured they were able to use magic and fly, but I remembered that you don’t have a horn.”
“Obviously.”
“Other than that, my search turned up nothing. Now we just need to repair the element itself. And for that, you need our power as well.”
“I got that.”
“Well, get the fragments out and we’ll do the best we can.” Sky tipped out the contents of the pouch onto the table Twilight had set up.
“Alright, now we just need to repair this and then we’ll get the others and defeat those villains!”
“Ummm... Yeah.” Sky stood in front of the Fragments, and she felt an immense amount of energy in her mind as the others lent her their strength and there was... Something... Else. Sky knew it wasn’t dangerous, but it confused her, as the source just sat and did nothing. And yet, she felt as powerful as Celestia. Probably more powerful. The spell she needed popped into her mind, and Sky yelled it with enough force and power to shatter windows for miles around.
“REVIVIERE
She felt and enormous force coming from the fragments on the table, and they exploded in a flare of light, but Sky kept her eyes on it, even as she heard the others yelling out and diving for cover. The fragments glowed even brighter, but Sky kept watching them, focusing the energy of her and her friends on them. She was mostly drawing from Twilight’s considerable reserves, as the unicorn had told her to, for when Sky ran out of her own energy. But it still wasn’t enough. Then the unknown entity shot into action, and Sky felt and even more immense amount of energy hit her, and she felt more focused than she had in days, even more so than when Chrysalis had left her mind. She felt like she could do anything, know anything. It all seemed so obvious, but she was interrupted when she spoke without meaning to;
“FOCUS! DO NOT LOSE YOUR FOCUS! WITHOUT YOUR ATTENTION AND THAT OF YOUR FRIENDS, THIS WILL ALL BE FOR NAUGHT! HELP ME! ” Sky was speaking in a deep female voice, extremely different from her normal soft one. This, she knew , must have been the original wielder of Knowledge speaking through her.
The force of the magic must have reached her, wherever she is.
Yes, young pegasus. With you, the seventh Element will finally be restored, and that troublesome Draconequus will finally be destroyed! Now, before I give you the last of my power and go, I will say one thing. Then I must return to the void. You have faced many hardships that most ponies cannot even dream of. You are the most powerful Pegasi I have seen. Not in magical ability, but in your psychological stamina. Few others could have continued on after her parents were killed. Few others could have continued living after discovering that they had been lied to for thirteen years, and even fewer would have found the strength to escape. You are truly deserving of wielding this element. You make me proud to call myself your ancestor.
Wh-what?
Yes. In the original spell, the elements were handed down through families. When a family died out, or could not handle the power of an element, a sort of ‘lottery’ was run. Our entire family was eligible to wield true Knowledge, even though we had a diverse ancestry, species wise. Perhaps that is why we remained able to wield it. But, I grow weak. I must go. I hope we meet again one day in the void. Just keep focusing. While I have been speaking, I had you word the final part of the spell. You were smart enough to know I would take notice of the spike of energy coming from the fragments, which is tantamount to summoning me directly. Now is the hard part. Keep your strength, and your friends’, focused. Use a spell if you have to. NOW! I SAID THIS IS THE HARDEST PART AND I MEANT IT! YOU HAVE TO POWER THE SPELL! I HAVE HELPED YOU WITH THE WORDING, BUT MY STRENGTH HAS FINALLY RUN OUT! STAY FOCUSED!
And with this, the presence faded away.
Sky somehow managed to keep herself still, although the force of the energy being focused in the fragments was threatening to shake her to pieces. She could feel the others having trouble, and she mouthed a quick spell to keep them in place. She heard their cries of surprise as they discovered they couldn’t move.
“Don’t worry!”
She heard them stop struggling, and their power came back. Sky used this to focus her power, and the fragments slowly connected, and the light went purely white for a moment, and Sky collapsed.
Sky woke up to the happy face of Rainbow, but she saw a definite fatigue in her eyes.
“We did it! We recreated the element!”
Sky shot up, and saw Twilight examining a golden amulet, in the shape of Sky’s cutie mark. She looked closer, and saw other marks inscribed on the chain, which she guessed were the marks of previous Elements of Knowledge. She walked past Twilight and picked it up, wrapping the golden chain around her hoof. She examined it closely, and then placed it around her neck. She felt some warmth from it, and then she walked over to the others, who were standing in a line. They all looked tired and weak. Sky had used a lot of their energy. But they all still had big smiles on her face. Twilight stepped forward;
“Okay, now that we have recreated the seventh element, where are the other six?”
Sky took a deep breath. She had only just remembered where they were before she had collapsed.
“Chrysalis’ castle.”
She heard sharp intakes from breath from the others, but Twilight just nodded sadly.
“I thought so. Chrysalis wouldn’t have wanted Discord to give us another riddle. Last time he did we defeated him. She wouldn’t want to risk that happening again. Do you know where Chrysalis’ castle is?”
“It’s on the outskirts of Equestria, or, more outside of it. The Changeling homeland is a dark, barren, sad place. I can remember it clearly. And I know how to get into Chrysalis’ castle. We can get in the same way I escaped through.”
“Brilliant! Let’s go!” Twilight looked ready to move there and then.
“No.”
“No?”
“No. You guys need to rest before we even think about heading out into Changeling territory.”
“B-b-but we have to go now!” Sky could see the tiredness in Twilight’s eyes, and it was showing on the faces of the others, although they were trying to look determined. Sky sighed.
“Sorry about this guys.”
“About what?”
“This. Sloom.” Sky said the spell, and the others collapsed into a magical slumber, looks of relief plainly showing on their faces. Twilight fought it for a second.
“B-but... Discord?”
“Don’t worry. My spells will protect you.” Twilight smiled, a look showing just how tired she was showing for a second before she collapsed and started snoring quietly.
Sky quickly cast multitudes of protective spells, to stop Discord, Chrysalis, or Nightmare hypnotising them as they slept.
As Sky prepared for a long night of watching the others as they slept, she heard some rustling outside the window. She recalled at least twenty spells that would reduce the intruder to dust, and five more that would send the dust to another dimension. She would not let her friends be hurt. Then she saw Spike’s head pop up through the green leaves.
“Let me in!” He whispered.
Sky did so, and noticed he still had his colour, and asked him about it.
“Ummm... I... Ummm... Avoided Discord? Yeah! I avoided Discord, and his magic didn’t affect me.” Sky was apprehensive, and tried to remember something Twilight had told her about Spike.
“Hey Spike, what is Twilight’s owl’s name?”
“What? Why? You trust me... R-right?” Sky could see some sweat on Spike’s brow.
“Tell me. With the changelings running about, we can’t be too careful, right?”
“Ummm... She... She named him... Um... Owly?”
Sky muttered the first spell that came to mind, and another one close behind it.
“Revelare! Obliterare!” The Changeling took on it’s normal insect-like form, and then flew across the room and snapped it’s neck on the window frame as it flew through the thin glass. Sky quickly repaired the window and went about placing protective spells around the Library. But she was much more careful, as she knew that the Changelings would find some way in. When an owl flew down from the rafters, she yelled;
“Banir! And that didn’t even look like Owlowiscious.” Sky said this as the owl-slash-changeling disappeared into another dimension.
Sky kept a watchful eye on everything that entered and exited the room from then on, and if a mouse or a bug stayed in the room for too long, Sky teleported it to the desert outside Appeloosa --which she had seen was a pretty barren place on one of Twilight’s maps-- on the off chance that it wasn’t a Changeling, not wanting to murder an innocent animal. Sky watched her friends sleeping peacefully and sighed. Her friends looked so happy and they looked as though their strength was returning. Sky toyed with the amulet around her neck, wishing she could have talked to her ancestor for a little longer. I didn’t even get her name. Oh well, I guess I’ll find out one day, when I ‘descend into the void’.
As the others slowly woke from their induced slumbers, they had looks of mild shock on their face. Rainbow was still asleep as the others came to their senses. AJ, however was perfectly awake, and tackled Sky to the ground, a look of rage on her face.
“What the hell did ya do to us Sky?”
“I guess you don’t realise how tired you all looked last night. I just helped you get some sleep. Believe me, your strength is fully back. A few minutes ago it was at a point were the power was practically tangible. You see, now we are ready to take on Chrysalis. Are you going to get off, or are you just going to stay there?” AJ realised that she still had Sky trapped on the floor.
“Sorry, Sky.” She got up, and Sky saw Rainbow slowly waking up. She stretched then got up, looking around blearily.
“Wh-wha? Why’m I ‘sleep?”
“Never mind ‘Dash. Just wake up and we’ll get ready to head out.”
“M’kay.” Rainbow stood up and stumbled into Twilight’s kitchen, presumably to get some breakfast. There was a crash, and before anypony had time to breathe, Sky was in there, a panicked look on her face. She calmed when she saw that Rainbow had just pulled the cutlery drawer out too far, and tipped it’s contents on to the tiled floor. Sky left the kitchen and happened to look out the window, where she saw scene of pure havoc. Every pony in Ponyville was discoloured, and quite a few buildings were on fire.
“GUYS! LOOK!” Their eyes followed her hoof, and they gasped. Discord had managed to do that much in a few days? Sky knew what she had to do. She flew up through the roof and high into the sky, only just hearing Twilight say;
“Oh no, don’t worry about my roof...” Sky just kept flying, until she was about a hundred feet in the air. Going through her extensive vocabulary, she found a word that would be able to heal all of Ponyville’s residents, by acting as sort of a blanket memory spell. She found some other words and formed a spell that would be able to fix the worst damage to Ponyville. She opened her eyes, and anypony who saw them would see that they were a pure, glowing white. She spoke with enough magic layered in her voice to make flowers burst into bloom and trees burst into flame.
“REMEMORARI! EXTINGUERE! REPARARE!” Sky barely felt any of her energy go away as the spell took effect, and was afraid it wasn’t going to work, but as she went into a nosedive, she saw ponies recovering their colour, fires shrinking into nothingness, and broken buildings and windows magically repairing themselves. She landed softly in front of Twilight’s library, as the roof repaired itself. She walked in to the library and saw that the others were tying saddlebags to their backs.
“So I’m guessing that we are getting ready to leave?”
“Wow Sky, that was amazing!” This was from Twilight, who had already tied her saddlebags and was looking at Sky in awe. “How did you do that?”
“I used that weird language.”
“Could you teach it to me?”
“Maybe later, for now we should probably get moving. We have to travel north through Canterlot and through the mountain it is perched on to get to the Changeling homeland. No... My homeland.”
“No it isn’t Sky! You were born in Equestria!”
“Yes, Rarity, but I lived my life in Chrysalis’ land. It may be an awful place, but it will always be the place I associate with the word ‘home’.”
“Well, from what you’ve told us, it sounds booo-ring! Maybe I could liven it up with a party!”
“I doubt that the Changelings would appreciate that, Pinkie. It isn’t really a place suited for parties anyway.” Pinkie looked unhappy with this, but Sky doubted it would be enough to stop the pink pony going.
“Ummm... Sky?”
“Yes Fluttershy?”
“Is there any wildlife there? I just want to know... Because... Um...” Fluttershy trailed off, and Sky knew she must be wondering about the bad wildlife, more than the good.
“Oh, not much, just a few hydra, maybe a dragon or twenty, and the biggest pest we have to deal with are Parasprites.”
Sky immediately regretted this, as the yellow pegasus froze and fell sideways, a look of terror on her face. Talking about the wildlife in the Changeling’s homeland sparked a small recollection in Sky’s head, and she decided to ask about it while Twilight tried to unfreeze Fluttershy.
“AJ, when we were talking the other day, what did you say you had faced, creature wise?”
Applejack and the others looked confused for a moment, but AJ answered anyway;
“Well, we’ve faced a dragon, a hydra, and a couple ‘hundred parasprites. Why?”
“Oh... Um... Well... You know how I said that we have dragons, hydras, and parasprites in... My homeland?”
AJ nodded.
“And you know how I can use magic?”
AJ nodded again.
“So you know that I can tame any animal?”
Another nod.
“Do you seriously not know where I am going with this?”
Shake of the head.
“AUGH! Guys, in one of my memories, Chrysalis was congratulating me on the hydra and the parasprites. I’m the reason you had to fight them!”
AJ looked confused, and Rainbow chipped in with;
“And? We fought them off, and no-one was hurt, so who cares?”
“You really don’t care that I almost covered Equestria with smoke, destroyed Ponyville and killed four of you?”
“Well, you didn’t want to, right?”
“No.”
“There you go!”
“Okay. Look, I just want to hit the road and get to Canterlot. I don’t remember exactly how I got there, but I know that I caused a hell of a lot of trouble. The guards stopped me. Probably because I looked lost, but I flipped out and turned them into piles of dirt.”
“Sky!”
“They turned back once I got out of range! And anyway, I thought they were going to put me in prison! For all I knew, Chrysalis had sent them a picture of me and told them I was allied with the Changelings! Anyway, I just want to get out of here and defeat those three villains-, alright? Can we just do that?”
They all agreed, and set out, towards Canterlot, in the hopes that it wouldn’t be affected by all that was happening in Ponyville.
As their carriage approached Canterlot, Sky immediately knew that Canterlot had been affected as much, if not more, by Discord’s chaotic spells. There were grey ponies everywhere, wreaking havoc; looting buildings and smashing windows. Sky heard Twilight sobbing, and remembered that the purple unicorn had grown up here. They quickly got off the carriage when it stopped, and headed for the place from Sky’s memory. As they ran, there was a flash and when the light disappeared, Discord was standing in front of them, with an evil smile on his face. Sky went to cast a spell, but a zipper shut her mouth.
“Now, girls, this is just disappointing. You think that you can get into the Changeling’s home land and just take the elements from Chrysalis like that?” He accompanied this with a flick of his fingers, which caused a row of houses behind them to burst into flames. Sky tried to turn and run at the sight, but she found her hooves were super-glued to the cobbles underneath them. She was forced to watch, and she saw shadowy figures running about inside, and she actually broke the zipper when she screamed as the houses collapsed in on themselves, killing whoever was inside.
“Now, I didn’t want to have to do that, but you forced my hand. Or... Talon... Or... Paw? Anyway, you forced me.”
“That doesn’t even make sense! Why would you kill them? They did nothing wrong to you!” Sky looked around, and saw her friends looking at Discord, looks of rage and loathing on their faces.
“Sense? What fun is there in making sense? Hahaha! Did you enjoy that little show Sky Blue? It would have brought back some interesting memories, no?”
Sky froze.
Heat, extreme heat. Her mother pushing her into the basement. She kissed Sky’s forehead, and told her to stay there. Then screaming. So much screaming. Then a crash... And silence. Then a blinding light as insect like ponies opened the charred door.
Sky shook herself, forgetting this unwanted memory.
“You evil bastard! There were ponies in there! Innocent ponies! And you just killed them!”
“And?”
“How could you?”
“Oh, you want an encore? Very well, if you enjoyed it that much.” He clicked his fingers again and another row burst into flames. Sky almost started to scream then and there, but a spell popped into her head, and she used it immediately.
“EXTINGUERE! PEINE! QUALEN!” The fires went out, and Discord writhed in the air for a moment, before stopping where he was, clutching his chest, and falling to the ground, his eyes closed, his entire body not moving. Sky stopped for a moment, not believing it. It was too good to be true. But as Discord lay there, not breathing, a tiny sliver of hope cracked Sky’s skepticism.
“It... It worked? It worked! I killed Discord!” But then the draconequus started laughing, and he floated back up into the air.
“Nope, couldn’t keep a straight face.” He started laughing madly, but she could tell the pain spell had worked. It was the way he was obviously trying not to move around too much, almost as if he had recently felt as though his bones were all being bent backwards at once, then lit on fire and dipped in acid.
Wow, powerful spell... He just clicked his fingers and disappeared, without another word. They all saw that their feet were unstuck, and they set off again, going by Sky’s memory, and Twilight’s knowledge of Canterlot’s layout. They were stopped numerous times, and Sky realised that if they wanted to continue unhindered, they would have to get rid of Discord’s spells. Knowing what she had to do, Sky quickly explained this to the others and shot into the air.
Down on the ground, however things had taken a strange turn. Rainbow had noticed a strange grey Stallion following them. She finally turned around and grabbed him form an alleyway as Sky took off.
“What the hay are you doing here?” Rainbow yelled at the shaking figure of a discoloured Prince Blueblood, and he looked quickly at Rarity.
“I-I wish to speak to m-miss Rarity, and a-apologise for my g-ghastly behaviour at th-the gala!” He said, and Rainbow threw him into the dirt at Rarity’s hooves.
“Well? Start apologising!” Rarity said this, but the others could clearly see the hope in her eyes.
“R-Rarity. I am s-so sorry for the way I-I acted at the G-grand Galloping G-gala. I should have never treated p-perfection such as you so rudely. I want to ask you if you will f-forgive me, and maybe g-give me a s-second chance? P-please?” Rarity squealed with girlish delight and threw her forehooves around him and kissed him on the lips.
Rainbow nudged AJ, and whispered;
“He’s just acting like this because of Discord, right?”
“Yep.”
“And Sky is about to get rid of Discord’s influence?”
AJ smirked and whispered back;
“Yep.”
“Wow. Rarity is going to kill Sky.” They both laughed, but stopped when they all felt a huge magical pulse hit the City as Sky screamed the spell above Canterlot.
“REMEMORARI! EXTINGUERE! REPARARE!” Rarity pulled away from Blueblood as his colour came back. He touched his dirty face and coat and screamed girlishly.
“Ewww! I just got myself groomed!” He rubbed his hooves over himself and, in the absence of anything else, wiped them on Rarity’s scarf.
“Uh, oh.” Rarity just closed her eyes, although Rainbow could just tell that this was the calm before the storm. Then she looked up at Sky, and gestured to Blueblood. Rainbow could guess what she meant by the ‘slamming hooves together’ gesture. Blueblood just stood there, a look of horror on his face, as he had just recognised Rarity as the only mare to ever yell at him. Then he was gone, and Sky landed lightly where he had just been standing. Needless to say, everyone but Sky and Rarity, --who was pulling an unsullied scarf out of her saddlebags quietly, with a smug look on her face-- were very confused.
“What did you do?”
“Oh, let’s just say that Blueblood will be enjoying an extended stay in Appeloosa.” They all laughed at this, then remembered why they were there, and what had happened since they had been there, and they set out towards the place Sky remembered once more. It was vague, but she was pretty sure she knew where she was going with Twilight’s encyclopedic knowledge of Canterlot. As they got closer to the palace, Sky started to worry that they may run into Chrysalis, or Nightmare Moon. She didn’t think Discord would want to try and take Sky on again. Then there was a flash of light and a dark-blue pony about three quarters’ Celestia’s size came running towards them. She had a crescent moon on her flank. This must be Luna.
“Twilight! I need your help!”
Twilight stood back, and the others ran into a line, ready to attack, in case that this was another trick. But Luna looked genuinely scared as she approached.
“Twilight! Celestia has gone insane! Chrysalis has done something to he--” She cut off and fell to the ground, screaming and clutching her head with her hooves;
“Get out of my head, dark queen! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” She rolled around, screaming incoherently, only occasionally making sense.
“I WON’T I WON’T I WON’T! YOU WILL NOT MAKE ME BECOME NIGHTMARE MOON AGAIN CHRYSALIS!” But, as Luna said this, a dark mist was collecting around her, and Sky could see vague images of the armour she had seen Nightmare Moon wearing --which she had seen in one of Twilight’s books while they were sleeping-- starting to appear on Luna’s respective body parts. And her mane was getting shorter, and her voice was taking on a deep edge. Sky ran forward, her friends protests lost on her. She felt somepony grab her shoulder, and she turned around to see Rainbow.
“I don’t want to lose you, Sky! I can’t lose the first pony I’ve ever loved!”
“Rainbow... If I don’t, we will all lose. I’d rather risk myself rather than all of you. Please. Rainbow. I promise that I’ll come out. Please!”
“Fine. But... Sky? You had better keep that promise.”
And with this, Sky galloped towards Luna, and pushed her forehead against the princess’, entering her mind. Rainbow looked at AJ.
“Was she telling the truth? Will she come out?”
“Ah don’t know. She wasn’t telling the truth, but she wasn’t lying either. Sorry Ah can’t help more ‘Dash.” Rainbow’s eyes widened as she realised what this meant.
“So, Sky might not come out?” She spun around, but AJ had been ready, and tackled her to the ground.
“Help me!” She yelled over her shoulders, and the others ran over and helped AJ hold Rainbow down.
“SKY!” Rainbow yelled this as Sky started to shake and twitch. Rainbow actually threw Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy off when Sky pulled back and collapsed. Her chest wasn’t rising or falling, as it had done the other times he had passed out, with the exception of her last memory.
“SHE ISN’T BREATHING! SKY!” Rainbow’s voice cut out and she threw AJ and Twilight off, galloping for Sky’s stationary body.
The blue pegasus wasn’t breathing. Rainbow put her head against Sky’s chest. Her heart wasn’t beating. She began to pound on Sky’s chest, screaming and crying. Twilight appeared by her side, and put her hoof on Rainbow’s shoulder.
“I’m s-sorry Rainbow... I th-think it’s too l-late. She isn’t b-breathing. I-I’m sorry.” Rainbow just stopped, and fainted, Twilight’s spell putting her into a deep sleep. “Sky... Please be okay... Rainbow really loves you. She wouldn’t have dropped her mask if she didn’t truly care about you.” She felt for a pulse, and felt something so faint, that Rainbow wouldn’t have noticed it in her grief. Twilight knelt next to Sky, and put her horn against the Pegasus’ chest, and started to give her energy, to fight off whatever Sky was facing at the moment. She could nevertheless feel her fading. Twilight stopped for a second, and called Rarity over, hoping the other Unicorn could help her with her own magic. Together, they slowed Sky’s decline, but only just.
--Confused? Wondering what happened in Luna’s mind? Me too, and I’m writing this stuff. This is the longest story I have written to date, EVER. Please let me know how it is so far in the comments. Anyway, time to continue the story!--
--TIME MACHINE ACTIVATE--
“Rainbow... If I don’t, we will all lose. I’d rather risk myself rather than all of you. Please. Rainbow. I promise that I’ll come out. Please!”
“Fine. But... Sky? You had better keep that promise.”
And with this, Sky galloped towards Luna, and pushed her forehead against the princess’, entering her mind.
As Sky left her body, she could hear Rainbow saying something to AJ. She pushed through a large gap in Luna’s defenses, where she guessed Chrysalis had been pushing through for months. Slowly enough not to be noticed, but fast enough to actually make progress. She came to a large hole in what could be called the ‘wall’ of Luna’s inner sanctum. She saw that it was just a dark cloud, at midnight, with a full moon in the middle of the sky. It looked like a beautiful place to just fly forever. When she went inside the sanctum, she saw exactly the opposite of what she had been expecting.
That is to say, she had been expecting something. Then she got what she wanted as the sky exploded. She looked up and saw Chrysalis and what could only be Nightmare moon chasing Luna, and ramming her as they flew. Sky knew what she had to do, and took off, flying towards Chrysalis. Luna would have to fight Nightmare on her own. Sky hit Chrysalis’ mindvision at unimaginable speeds. Well, they were imagined... But... Never mind. Sky hit Chrysalis and the changeling queen was thrown far off course, and Sky flew after her. She rammed Chrysalis hard enough to break bones in the real world, and threw the dark queen off as she tried to rejoin Luna, who was now easily defeating Nightmare without Chrysalis helping her. Sky would have yelled at Chrysalis, but she just flickered and faded. Sky looked over to Luna, and the princess had defeated Nightmare and had landed, beckoning Sky to join her. As she landed, Luna hugged Sky, surprising her with the force of it.
“Thank you, Sky Blue. You have saved me from those horrid apparitions! But... I have a feeling that Chrysalis hasn’t given up.”
“We’ll worry about that when she attacks again.”
Sky started to pull out of Luna’s mind, the moon princess’ defenses repairing themselves as she went, but as Sky pulled out and went back into her body completely, something assaulted her mind, and Sky realised she couldn’t breathe. She tried to say a spell, but her throat was constricted, stopping her from getting the words together. She tried as hard as she could, but when she was completely in control of her own body, she fell backwards, the last thing she heard was somepony screaming.
“SHE ISN’T BREATHING! SKY!”
Then she felt the darkness take her, and Sky passed out.
Sky woke up in what she guessed was her own ‘Sanctum’. Wow, I’m in my own mind at last . She looked around and saw what she had remembered as the Changeling Homeland. Well this is dull. She looked around, wondering why she was there, and saw Chrysalis and Discord, as well as about twenty Changelings hovering above her.
“Ah, pulled out all the stops for little old me, have you?”
“Quiet! You may have defeated me before, but now I have Discord and my best magicians with me!”
“Why? Too much of a wimp to face me alone?” And with this, Sky charged them all. Chrysalis looked surprised for a second, but simply ordered her magicians to attack. They swarmed Sky, but she just blasted them away with her magic.
“OBLITERARE !” She yelled, destroying all of them. Doing this, though, took a lot of energy, and Sky had to stop before she got to Discord and Chrysalis. Then she felt a surge of energy hit her, and without wasting time wondering about the source, shot up and rammed Discord, who had been watching carefully. Sky had been going fast enough to surprise him, though, and his mindvision faded, leaving only Sky and Chrysalis. Then the energy went away and Sky dropped a few feet.
“Ha! Getting weak, Sky?”
But then Sky felt an even stronger surge hit her, and she said the first spell that popped into her head.
“DESTRUERE !” The force of the spell threw Chrysalis back, but she recovered and threw a spell at Sky. She just dodged the fire spell, and sent one back;
“INCINERARE !” The spell hit Chrysalis’ mindvision and the queen finally flickered and faded. Sky felt herself crash into the ground of her ‘Sanctum’ and passed out.
That is... She woke up. Sky opened her eyes and looked into Twilight’s purple ones. She felt a horn prodding her torso, and realised it must have been Rarity, and that her and Twilight must have been the source of the energy she felt. Sky got up, and saw Rainbow, unconscious a few feet away.
“I guess I heard her as I went under.” She shook Rainbow softly, and the pegasus shot up, instantly alert, and hugged Sky.
“Sky! I thought you were dead!”
“I usually have that effect on ponies. Can’t... Breathe... Again...” Rainbow let go and stood up.
“Sorry, again.” Sky looked over to where Luna was lying on the ground. She was awake, and watching the reunion with an amused expression. Sky helped her up and the small smile went away, to be replaced with one of worry.
“Ponies! You must help Celestia! She is in need of your help!” Twilight was by Luna’s side immediately.
“Take us to the castle now!”
“You can’t seriously think I would be that careless, would you? To keep Celestia in Discord’s new fortress would be suicidal for both of us. I have her hidden away. I had to use my most powerful knockout spell, which is why I think Chrysalis was able to break through. The spell used the last of my energy, and I felt her breaking through, and I just ran when I saw you. But now is not the time for talk! We must save Celestia before we worry about the others!”
They all nodded in unison and Luna took them to where she had hidden Celestia.
Healing Gods and Going Home
As Luna took them into the small abandoned apartment building where Celestia was, Sky was relieved to see that only the palace was still affected by Discord’s spells. Luna unlocked the building with a series of complicated spells, that even Sky had trouble following. The door creaked open, and they all walked in, and up some stairs in the middle of the dusty lobby. Luna had to set off what Sky saw as some extremely elaborate traps, until they ended up in what was probably once the penthouse. She saw Celestia lying down on the bed, sleeping. Sky approached her, and when she heard no protest from Luna, put her forehead against Celestia’s, slowly pushing into her mind. Sky faced stronger defenses than she had found in any of her friends, but as she tested the strength of them, they allowed her easy access. All through out Celestia’s mind, Sky could feel Discord’s presence affecting her, making her not think about her actions. Sky just kept pushing and ended up in Celestia’s ‘Sanctum’, which she noticed was the polar opposite to Luna’s. Where Luna lived in perpetual midnight, Celestia lived at midday. Where Luna lived on a cloud high in the sky, Celestia lived in a field, with flowers and bushes and animals dotted about the never ending landscape. She saw Celestia, crouching in what could loosely be called the middle, surrounded by a yellow bubble, with miniature suns floating around, trying to burn through. Sky flew over, but was stopped about twenty feet away, when she was hit by a wave of heat powerful enough to melt platinum. If it had been real, Sky would probably have died on the spot, or at least received extremely serious burns. As it was, she still felt pretty uncomfortable. She went through her mental database of spells, and found one that would probably work.
“UNDA !”
A huge ball of water grew over Sky's head, and grew in size until it was three times the size of one of the suns. It launched with a huge WOOSH and went to hit one of the suns, but evaporated as soon as it made contact.
Well... That was anticlimactic.
“VENTUS !” The wind spell also did nothing.
“EXTINGUERE !” The extinguishing spell also had no effect.
“Sorry, but you won’t best me this time with your weak little ‘language’.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure! CLARUS !” This spell had quite an extreme effect, but Sky knew it would do more harm than good later on. She had cleared the princess’ mind, obliterating Discord’s influence, but it would disable some of Celestia’s basic functions for a while. She would have her memories, she would be able to speak, but that would be about it. Sky regretted having to go to such drastic measures, but she knew the princess would understand it had to be done. Sky felt herself pulled out suddenly, when a pair of hooves grabbed her and threw her back. She realised the physical effects the spell would have had. Sky pulled herself up, and saw Luna looking at her, a look of hate on her face.
“What did you do? Why did she scream? If you hurt her, I wil--” She stopped as she heard a weak voice from behind her say;
“Luna, my sister, do not worry. If not for her, I would still be under Discord’s influence.” Luna spun around and saw that Celestia had opened her visible eye, and was looking at her with a small smile.
“Sky Blue just did what she had to, didn’t you?”
“Ummm.... Yes... Your majesty...”
“Oh, please! Call me Celestia.”
Luna looked confused.
“I’m confused. What did she do? Why did you scream?”
“Sky just used a ‘Clear’ spell on my mind. While it did help, I wouldn’t do it again for a while.” Celestia laughed lightly at the look of horror on Sky’s face, and the look Twilight was giving Sky.
“But if it weren’t for that spell, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now, or at least I wouldn’t be speaking with any measure of coherence.”
Luna looked extremely excited.
“Well, come on sister! Let’s go and defeat Chrysalis and Discord!”
“She can’t.” They all looked at Sky in surprise.
“Why?” This was from Twilight, who was practically speaking in a squeak in front of Celestia.
“Because, Twilight, the ‘Clear’ spell that Sky used is one of the most powerful for getting rid of unwanted entities in a ponies’ mind. But, if incorrectly used, it can clear a ponies’ mind cleaner than a piece of paper. Sky did exceptionally well, but, to get rid of Discord, she had to give it extra power. I can still speak, but it may be a long time before I can walk. Do not blame Sky though! She did what she had to do, and if she hadn’t of, nothing would have gotten Discord out of my mind. I congratulate her on her exceptional ability with magic, and I am extremely happy that someone such as her was able to wield the Element of Knowledge. That’s right, I know. It’s kind of obvious the way you’re wearing the element around your neck like that.” Celestia said this as Sky’s jaw dropped. “Now young ponies, you must go, and defeat Chrysalis and Discord once and for all!” They all voiced their assent loudly, and then said their goodbyes and left, heading with speed to the place Sky remembered, to finally defeat Chrysalis and Discord.
They approached the garden Sky had described, and stopped.
“Well... At least we won’t have to look for the way through...” Twilight said this as they saw a huge hole in the far wall of the garden. They all walked towards it, wishing to be out of the strange quiet of the place. Even Fluttershy looked uneasy. The birds, rabbits and other creatures were acting strangely. When the ponies were halfway to the hole, they found out why. There were a series of green flashes, and Changelings ran at them from every direction. There was a moment of confusion, but that was all the Changelings needed. They quickly isolated each member of the group, and soon they were only just able to see each other. They were still thrown off by the suddenness of the attack. But when Fluttershy was attacked by a Changeling and knocked out, they shot into action, using their own special ways of taking the Changelings down.
Rarity using her rudimentary Pony-Fu skills,
Rainbow Dash flew about, sending Changelings flying in all directions,
Twilight transformed them into whatever came to mind,
AJ bucked them across the clearing, some actually landing on the outskirts of Canterlot,
Pinkie had pulled out a Double-Rainbow-Thrower, and was burning the Changelings’ eyes with the colour,
And Sky just knocked them out with her magic. Eventually, all the changelings were either knocked out or clutching their eyes in pain from the awesomeness of the double rainbows Pinkie had been firing about. And a few had been killed by a powerful spell from Sky. And there were a few confused pumpkins sitting next to the battlefield. The others were celebrating their small victory, but Sky was sitting next to the dead Changelings, crying. She heard Rainbow approach and put a comforting hoof around her shoulders.
“What’s wrong? We beat them! And Twilight healed Fluttershy, so it’s all good!” Sky just cried even more, struggling to get words past her sobs.
“I-I-I killed them... I-I j-just killed th-them. My people...”
“They weren’t your people, Sky.” Sky dried her tears and looked Rainbow in the eyes with a look that made her flinch.
“I grew up around Changelings. I met so many, I even made a few friends. And yet, I just slew them without a second thought. They were just following orders... I just can’t help thinking... They had families... They had friends... And because of a stupid instinctive reaction, they will never be seen by them again! I killed them! It was bad enough I killed those ones in Ponyville.” Rainbow remembered what Sky had said about the Changelings that had tried to attack them.
“Sky, it’s alright. You didn’t think, and your instincts took over. Just move on, and let’s go and face Chrysalis, and end this... Alright?” Sky nodded sadly, and they joined the others, who were waiting by the entrance to the hole. Pinkie had ditched her Rainbow-Thrower, and was now nonchalantly holding a cupcake launcher on her shoulder, with Cupcakes strung down her neck.
“What are those?” Sky said, gesturing to the Cupcake necklaces.
“Ammo belts, silly!” Sky just rolled her eyes, and they headed into the darkness of the tunnel.
They walked on for ages through the dark tunnel, never deviating from the straight path they were on. Sky decided to explain a few things.
“Alright. Now, we are about to come out in the middle of Changeling territory, or at least, the capital.”
“What?! There was a path right into enemy territory in the middle of Canterlot?”
“I was doing some reading a few months ago, and I found out it had been built when the ponies of Equestria and the Changelings had once been allies, and it was built as a trade route and an escape tunnel for times of crisis. But then Chrysalis became Queen, and she declared war on Equestria... After bringing most of her troops through the tunnel. After Celstia and her guards defeated them, they had the tunnel bricked up, and spells were cast throughout it. I doubt that they are still here though, or the Changelings wouldn't have gotten through. Then Chrysalis brainwashed Luna, made a deal with Discord, and now, here we are. Once we get to Chrysalis’ castle, we have to stay together. No matter what. Rainbow, even if the Wonderbolts themselves offer you a chance to be their captain, refuse. If we split up, you guys will get lost. I don’t want to waste time trying to find you after you’ve run off to look at something shiny.” Sky was being a bit rough, but the others understood how nervous she was feeling. Fluttershy surprised everyone when she spoke up, her voice echoing through the tunnel.
“Sky, you shouldn’t worry. We’ll get the elements, banish Discord, and imprison Chrysalis. Everything will be fine.”
“No. Unless we... Unless we...” Sky choked on the words, and the next few came out with a group of sobs. “Unless w-we kill Chrysalis, w-we can n-never feel s-safe from attack. I h-have to kill her if I-I want to l-live a normal life.” Everyone was looking at her in amazement, as they knew Sky had barely concealed contempt for Chrysalis.
But, then again, perhaps that was just concealing something else...
It was Pinkie’s turn to surprise everyone, when she spoke with a calm voice, still high-pitched, but nowhere near as bouncy as it usually was.
“Sky, why are you crying? We all know how you feel about her.”
“You think you do. I spent sixteen years with her. Sixteen years . You can’t spend days at a time with someone for that long without developing feelings for them. I loved her. Not romantically, of course. I loved her as a mother, and for thirteen years she almost acted like one. Now that I know the truth, I see how hard that would have been for her. It was probably helping her that I was practically an all-you-can-eat buffet. She must have been getting stronger because of me. Even after I found out the ruth, I continued loving her. Chrysalis was the only real mother I ever had.”
The others continued walking in silence, listening to Sky’s confession.
“And I didn’t only develop feelings for her. There were some Changelings I grew up with, and we became good friends. That is, until I found out their true affiliation. I confronted them, and I just wish I could have given the chance to respond to my accusations. A few weeks before I left, I discovered that Chrysalis had actually been the first Changeling to discover that they could feed off of love. Their world is so barren, that until they started the trade route with Equestria, starvation was the most common reason for younglings not aging above five years old. The Changelings were dying out, in fact. But then Celestia discovered them, and she helped them. Now I realise that they probably didn’t want to do what they are doing. I abandoned my friends. It was kind of good though, because shortly after that I started trying to figure out how to escape. I left three years later. I just want to see them again. I want to apologise.” She tried to hide her face, but failed, and they all saw the tears streaking her cheeks. Rainbow moved closer, and put a wing around Sky.
“Don’t worry. After we beat Chrysalis, they’ll be begging to be friends with you again.” Sky just chuckled, and they kept walking in silence, until they finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel, and, avoiding thinking about how dark this sounded, walked through it. They were in the middle of a dark, sad, grey city.
“Welcome to The Changeling Capital, my friends, and my home for the last sixteen years.”
As the ponies took in their grey surroundings, Sky shuddered as she remembered her life in the Changeling world. She had flown over this place so many times, explored it’s every nook and cranny with her friends, and as a result knew the place like the back of her hoof. She breathed in the familiar dull air, and started moving to the huge spire that was Chrysalis’ castle. They walked quietly through the dark streets, and were soon at the base of Chrysalis’ castle.
“How in th’ hay are we gonna get up there Sky? We don’t all have wings.”
“Easy. Ascendere .” The world tipped for a moment as they moved upwards at light-speed, then everything came back to normal and they all stumbled backwards. Fluttershy went green and threw up over the side of the landing pad. Sky recognised it as the same one from one of her most recent memories. They walked in through the open doors on the other side of the landing pad after Sky apologised for not warning them and came across a small group of Changelings. Before anypony could react, one of them widened it’s eyes and ran towards Sky.
“Sky Blue?! I never thought I would see you again! Why are you here?” The Changeling hugged a shocked Sky, and then recollection clouded her vision;
“Saralys? I haven’t seen you in three years! I’m surprised you didn’t forget me.”
The Changeling named Saralys broke away from the hug and smiled.
“How could I forget someone as colourful as you? You were the most memorable thing about my childhood! We know why you’re here by the way, and Chrysalis has given us orders to capture you.” The seven ponies noticed the Changelings behind Saralys were pawing the ground nervously. “But I don’t care what she says. Friends are friends, no matter what. You were going through a lot of grief when you confronted me and Michelaye.”
A male Changeling behind Saralys nodded sadly.
“You were scared and angry. We would have forgiven you, but you just disappeared. And then, about last week, we were all told that you had been brainwashed by Celestia and had left to fight us with her. Almost no-one believed her. We lost a lot of faith in her after the Canterlot attack. She isn’t fooling anyone anymore. She used to tell us that we had to take Equestria because they refused to let us feed, and they just left us here to starve. But when she teamed up with Discord, everyone stopped believing. Her army stayed together though, whether out of fear or out of bloodlust no-one knows. But I don’t want to be evil anymore. The elders tell stories about the old days, when we flourished with the help of Celestia’s regular food caravans. Just go. You know where they are. Defeat Chrysalis, please Sky. Maybe one day when this is all over I can live in your town, and we can be friends again.” Saralys had tears in her eyes as she waved them away. Michelaye said a small goodbye to Sky and the others as they passed. They continued on, going deeper and deeper into Chrysalis’ castle. They came across a few Changeling patrols, but each and every time they just looked at Sky, then slowly looked away, as if they hadn’t seen anything. As they passed, a few Changelings whispered ‘Good luck’ or, ‘Good to see you, Sky’ and continued onwards.
Then Sky came across somewhere that was all too familiar. She saw the long red carpet, lined with candelabras. At the head stood Chrysalis. Finally seeing the Changeling Queen in the flesh, and not in a memory brought forth a tirade of emotions for Sky.
Twenty-five percent of her wanted to strangle the very life out of the Changeling Queen.
Another Twenty-five percent wanted to run forward and hug Chrysalis, and apologise for everything Sky had done, and beg to be accepted by Chrysalis.
Twenty-Five percent wanted to run in fear.
The rest won her internal struggle, and Sky slowly walked forward, with her friends behind her. She stopped about Twenty feet from the queen, and concentrated all of her energy into what she was about to do.
“How dare you.” She heard the ponies behind her gasping, or sighing, or in one case, squeaking in fear.
Chrysalis just raised an eyebrow, and when she spoke, her voice filled the room.
“How dare I ? What do you mean?” Chrysalis spoke as if they had just come across each other in the supermarket and were chatting about the rising prices of milk.
“How dare you use your people to fulfill your own damn agenda. You just want to rule Equestria. You don’t care about feeding your people, or you would’ve just kept the trade caravans coming through.”
“I did what I had to. Celestia was squeezing us dry!”
“What? She asked for information on how to deal with pests, and the occasional harvest of Changeling tea leaves!” Chrysalis looked taken aback at Sky’s knowledge, but rallied quickly.
“They were our only commodity!”
“And in exchange for it, your people were able to eat! The Changelings would’ve died out without Celestia!”
“She only kept us alive so she could demand our help when she went to battle!”
“She would never declare war on another country!”
“What have we been doing for the past thousand years then, trading insults?”
“You attacked the capital of Equestria you idiot! At what point did that seem like an idea that wouldn’t lead to war?”
“ENOUGH! No matter what you say, you will never get your precious elements. I have hidden them away, and you will never find them!”
“We’ll see! Close your eyes! IGNIRE! ”
And with this, fires lit in all of the chandeliers hanging from the roof.
“Wow, when you said ‘we’ll see’ you meant it!” Rainbow said this with a chuckle. Sky could see the elements sitting in a small box next to Chrysalis’ throne. Without a second thought, she ran past the blinded queen, and grabbed the box with a spell. She bolted back and dropped the box in front of her friends.
"Some hiding place." Sky laughed quietly.
“NO! DISCORD! HELP ME!” Chrysalis disappeared, and the Draconequus was standing in her place. Sky heard clinking from the box behind her, and her friends stood next to her.
Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity on her left.
Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and AppleJack on her right.
The seven elements, for the first time in thousand of years, stood together, side by side.
Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Knowledge, Loyalty, Magic, and Honesty. Their power built as Sky focused her power into her amulet. Discord just stood and laughed.
“The Elements of Harmony can never beat me! I am unbeatable! Chrysalis has made me more powerful than I could have ever imagined!” He put on some dark black sunglasses, as the light from the elements grew to blinding levels.
When they spoke, they all spoke in voices different to their normal ones.
The original wielders of the Elements Of Harmony are with us today.
They all spoke with voices that were amalgamations of their own and the original wielders’, and it added to the effect that they were all speaking in unison, as if reading off of some unseen script.
“You can not defeat harmony, no matter how much you fight it, Discord!
“Ohh, gag!” Discord looked lighthearted, but his fear showed clearly in his eyes.
“Discord! Prepare to meet your fate at last! You have avoided us for thousands of years, but today, with the help of these seven ponies, we will finally defeat you! CRASH , that just added to the cacophony in the room. The seven ponies closed their eyes for a moment, and then the presence of each of the original wielders faded, leaving the Ponies looking fatigued, as if they each just run a marathon.
Sky trotted over to the terrified face of Discord. She hit the stone, as hard as she could, but just bruised her hoof. How do I do this? Wait!
A spell popped into Sky’s head, and she focused as much energy as she could into it. She found that, surprisingly, she still had quite a bit.
“FRANGERE! ” Sky heard a huge CRACK , and saw a huge crack running up the stone Discord, and there was a dying scream as the stone fell to pieces. Sky kept casting the spell, until there was nothing left of what was probably the last Draconequus ever. Sky felt a small moment of regret, but it passed when she remembered that there was one more hurdle before she could rest.
Chrysalis.
Sky made sure the others were okay, and pointed to the landing pad, and told them to meet up there, before she trotted over to Rainbow Dash. The pegasus was the only one standing, but she looked unsteady. Sky just silenced Rainbow when she tried to follow her. She kissed Rainbow, and hugged her.
“I’ll be back. I promise. And Rainbow? I mean it this time.” Sky galloped off. Rainbow looked over to where AJ was kneeling. She nodded. Rainbow smiled, and helped the others on to their feet. After a few seconds rest, they followed Sky.
Sky galloped through the castle, and before long, she came upon the squad the Elements had seen when they had first arrived. Sky slid to a stop, and saw Saralys on the floor, nursing a broken leg, and holding on to Michelaye and sobbing. Sky could see he wasn’t breathing. Saralys looked up and stopped crying for a moment.
“Sky... Destroy her... Please...” Sky just nodded and ran out on to the landing pad. There were a few Changelings trying to fight Chrysalis, but she killed them with a spell.
“You bitch! PEINE! ” Chrysalis writhed as the pain spell hit her, but she sent a fire spell at Sky. Sky just flew through it, without flinching. Chrysalis gasped, and Sky hit her, sending both of them off of the edge. Rainbow ran out just as she saw Sky go over.
“SKY!” AJ held her back.
“LET GO! SHE NEEDS HELP!” AJ just held on to her, her hooves wrapped around Rainbow’s torso.
“She’ll be fine, ‘Dash! Just let her fight this battle by herself!” Rainbow slowly stopped struggling and AJ let go of her. Rainbow stepped forward, and tried to stop herself jumping after Sky.
As Sky fell with Chrysalis, she abandoned all attempts at magic, and brought her hoof back and hit Chrysalis in the face, over and over, until Chrysalis kicked her away. They continued to fall as Sky flew towards Chrysalis and went to kick her in the face. But Chrysalis turned at the last moment, which in the circumstances was a fatal mistake. Sky hit Chrysalis’ wing, and the Queen spiraled away, unable to control her descent. Sky just unfolded her wings, immediately stopping her fall. She just watched the Changeling queen fall for what seemed like forever, her scream echoing over all of the Changeling Capital. Sky flew straight up, and landed lightly on the landing pad, stumbling forwards, and landing in Rainbow’s waiting hooves.
“I s-said I’d b-be back... I p-promised...” And with that, Sky passed out, and fell into a dreamless sleep.
As Sky awoke she realised she was back in Equestria, telling by the fact that there were ponies in white coats crowding around her. She guessed she was in a hospital.
“Wh-Who the hay are all of you?” She asked weakly. The ponies looked surprised for a moment, but then she was hit with a barrage of questions;
“How did Chrysalis’ fire not hurt you?”
“How does it feel to have amnesia?”
“What is Changeling anatomy like?”
“Do you know where I can get a good taco?”
This continued until Rainbow --who had been sleeping in a chair in the corner-- pushed them away.
“She just woke up! Leave her alone!” Rainbow ran over to Sly and kissed her as the doctors filed out, followed by a confused you stallion, who was asking them where the canteen was.
“Sky! You’ve been out for days! Twilight told me it was just exhaustion, and I guess she was right! I was wondering though, how did you not get burned by Chrysalis? What spell did you use?”
“I’ll tell you later. I can tell you, though, that you can’t magic away pain. For now I just want to get out of here.” Sky got up out of her bed and walked to the door. She turned and gestured to Rainbow.
“Come on! Let’s go.” Rainbow trotted over, and they left the hospital room, and after a small argument, Sky walked out of the hospital, and into her new life in Ponyville.
--WOW. Sorry if that seemed a bit rushed. That was the first actual definitive ending I have ever done. Admittedly it isn’t the best, but I’ll try to tie up as many loose ends with the epilogue as I can. Comments with advice for what I can do in future would be greatly appreciated. Now, READ ON--
Dear... Journal? Should I call you that, or... Do people usually give you names? Ah, never mind. I’ll just call you journal for now.
Okay... Dear Journal,
It’s been three weeks since I left the hospital, and ever since, I have slowly been feeling the pain from my burns. I got the idea to hold on to the pain, and feel it later from Rainbow, when she told me about how she held in her sweat. I just realised that, maybe you can do it with pain. And it worked.
Twilight gave me the idea to write this, because it’s a good way for the author to tie up loose ends, as well as helping me with anything I might forget. For the past three weeks my memory has been a bit off. I mean, I forgot PINKIE PIE of all ponies a few days ago. PINKIE PIE. So, I’m writing this. Speaking of my friends, I guess you’ll want to know what’s going on with them? Well... A few things have happened with them.
Let’s see... Fluttershy and Big Macintosh have been spending A LOT of time together, which has sparked some rumours that they’re going out. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. Rarity has met some fashion designer pony guy, who she loves more than anything. Twilight has been looking after Celestia in Ponyville General hospital, because The Princess didn’t want to be bothered in Canterlot. AJ has met some banker guy, and hired him to work at her farm, but I see the way they look at each other. Pinkie Pie hasn’t met anyone yet, but she has been acting kinda strange around Twilight, and the way she looks at her when she thinks no-one is looking, makes me think Pinkie Pie might have some unsaid feelings. I might have to talk to her about it.
he Changelings have agreed to peace with Equestria. They have buried Chrysalis, and named a new Queen. I didn’t catch her name. Speaking of Changelings, Saralys has moved to Ponyville, and we are closer than ever. The residents of Ponyville took some convincing, but once they saw how nice Saralys was to Applebloom and the... CMC?... They came ‘round, and now she is accepted as one of us. Luna has been doing well with raising the sun and the moon while Celestia heals. Celestia and I had a really long talk a few days ago, and I let everything out. I told her everything I could remember, and then some. I told her about how I felt, and how I regretted killing those changelings, and I ended up in tears. She comforted me, and I left with a smile on my face.
I have moved in with Rainbow, and Rarity joked that she would start planning our wedding... Or at least... I think she was joking... Never mind. I would gladly marry Rainbow, but I think she would be a bit overwhelmed if I started planning a wedding she hadn’t been told about. Haha. I still help AJ with Applebucking from time to time when her stallion isn’t at the bank. I help out Twilight with the Library every now and again. She tries to give me money every time, but I refuse, saying that I won’t accept payment from friends. She sulks every time. Rainbow doesn’t ask for rent; the first time I tried she refused to take it. Fluttershy and I have become good friends, and we go to the spa every week with Rarity. I just do it for something to do. I hate getting pampered, but when Fluttershy asked me if I would like to join them, she was smiling so widely it would have been like kicking Applebloom on her birthday --No, worse-- to say no. I have ben flying with Rainbow Dash every day, and I must say, it’s the highlight of my days, flying with her like that. I still have nightmares occasionally, but none of them involve Chrysalis. I just dream I’m back in that raid, and I try to think what I could have done differently... Then it all comes crashing down and I wake up in Rainbow’s strong hooves. She always wakes up and tries to comfort me when this happens. I don’t have nightmares every night, but when I do, it feels so nice to wake up with Rainbow hugging me. We made it public a few days ago. Me and her, that is. Somepony threw a tomato at her, but it was returned to sender at double the speed and ten times the age. The pony who threw it was a filly name Diamond Tiara. She’s been smelling like year-old tomatoes ever since, and I have heard her talking about moving away. Applebloom seemed happy about Diamond Tiara’s punishment. Everypony else has been really supportive. I was called out to Fillydelphia, Manehattan, and Appeloosa a few days after I left the hospital, and I went to clear up Discord’s spells, which were still running rampant without the Draconequus controlling them. But other than that, everything is settling down in the aftermath of Discord’s and Chrysalis’ attack. Just writing her name makes me want to hit something. But Celestia just said that I have to move on, and that the ‘hole in my heart would heal.’ This surprised me, as I hadn’t told Celestia about how I saw Chrysalis as a mother, but then again, she IS Princess Celestia. She seems to be learning how to walk again, slowly, but it might be a while before she can do it by herself. Every time I apologise to her, she just says I did what I had to do, and she thanks me. THANKS ME. For taking away her ability to walk, and her ability to fly. Anyway, I think I should wrap this up, as I can hear Rainbow calling me. She says we are going to go and meet the others at Sugarcube Corner for something to eat.
It’s nice to finally have friends to count on.
That’s it...
The end.
Awakening and Introduction
Observe. The town of Ponyville, one of the most beautiful towns in the magical land of Equestria. It is bustling with Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth Ponies alike. See a dirt road, leading from one of the main gates, leading into a beautiful green forest. Follow the road, and you will see an unconscious blue pegasus pony, with a beautiful blue mane, and soft eyes, lying on the ground. She opens her eyes, showing them to be a magnificent vivid green. She blinks a few times, then jumps up. She looks around fearfully, taking in her unfamiliar surroundings. She has no idea how she got here. She has no idea where here is. She has no memory whatsoever.
She looked around. Where am I? Who am I? Why am I asking such cliched questions? She disregarded the last question, putting it down to unimaginative openings and tired authors. She tried to remember something, anything. She decided to start with her name. Then something popped into her head of it’s own volition. It felt right. It must be her name.
Sky Blue. Very nice.
Sky looked around, and saw a town in between a gap in the trees surrounding her. If anypony can help me, they are probably there. She decided to try her luck and set off toward the large town.
As she approached the town Sky heard somepony yell something, and next thing she knew, a grey pegasus had smacked into her, and sent her flying. She got up and saw a cross-eyed pony flying away. She had bubbles on her flank.
“Oops! Soorry! I shouldn’t have been flying so low!” She said, as she flew away. Sky shrugged and continued walking toward the town. As she walked through the gates into it, she saw a sign cheerfully showing the slogan: Welcome to Ponyville!
That must be the name of the town, She thought.
As Sky walked into Ponyville, she heard a loud WOOSH behind her, and for the second time in as many minutes, she felt herself lifted off of her hooves and face down in the dirt.
“Hehe, excuse me? Sorry about that.” Sky stood up and turned to face the speaker. In front of her stood a beautiful Pegasus pony, with a rainbow coloured mane, looking at her with interest.
“Oh... Never... Um... Never mind. I’m okay...” She shook her head to clear it and looked at the pegasus again.
“Hi! I’m Rainbow Dash, the awesomest pony in Equestria! Who’re you? It’s been a while since I met a new pegasus!”
“Um... My name is... Sky Blue. And I’m not a pegasus. I can’t fly.”
“Nice to meet you Sky Blu-- What do you mean you can’t fly? What do you call these?” She prodded Sky’s wings, and Sky noticed them for the first time.
“W-w-wings? I didn’t realise... I don’t know how to use them anyway...”
“What d’you mean? Everypony from Cloudsdale can fly!”
“What’s Cloudsdale?” Sky asked, confused.
“You don’t know what it is? Did you hit your head or something?”
“Probably... I don’t remember much. I only know my name.”
“Really? Well maybe your cutie mark can tell us more about you!”
“What is a cutie mark?” Rainbow Dash turned, giving Sky a full view of her flank. There was a cloud with a rainbow coloured lightning bolt coming out of it.
“That is a cutie mark.” Rainbow Dash said proudly. “Don’t worry if yours isn’t as awesome as mine. Mine is about twenty percent cooler than most ponies’, just like me .” Sky turned and looked at her flank. There was a book with a quill resting on it there.
“What does it mean? What is a cutie mark?” Rainbow Dash smiled.
“A cutie mark shows what your special skill, or talent, or just your personality is. Twilight would just love yours. She lives in the library. That’s the big tree, just so you know. Listen, I’ll see you later Sky Blue, we should hang out some time! Try flapping your wings and get flying!” With this, The beautiful pegasus flew off, leaving a fading rainbow in her wake.
Sky stared at the sky dreamily for a second then shook herself. Rainbow hadn’t actually told her where the library was. She decided to ask for directions. She wandered aimlessly for a while, half-heartedly asking ponies for directions, but not getting answers. Suddenly a violently pink pony, with an equally vivid curly pink mane bounced past her. She stopped mid bounce, about a foot off of the ground (although she had no wings), spun around --in mid-air, mind you-- gasped loudly, then shot off, leaving a gust of wind in her wake. That was... Different... I think. Maybe it’s common practice here? She continued on and found herself in a marketplace. She looked around, trying to find someone who could help her, and her eyes rested on a pony with a soft orange coat, a long blonde mane, a tattered brown hat on her head, and Apples on her flank. She was talking to a small yellow filly with a red mane, in a thick southern drawl.
“Now Applebloom, Ah got t’go see Twilight and get that book fer ya, so can y’all run down to the farm and get Big Macintosh to run the stand?” The filly looked at the larger pony and said:
“But if Ah run the stand, maybe Ah’ll get mah cutie mark! Maybe mah skill is lookin’ after the apple stand?”
“Now, Applebloom, I told you not t’ rush it din’t Ah? Now go get Big Macintosh.” She smiled as the filly bounced away. Sky Blue approached the stand, and smiled at the orange pony.
“Um, hello... My name is Sky Blue, um... Could yo--” She was cut off as the pony took one of Sky’s hooves in both of hers and shook it vigorously.
“Nice tah meet ya! Mah name’s Applejack. What can Ah do ya for?” She let go and Sky slowly stopped shaking.
“Um... Do you know where I can find the library?” Applejack smiled and nodded.
“Why yes, and Ah was about to go an’ see Twilight about a book fer mah sister, Applebloom. Ah’ll take you when Big Macintosh gets here.” Sky nodded and looked around the marketplace. She was still trying to remember her memories, while subsequently ignoring the irony of this thought. Then she saw the small pony, who she guessed was Applebloom, bouncing down the road, followed by a large red stallion behind her, who she guessed was Big Macintosh. Applejack smiled and waved with one of her forehooves.
“Hey Big Macintosh! Ah need t’ get that book fer Applebloom, and mah friend here wants t’ meet Twilight! Can you handle the stall for a little while?”
The stallion nodded.
“Eeyup.”
“Thanks brother!”
“Eeyup.”
“Do you want me tah take Applebloom while you work?”
“Nnope.”
“See ya later then Macintosh!”
“Eeyup.”
As Applejack wandered away, Sky smiled at him.
“Um... Hi.”
“Eeyup.”
Sky smiled nervously and ran after Applejack.
As they walked Applejack and Sky chatted aimlessly.
“Your brother doesn’t say much, does he?”
“Naw, he ain’t one fer long sentences unless it is ab-so-lute-ly necessary. So, where’re you from, Sky?” Applejack had an enquiring look on her face.
“Oh... Um... Around... You know...”
“That is a mighty am-big-u-ous answer. Why won’t you say? You running from something?”
Sky sighed.
“In all honesty, I really have absolutely no idea. I woke up in a forest outside of town. I only remember my name.”
“Well, if anypony can help you with that kind o’ stuff, it’s Twilight Sparkle. She was Princess Celestia’s protégée, don’t ya know.”
Sky was confused.
“Who is princess Celestia?” Sky immediately knew this was the wrong thing to say, as Applejack had stopped in her tracks and was looking at her like she was some foreign substance.
“You really don’t know who the princess is? You need Twilight’s help more than Ah thought.” They continued walking in an awkward silence.
“So... Do you remember how to use those wings o’ yours?” Sky had a vague recollection of her conversation with Rainbow. She hadn’t really been listening. Rainbow had been distracting her.
“Um... Rainbow said I should give them a flap some time.”
“Then why don’tcha?”
“Good idea.” Sky concentrated on her wings, and willed them to break free of her body. Come on... Come on... Rainbow had made it look so easy. With a little more effort than she could have guessed, Sky felt her wings unfold. Applejack gasped. Sky’s eyes flew open.
“What? What’s wrong with them?” She was worried, and didn’t want to look.
“Oh, sugarcube, there definitely ain’t nothin’ wrong with them.”
Sky looked and saw that the wings that were extending from her abdomen and gasped. They were ordinary from the outside, but on the inside they were as colourful as Rainbow’s mane.
“Wow. That is pretty cool.” Sky said, in a small voice.
“Well, Ah know that Rainbow’ll want t’ see those.” Applejack said, with a small smile. “Come on, we’re almost there. You can try an’ fly later.” Sky looked ahead, and saw a large tree, with, strangely enough, doors and windows. She guessed this was the library. As Applejack wandered in ahead of her, she closed her wings against her body. She would have to learn to fly now. Maybe she could talk to Rainbow about it.
As Sky walked over the threshold of the tree she saw shelves lining the walls, with books of all kinds on them. For some reason the books made her feel as comfortable as when she had met Rainbow. In amongst a storm of floating books, she saw a softly purple coloured pony reading them. She had a dark purple mane, with a lighter purple and a pink stripe through her mane and tail, and her cutie mark was a purple star with smaller white ones around it. She saw Applejack and the books floated away and went to what Sky guessed were their respective shelves.
“Hey AJ, I’ve got that book for Applebloom right here.” Twilight said, using her magic to hover a book off of her desk in the corner.
“Thanks, Twi’. It’s mighty kind o’ ya to get this book fer Applebloom. And mah friend here would like t’ speak wit’ ya, she’s in need o’ some help.” Applejack put the book under her hat, nodded goodbye to Twilight and Sky, and left the library.
“Hi. My name is Twilight Sparkle. It’s a pleasure to meet you...?” She left the sentence with a question and a questioning look.
“My name is Sky Blue. Nice to meet you Twilight.”
“And you. Now, what did you need of me?”
“Well, first of all Rainbow Dash said you would love my cutie mark.” She turned and showed it to Twilight, displaying the book and quill. “Do you have any idea what it means?”
Twilight bounced up and down with excitement.
“Yes! It must mean that your special skill is reading and writing! That’s... That’s... Awesome!” Said Twilight, taking a word from Rainbow Dash’s vocabulary.
“Um... Second, is it common for violently pink ponies to defy the laws of gravity, gasp, and speed off at speeds to match Rainbow Dash’s?”
“Oh, that’s probably just Pinkie Pie. You’re new, so she is probably planning a party. Act surprised though, because she doesn’t like people spoiling her parties, or worse, not showing up.” Twilight grimaced, and Sky decided to ask about that later.
“And lastly, is it possible for you to repair my memory?”
Twilight did a double take, and exclaimed;
“What? Why didn’t you open with that?”
“I decided to deal with things in order.” In an instant, Twilight had shot over to Sky and hugged her.
“Oh finally someone else who cares about proper organisation!” She stepped back.
“Now. Firstly, do you know how you lost your memory, and what did you remember when you woke up? Not what came back to you, but what you woke up with.”
“No I don’t remember how I lost it. And I didn’t remember anything. Even my name took some effort.” Sky was disappointed when she saw Twilight suddenly look downcast. “There’s nothing you can do... Is there?”
“I’m sorry. Give it time. It should come back to you.” Twilight smiled weakly. She walked out side, beckoning with her hoof for Sky to follow.
“Listen, I was going to go and run some errands today. I have to deliver some books. Would you like to join me? You could meet some more ponies, and maybe one of them will recognise you.” Sky nodded and they set off down the road, towards a dark forest. Sky thought they were going in, but they turned and she saw a small cottage on the riverside. Twilight kept talking.
“Then we can find you a place to stay until you can get one of your own, or afford to be someone’s housemate. You can work at the library to get some extra bits to help you out. I would invite you to stay with me, but my spare room is kind of being used as storage for now. And no offense to her, but I doubt you would want to live with Pinkie. She’s a good friend, but she can be bit full on if you have just met her. And Rarity doesn’t have a spare room. Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash all have space as far as I know. This is Fluttershy’s place here. She can be a little bit...”
“Shy?”
“Yes. But once you get her to open up... She is still really shy. I had a bit of trouble talking her the first time I met her.”
“I’ll be fine.”
As they neared the small cottage Sky saw a yellow pegasus pony, with a pink mane, and butterflies on her flank kneeling in front of a small rabbit hole.
“It’s okay little friend. I won’t hurt you. I just wanted to give you a carrot.” She pushed it with her nose towards the entrance of the den.
“See? I just wanted to give you this.” A small brown rabbit poked it’s head out the hole, grabbed the carrot, and started to eat it. When it saw that Fluttershy really wasn’t dangerous, it smiled --as much as a rabbit could-- and hopped away.
“Fluttershy! Fluttershy! I’ve got that book for you!” Sky saw Twilight holding up a book. It was titled: How To Deal With Bunny Disobedience Without Yelling: A Reference Guide. Fluttershy started to walk towards Twilight waving back shyly. But then she saw Sky, squeaked quietly and curled up into a ball, her mane covering almost her entire face. Only one eye was showing. It was squeezed shut tightly. Sky looked at Twilight.
“What did I do?”
“Don’t worry, she just isn’t used to strangers. I’ll just give her the book and we can go. She’ll get used to you... In time.”
“Wait. I have an idea. Give me the book.” Twilight looked defensive for a moment, but shrugged and gave Sky the book to hold in between her leg and body. She trotted lightly towards Fluttershy and stopped about three feet away from her. She knelt down and put the book on the ground. She practically heard Twilight wince. Sky just hoped this would work.
“Fluttershy? My name is Sky Blue. Nice to meet you.” She knew this wouldn’t work, but did it to gauge Fluttershy’s reaction. If anything she seemed to relax slightly. Sky barely missed a beat.
“I’ve got this book for you. I’m guessing you’ve got an unruly bunny somewhere around here.” Fluttershy nodded slightly. Sky remembered in time to put a relaxed smile on her face before she did what she was about to do.
“Here you go.” Sky pushed the book forward with nose, much like Fluttershy had done with the carrot. Fluttershy opened her eye and saw the book. Without meaning to, she glanced up and saw Sky. Twilight knew what was about to happen. Fluttershy would go further into her shell, and it would be harder for Sky to get to know her. But she was surprised when Fluttershy opened her eye more, nodded and said quietly;
“Thank you Sky Blue.”
“You can call me Sky. Everyone else seems to be.”
“Oh... I’m sorry.”
“Don’t worry. You didn’t know. Who is your disobedient bunny?”
“His name is Angel.” Both of them stood up, Fluttershy whispered a small goodbye and thank-you to both of them. Twilight opened her mouth to speak but Sky shook her head.
“Wait ‘till we’re on the road. Then I’ll explain.” Twilight followed her and when they got the road, she pointed Sky in the direction of town and they set off together.
“Okay, what was that? I’ve never seen anyone get her to open up like that on their first meeting!”
“Didn’t you see what she did with the rabbit? She couldn’t convince it she wouldn’t hurt it, so she gave it the carrot so it would come out and see she meant no harm. It gave me the idea to do the same thing. But I reinforced the idea by talking to her once she opened up. I didn’t just leave. Now it should be easier to befriend her.”
“Wow, you notice the small things, don’t you? Ah, next is Rarity. She can be a little full on. Just try not to let her give you a makeover. They can take a while.” Sky nodded again and they walked back into town and stopped outside a large store labeled: The Carousel Boutique. As they walked in Twilight yelled out:
“Rarity! I’ve got that book you wanted!” Sky saw Twilight grab a book out of her saddlebags labelled: Fashions of Fillydelphia. An elegant white pony with a purple mane, curly purple tail with blue diamonds on her flank walk out of the back room.
“Thank you Twili-- Oh! Who is your friend? Her coat is the perfect colour for my newest dress! Combien fabuleux! You absolutely must try it on!” Twilight shot forward and gave her the book.
“Here you go, Rarity! The book you were looking for! Okay we gotta go! Bye!” Rarity barely had any time to react as Twilight dragged Sky out of the store. She said over her shoulder:
“Sorry Rarity! I’ll try it on another time! I’m Sky Blue!” She had only just finished her sentence when the door slammed in front of her.
“Sorry, but I don’t have time for that right now, I have to deliver this book to Rainbow Dash. I never would have thought she would get into reading. Sky saw the last book I her saddlebags. It was titled: Daring Doo and The Diamond Femur.
“Oh darn. I was going to get Fluttershy to fly up and deliver it. Could you help please?”
Sky nodded slightly.
“Wait. I don’t know how to fly!”
“I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it. Come on, it’s just up ahead.”
As they approached Rainbow Dash’s house, Sky gasped. It was the most amazing thing she had ever seen. It was a huge house that seemed to be made from the clouds themselves. It probably was. Sky’s wings opened up in anticipation of seeing the interior. In the light of the dying sun, the feathers in her wings shone brightly. She heard Twilight gasp.
“You didn’t tell me about that! That’s amazing!”
“Oh... Sorry... I only just found out. I didn’t mean to show off...”
“Don’t worry. It’s not showing off. You have to use your wings to fly, don’t you? Give it a try!” Sky hesitated, but decided to just give it a go. She concentrated on flapping her wings, and after about thirty seconds she heard a faint voice yelling:
“You need the book to deliver it!” Snapping out of her concentration, Sky saw she was about a hundred feet off of the ground. She expected to feel fear, but she didn’t. She decided to have a bit of fun, and closed her wings, putting her into a nosedive. Just as she was about to hit the ground, her wings flew out, and she caught the wind rushing up to meet her, touching the soft ground lightly.
“Thanks Twilight.” She said, taking the book from the open-mouthed Twilight. She shot off into the air and arrived at Rainbow’s cloud house in seconds. She didn’t ever remember flying, but now that she was, it seemed so easy. She tentatively knocked on Rainbow’s door. She heard a few hoofsteps from inside and the door swung open.
“Heya Sky! What are you doing up here? Can you fly now?”
“I’ve got this book for you.” She gave it to Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow put it on a shelf next to the door.
“So I’m guessing you can fly?” She said.
“Umm. Yeah. I guess.”
“Wanna go out for a fly now?” Sky was slightly taken aback by this, but nodded and walked to the edge of the cloud. “Hey Twilight! I’ll see you later! Me and Rainbow are going for a fly, alright?” She saw Twilight nod, and head off in the direction of the marketplace she had seen earlier.
“So, wanna head out?” Rainbow was right next to her. “It’s your second time, as far as I know, So I’ll go easy on ya, alright?” Sky smirked and nodded.
“You go ahead, I’ll catch up.” Rainbow smirked and leaped of the cloud. She flew up past Sky and hovered in the air.
“You coming?” Rainbow looked pretty sure of herself, but when Sky unfolded her wings, Rainbow dropped a few feet.
“Woah! Those are awesome! But beauty doesn’t mean speed! Haha!” Sky shivered at the thought of Rainbow thinking she was beautiful.
“You cold? Or are you just scared?”
Sky realised she had been a bit obvious.
“No, I’m just excited to beat you in a race to the marketplace!”
Rainbow frowned.
“A bit inexact. How ‘bout we race to Sugarcube Corner?” Sky blinked.
“Where is that?”
“The big store that looks like a cupcake, silly.” Sky saw it in the distance.
“Okay then. Let’s go--now!” She shot past Rainbow with speed that made Rainbow Dash impressed.
“Oh, It is on!” She sped after Sky, quickly closing the distance between the two.
“I’m not even trying!” She said, with a smirk.
“I’m just warming up!” Sky said, as she put on a burst of speed and flew past Rainbow Dash. She was surprised for a second, but quickly caught up with Sky. They were neck and neck the rest of the way, until Rainbow just inched past her, winning the race.
“Wow. That was actually pretty taxing. I haven’t had a race that fun in a while.”
As Rainbow Dash said this, Sky noticed that she hadn’t even broken a sweat, while She was drenched. She had put so much effort into that. It didn’t matter though. She just enjoyed spending time with Rainbow. This was odd, seeing as she had just met this mare.
“Want to get a drink? Sugarcube Corner makes the best milkshakes.”
Sky was unsure.
“Are you sure? All the lights are off. I don’t think anyone is in there.”
Rainbow smiled mischievously. Sky suppressed a shudder at seeing such a beautiful smile.
“Let’s see.” She walked past Sky to the door, and thought she heard Rainbow doing a complicated series of taps. The door opened, and Rainbow beckoned her inside. Sky walked in and almost yelled when the lights turned on and she saw the violently pink pony from before in front of her.
“SURPIIISE! Were you surprised? Huh? Were ya? Were ya? Did I surprise you?”
Sky stepped back as she saw the place filled with ponies she had seen around town.
“I just saw you before, and I had never seen you before. And I know everypony and I mean everypony in Ponyville, and if you were new it meant you had no friends, and if you had no friends you must be lonely, so I threw you this welcome party so you could meet people! Yay! Now you have lots of friends!” Sky was practically pushed back by the force and speed of the Pony’s speech pattern. She racked her brains trying to remember her name.
“Hi... Um... Pinkie Pie... Nice to meet you. Thank you for the party, it looks really nice.” She smiled and Pinkie bounced away happily. Rainbow came and stood next to her.
“Well, are you going to mingle? Or are you just going to stand there gawping at everyone?”
Sky shook herself.
“Um... Good point.”
Over the next few hours, Sky met what felt like hundreds of ponies. This left her thoroughly drained. As people left, only Sky and the first six ponies she had met were left. They were sitting at a table in the corner chatting. Applejack saw Sky standing uncomfortably on the other side of the room.
“Come over here and sit down sugarcube! We won’t bite!” Sky trotted over and sat next to Rainbow Dash. Twilight was the first to speak.
“We were just talking about where you’re going to live. Rainbow and Applejack both have room, but Fluttershy’s spare room is taken by sick animals. Where would you like to live?”
Sky pretended to think for a few minutes, even though she already knew who she was going to choose.
“No offense, Rainbow, but I think I might like to stay with Applejack for a while.”
She had only chosen AJ because she knew she had a crush on Rainbow, and she didn’t want to encourage it. She didn’t know much about the customs of Ponyville, but she knew that they probably frowned on... What was the word she had heard during the party... Fillyfoolers? She didn’t think they would like a mare having a crush on another mare.
And Applejack seemed nice enough. Rainbow didn’t seem to care.
“Only fer a little while, though. The family just had to go away fer a few weeks. Only temp’ry you know.” Applejack looked happy anyway.
“Don’t worry, I should have enough money to move in to my own place, or with someone else eventually. I just wish I could pay rent now.”
“Ah don’ need it. Don’ you worry about any payment. You can jus’ help me wit’ mah farm.”
Applejack looked excited. Sky guessed that she was lonely. As they finally dispersed Sky followed Applejack out of town, to a huge Apple farm, With a sign out the front proclaiming: Sweet Apple Acres. They approached an old red farmhouse.
“Yah know, Ah think Ah know someone who could help you out. Her name is Zecora. She lives in Everfree forest. That is, she lives in th’ forest behind Fluttershy’s place.” Applejack remembered that Sky didn’t know anything about Ponyville, and probably not much about Equestria.
“Uhh, thanks. I’ll go in the morning. Um. Goodnight.” Sky followed Applejack’s hoof, as they had arrived at the farmhouse. She went upstairs.
“AJ, where should I sleep?”
“Jus’ go an’ sleep in mah room. Ah have a spare bed set up, in case o’ somethin’ like this. Big Macintosh, Applebloom, and Granny Smith don’ like strangers touchin’ their things.”
“Okay.” Sky went in to Applejack’s room and fell on to the cot in the corner. She was asleep in a few minutes.
Sky fell sideways, about to hit the ground, when a familiar pair of hooves caught her, and laid her down softly. She felt Rainbow kiss her cheek softly, and then she faded into unconsciousness.
She woke up in a strange dark room. She was lying in the corner, and immediately recognised this as Chrysalis’ castle. So, I’m in another memory. Great. She looked around, and saw her younger self --much younger, probably younger than Applebloom-- sleeping peacefully on a straw mattress in the corner. Upon closer inspection she saw herself to be banged up, with burns and bruises. Then she heard a set of hooves approaching the steel door.
“Step aside.”
“Very well Queen Chrysalis.”
The door swung open and Sky saw --you guessed it-- Queen Chrysalis standing there.
“Where did you find it?”
“She was in one of the villages we sacked last night. We don’t know why, but we felt you should see her, my Queen.”
“Hmph. I doubt anything will come of this. But, very well. Leave us.” The door swung shut and she heard the guards leaving. Chrysalis looked at Young Sky carefully for moment, before stamping a hoof, causing her Younger Self to jerk into consciousness.
“Wh-what? Who’s there? Mommy? Daddy? Are they gone? Can I come out? Mommy?” She saw herself look blearily around and lock eyes with Chrysalis.
“M-mommy?”
Chrysalis had a look of distaste on her face when she heard this.
“No. I am not your ‘mommy’. Who are you? What is your name?”
“M-my Daddy said never to talk to strangers, ma’am.”
“I am not a stranger. I am the only one standing between you and death. Now tell me your name!” She followed this with a stamp her hoof.
“My name i-is S-Sky Blue, ma’am.”
“Don’t call me ma’am. You may address me as ‘My Queen’.”
“Umm, sorry ma-- My Queen. I didn’t mean to be rude. You are the big one here, not me.”
“You would do well to remember that... Sky. Now, tell me, why did my guards have reason to bring you here?”
“Umm... It could be my talents... But mommy said not to use them.”
“Never mind what she said. Show me.”
“Okay, M-my Queen.” Sky felt angry that her younger self had to address Chrysalis like this, as she only looked abut 7 years old. Her young self then started to talk under her breath, and the hay from her bed flew into the air and began forming something. As Chrysalis watched with an amazed look on her face, The hay formed a perfect cube and dropped to the ground.
“Okay, now I understand. Come with me, And I shall give you a more comfortable place to rest your head.”
As Chrysalis walked out with her younger self in tow, Sky watched this in amazement. She could do that? And well enough to impress Chrysalis? Wow.
She wanted to watch more of this, but Sky felt herself being pulled away from this strange memory, and back into the real world. Or at least... The present real world.
As Sky opened her eyes, she saw the familiar yellow eyes and black and white snout of Zecora.
“Welcome back to the land of the conscious,
You look alright, more or less.
For a while I thought I had lost you there,
As if you had disappeared into thin air.
You must explain that to me Sky, for information is one thing I hate to lack,
But first you must tell us how you were able to hold Discord back.”
“I-I saw one of my memories. But before you get excited--” She said this as the others, who had been standing to the side --with the exception of Rainbow Dash, who was kneeling next to her-- jumped up in joy, “--It involved Chrysalis. She didn’t address me directly, so I don’t think it was a trick. She was talking to me. Not, y’know, me me, it was actually young me. And I really don’t think this was a trick Twilight--” She said this to the tired-looking unicorn, as she opened her mouth to interrupt, “--Because, if I hadn’t remembered it, Discord would have defeated me. She was teaching me how to fight off hypnosis. It was in case... In case... In case Celestia caught me and tried to get information out of me.” She heard Twilight gasp at the mention of her mentor using force to get information.
“But she would neve--”
“Well I didn’t know that! I had been raised by Chrysalis for Celestia’s sake! I didn’t realise she was wrong! I just wish I knew what she had said to get me on her side in the first place! Oh damn...” She felt her vision flicker for a moment. “This had better not become a regular occurrence...” Sky said, as, to the dismay and shock of her friends, she blacked out again.
When she came to again, Sky was in a dark bedroom, with a huge bed in front of her, and a slightly-less beaten up Young Sky curled up in one of the pillowcases, using it as a sleeping bag.
“Young one! Wake up!” Sky jumped as she heard the voice of Chrysalis right behind her.
“Young one! Grr... Sky!” Sky saw her young self jerk awake, and look around slowly.
“Oh... Hello ma’a-- My Queen. What do you need?”
“I wish to know more about what you know.” Chrysalis walked past Sky over to the bed, and in a movement that perplexed Sky, she climbed onto the bed and knelt next to her young self.
“Tell me, what do you know about Equestria?”
“Well... I know about Celestia looking after the land, and the elements of harmony, and Nightmare Moon, and Discord, and--”
“Enough. What do you know about Celestia? And The... Ugh... The Elements of Harmony?”
“I know that Princess Celestia makes sure we are all safe, which is why she put Nightmare Moon in the moon, to keep us all safe from eternal night, And the elements of harmony are magical artifacts, which were used to defeat Discord and Nightmare Moon. They are:
Loyalty, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, and there is the unknown one.”
Chrysalis closed her eyes and shook her head sadly.
“You poor child... You have been lied to throughout your entire short life. Celestia is not the saviour of Equestria, she is it’s tyrant. Nightmare Moon was actually trying to free the land from the grip of Celestia, and free it forever from Celestia’s torturous hold. She used the Elements of Harmony to imprison Nightmare, so she could never again rebel against that tyrant. The elements of harmony are real, but Celestia misuses their power. She uses them to fool people into thinking she is helping them. I wish to free Equestria as well, but I have been banished because of my efforts. Now, here is where I wait to try and free Equestria once more!” Chrysalis spoke with such passion, that Sky almost believed it herself. Her younger self certainly did.
“I-I-I’ve been lied to? A-a-all this time, have I-I-I just been a s-s-slave to her?”
“Yes, young one, and that is why she had your parents killed. They were working with me, to help free your land. It is pure luck that my troops had been in the area at the time.”
“Wait... My mommy and daddy are... D-d-dead?” Sky thought she saw some form of regret on the Queen’s face, but it passed and Sky didn’t think anything else of it. Young Sky suddenly leapt up, and hugged Chrysalis. Sky was worried how the Queen would react. Obviously she wouldn’t kill young Sky, but it was a self preservation thing. She was even more surprised when Chrysalis hugged young Sky back. But this also passed when she said;
“Fight with me, and we can avenge your parents, together! Will you help me do that Sky?”
“Of course My Queen! I’ll start training now, if you want me too.”
“First let’s get you some food.”
Sky felt the familiar tug of consciousness as she woke up, and looked into the eyes, not of Zecora, but of Rainbow Dash, who was shaking her vigorously.
“Sky! Wake up! Sky!”
“Rainbow! I’m fine! Don’t worry!” Sky was on the floor, and she could tell no more than a minute had passed. The others had crowded around, and Sky knew they were wondering what was going on. Rainbow didn’t usually show this much care, even as the Element of Loyalty. Sky rolled over and stood up. She decided to tell them the reason they had come here in the first place.
“Okay guys, me and Rainbow have to tell you something important. And yes, in my mind at least, it is more important than my memory coming back.”
She took a deep breath, and Rainbow stood next to her for support.
“Okay. This morning when I woke up my mind was clearer than it had been for days. It was if some parasite had just faded away and left me to think clearly at last. You see, for the past... Well... Two days... I knew that I had some weird feeling for Rainbow, or at least it felt weird, and unfamiliar. But, anyway, this morning I woke up... And I realised fully what it was.
I knew I was in love with ‘Dash.” Sky looked at the faces of her friends, expecting to see some form of disapproval, but they were impassive.
“So I flew straight to Rainbow’s house.” She looked at ‘Dash, and she nodded. Sky sighed with relief, and recounted what had happened when she arrived. They all gasped a few times in surprise, but when Sky finished her story with a quiet;
“And she asked to be my Marefriend, and I accepted.", her friends all rushed forward and hugged them.
“We’re so glad you’re happy darling!”
“I’ll have to throw a party! Yay!”
“I’m so glad you two are happy.”
“Ummm... Yeah, umm... So glad ya told me...”
“I don’t know why you were hiding your feelings, Sky, we love you no matter what.”
Rainbow managed to pull herself away, and the hug broke up. She said, with a smile on her face;
“What did I say about the sappy stuff?” Sky laughed and they all started talking about what was going on. Sky recounted her newest memory, and Twilight was amazed that Chrysalis had managed to trick young Sky so easily.
“You’re just filling me with confidence." Sky said, her words saturated with sarcasm.
"Remember, I was about seven years old at the time.”
They talked for a little while longer, and decided to disperse when the sun peeked over the horizon, signaling a new day.
Sky looked at a clock and saw the time was 8:00. Ah well, like I thought, even princesses need to sleep in every now and then. The day passed slowly, and Sky spent most of it with Rainbow. They decided that Sky would stay with AJ until her family came back, because without Sky, AJ would be all alone. But all too soon, the sun began going down, and Sky went back to AJ’s farmhouse, kissing ‘Dash goodbye and going inside. She was still worried, as the morning’s encounter with Discord meant he was on the loose once more. If he was though, he was laying low, which even Sky knew was strange. Pinkie had made sure that Sky knew that;
“Chaos comes with chocolate rain. Chocolate rain .” earlier in the day. Sky ate a large piece of Apple Pie with Applejack for dinner, then went to bed, where she fell asleep easier than she had in days. But the subtle flickering before she fell asleep showed that she would be seeing another memory. Fine, if I have to.
As Sky woke up, she saw she was in a large library. She could tell some time had passed, as she saw a slightly older --probably older than Applebloom, but only just-- Young Sky sitting at a table, books stacked around her. Sky jumped when she saw Chrysalis standing next to her, but calmed when she remembered the Queen couldn’t see her.
“This one has read so many of my books, she must be forgetting things by now, surely.” Sky trotted over to the table where Young Sky sat, and looked at the books. They had titles that indicated they were books on flying, and controlling mental powers. Young Sky finished the book she was reading, and hovered it up to the top of a stack higher than Sky herself. In the same spell her young self got another book and began reading it thoroughly. Suddenly, Sky saw a flash of light that made Young Sky jump. She looked at her flank and saw a book and quill, exactly like Sky’s appear. Her younger self looked at it in amazement.
“M-m-my Cutie mark...? I... I... I got my Cutie Mark! Yes!” Sky saw Chrysalis trot forward, and stop a few feet away from Young Sky. Then, her young self starting bouncing around Chrysalis.
“My Queen! My Queen! I have discovered my special talent! Yesyesyesyesyes! It was because you saved me that I got it! Thank you so much again my Queen!” Chrysalis looked uncomfortable with the sudden affection Sky was showing.
“Very well, but we must get back to your flight training. You were good last time, but not fast enough to beat Celestia.” Sky realised this must have been some kind of goal Chrysalis had set for Young Sky, to be able to beat Celestia in every way.
“That’s why I was reading about it! To learn how to fly faster! And now I have my cutie mark! Yay!” Chrysalis nodded stiffly and they walked away. The memory faded, but a new one immediately replaced it. Sky was in the same courtyard as when her Young Self had been fighting hypnosis. But this time she was flying through the air at supersonic speed, and Chrysalis was standing on the ground, her mouth open in shock. Sky thought more would happen, but this one faded immediately, to be replaced by a small dirt arena, probably about the size of Twilight’s library.
Sky could see her yet-again-older self crouching in the middle. She was probably about 13 now. So this was about 10 years ago. Young Sky was surrounded by Changelings, dark green, insect like ponies. Sky could see Chrysalis standing on top of a pedestal, on the stands that surrounded the arena.
“Go.” In an instant, the Changelings charged Young Sky and tried to attack her.
Tried.
Young Sky flew up and hovered about 5 feet off the ground. Then she dove into the group of Changelings and started kicking and head butting them, throwing them away with her magic, and Sky swore she saw some painful biting. Within minutes, the Changelings were unconscious, clutching their heads and moaning, or in the case of one, walking away uncomfortably, and slightly bow-legged. Sky had to feel sorry for them, even though they were the bad guys.
Sky sighed as she saw Chrysalis congratulating Young Sky, and then the memory faded, and Sky woke up at last.
Sky sat up and rubbed her head uncomfortably. Man, recovering memories hurts. She looked around to see that Applejack wasn’t in her bed. She slowly got up and looked at the clock. When she saw it, and then looked out the window, Sky was suddenly afraid, so afraid that she shot through the window, tearing it out of the wall, straight to Twilight’s library.
It was 11:00 am.
The moon was still in the middle of the sky.
