Chapters The Wind.
The deafening roar of the wind rushing past her and whipping her mane into the air above her.
The wind, tearing through her wings and ignoring her flailing legs completely.
It was the only sound in the world, nothing else could break through that terrifying barrier of noise. Worse, somehow she had become turned around while in freefall and could no longer see the ground approaching and she was in too much of a panic to correct herself with her wings. She watched in terror as a feather pulled free from her wing and danced in the air, becoming as minute as Cloudsdale had just moments before.
Finally, she just closed her eyes. Resolution, or was this resignation? No matter, dead either way. She took one last breath and tucked her legs to her barrel before everything became quiet and slow all at once. She found a thousand fluttering sensations on her back as she lost so much speed and touched down on the ground gently. She lay on the ground, in the soft damp grass, and refused to open her eyes. It was unbelievable, but maybe that was the thing, that this was too good to be true. She lay in a ball, with her eyes squeezed shut.
A sudden bang broke the silence, followed by the chattering of many panicked creatures, followed by... nothing. All sound had completely erased from existence in an instant. It seemed that everything went still all at once, and then she heard it, a voice. A timid voice, it sounded so familiar, but she didn’t know why.
"It’s okay, Fluttershy... It’s okay...," the voice spoke, quietly and comfortingly. She felt her breathing even out, her heart slow down. Everything had changed, she had fallen from Cloudsdale and was as far from her family and friends as she had ever been. Would Zephyr be okay? What about Rainbow Dash?
"Open your eyes, it’s okay... Everything is okay now, okay?" You're safe and sound, you’re on the ground, and you have nothing else to worry about...," the voice said again. It was so gentle, so kind, but she couldn’t quite place it. It seemed so eerily familiar though.
She took a deep, relaxing, breath before opening her eyes. The first thing she noticed was a cloudburst of pink objects that seemed to hang suspended in the air. Butterflies? And lots of them, too. Why were they so still? Oh no! Had they been hurt?
"No no, it’s okay... They’re okay. Please look at me," said the voice. She swallowed, and obeyed.
She turned to see a filly no bigger than she, a coat of yellow and rosey mane with aquamarine eyes. Wait...
"Are... Are you... What?"
"I'm something inside of you, and I know that’s hard to understand... even a little scary, but please try to understand and listen."
Fluttershy just nodded mutely in response.
"I know that you're scared... You will be for a while yet, but you’ll grow, you’ll get better. It's okay. The only thing that’s happened is a very loud noise has frightened all of the creatures around here," she indicated the squirrels, bunnies, and various birds frozen in mid scatter all around her. It was surreal, what could even do this? She didn’t really understand her own weather magic, let alone the magic of unicorns or other creatures, so this was beyond her.
"What's happening?"
"Right now? Something scary has upset all the creatures, but they trust you... They'll be your friends, just welcome them openly and stay kind... Do you think you might be able to calm them down? I think so, I believe in you," said the other filly with a warm smile.
"Oh... oh my... um... yes, I mean, I think so? Maybe?" she replied.
"Trust me, Fluttershy, you can do this... Nopony can do it better. The creatures need you more than ever right now, so it's time for you to be brave and help them, okay? I think everything will be okay, you'll find your way back ho-"
"Oh! But... Oh but this is ever so nice, just, right here? I mean, so close to the ground? A fall from this height is surely not dangerous, right?"
"True, and you'll find a place down here near the ground someday... But be patient with yourself, and wait for that time. I'll be waiting for you, Fluttershy."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to interrupt you, that was so rude of me," she said.
"But you feel it, don't you? You're finding a calm, and they'll feel it too, your friends," she said.
Fluttershy felt her breathing, delicately extending a gangly foreleg and observing how rocksteady it was.
"Yes, I think so."
"Good, now I'll join you, and together we'll help these creatures to calm down, okay? Then one day, we'll meet again. You'll see."
"We'll take the very best care of them!"
"Mmhm!"
Fluttershy's clone stepped carefully toward her, and she approached her clone at the same time. Briefly their snouts touched, and all sound returned to the world. The creatures continued to scatter, only now Fluttershy was a pony on a mission. It was time now to help those that were more scared than she was.
"Wait! It's okay" she said softly, as she chased after the bunnies. The explosive noise passed and a gust of forceful wind pushed through the meadow until it was completely calm. She carefully went around and assured each and every creature that had been scared, until finally they all congregated around her at the base of a tree. It had been like talking to other ponies, as though she knew their own language and could speak it fluently. She was in love with all of them, and knew instantly that she'd do anything to protect and care for them.
At that moment a strange tingling sensation erupted from her flank and caused her to look down. Three pink butterflies had appeared there, her cutie mark well and truly earned. She nuzzled a bunny and smiled to herself. She knew now that everything would be alright
Author's Note
So it begins
Just how long had it been anyway? Hard to say, but she’d spent the better part of the day being dragged along by her own horn. She had no idea what to make of that. She had assumed unicorn magic would be a bit easier to understand, perhaps more clear cut on at least an instinctive level? But no, this was mystifying.
At least it was over, it had gotten not only irritating but mildly uncomfortable.
A boulder, though? What was the point in being dragged out all this way for a large, terribly drab, boulder? Was her horn defective? She supposed it might be prudent to approach a doctor on the matter, but first she’d have to find her way back home.
She was startled by an explosion of sound, and colors in the sky, then a sudden all encompassing silence.
“Well, isn’t that something?” she heard a familiar voice say. It seemed to be coming from the other side of the unfabulous boulder.
“Hello?” she called out softly.
“I’m here, dear, just admiring the beauty of this magnificent stone…,” the voice softly cooed as a snow white filly with a curling purple mane trotted around the boulder, settling in next to her.
“Y-You... B-But… How?!” she yelped.
“I haven’t the slightest idea just how this has come to happen, darling, but so be it. I’m here and I have something to tell you,” the other filly said with a small smile, without ever turning to look at Rarity.
“You do?”
“Oh yes, certainly. I imagine you are looking at this magnificent stone," she indicated with a foreleg, "and thinking to yourself ‘What an atrocity!’ yes?”
Rarity could only nod in response.
“Perhaps that it what looking only at the surface will have you thinking, but honestly? Don’t you know there is more to things than what you see on the outside?” the other said as she began to circle the boulder again.
Rarity blinked. “What do you mean?” she asked.
“I imagine other ponies may look at you and see somepony very shallow, but they’re missing such a tremendous part of the picture if they never look inside… And, well, that is just a touch your fault, dear… But no matter, because that just means that ponies who are worth your time will be the only ones to truly appreciate you,” the ivory filly stated.
“Sh-shallow?”
“You are very concerned with the appearance of those costumes, yes? You have created fabulous designs, they will stun the audience without question, and yet… Not enough? What is it about them that you do not like?”
Rarity stomped a hoof, her face taking on a red tone as frustration built up, “They don’t dazzle! They don’t shine! The players on stage won’t stand out as they deserve to if I cannot properly adorn those costumes!”
The other filly stopped beside the boulder, head tilted and a meaningful look in her eyes as she spoke. “Is that actually for the actors? Is there nothing in there for yourself?”
Rarity looked away, the red in her face less from frustration now. “M-Maybe, a little? I have dreams! I’m going to be a trendsetting fashionista someday!”
The other filly smiled, and nodded.
“But how will you take the first step? How will you make your costumes dazzle and shine?”
Rarity released a heavy sigh, deflating and looking down, then closing her eyes. “Oh I don’t know… What can I do? I have exhausted my options! I am at the end of my line!” She declared dramatically while throwing a foreleg over her forehead.
“What have we been discussing?” the other filly asked patiently.
Rarity placed a hoof on her chin, deep in thought. “Looking inside?”
The other filly nodded in approval.
“And you shall, and don’t ever forget it, darling. It will be a very important virtue of yours, do you understand? When you can look inside of a pony, see what makes them beautiful, and find ways to bring that to the surface for all to see?”
Rarity blinked, a bit dumbfounded. She stared at the other filly, who had begun to move around the boulder in the opposite direction at that moment.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be waiting for you Rarity. We’ll have good times together, you and I. You’ll see,” the other filly said as she came around the other side of the boulder.
“What’s going to happen? Why is everything so quiet?”
“A marvelous thing has happened, and you’ll understand that one day. It isn’t for me to say, but when you and I finally meet again? You’ll just know. If you wait a moment… Well, something fabulous is about to happen.”
Rarity could only nod as the other filly reached out a foreleg and placed it on her shoulder.
“It’s been lovely talking with you, ta ta!” she reached forward and nuzzled Rarity’s nose, and then she was gone.
All noise returned in force, the explosion resuming from where it had left off. In that moment, the colors washed over the area and the light was too much, she’d had to squint to alleviate the stress on her eyes. After that moment, after she was able to look again, she found the boulder had split in two, filled with marvelously shiny gems.
Brilliant! These were perfect!
Sigh.
The view from this floor wasn’t so bad, at least she could see past all the buildings now. Everything she cared to see was pretty far away though, barely recognizable in the far distance.
Even if she could have seen it, what difference would it have made? It wasn’t as though she could ever go back there again.
Another sigh, then she lay her chin on the sill of the window.
At that moment, something strange happened in the sky. There was an eruption of color, followed by noise, and then everything went silent and still. She blinked, looking down at the street and seeing ponies frozen mid-stride, utterly motionless.
“Wha?”
“Ain’t important,” said a voice from behind her.
Applejack spun from the window, spotting the orange filly lying on her bed. The filly wore a stetson, with her hair done in a simple tail tied at the end.
“Wha? Who’re ya, and how’d ya get inta mah room?!” she barked.
“Can’t you tell who ah am?” asked the filly, raising an eyebrow.
“Er… ah… ah s’pose I can, but… how?” she asked.
The other filly shrugged. The motion flipped her mane across her shoulder, and sent her hat slightly askew. She nudged it with a foreleg to correct. “Ain’t too sure mahself. Ain’t like ah’m some fancy unicorn with all that special magic… But anyhow, here ah am,” she stated.
Applejack took a tentative step towards her own bed, “and what are ya doin’ here?” she asked.
“Ah notice you was lookin’ out toward the farm,” said the orange filly, wearing the beginnings of a warm smile.
Applejack’s head snapped back at the window, swallowing a lump in her throat before turning back to face the other filly, a mild glare formed on her features. “Er… yeah,” Applejack said quietly.
“Whatcha thinkin’ bout when ya look at the farm, then?” the other filly asked as she examined a foreleg.
“Mah family… What ah left behind ‘n all,” she answered.
The other filly crossed her forelegs in front of her, then lay her chin upon them, gazing still at Applejack with her forehooves dangling from the bed. “What’s yer family mean to ya?”
“Everythin!” Applejack declared indignantly.
“Yeah? You sure?” asked the other filly with a slight tilt of her head.
“Course ah’m sure!” Applejack snapped, venom entering her young voice.
“Why aintcha doin’ nothing about it then?” the other filly asked, sounding bored as she closed her eyes.
“About what?” Applejack asked, a note of frustration in her voice as she stamped a hoof against the carpeted floor.
“Bein’ away from yer dang family, that’s what!” barked the orange filly as her eyes snapped open and she looked directly at Applejack again.
Applejack lost all of her steam at once, deflating. “Uh… ain’t nothin’ I kin do, really…” she said quietly.
“And what makes ya say that, partner?”
Applejack looked away, sniffling and dragging a foreleg across her snout. “Ah left ‘em behind… an’ now here ah am in the middle o’ Manehattan, and ah’ve changed too durn much!”
“You think yer family ain’t gonna still love ya when they see ya next? That it?” asked the other filly, her voice gentle and soothing.
Applejack sniffled, dragging her right foreleg across her eyes for the second time before nodding.
“Now that is just foolish, and ah ain’t never known ya to be foolish!” the other filly barked.
Applejack blinked away more tears as she took a deep, shuddering, breath before turning to face the other filly.
“Ya ain’t never known me at all !” she snapped.
The other filly just smiled and shook her head, then rolled onto her back, her stetson drifting to the floor. Applejack stared at the hat, it was worn and looked so familiar. She had no idea why that was.
“You’re wrong, Applejack… I’ve known you all my life,” the other filly said quietly, staring at the ceiling with all four of her legs pointing straight up.
“Ya ain’t! Ya can’t have! I ain’t ever met ya!” Applejack declared.
“Heh… Ya ain’t ever looked in a mirror then, I take it?” the other filly said with a chuckle as she allowed her legs to drop lazily to the bed beneath her.
“Ah… er…,” Applejack wasn’t sure what to say to that. Simple enough answer, sure enough, but she felt weird for wanting to answer it in the first place.
“‘salright Sugarcube… Ah know it’s hard ta swallow… but ah do know ya, better ‘n ya know yerself, even,” the other filly said softly.
“Ya… ya remember ma ‘n pa?”
“Eeyup, ah do. Let ‘em go sugarcube, move on…,” said the other filly.
“But-” begin Applejack, only for the other filly to continue on.
“Ya have other family that’s still livin’... and ya left ‘em behind, and now yer thinkin’ ya can’t ever go back? Look what ya done to yerself, filly!” the other filly cried.
“What do ah do?” Applejack pleaded.
“What do ya wanna do?” the other filly asked.
“Ah wanna go home…,” said Applejack, hanging her head, a tear escaping only to soak into the carpet.
“What’s stoppin’ ya then?” asked the other filly, who rolled back onto her belly and tucked her legs beneath her.
Applejack took another breath, then made her way to the stetson on the floor and took it between her teeth.
“Ah am,” she said.
“So stop stoppin’ yerself then!” stated the other filly.
Applejack nodded as she placed the stetson back on the other filly’s head, and then she was gone.
“You are a very silly pony!” said a bright, bubbly voice from behind her. It had been preceded by the world seeming to go still, freezing in place, no motion in anything, not even light. And light there was, a dazzling array of colors exploding in the sky like nothing she had ever before seen. It amazed her, but then there was the voice from behind her.
A bright pink filly with a shockingly curly pink mane trotted up next to her, and sat on her haunches. She stared at the sky, beaming all the while.
Pinkamena tilted her head, her pin-strait mane cascading down the side of her face and pouring over her snout as she gazed into the bright eyes of this bubbly pink filly.
“Who are you?”
“Potential!” the bright filly answered as she quickly turned to look back into Pinkamena’s eyes.
“What?” asked Pinkamena, raised an eyebrow concealed by her mane.
The bright pink filly suddenly began bouncing around, her color and attitude clashing in every way with the dreariness of the rock farm. She seemed to be emitting a spring-like sound with every movement she made, which only confused Pinkamena more.
“All the rest of the days of your life can be spent smiling! And making other ponies smile! You don’t smile enough now, why don’t you smile Pinkamena?” asked the bright filly, continuing to bounce around Pinkamena.
“I don’t have anything to smile about,” replied Pinkamena, settling onto her haunches and sighing.
“I don’t believe that at all! What about your family? Maude? What about that? They’re here, you love them don’t you?” asked the bright pink filly, continuing her chaotic bouncing dance around Pinkamena.
“I do, yes,” replied Pinkamena.
The bright pink filly halted her hop mid-air, all momentum just gone she stood in air as though on something solid. It was unreal, Pinkamena could not fathom how this was possible. But, she was seeing it with her own eyes.
Then again, nothing about any of this made any sense. Nothing was moving, trees were caught mid-sway in a sudden gust, just suddenly without motion. It was all so much to take in, she was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed.
The bright filly trotted calmly in front of her and put a hoof on her shoulder, gazing deeply into her dark blue eyes.
“Pinkamena… It’s okay, you’re safe… There’s a lot going on, I know that, but you’ll be okay, and so will your family,” she said.
Pinkamena swallowed a lump in her throat, and nodded at the bright filly.
“You can trust me, okay? You know me better than you think you do, and I know you better than you know yourself, okay?” the bright filly said softly.
Pinkamena nodded again.
“Find your strength,” said the filly, moving her hoof to Pinkamena’s chest and pressing firmly over her heard, “in here. You can get past this, you can survive. Find your laughter, and your smiles, and spread them everywhere… Okay?”
Pinkamena blinked, taking a shuddering breath and nodding.
“I know what you’re thinking about right now, and it’s not okay to think that way. You can do better than that,” said the filly, withdrawing her hoof a moment, before wrapping Pinkamena in a tight hug, “You don’t have to be alone. You have your family, and you can make lots of friends.”
Pinkamena swallowed again, burying her muzzle into the filly’s neck.
The bright pink pony gently rubbed Pinkamena’s back, closing her eyes and nuzzling Pinkamena’s mane.
“You’ll live, Pinkamena… And you will never regret it,” she said softly.
“How…?” asked Pinkamena, her voice brittle.
“Smile. Laugh. Find friends, make them smile. It’s so easy that way, because for every smile you give out, you get two in return that you never even asked for. Right now? This moment is special, it’s important for you… You just won’t understand why until much later.”
Pinkamena sniffled, breath shuddering as she struggled for words.
“I have to wait?”
“To understand? A bit, yes. But to feel better? That won’t take very long, maybe tonight? You could put together something by tonight, I’m sure of that,” said the filly.
“What do you mean?”
The bright pink filly leaned back, taking Pinkamena’s face in her forehooves and gently turning her to face the sky lit up by a sonic rainboom frozen in time.
“Do you see that?”
Pinkamena nodded, “It’s amazing, the greatest thing I’ve ever seen,” she said.
“What do you want to do with that?”
“I want to share it, it’s too special not too!” cried Pinkamena.
The bright filly beamed, and nodded.
“Then share it!” she said.
Pinkamena turned and found only the dusty farmland around her, then everything came back at once. A shockwave of sound and force pushed through the barren land and tossed her mane into an unmanageable curly mess. She stared at the sky, at the flow of colors just washing over everything.
It was amazing, truly. She had to share it, somehow. She was getting an idea of how that would work.
It was all so much, so very much. She had never felt anything like it, as though her very being were trying to escape through every pore of her being, tearing her horn from her head and dragging her into the air against her will. Everything became a blinding white, the faintest cries of alarm sounding so very distant. Is this what it was to use magic? It was terrifying!
A hoof gently pulled her from her chaos, and her white-out eyes focused on another filly. A filly with wings and horn, and a crown.
“You don’t understand,” she said.
“I don’t understand what?” replied the filly with wings.
“I can’t control this!” she shrieked, pleading for help.
“No, you can’t… But it’ll be okay,” replied the filly with wings. She took a moment, gazing around the room.
She mumbled something, but Twilight could not make out what she had said. The filly turned her attention back to Twilight.
“You are… stronger than you realize. You’re scared now, I understand that. It is scary, losing control like that. It’s a good thing you can’t see right now,” said the filly, once again turning her focus to the room around. This time looking towards Twilight Velvet and Night Light.
“But you aren’t alone, Twilight. In a few moments, one of the most important ponies in your life will be here, and you’ll have control again, she’ll make it so. You can overcome this fear, Twilight. You don’t have to live thinking about this every day,” she said as she continued to stare at Twilight Velvet and Night Light.
“And… Forgive yourself, okay? You didn’t mean for anything to happen. You had no idea this would even happen, it was sort of a freak accident. A huge influx of spontaneous generated magical pegasus energy ruptured the atmosphere, spread wide, and interfered with your personal limiter. You really aren’t at fault here, Twilight, it’s just how it is.”
Twilight blinked, feeling her hackles rise steadily.
“To make matters worse, you have a powerful latent magical signature that won’t fully open to you until later in life, but right now? You’re accessing it just fine, but you don’t know how to use all that energy, so it’s just… pouring out of you. You’ve got incontinent, simply put.”
Twilight swallowed, tears slipping down her muzzle.
“Forgive yourself, okay? Everypony here is going to be okay. You’ll see.”
Twilight nodded.
The filly with wings turned away from Twilight Velvet and Night Light, facing Twilight again.
“And don’t shun other ponies… It’s actually very important to talk to others, did you know that? I didn’t. I just… I stayed in my books. I isolated so much that I left Shiny behind me, and then I went and blamed him for it too. Listen, it doesn’t have to be like that, okay? You’ll find yourself in a little town near the outskirts of the Everfree, bound and determined to save the day and make P-.. er… well, you’ll be determined to do it all alone.”
Twilight took a deep breath, listening intently.
“You can’t. It’s not possible. Trust me, okay? I know, I just do. You can’t do it alone. You have to trust your friends, when you find them. And you have to find them, Twilight, or nothing will be the same…” she said quietly, a wing twitching as she dragged a foreleg across her muzzle.
“Trust yourself, but trust them more. You can be strong enough, but never alone. Even now, you’re going to need help to come down from that mana spike you’re dealing with.”
“...spike?”
“It’s the upsurge in your own magic, it’s just coming out freely, never mind how uncomfortable it’s making you feel. In a moment, that won’t be a problem anymore, and you’ll be okay.”
“What’s going to happen… to everypony…?”
“They’ll heal. Quickly, too. The real damage is inside of you, really. You’re scared now, of yourself, of what you can do, of what you can’t control. Now you know that you can’t, and now you’re more driven than ever to study and research until you understand absolutely everything about magic so that, no matter what happens, you can control it.”
“I… Can…,” Twilight said weakly.
“Eventually, but it’s not studying that does that for you. You’ll find strength in the love and support of friends, of your mentor, and when you reconnect with them, your family also. There’s no greater strength than that, and it’ll shape you.”
“I…,” Twilight tried, but words failed her. She had begun to feel faint.
“I don’t have much time, so I’ll just say this… Forgive yourself!”
Rainbow Dash was mystified. A ring of color had formed around her, it looked like it was in motion, but it was so very still. What was this? It was pretty awesome, even if she had no name for it.
A buzzing and whistling sound caught her attention coming from behind, her ears swiveling to meet it before turning around. She made only a portion of her turn before she found herself being forcefully thrust downward, held by a strong pair of forelegs while powerful wings beat.
“What the hay!?”
“Traitor! You bucking traitor!” she other pony screamed. She hadn’t managed even the slightest look at her attacker, and now she was busy trying to combat the rapid descent. If she couldn’t, it would be very bad for her.
“You call yourself a friend?! A pony!? Buck you!” the other pony screamed, her voice eerily familiar as rage colored every last syllable.
“What the hay are you talking about!? Stop! You’re gonna hurt me!”
“That’s the bucking plan you traitor!” the other pony screamed in return, at this point more to overcome the mad rush of wind as they blasted through more open air toward the ground.
She felt her head vibrate as a hoof made contact with her join, she groaned and forced herself to focus. “Please! What did I do?!” she screamed in terror as she fought pointlessly against her attackers momentum.
The other filly growled, speaking almost too low to hear over the wind. “If I kill you! They won’t have to die!”
Tears streamed from her eyes, taken into the air where they glistened before dissipating. She could feel how her jaw had begun to swell, and the other filly slammed her hoof into a new spot just as she recognized it.
She spit out blood, grunted, and cried. “Please! I didn’t do anything!”
The other filly wasn’t listening to her pleas, made no effort to even acknowledge anything other than the need for he violence. She flapped her wings again, slamming both forehooves into Rainbow’s chest and pouring on the speed. “Die! Die you bucking traitorous bitch!”
The fillies crashed into the ground, cratering and leaving Rainbow gasping for breath as she clutched her barrel and whimpered.
The other filly grunted as she lifted herself back onto her legs, gritting her teeth and moving towards the prone Rainbow. “You… bucking… selfish…,” she said between labored breaths as she closed in on Dash.
Dash squeezed her eyes shut, curling into a ball, crying. She felt the other filly’s hooves grip her and lift her onto her hooves. “You think… it’s okay to just… just walk away!?” she screamed into Dash’s face.
“I… I don’t know… what yo-,” she tried, but before she could finish the thought she heard a crisp snap, and a moment later the pain followed. She gasped, and screamed in pain as she turned teary eyes to look at her broken wing.
“You… You don’t deserve those things on your back, you hear me!?” the other filly screamed angrily as she flew over Dash and gripped her other wing in her teeth. She bit down hard and twisted almost at once, another snap ringing clearly through the air as Dash’s screams cut off, the pain too great to give voice to anymore.
“Equestria… The world… will be better off with you…,” the other filly said angrily and she flapped her own wings and hovered over Rainbow, wrapping her forelegs around Dash’s barrel and hoisting her into the air.
“You wanted to fly so bad? Fine, I’ll get you flying!” the other filly spat. Dash whimpered, the other filly’s forelegs pressing her agonized wings into her barrel and bringing even more pain than she thought possible.
The other filly flapped her wings again, and attained unreal speed as she ascended swiftly back into the sky, moving faster than any filly had a right to. Dash might been impressed, except that she couldn’t really focus on anything but her wings, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry! I don’t know what I did! But I’m sorry! Please!” she cried, pleading for her life.
“No, sorry doesn’t undo what you did. And you don’t get to apologize, either,” said the other filly as she grunted and spread her forelegs, releasing Dash into a free moving arc through the sky at high speed.
“You get to die !” the other filly growled.
Dash howled in pain and fear as she began her descent. She forced her eyes open, staring at the far distant grass and trees, looking like little more than tiny models.
I’m sorry…
A sudden intake of breath as she sat up in bed, looking wildly around the dark room for any hint of familiarity. She held a hoove over her pounding heart, gasping for breath as she struggled to calm down.
“What the hay?”
After a moment, she began to settle her breathing as she relaxed her forehoof and closed her eyes. Strands of rainbow hair fell in front of her eyes and tickled her snout as her blanket fell from her shoulders, the result of her shuddering.
The curtains on her window rustled with the draft of a gentle breeze passing through them, but the featureless sky beyond them offered no comfort. Rainbow turned away from the unpleasant reminder, and climbed out of bed.
She took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as she ran a hoof through her mane and then dragged that foreleg over her eyes.
After a moment’s thought she trotted through a wooden door and into a bathroom attached to the room she was spending the night in. Another moment and she was looking at a mirror, though it was far too dark to make up much detail beyond what might have been vibrant color in her mane. There were no torches or lanterns set up this far from civilization, or what passed for it.
“I’m… a traitor?” she asked of her barely visible reflection.
“Die! Die you bucking traitorous bitch!”
She flinched away from the mirror, trembling as she hid her face.
“What the hay… that dream felt so real…,” she said softly.
“I gotta find Dust… Gotta talk about this, or something… This is weird, and that…,” she shuddered again and struggled to push the dream from her thoughts for now.
The expansive darkness overwhelmed the land, painting it in shades of dark, forbidding, grey and stirring fear everywhere. Trees were barely recognizable, both as a result of the stifling shadows and malnutrition, they were bare and gnarled. The land around reeked of decay, but she saw no bodies in the vicinity.
Can’t stay out here too long… Gotta get to the lanterns quick.
Dash upped her pace, keeping her wings folded and her ears on a swivel to pick up the sounds of predators in the darkness. She didn’t bother with trying to see anything but the distant twinkling of flames from torches and lanterns fed fuel in the distance.
The City of Reprieve, they called it.
More like the city of the damned…
Fillydelphia had once thrived, prosperous on commercial and industrial successes, feeding ponies young and old wealth and the realization of long-sought dreams. It had once boasted tall buildings, majestic sculptures, gardens, and beautifully cobbled streets. The gardens have been the first casualties.
Pity. Those might have fed the foals, at least.
Now it didn’t matter, the city had crumbled. Buildings toppled, streets became chaotic. It was less than rumor that the stallion who had created the safe haven had once been somewhere in the Canterlot Guard, but what role he played wasn’t known to Rainbow. She didn’t care, he’d at least had the decency to curb the violence and create some kind of law.
Well, he tried to. Ponies would continue to do what they wanted to do, didn’t matter how many rules he set down and tried to enforce. Rumors continued that he was also somehow connected to a powerful mage from the Canterlot courts. Although those meant very little with Canterlot being gone, it was still believed that the Mage’s Guild had wisely run from the city and set up camp somewhere else, hidden and secret.
In any case, nopony had heard so much as a whisper from them since…
No. Don’t think about that… Just… Just get to Dust.
The city limits weren’t welcoming, weren’t warm. They didn’t invite anypony to enter, even they knew it was meant to be a safe haven before hoof. A long stretch of carefully laced poles with lanterns on them meant she had, in fact, reached the city. Instead of feeling safe, it invited a sense of dread. Dash pressed on, trotting past the bordering torches and sighing with a hint of relief as she felt her hoof touch the damage cobblestone.
“Halt!” cried a stern masculine voice.
Dash sighed, and stayed her trot. It did no good to try to outrun the Fillydelphia Guard.
“Who passes the border?” the voice called out.
“Captain Rainbow Dash,” she replied calmly.
“C-Captain?” the other voice spoke carefully, trotting into the light of a lantern and revealing a pale cornflower blue pegasus stallion. He looked nervous, which she felt wasn’t that unusual. It was still strange to her though.
“Lieutenant Soarin, something wrong?” she asked calmly.
He shook his head, and saluted Dash before speaking.
“No ma’am! Nothing wrong ma’am!”
Why does that feel… so wrong?
“Stand down, at ease or whatever,” she said.
He raised an eyebrow and lowered his foreleg, tilting her head.
“Ma’am, with all due respect, are you alright?” he asked.
She sighed, staring at his grey and purple body suit, the flight goggles pushed up onto his forehead.
“Take it easy, Soarin… Seriously, you don’t have to be so… ugh… formal ,” she cringed.
She shook it off, and regrouped all at once.
“You seen Dust?” she asked.
Soarin nodded.
“Yeah, she’s at the tavern. There was some trouble there, slavers tried to capture a unicorn and a pegasus mare there, but she put a stop to that… Now they’re all at the tavern, and she’s trying to calm them down,” he replied.
And she’s not a gentle touch, either. Could be bad.
“Thanks, I’m gonna go check in on her,” said Dash as she strode passed Soarin, her own body suit barely registering the light, and the facemask resting on her withers.
A pale pink unicorn, with a purple and teal mane sat next to a pale bluish-gray pegasus mare at a bar. Together they nursed some drinks, while a light turquoise pegasus mare opted to drink water instead.
“Derpy… Are you okay?” the unicorn asked for a sip of whatever was in that mug. Dash hadn’t the faintest idea, but it seemed like the only viable industry left was anything produced by fermentation.
Derpy sighed, rested her chin on her forelegs and closing her eyes.
The unicorn looked up at Lightning Dust and frowned.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Dust, she hasn’t been okay since Dinky died… She really didn’t need things to go like they did tonight,” she said, catching herself at the last moment, “Er! I mean, Thank you for your help, of course, but she could have done without needing to be rescued in the first place… is all I’m trying to say,” she gave a small smile of gratitude.
“It’s fine,” replied Lighting Dust.
Dash cleared her throat, and the unicorn and Lightning Dust spun around to see her. She didn’t say anything, just nodded at Lightning Dust as she trotted up to the bar and looked around.
Lightning Dust returned her focus to the unicorn, who returned the favor after a moment.
“Miss… Glimmer, was it?”
The unicorn nodded.
“Miss Glimmer, it’s alright. Point is, you’re okay,” she said quietly.
Dash stared across the bar, noting there was nopony there and shrugging. She flapped her wings and leapt over it, landing on the floor behind and looking for a mug. It didn’t take her long to secure one, and once she did she set about finding a source of clean water.
“What the hay happened, Dust?” she asked, a bit distractedly.
Lightning Dust cast a glance at Dash, not answering for the moment as she returned her focus to Starlight Glimmer.
“Safe, mostly. I’m here, now Captain Dash is here, so… Shouldn’t be too many threats that stand an actual chance, alright?”
Starlight blinked, and nodded. She looked at Derpy, frowned, and draped a foreleg over the stricken pegasus’ withers to try to comfort her. Derpy, for her part, offered nothing by way of response.
Lightning Dust turned her attention to Dash, and inhaled briefly before speaking.
“Gryphon and 2 Dogs lurking in the shadows of the city, lassoed Derpy there and tried to suppress Miss Glimmer’s magic, almost got it done too. Had to take out the Gryphon quickly, dogs were easier for Miss Glimmer to handle after that,” she stated, maintaining a professional detachment to the facts as she shared them.
“Dammit… This is supposed to be a safe haven… How in the hay did they get into Fillydelphia?!” she snapped.
“No idea, Dash… And please calm down,” she said, jerking her head to indicate Derpy and Starlight.
“Ah, right. Sorry,” she said as she continued her search for clean water.
“What are you drinking anyway, Dust?” she asked as she peered under the counter.
“Water. No idea whether or not it’s clean, though,” she replied.
Rainbow Dash cringed at that, gagging a bit on reflex.
“You have no idea what’s been in that or where it’s been, Dust. That is not safe. At all,” she remarked steadily.
“Easier than looking for clean water, Dash,” was Lightning’s half-hearted retort.
After a few more minutes of back and forth, Dash hustled Dust out of the tavern and around the corner, to gain some privacy. Dust noted that Dash looked nervous, even a little afraid, and she was unusually friendly. Dust had been subject to Dash’s outbursts on numerous occasions, and knew the rainbow-headed pegasus to be unstable and angry most of the time.
Dash looked around, casting nervous glances every few seconds before moving uncomfortable close to Dust and whispering.
“Where the hay am I!?” she snapped in a whisper.
“Excuse me?” asked Lightning Dust.
She drew a hoof over the stubble of her shaved mane, sighing as she stared out a window into a limitless expanse of unyielding black. Cut only by the distant twinkling of torches. She cast her eyes toward her lantern, hung inside of her hut and swinging lazily from a breeze she hadn’t felt. She moved closer to the lantern, and inspected her wings.
Soft, butter yellow, with feathers entirely disorganized. She knew she ought to preen her wings soon, but nothing really compelled this. Flying was pretty much impossible in the darkness, so why should she even bother? Why should any pegasus, for that matter?
She cast a glance around the hut, and heard the sound of her stomach grumbling. She really wished she had some idea about what time of day it actually was, but it had become lost to everypony so long ago that she didn’t even recall when that was. A small creature scurried through the hut, and she flinched.
What was that?
She checked her surroundings, but found nothing amiss. Stomach growled again. Right, hungry.
Fluttershy took a breath, then stepped to the door of her little hut. Venturing outside was not her favorite thing to do, in fact, she would have to rate it among her least favorite things, but she’d find no food in her hut. She had to venture out, to find something.
As if today will be different from yesterday, if a day even passed…
Fluttershy rotated her neck, listening to and feeling several pops down her spine. It was a small and inconsequential relief, and a mild procrastination. She sighed, squeezed her eyes shut, then stomped a hoof before taking up her lantern and marching out the flap of her hut and into the woods.
The White Tail Woods used to be peaceful, a pleasant place for an afternoon stroll with a friend. Now is was just as terrifying as the Everfree Forest once was. She supposed that with the absence of the stars, moon, and sun all that whatever darkness flourished in the Everfree found nothing keeping it from spreading.
So she gave a slender tree a wide berth, noting the rustle of a high branch and begin to shiver as she continued her trot, squinting to see what she could through the faint light of her lantern. It never went as far as it really should have, or at least that was how she felt about it.
An ear twitched and rotated as a noise began from behind her, and she turned her head to follow and see what had made the noise. She could not slow her trembling, and a glint of something dark blue and shining through the darkness caused her to take a step back.
A darkened pink mare stepped out of some bushes set around the base of another thin tree. How the leaves of these bushes managed to live was something she didn’t know, and the leaves weren’t pleasant to eat but they could be eaten and that was all that mattered anymore.
Well, that and the strange mare approaching her slowly. Why wouldn’t her legs respond?
“Hello,” said the dark pink mare, quietly.
“H-H-Hello,” she replied.
“Fluttershy… It’s me,” said the sorrowful voice of the dark mare.
“Wh-who?”
“Pinkamena,” stated Pinkamena.
“P-Pinkie? Really?” asked Fluttershy.
“No, Pinkamena. I don’t… I’m not Pinkie anymore,” she said as she approached Fluttershy.
“Oh, I-I’m sorry… What are you doing here?”
“I had a dream,” stated Pinkamena.
“A dream?” Fluttershy asked as her nerves rattled their last and she stood more steady.
“Yes,” she said, “were you going somewhere? We don’t have to stay here, you know?”
“Oh, right. I’m foraging,” she said.
“Then let’s do more of that, we can talk at the same time, okay?”
“Yes, okay,” said Fluttershy quietly.
“Lightning Dust… The last time I saw you… you had…,” but Dash choked on whatever was left of that sentence and looked down.
“What the buck are you talking about, Captain?”
“And what am I wearing? What’s going on?” Dash asked frantically.
“You’re… you’re for real, aren’t you?” Lightning Dust asked, stunned.
“I don’t know…,” admitted Dash.
“...what?”
“I… I remember all kinds of stuff, but it’s all different! I feel like I’m not supposed to be here, but I don’t know! I remember agreeing to be Captain of the Shadowbolts… I-I remember flying away from my friends.” Her voice cracked as she said this.
“Captain, the only friend I’ve ever seen you have is yourself… Who else are you talking about?”
“Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity,” she said glumly.
“I don’t know any of those names,” said Dust as she shook her head.
Dash swallowed.
“And you…,” Dash looked up, now anger was drying the tears in her eyes, “you’d have let Scoots…,” she trailed off, hanging her head again as the anger was spent.
“Who?” asked Dust, cocking her head.
“No, nevermind that,” said Dash as she swallowed and dragged a foreleg across her eyes, “what’s the situation, anyway?”
Dust stood to attention at Dash’s sudden change in demeanor, saluting before responding.
“Ma’am! Slavers on the west end of Fillydelphia! Several diamond dogs and griffons have joined forces, they’re rounding up mares mostly!”
Dash nodded, her eyes narrowing, “Find the others, set up a patrol, and search out the Slavers’ camp, there’s bound to be other prisoners.”
“Ma’am! Yes, ma’am!” Dust saluted once more before darting off to find other Shadowbolts.
Pinkamena set another cluster of leaves into a basket as she spoke.
“I don’t know what’s going on, I don’t know why I had that dream or… or who I was actually talking to if that wasn’t me , but I feel like I have to do something,” she stated.
“Oh my, what would you do?” asked Fluttershy
“Or we is better,” Pinkamena said.
“Oh, u-um… I-I mean,” stammered Fluttershy weakly.
“Do you remember anything else? I feel like I know more ponies than just you, but… I don’t have any names, any faces.”
“J-Just… that the Fluttershy that spoke to me? She seemed… confident… In a way that I’m just not ,” said Fluttershy.
“Yeah… that… other me… didn’t call herself Pinkamena, either. It was strange… she… seemed happy?” Pinkamena finished in something of a query, unsure of her own words.
A twitching purple eye gazed fretfully at a pale, unconscious, dragonling, then drew upon an old chalkboard in an abandoned schoolhouse. The light was beyond scant, but she’d found her vision adjustment accordingly for quite awhile and so she wasn’t having any trouble seeing what was written there.
Princess Twilight Sparkle? Me?
Author's Note
Yeah, these updates are slow in coming, and I apologize for that. But, I'm feeling my muse coming back and finding some inspiration here and there. So, I'll be continuing my stories again and you'll be seeing more updates to all of them. And you'll be seeing new one-shots to fill the gaps between, too.