Shattered Souls

Chapter 37: Farewell to Friends

Duskfall was a bundle of nerves and even her best efforts hadn’t kept her friends from noticing. And why wouldn’t she be nervous? She was about to fully live up to her title as the Alicorn of Insanity and willingly orchestrate her own inexistence. The true mark of her madness was that she wasn’t afraid of that oblivion, but only fearful that she might fail to make it happen.

To make matters more complicated in these final days before the Winter Solstice, apparently Rainbow Dash hadn’t gotten the memo that tortoises hibernate during the winter.

“Rainbow, I swear to God, Tank’s fine! You’re overreacting!” Duskfall tried to assure the prismatic mare, but to no avail. Her own stressed tone no doubt putting Rainbow on edge as well.

“I’m going to Fluttershy for a second opinion!” Rainbow insisted as the pair flew towards the animal lover’s cottage. Duskfall was doubtful they’d even find her there, given she was likely to be helping the local wildlife prepare for their own hibernations.

“Oh yes, because heaven forbid a conglomerate being of Twilight Sparkle and Tom Williams know what they’re talking about in an area of academia. Further, let it not be construed that said conglomerate being knows anything about reptiles when SPIKE IS A REPTILE!” Duskfall was in fine snarking form and her eye rolling was sublime.

“Spike’s a dragon,” Rainbow retorted, her own eyes rolling while clutching Tank for dear life.

“Mother- He’s a dragon, which makes him a lizard, which makes him a reptile! I KNOW YOU’RE NOT THIS DUMB RAINBOW AND I’M NOT IN THE MOOD TO PLAY GAMES!” Duskfall yelled. She wasn’t quite sure why she was yelling, but yelling felt good so she did it anyway.

“People can be dumb about their pets,” Rainbow replied reasonably and Duskfall would swear in a court of law that she saw the Pegasus’ lips twitch in amusement.

“I’m going to cuss you out in a couple of alien languages now, RD,” Duskfall informed her in a tone that belied just how close to absolute breaking the Alicorn was. The purple pseudo-princess even had a twitch under her right eye.

“Go right ahead, I’m still taking Tank to Flutters,” Rainbow answered with infuriating calm as she looked ahead as she flew. Her 350 years on a backwater shithole planet had gifted Duskfall with quite a repertoire of swears and other profanity and thus she was still going strong when they arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage. To Duskfall’s surprise, the meek Pegasus was indeed home.

“What can I do for you today?” Fluttershy asked kindly as she let her friends inside, ushering them to take a seat.

“Tank’s been acting kinda weird and sluggish. Can you check him over to make sure nothing’s wrong?” Rainbow requested, holding out the tortoise in question hopefully, complete with doe eyes.

“Of course I’ll give him a checkup Rainbow. We need to make sure he’s healthy for his hibernation,” Fluttershy nodded in what she thought was understanding. As Fluttershy floated about gathering her things for the check up, Duskfall turned to Rainbow. Rainbow absolutely hated how smug the Alicorn looked.

Dash muttered darkly just out of Fluttershy’s earshot during the whole checkup. Her subject of ire was Duskfall, who still hadn’t lost that shit eating grin. Rainbow was becoming sorely tempted to try and strangle the madmare, except there was a chance that Duskfall would enjoy it. Even if Duskfall wasn’t that type, the Alicorn had more than enough ability to squish Rainbow like a bug if the Alicorn of Insanity and Darkness got serious. So all she could really do was mutter impotently. Judging from her continued demeanor, Duskfall knew that too.

About ten minutes of this and Rainbow was mercifully free to go with Tank having a clean bill of health. Aside from the hibernation thing, of course…in her Heart of Hearts, Rainbow knew she had no one to blame but herself for this hibernation thing being a shock. Rainbow had only skimmed through those pet care manuals she had been given by Fluttershy when she first adopted Tank as her pet. It was enough to keep Tank happy and healthy, but clearly a few key facts had eluded her.

Even still, there was a phrase from that poem Tom had been talking about months ago…back when he and Twilight were still alive. ‘Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light’. Rainbow wasn’t ready to let Tank go into that good night without exhausting every possible avenue!

Thankfully for Rainbow’s mental health, Duskfall had decided to check up on Lightning and various other preparations for winter. So the Pegasus was allowed to plot in peace… for better or for worse.

At first, the solution seemed obvious. Tank was hibernating because of the colder weather. Unfortunately, Rainbow couldn’t just pack up and move south for the winter. Despite her feathers, she wasn’t a migratory bird. So then the next best thing would be to stop winter from coming at all! Rainbow Dash didn’t even realize she was growing a grin that would put the Grinch to shame.

Thus began Rainbow’s one mare campaign against the changing of the seasons. Naturally, such actions as stealing whole clouds and leading flocks of geese astray couldn’t happen without someone noticing.

“Do you think we should tell her Tank needs to hibernate for health reasons and not just because it’s a little chilly?” Discord wondered as he sat in a lawn chair, looking up at the sky with Duskfall and Harmonia next to him on either side.

“This is going to blow up in her face sooner or later. We can enlighten her after she learns a valuable lesson about not playing with forces beyond her control,” Harmonia opined.

“I’m going to have to agree with Harmonia. Let RD stew in her own mild insanity for a day or two until she somehow gets a cosmic kick in the rear and then tell her the truth,” Duskfall agreed.

“It is quite a nice Heartsong she’s singing,” Discord noted as he stretched, making noises that were definitely not the popping of joints.

“Will wonders ever cease? Discord has finally gained an appreciation for something as harmonious as a Heartsong?” Harmonia teased her fellow Greater Spirit, a smirk on her face as she poked him with her tail. It spoke volumes to how much their relationship had improved over the last few months that Discord didn’t do anything except swipe halfheartedly at Harmonia in retaliation.

“You know, with a bit of modification, this would be a killer love song,” Duskfall said mildly, “I’m actually more concerned about when Rainbow realizes that a single Pegasus, no matter how driven, can’t actually stop winter.”

Deciding to act on her worry, Duskfall went to find Rainbow just as the Heartsong finished.

“For every hoof step back, they go three or four hoof steps forward!” Rainbow complained while on a cloud with Tank. Then Rainbow’s gaze turned to Cloudsdale and she verbalized her intention to essentially vandalize the weather factory. Duskfall cleared her throat and Rainbow nearly jumped out of her skin.

“You know, Rainbow, I’m torn,” Duskfall began, landing on the cloud beside her friend and settling down.

“Torn? Torn about what?” Rainbow asked in confusion, eyebrow raised and head cocked to the side.

“Well, as the Alicorn of Insanity, I feel like I should be supporting you in your lunatic desire to damage government property, get sent to jail, and get kicked out of the Wonderbolts. However, as your friend, I have no desire to see you get sent to jail or to see your dreams crushed. I mean, all of Ponyville banded together to make sure you passed that exam, remember? Sure would be a shame if you pissed all that work and community bonding down the toilet,” Duskfall’s voice when she said this did make it sound like she was genuinely torn on what to do. One didn’t need to be a Changeling to tell Duskfall had absolutely no inclination of encouraging Rainbow in her quest to vanquish winter. The reality of her situation crashed into Rainbow hard.

“WELL WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?! I DON’T WANT TO LOSE TANK!” Rainbow screamed, tears forming in her eyes, threatening to spill at any moment. To Rainbow shock, Duskfall started laughing. It was far too similar to the sort of laughter Duskfall had made after Starlight shattered her Cutie Mark.

“Rainbow, I know as well as anyone the grief of losing someone you love. For starters, I wouldn’t even exist were it not for the death of Tom and Twilight. During my time off world getting my Cutie Mark, I had lovers and, if I had been in a better state of mind, friends pass away. Some may argue that your situation is better, that since yours is only a temporary separation you have no reason to be feeling the grief you do. I say more fool them. Saying goodbye to anyone is hard. Saying goodbye to someone you love with all your heart and knowing you probably won’t see them again for 5 months? That’s even harder. It might even be more torturous, from your point of view, because you still believe you have some kind of power to stop his hibernation. What you’re feeling right now, Rainbow, is valid. But even so, I could hardly call myself your friend if I didn’t stop you from ruining your life over this,” Duskfall said gently, draping a wing over Rainbow.

“What do you mean, ‘I believe I have some kind of power of his hibernation’? Won’t he stay awake if winter never comes?” Rainbow asked, already knowing the answer as tears started leaking out. Duskfall shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Rainbow, but tortoises like Tank don’t just go dormant for the cold. They need to hibernate for their health too. Yes, there are some species of tortoise that stay awake all year around, but Tank isn’t one of those. Forcing him awake, even if you moved to somewhere it’s always hot and sunny, would just hurt him,” Duskfall informed her. In response, Rainbow pulled Tank close, leaned into Duskfall, and started sobbing in earnest. Through it all, Duskfall and Tank both gave Rainbow what emotional support they could.

“What can I do to make sure Tank has the best hibernation ever?” Rainbow asked quietly when she finally calmed down.

“I can help, but I’m certain Fluttershy can point you in the right direction better than I can,” Duskfall replied. A tortoise of Tank’s age needed to be starved for nearly a month. By then Duskfall would be long gone. Fortunately, she knew that between Fluttershy, Tom, and Twilight, Rainbow and Tank would be well taken care of.

It was two days until the Winter Solstice. Duskfall was sitting silent vigil in the Map Room. Every second was painfully slow. Every minute was an agonizing eternity. Yet even tapping into the full power of her inherited OCD, one could only go over preparations so many times before even the OCD was satisfied that any further inspection was pointless.

So Duskfall sat, alone, having sent Spike, Lightning, and Moon Dancer off to have fun while Starlight was performing community service under Harmonia’s watch. If Duskfall wasn’t so tense, she might have laughed over how she was thinking like a kid at Christmas time, given it was actually Christmas time.

Suddenly Duskfall’s peace was interrupted by a pink and yellow Pegasus mare bursting into the Map Room.

“Duskfall! Come quick! Sunset!” Artemis babbled, for that’s who it was.

“Artemis, calm down! I can’t understand you,” Duskfall stood from her seat and walked over to try and calm the panicking teenager down. Artemis took a deep breath before starting again.

“There’s a social media account spreading sensitive information and pictures about us at the high school. Rainbow and AJ think it’s Sunset doing it, but I convinced them to wait until I get you before making any decisions,” Artemis explained. The poor girl looked so nerve-wracked that Duskfall instantly put her own problems to the side.

“Well then, we better not tarry here,” Duskfall declared and soon the pair were standing outside Canterlot High. Not letting the cold bother her, Duskfall marched straight to the music room and found the Rainbooms sitting around looking miserable. Their heads all turned upon Duskfall’s entrance.

“Duskfall!” They cheered.

“Alright, please present the evidence. I’m 90% sure you’re being dumb, but there’s a 9.9% chance she’s being brainwashed or blackmailed,” Duskfall admitted with a shrug as she held out her hand and was given Pinkie’s phone.

“And the other .1%?” Sunset asked wryly. Duskfall was happy to see she still had some good humor in her.

“Well, obviously, it would be remiss of me as a scientific mind to declare anything other than a non-zero possibility you’ve played us all for fools before seeing the evidence,” Duskfall quipped in return as she gazed at the ‘evidence’, “Are you people for real?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Teen Rainbow asked, but there was no heat behind her words. Instead they were colored with relief. She hadn’t wanted to believe Sunset betrayed them, but once the idea had been presented Rainbow had let her paranoia carry her away.

“First off, ‘Anon-a-Miss’? A Sunset Shimmer who’s spent her whole life drinking bleach could come up with something cleverer. Second, instead of using the default avatar, this person went with a profile picture that was vaguely Sunset-like in shape. Does that sound like the cunning manipulator who destroyed your friendships by making you believe the worst of each other? Third, and most importantly, what would Sunset stand to gain from this? As my presence here shows, I and everyone else in Equestria is just a short walk away if Sunset truly did lose her mind and go back to her wicked ways,” Duskfall pointed out as she handed the phone back to Pinkie.

“I’d like to think I’m motivated by more than my own self-interest,” Sunset snarked as she leaned up against a piano.

“You are, evil you were not,” Duskfall replied simply.

“So then where did this Anon-a-Miss get her hands on Sunset’s private photos?” AJ wondered.

“She hacked the cloud storage most likely. I suppose whoever did this might’ve hacked Sunset’s phone directly. Sunset, do you mind if I look at your phone?” Duskfall requested and the young woman easily handed over her phone. Duskfall stared at it dumbly for a few moments when she hit the power button, “Sunset, why does your phone have no password?”

“…I knew that would come back to bite me in the ass one day,” Sunset grumbled as she buried her face in her hands, “I bought that phone not long after I first got to this world and at the time it never occurred to me to actually put a password on it and I just never put a password on it through sheer inertia.”

“Actually, this might be a stroke of luck. Pinkie, would you happen to have a fingerprint kit?” Duskfall asked of the hyperactive girl. To no one’s surprise, Pinkie dug out one such kit from the depths of her hair, “If whoever did this physically stole your phone, there should be fingerprints.”

About 20 minutes later and Duskfall’s suspicions had proven correct. An unidentified set of fingerprints were on Sunset’s phone. Normally, that wouldn’t tell them all that much, but these fingerprints had something noteworthy about them.

“My, my, Anon-a-Miss, what small thumbs you have~” Duskfall giggled as the prepubescent fingerprints revealed themselves, “So, this narrows it down quite a bit and maybe I’m being a bit hasty here, but Snips and Snails don’t have the brains between them for a scheme like this and the only other pre-teens Sunset is around even semi-regularly are Sweetie, Bloom, and Scoots.”

“I think yer crazy! Why on earth would those three do somethin’ like this?” AJ exclaimed.

“First, I did mention the whole ‘Alicorn of Insanity’ thing, yes? Second, I have no idea why they’d do this and I may even be wrong, but a moment to get their fingerprints and then another moment to see if they match and we’ll know for sure,” Duskfall replied casually. No one could argue that this was some invasive process and it would get results one way or another.

After that, the whole thing unraveled fairly quickly. Sweetie’s fingerprints were a match and the human CMC spilled the beans. They had been jealous of Sunset, feeling she had been monopolizing their sister’s time.

“We’re sorry!” The trio cried and unlike most brats their age, they were actually sorry for what they did instead of just being sorry they were caught.

“Well, I suppose no real harm was done and it’s my own fault for not locking my phone…so sure, I forgive you,” Sunset told them with a wan smile and she soon found herself subjected to a triple tackle hug.

“Well, the day is saved, which means it’s time for this lone stranger to head off into the sunset…I probably could’ve chosen a better turn of phrase…” Duskfall realized what someone could interpret her words as only after she had said them.

“Why Duskfall, I had no idea,” Sunset had a wide, teasing grin that was mirrored by the rest of the Rainbooms.

“Oh for the love of- you idiots have fun with your little competition in a few days, I’m going home!” Duskfall pretended to storm off in a huff. It was almost a shame she’d likely never know the outcome of the Friendship Games.

Author's Note

It is amazing what having your youngest brother suddenly turn homicidal will do to your will to write. Which is kill it completely.

To make a long story short, I always thought my youngest brother was a psychopath and not in the meme way. A few days ago, he finally lost his marbles. I won't go into exactly what triggered his violent temper, but the end result was my whole family being held hostage at knifepoint and then he waved the knife at the cops. You can imagine how well the cops took that.

So if this chapter feels a bit shaky, that's why. My mental state is... I want to say scattered.

Next chapter is the finale of Shattered Souls. As I want to finish strong, I'm likely not even going to start writing it until I can pull myself together. So if the final chapter is delayed, I apologize, but it's due to circumstances beyond my control.