Tags: Mane 6; Dark, Human, Crossover, Adventure
Equestria is a realm of the deep Dreaming, though for aeons Celestia's power and the Elements of Harmony have kept it separate from the ever changing wylds. But something has gone horribly wrong, and the Elements of Harmony have been cast out.
With nowhere left to go, the elements have attached themselves to mortals in the real world, six young women in a small town in Pennsylvania. Now changelings, these girls know that they are both normal people with families, school, and jobs, but they are also ponies of Equestria, bearing an Element of Harmony. Unfortunately, the mists that separate the worlds have made most of their other memories foggy at best, and they may not be able to find the path they have to walk in order to save Equestria until it's too late.
But dangers lurk in the mortal world. It isn't the pleasant, ordered world the ponies knew, and worse, the dull, cruel and destructive aspects of humanity wear away at their magical Elements. If they give themselves over to fae magic without the protection of Celestia, the Elements may be lost to the seething chaotic waters of the dreaming, but being trapped in the mortal world may cause them to be undone, and their Harmony lost forever to the forces of banality.
So basically, this is a crossover between FIM and the role-playing game Changeling: The Dreaming. Changeling is an urban fantasy game about the magic in the human world dying as life becomes more dull, cold and heartless. In the game, people play the Changelings, faeries of different types who are kept alive by dreams and ideals, but have merged with humans to protect themselves from the lack of those things in the real world. So this comes from the question of what if ponies were just another type of fae?
I intended to (and would still like to) run it as a game. But I decided to write this along side of it. For those who don't know changeling, I tried to include the world info in the story, and there are no 'canon' characters, so I don't think you're missing much. More about the world would have been explained in another chapter, but I kind of gave up on the idea because I have no idea if there's any audience for a crossover with a 20 year old RPG.
The Twilight and Rarity parts are partially incomplete.
***
Annie finished making breakfast in the tiny kitchenette. She put the bacon and eggs on the table, which she'd already set, then went down the hall to knock at Melanie's door.
She and Mel had been best friends since high school, and now they went to college together and shared this tiny apartment. But something had changed since they got here, Mel was staying out late, partying, and keeping secrets from Annie. Annie just wanted her old friend back.
A thump on Mel's door later, she had a mumbled promise to be out in a minute. As she walked back down the short hallway she felt a touch of vertigo, but she brushed it off. It had been happening for the past day or so. Probably stuffy sinuses. Hay fever or something.
Annie sat down at the table and started eating, and not long after that Mel appeared, still in loose, baggy pajamas. Mel was around the same height as Annie, but thinner, with shaggy black hair. Annie's hair was short and brown, neatly cut. The way Mel's had been when they started college. When they were practically sisters.
Mel sat down in front of her plate, “Hey, we have a table, who knew!”
“It was under all of the books and dvd's. Look, Mel, I wanted to sit down and talk to you.”
“Shoot.” Mel said, filling her plate and digging in.
Annie had thought over and over about how to say this, and finally decided that being straight and honest was the only way to do it. “I'm worried. You're partying, you're skipping classes, I don't know where you are half of the time. It's like I don't know who you are.”
Mel had to finish chewing before she could answer, “Look, Annie, I'm fine. I have changed a little, but I'm fine with it. Don't worry.”
“I worry. I liked you before, and now. . .” Annie looked down at her plate. “I just want my friend back.”
Mel bit her lip. Annie heard her mutter, under her breath. “Fuck the Escheat.” Then she said normally, “You want to know who I am? What this is all about? Well, I'm going to show you now. This is the biggest secret you've ever had to keep, but that's how much I trust you.”
Annie was confused, but a little proud that Mel trusted her enough to tell her what was going on. Mel reached across the table, and Annie felt the vertigo return. It didn't just go away, this time. It got worse and worse, the room was spinning now, and she heard Mel's far away voice calling her name.
All at once the world snapped back into place, the same apartment where she'd been sitting, but completely different. The colors were shining and bright, the band poster Mel had put up over the couch was shimmering and glowing. And then there was Mel.
Mel had fallen out of her chair, but as she stood up she whispered, “I didn't even touch you yet. . . oh wow.”
Mel's shaggy black hair looked longer now, and her ears tapered to a small but noticeable point. A few inches from her ears, two horns grew from her forehead. As she righted herself, it became obvious that instead of pajamas she was just wearing a baggy t-shirt, most likely because she had the furry legs of a goat from her waist, all the way down to her hooves.
“What just happened? What the hay is goin' on?” Annie said, but her voice seemed strange, and she felt uncomfortable. Her hands were stiff, all of a sudden, and she felt like she was sitting on something.
“You. . . you're fae! This is amazing! Hell, I haven't felt glamour like that since I chrysalized. . . um, what are you?”
“What am I? What're you? And why am I talkin' like this and- what the hay?” Annie finally looked down. Her fingers had changed, they were short and stubby. But even more disturbingly, her skin was orange.
Mel giggled, “I love the accent! It's so cute! Aw man, Theo is gonna flip when he sees you. But really, what are you? I've never seen one before.”
“I'm a pony.” The answer came out of Annie's lips before she could think. But she knew it was true, with the same certainty that she had know she was human a moment ago.
“A pony, huh? You don't look like a pooka. . . not one I've seen, at any rate. What's your name? And what's with the necklace?”
“My name's Applejack, and this is the Element of Honesty. . . no! This ain't real! My name's Annie, and I'm a regular, normal person. . .” Annie, or Applejack more likely, felt a cold, dull pain all over as she said that.
“NO! Don't deny it! Look, I know how this goes. If you deny it, the magic dies. If the magic dies, Applejack dies. And you are Applejack, and you are a pony.”
“I am. I'm Applejack, and I'm the element of honesty, and I gotta. . . I gotta. . .”
“What?” Mel said, listening intently.
“I don't know! I can't remember, but I know it's somethin' important.” Applejack said, standing up to find out what she had been sitting on. Nothing was on the chair, so she pulled out the back of her jeans.
“I gotta tail.” She observed. And it was bright yellow. That's when she noticed her hair was the same color, and hung down her back.
“You oughta cut a hole in the back of your jeans, in that case. It's going to be uncomfortable otherwise.” Mel said.
It was getting very uncomfortable. Applejack slid off her jeans, and let her tail hang down to the floor.
“Cute tattoo.” Mel said with a smile.
“'S a cutie mark.” Applejack said instinctively. She looked down to her thigh. The orange color covered her whole body apparently, and she noticed her legs had the same backwards knee as Mel's, which ended in a large flat hoof. She touched the mark on her thigh, and thought hard. “Apples. . . it means. . .”
She looked up at Mel, terrified. “I don't know what it means. Mel! I don't know what it means!”
For some reason, this bothered her more then having just turned orange and grown a tail.
“It's okay. Don't worry about it for now. We'll figure it out.” Mel said. “We're going to have to take you to the Duke. Maybe he knows more about this.”
“I can't go out like this!”
Mel laughed. “They can't see you like that. Mortals see you exactly like you looked before. And it's probably best if you still let them call you Annie. That's what's on your drivers license after all.”
Applejack nodded. “Annie Yost. And I'm from Shrewsbury. And I'm majorin' in English Lit.”
“Right. But also Applejack.”
“From Equestria.”
“Really? Never heard of it, but it must be in the deep Dreaming. Most changelings are from, well, where ever they're from. We're born this way.”
“Changelin's?”
“Fae, we're all kind of taking cover in human bodies. See, we're magic, but the world doesn't believe in us. That's death to a fae, but if we stick with a mortal body, we can hold it off for a while and have some fun. My real name is Melina. I'm a satyr. You know, like in Greek myths?”
Applejack nodded, slowly. She was a Lit major after all.
“So that's where I've been, these past few semesters. Out with other fae, partying, having a good time. I couldn't really tell you while you were. . . normal. You wouldn't have believed, and you might have had me locked up, and that kind of banality would undo me for sure.”
Applejack shook her head, “There's a lotta that you're gonna haveta explain to me, sugarcube. I'm pretty darn confused here. But. . . I wanna thank you for tellin' me where you been. It means a lot to me.”
“No problem, Applejack. I'll go over all of it, on the way to the Duke. Now cut a slit in your jeans, so your tail can hang out.”
Applejack nodded and headed down the hall to the bathroom to get the scissors. Mel called after her “Oh, and by the way, your eyes are green now, and you have freckles. Might wanna check it out! It's really cute!”
She glanced at her reflection in the mirror in the bathroom. Her face was as orange as the rest of her, but her eyes were huge and green, just like Mel said, and freckles dotted her cheeks. The long blonde hair hung in bangs over her forehead, and her body, which she had been letting go recently, was corded with large muscles that looked really strong.
She decided that if she was gonna turn out to be a pony, she wasn't a half bad one.
***
Renee stared at the vault in front of her, and took a deep breath. This was the time.
Last time had not been the time. In fact, every time before this had not been the time. But there was a meet coming up, and one of the best coaches in the country would be at that meet. And the clock was ticking. She was sixteen. If she wanted that Olympic gold medal, this had to be the time.
The doubts filled her head. She was too old. She was too tall. She had never managed this trick before. But she forcefully shoved them out of her head and sprinted to the vault. Now or never.
She hit the vault and took off, her body automatically twisting the way she needed it to. She was in the perfect position to do it this time. But something else took over her brain, and for just a second, she was only focused on soaring and tumbling through the air. The feeling of weightlessness, the adrenaline. The distraction as the blur of the world around her intensified blindingly.
She hit the mat on her shoulder, and shut her eyes.
Next time was the time.
Laying on the mat, she carefully took stock. Arms: okay, legs: okay. Shoulder was sore, but not that bad. Her back was killing her. That could be a problem. She stared to stand, but her hands and feet felt stiff and hard to move. She looked down as she pushed up off the floor and almost fell again.
She was. . . blue.
She hurried to her feet. Or, she noted looking down, her hooves.
She looked over at the coach, but he just glanced at her and shouted, “Okay, McGee?”
“Of course I am!” She smiled and answered in. . . not her voice. But it was her voice. It was Rainbow Dash's voice, and that's who she was.
The coach didn't seem to notice. “Maybe you'd better hit the showers. We were almost done.”
“Um. . . yeah! That's a great idea!” She said with a false cheerfulness that hid her confusion from the inattentive coach.
She hurried to the empty showers in the gym, and as soon as she caught a glimpse of herself her eyes went wide. Her huge, magenta eyes.
Her body whole body was blue, she had a cutie mark on her thigh- she understood immediately that was what the white cloud with the red, yellow, and blue bolt was, and her hair was. . . awesome. Shaggy red, orange and yellow bangs hung in her face, while the other colors of the rainbow fell messily down her back.
Her leotard revealed the cause of the pain in her back, two large lumps constricted by the tight material. She quickly pulled it off her shoulders, and as she did it released the glorious blue feathered wings. She marveled at them for a moment, before pulling the leotard all the way off to find a rainbow colored tail to match her new hair.
Her first thought on taking herself in was that this could not be real. But the thought put a heavy weight on her that reminded her way too much of the doubt that she would ever get her Olympic gold, so she shoved it out of her mind.
No, this had to be real. Because if anyone in the world deserved to look like this angel of pure awesomeness, she did. It totally fit her, no matter if she was Renee or Rainbow Dash.
It took a while for Rainbow Dash to pull herself away from the mirror. But she was naked except for the gold necklace, the Element of Loyality, her element, and she had to get dressed. She pulled on her sweatpants, rolling them down so that her tail could hang out the back. She eyed her t-shit, but couldn't imagine trying to cover these wings. She had to use them.
At the thought, every muscle in her body burned to fly. She gave the wings a few good flaps, and was disappointed when they only lifted her a few inches from the ground. She felt that cold weight in her heart again, but she brushed it off. She had wings, she'd figure out how to fly.
Instead of a shirt, she figured that a sports bra would cover everything, with enough room at the shoulders for her wings. Getting it on was a pain in the tail, trying to get both her arm and wing through the strap. But she was a gymnast, after all, and she managed the trick without dislocating her shoulder or losing too many feathers.
She packed up her things, and wondered what people would think of her when she went back outside. But, the coach hadn't noticed. And Coach Adams was a guy who had a second sense that told him if Renee was wearing earrings on the floor. He would probably notice a change of color, and the sprouting of wings and a tail. She decided that people other than her must not know about this, if he'd refrained from commenting on her new look.
She left the locker room and headed straight for the door of the building.
As she stepped out on the sidewalk, taking in the amazing colors the world had taken on, probably in honor of her, she caught sight of a man hurrying towards her. He was undeniably handsome, and pretty deniably human, what with the long tapered ears, shining armor, and sword that hung at his side.
“Was that you? I felt it a block away.”
Rainbow Dash grinned, “I don't know, but if it was good, I'll take credit.”
The man stared. “What are you?”
With a smirk, and no doubt in her mind, she answered, “I'm Rainbow Dash. I'm a pegasus.”
“You-” he hesitated, then took her arm firmly. “You need to come and meet the Duke.”
Rainbow Dash had no idea who this guy was, or who the Duke was, but she knew she needed some answers about why she was Renee one minute and Rainbow Dash the next. She figured she'd be okay, as long as she didn't let this guy see her sweat.
“No problem. Just let me text my parents that I'll be late.”
***
Patti Williams woke up on the floor of the sorority house. It must have been a really good party.
The first thing she noticed was how bright it was. Like someone had colored over everything in the world with markers about three shades more vibrant then the world should be. The second thing was that wasn't hung over, because she thought this was cool rather then something that might induce vomiting.
The third thing was that she was pink, and this didn't worry her. She ran her stiff fingers through her hair, finding a mass of soft curls rather then her long dreds.
Looking around the room, she wasn't alone. Other college students were passed out here and there. One of them was a man she'd been flirting with last night, who had goat legs. She wondered if he had them last night and if she'd really been that drunk.
Deciding that he might know something about her strange change in color, hairstyle, and name (because she was sure that her name was Pinkie, rather then Patti,) she walked over and shook him.
He blearily opened his eyes, blinking at her.
“Hi! I was wondering if you know why I'm pink. I mean, my name is Pinkie Pie, so that's a pretty good reason, but that's not the name I had last night. That's why I told you last night that my name was Patti, you remember, at the party? It was an awesome party. We should have another party like that, don't you think? But with balloons. Parties should have more balloons. But balloons aren't the reason that I'm pink. Or that I'm a pony, which is what I am. I figured I could ask you, because you have goat legs, which I don't think you had last night either. They look kind of silly, you know, like you're wearing furry pants. Which would be neat. . .”
As her strange new voice just kept going, the man stared at her in half awake confusion. But she wasn't worried. She had so much to talk about, and he'd pick it up eventually.
He did eventually interrupt, “Are you on something?”
“Nope! I didn't take anything that I remember. I'm just a pink pony named Pinkie. Hey, that sounds silly!”
“No, I get that you're a pink pony. But I wasn't sure if you were on speed or something.”
“Nah, this is just how I act. But. . . OOOH! I wonder what this would be like on drugs! Like, maybe on speed I'd talk even faster, or on acid I'd think I was a not-pink not-pony, or on E I'd love everypony even more!”
“We're never letting you have drugs.” The satyr said, sitting up slowly.
Pinkie giggled, “Oki-doki-loki. I don't think I need them anyway, this is too much fun without them. Right now, what I need is to know why I'm a pink pony. And what I'm supposed to do with the Element of Laughter, which is what this is, even though it looks like a balloon.” She motioned to the necklace around her neck. “OH! And a cupcake! I really need a cupcake!”
“Woah there. Slow down. Now, you're Pinkie, right?”
Pinkie nodded happily.
“I'm Theo. And we should go see the Duke, because you're a fae. He might have some answers for you. Or a cantrip that will shut you up at least.”
“Great! I LOVE meeting new people! Oh, hold on a minute!” Pinkie concentrated for a few seconds, and a tray of cupcakes appeared in her hands. She felt a tinge of unhappiness, and she shivered, but then remembered that she had cupcakes.
The satyr stared. “What kind of cantrip is that?”
“It's not a can-thingy, it's just what I do!” Pinkie said, happily stuffing a cupcake into her mouth.
***
The stray kitten was sleeping right in front of her door.
Felicia DeAngelo stared through the screen door of the town house she lived in with her mom. She had an 11 o'clock class that she was going to be late for, if she didn't make the kitten move.
The class wasn't really that important, though. And the kitten looked so comfortable. It was her fault, really. She had been feeding him, and even if her mom wouldn't let her have a pet in the house the kitten sleeping there didn't know that. He just wanted a home.
She tapped her foot for a moment. She could not be skipping class because of a stray cat. As she stared at the little black and white kitten, it's tail twitched.
Felicia sighed, and went and got a can of tuna fish, which she opened. She found she could get the door open a few inches without disturbing the cat, and slipped the can outside.
As she turned around, the room started to spin. She grabbed the wall to steady herself and closed her eyes. When she opened them, her vision was half obscured by a veil of pink hair.
“Not bad. But I've seen it before.” Came a small voice from behind her.
She turned around, startled, and sitting on her stoop was an eight year old boy with cat ears, black and white hair, and a pink nose with whiskers.
He smiled at her. “My name is Octavian Mortimer Wellsley. But you can call me Bart. What's your name?”
Felicia tried to answer, but it came out as a soft squeak. She tried again, and managed a slightly more audible “Fluttershy.”
“Well obviously you know about the Duke. Let's go see him! He might have candy, you know.”
Fluttershy was barely paying attention. The world around her was unfamiliar, and that made her very uncomfortable. He body was unfamiliar, her hands felt stiff and her feet weren't feet anymore. And then there was the strange bulging feeling along her back. She couldn't imagine going to class like this. Let alone to meet this Duke that the boy seemed to think she knew.
She panicked, and shut the door quickly, leaning against it.
Then she heard the knock, and Bart's voice said “Um, pizza delivery? With a free kitten?”
Fluttershy closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to think of what she should do. Finally, she opened the door a crack.
“My mom won't let me have a kitten.” She said kindly.
“Well then you can have something better then a kitten! I'll be a kitten sometimes, and sometimes I'll be a ghost, so when your mom looks in she won't even see me.”
She whispered, “You can do that?”
“When I feel like it. So, what are you?”
“A pegasus. From Equestria. What are you?”
“A pooka, which is the bravest, toughest, honorablest, noblest of all the kiths. But we lie sometimes.”
She blinked, “Kith?”
“Yeah. There are, like a million of them! Trolls and satyrs and sidhe and pooka and egg rolls. . . and pegasuses, I guess!”
Another blink, “Egg rolls?”
Bart nodded solemnly, “Don't go near them. They bite.”
Through her confusion, Fluttershy had a thought. “And pooka lie? . . . sometimes, I mean.”
“Sometimes.” He nodded. “I'm bored. Can we go see the Duke now?”
“Why do we have to see this Duke?” Fluttershy asked. Her heart started beating faster, scared of the idea of meeting someone new when something so strange had happened.
“Because he might give us candy. And because he's so friendly. And because you're a type of kith I've never heard of and you showed up with a whole bunch of glamour and it's kinda the Duke's job to keep track of that, but that's just a teeny tiny part of it. Mostly the candy.”
Fluttershy deciphered the real message, and nodded. “If you say we should go. . . maybe that's a good idea.”
“I never have bad ideas!” Bart said proudly.
This did not comfort Fluttershy, but it seemed like she was supposed to meet this Duke, if he was in charge of all of the fae. She felt like she should at least talk to someone about this strange change in herself, besides the lying kitten child.
She glanced in the mirror, and realized how thorough the change had been. She bit her lip to keep from crying in fear as a pale yellow face with huge blue eyes, framed by long pink hair. Turning around and lifting her t-shirt in the back revealed the lump there to be wings, but she quickly dropped the t-shirt and decided to leave them covered, in hopes that hiding them might make her less noticeable.
After a minute, she decided she looked as presentable as she was going to get. Taking a deep breath, and mustering every ounce of courage, she said, “Okay. We can go now. . . if you want.”
***
Rajani took off her glasses. She had been squinting at pixels all morning, but now it was time to bring the image back into focus. Clicking through, it filled the screen, perfect clean lines, clear colors, not an imperfection visible, even under her careful scrutiny. A job well done, if she did say so herself.
She definitly had an A+ art project. But more important then the grade, it was beautiful.
She stood up, her head throbbing slightly from eye strain. But as she glanced back at the computer, she felt a strange surge that nearly knocked her to her feet. When she looked up, the room around her was saturated in color. She stared for a moment, she'd already filled the room with rich colors, nice furniture, and beautiful fabrics, but now it seemed gorgeous. She was in awe.
There came an almost inaudible knock at the door.
Answering, she looked out, and then down. A small boy stood there. At least, it could loosely be called a boy. The child was stick thin, with pallid white skin and big, black, dark rimmed eyes. His greasy black hair was long and tied back, and he seemed to be wearing some kind of black, frilly Victorian-style suit.
She let out a gasp, and the child slunk backwards.
Realizing how rude she's been, she leaned down, “I'm sorry darling, you startled me. I was expecting someone taller.”
“You should change your expectations. Nothing is as you expected any more.” The child whispered. He held out a hand, “May I introduce myself? I am Squiggles.”
Raj arched an eyebrow, but took the boys hand, “Rarity. Pleased to meet you.”
She was somehow not surprised to have given the wrong name. Of course it was the right name. She was more surprised that the hand she had offered the boy had short, stubby fingers and was stark, paper white, rather then her usual reddish brown.
The boy did not seem surprised, he took her hand and kissed it stiffly, then let it go. He said softly, “Pleased to meet you as well, Rarity. Madame says that you are a unicorn.”
“Yes, I am.” She said, surprised at her certainty. She felt her forehead, and found the proof she needed, a long bone like horn. “Who is this Madame, and how does she know?”
“Madame knows everything.” He said, his voice barely audible and sending shivers down Rarity's spine.
“Well then, Squiggles. . . I think I may have a few questions for Madame.” Rarity tried to regain her composure, but there was someone else out there who knew about this too-recent development and she had too many blank spots in what she knew about herself. Maybe Madame could explain where Equestria was, or what she was supposed to do with The Element of Generosity which hung around her neck.
“Madame doesn't speak to other fae. Madame doesn't speak to anyone. Madame doesn't like to be disturbed. Madame said that I should take you to the Duke, right away.”
***
Teena looked over her freshly highlighted notes again and smiled. She loved her highlighters, they helped keep her organized, they made studying easier, and she had to admit to herself that they looked pretty.
She had been sitting in the Tree & Leaf Cafe, just across from the park, finishing her homework. She came here every afternoon when she got out of school, it was quieter then home, thanks to her brothers and sisters, and no one here bothered her as long as she bought a soda.
The carefully organized notes went back into her carefully organized binder. She had fifteen minutes in her schedule to relax before she did her math homework, so she took out her acceptance letter again.
Harvard. Her reward for years of study, and a pretty lonely four years in high school.
As she stared at it, the writing got blurry. She blinked, and squinted, but she couldn't make out the words on the paper, the words she knew by heart. Different words were there that she could barely make out, Celestia, harmony, danger, friends.
Then all of a sudden the room was full of purple light.
That was the last thing she remembered, before waking up on the floor of the girls room with a wet napkin on her face.
“What happened?” She asked, hoping that whoever brought her in here could give her whatever information she would need to tell the EMT's.
“Your life just changed.” Said a man's voice. She looked over, and saw one of the Cafe regulars, a tall man who often read a newspaper in the corner.
Teena immeaditly checked her clothes, but they were all there and normal. That was the only thing that felt normal, though. The light here seemed too bright, there was a cold, numb feeling in her chest, and her head hurt.
“H-how did my life change?”
“You chrysalised. You've become a fae. A very powerful one, from the looks of it.”
“A unicorn.” She whispered.
“If that's what you are. Whatever it is, you just magically blasted the entire cafe.”
“Is everyone alright?”
“Mortals were unaffected. Everyone else was able to get out of your line of fire. How do you feel?”
“My head hurts, and I feel strange.” She said, slowly making her way to her hooves.
He nodded, “The strange feeling may be your transformation, or it may be banality. You must have taken quite a hit with that magic.”
“Banality?”
“Disbelife from mortals. Enough of it will kill you. Well, the fae part anyway.”
She looked in the mirror. Wide, violet eyes greeted her. Her skin was purple, and her neatly trimmed mane was streaked with purple and pink. In the middle of her forehead sat a horn, and above that rested a tiara with a magenta stone set in the middle.
“I'm- I'm a unicorn!”
“So it seems.”
“And you're in the girls bathroom.”
“One is a little more important then the other.”
“Granted. I'm a unicorn and I can do magic. And I have to find the elements of harmony.”
“What are they?”
She pointed to her tiara, “This. I think that other ponies have them?” She said, not as sure of that as the rest. “And I need to find Spike.”
“Interesting.”
“What is?”
“Most changelings don't chrysalize with a to do list.”
“Most changelings aren't Twilight Sparkle.” She said, smiling at herself in the mirror and adjusting her element of magic.
“Well, Twilight Sparkle, my name is Klaus. I am a troll, and if you like I'll take you to visit the Duke. He may be able to help you.”
She looked at him, and nodded. “Alright. I think I need some help.”
Tags: Rainbow Dash; Sad
Dash saved Fluttershy from being roasted by a dragon, in a glorious last second rescue.
Fluttershy is safe, but Dash didn't emerge unscathed. Now she has to live with the sacrifice she made for her friend's life.
But hey, they were just wings.
So I was talking to Brawney Hooves about The Cupcake Chronicles, and the “Dash loses her wings” trope in general one day, and I started thinking about how I would write it, if I were to write it. I decided that I would do something where she lost her wings saving somepony else. It creates a situation where she can't really wish it hadn't happened, she still has to love her friend even while she partially blames her.
So I wrote this to show him what I meant. I considered publishing it, but it sounds like a prologue for something I never intend to write.
Also the rambling internal monologue is first person, because I love first person.
***
“Is there anything we can do for you, Rainbow Dash?” The doctor said kindly.
Dash barely noticed the doctor. She should have known. When the fire hit her, when Rarity and Pinkie Pie screamed. When she felt that searing pain, and started to fall.
But then it all went black, and she woke up at the hospital, her brain swimming through pain killers. And she almost thought, while she finished surfacing, that it would be okay. They'd fix her. A few weeks and she's be back to normal.
She was wrong.
She blinked at the doctor, who was waiting for her answer. She felt tears in her eyes but she didn't even care. When she opened her mouth to speak all she could manage was a strangled, “Gimme a minute.”
The doctor nodded and stood up, “Take all the time you need, Rainbow.”
As he walked away, Rainbow Dash laid back on the bed and let the tears stream down her face, sobs wracking her bandaged body. She closed her eyes.
My wings are gone. My wings are gone. My wings are gone.
NO! This is not possible. I'm Rainbow Dash, and Rainbow Dash has wings. Rainbow Dash is wings. This is absolutely, totally the worst dream ever.
It's not. It's not a dream. My wings are gone.
But Fluttershy is alive. If I hadn't rescued her, she'd be dead. If that dragon's fire could burn off my wings, it would've killed her for sure. I seriously saved her life. I gave up my wings for Fluttershy's life. It was totally worth it.
. . . right?
Right! Of course it was worth it! Fluttershy is one of my best friends! Wings are just. . . wings.
. . . My hopes. My dreams. Everything that made me awesome and special. Just wings.
No wings.
Fluttershy. Fluttershy is alive.
Fluttershy has wings. Stupid, crumby wings that she wouldn't even use to get out of the way of a dragon! Why couldn't she fly away? Why couldn't she lose her wings? She wouldn't even care!
Oh Celestia. . .
Rainbow Dash, get ahold of yourself! She was scared, she couldn't move. I never want to see Fluttershy hurt like this, I never want anypony else to be hurt like this.
I don't want to be hurt like this. I just want my wings. How can I get my wings?
Princess Celestia! Maybe she has some awesome spell that'll give me my wings back! She'd do it for me, right? I'm an element of harmony, I'm loyalty, and I was saving the life of one of my friends, another element of harmony! Princess Celestia will fix this.
. . .Because I'm the first pegasus ever who lost their wings in an accident? And Princess Celestia never helped them because she doesn't like helping ponies who aren't all that important? That . . . doesn't really sound like Princess Celastia, does it?
But she's Princess Celestia! She raises the sun! She can do anything!
But, ponies still die. And ponies lose their wings. And she just keeps raising the sun.
I have no wings.
Fluttershy is alive.
The sun will come up.
And. . . that's that.
No wings.
Ever.
No Wonderbolts. No flying. No sonic rainboom. No cloud house. No job. Nothing. That's what I am without wings, nothing.
That isn't true. I can run, I can. . . I can run. I can run as fast as Applejack. Of course, Applejack can also buck apples and run a farm and herd things. I can play pranks with Pinkie. Pinkie can bake and throw parties and do all those Pinkie things that don't make sense.
I'm not special.
Rainbow Dash is not special. I'm just another pony who can do things all the other ponies can do.
I was special! I was the best! I want it back I want it back I WANT MY WINGS BACK!
I want my friends. I need to calm down. They'll help me, they'll make it better. They can't make it better, but they will anyway.
Oh Celestia, Fluttershy. Fluttershy can't see me like this. She'll feel so bad!
Because this is her fault.
NO! This is totally, one hundred percent NOT Fluttershy's fault. Fluttershy did not find a dragon and try to figure out how to get it to burn my wings off. Fluttershy almost died. And I saved her, and I would save her again.
I have to tell her that. I have to tell all of them that. I have to show them that this isn't a big deal, not compared to what could have happened.
Yeah, losing my wings is totally not a big deal.
Losing my wings is a humongous deal. I know it, Fluttershy knows it, all of my friends know it. I can't act like everything is cool. It's as not cool as it could possibly be.
But Fluttershy is alive.
Maybe if I could just not see her right away, maybe I could ask everypony else to come in and. . .
Yeah, that's not gonna make her cry, Dash.
Everything makes her cry. She's been crying since that dragon attacked, and no matter what I do she's going to cry. Because of me.
She's alive because of me.
She's going to cry because she's sorry for me. They're all sorry for me.
So? I'm sorry for me. I'm pitiful.
I used to be awesome. Awesome to pitiful in one hot, painful minute. It's a crash. It's just a crash. I've lived through crashes before.
I'll never crash again. Not like this. You have to be awesome to crash like this. I'm no longer awesome, so this is the last crash of my life.
More like this crash is the rest of my life. One long painful crash, forever.
Stop thinking like that. I'm alive. Fluttershy is alive. There's more to life then flying. There's more to me then wings. There has to be more to me then wings.
Because I don't have wings.
But I'm still here, and my friends are here. That's all that matters.
They were just wings.
Dash dried her tears. Her nose was still stuffy and her face felt hot and raw, but there was no point in hiding it.
“Nurse?” She called. “Could you send in my-”
Rainbow Dash didn't finish the sentence before her friends were standing around her bedside. All of them stared at her, tears in their eyes, nopony knowing quite what to say. Dash felt the sob building and the tears coming back, and before she let herself go she managed to choke out, “They- were just- wings.”
