Equestria : After the Loss

by Hoofprintz

Rating: mature
Tags: Drama, Moondancer, Rainbow Dash, Science Fiction, Suicide / Self Harm, Queen Chrysalis, Starlight Glimmer, Non-consensual, Sex, Twilight Sparkle, Gore, Violence, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Narcotics
Length: 40194

Cozy Glow's plan was successful. Equestria lost all of its magic. The Mane 6 struggle to find a place in a world where science and technology rule.

With Cozy Glow's success came a revolution. Equestria was thrown into chaos and the princesses lost their positions.

Twilight and her friends fortified and expanded Ponyville in an attempt to create a safe place for them to exist.

Years later, due to Twilight's efforts, Ponyville has become a bastion of science and technology.

When an old friend appears, the safety of everything the Mane 6 have built is threatened.

Follow three ponies as they struggle to survive in this unforgiving new world.

Published 2023-07-15 17:40:00 UTC
Last updated 2023-12-15 12:19:14 UTC

Reminiscing

Author's Note

So here begins my more mature vision of Equestria, hope you all like it. This is a huge departure from my typical style, but hopefully it finds a base that appreciates it. This story is going to be brutal (all those red tags) so you've been warned. On to chapter one...

Reminiscing

"How are they performing?" Twilight asked, pushing the glasses on the bridge of her nose up with a shaky hoof. The alicorn looked terrible, her mane frazzled and sticking up in various spots. Permanent black bags were planted beneath both her eyes, I'd bet because of the countless hours of sleep she'd lost over the past few years.

"They're a little... stiff," I stretched my wings out, shifting and moving them slowly before flapping them hard. The loud steely clangs of the sharp metal sheets that covered my appendages knocking against each other made me wince. "and a little noisy." I wasn't about to complain about something so insignificant though. Twilight had given me the greatest gift I could ever ask for, some annoying sounds wouldn't be a problem.

The three years I couldn't fly had to have been the worst of my life, all because a single filly was dumb enough to make the worst decision of her's...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Cozy Glow...

That stupid idiot.

I don't know what she was expecting to happen when she tried to get rid of the magic in Equestria, but she'd done it. Like a stupid naive foal, she took everything from us. We'd gradually lost all the magic in a few days, every last drop of it gone, just like that, sent to another reality that none of us could ever reach.

With no magic we were lost... Was that why we called what happened "The Loss"? Probably not, more likely because we lost the magic. Yeah, that made a lot more sense.

Anyway, In a matter of days earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi became equals in the ability department. I couldn't help but think the old crazy Starlight would've gotten a kick out of our new world. Earth ponies had become the most... profitable race. Since they didn't have magic before the disaster, they were the least affected by the Loss and still had their absurd physical traits. Not much had changed magic-wise for Aj or Pinks, the lucky mares. I was really happy for them, but honestly... I'm ashamed to say I was more than a little jealous, even if they didn't have it so great themselves.

When your whole life is spent tending a farm that relies on the sun and weather to thrive, you kind of lose your purpose when those things go away. Losing their way of life hit Granny Smith particularly hard. It'd been decades that she'd had that life and she was forced to leave it all behind at the drop of a bit. Needless to say, It made her physically ill.

She never recovered. The Apples were fighters though, and each of them pushed through the pain and were very productive when Ponyville needed them most. Before the Loss, Equestria owed them a debt of gratitude. That remained true even after the catastrophe.

While she may not have been affected immediately, eventually Pinkie... Pinks lost her smile. Seeing so many friends die, so much pain and suffering, will do that to any creature. The bubbly party pony that once cheered up an entire town no longer existed. I missed her so much.

Unicorns and Pegasi like me had our lives stolen from us. My friends and I were understandably devastated along with the all the other creatures of the world. Rare couldn't even make clothes like she'd used to. Don't get me wrong, she could still sew and whatnot, (using a very careful mouth,) but the loss of her magic slowed her ability to create to a crawl.

All of her boutiques suffered for it, every one of them shutting it's doors within weeks of the Loss, but I guess that could've also been chalked up to ponies just not being interested in fancy clothes and the like anymore. With the magical abilities we'd relied on for so long suddenly gone, what had once been pleasant luxuries quickly became pointless drains.

Flutters didn't seem to mind losing the ability to fly too much, not being much of a flier in the first place, but... she took the loss of her ability to communicate with her little (and big) animal friends horribly. With no way for them to understand one an
other came confusion which slowly degraded into mistrust... Eventually, the critters up and abandoned her. We all felt for the poor mare, but there wasn't exactly much any of us could do. I mean, we were going through our own crap at the time too.

Starlight was completely inconsolable at first, having blamed herself for everything that'd happened. She said it was all her fault cause she'd gotten tricked by Cozy, but to be completely fair, we'd all been duped by that little brat.

We all knew she was being way too hard on herself so thankfully, after a while, the seven of us (along with Trixie, though I'll never understand how anyone could be around that mare for more than five minutes,) were able to get through to her. She'd long proven she was one of us and we'd never let her hold such a stupid grudge against herself.

When the gravity of the situation finally hit me, really registered in my mind, I... I'm a little ashamed to admit I seriously considered killing myself. If I couldn't fly what was the point of even being alive? It's a good thing my friends have always been so amazing cause I knew that even if I couldn't soar through the sky ever again, I'd always have them to lean on. They were more than enough reason to live for. I needed them... and they needed me.

Twilight... Twilight went a little crazy. Okay, maybe not just a little. She'd already been... weird before the Loss. I mean, all her life she'd been obsessed with two things, books and magic. She'd been the princess of one of those for crying out loud, losing that title should've destroyed her, but that brain of her's would never let her be a failure. For the sake of us all she'd...

When the magic completely left us it had been late into Luna's night, locking all of Equestria in a state of perpetual darkness. Celestia and Luna were confident we'd succeed at stopping Cozy, so naturally they'd kept the day and night cycle going... Proooobably a really big mistake in hindsight.

With the princesses unable to move the sun or the moon any longer there was no one to do the job. The reality that we'd all be trapped in an endless darkness was too much for a lot of the creatures of Equestria to handle.

The first sign things were quickly going down a dark path were the riots that started in a bunch of the cities. It really was sad, seeing how fast everything our kinds had built fell apart, how fast everyone turned against each other... even against the princesses themselves. I guess they thought someone had to be blamed and the sisters were the easiest targets.

With no magic Celestia and Luna were just two oversized earth ponies with sharp horns and larger than average wings. Anyone with half a brain would've abandoned them as soon as the Royal Guard had forsaken them. It's a good thing Twilight had lost it or the two of them probably would've ended up dead. Somehow we'd managed to get them out of Canterlot safely through some underground caves Chrysalis had trapped Twilight and Cadance in a long time ago.

Thankfully, Ponyville had always been the heart of Equestria, not even something as horrible as the Loss could break up our big family. None of the ponies in our town lost it and if anyone came close we helped each other to get through the fear. With Twilight as our leader we were able to protect ourselves and the princesse-... Celestia and Luna. It's not like they were princesses anymore, no point in calling them that.

It was hard hiding them at first, but once the truth came out most Equestrian's just seemed to forgot about them anyway. Cozy had been caught right after the Loss and was trapped in Canterlot's dungeons when the riots began. When it became public knowledge that she'd been the one to cost our world it's magic there was no way to stop the mobs from getting to her. There wasn't much left of the filly when the masses were done with her. There wasn't even enough left of her body worth burying.

Such an idiot.

With Equestria thrown into a chaotic mess we knew we had to do something, but we had very few options. Groups started cropping up left and right, pretty much starting out as little gangs that quickly grew way out of control. They started taking over cities, claiming territory, and killing anyone dumb enough to trespass on their turf.

It was all so stupid. There were so many more important problems that needed fixing and most creatures were out there killing each other instead of helping. Can you believe that? With no way to make the sun rise we couldn't even grow food. I can't imagine what happened up north.

With no way to travel to the Crystal Empire and no real way to get messages up that far north, we had no way of knowing if they were alright. It was way too dangerous to go by train and hoofing it would take weeks, if not months and could be just as treacherous railway. Twilight was confident her brother and sister could handle things, but without the magic of the Crystal Heart to protect them the weather had probably...

I didn't want to think about it, like I said, we had enough to worry about down in Pomyville.

When the first group of raiders attacked our home it was easy to see just how vulnerable we were. It was bad, really bad. The ponies of Ponyville were accustomed to disasters, but not other ponies trying to murder them.

We lost more than just property that day... or should I say night?

Whatever.

I remember Twilight taking that tragedy particularly poorly. Don't get me wrong, we were all devastated, but Twilight... changed that day. Since she could no longer rely on her magic to get things done she turned completely to science.

With her and Starlight working literally round the clock the level of our tech increased exceptionally fast. They were way too smart. (So smart we started referring to them as the Lights... get it? Cause their names both... a-anyway...) There was so much work to do. We had to protect ourselves... had to protect all of Ponyville. It's crazy what a town of ponies could do when they were pressed and they all worked together.

We did a lot of building back then, but I guess that hasn't changed much. Aj's always somewhere building something around the city. That was the job she'd taken up for the city's well-being. With Sweet Apple Acres pretty much useless without sun or rain, Aj became head of construction for all of Ponyville.

Thank all that was good for the Everfree Forest. It had become less dangerous than the rest of Equestria and the deeper we went in, the more resources we were able to scavenge. After we built the powerplant, the refinery, the wal...

Look I'm gonna level with ya, I don't really know all the details. It was never my job to do any of that technical crap anyway, I just helped wherever I was needed. If I had to get anything done or get somewhere specific I just asked Twilight, Starlight, or Rarity to point the way or help me get there.

Anyway, Ponyville grew like crazy. It basically became the only sane place left in all of Equestria. Even though Twilight ran a really tight ship, she let anyone who passed a rigorous screening process live in the city.

Since we couldn't expand outward due to a lack of land and the threat of murderous gangs, we were forced to build upwards. Little homes and small buildings were replaced with apartments and skyscrapers. It was super convenient and we were able to build even faster with so many new citizens joining us.

When Ponyville started getting really large bands of troublemakers started attacking us more often. Because Canterlot had fallen so quickly and the castle was immediately ransacked, most of the weapons the Royal Guard had stored away were already being used by the roving gangs. It's not easy to fight against real weapons when all you have is some farming tools and everyday items like brooms.

We'd been so preoccupied with creating that we'd completely slacked it on the destroying side of things. Twilight put an end to that deficiency real fast when a crazy changeling almost killed Celestia. It hadn't been able to transform, it was just a rogue changeling spouting crap about this never happening if Chrysalis had taken over.

I honestly thought all the changelings were dead. Didn't they use magic to feed? Guess nature had taken some mercy on them. Luckily, we hadn't run into Chrysalis again. That bug queen and her hive were a serious menace.

Anyway, back to the topic at hoof. What started out as crude weapons like iron swords and crappy shields quickly changed into... The Lights getting creative. With the old magic they used to utilize and study as a base for ideas, they started thinking up some seriously insane stuff.

Things like swords and crossbows were a normal part of war a long time ago, but our nerdy overlords (Twilight and Starlight, obviously) pushed things to the next level... or maybe more like twenty or thirty levels.

It started with weapons they'd called guns. Much like crossbows, they could be used to shoot at a creature from a safe distance. Unlike arrows fired from a bow, the things guns fired could rip a creature to pieces. As they developed newer models over time, they could be used over greater distances and deal even more damage.

Ponyville initially had a monopoly on the tech, but as time passed we began encountering raiders with less effective versions of the stuff the eggheads had invented. Someone out there was trying to emulate the inventions, but they were moving at a snail's pace while Twilight and Starlight were already on to the next thing.

They called them augmentations. Those got out of hoof super fast too. By performing some pretty invasive surgery, they claimed to be able to... improve any creature, be they unicorn, pegasus, earth pony, or anything else. They kept their ideas in the family at first, not making anything public knowledge.

We were all a little skeptical, but when they said it could help me fly again I volunteered without question. I'd give anything to get back into the sky, even be a guinea pig for their science experiments. The surgery wasn't that bad... Who am I kidding? The first time was terrible. If I had to imagine what being dissected felt like, it had to be less painful than what they had done to me.

Twilight and Starlight had come up with some seriously brutal machines to help them out. They had to get into my wings and withers... like into into, so there was a lot of cutting involved. The machines did most of the work. Twilight had given me a heavy sedative, but it didn't really do much. I could feel every wire and cable being shoved inside my body. Machines didn't care if you were screaming in agony, I guess. It definitely wasn't a pleasant experience.

Recovery took a few weeks of complete inactivity and a lot of painkillers, (those things are amazing,) but once I was back to normal I was able to do a test run. Moving my wings felt really... weird at first, like they weren't mine. They were so much stronger, I was sure I could break boulders with them if I tried hard enough. Flapping them even once pushed me up into the air several meters, a far cry from my old wings.

I really pissed Twilight off that night. I spent hours in the sky, completely ignoring her shouts from the balcony of the castle. I never wanted to land. What's even crazier is I hadn't gotten tired. I willed the... er, my wings to move, but it didn't take any effort. I even accelerated to speeds that almost created a rainboom without breaking a sweat.

Twilight's annoyed face had quickly shifted to a smile when I finally landed in front of her. I cried... (I'm not too proud to admit it, but if you tell anyone I'll find out where you live and pay ya a visit.) With a confirmed success, Twilight and Starlight moved on to the others... or at least those who were willing. Flutters and Pinks refused to get any work done outright, said it was "unnatural".

They were probably right, but I didn't care, I could fly again. Plus, it didn't make much of a difference if they got enhanced. Neither of them were fighters in the first place and they were accommodated to anyway.

That's where Rare came in. She had no reason to continue making her fancy clothes any lomger so she started making... accessories, with the help of the Lights, of course. If ponies didn't want to get augmented they were given... external devices that could usually perform similar tasks.

But anyway, me, Aj, and Rarity didn't have any qualms about getting modified. Even Celestia and Luna had volunteered. Aj got her legs augmented and could buck... well, pretty much anything now. She'd always been really strong before, but after her augments she could reduce buildings to rubble with little to no effort. It was really beneficial for the construction work she was constantly doing... and the fighting on the rare occasions when I needed some backup.

Not only did she have absurd strength, she could also move like lightning. She was pretty agile and could jump like a... well, I guess like she was always on Equestria's best trampoline. It was easy to see she didn't regret her decision.

Rare got a measure of her magic back too... in a way. While she couldn't lift and move anything she wanted like before, she could move most things with any metal in them. Twilight said the chips they'd implanted in her horn could do something with magnetic waves and that is how she could mess with metal and build all those crazy doohickeys. It was all Greek to me, but it just meant Rare surrounded herself with different kinds of metals. She was much happier too, I think.

Twilight surprised us all when she said she wouldn't be getting any work done. At first it really did seem like the mare was just using us to do some wild experiments, but when she explained her reasoning we all understood. What she'd called cybernetics hadn't exactly been tested.

The pair had theories and ideas, but there wasn't any concrete long term evidence of the effects the tech would have on a pony. If something went terribly wrong, Twilight couldn't fix things if she were crippled by her own augments. She was our safeguard and we loved her for it.

Starlight got the craziest enhancement I think, being Twilight's right hand mare and all. Since she never left her best friend's side, she wanted something she could use to protect the alicorn from the dangers of the new world. The cybernetics she got implanted in her horn could mess with any other thing that functioned on similar tech.

I think they called it hacking. In a couple seconds Starlight could destroy or take control of anyone's tech. We tested that out on my wings. Needless to say, I basically turned into her toy. She could completely control my wings and they're basically ninety percent of my body now, so I couldn't resist at all.

It was good to know Twilight was in such capable hooves. Come to think of it, Starlight and Twilight were never away from each other much anymore... I think they were even sleeping in the same room. Pretty sure there was something going on there... eh, none of my business.

The last to get augmented were the two sister's, but the Lights ran into a problem. Alicorns are... weird. Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Twilight are all pretty different. While it's safe to say ponies don't really differ too much from each other, the same probably shouldn't be assumed about alicorns.

Twilight was especially scared of experimenting on her mentor. Luna was having none of that, the dark alicorn had always felt she was a protector of Equestria and it's ponies. With no magic she'd said she was useless.

She'd said If the cybernetics could give her a way to protect her friends she'd gladly go through Tartarus to get them. Twilight and Starlight started out small, a simple wing implant. While Luna's wings were larger than a normal Pegasus, her body was bigger too.

The initial tests were all failures. If they showed anything it was that getting the younger sister airborne was gonna be difficult, if not impossible. It also pretty much removed that option completely for Celestia. She was HUGE. Even with cybernetics Twilight said it'd be impossible to get her off the ground.

Much like Flutters, it didn't seem to bother the alabaster alicorn too much. While she did regret it initially, she'd already gotten used to the loss of her magic, plus she hadn't flown much before the Loss anyway, so it wouldn't greatly affect her like most pegasi.

After a couple months of work they were able to get Luna airborne, but her other enhancements were severely limited due to the threshold for weight her body could contain. They'd made her wings as light as possible, but the tech just wasn't there yet.

Celestia... Celestia got turned into a tank. They threw every kind of weapon into her large frame that she could withstand. From experience I've personally seen bullets, grenades, and even missiles come from somewhere within the alicorns body. I wasn't sure what her full list of abilities were, but she was particularly scary. Real glad she's on our side.

In only five years, the Lights had managed to build a full functioning super city. We didn't need much of anything else. The only crappy thing we still lacked was decent grub. They'd made some artificial paste stuff that kept us all healthy and living, but man, it tasted like hot garbage.

We still got actual food from the Everfree once in a while, even though it wasn't high on our list of priorities. For some reason stuff still grew like normal there, as if the Loss had never crossed it's boundaries. It was obvious that forest would never be normal, no matter what condition Equestria was in...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"That should go away as you get used to them," Starlight explained, looking down at the clipboard she was holding. "We got the defensive capabilities up to your requested parameters, but we don't have material strong enough to keep you aerial and protect you from rounds and explosions..." she looked me in the eye, prodding my wing gently. "At least not without it being a little cumbersome."

"We'll get it right, I swear," Twilight sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We just need to work a little harder and some more ti-"

"Twilight..." I laid a hoof on the shoulder of the lavender alicorn sitting before me. She looked so tired, it made me feel awful. She'd been through so much and was still pushing herself so hard. I tried to smile as best I could, the gesture not something I did much anymore. "They're great, don't worry about it."

"I have to..." Twilight's eyes grew a bit crazed, not seeing me anymore. "I can't lose you girls, I..." I removed my hoof, looking at Starlight hopefully. She was the only one that could help Twilight when she got like this.

"Twi," the lilac unicorn got her attention with a hoof where mine had been seconds ago. "how bout we take a break, get a little rest?" The raised eyebrow on Starlight's face combined with her smirk suggested a whole lot more than just simple rest.

Yep, definitely something going on there.

"S-sure," Twilight let out the breath she'd been holding in. "That sounds nice." A loud crackle of static that only I
and those on the same frequency could hear rang out in my ear.

"Dash, come in Dash. Over." The hardened voice in my head still had a habit of throwing me off whenever I heard it. The Lights had developed a pretty complex communications system for all of us. Those of us who were fine with being augmented had implants installed inside our heads.

"This is Dash, I read you, Fluttershy. Over," I responded. Flutters and Pinks used walkie talkies that they carried around to speak with us, a lot less convenient, but hey, whatever worked. Twilight and Starlight both looked at me with the concern of true friends.

"Dash, we've got a small group of raiders coming towards the north gate," she didn't sound worried. She shouldn't be. I could get out there in seconds and unless there was more than fifty I'd be fine. "They look... weird, Dash..." I waited. "Er, over."

"How many are we talking here, Fluttershy? Over." I just needed quantity, I couldn't care less about anything else.

"I see five, but they-"

"Roger that Fluttershy, moving out. Over and out!" I cut the feed, getting up and trotting to the doors of the lab. They opened in the middle, sliding outwards. "I got some troublemakers to take care of ladies," I said glancing over my shoulder as I left the room.

"Be careful out there, Rainbow," Twilight's concern hadn't waned a bit.

"Always, Twilight," I grinned. "Make sure you get her that rest, Starlight," I winked mischievously at the lilac unicorn causing Twilight's complexion to turn a deep shade of red.

"For sure, Dash," Starlight winked back, stepping closer to Twilight. "Take care of yourself."

"With these babies," I flared my wings, staring up at the slick metal that coated my appendages. "I don't think I'll have too much to worry about."

Oh, how wrong I was...

Confrontation

Weaving my way through the tall skyscrapers that made up Ponyville was actually pretty fun, like flying a familiar obstacle course back at Wonderbolts academy. Twilight's castle had become the center of the city, so getting to the outskirts would typically take anyone else a lot longer to reach. Not me though.

In just a few seconds, I was crossing the border, soaring over the massive wall that protected all of Ponyville from any troublemakers that might want to threaten our peaceful little society. The land outside the city's limits was pretty desolate, to say the least. After such a long time, the lack of sunlight, rain, and proper care basically turned it into a sprawling desert.

Luckily for us we had the Lights. None of what we'd accomplished this far would've been possible without those two brainiacs. We'd never be able to do enough to show them how truly grateful we were, so we did all we could, where we could, when we could.

Once my eyes caught sight of the group Fluttershy had described I decelerated and dropped my altitude. Sight amplification had become a necessary modification for me as soon as I'd started patrolling outside the city. With proper amplifications seeing great distances became as easy as clearing the sky of clouds.

Lighting outside the walls wasn't exactly stellar, what with the constant darkness. With other ocular augments I could see about two miles perfectly clear, even in pitch black darkness. Examining the group confirmed one thing.

Fluttershy wasn't wrong, they definitely weren't the typical raiders we generally got.

Why don't they have any lights?

I couldn't really worry about that right now, I had to gather intel. One of the creatures was leading the charge while the other four followed closely behind it.

The unicorn in the front was obviously the leader, easily identified by the horn, though I couldn't tell if it was a mare or a stallion... probably a mare from it's smaller frame. Two pegasi, small enough to be mares as well, but could be weaker stallions or colts, a unicorn stallion, and a large earth stallion trailed directly behind their boss.

They were all wearing some crazy looking armor, from the appearance alone it was tech a few months behind what the Lights had created for us. That seemed... improbable. Tech had spread across Equestria, we already knew that... honestly, it had probably gone a lot further than those boundaries, but it had never been up to the level of the stuff we had in Ponyville, not even close.

This armor though? It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. If I made a hard pass, approached them at rainboom speed and just... didn't care, I could probably lop off the heads of the four in the back with my wings.

Unfortunately, Twilight insisted we show diplomacy to anyone and everyone that came to Ponyville. That policy was a double-edged sword, mostly for me. While it had netted us a whole lot more helpful hooves, it also meant we... or I guess I, often got blindsided by raiders that were posing as non-combatants.

I guess it was a fair trade, all things considered. It was my responsibility, after all. That was the job I had taken on. I would fight back anything and everything that threatened my family so that they didn't have to. If I got a little hurt in the process... or even a lot, it was worth it.

"Be careful, Dash." Fluttershy's voice echoed through the speaker in my head. She was watching. That was the job she'd taken upon herself, the eyes and ears of the city. If something important happened anywhere within or near Ponyville, Fluttershy was a witness of it.

"Always," I came to a landing about twenty yards from the trespassers, a loud boom echoing in the night, followed by the metallic clanging as I furled my wings at my sides. The new mods made me a whole lot heavier, but as long as they did what I'd requested that was fine. The five ponies came to an abrupt stop at my sudden appearance.

"So whatcha here for?" I asked them. It was the standard greeting I gave every creature that approached the city. Ponyville had been successful enough that the entirety of Equestria knew about us by now. Either they were here for refuge or for a fight. I cracked my neck, just in case the latter was about to happen.

"Testing," the mare in front replied calmly. She was cool as a cucumber. I had no idea what she'd meant by that, but as she slowly stepped back and the four behind her moved forward, I was able to make an educated guess.

"You sure you wanna do this?" I unfurled my wings with a smirk, ready to take off in an instant if need be.

"It is what I'm here for... She's already made you new wings and I barely..." Now she was irritated, though I had no clue who or what she was talking about. "It doesn't matter, number three, number four, show me what you've got."

"Last chance to leave peacefully," I prepared as the two pegasi crouched and unfurled their own wings.

They can't, I chuckled to myself. I launched into the air, the explosive sound of metal clanging against metal almost deafening. Pretty sure I'd left a crater where I had just been standing.

Once I reached an acceptable elevation I glanced back down at the ground.

No way...

I was so stunned they could fly I barely had any time to react to their assault. One threw a vicious hook at my face, forcing me to push myself back with a flap of my wings or risk a dislocated jaw.

The second actually caught me with a hoof to the chest, sending me tumbling backwards. The pain was unreal. I didn't have protection for my chest and the pony's hoof felt harder than steel.

Probably a glove or something.

I flapped my wings hard again, regaining my balance as the two ponies grouped together in front of me.

"This can't be the best Twilight has to offer..." The voice that came from one of the pegasus was the same as the mare's on the ground. She must be using some sort of speaker to communicate through them. "You know I could've killed you just now, right?"

"If that's true... you're really gonna regret that you didn't," I blasted past the two ponies in front of me, so fast I was a little surprised I hadn't created a rainboom. I descended back to he ground, landing in front of the remaining three threats as I stared them down.

The bodies of the two pegasi crashed to the ground behind me, their severed heads hitting the dirt a second later. I flicked my wings, intending to clean them of any blood, but they were spotless.

Great job girls, they work like a charm.

"Incredible..." the mare exclaimed, much to my surprise. It wasn't the typical reaction to seeing your friends get killed right in front of yourself. "One! two! Do something." The earth pony and the unicorn stepped forward with no hesitation at the unicorn's order. Guess demoralizing them wasn't gonna be an option.

"You sure you still wanna do this?" I spread my wings out again. "Don't think you'll get any mercy if you push me."

"Likewise," the mare's horn glowed eerily, forcing me to take a cautious step back. If she had some sort of ability like Rarity or Starlight things could get real bad real fast. As I tried to leap into the air my wings refused to move, forcing me right back down to the ground.

Crap...

I took another step backward as the earth pony and unicorn lumbered toward me.

"Dash, I'm sending App-"

"I'm fine, Fluttershy. Don't distract me!" I growled, pushing harder on my wings. They moved, but ponyfeathers was it difficult to get them to do exactly what I wanted. I definitely couldn't fly, but I could still use them to fight.

The earth pony bounded toward me, his speed making it obvious that his legs were enhanced to some degree. Luckily, he was no AJ. I ducked under the powerful buck he threw my way, sweeping a wing at his forelegs to try to knock him off balance while keeping the other wrapped around myself. That unicorn could be trouble, I had to be prepared for anything.

A loud explosion nearly knocked me onto my back, a flurry of projectiles hitting the wing I protected myself with.

Nice!

That was most likely buckshot and my new wings had been able to stop it...

"They can stop weaker shells? Interesting..." I heard the mare talking to herself, wonder saturating her voice. The unicorn must've had a fairly basic shotgun augment, though it was probably safer to assume it could do more than just fire off simple buckshot.

With nothing able to stop me, my attack connected with the earth pony's forelegs, doing much more damage than I'd have thought possible. Both limbs were effortlessly severed at the knee. These babies could probably cut through solid steel like butter if I tried hard enough.

With no time to spare, I jumped backwards, surrounding myself with both wings. It would be really helpful if I could see through them, playing defensively really put me in a wierd spot, but that was asking for way too much.

A second, harder impact, slammed into the metal protecting me, forcing me onto my flank.

Slugs, has to be.

I'd been shot with those before. They hurt like heck, even with a protective vest on.

"Seriously?" the mare sounded bored, like she wanted to be anywhere else doing anything else. "Slugs too, huh?"

Yep, that's what I figured.

I could hear the sounds of more shells being chambered so I made my move. That was the weakness of any gun augment, having to take the time to reload.

I stood to my hooves, spreading my wings out and flapping them as hard as I could to send myself at the unicorn. It wasn't too far away, which was lucky on my part, the stiffness of my metal appendages propelling me a lot slower than I would've liked. The unicorn lifted it's head in surprise, certain death inches from it's throat.

Something was off. I shifted my wings as quickly as I could, surrounding myself tightly with the metal sheets... and then everything became blinding flames and chaos.

The next thing I knew I was on my back, fire everywhere around me. The pain was unbearable, the ringing in my ears apparently never going to let up.

What the heck just happened?

I tried to sit up, but my wings were even more heavier than before. They were so heavy in fact, it felt like they were pinning me in place.

"D---A----OU--ALR---" as the ringing slowly died down, the panicked voice that bounced around in my head was just escalating the annoying headache. Whatever had happened must've put my radio on the fritz.

"...ong enough to survive that one too, huh?" I glanced in the direction the voice had come from, unable to lift my pounding head. "What's to stop me from killing you right now?" The mare aimed her glowing horn directly at my chest.

"Honest...ly?" I coughed, a bit of blood dribbling out onto my chin.

That explosion must've been something else.

"Pr-proba...bly Star...light..." I just hoped she wasn't still fooling around with Twilight.

"What... the... hell?" The unicorn's horn fizzled out immediately. Thank god. I started laughing, though it was probably more coughs than anything else. "Tch, this isn't over, you've still given me a lot of useful data, Rainbow Dash."

"So you... know my name... b-big deal... who doesn't?" I groaned. I should've probably just kept my mouth shut, but there'd never been a time I could resist talking a little smack.

"Oh, I know a whole lot more than just your name, Rainbow," she walked over to my body.

Okay, this is bad.

If she had a knife or something similar, I was a goner.

Starlight may have been able to scramble the mare's augments, but she could still just stab me or crush my throat. With how far out I was from the wall, it'd probably take ten minutes or so for anyone to reach me.

"Oh... yeah? Like... like what?" I bared my teeth at her. My wings were still useless and the throbbing in my head was getting worse by the second. I could hardly lift my hooves, much less defend myself, but I had to bluff or she'd have free rein of me.

"Oh," she grabbed the helmet on her head slowly removing it and placing it under a foreleg. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Wha- what... the hell?" Before my mind could even process what I was looking at her hoof was hovering right above my face.

"Tell Twilight I said hello." Her hoof smashed into my face turning the entire world black.

++++++++++++++++++++++++

"... ah'm sayin' is we should be more careful with Dash's... well-being," as I came to, the sound of Aj's southern drawl was sweeter than a freezing cold glass of cider on a hot afternoon. We didn't get to enjoy those anymore. "Ah know she's essentially thuh law 'round here now, but-"

"She's waking up!" Pinks nearly shouted, quite the departure from her usual monotone voice. The loudish noise drew a tch! from the third pony who had yet to speak.

"Darling, raising your voice like that won't help Rainbow Dash recover any faster." Oh, It was Rare. That made sense, especially since Aj was here. I slowly opened my eyes to the blindingly bright light above me. As my vision struggled to adjust to the brightness, I found myself on an operating table, the same operating table I'd been on countless times to get upgrades.

The room was cold and sterile, pretty uncomfy, but a lot of good stuff happened to me here... painful stuff, but good nonetheless. The only thing that still really freaked me out were all the creepy machines in the room. I wasn't sure if Twilight or Starlight controlled em when they were doing operations, but they made me uncomfortable. Too sharp. Too cold.

Aj, Pinks, and Rare stood around me, concerned smiles on their faces. Not sure where the Lights were, but I knew Flutters was still at her station. We couldn't risk anyone or anything catching us off guard... even if the worst happened to one of us.

"Hey girls," I smiled, pain still coursing through my body, but it was a whole lot more subdued than before. Twilight must've given me some heavy doses of "medicine" while I was out cause I felt much better, though a little bit lethargic.

"How yuh feelin', RD?" Aj was keeping her composure, but I could see just how troubled she was by the state I was in. We'd known each other way too long for her to hide something like that from me. "Yer lookin' worse than an apple pie at one a muh family's reunions."

"Eaten?" Pinks tilted her head, a confused look on her face. Sadly, It was a genuine question.

"Y'all know what I meant, Pinkie," Aj gave the pink pony a wicked side eye.

"I'm... alright," I tried to sit up, but the stabbing pain that shot through my bones made sure that wasn't happening any time soon.

"DASH!" Pinks semi-shouted as I plopped back down on the bed. All three of them were already much closer, the profound worry on their faces both a comfort and a curse.

"Ugh, guess not," I groaned. My head was still pounding like a jackhammer and I couldn't move my wings at all.

"You really must take it easy, Rainbow Dash," Rare moved to place a hoof on me, but must've thought better of it cause she only gave me a kind smile instead. "You did just survive quite the ordeal."

"What... what happened?" I pushed a hoof against my head, hoping the pressure might alleviate some of... well, some of the pressure.

"Yuh got blown up, Dash," Aj said with an unbelieving chuckle, as if she herself didn't believe it was possible.

"Apparently, with a really big bomb." Pinks lifted her hooves into the air, but there was no excitement or doubt in her, just shock.

"I got..." I gaped at my hooves with my own disbelieving gaze. I remembered now. How had I survived? I remember fire and pain, but that's it, and then that pon-

"One uh thuh raiders was armed to thuh teeth with explosives or some such tech," Aj explained. "Blew 'imself sky-high tryin' to take yuh down," she carefully laid a hoof on my shoulder. "Guess he didn't know he was messin with thuh toughest pony in Equestria." I can't say her praise didn't make me tear up, but just a little.

"What about the mare?" As soon as I recalled that horse bashing me in the face I only cared about one thing, getting her back.

"Fluttershy did mention something about one of the troublemakers getting away," Rare stated.

Darn.

I guess that made sense. I'd definitely get my revenge. Wait...

"Girls something... there was... I don't really know how to put this," I looked at my friends, trying to decide whether or not what I had to say was... believable. To be honest, I didn't really believe it myself.

"What's wrong, Dash? You know you can tell us anything," Pinks offered a lifeless smile. What I wouldn't give to have the old bubbly Pinkie back.

"She's right, darling. We're here for you," Rare joined in the 'be nice to Rainbow Dash' party. Not that I didn't appreciate it, I'd just become pretty cynical since this all started.

"What is it, Rainbow?" Applejack looked particularly troubled. There wasn't any kindness in her question, just worry, as if she knew something disturbing was coming up. Like I'd said, me and Aj spent a lot of time together, she could generally read me like a book.

"That pony... the one that got me," I licked my chapped lips. "She looked exactly like-"

"Me," the mechanical doors to the room slid open, the Lights walking in together with Spike in tow, drawing our attention. Twilight looked at me with a sad half-smile on her face. It was... wierd, like she was already apologizing for something.

"Y-Yeah," I nodded at the lavender alicorn. "Just a little different in the colors department," I rubbed my eyes, seeing the mare I'd seen before right in front of me once again. "Why's that Twilight... who was she?"

"That..." she sighed, looking at Starlight who gave her a reassuring smile. "Was one of my best friends. Her name... is Moon Dancer."

Betrayed

"Well, that was certainly... enlightening," I grumbled to no one in particular considering I was completely alone. Witnessing firsthand what that genius Twilight was capable of had been an utterly humbling experience, to say the least. For a single pegasus mare to withstand all the firepower I'd thrown at her was completely abnormal and yet completely expected. The "chosen one" Twilight Sparkle, had once been Celestia's number one student, and had always been absurdly talented. It stood to reason that her real friends were just as amazing as she was.

Rainbow Dash had always pushed the boundaries of what it meant to be an aerial ace. Prior to the magic failing, she'd been recognized as a celebrity for her unrivaled skill in the sky. She was so talented she'd even performed feats once thought to be legend such as the Sonic Rainboom. She had to be one of the best Twilight had to offer.

While I'd technically won our battle, it sure didn't feel like it. The crazy pegasus had explicitly displayed the superiority of her friend's technology. That pissed me off more than anything else. After all this time, after all the painstaking efforts I'd made, I was still drastically inferior to the lavender unicorn.

Why?

I just couldn't understand how it was possible. Was the gap between us really that wide?

Why is she still so much better than me?

I had to make her see. I had to show her how wrong she was for what she'd done to us, no matter what she was capable of. She had to pay. I had to make her pay.

It was all so frustrating. I'd prepared months for this confrontation and never would've expected to be so quickly defeated. Modifying those four ponies had taken a lot of time and resources and despite their lack of real motivation, they weren't pushovers. They never would've "volunteered" in the first place had the queen not... nudged them in the right direction. She could be a whole lot more than a little persuasive when she wanted to be.

It's insane how much fear that monster could instill in a creature. Even when she wasn't around her victims, the mere mention of her name could bring about terror in any she'd previously come into contact with. Those four ponies had been more willing to go fight to their deaths against unknown foes rather than even try to escape the queen's clutches.

It was a sensible choice. She was a heartless murderer, after all. There'd be no mercy for any who chose to stand against her. Not like I had any grounds to talk, anyway. I'd never had the greatest facilities or materials to do my research. I couldn't count how many creatures had died under my care while I sought better forms of technology.

184. 86 mares and 98 stallions. Not to mention the other creatures.

Plus that unicorn just now. I swept a hoof over my face to alleviate some of the regret I was feeling. The trek back home was a long one and it was already wearing me out after having made it once just about thirty minutes ago. Well, it was probably that combined with the guilt. The queen forced me to install bombs into each of the four ponies, just in case they'd decided to try and rebel. I'd given her no resistance, going as far as to believe it was a good idea.

I'd detonated that unicorn's bomb. I didn't even know his name and I blew him up... killed him without a second thought.

I had to.

If I hadn't, Rainbow Dash might've been able to apprehend me and I definitely would've been in a predicament if that had happened. It was a split-second decision... one that I'd make again without hesitation. None of those ponies were Mini. I couldn't care less about them and I guess that fact was taking a toll on my psyche. When had I become so callous?

In spite of the defeat of my little group, I was still able to recover some of the materials that'd been provided to them. I managed to collect the three bombs from the incinerated ponies, as well as the majority of their modification chips.

I'd need the materials. The queen was constantly sending plunderers to other places to scavenge for necessities, but high end pieces of tech were still incredibly difficult to come by. We were wearing Canterlot's reserves thin, so every bit of useful resources we could save helped immensely.

The long trek back to Canterlot would take several more hours and I had a lot to think about on the way. Being pursued would've been a concern if studying the queen's anatomy hadn't proven so fruitful. The changeling couldn't transform anymore, that action being a wholly magical effort, but the elements that had once allowed her to morph her appearance still lingered deep inside her genetic makeup.

After years of backbreaking research and countless failed experiments, I'd managed to finally create a new form of technology from her DNA. Using the shape changing essence of the queen I was able to develop stealth tech. While it couldn't shift the appearance of a body, it could distort the... luminescence of one, mute it even, so that it didn't appear to the naked eye. The tech I was using now, as I made my way back to Canterlot, was even potent enough to make me undetectable by any sort of visual enhancement tech. I was basically a ghost.

Not even Twilight Sparkle could have developed a similar technology, unless she'd somehow come into contact with a changeling and done some pretty... questionable things to it.

Obviously, the queen was the first to receive the new chip. I mean, it was due to her contributions that I was able to develop the technology in the first place. In her graciousness, or more likely, because she could utilize me more effectively, she'd allowed me to implant myself with the tech. It was a really strange decision. She'd basically given me the ability to run away at any moment I so desired.

The thought would never cross my mind, though. Unlike her, I would never abandon a friend. Mini was far too precious to me, and she never left the queen's side for more than a few minutes at a time. If I even thought of leaving it'd be together with Mini, and that seemed more and more unlikely as each day passed.

Thinking about it now, I suppose I could have used my cloaking tech to try to escape from Rainbow Dash without killing the unicorn. Perhaps I was starting to enjoy all the death around me? Maybe I wasn't so different from Chrysalis, after all.

More likely though, was my fear of the cyan pegasus' capabilities. If she'd somehow managed to subdue me while invisible that could spell disaster for everything I'd worked for. The queen would not be pleased if I'd allowed that to happen. No, incapacitating... keeping her alive had been the smartest choice.

The queen would've been just as pissed if I had killed her prey. The bug was a complete and utter monster. If she even got an inkling that I might go against any order or made an attempt to betray her, she'd kill Mini, of that I was certain. I was too important to her, but that didn't matter much anyway. I didn't want to leave. I had a job to do.

Twilight...

Even after all this time, I could still remember what happened like it was just yesterday. I know I'll never be able to forget. She was supposed to be our friend, supposed to care about us, but on that awful day when Canterlot fell, she left without us. Me, Mini, Twinkle, and Lem didn't even cross her mind as she fled the city with her precious princesses.

Without the protection of magic or the guard the princesses were basically giant sitting ducks. They'd have been murdered... or far worse in seconds if Twilight hadn't saved them. I couldn't have cared less about them, though. What about us? What about our safety? Clearly, that didn't matter to Twilight.

The whole situation was complete chaos. The four of us stayed together, hiding away in my home for as long as we were able to. Somehow we remained undiscovered for months, but eventually we ran out of the most common supplies. We were forced to leave the safety of my home, mostly for food.

Needless to say, once we left our shelter the prince's mobs found us quickly. That's when everything really started for us, when we were brought before Blueblood. He'd somehow taken over the city once all the actual royalty had either fled or been dealt with. The less said about what was done to us by him and his lot, the better. Every day we'd hoped and prayed that Twilight would come to our rescue, that she'd save us from the hell we were trapped in. She'd always been there for her friends, hadn't she? She was the Princess of Friendship. We were her friends.

Apparently, we weren't. She never came. Lem and Twinkle couldn't endure the disgusting things we were subjected to say after day. Eventually they... first Lem and then a few days later, Twinkle. Their choice to give up left me... cold, but I really couldn't hold a grudge against them. Some days, I considered ending my own life.

Mini... Something inside Mini broke after their deaths. She became a husk of the mare she used to be, performing her duties for Blueblood without any resistance whatsoever. I hated seeing her like that, but there wasn't much I could do to help her.

Not until the first guns started popping up, at least. The devices were very complex machines, but as soon as I saw one up close, I was able to hammer out how they functioned. I tempted Blueblood with an arsenal, if he agreed to give me preferential treatment and the material to build it, I would make him a real threat to his enemies.

It was far too enticing a prospect for him to turn down. With dwindling resources and followers abandoning him by the day, he had no choice but to take my offer. That was the first time I was able to really protect Mini.

I'd gotten her treatment somewhat similar to my own. No physical contact, although I also received a modicum of respect as well, or at least it was faked when I was around. Being able to do that for her, for my best friend... for my only friend left... It propped me up, gave me the strength to go on... made me happy.

Thank whatever was still good in the world that she hadn't decided to give up like the others. If she had, I wouldn't have been able to hold myself together. Back then, I knew we had to bide our time, had to wait for the right opportunity to make an escape. It was then that I decided to live for only two things; Mini and revenge.

I'd provided the pompous unicorn with what I'd promised. Even when I'd made a breakthrough and began creating mods, I gave him some of those as well. It was a grating, but tolerable existence. I knew eventually something would happen to change our fortune. Something had to happen. And so, one day, something did.

Chrysalis showed up out of the blue. She got rid of the prince faster than I could've ever hoped and she spared me and Mini as long as I swore to help her get what she desired. It was an easy choice to make.

Live or die? I'm pretty sure the gruesome death at the hooves of the queen would've been a lot more horrifying than anything I could ever imagine. We became her slaves along with the rest of Blueblood's leftovers. So far, it hadn't been as bad as being the prince's property, other than having to walk on eggshells at all times around the queen.

I'd seen her do things I thought no intelligent being could. So much blood. So much pain. It was like she had no heart. Like she could do the most horrible, brutal things with a genuine smile on her face. She truly was a monster. A monster I'd use to reach my goals.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As I trotted up to the doors of the castle and deactivated my cloaking device, my countenance brightened several notches at the sight that met me.

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long," I greeted Mini with a polite hug. She didn't reciprocate, though that was expected by now. She hadn't shown any signs of warmth since... since the day we'd lost Lem and Twinkle. I didn't really mind. She could behave however she saw fit, especially after all wed gone through.

"Not at all, Moondancer. You know I'd do anything for Her Highness and at the moment, she wants me right here, waiting for you," she shrugged. I still couldn't understand her uncompromising devotion to the changeling.

What had started out as gratefulness for being saved... that might be the wrong word, gratefulness. Regardless, her gratitude slowly turned into outright worship of the queen. Don't get me wrong, I was just as indebted to the bug, but I couldn't hold her in such a high regard as Mini. She was just a bigger, scarier threat that needed to be dealt with... eventually.

"Let me guess, she wants to see me right this instant," I sighed, pulling away from my best friend. I was tired, way too tired. I'd been walking for hours and hadn't had anything to eat yet. I just wanted to get what little food I could scrounge up and crawl into bed for a long night's rest. That obviously wasn't gonna happen, not any time soon at least.

"She wants your report immediately," she started on her way to the throne room. I fell into step next to her. "But I'm sure you already knew that."

"Once a slave driver, always a slave driver," I sighed. I really didn't want to deal with the queen's crap right now, but I had little choice in the mater. Pissing her off was a terrible idea, I'd firsthand experience of that.

"She freed us," there wasn't any irritation in Mini's voice, just... indifference. "I'd think you'd be a little more thankful."

"Not sure I'd call a change in management liberation, Mini," I playfully pushed against her side with a hoof. "One evil dictator replaced by another doesn't really make too much of a difference in the long run."

"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that we didn't have to keep-" she stopped walking, her gaze falling to the ground.

"Mini?" Her sudden change in demeanor was concerning.

"Moondancer... it never stopped." She looked... sad? That wasn't possible. I mean, she could definitely be unhappy, but she hadn't shown any signs of... well, any emotion in years. I wasn't even sure what she meant, my brain was having trouble processing this new development.

"What didn't, Mini?" I reached out to comfort her, but she recoiled at the possible contact. I flinched at her reaction to my touch, lowering my hoof back to the floor.

"You didn't know..." she was struggling to speak, doing everything she could not to lose it entirely. "You couldn't have, but..." Her emaciated body trembled as she looked at me with the most pitiful eyes I'd ever seen. "T- the beatings... the... the..." She broke down, collapsing in a heap as vicious sobs shook her meager frame.

I nearly fell over, my heart plummeting into my stomach as an undesired amount of bile began crawling up my esophagus. It wasn't possible. Blueblood had sworn she'd be spared of any harm, most of all... THAT.

It couldn't be... It just... it just couldn't be. If what she'd said was true then... I'd completely failed her. All I'd done had only ever benefitted me and she... she had continued to suffer the entire time.

"But... WHY?" I couldn't hold back. I threw myself onto her, pulling her into an embrace. I couldn't hold back my own tears. We cried together like that for far too long. The queen wouldn't be happy, but at the moment, I didn't care. "Why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you tell me?" I asked once we'd both calmed down a bit.

"Blueblood said he'd kill you if you ever found out the truth," she sniffled. "I couldn't."

"He wouldn't have," I whispered. "I was way too important to him."

"I couldn't take the risk," she squeezed me. "You're my best friend. You're all I have left, Moondancer. If I lost you... I don't think..." She nuzzled deeper into me. All this time, she'd been the one protecting me.

"I'm so sorry, Mini." I was so weak. "If I'd have-"

"I don't blame you, Moondancer, she pulled away, standing to her hooves as she wiped her eyes with a foreleg. Her normal demeanor was back in an instant, like she'd never even had an episode only seconds ago. "I've never blamed you," her expression turned sour, full of disgust. "It was all that filthy stallion's fault." Her anger dissipated. "Now come on, hopefully Her Highness doesn't kill us for this." She extended her hoof to me. It might've been funny if it didn't have a very real possibility of actually occuring. I took her hoof in mine, standing up. Well, if anything, her devotion to the queen finally made a bit more sense.

"We've gotta get out of this mess, Mini." We continued toward the throne room. "We can find happiness again, I just know we can."

"I'm glad you came back safe, Moondancer," she said after a long silence.

"Me too, Mini," I sighed. "Me too."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"You two are late," The queen stared down at us from her cracked and broken throne, her expression unreadable. The wide smile plastered on her face was not an indication of what she was thinking or how she was feeling. She was probably the most deceptive creature I'd ever encountered and she was utilizing that particular skill right now.

"Forgive me, Your Highness," Mini bowed low. "I am to blame for our tardiness." I knew she'd try to sacrifice herself.

"You'll receive your punishment, Mini," the queen brightened up at the prospect of a good time. I cringed. She'd began calling Minuette my preferred nickname after she'd overheard me say it once. It pissed me off. It was my endearing name for my best friend. The queen used it purely to mock her and to piss me off. It worked so much better than she could've hoped.

"As you wish, Your Highness." Mini didn't break her bow for even a second.

"Join me in my chambers immediately after we retire. We'll have a splendid time together." Chrysalis licked her black lips. Entering her chambers was one of the worst things that could happen to any creature. The queen got bored a lot and when she did, she took it out on whoever was closest. Most of that boredom was eliminated in her quarters.

I'd only ever been in her bedroom once before. The experience was... not something I liked to think about. Mini on the other hand, was in there far more often, considering she was the one closest to the dreaded queen.

I had to do something to help her, or at the very least alleviate some of the punishment she was going to receive. I couldn't just stand around and do nothing. I had to help.

"Actually, it was my fault, Queen Chrysalis," I spoke up drawing her curious gaze.

Crap...

"I'm sorry." I slightly bowed my head in faux respect. I'd made a truly stupid mistake.

"Oh really!?" She cackled as if I'd just told the funniest joke she'd ever heard. "If you both wanted to be punished all you had to do was say so. It'll be a party then. Both of you can come together, we'll make it a ménage à trois. What fun!" Her grin had become so large it stretched her face beyond it's borders, giving her an altogether jarring appearance... at least more jarring than usual.

"Yes, ma'am." I wouldn't dare argue. Looks like I wouldn't be getting rest or food any time soon, though that was probably the least of my problems now. I'm not sure what she had in mind, but her punishment was never quick or easy.

"Now then," the queen leaned back on her throne. "Your ponies are gone, but you appear to be no worse for wear, Moondancer."

"The thing is," I stifled a groan. She was already evaluating my failures without giving me an opportunity to explain. "I-"

"Failed," her smile was gone, replaced by condescension. It wasn't just that, though. She was angry.

Not good. Not good at all.

"I don't have endless stores of fodder for you to throw away like refuse, Moondancer." The low growl that escaped her throat was several times more horrifying due to the sharp rows of teeth bared my way. "Tell me exactly what happened." The venomous glare she now displayed shook me to my bones. "Perhaps if your little tale satisfies me, maybe, just maybe," her gaze narrowed on me. "You won't have to find out what punishment truly means."

A glimmer of hope

"Twilight... come lie down, please?" I was already under the covers, waiting patiently... or at this point, Impatiently, for her to join me. I'd assumed if I jumped into bed first she'd follow my lead. Boy, had I been wrong. It was already difficult enough to find any time for us to rest, it didn't help that even when we did find some, she'd refuse to do so.

"In a second, Star," she was pacing back and forth, a look of intense concern on her exhausted face. "I just want to wait for Rainbow t-"

"Twilight, she'll be fine," I covered my eyes with my hooves. Of course she was worried about Dash. So was I, but the cyan pegasus was legitimately the most reliable pony either of us knew. This was a common occurrence for her. Heck, she'd easily taken care of a couple dozen raiders on her own before. She probably wouldn't even break a sweat with five.

"I know. I know, it's just-"

"Honey..." I cut her off trying a more... seductive approach. I rubbed the mattress next to myself in a slow circular motion. "Come to bed." I fluttered my eyes at the mare I was madly in love with.

"O- okay." With a defeated, but not entirely disappointed sigh, she stumbled over to me. I lifted the covers and let her snuggle in front of me. She faced away, my beloved little spoon. I wrapped my forelegs around her midsection as I placed a gentle kiss on her ear. The kiss slowly turned into a playful nibble drawing a low moan from her.

"Thanks, Twilight," I whispered to her. I really wanted to fool around a little bit more, but I could already feel her body beginning to relax and she needed rest much more than she needed my touch.

After all this time, she still had a terrible habit of neglecting her well being. Even with all of us constantly reminding her and begging her to take it easy, she continued haphazardly down the path of self destruction. With how hard she was recently pushing herself, I was convinced she was taking pills behind my back.

She'd constantly be awake, two, three days in a row and when she finally collapsed out of exhaustion she'd be out for twenty minutes at most. As time wore on she was gradually getting much worse. I could see just how bad when we were this close.

Her heart rate was constantly elevated beyond normal. Her body trembled almost all the time. She'd get random unexplainable nosebleeds. Even her ability to concentrate wasn't what it used to be. Witnessing her slow deterioration convinced me of one thing; I had to help her. I had to take care of her. It was all my fault, after all...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It was such an easy job. All I had to do was keep an eye on the school while my friends went to deal with the fading magic. I didn't have to fight some crazy strong monster, didn't have to confront a close friend about an issue that was bothering me, didn't even have to do anything other than my everyday routine. It should've been a piece of cake.

I should've had it all under control, but... I ended up getting tricked, by a single filly, no less. I'd discovered the root of the problem by accident, stumbled upon it by nothing more than dumb luck and random chance. Cozy had been able to shove me into the rift because I hadn't suspected her of any wrongdoing.

Maybe that would've been unfair of me... to have preconceived notions of a mostly harmless filly that'd never really shown any signs of corruption. I really wish I would have. More than anything, I wish I would have kept a little bit of my old judgmental self with me so I was more suspicious of others.

My mana was forced from me and used to accelerate the process, to drain the magic from out world so much faster than should've been possible. If I had never been captured, if I wasn't so stupid, maybe Twilight and the girls would've had the time they needed to stop it.

When I was discovered by Sandbar and the others the spell was already nearly complete. Seeing the students pressured by Cozy, getting threatened by her, drove me to a state of concern I'd never been to before. With the surge of magical energy I experienced, I was able to break free from the rift... but the very same magical power that liberated me was absorbed by the rift. I was safe... but our magic was gone.

All of it.

It wasn't only that loss that hurt so badly. Twilight had started a movement towards true peace in our world. Her school had brought together the youth of all the nations in the hopes of spreading the philosophy of friendship far and wide.

I ruined that. Once word reached the ears of the other lands--which happened way faster than it should've to be honest--that one of our students was to blame for everything, both Twilight and the school were vilified. Couple that with the downward spiral Equestria was already in and the school was forced to close it's doors.

Our most infamous students were forced to return to their homelands. All of them except Sandbar, for obvious reasons, and Gallus. The griffon was adamant about staying with his friend, insisting he had no one back home to return to. When none came to get him or even inquire about him, Twilight decided to allow him to stay. It's not like we were about to force him to make the trek home by himself.

The griffons losing their ability to fly had probably thrown Griffonstone into an even worse state than Canterlot. It might sound awful, but griffons were typically a very selfish bunch. If they couldn't fly out of the blue one day, I'm sure they'd focus on taking care of their own problems over those around them. As such, Ponyville welcomed Gallus with open arms.

Yona promptly returned to Yakyakistan. The lives of the yaks didn't change too much because of the Loss, but it's not like her father was gonna let her remain in a foreign place that was becoming so dangerous.

Ember needed Smolder back in the Dragon Lands. Thank goodness she was the Dragon Lord at the time... or I guess, still is, because the dragons themselves had always been an imposing threat to every other nation. If they'd really wanted to then, if they had a malicious enough Lord, they probably could've taken over the world. Not anymore though. Ember needed all the support she could get when a civil war broke out in her lands. I'm not really sure what became of any of them in the end, though I prayed they'd survived. Ember was nothing, if not resourceful, and she was a friend.

Silverstream... what an absolute mess. For the hippogriffs, a species that constantly shape shifted, the loss of magic trapped them in whatever body they'd occupied at the time of the Loss. I couldn't imagine what it was like for those who'd been in an undesired form at the time. Silverstream had been permanently locked away from her mother for the rest of her life.

Yes, they could still see one another, but the hippogriff went between her family on a near daily basis. It was such a despicable situation for their entire species. I'm not sure whether they were still alive either. News didn't exactly travel in our new world.

The changelings... Ocellus... Thorax... He told us that along with the magic, they'd lost their ability to feed. The hive was thrown into anarchy, falling apart in a matter of days. Apparently, the king lost his position. They... they couldn't survive on normal food alone like the rest of us... so they...

So much loss. So many dead.
Because of me.

I wanted to run, wanted to hide away from everyone and everything. Honestly, I wanted to die. Maybe that would've been a sufficient payment for my failure.

But I couldn't... because of her.

Twilight must've realized how guilty I'd felt. Not like I tried to hide it from her. When she and the others got back, I think she held me for a few hours straight while I cried. She never let me out of her sight, going so far as to bring me into her own bedroom so that I couldn't find an opportunity to run away.

She assured me... all of them did, the girls and Spike. I wasn't to blame, it was all Cozy Glow's fault. I had nothing to regret. Everyone had been tricked, not just me. I played along with them at first, feigned a sort of... acceptance, acted like I believed I wasn't responsible.

That didn't last very long. Trix was always there, trying to build me up, but she was never observant enough to see through my facade. Twilight though... Twilight was relentless. It's like she knew exactly what I was thinking and feeling at all times. The more she gave me her... attention, her care, her love... the more I came to realize just how much I loved her.

She'd always been kind to me, always had shown me just how strong friendship was, but she changed after the Loss. I wasn't really sure, even to this day, if it was due to the trauma she'd experienced or if she'd actually always felt that way, but she started to show me a side of herself I never dreamt of.

That first time, when she kissed me... I knew there was no one else I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. It was... complicated, to say the least. Our world was going to Tartarus in a hand basket and yet, I was happy.

She made me the happiest mare alive. Through everything that happened, the only positive constant was that we were together... and I wouldn't have had it any other way. We were managing to live and Ponyville was thriving... or at least thriving as best a city could in this horrid world.

But there was always lingering doubt within me. Twilight loved me, she told me so countless times, expressed it in so many ways. Kind words, thoughtful actions, physical intimacy, but... I just couldn't be sure. I wasn't... I wasn't sure if she was so scared of losing me that she convinced herself to love me, to get me in a relationship where I'd always want to be around her... where I'd never want to leave her side. Regardless of those uncertainties, I chose to be hers... and she chose to be mine.

When everything was finally looking up for all of us, when things were getting so much brighter, Celestia was nearly murdered. There were still changelings around apparently, though none of us had a clue how that could be possible.

They should've all died from starvation after such a long time. Unfortunately, some of the changelings loyal to Chrysalis survived. They had to have found a new source of sustenance... or at least another way to consume love.

Regardless, one of those filthy bugs had gotten into our city. It'd blamed Celestia and Luna for everything that'd happened, particularly for the loss of magic. It tried to take the life of the alabaster alicorn with a knife.

The former princess was covered in blood and bruises, clearly traumatized when she'd come to us for help. Her chest had a large gash where the attacker had swiped at her most precious of organs and her horn dripped with an odd liquid as she stumbled into our room, her eyes frantic with fear. Somehow, probably her immense size, she was able to fight off the changeling and skewer it directly through the eye with her horn.

The disturbing event had taken place right under our noses, inside the castle within Celestia's room. Luna hadn't been in at the time or I'm sure it wouldn't have been such a close call for the ivory alicorn. Needless to say her younger sister threw a fit once she got home, though it was mostly directed toward herself. After that incident, Luna never left her older sister's side, obviously quite affected by the possibility of losing her sister as well.

That was the day that Twilight lost a piece of herself. She'd already seen the rampant death that was taking over Equestria. We all had. Ponyville had been attacked so many times after the Loss. With no border we couldn't keep the invaders out no matter how hard we tried. We lost... a lot more friends than I'd like to admit, but Celestia... her near death experience was different for the lavender unicorn.

When society crumbled families were cut off from each other. The seven of us essentially lost the members of our families that weren't in in Ponyville or in Canterlot when we rescued the princesses. All of us except Pinkie, that is. I still have no clue how her and Maud were able to get their parents and sisters to Ponyville, but they managed to do it.

With no way to travel... or rather, no safe way to, we were forced to assume the worst had occured.
I think that hit Twilight the hardest. Her parents had been traveling when the Loss hit so they weren't in Canterlot. Her brother, sister, and niece were all in the Crystal Empire. She'd lost them all. But she still had her mentor.

Celestia... Celestia had always been more like a mother to Twilight than a simple teacher. When Twilight saw her idol in such a horrendous state, made to watch her day by day as Celestia recovered, Twilight deteriorated. It was plain to see just how taxing it was for her to cope with yet another tragedy.

She could no longer accept it... any more loss. At least, her mind couldn't. She became infatuated with saving every single citizen of Ponyville, obsessed with preventing any more deaths. That was obviously an impossible feat and the more she failed the more her sanity plummeted. The only thing she felt she could do was become even more fixated.

We built a wall. We created weapons to protect ourselves. We even started toying with the anatomy of creatures themselves in an attempt to hearken back to the days when we had magic.

It was a brave new world, one I wanted to live in with Twilight... one where I had to stay by her side... to take care of her... to protect her...

Because I loved her more than I could ever express...

Because I owed her everything for all the good I finally had in my life.

Because this entire world, this terrible place of death and sadness... was all my fault.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"R-Rainbow..." Twilight whispered through gritted teeth. She was having a nightmare, clearly about our pegasus friend. I stroked her mane gently, a feeble attempt to comfort her, but all I could really do. Twilight was always distraught when the cyan pegasus wasn't in her direct line of sight.

Rainbow Dash was constantly putting herself in danger for Ponyville's sake. Whether it was patrolling the outer walls when we had trespassers or breaking up some unruly citizens in the city, Rainbow's life was threatened on a near daily basis.

Despite the fact that she'd proven time and time again that she was capable of taking care of herself, Rainbow still ended up injured on a regular basis. Each time she came to us with a broken bone or a lacerated limb Twilight freaked out.

That eventually changed to freaked out whenever Dash was handling any situation. It made me scared too. It made all of us worry. It's not like Rainbow was out on a peaceful stroll through town when she was working. She was fighting for us. Right now, she was fighting and-

A low rumble shook the room.

Darn it...

I closed my eyes as I activated the chip in my horn. I could effect any tech within several miles with the enhancement I'd been implanted with. The problem I typically encountered at such great distances was distinguishing between friend and foe. Since I couldn't physically see what I was going to hack it made things a bit harder.

But...

No matter the distance, I knew what I was hacking. A gun, another chip, prosthetics. I could poke and prod. I could completely disable or take control. I spent a lot of time studying the girls' cybernetics for situations specifically like these.

I may not be able to see Rainbow, and I wasn't sure what she might be up against, but I was familiar with those mods... and I didn't know those across from them. Something was wrong. They were... gone?

DASH!?

I leapt out of bed, my thoughtless motion waking my beloved from her slumber.

"S- Starlight?" She yawned, rubbing her eyes of sleep. "What's going on?"

I scrambled the foreign tech immediately, a cold sweat drenching me.

"It's Rainbow," I tried not to look worried, but it was a fruitless endeavor. Twilight's eyes widened as she bolted upright, her grogginess gone in an instant. "She's in trouble!" My heart raced as pure unadulterated terror overtook my wife.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Why would she do this, Star?" Twilight's eyes had expanded past the point I thought possible. She wasn't crying, she didn't even look particularly sad, she was just staring at the floor, completely stunned. "What should I do?"

We were back in our room, waiting for Rainbow Dash to regain consciousness. The raiders that attacked had been too much for the pegasus to handle and she'd... shielded herself with her wings, but the explosion was... It was just too much.

Thank all that was good Applejack had been able to get to her so quickly. The orange mare said the area she found Rainbow in looked like a warzone. Heading back out to gather data after making sure Dash was safe and sound was a given. Unfortunately, Applejack found nothing but some melted pieces of metal and charred pony bones.

I was trying my best to get Twilight to calm down and rest, but was certain that wasn't gonna happen any time soon. Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie were currently watching over Dash and I'd know the second she came to, so there was little reason for me and Twilight to crowd the room as well.

We'd gotten to witness the melee in Fluttershy's base of operations, see things through Rainbow's eyes. Doing so had only exacerbated my wife's already disturbed state of mind.

Moondancer...

Twilight had spoken of her many times before. One of her best friends was the mare who'd attacked Dash, had attacked our home. To make things worse, Twilight actually felt guilty about Moondancer. She didn't know why the unicorn had attacked us, but she felt like it really was her fault she'd done so.

I sat next to her on our bed, holding her tightly as she vented her thoughts. I knew she wasn't really asking me what she should do. I could tell she was already running through so many possible choices and scenarios I couldn't even fathom a percentage of them.

She's too smart.

"Rainbow's wings..." She rubbed her face with her hooves. "I don't..." she sighed, looking me straight in my eyes. "There's no way to-"

"There is... that," I looked away from her. "I know you probably still aren't on board, but I..." I took a deep breath before looking back at her. She didn't look mad, or even disappointed, she still just looked so very tired. "I really think it'll work. I just need you to have some faith, Twilight."

She stared at me for longer than I was comfortable, her eyes searching mine. I looked back confidently, not flinching or giving any leeway.

"You're so cute when you're determined," she chuckled. She kissed me gently, catching me completely off guard. I felt a tremor run down my spine as she pulled away, way too soon for me preferences.

"Does that mean?" I trembled in hope, excitement, and a little bit of fear.

"If Rainbow agrees," she took a deep breath and nodded. "We'll try it your way."

Choose

"SQUIRT, I'M HOME!" I limped into our tight apartment, roughly kicking the door closed behind myself. As I trudged to the small "living room" to flop down on the couch, I realized my roommate wasn't home, though she'd managed to clean up the place again. If it were just me living alone everything would be a complete mess, but since Scoots lived with me, she kept the place pretty tidy. She said she would always do as much as she could around the apartment because I let her stay rent free. I appreciated it, but I would've let her stay regardless. It's not like she had anywhere else to go.

And besides, Twilight took good care of the seven of us, so it's not like I was hurting for funds. Scoots insisted though, and I wasn't about to force her to be a slacker like me. It's not like I was lazy all the time, just when I was done with work. Like right now.

I limped to the "kitchen", trying to unfurl my wings even though I knew they weren't there. Wing stretches had become instinctual for me years ago. I'd probably still be trying to do them until I was dead, even if I didn't have any.

Opening the standard mini fridge that came with each room rental was a bit more difficult with sore shoulders. Power was a big issue for Ponyville, so we had to keep any sort of appliances or devices that required electricity to a minimum.

It was kind of annoying to get used to at first, but I usually just curled up with a Daring Do book when I had the time anyway, so, no big deal. I grabbed a bowl of... well I don't want to call it food even if that's what it served as. It was a green paste that tasted like... not great.

Another invention of the Lights, it was a mixture of vitamins and minerals that every creature needed to survive. Efficiency was Twilight's middle name, I was sure of it. The paste was all substance and no style, but at least it did it's job well. Nobody was starving in Ponyville.

As I moved back to the "living room" I carefully laid down on the shoddy couch, tossing the bowl of "food" on the small coffee table in front of the sofa. The apartment was beyond cramped, like every other one in the building. I couldn't help but think about my old home in the sky whenever I was forced to do things in the apartment. It felt like another life, to have lived in the sky. What I wouldn't give to go back to the past, to sleep on a cloud again. I guess it really is true. You never know what you've got til it's gone.

Me and the girls would've stayed in Twilight's castle, but soon after the Loss we realized just how much work needed to be done around town. The castle became a workplace of sorts, almost every room being converted into some sort of research and development lab except for Twilight's and Spike's. Come to think of it I think that's when Starlight first started staying with Twilight.

Anyway, now, no matter who you were, you were stuck with one of these stuffy little apartments. Consisting of one small bedroom, one small bathroom, a small kitchen area, and a small living room, the apartment was... small. Twilight's blue-print for practicality and cost effectiveness was used throughout the entire city, once Ponyville had been populated beyond it's capabilities.

It doesn't matter how comfortable it is, right now we need to do what we can to accommodate everyone.

She'd made a tough decision. We could've just turned creatures away, worried about our own, but the Princess of Friendship just couldn't watch others suffer like that.

For any creatures of a reasonable age she had a separate area of the city built to hold them until she was sure they were deemed... safe to move into the city proper.

Fillies, colts, and other younglings were a different story. Once they started showing up at our doorstep, some of them by their lonesome, she refused to do the same to them. It's not like any of us would've objected. Kids are kids. Thankfully, it hadn't costed us yet.

And that's how these dumb skyscrapers got started.

We can't keep building outwards. We're already pushing up against the Everfree, and unless we plan on taking back Canterlot we can't go too far in that direction either. It'd be more efficient to build upwards.

It sounded ridiculous at first... but we all knew Twilight was much smarter than the rest of us, especially with how much she started looking into stuff like that. If she was pushing so adamantly for it, then it was most definitely for the best. While we lacked no room for any displaced creatures now, the environment was a far cry from the beautiful nature of old Ponyville.

I slowly moved to start eating when the opening of the front door announced the arrival of my roommate.

"DASH, I'M HOME!" the door slammed shut. 'YOU'RE NOT GONNA BELIEVE THE DAY I HAD! SWEE-" Scoots' eyes widened in horror as they focused on me. "Dash, what happened!? You're all banged up and... your wings...?"

"You might wanna take a seat, Squirt," I sighed, sitting up with a groan. "It's a long story."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"No way," Pinkie's eyes opened in what looked to be disbelief, an emotion she didn't show much anymore. It was obvious from her state of shock that she knew this Moondancer pony. "Why would she do something like this?"

"That name... it sounds very familiar," Rare's face scrunched up as she tried to recall where she'd heard it before.

"She's one of my old friends from Canterlot," Twilight lumbered over to my side, Rare and Aj allowing her to take their place by my side. She looked even worse now than she had a few hours ago. Her eyes were much more bloodshot and her mane looked like it'd been put in a blender. I wasn't sure how she was keeping this up, but I was certain she couldn't go on like this for very much longer.

We'd all already talked to her about taking it easy countless times before, but that had been especially difficult for her even before the Loss. With everything the way it was now, she wouldn't stop. She'd never stop. "How are you doing, Rainbow?" she laid a hoof on my forehead, probably checking my temperature.

"I'm fine, Twilight," I offered her a reassuring smile. The last thing she needed right now was more things to worry about. "Just a little tired." I would've postured a bit more, but I didn't want to lie to her right now. I needed her to understand how important rest was.

"Dash, I-" her lower lip quivered as her head fell. "I'm so sorry." So that's why her eyes looked so red. Her tears fell to the floor as all of her friends stared on in silence.

"Twilight..." I sighed. Of course she'd blame herself.

Darn it...

"RAINBOW!" my friends shouted at me, but I ignored them all.

In spite of the pain, I forced myself to sit up with a very audible groan. Yeah, something was off with me. My back felt really strange and I couldn't move my wings at all, but that wasn't important right now. She was.

"Rainbow, you have to take it easy," Twilight was panicking now, moving her hooves to force me back down, but then thinking better of it and instead just waving them in front of herself. "You have to-"

"Cut the crap, Twilight," I let out a shaking breath as I finally found a somewhat tolerable sitting position.

"R-Rainbow!?" she looked at me full of hurt.

"How many times have we told you the exact same thing?" I stared into her eyes, my demeanor a bit colder than I would've preferred, but necessary for the current situation.

She looked taken aback for just a second before her gaze shifted between each of us, one mare and a dragon at a time. The girls gave her awkward, if not overly concerned, smiles. Spike scratched his head and looked away uncomfortably.

"You really are looking quite dreadful, darling," Rarity spoke up first. Twilight drooped at the honesty thrown at her.

"Ya have seen better days, Twi," Applejack agreed with the ivory unicorn.

"You need rest," there was no compassion or concern in Pinkie's statement. She just told the truth and nothing else.

"It's just... we really care about you, Twilight." Even Fluttershy chimed in over the radio, despite not being physically present. "And you're..." She stopped talking, unable to continue.

"This isn't like before, Twilight." Spike crossed his arms looking more than a little annoyed. "You may not realize it, but you're a lot more important now."

Starlight just stared at the lavender mare, as if to say 'I told you, Twilight'. She was obviously beyond tired herself. Any form of worry or pain Twilight felt affected her just as much, if not moreso. But at the very least, Starlight knew she had to take breaks every now and then, knew she had to get some rest sometimes. Twilight though... Twilight...

"I-I-" she looked... anguished. Her eyes darted frantically between the lot of us, her expression growing more and more desperate by the second. It was easy to see the truth hadn't had the effect I'd hoped. Just as she took a shaking step away from me, a step that expressed all the fear and uncertainty she was feeling, I grabbed her and pulled her into myself. "Rainbow!?" she gasped.

I didn't do things like this, at least not in front of the others. Too cool for school and that whole mess, but right now one of my best friends needed me to be loyal and I would never let her down.

"We love you, Twilight." I squeezed her tightly, fighting against my own embarrassment. She was trembling and it made my heart ache all the more. "Please!"

"I'll..." she nuzzled into me, her tears coming harder now. "I'll try." The others joined us in our embrace.

(A few hours later)

Twilight was looking a bit more lively after her nap and I was feeling much better after mine as well. I was actually able to sit up now without any pain, as long as I was allowed to lean on a few pillows.

Currently, they'd all come back to the operating room. I wasn't sure why it was crucial I stay here, but I could venture a guess. I still couldn't feel my wings. Something was wrong... but I wasn't scared. For some reason, I was abnormally calm. Twilight just might have pumped me full of more painkillers, but I couldn't be one hundred percent sure.

"I don't really get it either," Twilight sighed. We were back to discussing Moondancer and why she'd decide to attack our home. "Honestly, I would've expected her to join us, not attack us." The look of utter bewilderment on her face was troubling, but at least she didn't look like she was about to keel over at any moment. She was leaning on Starlight though, which was honestly pretty adorable now that I thought about it.

Because my job required so many things, my eyes had been enhanced to record whatever they viewed. Twilight didn't have cameras set up everywhere... not yet at least, so I let them mod me further. It helped a lot when we needed info, especially at times like these. A feed of what I saw was constantly sent to Fluttershy and recorded around the clock.

Everyone had watched the recording of my fight and were pretty much caught up. Now we were just trying to decide what to do. If Moondancer was one of Twilight's friends, then that complicated things.

"Well, that clearly ain't happenin' any time soon," Aj interjected. The orange pony was sitting next to Rare, her marefriend. They were a cute couple too. They'd been together for years now, and their relationship only looked to be getting stronger as each day passed. "If she's got tech that strong and a grudge against ya, Twi, we might be in fer more trouble than we think."

Aj's unsettling remark caused a tense silence to fall on the room. She'd said she was "testing", which could mean so many different things it was almost not worth thinking about at all, but it could also mean she was evaluating us and our defenses for something much worse...

"You don't think she'd do something more... aggressive, do you, darling?" Rarity asked our leader what we were all probably thinking. I know I was. If we were about to be invaded by some crazy unicorn with even crazier tech, we needed to be ready.

"I... I don't know," Twilight shook her head, deflated. "If she does, we'll-"

"Be ready!" I declared confidently, drawing the spotlight onto myself. "I won't let anything happen to any of you." I steeled myself. It wasn't a lie. They would stay safe, even if I had to die to protect them.

"Dash..." Starlight looked so grateful for just a moment before her entire demeanor changed. I knew that expression. That was the face of a mare with life changing news.

"RD..." Applejack spoke up, her expression no brighter. "We got some bad n-"

"Your wings are gone," Pinkie stated evenly. Now there was a face that betrayed no emotion. Chilling.

"PINKIE!?" Fluttershy's shout along with the crackle of metallic screeching in our heads almost made everyone except the pink pony and Twilight double over in agony.

"Little loud, Flutters," I rubbed my temple once I'd recovered from the throbbing migraine a bit. The other girls were nursing their own discomfort.

A quiet "S-sorry," was all the yellow pegasus could manage to whisper back.

"She needs to know," Pinkie said so bluntly I thought her sister Maud might've somehow come in and taken her place. "She deserves to know." Everyone else simply dropped their heads, apparently ashamed for some reason. I couldn't fathom why.

It's not like they were keeping something from me for selfish reasons.

"I figured," I chuckled mirthlessly drawing confused gazes. "I can't feel em, haven't been able to since I first woke up.," I looked at Twilight, determination filling my soul. "I don't care. No matter what it takes, I'm gonna protect all of you, with or without wings."

They stared wide-eyed and mouths agape, as if I'd just said the most ludicrous they'd ever heard. All of them except the Lights. They just looked at each other, Twilight jerking her head in my direction. With one of the longest breaths I'd ever seen a pony take, Starlight looked my way.

"Rainbow, there still might be something we can do," the others turned their stupefied faces to the lilac unicorn. "I've been working on something... It might be able to give you back your wings, but..." she bit her lower lip and looked at Twilight.

"Star," Twilight smiled back, giving her a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Everyone here trusts you. You just have to have faith in yourself."

The smile that spread across Starlight's face, paired with the crimson tinge on her cheeks, gave her all the confidence she needed to continue.

"I didn't want to bring it up until I was completely sure it was ready," her eyes drilled into mine. "But I'm fairly certain I can make it work. 75/25 at worst, Rainbow, it's your choice."

"What does failure mean for me?" I had to know what I was putting on the line. If it was something small then I'd-

"Death."

Crap...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Shi-" the orange mare's eyes widened in terror once she noticed the look of anger on my face. I don't know where she'd picked up that kind of language... I mean sure, I could sometimes curse like a sailor if I got pissed off enough, but never in front of her. She was supposed to be better than me, and I intended to make sure she was and stayed that way.

"Shoot, Dash," she quickly changed her tune. "That sounds... horrible," she'd been hanging on every word. "What are you gonna do? About your wings, I mean."

I scratched my mane roughly with a hoof. Could I live again without my wings? I could still do things now, just not to the same degree as before... not even close. Was it worth it?

I wasn't so sure. I didn't want to die, not anymore at least. Even if it was without my wings, I wanted to take care of my friends. I wanted... I wanted to be a boon not a burden to them, but...

"What do you think I should do, Scootaloo?" I stared at her, hoping that there'd be something there, something I could use to motivate myself, to lift myself up.

She was taken aback by my question, her eyes widening before narrowing in concentration as she looked down at the floor. She was quiet for a minute. I'd give her as much time as she needed.

"I think," she lifted her head, a brilliant smile on her face. "I think you're the bravest most loyal pony I know, Dash. You always have been." I felt the corners of my mouth lift. "I know you'll do the right thing, no matter what it is."

I couldn't fake my usual tough guy act and pretend her words hadn't stirred something in my heart. I clenched my teeth, doing the best that I could not to look weak in front of the mare who'd always idolized me.

"Thanks, Scoots," I covered my mouth with a hoof and looked away from her. "You're right," I felt my confidence rising, her faith in me reinforcing my original decision. "I know exactly what I'm gonna do."

My Queen

Author's Note

This is a very brutal chapter, at least for my stuff. You've been warned.

My Queen

"Rainbow Dash," I answered simply, drawing the most condescending scoff the queen could produce.

"So let me get this straight..." she was fuming, but all I could do was tell her the truth or lie, and lying never ended well when it came to Chrysalis. "That insignificant blue PONY was enough to kill four of my servants and all you did was SIT BACK AND WATCH!?"

It's a good thing she couldn't use magic anymore cause if she could, I was certain I would've been thrown into a wall or the floor. I shifted my stance, making sure not to look Mini's way. If I did, the focus of the queen's fury might shift to her, and that was the last thing I wanted.

"You're mostly correct, Your Highness," I stated simply, yet again. It was best to be calm and blunt around Chrysalis. Any sign of emotion or disobedience would be swiftly targeted and punished by the insect. "I killed one of them."

She took a deep breath in and let out a long, throaty hiss.

"You have one minute to explain yourself, Moondancer." She hadn't calmed down, she was just past the point where she could keep her rage contained. "Choose your next words carefully."

"Of course, Your Highness." I had to be prompt or my punishment would be even more severe than it was already going to be. "The two pegasi were decapitated almost immediately," her face twitched in annoyance. "The earth pony's legs were all severed, loss of blood his cause of death." A strange spitting- coughing noise her response to that news.

"And the one you killed?" her voice rumbled with rage.

"Tactical self-destruct using one of the bombs you had implanted in them." Her eyes widened at that revelation. "I was able to catch Rainbow Dash in the explosion." A satisfied grin came to her face.

"She's dead?" she licked her lips. It was a trick. I knew exactly what she wanted, and I wasn't about to fall into her trap.

"No, she survived. Protected herself with her wings. They're gone though," her face lit up with glee. "Completely obliterated by the blast." Her jubilant laughter echoed throughout the throne room for minutes, as if I'd just told the funniest joke she'd ever heard.

"Splendid! SPLENDID!" she was absolutely glowing as her cackling died down. "Such delightful suffering for the Princess of Friendship is worth such meager losses."

"If I may, Your Highness?" I tossed my saddlebags to the floor in front of her.

"More good news!?" she giggled like a school filly. "You spoil me, Moondancer."

"I managed to recover most of the crucial tech from their corpses," I tried not to sound cocky. If she detected any arrogance in me it'd mean deep trouble, but if she was pleased maybe I'd be able to get some mercy for me and Mini.

Yeah, that'll be the day.

"Wonderful!" she clapped her hooves together. "Then I only have one more question for you, Moondancer."

"Anything, Your Highness," I lowered my head obediently.

"Why are you so obviously displeased with your success?" she looked acutely confused. "Are you trying to hide something from me, Moondancer?"

"Not at all, Your Highness," I sighed, a mistake in hindsight. "Her tech is just... better than mine," I was growing frustrated, my emotions slowly getting out of control. "She's... SHE'S BETTER THAN ME!!!" For only a second the mere thought of Twilight made me lose myself and I shouted. It was completely unintentional and I slapped my hooves over my mouth almost instantly, but the queen had noticed.

"OH!" her eyes flickered with excitement. "Are you yelling at me, Moondancer?" her voice was low and calm, a far cry from her earlier rage and hundreds of times more sinister.

"N-no, Your Highness," I looked at her desperately. "I'd nev-"

"And now you're lying to me?" she was so thoroughly entertained that she'd caught me in her web, I was surprised she wasn't floating in the air.

"I-no, I-" I was trapped and she knew it as well as I did.

"Oh, Mini?" she cooed as my body went numb.

"Yes, Your Highness?" My best friend replied calmly, the polar opposite of what I was currently feeling.

"Would you come over here for a minute?" Chrysalis kept her eyes locked on mine as she spoke to the blue unicorn. She was getting an unreasonable amount of entertainment from the panic in me. I knew I was playing right into her hooves, yet I still couldn't calm myself down.

"Of course, Your Highness," Mini moved without hesitation, trotting right next to the bug to face me.

"Good girl," she patted her atop the head with a hoof. "Now then, my precious little Mini?"

"Yes, Your Highness?" Minuette kept her eyes on me.

"I know I don't have to tell you to be honest with me, my obedient little Mini," Chrysalis slid closer to the unicorn. Her movements were so serpentine, I swear she was more snake than insect or pony at this point. "So what say you, dear? Did Moondancer just shout at me?"

"Yes, Your Highness," she replied without a second thought.

"And did she lie about doing so?"

"Yes, Your Highness," Mini continued to stare at me emotionlessly as she threw me under the bus. I'd have had it no other way. If it meant me or her being punished, I'd choose myself every time.

"Oh Mini," Chrysalis moved her disgusting maw uncomfortably close to Minuette's face, never taking her exhilarated eyes off of mine. "Your loyalty is always so..." her nauseating tongue crawled out of her mouth and moved across the blue unicorn's cheek before slinking into my only friend's accepting mouth.

My heart pounded, my senses all screaming out at once. If I had the ability to do so, the bug would've been nothing but a bloody pile of mush on the floor. I almost moved... almost. Thank all that was still good I hadn't. It was all one big game to Chrysalis, her overly dramatic moans as she violated Minuette were evidence of that.

She wanted me to react, wanted me to do something foolish so she could punish me even worse than I was going to be. I bit my lower lip, almost clean off, as I stared into Minuette's eyes. There was nothing there. With a loud smacking sound the queen pulled her lips away from Minuette, her tongue lingering for just a moment before it too was back in her horrible mouth.

"Arousing." Chrysalis cackled like the maniac she was. "So then, what should I do with you? Mini claims you're the guilty party, Moondancer... Is my obedient little Mini the liar?" The queen cupped Minuette's face with one of her grubby hooves.

"No, Your Highness," I bowed my head low. "I lied... and I shouted. I beg for your mercy, Your Highness." There was no point in trying to defend myself. Chrysalis had already won. Now it was just a matter of her deciding who she wanted to play with more.

"Mmmm, I see." If she was angry I wasn't squirming, she was good at hiding it. "Well then, you've both pleased and disappointed me, Moondancer," she stepped down from her elevated position and trotted right up to me. I kept my head low, not wanting to incur any more of her wrath.

"I offer you a choice, Moondancer," I could feel her hot breath on me as she whispered into my ear. I kept quiet. "You take all of the punishment due the both of you..."

Well, that doesn't sound like the good option... though neither is probably good.

"Or Minuette does and I will not say you deemed it so."

It was an alluring choice. I really wanted to get some food and some sleep.

I can betray her and she'd never even know...

But I would.

"I'll take all of the punishment, Your Highness." Staring down at her hole filled forelegs I noticed them twitch a bit at my answer.

"I see..." she let out a deep breath. "You're such an utter disappointment sometimes, Moondancer," she licked my ear sensually, the motion making my legs jitter. "Ever the righteous little pony... just like that whore, Twilight Sparkle." Just as I was about to jerk my head upwards she bit down hard on my ear.

"GgaAHH!" I fell to my knees, unable to handle the pain as I grabbed at my bleeding ear.

"My chambers, NOW!" she roared at me.

G-great...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I stood in front of Chrysalis, the only sound in the room the plip-plip-plip of my blood dripping from my face. Blueblood's room, which was once Celestia's, had now become Chrysalis' quarters. Unlike the way that pompous unicorn had kept it, it was now dark and... moist, for lack of a better descriptor.

There were no candles, no sources of actual light, just glowing green collectives of some strange substance that had to have come directly from the bug herself. The room was filled with the scent of dried blood and... a mixture of other odors I couldn't quite put my hoof on, though they were all equally vomit inducing.

The black queen was lying on her bed, the grin on her face chilling me to the bone. I'd only ever been inside her chambers once before and I still had nightmares about that time. It took me weeks to recover from that horrible experience. She was an expert at inflicting pain without actually causing any long lasting injuries. She knew If she hurt me permanently, I might not be able to do my job.

"Come here," she patted the bed next to herself softly. I obeyed, immediately trotting over to the bed and laying right in front of her. The first time I was here I was afraid of getting blood on her things. Now I knew, that was exactly what she wanted to happen.

She grabbed my neck with a hoof and gently pushed my head down onto the mattress. I might've been a bit more scared if I didn't know what was coming next. She locked her mouth onto my damaged ear before licking and sucking on it like it was a lollipop.

It was painful at first, the more strenuous her efforts the more I felt. But... it gradually began to feel... good. Very good. Unbelievably good. Before long, I shut my eyes as a moan of ecstasy escaped my mouth.

The queen's laughter was muffled, her mouth still clamped down around my ear. I couldn't understand it, but my entire body was tingling. I couldn't control my breathing. I could barely even think.

"Divine isn't it?" the queen didn't ask so much as declare. I opened my eyes to find her looking down on me with...

Love?

"Ah, but this is not supposed to be a reward..." she smiled warmly. "It's a punishment." She moved to stand over me, pinning me to the bed on my back.

She was so... BIG, so powerful. I held my legs close, nearly in a fetal position. There was no begging allowed inside here. There was no speaking at all for the one being punished unless they were asked a question.

"Don't take your eyes off of mine again," her green eyes drilled into mine. Keeping eye contact was one of the many rules in her chambers. Her oral motions had caused me to forget. I was amazed she hadn't used my mistake to compound my punishment.

She lowered her face down to mine, her hot breath tinged with that same smell of blood and flesh flowed over me. She got even closer as she started... sniffing me? My mane, my face, all over my body. I couldn't fathom why. I had to reek of perspiration and dirt.

Trekking across the wasteland that Equestria had become would do that, and I'd come straight to her. I hadn't had a chance to wash or even freshen up, but she didn't seem bothered by my scent. Her... attention was starting to become embarrassing, but it's not like I could protest.

"How I miss my magic," she said lamentably as she continued to explore every inch of me. "Everything is so much more... physical now." She took one final deep inhalation of my scent before placing a short gentle kiss on my lips.

"Now then, how did that feel?" she asked once she'd finished.

"Good, Your Highness," I answered. It hadn't, but I wasn't about to say that out loud. She moved her head down to my neck.

"And this?" She licked me before gently kissing and suckling along the area.

"It..." That same strange tingly feeling began to assault me. "It feels good." This time, it was the truth. She pulled back and moved lower.

"And this?" She licked around my belly before sucking around it as well. Whatever she was doing to me had my head swimming.

"I-" I was breathing so hard, my forelegs moved to cover my face by themselves. "Yes, Chrysalis," was all I could manage to get out through ragged breaths. She laughed a throaty chuckle before pulling away yet again.

"And what about this?" she gently grabbed my hind legs and spread them wide. My heart hammered as the queen's head descended lower. My body tensed, the anticipation of her tongue exploring further driving me crazy.

A blood curdling scream escaped my throat as the queen bit down on my inner thigh with enough force for her teeth to shred through the soft flesh and reach the bone. I saw white light, the pain so unbearable I tried to buck her off despite knowing the repercussions of such a foolish action. With a delighted giggle she licked away the blood from her mouth as I thrashed and grabbed at the new pain.

"Eye contact, Moondancer," she grabbed my face roughly. I couldn't hold back the tears, but I clenched my teeth and growled, stopping the screams immediately. My pain drove her wild, her eyes shimmering with a luster I'd never seen in them before. "Good girl. Did that hurt?"

I nodded, foregoing speech because if I opened my mouth I knew I wouldn't be able to stop the screams.

"Poor thing," she laid a hoof gently on my bloody wound.

"P-please..." I begged through gritted teeth. I shouldn't have. I broke the rule and she'd already let it slide once.

"Oh Moondancer," she pressed down hard on the bleeding limb eliciting another scream that I couldn't hold in. "You know you're not supposed to speak out of line." She was so heavy it felt like my entire leg might come off due to her massive weight. Had her chitin somehow grown so overly dense?
Maybe that's why she was invulnerable to most things now.

Another firm bout of pressure from the queen's hoof pulled me from my thoughts, the pain instantly back to full as I let out a scream muffled by my teeth.

"Oh, come now, Moondancer," she took a careless seat on my stomach, placing her full weight on my small frame. It felt like being crushed by the lankiest boulder. "Mini never gives me this much trouble."

I could hardly breathe, her weight already too much for me to bear. Not only that, the pressure made my leg hurt all the more. I cried, still focusing my eyes on hers. I couldn't hide it. It hurt so much more than I ever could've imagined. The worse I felt, the more her smile grew.

"Just remember, you're doing this for her," she whispered into my ear before raising her hoof high and slamming it into my face. "Maybe next time you won't step out of line."

I saw stars as my vision blurred, the blow connecting with my eye and making my head spin.

"EYES ON MINE, MOONDANCER!" she roared. I tried to focus, but it wasn't possible, the start of a migraine already creeping up on me. "I SAID," she raised her hoof again, another ruthless
blow rocking me. "LOOK AT ME!!!" I opened my eyes as wide as possible, looking up at her as best I could.

I could already feel the bruises forming, blood dripping from my nose as I struggled to get air. I kept sniffling, wanting so much not to cry. I began to sob, the cries racking my body as I stared up at her.

"Oh Moondancer," for just a second she looked remorseful, a sigh leaving her lips. She tenderly cupped my face with a hoof. "All you have to do is obey me. Then things like this won't be necessary." She kissed me gently on the cheek. "Just remember that you're mine. You exist for me. Your life is my property and it always will be."

She got off of me before getting off of the bed and standing to her hooves. She sighed once again, rubbing her head with a hoof.

"Do you regret your insubordination?" she asked, not facing me.

"Yes, Your," sob "Highness." I said through the tears, not moving from my position.

"Are you sorry?"

"Yes," sob "Your Highness."

"Will you do anything like that ever again?"

"No," sob "Your Highness."

"Good," she let out a satisfied breath. "then," the sadistic grin that was on her lips when she turned to face me made my heart turn to ice. "Now the real fun can begin."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I can't say for sure how long I was in that room, nor could I relay all the horrible things my queen had done to me. After what felt like weeks, all I could remember was unparalleled pleasure blotted out by unspeakable pain.

If I thought my initial encounter within her chambers had been bad, I was absolutely foolish for ever believing so. The things she'd done... I would have gladly spent years with Blueblood and his ilk over another night with my queen.

Once it was over and she'd had her fill of me she waved a hoof toward the door indicating I was free to leave. I hobbled over to it, barely able to stand as the blood dripped from too many places for me to count. I almost stumbled into the wall, the darkness of the room coupled with my blurred vision from blackened eyes made it almost impossible for me to guide myself.

It took me several tries to lift my hoof to open the door. After a few minutes of fumbling with it, I was finally able to grab the handle and pull it open.

"Oh, and Moondancer?" her calm voice made my body tremble. I just wanted it to be over. I had to hold onto the doorframe to prevent myself from falling over.

Please...

"Y-yes, m-my queen?" It was hard to speak with swollen lips and a brain that was having difficulty properly functioning, but I managed to as I turned her way.

"Tell Mini it's her turn," her sharp teeth were on full display.

"Wha- b-buh- my queen... y-you said... I t-thought..."

She'd said! I had endured all of this for Minuette's sake! She was supposed to-

"Come now, Moondancer," she tilted her head to the side, an innocent giggle escaping her mouth. "Did you honestly believe I'd let her get out of being punished?"

"I... I..."

I wanted to die...

But even more than that, even more than protecting Mini, even more than anything else, I didn't want to be punished again.

"As you wish, my queen."

"Good girl."

What if?

"Star... what's wrong?" My better half meekly asked me. It was a question uttered far too often in the present world, right up there along with are you okay? and how are you doing?. The lavender alicorn's eyes were filled to the brim with worry. I silently cursed myself for making her feel something horrible like that. We had been getting the OR ready for Rainbow's procedure when my love must've noticed my irregular demeanor and decided to break the silence that had filled the room.

"I'm just... " I really didn't know what to say to her. We were two hours away from the operation and I still couldn't shake the horrible feeling of... uncertainty that had gripped me. Originally, I'd wanted nothing more than for Twilight to trust me and my invention, but even so, I knew just how risky doing something like this could be. I knew just how much it could change everything.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

After Twilight had come up with so many different kinds of technology to aid in our recovery, I'd felt... obligated to create something beneficial on my own. It's not that I hadn't helped her with everything she'd done along the way, but I knew after learning so much with her I could create something truly unique using my own hooves.

It was a long time coming. I'd worked alone for years, hoping to surprise Twilight with the expertise I'd gained from her guidance. After all those years of application, I'd finally gotten to a place where I was at least somewhat confident we could move forward with my invention. It was a new material completely composed of light, if you can believe that. I called it Hard-light. By weaving light into itself millions of times over, I discovered how to transform an intangible element into a physical form. Using my methods, I was initially able to construct almost anything I could think up with the material.

It'd been particularly difficult to work on, especially with our greatest source of light being lost to us. Along with aiding Twilight in her endeavors, I'd been able to work at my own invention in secret, using various small sources of light. Fire, electricity, and even the rays of light from Luna's moon were all invaluable sources, the former Princess of the Night's heavenly body a seemingly inexhaustible one.

Using a mixture of Twilight's blueprints for other technology as guides, I was able to draw up and begin testing my own new tech. After an endless amount of trial and error, I'd managed to create a simple test sheet of the material. Depending on what light source was used, the material itself would take on the shade of the light used to create it, giving it many possible different hues. That was not really pertinent to its uses, but it was a nifty fact regardless.

Upon completion, I first tested the durability of the Hard-light. Amazingly enough, it was so strong it could withstand any form of blunt force trauma I threw at it. Even the most powerful explosions I could produce were unable to put a single scratch on it.

On top of such unheard of durability, it was so light it weighed virtually nothing. Further into my research, I was able to meld its former qualities with its more tangible ones. From a constructed device, I could produce the light, have it perform its purpose, say as a shield, and then have it retract into said device.

It was a miracle, an invention that defied the very physics and reason of our world. I guess that's why Twilight had objected so adamantly to it when I first revealed it to her.

It broke my heart that so much of my hard work was being frowned upon, work that I'd done for the sole purpose of making Equestria a better place, but a lot of what she'd said made sense. Something like Hard-light was capable of altering our reality itself, as far as what was possible for ponykind. The degree of change it could bring to our world was monumental... for better or for worse.

Naturally, I'd agreed with her when she'd said we should sweep it all under the rug.

It... hurt.

A lot.

All of my work and effort was going to get thrown down the drain, but I'm pretty sure I'd discovered something best left in the shadows. Despite my decision to go along with Twilight and bury it, I still really wanted her to trust me... I still... thought it could help.

Regardless, we completely abandoned my Hard-light and everything having to do with it, hiding away all the research and development I'd painstakingly accomplished. It was just way too dangerous... that is, until now.

Rainbow Dash's wings had been completely obliterated in the battle with Moondancer. All that remained, not only of the mods we'd implanted in them, but her once proud pegasus heritage, were bloody stumps. The modifications we'd installed were too deeply ingrained in her skeletal system, so when that raider's bomb went off, it tore through everything like a hot knife through butter. The damage done was so severe she'd essentially become an earth pony.

But with Hard-light... with Hard-light we could create a whole new system of light for her wings. Then, after doing so, we could build into that foundation with more Hard-light. In the end, she might end up looking a little strange, but I was confident it would work, and that's what really mattered.

The problem I was having with moving forward with the implementation of the Hard-light was the various gambles we'd be forced to make. First of all, there was the very real possibility that Rainbow could become a paraplegic, or worse, from the surgery alone. My Hard-light was completely untested in many crucial environments, one in particular being the internals of a pony's body. It's not like I was some kind of mad scientist that had access to a bunch of cadavers for experimentation, so that variable had gone completely untested.

As such, I had no clue what the short-term effects of exposure to the innards my Hard-light might have, much less the long-term ones. What if something crazy happened and the Hard-light broke down within her body after a time? What if it did something like seep into her blood and contaminate it? What if it corrupted her mind and turned her into some sort of crazy zombie monster?

Okay, sure, I didn't expect something like that last one to happen, and I was almost certain it wouldn't, but life had a way of biting you in the flank when you least expected it. Along with the whole, 'could possibly turn Rainbow Dash into a vegetable, a zombie, or just outright kill her', thing, came a second very... concerning issue.

Rainbow Dash had always been the most headstrong, brash, and cocky pony of our friendship circle, even before she'd ever been modded... even before the Loss, if I was being completely honest. By my calculations, If we were to give her Hard-light wings she'd... pretty much be unstoppable.

With the old tech, I could hack her entire system at a moment's notice, if I was ever put in a position where I had to. Even Rarity could put a stop to her if need be, considering the pegasus was covered in steel. Hard-light was beyond anything we'd created up to now, though. We'd have no way to bring her down if she got too heated. She'd have free rein to operate however she saw fit... and that didn't sound good, at least not to me.

Don't get me wrong, it's not like I was worried about her turning on us or anything like that. She's the element of loyalty for Pete's sake. It was more along the lines of, if she ever got herself into a bad spot she'd put her life at risk without hesitation, even if she didn't need to. In such an awful situation, with Hard-light wings, we'd be unable to do anything but stand by and watch from the sidelines. I'm more than certain none of us would want that.

Another big problem came about with the future of Hard-light itself if we made the decision to let the technology out of the bag. Currently, almost all of the tech we'd developed was spreading despite our best efforts to stop that from happening. Even with all the precautions we'd taken, various mods and the like had somehow been passed far beyond the walls of Ponyville. Rainbow's constant battles were evidence enough of that.

If something like Hard-light got into the wrong creature's possession... Sure we only wanted to use it to give Rainbow her wings back, but theoretically, it could be used to create anything... including weapons far more powerful than anything we'd created thus far.

I'd been so very happy when Twilight consented to using my invention to help Rainbow, but now... now after thinking about it, I wasn't so sure. Talking to the cyan pegasus hadn't allayed any of my fears either. She'd never been the most honest mare and I knew all her promises of following Twilight's orders no matter what would go flying out the window the second one of her friends was put in any danger.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Scared," my head sank. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't lie to her. She was everything to me and I trusted her more than I did anyone I'd ever known. My confession drew her full attention as she stopped prepping one of the machines she was working on to trot over to me.

"Of what, Star?" she dipped her head lower to look me in the face. "You know you can tell me anything."

"Is this..." I sighed, unable to conceal my uncertainty any further. It was a struggle just to meet her gaze. "Is this really okay, Twilight?"

"What do you mean?" she kept her head craned downward.

"What if..." I managed to finally look her in the face, trying to hide some of my more... undesired emotions. I rubbed my face with a hoof. "What if we were supposed to lose our magic back then? What if we flew too close to the sun and we were punished for it? What if we're doing the same thing right now and..."

She looked at me with a distinct look of confusion on her face. "I'm... not really sure what you're getting at, Starlight."

"What if this is the first step toward another Loss, Twilight?" I tried not to become hysterical, but I could feel the panic rising inside of me. "We've pretty much been playing god with our little experiments for the past few years. What if... what if-"

"That's..." It was Twilight's turn to let out a troubled sigh. "Honestly... that's something that has bothered me since we started all of this, too." She walked over to one of the chairs in the room and took a seat. "Things were so much more simple when Celestia and Luna were running things, weren't they?" she rubbed her face with her hooves, a long yawn escaping her muzzle.

"Are we... are we the problem, Twilight?" It was a tough question, but I had to know what she thought.

"We, me and you, we, ponies in general, we, scientists... you have to be a heck of a lot more specific than that, Star." It was easy to see she didn't enjoy this particular subject either, but I still felt a strong compulsion to continue.

"Before, when I tried to get you back for what you'd done to me with... when I used Starswirl's spell, I mean," to ease her nerves I decided to focus the blame on myself... though I suppose I really did still feel like this was all my fault so... "I almost plunged Equestria into the bleakest future it could've possibly had..." I chuckled, this whole stupid situation too ironic. "I guess I got a second chance and succeeded anyway, huh?"

"Star," she groaned. "You know for a fact none of this is your fault." She gave me that sweet look tinged with anger that she got when she was chastising me as if I were a young filly. "And you know how badly it hurts me when you blame yourself. We've all told you time and time again, this is all because of Cozy and her stupid little schemes."

"But... don't you think about it, Twilight?"

"Think about what, Star?" she was getting really annoyed, but I felt like I had to talk to someone about this or it would haunt me forever.

"What your life would've been like if Celestia had never turned you into an alicorn."

"WHAT?!" her face screwed up in annoyance.

"What it would've been like if you'd never become the Princess of Friendship."

What it would've been like if you had never opened the School of Friendship. What it would've been like if I never messed everything up for all of us...

"Starlight," she scoffed at my question. "You're asking me if I've ever thought what my life would be like if the single best thing to ever happen to me, hadn't?" She wasn't just annoyed anymore, she was angry with me, her exhausted eyes now narrowed to slits.

"I mean, becoming a princess is pret-"

"STARLIGHT GLIMMER!" She was in my face in a second, her blazing eyes full of rage. "You honestly believe THAT was the best thing that has ever happened to me?"

"Wh-what could possibly outshine that, honey?" I tried to lay the sugar on thick to calm her down a bit, but it only drew wide, disbelieving eyes to her face.

"DON'T YOU DARE HONEY ME RIGHT NOW, STARLIGHT!" she pressed her nose against mine, her eyes narrowing yet again.

"O-of course, de- Tw-Twilight." I was not about to try anything other than agree with her at this point. Not when she was this pissed off. After staring into each other's eyes for way too long, she let out an angry huff before turning away from me.

"Starlight..." she spoke after several more minutes of silence, her voice now as gentle as a soft breeze. "becoming a princess is what led me to the single best thing that ever happened to me," she turned and looked at me with such a loving expression my heart nearly stopped. "Meeting you." Her smile... Her love...

How had I ever been so blessed?

"I love you, Starlight." Yes, my tears were definitely about to start flowing now. "I love you more than you could ever possibly know and I can't even fathom what my life would be like without you in it."

"Twilight..." I wanted to go to her, to embrace her, to kiss her, but as I took a step toward her, she gently shook her head. The smile, her smile... I'd misinterpreted it, misunderstood, but I could see now.

How could I have been so stupid?

It hadn't been love. It was pure agony.

"Why can't I make you see?" her eyes were trembling, fearful as they began to fill with tears. "Starlight... it's been so long. W-we've been together f-for so long... Why can't y-you... why can't you see?" I rushed to her side, catching her as she collapsed to the floor, but she tried to fight me off, shoving hard at me with her forelegs.

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON'T- I DON'T..."

I'm such an idiot...

As her resistance crumbled she trembled more and more. Each sob that racked her body felt like the blade of a knife being dragged across my heart, creating bloody incisions that would never heal. I held her as close as possible, unable to open my stupid mouth to comfort her. When she spoke again I could still detect a hint of anger in her voice, but it was far more subdued than before.

"I get that you're scared, Starlight." Her grief seemed to be completely gone. "I can even understand your reservations about using your Hard-light in a world like this one," she sighed. "What I can't understand is how you could still blame yourself for everything that's happened."

"Twilight, I-"

"No, Starlight," the hoof she shoved into my belly was firm enough to draw a groan of pain from me. "I'm talking right now." I shut my mouth. "We're all scared, but we're all fighting. You think Rainbow wasn't terrified of going out there and fighting those thugs for us?"

"Of course n-"

"STARLIGHT!" I zipped my lips. Her fierce assertiveness more than welcome. Honestly, I found it incredibly attarctive when she was like this, but I buried that unnecessary feeling away for another time. "It makes no difference if we're scared. What really matters is that, no matter what happens, we continue to take care of each other." She grew quiet, but I could tell she was only taking some time to sort her thoughts out.

"I don't care about fate or god or why we might've been punished like this. I only care about what I can change, and right now that's my friend's future." She roughly pushed me away, getting up and walking back to the machine she'd been working on before and leaving me alone on the floor. "I couldn't care less if another Loss is coming. If it does, then I'll just keep doing what I know is right, and that means taking care of my friends... my family."

I stood to my hooves, her resolve making me feel utterly pathetic as I tried to decide what to do next. "I'm... I'm sorry, Twilight." I'd hurt her, again. I had no right to even be in the same room as such a perfect mare.

She took a deep breath. "You know what frustrates me the most?" She didn't turn to look at me, but I could tell by her tone that it was a rhetorical question. "Even after all this time, after all we've endured together, after... I've opened myself up to you in every way I know how," she turned to face me, a deep crimson blush on her face. "Even after we've made love so many times, I'm pretty sure we both know every inch of each other's bodies better than our own, you still..."

A blush came to my cheeks, but the more important point she was making hit much harder than my embarrassment could ever be. "I still don't understand how much you really love me," I sighed as my head fell.

There'd only been a few creatures in my life that I could say with some degree of certainty that I had truly special feelings for.

Sunburst had been my friend for the longest time, even if our relationship had fallen off after he'd gotten his cutie mark. It was great getting to know him again and rekindling our foalhood friendship, but he was just that, a really good friend.

If he ever needed my help I'd move mountains to do what I could for him, but It's not like he ever made my heart flutter or my knees tremble. He was a good stallion. Hopefully, he was still a good stallion.

Then there was Maud, Pinkie Pie's older sister. She was an absolute delight and nothing like any other creature I'd ever met. Thankfully, immediately after the Loss, Pinkie had somehow managed to get her family to Ponyville. I'm still not sure how she did so or even how she'd convinced her "stuck in their ways" parents to leave their rock farm, but she'd done it.

The Pie family was whole and unharmed and that helped with the sanity of... most of the Pies. To this day, Maud was still very special to me, but I'd never held any romantic feelings for the mare.

Then there was Trixie. What could I say about the Great and Powerful Trixie? She was the first real friend I'd made after my... rehabilitation. The mare had a really good heart, but boy did that mouth of hers never stop running.

While I had to admit, in the looks department, she was a perfect ten, she still had that massive ego of hers, and I'm not sure anyone would ever be able to get past that. Besides, even in appearance, she could never hope to compete with my beloved, at least not in my eyes.

Twilight was the most precious of all. I knew how much I loved her. She was my loving and compassionate wife. She'd saved me from my life of evil and kept me on the straight and narrow. She was perfect.

She is perfect.

I would do anything for her. No creature or thing could ever come close to her in my heart.

But how can she feel the same about me?

Since we'd first met, I'd been such a pathetic and horribly flawed mare. I tried to alter reality itself just to pay her back for the wrongs I'd perceived she'd done to me. It wasn't just that I'd screwed up with Cozy. I'd been nothing but a nuisance to the alicorn since day one. From the beginning, I was a worthless drain on her and everyone else.

She hugged me. I hadn't noticed her approaching me, my horrible thoughts clouding all my other senses. Her gentle embrace was heavenly, like a deity had descended from on high to comfort me in my hour of need. It was my turn to cry.

"Starlight, If I was given the choice of going back and preventing the Loss, I wouldn't," she squeezed me.

"Y-you wouldn't!?" I managed to choke out between sobs.

"I don't know what might've happened if we'd continued to live like we had been. Maybe everything would've stayed the same. Maybe we would've gone our separate ways at some point. Maybe everything would've gotten even worse than it is now. But, you know what I do know, Starlight? You know what I'm certain of?"

"W-what?" I sniffled.

She drew away placing her forehead against mine. This time her smile was the loving one I knew and loved. The smile I adored more than any other. The smile I had to protect at all costs. "I know that right now, in this horrible world we live in, I have the heart of the mare I love more than everything else." She gently pressed her lips against mine, the simple gesture enough to destroy all of the despair within me. She giggled as she pulled away. "And I wouldn't change that for anything."

I still couldn't understand how she could feel the way she did about me, but I knew that in spite of my ignorance, she still felt that way. I kissed her. "Thank you, Twilight. For loving me."

"Always," she grinned, her demeanor so much brighter now.

"And forever," I wiped the tears from my eyes before we kissed once more. As Twilight went back to her machine she spoke up again.

"You know what, Star?"

"What, Twilight?"

"We're both intelligent mares. I think this is the best we can do." She turned to me with a confident smile. "Why do you want to give Rainbow Dash new wings?"

I was a bit caught off guard by her question. It was easy to answer, I just wasn't sure where she was going to go with it. There were so many reasons. Because she's my friend. Because it'll help keep us all safe. Because it'd be unfair for her to lose everything protecting us. Because...

"Because it's the right thing to do," I whispered. She smiled at me.

"I agree, and I think that's all anyone should do. What they believe is right," she chuckled before returning her attention back to the machine.

She was right. Of course she was right. I felt a weight lift off of my shoulders, her words hitting me in my core. "Twilight?" It was all so simple now.

"Yes, Star?"

"I love you."

Author's Note

Writing Starlight and Twilight more I think they might be my OTP. I really like them together. That's come a long way from me hating Starlight and thinking she was an awful character.

People can change, I suppose.

Pre-op

"I sure could go for something hard right about now," I groaned.

"I can imagine," Aj chuckled from her place on the other side of the operating room. She was looking at one of the machines that'd done quite a bit of work on the both of us over the last couple years. "Ah swear, ah'll never get used tuh these things," she tapped a hoof against the metal contraption as she shook her head in disgust.

"You and me both, Sister." I agreed with an uncomfortable chuckle. The two of us were waiting for the Lights to arrive and start cutting me to pieces. I'd have really preferred to be drunk... or even high, -- I mean, I wasn't exactly a proponent of such bad behavior, but if there ever was a time, it was right then. -- but apparently this new tech needed me to be sober, at least beforehoof, so instead, I got to wrestle with all the fears and doubts I had about going through with the procedure.

Fun.

"Dash..." Aj looked and sounded solemn all of a sudden, like she'd just found out someone had died...

Or is about to...

"Are ya sure ya wanna go through with this?" I guess the topic of her question wasn't too far from those things.

"Actually, I'm not," I stated with no hesitation at all.

"Wha-" she was clearly caught off guard by my blunt response. "Then... then why?"

"Because it's either this or I lose my wings and along with them, my only way of taking care of you goofs," I shrugged, a satisfied grin on my face.

"Tain't thuh only way ta help us, Dash. Ya could always-"

"I've already made my decision, Applejack." There was no point in letting her go on. If the very real possibilty of my death hadn't swayed my resolve yet then nothing would change my mind at this point.

"Ah'm just..." she sighed. The concern on her face was easy to see as she removed her Stetson from her head and trotted over to me. That thing was beyond raggedy at this point, but she'd never get rid of it... not such a precious gift from her late father. "Ah'm just sayin' is all, Rainbow. Ya don't need tuh keep puttin' yer life on thuh line fer our sakes. Ah can-"

"Aj?" I cut her off again, turning my head away from her so she wouldn't be able to see my face. She was honesty, not me. I loved my friends more than life itself. Twilight, Star, Pinks, Flutters, Rare, and Spike were all super important to me. If any of them ever needed something from me I'd gladly give it, no questions asked.

But Applejack... Aj was different. Sure, I'd known Fluttershy for way longer, but Aj was... Aj was just like me: Stubborn and competitive to a fault. Me and Applejack were cut from the same cloth. While I could never be as truthful as her, she had always been every bit as loyal as I was.

Over the years we'd gotten closer and closer. So close that at one point I thought I might be in love with her, but I quickly learned why that would never work. Me and Aj butted heads all the time, and no I'm not being hyperbolic. We literally butted heads ALL the time.

I'm not sure if it was because our disagreements were legit, or if it's just cause we both liked fighting with each other so much, but it was not something anyone in their right mind should build a loving relationship on. Regardless of all that, we were still really good friends. From my perspective at least, she was my best friend and...

And I hated looking weak in front of her. She was strong.

She is strong.

She always has been. Even when Granny Smith passed away, she'd taken it on the chin and soldiered on like nothing happened. I would've been a wreck, losing someone that close to me. Shoot, I was when I realized my parents were probably dead and I'd never get to see them again.

That day, when the eight of us were deciding how best to move forward, we all broke down a little bit. All of us except Applejack. She'd lost her mom and dad decades ago and I'd never once heard her complain or seen her cry about it.

I knew it didn't bother her, my weaknesses I mean, but still. If I could, I'd prefer to keep all my stupid wimpy drawbacks hidden deep inside myself where no one could see them. Since that clearly wasn't a realistic option, I just had to try my best not to appear foolish to her.

"What is it, Dash?" she didn't move to try and look at me. I think... No, I knew. She could tell when I was trying to act tough. If it were a less serious matter, she'd have probably already cracked a stupid joke... but this was no laughing matter.

This could be the last time me and Aj ever got to talk to each other. It could be the last time we ever got to see each other. Realistically, this could be my last couple hours alive.

"Aj, I'm..." I hesitated.

Screw it, I need to be honest with her for once.

It might be the last chance I got to be, after all.

"I'm pretty scared." I sighed, wrapping my forelegs around myself. "Applejack... I'm... I'm really scared."

"Dash..." her voice was barely above a whisper. "Ya know ah've always been thuh most honest one outta us, so ah ain't gonna pull any punches."

"You know I'd never expect you to."

"That's rich, comin' from ya, Dash," she chuckled.

"That I'm scared or-"

"That yer scared," she got onto the table with me, sitting with her back against mine. "Ah'm not sure if yer dense, or if yer just purposely tryin' tuh avoid thuh truth."

"You know I love running from that crap," I lifted my hind legs onto the table, wrapping my forelegs around them.

"There ain't no escapin' it, Dash. Fear, ah mean. Not in this world. Not anymore." She was getting bolder, more loud. "Now, ah don't know how much ya need tuh hear, but ah'm gonna give it to ya straight. Uh heapin' helpin' of the truth and yer gonna sit there and listen tuh me."

"Ugh, you're gonna lecture me?" It may have sounded like it was the last thing I wanted, but Aj was really smart, especially when it came to junk like this. If anything I needed to hear her out. I needed to hear what she had to say.

"If ya wanna look at it that way sure. Uh big long lecture," she shoved her back against mine playfully. "Y'know we give Twilight so much guff fer runnin' herself ragged, but... but yer just as bad, Rainbow."

"W-WHAT!?" I turned my head to look at the mare, but she kept her face locked forward. "How can you say I'm anything like that egghead?"

"That egghead is thuh only reason we're all still alive, Dash," she didn't sound offended or mad, but there was a tinge of irritation in her voice.

"You know I didn't mean it like that," I groaned. I was just as grateful to Twilight as anyone else. Probably even moreso, I just couldn't see how I was screwing myself over like she was.

"Twilight is stubborn, but at least she tries tuh listen tuh her friends. But you," she paused. "Yer as hard headed as a mule."

What the heck is that supposed to mean?

"So what, I don't listen to you guys? I'm some kind of jerk that just does whatever she wants!?" Aj had a way of pressing my buttons, but generally when she did, it was for my improvement. Usually, I just had to figure out how.

"No, ya don't. And yes, ya always have been, Dash," she stated simply. I waited for the punchline. I waited for her to laugh and say she was just joking with me, but as second by agonizing second dragged on I realized she'd meant what she'd said.

"That is a hell of a thing for you to say to me, Aj," I kind of felt like punching her in the face, but she was going somewhere with this. She had to be.

"Ya don't know what it's like, Rainbow." She was right, I had no idea what it was like. I didn't even know what "it" was. "Ya've always been impulsive and reckless, even before thuh Loss, but things're different now. Much different. Ya almost died Rainbow! Tain't thuh first time neither. Do ya know how many times me an Rare have sat up at night worryin' about ya? And not just us two neither. Pinkie is this close," she held up a hoof. "Tuh goin' full Pinkamena Diane, Dash. Every time ya get called to another scuffle she just about does."

"Aj, I-"

"Ah AIN'T finished, Dash," she declared with such ferocity I clamped my mouth shut. "Fluttershy has tuh watch ya get hurt every single time ya decide tuh fight. Can ya even fathom how terrible that must be fer her? Starlight has to patch ya up, or do some crazy mad scientist crap like this surgery just tuh get ya back tuh a somewhat normal condition. Twilight..." I could feel her body slump at mentioning the lavender alicorn. "Yer one of thuh primary reasons Twi is so... crazy."

"You actually blame me for that?" I jumped off of the table, spinning around to face her, my anger finally getting the best of me. "Twilight's always been crazy! What makes any of this my fault?"

"Dash..." She didn't move for a while, uncomfortably fidgeting with her hat before putting it back atop her head. She got off the table too, turning to face me, her eyes filled with conviction. "Do ya honestly think Twi can handle much more of this? Ya've seen how bad she's gettin'. How many pills ya think she's taking tuh stay on her hooves now? How many more times ya think she can face ya almost dyin' before she completely loses it?"

"I don't-" She wasn't listening or even waiting for me to answer. She trotted around the table to stand closer to me. She was done with being polite, the anger she was clearly trying to contain boiling over as she started shouting.

"DASH, SHE'S KILLIN' HERSELF!" she grabbed me roughly by the shoulders, yelling directly in my face.

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT!?" I pushed her as hard as I could, sending her backwards a few feet. "WHY DO YOU THINK I CONFRONTED HER IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!?"

"AND YA STILL INSIST ON TORMENTIN' HER!?" she was back on me in an instant, her enhanced legs propelling her toward me faster than my eyes could track.

"Wha- WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?" There was no point in shoving her back again. She'd be prepared this time, and when Aj planted her hooves nothing was going to make her budge.

"YER NO DIFFERENT THAN SHE IS, DASH!" she shook me, her forehead slamming against mine before she pulled away. "OUR SAFETY AIN'T YER RESPONSIBILITY! YA DON'T GOTTA DO EVERYTHIN' YERSELF!"

I... I do though. I can't let them get hurt. I have to protect them... All of them.

"Aj... there isn't anyone else." I slumped over, my own words draining any remaining vigor I might've had from my body.

"Ah'm here fer ya, Dash," she pressed her forehead against mine, gently this time. "Ah've always been here."

It was an enticing prospect. It always had been, but there was just one thing, one possibility that I could never get around, one I could never get out of my head. One that always haunted my nightmares.

"Aj... what am I supposed tell them if something happens to you? What do I tell them if you die?" She didn't relent, but her head lowered a fraction. "What am I supposed to tell Rarity?"

"Sugarcube..." she wrapped her forelegs around me. "Ya tell em thuh truth. Ya tell her thuh truth. Ya tell em that ah died fer em... and that ah love em."

"A-Aj..." I hugged her back.

"Ah'm beggin' ya, Dash... please. Just let me help ya."

N-no way...

I could hear her sniffling, trying to stave off the tears. "Ah know yer worried about us. Ah... ah know we ain't as good as you are, b-but... please? If not fer me t-then at least fer Twi?"

Hearing her cry when she hardly ever did. Feeling her body shake as the sobs came. I think I finally understood her. We all wanted the same thing. We all wanted to keep each other safe.

Who am I to take that away from them?

"Okay, Aj. I get it," I sighed. "As soon as I get done with this crap, I'll lean on you guys more," I squeezed her.

"Ya swear?" she squeezed back.

"Yeah."

"Pinkie?" She chuckled and I did right along with her.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Whaaaat the heck?

I was standing alone in the middle of Canterlot, the normally bustling city around me a shadow of its former self. No matter which direction I looked, there was only endless death and destruction. Bodies were strewn about the streets, as if they were common refuse that'd lost their usefulness and gotten tossed to the wayside.

It was all a far cry from the last time I'd been here with my friends. When we rescued Celestia and Luna the riots were barely starting up, but the city was still in a somewhat decent state.

There definitely wasn't this much devastation then.

I flapped my wings, ascending into the air before I heard a familiar voice call out to me.

"Rainbow! We gotta get movin'! They're in thuh throne room!" The orange mare was already far ahead of me, galloping toward the castle.

"Applejack, what's-" she was already out of my line of sight and most likely couldn't hear me anymore. I darted in the direction of the castle as fast as my wings would carry me. Strangely enough, I couldn't catch up to the earth pony for some reason.

There were no guards or gates as I made my way to the castle. There weren't even doors on the castle itself as I made my way inside. There were only bodies.

So many bodies... Is this really what happened after we left?

Had we left so many to die? I couldn't focus on that right now. I had to find AJ.

The massive doors to the throne room were shut tight, forcing me to come to a stop.
I landed several feet away from them, absolutely baffled as to why my friend would close them behind herself. I hadn't seen her on the way here, so she had to be inside.

But why would she...

I took a careful step towards the entrance. Then another. As I drew closer, I could hear the wailing of countless creatures growing louder from the other side of the doors. It was freaky as l heck and if Aj hadn't said they were inside I'd have ran like my life depended on it.

But they were in there. I could feel it in my bones and I couldn't abandon them. I could never abandon them. Just as my hoof was about to make contact with the doors they screeched open by themselves, the loud groaning of their hinges drowning out all other sounds.

Once they were fully open I scanned the dark hall, ready to move at a moment's notice if need be. It was too dark to see properly, though there were tinges of green glowing light speckling the room in many different areas. I could only see about five feet in front of myself before the darkness prohibited any further vision. It smelled awful inside, a scent I was all too familiar with after all the years of fighting I'd done. The acrid smell hung in the air like a noxious cloud nearly making me retch.

"A-Aj?" I called out into the throne room, but there was no reply even after I waited several minutes. "G-girls?" I took a shot in the dark, but waiting another few minutes confirmed I was alone.

Where the heck are you, Applejack?!

I cautiously walked into the throne room, so slowly, so deliberately, it was almost like I wasn't moving at all. The silence was deafening and the smell was suffocating, but there was someone in here who needed me, I could feel it.

Step by agonizing step echoed loudly in the room, the only sound other than my heavy breathing. I wasn't tired, wasn't even scared, it was just so darn hard to breathe with that nauseating smell.

As I drew nearer to Celestia and Luna's thrones another quiet sound gradually swelled into a much louder noise. It was a wet, slapping at first, but quickly became crunchy, like a dog chewing on a bone. The horrible noise coupled with the nauseating scent was becoming unbearable. Still, I trudged forward, insistent on helping the victims I knew were here.

"Applejack?" I don't know why I called out her name again as I tiptoed toward the dark figure in front of the thrones.

It's not Aj... She was never here.

The thing's head was inches from the floor, apparently searching or smelling around for something. It was as big as Celestia with a black and undulating coat. Its exterior was a lot like the Pony of Shadows, but more jagged and distorted, if that were even possible.

At my call, its head snapped to attention to face me. It hadn't been searching or sniffing. Something dropped out of its maw and fell to the floor with a moist thunk. Its glowing green eyes narrowed on me, sending a chill down my spine. Even more terrifying was its grin. Jagged rows of razor sharp teeth shimmered in the green glow, forcing me back a step.

In the blink of an eye, it was gone, possibly making a hasty retreat because I'd interrupted its meal. Whatever had happened, I was glad it was gone... but I was curious.

What was it eat-

Stepping up to the pile of mush I could finally make out exactly what it was.

I should've just left.

It was... horrible. A bunch of bloody legs, wings, horns, and other limbs were littered around. Even heads were covering the floor, mostly from ponies, but a few pieces of other creatures as well. I couldn't handle the sight, or the smell, my stomach immediately emptying itself of its contents all over the floor.

No way...

I heaved as more vomit left my mouth. I could see a dragon maaaaybe eating ponies, but even they were a bit more civilized than that. Whatever that thing was, it was disgusting.

Once I'd slightly recovered from the strain of losing my lunch, I took a deep breath to somewhat settle my nerves. I was acutely aware of the despicable place I was still standing in and I needed to get of it.

It's... It's time to leave.

I took a trembling step backward and immediately lost my balance on something that hadn't been there seconds ago, sending me sprawling to the filth covered floor with a wet thud. I rubbed my head with a hoof, looking about myself for the culprit that had caused my fall.

"N-no... NO!" It couldn't be. I felt even more sick than I had a second ago, but there was nothing left in my stomach to expel. The tattered brown hat looked to have been shredded by some feral animal.

It's just her hat! She's fine! She wouldn't get-

"She... is... dead..." A slow droning voice boomed through the throne room. I looked around for the source but came up emptyhooved. "There... is... no... escape..."

"Escape?" I growled, standing back to my hooves. "ESCAPE!?" I roared into the darkness. "I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE, YOU MONSTER! I'M GONNA HUNT YOU DOWN AND RIP OFF YOUR HEAD!"

All my bravado and rage was pointless. I didn't see the monster latch onto my wings, but I felt the searing pain surge through my withers and into my torso. I couldn't move an inch, the sensation of my wings being torn out of my body paralyzing.

The pain was so unbearable I couldn't even scream, my mouth wide with horror but no sound proceeding from it. The sound was the same, just like before as my limbs were gradually torn out.

As the endeavor became too much for me to bear, the room began to glow a bright white. Or was it my vision giving out? Either way, with a final harsh tug, I felt the bones leave my body as the blinding light overtook my senses...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"...inb..."

"R...bo..."

My head felt like there was a jackhammer inside of it and the stupid voice that wouldn't leave me alone wasn't helping one bit.

"Rainbow?"

I opened my eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the bright light above me. The Lights were standing over me, Star looking like she'd just been throwing up and Twilight wiping tears from her face.

"Not gonna lie. That... sucked," I groaned. I hadn't been strapped down, but the pain combined with the slight remaining numbness from the drugs made it impossible for me to move anyway.

"Good to see you're okay," Twilight smiled.

"We lost you there for a bit," Starlight chuckled before looking at one of the screens next to her.

"Sure felt like it..." I laughed, but the jolt of pain sent ricocheting through my body ended that mirth quickly.

"Come on, I know you're a lot tougher than that," Twilight softly stroked my mane with her hoof. For some reason, it felt especially good.

"Everything is looking normal," Starlight returned her attention to me. "I think it's safe to say the procedure was a success." She looked positively thrilled. "Now we just have to give you some time to recover and we'll be able to see if the Hard-light has taken to your body."

"S-sounds good," I smiled. It was over... for now.

"Get some rest. Okay, Dash?" Twilight bent her head down and gave me a quick peck on the forehead before pressing a button on another machine.

"You... bet." I could barely finish my sentence as liquid heaven flooded my veins. Despite the feeling of euphoria all I could think of as I lost consciousness was the dark entity that had plagued my dream.

Recovery

After what felt like weeks, -- maybe even months -- I still couldn't bring myself to get out of bed. Once I was finally able to get out of Her Highness' clutches, -- out of her quarters -- I managed to stumble my way to Mini. After the beating I'd taken, I wasn't able to form any coherent thoughts, yet, despite the exhaustion and pain, I was somehow able to tell my only friend it was her turn with our Queen. The last thing I remember before losing conciousness was the look of sheer indifference my oldest friend had given me.

I'm not sure if she had moved me herself, but I woke up much later in my room, lying on my bed. I must've been out for a while because all of the blood on me was dried by that point. I hadn't even tried to move then, the pain intolerable, as if it had been inflicted on me seconds before.

So I slept.

I slept, and I slept, and I slept. I couldn't say how long I was inactive, but the only thing I wanted to do at the time was feel better... to feel... clean. I'd felt so... dirty, so... disgusting. My Queen haunted the nightmares I couldn't escape from, endlessly repeating the horrible acts she'd performed on me in reality, even as I slept. I couldn't get away from her, couldn't fight her, couldn't even try to resist her. I was completely helpless.

No matter what I might try to do, no matter where I tried to escape to, no matter who I tried to find to help me... my fate had already been sealed. I was her toy. I was her plaything. She owned me, in body... and in mind, and I... I had no choice but to accept that fact.

"So you're still just gonna lie in here?" Mini was back again, but this was the first time she decided to say something to me. Every other time she visited me she'd brought minor rations so I wouldn't die of starvation.

My Queen is truly merciful.

She could have cut off my food supply and forced me out of bed, but she'd allowed Mini to bring it to me. I was more than grateful for her kindness.

I didn't answer my friend. I didn't want to answer her. I was too scared to do so. Both too scared to answer and too scared to get out of bed.

I'm safe in my room. I'm safe away from my loving, brutal Queen.

"You're not this weak, Moondancer. You need to stop."

Being berated by Mini always felt really weird. She didn't yell or get loud, she just told the truth with that same monotone voice of hers. Most of the time it was unsettling, but right now, it was just plain annoying.
"If you insist on staying here, Her Highness WILL be paying you a visit in the near future." It wasn't a threat, she was just telling the truth. Regardless of what it was or wasn't, my heart fell into my stomach, a feeling of sickness possessing me.

"NO!" I tore the blankets off of myself, the dried scabs that had fused with the covers ripping from my body as well. It hurt something fierce, but the pain was nothing compared to what my Queen could and would end up doing to me if I displeased her again. "I-I'LL BE GOOD! I SWEAR!"

Mini was completely unmoved by my outburst, a raised brow her only initial reaction. I'm not sure what might've done it. My frantic eyes, my trembling frame, the streams of tears, or something else entirely, but she must've finally felt something stir within her. Though it was faint, I could swear I saw her gaze soften, just a little bit.

"What did she do to you, Moondancer?" she approached my bed, a look of genuine concern coming to her face. I don't know what had changed, but she must have made a breakthrough at some point. She hadn't shown as many emotions over the past few years as she had over the last couple days. Maybe it was finally being able to get the truth of the past off her chest after so long of keeping it bottled up inside.

Her question obliterated the dam, the weak streams becoming mighty rivers. I couldn't hold it in any longer, the unrestrained fear and sorrow spilling out of me like a cup that'd been filled far beyond its capacity. As I sobbed on the bed, my body quaking, I realized I simply couldn't do it.

I can't, Mini.

"I... I can't..." I couldn't face my Queen. The idea, the very thought of doing such a thing, made me tremble in terror.

What if I screw up again? What if she gets angry with me? What if she makes me go with her into her room again?

"Moondancer..." I felt the mattress near me sink in, though I didn't lift my head to confirm it. "If you don't come with me right now, things are going to get a whole lot worse for you... and for me."

I raised my head, wiping the tears away with a foreleg before looking her way. She was sitting next to me on the tattered mattress, -- my crappy bed -- a near lifeless expression on her face. I'd get no sympathy from her, just honesty, as per usual.

"I-I'm scared, Mini," I sniffled.

"So am I, Moondancer," she sighed. "C'mon," she flicked my side with a hoof. "We can be scared together," she reached out that same hoof to me. Honestly, the physical contact and nearly kind words were much more than I'd ever thought I'd get from her.

"I... I..." with a final sniffle and another wipe of my eyes, I took her hoof into my own. "I-I'll try."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Minuette pulled me forward, forced me to carry on. She dragged me down to the river in spite of my reservations. I couldn't be any more thankful for -- and to -- her.

Everything still ached beyond belief. My head. My legs. My withers. My hooves. My horn and flank... Especially my horn and flank. None of the wounds I'd received had finished healing yet, but the process was moving along at a normal rate. My Queen wouldn't let anyone that she harmed try to mend said damage through external means.

Medicine, bandages, and the like were not permitted, most likely because our Queen found satisfaction in seeing us in such horrid states. No. We had to heal naturally, all the while our Queen taunting and ridiculing us.

It is a kindness.

She had enough mercy to allow us to fully recover before she inflicted more injuries on us.

Infection on the other hoof... I hadn't gotten to wash myself since before leaving for Ponyville. The very real possibilty of getting an infected wound due to just how filthy I was could no longer be ignored. An infection could lead to an amputation... or worse, death. My Queen would never tolerate that.

So I had to do what I could.

I have to.

Mini held me close, practically carrying me as we approached the river. Yet again, I was grateful to my Queen and her endless grace. I might've been more fearful of being outside the city walls in the past, -- especially in such a... weakened state -- but ever since my Queen had taken over, even the area surrounding the city had become a part of her territory.

Barring the rare occurrence of a long distance, unaware traveler, Mini and I wouldn't be bothered by any unwelcome guests. And even if anything or anyone was foolish enough to try and do something to us, our Queen's retribution would be merciless.

"Moondancer... you've... you've lost a lot of weight." Judging by the tone of her voice, she was annoyed with that fact.

I'd always been a light eater, even before the start of this whole tragedy. Now, with the lack of proper food and all my extended periods working in my lab, I rarely found the time to feed myself. The period I'd spent in my room recovering couldn't have helped either.

"Does that really matter?" I didn't have any excuses. Not any that she'd find reasonable, anyway.

"It might," she regained her composure, her irritation back under control. "It could be one of the reasons Her Highness did... this to you," she roughly shoved a hoof into my side, nearly punching me.

The pain was excruciating, so much so that I fell down onto my side, an agonized yelp escaping my mouth. My breathing was labored as I oriented myself, a grimace on my face.

"MIN-MINUETTE?" I managed to gasp out through huffs. "Why would y-"

"Because you don't get it, Moondancer," she glared down at me. There was no anger in her voice, no malice at all. She was just disappointed with me, like I was a foal that couldn't comprehend a simple concept and she needed to teach me. "You haven't gotten it since Chrysalis took over," she lumbered towards me. "You haven't gotten it since Blueblood imprisoned us," she stood over my prone body. "You haven't gotten it since all of this started," she reached a hoof out which I reluctantly took with my own.

"I'm beginning to," I groaned as she roughly pulled me up to my hooves. I winced, the pain of such a careless action just as harsh as being struck.

"Are you?" she jerked her head toward the river, obviously wanting me to get a move on. She held me close again, helping me to walk. "It sure doesn't seem like it," she said under her breath as we began to move.

You know what, that's enough!

"What do you want from me, Minuette!?" I pushed her away with as much force as I could summon, my face twisting in despair, both from the discomfort of the motion and the imminent fight with my best friend. Despite my emotions, my anger was muting anything else I was feeling in that moment, even my care for her. "I'm trying, Minuette! I've BEEN trying!" She stared at me, her expression not changing one bit. I wanted to stomp away from her, but if I tried to move from the spot I'd probably collapse, so I continued my rant instead. "You think I wanted this!? You think I ENJOYED what Blueblood did to us!?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "You think I WANT to serve Chrysalis!?" They narrowed further, becoming displeased blue slits. I lowered my voice, choosing to speak my next words with all the vindictiveness I could muster. "Do you think I'm happy Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine killed themselves?"

She flinched.

...

"Min... is that what you... is that what you think?" my lower lip quivered as the sadness threatened to overtake the anger. "That I wanted-'

"That's enough," she said with a hint of firmness in her voice as she lowered her head. She took a step towards me, but I wasn't about to just drop it.

"No, Min." I took a slow step backwards. "Is that... is that honestly what you think?"

She froze in place, her body going rigid.

...

"Is it?" I whispered. She wouldn't move.

"Moony," she lifted her head slowly, revealing something I never thought I'd see again.

"M-Minuette?" I took a step toward her, not sure how else to react.

"P-please, Moony... t-that's enough." Tears cascaded down her cheeks. I couldn't have been any more devastated. I was lost, unsure of what to do, what to say. I wanted to hold her. I wanted to comfort her. I wanted to rush to her side.

But I didn't.

She did.

I held her close as she quietly wept. I stroked her mane gently, giving her however much time she needed.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"I'm sorry, Min,' I said after I felt enough time had passed and her crying had subsided.

"I miss them," she sniffed. "I miss them so much, Moony."

"Me too," I sighed. I wasn't crying. I really thought I would be in a situation like this, but I wasn't. I was too stunned... and I was far too happy.

"Moony..." she sighed. "Please... don't ever leave me alone."

A sharp pain pierced my chest. "I won't, Min... I promise."

...

"We're gonna die... aren't we?"

"W-what?" I asked, completely caught off guard by the question. "Why would you think something like that, Mini?"

"Chrysalis is never going to let us go. She's going to use us until she doesn't need us anymore and... a-and then..." her body slumped in my forelegs.

I wanted to tell her that wasn't true, wanted to reassure her and tell her that everything was gonna be alright, but... after what we'd already gone through, after my time in Chrysalis' room... I wasn't so sure anymore. If the Queen wanted us dead, there was nothing we could do to stop her.

...

"Well... we'll just have to keep being useful then, won't we?"
I rubbed her shoulder gently.

We sat together for a while, holding each other in silence. It was nice. Before too long, she pulled away, standing to her hooves.

"Come on, Moondancer." She was back to her "normal" self. "You're still filthy." She helped me up and we continued on to the river.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Once I'd finished cleaning up, -- or I guess Mini had finished cleaning me up, I still wasn't confident moving so much and getting to nooks and crannies was harder than I'd expected -- we returned to Canterlot.

Once we were back "home", Mini brought me to my lab so I could actually start getting some work done. Apparently, Queen Chrysalis was losing patience with me. I'd been locked away for too long and she was this close to storming into my room and dragging me out, whether I wanted to or not.

Thankfully, Mini had been able to convince the Queen to allow her to try and get me out. I dreaded to think what might've happened to me if Queen Chrysalis hadn't let her try... or had just lost her temper at the blue unicorn's request and went in herself.

Now, I stood in the center of the lab with even stronger feelings of doubt and uncertainty. Mini was losing hope and there was little I could do to remedy that.

"You should get to work. Her Highness should be satisfied you're finally out of bed, but it couldn't hurt to show her you're already trying to develop more tech for her," she'd said before leaving me by my lonesome. She had promised to return with some food though, so at least I had that to look forward to.

A meal and good company sounds nice... but what should I do until then?

I looked around the lab with as much enthusiasm as Mini typically had. It was a pathetic thing, after all, the castle wasn't exactly designed for the research and development of technological pursuits. It was merely a guest room fashioned to serve as a lab, nothing more. My primary workspace was a small wooden table with an equally small lamp.

There was another larger table for... messier tasks. I could never manage to get that one as clean as I'd like. And there was another desk with some tools on it.

Like I said, pathetic.

Even the lighting in the room was atrocious, restricted to that single little lamp. That was one of the reasons the first mod I'd implanted in myself was for better vision in the dark. And now I stood, -- in said darkness -- aimless.

I had no desire to get to work on anything, but the prospect of infuriating the Queen was something I couldn't -- and wouldn't -- ignore. Not only would doing such a foolish thing put my own safety at risk, but Mini's as well.

Being in her room had taught me something... disturbing about myself. Something I didn't want to acknowledge or admit. If The Queen wanted, she could hold me right in the center of her hoof and do what she wished with me. I'd even forsake my best friend to avoid such a cruel fate. So I had to avoid it at all costs.

If only we weren't trapped here...

But we were.

And it's all her fault.

I knew exactly what I wanted to make. With my newfound motivation, I got to work immediately.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I'm not sure how much time
had passed since I started working, but it couldn't have been long. Mini still hadn't gotten back with the food yet, so it couldn't have been hours.

Unless she got lost.

I giggled to myself. I was so enthralled with my work I barely noticed when my skin started to crawl. Looking at the closed door, my stomach gurgled. I knew who was coming and it wasn't Mini.

...

"My, my, my... you're looking exceptionally well!" Hearing the Queen's voice shook me to my bones. I'd no clue what she was actually thinking because I'd already prostrated myself prior to her entering the room. I was as low to the floor as I could be and had no idea how to reply to her comment so I remained quiet. "And such reverence?" she cackled. "You must have someone truly wonderful keeping watch over you."

"Yes, My Queen," I confirmed without raising my head. "She is as gracious as she magnanimous."

The bellowing laughter that came from her was equal parts frightening and disturbing. Still, I kept my nose pressed to the ground. I'm not sure if I did so because I was trying to be as respectful as possible, or because I was too scared to look her in the eyes.

"Get up, Moondancer," she ordered, but the volume of her voice hadn't raised a decibel. My heart began to race. My body rumbled... but I couldn't move. She waited silently.

"I... I can't, Your Highness," I managed to squeak out after she'd tolerated my insubordination for far too long.

"You... can't?" she sounded thrilled by that fact. "You do understand you are currently disobeying me, don't you, Moondancer?"

"N-NO! I-" I was standing in a flash, looking her directly in the eyes before I could fully comprehend what I was doing. "Please, My Queen." I was beginning to hyperventilate, vicious tremors running through my body nonstop.

"Moondancer," she tromped toward me, each step she took seeming to shake the entire lab. She was inches away from me, the psychotic grin on her face just like the one she'd had in her room.

T-the same as when she...

I threw myself at her hooves, not coming into contact with them, but so close I could kiss them if she so demanded it. I laid there, like a pathetic puppy... or something even more pitiful.

"P-please!?" I begged, pleaded that she would have mercy on me. She slowly raised one of her hooves. As it left my vision I tensed, praying I wasn't about to be struck like before. When I felt it come to rest atop my head I nearly screamed. Thank goodness I had controlled myself.

"Moondancer I'm a tyrant, not a... monster," she chortled. "And certainly not a liar," her laughter became more raucous. "Come now, on your hooves," she tapped me on the tip of my horn with her hoof. "You're of no use to me down there."

"T-thank you, Your Highness." I stood, a grateful, if not overly unsure, smile on my face. The fact that she hadn't instantly started berating or striking me did a lot to ease my nerves. Now, she seemed to be being downright pleasant. It was strange, but not unwanted, so I wasn't about to start complaining. "You're-"

"Yes, yes, I am absolutely magnificent," she waved a hoof dismissively, though there was a small grin on her lips. "More importantly, what are you working on?" She lifted her head towards the desk I had been sitting at, a look of boredom on her face. My area was cluttered with various pieces of metal, small devices, and all the materials I'd need to create tech. Just like I liked it.

"Explosives, Your Highness," I responded immediately as I trotted over to the table. I picked up a small round metal sphere, showing it to the Queen. "Rainbow Dash was able to withstand almost all of the weaponry I've created until now... all of it, except these. These were the one thing that were effective against her."

"And what are you planning?" she looked down at the ball with a slightly raised brow, still seemingly not that interested.

"If I can shrink my explosives down," I stared down at my tech. "Make them more portable," a pleased grin came to my face as I imagined what I could do to Ponyville... to Twilight, with such tech. "They wouldn't be able to stop you."

...

"You're coming along nicely, Moondancer," she remarked with a pleased smirk.

"I'm... not sure what you mean, Your Highness," I moved to place the bomb back on my work desk.

"Pay it no mind. Speaking of Rainbow Dash. I've a question I need answered, Moondancer," she moved to the opposite side of my table, picking up a small sheet of steel and looking at it closely.

"I'll try as best I can, Your Highness," my heart began to pound.

What if I don't have the answer she wants? What if-

"Calm down, Moondancer," she rolled her eyes before flicking my horn with a hoof. "You're being so needlessly dramatic." She must've noticed I was worried, a mistake on my part. She dropped the metal back onto the table. "Is Rainbow Dash Twilight's primary line of defense?"

I grimaced. While I could take an educated guess, I couldn't be certain and that might be more than enough to incur the Queen's wrath. Lying might be even worse, and taking too long to reply could be equally as bad.

"I... believe so, Your Highness," I fiddled with a piece of wiring. "I can't imagine she has much better technology than what Rainbow Dash was using... at least not for the purposes of combat."

"Then now is the time to strike!" she declared confidently.

W-what!?

I was able to keep how surprised I was under control just enough not to blurt my disbelief out loud. Unfortunately, my face must have still displayed how I felt because Chrysalis looked annoyed by my reaction.

"You have the audacity to disagree with your Queen?" she asked calmly.

"I..." I couldn't lie and I definitely couldn't tell her the truth. I was trapped.

But, maybe...

"I worry, Your Highness," I evaded, hoping such a gamble would work.

...

"Explain yourself," she demanded evenly after glaring at me for what felt like an eternity.

"Ponyville is a stronghold, Your Highness," I explained. "And Twilight Sparkle is not a fool," I stated reluctantly. "Knowing her, their defenses are much more elaborate than just a single blue pegasus."

"So you question my strength?" She was still being unbelievably calm.

"No, Your Highness," I shook my head, answering honestly. "I just know how intelligent Twilight is."

...

"Her tenacity has proven to be quite vexing in the past," she huffed, clearly frustrated, but containing it well. "Well then, what do you suggest?"

She's... asking me?

She was being really cautious about this whole situation. I tapped my chin with a hoof. We had many options we could pursue, many paths we could take, but only one made a lot more sense than the others.

"I think we should try to gather as much information on Twilight, her friends, and the town itself, as we can," I recommended, hoping it would be enough to satisfy the Queen.

"And how should we go about doing that?" she began toying with one of my makeshift tubes of adhesive.

"I think the most effective way to do so would be to get someone from our side into the city." I'd already thought of the how, I just wasn't sure who would be best suited to do such a thing.

"Then you or I would be the most logical candidates for that," she scratched her chin with a hoof.

"True," I agreed. With our stealth tech, getting inside the walls would be a piece of cake for either of us.

As long as...

"But only if Twilight hasn't set up anything that might be able to detect us," I sighed. If the alicorn really did have something to reveal us within her city...

I didn't want to think about what that might mean for me, especially after I'd nearly killed one of her best friends. Even Queen Chrysalis would have a hard time fighting off an entire city, though I was doubtful even she could pull off something like that.

"You're testing my patience, Moondancer." Her eyes were slits, the jade orbs glowing menacingly. My heart rattled in my chest as soon as I saw vestiges of the Queen from her chambers.

"F-forgive me, Your Highness," I felt sick. "I'd no intention of-"

"If neither of us, what should we do, Moondancer?" she interrupted, glaring at me. Thankfully, my mind had already been working for a solution to our problem.

"I think we should send a pony to seek refuge in Ponyville," I spoke as quickly as I could in the hopes of extinguishing the flames of her wrath. "If we can get someone inside, they can do some spying for us and then-"

"And where exactly are we supposed to get a-" her fury instantly transformed into realization, her eyes going wide. "Actually... I think I may have the perfect candidate..." The evil smirk on her face sent chills down my spine.

"Y-Your... Your Highness?" I hadn't wanted to question her, but my curiosity got the better of me.

"A foolish creature I found snooping around Canterlot a few days ago," her devilish smile grew. "She even had escorts! Can you believe that?" she chortled as if it were the funniest thing ever. "Emphasis on had," she disgustingly licked her lips as her glee erupted even louder. "Yes, Moondancer... I believe she'll do just fine..."

Guidance

What a night...

Sitting up in bed, I let out one of the longest yawns I'd ever produced in my life. I groggily scratched my mane, listening intently to the faucet of the shower turning on.

It had been one week since we'd sent Rainbow Dash home to recover from her operation. Thankfully, it'd been a fairly uneventful seven days for Ponyville. We had received some ponies seeking refuge, but Aj was able to welcome them in Rainbow's stead. Other than that, there wasn't anything worth mentioning.

Today, though? Today was the day we'd been waiting for. It was the reason Twilight and I had celebrated so... vigorously last night.

That's why you're so, I yawned again, possibly somehow longer this time. Tired now. I tossed the blanket off of myself, standing to my hooves and lumbering over to the restroom, only half-awake.

Today, Twilight and I would find out if the Hard-light had taken to Rainbow's internal systems. Since we hadn't heard anything from the pegasus, I was confident everything was going smoothly, but getting to verify her condition meant we could move forward with the process.

We might even be able to branch out.

If Rainbow was fast enough to go beyond our borders we might be able to check on the rest of Equestria, and that means we might be able to help more creatures.

I pushed the door to the restroom open, treading as softly as I could as I moved towards the shower. Last night may have been magical... but I was more than ready for round two. And besides, it would save time.

It's just a coincidence I get to have more... fun with Twilight.

I jerked the curtain open, the sight that met me causing my mouth to water.

"Mind if I... join you?" I had to wipe some saliva from my chin.

"What do you mean, Star?" she asked me, a devious grin on her lips. "I was waiting for you." She grabbed me roughly, pulling me into the shower and locking her lips with mine.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Think she's excited?" I asked Twilight as the two of us stared at the doors of the lab. After our fun, we'd finished washing up and ate a small meal before coming directly to the lab.

We'd told Rainbow to come first thing in the "morning" -- kind of just a formality considering it was always night -- so knowing her and her sleep schedule, she'd arrive sometime around noon. It was already approaching ten so needless to say, I was getting a little restless.

"Not as excited as you," she chuckled as she prodded me in the side with a hoof. She wasn't wrong. I was practically vibrating with anticipation. She must've noticed my giddiness because she drew much closer. "You're way too stimulated still, Star," she whispered into my ear, her suddenly husky voice sending shivers down my spine. "Maybe we should've played with each other a little longer..."

I turned to face my love, kissing her with all of the passion I had on our first night together. Even after all this time, none of those feelings had waned at all. To be perfectly honest, they'd only grown since then.

She was looking especially dazzling today, her mane and tail brushed and styled much better than usual. Even her eyes were only a little bloodshot today, probably due to the few hours of rest we'd gotten after our bedroom antics.

"Don't tempt me, Twilight," I said after we separated, unable to wipe the satisfied grin from my face. "I'll drag you back to our room right now and forget all about everything else we have planned today."

"You know we can't do that," she pecked me lightly on the lips. "Not to-"

The doors of the lab slid open, a chipper looking Applejack trotting in with an exuberant smile on her face. "Howdy, gals. It's uh fine mornin' tuhday, dontcha think?"

"Good morning Aj! / Morning Applejack!" Twilight and I greeted the orange earth pony with just as much gusto as the farm mare.

"Uhhhh, hold on uh sec," a dark crimson blush spread across her cheeks. "Ah know them looks. Rares gives em to me all thuh time," she pointed a hoof at us. "Ah didn't interrupt anythin' did ah?"

Twilight and I looked at each other knowingly. We were still holding each other, so it would be easy for anypony to come to the same conclusion Applejack had.

"No. No," Twilight smiled at the earth pony. "We were just talking," she laid a hoof on my thigh. I smiled at her, knowing exactly what she wanted and delivering immediately.

"Speaking of your better half," I scooted away from my wife to speak to our friend. "Where is Rarity? Did she decide to sleep in?"

"Nah, y'all know Rares. She's almost as dedicated as thuh two of y'all," she shrugged while shaking her head. "She wanted tuh come too, but duty calls, y'know?"

"Yeah, I most definitely do," I looked at my lovely Twi, a sad smile on my face. She noticed my state quickly, gently stroking my cheek with a hoof and offering me a sympathetic smile.

"So Dash ain't here yet?" Applejack took a seat next to the operating table after glancing at The clock hanging on the wall. She was in prime position to be next to the cyan pegasus... when she finally got here.

"Did you honestly think she would be?" Twilight laughed. "I doubt she'll be here for another two ho-"

Once again the doors slid open. Once again a mare coming through with a smile on her face.

"R-RAINBOW DASH!? / RAINBOW!?" Twilight and I shouted, both gawking at our friend with mouths hanging wide open.

"Hey girls!" she smirked at the two of us. "Yo Aj! Didn't expect you to be here too." She was clearly in high spirits, but the fact that she was actually here early -- or at least, early for her -- was why I, and I assume Twilight, was so surprised.

"Hey, Dash! Glad tuh see yer so chipper tuhday!" Applejack clopped her hoof with Rainbow's before she smiled our way. "Bet y'all didn't think she was takin' this stuff serious, huh?"

"Has she ever taken anything seriously?" Twilight shrugged, a cocky grin coming to her face.

"Fair point," Applejack conceded.

"I'm standing right here," Rainbow shoved the orange mare playfully. "And I take lots of things serious," she pointed an accusing hoof at Twilight, though it was given with a smile on her face. "Like taking care of you nerds."

"And we love you for it, Dash," my beloved smiled back with all her heart as she waved her over. "C'mon, let's get you up and flying."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"This is... insane, Star," Twilight pointed at the screen that had the results of her scan. Rainbow was lying on her side on the operating table, a small machine clinging to her withers. With the device, we were able to see just how much the Hard-light had altered the pegasus' internals.

"I can't believe it..." I gaped at the monitor, just as dumbfounded as my significant other.

"Y'all mind fillin' us in?" Applejack sounded like she was trying to hide her concern. It was apparent she was having trouble doing so. She was sitting in front of the cyan pegasus, her stetson on her best friend's head.

The Hard-light had taken to her body better than even I thought possible. While I'd expected a slow adaptation -- that she might be able to unfurl her wings in a few months -- the exam was showing she could possibly be ready to fly this very moment.

"What are you thinking?" Twilight had drawn close, whispering to me.

"I don't know what to think..." I answered honestly, whispering back. I still stared at the flickering screen, trying to make heads or tails of what I was looking at. "Twilight... could this... could this actually be possible?"

"From what we're looking at..." she grinned and kissed me on the cheek. "I'd say anything is possible for you, Star."

I felt tears stinging at the corners of my eyes, my jaw trembling slightly. "Twilight... I love you so-"

"Uhm, girls? Not gonna lie, you're kind of freaking me out here." Rainbow couldn't move due to the machine attached to her back, but she could voice her concerns. "I'd really appreciate it if one of you could fill me in on what's going on."

"S-sorry, Rainbow!" Twilight and I both reached for the switch to shut off the monitor at the same time. We shared a slight giggle before I moved to detach the machinery from the pegasus.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"So! We've got some good news and..." Twilight was glowing, but as soon as she saw the flushing of Rainbow and Applejack's complexions she decided an off color joke wouldn't be appropriate. "Well, honestly we only have good news."

The visible relief on both our friends' faces that information brought was equal parts funny and sweet.

The four of us had moved to another part of the castle once the examination was over. To be more specific, to the main hall where the Cutie Map was still kept to this day. It was a useless relic, no longer serving the purpose it once had, but I think Twilight decided to keep it around as a reminder.

A reminder of what we once were. Of what we once represented. We couldn't forget that. We could never forget that. We had to remember. We had to return Equestria to what it once was.

We have to... and it all starts with...

"Rainbow," I smiled brightly at the blue pegasus sitting on her throne. "Everything is looking better than we initially expected."

"R-REALLY!?" Both her and Applejack lit up, the mares faces reminiscent of the star we'd long lost.

"Much better," Twilight grinned. "In fact, Star and I wanted to... test something." Rainbow looked hesitant, her head tilting slightly.

"Something like what?" she asked with a raised brow, her hesitation clear on her face. Twilight and I looked at each other, nodding in agreement before turning back to the cyan mare.

"We want to see if you could..." I wasn't sure what the correct term to use was. Probably cause there was no term for it yet. "energize your wings."

"Ener... gize?" she was confused.

"Let's... move over here." I got off my throne, walking over to the less cluttered part of the room. Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack followed suit, trotting up behind me. While my love and I gave the pegasus a wide berth, Applejack stood right next to her. "You're... probably gonna need to give her a bit more room than that, Applejack."

"OH! Heck, ah'm sorry, Starlight!" she shuffled away from the mare, standing behind Rainbow and next to Twilight.

"Don't worry about it," I chuckled. "I just don't want you to lose an eye... oooor your head."

"Mah head!?" Applejack rubbed her neck with a hoof.

"You serious, Starlight?" Rainbow cocked an eyebrow, a look of doubt on her face.

"Serious as a heart attack," I nodded. "As I'm sure you're aware, your wings are completely gone." I walked up next to the pegasus.

"Doesn't take a Light to see that," Rainbow sighed, staring longingly at her withers.

"You still call us that, Dash?" Twilight giggled.

Rainbow shrugged. "It's what you two are."

"Dang right," Applejack agreed with a firm nod of her head. Twilight's smile grew, as did my own.

"Right, so, these..." I pointed a hoof at the two round pieces of Hard-light on Rainbow's back. Each was about three inches in diameter and had a glossy, flat surface. "are light absorbing panels."

"Light absorbing?" Rainbow rolled her shoulders. "So do I have to charge myself or something?"

"Generally, no," I shook my head. "They're working all the time, even now. They'll absorb any kind of light. So stuff like that," I pointed up at the lights on the ceiling. "or moonlight, or even light from something as small as a candle will help fuel the Hard-light inside of you."

"So I just..." she stared at the lights above, a frown on her face. "stand under them, or..."

"Not exactly," I shook my head before explaining further. "The sensors are very... sensitive," I tapped one with a hoof, a light tinging sound coming from it. "You should have enough juice to last for a few weeks... depending on how much energy you decide to use."

"How much I..." she placed a hoof against her head, glaring at me with displeased eyes. "I gotta be honest here, Starlight, I'm not understanding a word you're saying."

"Sorry, Dash." I couldn't help but laugh a little. Not at my friend but at the fact that I always had trouble explaining more complex things to anyone other than Twilight. "I'll try to keep it simple. First, your body is always taking in light from any source that is in view of your sensors. Second, you use that energy to power your wings. Third, the more energy you use when powering your wings, the faster your reserves will run dry."

"That... sounds easy enough. But-" I raised a hoof to cut her off.

"The Hard-light is connected to the same chip in your brain, so you manipulate it with your thoughts." I tapped her temple gently with a hoof. "It'll probably feel a little strange at first, only using your thoughts to control your wings, but I'm confident someone as talented as you will get used to it quick."

"Haven't I always thought to control my wings?" she scrunched up her face.

"Yes and no." Twilight interjected, drawing her gaze.

"I thought you said you were gonna keep things simple," Rainbow scowled at the purple alicorn. Twilight shrugged, a slight smirk on her face.

"Think of it like this, Dash. You're breathing, right?" I took back the cyan mare's focus.

"Uhhh, duh?" she looked at me as if I was an idiot. "I'd be dead if I wasn't, Starlight."

"And do you typically think of breathing when you're doing it?" I asked, raising a mocking eyebrow.

She glared at me, thoroughly annoyed by my employment of logic."... No, I guess I don't."

"Bet you are now though," my wife chuckled.

"Ah think we all are now," Applejack groaned. "Such uh dumb lil trick."

"It won't ever be like that with your wings, Rainbow," I placed a hoof on her shoulder. "Your breathing is regulated by your involuntary nervous system. Your wings couldn't be linked to that system, they're connected to the chip that controls all of your tech, like your vision."

"So then-"

"So then you'll have to consciously think whenever you want to manipulate them," Twilight filled in the blanks for me. "It won't be that hard, but stuff like fighting will probably be a bit... different."

"And that's why ah'm here," Applejack grinned.

"I figured," Twilight smiled as well, wrapping her forelegs around Aj's neck and pulling her into a hug.

"If that's the case, then I want to start practicing as soon as I can!" Dash declared with so much confidence she nearly shoved me away. "Oops. Sorry, Star."

"Don't worry about it, you're gonna need the space anyway," I walked several more paces away from her. "Can you please close your eyes, Dash."

"For what?" she asked defiantly, a grimace coming to her face.

"We're gonna see if you can manifest your wings," I answered. As soon as I was done speaking, she'd already shut her eyes tightly, a slight smirk coming to her muzzle.

"You're gonna have to be real careful, Rainbow. We waited a week for your body to recover, but we also delayed so you'd have an acceptable amount of light." Twilight had let go of Aj and was moving into position to get a better vantage point. "You have to control how much energy you're going to use. Preferably not too much or you might end up... uhm..."

"Killing us," I finished the sentence my love couldn't.

"WHAT!?" Rainbow's eyes shot open. Applejack took a cautious step away from the pegasus.

"You've got a massive amount of energy stored inside of you," I said. "The only way it'll come out is if you use it for your wings, or if it becomes... too much for your body to handle."

"Too... much?" she looked at me incredulously before looking at her own chest.

"Trust me, it should never get that bad," I waved my hooves in front of myself in an effort to placate the mare. "You'd have to store energy for years without using any of it."

She let out a relieved sigh. "Okay... so how do I do this?" Her panic was quickly replaced by that same determination she usually possessed.

"You just have to think of unfurling your wings," I replied. "I suggest you close your eyes so you can completely focus on the task. Outside stimuli can influence your thoughts, so it's probably best... not to chance it."

"Alright," she shut her eyes again, taking a deep breath before relaxing her posture. "Get ready to h-have your minds blown," she stated, but there was clearly doubt in her voice as she lowered her head.

The silence that filled the room as she began to concentrate was so thick a pin dropping to the floor would sound like a cannon blast.

...

As soon as Rainbow lifted her head a network of light flowed outward from her withers.

Like a collection of Hearth's Warming lights decorating a home, at first the Hard-light was simply speckles of multicolored sparks hovering above her. Almost instantly, the dots were connected by solid Hard-light, a mixture of different colors, obviously due to the absorption of light from so many different sources.

The wings themselves were sharp and edged, dangerous enough to cut through almost any material.

She must be thinking of her more recent pair.

If she'd wanted, they would've taken the form of her normal wings. That not being the case, what she really wanted must've been the upgraded version Twilight and I had made for her. And she must have wanted them to be a bit larger because currently they were almost triple the size of her body. The luminescence of her new appendages was almost too much to take, the spectrum of colors forcing me to shield my eyes.

Well, she can change them whenever she wants.

I smiled at Twilight, her eyes twinkling in appreciation of our success. Applejack was stunned, her own mouth agape.

"Am I... am I doing it?" Rainbow's eyes were still closed tight.

"Yer doin' sumthin mighty impressive!'" said Aj.

"You're doing great, Dash. Jus-" As I slowly approached the cyan mare something truly strange occured.

Her mane and tail began shimmering, countless twinkling stars appearing all over both.

She almost looks like-

"S-Star... what's going on?" Twilight was just as stunned as I was, her eyes never leaving the pegasus.

"It must be a side effect of releasing so much light," I replied, though it was just as much directed toward myself as at the purple alicorn.

"Can I... can I open my eyes?" Rainbow rightfully asked.

"Go ahead. Just don't freak out, okay?" I advised. Just because she was currently in control didn't mean she couldn't flip out and cause a horrible accident.

Her reaction upon seeing her new form was priceless, like a foal's on their first birthday getting the best present ever. I walked up next to her, gently closing her mouth for her with my hoof.

"Cool, aren't they?" I smiled.

"Lookin' good, Dash!" Applejack joined us, but kept a few paces between herself and Rainbow Dash's massive wings.

"How are you feeling?" Twilight got much closer than our orange friend.

Rainbow Dash was positively glowing, her smile lighting up the room even moreso than her wings, mane, or tail. "Honestly, Twilight?" she laughed. "I'm feeling amazing!"

Author's Note

Someone's reading this. Lol. I sure hope so.

Ascend

"Try another one, Aj!" I snorted. I was having way too much fun at her expense, but I couldn't stop myself. She'd just bucked my wings as hard as she could -- to test their durability -- and at the moment, there wasn't a single scratch on them.

"Y'know ah ain't really tryin' yet. Right, Dash?" she smirked confidently, pulling her hat down tighter onto her head.

"One second, girls," Starlight stepped in between us. "I want to show you something else, Rainbow."

"Oh come on, Star! Can't I just learn through doing?" I was itching for more action, not for talking.

"Learn while you can, Dash," Twilight warned. She was still the same old worrywart, even after all these years.

"Okay, okay," I lifted my forelegs submissively. "What is it, Star?"

"You're putting out a lot of light," she touched one of my wings with a hoof, looking closely at the multi-colored material. "Proooobably a little too much, if you ask me. That's why these are so big," she gently shook my appendage. "As they are now, I'm pretty sure nothing can break them, though. Not even Applejack."

"Ya willin' tuh bet on that?" Aj clearly took Starlight's statement as a challenge. The orange mare was looking pretty pissed off at the moment.

"I'd rather not take your bits, Applejack," she shrugged with a shake of her head. "Just trust me on this one."

"Tch! Fine." Aj didn't put up much of a fight, but that was probably for the best.

It is Starlight's tech, after all.

"So what did you want me to do then, Star?" I asked, pulling the unicorn's attention back to myself.

"First off, I want Applejack to destroy your wings," she moved over to the earth pony, putting a foreleg around her neck and moving her directly in front of me.

"Now just hold on one second, Starlight!" Aj shoved her away, an annoyed scowl on her face. "Ya just said ah couldn't even do that!"

"You can't," Starlight grinned back. "Not yet, at least," she looked at me expectantly. "I'm gonna need you to cut back on the amount of light you're using, Rainbow."

"Sure!" I beamed.

...

"How?" my smile remained despite my lack of know-how. Twilight's snickering drew a wrathful gaze from me, robbing me of my mirth.

"Don't mind me," she managed to get out between laughs. "You really should be focusing on getting this stuff right."

"Well I'm trying, but a particular purple alicorn is being just a tiny bit annoying," I huffed, crossing my forelegs.

"Just let it go, Dash," Aj sighed. "Y'know if Twilight were in yer position, ya'd be rollin' on thuh floor."

"I-" I moved to protest, but then actually thought about what she'd said for more than a second. "FINE!" I roared, turning my attention back to Starlight. "I don't know how to do that, Starlight," I glowered at the mare who'd done nothing wrong.

"It's okay, Dash," she laid her hooves on my shoulders, a comforting smile coming to her lips. "It's simple. Just close your eyes."

"AGAIN!?" I groaned, rolling them instead.

"I'm just trying to be cautious, Dash," she whispered to me, her smile gone. "I really wasn't joking when I said we could all die if you make a mistake."

"Can't you just... do it for me?" I groaned, the fear of making such an error crawling through my veins. "Your tech lets you hack things, right? Why not just take control of my chip and... fix.. it..."

Starlight refused to look at me any longer, her gaze instead, settling on the alicorn. "Your Hard-light is fused to your mind, Rainbow." The lilac unicorn smiled sadly. "Don't you think I'm the last pony you'd want tampering with something like that?"

"Star..." Twilight was already in motion, rushing to the side of the unicorn. She threw her forelegs around the stunned mare, holding her close. "You're not that pony anymore."

"She's right ya know," Aj trotted up next to us, a sympathetic smile on her face. "Yer one of us. Yuh have been fer years," my orange friend joined in on the hug. "We ain't gonna mind if yuh finally start actin' like it."

"Girls..." Starlight sniffled, embracing them back. I kind of just stood back, letting them have their sappy moment. There was something important I wanted to add though.

"Starlight," I drew her attention. "How many times have you and Twilight worked on me?"

She looked confused. "A lot, Dash. Why?"

Twilight giggled, knowing exactly where I was going with it.

"Because each and every time you have, I've put my life in your hooves." I tried to stifle my blush as I looked away. "I think I've trusted you enough times with my body..." I raised a playful brow as I smiled at the crying mare. "To trust you with everything else."

"R-Rainbow..." she lifted her forelegs my way, waving both hooves toward herself.

"I'm good," I blushed even harder, turning my body away from the group.

"Awww, lil' Dashie's gettin' all flustered," Aj snickered. "C'mon y'all let's take thuh party over tuh her."

Surprisingly, -- or, I guess, not surprisingly at all -- Aj lifted the grunting pair with ease, carrying them over and setting them down right next to me. Twilight grabbed me, pulling me in as the others joined her in hugging me too.

"UGGGGH! Don't forget, I can blow up any moment." I may have groaned uncomfortably, but I couldn't have been any happier.

"That's uh risk we're all willin' tuh take," Aj chuckled.

"Never change, Dash," Twilight remarked before her and Starlight laughed as well. I couldn't help but join my friends... my sisters.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"COMIN' AT YA, DASH!" the buck that Applejack delivered to my wings felt like I'd been standing in front of a runaway freight train. It's a good thing the Lights had suggested we move outside the walls cause the impact of her strike sent me sailing right past them.

"RAINBOW!" I vaguely heard the two of them shout as I zipped by. My wings were dust, both obliterated by Aj's assault. I had to think fast or I was gonna have a nice long trip skidding along the unforgiving ground.

Think Rainbow, THINK!

I had to shift my weight so that I could reorient myself and land on my hooves. That was much easier said than done, especially with no wings to help me. I forced my back-hooves to clip against the ground, using the momentum of them bouncing upwards to adjust my body. I did my best to shift myself, flipping backwards and landing on my hooves, but not halting my momentum.

I slid a couple meters before I came to a stop, a relieved breath escaping my mouth.

"DASH, AH'M SORRY! AH TOL-"

"It's alright, Aj. I'm fine," I did my best to calm the orange earth pony down. She'd caught up to me in no time at all, her speed on the ground unmatched due to her enhanced legs. While the panic in her eyes was a little concerning, I really was okay.

At least, I think I am.

I had to catch my breath and I was a little dizzy, but everything seemed to be normal as I carefully examined my body.

"But... yer wings..." She wasn't even winded after running so far. It was impressive, if a little irritating. "Ah felt em-"

"Dash!" Twilight called out as the Lights finally trotted up to us. "Nice... recovery!" the purple alicorn was even more out of breath than I was.

"STARLIGHT! WHAT THUH HECK!?" Aj was in front of the lilac mare in a flash, lifting the unicorn by her collar. "YA SAID TUH GIVE IT MAH ALL!"

"APPLEJACK!?" Twilight grabbed the farm pony's shoulder, the look on her face a mixture of anger and worry. To her credit, Starlight just stared back at Aj, her own face betraying no emotions.

"Aj," I tried to take a reasonable approach, but she was way too mad to hear me, her grip not weakening at all. "APPLEJACK!" I shouted, drawing all of their gazes to me. "Let her go, I'm fine!" I ordered.

...

She let go of the unicorn, growling in irritation. Aj trotted away from the duo, Twilight mad-dogging our friend the entire way.

"You okay?" The violet alicorn asked Starlight. Her only response was a quick nod of her head before she trotted up to me, Twilight trailing right behind her.

"They worked, didn't they?" Starlight asked, though it was more like she already knew and just wanted to confirm for herself.

"Like a charm," I nodded. "Didn't feel a thing... except the motion, of course." I looked back at the small lenses on my withers. Both were intact, but there was no longer anything emanating from them.

"Anything less than that much force and they wouldn't have broken," Starlight announced, obviously wanting Aj to hear what she'd said. "That's why I showed you how to retract some of the light from them back into your body."

"What now?" I asked, looking back at her. I still wasn't sure why she'd want them to be destroyed, but she was teaching me, so I didn't say any more.

"You make new ones," she chuckled, slapping me lightly on the shoulder with a hoof.

"Can she... can she do that?" Aj was back to her normal self, joining the three of us again.

"Duh," Twilight giggled. "Did you honestly think we were just gonna get rid of her wings right after giving them to her?"

AJ couldn't hide the fierce blush that came to her cheeks. "Course not! Ah just... Ah was..." Her head drooped. "Ah'm real sorry, Starlight. Ah shouldn't've-"

"It's alright, Aj," Star placed a hoof on the regretful mare's shoulder, drawing her gaze. "I'd never fault you for being concerned for a friend."

"Wait..." I shook my head in disbelief, really needing some clarification. "Are you saying I can just-"

"Reform your wings?" Twilight was smiling, the fact that our friends had already reconciled pleasing her. "That's exactly what we're saying."

"H-how!?" I thought something like that would have to be done in the lab.

"Same as before," Starlight returned her attention to me. "Just gotta think it," she smirked. "This time, try to keep your light usage to a more reasonable limit," she lifted a hoof towards the large lights that illuminated the area along the outside of the wall. "You're taking in a decent amount from those and the moon, but it's better to be safe than sorry. You never know when you'll need more light than you have."

"Right!" I looked up at the silvery moon before sucking in a deep breath.

Makes sense.

In an effort to block out any distractions that might influence my thoughts I closed my eyes, just like the first time. I exhaled the breath I held before reopening my eyes.

"Much better, Dash," Starlight approved as she moved behind me to examine my new wings. "These are pretty much perfect."

"Wait uh sec," Aj turned to Twilight. "Does this mean she can't lose her wings?"

"Essentially... no," the alicorn replied, her answer sending adrenaline through me.

"Is that... Is that true!?" I grabbed Starlight with trembling hooves.

She giggled, nodding enthusiastically. "As long as you have enough light stored inside your body, you can form new wings at any time."

I covered my mouth with a hoof, the reality of her statement slowly sinking in. "S-Starlight..." I sniffled, rubbing my eyes roughly before looking back at my Light. "Thank you. Thank you so much!" Without thinking I pecked her on the cheek, my excitement overriding my better judgement. Her eyes went wide as they locked first on me before darting to Twilight, a slight blush on her cheeks. "SORRY!" I spun around to apologize to Twilight as well, but the alicorn was just grinning with delight.

"It's fine, Rainbow," she lifted a hoof, stopping me in my tracks. "I know how excited you are." I let out the breath I was holding in, but as I turned to face Starlight again, Twilight grabbed my shoulder, stopping me. She inched closer, her narrowed eyes making me shiver. "Just don't let it happen again." She moved her mouth right next to my ear. "She's mine," she whispered, sending a jolt of fear through me before she let me go.

"O-of course!" I nodded almost mechanically as I turned back to face Starlight.

"A-anyway!" the lilac mare cleared her throat. "It wasn't just me. It was all of us," she smiled brightly, the thought clearly bringing her joy. "All of our friends. Without you girls... I'd still be that same horrible mare I was all those years ago," she chuckled. "I'd be lost without you girls."

"Errrr, now let's not go gettin' all sappy again," Aj's baffled eyes were stuck on Twilight until she shook the stupor off and focused on me and Starlight. "We'll never get nothin' done if we just stand around huggin' each other all day."

"True!" I agreed, but mostly, I just wanted to get back to testing out my new capabilities. "I wanted to ask you a question, Star."

"Sure thing, Dash. What's up?" she replied as she moved to stand next to her partner.

"If I can make new wings whenever I want," I stretched them out to their limit, but they gradually kept expanding. I had to consciously stop them from growing by thinking it or I was certain they'd never stop.

Thaaaat's gonna take some getting used to.

"Then... does that mean I can get rid of them whenever I want, too?" I carefully folded them back in at my sides.

"Err... what?" Starlight's face screwed up in confusion. "Why would you want t-" her face lit up in realization. "Theoretically... yes, you can!" she was bubbling with excitement as she trotted over to Aj. "Can you help me out again, Applejack?" she bridged her hooves in a "please" gesture.

Aj lifted a doubtful brow. "Ah'm not sure. Ya gonna make me hurt my best friend again?"

I laughed. "You didn't hurt me, Applejack," I cracked my neck. "You're welcome to try, though." Her green eyes narrowed on me.

"No, Aj," Starlight giggled as she dragged the orange mare over to me. "No bucking needed."

"You sure we can waste light for something like that?" Twilight trotted up to us as well. The purple alicorn stood in front of me, Aj to my left, and Starlight to my right.

"To be certain," Starlight smirked. "I think it'll be fine," she tapped my wing. "Come on, spread em," she chuckled.

I carefully unfurled my wings again, making sure not to hit either of my friends with them.

"So what am a-"

"Just grab onto them, Aj," Twilight cut the farm mare off.

Both of them clamped their hooves onto a respective appendage.

"If you just withdraw the light back into yourself, it'll slowly trickle away and that won't work," Starlight explained. "You're gonna need to just-"

Wings... shatter!

Both of them instantly exploded in a rainbow of falling shards. The remnants of Hard-light swiftly disintegrated before they'd even touched the ground. Star was grinning like a fool and Aj was completely stupefied.

"Was... was that suppose' tuh happen?" Aj's eyes darted between each of us, her hooves still where they'd been when she was holding onto my wings.

"Yes, Applejack," Twilight answered the worried mare. "That was exactly what was supposed to happen."

"Okay, good." Applejack let out a sigh of relief. "... Why was that suppose' tuh happen?" She was relieved, but now thoroughly bewildered.

"Because now we know that Rainbow's wings can never be a liability to her," Starlight was positively glowing. "You've just gotta be sure you're properly charged, Dash."

"Will do!" I saluted the lilac pony. I wanted to jump into the air, my giddiness threatening to make me burst.

Wings are a pegasus' life. We relied on them to do so many things, but they were also a major weakness. I couldn't count the number of times one of mine had been pinned under something heavy. Half the time, they were the prime target for grappling or grabbing too. While I could struggle with my hooves or legs, pegasus wings weren't generally built for doing stuff like that.

Now I didn't have to worry about stuff like that at all. If a wing got trapped in or under something and I couldn't get it out, I could just destroy it. If I got into trouble and some creep got a hold of one, I could do the same.

I wonder what else I can do with them.

"Do you..." I dropped my hoof, not wanting to look at any of them. "Do you... do you think I can fly?" I didn't ask anyone in particular, I just sort of said it out loud.

Starlight was, of course, the one to reply. "It might be a little bit early, but..." she looked at a Twilight who nodded back in approval. "I guess there's really only one way to find out," she grinned as she backed away from me.

"Give her a wide berth, Aj," Twilight used a foreleg to force the farm mare backwards as well. "We're not really sure how this might go, so we should be cautious."

Once all three of them were at a "safe" distance I widened my stance, digging my hooves into the dirt. I was too thrilled to "take it easy". I was gonna go as high into the sky as I could manage... and stay up there for a while.

Just as I was about to make my first attempt, -- my muscles tense and ready to go -- Starlight's shout killed my momentum, nearly causing me to fall over.

"Rainbow!"

I glared at the lilac mare, recovering almost immediately. "Geez, Star! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Just..." she was worried. "take it easy, okay? The Hard-light wings are A LOT more powerful than your old ones."

"Come on, Star," I smirked. If there was anything I knew how to do better than anyone else, it was fly. "You've got nothing to worry about. It's m-"

I didn't think the force was going to be as great as it was. I'd flapped a single time and I was sent rocketing into the sky faster than when Aj had bucked me.

S-STOP! STOP!!!

I panicked, nearly traveling all the way into the atmosphere before I had the wherewithal to rotate my body and flap once again, though this time I did so with much less force. My breathing was ragged, the fact that I could've just died putting me on edge.

Starlight wasn't kidding.

As I slowly began to fall I very gently -- VERY GENTLY -- flapped my wings, trying more to glide than trying to keep myself aloft. It worked like a charm. It was just like having my old wings, except these ones were a lot more powerful.

I glanced in the direction of Canterlot, a devious idea infecting my mind. With how fast I'd flown into the sky, I might be able to reach the city in a matter of seconds. I looked down at my friends, the trio staring up at me.

In awe, obviously.

The Lights would be pissed... but I wanted to see if I could and I was never one to let myself down. With a single weak flap of my wings I was already halfway to the old capital. With a second, I was flying above it. I hadn't been this far from Ponyville in years, but that didn't matter to me right now.

It's... dead.

Canterlot looked even worse than it had in my dream. I didn't want to get too close to the castle, so I stayed high above it, but even from such a great distance I could tell just how much the city had suffered. Sure most of the buildings were still standing, but they looked completely abandoned.

Pretty sure that's not the case either.

I descended slightly, my curiosity getting the better of me. A sharp screech in my ear nearly caused me to plummet to my doom and also almost gave me a second heart attack this morning.

"Dash?" The quiet voice of my yellow friend was a stark contrast to the grating sound of the radio sparking to life.

"Hey Flutters! What's up?" I replied to the pegasus as I settled myself in the air before climbing to a higher elevation.

"I'm so glad you're doing well, Rainbow! I've been watching everything!"

Well, duh.

"Congratulations!" she almost sounded like she had all those years ago.

"Thanks, Fluttershy," I banked, avoiding a cloud.

That's weird.

I didn't want to get back too fast so I slowed my speed. I was in no hurry to get yelled at by the Lights. "I really appreciate it."

"I'm sorry to bother, but... are you... are you okay to receive travelers?" she asked meekly.

"Sure thing,'" I chuckled. She was still that same awkward pony too, just a whole lot sadder now. "Where do I need to go?"

"It looks like they're coming in from Canterlot," I could hear her scrutinizing one of the cameras.

"No kidding? Me too!" I looked down, scanning the ground for any creatures.

"Uhm, Applejack?" Fluttershy added the orange mare to the frequency with another loud screech.

"Yes, ma'am?" Aj instantly chimed in.

"You... you might want to join Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy recommended.

"That big of uh problem, Shy?"

"Not exactly..." she replied.

"N-no way..." I blurted out on accident. What had caught my attention on the ground made me dizzy.

"What is it, Dash?" Aj sounded just a little concerned. If she could see what I was looking at, she'd have been a whole lot more frantic.

"A-Aj," I hadn't seen her in years... and she wasn't looking too good. "You're gonna wanna see this..."

Author's Note

Who could it be?