Chapter 6 Silhouette

“What do Ah do, Big Mac?” Applejack practically strangled her brother, shaking him back and forth in her panic, “They said Ah’m the Element of Honesty!” She paused, her green eyes staring into his, wild with panic. She had managed to hold on to her anxiety until all the other Apples had packed up and headed out to disperse once more across the face of Equestria.

“Calm down, Applejack-”

“Ah AM calm! What is she going to think? Ah, can't BE the Element of Honesty! Not with…” she lowered her voice, “ya’ know, this secret.”

“I know you hate having to keep it, but remember, it affects more than just you.” Big Mac replied calmly. “And besides, it's mandated, you have to keep it.”

“But if Ah keep it, Ah ain't bein’ honest!” Applejack cried.

“Now hold it right there.” Big Mac broke in. “Have you ever said that you are something you aren't?"

“No…”

“Are you going around lyin’ about what we are?”

“No, I haven't said anythin’, Big Mac, but that's still lyin’ by omission!”

“Then compromise, you have friends,” Big Macintosh looked down at his younger sister, for all her smarts about farmin’ and living, she could really get stuck on some of the strangest mud holes, “so talk to them, let them know that you have a secret that you are not allowed to discuss and ask them to respect that. Be honest with them that it is something that affects more than just you, it's not something that they need to worry about, but that you want to let them know that there are some things that you can't discuss. That way if they ask you a question that might cause you to lie to keep the secret you can be honest with them and say you ain't allowed, by law I might add, to discuss that.”

“Ah can still be honest then, and maybe still keep the secret,” Things clicked for Applejack, “but still, as soon as Ah'm allowed, Ah'm telling, It don't sit right with me. And there is still Her to deal with. What is Ambrosia going to think?”

“Write to her, explain everything. I'm sure she will understand. Yah don't get where she is by not understanding.”

“That makes sense, Ah guess,” Applejack threw a hug around her big brother, “Thanks for helpin’ me get things sorted out.”

“Eeyup” came the reply as he hugged her back.

“Dinner's ready!” Granny Smith called from downstairs, "Y'all better get your hooves washed an’ geet down here!”

“Race ya’ there!” a ball of yellow and red bounced off the wall to get around the two siblings blocking the way.

“Applebloom! No racin’ in the house!”

♢ ♢ ♢

“Good night, Rarity!” Sweetie Belle called as she opened the front door to the Carousel Boutique. “I'm off to supper. Mom and I are going shopping tomorrow.” Rarity cringed at the sewing machine as the door slammed shut behind her little sister. She had returned to it after the brunch to find that it was intact and mostly undisturbed.

Well as undisturbed as it could be seeing as Sweetie Belle had taken refuge in during Nightmare Moon’s happening. Which mainly meant cleaning burned watermelon rind off the ceiling and removing marker stains from a few scraps of cloth. Rarity wasn't sure if she should sign her sister up for cooking classes or get her a restraining order on every kitchen in Equestria. Fortunately, Sweetie had the sense to not mess with anything in the front showroom. Rarity set her sewing items down and glanced at the cutout patterns lying on the floor around her. She wasn't hungry but did need something to chew on after a long day.

The kitchen was sparkling from her cleaning earlier in the day. The meal prep didn't take long, it was a simple salad, spinach, carrots, and a few cherry tomatoes in a bowl, accompanied by a glass of water. As she sat and ate in silence, Rarity thought back over the day. She no longer had to worry about her secret or that Celestia would blast her for being something evil, she had true friends and not just ponies that she worried would only value her for what she gave.

After supper, she retired to her bedroom to read a little from her romance novel before falling asleep. Eyes burning from long uses, and heavy eyelids she drifted off to what she hoped would be a peaceful sleep.

It was not peaceful at all. All night long she tossed and turned, her dreams haunted by a black shadow. It seemed to flit at the edges of her dreams, draining the color, always darting away when she turned in its direction.

Her dreams started out fine, even pleasant, with Rarity and her new friends going on picnics or dressing up in the latest fashion. But as the night wore on, they turned sour. Her friends occasionally snarled, and Applejack told her a lie! Twilight ignored her instead reading a book.

Rarity sat up drenched in cold sweat and breathed a sigh of relief… It was just a dream. Her new friends wouldn't do that to her. Right?

ϙ ϙ ϙ

“Pinkie?” Mrs. Cake called up the ladder to the loft, “We're headed to bed, it's rather late!”

Pinkie looked up at the cuckoo clock on the wall, “A quarter past 10? Oh, I really was focused on those party plans.” She looked down at the sheets of paper scattered on the floor where she lay. Color-coded diagrams drawn in crayons and lists underlined with markers decorated with glitter filled every possible space. “I guess I should get ready for bed huh, Gummy.”

The green toothless crocodile slowly blinked.

“Yeah, that's all I'm getting done tonight. Goodnight Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie called back down the trapdoor before standing up. “What do you think, Mr. Narrator?”

Me?

“Yeah, should it be strawberry juice or apple juice at the party?”

Well, I’ve had some nice juices that were a blend, I think that one had both strawberry and a little apple cider vinegar, with… something else, I can't remember.

“OOhh, I could make a harmony punch!” Pinkey exclaimed, writing down an idea while her tail started to dust the papers into a pile. “It will have six different flavors in it! Thanks for the idea, Mr. Narrator.”

No problem, Pinkie, now shouldn't you be headed to bed?

“Yippers! I'm going to clean this up and then brush my teeth. Gotta keep ‘em nice and sparkly when I smile!”

Well, goodnight then, I have other ponies to attend to.

“Okay Dokie Lokie, tell Claire I said hi!, oh wait, she won't hear you. Nevermind then. Ohh, I'm going to have to throw her a welcome to Ponyville party…”

ʚїɞ ʚїɞ ʚїɞ

“I know it was scary, Orion but we needed you to help us and you weren't there.” Fluttershy stared deep into the eyes of the massive white wolf. Orion flopped on the floor of the hut and rolled over in a show of submission. Fluttershy sighed at the show. “You are just so lucky that you stayed cute.”

⚡︎ ⚡︎ ⚡︎

Rainbow Dash slid down into her cloud bed. It was time to go to bed, she had a strict sleep and exercise schedule to complete after all, but ever since they had activated the elements Dash had felt full of energy. She squirmed a little into the covers, every part of her tingled with excitement. She was a hero now, she had saved Equestria!

“Dang nerves,” she mumbled and slid out of the covers, “milk is supposed to help put people to sleep, or is that a type of tea?” she muttered as she moved to her kitchen.

The hardened cloud tiles and enchanted counters glistened in the low light as Dash lit a candle and started to look through her ice box. “Protein shakes won't do,” she muttered as she moved the pre-mades aside with a wing tip. No, the vegetable juices also wouldn't do. “Am I out of milk?” she asked. “I'll bet all of the stores are closed.”

Grumbling at the fruitlessness of her quest, Dash tromped up the cloud stairs and re-entered her bed. “I wish I had an off switch,” she muttered raising a hoof, “just take it and… pop!” she mimicked flipping a switch.

˚₊‧꒰ა ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

Claire Day pressed the power button to turn off the TV. “Wow,” she breathed, “That was, EPIC.” She sat there for a few seconds replaying the last 30 minutes in her head. The fight with Tirek, the reveal of the season-long question of what was in the box, the new castle was a little ugly and she wished that Rainbow Dash had played a larger part. But all in all the final was satisfactory.

Hopping off the couch she ran over to the door. It was Saturday, and that meant no school. That meant she could spend all day at the skate park with her friends, discuss the new episode, and practice some new tricks on her scooter. She still wasn't sure why her parents wouldn't let her have a bike or skateboard when a scooter destroyed shins and ankles faster than a skateboarder broke bones or a person on a BMX wiped out.

She grabbed her purple helmet off of the hat rack, the smiling Rainbow Dash on the side a little scuffed from a collision last week, but Claire thought that made it look cooler. Jamming it on her head she slipped on her orange sneakers, a 10th-year birthday gift, despite being two years older than when she got them, they still held up and she had yet to outgrow them. It was getting a little annoying being the shortest in class now.

Her scooter was leaning against the steps in the shade from the fall sun. Despite supposedly being autumn now, the heat was almost unbearable. Almost. Claire grabbed the scooter and pushed off down the sidewalk towards the skatepark.

It took her several minutes to get there. It sat on the corner of two streets, an empty lot turned into concrete abstract art composed of drop-ins, bowls, steel rails, flats, and ramps. Slightly older than Claire, there were some cracks in some places and graffiti covered almost every inch of the place.

“I'm here!” Claire called seeing her friends gathered to one side while some older teens had taken over the drop in the center trying to out-trick each other. “What's up?”

“G'day Scoots!” Tim greeted her as she joined the group. Claire rolled her eyes, as the only one in the group with a scooter they had decided early on to refer to her by her choice of ride, all the others had superior skates or roller blades. “We ‘ere just waiting for tha blokes over there to knock themselves out trying to figure out how to do an ollie.”

“Have you seen the new episode?” Maggie whispered to Claire as she joined the circle.

Claire nodded vigorously, “yeah, it's so awesome!" she whispered back.

“Hey!” Tim said, “Are you paying attention? We're playing shadow ninja while we wait. You two in or not?”

Both girls nodded. Shadow ninja was a fun game to play. Each person stood in a circle and took turns trying to hit another person's hands with their own hands to knock them out. All moves had to be made in one fluid motion in one direction then freeze, if you did more than that or moved when it wasn't your turn, you were out.

The game went pretty well all things considered. Claire had gotten Maggie's left hand out before being forced into a limbo stance to avoid getting smacked in the face by an exuberant swing from Tim. That was when everything changed.

Claire heard a loud honk from the street followed by screeching of tires. Claire fell flat on her back as she tried to look behind her to see what was going on. The sound of a wire fence breaking met her ears as she started to get up. Her friends screamed and started running.

She looked with fright as she saw the source of commotion. A truck had swerved off the road and was headed right at her.

“SHHIIIIIII-”

And then she died.

˚₊‧꒰ა ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

Claire came too as her body thumped against a wall, pain-filled every single crevice of her being. A light was shining on her from the side.

“Owwww.” she moaned and tried to open her eyes, a light that had been shining on her disappeared with a pop leaving her in dark blackness. With tremendous effort, she opened her eyes and found herself lying in an alleyway amongst cardboard boxes and trash. “What the hey?” her voice came out raspy like she hadn't drunk anything in a while. “Where am I?”

The ground under her was made of cobbles and it was now night, if the dark sky and street lamp outside was anything to go by. Slowly aware of all the aches and pains she got to her feet.

Or at least tried to. She kept slipping and falling forward. “Ow, what the…” she trailed off as she looked at her arms splayed out in front of her. What should have been her arms anyway, they now looked like orange hairy logs like someone had merged the Lorax with some of the trees he protected.

a strand of hair dipped into view. “Huh?” Claire looked at it cross-eyed, her hair wasn't purple and straight! It was black with soft waves when it got long. Claire started to panic, confusion clouding her vision.

“Waitwaitwait,” she sat up, the pain pushed to the back of her mind as she started to hyperventilate. “Nononononn oh nononono.” She was orange, she was naked, where were her friends? Where were her parents? This was all wrong. She grabbed at herself trying to curl into a ball. A choked sob leaked out. She was alone, nothing was right, it was dark.

“Hey, Bon, ya hear that?”

“Hear what exactly?”

“It sounds like someone crying.”

Claire dimly heard sounds like hoof steps, “There you are. Hey kid, what are you doing out here?” the first voice asked.

Clair let out a small sob and looked up to see a face that she recognized. That couldn't be right, that was a fictional character standing in front of her, right? She rubbed her eyes and looked again. That was Lyra Heartstrings, the second most popular background pony of the fandom. “Lyra?” she croaked.

“That's my name,” the mint unicorn confirmed, “but I'm afraid I don't know yours. In fact I've never seen you around here. I'm pretty sure that I would remember an orange and purple pegasus.” Lyra paused, “You aren't a runaway are you?”

Claire didn't answer, instead, she lunged forward and wrapped her tiny legs around the front leg of the full-grown unicorn and continued crying.

“Lyra? What is it?” the other voice asked. “What did you find?”

Lyra turned around to show her walking buddy and roommate Bonbon the orange leg hugger, giving a little shake resulting in the pegasus gripping tighter and letting out a heart-wrenching sob.

“I don't know, Bon, but she isn't in the right mind for answering questions… Can we keep it?”

“Lyra! It's not a pet! It's a young pegasus terrified out of her poor little mind,” Bon Bon scolded Lyra. “We can take her back and find out where she's from in the morning.”

“Yeah,” Lyra gave another shake, “I don't think she's coming off of my leg anytime soon.”

Author's Note

Character Q&A
BifauxnenStroganoff asked Rainbow: Are you upset you didn't get to keep that kick-flank armor you found in the castle ruins? Maybe you could fly back out there and try to scavenge it?
Answer: Dash slumps a little in the chair, "Yeah I was bummed to lose it, when I had it I felt invincible! Besides, Twilight said that it could be an old Thunderbolts Armor. DO YOU KNOW how COOL that is?" she declairs getting closer to the camera, almost holding it and shaking it at the end. "Maybe when I have free time I should fly out there and see if I find it."

SO. Sorry for the short chapter, thats where the break fit best. Hmmm, wonder who that is. I had to include the classid HiE. But anyways, this is the end of the prepaired chapters, so updates will be a lot slower with no schedule. I'm half way through the next chapter and I'm working on re-writing the prologue. Add to that classes starting up today and lots of social events, I don't have much time to write. I also need to figure out how to keep track of all the story threads I have while maintaining a larger story and working in slice of life plots and episodes from the show. No biggie.
To all the reader who have put up with me this far.
Thank you.
You have made this worth it. I enjoy reading the coments you leave and I'm probably addicted to checking the statistics tab every few hours. Thank you for reading. Here's to a hundred chapters I haven't writen yet. And here's looking at you kid.