Once Upon a Lifetime

Once Upon a Lifetime

Chapter 1 - Just the Beginning

The library was quiet  . . . a little too quiet for his tastes. Spike quietly snuck downstairs and peeked around the corner. "Aha, I’ve found you!" He said quietly, pressing himself against the wall. He kept inching closer until he was just barely two feet away. He prepared himself, pulling his arm back ready to strike. He knew this was the perfect moment. He lunged at his target stick in hand and swung as fast as he could, hitting the creature with all the strength he could procure from his small arms, repeatedly hitting it over and over. The creature dropped, silently, effortlessly to the floor, lifeless. "I did it!" He yelled. He ran over to the chair that a makeshift puppet of Rarity was tied to, quickly untied the ropes, and hugged her. He then paused, listening. He could hear the door start to creak open. He panicked, not realizing what to say if Twilight saw this mess. Thinking the punishment would be harsh, he ran upstairs and pretended to sleep, half-expecting this plan to work as he closed his eyes and waited.

Twilight pressed her hoof against the wooden frame of the door, opening it with caution. As the door started to creak, she heard light footsteps going upstairs and then a slight snore. "I wonder what that little dragon is up to." She thought to herself with a slight giggle. She slowly pushed the door open the rest of the way and as soon as she saw what was behind the door all of her thoughts vanished. The entire library was coated in flour and the sack that originally contained it was ripped to shreds.

                The thought of Spike doing this and leaving the mess her for her to clean up made her angry and slightly irritated. The anger soon diminished after she walked in the room and noticed the other sack of flour with an ice cream cone on top of it with a picture of Rarity's face taped to the front. Her anger now turned to humor at the thought of Spike fending off his enemies to protect a sack of flour with an ice cream cone stuck to it. Although she was no longer angry with her assistant, she was still slightly irritated with the mess he made and she knew she wasn't going to clean it. "Spike, come down here please. I need to speak with you." She heard him get up, walk slowly to the top of the stairs and hesitate for a moment as if contemplating if he should come down or not. He started walking again and she saw his face as he came down. He looked slightly worried. He walked up to her and stood ready to face his punishment. Twilight spoke in a calm voice that was directed straight at the baby dragon. "Don’t worry Spike, you're not in any trouble this time, but you still need to clean up this mess before we go to the summer sun celebration this year."

A sudden wave of relief and slight confusion came over Spike as he heard what she said. "Thanks Twilight, but wait. Isn't it a bit early to be hosting another summer sun celebration in Ponyville?" He asked. She looked at him, slightly confused, wondering if he still remembered what happened at the last summer sun celebration. "Um, Spike, don’t you remember what happened last time? You know, with Nightmare Moon and all?" Spike thought about this for a second searching his mind until he found it.

                "Oh  . . . I completely forgot about that."  He said with a slight blush. "Oh Spike, you can be so forgetful at times." She replied with a snicker. Spike’s face reddened even more and Twilight just laughed.  "So I’m going to go make sure that everyone else is ready, but while I do that, you need to clean up this mess." She said sternly. "Yeah, yeah, I got it” The baby dragon replied. “Oh I almost forgot to ask, Is Luna supposed to be showing up with Celestia?"

                Twilight didn't hear him as she was walking; she was much too concerned with the preparations to pay any attention at that moment. "Okay then . . ." Spike sighed.  He walked over to the bucket, which held the mop, grabbed the wooden handle, and started to clean the mess he had made. As Spike was walking he got a slight bubbly feeling in his stomach. He let out a loud burp, along with it came a letter from Princess Celestia. Spike looked at it with concern. "Why would the princess send a letter now? The celebration is in an hour!" He said to himself. Spike grabbed the letter and looked at it, wondering if he should read what it contained. He thought about his options. If he read it, there would be the chance of getting in trouble with Twilight and maybe even the princess. On the other hand, it could be something urgent that Twilight would need to know about and he would be praised for telling her about it. He weighed both options but decided against himself and read.

Twilight, this is extremely urgent. I need you to keep close watch on the festival tonight. Something is happening. ... Something I haven't felt for a long time, I’m worried. Last time I felt this presence we almost lost everything, but it’s stronger now than it was before and I may not be able to protect us from him this time. I know the details in this letter are brief but I have to hurry, I’ll explain the rest to you later when I see you at the town hall. Luna and I should be arriving shortly so stay on watch until we get there, see you then.

Yours truly, Princess Celestia.

Spike didn't understand everything he just read, but he knew it was important and that he had to get it to Twilight at once. Spike ran upstairs and grabbed his secret box from behind the bookcase. He slid off the lid and looked down at the crystal lying in the purple wool lined box. He grabbed the warning note attached to the crystal and ripped it off, glancing at the words.

‘Do not use unless there is an emergency. Using this telepathy crystal causes the user's body to weaken. If used to extreme levels, death is quite a possibility.'

Spike shrugged it off, telling himself it would only be a small message to tell her to return to the library. Spike quickly grabbed the crystal reaching out to Twilight the best he could. He reached out to her for what seemed like an eternity and he managed to find her  . . . and him.

Walking down the road to the town hall, Twilight felt quite content and proud of herself. She was happy that this year they finished the preparations early thanks to her organization, which meant she could spend time with the princesses before and after the celebration. Walking calmly down the road smiling, she felt something pulling at the back of her thoughts that she couldn’t recognize, then she heard Spike's voice. He sounded panicked and slightly tired. "Twilight, I found you! You need to . . . head back to the  . . . library. Celestia sent you an urgent message . . . I need to lie down."

                Twilight was slightly shocked as she heard this and turned around to run home when another voice broke in. "Ah, I see Celestia has found herself another pet to give to me. A fine specimen you are as well, much better than that sorry excuse of a unicorn, Midnight Shine. Does that name ring any bells?” Twilight started getting angry at the voice mentioning her grandmother and calling her a pet. "Midnight was no pet! She was a very loving mother and a great student of Celestia!" Twilight shouted. The voice didn’t reply so she calmed herself down and started to run back up the road to the library.

                As Twilight ran, she searched within her memories and tried to recall the stories her mother had told her about her grandmother. The only stories she remembered were about her helping ponies in need of food and shelter and a brief story on how she died. Twilight's mother had told her that Midnight died in a magic accident at the academy in Canterlot. Apparently she created some hole that seemed like it led to nowhere. Nevertheless, she touched it and it pulled her in and she never came back out. Remembering this made Twilight wish she could have at least seen her just once before she died, but that would never happen. Tears were brimming in her eyes now and she felt like crying, but she knew she couldn't, not today.

                 She wiped the tears from her face and rushed into the library to see Spike lying face down on the ground holding a peculiar looking crystal. Twilight panicked and ran over to Spike, barely managing to slide him onto her back. She could still feel him breathing, but only slightly. When she saw the crystal she realized that talking to him would do nothing with the state of exhaustion he was in. Twilight quickly used her magic to shut off all the lights in the library and ran out the door as fast as she could. As soon as she got outside, she teleported to the town square and took Spike to the nurse.

-=-=-=-=-

Twilight slowly walked in to urgent care and gently set Spike down on one of the beds, the baby dragon still sleeping. Twilight turned around about to walk out the door when a white mare with a long orange mane appeared, staring back at her. The nurse smiled. “Hi! My name is Nurse Willow and I’m filling in for Nurse RedHeart until she gets back from the celebration. How may I be of service today?” Twilight stood and looked at the nurse. She was smiling in a very intense way and it made Twilight feel a bit uncomfortable. "Spike isn't feeling well so I was going to leave him here for a bit while I go speak with the princess." Twilight replied sheepishly. "It’ll be no problem at all." The nurse replied. Twilight seemed relieved. "Thank you Willow, you have no idea how important this is to me." "You're welcome Twilight, now go see the princess before the raising of the sun begins.” She replied. Twilight paused. How did this pony she had never even met before know her name? She was confused but she still focused on the task at hand. "Bye Spike. I hope you feel better soon." She gave spike a quick gentle nuzzle before turning and exiting the tent.

                                                                                    ---------------------

Luna looked at her sister with disbelief. "How could this happen, Celestia? You have to stop him!" Celestia looked down at the floor of the chariot in which they were riding with a disapproving glance. "Luna you know as well as I do that this is beyond my control. He's slowly growing more powerful . . . I don’t think I can hold him off this time. He's spawning multiple portals as we speak and I can't track them all down and block them in time to save us." Celestia was about to cry and Luna could see it happening plain as day. "Celly, please don't start crying. We're about to land in Ponyville and we need to look our best." Luna said. Celestia nodded and held back tears. Luna felt relieved. She turned her head to see Twilight Sparkle running after the chariot looking scared as ever. "Guards, take us down please." Celestia commanded, still calming down.

                The guards nodded and the chariot slowly descended to the ground. Twilight ran up to the side of the chariot panting. "Twilight Sparkle! It's nice to see you again." Luna added. "Did you get the letter I sent for you?" Celestia asked, sounding slightly worried. "Yes, princess, I did. What's going on?" Twilight asked. "Twilight, there are things that Luna and I as princesses aren't able to tell just anyone, but I trust you to keep this a secret amongst yourself and the other elements of harmony only, alright?" "You can trust me, princess. Now, what's going on?" "Well Twilight, many years ago far before you're grandmother Midnight was my apprentice, there was a group of ponies that were obsessed with the idea of traveling to other dimensions and discovering new life to bring back to Equestria or destroying the creatures on land they find to claim it. They called themselves Mercenaries.”

“One day they actually succeeded in creating a working portal. It was amazing at first but soon afterward creatures started flying out of it at incredible speeds, every last one of them hitting something hard and dying on impact except one. When they finally cleaned up the mess they created, they went to dump the bodies. Upon doing so, they heard rustling in the bushes and moaning. They went to the brush to see what it was when the creature jumped at them wielding a sharp object managing to actually kill one of the members of the group. He was quickly outmatched and subdued by the unicorn known today as Chrysanthemum. She was a very beautiful pony with a long darker red mane and a slender white body but nonetheless she was extremely powerful. Her magic was almost too much for him to handle and it actually nearly killed him. They argued about what to call him, but when no one could decide on the same thing, they brought him to me.”

                “Of course I was curious when they brought him because I’ve never seen such a creature before, so I decided that I would take care of him. I tended to his wounds and was constantly on watch over him. He didn’t wake up for several days and I almost gave up on him, but one morning as I was about to leave the room I heard him start mumbling. I was excited to see his first signs of actual life, amazed even, so I turned around and as I was walking over to him he looked at me and asked. ‘Who are you?’ I was completely amazed that he somehow spoke our language. Out of complete bewilderment, I told him exactly who I was and he replied with a nice to meet you. I decided to let him let him stay with me in my castle and he accepted. I was happy about it, but Luna didn’t seem too excited about it at the time. She kept telling me he was going to betray me and I didn’t listen." "And I was right." Luna interrupted. "That you were Luna, but getting back to the story,

                “Many years later he walked up to me in the middle of the dinner we were having with Lord Griffon and he said, Celestia, I want you to turn me into an alicorn like you and Luna. I had no idea what to do at that point besides sit and stare at him with a disapproving look on my face. This question was one Luna and I were hoping he didn't ask because we couldn’t turn him into one. We offered to try to change him into another type of pony but he was stubborn and would only accept if he could change into an alicorn. When we declined his request he grabbed the candles from the middle of the table and started throwing them everywhere, vowing revenge on the pony race and all who defy him. That was when he drew the line.

                “He threw one of the candles at Lord Griffon and it hit him directlyin the eye, falling down and catching his clothing on fire in the process. Lord Griffon managed to escape the castle with minor burns and a swollen eye. We never saw him again after that except for a letter asking what that creature he saw was and what we called him. I explained what he was in small detail because we still didn't know much about what he was. We told him the name straight out. It was what he had everypony call him so we did so as well. He was called Serif.”

“I had him captured and locked in the room he was staying in. Luna and I had a very long argument over the situation and Luna won. We had decided to try to send him back to his world. Each day he spent locked in that room was another day he had to plan his revenge. Each day I had the chef serve him his meals and maintain the room. In the meantime Luna and I were helping the Mercenaries get the portal preparations started. It took a few weeks but we had finally managed to set up everything and re-open the portal to his world. This time though, the portal was not shooting things out, but slowly pulling things in. That was a sad day but we had to do it. We went up to the room in which Serif was in and unlocked the door. The creature inside the room was not him . . . What we saw that night I will never forget. Chrysanthemum had encased him in magic claiming he told her to change him into an alicorn. It was true, but this was no alicorn. I saw his body pulsing and bulging, his skin was ripping and there was blood everywhere . . . His body was bulbous and just . . . Disgusting.”

“I just stood there watching the transformation listening to him scream, his body jerking and squirming in pain. The creature he had transformed into was hideous; it was like no creature I’ve ever seen before. He was big and blue, but his skin was transparent and bulging. It looked like something you'd see in your nightmares. The only thing that I knew was happening was that Chrysanthemum was horribly failing a transformation spell. He turned his body toward me and looked at me. I could see the fear he had in his eyes along with the pain he was feeling. I couldn’t move to help him at the moment. I was in shock. I guess he realized I wasn't going move so he had decided to come to me.

         He started walking toward me causing his body to bounce with every step that he took, pushing the light blue slime out of his body, making it slap up against everything with sickening plops and creating a horrid stench. I couldn’t stand this anymore. I brought out as much magic as I could and I did my best to change him back, but my best wasn't enough. His screaming was worse now than before, I almost couldn’t bear it. I used up almost all my magic to change him back but only half of his face went back to normal. The other half was still a clear blue sack bulging with slime.”

                “I had Luna cast a spell on him causing temporary paralysis so he couldn’t move, which I was thankful for. As he lay there on the floor of the room, I decided to try and clean up some of the mess that had been made with the slime. On my way to the rooms supply closet, I leaned closer to the slime to examine it. The closer I moved toward the slime,  the brighter it got and the weaker I felt. I backed away after I realized that the slime was draining my magic. I had no idea what it was but I decided to stay away from it. I looked back at Serif as he lay quietly on the floor, unable to move. Without him moving around, carrying him with my magic would be easy. Slowly I picked him up and Luna and I started walking toward the door, quickly making it through the halls and out the door that led to the portal. Serif must have noticed it because he started to breathe heavily.

                “Somehow managing to break the paralysis spell we had placed over him, he flailed and kicked Luna in the head. It was a strong enough hit that it gave her a minor concussion. That set Luna off and she kicked him back knocking him right out of the hold I had on him. He flew and hit the wall of the castle, managing to pop one of the slime sacks on his head. In doing so, the pain from her kick and the popping caused him to pass out. On the verge of crying, I ran over to him and had my guards retrieve a mask for me. Although I could see his face glowing brighter and felt my magic start to drain very slowly out of my body I didn't care. I sat there crying over him like a filly that just lost their favorite toy until the guard returned. I retrieved the mask and placed it gently over his face, concealing the monstrosity that had been created behind it.”

                “With that, Luna and I carried him to the portal and set him down slowly in front of it as I said my goodbyes. He woke up as soon as he touched the ground and stood up. Staring at me with eyes full of hatred, he spoke. ‘Celestia, I have enjoyed my time being here, but you can't just banish me. I will be back and I will have my revenge. You can't stop me.’ He spoke with so much venom. I knew he was serious but I didn't think it was possible for him to get back on his own, and it wasn't. As he was standing in front of the portal I ordered Chrysanthemum to push him through. She did what I asked, but Serif managed to reach back and pull her through with him. And that was the last we saw of either of them until Midnight showed up.”

“She had been my apprentice for 12 years and she'd had a child in that time . . . Your mother. She was an adorable little filly. Your grandmother would always bring her to me before her class started so I could watch over her until she finished teaching her lesson for the day. I grew attached to the small child; she was so much like her mother it was unbelievable. Then, one day, Midnight brought her to me in the morning and left for the classroom early. I had no idea why, but it didn't bother me. I loved spending time with Sunset.

         We played around for almost an hour and then she stopped playing and asked me if we could go see what her mother does. Of course I didn't say no to the little filly since it was only natural that she wanted to see what her mother does at work, so I walked with her to the classroom. On the way there, I got this strange feeling coming from the class that Midnight was in, so I sped up enough to where Sunset could still keep up with me. When we got to the classroom we saw Midnight cast a come to life spell on a doll she'd gotten from her mother. At first the doll was fine and it was just walking around like it should have done.

“Then it started to speak to her, saying really odd things and phrases only me and Luna knew about, and then it just . . . Exploded. It created a portal on the ground that started pulling every pony in the room inside of it. As soon as I saw this, I rushed inside the room to help, letting the door shut before Sunset could get in, but I wasn’t able to save Midnight before she was pulled into the swirling vortex. I grabbed her hoof, finding the pull of the portal difficult to resist. I was almost pulled in along with her but she let go of me and she just fell inside of the portal, crying. Then, all of a sudden, it just stopped.

                    “When everything that had happened made its way into my head, I lost it. I was a mess and I was crying at the loss of your grandmother. Eventually I got somewhat over it but I still felt empty. However, the feeling that I got when the portal appeared then is what I had felt on the way here today. Nevertheless, it was much, much stronger than before, the amount of power I felt scares me. How he's still alive after a thousand years I don’t know but I don’t want to figure it out." Celestia finished the story with tears of sadness and worry brimming on her eyelids and she hugged Twilight.

Twilight couldn't even think to hug her back. Everything she had just heard had horrified her. The only thing she could do was stand there, mouth-hanging open in the moonlight. "Twilight, I know this is hard to take in, but you have to understand. I thought this whole thing was finished after Midnight had passed. I wish it was, but it’s not that simple." Celestia said. Luna just looked at the town hall when she realized something. It was almost time for the celebration to start! "Celestia, it’s time for us to head to the town hall." Luna said, rushing her sister. "Luna, the celebration can wait. This is more important at the moment."

                Twilight was still shocked at what she had just been told but she was able to control herself again. She almost broke into tears as she stood looking at the princess. "Does this mean the entire world could be over in a matter of hours?" Twilight asked, almost hysterically. "Yes Twilight, that's exactly what this means and we may have no way to stop it, but we're going to try anyway." Celestia replied, sounding extremely serious. "The only things these portals will pull in to them are ponies. That's what Serif designed them for.  They weren’t made to destroy worlds." Twilight thought hard about this for a second but couldn't come up with any solutions. Luna broke her concentration. "Celly, are you forgetting that you have to go raise the sun?" "No, Luna, I haven't but you're right, we do need to start the celebration." Celestia and Luna turned back to find that Twilight had already left for the town hall. "Come on Luna, let’s get going." Celestia started walking toward the town hall with Luna following close behind. They were both extremely worried about what was going on but nonetheless determined to try to protect everything even if it meant sacrificing themselves to save everyone.

Rainbow Dash was getting anxious. She and her friends had been waiting for Twilight to show up for quite some time now and she was beginning to think she wasn't going to show. "Ah don't think Twilight is showin up fellas." Applejack said with her strong country accent. Rarity looked up at Applejack. "Of course she will, darling! Twilight would never miss an occasion like this involving the princess." Rarity argued. "Ah guess yer right but that still don't explain why she's so late." The country pony grumbled. Fluttershy overheard the conversation between Applejack and Rarity and joined in. "Um  . . . Applejack?" Fluttershy asked quietly. "Whaddya need sugarcube?" She replied.  “I think I saw Twilight talking to the princesses outside the town hall just a minute ago. It seemed very serious, Celestia started crying. She even . . ." Her words were cut off as Twilight Sparkle burst through the doors and started running toward her friends. "Hey guys! I found Twilight! Let’s play again. Who's hiding next?" Pinkie pie squeaked. Rainbow Dash looked at Pinkie and shook her head. Twilight stopped running right before she would have smashed into Rarity., “Girls, I need to speak to you all privately. This is extremely important.” She said, panting.

                They all nodded and Twilight led them out of the building and took them a couple blocks down the road. “Girls, what I’m about to tell you must not leave this group, got it?” "You know you can trust us Twilight, just cough it up already. We're gonna miss the celebration." Rainbow Dash replied. Twilight glared at her and continued. "You may not like what you're about to hear. This is harsh and it will freak you guys out so here goes nothing." Twilight spent a good ten to twenty minutes retelling the story that Celestia had told her going far into detail, telling the story almost exactly as Celestia told it. Almost all of their reactions were the same as Twilight's. They didn't know what to say, simply because nothing could be said in a situation like this and they were all afraid.

                Unlike everyone else though, Rarity remained calm and collective through the entire story. Keeping her composure, the whole way through, so it seemed. On the inside, she really was afraid. She wasn't just afraid, she was terrified. The thoughts of everyone dying and seeing that horrible creature flooded her mind and nearly made her sick to her stomach. She didn't show it. Using the skills she had acquired over the years running a store and dealing with impatient customers at the worst possible times, she hid every last sense of fear and worry she had behind a mask of steel that didn't show anything that was underneath it and only showed what she wanted it to.

         Twilight was surprised at Rarity's lack of emotion throughout the entire story, she hadn't even flinched. She just stood there strong until the bell atop the town hall started to ring, signifying that the celebration had started. Rarity turned her head to face Twilight. "If what you're saying is true then we don't have much time before he strikes. The princess did say she felt his power and it was stronger than ever. Did she not?" "Yes, she did say that, and so did Luna." Twilight replied, slight fear showing with every word. "Then we need to prepare ourselves immediately after the celebration. Does everypony agree?" Rarity asked. Everyone nodded in agreement and walked toward the town hall.

Celestia stared from around the curtains at the audience of ponies before her, her eyes scanning every face in the room in search of Twilight and her friends. "Where are they, Luna? They should be here by now." Celestia said, worried. "Don’t worry, Celly. They'll be here soon." Luna replied. She looked out upon the audience and saw the doors open and Twilight and her friends walk through them into the crowded building. "See, Celly? I told you they would be here." Luna said triumphantly as her prophecy came true. "Yes, Luna, you were right." Celestia pulled herself up to the dark blue alicorn and looked straight into her eyes. "Luna, I'm scared, his power keeps growing stronger from every location I’ve felt today. However, here in this room is where it is the strongest. He knows I’m here somehow, and I can't seem to figure out how he does. It feels like he's watching me." Celestia said, voice trembling with fear. “I know what you mean , Celestia. I feel it as well, but it's time to raise the sun. Luna replied, comforting her sister the best she could. Celestia reached over to her sister and hugged her. "You’re right, we only have a few minutes and I’m sitting here crying like a filly. I need to get serious and just do this."

                Hearing those words come out of her sister’s mouth made Luna happy that her sister still had confidence. Luna knew her sister always acted tougher than she really was. Luna actually liked it better when her sister showed her true self. It made her happy when she did. Luna snapped out of her thoughts as her and Celestia walked onto the platform. "Fillies and gentle colts, I, Princess Celestia, am happy to be here today to perform once again the raising of the sun for the summer sun celebration in Ponyville. The Previous celebration here in Ponyville was interrupted and had to be canceled."

                 Luna blushed, embarrassed that it was her that ruined it. "So here we are once more to see the sun rise on the horizon and cast its glow over Equestria!” Celestia's horn became surrounded by pink light as she started casting the spell. As the sun started to rise, the ground below Celestia started humming. Without realizing it, Celestia continued to raise the sun. The higher the sun rose in the sky, the louder the humming got. Ponies below were covering their ears as the humming became too intense for them to handle. Even Luna couldn't bear to hear it so she had covered her ears as well, but Celestia still didn't notice. She had her eyes closed and was focusing on the sun.

As the sun reached its midpoint in the summer sky, all of the humming stopped. All of the ponies below were relieved and uncovered their ears, along with Luna. As the ringing stopped in her ears, there was a loud explosion beneath the town hall. Everyone heard it. Ponies began to scream and run out the door as the carpet lifted from the ground. "Celestia what’s going on?" Luna screamed. The frantic yell from Luna caused Celestia to wake from her spell and leave the sun at midpoint in the sky, she didn’t reply. A loud, booming voice echoed throughout the room filled with hatred and anger. "You should know what's happening, my dear Luna. I've come to get my revenge, and I will succeed. You can't stop me this time; therefore, I only have to say one thing . . . See you on Earth." Luna turned to her sister and was about to ask her what Earth was, when the floor in the middle of the room exploded in a brilliant whirl of light and dark blues, Sending shreds of carpet everywhere and the remaining ponies in the room being pulled toward it.

Rainbow Dash tried to fly away from the swirling blue mass in the middle of the room but couldn't gain enough speed. Very quickly she began to slow and started moving toward the center of it. She was scared until she felt someone grab her tail. She recognized that bite and turned back to see Applejack hanging on for dear life to one of the columns near the wall with Dash's tail in her mouth. Applejack pulled her toward the column and heard Twilight scream. Applejack looked to see Twilight flying towards the vortex. "TWILIGHT!" She screamed, forgetting she was holding Rainbow Dash's tail with her teeth. Rainbow felt the grip loosen and she flew into the portal screaming, seeing other ponies from town flying in through the door, including Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. That was when Dash realized . . . All hope was lost. As she reached the center of the blue whirlpool, she caught a glimpse of the princesses and Applejack following soon after, then everything went black. Although she couldn't see, Rainbow felt herself falling freely through the air. Lifting her wings, she caught the air and slowed to a near stop. She couldn't completely slow to a stop, though. There was some unknown force pulling her towards the ground . . . Or whatever was down there.

She felt a light mist touch her fur, which meant there was water somewhere. She was guessing it was below her so she seized the opportunity and closed her wings, diving downwards toward what she hoped was water. She dove for about a minute and landed inside a body of liquid that judging by the taste in her mouth was water. Dash looked around but still couldn't see anything. It was just too dark. As she was struggling to see what was around her, she heard three loud plops in the water behind her followed by many more. She spun around to try to see who it was and her vision went fuzzy. She smelled the air. That's when she knew. "This isn't water…” Within seconds she felt herself drifting off to what she hoped was sleep.

When she finally awoke, she found herself on the floor of a large metal cage full of other pegasi who looked just as nervous and frightened as she did. Although the light in the room was blinding, she held her eyes open to stare at everything she saw before her. As she lay there staring in awe, she felt a slight nudge on her shoulder. "Rainbow Dash, are you alright?" The voice asked. Rainbow instantly recognized it as Fluttershy, who stood over her almost in tears. "Yeah, I’m fine Fluttershy, where is everyone? Where are we?" Rainbow asked, still slightly dazed from just waking. Fluttershy started to cry. "I . . . I don't know where we are. Everyone else is gone. They all disappeared soon after we hit the water, and I haven't seen anyone since then who wasn't a Pegasus." Fluttershy collapsed just as Rainbow Dash got up. "Fluttershy, are you alright?" She asked. She ran over to Fluttershy and gently lifted her to her feet. "I'm fine, just a little shaken up, that's all." She replied. "Good, because I plan on getting us out of here hopefully soon." Fluttershy looked at her with bewilderment, then doubt. "Rainbow Dash, it isn't possible. Everypony in here has tried to find a way out but couldn't. Derpy flew all the way to the top and all she found was a hatch that you can't open from the inside." Fluttershy argued. Rainbows eyes lit up for a second as she spoke.

                "I have an idea, Fluttershy, hold on." Rainbow Dash hastily flew up to where the hatch was and examined it closely, looking at every last detail. While she was looking, she noticed a small crack in the hatch's frame. She smiled happily and turned around, getting ready to kick it. As she looked down toward Fluttershy she saw every last pony in the room staring at her. What she didn't see was that they weren't staring at her; they were staring at what was behind her. She reared up and kicked right as the hatch swung open. She heard a loud THWACK as her rear hooves hit what she thought was the metal hatch and felt it crack.

 Just as Rainbow Dash was about to turn around to see if her endeavor was successful, she felt a heavy, limp weight land on her back and she tumbled toward the ground. Just barely managing to slip out from underneath what was dragging her down she saw that it wasn't the hatch . . . It was a body. Judging by what she had heard in Celestia's story, it was a human body. She watched as the body fell to the ground.  A bit of guilt struck through her as she heard it hit the floor with a loud smack. She heard some limbs snap but she didn't know if it was dead, and she didn't want to stay and find out. She looked at Fluttershy and waved her hoof diligently, motioning for her to come with and leave. "Come on everypony! Now's our chance! Let's get out of here.”

                With Rainbow leading the brigade of pegasi, they flew through countless hallways for Celestia knows how long. With all the wind generated by the flapping of the pegasi wings, the humans became aware of their escape. Occasionally gunfire would erupt from below, picking off a few ponies at a time until the shooter was swarmed and attacked by the remaining pegasi that hadn't been killed from the shots. Rainbow Dash didn't know what was going on but she kept flying. She then she saw what she had been waiting to find. She saw all four of her friends sitting in their cages, and up the hall, a door with windows that showed a perfect view of the outside.

Rainbow Dash was ecstatic at the sight of her friends and she turned to Fluttershy who was also smiling. "We found them, Fluttershy, we really found them! Now all we have to do is open their cages and get them out. " Rainbow Dash said, gleaming with hope.  "Um  . . . Rainbow Dash, we have a problem. The unicorn cage doesn’t have an opening like ours did. Their opening is on the side of the cage near the bottom next to all that blue stuff, but the earth pony cage is the same as ours was." Fluttershy replied. The smile disappeared from Rainbow's face as she heard what Fluttershy had said and she flew down to the unicorn cage. Seeing all the ponies inside gathered in the middle of the cage made her curious so she opened the hatch. Surprisingly, the door on their cage wasn't nearly as tight as theirs was, so she opened it and flew inside.

She hugged Twilight and Rarity who were also greeted by Fluttershy in the same manner. "Why are you guys all huddled in the middle like this?" She asked. Twilight glanced at the slime and then brought her eyes back up to look into Rainbow's. "That slime that Celestia had told us about is surrounding the cage and if we get close to it, it drains our magic and we can't replenish it near as fast. The world we are in now doesn't have near as strong of an energy force as Equestria does, therefore it is very hard for us to recharge our magic. We've tried to escape but the entrance is so close to the slime that we can't get past it fast enough to get away without possibly dying." As Twilight said this, Rainbow Dash had a plan. "What if me and the other pegasi carry you guys and the earth ponies out of your cages one by one on our backs? It could get you out much faster and without draining much magic."  Twilights ears perked up as she heard this. "That's brilliant, Rainbow Dash! Let's do it." She said.

Rainbow readied herself and she picked up Twilight on her back and bolted out of the hatch opening. As they flew over the slime, Twilight felt the energy being drained from her body. They made it over soon enough that she hadn’t sustained any real damage, but she still felt weak. Rainbow Dash landed on the other side and set Twilight down on the ground. "Thanks, Rainbow." The purple unicorn said thankfully. "No problem, Twi. That's what friends are for." Rainbow Dash replied, smiling. Rainbow Dash flew up to the other pegasi and told them the plan. Almost instantaneously, everyone flew into the cages and started retrieving the other ponies. It was slow work but they managed to go at a steady pace. Rainbow Dash was happy that they would be out of here soon. "Twilight, we're almost finished. We've only got a f-“ She stopped speaking as a bullet whizzed past her head. She turned to see a group of soldiers running toward them carrying weapons.

 The man in front spoke. "Stop what you are doing and return those creatures back to their cages where they belong and we'll bring you back to your cage without inflicting injury upon you!" Rainbow Dash had no idea what this man was talking about but she was scared nonetheless. She didn't know what to do besides stand there. Twilight then jumped in front of the soldiers and cast a shield "Everypony run! I'll hold them off so you can get out of here!" That's what everyone did. They all ran besides Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and the rest of Twilight’s close friends. "Twilight, we can't simply just leave you here alone! You're coming with us!" Rarity screamed. "No I’m not, now go!" Twilight used the rest of her magic to push them away as far as she could. As she focused on moving her friends away from her, she dropped the shield. As if on cue the guards advanced on her. The five ponies she saved couldn't do anything to stop it besides turn and run out the door.