The Light Shadow pt.1
Today wasn’t a good day to find yourself out on the streets of Ponyville. Especially if your name was Rainbow Dash. Dodging taxes wasn’t the worst crime you could possibly commit against her majesty, but it would sure lead to a lot of downtime; a fact that made Dash all the more short on breath in the wee hours of the morning, Celestia’s great sun barely peeking over the horizon.
This was her moment. This was the day each and every month. She had a brief window in which to skip town for the day, just before her majesty’s messengers would begin ringing their bells to signal all citizens of Ponyville to bring out their tribute for the month.
She saw her opportunity as the last of the Royal Guard began its flight back to the home of the recently crowned queen. Dash licked her lips, braced for takeoff, and with a twinkle unnoticeable next to the remaining stars in what once was Luna’s night sky, she was gone.
Dash was now at cruising speed. She figured it to be about noon. The time didn’t worry her though, as she was far out of view of Ponyville, and even the Royal Palace. At times like this she liked to think of the good old days. Before what many called “The Lunar Eclipse”. Before the Age of the Light Shadow.
But of course, thinking of before often led her into thinking of the events which led to that dreadful coup. Rainbow Dash was the only pony who knew what had really happened that night. On a quiet night, in fact, probably the most quiet night to ever fall over the land, fire began to fall atop Equestria. It burned forests, houses, and in the most severe cases civilians, to ashes. Thousands of lives taken by this fire that appeared to cascade from the moon.
Dash was on the highest cloud, the only one with a good enough view to see what was really going on. Royal Guards, Celestia’s own men, shooting flames to Equestria below. Celestia sent for the arrest of her sister the next morning and murdered her in cold blood for crimes she didn’t commit. There was nothing standing in the way of Celestia’s supreme rule. Rainbow Dash went to the Elements of Harmony to tell them what she had seen. All seemed to be taken aback by the accusation. Twilight Sparkle slunk back to the side of Celestia just days after.
Her friends began avoiding the pegasus pony after she shared with them her secret. She could see in their eyes after parting ways with them that they weren’t refusing to believe her. They were scared to. Apple Jack gave Dash a piece of advice which had she kept with her to this day.
“Look Sugar Cube, Ah want you to put any thoughts you have of tryin’ somethin’ out of your head. If...what you’re sayin’ is true...then there’ll be a price on your head for knowin’ the things you know. And Ah don’t want you to end up like Luna. So y’best keep this whole mess to yer’self."
And that she did.
Eight months. Eight long months she’d managed to keep quiet about this whole thing. Sometimes she thought about telling others, even flying straight to Celestia to tell her that she knew everything all along, to blackmail her. But, that wouldn't bring back her lost friends. That wouldn't bring back Luna. She thought about how it was what Discord would've done. Discord had been forced out a couple months after the execution and was reportedly still on the run. Dash chuckled a bit at the thought of how backwards things were now. How she actually found herself rooting for Discord.
Everyone was against Luna from the onset, secretly at least, always looking for a good enough reason to spill her blood. There were few others who had their suspicions, who sided with Luna. These people were bribed with government positions and wealth. Dash assumed this was what had happened to “Treasurer” Twilight Sparkle. She shrugged the idea off. Twilight had always been close at Celestia’s side. Why would she need a bribe?
Even if the Elements of Harmony were on the same page, how would they take Celestia? Let alone her entire Royal Guard?
Three hours past noon, the clocks now struck. She could hear them even from this high cloud on which she was perched. Dash could now catch her breath. She decided that she would jet back to Ponyville at the same time she had left this morning.
Suddenly, a peculiar noise caught her ear. It was as if a string of fighter jets were flying in hot pursuit. It was getting louder and louder. Suddenly her cloud disappeared from beneath her. Dash began to fall, but caught herself within a matter of seconds and began her ascent back to her previous height. Her head was on a swivel, looking frantically for whatever, or whoever, was the cause of this phenomenon.
Then she saw it. It was headed back in her direction...and it wasn’t slowing down. Rainbow Dash took off in the opposite direction, knowing that she was the fastest in all of Equestria.
Even at her extreme speeds the objects (there appeared to be three of them) were getting closer. Upon further inspection, three pegasus ponies were hot on her tail, one clearly being the leader in the middle, as this one was just faster than the other two. But who could possibly keep speed with such a speed freak as herself?
They would catch her eventually if she didn’t try something quickly. She snapped straight up into the air, flying higher and higher, then flipped back in the opposite direction.
It was to no avail. They had followed her every move like heat seeking missiles. She turned to face them.
“It’s all over Rainbow Dash! Give it up!” The voice was all too familiar to her.
Spitfire? She thought as she took a closer look at the middle pony. “What do you want?” She gasped, short of breath. “Why...are you here?”
“Well I think that’s obvious isn’t it.” Spitfire began with a smirk. “We’re here for you.”
Before Dash could bolt off again, she was overpowered by the three pegasus ponies. One of which she didn’t recognize, the other she knew, from her days at the Wonderbolt Academy, as Lightning Dust.
Dash tried to put up a struggle, but before she could do anything her hooves and wings were bound. Lightning Dust and the unnamed pony hoisted Dash up onto Spitfire’s back.
“Rainbow Dash, you are hereby under arrest for tax evasion...among...other things.” Spitfire proclaimed.
Dash immediately tried to wriggle free. The struggle stopped as her jaw was met by Lightning Dust’s hoof.
Dash awoke to find herself in a rusty cell. Her jaw was still sore from the blow that knocked her out and she was fairly certain that it was bruised. Still in a daze, she stumbled to her feet and looked out of the single window of the cell. She found herself overlooking much of Equestria, placing herself somewhere in the Queen's castle. It was still day, so Dash assumed she hadn't been out for too long. She turned back to the door of her cell to find that someone had been watching her. The rainbow pony almost slammed her head against the ceiling in her quick fright, which rapidly turned to anger.
The treasurer stood on the outside, looking in at the rather battered pegasus pony. "Good, you're awake. Hope they didn't rough you up too bad! Although, quite frankly, they had to put you in your place somehow! Maybe next time the tribute collectors come around, you'll decide to stay in town." There wasn't really anything Rainbow could think to say.
"I'm not funding a murderer." Finally, the words escaped her mouth after ten seconds of silence.
"Rainbow Dash, are you really still on this?" The two were now eye to eye "Look, I understand how traumatic it all must have been for you, but the "murderer" you speak of was caught long ago, ensuring a long lasting peace for all of Equestria! I ran your little theory by Celestia herself, OBVIOUSLY she thought it to be the most preposterous thing she'd ever-"
"You told her?!" Dash was growing angrier.
"I just felt that the time was right...besides, you would've done the exact same thing." Twilight tried to reason with her.
"What? Sell out my friends?"
"Listen here, you little bitch!" Twilight snapped quickly. "I've kept you safe for so long, and you've taken that for granted. All you had to do was stay in line, obey the laws, and this all could've been avoided."
"And there it is. Twilight Sparkle in her true form...I'm not here because of the taxes, am I?"
"No." Twilight smirked before walking off down the corridor.
Dash didn't have much time to think about what had just happened, as the three pegasus ponies who had arrested her unlocked the cell and pulled her forth, shoving her down the hall. She thought about trying to bolt away from them before realizing that her wings were bound together.
When they finally reached the throne, Dash was shoved forward, causing her to fall on her face, re-igniting some of the pain which resided there sometime before. Lightning Dust kept a hoof pressed into her spine, almost triumphantly, as the other two moved forward to the Queen.
"I'm impressed. I would've thought it would take you a lot longer to catch such a slippery one." Celestia took the same light, airy tone that Dash had remembered hearing in her voice from previous encounters with her. "Go to Twilight Sparkle for your reward, tell her I said to put in a little extra for being so quick about this." Dash felt the pressure released from her back as the three raced one another out of the room. "Now...Ah, yes! Rainbow Dash!" Her horn lit up as a scroll about the size of Dash herself floated up to the Queen's eyes. "Right...Tax evasion...8 months? Oh, my!...hmm..." Dash started to chuckle a bit as Celestia acted as if she hadn't known the charges she had placed against her. "Is something funny? Because I certainly don't think this is funny. You could end up doing quite a bit of time for something like this, you know?"
"Princess...Sorry, QUEEN Celestia." Dash rolled her eyes. "I know. And I think you know that I know. With all due respect, I don't think I'm the biggest criminal in this room right now. So, the question here is, are you gonna do to me what you did to your own sister?"
"Oh, Rainbow Dash." Celestia said with a smile. "You always were terrible at picking your battles." The scroll floated back to its previous spot next to the throne as the Queen stood. She towered over Dash from her pedestal. "You know, I could get rid of you right now. Put you down just like Luna. It would be a lot easier in this case, though. After all, she was my blood. You, on the other hand...I respect you, though. More than you could possibly believe. THEY respect you, too." She brought Dash's gaze to Ponyville, which could barely be seen in the distance out the window to the left. "So, that's why I've decided to let you live...for now, anyway." Rainbow Dash was in a mixture of shock and relief. "Hell, I'll even look the other way on the taxes...Just one condition though." The Queen's eyes turned cold. "If I find out that you have told anyone what you told my faithful student after you leave here, there will be no mercy. I WILL bury you, Rainbow Dash. Understand?"
Rainbow Dash gulped, "Yes, your majesty."
Almost instantly, Celestia returned to her usual fluttering, wispy voice. "Good, then we're done here. I'll have a guard escort you out. Phillip! Phillip, come here!" There was no response. "Phillip?" At that moment, Lightning Dust came crashing through the door to the throne room.
"Your majesty! Phillip, Brian, David, all of them are dead!"
"What!? What happened?! Who is responsible for this!" Just then, glass shattered from the window overlooking Ponyville. Dash and Dust fell to the floor. Dash looked up to find the mess of a creature that she couldn't believe she was happy to see.
"Sorry, Miss, I won't be in for very long, just here to get something I need, I'll even clean up the place!...Now, let's see...Ah! There it is!" With one swift motion, Discord swooped down, came up with Rainbow Dash, and flew back out the window, the glass that was once shattered moving back into alignment.
"Rainbow Dash. We've been waiting on you for too long." Discord cut the binding off of Dash's wings. "Follow me, I've got a lot to show you."
