The Wind Beneath Her Wings

Celestia squinted at the dying sun, feeling her power begin to wane as she handed control of the skies over to the night. Though the event was often a spectacle and watched by many, that night she was almost entirely alone, staring out through a thin slit in the thick stone walls of a grand tower the Corral of the Wise called home.

Star Spokes, leader of the Corral, stepped forward, coming to a rest immediately behind the princess. His cowl rested against his shoulders, exposing his short chestnut brown mane. Though he had little but questions, his silence filled the room.

Celestia raised a hoof to the wall, steadying herself against it and closing her eyes. Her gold-trimmed horn glowed a little more deeply and before long it was the only thing illuminating the room. In an instant, it shut off, plunging the two into a moment's darkness. A second-natured wave of Star's horn lit the room's candles.

“Permission to speak freely, your majesty?” Star Spokes bowed, going so low his horn tickled the stone flooring.

Celestia's nostrils flared, but were instantly replaced by a soft smile and a nod. “Of course, I always value your word.” She spoke as softly as she would to any subject.

“It pains me to see you like this, your majesty. I regret to inform you we have discovered little we could not have inferred from your description.” He rose, then pulled a few parchments from atop a nearby table. Unrolling them in mid-air, he began to point and explain the various diagrams and notes. “As everypony knows, our magic comes from the world around us, and our aptitude is modified by various factors—inherent ability, training, mood, even our surroundings—but what fewer ponies know is why this is.”

Celestia turned to face him, stifling a yawn. Her mane lagged a moment behind, as if it hadn't noticed she was moving. “Yes, I know this. Do you have anything that could help?”

Star Spokes nodded. “Yes. Maybe. We think. What most ponies can't see is that there's an entire magical landscape somewhat superimposed upon our world, which we draw our energy from. All of us, unicorns and pegasi and even earth ponies alike. It's almost static and unmovable, except by the exceptionally powerful. Even then, we have few records of any real manipulation of it, nor any practical uses.”

Celestia shook her head. “Please, while I am—of course—fascinated, we do not have the time to stand around talking. Make your point.”

“It's collapsing. In a sense, anyway; it can't be directly compared to our three-dimensional world, but collapsing is a good metaphor. Some unimaginable force must have damaged its very core, and it is slowly unravelling.” Star Spokes stood uneasily, shifting his weight from side to side. He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly locked it shut again.

“That isn't a solution, Spokes.” Celestia sighed. “You do have one, correct?”

“Uh, well, we have- in a sense.” His shifting grew more pronounced, he gulped and licked his lips. His ears locked down to the back of his head. “You have to understand, the greatest unicorns in history have attempted experimentation on this field without great success. Whatever did this was immense… Completely beyond our comprehension. The power of the sun as seen by a blade of grass.”

Celestia stared. Though she was tired, all it took was a minor application of magic to ensure her gaze was piercing and fearsome.

“But uh- Yes. Maybe. We have been tracking your student, Twilight Sparkle, for a few years now. Though she has much to learn, not least patience, neither I nor any other member of the Corral has any belief that our combined raw power could even be displayed on the same chart as one containing hers.” Star Spokes quivered under Celestia's gaze. “That is to say, she's more powerful than we can measure, though of course she has no idea how to tap this potential. She is likely our only hope.”

Celestia frowned. “As I explained to you earlier, she is in no state to perform such a task.”

“With all due respect, princess, we do not have a choice.” Star Spokes sighed. “I do not believe she will come through unscathed, however the consequences will be even more dire should she not attempt it, for her as well as us.”

“There must be another option, I will not allow my student to be hurt while there are other avenues to be researched.”

The candlelight flickered, momentarily plunging the room into a silent darkness once again. When the small flames grew back to their former glory, Princess Luna stood at the side of the room. “Is she stronger than us, and our sister?”

“Incalculably.”

Celestia spun around to face her. “Sister, you wake early, we are not yet prepa-”

The lights blew out once again.

“O- Ow…” Dash groaned, rubbing her face under her forehooves. Every limb—every hair on her coat—hurt at least a little. She forced her eyes open, wincing as the dim light of the moon stabbed through her eyeball to flare inside her brain.

Her vision began to adjust to the low light, transitioning the vague shapes and monochromatic blurs around her into sharp and clear images over the course of several minutes. She lay at the bottom of a tree, covered in a light sprinkling of leaves and broken pieces of bark. The branches above her were bare, and her point of impact was clear—a Rainbow Dash sized hole had been impressed upon the surface.

Dash lowered her hoof to try and pull herself back up, but spotted a glint of deep red staining her coat. She licked it to confirm, recognising the taste of her own blood from dozens of similar incidents before. “I- agh!” Dash grunted, as her other hoof scraped across the wound. The side of her cheek felt like it was in tatters, though she couldn't taste any blood inside her own mouth, so the cut couldn't be that deep.

Gasping for breath through the aches in her limbs, Dash stumbled onto her hooves and grabbed onto a low-hanging branch for stability. She didn't recognise the forest, though she'd been flying over the outskirts of the Everfree the last time she'd checked. The trees around her seemed familiar enough, but she could say that about almost any tree in Equestria; they all looked the same.

“Seventeen.” Dash hung upsidown in the air above Twilight's desk, occasionally opening her left eye to read the equations Twilight was jotting down, and spinning a quill between her teeth. As they'd discovered, Dash had a natural aptitude for calculating flight vectors, and absolutely nothing else. Fortunately, for many problems it took Twilight less time to rephrase them suitably than to work them out herself.

“Okay, what ab-”

“Nine.”

“A-”

Dash plucked the quill from her mouth and threw it down onto the graph to land on the correct answer. She slowly drifted to the side, remaining decidedly inverted until she reached her bed, at which time she pulled her wings to her sides and dropped. “Okay, I'm bored. You done yet, Sparkle?”

Twilight looked up, then shook her head. “Dash, we've done thirteen calculations, I have pages left.”

“Why're you even doing these, again?” Dash yawned, stretching and lightly rocking from side to side against the bedcovers.

“It's magic stuff. Spell trajectories, energy curves, shield resistances, that sort of thing. Shining asked me to do them, the royal guard are having trouble developing new spells.”

Dash sat up. “Magic for fighting? Twi, there hasn't been a battle in Equestria for like, a million years. I mean, except for the ones we won. Let's go do something else.”

Rainbow Dash shook her head, coughing a little to clear her throat. The air was cold and humid. Each breath scorched her throat, though she couldn't tell whether that was from the air or something else, and her limbs felt as stiff as the branches of the trees surrounding her on every side.

She stretched her wings, spreading her entire width between two tree-trunks and tickling her furthest feathers against bark. She twitched as a muscle somewhere within one wing sent a sharp pain through her, but decided to ignore it.

The dark, oppressive gloom of the forest began to slowly fade as Dash broke into a run, darting between trees and jumping over rocks and exposed roots to build up enough speed to break into flight once more. Though she was quite capable of taking off from standing, the muscle pains were getting worse each time she pushed herself.

The trunks rushed past her, left and right, occasionally zipping past so close she felt them brush against the tip of her mane. The wind blew past her face fast enough that she knew she could get into the air, and she spotted a small pile of rocks that would make a perfect takeoff point. She jumped, expertly landing atop them in preparation to jump again.

She did, spreading her wings to catch the air and flapping them a few times to gain enough altitude to reach the treetops once more. Canterlot still loomed in the distance, lit by ten thousand tiny pinpricks of light as the population switched to candles, not sun.

Twilight Sparkle held the pony-wide parchment in front of Rainbow Dash's face, pointing towards one of the less understandable squiggles and smiling. “See?”

“Uh.” Dash jumped into the air and spun on her axis, ending up upsidown. “Nope, still don't get it. What is it?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, grabbing Dash in a magic field and flipping her back onto her hooves. “It's a new trick. Look, the red lines are you, and the blue ones are me!”

Rainbow Dash's eyes narrowed and her head tilted to the side. “Uh, Twi, you feeling okay?” She unfurled a wing and poked Twilight in the side with its tip. “You're kinda missing these.”

Twilight laughed. “No, silly, I don't fly, I just help you turn and not crash into things!”

Dash's eyes grew even narrower. “I don't need help turning.”

Twilight pointed towards one of the places the thin red and blue lines collided. “That's a turn of one hundred and sixty three degrees in point two two seconds, or about three times faster than a normal pony can turn without losing conciousness.”

Dash paused, reconsidered, and then nodded. “Let's go.”

Though she was flying in a straight line, Rainbow Dash felt as if she were pulling turns of that magnitude every moment, though this time without assistance. The flight before her seemed to grow in scope every moment, with every wingbeat only increasing her exhaustion.

Rainbow Dash could not go on. She was tired, injured, and running on empty from two weeks of self-punishment. She needed a new plan.

Twilight Sparkle laid back, letting the gently steaming water rise over her body and fill her with warmth. She quietly sighed, closing her eyes and letting her limbs fall to her sides. “Oh, Rarity, this is divine.”

The other unicorn gave a quiet noise of appreciation, keeping her eyes closed under the thin slices of cucumber. “You really should reconsider turning down this cucumber, dear, your eyes look so puffy.”

Twilight's easy smile wavered. “No, I've never been able to wear them.”

“There's no challenge to it, Twilight. You just… lie there.” Rarity demonstrated the technique, lying in a shallow pool of water with her head resting on a soft pillow.

“I admit it looks comfortable, but uh… Dash would always eat them.” Twilight grinned openly, recalling the few times they'd managed to get Dash to come along to the spa.

Rarity lifted a slice from her eye and looked over at Twilight, whose grin vanished immediately. “Then now would be a good time to try it, no? For all you know she could be back tomorrow.”

Twilight smiled. “You've changed your mind on her, then?”

Rarity shook her head. “No, but you believe in her, and as your friend I have to accept that. I'll still have some words to give to her when she reappears, but you may be right—she'd never abandon anypony.”

Rainbow Dash bit dirt, slamming into the ground yet again. Her wings simply wouldn't keep her in the air. The mist coating the ground at least softened the physical blow, but the psychological ones hit just as hard.

“Come on, you stupid things,” she spat, shaking her wings to clear the building ache. “I- Ugh. Where's Twilight when you need her?” Dash took another few steps forward before stumbling and once more falling flat on her face. “I… Maybe just five minutes…”

The forest around her began to fade into darkness as Dash slipped into an unsteady sleep. The trees slowly twisted into unfamiliar forms, and all of a sudden the ground disappeared.

Dash lay on the sky, resting against the endless blue of a summer's day. Clouds shuffled past, occasionally impacting against her body and breaking up into smaller clouds, all of which were shaped like Twilight Sparkle. The ground seemed so very far above her, but it came as no surprise that one of the Twilights grew nearer to her.

It sat on the edge of Dash's nose, occasionally shifting its position but always staring into her eye.

Rainbow Dash lay there, watching the clouds drift by, until the tiny puff of unicorn-shaped cloud finally caught her attention by sneezing, and releasing a tiny spurt of cloudstuff down her nostril. “H- hey! Get off!”

The cloud-mare tilted its cirrus head and opened its foggy mouth. “Why?” it said, in a perfect impression of Twilight Sparkle's voice. “So you can abandon me again?”

“Huh? I never-”

“Really?” Another cloud spoke up as it drifted past her ear. “Doesn't feel like that.”

“No, that's not what I-”

A third cloud brushed against her side. “Not what you what, Rainbow? You left us. You left all of us, we're all so alone and it's all because of you.”

“No! I love you!” Dash turned to try and catch the drifting clouds in her hooves, but they simply disintegrated as she touched them.

The nose-cloud spoke up once more, stamping its hoof ineffectually against Dash's face. “You love us so much you left us behind? We hate you, Rainbow Dash! We hate you!”

“No!” Dash cried, flipping over in the air and throwing the cloud away from her. As she turned, so did the world, and soon she found herself dropping towards the ground at extreme speed. “No, Twilight, I love you!”

The clouds beneath her parted, pulling out of the way to ensure she had an uninterrupted journey to the ground. As she passed, Twilight-shaped heads hissed at her, or shouted some insult that was quickly lost to the wind. Dash spread her wings, but found them missing, replaced with a smooth coat as if she'd never had them at all.

The ground grew ever larger, rising up in Dash's vision at an alarming rate. The trees beneath her turned and began to take swings at her with their branches as she tumbled through them, being assaulted from all sides. Eventually, finally, she hit the ground, and it all went black.

Rainbow Dash's head shot up. Her body ached, though she was fairly sure that was from a terrible sleeping position rather than a fall to her death. A quick look behind assured her that she did indeed still possess her wings, but a reflexive stretch assured her they weren't quite in working order.

She struggled to her hooves, then looked around. There was no sign of any mysterious cloud. “What the… What just happened?” Dash grumbled. “Twilight doesn't feel like that, does she?”

Dash closed her eyes tight and hung her head. “No, she can't,” she whispered. After a few moments, she looked back up, and stared into the darkness of the forest with new determination. “No, she can't. She won't, I won't let her.”

Dash flared her wings, ignoring the searing pain, and threw her head back to shout into the silence. “Twilight Sparkle loves me! You hear that, you damn clouds? She loves me, and I'm gonna prove it!”

She looked back down, gingerly spreading her wings to no avail. “S- Somehow. C'mon, Rainbow, think.”

She sat and began to ponder her options. Flight was out of the question, but without clear line of sight to a landmark, Dash couldn't be sure she was even walking in the right direction. If she had a cloud, she could ride that home, but all the clouds were high up in the sky. Rainbow Dash also wasn't eager to find out if that dream had elements of reality.

As Dash thought, she idly played with the mist under one of her wings, condensing and evaporating it around her. It was a weatherpony's birthright to hold influence over the elements, and Rainbow Dash had always been exceptional at it—though the career had never appealed. Whether it was sparking a bolt of lightning or whipping a cloud into shape, Dash tended to excel in ability, if not dedication.

Not that that helped without a cloud to shape, however. Dash stood up and began to pace. “Damnit, I don't even know what direction to go!” She kicked out with a foreleg, sending a small wave of fog rolling off into the distance. Dash watched it go, travelling into the distance without pause and easily shifting around the trees.

“Huh.” Rainbow Dash stretched her wings out, ignoring the pain, and gave them one big swing against the fog. The wave arched out in front of her, rising a few meters onto the trees. Her face broke out into a grin as her mind began to formulate a plan and her body began to put it into action.

Gritting her teeth, Dash wrapped her wings around her body, drawing the mist towards her and condensing it until it was thick enough to support her weight. She spread her wings once more, pointing upwards, and drew the mist into the air. She rose with it, carrying herself on a pillar of water vapour that easily rivalled the tree-trunks around her.

Dash's wings wavered, and her eyes twitched. She began to breathe more deeply and the pile of improvised cloudstuff beneath her began to waver. “N- No, I can do this,” she whispered under her breath, before spreading her wings wide and forcing her platform back into stability.

A few moments later, she began to move, slowly at first but eventually picking up speed. The trees to each side blurred past as if painted by an unsteady hoof, and those before her posed no issue; the rolling wave of fog simply flowed around them.

The candles sitting between Twilight Sparkle and Rarity flickered, casting jittery shadows on the far walls. Twilight's eyes were covered with two thin slices of cucumber, and Rarity had joined her in the hot tub.

“It's getting quite late, darling, perhaps we should consider retiring?” Rarity raised her hoof from the water, frowning at the wrinkled skin. She squinted through the dim glow as the candles continued to waver and shiver.

Twilight let out a quiet irritated moan. “Do we have to? I don't ever want to move again.” She lifted a hoof and raised one of the slices from her eye, looking over at the now-smiling unicorn beside her.

“Of course not, I'm sure Lotus won't mind.” The candles blew out for a moment, but reignited an instant later. “Though we may have to see about improving the lighting in here. This room is not built for nocturnal use.”

Twilight placed the vegetable back over her eye and rested against the wall of the hot tub once again, emitting a quiet sigh as the water enveloped her neck. “This is really very relaxing, I might have to try covering them in Pinkie's hot sauce or something when Dash comes back.”

The candles blinked out. One moment they were lit, and the next they were gone. Rarity looked around in silence for a few moments, noting that Twilight hadn't seemed to notice, then tutted. She lifted herself out of the pool and began to rub herself with one of the nearby towels. “Do excuse me, dear, I fear I need to find something else to light the room. I shan't be lo-”

A clap of thunder filled the room, immediately followed by a shockwave that knocked Rarity back into the tub and flung the cucumber off of Twilight's face. Both mares quickly jumped to their feet and looked around, though the darkness was so complete they could see nothing at all.

The noise of flowing water filled the room, and Rarity felt the warmth begin to leave her body as the hot tub drained. She heard a clatter, sounding like metal striking the laminated spa floor, and her own breath, but little else. She stood there, frozen, for a few more moments, before a faint red glow filled the room.

Her head snapped to the side to lock the source of it between her eyes. “Twilight!” she gasped, looking upon the mare. Her horn was aglow with faint magic, filling the room with light.

Twilight looked over at her. Her face was twisted with concentration—more concentration than the weak glow would imply—and stumbled to the side. “I can't- Can't hold it back.” She grunted and fell to her knees, submerging her head for a moment until the water level dropped past that too. “Rarity, you shou- Wait, is that…”

Rarity followed her friend's gaze, but paused as she gazed at the side of the tub. Far from the crack or broken side she'd been expecting, there was simply a hole. She reached out to run a hoof over the edge, and found it completely smooth, as if the shell had been designed with it. “What could do this?” Rarity asked, but Twilight merely extended a hoof and pointed through it to the crumpled figure in the middle of the room.

Rarity gasped. “Princess Luna?!” The princess of the night lay a few feet from them. Her starlit mane was dim and motionless, lacking its usual sparkle and wave. She jumped from the tub and ran over to the motionless form lying sprawled across the floor. She leant down close to the princess, and let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding. “She's breathing.”

Twilight staggered over, tripping on the side of the tub but catching herself with a field of magic before she hit the ground. “That's- that's good,” she panted. She closed her eyes, and Luna's body pulsed with magic.

“Twilight, dear, I can't help but notice that you're using magic.”

Twilight nodded. “Luna's fine, she's just… she seems exhausted. I don't know what's happened to her, but she'll be okay.” She sat down next to the princess and placed her hoof on the long, dark horn protruding from her head. “Could you pop over to the library and ask Spike to send a let- Oh. Or… Hay. Uh, how do you usually send letters without a dragon?”

“Pegasus post generally suffices, I find.”

“Okay, can you go do that? We need to let Celestia know what's happened, assuming she doesn't already know. I'll stay here in case she wakes up.” Twilight twitched, her movement joined by a spike in the brightness of her horn. Rarity didn't move. “Rarity, go!”

“I can't leave you here, Twilight.”

Twilight's body pulsed, seeming to have a light film around it that reflected the light of her horn back into the room. “I'll be fine. Go.” She gritted her teeth and almost smiled.

Rarity closed her eyes and sighed. “Okay. I'll be back shortly, Twilight. Don't… don't do anything rash.” The unicorn turned and ran from the room, throwing the doors open with a burst of magic. They slowly swung closed as Twilight watched the mare gallop down the short corridor to leave the building.

“Hold still, Luna, I can help.” Twilight closed her eyes and directed a stream of magic towards the crumpled pony before her. Luna's mane began to rise, inch by inch returning to its former glory. Twilight's own magic glow began to dim and retreat back into her horn, though the field around Luna grew in intensity every moment. As Luna's mane reached its apex, flowing in an otherworldly breeze as it normally did, another magic flash filled the room. The remaining water boiled away into a cold steam all at once, and Twilight collapsed to the floor.

“U- Ugh…” Luna's eyes fluttered open. Her mane lifted a little from the floor, betraying Luna's newfound conciousness. She tried to lift a hoof, but after a few attempts she let it fall back to the floor.

“Oh, Twilight Sparkle. We are relieved it is you.” Luna broke down into a fit of coughing. “We-” She coughed again.

“I- I need a minute,” Twilight whispered, before closing her eyes. The tip of her horn seemed to smoke, and her coat alternated between a dimmed version of her standard purple, and black singed edges.

Luna rose, standing on her own four hooves without difficulty. “Twilight Sparkle, are you okay?”

The unicorn gave no answer.

Another tree whisked past Dash's head, so close she could almost feel the wrinkles in its bark brush against her wing, and then there were no more. The forest had finally ended, and Dash could see Ponyville looming in the distance. She turned, looking behind her even as her wave of mist continued its unstoppable journey on, and realised she must have travelled along the edges of the Everfree Forest. She shivered, but quickly steeled her resolve and continued on.

The fences and small houses dotting the fields near Ponyville proved no obstacle, the rolling mass of almost-cloud simply flowing over them. The sight of Ponyville—her home—invigorated her, inspiring her to draw on ever deeper sources of energy and travel the final few miles.

The blades of grass flattened, first under the crushing weight of condensed water vapour, and finally under Dash's hooves as she crossed the boundary into Ponyville and let her vehicle turn back into the mist it longed to be.

Dash strode through the outskirts of Ponyville, puffing up her chest and holding her wings stretched at her sides. Every step sent the mist whirling away, glimmering in the light of the night's full moon. A quiet wind whistled through the town, blowing Dash's mane lightly to and fro as she walked with great purpose towards the centre of town and Twilight's treehouse.

Visions of Twilight's gleaming face assaulted her as she imagined knocking on the door, and waiting for Twilight to answer it with a cocky, yet apologetic, grin. Her plan couldn't fail—she was Rainbow Dash. Who'd turn her down?

She took one more step, walking around the corner of one of Ponyville's many houses, and slammed straight into an invisible wall. She stumbled backwards and fell onto her rear, shaking her head to clear the ringing from her ears. As soon as she was able, she looked up to see Rarity storming towards her with rage in her eyes.

“Hey, Rari-”

Dash fell to the side with the force of Rarity's blow. The sound of the smack echoed off the nearby walls, and Dash's hoof raised to her cheek instinctively. “O- Ow! Rarity, you slapped me!”

“Oh, did I, darling?” Rarity snorted. “My mistake. I'd never hurt a friend. But then, I'd expect them to do the same.”

“H- Hey! That's not fair!” Dash struggled back onto her hooves. Her body had already been screaming at her, and further assaults were doing her no favours. “I messed up, I get it! I'm sorry, okay?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Rainbow Dash, you say sorry when you accidentally ruin a dress. I should hope you have a little more inside that cramped hole you call a head when you speak to Twilight.”

Dash looked to the side, staring in the direction of her and Twilight's treehouse, though she couldn't see it through the buildings between. “Yeah, I was just heading there now.” Dash looked around to make sure nobody else could overhear. “I dunno what I'm gonna say. I think I'm gonna wing it, I never was very good at speeches.”

Rarity's eyes narrowed. “If you're going to see Twilight, you're going the wrong way. She's at the spa, and when she's done I'm taking her back home to the boutique, where she's been staying since you burned her house down.”

Dash spluttered. “Wh- What?! I didn't-”

“Yes, you did. So understand, Dash, why I'm not quite ready to forgive you just yet.”

“I-? She's-? Oh, hay.” Dash stared off into the distance. “I didn't mean to do that.”

“I know, but we have to take responsibility for our own actions, Rainbow. Not all of us can blame our problems on everypony else.”

“So. Twilight hates me then, huh? She must do. Hey, I'll just… Hay, I dunno. Don't tell her I was here, okay?” Dash said, turning around. Her wings lay drooped at her sides, and her eyes were closed as she began to walk away. A few moments later, she struck another invisible wall.

“I shan't tell her you're here, Dash, you shall do that yourself.” Rarity spoke quickly and harshly.

“But… she hates me.”

Rarity sighed, walking up to the pegasus. She rested one of her hooves over Dash's back and gave her horribly mangled mane a quick brush. “She doesn't, even after everything you've done. You've disappointed me, Dash, but for whatever reason Twilight is still sitting in there waiting for you to come back to her. If you even think about walking out on her again, then… I don't know. I don't think she knows how to manage without you any more.”

Dash tilted her head, looking back at the unicorn with wide eyes. “Do you think she'll-”

“Dash, I'm not the one you have to talk to.”

Rainbow Dash nodded, shrugging Rarity's hoof from her back and rising to her own. Without another word, she turned and began the short journey towards Ponyville's spa. Before she turned the corner, however, she looked back. “Thanks for not being angry with me, Rarity.”

“Darling, I'm furious. However, Twilight needs you, and I shan't impede that.”

Twilight Sparkle's ear twitched. Her eyelids slid open a few moments later. She ran her tongue around her mouth, remoisturising it, and pushed herself up to rest on her rear. “Ugh… Wha-” Twilight's head shot up, followed an instant later by her ears. “Luna! Are you okay?”

Luna nodded, smiling softly down at the unicorn. She stood soundly, towering above a normal pony both in size and stature, and her mane once more blew in a phantom flow, though it flicked and snapped more harshly than usual. “We are. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, we had not anticipated such difficulty arriving here.”

Twilight winced. Her horn sparked lightly, but seemed to fade back into normality shortly afterwards. “What's happening? I don't understand.” Twilight struggled onto her hooves, inwardly cursing her limbs as they lagged behind where she wanted them to be.

“Celestia and I were rather hoping you would be able to tell us, though I suspect from the fact I still live and breathe you already know.” Luna walked alongside, keeping Twilight's agonisingly slow pace as she stumbled towards a nearby wall for something to rest upon.

Twilight nodded, coughing slightly. “I think so. You'll have to excuse me, princess, I'm a bit rusty. I haven't really kept up on practising lately.” Twilight shook her head. “Anyway, yes. When you… appeared, you appeared wrong. Kind of like crash landing, except for a teleport.”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “How is that possible? I am not unpractised.”

Twilight coughed, and shook her head. “No, no, not at all. Something is very wrong, but you teleported in badly and your magic—your spirit—didn't reconnect with your body. You're lucky I was here, had I not forced it back inside of you you may never have been able to find your way back.” Twilight laughed nervously, padding her hoof against the ground. “I uh, I think I got it in right. Do tell me if anything seems backwards.”

Luna gave a soft laugh. “Everything feels correct, however we have little time for pleasantries. The kingdom is in grave danger, Twilight Sparkle, and you may be our last hope for saving it.”

Twilight Sparkle sucked in a cough, then spent the next several seconds spluttering. “What? Why didn't Celestia mention in her let- Oh.” Twilight began to lightly blush, and quickly continued. “What can I do that you can't?”

“Our sister can explain further, we have very little time. Do you feel ready to take us to Canterlot?” Luna stood and walked to the centre of the room, motioning for Twilight to follow. The unicorn stayed put.

“Me? No, I'm sorry. If we really have to get there, can't you take us? I'm not feeling up to it right now, sorry.”

Luna flared her nostrils, and her mane began to whip from side to side with even greater ferocity. “Twilight Sparkle, faithful student of Princess Celestia, you possess an unspoken bond to this kingdom and, in its time of need, you are honour-bound to jump to its aid. I ask again, are you ready?”

“I- But- Okay, okay. I'll try. It'll take me a moment, I haven't done this for a while.” Twilight stood up and, with limbs lightly shaking, moved into the centre of the room by Luna's side. She closed her eyes and filled her horn with mystic flame. “You might want to step back,” Twilight warned, lacing her voice with several of the tiny public speaking enchantments Celestia had taught her so long ago.

Luna began to move backwards, but to Twilight's mind she may as well have stopped. Though it had been some time since her last major spell, she stepped back into her own mantle effortlessly. The world became motionless, even the frantic motion of Luna's mane ceasing. Twilight's thoughts escaped her body, as they had been yearning to do for so long, and began to explore.

Through the penetrating lens of magic, Twilight viewed Luna's magic field—what a less scientific pony would call a spirit—and gazed upon the baseline field that permeated everything. Both of those things were wrong. Though Twilight's mind was moving too fast to process concern or worry, or anything beyond a simple collection of facts for later discourse, she could still sense some intense failure in the world.

Ponyville, once home to a flat plane of magic like any other, save for hotspots like Canterlot or the Everfree, held a tremulous plane, feeling akin to the skin of a drum immediately after it had been struck by a drumstick, though resonating many thousands of times slower. Given how vital and fragile the transition from magic plane to mortal plane was in even the teleportation of an Alicorn, what little analytical processing ability Twilight still held was unsurprised by Luna's earlier failure.

Fact finding was merely a distraction from her true task, however, of gathering enough energy within herself to project both her and Luna to Canterlot for whatever task needed performing so direly. Twilight had no excuse to avoid it, so had little choice but to take the magic in through her horn and prepare to make the leap across magic and space.

Half a second, or less, later, Twilight turned to look at Luna. “I'm ready, shall we go?”

Luna was halfway through a sharp nod when an errant thought Twilight had absent-mindedly sent to check up on Rarity returned with an unexpected result.

Rainbow Dash galloped across town. Violent hoof-fall after another, she sped towards her destination. Though the spa was at the other side of town, it only took her a few minutes to arrive. The lights were out and the doors were closed, and the little window set into the entrance allowed her to see the sign marked “Shut, come back tomorrow”.

Rainbow Dash didn't stop, barrelling into the pair of double doors with all her might. The thin metal lock gave way immediately, allowing her access. She darted to the far side of the reception and looked down the corridor which gave access to all the various utilities the spa provided. A door at the far end was ajar, and Dash could catch the merest whiff of a conversation happening on the other side.

She stopped with her hoof against that door. A thin strip of wood was all that separated her and Twilight Sparkle, and yet now she hesitated. Now was her moment of truth, and the time she found out whether tomorrow would be spent drowning in salt or happy tears.

“I'm ready, shall we go?” Dash heard Twilight speak through the door. She supposed that meant she should make herself known, before Twilight and whoever was in there with her opened the door and discovered her.

Before she could make that choice, the door ripped itself from its hinges and fell into the room, bringing Dash toppling along with it. Dash landed on her side and attempted, but failed, to execute a combat roll onto her feet, ending up upside down and facing a very surprised Twilight Sparkle. Princess Luna was also there, but that was irrelevant.

“D- Dash…” Twilight whispered. The glow that had surrounded her horn vanished in an instant, and she slammed her eyes shut.

“I uh… hi?” Dash shifted her weight, trying to roll over without putting too much pressure on her aching wings. “I guess I should pro-”

“Shut up,” Twilight snapped. When she opened her eyes again, her pupils had vanished, to be replaced with what seemed like an infinite pool of white. “Get out.” Her horn began to glow once again, soon followed by the rest of her body.

“H- Hey, Twi, I can explain, okay? I-”

“Get out.” Twilight's forehooves lifted from the ground.

Princess Luna coughed, catching Dash's attention. “Rainbow Dash, this is not the time. Our actions are of utmo-”

“GET OUT,” Twilight screamed. “Both of you. Now. Go, I can't-”

For Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash, the world flashed white. When the glow receded, they found themselves a few feet above the ground and several meters from the spa. Luna spread her wings and glided down to the ground. Rainbow Dash was not so lucky, and hit it face first for yet another time that night.

“Horseapples.” Dash spat, clearing her mouth of a few specks of dirt. “What the hay'd you do that for?” Dash turned to stare at the princess, who was currently rubbing the side of her horn with a hoof and frowning.

Luna's head snapped around to pin Dash under her gaze. “We beg your pardon, subject?”

Dash snorted, slamming a hoof against the ground and throwing a cloud of dirt and broken grass into the air. “You heard me!” she shouted. “What'd you do to her?”

“We have done nothing, and we suggest you lower your tone.” Luna's eyes narrowed.

Dash leapt up onto her wings, drawing herself up to Luna's head level to return her stare. “Remember what happened first time we met, princess, and then tell me,” Dash shoved a forehoof into Luna's chest. “What did you do to her?”

“We- I did nothing.” The ground trembled lightly beneath her feet, or perhaps Luna was just nervous. She padded from side to side. “Please, Rainbow Dash. There is no need for this hostility, neither my sister or I have shared so much as a conversation with her in over two weeks.”

“So then what the hay just happened? And-” There was an almighty crash as the roof of the building next to them collapsed, drawing both of their gazes. A few moments later, the walls followed, rendering the entire structure a pile of rubble. “Tw- Twilight!” Dash screeched.

Luna gulped. “Curse this night,” she whispered, breaking into a gallop towards the ex-building. Rainbow Dash easily equalled her speed, and then bettered it, zipping towards the building and starting to pull at stones over where Twilight had stood.

“Stand aside, Rainbow Dash.” Luna stood on the precipice of the building with her horn-glow ready.

“No way, you've done enough damage already!” Dash shot back, pausing for only an instant before reaching down and begging her aching limbs to shift another slab of stone. “C'mon, Twi, hold on,” Dash snarled, more for her own benefit than Twilight's.

“Rainbow Dash,” Luna snapped, twisting ancient magics into her voice designed to strike fear into the hearts of mare and stallion alike. She knew Celestia disapproved of using them, but times were desperate.

Dash looked up. Her head twisted around and within three seconds, her snout was millimetres away from Luna's. “Don't you ever do that again,” she snarled. “I've lived with Twilight, I know what magic feels like. I've gotten pretty good at sensing when she's trying to do something stupid, and I'm getting that from you right now.” She pulled back, putting a few feet of space between them. “Back off, princess.”

“I only wish to help. We need Twilight right now, I cannot gi-”

“You need her? I need her! You don't know the meaning of the word!”

Luna's eyes flicked between Dash and the pile of rocks behind her. “Ah, Rainbow Dash, y-”

“Hey, I'm not done! I don't care what you want her for, I need to talk to her! I… I just need to know if she still loves me.” Dash looked down. “I dunno if you've ever been in love. I guess so. You can understand, right?” She looked up, as if to plea.

Luna pointed at Dash. “Rainbow Dash, you really need to come over here.”

“N- No! You don't get it at all!” Dash's mane whipped around her face, blowing in the heavy gusts of wind. “I'm not gonna stop until I get a straight answer from her, because…” Dash trailed off. “Hay, I guess I might as well admit it. I don't have much else right now, okay? That's all that's keeping me going.”

“Dash, look behind you.”

“Damnit, I don't have time for this! No offence, princess, but you're not the only one with problems.” Dash turned around and prepared to pull another stone from the pile. Instead, the pile was missing, and the stone she wanted to pull was flying towards her with great speed.

“Woah!” She gasped, pulling in her wings and twisting her body such that the stone merely scraped along her side, and didn't swat her out of the air. She flapped backwards, shooting across to where Luna stood and landing on three hooves. Her fourth was held involuntarily against her side. It felt hot, and wet.

“Are you okay?” Luna asked.

“Never mind me,” Dash snapped, peering into the maelstrom of burning white magic and flying masonry she'd just escaped from. Hanging in the centre was a dark figure with an ethereal mane, that twisted and moved in ways even Luna found unnatural. Its eyes glowed with a light brighter than a summer's day's sun, and the very air seemed to hum. “What about Twilight?”

Luna took a step backwards as a bolt of raw magic tore a clump of grass apart before her. “I fear for ourselves as well.”

“Screw us, what're we gonna to about her? What the hay were you making her do?”

Luna sighed and closed her eyes. “A long-range teleport to Canterlot, which perhaps, in hindsight, was a bad idea given her condition.”

“Condition?”

“She has not been using magic for this past fortnight, I believe due to your departure.”

Dash smacked her lips for a few seconds while she processed that. “Feathers.”

Luna nodded. “It was rash, but we run low on time. Celestia is aware of my actions, she will no doubt arrive somewhat promptly. She may not risk the teleportation as I did, however pegasus carriage is capable of good time.”

“Two hours fourteen minutes,” Dash absent-mindedly thought, “If all your best fliers are available, which they probably aren't.” She stood still, not reacting even as the size of the magic sphere around Twilight grew. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, before perking up her ears and flatly stating “Okay, sure. I'm going in.”

“Do not be absurd,” Luna shook her head. “Even we could not shield ourselves. We shall wait for Celestia, her knowledge of Twilight Sparkle may be able to calm her.” Luna took another step back as a chunk of ground ripped itself from under her hooves, joining a thousand others in the vortex of destruction before her. “I fear if either of us enter, we shall not leave.”

Dash turned back to stare Luna down. Her mane whipped around her face, but she didn't seem to notice. “I'm not waiting for Celestia to calm my wife down, okay? If anypony can do it, then it's gonna be me, because…” Dash trailed off, or was drowned out by the roaring winds around them. A piece of the spa slammed into the ground barely a few feet from her, but she didn't flinch. “Because if it's a choice between dying out here, or losing her, then it's not really a choice.”

Dash took a step forward, but Luna quickly reached out and held her back with a magic grip. “The kingdom needs you too, Bearer of Harmony. I cannot allow you to sacrifice yourself.”

Dash growled. “I don't care about that, okay? Why does everybody else seem to care about that so much more than us? I don't care if I'm Celestia-damned supermare, and I don't really give a feather what you want from me.” Dash dropped down, bending her knees and keeping her centre of gravity low while scraping a forehoof across the battered ground. “You keep me away from Twilight for one more second and you'll see how much I need those element trinkets to beat you, get it?”

Luna did not respond in words, but Dash felt the familiar and strangely comforting magic grip fade away. She turned back to stare at the heart of the devastation before her. Twilight Sparkle hung in the air, her mane amorphous and moving in the very-real winds that tore the air around her to shreds. It almost looked serene to Rainbow Dash's eyes, but her wings knew the whole story. Luna was right, if she went in there she'd be lucky to last for ten seconds without being ripped apart, even assuming she could avoid the debris now circling Twilight at a significant fraction of the speed of sound.

Dash kicked off, shooting into the air and heading towards Twilight as fast as her half-broken wings could take her. The air buffeted her around, and several times she had to dive out of the way, or even make a tactical retreat, when a piece of something hard came within a few inches of ending her. Her mouth felt dry, and yet she could have sworn her heart had raised up into it to beat against her tongue. Her vision began to tunnel as she concentrated on her goal, relying on her wings to sense obstacles before they hit and let her take evasive action.

The wind speed increased as she grew closer to the glowing, writhing form still out of reach, and her flight turned from uncomfortable yet functional to a new hell on Equestria. Her feathers burned and the air was snatched from her nostrils before she had a chance to breathe it. Her skin felt as if it was being blasted with an unending collection of Rarity's sewing needles, and every few moments she felt another sharp pain as another feather left her, being whisked away. She considered retreating, but her wings had long since given up screaming and she knew it was only momentum and strong will keeping her airborne.

“Twilight!” she screeched, using most of her precious oxygen in a desperate attempt to catch the mare's attention.She didn't react. No matter how hard Dash strained forward, the air around Twilight's body seemed impenetrable, knocking her back at every attempt to pierce it. No matter how hard Dash strained upwards, she was losing height, and her broken wings could still tell that the wind speeds below Twilight were deadly, even ignoring the storm of dust and fragments of brick and stone shooting around faster than a war-pie.

Dash's body felt numb, no longer even pleading her mind to stop but instead giving no feedback. Not pain, not pleasure, not even the ache of overexertion. No matter how hard Dash pushed them, every part of her was slowing down, and her height was dropping fast. She took one last look at the being before her, the thing she'd wished so hard was Twilight Sparkle, and closed her eyes. “Twilight, I love you.” Lungs exhausted and wings non-functional, Dash dropped.

Rainbow Dash awoke to silence. Her body was devoid of all feeling but a warm glow at the tips of her hooves, and her eyelids felt too heavy to lift. She recalled in vivid detail what could only have been the last few moments of her life, and yet there was no panic. She felt, for once, completely calm. “I love you,” rang through her head, probably an echo of her last words.

“Damnit Dash, wake up!”

Rainbow Dash's mouth opened, her lips so dry they seemed to stick together until the last moment. She reflexively released her tongue to moisturise them. She felt a gust of wind flow over the newly wetted parts of her face.

“Huh?” Dash groaned, as if the minor sensation from outside reminded the rest of her body it was meant to be updating her on how it was doing. Agony struck from every direction, save the lower half of each leg. She shook her head, coughing to try and clear her throat, and pulled her eyelids up as though they were made of lead. “I- Ugh.”

“Rainbow Dash, wake up!”

Dash's eyes began to focus. She squinted through the glow assaulting her every side and managed to make out a pony-shape before her. She looked to her side, but shied away as her battered and bloody wings began to lose the blur that made them almost tolerable. She could still feel them, a pain burning brightly even among the bitter stings coming from every inch of her.

“T- Twilight?” She coughed again. “Twilight, is that?”

“Yes.”

“Are you okay?” Dash fell into a coughing fit, convulsing for several seconds until the warm glow making its way up her legs quickly shifted to her chest and the pain began to fade.

“No.”

Dash winced as a small rock struck her in the side, almost embedding itself in her coat. The pain faded into the backdrop of pain a moment later, but it stung all the same. “Sorry,” Twilight said, or thought, or perhaps Dash was imagining it all. She couldn't tell. “It's taking all my concentration just to shield you. Can't think. Can't hold it.”

“What's wrong, Twi? What's going on?” Dash shook her head again, clearing her thoughts a little more. She could see clearly enough to know whatever was happening wasn't good. Twilight's sphere of destruction had increased, absorbing the houses immediately around the spa as well. Luna was keeping back, her horn aglow in an ineffectual attempt to protect some of the nearby structures.

“Everything. Sorry, can't talk fast right now. Needs too much thought.” Twilight's voice, or whatever communication it was, as Dash doubted even she could pick up a voice above the winds, was shaky and slow, taking unnatural gaps between words and several-second pauses between sentences. “Everything wrong. Magic won't stop, can't stop. Too much of it. Your fault, maybe. Not blame, just assignment. I think.”

“My fault?!” Dash croaked. “How is this my fault?”

“Lots of reasons. Had too much magic flowing when you appeared, lost control. Can't concentrate properly, you're too distracting. Magic plane is broken, too. Think that's you. Nothing else strong enough.” Twilight spasmed unusually strongly, accompanied by a piercing scream through Dash's head. A moment later it stopped. “Sorry, it's getting worse. Have to stop. Can't stop. Close to burning out. Can't stop it.”

“Wait, wait, hold up. Explain how this is my fault? What have I done?”

“Left me. Then came back. Magic doesn't work as well. Extreme emotional stress interferes. Wanted to stay single because of this. You changed that. Your fault. Don't blame you.” Twilight spasmed again, this time sending a beam of pure magic lightning high into the sky. A moment later, the ground Dash could see lit up for a few moments, as if night had temporarily turned to day. “Plane damage also your fault. I think. I can see it all. See everything. So much. Never looked at it all before. Was always too much. Can't think about it all at once. But yes, crystal nexus clear epicentre. Further damage in all other places that held endpoints.”

“You're saying that… what?” Dash winced as the warm magic glow hit her stomach, stealing away the pain. Her lower body almost felt normal now.

“Your Sonic Rainboom was transferred. Too much energy being put into magic background, then crystals overloaded. Energy didn't come back. Had nowhere to go. Been increasing. Coming out through me.”

“Wait, you're trying to do a Sonic Rainboom? Without flying, in Ponyville?”

“No. Yes. Don't know. Don't have a plan. Trying to contain it. Can't. Don't have a plan.”

“Twilight, you always have a plan!”

“No. Never planned for you leaving, couldn't imagine it. Still don't know why. Don't care. Doesn't matter.”

“Wanna know why? It's- I'm sorry, it's stupid.”

“No. Not really. Don't care. Love you. Love me?”

Dash gulped. “Yeah.”

“Then help me. Please. It's too much.”

The warming glow raised to the centre of Dash's body, clearing out pains and warning signs she hadn't even realised were going off. “Okay. Uh, what're you doing to me?”

“Sorry. Healing. Too much concentration to explain it. You're dead. Were dead. Almost. Would have been. No idea what you've been doing. Should have gone to a hospital, some of this isn't new damage. Sorry, should have mentioned. Can't remember exactly how you work, having to use me as reference. Should be okay.”

“Whatever. I don't understand what you just said, but whatever. What're we gonna do, Twi? Just- Just look out there? Can you see?”

“No. Can sense with magic. Sense everything. Luna needs to run, but she isn't. Trying to protect town. She can't, she's still weak. Was always too weak, now moreso. Need to release this energy, also fix the damage. Don't know how.”

“Ugh, what, so this is… what, my energy? How?” Dash glanced out across the visible town. The ground beneath her was a wreck. Twilight's healing had reached her wings, and split out into two separate fields to tackle each.

“Can explain later. Now quiet, wings are hard. Can't fix these later, need them now. Hold still.” The world around Dash and Twilight began to shake and the event horizon of total destruction leapt out several meters. Princess Luna failed to move out of the way, and was instead swatted aside by a burst of magic, thankfully landing against a wall some several feet outside the worst of the vortex. “Damnit, can't hold both.”

“Twilight! I'll be okay, you do what you need to do!” Dash yelled, still trying not to move as the weakening glow worked its way up her wings. What was once torn feather—or worse, exposed skin or broken bone—knitted itself back into shape. Where feathers were simply missing, new ones materialised in their place, though instead of a pure blue these were slightly tinged with purple. Twilight didn't respond to Dash's plea, but continued, reforming the broken stubs into something resembling Dash's old pair of wings.

Dash grinned, despite the gravity of the situation. She'd been without perfect flight for far too long, and her wings finally felt healthy again. “Ha! Awesome, Twi. Now c'mon, what do we do?”

“No problem. Well, big problem. Can't hold. Burning out. Horn on fire, I think. Can't- I'm sorry. I love you, Dash.”

Twilight fell silent. Her body threw itself into further spasms, and the tiny area of safety Dash had inhabited vanished, immediately replaced by the deadly vortex of dust and rock she'd feared so much before. Dash was whisked away in an instant, joining the larger chunks of spa and house as an uncontrolled object on a crash course with everything in town.

Unlike brick and mortar, Rainbow Dash had a set of perfectly healthy wings. She spread them, letting the feathers tell her how to align them with the wind to keep air resistance at a minimum and prevent damage. She soared around the vortex, clipping obstacles and jumping from stone to stone as she worked her way towards Twilight. The once-impenetrable wall around her was now merely problematic, and Dash broke through within a few moments.

She grasped Twilight between her forelegs, holding her tight. “Twilight?” she yelled. “Twilight! Wake up!”

The unicorn's eyes fluttered. “Dash…” she whispered, so quietly Dash almost missed it. “Sorry. So sorry. I loved you always. Not your fault. Not ever your fault. Never stopped loving you.” She fell silent.

Dash screamed, letting a tear fall from her eye and mingle with the blood still matted into her face. “No! No, no, no! Damnit, Twilight, I've just got you back, I'm not losing you again! Tell me what to do! Anything!”

Twilight coughed, convulsing in Dash's arms. A speck of her blood landed on Dash's chest. “Remember me,” she croaked. “I'll live on in your heart. Can't-” She coughed more, closing her eyes and clinging onto Dash until the attack passed- “Can't lose me if I'm in there.”

“No, Twi, screw that! You know Celestia-damned well I'd race to the end of Tartarus for you, so give me something to do!” Dash screamed, not even noticing the liquid seeping from her eyes that dampened both of them."

“Nothing…” Twilight's eyes slid closed, then snapped open again. “Nothing you can do.”

Dash gulped. “Then at least tell me… What's gonna happen to you?”

“Too much power, can't hold it back. Twenty five seconds, maybe thirty, it'll be too much. Horn'll go first, hopefully won't shatter. Slight chance of survival if it does, most of the energy might explode outwards. Ponyville wouldn't make it. Hopefully will just break, then it's all in me. Probably shouldn't hold me, Dash. Just go, save yourself.” Twilight managed to hold her eyes completely open for a few moments, looking into Dash's knowing it was the last thing she'd ever see.

Rainbow Dash leant forward and pressed their lips together, kissing Twilight as deeply and passionately as she had on their first date, or their second, or their third. Truth be told, every kiss still felt as magical as their first, even this one.

She left, beating her wings and shooting upwards as fast as she could go. Twilight was still in her arms.

“Dash! I said- Nothing you can-”

“Shut up,” Dash snapped. “I don't know how your magic stuff works, but I know for sure I can't do a Sonic Rainboom going slow. So we're flying, okay?”

“No! It's not the same, it doesn't work like that! You're just gonna get yourself killed!” Twilight struggled, but Dash's grip on her was too tight, and her protests borne of a body that could hardly control itself.

Dash curved in the air, shifting from flying straight up to heading directly for the ocean. She beat her wings and began to build up speed. “I don't care. The moment you die, I don't have all that much to live for. And shut up, I know how much our friends care about us—both of us. If we go out trying to save you then damnit, at least we tried something.”

Three seconds later, Dash hit the speed of sound. Her wings felt as if she could do that all day, but the familiar rainbow exploding outwards that usually accompanied the feat was missing. Dash didn't slow, rather she accelerated. “Hey, Twi? Remember how you said I'd probably get myself killed breaking a speed record? Wanna try for it?”

Twilight gave a short laugh, before dropping back to a cough. “You always were stubborn as a mule, Dash. Fi- Agh… Fine. Break it, then, for us.”

“Gladly.” Dash's wingbeat doubled, then tripled, then tripled again. Despite the passenger, she kept their bodies aerodynamic and turned them into a two-mare missile screeching across the sky. Within ten seconds, they were over the ocean. Within fifteen, Dash felt the air drop off. She'd already failed at breaking this speed so many times, but not this time. This time she wouldn't let herself.

The countdown timer in her head ticked another second down. The last few seconds of their lives; she'd make them count. Spots formed before her eyes, and then they turned to streaks, and then the streaks turned into waves. The ocean below her and the sky above her became irrelevant, and her world was only the beat of her wings against nothingness, and the beat of Twilight's heart against her tightly-clinging legs.

Then there was nothing. An expanse of a nothing that seemed both blindingly bright and completely dark at the same time. Several seconds passed, or perhaps longer. Dash couldn't tell, because there was nothing to tell it by save the beat of Twilight's heart. Eighty beats later, Twilight finally spoke.

“Dash?”

“Twilight?” Dash's throat felt dry, and she hardly dared to breathe in case that breath was their last.

“You can let go now. It's over.”

Dash's grip slowly loosened, letting the unicorn slip from her grasp. “So that's it, huh?” She looked around, but the only point of reference was Twilight underneath her. Or was it above?

Twilight nodded. “Yeah. You stubborn, boisterous, egotistic idiot!” Twilight waved her hooves about to emphasise her points. “You could have been killed!” She shot forward, apparently under her own propulsion, and grabbed Dash in a four-legs hug, presumably sending both of them floating throughout the infinite-seeming void.

“Bwuh? I thought we were dead? What happened to burning out? Exploding?” Dash's mind was filled with questions, though her body was happy to merely return the hug and her head was happy to just rest against Twilight's, taking special care to avoid touching her horn, which was still burning-hot.

Twilight laughed, and sent them spinning. “You're a genius, Dash! You were right, speed was all it took! I couldn't hold the magic in, so you plugged the hole by taking us into the magic plane! Or… our minds, at least. Our bodies probably did burn up.” She frowned. “I can't believe you did that.”

“Wait, I thought we weren't dead?” Dash asked, screwing up her face in confusion. She hugged Twilight back regardless.

“We aren't. Well, I guess halfway. All a teleport really does is turn your body into magic energy, then reconstitute it somewhere else. Longer range teleports send that energy through here, because it's easier for magic energy to travel when it's not surrounded by non-magic things, but it's the same principle.”

Dash blinked. “Can I have that in Equestrian?”

“Uh…” Twilight paused for a few moments, before her wings shot out in satisfaction. “Oh! We've half-teleported. All we have to do to get back is do the other half of the teleport, and that can't be that hard, I don't think. I did it before. Though I did have a body to return to then. Still, I can probably do it.”

“Uh, Twi?” Dash's head tilted to the side as she peered at the unicorn's back.

“Okay, okay, sorry. I can't really simplify it any further, but just trust me on this one: we're okay.”

“No, not that.” Dash peered at the appendages and brushed one of her hooves against them. “Why do you have wings?”

Twilight looked behind herself, screeching as she noticed the pair of perfectly regular wings that now adorned her back. “Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. I uh… Oh, horseapples. I think I got mixed up when I was healing you.”

“Huh?”

“I normally just look at how your magic aura is and figure out what's wrong, but there was too much interference. I had to refer to mine, and I think I might have forgotten to er… remove the wings I added.” Twilight blushed. “I was distracted!” she added after suffering a few moments of Dash's amused gaze.

“Hey, I still have mine. It's not like you'll have them when we get back home or anything, anyway, right? We're just uh… ghosts or spirits or whatever, right?” Dash grinned. “See, I do listen!”

Twilight smiled and shook her head, then leant in to nuzzle Dash's neck. “Almost, but no. We don't have any bodies to go back to, so what we look like now is how we'll go back. I… really don't want to do any more aura manipulation. I was desperate and already burning myself out last time, I couldn't do it again.”

Dash frowned. “So… you will have wings? My wings?”

“I uh- Sorta, yeah. I probably won't use them, I don't actually know how to move them or anything, I hope you don't mind.” Twilight hugged Dash again, though this time she paid a little more attention to the pegasus's wings.

“Mind? No way! This is awesome. You don't have any excuse to not come to my practise now, you can join in!” Rainbow Dash grinned and flared her own wings, flapping them a few times to send them soaring through the expanse. Without air she couldn't get the wind rushing through her mane, but it was better than nothing.

Twilight laughed and shook her head. “I don't think so, I can't even put these away. They won't move at all. No flying for me, I'll just have to put up with them. Maybe hang some extra bags off of them.”

Dash rolled her eyes. “Pft, it takes foals a few years before they can do it too. C'mon, I'll teach you! This is gonna be so awesome.”

Twilight smiled. “Fine, okay. I'll set aside some time once we get back home.” Her smile faded. “Or… well, once we find a new home, anyway.”

Dash grabbed Twilight and held her close, hugging with all four legs and both wings. “I don't care, Twi. Here's home. Anywhere's home, so long as you're there too. We could crash at Pinkie's place, or hay, let's sleep in the Everfree forest. I don't care. I just want you by my side.” Her smile faded. “I've been a total jerk, and I'll get if it you need some time to think, but I… What's that thing Rarity says? Abseiling makes the heart grow rounder? Whatever, doesn't matter. My heart is round for you. Doesn't matter what happens, I'll go anywhere you want me to.”

Twilight looked up. “Always. I can't leave you. Obviously I don't ever want to, but I mean, I can't. I fell apart this past fortnight, Dash. Don't you ever leave me again. Ever. I can't manage without you anymore. I… I think I mentioned before, back in Ponyville, that I'd wanted to remain single so I wouldn't ever have to go through this. I was wrong, I was so wrong. It hurts more than anything else I've ever known to lose you, but you're worth it.”

“I love you too, Twi,” Dash whispered. “It was stupid. My fault. I just- I felt like everything was falling apart. You were so busy with your work, and every day I flew out to Cloudsdale for more Wonderbolts training and it just kept going nowhere. I tried, I did, I tried so hard, but they just kept pushing me back. I'm a damn good flier, but they wanted me to fly slow so everypony else could keep up. That's not fun, that's not exciting. That's not my dream.”

Twilight nodded. “No, it's my fault too. I could tell something was wrong, but I didn't know what to do. I just worked harder and hoped it'd pass. I'm sorry, I let you down. I said I'd always be there for you and I wasn't.”

Dash's nostrils flared. “No! Twi, it's not your fault! I screwed up, not you!”

Twilight shook her head. “That's not how it's meant to work, Dash. Neither of us are to blame. I don't blame you, just please don't ever leave again. I promise, if ever you're hurting I'll be there.”

“I'm hurting now, Twi.”

“And I'm here. I'll always be here, I promise. Cross my heart and hope to fly.” Twilight grinned.

Dash grinned back. “I was so scared I'd lost you, Twi. I'm not gonna go anywhere, not ever. Just take us home, I think I have some apologising to do to the girls.”

Twilight scratched at the base of her wings and laughed, eyes darting around the void. “About that, I'm not entirely sure how to get us home. It might take a little while.”

Dash darted forward and planted a kiss on Twilight's cheek. “That's okay, I can wait. Gotta admit, I'd rather spend time with you than Rarity right now anyway.”