This will be the only story I'll place a warning before. Don't read this. Seriously. Even the stuff up in that little box in the corner of the screen has better stuff in it than this chapter.

Don't do it, man. Go read something else. Downvote this story if you must; hell, go downvote everything I've ever written. Just please, please don't read this.

I'm worried about you.

I screwed up. Not much more you can say than that, really. Sure, we could go into the specifics of exactly how I screwed up, but I think that'd take too long and, well, it'd be kinda dull too. Not that it wasn't horrible at the time, of course, and I'm really sad it happened and all, but it isn't exactly the most exciting way to lose the whole world in the history of all things. We don't really need to go into more specifics than double-inside out loop on a pegasus without a saddle. And the crunch. If you don't mind, I'd like to not think about the crunch.

So, if I'm not going to tell you about how I screwed up, then I'll bet you're asking yourself exactly what I am going to be telling you about. Well that one's actually kinda simple: you see, the thing about screw ups is that, most of the time, you can fix them. Not all of the time, though: hay, it'd probably have been impossible to fix what I did if Moochick hadn't decided to help. Woah, boy would things have been different if he hadn't. Guess there'd have been two crunches then.

But anyway, we're getting off topic: this is the story of how I messed everything up and then how I managed to fix it again. A story about how Tirac won and the world got plunged into an eternal night for... erm, I don't actually know how long. But mostly, it's a story about how one little pony managed to save Equestria, with a little help from her friends. Oh, and my name's Firefly by the way. That probably should have gone at the top.

There hadn't even been time to blink before it'd happened.

One moment we were soaring through the air towards his chariot, and I'd been certain, oh so very certain that this was it. The next one, and I was falling through the air, my wings frozen as I became coated in a darkness that felt thick and heavy as it swarmed over me, the clashes and cries of battle drowned out as it pasted itself over my ears. There was darkness, darkness everywhere: surrounding and enclosing me within it as I was cut off from the world. Darkness wrapping itself round my body, curling and twinning itself into my mane and tail, forcing it's way into my mouth and clogging up my air-holes as it changed me. And that was the worst part. I could feel it changing me: each pulse drawing out my legs and teeth, warping and twisting me as I was remade in Tirac's dark designs. Then, without warning or indication, the violent tugging stopped, but the blackness surrounding me did not.

“Oh, no no no no no, we can't be having that. That simply won't do at all. AT ALL!” A voice called out, reminding me dimly of a strange mushroom man in the midst of a weird forest. Slowly, as if being sketched into life in front of me, the outline of a small, plump gnome wearing a frilly mushroom hat on his head appeared. His body greedily snatched up tufts of nothingness from the void around him, the pieces condensing and solidifying into being as he leant on an umbrella, anxiously regarding me as if his appearance was a perfectly natural and, quite frankly, boring occurrence.

“A said a piece of rainbow, a piece! And a little piece at that, my my, yes I did!” he mumbled at me, hands revolving round and round inside his loose sleeves and an anxious expression on his face.

“Mr... Mr Moochick?” I ventured, blinking confusedly up at him as I rose to my feet. Or at least I tried too. But I couldn't move, couldn't twig a single twitchy muscle, couldn't blink or sniff or even move my lips, and yet...

“I...I don't know what's...I can speak, but I can't: I, I-I” I started to panic. Mr Moochick waved a single hand dismissively as I tried to move and failed to. Tried to break out in a cold sweat and failed to. Tried to fall into a shivering, quaky, broken-down mess and completely and utterly failed to.

“No no, I'll be having none of that: you're not to panic, you hear? Panicking won't get you anywhere. Your body's not here because you're not here. You can't be. This is nowhere, I'm afraid. Or might it be somewhere...”  His words faded into silence as he stared pensively out to his right, a puzzled expression on his face. Then, as if he'd been standing on top of a warren, a small rabbit wearing red breeches inexplicably wandered out from behind him and tapped him on the foot, prematurely drawing him out of his musing session.

“No, no, no: I was right before. We're nowhere.” he folded his arms and kicked the ground, a patch of grass appearing underneath his boot before the scattered blades vanished into the black as if caught by a non-existent wind.

“Mr Moochick, what in the hay's going on?” I asked, trying to calm down and finding it all too worryingly easy to: it's hard to panic when you don't have a body to panic for you.

“It's Tirac, my dear: he's succeeded in bringing eternal night, I'm afraid. Gone and got enough ponies for his chariot before you could stop him. It's just terrible, simply terrible what he's going to do to all those poor ponies. And to everything else too, I suppose. Oh, it's just so awful!”

“But-but what about me?” I asked, as water began to pour out his eyes and slosh down his chin like a weird, facial river.

“Oh! You died. Or almost died, I might add. I sort of snatched you up at the last moment, as it were. You see, you have to try again: pick yourself up and dust yourself down. And this time follow my instructions.”

“What instructions? You never gave us any instructions. And how in the hay am I meant to pick myself up: you just said I'm not here, that I'm nowhere!"

“Ah, yes, you see, that's the thing. You are nowhere, which means it going to be a bit tricky to get you in anywhere in this cycle. We'll have to try and slot you in somewhere else. Just let me take a little bit of a look.” He took off his hat and rummaged around inside it, going so far as to actually climb into it before emerging with a scroll about twice as long as he was tall. Rolling it out, he took a glance at me before turning his back, as if trying to hide what he was doing.

“Hmm, let's see.” he whispered to himself, apparently unaware I could hear him as clearly as before. “Ah, well: that's all of this cycle ruled out. And, well, next one's going to be tricky. Say” he spoke the last word, turning to me as he did so. “You don't think you'd be willing to give up those wings, do you?” I shook my head, his echoing mine a few moments later. “Pity, pity... ah! Well, well, well, what have we: no, no, no, no, that one won't do at all, it's horrid: horrid! Simply horrid. Hmm, I suppose- no, no: same as before...” he frowned, before turning back to me. “You know, at this rate I don't know if you'll be able to go back at all. At all!”

With that, Mr Moochick appeared to give up, arms thrown above him in frustration, the umbrella in his hand unfurling itself out fully as it went. I'm not even going to pretend I knew what he was going on about, but if he thought it would help then I guessed it probably would. Which meant him giving up was, well, bad. And I'd had it up to here with bad.

“... what about the next, er, cycle?” I ventured, smiling hopefully. Or trying to, at any rate: not sure what smiling's like without a face. It's the thought that counts, right?

“Hmm, let's see. Ah. Ah yes. Well then, this one might do just nicely.” He said, rolling the scroll up and tossing it back inside his hat. I could swear I heard a tinkle of junk shifting and settling as he did so.

“Now then: the instructions. Listen carefully, this time: I'm not so sure we'll have another go at this, so you've got to make this one count.”

“What instructions?” I asked, confusion after confusion piling onto my head. “You never gave us any instructions for anything!”

“Didn't I?” Mr Moochick looked suddenly very worried. “Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear, why that explains so much! I wondered why you didn't go and collect any more pieces of the rainbow of light. Oh, curse my absent mind!” He sat down heavily, a thump indicating that a patch of ground had just sprung up beneath him.

“Err, Mr Moochick, we didn't even use the rainbow of light.” If I had hooves, I'd be pawing the ground with them right now. “We, err. We just tried to take the rainbow of darkness.”

“Oh.” Mr Moochick, looked around sheepishly. “Erm, I don't suppose I told you to do that as well, did I?”

“You did kinda suggest it'd be our only way of stopping him, yeah.” The gnome seemed to shrivel up in front of me, his rabbit tossing me a farewell salute before scurrying behind him and vanishing from sight.

“I really haven't done a very good job, have I? Oh dear. What am I to do?” He curled his legs up into his chest before drawing his arms down onto his sides. I blinked. It was as if, before my eyes, he had transformed himself into a large, frilly mushroom.

“Mr Moochick, what instructions? Please, I've gotta know?” I called out. Mr Moochick did not unfold himself but, none-the-less, he seemed to start speaking to me.

“The pieces of rainbow will be long gone by now, absorbed into somepony and changed back into their natural forms. You'll have to remind them of what they're meant to represent: the bit of rainbow you already have should help you there. There'll be six ponies- six at least I should think- that you've got to find here in Equestria. Their names are... hold on a moment, it's in here somewhere.” I waited patiently, with only a mild nip of curiosity over how he managed to make rummaging sounds without actually appearing to do any rummaging at all. After a few moments, the noises ceased.

“Aha! Here we are. Their names are Rarity, Mistress Fluttershy, a Miss Rainbow Dash, one Applejack and a Twilight Sparkle. Oh, and a Pinkie Pie. Hmm, ah that wasn't all of it: no,no, not even half... where's the rest of it?” He fell silent again as I turned over the names in my head: I recognised Applejack, and Twilight's last name could have been Sparkle, but apart from that they were all new to me. Then a sudden cry of delight shot out from in front of me and preceded to scatter my thoughts.

“Ah, I remember now. Ahem. The one thing you will most observe is that things are not at all as they were. Everything's changed as everything's new, and the only thing constant, my dear, is you.” There was another pause, before he continued, his voice sounding fainter and fainter, as if he was walking away.

“And that's the rules of the game. Or the instructions, perhaps. Good luck, Firefly. Good luck everypony.” And just like that, he fell quiet.

I waited for a few moments, just hanging there in the blackness, waiting for him to do something, anything. After moments dragged into minutes and nothing seemed forthcoming, I ventured a small cough and a whinny.

“Err, hello? Mr Moochick?”

“Mr who? Are you talking to that mushroom?” A voice called out from my left.

I turned my head towards it, and paused as three things hit me in close succession. Firstly, the voice belonged to a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail, who was gazing at me with a look caught somewhere between guarded and curious. Secondly, I was no longer in infinite blackness: surrounding me were several trees and bushes and, in front of me, a rather large collection of mushrooms. Thirdly, and from my point of view, most importantly, I had just moved my head. I could move. I had a body again.

With a laugh, I ran my legs over my coat, dragging along little surges of reddish fur beneath my hooves as I did so. I shook out my blue mane and flicked out my tail, stamped with my legs and flexed with my wings, rejoicing in the feeling of being able to feel again. Well, at least the experience had taught me one thing: you never really miss having a body until you don't.

There was a faint bumping on my chest, and I caught whatever was making it on one of it's bounces, moving it to my hoof so I could get a better look at whatever it was. There, laid out before my eyes, was a red jewel tied to a golden chain. I recognised it: somehow, as subtly as he had moved me into the real world again, Mr Moochick had managed to place the one object I needed most around my neck: he had returned the little piece of rainbow to me. Hopefully I'd be able to give it to whichever of the six ponies needed it.

There was a glint of something across the jewel's surface, and I looked up to catch whatever had made it, and then I never wanted to stop looking up again. The moonlight was casting an array of dappled shadows across both the ground and my face, the light shining down through the mists that hung about the autumn's leaves. In between that was a cascade of stars across the night's sky, and after having stared into nothing but empty darkness for what had felt like a lifetime (though it'd probably only been a few minutes), it felt so good to see the stars again.

“Hey!” I heard, and I quickly moved my head down, having, up till now, forgotten about the pony standing with me in the woods. She raised her hoof up and pointed accusingly at the mushroom patch.  “Have you been eating those?” she demanded, a frown dancing above her eyes.

“Ahaha, erm, no.” I giggled, realising how that must have looked to anypony just coming across me. Then I looked back up into the night's sky. “It's just... they're so beautiful.”

“Yeah, real once of a lifetime occurrence. It's not like they're out all the time, or anything.” The pegasus snarked as she stopped a little way off from me, her hooves kicking up small puffs of dirt as she halted. I guessed the closeness meant we were supposed to start talking.

“My name's Firefly.” I offered, along with the biggest smile I could manage. “What's yours?”

“Firefly, huh?” the blue pegasus said, slowly moving towards me, her eyes slightly glaring into mine and her lack of proffered name sitting heavy between us. “Where you from, Firefly?”

“Oh, I live in a big old castle with a bunch of other ponies. It's called Dream Castle. Do you know if it's nearby? I'm kinda worried about my friends.” I replied, hoping she'd either know it or help me find it. She did neither.

The worry that had briefly flared across the pegasus's face at the mention of 'castle' faded as I continued to talk. Nodding slightly to herself, she took one step forward and then suddenly thrust her face right up into mine, yelling “Are you a spy?” as she did so.

I tried to take a step back, but was stopped by her hooves digging into either side of my body, pinning me in place.

“I, err, I don't know.” I stammered, feeling like I was sinking into a well of confusion. “A spy for who?”

The blue pegasus blinked at that, her grip loosening enough for me to wriggle out and bump myself off the back of a tree, causing a few errant leaves to float gently downwards.

“I don't know: Tirac, I guess.” The name seemed to reset something inside her head, and she returned to glaring at me. “Well: are you?”

“No.” I shot back, blood boiling as I remembered the monster who'd stolen my friends from me. The monster I had failed to stop. I stomped a hoof, before beginning to flap my wings and rise up into the air. “What about you, huh? Are you?”

“No.” She replied, also rising into the air. We both glared into the others face, perfect little reflections of each other right down to my two blue-bolt to her cloud-bolt cutie marks. Then, with a sigh, the other mare backed down, her hooves gently digging back into the forest's floor as she landed.

“Look, I know we got off to a bad start and all, but you've got to understand: I've never even heard of a Dream castle, and anypony who lives in a castle is trouble round here.”

“Here?” I asked, also landing but not letting my frown abate.

“Everfree forest.” she said, staring curiously at me, then back to the mushrooms. “Look, are you sure you didn't-”

“No.” I interrupted, not particularity willing to go through this conversation again. “What's the Everfree forest?” The pegasus froze, before batting a hoof off the ground and turning round to face me again, her eyes now more filled with worry than accusation.

“Do 'The Ponyville jewel mines' mean anything to you?” She asked, walking carefully up and around me, giving me a thorough glance over as she did so. “Nightmare moon? Crimson dawn? How about the Castle of Eternal Night? Anything?” I shook my head to all of these. She sighed, giving me a sheepish and slightly sorry look.

“Yeah, figured that might be the case. You've had your memory managed.”

“I've had what?” I asked, frowning into her apologetic face.

“Your memory managed. It's what they do to troublesome workhorses down in the mines. I'm guessing one of the guards did it then dragged you out here as some kind of joke. But I'll bet you can't even remember that, right?”

“Actually-”-I was placed here by a magical gnome after he saved me from death by taking away my body, and after that he spoke mysteriously to me for a while before turning into his hat. Hay, I'd finally managed to get the only pony I'd met so far to trust me, and my big, honest mouth was about to blow it. “-I think that's exactly what happened.” I finished, confession cut off halfway through by my thoughts already playing through exactly what would have happened if I'd been foalish enough to speak the truth.

The pegasus frowned at me, as if I'd said something very wrong, before shrugging and starting to move away from the mushroom patch. “It's this way back to the mines.” She called out, gesturing with a hoof to follow her. “Come on, I'll take you there. There's bound to be somepony there who'll know you and be able to help you out.”

*****

“So, you feel like telling me your name yet?” I asked, hooves picking their way between the knotted roots and leaf pits that made up the forest's floor. The Rainbow mare looked back over at me, her glance still slightly tinged with suspicion, before sighing.

“I can't. Look, I think you're okay and all, but I can't tell you my name. It'd put both of us in a bit of danger that I don't think you'll be able to handle.”

“Danger is my life.” I shot back, and she snorted.

“Yeah, all ten minutes you can remember of it. Look, I'm not saying you'd turn tail and run or nothin', it's just... better for us both if you don't know.”

“Fine.” I said, happily. The pegasus paused, allowing me to catch up before throwing a curious glance at me.

“Fine? You're not... worried about it, or anything?”

“Nope. If you say it's better that I don't know, then I believe you.”

“Wow, that's... well, that's way more trust than I usually get. Not that that's a bad thing, of course, it's just...”

“New and confusing?” I ventured, and she snorted again. The path we were following seemed to lead directly out into the open: not only could I see the edge of the forest, but it was only a moment's trot away!

“Yeah, new and very confusing and a helluva lot of stupid. You can't trust anypony 'cause it'll always come back to bite you in the end. Believe me: I know.” she replied, the two of us finally having made our way out of the forest and into the open air. It was far more wild than I'd have expected it to be: like somepony had just abandoned the fields around the forest and let them all go to seed. Hedges and small corpses were scattered around the landscape in front of us, and just off in the distance I thought I could make out the glow of what might be the 'Ponyville jewel mines' the pegasus had mentioned earlier.

“Hey there, Rainbow Dash: it's bin a while, ain't it?” A voice called out from ahead of us, the mare next to me skidding to a halt as the words hit her. Up ahead of us a light-brown mare detached herself from the wild-growing bush she was leaning on, a hoof raised to gently tilt back her hat as she strolled forwards. “Care to tell me who your twin is, sugar?” She paused, smirking at us, and I caught sight of the her cutie mark: three apples on her flank! I knew this mare!

“Applejack!” I called out in relief as the pegasus next to me hissed “Applejack.” Blinking, we looked at each other, before saying simultaneously “You know her?”

“Ain't never seen that one 'fore in my life, but I'm as sure as certain that I know who you are, sugarcube.” Applejack said, stepping forwards with a grin on her face. I took a step forwards too, also smiling, as the pegasus next to me took a single one back.

“Applejack, it's so good to see you again!” I said, moving forwards towards the faintly bemused looking Earth pony.  “Can you tell me what's been going on?”

“Should've known you were lying, should've known...” The Pegasus muttered at me as Applejack frowned over me, puzzlement sketched in a foal-like drawing across her face.

“You talkin' to me?” She gave off a small laugh, before turning to my companion. “Horesapples, Rainbow: you sure do know how to pick 'em. What's this one got: brain damage or somethin'?” I figured this was my cue to interupt.

“I know how to beat Tirac! Moochick explained everything to me just now: we just need to find five other ponies and we can stop him for good this time!” Everything seemed to slow as Applejack considered that, her eyes widening slightly before her face settled into the widest grin I'd ever seen on her.

“Really, sugar-cube? Well then, don't be shy: why don't you tell your auntie Applejack here all about it.”

There was a blur of sound behind me before the blue pegasus reappeared before me, her eyes dancing from one side of my face to the next.

“You weren't lying!” she said, falling onto her rump and staring at me in a slightly dazed expression as the sky behind her slowly began to darken, cloud after black cloud filling up the nights sky and slowly blotting out the stars one by one. “Right now: you weren't lying. You really can stop Tirac, can't you.”

“Yep.” I said, happy enough that both of these ponies seemed to be taking me seriously. This whole thing might turn out to be a bit easier than I thought. “But we need her to help us: the Moochick specifically said 'Applejack', and that's her!”

“Yep, that's me all right: now why don't you hurry up and tell me 'fore this Tirac fella shows up. He sounds real nasty.” Applejack called to me, strolling casually over to half the distance she'd been earlier, before an accusing hoof from the gape-jawed pegasus shot out and pointed in her direction.

“Her? Her! She's the one you want to help you! She works for Tirac: she's his top henchpony! The loyalist, most dependable and evillest pony of them all! And you want her to help overthrow him?” I blinked at the pegasus a few times, before moving my head out past her to look at Applejack. The Pony grinned at me, her smile seeming, if anything, a bit too forced. A forced smile that, like water sliding off a duck, vanished into a smirk.

“You're not buying it, are you? Shoot, and I was so close too. Ah well, never said I had to have your permission or anything: go get her boys.” Three dark shapes that I'd taken as being trees or bushes suddenly became animated, growing arms and heads as three giant, dragon-like Stratodons emerged from the gloom, shaking out wings and unfurling their limbs. Applejack rolled onto her front hooves, tail lashing out as she did so, and the long, black whip tied to that flying towards us, the whip crack hitting precisely where the pegasus had been mere moments before.

“Make sure you keep the pink one alive.” She called out as the whip sailed back towards her, curling up into a perfect loop behind her back. “I've still got some questions for that one.”

“It's light-red, not pink!” I cried out as the Stratodons bellowed and quickly charged towards us, rapidly shortening the gap between us. Blinking at the giant lizard bearing down on me, claws outstretched to pluck me from the ground, I realised that I'd probably been focusing on entirely the wrong part of what she'd been saying. Then- Whack! The rainbow pegasus, from out of literally nowhere, lashed out with her rear legs, hooves colliding with the Stratodon's snarling face. The collision bought me more than enough time for me to break out of whatever daze I'd been in, and speedily remove myself from the lizard's way.

“Get out of here: your our only chance of stopping Tirac: go!” She soared round the empty field, Applejack's whip cracking out at her head as one of the Stratodons thundered directly for her, leaving, of course, the other two as special presents just for me. As quickly as I could I flew forwards, my wings beating in a frantic blur as I pushed with just how fast I could go. Glancing behind me, I noticed that one of the Stratodons was following close behind, the other holding back slightly. Good. I'd thought up a plan earlier to deal with that, back when I was with more than just one pony, and this was the perfect time to put that plan into action.

“What are you doing?” the pegasus cried out, Stratodon biting at her tail as I charged towards her, my own Stratodon in pursuit and gaining, its head almost within snapping range of my hooves.

“Helping!” I shouted out, flashing past her retreating form and only just managing to lightly skim over the back of the Stratodon that had been pursuing her. Moments after I'd cleared it's back, the Stratodon that had been pursuing me collided heavily with the other, the two tumbling out of the sky in a roaring duet of anguish.

“How about you go? I think I can handle this on my own” I called out, stomping down into the face of the final airborne Stratodon, the hit causing it to fall a few feet before it began to rise back into the air. Thunder began to roll out around us as the overcast skies threatened to turn completely into a storm.

“Or you could just leave and let the professionals handle this?” The pegasus snapped, pushing me out of the way just in time for Applejack's whip to crackle past my right ear like a miniature, skyward bound lightning bolt. As I managed to regain the height I'd lost, she sighed and levelled her gaze at me. “Or we could stop trying to one up each other and just go!”

“Agreed, and new plan!” I bellowed, the two of us breaking apart as the rising Stratodon's head snapped where we'd been flying mere moments before, the lizard trying to capture both of us at once but managing to wind up with nopony.

“Oh, I'd just love to hear it, why don't you- oh, flaming horseapples!” I glanced over to where she her frowning downwards, my own eyes quickly following. Like vengeful angels, the other two Stratodons had already taken off from the ground, jaws snapping and eyes glaring up at us. It'd probably be only a few more minutes before they got here.

“Good!” I called out, soaring towards her as quickly as I could. Her eyes flashed with alarm, and she managed a half-mangled shout before I'd hit her, my hooves quickly wrapping themselves around her wings and thus letting the two of us tumble downwards like a carefully flung stone. Bound together, we plummeted out of the sky: past the gaping mouth of the first Stratodon, past the sudden crack of Applejack's whip shooting past us and then, finally, past the astonished and furious jaws of the final pair.

Now came the hard part: pulling out of the dive. I'd angled it so that we should be able to make it, or at least, so that I'd be able to make it. I'd just have to hope the other pegasus was as good a flier as she seemed to be: if not, well... crunch.

“Pull out!” I cried, letting go and already beginning to beat my wings, hope rising when I saw that she'd already begun to do the same. My wings were already starting to burn slightly as I pushed myself, but slowly and surely I was managing to pull myself out of the ground's predestined meet and thunk. I looked over to the rainbow pegasus, expecting to see her struggling or lagging behind, only to find that she'd not only beaten me in levelling out but that she'd barely broken a sweat whilst doing so. The girl could fly.

With a whooshing rush of air, we made it, skimming along the tree tops as we raced away from Applejack, Stratodons and forest alike as the storm clouds gathered overhead, silently spreading and blotting out all the stars.

*****

“You really think we're far enough away?” I asked, throwing an anxious glance behind us. It'd been a few hours now since we'd escaped from Applejack and the Stratodons, but despite the pegasus's reassurances we were safe, I didn't feel safe. I mean, Applejack and the Stratodons. I never thought anypony'd be saying something like that. I never thought I'd be saying something like that.

The two of us were sitting on a rock pile the pegasus had led us towards during our wildly veering escape. It was a fair distance away from any paths, and the section we were nestled in certainly did its best to hide us from any watchful eyes on the ground, but it wasn't eyes on the ground I was worried about. The Stratodons had appeared before from a quickly growing storm cloud, just like the one that had been growing when we'd fought them earlier. It wasn't eyes on the ground we had to worry about: it was danger coming from the night's sky.

“Sure we will: trust me, this isn't my first time evading them.”

“They've gone after you before?”

“Course they have. I'm a spy for the Cyclic Rebellion.” she passed over a water bottle to me, produced as if from nowhere and I greedily drank from it. “Or is it the Equestrian Ponies Front? If only Lady Sparkle didn't keep on changing names all the time...”

Wiping water from off my lips, I returned the bottle to her, saying “I thought you said you weren't a spy? Why'd you lie to me?” The pegasus shrugged as she took it back, before laying it down on the rock she was sitting on and coolly regarding me.

“No, you asked me if I was a spy for Tirac, and I'm not, so I didn't lie. I'm no liar, believe me: if anything, I'm the exact opposite. I can tell when people are lying to me, any time any place.”

I frowned at her. There was being trusting, and there was this. Alright then, let's test you little power. I needed something that I know's a lie, but she doesn't... something reasonable, like... hmm... I like-

“You don't like banana's” the pegasus interrupted me, destroying my train of thought entirely as she drank out the rest of her water bottle and managed to stow it away.

“Lucky guess.” I said, swallowing nervously. A damn lucky guess, I thought.

“Nope, I have absolutely no idea what you're thinking.” The pegasus continued, throwing me a glance before smiling. “Sorry: that's the usual response people have. I like to mess with their minds for a bit, you know?”

“Right.” I said, slightly shifting myself the teeniest bit away from her, and causing a minor avalanche of pebbles as I did so.

“First bit's real, though. Completely and utterly: one hundred and twenty percent. The truth and nothing but. I simply can't be lied too, and a lie in here”- hoof to head-”is as good as a lie from out here.”-hoof to mouth.

Curious, I turned to her and tried another.

“No, your Dad didn't collect sea shells by the sea shore.”

Another, true this time. Silence. Okay, another lie then: how about-

“You can't do the macarena. Nopony can do the macarena.”

Another one after that. And after that. And on and on until suddenly the pegasus let out a gasp, breathing in and out in rapid sighs that shook her whole body. It was then, and only then, that I noticed she was sweating badly, her whole body trembling slightly as if in a breeze. Whoops.

“Erm, did I... It hurts, doesn't it? Doing this hurts.” The pegasus snickered, more to herself, I think, than to me.

“Oh no, if it just hurt I'd be fine. I can handle a bit of pain. What this does is... not good. Just... just don't do any more right now, 'kay?”

“'Kay.” I said, cuffing the stone a bit as I mentally kicked myself for carrying it on way past the point where it'd been obvious what she could do. I'd let my curiosity get in the way of me actually doing what I was meant to do. Again.

“Guess I'd better tell you about what I meant earlier then, no lies in it, I swear.” I said, and the Pegasus nodded, taking a deep breath before turning to me and giving me a smile that seemed remarkably stable given she looked like she was about to break down a few seconds ago.

“My name's Rainbow Dash, by the way. I'm guessing I don't have to worry about you getting in trouble just for knowing me any more, and I'd very much like to hear about how you think you're gonna save the world.”