Rainbow Dash had performed the Sonic Rainboom. She had flown faster than any other pegasus. She had literally flown through time. Impossible had become just another word to the brash mare who could do it all. And yet, this moment… it was still indescribable. Breathtaking. She was diving faster than she ever had before, hurtling toward the ground at a speed that would put Celestia herself to shame. And there was more.

She was performing a highly complex and entirely original routine with the Wonderbolts. THE WONDERBOLTS. Her lifelong idols. A stunt of this magnitude was entirely unprecedented in the history of organized flight, and she was a part of it. More than a part of it. She was the CENTER of it. She was, if only temporarily, the Captain. And there was MORE.

A magical undertaking beyond any other was in progress, again with her at the center. She couldn’t magic her way out of a paper bag, and yet here she was at the center of the grandest spell ever conceived. Beyond that, this was the first time two disciplines so unrelated had been fused so perfectly. The flight and the magic were not two cogs working together as part of a whole machine, they were one. The magic breathed new life into the art of flight even as the flight weaved sigils and crests into the air.

Rainbow Dash could see it now. The enormous symbol carved into the sky by her team. She would be there before she had time to blink again. The Sonic Rainboom had happened quite a bit higher up. Much greater speeds were required when she crossed the critical point.

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Applejack coughed one more time before going limp. Rainbow Dash pressed her ear against the farmer’s chest. She waited. She cried.

“It’s not FAIR! WHY? After everything we went through, after EVERYTHING we did for each other… why does it have to end like this… why does it have to be my fault…” Tears streamed down her face and splashed against the cold dirt. She didn’t know how much time had passed before she moved from her mournful spot, but it didn’t matter. She was Rainbow Dash. She had leapt through time to win Applejack’s heart, and she wasn’t going to let her be taken away without a fight. It didn’t matter if she had to fight herself. It didn’t matter if she had to fight Twilight. It didn’t matter if she had to fight the laws of causality. She was going to get her love BACK.

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Twilight Sparkle was suspended in place, her magic sealed off, unable to fight back. She was held almost completely still, given just enough room to breathe and was about to try to speak. Her muzzle was forced shut in a hazy purple glow.

“This is the part where you throw out a tired line like ‘You’ve gone mad!’ and I’m supposed to respond with ‘No, I see clearly for the first time and it is the WORLD that has gone mad!’ and then proceed to give the big villain speech about how wrong the world is and how I’m going to fix it. Well let me just save us both a whole lot of time… hah! Really, I thought I’d stopped using language like that. Where was I? Oh, right. No, that’s not quite the direction this is going to go. While it’s true that I can see clearly and the world is mad, it has not suddenly become that way. Everything has always been mad.”

“You’re crazy!” wheezed Twilight.

“What was I JUST SAYING? We’re not going down that road. I’m going to try to show you. I’m going to try to teach you, as I was taught. Once you cast aside the veil of time you can see reality for what it really is, what it always has been. It is chaos. The whole of existence is a big, ugly, boiling, churning, stinking wad of chaos. Ponies are only able to live happily because of how blind they are. The flaws in any one reality are insignificant and can be overcome. I have seen the answer to each timeline, and I could fix them were I given the chance. It is only when realms bleed together that everything begins to fall apart. There is too much to be controlled, and whatever cracks allowed the intrusion to begin with only spread further with each pulse. I would have been content to be a martyr, casting myself into the fire to restore the illusion. I would have been okay dying so that nopony had to see what I have seen. Your plan is noble, and I would gladly let you carry it out if only it would work. But it won’t. It doesn’t. It can’t.”

A single tear fell down into the infinite nothingness below as the mare turned away. The magic restraining Twilight began to weaken.

“Instead, it’s come to this. The delicate fabric lies in tatters on the floor, and there is no power in all of creation capable of mending it. The true nature of our existence will destroy the sanity of all living things. I have seen into that uncaring abyss, and I know it to be a fate that none deserve. But there is yet one answer to the problem. One hope against the discord... all things can stand united in the harmony of oblivion.”

The physical restraint was gone, and Twilight was capable of moving under her own power once more. But she did not move. She stood staring with determination, and she spoke.

“You’re wrong. There is no harmony without togetherness. Without friendship. Without magic. I thought the Princess taught you better, Twilight Sparkle.”

The mare turned around, her eyes burning coals of rage as her magic flared with an audible roar. The force holding back Twilight Sparkle’s magic was released. “YOU WILL NOT REFER TO ME BY THAT NAME. TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS THE ONE WHO CAUSED THIS TRAVESTY. I AM THE ONE WHO WILL END IT. TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS CHAOS. TWILIGHT SPARKLE IS DISCORD. I… I AM ORDER. I HAVE OBSERVED YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS FROM EVERY POSSIBLE TIMELINE. FROM EVERY ANGLE. THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO. YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME AND THOUGH YOUR END WILL NOT BE SWIFT, IT IS ONLY BECAUSE IT IS MY WILL THAT YOU SUFFER.”

“There is just oooone teensy little thing you may have overlooked. One element that fell through the cracks.”

“I WILL NOT PLAY THIS GAME WITH YOU.”

“Scootaloo, NOW!”