To the Moon
by PinkiePie35
Chapters
Prelude
"They can take you back, Dashie," Scootaloo said to the elderly figure sitting on an armchair against the cloud wall opposite her.
Rainbow Dash, ripe in years and rich in life, lifted her head and looked back at Scootaloo. Hey eyes widened as she stared back, tenderness glazed over her gaze.
"They'll give you a second chance, and they'll let you relive your life. All the way..."
"...from the very beginning."
Through all the burdens of old age- through her Arthritis, which made her body ache sometimes to the point of immobilization; through the wrinkles that cracked across the skin of her aged face and joints; through her mane whose colors had faded and grayed, its once bold colors now lackluster and dull; through the ability to use her wings becoming weaker and weaker, one of her main sources of joy- Rainbow Dash began to feel her heart beating with an emotion she had long forgotten for what seemed like a cold, lonesome eternity as she sat there, rocking back and forth on the cloud chair in the home that had housed her throughout her entire life.
"Change one thing, fulfill one wish."
Dash slowly closed her heavy eyelids, a soft smile of the joyful reminiscence of memories situated upon her folded and wrinkled face.
"You know what you'd wish for, don't you? Scootaloo asked, offering a gentle grin in return.
For a moment, the room was encased in silence, while Rainbow Dash thought quietly inside her mind.
Dash thought about her family. She thought about her friends, the times they shared together, how they would enjoy the mere company of each other as they spent time together on countless occasions.
Dash thought about her.
After a few seconds, Rainbow Dash, her eyes still shut, nodded her head back to Scootaloo. A warm tear escaped out from under the bottom of one of her eyes, rolling gradually down her cheek. Her lips were still turned up in a smile.
"But just remember..."
Rainbow Dash's eyelids found themselves creaking open once again, re-transfixed upon Scootaloo's stare. She glanced back towards Scootaloo with her bright magenta eyes.
"...It will be the last thing you ever do."
Chapter 1: Those Crazy Old Geezers
The waves rocked back and forth, slowly rising and falling and the foot of a short cliff perched over the ocean. Its steep, rocky walls were decorated and speckled with bubbling foam, left in the wake of the sloshing seawater. At the top of the inclined wall, a peaceful plain, flat and level, rested nonchalantly above the water below. Serene was such a plain, covered in luscious flowers and grasses, and speckled with tiny ponds of pure, blue water. The waves' movement conjured a soothing song of crashing and retreating incessantly, and a warm maritime wind blew a soft whistle in from the sea.
Straight above the highest part of this beautiful, quiet land, a flat cloud, rounded at the edges, floated with grace. The cloud, burdened with the weight of a heavy object, did not move or flow with the wind; rather, it simply remained in its current position over the land.
The object that was causing this cloud to do so was none other than a lighthouse.
This particular lighthouse, a proud cylinder of cement jetting upward into the stars and warm glow of moonlight above, displayed a color pattern of alternation between a snow white and sleek black. A long, wide, and circular flowerpot wrapped around the base of the structure, adorned with roses and gardenias of all kinds. Small insects bustled about the plants in the warm summer air, their soft wings creating a relaxing tune of buzzing and wind. The shaft of the lighthouse itself floated against the gleaming ocean water that sparkled from the light of the moon in the sky. Its pinnacle cut the nighttime skyline, the very tip appearing to rest on the surface of Luna's moon. It was bound with a powerful, permanent cloud walking spell in order to ensure that it would remain on the belly of the cloud for an eternity.
Back on the land, to the right of the area above which the cloud was, there was a rectangular sort of a house. Inside, the sweet hum of a sweet song filled each room as a young pegasus filly in her childhood pressed the keys of the instrument. Her younger brother stood beside her, waiting his turn on the piano.
A decent distance away, at the foot of where this beautiful patch of land started, a small flash sparked in the air and a purple mare and dragon appeared out of nowhere.
Twilight Sparkle fell to the ground, dazed from her long distance teleportation spell. She looked to her left, then to her right, then in all directions around her. The purple little dragon was nowhere to be found.
"Spike? Spike? Where are you?" Twilight began to shout frantically.
From below her, a slow, long moan gave her an answer.Twilight giggled sheepishly, blushing a bit.
"Oh. Heh, there you are, Spike."
"Yeah," Spike replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Mind getting off me?"
"Oh. Sorry."
Twilight quickly shuffled to her hooves, hearing Spike continue to groan as she slowly pulled herself off of him.
"You've really gotta consider where we're gonna land when you use that spell, Twilight..." Spike muttered through his half open mouth.
As he stood up, Twilight's expression turned from embarrassment to horror. Spike wasn't the only thing that was crushed. On Spike's belly, there were bits of crushed plastic and other pieces of technology. She looked on the ground where he had lain a few seconds ago. Her fears had been confirmed; Spike had fallen on and broken the machine to bits.
"Spike! What did you do?" she exclaimed.
"What are you talking..." he managed to get out before he saw the busted machinery in pieces laying in the dirt.
"Oh, horseapples..." Spike said. "Sorry."
Twilight let out a sigh, then shook her head.
"It's fine... it was my fault anyway," she said. Suddenly, she began to panic. "What are we gonna tell the boss?"
Spike scratched his chin and thought.
"Meh," he started, "just tell him that we tried to use it on the patient and it broke."
"That doesn't explain why it's shattered to a billion pieces!" she shouted back.
"Jeez, fine," he replied. He thought again, this time with a little more focus. Still, he could think of nothing.
"I dunno, Twilight. Can't help ya here."
Twilight let out a frustrated grunt, and then teleported away. It took Spike by surprise, and he fell back onto his rear.
By the time Spike regained awareness and began to wonder where Twilight went, another spark shot out in the air and there she was again, another machine in hand. She took caution to levitate herself to the ground, tightly grasping the machine as she did so. At last she reached the dirt.
"Got a new one," she said with an evil giggle.
Spike didn't like the sound of it. "So uh... what did you tell him?" he inquired.
Twilight shot him a sly grin with a tint of mischief.
"I told him that we were walking to the destination, you were carrying the machine, and you tripped and dropped it," she said, then burst out in a giggle fit when she saw Spike's expression on his face.
"Twilight! What the hay?" he shouted. "The boss is gonna be pissed at me!" he snorted.
Twilight calmed down from her laughter and reassured Spike.
"Don't worry, it'll be fine. The boss didn't even care, strangely enough. I guess it's just that we have so many of these darn things that when one gets broken, it's 'no big deal' to him."
Spike still looked ticked off.
"Whatever... he muttered under his breath, walking over to her. Twilight laid the machine into his arms, and he huffed a bit from the weight as he took it.
"Let's go," she said.
And so the two began their walk to the house that was their destination.
*****
After a walk of little conversation along several winding paths to the house (in which Spike's annoyance had cooled down), they at last arrived at the front door. The two of them could hear piano music emitting from the inside.
Twilight put up a hoof to the door and knocked a few times. Then they waited. Spike began to tap his foot impatiently.
"So, what's the deal with this guy?" Spike said, trying to strike up a quick conversation to pass the waiting time of one of his least favorite activities: waiting for somepony to answer the door.
"Hm?" Twilight asked.
"Our patient, I mean. What's his deal?"
"Her," Twilight corrected. "It's a mare."
"Oh," Spike simply replied.
Before the conversation could go any further, an middle-aged orange Pegasus mare answered the door. She had a ruffled violet mane, and her wings were tucked at her sides. When she took note of the two, she started speaking.
"Please, come in," she said.
Spike grabbed the machine, and the two of them entered the house.
When inside, the mare began to speak once again.
"Dr Sparkle and Spike, I presume?" she said.
"That's us," Spike said.
"The name's Scootaloo," the mare said quietly, looking back at them.
"Ah," Twilight responded. "And what relationship do you have to Ms..."
Twilight trailed off. She hadn't known the name of the client, she realized.
"Ms. Rainbow Dash. She prefers to be called Dashie, though. And I'm her caretaker... though I was close to her back in my childhood. We kind of live here as well."
"So, this Dash... what does she want before she kicks the bucket?" Spike said quickly.
"Spike!" Twilight shouted at him.
Twilight shot him an annoyed glance for being so bold and upfront. In their line of work, they'd seen ponies crying when they arrived at their house; the fact that a loved one was going to die sometimes was still a sore spot for friends and family of their clients. And he had the nerve to say something like that out of the blue? Spike should know better, Twilight thought. Still, this Scootaloo pony didn't seem offended.
"Please, it's okay," Scootaloo responded. "Why don't you come upstairs? The doc will explain everything to you."
"Okay," Twilight said. "Also, I remember you said that 'we live here' a few seconds ago... do you have any-"
Is if on cue to answer Twilight's question, out of nowhere, a young pegasus colt and filly darted through the room, rushing past the three of them and nearly knocking Spike onto his rear for the second time that night.
Scootaloo's face contorted to a frown, and she yelled:
"Dawn! Blade! No running in the house!"
Her shout was in vain, though; the two kids had already run past them and into another room, giggling rapidly as they did so. Scootaloo bowed her head and sighed.
"Are they...?" Twilight began.
"Those... that's my daughter, Dawn, and my son, blade. They're a handful, as you can see..." Scootaloo said.
"That's an understatement..." Spike uttered, receiving a smack in the back of the head from Twilight for being rude once again.
"Come on," Scootaloo said, gesturing with a hoof to the stairs. "Let's go."
And so the three of them made their way up the stairs. Once they had done so, the filly and the colt came back into the room. After fighting over the piano, they decided to both play at once, and sat on the seat together, playing the song they had been playing earlier that night.
After walking up the flight of stairs and trotting through a hallway and past a regal grandfather clock, they arrived into the room of the patient, Ms Rainbow Dash. She lay on a queen-size bed, apparently unconscious but breathing.
Twilight noticed a familiar face as she and nurse Redheart met eye to eye.
"Redheart!" Twilight exclaimed. "Long time no see, huh? Good to see you!" Twilight extended out a hoof.
Redheart accepted and shook Twilight's hoof.
"Twilight...? Is that really you? Long time no see indeed!" she said happily. "It's been years! I didn't know you were in the Sigmund memory business these days. Good for you!"
Twilight replied with a happy nod.
"So..." Twilight began. What's the deal? How's she doing?"
"Not... particularly well," Redheart replied. Her kidney's already started to fail, and her appendix isn't doing so hot either. It's only from old age, but her body's shutting down nonetheless."
"So, how long we got?" Twilight asked, levitating the box that held the machine out of Spike's hands and onto the floor.
"At most... probably a day or two, give or take," Redheart said.
"That's sufficient," Twilight stated.
"So," said Spike, interrupting the slow pace of talking, "what does she wanna do? Become a millionaire? Own a fancy restaurant? Become a world famous athlete?"
"Actually..." started Redheart. "...she said she wanted to go the moon.
"The moon?" Twilight inquired curiously. "How come?"
"Beats me," said Redheart. She didn't tell me."
"The moon, eh?" Spike said. "Crazy old Geezers. Get crazier every time, I tell ya."
Twilight facehoofed, and Redheart rolled her eyes with a gentle grin.
"Spike, shut up and get the machine going," Twilight retorted.
"Fine, fine, don't get in a hissy fit..." Spike replied.
Spike pulled a large piece of equipment out of the box. It was a tall computer of sorts, with various buttons and mechanisms. Spike pulled up a chair to the machine and plugged it in. When he did so, a folded glass panel shot up from the back of the top of the machine, and began to unfold into 3 glass panels, serving as the screen. Text shot onto the screen, and Spike leaned back as he waited for the system to boot up.
"So... can you tell us some things about our patient, here, Scootaloo?" Spike asked.
"Well..." She began.
"I can tell you what's important. She liked to fly a lot in her younger years, did a lot of work for Cloudsdale's weather team. She was married to a mare name Fluttershy since she was young, and her wife passed away two years ago. That's all that you'll really find helpful, I think."
"What do you mean, 'you think?' Are you sure?" Spiked pressed on.
"Don't mind him," Twilight said. "That's more than enough."
"Alright," Spike said. "The machine's calibrated and ready to go."
Spike reached into the box that held the machine and pulled out 3 plastic, odd looking helmets.
"Here, put this on Dashie's head," he said to Scootaloo.
Scootaloo complied and put it on Dash's head, looking slightly confused.
"So, uh..." Scootaloo started, as Twilight and Spike both put their own strange helmets on, "how does this whole thing even work?"
"Oh," Twilight chirped, "it's simple. You see, once we know the wish of our patient, in this case, going to the moon, we can travel through the patient's memories and transfer the desire of the wish into the mind of the patient. The transfer is permanent, so they never lose sight of the ambition related to the wish they had wanted to fulfill."
"And so," Spike finished, "once we transfer that desire, the patient'll have the ambition to fulfill the wish throughout their whole life, and since it's so strongly stuck to their willpower, they eventually reach it, assuming it's a somewhat plausible wish."
"Huh," Scootaloo replied, contemplating what the two of them had said.
"Well," Spike said, "I guess it's time to get this show on the road. Ready, Twi?"
"Yup."
"Alright then, Let's do this."
Spike remained in the chair at the computer, and Twilight pulled a chair to her to sit in. Both had their helmets on. They both closed their eyes.
"Good luck," Scootaloo said.
"Please, grant her wish, whatever it takes," she pleaded.
Eyes still closed, Twilight replied:
"We'll certainly try our be-"
"Of course we will," Spike interrupted. "It's what we do."
And with that, the minds of the two were swept into Dashie's Most recent memory.
*****
In a matter of seconds, both Twilight and Spike regained vision.
Twilight looked around; they were in the same room they were a few seconds ago, the bedroom of Dash's house, but things were different; no one was in the bed anymore, or in the room, for that matter. The dull colors of the room were now but a grayish brown, as was everything else everywhere. After all, brains can't remember all the detail of color and other specifics of memories, so seeing everything in a black and white and brown kind of fashion didn't surprise Twilight.
She looked over her shoulder to her left; Spike was beside her.
"Well, looks like we've made it to her last accessible memory," Spike said.
"So it seems," replied Twilight. "Disable speech except Dash's, and then let's get a move on."
"Way ahead of you," said Spike. "We're ready to go."
With that, the duo began to walk.
They walked out of the bedroom, back into the hallway, and down the stairs. They passed through the main room, past the grand piano. They looked elsewhere around the house, but Dash was nowhere to be found.
"She's gotta be outside," Spike suggested.
They went out the front door and looked around. Still, they found no sign of Dash.
"Where is she?" Twilight pondered aloud.
Spike looked around once again, and this time, he looked up.
"Hey, Twi, look up there!"
Twilight looked where Spike was pointing his finger: the cloud with the large lighthouse.
"Maybe she's up there," said Spike.
"Hm. Maybe so, but if we wanna get up there, we're going to need cloud walking spells," Twilight responded.
A glowing veil emanated from Twilight's horn, and a flash bolted out from the tip and struck both of them.
"There," she said. "That'll do it. Hold on Spike, we're going up."
"No, wa-"
Spike's plead was ignored as Twilight teleported both of them to the cloud's surface. Spike landed on the cloud next to Twilight, and they both stood up.
"Okay, seriously Twi, give me a warning next time when you're about to teleport! Jeez!"
Twilight shook her head and looked forward. Beside the lighthouse, a bench made of cloud held two ponies. One was Scootaloo, and the other appeared to be Rainbow Dash.
"Alright, Spike," said Twilight. "Activate our speech. Don't say anything, though. Let me start."
Spike nodded his head and activated their speech ability to be heard by others in the memory, and then they walked toward the two ponies sitting on the bench. Twilight spoke first.
"Ms. Dash?"
Rainbow Dash, still as old as she appeared when they first saw her, turned her head over her shoulder and looked at them from behind. She smiled gently, and rose to her shaky hooves. Once on the cloud floor, she walked towards them. She began to speak.
"Oh, hello," she said in a fragile, soft voice. "How are you? It's not too often we see other ponies around here."
A short silence ensued.
"I'm fine, thank you. We're with Sigmund Memory corporation. I'm Doctor Twilight Sparkle, and this is my assistant, Doctor-"
"Doctor Jean-Martin Charcot!" exclaimed Spike.
Twilight facehoofed.
"This is Doctor Spike," she said.
Spike, flustered that Twilight had just made him look like an idiot, blushed with embarrassment.
"Ah, you're with the agency? Oh, the irony," Dash chortled. "I was just thinking of calling you people."
She turned to Scootaloo, who had now stood up as well.
"This is my caretaker and friend, Scootaloo," Dash said. "Say hello, Scoot."
"Alright," Twilight said to Spike only, using the helmet to filter her words so that they would only be heard by her assistant. "Take Scootaloo out of this memory for now. That way, we can talk to Dash alone."
"On it," Spike replied.
Spike pressed a button on his helmet and aimed it at Scootaloo. Scootaloo froze for a few seconds, not doing anything and staring outward at nothing.
"Scootaloo...?" Dash inquired.
Suddenly, Scootaloo disappeared.
Dash gasped and recoiled backwards a bit.
"You've already called us, Ms. Dash," Twilight spoke.
"What...? I..." Dash stuttered.
"This is your most recent memory. The actuality of the matter is that, well, you've already called us and gave us permission to perform the procedure on you in the relative future."
Dash said nothing.
A long silence followed, neither of them quite knowing what to say.
Finally, Dash broke the silence.
"So... you're here to fulfill my wish, no?"
"That's correct," replied Twilight.
"And I assume you already are aware of my wish?"
"Yes, to go the moon."
Rainbow Dash sighed to herself.
"Well, I guess this is just about it, then," she said. "In real time, how long do I have left?"
"Not all that long," Twilight said sympathetically.
Dash sighed again.
"Well... can you do it? Can you send me to the moon?"
"Well..." Spike started. "We can, but we're going to need your help."
Dash cocked her head. "How so?"
"Well, in order to make you go to the moon, we need to make you have a desire to go the moon from childhood," Twilight explained. "Unfortunately, transferring that desire isn't so simple. We can't go directly back to your childhood; we need to slowly take gradual steps back through your mind, using parts of each memory to get to the next. Eventually, we'll reach your childhood, and we'll have a direct link to you as a young filly. Thereafter, we can transfer the desire to go to the moon, and you'll work at it your whole life and, one day, fly to the moon. At least, that's what you will remember doing once we've rearranged your memories."
Dash said nothing.
"Now, to start, we need to know- why do you want to go to the moon?"
Dash thought for a moment, and then began to paw at the ground.
"Well?" Spike pressed.
"I... I don't know, to be honest," said Dash.
"Dash, you can't hide anything from us, otherwise we can't help you," said Twilight.
"No, really. I... I just don't know. All that I know is that I want to go there- I'm sorry, I truly am."
Dash didn't look at all like she was lying.
Spike rolled his eyes and sighed.
"This is gonna be a long night," he filtered to Twilight.
Twilight ignored Spike and spoke to Dash once more.
"Well, that's alright. We can still plant the desire into your childhood. In order to get started, though, we need something- something that reminds of you of a time in the past, favorably a recent one. A memento, if you will. Do you have anything like that for us?"
Dash appeared to be thinking intensely. When she realized that Twilight had spoken to her a few seconds later, she shook her head and refocused.
"Sorry," she muttered. "I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around all this... you said you needed a... a memento?"
Twilight nodded her head firmly.
Dash walked back over to the bench and grabbed something off of it into her hooves. She brought it to Twilight. Upon closer inspection, Twilight could make out what it was.
It appeared to be a yellow and blue paper rabbit.
"Here..." Dash said, holding the object out on a hoof. "Take this."
Twilight took the rabbit into her hands. "Thank you," she said.
"Alright, Spike, just give me a moment to prepare the memento..."
Twilight aimed the helmet at the rabbit and pressed a button. The rabbit glowed for a minute, and a low hum was heard. At last, the glow and noise from the memento stopped. It was ready for traverse.
"And... good," said Twilight. "We're good to go. Anything else you'd like to tell us, Dash?"
"I... I don't think so," Dash said.
"Alright, good. We'll try our best," said Twilight.
Twilight then set her voice filter so that only Spike could hear her.
"Well, that went surprisingly well," Twilight remarked.
"Yeah. Still, even if it hadn't, we could of always just rebooted the memory."
"Yeah, but we can't really afford to waste time."
"True."
"Ready?"
"Yup."
Twilight pointed her helmet towards the memento once more, as did Spike. The two of them were enveloped by a warm aura, and they were teleported through Dash's mind to the recent memory that this paper rabbit had some sort of relation to.
Chapter 2: Choices and Decisions
Twilight and Spike found themselves in the main living room which contained the piano. At the piano sat an elderly figure none other than Rainbow Dash. When the two took note of the surroundings, Twilight turned off their visibility and filtered their speech so as to go completely unnoticed. Rainbow Dash began to play a sweet melody on the piano as the two searched the scene.
"So, what do we have here?" Spike inquired.
"Let's look around," responded Twilight.
As soon as either of them looked to either side, they both found the same thing.
Paper rabbits, all over the floor.
Hundreds of them.
Spike shuddered a bit.
"This is friggin' weird," he said. "Twi, do you think this mare is...?"
Twilight spotted the yellow and blue paper rabbit among all of the others, the one that had served as the memento and allowed them to travel back.
"Hm... Nah. Maybe the whole rabbit craze thing will make sense later. I wonder what else is around here...? Twilight trailed off.
Twilight looked around some more. Save some windows, a desk, and few standing lamps, Twilight could find nothing of real importance on the first floor. However, as she looked more carefully at the desk, it seemed to be the kind of desk that had a hallow interior so as to allow for interior storage of the person using the desk. Twilight wondered if there was anything inside.
"Hey Spike, maybe there's something in that-"
Twilight was interrupted by a teeth grinding sound- the sound that one produces when slamming on all the keys of a piano at once; it had an effect on Twilight similar to that of the sound of a hoof scratching on a chalkboard. Spike fared no better.
"What the..." Spike said.
They both looked over to Rainbow Dash, who had been playing beautifully but a few seconds ago. Her face was now stained with tears, and she had an empty look on her face.
"Hm," Twilight said to Spike. "What do you think caused that?"
Spike huffed and said, "Schizophrenia, maybe..."
Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Hey," she said, "the more smart flank remarks you make, the longer this is going to take. Now let's go look around in that desk."
As they moved over to the desk and peered inside, they found an odd looking machine with a strong battery attached to it. It looked fitted to be somehow connected to the wings of a pegasus. Spike had no clue what this machine was; Twilight, however, knew better.
"Spike, this is a flying aid. This thing can help crippled pegasi or pegasi in old age to fly with at least some decency."
Spike said nothing and simply studied the object. Twilight reached a hoof inside the desk, and as she did so, she felt her helmet beginning to emit a signal.
"Welp," she began, "Looks like this is our memento for the next leap back."
Spike nodded his head. "We should probably look around a bit more before we go, though. Why not check upstairs?"
Twilight agreed with a nod of her head, and the two of them went upstairs. For the most part, what they found- a backpack, some flowers, a picture of a real rabbit, and a jar of pickled daisies (which Spike despised),among other things- didn't fill any real gaps in the duo's misunderstanding of Dash's memory.
"Well, it looks like that's about it," Twilight said as they walked back down the stairs. "Ready?"
"You betcha," Spike replied.
Twilight prepared the memento, and they both pointed their helmets toward it. They were transported back through time into the next most recent memory.
*****
They were inside the house once again. It was raining, not quite a downpour, but not quite a drizzle, either. Aside from some general junk and another of pickled daisies followed by Spike's vulgar disapproval, they found nothing inside the house. They decided to go outside, onto the front of the property, and search there.
Rainbow Dash was there, straddling the flying aid onto her wings as she prepared to take off. She eventually turned on the aid, and it began to help her flap her wings. She held some sort of plush thing in her hoof. She slowly gained some speed and took of gently towards the cloud.
"Well," Twilight started, "here we are. I suppose we should follow her up there?"
"Yeah, that's probably the best id-" Spike stopped randomly. "Shhh... do you hear that, Twi?"
"Huh?" Twilight asked.
She listened, and through the rain, she began to hear little squeaks, rustles, and other natural noises. It sounded like... animals. Lots of them.
"Those sound like animals," Spike said. "We should check it out."
Twilight gave a silent nod the head, and the two of them walked over to the side of the house, where the source of the noise seemed to be. When they arrived there, they found a large, luxurious pen, filled with all types of animals; there were squirrels, ferrets, mice, birds, and even, as Twilight had predicted, rabbits. They all looked... sad.
"What the hay? I guess we must have missed this the first time when we walked into the house," Spike said aloud. "Well, this doesn't explain everything, but if this Dash pony was some sort of animal hoarder, then that might at least explain the obsession with the rabbits."
"I doubt that, Spike. I don't think having animals makes you construct a bunch of paper rabbits for no apparent reason... are we even sure that Dash was the one who made those rabbits?"
Spike scratched his head. "Meh, whatever," he said. "I guess we'll find out. For now, let's go check on the patient, shall we?"
Twilight nodded her head. "Ready to be teleported this time, you big baby?" She said with a sly chuckle.
"Well, thanks for asking this time, Twi," replied Spike with an angry huff.
And so the two teleported up to the cloud. When they landed on the surface, they found that since clouds were what made the rain, they were safe from most of the precipitation. Still, some higher, non-rain clouds loomed above the one they were on, so there was no sunlight.
Rainbow Dash was standing in front of a headstone on the cloud. In front of the headstone there was a coffin made of cloud. Spike scratched his head.
"How does that even work?" he wondered aloud. "It's a cloud, how does being buried in cloud even protect the body at all?"
"Well," Twilight said open closer examination, "it's probably protected with a spell. My grandfather on my mother's side was a pegasus, wanted to be buried in the sky, too. We got a professional to do it when he passed away, but he basically put a seal spell on the cloud coffin that lasted for just about forever. It protected it from rain, dirt, wind, you name it."
"Huh," Spike responded. "Still, don't you think it'd be easier to just bury somepony on the ground?"
"I don't know, Spike. Probably, but there's obviously a reason this pony was buried by the lighthouse. We don't even know who it is, though I have a good guess. Let's go check it out."
The two walked over to the headstone beside Rainbow Dash, still invisible to her but not to each other. Twilight read the gravestone's inscription aloud:
"'In Memory of Fluttershy, Loving Friend and Wife. May She Enjoy Eternal Peace.' Huh. Well, this seems to confirm my suspicions. We're at the time when her wife died, Spike."
"Yeah. Sappy gravestone reading, though."
Twilight ignored Spike and continued to look around. At Rainbow's feet, she saw another rabbit; it wasn't a paper one, nor was it the special blue and yellow paper one; it was a rabbit stuffed animal.
"Well," she started, "I think this was the thing she carried up here. Is it me, or did I see this same plush on top of the piano when we were in the last memory?"
Spike shrugged, unsure himself.
Twilight looked around a bit more but found nothing of importance.
"It seems that there's not much around here. Wanna go check in the lighthouse?" Spike suggested.
"Good idea," replied Twilight. Spike went into the lighthouse first. Twilight followed him, but as soon as she reached the door, Rainbow began to speak.
"It's finished, Fluttershy."
Twilight stopped and turned to Dash. She simply listened.
"Everything... it's all finished. He won't be alone anymore. Neither will they."
Twilight thought. The 'they' was probably the animals. But who was 'he?'
"I can watch over Angel and them, now. It's all okay now."
Rainbow paused, and a tear began to roll down her cheek.
"You didn't have to do it... you know...but I let you do it... It was what you wanted to do... and I wanted you to be happy..."
"...but I still don't understand...why? Why did you...why..." Rainbow trailed off, heaving in quiet sobs.
Twilight sighed; it was getting a bit depressing. She decided to go inside the lighthouse and catch up with Spike, who was probably getting impatient. Twilight contemplated what Rainbow had said as she walked up the lighthouse stairs. Who was this "Angel" pony?
When she reached the top, Spike was, as she predicted, getting a bit impatient. Before she spoke to Spike, she looked around. She noticed two things: some kind of stuffed animal, and of course, the light of the lighthouse. It appeared to be cracked and broken, and was not emitting any light.
"Twilight, what were you doing? Try not to take forever next time, 'Ms. Wecan'twasteanymoretime.' Jeez," Spike said with a chortle.
Twilight just ignored him.
"Find anything?" Twilight inquired.
"Yup, the memento," he said, pointing to the same plush rabbit that they'd seen back down at the bottom. "Looks like this rabbit is a part of the memory up in the top of the lighthouse, too. I already prepared it. Ready?"
Twilight shook her head weakly. She was still thinking, and she looked zoned out from Spike's perspective.
"Uh, Twi...? Is everything alright?"
Twilight shook her head and said, "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Now let's go."
Spike shrugged it off, and then pointed his helmet toward the memento. Twilight soon followed suit. Their helmets began to work, and they were sent off to the next most recent memory.
*****
The two this time found themselves transported to a different room in an entirely different house. Looking out the window the moment they arrived, they discovered they were on the second floor. The room was small but contained several things; standing out among them was a large bed. Tucked tightly beneath its covers was a yellow pegasus mare, her mane a grayish pink. Standing up beside the figure in the bed was Dash.
"Huh, well, it looks like that last memento was a decent memory jumper. Dash looks a good deal younger in this one," Spike said.
"Yeah," Twilight replied. "She's still pretty old, though. Now shush. I'm trying to listen to what they're saying," Twilight said, gesturing over to the two pegasi.
"Don't," spoke the quiet pegasus.
"...What?" Dash replied.
"Don't do it. Don't you lie to me. You know I hate it."
Dash frantically started to dwindle her hooves.
"I'm not, really! W-we have enough to afford both!" Dash spat out nervously.
The look on the yellow mare's face told Dash she knew otherwise. Rainbow Dash sighed to herself and bowed her held down, shoulders slumped.
"Fluttershy..." Dash trailed off with sadness in her voice.
"Rainbow," Fluttershy began. "It's my life, not yours."
"But Shy! I can't stand here and watch you do this!"
"Rainbow. This is what I want. This is what makes me truly happy. You want that, don't you? For me to be happy?"
"Yeah, of course I do, Shy, but... why? Why does this make you so happy?"
Fluttershy simply sighed.
"Dash... if you love me... you'll know that this means the world to me. I won't let you pay for an operation. I won't. You can try to make me, but it's ultimately my body. They'll need my signature, and I refuse to give it."
Fluttershy paused.
"And... and what you choose to do after I'm gone is up to you, Dashie. But if you know what I'd want you to do with the bits. Finish the house. Watch over Angel. Be with him. Be there for him. Care for the animals; you know'll they'll need me when I'm gone. "
"But Shy... why? It's just animals!" Dash shouted.
Fluttershy looked back at Rainbow with an agitated gaze.
"...sorry, I know how much they mean to you, Shy. But what about him? Why? He's... he's not even-!"
Fluttershy held up a hoof, and Rainbow Dash stopped talking. After a few seconds of silence, Fluttershy opened her mouth again and held out her hoof. There was something in it.
"I made this for you, Dashie."
It was the same yellow and blue paper rabbit that Twilight and Spike had used to teleport back from the first memory when the elderly Dash had given it to them.
"Tell me what this is," Fluttershy said.
"Huh?"
"Just tell me."
"Um... it's a rabbit. It's made of paper, uh, a paper rabbit."
"What else can you tell me about it?" she asked.
"Uh... the belly is yellow, and the rest is blue...?"
"What else?"
"I... I... what do you want me to say, Fluttershy? Just tell me, and I'll say it!"
Fluttershy's eyelids drooped, she sighed, and she looked suddenly depressed.
"Fluttershy..."
Rainbow got no response.
"Fluttershy. I wrote you a song."
"...What's it called?"
"It's called "For Fluttershy."
Fluttershy giggled a bit. "Really? A Beethoofen cliche?" she said.
Dash rolled her eyes. "Well?"
"Hm?" Fluttershy replied.
"Would you like to hear it?"
"Yes."
Rainbow slowly walked away from the bed and walked over to the piano in the room.
"Wait a second..." Fluttershy started. "...did you really move this entire piano up here just play this for me...?"
Dash said nothing. She continued walking and eventually sat down at the piano. She lifted both of her hooves up and began to press the keys.
"Well," Twilight began, "looks like this is her wife."
"Yep," Spike said. "Also, isn't this the same song we heard in the earlier memory when she played the piano?"
"Yeah, I think you're right," Twilight replied. "Actually... I think this was the one the kids were playing, too. Well, maybe it sounded a bit different."
"Oh, that's right," Spike said. "Guess she taught 'em how to play it."
"Anyway," he continued, "who's this 'Angel' guy she was talking about, though?"
"Well, I really don't know. Dash was talking about him at the last memory, before you went up to the top of the lighthouse. Maybe it's their kid or something?"
"I dunno," said Spike, "but it's bugging me. Can we just find the memo and get to the next memory?" I kind of wanna know now."
"Wait a minute. Let's go take a look around first, there might be something to see."
Spike sighed. "Fine."
They looked around in the room they were in; they saw the stuffed rabbit plush that served as the memento in the last memory. It was lying on Fluttershy's bed, next to her. They walked over to a pot of beautiful, fresh purple orchids. Twilight picked up a strong energy from it.
"This is probably our next memento," she said. "Still, let's look downstairs first."
Spike nodded.
Downstairs, Twilight and Spike found an earlier part of the memory. There was Rainbow Dash and, beside her, there was an orange earth mare. Her mane was a golden yellow, and she was about as aged as Dash. She wore a cowpony hat on her head. The two of them were standing near the piano. She was talking to Dash.
"Dash, it just ain't possible."
"Don't say that, AJ! We can do it... we just need to... hm... um... can we break it down first and then carry it up in pieces?"
AJ shook her head side to side. "Dash, this kinda... a lost cause. Listen here, if ya really wanna do this that bad, lemme pay some professionals ta' do it. With all that you've been goin' through... consider it a favor."
"No, AJ. You don't have to do that. It's fine, I'm sure we can just-"
AJ held up a hoof. "I said, consider it a favor."
Rainbow went silent.
"A friend of hers, I guess," Spike said. "Seems like the assertive type."
"Hey, that's never a bad thing," Twilight said. "If I were a bit more assertive, maybe you wouldn't be a smartflank anymore."
"Oh shut up."
The two searched some more, and Twilight found yet another jar of pickled daisies. Spike made a gag motion by opening his mouth and pointing down his throat.
"Bleh, why do we keep seeing these?" Spike muttered. "They're gross!"
Twilight stared at spike with disagreement. "What are you talking about? It's daisies in a jar, filled with water. They're delicious."
"Yeah," Spike retorted, "I can't imagine how good soggy, wet flowers sitting in a jar for Celestia-knows-how-long must be. 'Sides, you know I don't eat hay and flowers. I think I'll stick to the gemstones, thanks very much."
Twilight rolled her eyes and giggled.
"Can we go now?" Spike asked.
"Think so," Twilight said.
They walked back upstairs into the room where Dash was still playing the piano. They both walked up to the pot of wild orchids and directed their helmets toward it. The helmets did their job, and they hopped backward to the next memory via the memento.
*****
"Woah, woah!" Spike yelled.
Twilight grabbed right before he lost his balance and fell of the side of the cliff. They were back at the area near the lighthouse, this time right near the cliff near the ocean. When the two regained their bearings, they found that the memento they'd used to travel, the purple orchids, were rooted into the ground instead of in a pot like they were before.
"You okay?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine... thanks," Spike replied, trying (in vain) to look nonchalant.
"Well," Twilight began, "it's not like you can get hurt. You know that; we're only in a memory."
Spike took a second look down the side of the cliff again. He shuddered. "Still," he began, "I'm afraid of heights. I don't think it'd be so fun."
Twilight shrugged.
"Where are we, anyway?" she started. "The lighthouse is right over there, so I guess we're somewhat near the house..."
"Which probably hasn't been built yet, according to the previous memories," Spike finished.
Twilight nodded. They began to walk towards the area of the land where the house should have been. Instead of the complete house, they found the wooden skeleton of it. Wooden floorboards, metal framing, and other construction items lay around the vicinity. On one of the stacks of planks of wood sat Rainbow Dash, looking younger only by a few years. Her eyes were closed, her face contorted.
"She looks..." Twilight began.
"...Stressed? Distraught?" Spike finished.
"Yeah."
Dash exhaled loudly. Suddenly, from off in the distance, the two noticed a dot of white with some purple coming toward them. Once it reached them, Twilight recognized it as a unicorn mare. She had a well prepared mane of violet that curled and even bounced slightly as she trotted toward Rainbow Dash. When Dash heard the hoofsteps, she looked up to her visitor.
"Hello, Dashie," the mare spoke.
"Hey, Rarity."
"Care to make room?" Rarity said, gesturing towards the planks Dash was sitting on.
"Sure," Dash replied.
Rarity sat on the planks with Dash, and she pulled something out of her tail. It was a jar.
"I brought you pickled daises. Fluttershy always tells me how much you love them, darling."
Rarity set them onto the ground. Dash smiled weakly, and Rarity looked outward. She sighed.
"I'm sorry to hear about her, Dash. I really am. She means a lot to me, too."
Dash chuckled weakly. "I know, Rares. I'm sorry too."
"How's she doing? Health-wise, I mean," Rarity inquired.
"Not great, but not terrible either," Dash replied. "Doc says it's getting bad, but we caught it just before it goes over the hill of becoming untreatable."
Rarity's ears perked up. "Darling, that's... that's wonderful! I'm glad to hear that! That's so great that it wasn't as bad as it could have..." Rarity trailed off, seeing Dash starting to bow her head even further as she sat.
"Dash...? What's wrong, dear? I thought you just told me-"
"It is," Dash said. "It's treatable. Unfortunately, it's incredibly expensive. The operation, I mean."
"Oh, Dash, you needn't worry about that. I have some bits set aside, and I'm sure Applejack could find some cash-"
"No," Dash said. "We have enough. For the operation, anyway. It'll be cutting it close... but we'll make it. That's not the problem, though."
"Oh," responded Rarity. "Oh... I think I know why you're upset now."
Dash nodded her head. "We won't have enough to pay for the treatment and to finish the house, Rares. We only got enough for one."
Rarity said nothing.
"Rarity... you know how much this place means to her. I don't know how I'll... how I'll break it to her."
"Well, do you have a plan of what you're going to do, dear?" Rarity said with sympathy.
"I think so... but I don't think you'll like it, to be honest. I... I don't like it myself."
"Oh?"
"I'm gonna... I'm gonna tell her that we can do both. That we have enough for all of the finances. If I tell her that we only have enough for one... Rares, you know how attached she is to this place... I'm not sure she'd choose to... to..." Dash trailed off weakly, her voice hoarse.
"So what if she chooses to finish the house instead of her life?"
"...What?" Dash said.
"So what? It's her choice, and if she really wants to her, then Dash, I think she has the right to know that she has the choice. Don't lie."
"How... how can you say that Rares?" Dash uttered. "What, am I not allowed to want to save her? I can't just let her give her life for animals and a lighthouse! I won't!"
"A lighthouse?" Twilight spoke to Spike. "We didn't really hear much about the lighthouse in the last memory. Unless... nah, probably not."
Spike hadn't really paid attention to Twilight. He was still focused on the conversation Rainbow and Rarity were having.
"No matter how much you love her, Dash, it's still not your choice. And you know lying will only make it worse," Rarity said.
Dash sighed to herself.
"Whatever," she said. She began walking away towards the cliff of the land.
"Where are you going, Dash?"
"To pick her some flowers. You know, to try to make her feel better."
Rarity shook her head. She pulled another hidden object out that was also curled up in her tail. She opened it up, and cranked the handle. Slow, easy music filled the air as the keys inside the box started to play.
"Rainbow... Applejack told me to bring this. It's a music box. I think she said the song's called... um... everything is... uh... I can't seem to remember the full title of-"
"I know what it's called, Rares. And no. It's not alright."
Dash stormed off to the cliff side to pick the orchids that would be the flowers she would later give to Fluttershy.
As Rarity got up, she left the music box and the daisies there. She slowly began to trot away.
Twilight and Spike spoke little. They simply searched around for any other clues in the memory, discovering that the jar of pickled daisies was the next memento while doing so. Nothing else of mass importance exposed itself, however. Right before they were about to travel to the next memory, Spike decided to break the silence.
"So, what does this mean, Twi? Aside from the obvious facts, of course. We know now that this Rarity pony was another friend or something."
"I'm not sure, Spike," Twilight said back. "but I think I might have the beginnings of an idea."
"Care to explain?" Spike asked.
"Meh... as I said, it's just the beginnings of an idea. I'll get back to you on that in a bit."
Spike shrugged off Twilight's response, and they both prepared themselves. Twilight prepared the memento, and after checking with each other to make sure they were both ready, they used the jar memento and leaped backward to the next memory in the inverted timeline of Dash's memory.
*****