Metanoia

Perturbation

Epilogue

~o~0~o~

"Ughh... my head..." Rainbow groaned, struggling to rise as she rubbed her aching skull with a forehoof. She could only stand part way before a sudden twinge of pain shot through her abdomen and she dropped to a crouch.

Well... that hasn't gone away...

Gently, she was hefted to her hooves proper by a stony-faced Applejack, glancing over to where Pinkie and Rarity lay, seemingly half-conscious on the floor of the chamber. Twilight, on the other hoof, was already at Fluttershy's side, eyes dancing across the pegasus's prone form.

That had to work... right? the rainbow-maned pegasus thought, a nervous tremble coursing through her as she tried to shift her weight onto her own hooves. Elements certainly took enough out of us... she thought bitterly, feeling the weakness of her body acutely.

Applejack merely rolled her eyes, shifting the cyan pegasus closer before helping her limp towards where Fluttershy lay, still tucked into her hospital bed, unconscious.

"Did it work?" Twilight asked suddenly, voice devoid of emotion.

"I... I do not know," came the worried reply from the sun princess, the sisters having stuck to the back of the room during the operation.

"Fluttershy? Can you hear us, Fluttershy?" Rainbow croaked out, rubbing a hoof along the other pegasus's own.

But Fluttershy was silent. Still silent.

Rainbow placed her forehead on Fluttershy's, a few stray tears staining her cheeks, bloodshot eyes staying open.

"Wait... what's happening?"

With a surge of excitement, of hope, Rainbow raised her eyes to find that something had indeed happened. But not anything they had desire as the color all seemed to drain from the unconscious pegasus.

"Tha... that can't be right," Applejack remarked, voice cracking as she stared at the line of gray that seemed to be slowly, but surely making its way across the pegasus save for one spot.

It's... it's working... Rainbow stared as the Element of Kindess glowed a dull pink, Fluttershy's usually soft yellow complexion remaining, if only just around the necklace. Isn't it?

"Princess?" Rainbow turned to face the moon princess, eyes pleading for something, even the merest shadow of a hope to be given. But Luna simply watched, silently observing, her expression impenetrable. Rainbow turned back to her friend, hoof brushing against the golden surface of the element, touching another hoof to the element about her own neck.

"Fluttershy?"

Please, Fluttershy...

"Please, Fluttershy... please wake up..." Pinkie whispered, the pink pony appearing beside Rainbow, a bleary-eyed Rarity at her side.

They stood in silence, five friends locked in failing hope, a pall of helplessness cast over them all.

"A moment..." a voice broke in, Luna casting a shield spell that gently pressed the five elements from their sixth.

"What?" Rainbow demanded, her voice missing the anger, the indignation she wanted.

"Jus' do like she says, Rainbow..." Applejack muttered, hefting the cyan pegasus back.

"I... but... okay..." Rainbow murmured, feeling the defeat accumulate.

The moon princess passed into the bubble she had created around the bed and to Fluttershy's side, bending her head down to the unconscious pegasus.

"Fluttershy... if you can hear us... we have something to tell you..." Luna trailed off into whispers, eyes focused and determined as the rest simply looked on. Slowly, the shield spell collapsed to a single point of blue light at the tip of the moon princess's horn as she touched it to the felled pegasus's chest.

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight murmured as she watched, her mentor sliding forward to comfort her former charge.

"Yes, my student?" Celestia replied, voice detached as they looked on.

"Have..." Twilight choked on her words, swallowing the lump lodged within her throat before continuing. "Have they failed before?"

Celestia was silent a moment, content to simply place a hoof on her charges shoulder. "Yes... they have," she whispered.

"Time..." Luna finally spoke aloud.

"Beg yer pardon?" Applejack asked as the five friends crowded back around the bed.

"Time... we need time..." Luna replied, looking forlorn as she stared at Fluttershy, hoof tapping at the edge of what remained of Fluttershy's color.

"Well, how do we get more?"

"We... I do not know."

"C'mon, Luna, think!" Applejack demanded with more anger than she had intended, pushing her face into the moon princess's.

"We are playing with powers beyond your comprehension, Lady Applejack," Luna hissed in reply as she pushed back, face burning with anger before softening. "I... I can scarcely believe that I comprehend their will either..."

"I... I'm sorry... we's all worried... an'..." Applejack tipped her hat back as she trailed off.

"Wait..." Luna murmured, her horn lighting up once more as she took a few steps backwards.

"What? What's happ—" Twilight was cut off as her question was answered as the Element of Kindness glowed a blinding pink.

A beam shot from the element, striking each of its peers in turn—Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Magic and finally Loyalty—before the magic arced back around to strike the Element of Kindness.

"The hay!" Applejack cried out as they were jerked roughly into the air, the room alight with a familiar kaleidoscope of colors before the five dropped haphazardly to the floor, the room fading into darkness before something burst, a cloud of dust filling the air.

Rainbow coughed, sliding herself along the floor towards the nearest pony, a hacking and sputtering Twilight Sparkle.

"You okay?" the pegasus asked, tapping a hoof on the purple unicorn's.

Twilight choked down a cough, nodding her head before calling forth her magic, an arcane wind blowing through the room to clear away the dust. The trio of windows along the wall burst open with the aid of yellow magic as the fading sunlight streamed into the room alongside fresh air. A combination of light and dark blue magic brought the magic-powered ceiling lights back to life, the ornate chandelier flaring brightly before settling once more to its normal luminosity.

"Is everypony alright?"

"Everypony seems to be in one piec—" Rarity cut herself off, letting out a gasp as her eyes trailed towards Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy!" Rainbow, ignoring the aches of her body, lept over Twilight to grasp her fellow pegasus in her hooves. "You're awake!"

"It worked!" Twilight exclaimed excitedly as the quintet crowded the conscious, but seemingly confused pegasus.

"Rainbow?" Fluttershy whispered, looking down at the rainbow-colored mane as it buried into her chest.

"Yeah, Fluttershy?" Rainbow twisted to look up at the pegasus.

"You smell..." she muttered, nose wrinkling.

"You really could use a bath, darling," Rarity replied, voice giddy as she hugged the yellow pegasus tight before her nose wrinkled as well. "You both could actually."

"Baths later! Hugs now!" Pinkie declared with a joyful giggle, her seemingly elastic hooves ensnaring the whole group.

From afar, Luna watched with a gentle smile on her face as a familiar wing closed over her.

"I... I am so, so very happy, sister..." Luna whispered, pressing into her elder as happy tears fell from her eyes.

"I know... I am as well," Celestia replied, nuzzling her younger affectionately, wiping away the tears with a wing.

Behind the royal sisters, an odd look upon his face stood a grey-blue unicorn with a disheveled, silvery mane that belied his noble dress. He watched silently in rapt fascination as what remained of the Element of Kindness floated away on the evening breeze.

~o~0~o~

~End Arc One~

The cave was alight the crystals' strange glow. Deeply set into the walls, they pressed out in strangely ordered rows and, though they were all at of differing levels of growth, there was an obviously intentional quality to their arrangement as they cast an strange pink hue over the cave walls. Once, the cave had been natural, timeless, but now seemed orderly and new as its luminosity seemed to grow in their new guest's presence.

She stared at it, the gouge in the rocks ahead, a wound torn deep within the earth. It rippled and bent before her eyes as she walked towards it on unsure hooves stung by the coolness of the cave floor. Curiosity and caution wrestled one another in the depths of her mind as she drew nearer to the stony gash.

Slowly, deliberately the wound expanded and she spotted a light within the gash, shining within the dark. She reached a hoof towards it, feeling something resist. She drew back her hoof, examining it, the shadowed appendage rippling before her eyes. She turned towards the crystal-covered walls, catching the barest hint of her reflection, a pair of glowing turquoise eyes glinting off the polished surface.

Turning back to the hole, she pressed her hoof to the barrier, staring nervously at the point of contact before, screwing her eyes shut, she pressed through. First her hoof and then the rest of her body before she felt it...

Light... warmth...

She opened her eyes to find herself on a sandy peak, a seemingly infinite desert spread out before her.

In the distance, a tower reached like a desperate hoof towards the brown sky, glowing with a warm, beckoning light.