Turns out 1)holding off on the possible first appearance of a character who's been built up for so long is a stupid reason to indefinitely delay reading a story, and 2)checking a pile of stuff out from the library does not help when trying to block time for both reading and blogging. Anyway, hi again.
Twilight's note here explains that the Elements of Harmony can also be wielded by "proxies", who serve as buffers between the Elements and the "true" bearers, even gaining a measure of the Harmonic powers and the ability to generate a very flashy- though not nearly as powerful as the "true" ones- Harmonic Event. Twi and friends unwittingly created Proxies- apparently including Trixie- when attempting to pass on their Elements, and never realized the distinction until the flow of energy from the Elements blew them like old fuses.
And yet, Twi still seems to see this risk as outweighed by the benefit of the Elements not being used at full power....
Meanwhile, in the Future, Twinkle Shine and Star say farewell as the latter prepares for her new mission. Afterwards, the Professor goes to meet with the Solar King (who by all appearances is of one of those "sacred" lines where either you give up your name upon coronation or it's just not allowed to be spoken)- a pleasant enough stallion, but (after a brief talk regarding Dash's presence, with the conclusion that they'll have to wait and see how things go) he sets Twinkle's teeth on edge with his insistence on attempting his alicorn breeding program with Star. At least the prince he has in mind seems a decent sort as well, having "proven himself" by studying magic and ruling instead of making a name for himself and currying favor.
Blaze and Calumn are still stuck in the trunk on the way to their interrogation, and the Everstorm guide regales his companion with his experiences with Cash and cronies, who had previously hired him as a full-time guide. What with Charisma giving him the eye, he had figured the job had many different sorts of benefits coming, but he had not accounted for not only Charisma's penchant for peddling pain but the jealousy of Cash's companion Big Jim- the once and future postmortem construction site dweller- who consequently dealt out a number of beatings to the hapless guide as well. And then there was the boss:
"I'm not a pony," Calumn pointed out.
"Not the same thing, buddy. Not the same thing at all."
Back at Twinkle Shine's penthouse, the professor steels herself to once again deal with her dark passenger. One particularly gory transformation sequence later, and Nightmare DESOTROYAH once again walks the earth... and flies out to wipe Dash off it.
Star comes clean with Dash and Astrid regarding what she's learned about her future as ordained by the Solar King's odd view of genetics-notwithstanding the other "choice" of just hoofing it and probably leaving her family to suffer the consequences- and Astrid notes the Griffins have to go through much the same thing to keep their species viable. Dash rages that Celestia would never let this sort of thing happen, and Star reminds her that Celestia's not here and runs off in tears. Dash still isn't quite satisfied:
Golden eyes stared at her, unreadable. “That’s not a question I’m going to answer.”
“Why not?” Dash demanded. “She’s you’re friend, Astrid.”
“You ever have conflicting loyalties, Dash?” Astrid’s golden eyes bored into Dash’s, unflinching. “It’s either my friend or my home. Fall or my family. Have you ever had to make a choice like that?”
“Yeah, as a matter of fact I have,” Dash said, hovering up and around the fire so she could look the Griffin in the eye. “I know exactly how hard that is.”
“Oh yeah? Then what did you do?”
“I picked my home over my friends” Dash said.
Astrid blinked at that, surprised. “How’d that work out?”
“The world nearly ended.”
“Ouch.”
Dash shook her head and backed off. “It wouldn’t have made a difference if I’d gone the other way. That situation was kinda unique, you know? But I did have to make that choice, and I did learn something from it.”
“What’s that?”
“I learned that some things are more important than others, and if you stay loyal to one thing it might end up betraying another, but sometimes you gotta do it anyway, because your highest loyalty has got to be to yourself.”
“That’s pretty selfish, Dash,” Astrid pointed out.
“No, not like that,” Dash said, growling in frustration as she searched for the words she needed. “I mean you’ve got to be loyal to who you want to be, to the person in your head who’s the best, most awesome you there is. So you gotta look at that and ask who you want to be? The Griffin who’d abandon her friend when she’s in a bad position like this? Or the Griffin who’ll stick by her when she’s got all this injustice coming down on her head.”
Astrid snorted. “I can tell what side you come down on.”
Dash laughed. “Yeah, well, I don’t have the same sort of attachment to this kingdom that you do. I’m all for being behind Star, no matter what she chooses.”
Astrid nodded. “Honestly? So am I, but it isn’t just a simple ‘friend or country’ decision, there’s a lot more behind it. I just don’t want to sugarcoat it. Not for Fall, and not for myself. So, would I go with her? Not going to answer that one until I need to. That’s the last I’m gonna say on it.”
Dash awakes in a sweat to find an unexpectedly overcast morning, and a particularly odd developing storm which incites the group to get moving early, but it's soon apparent that simple speed isn't going to get them out of there. Star prepares a shield spell while Dash bucks the clouds and avoids targeted lightning bolts, but it still only buys them a few moments before the clouds part and Nightmare DESOTROYAH makes her grand entrance!
Once the dark alicorn announces that Dash is her target, Dash tells the others to split before confronting her, and what follows can't really be done justice by a blog. But if you're reading this instead of the fic, well... turns out ultimate power (albeit not fully restored yet) doesn't mean somepony else can't fly circles around you. It does, however, mean you can toss a mountain at her, snap her out of being able to Rainboom her way away, and infect her with your blood, and even when she's Buccaneer Blazed and beaten you to a pulp, you can heal, grab her in your magic, and return the favor. Especially when her very presence pisses you off.
The Nightmare simply regarded her, the rage and triumph draining from her features, replaced by a pensive frown that seemed wrong on her cruelly beautiful features. "Who Made You?"
Dash blinked at that. "What?"
"You Are Not Rainbow Dash."
"Are too."
Umbra snarled, the pressure of her hoof increasing until Dash's ribs creaked before easing again. "You Are Not Rainbow Dash. You Are Not A Modified Pony Of The Modern Age. Therefore You Are A Construct. Who Made You?"
"I was born, not made," Dash snapped, staring the Nightmare defiantly in the eyes. "I am Rainbow Dash. I just woke up in the future, I don't know why, but I figure stopping you has got something to do with it. And I can see why that's important, 'cause lady? You are nuts."
The Nightmare tilted her head slowly to the side, as if she was listening to something only she could hear. "I Watched Rainbow Dash Die," she said. "I Watched Her Burn In Death. Some Of Her Ashes Are A Part Of Me, As Are The Remains Of All Her Friends. You Are Not Her."
"That's... disturbing on a lot of levels," Dash said, then narrowed her eyes at the Alicorn. "I know who I am. I don't care what you saw."
"You Lie," Umbra hissed, leaning down until her nose was nearly touching Dash's. "Who Made You? Who Thinks To Challenge Me With This Pathetic Copy? Answer Me!"
"Or what? You're going to kill me anyway," Dash pointed out. "Buck you, nag. I hope when they bring you down they put your statue right next to Discord."
Nightmare Umbra jerked back as if she had been struck, eyes wide and filled for a moment with an emotion that went beyond simple fear. Something in what Dash had just said terrified her to the core of her being. Dash tried to use the moment of distraction to escape, but the Nightmare regained herself too quickly, slamming her hoof back into Dash's chest hard enough to crack ribs and make her heart stutter. "No! I Do Not Care What May Be Learned! For That She Will Die Now!"
Fortunately, Star and Astrid failed to leave and come to take their turns attacking, and between the three of them they manage to wear the Nightmare down until she apparently disintegrates, though even as she blows away like Sandman she warns that they have only delayed the inevitable. And Dash is suddenly a lot more on board with the royal sisters having sealed themselves, if it was the only way to deal with this beast....
(Incidentally, before this I wasn't even aware there was a trope called Fighting a Shadow, with which this chapter shares its title.)
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