……Megan shivered in the darkness, hugging her legs to her chest and pressing her forehead against her knees. There was only so much of the darkness she could look at before she felt her sanity slipping. The Rainbow hovered nervously around her pale blonde head, reduced to the size of a butterfly and casting restless shadows as it waited for Megan to rise to a decision. The girl made no decisions, she sat curled in silence with tears streaming from her eyes. Tears of dread and failure slipped across her face toward her knees, and she couldn't come to any decision. What could she do? she asked herself. She could send the Rainbow after Firefly, wherever Firefly was, but then what? Then, Megan would be left in complete darkness, and as selfish as she felt, she didn't think she could cope with the blinding Nothingness. In and of itself, the silence alone would drive her mad.
……She wished they would have waited. She wished Firefly hadn't been so bold, to leave their friends behind on the chalky wastelands below them. Those desires formed inside her head because she feared that by this point, they might all be dead. Quarty, AJ and Spike may have given up their lives on the desolate earth, and Firefly and Lightning may now be nothing more than spirits, wandering the infinite dark. If those thoughts were more than fears, then what? What happened next? She would sit there on the cold stone ledge, staring into nothing with her arms wrapped around her legs until she joined them.
……I am a failure.
……Megan remembered how, in an hour of darkness, Firefly had taken to flight on nothing but hope. The little pony was looking for a hero but found her instead. Megan was no hero! She was just a girl, just one person in the expanse of vast existence. There were others out beyond the far horizon who were stronger and smarter and more valiant than she, but Firefly insisted the opposite. Firefly refused to hear the word "no" and took Megan for a ride that would change her life forever! Firefly introduced her to a world spun with golden thread, a place alive with magic and adventure that far exceeded whatever expectations she had for her average life. These beautiful, enchanted creatures had welcomed her warmly into their lives, and she loved them all with every part of her soul. She shared their tears and celebrated their victories, and they accepted her and thought she was fabulous. In her normal world, she was just another girl. With these ponies, she was a hero!
……And now, she was a failure.
……She was a coward, afraid of the dark. Afraid of being alone, when Firefly was gone, facing unknown peril and risking her life, alone! Megan lifted her face streaked with tears and let her tired eyes follow the tiny Rainbow as it danced and shimmered in front of her eyes. The Rainbow of Light: a powerful trinket, a useful parlor trick. It was magic on their side when nothing else was, it was a weapon against the darkness that threatened to swallow her. She had the power in hand! and didn't know how to use it. She wasn't quite so clever as Firefly thought she was. She was very small, and very insignificant, with all that blackness seeming to stretch out into infinity around her. She was very small to go playing hero now.
……She wiped her eyes and clasped her hands together over her knees, resting her chin on her knuckles. She stared at the Rainbow pensively, melancholy to think that it may be the last shred of light her eyes would ever see. What would the little ponies do without that colorful ribbon of magic? If she died here, the magic would be lost forever, if not falling into a fate far worse than that. If the witch who existed inside that blackness would ever find it, if she could ever come across the bones of a long-dead creature and sift through them to find a heart-shaped locket, then what? Shrek had already made the fact most clear that she was no friend to the little ponies. Would she use the only protection they once had against them? Megan clutched the red heart locket in her two hands, holding onto it so tight that her hands and arms shook with the effort. She stared at the Rainbow, quivering in front of her like a living, breathing creature, and tears fell out of her eyes again. No! She couldn't let that happen. There had been enough wasted. No more! She might die but she would never let the Rainbow rest in malevolent hands.
……Megan thought she had seen a river running through the land during their wild flight to the black mountain. The river raged across the wastelands, cutting through chalky white land in whites and shades of grey. Megan thought she remembered the scar of the river running close to the severe edges of the dark mountain, so there was her plan in its simplicity. She would crawl into the open air one more time, onto the ledge that led to the caverns that led her here, and she would let the heart locket fall from her fingertips to disappear beneath the surface of those rough waters below her. Perhaps one day they'd find it again. Perhaps it would be gone forever. Either way, it would be safe from the dark manipulation of the wretched Queen.




……In a blast of shimmery light, four ponies appeared on a ledge towering high above the rest of the world. The view might have been splendid, if not for being shut out completely by a pale white sheet of haze. Quarty shook his mane out, loosing stray sparkles of magic out of his long blue hair. He glanced over at his companions and grinned his pride and approval. They did it! They succeeded one step closer to the goal line. Glory and Moondancer absolutely shone with self-satisfaction, looking tired but happy, and the element of fatigue had Quarty concerned.
……"Is this the way in?" AJ asked tentatively, her nose wrinkling as she nudged around the gaping cavern. Light from the cold white sun high above them didn't penetrate far into the mouth of the opening, and for as far as they peered inside, they saw nothing but blackness.
……"I don't see any other blatantly obvious entryways," Quarty teased, and AJ turned a wry glare at him. The blue Big Brother stepped up beside her and gazed into the cavern skeptically. "This ain't good," he admitted, dulling the excitement of their most recent accomplishment.
……"What do you mean, it ain't good?" Glory demanded anxiously. "You're not giving up, are you?" That thought would drive them near to panic; Quarty's optimism was something that kept them marching long into the rain, because he convinced them that the sun would come back out eventually. Quarty stepped lightly on any shred of hope he could divine, and he made hope out of any conglomeration of facts, ideas and options he could think of. If Quarty gave up, that meant there was no hope left.
……He only grinned, looking thoughtful. "Are you kindding? Of course not." The grin faded. "It's just that we need a light source. We can't go in there blind."
……Moondancer's face brightened. "I can provide light!" she exclaimed, boasting illumination powers.
……Quarty turned a dubious look at her, and it was a face that quieted her enthusiasm. "I was hoping," he began slowly, "that you two could rest up here. If we wear you out you might end up too tired to wink us out of here. We need you as reinforcements. We need you as our escape route!"
……"We should have brought Spike," AJ lamented.
……"It won't do anyone any good if we're trapped here." Quarty stared back into the gullet of the black cavern, frowning, considering his options and thinking that they were all unfavorable. He needed to come up with a few new options, and was thinking fast and hard as he stared into the darkness.
……AJ nudged him. "I think I see something," she said.
……"Be quiet, I'm thinking," Quarty told her.
……She glanced at him and looked back into the cave. "But I think I see something." Glory and Moondancer came close to peer around her shoulders, squinting into the darkness and trying hard to even pretend to see something.
……"It's the Rainbow!" Moondancer shrieked, startling the others so much that Glory swung around and poked her in the side with her horn. Moondancer's voice echoed off the walls of what had to have been a massive internal structure. It travelled far and long so that the four friends' eyes widened in disbelief. It finally faded into nothing and as the quiet returned they could clearly see shades of colorful light refracting off the same walls that sent the voice so far.
……"It is the Rainbow!" AJ cheered. "That must mean Megan and Firefly are here!" She leapt boldly through the mouth of the cavern and trotted swiftly through, hoping to meet their friends halfway. Quarty looked at the unicorns and shrugged before joining her, and they followed the reflections until they came across the source. The Rainbow stretched out long when it came into view and seemed extremely pleased to see them. It wove between them and dove under their legs, circling their heads and snaking around their bodies until they were all giggling with delight. The Rainbow calmed and shrunk itself, raising high enough to cast light over all of them, and none of them could think of any time in their lives that they were more happy to see that beautiful ribbon of color.
……They turned their heads at the sound of footsteps, and Megan emerged from the terrible darkness. The joy of the reunion was muted by the look in the girl's blue eyes. She dropped to her knees as the little ponies surrounded her, and she hugged AJ's neck tightly to her as she began to cry.
……"I thought I'd never see you again," the girl wept, and Quarty nuzzled her back comfortingly.
……"Why you thinking those kind of thoughts, Blondie?" he smiled pensively. "Thoughts like that only make you cry."
……Megan looked back at him, smoothing tears off her cheeks.
……"See?" Quarty pointed out. Megan allowed a broken laugh and lunged forward to hug the blue football star.
……"I'm so glad to see you!" Megan cried.
……AJ peered into the darkness Megan had come out of. "Where is Firefly?" she asked, her voice very small but ringing clear. Megan lifted her head, her lips parted slightly, and she pushed herself away from Quarty to sit back on the cool stone floor. The girl examined AJ with a look of deep regret.
……"She went alone."
……AJ recoiled. "No!" she cried, then shrieked: "No! She wasn't supposed to go alone!"
……Megan's look degenerated into one of misery and shame. "I'm sorry," she said, and her voice was only a whisper.
……"Alone the dark will swallow you," Quarty murmured, glancing back into the path they would have to follow.
……"I tried to stop her," Megan said. "But I didn't follow her. I at least should have tried!"
……Quarty looked at her sadly, recognizing guilt. "It's not wrong to be afraid," he told her gently, and AJ's head snapped around to stare at them. Her heart ached to see how much it was hurting their young human friend, and the little orange pony nuzzled Megan affectionately.
……"I don't blame you," she promised, and Megan held AJ's face gently, her eyes shut tight. Megan inhaled the warm, familiar scents of the pony's body and was slowly calmed by it.
……"What we need to do now," Quarty said, reluctant to interrupt the touching scene but having little choice, "is to see what we can do about a rescue."
……Megan looked up at him and swiped tears away. "Let me come with you," she said. Let me redeem myself.
……Quarty smiled at her. "Wouldn't dream of leaving you behind," he assured her, and they all said goodbye to Glory and Moondancer, who were to wait on the ledge in the sunlight for them to return. Neither unicorn was too particularly fond of the idea, and both felt as though they were being left out of a great adventure. Quarty assured them of the importance of two healthy, rested unicorns and convinced them of it with a charming cheshire grin. Besides, he told them, they had the Rainbow. They had that magic to protect them.
……Quarty, AJ and Megan let the Rainbow of Light guide them through vast pathways carved through stone, and the cavern became narrow as they pressed deeper into the mountain. They walked along in single file, realizing that the very same blackness that loomed before them also followed them from behind. It was silly to think so, they told themselves, but it was as if the darkness stalked them like an animal, surrounding them patiently and waiting for an opportune moment to swallow them whole. It was an animal kept at bay only by the light of their Rainbow, and none of the three dared step outside its wash of illumination.
……AJ shuddered and whimpered at the cool breath of wind that brushed her skin, and Megan, who led them, slowed. "Careful," the girl whispered. "The ground gives way sudden here."
……They stepped out onto a short ledge and could sense tremendous space around them. What they couldn't see they could feel: a cold, damp sensation of great magnitude. "What's out there?" Quarty whispered into the quiet.
…… "A castle," Megan told them, staring out into the nothing and seeing it as a memory. "With no bridges to reach it, and no pillars to keep it aloft."
……Quarty grimaced, peering into the space and looking for a light source of any kind. "No one's home," he said. "Or no one's paid the electric bill."
…… "Why would Shrek need lights on?" AJ whispered. "She's blind."
…… "Good point," Quarty credited her. "And since she's blind, what's that tell us?"
……AJ blinked at him, thinking about it. "She can't see?"
……Quarty frowned. "Well, yeah," he admitted. "But besides that. She has no eyes; she's probably been blind for a long time."
…… "Which means?" Megan prompted.
…… "Which means," Quarty grimaced, keeping his voice hushed, "she's probably got four other senses that work a lot of overtime. And I'd bet vital parts of my anatomy that they're highly skilled employees."
……Megan frowned, recognizing the truth in that. "You're right," she whispered. "Her other senses would be heightened!"
…… "And you can keep the parts of your anatomy," AJ snarled at Quarty sarcastically. He only grinned at her.
…… "Which means we have to be careful," Quarty said. "We have to be quiet! We don't know how keen her senses are. She could be eavesdropping on our little chat at this very moment."
……AJ's eyes rounded out at the thought.
…… "If she knows we're coming, she could spring a trap," Quarty continued. "Which means we need to be ready for anything. We're the rescue team, we don't want to be needing rescued ourselves."
…… "What do we do once we get inside?" Megan whispered, her eyes still fixated into the darkness beyond their circle of light.
…… "Well," Quarty shrugged, and followed her gaze. "I guess we make it up as we go along."





……Very carefully, Darshan lowered the torch to the floor. The flame was burning thin and Firefly worried that it would burn out of existence too soon. She watched Darshan's behavior curiously, and as she made to give voice to a question, he silenced her with a finger to his lips. He stayed low and gestured her close. "Hear this," he whispered. "We leave the light here."
…… "Why?" Firefly asked, and flinched as he clapped a hand over her mouth. He looked at her sternly, and her body shrunk toward the floor apologetically. "Why?" she whispered when he released her.
……Darshan placed his palms flat on the floor, leaning forward against his arms. Long white hair drifted across his back and slipped to the floor. Pale blue eyes fixated into the darkness of the hall in front of them, and Firefly followed his gaze. She realized he wasn't seeing, she realized he wasn't using his eyes at all. "We are close," he breathed, and Firefly was startled. Her eyes snapped back through the hallway and she felt her heart quicken in her chest.
…… "How close?" she hissed, straining to hear anything above the drumbeat of her pulse.
…… "There is an open room ahead of us, perhaps twenty paces," he replied quietly. Firefly frowned, appalled that she would have blindly strolled right in, and at the same time quelling a mad desire to know how Darshan knew. "The smell of animal skin is potent here. I smell human, pony, and…." He scrunched up his nose, and Firefly looked down at him to see a disgusted expression. "And Bonyo."
…… "What on earth is a Bonyo?" Firefly wondered, sorting through memories and trying to find a creature there by such an unusual name.
…… "Bonyo is My Lady Queen Shrek's minion," Darshan murmured. "He has eyes, he will see the light if we bring it, and will alert My Lady to our presence. That is why we leave the light behind."
……Good plan, Firefly thought. She would have marched straight into the room without a clue, with her torch burning bright. She would have strolled into a roomful of danger; there was the reality of a trap, and if they should be caught, all their efforts would be for nothing! They came so far already. She was glad Darshan was by her side. She admitted to herself, that she never would have come so far without him.
…… "Thank you, Darshan," she murmured, and turned glittering eyes at him. His focus redirected at her face, and he looked at her with his strange pale eyes. "Without you, I would have given up already."
……He smiled at her. "Firefly," he said gently. "I have walked far, because of you. I have experienced a freedom I never imagined existed, and I have seen things I never dreamed I'd see. Thank you."
……She bit her lip, tears glimmering in her eyes. Darshan smiled and returned his attention to the sensations from the room made invisible by darkness. He returned one slim white finger to his lips and then gestured her to follow as he crept along the hallway. He kept one shoulder in constant contact with the wall, and he kept his body low to the ground, knowing that the Blind Queen would expect a human to stand tall. Firefly was a silent step behind him, and as they left the sphere of light the torch provided, she quickly learned to listen for the minute sounds of Darshan's movement. Should he stop, she didn't want to barrel over him from behind like the stupid, clumsy animal that she was compared to him. Darshan moved almost imperceptibly, and when he felt the draft of open space strike him he paused. He reached back to guide Firefly to his side and they sat there together in complete dark, listening.


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