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The Silent Saviors | Fights, Meetings, and Agreements (Edited) | Pain.
Pain was the only thing Twilight could recognize as she rolled on the ground, clutching the clean hole in her hoof. Blood from the wound was now starting to collect under her as she lay there. The creature, seeing it was no longer being chased, bolted off into the forest and disappeared once more. Twilight detected a flapping of wings and turned to see Rainbow Dash closing in on her position. She quickly landed beside her and examined Twilight's wounds.
"Oh man! Twilight! Are you okay?" Rainbow Dash looked frantically over Twilight, trying to think of what to do.
"Get me to a hospital or doctor's office!" Twilight screamed at Rainbow Dash and ground her teeth.
"Don't worry, Twi! Everything's going to be alright!" Rainbow Dash shifted Twilight onto her back and took off for a hospital.
Twilight looked back at the forest, eyes focused on where the creature had disappeared to. Upon returning to health, she was going to come back and tear the forest apart trying to find the creature and study it. She will unlock its secrets if she has to uproot every tree in Equestria just to find it.
"I'll find you, creature, if it's the last thing I do," she mumbled to herself.
Two weeks had gone by since the debacle with the violet pony. As Richard suspected, staying hidden while spying on the ponies had been difficult as guards were stationed everywhere around the town now. Many close calls had been made while he had been spying. Not only that, food was becoming scarcer as animals near his camp had moved away from the river with each animal killed, making it harder to find food each passing day. With these factors, Richard decided to move out of the clearing by the river and move further into the forest.
Richard packed up his gear, strapped everything to Coal, and mounted up.
"Food's getting a bit scarcer, Coal, so we gotta move someplace new. Also, I kinda want to explore this place. Maybe we can find something that can help us get back," Richard loaded a round into his rifle, threw the hammer back to safety lock, holstered it, and whipped the reins.
They moved out from the clearing and decided to head east, taking care to avoid the area with the uprooted tree. Coming to a small stream, they found themselves in a much more vine-infested, but open, landscape than a forest now. Tall pines and deciduous trees were now replaced with willows, bushes, ivy vines, and a couple holly trees. Coal took care to avoid the holly's and began to follow a path that had came up.
"So, Rich," Coal said, "Do you mind filling me on some things? You've kinda kept me in the dark on what you've found since that whole "encounter" with that purple pony.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Sure. Here's what we know," Rich replied.
"The ivory white pony I told you about is named Celestia. She seems to be the nation's main ruler around here, or at least that we know of. The town's on high alert because of our little... "talk" with those dog things. They believe we are a threat to the town and are trying to find us as we speak to either interrogate us or flat out kill us. Guards are getting better at picking up our tracks every time I hunt for food. That's one of the reasons why we are moving to a different spot. The purple pony I shot is sister to the guards commander. I think his name is Shining Armor? I don't really know. Point is, the guy's furious about me shooting his sister. Got a special kind of hatred for me, apparently. he's completely committed to capturing me for that very reason. And frankly, I wouldn't blame him."
Richard took a breath before speaking again.
"So with all that said, here's what I've been thinking. I think we should lay low for awhile and stay out of the ponies' way. We can explore the forest and maybe try and find a way home. Only thing is, we need to find a reasonable place to call home for a bit," Richard adjusted his hat upward and looked at Coal expectantly for a reply.
Coal was silent for a few moments, drinking in the information he heard. He hopped over a log and spied an answer to their dilemma.
"Rich. I think I know a place."
"What do you... Oh..."
Richard turned himself forward and figured out what Coal meant. Sitting in front of them were massive castle ruins that was sitting in a clearing, surrounded by a cliff. Vines, foliage, and rocks littered the castle ruins in a haphazard and chaotic sort. Willow trees grew wildly inside of the ruins and draped their vines over the castle. A small rope bridge connected the castle to the other parts of the forest. The two came to the bridge and stopped in front of it.
"Do you think it's safe to cross?" Coal looked back towards Rich.
"I don't know. It looks pretty intact. Doesn't look like the wood has been deteriorated enough to break under our weight. But to be safe, let's take this slowly," Rich held on tightly to the reins and urged Coal to walk forward.
The bridge whined under the new weight of Coal and Rich. The ropes creaked as they trekked onward. Halfway across and none of the wood cracked under the pressure. They reached the end and stepped off.
"Well, that wasn't so hard!" Richard smiled wholeheartedly with gladness.
"C'mon! Let's go explore this place!" Coal started to gallop towards the ruins.
A close and shrill howl into the air abruptly interrupted their adventure. Richard stopped Coal and turned back to the forest. Stomping out of the forest came 3 diamond dogs, looking incredibly similar to those in the raiding party.
"These guys again?" Richard said.
"There he is!" He heard a dog shout and point its paw towards him.
Upon seeing him, the dogs sprinted for the bridge and began to cross. Rich clumsily went to draw his rifle, but fumbled with the strap holding it in place. By the time he got it out, the dogs had already crossed the bridge and were heading straight for him and Coal. Richard quickly shouldered his rifle and took aim. The dogs stopped their assault immediately, realizing they were staring at the business end of the machine that had killed their brethren.
"You! I'm going to enjoy ripping the life out of your bones, creature," the biggest dog pointed his paw at Richard.
"I assure you, that if you turn around and leave the way you came, I won't leave you like I did your leader," Richard tapped his rifle to assure them of his accusations.
The biggest dog was unfazed by Richard's threats and stepped forward. "I am Bone! You have killed my brothers in badlands! Bone and fellow brothers will make you pay for that, skinny runt."
"Ha! I'd like to see you try, you abominable mutt! Run along now before one of you gets hurt," Coal pawed the ground, preparing to charge.
"Ah, the runt's big pony friend. You will make an excellent slave for the pack. You will pull our raid carts and supply wagons for us. Pain shall be your only friend when we're through with you," a malicious smile crept across Bone's face as he clutched his spear in his hand, "Now, let's begin."
Bone leapt forward towards Richard and knocked him out of the saddle, tumbling across the grassy floor. Upon recovering from the fall, Bone quickly grabbed Richard rifle, which had been knocked out of his hands and clattered away. He shouldered the rifle like Rich did and tried to pull the trigger. But he found that his paw could not fit through the trigger guard. Richard took advantage of this and quickly charged Bone. Bone fumbled with the rifle for a couple more seconds, but was met with a sharp tackle to the ground by Rich, sending the rifle clattering towards a lone willow tree. Bone quickly kicked Rich off of him, swiped his right paw across Rich's face and left paw into his knee, and got up, reaching for his spear which had landed near his right paw. Rich, spitting up blood from the punch, right crossed Bone, sending the spear spiraling through the air and off the cliff. He followed up again with a right cross, followed by a left-cross. He pushed Bone down, pinned him, and gave a prompt hard and forceful punch to his face.
Bone was knocked out by this, so Richard turned to the other 2 dogs who had come with him. They had taken up a circular position around Coal, cutting him off from Rich and surrounding him. Rich could see that they had done some damage to Coal, as there were some minor stab wounds from their spears, multiple bite marks on his leg, and a couple bruises to his side. One of the dogs went for another stab, but Coal quickly grabbed him in his teeth and threw him across the meadow. However, the other dog followed up with a swift stab of his spear into Coal's side. Coal cried out in pain and fell to the floor, blood leaking out of each of his wounds and pooling up in the grass. Rich let out an enraged, bellowing war cry, reached for his rifle by the tree, took aim, and fired his rifle at the dog. The other dog, seeing his comrade fall and the disadvantage he had, tried to run back across the wooden bridge to safety in the forest. Rich quickly flipped the chamber open, rechambered another round, and fired again. The bullet hit and the dog reached for his back before falling off the bridge and into the abyss.
Quickly strapping his rifle to his back, Rich rushed over to his heaving friend, worried and scared for his life.
"Coal! Coal! Speak to me!" Rich yelled out.
He assessed the damage that the dogs had done to his friend. His chest had three massive claw cuts across it, starting from the bottom and reaching all the way up to edge of his neck. Blood was slowly trailing down his chest into the ground. Numerous other scratches and bites were on his legs as well, all bleeding slowly. And of course, there was the massive stab wound he had in his side. Rich was quite surprised that Coal was still alive with all the wounds he had suffered. Richard quickly ran over to Coal's back and scrambled through his gear looking for gauze or cloth to stop the bleeding. Settling on one of his shirts, he raced back over to the wound site and pressed his shirt onto the wound, trying to stop the bleeding from the stab wound.
Instinctively, Richard yelled out into the air for help. "Somebody help me!"
"I'll help."
Richard turned to the forest again, frightened and pulling his rifle out from Coal, half-expecting it to be another talking creature that wanted to rip his balls off and feed them to its children. But what he saw surprised him, and frankly, confused him somewhat.
There, standing in the flesh, was the purple pony he shot two weeks before.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle. And I have a lot of questions for you."
Earlier that day...
Twilight walked out of the hospital, Nurse Redheart by her side.
"I don't want you doing any extreme physical activity, Twilight. We don't know everything about what that thunderstick did to you, so I don't want you taking any chances. Ok?" the nurse stopped short in the middle of the pathway.
"Yes, nurse. That won't be a problem," Twilight replied back.
"Alright. You have a nice day, Twilight," Nurse Redheart turned back to the hospital and walked back in.
Twilight trotted out of the hospital, head upright, in good health and spirit. Because today, she could finally start figuring out what this new creature was and what that stick it held in its paws was. So as she started any new adventure, she shimmied on over to her library to research this thing.
"Spike! I'm back!" Twilight yelled up to the upstairs.
"Twilight!" she heard a certain dragon say.
She heard a tiny patter of Spike's claws on the ground, and soon enough, she spied her number one assistant. Spike jumped into her and gave her a hug.
"I'm glad you're back. What can I do for you?" Spike said as he dropped himself to the ground.
"Spike, we are going to do what we do best," Twilight shuffled over to her bookshelves and stared up at them, "Read books."
"What exactly are we looking for?" Spike trotted over to another bookshelf and took his position by it.
"We are going to research information about that creature that hurt me. I want to know about it. Know its strengths, weaknesses, intelligence, if it's sentient, everything. We are on the possible verge of discovering something monumental, Spike," Twilight climbed the ladder to reach for a distant book.
"Ok. What exactly do we already know? Do you know what it looks like?" Spike asked.
"It walks on two legs instead of four, like us. Very flat face, leaves odd shaped tracks in the dirt, carries a projectile weapon of some sort, I'll explain my reasons for that in a sec, and wears clothes all the time, weirdly," she scrunched her face in confusion at her statement.
"Alright, got it," Spike began reaching for a book, "So about the weapon, you think it's projectile?"
"Yes. When I was in the hospital, the doctor said that whatever the stick did, it definitely shot a projectile of some sorts. There really is no explanation for how I received my wounds otherwise. So the task I have for you specifically is this weapon. I want you to search ways that the weapon might work. Of course, if you still find anything about the creature, you let me know. Anyway, let's get to it."
The two spent their time reading in a still silence for the next couple of hours. Nothing was discovered about this creature, much to the surprise of Twilight. Ecology and biology were very strongly studied subjects in the Equestrian world. She was sure she would find something. As for the weapon, Spike found a couple things on fireworks and how that might be how the weapon works. But of course, with lack of information on the weapon's functions, this was only a guess, though educated.
Twilight closed her book and set it back on the shelf.
"Spike?" Twilight walked over to a counter and grabbed some bits, "Why don't you head on over to the market and grab yourself a nice ruby over at the shop?"
"Oh boy!" the purple dragon eagerly snatched the bits out of her magic and ran out the door quickly. Twilight smiled and laughed at her scaly companion. Always the hungry one she thought to herself.
Now, with her companion distracted for awhile, she could get on to her real task. Going into the Everfree, finding the creature, and studying it. She knew her brother would never let her near the forest if she asked for permission to go in. Probably no luck with Mayor Mare as well. So, she would have to resort to secrecy and sneaking. Not exactly her strengths, but this was a discovery waiting to be made. She'd be darned if the only thing stopping her from learning was her brother. She exited her house and passed into the alleyways. Most of the guards would be in the makeshift barracks they had constructed a couple days prior. She came to the end of the town and found the path to the forest.
She, after a few minutes, entered into the forest, spirits high and . Alright, creature. Where are you? Twilight began her search.
She silently crept throughout the forest, hunting for footprints, clues, scents, anything she could find. Occasionally, she would stop and perk her ears up to listen for any peculiar sounds. However, she encountered nothing apart from a couple deer tracks and bird chirps. Frustration soon began to set in after a couple hours of looking to and fro through the forest.
This is harder than trying to repair the Castle of the Two Sisters in a day.
"The Castle of the Two Sisters! Of course!"
Why hadn't she thought of it before? She had completely glossed over the fact that the castle had a whole library chocked full of books filled with ancient knowledge! If the creature didn't show up inside one of those books, then she would eat her own tail! Filled with renewed fervor, Twilight galloped towards the castle, all the while thinking of what it might hold in store for her.
With the sun still high in the sky, she came to the clearing and cliff that held the castle. Smiling to herself, Twilight strutted on over to the old wooden bridge.
SNAP!
Twilight caught a roaring snap of a stick in the forest. She turned and spied a rustling of the bushes. Quickly, she hurried herself to cover to hide from whatever was emerging from the forest. Nestling herself between two bushes, she looked out into the clearing, waiting and preparing herself in case she needed to run.
The rustling grew louder and she felt a steady beating on the ground. Could it be a manticore? Hydra? COCKATRICE?
But it wasn't. Out stepped what she had come for. The creature.
And not just the creature, but also another. The creature rode on its back and it had all sorts of cloths, packs, and pockets strapped to it.
How odd. What's the situation here? Did the creature enslave it? Are they in a mutual symbiotic relationship? Oh, this got so much more interesting!
No sooner had she watched the two creatures cross the bridge did she hear another rustling in the forest. 3 diamond dogs emerged from the foliage line, growls, snarls, and grunts escaping from their wooden snouts. An enraged challenge escaped from the mouth of the largest of the dogs, and they charged.
She saw the creature whip out its weapon and point it towards the dogs. The dogs had chosen to stop in front of the two creatures, so Twilight decided to creep closer to see if she could get a better view.
"I assure you, that if you turn around and leave the way you came, I won't leave you like I did your leader,"
IT TALKED! The creature of the Everfree talks! Excitement set into Twilight's mind at all the talks and findings she could now find thanks to this creature's ability to talk.
The lead dog yelled once more at the creature, and soon, the fight was on.
The creature was immediately knocked off of the saddle by the large dog who had challenged him. Twilight watched as this creature wrestled, stabbed, beat, and fought it as they tumbled around in the grass. She was amazed by this creatures fighting prowess. There was precision in its strikes and a strategic planning to each of them. But also, there was a brutality to it. A somewhat peculiar hunger for combat. Each time it struck, it would become more rigorous, more forceful with its punches.
Eventually, the fighting died down and all of the dogs looked like they were dead. The creature fell to the ground, clutching its paws, blood leaking out. It wasn't in very good condition. Its head leaked out crimson blood down its face and onto its shoulders. It walked with a limp at its knee and its hands were covered with dirt, grim, and blood. However, the creature seemed unworried about its own condition. Instead, it immediately rushed over to its companion, who was equally as wounded as he was.
It fumbled over its body, grabbed some cloth out of one of the pockets, and pressed it down into the wounds of the horse.
Twilight thought to herself for a moment. Now might not be a good time to reveal herself to the creature. But then again, if she didn't take any risks with this creature, she would likely miss her other chances to make contact with it. So she formulated her plan in her mind and stepped out into view.
Richard started to reach for his gun at the sight of the violet equine.
"Easy! Easy! I'm not going to do anything to you," Twilight reassured.
"What do you want? Start talking, or you're getting a bullet through your head," Richard gestured to his rifle.
"Ok, how bout a little introduction. So yeah, I'm Twilight Sparkle and I live in the town of Ponyville. You?" Twilight asked.
"My name is not of your concern right now. What is your concern right now is helping me and my horse," Richard pressed a cloth into his face to try to stop the bleeding from his forehead.
"Well, there isn't really much I can do right now. Magic seems to be quite ineffective against you as you so, umm, bluntly proved in your escape. I doubt it would bode much better for your, horse, you said?"
"Yeah, horse. Listen,"if you can't help, then you might as well run on back to your town. I'll figure this out on my own," Richard started to limp towards the bridge.
"Wait! Wait! I can help you. I just don't have the supplies," a brilliant idea came to Twilight as she uttered these words.
"So, I'll make you a deal. I'll nurse you and your horse back to health in exchange for some answers to my questions. Deal?" She held out her hoof to the creature.
"If you can do that plus getting me and him some food, I'll do it," Richard held out his bloodied hand to the pony.
The two shook and the deal was sealed. Twilight turned to Coal and studied his condition.
"Hmmm, looks like you've stopped the bleeding, but those wounds could get infected real fast. I'll need some disinfectants for you both," Twilight turned to head back to the town and gather her supplies.
"Hey!"
Twilight turned back to Richard. "For every strip of bacon you bring back to me, I'll give you extra questions."
"Bacon. Got it," She turned back and began towards the town once more.
The heck is Bacon? she wondered.
Whatever. She would have to look it up when she got back to the library. But for now, she had a task. A task that could be the start of a whole new friendship.
As Twilight left, Richard turned to Bone, who by now, was starting to stir. Richard reloaded another round into his rifle and pointed it at the dog, waiting for him to wake up. Bone woke up, and clutched his head as a headache set in. He looked up and spied Richard pointing his rifle out him and held his paws up.
"Listen here, dog, and you listen carefully. If you ever set foot inside this forest and threaten me again, I will show no mercy toward you, or any of the fools who choose to join on your quest against me. I want you to go back to where you and your pathetic pack lives, and I want you to tell this Alpha about what you've seen here. You tell him that if he sends another raiding party out here to either find me or raze the town, he will hunt him down across the face of the Earth. I will not hesitate to put a bullet in each and every one of you, men, women, and children. Now get out of here, and don't make me regret sparing your life."
Bone immediately sprang up and began to run away across the bridge. He got to the forest, and promptly disappeared into the treeline. Richard brought his rifle down, and strapped it to his back. He walked over to Coal and sat down next to him. With nothing else to do, he placed his hand on his friend and began to pray, hoping that he would live through the night. |
The Silent Saviors | Dreams and Talks of Things Past | The voices of insects and birds sang throughout the breezy night air. The crescent moon's light crept along the landscape and dimly lit the meadow that Rich and Coal resided in. The stars shone like moondust in the sky, as if there was a snowfall happening in space. Richard felt privileged to be witnessing such a marvelous sight. Richard watched the star's little show and sighed to himself as he lay his head on the grass.
Sleep seemed to elude him, due to his horse's dire condition, and the fear of some animal sneaking up on them. Ominous fog fell upon the meadow, with shadows twisting along the ground, touching every sliver of land it could find. Fear began to creep into Richard as the sleepless night went on. For the first time in a very long time, Richard Emmerson, the man who charged and killed his way through the Indian Wars, never backed down from a fight, and took no crap from anyone, felt terrified. Here he was, stuck in an unknown land, with many things trying to kill or capture him, animals that talked, and monsters of all different kinds. This world was all so bizarre to him, like he was having a weird dream from which there was no waking. It was so vastly and astronomically different from everything that he had ever witnessed. He feared the unknown that lay inside and outside of the forest. His rifle had been his only constant companion, comforter, and reminder of the things of his past, as well as his only defense against these creatures. Through the night, he cradled it in his arms as if it were his own child, clinging to it for safety from whatever monsters that lay inside those forest borders.
Finally, the grasp of sleep seemed ready to take him, and Rich silently fell into his slumber, escaping his fears for another night.
Luna walked through the inky black landscape of dreams, smiling and humming a tune. All had been well in today's dreams. She had only a couple cutie mark nightmares to chase away from a certain few fearful fillies around Ponyville. Her work was finished and it was time to leave for the waking world.
But she was slightly confused when she spied a portal into another soul's dreams.
"That's odd," she muttered to herself.
She had taken care of most of the dreams today. Perhaps it was just a last-minute nightmare that some foal was having. No matter. She would just fix it quickly, give the foal some reassuring words, and then head on back to the real world. She trotted into the portal and entered into the dream.
The landscape was somewhat open, with plains spreading across the land. The land was somewhat hilly, with many small ridges and hills littering it as Luna walked through it. She came to a ridge and spied a disconnected creek cutting through the plains and separating the soil into a makeshift peninsula. In this small peninsula around the creek were weirdly shaped huts of some sort. They looked like ice cream cones that had been turned upside down and were being held up by long, thin poles, all collecting at the vertex of the cone. Thin, brown two legged creatures would walk in and out of the conish huts, carrying various types of food in.
Nothing too out of the ordinary here. Weird creatures, but no matter. But where is the dreamer? Luna looked all around, trying to pick out that unusual glow that a dreamer would carry.
Suddenly, she spotted more of these creatures appear from the top of a hill overlooking the plains. They rode on top of what looked like very large ponies and wore dark blue uniforms, making them easy to spot in the high morning glow of the day. More and more appeared over the horizon and looked down into the small village of creatures. There was a bellowing war cry, and they charged down the hill. Some of the bigger creatures in the village, Luna assumed they were the males, went in their homes and grabbed weapons of some sort and began to fire them. Screams and fearful cries rang out from the children and females as they ran into their homes to escape the army after them.
Luna finally set the dreamer in her sights. It was the creature! The creature they had been chasing! He was riding inside a group of cavalrymen charging down the hill with the rest of the army. There was a certain boynishness to him, as his early youth still showed on his face. His group soon met the villagers and began the fight.
As they reached the village, a man popped out from one of the cone shaped huts and fired at the group. The shot hit one of the troops, and he quickly fell off his horse and down to the earth. The dreamer, seeing his friend fall, became enraged and charged at the shooter. He brought down his saber upon him, and he fell in an instant. Not content with his death, he dismounted from his horse and ran into the hut. Instantly, Luna heard screams coming from the hut that fell silent as soon as she began to hear them.
It was a slaughter, something that Luna had never imagined could happen. The attacking army soon encircled the village and closed in on the occupants, entrapping them. Many of them ran through the place, killing anything they could find, men, women, and children. The dreamer was taking part in all of this, mercilessly and effortlessly massacring the population. Some of the villagers began to escape and the army went after them.
"Leave them!" Luna heard from one of the bearded creatures, whom she assumed was the commander, "No use in expending more energy for a couple more Redskins."
The army began to file through the village, searching for their own dead and cleaning up the bodies of their enemies. Dead bodies lay piled up by the sandy creek and on the dirt of the ground. Wreckage of the cone houses lay scattered chaotically around the battlefield, some burning, some drifting away in the creek. Luna spied the dreamer, however, silently observing the village on top of his horse. His commander soon trotted up to him and began a conversation.
"This mission was a complete success. Good work out there, Lieutenant," the commander soon joined the dreamer in looking at the ruined village.
"Just," the dreamer was hesitant, "Just doing my job, Colonel."
They spent a couple more moments in silence before the colonel began to reach for something on his person.
"Here, Lieutenant. I want you to have this," the Colonel handed over a decorated curved sword which Luna could only assume was his personal saber.
"Colonel, I can't take this. This is yours," The dreamer put his paws up to reject the colonel's gift.
"Rich," the dreamer slightly recoiled back upon hearing his name, "I'm old, Lieutenant. I'm going to be retiring soon back to my farm in Ohio, hopefully when once we beat those Rebels , and you've shown many qualities of a good soldier. Character, decisiveness in battle, a good relationship with the enlisted. You are a great soldier, Rich, and I want you to have this to thank you for all the good you've done for this fair country so far. I wouldn't be surprised to see you become a major, maybe even a general one day," The colonel handed the saber over to the dreamer, now known to Luna as Rich.
"Now you take care of her now, Rich," the colonel rode off to oversee other events.
"I... I will, sir," Rich looked back
The dream started to flicker and slowly began to fade. The creature was waking up and soon would be gone. Luna quickly opened up a portal back into the real world in her bedroom. Upon reaching there, she slowly replayed the events she had witnessed in her mind. She soon began to cry for those who had been killed, especially the children.
She came to a realization that the dream was not some concoction of a nightmare, but a memory.
How could have such a thing ever have taken place? she wondered.
Her mind kept drifting to the scene. That scene. That massacre at the sandy creek.
Richard awoke from his dream, rubbing his eyes in an effort to wake himself up. He turned towards Coal, and was greeted with the sight of Twilight, tending to his wounds.
"Oh, good. You're awake. I'll be with you in just a sec. I'm applying some disinfectant to his wounds and we should be able to wrap them up nice and snug," she had a weird tube in her mouth that was squirting out a weird gelatin into Coal's cuts and gashes as he slept peacefully.
Upon finishing her work, she set the tube down on an old tree trunk, and trotted over to Rich. Out of nowhere, she summoned a scroll, quill, and ink and sat down, holding up her quill and scroll, ready to write.
"How the hell did ya did that?" Richard pointed at the scroll.
"A simple summoning spell. It's quite trivial if you ask me," Twilight scrunched her face in slight smile.
Rich confusingly stared at Twilight as he tried to comprehend what she had said. "You know what? I'll ask you again when I'm not waking up," his stomach grumbled as he sat up, "Or hungry."
"Oh! Speaking of which, I've got the food that you wanted," Twilight reached her muzzle into her saddlebags that she was wearing and pulled various things, some of them being, an apple, carrots, some other fruits, and strangely, hay.
Richard stared at the foods that he was given and looked up at Twilight. "You couldn't possibly have any meat in there, or maybe that bacon I was talking about?"
"Umm, no. We don't eat meat in our society. And I couldn't find any of this "bacon" around here. Did you mean hay bacon?"
"No. Bacon," Richard said as he picked up the apple.
"Well, what's bacon?" she sat down and picked up her scroll and quill once more.
"It's only God's greatest gift to mankind, Miss Twilight," Richard said as he bit into his apple.
"Bacon. God's greatest gift to mankind," she said as she wrote down each of the words.
Twilight scribbled out a few more notes before looking back up at her new project.
"So, onto my questions," Twilight looked up expectantly at Richard, "I've honored my part of the deal, so it's time for you to honor yours."
"Fair enough, Miss," Richard replied, and reached for a orange.
"So first, what are you?"
"I'm a man. Next question." Richard bit into his orange after he finished peeling it.
Twilight was silent for a moment, and waited for more. "That's it?" Disappointment was apparent in her voice.
Richard frustratingly tore himself away from his orange. "Well what did you expect, Missy? Da Vinci's finest? I'm eating here."
Notably sarcastic and uncooperative, Twilight noted on her scroll.
"Fine. That'll do for now. Anyway, where are you from and how did you get here?"
"I hail from the nice ol' territory of Colorado. Recently became a state," he dug back into his orange like a hungry lion.
"Where is this Colorado?" Twilight's nerdy smile began to graze across her face.
"Well, we should be in lower Illinois right now, so it's very far west of here. Probably take you, oh maybe, a week, if you double time it," Richard pointed his now juicy finger towards the west.
"Umm... I don't know what this "Illinois" you're talking about is, but we are definitely not in it right now. We're in Equestria," Twilight said as she wrote down everything she had been told.
"Huh... Equestria. Sounds like a stupid name for a country if you ask me," Richard reached for a carrot and laid down on the grass.
Twilight was somewhat puzzled by Rich's demeanor. "Do you need some time to adjust? I mean, if I were in your shoes, I'd find that hard to understand."
"No, I don't. I'm pretty sure that there are no talking horses and mythical creatures straight out of a fantasy book inside the US," Rich said as he took a bite out of his carrot.
Strangely ok with realization of a whole new world, Twilight wrote.
"So, how did you get here?" Twilight asked.
"Now that," Rich sat up quickly at the question, "is something that I am not quite sure about. But I'll tell you what I know. Maybe you can help me get home some how."
"So! I was scouting out a ridge, looking for some lost animals for a person in the town I was staying in. There was this little ripple in some bushes and it looked real weird. So I decided to check it out, then I'm blinded, and now I'm in a talking horse land," said a exasperated Rich.
"Oh be honest with yourself, Rich. You like me this way," Coal had woken a few seconds earlier.
"Hey! Go back to sleep and rest! I need you healed up!" Rich pointed his finger forcefully towards Coal.
"That's quite... umm... odd, Richard. I'll have to look into that," Twilight said as she wrote down his account.
As Twilight wrote down, her gaze eventually fell upon Richard's rifle, which was now snugly fit into his right hand.
"What is that thing?" Twilight eyed as if it was going to go off merely by her gaze.
Rich suddenly felt a little conflicted about what to say. He started to fiddle with his rifle as he thought. He could show her how it works and possibly pass on the knowledge of guns to these ponies. Maybe he could have his own ammunition factory if he taught them. But were these ponies really ready? He could do more damage than good by passing on what he knew. Well, better safe than sorry.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to disclose that just yet," Rich said as he strapped his rifle to his back.
"Why not?" Twilight slightly pouted.
"When I think you are ready to know, I'll tell you. But for now, I'm not going to say," Rich shook his head.
Twilight wrestled with the thought of pushing for more info, but eventually, she chose to leave it.
"Alright, that's about enough time I have for now. If I'm gone any longer, I'm sure the town will start raising hell with my absence," Twilight moved to get up from her spot and start walking.
"Here, let me walk you back. As a little thanks for the help you've given me and Coal," Richard got up as well and started for the wooden bridge.
"Oh, thank you," Twilight smiled.
"Coal, you be safe. I'll be back soon."
The pony and man walked across the bridge and into the forest. They walked in silence, enjoying the chirping of the birds of the noon. It was nice for Rich to get a quiet moment, with everything that happened and with all these night terrors he would get. Listening to the birds was quite therapeutic, and Richard was happy to enjoy the moment.
"Pretty isn't it?" Richard said while looking up at the high canopy of the forest.
"Yes, it is," Twilight joined Rich with looking at the canopy.
"Hey, sorry if I was a little callous with you in the beginning. Didn't really sleep that well yesterday," Rich said.
"Oh, it's fine. I've dealt with much worse in my experiences. All is forgiven," Twilight smiled and turned to her front to see the end of the forest and the beginning of the fields that lead to Ponyville.
Twilight walked out of the forest and started to trot back to her town. However, Richard stopped at the forest's edge and watched as the pony went. Twilight stopped as she noticed Richard was not following her.
"Hey. Why aren't you coming?"
"I'd like us to keep this little meeting a secret, Miss Twilight," Richard said as he adjusted his hat.
"Why? You can come with me. I can introduce you to everyone. Everyone will like you."
"Well, for one, Coal's injured and I gotta take care of him. Two, I'm a solitary man, Miss Twilight. Towns aren't really my place. And let's be honest. You and I both don't know how your people will react to me, with everyone being on high alert cause of me."
"Wait, how did you know that?" Twilight became a bit suspicious.
"Not important. Point is, I'm not coming today. Maybe some other time," Rich started to turn back to the forest.
"Wait! I almost forgot. I wanted to give you something nice before you go," Twilight reached into her bag and pulled out a muffin.
"Wow. Thanks. It's been a real long time since I've had anything sweet," Rich stepped out of the forest to grab the cupcake.
"TWILY! GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!"
Twilight quickly turned to see Shining Armor careening towards them, horn charging up.
Quickly, Richard reached for his back to grab his rifle and began shouldering it. Shining, however, fired a blast of magic at Rich and it hit his rifle, knocking it off to the side.
Rich became stunned for a second, allowing Shining to barrel into him, knocking him to the floor. He landed on his stomach, facing away from Shining. He abruptly grabbed a handful of sand off the ground and threw it into Shining's eyes, blinding him. Richard sprang up, taking advantage of his opponent's blindness, and kicked Shining in the stomach. As he was starting to walk away, Shining tripped him with his hoof, and clumsily clambered on top of Rich, charging another spell. Before Shining could unleash his spell, Rich pushed Shining's face up as he started to fire. He grabbed Shining and threw him off of him. As Shining was starting to get up, Rich knocked him down, got on top of him, forced his hand down on Shining's muzzle, and unsheathed his hunting knife, ready to kill.
"RICHARD!"
Rich stopped himself and looked over at Twilight, reason slowly starting to leak back into the man's mind. Seeing what he was about to do, he slowly let go of Shining's muzzle and got up off of Shining Armor. He walked over to where his rifle had landed, grabbed it, went over and took the cupcake from Twilight, and began to walk into the forest.
"That's why I'm not coming."
Richard walked back to the Castle, never looking back. |
The Silent Saviors | The Hunter and the Hunted | Richard sprinted through the forest, rifle firmly clenched in his right hand. Rage festered inside of him as he replayed his actions back in his mind. How could he have been so foolish to engage the pony to such a high extent? Sure, he had defended himself. But he let himself get carried away in the moment and nearly killed him, as usual. He was frustrated with himself, but also with the guard pony. Richard had finally made contact with the pony race that didn't end with it blowing up in his face. Things were starting to look up. But this soldier just had to come along and ruin it for him.
"Stupid guard. Making things difficult for me," he muttered to himself.
But, he would worry about the issue some other time. He had to get back to the castle before that commander came a-running after him, reinforcements likely in tow behind him. He vaulted over a fallen tree and continued onward towards the castle.
Wait a sec, Richard stopped himself, waited for a moment, looked back towards the tree, and retraced his step back towards it.
Turning himself back, he tilted his head, frowning at what he saw. Nestled into the trunk of the tree was a burned out, blackened hole, like something had eaten its way into it. Blackened goo oozed out from it and trickled down the tree, leaving a charcoaled residue behind it as they collected in the grass. It looked of molasses and was as viscous as it, but it was slowly bubbling, as if it was slightly boiling. It was unlike anything Rich had ever seen before.
"What is this stuff?" Richard quietly said to himself.
He pondered the thought of touching it, but quickly threw it out of the picture. Who knows what kind of things could happen to him, especially in this wacky and crazy world he was stuck in? Instead, he plucked a piece of grass out from the ground and flicked a portion of it into the middle of the blade. A slow and docile bubbling began as he observed the strange liquid. After a couple of seconds, the end of the blade fell off and landed on the ground, cut from the original blade. The liquid began to eat away at the end that Richard was holding, so he let it fall to the ground.
"An acid," he said to himself, "And a very strong one at that." He watched the blade of grass he had become completely burned away.
Richard began to pace around the clearing, chin resting between his thumb and finger. What or who created this? What does it do to other things? Why is it here of all places?"
As he was pondering this, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a small trail of the liquid that led further into the foliage of the forest. At first, he was hesitant to follow the charcoaled trail of puddles. He was both curious of what the cause of all this was, but also, terrified at what he might find. He had learned from living in this forest, that if you find something you don't know about, you respectfully book it in the other direction and never come back. But his curiosity won out in the end, and he decided to follow it, although still hesitant.
The trail led him on a chase through the woods, twisting and turning, and occasionally stopped in a clearing of trees or around some bushes.
Each pause in a clearing became more and more disturbing each time he found one. Normally, he found a puddle of the blacked substance, bubbling and slowly going down as it ate away at the ground. Blood splatters would be strewn across different sections of the area, sometimes on trees, sometimes on the ground, or around the puddles of ooze.
Blood splatters. What are they doing here? This doesn't make any sense. Richard thought to himself as he studied the now dried liquids. His indecisive attitude from before came flooding back into him. Whatever had made this stuff had not been all too welcoming to those around it, evident by the blood. But, eventually, he pressed on once more. He was in too deep now, like it or not, he had to figure this out.
He continued on his trek through the forest, Eventually, the trail came to an end inside of a narrow rocky ravine. Richard bent down and studied the end of the trail, thinking of what all this was.
It was truly something bizarre, but frankly, he was getting quite used to bizarre things by now. But this, this was getting to the levels of both creepy and weird. He started to break into a sweat. Here was a liquid that destroyed almost everything that it touched, aside from rocks. Blood splatters normally were always present around the substance as well, which really didn't add up. Was it some sort of messed up ritual or sacrifice to the devil? He didn't really expect it, but who knows? Anything seemed possible in this land.
A loud crack of a dead branch and rustling in the bushes disrupted his train of thought. Richard quickly unholstered his rifle and jumped inside of a patch of bushes, concealing himself and providing a clear view of the ravine, but also a good sight into the forest as well. His heart pounded away, with his hands becoming clammy. He expected the worst, some kind of massive animal or such, a giant bird or lizard monster or something of the sort, as life in the forest had conditioned him. He had spotted them while he had wandered through the forest and figured it was only a matter of time before he ran into them.
Out of the forest line sprinted a doe, running as if the devil was chasing after her. Richard sighed in relief. It was just some frightened doe. Nothing to be afraid of.
Richard, however, had spoken to soon, as out of the forest came sprinting after the doe just as fast was, frankly, something that he had never seen ever in his life before. It was all black with most of its body covered in blackened skin, save for some patches of hair around its neck and on its stomach. Rows upon rows of sharp teeth lined its mouth that smiled menacingly as it ran after the doe. It ran on all fours, much similar to a dog or wolf, with its feet bearing 3 over-sized talons on each. The creature was surprisingly quick, which confused Richard, as he figured its oversized talons would slow it immensely.
The creature eventually caught up with the doe, finding it trying to scale up the steep cliff that separated another section of the forest and the ravine. It quickly sprang upon the doe, quickly ending the animal's scream with a gaping bite at the neck, ripping out the weak doe's jugular. It soon began its feast, digging into the animal like a dog chewing a bone. The sight disgusted Rich, and he soon turned to leave as not be heard or seen by the creature. However, as in most of these dire situations, a stick on the ground decided that it wanted to get friendly with the bottom of his boot, and snapped under his weight. To Richard, it sounded like the boom of artillery, and he immediately tensed himself, awaiting the monster to spring upon him. Sure enough, he saw the monster turn and begin to growl. It stepped into the foliage and Rich noticed another oddity, particularly with its eyes. They were completely black, charcoaled, soulless. He felt he were staring into the very fabric of unexistence itself. It was particularly unnerving to him.
A blackish ooze began to secrete out of the monster's mouth as it slowly inched its way forward, confirming to Rich as to what had caused the strange substance. He began to back away and slowly began to shoulder his rifle in case the monster tried to spring. The monster, seeing that the challenger was starting to back away, sprang at Richard, going for his neck. Rich swiped his rifle butt across the creature and knocked it away from him. The creature, landing by a tree, quickly sprang back to its paws, and spit some of the black liquid at Richard, hitting him in the middle of his right arm.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Burning, searing pain shot through Richard as he felt the substance hit him. He dropped his rifle and clutched his arm, trying to wipe off the liquid with some of his shirt. He heard the creature screech at him and saw it beginning to launch itself at him again. He swallowed his pain, clumsily picked up his rifle, and fired. The bullet directly hit the creature's skull, spraying bone and guts every which way in the ravine, killing it instantly, and it fell to the ground, the strange liquid oozing out of its mouth. With the creature dead, Richard began to examine his injured arm. What had been flesh and skin on his arm was now replaced with grayish-black spots all over his arm. The pain had begun to subside strangely, and a bit too fast. He moved his arm and checked if any of its functions were damaged. Sure enough, nothing blocked or hindered its movements. He took one last look over at his new battle scars and ran his finger over them. He felt nothing. He ran his finger over them again. He, once again, felt nothing. He rubbed his hand vigorously over the darkened spots, but still felt nothing anymore on his arm.
The sudden realization of his loss of feeling in some of his arm hit him hard. Would it be permanent? What would happen to him? His eyes began to dart around in fear as he pondered these thoughts. However, with a quick shake of his head, he pulled himself back together and steeled himself once more. These thoughts could wait. He had been away from the castle for a very long while and Coal was probably worried about him by now. He could talk these things over with Twilight, if she even came back. But for now, he had a mission, which was to get back to Coal.
He picked up his rifle, loaded another round into it, pulled the hammer back to safety catch, and resumed his sprint back to the castle.
"What the hay were you doing with that thing, Twi?"
"I WAS GETTING ANSWERS, SHINING!" Twilight angrily shouted back.
"You could've been hurt! You could've been killed! You are a smart kid, Twilight! Why would you go and do something so flippantly and utterly foolish?" Shining said.
"There was no other way I could! You have the place locked down and knowing you, you would have never let me even step close to the place! I did what I had to do for the sake of science. And besides that, the creature is a he! And he is a very nice po- errr... man!"
"So you thought that the best course of action was to go against both Celestia's orders, my orders, and basic common sense to indulge in your curiosities about this... man?"
Twilight began to speak again, but paused before she said something and reflected on what had happened. What she had done was quite foolish.
Shining stared out into the forest, half-expecting the creature to spring out and attack him again. "Twilight, you know the only reason I do these things is because I care about you and want to protect you. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if anything happened to you. And Cadence, sweet Celestia, she would have freaked out if anything happened to you."
"I know, Shining. I knew the risks and the consequences of what might happen. I'm not the little filly you knew anymore. I can make my own choices," Twilight nuzzled her brother at this.
"Fine, I'm glad you're safe. But from what I've seen, this creature is dangerous and can't be trusted. I'll have to write up a report and inform Celestia of what has happened by tomorrow."
"What? But don't you want to know what I've learned about it?" Twilight burst out.
"Yes, I would like to learn about any weaknesses in this creature. From what I've seen, it... he... is a formidable fighter and a tough opponent," Shining solemnly answered as he looked back to the town, a protective glare firmly stuck on his face.
"He is not just some violent animal that kills on sight, Shining. You charged him as soon as you saw him. How did you expect him to react?" Twilight spat back to her brother.
Shining was slightly fazed by his sister's sudden change in tone, but stayed stoic nonetheless. "Still, we have seen what he has done to the diamond dogs who raided the town. While it was helpful of him to take them out, he is violent and is incredibly powerful. Who knows what he can do to us? He is unaffected by magic as you have found out. His weapon outclasses ours in every way. He is enormous and quite strong from what I've observed in our scuffle. He is a threat to the ponies of Ponyville, maybe even Equestria, Twilight, and the Princess must be informed of this."
"But do you know his character? I've talked with him, Shining, TALKED! Although he was a bit mean at times, he apologized, and was kind to me. He was walking me out of the forest so I would be safe, for Celestia's sake! He's a man who's far away from his home and is likely scared, lost, and afraid. Please at least give him the benefit of the doubt," Twilight pleaded with her brother.
Shining looked around and began to pace a bit, pondering the request set before him. After a couple seconds of thinking, he came with his answer.
"Twilight, I have to write the report down. But, why don't you write your own letter to Celestia explaining what you've seen? I'm sure she'll understand your stance."
Twilight paused for a second, deciding if she wanted to press the issue with her brother further.
"Fine, I will," she said, looking down in disappointment. "Just go do what you have to do, Shining."
Shining retrieved his helmet and started back towards the town. "Twilight," he turned back, "Do you mind if I use Spike to send the message? It'll be quicker than flying it back by pegasus or by train."
"Sure," Twilight said, turning herself towards the forest, "I'll be back in a couple minutes."
Twilight pondered all of what she had seen those past couple hours. No doubt, the report that Shining would send would almost certainly sway Celestia into action against Richard. And frankly, who would've blamed her? Assault and attempted murder of a guard and the murder of a platoon of Diamond Dogs, rather brutally too. Even worse was the fact that Richard wasn't a citizen of Equestria, so who knows what Celestia would be allowed to do?
But Twilight knew the other side of the story. She felt deep down that his heart was good and that he tried to act in good intentions, at least most of the time. If she could just articulate these points to Celestia just right, she could maybe outweigh the wrongs that Richard committed.
And so, Twilight turned her gaze away from the forest and started back towards the town, ready to write the most important letter of her life.
The next day
Richard walked among the misty, dewy fronds of the willow trees. The delightful, lengthy, and nightmare-free sleep of the night had refreshed his mind and body, giving him somewhat of a therapeutic euphoria as he walked through the hanging vines of the willows. He came to a stop under one such willow and lay his back against the wet, wooden trunk of the tree and began to think.
He thought of nothing in particular, which was good for him in his eyes. It was wonderful for once to have nothing in his mind, with no worries prodding at his mind and soul. It was just good to sit down, relax, and enjoy the scenery of the wonderful place he and Coal had decided to call home.
Eventually, the creature he engaged the day crept its way into his thoughts. What was its purpose? What created that abomination? Did the ponies know about it? And better yet, what was that substance it spat and how could he reverse its effects on his arm? All these unanswered questions troubled him. He hated not knowing things. He was always informed on anything he came in contact with, specially in the military.
But then, an epiphany struck him. He had the body. It was probably still there, back where he had left it after he'd killed it. He and Coal could ride on over there, find the body, study it, and maybe bring it back to the Castle to analyze it further. His mind made up, he quickly got to his feet and walked over to a still sleeping Coal.
"Hey," Rich said quietly, "Wake up, Coal."
Coal began to stir, but groaned when he saw Rich. "What? Can't you see I'm trying to sleep?"
"Yes, but we need to go somewhere. Do you feel well enough now that you can get back to your regular duties?"
"Uhhhhh..." Coal groaned, "Just five more minutes, Rich."
"You know, you have the weirdest sleep schedule for a horse. Shouldn't you be awake by now?" an exasperated Rich said.
"Who says I am a normal horse?"
Richard grumbled under his breath, but quickly regained his composure. "This is not a debatable matter. Get up. We've got stuff to do today."
Coal begrudgingly obeyed, slowly getting up and standing on his wobbly legs. He shot Rich an annoyed look before going to graze. Rich, upon seeing his success, went and began to gather his things, preparing himself for the ride ahead.
Twenty minutes later, after a nice breakfast, the two were on the move again, heading towards the body's location. Silence occupied most of their time as they walked through the forest. Bits of sunlight shone through the tiny cracks in the forest canopy, temporarily providing a sense of warmth to Rich as he went through them. This morning seemed somewhat pleasant to him. A fresh but quick rain had fallen during their travels, creating a humid air around him.
Coal, still somewhat annoyed at his wakeup call, decided to break the silence.
"So," he groaned, "Is there any reason as to why you woke me up for... whatever we're doing?"
"We're finding a body, and we're gonna study it a bit," Rich replied.
"What's so special about this specific uh... body?"
"It's... different, if I were to put it plainly. It has something to do with what happened to my arm."
"Ohh... right. That "Mystery Ooze" you were telling me about," Coal replied.
"Yes. Anyway, I killed the creature who made it, and I want to know more about it," Richard said.
Silence once again enveloped the two as they continued through the dense forest trees and bushes. Realizing their position, Rich soon began to look out for the ravine, furling his brow in concentration. He soon spotted the ravine a couple yards ahead, and told Coal to stop.
"Alright, we're here. The body should come up ahead. Sorry if it smells, by the way. Not sure if the rain accelerated its deterioration," Rich said as he ducked under a tree.
"Well, I don't smell anything too out of the ordinary, so I'm sure we're good," Coal remarked.
This puzzled Rich a little. Surely, a smell should have accumulated from the rotting flesh. "Strange. Guess things rot differently here."
Rich decided to chalk it up to this world's unusual behavior or his minimal knowledge of decomposition.
"Alright," Rich said as he parted two bushes, "Here it..."
He never finished the sentence because of what he saw, or lack of, in the little clearing. In other words, he saw nothing.
The body was gone.
Confusion set into his mind almost immediately.
Am I in the right spot? It's gotta be around here somewhere, he thought to himself as he started pacing in the clearing.
"Uhhh... Rich, you okay? Why are you pacing around? And where's this thing we're supposed to look at?" Coal asked.
"What? Oh, it's just, the body should be here. I don't understand where it could've went. Because," he paused, "I know we're in the right spot. There's a blood spatter from when it ate a deer." Coal winced at the mention of the death of the deer. "So, the final question is, Coal, where is the body?"
Coal tipped his head down, thinking. "Why don't we run along the ravine? Maybe you did miss it, and we are just in the wrong spot."
"Alright, let's take a look," Rich agreed as he mounted up again.
The two set off down the ravine, looking every which way for the body. But still, they found nothing. Rich retraced his steps through the forest, trying to visualize all the places he had been. Still, their efforts were in vain.
One question remained in Richard's mind as he looked.
Where is this thing?
Deep within the forest, if one listened to the sounds in the air, they would hear a crunching and grinding echoing through the air. Because in this nook of the forest, Mareth was feasting once more. Feasting on a doe again, but deeply unsatisfied as he ate. For when he had awoken once more, his eyes were only set one target from then on. That two-legged creature.
No one had bested him for centuries upon centuries. No one, pony, griffin, manticore, hydra, NOT ANYONE, kills him and gets to go free.
So as he finished his meal and salivated his compound onto the corpse, Mareth's mission became apparent.
Find that creature, and strip it clean of its flesh. |
The Silent Saviors | Bad Blood | A quiet, tranquil breeze flew across the great plains of Colorado. The mid-spring sun hung in the sky like a fog over the sea.The clouds had deserted the area for the day. All was right for a young Richard, dressed in his overalls, playing by a pond, looking for frogs and other creatures of the sort.
He was seething with excitement. He had finally got one. After weeks of trying, he finally did it! He had caught that big looking bullfrog and was running back to his tiny log house to show his mother. He stepped over the threshold of his house to see his mother sewing.
"Look ma! I finally got that big one in the pond!" he said as he thrust out the frog in his hand to his mother.
"Ohhhhh, isn't that great," she said, giving a small cringe and sticking a hand out, "But I think the frog would much rather be back in the pond, wouldn't you say, Richard?"
"But maaaa, I finally got it. Can't I keep it?" he whined.
"No dear. Animals belong in the wild, not little boy's houses," she said and turned back to sewing once more.
Dejected, Richard trudged back outside to where he first took the animal. Stomping down into the pond, he let the frog out of his hand and watched it swim away into the peet, out of his sight once more.
He heard a small, still cry in the distance, and a thump in the ground gradually began to grow louder and stronger. He looked up to the small hill by his home hopefully, believing his father might finally be home from trading in Denver. He started to run towards it to greet his father.
Instead, a painted brown man, adorned with a great mane of feathers, carrying a bow and riding on a gray horse, appeared over the crest of the hill instead, along with a few others following after him. Richard stopped in his tracks, turned tail, and sprinted back to his home.
"Mom! Mom! Them Redskins is comin!" He yelled to his mother in the sod house.
His mother shot from her chair, a new fearful expression donning her once tranquil face.
"Richard, get out of here! Run to town and find your father!"
"But ma! What about you? They'll kill you, them Redskins!" he said, a new fear gracing his mind.
"Richie, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Get out of here and stay away from the natives. I'll come get you when it's safe," she cried.
She knelt down, quickly pulled him in for a quick hug, and shooed him out the door towards town. He looked back to see his mother now scurrying back to where his father kept their rifle. Though he wanted to run back and help, he remembered his mother's instructions and began to sprint as far away from the place as he could.
Richard woke from his dream, quietly sitting up, an aura of silence surrounding him as his memory/dream played back in his mind. Ambience settled itself into the quiet castle clearing as he thought of his mother's death, a small lump of sadness forming in his throat. He always hated remembering that day.
He should've done something. Anything at all. Something that would at least given her time to get away. It would've been of no use though.
"I need a drink. It's been too long," he raised himself up from his spot under a tree, grabbing his rifle.
He started to stroll away from his "bed" and sauntered onto the wooden bridge, rubbing away at his eyes and yawning. Sadly, he had run out of coffee rations awhile ago, so he was running on fumes each morning. Giving his eye on last rub, he entered the forest, heading for the town.
Pondering yesterday's events, he scowled in frustration. The search for the body had been completely unsuccessful, for the most part. There was, of course, the remaining traces of black ooze that was there, but otherwise, nothing was there, not even a carcass or blood trail to indicate another animal or vulture snatching it. A body can't just up and disappear out of nowhere without a trace, and the illogical nature of the case was starting to bother him.
But, no matter, he wouldn't be seeing it ever again. Time to focus on the task at hand.
He stopped in his usual stalking... recon spot by a large boulder. Grabbing some new foliage to camouflage himself and climbing up on top of it, he settled himself comfortably and began to observe.
There wasn't anything all that new happening inside the town. The usual pegasi were flying around, moving clouds with their hooves. The market, at least what he could see of it, looked especially busy. The guards were busy patrolling the perimeter. The children played happily with a ball near their parents. All seemed normal for the ponies of Ponyville.
He snickered at the name. He still couldn't get over the odd and funny sounding name. Ponyville. Dumb names aside, he saw nothing that would require his attention, so he dismounted the boulder and began to walk towards the apple plantation.
He had only discovered this vast plantation a couple of days ago, leading him to question his own eyesight with how easily spotted it was. The place was huge, bigger than he had seen in awhile, about as big as the old cotton plantations down in Dixie. Oddly enough though, the plantation always appeared so empty when he looked at it, no workers or slaves picking the apples, no pegasi moving clouds over it, no ponies planting new seeds, nothing.
He hopped over the poor, rusty, and rickety excuse for a fence and feasted his eyes upon thousands of healthy, strong, and exceptionally large apple trees. Whatever the soil was feeding these trees was very good. It reflected in their size and the richness of their fruit. He climbed one and picked an apple from the stem, enjoying its rich, tasteful flavor. His taste buds were bombarded with flavor, beating any he had eaten in the army out of the water. They were by and far the most delicious apples he had ever had the privilege of tasting.
Finishing his apple and licking the excess juice from his hand, he let himself down from the tree and began to explore the orchard he was in. With the place always being so empty, he figured all the workers, if there were any, were on break or in another field, which would give him some time to look around.
He walked through the uncharacteristically large apple trees and took in the scenery. The trees, the tall sentinels gazing upon him, rocked quietly in the tranquil breeze blowing through, bringing the sweet scent of ripened apples to his nostrils. Some of the leaves were starting to blow away as autumn was settling into the world. An quiet ambient noise had fallen upon the apple orchard, as if a fresh blanket of snow had just fallen on the land.
The place rang of... peace, something that Richard had not felt in a very long time. He stopped his walk, sat down beside a trunk, and just watched the orchard for a few minutes, enjoying this feeling of serenity.
The trees were reminiscent of the one he sat under with his mother, reading novels they had bought in St. Louis during the move westward. He thought of the stories of Odysseus from the Odyssey and King David from the Bible that she would tell him while his father was away. He smiled to himself. Truly, they were wonderful times, happier times, peaceful times, and he missed them dearly.
He arose from his spot and began to walk back, thinking that the workers would likely be coming back. Looking up at a tree, he stopped and climbed up one, planning to quickly grab some apples for later consumption and some for Coal. He began his plunder on the tree, grabbing as many ripe and non-insect infected apples as he could.
A distant voice began to grow ever so slightly. Richard stopped, listened, and quickly climbed higher, thinking that the workers were coming back. He leaned himself against the trunk of the tree and tried to hide behind some leaves, hoping that whatever was coming would just pass by.
Hearing the voice getting louder and louder, he spotted 2 ponies coming down the path he was just at. Great, how convenient, he said to himself. The two ponies were a bit different than the others were. One was a bright orange and was wearing some sort of stetson hat that he would see back home. Odd. It had a sort of southern drawl to its voice, very reminiscent of the Texans he had spoken with in his travels. The other one with it was a massive crimosn pony, wearing an oxen yolk around its neck. It wasn't apparently saying too much, at least from what Rich could gather at his vantage point.
"I was thinking that maybe this year, we should harvest from the south first, and work our way up instead. That would save us much more time and get our next batch of apple products out faster," the orange one said.
"Yup," replied the larger.
"I'll tell ya Big Mac. These southern fields have been a doozie. Look at the size of these babies. Why shoot! These'll be sellin' like, well, like our cider at a party!" she happily neighed.
"Yup," the larger said again.
The two were on their way past him when the orange one turned back and spied his hiding spot. Richard tensed, trying to make himself as small as possible to its face. The pony took a sniff in the air, and then a couple more. It continued to do this, coming closer and closer to the base of the tree he was in.
Damn these ponies and their sense of smell. he thought to himself.
It stopped right under the tree and looked down to the ground. A large outline of his boot print was planted into the mud right below the tree, a dead giveaway of his presence.
"Oh no," he whispered to himself.
"Huh, never seen a critter with this print before," she whispered to herself.
"Big Mac! Can you come look at this?" she yelled.
The large one came trotting back to his companion and looked at his print with her.
The two studied his boot print while Richard barely concealed his fear of being caught red-handed up in the tree. He quieted his breath and hugged the tree, trying to show as little of himself as humanly possible.
Applejack had never seen anything like this before. No animal, or pony, she had ever seen or heard of could've made this. And whatever it was, it looked big, and it lead straight into her apple tree. Seeing this, she looked up to its branches.
Nothing seemed to show. The darkness from the canopy of the tree made it hard to see anything going on in the branches. It seemed there was nothing there, but, just to make sure no new pest was eating or infecting her apples, she got an idea.
"Big Mac, you go ahead back to the barn, I'll meet up with you."
"What about this print?" he replied.
"I'm sure it's nothing. I'm just gonna check. It's nothing I can't handle with these apple-bucking legs o' mine." she said.
He paused for a second, judging if he should push the issue.
"Alright then. Be safe, Applejack," he said, turning around back the way they came.
With Big Mac gone, she walked up to the tree, turned around, and gave a huge buck to it.
The once quiet tree shook chaotically, tossing Richard around like a rag doll. He tried to wrap his legs around the trunk to provide more grip. He was barely able to hang onto the tree and regain his balance before another kick came again.
His legs failed to support his weight. This time, Richard lost his grip, his hands sliding off the trunk, cutting his fingers on the abrasive bark, and he quickly fell onto the ground, hitting it with a large thud.
Applejack didn't know what to make of the critter that fell out of her tree. The only thing she saw were the freshly picked apples that were falling out of its pockets.
"You were stealing my apples!" she yelled, slamming her hoof into the dirt.
"Look, a man's gotta eat, lady. It's been rough times in the forest." he painfully groaned to her, rubbing his right arm.
"I don't care what's going on in the forest. You stole from the wrong mare!" she charged him, preparing to head-butt him.
Richard, still nursing his wounds from the fall, was barely able to get out of the way of the charging pony, but he lost his balance and fell down.
Applejack quickly stopped and turned around, running up to the man who was starting to get himself up. Reaching a now standing Richard, she reared up and bucked him with her back legs in the thighs.
Rich went flying into the rickety fence, easily breaking the poorly maintained fence and landing near a few rocks.
He felt like he had just been hit by one of those new Bowker locomotives and then run over by a herd of bulls. This pony was strong, much stronger than the other one he had fought. One more kick from that pony and he'd be out like a light, likely with many brain cells missing. With the state he was in, there was no way he was going to able to hold a fight with this one, leaving him only one other option. He drew his rifle and sighted in the pony's leg.
His arms shook and swayed from exhaustion and pain as he desperately tried to steady his rifle on the now charging orange pony.
Applejack was not deterred by whatever this thing was drawing. She kept up her charge and prepared another blow.
A deafening crack resounded through the orchard, her leg exploded with pain. Her energy immediately fell away and she cried out in pain as she rolled to the ground, clutching the fresh wound with her foreleg.
Rich, seeing that she was no longer a threat, slowly and painfully got up and began to limp back to the forest.
Twilight Sparkle lay on a bench near a oak tree, enjoying a nice book in the late afternoon sun. The wind shook the tree peacefully across her spot and provided a little shade for the purple pony. The pegasi had scheduled a nice, cool summer day after yesterday's rain showers. The weather was wonderful, and one would be a fool not to enjoy it.
As she read on, she heard a quiet thumping on the ground, much like a pony's steps. But its sound was peculiar. It was uneven, paradoxical, and out of sync like a normal trot, which meant something must be wrong. She looked up from her book and found a bleeding, wounded Applejack slowly and painfully limping towards her. A large trail of blood followed behind her, and it was clear she had lost a substantial amount of blood.
She scrambled off of the bench, sweeping her book into the grass as she fumbled and tripped off the bench. Sprinting towards Applejack, she saw a large, gaping hole in Applejack's upper right leg, a hole that only one thing could have made.
Immediately, she knew who Applejack had crossed paths with. However, not wanting Applejack to know of her relationship with Richard, she carefully picked her words as she intervened.
"Applejack! What happened to you?" Twilight softly picked up her friend's hoof and analyzed the damage.
"Some, uhhhh..., critter in a tree was stealing my apples. I tried to stop it, but it attacked me with some sort of... loud stick in its claws," she whimpered in pain.
"Let's get you to the hospital quickly and then we'll talk. You look like you've lost a lot of blood," Twilight said as she picked her up and put her on her back.
Twilight galloped toward the hospital pondering how she was ever going to explain this to the others.
"What did the thing look like Applejack?"
Twilight sat tranquilly by the hospital room window, staring at Applejack as if at any point she may drop dead. The room smelled of moldy hay, betraying the obvious lack of care for the room. Twilight would have to mention it to the front desk before she left. The wall had apparent hoof dents in it, making Twilight wonder what had caused a pony to even do that. Applejack herself could've seen better days. Her face had lost much of its normal orange hue from blood loss, but it was slowly coming back to her as the doctors treated her hours before. Her condition showed her fatigue, one that she never had experienced in any day of work.
"Well," she croaked, "It was tall, built well, but not as muscled as a minotaur, and it was wearing these brown colored cloths over it. It also had a hat much similar to mine on it, although it was black instead of tan. Weirder still, Twilight, it walked on its hind legs, and it kept perfect balance too! If it wasn't stealing ma apples, I would've asked how it possibly managed to do that," she coughed hard into her hoof.
"But weirder than any of that, it tal--"
A huge red giant burst into the room along with an armored white pony. Big Mac rushed over to his sister next to the bed and quickly sat down next to her.
"I told you to be safe!" Big Mac yelled to her.
"And I thought it wasn't going to be anything," she said, looking at the wound, "Boy was I wrong."
She chuckled to herself. How wrong she was.
"Applejack," Shining Armor spoke up, "Can you explain what happened to you?"
Applejack told the same thing to everyone as she had to Twilight.
"Interesting," he said. He looked to the floor as if he were concocting an ingenious plan.
"Applejack, the Guard will ensure action will be taken against whatever attacked you and stole your property. If you have any questions about this incident, be sure to find me. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to start planning," he opened the door and walked out.
Twilight, seeing Applejack was okay with Big Mac, followed him out and caught up to him, walking beside him in a slow gait.
"So, what are you planning?" she asked, her eyes dejectedly looking to the floor.
"His arrest. I've got more than enough now to put him away for a long time. We can add stealing and another count of assault to his track record," he answered coldly.
She was silent for awhile, not saying anything to Shining Armor as they walked down another flight of stairs.
"What do you think of this whole thing?" he asked, ducking past the receptionist's desk.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you've talked with this man before. You, out of everyone, know the most about him on a personal level. What would motivate him to do this?" he asked, opening up the door out of the hospital.
Once again, she was silent, not sure of how to answer. There really was nothing she could think of that could prompt Richard to steal from Applejack. As far as she knew, there was plenty to eat inside the forest if you looked hard enough for wild crops, so he wasn't starving. There was no motive and that made Twilight lose respect for him.
"I don't know," she quietly answered her brother.
"Well, I'm afraid I must get back to HQ, Twilight. Have a nice rest of your day and I'll talk to you again later. Tell Spike I said hello," he walked out towards town.
Twilight stood there for a moment before beginning the walk back to her house. As she trudged through the dry dirt road, she pondered her situation with Richard.
Her faith that he could hopefully become a integrated member of society was beginning to be shaken. At least before, when he acted maliciously towards others, it was towards their enemies. But now, this one was personal. He had attacked her good friend and he was stealing from her when he did it! How could she find a way to forgive him for that?
"Ohhhh... this is the hardest lesson of friendship I've had to learn," she said to herself, as she entered her house.
She knew that there was only one way she was going to get answers, and that was visiting the man at the castle.
And with that thought in mind, she prepared her spell and teleported to the castle.
Richard had seen better days. The orange pony had done a huge amount of damage to his chest and legs. He was surprised his ribs and lungs were somehow still intact, let alone functioning. He slowly limped over the fallen tree near the castle.
He knew everyone in the town probably heard what he did. Knowing the white guard pony, he's probably on his way to get him as he spoke, which meant there wasn't a lot of time.
As he reached the wooden bridge, he spied Coal grazing by the old willow trees.
"Coal," he yelled out to the black-gray stallion, "We gotta get out of here."
The horse stood up from his graze, and seeing his rider's condition, trotted briskly over to him.
"Good Lord, Richard. What happened to you?" he worriedly asked, his urgency to help his rider clear in his voice.
"Had a run-in with another pony and it gave me a lickin'. Boy that thing can kick," he remarked, flopping down to rest on the willow trunk.
"Well, where are you hurt? Are you bleeding? Any broken bones? Tell me what's going on!" Coal shouted.
The man opened his shirt to examine the damage he had taken. Indeed, his chest was a deep red-purple, with hoof-marks prominently accented inside of his skin. None of his chest sides were fallen, so at least none of his ribs and cavities were broken. Coal winced at the sight of his rider's injuries, and desperately tried to think of something to do.
"You're gonna be ok, Rich. Just rest there," Coal shuddered.
All of a sudden, they heard a loud crack, like a branch broke off of a tree, go off. Rich instinctively reached for his rifle, prepared to take on whatever threat came for him. Coal, startled, looked to see what had happened.
A sigh came from the clearing. "Why is it when something happens nowadays, it always involves you?" A disgruntled Twilight stepped past Coal and stopped at Richard.
"Well, you know, gotta keep things from being dull for the sweet ponies of Ponyville," he joked, "How's the one I shot?"
"She'll live. Applejack's a tough nut to crack," she said, coldly.
"You know this pony well?"
"Of course. She's one of my best friends," she replied back, with a bit more malice.
"You sound a bit angry," he said before quickly shutting his mouth, realizing the stupidity of what he just said.
"Oh really? I sound mad? Not only did you shoot my best friend in the hoof, but you were also stealing her apples which, may I remind you, are her livelihood? What is wrong with you?" she screamed.
"Well, a lot of things," Coal snarkily replied.
Twilight turned and glared at him with the rage of a thousand suns.
"Okay, I'm just gonna go graze over there. Heh heh, bye Rich!" he ran off to a patch of grass.
Rich turned back to Twilight. "Look, food's been a bit scarce right now," he defended himself.
"Well, why didn't you come ask me? I've could've helped you!"
"Oh, yes. Because I'm just going to stroll into the place where everybody wants me dead, stop at your house, and just beg for food like some tramp? I already have Capt F***face looking for me 24/7, so what makes you think I'm gonna come ask you for help?" he replied back, equally angry.
"That doesn't excuse you from taking those apples and shooting my friend!"
"Well, what do you want me to do, princess? I didn't want to shoot your friend, but it happened anyway. I'm just trying to survive out here and keep myself and Coal alive!
They both stopped and looked at the ground for some time.
Twilight looked up, "Maybe it's best if you leave this place. Shining Armor is probably mustering guards to take you back to Canterlot for trial. BY this point, he has more than enough evidence to put you away or have you executed," she said, her voice having lost all the fire in it.
"Yeah, I think I'll do that, " he said, slowly and painfully lifting himself up, and limping over to pack his stuff.
Twilight, seeing she had nothing else to say, got up and teleported away.
Richard and Coal were at the edge of the forest, staring into the plains that awaited them.
"Well, Coal, one chapter ends. Another one awaits us," he said, his voice sounding a bit sad.
"Where are we headed?" Coal asked.
"Wherever this world chooses to take us, I suppose," he replied, uncertain.
"Come on, old friend, let's go exploring," Rich said.
They stepped onto the plains and never looked back. |
Fallout: Equestria - Red Glare | pre | The both of us laid there in silence, just staring at the sky watching the clouds roll past. Not too long I could hear him starting to snore, relaxing a bit knowing he was asleep and finally drifting to sleep myself.
00000
I don't know how long I slept, or if I dreamed, but as I woke up, I felt that familiar swaying of the cart. Jolting awake expecting to see the cage around me, but instead, I saw that the cage had been removed.
"What?" I said, looking around for a moment before I saw that now familiar stallion pulling the carriage.
"You were dead to the world when I woke up, figured I'd just load you up and start making headway." He said, looking back at me with a smirk. "The sooner we get there, the sooner I can get back to looking for the thing I lost."
I simply shrugged and rolled over, pulling my back over my face to try and get some more sleep, fairly quickly drifting off to sleep with the rhythmic rocking of the cart.
Hours went by, and as the warmth of the day started to hit I was stirred awake, pulling my bag from my face and sitting up, he looked back at me and smiled. "Morning sleepy head." He said, in an almost fatherly tone.
"Where are we?" I said, rubbing at my eyes and looking around, the trees and grass had given way to barren shrubland.
"Almost to Whinnyapolis, you woke up just in time." He chuckled and stopped the cart, taking the harness off and climbing onto the cart. "You get to pull it now."
"Excuse me?" I said, looking at him as he plopped down beside me.
"Pull the cart, I've been doing it for like eight hours straight, you want to travel with me, you pull your own weight." He said with a chuckle.
I rolled my eyes, and hopped from my place, walking in front of the cart and taking it in my magic to pull it along behind me.
"Fancy," he said as he looked around. "Not many unicorns can levitate more than a pencil or pen, here you are moving an entire cart."
"It's really no big deal," I said with a shrug. "Most of the unicorns from my stable can do it."
"So this stable, this non-stable-tec stable, what's so special about it," he asked, sitting up and looking to me.
"Well, it was made by a company called ATLAS, they were a military contractor before the war, but lost a lot of their contracts regarding bunker construction to Stable-Tec," I said, trotting along. "The township of Somnambula did a fundraiser and raised enough bits to fund a Stable to be constructed in their area, Stable-Tec said they had no plans for it, so they reached out to ATLAS."
"Huh, I guess they dodged a bullet then." He said with a chuckle. "Most Stable-Tec stables had some sort of sick twisted social experiment going on, most of them failed because of it."
"Well, that's disturbing," I said with a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, ATLAS loaded the stable down with military tech, most of my gear is Military grade."
"I noticed." He said with a chuckle. "So, that plating on your back, what's that for?"
"It's just spine strengthening and protection, also serves as higher integrated vital monitoring and a base for a long-range radio antenna," I said with a shrug. "Was set to be deployed to troops but the bombs fell before mass integration, the military was kind of reluctant to put augments on soldiers that couldn't be removed after the war."
"Does it help with how much you can carry, or resistance to spine injuries?" He asked, tilting his head.
"Carry, no, but it's very resistant to twisting and absorbs most of the impact from blows to the spine, so I'm pretty confident to say, if you tried to break my neck, it wouldn't let you," I said with a chuckle. "It's modeled off Kirin scales if you didn't notice."
"Kirin huh, haven't heard anything about them in quite a while, some ponies think they didn't survive the war." He said, chuckling a bit. "Over this hill here, you should get your first glimpse at Whinnyapolis."
I shifted my attention forward, eager to see one of the grand Equestrian cities from before the war, walking over the crest of the hill, I got everything but that. Before me lay a wasteland of crumbled buildings and rubble, nothing more than two stories tall still remained in a city that used to touch the sky.
"What happened here?.." I said, pausing.
"The weather, mostly." He said, jumping down from the cart and standing next to me. "There is a Single Pegasus Project tower nearby, nopony has been able to make it to it, but it keeps malfunctioning and sending things like tornadoes through the area, the last bastions of pony kind are the Mall of Equestria and the Whinnyapolis Skyport, though there is a hospital complex that is okay a few miles down the river."
"Malfunctioning?... What?" I said, looking at him.
"Yeah, and by the looks of it we might want to get a move on, seems like it's 'bout to unleash another doozy." He said, motioning to a thick almost black cloud cover that was moving into the area.
We both took off running, pulling the cart behind us, both him in the harness and me pulling it along with magic, I didn't want to see what he meant by doozy. The closer we got the more I could see the devastation of the area, Skeletons litter the streets, rubble, and debris everywhere, deep trenches cut through the terrain from torrential downpours, this city had definitely seen better days.
With a crack of lightning and the rumble of thunder overhead, the rain started to pour down, the wind steadily picking up till it felt like we were in a full-on gale. We took cover in what looked to be an old Subway entrance, below us was just full of water so we couldn't go too far in.
That's when I first saw it, towering structures in the sky, lights marking lines and scaffolding. "That's got to be the Skyport, right?" I said, looking to him. He simply nodded, I stared at the wondrous construction in awe for a few moments as the wind started to pick up even more.
We hunkered down here for a while, when the rain stopped I poked my head out to look around, to see if we could maybe make a run for it, but the wind was still blowing far too hard to even think about leaving. A distant rumble catching my attention, making me look around to see just what it could be.
Off in the distance, but rapidly approaching, a cone of violently rotating cloud. "So uh, about tornadoes," I said, looking back at him, he just shrugged. Within minutes it was upon us but only skirted by, beelining for the Skyport.
"Is that going to be a problem?" I said, eyes growing wide as I watched those magnificent structures being bent and twisted and coming crashing down as the twister smashed into the structure.
My heart sank, that's where we're heading and now we're watching it be torn apart by this storm, I looked to Cee, only to see that he wasn't even remotely bothered by what was happening.
"What the hell is wrong with you?! The Skyport is being destroyed and you're just casually sitting there completely fine with it?" I asked, getting annoyed with the stallion.
"It's not the first time it's been hit head-on, it'll survive." He said, shrugging. "It's got some of those fancy canterlot enchantments that make it repair itself, it's why it's still here after so long."
I stopped and turned to watch as that cone grew thinner and thinner, until disappearing entirely. The wind started to die down and the sun breaking through the clouds. We gathered our things and started for the Skyport, the closer we got the more I saw how damaged it was, windows broken out, the mooring towers crumbled and twisted laying about, debris piled up against the walls.
"This is going to be a very long day..." I said to myself as we approached, Cee just chuckled and nodded.
LEVEL UP!
Storm Riders
Having ridden out the storm and witnessing the world you've been thrown into
You find yourself more attuned to the weather, you'll more easily predict
When severe weather is on the way.
Per +1/Improved Weather Predictions Available on your Pipbuck |
Fallout: Equestria - Red Glare | Chapter 2: Silver Linings | "What lies behind us and what lies before us
Are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
The storm overhead started to die out and the sunlight started to burst through the clouds, I could hear this faint beeping from my bags, stopping and pulling from it my pipbuck. Looking at the interface I could see that a text at the bottom was flashing, saying "LEVEL UP". Shrugging to myself I selected the option.
Looking through what it had displayed before me, I picked one 'Storm Riders', shrugging again before I put it back in my bags and continued onwards.
"Hey, was that a Pipbuck you were just messing with?" Cee said, quickly catching up and walking beside me.
"Yeah, why?" I said with a shrug and a chuckle. "Everyone from the stable has one, I'm just the only one that doesn't like to wear it."
"Because that is an amazing piece of tactical gear, on the fly inventory management, and with the Eyes Forward Sparkle you can see everyth-" Cee started to say before I simply stopped him and shook my head.
"The EFS is a pain in the flank, and relying on its inventory management and what not just makes you soft and forget how to survive without one. I prefer it the old fashioned way - with no fancy magical overlay on my eyes." I said with a frown. "It's distracting, and the effects it has on a pony's sense of awareness when it's gone is disabling."
"You know with the right tweaks you could disable the EFS, right?" Cee said with a chuckle and a shrug, pausing as he directed my attention to the fence before us, written on it 'Two Brothers Skyport', and before it lay a massive structure, even larger now that we are upon it.
"So, Where do we go now?" I said, looking to my Pegasus companion. He just chuckles. "You go on in, I'm gonna start heading back to where I belong"
"Wait, you said you lived here, you said this was home." I said, glaring at him "You lied to me, didn't you"
"No sweetheart, I didn't - I live here in Whinnyapolis, I don't live in the Skyport. There's a hospital a few miles down the river, that's where I hang my hat." Cee said, chuckling and pushing my things from the wagon before he took it and started down the way
I just stood there, staring in disbelief as that pegasi walked away, taking a deep breath and levitating my bags back to my back, rifle affixed to my side, I started past the gate. A few steps in and two ponies come rushing to me.
"Halt! Stay right there!" One of them yells, the other just lifting his rifle and pointing it at me. "What brings you to our Skyport." He said.
I just groaned, I felt like Cee had just dumped me into a trap with more slavers or raiders or something. Thinking for a few moments I just sighed. "I'm a traveler, I came from Somnambula, I travel alone and was told to come here to refuge."
"Do you have any wares?" The other said, tentatively lowering his rifle.
"Wares? Like, things to trade?" I said, looking at him confused.
"Aye, wares, things to trade, got any?" He said again, keeping his rifle half lowered.
"I'm sorry, I don't," I said with another side. "I have nothing of value on me, not unless bits are of any value to you."
"Bits? Like, pre-war money? Lass, no one has used bits in decades around these parts" He said, chuckling, lowering his rifle all the way. "You must be from a stable, never heard of one out that way but you're welcome nonetheless."
"Of course not, why would anything be that easy," I said under my breath, before smiling back to that guard. "Yeah, absolutely from a stable - was it really that obvious?"
"Let's just agree, that stable dwellers aren't exactly like most covert of ponies, especially in a place like this." The guard chuckled a bit and looked back at the Skyport. "So you got a name stranger?"
"Solstice," I said, looking back to see what he had been looking for. "What about you?"
"Don't worry bout me, though it's nice to meet you Solstice." He said, relaxing a bit, putting his rifle back on its sling. "Just gotta wait for the welcoming committee to show up, as much as I'd like to see you in, gotta keep my post."
"As strange as it might sound, I do know what you mean," I said, taking a seat and taking a deep breath. Taking a moment to look around at all the piles of debris and wreckage around the area. "So... Are the storms what did all this? Or did a bomb play a part?"
"Just the storms, if a bomb was meant for here it never done went off." The guard said, chuckling a bit more "Not many ponies care much what caused this much damage to our little gem."
"Well, I've read books that detailed Whinnyapolis as a crown jewel of Equestrian society, one of the most modern cities built in Equestria," I said, smiling a bit at that guard. "Of course I'd like to know what happened, Not every city gets a rags to riches story, then gets reduced back to rags."
"It's still got its charm, though I gotta admit I owe a lot to those ministries. Not only did they invest big in Whinnyapolis, but they also put those ministry row protections on some of the city's most iconic structures, the Skyport for example, the mall, hell even a hospital a couple of miles up the river has it." He said, leaning back against the fencing and giving a sigh. "We'd be all dead and gone, or stuck in some other hell hole worrying about raiders if not for them."
"Really?" I said, surprised that such high powered enchantments would be used on seemingly innocuous structures. "The enchantments on Canterlot were rumored to be able to sustain everything short of all-out Armageddon, the fact they'd use them here is... both fascinating and alarming, do you know why?"
"They Skyport because of its importance to cloudship production most likely. Heck until recently we had a few husks of unfinished cloudships in the construction bays, cleared em out for increased living space." The second guard said, finally saying something making me spin round to face them. "And the mall and the hospital? Who knows why they were protected."
"Does anypony live in the mall or the hospital?" I said, looking back and forth between the two.
"The mall is connected to the Skyport, so yeah, a lot of us have quarters in the mall and use the Skyport as sort of the flea market area." The first guard said.
"As for the hospital, there were some ponies in there, but they stopped responding to us a while back, figured they either moved on or the storms finally got them." The second one added.
"I see... Maybe worth checking out if I get the chance?" I said, but before the two could answer another two armor-clad ponies came to the gate.
"This way Ma'am," they said, before turning round to guide me to the Skyport. Taking a moment to wave and bid goodbye to those two gate guards before following them in.
00000
They lead me along the perimeter of the fence, getting close to what appeared to be a bridge, though it had piles of rubble either side that seemed to shelter underneath. Emblazoned on the size of the bridge, two unicorn stallions that appeared to be shaking hooves.
"Who's that?" I said, taking a moment to pause and examine it closer.
"The Flim Flam Brothers." One guard said.
"They donated a large sum of bits to the construction of both the mall and the Skyport, encouraging this bridge to be built so that travelers from the Skyport could come over to the mall." The second one added.
"The Flim Flam Brothers? But, they were scam artists, weren't they? Always looking to make a quick bit and not really caring about quality or customer satisfaction? Why would they want to give money up?" I said a bit confused.
"There's been a debate about that, some say that it's because they owned a large portion of the mall, and to allow travelers easy transit from the Skyport to the mall would allow for higher sales and thus they get a quicker return on their investment." One guard said, taking off their helmet.
Taking a moment to examine this guard, I could see that she was most definitely a mare, no horn, and wings so likely an earth pony. Cream-colored coat and a brownish colored mane. 'Finally, some way to tell who's talking' I thought to myself.
"Okay, that makes sense," I said with a chuckle. "They weren't responsible for that bridge were they?"
"Responsible how? That they designed it or whatever?" The second guard said with a chuckle, "Nah, they just gave the Engineer Corps the bits, they built the bridge, it's not even protected by the enchantments, it just refuses to come down."
"Impressive" I muttered, before smiling to the guards. "Let's get inside, hopefully, it's dryer and warmer in there."
I hadn't noticed it until that moment, but my clothing was absolutely soaked. I wasn't sure if it was from the rain, or if I had sweated through it all, but one thing was certain I really could use a quick drying off.
The guards nodded, and quickly made their way to a nearby unblocked door, opening it and letting me in first - I could hear the sounds of laughter and talking inside, no one seemed even bothered that this place just took a direct hit from a tornado. Walking inside I realized this area was the main terminal, the tall vaulted ceilings, and balconies overlooking the main seating area still intact.
"Okay, just wow," I said as I stopped and gawked at the prewar equestrian architecture, this room was definitely built to impress and show off the best that Whinnyapolis had to offer.
"Like it? We just painted it." The mare said with a chuckle.
"Seriously?" I said, looking to her surprised for a moment.
"Nah, this paint is as old as the structure, those enchantments keep it fresh." She said, chuckling a bit more. "Anyway, it's this way to check-in, and over the radio I heard that you have some bits, you can convert them over in the market, though the bit to cap ratio is a bit bad right now, not too long ago it was three or four caps for a bit so it might be a better idea to hold onto them."
"Well, is there odd jobs I can do or something to earn some... caps?" I said, pausing a moment as it finally sunk in, they were using old discarded bottle caps as a currency, eventually, I hoped to find out why.
"There is a task board over by the outfitter, most jobs are tough pickings though - too many ponies not enough work I'm afraid." The second guard said. "If you are really desperate for caps, we do have a bar here that'll take walk-ins for escorting or dancing, if you're any good at either of that."
I paused and considered my options, to trade in the bits I had for a small pile of caps that wouldn't last me very long, wait and scope out the job board to hopefully get a good-paying job or to simply go to that bar.
"We'll see," I said, shaking myself out of it. "So, You said that there is the outfitter, I suppose that's where I can get clothing and armor?"
"Yes ma'am, all the shops are easily identifiable, just look for the sign." the mare said with a chuckle "And if you can't tell what the sign is, you can ask the shopkeep, they usually don't have much problem talking your ear off if given the chance. Hell, ask them if they have any work - never know, might get lucky."
"Is there anything else I should know before you two let me free?" I said, smiling a little nervously.
"Only one thing. Don't piss off Aria, pissing her off is an easy way to get your flank thrown out of here." The mare said with a sigh. "Not much a fan of her, I have to say, but she's been the leader this place needed ever since she took it from our sleezelord."
"So, don't annoy the big boss, got it." I said, nodding and smiling to the two before they stopped next to a door marked 'guards only' and turned to face me.
"Alright, check-in is done, you can go about the market." The guard still wearing their helmet said.
"Wait, but we didn't do anything," I said, looking at them, then to the mare who was getting ready to put her helmet back on. "Is that really it? Just the tour?"
"Pretty much." She said, smiling at me. "Get the guests orientated, make sure they know where everything is and what services are available to them, make them feel welcomed and valued, once that's done we get to go back to the barracks and wait for the next one."
"So, now I'm all alone?" I questioned, looking between the two. They both simply shrugged, waved to me then disappeared behind the door. I took a deep breath and turned around. Facing the loud, noisy hall in front of me suddenly I felt much more overwhelmed.
"Alright Solstice, you can do this, just maintain composure, it's not like you're Celestia knows how far away from home, in the ruins of a city that you've never been to and essentially broke... You've faced admittedly worse, you just need to stay strong." I said to myself under my breath as I started to feel a bit of panic washing over me. "... But why alone?"
00000
I took some time to get my bearings, wandering around the marketplace just trying to feel my way around. Pausing outside a store that has a large neon sign in the shape of what looks to be a rifle. Coming up to the counter, an older stallion turned to face me, he looked grizzled and beaten, scars adorning his face and upper body like he had seen his fair share of battlefields.
"Ay there lass, what can I do for you." He said, Smiling at me as he leaned over his counter.
"You're a weapons merchant, right?" I said, taking a moment to return the smile, albeit mine was far more nervous and even a bit scared.
"Aye, that I am." He said, chuckling and motioning behind him at all the weapons racks covered in various weapons and piles of ammunition.
"The sign said you offer the best conversion rate for bits to caps?" I said, smiling a little more nervously as the stallion's eyes narrowed at me for a moment before he'd give a belly laugh.
"Aye, willin' to be giving a cap for every two bits." He said, giving an idle scratch at his face.
"That sounds backward if you don't mind me saying," I said, taking a deep breath and trying to maintain composure.
"Lass, I said what I meant, two bits for a cap." He said, his expression turning more stern.
"Oh, I see," I said, nervously looking around.
"Would have been better if you came in yesterday, caravan came through last night, apparently made it into an old bank vault, saturated the entire Skyport with so many bits ponies don't know what to do with them." He said, his expression returning to that more carefree and friendly expression it was before.
"So, how about jobs? Do you have any task I could do for you?" I said, smiling a little more earnestly.
"Not that I can th- wait no, actually, I do have somethin' you could be doing." He said, chuckling and pointing across the way to a door. "Some Bloatsprites got in my storage shed recently, clear em out and I'll make it worth your while."
"What's the pay?" I said, taking a deep breath.
"150 Caps" He said with a chuckle.
"150? That's all? That doesn't seem like much..." I said, sighing a little to myself.
"Fine, I'll give you 200, that's it any higher and it ain't worth the goods they're blocking," He said, giving a sigh of his own.
I paused and looked at him confused, I wasn't even trying to get an increased price, just seemed like 150 caps was so low, 200 wasn't much better but I wasn't going to complain.
"Sure, you have yourself a deal," I said, holding my hoof out to him, he paused and looked at it a second before he chuckled and shook it.
"Not every day a pony likes to seal a deal with a hoofshake," he said with a chuckle "anything else I can do for you?"
"Yeah, What are bloatsprites?" I said with a nervous chuckle.
"Flyin critters, what happened to the Parasprites from before the war, but they're all mutated now. Pretty mean too if you ain't careful." He said, chuckling "Will that be it?"
I paused and thought to myself, before I nodded and smiled "Yeah, that'll be all, I'll be back when I finish clearing them out."
With one final wave I moved on to the next stall, seeing a young mare and a robot by it, She was wiping down the counter while the robot was organizing and stocking the shelves. Coming up to them they both perked up and smiled at me.
"Hey, welcome to Skyport Supply," She said with a cheerful smile. "Don't think I've ever seen you around here before, you new?"
"Yeah, just blew in," I said, to which the mare gave a bit of a laugh.
"Well then, what can I do for you?" She said, pushing the rag she had been handling before off to the side of the counter.
"Do you convert bits into caps?" I said with a smile.
"Oh absolutely! One to One in fact!" she said; cheerful as ever.
"That's great to hear," I said, smiling and breathing a sigh of relief. "Though I don't suppose you can do better than one to one?"
"Nope, sorry, most places in the market aren't even going to offer one to one," She said, her cheery demeanor never dropping. "Most of 'em come to me with 'em anyway, I'm the only pony here that knows smithing."
"Smithing?" I said, curiosity peaking for the moment.
"Y'know, melting down metals, casting them into other things. Most bits aren't made of much worthwhile stuff, but I can cast figurines or ministry mare statuettes outta it." She said, turning around and showing off a full set of the figurines, shimmering and polished bright. "Some of the trading caravans that come through really like 'em pays a good bit of caps for one."
"Do you still have the originals?" I said, looking at those cast statuettes. "I heard that there were a very limited number of them made if you had the original set still that'd be something to be proud of."
"Unfortunately not, just knew how to make the molds when I got my hooves on them one at a time, never got to keep them. Creepy items them, they seemed practically indestructible" She said with a chuckle. "I swear I heard voices when I had em."
"Voices huh? Suppose you believe in ghosts then?" I said with a chuckle, she just laughed and shrugged. "So, anyway how about work, do you have any tasks I could do?"
"Not that I can think of, sorry! Maybe check back later, I tend to run out of things all the time and could use help getting more!" She said, I sighed and nodded, and turned to walk away, after a few steps she called out "What about the bits?"
"I'm going to hold onto them, I'm sorry," I said, and for the first time, she frowned, and just went back to wiping down the counter. I just paused and looked at her for the moment, that robot never turning around or trying to interact with me at all.
Moving on again, stopping at a stand with a pony in a long white coat, a green cross logo in neon on display.
"Hey!" I said, walking up.
The pony jumped and turned around to face me. Seeing a young stallion's face smiling at me.
"Howdy! When can I do for you?" He said, nervously chuckling. "Need patching up? Maybe want to change your looks? Spice up your life?"
"Ah, a doctor?" I said, chuckling a bit. "No, not at all."
"Oh, I see... What do you need?" He said, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Actually, I'd like to see the supplies you have, if any are for sale," I said with a smile, I wanted to judge the price of things.
When he opened a nearby cabinet, inside a display with healing potions, an assortment of bandages, as well as rad-away and radsafe. Going through and checking the prices, namely the healing potion, 20 caps for just one.
"Is 20 caps the best price for healing potions?" I asked, to which he just shrugged. "Seems caps aren't exactly the same value as bits used to be... this might be problematic."
"What was that?" he said, with a smile. When I backed away from the closet he'd swing the door shut. "Nothing catching your eye?"
"No just browsing, just... checking pricing is all." I said, giving a smile back to him as I waved and moved away, coming back into what I would assume is a commons area, from the young fillies and colts running around and playing, and a number of ponies sitting and talking.
Staring at the door that leads to that shopkeep's storage shed, thinking it couldn't be so bad, I mean I have my rifle and if push comes to shove I can just deal with them with magic, why was it so terrifying to even consider?
"If you can't even be bothered to go and clear out a shed full of bugs... how are you ever going to do anything else, I mean, come on, you squashed radroaches all the time in the stable, why would killing bloatsprites be any different" I said to myself, taking a deep breath and sighing.
"Was I in over my head? Should I have demanded to be brought back home? Even if I did, would those Griffons from before let me go or would they want to take revenge on me? Could I ever go home again without being followed and risking the whole stable?... Dear Celestia... what have I done?" I muttered to myself as I walked towards the shed, stopping at the door and checking my rifle one last time. "Guess this is my life now..."
Pressing my hoof to the door and taking a deep breath, the first thing that hit me as the door swung open was the absolute stench that came from within, Instantly my eyes started to water and I started to second guess myself, but I pushed forward.
"You're going to need caps Solstice, you have to do this, no matter how bad it gets..." I said to myself, before covering my muzzle with a hoof. "... though a gas mask would help.."
I took a few more steps before I couldn't take it anymore, bolting out the door and slammed it behind me.
"Nope nope nope, all of my nope," I said, rapidly shaking my head.
"Did I forget to tell ye?" I heard that old stallion's voice from before. "Bloatsprites stink somthin' fierce."
"Yeah, you forgot to tell me that," I said as I shot him a glare. "Anything else you want to tell me?"
"Ye, there are supplies in there that have been abandoned for years, kill the bloatsprites I'll let you take it for free." He said with a chuckle.
I just stared at him for a moment or two, eye twitching ever so slightly before I let out a sigh. "Fine fine... do you at least have a gas mask?"
"Nope, those went extinct here ages ago sweetheart" he chuckled, turning around and heading back over to his stall. "Good luck though."
"That old bastard.." I muttered under my breath, taking a moment to look back at the door I stood and shook my head, no way am I going in there, not yet.
Going back to the central seating area and plopping myself down into one of the seats, I took a deep breath and sighed. "This is a mess... maybe I should just go to the bar and see if they have any places for an escort..."
"A lovely mare like you? Escorting, now that's funny." I heard a stallion say from behind, caught off guard I turned to face him.
"What do you mean, isn't that the kind of mare they want?" I said, frowning at him.
"You're above that, I can see it in your eyes." He said with a smirk. "Chestnut, Chestnut Chase, Grandson of the great Walnut, perhaps you've heard of me."
"I... What?" I said, holding back my laughter. "I'm sorry, but I have no clue what you're talking about."
".. You've seriously never heard of us?" Chestnut said, his face turning to one of disbelief. "I thought everypony around here had heard about my Family... My grandfather was the elected official responsible for this community starting!"
"Ah, you see, I'm not from around here," I said, snickering a little. "So, you're all named after nuts? Is it because of your profession, or something else?"
"We used to be nut farmers before the storms got too intense and destroyed our fields." He said, starting to scowl. "Perhaps I was wrong and you wouldn't like my sponsoring."
"... Sponsoring?" I said, looking at him confused.
"You clearly have nowhere near enough caps to survive in this area, and I was willing to give you a generous donation if you'd agree to a few set things for me," Chestnut said, his calmer almost regal demeanor returning.
"You just... Want to give me money?" I said, even more confused. "And what would you want me to do in return?"
"Attend a meeting later with me, my father is afraid I will never sire a grandchild for him to live on the legacy and if you can pretend to be my marefriend for one night he'll leave me alone," Chestnut said, sitting beside me and sighing.
"That's it?" I said, laughing a little. "I just have to help you get your dad off your back?"
"It may require some... kissing and touching, mind you, my family has always been very forward and open with our relationships, it was not uncommon to find father and mother in the lobby... going at it. If you get what I mean." He said, nervously chuckling.
"So, there is a chance you might want to... with me... so you basically want me to be an escort for you, but to pretend to be your marefriend at the same time?" I said with a deep breath. "And how many caps are we talking here?"
"I'm afraid so." He said, with a deep sigh.
"So much for being too lovely of a lady for escorting, huh?" I said with a chuckle.
"I would believe a total of three thousand caps would be more than enough for your service, would be ten times more than you'd get per client at the bar." He said, trying to regain composure.
"Three thousand? That's it? Really?" I sighed "is that all my company, and potentially my body, is worth to you?"
"Five thousand?" He said, nervously. "Wait no, Eight! Eight thousand?"
"You're really desperate for this, aren't you," I said with a chuckle, "Fine, you have a deal, Eight thousand caps, upfront, paid right now."
"Yes, ma'am!" He said, pulling out a satchel of caps and dropped them in my hoof. "I look forward to later!"
I had half a mind to take the caps and run, but a part of me really feels that doing so would just be a disservice to me and other stable dwellers like me, and I really didn't want to be the cause of an entire settlement being untrusting.
"How bad could it be..." I muttered under my breath, chuckling a little and shaking my head. "Knowing my luck, daddy dearest is going to expect him to pin and rut me at the dinner table."
I paused at that, thinking to myself a little more, reconsidering the idea of taking the money and running, but where would I run to? Trying to escape the area looked like it would be suicide, between unstable rubble and unpredictable storms, simply not worth the risk. Maybe I should just accept it and do as expected.
I took a deep breath, looking at the satchel of caps in my hoof, bouncing it, throwing it a few times. Contemplating my options and the choices that soon I would definitely have to make.
00000
Minutes seemed like hours as I sat there fiddling with that heavy satchel, taking a moment to stop and peer inside. The pile and weight of these bottle caps were impressive, but I still wondered their worth. Shrugging I slipped from my seat and put the Bag into my bags.
"Okay, let's not dwell Solstice, you've made worse decisions in the past and never doubted yourself like this, why start now," I said to myself, brushing myself off and taking a quick look around. "Maybe, it'd be a good idea to get something to eat..."
Wandering my way back into the market area nearby, taking a look at multiple stands before sighing, wondering to myself if I'd ever find something that looks palatable before a familiar smell caught my attention. Following my nose to a corner stall and ducking my head under the curtain, I saw a young stallion standing there, levitating and handling some fresh noodles.
"Oh thank the goddesses, are you open?" I asked as he looked at me with a slightly confused look.
"Nan-ni shimasu-ka?" He said, tilting his head
"I.. uh... what?" I said, staring at him about as equally confused.
"Dunno, we used to have a robot that would only say that." He said with a chuckle. "What can I get you?"
Slipping into the shop and taking a seat at a stool nearest to the young stallion. "Sure... uh... how about..." I said, pausing to look at the menu, none of these names looked or sounded familiar at all. Scratching at my chin for a few moments before I simply smiled and said "Uh... how about the house special?"
"Good choice!" He said, still handling the fresh noodles he had been pulling as he turned to tend to and mix a pot full of, what I believe to be a soup of sorts.
"What is the house special?" I said, nervously
"Oh, it's a mixture of our secret blend of herbs and spices, with a helping of our fresh pulled noodles, and chunks of radroach to liven it up and get some extra protein in," He said without missing a beat. "Not every pony has the stomach to eat them, but those who do say it's actually not that bad."
He said, turning around to face me, the way he looked at me I would swear my face was literally green. My stomach doing somersaults at the idea of eating anything related to radroaches.
"Uh... we do have a soy substitute if you don't want the radroach?" He said, nervously.
"Yes, please," I said, nodding rapidly before breathing a sigh of relief.
"Should have told you that when you ordered huh?" He said with a chuckle. "Sometimes I forget that not everypony can stomach some of the harder stuff."
"It's not that, I'm sure when I adjust to food out here I'll be fine," I said, sighing a little. "Food in the stable was never so... eccentric, for lack of a better word."
"Stable huh? You didn't strike me as a Stable Dweller, felt you were more like maybe an estranged steel ranger or maybe really bad enclave spy." He said with a chuckle.
"Steel Ranger? Enclave? What the hay is that?" I said with a huff.
"Two militaristic factions of the wasteland, authoritarian, their way or no way kind of bunch." He said with a chuckle. "Then you have the New Canterlot Republic and the Free Roam Alliance, those two are... about as 'eccentric' as our food."
"Are they around here?" I said, taking a moment to look over my shoulder.
"Enclave's been sniffing at our door for a while, they really want to get their hooves on the Skyport, but thanks to the storms they've never been able to get close. Think its bad down here? It's worse up there. High-level winds strong enough to rip a Thunderhead apart."
"A what?" I said I could feel my eye twitch a little.
"Uh... a large Warship, bad news, very bad news." He said with a chuckle. "They've sent spies to try and undermine us, to destabilize our community, really anything they can to try and get us to leave, or make us so weak a ground invasion doesn't get wiped."
"Definitely sounds like a nasty bunch," I said with a sigh. "So, is there any other factions I need to work with, around, or worry about?"
"Nope, other than us." He said. Placing a bowl on the counter and spooning some soup into it.
"Us? As in everyone in the Skyport and mall?" I asked.
"Yep, that's about our limit, we used to be a much rougher and tumble kind of bunch, but then old man Walnut started a small trading outpost, it grew, attracted attention, eventually grew big enough the storms were a threat, cleared out the alicorns that set up shop here and hung our flag at the door." He said, pushing the bowl over to me.
"Alicorns? You mean there are more than the four?" I asked, straightening my back a little and looking at the soup, despite what was supposed to be in it, I had to admit it looked quite attractive and tasty no less.
"Yep, a bunch of Alicorns run the wastes now under the flag of a monstrosity that called herself the goddess." He said, stepping around the counter and sitting next to me. "Though if the rumor is right, the goddess is dead and Maripony is a smoking crater now."
"Are they a threat? The alicorns?" I said, taking a spoonful of soup and examining it more closely.
"Nah, they are pretty docile unless you threaten them, at least around these parts. They like to preach a lot though, get pretty annoying." He said with a shrug. "Was tempted to join them for a little while, but then I found out if I went through with it I'd be turned into a mare, and well - I'm pretty much attached to how I am now, been this way as long as I can remember."
I paused my examining of the soup to look at him, wondering in the back of my mind if that was an attempt at a joke, or if he was hinting that he hasn't always been the stallion I see before me. His goofy smile being a bit of a telltale sign it was a bad joke.
Giving a little laugh myself, before absent-mindedly taking that spoonful I had been looking at and stuffing it in my mouth. Freezing the instant it hit my tongue, contemplating the taste now literally filling my mouth. The only thing that came to mind, wasn't gross, wasn't disgusting, but it wasn't delicious either, it was SPICY.
I eventually broke free of my stupor and pulled that spoon from my mouth, looking at him as he smirked and laughed a little.
"I guess I should have told you that most of those herbs and spices are pretty hot." He said, reaching over the counter and grabbing what looked like a small vial of cloudy fluid. "Here, this should kill some of the spice."
He gently uncorked the vial and put the fluid in my soup, mixing it for a moment before he motioned to me to taste it again.
Once again, taking the spoon in my aura, taking a spoonful of liquid to my nose, taking a sniff and definitely smelling more of a citrus smell, before tentatively taking a sip from the spoon, the spice was still there, but a bit more tolerable, though there was definitely more than a hint of lemon in it now.
"Lemon juice?" I said, looking at him.
"Not quite, it's in the same family from lemons, but we're not sure what to call it - really it's just a mutated lemon that grows like an orange," he said with a shrug. "Citrus counters spice, so a little of it and it can calm the burn."
"I see," I said, before more eagerly taking another spoonful of soup. "You must be big on culinary arts if you know stuff like that."
"Not really, keeping in mind most ponies around here like a bit more burn for some reason, but not every trader that comes through enjoys a mouth of fire every bite." He said with a shrug. "This is just where I'll be until I can get a trader caravan going the right way towards my dream."
"What's that?" I commented, chuckling a little.
He just walked to a nearby window and pointed to the three towers looming in the distance. "To get there, to see what is there, who is there, those towers are protected better than the Skyport and mall, somepony has to be there, but they're too far away to travel on hoof."
I stared out the window at those towers for a few moments, they looked ominous against the wasted skyline of the destroyed city, yet even the lights on the antenna reaching high into the sky and clouds glowed brightly.
"What then? Where are you going to go afterward?" I said, turning back to him.
"Don't know, maybe find a mare, settle down, have a few hellraisers to carry on my legacy," he said with a laugh, getting up and going behind the counter. "And don't worry about the soup, it's on the house."
I stopped and looked at him in confusion once more.
"Technically, we're closed for the evening - The register is locked and even if I wanted you to pay for it, it's not proper to ask a lovely young lady to pay for her first meal," He said with a smile. "You going to be at the bar later?"
I paused and looked at him for a few moments. "Do you think I'm an escort?"
"Nope!" he said cheerily "I was hoping I would find you there and we could talk some more. Not every day you have a blank slate that has literally no clue about anything"
"I see," I said, taking another spoonful of soup before I smiled at him. "That's very sweet of you, but I have a... for lack of a better word, a date later with Chestnut Chase."
"Him? Why him?" He said, almost sounding insulted.
"Well, he offered me eight thousand caps if I agreed to pretend to be his girlfriend and got his dad off his back," I said with a sigh. "Really, having second thoughts about that."
The shopkeeper's eyes went wide at the mention of the value "Guess he's running out of options, huh?" He said, chuckling a little. "Wonder when he's going to tell his dad, he's gay."
To that, my eyes went wide and I looked at him. "You're joking? He's gay? I had no idea..." I said, taking a moment to peer back at the satchel of caps.
"Well, in my more adventurous times before deciding stallions aren't for me he was a flame of mine." He said with a chuckle. "When you're young and questioning a lot of things, you think that may be a good choice in partner could be other guys"
I gagged a little on the soup at that, stifling a chuckle.
"So, you're telling me - if he has to... with me tonight, to get his dad off his back..." I said, snickering a little under my breath.
"He'll never be able to complete." He laughed a little. "Trust me, he's as gay as they come, I see him eyeballing a lot of the traders that come through, I think he's planning on diving out with one of them and running away."
"Huh, sounds romantic," I said, snickering a little, feeling a little more confident with his laugh.
"Like one of your fillyhood books, right?" he said, laughing a bit more. "It's the wasteland, anything can happen, even twisted versions of foal's books."
The two of us laughed at this for a short while, before I'd quickly finish up my soup, despite him saying it was free giving him quite the generous tip and waving goodbye to him as I slipped from the shop.
Pausing to look at a clock, taking a deep breath as I noticed the time.
"Almost showtime," I said, sighing a little and adjusting my bags one last time.
00000
Only a few moments passed before Chestnut would come and collect me, leading me along the halls and corridors of the Skyport, pausing every now and then to look at his watch.
"So, I heard you're gay," I said, rather blatantly.
He froze in his tracks and turned to face me. "Who told you?"
I swear if the color from his coat could drain away, he would be as white as a ghost right now.
"Shopkeeper at the noodle bar?" I said, with a nervous smile, not expecting it to be something so intense.
"I see.." He said, taking a deep breath and sighing. "You haven't told anyone have you?"
"Why would I? I only found out when I said that I needed to pretend to be your marefriend tonight and was worried you'd want to go all out with me." I said, breathing a short sigh.
"It's not in my hooves, what father says goes, and if he demands I do it, I have to," Chestnut said, sighing and shaking his head. "I hope he doesn't, I could never... produce... for a mare."
"I guess that'll be a bridge we'll cross when we get to it," I said, chuckling a little. "I used to be convinced I was into mares, I tried my hardest to get and keep a marefriend, never could keep them,"
"Could you please them?" Chestnut said looking at me, looking a little concerned.
"Like, in the sack? I mean, I'd hope so... the last one I could really get going." I said, shrugging. "But it's like we never clicked, you know?"
"Oh absolutely! It was like that when I tried to get a marefriend and convince myself I'm not what I am" He said, starting to relax. "Though they really wanted me to... you know, and I could never actually do it no matter how we tried."
"They just didn't really get you going, huh?" I said, looking at him with a smirk.
"They got me going just fine, but I just... couldn't complete, okay? I couldn't produce for them and that left them dissatisfied" He said, sounding a little embarrassed.
"Hey, Look at it this way, if you and I need to for your dad's sake, at least I don't need to come and visit in eleven months," I said with a laugh.
"Silver linings, huh?" He laughed back.
"Yeah, I've noticed a lot of that recently, for every dark storm cloud I've run into today, there has always been a silver lining to it," I said with a chuckle. "I never really believed there could be good even in the worst of the bad, but today is proving me wrong."
Chestnut went to say something before a set of large doors in front of us swung open, standing there a very stern-looking older stallion, with what appeared to be what some would call a trophy mare beside him.
"D-Dad!" He said with a nervous laugh before he motioned to me "This is my marefriend S... uh.... Sol?"
"Solstice," I said, reaching a hoof out to that older stallion. "Nice to meet you, sir."
"Solstice huh?" He said, looking me over for a moment, pacing around me. "Why have I never seen you around here before?"
Chestnut looked like he was about to panic.
"Trader Caravan sir, offer my security services any time I find one heading this way so I get to spend more time with your son, sir," I said, falling back on my military training more than anything.
"Impressive, a mare that can fight." He said, his tone condescending. "Ample breeding stock from the looks of it too, nice wide flanks, lithe and lean barrel."
"Sir, may I request that you do not talk about my aptitude for having foals," I said, resisting the urge to tell him off. "When Chestnut and I decide we're ready, you can rest assured we will definitely consider it."
"Y-yes! Absolutely" Chestnut said, just trying to play along and work with me.
"If you are to be with my son, and become a part of my family, I want to know that my son has good taste and is not bringing a barren hag into my family. We're a proud and wealthy group, and only the best are fit to join." He said, standing in front of me. "Though you do have the gall to stand up to me, and speak your mind, I respect that."
The next few moments were admittedly quite tense, between his father looking at me, still checking me out I could tell as his eyes wandered around, Chestnut looking like he was about to burst, I can feel my frustration mounting, pushing me to want to yell at and tell this stallion off for this poor behavior.
"And here I was afraid you were going to just go and throw a bag of caps at some floozy in the promenade to get her to pose as your marefriend, glad to see that I was wrong." He said, moving back over to his trophy wife of a mare. "She is acceptable."
Chestnut breathed a sigh of relief and looked like the weight of the world had been pulled from his shoulders. A few moments later his father went back to what appeared to be an elevator and disappeared behind the doors.
"So, you going to tell me why you didn't stand up to him and get him to back off when he was checking me out," I said, turning to Chestnut with a frown.
"I'm too scared of him to dare tell him what he's doing is wrong," Chestnut said, with a sigh and gently rubbed the back of his neck. "As I said, it's best to just do what dad says and let things be as they are, then tell him off and try and make him stop."
"I'll try, but I'll have it be known speaking my mind is something I've always been an advocate for," I said with a sigh. "So where to next?"
"My room to prepare for dinner, I have a dress that I hope to the goddesses above will fit you," Chestnut said, giving a soft smile at me before giving a sigh and shaking his head. "I hate this, I really hate this, I hate pretending to be somepony I'm not just to appease my dad."
"We all have to do things we don't want to do, it's a part of growing up," I said, shaking my head with a sigh "Though pretending to be something you're not is a new one to me, are you sure he'd be so against if you told him you're gay?"
"Back when Grandpa ran the Skyport, any time a pony came out as... well, like me, they were put out and usually, the storms got them." Chestnut said, sighing a bit more. "Dad was always looking up to his father for that, I think if given the chance he'd do it too."
"But your dad isn't the boss?" I said, tapping a hoof. "He can't put you out and let the storms kill you, others would surely let you back in, right?"
"I suppose, but I'd be cut off from my mom, my family, my money, why in Equestria would I want to do that?" he said, standing and starting to walk to a nearby door.
I just sighed to myself, shaking my head and following him, a sinking feeling that tonight is about to get a whole hell of a lot longer. |
Fallout: Equestria - Red Glare | Chapter 3: Revelations and Revolutions | "You gain strength, courage, and confidence
by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.
You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."
-Eleanor Roosevelt
I watched as he reached for the door, pushing it open and holding it for me, I couldn't help but smile as I walk past him, looking around at what turns out to be a large, expansive bedroom.
"Almost as big as the Atrium in my home stable," I commented, laughing a little and looking back to Chestnut, who looked rather embarrassed.
"I guess, It's really far too much but dad doesn't listen to me," He commented, shaking his head as he came over and sat on the end of his bed. "We have so much, and the ponies of the Skyport and Mall have barely anything. Ripped blankets, indistinguishable slop for dinner, yet we sit in our palace."
"Sounds like your heart is in the right place, but you're too scared of your dad to do anything," I said, coming over and sitting beside him. "Maybe if you stopped questioning yourself, and embrace who you are, you'd be able to actually do what your heart tells you."
"Even if I did stand up and tried, my dad would shut me down faster than I can blink," Chestnut said, flopping back onto his bed and staring up at his ceiling. "I tell my dad the truth, he disowns me and I lose everything, I try and do the right thing and help the less fortunate, my dad scoffs and punishes me for supporting the 'lesser beings'."
"And here I thought him deciding to check out the mare his son is supposedly with was a bad sign, does he really think that he's that much better than everypony else?" I said looking at Chestnut with confusion and alarm.
"He thinks that every single pony in the Skyport has the potential to be like us, but none of them are ambitious enough to actually pursue their dreams and make this potential a reality." Chestnut said with a sigh "I tried to explain to him that times have changed, that opportunity has passed and most ponies down in the Skyport aren't able to make this a reality because all opportunities are taken."
"That's why you are so scared of angering him, isn't it?" I said giving him a little nudge "You think if you mess up, anger him, get him to kick you out that you'll never be able to get back to the same position you are in now."
"I... actually, that's about right," he said, sitting up and looking at me with minor confusion. "What do you think?"
"About what? The Opportunities being gone?" I said and he nodded. "Well, I think you're both right and both wrong - I think the opportunities are there for those who look for them, but I feel like most say that they're all gone because finding one is too difficult."
"What if you spend your whole life looking for one, and never find one?" Chestnut said as he sighed and slouched some.
"Then maybe achieving wealth and power wasn't something you were meant to do," I said with a shrug. "But that borders on the whole fate and destiny thing, and really I never really subscribed to that idea."
Chestnut seemed to perk up a little, he still was staring down at his hooves but he wasn't pouting as much and didn't seem as upset. A few moments passed before he jumps to his hooves and goes to his closet nearby, pulling out an emerald green colored gown and showed it to me.
"This is the dress that I was talking about, do you think it'll fit you?" He said, holding it out.
Taking it into my magic and looking it over, examining the seams and trying to get a judge for its size. "I don't see why not, I'm averagely sized for a mare and this seems like it was made for the average mare."
Standing from his bed and taking a moment to try and put the dress on, finding it caught and snagged on my back along the armored plates.
"Maybe if you took your armor off?" He suggested nervously.
"Easier said than done, the plates are clamped into my spine, to remove them would mean to break my spine in several places, and unless you have a whole heap of healing potions and med-x nearby, that'll be a problem," I said, tapping at my chin a moment.
"What if we filled in the gaps between the plates? And smoothed out the ridges?" He suggested, motioning to his closet. "I think I have a slip somewhere in here, it's meant for stallions but it might be perfect for making the dress fit over that armor."
"Sounds feasible," I said with a shrug, coming over and checking out his closet with him. Gawking at the number of suits and other perfectly kept and pressed outfits. "How do you have all of these?"
"Simple, Cotton plants, one of the construction bays we filled with debris seems to grow them pretty well." Chestnut said with a chuckle, "Maybe in some time, the new harvest will come in and you'll get a chance to get a nice dress or something."
"Nice thought, though if they fit like this one I don't know how it'll work out," I said, chuckling some and pulling out what looked to be the slip.
"Usually I am not one for layering clothing, but I feel like if you come to dinner in no formal dress my father is going to have an aneurysm," Chestnut said with a nervous chuckle. "He has some very... eccentric views on romance."
"With his other views, that's only moderately bothersome," I said with a nervous smile, looking over the slip before trying it on, making sure it sits smoothly across the plates along my back. "Silk shirts, not exactly something I would expect to be used this way."
"Maybe so, but if it is anything like silk sheets, this shirt should make that dress slip on like a hot knife through butter," Chestnut said, going back to the bed and picking the dress up, bringing it back to me.
"Before we do that, can't we talk some more? I mean, I'm curious about you," I said, smiling and putting that dress aside for the moment.
"I, uh... sure, I guess if you really want to?" He said nervously, taking a seat with his back against a tall standing dresser.
"Well, like... how old are you, what do you do, what do you want in life?" I said, sitting beside him and smiling at him.
"Old enough to know better, young enough to not care," He said and laughed a bit, "As for what I do? I.. I really never discovered what I wanted to do, I don't even understand what my Cutiemark is for."
"Well, what is it? Your cutie mark," I said, motioning to his flank.
"Just a whole chestnut with a halved chestnut," He said with a sigh, "I wonder if I'm supposed to be a Nut farmer, like the rest of my family, but our orchards are gone, the storms make it impossible to grow a new one."
"Well, do you remember what you were doing when you got your cutie mark?" I said, giving him a quick nudge.
"I... I was just a young colt, I snuck down to the Skyport's kitchens and was helping the chef down there make a rice dish," Chestnut said rubbing at his chin for a moment. "I don't remember exactly what I was doing, but I was cooking... I used to love cooking."
"Why did you stop?" I said, smiling at him more.
"... Because my father said that we have servants for that reason and that no child of his will ever dirty their hooves with menial tasks like cooking," Chestnut said, slouching again.
"Well, if you love cooking, and got your cutie mark when you were cooking, maybe you have a natural talent for cooking and your father is keeping you from that," I said, placing a hoof to his haunches. "Your father is a lot of reasons why you're not being who you really are, isn't he?"
"I guess, I mean, my family is so prestigious, a rags to riches story just like this city itself. Lowly nut farmers suddenly making it big, building a strong community and economy where most under it thrive, we've been gliding on the wealth my grandfather made, we've not made any new money since the fields were destroyed and my grandfather was kicked out of office." Chestnut said and sighed, shaking his head.
"Sounds like you guys got away from the whole, farmer thing, a long while ago," I said with a frown. "Maybe it'd be best if you did separate yourself from your father, if being under him makes you so miserable then maybe you'd be better off being your own pony, don't you think?"
"I guess, but when the storms ruined the fields how do you expect another harvest? How can you dream of planting a new one? Whinnyapolis didn't need a farm, it needed a stallion with a vision, and my grandfather was quick on his hooves to try and capitalize on it." Chestnut said and sighed once more, looking to me, "My grandfather was not a good stallion, he exploited the ponies here, took their wealth, took their food, their clothing, their blankets, he issued an unpayable tax and excused it until they had achieved something he wanted."
"Well, at least I know where your father got it from," I said with a nervous chuckle.
"When Aria took over and threw my grandfather from his throne, my family was treated like pariahs for a while, nopony would talk to us, no-pony would deal with us, we had to use our maids and waiters to go and shop for us, do everything for us," Chestnut said pinning his ears back, "It let my father get this idea, that we're above them, that our servants are meant to do everything for us and we don't need to intermingle with the lower class."
"And because of that separation, it just made him even worse..." I said and sighed myself, shaking my head. "This is just one heck of a mess, isn't it?"
"You don't know the half of it Solstice," Chestnut said, chuckling a little. "I remember when I was little, he would come to me and tell me this stupid speech, about how we are hats, we belong on the head, while everypony below us in the Skyport, are shoes, and deserved to be on the foot and walked on... He tried his hardest to make me hate Aria, saying she is what happens when a shoe ends up on the head."
"That's... a very twisted world outlook," I said and sighed once more, shaking my head again. "Do you think it's too late for him? That he can't be reclaimed and taught a better way?"
"Solstice, I know you mean well - but there isn't always something redeemable about a pony, there isn't always a way to make a pony realize they were wrong, and my father is definitely one of them." Chestnut said, rubbing at the back of his neck "Trust me, I wish my dad was better, but he isn't, and that isn't going to change."
"Maybe so..." I said, standing and stretching a little before a knock at the door.
"Come" Chestnut called out, opening the door stood two young mares.
"Sire, your father has requested that we take your lady friend to the baths and make sure she is... clean, for the meal." The two said together.
"Just to clarify, you invited me to dinner, not for dinner, right?" I said chuckling.
"Was that a cannibalism joke?" Chestnut said with a smirk, "Go with them, I'll catch up with you later."
"Smooth," I said with a smirk, walking past him and to keep up appearances, flicking my tail at him before following the mares out of the room.
00000
As those two mares lead me down the hallways and corridors, I just looked around and gawked and was in awe of the structures that surrounded me. It looked almost as though they took the old first-class lounge area and turned it into their manor. Reaching a large room with ivory accents along the walls and a large central bath.
"So uh... I guess this is where I'll bathe?" I said with a nervous chuckle to those two mares.
"No ma'am, this is where we will bathe you," they said in reply.
"I am fully capable of bathing myself you know," I said, huffing a little at them.
"We understand that ma'am, but as an honored guest of Lord Chestnut we are under obligation and oath to serve you as one of the family." They said, bowing a little and leading me to the central tub.
"So... you two bathe them too? Chestnut and his father?" I asked, looking between them.
"Lord Chestnut requested that males be the one that bathes him, but otherwise yes, we bathe all members of the family." They said, nodding as they split, one heading over to a rack of soaps.
"I see... Do you two have names?" I asked, smiling a little.
"Fern." One said, with a nervous smile. The other shooting her a look.
"Willow," The other one said with a frown.
"It's nice to meet you Fern, and you too Willow," I said with a smile. "So... when you bathe Chestnut's dad, does he expect anything from you?"
"Why would what Lord Pecan expect of us interest you?" Willow said, still frowning.=
"Because when he first met me he literally checked me out, commented on me 'breed-ability', I have honestly never felt so dirty in my life," I said with a sigh.
"Ah yes... his 'evaluations' are quite intrusive," Fern said, carrying over a few towels and a small bowl of some sort of cream.
"Fern!" Willow said with a growl to her voice. "We do not speak of what Lord Pecan requests of us!"
"What? I didn't say anything, Just commented that he likes to stick his nose where it doesn't belong." Fern said with a huff.
"You two don't see eye to eye, do you?" I said. Looking from Fern to Willow and back.
"We're sisters, sworn to service under Lord Pecan, and in turn to be passed down to Lord Chestnut when he takes the manor," Willow said with a sigh. "I protect my younger sister from him for the most part, though she is quickly becoming his favorite..."
"Favorite for what?" I said, shifting my gaze from Willow to Fern.
"... Personal Baths." Fern said and looked away. "He gets very... grabby, and likes to... feel things, if you understand what I mean."
"But, he's married?" I said, frowning.
"His wife was a maid before she was his wife - She is so submissive to his desires that he could ask her to sit and watch and she would listen without question," Willow said shaking her head and sighing. "She already lets him have his way with her in the foyer and the dining hall, even when guests here as a means to assert himself."
"Does he care about his wife at all?" I said, taking a deep breath and shaking my head.
"That, I cannot answer," Willow said with a sigh. "Fern, please go and get a towel from the other room please."
Fern looked at her sister apprehensively for a moment before she sighed and did as asked. The moment she was outside of view Willow sat down beside me and gently started to work my mane.
"So, what's on your mind?" I asked, looking up at Willow.
"Fern doesn't understand a lot of things, she was too young when she got into this, she thinks it's normal for mares to he treated the way that Pecan likes to treat them," Willow said sighing. "The whole formality gets so old so quick that I can't even begin to explain how much I wish we could break contract and leave."
"Then why don't you? I'm sure he wouldn't get his hooves dirty coming down and looking for you," I said, trying to relax a little. "I mean, he thinks his servants are for everything, right? He'll just send other servants to half-heartedly look for you"
"Maybe so, but if he sends something else after us, or uses what authority he still has with the guards to have his so-called property returned to him, we'll never get far," Willow said with a sigh. "We've discussed poisoning him and Chestnut; if they're dead their wealth gets distributed to the Skyport and our contract is null."
"Could you live with yourself, knowing you poisoned him?" I said with a sigh, shaking my head. "No, there has to be a better way - No pony needs to die"
"Easy for you to say when you're not being called to his quarters late at night to deal with him because he's bored of his wife," Willow said with a roll of her eyes.
"No, I think that there is something going on here, something more, I refuse to believe that he is irredeemable," I said with a frown.
Willow went to say something just as Fern returned with the towels she requested. Willow took a moment to wrap my mane with the towel and had me lean back.
"Not every pony can be redeemed you know, some ponies are just too far gone," Willow whispered.
"Chestnut said the same thing, I don't believe it, there is good in everypony, just takes the right kind of pony to bring it out," I whispered back "To say that not everypony is redeemable means that there truly are ponies with evil in their hearts out there, and I choose to not believe that."
"Never heard of Cozy Glow, huh?" Willow said with a smirk. "Not even a grown mare, just a filly, nearly drained Equestria of all magic, imprisoned in Tartarus because she was irredeemable."
"Maybe so, or maybe they just gave up on her too easily," I said sighing. "But, maybe you're right, maybe there is such a thing as an irredeemable pony."
"Just try and relax, okay?" Willow said with a half-hearted smile "We'll handle everything, you have nothing to worry about."
I nervously smiled at her, letting my eyes close and just trying to enjoy the treatment, back in the stable this kind of stuff would have been some of the most sought after indulgences, yet here I am too nervous about everything to really just let go and enjoy it. Time and time again, it just feels like this evening is just going to drag on and on.
00000
What felt like hours went by, but when I heard Willow clear her throat to catch my attention I sat forward, and knocked what appeared to be some sort of mutated cucumber slices from my eyes. Looking to the first clock I could find I saw that it had only been maybe thirty or so minutes.
"Huh... guess I dozed off a little there?" I said, looking over my shoulder at Willow.
"That you did," Willow said with a smile. "I wanted to say... sorry about before, I was getting rather stressed and snappy and it was unprofessional of me."
"Willow, nothing you said earlier upset me in the least, I'm already stressed because of the circumstances for which I am here, and hearing that others are here against their will or because they're too afraid to leave - it's a lot to take in all at once." I said sighing, getting up from the water and levitating over a towel.
"Oh absolutely miss, it's more that... if Lord Pecan heard what we said, or what we expressed to you, it would surely mean extreme punishment for myself and my sister" Willow said nervously, "I wanted to ensure that you understood that, it was just in the heat of the moment, I did not mean any of it."
"Look, I know you're honestly unhappy here, and I'm not about to go and tell anypony that, not unless they are going to help you out of here." I said while patting myself dry. "Your secret is safe with me, I promise."
Willow smiled, and breathed a sigh of relief before she collected her sister and moved over to the entrance, once again that dress hung up and ready for me.
"Could you lend me a hoof, I'm not really used to wearing dresses." I said, motioning to the dress.
With the help of Willow and Fern that dress managed to slip right on, checking myself in the mirror I couldn't help but laugh a little to myself.
"Damn, I clean up good" I said, looking back at Willow and Fern who seemed to be in agreeance. "So, back to Chestnut's room? Or the dining hall?"
"Dinner is not for another fifteen or so minutes miss," Fern said with a smile. "If you wish to return to Lord Chestnut, I am sure he would enjoy the company."
I smiled and nodded, heading back into the hallways and navigating back to Chestnut's room, pushing the door open to find him sprawled out on the bed and staring at the ceiling.
"So, What's bothering you now." I commented and sat on the end of his bed, snapping him out of the trance he had put himself into.
"Just, wondering what my dad would do if he found out that you aren't really my marefriend and were actually just some random mare from the lobby that I paid to pretend to be." He said with a deep breath. "Do you think I've made a mistake?"
"Why does my opinion matter?" I said, a little confused.
"You're the closest thing I've ever had to a real friend, okay?" He said, sitting up and looking at me, pausing for a moment and blinking a few times. "Wow, okay, you look stunning, clean up better than I expected."
"Thank you, on both accounts." I said with a chuckle. "So, anything about your dad that I'll need to have in mind?"
"Don't act out, keep your opinions and thoughts to yourself, just smile and nod and just let him do whatever, he'll leave you alone for the most part." Chestnut said sighing. "Just make it through the night, and you'll never have to see him again, alright?"
"Well, if I am the closest thing you have to a friend, then the last thing I want to do is leave you here alone with your dad from hell." I said with a frown. "No, we're in this together now."
"Fine, fine, just help me get dressed okay?" Chestnut said, motioning to a cream colored suit he had put down on a nearby chair.
Levitating over his undershirt and holding it above his head, giggling to myself as I said in the most motherly tone I could "Hooves up mister~"
He was less than amused, snatching the shirt from my hold and putting it on, scowling a little at me as he stood and moved over to the chair, quickly throwing on his overshirt, looking at the pants he had as if he was pondering putting them on before waving his hoof at them.
"We're going to be early, but let's go." He said, motioning me to the door.
Once again, following him through the halls, starting to become familiar with their twists and turns, before he stopped and pushed open a set of doors, a large table sat in the middle of the room, either side sat windows, far side of the room had what looked to be an old style flip board.
"The first class terminal" I muttered to myself, before I noticed at the far end of the room sat a singular chair, in it was Chestnut's father, in his lap a mare, the closer I got I realized it was Fern. Feeling my anger starting to radiate down my spine.
"Ah, Chestnut, Didn't expect you here so soon." His father said, pushing Fern from his lap, She walked away awkwardly, as if she was in some minor discomfort and attempting to hide something. "Hope you don't mind, was just having me some pre-dinner dessert."
"Dad... we've talked about this, not at the dinner table, especially if my marefriend his here." Chestnut said through clenched teeth, rather clearly angered by the action himself.
"Boy, you listen here and you listen good, this is my house and as long as it is, I do what I want, when I want, and where I want, and you ain't 'bout to tell me otherwise." Pecan said, narrowing his eyes at Chestnut.
"Fine, But can you refrain yourself from it till after dinner?" He said, teeth still clenched, containing his anger.
"Fine, for the sake of your lady friend." Pecan said with a sneer. "Speakin' of which, you lay your mark on her yet boy"
"No Dad, we've been waiting till the time is right." Chestnut said, his anger radiating in his voice, moving to a nearby chair and pulling out the one beside it for me.
"Boy you best make your mark before I do it for you." Pecan said, giving a belly laugh before he leaned back in his chair.
I went to say something before I felt a hoof on my side, I turned and Chestnut was looking at me slowly shaking his head.
"We can't just let him do this." I whispered to him. "If Willow knew what he was doing to her sister, she'd kill you both."
"We can't stop him either," Chestnut said back and sighed
"You two lovebirds stop whisperin' sweet nothings at the table." Pecan said loudly, catching us both off guard. He got up from his seat and came around, stopping behind me, I could feel as he was eyeing me over again.
"Dad!" Chestnut said, standing up from his chair.
"What did I tell you boy." Pecan said, chuckling under his breath. "Told you, make your mark or I'm going to,"
"Don't you touch her." Chestnut said, stepping between me and his father.
"Or what, you going to do something about it, Boy." Pecan said, snickering to himself all the more.
That's when I felt a hoof on my backside, tensing as a jolt ran up my spine. Hearing Chestnut whisper into my ear 'I'm sorry' before I felt him trying to push me up out of the chair.
"That's it!" I yelled, pushing Chestnut away and staring at Pecan. "You are a disgusting, despicable stallion that does not deserve an ounce of the respect or restraint I've been giving you!"
"Lady, I suggest you shut your mouth and learn your place." He said, glaring back at me.
"I suggest you get your dick and balls cut off and fried, and I think neither of these are about to happen now are they." I said, horn starting to spark and glow as my anger got the best of me.
Pecan raised a hoof and went to smack me, Chestnut quickly stepping in the way to stop him.
"Dad! Just stop!" Chestnut proclaimed, shoving his father aside.
"Boy, you best teach your property her place." Pecan said, glaring first at Chestnut then at me. "Or maybe I was wrong about you, and you got a bad influence on my boy."
"I'm nopony's property you old coot." I said, stepping up next to Chestnut.
"Then get out of my sight, and never come back, I catch you near my boy I'll kill you myself." Pecan said, pushing past Chestnut and pushing me towards the door.
Chestnut quickly moved between us again, "Dad, stop it, I love her, and we're going to be together whether you like it or not."
"Then you get out too." He said, and went to shove Chestnut. Quickly putting up a shield between the two.
"Fucking hocus pocus unicorn shit is this" Pecan said, shoving at the shield a few more times.
"Chestnut, tell him, or I'm going to." I said, giving Chestnut a familiar little nudge.
He looked at me for a second, before he looked back to his dad. Taking a deep breath he stepped forward and faced his father.
"Dad... I'm gay." Chestnut said, motioning back to me. "She's just a mare I picked up from the lobby, gave her some caps so she'd come pretend to be my marefriend to keep you off my back."
"Why you..." Pecan said and went to smack Chestnut, his hoof hitting and rebounding off the shield. "Just you wait till I get my hooves on you..."
"And dad, I like cooking, a lot, and I want to go and cook more, I want to go and be around the other ponies, I want to have friends." Chestnut said, getting more and more bold. "And... and I'm tired of you telling me what I can and can't be, what I can and can't do, I'm my own pony, I deserve my freedom!"
In the commotion, a few ponies coming into the room, some carrying food others just wanting to check out what the yelling was about, I saw Willow enter without Fern, motioning her over and whispering into her ear what I had seen, she went to charge off, before she turned around and climbed over the table to get at Pecan.
"You filthy disgusting pig!" Willow screamed at him, Pecan starting to look more and more scared as more of his staff revolted.
"How dare you touch my sister!" Willow screamed, even louder.
At this, Fern came into the room, she was dripping wet and clearly had ran from a bath to here when she heard her sister.
"Sister no it's okay I pro-" Fern said, trying to calm her sister.
"The fuck it is" Willow said, growling under her voice at this Stallion who was now cowering. "This sick fuck thinks he can stick it in my sister and get away with it."
"Sister! I was doing it for our freedom!" Fern said, before she covered her mouth.
"Get out of here Fern, you're not going to like what we do to this pig." Another one of the servants said, gently guiding that mare from the room.
"You... You can't do this!" Pecan said, trying to inch himself away.
"To hell we can't." Willow said with a smirk. "Chestnut, I suggest you take your marefriend and get out of here."
"No, you're free, go" Chestnut said, turning around to the rest of the staff "All of you are free, just leave, please, my father has learned his lesson, he isn't going to do this anymore, you have my word."
"Y-yes! Absolutely! I'm a changed stallion! You have my word!" Pecan said, still cowering away from the angry crowd that had gathered.
"Fine. But we want our pay." Willow said, glaring at him. "All of it. Every cent owed for the past ten years of service."
Pecan just quickly nodded and motioned to the safe. "The combination is 23-19-47-03, T-take what you want, T-take it all if you want!"
The staff seemed appeased at this, and they went to the safe to divy up their prize. Finally letting the shield down and Pecan, free of the prying eyes standing.
"I still want you gone." Pecan said, staring at Chestnut. "I don't care what you do with yourself, but just... go"
"Dad..." Chestnut said sighing. "I knew this would happen, I guess it's for the better."
"If I really make you really so upset, I think it is for the better." Pecan said, sighing and shaking his head. "Though I'm not going to support you, I doubt much is going to be left once they're done raiding the safe."
"I know you have more." Chestnut said with a chuckle. "But fine, I'll take what's mine and leave."
"No, you're just going to leave." Pecan said, more forcefully.
Chestnut just stared at his father for some time, before he sighed. "Fine." And got up, motioning for me to follow.
00000
"I told you that would happen," Chestnut finally said, breaking his silence after some time had passed.
"Yeah, I know you did, but it was either get kicked out because you sympathize with other ponies, or get kicked out for you sexuality." I pointed out. "At that point you were screwed either way, best be true to yourself then keep living a lie that you could of gotten out of."
"I guess." Chestnut said, sighing. "I'm sorry about... everything."
"It's fine, you gave me warnings about your dad before now." I said shrugging and smiling at him. "Not to mention I had some of my own ideas and feelings from that first meeting and what Willow had told me when I was taking my bath."
"And you went through with it? Despite knowing?" He said, looking at me with a mixture of astonishment and confusion.
"Why wouldn't I? Like you said, I'm the closest thing you've ever had to a friend, may as well live up to it, right?" I said with another shrug.
"Heh... I guess." Chestnut said, before he paused and tore the suit he had been wearing off and threw it into the nearest trash can. "Words cannot express how much I hate dressing like that."
Stopping off in his room quickly so I could leave the dress and collect my original clothing and bags, he quickly grabbed and put on a DJ Pon-3 shirt and we left.
Heading back to the lobby a few ponies looked at Chestnut surprised, as though they are astonished by seeing him so informally.
"It's kind of empowering..." Chestnut said under his breath and smiled at me. "I'm free... for the first time ever, I'm free..."
"Just don't go stumbling into any griffon camps." I said with a chuckle, he looked at me confused and I simply waved a hoof with a 'I'll explain later.'
Together we returned to the lobby, sitting down where we had met I smiled at him and pulled out the satchel of caps and held it to him. "I think you'll be needing these."
He paused and looked to the satchel before he'd give a chuckle and push it back to me. "No no, you earned it fair and square"
"Look, I have other things I can do to earn the caps, you have literally nothing and you're going to need to be able to get yourself a bed and a meal at least." I said, this time dropping the satchel into his hooves.
He just looked at me puzzled for a few moments before he chuckled, shaking his head as he opened the bag and dumped out about half into a pouch on my bags before he chuckled. "There, take half, 4000 caps is a good amount to get you established at least."
I chuckled and nodded "Fine fine, The same must be true for you so it's good enough." hopping to my hooves and looking around for a few moments. "So uh... where do you go to find a bed around here?"
Checking out the signs, noting one that looked like a bed. Motioning for Chestnut to follow me. Walking up I could see an older mare behind the counter, graying and wrinkled.
"Oh hello there." She said with a toothless smile. "What can I do for you? Need a room?"
I gave a sigh of relief, "Yes please, a room for two please." I said, motioning behind me to Chestnut.
"Oh ho ho, a pair of lovebirds eh?" The old mare said, ringing us up and sliding a card across the counter. "You two don't get too loud, wouldn't want to come catch you in the act."
I just facehooved at that and dragged Chestnut behind me as we quickly made our leave. Following the instructions on the receipt we ended up crossing under the Skyport bridge and heading into the Mall side.
Ponies talking, playing, laughing, it was nice to see that over here life seemed rather normal despite the degraded surroundings.
"It's almost like the war never happened here." I commented as we walked.
"Life finds a way, it always does." Chestnut commented on, stopping and pointing to the door of our rented room.
Once inside, discovering the room to a little more dilapidated than I expected, appeared to be the remains of an old storefront, the front windows have been boarded up.
"I guess this is home, huh?" I said, walking past Chestnut.
"I guess." he said, looking around. "Can't say I don't miss my room right about now."
"It's good though, a splash of paint, some new furniture and a few plants, this could easily be just like my room in the stable." I said with a smile, going over and letting myself flop down onto the admittedly dusty 'Princess' sized bed.
Chestnut, while waving a hoof in front of his face and coughing at the cloud of dust I had kicked up. "Dear Celestia, did they never clean that thing?"
"Doesn't look so, that's fine, we got a full bathroom in the back, shower and tub." I said with a smile, I was clearly at home in the cramped space while Chestnut seemed a bit more claustrophobic.
"Where's the other bed?.." Chestnut pointed out, I stopped and looked around, before I scratched my head for a moment.
"That... is a very good question." I said, before pointing to the couch on the far side of the room. "Though we have that if push comes to shove."
"Oh merciful goddesses, you have to be kidding me" Chestnut said, before he let out a sigh and sat back, shaking his head "Okay, come on Chestnut, you can do this, it's no big deal, it's just a couch, you've slept on one a million times on choice."
I rolled my eyes and threw the cover back, picking chestnut up in my magic and levitating him over to the bed, laying him with me and smiling at him "Well, you did say you don't like mares, so there shouldn't be a problem with us sharing a bed, right?"
Chestnut, all the while, was blushing so furiously the entire time.
"Fine, but you can't blame me if something pokes you in the middle of the night, I am still a stallion after all." He said with a huff. "Some things are beyond our control."
"Chestnut, it may surprise you but I am nowhere near as innocent as you might believe." I said with a smirk. "I've seen, touched, played with one plenty of times, it's not going to scare me or make me angry."
Chestnut seemed only yo get more flustered by that before he jumped out of bed and moved over to a small cart in the corner of the room. Following him over and peaking inside and finding a wide assortment of liquor and booze.
Grinning I reach in and take a bottle of Wild Pegasus Whiskey from the back, prancing my way over to the bed and flopping down, happily uncorking that bottle and taking an eager swig.
"Best whiskey in Equestria" I said, before taking another gulp.
Chestnut, staring at me as though he had just watched a wild animal rip into the corpse of a creature it had just killed just blinked.
"I... I didn't put you as a drinker..." he said, stumbling over his words.
"You kidding? Down in the stable the parties were the best, ran out of this stuff ages ago though, had bootleg whiskey ever since." I said with a laugh.
"Life in a stable doesn't sound that bad, what was it like down there?" Chestnut added, gaining composure and coming over to sit on the edge of the bed.
"Boring as hell, cramped like a can of sardines, but when things kicked off - they really kicked off." I said with a bit of a laugh, thinking about home. "Kind of like military service, hours upon hours of endless boredom, coupled with minutes of sheer terror or excitement. It, could get insane at times, but it was home."
"Sounds like it would of been fun, wish I could have seen it." Chestnut said with a sigh
"You can," I said, sitting up and placing the bottle of whiskey on the table beside the bed. "My stable is still out there, living life like I never left, like my entire class never left."
"Class?" He questioned, looking back at me.
"Yeah, I was just a part of a large class structure in the stable, teaching us everything we'd need to survive in the wasteland, survival techniques, foraging, what is safe to eat and what isn't," I said, stifling a chuckle and shaking my head. "Never trained us what to do when we met hostile fauna though, oy vey my first foray into the wasteland and I almost ended up griffon food."
"Oh, the griffon camp comment from earlier?" He said, smiling a little
"Yeah, stumbled into one chasing after a few from my class, yeah I'm the only one that survived that encounter, without the help from this stallion that brought me here I'd be dead too." I said, taking a deep breath and flopping down on my back again. "They were jerks, but I still feel bad about it, wondering if there is more I could of done to help, y'know?"
We just sat in silence after that, time starting to blur as kept at that bottle, taking large gulp after large gulp till the bottle ran dry, throwing it aside and letting the alcohol consume me, drifting into a drunken stupor before passing out entirely.
00000
As the day broke, light finding ways into the room through cracks and crevaces in the walls, windows and doors. Waking up to find myself cuddled up against Chestnut, quickly pushing him off and jumping from the bed.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck" I said, checking myself over for a moment before breathing a sigh of relief.
"Making sure I didn't do anything to you in your drunken haze?" Chestnut said with a chuckle, having been woken up by the shove.
"No, making sure I didn't do anything to you." I said with a chuckle. "I've been told when I am drunk I don't tend to take no for an answer."
"It's fine, I think you were so exhausted that the alcohol only made you sleep." Chestnut said as he got up from the bed. "Though, I could get more or less used to having a non sexual cuddle partner."
I stood flustered a bit at his comment, shaking my head and chuckling a bit. "Careful, Spooning leads to forking."
"Oh dear Celestia, not that joke again." Chestnut said with a laugh.
"Hey, it's an observable fact." I said with a chuckle. "So, now that we know for sure that you and I didn't have a drunken rampage night, What do we do now?"
"Well, I for one, am going to attempt to contact my father and see if I can talk some sense into him now that he's had time to cool down. Maybe he'll lift his embargo on me." Chestnut said with a sigh. "I doubt it, even with the scare of a lifetime he had last night I doubt he's actually changed any and only did what he had to in order to placate us."
"I agree, a zebra doesn't change its stripes overnight," I said with a shake of my head. "Unfortunately I feel this is far from the last time we're going to run into father dearest, and he's likely to be out for blood next time."
"Think I should hold off on contacting him then?" Chestnut said, nervously scratching at his head.
"I'll leave that to your judgement, frankly with how much of a creep your dad was, I would rather not contact him if I can avoid it. I can't be held responsible for what I might do to him otherwise." I said with a frown, looking back to the liquor cabinet, silently wondering if there was any other hidden gems in there.
Reflecting inwardly as my stare continued, I thought back to the stable, thought back to how this trip had started. The deception that lead me to this place, the suffering and death in my trail, my life has spiraled out of control since the moment I stepped out of the stable. I have been under threat of being killed and eaten, I've watched ponies I grew up with be killed, gutted and hung up to bleed out, and I've nearly been taken advantage of by a gay stallion just trying to placate his father into leaving him alone - and now I am here contemplating drowning my sorrows and hardships in hard liquor just to mask the pain... No, substance abuse is never an option...
But I'd be lying if I said that cabinet full of liquor wasn't mighty attractive right about now.
Sweet merciful goddesses, this is going to be one hell of a ride isn't it?
LEVEL UP!
Perk Acquired!
Test Your Mettle
You have faced the unimaginable and managed to keep the courage to carry on through it all
Your wits sharpened, and your mind clear, you know what you must do.
Int +1
Increased intimidation and persuasion effectiveness |
THE TEMPEST TALES : FRAGMENTS | pre | "Commander!"
From above came Ensign Cooper.
Tempest had made him go ahead to try to find a place to shelter from the scorching sun and to spend the night.
Even if it seemed that the night would not come.
"About two hours' walk south there is a wreck of a large airship that crashed some time ago but the hull is still intact enough to provide shelter."
The ensign said the sentence in one breath as he had flown quickly to report the discovery.
"Thank you ensign, rest and take a sip of water. You did a good job."
Tempest congratulated Cooper who responded by nodding his head and then went to get his canteen to drink.
"Captain!"
The gray griffin was talking to the equestrian soldiers but he turned away as soon as he heard his empress call him.
Ryker approached quickly and stood at attention.
Even though he wasn't young, he seemed to handle the fatigue and the heat well,
"In five minutes we will set off again to reach the wreck indicated by Ensign Cooper. Make sure everyone is ready."
"Of course Commander. However..." the griffin stopped uncertain.
"Speak up, captain." Tempest urged him to speak, if there was one thing she wanted it was that the soldiers to be honest and not hide possibly vital information.
"I'm afraid those two are exhausted by now." he continued as with a movement of his eyes he pointed to the two stallions in golden armor.
Indeed it was true, they looked hot and tired but she couldn't blame them as they were carrying a pony twice their combined weight.
Tempest approached the two stallions but as soon as they noticed it they stiffened and straightened their posture.
"Rest soldiers." she said, trying to calm them down even though it had little effect.
"Take off the ropes, the captain and I will relieve you."
The two stallions looked at each other perplexed as if they had never expected something like this.
"We don't have all day." she added, trying to encourage them.
The white one decided to speak for the first time since they had met.
"Are you sure?" he asked in an uncertain voice.
The one next to him nodded in agreement with him.
Tempest rolled her eyes, were they afraid a mare wouldn't make it?
"Of course soldiers! if you pass out from exhaustion we will find ourselves with two more dead weights and then we will be in more trouble than we already are."
Meanwhile Twilight had finished resting and hearing what was happening she approached to intervene.
"That's okay, you did a great job, do as Commander Tempest says."
Immediately the two stallions bowed and responded in unison.
"Certainly your highness."
Then they stood up and took off their makeshift harnesses.
On the other hand, Tempest was a little shocked.
"Your highness?!" she exclaimed, underlining her doubt.
Twilight looked at her and smiled awkwardly.
"Oh yes, I forgot to introduce myself properly."
She took a step back and cleared her throat.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, personal student of Princess Celestia, wielder of the element of magic, ruler of Ponyville, and princess of friendship."
Tempest listened intently but when she heard the last title her eyes widened.
Princess of Friendship?!
So she was the famous princess of friendship?!
The first thing that crossed Tempest's mind was to burst out laughing but her common sense dictates that she restrain herself, both out of respect and to preserve her dignity.
Thinking about it, she should have foreseen it since only the princess of the sun and the moon were represented on the Equestrian flag.
MOON?!
Tempest grabbed Twilight by her shoulders and pulled her closer.
"If I'm not mistaken, Princess Celestia has a sister, is that correct!?"
Twilight was taken aback but she responded immediately.
"You mean Princess Luna? that's correct but why are you asking me this all of a sudden?"
"Isn't it obvious? Now that the sun is still, can't Princess Luna lower the sun like her sister did?!" Tempest explained hopefully.
Twilight mentally processed the question but her response wasn't very positive.
"I honestly don't know, Celestia has had many years to learn how to move the moon but Luna has only recently returned from her exile, plus I think if she could do it she would have done it already." she concluded as she lowered her ears.
Tempest wasn't happy about this at all.
"I understand, thanks anyway for answering me."
Apparently the problem persisted and they should have found a solution ASAP.
With that she dropped the purple alicorn and put on the harness so she could pull the sled. Ryker was already ready to her left.
The group of seven continued their march with Tempest and Ryker leading the way, towing the sleeping body of Princess Celestia.
"Since we have nothing else to do, can I ask you some questions?" Twilight said suddenly.
They had been walking for over an hour but it felt like much longer.
The temperature had risen more and even she was starting to feel tired.
Tempest looked up into the sky and saw that the sun was still fixed in the same spot.
She did a couple of mental calculations and estimated that it was probably between seven and eight in the evening but it still felt like midday.
"Perhaps it would be better to save our energy." Tempest replied trying to avoid an annoying interrogation.
"In fact you are right, but it is also said that by talking you don't notice the time passing and you also lighten mental fatigue."
Apparently the girl was curious and there was no way to persuade her.
Tempest looked to her left and saw that Ryker, though also tired, was focused on what to do.
"Okay, what do you want to ask me?" Tempest said as she started looking forward again.
"Why don't we start with you?" Twilight said smiling.
Tempest wasn't honestly ready to talk about herself, certainly not with someone she'd known so little, yet she knew she couldn't help it.
"Okay, but don't expect me to answer every question."
"Yay! At that time.... What are you?" she asked immediately, apparently the topic had been in her head for a while.
Had she perhaps guessed that Tempest was an alicorn too?
"Why this question?" she tried to clarify to avoid misunderstanding.
"Well... from the first time I saw you I couldn't help but notice the shape of your pupils and the fact that you are abnormally tall for a unicorn." Twilight explained as she moved slightly closer to her.
"So I wanted to ask you if you were some kind of hybrid between a pony and some other species."
So she didn't suspect Tempest was an alicorn, good.
Luckily she wasn't the first to ask and she already had a story ready for the occasion, it would have been enough to omit a few things.
"You're right, in fact one of my ancestors was a dragon and I inherited my eyes, height and a couple of other things from him."
"WOW!" Twilight cheered like a little girl.
"It's the first time I've seen a hybrid like you! For millennia Equestria has been isolated and therefore there are only ponies." she said, explaining the reason for her joy.
"So you've inherited some draconic features?" She asked as she refrained from prancing around like one of her party-loving pink friend.
"Maybe you should calm down a bit or you'll end up using up what little energy you have left." Tempest warned in the same voice her mentor sometimes used.
Twilight suppressed her enthusiasm and assumed an attitude more worthy of her role.
"I can see in the dark, breathe flames, eat gems, I have stronger skin and bones and greater tolerance to heat and cold." she said, listing the first things that came to mind.
Twilight's eyes lit up like when a child gets a beautiful toy.
"IT'S ABSOLUTELY AWESOME! I must take note of all this as soon as I can!"
Twilight's mouth was starting to drool making Tempest and Captain Ryker who was standing next to her worried.
The purple alicorn was starting to rave, talking softly about how she was going to write a book, do research and experiments, and how proud Celestia would be.
Before Twilight went too far Tempest decided to interrupt the train of thought that was taking on an almost perverse connotation.
"Do you have anything else to ask me?" Tempest said loudly.
Twilight shook her head and resumed the conversation.
"Forgive my indiscretion but what happened to your horn?"
And here's the fateful question that she certainly wouldn't have answered.
"I'm sorry, but I won't talk about this." Tempest's response left no room for further speculation on the matter.
"Oh... I see." Twilight cringed slightly as she lowered her ears.
If there was one thing that Tempest had understood, it was that the girl was very expressive and he could hardly suppress her emotions.
"Oh, I have another question for you."
The little alicorn's enthusiasm was back in no time.
On the other hand, Tempest was already tired of this interrogation.
"Who are you?"
Twilight's expression became more serious, this time the little alicorn was looking for more "strategic" information.
"You'll have to be more precise than that," Tempest said, as she glanced at Captain Ryker as if to say "DISCRETION!"
Captain Ryker was a perceptive griffin and immediately guessed by returning the sign.
"You explained to us how you crashed with us but beyond that we don't know where you come from, what nation you belong to or who you work for." Twilight specified, waiting for an answer.
Tempest was about to respond but before she could, Ensign Cooper landed in front of them.
"Commander Tempest! We have arrived at the wreck." he reported pointing to a spot in front of them.
In fact they could see the hull of a ship which as Cooper had said was still intact enough to provide refuge.
"Great, let's move!" Tempest ordered, ending the argument they were having earlier.
In a few minutes they reached their destination.
The ship was very old because the paint had completely disappeared and the wood had been sanded smooth.
The seven entered the hull through a fairly large hole found in one side.
As soon as they entered they noticed that the ship had been completely sacked and the only thing left was the wood that made up the bulkheads and the floor.
Other than that there was nothing else and no life form.
"Alright folks, this place seems safe enough to camp. Search the area and then return here to rest."
With that the Equestrian Guards and Ensign Cooper went on patrol while Tempest and Ryker untied their rope harnesses.
Twilight went to see how her princess was doing. At first glance she seemed fine, she was breathing and the wound was healed, however she did not wake up.
"How is she?" Tempest asked as she approached.
"As before, she doesn't wake up." Twilight replied shortly, making a disconsolate face.
The situation wasn't improving at all.
Taking into consideration the fact that the sun was still high in the sky then it was safe to assume that her sister was unable to move the sun.
She didn't even try to ask Twilight since she seemed to be even more inexperienced and would have lowered the sun long ago if she had the skills.
Tempest sat down to think.
Why Celestia didn't wake up? What was the reason?
An invisible wound?
Certainly not since if it had been that serious she would have died, otherwise she would have recovered as quickly as the one inflicted by the stake.
Was she in a coma?
Tempest approached Celestia's body and gently lifted one of her eyelids.
Her pupil contracted indicating that her brain was functioning and communicating with the rest of her body.
Was she simply sleeping?
Tempest gave a mental laugh thinking about the fact that perhaps they had gone through all that effort when instead it would have been enough to give her a shock or throw water on her.
Tempest brought the horn lightly to the great Alicorn's butt and gave it a shake.
Suddenly her leg moved but Princess Celestia didn't open her eyes.
"What are you doing?!"
Tempest had forgotten that Twilight was there.
"I'm trying to figure out why she doesn't wake up."
Tempest explained as she thought of further possible causes.
"Do you have any idea?" she tried in the hope that the purple alicorn had an intuition.
However she shook her head no, she didn't know what to do either.
Tempest let out a sigh and straightened up.
"The last thing I could think of is a depletion of magical energy." she also speculated if it seemed strange to her since they were still talking about an alicorn.
"YOU ARE RIGHT!"
Suddenly Twilight screamed making Tempest's hackles stand on end.
"Before we crashed, Princess Celestia had erected a barrier to protect us from the impact, which is why she is now without magical energy!"
"HOW DID I FORGET THAT!? STUPID STUPID STUPID!"
Twilight slammed her hooves on her head to highlight his anger at his ineptitude.
"That's fine! there's no use crying over spilled milk." Tempest tried to calm her down as she pinned her paws with hers.
"You have to focus on the here and now, we can't afford any more mistakes."
Tempest's gaze was locked on Twilight's eyes.
"Sorry, you're right, I did it again."
This time it took Twilight less to recover even though she was on the verge of tears.
"Clop-clop-clop." hooves could be heard.
Cooper and the other two Equestrian guards had returned to report that the area was safe.
Tempest stood up and assumed a commander's pose.
"Great, we found out why Princess Celestia doesn't wake up."
Tempest later explained what ailed her and the soldiers were slightly relieved to hear this.
"And how do we treat it? There's no way to get her energy back quickly." Twilight said rightly.
"There is actually a way: our bodies contain magical energy as if they were batteries and when needed they release it in the form of spells to obtain magic.
However, just like batteries, our body does not produce magical energy but collects what is in the environment."
The group listened intently to the impromptu magic lesson. Even Twilight, who knew the principles of magic thoroughly, was interested in understanding where she was going with this.
"So following this theory it is possible to transfer magical energy from one body to another." concluded Tempest.
The spectators were ecstatic to learn that Commander Tempest had found a solution to their problems. Everyone except a certain purple alicorn.
"Your theory might work but where do we find someone with so much magical energy? Even though I am an alicorn, I certainly cannot make up for the princess's shortcomings."
She retorted as she touched her chin in confusion.
"You don't have to worry about this, I will provide the magical energy."
"And now enough arguing, we have no more time to waste."
With that she approached Princess Celestia's head to make contact with her horns but was interrupted by Ryker and Twilight.
"Wait a minute commander! What will happen to you if you transfer all your magical energy?"
Ryker was the first to express his concerns.
"I'll probably fall asleep too. I know it's not an optimal solution but it's the only one we have if we want to prevent the surface of the planet from being completely burned."
Tempest responded in a firm, resolute voice.
Ryker understood that his empress was determined and his duty was to follow her will. He bowed and then stepped back.
"Do you have anything to tell me Twilight?" she said, turning to the alicorn who was still struggling to understand what was happening.
"How do you have enough magical energy?"
Tempest smiled playfully.
"I have my tricks." that was the only thing she said before touching Celestia's horn with her hand and releasing as much magical energy as she could.
Within seconds she began to feel tired and drained but she couldn't give up.
She gritted her teeth and released everything she had.
When she felt that there wasn't a shred of magical energy left in her body she let go and fainted and fell to the ground.
The last thing she heard was Twilight screaming her name. |
THE TEMPEST TALES : FRAGMENTS | CHAPTER 1 part 3: DAMN FASCINATING WHITE! | "TEMPESTIA!"
"PLEASE, STOP!!"
"MOM! I AM AFRAID!"
DAD!?
"KILL THE BEAST!"
"TEAR OFF HER WINGS!"
"BREAK HER HORN!"
"DON'T HURT HER! I BEG YOU! TAKE ME INSTEAD!"
How could all this happen?
Why were they despised so much?
What had they done wrong to be treated like this?!
"HOOK! HOOK! HOOK!"
"NOOOOOOO! PLEASE DON'T HURT HER!"
"MOM! WHAT IS THAT!"
"MY CHILD, YOU MUST FREE YOURSELF! NOW!"
"NOOOOOOO!"
"MOM?!"
"STORM! LOOK ME IN THE EYES, DON'T TURN!"
"MOM! WHAT DO THEY WANT TO DO TO ME!?"
"AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
"TEMPESTIA!"
"TEMPESTIA!"
"TEMPEST!"
"TEMPEST!"
Tempest woke with a start.
She was out of breath and her fur was all sweaty.
Had it been a dream?!
How long has it been since she did one like this?
"Tempest, are you okay?"
The scarred alicorn awoke from her catatonic state.
She was lying on the makeshift sled they had built.
However, there was one thing she noticed right away.
They were not inside the wreck but rather outside and around a fireplace.
There was no longer any sun in the sky as it had been replaced by a wonderful starry night and above, shining brightest of all, there was the moon.
"My sister's night is really wonderful, isn't it?"
A soft, gentle voice hit Tempest's ears.
The speaker was Princess Celestia.
"Princess Celestia! I'm glad to see you're awake." Tempest said in a reverential voice to the white alicorn on the other side of the hearth.
"I'm happy about it too, however I'm afraid that right now what we have to worry about is you." she said, gesturing towards her.
"Princess Celestia is right! We were really anxious for you." Twilight said in a breathless voice.
"You stayed asleep for at least five hours, you kept whispering and moving in your sleep and at a certain point you started emitting sparks from your horn and we were afraid you were going to electrocute us all!" she concluded with a sigh of relief.
However, Tempest did not listen to her as her gaze was drawn to Princess Celestia.
Tempest took a good look at her from top to bottom and was truly amazed.
The white alicorn was tall and gorgeous, she had regal and feminine features. And its shapes were equally feminine.
Her long legs and thin belly made her proportions practically perfect and balanced.
The white fur stood out in the night giving her an angelic appearance.
To further demonstrate her divine appearance there were her mane and tail that moved in an ethereal way and the soft colors gave her an elegance and sobriety worthy of a nymph.
"Are you OK now?" the goddess asked, emitting a soft and reassuring voice.
Tempest was truly mesmerized.
"Tempest?"
The empress was brought back to reality by Twilight who had prodded her with a hoof.
"Oh.. Yes... I'm fine!" Tempest said, shaking off the habit.
There must have been a law written somewhere that prohibited being so beautiful and attractive!
How the hell had she not noticed this before?!
"I'm happy about it. Maybe you should eat something."
Princess Celestia smiled at her and with telekinesis she grabbed the bag of gems that Tempest usually carried with her.
She levitated it and handed it to the magenta alicorn.
"Twilight told me about you and so I assumed that these gems were your food."
Tempest's heart skipped a beat, not only was Princess Celestia illegally charming but also attentive and perceptive.
"THATS ENOUGH! YOU ARE BEHAVING LIKE A TEENAGER IN HEAT!"
Her subconscious gave her a mental slap and set her back on the right path.
Tempest promptly straightened her neck and shook off the daze.
"Of course, thank you."
Tempest grabbed the bag but then noticed something not insignificant.
How did she get her bag of gems?!
Tempest got a response in the form of a light breeze on her exposed fur, she opened her eyes wide and looked down.
SHE WAS WITHOUT ARMOR?!
Tempest stood up suddenly and took a step back.
"WHERE IS MY ARMOR?!"
Princess Celestia and Twilight's faces were fixed on her.
Tempest's body was completely exposed. They could see every scar, bruise, or sort of damage, but especially the two large scars on her back where the wings had once been attached.
"It's there." Twilight said, pointing to a spot near the sled she had been lying on earlier.
"We decided to take it off because we thought it might be uncomfortable for you to sleep with all that weight on you."
In fact, her suit was neatly folded and the plates tidied up and cleaned of sand.
But honestly that wasn't what she was interested in.
"You shouldn't have." Tempest simply said as she looked down.
She had spent years wearing that armor, she had gotten used to it and she had made it her own.
Those obsidian plates had become part of Empress Tempest.
And under that suit was hiding a wounded mare, full of hatred, resentment and immense shame.
She remembered the horrible dream she had had.
Indeed, not a dream but a memory, a terrible memory that had irreparably changed her body and her soul.
Were they perhaps tears that she felt in her eyes? NO!
She had sworn to herself that she would no longer cry over things from the past, that she would no longer be weak, that she would get the revenge she longed for against those who had hurt her and her family.
He squeezed his eyes shut and quickly wiped away her tears with a paw.
"Thank you for your concern, but I'm used to sleeping in armor."
With that, Tempest walked over to put her suit on.
"We all have deep regrets but that doesn't mean we don't deserve to be loved."
Celestia's calm, sweet voice interrupted her just as she was about to grab her suit.
She looked into the white alicorn's eyes and saw compassion, sadness, regret in them but certainly not judgment and not disgust.
In that moment Tempest realized another great quality that characterized Princess Celestia: she was loving as only a mother could be.
Just like Aletheia.
At that moment the fragile dam that held back her pain broke and Tempest fell to the ground crying tears that she had accumulated for so long.
What a great way to introduce herself, what a great way to demonstrate her strength.
Surely someone would have laughed at her just like when she was on that damn stage crying and pissing herself out of fear.
But instead of a cruel laughter, a loving, soft white wing came to her.
Celestia had come to sit next to her and gently placed her right wing on Tempest's back.
How could she be so benevolent to someone she didn't even know?
Twilight was witnessing the surreal scene.
The Commander Tempest she had met in the wreck of their ship was completely different from the Tempest who was now shedding her tears onto the fur of her mentor.
Twilight had thought of her as a brave and rational soldier but apparently she had forgotten one of the most important lessons of friendship
That is, everyone has scars inside them, no matter how small and insignificant.
And from what she could see, Tempest carried traumas within her that she couldn't even imagine.
Twilight remembered the moment she and Celestia had chosen to take off her armor.
She had imagined that a soldier might have injuries but she certainly hadn't expected this.
Twilight was really surprised and horrified but then she calmed down noticing that they were old wounds that had long healed.
Her eyes roamed all over her body.
She knew she was being disrespectful but she couldn't ignore the two scars on her back.
They were symmetrical and right where there might have been wings.
Twilight had seen something like this before.
In fact, they were very similar to those of pegasus whose wings had been removed.
But how was that possible?!
She couldn't be an alicorn, the only ones in the world were her, Celestia, Luna and Cadence.
Her mentor had explained to her that the only way to become alicorn was through an ascension ritual or by direct descent from another alicorn.
Furthermore, Tempest had said herself that the reason for her height was due to draconic genes.
Had she lied?
It was her mentor who gave the final intuition.
"She's an alicorn, there's no doubt about it." Celestia had said.
"But how? Only you can perform the ascension ritual." Twilight protested.
"This is because she is not an ascended alicorn but was born that way."
"So whose daughter is she?! Did one of us happen to have it and she didn't notice?!"
Twilight was freaking out like she usually does when she couldn't come up with an answer.
Who was she born to?
From Luna!?
It couldn't be since Tempst should be no more than two years old or more than 1000 years old.
Was she from Cadence?
This wasn't possible either as she should have had her when she was a child.
The only possible candidate was.... CELESTIA?!
CELESTIA HAD A DAUGHTER AND NEVER TOLD HER!?
Twilight was hyperventilating.
"Princess Celestia?! Are you Tempest's mother?!"
Hearing this, the white alicorn smiled as she saw that her faithful student had once again forgotten to consider the simplest answer.
"As much as I would love to have a little girl, I'm afraid she's not mine." she replied to Twilight as she watched Tempest squirm in her sleep.
"SO SHE'S MY DAUGHTER?!" she screamed putting the hooves on her head.
In Celestia's eyes, Twilight's reaction was almost comical but it was time to stop.
"My faithful student, what I mean is that she is probably the daughter of an alicorn unknown to us." She finally explained.
Hearing this, Twilight put a stop to her antics and started working her head again.
"Tell me Twilight, do you know how our continent originated?" Celestia asked.
Her student nodded.
"Great, so my theory is that Tempest is a descendant of Aurora and that she somehow managed to get to Midgard."
Twilight listened to Celestia's explanation
"But how did she get here and why did she lose her wings and break her horn!?"
She asked perplexed.
"Perhaps we could ask Tempest herself." Celestia replied, pointing with her neck to the magenta mare who was having convulsions at that moment and powerful electric shocks were coming from her horn.
Twilight returned to the present.
Tempest had stopped crying as Celestia retracted her wing.
"Thank you very much, that was completely inappropriate." Tempest said while her eyes were puffy.
She was grateful that she at least hadn't been seen in that state by her subordinates.
By the way, where were they?
"Our soldiers and Ensign Cooper have gone to sleep inside the airship while Captain Ryker stands guard."
Again Princess Celestia had responded without her even asking.
Could she read minds?!
"I see, Twilight said we've been stuck for at least 8 hours, we'll have to leave as soon as the sun comes up. In the meantime, we better sleep while we can."
Celestia nodded in agreement while Twilight yawned, expressing her tiredness.
Had they been awake to watch over her?
Tempest stepped aside and lowered her head to her paws.
From her perspective she could see Princess Celestia.
"Thank you for comforting me." she said softly.
Celestia opened one eye and smiled slightly at her.
Immediately Tempest felt a warmth deep in her chest and turned away so as not to show her embarrassment.
She had already made enough fashion mistakes that day.
She closed her eyes and fell asleep.
"Okay, are you ready?" she asked everyone else who responded by nodding their heads at her.
"Good, off we go!"
Now that they didn't have a dead weight to carry around, they chose to abandon the sled and fill their saddlebags with pieces of wood.
The fact that they had found the wreckage of that airship was truly a miracle and Tempest decided not to push her luck twice.
At the head of the group were Captain Ryker and Ensign Cooper, in the center Twilight, Tempest and Celestia, and at the rear the two royal guards.
"Who are you?"
Just to Tempest's right was Twilight and beyond her Celestia.
"What?" Tempest said raising an eyebrow at the purple alicorn.
"Do you remember yesterday? You were about to tell me who you are." Twilight repeated, smiling innocently.
In reality Tempest hadn't forgotten the question, she was considering whether to reveal information but she admitted that the group from Equestria had proven to be trustworthy.
"Yesterday you told me you were headed to New Metropolis, well.. we're from there."
"Really?! So all this time we were talking to Imperials and you didn't tell us?" she replied in disbelief.
"I didn't know if we could trust you." she tried to justify herself.
"So it's true, a new empire has formed in the south of the continent. Since when?"
Twilight asked more and more curiously.
"Our empire is called the "Union of Free Peoples," and our empire was founded about ten years ago."
"Ten years?! and we only found out now?!" Twilight's voice rose in volume as if each response was a divine revelation.
"You are relatively lucky if we exclude the fact that we are walking in the middle of the desert with little water and food. You wanted to go to New Metropolis and we'll probably get there one way or another." Tempest said with a lopsided smile even though Twilight didn't seem to appreciate her humor.
On the other hand, Celestia laughed lightly, almost imperceptible, making Tempest feel that warmth coming from deep inside her chest again.
"You said that the empire is in fact a union, why did you decide to do it?"
She attempted to investigate Twilight.
From the books she had studied, empires were generally formed by conquering and subjugating others.
If that was the case then they certainly wouldn't have been very good "friends".
"Originally there were only six peoples isolated from each other and subjugated by a dictator called the Storm King. "
Tempest began to tell the story briefly, omitting many parts.
"His rule had remained unchallenged for centuries until someone decided to join forces to eliminate him."
"Following a long war we managed to kill him, then we chose to maintain the alliance and the rest is history."
Twilight seemed to still be dissatisfied.
What was she trying to achieve?
Tempest looked at Princess Celestia but her expression was completely neutral.
She almost seemed like she was there casually.
"Yours is an empire so there must necessarily be an emperor, who is he?"
Tempest started looking forward again and responded to Twilight as she did so.
"I have no idea, I think the one who started it all."
"What do you mean you have no idea?" she said suspiciously.
"I am only a commander, I do not take orders from the emperor himself." Tempest replied in a very convincing voice.
"I understand, let's just hope he's a reasonable person." Twilight commented looking at her mentor. .
"We really hope so." Celestia said.
Then she raised her head and smiled at Tempest.
"But I'm pretty sure she'll be a wonderful person."
Tempest obviously noticed the white alicorn's playful gaze.
She knew!?
"Why were you here? You said that even if you hadn't found us you would still have been headed to that area."
"We were on a diplomatic mission to reach an agreement with the goblins and orcs, but since they shot at us as soon as they saw us I fear they are not interested." Tempest sighed.
It's not that the empire wasn't ready for war but her goals were far different than fighting a people of savages.
"It's really a shame, is there nothing else that can be done? You could try again with another approach." Twilight said. After all, she was the princess of friendship and she had never failed to make new friends.
"I'm afraid the issue isn't very simple, we've tried to negotiate with them before and every time it ended badly."
"Did you try to figure out what they wanted?" Twilight continued.
"The only thing they want is to reproduce and expand."
Tempest was getting tired, it was now obvious to her that there was nothing else they could do.
"Then why don't you let them do it?"
Tempest stopped suddenly.
Let them do it?!
This time Tempest decided to look at Twilight, she didn't seem sarcastic at all and even expected an answer.
"Do you realize what you're saying?" she said in disbelief. Tempest decided to see if Celestia had the same expectation.
The White alicorn was watching as if she were a teacher waiting for her student to come up with the answer on her own and not for it to be served on a silver platter.
And apparently it was Tempest's turn to instruct.
"Do you have any idea who goblins or orcs are?" she asked raising an eyebrow.
Tempest brought her head close to Twilight's so she could hear perfectly.
"When goblins conquer a territory the first thing they do is kill anyone who might offer resistance and then they enslave all the remaining survivors."
Tempest saw that Twilight wasn't expecting anything like this. But she wasn't done yet.
"Then they rape all the females as if they were living incubators while the others are used as slaves until exhaustion."
Twilight was horrified.
"And then the orcs come and eat alive everyone who can't work or give birth to more disgusting monsters just like them."
"I think that's enough. You have proven your point in detail, thank you very much."
Celestia decided to intervene seeing that her protege was almost on the verge of tears.
Tempest was unsure whether to continue but seeing Princess Celestia's displeased face she decided that Twilight had had enough "reality" for now.
Tempest snorted and continued walking, leaving a shocked Twilight behind.
How long had they been walking?
Tempest had lost track of the hours and kilometers that had passed as the sand dunes all seemed to be the same and the heat made it difficult to think.
The only thing that indicated the past time was the shadow cast by their bodies.
Tempest and Celestia walked side by side while Twilight remained slightly behind them and the two equestrian stallions.
The purple alicorn walked with her head and ears low, it was obvious that the previous speech had shaken her deeply.
"Maybe I was too harsh." Tempest said softly as if she was apologizing.
"Thank you." she heard celestia's voice.
Tempest raised her ears suddenly and looked to her left.
When did she get this close?!
The two mares' hips were so close that they could almost touch.
Didn't he know what personal space is?
Tempest tried to move away a few centimeters but Celestia followed her insistently as if it were a game.
She finally decided to give up and keep walking straight.
"Thanks for what?" She finally replied while out of the corner of her eye she observed their close bodies.
"For Twilight."
Tempest didn't feel like she deserved thanks, she just wanted the purple alicorn to learn about such horrors through her rather than experience them first hand.
"Do not mention it." she said, snorting and looking forward again.
"You'll wonder why she's so naive about the real world." Celestia said knowingly.
Tempest actually wondered that.
She nodded her head in agreement.
"Twilight was born in a time of peace in a completely isolated country, she grew up without ever having to deal with the violence and evil of this world."
"But now that she has become Princess of Friendship, she wanted to spread her experience beyond the borders of Equestria."
Tempest continued to listen while keeping one ear towards Celestia.
"I am no stranger to the real world, I too have committed atrocities and knowing this I did not have the courage to destroy the world of peace and harmony that I had built around her and my subjects."
Celestia's voice was truly dejected.
"Is that why you're here? Were you afraid that she couldn't face the outside world alone and you decided to accompany her?" Tempest surmised.
"You are really insightful." Celestia complimented causing a light blush to spread across Tempest's cheeks.
Luckily her dark fur made it difficult to notice.
The two continued walking in silence until Tempest decided that maybe it was time for her to ask the Equestrians a few questions.
"How can she be an alicorn? Is she your daughter?"
"Hahahahahaha!"
Celestia suddenly laughed loudly,
Had she said something funny?
Noticing that Tempest didn't seem to understand why she was laughing, she decided to explain herself.
"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you." she said, wiping away a tear of happiness with her paw.
"It's just the second time in a short time that someone has assumed that I have a daughter."
Honestly, Tempest could understand why: Celestia totally came across as a loving mother.
She couldn't help but think fleetingly of Aletheia.
Celestia calmed down and took on a more serious attitude befitting the answer she was about to give.
"Twilight was born a unicorn like many others but thanks to a spell that I created specifically I transformed her into a halcyon."
This revelation left Tempest completely shocked and speechless.
She had managed to create an alicorn permanently?!
Celestia looked over her shoulder to make sure her student couldn't hear her and then spoke again.
"Have you seen what would happen if I were to pass away?" Tempest nodded, she had thought about it too, the consequences would be apocalyptic to say the least
"I realized this a few centuries ago when following an exhaustion of magical energy the sun remained stationary for an entire week and because of me a famine and thousands of deaths broke out."
Tempest was really shocked by this but she didn't show it.
"We all have regrets..."
The words she had said to her the night before came back to her.
"As luck would have it, I already had a powerful unicorn at my disposal, all she needed was the magical power of an alicorn and I would have had a worthy successor."
"And so now you are training her for the day she takes your place." Tempest continued.
"Exactly. However, she doesn't know about all this, it would break her heart to know that maybe one day I won't be here anymore." she confessed, saddened.
If it were up to her, Tempest would have already told Twilight everything about it, but instead it seemed like she was just manipulating her.
However, it wasn't her job to reveal other people's secrets.
"I understand, I would approach the matter differently but I assure you that your secret will be safe with me." Tempest reassured.
"I'm grateful." Celestia said relieved.
From the discussion they had just had Tempest was able to understand that Princess Celestia wasn't quite what she thought, she too had many secrets and worries.
However, that beautiful smile and her majestic bearing hid everything about her well, guaranteeing her a benevolent and infallible mask.
Although such a thing was commonly judged negatively, Tempest couldn't help but admire her, she was more than a thousand years old and yet she still had remarkable determination and strength.
The list of things that drove Tempest crazy about her continued to accumulate resulting in inappropriate thoughts forming.
If before Tempest felt a warmth coming from deep inside her chest now she felt a "slight itch" under her tail.
How could you blame her?!
Tempest had never dedicated herself to frivolities such as love but for the first time she suspected she was experiencing what is commonly called "love at first sight".
"ENOUGH! YOU'RE DOING IT AGAIN!"
Her subconscious gave her another mental slap, interrupting her most intimate fantasies.
Tempest shook off her daze.
How long had she been fantasizing?
The scarred alicorn looked up into the sky and saw that the sun was still high.
"I know it's a stupid question but couldn't you turn the sun down earlier today?" she asked in a sarcastic voice.
She wasn't stupid enough to believe that the sun only shone on them. There was an entire world that relied on the sun and moon.
Tempest imagined what those who, not knowing Celestia existed, would think when they saw the sun move abnormally for the first time since they were born.
They could have thought of anything: a message from God, the end of the world, or the beginning of something wonderful.
Tempest would not be surprised if in a couple of centuries she were to see written in some sacred book about yesterday and how the sun had remained in the sky much longer than expected.
In fact, she had thought something like that too when the moon hadn't set a couple of years ago.
"Couldn't you lower the sun a little? Maybe just for a couple of hours." Tempest said in a clearly sarcastic voice.
"What's up? are you afraid of getting a sunburn?" Celestia retorted, smiling.
"I don't know, what about you? You look a little pale, a little tan would look good on you." she commented playfully.
Celestia and Tempest had a big laugh.
They knew it wasn't a good situation to play but a little humor never hurt.
For some strange reason Tempest felt that when she was with Celestia she could let go of her commander or empress face, she could be more like herself without fear of being judged.
In fact, perhaps she was the one who should have paid more respect to Celestia. After all, she moved the damned sun. If she had wanted she could have exterminated every form of life on the globe.
"How does it feel to rule the sun?" Tempest asked without thinking too much.
"Mmmmm..." Celestia thought for a moment about what to say. In all the years of her life, few of her had ever dared to ask that question. Were they afraid?
"I don't know, many believe that moving the sun is a power that I can manage as I like but in reality this is not the case."
"No?" Tempest was perplexed, wasn't she the one who moved the sun?
"No, the sun moves autonomously just like the moon, my sister Luna and I have the task of providing energy constantly in order to guarantee the day-night cycle." Celestia explained.
"Wow, I didn't think it could be like this. So this is why when you ran out of magical energy the sun stopped moving. Truly enlightening."
The two continued to discuss this and that as they walked side by side.
However, they forgot that Twilight was behind them and she was staring intently at the two mares.
What was happening?!
Twilight had never seen Princess Celestia interact so amicably with anyone, furthermore with someone she met the day before.
It's not that she treated her subjects badly but rather she had a more "maternal" approach.
Not even with Princess Luna she interact in such a casual way but perhaps it was also due to the fact that her sister had mannerisms that were a millennium old.
By now Twilight had replaced her macabre thoughts about goblins with the strange situation she faced.
What was so special about Tempest that she deserved such treatment?
Celestia had never addressed Twilight so casually and it made her feel strange.
Wait!
Was it jealousy that she felt?
It didn't take long for Twilight to confirm that she was indeed jealous. She almost felt betrayed.
"There is something wrong?"
Twilight suddenly heard the voice of the gray stallion next to her.
Twilight came out of her thoughts.
"No no, I'm fine thanks." she responded quickly.
Apparently she hadn't realized she had stopped and in the meantime the two equestrian guards had reached her.
Twilight quickly trotted forward to catch up with the two tall mares.
For now she had to put away those childish thoughts and behave as she was expected to do as a princess of friendship.
"I think it's time for us to stop." Tempest said looking at the others.
The group had been walking for another few hours and the sun was about to set.
If it had been up to Tempest they would have walked until nightfall but there were good reasons to stop.
First of all, the Equestrians were exhausted and couldn't continue, but above all, chance wanted them to find an oasis in the desert.
The group hadn't initially believed it when Ensign Cooper came to report the discovery, but when they saw it with their own eyes they couldn't help but feel like the luckiest people in the world.
The fact that there was a water source in the desert was something not to be underestimated.
Not only would they be able to replenish their water supplies but they would be able to shed two days' worth of sweat.
However, Tempest was not so bold as to jump headlong into the water without having done the necessary checks.
So Tempest gave the usual routine orders and in a short time they managed to make sure the area was safe and had a bonfire ready to light.
However, while the others were settling down, Twilight hadn't forgotten the fact that Tempest was actually an alicorn. |
THE TEMPEST TALES : FRAGMENTS | CAPITOLO 1 parte 4: AN OASIS OF REGRET AND REVELATIONS | If there was one thing Tempest loved it was being able to take a refreshing bath or shower after a tiring day.
She preferred the water not to be too hot as it bothered her especially where the scars were.
Tempest looked around to make sure one last time that everything was okay.
Not that there was much since the only thing they had with them were pieces of wood and supplies of food and water.
They decided that before washing themselves it was better to fill their water bottles to avoid drinking dirty water, even a little.
The water seemed clean enough, it wasn't perfectly crystal clear but they couldn't complain, furthermore their bodies didn't run any risk from drinking slightly dirty water.
The first to dive into the water were the subordinates since they were the ones who had struggled the most, both because they were all wearing armor and also did not have the physical resistance of alicorns.
After they were done they stayed to dry off and then went to do their chores and rest.
Now only Tempest, Celestia and her faithful student were missing.
"What are you waiting for?"
Tempest heard Twilight's voice calling out to her.
The princess of friendship had already immersed herself in the water and now she was splashing in the pond.
However, Tempest was standing on the shore watching the water.
She was undecided whether to take a bath with her suit and armor on but she understood that it wasn't a good idea, after all the purpose was to clean herself up and remove the sand from her body.
Tempest wasn't used to being seen without anything on, the only ones who had seen her undressed after she acquired the armor were the crew of the Seashark and her assistant Grubbering her when he helped her get dressed .
"There is something wrong?"
Tempest was brought out of her thoughts as soon as she heard Celestia's voice.
The white alicorn was waiting on the shore next to her and was now looking at her as if she knew about Tempest's worries.
Oh right... since yesterday Celestia and Twilight had also seen her "in all her glory".
What difference did it make now? There was nothing left to hide, at least not from those two.
"Nothing, I was just thinking."
With that said, Tempest quickly took off the obsidian plates and then the suit.
Then she took all the clothes and put them aside, later she would give them a clean.
As she was about to dive into the water she saw that Celestia was still on the edge of the water and was looking at the pond as if it might attack her at any moment.
In that moment Tempest realized that she wasn't the only one having second thoughts.
"Afraid of water?"
Celestia turned her gaze towards the magenta alicorn.
Tempest immediately felt uncomfortable knowing Celestia's gaze was on her and wished she had dipped into the water first.
"Of course not! I was just evaluating whether the water was deep enough!"
Celestia said quickly as a light blush formed on her cheeks.
Seeing this, Tempest forgot her discomfort. She hadn't expected such a reaction from the white alicorn at all.
Tempest gave her a look as if to sarcastically say "Of course I believe you." and Celestia pouted childishly and turned her head away.
At that moment Tempest couldn't help but think that Celestia was the cutest and most charming creature on the planet.
What was she worrying about?!
Tempest walked up to Celestia with a smile.
"If you want, I'll hold your paw." she proposed even though she had doubts whether the water was deep enough for the tall white alicorn.
Celestia said nothing and smiled gratefully.
The two approached the water and then slowly immersed themselves.
As they advanced towards the center of the pond they felt the water slowly rising.
The temperature was a little warm by Tempest standards but that was to be expected given how hot it was in the desert.
Celestia's eyes were wide and staring as if she expected to be attacked at any moment.
"Bad experiences with water?" Tempest asked as they approached the center of the pond.
Celestia nodded as she got closer and closer to Tempest to the point that their hips were touching.
Tempest immediately felt the temperature of the water rising dramatically.
"Do you want to tell a story?" Tempest said although she didn't know if she was trying to distract Celestia or herself from the situation.
"I'll tell you if you promise not to laugh." Celestia stated her condition as a light blush reappeared on her cheeks.
Tempest swore her heart could melt at any moment.
"I swear I won't laugh at you." she announced solemnly but still in a friendly tone.
"All right." Celestia sighed.
"When I was little my family and I often went to the lake near the castle to take a bath, however one day it happened that news reached the palace of a pony that was attacked by a shark in the sea."
"Knowing this I began to be afraid of sharks but my parents told me that there were no sharks in the lake, I was relieved and didn't think about it anymore"
Tempest was listening intently as Celestia spoke.
"A couple of days later we went to the lake as usual and while I was swimming I thought I saw a fin emerge from the surface of the water.
At first I thought I was hallucinating but then it came back."
Celestia was getting chills remembering that scary moment.
"I got really scared and ran out of the water but when I turned to see if there really was a shark I saw my sister with a fake fin on her back."
Celestia finished the sentence by letting out a sigh of defeat but then she smiled slightly thinking about that day and how she had gone to complain to her mother about her.
When Celestia finished remembering she saw that Tempest was also smiling as if she was imagining the scene.
However, that slight smile soon turned into a frown of melancholy.
"Everything OK?" She asked Celestia worriedly, she knew well what was happening since that was the face of someone who longed for what could have been.
"No... I'm fine. I'm just happy you had such a fun childhood." Tempest replied with a slightly forced smile.
"You don't need to pretend, I lost my parents when I was young too."
Celestia saw that something had clicked in Tempest's soul, was it empathy?
Whatever it was, she realized that now was the best time to find out more about the mysterious scarred alicorn.
Meanwhile, once again, they didn't notice that Twilight was hiding behind a rock and was finally about to get answers to her questions.
"When did it happen?" Celestia asked kindly.
Normally Tempest wouldn't have told her story so easily but as she continued to deal with Celestia she couldn't help but feel safe, free to be herself, free to remember and suffer accordingly.
So Tempest decided to tell her everything about her starting from her childhood, the day her wings were torn off, her hasty escape and how she had arrived in Midgard thanks to a stroke of luck.
Celestia and Twilight listened to the tragic story and felt the weight of such a terrible and unjust fate on their hearts.
Although Tempest was initially hesitant to confess, but then she felt as if her body had become a little lighter.
When she came back to reality she saw that Celestia had placed a wing on her back just like the night before and there was no embarrassment or judgement, just a warm and affectionate hug and two souls full of regrets.
The two remained embraced until they felt that the water was becoming cold and the sun was about to disappear on the horizon.
Before exiting the pond Tempest gave her suit a quick rinse and as she handled it she saw that Celestia was also immersing the golden yoke that she usually kept around her neck in the water.
Even though Tempest hadn't paid much attention to it before, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed seeing Celestia without it for the first time.
It was as if she were "naked", she thought, remembering a word that anthropomorphs tended to use.
When Celestia noticed Tempest staring at her she blushed again.
In the same way that Tempest felt vulnerable without armor, she too missed the familiar weight around her neck..
Maybe they were really more similar than one might think.
On the other hand, Twilight again felt that hint of jealousy protruding from the depths of her most intimate thoughts.
However, after hearing the heartbreaking story, she couldn't in her heart wish Tempest any harm.
Rather, that sense of jealousy turned into something else.
Seeing that the two mares had a very sad past in common, she felt as if she were a stranger, that she had not been through enough trauma to be able to empathize with them and therefore understand each other.
In reality, there was already a similar feeling before when Celestia treated her like a student and in the best cases like a daughter.
There was a very strong relationship between them but still different from what she wanted.
What was missing?
Twilight continued to worry about all the types of relationships she had and before long she finally understood what was really bothering her.
Twilight understood that what was missing in her relationship with Celestia was lightness, closeness, elasticity, light-heartedness, the freedom to express herself without fear of disappointing.
All this was common to something that Twilight knew very well: friendship.
As soon as she realized this Twilight felt a profound ineptitude and irony at the same time.
She was the princess of friendship and yet the person she had known the longest of all, aside from her family, wasn't exactly her friend.
Twilight felt like she could collapse into herself at any moment but she was stopped before she did.
"Twilight?"
In the distance Celestia called her, she was tempted not to answer to stay and regret herself near the pond but the rational part of her told her that she couldn't ignore Princess Celestia, otherwise she would be a terrible faithful student.
Twilight quickly hid those dark feelings and moved to approach the hearth around which everyone else was gathered.
While they were around the fire, the equestrians and the imperials spoke amicably and exchanged information about their respective nations, occasionally laughter broke out and sometimes there was silence.
However, the air became more tense when the equestrians saw for the first time that the imperials were eating something that looked nothing like vegetables.
The day before everyone had eaten on their own, both because some had to guard the perimeter and also because they didn't know each other well enough.
However, today they were gathered around the hearth and could clearly see what each other was eating.
Twilight was initially stunned to see a pony eating gems for the first time.
In fact, Tempest had forgotten to feed the night before as she was busy wetting Princess Celestia's fur with her tears.
Remembering this, Twilight felt for a brief moment as if she had suffered a defeat but it was immediately replaced by the excitement of seeing Tempest chew the precious stones like they were candy.
Twilight had studied well what is scientifically called gemmophagy since she had to feed a certain personal assistant dragon but she had never thought that even a pony could do such a thing.
She watched with wide eyes until her nostrils were flooded with an unfamiliar and unpleasant odor.
The same thing had also happened to the two equestrian guards.
The three sniffed the air insistently to understand where the pungent smell was coming from and their attention rested on something that Cooper and Ryker were holding between their paws.
Ryker brought the unknown object to his mouth and chewed it spontaneously.
"What are you eating?" Twilight asked the two perplexed.
Since Ryker was chewing it was Cooper who answered.
"Oh this?" he said, pointing to what he was holding with his left hoof.
"It's a slice of dried meat, do you want to try it?"
Cooper brought the piece of beef jerky to Twilight nonchalantly.
"AHHHHH! MEAT!!"
The three equestrians screamed and jumped back in horror.
Tempest and the other two froze as they saw the frightened reaction of Twilight and the two stallions in golden armor.
"MEAT!? ARE YOU MAD!'" Twilight shouted, keeping two meters away from the horrible piece of ex-living being.
Cooper and Ryker looked at each other not knowing what was wrong.
"HOW CAN YOU EAT MEAT?! IT IS A TOTALLY IMMORAL THING! YOU ARE ABOMINABLE!" continued Twilight, seeing that the Imperials didn't seem to understand their crime.
"I do not know what to tell you." Cooper said as he continued to chew the tasty food. "I like meat and have always eaten it."
"Dried meat keeps well and long-term and is an excellent source of protein and energy." added Captain Ryker, putting another piece in his mouth.
The three were shocked and speechless when they saw how casually they ate that horrible food.
The white stallion was so disgusted that he walked away to vomit while the gray one could barely contain himself.
Twilight on the other hand was astonished at such barbarity and incivility.
Seeing that the two groups didn't seem to understand each other, Celestia decided to intervene.
"Please forgive the words of my subjects." she began to speak in a calm voice and as she did so she glared at Twilight which she responded by making a look as if to say "how can you not be outraged by that?!".
"In Equestria the ponies have always followed a strictly vegan diet and for us eating the flesh of a living being is considered taboo. So for them, seeing someone eat meat is unconscionable and considered a crime."
Then Celestia turned her full attention to Twilight and her guards.
"Yet this does not give us the right to call those who have different customs ABOMMINABLE." and she concluded with a strong tone of disapproval and reproach.
Immediately the three felt like when they were little they were caught by their mothers doing something wrong and they were stared at.
The three didn't say anything but sat down again with their ears lowered and their gaze fixed on their hooves, it seemed as if they were punished.
Tempest witnessed all this and saw something very familiar in it.
It was the same reaction Grubber had when she scolded him.
From that interaction Tempest understood that Celestia had a somewhat different approach to her subordinates.
Usually the empress's soldiers were afraid of making mistakes for fear of repercussions while the princess's subjects were afraid of making mistakes so as not to displease and disappoint.
Although the difference was slight, it was indicative of the fact that Tempest was more of a leader while Celestia was a loving and maternal ruler.
And she damn well liked that.
"Thank you for the explanation but I assure you that there was no offense." Tempest said to lighten the blame on the three equestrians.
Ryker and Cooper nodded in agreement with her.
Once the argument was resolved they decided that they would go to sleep and Tempest would take the first watch since she hadn't done so the night before even though Captain Ryker insisted on letting his empress rest.
Even though Tempest had proposed to take the first watch, she was now sitting on the edge of the pond staring at the horizon.
She still kept an ear out in case something was wrong but she doubted anything could happen in the desert in the middle of nowhere.
Tempest was absorbed in many thoughts while her gaze was captured by the atypical landscape.
In fact, like the night before, the sky was clearly visible due to the lack of clouds.
She could perfectly see every star in the firmament while her face was illuminated by the moon.
Furthermore, the still water of the pond reflected the light of the stars, making it seem as if the night could also invade the earth.
Tempest's ears heard footsteps approaching but they were almost inaudible as the sand muffled all sounds but she had already figured out who she was.
Over the two days she had heard and memorized that now familiar rhythm of footsteps.
Celestia walked over and sat next to Tempest to admire the view.
"You're right, your sister's night is really wonderful." Tempest said, responding to the statement from the night before.
"I totally agree, I only wish I had realized this a thousand years ago."
Again the memories brought with them a terrible remorse that had been eating away at her soul for centuries.
"Do you want to be the one to tell the story this time?" Tempest proposed shyly.
"Obviously you don't have to! I know it's difficult but you listened to me and consoled me so I thought you could lighten your burden too." Tempest concluded as she tried not to stutter.
What's wrong with you Tempest?!
Celestia noticed this and smiled as she noticed how much effort the magenta alicorn was having to express herself. The difficult life and the constant need to keep her guard up had made her emotionally constipated and incapable of having a heart-to-heart discussion.
"You're right Tempest, you trusted me so it's only right that I trust you too." Celestia said before starting with her story.
"Unlike you, I was lucky enough to have a peaceful and comfortable childhood, my mother was an alicorn and my father a pegasus and they loved me and my sister so much.
We lived happily and carefree in the castle outside the capital, Luna and I were very close and we spent every day together studying or playing."
Tempest had long understood that the thing that hurt her most was talking about her sister.
"However, time passed and we grew up, on Luna's twentieth birthday we ascended the throne to replace our parents, we were happy but I never imagined what would happen in the future.
As the years passed I gained more and more popularity and support from the nobles while my sister preferred to remain humble, she governed by remaining on the sidelines and in the meantime she did everything to help the people."
"Back then the ruling class were the noble unicorns and I stupidly listened to them so that they worshiped me even if I didn't realize I was playing their game.
On the other hand, earth ponies and pegasus were exploited as soldiers and farmers. Luna realized this before me and she did everything she could to bring fairness to Equestria."
"However, she was an inconvenient figure for the nobility so they slowly managed to convince me to go against my sister.
When Luna wasn't at the palace the court whispered lies that my sister wanted to take the throne all for herself and I obviously fell for it."
Celestia hated herself for how naively she had believed the words of those greedy and haughty unicorns, if only she could go back in time...
"I began to treat my sister badly, I ignored her bills and laughed along with the nobles when she talked about wanting to make Equestria a better place.
The resentment in Luna's heart grew until it was too late."
A couple of tears were slowly falling on Celestia's cheeks and seeing this Tempest did what the white halcyon had also done for her.
Slowly she walked over and rested her shoulder against Celestia's.
Since Tempest didn't have wings, surprisingly it was Celestia who grabbed the scarred alicorn and brought her close.
Tempest was shocked but she couldn't have her usual prying thoughts, now all she mattered was listening to Celestia.
"I had underestimated how powerful feelings could be for us alicorns and I didn't realize that my sister's anguish and hatred had personified itself and replaced my sister with Nightmare Moon.
That day my sister refused to lower the moon and we ended up fighting fiercely. However Nightmare Moon was still too weak and she ran away."
"I didn't know that things would only get worse from there on.
A few months later my sister declared war on me along with millions of other ponies tired and dissatisfied with me and the nobility.
The war barely lasted a year but it was ferocious and brutal, in less than six months a third of the population was dead and the nobles were on the verge of extinction."
As much as Celestia dreamed every day that things would be different, she had to resign herself to the fact that the ending of the story had already been written.
"In a fit of anger and desperation I chose to use the elements of harmony but in doing so I did not foresee their power.
Before I knew it, I had banished my sister to the moon and lost the only person who truly loved me, the last remaining member of my family.
For the next few years I regretted that horrible crime."
Celestia's tears weren't enough to bear witness to the sadness and desperation she felt, they couldn't bring back the lost years where she could have been happy with Luna just like when they were children.
And they certainly couldn't express the centuries of loneliness and isolation she had suffered.
Celestia wiped her tears with her hoof and then looked at the moon with a smile.
"But now Nightmare Moon has been defeated and my sister has returned to me."
She turned her head and looked at Twilight who was dozing near the smoking remains of the hearth.
"And this is thanks to six courageous mares who knew how to use the elements of harmony in the correct way."
Not like she did when she betrayed her sister, when she mocked her, when she didn't have the honesty to admit her weaknesses, when she treated her with hatred..."
As Tempest had said, Celestia's heart was hurt but she felt a little lighter, as if she had emerged from a long period of sleepiness.
"I'm happy you're reunited with your sister, I really hope you can make up for the lost years."
Tempest really thought so, if there was anyone who deserved a little happiness it was certainly the white alicorn.
"Thank you." was all Celestia said.
What else was there to say? Sometimes you just need to listen and share your burden.
"I think it's time to go to sleep," Tempest said, holding back a yawn.
Celestia was tempted to stay and admire the stars but she knew they would have to leave early tomorrow.
"I agree." With that said Celestia went towards the hearth while Tempest went to wake Ensign Cooper for his watch.
Once that was done Tempest lay down near the hearth, she was about to close her eyes when she felt something soft touch her side.
Celestia had laid down next to her causing Tempest to become very confused and warm.
However, the white alicorn said nothing and rested her head between her front paws.
That night Tempest would have a hard time falling asleep. |
THE TEMPEST TALES : FRAGMENTS | CHAPTER 1 part 5 : YOU ARE NOT BETTER THAN THEM! | It was times like this that Celestia was happy not to suffer from the heat.
Like yesterday the sun had risen very early and consequently the unbearable heat was already making the whole group sweat except obviously her, the sun goddess.
She could have walked in the desert for weeks if only she hadn't needed to eat and drink but as luck would have it, the last supplies of food they had had run out the night before.
Or at least the plant-based ones. Instead there were still a few pieces of meat barely enough for a day.
Contrary to what one might believe, Celestia was not so against eating meat, she had already done so in the past long before the vegetarian diet completely replaced the omnivorous one.
Celestia smiled as she imagined how her faithful student would react if she saw her eating a tasty steak. She would most likely have fainted from the shock and subsequently accused her of being an impostor.
Speaking of Twilight....
Celestia noticed that she had been staying aloof since yesterday afternoon.
Had that discussion with Tempest really shaken her that much?
Celestia stopped to see where she was and just like yesterday she stood a few feet back with her head down as she watched her own paws move in front of each other.
"Twilight?"
The little alicorn raised her head as her mentor called her name.
"Yes?"
Celestia motioned for her to come closer so they could walk side by side, when Twilight approached her she began to talk to her.
"What troubles you my faithful student?"
Twilight remained silent to think, there were so many things going on in her head.
The issue of the goblins, her unfriendship with Celestia, the fact that they had been walking in the desert for days. She also really missed her friends, Ponyville and Spyke.
When they chose to make the journey she was very happy to be outside of Equestria for the first time in millennia. She imagined meeting new people and making friends but instead she found herself having to hide from a horde of goblins after they shot down their airship and killed almost all of the crew.
And as if that wasn't enough she had to come to terms with the fact that she was only a loyal student to Celestia.
If she had known beforehand that all this would happen she would have been in Equestria to resolve there friendship issues. NO!
She was the princess of friendship and it was her job to spread harmony to every corner of the world.
However, deep in her heart she felt that she was not a princess of friendship at that moment and it was probably due to the fact that she did not have her closest friends with her.
"Princess Celestia. Why didn't the others come too? I'm sure we could have done something to improve the situation."
Celestia listened to her student's question after waiting a couple of minutes for her to choose what to say.
"My faithful student, I have no doubt that the presence of your friends could have been helpful but at the same time I fear that they would not have been ready to face such a journey."
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe you haven't yet realized how much bad luck and luck we've had. We lost all five airships and the only survivors are you, me and the two guards.
If it hadn't been for Tempest I fear we could have been captured by the goblins and if what she said is true then it would have been a fate worse than death."
Twilight shuddered as she imagined the horrible fate that might have befallen them.
"And even if it hadn't, we would have had to take the long walk through the desert and I'm afraid your friends would probably have perished very quickly, especially Fluttershy and Rarity."
Celestia lowered her head so she was looking into Twilight's eyes.
"And I assure you, the last thing you want is to be responsible for the suffering of someone you love."
Celestia's words were a little harsh but unfortunately very close to the truth.
She couldn't bear to see the bodies of her friends buried in the sand or even worse devoured by an ogre.
"So you already knew all this could happen?" she said in a strangled voice realizing that perhaps all of this could have been avoided.
Celestia let out a sigh as Twilight waited impatiently for a response.
"Yes, I was aware that there were risks but I wanted to try anyway, I wanted to believe that outside of Equestria there was still a world where you could spread joy and harmony. However, I was naive again and underestimated the danger. I hope you can forgive me." Celestia said dejectedly.
Twilight wasn't sure how to respond. She was convinced that Princess Celestia had started the mission because she was sure that everything would go smoothly but apparently that wasn't the case and the dozens of ponies who had left with them paid the price.
Twilight thought back to the past few days and couldn't help but notice that Celestia hadn't actually said anything when she woke up and told her that there had only been four survivors including the two of them.
In fact, she hadn't even reacted when Cooper and Ryker were eating meat.
Could it be that Celestia didn't care?
Obviously not! How could the princess think this of her?
Celestia had always cared for her subjects and cared about every living creature.
But the facts remained and made her worry.
"What do you think of all this?"
The best way to clear up doubts was to ask.
"I think it's a tragic story but also the beginning of something great. The sacrifice of all those poor souls was a horrible but perhaps inevitable thing.
We also managed to meet new friends."
Was it really inevitable?
"And how did Tempest and his group seem to you?"
Celestia smiled genuinely and replied.
"I don't think we could have been saved by better people."
Were they really good people?
They had no qualms about killing all the goblins and eating meat.
Could they get along with a civilization so different from theirs?
What moral principles did they have?
Twilight looked at Celestia but she didn't seem to have these types of doubts, in fact she had found someone who looked like her and was happy about it.
"Princess Celestia, do you like Tempest?"
The fateful question had been asked.
Suddenly Celestia stopped, her cheeks were flushed and her tail was twitching.
"In what sense? What makes you say that?!" her voice was slightly higher than usual.
"I noticed that you get along very well and so I thought something might be brewing between you two."
"Like what?!" now Celestia was getting agitated, what the hell did Twilight think she saw?!
It took Twilight a few seconds to realize that her words were misunderstood.
"I don't mean in a love sense! I was referring to a very close friendship or something." Now Twilight was extremely embarrassed too.
"Ah I see, well I guess so. Although Tempest may seem very gruff, she seems trustworthy to me." Celestia explained as her blush dissipated.
"Why are you asking me these questions?"
Now it was Celestia's turn to counterattack, obviously maintaining a calm and friendly tone.
Twilight was unsure whether to express her concerns from the night before.
Did she have the right to do that?
Maybe she should have just come to terms with it and be satisfied, remaining a student and teacher as she had always been.
But Celestia was perceptive and it took her little time to figure out what was tormenting her faithful student.
"Are you afraid that I might have a more important kind of relationship with Tempest than with you?"
Twilight nodded dejectedly with her ears down.
"My faithful student, I have taught and followed you since you were little and this has obviously created a certain relationship between you and me."
"You and I are both teacher and student and yet I know you as if you were part of the family."
Twilight listened intently as Princess Celestia explained.
"However, what makes you think so much is the fact that we don't call each other friends. Is it correct?"
Twilight nodded fiercely, as always Celestia knew what she thought.
"Tell me Twilight, have you ever just called me Celestia or even Tia?"
"I would never allow myself!" Twilight denied, not even in her wildest dreams she would call Princess Celestia that way.
"Have I ever called you Twi?" Twilight shook her head again, it would be really strange if her mentor called her what her brother does.
"As you have just seen, there is always something small and imperceptible that determines the type of relationship between people, it is precisely for this reason that family, friends, work colleagues exist, and consequently the relationship between teacher and student. "
Twilight was having a hard time understanding Celestia's words but you couldn't blame her, what she was explaining was hard to define.
"My faithful student, we must come to terms with the fact that you and I have a relationship that is, to say the least, unique and difficult to define, but I am sure that perhaps in the future we will be able to treat each other as long-time friends, however this does not preclude the importance of all other types of relationships. "
With that said, they both remained contemplating Celestia's words.
Even though Celestia had explained her point Twilight couldn't help but be dissatisfied.
Did she basically mean that they didn't know each other well enough? Or that they knew each other too well that they could no longer consider each other friends?
Twilight was about to ask for further explanation but she was interrupted by Ensign Cooper's voice.
"WE HAVE ARRIVED! THE OUTPOST IS AHEAD OF US!" He shouted with joy as he flew in circles above the group.
"I'm afraid we will have to continue the discussion at another time." Celestia said, putting an end to Twilight's questions.
Twilight was undecided whether to rejoice or despair on the ground.
The timing couldn't have been worse.
Twilight forced herself to leave it alone for the moment and then approached the rest of the group who were currently at the crest of a hill.
Celestia had been a little surprised by Twilight's doubts. She had struggled to find an explanation that would work without upsetting her too much.
She was almost certain that if she kept asking she wouldn't be able to find the exact words to tell her that the difference between the two of them was something she couldn't ignore.
Although Twilight was a brilliant mare and capable of overcoming many difficulties, at the same time she was not capable of having a broader vision of things and making decisions that deviated from her moral principles.
Instead, if there had been an unsolvable problem, Celestia would have been willing to use quite questionable methods while Twilight would have insisted on finding a peaceful solution, even at the cost of risking everything in vain.
It would have been acceptable within the confines of Equestria but not in the outside world where one wrong choice could mean the difference between life and death.
Additionally, Celestia's hidden nature was diametrically opposed to Twilight's, she loved adventure and risk, she liked to try new things and sometimes things that would be totally frowned upon in Equestria such as sexual activity or fighting.
Twilight on the other hand was more like her sister, she was calm and preferred to follow a more linear path. She appreciated everyday life and the simplicity of things.
Celestia had tried to reveal her true self but she realized there was no way. Whenever she tried to casually or jokingly mention things she liked, Twilight would react by repudiating what she considered "immoral".
To put it simply, Twilight was like a chaste and pure nun while Celestia was one who liked to sin.
Therefore Celestia always wore the mask of the kind and infallible ruler.
Furthermore, as much as she loved Twilight, she had sworn that she would no longer become too fond of her students, fearful of what had happened with the previous one.
One day they will have to go their separate ways for one reason or another, creating a too close bond would be painful for everyone.
Fortunately the discussion was interrupted as they had finally arrived at their destination.
When she returned to Tempest's side she was amazed to see an immense camp before her.
"Isn't that wonderful?"
Celestia looked at Tempest, she had a proud look as if she wanted to show off the power and efficiency of the empire.
In fact it really was like that.
From their elevated position they could see everything in detail.
The camp extended for at least two square kilometres, the perimeter was formed by a ditch and wooden palisades at least three meters high and with guard towers every 10 metres.
Inside the camp there was an entire area full of tents where the soldiers were housed. In the center there was a large, tall building that served as a command center and nearby there were other smaller buildings that had other functions.
What stood out most was that about ten airships anchored to the ground were floating above the camp.
"Let's get moving, we've spent enough time wandering around the desert, it's time to get back to civilization."
With that, Tempest moved forward and the group followed her.
The entrance was guarded by four soldiers, two minotaurs were standing in front of the door while two griffins watched from above on the towers with crossbows in their paws.
As they approached Tempest saw that they had gotten into position ready to fight, apparently they had seen them in the distance and as per protocol they were considered a possible threat.
"Don't make sudden movements." Tempest warned.
When they came within earshot they stopped so they could be clearly seen.
"IDENTIFIERS!" the minotaur on the right ordered in a booming voice.
Twilight was intimidated by them, it was the first time she had seen such a creature and she admitted that they were really scary.
They were imposing and threatening, their horns increased their size and the halberds were not reassuring.
Tempest smiled deviously, it was time to reveal her identity.
"YOU DO NOT RECOGNIZE YOUR EMPRESS?"
He said aloud as he showed off his personal seal engraved on her armor.
Everyone was surprised at her revelation.
Twilight had wide eyes while Celestia smirked as if she already knew.
The guards remained silent, trying to figure out if it was a joke.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! OPEN THE DOOR!"
Tempest's order was enough to disenchant them and they immediately obeyed.
"Forgive us your majesty! We'll let you in immediately."
The minotaur from before took an oliphant from his hip and blew into it, emitting a very strong and deep melody.
The doors began to slowly open with the sound of gears and wood sliding.
Inside the camp, hundreds of troops could be seen rushing to get into position to welcome an important guest.
As the group advanced, the soldiers in line saluted, some knew well who their empress was while others didn't even know what was happening but that didn't mean they showed any less respect.
Tempest was proud that the troops were ready, she knew she could count on them.
However, the soldiers were carefully observing the guests she had brought with her.
What stood out the most was obviously the very tall pony even taller than their empress, there was also another purple pony but of normal size.
But what was really abnormal was the presence of both wings and horn.
Twilight felt uncomfortable as she walked between the rows of soldiers, they were menacing and were looking her up and down.
"Twilight, remember that you now represent Equestria." Celestia whispered to her.
Her mentor had a bearing worthy of the role she held, she showed no fear or discomfort.
Twilight gulped and tried to adjust her posture by awkwardly imitating Princess Celestia.
Arriving at the end of the rows of soldiers there was another minotaur, his armor was more decorated and on his shoulders he had three golden dots indicating his rank.
"Welcome. I am Commander Ivar. General Minox instructed us two days ago to begin searches in the desert. We are happy that you have returned safely." The commander introduced himself standing at attention.
"Commander Ivar, immediately recall all soldiers involved in the search and send a letter to the palace to warn of my return to the capital. In the meantime we have to talk about very worrying issues."
"Yes your majesty!"
Before the group could head to the command center Tempest turned to Cooper and Ryker.
"Captain Ryker, Ensign Cooper, I want to compliment you on your courage and ability to face a difficult situation, you deserve a promotion."
Ensign Cooper was excited by the news, getting promoted so young was truly unheard of.
"Eat your fill and rest, tomorrow you will resume your duties."
"Yes, sir!" they said before disappearing into the crowd of soldiers.
The commander stepped aside to let his empress pass along with the foreigners.
They entered the command center and after passing through various rooms and corridors they came to a large room with a long table, it was the ready room.
"Commander, have six portions of food brought, no meat for our guests."
The commander obeyed immediately and left the room to tell the cooks to prepare something.
Only the three alicorns and the two equestrian guards remained in the ready room
Tempest went to sit at the head of the table while the others sat on her left with Celestia and Twilight closer.
The three remained silent, the equestrians had yet to understand exactly what was happening, everything was so sudden.
"Empress then." Celestia broke the silence by shooting a playful look at Tempest.
"Apparently yes, I wanted to surprise you but I'm afraid someone already knew" she replied smiling.
"You already knew that?!" Twilight interrupted in shock.
The two stallions were also puzzled.
Had they been talking to the empress herself all this time?
What if she said something offensive?
The little alicorn thought back to the previous evening when she had accused them of being abominable because they ate meat.
She wanted to punch herself, perhaps because of her she had nullified any possibility of having a peaceful relationship with the new empire!
"I wasn't totally sure but I had some suspicions, plus my informants had vaguely told me that a mare with a broken horn was in charge."
SO SHE KNEW IT!
Twilight felt a little betrayed that she hadn't been informed of this.
"So what happens now?" Celestia asked the empress sitting at the head of the table.
"Not long, I will return to the capital to deal with the goblin issue while you can decide whether to continue your mission and follow me to New Metropolis, or take one of my airships and return to Equestria." Tempest proposed.
Twilight and Celestia had no intention of abandoning the mission, not after all the sacrifices they made.
"We would like to follow you, if that's okay with you."
"For me you are welcome and I am sure that the whole empire would be happy to have friends like you."
Hearing this Twilight was relieved, apparently she hadn't started a war.
"How are you going to handle the goblins and orcs?"
"I fear there will be a war."
Twilight wanted to cry and laugh at the same time so she made a kind of psychopathic face.
Tempest and Celestia looked at her strangely seeing the purple alicorn's strange reaction.
"Everything okay Twilight?" Celestia asked.
"NO THAT'S NOT GOOD! TEMPEST WANTS TO MAKE WAR!" Twilight shouted in exasperation.
How could you want war?!
It is totally immoral even more than eating meat, it means taking the life of another person voluntarily.
It went against everything they stood for and what she cared about.
"I assure you that if it were up to me there would be no war but I cannot ignore the danger."
"Then find an alternative!"
"I already told you we tried, they're not interested."
Tempest didn't want to have the same conversation with Twilight at all, she was convinced that she was now disillusioned.
"Before we could just guard the borders but now they have found a way to develop weapons capable of shooting down airships, which means they are a danger not only to the empire but to everyone who flies over their territory. Just like it was for you."
Twilight couldn't accept a war breaking out, not while she was breathing.
She had to find a way to dissuade her.
"You said that they have developed weapons, then it means that they are capable of thinking and evolving. Maybe in the future they will learn to live differently, in a peaceful way."
Yes, that was a valid argument!
"Or they could develop even more dangerous weapons and decide to invade other territories. And even if that's not the case, how long will we have to wait before they become peaceful?! How many more will have to die at their hands?!"
Tempest was getting annoyed thinking about how many were killed or kidnapped by the goblins and orcs.
She could not allow them to continue to act unpunished.
"WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO KILL THEM ALL!?" Twilight accused, slamming her hooves on the table.
The air became more tense, Celestia remained calm but she knew that the situation could get worse, while the equestrian guards weren't really sure what to do.
"Who did you take me for?! A monster!? We will simply push them back to the point of rendering them harmless but I have no illusions that we will succeed without killing large numbers of them."
"THOUSANDS OF THEM WILL DIE ANYWAY! YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN THEM!"
Tempest could no longer resist hearing the purple alicorn's accusations.
"HOW DARE YOU?!"
They had managed to fight together to defeat Storm King, they had shed blood and sweat and finally founded a prosperous and proud empire.
How could she, who knew nothing of all this, compare them to a people of savage murderers and rapists, without morals and honor.
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SPEAK!, YOU WHO HAVE LIVED ALL YOUR LIFE IN A WORLD MADE OF RAINBOWS AND BUTTERFLIES, YOU WHO HAVE NEVER SEEN A FRIEND DIE PITTERED BY A BLADE, YOU WHO ARE CONVINCED THAT YOU CAN SORRY EVERYTHING WITH YOUR BEAUTIFUL WORDS!"
Hearing this, Twilight lost control. The room began to shake, her eyes glowing with light as her horn and wings emitted sparks.
Tempest stood up and assumed a fighting stance ready to counter a possible attack.
"THATS ENOUGH!"
Celestia let out a commanding voice, immediately interrupting the altercation.
Twilight got scared and backed away with her ears lowered while Tempest was surprised but fascinated to say the least.
"Enough Twilight! You've made your point but we can't stop Tempest and the Empire from making their choices."
"How can you defend them!? They are murderers!" Twilight protested.
"I'm not happy about it either but as much as I hate to say it we have no right to interfere in the matter." Celestia's tone was final.
Celestia rarely used that voice but Twilight understood that it wasn't convenient for her to continue the fight.
"Please forgive my student, I'm sure she's just a little stressed out because she's so tired." Celestia attempted to apologize as she had done the night before.
Twilight wanted to disagree but Celestia glared at her.
"It's no problem, I lost my temper too so I apologize to you."
Tempest did what etiquette requires even if she sincerely knew she was right.
She was grateful that Celestia understood their point of view and she chose not to meddle in the matter.
The doors opened wide and Commander Ivar entered with two carts of food in tow.
The three sat down again although some tension remained between Twilight and Tempest.
The cooks placed the plates in front of them, there wasn't much just a couple of potatoes and some carrots for the equestrians while in the other two plates there was also a slice of meat.
Ivar was about to leave but was stopped by Tempest.
"Commander Ivar, please join us." Tempest said pointing to her chair to her left.
Ivar did not expect to be invited to share the table with the empress but he could not refuse. Furthermore, he now understood why she had asked for six portions of food even though there were five of them.
Ivar went to sit at the indicated seat, luckily the chairs were designed for every creature in the empire including minotaurs.
When everyone was seated at the table Tempest began to eat and the others did the same.
The food was a little bland but they couldn't be picky, an army outpost was certainly not a luxury hotel.
"Commander Ivar, I have not yet introduced you to our guests."
Tempest chose it was time to get down to business.
"In front of you is Princess Celestia, current diarch of the kingdom of Equestria while to the left is Princess Twilight Sparkle, her student." she said pointing first to one and then to the other. "While the two of them are Equestrian guards tasked with protecting them."
Twilight was a little annoyed that she only introduced her as "Celestia's student".
On the other hand, Tempest refused to say that there was a Princess of Friendship otherwise she would become the laughing stock of the empire.
"It is an honor to meet you, I am Ivar son of Ivar, Commander of the external army of the Union of Free Peoples." The great minotaur introduced himself formally although it was strange given that he was sitting and eating with them.
"Pleasure is all ours." Celestia replied politely.
Ivar blushed as the beautiful white mare turned to him.
"Now that we've introduced ourselves, it's time to get to the point."
Tempest suddenly said, he noticed that she was looking at him menacingly.
Immediately the minotaur stiffened and went back to eating.
Had he made her angry?!
"Commander Ivar what do you know about the situation regarding the goblins and orcs?"
"They are currently considered dangerous, which is why we have several outposts along the southeast border. Also three days ago you were supposed to attend another diplomatic meeting with the goblin king." the commander quickly summarized, one thing known about the empress was that she hated long-winded speeches.
"That's right, three days ago I was supposed to attend the meeting but along the way I ran into our guests, their airship was shot down by goblins and when we got closer they destroyed my airships too."
While Tempest spoke the others ate, Ivar noticed out of the corner of his eye that every time he ate a piece of meat Twilight Sparkle looked at him with disappointment.
"Apparently they have created weapons that are rudimentary but powerful enough to take down unarmored airships. The important issue is that they deliberately opened fire on a diplomatic vessel and that is a clear and deliberate statement of hostility."
"It's truly unacceptable! We have been lenient with them and have tried to negotiate several times!"
"You are absolutely right commander, that's why as soon as we finish eating I will take an airship and head to the capital to discuss the matter with the council and decide what to do."
"I see, what do you want me to do?"
"I couldn't wait for you to ask."
Tempest put down her fork and knife and then looked intently at the Commander.
"I fear that we will have to prepare for a war against goblins and orcs, so I temporarily promote you to grand commander of the entire army in the south-eastern border of the empire.
Your job is to inform all other commanders and make sure they are ready for when General Minox takes over command."
Commander Ivar was shocked, he had not expected to get even a temporary promotion, the responsibility he had been given was of primary importance.
"As you wish my Empress!"
"Great, I trust you."
Having said this, the minotaur got up and ran away to immediately carry out the orders given to him.
He was in such a hurry that he forgot to finish eating.
Tempest rolled her eyes and placed the leftover food on her plate.
"So that's it? Are you really going to start war?" This time Twilight didn't mean to be aggressive, she was just sad and disconsolate.
"it's probable, I remind you that I'm not the only one who decides, if the council chooses not to want to go to war I won't be able to oppose it. The goblins have not officially declared war on us so the decision is up to them." Tempest said as he chewed on a piece of meat.
Hearing this Twilight had a sliver of hope, maybe she could convince the council to give up.
"However, if they were to declare war on us I will have to acquire emergency powers and I will not think twice about mobilizing the entire army."
Twilight's mood dropped again.
The five finished eating quickly and after that Tempest put her plate aside and got up from her chair.
"It's time to leave."
"Now?!" Twilight asked.
"We cannot wait any longer, it is essential that I return to the palace to meet with the council."
Tempest didn't even bother to stop and continued walking briskly to reach the port where the airships were docked.
As they walked they could see the soldiers going about their chores and when they saw them they stopped to greet their empress.
"Tempest, can you stop for a moment?"
Celestia asked.
"Sure, what's going on?"
"I wish I could inform my sister of the situation. I wanted to ask you if you could have my guards taken to Canterlot."
Tempest wanted to object, there weren't many airships available and as many as possible were needed in case of emergency.
She wanted to refuse but how could she say no to Celestia?!
Damn mare she could make her do what she wanted.
Tempest decided to send reason to hell and please the princess, what difference would it have made for her not to have a heavily armed airship capable of changing the fate of a battle?
This was no time to be stingy.
"Of course, I will send an airship to escort your soldiers to Canterlot."
Tempest nodded to a soldier standing nearby.
She knew he would understand since he had been within earshot, she had mandated that the soldiers be ever vigilant and attentive at all times.
Celestia turned to her soldiers.
"You must inform my sister of what has happened, tell her that Twilight and I are headed to the imperial capital and that we don't know when we will return."
"Yes your highness! Are you sure that you don't need our presence to protect you?" The gray stallion said after bowing.
Celestia looked out of the corner of her eye at Tempest and smiled reassuringly.
"It's no problem, I'm sure I'll be well protected."
With that the two stallions followed the imperial soldier to reach a small airship docked in another port.
The three alicorns continued walking until they reached the main port.
The piers were raised and to get there you had to climb a short staircase. In this way it was easier to get on and off the vessels.
Tempest headed towards a corvette, it wasn't very big but it provided a lot of speed.
As they boarded they were stopped by the captain of the vessel. she was a pegasus mare who was missing her right hind leg but this did not affect her leadership abilities.
"Welcome aboard my empress, how can I help you?"
"I need to get back to New Metropolis quickly."
"I see, we just need to refuel and unload some goods, then we can speed off to the imperial palace."
The captain signaled a sailor to come closer.
"Show the quarters to our empress and her esteemed guests."
The sailor nodded and then turned to the three alicorns while standing at attention.
"Please follow me." he turned and headed below deck while the others followed him.
It didn't take long to reach the quarters as the airship was small.
They reached the end of the corridor where there were two doors, one on the right and one at the end.
"This is the guest cabin." he said, pointing to the door on the right. "And that is the captain's cabin where the empress can reside."
"We'll leave in a few minutes and dinner will be ready at 8pm."
"Thank you very much sailor, you are free to go." Tempest said.
The sailor bowed and then left to return to his business.
Tempest turned to the other two.
"Since there are two of you, you can take the captain's cabin, I'll stay in the smaller one."
Tempest didn't want to force the tall alicorn to have to be uncomfortable in a tiny cabin.
"Thank you very much, we are grateful." Celestia said, giving her a warm smile of gratitude.
Tempest felt her now familiar warmth coming from her chest again.
Before she could do anything strange she turned to go to her quarters.
"Since there is nothing to do you can stay and rest in the cabin, I will be in my room, I have some letters to write."
And she walked away leaving only Twilight and Celestia in the hallway.
"What do we do now?" Twilight asked.
"Not much, let's go see what our accommodation is like."
Twilight was about to go to open the door but she was stopped by Celestia who placed a hoof on her back.
"What's up?"
"Don't think I forgot what you did earlier, we'll have to talk about your inappropriate conduct."
Celestia's face was stern and her words were the anticipation of a harsh lecture.
Twilight couldn't help but bow her head and swallow.
She was really in trouble. |
THE TEMPEST TALES : FRAGMENTS | CHAPTER 1 part 6: YOU WILL HAVE TO TAKE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES! | Tempest hated having to fill out paperwork and write reports.
However, she could not abstain since she and her council had decided to create an organized bureaucracy.
Although bureaucracy was normally a symptom of slowness and inefficiency, it was necessary to take into account what was happening, the available resources, the soldiers and guarantee precise and error-free logistics.
In the event of war, knowing which pawns you had at your disposal was essential to achieving victory.
Obviously in the report she had omitted some facts such as the obvious crush she had on Princess Celestia. It would not have been appropriate to include thoughts of a teenager in puberty in the relationship.
Tempest should have done something about it.
Her logic dictated that she should simply throw a bucket of ice water over herself and then forget about Celestia and assume a more professional demeanor, as an empress should.
But the most intimate and unexplored side of her pushed her to welcome the feelings of warmth and affection and perhaps try to approach Celestia.
But what did Celestia think of her?
From their interactions she came across as interested, attentive and at times even funny and nice. She sometimes smiled at her genuinely and it made her feel euphoric and eager to hug her.
Plus she seemed similar to her in certain ways. She could understand how she felt as they had both had tragic experiences.
Never before had she found someone who made her feel this way.
She was not unaware of her sexual desire as some had already tried to woo her and she would have even been willing to have sex, but every time she backed away and resorted to satisfying herself alone.
However now there was more than just physical attraction. Tempest wished he could get to know her more intimately just like they had the night before when they dipped in the pond.
She wanted to be able to see every day that loving and sometimes devious smile that Celestia had given her in the last few days.
She would have given everything she had to spend more time with the princess but their journey was coming to an end.
After they resolve matters in New Metropolis, Celestia and Twilight will return to Equestria while she must continue to rule the empire alongside the council.
She wanted to feel the warmth and softness of her wings and her perfectly white fur again.
She wanted to listen to her sweet voice forever, sweet as honey and fresh as the clearest of water sources.
Tempest had stopped writing to fantasize about the white alicorn.
Romantic thoughts slowly mixed with more carnal ones.
How could you blame her? She had never seen a mare of such beauty.
She began to feel a slight itch under her tail which soon became an unbearable heat that was impossible to ignore.
Tempest could no longer resist, she took off her armor and suit and then threw herself on the bed to perform the sinful act.
Meanwhile on the other side of the wall a very disappointed Celestia was admonishing her student.
"Twilight Sparkle, what you did is unacceptable! You are a princess of Equestria and you can't afford to have an outburst like that. What would have happened if instead of Tempest there had been someone more resentful?!"
While Celestia spoke, Twilight sat listening in the corner with her ears down and her eyes blank. Rarely had Celestia scolded her so much.
Celestia wasn't screaming but that made her even more intimidating.
You should never make a good person angry.
"But the most worrying thing is not that you are a princess who yelled at another ruler, but that you are an alicorn and have lost control. I have told you many times that feelings work differently for us than for ordinary ponies."
Celestia had witnessed multiple times alicorns lose control and unintentionally wreak havoc, at best someone could die and at worst entire nations could be wiped out.
"I'm afraid you still haven't realized what you've become, a great sage once told me that with great power comes great responsibility and I naively ignored him."
The princess had a melancholy look for a moment.
"Even today I am repaying the mistake I made centuries ago." then she continued the lecture.
"During these days you have shown me that you are not capable of adequately holding back your emotions."
Celestia hated having to give punishments, she much preferred giving rewards in a way that encouraged others to be better.
"When we return to Equestria you will remain in Canterlot so that you are educated on how an alicorn princess should behave. Until you learn properly you will not be allowed to return to Ponyville."
Celestia's tone was final.
The only thing Twilight could do was accept the punishment with dignity and learn from her mistakes.
"As you wish Princess Celestia." she said defeatedly.
"You have to realize that we are no longer in Equestria, the outside world is full of civilizations with different cultures and some may seem strange, but that doesn't mean we have the right to judge them like you did."
Twilight just nodded.
"When and if we meet the imperial council you must not open your mouth, it is up to them to decide what to do and we are only visiting guests, we cannot interfere. Did you understand!?"
Hearing this Twilight wanted to protest but she remained silent, the last thing to do at that moment was to stoke the anger of her mentor.
Celestia was exhausted and having to put her student in line didn't help.
The white alicorn let out a sigh and then looked around as she hadn't even had time to take in what their cabin looked like.
As expected, it was just what a captain's cabin should be like.
When you entered you had a large desk in front of you and behind it a large window through which you could see what was behind the airship.
On the sides there were two beds so that the captain could rest and possibly also a guest. It was right up their alley.
Celestia walked over to the window to look out.
She was surprised to see that they were no longer docked on the ground but were already flying at a high altitude as only the clouds could be seen passing by.
The sky was tinged with a golden hue as the sun was about to set.
The white alicorn thought to her sister that was thousands of miles away.
Celestia wished she could send Luna a letter but she couldn't since she didn't know the exact location she was in at the moment. If she had tried, the letter would have only dissolved into the ether, becoming magical energy.
"Knock Knock!"
Celestia turned around, she could have had Twilight open the door like she usually did but seeing that the purple alicorn was still sitting in the corner with a blank look on her face she chose to go herself and see who she was.
The princess approached the door and opened it, in front of her was another sailor.
The sailor had a perplexed look as if he didn't expect to be faced with a two meter tall pony with wings and horn.
"Yes?" Celestia said as she saw the sailor standing with his mouth slightly open.
The sailor realized the situation and quickly stood at attention.
"Forgive the disturbance, I came to inform the Empress that we have taken off and are flying at full capacity, we will arrive in New Metropolis tomorrow evening. But I didn't expect to find you in the captain's cabin."
"I understand, thank you very much."
Celestia would have told him that Tempest was in the other cabin but inside she already missed the scarred alicorn. Maybe she could have taken advantage of the situation.
"You are free to go, I will inform the empress."
The sailor saluted and turned to go back the way he had come.
Celestia left the room closing the door behind her, she would leave Twilight alone to think for a while.
The princess took a few steps and knocked on the door of Tempest's cabin.
"Knock Knock."
No one answered. Celestia supposed Tempest was busy doing other things but the selfish side of her wanted to be able to talk to her.
"Knock Knock!"
"Who is it?"
Tempest's voice was muffled by the thickness of the wood but she thought she was a little out of breath.
"Celestia, can I come in?"
For a moment there was silence but then she heard footsteps and the door opened.
Celestia didn't expect to see the empress without her armor on.
"Please come in."
The magenta alicorn stepped aside and Celestia entered.
When the door was closed Celestia was able to take a closer look at the other mare and she liked what she saw.
Celestia had seen her undressed before but it was always in low-light situations or moments where it was more important to listen than see.
But she could now observe clearly. Besides the obvious injuries such as scars and broken horn she could see that her body was well built.
Tempest was muscular but not like an earth pony like Applejack was. There was the right balance that made her body very thin but robust, capable of great agility and gracefulness but also strength and power.
Celestia was reminded of the goddesses of ancient mythology, if Celestia could be compared to Aphrodite then Tempest was the personification of Athena.
Furthermore, her reptilian eyes and sharp teeth gave her an exotic and unusual appearance.
Tempest's fur was slightly shiny, she was breathing a little labored as if she had been doing some physical activity.
Celestia also noticed that there was a strange smell in the air, she smelled it a couple of times without showing it and it didn't take her long to piece together the clues. She came to the conclusion that perhaps she had interrupted Tempest at a special moment.
Celestia felt embarrassed but at the same time she couldn't help but find it very exciting.
The white alicorn looked back at Tempest, her head was turned slightly away and she seemed to have a guilty look on her face.
"Is there anything you need?" Tempest asked.
Celestia was abruptly pulled away from her impure thoughts.
"A sailor came to my cabin to tell you that we will arrive at our destination tomorrow evening, so I decided to come and give you the message."
"I understand, thank you very much."
The two remained silent, staring at each other and throwing lewd glances at each other.
They could have stayed like this for hours as the sexual tension built.
Celestia wanted to run a wing over Tempest's scars while the scarred alicorn wished she could feel the warmth of their fur together.
Before anything too much could happen Tempest took a step back.
"Is there anything else you need to talk to me about?"
Tempest's voice was a little weak, far from the usual firm and authoritative voice.
Celestia remembered the other reason she came, she wanted to be able to talk to her about what Twilight had done.
"I came to apologize again for what happened while we were having lunch."
"I told you it's no problem. I assure you that we will not declare war on Equestria over something like that. I can guarantee it."
"I'm grateful."
With that said Celestia would have returned to her quarters but Tempest stopped her.
"There's more, is that correct?"
It was not for nothing that the scarred alicorn had become empress, the years of war had sharpened her senses, improved her ability to read situations and people.
Both could understand when the other was restless as if they were in tune.
"The loss of control that Twilight had worries me, it had already happened a few times but it was always an accident or on a whim. However back then she was just a very talented unicorn.
Now she is an ascendant alicorn meaning that she holds power rivaled by only a few in this world and it would be catastrophic if she used that power to impose her will, just as Nightmare Moon had done."
"Do you think this could really happen?" Tempest asked raising an eyebrow, she was a little skeptical thinking about the little purple alicorn, she was stubborn but she didn't seem like the type of person to wreak havoc.
"I wish I could say no but too many times I have seen good and pure souls being corrupted, if it were to happen I don't know if I would be able to defeat her.
Previously every time I had to deal with a threat I had the elements of harmony on my side but after using them against my sister I lost control of them. Now it is Twilight and her friends who are the bearers of the elements."
Hearing this, Tempest was not at all comforted. From what she had heard the elements of harmony were a kind of very powerful weapon. Not designed with the intent to destroy but still a weapon.
"This is both bad and good, if the elements are not entirely controlled by Twilight means she cannot use them at will. Do Twilight's friends blindly do everything she says?" Tempest said.
Celestia thought about the five mares, they were very loyal but not without common sense.
The white alicorn shook her head no.
Celestia had to use all her strength not to give in to primal instincts and molest the mare in front of her.
"Excellent, however this means that when it is necessary to use the elements some of them may refuse."
Celestia hadn't thought about the possibility that some of the element bearers might refuse but the debacle with Discord was proof of this.
"You're right, but unfortunately I can't do anything about it, the elements have their own will and consequently they are the ones who choose who to represent them by.
Indeed they lay dormant for a thousand years and revealed themselves only in time of need, when my sister returned from her exile."
Tempest had now forgotten romantic and lustful thoughts, their conversation brought to light truly worrying issues.
"What if one of them were to die? Would it take another thousand years for a new one to arise?"
"I don't know, the elements of harmony have existed long before I was born and I'm not sure how they work."
Celestia wanted to say more but in all the years she had had it she had never been able to get much information.
Tempest was thinking hard. Until then she had always had to fight armies or relatively normal people. However, she couldn't have done much against an entity that transcends the laws of physics and magic and from what Celestia had said, the elements of harmony were essential to counteract this type of enemy.
Now that she knew this she couldn't let Equestria be left to its own.
It was like gambling, the fate of the world rested in the hooves of six mares and that meant they could be killed, kidnapped or forced to use the elements for nefarious purposes.
"Who watches over the element bearers?"
Tempest considered Celestia a wise and perceptive mare, surely she had taken precautions.
"There are undercover guards watching over them in the physical world while my sister makes sure they are protected from intangible entities.
However, I fear that this is not enough. My soldiers have never faced threats as serious as a large-scale attack."
Simply put, they were inept.
This was all very worrying, Tempest should have done something about it.
"Princess Celestia, would you mind telling me more about these elements of harmony? I would like to bring this matter to the council.
Celestia wasn't sure if it was a wise choice, she feared that someone might try to take over the elements, but even now there was a very real risk. She also trusted Tempest.
"Of course, I would be happy to."
Tempest returned to the desk she was sitting on and grabbed another piece of paper so she could write.
But before they could begin she remembered that she had not seated the white alicorn.
She looked around but in the small cabin there was only the desk, the chair and the bed.
"Princess Celestia, go ahead and lie down on the bed." she said pointing to the mattress with a blanket on it.
Celestia went to lie down on the bed, it was a little small for her size but she managed to get comfortable.
"Thank you. Now we can begin."
With that, Celestia recounted what she knew about the elements of harmony and all the events surrounding them while Tempest carefully wrote down every word.
(The following morning)
Tempest was used to sleeping in uncomfortable places.
During the war, having a comfortable bed was a luxury you couldn't afford.
You had to make do with what there was and if there was nothing then you slept on the floor wearing weapons and armor and if you were really unlucky even with the rain in the mud.
However, now that she was empress she always had a comfortable bed available. She didn't like too many frills like extra pillows or blankets embroidered with lace or things like that because it was too hot for her and they were suffocating.
Her bed was indeed very warm that morning, but not the heat that she despised and that made her sweat. It was an intimate warmth that made her feel good.
Tempest tried to move but felt there was a weight on her that prevented her from moving her legs. She immediately shook off the sleep and opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was the chair and the desk, on the latter there were some papers on which she had written the night before.
Tempest looked behind her and saw a long white neck. She then looked down at herself to see what was holding her back. A pair of long white legs were wrapped around her while an immense white wing was draped over her entire body like a blanket.
There was no doubt: she had slept in the same bed as Princess Celestia.
The warmth that she had once considered pleasant had now become too intense, exciting and embarrassing.
Apparently her wish had been granted much sooner than she could have hoped.
As she remembered, Celestia's body was extremely soft but not plump. Her wing feathers were long and thin, slightly shiny.
Celestia's body wrapped around Tempest and this made the scarred alicorn very restless.
Tempest wasn't too sure how she ended up in this situation.
She remembered writing late into the night while Celestia dictated. The princess's voice waned in energy as the hours passed until she shut down completely.
Tempest turned to see why she had stopped dictating and saw that the princess had fallen asleep on her bed.
She hadn't considered that Celestia might be exhausted after walking for days in the desert.
Tempest could have gone to sleep in the captain's cabin with Twilight but she didn't want to wake the princesses by walking on the creaking and noisy boards, so she simply chose to sleep on the floor next to the bed.
But now she was lying on a small bed with Princess Celestia in a very compromising pose.
Thinking about it, even the night before, after bathing in the pond, Celestia had laid down next to her.
Maybe the princess was trying to woo her?
It was a bit strange but she didn't mind it at all.
She could feel Celestia's breath on her neck, the heat of her belly on her back and one of Tempest's hind legs was wedged between the princess' thighs.
It looked exactly like the pose two lovers would take after a night of passion.
Tempest's mind was filled with lustful images of what could have been.
However, the more rational part of her made itself felt. Her logic said that she should find a way to get away before Celestia woke up or someone could see and misunderstand her.
Obviously fate wanted to play a bad joke on her.
The door suddenly flew open.
Tempest's reflexes would have made her immediately get out of bed and assume a fighting pose but she was currently pinned under the weight of a large white alicorn.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Twilight shouted in disbelief as she saw her mentor in bed with Tempest.
"It's not what it looks like!"
Tempest wanted to slap herself, she had responded in the most equivocal way possible. It was the typical phrase someone would say when they were discovered with their lover.
Hearing the noise, Celestia woke up, raised her head and looked at Tempest and then at Twilight.
She turned back to Tempest and as her cheeks reddened she said in a thin voice "You will have to take responsibility." and then she hid her muzzle between her paws.
Tempest was petrified while Twilight grimaced in dissent and disbelief.
"SHAME ON YOU!"
Twilight slammed the door making a lot of noise and then ran away.
A few seconds of disconcerting silence passed until he was interrupted by a loud laugh.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Celestia writhed on the bed as she laughed her head off. She was having so much fun that she was crying and her ribs hurt.
Meanwhile, Tempest remained sitting at the end of the bed while she watched the white alicorn howl with laughter at her.
In fact, she had to admit that the scene had been very comical, albeit stereotyped.
"Care to explain?" Tempest asked as Celestia regained control between laughs.
"I'm sorry, I've always wanted to say that phrase and I finally managed it." the princess replied as she wiped away her tears of happiness.
Tempest rolled her eyes but she wasn't angry.
She had woken up wrapped around Celestia and then she could hear her wonderful laugh.
She couldn't ask for anything better.
"Last night I saw you sleeping on the floor so I levitated you onto the bed." the princess explained as she got up from the bed.
"Thank you, but it wasn't necessary, I'm used to sleeping in uncomfortable places."
"Did not you like it?" Celesta said playfully.
Tempest felt the heat wave again.
WHAT SHOULD SHE SAY?!
If she had said yes she might have been taken as a pervert but if she had said no she would have implied that she didn't like Celestia.
"Don't worry, it was a joke." the white alicorn said seeing that Tempest was having trouble answering.
The scarred alicorn let out a sigh she didn't even know she was holding.
"It seems you are very witty this morning."
"What can I say? I slept very well last night."
She gave a real, genuine smile, she really meant it.
For the first time since she had exiled her sister she was able to sleep soundly.
"Me too." Tempest said softly. Then she looked out the little porthole.
Seeing the position of the sun she assumed that it was already past noon. They had really slept a lot, at least ten hours she calculated mentally.
"Do you want to eat something?" Tempest proposed, it was too late for breakfast now.
"Of course, lead the way."
The two left the cramped cabin but before going to the mess they went to get Twilight.
Celestia knocked on the door of the captain's cabin, they waited a few seconds and then Twilight opened the door.
When she saw Celestia and Tempest she gave him that look of disapproval and disgust again, her mentor's prank had been too much for her.
Maybe Celestia should have talked to her to explain that nothing had happened. But she preferred to wait a little longer, it would be a great punishment for Twilight.
Honestly, a small part of the white alicorn wished that something had actually happened with Tempest, but she was sure that she had made her advances towards the empress loud and clear.
"We're going to have lunch, will you join us?" Celestia asked.
Twilight didn't say anything but she left the room and closed the door behind her, apparently she wanted to play the silent game like children do when they're angry.
The trio moved to reach the mess hall, Tempest standing in front as she knew the layout of all the Imperial airships, while Twilight stood behind pouting.
When they arrived in the canteen they saw that there was almost no one there.
The room was not very large, it only had two tables with benches and the kitchen was very similar to those commonly found in normal homes.
The three alicorns sat down, Tempest on one bench and the other two on the opposite one.
In no time at all the cook arrived.
"Welcome my empress!"
"Good morning, is there anything left to eat?"
Before sitting down Tempest had seen the clock hanging on the wall, it read 1.30pm, a little late to have lunch but it was worth it since she had been able to sleep more with Celestia.
"Unfortunately not much, we have some mixed vegetables and grilled chicken."
"It's enough, no meat for our guests."
With that the cook returned to the kitchen to fetch the food.
"How does meat taste?" Twilight asked out of nowhere.
Tempest observed Twilight, as whenever she had to deal with meat she had a disgusted expression.
"I don't know, the meat has its own flavor and is very often seasoned with salt, spices or other things that increase the flavour." Tempest replied, besides this there were no vegetables in nature that had the same flavor and consistency, as far as she knew at least.
"And you don't feel guilty eating it?"
"No, where I was born we ate meat and I still do it now, I know it's not right to kill a living being but that's how the food chain works."
"I find it unacceptable anyway." Twilight commented but she stopped there as soon as Celestia glared at her like she had done two nights before.
"I can understand you, everyone has their own moral principles and I will not force you to eat meat, but I would prefer you to refrain from making these comments when we are in the capital, among the people there are many who practically only eat meat such as griffins and minotaurs. "
Twilight shuddered to think of how many creatures were eaten every day to feed all these carnivores.
Maybe it was best to change the subject before she started vomiting on the floor.
As if that wasn't enough the cook returned with three dishes. As ordered Twilight and Celestia only had vegetables while Tempest's portion also had a slice of chicken.
The only thing Twilight could do was try to ignore the nauseating smell invading her nostrils.
The three grabbed a pair of cutlery from a container that was in the center of the table and began to eat.
As Tempest chewed her food, a question she'd wanted to ask for a while crossed her mind.
"Princess Celestia, why do you use this title? Wouldn't it be more appropriate for you to call yourself Queen Celestia? After all, you rule Equestria together with your sister."
Celestia wasn't surprised by the question but it was still unusual, it had been a very long time since she and her sister had chosen not to be called queens.
"It dates back to the time we ascended the throne, our parents were king and queen but our kingdom was no longer an absolute monarchy. Our form of government consists of a ruler who reigns above the governors of the various provinces of Equestria.
However, as the centuries passed, governors learned to manage themselves and the need for a supreme authority disappeared."
Celestia explained beautifully while Twilight and Tempest ate slowly.
"When Luna and I ascended the throne there was no longer any need for us except to raise and lower the sun and the moon. Therefore we chose to be called princesses in order to leave more autonomy to the governors, also it was a tribute to our parents, we wanted them to be remembered as the last great king and queen."
"Really very enlightening, your form of government is very similar to ours, I hope that one day my successors can also relinquish the title of emperor but for the moment it is not feasible. The empire is still too unstable, there are still many antipathies between the various peoples therefore a centralized power is necessary to guarantee peace and collaboration."
Perhaps if Tempest had lived long enough she might have been the one to abdicate herself, she might have been freed from the burden of command.
"What powers do you have?" This time it was Twilight who asked.
"If you are referring to my role as empress then it really depends on the situation. In times of peace and prosperity I have a more representative role than a governmental one, this is usually taken care of by the council while I have the task of enforcing the laws, maintaining diplomatic relations, making sure the army is in order and other minor things I count.
However, in the event of an emergency such as war, epidemic, famine or the like, I assume emergency powers which allow me to issue temporary edicts such as calls to arms, impose the obligation to ration food, quarantine the population and much more. ."
"And have you ever had to do this?"
"A couple of times and will probably happen again if the council decides to fight the goblins and orcs."
Twilight sighed, once again she had come to a topic that she didn't like.
"And what role do you have on Equestria?"
Tempest really wanted to know what this princess of friendship could do. She had to try not to laugh when she thought of the title of the purple alicorn.
Twilight was about to answer but realized that she actually didn't know exactly what her role as princess of friendship was. She obviously had to spread the friendship, but beyond that? Celestia and Luna were the diarchs, Cadence was ruler of the crystal empire, what about her?
Celestia replied as her student was perplexed.
"Princess Twilight is currently responsible for representing Equestria in diplomatic relations and she is also governor of the district of Ponyville."
Twilight was amazed, she hadn't expected her to be given such assignments so casually during a lunch discussion.
"She hasn't been made official yet as she has only been a princess for a short time but perhaps when we return to Canterlot it will be formally declared."
Tempest understood what Celestia meant.
During this trip Celestia was testing her student to see if she was capable of taking on the role of diplomatic representative. Very clever indeed.
The three finished eating and then each returned to their cabin.
"Knock Knock!" Tempest looked up from the parchment he was writing on.
She wasn't sure how long she had been engrossed in the task but it was late enough that the sun had disappeared. However, she hadn't noticed since she had no difficulty seeing in the dark.
Tempest opened the cabin door and in front of her was the sailor from the day before.
However, the sailor was scared, he didn't expect to see in the dark room only a dark shape with a pair of slightly luminescent eyes.
"My Empress, we have arrived in New Metropolis." said 37045 the sailor standing at attention and trying not to show fear.
"Thank you sailor, you are free to go."
With that the sailor left while Tempest went to knock on the door of the cabin where Celestia and Twilight were staying.
Unlike her room, theirs was lit by a couple of candles.
"We have arrived, I would like to show you the city before landing."
Her voice had more enthusiasm than she intended but she was happy to be able to show off something she had worked hard for.
Twilight was also very excited to see a city outside of Equestria for the first time, she didn't know what to expect.
Twilight trotted out as Tempest and Celestia followed her walking normally.
When they reached the main deck they were greeted by a light breeze of cold, dry air
The captain was at the helm and gave orders to her subordinates while some sailors moved frantically from side to side to adjust the sails.
They looked around to see where Twilight had gone, she was in the bow leaning on the railing as she poked her head out to look down.
Tempest and Celestia approached and when the white alicorn saw what was underneath her she was amazed too.
New Metropolis was located on an immense hill and had a circular shape. The city developed on several levels, each separated by a great wall and at the top, in the center of everything, there was the imperial palace which stood out unchallenged over the entire landscape.
The city was truly boundless, much larger than Canterlot, Manehattan and Las Pegasus combined and beyond the walls there was only an infinite expanse of grass and fields.
Since it was night all the streets were illuminated creating a breathtaking landscape worthy of being immortalized by the greatest artists of that era.
"It's really wonderful!" Twilight commented as she gasped at how enchanting what she saw was.
"I know well, I also wonder how the city has managed to become so big in so few years. When we founded the empire ten years ago there was only the castle from which Storm King ruled and now it is a city that extends over 1500 square kilometers and the population amounts to two hundred thousand."
"TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND?!" Twilight exclaimed in disbelief. "Manehattan has barely eighty thousand inhabitants and is the largest city in Equestria!"
"The Union of Free Peoples is a very large empire and there are millions of inhabitants. Cities like this are forming all over the empire."
While the three alicorns were talking, the airship dropped in altitude and approached the imperial palace.
Unlike Canterlot Castle, the imperial palace had a simpler appearance, it did not have gilded decorations and imposing spiers.
It looked more like a fortress with a more practical than representative function, in fact there were no large windows or majestic terraces.
In fact the whole city had a very utilitarian appearance, the streets were all well paved and lit, the walls were high and deep and the houses were all made of brick.
But beyond that there wasn't much else like flower meadows, parks, fountains and hedges.
There were only the small gardens of the houses to give a touch of green.
"We must prepare to disembark." Tempest warned before turning and walking down the stairs as the other two followed her.
They were now a few meters from the royal palace, the airship was slowly descending.
Below you could see a dozen guards who were arranging themselves in two rows to welcome the arrival of their empress and Reddace was also among them.
Before touching the ground, the airship deployed its stabilizing arms to prevent the vessel from tilting on its side and when they stopped, a door opened on the side of the hull and a ramp went down.
The first to come out was Tempest and following were Celestia, Twilight and the captain.
The guards stood at attention while Reddace remained in front of the two rows waiting for the guests.
"Welcome back my empress! We are happy that you have returned safely." she greeted the griffin in her usual austere tone.
Tempest was happy to see her friend again, and she put a paw on his shoulder and spoke.
"Me too Reddace. Call the council, there's a lot to talk about." |
THE TEMPEST TALES : FRAGMENTS | CHAPTER 1 part 7: PEACE FOR OUR TIME | Celestia and Twilight had been waiting outside the council chamber for a couple hours.
The purple alicorn walked in circles like she did whenever she was nervous while her mentor sat on a bench.
The two guards stationed in front of the door were observing them carefully, they had never seen alicorns, especially not one two meters tall.
Princess Celestia was used to being looked at with awe and had learned to ignore their gazes, on the other hand Twilight was too busy making a furrow on the floor to notice.
"My faithful student, you should try to calm down."
Twilight stopped and looked at Celestia.
"I CAN NOT MAKE IT!" she exclaimed with wide eyes and then pointed to the council chamber.
"Right now in that room they are deciding whether to go to war or not! How can I feel comfortable knowing this?!"
"I understand you Twilight, I would also prefer there to be peace but as I already told you it is not our place to interfere." The best you can do now is take a deep breath and come sit down." Celestia said in a calm voice.
Twilight sighed in resignation and then came to sit next to her mentor.
They remained silent for a while until her ears suddenly pricked up.
"What were you and Tempest doing this morning?!" she asked suspiciously.
Celestia smirked.
"What do you think two people doing on the same bed entwined?"
Twilight's eyes widened in disbelief. It was inconceivable to her to imagine her mentor, the one she had always admired and who had raised her, being involved in sexual activity.
Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by Celestia's laughter, causing her student to look puzzled.
"I'm kidding you Twilight, nothing happened, we were just sleeping and since the bed was small we had to stay hugged, nothing more"
Finally Celestia decided to give an explanation to her faithful student but the purple alicorn kept a dazed face as if she were dealing with a stranger.
"What's up?" Celestia asked.
Twilight took a while to respond.
"Nothing, I've just never seen you act like that."
Celestia had always been kind and sometimes she would crack a laugh or joke but never before had she dabbled in pranks like... Twilight didn't even know what words to use.
The best definition she could have given was "not so innocent."
That's right, Celestia almost never made sexual allusions and when she did it was always in a didactic context like when she taught anatomy.
What had changed?
"Didn't you want us to be friends more? It seems to me that having conversations like that is something friends do."
The white alicorn took care of clarifying Twilight's doubts and it certainly wasn't what she expected.
Did she really want them to be more friends?!
Twilight thought that the discussion they had had served to mark the boundary between them but instead now the princess was trying to humor her.
In fact, Rainbow Dash and Applejack also often made sexual innuendos, so was this part of being friends too?!
However, for Twilight to hear her mentor give this kind of talk was too much for her sanity.
She really didn't expect that Princess Celestia would use this approach method. She made her feel too uncomfortable like it was something she shouldn't feel.
Maybe what Celestia had said was true, the relationship between them was both too distant and too close to be friends.
Now, in addition to being uncomfortable, she felt defeated like when someone used the "I told you so!" move.
But what could she have said? She had been the one to complain that they weren't real friends but now that Celestia was trying she couldn't see her mentor as a friend.
Luckily at that moment the great doors of the council chamber flew open and Tempest came out.
"We're done, you can come in."
"So what will it be?"
It was Celestia who asked the critical question.
"Peace." was the only thing Tempest said.
Twilight remained silent for a few seconds as if she had to process the answer and then exploded into a fit of joy accompanied by Pinkie Pie-style squeals and jumping.
On the other hand, Celestia was in disbelief, she was certain that there would be a declaration of war and it seemed to her that Tempest was determined to do so.
"What happened?
"We initially intended to mobilize the entire army but in the end some members of the council managed to convince us that it wasn't worth it. Finally, we have chosen to permanently promote Commander Ivar so that he can guard the border more carefully
If the situation worsens then we will re-evaluate the option of war but for the moment it should be fine."
Tempest didn't say there was another reason. The Empress absolutely wanted to form an alliance with Equestria and an ongoing war would have been counterproductive.
"Now that we have discussed the problem with the goblins and orcs I would like to be able to introduce you to the imperial council and begin to discuss the future relationship between our nations."
Celestia nodded and the three alicorns entered the council room.
Tempest went to sit in her usual place while the princesses remained in the center.
As usual the two alicorns attracted a lot of attention, especially Celestia.
When everyone was clear Tempest stood up and cleared her throat.
"Trusted councilors, I have the honor to introduce Princess Celestia, diarch of Equestria and goddess of the sun, and Princess Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the element of magic and pupil of Princess Celestia."
The councilors began to whisper among themselves and Galileo was the first to introduce himself.
"Nice to meet you, I am Galileo, imperial councilor in charge of the research and development department."
Seeing this, the other council members stood up one by one to introduce themselves.
When everyone was done it was Celesia's turn to speak.
"Princess Twilight and I are more than pleased to make your acquaintance." she said reverently but maintaining a posture worthy of representing Equestria.
Tempest saw that the counselors had warmly welcomed Celestia and Twilight. She had no doubt it would happen but now that the introductions had been made it was time to get down to business.
"Our esteemed guests have come from Equestria after learning of our existence, their goal is to establish a friendly relationship between the Union of Free Peoples and their kingdom. I can guarantee that they are in good faith and trustworthy." Tempest assured.
Foxtrot raised his hand to speak.
"Really very interesting, as much as it would be nice to have new allies, what benefits would we have from this agreement?" he asked the others.
"Equestria is a very large and diverse kingdom, we possess many natural resources and produce enormous quantities of food."
Celestia wasn't too good at things related to managing finances and resources, usually her sister took care of that.
But she knew some basic things.
"Our empire is not lacking in raw materials such as minerals and raw materials, do you have anything else of value to offer?"
Celestia had to think for a moment, it was difficult to offer something to someone who already had everything.
Twilight took a step forward and intervened.
"We have enormous deposits of gold and precious gems."
"Gold and precious gems you say?" Foxtrot repeated, running a hand over his chin.
Gold was considered the treasure of a kingdom since it was not affected by inflation, owning a lot of it was a display of power and prestige even though gold actually had very little practical use.
On the other hand, gems were much more desirable for a rapidly growing empire.
Gems could be used in a variety of ways, as magical energy batteries, as catalysts for spells or magical and chemical reactions, and in some cases as weapons.
Foxtrot nodded his head, signaling to the councilors and the empress that he agreed to make an alliance.
Seeing this, Celestia complimented Twilight for having already managed to convince one of the councilors.
"How are you doing from a military point of view?" Reddace asked.
Celestia was not happy about this as she knew this was a sore point for Equestria. But this time the white alicorn was well informed on this topic.
"We have an army that includes approximately one hundred thousand active soldiers between the air force and ground forces. Our fleet is made up of eighty airships of which thirty corvettes, forty frigates and the remainder are cargo and passenger transport airships."
Reddace was quite impressed, he didn't expect a small kingdom like Equestria to even have a fleet, owning many airships guaranteed a nation a lot of flexibility in various situations.
The griffin looked at Minox out of the corner of his eye but the minotaur had, as usual, an impassive face and his arms crossed. This was good.
As Foxtrot had done, Reddace nodded his approval.
Meanwhile, Twilight was dismayed to hear Celestia talk so easily about their military assets. The purple alicorn had only ever known the royal guards led by her brother, for the rest she had no idea that there were so many soldiers and a fleet.
Now that they had talked about the most important things for a relationship between two nations, it was time to mention the elements of harmony.
Tempest took command of the discussion again.
"Trust councilors, up until now we have faced Storm King's army, but other threats of a different nature have also existed."
The councilors listened carefully to what the empress had to say.
"Such enemies would be invincible if faced with conventional methods, however Equestria has already managed to defeat such threats thanks to a resource that only they have and can use."
Twilight had immediately understood what it was about, she hadn't foreseen that it would talk about the elements of harmony. She didn't like it.
"As previously stated, Princess Twilight Sparkle is the bearer of the element of magic, just one of five others that when put together form a formidable tool capable of defeating threats far more worrisome than a dictator with an army."
Now the room was tense, some didn't know what the empress was getting at. Did she want to highlight the power of Equestria?
"However, the other five element bearers are normal ponies and that means they are not invincible, so it is my opinion that we, as citizens of the world, have a duty to help and defend Equestria as it could change the fate of us all. "
Having said this, the councilors looked at each other in disbelief and whispered among themselves and some were clearly very skeptical.
"Do you remember the night two years ago when the moon didn't set? Well an evil entity called Nightmare Moon attempted to bring eternal night to the world. Fortunately, Princess Twilight and her friends managed, thanks to the elements of harmony, to defeat her and save the world as we know it."
"How can we be sure they won't try to use this weapon against us?"
This time it was Minox who spoke, obviously he would ask such a question or he wouldn't be a good general.
"The elements of harmony are not a weapon but rather an instrument of peace designed to neutralize entities that embody hatred and discord, they are harmless against normal people and against those who do not have malicious intent. Furthermore, if it were our goal to attack you with the elements, we would not ask to form an alliance with you and we would not have informed you of their existence." Celestia explained looking into Minox's eyes, her sincerity was evident.
The great Minotaur grunted and then returned to his usual pose, apparently the Princess had responded appropriately.
The councilors all seemed satisfied and Tempest seized the opportunity.
"I think it's time to vote on whether or not to open diplomatic relations with Equestria, who is in favor?"
All the counselors raised their paws or arms.
"Excellent, the council and the empress are in favor of forming an alliance with the kingdom of Equestria."
With that everyone stood up and said in unison.
"LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!"
And with that everything was made definitively official.
Before they could go Tempest said one last thing.
"Trust councilors, I am truly very proud to have found friends outside our borders, I long for a prosperous and peaceful collaboration between the empire and Equestria."
The councilors nodded in agreement.
"There is still a lot to do and decide, there is no need to rush so you can go back to carrying out your tasks, if necessary I will call you back."
One by one the councilors stood up and left the room until only the three alicorns remained.
"It was very fast." Celestia was the first to start the speech.
"We really don't like to spend too much time arguing." Tempest said.
Celestia was envious of this, she often spent entire days listening to nobles bicker.
"When I saw the minotaur's face I was afraid he would say no." Twilight commented.
"You don't have to worry, Minox always has a threatening appearance but if you have the opportunity to get to know him better you will discover that he can also be friendly." Tempest reassured.
"I see, so what happens now?"
"Now we are only at the beginning, good words are not enough to form an alliance."
Twilight knew it wouldn't be easy but she hoped for a more immediate result. Apparently making another nation a friend was more difficult than making a friend a person.
But she couldn't complain too much, in the end after many vicissitudes and sacrifices they had succeeded in their goal.
Twilight remembered what they had talked about previously, she hadn't appreciated that they talked about the elements of harmony and her friends as if they were a common weapon.
"How do you know about the elements of harmony? And why did you talk to the council about it?"
Twilight's tone of voice was inquisitive and suspicious.
"I was the one who told her about it, I think it's important that our new allies know about it." Celestia explained.
"The princess is right, I do not doubt that the control and use of the elements of harmony is only at the discretion of the bearers of the elements but you must remember that what you do with them can have consequences throughout the world, including the empire." Tempest added.
Twilight wasn't entirely reassured, she still felt as if she was being treated like an object, as if their individuality was being put on the back burner.
What does this mean for her and her friends? Was their lifestyle about to change?
Tempest looked at the clock on the wall, it was almost midnight."
"I think we're done for today, tomorrow morning you can leave to return to Equestria.
I will have rooms given to you so that you can rest."
For some reason her own words brought her melancholy.
"Thank you, in these days you have truly been a kind soul, you saved us and welcomed us. We will always be grateful to you." Thanked Celestia.
It really sounded like goodbye and Tempest really didn't like it.
Maybe Tempest should have just let them go.
Tempest told one of the guards standing outside the hall to find two rooms for their guests and when he nodded she bid them all good night and went to her room.
However, she did not see Celestia's thoughtful and melancholy look.
Tempest did nothing but toss and turn in bed.
Usually she had no problems falling asleep because she had gotten into the habit of using every moment of sleep to get as much energy as possible when needed.
However that night she was too restless, her bed seemed rough and her pillow too hot.
She was now looking at the ceiling in a catatonic state as if she was sleeping but at the same time she was alert.
The clock on the bedside table read six in the morning and she hadn't slept a wink all night.
There were only a few hours left until Celestia and Twilight would return to Equestria.
The warmth in her chest that she usually felt when she thought of Celestia was not there but had been replaced by an uncomfortable emptiness.
The few words of farewell that they had said to each other the evening before had left a bad taste in her mouth as if there was still something to say.
Tempest looked at the clock again, not even two minutes had passed and yet she felt like she had been lying on that bed for an eternity.
The scarred alicorn wished she could have someone to talk to, she wished Flynn was still there, he always knew what to say.
Since the Seashark crew had disappeared, her heart had hardened, she had become numb and lived her days one at a time.
But Celestia's meeting had unlocked something right away, she had cried and confessed to a mare she had only known for a short time.
She couldn't let them part so quietly, she still had something to tell her.
Tempest got out of bed, put on her suit and then her armor.
When she was ready she left her room and walked briskly towards the guest wing of the palace.
She saw that there were guards stationed in front of two doors and spoke to the closest one.
"Where is Princess Celestia?"
The soldier simply nodded his head to indicate the door he was guarding.
By now they knew that their empress did not care if her subordinates behaved too reverently, for her the only important thing was that they were excellent guards capable of acting autonomously and when there was a need to follow orders without doing too many questions.
Tempest approached the door, raised her paw to knock but stopped a moment before.
She was about to have second thoughts but the more stubborn side of her forced her to continue.
She knocked on the door firmly and waited.
In a few seconds the door swung open, Princess Celestia was beautiful and majestic as usual although she looked a little tired.
"Am I disturbing?" Tempest asked uncertainly.
"No, I couldn't sleep anyway."
She too?
"Do you want to go for a ride?" Tempest said without thinking too much.
"Is it a date?" Celestia said again in that sneaky, playful tone of hers.
However this time she Tempest wouldn't fall for it, in fact she responded immediately.
"Yes."
Celestia's eyes widened, she didn't expect the scarred alicorn to act so quickly.
Her white cheeks reddened slightly for a few fractions of a second.
"Okay then, lead the way." Celestia replied in a higher pitched voice than usual.
Tempest smiled but refrained from cheering at the princess, instead turning and stepping slightly to the side so Celestia could walk beside her.
As they passed through the various corridors the two mares remained almost silent.
Tempest was actually very excited while Celestia still had to process the situation properly.
The Empress had just invited her on a date, it's not that she didn't want to but she felt like she wasn't ready yet.
In the previous days she had joked with the scarred alicorn, had teased her and they had even slept together, however now Tempest seemed to be determined to go through with it and Celestia's adolescent mare in heat mentality did not make her think clearly.
Celestia felt as if her head was light, her heart was pounding, and her tail wagged too indiscreetly for a princess.
Maybe she shouldn't have been so provocative.
Celestia looked at Tempest again, she also seemed to be thoughtful but held a proud posture as usual. She felt like she was a girl going on her date with her crush, in fact it really was like that.
The white alicorn was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't even realize they had stopped, but she did when Tempest handed her a hoof.
They were in front of a ramp to board an airship so small that it could only be piloted by one person, but it was enough for Tempest and Celestia.
"Thank you." Celestia said politely as she accepted the hoof, she actually could have easily climbed up alone but it was etiquette.
When they were both on board Tempest went to the controls located in the stern, started the engine and took off.
As they traveled Celestia could feel the cold night wind hitting her fur and making her long mane flutter.
On the horizon she could still see the waning moon. The sun, her oldest friend, was just about to rise.
The small airship continued to climb until it reached cloud level.
They came alongside a bank of clouds and then Tempest hit the parking brake.
"We have arrived." said the empress.
"Arrived where?" Celestia asked.
Tempest smiled and without saying anything else took a running start and jumped off the airship.
Celestia's eyes widened and she immediately went to see where Tempest had ended up, when she poked her head over the railing she couldn't help but smile and feel a little stupid.
Tempest was walking on the clouds like a pagasus did or rather like an alicorn did.
It was easy to forget her nature given her lack of wings.
Celestia put a paw on the railing and also launched herself, landing on the pile of clouds, she sank slightly but didn't care.
It wasn't often that she had to walk on clouds since she was usually locked away in Canterlot but she admitted that she was very pleasant indeed.
Celestia saw that Tempest was crouching on the edge of the large cloud, seen from this way it really looked like a painting where the subject was observing the horizon alone and thoughtfully.
The princess came closer and then lay down next to Tempest too, close enough that their furs were touching.
They were silent for a while until Tempest pointed to the eastern horizon.
Celestia knew very well what was there, in fact immediately after a dim light appeared which in a few minutes revealed itself to be the morning sun.
The landscape lit up with a golden light, the shadows stood out long on the surface creating a painting of infinite beauty.
"I imagine you have seen the sun rise thousands of times, perhaps for you it will be trivial but for me it is one of the most wonderful things there is." Tempest began to speak, keeping her gaze fixed towards the dawn.
"Since my journey began I have had to face many battles, each time I was afraid of not making it, of dying. But every time I saw the sun rise my heart filled with hope, it meant that I had managed to survive another day."
Then Tempest turned her gaze to Celestia. Her eyes were full of feelings.
"Your sun has always been an effigy of hope for me, the reward for all the hard work done and for the blood shed. And now that I have here near me the one who raised the sun every morning I can't help but be overwhelmed by irrepressible feelings."
Celestia listened intently to Tempest's words, just as she had done nights before immersed in the pond.
"Actually, since the first time you spoke to me I have had these strange feelings for you, since I woke up in the same bed with you I can't help but wish it would happen again, I wish I could feel your warmth, listen your voice, enjoy your laughter."
Tempest was pouring everything she felt into her soul, she didn't care what she would look like, she didn't care about the role of empress. She just wanted to be able to free herself from that heavy and wonderful burden. So she chose to say the fateful phrase.
She took a deep breath and then put on a look of pure determination.
"Princess Celestia, I think I have fallen in love with you."
Now the die was cast, it just remained to see what would happen.
Tempest stood frozen in silence, Celestia's gaze foreign to her.
The white alicorn said nothing.
Tempest's ears drooped.
Was she not interested?
Celestia's wings slowly unfurled.
She wanted to fly away?!
Tempest was about to be gripped by a feeling of terror like never before.
She had faced insurmountable enemies but now that she had confessed she feared rejection more than a sharp blade aimed at her chest.
She was about to stand up and apologize for being inappropriate but instead a soft wing rested on her back.
"Me too." and without another word Princess Celestia placed a kiss on Tempest's lips.
It was light and uncertain, almost chaste.
Tempest still stood still and rigid with her eyes wide open.
"I also think I've fallen in love, I'm not unaware of what love is but for the first time in centuries I feel I can say I love someone with all of myself."
These words were enough to unfreeze Tempest.
The scarred alicorn was overflowing with joy, she didn't know whether to cry or laugh so she brought her muzzle close to Celestia's.
The princess did the same and finally they exchanged another kiss, this time more passionate, warmer and more meaningful.
When they separated they looked into each other's eyes, Celestia smiled lovingly while Tempest was still struggling to understand what was happening, she only knew that she wanted to jump on the beautiful alicorn next to her.
And so she did.
The two remained embraced and cradled by the soft cloud beneath them.
They exchanged more kisses and when the paws began to wander over each other's bodies, Celestia chose to go even further.
She gently removed the obsidian plates one by one until Tempest was left wearing only her suit.
She was about to lower the zipper but she was stopped by Tempest who placed a hoof on her shoulder.
The empress glared in my direction.
"Do you mind?!"
Perhaps it was time for the narrator to give the two mares in love some privacy.
"Go away!" Tempest commanded as her broken horn emitted sparks and the princess laughed.
"NOW!"
OK! I'm leaving!.
It was now ten in the morning and Twilight was waiting impatiently near the airship that was supposed to escort her and her mentor to Canterlot.
She was tempted to take off and go look for them but instead a very small airship landed a few dozen meters away and the Empress and Princess Celestia came out.
Twilight felt that something was wrong. The two were walking closer than they should have been and giving each other fleeting glances.
She also noticed that Princess Celestia's fur was slightly shiny as if she had been sweating a bit.
Where the hell had they been?!
What had happened?!
The two stopped out of her hearing range.
"I guess you can't extend your stay here." Tempest asked hopefully even though she already knew the answer.
"I'm afraid not Tempest, as wonderful and unforgettable as it was, I have duties in Canterlot that I cannot ignore. But we can still keep in touch."
In fact, Princess Celestia had created a link with Tempest, the princess could have sent messages through magic and the empress would have received and sent messages through dragon flames just like Spike did.
Tempest was very grateful to have a dragon as an ancestor.
"Then I'll settle for this." concluded Tempest.
The two mares hugged each other tightly but before they could separate Celestia nibbled Tempest's right ear.
The Empress took a step back, Celestia had a provocative grin on her face while Tempest rolled her eyes.
On the other hand, Twilight, who had seen everything, had wide eyes and a sagging jaw.
"I'm sure we'll have more opportunities to have fun in the future." Tempest said even though she was actually holding herself back so as not to jump on Celestia like she had done a few hours earlier.
"I really hope so." Celestia winked and without saying anything else she continued walking to reach her faithful student who was still shocked by what she had just seen.
Celestia boarded the airship and then levitated the purple alicorn next to her.
The empress signaled to the captain that she could leave and in no time at all the great airship took off.
Tempest watched from the ground as the airship receded and became a speck in the distance.
She still stood there still, the strong feelings of happiness and euphoria slowly faded and loneliness was already added to them.
They hadn't even been separated for ten minutes and she already missed Princess Celestia?!
Obviously.
Their time together had been short, far too short.
Tempest sighed, raised her head and put her usual empress mask back on, it was time to get back to work.
"Twilight?"
They had left for half an hour now and Twilight was still motionless with her mouth and eyes wide open.
"Twilight?" Celestia repeated, prodding her with a hoof
Twilight shook her head and then looked at her mentor.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Shouted the purple alicorn.
"What was what?" Celestia said playing dumb.
"THAT!" Twilight was sure Celestia knew what she was referring to.
"Oh, I have no idea." Celestia continued, hiding a devious smile.
"WHAT HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU?!"
The white alicorn turned and left while her student followed her asking insistently but without receiving any response. |
THE TEMPEST TALES : FRAGMENTS | CHAPTER 2 part 1: PRINCESS SUNBUTT | "So I am convinced that the best course of action is to increase controls between countries, they have to move somehow." Reddace said.
The council had been meeting for too many hours to discuss a worrying situation.
A group of Storm king's former supporters were trying to regain power by kidnapping prominent figures such as magistrates and mayors.
"It does not make sense! We'll have to go house to house to flush out those bastards!"
As usual the minotaur preferred to use strong methods.
"We can't, that would mean infringing the freedom of the subjects." Reddace retorted in his usual calm tone.
But Minox was stubborn.
"And who cares?! If they have nothing to hide then they will let us in!"
Reddace put a paw on his face and sighed.
It was really difficult to converse with a minotaur.
"Tempest, what do you think?"
In those cases the best thing to do was to let the empress decide.
The council turned its gaze to Tempest but the scarred alicorn didn't seem to react. She had a blank look and her head tilted slightly forward.
"Tempest?" repeated Galileo.
Again nothing.
The manticore placed a paw on Tempest's shoulder and gave her a shake.
Immediately the empress straightened up.
"Yes?" she said confused.
"Are you okay Tempest?" Hori asked, she too was worried like the rest of the council. They had never seen the empress be so careless.
She in fact looked like she hadn't rested well in quite some time.
She had noticeable dark circles under her eyes, her voice was hoarse and her posture was sloppy.
"I'm fine, let's continue." Tempest said in the most convincing voice she could muster.
Obviously her friends didn't fall for it.
"You should get some rest." proposed Reddace.
"I don't need it, and I also can't afford to waste time sleeping while the empire needs us."
The councilors looked at each other. Tempest could be more stubborn than all the minotaurs.
Galileo positioned himself as the voice of reason.
"The empire needs shrewd, well-rested leaders, and right now it seems like you're having a hard time keeping your eyes open."
"Maybe it's time for you to take a vacation." added Reddace.
"Are you trying to send me away?" Tempest said raising an eyebrow.
"Absolutely not! It's just that you've been working tirelessly for too long, it's right that you take a break every now and then too."
The empress contemplated the manticore's words and sighed.
It was true that she had never taken a holiday, usually that was enough for her.
She spent her days working and then in the evening she spoke to Celestia through letters.
Sometimes the princess would come to visit her alone and they would spend the night having fun and the next morning Celestia would return to Canterlot at supersonic speed.
It had been over a year since they had become a couple and yet she had never visited Celestia in Canterlot. That was the right opportunity.
"You're right, I'm going to take a week's vacation."
The council was happy to hear that they had managed to convince her.
"You have nothing to worry about." Galileo reassured on behalf of all the councilors who nodded in agreement.
The seven quickly finished the session and then Tempest made sure to say some last words to everyone.
Once that was done she didn't even waste time packing her bags since she needed practically nothing, she would be traveling on an airship and she was sure that if she really needed something in Equestria then the princess could provide it for her.
The only thing she made sure to always have with her was the bag full of gems, you could never be sure that there was always food available and this way of thinking had saved her many times.
She headed briskly towards the private pier of the imperial palace, there were often docked a couple of airships of different sizes, they always had to be ready for any need so she didn't have to worry about finding the crew.
Tempest smiled bitterly.
Whenever she traveled on an airship she couldn't help but think of the Seashark and it's crew.
As many adventures as they had together, they had practically become a family.
She had sworn that she would let them go, that she would honor their sacrifice by continuing to live as if they were still there with her.
But they weren't there, and she was the last one left of that pack of hardened lunatics disappointed by the world.
Tempest arrived at the dock and as usual she avoided the larger airships, they were majestic and powerful but not for her. She needed fast and discreet transportation, she certainly didn't want to spread terror in Equestria by flying around an armored airship ready for war.
So she chose a corvette, that type of airship was her favorite, it was sleek, fast and adequately armed in case of a small skirmish.
When she boarded the airship she was surprised to see who the captain was.
"Welcome my empress! Captain Cooper at your service!"
The young orange pegasus had changed a bit since the last time she had seen him. Now he seemed more confident, more cunning and autonomous.
Becoming captain had forced him to become a leader. Being able to direct your crew was of utmost importance in dangerous situations, or you could get yourself and everyone on board killed.
"Captain Cooper, it's good to see you again." said the empress, placing a hoof on the pegasus' shoulder.
"I need to head to Canterlot, will you be up to it?"
"Yes my empress!"
The captain didn't hesitate for a second to answer and Tempest liked this very much.
"Great, let's leave immediately."
Tempest said nothing more and headed below deck to reach the quarters.
She didn't need to ask since the captains knew that when their superior was on board they had to give up their cabin to the guest.
It was not a rule of the imperial navy but a form of respect, those who respected tradition were more likely to get a promotion.
Tempest entered the accommodation, as always it was well kept, there weren't too many things scattered around, only the necessary things such as maps and navigation tools.
She went to the large window at the stern of the airship and looked out.
The sailors had already untied the hawsers, the engine started and in a short time they took off..
Now all that remained was to wait for their arrival at their destination.
Tempest glanced at the bookcase and picked up a book that caught her attention, lay down on the guest bed and began reading.
"Tock-tock!"
Tempest opened her eyes suddenly.
The clock on the bedside table read ten in the morning.
Lately she only woke up so late after spending a night of wild sex with Celestia.
Maybe Galileo was right, she needed to take a break.
"A moment!" Tempest said loudly as she got up from the bed.
She put on her suit and then her armor plates. When she was ready she went to sit at the desk and adjusted her posture.
"Come in."
Entering was Captain Cooper. Tempest expected it to be a sailor come to tell her that they would be arriving soon, they had been traveling for over two days now.
"My empress, we must arrive in Canterlot in an hour."
"Thank you captain, you didn't need to bother telling me in person, you could have sent a subordinate."
Captain Cooper took a step forward.
"You are right my empress, however I wanted to be the one to do it just like it was when I was an ensign. I also wanted to thank you again for giving me a promotion." said the pegasus, bowing his head.
Tempest smiled, it rarely happened that any subordinate bothered to talk to her except for strictly professional things.
"Captain Cooper, there is no need to thank me, that day a year ago you proved yourself to be brave and capable, the Imperial Navy needs captains like you."
"Thank you your majesty." Having said this, the captain saluted and left, closing the door behind him.
Tempest sat there thinking, she was about to arrive in Canterlot, the home of her fiancee.
Tempest smiled, Princess Celestia was her fiance.
They hadn't made it official yet but by now almost everyone in the imperial palace knew it.
The rumors had started when the guards began to hear moans coming from her room. It didn't take long for the suspicions to grow stronger and one day, during one of The council sessions, Hori had the courage to ask her if she was seeing anyone.
Initially she would have denied it but then she realized that it would be of no use, she was the empress and had the right to have a relationship with whoever she wanted.
Plus she liked the relationship she was having with Celestia, she was so happy about it that she wanted to shout it out so everyone would know.
Tempest told the councilors everything, obviously omitting the most spicy parts.
They had been happy to hear that she was having an affair with someone since they had never seen her be interested in anyone.
Some in the palace even believed she was asexual.
Furthermore, having a relationship with a princess of Equestria could do nothing but good to solidify their alliance.
Galileo had asked her if they intended to get married. Tempest wasn't sure how to respond.
At the time she and Celestia had only known each other for a couple of months and it seemed too rushed to plan a wedding, but now it wouldn't be so inconvenient.
She would have to talk to Celestia about it sooner or later, and she really hoped that she would want to be her wife too.
And after that?
Tempest wasn't the type of person who thought about a possible wife just so she could have a descendant, yet she wouldn't even mind.
The scarred alicorn knew it wasn't impossible even though they were both mares.
One night Celestia had wanted to do an experiment, she had used transfiguration magic on herself and had temporarily grown a penis.
Suffice it to say, Tempest had been walking strangely for a couple of days.
Even now Minox jokes about it.
The empress was torn from her bright thoughts by the constant ringing of a bell.
It meant they had arrived at the port of Canterlot.
Tempest quickly exited the cabin, climbed the stairs and reached the main deck.
As usual the sailors moved from side to side while the captain gave the orders.
The scarred alicorn walked to the bow to observe.
Before then she didn't really know what Canterlot was like, Celestia had told her that the castle was perched on the slope of a mountain while the city developed on a plateau.
Tempest assumed that the city couldn't be very large but she was proven wrong as soon as she saw the capital of Equestria with her own eyes.
Canterlot was much larger than she expected. It was still a tenth the size of New Metropolis but it seemed densely populated.
Canterlot showed signs of being a very old city, the streets were narrow, the stone buildings covered in mortar, and there was no public transport such as trams or subways.
But there was one thing that struck Tempest the most, it was all too damn colourful!
It was like being in a wonderland, the colors were all saturated and brilliant, the sky was perfectly clear, and in the streets there were thousands of ponies all dressed in equally colorful and sumptuous clothes.
Tempest wouldn't say she was disgusted by it but she preferred New Metropolis much more.
Here everything seemed dedicated to beauty and little to utility.
The walls were too low and thin, the anti-aircraft defenses insufficient, and the guards sloppily positioned, serving only to make their presence known.
At least the castle was easily defensible as it could only be accessed from one side, however once placed under siege it was impossible for those who couldn't fly to escape.
As soon as she met Celestia she would make sure to scold her properly.
The pier was located in the east of the city, diametrically opposite to where the castle was located.
The corvette slowly approached one of the free docking platforms and when they were a few meters from touching the ground the sailors began to throw the hawsers towards other sailors who had arrived flying shortly before.
When the airship was perfectly docked, the crew lowered the landing ramp onto the side of the hull and shortly afterwards Tempest and Captain Cooper emerged.
"it's a lot .... colored." said the pegasus making a strange expression.
"Really?" Tempest replied sarcastically.
The two were stopped after a few meters by what appeared to be the port captain.
"Declare yourselves!" the stallion said simply.
Tempest deduced that the equestrian had never seen an airship with the imperial coat of arms, otherwise he would have understood that it was a diplomatic vessel.
"We're just here to refuel." Tempest replied.
Captain Cooper gave her a look as if to ask why she had lied.
Tempest was up to something.
The port captain carefully observed the two foreigners, he saw that they were wearing armor, which was very suspicious.
If he had been a good port captain he would have had the two arrested on the spot but since he wasn't paid enough to handle these problems he simply chose to ignore them, his job was only to make sure that those who docked at the port paid.
The rest was the royal guard's problem.
"Two silver coins." he said, holding out a hoof.
Tempest smiled and then motioned for Captain Cooper to pay.
"Thank you, welcome to Canterlot, have a good day." and without another word the stallion walked away.
"What do you want us to do?" Cooper asked behind her.
Tempes turned.
"Nothing, enjoy the city and rest but make sure that if necessary the airship can take off quickly."
The captain was amazed by the empress's response, in practice she had given the crew an unscheduled leave, surely his subordinates would have been very happy about it.
"Thank you your majesty!" the captain thanked her by bowing.
"You're welcome, I should stay here for at least a week, you're free to go."
And with that Tempest turned and headed towards the castle.
As she walked through the streets of the city she noticed that she attracted several curious and some fearful glances.
She imagined that a tall unicorn with a broken horn and black armor would stand out in a city full of snobs with perfectly groomed fur and a mane so brushed it looked like silk.
That's right, it didn't take Tempest long to realize that it was a city full of nobles.
Practically only unicorns walked the streets and earth ponies and pegasi were rarely seen. While there was absolutely no sign of other species.
As she walked she observed the various buildings, most of them were shops selling various items such as clothes, jewelry and accessories such as bags, hats, umbrellas and much more.
They all had one thing in common: they were extremely expensive.
The city was finely decorated with white marble and golden frames, every twenty meters there was a statue or a fountain spraying clear water.
Tempest wanted to vomit seeing all that excessive opulence but she stopped herself out of respect for the city and Celestia.
Suddenly something came at her.
The empress didn't move an inch but the unicorn stallion fell backwards with a loud thud.
The unicorn had white fur, was blond with blue eyes, wore a blue bow tie and had the design of a compass rose on his hips.
"Are you OK?" Tempest asked, offering him a hoof.
"STAY BACK YOU MONSTER!" the stallion screamed as he slapped her paw and stood up in a less than dignified manner.
"HOW DARE YOU GET IN MY WAY, YOU DON'T KNOW WHO I AM?!!"
His voice was very haughty and equally annoying.
Tempest wasn't intimidated at all, that interaction was enough for her to understand what kind of worm she was dealing with.
She decided not to waste even a second of her time, she ignored him and continued walking while the blonde unicorn continued to curse and hurl insults at her.
After another few minutes of walking Tempest finally arrived in front of the castle entrance.
There was a large black iron door with golden spikes on top, it was guarded by two royal guards wearing the usual armor.
Tempest approached the one on the right.
"Stop! Identifiers!"
"Tempest Shadow, I am here to meet Princess Celestia."
"Do you have an invitation with the royal seal?"
Of course, Tempest didn't have an invitation.
"Then we can't let you in!" the guard said loudly.
Tempest didn't even try to dissuade him so she walked away until she was out of their sight.
The scarred alicorn took a look at the walls surrounding the castle, it could have easily climbed over them as there were very few guards.
Tempest chose a place to enter and then climbed until she reached the other side.
She found herself in a garden full of hedges, there were also statues of all different shapes that represented strange creatures. Tempest approached the larger one.
"A draconequus?"
It vaguely resembled Master Kaos.
If she remembered correctly he had told her that he had had a bad brother who had been defeated by two sisters.
Could it be him?
Nah, it was just a coincidence. Surely that statue couldn't be a petrified evil god.
Tempest passed the strange statue and arrived in front of one of the castle windows.
The alicorn let out a sigh of disappointment when she saw that the window wasn't even locked and all she had to do was push it up to open it.
She really should have trained Celestia on how to maintain proper security.
Tempest snuck in, this time she had come across a long corridor, also unguarded.
Before continuing she took off her armored horseshoes and clipped them to her armor, so she would make less noise while walking.
Tempest wandered through the various corridors and rooms avoiding the occasional guards and attendants until she came to a pair of large doors about thirty feet high.
She peeked through the keyhole and finally saw her prize.
Celestia sat on the throne looking bored as she listened to a noble complain about something. Next to her was a gray female unicorn holding a clipboard.
In the room there were a dozen guards arranged in two rows of six on the sides of the red carpet that reached up to the base on which the two thrones were placed.
Tempest took another look at the noble who was talking continuously without ever stopping.
He was the fattest pony she had ever seen, so obese that she wondered if he was capable of standing on his own legs, in fact he was lying on a sedan chair supported by four earth ponies who, even though they were very muscular, struggled to support all that weight.
From what she could hear the unicorn called himself Lord Brilliant and complained that the mayor of Manehattan prevented him from turning Central Park into an industrial area.
He later claimed to have more power than the mayor, who had been democratically elected, since he was a descendant of an ancient house that had helped the two sisters millennia ago.
Tempest had a great dislike for those who used the name of their ancestors to claim prestige and privilege.
In her empire no nobility no longer existed, Storm King had defeated them all to accumulate all the power in his hands.
But the empress would never, for any reason in the world, reinstitute the noble class again.
In her empire there was only room for meritocracy.
While Lord Brilliant continued to talk nonsense, Princess Celestia pretended to listen, every now and then she nodded or said some useless words to make it seem like she was paying attention.
When the unicorn finished speaking, Celestia let out a sigh of boredom and straightened her posture
"Thank you Lord Brilliant, I will consider your complaint, we will contact you when we have resolved the problem." she said in a monotone voice, it seemed like a phrase she said to every annoyance that came in front of her.
"I hope so!" Lord Brilliant retorted, then slammed his hoof on the wood of the sedan chair.
The four earth ponies lifted him very laboriously and then slowly headed towards the exit.
Tempest stepped aside when the great doors opened and let Lord Brilliant pass through, who hadn't noticed her in the slightest.
The great doors closed soon after and Tempest began peering through the keyhole again.
Celestia was still sitting on the throne and was running a paw over her face to chase away boredom and drowsiness.
Then she turned to the gray mare beside her.
"Domo, I'm done for today, I'll be in my rooms."
Domo nodded and bowed as the princess stood up and walked out of a door next to the platform where the two thrones stood.
Tempest saw her opportunity, passed through an adjacent corridor and followed her fiancee without being seen.
After a few minutes of tailgating they finally arrived at the royal suite.
Celestia entered through the door normally while Tempest passed through the window.
The scarred alicorn had now reached her prey.
Celestia had her back turned while Tempest approached with a feline pace, when she was a few centimeters away she decided to make her move.
She raised her paw above her head and then spanked Celestia's ass with all her strength.
"SLAP!!!"
"AHHHHHH!!!" Celestia let out a scream, jumping forward, she suddenly turned to see who had attacked her and was amazed to see Tempest wriggling on the ground and laughing at her.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"TEMPEST?!" the princess had no time to say anything else before the doors to her room flew open and a horde of royal guards entered.
"PRINCESS CELESTIA!" the nearest guard shouted.
Before the situation could escalate Celestia had the guards calm down.
"I'm fine, there's nothing to worry about, you can go back to your positions." her voice was more than a little shaky given the shock and she felt the burning on her bottom where Tempest had spanked her.
The guard wanted to comment on the presence of the tall scarred unicorn but the princess glared at him.
"Of course princess, we'll leave you to your business."
The stallion bowed and then the guards quickly cleared the room.
Once the situation had calmed down the princess turned back to Tempest who had meanwhile gotten up from the ground.
"Why did you do that?!" she asked, frowning.
"I wanted to teach a lesson." Tempest replied smirking.
Celestia raised an eyebrow as if asking for further explanation.
"I came to visit you but I was very disappointed by the poor level of security, so I pretended to be an attacker."
Tempest's smile faded and was replaced by a serious look.
"If I really had been, you would be dead now."
Celestia didn't know how to respond, she knew that the castle's security wasn't as tight as it should be but she didn't expect that someone would be able to sneak into her rooms and hit her.
Celestia's irritation was replaced by the joy of having her beloved there with her.
The princess brought her muzzle close to the empress's and then the two exchanged an affectionate kiss.
"I missed you." Tempest said putting away her disappointment.
"You too." Celestia replied and then they kissed once more.
The two could have started to fornicate right then but Celestia broke the kiss and took a step back with a devilish smirk.
"Do you think I forgot what you did? You'll have to wait."
Tempest rolled her eyes, if she wanted she could have jumped on her and Celestia certainly wouldn't have resisted, however she decided to play along for a while.
"As you wish, Princess Sunbutt." Tempest said, giving a ridiculously exaggerated bow. .
Celestia laughed at the nickname she had given her, if it had been anyone else she would have had him locked up for disrespect, but when it was Tempest who said it it made her feel hot under her tail.
Tempest stood up and Celestia invited her to lie down on her bed next to her to talk.
"Why are you here?" Celestia finally asked her beloved.
"A holiday so to speak, the council required me to take a break."
"Strange, I didn't think Empress Tempest Shadow was capable of relaxing."
The princess's sarcasm was evident.
"I took this opportunity to be able to come and visit you here in Canterlot."
"Oh yes? And how did you like the city?" Celestia asked curious to know what she thought.
"It's a wonderful city."
Celestia raised an eyebrow, apparently she had immediately realized that she was lying. The too fast response, the fake smile and the somewhat high-pitched tone were some of the clues about it.
"You don't need to lie to me, I'm not offended at all."
Tempest sighed in defeat, it was impossible for her to lie to her fiancee.
"You're right, I think Canterlot is a rotten city filled only with snobbish nobles who are all unicorns, they are arrogant and presumptuous and from what little I have seen they are also useless."
Her sentence came out with more anger than she had intended but she didn't mind.
Celestia wasn't angry at all
"I can't blame you, I know well what kind of cancer nobles are, if I could I would eradicate them all but among them there are also some worthy people who work hard, who are altruistic and capable of great things."
Tempest knew that wasn't the only reason. The nobles owned land and industries, eliminating them would have brought instability to the kingdom.
Furthermore, Celestia had positioned herself as a just and compassionate ruler, if she had arbitrarily punished an entire social class she would have been branded as a despot.
"And then in no less than a century they will all have died of old age, for us it is just the blink of an eye in our long life." Celestia added.
Tempest still struggled to realize that she would live virtually forever until she was killed or died of other causes.
On the other hand, Celestia existed for a long time before her and knew well what the imperturbable passage of time meant.
How much lonely she must have felt without someone close to her, Tempest couldn't imagine living centuries without Celestia.
The scarred alicorn moved closer to the princess, gave her a kiss and then hugged her.
"Thank you." Celestia said.
Sometimes it happened that an accidental phrase evoked sad and melancholy memories, luckily today she had her beloved here ready to cheer her up.
The two remained embraced for a while until they heard the bells ringing.
"It's midday, do you want to have lunch?" Celestia asked.
"Certainly."
The two got out of bed and left Celestia's room.
The white alicorn led the way as Tempest had never been to Canterlot Castle before.
They finally arrived in front of the dining room doors which were guarded by two guards.
Celestia greeted them with a nod and then opened the large doors using her magic.
Upon entering they saw that they were not the only two.
In fact, sitting at the table were also Princess Twilight, a blue alicorn that Tempest assumed was Princess Luna, and another pink alicorn totally unknown to her.
Before Tempest could introduce herself, Princess Luna suddenly stood up from her chair and pointed a hoof at her.
"SO IT'S YOU WHO FUCKS MY SISTER!" |
THE TEMPEST TALES : FRAGMENTS | CHAPTER 2 part 2: IF ONLY THERE WAS A WAY | "SO IT'S YOU WHO FUCKS MY SISTER!"
The first to react was Twilight who spat out what she had in her mouth while the pink alicorn had her mouth slightly open.
Celestia covered her face in embarrassment while Tempest stood there not sure what to do.
"Excuse me!?" asked the scarred alicorn.
"I RECOGNIZE YOUR SMELL!" Luna accused.
What are you, a dog?
Tempest was tempted to say this but she refrained.
Then Princess Luna looked at her sister.
"I knew you didn't go out at night just to patrol Equestria! While I was working, you went to your girlfriend's house to fuck!" accused her younger sister.
Celestia rolled her eyes seeing Luna's exaggerated reaction, she turned back to Tempest who still hadn't quite understood what had just happened.
"Forgive my sister's rudeness."
The princess glared at her sister, who responded by making a spiteful face.
"Let's sit down, I can't wait to let you try equestrian cuisine."
Celestia went to sit at the head of the table, to the right of her was Luna and then the pink alicorn while on the left was Tempest and then Twilight.
Tempest saw that Princess Luna was glaring at her, in response the scarred alicorn gave a disturbing smile showing her sharp teeth and narrowing her pupils.
Luna pulled back, frowning and slightly frightened.
Celestia, seeing that the two were already arguing, then rang a bell placed on the table to signal the servers to bring the food.
In no time at all an army of ponies brought various dishes, side dishes, sauces, bread, wine and so on and so forth.
And when they had finished they left as they had come.
"We can start." Celestia announced cheerfully.
Tempest was amazed to see all that food for just five people, with it she could have fed an entire legion for at least a couple of days.
"What's up? Not to your liking? Isn't there enough meat?" Twilight asked to her left, the purple alicorn's tone was openly defiant as the food was all vegetarian.
What was happening?!
It seemed to Tempest that Twilight and Luna were quite hostile towards her.
The empress decided to ignore them and began to eat too.
On her plate there was a savory pie made of spinach and something else that she didn't recognize since she wasn't very good at recognizing ingredients.
The five ate for a few minutes until the pink alicorn chose to break the ice.
"So you must be Empress Tempest Shadow, it's a pleasure to finally put a face to your name." she said in a gentle tone.
Tempest put down her knife and fork so she could respond properly.
"The pleasure is all mine, if I'm not too prying I could ask who are you?"
"Of course, I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza but I prefer to be called just Cadence."
"Interesting, and what role do you play, if allowed?"
Tempest was applying the rules of etiquette, they were still at a dinner between sovereigns.
"I am the princess of love."
?!?!?!
Instead, now Tempest was trying with all her might not to burst out laughing in a less than dignified way.
She had to admit that it was really difficult as it took her a few dozen seconds to regain control of herself and continue the conversation.
Tempest mentally wondered if there was a princess of hand-to-hand combat or a princess of air supremacy.
Again she had to keep from laughing.
"What are your intentions with my sister?" Tempest's thoughts were interrupted by Princess Luna's voice, she still had an aggressive look on her face as she chewed very conspicuously but in a dignified manner.
"I assure you princess that I have only the best intentions." Tempest replied.
"If by "best intentions" you mean having wild sex with her then I believe you."
"OUCH!" Luna shouted after they heard a thud coming from under the table.
Luna gave her sister a deadly look, but she was pretending nothing had happened by taking a sip of wine from the glass.
They heard another thud under the table.
"OUCH!" This time it was Celestia who cursed.
"STOP THAT!" The white alicorn admonished her sister.
Luna got the message and went back to eating with a pout.
What the hell had she gotten herself into?!
Tempest didn't expect the two sisters to act like...two sisters.
She didn't expect the diarchs of Equestria, goddesses of the sun and moon and thousand-year-old alicorns to kick each other under the table like two kids did.
Although in fact she could have foreseen it knowing the less than graceful ways that Celestia sometimes had.
Tempest was happy to see that the rulers of that kingdom were not at all haughty like the nobles, they really seemed like normal people.
"Why did you come here to Canterlot?" Twilight asked as she chewed on a piece of bread.
"No reason in particular, the council ordered me to go on vacation for a while so I chose to come and visit Celestia."
Twilight's ears perked up in excitement.
"Then you have chosen exactly the right moment, in a few days there will be the Summer Sun Celebration!"
The Summer Sun Celebration festival had been her all-time favorite holiday since she was little, and it's taken on even more meaning since she met her friends.
"Is that why you're all here?"
Tempest expected that only the two reigning princesses, Celestia and Luna, would be in the capital.
"Exactly, the Summer Sun Celebration is a national holiday so all the greatest exponents of Equestrian society and beyond participate." the purple alicorn explained.
Tempest's timing had been excellent, she could have attended the party dedicated to her girlfriend.
"How are you doing in the empire?" Celestia asked.
"Good but not great, we recently became aware of the fact that an alliance has been formed between the old supporters of Storm King and those who are dissatisfied with the new government, they have already tried several times to create disorder but we have managed to contain the threat for the moment." Tempest replied nonchalantly.
"And you're not worried about the matter?"
"Of course, but I have faith that the council will be able to handle this while I am away."
Luna gave a stoic laugh, attracting everyone's attention.
"You don't know how much my sister and I envy you, we can't abandon the throne for a couple of hours before the governors start arguing with each other." the blue alicorn exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
It was no secret that among the princesses she was the one who hated the existence of presumptuous nobles most of all.
Celestia and Cadence laughed in agreement.
Twilight, on the other hand, found it difficult to follow the discussion, she had only recently joined the princesses' circle and consequently she didn't fully know how things worked.
From then on they began a long discussion about how their respective domains were run, about politics and how boring the nobles were.
"Why don't you eliminate them?" Twilight asked.
The other four were amazed to hear this.
They remained silent for a few seconds.
Tempest smirked before breaking the silence.
"I didn't expect you to say something like that, wanting to conquer the world?"
Her tone was deliberately sarcastic and provocative.
It took Twilight a few seconds to realize that what she had said was very misunderstood.
"I don't mean to kill them all!" she exclaimed shaking her head and waving her paws as if she was trying to chase away the words she had just said.
"I was thinking of something different like firing them and removing them from their positions." she tried to explain herself but it was too late.
Luna placed a paw on Twilight's and gave her a reassuring look.
"Don't worry Twilight, we've all been there, you should have seen what Celestia looked like during the extermination phase of her."
Luna lowered her gaze slightly, nodding slowly as if to say "we are all with you"
"I agree, even if Cadence had the most original idea to end them all, she probably would have had all the noble stallions gelded if she could." Celestia added with a laugh.
Twilight didn't know whether to try to explain the misunderstanding or just stay quiet and let the other princesses continue with their ideas of mass genocide.
She had to admit that the situation was becoming very surreal.
She would never have expected that people who usually professed peace and harmony would instead talk about how to eliminate an entire social class.
"What's up?" Tempest asked.
By now the other three princesses were busy gossiping among themselves while Twilight remained silent.
"Nothing special."
It was clear that Twilight's answer was false, the purple alicorn was very easy to read, especially for someone like Tempest.
The Empress didn't even have to ask again, all she had to do was give a skeptical look to make Twilight understand that she hadn't fallen for it.
Before she answered, Twilight let out a sigh.
"Since I became a princess, I've been discovering unexpected things about Celestia and the others, and my beliefs are constantly being questioned."
"And is that a bad thing?"
Twilight wasn't sure what to answer, she had thought about it many times before.
This made her insecure, unfit and sometimes naive.
When Celestia and Luna argued she couldn't help but feel like she shouldn't be there.
But on the other hand she was fascinated by what they had to say, the alicorn sisters were practically pieces of living and personified history, dealing with them meant being able to understand what the past was like.
From some discussions she was able to learn some things that were not written or documented in any existing history book.
Twilight remembered how she had been completely shocked when Luna told her who Bearded Starswirl really was. The princess of the night revealed that the great wizard that Twilight had always admired was actually a court jester who had no magical talent, everything he had discovered was only thanks to Princess Celestia who had helped him and let him take the merit.
"I don't know what to tell you, it's a big change of perspective." the purple alicorn said nothing else and then she grabbed the fork with her magic to spear the food on her plate.
The five mares finished eating and after that Twilight, Cadence and Luna returned to their duties.
Before Luna left she glared at Tempest, for some reason she didn't like the scarred alicorn.
"Do you want to visit Canterlot?" Celestia offered.
Tempest didn't really want to see the haughty nobles wandering the streets like they were masters of the world again, but on the other hand she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her beloved.
"Okay, I'll follow you." Celestia smiled and trotted out excitedly, Tempest wanted to spend the whole day cuddling but she had already said yes.
Before they could venture into the city they would have had to inform the captain of the royal guard who was currently in the wing of the castle used as barracks.
The captain was a pegasus, as usual he had white fur and golden armor.
Tempest couldn't help but notice that all of the soldiers in the Kingsguard had white or gray fur.
How was this possible?
Tempest ruled out the possibility that Celestia only allowed ponies of those colors to become soldiers, it would be stupid and inefficient. So the most plausible explanation is that they dyed their fur with some dye.
She admitted that it made the royal guard look good, made them all uniform and easily recognisable. Her army didn't have this problem as they all wore black overalls with obsidian armor over them.
Unlike the Royal Equestrian Guard, the imperial army focused more on practicality and intimidation. Wearing shiny gold armor would have been counterproductive in any battle scenario such as hiding to carry out an ambush.
In fact, the obsidian plates were painted with a non-reflective black paint to avoid being seen.
The only Imperial soldiers who had any form of decoration were the Imperial Palace Guards who had blue cloaks, and Tempest's personal legion who wore pauldrons painted purple.
"Captain Tristar, my guest and I intend to take a walk around Canterlot. This time it will not be necessary to deploy my entire personal guard, my host is more than capable of defending me."
Celestia said her last sentence giving a smile to Tempest who rolled her eyes.
Sometimes her fiancee liked to behave as if she were a defenseless damsel but in reality the empress was certain that she could easily defeat almost any enemy who faced her.
Captain Tristar looked at Tempest skeptically but as soon as he had a chance to look at her better he realized that his worries were completely unfounded.
The tall mare looked imposing and intimidating with her black armor, scar over her eye and broken horn.
Furthermore, her gaze was that of a warrior hardened by multiple battles.
Captain Tristar couldn't help but be amazed and fascinated. Among the soldiers of Equestria there was no one like her.
Not even the most veteran had ever seen a real battle with bloodshed, even he had only had to wound a couple of times in his entire career.
"May I know who our guest is?" Captain Tristar dared to ask.
The scarred alicorn took a step forward.
"I'm Commander Tempest Shadow, nice to meet you."
As usual Tempest preferred to use her old military rank when she wasn't absolutely sure she could trust others.
Celestia said nothing about it.
"My pleasure." Captain Tristar saluted as Tempest had introduced herself as commander.
"We can leave." he concluded by turning to his princess.
As they walked through the streets of Canterlot, Celestia explained and told the history of the city, every now and then they stopped to admire some particular statue or monument.
Tempest was really enjoying the walk, she wasn't very interested in the city but she loved listening to Celestia's enthusiastic voice, there was joy and passion in her eyes.
For nothing in the world would she have interrupted her.
The three were often followed by admiring ponies who bowed as they passed and then remained to observe them as if they were attractions themselves.
"Wonderful! Princess Celestia is lovely as usual!"
"It's not often you see her outside the castle, could it be because of that mare of hers that's next to her?"
Some ponies were whispering among themselves.
"It's really scary, what did I come to do?"
"Did you see her horn?! I can't imagine how she manages to live like this. Is it even possible to survive such a wound? "
"Do you think she feels pain? She must have a very miserable life."
They were convinced that Tempest wouldn't hear them but her hearing was exceptional.
"Have you seen how tall she is? Maybe she's an alicorn."
"Another? it's impossible! Alicorns are beautiful, majestic and regal, most importantly they have wings and horn. That one over there barely has half a horn and has a big scar on her face, I can't imagine what's hidden under that suit."
"You're right, it can't be."
If Tempest had been a naive young mare she would have reacted to the snide comments. However she was an empress and she had to be above such childish behavior.
She let out a sigh, she was about to ask Celestia to continue with the city tour but it didn't happen.
"What did you just say about my illustrious guest?"
Celestia had turned to face the two ponies talking behind them.
At first Tempest hadn't even bothered to turn her neck to see who they were but now she saw that they were two female unicorns, of course they were two unicorns.
One had green fur while the other yellow.
"Princess Celestia?!" Exclaimed the yellow one since she didn't expect to be called back by the ruler of Equestria..
"What happens?" she asked the other innocently as if she hadn't realized her mistake.
Celestia was definitely annoyed, usually she was able to ignore the stupidity of haughty and presumptuous ponies but this time her anger took over as soon as she heard the two sluts talking badly about her girlfriend.
"I'll say it one last time, what did you say?"
The princess's tone was calm and at the same time she was intimidating.
"Oh no big deal, we were just commenting on how wonderful your presence is." the yellow unicorn lied as a small bead of cold sweat formed on her forehead.
"Oh yes? Is that so Captain Tristar?" Celestia asked looking at the pegasus next to her.
"Negative princess." The captain was quick to deny it.
Celestia turned her gaze back to the two unicorns. What little warmth there was in her face had been replaced by an icy coldness.
"My captain says it's not like that, who should I trust?"
The two unicorns were terrified, they were sweating cold, they were shaking and they couldn't even mumble a word.
"It's what I thought."
All the kindness and sympathy that usually marked Princess Celestia were gone, they could only hope that at least mercy remained.
"If you had only lied to me you would have gotten off with a warning, but you allowed yourself to insult an important guest to me and Equestria so I will let Empress Tempest Shadow choose your punishment."
Celestia looked into Tempest's eyes, something small and imperceptible was hidden in them but her fiance had understood it at the first look at her.
The scarred alicorn wanted to roll her eyes at how childish the white alicorn could be sometimes, but this time too she would play along.
The only thing that perhaps bothered her was that her identity had already been revealed so quickly. So goodbye to the surprise effect.
Or at least not entirely.
Hearing how Tempest had been called, the audience reacted with exclamations of amazement, some with wide eyes while others whispered among themselves. The most boring reaction was that of Captain Tristar, his face was impassive, the only way to know that something had changed would be to read his mind.
Tempest put on her empress face and stepped forward.
"I don't know if it would be appropriate, in my empire disrespect for authority is considered a crime on par with treason, therefore punishable by death."
Tempest was lying, the penalty for something like that would be a monetary fine, but they didn't know that.
Her face gave nothing away, she was cold and gave the impression of being someone who would have no qualms about condemning someone to death.
In fact she was just like that, she didn't happen often but when it was necessary she issued death sentences against criminals who didn't deserve to exist.
The two unicorns were even more scared so much so that the green one was starting to hyperventilate fearing that maybe she would be executed.
"Death penalty you say?" Celestia pretended to actually take Tempest's idea into consideration. "It seems a bit excessive to me but as I said before it's up to you to give the punishment."
"I BEG YOU! HAVE MERCY ON US!" the yellow unicorn began to beg, bowing so deeply that her face was on the ground. The green unicorn was so scared that her body refused to move.
They smelled urine, apparently one of the two had peed on herself.
Seeing this, Tempest no longer felt like playing, the bad memories resurface, now instead of those two unicorns she saw herself as a young girl on that cursed day many years ago.
Tempest approached Celestia and with just one look she was able to make her understand that the prank had gone too far.
Celestia thought that the two insolent unicorns deserved what was happening to them, but her fiancee's eyes weren't looking for revenge but pity.
The princess sighed but did not object.
"You are free to go." she announced in a neutral voice.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" the two mares exclaimed in unison and then ran away.
Celestia and Tristar remained to observe as the two subjects walked away and disappeared into the crowd while Tempest's gaze was already elsewhere, thinking of something else.
"What happens? Were we too harsh?"
As always, Celestia knew when something was occupying her mind.
"It's nothing, just some unpleasant memories."
Tempest looked at her beloved and gave her a smile.
"There's no point ruining the day, I'm happy to be here with you."
Hearing this the princess was tempted to hug Tempest and give her a kiss but since they were in a public place she simply returned her with an affectionate smile.
The two alicorns continued their tour of the city while Captain Tristar remained behind them on alert ready to block any possible threat.
"How did she seem to you?"
Cadence put her cup of tea down so she could give an answer.
"Are you referring to Tempest Shadow?" Cadence touched her chin with a hoof as her gaze wandered through the air thinking. "It's difficult to give an adequate description, we've only known each other for a few hours and we only spoke at lunch."
Cadence and Luna were in one of the rooms of the castle having tea together.
"Nothing else?" asked the blue alicorn again.
"Why are you asking me all these questions about Tempest?" Cadence raised an eyebrow.
"I don't trust her."
As usual, Luna was the type of person who hated beating around the bush.
"I don't understand how my sister could have fallen in love with her so easily."
Cadence listened to what her colleague had to say while she sipped her tea.
"For dozens of centuries my sister has never had another serious relationship with anyone and then out of nowhere comes this slut who for some inexplicable reason has managed to win Celestia's heart."
Luna's voice was full of annoyance, she wasn't angry but she couldn't accept the situation.
"I don't know about you but this really stinks to me. It would have been normal if she had a relationship with some palace guard or some subject who caught her attention, but here we are talking about an empress."
Luna had now abandoned her cup of tea so that she could get up and walk around while she talked.
"I'm afraid there is something shady, she probably wants to ingratiate my sister so she can take control of Equestria and be able to govern the sun, the moon and the elements of harmony."
Cadence put the cup down again, it was time to stop the blue alicorn's ramblings.
"Does it bother you that she is having sex with your sister." she said in a flat, unscrupulous tone.
"NO!" Luna exclaimed immediately making her eyes widen.
Cadence maintained an impassive gaze.
"Maybe a little bit'."
The pink alicorn kept the same look.
"Alright then! I hate that my sister sleeps with Tempest!"
Luna finally admitted, throwing herself into the chair and letting out a snort.
Cadence smirked in victory, no one could read people better than her, except maybe Celestia.
"Don't you think Celestia is free to decide who to have a relationship with?"
Now it seemed as if they were in a psychological session where Luna was the patient and Cadence was the psychologist.
"Yes, but as I said before I don't trust this mare we know nothing about."
"Just because we know little about her, you shouldn't be prejudiced."
"I know! it's that for thousands of years it's always been just me and her and now there's Tempest too. What are you doing?!"
Luna saw that the pink alicorn had made a notebook appear out of nowhere in which she was writing with a quill pen.
"Oh no big deal, you keep talking, I'll listen to you."
Luna had a puzzled look but didn't ask any questions.
"Where did I arrive..." Luna she touched her temple in reflection before continuing.
"You said that Tempest's appearance upset you since before it was only you and Celestia." the psychologist gave a brief summary.
"In this regard, I wanted to ask you why Twilight's and my arrival didn't have the same effect."
"With you it's different, you're very good friends and I've known you for a few years, Twilight has Celestia's complete trust and you too are someone I would never doubt.
Plus you two don't have a romantic relationship with Celestia." Luna explained and then took a sip of the now cold tea.
"I understand." Cadence said in a neutral voice as she took notes.
Glasses with rectangular lenses had appeared on her face.
"Since when do you wear glasses!?" Luna exclaimed.
"Oh these?" Cadence pointed to her glasses and adjusted their position. "Don't mind, continue."
Luna made a strange face again but continued speaking.
"It all started when my sister came back from that trip a year ago, I knew straight away that she had been fucking someone as I immediately felt that she smelled like someone else on her."
What are you, a dog?!
Cadence thought.
"Initially I thought she had had a quickie as usual so I didn't give it too much thought but it became more worrying when once a week she came home in the morning smelling the same."
"Aren't you happy that she's in a stable relationship with someone?" Cadence interrupted as she continued writing.
"I would be if Celestia didn't have a bad habit of falling in love with very questionable people!"
Luna shivered as she thought about the disaster that had been her sister's relationship with a certain unicorn who had turned evil and was currently exiled under the Crystal Empire.
Not to mention the affair she'd had with that shapeshifting queen.
Luna struggled to remember her name, it was Chry... Chrys... something.
"I fear that this Tempest Shadow may turn out to be another no-good, and I would hate to have to fight another war because of my sister's poor choices."
"I see, and have you tried talking to her about it?"
"Dozens of times! But she doesn't seem to see reason, as always she is more stubborn than a mule."
Cadence continued taking notes and then finished by making a conspicuous period.
"I hate to say it like this but are you sure you're not just jealous?" she asked, lowering her muzzle slightly so she could peek over the lenses of her glasses.
Luna responded by giving a fake lame laugh.
"WHO? I?! I'm absolutely not jealous of my sister, why should I be?!" She exclaimed with wide eyes and an indignant voice.
Cadence kept the same expression for a few seconds, she looked down at her notebook, pointing with the tip of her pen to some sentences she had written.
"Just now you admitted that it bothered you that your sister had a romantic relationship with Tempest and then you said that you would have liked to lock Celestia in a room, then you mentioned that it was usually just the two of you. In the end you criticized your sister's past relationships."
Cadence lowered her notebook again to look at Luna.
"Okay, maybe you're right. But that doesn't take away the fact that my sister is attracted to people who turn out to be evil." Luna defended herself by reiterating her statements.
The two remained for a few moments reflecting on the situation.
According to Cadence it was just the usual jealousy of when the older brother or sister finds a partner, but there was more to consider.
She hadn't yet been born when Celestia had ended her last relationship but if what Luna had said was true then it was possible that Tempest Shadow was truly an evil creature about to sow death and destruction.
But there was something else Luna couldn't know.
Cadence thought back to when they all sat down to eat lunch and saw Celestia and Tempest together for the first time.
Cadence could feel when there was true love between two people, and what she saw was overwhelming but pure at the same time.
However, this was not an indication of something totally positive or negative, there were many forms of love and what there was between Tempest and Celestia was filled with fiery and ferocious passion.
This could have led to a strong and lasting bond but at the same time it could have burned everything.
There were still too many unknowns and she didn't feel like she could make a hasty judgment.
"I think it's still too early to predict how things will go, maybe for now we can just wait and see what happens."
Cadence proposed, not that there was much else they could have done.
Luna sighed but nodded, they would do it that way.
Celestia had finally finished showing Canterlot to her beloved, they had arrived on one of the large terraces of the palace to watch the sunset.
Captain Tristar had retreated to the barracks to carry out his duties.
The sun was now low on the horizon, the sky was tinged with a reddish shade.
"As always, your sunset is wonderful." Tempest complimented as the two mares approached the railing of the terrace.
"You give me too much credit, my job is just to provide energy to the sun so it can exist and move."
As if it were nothing.
Tempest thought rolling her eyes.
Celestia stood close to Tempest so their shoulders could touch.
The Sun Princess wished she could feel the warmth of her lover's fur but as usual Tempest was wearing her armor.
She wished she would stop wearing it when she didn't have to but she knew it wasn't so easy for her scarred alicorn.
"Maybe, but seeing the sunset fills me with peace and tranquility before the silence of the night arrives."
Tempest had her gaze on her horizon admiring the wonderful view.
After that they didn't say anything anymore, there were just the two of them sharing a moment that although banal meant everything, it would be one of those unforgettable and irreplaceable moments.
The sun slowly disappeared and the white moon took its place.
That evening there were few clouds allowing the firmament above them to be clearly seen, and beyond the starlights was that of the thousands of homes of the city of Canterlot.
There's no denying it, the world could be ruthless and brutal but at the same time grant wonders beyond all imagination.
It was incredible to think that all of this was kept in balance by just two people: Celestia and Luna.
It was their immense power that literally made the sun and moon move, Tempest knew that the two sisters would be able to perform many more miracles thanks to their magical power and abilities.
These thoughts filled with admiration and pride inevitably led to other less pleasant ones.
Tempest couldn't help but draw comparisons between her and the other princesses.
They were all alicorns and yet she was the only one without horns or wings, she did not have any special innate and intrinsic talent, this was demonstrated by her side devoid of any effigy.
Not that she cared much about that since she noticed that there were plenty of ponies outside of Equestria who didn't have such a thing.
"I wondered what my life would have been like if I hadn't lost my wings and horn."
Tempest broke the silence by expressing her concerns, she was no longer afraid to open up, not when only Celestia was there.
Her beloved looked at her indicating that she was listening.
"I can't help but see the amazing things you can do, you rule the sun and your sister the moon."
Tempest didn't mention Cadence and Twilight, she had no doubt that they too had important roles but she still found it hard to wrap her head around the fact that they were princesses of something as abstract as friendship and love.
"Sometimes I think of all the obstacles I could have flown over if I had wings, all the enemies I could have easily defeated if I could have used magic."
Everything would have been simpler, she would have suffered less and there would probably have been many fewer sacrifices.
Tempest felt the warmth of Celestia's fur on her neck, the princess had come even closer to comfort her partner.
"Fate has not been kind, I'm sorry that you had to face many hardships along your path but I'm sure that all of this has made you the wonderful person you are now."
Celestia knew very well that power made people presumptuous and arrogant, there was a time when she and her sister had been so too, it took decades before they learned what humility was.
Instead Tempest was still very young for an alicorn and yet she was one of the most respectable people she had ever met.
She had been shaped by countless difficulties that she had managed to overcome only thanks to her ingenuity and skill.
"I don't know, I still think I could have done a lot more if I had been in one piece."
Celestia was sad to hear this, she loved Tempest with all of her being.
If only there was a way to give her what she wanted.
"But I'm also grateful because I was able to meet you."
Tempest smiled genuinely, it seemed that this was enough to ease the sadness she felt just before her.
Celestia smiled back and soon after the two slowly kissed.
There was no rush, just a loving but infinitely meaningful kiss.
When they separated they remained for a few more seconds looking at each other.
Celestia adored the Tempest eyes, their reptilian shape made them exotic, the opal colored eyes instilled tranquility and security and at the same time strength and pragmatism.
Her smile revealed her sharp teeth, they were pointed and threatening but Celestia had learned to appreciate them, especially when they kissed and she ran her tongue over them, being careful not to pinch herself.
"I love you." The white alicorn announced in the moonlight.
Such words warmed Tempest's heart, eliminating all traces of regret.
"I love you too, now and forever."
They exchanged another kiss.
How easy it would have been for the two to spend eternity on that terrace, just the two of them, without worries and responsibilities, simply enjoying each other's presence.
But time stopped for no one, not even for the sun goddess and Empress Tempest Shadow.
"It's time to go have dinner now, okay?" She proposed Celestia after taking a look inside the royal palace.
The lights were now on and the cooks had certainly already started cooking.
"Of course, let's go." Tempest replied nodding and turning so they could enter.
As the two walked side by side Celestia thought back to the discussion they had just had.
If only there was a way to give her what she wanted, to make her a full alicorn again. |
THE TEMPEST TALES : FRAGMENTS | CHAPTER 2 part 3: ANALYSIS | Canterlot was in great turmoil and agitation from the early hours of the day.
There were already crowds of people walking and talking in the streets, creating a great buzz, merchants shouting behind the stalls selling food and other goods, trying to gain more visibility.
Along the streets of the capital of Equestria there were already many decorations announcing the great event that would take place in a few days.
Twilight had just arrived at the door to Celestia's rooms.
Luna had sent her to wake up her sister when they saw that neither the Sun Princess nor the Empress had shown up at the table for breakfast.
Luna had given the order in a contemptuous tone, obviously not aimed at Twilight but at something else.
The princess of friendship was very perplexed, it had never happened that Celestia was late, she was never late, for any reason in the world.
The sun goddess was always on time, she was precise just as the sun and moon set and rose every day.
Guarding the entrance to Celestia's rooms were two guards stationed at the sides of the large doors, they were decorated with golden finishes and gems that formed a wonderful colored mosaic representing the effigy of the sun goddess.
Twilight grabbed the door knocker with her magic and forcefully knocked a couple of times.
The sound was very loud and deep, impossible to miss.
Twilight waited for a few seconds and then the door slowly opened, just a little.
Princess Celestia's head emerged from the opening, but at that moment she looked anything but a princess.
Twilight gasped.
Her fur was matted, her eyes were tired, and even her mane was disheveled.
Twice that morning Twilight had to change her mind.
Celestia had always had a regal and dignified appearance, even in the most disparate and unlikely moments.
What the hell had happened?!
"Twilight?" Celestia asked and then let out a yawn as she placed a hoof in front of her muzzle.
"P-Princess Celestia, I came to see if you were okay since you didn't show up for breakfast."
Twilight struggled to speak, she was still shocked at the state her mentor was in.
"I understand." The white alicorn spoke in a placid, almost apathetic tone.
Celestia's gaze shifted for less than a second to the inside of the room and then she turned back to her student.
Twilight couldn't understand what she had seen since the door was only half open and Celestia was occupying every possible opening.
"Did something happen?" Twilight asked worriedly.
"Oh, no big deal. I just fell asleep late as I had some things to do."
Her mentor explained quickly, her eyes moving again for a brief moment to look around the room before refocusing on her faithful student.
"Twilight, give me a few moments and then I'll join you for breakfast."
The purple alicorn just nodded.
Celestia smiled gratefully and then stepped back to close the door.
However, that very brief moment when she stepped away from the door allowed Twilight to see what was inside her bedroom.
She could make out the large bed but was shocked to see a magenta figure lying on the mattress.
And after that the door closed completely.
Twilight stood there motionless in front of the door.
What the fuck had she just seen?!
The purple alicorn didn't even have any expression as her brain was paralyzed.
It must have been a hallucination. It certainly was!
However, the more rational part of her told her that it was entirely plausible.
It was no secret that Tempest and Celestia were in a relationship, plus Tempest hadn't shown up that morning either.
Twilight shook her head to clear the numbness of shock.
"It's okay Twilight, you can do it." She said loudly even though the only ones who could hear her were the guards and herself.
Twilight sighed, took a step back and then turned so she could go back to the dining room and in the process try to forget what she had just seen.
Celestia closed the door after saying goodbye to her loyal student.
She turned and then headed towards the bed on which her lover was still sleeping.
Tempest lay silently on the soft mattress, she made no noise other than her deep, relaxed breathing.
The blankets were disheveled and piled up at the end of the bed because it had been too hot to sleep in them.
Celestia remained for a few moments watching as her beloved slept peacefully and remembering the wonderful and wild night they had spent.
"Tempest, it's time to get up." Celestia said, her voice still quite rough after her rude awakening.
Tempest's eyes opened quickly, revealing her pupils shrinking to accommodate the light of day.
It was always fascinating to see the atypical eyes of the scarred alicorn.
Even if Tempest was very tired and had slept soundly she was always ready to wake up quickly so she could be immediately alert and respond to any threat.
It was a habit she had picked up over the years and she would certainly struggle to leave it behind.
The scarred alicorn moved into a sitting position on the bed and gave a short yawn.
"Good morning, did you sleep well?" Celestia asked in a sarcastic voice.
Tempest rolled her eyes in response.
Last night had been anything but peaceful, proof of this was the pain she felt in her private parts and her fur matted.
The room smelled of sex and she could feel that between her thighs there were traces of bodily fluids, hers and Celestia's.
That time Tempest shouldn't have proposed to Celestia to use a transfiguration spell to grow a cock, she had used it that night to destroy her until she passed out and get her revenge for spanking her.
It wasn't fair at all.
Tempest felt a cool breeze blow on her exposed fur, Celestia had opened the windows to air out the room and let out the stench that permeated it.
Tempest watched as her beloved wandered around the room while trying to tidy up the room. She picked up the pillows, tidied up the blankets and even took the time to gather up her suit and the obsidian plates to put them away. order on a table.
As always, Princess Celestia was wonderful, even with her disheveled fur and unkempt mane, for Tempest there was no one better than her.
Celestia knew that the empress was watching her so she moved swinging her hips more than necessary and when she had to pick up something from the ground she bent over obscenely raising her tail to give a good view to her lover.
It was behavior more suited to a slut than a princess but Celestia loved to tease those who dared to look at her lustfully.
Tempest had her mouth slightly open and was drooling, she wanted to dive between those succulent thighs and then have breakfast with Celestia's essence.
The scarred alicorn was interrupted from her reverie when she was suddenly thrown out of bed and onto the floor. Her reflexes allowed her to get up in an instant and she saw that the one responsible for it was the white alicorn who was now tucking the covers back into place with a smirk on her face.
Tempest was tempted to give her another full force spank so as to leave the imprint of her hoof on the sun goddess's buttocks but she held back, she knew Celestia was vengeful, very vengeful.
Tempest moved away from the bed and then stretched her front legs and then her back legs. After doing so she already felt more energetic and ready to face the day.
Meanwhile Celestia had finished tidying up the room.
"The others are waiting for us to have breakfast, we'd better wash up quickly." Celestia said, then she walked towards the bathroom.
Tempest didn't object, it would have been inappropriate to show up at the table smelling of sperm and vaginal fluids.
When she entered the bathroom she was awed by the opulence that surrounded her.
Each countertop was made of smooth white marble with gold trim, there was a large bathtub that could have been mistaken for a small swimming pool, and there was a huge shower head on the ceiling.
She should have expected it since everything in that city seemed to have the intent to thwart wealth and prosperity.
"You come?"
Celestia had already entered the enormous bathtub waiting for Tempest to join her.
The empress entered slowly to avoid slipping and when she was inside the princess turned two valves set in the wall and immediately a stream of water came out of the shower head above them.
It was so big it looked like it was raining. Their furs were already completely wet, the water was not too hot since Celestia knew that this would not have pleased her beloved, who preferred to wash herself with cold water.
Shortly afterwards the flow of water stopped as they had to soap themselves up.
They could have done it themselves but instead Celestia handed Tempest the jar of soap and then turned to signal for her lover to soap her up.
Celestia loved acting like a helpless princess.
Tempest smiled and before you knew it she was running her paws all over Celestia's body under the guise of washing her.
They should have washed quickly but Tempest deliberately lingered as her hooves passed between her lover's thighs.
She continued scrubbing until Celestia began to pant and right before the grand finale she withdrew her hoof to continue soaping her normally.
Tempest smiled defiantly while Celestia let out a growl of dissatisfaction, she would get her revenge, again.
When Celestia was covered in soap to the last orifice she turned and grabbed the jar of soap.
"It's my turn." said the princess, her face expressing malice and vengeance.
Tempest rolled her eyes and then turned her back to her significant other.
Celestia began to soap her up like Tempest had done, her hooves moving slowly over the magenta fur always being careful not to rub too much into the scars where her fur was lighter and thinner.
Tempest expected her to use the same trick but suddenly she felt weight on her back and something turgid and now familiar pressing at the entrance to her pussy. She looked over her shoulder at them and saw Celestia above her who had an almost sadistic face.
Suffice it to say, they didn't show up for breakfast that morning.
She was very elated because in a few minutes the train from Ponyville would be arriving with her friends on board.
Initially they had not come with her because they also had to make preparations for the small town, the summer sun celebration would have been held in Canterlot but the advent was celebrated equally throughout Equestria.
That morning she had been a little disappointed by the fact that Princess Celestia hadn't come to have breakfast with the others, she would have liked to discuss a little more before getting into the full swing of work.
But instead her mentor had been busy sharing her bed with Tempest, or at least that's what Princess Luna had told her as they sat at the table.
If she hadn't known about the relationship between the empress and the princess she would have doubted but after what she had seen there were no longer any doubts.
Before then it had seemed distant and abstract to her, like when you read about some great event in the newspaper. But now that she had had a front row demonstration of it she couldn't get those thoughts out of her mind.
Actually she had a lot of thoughts on her mind, too many.
"CHOFF! CHOOP!"
The train whistle interrupted her thoughts.
Twilight got off the bench and smiled, the Friendship Express slowed down, letting out a high-pitched and annoying hiss.
When the train came to a complete stop the carriage doors opened and dozens of ponies began to exit, some carrying suitcases while others were traveling light with only saddlebags.
There were families who brought their children to visit the wonderful city of Canterlot and some dressed elegantly for work purposes.
Finally, after a few seconds, the group of friends finally appeared.
As usual, Rainbow Dash was in front of them, wanting to stay one meter off the ground, followed by the other four.
Rarity was going on and on about how glamorous Canterlot was and how she would like to open a boutique in town while Applejack just pretended to listen to her by rolling her eyes whenever the white unicorn was being overly dramatic.
Pinkie Pie was hopping around with a smile on her face and Fluttershy was at the back of the group, taciturn as always.
In the middle of the group she managed to spot her number one assistant, since he was shorter he was difficult to notice but she was happy to know that he was there too.
"TWILIGHT!"
The purple alicorn was knocked over by Pinkie who had thrown herself at her as soon as she saw her.
Soon after, the other three and the little dragon were added. Rainbow Dash continued to flutter nearby
They had a group hug and then went their separate ways.
"Welcome to Canterlot." Twilight welcomed her best friends.
"We couldn't wait to get there." Rarity exclaimed, brushing a strand of hair away from her muzzle.
"It is true! We absolutely need to throw a huge party!"
Pinkie Pie made her iconic party cannon appear out of nowhere and blast a shower of confetti over their heads.
The others couldn't help but roll their eyes and smile at their friend's antics.
"How is it going?" Applejack asked, Twilight realizing that she had missed hearing the orange earth pony's distinctive accent.
"Great, we have already started with the preparations for the summer sun celebration but the princess asked that you decide the most important things."
The others exclaimed enthusiastically, it was truly an honor to be chosen as the catering staff for such an illustrious event in such a large city as Canterlot.
It wasn't the first time it had happened but it had happened in the small town of Ponyville, now they were on a completely different level.
The group of friends headed towards the castle, as they walked they were greeted by everyone since they had now become celebrities in the eyes of the people.
Their adventures were reported in newspapers and celebrated wherever they went.
Their last great feat, the defeat of Discord, had raised their prestige and fame even further.
Rainbow Dash enjoyed the praise and compliments as she darted above the crowd of cheering ponies while the other five walked close by.
Twilight had the little dragon sitting on her back but she wasn't even paying attention to the flatterers, by now she was used to all this because since she became a princess she was always surrounded by flatterers and paparazzi, on the other hand Applejack stood with her head slightly bowed so that her stetson covered her eyes, the same way Fluttershy covered herself behind her bangs.
Rarity, on the other hand, walked full of pride, she had a posture worthy of a great lady and every now and then she slowed down to show off her perfect hair or her smooth and shiny fur.
While Pinkie Pie was....Pinkie Pie, always happy and radiant like no one else.
Finally, after a long walk through the streets of the city, they reached the castle doors which were thrown open by the guards stationed there.
They entered, leaving behind the crowd of people who soon dispersed.
Twilight led her friends inside the castle.
Since she had spent her childhood within those walls she knew the building perfectly.
They walked along some corridors until they reached a large room used to welcome guests.
Before they could all enter Twilight told a guard in the corridor to go and warn the other princesses that her friends had arrived at the palace.
The soldier nodded and walked briskly away.
The room had a large round table in the center with enough seats for her friends and princesses.
They took their seats and before the girls started chatting amongst themselves Twilight cleared her throat, everyone's attention falling on her.
"First of all I wanted to thank you for coming to Canterlot, I know some of you have family to spend the summer sun celebration with, so I apologize on behalf of myself and all the princesses." she said, bowing her head slightly in reverence.
"There's nothing to apologize for darling! We are more than happy to be here to give you a hoof."
Rarity said and the others nodded in agreement with her.
"It's also an advantage for us to be here." Applejack added.
In fact, Rainbow Dash had come because the Wonderbolts would be there, Applejack was trying to promote the products of her farm while Rarity wanted to use the opportunity to make herself known to the equestrian high society. And Fluttershy wished she had the chance to visit the royal family's grand aviary.
While Pinkie Pie would have fun throwing the biggest party ever.
But there was another reason above all: they wanted to help their friend.
"Thank you so much, this really means a lot to me."
The six friends would have hugged each other again but it would have been awkward since they were already seated and there was a huge table between them.
Twilight would have already begun to discuss the various roles they would fill but she remembered that first of all she would have to tell her friends about the unexpected guest.
"I wanted to warn you that in these days there will be an important guest here in Canterlot."
Twilight started the sentence but she wasn't sure what to say, so she started from the beginning.
"Do you remember the long trip I took several months ago with Princess Celestia?"
The others nodded.
"I told you that we met the ruler of the great empire that was formed in the south of the continent. Behold, today that empress is here." She said without much ceremony.
The others murmured in amazement.
"Did she also come to see the summer sun celebration?"
Pinkie asked bouncing in her seat.
"Well...not really, or at least that wasn't her original intent."
Twilight made a strange face which made her friends slightly worried.
"Is there something wrong with her? Is she a threat?"
Rainbow Dash was the first to jump to conclusions, as usual she would have appreciated a fight to show off her black belt martial arts skills.
"Absolutely no!" The purple alicorn quickly denied before her friends could think of apocalyptic scenarios.
The last thing she wanted was to alienate Tempest in the eyes of her friends, in fact she really hoped they could get along knowing the empress' character.
She really hoped so.
"So what is it that worries you?" Applejack asked, the others expecting an answer too.
Twilight let out a sigh, there was no other way to put it.
"You should know that Princess Celestia and Empress Tempest Shadow are currently engaged."
The group gasped.
"Did I hear you right!? Is Princess Celestia having a love affair?!"
Rarity was in disbelief, and so were all the others.
"BOOOMM!!!!"
Twilight didn't have time to repeat herself before a deafening explosion filled the room.
This time Pinkie Pie had brought out another party cannon, much larger and loaded with much more confetti.
"WE MUST CELEBRATE!!!!"
The party mare screamed at the top of her lungs as confetti rained down from above and they heard the usual melody used at weddings.
Out of nowhere a wedding cake had appeared on the table and Pinkie was hopping around putting party hats on her friends' heads as they looked at her strangely.
After all the years they had known each other they still hadn't gotten used to the miracles she could perform.
"Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed but her voice was drowned out by the loud music.
"PINKIE!!!" She tried again but was again ignored.
"PINKIE PIE!!! STOP IT!!!"
This time the scream was impossible not to hear, for the first time Twilight had used the real voice of Canterlot, Luna would have been proud of her.
Immediately the music stopped with a screeching sound.
Pinkie Pie was frozen in mid-air with her wide eyes focused on Twilight.
Twilight gave a broken smile and spoke through gritted teeth.
"Please Pinkie Pie, could you put all this away? I would be very grateful to you."
Her tone had lowered but it was clear she was holding back.
Pinkie Pie put her paws on the ground one at a time.
"Oopsie." she exclaimed, placing a hoof in front of her mouth and blushing slightly
"I got carried away with enthusiasm, I'll fix everything."
And then in the blink of an eye everything was back to how it was before: the cake was gone, the confetti swept away and the party hats dissolved into thin air.
After that Pinkie Pie sat back down as if nothing had happened.
Twilight took another deep breath before she could speak again.
"I wanted to warn you that Empress Tempest is not the kind of person you will normally meet."
"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Tempest comes from a very different environment than ours, so she didn't grow up with the ideals of peace and harmony that we are used to here in Equestria."
"So we should expect her to be like... super violent or something?" Applejack raised an eyebrow in confusion at what Twilight was saying.
"No, that's not what I meant." Again the purple alicorn was having trouble saying the right words.
She didn't even know how to behave when Tempest was around, what should she have said to her friends about her?!
So she said the only thing that came to her mind.
"Just.....don't ask questions about her appearance." It was the only thing she was sure she could say.
She didn't know if Tempest would be offended but good manners dictated ignoring someone's impairments.
The other five didn't have time to ask more questions before the doors of the room opened.
Princess Luna appeared in the room together with Cadence and then Princess Celestia entered who was walking alongside another mare, also very tall.
Twilight's friends gasped as they saw the imposing figure of what they assumed was the empress. As always, her appearance showed no signs of being a friendly person, far from it.
The mane six tried in every way not to stare at her too openly but it was difficult for them. Her eyes moved between her black armor, her broken horn, and her completely unnatural eyes.
When she walked, her armored hooves made loud metallic thuds, slightly muffled by the thick rubber soles.
The princesses sat next to each other, so on one side there were Twilight and her friends while on the other the alicorns.
As usual, Celestia opened the conversation with a calm and kind voice.
"Welcome, it's a pleasure to have you here with us. We were anxiously awaiting your arrival to finalize the preparations for the summer sun celebration, we are sure we made the right choice in entrusting this task to you. "
However, none of the five or Spike responded. Their attention was fixed on the stranger sitting next to Celestia.
Twilight patted the shoulder of the one closest to her who turned out to be Applejack.
"Oh right, the pleasure is all ours." Applejack responded quickly as if she had barely heard what Princess Celestia had said.
"Great, so now we can move on to what to do."
Celestia began to explain everything they still had to do and organize.
As she spoke, the elemental bearers occasionally glanced at the scarred alicorn sitting there with them.
However, they did not know that the empress was also doing the same thing to them.
Obviously it was much less obvious as she was expert at acting without being noticed.
Tempest looked at the five mares sitting in front of her one by one.
They were the famous bearers of the elements of harmony and from what Celestia had explained to her, each of them embodied an element necessary for friendship to exist.
She began analyzing the one furthest to the left and then moved to the right.
Next to Luna there was a pegasus with yellow fur and pink mane, his colors were soft just like her character. Everything about her gave signs of being a shy, indecisive and very insecure person, her posture was slightly curved and her head tilted to the side so that one eye was covered by the bangs that fell over her muzzle.
Fluttershy: the embodiment of kindness.
There wasn't much else she could say about her, she seemed weak and unable to defend herself, to Tempest it was almost unthinkable that she held a piece of a weapon powerful enough to defeat gods.
The empress turned her gaze further to the right.
Sitting with her elbows resting on the table and her head supported by her paws was Rainbow Dash, she had a bored expression and seemed to want to fly away at any moment.
She recognized her immediately as she was the one who caught her attention the most when Celestia described her.
It wasn't every day that you saw a pegasus with a rainbow mane that could fly so fast it broke the sound barrier.
They had told her that she was a hothead, ready to defend in any way what she cared about, she was not for nothing the embodiment of loyalty, something that Tempest greatly appreciated.
However, she was also described as terribly self-centered, bold and presumptuous, contemptuous of danger and incapable of understanding when to stop. She was often seen lazing around when she was supposed to be working but was always pardoned as she managed to complete her tasks in record time.
Tempest immediately understood that that behavior was only partly what she really was, most likely she was desperately trying to demonstrate that she lived up to expectations, expectations that had probably been imposed on her or that she had set herself.
This was not very good, a good soldier and leader had to put aside his pride and think of the good of others, especially for someone who was supposed to be the embodiment of loyalty.
Further to the right was a white unicorn.
As soon as she saw her she had to keep from making a face of contempt.
Her perky hairstyle and immaculate fur were clues to what kind of person she was: arrogant, vain, frivolous, superficial, snobbish, eccentric, exhibitionist...
Tempest could have gone on forever but the concept was clear.
Rarity represents much of what she hated: haughty unicorns.
The scarred alicorn knew that her judgment was not impartial, multiple interactions with people of that kind had forever made it impossible for her to see them as anything other than parasites.
Element of generosity.
Tempest hoped that underneath all that makeup, perfect hair and shiny fur there was someone completely different who truly reflected the element she was supposed to embody, otherwise Tempest could have been the princess of love instead of Cadence.
"AHHHCHOO!" Cadence sneezed loudly. "Sorry." and then she proceeded to blow her nose with a handkerchief that Pinkie Pie had conjured up out of nowhere.
Celestia spoke again while Tempest continued his analysis of her.
Indeed, the next to fall under her watchful gaze was the party pony.
For some reason Tempest had difficulty forming an opinion about her.
The pink mare seemed like a concentration of unstoppable energy, she kept moving on the chair, her gaze was never still and she was constantly smiling even if there was no reason to.
Tempest moved on to the next pony.
A peasant, it was clear that she was a peasant.
Some clues were the large Stetson she wore on her head, her hair was tied in a single braid so it wouldn't get in the way too much when she worked.
Her body was quite muscular due to the heavy and tiring work, the fur on the neck and withers was ruined due to rubbing with the yoke to pull the plow.
Her hooves were also worn out from constantly pulling and pushing weights.
Of all of them, she was the least noticeable, even less than Fluttershy.
She seemed like a very normal person, she was mild and balanced, there was almost nothing noteworthy apart from the hat that she also wore indoors.
Finally she saw that there was also someone else that she hadn't even noticed before.
Sitting between the orange pony and the purple alicorn was a small dragon.
It wasn't the first time Tempest had seen a dragon, but the one in front of her was the smallest she had ever seen, plus the little dragon's eyes were constantly focused on her, as if he was looking for something.
The little guy didn't move, he remained completely still and immobile as if he were petrified with his eyes wide open.
"That's all, I hope you have fun while Tempest helps you with your tasks."
Tempest was pulled out of the staring game as soon as Celestia said her name.
She looked at her girlfriend with a grimace as if to say "What the hell are you thinking!?".
"What is it Tempest? In this way you will be able to make friends with the bearers of the elements of harmony, aren't you happy?."
She responded by smirking playfully.
Tempest couldn't help but sigh in resignation, she wanted to spend all her time with her beloved.
Damn Celestia!
> CHAPTER 2 part 4 : I WAS FLYING TOO
The group of friends and Spike were sitting around a table in a luxury pastry shop a few dozen meters from the castle.
It was Rarity who chose that place since she was the one who knew every nook and cranny of the capital, even more than Twilight who had grown up in Canterlot but had always stayed at her house or inside the castle.
The place was very chic and expensive but it wasn't a problem since their stay in Canterlot was entirely paid for by the crown. Obviously Rarity was more than happy about it but the others didn't really care.
"So....what did she look like to you?" Twilight asked.
"A little creepy."
Rarity was the first to respond, she had no qualms about speaking out when she didn't like something, even if it was people.
"She looked like a super villain like the ones in the comics Spike reads, you couldn't miss the scar over her eye and the broken horn!"
Rainbow Dash was far from fazed by their encounter, and it showed in the fact that she seemed a little excited like when she first met Daring Do.
"I'm not saying she's a bad person but I will admit she's a little scary." Fluttershy's low voice was hard to hear over the buzz of the city around them but no one expected her to say otherwise.
"I won't say for now, I don't know her well enough to be able to say what she's like." AJ commented in a neutral tone
Finally the group of friends looked at Spike, the little guy still had a somewhat vacant look as if he was deeply immersed in some sort of prophetic vision.
"And what do you think?" Twilight asked and gave him a light shake with her paw.
Spike came out of his trance with a slight jerk, blinked a couple of times and straightened his back. Finally he looked around as if he didn't realize where he was at that moment.
"Are you okay Spike? You look a little lost." Applejack said in her usual southern accent
"Oh yeah, I'm fine, did you ask me something?" he replied scratching the back of his neck and making an embarrassed expression.
"Yeah, we wanted to know what you thought about Tempest." Twilight repeated..
The little dragon's eyes were fixed as he thought back to the brief interaction he had with the empress.
"I don't know how to say this. At first she seemed pretty normal but then she started looking at me and then I felt a strange sensation spread through my entire body."
Spike shrank back slightly in his chair, shivering.
"It was like I felt hot and cold at the same time, like when you're in free fall and your muscles tense up as you feel the effect of gravity on your body. Plus, her gaze was very intimidating. It's the first time I've felt anything like that."
The six mares listened intently to Spike's words as if they were gathered around a fire at night listening to a horror story.
"I said it was creepy but not this bad," Rarity said.
"Is Spike the only one who reacted like this?" Applejack asked.
The others looked at each other but shook their heads.
"Maybe it's because Tempest is part dragon," Twilight said, putting a hoof under her chin.
"Wait a minute! Did you say dragon?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in disbelief as she flew inches from Twilight's face.
"Oh, didn't I tell you? Tempest is part dragon because one of her ancestors was one."
"Is that why she has those creepy eyes and teeth?"
Spike glared at the white unicorn.
"No offense, Spike," she added with an embarrassed smile.
"Most likely, plus from what I know she has other draconic features. I really wish I could do some research on her, maybe some experiments."
Twilight was already starting to daydream about all the things there was to know about the scarred alicorn.
Before she could get completely lost, Rainbow Dash threw a glass of water at her.
"SPLASHHH!"
"HEY! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!"
"You were going into "fanatic scientist" mode, we had to stop you," the cyan pegasus explained while the others looked at her in agreement.
Twilight wrung out her damp mane and sighed. "Is there anything else you want to ask about Tempest?"
"Why don't you ask me directly?"
The six friends and the dragon turned to the source of the voice.
Behind Twilight was the imposing figure of Empress Tempest Shadow who was watching with a cold and apathetic gaze.
Immediately the Mane Six stiffened, the scarred alicorn was truly intimidating. The most impressive thing was that they hadn't heard her coming even though she had armored hooves on that made a lot of noise when she walked.
"Empress Tempest! We've been expecting you." Twilight smiled, obviously fake.
For some stupid reason, the princess of friendship felt like she had to mediate between her friends and the scarred alicorn.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, I had to discuss some last things with Princess Celestia."
Tempest took a chair that was nearby.
The girls gasped as sparks flew from the broken horn and the chair blackened where Tempest's magical grip had gripped it.
The scarred alicorn sat down between Twilight and Spike, causing the little dragon to react strangely. It looked as if he was afraid to move a muscle.
"So, what are you guys going to do?"
The only response she got was silence and looks as if she had grown another head.
Tempest rolled her eyes, feeling like she was dealing with scared mice.
The best way to deal with these situations was to try to make yourself friendly in the eyes of others.
"I haven't actually introduced myself yet, I'm Empress Tempest Shadow but you can just call me Tempest."
That should have been enough to break the tension.
Soon the girls began to look away and then speak.
"Nice to meet you."
"Welcome to the group."
As expected the six mares began to unfreeze and offer their greetings and then introduced themselves. Not that it was necessary since she had already memorized their identities. However they were still stiff as if they were afraid of doing something wrong.
Tempest turned her gaze back to Twilight.
"I think we can begin."
"Of course." The purple alicorn straightened up to address her friends who still seemed a little tense due to the presence of the scarred alicorn.
"As was said before Applejack and Pinkie Pie will be in charge of the banquet, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash of the entertainment and Rarity of the decorations and clothing while I will take care of the logistics. Who do you want to go with?" She asked Tempest.
Celestia had suggested spending the day with Twilight's friends so they could get to know each other, Tempest had tried to refuse saying that it wasn't necessary since the only thing she cared about was that they were safe and away from those who could exploit their power, for the rest she had no desire at all to become friends with a group of barely legal girls.
However her arguments were useless against her beloved's insistence, no one could say no to Celestia, not even the empress.
Tempest had to restrain herself from grimacing, she had no desire at all to organize a party, even if it was the Summer Sun Celebration.
"I think I'll go with..." She would have certainly tried to avoid the white unicorn at all costs so she chose to go with the ones who caught her attention the most.
"Them." she concluded looking at the two pagasi.
"US?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed trying to confirm that she had chosen those two. .
"Great, then we can begin." Twilight stood up from her chair and so did all the others.
"Good work everyone."
"Wait Twilight! We..." Rainbow Dash didn't have time to say anything else as it was just her, Fluttershy and the damned creepy mare.
The prismatic mare sighed in resignation and headed towards the empress and her friend.
Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Tempest were walking toward the hippodrome.
The cyan pegasus had told her briefly that the large structure was located a few kilometers outside of the city so that there wouldn't be too much noise during big sporting events or the like.
Not a word was said between the three of them, Tempest walking as usual while the other two remained a meter ahead. Not close enough to establish a relationship and not far enough to make it seem like they don't want to be with her.
Rainbow Dash normally didn't consider herself a shy person and even less antisocial, however when she looked at the tall scarred unicorn behind them she felt like she was dealing with Discord, albeit in a different way.
The god of chaos had no qualms about teasing people with his nonsense and talked continuously doing magic tricks to annoy and provoke.
Instead the empress was silent, her apathetic and almost mysterious gaze and the unnatural eyes and sharp teeth gave her an exotic look. Finally how not to mention the imposing height, the long scar over the right eye and the broken horn, all framed by the unusual black armor.
On the other hand, Tempest was also a little surprised by the cyan pegasus' behavior, at that moment she did not appear as described by most, but rather she was silent like her friend. Surely this had to do with her presence.
Usually she would not have cared, she was not one who liked to make conversation but unfortunately Celestia had "ordered" her to make friends with the element bearers, or at least to dispel any possible antipathy or discomfort, just like now.
"So you are the one who performed the Sonic Rainboom?"
Tempest decided to open a discussion.
Rainbow Dash slowed to a stop until the empress was next to her.
"Yes empress, how did you know?" Her voice was a little slower and lower than usual.
"Twilight and Celestia told me about you and I must say I was quite surprised to learn that there was a pegasus in the world capable of such a feat, I offer you my compliments."
Tempest made her move, from what little she knew about the embodiment of loyalty she loved to be complimented and flattered. Like most pegasi she had an inflated pride and ego, Fluttershy was a clear exception. It remained to be seen how she would react to hearing this.
Rainbow Dash stared at her for a second and then smiled proudly and straightened her posture.
"Of course it's surprising, I'm the best aviator in all of Equestria, maybe the entire world," she said, puffing out her chest.
Tempest avoided rolling her eyes at the prismatic mare's brazenness. It's very possible that she could be the best in Equestria but they couldn't know if there was anyone on the entire planet who could surpass her.
"How many times have you managed to perform the sonic rainboom before?"
"Three. The first was when I was still a filly at flight school, the second during the competition for the best young aviator, and finally at Princess Cadence's wedding."
"Interesting, that must be a very difficult feat if you've only managed to do it three times."
Tempest would continue to feed Rainbow Dash's ego for a while in order to establish a friendly relationship.
As they talked she couldn't help but notice something familiar in the cyan pegasus, she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was, maybe her appearance? Her movements?
For now she decided to leave it at that, maybe she would find out something in the future.
"What's it like being an empress?"
Now that some of the tension between the two had disappeared, Rainbow Dash felt free to ask a few questions.
Fluttershy was still close to her, silent but already seemed less scared and smiled every now and then as she saw her friend happy to receive praise.
"Not as great as it might seem, every day I'm stuck arguing for hours about bureaucracy and politics, other days I have to travel from one point to another of the empire just to attend some events."
Tempest sighed as she thought about how boring her life had become since she ascended to the throne. It's not that she hated that role, and she could always talk to her trusted friends, but as the years went by, their relationship became more professional, leaving little room for lighter and more fun discussions. One positive note from all this was that she was able to meet Celestia and fall in love with the most gorgeous mare she could ever wish for.
"You don't seem very enthusiastic, would you like to do something else?" Rainbow Dash wasn't attracted to the idea of politics either, she much preferred being part of the Wonderbolts, and one day she would succeed.
"I would have preferred to continue exploring the world but now I can't, I'm needed in the empire. If I could, I would go back to being a commander. Much more action and less responsibility."
"You were a commander?! Like those who command soldiers?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed in amazement.
"Yes, I was in command of a small unit, our job was to carry out low-profile missions such as infiltration, espionage, theft and sabotage."
"Wow! That must have been amazing! Tell me more!" the prismatic mare begged eager to hear wonderful stories full of adventure and action.
Tempest was happy to oblige.
Thus they spent the journey to the hippodrome: Tempest telling of his adventures while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy listened attentively.
"Luna, why were you so rude to Tempest yesterday?"
At that moment the two reigning princesses were in the throne room attending some audiences but apparently Celestia decided that it was the right time to start questioning her sister. There was no risk that anyone other than the guards could hear since no one was allowed in unless explicitly invited.
"I don't understand what you mean, sister." Luna played dumb while keeping her gaze far away.
"You know what I mean, answer." Celestia had put on her big sister's voice, Luna had no escape.
The blue alicorn let out a frustrated growl and then turned to her sister.
"I don't trust her."
Celestia raised a brow in confusion, she knew Tempest didn't look very friendly but she was sure her sister was mature enough to know that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover.
Luna rolled her eyes before she began to explain.
"We both know you're really bad at all the lovers you've had."
Celestia made an offended expression "That's not true."
"That's true, don't you remember Discord?!"
"I was in my rebellious phase, you can't blame me for being a kid." Celestia defended herself.
"Oh yeah?! And what about Sombra? You were already over a thousand years old."
"When I first met him, he wasn't evil."
"He literally had an underground lab where he turned ponies into crystal!" Luna exclaimed, raising her paws.
"He told me he was looking for a cure for cancer, and those ponies were already dead."
Luna raised an eyebrow and looked stoic.
"Chrysalis?"
"You have a point about that."
"But that doesn't mean I'm only attracted to bad people! I've had plenty of other partners, and no one else has become an evil bringer of destruction."
That was right, that was a great point in her favor, maybe she could win the argument, the sun goddess thought excitedly.
"The other people you've been with weren't gods, shapeshifting queens, or extremely powerful unicorns, or even alicorns."
Her younger sister replied, emphasizing the last word.
Celestia shrank slightly from her throne as if she'd been slapped on the paw.
A few more seconds of awkward silence passed until Luna asked another question.
"Why did you fall in love with her?"
Celestia was silent, her eyes fixed on nothing in particular
What did she appreciate about Tempest?
"I think Tempest is who I was probably always meant to be." Celestia didn't even look away as she rested her head on one paw that was resting on the armrest.
Luna was surprised by her sister's response.
"What do you mean?" she asked, puzzled and with a hint of concern.
Finally Celestia looked up so she could look her in the eye.
"Do you know how old Tempest is?"
Luna shook her head.
"Thirty."
Celestia laughed bitterly as her sister's mouth fell open. She would have guessed that she was at least a few centuries old, at the very least.
"You are right to be surprised, little sister. It really seems impossible, and yet it is so."
"She is indeed very young, but what does this have to do with your initial statement?"
Celestia was silent again for a moment and then answered.
"Tempest has faced insurmountable odds and yet she has emerged victorious. She is wise, cunning, pragmatic and has even managed to become empress. However, she has never allowed herself to be corrupted by the hunger for power."
Celestia gave another bitter smile.
"I, on the other hand, have taken millennia to become what I am today, along my path I have made countless mistakes, I have hurt and disappointed millions of people and as if that were not enough I have betrayed your trust."
A small tear appeared in the eyes of the sun goddess who had a bad habit of falling back into old memories.
A hoof reached out to her paw, she looked up and saw her sister who gave her a brief hug of comfort.
"Sister, you have to stop tormenting yourself over things from the past." As usual the blue alicorn always knew what to say to reassure her. But a part of her couldn't help but imagine the day when Luna would throw in her face all the mistakes and evil she had done, and yet it never happened.
Rainbow Dash had been practicing her flight for a couple of hours now.
Tempest was below her, watching and exchanging a few words with Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash was quite irritated. In all that time she hadn't managed to do a sonic rainboom even once, every time she was about to break the sound barrier she was suddenly thrown back a few hundred meters in the opposite direction. It was really frustrating.
She occasionally glanced at Fluttershy and the empress, the latter often staring at her. Normally she wouldn't have paid any attention to it since she was used to being under the gaze of those who loved to see the cyan pegasus' skills.
However, Tempest didn't seem fascinated by Rainbow Dash's remarkable acrobatics, quite the opposite.
Her face was almost unreadable, serious and stoic. She changed expression by raising an eyebrow and moving an ear as if she was annoyed by what she saw.
It reminded her of Captain Spitfire when she was at the Wonderbolts' flight academy.
It was true, Tempest wasn't just seeing but also observing carefully, analyzing the movements and making a judgment.
Rainbow Dash was quite annoyed by this.
How dare she?!
Flight has always been the preserve of flying creatures like pegasi and griffins. Rainbow Dash had been flying since before she could walk or talk, she trained tirelessly every day to reach her goal of Wonderbolts and was also the only living pegasus capable of performing the legendary sonic rainboom.
Yet a unicorn, even with a broken horn, allowed herself to judge her flying skills.
Rainbow Dash would have swooped down to tell her off but instead she held back.
She was a carrier of the elements of harmony now, she couldn't behave like that.
She took a deep breath and slowly calmed down making it easier for her to think rationally.
Maybe she had seen wrong or Tempest really did have a good reason to criticize.
Rainbow Dash quickly descended in altitude until she landed near the other two.
"Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked in a low voice, she always worried about her best friend.
"It's okay, I just came down to get some rest."
That wasn't entirely true since she could have flown for hours more if she wanted to.
"I see, so I'll take this opportunity to tell you that I'm going to the nearby forest to look for some birds that want to join the musical concert."
"Of course Shy, I'll see you later."
The yellow pegasus nodded and trotted off into the forest leaving Tempest and Rainbow Dash alone.
"You didn't land to rest."
Rainbow Dash turned to the empress with a raised eyebrow.
"How do you know that?"
"I deduced that." Tempest gave the prismatic mare a glare. "You are a highly trained pegasus, you don't even have a drop of sweat on you and you're already breathing normally again. I'm sure this is nothing compared to what you usually do."
Rainbow Dash grimaced knowing she had been caught so easily in a lie.
"You're right, I wanted to ask if you had something to give me, you were staring at me like I was doing something wrong." she frowned, her irritation showing.
"Why do you fly with your feet in front of you?"
"I don't understand what's wrong with that, at the flight academy they always told us to keep our hooves in front of us." the cyan pegasus explained shortly.
"I see." Tempest sighed as if she were dealing with a child who had to explain everything to her, Rainbow Dash wasn't happy about it.
Tempest began to explain.
"They probably told you at the academy to keep your hooves in front of you so you can be more precise when flying, it may be fine when you fly normally but becomes useless when you reach supersonic speeds."
Rainbow Dash remained silent with her head slightly tilted and a puzzled expression.
"Our hooves have a flat surface, which means that the more you increase your speed, the more friction with the hooves will prevent you from going fast."
Rainbow Dash straightened her neck.
"So you're telling me that I should keep my paws close to my torso?" she asked for confirmation.
"Exactly," Tempest concluded, nodding.
Rainbow Dash thought for a moment, would this really work?
She hadn't expected advice like this from a unicorn, how did she know? Was she trustworthy?
No one had told her to do something like this before, not even Spitfire.
It wouldn't hurt to try, she had nothing to lose by doing so.
Rainbow Dash was ready to take flight again but she saw that the scarred unicorn still had something to say.
"Is there anything else you want to advise me?"
Tempest didn't waste a second and began to say a burst of words to her.
"When you flap your wings you don't get the full thrust they could give you, make larger movements. Fly higher so you get more potential energy, that way you can use more of the force of gravity and you'll have more time to break the sound barrier."
For a moment it seemed like she was done speaking but she added one last thing.
"You have a bad habit of stopping flapping your wings as soon as you see that you're about to be pushed back so you can reposition yourself quickly. You have to keep pushing forward until you break the sound barrier."
Rainbow Dash remained with her mouth slightly open, at that moment it seemed to her that she was dealing with Twilight even though Tempest's voice was anything but neurotic.
"Okay, I'll go."
As soon as she was far enough away she looked up at the sky. She had been practicing for over ten years and yet a unicorn dared to come and tell her what to do, ridiculous.
Rainbow Dash reached a much higher altitude than she was used to, the air was very thin making it difficult to breathe and stay in flight.
The cyan pegasus took a deep breath and then dove downwards.
The wind was making a deafening noise, her ears were pushed back and her mane and tail were flapping wildly, leaving a rainbow trail behind her.
She had to keep her eyelids closed so that she could see but at the same time protect her eyes from the strong wind.
As Tempest had told her, she kept her front legs close to her torso and flapped her wings, making larger and more powerful movements.
Soon the Mach cone was formed.
It was becoming really difficult and tiring to maintain speed, it still took one last effort.
Unfortunately, most of the time it was at this point that she failed.
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings as much as she could, the friction with the air was so strong that she had to close her eyes to avoid being blinded.
There were only a few hundred meters left before she hit the ground, she had to do it right there and now or she would have to slow down.
At that moment she realized that Tempest was right, her wings were retracting as if she was preparing in advance for a backlash.
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth and started flapping her wings as hard as she could.
She was almost at the limit of her abilities until she finally broke the sound barrier.
"BOOOOMMMMM!!!!"
A deafening explosion erupted from the sky and with it a riot of colors in the shape of a ring expanded in every direction while a rainbow trail moved away from the epicenter of the wonderful feat.
There is no doubt about it, it was truly a spectacle.
Tempest watched for a few minutes until Rainbow Dash landed next to her again, this time out of breath and with sagging wings. She was sweaty and hot from the great effort but she was also extremely elated.
She had managed to do a sonic rainboom again, and without even missing entire days of training.
"I did it! Did you see?" she exclaimed, her words slurred because she had to catch her breath between words.
"Truly wonderful, I congratulate you."
Rainbow Dash smiled as she saw that the empress' words were genuine, all the antipathy she had felt before disappeared, replaced by a sense of gratitude and perhaps even admiration.
In all those years, no one had given her such useful yet simple advice, perhaps it was due to the fact that she had always trained alone but she was still infinitely grateful for it.
Tempest was still looking at the sky where the sonic rainboom was expanding quickly towards the horizon.
She was sitting, her head turned upwards and she had a rather peculiar look. She didn't show any open feelings but you could see a hint of sadness and nostalgia.
Rainbow Dash slowly approached and then sat down next to the empress.
Now that the distance between them was so short she really realized how much difference in height there was between the two of them.
The cyan pegasus' head barely reached the empress' shoulder.
"How did you know?"
Tempest kept her gaze up and spoke in a calm voice.
"There was a time when I too flew in the clouds."
She flew?!
"What do you mean?!" the cyan pegasus asked.
Tempest was silent for a few seconds and then resumed her usual stoic and impassive facade.
"It's not important. We should get back to the city, it won't do you any good to train yourself to exhaustion."
People commonly thought of Rainbow Dash as a bit of a dull pony, but that wasn't the case. She immediately understood that the empress was purposely changing the subject.
If she were dealing with a normal person she would have tried to insist on getting the truth, but the mare in front of her was anything but normal.
"Do you want to continue training?" Tempest broke the contemplative silence and then looked at Rainbow Dash.
"Nahhh, I've done enough for today, besides my wings are too tired and if I train too much I risk not being able to fly for the big event."
Tempest stood up and then turned to face Canterlot, she could see it in the distance on the mountainside.
"You said you're tired of flying, how about we race to see who gets to the city first?"
"Is this a challenge?! Then get ready and eat my dust." Rainbow Dash responded in kind, getting into a poised position ready to pounce.
"What about Fluttershy?" Tempest looked in the direction where the yellow pegasus had disappeared.
"No need to worry, she'll probably spend the next few hours teaching the birds how to sing in chorus, she'd rather not be disturbed. She'll go back to the city on her own."
Rainbow Dash's voice was confident and brash as if it had happened many times before.
"Okay, I trust you."
Tempest took a position next to Rainbow Dash. They both took a deep breath.
"GO!" The cyan pegasus shouted.
Both of them start at full speed.
They ran at the same speed even though Rainbow Dash had to move her legs much faster because she was smaller.
On the other hand, Tempest wasn't struggling much and could have even run faster but the point of that wasn't to win. So the scarred alicorn kept up a steady speed so as to always stay alongside the cyan pegasus.
As they ran, Rainbow Dash kept hearing the sound of Tempest's heavy armored hooves hitting the ground leaving deep hoof prints.
The armor clanked as the black plates rubbed against each other causing a persistent metallic sound.
They had already traveled a few kilometers ahead of them they saw that the path was blocked by a huge tree that had just fallen.
Could it have been caused by the shockwave of the sonic rainboom?
The two were approaching very quickly, so much so that Rainbow Dash began to slow down. She expected Tempest to do the same but instead the empress continued to run.
The prismatic mare wasn't sure what she was trying to do, jumping over was impossible because the tree trunk was too wide and there were multiple branches that they could have impaled themselves on. Even going sideways was difficult because the road was really narrow and there was a thick forest just outside the edges.
Rainbow Dash got an answer when a powerful beam of magical energy shot out from Tempest's broken horn and hit the center of the fallen tree, causing it to explode.
Rainbow Dash was speechless at this, she never expected something like this.
It wasn't the first time she had seen a unicorn shoot beams of magical energy, Twilight and Celestia had done it. However, what the empress had done was on a whole other level.
It didn't look like a clean, linear beam, but rather a devastating lightning bolt with a power never seen before.
the two passed over the remains of the destroyed, smoking tree trunk.
"Wow, that was incredible!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she looked at the empress out of the corner of her eye.
"Thank you, although perhaps we could have solved the problem in a less explosive way."
"That would have been so damn boring!" Rainbow Dash snorted and rolled her eyes.
"I didn't think you could cast spells."
"You're right."
Rainbow Dash looked at her in confusion, so what had just happened?
"Casting spells means using magical energy to perform a spell, the horn is what allows the pure magical energy to be manipulated to our will."
As they ran, Tempest looked up slightly to see her horn, or at least what was left of it.
"Since my horn is broken, the only thing I can do is emit pure magical energy and perform some simple and minor magic like moving objects with telekinesis, obviously I have very little precision compared to a normal unicorn."
Rainbow Dash didn't comment, she appreciated that the empress had taken the time to give her a fairly easy explanation.
She was happy to know that the scarred alicorn could still use her horn, even if only partially.
The two continued to run towards the city of Canterlot that loomed on the horizon.
"Ouch!, be careful with those pins!"
"You have to stay still or I'll keep poking you, why don't you put that scroll away?"
"I can't Rarity, the summer sun celebration is in a few days and I found out that the logistics manager before me didn't do anything, and now I have to fix everything! Spike, pass me the other checklist!"
The little dragon took one of the many scrolls he had been carrying all morning and then passed it to Twilight.
The purple alicorn in return tossed him another scroll, already rolled up and ready to be sent.
"Spike, you have to take that message to the head in charge of raw material deliveries, go immediately please."
Twilight didn't even look up because she knew she could trust her number one assistant.
The little dragon sighed and then walked out of the room.
"Maybe you should relax a bit, let me make you a beautiful dress for the gala evening."
Rarity was moving around the princess of friendship, in her telekinetic grip she had various tools such as a tape measure, a pair of dressmaker's scissors, pins and a roll of white string.
"It's not the time Rarity, we're behind what I expected. Applejack and Pinkie can't start preparing the banquet because the rations of raw materials are late and you have to prepare the clothing not only for the princesses but also for some illustrious guests and I have no idea what Fluttershy is doing."
The only one who had managed to complete some of the tasks was Rainbow Dash who strangely had performed the sonic rainboom in a few hours, the obvious prismatic explosion above the skies of Canterlot was proof of this.
The day of the summer sun celebration would have had to clear every cloud in order to guarantee a perfect view.
"Knock-knock!"
Twilight's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
Since the purple alicorn couldn't move, Rarity went to open the door.
"I'm coming, just a second."
The white unicorn trotted towards the entrance and then opened the door.
"Princess Celestia?!"
Sure enough, in front of her was the sun goddess in all her glory and height, and behind her were a couple of guards who had accompanied her.
Rarity gave a quick bow, dropping everything she had into her magical grip.
"You don't need to bow Rarity, I came to get my dress made but if you're too busy I can come back at a better time."
"No need, Princess Twilight is here too, come in."
Rarity stood up, quickly picked up everything that had fallen and stepped aside to let her highness pass.
Celestia signaled the guards to wait outside and then entered, ducking her head a bit to avoid touching the doorframe with her horn.
"Princess Celestia, has something happened?"
The white alicorn's attention was drawn to the voice of her student, she smiled when she saw her standing with a stiff posture in what appeared to be an early version of a dress.
"My faithful student, how are you doing?" she asked kindly, in fact already knowing what answer to expect given the pile of scrolls a few meters away.
"Not good Princess Celestia, we're behind on things to do."
The purple alicorn spent the next few minutes complaining and explaining what was wrong while Rarity buzzed around her working on the dress and making some comments in the process.
"I get it, but I think you're worrying too much, things will work out."
Twilight pouted, almost dissatisfied.
"You and your friends have been through much bigger things than this, I'm sure you can fix everything, and even if you don't it won't be a problem, after all it's just a ceremony."
Twilight took a breath and finally calmed down.
"You're right princess, thank you for trusting me."
Meanwhile Rarity had finished taking the last measurements.
"That's it Twilight, I'm done."
Rarity helped her friend out of the incomplete dress and then gently put it on a mannequin.
"Princess Celestia, it's your turn."
The white unicorn voice was more excited than she would have liked, being able to create a dress for royalty was always a unique experience, plus it would be good for her reputation.
Twilight quickly stepped down from the pedestal and quickly moved towards the scrolls left on the floor.
"I'm in a hurry, I'll see you later."
"Of course Twilight."
"See you later, darling."
The princess of friendship grabbed the scrolls with her magic and walked out the door with a brisk pace to continue with her chores.
The two didn't waste a second of time.
Celestia stood in the center of the room so that Rarity could work comfortably.
Meanwhile, the two talked just as you would expect from two females at a time like this.
Rarity loved to talk about things a little frivolous like gossip and "girl things" and Celestia didn't mind, it was a good way to relax from all the solemnity that was in the palace.
"Princess, if it's not too indiscreet, can I ask you a question a little personal?"
"Of course Rarity, you know that between us there is no need for too many formalities"
Rarity looked around as if she was making sure there were no unwanted listeners.
"Is it true that you and Empress Tempest are in a relationship?" she asked almost whispering.
Celestia was a little surprised by the question, she didn't expect someone to know already.
"That's right, Twilight told you"
"Yes, shouldn't she have?"
Rarity felt a bit worried and guilty, maybe she had gotten her friend in trouble, she shouldn't have asked something so private.
"It's no problem."
Rarity let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding.
"That's really wonderful, I'm happy for you."
Rarity resumed her work, pacing from one side of the room to the other.
"Thank you so much, I'm really happy to be with Tempest too, it's been a long time since I've seen someone like her."
Celestia's voice was relaxed and almost dreamy, Rarity was really touched to see the princess in a new, more romantic light for the first time.
"What kind of person is the empress?"
Rarity really wanted to know. From what little she had seen, the scarred mare seemed apathetic, cold and unfriendly, maybe she was wrong.
"Tempest is unlike anything you would ever find in Equestria, she is very pragmatic and not inclined to things she considers frivolous and useless, most of the time she behaves in a professional manner and does not show any emotion. But I can't blame her, she too is a sovereign like me and must maintain a certain bearing in the eyes of others."
"I don't want to be rude, your highness, but from what you've told me she seems like an apathetic person."
"You are right, however if you get to know her better you will discover that she can be very caring towards those around her and fiercely defends everything she cares about. She also has a strong sense of justice and can adapt to almost any situation."
"That's really interesting, I have to admit that when I first saw her I was a little prejudiced but if you fell in love with her then there's a good reason."
"A lot of people do that but Tempest is fine with that."
The two continued to chat, it took longer since the princess's body was bigger than any client she had ever had.
"Are you planning on getting married in the future?" Rarity asked nonchalantly as she put in a few pins, it was easy for her since the princess had the skill and experience to stay perfectly still.
Celestia blushed a little, and it was even more obvious thanks to her white fur.
"I hadn't thought about it yet. But now that you mention it, I think I wouldn't mind, plus it would be a huge political advantage for both the Empire and Equestria."
Celestia imagined herself wearing a wedding dress as she walked towards the altar where her beloved was waiting for her and Luna was the master of ceremonies.
What would Tempest wear?
She couldn't imagine her in a long white dress, she would probably be wearing armor even then. Maybe white armor?
"I bet it would be a wedding to remember princess, and I would be more than honored to be the one to sew the dresses for you."
Rarity continued to work on the dress until she was interrupted again by a knock on the door.
"Hold on!" Rarity said loudly, singing as she often did.
When she opened the door she found a tall equine figure standing before her, again.
"Empress Tempest?!"
Rarity immediately bowed, dropping her tools to the floor again.
"Is Princess Celestia here?" she asked without even looking down. Her gaze was already turned toward the inside of the room.
Rarity quickly stepped aside.
"Yes, she is here. Come in."
Tempest thanked her and entered, bowing her head slightly.
"Tempest, what's going on?"
The empress smiled as she saw her beloved in the center of the room, standing still in an experimental version of a dress.
"No big deal, I just wanted to tell you that there's a tree blocking the path to the racecourse, or at least what's left of it." The last part was softer.
"I see, thanks for telling me, I'll have it cleared as soon as I can."
Tempest's eyes were fixed on her.
"Is there anything else?"
"No, it's just that this is the first time I've seen you in a dress, you look fine."
Tempest was interrupted when the white unicorn walked between her and Celestia, handling some fabric.
"It's not complete yet, but I'm sure Princess Celestia will be fine."
"All credit to you Rarity."
Tempest was surprised to see that the white unicorn was acting normal in her presence, she deduced that Celestia had probably told her about her.
She glared at her beloved who responded with a guilty smile.
So that was indeed the case.
"AHHHHHHHH! You really need a beauty treatment!"
The two alicorns were surprised by Rarity's dramatic scream.
The white unicorn had managed to get closer than she should have to the empress and had noticed something that made her feel sick.
The empress' fur was rough and frayed, her mane had many split ends and knots, her hooves under the armored shoes were chipped.
"Empress Tempest, you must get yourself fixed up before the Summer Sun Celebration."
The white unicorn had abandoned her previous job to buzz around the scarred unicorn, occasionally running a hoof over the exposed fur or grabbing stray locks of mane.
All without Tempest's permission.
The empress stepped back from Rarity's harassment, "I appreciate your concern but it's not something I care about." She said diplomatically.
"I insist! You cannot present yourselves like this to Equestria's high society, you need to make yourselves presentable."
Tempest was starting to feel irritated, she was about to tell her that she didn't give a shit what the filthy pretentious nobles like her would think but she held back for Celestia's sake, it would be unbecoming to antagonize her fiancee's friend, and one of the girls she was supposed to protect.
"Tempest, why don't you try to please Rarity? It wouldn't hurt, and I'm sure it would make you much more attractive."
As if that weren't enough, her beloved was also involved, doing everything she could to drive her crazy.
"Celestia, you know I don't care about these things, and I don't need anyone else's attention but you."
"What if I did it with you?"
Celestia made those puppy eyes that she knew the empress couldn't resist.
Damn, she always managed to manipulate her.
Tempest sighed in resignation.
"Okay." The statement was completely devoid of any conviction.
"Perfect! First I have to finish fixing Princess Celestia's dress and then we can go to the spa to get ourselves fixed up." Rarity said excitedly.
"Are you sure you can waste all this time? Don't you have any other dresses to prepare?"
Tempest tried to back away.
"Yes, but I am a really fast seamstress, and beauty waits for no one."
Rarity made a dramatic and exaggerated gesture by arching her back and placing a paw on her forehead with her eyes closed.
Tempest and Celestia said nothing as the white unicorn quickly finished putting in the last few pins.
"There you go, we can go."
Rarity placed the prototype dress on another bare mannequin next to the one holding Twilight's dress.
"Let's go." Rarity happily trotted out of the room as the other two followed her.
"Why did you insist? You know I don't like this kind of thing." Tempest commented, keeping far enough away that the white unicorn couldn't hear her.
Celestia came over and ran her nose lovingly along Tempest's neck.
"Oh don't be a grump, it'll be a pleasant experience, and it'll be the two of us."
"Us and her." she added, nodding toward the enthusiastic mare walking a few feet ahead.
"There's no better way to make friends than at a spa."
Tempest had something to say but she didn't have the strength to oppose her beloved, not when she looked so happy.
The trio walked another few dozen meters since the spa was very close to the building that Rarity had borrowed to set up her clothes.
In fact, they were currently in what was called the fashion district, an area of Canterlot where there was a high concentration of beauty salons, boutiques, spas, hairdressers and tailors.
It was the apotheosis of everything that Tempest would have preferred to avoid.
As usual, the streets were invaded by snobbish unicorns perfectly coiffed and well-groomed, wearing sumptuous and cumbersome clothes.
Of course, the two of them stuck out like a sore toe. It was impossible not to notice the sun goddess walking next to the scarred unicorn in armor.
They finally arrived at their destination, they entered leaving the guards outside and there were two mares to welcome them. A pegasus and an earth pony
Rarity came forward to explain the reason for their arrival, the two beauticians listened attentively while casting a few glances at the two alicorns waiting a few steps behind.
"Then we can begin, first of all a relaxing hot bath." The pegasus pointed to the large pool placed in a corner of the room, at least six ponies could fit in it, more than enough for the three of them.
Rarity was already heading towards the tub with Celestia and Tempest following, the latter seemed even less enthusiastic than before.
"I can't wait to take a nice relaxing bath, it's been a long time since I've had one. Plus, they're better equipped than Ponyville, they even have a hot tub!"
Rarity would have jumped into the water right away but first they would have to give themselves a quick wash. In fact, there was a small shower nearby with a jar of soap.
Rarity quickly soaped herself up and then rinsed herself off, Celestia did the same.
Finally the empress remained, the other two were waiting for her.
The element of generosity looked at her as if to say "What are you waiting for?" while Celestia was understanding, she knew she didn't like being seen without anything on.
Her beloved came closer to whisper in her ear.
"Don't worry Tempest, I'm here, I'm sure the others will know how to be discreet too."
"I'm not afraid!" She exclaimed through gritted teeth, her voice annoyed. She wasn't sure she could trust him, it was well known that those who worked in places like that tended to talk a lot, especially mares.
There was no need to fuel the rumors about her even more, surely the two unicorns they had dealt with the day before had already spread uncomfortable news about her.
As if that wasn't enough, Rarity came over and took a look at the empress's armor.
"Don't worry, dear, I'll help you."
"Maybe you should leave it to me." Celestia tried in vain to dissuade Rarity but unfortunately she had already grabbed the right pauldron.
Tempest took a step back but it was no use.
The obsidian plate came unhooked from Tempest's black suit and since Rarity wasn't well prepared it fell to the ground with a loud crash creating a crack in the granite floor.
The white unicorn gasped, Celestia gritted her teeth and pulled back slightly as if she felt the pain that the now fractured floor felt. The empress sighed as if to say "I told you so." even though she hadn't said anything.
In the meantime, the beauticians had rushed to see what had caused the great racket and they too were gasping at the mess.
"What happened?!" One exclaimed as her gaze quickly swiped between the empress, the black thing on the floor, and the white unicorn.
"I didn't expect it to be that heavy! It shouldn't be that heavy!" Rarity tried to justify herself even though she had a guilty expression.
"It's okay Rarity, don't worry." Celestia grabbed the obsidian plate with her magic and lifted it as if nothing had happened.
"That was a mistake, next time just make sure you ask before touching something you don't know." The princess's voice was always gentle and unruffled.
Celestia gently placed her pauldron against the wall and then turned to the owners of the place.
"Of course the repairs will be paid by the crown, I apologize for the inconvenience."
Rarity came out of her shock hearing this.
"Absolutely not! It was my fault so it's only right that I pay for the damages."
Unlike what Tempest expected, the unicorn didn't waste a second and immediately set out to fix the problem.
"There's no need Rarity, for the crown something like this is a trifle."
Rarity realized that there was no way to change the princess's mind, and she was right, for the white unicorn such damage would not be cheap.
"Thank you so much princess, I will find a way to repay you." she said with an exaggerated bow.
"Come now, you and your friends have already saved Equestria multiple times, consider the debt paid."
The white unicorn thanked her again. Then she looked down at the ground where the black plate was embedded in the floor.
"Rather, what the hell is that armor made of!? Why are they so heavy?"
"I will let Tempest answer you, in the meantime I will help her take off the rest of the armor."
Tempest would have preferred to disagree, she was able to take off the plates and the suit by herself, however it was handy to have someone to assist her.
"The plates are made of obsidian but their weight is due to the fact that they are imbued with a strengthening magic that makes them incredibly stronger but at the same time much heavier."
"Shouldn't you use steel armor like the ones the horse guards wear?"
Tempest expected a pony whose trademark was diamonds to know more about minerals, gems, and other materials. But then again, she was a stylist, not a weaponsmith.
"Obsidian is a type of glass that absorbs enchantments well and holds them persistently, while iron is a terrible magical material.
A plate of enchanted obsidian can withstand even the most extreme stresses possible where steel would bend or be punctured."
Tempest gave the quickest and simplest explanation possible.
In the meantime, Celestia had finished removing almost all the plates, after which she would be left with only the suit on.
"How do you carry all this weight?! That plate must be at least three kilos."
"Five to be exact, I just got used to it over the years. At first I wore normal armor but I realized that sometimes it wasn't enough."
The scar on her chest proved it and that would soon be revealed, along with all the others.
Rarity couldn't help but be astonished. Mentally she made a rough calculation and realized that the empress was wearing at least eighty kilos of armor.
However, she didn't seem awkward in her movements like some royal guards, she had a regal bearing but not stiff, her movements were fluid and precise as if the armor was part of her body.
Her eyes were focused on the princess and her lover.
She carefully began to lower some zippers of the black suit.
The stylist's attentive eye saw that it wasn't just a simple fabric, it seemed as if something intricate was sewn into it, solid but at the same time flexible.
"Is that a steel chainmail?!" Celestia stopped her movements hearing the white unicorn's exclamation.
"As resistant as the plates are, they leave many exposed points, so underneath them I wear this suit with a steel mesh inside, which protects me and at the same time allows me to attach the various plates quickly."
Finally the princess began to slide the suit upwards.
Tempest no longer cared, the discussion had helped ease the tension.
Tempest was finally revealed in her entirety, the empress felt the air on her slightly ruffled coat. The scars came to light as well as the hideous wounds that had healed long ago.
No one said anything, there were only silent looks and a hint of discomfort.
Tempest remained with her eyes fixed on Celestia as she was analyzed by the other three mares.
The scarred alicorn began to think that perhaps she should have refused the proposal to go to the spa from the beginning, she should have been more firm. However, her beloved made her docile and far too compliant, she would have done anything to make her happy. Even conquering the entire world.
"I...I'm sorry, I should have expected that you wouldn't feel comfortable." Rarity bowed her head as soon as she saw what was hidden under the black suit, in fact she should have expected it but again she had no idea who she was facing.
Twilight was right, the empress was different from anyone she had ever dealt with in Equestria.
"If you want we can cancel everything, I don't want to make you uncomfortable." The designer felt guilty, again she had made a mistake and this time she was starting to feel the weight of the fact that she wasn't talking to one of her friends but rather a sovereign from another country with whom Equestria was probably having negotiations.
She had started to become familiar but perhaps she should have kept the distance.
"It's okay, I hate being pitied so the best thing is if we hurry up and put an end to this."
Tempest tried to reassure the stylist but her words weren't as gentle as she would have liked, far from Celestia's trademark gentleness.
"You're right, let's not go on any longer." Rarity's demeanor became more rigid as if she had reached a certain awareness. Or was it awe?
Finally the empress went to the shower to give herself a quick wash and then approached the edge of the small heated pool. The surface was filled with bubbles from the hydromassage and a veil of steam from the temperature of the water.
Slowly she dove in and then the other two did the same.
Luckily the tub was deep enough for Celestia to be able to get in up to her shoulders.
The princess and Rarity let out a sigh of relief and relaxation as they were greeted by the pleasantly warm water and bubbles.
In the meantime one of the maids had approached the edge of the pool and thrown some flowers and what seemed to be herbs into the water, the purpose of which was completely unknown to the empress.
They remained soaking like that, in total silence. Normally on those occasions they would start chatting and gossiping but apparently none of the three felt like it.
Tempest was not appreciating the hot water, she much preferred to take a quick cold shower.
Celestia on the other hand seemed to be relaxing, she had her back leaning against the wall, her head tilted back and her elbows resting on the edge. The long hours of audiences with the various nobles and citizens were really tiring for the mind and this also had repercussions on the body.
Rarity remained brooding, her eyes occasionally falling on the empress and then quickly looking away as if she was afraid of being caught in the act.
She thought about what had happened before and remembered something very important.
In addition to the various scars scattered on the empress's body, she couldn't help but notice a couple on her back positioned behind the withers.
Since she was often commissioned to make clothes for pegasus mares, she knew with absolute certainty that in those places there could have been a pair of wings.
"Princess Celestia?"
The white alicorn twitched an ear to hear what Rarity had to say.
"Are there any other alicorns besides your sister, Cadence, and Twilight?" Rarity asked in a slightly uncertain voice.
"I think so." Celestia answered absentmindedly and then went back to enjoying the hot tub.
Another alicorn?!
She knew that it was possible to become alicorns through very complicated ascension magic but she remembered that it had only happened to Cadence and Twilight.
Rarity's eyes returned to the scarred unicorn.
"I think we've been soaking in here too long." The empress broke the silence, stood up, and slowly climbed out of the small pool to avoid slipping.
"Already?! I could stay in here for the rest of eternity."
Princess Celestia seemed to be really enjoying the hot tub.
"Too much time in the water will hurt you, get out of there." Tempest scolded her in an almost joking voice, to which the white alicorn responded by making a groan of dissent. However, she soon straightened her head, stood up, and walked out like her lover had done.
Rarity was the last to leave.
As expected, all three were soaked from the neck down. Their tails were soaked and hung limply between their hind legs. Except for the princess's, which was moving slightly, as usual.
In no time, the other two mares came over to bring towels so they could dry off before being subjected to the next treatments.
As before, Rarity couldn't help but glance at the two alicorns present.
Now that they were out of the water, she could see more details about the empress's body.
She didn't have any cutie marks, which wasn't so impossible since she had already met a few ponies without a distinctive effigy. Another thing that stood out to the eye was the well-developed physique of the scarred unicorn.
Rarity considered herself straight, but seeing Tempest's graceful, athletic body, she could understand why the princess was attracted to her.
"Come this way, please."
The stylist's thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the earth pegasus calling them.
The two rulers and the element of generosity arrived in another room, on it were two beds with large towels on them.
"Since we only have two massage stations, one of you will have to wait your turn."
Rarity remained in the background. "You first, you need it."
Celestia would have disagreed but admitted that she would have liked a nice relaxing massage.
Celestia lay down on the bed closest to her which fortunately seemed big and sturdy enough for her.
On the other hand Tempest didn't seem very convinced, it's not the first time she was offered a relaxing massage but she had always refused because she was too busy and considered it a useless thing. But now she couldn't escape.
Tempest lay down on the massage bed, she noticed that unlike a normal bed it was narrower so that the legs hung on the sides and instead of a pillow there was a hole to rest the muzzle.
The scarred alicorn didn't feel relaxed at all at that moment. She felt vulnerable especially because she couldn't look behind her, she was stuck and couldn't react quickly to a possible threat.
Suddenly she felt something warm and viscous pouring down her back along her spine.
Automatically her muscles tensed and her hair stood on end.
"Don't worry, it's just massage oil." said the pegasus who was currently taking care of her.
With her peripheral vision she saw that they were doing the same thing to Celestia, but unlike her, the sun goddess already seemed very relaxed, her eyes were closed and her paws were limp.
Soon after she began to feel the beautician's paws on her back.
She slowly began to spread the oil all over her fur and then moved along her paws.
During the whole procedure the empress remained still. She wasn't enjoying the massage offered very much. It didn't seem relaxing to her, not like the person who had received it made it seem.
After a while the pegasus mare stopped moving. Tempest thought it was all over but suddenly she started massaging again, but in a completely different way.
Before it was just a simple caress, now she was applying a lot of pressure with her hooves.
Tempest immediately felt a strong stretching sensation along the muscles of her back. Luckily the empress had enough self-control to hold back a spasm and a moan.
The pegasus mare was expertly massaging places on her body that she didn't even know she had, loosening muscles and releasing the physical tension that had accumulated over the past years.
"Nice, isn't it?"
Tempest could barely hear Rarity's voice as she sat in a chair next to her. Her mind was elsewhere as she enjoyed something she never thought she'd enjoy, but now she understood why it was so popular.
"It exceeded my expectations," she replied in a low voice. She would have preferred to keep her reputation for now.
Celestia smirked in victory.
The masseuse continued kneading the muscles of the legs, then the neck and lower back.
Everything would have continued wonderfully until suddenly the quiet was broken by a strong spasm and a growl of pain. All followed by the scream of the mare who was taking care of the empress.
Celestia immediately raised her head from the pillow.
She immediately saw her fiancee who had stood up and moved away from the massage table.
"What happened?" she asked worriedly.
Tempest's eyes were wide and she didn't seem to be breathing well.
"Nothing, I'm done here."
Without another word the empress turned and left the room leaving all the others shocked.
"What happened?" the princess asked again, this time looking directly at the masseuse.
"I... I don't know, I was doing my job when she suddenly jumped and then left."
The pegasus answered hastily for fear of punishment.
"Where were you massaging?"
Celestia's voice came out harder than she intended.
The mare she was talking to didn't answer, she was trying to say something but seemed to be blocked by fear. She was probably confused because everything had happened so quickly.
"On the withers."
Rarity answered. She also seemed to be slightly shocked by what had happened.
It didn't take Celestia long to figure out what could have happened.
"I understand, it's not your fault."
Hearing this, the two beauticians calmed down and sighed in relief.
Celestia would have wondered why she was so fearful in her subjects but she decided that it wasn't the right time.
The princess got off the bed and turned to the occupants of the room.
"Thank you for the massage, I assure you that you have nothing to worry about."
Then she turned to the bearer of the element of generosity.
"Rarity, I also want to thank you for bringing us here to the spa, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask."
"Of course princess."
The white unicorn answered automatically but still seemed a little lost.
"Great, with that said I have to say goodbye. Good afternoon."
And with that she also left the place in search of her beloved. |
My Little Mashup | pre | Twilight Sparkle looked in the bag - it held a pair stone orb imprinted with a gem symbol. "That's... something, but it doesn't look like the real thing. Are you sure this is it?"
"There was a big stand, and it had 5 spots with things like this."
Fluttershy put in, "We thought we'd bring what we could. In case it was some of what you were looking for."
Twilight Sparkle sighed. "Yeah, it is, and that was the right thing to do. It is perplexing. You said the stand had 5 arms?"
Rainbow Dash equivocated. "Well. 5 spots around the outside with these things, and one more in the back with a ball built in, and one big ball built into the middle."
"Hmm. That does sound like it. Well, now that you know where it is, how about you lead me there, and I can take a look. Maybe it was just a statue, and the real elements are hidden inside."
Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared and put in, "That's why my chin was tingling! I can go and help look! I'm good at searching!"
"Of course, I meant us. I would love to bring all of my friends along." She emphasized it a bit too strongly. She wasn't exactly being insincere, let alone sarcastic like it would have sounded coming on fresh ears. I interpreted it as her being very aware that she was experiencing a conflict of interest in respect to making friends.
Fluttershy said, "I think we should bring Applejack. She's strong, and there could be some things to move. And Rarity finds really beautiful gems all the time. I'm sure she'll find the real elements."
Twilight Sparkle said, "Good idea. Do we have everything we need?"
Pinkie Pie said, "Cupcakes!"
Rainbow Dash warily asked, "Your special cupcakes?"
"Nope, ordinary cupcakes, by Mrs. Cake."
"Good."
I was pretty sure I didn't want to know what that was about.
As they set out to get Rarity and Applejack, Twilight Sparkle noticed I wasn't moving. "Coming, Omar?"
"No, I've got some things to do here. Remember, I wasn't really here to bug you."
"Oh right. Secret mission. Good luck with that."
"Thanks. I'll need it. Good luck you all of you too."
So then it was me vs Discord. He surely knew I was about, and I didn't have much to work with. I went to the Cakes' bakery. It was as good a place to start as any. Mr. Cake was at the counter. "Can I help you?"
"Maybe. Do you know where the idea for that game last night came from?"
"I didn't really follow that, but I heard a bunch of kids clamoring for it. Schoolkids."
"Hmm. Thanks. Also, what's an earth pony?"
"One with no wings, no horn, like me."
"Ah. Okay." So Twilight Sparkle is exempt from selection for Discord's direct influence, as is Rarity.
"Want something to eat?"
"Just ate. No money anyway." My last three meals had been supplied by the ponies now out on their expedition as we'd been camping out in the library. I was going to need a new source of food - I was down to two homemade helouwa in the breast pocket of my windbreaker. And I needed a pretext for talking to people. Going shopping would work, but I didn't have money. Hmm.
Grandma's recipe was still fresh in my mind - and then I realized it was also fresh in my breast pocket. I turned back to Mr. Cake and pulled out a cookie. "Say... why don't you try this?"
Five minutes later, I had a cash advance towards delivery of a starter order of three dozen helouwa, and he had an exclusive distribution agreement. As I went shopping for the ingredients, I kept an eye out for trouble.
So, the kids were the source of that game. Any one of them could have heard it from anyone. But it's worth checking out. And... the math I saw last night. I'll definitely head over to the schoolhouse - later, when class isn't in session.
After a cool drink and face-wash at the fountain, I looked up and found myself alone in the street. Everything was closed, and no one was about. Discord's making his move. My body wanted to get ready for a fight - that wouldn't help at all. I focused on calming down and finding out what was going on. One pony hadn't left. Well, not exactly a pony - a zebra, standing in the middle of the square, scratching the ground with a forehoof, her anklets jangling. She's a little creepy, but she's doing so little, if everyone's afraid of her, it's either pony-affecting magic like the lightning, or a conditioned response. If the latter, then she probably has nothing to do with Discord.
I got up, and she spotted me. I waved, calling out, "Hi there." She walked toward me, and I met her halfway. "Hello. I'm Omar."
The zebra introduced herself, "Zecora is my name. I'm glad you came."
"Can you think of any particular reason everyone would be afraid of you?"
"It is just that I am strange. They may fear change."
"Well, I'm far stranger, right?"
She tapped the ground pensively.
I suggested, "Maybe it's some sort of uncanny valley thing."
"Or these ponies are silly, no wiser than any filly."
"So, what brings you in to town?"
"There were some things I wished to procure. I suspected this response, but wanted to be sure."
I considered the options. She seemed an unlikely choice for Discord, because she wasn't at all pivotal to the community. If I brought matters to a head, he would have plenty to work with.
"What do you need?"
"Fine iron filings - one pound. And a pot of glue. Look around."
"If you leave now, I can get that with no trouble. We can meet out of town. I'll try to talk some sense into them. It could take some time." Especially since I'm not going to start until the Discord situation is resolved. I feel really rotten prioritizing like this, but racial tensions have this way of bringing out the worst in people. We can leave it latent for just nine more days, right? I hate to kick it down the road, but this is a lousy week for it.
"At the bridge we can meet. I can pay - bring a receipt."
"I will." |
My Little Mashup | School | I made it to the schoolhouse just a few minutes before the class letting out for the day. I listened for signs of advanced mathematics, but only heard grammar drills.
A few copies of the new school newspaper were sitting on a stump near the door, still warm off the press; I picked one up. The headline was 'Whole town joins in game'. Since this was my main lead, I read what they had found intently.
The newspaper did indeed indicate the origin of the game as being an invention of one student, Scootaloo, improving it from 'traditional' sources. Okay, and who popularized it? I'm sure kids have proposed games before, but Rarity said this was a first.
Towards the end was the detail I was hoping for - the teacher, Cheerilee, had encouraged some adults to join, after which it had grown greatly. And another game was planned for this evening?
The sidebar indicated the rules. It was, as I'd guessed, based off capture-the-flag. There were two flags for each side, and secret agents on each side... I lost interest once I'd ascertained that fouls were indeed properly covered. It doesn't seem like a great vector for encouraging sports violence. Hockey would be more worrisome, or soccer, or... uh-oh.
The facing page gave a response from certain adults, calling for more traditional games like soccer. Odd. I entered via a land oscillating between Africa and Europe, but they use the American term.
School abruptly let out, and I watched the schoolfoals exit in a stampede. Once they were past, I stuck my head in and found Cheerilee. She was sitting at her desk, reading papers. She looked up and blinked. "Why, hello, Onar! I didn't expect to have you drop by!"
I realized I hadn't worked out a pretext. "My name is Omar, actually." Her eyes widened, perhaps from embarrassment. "I was wondering..." I couldn't ask about the game right away, there would be no cause. Oh right! The board! "Well, last night I saw some math on the board that I kind of recognized."
She smiled. "Of course. I certainly hope you'd recognize any math we're doing here."
"Really. Like... the gradient of overbarred epsilon mu?" I snagged some chalk and wrote that on the board. "If an arbitrary adult around here is expected to understand that, color me impressed."
"Oh, that." She sheepishly smiled. "It's nothing."
"Why hide it?"
"I'm a teacher. What use would I have for..." she drifted off.
"For vector calculus and nonlinear optics?"
"... right." She looked down.
"Do you need to need it? If you find it interesting, great. I'm studying quantitative evolutionary biology, but I follow other fields. I'm an amateur astronomer, for instance. Fixed up the telescope in the library."
Cheerilee looked up happily. "Did you? I tried my hoof at it my first year here. So, about the math. I was just remembering what it was like to be a student, so I got some books that would push me. To hold on to the feeling."
"That's a great idea! Now that you point it out, my older teachers were mostly worn down, bored and boring, but one kept up with her field and she was lively." Even though I was agreeing, I still got the impression she thought I'd 'caught' her and was devising an excuse.
Fortunately for the conversation, my mention of other teachers changed the topic to something less touchy, and we talked for a long time about education, funny things teachers and students have done, curricula, the foundations of number theory (I was careful to avoid any implication we were doing anything erudite).... She was at home in this subject much more than I'd have expected any of my grade-school teachers to have been. She didn't offer anything of her own - probably still too reticent on the subject - but she was following me easily. Is it... socially unacceptable to seek higher education, or something? Am I breaking a taboo that she also secretly breaks? That seems unlikely, unless she ends up swearing me to secrecy or something. Or if she's Discord's agent, and he wants me to out her. But how bad could it really be?
That line of thought began to give me a headache. I broke off, trying to get tactical. Cheerilee was still a suspect for promoting that game. What could I do to draw Discord out?
But I didn't think of anything, and she said. "Oh my, look at the time! I have to grade this homework!"
A glance at the clock - we'd been talking for two and a half hours. I was suddenly reminded of my first girlfriend. She'd had much the same reaction after we first had our 'hey you' moment that had lasted three hours, only she had had to do the homework.
"I'm sorry for taking your time." ... since I couldn't even get to the point. Shoot.
"Oh, don't think anything of it."
My stomach growled, and I turned to go. As I stepped out, her stomach growled too.
I dropped by the bakery and checked in on how the helouwa were selling. We were down to two, from thirty-six. I asked for my share of the proceeds, bought the last two, and headed back to the schoolhouse.
"Sorry for making you miss dinner too." I handed her the nut cookie, and she nervously smiled. Back off a little, Omar. "Good night."
With some relief, she said, "Thanks, Omar. Good night."
I exited as graciously as I could, picking up the newspaper on the way out. Okay. So, what have I got? She seems... well, I don't think Discord would have let her hang around me for close on three hours with such a good excuse to get away. And there she is, still grading. Unless she's grading to cause confusion, it's not her. What leads might I have?
I couldn't think of a thing, and my mind kept coming back to Cheerilee. She was either even more knowledgeable than she was letting on, or very quick indeed. Her cutie mark hadn't stood out as intellectual, really - though I couldn't remember what it was. And at this point, I didn't think it wise to go back and check... or... a quick glance back through the window: a trio of daisies. Yeah, not exactly higher mathematics. Huh.
I returned to the library and sank onto the bed, wondering what Discord could be up to.
"Constraints breed creativity, you know."
I turned, and found Discord leaning against the wall.
"What?"
"Constraints breed creativity. It was hard work, but I've set things up to go crazy in three days. I don't even have to do anything else, and there really isn't anything you can do to stop it. After all, you just talked with the one I touched, for two hours, and didn't notice a thing. All Celestia's cleverness with the rules was for naught."
"So the game was you."
"The first one was me. The second one, incidental. But what are you going to do with all this I'm telling you? I warn you, the only way to not make things worse is to do nothing. You won't be able to do that, will you?" He chuckled, then let it grow to a full laugh, then disappeared in a puff.
Well, shit.
Calm down, Omar. What I know now is that Discord wants me to believe that Cheerilee was his pick, and that there's some convoluted plan that will hatch in three days. Which is... the first working day after the summer sun celebration. That's kind of what I'd been assuming anyway. But the rest is just to throw me off, get me to second-guess myself. There's no way his plan is so stable that literally nothing I can do will disrupt it. |
My Little Mashup | Loyalty | I could barely sleep. There was a serious chance that Discord was telling the truth and Cheerilee was his target.
What would I do if I were him, and I'd picked her? Children. Do something to the children, so they begin acting up. No. They couldn't act up enough to win. They need to get their parents and families to act up. Getting at a family through its children is very powerful. What should she do, that would get them to explode?
My mind recoiled from the notion that Cheerilee could be abusing the children. I immediately devised rationalizations: Abuse typically shows as depression, and those kids looked happy enough. How would he time it to come out in three days?
I recognized those objections as coming from rationalization instead of a search for the truth, so I slowed down and criticized them, devising plans that would force things to come to a head in 3 days. But those seemed even weaker than the rationalizations, so I tentatively accepted that Cheerilee wasn't abusing her students, and even more tentatively accepted that she wasn't the target at all. Which left me with no leads, unless I could pin the game on someone else.
And why the rationalization in the first place? As I'd anticipated, I was moving past liking, and was beginning to be infatuated with her. It was a disease I knew well. For the next two or three days, it would take all of my effort not to declare undying love to her. Recalling previous embarrassments could help against that. And the major distractions caused by Discord and Nightmare Moon.
The sun rose (somehow - did Celestia not actually have much in the way of active intervention in its daily motions after all?), and I dragged myself out of bed. It was earlier than I would have normally woken up had I actually been sleeping, but I just felt awful. I went searching for quarter of an apple pie I remembered, mocking my shamble by murmuring 'braaains'.
Once the pie had been thoroughly devoured, I washed my face. That felt a bit better. The library didn't have a proper bath or shower, but the bathroom did have a draining floor, so I stripped and improvised a shower, handful at a time.
Done, I lay down. Cherilee came to my mind again, and I imagined what she might do - go back to school, become a great mathematician or scientist. With me at her side... and in bed. This time, the notion was not repulsive. The mechanics of this notion were not obvious, and I found myself exploring the possibilities...
Rainbow Dash landed on the balcony and trotted in. "Hi, Omar. Hey, you look funny without your clothes on."
I nodded stiffly. She didn't seem to be mortified at my erection, so I wasn't going to overreact. Oh right. Equestria's being one huge nudist colony apparently applies to me too, even if I had no intention of taking up that option.
"Anyway, we wanted to let you know that we're coming back, and... Something to do with just needing a spark. Know anything about sparks?"
I managed another nod. I knew a little bit, and it was a little nod.
"Great." She waited.
I managed to get my mouth working as I sat up. "So, sparks are when electrons get all bunched up at one place, and there are fewer somewhere else, and there's an air gap between them, and the field gets high enough that they jump across. Basically, little lightning. Assuming that electrons exist here, which is doubtful."
"Hmm. Know any others?"
"Outside of Girl Genius, no. Well, wait! Inspiration. The beginnings of a feeling. A minor disturbance that starts a cataclysm." I felt like I was reading the summary of a tarot card.
"Well, our girl genius is having a tough time with this one. The only cataclysm we're getting is the backlash from her not getting that sixth stone. She fucked over a mountain trying to get that sixth one to appear."
I hadn't really taken Twilight Sparkle's claim of being 'the second-most magical pony around' seriously until then, but it came back to me. I was about to inquire when Rainbow Dash clarified, "The mountain was almost ready to fall over on its own. But still. Celestia, that girl's loaded. Anyway, they're heading back. Hope the spark will come when we need it, because tonight's the big night."
"Yeah." And Discord very likely doesn't know about Nightmare Moon. How can I use that against him? It was very irritating that I couldn't tell anyone about him.
I wandered through the day, trying to find some handle on Discord, and wondering what could be done about Nightmare Moon. I felt totally helpless. It was toward the evening that I remembered that I could talk about Nightmare Moon. I was about to warn someone when I realized several things. First, I would not be believed. Second, it would alert Discord, ruining any element of surprise against him. Third, it wasn't really my place. Twilight Sparkle hadn't told anyone... or had she?
I went to the town hall and scouted it out. To be polite, I helped Rarity set some things up. Since Celestia sent Twilight Sparkle to Ponyville and told her to remain here, she expects Nightmare Moon to appear in Ponyville. And if she appears in Ponyville, is there anywhere more appropriate than the Summer Sun Celebration? I kept an eye out for strategic locations - bits of cover, possible weapons - but I knew if Twilight Sparkle was capable of knocking down mountains, there probably wouldn't be much I could do.
"Any news from Canterlot?" - Twilight Sparkle had just come alongside as I was struggling with draping a ribbon, Rarity having arranged the other forty-four with magic.
I gave up on it and got down from the step-stool. "No news - not really. No hint that there's an actual emergency, but they do know that the princess is ill and is sending a stand-in, princess Agnes."
"Ignes. And I've had nothing from Spike." She lowered her head. "It's all on me, and I can't make a spark to save Equestria." After a deep sigh, she intoned, "Fuck."
Pinkie Pie jumped out at her in a shaggy black mask. "I'm Niiightmare Mooon!" Then she fell back laughing.
Twilight sat down and sighed. "Pinkie, how can you be silly at a time like this?"
The rest was a song and dance number.
~~~~
When midnight struck, things went well for the first minute. Princess Ignes proudly announced that the sun would soon be rising on account of blah blah that I didn't hear because I just knew something would happen. And it did.
A violet-tinged black lightning strike landed directly in front of the podium, leaving a cloud. It gathered inward, revealing a pony as large as Celestia. She was just as violently black as the lightning, with violet accents.
Nightmare Moon merely nodded, and Princess Ignes fainted.
Then Nightmare Moon turned and taunted, "Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious, little sun-loving faces."
I glanced over to the unobtrusive side where the six had gathered. They were trying. And nothing was happening.
The Mayor cried, "What is the meaning of this? Who are you?"
"Do you not remember the very family of your doting princess? Have you forgotten the night completely? Or just me - are there no legends of my pursuit of justice?"
When no one said anything (Twilight Sparkle surely would have out of sheer pedantry had she not been trying to draw a spark out of the elements), Nightmare Moon roared, "Speak!"
My nervousness over the previous few days paid off - the panic of the crowd didn't touch me. This was the moment I'd been expecting - and no more than what I had been expecting. Over the stampede, I saw Twilight Sparkle. There was a definite glow about her - something was happening, now.
But as the room emptied, it got harder and harder not to notice them. And they didn't look entirely ready.
How could I distract Nightmare Moon? It was stupid to try. And the means I settled on were even stupider. But when I reached out for the need to distract, what flashed into my head was the end of Slayers Next - where a major distraction had been moderately effective. And so I jumped up on the abandoned DJ's table and began to 'cast' the Dragon Slave:
Darkness beyond twilight,
Crimson beyond blood that flows,
Buried in the flow of time,
In thy great name I pledge myself to darkness! Er.
It sure was distracting: it totally threw off the ponies I was trying to cover. I stopped right there, but it was too late. Maybe if I had managed to finish it and do the wiggly thing with my hands I would have made a fool of myself but they would have understood that I wasn't gleefully betraying them.
Their unity of will broken, they ran. Very sensibly, I might add.
And so I was left there standing on the table, watching my friends exit with great haste, while Nightmare Moon looked on with dreadful interest.
My bravery only went so far. Now was a great time to play along with the mess I'd just put myself in, so I dropped to one knee and bowed as low as possible on the table.
Nightmare Moon was large - up close, I realized she was larger than Celestia. She was no pony, but a mid-sized horse. She stepped up to me, her frosty breath tickling my hair.
She regarded me carefully, drew her breath, and pronounced: "A willing subject? I can smell the night on you, yes!"
A long pause.
Quieter, meaner: "I smell Celestia on you as well." Then, in a booming roar: "Guards! Ensure his loyalty!"
She exuded a mist and walked past the table as if there was nothing I could do to her. And I really couldn't - she was terrifying. Out of the mist stepped two armored pegasi.
I got down from the table to face the two guards as the door opened and shut for Nightmare Moon. Ensure my loyalty? What can that mean? Whatever it is, it's going to be something I would really rather not do. And the less convincing I am, the less pleasant. Act, Omar, act!
Did I just think that? Yes. Yes, I did.
"So, whose cock do I suck first?" Point of order: these are presumably not royalty, so their life-spans aren't all that extended. Were they frozen in time or something? Pact with the devil for immortality? Answer: get back to acting!
Up to now, the guards had been practically pulsing with malice, but this threw them off. I capitalized on their confusion, continuing, "You've been stuck on the moon, alone with your mistress, whom you're totally devoted to, and is the pinnacle of female perfection, but you absolutely can't touch, for a thousand years. So I'm pretty sure you've got some tension going on. I can help."
If they'd been human, I could have put a hand out, but they kept their equipment to the rear... so I patted the DJ's table invitingly.
"Look, what did you have in mind? Kill the prisoner or something silly like that? What good would that do? Wouldn't even prove my loyalty - she's my natural enemy anyway. Plus, her majesty must have kept her alive for a good reason. If she comes back to find her dead... hoo, I wouldn't want to be behind that. So how about it? Clearing your mind of this is going to be the best thing I can do for you now."
They whined, and whinnied, and tentatively approached. To my simultaneous relief and trepidation, they put their forelegs on the table.
I proceeded with an enthusiasm that I hoped appeared and felt sincere. They sure were... vocal in their appreciation. I'm not even sure what happened in the end; I woke with a bump on my head. |
My Little Mashup | Warpath | I was in a thick violet mist - thicker than it looked. My head still hurt quite a lot, and I rolled onto on my knees with my head on my hands, in pain strong enough that the obvious questions didn't really occur to me: where were the guards, where was Nightmare Moon, why didn't I have a terrible aftertaste, and what was this violet mist?
Speaking of which, I found it was gone, and Nightmare Moon was standing there. I took my hands from my head and rose to face her, then realized I should be supplicating, so I bowed and returned to my knees. I suddenly became self-conscious about what she thought of what I had just done... whether she even knew it had happened.
She said nothing, and I waited.
In a merely loud voice, she declared, "The ponies of this town refuse to love their new leader."
Her booming voice returned. "What is thy name?" 'Thou'? Eeenteresting.
"Omar, your majesty."
"Inauspicious."
What is with people around here and my name? "I didn't pick it, your majesty."
The voice declined somewhat. "How comest thou to reside in Equestria?"
"I came by way of the Blue Valley. I have not been here long." I am extremely glad that the brain bugs Macidexia had forced on me were not fully integrated into my consciousness when out of context, so I didn't make up some harebrained and complicated response to this question.
The voice dropped to merely loud. "Our sister was surrounded by a shield of lightning." And now the royal 'we'. She hadn't been using it so far. "How do we penetrate it?"
I can penetrate it. But that would raise questions I do not want to answer, and it doesn't really answer her question. "I do not know. I do know she is ill on account of it. It was inflicted upon her by a rhinoceros-witch named Macidexia who wormed her way into her inner circle, betrayed her, and assumed control of Canterlot palace." If I can set them against each other, that'll be one less threat to deal with. With luck, Macidexia has specialized in defeating pony royalty and they take each other out.
"Intolerable! To arms!" the mists began to rise once more.
The door slammed open, and... Cheerilee? The mists fell as Nightmare Moon looked on, bemused.
Twilight and the gang were close behind her. "Honesty! Kindness! Laughter! Generosity! Loyalty! Love!" The stones glowed, but dimmed.
I looked back to Cheerilee. She had let the others take the lead, but was looking to me hopefully and fearfully. I winked, and she smiled. Now, again - is this her rallying them to save me because unlike them she has (largely unjustified) faith in me, or is it Discord rallying the team to get rid of a threat? Suddenly I felt dirty for suspecting her considering what I'd just done.
Nightmare Moon laughed contemptuously. "You really don't understand them, do you?"
Twilight scowled at her. "What do you know about harmony, princess of darkness?"
She started with fierce (but not sarcastic) condescension, and rose to full-on boomed rant: "My darling foe, I myself used the elements of harmony. We defended the realm together, my sister and I, until she turned greedy. Had to have it all. Do you know why she sent you to use those? Because she isn't worthy of them!"
She quietened, and added a bit of honey as she addressed Twilight Sparkle directly: "Your star - you are a creature of the night just as I. Come with me to Canterlot and we can cleanse the realm of this interloper Macidexia my sister is too weak to deal with. Once the realm is secure, we can restore the rightful balance."
"No!" Rainbow Dash slammed her hoof down while hovering. "If you want to help us, help us. But don't try to lure us by offering to take care of our problems if we just give up who we are."
Nightmare Moon stood straight, snorted, forced herself to calm. "I see you fulfill your role quite adequately - but as I was honesty, know this: I was also loyalty. To help me help Equestria is no betrayal. I too cannot stand by."
Her recollection of using the elements of harmony had peculiar effects all around. She herself seemed to become slightly confused, as did Rarity. Twilight Sparkle seemed distracted, muttering. Fluttershy seemed to have begun to pity her.
But Applejack was firm. "Pretty words, but we heard the screams. Torturin' a fella like that? We can't stand for that."
Now I was the one who wished to shrink away. Rather than let that little truth come out, I suggested, "As I understand it, you just want the people to love you as they love your sister, right?"
That was a bad choice of words. Nightmare Moon's resolve returned. "Not only. What I want? Justice. A thousand years for the thousand years taken from me; and as penalty, the rest of time! Come. If these won't help, we have work to do."
The mists flared, and she dissolved, and I dissolved, and after some time I couldn't track, I was disgorged onto the top of the gate tower of Canterlot palace. Nightmare Moon was looking down inward.
I looked around. The city seemed deserted aside from posts of soldiers on rooftops of nearby buildings. There were intermittent lightning-strikes from Celestia's tower. Looking inward, the palace was dark, but shrieks and crashes could be heard. The walls were unguarded. "What's your plan? Your majesty."
She did not look to me, and did not answer. She finally spoke, the first time I had heard her speak quietly, though even then it was intense. "There are at least a hundred demons in there." With an even harder edge, she added, "Can you laugh in the face of danger?"
Let me see. When the frat house caught fire, I put it out when everyone else was flailing about. But that's not quite what she asked... More topically, my reaction to meeting her was an imitation of a comedy anime, and my reaction to meeting her guards was an imitation of a comedy puppet movie. "I would say so."
"In the face of loss? In the face of nothingness? In the face of your cruelly cheated sister?"
Oh, just existential dread? I sneer in the face of existential dread. "Aside from that last one, yes." She seemed satisfied anyway.
"But you are not strong with magic. Would you say you are honest, or generous, or kind?"
"It appears your majesty is attempting to line us up to the elements of harmony." Oh god, I'm Clippy.
"Obviously." She gestured downward, and to my surprise, the five orbs were lined up in front of her - she must have seized them as we retr... charged Canterlot.
"I think I'll go with 'kind'." Since that's the one she'd most obviously fail.
"We need to test. I suppose I shall start, since you already proved your loyalty." She looked down. "My guards were phantasms. I set them to their task. You did something different enough from what I expected that they became... pliant. Having had them rejoin me, I can recall what they experienced. Even as unnecessary as they were, your efforts demonstrated devotion."
"Oh." More like devotion to my own skin. Good thing I don't need to do 'honesty'. But this whole issue might prove problematic. I don't like her. We don't have harmony between us.
"Is that a problem?" She was essentially ordering me not to have a problem.
"Not in itself, but such a compelling display of honesty puts me in a tough spot. You see..." I couldn't quite say it, because it was a terrible idea to say it. Why did I even consider? "... I think some of the methods you've adopted could use some re-strategizing."
She snarled, bristled, quivered even, but restrained herself, if only for the sake of stealth. "It is not your place to question our methods."
"Is it? I'm the only one who's stood by you at all. If you don't want to stand alone and out of touch, who are you going to listen to?"
She stood in thought. I was thinking, too, wondering how far I could take this. How far I should take it. Could she be turned, rather than reimprisoned? I was seriously beginning to feel guilty for letting her think that someone loved her. And that deception could backfire on me, too. But letting go of this tiger's neck was more dangerous than I could handle.
So I went on. "To earn love, you need to leave them wanting more of you, so they're pulling you in. It makes them more aware of the good things about you that they're missing, so they want you to get closer over time. Being closer than they want, they're most aware of the things they like less, and they push you away."
A snarl crept into her voice. "I tried letting things be for a thousand years."
"Did I say you should let them be?" She didn't catch the idea, so I went on, "People already really need the night. They just don't know that they need the night."
"So... take the night away from them?"
"Until they come asking for it. Then you can graciously grant it to them, and they'll thank you. Just don't overdo it."
Her face alternated between stern and hopeful. After a pause, she said, "This is... most unconventional. I will have to think about it."
After a moment, she said, "Hark! A light in the library tower! The demons I've seen here would care not for reading. This must be the witch. Without her army, we will not even need the elements. Carry them." She tucked them into a conjured sack, and I slung them over my shoulder, and we ran - well, I ran, and she kept a moderate pace, on magically-muffled hooves. Along the wall, then down and across a short section of the grounds.
We slipped in through the shattered outer doors, and through the shattered library doors, and through the shattered restricted section doors. I stuck close to her, as being off the wall made me even more creeped out, with all the demons around.
We saw an eerie blue light ahead, around the last stack. Nightmare Moon slowed somewhat, and began gathering her magical energies. We came around the edge, finding Macidexia kneeling on the floor, reading in the narrow cone of an LED flashlight tied to her horn.
The clock chimed the quarter-hour, startling me.
Just as Nightmare Moon was drawing her breath to make some ominous declaration of doom, Macidexia's voice murmured, "Right on schedule." Then she laughed contemptuously and brayed "Meddlesome pests, I'll blast you out of time!"
Macidexia looked up in surprise, then alarm. Nightmare Moon spun to find the voice - a second Macidexia had been behind us. Her skin was more wrinkled and cracked, her rear horn had a chip out of it, she had a scar along her left cheek, and she had a new hat. But she was clearly Macidexia. And she was gathering magical energy into her front horn, lowered down to near the ground.
Nightmare Moon unleashed her gathered energies as a continuous sheet of lightning directed at this older Macidexia - she caught the strike with a similar but smaller strike reaching out from her rear horn. In the lightning, I could see the characteristic color of each, fading from Nightmare Moon's black/violet into to Macidexia's olive. Nightmare Moon's strike was far stronger, and she overpowered the parry within half a second. But within that half-second, Macidexia boomed out, "X-Zone!" |
My Little Mashup | Star Shooting | A tremendous force plucked Nightmare Moon and me from the ground, along with a mass of books, a table, a stool, a fountain pen that almost put out my eye, a magnifying glass, a stack of catalogue cards, and younger Macidexia's floppy hat.
We were all slammed together in mid-air, then the library around us fractured and receded into the distance.
We were surrounded by the night sky, spinning gently, a tiny wooden and pony and human asteroid. The crushing feeling grew weaker, then stronger again.
Panes of darkness grew out of half the sky, approached, and merged - we were released. Nightmare Moon hovered on her wings, and I managed to land on my feet. The rest clattered to the ground.
We were outside, in the night, in deep damp grass, next to a lake surrounded by hills.
Satisfied that there was no immediate threat, Nightmare Moon landed and berated herself, "Stupid! Stupid! I should have backed off! It doesn't matter how weak she is - her earlier self saw how it worked out, so she wouldn't do it if she lost! At least I could have prepared an illusion of losing!"
I was about to request clarification, but after seeing her face, I studiously ignored her, first setting the loose items on the table, then looking at the sky. There were more stars out than I'd seen in a long time - a very clear night. The gibbous moon was high in the sky, and seemed abnormally bright and large. And naturally cratered.
We're not in Equestria anymore. But time is passing, so it looks like Macidexia was wrong. We'll get back to civilization, then we can get back to Equestria... well, wait. First, getting Nightmare Moon back to Equestria isn't really a high priority. Second, that sky is awfully dark. We are nowhere near a city. No signs of air travel, either. And... that's not our moon. The blobby 'seas' are something like ours, but on a night as clear as this, I would definitely expect to see the splash from Tycho crater - and, well, I don't see it.
I picked up the magnifying glass and tried to get a larger view of the moon, before remembering that optics didn't work that way. Pulling out my camera, I zoomed... but couldn't get the exposure right, especially hand-held. Instead, I looked for any familiar constellations - not a single one. So we're not in my world - but one less deep in magic territory than Equestria, anyway...
Nightmare Moon braced herself against the ground and gathered magic - a moderate amount, less than she had used in the library - yet she was straining. Then she gave up. "The sun and moon do not respond to my commands."
She launched herself into the air and roared. She gathered much more magic - dim lines grew out from her, pulsing inwards. Her voice was as loud as a jet engine as she repeated, "Miserable, stupid world! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid moon, stupid sun!"
I could barely understand her voice, it was so distorted and loud. She stopped shouting and began incantations I couldn't understand. The dim lines grew fatter, and longer. She rose higher and higher, and as she receded she grew brighter and brighter. Stark shadows fell everywhere. I was momentarily blinded until my eyes adjusted.
When I could see again, the lines of magic were veins pulsing in, guiding the energy into the ground as an immense wall stretching out nearly flat. It was like standing under Yggdrasil. The lights were brighter, now, filled with swirls and dots of color; Nightmare Moon herself was glowing so brightly I couldn't look at her even for a moment, even through my slitted fingers. I closed my eyes, but by the time the afterimage of my glance at her had faded, it was getting to be blindingly bright even through my eyelids. I crawled under the table, clutching the magnifying glass, afraid it would set something on fire if that light fell on it.
The earth rumbled - I'd been through a few minor quakes, but they were nothing like this. Not simply by intensity, but in kind, for interspersed among the rumbles were snapping sounds, cracks.
The books slid off the table. The quake intensified further, and some trees fell over into the lake. The water in the lake grew a cacophony of waves of all lengths from a few millimeters to great swells. A wave crashed and fell just short of the books. It didn't come back a second time, though - the whole lake was draining away. I looked further out, and saw that the wall of magic was lifting the earth up. It rose, faster and faster. A terrible wind blew into the gap behind it, sucking over the table and momentarily picking me up before it subsided and I landed awkwardly and fell over on my back. I stared up, unable to act to protect myself. But I needn't have worried - all of the debris falling off the side was also lifted up by the millions of dimly glowing magical tendrils.
The whole thing was out of the ground, and I could see it all - over a mile wide, and within a few seconds it was moving away at least its width every second. The earthquake subsided, and everything was quiet - eerily silent (of course, I'd simply been deafened, but based on the lack of everything vibrating, it seemed reasonable to suppose things had quietened down). The colored veins still pressed up against it.
A rainbow explosion appeared behind the rock-ball. Seeing that, I covered my face as if my arm could help against the explosion... but it didn't come. When I uncovered my eyes, I could see only the veins still pressing up, curving, twisting, losing their coherence. Finally, they split and relaxed. The flows stopped, and the lights subsided.
I looked down from the sky and tried to get up to look around. My inner ear was not cooperating yet, and I felt supremely dizzy, so I lay back down.
I began to perceive the ringing in my ears, and that gradually subsided. After a few minutes I could hear actual sounds - groaning aftershocks as the earth settled, mainly. I tried to get up again, and succeeded.
Nightmare Moon was kicking over trees. She saw me, and held her hoof ready. Then she lowered it, and stared.
I bowed.
"Don't bow to me, you worthless skinbag. Worthless for picking me to follow, fool that I am."
"It was a matter of reflex, your majesty. You were out of practice."
"I spent years thinking of what to do, in case Celestia tried tricks like that! I just didn't expect it from her. And now we're both stuck on this miserable stupid world that's outside the web of worlds, has a disobedient sky... and... Equestria is fallen. If she had time to master that magic, she has already won."
"On the other hand... she did call us meddlesome. So we have at some point in her past caused her trouble. I haven't. Did you?"
"Yes. I had stopped the sun and moon."
"Oh." That put me into a funk, but I couldn't just stand there. I righted the table and gathered up the books again, reading the covers in the ample moonlight. Starswirl the Bearded... Principles of Altering the Flow of Time. Hmm. Many Worlds, One Universe. I commented, "Seems like... relevant material."
"You, at least, will be long dead before there are any worlds nearby enough for a passage to open. If you read those, maybe your incessant questions will stop."
Silence reigned. I sat down next to the table.
I was startled awake, not having realized I'd fallen asleep, as Nightmare Moon gasped. She said, "I... I thought I'd missed! And that didn't destroy it? It barely made a dent! It must be huge!"
I looked up at the moon, and not far from the edge, just where I'd been expecting Tycho, was an orange bright spot, gradually expanding and dimming. |
My Little Mashup | Out of Time | I watched as Tycho crater formed before our eyes. When a cloud moved in, I was extremely disappointed to have missed the rest of this cosmic event. Still... "Oh, that is good. Very. Very. Very good."
Nightmare Moon frowned at me. "Explain."
"This is my world, a long time in the past. We call that crater you just made 'Tycho'."
She regained her intensity, and almost interrogated me - "How long in the past?"
"I don't recall off the top of my head. I'll do better looking at the plants and animals, since that's my real specialty - but a few dozen million years, I think."
She drew herself up and commanded, "Find out how long."
I bowed, and looked around in the dark. Pop quiz on paleontology! Find out when you are, based on these creatures. Let's see what we have. A lot of darkness. Hmm.
"Your majesty, I am extremely tired. I have not slept appreciably in well over a day. With your permission, I shall start in the morning."
She stared, and flame flickered in those eyes. I gulped.
She looked high, and declared, "We will need shelter, for the coming day."
She focused and assembled a two room wood frame and board wall, thatch-roofed house from nearby parts. I'm sure the process would have been very impressive if I could see what she was doing, but the black magic acting in the dark didn't make much of an impression.
When she was done, a gap in the clouds let me make out two doors - apparently our rooms did not adjoin. I went in through the left, narrower door into the smaller room. There was a fluffy pile of grass on a dried-clay floor. It made a pretty decent bed, and I lay down.
The various problems facing me ran through my head about once each, then I slept like a rock.
When I woke, I checked around the house. The other side was closed, and I did not think it wise to disturb her. First order of business is paleobotany. Subspecialty, breakfast. I balanced Macidexia's huge hat with the brim on my forehead, and set out.
I set about finding likely-looking plants. A few flowers, berries, and leaves. I rubbed each against a part of the inside edge of my arm, photographing it against its spot. That would eliminate contact poisons from the things I was considering eating. I also found a lovely flower that was a tiny bit like a daisy. Enough that I was reminded of Cheerilee. I picked it and tucked it in the weave of the hat.
While searching for more things to test, I found a termite mound. Those shouldn't be poisonous. Would be simpler. I searched for a stick to fish the termites out. After a minute, I found one, substantially heavier than needed, but it'd do - nice hook on one end.
"Ahem". I looked up sharply came face to face with a pterosaur. It had skin wings spanning three meters, and was nearly as tall as me.
I brandished the stick and jumped back. "Whoa!"
"You are certainly the largest furry I've ever seen."
I lowered the stick. We're a lot further back than I thought! Also, how are there sapient pterosaurs? We're before people showed up, providing the anthropomorphic effect that enables the talking elephants, monkeys, rhinoceroces, et cetera.
He continued, "Not quite as amazing as that mountain flying up into the sky, but quite queer nonetheless. You can talk, can't you?" He suddenly got nervous. "Not a sharptooth, are you?"
"Yes. Yes, I can talk. I won't try to eat you."
"Excellent. I am a bit of a student of strange and mysterious things and creatures and events. Events as strange as last night, and creatures as strange as you, and things as strange as that... thing over there..." - he gestured to the house - "... are quite rare indeed. I do not presume to accuse, but simply by being here and being strange, the question arises: did you do the other two things?"
"No, but I know who did."
"Ah. Is it going to happen again?"
"No. She's calmed down a bit."
He lowered his wings a touch.
"Now, if you don't mind, I'll go get breakfast."
I stepped around him and headed to the termite mound. 'Fear factor' time. After the roller-coaster I've been on for the past half day, this should be easy.
It wasn't. But I eventually succeeded.
"That's quite a production, just for breakfast."
"I've never done this before. The food I'm used to won't exist for millions of years."
He perked up his head, started running, and took off. "Little fast sharpteeth! Two of them!"
Little fast sharpteeth? ... velociraptors? I took off for the house as fast as I could. I was only ten paces from it to start with, and I didn't know how much of a lead I had. I slammed the door shut and the first raptor smashed into it at full tilt, not having expected such a thing was possible. Its head busted right through the top panel of the door. That's no velociraptor - they're little! Utahraptor, perhaps? Well, smaller than that.
I whacked it with my stick, jamming the hook into its eye. It thrashed free, then up and back, pulling the door off its wooden hinges. It flailed about trying to free itself of the door frame with its long rear claws, but it had very poor angle and leverage, and the splinters pressing on its neck kept it from pulling too hard.
The other raptor, though, was right behind, crouching to lunge. I crouched to dodge aside. The raptor lunged, crescent claws out front. As I sidestepped out of the doorway, I swung my stick like a baseball bat. It caught the rear claw of the raptor's nearer ankle, and there was a crunching sound. It landed awkwardly on its other foot and turned to me. I swatted at its neck. It dodged back, tried to put weight on the ankle I'd hit, and fell to the ground. I chopped at its head, connected with its upper neck. I repeated, and got it on the forehead. It stopped moving.
I gave it another solid whack and tentatively regarded it as finished. I turned back to the other one - it was fumbling around the 'yard' near the table, had ripped the bottom half of the door to shreds, and was working on ripping out the middle bar.
"Hey! Do you talk?"
He stopped struggling for a moment. "Fuck you! You just killed my bro, and put my fucking eye out, you shithead!"
"Only because you rammed your head through a door like a moron. Oh, and the trying to eat us part. Yeah, I can't imagine why I might fight back."
"You fucking rat, you're meat."
"Rat? Are you fucking blind in your remaining eye? No, it's you who are meat. You know what we call you where I come from? Chicken. The cheapest meat." For all my trash talk, I couldn't quite see a clear approach to finish him off. He was too mobile for it to be a truly safe prospect. Maybe if I could come from his blind side...
Fortunately, I'd pissed him off enough that he charged before he was ready. He was fully capable of moving in the open, but the door frame draped around his neck caught on the house's frame, and he was brought up just short. Momentum carried him to maximum extension. I punished that with a clonk on the head. He was stunned, leaving him open to a solid execution stroke. Lucky. Very very lucky.
I checked that he was dead, and that the other one really was dead - yes, quite - and stepped out of the house. Nightmare Moon was standing in her doorway, staring at me.
Inside, I was lurching and swaying from just having nearly been killed and eaten, and also from just having killed. My advisor-to-Nightmare-Moon persona wouldn't be rocked by this. I leaned on the stick and said, "Based on these raptors, we're ninety million years back, with an expected error of, oh, fifteen million years - except that I'm absolutely sure it's not less than sixty-five point three million years. These years are three hundred sixty-five and a quarter days long." As I came down from my adrenaline, I felt faint. My leaning on the stick ceased to be casual.
Nightmare Moon hardly spared a glance at the rear end of the raptor sticking out of my doorway, but murmured, "With the enormous amounts of untapped energy here, we may make it. I must rest." She shut the door.
I sat down hard and rested for a minute. Once I didn't feel any tingling, I dragged the raptors out of my room - they were quite heavy, but I could just drag them - and wondered what to do with them. Burial seemed like a lot of work for animals that wouldn't expect it. Cooking... would cover the food situation, but I didn't want to stoop to eating former sapients. After a minute, the pterosaur landed nearby. "Did I see you right? You spoke with it? And understood it?" I nodded. "I'd heard rumors, but... what did he say? And who was that in there? What was it?"
"Let's get away from the door." I retrieved Macidexia's hat from where it had fallen in my sudden flight, then the magnifying glass from the table. I used it to start a fire as we talked. Pterano, as he was called (seriously? I might as well be 'Uman'), was very talkative, curious, and full of himself. Once I had it going, he wanted to try making a fire, too.
Now that there was a fire, I had a more fearsome weapon against any predators that came by, unless they were tyrannosaurs or gorgosaurs, who might very well not notice such a small detail. I suppose if we see one of those I'll be able to pin down the era a bit better. Not looking forward to that.
With that in mind, I went hunting for rocks I could make a hammer or axe from. Pterano kept an eye out as he asked me questions. In particular, after hearing my muttering about the big guys, "What good are rocks going to do against a big sharptooth?"
"More wood. Bigger fire." If he's typical of these dinosaurs, though, this might be a highly ineffective defense.
Pterano nodded, staring at the flame. "To hold the fire in your hand without being burned? The very idea takes me back..."
"Back to when?"
"Nothing."
"Whatever you say." I found a cluster of promising rocks - sharp broken obsidian. I used one to cut a thin vine, then ground down two ends so it wouldn't cut through its bindings... tied it to my stick... and I had a long-handled axe. A rickety, small-bladed axe.
Through that, Pterano had been ignoring me. "It was my greatest mistake. And the path to my redemption."
"Awesome. Can you keep an eye out for more... sharpteeth?" I picked some more pieces of obsidian, wrapped them in dry leaves, and pocketed them.
"I've wondered, from time to time, if there was something hidden in it after all, some power that I simply didn't have the time to draw out."
That got my attention. "What, where?"
"Nothing."
"What. Is. It."
"A stone of co-o-old fire."
Cold fire? Could be impregnated with alcohol, or something. "Does it burn blue?"
"I didn't see it fall, but perhaps." Oh, it fell. There goes the alcohol hypothesis. Probably just a run-of-the-mill meteorite.
"When I found it days later, it merely stood there at the end of its track, taunting me."
"Waait. It fell and left a track?"
"... yes."
"Normal rocks falling from the sky are fast enough that the ground just splashes. They don't leave tracks.. Yours... Well, let's take a look."
"Alas, it is buried now."
"How deep?"
Pterano shrunk back suddenly. More sharpteeth? I spun with my axe, and found Nightmare Moon. Near her, everything was dimmer. The sun, just above her, seemed to be eclipsed by her presence - literally.
I bowed, "Apologies if we kept you awake, your majesty."
She ignored me, focusing on Pterano. "Return to this stone. We will follow."
After a few moments of gibbering, Pterano swallowed his main objections and fell back on, "It's a long way off..."
"Fly. We will catch up with you tonight."
Pterano eyed the missing far end of the lake, and gulped. "It'll take more than a day to get there, even flying. Should I..."
"Go!"
He pulled himself up and replied with reasonable dignity, "All right. Threehorn Peak is where we're going. On the way, we will stop at the green ridge peak and the orange cliffs. I will see you tonight." He started running, then swooped up with a powerful stroke of his wings.
Nightmare Moon turned on me, and I suddenly realized I had never really seen her mad at me before. I supplicated, and waited.
"You fool! You nearly got yourself killed!" An odd time to mention this now, instead of earlier. "That was no chicken! Not even a giant chicken! If you meet some creature here that could kill you, tell me."
"Yes, your majesty."
"Now, get inside. We'll be active all night, and I can't have you falling asleep like a sun-lover. Or getting eaten."
The door to her half of the house swung open. |
My Little Mashup | Crowded Dreams | I wasn't quite ready to go to sleep, especially since one of the spots on my arm was acting up, indicating that that kind of leaf had been poisonous after all. My itching kept Nightmare Moon awake, to the point that she reached over and touched her horn to my head, and...
I was at my sophomore-year college dorm room desk, reading a textbook about paleontology, and astronomy. It was an odd combination, and I remarked on this fact to...
Cheerilee, who was lying on my bed, flipping between her real form and as a blonde human wearing a pink tee-shirt with her daisy cutie mark on it (though she was lying on her belly, I still knew what the shirt had on it). The subject of the math book she was reading fluctuated, starting with subjects I'd skimmed (number theory, non-Euclidean geometry) and moving on into subjects I'd only heard of (graph theory, and topology), then progressing into things that my dream only asserted were too complicated for me to understand the name of.
She saw I was watching her, and the shorts I hadn't noticed she was wearing were gone. Then she was a pony again, and standing, reading over my shoulder, cheek to cheek. I reached around to give her a hug and a neck rub, and...
We were in bed, and I was naked, and I had my hand across her sex, stroking gently. She was a pony at first, then a human, and I had one hand up under her daisy T-shirt. But...
A phantasmal guard interrupted us with an order to get back to work and explain special relativity to Nightmare Moon. Though Cheerilee protested she could do it off the top of her head, she was shut out. I followed the guard...
It was female...
It was a softer, gentler version of Nightmare Moon herself. And as she led me along, I babbled off everything I knew about relativity. It wasn't all that much, but it was some. E = m c squared! Grandfather paradox! Gamma! Gravity is like a rubber sheet, somehow? Umm...
We were in a dark classroom, and an older, severe-looking, dark red alicorn princess - reminiscent of the evil robot Maximilian from The Black Hole, of all things - began working through deriving what that gamma factor was. But she made me do all the work. Soon my head hurt, and I quit. She brandished a whip, and pow.
The portion of me which was observing rather than experiencing the dream thought, "Okay, brain? That was uncalled-for. I only go for 'discipline' for the humor value. Take 2, please."
The dream backed up and retried the scene with the Nightmare Moon-guard on spank duty; she toned it down, and with gentle rubbing between. Then... she promised not to spank me again unless I got back to work.
But then pow again. "Work" she demanded.
And I began making progress. Of a sort. I worked out that I'd messed up the swimmer analogy, and tried to figure out what it had to be. When I sorted out the basic properties the solution had to obey, the rubbing was supplemented with licking.
And then pow. "Cease this self-indulgence!" demanded the very pony who'd just been licking me.
And then I had it. It sounded right, it looked right, it acted right. It... wasn't obviously wrong, anyway.
"Now, how am I going to remember this? This is a dream, after all."
Nightmare Moon in all her dread glory was there, snorting. "You're not done yet." A line of empty chalk-boards stretched into the distance.
I was curled up, crying. Couldn't I have the nicer, littler Nightmare Moon back, at least?
She was whipping me, lashes across the back. A part of me wondered how the fuck I knew what it was like to have the skin flayed off my back, because it was exceedingly realistic. I had a feeling I'd just lost my taste for even joking-around-level bondage.
Little Nightmare Moon appeared nose-to-nose with big Nightmare Moon "Get out of here. Can't you see you've done enough?" Big Nightmare Moon glared at me, and...
It was after she had left. The little one was named Luna, and she just wanted to have it all be over, like me.
The dream went blank.
I jolted awake, covered in sweat, as Nightmare Moon slammed the door open. I saw her silhouette passing out the doorway into the afternoon.
I was extremely thirsty, so once she was clear, I got up and headed out too. My fire was still smoldering along. Boiling the water would be best... nothing to hold it in, though. While I was experimenting with various solutions for holding water over the fire - mud-covered leaves, hollowed sticks - Nightmare Moon approached, levitating a ball of clear water.
"Drink." She eyed me impatiently.
I put my lips to it, and as I swallowed, it all practically leapt down my throat. Once I had recovered from the surprise, I said, "Thank you."
"Night is yet far off." Nightmare Moon peremptorily turned back to the house. Before joining her, I went out back to pee - and found a similar spot - she apparently had done the same a few moments previously. Seeing that was jarring. She'd seemed almost unphysical, exempt from simple matters like that.
Upon returning, Nightmare Moon appeared to be asleep, lying on her belly, head on one knee. I had not seen her asleep up to now, and she had softened in sleep, a bit in the direction of what I'd seen in my dream. Just a little. I thought through what it must have been like, being her, rejected, ignored, while so close to one so loved and appreciated.
Against my better judgement, I reached out and petted her on the head.
She relaxed a little further.
The pet extended to her long neck. Her strange mane appeared to be more fog than hair, so I left that alone and moved on to her shoulders. She loosed a sigh of contentment.
I stopped, not wanting to wake her, but - too late. "Continue.", she said, only halfway to an order.
I knew I'd stepped in it again, but I complied, giving her a back-rub. She was large enough I had to be superficial to finish before wearing out my hands, but I did get her whole back. When I was done, she seemed to be asleep. Relieved, I lay down in the corner and soon fell asleep myself.
Before, it took me a while to realize I was dreaming. This time, it was immediate. I was in the tower that Twilight Sparkle had brought Celestia to, but there was no sign of her or the golden sparkles, and I was... Twilight Sparkle. I was looking down at a scroll detailing a magical procedure, and I said, "Omar. Do you hear me?"
This seemed like a very odd thing for me to say - I hesitated, wondering what was going on.
I hesitantly said, "Omar, if you're in this dream, just say so."
This was an even odder thing to say, but there was nothing for it - I said, "Yes. What is this?" It didn't seem odd that I had said that. I remembered forming the intention to do so.
I (still being Twilight Sparkle) reared up a little and said, "It worked! Okay, you're alive. What happened? Where are you? And what happened to the elements of Harmony?"
Again I had no recollection of intending to say this, but was beginning to get the idea - this was some sort of conversation with Twilight Sparkle.
Then I was myself - Omar - pacing around the room (there was no Twilight Sparkle). "Macidexia hit us with some magic she called 'X-zone', that sent us to my world, millions of years ago. I'm surprised we can maintain real-time conversation over a time difference."
I stopped trying to control and let things happen again - I gestured to the pile of books and said, "No wonder I had to use an acausal symmetry spell - I 'just happen' to have a dream that's the same dream as you're having." Partway through that, I turned back into Twilight Sparkle, as she reasserted control over our identity.
I gestured in circles with a front hoof. "Can we... separate? It's confusing."
I stood on my rear hooves and put my two front hooves to each other. "No, we have to experience exactly the same dream. Splitting us would change our viewpoints. So, where are the elements?"
I halted in front of a mirror and looked at myself (Twilight Sparkle) suspiciously. "Just a moment. I want to make sure you're not Nightmare Moon or Discord."
I was taken aback. "Discord? Who's Discord?"
For a moment, I was especially suspicious. Twilight Sparkle would have... umm... not known about Discord. Right. I resumed pacing. "My secret mission was to stop an ancient evil chimera freed by Macidexia, named Discord. He was previously defeated by the princesses, wielding the elements of harmony. He has the ability to warp minds, and teleport, and various other tricks. For ten days after he was freed, he can only affect one pony, in Ponyville, not a unicorn. And Celestia and I couldn't mention this to anyone. I guess, now that I'm not within 10 days, I can mention it. Or maybe because we're not 'really' communicating, just having the same dream. Anyway, he claimed his selection was Cheerilee, but he could have been lying. His objective is to bring about a work stoppage and cause ponies to hurt each other, within those ten days. He claimed his plan was totally unstoppable, and would go off, umm, tomorrow."
I reverted to Twilight Sparkle and said, "Oh, I think I know what his plan is. Almost everypony in Ponyville is feeling sick, and the worst cases are violent. They just moan and try to bite ponies. But didn't you say he could only affect one?"
I shook my head ruefully, not bothering to shift back to myself. "A zombie plague outbreak? If so, he only needed to work within his selection to make the plague. It would spread under its own power from there. Now, that's thinking outside the box. He wasn't trying to psych me out, just gloating. Crap. Good luck with that... Are you coming down with it?"
"I don't think so. We were out of town so much. But you were right there. Feeling anything?"
I was suddenly myself, in a flimsy hospital gown, hooked up to a bunch of machines. "I think I'm clean. I wasn't bitten or anything."
I snapped back to being Twilight Sparkle. "Anyway, we need the elements. Now that you know I'm not Discord... where are they?"
I headed slowly back toward the mirror. It had been less confusing to have someone to project the conversation onto. "You didn't prove it yet. Who was the first Ponyville pony you met?"
"Pinkie Pie." As I said it, my reflection changed to Pinkie Pie hiding behind the cart in the dark.
"No."
"What?" I furrowed my brow heavily for several seconds. As I relaxed, the reflection then shimmered and changed to Rarity, and I said, "Oh! Back at Canterlot!"
"Better. What did Macidexia give Celestia, that started the sneezing?"
"Tea."
I was satisfied. "Okay. So. Nightmare Moon took the elements. She tried to attune them to us, but changed her mind, and left me to carry them. When we make it back, I'll see what I can do. I'm not sure that overpowering her is the solution. She was banished to the moon for a thousand years... she really just needs a hug."
I crossed my eyes, hard, chagrinned. "You hug her, then. If we can't get the elements, that might be our best shot."
"I was exaggerating, but I'll see what I can do. How's Celestia?"
I looked out the window, and the sun was suddenly just over the horizon. "She wore herself out trying to restart the day. We're stuck in dawn."
"Oh, fuck. So it's day. That means Discord's probably already won. Tell princess Celestia I'm sorry. Shit, that's a case of my being seriously outclassed. While we're at it, if there's anything she wants to say to her sister, I can try to find a way."
"I'll ask, but I may not be able to contact you again." A pause. "I'm sorry too, Omar. We had her right there, and I couldn't make the spark."
"Don't beat yourself up over it. It's not over yet. And as I said, what good would sending her back to the moon do? It was never the best solution. Whooa."
"What?"
"I'm in the past, I have the elements. Time to use Bill and Ted tactics. Where's a good hiding place you haven't checked yet?"
"What?"
I held back my impulse to quote Pulp Fiction, instead saying, "Where's somewhere the elements could stay hidden for centuries, that you can look for them now, because I will have hidden them there for you to find."
"Umm. Oh-kay... There's... a big rock just south of the abandoned palace the elements were in. We didn't dig just south of it."
I was suddenly in the place she referred to.
I advised her, "Try it when you wake up. Let me confirm - I should bury the elements south of the big rock south of the abandoned palace, if I can."
"Right."
"And... Tell the gang I'm okay, hope the best. And Cheerilee... umm... well, if she's not Discord, tell her I have something to say that I can't say through you. Hopefully by the time I get back, I'll have come up with something not too embarrassing."
I got severely flustered. "Umm. Cheerilee is the worst case of what you call the zombie plague."
"Oh. Oh. Of course."
"Yeah. Well, now we know where it came from. That'll help. One last thing before we go. Pinkie Pie told me to tell you, quote:"
I suddenly turned into Pinkie Pie. "Rainbow Faces. Rainbow Faces! RAAAAINBOW FAAACES!"
I turned back into Twilight Sparkle. "Endquote. That was how she said it. She said it was really important."
"I have no idea what that means."
"I figured. I think that covers it. All set?"
"Yeah. Thanks a lot."
I nodded...
... and I was driving a car down a road away from an asteroid impact, but the roads kept being blocked by traffic as everyone else had the same idea... but they were terrible drivers, so there were accidents all over the place... so I asked Nightmare Moon, in the passenger seat, if she could stop the asteroid... and she was a zombie. And I was already a zombie. I'd infected her.
I sat up, startled awake. Nightmare Moon was solidly asleep. |
My Little Mashup | Doom | We swirled our way across the night sky to catch up with Pterano, finding him in minutes. He woke as we rematerialized in front of him. "Oh! You found me! How... wonderful, yes, wonderful."
Nightmare Moon waited a moment. "Where is the stone?"
"Heh! Well, it's night, and I just flew all day. Can't it wait?" After one look from Nightmare Moon, he continued, "Of course not. Of course not. So, in the morning, I'd go from the sun until I met the river, then turn left..."
The instructions went along until Nightmare Moon grew impatient. "Guide us now." And the three of us turned to mist together and went. We reformed on top of a different mountain crest.
"Where from here?"
"Oh. Oh my. Th- th-at way." He buried his face in his wing as we were swirled off again.
After a few minutes, Pterano gestured to a collapsed lump of a mountain and said, "There it is. Buried in there. I don't know where."
Nightmare Moon ignored him, leaving me the opportunity to say, "We thank you very much for your great assistance."
She glared at me, but then she looked up and the rage amplified, even as less of it escaped. "Cold Fire. That is what I imagined myself, there on the moon. Cold fire that burns away all the injustice. This is my stone. I can feel it pulling me. From here, I go alone."
She misted up and swirled off.
It was about midnight, and we were on a mountain top. I pulled my windbreaker on, and looked around. There was not much to see.
After a minute, Pterano said, "I should be going. I really shouldn't be here."
"Why not?"
"I... I was exiled from here. It's a good place. But if I leave without warning them... what will happen to the great valley?"
"With Nightmare Moon around tearing up mountains?"
"Yes. ... Why do you follow her?"
I hesitated to open up to him, but eventually my delay got to be telling in itself. "She's the only way I can get home, to the future. Before that, I promised I'd stand for a cause she believes in strongly. And if I stopped, I don't know what she'd do."
After a minute, Pterano said, "Go down to the Great Valley. Warn them. I'll be just outside, if any doubt you."
I thought it over. Nightmare Moon would surely know where I was, if she could track him. On the other hand, she could be away for days, so she could hardly expect me to stay on this barren pinnacle. "If she's not back by dawn, I'll go."
As it turned out, she wasn't. From time to time, I heard rumbles and vague echoes - probably her excavations. When it was light enough to move, I went down. It was fairly difficult, so I only made it to a smooth place around noon. Pterano met me there and led me to a large crack in the rock - a very narrow pass. "You go in. I... may not."
I was most of the way through, already able to see that it was opening up, when a triceratops hurried into the passage and blocked my way. "Hold it right there! Who are you? What are you?"
I tried to remain calm. "I am Omar, a human. I wanted to tell you about something happening near here that might be dangerous."
The Triceratops grunted. "If it's outside the valley, it'll have to come through me."
"Have you heard the crashing sounds all night?" Come to think of it, I hadn't heard that since the very beginning of the descent. The sound wasn't making it down into the valley well.
So, it wasn't surprising when he said "No."
"Did you notice the moon, night before last?"
"No."
"What about a large object in the sky, over that way?"
"No. And that's all in the sky, and we're down here."
"Well, someone who altered the moon is investigating the stone of cold fire."
"Phaw. What garbage."
Fortunately, that was when Nightmare Moon began blasting audibly - there was a small earthquake. The triceratops backed out of the passage and looked to the side, then back to me. "Hmm. Come in."
In a few minutes, a call had been sent out for everyone to gather together and hear the news and see the strange creature (me). And I feasted my eyes on brachiosaurs, (para)saurolophi, stegosaurs, and more. Mainly a circle of suspicious triceratops, with a brachiosaur. Something about me didn't strike them as vegetarian. I returned their scowls with smiles, and took a lot of pictures.
I saw children rush forward and be gathered by their parents.
A brachiosaur leaned down and admonished one, "Now, Littlefoot. You aren't going to go running outside again, are you?"
Littlefoot looked aside and reluctantly answered, "No."
A little pterosaur shouted out, "Mama said Pterano just outside valley! You see him?" I nodded.
A small (para?)saurolophus said, "I do not want to meet him. No, no, definitely not."
The pterosaur replied, "He save your life too, Ducky."
"He is not as bad as the others, but I do not want to meet him again."
I said, "You won't need to. He's honoring his exile."
Finally, the largest triceratops stepped forward. "Give us your warning." His tone was gruff, and if I hadn't been playing stool pigeon to Nightmare Moon lately I probably would have been offended.
"There is a strange creature - not too big by your standards, but extremely powerful with magic. She is looking for the stone of cold fire. In this search, she may tear up the mountain it's in. This could spread a lot of dust through your valley, and perhaps shower it with rocks. Basically, be prepared for it to explode."
One of the parasaurolophus ladies asked, "What are you? I've never seen something so strange."
"I'm a human. And I've never seen anything so wonderfully strange and unexpected as all of you. I certainly never imagined that you'd be living in multi-species coherent communities."
There was another blast, and this time we could see a gut of ejecta, not merely a smoke plume. The dinosaurs squirmed.
The lead triceratops said, "Stay calm. If this is someone looking for something, they'll want to survive the search."
This was a good point I hadn't considered.
A large blast shook the ground hard enough to send me to my knees. Many of the dinosaurs shifted in unease.
The chief looked at the mountain, which was now spewing smoke. "But maybe they won't. Perhaps we should move for a time. Which way will you be going?"
"Er. Well, why?"
"So we can go the other way."
"Ah. Well, then pick whichever direction is best for you. We're not going that way."
The chief stared.
A brachiosaur suggested, "Perhaps he meant they'd avoid us as a courtesy?"
The chief held his ground. "That's not what he said. Which way are you going? Are you going to claim the great valley yourselves?"
"No! We'll go back home, where there are others like us. It isn't any normal direction from here. Just pick the safest place and we won't pass near you."
"Ridiculous. But... you are very strange. We need to talk this over." He turned his back on me, and the adults joined him in a new circle with me on the outside.
I backed off. Some children approached, as one adult triceratops looked on.
"Not a normal direction? Is this beyond the Mysterious Beyond?" Littlefoot had stepped forward, sounding considerably more incisive than the plodding chief.
"Well, how far does the Mysterious Beyond go? Sounds like it's just, 'everywhere else', but... is that really what you meant?"
"Uh... I'm not sure. Just, I heard about a place like that from some rainbow faces, once."
Rainbow Faces. Pinkie Pie's message was, simply, 'Rainbow Faces'. What about them?
"Rainbow Faces? What are they?"
"Umm... folks, I guess? A bit strange? Why?"
I shrugged. "Anyway, I guess you could say we're from way beyond the mysterious beyond."
A triceratops-girl snorted. "Nonsense. There's nothing beyond the mysterious beyond!"
"Yes, yet if you travel outward, no matter how far, you won't get to where we came from, nor where we're going. So if that's what you call the mysterious beyond, that's not where we're from."
Ducky said, "Then you're travelling inward?"
The triceratops rolled her eyes. "That doesn't make any sense. What are you going to do? Travel around in circles?"
"Kind of. Actually, that could be how we end up getting home."
"But you won't get anywhere that way."
Petri suggested, "You get to tomorrow. Are you from the future?"
The triceratops said, "Don't be silly, Petri. No one can come from the future." But she saw my surprised look. "You can't be serious. You're from the future?"
"Yes. I'm from a long time from now, when animals have grown and changed all around."
"Are there flyers?" Petri asked.
"Yes, there are flyers."
"Longnecks?", Littlefoot asked.
"There are creatures with long necks."
Before he could quite parse that, the triceratops asked, "And I suppose there are three-horns? Sounds like not too many changes at all."
I paused. My pause became suspiciously long.
She grew indignant. "What? The flyers live, and the longnecks live, but the threehorns don't?" Gesturing to a nearby juvenile stegosaurus, she added, "Does Spike get grandkids and I don't?"
To Littlefoot, I said, "Well, actually, the creatures with long necks aren't really related to you. I'm sorry for being misleading. I didn't plan on telling you."
Petri asked hopefully, "And the flyers?"
"You guys are doing fine. Lots of different kinds, all over the place. Or... wait, pterosaurs aren't proto-avians, are you? So yes, there are flyers. No, not your kind. But... you all have plenty of time. More lifetimes than you can count."
"Cera..." Littlefoot approached the triceratops.
She flared up. "Sad? I'll show you sad! One day, you'll all be dead too!" She ran off. Littlefoot looked to me and ran after her.
Spike looked up hopefully.
"Sorry, buddy. You too."
He went back to eating.
Ducky stayed. "No one lives forever. We knew that." Her resignation was heartbreaking. I felt terrible, though not as terrible as they felt.
I was rescued from angry parents by the sudden landing of the stone of cold fire in the middle of the valley, lowered by Nightmare Moon. |
My Little Mashup | Here Be Dragons | Nightmare Moon noted the gigantic dinosaurs arrayed around us and the stone of cold fire. After a quick glance, she dismissed them and turned to me. "How long to the future should we go?"
"I don't know. At least sixty five million years, possibly as much as one hundred twenty."
She spat out, "That's no narrower a range than before! Wider, even!" As she spoke, she formed a bubble formed around us, blocking out the raised voices of the dinosaurs.
"Princess, our knowledge of this era was highly incomplete. I wouldn't have expected that this set of creatures lived within a million years of each other. I... were you aware of my dream yesterday morning?"
She narrowed her eyes. "If you have something to tell me from it, say it."
"There is a method we might be able to use to move forward in time millions of years, continuously rather than in jumps. If it works out, we could react to the rise of human civilization in time to catch a ride home. I do not know the details, though. In my dream, I had them, but either I forgot or I didn't really have them."
"What is this method?"
"To spin around really fast. Our subjective time would slow down..."
"Oh, that. Impressive that you knew of such a thing..." - she eyed me with new appreciation - "... but it is not viable. I will need to find a way to establish a stream of time, then ride it."
She turned to the stone. It was as large as a house - or, more in context, a grown brachiosaur.
I looked out of the bubble, tried to imagine the emotions. Why had they believed me so quickly? Simply that they were children? Had something terrible happened lately?
And then it struck me: they're wild animals, only lately granted the ability to grasp the desperation of their situation. They're the middle, not the top of the food chain. Death is so very ordinary.
I found myself drying tears as I saw Littlefoot approach despite being nudged away by his grandfather. He looked at me reproachfully, and said something I couldn't hear through the bubble.
I've got to save them. I can. We can take eggs, and perhaps the little ones. If they'll come. Nightmare Moon might be able to simply abduct them. But what then? A tiny population, where? Home? Equestria? And how to get her to actually do it?
Still concerned with the stone, Nightmare Moon shook her head. "Ah. I see. Ha! The power here is locked up, and the key... despair. Omar, prepare yourself." Her horn began to glow more brightly, and she grew ominous, her blackness spreading out for the first time since that first night.
"No!" I cried out, trying to sound resolute rather than fearful - and, I think, doing a decent job. "Not yet!"
"You will address me as 'princess' or 'your highness'. You have a serious concern?" The dark cloud shrank, but became more concentrated.
If kissing her ass would save the dinosaurs, I was willing to do it. "Yes, princess. These creatures are weak compared to you, but they are strong compared to most ponies, and could stand against the demons. If you save their lives from the doom I told them of, they may be willing to serve you. Simply taking them away from their marginal life in this dangerous land might earn their loyalty."
She looked them over intently for the first time. "Yes, an army of dragons would be an asset."
"These are..." I'd been about to say "aren't dragons" but realized that wouldn't help my case, so I stopped.
"Yes. This is an excellent idea. I can almost feel the rightness to it. With such starting beasts, with such ambient power, with this stone of cold fire to forge their temperament and the elements of harmony to render the chimera fundamental... yes. This is enough. We can get started immediately."
The bubble fell, and Nightmare Moon announced to the crowd, "You live here in fear. Fear of the everyday, and fear of the end. These fears are well founded. We know of a time when all of you and all of your children and theirs, are dead. I have magic that will make you strong. You will live, and your descendants will be the greatest and most terrible of creatures: dragons."
The normally skeptical chief was silenced by her display of power, but grandfather longneck quietly said, "And if we do not wish to be terrible?"
Nightmare Moon hadn't considered this, but after a second supplied, "Dragons do not often use their terrible power."
The chief triceratops demanded, "And what in return?"
"Service - not of you, but of your descendants."
"What kind of life is that? To live for you? Think again."
I raised my hand before she could do anything rash. She calmed herself and turned to me. I nodded deeply and said, "Princess, you do not need very much service. Think how little dragons would actually help, day-to-day. Perhaps have them on call, for a day at a time, say, with a guarantee that they come and go in peace, and hold no grudge - and you can call no dragon more than once? Keep in mind that we can't make a deal that can't have been in force during your youth - the dragons cannot have already been serving you. And we need to drop them off to grow anyway."
The princess thought it over for mere seconds. "That will suffice." To the crowd, "Do you hear that? No dragon shall have to serve me more than one day. One day in a long life - far longer than your own - in return for the whole future of your people."
The triceratops growled, "What would we give up? Our home? Our children? Our eggs?"
Nightmare Moon smirked. "None of that. Nothing painful, even. Quite the opposite. I need five volunteers - all good friends, one from each of your kinds - to concentrate for some time. The rest of you, I need only an afternoon of your time. You can return to your lives, knowing that you've secured your legacy."
The chief looked around. "We... we'll have to think about it."
Nightmare Moon flared her nostrils in impatience; I came up close and whispered, "Princess, is there a reason to rush?"
She controlled herself. "If they don't decide soon, they won't agree. And for it to be binding, I can't befuddle them."
"Then try smiling and relaxing... and drop the black cloud."
She looked about herself as if first seeing the black cloud. It receded. She sat on her haunches and tried to relax and smile. It didn't look particularly sincere, but it was better than before.
Satisfied for the time being, I remembered Littlefoot had tried to say something to me, so I went to him. He was lying with his head on the ground. "Hi. You were trying to tell me something?"
"Why did you tell us? It just made us unhappy."
"I'm sorry. I didn't think it through. But... now you have a chance for your families to continue on in the future. It may be bad news, but it's a good thing."
"Our families... are dragons really so much like us?"
"I'm not sure... Well, I know Spike. Okay. He's a bit like your Spike, but walks upright and is smart and sociable. If he has terrible powers, he hasn't used them. But he looks tough. I wouldn't want to tangle with him. And there are a great many other kinds of dragon." I remembered a tapestry in Canterlot. "Some have horns and crests. Some have long necks and tails, and grow as large as your kind, but they can fly."
Littlefoot picked his head up. "Longnecks that can fly?"
I nodded, and could see the gears turning. His huge eyes blinked as he looked at nothing. "That's something. But there are no regular longnecks?"
"Not when I left, no."
Grandpapa Longneck's head suddenly swung in next to us. One of his huge eyes looked right at me. "We'd like to hear your story of what will happen to us. How will all of our children die?"
I followed him back, standing in the circle. The chief glared at me uncomfortably, then reiterated, "Tell us what you say is going to happen."
"I'll start long ago. The only animals were tiny. Hundreds of them could fit under my fingernails. They all lived in the ocean, floating about with hardly any control. Over time, some changed, and grew larger. They started growing shells and skeletons. Some became the fish, and all the creatures that only live in the sea, and the bugs. Later, some of the fish changed to be able to go on land, and then got better at it, with legs instead of fins. Over time, these grew and changed, and became a wide variety of creatures that lived on the land. From time to time, something terrible would happen - a huge volcano, or very large rocks falling from the sky, or just things getting cold, or dry, or some other animals moving in and competing - and life would get very difficult. Many of the creatures would die off, but those that lived would grow back, and change in new ways. After a few cycles like this, we come to where we are now. You are some of the greatest creatures that ever lived, dominating the Earth for dozens of millions of years!
"But in some more millions of years, a big rock will fall from the sky - the biggest in a long time indeed. Dust will fill the air, and things will get very cold. Most plants die. Most animals die. Some live, but you large dinosaurs are not among them. Life recovers, and after a long time, the furries you know grew up and changed to include creatures like me, and like her. We learned to use tools, to build. We're moving to prevent things like that from ever happening again. And if we can cooperate now, we'll save you too, so that the Earth's greatest creatures will last long into the future."
The chief grunted. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."
Others repeated, "Ridiculous" - "Impossible" - "Terrible".
Grandma longneck was whispering to grandpa longneck, and he back - then she objected, "The longnecks warded off stones from the sky before. We can again."
I was so confused I didn't even have a response for a moment - Cera face-footed, resoundingly muttering, "Oh brother. There they go."
Rather than confront her head on, I said, "I didn't say ordinary rocks. I said a big rock. It left a hole in the ground much larger than the Great Valley. Much much larger."
"We can and we did." She was somewhat disappointed by the reception of her claim among the others, but I still wasn't near having their general acceptance.
I looked around among them, and found two who were silent. I couldn't place just what they were. A sort of dromoceiomid? Knowing only skeletons, I could get no guidance from the wild colors all over, or the rainbow coloring on their faces.
My heart leapt. They were rainbow faces - what Pinkie Pie had advised me of! I addressed them directly: "What do you think?"
The nearer one looked around a little, and walked forward tentatively. She said, "We think you are a long way from home, child."
"And my two minute tale of the origin of species?"
The rainbow-face looked around to the others, more confidently. "You told them the truth."
The chief snarled, "Where did you come from? You weren't invited here."
She replied, "It seemed like something big was happening, so we dropped by."
The male approached alongside her, adding, "We have traveled further than you, seen more. And we say, he's telling the truth about what has been. That is - more or less - how life developed here."
They're aliens. Or time-travelers like us? I certainly haven't seen signs of a technological civilization here.
The chief humphed. "And the rest? This big rock that kills us all?"
The female said, "Quite possible, and there is not the slightest thing the longnecks could do to help. You have at least a million years before it strikes. Beyond that, we cannot say. I am inclined to believe him."
Aliens, then.
The chief looked around. "I don't trust you much more than I trust them. Last time I saw you, you lured Cera out of the great valley."
Cera, listening from the back, protested, "And we saved Ducky! They helped us save her!"
The male rainbow-face stepped forward until he was well into the chief's personal space. "I can see the signs. Take their deal, or go extinct. Accept it, and live as a species. It's that simple."
The triceratops shoved the rainbow-face and fell right through him. A hologram?
The other dinosaurs - and even Nightmare Moon - gasped. Murmurs rolled through the crowd. I hadn't expected it, but I was far from shocked.
The female rainbow-face added, "We can't help you. We'd happily push that rock aside, but as you can see, pushing on things isn't something we can do, here." From a shift in tone, I got the feeling that she was lying about pushing things - but not about her inability to help.
Ducky's mother came forward. "I accept." she said. "So many wonders. And the world is so terrible, who knows what can happen?"
One by one, then in large groups, they agreed to the deal. Last were the two elder 'longnecks' and the chief. Looking to each other for support, they too finally assented.
Nightmare Moon looked to me, pleased, though she spared a concerned glance to the rainbow faces - they backed well off, and watched.
When Nightmare Moon demanded five friends, one from each kind, the volunteers were obvious - the children I'd spoken with.
Nightmare Moon set them about the elements of harmony and gave each of them brief instructions. They closed their eyes and faced in. She flew up onto the stone of cold fire.
"Omar, join me here."
I climbed up after her. Once I was halfway up, her horn began glowing. A large translucent egg appeared in front of her, tumbling and spinning.
Then she intoned, loudly: "Make them promise!"
The dinosaurs, not counting the rainbow faces, repeated surprisingly precisely and synchronously, as if reading off a chant, "Our unlaid - unhatched - our children - our dragons. One day is not too much to give for your lives. Answer the call of Nightmare Moon. Serve the one responsible for your birth, for our survival."
She focused a few more seconds, then reorganized and strained. To me, she murmured, "Whatever you do, stay on the rock. At least, touch it."
"Why?" But no answer came. Soon, the adults were milling about, breaking their species divisions... and then nuzzling... and then mating.
Of course, given their purpose, to mix and make dragons, it wasn't too surprising that not a single one of them was mating with one of their own species, but it was still odd-looking: a stegosaur mounting a triceratops was the least odd. A parasaurolophus jammed himself up against a brachiosaur's enormous under-tail, presumably achieving some sort of penetration. None of them seemed to have the slightest self-consciousness or were giving any indication that this was in any way out of the ordinary. All of the sounds, though, were muffled.
I glanced down - the five friends were perfectly focused on the elements, which seemed to be completely absorbing them.
Nightmare Moon had her horn to the stone. I recalled what she'd said about temperament - that the stone would set that. Was she drawing out all of the coldness, all the fire, and giving it to dragons? I heard her murmuring clearly: was that 'deceit'? And 'selfishness'?
"What are you doing to them?"
Her horn dimmed for a moment. "I know how dragons ended up. If I try to make them some other way, something will come up that changes them back - and that'd ruin that promise."
It seemed unassailable, but there was something wrong about putting, say, 'hypocritical defensiveness' into someone's personality without their knowledge. I tried to think of a way to stop her, but was mesmerized by the now huge orgy in front of us. As I watched, a brachiosaurus came in a small geyser that drenched a parasaurolophus, obviously too small to accommodate him directly. Things were getting rowdier and rowdier.
The rock swayed as the ground shook. When I regained my footing, Nightmare Moon interrupted her murmurs to say, "I meant it - stay up here. I don't want any human in the mix." She said it almost mischievously, then returned to her work.
The orgy went on for what seemed like hours, all participants seemingly insatiable and impatient. Newcomers filtered in from outside the great valley - a male pachycephalosaur, a female ankylosaur - and, after a bit longer, a tyrannosaur arrived on the scene. She lay back, letting the comparatively diminutive pteranodons mush themselves up against her slit. When they were finished, one of the longnecks brushed them aside and gave her a proper mounting.
The earth around those two shook under a degree of pounding that couldn't have been normal for either of their species (could it?). The stone shook more than ever, even as the rest of the orgy seemed to be subsiding.
Nightmare Moon snarled, "Where is this coming from? Laziness? I suppose it fits, but I hadn't gotten there yet. Gluttony? That hardly fits at all!"
"Princess... don't forget that some dragons aren't all bad. You might want to recall their virtues. Haven't you known any?"
Nightmare Moon turned to me, angry - but before she could say berate me, she paused. Then, softer, she said, "Artie."
She stopped putting anything into the stone. "Oh, Artie. Now I understand." She looked out over the field of dinosaurs, then to the giant floating egg. "When you left, only then were you doing what I made you to do. All of our time together was just... my fighting your destiny. One I myself have just set over you."
Awesome! Personal breakthrough time! Goodbye, Nightmare Moon!
But no - she re-hardened, and gained resolve. "Now that I understand, I can work freely. But where... loyalty? Generosity? Where is this coming from? Did I? ... " She peered over the edge - I followed. A tail was leaning against the stone. A spiked tail, connected to Spike, the stegosaur, still focused on the elements.
Nightmare Moon's horn glowed. She was about to lift his tail aside. She was very precariously balanced on the side of the stone. And I was right next to her. And she'd just rejected her opportunity to make things better. This seemed like the only chance left to do anything.
"Look out!" I shouted, and shoved her to the side, as if out of the way of something. Not directly off the side of the stone, but enough that she'd fall.
She spread out her wings to stabilize, and I cursed - if she didn't fall, I was cooked. But she looked back past me, and to my surprise didn't look confused, but alarmed. I glanced back myself and found a longneck's tail headed straight at us.
This time when I leapt into her it was purely reflexive. Her wings spread, and I dragged against the stone, but she floated free.
I held one hand against the stone, following her advice, and watched as she landed and looked around in a daze. Will she remember all this? If not, that frees my hand a bit. But I can't count on that.
The sounds grew, their muffling stripped away as Nightmare Moon's magic subsided.
"Cera?" It sounded like Littlefoot.
I turned to the little ones. Apparently, the noise had disturbed them. Cera was looking out at the adults. "What... whoa. That's..."
"Hot." Littlefoot completed.
She blinked, and slunk over to him.
Slightly alarmed, he called, "Cera? Cera!"
Petri said, "I not hear what she tell you, but I think you supposed to stare at the stone... oh..."
Cera had nipped Littlefoot on the neck, and they were walking in circles sniffing each other.
Petri went on, "Cera not old enough to lay eggs! Stay here and watch the stone!"
Ducky added, "If you really want to, you can do that later. Right now, please stay with what you were asked to do?" But they didn't slow down or even notice, continuing their hasty romancing, and closing in on foreplay.
Holding one foot against the stone, I reached out and grabbed Littlefoot by the tail and pulled him hard enough that he backed up to relieve the tension. Even before his tail touched the stone, he shook his head and looked about.
Cera followed, still interested. Littlefoot dodged, admonishing her; and when I tried to pull her, she swung her horns at me - slowly, fortunately, so I didn't lose my arm. But the grazing contact with me seemed to weaken the aphrodisiac effect, and when she finally caught Littlefoot, and he was still touching the stone, she slowly recovered.
"Cera!"
"Umm. Right. Our stones."
They managed to hold concentration long enough to get back to their spots. That resolved, I looked around for Nightmare Moon. She was about twenty meters off, lined up for a turn at the pachycephalosaur, one of the few males still going. He filled the parasaurolophus he was mounting; a stegosaur stepped up, and he was erect again in mere seconds - and Nightmare Moon was next. If he can recover one more time, which seems likely, she's in for a rough time. And I think maybe the stone has had enough time without her.
"Hey! Over here!"
Nightmare Moon and the sperm-soaked ankylosaur after her shifted their attention my way. The ankylosaur began a galumphing run, so Nightmare Moon began flying. I climbed up the stone, and Nightmare Moon followed, then landed, and... "Ugh. I never cast that without falling prey to it." - she was back.
Then, realizing what she'd just said, she stopped; I pretended not to have heard. "I'm pleased to see you avoided... serious entanglements, princess."
She nodded. "It appears I did, and I presume I have you to thank." Ah! She didn't remember after all!
"No thanks needed, your majesty. It is only my duty."
In the excitement, she had forgotten about Spike's tail, so he continued pumping in whatever natural virtues and vices he had. After a few minutes, the egg was full. Nightmare moon sighed in satisfaction. "It appears we have succeeded. The chimera isn't quite perfect... but dragons aren't perfect chimeras." Her voice was odd - softer, almost ordinary. Almost confiding. She really trusts me.
She gestured to the sack I had been carrying the elements in. "Prepare a nest for us to carry the eggs in."
"And the elements of harmony?"
She snarled. "Harmony resists change, no matter how needed. Those on the bottom take what they get rather than what is just. You can leave them."
As I gathered grass and warmed it against my body, I thought back to the great civil resistance movements and doubted her claim... but those cases won't help her: she doesn't have a mass movement behind her. Any movement at all. Any hope. There's just no way for her to get what she really wants - the love of the people just like her sister enjoys, applying to herself and the night - and she has to know it. She knew it all along, which is why she became Nightmare Moon in the first place. But surely there are enough night-owl ponies? She probably just needs to find some. Or she could stop attaching herself so strongly to the night, just allowing herself to be appreciated as a pony.
Nightmare Moon brought several eggs, gathered from nooks and crannies where the reproductive energies had gathered - and not, surprisingly, from the reproductive tracts of the females. As I prepared the second layer of the nest, Spike silently approached with another. I put it in.
Cera said, "Hey! That's from your mom's ne..." Littlefoot batted her in the face with his tail, saying, "Then get some of your mom's."
Ah. They're sending dinosaur eggs. Good for them.
Nightmare Moon brought a second batch, not noticing the additions. In the end, we had thirty dragon eggs of various sizes, and two brachiosaur eggs, and four of each of the other kinds. Most of the weight was from two of the dragon eggs and the brachiosaur eggs. Nightmare Moon levitated the sack to ease their weight on each other - if she hadn't, half of the eggs would have cracked. As for the elements of harmony, I simply held them in my hands, not hiding that I was taking them. Nightmare Moon did not object.
She said, "Now are you ready?"
I looked around, soaking in my last view of the cretaceous (or jurassic, possibly?).
The male rainbow face popped up suddenly. Nightmare Moon bristled, but did not interfere. He said, "We checked carefully - there are no rocks capable of mass extinction due to hit for at least the next twenty million years, possibly longer. I believe that helps?"
I answered, "Yes it does, actually. That means we can make our first jump eighty five point three million years, and not have a chance of overshooting. Thank you very much."
Nightmare Moon begrudgingly nodded in acknowledgement of the significant help we had just received.
And then, she focused on the stone of cold fire. I gave one last wave to the kids before the despair struck. |
My Little Mashup | Back Towards the Future | The despair was indeed overwhelming. All I could visualize was Nightmare Moon running out of power, us getting stuck a million years in the past, and her forcing me to serve her for the rest of my short, miserable life. There was no fucking way anything else could happen. Right? Or worse, we'd get married. Then it would be the end of Zardoz all over again. Damn that movie. Totally ruined the slow movement of Beethoven's 7th - that was what my roommate used to say, anyway, every time his playlist hit that he'd rant about the movie. That would have ruined the symphony for me even if I hadn't seen the movie. And what was it that that summary review said? Something about equations being projected across Mae's naked breasts while she explained marxist philosophy, and there are sentences you sometimes write and then wonder went wrong in your life that that's something you ended up writing?
We jolted to a landing in the dark, with a strong hot wind pepperered with raindrops.
Nightmare Moon erected a bubble around us - not a spherical bubble, but a streamlined one. "You broke my despair! I established the timestream, but we barely got started."
I couldn't quite respond yet, stifling laughter.
She gestured to my hands. "Put those away." I looked down, realizing I was holding some marbles in a death-grip... marbles? The elements of harmony had shrunk. I carefully poured them in my windbreaker's breast pocket... and wham.
I had thought the despair was serious before. This time, there were no words. No images. Not even assertions. Just hopelessness, meaninglessness. The only refuge was in numbness - in the meaninglessness itself - and that was a pretty shitty refuge.
By the time I was aware that we had landed - aware of anything, really - we were in Nightmare Moon's traveling mist. That was very disorienting to become aware into. When we re-formed, I fell on my face in gritty sand. The air was ripe with salt and rot, jolting me further towards clearheadedness. It was an extremely hot night.
Nightmare Moon loudly declared, "We have proceeded eighty five and a half million years. We can jump four times without further preparation." As she said that, I absorbed our surroundings - the sea in front, and behind us, a vast desert. To our left, a crescent moon suggesting immediate pre-dawn or post-dusk.
"Okay. The species I'm most familiar with the development of on these time-scales is... the horse! Let's go find us some eohippus or merychippus or whatever they've got these days. And keep an eye out for any sort of mammal..."
Hunting up some proto-horses took all night, most of which was spent finding grasslands. In the morning light, Nightmare Moon caught a few specimens and I examined them.
"How long?"
"We have at least twelve million years to go. Maybe longer - much longer, even - but not close to fifty million. There's major diversity of mammals, so we're nowhere near the beginning of the Eocene. And it gets worse. If we end up around, say, a million years back, then we're too close for evolutionary time scales to be much help unless we can find humans, but there were so few of those for so long, the search could take years, and even so it'd be hard to figure out just when we were. Even skipping the ice ages... Better to look for Equestria in that case. If it is that old, and if that would actually help."
"Finding Equestria would solve the problem immediately. We shall jump your twelve million years. Are you prepared to despair?"
Not really, but what else could I do? I took a deep breath, knelt, and nodded, and let the inevitability of entropy strike me again.
We appeared on a grassy hillside near a mountain, surrounded by a golden deciduous forest mixed with stubby evergreens. Having knelt, I was more stable upon landing, giving me a more relaxed recovery. The sun was on the horizon, and I pulled my windbreaker on to ward against the chill.
Nightmare Moon frowned, sniffing. "Worlds. There are other worlds about. Perhaps Equestria. One of the entrances is near."
We left the stone of cold fire behind for a bit, along with the eggs in a climate-controlled bubble. I followed her up the slope, to a rock outcropping. Most of the way up, Nightmare Moon relaxed. "Yes. Right here... it's pressed up close, but there's no basis of similarity to bridge with."
"Isn't it odd that we'd find a world so close to where we landed?" I asked.
She took a moment to allow me to provide an honorific; upon not getting one, she thundered, "You continue in your familiar disrespect. Have court manners dropped so far in my absence, or are you a lout?"
After a moment of consideration, I replied, "I am not accustomed to your court rules, your highness."
"In the court only the nobles may look us in the eye, after a deep supplication. All others must avert their gaze entirely. As I have not assumed the throne, I have not insisted on this yet, but accustom yourself to it."
"I will comply, your highness." I bowed low, then stood and looked her in the eyes. She raised an eyebrow in acknowledgement of my seeming claim of nobility. "Princess, this particular protocol has changed in the time you were absent."
"It will be reinstated. Acknowledging the essential difference of royalty is itself essential to order."
I chose my words with care: "You may wish to examine the causes and history of this change before attempting to reverse it. At the least, you will want to anticipate the side-effects of such a decree."
In a voice of cold fire, she hissed, "It is essential." Less extremely, she went on, "I must learn how this could have happened, so I can reverse it before my coronation, so I will never be reigning princess without it." Then after a moment, she added, "Join me."
I came up close, wondering just how much more of her I could take. With a little more trepidation, I wondered how much more of me she could take. We misted up, went nowhere, and reformed.
We were in a city, mostly stone, mostly intact, and very grand. Nothing was living. A red sun hung high in a sky that verged on black so dark that several other stars could be made out clearly. All of the building interiors were, similarly, black, the dim red light outside just sufficient to prevent adapting one's eyes to see in. Odd - red light is usually best for seeing in low light conditions. Different world, different rules?
Nightmare Moon's hoofbeats rang out with long echoes as she took a few short steps before halting again. Her manner did not betray any unease, but I don't believe for a moment that she wasn't on edge. It was damn creepy. Her horn began glowing that painful black, and I wished I hadn't lost my sunglasses back in Celesteville. That was probably some pretty hefty UV... if not something worse. Oh crap.
I whispered, "Princess... I know of only one thing that can cause this sort of destruction."
Her voice was soft too, but not down to a whisper: "A deplorable word."
"I was thinking neutron bombs, but I yield to your expertise. What does it do?" It's funny how hearing about a magical world-destroying effect was less scary than the possibility of lingering radioactivity.
She didn't answer directly, instead setting out at a stiff walk. "The speaker of the word is this way."
"Still alive?"
She glared at me. "I am not here to explain everything." But as she followed the trail, enough time passed that she did, if only to alleviate my oppressive ignorance: "Worlds exist in different ways. This world is clay - like yours - but rather than governed by light, is governed by the spoken word. Also, life in this world is not based in the clay like in your world, nor from individual springs of light like in Equestria - here life springs from a central source of the words. A 'deplorable word'... contradicted that source, convincingly, for all others."
I pondered whether this elaborate model could actually have any predictive power, or whether it was just endless description adding more and more layers without ever pinning anything down.
The palace gates were barred, but after a few moments of levitation, the bars thunked down and one door of the gate swung open. I felt like I was wandering into the Tomb of Horrors as a level 1 thief. Even if I was with a level 15 princess of darkness, it just wasn't a good place to be a minion.
But my fears were not borne out. The palace was opulent, with statues and murals and the odd fountain. Much of it was open to the air, though it had clearly not always been so - at times we picked our way over shattered skylights. There was damage to the walls - large gouges that extended across stone blocks - that seemed surely from fighting. This was less than reassuring, but everything about us persisted in remaining still and dead. Most importantly, not killing us.
We came, finally, to a room with people in it. Or rather, very convincing statues, seated in a row. All were good-looking, and not a few were very attractive indeed. The nearest to us was a tall, fierce woman, grimly satisfied, and sizzling hot. I moved along the line, looking at the others. They were all richly dressed, and had the same proud bearing. Those after the first were a bit less fierce, and those further on were neutral, and at the far end, a benevolent smile was the norm.
"So, which is it?" Of course, I could have easily guessed which one it was - the first. These good people could not have said such a word and remained that way. But Nightmare Moon was looking in the middle of the room, staring at a pedestal supporting a bell. I approached her and looked - there were words in a foreign language, but after a few moments I got a sense that the meaning was just out of reach, and if I thought...
Nightmare Moon, having already spent this time, recited,
Move to strike the bell of wonder
Or halt and make your dearest blunder:
Claim the power, treasures find,
or stay your hand and lose your mind.
After a pause, she said, "I'd expect pentameter from a place like this, not vulgar tetrameter."
I cracked. "That's odd - to me, it began to form something like what you read, but now it just says 'bite me'." I struggled and succeeded in keeping a straight face, seriously wishing I'd just kept my mouth shut. I can not afford to break character as her faithful if somewhat headstrong servant!
Fortunately - and against all expectation, given her recent rants - she ignored me and added, "The enchantment producing this doggerel shared a trigger with another - presumably one to induce mad curiosity - but its form was specific to creatures of the word, and we were unaffected." She twitched. "At least, not effectively." After a few more moments of inspection, she traced along the floor up to that first statue. "And if the bell is rung, it starts a chain reaction which results in waking this woman."
She paused. "So, Omar. You always seem to have something to say, and sometimes it was worth hearing. What do you say now?"
"Burn!" I thought, but the obvious question arose: "If we wake her... well, if she knew that much magic, she might have tricks that would work on us. And why would we even wake her? She committed omnicide. She doesn't even bother to hide her contempt. I strongly suggest we let sleeping bitches lie and work on getting home."
Nightmare Moon approached the woman, and spoke with a twisted tenderness. "I wonder what drove her to it. What failure or loss could she not bear? What evil was so great that oblivion was preferable?"
"Oblivion for everyone else, that is."
"As she sleeps here, do you think she is the slightest bit aware?"
"And she'll wake some day, when some stupid, evil person wakes her up."
"Stupid? Evil? Do not tell me of what your tiny perspective considers right or wrong!" Her nostrils flared and she stomped a thunderous stomp. I staggered back, and my elbow bumped the bell.
It started as a thunk, but once my elbow wasn't touching it, it ran clear. I grabbed it, trying to stifle the sound, but it amplified, growing. After a second I could not bear to touch the vibrating bell any longer, and stood back, covering my ears against the now-overwhelming sound.
Nightmare Moon created a bubble about herself (I was left to deal with the sound on my own) and went to face the sorceress. I moved alongside Nightmare Moon as close as possible. As the sound peaked, bits of stone broke free and fell from the ceiling - but soon the sound halted abruptly. |
My Little Mashup | The Slow Path | The palace as a whole moaned briefly, then all was still. Nightmare Moon dropped her bubble.
The woman's eyes snapped open. A moment later, she had leapt to her feet, towering over us both. "Who has woken me?"
Nightmare Moon replied haughtily, "I am Nightmare Moon, princess of Eque-"
The sorceress continued, addressing me directly, pointing with a commanding finger, "Who are you? Speak!" Her voice carried force like Nightmare Moon's had at the peak of her rage.
I swallowed. "Omar."
Nightmare Moon indignantly burst forth, "Ingrate! Your manners make Omar seem princely."
The sorceress spared a mere glance for Nightmare Moon before instructing me, "Quiet your steed."
The brazenness of this dismissal shocked Nightmare Moon beyond coherent words or action. I replied, "Her royal highness, Nightmare Moon, princess of Equestria. It appears you have difficulty understanding her, but she can understand you. She would appreciate an introduction in return."
She looked at Nightmare Moon intently for several seconds, raising a half-contemptuous eyebrow. "I am Jadis, queen of Charn, city of the king of kings, the greatest wonder of the world." Then to me, "Does your princess rule any city greater?"
Nightmare Moon replied coolly, "Equestria has many cities and towns and villages with hundreds of times as many ponies as Charn - and in better repair, too."
An even snarkier response had occurred to me ('She currently leads an exploratory force greater'), but gathering the courage to say this was difficult. I attempted to repeat it faithfully. I say 'attempted' since when I reached 'villages', Jadis swooped in as if to clock me. She was faster than the raptors, and the only thing that saved me was her changing her mind most of the way through. "Impudence! I will not be insulted by animals and commoners!" She grabbed the bell and crushed it.
Nightmare Moon went on, "Ask what happened."
I maneuvered alongside her for protection before translating: "Please explain what happened here, then."
Jadis snarled and backed off, ranting and wandering. "You must have seen the greatness of the city. My mother" - she gestured to the woman who had been seated next to her - "ruled it well, with my help. I kept the order among the slaves, directed the armies to consolidate her rule, offered the sacrifices, fended off the killers in the night, and slew or tamed great monsters.
"When she died, my sister dared raise a revolt. She, who knew nothing of managing an empire. Simply with her words she undid decades of work bringing the houses in line, even riling up the slaves. Her easy promises lured so many. And yet, even with the mess she created, I would have allowed peace with her - and left her her life, and those of her leaders too! - if only she relinquished her claim. But in her pride - her delusion! - she doomed the world. Even through the war, we had promised - and I held to it! - not to use Magic. But she thought she could use just a little. I tolerated a little divination here and there - worse than her regular scouts! - but when she dissolved the garrison at Felinda, she foreswore any protection of that promise. So when her scum had slain the last of my loyal soldiers... nothing held me back. As she came to face me, I said the deplorable word."
I prompted, "So, you'd say there was an essential difference between you and the common folk you obliterated?"
Jadis was slightly disconcerted by the question. "Why, of course!"
I looked to Nightmare Moon, while keeping an eye on Jadis. "Sound familiar?"
Nightmare Moon hadn't been expecting that. "What? Not at all. No pony would ever do a thing like that."
"Just what do you think the consequences of completely unbroken night are?"
A moment passed. "I didn't mean it literally!"
"Uh-huh." Ladies and Gentlemen, we have achieved cognitive dissonance.
Jadis wore (what I hoped Nightmare saw was) the fakest smile in the history of Charn as she approached Nightmare Moon. "I can see the power in you, dear princess. If you would be so kind as to show me to some land full of your enemies, I could rise to rule them, and we would be... friends." She had elegance, of a sort - that of a taut spiderweb. (spiders, please forgive the insult)
Nightmare Moon said, "I know of such a land."
"Princess, this is a terrible idea."
"Silence, fool." Jadis waved at me and my lips slammed shut, and turned back to Nightmare Moon. "What does he know about matters of state? So very, very common. We know the true burden of leadership."
It took me a moment to realized I really couldn't open my mouth. I tried gesturing, but Nightmare Moon ignored me, paying attention only to Jadis. Myth: Unicorn horns have curative powers... I leaned over and pressed my lips to Nightmare Moon's horn. "Princess..." Confirmed!
Nightmare Moon was shocked, but Jadis was furious. "You will see your still-beating heart drain before your eyes!" And she reached for my chest, fast enough for it to be a punch. Fast enough Jet Li would have been hard-pressed to block.
I went flying, my chest searing with pain in five little points where her fingers had struck. I tried to regain my breath as I lay on the floor, wondering what had just happened, wondering why there was a smell of burning flesh.
Nightmare Moon was laughing, and Jadis growling, wary of me. She seemed to have come off the worse - her hand, still rapidly regenerating and flaking off ashes, looked like it belonged on a centenarian. She shook her head and faced Nightmare Moon - "As I was trying to say before your slave interrupted me..."
I rolled to my knees, and the elements shifted in my breast pocket, hot through the cloth. Aha! "Princess, why are we still here? She's lying to you."
Nightmare Moon's laughter had died down. "Because it amuses us. She believes she can use and betray us, true. But we can use her, and have no need to betray her. She will get her country, yes, and stew in the knowledge that I did not need to lie."
To say all this to me, she had turned her head on Jadis. Now, she had eyes on the side of her head - that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Jadis was faster than a snake-strike, and mounted Nightmare Moon. In reflex, Nightmare Moon dissolved into mist. The mist quickly whipped off into the distance, back the way we'd come.
And I was all alone in Charn.
I went back to the entry point in the city, waiting for Nightmare Moon to return - I assumed she'd headed this way to shift back to Earth, and neutral ground where Jadis would not have an advantage.
When she persisted in not returning, I tentatively concluded that Jadis had won - but I also considered it possible that in their fight Nightmare Moon had gone to a third world and then gotten lost, or that the connection between these worlds was broken - but I did not expect that she'd be back any time soon, if she hadn't made it back yet.
Two days later, this conclusion was significantly stronger. Late on the first day, I'd found a source of water - a deep cistern's maintenance hatch had been blasted open, and it was still fed from a single inlet. Of food, I'd found none but salt. Apparently, the deplorable word had wiped out not only everything living but everything organic, too.
Though I hadn't been blasted like Jadis, my chest developed five nasty welts where she'd struck me. They hurt considerably, a constant distraction.
I searched for a week. Between the pain and general intractabiity of my situation, I was often not even sure what I was looking for. A passage out, perhaps, more like the blue valley, with what Nightmare Moon had called a 'bridge of similarity'. Nothing turned up.
Faced with the prospect of starvation, I conceived a desperate plan. I would sit in the chair. If the enchantment persisted, I might be able to wait for someone to save me. If, also, the bell still worked after Jadis had crumpled it up like it was origami. But to raise my chances, I needed to prepare.
I spent my last few days on Charn arranging stones to aim people towards the hall with the people. In the room itself, I used a very nice chalk set I'd found to convey the broad strokes of the tale in cartoon form: Jadis says something to a crowd. They all fall over. She sits in chair. A figure with a jacket and a horse show up. He rings bell. Jadis wakes up, steals horse. Man sits in chair. The bell and my best self-portrait, smiling.
The portrait wasn't accurate - I had developed a beard. The last thing I did was to find a straight razor and learn to use it. If I was going to sit there for a million years, I was going to do it with some dignity.
And I sat down.
And there were two kids arguing: "I told you nothing would happen!" - a boy of about eleven, wearing one of those Victorian school outfits. Something nineteenth-century, anyway. "The bell's busted. And..."
The girl pointed to me. She was in a dress with a wide V-collar, and which was thoroughly soaked along the bottom edge. "He's waking up, I think."
It took me another moment before I could move. I cleared my throat. "Thank you very much. What year is it?"
"I don't suppose that'll do you very much good, seeing as you're from another world."
"Possibly. My world is called Earth, and I was born in the United States of America. You?"
The girl glanced to the boy. "Oh. That's ours, yes. We're from London."
The boy added, "It's 1867. I'm Digory. She's Polly."
"I'm Omar. How did you get here? And... do you have anything to eat? I haven't eaten in over a week, not counting the millions of years I was sitting there."
A few seconds later I was softening some toffee in my mouth. It was very rich.
Polly took Digory's hand as if to hold him back. "If you don't mind, would you finish your explanation of how you got here? You rode a horse?" She gestured to my cartoons.
Through my chewing, I said, "No... not exactly. She's a unicorn pegasus princess. She turned into fog which enveloped me, and when it cleared, here we were. We accidentally freed the evil queen Jadis. She fought with the princess, and left the world in the process. Neither came back."
They took a moment to absorb that. Digory said, "You're not joking."
"Quite right. Now, can we get out of here? I've had enough of this place."
They silently conferred, and agreed. Digory said, "All right, how do we do this? We have two rings and three people. One of us can ferry him to the wood, then bring the other ring back... So, which job do you want? Go, or stay here?"
Polly folded her arms. "I'll stay. If you're not back in a minute... I'll figure you reappeared in the courtyard instead of here. Do hurry back if you do."
"Blimey, I didn't even think of that. All right, then. Shall we?"
Then Polly put one hand into each pocket. From one pocket, she pulled a yellow ring, and handed it to me. I held the ring, but she didn't let go right away, looking significantly to Digory.
And then she let go. Charn faded away, and I felt like I was rising through water. I couldn't quite convince myself to breathe, but I wasn't at all wet. I came to the surface and crawled out of a pool in a very neat, dim wood full of such pools.
The sheer relief of being out of Charn was amazing. And this place seemed so peaceful. I sat down under a tree. A hamster ran past with a ring tied to its back.
A few seconds later, Digory and Polly crawled out of the same pool.
Digory joked, "Slept for millions of years and you still need a nap?"
"It wasn't the least bit restful, I'm afraid. Is it okay to take off the ring? All right, here you go. What next?"
The two conferred briefly. Digory asked, "What year are you from? America isn't millions of years old..."
"2010."
Polly said, "Oh. That's not quite home."
"No, it really isn't."
"Maybe you could get back in the chair, and we'd wake you later when we're old? We could get you to, say, 1930 that way, or at least 1910."
"That... that is a very interesting proposition, perhaps the best." So we returned to the Charn pool, but in it were dark swirls, and with a mere glance we dismissed the idea of returning there. "So, Earth. Or what other worlds have you explored?"
Digory said, "That was the first. And I don't think you'd much like Earth, considering you'd have to get past my uncle."
Polly went up to another pool and said, "Well, come on then. How about this one?"
In short order, we jumped in and landed in complete blackness, on featureless flat ground. A very healthy, complete dark. Nightmare Moon would have found it very comforting, I thought. A night that was totally right. But I said, "It appears that this isn't anywhere. Try somewhere else?"
Digory said, "Sure."
Switching rings, we were back in the wood. Our explorations were quick drop-ins like that, finding worlds that certainly weren't Equestria - or if they were, in such an inconvenient spot it didn't do any good. There was a world seemingly made of balloons, a world of volcanoes, a world populated by anthropomorphic playing cards (!), and then... there it was. In broad daylight, from this high vantage point, I could see everything. "That's Canterlot on the mountain over there. And if I'm not mistaken, the entrance to the Blue Valley and thus the Land of the Elephants is over there off to the left. Which means Ponyville is practically right in front of us, though I can't see it."
I handed back the ring. "Thank you so much. I've got it covered from here."
Polly said, "Would you mind if we came with you? This seems a pleasant enough place."
I considered. I was heading back into a war zone, but of course none of those would start for another hundred and fifty years. And they seemed eager enough explorers. And they could escape at any moment. "All right."
We hiked down, and explained to each other more of how we had gotten here. I told them everything but about Discord, who didn't seem important, and of course I omitted the sexy parts. Polly seemed especially interested in the land of the Elephants.
And then we came to the ancient ruined palace. I felt it drawing me in. Or my breast pocket, anyway.
I walked confidently to the center, where, on a stand, the elements of harmony were laid out. I pulled my future instances of them out of my breast pocket and compared them. Mine were small marbles, now, and flattened some on one side, Jadis' fingerprints seared into them. Twilight Sparkle said to put them south of the big rock south of this palace.
The three of us split up, scouting for things that might be useful for digging. Then I heard a scream. Dashing through the forest to help, I tripped over an upward-protruding stone and fell into a bush. Cursing, I tried to drag myself free but came face-to-face with these terrible red eyes...
... and then I had not a mote, and not a beam, but a whole avalanche in my eyes. And my legs were pretty well immobile. What? |
My Little Mashup | Intermission | Nightmare Moon drifted from total unconsciousness to delirium. Moments from the fight drifted back to her. Mainly, the last moment, when Jadis caught in her hand a lightning bolt Nightmare Moon had hurled over her shoulder, and directed it into Nightmare Moon's back.
Jadis grinned widely. "Oh, excellent. I love it when you come to for this. Your helplessness is so much more sweet when you can appreciate it yourself."
She brandished a serrated knife, and reached forward with her other hand. She seized Nightmare Moon's horn. Like all the other times, she tried to struggle, but nothing happened.
Jadis slashed with the knife, the huge motion producing a tiny nick on her neck, the twenty-second in a neat line. Then she pulled the princess's horn back, opening the cut wider. Blood welled out, and she began licking it up.
Eventually, she was done. Her bloodstained face came into view. "Delicious as always, my pet. So much to drain, and so very much time to do it in."
Then she scraped a paste off of a leaf into her prisoner's lips. Nightmare Moon's vision went dark.
All right. Wait a minute for her to go. It's full moon. My best chance to make it. Next time, I'll be way too weak. She felt the moon beating down on her body, pouring in strength, like a watering can into a vast desert. It wasn't much, but it was enough to reach out to the stone of cold fire.
And she had nowhere near the strength needed to wield it. Despair filled her, and she could not reach through enough of it to find the fire. Everything was meaningless. Conquest was meaningless. Equestria was meaningless. The balance of night and day was meaningless. Revenge was meaningless. Love was meaningless. Embarrassment was meaningless. Pride was meaningless.
One constant remained - for good or for ill, the one everything had always been about - "Oh, sister..."
She was in a strange palace courtyard, on the ground. Celestia was on a bench above her, also looking ill. Elephants, including two in crowns, and an elderly female human, were sitting about as well. It was evening, and the stars were beginning to come out.
Celestia picked up her head. "Luna?"
She didn't care.
Celestia said, "Look at the stars. Can't you feel them humming?"
She complied without intending to. She had loved the night, once. This moon bore the mark she'd placed.
Celestia went on, "These stars are suns in their own right. The moon rises in daytime. Here, our domains include each other."
More seriously: "You need to know when you are, don't you?"
She closed her eyes, and Celestia felt what she felt.
Celestia murmured, "You need more than the date! I'm weak, sister, but I will do what I can."
Luna's head began to clear, and she began to see again - and she could move more than her eyes.
With this strength, I can break free. But what then? I do need that date, too. And there she is, in the world with this moon! They know these things! Luna started, "When..." - She made sure she said it only to Celestia, not Jadis as well - "When did Tycho crater form?"
Celestia repeated this out loud for the benefit of the elephants, who could not see her hallucinations. One in a red and white suit whipped out a pad of some sort and began tapping at it. His answer was indistinct, but Celestia relayed, "One hundred and eight million years."
Luna reached out to the planets around Celestia, found six, and memorized their locations. "Thank you."
The courtyard collapsed as Celestia fell below delirium and Luna rose out of it. She stood up, shakily, and hobbled away as quietly as she could. One hundred and eight, less how far we've come is... ten and a half million years. I can work out the precise date from the planets once I'm vaguely close. And Omar thought that would be a problem!
She paused. Omar... She felt no echo, not even from the other world. Gone. The emptiness she felt about that took its place next to the rest of the emptiness that was only slowly draining away.
Feeling stronger, she spread her wings and flew. Even if Jadis could track her, she could not catch up. |
My Little Mashup | The Stare | I freed myself from the roots that entangled my legs. Flakes of dirt cracked and fell as I moved. Once I was mobile, I looked around - this was recognizably where I'd just been, with the same large rocks and dip, but it was more eroded. And all the plants were different.
Okay, so it seems I was frozen in time somehow. What was that I saw, anyway? I thought back. I'd only seen it for a moment, its chicken-lizard body and terrible eyes... Cockatrice. I'm lucky to be alive at all.
Since I'd heard a scream before being petrified myself, I figured Polly or Digory must have been petrified as well. I searched about for either of them for several minutes, but found neither.
I returned to the ruins to get my bearings, and found a large hole just south of the large rock south of the ruins. Shit. I'm late... The hole was freshly dug - the heap of removed dirt was still damp on top. But not terribly late. They might still be nearby!
I called out, "Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy?"
Not receiving a response, I headed to the top of the ruins to reorient myself, and set out for Ponyville.
After one heck of a hiking experience including a rickety rope bridge, swimming across a stream sidestroke with my clothes held over my head, and a narrow cliffside path, I got close enough to Ponyville that I needed to think about running in to zombies. Or rather, I should have already been worrying about it, since one swooped down from the sky at me. I dodged to the side; she wheeled around for a second pass and got her head stuck in the crook of a tree. She was light blue - for a moment I was worried she was Rainbow Dash, but the purple tail proved otherwise. Flying zombies. Shit. At least they're too fast for their own good.
I ran, but she freed herself and soon we were weaving among the trees. I screamed for help.
And then, the pursuit stopped. I waited behind a tree, listening carefully, trying to quiet my breathing.
"That was really good, Mr. Cockatrice. Did you like that? I thought you would."
Fluttershy?
Covering my eyes, I stepped out from behind the tree. "Fluttershy!"
"Oh! Omar! You're back!"
"Yeah. Is it safe to look? I was just at the ruins to drop off the elements, and I got turned to stone, and then it was today, and I wasn't stone anymore."
Fluttershy turned to the basket. "Oh. Ooh. Now, Mr. Cockatrice, did you do that? I see. Well, thank you very much for freeing him today. Yes, that was just perfect. Better than I hoped for. Yes!"
I tentatively glanced at the source of her voice. She was carrying the cockatrice in a large basket. His eyes were kind of ugly, but didn't turn me to stone.
A call filtered through the woods - Rainbow Dash? "Fluttershy! Got another one over here!"
She swooped off, and I followed. Following the sounds of voices, I came upon the gang circled around another two now-petrified zombie ponies.
Fluttershy was just saying, "Now that she's safe, I just wanted to say, I found Omar."
Twilight Sparkle asked, "And Nightmare Moon?"
"Didn't see her."
I coughed, and they turned. Twilight Sparkle ran up eagerly. "You made it after all!"
I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the elements. "Yeah. So, here you go."
She looked at them. "These are the elements of harmony? What happened to them?"
Misremembering, I said, "Evil sorceress queen."
"And what happened to Nightmare Moon?"
"Evil sorceress queen."
"Oh. Well, where is this queen now?"
"No clue. Last I saw her was millions of years ago."
"So, not urgent. Now, let's see if we can use these things."
The other five each claimed their chosen element, and they stood in a circle. Twilight looked to each and said, "We've come a long way together. At first, I was just following instructions, then I was trying to save Equestria. But over the past few days, when we were struggling to keep our heads above water, and there were no elements for us to hope for, I found myself looking to you more and more anyway. If this doesn't work, I'm just going to tell you - it really must be my doing the magic totally wrong, because you all are my friends, and the best friends I've ever seen anyone have." With a deep breath, she added, "Here goes."
She drew in magic, and the stones began glowing lavender, then white. And a bright light shone from her eyes - which was pretty startling - and then they were all wearing personalized gemmed necklaces - and on Twilight Sparkle's head, a tiara formed from nothing.
Rainbow Dash hopped in the air. "Now that's more like it!"
Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath. "Now... what can we do with this? The only thing we know it's done is to bind Nightmare Moon."
I observed, "That doesn't seem particularly close to its nature of friendship."
"Right. So it can probably do more... benign things. But I'm not going to risk it. We continue with the petrification until this situation is all under control. Find Discord, bind him, bind Macidexia, then see what still needs to be done."
We worked our way towards Ponyville, finding a few more zombies - but once we hit the town proper, it seemed everyone was on the street. A wave of stoning passed through the town with us on our way to the hospital.
It was a cacophony of moans, and the entrance and windows were barricaded. Twilight Sparkle ripped the door open with magic and cleared the path. "Doctor?"
Rarity whispered to me, "Doctor Draymore has very good reflexes. He hasn't been bitten yet despite treating them from the first patient!"
This suddenly struck me as suspicious. Was Discord working through him?
He called out, "In here..."
Applejack, further ahead, rushed into a side room. "Who tied you up?"
"I did. I haven't been bitten, but I'm feeling the early symptoms. It's not just through saliva. Did you get the blood samples to Canterlot?"
Applejack said, "Yeah, Rainbow Dash did that yesterday. You don't remember?" Meanwhile, Twiight Sparkle and Rarity formed bubbles around us to ward off airborne infection.
"Oh. Right... Get away from me, then. Don't risk yourselves."
Twilight Sparkle quietly said, "We have a cockatrice. Is there anyone who you'd say is better off being petrified while waiting for the cure?"
The doctor thought for a moment - "Petrified? I... can you undo that?"
"Yes. It's... very unpleasant, but not injurious."
"Then, at least the worst - Cheerilee and Sweetie Belle - and... you're sure it works?"
Twilight Sparkle nodded.
"Do all of us. Then fumigate the whole hospital from the air. It's the only way to be sure."
Keeping close together, we swept through the hospital, leaving statues in our wake. Every zombie was tied down or locked in a room - including another doctor and four nurses, all zombies.
Then we came upon granny Smith. She snarled pathetically, straining at the packing twine holding her back.
Twilight Sparkle put up a hoof, stopping Fluttershy. "I did have a serious fright. What might it do to her?"
Applejack swallowed. "Are you saying it's not so safe?"
"For the ponies we've encountered so far, sure. And I've been thinking about the elements. We can focus on healing and being gentle, with not a touch of anger. It might be ineffective, but it's not going to hurt her. And if it works, we've found a better solution."
Applejack locked eyes with her, and nodded. "All right. Let's try."
The six focused, and the elements began humming. I stuck my head out into the hallway, making sure no pony was about, going to take our rear.
After a minute, Twilight Sparkle said, "That's as far as we can go. Let's back off, slowly."
After a few more seconds, granny Smith cleared her throat and said, "Well, how did I get in here?"
I slipped in to get a look as Applejack rushed in to give her a gentle hug. "Granny, it's good to have you back."
"Didn't know I was gone!"
Then the others crowded around and it was a wonderful scene of pure happiness until granny Smith bit Twilight Sparkle on the leg. |
My Little Mashup | Patient Zero | Twilight Sparkle ripped her leg free from granny Smith's mouth as the others recoiled. After staring at the blood on her leg for a solid three seconds, ignoring the confusion and hubbub, she cut through it: "Quiet! Get me only if you need me. Mr. Cockatrice?"
She assumed a stable stance and stared at him, her intent clear. The cockatrice obliged; she shivered in momentary, expected horror, and was stone. And he was while at it, he froze granny Smith.
We were speechless for another three solid seconds. Applejack swallowed. "Well, she's got grit."
Rainbow Dash recovered and tried to push her away from the bed. "And she weighs a ton. If we do need her, it had better be right here."
The other three were still picking their jaws up off the floor, so I nudged them - "Fluttershy, why don't..." and I stopped, realizing I'd been about to give an order that would interfere with Discord's plans - something I'd been bound not to do - and apparently strong suggestions counted. Fortunately, the tone was enough to snap Rarity (if not Fluttershy) out of it.
"Here, I'll help with her..." she focused her magic and lightened Twilight Sparkle, and with Applejack's help, they were able to push her out the door.
Pinkie, meanwhile, coached Fluttershy back into activity. I kept the rear-guard - and it was a good thing I did, as a foaming earth pony shambled up behind us. With my warning, they petrified her with a decent bit of room to spare. That, however, clued us in that some of them were free, so we rejoined the three pushing Twilight Sparkle along.
They'd found another wanderer themselves, and Rarity had bound her up with some ribbons done up in a neat bow. Once she was stone, Rarity reclaimed the ribbon.
"That was a nice bit of lassoing in tight quarters! You'd make a fine farm hand!" Rarity did not seem to appreciate Applejack's compliment.
Leaving Twilight Sparkle in the hallway, we went as a group from there, hitting each room and then checking carefully - and gingerly. Having the longest arms, I was on closet-opening duty - and found zombies in several closets. In each case, they hissed at the light and lunged - and skidded to the ground, petrified.
Because we were moving methodically, we heard one room long before we came to it. Rattles, hisses... I dreaded what I'd see in there, remembering that Cheerilee was said to be the worst. My fears were founded. She was bound spread-eagled with heavy ropes that looked out of place in the hospital room. When she saw us, she spat and hissed some more, and made chomping motions. Fluttershy was afraid to go in, and none of us really trusted the cockatrice away from her. I began my sweep anyway, figuring I could retreat to the door. Cheerilee, I found, was alone.
I drew the sheet over her body and stood back so she couldn't spit on me (she'd managed to get out of her mask). She struggled, panted, then stared.
Once she was quiet, I said, "Hey there. We're working on this. Now, to buy you some time, we've brought a cockatrice, who's going to turn you into stone. It's going to be scary, but we know how to change you back. And so when you're back, we'll have doctors with a cure, or at least an idea for a cure. They'll get you all fixed up. You got that?"
She hissed.
"I'll take that as a yes." I gestured for Fluttershy to come in, and she managed it. Cheerilee howled - and it was cut off as she was petrified.
Sweetie Belle was similarly restrained in the next room - Rarity simply couldn't go in.
Then, we came to the general children's ward. Most of them charged immediately. Their statues formed a ring which made getting further in a bit tricky.
But there were wheezing breathing sounds, so we knew we had to go in. Applejack gently shifted two aside, and Fluttershy closed her eyes and let herself be led by Pinkie. The first remnant was one filly who apparently had three broken legs. She was easily petrified. We continued the sweep.
I tried to open one closet door, but it was suddenly pulled closed. "No! Go away!"
Rainbow Dash said, "Scootaloo?"
"Yeah. Who is it? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, we're fine. Are you?"
"I think so. When they made me come in to look at me, some of the other fillies went wild, and I hid in the closet, and I haven't been out since."
"When was that?"
"Two days, I think? It's been crazy. I'm so scared. Not like you."
Rainbow Dash swallowed. "It's going to be all right. Just let go of the door handle."
"How do I know you're not sick too?"
"We've been out of town, fetching... what?" I'd put my finger to my lips and shook my head vigorously. I motioned for Fluttershy to leave.
Applejack said, "Omar, what are you saying?"
I facepalmed that she'd said my name. "Don't you think Twilight Sparkle would love to see someone who's not infected after all this?"
"I'm sure she would, but she said..." She stopped.
Rarity whispered, "What are you getting at?"
Scootaloo said, "All right, I'll come out!" She turned the handle, but now I was holding the door closed.
I couldn't give orders. "Gee, I really think Twilight Sparkle would love to see this pony! It'd totally be worth the minute of her time!"
Rarity hissed, "You think she's Discord? But we've known her since she was born!"
Not exactly - clearly a bit of a game of telephone going on here - but I can't say so. "I, uh, cannot confirm or deny this."
And then Discord poofed into existence, sitting on the back of one of the petrified pegasi, leaning on one upward-pointed wing. "Hmm. Someone's violated the agreement, it seems!"
The other five shrank back. I smirked. "It only seems that way. I told Twilight Sparkle about you well before the game started!"
Discord opened his mouth and was speechless for one second. But then he came back, "Wouldn't you say that violates the spirit of the rules?"
"Well, yeah, but Celestia herself said that we only needed to follow the letter."
"No. She said I only needed to follow the letter. You still need to follow the spirit. Since you cheated, I win. No using the elements on me for the next ten years! And that includes you six, since you're Celestia's subjects. It would totally count, and you know it."
Ranbow Dash punched him in the face. "I don't need the elements to take on someone as hacked-together as you!"
He rubbed his chin and stretched his jaw. "Ah, yes. Physical violence. Having it aimed at me does make it a little less sweet, but I'll take it. Go ahead, do that again!" He reared back his head and laughed.
As he laughed, the sun rose fully. And then set, and rose high again, then calmed down a bit, backtracking towards the horizon and snuggling up next to the wrong side of a crescent moon.
Rainbow Dash, recovering from the distraction, reared up to hit him again and make it count, but he held up a finger and then pointed: one by one, the petrified fillies returned to life - confused, but clearly not zombies. Rainbow Dash halted. The fillies seemed unaware of Discord and us, and left in search of their parents. I tentatively opened the closet door and Scootaloo wandered out.
Discord conjured a pipe, which he gestured with rather than smoking. "You see - Zombies can't choose. I get nothing from them. So enjoy your health and freedom. Enjoy it as much as you want! After all, I want you to pursue happiness, and let none stand in your way!" He flashed a grin. "Now, I'm off to bigger playgrounds. But first, parting gifts."
Spike suddenly materialized in front of him.
Rarity exclaimed, "Spike!" Spike ignored her and looked around quickly.
Discord took a puff on the pipe and blew a smoke ring shaped like a blacksmith's puzzle, watching as Spike headed to the door, saw the hubbub in the hall, and instead headed for the window. "Don't blame me - I found him like this."
Rarity followed him, repeating, "Spike?"
He climbed up to the window and without hesitation dropped from the second floor and continued walking.
When we turned back for an explanation, Discord was gone. Rainbow Dash headed for the window. "That... isn't natural." - Rarity interjected, "I'll say!" - Rainbow Dash continued, "I'll follow him."
I murmured, "Nightmare Moon. She made it."
Fluttershy squeaked, "Where?"
"I'm guessing, but if I'm right, she's wherever Spike is headed. She has the ability to call and command dragons."
Rainbow Dash squeezed out the window. "I'll be careful." |
My Little Mashup | Kallisti | My next order of business was to free Cheerilee. As it turned out, she was still stone when I arrived, and Sweetie Belle was not - and was freaking out pretty hard. I was about to go in to her, but Rarity caught up and swept in. Figuring she was thoroughly taken care of, I moved on to Cheerilee.
I managed to get her untied before she was released, so that when she came to, I was at her side. She'd been mid-scream when frozen, and when she was freed she resumed - "-augh! ... what?"
"Feeling better?"
She gingerly bent her legs. "You found the cure!"
"A cure has been provided... So, you do remember everything?"
She closed her eyes. "Wish I didn't."
"Can you get up?"
She rolled onto her side. "In a minute." She sniffed, then sobbed.
I wiped the tears from the nearer cheek. "What is it?"
"I... bit my students! I know it wasn't really me, but I remember it."
"Stop. Don't dwell on it. Find something else to think about."
She nodded, then looked at herself. "I... I look terrible!"
"You'll get better." I patted her leg.
She looked to me gratefully, then with confusion. "So... Nightmare Moon. You're back, and the sun is up, and we're better. What happened to her?"
"I'm not entirely sure. Last I saw her, she was fighting for her life. Some signs are that she lost. Others, not so clear." I mentally amended 'life' to 'freedom', since Jadis had appeared to be going for a capture - but only resolved to clear it up later. "And... your illness had nothing to do with her. It was a demon named Discord."
"Oh. I... this doesn't seem his style."
I was floored. "What? You knew about him?"
"Of course I knew about him. It's history. So, are you sure?"
"Celestia recognized him. And yes, it wasn't his style. He was kind of limited. Those limits have now been broken... which is why you're healthy again."
Her eyes widened. "Oh. So this isn't a good thing."
"Not the best thing, but there are obvious up-sides."
She flexed her legs once more and gingerly got up. "Then I'd better get to work."
The hallway outside the children's wing was bustling with children and fathers. The hubbub died down as ponies stared at Cheerilee. "You've got a lot of nerve, coming here." One stallion said.
Cheerilee looked past him and saw that the children were mostly wary. She cheerfully said, "I got better, just like you. No one is biting anyone anymore, are we?"
"You may be all better - no one bit you! But your teeth marks are all over them."
"No one bit me, you say? I certainly was bitten - but so what if I wasn't? Does that somehow make it my fault for getting sick?"
One of the other fathers commented, "Yeah, seriously. You don't think she could do this, even if she wanted to, do you? And right after Nightmare Moon struck?"
The first went on, "The fact of the matter is, the kids are terrified of you, so you should just stay away from them!" Up to then, the kids hadn't particularly been terrified, but the way he was shouting agitated them.
The second father approached the first, saying, "Whoa, man! You're the one frightening the kids! And it's not like you weren't out there wandering around with the rest of us!"
"Out of my face, pansy pegasus!"
"If I need to be in your pointy face to make a point, I'll get in it!"
Cheerilee, pained, said, "Stop! I'm going! Just... don't fight over it!" She turned and left, but we could hear that now the second was blaming the first. Quieter, she added, "Discord. This is Discord."
I asked, quietly, "How did they deal with him last time, before he was defeated?"
"Different strategies. Some let little things slide and focused on the big things. Some strictly enforced order, but this always led to an escalation of chaos. Worse than doing nothing. More effectively, others learned to recognize his plots. Often they were subtle, hardly noticeable..."
We had left the hospital, and found a huge crowd gathered in the square. There was a giant yellow apple on the center of a stage, with the inscription, 'For the prettiest'. There were already loud arguments over it.
"... and sometimes they were as obvious as this one."
Twilight Sparkle made her way to the center, trying to organize things. "Please, ladies! You can't nominate yourself. For example, I nominate... Rarity!"
I asked, "So, what did they do when they found one of those plots?"
"Completely disrupt them. We need to cut the apple up and hand it out. Or... not target the apple, but the contest. Disrespect the event... I nominate Omar! Sorry."
Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow, but I nodded, and she hesitantly put my name down on a chalkboard she'd levitated over - I was fourth, after a pair of twins who had nominated each other.
The crowd murmured in angry confusion as I approached the stage. When I jumped up, Rarity accosted me, "What do you think you're doing?"
I whispered intensely: "Rarity, I understand it's against your instincts, but for the good of Ponyville, we need to destroy this beauty contest. To that end, get me a dress. Quick."
"I know it's from Discord, but can't we do it fairly and quickly? It's the most enthusiastic pageant the town's ever had!"
"It's not enthusiastic. It's insane. We saw fathers in the hospital, but no mothers. And where's Sweetie Belle? I thought you were watching her until you found your parents."
She gasped. "Oh... I... concede! I nominate in my place... Ditzy Doo!" She dashed off.
Twilight had added three more names, and stopped to wipe Rarity's name and write in the new nomination.
That was when Pinkie Pie showed up and plopped clown noses on all of the contestants on-stage. I high-fived her. "Now we're talking!"
She went on, stealing the show, "First event is the Pretty Polka! A-one! A-two! A-" She dodged a pie, and it nailed one of the twins. "Taking a pie in the face is the third event!" Tracing back along the arc, I saw no one, but Cheerilee was moving away quickly, looking determined.
Twilight Sparkle stopped and addressed me directly. "Since this is Discord, shouldn't we be trying to make this as orderly as possible?"
A dress flopped against my back - Rarity had found Sweetie Belle, but also found the moment to get me something. As I struggled into it, I said, "Defuse a bomb by blowing it up. And this is one big bomb."
Pinkie Pie had started up the polka again. The other contestants were staring at each other; one was eyeing the stairs as if to get off, but it was occupied as Cheerilee was busy pushing Ditzy Doo up, bewildered, onto stage. I took one of her hooves in my hand and began dancing, as Pinkie began singing and playing.
It's the Pretty Polka, Pretty Polka!
Let's find the prettiest of all the folk-a!
Whose rhythm is tight
And can dance all night
And make the very very best mo-ocha!
As before with Pinkie's laughing-at-danger song, we all ended up dancing. Cheerilee, Ditzy Doo and I held hoof in hoof in hand, in a circle.
There are five gruelling events to complete
To show you're the prettiest I'll meet
prettiest dancing;
prettiest singing;
take a joke; tell a tale; sli-ide through the slee-ee-eet!
As the song ended abruptly, Ditzy slipped in the unexpected wave of slush and pulled Cheerilee and me down; the stage rocked, and collapsed.
~~~~
Twilight Sparkle was grappling with this idea. "So you're saying that was less severe than what would have happened if we'd had a proper contest?"
Cheerilee nodded. "Absolutely. By the end over twenty ponies had declared victory, and they couldn't fight over the apple itself because it had been detonated. There were only a few injuries, and barely any hard feelings between the townsponies. Can you imagine a serious contest coming out any better?"
"We were run out of town!"
"We were leaving anyway."
"Well, we were, but you?"
Cheerilee sighed. "I... think I was going to have to go. I don't want to, but I can't stay either."
Applejack asked, "Where did you find out so much about Discord, anyway?"
"History. And I read the Principia Discordia." She looked to me significantly. "I'm surprised you didn't know this material already, Omar."
I blinked. "What?"
"One of the visionaries of Discord was named Omar, and the Principia is riddled with humans. I assumed at first your people had been in the cult of Discord, back in the fnord day."
"No... Omar is a common name, and the cult of Discord doesn't even exist. I never... wait. Did you just say 'fnord'?"
"Aha!" She said it as if she'd caught me.
"I... now I'm really confused. I thought the Principia Discordia was... well, not a real thing." Sorry, comic-shop guy, for not believing you. "Are you saying it's an actual thing over a thousand years old, never mind that it was - supposedly - first printed by photocopier, which dates it to the last fifty years or so? But if it's human-based, and uses the name Omar - which has been around a lot longer than that in our timeline, which reinforces the notion that the name originated with us... Maybe it's yet more time travel?"
The others knew, but Cheerilee raised an eyebrow. "More time travel?"
I had a lot of explaining to do. I made sure we let Spike get ahead a bit, out of earshot, and told them everything. Well, everything except just how I derailed the phantasms, the dream with Cheerilee, and what Nightmare Moon was up to while off the rock. |
My Little Mashup | An Exchange of Thefts | "... and then I met Fluttershy, while she was using the cockatrice to petrify ponies. We were making good progress when we slipped up and let Discord realize he'd won. Speaking of which..." I looked to Fluttershy, noticing a lack of basket.
Fluttershy said, "I returned him to the forest. He was very tired."
To Cheerilee, I asked, "So, all set?" - she was.
Now that I was done with the things we couldn't risk reaching Spike's ears, I picked up the pace a bit to catch up with him, sweeping through the tall grass as best I could. We were heading in the general direction of the Blue Valley, which had me a little nervous.
Applejack pointed out, "You must be really hungry."
Almost before I could allow that she was right, Rarity had produced a lunchbox. "Indeed! I brought this for all of us, but you can't graze - we can. Take it."
As I was gratefully accepting, Twilight Sparkle yawned and said, "I'm not sure I can stay awake to graze. I've been up for... what would have been three days straight, if we still had days and nights? Or is it four?"
Her yawn was highly infectious, hitting everyone but me - and as fortune had it, it also infected Spike. Within a minute he'd curled up under the lone tree.
Applejack, still yawning, said, "I'll watch him."
"Nonsense. I may be hungry, but I've had plenty of sleep, unlike you. Go. Get your rest."
After a few minutes, Cheerilee came from the grass and joined me. I was ripping up dried grass while waiting for my digestion to work on the one sandwich I'd started off with. She sat next to me, facing Spike. I didn't say anything at first, just tried to look supportive.
"I'm so scared, Omar. I... I don't know how I was able to do it with the apple."
"Discord probably numbed everyone's pain for a bit so you could all fall for it."
She looked at the sky. "I feel like it's all ending. Equestria itself is coming apart at the seams."
"We only just now regained the power of the Elements of Harmony. Things are going to improve. And Discord isn't so bad, if you know how to handle him. And you do... look at what we did together."
"And if he decides I'm too effective, he can just turn me into a zombie again! I... I'm not running off to do good like they are, I'm just..." She cried.
I put my hand on her neck and gently pulled her face against my chest, ready to release if she had resisted. On the contrary, she accepted the invitation and buried her face in my windbreaker - and, so hidden, cried even harder for several minutes as I stroked her neck.
Crunch.
I stood up in alarm, holding Cheerilee down for safety. Macidexia was only thirty paces off.
She was even more shocked to see me than I was to see her. "You?"
If I can convince her that I haven't experienced the X-zone spell yet, I can make her think she has to leave me alone to avoid paradox! So I went for a taunting tone. "Thought I'd just run away, eh? What are you doing outside the castle? Didn't find the reading material you were looking for?"
She hesitated. She was still a ways away, too far for me to see whether this was her younger or older variant.
I continued: "Ah, I can see it in your eyes - heh! We cleaned it out, didn't we? Great!" I shook my head with a bemused grin.
Macidexia looked at me oddly, but then snorted. "Oh, you 'cleaned it out' all right." She wasn't very good at hiding that she knew I would get 'blasted out of time itself' instead of doing any looting. And from her lack of skepticism, I figured she thought her truth enchantment was still up. It was only then that I realized I'd believed my twisted truths, before. I resolved to stick a little closer to the truth in the future, in case she pulled that again. Speaking of which, did she just renew that? To check, I tried lying outright to her instead of asking misleading questions... and couldn't. Craaap. Okay, must stick close to the truth here...
I shrugged. "I'm curious what you were after, anyway. What was so important that you needed the palace? What was worth the risk of taking down the princess?"
Macidexia growled and reared up on her hind legs, raising one foreleg as a fist, "Power. Sheer power." She shifted her shoulders, and the sun caught on her jewelry - a necklace of a fist-sized greenish gem. Maybe larger - I didn't have a good sense of scale against a rhinoceros on its rear legs.
"Oh-kay... and what brings you here, specifically?"
Macidexia approached, and I saw she was the younger one. Crap! She really does have paradox armor like she thinks I have! "There is a dragon nearby. He is taking too long to answer the summons. I am to fetch him. Don't think I can't do it, even with you surviving to 'loot the library'." She's working for Nightmare Moon? That... makes no sense whatsoever. Gonna treat her as adversary.
At that, the gang stood up from where they were hidden - Twilight Sparkle threatened, "I think I will think that. I mean, you can't."
I warned them, "Don't try..."
Macidexia laughed, realizing. "Oh, fantastic! As I suspected - you've met my future as well!" She ran past me, toward Spike. I followed at a decent distance, unsure what I could do, even if I'd been able to act freely.
There was a flash of magic up ahead, and Macidexia stumbled for a moment. As Rainbow Dash came in for an attack swoop, Macidexia deflected her with a swipe of a lump of magic shaped a bit like a tennis racket. Applejack delivered a sliding ankle kick which landed square but did little to the massive rhinoceros. Macidexia, reaching Spike, picked him up by the nape of his neck with her mouth, and sat down.
Fluttershy swept in front of her, livid. "Put him down!"
Twilight Sparkle, a ways back through the grass, added, "We can make things... very unpleasant before we let you go." She'd been gathering magic; Rainbow Dash had recovered and was circling around to her rear.
Macidexia dropped Spike in her lap. Her mouth free, she declared, "Warp." The air around her shimmered; she and Spike were gone.
Twilight Sparkle shouted to Rainbow Dash, "Get up and look down! She's not strong enough to teleport far." Rainbow Dash took off like a rocket. At first, up, where she looked around, but then ahead to where Spike had been heading. Fluttershy also flew up a bit and looked around a bit more, but did not pursue.
I returned to the tree. Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, and Cheerilee gathered around. When we were all together, there were no further rustling sounds, and Twilight Sparkle wasn't there, so Rarity called out, "Twilight?"
Twilight Sparkle stood up and approached. "Sorry. Just... look at this thing!"
She held up the necklace, its chain severed. As she approached, we could see that it wasn't simply green, but had a prominent red shape in the center. "It's... It's almost alive! It's beyond any magic I've ever heard of! With this, I could... I could raise the dead!" Her eyes were going wild.
Applejack said, "Whoa there, Twilight. Are you sure it's not just magic that makes you think you can raise the dead?"
Twilight Sparkle paused. "Maybe so. Find something dead."
We hunted around; momentarily, Cheerilee handed her a smushed-up worm, convincingly deceased.
Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath. She drew magic into her horn, and said, "Life."
The worm, now noticeably less squashed, wriggled off her hoof.
"Holy fucking shit." I ran my hand through my hair. I'd seen mystical mists, levitation, teleportation, lightning, time travel, launching mountains into the moon, and petrification... but I wasn't ready for this.
Rainbow Dash landed, saying, "No sign of her anywhere. Looks like she can jump further than you thought."
Twilight Sparkle barely acknowledged the report as she put the gem down. "This is... I don't know what to think. It's so easy. There must be a catch. Some hidden cost." Then she blinked. "Oh fuck. FUUUCK."
"What?" we all asked - and Cheerilee clearly meant, 'What does that word mean?'
"I just burned up a fifth of my accumulated magical potential! That took me five years to gather! For a worm, who doesn't even look all that great."
I pointed out, "There may be a secret. Macidexia used this verbal magic alongside her horn magic. Or maybe restoring life takes it out of you more than other things."
She frowned. "There's no mention of that in the... description."
"That thing gives you inline documentation?"
"Like I said, it's so easy! It explains itself. Anyone... Applejack, would you try this? Don't set it off, just..."
Applejack hesitantly took the crystal. She stared at it, fascinated. She squinted at the center, then along each edge. We watched for ten seconds before Twilight prompted, "Well?"
"I... I don't know how I know. But there it is - Cure, Fire, Poison... I could..." She dropped it and backed away. "It's not right. I won't."
I picked it up - and, sure enough, I knew the words - but the only one I got the impression I could cast was 'Poison'. In the center of the gem was a red shape. It was a little hard to make out what with the gem's refraction, but it looked like a human girl. "Terra" I whispered. |
My Little Mashup | Nightmares | We no longer had Spike to follow, but we did have the trail Macidexia had left on her way to us - it was directly where Spike had been heading, so it was a good guess.
Along the way, we each held Terra and felt what it was like. Rarity felt she could just barely use the Life magic, and noticed that if she considered using it, she gained a special awareness of recently dead things - but a bird skeleton apparently wasn't even a candidate for resurrection. We guessed it was too long dead. Twilight Sparkle even checked to see if the more powerful life spell could have brought it back - and no, it couldn't. That it had limits calmed her somewhat, though she was still burned about wasting so much of her magical power. We also noticed that she, and she alone, continued to be aware of the spells while she was no longer holding the gem - though she couldn't cast them.
Whenever I wasn't holding Terra, I was partly focused on cheering up Cheerilee. She wasn't crying anymore - not where anyone else could see - but she still couldn't quite deal with what was going on. I didn't have words, but I stuck with her as best I could.
The sun, meandering about, did not help us with estimating the passage of time. Macidexia's tracks passed by the way to the blue valley, instead entering short but steep hills - essentially large rocks.
Our path went by a large flat boulder leaning against the hill-face. Twilight Sparkle climbed up to it, checked under, and returned, saying, "We should stop to rest. We're all fading, and if we're going to face Nightmare Moon, we need to be at full strength. Cheerilee, can you take watch?"
She nodded weakly, but Applejack said, "I can handle it."
Twilight Sparkle leaned towards her. "No. You rest too. I'd rather do without a watch than have any of us be this worn down."
I put in, "I can stay up with her. I just need a little nap, and your power doesn't rely on me..."
"Absolutely not. You're pivotal. If she trusts you, if you can get through to her, we can end this without a fight. If she doesn't, you'll be a major distraction. Either way, you can't be all worn out. Cheerilee..." She turned to the earth pony. "I know you had to leave Ponyville, and you don't want to be alone right now. But your being around is more likely to interfere than assist - particularly on tricking Nightmare Moon with Omar. So, can you hold watch for us, do this one important thing for us, and then run away? Or you can hide - behind those rocks, say - until we come back?"
Cheerilee swallowed. "I... can do that."
So we gathered around under the boulder large rock, and Cheerilee kept an eye out, and...
I was in the hospital where great grandma died, but it was now. She was there, and had her memory. The Life spell, and a great advance in anti-Alzheimers, and she was as good as new. At least, that's what the doctor said.
I knew there was something wrong about it, though. I crept around the corner. Great grandma was tied up like Cheerilee had been, snarling and snapping.
My dream strained under the inconsistency that I hadn't noticed that sound up to then, but before it broke, I was totally saturated with panic and dashed hopes.
A terrible pair of eyes flickered.
I was in New York's Battery Park, facing the harbor, and I knew there was about to be a tsunami. And I suspected my friends were here, in danger. I ran into Twilight Sparkle.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I can stop it."
She gathered magic, her eyes glowed like when she'd manifested the elements, then more, and more. It was like when Nightmare Moon had thrown her tantrum.
The wave approached. She gathered still more power, the glow from her brighter than the sun.
Then she exploded messily.
I was torn between the twin horrors of her death and my own impending doom. And her spinal fluid had gotten in my nose, blech.
A terrible pair of eyes flickered.
Cheerilee and I were making out heavily. She was saying something, but I couldn't understand it.
And then I understood: "No! Get off me!"
I was so confused that I froze. I remembered her vigorously consenting up to half a second ago, by her actions. But now I had, overlaid with that memory, memories of her kicking and screaming.
Thoughts of what would happen to me for having done this flashed alternating with thoughts of what Cheerilee would have to live with, and with a nagging insistent argument that this simply wasn't possible. This noticing the inconsistency shattered the dream, but it seriously took its time about it - and I was putting myself through hell.
I woke with a scream - and five others as well. We all looked to each other as we calmed down.
Cheerilee dashed around the rock. "What happened?"
"Bad dreams!" croaked Rarity. Her voice steadied as she turned to us, "Yours like mine, with those eyes between?"
Pinkie Pie giggled in her sleep, and Twilight Sparkle still appeared to be stunned, on the verge of tears - but the rest of us nodded. I was still having a hard time convincing myself that I hadn't in fact raped Cheerilee, so I couldn't meet her gaze. Anyone's gaze.
Twilight, finally recovered, said, "Outside of Pinkie it looks like Nightmare Moon is going to keep us from getting any more sleep until we've taken her down. Fabulous." She rubbed her forehead wearily. "How long were we out, Cheerilee?"- "About twenty minutes." - "Then we won't get anywhere this way. Let's just move and get it over with." She creakily got to her feet.
As Rarity gently woke Pinkie Pie, I forced myself to look to Cheerilee. Her expression was the proof I needed. Still, I couldn't move first. She came to me, took my hand in her hoof. A context-independent part of my mind thought this would be a wonderful time to begin thinking once more about the mechanism of opposable digits in Equestrian ponies. I managed to giggle at the absurdity of the timing of that curiosity, and sniffle at the same time.
"There you go. All better?"
I nodded. Getting there, anyway.
She went on, "Be careful. I..."
"... have high hopes? So do I."
She nodded. "Are you ready to go?"
"If you're ready to stay, alone."
She nodded, more anxiously this time. "I'll live. Go."
With a wave, we set off. When I looked back, she was already moving to a hiding place.
After several minutes, we came through a narrow pass, all strung out single file.
"Halt!" An unfamiliar woman's voice came from our side. It was high-registered, but hard and commanding. I looked up and after a few moments found a muscled blonde human woman in a white and green military uniform stepping out from behind a rock. She focused mainly on Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight Sparkle asked, "Who are you?"
"I am general Chere, of the Vectorian empire. You are surrounded, and your assassination attempt has failed." Glancing around, I could see brown-suited human soldiers rising from more hiding places among the rocks.
Twilight Sparkle ignored them, saying, "Assassination? We were tracking down a rogue demon princess named Nightmare Moon, whose aim is to plunge the world into eternal darkness. Whoever you are, you're best off with us keeping doing that."
The general raised an eyebrow. "Nightmare Moon? Hmm. Well, she is now our responsibility. To assist us in dealing with her, please cooperate with your interrogators. We may take you on as client state auxiliaries if your talents are necessary."
Rainbow Dash scoffed. "Client state?" To her friends, she said, "What do you think of some 'harmony'?"
The suggestion was met with immediate approval - the six began to power up the elements. There was a peculiar sensation of time as it did - I couldn't move away, even to give them a clearer shot. The general raised her sword in the air and focused on it.
A spiral rainbow formed, and emitted a ray that struck her... to no apparent effect. The peculiar time-stretch sensation passed.
The general dusted herself off. "That certainly looked aggressive, so... Slimer!"
Before the elements could be brought to bear again - if that was indeed what they wanted to do, since it didn't seem to be working - a green ghostly figure swept across us, trailing green slime. My body softened and collapsed in on itself. I wobbled on my now round feet and looked down at myself - a smooth green sexless duckish humanoid with a ring of golden hair sticking out around my head.
"Imp imp IMP?" (What the FUCK?)
This thought was mirrored by the other six, except they all fell over from lack of experience with bipedality. |
My Little Mashup | Imp Imp Imp | The imperial soldiers led by general Chere herded us along the path. They were surprisingly accommodating to us, taking into consideration the limitations of our imp forms, and the bipedality this form had forced on the ponies with me. One seemed to be doing better on two legs - and from her behavior, I guessed she was Pinkie Pie.
General Chere fell back to me and asked, "I see you're human, unlike these kirin 'ponies'. Where are you from? Doma?"
I shook my head, wondering how much I could possibly keep secret. I couldn't maintain the illusion of being from her world if she got at all serious asking me questions.
"Western half of the world?"
I held out my hand and wavered it. She was of course speaking of the wrong world. I decided that when the time came, I could semi-truthfully indicate that my path here had been extremely long and irreproducible, with the false implication that my world wasn't about thirty miles from where we stood - so it was safe to be clear that I wasn't from her world.
"So, central-ish. Figaro?"
I looked to her in pure confusion, and shook my head.
Apparently my expression managed to convey my ignorance, as she said "Interesting" and dropped the subject.
She then called a halt and turned to the other imps. "Which of you is the purple one?"
Ater a moment, one stepped forward.
The general said, "You have something of ours - a piece of magicite. I'm going to transform you back to recover it, and ask some questions. I understand if you don't answer, but if you lie, we will eventually be able to tell, and you will be very very sorry you did. If you try to fight me, I cannot guarantee the safety of your friends. Am I clear?" To accent the point, some of the soldiers around us held their swords to our backs.
The Twilight Sparkle-imp nodded.
The general passed an oddly-shaped bone on a necklace off to one of her soldiers. Just as he cast a spell - "Imp" - and Twilight Sparkle unfolded into herself, the general raised her sword in the air and kept it there. The soldier took Terra from Twilight Sparkle's neck. The general added, "Take the crown too, for the time being. It looked like a relic. But don't lose it. I was serious about their possibly becoming auxiliaries." The soldier took the tiara.
The general lowered her sword, and relaxed. Then she asked, surprisingly kindly: "You were chasing someone - Nightmare Moon. Does she have any other name?"
Twilight thought for a moment. "Yes, but I don't know what it is."
"In particular, does she look like this?" She reached for her pocket and pulled out a coin.
Twilight Sparkle looked at it. "No. Definitely not. She's a pony. Night 'Mare' Moon."
That set the general severely off-balance. "What? Umm. Okay... Could Nightmare Moon shift forms?"
"Not that I know of. Well, she can travel as a mist."
The general considered for a few seconds, then noticed that the soldier who'd taken Terra seemed agitated. She asked him, "What is it?"
"Ma'am, you should see for yourself." He offered her the magicite.
She accepted the gem and immediately gasped. "Terra?" Then her eyes widened further, murmuring, "Merton? Ultima? With no training period?" She was silent for five long seconds.
"Where did you get this?" she demanded, furious.
Twilight Sparkle hemmed a bit, then replied, "From one of the agents of Nightmare Moon. We fought, and she dropped it before fleeing."
The general frowned, then asked her soldiers, "When the empress ordered Kefka terminated, did the body go on display?" - none of them knew - "Disappeared... and then his life's work turns up super-powered and dead." She took off her cape and boots and ordered, "Sprint shoes!"
Momentarily, a pair of shoes was provided. She put them on, issuing orders too quietly for us to hear. The soldier with the bone thing restored Twilight Sparkle to imphood, then offered the thing to the general. She declined, leaving it with him - and then left us behind, running forward at about twenty meters a second - really ridiculously fast.
We continued on our way for a few minutes without further incident.
One of the soldiers called an alarm - "In the air!"
We looked up, and saw a flight of pegasi, some pulling chariots. More were behind - hundreds. They stretched into the distance. It seemed some were herding clouds.
The soldier with the bone thing said, "They're headed for the base! Vicks! Pull a few of 'em down!" He rushed to one of the other soldiers and handed it off.
"Sir?"
"The general's out there alone. We need to distract them to let her get to the camp safely and organize the defenses."
The soldier swallowed, accepted the bone, and began casting: "Gravity One Hundred!" A deep breath, then again, and again... and each time, a pony was pulled down from the sky. He kept going, but he couldn't pull down more than one at once, and there were many.
The pegasi he pulled down landed around us, mostly unharmed - momentarily. The soldiers surrounding and outnumbering the surprised pegasi beat them unconscious - and but for their armor, it would have been worse. However, this imperial advantage was short-lived as dozens of pegasi swooped down and attacked.
The officer took the bone from Vicks and began casting spell after spell, repeatedly healing them all from near-death injuries. The imperial forces regained the advantage as the pegasi were unable to keep them down. A few of the other soldiers cast a single spell each, momentarily calling strange beasts to their aid, much like the 'slimer' spell we had been initially imp-ed with, though not as effective: a giant mouse made several of them glow with a yellow light, and a heron bathed others in purple.
Two of the pony-imps were trying to attack the imperial soldiers and barely succeeding in even approaching them. For myself, I knew I'd be useless in this body - it felt more like I was a barely-walking not-quite-talking gummi bear than anything else.
We'd drawn the attention of the full armada, and down swooped a flight of chariots.
One soldier summoned a glowing bearded man. The chariot-riding unicorns focused their energy, enclosing him in a sphere. He released a wild array of lightning which bounced around inside the sphere - and then vanished.
More unicorns landed outright, and, now stable, were able to act more precisely. They bound up the officer who'd been healing, and he stopped casting. Others protected the pegasus soldiers and tripped up the imperials. In short order, the ponies held the field.
One of the imps galloped towards the landed chariot, calling, "IMP! Imp Imp Imp!" - but a pegasus kicked her aside, saying, "Down, boy."
I recognized one of the unicorns from when I was ferrying messages - he was a ranking royal guard, and Twilight Sparkle's brother.
I tried to write a message in the gravel, but it wasn't terribly clear, and no one was looking anyway. I heard snatches of what they were saying - "...the empress..." -- "... tend the wounded ..." -- "... rescue her quick, even so!" -- and then, finally, I got a clear one: "It may be sudden, it may be very unexpected, but you heard the command. No mutiny. She knows the prophecy, and this is the best way she could find. Ignes - they're your family. For Celestia's sake - and I mean that literally - just do it! Please!"
When I looked up, I saw that that princess who'd been the stand-in for Celestia, Ignes, was in a staring match with Twilight Sparkle's brother. "I will do it. But I will not acknowledge Nightmare Moon as the empress of Equestria!" She gathered her magic, levitating all of the wounded. Then she took to the air and headed off the way they'd come, taking them with her.
The rest of the force took off again and headed on. The soldiers had been left gagged with iron bits, tied up and unconscious.
"Immmmmp!" ("Well, shit.")
One of the other imps found a writing pad on one of the soldiers, and managed to write: "Now what? - R"
Another took it and wrote, "Follow Macidexia's trail? - AJ" She pointed out how we were still on it.
"Cure curse first - TS - can't use magic."
"Ungag one soldier, make him do it? - RD"
Twilight Sparkle took the pad back, adding "RISKY"
"If I could talk, I'd get them on our side in a few minutes - R". After a moment, she added, "probably."
Another pony underlined the first phrase of what she had just written.
I grabbed the pad. "I heard Nightmare Moon is empress of Equestria - O"
Apparently, most hadn't.
"Then where's Spike off to?" (I'm not sure who that was)
Rarity interrupted our contemplation of our situation by saying, "Problem solved!"
She was wearing the white cape the general had dropped. And she was a pony.
We passed it around and in short order were all restored to our proper selves.
Momentarily, Twilight had recovered the element of magic; I'd grabbed the bone thing they kept passing around; Rainbow Dash had liberated one of the pieces of magicite that had been used in the skirmish from its previous bearer.
She commented, "'Indigo.' Meh. Fewer, weaker spells. Can't cast 'em. Want a look, Twi?"
Twilight Sparkle caught the green gem and examined it and another she'd found. "This one is Ratatosk. I can only summon them, not cast... completely unsustainable expenditure, though."
I fished another piece of magicite - Ramuh - out of the shirt of the soldier who'd summoned the lightning guy. Even I could summon this one, so it must be pretty cheap! "Hey, take a look! Looks like a much better deal."
She accepted it, and looked at me oddly. "Not particularly. Almost as much as the life spell! Just for a bit of lightning?"
"No way. I couldn't come anywhere near the life spell. I could summon this guy."
"Give me that bone thing... aha! That's it! This makes their magic much cheaper. Still a bit pricey, but not insane." She looked me over. "If you can use them with this economizer thing, then take 'em. It's not like you're using your magic for anything else."
I accepted the gems. Having acquired all of the powerful items we knew of, we continued retracing Macidexia's (and general Chere's) footsteps with renewed energy. |
My Little Mashup | Convocation | At the next hilltop, we saw where the pegasus armada had been heading - an imperial base on the top of the next broad, round hill. They had constructed a tornado over it. I looked to Rainbow Dash, saying, "You can do that?"
She was agape. "That's... awesome! At least four thousand wingpower!" Wingpower? "Oh, yeah, we can control the weather. They must have emptied Cloudsdale and half the other cities in Equestria!"
Applejack grimly said, "But look what they're doing." Indeed, the base was being utterly demolished. Outlying funnels were mopping up the fleeing troops. It was a slaughter.
Twilight Sparkle sat down roughly. "I don't even know what to do. It looks like this new empress Nightmare Moon actually has Equestria under her control, and... appears to be defending it effectively! If my brother was following her orders..."
I said, "She may not have changed her name, but when I left her, Nightmare Moon was not the same being that you encountered."
"So she was halfway good?"
Rainbow Dash pointed out, "But those nightmares?"
"Half way to neutral, maybe. She did go so far as to explicitly state she wouldn't actually plunge the world into literal eternal darkness. Something like this doesn't seem beyond her."
Twilight Sparkle nodded, saying "Then who took Spike? Macidexia had Terra. Omar, what do you know about the Vectorian Empire?"
"Never heard of them. Must be another world."
"And they invade the same time as Nightmare Moon returns. This is very suspicious."
"You think she invited them in to have an enemy to rally the ponies against, to consolidate her rule?"
Twilight Sparkle blinked. "That's... horrible! Anyway, the general seemed to indicate that Terra was from the Empire. And then the empress or someone killed her. Anyway, Terra is linked to the Vectorian Empire, and Macidexia is linked to Terra. So she's probably with them. Right?"
Everyone nodded.
"So, the empire has Spike. I propose we rescue him and sort the rest out later. Any objections?"
We looked to each other. Applejack hesitantly said, "That seems to be what Discord sent us to do. It might play into his plans."
Twilight Sparkle's eyes narrowed. "I have a hunch that we're on the same side on this one. Let's hope I'm wrong. Dash, see if you can catch up with the general. She might actually be... I can't put my hoof on it."
Rainbow Dash took a moment before agreeing, then leapt into the air. "What do I do when I find her?"
"Figure out what she's up to. I think we have more in common. Try not to harp on the way her command just got wiped out."
"Roger!" She zoomed up and scanned the nearby hills. "Whoa."
"What?"
"Dragons. A lot of them, and they're big. Coming this way. Well, to the battle."
"Any sign that the army has spotted them?"
"Not yet. They're a ways off, still."
Twilight Sparkle lay her head on the ground, hooves over her face. "What do I do? If we warn the army, we're helping Nightmare Moon, and betraying Celestia. If we don't, we're betraying the ponies of Equestria. Do we just take on the dragons ourselves? What would Celestia do? She used to be so infallible."
Rainbow Dash added, "Do you still want me to get the General? I see her."
"Yeah."
"What do I say!?"
"Use your own fucking judgement!" Twilight snapped.
Rainbow Dash let a moment pass, then shrugged and zoomed off. The rest of us looked to each other, alarmed.
Applejack said, "Twi... do you trust your brother?"
Twilight Sparkle closed her eyes. "I do. I just don't know whether he's really with her, or trying to minimize the harm she can cause from the inside."
"Does it matter?"
Twilight Sparkle stood, faced the remnant of the battle. I'd been facing away, and took a look myself - the tornado had subsided, and the pegasi had landed to mop up. She said, "I'll go. I can get there in moments. Rarity, hold my element, just in case." She took it off. Rarity hesitantly packed it in her bag. With a new resolve, Twilight began gathering magic.
Fluttershy whispered, "Good luck."
Twilight teleported.
Applejack stamped her hooves and said, "So, are we going to make Rainbow Dash a liar when she tells the general we're coming? We gotta keep going! Twilight can find us easily enough."
Fluttershy moaned, "The dragons..."
"... are coming if we go to 'em or not. Do you want to meet 'em alone, or with that general on our side?"
When she looked at it that way, getting moving seemed a great deal more attractive. There was a ridgeside path that went in the direction Rainbow Dash had gone, and we set out one last time.
Rainbow Dash swooped up over our backs as we climbed one of the hills, and stopped right in front of us. "The general thought that hill up ahead would be best. Where's Twilight?"
Applejack replied, "Finding out what she can about Nightmare Moon. She'll be back when we need her."
"Well, we kind of need her to do anything against those dragons."
We crested the hill - wide and flat. The dragons were still approaching, taking their time, traveling only as fast as the slowest, largest dragons in the center of the formation. Now that they were closer, we saw there were around twenty.
A rapid patter of footsteps and general Chere was with us. She panted and took off the sprint shoes. "Where's the purple one?"
Applejack said, "She'll be along."
"Are you sure? It looks like your air force is retreating."
We spun - and sure enough, a cloud of pegasi was flying away.
Rainbow Dash complained, "No way. No way! Oh, phew. Look at 'em." She was pointing to the side. A few blue dots were visible, streaking through the air, circling the dragons. "The wonderbolts are on it. And there, and there... Looks like they're all out. Awe-some!"
We were watching their scouting and harrassing - they actually engaged some of the peripheral dragons - when around us there was a chorus of popping sounds of teleport arrivals: Twilight Sparkle first, then her brother, and two other royal guard unicorns. They bowed preemptively as a flight of eight alicorns approached and landed. In the center of this formation was the smaller, softer variant of Nightmare Moon - and, by the deference immediately shown her, clearly the empress.
She said, "Go." and the others set about various tasks: one pink alicorn established a bubble shield around the hilltop; a light blue one established what amounted to a giant telescope for viewing the incoming dragons; a red-coated one I recognized as the stern tutor from that jurassic dream (!) created what looked like giant Van der Graff generators out of the ambient rock, ripping the materials straight from the earth. Others executed less obvious tasks.
Twilight Sparkle ran to us and said, "Quick!" to Rarity - she levitated out the element of Magic and passed it to Twilight.
Then she hurried back towards Nightmare Moon, and the other five followed closely. Giving her three lengths of personal space, Twilight Sparkle halted and bowed. The other five hesitantly imitated her.
Nightmare Moon ignored them - she had spotted me, and was staring. With as much dignity as I could muster, I strode to the line the others had formed, and bowed.
Finally, she spoke, coolly. "I thought you died in Charn."
I rose from my bow. "I thought you died on Earth. I'm glad to see I was mistaken."
Her look was highly suspicious: "What power did you hide from me, that let you escape and make your way here? Or did Jadis take you too?"
"I used her chair. Explorers found me. Had help from there."
She seemed momentarily satisfied. "We will speak more later." A glance to the approaching dragons, and she shifted her attention to the gang. "The elements may be able to forestall open combat. This will provide an opening I can use to try to command her dragons. How much experience have you gathered with them?"
Twilight Sparkle swallowed. "Well, we momentarily healed a pony infected by Discord. And we blasted the general over there, but it didn't do anything."
Nightmare Moon looked at the general, who was being discreetly watched by two unicorns. "It dispelled her illusions. Hold off until I tell you. Definitely do not strike their empress until we have the dragons. When the moment comes, bring yourself up as close as you can to striking, without actually striking. It will prevent evasion or attack. We can talk at length then."
Then she looked to the general intently. The general met her gaze, appraoched and saluted. The empress asked, "What is your name? What are you doing here?"
"I am general Celes Chere. The empire is led by a monster who does not care about it in the least, merely thinking it useful to her selfish ends. She must be defeated."
"Can you fight these dragons?"
After a moment, she said, "I may be able to take on the mid-size dragons one at a time. The largest are definitely beyond me. I am more tuned to fighting espers and magic wielders - such as the empress. Without me, I believe she would annihilate you in moments. I can neutralize her magic. Just don't try to cast any of her kind yourselves."
"Our destroying your army does not bother you?"
She took a deep breath. "If afterwards I may return and tend the fallen, I expect there will have been very few true fatalities, merely many who look dead. And even if they are dead... I couldn't exactly blame you for defending yourselves. It is tragic."
Nightmare Moon gestured her back. There was no more time to talk - the first dragons were scratching at the shell surrounding us. Soon more, and larger, dragons piled on.
Only when the largest were about to land on the top of the dome did Nightmare Moon command Twilight Sparkle, "Now!"
The elements flared, and time seemed to slow down.
Not everything slowed down - Nightmare Moon boomed out, obviously amplified, "Dragons, heed my call. I am Nightmare Moon, who created you. And for this, today I demand the price."
The odd slowed time continued as the dragons stopped altogether, and looked up to a tiny dot at the top of the dome. The dome rippled, and began dissolving from the top. The dot fell, ever so slowly.
It unrolled and we could see it was a woman, her long black hair trailing in the wind of her passage. She spread her arms and hovered. Once she was still, we could tell she was in full armor of black and violet, with a sword at her side and shield strapped across her back. "False, so-called 'Nightmare Moon'! Who are you really? You have no basis to demand anything from these dragons!"
"I am Nightmare Moon, who created them! Who took the promise from their parents, in exchange for dragons ever existing."
"Lies!" The dome's dissolution continued, and the heaviest dragon up top began to fall inwards, slowed further by its broad wings. "I, the empress Jadis Gestahl, the Nightmare Moon, command the dragons, by the agreement held from the dawn of time!" Sometimes I feel kind of dim - I hadn't figured out who she was.
Nightmare Moon growled, "Then that agreement breaks now - for only when our pact was already made did I build the headwaters of the stream of time! Dragons! Do you remember? Or do you forget who brought you past the cataclysm? Who your parents were? What was their promise?"
The oldest, heaviest dragon - balanced on the top, now sagging through the growing gap - started, and the others joined: "Our unlaid - unhatched - our children - our dragons. One day is not too much to give for your lives. Answer the call of Nightmare Moon. Serve the one responsibe for your birth, for our survival." The oldest continued heavily, slowly - "We already serve Nightmare Moon. She did ensure our survival. Where were you when we first hatched? Did you guide us and spread us across the worlds?"
"She is an egg-thief! She only wanted your power!"
The dragon replied to Nightmare Moon, "So did you."
"Does that make the difference? Would you have followed one who, fully responsible for your birth, only thought to serve?"
The elder dragon looked down to Jadis. She was seemingly preparing to mount his neck when he fell past. He asked her, "Mistress, what do you say?"
She cackled. "Certainly. Let it be her fault. Let her..."
Nightmare Moon boomed over her. I barely slammed my hands over my ears soon enough, and even so it was nearly deafening. "Though you are enjoined to come to the call of Nightmare Moon, you are only required to serve the one responsible for your birth. The one most responsible is standing before me: Omar. And he only thought to help you. He devised the deal only to convince me, and argued me down to a day of service. He brought your aunts and uncles, the dinosaurs, with no promises at all."
I was speechless, but Jadis shrieked, "What?"
Nightmare Moon turned to me, and I was suddenly amplified. I hurried before Jadis had a chance to regain control of the situation: "Go home, all of you! Go in peace. Ignore any orders from Nightmare Moon - anyone who's ever claimed the name - and not just you here, but any dragons called in the future. This is my command."
Nightmare Moon ended the amplification. The dragons slowly milled about and began to back off. The eldest gave me a long look, nodded deeply, and with a powerful flap of his wings, began to rise back out of the half-dissolved dome.
The elements of harmony dimmed, and time resumed its normal pace. The pink alicorn who'd formed the shell fell to her knees, panting. |
My Little Mashup | Meltdown | I watched the dragons split up and go their own ways. The wonderbolts paced them, presumably to verify their timely departure.
Jadis laughed off the loss of her dragons. She seemed to find it hilarious, actually. "You spent all that... to reduce my overwhelming force... to an overwhelming force! Quick! Ultima! Ultima!"
She ran through the sequence expecting the Quick spell to go off. But the general's raised sword sucked in the magic, and the following pronouncements did not result in spells.
"Strike with the elements!" Nightmare Moon called out, but nothing happened.
She turned - Twilight Sparkle was still panting from overexertion, and the others not much better. "It's a little soon, your majesty." I marvelled that she used the term of respect so fluidly.
Adjusting to this situation, she ordered the others, "Attack!" Then, back to Twilight Sparkle, "Don't try again until I say."
Jadis caught those blasts that would have struck her on her shield. She seemed to just sit there and take it - we couldn't see what she was up to. I glanced at the general - she had her sword raised again, and was focused on it.
Nightmare Moon barked, "Form a wingtip circle!"
As the guard-unicorns kept up their attack and Nightmare Moon observed carefully, the other alicorns trotted into a circle, touched wingtips. Even the pink one who'd held the shield dragged herself to her feet and joined in. They focused in for a more powerful blast.
A ball formed in the center - a swirl of plants, fur, lightning, glowing jagged shapes, metal, water, and what looked like oscilloscope lines. This ball grew to fill the circle. One side bulged, then out shot a septuple helix, one of each type. Instead of meeting Jadis' shield, it curled around.
In a second, the ball flowed up the helix, surrounded her, and shrank to nothing. It left no sign of Jadis.
Before I could get my hopes up, Nightmare Moon shouted, "Prepare again! She escaped at the last moment, somehow."
Momentarily, Jadis reappeared. Under her hands floated two balls. In the right hand ball floated princess Celestia; in the left, several imps; all were unconscious. They floated down toward the ground gradually, forty paces off on the other end of the hill. The ball around the imps disappeared, leaving them sprawled awkwardly across the grass.
Jadis didn't even need to state the threat, instead examining the reactions.
Nightmare Moon shouted, "Jadis. You have lost. Turn them over, and we'll let you leave. Any further harm, and you will die."
Suddenly, the wingtip circle disappeared. There was no visible sign of what had happened to them.
As we were trying to absorb this, Jadis once more laughed - this time, gloating. "You were saying? They've been sent to a horrid place that drains your strength. Now it's just you, the traitor, not even a handful of guards, and..."
One of the royal guards was knocked into the other, and both slammed into the third, and then all three were crushed into the ground. Nightmare Moon reflexively released a jolt of black lightning at the point of collision. There was a thump, and a stunned Macidexia gradually lost invisibility as she glided down and skidded to a halt. Twilight Sparkle rushed to the guards' side, followed by her friends. "Cure! Please? Oh shoot - Celes..." She looked to the general with her magic-sucking sword, pained.
Jadis continued, "A good trade for me. Failure yet again, false Nightmare Moon. You ceded that name when you ran from me - after I'd already earned it from you. Why do you cling to it? Your unwillingness to see when you've lost is almost admirable. Your followers are down or irrelevant, and the traitor is merely blocking the most extreme of my powers - powers I didn't have when I defeated you the first time, unarmed."
"I kept the name to control the dragons. Now that they are gone - yes, let this charade end. I am Luna."
Twilight Sparkle stepped up alongside and met Jadis' eyes. "And she's not entirely alone." As she said this, the other five stepped up alongside.
Luna said, "Are you recovered sufficiently to use the elements, or to teleport rapidly?"
After a moment's thought, Twilight replied, "Not yet."
Jadis, seeing that delay would not serve her, drew her sword and charged.
Luna only had time to command them, "Hang back!"
I'm sure the battle as Luna attempted to fend off Jadis was very impressive, but I can't attest to it because I realized there were two things I could contribute. First, I tapped Rarity on her pack as she retreated as ordered (fortunately she wasn't running, or I wouldn't have been able to reach her). I said, "Prisoners. Cape."
"Right!" she pulled out the cape and passed it to Rainbow Dash, who zoomed off to restore the imps to their proper forms. Then, I rushed to the general and whispered, "Can I have Terra?"
Without diverting her eyes, she muttered, "Just don't cast except right after I've absorbed something. You can summon, though." I untied the gem's hastily mended necklace from around her neck. The warmth filled me once more. Since I had the economizer, I could cast any of the spells. The most relevant seemed to me to be Ultima, but since it was an area effect spell, I wasn't too sure about using it on Jadis while she was so close to Luna - even if I was given the opening by Jadis attempting to cast again. With the life spells, at least I'd be able to do something if the worst came up. The description of what summoning Terra would do was simply a question mark - the only completely unhelpful description.
Then I saw that Macidexia was stirring. She was no longer tended, as the battle had passed too close, and the other ponies had focused on getting the guards out of the way while retreating. I realized that this was the older Macidexia. We could not afford to have her up and about, in either version - but as the older one, she no longer had fate protection. Recalling Celes' warning, I summoned Terra.
The feeling of summoning was far more intense than simply directly perceiving the options. Time slowed again. It was like I was reaching in and helping Terra out of the gem, with my mind. The words "The Unanswered Question" occurred to me as I called out Terra's name. A glowing girl appeared in front of Macidexia, and stared at her. Their eyes locked. A whisper that could have carried a mile escaped her lips. "Who am I? What do I want? What do I have worth living for?"
Macidexia blubbered for a moment. "You're Terra?"
Terra, apparently dissatisfied with the answer, drew back and smacked Macidexia so hard it rolled her over. Without waiting for her to stop rolling, Terra shot a broad hole through her body with a glowing red beam from her eyes. But after a moment, Terra laid a hand across her, healing the wounds she'd just created. Then she vanished - leaving Macidexia, confused, getting to her feet.
The battle paused, everyone staring at the spectacle. Jadis once again demonstrated variety in her laughter, this time showcasing incredulity. "What... overpowered and yet completely useless! Macidexia, please fetch Terra from that worm before he hurts someone." Macidexia was still shocked, but momentarily set into motion. I had already taken off running.
Macidexia was catching up. She couldn't see just what I was doing, so I pulled Ramuh out of my camera bag, stuffed in Terra, and threw Ramuh back towards general Chere. Macidexia, of course, intercepted it with a bit of horn-magic. I wished I'd carried Ratatosk as well - Ramuh looked too useful.
I checked in on how things were doing: the imped prisoners were, apparently, two elephants - one adult and one child - and an old lady. These were not exactly the reinforcements we'd been hoping for, and none of them seemed inclined to help in any way. Macidexia was trundling up the hill with 'Terra' (actually Ramuh) levitated before her...
... and Jadis had Luna at swordpoint.
Twilight Sparkle whispered, "Now?"
Luna said, "No." even as the sword-tip stroked a row of fine scars along her neck.
Jadis gloated, "I remember the taste of your blood. The pure helplessness. It is a pity that under these circumstances I think I might have to kill you instead of finishing the job of draining you. But there's always your sister..."
Sister! I interrupted: "Jadis, do you feel as your sister did in her last moments?" That got her attention, though she tried not to show it. I continued, "If you slay her, I will have no reason not to do to you what you did to her." Wishing to avoid picking up dangerously erroneous beliefs, I very very quietly - inside my mouth - finished that thought, 'aside from being unable to do so.'
"Worm, you know nothing of magic. I have my own fountain of life. No deplorable word can touch me. And that's imagining you could even use one."
As she spoke, I qualified sub-vocally, 'Two unrelated statements follow.', then replied out loud, "There are other words of power. Can you survive a fireball hotter than the sun, large enough to destroy a mid-sized city?"
"Ridiculous. Macidexia said you were a liar."
"Then she also told you she's enchanted me so I cannot lie in her presence. Ask her about thermonuclear war."
Macidexia gulped. "They do have such powers, your majesty."
Jadis did not spare me a glance, still focused on Luna. "He hasn't a drop of magical blood!"
Macidexia countered, "Very few of them do. And yet, they do have these other powers."
Jadis' laugh bore contempt like dirty laundry. "You are too credulous."
"It is not too credulous to believe someone under a truth enchantment!"
I declared, as sternly as I could manage, "Zeeky."
Jadis went on, "Macidexia, cast something."
"Boogy."
There was a crack and Celestia's bubble shattered. "Stop!" Celestia commanded. "You must not!" Everyone was startled - even Jadis nearly took her sword away from Luna's neck. Celestia looked terrible, but she wasn't sneezing anymore.
I paused in my recitation. I did not need to hedge at all as I said, "Princess, if she wins, eventually, Equestria will be as Charn, her homeland - completely dead. Rocks and mud and sand. And eventually, in the wood between the worlds, it will darken, shrivel, and dry. Utter destruction. She did this to her own people. Intentionally. Better that we few die here than all of Equestria."
Jadis drawled, "Oh, 'princess', you believed Macidexia - you'll believe anyone." Macidexia hardly noticed the insult as she stared in horror at me. I realized first that I hadn't had any subvocal qualifications, and second that I had spoken the straightforward truth, so they were unnecessary. And, judging from the look, Macidexia knew I had.
Celestia shook her head at Jadis, but turned to me. Very gravely, she warned me, "I know this phrase. If you complete it, Equestria will be as Qrrbrbirlbel."
My brain exploded. Not literally, but I was ready to faint. Was the Demented Cartoon Movie, like the Principia Discordia, more true than I thought?
Jadis laughed, piqued. "A coward! I knew it!"
"On the contrary: my sister and I would take a thousand years to regain corporeal form, but we would."
"As would I. Only by then, the land would be under the control of the Empire. You could only destroy a light scouting force by applying your full strength." She shook her head. "Macidexia, cast something to cancel with the runic blade."
Macidexia asked, "And what then? You won't be in a position to revive me - no one will."
"Cast a spell or I will retreat and leave you to face them alone. And if you follow, I'll cut you down myself!"
Macidexia snarled, "Very well: Bolt of Judgement!"
Ramuh appeared and raised his staff. Luna braced herself, but Ramuh's lightning was drawn by the spires 'Maximilian' had erected, and then redirected onto Jadis.
The lightly fried empress recovered in a moment, but by that point, Luna was a mist. Jadis turned and tracked the mist to avoid giving Luna any opportunities. "Idiot!"
"You said it'd be cancelled!"
Jadis continued to turn, tracking Luna's circling mist. "That's not a spell! Imbecile! Now we're back to a real fight! If she ever comes out of hiding, that is. Didn't you notice them summoning Terra?"
"It blocks their spells too?"
The gang fidgeted; Celestia held a hoof to her lips. The gang reluctantly stood back and let things progress.
Jadis went on, more bitingly, "And why didn't you cast when you were invisible?
Macidexia ranted, "How am I supposed to know? You lent me magicite, an economizer, and a... handful of tinctures... and had me kill a gagged clown over and over again. That's everything you ever 'taught' me. No theory. You didn't even mention this magic cancellation, let alone that it can only cancel one spell at once, or can't block summoning, or comes from holding a runic blade. And I still don't see any blades with runes on."
Jadis explained with exaggerated false patience, "I gave you what you demanded. If you try to renege, Life won't help you, even if you could find someone to cast it on you."
Macidexia spoke with the momentum of an iceberg. "I'm just saying, I'm not an idiot."
Exasperated, Jadis shrieked, "Then cast something!"
Slight pause. "Does it need to be reflectable?"
"No! Just... cast Ultima on them, in case it goes through! This will work!"
"I... don't have Ultima. Will Bio work?"
I started over, with no intention of finishing: "Zeeky."
"Shut up!" shrieked Jadis. Back to Macidexia, she continued, "I can't even retreat safely since you filled the place with demigods! Cast a spell, or go over and hit her until she reacts..."
I held off on 'boogy' since I didn't want my bluff called - and whether or not 'zeeky boogy doog' worked or not, it was a bluff. If Celestia thought it was unacceptable, that was good enough for me.
Jadis finished, lamely, "... and now she's mounted?"
I turned and found that general Chere was riding Celestia. It looked wrong. So very wrong. But less wrong than her being stuck in place and vulnerable.
Jadis continued, "When did you let that happen?"
"Me? You're the one with this Quick-Ultima-Ultima spell you could have slipped in!"
"What's wrong with you, slave? Did Terra do something to you? Did her spirit rub off on you?"
Macidexia seized on the explanation: "Yes, I'm sure that was it! A more complicated version of muddle! One Remedy and I'll be all better!"
"Stop it!"
Macidexia, terrified, backed away. "Empress? Fury destroys what you care about most deeply - Fury..."
"Don't echo her lessons back to me!" Jadis turned to Macidexia, and lunged.
"Now." commanded Celestia and Luna simultaneously even before the latter finished reforming.
The elements blazed. Jadis seemed to hang in air, sword half swung in a decapitation strike. A rainbow cone swirled up from the elements, wove together, and radiated over her. An unearthly scream sounded. Her greaves, helmet, and gauntlets slowly tumbled away, ashes flying from their insides. The scream continued, though reduced.
The armor collapsed straight down, puffing out fine ashes. The magic continued, focused into the ash cloud. Jadis finally stopped for a breath, and when she resumed her cry it was a broken bawl.
The ashes fell, revealing an infant so young her umbilical cord hadn't fallen off yet. She floated down on top of the ash pile, and the magic dissipated. |
My Little Mashup | Cooldown | Macidexia was left staring at the baby Jadis surrounded by the parts of the armor she had just worn when she had been adult.
She backed away in fright. Fluttershy swooped in and soothed the baby as the rest of the gang collapsed; the general dismounted, I passed her the economizer, and she rushed to heal the wounded unicorns; Celestia trotted up in front of Macidexia.
Macidexia supplicated.
Celestia asked, iron behind her voice, "According to Twilight Sparkle, what's the worst thing I can do to one of my students?"
Macidexia took a long moment before replying, "Demote her to magic kindergarten."
Celestia turned her head, looking with one large eye directly at Macidexia. "She's wrong, of course. I could do much, much worse."
Macidexia winced.
She reached down and touched Macidexia's horn with her own, gently adding, "But I think that will suffice in this case..." The iron reentered her voice. "... if the lesson you've learned today sticks."
Macidexia nodded.
Celestia turned to me next. "I said 'no hints'. This would have gone much more smoothly if you'd been able to stick to that."
I swallowed. "My apologies."
"Accepted. And my apologies for pitting you against Discord."
"You did what you could with what you had."
She nodded in acknowledgement, and turned to the old lady. "Madame Flaubert, can you retrieve our banished allies?"
The old lady started towards us but replied, "I believe Omar can do that faster than I." To me, she said, "You haven't changed a day!"
I was confused, but then it struck me: "Polly?"
She nodded. "The very same!" Celestia had moved on to to the general, but I didn't catch what she said as I was still trying to cope with this idea.
"But... you're a hundred and sixty!"
"If I'm a hundred and sixty, you're a hundred and eight million." Fair enough. (It didn't occur to me to ask how she knew about that). "Well, go on, or would it be faster for me to do it myself after all?"
I gingerly rummaged through Jadis' armor and found the rings. I grabbed the chains they were attached to, then touched the yellow one. The retrieval was boringly straightforward - the banished alicorns were still gathered around the pool trying to puzzle it out. I quickly explained, retrieved the ring that had sent them there, and brought us back.
Celestia was finishing up speaking with general Chere when we returned; Twilight Sparkle and her healed brother were entangled in an embrace.
Celestia acknowledged the return of the alicorns and said to them, "It appears we'll have that prophecy hanging over us a while yet."
Luna finally spoke, saying, "Is that not up to me? I can still press my claim, and be struck down."
Celestia finally acknowledged her. "You could. I recommend you talk it over with your advisor first. I will be returning home to rest before we attend to Discord. You know where to find me." Then, to the ex-prisoners, "Do you still wish to visit Canterlot?"
Polly translated this into French, and both elephants nodded vigorously.
Meanwhile, Luna was looking at me intently.
The various alicorns swooped off into the distance in various elemental-ish forms, each bringing some of the others. And still Luna stared.
We were alone on the hilltop, the last departure being Twilight Sparkle and the finally-recovered Spike.
"All this and still you continue in your familiar disrespect. If you cannot remedy this, I see only two solutions: first, you are exiled from Canterlot, and preferably Equestria." She paused to let that sink in. "Second, we marry."
I kept my face straight. "If I'm not mistaken, I could alternately marry Celestia."
A pause.
She clarified, "That was a joke."
"And I was playing along." And trying to make sure she didn't end up being serious. Operation: Shoot Self Down seems to be a success.
"Oh." Pause. "I thought I had done it incorrectly. You see, I have not told a joke in somewhat over a thousand and two years."
"You did it fine. So... what's this about a prophecy?"
Luna sighed and sat down. "It no longer matters. I have made my decision."
I sat down facing her. "Are you sure?"
"Unless you talk me into declaring myself queen, then being slain, never to return, with various additional calamities to follow, the outcome will be unchanged."
I blinked. "Why would you have ever wanted to do that?"
"Because something like it will happen, eventually, somehow - and some of the calamities that have already struck - not the least simply having brought the leaders of all the realms together into one place - will have to happen again to completely fulfil it, unless this time is what it refers to. And I thought I might be the most deserving of the oblivion it would bring."
"You're not."
She looked to the hill that had been the imperial base. "I made thousands of ponies into killers."
Following her gaze, I saw that general Chere, accompanied by Celestia herself, was raising the fallen. At least, judging by the colors and twinkling of magic, that was what what was going on.
Luna shook her head. "In their hearts, they are. And some... I doubt her magic can bring all of them back."
I recalled Walt Whitman, and recited:
"Word over all, beautiful as the sky!
Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly softly wash again, and ever again, this soil'd world."
The second half of the poem didn't fit, so I stopped. I'd said enough - she was crying.
After a minute, Celestia's sunbeam rose into the sky and off to Canterlot.
This drew our attention to the sun, which was still dancing with the moon most improperly.
Luna lifted her head. "Let us go. There is work still to be done."
"First... there's someone to pick up. Two hills before where that outlying force attacked the armada."
Luna nodded, and her mists grew about me like a warm embrace - calmer than Nightmare Moon's had ever been. We swirled off. In moments, we were hovering over the top of the hill. I looked down the hill to the large rock, and she followed my gaze. We rematerialized there.
I called out, "Cheerilee?"
To my surprise, though, I heard a raucous laugh.
"Oh! Look at it!" Discord?
The voice had come from under the rock. As I approached, I heard one of those high-pitched electronic whines that some lucky people can't hear.
Discord and Cheerilee were watching television. I was on the screen. Celestia's voice said, "I know this phrase..." Pause.
Cheerilee jumped up and rushed to me. Her front hooves on my elbows, she put her head over my shoulder for a moment before her weight got to be a bit too much for me and I had to put her down.
Discord looked round. "Why, here he is. Have a seat. And the great 'empress' Luna, too."
"Discord." She seemed more confused than any other reaction, but there was a weary enmity in her voice.
Discord waved a claw. "Can't I celebrate a great victory too? And especially one won with such style? You were totally right, my boy. With her around, I'd give it a month before she popped the place. Then what would I have to enjoy? The little rocks getting into little rock arguments? But look - here's the best part."
Celestia continued speaking, and the camera watched me. When she said 'Qrrbrbirlbel', it went into slow motion. My poker face hadn't exactly held, then.
"That lady knows how to lie by telling the truth better than anyone else I know." Discord sighed admiringly. "She got the bluffer himself to believe it! Ha!"
"So it's not a magic phrase?"
Discord gestured, and the TV flickered. Celesteville palace. Celestia was lying on the grass, with a juvenile elephant sitting in front of her, showing her the Demented Cartoon Movie on an iPad. "Not exactly what she would have picked, but when you're quasi-delirious you can't exactly make the details of your preferences clear. So." He sobered up. "When you get back, you can tell her... oh..."
I took a stab in the dark. "'All your base'?"
"No, not so much. I had the privilege to witness those six with the elements of harmony. They don't look like much, but they used them twice in six minutes. Another time an hour before, and another the day before... and the last was at full power! Even if they may not use them on me directly for a time, that's enough to be a serious annoyance. There are easier places to work."
Luna declared, "We shall pursue you."
"I'm certain you will." He got up and tapped the TV. It turned into a matchbox, which he tucked into his ear.
"Just where do you think you can hide?"
"Sore wa himitsu desu! Sayonara." He disappeared in a flash.
Luna repeated his words, mystified. I translated, "That's a secret. Good bye."
Cheerilee hugged me again. "You were brilliant."
Luna finally spared her a glance, but instead of saying anything, simply spread the mists, and we swirled off to Canterlot.
We landed on a balcony facing up-slope. Luna took off her helmet and chest-plate, then turned and commanded Cheerilee, "You are not well. My chamberlain will attend to you." The words did not form a command, but there was no doubt that it was.
Cheerilee supplicated briefly and reluctantly went inside.
Luna closed the balcony door and turned to me. "This was the one you dreamed of?"
I nodded.
Quietly, intensely: "She is not who you imagine. You will find, in due time, just how ordinary she is."
"You could say the same of me."
Her brow furrowed. "You are not ordinary. How could you even think that? You..." She flailed for words.
"I failed to intimidate Macidexia. I couldn't have - I don't know what I was thinking. I failed to even slightly impede Discord."
She declared: "You devised the dragons. You chronogated our way home and made it the rest of the way back here with whatever happened to be lying around, without any magic..."
"You've only ever seen me in super-high-stress situations. I do respond well to stress, I grant. Maybe I'm exceptional in that one dimension."
"And in compassion! You saw me through my evil, right from the beginning. Joined me, then gave me hope!"
My stomach plummeted. "I... uh. I didn't mean to, actually. I was trying to distract you so they could hit you with the elements."
Luna gaped.
She recovered. "Of course. You do realize that brings you even further beyond her, don't you?"
"She dismantled Discord's plan to destroy Ponyville, in three minutes flat. Without magic. I know she's not all I've made up in my head about her. I recognize my fantasies. And I know she's not that extraordinary - maybe 90th percentile in intelligence, not 99-point-9th. But if it turns out she's totally average... I'm fine with that. Look. Why are you harping on this? Do you love me?"
She screwed up her eyes. "No." That was all, for several seconds. "I need you. My roots are very shallow right now, and I need all the anchor I can get, until I'm better. And I don't want to grow just around my sister all over again."
My sigh of relief must have been visible. Emotional dependence is only really poisonous when it's not on the table. "All right. if you want me to stay on as your advisor, I will. If you - and circumstances - will allow me to be your friend, I can try that. Cheerilee won't come between us. But this is going to have an end date, all right?"
Luna took a deep breath, nodded, and regained her composure. "She really foiled Discord?"
I nodded. "The rest of us were completely ineffective. At best."
"Then perhaps I need her as an advisor as well."
She opened the door and we went into her suite. She lay down on a large cushion and I followed suit. A minute passed of us just gathering our wits again.
The door slammed open. Two earth pony guards flanked Celestia as she in entered in a hurry. A pair each of pegasus and unicorn guards followed - with the gang behind, decidedly droopy. Fluttershy was erratically hovering along, cradling Jadis in her forelegs. Sighting the floor cushions, she rushed forward and placed - almost dropped - the baby next to me.
Celestia almost barked, "Discord is about to strike Las Pegasus. Be the empress one last time."
Luna looked her in the eye, and said, "No."
Celestia raised an eyebrow.
Luna clarified, "We are in no condition to fight. In particular, they are in no condition to wield the elements again - look at them." She paused significantly, looking back and forth between the gang and Celestia. "I presume you gathered this threat from the pink earth pony who was just speaking with him? Then I suspect a trap. And if I start taking orders from you, then our pretext for evading your lost bet evaporates. Let us not add another failed gamble to the list."
Celestia's eyes flickered orange, and for a moment I thought we were going to see what Celestia's version of Nightare Moon was. It barely subsided as she declared, "Enjoy being empress of the ninth floor. I have all of Equestria to take care of." She reared up and stalked out, followed by her guards.
Twilight Sparkle tried to follow, but Celestia slammed the door in her face. |
My Little Mashup | Black and White | At Celestia's brusque departure, baby Jadis began crying. Twilight Sparkle almost joined her. "What the fuck was that? I've never seen her like that!"
I picked up Jadis and tried to soothe her. My holding her seemed to agitate her further at first, but I persisted in calmly rocking her, and over time she calmed.
Meanwhile, Luna whispered, "Did you not notice how she was merely white instead of radiant?"
"Well, yeah, but I figured that was just an aftereffect of the tea."
"Discord always produced a graying discoloration in those he touched directly. Subtle, but noticeable."
Rainbow Dash hit the ceiling. "You mean..."
Applejack pulled her down by the tail and shushed her. "She'll be fine once we deal with Discord, right? Just means we shouldn't be doing exactly what she says in the mean time."
Luna paced. "Especially since she's touched, Discord must be dealt with promptly. Celestia could cause incalculable harm."
Twilight Sparkle groaned. "But you were right about us being exhausted. If I unlocked my knees I'd fall over."
Luna closed her eyes. "You must. I realize now I cannot wield them myself - not yet, and not soon."
I said, "If it is a trap, he's not going anywhere. You can get a nap and go when you're ready."
Luna looked to me, nodding. "All right. Go get any more specific information you can - from Celestia or... that other one. The rest of you, sleep."
Her horn glowed a touch, and everypony but her sagged to the floor. Jadis fell asleep too, mercifully. I put her down on the cushions, got directions, and slipped out.
I climbed and climbed - these two floors were widely separated. And at the top were all six of the royal guards who'd accompanied Celestia moments before.
"I bear a message for princess Celestia, from Luna." I thought it wisest to omit her temporarily claimed title.
The earth pony in the center said, "There are delicate negotiations in progress. You may deliver it when they are complete."
Oh shit. What could she be doing?
That was partially answered when giggles came from inside the room.
"It is urgent, and that doesn't sound too... ummm... negotiative."
"We have been specifically instructed to treat messages from your so-called empress as low priority. In fact, the higher the priority you claim, the lower the priority we give it."
Though the thought of trying to send a super-non-urgent message crossed my mind, it was immediately dismissed as too stupid to try.
I slunk off down the stairs again. At least I can find Cheerilee and get more useful information.
Fortunately, she was easy to find - a chamberlain (and this time I'm sure it was a chamberlain) directed me to the small suite she had been given on the other end of Luna's floor.
I ambled in and said hi. A splashing sound came from a side room and a return, "Omar?"
"Oh - you're taking a bath? I guess I'll stay out here..."
"Whatever for?"
Oh right. I've never actually seen her wear clothing anyway.
I slipped in. Cheerilee was soaking and relaxing. "So, they're off to Las Pegasus?"
"Well, before they go they'd like to hear just what Discord said. Celestia wasn't as informative as possible."
Cheerilee nodded. "Sure! He spent a lot of time monologuing, but from time to time he'd pose a riddle. 'Wouldn't you really like to know? I'll go where ponies gather no snow.' Which helps narrow things down, but we do have several cities that don't get snow. Another was, 'Who stands apart, will die for their art!' Which I didn't quite get. But then he added, 'You want a real hint, little clover? What's black and white and red all over?' And of course that's a newspaper. And the Las Pegasus News headquarters are well outside town."
Oh shit oh shit. "Umm, thanks! Gotta deliver that. Heh, pardon the pun."
I ambled back out; I ran only once the door was closed, just in case Discord was still connected to her.
I burst into Luna's unguarded room, waking everyone as I closed the door. "It's not Las Pegasus! It's Ponyville! And it can't wait!"
That got the gang's attention. Instant alertness. I didn't explain just what else I'd worked out, not wanting to risk that it wouldn't get them properly agitated.
Luna asked, "Where is that?"
Twilight Sparkle said, "Where we first met. Their home."
Rainbow Dash said, "For them, we're good to go. Uh, right?" The others concurred.
The mists engulfed us and we raced under the low-lying clouds to Ponyville in under a minute.
The town square was already in chaos - ponies were dashing and pegasi were flying every which way. Luna disgorged us onto the balcony of the town hall.
Luna squinted, scanning. Her horn was glowing brightly.
Discord suddenly appeared right next to us. "So, the 'empress' Luna comes in to save the day. Trying to bypass your sister's restrictions?"
He reached in to pet Rainbow Dash; she dodged. "But you know you're really loyal to Princess Celestia. So what are you even hoping to do here?"
They were already charging up the elements. They were taking their time.
Discord waved off her efforts dismissively. "Come, now. It's not sufficient for you to be loyal to Luna - you need to be not loyal to Celestia."
They remained focused.
Discord rolled his eyes and added, "But if you aren't loyal to Celestia, Rainbow Dash can't fulfil her role, can she?"
The elements' slowdown began, and Discord's confidence finally broke - but it was too late. Rainbow Dash finally explained, "I can if she's not herself! You made a big mistake when you touched her!"
Discord, confused, only got out, "But..." before the rainbow beam petrified him.
The chaos began to subside with a half-life of around ten seconds.
The gang was not merely worn out by this effort: they were devastated. Twilight began heaving and quivering. Applejack sort of toppled, caught by Pinkie - who, though physically all right seemed sad and didn't bounce out of it. Fluttershy and Rarity collapsed inwards, their eyes glazed over. Rainbow Dash jumped up and cried, "Yeeeah!"... and landed heavily, holding her head. "Ow..."
Luna, not heeding their difficulties, flew forward out over the square and demanded in a booming voice, "What is the meaning of this?"
Instant silence. A fair number of the townsponies supplicated, even without recognizing her. After a few seconds Luna added, "Well?" - the floodgates opened and it seemed everypony was answering her question at once.
Twilight Sparkle's spasms intensified and she vomited - I couldn't hear it over the cacophony. Alarmed, I rushed alongside her. She dry-heaved a few more times and said something I couldn't hear.
Luna, giving up on picking out individual voices, declared, "Silence!" Still hovering, she pointed down to a pale green earth mare who'd apparently seemed unusually cogent. "You! Explain this!"
She supplicated again and began, "Well, we lately were cursed with a plague. And it wasn't a normal disease. It was a real curse! An' the only one we know around here who can do curses is Zecora!"
I shook my head and pointed to the statue of Discord. Luna saw me and declared, "It wasn't her. It was Discord, whom we have just defeated. His petrified remains are visible there." She pointed to us. Back to the townsponies, "What have you done with this Zecora?"
"We were trying to find her, your majesty. We hadn't done much of anything yet. If... if she didn't do it, we're sorry."
Luna scanned the populace. "Good. Now all of you."
Many of the ponies chanted out, 'We're sorry, Zecora.'
"No. All of you."
Almost all of them, this time.
Luna singled out a dark gray pegasus stallion who'd held his tongue. "You!"
He swallowed and said, "I wasn't chasing her to begin with... but sorry? I could have spoken up in her defense."
From above, there was a terriffic "Oops! Oh my!" and a scream as Zecora came plummeting from the cloudy sky.
Rainbow Dash made a standing start as if to catch her, but wobbled and crashed into the railing, her head still unsteady. Meanwhile, the pegasus that Luna had singled out streaked into the sky and caught Zecora so abruptly I was sure that it would have been worse than the landing - but it seemed not to be harmful, and after a short loop, he delivered her to the ground.
She clapped him on the shoulder. "For this aid, a new friend you have made!"
Slowly gliding down after was Ditzy Doo. "Sorry I dropped you..."
Zecora looked up and replied, "You should be proud, for hiding me on a cloud. I was sure I'd be found, down there on the ground!"
"No! It's my fault they came after you in the first place. See, I was..." she got quiet enough that we couldn't hear as she glided down below our level and faced away.
Luna interrupted, "The plague was sent by Discord. It was not your fault in the least."
Ditzy looked up. "Are you sure? 'Cause I do seem to cause an awful lot of..."
"Yes." - "eep. Okay."
A unicorn bravely poked her head up and asked, "Excuse me. Who are you, and where is princess Celestia?"
That was answered by the arrival of Celestia's sunbeam, right among us on the balcony.
After quietly saying, "Not quite where I expected to find you...", Celestia spoke to the crowd. "Our time of troubles, of which you have been the center, has passed. In large part, this is due to the efforts of my dear, recently recovered sister Luna. I would say it would be the dawn of a new day, but I think we've had quite enough of day for a while. Now, if she would resume her place as a princess of Equestria, she may give us a new night."
Luna flew back over to us, and they conversed quietly for several seconds.
Then, to great cheers, she turned to them and spread her wings. The sun gently slipped below the horizon. Luna stood still, almost unable to accept the praise, as the stomping continued.
Celestia turned and nuzzled Twilight Sparkle next to the ear, and looked out over the six. "Oh, my little ponies, how you have suffered, and carried on. You shall have all of the rest you need."
Luna added, "... to be ready for next time."
That ominous note was overlaid with gasps and squeals of joy coming from below, and then chants of "Lu-na!"
I looked to her, and then the sky - and boggled. Some pegasi were clearing the clouds away, revealing a sky with the depth I was accustomed to at home. There were stars of all brightnesses, with multitudes of dim ones, not simply star-star-star-done. As their work continued, a milky way became visible. And then, instead of the blobby Magellanic clouds, there was a barred spiral companion galaxy. More oohs and aahs emerged as the pegasi unveiled a tiny dim blue and red splotch that had to be a nebula. Now that's a sky.
Luna cracked a smile, and looked to her sister - she was arranging for the six to be carried off to their beds. When she'd finished, she asked, "What do you think?"
Celestia looked up. "I can see I let my standards for night slip over the past thousand years."
"Perhaps, but mine have raised."
Something occurred to me - I turned to Luna and asked, as quietly as I could while remaining audible, "It's not... real, is it?"
Luna grinned, then winced (she later explained that her smiling muscles had cramped up). After flexing her jaw for a moment, she said, "As real as the lunary sphere itself."
I laughed. She looked at me quizzically, and I was left wondering whether it had been meant as a joke at all.
But there was something - somepony - missing. And... "We didn't leave anyone watching Jadis!"
"Yes... I suppose we should get back to Canterlot."
The mists began to rise, but I interrupted, "Hey! Aren't you going to say goodbye?"
Luna boomed out, "Citizens of Ponyville. I have more work to do. Fare well."
A few more cries went up in response, and we left. |
My Little Mashup | Suspicion | Pearl couldn't sleep. Her sleep schedule had been completely shot by the summer night celebration just past, and her ninth birthday. It didn't help that her big test was tomorrow, and she had no idea what was going to be on it, or what it was about at all. Mom and Dad had tried to hide their anxiety, but it had been as plain as anything.
Pearl lifted her head and looked out at the busy sky. The half moon was low on the horizon, drawing her, calling. She felt the urge to jump out the window and run after it. But of course that would wake up Ruby, and it would bother mom and dad. She didn't have wings like a pegasus, so she shouldn't be jumping out of second-story windows. She could, though - she just knew it.
And of course the moon was not something she could just run to.
Until tomorrow, when she'd meet her. And the sun.
It was going to be a big test.
She put her head down and resolved to get to sleep like a big filly, but before she could count to a hundred she overheard the creaks of mom and dad making love. Of all the nights! I suppose they can't sleep either, but really!
She slipped out of bed and padded her way across the house, ready to remind them that tomorrow was a busy day. As usual, she imagined horrors. The home was transformed into a dripping dungeon. The moonlight was transformed into the flicker of torches, and the rustle of leaves in the trees, the shifting of chains. It made things a bit more exciting than simply crossing the house in the dark.
When she reached their room, though, she couldn't stop them.
She'd never actually seen them doing it before; she'd just known what they were doing. They were lying on their sides, facing each other, one of mom's hooves awkwardly pointing up in the air. From her vantage beyond the foot of the bed, Pearl had a very clear view of the proceedings.
Pearl could predict their motions. It was mesmerizing - a bit of deja vu, as dad called it. For her, it usually felt more like she was about to work something out - and she often did.
Mom rolled on top of dad, and her tail flopped down to cover the point of entry.
Pearl watched for another minute, trying to remember.
Dad said, "Not working..."
Mom said, "Distracted?"
"Yeah. Thanks for trying to take my mind off it, but..."
"No. No backing out now. Then we'll never get to sleep."
Pearl backed away, wondering how she could have ever known about that. It didn't bother her that she knew her strength far beyond how she'd tested it - who didn't have a feel for their strength? Or arithmetic - some folks are smart... or magic - that, she'd just had, as long as she could remember even though she'd never cast the vast bulk of her spells, and even those she had, she used only sparingly, since her reserve of magic recovered pitifully slowly and sometimes shrank overnight. But this... how could she know this?
She needed to get away to think clearly. She went downstairs and slipped out the front door.
The grass was cool between her toes, and the dew was coming. The moon was sinking down in the west, and soon would be gone. She couldn't let that happen - she started running, chasing it, with an urgency she didn't usually feel. Alone, in the dark, she let loose. Instead of running a little faster than her classmates, she practically flew. She didn't want to go out of her way for the bridges, so she vaulted the stream. Her hair streamed out behind her almost straight, and her feet moved so fast they took on speed-hardening that normally only pegasi could bring about.
She slowed as she approached the Everfree Forest. Running hadn't helped her think so much as she'd hoped. Turning slightly southward, she loped past Fluttershy's house and uphill to Sweet Apple Acres.
To her surprise, the light was on downstairs. She smoothly slowed to a stop at the door and knocked.
A few seconds later, Applejack opened it quickly. She blinked and exclaimed, "Pearl!?" Then, more calmly, "What's wrong, Pearl? Come in..."
Pearl suddenly felt wary. Even... suspicious? She shrugged it off - this was aunt Applejack. Once she was safely sitting on the kitchen counter, she carefully said, "I... walked in on mom and dad."
Applejack laughed. "Oh yeah, that happens sometimes. A bit of a shock?"
Pearl felt a flood of relief. "Yeah. Like, why does this totally new thing seem so completely familiar?"
Applejack's laugh died. "Umm. Well, that's not exactly how it happened with me."
An awkward silence fell. Applejack asked, "So, do you need a little explanation?"
"No, I know how it goes. Thanks."
Applejack turned away, saying, "Cider?"
"Sure." Pearl twiddled with the mug. "What's keeping you up?"
Applejack sighed. "Elements business coming up tomorrow. Bothering me. It's one of those rare ones we can see comin', so there won't be a mad scramble to get to the tree t' borrow 'em again. Maybe it'll be nothing. Sure hope it is!"
Pearl loved hearing about the elements. They were only pulled out for major emergencies, and major emergencies meant excitement. "And if there's a problem, you'll blast 'em, like Discord?"
Applejack took a deep swig of cider in a big hurry. "Oh I hope not. Maybe make 'em remember something important, like general Chere."
That was a boring story, not like Rainbow Dash's super-fakeout. "So, who is it? What is it?"
"Don't know, pumpkin. That's the problem. Come on. Let's get you home. I'm sure they're done by now."
Pearl followed her out, put her hand on Applejack's neck as they walked along. Pearl felt her third and fourth cervical vertebrae. A story occurred to her: a secretly rebellious duke, a feather bed, a vigorous fuck, and then, right there between the third and fourth cervical vertebrae. No one could carry tales of where she had disposed of her virginity.
That wasn't a particularly happy story to think up, and having her hand on auntie's neck kept it in mind, so she pulled her hand back.
"Something wrong there, pumpkin? You kinda tensed for a moment."
"Oh, just a scary thought."
At home once again, she slipped back in without waking anyone. As predicted, her parents were again still. She went back up to bed, pet Ruby once on her neck, and, no longer bothered, went to sleep.
Breakfast was a rush as everyone had woken late (no surprise there). They dashed out the door and caught the train just as it was leaving. Neither Pearl nor Ruby had ever been on a train before. Dad did one of his incomprehensible in-group jokes with himself as the sole group member: "Now we've got Ruby on rails! Heh... never mind."
Ruby was antsy, hopping with her front hoof-hands, so Pearl asked, "Mom, dad? Can we go exploring?"
Mom admonished, "There's plenty to see here. And we don't want to bother the other passengers, do we?"
"Aunt Applejack said they were going on elements business today. That means they're going to Canterlot today too! Probably on this train!"
"Well, in that case, do you think it would be a good idea to bother them?"
"No, mother." Pearl settled by the window and stared out. It was a new feeling to be moving so quickly, and especially as they approached the mountains, but her nervous energy exceeded even Ruby's. She wanted to jump out and race the train. But even she realized that she couldn't - not quite. Maybe when she was bigger.
Dad, sitting at her left, took her hand. "Nervous?"
"Yeah. Did you have to be tested like this?"
He sighed. "Not just like this. But yes, I was tested. Sorely." He swallowed. "And I passed. And you'll pass, and we'll see what wonderful new opportunities open up, won't we?"
"You mean... I could end up going to study magic like Twilight Sparkle did?"
"Maybe so. I guess we'd have to move back to Canterlot."
"No need to uproot the whole family. I'd be all right on my own. I'd come home often, don't worry. The train looks fun."
He laughed. "Gone at nine. At this rate we'll be empty-nesters in no time." And yet, the laugh was strained.
Then he picked up her right hand and put it to his chest, above his heart.
Pearl blinked. That had been something he'd come up with when she'd been worried about Ruby taking her place (and with Mom, she kind of did), and later when she was teased in school for being a foundling: their matching scars. Hers on the tips of her fingers, his across his heart. They hadn't done it lately; there'd been no need.
Dad whispered, "Remember."
"Of course I remember - we match."
Arriving in Canterlot, they bustled off to the palace. And then, waited. Pearl wandered within the area they were permitted, looking at the stained glass windows. All sorts of monsters being defeated.
Dad spoke eagerly with some ponies - he'd used to work with them, she overheard. She stood through two rounds of oh-how-you've-grown and I-knew-you-when-you-were-this-big. Ruby was sent to play with the other children of palace workers.
Then a light shone through the room: Celestia had arrived.
Dad bowed deeply, and mom supplicated, but Pearl just stared. Such power, and grace. She didn't even notice when her parents rose.
Celestia came close, sniffed lightly, tasting the air. Then, with a smile, she said, "Welcome back to Canterlot, Pearl. What do you think so far?"
Pearl looked back. Father was holding a hand over his heart, and hugging mom with the other. Parents can be so over-dramatic sometimes.
She turned back to the princess. "It's beautiful. And nifty."
Celestia nodded towards the window they were in front of. "Which is your favorite?"
Pearl looked up and down the row. "That one is... Well, it's not prettiest."
"It's certainly the most striking, yes. The defeat of Sombra and the banishment of the crystal empire. Very sad. But keep looking."
Pearl walked with her. They came to one with a human, who seemed to be exploding in gray flame. In front of - or perhaps in? - the belly was a baby.
She pointed. "What happened there?"
"The elements of harmony reduced her to a baby."
"Oh wow. What did you do?"
"What would you?"
"Raise her. Keep a close eye on her, in case..." In case you need to blast her again. My aunts are the bearers of the elements of harmony. And they are on elements business today. The day of my test.
She laughed. I'm Jadis! The last queen of Charn, empress, dragonlord, torturer, slaver, murderer of around three billion in various worlds and times!
As the memories flooded her, she could not stop laughing. Her sides burned. The absurdity of her last nine years, in the context of the previous hundred and forty, could not be overstated. It was all one cruel joke, teasing her like this and then closing the trap around her, ending it all. Celestia was already using intense magic, glowing all over.
A vision of how she could attempt escape flashed - Suckerpunch Celestia, Quick-Haste-Warp, appear on the road outside the gates, Quick-Shell-Merton for the guards. No, I'm not strong enough to survive that, even with shell - and Merton might be defense-piercing anyway. I never tested that. So, punch Celestia, leap through the window, snag one of the banners...no, Warp would be better even so. I can deal with guards on the road better than a palace-full.
Her situation updated - she was being grappled by 'dad'. He was so little of a threat she didn't even waste important thinking-time on fighting back, instead focusing on alternate escape plans. Quick-Invis-Warp. Right. That's it. I'll have the worm with me on the other end of the warp, but... stop. They'd have the road covered by the elements, and Twilight Sparkle can see through invisibility. Plus, there's a reason I needed to weaken Celestia before invading - if I escape, she can bring the sun down on me. So, no Warp - I cannot run without striking her down. And they haven't seriously hit me yet. I need to understand why.
Her laughing slowed, and she looked up into mom's face from where dad cradled her, as they sang:
"...and when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'twill be in the valley of love and delight."
They're still hoping I'm Pearl. I can work with this.
"When true simplicity is gained,
to bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed."
What can I do with it? Well, I can walk out of here safely, for one thing. Immediate threat resolved. Wasn't that easy? But in the longer term, I've got to... what?
What is it I have to do?
"To turn, turn, will be our delight
till by turning, turning, we come round right."
I was mad because I thought they were teasing me with these years of unaccustomed happiness before snatching it away. But they don't want that. It's not a trick. Omar the worm treasures the scars I gave him simply because they're part of me too. You can't fake that.
A hiccup. What do I get if I set out on my own? I've ruled empires, but being forced to go back to ruling empires was what made me freak out!
A deep breath. "I now have one hundred and forty years of experience in doing it all wrong."
Celestia dimmed to her background level of radiance.
Turning her face up to dad, Pearl smirked. "I love you, worm." Finger by finger, she reached up and matched with him. |
My Little Mashup | Omake | Omake: Bonus material. Cut scenes. Jokes.
We start with scenes never intended to be included in the story, in order of when they would have fit.
Incidentally, the proper background music to this chapter is the credits roll from Megaman 2.
"But it's for science"
Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath. "All right, if it's for science."
I came alongside and swung a leg up.
She bolted. "Gah! No! There's just... something wrong about it! I don't know what! And that bothers me!" She took a moment to compose herself. "Sorry we couldn't do the experiment, whatever it was."
I said, "Actually, that was the experiment. Unicorn will not give ride to non-virgin, check."
"What? Oh, now you're on. You say I can't give you a ride? Ha! Who's in charge here?"
Half an hour later, it seemed her non-ride-giving instincts were in charge.
"One more try? Please?"
"Sorry, Twi - this is getting to be more tedious and made of fail than actually losing my virginity was."
~~~~
Twilight Sparkle said, "Of course n... wait. That's an interesting question." She levitated another book out of her pack.
"Hmm. Secret... Dum de dum. Yes, the story sounds awfully simi... Uh-oh."
"What?"
"I've discovered that Princess-Princess is actually Secret Demon Princess-Princess!"
She facehoofed.
"That sounds really stupid when I say it out loud."
~~~~
Nightmare Moon: OH MY BELOVED SUBJECTS!
Twilight Sparkle: The shouting is a temporary side-effect of escaping the Moon. Could last 2 or 3 seasons.
Nightmare Moon: Yes... I'm having difficulty controlling THE VOLUME OF MY VOICE.
~~~~
Act, Omar, Act! At least, stop freaking out!
My mind flashed back to Pinkie's song earlier that evening, and how I'd been compelled to join in. In a fit of inspiration, I began singing I'm a Member of the Midnight Crew. When the guards began providing the full barbershop harmony on the chorus, I knew I'd done it.
~~~~
We emerged from the pool into what appeared to be a construction zone. A roar filled the air - two roars. One of machinery slowly spinning up to speed, and another of an angry mob. No - three roars: the earth shook.
Several people on the two machines on either side of us pointed and shouted, but we couldn't make out anything they were saying. I couldn't even make out anything Digory or Polly were saying, that close to the machines.
Digory ran off to the crowd, pully Polly and pointing ahead. I grabbed his hand as well, following -- ahead was a mess.
The sky was falling. A rain of boulders was pounding the earth. And it was sweeping towards us.
One man was standing on the wall, fighting, killing everyone in the crowd who came close with dreadful efficiency. The push and swell of the crowd gave even those who knew something about fighting an insuperable disadvantage as they were shoved onto his swords.
And we were behind him. I hollered, "We'll get you all out of here in just a minute!"
It was useless for the crowd, but the warrior heard. "The ships can't carry you! And you two, how did you get off? Get back on board!"
But Digory was going for the direct approach - he squirmed out of my hand, put on the yellow ring, put his other hand in his pocket, and dove into the crowd. A moment later - presumably as he lost contact with the green ring - they all vanished.
~~~~
. . . . Achilles: Help you? How?
. . . . Omar: Oh, I dunno! Maybe with the fighting?
. . . . Achilles: Fighting? But my dear fellow, I've never hurt anyone in my life! I've never touched a weapon!
. . . . Polly and Digory share an awkward glance.
. . . . Digory: You did say you're Achilles, didn't you? Nigh-invincible warrior? Leader of the Phthians? Bathed in the river Styx? Wins races against tortoises?
. . . . Madame Tortue: That last for sure.
. . . . Omar, muttering to the children: Achilles died in the Trojan war. Let's not aim him that way. Fate can just find someone else to do its dirty work this time, don't you think?
. . Achilles put the book down
. . Achilles: That's an interesting assertion, don't you think?
. . Madame Tortue: Quite. But if it were true, it would be a simple matter to avoid dying - just avoid the Trojan War! A great comfort for you.
. . Achilles: And for you. I'd assumed Mr. Goodfortune would be able to handily defeat us, but I think this has given me courage.
. . Madame Tortue: You do realize that this book we are reading is a work of fiction?
. . Achilles: Yet now that it's been pointed out, I do feel like I could take him on. Let's keep reading.
Candice shook her head. "Well, that explains all the organ music you've been playing lately. I was like, 'WTF, mates?' only without the armageddon."
There was a popping sound, then a small voice. "Oops." We looked around, and there was Digory. This was unexpected, to say the least.
Then another. "Digs, you forgot this... What..." Polly and Digory blushed deeply.
Polly drank her pushing potion like a shot. Digory gave me a thumbs-up and followed.
~~~~
"Okay, now... let's fight. You don't need to go as far as hitting me, just stand there and sort of intend to hit me."
Eyebrow raised, Twilight Sparkle nonetheless complied, lowering herself into a battle stance and focusing on Terra.
I formed the intention of attacking her, then thought better of it and ran away as fast as I could.
Twilight called out, "Are you sure this is going to work?"
I kept going.
"It's not working!"
I kept going.
"What? It worked!"
I slowed to a stop, put my hands on my knees, and panted while the six caught up.
Twilight Sparkle thought. "Okay. Next time, all of you together - Omar was only worth 1 magic point. Macidexia was 4!"
~~~~
"You killed two dinosaurs and you're still level 1?"
~~~~
"I can't believe you drug me out here!"
"But Hugo, they're ponies!"
"All I see is a bunch of... yeah, ponies! Some of them are unicorns. Are you kidding me?"
"But princess Celestia needs us! Sherriff Pony's homeland is under attack!"
"Wigu, my fool, Sherriff Pony is from the Butter Dimension Cubed, not Equeerstria. I's takin' the Hugotti Diablo and going home."
~~~~
Jadis looked askance at Macidexia's offering. "Are you joking?"
"On the contrary. Surely you know that an enchanted weapon's power grows with its age."
"Of course..."
"This... is the very first weapon: the axe of Omar!"
~~~~
"If you say you're Nightmare Moon, then you should be able to look into this and then away!" Jadis tossed down a gourd. There was a hole in the side, and...
We were suddenly standing next to a brass city.
~~~~
Jadis scornfully looked down at us, Twilight Sparkle's lifeblood dripping from her dagger. It's not over yet! If I can just distract her, Rarity can cast Life, and we're back in business...
She advanced on me. "So, at last. The lowest of the low. You exist only for my amusement." She leered at me, finally thinking she'd won. "Get started!"
"Umm, will singing do?"
She gestured with the bloody dagger as if to say, 'It's worth a try, but no guarantees.'
"All right! Pinkie, back me up with... " and then I sang 'fa do fa la sol me do me' on 'doo'. "... and feel free to tweak it as you go."
She was still trying to get her jaw off the floor, staring at Twilight.
"Pinkie! Sing!"
She quivered, and, still staring, started singing.
After letting the ostinato proceed for a few iterations and gathering my thoughts, I spoke:
"Once there once was a queen, whose reign was nearly completely complete..."
I was cut short when Jadis slapped me across the face. "Fool! Do you think I don't know The queen who ruled the world and then exploded in a fountain of bloody guts?"
~~~~
"Zeeky Boogy Merton!"
~~~~
"... Why are you harping on this? Do you love me?"
She screwed up her eyes. "No, I need you."
"Oh, got it. We're moirails." I said, anachronistically, as if that weren't way more Marty Stu than the already-pushing-it canon version.
~~~~ actual deleted scenes ~~~~
I prayed for another dream with Twilight Sparkle, and news from the present. And I mean, seriously prayed. I didn't usually, being agnostic. What with magic and anthropomorphic animals, the evidence that something was up with the universe was too strong, but when it came to actual individual religions, I tended to follow George Carlin's model.
Which is to say, sun worship. That's... not a bad idea under the circumstances. I know a sun goddess, and she'd be as good as Twilight Sparkle.
And I dreamed of her. We were in the gardens at the palace in Celesteville, that I'd toured only ten days ago, subjective time. Shadowy elephant figures shimmered into and out of view. Celestia was lying on one of the flat stone walls near the bench I was sitting on; she looked extremely tired.
"Princess?"
She looked up to me. "Omar..."
"Are you actually in Celesteville?"
"Yes."
Celesteville = internet!
As I thought quick, she continued, "They have been very kind. I just got your message. Tell my sister I miss her very much."
"Princess, can you find out exactly how old Tycho crater is? Just ask someone. They can figure it out."
She blinked slowly, stifled a sneeze, and said, "Arthur? Would you tell me... how old, exactly, is Tycho crater? ... Yes, I'm delirious. Can you, anyway?" Back to me, she said, "It's amazing the substitutes you've made of your clay. I would never have thought it could hold as much wealth of information as the word... Thank you, Arthur. One hundred and eight million years."
"Plus or minus what? What's the youngest it could plausibly be?"
After repeating this question and waiting a bit, she said, "His sources don't say. Apparently they're somewhat weak."
I sighed. Wikipedia. Should be good to within a few million years, anyway. "Well, thank you. Just one other thing. We seem to have, umm, created the race of dragons. Is there anything you'd like done with them?"
Celestia took a deep breath to forestall a sneeze, and closed her eyes. Then, she replied, "Don't try to cause history. If you were always a part of it, it'll happen on its own. If you weren't, something will come up to keep you from it. Usually something nasty."
I slowly nodded. "So, straight home."
"As straight as you can." She drifted off to sleep, and I drifted into wakefulness.
~~~~
I jumped into the mech, in the lap of the dead soldier, and pushed forward on one of the two control sticks. The mech took a step, which changed its balance. It twisted against the rock and ended up facing uphill - in the general direction of the pursuing soldiers.
There were three buttons on the second control handle marked with flame, snowflake, and lightning. I guessed that they were weapons, and pressed the snowflake firing button. The soldiers leapt for cover as a blue streak shot out of the mech's front disc, freezing part of the stream as it struck out straight ahead. Jiggling the second control, I managed to control the arc of the ice beam a little before it faded completely. With it moved a targeting scope. I could just put my eye up to it if I stretched.
In principle, the soldiers weren't pinned in their cover as I didn't have good fire control yet, but they didn't know that and they treated me as if I did. That gave me a moment to experiment with the movement controls.
Though the torrent of water was pinning the mech against the rock to some extent, it didn't completely impede motion - I was able to sidestep out with a sideways push of the control rod (not pushing the top to the side like a joystick, but pushing the whole stick to the side, upright).
I was barely free of the stream when I heard an ominous mechanical rumble from behind me. I glanced back - there was another mech, and this one presumably piloted competently, coming this way. It almost had a clear shot. I turned hard and put the rock between us. Now I'm cooked. They're faster, and more heavily armed. I can't run in this, I can't run without it. But I'm armed. If they come around too quick, the wrong way, I can maybe get them first... but they wouldn't come if they didn't have some way of dealing with that. Shoot! I turned around to at least cover one of the approaches, then stopped and listened.
Tromping of giant metal footsteps. Then a splash as the mech entered the stream. In a fit of inspiration I aimed the disc at the part of the stream I could see (it didn't take much aiming - it was a very large target) and bashed the lightning bolt fire button.
A deafening crack rang out, and my eyes took a moment to recover. There was a long creak. The mech fell over into my field of view, and began rolling down the hill, washed away in the runoff.
~~~~
Celestia made no instruction, and Pearl looked at her. Celestia waited some more, looking back kindly, occasionally blinking.
Pearl asked, "Excuse me, what sort of test will this be?"
Celestia replied as if there had been no delay, "A short one." She levitated a cloth off the table, revealing an elaborate teddy bear, a large gem, and a knife. "Describe one."
Pearl got down from the stool and went to the table. "The knife is made for humans - don't see many of those around here. Edge is rather dull, isn't it? Sharp point, though, and it's got a blood groove. It's not really a knife - it's a dagger. Not much of a hand-guard, so probably for throwing." She picked it up, tossed it spinning, and caught it. "Nice balance."
Celestia said, "Enough. Can you put it in the target?" She drew a curtain aside, revealing an easel with a box drawn on it, and a human mannequin.
Pearl flipped the knife once more, plucked it out of the air, and hurled it without spin through the neck of the dummy. She blinked, realizing that there were clothes laid out under it. "I... heh. I guess you meant the box, didn't you?"
Celestia distantly replied, "Nice throw, anyway." Then: "Come. Draw me something unusual."
Pearl considered. Houses, ponies, and humans were right out. Flowers, trees... Clouds... No. Not by eliminating common things. What unusual things are there? She put pen to paper.
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "A snake which has swallowed an elephant?"
If you feel like there's something missing from this story, like why I have three characters with names beginning with "Celes", well, there is. There was originally a frame-tale to this story, but it apparently caused intense confusion, so I zapped it. Also, most of chapter 16 was frame-tale or somewhat acontextual, so I cut that, which is why it's so short here.
These are available at sozmioi.sofurry.com, but you'll have to register there. If you want me to put it here, comment on the story. It won't be hard for me to reincorporate the frame-tale if removing it turns out to have been a bad idea. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | pre | I snuck behind him and performed a Silent Takedown, covering his muzzle and wrapping my arm around his throat, muffling his screams. He immediately dropped his gun, not gaining any attention to the other two armed lowlifes. He kicks his hind legs on the ground, trying to break free but only hardens and tightens my grip. He stopped protesting, trying to let go from my iron grip but fell flat to the floor, unconscious.
I snuck behind a changeling and punched his back, dropping his gun. I wrapped my two front legs around his head and neck, muffling him. He tried to claw his way by flailing his arms and trying to pry from my grip but no help. I dropped him until his breathing becomes shallow and his form is no longer moving except his chest.
I snuck to the one who shot those two guards. I kicked the Pegasus thug in the back of his hind legs and grabbed his head and neck with my legs. He dropped his gun and held his front leg in the air, trying to get help until his muffled screams are no longer hearable. I dropped him and gallop quietly to the last one on the control booth on the other side of the corridor.
The last thug is an Earth pony, who has his back turn, talking to the irksome clown in charge of this insanity. I snuck in behind him without any noise, listening to the conversation:
"No problem, boss. The boys are finishing off. Arkham chumps never stood a chance."
"Oh, good! Our friendly neighborhood rodent is on her way. You need to set a trap; she must not leave this building. Do you understand me?" Mane-iac said and ordered.
"Y-yes, boss. The Bat is good as dead," the thug replied nervously.
"I hope you can keep your promises, boy. I hate that I have to go to punish your family just to teach you a lesson. Now I could promise you, they won't be laughing!" Mane-iac warned and laughed at the bad joke.
"But Mane-iac!" the thug pleaded, not wanting his family to be killed by this maniac.
Mane-iac stuttered mockingly to his comment. "Just do it and have fun. I know I will." She laughed afterwards.
I crouched to the unsuspecting thug, punched him in the back and wrapped my hooves around his head and neck, with his hooves flailing in the air, desperately wanting to grab some air, but he fell to a deep sleep.
"Oh, look who it is! Are your pointy ears burning? I suppose I better warn my boys that you're on the way, but I won't! It'll be a nice surprise!" Mane-iac laughed at the end. She is sitting at some makeshift throne and the screen has Mane-iac TV crudely written in some font I don't even know. I walked to the grate that'll lead me to the Lobby. I ripped the grate open and crawl in the ventilation shaft. Not long after leaving the booth, Mane-iac is back on the intercom.
"Mane-iac here with a quick update, of what's due in the asylum: Some idiot is running around in the asylum, dressed like a bat! I know, crazy! Stop her, before she gets somepony hurt! Really, it's for her own good." Mane-iac laughed manically afterwards. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 9: Silent Predator | After hearing of the update for her crew that I'm coming, I peered through the grate at the end of the shaft, a Unicorn levitating a gun from the now deceased Arkham guard. The moment his back is turn to patrol the Lobby, I opened the grate quietly and slid it to the side. I crept to the unsuspecting pony and performed a Silent Takedown, making his hooves flail helplessly until he renders to a deep sleep.
I spotted another pony watching from the bridge leading to the control room. I crept up the walkway towards him without any noise. I punched his back and rendered him unconscious silently. After dropping him, I grappled to a vantage point and notice one more thug is accounted for. After scanning the room to check for more, I glided in the air and kick the thug that is watching the lift that is still on the lower level of the entrance of the Intensive Treatment. I performed a Ground Takedown but I kept my vigilance. This is too easy to take out three armed thugs. My thoughts were answered:
"Do you really think that it's going to be that easy, Bats? I've sent a few more of my boys your way. Let's see how you can deal with these odds," Mane-iac asked and called out. She laughed after saying that she sent more henchponies along the way. I spotted three more coming from the entrance. Two griffons and one Unicorn.
"Mane-iac wants her found, spread out!" the Unicorn ordered.
"She could be anywhere!" one protested.
"Then keep your eyes open, now move!" the leader barked back and the three armed criminals, now vigilant than the last three, scouting the area.
I glided to one of the bridges leading to the control room and saw a griffon climbing up and running, not knowing I am hiding on the corner. I threw my batarang at him, knocking him down. I got up from my hiding position and performed a Ground Takedown. I looked around the area with my Detective Vision to spot the two henchponies, looking for one completely isolated. I glided to one watching from the stairs, scaring him.
Before he could even shout out my presence, I head-butted him, turned him around and grabbed his head and throat, knocking him out silently. I grappled to a vantage point and saw the last armed threat scouting the scanning tunnel. As soon as he is exiting from the tunnel, I glide kick him and performed a Ground Takedown, finishing this off.
"Ugh, they were just like family, how could you! I think I'm going to cry!" Mane-iac exclaimed and cried mockingly until it renders to a full laughter. See that, she never cares for anypony, not even her crew. She'll laugh if they're knocked out or dead, if they're knocked out, she'll kill them later. She hates disappointment from others.
I shook my head in annoyance and galloped to the control room. Inside, I spotted another Patient Interview film reel on a table besides the control panel that accesses the doors leading to the Cell Block Corridor, probably another for Sweetie Drops. I played it:
"Patient Interview Number 1," Sweetie Drops announced.
"So, I'm your first, am I, toots? You know what they say, 'You'll never forget your first time'. I'll try to make it, memorable for you," the gruff female voice replied. Obviously, this is Sweetie Drops first time interviewing with Mane-iac.
"Oh, you already have. So tell me, why you do the things you do?" Sweetie replied and asked innocently.
"Why do you think I do it?" Mane-iac asked.
"Fame, notoriety, a desire to stand out from the crowd, a wicked sense of humor," Sweetie replied.
"Oh, you're good! How did you figure me out, doc? I had doctors poking at me about for years and no pony was astute, and if you don't mind me saying, beautiful as you," Mane-iac lied in a flirtatious manner, sickening me more.
"Really? Ah, you're just playing with me," Sweetie asked hopefully but reassured herself.
"Well, you never know, will you? Unless..." Mane-iac added.
"Unless what? Tell me!" Sweetie asked curiously. The reel ended, ending that gullible conversation.
I reached to the entrance and saw lockers and pillars being lit on fire, several henchponies dead. They appeared to be shot by either the defending Arkham guards or one of Mane-iac's top henchponies. Alongside, the guards that killed the Blackgate inmates are lying with them in a pool of crimson blood. Obviously, I spotted several blabbermouths chattering about, meaning that Mane-iac and Bon-Bon were here but what I saw shocked me even more.
On the gurney, I spotted a pony with his mouth agape, fear in his eyes. Green paint crudely drawn into a smile. A sign that has a transparent pony skeleton has these words written: DEAD END. He is tied on the gurney that it was for Mane-iac hours ago. The pony is the one that betrayed the Arkham guard and killed them, trying to gain more ill-gotten money from Mane-iac. The alcohol trail ends here at the entrance. The dead pony's name? Officer Frank Boles.
"Mane-iac must've know that I'm following the trail. Officer Bole's trail stops here." |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 10: Riddle Me This! | The ending of the trail did not lead me to my brother. I have to leave the Intensive Treatment facility to gain access. No before long, my communicator is brought up. I expect it to be Oracle asking me or informing me but static noise filled my cowl, adjusting to clarity. Then, I heard a voice that is familiar, one of my dangerous enemies I had faced.
"Can you hear me, Batmare? I know you can," the voice asked. It is still warbled but soon, it became clear. I try to trace this broadcast but it is encrypted with a 512-bit cipher. If I going have to track down his location, I need to play his irksome games of finding trophies, solving riddles, collect more Interview Tapes, destroy the teeth, and solve more Chronicles of Arkham. The pony is definitely the smartest in my Rogue Gallery.
She is an azure Unicorn with snow white mane and tail with a light periwinkle pattern in it. She is the second closest to my intellect, her only desire is to prove that she is the smartest one and kill me in one of her traps, trying to reduce me to an unintelligent buffoon. Her conditions are fanatic narcissism, egomania, and obsessive compulsion for attention. She is Trixie Lulamoon aka the Great and Powerful Trixie, Enigma, and the Riddler.
"Yes, it is I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, and more importantly, your intellectual superior! My genius has allowed me to easily hack in into your primitive communications. My goal is simple: you complete a series of...amusingly taxing challenges and well...you see. Ready for your first one? Good, but be careful: Don't CUT yourself on this SHARPLY observed portrait."
I had no choice but every now then, she will be bragging about her intelligence and that I will never solve all of her riddles, but I'll show her. I looked at a portrait of Quincy Sharp and used my Environment Analysis to solve the riddle.
"So you did it, well done! I would've expect a colt to work that one rather than the World's Greatest Detective!" Riddler bragged.
I checked my computer in my cowl to check anymore riddles. Unfortunately, I was right. Trixie had time to place 243 riddles across Arkham Island and the facilities. Each riddle is placed in a grid of the number of the chattering teeth, the Chronicles of Arkham, Riddler Trophies, riddles, and if any luck, maps that'll show me the exact location of every riddle. They have been organized for all facilities and regions of Arkham Island. I have to solve them all, during and after my goal to apprehend Mane-iac. Some locations require more Sparkle Tech from the Batcave but I'll worry about that later. If I have a sliver amount of time, I could gather any riddles I can access every now and then. Soon, I heard her arrogant voice.
"I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, have placed a dazzling selection of challenges and puzzles all over Arkham. Are you up to the challenge, can you collect my trophies, are you ready to give up? Your puny mind is no match for my own."
After hearing the message, I spotted that the door on the lower level is opening. I ready myself for more of Mane-iac's henchponies but it is only a survivor of the onslaught. It was William North, who had a machine gun in his hooves. He opened it cautiously to check for any Blackgate inmates but only spotted me at the entrance.
"Hey, Batmare!" he called out. Before I approach him, I grapple to the gargoyle vantage point and glide inside the control room. I figure there's a riddle in here, so I switched to Detective Mode, which had been back to its normal blue hue instead of the whiskey trail purple hue since I found...that.
I spotted a green dot on the far end of the Lobby and a question mark that is invisibly painted on the window. I know I need to align them into Trixie's logo in a certain position of crouching to solve it. I know there'll be more of them over Arkham but I guess I need to deal with it. So I crouch and move slightly inch by inch to align the dot underneath the question mark to solve it. I used my Environment Analysis and solved it, after that, I heard Trixie's voice.
"Don't get too full of yourself, Dark Knight. It only gets harder from here," she said annoyingly. Trixie gets in a fit of temper tantrums and rage whenever I or somepony more intelligent than her outwits her, and she detests that. That is her major flaw, always claiming to be the pinnacle of the pony mind. I exit out of the room and head towards William North.
"It was a massacre. Boles came walking in, telling everypony to cover the front entrance. Said something about Mane-iac's army coming through the main door; two of my ponies moved to the exit and Frank shot them dead. They never stood a chance," he said horridly.
"Was Boles alone?" I asked.
"Thought he was but then I saw Bon-Bon. She was surrounded by Blackgate prisoners and they were just killing everypony in the room. I had no choice, I-I got in here, locked the door, I-I can see through the security feed, it looked like they had somepony with them. It looked like the Commissioner," he continued on with a slightly shaken voice.
"Boles is dead, they carried on without him. Must've outlived his usefulness," I said deadpanned.
"Good, he was scum," he retorted vituperatively. After our conversation, he walked slowly to a dead comrade on the floor in the room. He knelt down and closed his eyes respectfully.
"I'll look after Maria, I promise," he said solemnly. I don't want to imagine doing that to another family member, my brother and I had already lost two. It is our sole duty to protect the city from the criminal scum that is trying to claim more lives and ruin innocence like us nineteen years ago.
I need to leave the Intensive Treatment building, so I exit through the door leading to the Utility Corridor. Before moving on, I spotted one of the many Riddler trophies that it is placed all over Arkham. I noticed that to get it, a weak, cracked wall is blocking the way. I need one of my supplies to destroy but I'll get it later.
Then, I heard a tune in the distance. I can hear it, it sounds like one of Manehattan's news channels, the Jack Ryder Show. He is very narcissistic about his job, reason why I dislike him, but not too much, only his egotism I dislike. Speaking of Jack Ryder, a riddle appeared on my cowl: "You don't know Jack about Manehattan. Tune in to find out." I walked through the corridor until I spotted a locker room with mangled doors and ruined walls. On a creaky bench, I spotted the radio. The radio is small and in a rectangular cuboid shape and the channel it's on is 134.5 FM: Manehattan Radio, Jack Ryder. It switched on to the news, so I listened:
"We apologized for this interruption of our regular broadcast. Jack Ryder is live from the Manehattan Bay Area with some breaking news!" a reporter announced before switching to the host, Jack Ryder.
"This is Jack Ryder with breaking news in the Manehattan Bay Area. We're getting reports of an armed siege on Arkham Island. Two minutes ago, Mane-iac broadcasts all news channels with this chilling message:" Jack reported before switching to the message by the demented pony.
"Greetings, Manehattan. This is the voice of your new master! Oh, hang on, I skipped a bit. Ahem, Mane-iac here, I'm in control of Arkham Island and you could consider yourself out of bounds! If I see any law ponies, vigilantes, or do-gooders in tights coming this way, I'll start detonating random bombs around the city. What's it going to be: a kindergarten, a hospital, a billionaire's mansion, oh, choices choices choices!"
"All access to the island has been restricted. Air spaces closed off and earlier reports suggest that Batmare herself is trapped on the island. We'll be right here coming to you live on any developments. Back to the studio," Jack finished and switched back to the main studio.
"Thanks, Jack. More into it as it happens," the studio announced. I finished listening to the report and used my Environmental Analysis to solve the riddle.
"Thought that was easy, was it? We'll see, we'll see," Trixie said arrogantly. I need to hurry before this will be out of control, so I left the Utility Corridor.
In a small space with numerous stacks of paper or files, I spotted a grate and pulled it. I crawled into the shaft and pushed the exit grate. I landed on solid ground that is leading outside. I felt relaxed that I am feeling solid ground after spending hours inside the facility. I spotted a ledge and grappled to the layer. I walked until I spotted the top of the Mansion of Arkham Island.
You know the feeling that after spending too long in a sheltered location, you need to walk outside to take in the freedom emotion and fresh air of the morning or the crisp, humid air of dusk and night? I felt those same emotions when I breathed in that air after reaching the cliff that hangs over the eastern side of Arkham. The Mansion, a cemetery, guard towers, shacks, and a botanical garden at my left. The crisp night air slapped my face when I stood over outside, feeling free again. Over the distance, I saw Manehattan and the height of the city, my family's tower.
The bay glistened in the night sky, giving the water a silver blanket in the moonlight. I thanked Luna for this night, but I know there's no time to bask in the glory of the night. I need to find Mane-iac and stop her before more ponies die or inmates released that weren't. I took a moment's time of enjoying the freedom from the Intensive Treatment and looked down below and spotted several armed guards patrolling East Arkham. I breathed in deeply and ready myself to check on the guards and proceeding to track down my brother. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 11: Into the Open Night | I spread my cape and glided into the night air. The air danced underneath cape, granting me enormous space and weightlessness of my gliding. I landed on the ground gently searching for any more Riddler trophies in the silence of the night. Unfortunately, I heard the intercom chime:
"Hmm, Bon-Bon tells me that the Batmare's car is still parked just outside of the Intensive Treatment building. Now, we can't just have her up and leaves us, can we? Every thug, villain, murderer, and kindergarten teacher that isn't carrying out Bon-Bon's orders, should head down now and smash it to pieces!"
I nearly have forgotten of my Batmobile, I forgot it to put it in safe lock. I bet that is currently being trashed by Blackgate dirt bags that is ordered to do so. Quickly, I gathered a Riddler Trophy on the top platform of the Arkham Mansion and landed on the ground. I heard the alarm of my Batmobile going off, being trashed by those lowlifes. I called Oracle.
"Oracle, disable the Batmobile's countermeasure system," I ordered.
"I saw the alert, what's wrong? Where are you?" she asked.
"I'm outside of the Arkham Mansion. Bon-Bon probably triggered the alarm, if she's still got Armor with her, he could get hurt," I replied.
"Okay, done! The Batmobile is parked outside of the Intensive Treatment building in Arkham North. I've sent you the schematics of the entire island and I've also marked key locations just like your car," Oracle informed.
"Thanks, Oracle," I said. I switched off and turned on the map of the entire island. The key automatically coordinates to the Batmobile's location, in North Arkham. I need to get there to protect my Batmobile from further damage. I walked inside one of the cabins and picked up a Riddler Trophy.
"Of course you've found that one easy, you were supposed to," Trixie said haughtily.
I galloped through the cemetery of Arkham. Decrepit gravestones marked the area, disturbed ground scattered the ground. I spotted a large tombstone with the coffin exposed, with the dirt rudely dug. The coffin is thankfully closed and the tombstone has a pony head on it. I know the pony: Amadeus Arkham, the founder of Arkham Asylum. I used the Environmental Analysis to solve the riddle: "The legacy of this island is well and truly buried".
"You are performing just below my predicted expectations. At this rate, you'll never beat me," Trixie said proudly.
I galloped to the edge of the cliff hanging from the drop of the Equestrian River and spotted another Riddler trophy and picked it up.
"That was one of the easy ones," Trixie added. I galloped to the Arkham Mansion and grappled to the top of a stone pillar that s watching over a secluded area that was for recess back then. I glided to the ground and spotted another cryptic stone with the dead language of the chronicles at the wall of the Mansion. I used my Analysis to decipher the stone and listened to it:
"My family's blood ran through the heart of Manehattan. We were doctors, politicians, and teachers. We have been the organ, cleaning the arterial filth from the city. We have been the servants of the city and we gave it all we have. Yet it has still chosen to hurt us."
I grappled to the top platform of the Mansion to the gate that barricades the edge from a drop to the waters. I spotted another trophy and picked it up.
"A challenge completed! Can you do more?" Trixie asked.
I spotted my family's tower in the distance, standing tall and proud above the skyscrapers of the city. I scanned the tower at the distance to solve another riddle: "Gotham's greatest family Towers over the city."
"I'd have solved all the puzzles by now," Trixie stated.
I ignored her comments and continue to grapple to the upper platform of the Mansion to search for more riddles. I grappled even further until I reached the very top of the Mansion to continue my search. As I suspected, I switched to Detective Mode and spotted a green dot at the edge of the cement walkway. I looked down and spotted a ginormous question mark painted over the rooves of the minimal structures of the Mansion. I moved into position to align the two marks to solve the invisible riddle: "My challenge appears to those with the correct position in life."
"That could've been solved by a monkey, but good job nevertheless," Trixie stated and thanks in a slightly annoyed voice. I spotted another trophy at the edge and picked it up:
"So the Great Detective has solved a mere 10 percent of my challenges, are you ready to give up yet?" Trixie mocked. Likewise, I ignored her mouth and glided to a platform several stories below me and spotted another trophy and picked it up.
"So what was it that gave it away: the big, green, glowing question mark?" Trixie asked haughtily. I grappled to another tower and glided from the platform. As the air soared in the air as I glided, I landed on the ground beside a guard watchtower. I grappled to the ledge and jumped over the railing on the walkway. I walked inside the small cubicle and spotted another Interview Tape. Likewise, I spotted another deceased guard sitting on the ground with his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Since Sweetie's are inside the Intensive Treatment, I don't know whose recording is this. So I listened.
"Patient Interview, subject has no identity, aliased as the Mane-iac. In the room is Warden Sharp and myself, Doctor Evergreen," Evergreen announced. I figured that a tape recording will have an interview with the most dangerous criminal of all times.
"Ugh, is this another one of those boring psychic evaluation?" Mane-iac asked nonchalantly.
"No, it's not. So, you're the one as the Mane-iac," Evergreen replied and said.
"In the flesh. So, Doc, do you want me to look at the inkblots again? The first one is a kitten I had when I was a child. The second one is...a dead elephant, the third is a-"
"Funny, now let's skip the jokes," Evergreen interrupted seriously.
"Skip the jokes? Hey, Sharpie, did she skip on my permanent record?" Mane-iac exclaimed ghastly.
"Be quiet, you clown!" Sharp barked.
"Every doctor that has ever interviewed with you claims a different type of psychosis. Everything from multiple personality disorders to, well...the list is endless," Evergreen mentioned.
"I do my best," Mane-iac complimented.
"Well, I don't believe it. Anything can be cured given the correct treatment," Evergreen replied.
"And...you think...you can cure me?" Mane-iac asked challengingly.
"Oh, I know I can," Evergreen retorted. The tape ends. I walked to a gate leading to North Arkham, inside, an archway made of stones and bricks hover over. In front, an ambulance is parked, with its lights blinking incessantly. I checked Detective Mode and spotted two armed Blackgate inmates on the other side of the archway, with a gate blocking the way. Unfortunately, the ambulance barricade leaves a guard dead from the gunshot wounds. Another guard is looking over the deceased comrade.
"I can't believe it, they killed Jackson," the guard said quietly and shockingly.
"Stay with your colleague, I'm ending this, now," I ordered.
I grappled to the top of the archway avoiding the armed threats' attention. I leapt down to the ground behind them quietly. I snuck on one and muffled his muzzle and his throat, silencing his screams. He fell silently and I did the same to the other unsuspecting inmate. As the threats were taken care of, I walk through another mechanical door, automatically opening, leading me to North Arkham. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 12: The Batmobile | As I suspected, I spotted six Blackgate inmates vandalizing my vehicle with pipes and weapons. It's extremely durable but it had several dents in the body and the windshield is cracked by the many blunt blows. I continue to walk towards them to end this nonessential vandalism.
Some are hitting the vehicle with metal pipes and some were kicking it and some standing, observing the gradual damage of my vehicle. Luckily for them, I disable the countermeasure of the Batmobile. If it's still active, they will be fried by now. I need to take care of this little nuisance before I move on. I heard the chime:
"The entire island will soon be under my control! That's right, mares and gentlecolts, mine! Mine mine mine mine mine! Just wait until you see my plans for the place, it's going to be glorious," Mane-iac announced, cackling afterwards.
I threw a batarang at one, knocking him down. The other five are alarmed as I walk smoothly towards them, with fear in their eyes. "She's here!" one shouted. I spotted one Earth pony, two Unicorns, one Pegasus, one griffon and one changeling. This is going to be easy.
I landed a series of blows on an Earth pony's chest and kicking him to the ground, I countered a changeling and punched him in the face, crotch, and face with my back turned. One Unicorn tried to swing a pipe at me but I grabbed it, kicking the Unicorn in the back, and finally smacking him with the pipe on the head, knocking him sideways.
I performed a back flip and kicked another one, sending him flying. With enough time, I grabbed a knocked down thug and threw him at another one, knocking those two out of submission. I grabbed a Pegasus wings, twisting him to the ground, and snapped it in half, with horrifying screams afterwards before passing out. I countered a blind punch and threw the thug overhead, and kicked the second one. I grabbed a leg of a griffon, bending him over with his leg in my grasp and kneed the elbow, breaking it.
I performed a Ground Takedown on the pinned Henchpony and finally grabbed the last thug and threw him to a nearby wall, knocking him out. Easy as pie; now that's settled, I need to gather more supplies from my damaged Batmobile. I shook my head in sheer annoyance as my trustworthy vehicle is badly dent by the scum. That's not important, what's important is that I need to find my brother. Luckily, I have another item of important use in my trunk.
"There's a supply of Explosive Gel in the trunk of the Batmobile, I may need it."
I opened the trunk of the car and picked up a tool that could useful. The Explosive Gel is in a form of a small pistol, the shape and size of an electric drill, with a conic nozzle that can spew out explosives in gelatinous form. The gel is made of nitroglycerin and sulfur, one of the many elements that are reactive and dangerous when combine, especially when they are exposed to oxygen.
Luckily, I set up a control mechanism that can detonate the gel when it's sprayed at any time without worrying the instant explosion when set up. I've put up a small protection screen on each gel and I can press the detonator on the head to release the screen, resulting in a controlled explosion, great for destroying weak walls and other debris for access across the island. These can also be great weapons when I'm in a room full of armed thugs, correction, when they are trapped in a room with me. Spraying this on walls nearby henchponies can knock them out, alarming them without them noticing my presence. I closed the trunk after examining the weapon. I inspected the area around the Batmobile, hoping for any evidence I could find.
"Bon-Bon trashed the Batmobile, looks like there was a scuffle. I need to search the area around the Batmobile; there could be clues to where she took Shining." I spotted a peculiar item dropped, it is Shining's smoking pipe, carved and made by Skyla, his and his wife, Cadence's daughter. It has his initials carved in it.
"Wild Country, Shining Armor's favorite tobacco; Armor's smarter than he looks, left me a trail to follow." After scanning the dropped pipe with the tobacco with the Evidence Scanner, the vision switched between colors until the vision has a light tannish-brown hue to it. I quickly contacted Oracle.
"Oracle, I found a pipe, it has your father's initials carved on it," I said.
"It was a birthday gift I gave him last year. There's no way he'd leave it," Oracle added sadly.
"Exactly, he's left me a trail to follow, he's alive, Skyla," I replied and switched off to follow my brother. Soon, I heard the intercom chime but it chimed in a minor, irregular and distorted key instead of the usual chime.
"Hello, I am Warden Idiot, let me welcome you home. Here in Idiot Asylum, we have just one rule: you'll never leave us," Mane-iac announced, mocking Sharp's voice then returning to her usual voice before switching off the intercom. Before following, I galloped to the end of the North Arkham, leading to the entrance of the Island. The iron gates remained standing with the statues ominously stood, still welcoming anypony who will dare enter the dreaded asylum. I spotted two see-saws, one steep and one flat. I noticed two hats with a little helicopter propeller on them, I used the evidence scanner to solve the riddle: "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum SAW it, can you SEE it?" It solved one of the most minor criminals I'd faced, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, obviously based off Alice in Wonderland and Behind the Looking Glass.
I galloped to a rundown building opposite of the Intensive Treatment. The outer wall could crumble at any time, yet it remained standing. The inner workings are abandoned, dilapidated, and dusty. Numerous holes, rickety and rotten boards, unstable bricks and unorganized stacks of clay, bricks, and wood made up unsteady platforms on the lower and upper levels of the building.
I grappled to the most stable part of the ruined building and spotted another cryptic trapezoidal shape of the Arkham Chronicles and deciphered it. I listened to the third Chronicle:
"As Manehattan's veins slowly filled with pain and suffering, the effects were felt everywhere. My father fell first, infected with some foul disease. My mother lived on, but only in her dream. I returned to the family home to care for her, as she remained in her bed for as long as her body continues to breath. Her tears kept me awake at night."
I dropped down and found another Riddler trophy and picked it up. "Easy, a blind pony would've stumble on that one," Trixie mocked. I reached to the entrance of the old building, with Detective Mode still active. As I expected, I spotted a green question mark and point underneath the archway entrance. The dot is on the old ceiling and the question mark is on the little area of the arch. I aligned them to solve a riddle: "Now you see it, now you don't."
"Easy, isn't it? Well, we'll see, we'll see," Trixie said. I galloped to a small building in front of the Intensive Treatment and spotted a fragment of the walkway that could be destroyed by a controlled explosion. I spotted a trophy underneath the surface, so I pulled out my Explosive Gel and sprayed a gel on the surface, in the symbol of my free will, the bat. During that, I heard the chime, back to its usual key.
"Paging Doctor Howard, Doctor Fine, Doctor Howard," Mane-iac announced randomly. After spraying the gel, I stood back a little to get out of its range and pressed the detonator to destroy the fragment. I picked up the trophy, undisturbed by the pieces of the walkway.
"Oh, you found that one. Sorry, it wasn't much of a challenge, I was running out of time," Trixie apologized with the slightest sliver of worriment in her tone. I grappled to the top of another small building and saw the center of the roof can be destroyed. I sprayed the gel, stood back, and detonated the ceiling so it could be accessed. The entrance is guarded by a panel with the barrier active. I dropped inside the building.
It's like your usual tool building. Glass windows, tiled walls and floors, tables, lockers, and a few paper stacks. I spotted a black wide paper on the table, blinking profusely. Green questions marks scattered the paper and a big one in the center. Having no choice, I sighed heavily for the oncoming insult, I picked up the map that'll pinpoint all the riddles, across North Arkham.
"So, you have given in and taken my map. I hope it proves useful," Trixie said arrogantly.
Likewise, I grappled to a watchtower and spotted a dead security guard. I looked in the small booth and spotted another Interview Tape, I listened:
"Tape Patient Interview 17, Mane-iac remains uncooperative. My earlier diagnosis remains true: I believe she enjoy her persona too much," Dr. Evergreen introduced.
"What's up, doc?" Mane-iac asked jokingly.
"Today, we should try something different," Evergreen said.
"Oh ho, you make me blush, doc. I have a marefriend," Mane-iac added innocently.
"Dr. Sweetie Drops, I know. I've seen the tapes, I saw what happened," Evergreen replied in a slightly disgusted tone.
"What can I say, I'm a charmer," Mane-iac replied.
"Anyway, we're here to talk about your childhood," Evergreen said.
"Oh, ever heard of romance, doc? I don't give up the goods for free. You have to try harder," Mane-iac said.
"What are you hiding?" Evergreen asked.
"Didn't you hear me? You scratch my back doc, and...well, I won't have you wrapped in plastic and left in a gutter," Mane-iac threatened.
I walked to the door that'll lead to West Arkham but the door is locked, probably for security measures. "The security door is locked. I'm going have to find another way around to get back on Armor's trail." Alongside the Cliffside, I spotted a weak structural wall that can be destroyed, good use for my Explosive Gel.
"The wall ahead is weak enough for my Explosive Gel to blow through and open up a new path." I walked to the weak wall and sprayed the Explosive Gel on it. I stood back and detonate the wall, pieces scatter everywhere. I spotted a passageway within and walked inside. I spotted a door and opened it. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 13: A Courtesy Visit | I opened the door that leads inside a pathway with aqueducts above me. The aqueducts are old and unused. They remained in stony lonesome without any water flowing through their grooves. Grassy shrubbery is scarce in this area and cracks and crumbled walls threatened the instability of this area. I galloped down a slope that leads to a door that opens West Arkham.
The door opens and I am on the right track of following Shining Armor's tobacco on the ground. A stony archway is on my far left, over a shallow ravine. A wooden bridge is one of the leading pathways that lead to the Visiting Center on my right. The Center is a place the builders added for hardcore prisoners incarcerated in the Penitentiary, next door of the Visiting Center, to well, you know, visits their relatives.
On the far end of the segment, across from the Penitentiary and the Visiting Center is one of the biggest facilities of the Island: The Medical Facility. That is where they've took Shining Armor. Shrubbery had overgrown the ground and the walls of the Visiting Center. Bare brambles and lengthy vines cover the entrance of the Penitentiary. Above the Penitentiary is an upper floor that leads to a control room, barricaded. One watchtower stood over the Western side of Arkham Island. Also, there is a flight of stairs at the very bottom of the island that leads to the upper platform that enters anypony in the Penitentiary. In addition, an inactive lift is placed at the bottom of the Medical Facility. But there is a flight of stairs in case the lift is not working.
I spotted two henchponies at the Visiting Center, but they are not minding my presence. They appeared to be working on a constructive project on the entrance of the Visiting Center. An Earth pony and Unicorn are hammering the nails of painted wood and boards on the frontal wall of the Center.
To ensure that they will not notice me entering the short hall that leads to the Visiting Center's door, I snuck up behind them, sprayed the Explosive Gel encapsulated in its shield and stood back. They still didn't notice my presence at all, so I detonated the gel and the two work ponies flew in the air, disoriented by the blast. I wasted no time by knocking them out with two Ground Takedowns.
I walked through the hall. The floor is like a dried, shriveled, dirty, grimy, and shaggy red carpet. Ripped posters are the only appeasing decoration of the hallway. I opened the door. Inside the Center, in a tight, enclosed space, several booths like the ones in prison for calling relatives filled the hall. Wooden stools in both ends of the Plexiglas window are knocked down, and some windows are cracked, probably from the crazies. The booths are numbered on each side. 1 and 2 on the right and 3 and 4 on the left but the window in front of me perplexed me.
Mind you, it's not another booth. It's a museum-like showcase with cracks in it. There is a door on the right side, I do not know what it leads to, and probably the control center of the entire Penitentiary and Visiting Center, but the vision of the center is too obscured. But the object in the case angers me.
The object is a life-like mannequin of the pony that caused all this death and chaos. The one that needs to be stopped, at all costs: the Mane-iac. I wanted to punch through the glass case and end it right here but I had second thoughts, thinking it might be another booby trap. The mannequin is sitting on a stool, with its right hoof holding a small TV, sitting lackadaisically. As expected, the TV switched on the real Mane-iac.
"Come in, sit down, and take off your mask. So Bats, I was thinking, you really could use a friend in here. Somepony to talk to, share secrets with, should we start with the big one: Who is that behind the mask? Why do you feel the need to go out in the world and fight ponies like me? Do you really think you can win? We'll see," Mane-iac said sinisterly.
The TV switches off. I took note of that message and feeling that there could be more of these irksome yet suspicious messages from this mannequin. I know I can win and I know I can beat her. I turned around and exited out of the Visiting Center. Unknown to me, the mannequin laid its right arm on the chair.
Back outside, I ran to the watchtower to look for any survivors. I found another deceased body but luckily, I found another guard.
"Batmare, what's going on? The crazies are moving towards the Medial Facility. What's Mane-iac doing?" he asked anxiously.
"She's trying to take control of the island piece by piece. It looks like Medical is her next target. Has anypony got out of the building?" I replied and asked.
"I saw a doctor trying to get out. He was torn apart, thrown in the water, he'd never stood a chance," he replied somberly.
"You wait here, I'll be back," I ordered.
I spotted six Blackgate inmates, responsible for the poor doctor's demise. I'm going to have to teach these idiotic punks a lesson. I glided off the watchtower and heard the distorted intercom chime.
"I just want everypony to know that I...I really appreciate all the hard work. You know, watching you guys is like a night-in, watching my favorite movie. What's the name of the movie again? Oh yes: Attack of the Stupid, Bumbling Idiots who can't stop an even bigger idiot running around dressed like a Bat! Now get to it, I'm getting bored," Mane-iac announced and spouted.
I landed on the ground in front of the Medical Facility and galloped up a stair flight that leads to the entrance above ground. I counted six Blackgate convicts beating on a deceased doctor from the Facility. I threw my batarang at them to grab their attention.
"It's the Bat!" one shouted. Two Earth ponies, two Unicorns, and two griffons, this is going to be easy.
One thug tried to kick me but I countered it by hitting the back of his leg and kicking his groin three times before he lands on the ground, clutching his groin in pain. I spotted one Unicorn swinging a pipe at me but I grabbed the pipe, jabbed it in his gut and slamming it across his head, sending him flying.
Yet again, another thug tries to swing one on me, but this time, I grabbed the metal pipe. I slammed it across his face and head, lifted him up above my head and slamming him on the ground, breaking his arm and his leg. Quickly, I threw a batarang at one thug, knocking him down momentarily. I stunned another one by using my Cape Stun, leaving him disoriented of his surroundings, giving me a chance to roundhouse kick him.
One thug tried to grab a hold of me in a full-Nelson but I elbowed him in the abdomen, head-butted his head, turned around and kneed him. I quickly grabbed his hand when he down, twisting it. He screamed in agony of his broken bones before passing out. I grabbed a thug's fist, clubbed his head twice, following with a kick to his abdomen. As per chance, I head-butt a griffon's face, turning him to his side on the ground, held his outstretched arm and broke it. I threw a quick-fire batarang at the knocked down thug, leaving him until last. I picked up the disoriented henchpony and threw him over the railing, knocking him out. I performed a Ground Takedown on the last thug and ended the effortless fight.
I threw three batarangs at three chattering teeth in front of the entrance. Before entering the Facility, I heard the intercom's distorted chime.
"Good evening, fillies and gentlecolts, I keep getting troubling reports of a bat infestation in Mane-iac Asylum. Let me remind everypony, that it is their civic duty to exterminate this vermin. We can't let it make its way back to the mainland," Mane-iac announced.
I opened the door to enter the Medical Facility, where I can find my brother. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 14: The Medical Facility | Inside the Medical Facility, I entered the Medical Foyer. The foyer is like your everyday foyer in any medical institution. A desk, chairs, and a small TV screen mounted on the pillars. What I expect is that the demented clown's marefriend, Sweetie Drops, or Bon-Bon. (I go by Bon-Bon right now). She is calmly sitting on the chair, humming a tune while filing her hooves innocently. I noticed that an electrical barrier is the only protection between her and me. She stopped her tune when she noticed me.
"Hey, scram Bats! This is my 'me' time," Bon-Bon barked.
"Where's Shining?" I asked darkly.
"Wouldn't you like to know-"Bon-Bon replied rudely before she was interrupted by another voice. I know it is Shining Armor, tied up in a chair, out of my view on the other side of the Foyer.
"I'm over here!" he shouted. Bon-Bon looked at his direction and threw a coffee mug at my brother.
"Shut up!" she barked.
"Ow, you crazy heifer!" he snarled angrily. As expected, the TV screen switched on to the clown.
"Bon-Bon!" she cried out. Bon-Bon made a startled shriek and turned to the TV.
"What's she doing here? It's too early!" Mane-iac demanded. Bon-Bon got up from her chair walked seductively to the TV, planting her hooves on the screen.
"I'm sorry, pudding. Don't be angry with me," Bon-Bon replied flirtatiously. She smooched the TV screen in a loving affection. It sickens me and Shining of watching that horrendous affection and honor to the most murderous, dangerous, and most insane criminal in all of Manehattan.
"Oh, you little minx, I can never stay mad at you," Mane-iac said in the same manner before switching off. Bon-Bon turns to my direction.
"Sorry, B-mare, you have to find another way. Bye-bye now!" Bon-Bon cheered. She turned around and did several backflips, out of sight.
"No way past the security gates. Got to find another route." Out of sheer frustration of another obstacle in my way, I exit out of the Medical Foyer and back outside.
I grappled to the roof of the Medical Facility and galloped across the rooftops until I spotted a weak wall on the other part of the Medical Facility. I ran over the gap and pulled out my Explosive Gel. I sprayed the weak structural wall, stood back, and pressed the detonator. As the rubble flew everywhere from the explosion, I shielded myself from the blast and saw that it is another route to the Facility. I landed in the small space and opened the door to head back inside, the long way to find my brother.
The Maintenance Access is a series of ventilation ducts and girders for janitorial and custodial uses. I climbed over the girder and spotted a duct I can crawl. I pulled the grate out of the way and crawl in. I heard the intercom, but it doesn't have the tedious chime this time.
"I want all the doctors rounded up, search every inch of the Medical building! I mean it; search every room, every corner, and every trash can! If another doctor tries to run and get out of the building, then you don't! I'll just flood the room with Happy Gas and leave you to die! Hell, I might do that anyway, sounds fun," Mane-iac announced menacingly.
As I crawled through ramps and forks, I found a dropout and landed in a small hallway. I crawled in a duct filled with cobwebs until I found the room that I was looking for: the Sanatorium.
The Sanatorium is one of the biggest areas of the Medical Facility. The Sanatorium helps out patients, mild or hardcore, for patient interviews, examination, and mental treatments. A walkway with two stairs and ladders connected the lower and upper platforms of the room. At the bottom, showers and an area with a gigantic cell in it. On the far left of the Sanatorium are the examination rooms for interviews. There are five in total and one the far right, a small office-like box has all medications for the Facility. Enormous ceiling fans hung from the ceiling. It looks like one of the largest sanatoriums in your everyday mental institute.
I peered through a fence of the duct and spotted five armed Blackgate scum holding innocent doctors hostage. One doctor is a mare, with scarlet mane and sierra eyes. She is trying to refuse their barked orders.
"Get off of me!" she shouted. The thug ordered threateningly when he shoved her in front of the elevator.
"Get down with the others, move it!" the thug barked. The mare flinched from the gun aiming at her head.
"Okay okay, I hear you, I'm going," she replied in a quivering tone. She walked slowly with the gun at the back of her to the front of an elevator on the upper level of the Sanatorium. She curled into a tiny ball and cried softly amongst the other terrified doctors.
"Why does she need the doctor, I got to save them!"
I crawled away from the fencing and stood up from the ventilation duct. Examining the room thrice for any nearby threats, I grappled to the adjacent stone gargoyle and switched between them silently. The thugs heard absolutely nothing but only hear the soft sobbing of the Evergreen doctor.
I glided to the roof of the small office box and sprayed Explosive Gel on the weak roof. I used Detective Vision to spot a thug in the box, remaining absolutely statuesque for any slight movements. I grappled to another gargoyle looking overhead of a thug covering the entrance of the Sanatorium. Luckily, there is a small wall between a miniscule medical space and him. I lowered down the ground on the side of the wall and sprayed Explosive Gel on the wall and I quickly grappled up to the centermost gargoyle and counting the timing of two more thugs walking the walkway.
I going have to wait until the two thugs walk past each other and with each other's backs turned towards one another. I waited like a nocturnal predator, waiting for the opportune time to sneak attack them. Finally, when the two walk past each other for a good distance, I dropped on the walkway behind the left thug without so much of a decibel. I crouched without attracting the attention of the center thug looking over the elevator and the hostages. I punched the thug's back and muffled his cries until he is still. I did the same to the other one.
After finishing knocking the two out silently, I grappled to the centermost vantage point and noticed that the two thugs that are underneath the rigged roof and one beside the rigged wall are still there. I wasted no time pressing the detonator, resulting in two simultaneous explosions, the blast and rubble of the debris instantly knocked them out, and that alarmed the last thug.
"Spread out, find her!" he shouted and galloped to the explosion of the wall at the door. This gave me enough time to glide to the doctors' hostile location when the thug is out of the elevator's area. The scarlet-haired doctor noticed my shadow and looked up to me, mascara smeared from her tears.
"Batmare?" she asked quietly and shakenly. I nodded and grappled to a gargoyle.
"Stay quiet, it's not safe yet," I replied noiselessly. I noticed that the last thug is terrified that his four comrades have unknowingly been knocked out by a mystique presence. That is what I like: pure terror and fear of me, the utter abhorrence of my presence, the shudder of my name and the knocking of teeth and bones in sheer dread.
"Is anypony going to help me, hello, I need help here!" he shouted fearfully. He stood up from his unconscious comrade and began scouring the Sanatorium. Unlike the others, his levitation grip on his rifle is so unstable and shaken of his dread that he is absolutely next; he drops the gun and picks it right up. He swiftly switched from front and back, trying to catch whether I am in front of him or behind him. He never suspects that I am above.
To ease his fear, I calmly glided towards him and kicked him in the head and performed a Ground Takedown. Shamefully, he didn't have time to react when he spotted me flying towards him. He cries a little before I smashed my hoof on his head, sending him to sleep. Now that the threats have been taken care of, I can go the hostages.
"The room's secure, you're safe now!" I called out. I climbed up a ladder on the lower floor and walk to the doctors. The scarlet-haired mare stood up with the others. The mare's name is Sara Cassidy.
"Hello, is there a doctor in the house? No, well I think I have a pile of wounded henchponies that need medical attention," Mane-iac asked and said randomly after the threats have been taken care of.
"Batmare, over here!" she cried out. I walked to her and she spoke. "I don't know what happened. One minute, we were doing our evening rounds and the next, armed thugs burst into the room and took us hostage," she said.
"Did they have anypony with them?" I asked.
"They took somepony to the elevator, I couldn't tell who it was," she replied.
"They obviously didn't want to be followed. The elevator appears to be powered down. You're going to be okay," I added.
"We'll be fine," she said. The other doctor in a green nurse suit added in with more trouble. He is the same cream colored Earth pony from the very beginning of this madness from the Cell Block Transfer. Luckily, he managed to reach the Medical Facility after hearing Mane-iac and the Blackgaters are freed.
"What about the others, we've heard gunfire, they could be in trouble. We should go and help," he said.
"Oh, no, I forgot! Dr. Kellerman is in the Observation Room and Dr. Chen went to Surgery," Sara informed urgently.
"And Dr. Evergreen went to X-ray," the doctor finished.
"Okay, stay here. I'll find the other doctors," I ordered.
The doctors walked to the other hostages strapped in gurneys for examination. They calmed them down about my arrival. I climbed down the lower level and walk in a small are underneath a pathway above me, left below the walkway in a gargoyle perspective. Inside, I spotted a large cell for an obvious disfigured patient. The cell is has been horrendously ripped open with the bars jagged by the opening. Inside is a chilling site for the fidgety: skulls and skeleton bones of ponies that this patient had devoured.
The bones are piled up in the corners. Some bone pieces are missing and skeletons are incomplete. Despite this shameful site, I used the Environmental Analysis and scanned the cell to solve the riddle: "TICK TOCK, somepony is not getting out of here alive!"
"It's the Enigma Show!" Trixie cheered.
I exited out of the Sanatorium at the bottom of the area and entered the Upper Corridor that leads to these three medical examination rooms to rescue the three hostages. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 15: Surgery Room | In the Upper Corridor, I spotted several dead medical doctors lying on the floor with fear in their eyes and bodies bent in morbid angles. Pieces of medical supplies and Mane-iac's equipment scatter the corridors. What are peculiar of this deranged scene are colored lines that lead to these rooms. Blue, red, and yellow and the two darker lines are lined together at the left side before they separated to their destinations at a crossroad. The yellow one is the longest and the loneliest. I followed the blue and red one that leads to one of the rooms. Unlike the chime, I spotted several monitors mounted on the ceiling, with the announcer speaking its daily speeches.
I followed the red and blue lines that are parallel to each other in the corridor before they are separated horizontally to separate rooms. I followed the red line.
"Will all patients please stay calm and move slowly to their accommodations?" the announcer asked.
"Let me introduce you to the sterling work of our new head of research, Dr. Spring Evergreen. Since joining our team two years ago, Arkham is now the full research of understanding the pony mind," Sharp announced. The monitor switched to the mare with a red mane and sierra eyes. She looks very young, nineteen-early twenties definitely. She is known as Mane-iac's psychiatrist amongst the others and the most persistent of all, demanding Mane-iac's treatment unlike the other psychiatrists.
However, I met at the entrance to the Surgery Room before Evergreen announces her statements. In the room, there is a staircase to my left leading to an upper level of the room. It's very small and in front of me is a doctor that has a very distinct foreign look, most likely Japanese. He is an elderly pony with a gray hairline and he looks frightened. He appears to be strapped in a gurney in front of mounted TVs that is showing his face. He is amongst an IV machine with bags with various blood samples but they aren't tied to him. He struggles to get free of the gurney's strap but to not avail. I walk towards him to help.
"Batmare!" he cried.
"Don't speak, you're safe now," I assured.
"But...it's a trap!" he cried out.
"I know, just not for me," I replied. I looked up expectedly and saw the screens switched to the deranged pony.
"So it's true, you really are the World's Greatest Detective! How did you do that, Bats? Oh, what the hell, get down there boys. See if she can detect being punched in the face," Mane-iac asked and ordered. I looked up at the upper floor and spotted several Blackgate inmates looking from the railing. Four of them jumped over and landed in front me, ready for combat.
All of the inmates in here are Earth ponies. I countered a thug by punching his head twice but didn't knock him down because another one tries to hit me. I countered him by elbowing him in the abdomen and kicking him, knocking him down. I performed an overhead on the first thug. A third one tries to land one but I simply grabbed his hoof and squeezed it tightly with my digits. The feeling makes him kneel down in pain of the squeeze and I kicked him away.
I kicked a knocked down thug again and roundhouse one that is trying to pull an air conditioner from the wall, with the machine rattling when it hits the ground. At response, I threw a batarang at one that is trying to pull another air conditioner from a wall. I kicked two thugs and picked up a third one and threw him across the room. One tries to kick me but I simple grabbed his leg and pushed him to the ground. I knocked out one thug by an overhead and backflip kick one that is trying to pull the machine from the wall again.
I grabbed one pony, threw him over my shoulder and twist his hoof, knocking him out. I spotted more convicts dropping from the railing and Mane-iac spouting again. "What are you waiting for, April Fool's Day? Get down there now!" Mane-iac ordered loudly. I counted four more Earth ponies dropping for aide. The numbers and strengths do not matter to me.
I countered a thug charging with a Cape Stun and countered another one that is trying to kick me with several punches to the head and kicking him, knocking him out. One tries to buck me but I threw him underneath in the air slightly and punching him in the stomach, easily rendering him unconscious. I picked up the disoriented thug and threw him at another one, knocking the two of them down.
I uppercut one thug that is trying to pry the air conditioner loose from the wall and kicked two thugs down and by instinct, I kicked two thugs. I performed a Ground Takedown on one and quickly countered a punch with a kick to the back. I punched one thug to the ground and performed another Ground Takedown. I roundhouse kick a thug to the head, hearing the satisfying crunching of his bones then I backflip and kicked the last thug in the air, ending the fight. The monitors switched back on.
"Don't get too full of yourself, Bats. I'm just softening you up, think of this as a preview, to the main event, you'll see," Mane-iac said before switching off again. I ignored the comment and rescued Dr. Chen from the gurney. He rose up from the gurney, still laying down but relaxed.
"I'm sorry, I tried to tell you, I couldn't speak," he said apologetically.
"Relax, you're safe now. I can handle these lowlife thugs," I said.
I walked away from the doctor and left the Surgery Room and back to the Upper Corridor to save two more doctors. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 16: X-ray | Back in the Upper Corridor, I spotted a box laid out in the middle of the hallway. It is undoubtedly left by you-know-who. It is purple with light vertical straps and it's wrapped in green. As I walked towards the box, it burst open. A light purple gas spewed out and a small party horn played when it opened. As I suspected, more of those blabbermouths began to chatter incessantly with the mocking laughter shortly afterwards. I ignored the bad comedy joke and continue to venture the hallways to search for another doctor.
"Will all patients please stay calm and move slowly to their accommodations?" the announcer repeated.
"Our findings make debates about whether psychosis and its self-neurotoxin, and it whether potentially damage the changing of the brain relating to psychotic excess. Project Titan allows us to strengthen the individual's abilities to cope with such changes. Earlier results were promising but it was only after the arrival of Patient X that our expectations were raised. Patient X was the catalyst that leads to the full scale adoption of the Titan Project. We must all thank our benefactors for this opportunity." Spring announced about a specific mind strengthener called Titan and how somepony called 'Patient X' is the catalyst for the drug. I'll learn more about it later.
I crawled through a ventilation duct that leads to a hallway with the yellow line leading to the X-Ray room where Spring Evergreen is.
"So that's Dr. Evergreen," a rough voice said. I hid behind a corner that leads to the X-Ray room that contains Evergreen. Three ponies guarded the door. I prepare to throw a batarang to interrupt their peace
"Yeah, she could operate on me anytime-"he didn't finish his rant when a batarang knocked him down, stunning him. Two saw me walking and a ready to fight despite the obviously tremendous strength levels between us.
I countered a thug's punch by striking his chest and flip him over with my outstretched hoof. I grabbed a pipe from a Unicorn and struck him in the side twice, hard. Finally, I kicked the third thug with a roundhouse. I performed a Ground Takedown to knock one out.
I grabbed a thug's hoof, flipping him on the floor and twist his hoof with a sickening crunch. He yelled in pain before he passed out and I finished the fight with an overhead on the last standing thug. Stretching slightly, I continue to walk and open the door to enter the X-Ray room.
In the room, there is a building in the middle of the room, an office-like building but outside the perimeter is numerous X-ray examination photographs plastered on the walls. There are sets of X-ray machines and devices for such examinations. Small monitoring screens are plastered and mounted on the walls for a cross-referencing of an examination along with a few radioactive symbols on the wall. In the small building, I heard a female voice, belongs to Doctor Spring Evergreen and she sounds annoyed.
"Why are you doing this, I've done exactly as you asked," Spring said irksomely. I watched a monitor that surveys the inside of the building. Five armed thugs surrounded Evergreen with guns pointing at her and they appear to be demanding orders.
"Look at me, do you think I care? Stop your whining and listen well! If anypony goes near you without Mane-iac's expressed permission, then I've been ordered to make sure you are taken out ASAP. Looks like you're our bargaining chip," a thug barked and explained.
I crawled quietly to a brick wall and used Detective Vision to see that two thugs are at the wall on the other side. I pulled out my Explosive Gel and sprayed the rigged wall. I crawled silently to search for another weak wall for the detonation. I crouched out of sight from a window of the building to avoid the thugs' attention. As I crept to another wall with three thugs on the other side, I sprayed the Explosive Gel and stood back.
"Got to tell you, the boss is all over this job, planned like a military operation. Friends on the inside and out," another thug added.
"I am quite aware that this job, as you call it, requires friends. What I want to know is why you chose me. Did Mane-iac specify me? Why won't you let me talk to her, I'm sure we can set it," Spring said irately.
"Lady, if I had to tell you once more, I'm going to hurt you. You understand, shut the hell up!" the leading thug barked.
I pressed the button and the two walls exploded and the thugs are blown away from the blast radius. The debris and rubble knocked the five thugs out instantly and the rubble and explosion made an inward explosion that allows me access inside the building. Evergreen shielded herself from the blasts in fear.
"No, please no, don't!" she shrieked. I calmly walked in the building and saw Evergreen, still protected and unharmed from the blasts. She stood and reassured herself and saw me.
"What's going on? They were talking like they're in control. Is it true that Mane-iac escaped?" she asked.
"Unfortunately, yes, but not for long," I replied.
"I've been studying Mane-iac's case for months when she broke out. The Warden was very specific that he wanted Mane-iac cured," she added.
"Bad publicity will affect his campaign for mayor," I replied.
"That'll be the least of his-I almost forgot! They said they were moving in the facility, hunting down the other doctors!" she exclaimed.
"I know, I've got one more room to search and then all the staff will be safe, you stay here," I said. Evergreen nodded in agreement and I walked out of the room to find the last doctor. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 17: Observation | Back in the Upper Corridor to search for the last doctor, the monitor switched on the sick pony.
"Oh, I'm not sure I could keep it a secret any longer! I've got two old friends coming to the party: One of them is just terrified of you without any hello! The other...well, let's just say he'll be in a surprise when he sees you, as you will see him." Mane-iac announced giddily and mentioned of two more suspects that I didn't know.
I walk down the corridor and spotted another purple box laid out. I walked cautiously and used Detective Vision to spot anything dangerous. Likewise, the box burst open and more of those plastic, chattering, faux teeth pop out with a small green gas alongside. I shook my head in slight annoyance of this tedious joke. I ignored the bad joke and follow the yellow line that leads back to the entrance of the Upper Corridor. I followed the blue and red lines and split to follow the lone blue line.
"When Amadeus Arkham built this fine institution, few would have believed it could be the premiere psychiatric evaluation and rehabilitation center it has become. Everypony knows the stories of the various so-called 'super criminals' who've been treated here, but that's only half of the story. Our low security wings offered normal but troubled individuals a safe haven for recovery. We represent all medical specialties and offered a wide range of medical, surgical, diagnostic and wellness programs."
I followed the blue path and heard a rough voice at the end of a corner that leads inside the Observation Room.
"Who's the guard?" a thug asked.
"That mean son of a heifer-"the thug didn't respond as a batarang hit his head, knocking him down.
"It's the Bat!" he shouted. I simply punch him three times and knock him down. I performed a Ground Takedown on the knocked down thug and did the same to the second one. I open the door and enter a short path that leads to the Patient Observation room.
In front, two guards are taunting a brown Earth pony on the other side of the control room of the Observation room. The guard has an iron hook on his left frontal hoof, the name is Aaron Cash. He looks ticked off at the taunting thugs.
"Hey, boss, it's done. The room is full of gas and Officer Hook is stuck in there. Thing is, Razor didn't get out in time, he stuck in there too," a thug calling on a walkie talkie informed.
"Well, that will teach him to dilly-dally. Don't let anypony out of there, even Razor. He's failed me and I don't like failures," Mane-iac replied. Same, I threw a batarang at a thug and surprised the thug that was talking on a walkie talkie.
"She's here!" the thug shouted. I punched him three times and this gains Cash's approval.
"Yeah, go Batmare!" he cheered. I finished the squabble easily and looked at Cash. In the control room is a doctor, most likely if not, Dr. Kellerman. On the other side of the control room, I spotted the familiar and sickening appearance of the green chemical gas Mane-iac creates. Luckily, it's on the other side, but I don't know how long the room can withstand the gas seeping in the cracks or ventilation ducts to choke on these two.
"Cash, what happened?" I asked.
"There was an alarm in Medical. I heard somepony shouting and found the doctor lying on the floor. When I went to help him, the room was flooded with gas. These doors are locked down, we can't get out, don't know how long we can last," Cash explained.
"How brave, let's give Mr. Cash a great big hoof! He could use one," somepony on the intercom joked horribly. A voice we did not want to hear.
"You'll be laughing out of your butt when I get out of here!" Cash barked.
"Lighten up, homes, I'm just messing with you," Mane-iac reassured.
"Can't wait to return the favor," Cash said angrily.
"Leave it, Cash. Can you control the ventilation system in there?" I ordered and asked, ending their squabble.
"Tried, it's a no go. She's disabled remote access," Cash replied.
"I'll find a way," I said. I looked above and spotted a ledge I could grapple. I grappled up and saw a grate that'll lead a duct that will enter the top of the Observation Room. I pulled the grate off and crawled in the duct.
"You've got to help us! You can clear the gas in the room but the doctor and I need to get out of here," Cash exclaimed.
I pushed the grate at the exit and stood up. I'm at a walkway of ducts above the familiar, sickening, foul blanket of death and insanity. There are gaps that I could not glide without risking falling in the blanket. On the far end of the room, above a miniscule building, the thug that those two and Mane-iac mentioned, Razor, a griffon, is clinging on the dear life on a rope that is dangling above the roof of the building and the blanket.
Like in the Decontamination room, there are three control panels that can be turned on with a Batarang to filter and eliminate the green gas. I walk to an area on the walkway and spotted a panel on the bottom level with the blabbermouths chattering. I threw a batarang at the control panel and a section of the room filters the gas, giving me a clear view.
"Batmare, I don't know if you can hear this, Board's showing power to Fan One," Aaron said on the intercom. As the section around Fan One's area is clear enough for breathing and safe passage, I jumped across the walkways to avoid plummeting below to reach Fan Two's area.
"Aren't you supposed to be dead?" Razor asked frighteningly. "I'm too far up, if I fall, I'll get hurt real bad!"
I glided over to the other end of the room and landed on a cage that is protecting smaller fans. I spotted another control panel on my right side on the bottom with more of those teeth chattering. I threw a batarang at the panel and Fan Two began to filter the room 2/3 of the way.
"Power to Fan Two, she's doing it, Doc! We'll be out of here soon, stay cool," Aaron said to Kellerman.
I used Detective Vision to find Fan Three's panel and it is in the small building. The only problem is that roof is not accessible for me to use my Explosive Gel. So I looked at Razor, who is still hanging, above the weak roof. I sighed heavily, I promised myself that I would save anypony, good or evil, those who deserved to live and doesn't.
Quickly as I could, I throw a batarang at the rope and Razor drops on the roof and straight through the weak roof, destroying it and landing on the floor. As he begins to cackle insanely and sickly, I threw a batarang with an instant reaction at the control panel to activate Fan Three's power to filter the gas and clear the room completely.
"All three fans are green, we've got full power. Room should be empty any time now," Aaron stated. Inside the booth, Aaron and Kellerman exit out to breath the clean air and Kellerman leaned on a pillar, gasping for clean air. He'll be fine for a few minutes.
"Surprise surprise, Batmare arrives just in the nick of time. Next time, Cash, I'll just shoot you and be done with it," the demented pony announced. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 18: Descent into Madness | After seeing that Cash and Kellerman are safe, I exit out of the Observation Room to head towards back to the Sanatorium. As expected, another purple and green box is laid out in the middle of the hallway. As I expect another joke, I didn't expect of what is coming out of the box as the teeth and small gas sprang when it burst open.
A Blackgate thug, but this thug is entirely different than the others. This one is a griffon, and he looks sinister. He is wearing a muzzle over his beak and he is wielding two butcher knives at his talons. He is wearing a dark red prison jumpsuit with locks at the armbands and abdomen.
I charged at him to strike him but he blocks the attack with his knives. He lunged at me, slashing his knives at me but I dodged every single slash. As soon as he is finished, I used my cape to stun him, then I strike him three times and a Ground Takedown to finish him off. I have a feeling that I will encounter more of these higher class thugs later on. I continue to gallop until I reach the Upper Corridor's entrance to enter the Sanatorium.
"I've got ringside seats for the big event, Bon-Bon's bringing the popcorn, and I can't wait!" Mane-iac announced excitedly. As I entered in the Sanatorium, I spotted the doctors I'd just saved earlier when I first entered the Sanatorium, tending the thugs I've taken out earlier. Sara noticed me and asked.
"Did you find them, are they okay?" Sara asked.
"Yes, they're safe now," I replied. I saw the door opened and saw Cash and Evergreen entering the room.
"Batmare, we've got another problem," Cash said.
"I need to get back to the Mansion; all my research notes are there. We can't risk Mane-iac getting her hooves on them," Spring said.
"It's not safe, Doctor. The island is a war zone, you won't stand a chance," I replied.
"It's my life's work! You really don't have the authority to-"
"I'll get her there, Batmare. If you ask me, it's about time for a little payback," Cash volunteered, interrupting Evergreen's rant.
I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "I don't like it, but-", the blaring alarm of the elevator drowned out our conversation, alarming us.
"Who called the elevator?" I asked sharply.
"It wasn't us, it's coming from the lower floor," Sara replied.
I looked around the room and know that Mane-iac has sent more of the lowlifes to scour the Sanatorium. "Cash, take Doctor Evergreen! Get her notes and find somewhere safe to hold up! Everypony else, go to the Observation Room, barricade yourselves!" I ordered. Everypony agreed and they gone to their separate destinations, leaving me.
As soon as the staff is gone, I grappled to a gargoyle nearby the elevator and spotted three thugs leaving the elevator. All of them are Pegasi and they are armed.
"The boss said she's in here somewhere! Spread out," the leading thug barked. The three thugs went to their separate ways while two are watching each other's back. I observed the thugs to check for any of them are isolated.
I saw that the two inmates are at the lower level of the Sanatorium while one is at the railing watching over. I jumped off the vantage point and landed behind him without as much as a pin drop.
"I hate hospitals, always gives me the creeps," the thug commented to himself. He didn't expect my hooves wrapped around his neck and nose. He struggled, only tightening my grip until his muffled screaming renders to a slumber.
I looked down at the railing from the upper level and saw that the two thugs are isolated. One is walking up the ramp, giving me the perfect opportunity to get in behind him. I punched his back and wrapped his neck and muzzle as he is flailing his front legs helplessly. His panicked shouting is muffled until he is silent.
I used my Detective Vision and spotted that the last thug is beside the examination room above me. I grappled up and crouched behind the unsuspecting thug. As he is about to climb a ladder to observe the walkways, I kicked his legs and wrapped his face until his screams of terror are muffled. Without any effort, the room is safe.
I grappled up to a gargoyle and glided to the elevator. As I expected, the elevator has three of those faux blabbermouths chattering incessantly. I destroyed them and I entered the elevator, a dare to see what twisted trap the deranged clown has conjured up for me. I entered the elevator and the doors closed. The elevator moved down and the monitor in front of me switched on to her.
"Too easy, think about it. I've got you trapped in a little metal box, hanging precariously over a deadly drop. Let's say we blow the emergency brakes and drop you like a sack of puppies?" Mane-iac commented eagerly. I know her game at her so-called threat.
"Say good-night, Bats," Mane-iac said sinisterly. I am getting tired of her games and her bad jokes.
"Boom, only kidding, got a few more surprises in store for you; prepare to face your fears, all of them!" Mane-iac added and laughed manically before switching off. The Arkham Logo is tainted with her face on it is the standby for "Mane-iac TV".
What I didn't expect after her announcement is I started to cough. Whatever is happening to me, I spotted a little distortion in the air, meaning that the air brake gas is leaking! I need to get out and save my breath before I choke. I waited for whatever awaits me at the lower level until the elevator comes to a complete stop. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 19: Stuck in a Nightmare | The elevator opened up after finishing its carriage. I stepped out of the elevator and heard a distant cry. I looked at a window in a small space with doctors and some insane patients inside.
"Please, Dr. Zecora, don't do it!" a doctor cried out.
"There is no Zecora, only Scarecrow!" a distorted voice replied back. I looked in the room and saw that a small gas is emitting in there, causing the ponies in there to panic at an alarming behavior until it is completely erratic. The light flickered on and off as the ponies panicked louder and more fearful. I spotted a twisted shadow when the light flickered.
I clenched my teeth in anger because I know what that gas is. The doctors and patients cried, panicked, and screamed in pure terror. Some are clawing at their legs, most likely bugs. Some are clawing at walls in horror and one insane patient clawed at the window in front of me.
"Get me out of here, oh Celestia!" a doctor cried. I spotted the shadow, which is wearing a hood and has a somewhat auto-mail arm at the right front leg. As the doctors and patients are becoming more and more terrified, I looked around the room to search for the pony that is causing this madness.
An iron barred gate blocked my passage to intercept the pony that quickly galloped in front of me, out of sight. I didn't have time to make out whom but I know who it is: Doctor Zecora Stripes aka Scarecrow.
Zecora was a newcomer to Ponyville years ago. She is a skilled and talented pharmacist in medicine and drugs for the hospitals. What really fascinated her is her obsession in ponies' phobias. Ever since she was little, she was teased about her scrawny appearance and her fidgetiness. She worked at Arkham years after she graduated and started to perform private and disturbed experiments to doctors, psychiatrists and patients of her newly developed Fear Gas: a hazardous, dangerous, and malicious gas in any form, solid, liquid, gas, or plasma, can get inside a victim or victims' mind and make their deepest, darkest phobias and fears so frighteningly real, it can kill them.
She is one of my most dangerous enemies in psychological terms. She is too fascinated to what I am afraid and yet, she is too angered and determined to crawl into my mind, trying to break me, but I will never be broken. Now, Zecora has been transported from Ponyville to Arkham as an insane, former friend of us Mane 6 and the citizens of Equestria, another resident in Arkham.
Unfortunately, the poor doctors and patients died of fright in the room. The area I'm in now is the Secure Access. Beside me, a dusty old room is coated in cobwebs and is plastered with Mane-iac's poster with kissy marks on it. On an old stand on the weak table in the room have a harlequin hat and a name plate on the table. That room is an old psychiatrist office and I know who's: Doctor Sweetie Drops.
"Ooh, it looks like the good Doctor has started early. You're appointment isn't for hours, I'm sure you'll bust through when she's ready. Tell me, Bats, what are you really scared of? Failing to save this cesspool of a city? Not finding the Commissioner in time? Me, in a thong?" Mane-iac stated and asked. She laughed at the last comment and switched off from the intercom.
I need to venture further in the Secure Access to track down my brother and avoid the Fear Gas soon as possible. I spotted a weak wall at the end of the Access and sprayed some Explosive Gel on it and I pressed the button to destroy the wall to allow access. I entered a small passageway and entered a janitorial utility section with multiple grids and ventilation systems and gears grinding like clockwork. As I dropped and galloped to and fro in the section, my vision is starting to get more angled and I feel a little distorted as I travel further until I met at a lower section of the Lower Corridor. When I met at the window of the Corridor, I spotted a white pony with a blue accented hair with some gray lines and wearing the same overalls and tie he wore earlier: it is my brother, Shining Armor, and he looks and sounds weak.
"Please, help me, Batmare...," he pleaded weakly. I stood in shock as my brother has been dragged by somepony or something. I need to hurry before he gets into any more harm. I looked at a grate and pulled it and entered the ventilation duct to enter the Lower Corridor.
After pushing the grate at the end and stood up, I saw a horrific site: my brother, lying on his haunches beside a wall and he is not moving. I walk slowly to Shining Armor and check for any pulse, but atrociously, I did not find any. A small tear formed at my eye and my voice quivered a little bit. I lowered my head.
"I'm sorry, Shining," I said somberly. I close his eyes in respect. I heard a thud at the end of the Corridor on my left. I need to tell Oracle the truth.
"Skyla...I--I'm sorry...I was too late," I apologized quietly and gravely. What I want to expect was a sob or a yell from Skyla but what I didn't expect is a standby mode.
"I'm sorry, the number you have dialed isn't available," a standby voice announced. I'm starting to feel perplexed of this behavior of Oracle.
"Skyla, are you there?" I asked.
"Please hang up your phone," the voice added before switching off. I narrowed my eyes and starting to see flickering lights at the end of the hallway. Beetles, cockroaches, and other insects start to crawl from the walls left and right. What I saw is the same figure I saw from the Secure Access earlier. I walked further in the infested Lower Corridor as some tiles from the walls start to crumble and shatter when they hit the floor. The minute I met at the door at the end of the Corridor, the entire paranormal phenomenon has ceased abruptly, stopped. Everything was dead silent. I opened the door that leads to a deathly environment, the Morgue.
In the Morgue, several doors lined up in vertical and horizontal order is obviously for the deceased to be buried, cremated or any other method. It's what you expect of your everyday mortuary. Alongside are tables on a small ramp for identification and autopsy reports with jars on a tool table. Two fluorescent lights hang above the dark room and a small mist hang over the room, giving it a creepy, ethereal and ghastly feeling. I heard a chilling and raspy whispering but likewise from my career, I always held my ground.
"You shouldn't...be here! You shouldn't be here! You shouldn't be here, get out of here! Get out of here! Get out of here!" As the threatening whisperings became louder every time I walk around the morgue, the cadaver cases started to slam the doors by themselves in a repeated cycle. A droned out tune rang out in the morgue to elevate the disturbing atmosphere.
Having enough, I leave the Morgue to go back in the Lower Corridor but I entered back in the same Morgue as before but this time, everything is dead silent. On the tables are three body bags, thankfully, they are closed. But the body bags shook violently, desperately wanting air.
I used my Detective Vision to see whose bodies are in the bags but my vision is not working but it is followed by a cackle. Ignoring the cackle, I walk up to the first body bag to see the bodies myself. On my right, I unzipped the bag and saw a body I did not expect to see. In the bag, a medium-colored blue stallion with a blue accented mane and tail and his golden irises are grayed out and leaved at a dead white. He dons the same suit before his demise and I know who this is and I am in complete aghast.
"Father?" I asked. The body leaned its head towards me and opened its plagued mouth.
"You should have stood up to him, daughter, like a mare!" the corpse exclaimed with an echo. Taking a back from the sentence of my deceased father, I walk to the other body bag and open unzipped it. The pony is a mare, a very light lavender coat with a light violet and white mane and tail, neatly combed with a pearl necklace. The same pearl necklace was the very cause of their premature and traumatic demises. This mare-.
"Mom?" I asked shockingly. The mare tilted its head towards me.
"Help us, Twilight, don't let us die!" the mare shrieked in a raspy voice with the same echo that my father said. I do not like this one bit. Night Light and Twilight Velvet were my parents, alongside with Spike and my brother; they are the only ponies and dragon I truly care for in this prejudiced world. They were extremely wise and caring for me and my siblings, they helped this city from the scum that is trying to destroy it. They gave it their all and they created Sparkle Enterprises, the main organ to pump the filth out but they were taken by a desperate, greedy, and disgusting griffon that shot them with a pistol just for my mom's priceless pearl necklace. My dad asked the robber for anything they can give him but the griffon shot him and my mom when she is crying over his body. The robber looked at me with a scared look, took my mom's pearls and ran away, leaving me to cry over the bodies. My brother was in Canterlot for the Royal Guard training but heard the news and he was crushed. I feel for my brother but personally, I saw the murder first hand and I was destroyed, my innocence died along with them.
A spark was set on fire inside of me, an angry, livid, vengeful, and dark personality rose and grew stronger when the years pass. A promise that I made myself for my parents: I will do anything and everything, even if it cost my life, to protect this city and save the innocent from the evil, even the ones who doesn't deserve to live on, I will save lives, no matter what. My brother was immediately Captain of the Royal Guard, fighting to protect the innocent like me but not in a scale like my own. He never knows who I am until the time is right.
After seeing the bodies of my parents, I looked to the last body bag. Dreading to think it could be Spike or Shining Armor in the bag. I open the bag and expect one of those two to be revealed. But the body is still breathing, unlike the two undead ones. This one has a black and white striped pattern on the sides. Wearing torn brown clothing with stitched pants with tapes around the back hooves. It has a mechanical forearm at the right frontal hoof but it can be removed, like a glove. The body laid there for a few seconds before it popped up to me with its black irises obscure in its makeshift, scarecrow like mask with two gas mask filters at the end underneath a small hood. The eyes then glowed to a bright yellow and it made me feel disoriented and vertigo. I fell down and I stood up.
After standing up to gain firmness, the body and the body bags are gone. What really surprised me is that the Morgue's surroundings are disintegrated like a surreal-themed artwork. The tiles on the floor are disappearing until they ended at a precariously drop over a whirlpool-like vortex at the very bottom of this void. To gain process, I jumped over the ridges of the disintegrated morgue and climbed up to a sturdy area where there as much as little of the Morgue is remained. The distorted hallways now have the gray skies this world has and the very floor is a deathtrap if I take one misstep.
When I stood up behind a wall of the Lower Corridor and Morgue, my head starts to twirl and twist in irregular proportions as I heard a cackle. I shook my head and held it to clear my mind when I heard something I do not want to hear. Behind the wall, several meters away, is Zecora, or Scarecrow, standing in a gargantuan size and height, 100 feet tall at max, towering above the twisted world she created. Her right hand is a mechanical glove with four syringes filled with the same hazardous gas that created this world in liquid form with surgical tubes on the gauntlet for refilling. Luckily, the distance between us and the wall is the only thing that can keep my safe from the giant Scarecrow. The only way for me to get out of this world is to beat Scarecrow to restore my mind back to normal. I spotted a shining light at the very top of this world. I saw that the light's source is my Bat signal, the very symbol of my iron will, determination, courage and a shining example of justice. I know what I need to do.
"POOR LITTLE BAT, YOU'RE IN MY WORLD NOW!" the Scarecrow stated, introducing me into her twisted world. She turns around in a 360 to scan the entire world to search for me. Luckily, I can hide behind small walls and corners to hide from the eyesight of the Scarecrow. If I get caught, she can easily destroy my mind and I will be twisted, forever.
As soon as Scarecrow turned her head, I galloped a column to hide from her gaze as she turned back around to scan the world again. I left the column and ran to find another spot to hide from her oscillating gaze. The rumbling of her gaze shook the unstable ground. Some of the tiles crumbled and fell into the bottomless vortex below. I remained firm and continue to hide behind crumbled ruins of the Morgue/Lower Corridor to avoid detection.
"EVERYTHING YOU SEE IS UNDER MY CONTROL!" the Scarecrow cackled. I ignored her words and spotted the tallest column that can hide me from the gaze very well. In front of me is a weak wall that can be accessed by my Explosive Gel and can distract the Scarecrow, allowing me more time to get to the top.
After her gaze has passed, I galloped to the wall and sprayed the Explosive Gel on the wall and hid back to my hiding spot before the gaze returned. I pressed the detonator and the wall exploded, alarming Scarecrow.
"WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?" Scarecrow asked. She floated quickly to the area where I am hiding to observe the destroyed wall. She looked carefully around the wall and I saw that she is moving to the other side of my hiding spot to search for me. I quickly moved out of the range of the light, giving me a chance to gallop through the passageway and up some platforms to gain higher ground above the distorted world. After good seconds of observing, Scarecrow shook her head in annoyance and went back to her position to search for me.
Behind the wall at the top, on a small walkway, edge of this world is the Bat signal, still shining as my only way to leave this world. After Scarecrow scanned the top, I quickly galloped to the signal and pushed it to an angle that can shine on Scarecrow. The creaking of the signal alarms her.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Scarecrow asked to herself. She looked around the world until she spotted the Bat signal that is shining at her direction. After adjusting the ray to its angle. The light blasted an extremely bright ray at Scarecrow, brightening the world around me and her. Scarecrow screamed in agony as the bright photon ray blasted her and her twisted world to obliteration.
"AAAAAGGGGHHHH!" Scarecrow cried out in pain. Everything as I know it brightened to a white. I remained firm as everything changed around me and I held my head as it's slowly becoming clearer as everything around is back to normal. I'm in the same Morgue as earlier before the incident happened.
No body bags, no ethereal voices, no banging, no mist, no Scarecrow, nothing. Everything is back to normal. I finally cleared my head from the Fear Gas I was dosed back on the elevator. I called myself from the experience of the frighteningly real world I was introduced to. I know that Scarecrow escaped the Morgue when I fought back but I know this is not the end of her. I need to expect more of her eventually.
"Can you hear me? Twilight, what's going on?" Oracle asked frantically after a long period in the twisted world I was in. I was relieved to hear her voice again.
"Oracle, I'm okay," I replied softly and relieved.
"What happened? I'd lost contact, are you sure you're alright? Have you found my dad?" Oracle asked.
"I'm fine, had a little run-in with Scarecrow and slowed me down. I'll get back to you in a bit," I replied. I switched off and head towards the exit to get out of the Morgue, the location of nightmares, death, and insanity. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 20: Saving Commissioner Armor | Before I leave this unwanted place, I quickly spotted a jar on a surgical table. The jar is filled with plasma and it contains carnivorous teeth, jaws, ear and nose. I used my Environmental Analysis to solve a riddle: What silent killer of the oceans can be found in a tiny jar?"
"Another one, can it be? No, there's no way, you can't find them all, it's impossible," Trixie exclaimed shockingly and angrily. This unlocked one of my minor criminals: The Great White Shark or Barren White, a former bank accountant who was accused of embezzlement and fraudulence. He tried an insanity plea to avoid getting sent to Blackgate but he was sent to Arkham Asylum, which he was tortured and ostracized until Cranky Doodle Doo froze his face so extreme that his facial features began to degrade into a shark-like appearance, hence his name.
I wasted no time of leaving the dreaded Morgue and entering back in the Lower Corridor. Hopefully, the Fear Gas's after effects resided since I escaped. I notice green arrows have been painted on the floor leading to a door at the end of the Corridor, the thugs must've have painted it to lead me to another trap. When I met at the fork of the Corridor, I spotted a dead Arkham security guard in the haunches position I was in earlier.
"It wasn't Shining Armor; Zecora's gas must have affected me more than I thought," I said to myself. I was ticked off that I spotted another dead corpse but thankful that it wasn't my brother, means that I am close of finding my brother. Then, I heard a very annoying voice on the intercom.
"Are you lost, little Bat? Having trouble figuring out what's real and what's just a figment of your twisted, little mind? Same here, just roll with it, Bats. It gets easier when you give in, it really does," Mane-iac said, trying to influence me to give in to the insanity.
I used my Detective Vision and saw arrows pointing at a door that leaves the Lower Corridor with Mane-iac's face painted on it. On the other side of the door, banging is three Blackgate thugs. I can end this effortless fight easily. The thugs burst open the door. One is an Earth pony, one a Unicorn, levitating a lead pipe and another of the high security thug, a Pegasus, wielding two knives.
I punched the first thug three times and quickly performed a Cape Stun on the two thugs and knocked them down. I knocked out the thug with a Ground Takedown and knocked down a thug that is recovering. I stunned the high security thug and performed a Ground Takedown on the thug. I finally roundhouse kick the last thug, ending the fight.
"Listen, no more tricks! Just one last puzzle and you can have him, and a little more, oh, I can't wait!" Mane-iac announced giddily. I destroy three of the chattering teeth before following the arrows. I spotted a little update that I have destroyed all 20 teeth all inside the Medical Facility.
"What do you call somepony who has failed to solve a quarter of my riddles: a Batmare?" Trixie asked teasingly. I had solved 25 percent of riddles, interview tapes, teeth, and Riddler trophies all over Arkham. I still have 75 percent to complete before tracking down her whereabouts.
I open the door and enter the farthest area in the Medical Facility: the Experimental Chamber, where patients have been experimented on to test on psychotherapy medications. I spotted the monitor in front of me and it switched on to her.
"Your precious commissioner is just through the glass, take a look! Bon-Bon is under strict instructions to kill the old pony if any ponies even think you're in the room. They're patrolling down there and I told them all you're on the way. So here's the deal: if you can find a way to get to Bon-Bon without anypony realizing, I'll give you your next present. Fail and the old codger die. Hell, I even give you Bon-Bon; it looks like you can use a new sidekick!" Mane-iac announced, taking the situation lightly.
Out of anger, I threw a batarang at a monitor, shattering the screen so I don't have to see that despised face. I looked through the glass and spotted my brother, alive and well, tied to a chair with the stupidly gullible Bon-Bon walking around with a machine gun. I used my Detective Vision and spotted four other armed threats down there in the Chamber. This is where my Predatory skills are necessary.
I saw another map with green question marks on the layouts of the Medical Facility, I picked it up quickly.
"A map will always help those who are stuck," Trixie said.
I spotted a grate and pulled it quietly and crawled in the ventilation duct to enter the Chamber. I crawled through the narrow ducts until I drop from a little drop with another open duct in front of me. I heard rough voices on the other side of the weak wall with cracks and holes in it.
"Mane-iac's not messing. She wants the old pony kept safe from Batmare, anypony gets near him, it won't be me carrying the can," a thug said.
"No problem, nothing's getting past me. Batmare will be a dead pony and I'll be famous," another thug bragged.
"Whatever get over there and keep looking, now go!" the leading thug ordered the others. I crawled through the duct and open the grate silently and sliding the loose grate to the side. I am directly behind a thug. I grabbed his muzzle and his back legs kicked helplessly while his muffled screams are silent.
"Listen up, boys! The Commissioner is just dying for one of you to spot the Bat-freak. Whatever you do, Bon-Bon offs the old pony. I got a shiny prize for the one who sees her first!" Mane-iac announced. I exit out of the duct, right behind a second thug. I quickly grabbed his head and kicked his legs, his protesting subsonic and silent in seconds. After dealing with the first two thugs, I crept behind the railing to see a thug that is doing his rounds in the Chamber. In the very center, a small chamber-like building with obscured fog, blocking whatever is inside the chamber, but I'll find out later.
"Mrs. M won't let anything happen to me, boys. She loves me too much to see me hurt. You guys, maybe not so much," Bon-Bon spouted.
I waited for the thug to go down the ramp so I can get in behind him. He obviously doesn't see me behind the corner of the railing. As soon as he is down the ramp, I crouched quickly from the corner and grabbed his head and kicked his feet. His pathetic screams are of naught and his hoof is in the air, wanting air desperately. I let him have air when he is sleeping. I saw that the last thug is on the walkway on the other side of the Chamber room. He is looking over the railing, not noticing me in the corner of the chamber itself. I heard Bon-Bon's laughing and humming, which is annoying me and my brother.
"You think anything you got to say matters to me?" Shining asked irksomely. I continue to wait for the last thug to finish observing over the railing so I can get in behind him when he starts to turn around. For a few moments, the thug turned around to go to the right, giving me the opportunity to crouch faster to get in behind him before he turns back around.
"Bon-Bon's got the old pony on top. You see the Bat or anypony coming around, he dies," Mane-iac announced repeatedly. I continue to crouch until I'm on the upper walkway behind the thug. I grabbed his head and kicked the back of legs without any noise whatsoever. Not too long, the thug went silent into a sleep. After finishing the thugs, I galloped up the stairs to the control room where Bon-Bon and Shining are.
"Mrs. M told Batmare that we're going to get married, it's going to be so cool," Bon-Bon said dreamily to herself. I saw that the doorway in the room is barricaded, so I grappled up to the roof of the control room, directly above Bon-Bon on the glass roof.
Without a moment too soon, I jumped up and smashed through the glass roof, alarming Bon-Bon. She didn't have time to react when I smashed my two hind legs on her head, knocking her out. Shining looks at me with approval that one of the tedious clowns has been taken care of.
"You took longer than I thought," he said. I walk up to him and untied him.
"She's out of control; she's trying to prove something. I'm not sure I can stop her this time," I replied. Shining rubbed his hooves to tend for his long hours in the ropes and stood up alongside me.
"You'll do it. Batmare, listen, we're not alone. She's got something else down there, I don't know what it is," Shining replied. We walked to the large window of the control room and saw the chamber with ominous mist in the building. We could barely see any electronic equipment that is obscured by the mist in the building. Next moment, we heard the same irksome voice.
"What a blabbermouth, spoiling the surprise!" Mane-iac exclaimed teasingly.
"Be quiet," I ordered quietly and angrily.
"Oh, am I getting to you, am I? Good! You're going to love this next bit," Mane-iac asked and said before switching off. Shining and I exit out of the room with the barricade down and walk down to the chamber to see what insidious trap the demented clown got in store for us. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 21: Iron Will | After walking down from the control room to the bottom of the Chamber, I open the door and the mist hissed out. In the room, I ignored the multiple monitors and computers on the table beside me. I continue to look straight and was shocked to see what's in the Chamber. Shining Armor walks in and aims to the computer. He types in the log in.
"It wants Dr. Evergreen's login," he said.
"Never mind, that, get behind me, now!" I ordered. Shining looked at my direction and was shocked to see what is in front of us.
The thing that was in the Chamber is a Minotaur. This Minotaur has an extreme malnutrition with his ribs showing through his navy blue coat. His horns are cracked with the many experiments through him. Multiple surgical and diagnostic tubes were connected to a large storage tank on his back. Large gauntlets and chains wrapped around his arms and legs for security purposes. He wears ragged pants with a large metallic belt but what's most notifying is the iron-clad mask covering his face except his eyes and mouth showing.
I know this Minotaur and I will never forget this one. No name, no birth certificate, almost as ambiguous as the Mane-iac. He is one of my most physically challenging nemeses I had ever encountered in my career. Four years ago, he broke my back, leaving me a paraplegic for a few moments but was defeated before he revealed my identity, thanks to the stuff that he used for trying to kill me.
"Iron Will," I whispered. The feeble Minotaur is barely conscious and his reply is a groan.
"I thought he broke out of Blackgate!" Shining exclaimed. The Minotaur opened his mouth with severe hoarseness with a slight Spanish accent.
"Cut...me...down," Iron Will pleaded weakly.
"Who did this to you?" I asked. I was a little surprised to see that one of the strongest enemies has been captured and been drained dry like a lab rat.
"Dr. Evergreen...the bruja...she drained the Venom from my blood. Must...stop...her," he replied hoarsely. The Venom was the drug he used to gain height, speed, agility, and strength but it costed him his intelligence, mentality and resources and it reduced him to a brute. Without the Venom, he'll be extremely scrawny and feeble out of the withdrawal from the addictive drug. As expected, the monitor switched on the clown.
"Sorry, Has Will, the good doctor won't be a problem much longer. How did you like my puppet? What's say we cut him down," Mane-iac said. She got a remote and pressed the button and the worst happened.
After the button is pressed, the alarm went off and the entire chamber went red. We looked at the Minotaur, screaming in agony when the green liquid drug is pumping through the tubes into his bloodstream and storage tank. He twitched in pain as the Venom is coursing through his veins as his skinny arms grew five times their size with bulging muscles. His painful screams turn into an enraging roar. His normal brown eyes flared into a bright green with his bloodshot sclera.
"Shining, run!" I shouted. Shining immediately galloped out of the room and into the control room. I looked at Iron Will, gaining strength and height as the Venom continues to pump until his bulky body is freed from the bonds of the tubes. I galloped out of the chamber and protected myself from the red smoke from the transformation. Next, thundering. I saw Iron Will, charging towards me, completely towering over me. He is now at 9'2 feet tall, 425 pounds of muscle, with staggering speed. He threw two punches at me but I dodged it. I threw a right-cross at his jaw but it had no effect, only making him more livid.
He roared furiously and grabbed me, lifting me overhead. As I thought that he is going to break me, he threw me to a wall of the Chamber and into the Boiler Room. The rocks, brick and mortar crashed into the Boiler Room. I stood up to reassure myself, preparing myself to fight this brute.
"Play nice, mares," Mane-iac cheered. Iron Will walked through the humongous hole and into the Boiler Room for combat. I need to fight smart if I'm going to be out of here in one piece. Attacking him head-to-head is suicide; I need to cut the tubes from his storage tank to weaken him.
Iron Will laughed as the Venom continues to pump into his body. As he is ready to charge, I threw a batarang at him to blind him. I dodged out of his charge as he crashed into the wall on the other side. As I looked up at the walkway, several Blackgate convicts looked down in amusement to expect me to get pommeled.
I turn around and watched Iron Will turn around to charge me again. I threw a batarang at him and dodged out of his charge. He ran into the weak wall again but this gave me the opportunity to get in close. I elbowed and kicked Iron Will several times to weaken him before he recovers from his disorientation. I climbed up on his back on his storage tank and cut off two of the tubes connecting the Venom and him. The partial loss of the Venom alarmed his storage and enraged him. I jumped off after he tried to claw me off of his back.
As soon as I touch the ground, Iron Will roared furiously and slammed his fist in the ground, sending a brief yet violent shockwave in the ground. I jumped out of the range to safety, ready to face him again.
"Seriously, is that the best you can do, Iron Will? Let me lend a hoof," Mane-iac announced, disappointed over Iron Will's performance. I looked over the railing and saw four Blackgate convicts jumping off the railing to aid Iron Will. All of the convicts in the room are Earth ponies.
Before anypony could notice, Iron Will trudged over to a wall on the far end of the Boiler Room and lifted up a humongous chunk of the wall and threw it at me. I jumped out of the way from the rock. He charged at me afterwards to gain upper ground but I threw a batarang and jumped out of his way.
After he ran into the wall, a convict tries to hit me but I grabbed his leg, elbowed his face and landed his face on my knee. I countered another hit from a reject by grabbing his outstretched hoof, kneeing his stomach and double-hoofed his chest, sending him to the ground. I overhead one thug and countered the fourth thug by kicking his leg, tripping him and kicking his face, knocking him down.
One thug charged at me but I grabbed his arm, head-butted his face with the back of my head and kicking him away. I jumped far to a thug and hit him with a roundhouse. I missed my combo but I punched a thug three times to continue pommeling them to avoid them distracting me. I heard Iron Will laughed and heard his thundering charge but I did the same routine and dodged out of his way, knocking down some of the thugs in his path.
As soon as Iron Will turns around to charge at me again, I began pommeling the thugs again to keep them out of the way. I heard his charge and threw another batarang at Iron Will's face, jumping out of the way. I galloped towards Iron Will and kicked him numerously before jumping on his back. I climbed on his storage tank and cut off more of the tubes connecting him, depleting his Venom storage.
"I went through all this trouble and that's the best you got, Iron Will? Help him out, boys," Mane-iac ordered, unimpressed by Iron Will's disadvantage. I spotted more rejects jumping over the railing to aide Iron Will. The behemoth roared and pounded the ground in frustration. The shockwaves knocked the thugs back but I jumped out of the way of the waves before they'd dissipated.
I counted six Blackgate convicts in the fray. I countered a thug's punch by kicking his stomach and elbowing his face. Another one tries to land one on me but I grabbed his hoof, kicking his stomach and double-hoofed his chest. I kicked one thug and immediately jumped out of the way of a boulder chucked by Iron Will, who had crudely ripped it from the wall. Fortunately, the boulder knocked down the thugs in the way.
"I will crush you!" Iron Will snarled. He charged at me but I did the same routine and dodged his charge after blinding him. I noticed that the chunks from the columns have taken a huge toll on the stability of the room. This room is going to collapse; I need to finish this quickly.
After dealing with the thugs, I galloped towards Iron Will and hit him several times. I climbed up on his back and slice off the last tubes from the storage tank. As soon as the tubes are cut off, Iron Will starts to weaken. He kneeled on the ground in fatigue but screamed as the entire Boiler Room shakes violently. I immediately grappled up to the exit of the Boiler Room, leading to a ladder. The rocks and ceiling of the Boiler Room collapsed on him and the Blackgate convicts, crushing them. I pushed an iron lid on the ground and climbed out, free from the Medical Facility. I am outside of the Medical Facility, in front of a lift at the bottom of the platform.
I held my left arm, slightly stinging from Iron Will, who threw me into the Boiler Room in the first place. Something tells me that the ruined Boiler Room is not enough to take down Iron Will, so I press a protocol on my left gauntlet, activating the Batmobile that is still parked in front of the Intensive Treatment building in North Arkham. The vehicle revved lividly, ready for auto-drive. After setting the Batmobile, I spotted Shining Armor coming to me, safe from harm. "Batmare, you're okay?" he asked.
"I'm fine, Shining Armor. Where's Bon-Bon?" I replied and asked. I stood up on all fours.
"Gone, must've gotten loose while Iron Will was throwing you around," he replied.
I pondered for a moment, a thought came to me that if Shining Armor continues to stay on Arkham Island and he'll be in danger again.
"We need to get you off the island," I said.
"I'm not a rookie, I can handle myself," he claimed stubbornly. Before I reply, the wall at the bottom of the Facility exploded. Shining and I jumped clear from the blast and out came Iron Will, enraged even more now that his Venom tank is sabotaged. He roared as he grabbed me and lifted my up, facing his livid face.
"I wil break you, Batmare, then the bruja!" the savage giant growled as he is inching me closer to his face. I clenched my teeth in an ger and anticipation.
"No, Iron Will. This time I will break you!" I shouted. I activated the gauntlet and Iron Will turned around and spotted the Batmobile, speeding up towards us. I kicked his abdomen, free from his grasp and out of the vehicle's way. Iron Will stood and saw the headlights of the speeding Batmobile.
Iron Will cried in pain as the vehicle crashed into him, carrying him on the hood. The Batmobile and him sped at high speeds and crashed into the Equestrian Bay at the end of the cliff. Iron Will screamed as the Batmobile carried him underneath the murky waters, silencing them. Shining Armor and I walked to the cliff and saw that Iron Will and the Batmobile are gone. Now, it's over. I am a tad bit upset now I used my Batmobile as a weapon, but I can make a new one. A boat arrived with a Royal Guard at the docks. We walked to the boat to escort Shining Armor off the island.
"Shining, get back to the mainland, it's too dangerous here," I said.
"I don't like leaving you here," he said. He reluctantly climbed on board of the boat, knowing that I will be in harm's way if I remain here without any potential allies, except Oracle.
"Radio claims she planted bombs all over Manehattan. Manehattan will panic, you're needed there," I said.
"We're ready to go now, sir," the guard said. Shining nodded and the boat hummed and sailed. Before leaving, Shining asked me this question.
"Iron Will called Dr. Evergreen bruja, what does it mean?" Before Shining is out of earshot, I answered his question.
"It's Spanish...for witch," I replied, walking away from the boat. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 22: To the Batcave! | Now that my brother is out harm's way, I need to focus on the Titan formula Dr. Evergreen stated back in the Upper Corridor of the Medical Facility. "Oracle, go through the city's computers. Pull up on what you can find on Dr. Evergreen. I'll go through anything you can find once I get to the cave," I said, contacting the computer expert.
"A Batcave, on Arkham Island?" Oracle asked, perplexed.
"I built it years ago. It's best to plan ahead for situations like this." I added.
"How did you manage to keep this a secret?" Oracle asked.
"It's me, remember?" I answered smugly.
"So do you think Dr. Evergreen's been experimenting on Venom, the same chemical that turns Iron Will into that animal?" Oracle asked.
"Yes, I'm worried. Iron Will seems to be more powerful than usual. Mane-iac wants the Venom and that could only mean trouble. I'm heading to Dead Pony's Point in Arkham North, I'll contact you once I get to the Batcave," I replied.
I switched off my cowl's communicator and galloped up the hill and spotted three Blackgate thugs in the crossroad of Arkham East and the Medical Facility. The thugs hadn't heard my approach but they were shocked to see that one of their comrades has been knocked down by a particular bat-themed projectile. They swiftly turned their heads in surprise. Two Pegasi and one griffon, all holding metal pipes.
"She's here!" one cried out. I quickly punched one of the thugs twice and roundhouse kicked him. I threw an overhead punch to the other thug, too delayed to react to my move. I quickly kicked the third thug that was knocked down. I landed on one and knocked one out with a Ground Takedown.
A Pegasus flew at me to land one but I countered his punch by sweeping his legs. I spotted the second thug, which is trying to kick me. I kicked his shins and head-butted his face, making his nose bleed. He grabbed his face in pain with both of his hooves to ease the pain. I grabbed both of his hind legs, pulled them up, making him drop on his back. I grabbed both of his ankles and a sickening crunch followed after I twisted his ankles. He cried out in agony before passing out. I quickly jumped over to the last thug and land a right-cross on his jaw, knocking him out.
I cracked my hooves and walk up the ramp leading to the Visiting Center. I used my Detective Vision, which is set to its normal blue hue since my brother is found. I counted five convicts in front of the Center. I walk casually up the ramp and threw a batarang at a thug, alarming the four griffons.
"It's the Bat!" one shouted. One charged at me but I landed a quick series of punches on his face but it was interrupted by one thug but I countered his attack by punching his gut twice and landing a blow on his back. I kicked one thug to the ground and roundhouse another thug to continue my streak. I grabbed a griffon's leg and spun on the ground like a snake, spinning him until he is lying on the ground. I still have a hold on his leg and I yanked the ankle to the side, putting him in a screaming episode and a goodnight's sleep.
I threw my cape to one thug, stunning him momentarily.
I kicked two thugs and countered a fourth thug by kicking his shin, knee and kicking him in the head with a pinwheel kick. The third that was about the get up from the last attack exclaimed in panic as I lifted him up and threw him at the wall of the Penitentiary. I punched the second one with an overhead and right-cross the first thug. I knocked him out with a Ground Takedown and quickly countered the thug was thrown across by holding his leg up and kicking in his groin three times.
I landed a left hook on the second thug, knocking him out of submission. I threw a quickfire batarang at the fourth thug that is trying to pick up a pipe. I jumped in the air and knocked him out with a Ground Takedown. I finished the brawl by kicking the last remaining thug with a roundhouse. After finishing the fight, I galloped through the Visiting Center walkway with the unfinished construction project in display. I opened the door to enter the room to listen to the demented clown's remarks.
Back in the Visiting Center, I spotted the Mane-iac's mannequin sitting casually in the chair with its hoof laying on the chair and the other drooping. Beside me in a case is another mannequin, standing on its hind legs with its front hooves crossed. As I walk to the case, the small TV switched on to the purple face
"You're late for your appointment, very rude. Well, as seeing as you're here now, we might as well get started. Tell me about your childhood, anything stands out? Ooh, is that a tear I see, too painful? Haha, we'll come back to it later, then."
"How about Willy boy, then? I bet you were shocked to see him, weren't you? Personally, I was hoping he'll fold you like a piece of paper and let me stamp you crazy but even I don't get everything I want. So what was he doing here, oh questions questions questions!"
The TV switched off after the message. I took in the insane but yet perplexing message: why Iron Will is here in Arkham Island and why does he have to do anything with Dr. Evergreen? I'll find out later once I reach Dead Pony's Point, so I turn around and left the room. Unknown to me, the standing mannequin moved with its hoof on the side and the one sitting in the chair is gone.
Back out in Arkham West, I galloped out of the Visiting Center and headed to the door leading to Arkham North. The door opened automatically and I gallop up the hill to the entrance of Arkham North. I noticed more of the faux chattering teeth on the hill as I reach the top. I destroyed them with the batarangs as I opened the door leading to the passageway I accessed with my Explosive Gel hours ago.
"What's the deal with Dead Pony's Point? It's been a favorite suicide location in Arkham Island for a hundred years," Oracle asked and stated.
"Yeah, I know. I once saved an unfortunate inmate from leaping off into the rocks below," I said, remembering six years ago I rescued a suicidal paranoid schizophrenic from leaping into the jagged rocks.
"I found the cave entrance and over the years have moved a number of supplies here. It's a regular home away from home," I added. I switched off my headpiece communicator as I entered Arkham North, in front of the Intensive Treatment building. As I suspected I counted four rejects in front of an iron gate leading to Dead Pony's Point besides the building. I spotted one Changeling, two Earth ponies and one high security convict. This time, it's a Pegasus wearing a tank top wielding knives in between his feathers. I threw a batarang at a thug, gaining their attention.
"She's here!" one cried. They readied themselves for combat, correction: they are readying themselves for a beating of a lifetime. I countered one attack from a thug by avoiding his attack swiftly and elbowed his back three times and countered another attack by head-butting his face, elbowing his neck and kicking his knee, knocking him down. I quickly stunned the knife-wielding thug with my cape and punched him down. I quickly kicked the other two thugs to keep them down. I landed a right-cross on the Changeling's face, spinning him around. I grabbed his hind legs and kicked the back of his front legs, landing him on the ground. I pushed his hind legs to his back, breaking his shins with a painful and brutalizing crunch of his shins. He cried and screamed in unbearable pain before passing out.
I used my Cape Stun to disorient the high security thug, flip-kick another thug and punching the two thugs altogether. I took out the wielding Pegasus with a Ground Takedown and kicked the second thug, knocking him out and overhead the last thug to the ground and ending the brawl with a Ground Takedown. Another flawless performance.
I galloped to the gate and climbed over the short wall to reach Dead Pony's Point. The clear yet mossy passageway leads to a cave entrance to the cliffs on the other side. I entered the cave entrance and grappled up a ledge to gain higher ground. The cave entrance is held by support beams, meaning that this entrance has been synthetically made for other reasons.
After grappling up, I spotted another cryptic trapezoidal stone with the same inscriptions written with the beetle in the middle. I used my Environmental Analysis and scanned the writing to listen to another recording of Amadeus Arkham. "
They brought the animal before me. Shameless and barking like a mad dog; and what felt like days, I endured his bursts. He took pleasure recounting his actions, cataloguing his estranged crimes. What should have been revenge turned to pity. This poor dog needed my help." The recording stated that Amadeus's family's murderer has been brought in the newly built asylum. Amadeus felt pity towards the insane criminal, instead of exacting revenge. I am slightly relieved that Amadeus didn't take out his revenge towards the dog but I need to find more of the cryptic figures later on.
I opened a door leading to another cave with skulls and skeletons mounted in the middle of the area. A small mist hovered in the ground, giving it an eerie background but I spotted another ledge above me. I noticed a weak wall that can be accessed with my Explosive Gel. I sprayed the gel on the wall and pressed the detonator, blowing away the rubble away. As I known, I spotted a green question mark. I picked it up.
"That was one of the easy ones," Trixie teased. I grappled up the ledge and walk up a small hill to reach the point. Water dripped from the ceiling of the cave as fresh air hit my face. In the distance, I see the luminescent lights of the city beyond the Equestrian Bay with the lighthouse oscillating its light, keeping watch of ships and boats.
Below me, the raging and roaring waters churned at the jagged and jutted rocks, with white foam spraying over the cliffs. The hundred foot drop over the deep waters and deadly rocks is fatal. I readied myself on the cliff and jumped at the ledge. I opened my cape into the currents of the wind, flying in the air. I soared over the suicidal point into another cave entrance below the point of the cliff. I landed firm on the ground in the entrance.
I walk slowly to the overgrown cave, which it has no entrance. I walk in front of the rock and a blue scanner hummed as it scan for identification. The rock finished scanning me and accepted my presence. I set up a new rock with computerized settings to allow secret entrances in case somepony spotted the entrance, so I covered the cave with the rock.
Identity confirmed: Disabling countermeasures, security deactivated. The rock lowered into the ground, gaining entrance. I walk in the cave entrance, polished, clean, and freshly cut. Lights and lanterns mount on the walls as I gallop through the entrance with some cobwebs in the way. I heard the all familiar roaring of water as I approach my secondary Batcave. The water cascaded down from the ceiling of the cave and sprayed over the awning entrance to the cave. I walk on the walkway hovering over a drop to the waters below, but I like it that way.
"On," I commanded. The entire cave lit up and hummed as the electricity switched on. I glided briefly to the center of the cave and walk up to a computer with multiple monitors and high-performance hardware. Crates with Sparkle Enterprises covered the other entrances and exits of the cave. Some of the crates laid beside the computer for supplies, thanks to Zecora.
I walk up the stairs to my computer and sat down. I typed in the files of Dr. Evergreen that Oracle sent me. The digitized folder showed up on screen with multiple paragraphs of notes and catalogues of the notes by the doctor. I looked into the Titan project Evergreen mentioned back in the Medical Facility.
"Dr. Evergreen was heading up a project; it was big, lots of external funding. Here are the last notes she'd filed. I can't make sense of it, what does it mean?" Oracle stated and asked about the incomplete files that are logged in.
"Looks like she was experimenting on the Arkham patients. This new chemical only barely resembles the original Venom compound. There are a number of changes that appear to amplify the strength of the drug, multiple references to the Titan formula. Even a small amount can trigger a Venom-like transformation in the host, eliminating the need for the storage tank Iron Will requires," I explained.
The computer showed the Titan and Venom compounds to their basic chemical compositions. The Titan compound has spikes, containing multiple concoctions of elements to amplify the Venom, said for increasing and regenerating the brain's synapses and functions. I spotted some similarities of the compositions of the compound by breaking them down to the smallest atom. I ponder throughout the scan to look for any difference or abnormalities of the Tian formula. That much Titan is plentiful enough than Iron Will's Venom storage tank, easily can transform the host's cells and functions to massive proportions. I noticed some irregularities in the file.
"Hang on, these notes aren't complete, the formula is missing, that must be the secret Dr. Evergreen is hiding! If Mane-iac gets her hooves on them, she would create an army of a thousand Iron Wills," I said with a slight alarmed tone. The comparison of the compounds beeped with X's on the screen, meaning that the final product and formula to complete the Titan compound is absent. The Titan formula in the incomplete state can disfigure the host's body and transform them into Iron Will's mentality and physique. I need to find Dr. Evergreen and the formula so I can get rid of it before Mane-iac finds it before this gets catastrophic.
"My Celestia, is Mane-iac crazy enough to do that? Oh, what am I saying, you got to stop her!" Oracle exclaimed. I walk up to a table to obtain another gadget to help me gain an advantage in combat, predatory and environmental wise. The table hissed and lifted up a three hooked piece for my Grappling Gun. I attach the hook to the top hole of my Grappling Gun to create the Batclaw.
This Grapnel attachment can be used to grab and pull objects from a distance and can also attach to enemies. I observed the attachment and put it in my utility belt. I readied myself to find Dr. Evergreen in the Arkham Mansion and stop Mane-iac from finding the formula before she does. She'll create thousands of monstrosities that will terrorize Manehattan if I'm too late. I need to find her and stop her. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 23: The Old Sewers | "I'm going after her. She was heading to the Mansion with Cash. I'm going up to her via the catacombs," I replied, switching off the communicator. I pulled out my Batclaw and grabbed an empty crate leading to an exit of the Batcave. I pulled the crate and the crate pile dropped into the depths below. I jumped to the ledge and galloped through the walkway out of the Batcave.
The door opened automatically when I approached it and it leads me out on a narrow grassy ridge above a murky drop below. The treacherously narrow ridge is the only walking ground I spotted a grate above me that can lead in the old sewers. I used my Batclaw to grab the grate and pulled the wire until the grate is out of the grate. I grapple up the ventilation duct and climbed out of the duct and in the Old Sewers.
In the Old Sewers, two small stairs lead up to another section of the sewage purification system. Large pipes are mounted the walls of the sewer churning with the liquid in the pipes heading towards its destination for purification or ejection. The very ground itself is a little soppy with all the washed water combined with the waste.
The Sewer itself is shaped like with metal rods, titanium support beams and sewage pipes in an arc-like architecture style. Lights brightened the entire area for access for those who work in the sewers. At the end of the area, a miniature waterfall cascades from the wall on the other side of the area. The water forms a small yet extremely shallow river of purified water and the river torrents into a waterfall into the Equestrian Bay several meters below the seemingly bottomless pit. On the other side of the huge waterfall over the ledge, a circular opening of the wall faced the waterfall. In the opening, a green trophy is present but the reach of the opening and the ledge is too long for a jump.
The Sewers reeks slightly of odorous waste of everypony in the asylum but I ignored the putrid odor and heard a rough voice talking to somepony else. I am standing behind an Earth pony convict, who is talking on a radio and he sounds worried.
"Sorry, boss. It took a little longer to...find him than you figured it would," the thug apologized shakenly.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'll try to be more precise in time next time I'm planning an island takeover!" Mane-iac barked over the radio. The thug looks frightened over the comment, he and the all of Mane-iac's crew does not like Mane-iac angry, it's terrifying to them. I stood behind him without of so much of a rustle to hear the conversation.
"Hey, I didn't mean--"the thug replied back, trying to reform of his earlier remarks before I came in.
"Criticism I can take, I mean, I'm not perfect," Mane-iac interrupted with a slight rueful tone.
"Well, come to think of it, I'm pretty close to perfect, aren't I? Now, where was I? Oh yes: criticism from a worm like you, a worm who is only crawling around free because I arranged to open his cell, it something I will not tolerate," Mane-iac added and stated angrily.
"I-I'm sorry, boss. I didn't mean it like that, please!" the thug pleaded, sounding like he is on the verge of tears.
"Well, seeing how you're apologetic, I'll just have someone drive over to your house and break your wife's legs," Mane-iac said, ignoring the apology, speaking the cold and heartless threat. Knowing Mane-iac, every threat is a promise.
"But, Mane-iac!" the thug cried out, alarmed and panicked over the threat over the radio. I silently listened to the conversation and shook my head in anger. I hated the thugs but his relatives that are involved in Mane-iac's words are some things I despise so intolerably.
"You got a problem with my generous nature?" Mane-iac asked lowly and chillingly.
"Err---no, um...I guess not, thanks," the thug thanked uncertainly.
Not wanting to hear the creep's filth anymore, I grabbed the thug's head and kicked his legs, silencing his muffled screams until he is sleeping. The radio dropped in the water but it continues to broadcast.
"You there? Calling all cars, calling all cars! Wonder who get you, Croc or the Bat? Croc, old boy, are you there? No? Pity." Mane-iac called out to no pony in particular but forgotten about her ranting to the thug and switched off. I looked over to another cryptic trapezoid on the far end of the area. Knowing it's another Chronicle of Arkham, I used my Environmental Analysis to decipher the inscriptions and listen to the translated message.
"The island changed little over the years. Its reputation was in tatters and I vowed to fix it. As the buildings were rebuilt, I saw the future: a bright, wonderful future."
I took mental notes of the time setting of the brief message. The message states that Amadeus vowed himself to rebuild the reputation of Arkham Asylum and Manehattan City. I walk up the small stairs to walk to another section of the sewers where the pipes are leading to the main sewers or the purification system on the other pathway. I hid behind an adjacent wall where I heard voices on the other side.
"Why are we the ones trying to open it? This ain't even the main door. And if we even get it open, we don't what'll do," a thug asked reluctantly.
"I ain't going near it, do you even--". The conversation was cut short by a certain batarang hit his head, knocking him down, alarming the other four thugs.
"She's here!" a thug cried out. Before they ready themselves for combat, I used my quickfire Batclaw to grab to one of the thugs and pulled him towards me. I punched him three times and countered a punch from another thug by grasping his hoof and hitting him with my elbow.
I flew over to a third thug that is trying to pry an air conditioner from the wall loose by kicking him. I threw my right hoof to the fourth thug that is standing up and kicked another one that has gotten up. I grabbed one thug's arm and threw him on the ground but I still have hold of his arm and punched his wrist, breaking it. He screamed in torment and fell quiet.
I continue to land a series of punches and kicks on the last three thugs and picked up one and threw him at a wall. I threw a quickfire batarang at one thug, keeping him down. I kicked two thugs at once and knocked out one with a Ground Takedown. I knocked out another one with a blow on the top of his head with my elbow. I threw a heavy punch on the second thug in the abdomen, knocking him out cold. I threw a roundhouse on the last thug was trying to charge at me futilely. I stretched my neck after another effortless and flawless performance.
After finishing the thugs, I walk down the walkway and approach a door on the right. A sign is posted on the wall next to the door. The sign has skull and crossbones and the words read out: DANGER: KEEP OUT. The light above the door flickered on and off. There is a small window on the door that can let me see through the other side of the door.
I pushed the door to open it but the door wouldn't budge. I back up to pry it again but as I peer through the glass window of the door, I spotted nothing but a torrent of water and lights shining from the very far left of a sewer junction. I heard rumbling on the other side, meaning something is in the sewers.
A gigantic beast roared furiously at me, chains rattling and the electric collar illuminating the entrance slightly. The beast threw an enormous fist at the door, only cracking the window. The sudden jump from the beast did not even make me flinch, just irritated. I know who and what that is: the monster with the disease that turned him into that monstrosity, affecting his physique, psyche and height. The 11 feet tall beast glared at me with its yellow predatory eyes, filled with bloodlust, hunger and wrath. The jagged teeth and drooling of the mouth only makes it more dangerous and animalistic than ever. Garble, now colloquially known as Killer Croc, roared at me with ferocity.
"I will find you; rip your flesh like paper!" The beast snarled and trudged away into the murky background. I turned around from the door, hoping that I'll come up against him, but something tells me I will encounter him eventually. I looked at another dead casualty, a doctor from the Medical Facility. I shook my head that I failed to save another life but I spotted another reel on the floor. I picked up the tape and recorded the Interview Tape, listening to who or whatever the psychiatrist at Arkham is interviewing.
"Is he here yet?" Warden Sharp asked.
"He, you're kidding me right? That thing is not a pony," another voice retorted questioningly. The voice is Aaron Cash by his accent.
In the tape, I heard growling and snarling as the thing is being set for an interview, instantly knowing who is being interviewed.
"My Celestia!" Sharp exclaimed at the incoming patient.
"Hello, my name is Doctor Gretchen Whistler, do you understand me?" the elderly doctor asked contemplatively.
"Yeah, I hear you, whore. So, when's dinner...I'm getting hungry!" the voice snarled in reply. The tape ended.
I figured I will find an Interview Tape that will have the beast as the patient. I looked up at a grate and spotted another green question mark in it. I use my Batclaw to pull the grate off and climbed in a ventilation duct to pick up the trophy. Luckily, I don't hear haughty remarks from Trixie. I climbed down and walk down the left side of the hallway. I heard a pickup from my earpiece communicator.
"I've been digging deeper into Dr. Evergreen. According to her bank records, there've been multiple payments, starting last April not two months ago, and then nothing. The payments came from a company owned by a Mrs. Purple Flower," Oracle stated.
"One of Mane-iac's oldest aliases; so, Mane-iac pays Dr. Evergreen to create her army and then all of a sudden she stops. Doesn't make any sense," I replied and thought to myself. I switched off from the communicator and paused at a nearby wall. I pulled out my Explosive Gel and sprayed the wall and pressed the button. The wall exploded with controlled force and I spotted another green question mark lying on the ground. I picked up the question mark.
"Can you hear that, Detective? It's the sound of me clapping at your success. Aww, you can't? That's because an idiot would have found that trophy," Trixie commented arrogantly. I sighed of her tedious and irking remarks and threw batarangs at some chattering teeth making the tiresome noises. I walk towards the door and opened it, with it creaking. I entered the Main Sewer Junction, where the water and waste of the sewers are being sent up to a purification system in this area.
The Main Sewer Junction is an extremely unstable area because of the deadly drop if I took one misstep. I scanned the area, taking in the environmental knowledge of the area. The junction itself is a dilapidated an abandoned area with unstable columns and pillars with bricks and mortar falling apart. I spotted a small waterfall at the very end of the junction, spotting another upper level of the junction. Moss and fern and shrubbery had overgrown the entire junction, giving it a serene yet dangerous vibe. A thick mist hangs over the drop, giving it an even deathly appearance of the drop.
I looked at the columns and pathways with a thought for me to go through the crumbling junction without falling or slipping without the slightest bit of distraction. I spotted a ridge and an unused aqueduct above me on the top layer of the junction. The aqueduct can be use gain access above the stability of the bricks, besides the point that it is one of the very stable surroundings of the area. I spotted the junction to the purification system of the sewer system above me, far above the aqueduct. The entrance is blocked off by a huge wall, which I cannot access even with my Explosive Gel and Batclaw.
I look over and spotted old railings and broken pieces of the walkway that is built above the precarious drop. The railings are adjoined with the tall pillars and columns that are ready to crumble if it continues to rot by the misty vapor and humidity of the secluded area. Luckily, there are a few lights shining in the dark area, giving me a more clarity of the room but I could be able to use Detective Vision to search for anything particular in the area. I continue to look around the area to note my surroundings until I heard my communicator switched on.
"Hey, this is weird. The payments to Dr. Evergreen's account didn't stop exactly, they were declined. Dr. Evergreen's put a block on her account," Oracle added.
'Sounds like she had a change of heart, she tried to block her payments. Mane-iac doesn't like it when her partners try to back out," I said.
"So she decided to get herself back in Arkham, find her formula and create the army herself," Oracle finished.
"Exactly," I replied. I turned off my communicator and walk up to a broken opening of a column. I pulled out my Grappling Gun to grapple to the top layer of the junction but as the hook is attached to a segment, the bricks and cement crumbled from the spot. I pulled my Grappling Gun hook and put it back in my belt.
"This area is falling apart; it's not safe to use the grapple. I need to climb up...the old fashioned way."
I climbed up the opening of the pillar and jumped to a railing to climb on the broken segment of the walkway. Rusty and unstable but it can balance my weight. I continue to trudge along the broken walkways when I heard my communicator switched on as I climbed through the junction.
"I've hacked into her email accounts, two mails stand out. The first is a resignation letter dated last week, sounds like she's trying to get away," Oracle said, telling me the first email of the account as I continue to climb up on broken walkways.
"And the second?" I asked.
"A message from Mane-iac, well, Purple Flowers. It's a long thread and...she's begging to stop the experiment and it's too dangerous, she's not listening. Random threats to her family and a couple of bad jokes...a picture of a dead baby and a threat," Oracle replied and said, not surprised that Mane-iac will threaten Evergreen's family.
"Go on," I said as I jumped from a ledge to another walkway that is a fallen column with some broken and missing concrete blocks and bricks but its stable enough for me to walk on. I walk on the pillar like a bridge to reach the upper level of the junction.
"She says, I'm coming for you, I want what I paid for. And then...a joke about wheelchairs, lovely. And a drawing of some kind of donkey," Oracle said, saying Mane-iac's email, cynical of the wheelchair jokes.
"No wonder why she's so scared. I'm coming up to the surface, I'll find her," I said. The communicator switched off automatically as I shimmy on a ledge and climbed up in an opening of another column and spotted another green question mark.
"Thank Celestia, I thought you'll never find it," Trixie exclaimed sardonically.
Not finished in this area, I climbed down to another section of the collapsed columns and jumped in between the opening of a column and above the ceiling of the second platform above. I turned on my Detective Vision and spotted a green dot on the column far ahead of me and the invisibly painted question mark and aligned them to solve another hidden riddle. Like last time, there were no witty or arrogant remarks from the egotistical pony.
I jumped across from the area and back on the broken column and shimmied back into the track so I can leave the crumbling area. I jumped from the ledge and back on the broken segment of the column where I found a trophy.
I climbed down from the opening and landed on the ground. I jumped to another platform and walk up another fallen column, which is at an angle. I climbed up and walk on a segment between the drop and another entrance of the Junction. I galloped and climbed on the walkway and destroyed three faux blabbermouths and walk through a short hallway and opened the door to leave the junction.
I entered the Surface Access, an area of the sewers that'll lead me into Arkham North. I looked at some crates and spotted another reel with a sticky note on it. I picked up the tape to hear the recording.
"Tape Patients Session 2: Patient name, Garble Jones aka Killer Croc," the elderly psychiatrist announced before starting the session.
"So, this is the part where you try to reason with me, find out why I did it, doc?" the beast asked mordantly.
"We're here to help you, Mr. Jones," Whistler replied.
"So, you got a cure for me then, doc? Can you make me...normal?" Killer Croc asked.
"Normal is a poor choice of words, no pony is really normal," Whistler replied.
"Figured as much. So, how about this, doc? You let me go now and I won't eat you," the mutated dragon asked for a small deal.
"You don't really eat ponies, it's just an urban myth," Whistler said.
"Really, keep believing that, doc," the thing replied and cackled sickly and darkly before the tape switched off.
I took note of the tape and looked through a small hallway littered with cobwebs but it is cleaner than the other areas I've been in.
I walk up the stairs that leads to a wall that is the only barricade between me and outside access. I sprayed the wall with Explosive Gel and the wall exploded. The rubble fell in a deep and treacherous drop from the exit and I'm standing. I galloped and climbed on the ledge and stood up at the door. I opened the door to leave the caves and sewers so I could find Dr. Evergreen and her formula before Mane-iac does. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 24: Snipers | I stood on the abandoned building in Arkham North. The pillars and columns of the building are still stable enough to support my weight but I need to be cautious of the broken holes that are on a platform that was a top floor. The inner and outer walls of the building appeared more crumbled and ruined than before. I trudged on the unsafe platform to get to the other side of the huge gap. I observed more Blackgate convicts in this area but I noticed that the thugs are walking in the watchtowers like guards. I noticed that two henchponies, one in each tower, is arming a sniping rifle and wearing infrared goggles. Not wanting to hear this, I heard the intercom, but the chime didn't ring.
"Ding dong, Mane-iac again! Don't worry about the Bat. I've put a few surprises along the way if she decides to turn up and spoil the fun," the demented pony announced. She chuckled lightly afterwards. "Oh, and if you ever hear a shot in the dark, don't worry. There's very little chance of you getting hurt, it's the Bat I'm after! Still, you might want to check your health insurance. Who am I kidding, you don't have any!"
I grappled up to the first watchtower and hid behind the booth that is behind the patrolling sniper. He took no notice of me grappling up as I continue to wait for him to make his rounds. I hid behind the corner of the booth to wait for his back to be turned.
I took the chance of his negligence as I grabbed his head and kicked his back legs, silencing his screams until he is sleep. I looked at the other watchtower at the far end of the area and spotted another sniper; I need to avoid the slightest detection of him when he is making his rounds.
"Snipers, looks like the Blackgate thugs have access to the armory."
I grappled up to the roof of the watchtower I'm in and kept my eye on the guard that is aiming the sniper at the ground, looking for any even the most slimmer of movements in the dark. He continues to watch for anything out of the ordinary until he pulls up his rifle and walk to patrol to a different area.
Giving me the chance, I opened my cape and glided smoothly and silently to the other watchtower and landed on the stairs leading to the booth of the tower. I crouched seamlessly up the stairs to get in behind the guard. He was finishing his daily watch of keeping an eye out as he turned his back to go back to another position. I punched his back and held his muzzle until he is still. Now that the snipers have been taken care of, I could easily take on the convicts on the ground below.
I counted four convicts chatting up a storm in front of the Intensive Treatment building, not noticing the difference of the atmosphere and the absence of the snipers. I spotted two Pegasi, one Earth pony and a high security Griffon. I glided off of the watchtower and kicked the griffon in the face, startling the thugs. I continue my assault as I roundhouse one of the thugs, punched another one in the ribs and landed an overhead on the last thug. I knocked out the fourth thug with a Ground Takedown, crunching his face. I kicked the third thug and threw a quickfire batarang at the second thug. I lounged at the high security thug to take him down.
I grabbed his neck and head-butted his face, threw him over on the ground as I have a hold on his right arm and kicked in the joint of his shoulder and arm, snapping it. The second last thug tries to kick me but I deflect his kick with my own, tripping him and kicking him the abdomen, knocking him down. I slammed a right cross on the other thug and knocked him out with a Ground Takedown and finished the fight with a left cross on the last thug's ribcage.
After taking care of the thugs in the area, I galloped to the automatic door that leads to Arkham East. I spotted three more of the tedious chatterboxes. I threw three batarangs at them, silencing the area from the incessant laughter and chattering. I walk up to the door and it automatically opens.
As I enter the pathway, the same ambulance that was parked earlier was moved to the side, most likely moved by the punks. I spotted several empty or half-empty drums of oil behind the brick archway of the area and the overgrown shrubbery. The environment doesn't concern me, what really grabs my attention that really makes me livid. The two Arkham guards I met earlier, Jackson and the other one, dead. They are hanging up at the ceiling, dangling like dead puppets in a twisted manner. I used my Detective Vision and counted five cowards hiding behind the other side of the archway. I waited for them to run out of their hiding places.
"She's here!" one shouted. One changeling tries to kick me but I grabbed his leg and punched his stomach and smashed his face twice, knocking him down. I countered another strike from another changeling by throwing his hooves to the side and repeatedly punched his face three times but I countered another hit from another one that is trying to get to my blind by hitting him with an uppercut.
As I suspected, I spotted a burly changeling wearing the high security prisoner uniform wielding knives. As he is about to try to cut me, I used my cape to stun him including another thug beside him and kicked both of them to the ground. I elbowed one thug's face, kicked him in the groin and knocked him down by bucking in his stomach. I grabbed the burly changeling's arm, making him drop his weapons, threw him over my shoulder and punched the side of his wrist, breaking it.
The fourth changeling tries to land one on me but I grabbed his arm, landed one in his gut and punched his back. I kicked another one as I heard a comment from one of the thugs. "Don't let her hit you!" one shouted as he tries to charge. My response is that I lifted him off the ground and punched his stomach, pinning him. I smashed one with an overhead and I jumped to another changeling by punching his face, turning him around. I grabbed a hold of his neck with one arm and threw him over my shoulder hard, slamming him to the ground, putting him to sleep. I kicked the last three thugs and knocked one out with a Ground Takedown.
"Is that all you have, Bats?" one taunted as he stood up. I knocked him out by bucking in his face. I kicked the last thug and finished him off with a Ground Takedown. I stretched my legs after finishing. I looked up at the dead ponies that are hanging up solemnly. Two lives I failed to save but I know I will save thousands when I stop Mane-iac. I threw my batarangs at both of the strings and the corpses dropped to the ground. Out of respect, I levitated their bodies and put them in a sitting position at a wall and walked out of the area to enter Arkham East.
Arkham East was the area I was in after leaving the Intensive Treatment earlier. The Botanical Gardens on my left and the Arkham Mansion far ahead. I used my Detective Vision to see if there are any threats in the area. I looked up at the two watchtowers beside each other and spotted more snipers. I looked at the Arkham Mansion and spotted two more snipers switching patrolling routines to kill anypony that tries to even get near the vicinity of the Mansion on the roof of the entrance.
I grappled up to the first watchtower on my left and climbed up the railing to creep up behind the Unicorn thug as he is aiming his rifle around the Botanical Gardens, not noticing my presence. I grabbed a hold of his muzzle and grabbed his horn, negating any spell he tries to conjure up as he is screaming for breath. I let him have air after laying him down on the platform napping
"I keep losing ponies like there's a plague in town! I guess the Bat is back. I got a couple of ponies in the guard towers covering your movements. But be careful, they're both loose cannons with itchy trigger hooves and well...you know...accidents do happen." Mane-iac announced without the chime or her imitation of the chime or the dissonant chime.
I dropped from the first watchtower and glided to the rocky area beside the second watchtower on my right. I grappled up to the railing of the walkway and crouched quickly yet mutely to get in behind the Earth pony that is still aiming the rifle around the area of the statue of the Warden. I punched his back and grabbed his neck and muzzle. He struggled, trying to grab anything but he became still as I lay him down.
"Any available psychos, killers, maimers and murderers that aren't getting in the old Mansion, hurry up you fools before I feed you to the Bat herself!" The clown pony announcements are always random after her important announcements.
After taking care of the snipers in the watchtowers, I need to take care of the last two snipers watching the Arkham Mansion on the platform of the entrance. Gliding down in front of the mansion will definitely gain their attention, so I glided to the cemetery of the island and galloped to the left side of the Mansion to reach the blind side of both of the snipers.
"Hello again, boys, it's me! Please remember to take good care of all of our hostages. They're no good to us dead, however, a bruise here or a cut there won't wound me," Mane-iac announced randomly.
I galloped to the Arkham Mansion's side and spotted the two snipers that are aiming their snipers at the front of the Mansion, not noticing my presence. However, I grappled up to the platform but I activated my digit extension as I shimmy along the edge until I'm on the other side of the platform.
"Mane-iac here, now that I'm in charge, I like to give all your feedback on the place: I've been specially routing the decor and I hope it helps you all become more productive in our task taking home."
I climbed up on platform after the second sniper walks away to the left side of the Mansion as the other one is still in shooting position. I grabbed a hold on the one that is aiming to silence him until he is napping. I climbed down to the ledge and shimmied on the ledge until I'm in front of the last sniper. Without warning, I grabbed one of his back legs and drug him over the edge until he is strung up on the ledge. He screamed and cried as he is upside down, panting heavily as he begins to hyperventilate. He passed out sooner after.
"Ding dong, Warden Mane-iac would like to announce that as of today, all Arkham guards have been fired due to budget cuts."
After dealing with the snipers, I looked at the statue of the Warden in the center of the region. The statue stood tall above the area with Quincy holding his cane in his left hoof but I spotted burning wood and driftwood. I looked up at the face and noticed that his face is painted like the Mane-iac. The signature blood red smile is painted on his face and his hair is painted green and his face painted purple.
I landed on the ground in front of the Mansion and noticed a banner in front of the entrance that read "Mane-iac ASYLUM, HA! HA! HA! HA!"
The words are written in a crude manner with spray paint splattered in spots, blots and sometimes smiley faces. The banner waved in the wind with multiple rips in the fabric, Rarity would've had a heart attack if she sees this. I looked up at spotted another guard member hanging on a string dead. I cut him down with my batarang and respectfully laid him beside the wall of the entrance. I walk up to the door of the Mansion to continue to find Dr. Evergreen, the formula and Cash. I used my magic to open the entrance. |
Batmare: Arkham Asylum | Chapter 25: Breaking in the Mansion | I opened the door leading in the Arkham Mansion to find Dr. Evergreen and the formula before the Mane-iac does. I entered in the Mansion Entrance Hall, where there is a wide doorway but no doors. There is an electrical security gate in front of me. Beyond the gate is a statue of the Warden on a pedestal with two small stairways leading farther into the Mansion. The entrance is decorated with the Arkham logo on the wall and on the floor. Unfortunately, the security gate is activated and there are two Blackgate scumbags behind it.
"Well, look who it is," an Earth pony thug said in a sarcastic tone.
"The Big Bad Bat, come on, come and get us," the second one added. The Pegasus thug turned and raised his flank in the air and shook it mockingly. I shook my in slight annoyance of these buffoons.
"Oh, look at her, she's stuck out there, don't you have a cat to rescue from a tree or something?" the first thug asked.
"Yeah, go on out, we're in control of here, Mane-iac will finish you off," the second one added. Knowing it'll waste a little time, I simply gave them silence and turned back around to head back outside. I know there is another way in the Mansion, so I have to go up.
Back outside, I grappled up to the concrete platform where I took out the last two snipers earlier and spotted a grate that'll lead in the Mansion above the security gate and the idiotic dolts. I pulled out my Batclaw and the claw grabbed the grate and pulled it. I climbed in the vent. I dropped down in a small space with stacks of paper cluttered amongst the walls. I opened the door that leads back in the Mansion.
I'm back in the Mansion Entrance Hall. I'm on a carpet ledge, high above the the thugs, now counting three of them, one unicorn levitating a machine gun. On the far end of the hall, there is a ventilation duct that can lead me further in the Mansion. I looked over the thugs and listening to their conversation.
"Yeah, I can't believe Batmare just left!" a thug exclaimed.
"Yeah, stinking coward limped off, can't feel it in her legs," another one commented teasingly.
"Tried to get past the security gates and couldn't do it," the third one added.
"Too bad, I would've got the chance to rip her head off!" one commented.
I glided off the platform and headed towards the unicorn with the gun. I kicked him in the face with my hind legs, sending him towards the ground in a great daze. My landing made the other two thugs backed away slightly from the glide attack. Now taking the chance and time, I immediately took out the gunner with a Ground Takedown and countered the second thug's punch by throwing away his front hoof, sweeping him off of his legs with my right front hoof and punched him in the gut to pin him down. I continued my attack by kicking the third thug and took him out with another Ground Takedown. The last thug stood up from his beating but I threw a batarang at him, knocking him down again and I lept in the air to knock him out with a Ground Takedown.
After finishing the thugs, I galloped to the bottom of the small staircase and found a grate. I pulled the grate off and crawled in the vent. Like I expected, I found another Riddler trophy. I crawled back out of the vent and grappled up to the top of a ventilation duct system at the far end of the hall, back up in the ceiling.
"So, you found it at last, what have you been doing with your time?" Trixie asked.
I looked up at the ceiling and spotted another grate. I used the Batclaw to pull out the grate and grappled up through the duct. In a small space that has fuse and breaker boxes, I spotted a weak wall that can be accessed further in the Mansion. I pulled out the Explosive Gel and sprayed it on the wall. I pressed the detonator and the wall exploded in a cloud of rubble and dust.
In front of me, there is another ventilation system in the bottom right and in front of me is another cryptic trapezoidal stone with the inscriptions around the beetle, another Chronicle of Arkham. I used the Environmental Anaylsis to decrypt the message.
My family's killer stood in front of me. Years of therapy have deemed him sane, I was proud to see him walk freely. In exchange for his liberty, the state required only a signature. He talked about wanting to walk in the park, how he longed to feel fresh air on his face. Then he took my father's fountain pen and killed my secretary. As he was subdued, he screamed out pleading for forgiveness, for pity...but I had none. I watched as the guards beat him to a stain on the floor.
Taking note of the message that Amadeus allowed the guards to kill the killer for his failure of redemption, I continue to crawl in the ventilation duct and dropped out of the duct in the Main Hall. Back on top, I spotted several Blackgate convicts throwing, ripping, looking, and observing through the gathered books, paper, data, all sorts of printed paper to search for what I know is the formula for the Mane-iac.
The Main Hall has the statue of Amadeus Arkham in the center of the two miniature stairs leading to two small monitoring buildings that watch two doors at the end of the hall. A small office space is spotted below me, with the crumpled up and messy and unorganized paper that was haphazardly and unceremoniously thrown away and about by the convicts.
Speaking of Mane-iac, the intercom chimed in, in its normal tune.
"Mane-iac here with a little update for you: First the good news is, we have Dr. Evergreen. Bad news is...she's not talking. She must have her documents somewhere in the Mansion, I want it found. I got a plan or six of loosening her tongue but take time, search every cook and granny, there's a prize for whoever finds them."
I counted ten convicts, an easy match. I glided off the deck and kicked the observer in the back of the head, all Earth ponies. I continued my assault by hitting the second thug with a roundhouse and the third one the same. I kneed the fourth thug in the face and hit the sixth one with a cartwheel kick. I countered the seventh thug's punch by sweeping him off of his legs and hitting him in the stomach. I hit the eighth thug with an axe kick and I grabbed the ninth thug's right front leg, throwing him over the side and punched the knee and hoove connection bone, breaking his leg. One down, nine to go.
I hit the tenth with a butterfly kick and the eighth with a roundhouse. I knocked down the fifth with an overhead punch and countered the second's punch but grabbed his right hind leg, kicked him in the groin and kneed him in the face. I pinned down the third by a straightforward punch in the gut. I grabbed the fourth and threw him away. |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | pre | "You're young, so I doubt you'll understand this now, but you're going to have to get used to disappointments like these," said Blaze. "Life is full of them."
"But why?" asked Dash, suddenly filled with hopelessness.
"Because life isn't fair," he answered. "That's why...she isn't here."
Dash solemnly lowered her ears.
"Many parents try to shield their kids from the realities of life," he continued. "That's what my parents did to me. But I don't believe that would be a benefit you, especially since you're growing up without a mother. I don't want you to go through life thinking that everything you have your heart set on is going to work out."
Dash removed herself from her curled position and sat beside her father.
"But some things work out, don't they?" she asked, staring up at him.
"Of course," Blaze answered, wrapping his foreleg around her. "I could have lost you, too."
Dash leaned against him and they sat silently reflecting in the comfort of each other's company. The death of Sunstreak Shine had frequently taken its toll on both of them, and at this point, they were now the only family each other had. Rainbow Dash had so longed to wonder what her mother was like, and during moments like these, she would often ask her father to tell her a story that had either occurred during the brief time she was alive during her infanthood, or about a time before they had married. But at this particular moment, she did not feel that urge.
"I think I know something you would be excited about," said Blaze after a minute of silence had passed.
"What?"
"Well, younger ponies are designated as flag-carriers in the Equestria Games to represent the passing of generations. You might get the chance to carry Cloudsdale's flag in the Games if you can put on a good enough routine."
"REALLY?!" Rainbow beamed.
He nodded. "That's right."
Rainbow jumped off the bed and looped around in midair. "Oh yeah! I'm totally gonna carry that flag!"
"Remember what I just told you," said Blaze. "The more you get invested into something, the more painful it will be if you don't end up getting it. Most of the ponies in your class will likely be competing for the chance to carry the flag as well. It's fine to be optimistic, but you have to expect that it may not be you."
Rainbow lowered herself to the ground and nodded, her excitement partially faded.
"Okay, okay. Do you think it'll be me, though?"
Blaze stared at her for a brief moment and nodded. "Of course I do."
Rainbow Dash grinned widely and her wings fluttered involuntarily.
"Now, come on, it's time for bed," said Blaze. "You have Junior Speedster Camp tomorrow."
Rainbow Dash climbed into bed and her father tucked her in beneath the blankets.
"Goodnight, Dad."
"Goodnight, sweetheart."
He kissed the top of her head and left her room.
****
Seated at her kitchen table, Rainbow Dash stared down at her last bottle of apple cider, silently debating upon whether or not she should gulp it down. She knew that if she did so, she would not be able to get any more until cider season, and that was several months away. Strewn across the table were six empty cider bottles that she had just finished gulping down without much hesitation. Now that she was on her final one, the reality of going the next several months without cider presented itself with unbearable vividness.
She sighed with frustration as she kept herself from opening the bottle. Keep it together, Dash. Stop doing this to yourself. You just have to give it some time. Things will feel normal again soon.
Her eyes trailed to the window and she silently watched the raindrops fall. It was nearly impossible to believe that only two days ago she was sitting in this very spot, checking the window every few seconds to spot the arrival of the mailpony. The atmosphere seemed on an almost entirely opposite wavelength. Where before she had been filled with excitement, she as now filled with uncertainty. Where before the weather had been hot and sunny, it was now cold and rainy. And where before she had been enjoying the company of Scootaloo, she was now all alone.
Pushing the bottle away, she folded her forelegs on the table and buried her face in them. Gulping down all that cider had filled her with exhaustion, and she was already deprived of sleep as it was. Though before she had the chance to silently doze off, there was yet another knock on her door. Groaning with frustration, Rainbow Dash trudged over the door and opened it to see a soaking wet Fluttershy.
"Hi, Rainbow Dash," she said.
"Oh...hey, Fluttershy," Rainbow replied with an indistinguishable sense of nervousness in her voice. "Come in."
Fluttershy stepped inside the foyer.
"How have you been? We missed you this weekend."
"Oh, I've been...fine," Rainbow answered, shutting the door.
"So, what's new?" asked Fluttershy.
"Uhhh...nothing, really," Rainbow replied. "Why do you ask?"
Fluttershy raised a suspicious eyebrow. Rainbow Dash stared blankly at her, trying not to show that she was hiding something. She was suddenly struck with a strong discomfort, as she briefly considered the possibility that Fluttershy might have found out somehow.
"Uhh, you know, I visited Cloudsdale yesterday," she said in an attempt to alleviate her discomfort.
"Oh. We wanted to invite you to a picnic yesterday, but we couldn't find you anywhere. I guess that explains why," said Fluttershy.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Rainbow replied with relief, as it appeared that Fluttershy did not know after all.
"Umm, anyway, we're all meeting at Sugarcube Corner to wait out the rain," Fluttershy explained. "I'm here to invite you to join us."
Rainbow's eyes dropped to the floor. "I...I don't know, Fluttershy. I was kinda...in the middle of something."
"Oh, please won't you come?" Fluttershy begged. "We haven't seen you all weekend, and it won't be as much fun without you."
Rainbow sighed under her breath. "All right, fine."
Fluttershy let out a subtle squeal of excitement.
They left the house, and flew out into the rain. Rainbow Dash could feel no more comfort from the raindrops; they now felt as cold and unpleasant as ever. The wind once again chilled her to the bone, as did the prospect of seeing her friends for the first time since she had received the news of her father's death.
Come on, Rainbow Dash, calm down. You're just going to see your friends. There's absolutely nothing to feel nervous about.
Within minutes, the two pegasi landed just outside of Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow Dash walked up and slowly opened the door.
"SURPRISE!!!"
Rainbow jolted with shock as she stared mystified into the grinning faces of her five friends, Spike included. Hung high between two opposite walls was a banner that read "CONGRATS, RAINBOW DASH!" and two tables in the room were laden with cupcakes, punch, and other such sweets, including leftover rock candy that they had not used during Maud Pie's visit.
"W-What is this...?" asked Rainbow, utterly bewildered.
"It's a congratulatory party!" answered Fluttershy, stepping into the room and shutting the door behind her.
"For what?" asked Rainbow. She was struck with several looks of suspicion and confusion, much like the one Fluttershy had given her.
"For getting into the Wonderbolts, duh!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.
"Or at least for finally gettin' to wear one of their uniforms," said Applejack. "You only mentioned it to us about fifty times over the past week."
"Oh, right...," said Rainbow, still reeling in shock. "You guys really didn't need to do this."
"Of course we did!" said Twilight. "You've been trying to get into the Wonderbolts for as long as any of us have known you, and now you're practically there. What kind of friends would we be if we didn't celebrate your success?"
"We couldn't be more happy for you, Rainbow Dash," said Fluttershy, smiling wide at her.
"I, for one, cannot wait to see you in your uniform," said Rarity. "It's high time you've had a style all your own."
"Well, don't leave us in the dark," urged Twilight. "When does your lifelong dream finally come true?"
Every eye in the room fell directly on Rainbow Dash, anticipating her answer. But as she opened her mouth to speak, her vision suddenly blurred and her ears lowered. Before she knew what was happening, she felt a wet sensation run down her right cheek, and not two seconds later, a similar sensation ran down her left cheek. It was a sensation that she was not very familiar with, nor very fond of, yet it had now thoroughly overtaken her as the tiny, wet droplets continued to slip from her eyes.
"Uhh...Rainbow?" asked Twilight.
"Oh my goodness, what's wrong?" asked Fluttershy, putting a hoof around her neck.
Rainbow looked up to see the now-concerned faces of her friends through her wet, blurry vision.
"I...I can't...," she said softly.
And Rainbow Dash turned and rushed back out the door, quickly disappearing into the rain. |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | Chapter 4 -- A Touch of Kindness | Fluttershy cycled through the faces of her friends, hoping to see some look of understanding as to what had just happened, but they all appeared to be just as shocked as she was.
The sight of Rainbow Dash crying was so rare that coming across a zebra living in Equestria could have been a more common sight (and as far as anypony knew, there was only one, and she lived deep within the Everfree Forest).
"Oh my, I hope it wasn't something I said," said Rarity, staring out into the rain.
"Or something I said," remarked Twilight.
"Would you happen to know anythin', Fluttershy?" asked Applejack.
Fluttershy shook her head. "She seemed fine when I went to invite her, except that...she didn't want to come at first."
"Why not?" asked Applejack.
"Umm, she said that she was in the middle of something."
The still-open door allowed cold air and the sound of splattering rain to fill the room, and Twilight magically closed it. Pinkie Pie looked almost distraught: the feeling of somepony actually rejecting one of her parties was just as painful as the feeling of somepony rejecting her as a friend.
"Well, I wish we knew what that 'somethin'' was, 'cause I'm just not sure what would make her react like that," replied Applejack.
"The cancellation of the Daring Do series probably would," Twilight suggested. "But I would know if that had happened."
"Perhaps she was simply touched by our throwing a party on her behalf?" questioned Rarity.
"Maybe, but I'm not sure why that would have made her run off," replied Twilight.
Pinkie Pie lowered her ears. "Why would she cry? My parties are supposed to make ponies smile..."
"I'm sure it has nothin' to do with you, Pinkie," consoled Applejack.
"Yeah," agreed Twilight. "I'm sure it's just..."
She suddenly went silent for a few moments and then whispered "Oh no..."
"What wrong, Twi?" asked Spike.
"Maybe this is our fault....," she said as every eye in the room fell upon her.
"What do you mean, Twilight?" asked Fluttershy.
"What if...what if she's not in the Wonderbolts Reserves after all?"
"That can't be it. We all saw her acceptance form," noted Applejack.
"I know, but...what if something happened? What if there was a followup test or something that she didn't pass? What if she lost her membership? Think about it. It would explain why we haven't seen her all weekend. She probably didn't know how to break the news to us after all the effort we put in to helping her get into the Reserves."
The room fell silent for several moments.
"Oh dear. You may be right, Twilight," said Rarity. "This party must have been too much for her to bear."
"Oh no!" cried Fluttershy. "That would explain why she didn't mention getting her letter when I asked her if there was anything new. I think you are right, Twilight!"
Every head in the room suddenly hung, every ear lowered. They were each reminded of how they felt when their arguing about which study method was best had caused Rainbow Dash to fly off in frustration, finally accepting that none of their methods would work for her and that she would never pass the Reserves exam.
"What have we done...?"
****
STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!!!
Rainbow Dash zipped through the air, barely able to see where she was going while the raindrops stung her face. Tears continued to fall, blending in perfectly with the rain as they slipped from her eyes.
You blew it. All you had to do was keep it together, and you blew it. And now...now they know that there's something wrong, and you're going to have to tell them everything. Nice going, Rainbow Dash.
She suddenly changed direction and shot straight up into the sky until she was above the rain clouds. She plopped herself down upon a solitary leftover cloud that had not been used to create the rain. The sun cast a unique glow on the clouds below, making her feel like she was drifting along an ocean of gray.
All Rainbow Dash could think about was the grinning faces of her friends, as she had immediately realized something the moment she saw them--something that she had truly wished was not true. She felt nothing. Nothing. Not the slightest bit of happiness, joy, or fulfillment from the fact that she was mere days away from finally realizing her "lifelong dream", as Twilight so accurately put it. All the years she had tried so hard to get the Wonderbolts to notice her, all the years she had watched them perform and imagined herself among them, all the years she had fantasized about the day her time finally came was about to culminate into a painfully bitter and unsatisfying conclusion.
Why? Why does it have to be like this?
A fresh set of tears leaked from Rainbow's eyes and she instantly wiped them away. It was now clearly apparent that the death of her father was holding her down like a solid wall that she was chained to by all four hooves. It was impossible to escape it--impossible to let it go and move forward, as she so desperately wished to. Putting her life back on track now seemed like a harder task than ever. And to think that she had foolishly assumed that she was going to get through his passing without shedding so much as a single tear...
Rainbow stared bitterly up into the sky.
"You think this is funny, don't you? Go ahead and have your laugh. It doesn't change the fact that you were wrong all this time. You can't hold me back anymore. It may be hard right now, but I know I'll be just fine without you. So go ahead and have your laugh now, while you still can. Because soon you'll see just how little it matters to me."
With nothing left to say, Rainbow Dash buried her face in the cloud.
****
A pegasus belongs only in the air, and anything less does not make a shred of sense. That was how Rainbow Dash always felt, and thus she did not particularly enjoy being on the ground herself. Yet she somehow found herself there anyway, following closely behind Fluttershy as they flew mere inches above the earth.
Fluttershy had told her that she wanted to show her something--something that she would supposedly never be able to see in Cloudsdale. Rainbow reluctantly agreed to come, but certainly did not expect that the trip would be worth her time. They were in the area where Fluttershy had received her cutie mark, which she now visited every single day after Flight Camp. Trees were scattered about and the earth was populated with grass as far as the eye could see, even covering the hills in the distance. Among the grass were bushes and shrubs, which shook slightly as they passed by, the animals inside reacting to their presence. Looking around at the scenery, Rainbow Dash realized exactly what it was that she hated most about the ground: far too much green.
"Are we almost there, Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked impatiently.
"It's right up ahead," answered Fluttershy, pointing at a tree a short distance away.
"This had better be worth the trip down here," Rainbow said with annoyance, unsure about what could be so particularly interesting about a tree.
"Just trust me. You've never seen anything like this," Fluttershy assured her.
When they reached the tree, Fluttershy elevated herself to the highest branch, where a bird's nest sat with four blue eggs bunched together beside a robin who looked pleased to see her.
"Is it time?" Fluttershy asked the robin.
The robin chirped in a jovial fashion. Rainbow Dash rose to Fluttershy's level and hovered in place beside her.
"Oh, goodness! I can't wait!" Fluttershy cried with boundless enthusiasm. She pointed a hoof in Rainbow's direction. "This is my friend, Rainbow Dash. I hope it's okay that I invited her. I really wanted her to see."
The robin looked in Rainbow's direction and chirped.
"She says hello, and that she's happy you came," said Fluttershy to Rainbow Dash.
"You can understand her?" she asked, her eyes widened.
"Well...yes," answered Fluttershy. "I told you this was my special gift."
Rainbow Dash was taken aback. She never would have thought that Fluttershy possessed an ability that she would actually be impressed by, and perhaps even a bit envious of.
"Hi, there," she said with a small wave, and the bird chirped happily again.
"Oh my goodness, this is it!" Fluttershy squealed as one of the eggs suddenly began to vibrate, with the other three following after.
They watched as the surface of the eggs began to crack near the top. The cracks soon turned into holes, where tiny beaks could be seen poking through. The beaks persisted to push, and the cracks eventually formed an opening, allowing bare bodies to become more and more visible. Freedom grew ever closer as the three baby robins spent the next several minutes squirming out of their restrictive shells. They paused multiple times, as though suddenly giving up on their freedom in spite of how close it was. However, after a few brief seconds, they continued to push with even more determination than before.
"Is this not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen in your life?" whispered Fluttershy, appearing to be on the brink of tears.
Rainbow said nothing, transfixed by what she was seeing. As Fluttershy said, she had never seen anything like this before. Though she had seen many birds in her young life, she had never once wondered about how they were born.
Within ten minutes, each of the four babies finally escaped their eggs. The robin nestled them in her wings.
"Congratulations," said Fluttershy. "You have beautiful children."
The robin chirped appreciatively.
Fluttershy turned to Rainbow Dash, still stunned silent.
"Come on, let's go," she whispered.
After staring at the newborn birds for another few seconds, Rainbow followed Fluttershy down to the base of the tree.
"Well? Was it worth the trip down here?" asked Fluttershy.
Rainbow blinked with awe, surprised that she was actually impressed by what Fluttershy had wanted to show her.
"That was...amazing."
Fluttershy grinned with satisfaction. "Want to see more? Follow me."
Rainbow trailed behind her as she flew over to another tree with a large hole in its center. Hovering just outside the hole, Fluttershy peaked her head inside to see a pair of squirrels with three babies.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Chipperson. How are they doing today?"
The pair of squirrels squeaked happily.
"That's wonderful to hear," Fluttershy beamed. "I hope you don't mind, but I brought my friend here to see them. Is that okay?"
The squirrels looked over at Rainbow Dash and squeaked.
"Why, thank you," Fluttershy replied. "Oh, and would you mind if--," she whispered something to them that Rainbow Dash could not hear.
"Thank you. I promise she'll be very careful," Fluttershy replied to another squeak from the pair of squirrels.
Fluttershy moved away from the hole and turned towards Rainbow. "Take a look. These babies were born last week."
Rainbow Dash looked inside at the three babies. They were almost completely hairless, all eyes snapped shut, and curled up together with little motion between them.
"Awww...", she said, in spite of herself.
"Do you want to hold one?" asked Fluttershy. "They said that you could."
"Really?" Rainbow beamed, now knowing what Fluttershy whispered.
"Only if you be very careful. They're very weak and fragile."
Rainbow nodded. "Okay."
Fluttershy moved back towards the hole and pulled out one of the babies, carefully placing it into Rainbow's hooves.
Rainbow Dash's heart melted at the sight of the tiny creature shivering in her grasp. It was the most helpless and innocent being that she had ever seen in her young life. It was so small and fragile that she feared that even the slightest sudden movement could be life-threatening. As she hovered in place, holding the helpless creature in her forelegs, she thought about the frailty of its life. Were something to happen, were it to be abandoned or left on its own, the poor creature would never survive. The only way it would live on to mature was by its mother nurturing it with enough love and care to allow it to grow. Rainbow was instantly reminded of her mother's picture--how she had held her infant self with the same undying love and care.
"Hey there, little guy," she said softly to the tiny creature. It stirred uncomfortably and then went still, as though it had finally found comfort in her forelegs.
"Why are his eyes closed?" Rainbow asked. "Is he asleep?"
Fluttershy shook her head. "Many small mammals are born blind. They don't usually open their eyes until they're a few weeks old."
"Oh," Rainbow replied. She carefully released the newborn squirrel back to Fluttershy, who gently placed it back in the tree.
"I'll be back to check on them next week," she told the parents. "Remember to keep them cozy and warm, and no solid foods."
The pair of squirrels squeaked in appreciation. Fluttershy smiled and flew off, with Rainbow Dash following beside her.
"Thanks, Fluttershy," she said. "That was really nice. With how things have been going for me lately, I really needed this."
Fluttershy frowned. "What's been bothering you?"
"Well, as I've told you, one more Sonic Rainboom is the only thing standing between me and an instant spot in the Wonderbolts, but I still haven't been able to pull it off. And now my dad is getting on my case about it, and that's really getting annoying. He doesn't think I'll ever be a Wonderbolt."
"Well, I truly hope you get into the Wonderbolts someday. I hope you get everything you've ever wanted out of life. And if there's anything I can do to help, I'll do it. You don't even have to ask."
Rainbow blinked. "Really?"
Fluttershy stopped near a burrow and was greeted by a family of bunnies.
"Of course. I recently came to realize that discovering my love of animals, getting my cutie mark, I owe that all to you,"
"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked, stopping beside her.
"Well, I've always been afraid to come down to the ground. I never would have come down here on my own, and if that had happened, I never would have realized just how much I love it here," Fluttershy answered. The bunnies returned inside their burrow.
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "I...don't follow."
"Don't you get it?" Fluttershy asked, turning towards her. "If not for you standing up for me, if not for the race, I never would have fallen down here."
Rainbow Dash winced with surprise. It had been weeks since that race, and all this time, she had feared that Fluttershy might have held some resentful feelings towards her for not stopping the race to save her from falling, particularly when the entire purpose of the race was to defend her. The notion that Fluttershy was actually appreciative to her for it was downright inconceivable.
"But...you could have died!" exclaimed Rainbow. "And I was too focused on trying to win that I didn't even notice that you fell. I would have saved you if I had known."
"And if you had, nothing would have changed," Fluttershy pointed out. "I still would have been too afraid to come to the ground. I still would have never found out about my gift and gotten my cutie mark."
Fluttershy suddenly threw her forehooves around Rainbow's neck.
"You helped me discover my destiny, so I will do anything I can to help you realize your dream."
Though still struck with confusion, Rainbow Dash accepted her embrace, curling her mouth into a smile.
****
"Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow turned to see Fluttershy hovering just behind her, a look of solemn concern upon her face.
"How'd you find me?" she asked, thankful that her tears had finally stopped falling.
"I remembered how you like to be above the clouds when it's raining. I figured I would find you up here somewhere," replied Fluttershy, taking a seat next to her upon the cloud.
"I guess you're wondering why I did that, right?" Rainbow asked without looking at her.
"I think I already know," replied Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash turned her head towards her.
Fluttershy took a deep breath. "You lost your Wonderbolts Reserves membership, didn't you?"
"No. That's not it."
"It's not? So you're still in the Reserves?"
Rainbow nodded.
"Oh, thank goodness," Fluttershy said with relief. "We all thought that had to be the reason. I wasn't sure what I could have even said to console you."
Rainbow Dash said nothing, staring down at the cloud upon which they rested.
"So what's really bothering you, then?"
"I don't really want to talk about it, Fluttershy," Rainbow replied.
Fluttershy put a hoof on her shoulder. "The more you shut us out, the more worried we'll be."
Rainbow sighed, knowing that she would have to tell her something.
"It's just....I thought this would be different," she said.
"You thought what would be different?"
"Getting into the Wonderbolts," said Rainbow. "It's just...I don't know. I'm not as happy or excited as I should be."
Fluttershy cocked her head. "Why not?"
Rainbow Dash paused briefly.
"I just keep wondering that it may not be all that it's cracked up to be. What if I've wasted my life pursuing a dream that didn't give me all that I was hoping for?"
"I'm sure it will," said Fluttershy. "Maybe you're just experiencing nerves. After all, this is everything you've always wanted."
"Yeah, it really is," Rainbow said with a nod. "But...I don't know. I mean, my faith in them has been shaken a bit lately. Remember what they did to Soarin back at the Games tryouts? How do I know they won't one day replace me with a better flyer when they need one?"
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. "A better flyer? Than you?"
Rainbow paused for a brief moment, scratching her chin.
"You're right. That would never happen. But it still doesn't change the fact that they tried to replace one of their own. I mean, that says a lot about their loyalty to each other, doesn't it?"
Fluttershy went silent for a few moments.
"I suppose you're right. But they learned their lesson and I don't think they'll do something like that again."
"I don't know why, but suddenly I'm just having regrets," Rainbow continued. "Like maybe I should have pursed something else."
Fluttershy's eyes widened. "Rainbow Dash...are you saying that you don't want to be a Wonderbolt?"
"No....well, I don't know," Rainbow answered. "All I know is that getting that letter should have been the greatest day of my life....and it just wasn't."
Fluttershy was utterly perplexed. The only other time she had ever heard Rainbow Dash express any notion of not wanting to be a Wonderbolt was when she quit the Wonderbolt Academy, disillusioned by the thought that they rewarded recklessness. In all the years they had known each other, her desire to join that elusive club had never changed or faltered.
"What about your dad?" said Fluttershy.
Rainbow swiftly turned her head towards her. "Huh?!"
"Well, you wanted him to see you wearing your Wonderbolt uniform, right? To prove him wrong?"
Rainbow Dash nodded, turning her head away from Fluttershy again.
"Yeah...I did."
"Well, aren't you at least glad that you're finally going to be able to do that?" asked Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash went silent for several moments.
"I never saw him again. Not since the day we parted ways five years ago."
"I know," Fluttershy replied.
Rainbow chuckled silently. She had forgotten how much Fluttershy knew about her.
"I'm actually afraid to see him again," she said. "I don't know what he'll say or how he'll react. And somehow I don't think it will give me the satisfaction that I've always imagined it would."
"Maybe that's because it's not meant to give you satisfaction," said Fluttershy.
Rainbow looked at her again. "What?"
"You both allowed this disagreement to ruin the relationship you had. You allowed five years to pass by with no contact--five years that neither of you will ever get back. But once you finally do it, you will have closure, and then you two will at long last be able to rebuild your relationship."
"He's the one who insisted on beating down my dream, remember?" Rainbow said irritably. "I couldn't take it anymore."
"I'm not saying that you were wrong for leaving," said Fluttershy. "But five years without so much as dropping by to say hello? Don't you feel that was a bit much?"
"I told him that he wasn't going to see me again until I was wearing a Wonderbolt uniform, and that was what I meant," Rainbow replied flatly. "If I had saw him any time before then, he wouldn't have let me live it down."
"I don't think that's true at all," retorted Fluttershy. "Haven't you ever thought that maybe your absence caused him to have a change of heart? That maybe he felt sorry for driving you away? That maybe he's spent the last five years missing you? Besides, didn't you miss him?"
Rainbow Dash sighed. This was not the first time she had been faced with that question...
"Trust me. The best thing that's going to come of this is that you two will finally have a chance to repair your relationship," said Fluttershy. "You'll finally have a chance to put it behind you and move forward, making up for lost time."
Rainbow looked down at the rain clouds beneath her. The sound of the raindrops splattering upon the ground below was no longer as loud as it had been, letting her know that the rain was starting to die down.
"That's not going to happen," she said silently.
"Sure, it will. You'll see."
"No! No, it won't!" Rainbow nearly shouted. "And that's because he's--"
"He's what?"
"He's....too stubborn."
"Come on. I think you owe it to him to at least give him a chance," replied Fluttershy.
Rainbow shrugged.
"Perhaps this is why you're nervous about joining the Wonderbolts," Fluttershy suggested. "Maybe you're too worried about seeing your dad again to be excited?"
"Yeah...that could be it," Rainbow nodded.
"Just give him a chance," said Fluttershy. "And when you're finally wearing that Wonderbolt uniform, you'll realize that you've achieved everything you've always wanted, and all your doubts will fade away."
Rainbow Dash did not reply, prompting Fluttershy put her hoof around her.
"I wish you wouldn't keep your feelings bottled up, especially from me. Remember, if there's anything you ever need to talk about, I'm always here for you."
Rainbow hung her head and sighed. "Oh, Fluttershy. I don't deserve a friend like you."
"Don't talk that way," Fluttershy replied sternly.
"But I don't," said Rainbow. "At the Traders Exchange, I traded you away for a stupid book after you had spent all your time with me making sure that I got what I wanted even if you didn't. What kind of friend does that?"
"Oh, that's okay," said Fluttershy. "You realized your mistake. But even if you hadn't, I would have gladly stayed in Manehattan to train the Orthros."
"But why? I had no right to trade you away like that."
"You're worth it," said Fluttershy. "You stood up for me when no one else would. I never would have gotten my cutie mark if it weren't for you, and I'm even more sure of that now that I know that the explosion that scared the animals was your Sonic Rainboom. I owe so much to you."
Rainbow's mouth curled up into a smile. If anypony deserved to be the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, it was Fluttershy. That was much more than she could have said for herself being an ideal bearer for the Element of Honesty. She had just lied to her dearest friend's face, and she did not expect that she was finished lying either. Nevertheless, this talk with Fluttershy had lightened her mood considerably. A little touch of kindness was all she needed.
"Feeling better?" asked Fluttershy, noticing her smile.
Rainbow nodded. "So what do we do now?"
"Well, wouldn't it be best if we went back to Sugarcube Corner? The others are waiting for us there, all thinking that you were rejected from the Reserves."
Rainbow cringed, uncomfortable with the idea of facing her friends again.
"What do I tell them?" she asked.
Fluttershy thought for a moment.
"Well...the truth always works."
Rainbow lowered her ears.
"By the way, you said before that you were in the middle of something. What were you doing?" Fluttershy asked.
Rainbow looked down. She had lied to Fluttershy enough for one day, or at least for one conversation.
"Drinking through all my cider."
Fluttershy did not respond. Rainbow Dash looked over at her and was pierced with a stern look that almost instantly made her regret her actions. Fluttershy's "stare" often seemed to be just as effective with ponies as it was with animals.
"Well, not all of it," said Rainbow. "I still have one bottle left."
"Now, was that really necessary?"
Rainbow sighed with annoyance. "No. It wasn't."
As the two pegasi made their way back, they noticed that the rain had been reduced down to a sprinkle and ponies were beginning to fill the streets once again. It appeared to be evening now, or at least very late in the afternoon. The day had stretched on endlessly for Rainbow Dash, and she was more than ready for it to end. Tomorrow would be another chance to put her life back on track, as most of the rain clouds would surely need cleared away. The difference was that she would be busting the clouds this time, and thus the task would be a dozen times more fun and relaxing.
Pinkie Pie was solemnly drawing invisible frowning faces into the floor with her hoof when the door of Sugarcube Corner opened again.
"Rainbow!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Hey, guys...," Rainbow said as humiliation crept its way through her body.
"Are you alright?" asked Rarity.
"I'm fine, now," she answered. "And before anypony asks, no, I haven't been kicked out of the Wonderbolts Reserves."
A sense of relief washed over the faces of everyone in the room.
"Then what was wrong?" asked Twilight.
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and looked over at Fluttershy, who motioned for her tell them.
"Well, it's just that...I've been going through some...doubts and stuff but...I'm okay now. Really."
"Doubts?" said Applejack. "Doubts about what?"
"It doesn't matter," said Rainbow with a glance in Fluttershy's direction. "I'm really sorry if I worried you guys. We can have this party now, if that's okay. I'd hate to let all of this go to waste."
Pinkie beamed instantly.
"Are you sure?" Twilight asked.
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, I'm sure."
Pinkie Pie suddenly ran up to her and threw her forehooves around her neck.
"I'm so super glad you're okay!"
"We all are," said Twilight, and one by one, they each followed suit until hooves and claws were wrapped around every inch of Rainbow's body.
"It's okay guys. It really wasn't that big a deal," Rainbow said, their displays of affection warming her heart.
"So, shall we party?" Rainbow asked as they each released her from their grasp.
****
It was after dark when Rainbow returned home, all party-ed out. It had gone on as expected, and she successfully avoided revealing more about why she had run off, quickly changing the subject when it was brought up. Lying to her friends made her feel excruciatingly uncomfortable, but she was determined to prevent them from learning the truth.
They wouldn't understand, not even Fluttershy. It would just be better if they didn't find out.
Walking into the kitchen, she saw the empty bottles of cider still strewn across the table with the one full bottle still standing among them. She placed the bottle back in her refrigerator, thankful to herself that she had not drank through it. She then headed up to her bedroom, where the two letters still sat on her bedside table. She picked up the half-open envelope that contained her father's final words to her. Rainbow Dash was once again struck with the urge to open it, even though she had no desire to read through it at the moment. Knowing now that she was always going to be struck with this urge whenever she laid her eyes upon it, she realized that she would need to hide it from view until she was finally ready to read what was inside.
Walking over to her bookshelf nearby, she pulled out Daring Do and the Chest of Mystery and opened it up, preparing to stick the letter inside like a bookmark. Just before she did so, something fell out of the envelope's opening and glided swiftly down to the floor. Rainbow Dash cautiously squinted her eyes down at it.
It appeared to be a photo.
> Chapter 5 -- The Crash (And the subsequent burn)
A quiet afternoon found the Cutie Mark Crusaders in their clubhouse after school. Twilight Time would be starting within an hour, and Sweetie Belle was confident that she was set to impress. By the glow of her horn, three bright, red apples spun rapidly in a circle until they were blurred into what looked like a single red ring suspended in midair. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked on with amazement, but for Scootaloo, that amazement was entwined with the tiniest sting of envy.
"Great job, Sweetie Belle!" Apple Bloom said approvingly.
"Okay, next!" said Sweetie Belle, stopping the apples' rotation and levitating them over to Apple Bloom.
She took a few steps back and planted her hooves tightly upon the floor.
"Ready!"
Apple Bloom tossed the three apples into the air simultaneously. As they fell, they were each surrounded in a light green aura, stopping in midair before they were able to touch the floor, with the third apple being stopped mere inches away.
"YES!" Sweetie Belle squeaked excitedly.
"Awesome job, Sweetie," praised Scootaloo.
"Yeah, you've come a long way from not even bein' able to lift a broom," said Apple Bloom.
Sweetie Belle blushed at the compliments. "Thanks guys, but let's try something a little more difficult now."
She levitated the three apples back over to Apple Bloom and walked to the opposite edge of the clubhouse.
"I want you to throw the apples right at me, one at a time," she instructed.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at each other with surprise.
"Are you sure, Sweetie Belle?" asked Scootaloo. "It'll probably hurt if you can't stop it."
"It'll be fine," Sweetie replied. "I'm sure I can do this."
"Okay then...," said Apple Bloom, preparing to throw the first apple.
"I'm ready," said Sweetie Belle after taking a deep breath. "Go."
Apple Bloom threw one of the apples with a moderately high speed. Sweetie Belle squealed and ducked at the last possible second, narrowly avoiding it as it splattered against the wall behind her.
"See? You ain't ready for this," said Apple Bloom.
"I just lost focus for a second," said Sweetie Belle. "Let's try it again."
"Fine, but I'm throwin' it slower this time," replied Apple Bloom.
Sweetie Belle readied herself once again and Apple Bloom threw the second apple with much less speed. Sweetie Belle caught it in her magic before it had traveled halfway towards her.
"That was way too slow," Sweetie said, dissatisfied. "Let's try it one more time. Throw with the same speed as before."
"What's up with you?" asked Scootaloo. "Why are you trying to get this so badly?"
"Well, I was kinda hoping that if I managed to get this down, Twilight might start teaching me some other spells besides just levitation," answered Sweetie Belle.
"Oh...," replied Scootaloo. Another sharp sting of envy pierced her body as she was once again reminded of a time when she and Sweetie Belle had more in common than just their lack of cutie marks.
"What if you lose focus again?" asked Apple Bloom.
"I won't," Sweetie Belle replied confidently. "But if I can't do it this time, we won't try again."
Apple Bloom sighed with acceptance. "If you say so..."
Sweetie Belle returned to her position. "Okay, ready."
After a brief hesitation, Apple Bloom threw the apple with about with the same speed as the first time. It soared towards Sweetie Belle and her horn illuminated just as she turned her head to brace herself for the blow. When she turned her head back again, the apple was suspended in a light green aura, hovering just inches away from her face.
"I did it!" she exclaimed.
"Awesome, Sweetie," praised Scootaloo.
"Yeah," said Apple Bloom. "I actually thought I hit you for a second."
"Well, I'm all set for Twilight Time now," Sweetie Belle said proudly. "How about you guys?"
Scootaloo sighed. "I'm going to skip Twilight Time today."
"What?!" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle cried in unison.
"I haven't improved at all since last week, not like you guys have. I've been thinking about trying something else, but I'm just not sure what I have to fall back on," said Scootaloo.
"But you're really good!" said Apple Bloom.
"I still haven't moved past needing help from an instruction sheet like you have. There's really nothing that I can do that you guys couldn't with a little bit of practice. I'm just really tired of not really getting anywhere while you guys run laps around me. So...I'm not going--not until I have something else. And besides, I've kinda had a lot on my mind lately."
"Like what?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"Like....I don't know...death. I mean, it's just so cruel sometimes. Well, all the time, actually. We all have ponies that we care about and ponies that we love, and it just...doesn't care. It steals them away from us whenever it wants."
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exchanged perplexed expressions.
"Umm, did somethin' happen, Scootaloo?" asked Apple Bloom.
"I can't tell you about it," Scootaloo replied with a sigh. "Not because I don't want to, but because I promised that I wouldn't tell anypony."
The three fillies stared at each other in silence.
"Anyway, I'm gonna go," said Scootaloo as the silence began to become uncomfortable. "I'll see you guys tomorrow. Tell Twilight that it'll just be you two for now until I find something else I want to try."
She swooped out of the clubhouse hastily before her friends could ask any other questions.
Scootaloo's thoughts were heavily occupied as she set a course for Rainbow Dash's cloud-based home. Half of those thoughts were fixated on Rainbow Dash. She had hardly been able to stop thinking about her since they parted ways on Sunday evening. She wondered whether nor not Rainbow was still trying to deny her feelings, still refusing to acknowledge that his death would have an affect on her. Surely she had told her friends by now and they would have done their part to console her, assuming that she was in need of being consoled, yet Scootaloo was still curious if she now felt any differently about his passing.
The other half of her thoughts continuously mulled over her new perception of death--a few of such thoughts had just been shared with her two best friends. Every living thing now seemed to her like a clock ticking in reverse, all the way down to the final moments of life. Scootaloo was not unfamiliar with the concept of death, but never before had it seemed so cruel, so malevolent. That Rainbow Dash could receive such horrid news when she had instead been expecting great news seemed unspeakably cruel. As hard as it was to swallow, life itself now seemed a little less meaningful.
After several minutes of walking, Scootaloo found herself standing underneath the cloud-crafted mansion that was Rainbow Dash's home.
"Rainbow Dash!" she called out. After a few moments, the wind blew, carrying nothing but silence with it.
She called out three more times. There was still no response, and no indication that she was even home. Scootaloo grunted irritably at the inconvenience of Rainbow's home being several feet above the reach of any non-pegasus, or in her case, any pegasus that could not yet fly.
Unsure of what else to do, Scootaloo decided to seek out Rainbow's friends, and at about five minutes away, Fluttershy was the one who lived closest.
She arrived quickly at Fluttershy's cottage and knocked on the door. Fluttershy opened the door after a few moments, and a pair of soaking wet chipmunks scurried out almost instantly, dashing past Scootaloo's legs.
"Mr. and Mrs. Tinseltail, come back!" Fluttershy called after them. "You haven't finished your bath yet!"
The chipmunks refused to turn around and continued to run until they finally ducked into the safety of a small burrow in the ground. Fluttershy sighed.
"Hey, Fluttershy," said Scootaloo, mildly amused by the scene. "Uh...sorry about that."
Fluttershy shook her head. "It wasn't your fault. I guess there isn't much point in bathing an animal that lives underground, is there?"
Scootaloo shrugged. "I guess not."
Fluttershy sighed with acceptance. "Anyway, what can I do for you, Scootaloo?"
"Um, have you seen Rainbow Dash today?" Scootaloo asked.
Fluttershy shook her head. "Not today. I saw her yesterday, though."
"Oh. Would you happen to know if she's home or not?"
Fluttershy shook her head again. "Are you looking for her?"
"Yeah. I wanted to see how she's doing," answered Scootaloo.
"Oh. She's doing much better now," said Fluttershy. "We had a nice talk yesterday."
"So she told you, then? About her dad?"
Fluttershy titled her head. "I wasn't aware that you knew about that. But then again, you two have grown pretty close."
"Yeah. I was actually there when she got the news," said Scootaloo.
"Well, don't worry," said Fluttershy. "I think she's feeling much better about seeing him again."
Scootaloo blinked. "What...?"
"They're going to be able to rebuild their relationship now. She doesn't think so, but I know they will," said Fluttershy.
Scootaloo looked dumbfounded. "What...what are you talking abo--? I mean....what did the two of you talk about yesterday?"
"Well, she was having doubts about getting into the Wonderbolts," replied Fluttershy. "And she also told me that she was nervous about seeing her dad again because she wasn't sure how he would react."
Scootaloo lowered her head and sighed. "Oh..."
"Is something wrong?" asked Fluttershy.
Scootaloo shook her head. "No, no. I just...well, I thought....err...it's nothing. I'm...glad she's feeling better about it."
"I still think that she should have dropped by his place from time to time," said Fluttershy. "I mean, what if something had happened to him during all those years she was away? That would have been awful."
Scootaloo looked at her for several seconds and nodded.
"Yeah, that would have been really awful. Anyway, I should be going. See you, Fluttershy."
"Goodbye, Scootaloo," Fluttershy replied, closing her door.
Scootaloo slowly turned and walked away from Fluttershy's doorstep, feeling both shocked and deeply disappointed. If Rainbow Dash had not told Fluttershy, her closest friend, then she had not told anyone else. Even worse was that she had chosen to lie about it rather than accept any consolation or support from her friends. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash asking her not to tell anypony about his death made much more sense. It was because she was not planning on telling anypony herself...
Scootaloo turned around and walked back towards the cottage, knowing what she had to do. Without feeling a single ounce of regret, she knocked on Fluttershy's door again.
****
Rainbow Dash soared above Cloudsdale's residential area once again, after she previously thought that she had left it behind for good. Gripped in her mouth was the photo that had fallen out of the envelope the previous night. It pictured a mare who Rainbow had never seen before, at least not to her knowledge. She was a pegasus with a sand-colored coat and eyes that were a few shades darker. Her mane and tail were deep ocean blue and sunshine yellow blended together, and her cutie mark appeared to be three white lilies that resembled pinwheels. She wore a smile that was comforting enough to make her seem like somepony who could be trusted, even though Rainbow knew nothing about her.
On the back of the picture was a small note that read:
This is Wind Lily. Talk to her about the house. Her address is 146 Cloud Drop Lane.
Once again, it was in her father's writing. Was she a friend of his? If so, that would mean she was most likely aware of his death, bringing the grand total of ponies who knew about it outside of the funeral director and Grimmtock to three. The only reason Rainbow Dash now found herself flying to pay her a visit was because the note said "Talk to her about the house." Rainbow's old house had been a facet on her mind ever since she left it behind, and she had since been wondering what she was going to do with it had her father left it in her ownership. If this mare wanted to take it off her hooves, she would gladly allow her to do so.
Within minutes of searching, she was finally standing outside 146 Cloud Drop Lane, which was only a few blocks away from her old house. It was yet another average one-story home that did not look much different from the hundreds that surrounded it. The number "146" was inscribed on both the mailbox and the door.
Rainbow Dash removed the picture from her mouth and tucked it into her wing-pocket. Unsure of what to expect, she knocked on the door. After full minute passed with no answer, she suddenly regretted coming. If this mare was a friend of her dad's, it was possible that she knew a lot about their relationship, and he would have most likely altered the story to make it seem as though he was utterly blameless for her leaving. The last thing she wanted was to get berated by somepony she didn't even know for never coming back to see him again.
As Rainbow Dash considered flying off, the door was finally answered by the mare in the photo, whose eyes widened upon seeing her.
"Oh, my goodness, look at you!" she exclaimed, wrapping her hooves around Rainbow in an embrace.
"Uhhh...hi," Rainbow said apprehensively after being released. "I really hate to say this, but....I have no idea who you are."
The mare chuckled. "Well, that doesn't surprise me. You were three years old last time I saw you. My name's Wind Lily. Why don't you come in?"
Rainbow stepped through the threshold of the house, now feeling somewhat more comfortable.
"I was just about to sit down to some tea," said Lily. Would you like a cup?"
"Uhhh...sure," said Rainbow, despite not being much of a tea drinker.
They walked into the kitchen and Rainbow Dash took a seat at the table while Wind Lily went to the counter to pour tea into two teacups. Rainbow took a moment to examine every part of the house's interior that was within her view. It seemed a nice enough place, but there was no doubt that her old home was nicer, if just for the fact that it was two stories.
"Well, to start, let me just say that you have my deepest condolences for your loss," she said as she sat down with the cups of tea. "Your father was a great pony."
"Did you really know him?" Rainbow said contemptuously, raising an eyebrow.
Wind Lily went silent for a brief moment, her eyes trailing down at the table.
"I know he was troubled. And I know that you did not always see his best side. But he was still a great pony who deserved to live much longer than he did. Same as your mother."
Rainbow blinked. "You knew her?"
Wind Lily shook her head. "Unfortunately not. Like you, everything I know about her comes from what he told me."
"Okay, this is kinda getting uncomfortable now," said Rainbow Dash. "You clearly know a lot about me, but I still don't know anything about you beyond your name."
Lily chuckled again. "I apologize. Your father hired me as a caretaker for you shortly after your mother passed. After your falling out, we got in touch with each other again."
Rainbow squinted her eyes in thought. "I don't think he ever mentioned you before."
"Well, we weren't really friends back then," said Lily. "I was just somepony he was paying to look after his infant daughter when he had to work."
She took a sip of tea, and Rainbow Dash followed suit. It tasted better than any tea she had in the past, but it still was not about to replace cider as her drink of choice.
"He was troubled even back then," Wind Lily continued. "Your mother's passing really did a number on him."
"Yeah, it did, and he wanted me to be just as miserable as he was," said Rainbow bitterly. "And all he ever did was make me feel like I would never accomplish anything in my life. Like there was no point in even hoping for something, because I would never get it."
Wind Lily sighed. "I know it's not my place to comment on the relationship you two had, but I can at least tell you that he changed after you left."
"Yeah, sure he did," Rainbow said, looking down at her tea. "I guess I was the only thing standing in the way of him actually enjoying life."
"Or perhaps losing his daughter was the kick in the flank he needed to become a better pony?" said Lily.
"Or perhaps he just needed another mare in his life to fill the hole, because I was never enough," retorted Rainbow. "Does it really matter now?"
"You know, when he fell ill and was hospitalized, he opted against letting you know because he thought that you wouldn't care," said Lily. "Was he right?"
Rainbow Dash looked up at her and paused for a moment.
"I think you have that backwards. He's the one who didn't care to let me know."
"Oh, I assure you, he wanted to. He debated it with himself for a while."
"But he chose not to, right?" said Rainbow.
"Evidently," Wind Lily nodded. "Of course, we didn't know at the time how bad his condition was. We didn't know that he was...." She closed her eyes and sighed.
Rainbow Dash felt a sudden discomfort.
"I wasn't there for most of it," Wind Lily continued. "I thought it was just going to be a passing thing. I didn't think that his life was in any danger at all. In fact, I was thinking that he was going to be released soon. I went up there to ask how much longer he would need to stay hospitalized....and that's when they told me that he was gone."
Rainbow Dash broke eye contact with her, staring to the side at an empty frying pan that was sitting on the stove.
"I went to plan the funeral the next day, but I was told that you had already taken care of it," said Lily. "At that point, I really wanted to meet with you. I was actually in the process of tracking you down. And yet, here you are. How is that? You didn't even know who I was before you got here."
Without a word, Rainbow Dash pulled the picture from her wing-pocket and placed it on the table. Wind Lily looked over it front and back, and a puzzled expression appeared on her face.
"Where did you get this?" she asked.
"It was in a letter that he wrote me while he was in the hospital," answered Rainbow Dash.
Wind Lily gasped.
"He must have known....," she whispered, going silent for a brief moment. "Have you read the letter?"
Rainbow shook her head.
"Well, surely you must have at least opened it, then?" said Lily.
"Yeah."
"Well, I understand your hesitation to read it. It's his final words to you, after all."
Rainbow Dash nodded slowly.
"Anyway, you didn't answer my question earlier," noted Lily. "Was he right?"
Rainbow Dash sighed. "No. I didn't hate him. I just--I didn't need him in my life anymore....except for one thing."
"Which would be him seeing you in a Wonderbolt uniform, correct?" said Wind Lily.
"Yeah," Rainbow nodded. "And now that dream is as dead as he is."
"I'm sorry about that," said Lily. "How have you been doing since you got the news?"
Rainbow Dash took another sip of tea.
"It's...harder than I thought it would be. I'm trying to get my life back to normal but all I can think about is that dream going up in flames. Now it's even affecting my dream of being a Wonderbolt. I'm in the Reserves now, I've pretty much made it in already, and yet I'm not anywhere near as excited about it as I should be, even though it's the only thing I've ever wanted out of life."
"Well, surely, you cannot expect everything to go back to normal this soon, can you?" said Wind Lily. "You need to give yourself time to grieve and mourn. At least wait until after the funeral."
Rainbow Dash did not reply, her eyes trailing back to the frying pan.
"He missed you," Wind Lily said, breaking through the silence. "He often tried to be very discreet about it, but I could tell. I think he really wanted you back in his life."
"Well, he should have thought of that before pushing me away at every turn," Rainbow said irritably. "He didn't even believe me when I told him I was leaving."
"I know the story," said Lily. "And I don't think you were wrong for wanting to leave. But I am curious about something. Had he lived long enough for you to have realized your dream, what would you have done after you showed up in your Wonderbolt uniform? Would you have still excluded him from your life, or would you have decided to put it behind you and repair the bond that you two once shared?"
Rainbow Dash paused to think.
"I guess I never thought that far," she said after a few moments. "But I suppose that would have been up to him."
"He would have been glad to see you again," said Wind Lily.
Rainbow shrugged. "So you say..."
"So...when is the funeral?" Wind Lily asked after taking another sip of tea.
"This Sunday," Rainbow answered.
"I'd like to attend, of course," said Lily. "If that's okay?"
"Sure. But don't be surprised when you show up to an empty funeral," said Rainbow Dash. "Other than you and me, only one other pony is going."
Wind Lily raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Well, that's curious."
"What do you mean?" asked Rainbow.
"Well, when I started tracking you down, I learned quite a bit about you, Rainbow Dash," said Lily. "You're one of the ponies who help keep Equestria safe from all those nasty beings who try to take it over, wielding those Elements of....Harmony, was it?"
"Not anymore," said Rainbow. "We had to give them up."
"Oh. Well, perhaps that explains it..."
"Explains what?"
"Those other ponies who also wielded the Elements, they're your friends, right?" asked Lily.
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. Why?"
"Well, it just strikes me as odd that they wouldn't be attending your father's funeral, if for no other reason than emotional support. I'm just curious as to why that is. I mean, you are still friends with them, right? Or did you all have some sort of falling out and that's the reason why you had to give up those Elements?"
Rainbow Dash took another drink of tea to delay her answer. "Uhhh..."
"Is it perhaps....you haven't told them yet?"
Rainbow looked down, feeling increasingly uncomfortable.
"Is it perhaps....you're not planning on telling them?"
Rainbow sighed. "They really don't need to know. If I tell them, all they're going to do is shower me with their pity, and I don't want it. And I don't need it either."
Wind Lily penetrated her with a hard stare.
"If one of their parents died, you'd want to know about it, wouldn't you?"
"That's different," Rainbow said instantly. "They probably had much better relationships with their parents, and they would actually be overwhelmed with grief if they lost them. I'm doing fine. I'm not grieving or anything like that, so they really don't need to know."
"Are you sure about that?" asked Wind Lily. "Because I'm getting the impression that you're in need of much more help than you're letting on."
"I didn't ask for your opinion," snapped Rainbow Dash. "The truth is, all I'm really upset about is that he didn't live long enough for me to fulfill that dream. It was the last thing I needed him for."
"You say this right after telling me that you would have come back to Cloudsdale if you had known he was hospitalized?" Lily said sternly. "Stop lying to yourself. You loved him, and you're upset that he's gone."
Rainbow said nothing for a moment as anger welled up inside her.
"What do you see me as? Some sad, scared little filly distraught that her parents are dead? A helpless orphan who needs to be coddled like a newborn foal? Well here's a bit of a reality check for you: I've been on my own for years now, and I've been just fine. And I will continue to be just fine. I may have been three the last time you saw me, but I'm not anymore. I've grown up. I'm a part of the Wonderbolts now--I've achieved the very thing that he said I never would. I may be upset that I never got to realize my dream, but I'll get over it eventually. This won't hold me down."
Wind Lily fell silent for a few seconds and then sighed, shaking her head.
"Well, I guess I can't help you after all," she lamented. "And that's because you do not wish to help yourself."
"I didn't come here for your help," said Rainbow. "I came here because I'm supposed to talk to you about my old house."
"Right. Of course," Wind Lily sighed. "I've been trying to move out of this place for a while, but never really had the money to do so. I guess he left his house to me in his will. If you don't want it--"
"I don't," Rainbow interrupted. "It's all yours."
"What about everything inside it? Your father's things?"
"Do whatever you want with them."
Wind Lily grunted with frustration. "So that's it, huh? You don't want anything to remember him by, not even pictures? You just want to go on with your life like he never even existed? Is that right?"
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
"Are you even going to read his letter?" she asked.
"I will....sometime," replied Rainbow Dash.
"Well, I won't get rid of them," said Lily. "I'll keep them stored in a closet, and when you've finally decided that you're actually ready to feel something, you just come right on by and I'll give them to you."
"Fine, whatever," Rainbow shrugged, standing back up.
Their teacups still sitting upon the table half full, Wind Lily walked Rainbow Dash to the front door. She was more than ready to leave--this had been little more than a colossal waste of time, and she wished she had just flown off when she had the chance. Before she stepped back out the open door, Lily touched her shoulder, prompting her to look back.
"Look, you're right," she said. "I don't know you. It's not my place to tell you what you should or shouldn't do, but I beg you, don't do this. Don't keep this from your friends. If they were to ever find out somehow, they may not forgive you for it. They would probably even lose their trust in you."
Lily's eyes brimmed with sincerity, and Rainbow Dash looked forward outside to avoid staring into them. She opened her mouth to say something, but words failed to emerge from it.
"I guess I'll see you at the funeral, then?" asked Wind Lily, after it became clear that she was not going to respond.
"Sure," Rainbow replied without looking at her, and finally left the house.
****
The sun beat down harshly on Rainbow as she returned home. It was yet another day that was much hotter than it really needed to be. The rain from the previous day brought of sense of rejuvenation over Ponyville, evident by how much brighter everything now looked--how much wider the flowers bloomed, how much more active the animals and insects were. The aftermath of a rainy day always seemed to make the town a bit more lively.
As Rainbow returned home, she opened her door and was taken aback at the sight of Scootaloo sitting on the bottom step of her staircase.
"What are you--? How did you--?"
Scootaloo stood up, shooting her with an irritated glare.
"We need to talk."
Rainbow groaned. "I don't really feel like it right now, Scoot. How did you get up here, anyway?"
"Fluttershy flew me up here," Scootaloo answered. "We had a talk today."
Rainbow blinked. "You did?"
"Yes, I did," said Scootaloo.
"Why?"
"Because I was looking for you. I wanted to see how you were holding up." Scootaloo looked in the direction of the kitchen table, still littered with empty cider bottles. "But I think I have my answer now."
"What did she say?" asked Rainbow.
"She told me that you were doing better after a nice talk you two had yesterday," answered Scootaloo, narrowing her eyes. "A talk that involved you lying to her about your dad."
Rainbow's heart instantly skipped a beat. "Did you....tell her anything?"
Scootaloo went silent.
"Scoot....did you tell her?!"
Scootaloo sighed. "No, I didn't tell her anything. She still thinks your father is alive and well. Happy?"
Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you..."
"Don't thank me," Scootaloo snapped. "I was about a second away from telling her when a thought occurred to me: maybe you just weren't ready to tell your friends yet. Maybe you wanted to give it a little more time? I'm really hoping that's the reason."
Rainbow sighed. "Scoot..."
"You are going to tell them, aren't you?"
"Uh..."
"When you asked me not to tell anypony, I didn't think that meant that you were actually going to keep it from your friends."
Rainbow Dash sighed. "Telling them is not going to change anything. I'd just rather not have them smothering me with pity and sorrow that I don't need."
"But they need to know!" cried Scootaloo.
"No, they really don't," retorted Rainbow. "It isn't any of their business."
Scootaloo paused in shock for a brief moment.
"So are you saying that the only reason I know is because I was actually with you when you got the news?"
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes so as to not see Scootaloo's reaction to her next words.
"Yes. If it were up to me....you wouldn't know."
Scootaloo froze, feeling as though a icy snowball had just been tossed at her face. Tears began to pour out of her eyes.
"Why? Why are you doing this to yourself? Why can't you just admit that you're going through a difficult time right now and you need help?!"
"I don't need help," Rainbow Dash said as she turned her head away, not wanting to acknowledge Scootaloo's tears.
"Yes, you do!" said Scootaloo. "I know how hard losing a parent can be, whether you cared for them or not."
"How would you know that?"
"Because my mom left me!" Scootaloo cried as fresh droplets of tears leaked from her eyes.
Rainbow Dash turned her eyes back at her. "What?"
Scootaloo took a deep breath before going on.
"I never knew her, just like you never knew your mom. But the difference between my mom and yours is that mine didn't want anything to do with me. I was nothing to her but a big mistake that she made, so one day shortly after I was born, she just took off and never came back. And I really shouldn't care about her, but she's my mom, and I actually would like to meet her one day if for no other reason than to ask why she left. To ask why she didn't want to be my mother."
"I..."
No other words managed to escape from Rainbow's mouth. She stood in stunned silence, having never known about any of this. Scootaloo wiped away her tears and glared at her.
"You know what, if this is what you want, then this is what you'll get. As of this moment, I was not here with you on Saturday when you got the news. I won't be checking on you anymore because I have no idea that anything is wrong. I won't be going to the funeral because I have no idea that there is a funeral. As of right now, I know nothing, just how you want it."
Rainbow blinked with surprise. "Are you--?"
"--going to tell your friends? I can't tell them what I don't know, now can I?"
"That wasn't what I was--"
"I'm out of here," Scootaloo said irritably, taking a few steps towards the door.
"Scoot, stop!"
Scootaloo turned, and her glare was fierce enough for Rainbow Dash to take a step back.
"I don't have anything left to say. If this is what it's going to take to make you understand, then fine. You want to push away and lie to the very ponies who want nothing more than to help you? You don't want me to be here for you? Fine, then I won't be."
She turned and left the house, walked off the base and fluttered her wings to slow the fall to the ground. Rainbow Dash stood frozen in place, feeling as though she had just crashed into a thick brick wall after flying at Sonic Rainboom speeds, and then subsequently burst into flames as she tumbled into a bottomless abyss. The invisible chains around her hooves now seemed significantly tighter, and even more impossible to break free from.
With a sigh, she plopped down on the spot as an unmistakable sense of guilt intermixed with regret crept its way through her skin. |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | Chapter 6 -- Broken | The moon rose in the night sky just as the sun went down, signifying that Luna was hard at work at her most consistent task of the evening. Twilight and Spike sat upon the balcony of Golden Oaks Library, watching the moon as it finally reached its peak. An empty plate previously containing nachos that had not eaten during the day's Twilight Time sat between them, which they had finished off together as they watch the sunset.
"You think you'll ever do that someday?" Spike asked when the moon was finally in place.
"Do what?"
"Raise the moon...or the sun," said Spike.
Twilight shook her head. "I wouldn't really know how. And besides, it requires a ton of magic that I don't have."
Spike shrugged. "Maybe you will someday?"
"I doubt it, Spike."
They sat in silence for several minutes, staring up into the starry sky. Twilight mentally counted as many constellations as she could see.
"Do you ever miss living in Canterlot?" Spike suddenly asked.
"Sometimes," Twilight answered several seconds later. "It feels like so long ago that we moved here."
"You know, when you became a princess, I actually thought we were going to move back," said Spike.
"Why?"
"I don't know. I thought maybe you would have to go back for princess training, or something like that."
Twilight sighed softly.
"Yeah, I really needed a whole lot of training for making appearances and signing autographs...," she mumbled.
"Huh?"
Twilight shook her head. "Nothing. It's nothing."
"When I think about Canterlot now, I remember how much different everything seemed there," said Spike. "Everypony just kinda kept to themselves."
Twilight nodded. "Mhm."
"That includes you, you know?" Spike said harshly.
"I know, Spike," Twilight replied, rolling her eyes. "You don't need to remind me of how I was back then."
Spike shrugged. "Yeah, well, you've come a long way since then. You've earned this."
Twilight did not reply, allowing another brief bout of silence to pass between them.
"By the way, I forgot to tell you, Princess Celestia sent another shipment of books this morning," said Spike. "I put them in the basement. If she's going to keep sending all these books, we're really going to need a new place to live soon. Unless you finally feel like giving some of them up, that is."
Twilight shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Why not?" asked Spike. "I mean, they're just books."
"They're not 'just books'", Twilight said irritably. "They're really important to me."
"Why?"
"Because they remind me of good times. Times like...," she paused, lowering her voice. "....like when I was still Princess Celestia's student..."
Spike looked at her. "You still want to be Princess Celestia's student?"
"Well, it's just...I wasn't expecting this," said Twilight. "Some days I wake up and for a brief moment, I think about the reports or whatever other assignments I have to complete that day. Then I get out of bed and I realize that I don't have any reports or assignments to complete. I don't really have anything to do except read through all these books Princess Celestia keeps sending, none of which have anything to do with being a princess. So it's like the only reason she's sending them is to keep me occupied until I have to fulfill some princess duty, which usually just consists of smiling and waving."
Spike scratched his head, surprised by what he was hearing. "Do you not like being a princess?"
"I didn't say that. I just...I wish I--"
Spike suddenly shot upward and belched, causing a gaseous stream to eject from his mouth until it materialized into a letter. He coughed to clear his throat immediately afterward.
"I'm not really used to that anymore. Princess Celestia doesn't really send as many letters as she used to, so I've kinda stopped expecting it."
"What does it say?" asked Twilight.
Spike grabbed the letter and opened it.
"'My dear Twilight. The Grand Galloping Gala will be coming up soon once again, and though I know that it was an experience you would not like to repeat, I would be honored if you stood by my side as a greeter. Additionally, I would also be honored if you were the one to deliver the closing speech. I'm sure that many of the attendees will be glad to know that someone other than me will be giving it. Of course, your friends may attend again if they so desire. Just let me know and I will send tickets. Sincerely yours, Princess Celestia.'"
Twilight groaned and dropped her head.
"Weren't you greeting ponies last time you were there?" asked Spike.
"Not officially," she answered. "I was just standing next to Celestia, so ponies just started greeting me, and eventually I just started doing it on my own."
Spike looked back at the letter. "Oh, wait, there's more."
Twilight sighed. "What does it say?"
"'P.S. Please let Rainbow Dash know that she has my deepest condolences.'"
Twilight turned her head towards him. "What?"
Spike squinted his eyes at the letter. "Yeah, that's what it says."
"Let me see it," said Twilight, levitating the letter from his hands and holding it in front of her face. "What could that mean?"
Spike scratched his head. "I don't know."
"Well, Princess Celestia does..."
"Should we write her to ask what she's talking about?" asked Spike.
Twilight thought for a moment then shook her head.
"No. She obviously thinks that we already know about it, whatever it is. I don't really think letting her know otherwise would be a good idea."
"Do you think it has something to do with what happened at the party yesterday?" asked Spike. "I mean, Rainbow Dash was kinda vague about what she ran off about."
"You may have a point," Twilight noted. "But I still don't see how Celestia would know about it."
They both went silent, lost in thought.
"Why don't we just ask Rainbow about it tomorrow?" asked Spike.
"We could, but....why do I get the feeling that this is going to end up being a matter similar to when Applejack refused to come home from the rodeo competition and wouldn't tell us why?" replied Twilight.
Spike shrugged. "Maybe it will be."
"Come on, it can't be anything that big, right?"
Spike shrugged again and walked back inside the massive tree. Twilight took another thorough look at the letter and followed after him.
****
The moon had peaked in the sky several hours ago; it was surely well after midnight by now. Rainbow Dash sat on her bed in darkness, the curtains drawn over the windows to prevent the light from the moon to penetrate her room. No sleep would come this night--there was no point in even trying. She could scarcely think of anything besides the glare Scootaloo had shot at her moments before leaving the house. It was so fierce, so vicious, as if Scootaloo absolutely hated her guts. And perhaps she actually did?
Rainbow Dash had never seen her so angry, and she certainly would not have expected to see such anger directed at her. Scootaloo had been her biggest fan since almost the moment they met. She had idolized her, glorified her, and even once started up a fan club in her name. But now, Rainbow had lost all of that--just as she had lost her father, just as she had lost her dream, just as she seemed to be losing anything she once had a firm grasp on.
"I...I can't do this anymore...," she whispered to herself.
"No, you can't," Fluttershy's voice replied almost instantly.
"Fluttershy?!" Rainbow cried, and rushed to the window to open the curtains.
The moonlight revealed Fluttershy standing a few inches away from her with a warm, comforting smile on her face.
"What are you--?"
"It's okay," Fluttershy interrupted. "I'm here for you, just like I said I'd be. I'm going to help you through this. Everything is going to be okay now."
Rainbow Dash blinked hard, unsure whether this was real or not. "Fluttershy...how are you--?"
Her words died instantly as she was taken aback by Fluttershy's comforting smile transforming into a contemptuous glare.
"There. Now how do you like it when somepony lies to your face?" she asked in a harsh tone.
"What...?"
"It's funny," continued Fluttershy. "There was a time when I didn't believe that there was anything that I would not have done for you. Because you were worth it. Because I owed so much to you. Because you would have never done anything to damage the bond that we shared."
Rainbow gazed at her in confusion. "Fluttershy...I..."
"Don't speak to me," Fluttershy said with ferocity. "I don't want to hear your lies anymore."
Rainbow blinked. "I..."
"You're on your own," said Fluttershy, contempt still heavy in her voice. "But that's how you want it, isn't it? Because you're doing so well on your own, aren't you?"
Rainbow Dash was utterly lost for words, unable to believe that what she was seeing and hearing could possibly be real. She shook her head and struck it with her hoof repeatedly, yet Fluttershy remained standing before her.
"Just look at you," said Fluttershy, shaking her head. "You're so pathetic."
"Very pathetic," said the voice Scootaloo, who then stepped into the moonlight to reveal herself. "I can hardly even stand to look at you. This is the Rainbow Dash that I've been idolizing all these years? What a joke."
Rainbow Dash dropped to the floor, their words now stinging her from the inside out.
"Why....why are you here...?" she asked, feeling tears moisten her eyes.
"They're here to see you crumble," said the voice of Wind Lily, stepping into the room to stand alongside Fluttershy and Scootaloo. "And so am I. I told you not to keep this from your friends. You should have listened to me."
"Get up!" Scootaloo demanded. "Get up before I start thinking even less of you!"
"No...," Rainbow whispered, fighting back her tears.
"Get up!" ordered Fluttershy.
"Leave me alone!" Rainbow shouted as she turned and flew out the window.
Without a single thought as to where she was going, she soared through the night sky, flying with intense speed towards the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. The night did not offer her much visibility, even with the moonlight. Flying fast in the dead of night was not a particularly wise thing to do by any means, yet Rainbow did not care as long as she managed to escape from the harsh and unforgiving words that were piercing through her heart like a knife.
"Nice night for a fly, isn't it?"
Rainbow turned her head to see Scootaloo flying directly beside her. She stopped instantly and hovered on the spot, her jaw dropped wide open.
"See? I'm just as good a flyer as you," Scootaloo said, stopping next to her. "Actually, no..."
In a dazzling blur of orange, Scootaloo zoomed ahead and performed several midair loops, twirls, and spirals with a speed faster than Rainbow Dash had ever seen any pegasus fly before. She circled back around to where Rainbow hovered.
"...I'm a better flyer than you. So why do I even need you to look up to anymore? It's not like you could ever fill the hole that my mom left..."
Rainbow shook her head rapidly and resumed her flight, her eyes tightly shut in the hopes that no longer seeing Scootaloo would make her go away.
"No, no, no, no...you aren't there...," she muttered to herself.
"Oh, I'm here, all right," said Scootaloo's voice. "And you had better watch where you're going."
Scootaloo zipped away as Rainbow opened her eyes to find herself flying directly towards a large hill. Unable to avoid it at her speed, she struck the peak headfirst and rolled over down on the other side, tumbling and tumbling without end until she finally came to a stop at the bottom, lying face up and motionless in the grass. There was no longer any question concerning whether or not this was real--the pain she now felt was certainly not imaginary.
Scootaloo landed by her side and chuckled with malicious satisfaction.
"And here I thought that you were aware of everything while you fly. I guess you're not as good a flyer as you thought, huh?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head slowly, slipping from consciousness. "Stop..."
"I'm off to join the Wonderbolts now," said Scootaloo. "I don't think they'll be needing you anymore. You might as well just stay right where you are."
Scootaloo flew away. Rainbow Dash lacked any energy or strength to pick herself up. Perhaps she had a few broken bones, or even a broken wing. She couldn't be sure--all she knew was that her entire body was sore. Looking up, Rainbow was able to see a cloud floating in front of the moon. She wished that she could summon it down to her, as grass made for a cold and itchy bed, but clouds were softer and lighter than anything in the world...
Fluttershy suddenly walked into her field of vision, smiling menacingly.
"Well, well, if it isn't Rainbow Crash. You sure do live up to that name."
"You're...not there," Rainbow said weakly. "Go...away..."
"Because that's what you want, isn't it?" she said sharply. "Just look at yourself. Look at how broken you are."
Rainbow finally closed her eyes after struggling to keep them open. She could no longer see Fluttershy's contemptuous glare.
"Just stay there," Fluttershy said viciously. "You're not getting any help from me."
Lying utterly still in the cold grass, Rainbow heard Fluttershy's voice no more.
****
Twilight and Spike awoke early the following morning, searching all over Ponyville for Rainbow Dash after failing to find her at home. There did not appear to be any sign of her anywhere--she was not creating the day's weather, nor could she be found in any of her favorite areas or napping places. Asking Ponyville residents about her whereabouts turned up nothing; not even the weather team had any idea where she was. They ultimately returned to the center of town after searching for her for more than an hour.
"Why don't we just ask our friends if they've seen her?" Spike suggested. "In fact, she might even be with them."
Twilight replied with a sigh. "I wasn't planning on telling them about it until after I talked to her."
"What if they already know about it?" asked Spike.
"I don't think--"
Twilight went silent she noticed Applejack running swiftly in her direction with a grim expression on her face.
"Twilight! There you are!" she called out.
"Applejack? What's wrong?" asked Twilight.
Applejack stopped in front of her and paused for a brief moment to catch her breath.
"It's Rainbow Dash....she's in the hospital!"
Twilight gasped. "What happened?!"
"I'll explain on the way," said Applejack. "Everypony's there already. Let's go!"
After exchanging a concerned look, Spike hopped on Twilight's back and she followed Applejack as she set a course for Ponyville Hospital.
"So what happened?" Spike asked once their running speed reached its peak.
"Big Mac found Rainbow Dash lyin' in the grass in our south field early this mornin'," said Applejack. "She was just lyin' there unconscious."
"Why? Do you know how she got there?" asked Twilight.
"I don't," answered Applejack. "She hasn't regained consciousness yet, at least not since I was there last. But she was found near the bottom of a hill, so we think that she might have crashed into it."
"Oh no...," said Twilight. "How is she doing?"
"She'll be fine, I hope. I haven't been there in over thirty minutes 'cause I was lookin' for you. Where have you been?"
"I was actually out looking for her," answered Twilight.
"What for?"
"Because there's something going on with her, Applejack," said Twilight. "I don't know what it is, but....this can't be a coincidence."
"Whaddya mean?"
Twilight shook her head. "I'll explain when we get there."
They arrived at Ponyville Hospital minutes later, brushing quickly through the reception area and into the ICU. Twilight followed Applejack to room 27 and walked inside. An unconscious Rainbow Dash was lying upon the bed, the top of her head bandaged with an IV connected to her foreleg and an electrocardiograph monitor hanging on the wall behind her, beeping every second. Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie each sat by her bedside, solemn looks adorned upon their faces. Fluttershy took a tissue to her eyes, wiping away the tears that fell.
"How is she? Any change?" asked Applejack.
"No...," answered Rarity. "This is just awful..."
Twilight slowly approached the bed. The last time she had seen Rainbow Dash lying on a hospital bed, she was fully conscious and covered with bandages from injuries that Twilight was well aware did not exist. But this was not like that at all. Rainbow was surely not faking these injuries--she was surely not faking unconsciousness.
"I can't believe this...," she said, as a tear fell from her eye.
"Is she going to be okay?" asked Spike, hopping off Twilight's back to stand beside the bed.
"The d-doctor took some X-rays a little wh-while ago," said Fluttershy in a shaky voice, taking the tissue to another wave of fresh tears. "He'll be able to t-tell us when he finishes looking over them."
"But he said she wasn't in any life-threatenin' condition. I reckon she'll be fine," said Applejack.
No one responded as Rainbow Dash's unconscious body stirred for a brief moment.
Applejack frowned. "I hope she'll be fine..."
The door opened again and the same doctor who treated Rainbow Dash back when she had broken her wing stepped inside.
"Okay, I know much more about her condition," he said, and every conscious eye in the room fell upon him.
"To get the thing you folks are most concerned about out of the way first, her life isn't in danger in any way," he said. "I can say with certainty that she will make it through this."
An enormous wave of relief spread throughout the room. Pinkie Pie cracked a smile, and Fluttershy closed her eyes, muttering "thank goodness" under her breath.
"Now for the more concerning news," said the doctor, and the relief died almost instantly. "She has suffered some head trauma. Not much, but she has suffered some. As of this moment, she is in a coma. It may not last very long, but I cannot say for certain. I can't give a proper prognosis until we see how she responds to our treatment. She's breathing on her own, so that's obviously a positive sign. We'll need to monitor her brain activity every hour, but assuming she responds well, I don't see this lasting very long."
The six friends exchanged ambiguous looks, unsure exactly of how they felt about the news. Fluttershy quickly wiped away new tears.
"She has suffered other injuries, but she does not appear to have any broken bones," the doctor continued. "Needless to say, she was very lucky. This could have been a lot worse."
"Thank Celestia...," said Rarity.
"Will she suffer any....permanent damage from this?" asked Twilight, fearfully.
The doctor paused for a moment.
"At the most, she'll probably forget everything that happened in the last few hours leading up to her injuries, but nothing really suggests that she'll suffer any permanent or long-lasting damage. As I said, she was very lucky."
Twilight smiled with relief. "That's good..."
"I suppose I'll leave you folks alone for now. We'll be back to monitor her brain activity shortly," he said, and turned to leave the room.
"See? I told ya she was gonna be okay," said Applejack after the door closed again. "Feelin' better, Fluttershy?"
Fluttershy nodded, and tears no longer emerged from her eyes.
"But since she'll lose her memory of the last few hours, we're probably not going to know how this happened," said Twilight, lamentably. "When exactly did Big Mac find her, Applejack?"
"It must've been around six thirty this mornin'," Applejack answered. "He said that he found her near the south orchard, just lyin' in the grass at the bottom of a hill. She might have been there for several hours. Maybe even all night long."
"She may not lose all of her memory, Twilight," said Rarity. "She may be able to tell us something."
"I hope so," said Twilight.
Pinkie Pie walked over to the comatose Rainbow Dash and gently caressed her hoof.
"Poor Rainbow..."
The room went silent as everyone turned their attention towards Pinkie, unsure of what to say to her. Her supremely positive and fun-loving mind seemed the least capable to cope with a situation like this.
"Oh, Twilight, what were you gonna say earlier? About how this couldn't be a coincidence?" asked Applejack.
Twilight sighed, suddenly unwilling to share her information for fear of worsening the mood. She glanced at Spike, who nodded, urging her on.
"I got a letter from Princess Celestia last night. The postscript read, 'Please let Rainbow Dash know that she has my deepest condolences.' Would any of you happen to know what she meant by that?"
Twilight glanced at Fluttershy who returned a perplexed look. Everyone else responded similarly, either by shrugging or shaking their heads.
"I didn't think so. But this can't be a coincidence," Twilight continued. "There must be something going on with her. First the party, then the letter, and now this? Before Applejack told me that Rainbow was in the hospital, I was actually trying to find her to ask about it. And now that's going to have to wait."
"Why not just write to Princess Celestia and ask what she meant?" suggested Rarity.
"That just wouldn't feel right," said Twilight. "She obviously thinks that we already know about all about it, so it would just feel uncomfortable to ask. Besides, I would rather hear it from Rainbow Dash anyway."
Fluttershy suddenly gasped, jolting upward onto her hooves.
"Oh no...," she whispered.
Twilight blinked. "Fluttershy?"
"I...I have to go for a little while," said Fluttershy. "I think I may know what she meant."
"What are you thinkin' it is?" asked Applejack.
"I...don't want to say," said Fluttershy. "I actually hope I'm wrong about this..."
"Where are you going?" asked Spike.
"Cloudsdale," Fluttershy answered. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Should I come with you?" asked Twilight, surprised by Fluttershy's sudden motivation.
Fluttershy shook her head. "No. I need to do this myself."
Without another word, she hurried out of the room, leaving the others to share the same ambiguous looks as before. Pinkie Pie looked back down at Rainbow Dash as tears gradually permeated from her eyes. She leaned down and kissed her hoof.
"Please wake up, Rainbow. Please...."
****
Thirty minutes passed as everyone in the room anxiously awaited Fluttershy's return. The room was utterly silent, and each subtle motion that Rainbow Dash's unconscious body made turned every head in her direction, offering the slightest bit of hope that she was finally awakening from her deep sleep. Yet there still remained no sign that it was going to happen anytime soon. Pinkie Pie remained closest to her side, continuing to stroke her hoof, with a solitary tear falling from her eye every so often. Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity were each reminded of when Pinkie had remained close to her mailbox, expecting a letter from Rainbow Dash after she had left for the Wonderbolt Academy, and became more and more convinced that Rainbow had forgotten all about her with every minute that passed without its arrival. They surely expected that Pinkie would not be leaving Rainbow's side until she eventually woke up, whenever that would be...
"Oh dear, I hope Rainbow Dash won't have to cancel her Wonderbolts debut on Saturday," Rarity said suddenly.
"Golly, I didn't even think about that," said Applejack. "I can't imagine she'll be in well enough shape to fly in the next three days. Shoot, we don't even know if she'll be awake by then."
"I'm sure they'll just postpone it to a later date if need be," noted Twilight. "It'd just be a shame if Rainbow had to wait even longer to finally fulfill her dream."
"What if she doesn't wake up for a super long time?" asked Pinkie, her voice more somber than anyone had ever heard it before.
"That's not going to happen, Pinkie," Twilight reassured her. Pinkie did not respond, and another teardrop loosed itself from her eye.
Rarity sighed. "Could this possibly get any worse?"
The door suddenly opened again and in walked Fluttershy, her eyes downcast with a newspaper dubbed The Daily Cloud News gripped in her wing.
"Uhh...Fluttershy?" said Applejack.
Fluttershy released the newspaper from her wing and closed her eyes, as though too ashamed or embarrassed to look at her friends.
"I know. I know what Celestia meant..."
"What is it?" asked Twilight.
Without saying a word, Fluttershy dropped the newspaper to the floor, opening it to the obituary section.
"Look...," she said, pointing at a single name.
Twilight magically lifted the paper from the floor, and everyone gathered around to see the name Fluttershy pointed at.
"Rainbow Blaze...," Twilight read, her eyes widening.
"That's Rainbow Dash's father," said Fluttershy. "He...he died."
"Oh, goodness!" Rarity said, instantly placing her hoof over her mouth.
"I...I don't believe it...," said Applejack, her ears lowering.
"Died...?" said Pinkie, tears streaming quickly down her cheeks. "He's gone...forever?"
Everyone looked back at Rainbow Dash with pity-filled stares. Lying motionless on the bed, she suddenly appeared to be solemn and grief-stricken, as though the blank expression on her face was now showing intense sorrow and grief where it had previously been unreadable.
Twilight turned back to the newspaper and continued reading through the obituary.
"It says here that he....died this past Friday."
"Yeah...," Fluttershy said, nodding.
"This past Friday?!" said Rarity, almost incredulously. "Surely, she must have known!"
Fluttershy nodded again.
"And yet she didn't say anythin'....," noted Applejack.
"No," said Twilight with a shake of her head, dropping the newspaper. "Of course she wouldn't say anything..."
Fluttershy lowered her head, tears dripping down her face again. "She wouldn't even tell me."
"Was this what you thought it was, Fluttershy?" asked Spike.
Fluttershy nodded, wiping the tears away.
"The subject of her father had been coming up lately, and I just thought that maybe something terrible had happened to him. I went to Rainbow Dash's old house where he lived and nopony was there. I picked up the current newspaper to take a look at the obituaries....and there he was."
"What do you mean 'the subject of her father had been coming up lately?'" asked Twilight.
Fluttershy took a deep breath and shook her head.
"I don't know if I should tell you about it. It's always been a very personal matter for her."
"Please, Fluttershy," urged Twilight. "There's already so much that we don't know right now; don't keep another thing from us. Whatever it is, we won't tell her that we know about it."
"Umm...well...alright, fine," Fluttershy said, finishing with a sigh. "You'll probably know about it soon anyway. Rainbow Dash wasn't very close to her dad. She always wanted to be a Wonderbolt, but he never believed that she would ever become one, and that really put a strain on their relationship. She eventually left home, telling him that the next time he would see her, she would be wearing a Wonderbolt uniform. She kept to that vow. She hasn't seen him in five years, never once even paying him a visit, not for anything."
Every eye was fixed on Fluttershy, each one widened with shock. It suddenly made sense why Rainbow Dash had always been so reluctant to talk about her family.
"My, that sounds awful," commented Rarity. Fluttershy nodded.
"I tried to tell her that was a mistake and that she ought to pay him a visit every now and then, but I never could get through to her. After everything she's told me, I can't blame her for leaving, but I still thought that she should have at least checked in on him from time to time. But she just...wouldn't."
"Wait a minute," said Twilight. "Are you saying that she was only going to visit him again when she was wearing a Wonderbolt uniform...which was going to happen this Saturday?"
"Yes," answered Fluttershy. "The other day when I talked Rainbow after she ran off, we got into a discussion about her dad. She told me that she was worried about seeing him again, and I said that it was a good thing that they would be able to rebuild their relationship after so many years apart. But...she knew. He was gone, and she knew it. She knew he was gone, and she chose not to tell me."
Fluttershy hung her head and closed her eyes. "She....she lied to me..."
"She lied to all of us," replied Applejack, looking downward bitterly.
The door to the room opened again and a worried Scootaloo stepped inside, quickly rushing towards the bed.
"I just heard from Apple Bloom," she said instantly. "How is she? Is she going to be okay?"
"She'll be fine," said Twilight reassuringly. "She'll be just fine."
Scootaloo cracked a smile that faded almost immediately.
"Has she woken up yet?"
"She's in a coma," said Fluttershy. "But it won't last long...we hope."
"How did this happen?" Scootaloo asked, looking down mournfully.
"We don't know, darling," said Rarity. "We'll have to wait until she wakes up."
"If she even remembers, that is," added Applejack.
Scootaloo suddenly shook her head rapidly, as though trying to reject some feeling from inside her.
"Okay, this has gone on far enough. I can't keep it from you guys anymore."
"What are you talking about?" asked Twilight.
Scootaloo let out a sigh. "Rainbow Dash...her dad died a few days ago."
"We know," said Applejack.
Scootaloo looked up at her. "You do?"
"We just found out," said Twilight. "But how did you know?"
"I....I was with her when she got the news. She told me not to tell anypony, and I didn't. But I didn't know that she wasn't going to tell you guys."
"So that's what you meant yesterday," Fluttershy realized. "When you said you were with her when she got the news, I thought you were referring to her Wonderbolt letter."
"I was about tell you, but I just couldn't do it," Scootaloo said to her. "I was thinking that maybe she just wasn't ready to tell you guys yet. But I was wrong. She was never planning on telling any of you. In fact, she told me right to my face that the only reason I knew was because I had been there."
"Why, that's the most--!" cried an indignant Applejack, suddenly stopping herself. Rarity let out an exasperated huff while Pinkie and Fluttershy looked over at Rainbow Dash with a mixture of disbelief and sorrow.
"Scootaloo, I want you to tell us how Rainbow Dash has been these last few days," said Twilight. "This is very important."
Scootaloo briefly rubbed her chin in thought. "Uhh...well....she's been kind of passive about the whole thing. She acts like his death hasn't affected her at all when I know it has."
"How do you know it's affected her?" Twilight immediately asked.
"Well, she denies it so much that it's like she's purposefully trying not to let herself feel," answered Scootaloo. "Yesterday, I saw a bunch of empty apple cider bottles scattered on her kitchen table. She must have drank through all of them at once. And with cider season a long way away, that didn't strike me as something she would normally do--not unless she was trying to ease her pain, that is."
"Yes," said Fluttershy with a nod. "She told me about that."
"Has she made any...disturbing statements?" asked Twilight. "Anything that would have made you worried for her well-being?"
"What are you gettin' at, Twilight?" Applejack asked before Scootaloo could respond.
Twilight sighed. "Like I said, this can't be a coincidence. It just can't be."
"What are you tryin' to say?" questioned Applejack.
Twilight looked hard at her for several brief seconds.
Rarity gasped. "Twilight...you aren't suggesting that Rainbow Dash did this to herself on purpose, are you?"
Twilight looked down, signifying her answer.
"No!" Fluttershy cried at once. "She wouldn't do that! She would never do that!"
"Well before today, I never would have thought that Rainbow Dash would have hidden something this big from us," said Twilight. "But I was wrong, wasn't I? In fact, I think we all were."
"But Twilight, this is Rainbow Dash we're talking about!" cried Rarity. "I don't want to think that she would ever even consider..."
"I don't want to think so, either," said Twilight. "I would certainly hope that she would never consider it. But right now, I'm just not so sure if I really know Rainbow Dash as well as I thought. I'm just saying that...it's a possibility."
Fluttershy began to weep and Rarity wrapped a hoof around her, eventually breaking down into tears herself. Scootaloo closed her eyes and turned her head away while Applejack glared fiercely at the floor. Pinkie now looked more somber than ever before, her eyes glued to Rainbow Dash as though fearful that she would slip away if somepony was not watching her.
"I...I could be wrong," Twilight said, sorry that she had brought the notion up. "I mean, we all jumped to the conclusion that Rainbow had lost her Reserves membership after she ran away from the party? I could just be jumping to conclusions again..."
This did nothing to change the mood in the room, as the thought had already sunk in far too deep. Twilight plopped herself down, not saying a single word more.
Pinkie watched as Rainbow Dash stirred slightly in her sleep. |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | Chapter 7 -- Dive | Twilight looked up at the clock on the wall just as it ticked half past nine. The day had passed by in slow motion. It could have easily been days since she first heard that Rainbow Dash was in the hospital, and she'd have been shocked to realize that it had only happened that morning. Everyone remained in Room 27, still awaiting any indication that Rainbow was going to wake up soon, particularly after the doctor had begun treatment on her. Yet aside from a few sharp jolts in movement which happened sporadically throughout the day, she remained wholly unconscious, still without any sign of when she would awaken again. The idea that Rainbow had attempted suicide still hung ominously in the room's atmosphere, even though it had not been discussed much since it was first brought up. Scootaloo sat in the far corner of the room, looking almost as distraught as Pinkie Pie. She had barely said a word since Twilight informed them about her suspicions that Rainbow's injuries were of her own doing.
Except for the purpose of eating meals generously provided by the hospital in the cafeteria, no one had left the room during the day. Pinkie and Scootaloo had not left at all, both flatly refusing to eat, and Fluttershy only picked at her food somberly with only tiny portions entering her mouth. Only a few additional visitors stopped by, including Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, some members of the Ponyville Weather Team, and even Mayor Mare. Upon seeing Rainbow Dash, each visitor instinctively asked how she ended up in a coma, and Twilight, Rarity, and Applejack were constantly forced to repeat that they did not have any answers and would not have them until she eventually woke up. But much to their dismay, the doctor informed them that a patient awaking from a coma should not be forced to answer questions upon waking, and that they would need to give Rainbow Dash at least few hours (but preferably a day) to collect herself again before doing so.
The room had long fallen into an uncomfortable silence as everyone continued to wait for either Rainbow Dash regaining consciousness, or the doctor coming back in to deliver a new update on her condition--whichever would come first. After a while, the constant beeping of the electrocardiograph stung their ears every other second until it eventually seemed to be picking irritatingly at their brains, making them all wish that Twilight had some kind of useful sound-muffling spell in her repertoire. Fatigue had long begun to set in--eyelids were droopy and a mouth opened to yawn every few minutes.
"Have I ever told you guys about the time Rainbow Dash was suspended from Flight Camp for sticking up for me?" asked Fluttershy, interrupting the silence that had lasted for nearly an hour.
Every head turned in her direction except for Scootaloo's, which remained hung downwards so that she was staring directly at her reflection in the polished floor.
"I...don't believe so," noted Rarity. Everyone else stared at Fluttershy with intrigue, eager to hear the story if for no other reason than to drown out the beeping--not that Fluttershy's voice was actually capable of drowning anything out.
"When Rainbow Dash and I met at Flight Camp, I was no one to her," she began. "It was like we were on the opposite ends of a staircase. She was one of the best flyers in camp, and I was one of the weakest. She was popular and well-liked while I was often teased and ridiculed. Many of the same fillies who admired her also teased me. She could have chosen to join in right along with them, but she didn't. Instead, she defended me, telling them to leave me alone. Knowing that there was somepony willing to stand by my side is what got me through Flight Camp. We became friends, and she eventually told me that if they didn't stop harassing me, she was going to take matters into her own hooves. At first I thought that meant that she was going to actually fight with them, and I didn't want that. Not only because I didn't want anypony getting hurt over me, but because I knew that if Rainbow did something like that, she would be kicked out of camp--and I needed her.
"Over the next few days, I tried my best not to react to anypony teasing me. I thought that maybe if I acted like they didn't bother me anymore, Rainbow Dash would forget about it. But that wasn't easy, especially since by that time, they had begun to tease me over my cutie mark because I had received it on the ground. But one day when their teasing got worse, Rainbow Dash told me that she was going to do something about it. I wanted to tell her not to, but we hadn't known each other for very long, and I still felt a bit uncomfortable talking to her. I was also worried that if I told her not to, she would take it to mean that I didn't want her defending me anymore, and she would stop. So I didn't say anything, and just waited for what would happen next. The next day, we had to do lap exercises, which were a pain for me since I would always be last to finish and the entire camp would be laughing at how slow I was. But on that day, the camp had something else to laugh at. As I circled around to finish my third lap out of ten, I noticed that two of the fillies who tormented me every day were screaming, running around, flying in circles, and trying to swallow chunks of clouds. The entire camp was amused by it, and Rainbow Dash stood grinning with a sense of accomplishment, and I knew at once that whatever had happened to them, it was something that she did.
"As it turned out, once she had finished her own laps--and as usual, she was the first one finished--she took their water bottles and flew over to the Weather Factory to fill them up with rainbow. I could hardly believe it when she told me. I was amazed that she was willing to do that for somepony she barely knew. Camp was cancelled for the rest of the day after that, and the next day, the instructor told us that Rainbow Dash had been suspended. I never told her, but though I appreciated what she did, I felt really guilty. I didn't think that she deserved to be suspended for my sake. But after that, I knew that Rainbow Dash and I would be friends for a long time."
Fluttershy paused and took a deep breath. Everyone appeared to be transfixed by her story, but Scootaloo seemed to remain closed off inside her own private bubble, continuing to stare down as though she had not heard a word.
"Rainbow Dash is my best friend, and I know almost everything about her. I think we all know how stubbornly proud she can be, and sometimes it does go against her better judgment. Was it not from this very hospital that she tried to steal a Daring Do book because she was too proud to ask to borrow a copy from you, Twilight? We've all seen it before. This is a situation that she's completely unfamiliar with and one that she probably doesn't know how to deal with. Her relationship with her father had always been very personal, and I'm sure there are things she never even told me about. But whatever happened to her last night, whatever it was that got her here, I know in my heart that she did not deliberately do this to herself. I needed time to think about it for a while--I needed time to question if I truly knew her well enough to say this with certainty. But I am now completely sure that this was an accident, and that we have nothing to worry about."
Scootaloo's bubble seemed to have burst, as she finally looked up at Fluttershy after she closed her last sentence. The room went silent for several moments as everyone reflected on her words.
"I really hope yer right...," said Applejack.
"So do I...," added Twilight.
"That was quite a story, Fluttershy" acknowledged Rarity. "But I'm curious about something. Did those awful fillies finally stop teasing you after that?"
As if on cue, everyone else who had lingering questions unanswered by the story suddenly began to ask them, one after another. Scootaloo remained silent, already knowing the answer to most of them. Her mind remained fixed on Fluttershy's closing sentence, hoping upon anything and everything that it was true. When all questions had been answered, silence began to fill the room once again.
Applejack yawned. "Well, Ima bit plum tuckered, so I think I'm gonna call it a night."
"Me as well," replied Rarity. "It has gotten quite late."
After a few words of farewell, Applejack and Rarity exited the room, followed shortly by Twilight and Spike, who was already drifting asleep on her back. Pinkie remained by Rainbow's side, still unwilling to move. As Fluttershy turned to leave the room herself, her eyes fell upon Scootaloo still sitting in the corner, looking down at the floor once again, appearing as though she wanted to go unnoticed.
"Scootaloo?"
The young filly looked up. "Hm?"
"Aren't you going home, too?" asked Fluttershy.
Scootaloo shook her head, looking down again. "I don't feel like it right now."
"I know how you feel, but Rainbow Dash is going to be fine," Fluttershy said, moving closer to her. "There's nothing to worry about."
Much to Fluttershy's surprise, Scootaloo began to tremble, which was followed shortly by a flood of tears raining down her cheeks.
"It's my fault. It's all my fault..."
Stunned and frozen in place, Fluttershy instinctively placed a hoof around her. "It's not your fault, Scootaloo. Why would you think--"
"Yes, it is!" Scootaloo cried, nodding forcefully. "If I had just told you about her dad yesterday like I was going to, this might not have happened. It's because of me. It's because of me that you almost lost your best friend. I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"
Fluttershy said nothing for a moment, taken by surprise at the young filly's distress. "I don't think that's true, Scootaloo. We don't know how this happened."
"Why? Why do we even bother living if this is what it comes down to?" Scootaloo asked through sobs. "It's...it's like we only live to see the ponies we love die, until the day death finally comes for us..."
"Now, stop that. That's a horrible way to think," scolded Fluttershy. "Rainbow Dash is going to be fine. We could have lost her, but we didn't, and that's something that we should be thankful for. We don't live to see the ponies we love die, we live to enjoy the time that we have with them. And when their time does come, we mourn them, and then we find a way to move on because that's what they would want us to do. Rainbow is going to be fine, and you need to realize how much of a blessing that is."
Scootaloo hung her head in sorrow, taking Fluttershy's words to heart.
"Fluttershy...are you absolutely sure that Rainbow Dash didn't...do this to herself?" she asked, wiping away the tears from her eyes and cheeks.
Fluttershy nodded. "Yes. I'm absolutely sure."
Scootaloo let out a sigh, looking unconvinced.
"Don't worry," Fluttershy said with a smile. "I know Rainbow Dash will be very happy to see you when she wakes up."
Scootaloo said nothing, turning her head to look at Rainbow Dash on the bed. Pinkie rested her ear on Rainbow's torso, listening for her heart as though the electrocardiograph's beeps were not enough to prove that it was still beating.
"Come on, I'll walk you home," said Fluttershy.
With another sigh, Scootaloo hesitantly followed Fluttershy out of the room.
****
"Fluttershy, pal, this won't cut it
I need a pet to keep up with me
Something awesome, something flying
With coolness that defies--"
Rainbow Dash shivered suddenly as the wind blew rain directly into her face. Her soaking wet mane and tail hung down sloppily, and the longer she walked, the more desperately she wished that she could shake them dry. The wet grass was cold beneath her hooves as she walked on it, and it was the only thing in sight for miles in any direction--no matter which way she faced, there was nothing but an empty horizon of green. A light, gray sky engulfed the entirety of her surroundings, and heavy raindrops poured relentlessly out of it.
"Why am I singing that stupid song, anyway?" she asked herself, irritated that she had decided to pass the time singing, particularly with a duet that did not sound anywhere near as good when sung as a solo.
Rainbow Dash did not have the slightest clue of where she was or how she had gotten there, nor did she have any idea of where she was going. Her only objective in mind was to find her way back home, or to at least find another pony or otherwise sentient being who could point her in the right direction. Every hoofstep she took left a permanent impression in the grass, and her trail could have been followed back for what seemed like miles. Her hooves were becoming sore, and though she deeply wished to fly, her wings remained closed. She vaguely remembered something terrible happening to her the last time she took to the sky, and the memory now kept her grounded like an ominous premonition hanging over her head.
For the next twenty or so minutes, she walked without speaking another word, continuing to ignore the cold and the rain as best she could. The wind blew against her, and her eyes were soaked with raindrops once again. Sighing with annoyance, Rainbow paused for a moment to wipe them then continued on, resigning herself to close her eyes whenever the wind picked up. In her silence, her thoughts once again began to question how she got there, what had happened that made her afraid to fly....and whether or not this was even real.
These questions had been penetrating her thoughts for hours, yet she was no closer to receiving any answers for them. The last thing she knew she remembered was staring into Fluttershy's scowling face as she lay in the grass. She struggled to remember why Fluttershy was scowling, and why she had been lying in the grass at all, but no matter how hard she thought about it, it was all memories that she did not seem to be able to recover--memories that were probably lost forever.
Frustrated by her inability to remember anything for the hundredth time, Rainbow Dash stopped walking and plopped herself down in the grass. In that moment, she suddenly did not believe that anything lay beyond the grass--it simply stretched on infinitely, and no matter how long she walked, she would never find anything or anyone beyond it. For the first time since finding herself in this place, she felt entirely alone, so much so that she would have been willing to believe that she was the last pony in the world. The light, gray sky now seemed to grow even darker and and the wind now began to blow more frequently.
"What am I doing here?" she asked herself, striking her head with her hoof multiple times. "Come on, think! How did I get here? What happened to me?"
None of her questions received answers, and striking her head only accomplished giving herself a headache. The rain continuously striking her head now began to irritate her, and she covered her head with her forelegs.
"I...I have to--"
Rainbow glimpsed briefly to her right and could faintly see a single, solitary tree protruding from the grass in the distance. Without hesitation, she hurried over to it, hoping that it would not disappear as she got closer like a mirage in the desert. As she approached, she noticed that a white and red checkered quilt lay directly under the tree, flowing gently in the wind. It appeared to be a picnic quilt, but there was no food anywhere to be found on it.
Finally, Rainbow reached the tree and curled herself up on the quilt. The tree did not offer too much protection from the rain, but it was still a relief to finally not feel the raindrops splattering endlessly upon her head. However, the sound of the raindrops striking the leaves was so noisy that she wanted to cover her ears. Intent to muffle the sound, she ultimately found herself singing once again, this time a song far more familiar to her and far more appropriate for her current situation:
"So many clouds scattered across the sky
The softest of pillows lying way up high
Twisted and formed to the whims of a dream
Like fortresses of the heavens or castles of ice cream
Whiter than snow, and lighter than air
Casting shadows everywhere
But today they cry
Today they weep
Today their agony darkens the sky
The sun is gone, the air is cold
Because today they cry
I feel their tears upon my skin
Raining down and down again
The thunder roars a scream of pain
Trembling the wet air through the rain
How I wish to see the sun once more
And the soft, white clouds that I adore
But today they cry
Today they weep
Today their agony darkens the sky
The sun is gone, the air is cold
Because today they cry
If only I knew why
They cry so high
Up, up in the sky
To them I would fly
Just to say "hi"
And that I would try
Till the day I die...
...To feel those soft pillows beneath my head
That I will not feel them cry instead
To hope that tomorrow the sun will shine
And those lovely clouds will again be mine
But today they cry
Today they weep
Today their agony darkens the sky
This dark day brings so much pain
And I'll be shivering in the rain
Because today they cry"
Tears released from Rainbow's eyes as she finished the song. Lying upon the wet quilt, she suddenly felt the eyes of her mother looking down upon her.
"I miss you...," she whispered. "I wish you were still here..."
A strong wind made the quilt flare up, and Rainbow's body was all that kept it from blowing way and disappearing into the vast emptiness, just as any food that had been set upon it before she arrived likely had.
"Can you hold me...?" said Rainbow, feeling both shame and embarrassment at asking such a thing. "Please...?"
Another strong gust of wind served as the only answer to her request. Shivering, Rainbow grabbed an edge of the quilt and pulled it over her body in a somewhat vain attempt to make herself warm, but it was now far too wet to provide any considerable warmth.
"It's so cold," she said weakly. "Please...?"
The sky seemed to grow even darker and the wind and rain seemed to intensify. Rainbow buried her head underneath the blanket and held it as tightly as she could, fearful that she would lose her only protection from the cold. She felt her mother's presence gradually slipping away as her pleads went unanswered.
"I'm scared...," she whispered, tears returning to her eyes. "I'm so scared..."
The quilt only became colder as rain continued to pour down on it, and before long, it no longer provided Rainbow with any warmth at all. The sky now appeared to be so dark that for all she knew, it could have been nighttime. As she shivered and succumbed to the cold, Rainbow Dash finally had an answer for what the empty, grassy field was--or at least for what it represented: a prison. A vast, empty, bar-less prison most likely located within the confines of her own mind. A prison that she was sure she would not allow escape from until she delved deeper inside it...
****
Rainbow finally let the quilt go, no longer feeling any comfort or warmth from being wrapped in it. It blew away within seconds and quickly disappeared into the darkness and intense rainfall. As it left her, so too did any feeling of her mother's presence, and a sense of loneliness consumed her again. She tightly wrapped her forelegs around herself in an attempt to reduce her shivering, but a great roar of thunder accompanied with a flash of lightning in the distance instantly made her jump up uneasily. The tree now seemed like an unsafe place to rest, as Rainbow assumed that it was probably the only thing around for miles that could possibly attract a bolt of lightning.
Taking a deep breath to brace herself for the struggle against the relentless wind and rain, Rainbow stepped away from her haven and continued onward, placing one hoof upon her forehead so as to shield her eyes from the onslaught of raindrops blowing into her face. The raindrops now came down with enough force and speed that they stung when making contact with her body. The wind was now strong enough that she feared she would be blown away if she even dared to open up her wings. And her pace was slowed considerably as it was now too dark to see anything just inches away from her face.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do, mom!" Rainbow cried, hoping in vain that calling out to her mother would allow her to feel her presence again and receive a guide through the darkness. But she received no answer.
Her anger and frustration on the rise, Rainbow continued onward, but another flash of lighting stopped her suddenly in her tracks. During the brief second when her surroundings were lit up, she was able to see that the grassy field had unexpectedly changed. In place of grass now lay wilted flowers, each of the same species and small enough that they only rose about six inches from the ground.
Rainbow wondered if this was the answer she was hoping for, but could not comprehend its meaning. Instead, it only made her feel uneasy, as if the wilted flowers were a warning as to what awaited her when she reached the end of the field. With the next flash of lightning, Rainbow Dash was easily able to identify the species of these flowers. Though she was no expert at identifying flowers, she would have recognized this specific one anywhere. They were Birds of Passion, easily identifiable by their two distinct and vibrant petals on the opposite ends of the receptacle which resembled birds' wings. It was often described as "the official flower of Cloudsdale" due to the fact that it only bloomed in very high places, and it was commonly worn in the manes of pegasi during funerals due to its symbolism of freedom and passing on. When wilted, the flower's "wings" appeared to be solemnly closed.
"What does this mean...?" Rainbow whispered to herself, standing in place for several minutes as she tried to think of an answer. But she gave up quickly, now tired of wracking her brain for answers that she knew were not there.
Shivering with fear and cold in equal measure, Rainbow continued to walk, continuing her search for any escape, any shelter from the rain she could possibly find. Every few minutes, the foreleg she was holding above her eyes grew tired, and she frequently switched it for the other. Every step she took was filled with fear--every hoof trembled as it raised from the ground. She scoffed at herself in disgust, ashamed at how terrified she was, ashamed at how much she felt like a little lost filly searching and crying out for her mother. Under normal circumstances, Rainbow would not have wanted anyone to see her in this state, but in that moment, she desperately longed for someone's presence...
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" she shouted again into the nothingness. "Please, show me what to do so I can get out of this dumb place!!!"
Again, she did not receive any response. The wind and rain refused to relent, and the darkness did not clear away. Rainbow gritted her teeth in hostile frustration.
"Okay, you know what? Fine!"
Rainbow Dash finally spread her wings and leapt into the sky, disregarding the unpleasant premonition that kept her grounded as she no longer felt any safer walking than she did flying. She picked up speed at once, and the raindrops stung her face so painfully that she covered it entirely with both forelegs, effectively cutting off her vision in the process--not that she would have been able to see anything in front of her anyway. She was now more determined than ever to break out of this prison and wake up again.
As if in response to her act of defiance, the wind blew considerably harder--so hard that Rainbow felt as though she was suddenly caught in the grip of a tornado. At once, she was lifted higher into the sky against her will, her wings and legs flailing about wildly to regain balance, but it was impossible. Screaming in fear, she twisted and spun around uncontrollably in the air until finally crashing down to the earth....and straight into mud. The Birds of Passion flowers were now gone, and for the second time, the ground had changed.
"What?! What do I have to do?! WHY CAN'T I LEAVE?!!!" Rainbow screamed, picking herself back up.
She angrily wiped the mud from her face and body, feeling as though she was cruelly being taunted--as though someone, somewhere was laughing their flank off at her as she struggled to clean herself up. With that thought in mind, just as suddenly and unexpectedly as she felt her mother's presence earlier, she now felt her father's eyes hovering above in the sky, peering down at her with an unmistakable sense of satisfaction. Unsurprisingly, his presence did not make Rainbow feel as warm as her mother's had...
"Go away...," Rainbow Dash said softly, using the rain to wash the mud from her mane and tail. "I know you're not going to help me. Just have your laugh and go away..."
As soon the wind returned to its previous speed, Rainbow Dash resumed walking, her hooves disappearing into the muddy ground with every step she took. The mud was highly uncomfortable to walk through, but after what had just happened, she was once again fearful to open her wings, even to hover a few feet off the ground. Rainbow Blaze seemed to followed her, coming down closer and closer until eventually Rainbow Dash thought that if she were to look to her left, she would see him walking alongside her. She sighed with frustration, still ashamed of how frightened and helpless she felt. In spite of how much she wished to reject her father's presence, feeling him beside her somehow made her less afraid, even though she knew that he was not really there.
Rainbow no longer bothered to cover her eyes; instead she simply walked with her eyes closed and her head lowered as the rain blew against her face. After walking for a long stretch of time, the length of which she could not even begin to specify, the rain suddenly ceased pouring down on her with great force. She looked up at once, hopeful that her fortunes were finally changing and the rain was beginning to stop.
"Mom!" Rainbow called, suddenly feeling her mother's presence again, this time much closer and warmer than it was before. The rain was not stopping--instead, it appeared as though she was simply being protected from it...
Rainbow Dash's heart skipped several beats as her mother and father suddenly materialized to her left and right sides, respectively. They were both entirely translucent as if they were ghosts, yet they were illuminated brightly so that they cast light upon the darkness and rain. They did not speak, and instead only smiled warmly at their daughter.
"You're....you're both here...," Rainbow said, smiling as tears filled her eyes.
Without bothering to waste a single moment questioning this apparent impossibility, Rainbow walked in between her ghostlike parents, thankful for the light they provided her. Their light reflected the colors of their coats, and both the beige of Sunstreak's Shine coat and the periwinkle of Rainbow Blaze's coat blended together well to grant her with a bright enough light to see several feet in front of her. Their presence also shielded her from the rain, and no longer could she feel it pouring down upon her head or blowing into her face. After what seemed like hours of walking in complete darkness with raindrops assaulting every single inch of her body, Rainbow Dash finally felt a sense a freedom from her prison.
****
Rainbow could not help but squeal with insatiable joy at her parents standing by her side. It was a sensation that she was entirely unfamiliar with, a sensation that had been robbed from her at a young age. Having spent her entire fillyhood wishing that she had two parents like most other fillies she knew, for the first time ever, she had them right within her grasp. Their presence was like a brand new set of wings--a set of wings with which she felt thoroughly protected, a set of wings which were now permanently attached to her body, never to fail or abandon her. Though she still felt like a helpless filly who was now simply bursting with excitement because she had finally been found, she did not feel any shame for it. Every last ounce of fear she had felt before was gone. All was well. All was right. And she wished that this moment would never end, even if it meant walking aimlessly in this place for all eternity...
After a while, Rainbow's hooves no longer touched mud and instead touched solid stone, and she did not need the light to let her know that the ground had changed again. She rose her hooves up to the rain, allowing the mud to wash off of them. But after a few more steps forward, Rainbow stopped immediately in her tracks, seeing that they were now standing at the edge of a bottomless pit that stretched on endlessly both horizontally and vertically, with nothing but pitch darkness lying inside it and beyond it. It was the end of the field.
"So...this is it, huh?" Rainbow said. "What now? Should we fly?"
Rainbow looked up at her parents, and was somewhat disturbed to see that in place of their smiles were grim expressions, as though they somehow knew that it was no positive sign that they had reached the end. The rain that fell inside the massive pit vanished almost as soon as it entered, disappearing thoroughly into the void of darkness.
"I guess we should start walking back, right?" asked Rainbow, turning around quickly in response to their expressions. However, she instantly noticed that neither of her parents had made a move to turn away from the cliff, and they remained staring down into the dark void.
Before Rainbow had a chance to turn them away from the cliff, her mother continued to walk forward, and to her horror, she began to step carelessly over the edge...
"NO, MOM!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!" Rainbow screamed, but it was too late. Sunstreak Shine fell into the void, her body instantly losing its unique glow as she disappeared from sight. Tears flooded from Rainbow's eyes as she felt her mother's presence vanish entirely. In a single moment, the joy she had felt just minutes ago was replaced intense grief at losing her mother for the second time in her life.
Her soaking, tear-filled eyes looked up at her father, she was horrified to see that he had also begun to take a few steps forward...
"NO, DAD!!!! NO!! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!!!!"
But Rainbow Blaze ignored her, and he cast himself into the bottomless pit, disappearing into nothingness just as her mother did before him.
"NOOOOOOO!!!! NOOOO!!!" Rainbow Dash screamed in agony, curling up on the ground. They were gone, and she could feel their absence ripping into her heart. She was all alone again, and she now realized that this is how it would be forever and for the rest of her life.
"I'm an orphan...," she whispered, feeling no shame from her words. "I'm a little lost orphan. And I'm scared..."
The rain resumed pouring atop Rainbow's head with the same level of cruelty as it had before. She stared down into the bottomless pit in a trance, as though expecting her parents to fly back out of it. But she knew within her heart that they were never coming back again.
Rainbow no longer wanted to keep walking, she no longer wanted to keep fighting the rain and the dark, and she no longer wanted to be stuck inside this never-ending hell. It was now vividly clear to her what her only option for escape from this prison was...
"Mom. Dad. I'm coming..."
Rainbow Dash stepped closer to the pit's edge and leaned forward slowly. Within seconds, her hooves no longer touched the rocky ground. She slipped forward into the void, tumbling and tumbling as she swiftly fell through the nothingness. She closed her eyes and awaited the end, her wings remaining shut with no desire to save herself or even slow her fall...
It was all over...
****
"How is she today?" Rarity asked the nurse who was currently standing by Rainbow Dash's bedside.
"She's looking very well, you'll be happy to know," the nurse answered. "Her mental state appears to be stabilizing, and there's no reason to expect that it will drop again. I do believe that this will be passing soon."
"We can only hope...," Applejack said with a relieved smile.
Everyone had gathered together in Rainbow Dash's room before breakfast the following morning, hopeful that she would have regained consciousness at some point during the night. Instead, they were only greeted by the nurse, who was in the middle of running tests and checking Rainbow's vitals. Pinkie remained sitting beside her comatose body, looking both increasingly tired and hungry with heavy bags under her eyes and tiny strands of hair popping out from her mane.
"Pinkie, have you slept at all?" Twilight asked after the nurse left the room.
Pinkie shook her head without taking her eyes off of Rainbow.
"Have you eaten at all?" asked Fluttershy with an equal amount of concern in her voice.
Pinkie shook her head again, and the friends exchanged apprehensive glances with each other. As they expected, Pinkie was intent not to leave Rainbow Dash's side for even a second, just as she had not left the mailbox after Rainbow went away to the Wonderbolts Academy. They suddenly realized that they had even more reason to be thankful that she was not in any critical condition.
"We were about to go out to breakfast," said Twilight. "We would really like it if you came with us."
"No," Pinkie answered at once. With a sorrowful sigh, Twilight walked closer to her.
"Pinkie, you need to eat," she said, placing a tender hoof on her shoulder. "Just come with us for a little while. She's not going to wake up any sooner if you just continue to sit here."
"I'm not hungry," Pinkie responded, shaking her head. Twilight stared apologetically at her friends, hoping that one of them would have a better idea of what to say to her.
Rarity took a step forward. "Darling, Rainbow Dash is going to be fine. We were just told that she's doing fine and this may not last that much longer. It still may still be some time before she wakes up and you have to--"
Rainbow's body suddenly jolted forcefully, went still for a brief moment, then jolted again with even more force. Everyone immediately crowded around the bed, staring intently at her. The electrocardiograph beeped with more intensity as her heart rate increased. Rainbow continued to jolt and shift on the bed, displaying far more motion than she had the previous day. Her friends watched her, scarcely blinking, hoping that this was finally it. But once Rainbow's body went still again and the electrocardiograph slowed its beeping, an icy fear fell over them as they realized the possibility that something far worse might have been taking place right before their eyes...
After an unbearable moment of silence and stillness, the crimson of Rainbow Dash's irises could faintly be seen as her eyes gradually opened... |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | Chapter 8 -- Awake | Rainbow Dash could see nothing except for group of colorful, fuzzy, and strangely recognizable shapes as her eyes slowly reverted to a state which could have deceived anypony into believing that she was fully conscious again. Her mind was a scrambled mess, with dozens of thoughts and memories swirling about relentlessly, trying to make sense of what was happening. Further reducing her ability to concentrate was a painful throbbing in her head, which pierced her so badly that she instinctively clutched it with her forehooves.
"Rainbow Dash!" cried a hyperactive voice which startled her.
"Quiet, Pinkie!" scolded a second voice. "You can't just shout like that. You're going to scare her."
Rainbow looked up to see one of the fuzzy shapes lean in closer to her face.
"Rainbow, darling, are you all right?" a recognizable voice whispered.
"Ra--"
Rainbow Dash attempted to say the name of the one who spoke, but she lost her voice almost as soon as she found it, and as far as anyone knew, all she had uttered was an unintelligible grunt. The memories swirling about her mind refused to settle, but a single image continuously wedged itself into the forefront of her thoughts--an image which filled her with fear. It was of her falling endlessly into hollow darkness, deeper and deeper into nothingness. It her most recent memory, and she failed to recall anything beyond it--her memory stored no image of how or when her fall ended, or if it even ended at all. The image increased in vividness as she continued to think on it, and Rainbow's fear intensified as she began to doubt that she was even alive anymore. She closed and reopened her eyes multiple times, but the fuzzy images did not become any less fuzzy, nor did her situation make any more sense to her.
Pinkie Pie's face fell at Rainbow's lack of response.
"Do you think....she doesn't remember who we are?" she asked mournfully.
"No, of course not, Pinkie," reassured Twilight. "We just need to give her a little time. She'll come back to us soon."
Within seconds, the door swung open and the doctor swiftly glided inside the room, a clipboard magically levitated beside him.
"I'm going to need all of you to take a step back. Right now," he demanded emotionlessly.
Rainbow's friends did as instructed, surprised by his sudden entrance. Pinkie Pie remained as close to the bed as she could, tears running down her cheeks at the thought that they may have lost her after all. The doctor stared deeply into Rainbow's blank eyes as though searching for some sign of life behind them. She lurched backward as he leaned closer, instantly fearful that the unrecognizable figure who now filled her hazy vision would do her harm.
"Rainbow Dash? Would you please raise your right hoof if you can understand what I'm saying?" he requested.
The words reached Rainbow's ears, but her hoof did not raise. Her mind continued to race and the pain in her head was so unbearable that only her lack of voice kept her from screaming.
"Would you please raise your right hoof if you can understand what I'm saying?" he repeated.
Again, Rainbow Dash failed to respond. Cold sweat ran down from both sides of her brow and her heartbeat increased steadily. She was spontaneously struck with a prevailing urge to move as far as she could from the unfamiliar voice.
The doctor sighed with disappointment and wrote on the clipboard.
"Is she going to be okay, Dr. Horse?" Fluttershy asked, also concerned about Rainbow Dash's failure to respond.
Doctor Horse turned towards her. "This is not uncommon. Perhaps I simply need to speak slower. You see, this is why I told you that she cannot be forced to answer questions when she wakes up. It's probably going to be some time before she--"
"Oh my!" Rarity cried, and Horse spun back around to see Rainbow Dash squirming rapidly, attempting to remove herself from the bed as though under the belief that it was somehow holding her captive.
"No!" he cried frantically, but before he had a chance to act, Rainbow flopped over the bedside, taking the blanket with her.
She grunted with pain as her head struck the solid floor, instantly worsening the throbbing. Her wings sprang open at once, freeing herself from the grasp of the blanket. She struggled to fly away, but could only flap her wings with enough strength to lift her body inches from the floor. Visible anguish swept over Rainbow's face as her struggle to escape became more desperate. She dropped herself to the linoleum and crawled forward in a frenzy, moving towards an exit that she could hardly see and was not fully certain even existed.
"Rainbow Dash, stop!" Fluttershy squeaked as the frantic pegasus crawled past her legs.
But Rainbow did not stop. Her teeth gritted, she squirmed about the floor, desperate to get as far away as she could from the voices, from the confusion, and from the uncertainty. The cords connecting her foreleg to the electrocardiograph detached as she moved beyond their length. Her friends stared in bewilderment, unsure of how to stop her without driving her further into unyielding fear. When Rainbow had nearly reached the door, the doctor finally wrapped her in an aura and gently picked her up, moving her back towards the bed.
As she felt herself being lifted, Rainbow Dash let out an agonizing, high-pitched yelp which sounded like it could have easily come from a frightened puppy. It punctured crudely through the ears of her friends, each of whom never would have imagined that Rainbow Dash was capable of making such a fearful sound. Rainbow's hooves flailed about rapidly, struggling with every last bit of strength she had to force her way out of the aura, but she was helplessly trapped. Horse gently lowered her body back onto the bed, but did not release her.
"I'm going to need you all to clear the room. Right now," he said sternly.
Twilight stared at him in disbelief. "You can't possibly expect us--"
"Actually no, wait, who among you would you say that she's closest to?" he interrupted.
Fluttershy casually looked around at her friends as though expecting one of them to speak up and claim themselves as Rainbow's closest acquaintance. When she saw that they were all staring back at her, she uncomfortably raised her hoof.
"Then I need you to stay," said Horse. "I need you to talk to her."
"Doctor, what's going on?!" Twilight asked, frustrated. "Tell us what's happening to her!"
"This is a fairly uncommon occurrence that afflicts ponies waking up from a coma caused by head trauma," he explained. "The trauma is still heavy on her mind, and she is now in a state of fight-or-flight. It's highly necessary that we relax her and calm her down." He looked to Fluttershy. "That's why I need you to talk to her. Hearing a voice she recognizes is the most efficient way of doing so."
Rainbow groaned loudly and painfully. She eventually ceased her fight against the aura, and Dr. Horse released her from it while simultaneously reconnecting the electrocardiograph's cords to her foreleg. She snapped her eyes shut and went stiff, wrapping her forelegs around her body as though bracing herself for what would happen to her next. The electrocardiograph now beeped twice per second, complimenting the growing tension in the room.
"Start talking to her," Horse ordered to Fluttershy.
"Well, why do we hafta leave?" asked Applejack. "Couldn't we also stay and talk to her? She knows our voices, too."
"No," the doctor answered, shaking his head. "She needs to hear only one voice, and that voice needs to be the one she is most likely to recognize. Hearing multiple voices would probably confuse her, and that's the absolute last thing she needs right now. So please, I have to ask you to go. The more ponies she sees crowding around her, the more nervous she may become."
"I'm not going anywhere," Pinkie Pie said in a tone that was unusually firm for her.
"Pinkie, please...," Twilight implored, having expected that she would resist.
"No! I don't want to leave her!" she cried, shaking her head vigorously.
"Keep your voice down," Horse scolded in a low, yet hostile voice. "Shouting is only going to make her condition worse."
Pinkie instantly shoved both forehooves into her mouth and let out a solemn whimper.
"Pinkie, if you want Rainbow Dash to get better, then we have to leave," Twilight whispered to her. "We'll come right back as soon as she's okay again."
Pinkie removed her hooves from her mouth and bit down hard on her lip. "But..."
"C'mon, sugarcube," said Applejack, placing a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder. "We hafta do what we can to help Rainbow Dash recover."
Her eyes filling with tears again, Pinkie Pie finally turned and walked slowly out of the room, with the rest of them following closely behind her, shutting the door as they left.
"Why aren't you talking?!" Horse demanded to a silent Fluttershy, making her jolt in fear.
"Umm....well....you didn't tell me what to say to her..."
"Anything," he answered with a sigh. "Anything to calm her down. Tell her that everything is going to be okay. Tell her that she's not in any danger. We have to reduce her stress level now."
"O-Okay," replied Fluttershy, turning to the stiffened mass on the bed, which still seemed to be awaiting some miserable fate.
"Rainbow Dash? Can you hear me?"
She extended a hoof out to touch Rainbow's, but as soon as it made contact, Rainbow immediately pulled her hoof away. Fluttershy frowned.
"Rainbow Dash, it's me. It's Fluttershy. I'm not going to hurt you."
Rainbow's eyes spread open again, and she looked in Fluttershy's direction. Her vision remained fuzzy, but the new figure she now saw was almost instantly familiar to her.
"Fl--"
"You remember me, don't you?" Fluttershy asked. "We've been friends for a very long time."
"Flutters--"
Fluttershy beamed at Rainbow's attempt to say her name.
"Yes, it's me! I'm here!"
"Keep at it," encouraged Dr. Horse, who was in the process of filling a syringe with a liquid substance from a tiny bottle.
"Everything is going to be okay, Rainbow Dash," assured Fluttershy.
The anguish and fear which had shown so heavily in Rainbow's face faded away, but her forehead was still moist with cold sweat and she exhaled her breaths in shivers. Fluttershy picked the blanket up off the floor and carefully placed it back over Rainbow's body, thankfully receiving no adverse reaction from her.
"Fluttershy..." Rainbow said, her voice barely carrying above a whisper.
"Yes? What do you need?"
Rainbow Dash stared at her, eyes full of sorrow and pain. Despite appearing calmer, the electrocardiograph's frequent beeps did not indicate her heartbeat slowing back down.
"Okay, I'm ready," said Doctor Horse, and Fluttershy looked up to see him standing over Rainbow's body on the opposite side of the bed, levitating the syringe. "This will help to reduce her heart rate, but I'm going to need you to make sure that she doesn't fight me. The entire serum needs to enter her bloodstream."
"Umm...how do I do that?" Fluttershy asked uncomfortably.
"Talk her through it. If she starts getting up or tries to get away, I need you to hold her down."
Fluttershy took a deep breath, feeling uneasy about the notion of holding Rainbow Dash down....at least without getting her permission first.
"O-okay," she said, leaning back down closer to her and staring her directly in the eye. "Rainbow Dash, I want you to look at me, okay? Just keep looking at me."
"Fluttershy, I..."
"Shhhh," said Fluttershy, gently placing her hoof on Rainbow's lips. "Just relax, okay?"
The doctor meticulously prodded the syringe into Rainbow's left foreleg and she immediately twisted her body in a convulsion-like resistance.
"No, Rainbow!" Fluttershy cried, pressing down on her with both forehooves with as much strength as she deemed necessary. "It's okay. Everything is okay. This is going to help you."
Rainbow trembled uncontrollably as the serum exited the syringe and entered her body, feeling so cold that, with a fully conscious mind, she could have mistaken the bed for a thick layer of ice. Almost at once, the electrocardiograph's beeping gradually slowed. Feeling that the worst was now over, Fluttershy gently caressed Rainbow's hoof, smiling with relief.
"There, now that's better, isn't it?" she asked tenderly.
Rainbow's vision went fuzzy again and her eyelids struggled to remain open. A loud ringing filled her ears, making her deaf to all that was being said.
"Alright, well, that should do it," said Horse, stepping away from the bed and placing the syringe on a nearby counter. "Good job. It really seems like you broke her out of it."
"I hope so..." Fluttershy said with a nod.
They both watched as Rainbow Dash succumbed the serum's effects, falling into a deep sleep.
"Still, it troubles me that this happened at all," said Horse with a frown. "Perhaps her trauma delves deeper than a simple head injury. Has she been under any noticeable stress lately?"
"You could say that," said Fluttershy, shame weighing her head down.
"Hmm....I may need to recommend her for psychological therapy when she comes to again," he said.
"She won't do that," Fluttershy said, shaking her head solemnly. "She's going to want to get out of here as quickly as possible."
"Well, for the sake of her own well being, I'm afraid she may need to," Doctor Horse replied.
"She lost her dad recently," said Fluttershy, staring down at Rainbow Dash's still body, thankful that she was not conscious to hear her words.
"I see," Horse remarked flatly. "I take it they were close, then?"
"Not exactly," Fluttershy replied with a sigh. "But it's affected her in a big way."
"I'm sure," Horse said, nodding.
"Is she going to fall back into a coma?" Fluttershy asked fearfully.
"No, she's just sleeping it off," answered Horse. "It's best we leave her alone for now."
Rainbow Dash stirred on the bed, ejecting a small cough.
Fluttershy frowned. "I hate seeing her like this. She's in so much pain....and I just can't do anything about it."
"I'm very sorry," the doctor said, magically adjusting his glasses. "I'm going to do a double check on her brain activity again. You can..."
His mouth snapped shut when he saw Fluttershy move to sit tenderly beside Rainbow Dash, signaling to him that she was waiting to be left alone. He trailed out of the room without finishing his sentence.
"Rainbow Dash...."
Fluttershy let out a sigh after the cyan pegasus coughed a second time.
"I know you didn't do this to yourself," she said, fully aware that Rainbow could not hear her. "But I still don't know why you're here. And I still don't know why you would keep something like this from me. I would have never kept something like this from you."
She glimpsed Rainbow's temples twitch from underneath the bandage on her head.
"I just don't know why you would lie to me. Why you would hide your suffering from us. I know you'd be too proud to accept help, but I thought that even you wouldn't keep something like this from us. I just don't understand. Is it because you don't trust us? Because you don't trust me?!"
Fluttershy instantly covered her mouth with her hoof, regretful that her tone had turned hostile. Rainbow Dash remained asleep, all sounds passing like silent wind through her ears.
"I'm not mad," she resumed, lowering her hoof. "No, I'm not mad at you. I'm sad for you. I feel sorry for you because you think that you don't have friends who can get you through this difficult time. That's what really upsets me. That's what I really can't understand."
She descended into a brief silence, eventually realizing that it had been quite some time since she last saw Rainbow sleeping so soundly. After what she had just done to relax her into sleep, Fluttershy could not help but feel something of a motherly bond towards her, and it was a warm enough feeling to coax a smile on her face.
"But then I remember our talk a few days ago, and...I just don't know what to think," she said, the smile fading. "I feel so horrible for giving you hope. I thought I was helping you, but.....I probably just made you feel even worse. And you put that guilt on me. Why couldn't you have just told me then? I wouldn't have told anypony else if you didn't want me to. I would have given you the time you needed. I never once told them about your father until now, because I knew that you wouldn't have wanted me to. I've shown you that I can keep your secrets, but you just--"
Fluttershy silenced herself again as she sensed her anger rising.
"I'm not mad at you," she repeated in a whisper. "But I don't really know....what I'm going to say to you..."
Rainbow Dash's mouth twitched and her nostrils flared. Her unconscious mind remained blank; no unpleasant nightmares or visions haunted her sleep as they had before. Fluttershy did not speak again, allowing the electrocardiograph to remain the only source of noise in the room.
After several quiet minutes passed, the door opened again. Pinkie Pie immediately barreled inside ahead of her friends, reclaiming her place at Rainbow's bedside.
"How is she now?" asked Rarity.
"I think she'll be okay," Fluttershy answered, motioning for them to remain quiet. "But we need to let her sleep."
Rarity smiled with relief. "Thank goodness..."
"I still can't believe that happened," Twilight said, staring sadly at Rainbow's unconscious body. "I can't imagine what must have been going through her head. What she must have been experiencing. I've never seen her so scared before..."
Fluttershy nodded in sorrowful agreement. "Me neither...."
"I truly hate to think this way but....perhaps we were too lucky," Rarity noted.
"Whaddya mean?" questioned Applejack.
"We received news that most ponies in the same situation could only hope for," Rarity explained. "A pony coming out of a coma without having any lasting or permanent damage can almost be considered a miracle. I simply feel that we may have been too lucky. That perhaps it was indeed too good to be true, and....perhaps she will suffer some lasting damage after all."
Fluttershy instantly shook her head with repulsion.
"Please don't say that," she said in a calm, yet demanding voice.
"My apologies," Rarity replied at once.
An uncomfortable silence fell over them, triggered by the fear that there may have been truth to Rarity's words. For a long while, they each watched Rainbow sleep, partially annoyed that they were waiting for her to awaken once again, as though she had never woken up at all.
A quiet, yet audible creaking sound suddenly echoed out from behind them, and Scootaloo crept her way inside the room while lying low to the floor, attempting to avoid being seen. But the silence in the room prevented her entry from going unnoticed, and she immediately stood upright as she saw every head turning in her direction.
"Oh...so she's still out, huh?" she said, feeling embarrassed, yet relieved to see Rainbow still unconscious on the bed.
"Actually, she woke up a little while ago," replied Twilight, deciding to ignore what she had seen.
"She did?" Scootaloo asked, blinking with surprise. "So why is she asleep again?"
No one looked willing to answer her question.
"She just....she wasn't ready to wake up yet," said Fluttershy. "So she's just doing a bit more sleeping until she is. It's normal sleeping. She's not in a coma anymore."
Scootaloo locked her eyes onto Rainbow Dash in a considerably cold stare.
"So....she really woke up?" she asked for further clarification.
"Mhm."
"And....she's okay?"
"Of course she's okay," Twilight replied.
"...I hope..." Rarity mumbled under her breath.
"Well, then, that's all I wanted to know," Scootaloo said apprehensively. "I have to go now. I can't miss two days of school."
"Good thinking," Twilight said, nodding. "Hopefully she'll be awake again by the time you get out this afternoon."
Scootaloo's eyes suddenly dropped to the floor. "I'm not coming by this afternoon."
"What?"
"In fact..."
The filly sighed, unsure of what reactions she would receive from her next words.
"....I don't want you guys to tell her that I was ever here. If she asks if I ever came to visit her, just tell her 'no', okay?"
The room went silent again, all awaiting Scootaloo to explain her reasoning behind this request, but she did not appear to have any intention of doing so. Applejack raised an eyebrow, almost insulted that Scootaloo had the audacity to ask her to lie.
"You're going to have to explain yourself if you want us to even consider that, Scootaloo," Twilight said after realizing that she was not going to say any more.
"It's just....complicated," Scootaloo replied, biting her lip.
"Why in plum heaven would you want us do that, Scootaloo?" demanded Applejack. "You would want her ta think you don't care about her?"
Her tone forced a sense of guilt out of Scootaloo, which immediately hung from her face.
"I just can't see her," she said in a low voice.
"Why not?" asked Fluttershy.
"The last time we talked...it just wasn't pleasant. It would just be too uncomfortable if she knew I was here."
Fluttershy shook her head. "Just because you have a spat every now and then, doesn't mean--"
"It's more than that," Scootaloo said with hostility in her voice which replaced the guilt. "I'm just too mad at her. And aren't you guys, too? Like I said, she was never going to tell you anything. She said that to my face! All I wanted to do was help her, but she rejected my help. And I....I don't want to give her the satisfaction of showing her that I'll still come running when she's in trouble, even when she doesn't want me to."
Scootaloo was pierced by a set of stares, each deep enough to show understanding for her point of view, but none that indicated that she was going to receive a response. Rainbow Dash suddenly stirred on the bed with much more vigor than before, appearing as though she was going to finally return to consciousness again.
"I have to go," Scootaloo said, hurrying out of the room before she could awaken.
Everyone else crowed around the bed once again, hopeful that it would be for the last time. As before, Rainbow's crimson eyes came into view. They appeared to contain more awareness than they had the first time.
"Rainbow...?" Fluttershy squeaked cautiously.
As sudden as it was unexpected, Rainbow shot up from the bed, fear and desperation immediately sweeping over her face.
"Where's my mom?! My dad?! Are they okay?!" she cried loudly, startling each of them.
Fluttershy hung her head, instantly realizing that Rarity's fears might have just been confirmed... |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | Chapter 9 -- A Talk | For perhaps the three-or-so hundredth time in her young life, Rainbow Dash once again found herself sitting in front of her mother's picture, tears muddling her vision. The curtains were drawn over the windows in her father's bedroom, and the evening sky outside failed to break through the room's darkness.
It was all over. After months of trying for hours, day after day, she now accepted with the heaviest reluctance that she would never be able to do a Sonic Rainboom ever again. And that meant that she would not be guaranteed a spot in the Wonderbolts when she was older. After months of her constant denials, it now seemed like her father was right. It was just a fluke--a fluke that would never happen again for as long as she lived.
"You'd believe in me, wouldn't you?" she tearfully asked her mother.
After a few seconds, Rainbow nodded as though she had heard the picture frame bestow her with a positive response.
"Yeah, I knew you would," she replied, smiling with satisfaction. "You wouldn't think I'm just an embarrassment."
Rainbow wiped her eyes. She knew that it was only a matter of time before her father came home again, and she did not want to leave any evidence that she had been crying. She dreaded the very thought of telling him that he had been right all along--the taste of crow in her mouth would be too much for her to chew, let alone the hurtful "I told you so"-like words that he would most certainly say.
Rainbow groaned with frustration. "I wish you were here, mom..."
Never before had she felt this sensation of everything utterly crashing down upon her. Her dream never seemed further away...
****
"Rainbow Dash? Did you understand what I just said?" questioned Dr. Horse, concerned by Rainbow's silence, which had now lasted almost a minute.
Rainbow Dash was sitting upright in her hospital bed, trying to twist her mind around everything she was being told. She was distracted by the cords in her foreleg, connected to a machine which beeped annoyingly every second, as well as the throbbing sensation in her head, which she guessed was the reason for the bandage wrapped around it. As far as she could tell for sure, she was once again a patient in Ponyville Hospital, and she wanted to get out as quickly as possible.
"I....I was in a coma," Rainbow replied in a somewhat uncertain voice, as though she did not believe her own words.
"That's right," nodded Horse, magically scribbling something onto his levitated clipboard. "You had an accident the other day. Do you remember it?"
Rainbow ignored the question and looked to her right, where her five friends stood staring back at her, some with traces of fledgling tears moistening their eyes. She stared each of them in their faces, feeling sadness come over her as she looked into their somber expressions.
"Do you know who they are?" asked Horse.
"Of course," Rainbow stated at once. "They're my friends."
"Can you tell me their names?" asked Horse.
"Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Rarity," Rainbow answered, naming them in the order they stood from left to right.
"Good job, Rainbow Dash," Horse said in a voice that sounded as though he had just praised an infant foal for taking her first steps. Rainbow instantly glanced back at him, irritated by his patronizing tone.
"Look, I don't need to do this, okay? I'm not stupid. What else do you want from me? You want me to count to ten? Fine. One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight-nine-ten! What me to recite the alphabet? A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P! In fact, I'll do the rest backwards. Z-Y-X-W-V-U-T-S-R-Q! So there. Are you happy? Can I get out of here now?"
Dr. Horse raised both his eyebrows. "Well, Rainbow Dash, I'm afraid we still have some things we need to check before we can discharge you. As I'm told, when you woke up again, you immediately asked your friends where your parents were."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "They're....they're gone. Both of them. I know that now. I was just....I was confused earlier."
"But do you know what caused you to become confused, Rainbow Dash?" asked Horse.
"It was.....it was just a dream I had. Just a dream. It wasn't real."
"What kind of dream was it? Do you remember?" questioned Horse.
Rainbow Dash sighed deeply, closing her eyes as she mentally searched through her consciousness for traces of the dream. She remembered the falling and the darkness--they were still quite heavy on her mind, and she was still frightened by how real the experience had seemed. Backtracking from there, she faintly remembered walking alongside her mother and father, though was unable to comprehend why. Then her memories scattered, reducing to a series of vague images that did not make much sense to her: receiving a mouthful of mud after crashing to the ground. Unstoppable rain. An endlessly grassy field. A lone tree in the distance...
She soon opened her eyes again, staring back into the stern and serious faces of her friends and Dr. Horse.
"No. I don't remember much of it."
Horse nodded and silently scribbled onto his clipboard. "And do you remember how you felt when you woke up the first time, Rainbow Dash?"
"I...I remember feeling like I wasn't alive anymore," she answered.
"You remember being scared?" asked Horse.
Rainbow frowned, not wanting to think about the unbridled fear she had experienced as she crawled about the floor, attempting to escape with desperation greater than any she had ever felt in her entire life. Her recollection of the episode was mostly distant, but the fear was still exceedingly heavy on her mind.
"Yeah..."
Horse gave her an acknowledging look and wrote on his clipboard once more.
"Can you take these things off me?" Rainbow asked irritably, pointing at the electrocardiograph's cords in her foreleg.
"Not quite yet," answered Horse. "I want to ask if you can remember anything prior to waking up here. Anything that you know wasn't a dream."
As before, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes to delve deeply into her mind. The dream consumed most of her recent memory, and attempting to look back at anything preceding it proved to be immensely difficult.
"I....I remember Scootaloo," she said after a while, opening her eyes again. "And....she was mad at me."
"Do you remember perhaps going for a fly? Perhaps crashing?" asked Horse.
"No, I don't," Rainbow answered at once, not even bothering to look inside her mind again. "Can I get out of here now?"
"You were very lucky, you know?" stated Horse, feeling the slightest bit annoyed at Rainbow's attitude. "Very lucky. I can honestly say that in my sixteen-year career, I've never seen a patient come out of a coma as quickly as you. And your recovery has also been one of the quickest I've ever seen."
Rainbow did not reply, choosing instead to stare down uncomfortably at the blankets which covered her hind legs. Though her friends were all thankful that Rainbow's quick recovery did not suggest that she would carry any permanent mental damage as Rarity feared, none of them could deny that there was something different about her. Perhaps she was a bit more morose--no longer attempting to hide her emotions, yet still unwilling to open up about them.
"Do you have any notion of when she could be released, doctor?" asked Rarity.
"Probably soon," answered Horse. "There are just a few things I need to examine first, and I still need to ensure that she isn't in danger of having another incident like the one half an hour ago."
"Could we at least take her to breakfast?" asked Applejack. "There're some things we wanna talk to her about."
"Well, I'd first have to check to be sure she is able to eat solid foods," said Horse.
Rainbow groaned loudly.
"In any case, I'm going to get a reading on her brain activity to see how much she has recovered now," said Horse, ignoring her. "I'll leave you all for a while."
He stepped away from Rainbow's bed and strode out of the room, finally granting them the privacy they desired.
"You guys have got to get me out of here," Rainbow said, looking back at her friends. "I'm gonna climb the walls!"
She faintly chuckled to herself, but her friends did not so much as crack a half-hearted smile--nor did Pinkie inquire if Rainbow had inexplicably acquired spider powers. They stared at her as somberly as before, and their stares once again drew out her own sorrowful feelings.
"Look, guys, I'm fine," Rainbow assured. "I don't remember what happened, but....I'm okay now."
"Could you please just stop?" Twilight snapped at her.
"Uhhh...stop what?" Rainbow asked apprehensively.
"Stop acting like this is okay," she answered. "It's not okay! You being here is not okay!"
"Do you have even the slightest idea of how worried we've been?" cried Rarity. "Pinkie Pie didn't leave your side. Not even to eat!"
"And who knows what woulda happened if Big Mac hadn't found you," added Applejack.
Rainbow Dash felt her ears go limp, their words stinging at her from the inside out.
"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, guys. I....I don't know what else to say."
"Well, we ain't quite sure of what to say to you, either," retorted Applejack.
Rainbow looked up at her at once. "Uhh...what's that supposed to mean?"
"We know, Rainbow Dash," said Twilight. "We know that your dad died the other day, and we know that you've been keeping it from us. Oh, and by the way, Princess Celestia sends her condolences."
Rainbow Dash instantly froze from the inside out as Twilight's words sailed past her ears. The electrocardiograph's beeping spontaneously spiked, indicating an equal spike in her heartbeat, but she could feel nothing beating from inside her. Her heart had frozen over--as had her lungs, stomach, and even the blood whipping through her veins. She looked to Fluttershy, who almost instantly shifted her eyes to the ground to avoid her gaze.
"Um...well..."
"How could you keep something like that from us, darling?" cried Rarity.
"I..."
"I just can't believe you would lie to us like that," Applejack snapped.
"Uh...."
"Surely, you had to have known we would find out eventually," stated Twilight.
"I..."
"Why didn't you trust us, Rainbow Dash?" asked Pinkie Pie.
"I...I..."
Rainbow sighed, taking a moment to realize the mess she was in. It was as though the pillars of her life were now crumbling, one after another, and soon the roof would be crashing down along with them. There was no time to brace for impact--she could only rely on whatever protection her own body strength could grant her.
"It's not that I don't trust you guys," she said, avoiding eye contact with her friends. "It's just...there are things about my dad that you don't know and wouldn't understand. I really didn't want you to--"
"They know now," Fluttershy said somewhat coldly, instantly looking back at Rainbow. "I told them about your problems with your dad."
Rainbow Dash stared at her incredulously, unsure of whether she found Fluttershy's tone or the words that accompanied it more surprising.
"I trusted you not to tell anypony!"
"Well, I guess I didn't have your trust anyway, did I?" Fluttershy snapped, no longer interested in suppressing her anger. "And don't even try to use that as an excuse for why you didn't tell us, because I knew all about that, and you still lied to me!"
Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity crossed uneasy glances with each other. Seeing Fluttershy angry was certainly no frequent occurrence on its own, but seeing her anger directed at Rainbow Dash was all but unprecedented. Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to reply, but struggled to find words to eject from it.
"I...I'm sorry I lied to you," she said in a low voice. "But I know what you would have said if I had told you. You would have said that I was stupid for letting all of those years pass by and not rebuilding our relationship before it was too late."
Fluttershy cut her eyes into a glare that was so intense, it conjured a streak of fear to pass through Rainbow's nerves. She stepped closer to the bed, brushing past the line of her stationary friends.
"I would never have said something that cruel to you! Is that what you really think?!"
Rainbow dropped her head. "No. But....you would have at least thought it. And you would have been right."
"I wouldn't have even thought it!" cried Fluttershy, a bit more calmly. "All I would have felt was sorrow, and that's exactly what I feel now. I wish you felt that you could talk to me, to any of us, about anything that's troubling you, but I guess that isn't the case."
"I just needed to deal with it on my own," said Rainbow, shaking her head. "None of you would really understand how I feel."
"And how has dealin' with it on your own been workin' for you?" asked Applejack. "Not too well, I reckon, considern' where we are."
"Okay, okay, I admit that I really don't know how to deal with it," Rainbow retorted. "But I've been getting by."
"'Getting by?' This is what you call 'getting by?!'" Twilight snapped.
"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked nervously.
"You may not remember how you got here, but I'm still going to ask you something anyway," said Twilight. "Do you believe that you would be here, sitting in this hospital bed if you had just told us? Would your accident still have happened if you had just decided to let us in?"
Rainbow went silent for a few minutes, once more attempting to look as far back as her memories extended for anything preceding the crash. Among more of the same vague images, he soon remembered screaming in terror just before her parents fell deliberately into an endless, dark abyss. She then simultaneously remembered the despair that overtook her as she stepped over the edge and fell into the abyss herself. Rainbow clenched her teeth together in sorrow as realization hit her like a speeding train, just as it had in her dream. The very thought she had tried her hardest to distance herself from over the last few days now smothered her entirely, causing her bones to tremble. Her father was gone, and she knew now that she was going to miss him...
"I...I don't know," Rainbow said in a solemn whisper.
"Do you truly think this a coincidence?" questioned Rarity.
"I didn't do this to myself," Rainbow said at once. "I know that much."
"We're not saying you did," said Twilight, further relieved to hear those words from Rainbow's own mouth. "But perhaps you being preoccupied with thoughts that you wanted to keep to yourself distracted you somehow and caused you to crash."
Rainbow Dash exhaled several long breaths before answering, calming herself enough to ease her trembling.
"I don't know," she said again, shaking her head.
A momentary silence fell, triggered by a sudden loss of words between them. It was frustrating to imagine that they would probably never know how Rainbow Dash had ended up lying unconscious in the grass at the bottom of a hill at Sweet Apple Acres.
"Were you ever going to tell us, Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie Pie asked timidly.
"I....I figured it would come out eventually. I just wanted to hold it off for as long as I could," she answered.
Pinkie did not look the slightest bit satisfied with her response, nor did anyone else.
"Rainbow, if one of our parents or anypony else close to us died, you would know about it. We would tell you about it," said Twilight.
"I know you would," Rainbow replied, nodding. "But you wouldn't have been so confused about how to feel about it like I was. I really wish I could have seen him again. I really wish things had been different. The more I think about it now....the more it just drives me crazy."
"What drives you crazy?" questioned Fluttershy. "I hope you're not only upset because you missed out on fulfilling your dream."
Rainbow shook her head, her ears dropping. "It's more than that now. It's--"
Before she could say another word, Dr. Horse entered the room again.
"Well, Rainbow Dash, all signs are showing that your brain is functioning at above 90 percent of its normal capacity. You are well on your way to recovery, and this means that we are just about ready to discharge you."
"Finally," Rainbow muttered, then pointed to her head bandage and the electrocardiograph's cords. "Can you take these off me now?"
Dr. Horse magically disconnected the cords from Rainbow's foreleg, simultaneously ending the relentless beeping of the electrocardiograph and bringing momentous relief to everyone in the room. He then magically unwrapped the bandage thoroughly until it was only a long piece of ribbon-like gauze, and the throbbing in Rainbow's head almost instantly began to pass away. Upon her forehead were two small, white patches which had been enchanted to monitor her brain activity, and Horse slowly peeled them off. Her mane had been rendered frazzled and unkempt after being stuffed inside the bandage, and she took a brief moment to straighten it out as best she could.
"Thanks," she said, feeling a bit happier now that she could feel her hair again. "So, is that all?"
"Not exactly," said Horse. "I'm recommending you for psychological therapy."
Rainbow looked at him as though he had just told her that she would be unable to fly for over a month.
"Umm, no, that's okay," she said at once, though she assumed that her protest would be fruitless.
"I'm afraid I must insist, only for the sake of your health," said Horse. "I believe that you may have some additional trauma that needs to be overcome. Surely, you can understand?"
Rainbow groaned with annoyance, feeling as though she was trapped in a nightmare which refused to end.
"Don't worry, all I'm going to do is set you up with an appointment with my colleague, Dr. Hoofs J. Eyes'n'Neck," said Horse. "Since your brain activity is showing no sign of a repeat occurrence anytime soon, we'll discharge you once it's set up."
"Fine," Rainbow replied, looking as though she suddenly had an unusual desire to melt into the bed.
"He has an opening on Monday at 10:30 AM," said Horse. "Would that be good for you? Of course, you could always--"
"Sure," Rainbow answered swiftly, staring lackadaisically at the ceiling.
"Very well, then" said Dr. Horse, turning to leave. "I will return shortly."
Fluttershy waited until he was out of the room and the door was shut before speaking again.
"What were you going to say before, Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow breathed in deeply, feeling grief instantly rushing back through her nerves as though a bucket of icy water had just been rudely dumped over her head. She exhaled in short breaths, finally ready to share her bottled feelings with the very ponies she had wanted so desperately to hide them from.
"I...I don't have a family anymore," she said softly. "My parents are gone....forever. I thought that it didn't affect me because I've been without them for so long, but....it does."
"Of course it does, sugarcube," consoled Applejack. "It's perfectly natural to feel affected by it."
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes as though attempting for a moment to suppress their leaking, but then opened them up again as she realized the pointlessness of it.
"Did you guys know that he chose not to let me know that he was sick?" she said, her tears falling quickly. "If I was sick, I would have wanted him to know about it. But he chose not to give me that. He chose to leave me without giving me a chance to see him again. To say goodbye..."
Rainbow's loose tears quickly escalated directly into sobs. Within the span of ten seconds, she felt the soft pressure of a hoof resting on her right shoulder, followed by another one on her left, followed by another on her back, followed by another on her head, and lastly followed by the gentle caressing of her right hoof. No words were spoken; no apologies or condolences uttered. All that needed to be said was already being said with perfect clarity in their silent gesture. What remaining bitter feelings Rainbow's friends still harbored against her were set entirely aside, and each of their eyes once again moistened over with sorrow.
Rainbow raised her head to look at her friends through wet, blurry eyes. This unmistakable feeling of their pity rubbing off on her was exactly what she wanted to avoid from the moment she first received the news her father's death. And yet, it was still exactly what she needed.
"Thanks, guys," she muttered softly, and the appreciation in her voice was easily heard through her sobs.
"This is what friends do," stated Twilight. "You should know that by now."
Another stream of tears leaked from Rainbow's eyes as her mind took everything in--the fact that it had taken a coma for her to realize what her father's death meant to her. The possibility that she could have easily died or come out of the coma with permanent neurological damage. The notion that she had tried so desperately to push away the ponies closest to her, who now held up the roof over her life after all of the remaining pillars had been reduced to rubble...
"I'm so sorry, you guys," Rainbow said, shaking in grief. "I'm sorry I put you through all this."
"We're sorry that you put yourself through all this, darling," replied Rarity.
In that moment, surrounded by her friends, Rainbow Dash knew that she never felt more utterly foolish in her entire life.
****
After nearly a half hour of shedding tears and sorrow, followed by a last free breakfast in the cafeteria, Rainbow Dash and her friends finally stepped out of the hospital. They were relieved that it was finally over, though not any less frustrated about how little they still knew about the circumstances by which Rainbow had ended up there in the first place. However, Rainbow had openly shared more information than her friends expected she would--information which included the date of the funeral, as well as what had happened in her horrifying dream.
Rainbow Dash stepped forward until she could feel the blissful sensation of the mid-morning sun beaming on her face, which instantly went to work drying away the remnants of tear stains on her cheeks. In her absence, the Weather Team still stuck to their weekly forecast as they always did, and she was immensely thankful that she did not happen to wake up on a rainy day. After everything that she now remembered from her dream, she was certain that she did not want to see rain ever again in her life.
"It's nice to feel some fresh air again," Rainbow said to no one in particular. "If you guys don't mind, I'm going to go stretch my wings for a while."
"Hold up, Rainbow," said Applejack, stopping her before she could fly off. "There's somethin' I wanna show you first." She turned to the rest of her friends. "And if y'all don't mind, I kinda want to show her alone."
They each stared at her with both curiosity and reluctance as though somewhat unsure about letting Rainbow Dash out of their sight for fear of another accident. Rainbow's lips curled downward and she stared towards the open sky, clearly desiring nothing more than to paint the air with her bright rainbow trail as she zipped through it.
"We'll meet up again soon," Applejack assured.
"Well, if you insist," said Rarity, shrugging. "Besides, I'm a bit behind on my work anyway."
"Me too," added Twilight. "I haven't really gotten much studying done lately."
Fluttershy and Pinkie nodded in unison, though neither looked particularly content.
"Where are we going?" Rainbow asked, poorly hiding the annoyance in her voice.
"Sweet Apple Acres," Applejack answered. "Besides, don't you wanna thank Big Mac? He's the one who found you and likely saved your life."
"Yeah," Rainbow nodded. "I guess."
"Then let's go."
They parted ways from their friends and headed off in the direction of the massive orchard. Rainbow Dash hovered inches off the ground, moving along at Applejack's relatively slow pace. As they crossed through Ponyville, she watched its residents go about their daily routines as normal, implying that nothing of particular note had happened in the brief time she had spent in the coma. Many of the residents acknowledged her as she passed by, offering their congrats on her quick recovery (they had heard about her coma from Mayor Mare). However, the more this happened, the more Rainbow felt herself growing uncomfortable. Though she was certainly used to this kind of attention, it had usually come in the form of praise for her heroic or impressive feats, and there was something decidedly unnerving about receiving attention in the form of deep concern for her well-being and appreciation that she was still alive.
As they passed by Daisy, Lily, and Roseluck's flower shop, Rainbow Dash came to a sudden halt. She noticed that the flowers at Lily's outdoor stall were pink-and-purple petunias and yellow-and-white daffodils, yet she recalled that last time she had seen the stall back on Saturday, she was selling hyacinths and carnations of multiple colors. The selection usually changed every few days as new, fully-grown flowers were plucked from their gardens, replacing the flowers that had been sold. A sudden, intense chill spread through Rainbow's bones as she imagined the notion that the petunias and daffodils could have only been mere seedlings the last time she was conscious, and yet now they were fully-grown flowers ready to sell. Was a mere 24 hours really all the time her coma took from her? How much time did she really lose? What else could have transpired in that one day she was unconscious in a hospital bed? Rainbow instantly felt sorrow for ponies who remained in comas for months, even years. What would the experience of waking up after missing out on so much life be like? She did not even want to imagine how horrible it would be...
Rainbow Dash instinctively floated over to Lily's stall, forcing Applejack to stop and watch her with a confusion-riddled stare.
"Rainbow Dash!" Lily exclaimed upon seeing her. "My goodness, I heard you were in a coma!"
"I was," Rainbow said with an uncomfortable nod. "It was...just a quick thing."
"Well, I'm glad you're alright," Lily smiled. "Go ahead and pick a few. Consider it a recovery gift."
"Thanks," said Rainbow. "Umm...how long ago were these picked?"
"Just yesterday," Lily answered with content. "They're nice, aren't they?"
Rainbow Dash scanned through the flowers, her eyes downcast. They were only the tiniest example of life that had gone on while she may as well have not even existed--life that she had missed out on.
On the far left side of the stall, Rainbow saw a daffodil standing out from its cluster. Its petals were bright yellow like those around it, but its corona was a deep, blood red instead of white. It was like an uncommon spring gem which was unsuccessfully trying to hide itself among flowers it did not blend in with.
"I'll...take that one," Rainbow said, pointing at it.
"You can have another," said Lily as she carefully removed it from the cluster.
"No, this is enough," Rainbow replied appreciatively. "Thanks."
Lily passed the flower into Rainbow's hooves, and she floated back over to where Applejack was waiting.
"I really was lucky, wasn't I?" Rainbow asked as she stared at the daffodil, voice heavy with sorrow.
"We were lucky," corrected Applejack. "We had to wait hours to find out about your condition. We didn't know if you would even live."
Rainbow's ears dropped. "I'm sorry..."
"No use worryin' about it now," replied Applejack. "I jus' hope you get your memory back."
Feeling the slightest twinge of embarrassment, Rainbow carefully stuck the stem in her mane, twisting it around the strands so that the daffodil sat locked in place between the orange and yellow colors at the top of her head. It was a symbol of the time she lost, the single day of life she missed out on, and the grief she had finally come to accept.
"It looks nice on you," Applejack complimented.
Rainbow blushed. "That's not why I....nevermind. Let's just keep going."
They continued onward, eventually passing by the Ponyville schoolhouse. Rainbow Dash almost instantly realized that Scootaloo was most likely inside at that very moment.
"Say...uhh...did Scootaloo know I was in a coma?" she asked.
Applejack's pace slowed. She had figured that it was only a matter of time before Rainbow asked about Scootaloo, and she still had not yet decided whether she was going to lie for her or not.
"She did," Applejack answered hesitantly.
"Oh," said Rainbow. "Did she....come visit me?"
Applejack now came to a complete stop, staring down apprehensively at the dirt road ahead of her as though scanning it to find the correct response. Though she had no desire to lie, she still could not help but feel that Scootaloo's reasoning for wanting her to do so was as solid as an iron plow.
"Applejack?"
"Is there some reason why you'd think she wouldn't visit you?" Applejack asked, prolonging her answer.
"Umm, well....from what I remember about our last conversation, I'm not really sure," Rainbow replied, hanging her head.
Applejack let out a sigh, realizing that she lacked the ability to make Rainbow feel any worse than she already did.
"Yer just gonna hafta ask her."
"Oh. So that's a 'no', then," Rainbow replied with a disappointed sigh.
"You'll just hafta ask her," Applejack repeated, continuing to walk.
Rainbow continued on as well, looking solemnly at the schoolhouse until it was no longer in sight.
****
Finally, Applejack and Rainbow Dash crossed beyond the borders of Ponyville and grassy, green fields full of apple trees soon dominated their surroundings. Rainbow searched through her memories again as she looked around the orchard, attempting to find any lingering trace of her apparent crash. The last notable time she remembered being at Sweet Apple Acres was when Applejack was having problems with vampire fruit bats, and beyond that, she remembered flying high above it several different times on several different days for weather-related purposes. But as she expected, her memory maintained no image of a crash taking place there, nor did it maintain the feeling of any physical pain associated with the crash.
As they approached the barn, they saw that Big Mac was just outside, gathering apples up into a cart, most likely in preparation to deliver them to a buyer.
"Hey, big brother. Look who's up and at 'em!" exclaimed Applejack as they came within speaking distance, motioning her head towards Rainbow.
"Uhh, hey, Big Mac," Rainbow said, embarrassed. "Thanks for what you did. I probably wouldn't be here if you hadn't found me."
Big Mac bowed his head. "Eeyup."
"Yeah, so...uhh...I owe you one," Rainbow Dash replied, and extended her hoof out towards him.
After a moment, Big Mac extended his own hoof and lightly tapped it against Rainbows, unamused by how much it dwarfed her own.
"Are you deliverin' that order from Ponyville Retirement Village, Big Mac?" Applejack asked, motioning towards the cart.
"Eeyup."
"Well, we'll letcha get to it," said Applejack.
Big Mac fastened himself the front of the cart and, with another slight nod towards Rainbow Dash, he exited the borders of Sweet Apple Acres and into Ponyville.
"So...what did you want to show me?" Rainbow Dash asked once he was gone.
"Follow me," Applejack replied.
They moved northward, past the barn, the apple storehouses, and eventually over a tall hill beyond which nothing but innumerable rows apple trees lay for what seemed like miles. Though she had flown over it several times, Rainbow Dash had never truly realized just how enormous Sweet Apple Acres was. She surmised that it had to be at least three quarters the size of Cloudsdale.
After ten silent minutes of walking north, they cut sharply to the right and climbed up another small, isolated hill where two curved, leg-high stones sat at its peak, just six inches apart from each other.
"We're here," said Applejack.
Rainbow Dash knew immediately what the stones represented.
"So....this is where your parents are..."
"Yep," said Applejack, removing her hat.
Rainbow lowered herself to the ground. "This is what you wanted to show me?"
"Well, not only this," replied Applejack. "In the years after they died, I usually came down here to talk to them. I'd tell them things like how much Apple Bloom was growin', how the orchard's doin', how the last reunion went--anythin' I thought they would have wanted to know. I would try to imagine how they would reply. I would come up with replies in my head, and respond to 'em until we were having a whole conversation. I haven't done it in a long while now 'cause...." She allowed a tear to escape from her left eye. "....it's become harder and harder to remember what their voices sound like."
"I'm sorry..." Rainbow said tenderly.
"Anyway, I've brought you here so that you could try it yourself with your dad," said Applejack, returning her hat to her head. "You could start by tellin' him how much it hurt you that he never told you 'bout his illness."
Rainbow sighed. "I don't know, Applejack. This has never really been....my thing."
"I understand that it won't feel as natural to you since your parents ain't buried here," acknowledged Applejack. "But when nopony is around, I find that this hill is one of the most peaceful places in all of Ponyville. Maybe you'll still feel a connection to him."
Rainbow Dash glanced briefly at the gravestones and shook her head.
"This just isn't my thing. I'm sorry to say it, but all I'd be doing is talking to a couple of stones. Trust me, my dad always tried to get me to talk to my mom's gravestone the way he did, but I just never really felt any connection at all."
Applejack said nothing for a moment, thinking on Rainbow's words.
"Just try closin' your eyes. Don't think about the stones."
Rainbow shook her head. "Applejack..."
"C'mon. Just give it a try."
Letting out a sigh of both annoyance and frustration, Rainbow allowed her eyelids to drop down over her eyes.
"Now imagine your dad is standin' right in front of you," said Applejack. "Recall as many of his features as you can."
Rainbow Dash pictured her father standing brightly against the blackness of her closed eyes. The expression on his face was vaguely indescribable; it appeared to express neither disappointment or shame, nor did it express anger or contempt. It was serious, yet not overbearingly so. Rainbow's breathing slowed as she looked into his eyes, startled by how vividly her mind had managed to create him.
"Now, imagine he speaks to you," said Applejack. "Imagine his voice in your head, as best you can remember it."
Rainbow Dash did not have the slightest clue of what to make him say. She rolled her eyes from within her eyelids and came up with the most basic thing she could.
"Hi," he said with a sense of disinterest, his voice as accurate as she last recalled it.
"Now, reply out loud," said Applejack, after giving Rainbow a silent moment to come up with something for him to say. "Then keep on goin' back 'n forth 'til you don't have anythin' else to talk about. I'll leave you alone for now."
"You can stay, Applejack," said Rainbow, her eyes remaining closed. "I don't mind."
Applejack shook her head, even though Rainbow could not see her do so. "No. This is all about you and him, and what you tell him ain't for my ears to hear. I'll stay close by."
With that, Applejack trotted back down the hill, planting herself against the base of a tree nearly twenty feet away. Rainbow felt the daffodil's petals brushing against her mane as a light wind picked up. She took a deep breath and attempted to imagine words emerging from her father's mouth--words sourced from her own personal thoughts and feelings.
"It's too late now, isn't it?" her father asked solemnly.
"Yeah, it is," said Rainbow, feeling slightly embarrassed at speaking so sincerely at nothing. "I wish you had told me."
"I didn't think you would have cared," her father replied.
"I would have," Rainbow said silently. "I would have come back if I had known. I would have been there."
"It doesn't matter now," he said silently, and Rainbow watched his ears wilt.
"Maybe it doesn't," replied Rainbow with a sigh. "But for the rest of my life, I'm going to know that I only didn't see you again because you didn't bother to tell me that you were in the hospital. And somehow, I'm supposed to live with that."
Her father looked away, and no further response emerged from his mouth.
"By the way, I can do a Sonic Rainboom whenever I want to now," Rainbow said, and she visualized her father looking back at her. "You know, the thing that you always told me I would never be able to do again? I can even do it flying up as well as down. How does that make you feel?"
He was silent for a while, mostly due to Rainbow's own uncertainty of how he would realistically respond to such a statement. His expression suggested that he remained unimpressed.
"I guess you didn't expect that you fathered one of the greatest flyers in Equestria, did you?" said Rainbow, giving up trying to come up with a response for him.
He shook his head, saying nothing.
"That not good enough for you?" Rainbow asked bitterly. "Well, I'm also in the Wonderbolts now, too. Well, in the reserves, but still. I've made it. So that's two things that I've done that you always said I would never be able to do."
"I see," her father said with a nod, still not appearing impressed at his daughter's feats. Rainbow sighed and said nothing for a while.
"Would....would mom be proud of me?" she asked spontaneously, feeling tears welling from within her closed eyes.
He nodded. "Yes, she would."
Rainbow Dash smiled to herself. "Well, at least one of my parents would have been."
"Have you read my letter yet?" he asked suddenly, ignoring her.
"No," she answered, as though it was an answer he expected.
"Are you going to?" he asked.
"I don't know. Maybe."
"Please read it," he said with a frown.
"Fine," said Rainbow, annoyed. "But I'm only going to read it when I'm ready to read it. And don't know when that'll be."
He nodded his head, saying nothing more again.
Feeling that their brief talk was now over, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes again, and the image of her father disappeared, replaced by the sight of the two curved stones. She turned away and glided down to Applejack at the bottom of the hill.
"So? Did that help at all?" Applejack asked, surprised by how quickly her talk was over.
Rainbow let out a hesitant sigh. "I...felt a little connection. But I wish I knew what he'd really say to me. I just don't know what he'd really say to most of the things I want to talk to him about."
"D'you think there might be some way you could find out?" asked Applejack. "Perhaps by talkin' to somepony close to him?"
"Maybe," Rainbow said, instantly remembering Wind Lily. "Thanks for showing me this, Applejack."
Applejack stared at her wordlessly for a few brief seconds.
"Rainbow, do you remember when I allowed you and our friends to help out against my family's challenge against Flim and Flam?" she asked.
"Uhh...yeah," Rainbow Dash said with a nod, unsure of why she was bringing this up.
"Do you remember what I said when I did?"
"Uhh..." Rainbow searched through her memory, recalling as much of that day as she could, but Applejack's words were all but lost.
"I said, 'I'd love to have the rest of my family helpin' out.' And I meant that," said Applejack. "We're all family, Rainbow Dash, in every way 'cept blood. We share each other's pain, and we comfort each other through it. So please don't hide your pain from us anymore. It's our pain, too. Whether you want it to be or not."
Rainbow Dash nodded slowly, her feelings of foolishness weighing down her face. She trembled at the thought that she could have come close to losing her friends over her decision to shut them out. She needed each and every one of them now--and that was something she was absolutely certain of.
"I'm...sorry..."
"I just hope you understand that," replied Applejack, lightly touching Rainbow's shoulder.
"I...I'd really like to go for that fly now," Rainbow said with discomfort, hoping that the wind brushing against her skin would help to ease her overwhelming guilt and sorrow.
"You be careful, ya hear?" said Applejack.
"I will."
Applejack watched as Rainbow Dash opened her wings and leapt into the sky, zooming forward until she was completely out of sight, her rainbow trail following close behind her. The daffodil failed to stay in place against the sudden speed, and it abandoned Rainbow's mane, falling slowly down to earth until it landed right at Applejack's hooves. |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | Chapter 10 -- Home Again | Rainbow's flight lasted for several hours, stretching on past the afternoon and finally coming to an end when the sun's golden hue gradually faded to orange. Her wings carried her beyond the borders of Ponyville, over the Everfree Forest, the Pie family rock farm, and almost all the way to Appleoosa. The empty, open sky was a blissful liberation from the seemingly endless pity smothering she had endured over the last few hours as everything came crashing down on top of her. All the while, her thoughts centered upon the unpleasant events of the last few days, all of which now made her feel incredibly thoughtless--how she had returned to her old home and left it again bitterly, how she had struggled to hide her father's death from her friends, and how she had repeatedly insisted that his passing would have little effect on her. But above all else, Scootaloo was at the forefront of her mind, as Rainbow was still deeply concerned at the notion that the news of her coma did not inspire a visit from her. Was she really that angry? Was she truly that determined to sever their relationship and cut Rainbow out of her life?
As the evening sun continued to sink out of sight, Rainbow Dash returned to Ponyville and landed just outside of Scootaloo's house, several feet away from the front door. She exhaled a deep breath which emerged like an icy mist, discharging a small fraction of the nervousness and discomfort that was just beginning to overtake her insides.
"Okay," Rainbow said to herself in a futile effort to dispel her nervousness. "'Hi, Scootaloo, I'm really sorry I--.' No, that won't work...."
She paused in silence for several seconds, eyes fixed upon the door, prepared to disappear into the sky if it showed even the vaguest indication of opening.
"'Hi, Scoot. You probably heard I was in a coma, and I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay now. I'm sorry if I made you worry, but--.'" She stopped herself again, shaking her head as she realized that there was no point in pretending that she was unaware that Scootaloo knew about her coma. She paused again, attempting to imagine Scootaloo's scorned face glaring at her as she continued to stare unblinkingly at the door.
"'Hey, Scoot, I just wanted to let you know that I'm okay now....you know, if you care, that is.'"
Rainbow Dash felt her stomach sink down endlessly as those final words passed from her tongue. With a sigh, she spread her wings open and vanished from the spot, now fully understanding that she did not know how to even begin repairing her relationship with Scootaloo...or if it was even possible at all.
****
As with each and every evening, Celestia's sun was gradually lowered while Luna's moon replaced its spot in the sky, signifying the close of another day. Yet Rainbow Dash was unusually struck with the sensation that she had not seen the moon in a very long time. The effects of her coma still weighed heavily on her mind, and with the temporary diversion of her flight now over, the chilling realization that she could have remained unconscious for years, or perhaps even lost her life, had returned to crash down hard upon her.
Rainbow was seated at her kitchen table which was now clean of the empty cider bottles that had littered it since Monday. There was nothing in front of her--no food or drink of any sort, just a flat, empty surface from which she could just barely see her own reflection gleaming off of it. Her stomach grumbled loudly to imply hunger, but the notion that she had managed to drive Scootaloo away, just as Rainbow's own father had done to her, was enough to sap away any willpower she had to eat. Rainbow had spent nearly her whole life believing that she and her father were two entirely different ponies, yet she now felt that they probably had more in common than she expected...
From outside the nearby window, her peripheral vision suddenly caught an obscure glimpse of somepony landing on her doorstep. The outside darkness coupled with the lack of clarity of her corner vision made Rainbow unable to identify the pony on sight, though regardless of who it was, she did not quite feel like having any visitors at the moment. She sighed at the knock on her door that came moments later, and after letting out an annoyed groan of the deepest reluctance, she rose up from the table to answer it.
"Hi, Rainbow Dash," greeted Fluttershy when Rainbow opened the door.
"Uhh...hey," replied Rainbow with sudden apprehension. "What's up?"
"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to stay with you tonight," Fluttershy said at once. "I don't think I'm ready to leave you by yourself overnight."
Rainbow blinked, groaning again from within her mind. "Uhhh....I think I'll be fine, Fluttershy."
"Well, all the same, I'd rather know that for myself," replied Fluttershy. "So may I come in?"
Rainbow nodded reluctantly and allowed her to enter. Almost instantly, Fluttershy looked around the cloud home as though expecting to find something to be alarmed about.
"How are you feeling?" she asked after her brief scan turned up nothing out of the ordinary.
"I'm....well, I don't really know," Rainbow replied, shaking her head. "I wish so much that I could go back in time and just start this whole week over."
"So do I," replied Fluttershy, frowning. "I wanted to apologize to you for telling our friends about your relationship with your dad. I know you trusted me to keep it to myself, but they were desperate for any information that could have possibly led to your coma, and I had assumed that you would mention it anyway once you found out that we knew about his death. But that was before I knew that you weren't ever planning on telling us that he died..."
"It doesn't matter," said Rainbow. "I guess there wasn't much point in keeping it from them anymore, anyway."
"Honestly, Rainbow Dash, how long did you really think you had before I found out?" asked Fluttershy, raising an eyebrow. "And what would you have said when I eventually asked about your reunion? Were you just going to lie to me about seeing him again?"
Rainbow dropped her head with a sigh. "I don't know. I didn't think that far ahead."
"You know, I wouldn't have told them about his death if you didn't want me to," said Fluttershy. "I would have kept it to myself until you were ready."
"I know that," Rainbow replied, nodding slowly. "But you were the one I wanted to keep it from the most. I guess I just felt too ashamed to tell you."
"Well, believe me when I say that I am truly sorry that you never got to see him again," said Fluttershy, placing a hoof around Rainbow's neck.
"Yeah...me too."
"By the way, I wanted to ask you if you would allow me to speak at his funeral," said Fluttershy.
"But you didn't know him," replied Rainbow, staring at her with confusion.
"I know, but I still want to do it anyway," said Fluttershy. "You know, if it's okay with you."
"Uhh...yeah, sure," Rainbow said, nodding.
"Thanks," Fluttershy said with a smile. "I really think you'll like what I have to say."
A momentary silence fell between them, and Rainbow found herself cracking a smile now that the tension that had been present between her and Fluttershy earlier had finally dissipated.
"Do you think you could do me a favor?" Rainbow asked suddenly.
"Sure. What do you need?" Fluttershy said with curiosity.
"Follow me."
Their wings lifted them up the stairs and they floated into Rainbow's bedroom, where a soft breeze swept through the still-open window and caused her wall posters and bedsheets to flail slightly. Rainbow Dash approached the bedside table to pick up the half-open envelope, then she held it in front of Fluttershy, who eyed it with curiosity.
"This is a letter my dad wrote to me just before he died. I haven't read it yet because I'm really worried about what it says, and I really don't know how I'll feel after reading it. I don't know whether he's going to tell me that he's sorry for driving me away, or if he's just going to remind me again that I'll never become a Wonderbolt. Could you read it to yourself and tell me whether or not I would want to know what it says?"
Fluttershy instantly stared back at Rainbow Dash, eyes widened as though she had just heard her confess to an unspeakable crime.
"I...I can't do that..."
"Yes, you can," Rainbow said with an urging nod. "It doesn't bother me, really."
"No, I can't," Fluttershy replied, backing away from the envelope as though under the belief that just being near it would cause her to contract a fatal disease. "I just can't do that."
Rainbow Dash expelled a sigh that came out like a groan. "Why not? It's really not that big a deal. Just read it to yourself. I don't want you to tell me what it says, I just want to know if I would want to know what it says."
"Rainbow Dash, whatever is written in that letter isn't for me," replied Fluttershy. "It's for you. And I don't want to read something that was never meant for me to read."
Rainbow sighed again, her eyes glistening with an unmistakable desperation. "Please, Fluttershy. I really need this..."
Fluttershy shook her head, and her eyes fell shut so as to not see the disappointment in Rainbow's face. "I'm sorry. You're just going to have to read it yourself."
"Then I'm not going to read it!" Rainbow cried, throwing the envelope back down onto the bedside table.
"Rainbow Dash..."
"There's no point!" Rainbow cried. "It's not like it'll change anything. And even if I actually like what it says, I won't be able to reply, and I won't be able to take anything back."
"But you have to read it," squeaked Fluttershy. "It's his final words to you, and you can't just ignore them..."
"Well, there isn't much he could tell me that I'd want to hear," Rainbow replied, glaring down at the envelope. "Even if he doesn't run my dream into the ground again, he'll probably just try to make me regret not coming back. And I really don't want him to make me feel worse."
"Rainbow Dash, don't you think it's possible that you might be wrong?" asked Fluttershy. "I may not have known him, but I'd still doubt that the last thing he'd want to do while lying on his deathbed is make you feel bad about yourself."
"I don't know," Rainbow said after a brief silence. "But I'm going to find out..."
"Does that mean you're going to read it now?" asked Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I'm going back to Cloudsdale tomorrow. There's only one pony who I think would know what the letter says. She's somepony dad grew close to after I left."
"Oh. Well, umm, okay," said Fluttershy. "I hope she tells you what you're not expecting to hear."
"So do I..."
Rainbow Dash stared down at the envelope, squinting her eyes at the written words, To my daughter, Rainbow Dash on its back just before another strong, cool breeze passed through the window and brushed it off the table, causing it to fall to the floor in slow motion.
****
The next morning, after the sun was raised halfway to its noon-level height, Rainbow Dash emerged from the front door of her home, spread her wings open, and headed off towards Cloudsdale. The blinding beams of sunlight almost instantly stung her baggy, exhausted eyes; she had scarcely received any sleep throughout the night, as her persistent thoughts had once more refused to allow her mind rest. Fluttershy, however, had eventually slipped from consciousness while sitting against Rainbow's bed, attempting to ensure that she did not leave the room. The two ponies eventually sat down to a light breakfast of eggs and toast, though the anxious feeling creeping through Rainbow's stomach did not allow her to swallow more than a few isolated bites.
"If you need me to go with you, I will," Fluttershy had said as Rainbow abandoned her breakfast and prepared to leave.
"No, I'll be fine," Rainbow replied. "Uhhh, thanks for staying with me. You really didn't have to do that."
Fluttershy smiled. "What are friends for?"
Rainbow Dash had found herself surprised at how much she had come to appreciate Fluttershy's company. They had talked long into the night, and the therapeutic nature of Fluttershy's comforting words coupled with her always-tender and delicate voice made Rainbow unusually glad that her father's death was no longer a secret.
The morning air was chilly enough to cause Rainbow to shiver as she flew steadily against a light wind that was whipping swiftly through her mane and tail. She could hardly believe that she was on her way to visit Wind Lily again, and given the less-than-favorable manner by which their first meeting had ended, she felt highly uncomfortable about it. If there was one thing she hated more than losing, it was admitting that she was wrong, and she could never forget the condescending attitude her father had displayed on the day she had finally realized that her first Sonic Rainboom had indeed been a fluke which would likely never occur again. Would Wind Lily also display such an attitude now that her assertion about how much of a mistake it was for Rainbow to hide his death from her friends had been proven correct?
Before another hour came to a close, Rainbow Dash soared into great sky city, narrowly passing by the small clouds that the Weather Factory's cloud-maker churned out every two seconds. She zipped over the hundreds of similar-looking cloud homes of the residential area and soon arrived again at 146 Cloud Drop Lane. Before she had a chance to stop herself, Rainbow knocked swiftly upon the front door, and Wind Lily's eyes spread wide open at the sight of her visitor as she opened it.
"Rainbow Dash?"
"Hi..." Rainbow said, instantly feeling embarrassed.
"I wasn't expecting to see you until the funeral," Wind Lily said, her voice carrying a noticeable sense of disbelief. "What can I do for you?"
"I...I need to talk to you," said Rainbow Dash.
Wind Lily stared at her blankly for a few seconds, then smiled warmly. "Of course. Come inside."
Rainbow stepped over the threshold of the small cloud home. As they walked back into the kitchen where they had spoken the first time, she noticed that there were several large, brown boxes scattered throughout the foyer and living room, some with their top flaps open, slightly exposing their contents, and others with their top flaps closed and sealed off with tape. There were several more boxes in the kitchen, littering the floor around the kitchen table, with two smaller boxes sitting on the counter.
"Please excuse the mess," said Wind Lily as she took a seat at the table. "I'm hoping to move into your old house by the end of next week. Unless....I really hope you're not here to tell me that you don't want to give it up after all..."
Rainbow Dash shook her head as she sat down at the opposite seat. "No, the house is still yours."
"Well, that's good to hear," said Wind Lily, smiling with relief. "Unfortunately, I've already packed up my stock of tea, so I can't offer you any. However, if you're thirsty, I could get you some water."
"No, I'm fine, thanks," stated Rainbow, shaking her head.
"Okay, then," replied Wind Lily. "So how do we find you? Last time I saw you, I do believe you were telling me that you weren't some little orphan filly who needed to be coddled, or something to that effect."
Rainbow stared down at the kitchen table, again struggling to see her reflection. "Things have...changed."
"Well, I can't say I'm not glad to hear that," said Wind Lily. "Assuming that they have changed for the better, that is..."
"The truth is, I've had a really lousy week," said Rainbow. "Like, really lousy. I just woke up from a coma yesterday."
Wind Lily's eyes widened at once. "What?"
"Yeah, it's true," Rainbow said, nodding. "It's a long story, but shortly after I left here last time, I apparently crashed or something and I ended up in a coma for a day. I still don't really remember much about what happened."
"Oh, my goodness!" cried Wind Lily, shaking her head in disbelief. "Are you all right?!"
"No, I'm not," Rainbow said with a sigh. "Because you were right. I never should have hidden his death from my friends. Now it just feels like my life is spiraling all over the place and I don't know how to stop it. I don't know where to even begin..."
"Well, I'm very sorry to hear that, Rainbow Dash," said Wind Lily with a mournful frown. "How can I help you?"
"I want you to talk to me about him," said Rainbow Dash, thankful that she had not received any condescending response as she had feared. "I want to know what his feelings towards me were these last five years."
Wind Lily nodded in understanding. "Very well. Where should I start?"
"Well, first, how did you get in touch with him again?" asked Rainbow.
Wind Lily rubbed her chin in thought for a few seconds, appearing to be searching deeply within her memories. Rainbow awaited her response with a nervous sensation tingling at her insides, unaware of what she would be told over the course of the next several minutes and how she would feel about it.
"Well, we happened to bump into each other one day at the annual Wonderbolts Air Show in the Cloudiseum. He had shown up late and was still looking for a place to sit when he eventually came across a booth where I was sitting, and after we had acknowledged each other with a greeting, he just took a seat next to me. It certainly wasn't the first time we had seen each other since I had stopped foalsitting you, but this time, he actually wanted to have a lengthy conversation, as though we were two old friends who had just been reunited after years apart. By that time, I think you had been gone for a few months, and I imagine that he was probably feeling lonely and was just really desperate for a friend. I thought it was somewhat unusual that he wanted to strike up a friendship all of a sudden, since in all the time that I had been your caretaker on a daily basis, he had barely seemed interested in starting any kind of relationship. But we started talking for a while, and once the show was over, we decided to meet each other again for dinner the next evening. And our relationship just kind of blossomed out from there."
Rainbow Dash fidgeted in her seat. "Uh...was your relationship with him....uhhh....did it ever....?"
"Are you trying to ask if it ever turned romantic?" Wind Lily said with a chuckle. "No, it didn't. But that isn't to suggest that I would have been disinterested in a romantic relationship. I would have at least been open to giving it a chance, but your father was the one who didn't seem interested. Perhaps he just couldn't see himself falling in love again. I'm not really sure. We never discussed it."
Rainbow Dash shifted her mouth sideways, feeling a wave of discomfort smother her at the thought that Wind Lily could have potentially become her step-mother.
"I asked about you during that first meeting, but he simply changed the subject, and it remained that way for months," continued Wind Lily. "He never really wanted to talk about you. Whenever you were brought up, he would just kind of change the subject or deflect my questions. It was so persistent that after a while, I had actually assumed that you had died somehow. However, since I was too uneasy about asking him directly, I eventually just stopped bringing you up and simply waited for the day when he would tell me himself. Our relationship went on--we often went to dinner or lunch together every week, took a few trips, and did just about anything that would have been considered typical for a non-dating pair of friends to do. He never seemed to want to be alone for too long and I would hear from him at least three times a week. Eventually, I began to think that I was his one and only link to happiness. He often seemed a bit depressed, and while he would do his best to hide it when we were together, I would still notice it from time to time. Then one day, about seven or eight months after we began our friendship, he finally began to open up about you.
"If I recall correctly, it was just a few days after Hearth's Warming. I think the reason he decided to open up then was because he was surprised that you hadn't come home for the holidays. I imagine that it was probably the first time he realized just how serious you were about not seeing him again until you were a Wonderbolt. On this particular day, he was doing a poor job of hiding his depression, and so I asked him what was bothering him. And just like that, he began to talk about you. He told me about your dream of becoming a Wonderbolt and how much he had wished that you had pursued a different career since he thought that you were just setting yourself up for disappointment. He told me that you had left on your birthday and that he hadn't seen you since and didn't know when he would see you again. After I had heard the entire story, I understood why you wanted to leave. I really did. However, I certainly didn't expect that you'd be gone for as long as five years. He never explicitly stated that he missed you, at least not that I can recall, but I could easily tell that he did. He seemed to always run away from his feelings, and never really wanted to come to terms with them. I really think he wanted you back in his life by that point."
She paused momentarily, and Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and briefly thought of the mental conversation she had with her father the previous day, instantly recalling the first thing he had said to her: "It's too late now, isn't it?" She slowly and mournfully nodded her head in reply.
"Even though I did mostly see it as his fault that you left, I didn't really want to place too much blame on him," said Wind Lily, and Rainbow opened her eyes again. "He really seemed to show a lot of regret for how he had treated you and how he had stomped on your dreams. I really couldn't say much, mostly because I hadn't met you and thus hadn't received your side of the story, so I just ensured him that you would probably come back someday, even if it was before you became a Wonderbolt. That thought seemed to satisfy him for the time being. However, within the next few months, your birthday came again, and once again, he couldn't hide his depression. It had now been a year since he had last seen you, and he had expected that you might come back on that day. I wasn't sure of how to console him, so what I ended up telling him then was that I would do whatever I could to find you, even if it meant searching all over Equestria. I would track you down somehow and try to persuade you to pay him a visit. However, to my surprise, he actually declined that offer. The reason he gave was that he was going to allow you to live your life without him since that was what you apparently wanted. However, thinking back, it may have just been because he didn't want to give you the satisfaction of letting you know that he missed you. I guess it's easy to see who you get your stubbornness from, huh?"
She chuckled to herself while Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes with annoyance.
"In any case, I think it got easier for him as time went on," Wind Lily resumed. "Soon we were at another Hearth's Warming, and then your birthday passed yet again. And each time they did, he seemed to become less and less upset about it. However, that isn't to say he didn't still show signs that he missed you. He would still bring you up every now and then, and whenever he did, his tone of voice would noticeably become a bit softer and more sorrowful. I kept telling him that my offer to track you down still stood, but he still refused to accept it. Then, before either of us had known it, five years had passed."
She paused again, looking down at the table as though expecting for a moment to see a drink sitting in front of her to wash away her drying throat. Once realizing that it was not there, she stood herself up from the table, grabbed a clear, plastic cup from inside an open box on the counter and filled it up with water from the sink.
"Are you sure you don't want any water?" she asked Rainbow before taking a drink.
"I'm good," Rainbow replied silently, still remaining undecided towards whether or not she was going to read her father's letter. When she was sufficiently hydrated again, Wind Lily floated back over to the kitchen table and returned to her seat.
"So...he never told you that he missed me? Not even once?" Rainbow asked in a solemn voice.
"Well, as I said, he was always very discreet about the subject of you," answered Lily. "He never explicitly stated that he missed you, but it was always obvious to me in his tone of voice and his expressions. But even if I had asked him, he probably would have denied it. He just didn't seem to want to come to terms with the reality that he had successfully managed to remove you from his life."
"So then why did my leaving get easier for him as time went on?" Rainbow asked.
"If I had to guess, it might be because he probably came to accept that you wouldn't be gone forever. Maybe he came to the conclusion that you were probably happier without him in your life, and that he had no good reason to force his way back into it."
Rainbow's ears lowered. "Oh..."
"I know something that might interest you," said Wind Lily. "During last year's Best Young Flyer Competition, news quickly spread around Cloudsdale that the winner of the event had performed a Sonic Rainboom, and he knew instantly that it was you."
"Yeah, it was me," Rainbow replied, barely suppressing a prideful smirk.
"I have to say, I had never seen him talk about you as pridefully as he had on that day," said Wind Lily. "He flew around the entire neighborhood, crying out that it was none other than Rainbow Dash who had performed that Rainboom. It was as though he wanted to make sure that everypony in Cloudsdale knew it."
"Really?!" Rainbow said, her eyes widened in an incredulous stare. "The same pony who always told me that I would never do a Sonic Rainboom ever again was actually proud of me for doing one?!"
"He sure was," said Wind Lily, smiling as she nodded. "As a matter of fact, he even admitted that he had been wrong for telling you that you would never pull it off again for all those years."
"Well, that doesn't sound like him at all," said Rainbow with a scoff.
"Well, it's true," replied Wind Lily. "He was quite proud of the fact that his daughter had turned out to be quite the prodigious flyer. I think he even half-expected you to pay him a visit if for no other reason than to rub it in his face."
Rainbow frowned and closed her eyes. "I actually considered doing that, but I just didn't think he would have been impressed. In fact, I even thought that he'd probably deny that I was the one who did it."
"Well, that's a shame," said Wind Lily. "Because after a few days had passed, he once again seemed unable to hide his disappointment at the fact that you never showed up. I don't think he even cared that he would be called out for being wrong, just as long as he finally got to see you again."
Rainbow Dash sighed apprehensively, falling into a momentary silence.
"You told me before that....he decided not to tell me he was in the hospital because he thought I wouldn't care, right?"
Wind Lily looked down at the table, and her eyes appeared to moisten over slightly as tears began to reach them.
"As I've said before, we didn't know at the time just how bad his condition was," she said. "His cough seemed pretty bad, but I didn't think it was anything more serious than flu symptoms. Neither of us could have expected that it was going to claim his life. I'm sure that had he known, he'd have wanted you to be there. I would imagine that the letter he left for you is all the evidence to confirm that. By the way, have you read it yet?"
"Not yet," Rainbow answered, her head shaking slowly. "I...I'm just not sure if I can."
"I can understand your hesitation," said Wind Lily, looking back at her again. "But I fear that you won't feel any closure until you do."
"What do you think it says?" asked Rainbow, staring hard at her.
Wind Lily fell silent for a long time, her eyes shifting all over the kitchen as she descended into thought.
"I'd like to tell you that it says that he regrets not letting you know about his illness, that he wishes he could have seen you again, and that he wishes you a wonderful and prosperous life and that you make it into the Wonderbolts one day. But I don't know for sure. The truth is that there's only one way to find out."
Rainbow Dash felt a tear drop from her left eye, splashing silently upon the table, followed quickly by another from her right eye. If that was truly what the letter said, she would still be unable to bear reading it. It would still cause her regret for the rest of her life...
"I'm truly sorry," said Wind Lily, frowning solemnly. "I don't know what to tell you except to just read it when you're ready to read it. There's no hurry."
"I'm just....I'm just so afraid to miss him," Rainbow said, wiping her eyes before any more tears could fall. "I don't want to miss him. I just want him to still be at home waiting for me. Why couldn't he just wait a little longer...?"
"Well, if it'll make you feel any better, I'll be there," said Wind Lily, attempting to suppress her own tears. "I know it won't be the same, but you could pay me a visit once you're wearing your Wonderbolt uniform, and I'll be there."
"Thanks," Rainbow said, smiling faintly in appreciation of the gesture. "Hey, umm, if you don't mind, could I borrow an empty box? Just a small one?"
"Sure," said Wind Lily, wiping her eye to stop a tear before it could fall. "Why do you need it?"
"Because...I'd like to go home again."
Wind Lily nodded her head and smiled. "Of course."
****
By the time Rainbow Dash left Cloud Drop Lane, the sun had climbed almost directly overhead as the morning steadily transitioned to noon. Cloudsdale's higher altitude always made the sun seem much closer than from the ground, and likewise, its warmth always seemed much more encompassing. Yet the sun's warmth did little to heat Rainbow's chill body as her wings slowly carried her towards her old house again while she held a medium-sized box in her forehooves, ready to fill with items that she no longer wished to leave behind. Her mind was still whizzing around everything Wind Lily had told her. The thought that her father had been awaiting her return came as a genuine surprise after she had convinced herself years ago that he was living a happier life without her. Rainbow briefly wondered to herself whether or not she would have returned to visit him had she known how much he missed her, but she shook her head within seconds, knowing the answer almost instantly. She had decided long ago that there was absolutely no force on Equestria and beyond which would have persuaded her to pay him a visit before she was wearing a Wonderbolt uniform, the only exception being if he had fallen ill or was close to death.
Nevertheless, the revelation that he had missed her provided her with no comfort and instead only left her with a deeper and sharper sting of sorrow, filling her with an even greater dread to read his letter, especially if Wind Lily's prediction of its contents was true.
As Rainbow arrived at her fillyhood home again, she paused outside to stare at its exterior. It was now somewhat humorous to think that just the other day, she had assumed that she had left it behind forever, perfectly satisfied to give it away without taking any of its contents with her. Still, she could not help but think of it as nothing more than a lingering, hollow shell of her past, interwoven with numerous pleasant and unpleasant memories which would never disappear. She was certain that the home now held very little that she actually wanted to take with her, yet she felt it was necessary to go through it anyway. It was only a small step towards moving forward and putting an end to the downward spiral that had consumed her life.
Rainbow Dash's wings lifted her up to the front door and she slowly pushed it open. Just like last time, the feeling of nostalgia instantly overwhelmed her as vivid memories circled around her mind. For all she knew, she could have been returning home after a long day at Flight Camp while her father was in the kitchen, hard at work on the night's dinner...
Floating above the floor as silently as a ghost, she lifted herself up the stairs and entered the hallway leading to both her and her father's bedrooms. She let out a chilled breath as she moved along the hallway to the left, wordlessly collecting the photos that hung upon the walls and placing them into the box without bothering to take the time to stare at them again.
She then made her way into her father's room, which still looked almost exactly the same as she always remembered it--the curtains drawn over the windows as usual, barely allowing any light to enter it. An uncomfortable sensation come over her as she entered the room, and she suddenly felt as though she were a thief in the night, preparing to take items that did not belong to her.
She instantly turned to face the dresser where the five framed photographs still sat upon it as they had for several years, and she began staring at them from left to right.
She cracked a smile as she looked at the first photograph, depicting herself hovering in midair. Of all the pleasant memories that the house held for her, this one was undoubtedly her favorite. She could never forget the bliss that came over her when she had flapped her wings one day, and instead of falling to the ground, she remained hovering. She remembered how her father had ordered her to stay in the air while he rushed to find a camera, not that it was an order she had any trouble following. In that moment, she had felt so convinced that she would likely never use her legs for movement ever again. It was somewhat crazy to think that those same tiny wings which only allowed her to hover in place were able to pull off a Sonic Rainboom merely two years later...
The next picture made her smile fade away. It depicted a happy moment with her father--a memory which now seemed so obscure and distant. She could not quite remember which birthday she was celebrating, however, since she did not have a cutie mark in the photo, she assumed that she was still under the age of ten. Her father had planned a surprise party all by himself, and took obvious pride in the fact that it had managed to go exactly as he had planned. Seeing him smiling at her in the picture had always left Rainbow with an unusual feeling. It always made the photograph seem like nothing more than a hollow glimpse of an alternate life in which she finally had the relationship with her father that she had always longed for...
The centermost picture was the most familiar by far--the one she had spent innumerable hours staring at until its every last detail was etched permanently into her mind. This one photograph was often the only reason why she would ever come into her father's bedroom at all. Rainbow Dash sighed as she stared into her mother's loving face again, and as usual, the question of how different her life would have turned out had she not died crossed her mind. But at the moment, Rainbow was not in any mood to reflect on it again...
Her eyes darted over to the next picture--the one of her first day of school. She chuckled silently to herself as she recalled how repulsed she had been at the notion that she would have to spend several precious hours each day sitting in a classroom to learn when she could have been flying instead. Her father had consoled her by saying that she would able to attend Summer Flight Camp after the school year had ended, which gave her something to look forward to. Nevertheless, he could not help but capture the moment with a picture, even in spite of Rainbow's obvious lack of enthusiasm--or perhaps even because of it...
And at last, she looked over at the final picture--the one that she ultimately came to detest the most, the one depicting the moment that had sparked the beginning of the strained relationship with her father. It was the day she had received her cutie mark--the day she had successfully pulled off a Sonic Rainboom without even trying, the day the Wonderbolts had positioned her within their sights. Her father had been immensely proud of her and could hardly wait to capture her thrill and excitement, blissfully unaware of anything that was to follow. It had never made any sense to Rainbow that in spite of it all, he still saw fit to frame the picture upon his dresser as though it were a memory he wanted to return to each time he saw it. Rainbow shook her head as she stared bitterly into her younger, overjoyed face. She wished she had known back then just how little there was to be happy about...
One by one, Rainbow Dash picked each of the pictures up and placed them into the box lying on top of each other. Their absence made the dresser look unusually bare, and a thick collection of dust was lined where each of them had been sitting. Stepping away from the dresser, Rainbow turned towards the record player and nearby case of albums just behind her. She immediately shook her head coldly.
"I don't think so..." she muttered with an equally cold tone. She had always hated the classical, instrument-heavy music that her father commonly listened to. If Wind Lily wanted the albums, she could have them, though it would not have particularly bothered Rainbow to see them all tossed into the nearest garbage dumpster.
She then looked at the closet at the left corner of the room, and she immediately felt her stomach sink down. The only thing housed in the closet that she knew for sure were her mother's pictures her father had stored away long ago.
With a deep breath, she opened the closet door and was somewhat surprised at how empty it was. A few dress suits and outfits for special occasions were hung up inside, most looking as though they had not been worn in years. On the floor, sitting to the right was a small, rectangular box with a bright, red book sitting on top of it. The book instantly triggered a spark in Rainbow's memory--she recalled seeing it a very long time ago when her father had shown it to her on a day they had visited her mother's grave.
Trembling slightly, Rainbow took the book and opened it, and it contained exactly what she remembered it to contain. Multiple varieties of flowers from each season were folded tenderly and taped into its pages with a brief description for each scrawled in delicate ink. It was her mother's flower book. Rainbow Dash instantly recalled her father saying that flowers were her favorite thing about the ground, and how much she had lamented that they could never grow in Cloudsdale. She had intended to fill the book with every type of flower she could possibly find, and according to her father, she had only managed to collect twenty-two different varieties before she died. At the time she was shown the book, Rainbow did not think that the flowers were anything special, mostly because she was still under the mindset that anything that did not come from Cloudsdale was inferior, yet nevertheless, she was happy to have learned something new about her mother.
Her eyes then trailed over the the small box, the contents of which she had never seen before in her life, which she could only surmise contained the pictures of her mother that she had never seen before. Feeling too apprehensive about opening it to look inside, she simply picked it up and placed it into her medium-sized box, along with the flower book. With that finished, Rainbow Dash exited the room, feeling that there was nothing else worth taking. Everything else was left to Wind Lily to decide whether it would stay or go.
As she descended back down the stairs, she glanced upwards at the clock in the living room. Rainbow immediately dropped the box as a sudden realization struck her. It was almost two in the afternoon, and her Wonderbolts debut, the very thing she had been looking forward to for her entire life, was only a mere twenty-four hours away... |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | Chapter 11 -- Today They Cry | "When you become a Wonderbolt, what's the first thing you're going to do?"
The spontaneous question caught Rainbow Dash off-guard, and she rubbed her chin in momentary thought as she watched the aerial acrobatics of those aforesaid ponies, continuing to woo and excite the crowd that filled each and every seat of the Cloudiseum. The Wonderbolts' annual Cloudsdale Air Show was now starting to wrap up, and they had just begun to perform their more risky maneuvers--the ones which always made the crowd howl in utter astonishment. Yet throughout the show, Rainbow Dash could not suppress the bitter feeling tugging at her insides, coldly telling her that several years would likely pass by before she found herself performing alongside them. It had been two years since she had accepted that it would be impossible for her to pull off another Sonic Rainboom, and no further opportunities for membership had since presented themselves to her.
"I dunno, Fluttershy," she said, looking back at her curious friend. "Never thought much about that. But I bet the first thing you're going to do is tell everypony that you're best friends with a Wonderbolt, aren't ya?"
Fluttershy cracked an affirming smile and stared back at the performance in front of her, still vaguely wondering to herself how she had managed to allow Rainbow Dash to drag her to the annual show, which up until now, she had always opted out of attending.
"All these maneuvers are easy as cake!" boasted Rainbow, as she watched the Wonderbolt captain Wind Rider pull off a 900 degree roll through a fast-moving hoop composed of three other Wonderbolts circling around until they appeared as a blue-and-yellow ring.
"Easy for you to say..." Fluttershy replied with a slight frown.
"By the way, thanks for being here with me," Rainbow Dash said. "It's much better than being here alone. My dad never wants to come, especially not since I started trying to get into the Wonderbolts."
"Umm...sure, you're welcome," replied Fluttershy.
"I mean, seriously. I know it's not your thing," Rainbow added. "I really appreciate it."
"What are friends for?" Fluttershy said, smiling warmly.
The aerial show finally came to a close as the six Wonderbolts soared upward and descended again via swirling around each other in three separate pairs, fast enough to leave their vibrant trails behind them, which appeared as spectacular ribbon-like whirlwinds. The crowd roared with praise at the spectacle while Fluttershy closed her eyes and shook her head rapidly--just the sight of it was enough to make her nauseously dizzy.
"That...was...awesome!" Rainbow Dash boasted.
"Yeah....'awesome,'" Fluttershy replied nonchalantly, knowing that she would most likely throw up the popcorn she and Rainbow had shared during the show if she were to see the trick a second time.
With the final trick having been performed, an announcer's microphone-enhanced voice boomed across the stadium, declaring the end of the show while simultaneously thanking the crowd for their attendance. With that, the crowd quickly dispersed, with many choosing to exit the stadium by flying out through its open dome. Almost at once, the Wonderbolts were swarmed with ponies asking for autographs as usual, and Rainbow Dash shook her head in at the scene, just as she did every year. The Wonderbolts were headquartered in Cloudsdale, and anypony could have come in asking for an autograph at any time, yet nopony seemed to ever want one until after they saw their air show.
"One day, Fluttershy," Rainbow said, shaking her head as she watched Wind Rider and the rest of the Wonderbolts quickly sign their names upon loose sheets of paper. "I don't know when, but one day, I'm going to be right up there with them."
"Yeah, one day," Fluttershy repeated with a nod. "Don't you want an autograph?"
"Oh, please," Rainbow replied, rolling her eyes. "I've had their autographs for years now."
They remained in their seats for a few more minutes as the Cloudiseum continued to be cleared of ponies and Rainbow attempted to imagine what it would be like to have swarms of ponies crowding around her, asking for an autograph. It was a experience she hoped she would receive herself someday.
"Well, I guess we better go," Rainbow said, rising from her seat once the Cloudiseum was almost cleared entirely of ponies.
"Umm, Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy said, stopping her before she could fly off.
Rainbow looked back, instantly noticing that Fluttershy appeared apprehensive, which she had since come to learn was never an indication of any positive news.
"Uh, what's up?"
"I figure I ought to tell you now," Fluttershy said with sigh. "I've decided that when I'm old enough, maybe in about a year or two, I'm packing up and moving to the ground."
Rainbow Dash's mouth instantly curled downwards and her eyes widened into a heavy stare which silently protested her words. At once, she was instantly reminded of the day Gilda had told her that she would no longer be living in Cloudsdale, and the same sensation of being engulfed in a void of emptiness overtook her at once. Once more, she was going to lose a best friend--a pony she had come to share many cherished moments with in the two years they had known each other.
"I...can't say I'm surprised," she asked after staring in silence for several seconds. "But...did you really think about it?"
Fluttershy nodded once. "Yes. I've thought about it for a long time. It's what I want to do."
Rainbow did not reply and stared back at the Wonderbolts, still busy with their final few autographs. Even after a few isolated trips down to the ground over the last few years, it still felt entirely like a foreign country to her, and she couldn't help but feel as though Fluttershy would be moving to the other end of the world.
"I know what you want to say," said Fluttershy, as though responding to Rainbow's thoughts. "I'm a pegasus, and I don't belong on the ground. But the more I think about it, the more I feel that I don't belong anywhere else. There's really nothing for me in Cloudsdale, except my relationships with my family....and with you. I'm really sorry if you feel like I'm leaving you behind, but I don't feel that I can live in this town all my life. And just because I'm leaving doesn't mean that you're never going to see me again."
"I wasn't going to say that," Rainbow said, shaking her head as she stared back into the teal Fluttershy's eyes. "I think it's what you should do. If you really feel that the ground is where you belong, then I'm sure it's where you belong."
"Thank you," Fluttershy replied with a slight nod, appearing less apprehensive. "I've even picked a town to move to. It's called Ponyville. It's not too far from where most of my animal friends live."
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "'Ponyville?' Seriously? Is that some kind of joke?"
"Wha--what do you mean?" Fluttershy asked, feeling somewhat insulted.
"What kind of name for a town is that?!" Rainbow asked, appearing as though she could burst into laughter. "So...am I right in assuming that ponies live there? Because I don't think I ever would have ever been able to guess that otherwise! I mean, we may as well start calling Cloudsdale, 'Pegasusville.'"
"Umm, well, it's a nice community," replied Fluttershy, ignoring her remarks. "And all kinds of ponies live there, even other pegasi. I'd be willing to show it to you if you want to follow me down there."
"Uhh, that's okay," Rainbow said, trying not to show her disinterest in her face. "I'll just take your word for it."
Fluttershy nodded, unsurprised by her response. "I'll still come and visit you, of course. I'll even come to see your shows once you're a Wonderbolt."
"Yeah, thanks," Rainbow replied with a nod, attempting not to show her unwillingness in her face. "But it's not like you're leaving right now, right?"
"No. As I said, it'll probably be within the next two years," answered Fluttershy. "I really hope you'll be in the Wonderbolts before I leave. But if not, I'll come and see you as soon as I get the news."
"I really don't know, Fluttershy," Rainbow said as she lowered her head mournfully, finally allowing the feeling from inside her to express itself through words. "I had never thought that getting into the Wonderbolts would be this hard for me....but it is..."
"You're going to make it," said Fluttershy, smiling warmly. "I'm sure of it."
Rainbow Dash could not help but return the smile, even though this may have been her hundredth or so time hearing those very words from her. She had repeated them constantly throughout the last two years, and even though she felt no closer to realizing her dream in spite of them, they nevertheless instilled her with unbridled confidence.
"Yeah, I know," Rainbow said with a grin. "It'll happen, no matter what my dad says."
They finally left the stadium as the Wonderbolts wrapped up their autograph-signing. Although she was saddened that her closest friend would be leaving in the near future, Rainbow at least felt a sense of happiness knowing that Fluttershy would not be doomed to spend her whole life being mocked and ridiculed for being a weak flyer.
Ponyville, she thought, shaking her head as Fluttershy trailed behind her in flight. What a ridiculous name for a town...
****
Inside her silent and empty fillyhood home, Rainbow Dash stood motionlessly as she watched the minutes tick by on the clock. Frozen with shock, she could do absolutely nothing but shake her head in disbelief. How was it even possible that tomorrow was Saturday? Had time truly slipped away from her that much? How could this be happening? Why now, and why like this?
Tomorrow was the day she had been waiting for her entire life--the day she had dreamt about hundreds upon hundreds of nights. And though she had always believed herself to be more than ready for when that day finally arrived, she realized now that it would have likely been impossible for her to be any less ready.
But what could she do about it? The thought of asking to have the date postponed instantly filled her with a sense of ominous dread, as though she expected that yet another life-altering event would occur just before the new date, and she would be forced to postpone it again, and then again, and again until the Wonderbolts finally lost interest in her. If she did not show up tomorrow, she felt that it would not happen at all. But could she perform competently, knowing that she would be attending her father's funeral the next day? If she could not, what reason would the Wonderbolts have to keep her in the Reserves? What if, after so many years, she ended up losing what she had worked so hard and so long for?
No. She would never allow that to happen...
"I can do this," Rainbow Dash suddenly said loudly to herself. "Yeah, I can do this! I was born to do this! Wonderbolts, here I come!"
With a confident grin conjured from nowhere, she picked her box back up and exited the house, feeling more sure of herself than she had all week. Her eyes formed a determined glare as she distanced herself from her hometown and headed back to Ponyville, partially struggling to keep the box clenched in her hooves against the steep decline. She knew that there was now a considerable amount of work to be done. If she was truly unprepared for her debut tomorrow, she would get prepared, even if it took all night, and even if it meant casting every single thought of her father aside. If she was going to fly for the Wonderbolts, she needed to be in more than tip-top shape--she needed to be prepared to fly like she had never flown before...
After dropping the box off at home, Rainbow Dash immediately went to work constructing a makeshift obstacle course comprised of multiple clouds lined up in a horizontal row in the skies over an empty field near Ponyville--a field she quickly realized was the same one that she and Scootaloo had played in nearly a week earlier.
Scootaloo! Rainbow's heart sank as she thought about her surrogate sister again. It quickly occurred to her that she had never informed Scootaloo about the date of her debut. How could she approach her now? How could she even begin to convince her to come? After a moment, Rainbow shook her head, opting to put it out of her mind for the moment while she focused everything on preparation.
Once ready, she flew over to the starting point of the course, and after slowly counting down from three in her head, she zipped swiftly towards the clouds, trail following behind her, her eyes cutting into another determined glare while her mouth simultaneously formed a malicious-looking grin. She soared through the cluster of clouds, dodging them narrowly as she passed, banking left and right and even up and down to avoid allowing her skin to make contact with even the tiniest wisp.
Midway through the course, Rainbow was almost surprised to find that a potent, yet undeniable satisfaction had quickly spread over her while she zoomed around the clouds. After days of struggling with her grief and desperately attempting to shun her feelings, she could hardly believe that at long last, she actually begun to feel a sense of happiness again. Finally, the excitement of fulfilling her dream had permeated through to the pit of her stomach, tingling her in such a way that she could have let out a boastful scream. She was once again in her element, in her zone. And tomorrow, she would ensure that the Wonderbolts regretted their decision not to include her within their ranks years ago...
As she approached the final cloud in the course, she swirled around it repeatedly, her speed increasing at each rotation. Within seconds, the cloud swirled along with her, falling slave to the tornado-like influence of Rainbow's wings. After more than thirty rotations, Rainbow Dash came to an instant stop, and the cloud hurled itself down to the ground, dissipating as it crashed against a nearby tree.
"And that's how it's done!" Rainbow boasted loudly as though she had been showing off to someone. "Just try to find somepony more suited for the Wonderbolts than me!"
She closed her eyes, continuing to take in the joyful bliss that remained in her stomach, doing her best not to think about anything except putting on her uniform for the very first time and impressing the Wonderbolts as she always wanted. It was a feeling that lasted for hours as she continued on training, attempting to make it through the course within ten seconds without striking any clouds. As she prepared to fly through it for what she could only imagine was the fortieth-or-so time, she soon noticed a familiar yellow-and-pink figure flying up to enter her peripheral vision.
"Rainbow Dash?" Fluttershy said as she approached, her voice heavy with confusion.
"Oh, hey," Rainbow replied with a nod of acknowledgement.
"What are you doing here?" she asked. "What happened with your return to Cloudsdale?"
Rainbow sighed, choosing to ignore the latter question. "Tomorrow's the day, Fluttershy. It's the day I've been waiting for my whole life."
Fluttershy gasped almost inaudibly. In the wake of Rainbow's coma and everything that had happened following it, she had almost completely forgotten about her Wonderbolts debut.
"Rainbow Dash, are you sure you're ready for this?" she asked. "We thought that you might have to postpone for a while until you recover."
Rainbow shook her head fiercely, causing droplets of sweat to fly from her forehead. "I'm not gonna postpone it. This is what I've been waiting for my entire life, and it's finally going to happen tomorrow. That's why I'm here. I need to get myself ready to fly like I've never flown before."
"Well, okay," said Fluttershy, still appearing apprehensive. "If you're sure, then we'll be there for you. I can't wait to watch you perform."
"I am," Rainbow said with nod. "But I really should get back to it. So, if you don't mind..."
But Fluttershy showed no intention of leaving her alone just yet.
"What happened with your trip back to Cloudsdale?" she questioned again. "What did you learn, if you don't mind my asking?"
Rainbow Dash sighed again. "I learned that you were right all along. He was waiting for me to come back, and I never did. And the letter is probably going to make me regret that forever."
Fluttershy frowned, her ears . "I'm truly sorry, Rainbow Dash."
Rainbow Dash quickly shook her head in frustration as she felt her happiness and bliss beginning to slip away again, instantly restoring her mournful feelings as they left her.
"Why does it have to be all my fault?!" she shouted bitterly. "I only left in the first place because of him! And yet, somehow it's all my fault that I never got to see him again! Why is all the blame is on me, and none of it on him?!"
"It is on him, too," Fluttershy said, somewhat stunned by her outburst. "It's not all your fault, Rainbow Dash."
"Apparently it is!" Rainbow retorted, feeling the sudden urge to kick through and destroy all the clouds of her obstacle course. "All week long the blame has been only on me! Nothing but blame left and right! And maybe I deserve some of it, but...I can't be the only one!"
"Rainbow Dash..."
Rainbow grunted angrily. "I had just taken my mind off it, Fluttershy! I was finally happy for the first time in days, and now I'm not!"
Fluttershy appeared to go tearful at her words. "Oh, goodness! I'm so sorry, Rainbow Dash. I didn't mean to make you upset..."
Rainbow shook her head and exhaled deeply, finding calm again. "It wasn't going to last anyway. I still can't take my mind off Scootaloo, and I really want her to be there for my debut tomorrow. But I don't think she'll come, even if I ask her."
"Have you tried talking to her?" asked Fluttershy, feeling slightly ridiculous about offering such simple advice.
"I don't know what to say, or even how to begin," replied Rainbow. "Every time I think about her, I just remember her glaring at me, like she never wanted to see me again. I know that I really hurt her. She just wanted to comfort me, but I....I did exactly what my dad was always so good at and pushed her away."
"Well, she can't ignore you forever," said Fluttershy. "Nor can you ignore her forever. Soon you're going to be standing face-to-face again, and when that happens, you'll need to know exactly what you want to say. Are you sorry for hurting her?"
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah...very."
"Well, that's a start," replied Fluttershy. "It may only be a single step on the road to forgiveness, but it's certainly the most important one."
"Maybe....maybe I don't deserve her forgiveness," Rainbow said, fighting to hold back tears. "Maybe I deserve to lose her..."
"Don't talk like that," Fluttershy replied at once. "You still have a chance to repair your broken relationship, and you need to seize it before it's too late. The longer you wait, the more heartache will develop between the both of you."
"Well, could you do me a favor?" Rainbow asked with a sigh. "Could you let her know that my Wonderbolts debut is tomorrow at two? I don't want you to ask her to come, I just want you to let her know. If she does come, I'll take that as my chance to try to fix our relationship."
Fluttershy stared back at her in silence for a few fleeting seconds before nodding slowly. "Alright, I can do that."
"Thanks," Rainbow said, gifting her with a tiny smile.
"Not everything is your fault, Rainbow Dash," said Fluttershy. "You were faced with something that you weren't prepared for. You may have made mistakes, but you don't deserve to lose everything because of them. You absolutely deserve to be happy and excited about tomorrow, and I'll leave you alone if you really need me to."
"Thanks," Rainbow Dash repeated, not knowing what else to say.
"I truly hope it will be everything you've always wanted it to be," Fluttershy said, smiling.
"So do I," Rainbow replied. "But remember, I don't want you to ask her to come. I just want to make sure that she knows about it."
Fluttershy nodded and flew off in the direction she came, permitting Rainbow to resume her preparation. She zipped through the course again, hoping to feel the happiness and bliss overtake her body once more.
****
Like the previous night, Rainbow Dash struggled to find any sleep, and she instead found herself trembling from both nervousness and anticipation as she lay awake in bed. She had long since wondered what the night before her first Wonderbolts debut would be like, but she certainly had not expected to feel so nervous about it. Numerous questions orbited her mind to hinder her ability to sleep: could she truly step into such a period of dream-living ecstasy, knowing that her father's funeral was the very next day? How would she feel when she looked in the mirror and saw herself wearing her Wonderbolt uniform? And would Scootaloo even bother to show up, or would she continue to shun her from her life?
After a while, Rainbow Dash rose from her bed and switched on the lamp on her bedside table. She floated over to the box of pictures which she had so casually tossed aside upon her return home and rummaged through it, eventually pulling out the one she cherished the most. She carefully placed it on the bedside table, just beside her father's letter. Almost at once, she felt as though she had taken a trip back in time to her fillyhood days when this very picture meant the world to her, gifting her a connection to her mother which was closer than she ever felt towards her gravestone--a connection close enough to be worthy of exchanging words.
"I know I haven't done this in a while," Rainbow spoke to the frame. "I guess you know now that I've been away for a long time."
The photograph did not reply, but Rainbow shook her head as though she had heard one.
"Don't look at me like that," Rainbow said, sighing. "I had to grow up sometime, didn't I?"
Rainbow paused again to allow for another reply. Unlike with her father the day before, she did not bother coming up with replies in her head. Instead, she simply pretended to hear them.
"Tomorrow's the day I've been waiting for my entire life," she continued. "All the years I've spent talking about it with you....it's finally happening tomorrow. I just thought that I should let you know."
She paused, imagining that her mother had bestowed her with some congratulatory response.
"Well, actually, I'm technically not in the Wonderbolts yet. For now, I'm just a Reserve, filling in for whenever one of them can't perform for whatever reason. Still, I'm part of them now. I've made it farther than dad ever thought I would."
The mention of her father almost immediately brought tears to her eyes, and she wiped them away before they could escape.
"I'm so sick of crying," she said with a frustrated sigh. "I don't want to cry anymore. I just want to enjoy tomorrow stop regretting how things turned out."
Rainbow sat in silence for a moment as she continued to wipe her tears. She imagined that if her mother were here in person, she would have wrapped her tightly within her comforting hooves, but that was a feeling that Rainbow had only experienced as a foal and could no longer remember, even after years of trying. Once more, she felt envious of her infant self, and could only imagine how much she would have savored her mother's touch had she known that she would grow up never feeling it again.
"I really hope you'll be watching me tomorrow," Rainbow said, smiling at the frame.
Without another word, Rainbow turned off the lamp and crawled back into bed, now feeling a bit more relaxed at the thought of her mother watching her performance and hoping that it would be enough to allow her some sleep.
****
Rainbow Dash lurched out of bed just after dawn, awakening from a dream in which she had shown up late for her debut and the Wonderbolts had stripped her of her Reserves membership. Looking out her window, she could see that the Weather Team was at work with their daily weather duties, once more without her own participation.
"Today's the day," she whispered to herself, and excitement quickly rushed to greet her.
There was still a long, agonizing wait ahead of her before the hour of two o'clock finally arrived. For today, time would most certainly move at the pace of a slug, with each and every minute passing by as though it were up to twice the normal length. And yet, even after all the hours of preparation she had subjected herself to the previous day, she still remained in ominous doubt that she was capable of making the best impression--and making the best impression was everything. Surely, whichever Reserve performed the most competently during their debut would almost certainly be the one who would be first to enter the official ranks of the Wonderbolts, and Rainbow would ensure that none of the other Reserves would steal that away from her.
"More practice," Rainbow said to herself as she allowed her excitement to settle. "I need more practice."
In a flash, she brushed through her front door without bothering to sit down to any breakfast, much to the dissatisfaction of her stomach, which grumbled in protest. Ponyville had just barely begun to awaken and embrace the weekend as Rainbow soared over it, returning to the airspace above the field she had trained in the previous day. Once again, the sky was transformed into her own personal training area as she went about performing every single Wonderbolt maneuver that she knew, both from her time in the Academy, as well as the ones she knew from simple memory of the dozens upon dozens of Wonderbolt shows she had watched in all her life.
"Look out, Wonderbolts! Here comes Dash!" she cried, grinning with unwavering fervor.
Two hours of almost non-stop training managed to pass by as Rainbow continued performing Wonderbolt maneuvers, smothered by the warmth of the mid-morning sun while her insides brimmed almost euphorically in the bliss of a much-deserved accomplishment. Just like the previous day, it seemed as though all of her problems had taken a long vacation and would not return anytime soon...or so she hoped.
"Yoo hoo!"
Rainbow Dash immediately recognized Rarity's cheerful voice calling out from just below her, and she looked down to see that her friends had gathered in the field.
"Hey, guys," she said, casually wiping the sweat from her forehead as rushed back down to meet them, smiling at their presence. "This is it!"
"So you're really going to go through with this?" asked Twilight. "You're absolutely sure?"
"Yeah," Rainbow nodded. "I don't have any reason not to. I'm not waiting any longer for this."
"Well, then we'll stand beside ya!" replied Applejack.
"And we'll certainly have to snap some pictures with you in your Wonderbolt uniform," said Rarity.
"Uh, sure, whatever," Rainbow Dash replied nonchalantly.
"Since we'll be in Cloudsdale, I guess I'll have to repeat the cloud-walking spell on you guys," said Twilight. "Fortunately, it doesn't wear off for a few days, so I shouldn't have to cast it again tomorrow."
"I don't want to think about tomorrow," Rainbow said, frowning slightly. "Tomorrow is tomorrow. But this is today, and it's going to go down as one of the greatest days of my life. It's all that matters to me right now."
"Oh, sorry," Twilight replied, biting her lip with a slight sting of guilt.
At once, Pinkie Pie threw her forelegs across Rainbow's neck and squeezed her tightly, a massive smile borne upon her face which could have erased all memory of the mournful expression she had maintained as she stared persistently at Rainbow's comatose body not more than two days ago.
"Our little Dashie is all grown up now!" she exclaimed. "We couldn't be happier for you!"
"Uh....Pinkie....can't..." Rainbow struggled to say, but Pinkie released her before her sentence finished.
"We couldn't be prouder of you, Rainbow Dash," said Fluttershy, smiling.
"It feels like only yesterday you were telling me how you wanted to impress the Wonderbolts at the Summer Sun Celebration on the day we first met," remarked Twilight. "I can't believe we're finally here."
"Nor can I," replied Rarity. "But you've worked hard for this, darling, and there's no doubt that you absolutely deserve it."
Their praise left Rainbow Dash with a tickling sensation within her stomach, and she could have accurately guessed that her cheeks were flushed.
"Thanks, guys."
"Why don't you come and grab a bite with us?" asked Applejack. "I reckon you'll need the energy."
"Sure," Rainbow said with a nod. "But only for an hour or so. I really need to get back to practicing."
As they started back towards town, Rainbow casually slipped beside Fluttershy and whispered into her ear.
"So um, did you...?"
Fluttershy responded with a single nod.
"Thanks," she whispered.
Rainbow exhaled a breath of relief. It was now only a matter of seeing whether or not Scootaloo would bother to show up...
****
"I'm here and ready to fly!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly as she burst through the double doors of the Wonderbolt Headquarters with only ten minutes to spare before the hour reached two. The lobby was occupied by a single mare at the reception desk, who looked up at her through a pair of white horn-rimmed glasses.
"And you are...?" she asked almost callously.
"Rainbow Dash, of course!" Rainbow replied, her tone implying a sense of conceit. "I'm surprised you even have to ask."
The receptionist looked back down at her desk and briefly scanned through an itinerary.
"Ah, yes, Rainbow Dash," she said with a nod. "'Wonderbolt Reserve exercises at 2 PM.'" She looked over at a nearby clock on the wall. "You sure did cut it close. You'd probably do well to remember that the Wonderbolts do not have much tolerance for unpunctuality."
"Sorry," Rainbow replied. "I kinda lost track of time practicing."
The receptionist ignored her. "Head over to the Conference Room. Take the hallway to your right and you'll find it a few doors down."
"Uhhh...thanks," Rainbow replied, and immediately floated her way over there.
The Wonderbolt Headquarters was a place Rainbow had visited frequently during her young life, and it had only undergone minimal change throughout the years. Multiple Wonderbolt portraits and artifacts adorned the walls of both the lobby and the hallway, which included a massive painting of General Firefly captioned "Our Founder", the very first Wonderbolt fabric uniform designed by Flair de Mare encased in a glass frame, and Commander Easy Glider's famous aviator sunglasses sitting in a tiny display box near the hallway where she was headed.
The Conference Room was the last of four doors in the hallway, the other three being dressing rooms labeled A, B, and C. Her heart thumping with anticipation, Rainbow Dash opened the door and was instantly greeted by the wide-eyed stares of Raindrops and Meadow Flower, two ponies whom she knew as fellow cadets during her time in the Wonderbolt Academy. They were sitting somewhat impatiently at the massive table in the center of the room, and Rainbow Dash quickly realized that they were there for the exact same reason that she was.
"Uhhh, hey," Rainbow said apprehensively. "I take it you guys are Reserves, too?"
Meadow Flower immediately looked at Raindrops, who now appeared less than pleased at Rainbow's sudden appearance.
"Looks like you owe me ten bits," she said with a casual grin.
Raindrops rolled her eyes. "I'll pay up later. I didn't bring any bits with me."
Rainbow Dash expressed her curiosity through a raised eyebrow. "Uhh...what's that about?"
"We had a bet," said Meadow Flower. "I was almost certain that we would be seeing you again today, but Raindrops thought that you had probably made it into the Reserves a long time ago."
"I didn't know that we'd be doing these exercises together," replied Rainbow, and her pressure to become the stand-out Reserve almost instantly mounted up even heavier than it already was.
"Neither did we, until we saw each other," replied Raindrops. "I wonder if anypony else is coming."
"I gotta admit, I'm kinda of surprised to see you here, Meadow," said Rainbow Dash. "I mean, no offense, but I don't remember you being the best flyer at the Academy."
"I wasn't," Meadow replied. "Back at the Wonderbolt Academy, I never thought I'd make it this far. But somehow, I've been able to increase my wing power from 8.6 to a 12.2. And now I'm actually about to wear a Wonderbolt uniform for the first time in my life. This hardly even seems real."
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Rainbow replied. "I've been waiting for this moment my entire life."
Raindrops let out an irritable sigh. "Of course, now that you're here, Meadow and I will both look like a joke."
"It's not a competition," replied Rainbow, despite believing the opposite. "We're already Reserves. The only thing you have to worry about is proving that you belong here."
"They won't be able to help but hold us to your standards," retorted Raindrops. "I really hope I didn't work this hard to get here only to fall under your shadow."
"Look, would you mind backing off?" Rainbow said, now irritable. "I've had a tough week, which is only going to get tougher tomorrow, and this is the only thing that I can look forward to. So I really don't need any of your crap today, alright?"
The room fell momentarily silent as a noticeable guilt swept over Raindrops' face. "Uhh...I'm sorry."
"Um, what happens tomorrow, if you don't mind me asking?" questioned Meadow Flower.
Rainbow sighed hesitantly. "Well..."
At that moment, Spitfire slammed through the door of the conference room, fully clad in her Wonderbolt uniform with the goggles sitting on her head. Behind her was a stallion who carried three white boxes in a small stack, obscuring his face from view.
"Good afternoon, Reserves!" she said with a grin. "Good to see that you're all here! The Wonderbolts pride themselves on their punctuality, and from the look of it, it seems that you've all grasped that quite well."
"Thank you, ma'am," said Rainbow Dash, now increasingly grateful that she had managed to make it in time.
Spitfire then motioned for the stallion to set the boxes down on the table, and he set them side by side each other. With his face no longer obscured, Rainbow saw that the stallion was Stromm Skyrider, the pony who had proctored her Reserves exam and had written her the acceptance letters. He immediately exited the room once the boxes were on the table, shutting the door behind him.
"I imagine you all know exactly what's in these boxes?" asked Spitfire.
She received only subtle nods in response as the three Reserves stared almost hypnotically at them, realizing the magnitude of their achievement for the very first time. Each box had their corresponding names scribbled upon the lid in jet black ink, almost giving the impression that the three Reserves had been given their own autographs. Raindrops made a move to open her box, which was quickly met with Spitfire slamming her hoof down on top of it.
"Before you open these boxes, I just want to make it clear to you that we will hold you to an exceptionally high standard when it comes to taking care of your uniforms," she said. "They are to be treated with the utmost respect, loyalty, and devotion that we, the Wonderbolts, pride ourselves upon. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, ma'am!" the Reserves replied in unison.
"Furthermore, you are only permitted to wear these uniforms when you're either standing in for a Wonderbolt, or unless we give you explicit permission to do so," Spitfire continued. "If we find out that you've been wearing it in public without our permission, there will be consequences, which may even include the suspension of your Reserves membership. Am I understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" the Reserves repeated.
Spitfire removed her hoof from Raindrops' box and nodded her head towards them. "You'll find guidelines for taking proper care of your uniform inside. Go ahead and get yourselves ready in one of the three dressing rooms. I imagine that each of you are going to want to savor the moment of wearing a Wonderbolt uniform for the first time, so I will give you ten minutes to get ready, and then afterwards, I want you to meet me outside in the training arena."
"Yes, ma'am!" the Reserves repeated again.
With that, Spitfire opened the door again and exited the room, followed closely by Raindrops and Meadow Flower after having grabbed their boxes from the table. Rainbow Dash stared down on her box, looking intently at her name scribbled upon it. This was it. All her waiting had just been reduced to its final few seconds...
After a moment, she grabbed her box and floated over to Dressing Room C, the only one still left open, the interior of which was surrounded by mirrors on the walls and two large racks where several uniforms were hung, as well as more traditional Wonderbolt uniforms reminiscent of what the original squad wore. With a cold sigh, she set the box on the table and trembled as she moved a hoof to lift the lid. Just inside, the familiar blue-and-yellow fabric of her very own Wonderbolt uniform greeted her eyes with the same amount of magnificent splendor as that of a massive diamond. The goggles sat to the left of the box, while the guidelines, a two-page long sheet lay just underneath it.
"Today," Rainbow whispered, her trembling hoof instantly going steady. "Yes, today."
The sensation that fell over her for the next few minutes could be described as nothing more than a dream that had somehow crossed into the borders of reality. Rainbow closed her eyes as she felt the immensely soft and comfortably flexible fabric on her skin, which felt unlike any garment she had ever worn in her entire life, save for the cadet uniform she had worn at the Academy, made from a similar fabric. It adjusted to her body seamlessly, and she was even left amazed that her wings were able to fit through the tiny wing-holes without any problem. She was further stunned to find that the cowl was far more comfortable than she had ever imagined it to be as she slipped it over her head, and her mane passed through its top openings just as seamlessly as her wings. Before long, the uniform in it's entirety encompassed Rainbow's entire body until all that was left was the goggles. She cautiously removed them from the box, fitting them over her head while sliding them over her eyes. Much to her relief, the goggles were not a hindrance to her vision and instead appeared to magnify it, granting her a deeper level of perception which she could hardly wait to fly with.
At last, Rainbow Dash stepped towards the nearest mirror and forced herself to look into it, exhaling a tension-filled breath as she did so. She found herself staring back at an image which had frequently been prominent in her dreams: a pair of goggled eyes staring back at her, her rainbow mane protruding out from her cowl, and all that was missing was her rainbow trail following behind her as she zipped along with her Wonderbolt colleagues. Rainbow's entire body fell numb, and she allowed her vision to be muddled with tears, instantly wishing that her parents could see her right now, and that she could see the expressions of pride adorned upon their faces. She once again recalled them standing by her left and right sides during her dream, and she attempted to imagine that image again as she stared into the mirror, but it would not happen anymore forever. They were gone...
Rainbow finally exited the dressing room after exhaling a deep breath and wiping the tears from her eyes, rejoining Raindrops and Meadow Flower who were now also clad in their own Wonderbolt uniforms. Together, they went back through the lobby and exited the building through two massive back doors, leading to the massive aerial training arena, which was nothing more than a oval-shaped, empty sky, preceded by a platform of clouds that circled around its rim. Upon this platform were a pair of visitor stands were situated at both the far left and right sides of the arena, and Rainbow Dash instantly caught sight of her friends who had arrived later via hot air balloon, sitting in the stands on the left. They cheered wildly as the saw Rainbow emerge, far louder than the family and friends of Raindrops and Meadow Flower sitting nearby, mostly due to Pinkie's rapid "Ohmigosh, omigosh, omigosh!"
Rainbow quickly scanned her eyes across her distant group of friends, but was unsure if Scootaloo was among them. Before she had a chance to examine them more closely, Spitfire spoke to them again.
"Alright, let's get started," she said, ignoring the commotion in the stands. "Your performance today will gauge whether or not we made the right call in making you an official Reserve. Today, you'll be performing most basic of Wonderbolt formations that you've each been exposed to before at the Academy. However, unlike at the Academy, there is very little margin for error here. I will give you two attempts to nail each maneuver, and if you cannot pull it off by the second try, you will fail that maneuver. If you fail three maneuvers, you will lose your Reserves membership, and the Wonderbolt uniform you're wearing right now will be subsequently burned."
Meadow and Raindrops looked at each other fearfully while Rainbow Dash cocked a confident grin.
"You'll each perform simultaneously, since you'll need to get used to performing in synchronization," Spitfire continued. "This means flying at the same speed, which in this case should be roughly 12.0 wing power. Of course, I'm not expecting you three to be experts at this right away, but you'll at least need to show me that not only are you able to pull off maneuvers, you're able to do so with at least some sync. As a final notion, I need to remind you all that you're not in any competition against each other. I'm looking for each of you to impress me as a team, rather than as individuals. Is that clear?"
"Yes, ma'am," the trio repeated.
"You'll start off with the Icaranian Sun Salutation," said Spitfire. "Each of you learned this pattern during your time in the Academy, so it should still be familiar to you. You may decide amongst yourselves who will lead. However, each of you will lead in at least one exercise today."
"I've got this one," Raindrops said at once.
"Fine," Rainbow Dash replied, noticeably disappointed. Meadow gave a slight nod.
They stepped off of the cloud platform and their wings immediately took over for their hooves. They floated near the center of the arena, and the ponies in the stands gave yet another howl of joy and excitement. Rainbow Dash again attempted to scan through the faces of her friends to look for Scootaloo, but she still could not see any sign of her.
"Dash, you're on the left. Meadow, you're right," instructed Raindrops.
"Got it," replied Rainbow Dash.
After a visual cue of readiness, Raindrops soared upward, followed closely by Rainbow, then Meadow. After reaching a certain peak, they instantly split apart, Dash circling the left side of the arena while Meadow Flower circled the right and Raindrops descended in a swift twirl, eventually bringing herself back up to complete an oval shape. As she circled around, Rainbow finally neared the stands close enough to see her friends through the magnified vision of her goggles, and what she saw made her insides nearly shatter to pieces.
Scootaloo was not among them. None of the faces in the stand belonged to her, and Flutteshy's face wore a distinctive frown, knowing how disappointed she would be at this realization. Surely this meant that Scootaloo had not thought it worth her time to come see Rainbow in her very first and only Wonderbolt debut. Even Spike had shown up in what was his very first trip to Cloudsdale, but Scootaloo had apparently decided against it.
Sighing deeply to herself, Rainbow Dash reunited with the other two after the fourth rotation, and they met in the middle, with Rainbow and Meadow twirling around Raindrops as they ascended again and finally completed the maneuver, causing the ponies in the stands to howl with applause.
"Very impressive, Reserves," said Spitfire, who flew up to approach them. "Meadow Flower, you were a bit wavy in your rotations, and that's something you're definitely going to need to work on. However, fortunately for you, it was minor enough that I won't count it as a failure."
Meadow's face exploded with relief. "Thank you, ma'am."
"Now onto the Butterfly to Bumblebee pattern, another one the three of you are familiar with," said Spitfire. "Rainbow Dash, you're leading this one. Understood?"
Rainbow offered no response, and her head was turned towards her friends, who were now watching in anticipation as to what maneuvers they would see next.
"Understood?!" Spitfire repeated, her voice louder.
"I....I have to go..." Rainbow replied in a low voice.
"Excuse me?" replied Spitfire, unsure if she was serious.
But before Rainbow said another word, her wings carried her away from the arena within seconds, much to the utter disbelief of everyone present.
"Rainbow Dash!" Spitfire called after her.
But Rainbow had no intention of turning back. Scootaloo's absence had suddenly made it abundantly clear what she needed to do, and she strongly felt that If she did not do it now, she would lose Scootaloo forever. Their relationship stood on a precipice, and any one step forward would send it collapsing into an unknown abyss, never to be returned.
"As of this moment, I was not here with you on Saturday when you got the news. I won't be checking on you anymore because I have no idea that anything is wrong. I won't be going to the funeral because I have no idea that there is a funeral. As of right now, I know nothing, just how you want it."
Scootaloo's words rang within her head, and Rainbow Dash glared in anger at herself as her wings carried her swiftly back in the direction of Ponyville. It was her only plan, and at this point, there was no way of knowing whether or not it would work. But she could not waste another second to find out.
Perhaps she had just lost her Wonderbolt Reserves membership forever. Perhaps her dream had just come to an end on the day it came true. Yet in that moment, losing Scootaloo seemed like a far greater loss--a loss she would never be able to live with...
Rainbow soon arrived back in Ponyville, hopeful that Scootaloo would be home in spite of the lovely Saturday that the Weather Team had granted them. Full of determination that she was not planning on going to waste, she landed down upon Scootaloo's doorstep and firmly knocked upon the door. |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | Chapter 12 -- Today They Weep | A moist and saturated atmosphere surrounded Rainbow Dash as she hovered in place, staring down at the green grass, bushes, and trees just below her. The green hue dominating the surface of the ground appeared to extend far beyond what she could possibly see, though some mountains in the distance confirmed to her that it did eventually come to an end. The grass seemed as vast and encompassing as any ocean, and Rainbow Dash was loathe to be anywhere near it. It was only her second trip to the ground in her young life, but the boring and empty plains did not seem any more appealing to her than they had the first time she saw them.
Just overhead was an entirely gray sky, which like the grass, appeared to stretch on beyond what her eyes could see. The coolness in the air and the thunder already beginning a gentle rumble in the clouds had informed everypony within its radius that rain was inevitable. Rainbow Dash stared upwards, wishing that she could pass back through those clouds and head home where it was always sunny, no matter what the weather was on the earth below. Yet that desire was even more distant than the mountains, as her father insisted that they take another trip to the ground on this particular day, much to her aggravation.
"Come on now, Dashie!" her father called from just beneath her, his voice expressing irritation.
"Don't call me that!" Rainbow Dash protested. "I hate that name!"
He sighed to himself, shaking his head as she did so. "Will you just come on down already? What are you so afraid of?"
"I'm not afraid!" retorted Dash, insulted by the notion. "I just hate it down there. What do you want to show me anyway?"
"You'll know soon enough," her father replied, impatient. "You just need to get your flank down here. Now."
Rainbow Dash loudly heaved a frustrated groan and gradually decreased her altitude, slowly dropping down lower and lower until her hooves made contact with the grassy earth.
"Now that wasn't very hard, was it?" her father asked patronizingly.
Rainbow Dash refused to reply. The grass was uncomfortable to the touch--not only it was cold, it prickled her skin so irritatingly that she responded by fluttering her wings to lift herself above it.
"I hate being on the ground," she repeated, glaring at the grass, intent to let her father know just how much she did not want to entertain whatever it was he had in mind.
"I know you do," said Rainbow Blaze, rolling his eyes. "But your mother loved it down here. And since today would have been her birthday, I think we need to do something she would want."
"Which is what?" asked Dash, annoyed. Her father had refused to answer this.
"Come with me. I'll show you," he replied.
Rainbow Blaze set off in a northward direction, leaving Rainbow Dash with little other choice than to reluctantly follow behind. A sudden rumble of thunder complimented the ominous feeling she had about being in such unfamiliar territory, heading for an unknowable destination somewhere in an endless green ocean...
****
Rainbow Dash's unexpected departure from the arena had been received like a massive freeze spell being cast upon everypony present. Spitfire, Raindrops, and Meadow Flower were left perplexed as they hovered in silence, waiting to see whether or not she would return. In the stands, Rainbow's friends shared similar looks of confusion, each wondering to themselves whether or not her departure was simply part of a new routine. But after a minute had passed, it became clear that whatever had happened was certainly not planned or intended.
"Aw, is the show over already?" Pinkie Pie asked, softening the tension between them. "Well, that was short..."
"I'm not too sure, Pinkie," replied Applejack, squinting her eyes at the sky for any trace of a rainbow trail zipping in their direction. "She is comin' back, right, y'all?"
"I don't know...." replied Twilight, staring at Spitfire pacing herself from afar, seemingly just as perplexed as they were. "I...don't think they know what's going on."
Fluttershy bit her lip, knowing that she was the only one present who may have possessed the answer as to what had just happened. Scootaloo had expressed no interest in joining them to watch Rainbow's Wonderbolt debut, and she had been worried of how Rainbow would react when she found out. It seemed as though that she manage to notice Scootaloo's absence as she flew near them, and had thus possibly returned to Ponyville in a last-ditch effort to convince her to attend.
Without offering any word of explanation to her speculative friends, Fluttershy rose from her seat and flew out into the arena towards Spitfire and the other two confused Reserves, each of whom was now in the process of debating what to do next.
"Should we just continue?" asked Raindrops. "I somehow doubt she's coming back anytime soon."
Spitfire did not answer right away. She was still in indescribable shock that the pony who had fought harder to get into the Wonderbolts than any pony she had ever known would abandon her own debut for any reason whatsoever.
"Well, if she's not back within five minutes, we'll--" Spitfire stopped speaking as she noticed Fluttershy's approach.
"What happened?" Fluttershy asked the moment her soft voice was within earshot.
"We don't know," Spitfire replied. "She said that she had to go and she just took off. If she's not back within five minutes, I might have to revoke her Reserves membership. Never in my thirteen years of--"
"No!" Fluttershy squealed at once. "Please, you can't do that! Rainbow Dash has been going through a lot lately, and kicking her out of the Reserves would just crush her!"
"Well, then can you explain her actions?" replied Spitfire, raising an eyebrow. "Could you give me any reason as to why she would do this?"
"She mentioned that she was dreading something that apparently happens tomorrow," noted Meadow Flower. "I would place my bits on that having something to do with it."
Fluttershy's ears wilted, realizing that she was going to have to unveil Rainbow's private life yet again if she wanted to save her status as a Reserve.
"Her dad died a week ago," she said reluctantly. "Since she got the news, she's kinda been spiraling all over the place. She even fell into a brief coma which she just woke up from the other day."
"A coma?!" replied Raindrops, bewildered.
"Oh my, that's awful!" added Meadow Flower.
Spitfire looked at Fluttershy with an affectionate disbelief, but said nothing.
"As for why she left, I think I have the answer," Fluttershy continued. "There's somepony who Rainbow Dash wanted to come and watch her debut along with us, but she didn't show up. I think she just went to try and convince her."
The four of them fell silent for nearly three quarters of a minute as Fluttershy stared at Spitfire with pleading eyes, hoping that what she disclosed would be enough to convince her to reconsider.
"We're moving forward," Spitfire said suddenly, turning away from Fluttershy's gaze. "Where were we? The Butterfly to Bumblebee pattern, correct? Meadow Flower, you're leading in Rainbow Dash's place."
"Y-yes, ma'am!" Meadow replied, appearing more than a little unprepared.
Fluttershy opened her mouth to say something in protest, but Spitfire quickly turned back towards her and spoke again.
"I highly suggest you get her to come back."
Before Fluttershy could say anything else, Spitfire returned the arena's stands while the two remaining Reserves prepared themselves to begin their new routine, and a victorious grin was momentarily visible on Raindrops' face.
****
Scootaloo was frozen almost entirely stiff at the sight of the Wonderbolt standing on her doorstep. Only the rainbow-colored mane gave any indication of who was truly standing before her, and she only barely resisted the urge to slam the door shut.
"Do you....uh....have a minute?" Rainbow asked, lifting up her goggles.
Scootaloo sighed hesitantly. She had expected that Rainbow might pay her a visit after she failed to show up at her debut, but she certainly had not expected that it would be this soon.
"I'm....a bit busy right now," Scootaloo replied, her mind scrambling to come up with some validation for the lie.
"It's important," Rainbow said, deciding not to ask. "I'll be as quick as I can."
Scootaloo's lips grew tighter, quickly debating with herself whether or not she should simply shut the door and pretend that Rainbow had never stopped by. Surely, she was only there to smother her in a blanket of guilt for her lack of attendance, or even to subtly chastise her for it. Nevertheless, against what she was sure was her better judgement, she soon found herself stepping aside to allow Rainbow Dash to enter her home, leading her into the living room where a single sofa and two armchairs sat in the view of an unlit fireplace.
Rainbow Dash instantly recalled that the last time she was inside Scootaloo's home, she was attempting to convince her to perform alongside her fellow Crusaders in a routine for the spot of Ponyville flag-carriers for the Equestria Games, and that her lack of ability to fly was not relevant to how awesome she was. It was the kind of sisterly moment that Rainbow Dash cherished--the kind that instantly reminded her of why saving their relationship was worth possibly losing her entry into the Wonderbolts.
"So what do you want?" Scootaloo asked with less-than-subtle hostility as she took a seat on one of the armchairs. "If you're wondering why I didn't come to your Wonderbolt thing, I just didn't feel like it, okay?"
Rainbow Dash shook her head slowly as she took a seat on the opposite armchair. "I need to tell you something."
Scootaloo stared at Rainbow with eyes that appeared to suggest that she was willing to listen, though still maintaining a sense of displeasure that she was sitting inside her house. Rainbow exhaled a steady, yet nervous breath, hoping that the idea she had spent the last ten minutes focusing her thoughts upon would work. It had to work...
"My dad died a week ago," she said, pausing for a moment to read Scootaloo's reaction, which appeared to quickly shift from annoyed to indifferent.
"I know I should have told you sooner, but...I was going through a really rough time. And I mean really rough. You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you. I've made some pretty big mistakes over the past week. I've alienated my friends and even worse, I've managed to hurt somepony who truly means the world to me. Maybe I've damaged our relationship forever, I don't know. But if there was anything I could do to make that up to her, I would do it. I would do whatever it took."
Rainbow Dash paused again and looked at Scootaloo as though she expected an answer or anything else that would have implied that she had an interest in rebuilding their relationship. But Scootaloo said nothing, shifting her eyes warily around the room as a gesture to reject Rainbow's offer to reply.
"Anyway, I wanted to let you know that his funeral is tomorrow," Rainbow Dash continued. "And it would really mean a lot to me if you were there."
Scootaloo focused her eyes on a random picture sitting on the mantelpiece, still choosing to delay her response. Rainbow Dash did not notice any change in her expression. Scootaloo still appeared indifferent, seemingly debating an answer inside her mind. Rainbow soaked up the silence, willing to wait hours for a response if that was what it took, just so long as she managed to accomplish what she had came for. But only after two minutes, Scootaloo again found the will to look her in the eye again.
"Thanks for telling me all this," she said. "But I'm sorry. I'm not going to go."
The words emerged like an iron horseshoe being thrust violently into Rainbow's forehead. She nearly gave in to the urge to jump from her seat and throw herself at Scootaloo's hooves in desperation.
"W--Why not?" she asked, almost too afraid to hear the answer.
Scootaloo unexpectedly cut her eyes into a glare as though appalled that Rainbow would even dare asking for a reason.
"Do you have any idea how I felt when I heard you were in a coma?!" she shouted. "Do you have any idea what you put me through?!"
Another horseshoe launched itself into Rainbow's skull, and she sunk into her chair with the feeling that it was now attempting to swallow her whole.
"I wasn't--I didn't think you really cared," Rainbow said, her voice numb. "I mean, you didn't come to visit me, right?"
"Of course I came to visit you!" Scootaloo cried. "I just didn't want you to know about it, so I told your friends not to tell you that I was ever there. I didn't think that you deserved my sympathy or my pity after the things you said to me."
Rainbow Dash leaned forward in her chair, which had suddenly stopped trying to swallow her up and instead seemed to want to eject her at top speed so that she crashed through a sturdy brick wall.
"But....you really cared that I was in a coma?" she asked, failing to suppress a tender smile overtaking her lips. The frustration in Scootaloo's face only heightened when she saw it, as she immediately realized that Rainbow Dash was now expressing the very satisfaction that she had been intent to disallow her.
"I thought I was the reason you were there!" Scootaloo shouted, eyes filling with unprompted tears. "Do you understand that?! I thought you had actually tried to take your life because of the way I had left you! Do you have any idea how terrible that made me feel?! You could have died, and you would have made me feel responsible for it for the rest of my life!"
The smile on Rainbow's face vanished at once. Once more, she found herself sinking into her chair, almost expecting to be gulped up...and perhaps even hoping for it.
"I'm so, so sorry, Scoot. I'm telling you, if I could redo this entire week, I would."
"But you can't," Scootaloo replied harshly, wiping her eyes.
"No, I can't," replied Rainbow, nodding solemnly. "I can't take back how I treated you, And I definitely can't take back how I probably ruined the best day of my life by abandoning my Wonderbolt debut to come and talk to you. Maybe I'll get kicked out of the Reserves--I don't know. But saving my relationship with you matters a lot more to me now. I can't let myself do to you what my dad did to me."
Scootaloo froze up for a brief moment. Even despite Rainbow's quick arrival, she had not assumed that she had abandoned her debut to come. Though it did not take her long to realize that Rainbow had probably only brought it up in a particularly unsubtle attempt to inspire sympathy from her, Scootaloo still felt uneasy about the notion that Rainbow Dash may have thrown away her chance to become a Wonderbolt entirely on her own behalf.
"So what happened to you, anyway?" asked Scootaloo after the shock had left her. "How did you end up in a coma?"
"I just....I didn't realize sooner how right you were," said Rainbow, struggling with hesitation. "And...how wrong I was."
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, indicating that she was dissatisfied with the answer. Rainbow sighed and tried again.
"I haven't been sleeping well lately," she said. "I guess I was just trying to fly away from my problems while I was tired, but I crashed somehow, and of course, they only got worse after that. It wasn't your fault, Scoot. It was only mine."
Scootaloo chuckled humorlessly to herself.
"I wanted to hear you say that ever since I left you. But once I heard about your coma, I wanted nothing more than to take everything I said to you back. And now that you've finally said it, I don't feel anything. Especially not satisfaction."
"Yeah, I know that feeling," Rainbow said with a sigh. "When I was putting on this uniform, I didn't feel any satisfaction that I was right all along. Maybe that's just how it's supposed to be. Life is just too short for that."
"Well, I once thought of you as the most awesome pony I had ever known, and I wanted so much to hear you admit you were wrong," replied Scootaloo. "But you won again. Because even though I didn't want your friends to tell you that I visited you in the hospital, I knew you would find out soon enough anyway. I knew that when we eventually had this very talk, I would tell you if you hadn't figured it out before then."
"I haven't won anything," said Rainbow, shaking her head.
Scootaloo simply sighed in response, appearing to disagree.
"The point is that when it comes to you and me, you'll always win," she said after a moment. "Because whether you realize it or not, you own me."
Rainbow Dash returned her a look heavy with confusion. "What...what are you talking about?"
Scootaloo shook her head and sighed.
"I don't know if you came here expecting that we would just pick up where we left off and become sisters again, but....I don't think I'm ready for that yet," said Scootaloo. "I'm not ready to forgive you. And I don't know if I'll ever be."
Rainbow Dash fell numb in her chair, certain that she would have much rather crashed headfirst through a brick wall than hear the words that had just come from Scootaloo's mouth. How could this be it? How could her idea not have worked? Had she truly put her Wonderbolt dream on the line just to accomplish nothing? She struggled to hold back tears, her mouth too numb to speak.
"You should probably head back now," said Scootaloo, feeling slightly awkward at Rainbow's silence. "I wouldn't want the Wonderbolts to kick you out of the Reserves over this."
Her every leg numb, Rainbow Dash remained seated for several seconds before raising from her seat via her wings and exiting Scootaloo's house without a single word more. There was nothing else she could glean from what had just transpired in the last twenty-five minutes other than that on this day, the would-be greatest day of her life, she had lost two of the biggest things she ever cared about...
****
Rainbow Dash continued to glare at the grassy earth as she remained hovering just inches above it, intent to never set so much as a single hoof upon it ever again. Yet her father continued to walk upon it as though it were just as comfortable as any cloud, his every step leaving behind a slight depression. He moved at pace so aggravatingly slow that Rainbow would have thought that his hooves were weighed down with iron shackles. Wherever they were going, he seemed to be deliberately taking his time to get there.
"Are we almost there?" Rainbow Dash complained, tired of moving so slowly.
"We will be soon," Rainbow Blaze replied.
"You mean we'll be there soon, or we'll be almost there soon?" Dash inquired.
Blaze chuckled to himself while Dash glared with annoyance.
"Just enjoy the stroll," said Blaze. "You know, the ponies who live on the ground tend to enjoy taking nature walks like this."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes while simultaneously expelling a groan. She could never imagine how dull the lives of ground ponies must be if walking upon this prickly sea of green was something that they did for enjoyment. Another rumble of thunder above rang through her ears like a beckoning call, as though the sky was ordering her back home at once. She could not shake the ominous feeling that if she did not return soon, she would surely regret it...
As though conjured from thin air, Rainbow Dash felt a wet drip splatter upon her head, which was quickly followed with another on her body. For the briefest moment, she believed that the grass was now spewing water at her out of spite, yet she quickly realized that these droplets were emerging from the gray clouds above. Within a matter of seconds, they descended quicker and quicker until she could see almost nothing but falling water everywhere she looked and her wet mane hung down in between her eyes.
"What is this?!" Dash demanded as she stared up at the leaking clouds, only to be met with a swift raindrop landing squarely in her left eye.
"It's raining, Dashie," answered Blaze, appearing to be somewhat satisfied by this fact.
"Oh," replied Dash, rolling her eyes at the loathsome nickname again. She had never seen or even felt rain before, but she knew that it was one of the primary reasons why the Weather Factory churned out clouds.
"Your mother enjoyed coming down here whenever it was raining," said Blaze. "In fact, that was when she wanted to come down here the most."
"But why?" asked Dash, her irritation growing with each and every raindrop that made contact with her body. "What's the point of rain, anyway?"
"Without rain, earth ponies would be unable to grow their crops. No crops means no food, and that would affect us in Cloudsdale, too. And also, without rain, water would be much more scarce, and Cloudsdale obviously cannot function without water."
Rainbow Dash shook her head in disbelief. Truly, there was no greater place of misery to live in all of the universe...
"Why would mom like....this?" she asked with genuine curiosity. "Any of this?"
"I'll tell you soon," said Blaze, then pointed just ahead of them. "You see that tree over there? That's where we're going."
Rainbow Dash squinted her eyes to see a single, solitary tree standing several meters away, roughly half as tall as their home in Cloudsdale. It appeared to be the only tree in view for quite some distance, but beyond that, there was nothing particularly interesting or noteworthy about it. It seemed like nothing more than a protruding brown-and-green mass raising up from the earth below, just as boring and uninteresting as the rest of this foreign land.
Rolling her eyes, Rainbow Dash continued following her father, whose pace finally began to hasten as he tread towards their destination.
****
Rainbow Dash slowly made her way back to the Wonderbolt Headquarters with only a single idea in mind of what would be waiting for her when she returned. Even in spite of the relationship they had built since the Best Young Flyer Competition, there was little reason to expect that Spitfire would show her any mercy. At the very least, she would surely be reprimanded for running off while still wearing the uniform, and for subsequently wearing it in public. Spitfire had said there would be consequences for that particular offense, though she wasn't specific as to what those consequences would be. Whatever they were, Rainbow Dash was certain that either her Reserves membership would be revoked, or she would have to go back for another round in the Academy. Either way, be it temporarily or permanently, she knew that her Wonderbolt dream would be yanked from her hooves, and she would only have herself to blame.
When she returned to the training arena, it did not particularly surprise her to see that no one was there. It would have definitely been a shock to see Spitfire, Raindrops, and Meadow Flower still waiting for her as though she had just taken a quick restroom break. By squinting her eyes, Rainbow was able to see that Applejack, Rarity, Spike, and Pinkie were still seated in the stands, the last of whom shouted "She's back!" when she caught sight of Rainbow. But Twilight and Fluttershy were nowhere in sight, nor were the friends and families of Raindrops or Meadow Flower--nor even Raindrops or Meadow Flower themselves. She almost felt as though she was showing up late to a Wonderbolt show which had concluded quite some time ago.
Pinkie's outburst seemed to alert Spitfire, who emerged from the stands like a hawk rushing towards its prey. The aggressive nature of her approach let Rainbow know that she was not in any forgiving mood, and certainly not prepared to accept any excuse she would attempt give her. Before Rainbow Dash had any idea of what she was going to say to explain her actions, Spitfire came to a sudden halt in front of her.
"In my office. Now," she said with a frighteningly hostile tone.
Rainbow did not have a chance to speak; Spitfire hurried away just as quickly as she had rushed over. Rainbow remained in place as she watched her cross through the double doors into the headquarters again. With an apologetic frown, she looked over at her four friends whose expressions were too distant to see. Surely, they must have desired an explanation, and she could only assume that Fluttershy and Twilight were not present because they had left to search for her.
Sighing with the acceptance of her imminent fate, Rainbow Dash looked away from her friends and followed Spitfire back into the headquarters, making her way to her office, the location of which she knew well. She had visited the captain's office several times back when she was a filly, trying to plead her case with the former captain as to how much the Wonderbolts were missing out on by not including her within their ranks. Even though those days seemed so long behind her, it now appeared as though she would be trying to plead her case within that very same office again...
As Rainbow Dash stepped timidly into the office, she noticed that it was now much less cluttered than when she had first entered it as a filly. Like the hallways outside, Wonderbolt memorabilia sat within glass cases or were hung upon the walls, but all of the former captain's stockpiles of personal awards and accomplishment plaques was gone. Spitfire was seated at her desk, appearing to be cycling through a record book until she landed on a page. Rainbow Dash immediately assumed that the page detailed her status as a Reserve, and an image of Spitfire tearing it out, crumpling it up and throwing it in a nearby wastebasket flashed instantly through her thoughts. A few tension-heavy seconds passed, and Spitfire looked up at Rainbow Dash slowly, her eyes slanting into an impatient glare.
"I hope you weren't expecting us to wait for you," she said coldly.
"I wasn't, ma'am," replied Rainbow Dash, taking a seat in front of her. "I'm really sorry for--"
"The other two completed their exercises and have gone home," Spitfire interrupted. "I had Meadow Flower lead in your place."
Rainbow cast her eyes down and nodded. Even with her own fate in question, she was at least glad that her action had not hindered Raindrops and Meadow Flower in any way.
"I trust you understand that I cannot give you any special treatment," Spitfire said. "But if I'm honest, what you've done is unprecedented. I've never even seen so much as a cadet abandon exercises the way you have. And that, of course, means that as captain of the Wonderbolts, it falls upon me to determine the consequence for such an action."
Rainbow could no longer find the nerve within her to speak, as though simply sitting before Spitfire had left her with a bridle thrust around her mouth which clamped it shut.
"As Wonderbolts, we have strict commitments to the citizens of Equestria," Spitfire continued. "We have always been at the forefront of danger, saving citizens however we can, even if it means laying down our lives. In the heat of a moment, we cannot afford to abandon anypony in need of saving. Now my question to you, Rainbow Dash, is how am I to know you won't forsake those commitments after what you have displayed to me today?"
Rainbow Dash stared back into Spitfire's unforgiving eyes, wishing that she was not being forced to answer her.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," she replied after some seconds passed. "I don't have any excuse. All I can say is that there was something that was just....more important to me at the moment. I had to go back home."
Spitfire stared at her silence, impatiently tapping her hoof against the desk. Rainbow stared back at her, still completely certain that it was only a matter of time before she stripped her of her Reserves membership or ordered her to return to the Academy. After more than half a minute had passed the delay began to chip away at her sense of sanity. Why did Spitfire insist on dragging this out?
"You know, I lost my father at a very young age," Spitfire said with a voice which was unexpectedly tender, offering a stark contrast from the berating voice which had scorned through Rainbow's ears just moments ago. "I was only about four, and it was long before I had even been given the chance to know him well. That sort of pain....I know how much it tends to linger with you, always coming back after a while no matter how much you don't want it to. Even as you grow up, you'll never stop wondering how differently you would have turned out if you had been fortunate enough to have both parents."
Rainbow Dash blinked with bewilderment in response to this turn in the conversation. Spitfire paused to allow her a chance to reply, but Rainbow simply dropped her head again. It was obvious that Spitfire had been told of her father's death, but pity wrapped around Rainbow Dash as painfully as a blanket of needles. Though she unquestionably desired to remain in the Wonderbolt Reserves, it was somehow distasteful to think that Spitfire would keep her in only because she simply felt sorry for her.
"All I have left is my mom," said Spitfire after realizing that she would receive no response. "She's been there for me every step of the way: The day I made it into the Wonderbolts, the day I first performed in a show, and nearly every single time I've performed since. She was there each time I increased in rank, all the way up until I became captain. I don't know what I'd do without her. If I were to ever get the message that something had happened to her, I would rush to her aid, even if it meant forsaking a commitment I made to perform. After all, simply performing in a show does not quite hold the same weight as rushing into the middle of a crisis where lives are at stake. When it comes to the former, our commitments can be a bit...looser."
Rainbow continued to remain silent, though Spitfire's words left her stunned as they entered through her ears.
"I'm very sorry about your dad," Spitfire continued. "I'm very sorry that he wasn't here for you today. I'm sorry for everything you've gone through this past week. But that you still found the will to show up here today when you had a purely legitimate reason to postpone it is quite admirable and quite expectant of a Wonderbolt. As such, I cannot in any good conscience strip you of your Reserves membership."
Every word beyond "Wonderbolt" reached Rainbow's ears in slow motion, and her appreciative reaction was delayed by several seconds. A faint smile was visible on her face as she looked back up.
"Thank you, ma'am," she said in a low voice.
"I don't need to know why you left. It's your business," said Spitfire. "We'll schedule a new date for you later, whenever you think you're ready."
Rainbow Dash's smile was lost following these words, and she could not help but exhale a sigh. After so adamantly insisting that she would be going through with her exercises today, she could hardly believe that she still ended up having them postponed after all.
"Thank you, ma'am," she repeated, grateful nevertheless at the gesture.
"I'd like to ask if you will allow me to attend the funeral," said Spitfire. "It's tomorrow, right?"
Rainbow Dash now looked at her as though she expected that she was joking, even though her tone did not imply as much.
"Uh...sure. But why?"
"Just think of it as an expression of my sorrow that he wasn't here today," Spitfire answered as she closed the record book on her desk. "And besides, I think it's the least I could do."
"I...I appreciate it, ma'am," Rainbow Dash replied, somehow managing a larger smile.
"In the future, Rainbow Dash, I would prefer more of an explanation before you just take off," Spitfire said, now looking at her with more seriousness. "As I said, Wonderbolts are not expected to simply cut and run, and certainly not with no reason given. Even though I am sympathetic to your circumstance, this is the only time that I'm going to let this slide, understand?"
"Right," Rainbow Dash replied, nodding. "I understand, ma'am."
"Well, then that'll be all," said Spitfire. "I'll see you tomorrow."
Rainbow Dash nodded silently, then rose from her seat and made a move back towards the office door.
"Oh, and Rainbow Dash?"
Rainbow turned her head. "Yes?"
"Your uniform..."
"Oh, right."
Rainbow had almost forgotten that the unbelievably comfortable fabric still engulfed her body, and another wave of disappointment instantly washed over her. She had hoped that when she was finally taking the uniform off again, she would have been feeling an enormous satisfaction at having successfully impressed Spitfire by her performance. Instead, it seemed that she would only feel the satisfaction of not getting herself expelled from the Reserves.
"Go on back to the dressing room. Your box is still there," Spitfire ordered.
"What should I do with it?" Rainbow asked.
"Take it home with you, but remember that you are not to wear it in public unless I say otherwise," answered Spitfire sternly. "Understood?"
Rainbow frowned. "Yes, ma'am."
****
The tree did not appear any more interesting or unique to Rainbow Dash and she her father neared it. It still seemed just as boring and pointless as any other. The rain continuing to soak Dash's mane filled her with a growing, silent aggravation, yet her father continued to stroll along just as merrily as he had been the entire time, showing no indication that the rain bothered him at all--or that he even noticed it.
"Here we are," he said as they finally arrived and he ducked down underneath the tree's leaves.
Rainbow Dash ducked herself beneath the leaves as well, hoping that they would offer some refuge from the unrelenting raindrops. But the falling water still manged to pass through the leaves and branches, and the protection the tree offered was only marginal at best. She imitated her father as she watched him sit himself against the tree trunk, which like the grass was uncomfortable to the touch.
"Okay, we're here," Dash said impatiently, irritated by the uncomfortably rough surface of the bark. "So can we go now?"
She stared up at her father and instantly noticed a tear making its way out of his eye, blending with the raindrops as it slipped from his face. The tree undeniably meant something to him--and also likely meant something to her mother as well. She sighed to herself and remained silent, waiting for her father to inevitably tell the story that she was clearly unaware of.
"Your mother and I....we used to have picnics under this tree almost each week," he said, wiping at his face. "And almost every time a rain was scheduled, she wanted to come down here to sit underneath this tree just to watch the raindrops falling."
Rainbow Dash groaned within her head. It annoyed her that as much as she desired to hate being on the ground, she could not help but feel that she was required to pay it more respect since her mother had irritatingly found it so fascinating.
"She had the idea that the rain was simply the clouds' way of showing pain, and that ponies were meant to feel its pain by being soaked by raindrops like we are now, or by being forced to remain indoors," said Rainbow Blaze. "Yet it bothered her that since it never rains in Cloudsdale, its residents never had to feel the sky's pain. And it especially bothered her for the fact that Cloudsdale was often responsible for affecting the weather. So, she simply took it upon herself come down here whenever it rained, as though she wanted to make up for it."
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her father. Though she had just recently reached six years old, she knew that any such whimsical concepts of clouds being sentient beings or capable of having feelings was nothing more than make-believe.
"It sounds crazy, I know," said Blaze, responding to Dash's skeptical stare, "but that's just what your mother was like. She believed that there was meaning in even the simplest of things. That's also why she loved being on the ground. She just wanted to try and decipher everything."
"Oh," Rainbow said, still not intent to see the ground as anything more than a massive waste of sky space.
"There was a song your mother would sing as she watched the raindrops," said Blaze. "It was a song that she just began singing on the spot one day."
Rainbow Dash looked up at him, her curious eyes expressing an interest to hear the song. Rainbow Blaze cleared his throat, preparing his voice to do something it had not done in quite some time, while he focused his mind on the song's every lyric, none of which had been forgotten in the years since he had last heard it...
"So many clouds scattered across the sky
The softest of pillows lying way up high
Twisted and formed to the whims of a dream
Like fortresses of the heavens or castles of ice cream
Whiter than snow, and lighter than air
Casting shadows everywhere
But today they cry
Today they weep
Today their agony darkens the sky
The sun is gone, the air is cold
Because today they cry
I feel their tears upon my skin
Raining down and down again
The thunder roars a scream of pain
Trembling the wet air through the rain
How I wish to see the sun once more
And the soft, white clouds that I adore
But today they cry
Today they weep
Today their agony darkens the sky
The sun is gone, the air is cold
Because today they cry
If only I knew why
They cry so high
Up, up in the sky
To them I would fly
Just to say 'hi'
And that I would try
'Till the day I die...
...To feel those soft pillows beneath my head
That I will not feel them cry instead
To hope that tomorrow the sun will shine
And those lovely clouds will again be mine
But today they cry
Today they weep
Today their agony darkens the sky
This dark day brings so much pain
And I'll be shivering in the rain
Because today they cry"
He concluded the song with a pair of tears rushing down his face just before he could close his eyes.
"She had such a beautiful singing voice," he said silently. "What I wouldn't give to hear her sing one more time..."
The raindrops striking Rainbow Dash's head no longer bothered her. Her father's pain latched onto her and went straight for her heart, entangling it in an emotional web. Before long, she found her own tears forming and subsequently emerging from her round, crimson eyes.
"I wish I could hear her sing, too..."
Rainbow Blaze wrapped a hoof around his daughter. All at once, the raindrops seemed to slow down around her, and Rainbow Dash descended into the darkness beneath her eyelids as she shivered slightly in the cold.
****
Rainbow Dash stared at her Wonderbolt uniform folded neatly in its box before she slowly placed the lid over it. The bitterness of seeing it in the box was like several teaspoons of salt being poured on the wound of the failure of her debut. The day she had waited her entire life for had quickly become a day she longed to forget, and the disappointment she felt was so maddening that she could have cried about it for hours. Never again would she feel the sensation of putting the uniform on for the very first time. Never again would she feel the thrill of flying as a Wonderbolt for the very first time. Those experiences were forever tainted in disappointment and regret.
Yet as painful as it was to see the uniform in the box again, at least she knew that she had not worn it for the final time. At least she knew that her bold decision had not cost her Reserves membership after all.
Once the box was closed, Rainbow Dash picked it up and exited the dressing room to meet her friends in the main lobby, including Fluttershy and Twilight who had since returned from their attempt to find her. Before going to the dressing room to change, Rainbow had explained everything to them--how seeing Scootaloo absent among them had inspired her to leave and attempt to restore their relationship.
"Well, I guess that's that," she said to them, without bothering to hide the disappointment in her face.
"I still can't believe you did that," Fluttershy said. Though her tone did not give it away, Rainbow was sure that Fluttershy was more than a bit irritated about having spent the last twenty minutes going to Scootaloo's home in the hopes of finding her there, only to be told that she had already left and was returning to Cloudsdale.
"Me neither," Rainbow said, hanging her head. "But I had to do it."
"I'm sure Scootaloo will change her mind," encouraged Applejack. "She may just need some time to realize what you were willin' to sacrifice for her."
Rainbow Dash did not respond, allowing a silence to persist among them. With her status as a Reserve no longer in question, her mind had since shifted focus to Scootaloo's words which stuck out to her the most:
"Because whether you realize it or not, you own me..."
What did that mean? At what point did their surrogate sisterhood become anything remotely resembling ownership? And what would it take to break that perception?
"Have you....set up another date yet?" asked Rarity's voice, penetrating through the numb silence and Rainbow's thoughts.
"No, I haven't," Rainbow said flatly. "I'm really sorry about this, guys."
"Whatever are you apologizing to us for?" questioned Rarity incredulously. "We're sorry that this day didn't turn out the way you had hoped."
"We're just happy that you're still a Reserve," said Twilight.
"You were all expecting me to hold myself together for this. And I couldn't," Rainbow said with a regretful sigh. "I should have just postponed it in the first place."
"We don't blame you for it," said Fluttershy. "We understand that--"
But Rainbow Dash suddenly brushed past them, moving quickly towards the lobby doors.
"Sorry, guys, but I kinda want to be alone right now," she said without looking at them. "I need to....get myself ready for tomorrow."
No further words were exchanged between them as Rainbow Dash continued moving towards the doors. No one knew how to respond to her disappointment, nor her silent distress. But leaving her on her own still left them with a general unease, as though they were under the impression that the next time they saw her, she would be in a coma again....or even worse. Soon, Rainbow Dash had crossed through the front doors and quickly disappeared from the sight of her friends, each of whom glanced at each other to confirm that they were all thinking the same thing.
Rainbow's mind during her flight home was as silent as the wind brushing past her. Her quick descent nearly made the box slip from her hooves, but the day's events had left her numb to the fact that she was holding it at all. It was still almost impossible to believe that she had risked everything, and yet Scootaloo still remained lost to her--her idea to win her back had failed. Where once Scootaloo had been the only additional attendee of her father's funeral, it now seemed that she would be the only one of her closest friends not attending. But as reckless and brash as her decision to leave the arena had been, Rainbow Dash was certain that were she to go back to the moment where she discovered that Scootaloo was not present, she'd have made the same decision. With her father gone, Scootaloo was the closest thing she had to a family--a genuine sister in every way except blood. She simply meant more to her than becoming a Wonderbolt, a fact that Rainbow would not have known before today.
No matter how much she tried, Rainbow Dash could not see past tomorrow. She could not even begin to imagine how she would feel once her father was floated up in the atmosphere to eventually join her mother and she was all alone, only able to see her parents again from beneath picture frames or in her dreams. How could she even know that the next day would even come? Perhaps all the world, at least in her own perspective, would vanish in the blink of an eye, leaving her in limbo from which there was no escape? Perhaps she truly would need therapy after all...
Rainbow did not bother going through her front door when she arrived home--she simply passed through the cloud wall leading directly into her bedroom. She carefully placed the box inside her closet and then quickly rushed back through the wall again. Home was the last place she wished to be at the moment, especially since she was without any doubt that she was in for another sleepless night which would have been spent staring blankly at its cloud ceiling.
Knowing exactly where she wanted to go, her wings carried her south, far outside of Ponyville, yet not so far that she reached the arid desert. With the town quite some distance behind her, she eventually found herself flying over an empty field of grass, with only a single, solitary tree in sight for an unknowable distance in any direction, still relatively untouched by time and just as boring and uninteresting as she had once perceived it. As she made her descent, her mind was instantly flooded with memories.
There was little doubt that this was the very tree she had taken refuge beneath in her coma dream, desperately trying to escape the rain. As she neared it, she could not help but find it surprising at how her mind had managed to recreate it so vividly. Every branch, every ridge in its trunk had been as accurate in her dream as it was in real life. But the checkered picnic blanket she had relied on for warmth was nowhere in sight. It had passed long ago, along with her mother, who so loved to watch the rain from underneath it.
Along with her father, who had first taken her to this very tree so many years ago...
With a deep breath, she closed her eyes, allowing her mind to succumb to the influence of her memories.
****
Shivering in the cold, Rainbow Dash continued to sit beneath her father's embrace, and it was not long before she was unexpectedly met with the sensation of her mother's presence as closely as though she were sitting on the opposite side of him, holding her just as warmly as he was. It was a feeling so genuine and real that Dash immediately opened her eyes, half expecting to see her mother sitting with them as though death had generously returned her to the family she had left behind.
Yet they remained alone underneath the tree, and if her mother was with them, it was certainly not in body. Dash looked up at her father, who was staring at the falling raindrops ahead of them with a melancholic expression. Perhaps he was able to feel her presence as well, but knew well enough that it was nothing more than a feeling--a feeling that would eventually pass and leave him with such a bitter emptiness that he would have ultimately wished he had never felt it at all.
In the blissful comfort of the moment, they had not realized that they had been sitting beneath the tree for more than twenty minutes and were just beginning to feel the onset of a cold battling its way through to their respiratory tract.
"Come on, let's go home," her father said, suddenly releasing Dash and standing back up.
"Dad?"
Dash's voice was low and brimming with obvious concern--or perhaps even fear.
"Hm?"
Rainbow Dash waited a moment before speaking again, not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer to the question she intended to ask.
"Why....why do ponies die?"
Rainbow Blaze appeared reluctant to answer--she had asked a kind of question ponies never wanted to hear from their children, chief among them being "where do foals come from?"
"Because that's just a part of life, Dashie. All life must come to an end at some point or another."
"So....you're going to die one day, too?" asked Dash, her voice trembling.
Her father looked even more reluctant to answer than before.
"Someday, yes," he replied with a slow nod.
Dash did not respond, and instead looked down solemnly at the wet grass beneath her.
"I wish I could tell you that I won't die until you're all grown up and will no longer need me," Blaze said. "But if that were the case, if life were actually as fair as that, you're mother would still be with us now. The truth is....death can come for us at any time, and it doesn't care whether we're ready for it not."
Dash went silent for a moment, yet her reaction did not indicate that she was learning this information for the first time. It seemed more like she was simply trying to verify what she already knew.
"What---what will happen to me....if you die before I'm grown up?"
This question made Rainbow Blaze even more hesitant than the previous two. He wished to ignore it, but feared that doing so would only increase his daughter's concerns.
"That's not something I want you to worry about," he said as tenderly as he could. "It's a possibility, but that doesn't mean that it's likely to happen."
"I don't want you to die, dad," Rainbow Dash said, wiping at her wet cheeks. "I need you."
Rainbow Blaze managed to conjure a gentle smile from his mouth.
"I need you, too, Dashie."
****
"I still need you, dad..." Rainbow Dash whispered, her words trembling as they emerged from her mouth.
Just as before, she again felt her mother's presence surrounding her. Yet her father unexpectedly appeared within her mind's eye, standing before her just as he had when they shared their mentally-based conversation. He simply stared at her in silence, rejecting any opportunity to share any additional final thoughts. Instead, he only offered her the same frown she had been given when she told him that she had not yet read his letter...
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes and launched herself into the sky, speedily setting a course for home, her mind dead set on what she was going to do. As before, when she arrived home, she flew straight through the cloud walls of her bedroom, feeling the thrill of both excitement and terror. She rushed to the beside table and picked up her father's letter, ignoring every thought within her which told her that now was not the time.
Because it was the time. She was sure of it.
Before her fear could assume dominance over her body and stop her, she tore open the remaining half of the envelope and removed the piece of folded paper inside... |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | Chapter 13 -- Today Their Agony Darkens the Sky | The air had grown so still that the intense pounding of Rainbow Dash's heart reached her ears as clearly as though it were the deafening roar of a Manticore. Her every breath emerged in slow motion, and it still required nearly every bit of willpower she had not to put the sheet of parchment in her hooves back down on the table and once again choose to save it for another day. There would be no turning back after this. There would be no erasing her father's dying message from her mind, and once the final word was read, she knew that it would be the last she would hear from him for the remainder of her life.
As her hooves trembled with enough intensity to suggest that she was standing in below-freezing temperatures, Rainbow Dash unfolded the parchment. She proceeded to scan the penmanship without keeping her eyes in place long enough to read any words, verifying that it matched that of the scrawled writing on the back of the envelope. She soon came to the conclusion that it was indeed her father's own brand of mouth-writing, and nopony else had written the letter.
With her nerves still causing her to shiver to the bone, and her breaths being exhaled in short bursts, she began to read from the top...
Rainbow Dash,
With any luck, I won't be dead and gone by the time you're reading this letter. This is all so difficult for me to wrap my head around, and I'm really not sure what I find more unusual at the moment: the fact that I'm writing to you after five years without any contact between us, or the possibility that I'm writing something that won't be read until after I'm gone.
I'm sitting in a hospital bed right now, more terrified than I've been since the day of your mother's crash. Apparently, there's some sort of infection killing me from the inside, and the doctors are trying to get to it before it does. They've told me that the infection is spreading, and that if they can't stop it, I could be dead by the day's end. I can't even describe how harrowing a feeling it is to go see a doctor, thinking that you're just going to get a new prescription medicine to treat your cough, but are told that you're at risk of dying instead. I truly hope you never experience anything like that. Right now, the doctors are prepping me for surgery, and I've begged them for a pen and paper to write to you, because if I don't make it, there are a few things I need for you to know. I would have preferred to tell you these things in person, but that may no longer be an option for me now, and I cannot risk departing from this world before you know them.
There is a reason why I never supported your Wonderbolt dream, and it's a reason that seems unbelievably shallow to me now. I'm not sure if you'll believe this or not, but a very long time ago, before I had a cutie mark, I had a goal of becoming a Wonderbolt myself. Much like yourself, I tried to secure myself a place in their ranks from almost the moment I first heard about them. But I couldn't quite bring myself to admit that there were plenty of other colts my age who were much better fliers than I was. In fact, I could barely even keep with them during laps in Flight Camp. It wasn't until I received my cutie mark that I came to accept that my inclusion into the Wonderbolts simply wasn't going to happen, and once I had accepted that, I quickly learned that life is all about two things in particular: what is meant to be, and what is not meant to be. Whatever is meant to be will happen, and whatever is not meant to be will not happen, and there was nothing that we could do to change either one.
That's what I lived my life believing, and so I never set my expectations too high for anything. This way of thinking obviously didn't leave me with too many friends, and I rationalized that by believing that I simply wasn't meant to have lasting friendships. But life eventually changed for me by the time I had grown up. I had managed to strike up a friendship that had not only managed to last, but also blossomed into a romance. I got married, and then shortly afterward, I had you. My cynical views of life clashed significantly with your mother's overly optimistic view, and to this day, I believe that's exactly what ended up drawing us together. Before I knew it, she rubbed off on me, and I gradually began to change. She allowed me to gain an outlook on life that I had never possessed before. But on the day she died, my whole world came to a sudden crash.
While I'm on this subject, it suddenly occurs to me that I should give you more details on how she died, since if I don't make it, you'll never know otherwise. I'm still not entirely sure if I should tell you, and you might actually wish that I hadn't. Nevertheless, I can't help but feel that I owe it to you. There's a reason why I've always been so vague about her death. The accident that claimed your mother's life occurred while she was performing for you. Watching her fly was something that you often enjoyed, and the crash occurred while she was looking over at you to see that spark in your eye that always filled her with so much happiness. I've never told you before now because I feared that you would feel guilty. I just want you to know that I've never blamed you for her death, so I sincerely hope that you don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault.
Her death changed me for the worse. I doubt you remember the period that followed, but it certainly wasn't a good one for me. For a really long time, I no longer wanted to live. I can say with certainty that you were the only thing keeping me alive. I had lost my wife, but I still had my daughter to look after. I still had you to keep me going, and so I kept on going just for you. But with your mother gone, I couldn't help but to slip back to my old outlook on life. I rationalized her death by insisting that I was never meant to be married, and so that's why I never married again.
As the years passed, watching you grow filled me with joy. I found that you were more than what I needed to live for. I couldn't have been a prouder parent on those milestone days of your life when you said your first word, took flight for the first time, and even got your cutie mark. And I could only imagine how much your mother would have been proud of you as well.
But then the next thing I knew, you were following directly in my hoofsteps. You wanted to become a Wonderbolt, and you were doing even more than I had to reach that goal. I was placed in a difficult position, a position which I had no solution for. I was convinced that, like me, you were only setting yourself up for an inevitable disappointment. I was fully convinced that if becoming a Wonderbolt hadn't been meant to be for me, it was not meant to be for you either. So I did what I could to turn you away from that path, hoping that you would eventually grow out of it and pursue something else for a career. But then you performed a Sonic Rainboom and got your cutie mark, and before I--
The writing ended abruptly as Rainbow Dash reached the end of the paper. She quickly turned it over and was surprised to see that the back was also filled with text from top to bottom. She resumed reading without bothering to take the time to reflect on anything she had read thus far.
--knew it, your dream to become a Wonderbolt was stronger than ever before. At that point, I realized that there was probably little I could do to dissuade you. But I quickly found myself overcome with an emotion I had never expected: envy. That's right, I envied you, Dashie. I refused to believe that your Sonic Rainboom was anything more than a lucky mistake, and I even felt a sort of satisfaction that you struggled to perform it again. I couldn't begin to understand or make sense of the fact that you were such a better flyer than I was, and even as I write this now, I still can't. But it's true, nonetheless. You are the best flyer I have ever seen, Rainbow Dash, and I honestly don't know how you've managed that while you had my genes working against you. I didn't want to admit it back then, but you were definitely more suited for the Wonderbolts than I ever was.
Back then, it was far too embarrassing for me to admit to myself that I was envious that my own daughter was a better flyer than I was. But it didn't stop me from envying you anyway. My attempts to turn you away from the Wonderbolts was no longer about trying to save you from inevitable disappointment, but it was instead about trying to save myself from the humiliation that my own daughter could accomplish what I couldn't. That's something I never should have done, and even though this is coming much later than it should have, I sincerely apologize to you for it.
When you had finally decided to leave, I knew that at long last I was finally losing you, too. So I chose not to fight it. I chose not to do anything to save our relationship because I thought that this was yet another thing that was simply meant to be. I had come to the conclusion that in the end, I was always meant to end up all alone. In fact, I was even willing to accept that I probably wouldn't ever see you again. But with you gone, and my days becoming lonelier and lonelier, I eventually decided to defy that notion. I decided that regardless of whether it would end badly or not, I would make an attempt to strike up a new relationship, or rather, an old one. I got back in touch with Wind Lily, a pony whom I had hired to take care of you back when you were a foal. Having somepony else in my life made things better, and even made it easier not to think about you as the years wore on. But I could barely deny that I began to miss you. My darn pride wouldn't allow myself to admit it, but I came to understand how wrong I was for shooting down your dreams purely out of my own envy. Sometimes I would find myself missing you so much that it would hurt, but I never wanted to make an attempt to find you. I figured that I would wait on you to come back yourself. I decided that I wasn't going to force myself back into your life and try to coerce you into forgiving me, no matter how much I needed it. And even now, I've decided against letting you know that I'm in the hospital, about to undergo surgery. Perhaps that was a mistake, but it's all the more reason for me to hope that I make it out of this alive.
My time and paper space is running short now, so I need to wrap this up. If I die, I've asked to have a picture of Wind Lily I carry with me enclosed within this letter so that you'll know what she looks like and how to find her. Our old house will be left to you in my will, but since I assume you won't want it, I ask that you turn it over to her. She's expressed a desire to move, but she's a bit financially unable to do so. I'm sure she'll appreciate it. And besides, I'd really like to leave her a token of my gratitude for her friendship all these years.
Dashie, if I make it out of this, I'm going to pay you a visit after I recover, so get yourself ready to see me again. And if I don't make it out of this, then I wish you luck in becoming a Wonderbolt, and I hope you enjoy a longer and more prosperous life than my own. I love you, Dashie, and I'm sorry.
The world around Rainbow Dash seemed to fall dark and silent as the final word written on the parchment was absorbed by her eyes and subsequently nestled into her brain. What followed was an unrelenting numbness overtaking her legs, causing them to collapse before it then rushed its way through her body so deeply that she would have believed that she would never have the ability to feel anything ever again. At almost the same time, the most potent emotional pain she had ever felt in her life ripped through her skin and bones with violent aggression. Her every organ seemed to cease all function--her heart no longer pumped blood, her lungs no longer drew air, her brain fell entirely still. For all she knew in that moment, her life was being drained away as she sat there in silence, and she was too far in a daze to notice it.
The letter slipped out of Rainbow's weakened hooves and slightly dug itself into her cloud floor. There was so much she was now forced to wrap her head around that her mind urged her to give up before it could even make an attempt. It would surely take an indeterminable amount of time to fully process, to accept, and ultimately to live with for the rest of her life.
Rainbow Dash slowly crawled into her bed as her ducts gathered what seemed like gallons of salty droplets awaiting release. As her head reached the pillow, the sound of her wailing was all that she could hear, and the warm tears stained her cheeks and added an additional coating of red to her crimson eyes. There was nothing she could do to stop herself, no matter how much she hated the sound of her own crying, no matter how much she hated how much the tears stung as they fell. Yet with her father's final words still lingering prominently in her head, crying was the only thing she desired to do in that moment, as the tears and wails emerged like fragments of her emotional pain gradually ebbing away, and even the slightest bit of relief from that pain was something that she was unquestionably desperate for.
Hours passed Rainbow Dash by as she remained curled up in her bed, and by the time her sobs had died down to slight whimpers and her ducts were cleared of the tears they had worked so rapidly to produce, the sun was in the process of making way for the night, and the light and warmth in her room was sinking down into nothingness. She still felt unable and unwilling to begin processing the content of her father's letter. Where would she even start? The revelation to how her mother truly died? Her father's admission of his envy? The genuinely heartfelt closing? Or the general nature of the letter, which ultimately turned out to be the exact opposite of what she had expected since the moment she had received it?
Rainbow Dash threw a blanket over herself, fully obscuring her face from what little traces of sunlight still reached her room. She desired to remain there in complete silence, hidden away from the world without thinking about the letter, without thinking about anything...
"Um, Rainbow Dash?"
Fluttershy's voice emerging from the other side of Rainbow's blanket took her by surprise, as there had not been a knock on her door, or at least one that she had heard.
"Um, I know you said you wanted to be alone, but it's been a few hours and I just wanted to see how you were doing," she said, justifying her presence.
Rainbow did not speak--her throat still felt too numb to formulate words.
"Rainbow Dash, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, and the closeness of her voice indicated that she had moved nearer to the bed.
She turned on the light, and Rainbow instantly responded by snapping her eyes shut from beneath the blanket, as though she felt that seeing even the smallest inch of light would call forth her every undesirable need to start reflecting upon the letter. With the light on, Fluttershy quickly caught sight of the loose sheet of parchment lying on the floor near the bed and the fully open envelope lying on the bedside table.
"Oh...you read your dad's letter..."
She could not quite yet determine whether this was good news or not, but Rainbow's lack of response appeared to suggest the latter. Roughly five minutes passed as Fluttershy waited for Rainbow Dash to give some acknowledgement her presence, but Rainbow remained without any intention to part from whatever sense of security she felt underneath her shield from the light. The longer Fluttershy waited, the more she was tempted to read the letter for herself, even despite her earlier position.
"Rainbow, are you asleep?" Fluttershy asked, surprised that this had not occurred to her before. She gently pulled the blanket away, and Rainbow irritably twisted around and buried her face within a pillow, gripping it with her hooves as much as she could to prevent Fluttershy from cruelly stripping her of another sanctuary of darkness.
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said, taking the action to mean that Rainbow Dash still wished to be left alone. "I guess I'll just go now."
Rainbow Dash finally responded with an agonizing groan. As much as she wished for Fluttershy to leave her in peace, Rainbow inexplicably felt that she did not want to be left alone with no one to help ease her pain.
Mistaking the groan as a non-verbal expression of pain, Fluttershy immediately turned Rainbow Dash over onto her back, quickly checking her body for any physical injuries, and then her face for any emotional injuries as indicated by the presence a hopelessly grim expression.
"Are you alright?" she cried, noticing the extra bit of red in Rainbow's eyes.
Finally exposed to the light, Rainbow Dash no longer felt like hiding herself from it again. She rose from the bed while casting Fluttershy a look of unsubtle scorn for forcing her into what she had desperately wished to escape from.
"Rainbow Dash, what's going on with--?"
Fluttershy's voice was left to die in her throat as Rainbow Dash unexpectedly hurried out of the room without breathing a single word, still holding scorn within her face. She descended down to the kitchen, grabbed the final bottle of cider from her refrigerator, and took a seat at the table, with Fluttershy joining her moments later.
"Umm, what are you doing?" Fluttershy said, watching her friend with a cocked eyebrow.
But Rainbow Dash continued to ignore her as she took several swigs from the bottle, emptying nearly half of it without a single concern that she would be without cider until the fall. The sweet, apple-flavored drink was heaven to her throat, and she felt an unapologetic bliss with each and every mouthful she swallowed. For the first time in the last few hours, she finally had something else to think about besides the letter and her ominous feelings towards the funeral, still looming so closely on the horizon. It took no small amount of effort to set the bottle back down, and once it was sitting upon the table, Rainbow Dash finally turned her attention towards her neglected friend.
"I really needed that," she said lazily, the cider having washed the numbness in her throat away.
Fluttershy stared her down with a disapproving look, which immediately filled Rainbow Dash with irritation.
"I'm not okay," Rainbow said, her head shaking slowly. "And I'm not going to be okay."
Fluttershy sighed to herself and took the seat at the table opposite from her. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Rainbow Dash did not answer for over a minute as she stared at the bottle, silently debating to herself whether or not it would have been better for her to simply go on and empty it all down her throat. Her mind had already begun to reflect on the letter, and a sudden revelation struck her like a horn being maliciously thrust into her gut.
"Both of my parents are dead because of me...."
Fluttershy blinked with alarm. "What?"
"It's been my fault since the very beginning," Rainbow said, lifting her eyes to meet Fluttershy's confused stare. "I caused my mom's accident. She was performing for me...and that's how she died. And as for my dad....maybe I'm responsible for what happened to him, too. Maybe his infection happened because of all those years that he spent missing me...or something like that. Maybe if I had gone back to visit him from time to time, he'd still be alive now."
"Wait, slow down," Fluttershy urged, having lost nearly all comprehension of Rainbow's rapidly-paced words almost right from the beginning. "What exactly are you saying? How is this your fault?"
"In my dad's letter, he finally told me what caused my mom's fatal accident," Rainbow Dash replied, now speaking slower and with more clarity. "And...it was me. She was performing for me. She was making sure that I was enjoying the show she was putting on for me, and that left her distracted. That's how she crashed....and that's how she died."
Fluttershy stared at her for a moment, then shook her head. "Well, that's not--"
"And my dad. I think that's my fault, too," Rainbow continued, ignoring her. "What if I was the reason he was sent to an early grave? What if he was missing me so much that his body just couldn't handle it anymore?"
"No, Rainbow Dash, that's not true!" Fluttershy cried, shaking her head incredulously. "Neither of your parents' deaths are your fault!"
"Well, I can't blame anypony else," Rainbow replied, with a disagreeing shake of her head.
"There's no one to blame!" Fluttershy cried.
"Then why do I feel so guilty?!" Rainbow asked, staring dead into Fluttershy's face, her eyes glowering with an equal display of sorrow and frustration. "Why do I feel like it's my fault?!"
"You're just punishing yourself," Fluttershy said, somewhat fearful Rainbow Dash's demeanor. "Your parents wouldn't want you to do that."
"Well, I deserve it, don't I?" Rainbow questioned bitterly. "It's not like I've done anything this past week but make a lot of choices that have done nothing but get me to the point where I don't even want to get out of bed anymore."
"No, you don't deserve it," Fluttershy replied sternly. "You don't deserve to believe that you're at fault for your parents' deaths when they were both simply random tragic occurrences that had nothing to do with you."
Rainbow Dash did not respond, and her eyes focused upon the remaining cider in the bottle, which she would have easily classified as "half-empty."
"You know, when it comes to animals, I've always found it interesting how differently many of them treat treat their young," Fluttershy said, causing Rainbow Dash to raise a confused eyebrow at this unexpected change of topic. "Many animals will protect their young however they can, just like we ponies do, but not all animals do that. Some animals, like certain bears, actually leave their young to let them to survive on their own, usually within only weeks of their birth. Sometimes their young aren't ready to survive on their own, and they often die because they're unable to nourish themselves properly or shelter themselves properly. But as terrible as that sounds, it gets even worse. Some animals actually eat their own young."
Fluttershy convulsed slightly as though she felt that her last sentence had been like poison rolling off her tongue. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. She realized that all of this information was relevant to a point Fluttershy was trying to make, yet she still wished that it would come sooner.
"There are a few reasons why they do it, but the most common reason occurs when the mothers are in a position where they know that they can't protect their young," Fluttershy continued after a moment. "When lean winters come and there's no food to be found, they have to make a choice. Either the mother and her young both die of starvation, or the mother can save herself and live to try again with another child. It may sound awful to us that these animals would choose to put their own lives above the lives of their children, but it's a logic that makes sense to them, just like it's a logic that makes sense for us to sacrifice our lives to save our children."
Fluttershy ceased speaking for a moment, and Rainbow Dash avoided meeting her gaze.
"If your mother had been faced with the choice of saving herself and saving you, which do you think she would have chosen?" Fluttershy asked, having finally arrived at her point.
"Me, I guess," Rainbow answered with a sigh. "But that doesn't mean I would have wanted her to die for me."
"It's never an easy choice," noted Fluttershy. "But most parents would rather die than lose their children. Maybe you can't understand that now, and I wouldn't expect you to unless you one day have children of your own."
Rainbow Dash picked up the bottle of cider and took another large swig before slamming it back down on the table, frustrated that the sweet apple-flavored drink was no longer easing her pain as it did before.
"You can't blame yourself," continued Fluttershy. "As I told you before, not everything is your fault. What happened to your mother wasn't your fault, and what happened to your father wasn't your fault. At some point, you're going to have to learn to stop tearing yourself apart over what you've done, or what you shouldn't have done, or what you wish you had done. It's in the past, and there's nothing you can do to change it now. All you can do is focus on the present. Sooner or later, you're just going to have to learn to move forward."
Once again, Rainbow Dash did not bother with a response as she turned her head towards the window. The evening had since fully transitioned into night, and she already dreaded seeing the sun again, knowing that it would bring about a day that she would quickly want to forget, yet one that she knew would surely stay embedded within her memory for the rest of her life...
"How have you been eating lately?" Fluttershy asked, causing a sudden change in subject yet again. "I mean, you barely touched your breakfast this morning and yesterday, too."
"I just...haven't been hungry much, I guess," Rainbow replied with a shrug.
"Well, how about I cook us up some oatburgers?" Fluttershy asked with a hopeful smile. "Maybe a good meal will help take your mind off things?"
"Sure," Rainbow said with a nod, though her voice carried little enthusiasm.
"Alright, then," Fluttershy said, still smiling as she rose from her seat and went straight to work, pulling two patties of mashed-together oats from the freezer then placing them on two separate skillets.
It was not long before the sizzling patties filled the kitchen with the scent of an enticing meal, but it did little to sway Rainbow's thoughts about how much she wished that her father had decided against disclosing the details of her mother's death to her, even if it meant taking it to his grave. Now that she knew what really happened, how could she possibly not think herself at least partially responsible?
Nevertheless, there was nothing she could do about it now. As Fluttershy had said, it was all in the past, and there was no way she could change it...
...or was there?
"Do you think there's any chance that Twilight could send me back in time?" Rainbow asked suddenly. "I mean, we know she went back in time once before, right?"
The question had come so unexpectedly that Fluttershy nearly knocked one of the skillets off the stove as she turned herself around.
"Umm, I think she only could do it once," she replied, the question filling her with unease. "If I recall correctly, she mentioned something about the time travel spell only having a one-time use."
"Well, what if I found another unicorn who could do it?" Rainbow suggested hopefully. "Do you think that would work?"
"Um, well, I don't know, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said, her voice heavy with nervousness as she suddenly realized that the question was not simply hypothetical. "Why do you ask?"
"If it's possible, I want to go back in time and save my mom's life," Rainbow answered with a flat tone of voice that seemed to trivialize the gravity of her answer. "I think it could probably work."
The answer struck Fluttershy with a sensation equivalent to Rainbow taking one of the hot skillets from the stove and hitting her over the head with it.
"I....I don't know what to say," she replied in disbelief. "That doesn't exactly sound like moving forward. In fact, it sounds like just the opposite."
"What if I could save them?" Rainbow questioned. "What if I could grow up with both of my parents? What if my life could have turned out differently? What if there's a chance that I don't have to face tomorrow after all?"
Fluttershy was so stunned by Rainbow's words that she barely noticed that the two oat patties on the stove were both long overdue for a flip.
"I really think this might be possible," Rainbow asked with an excited grin beginning to spread across her face. "My dad told me in his letter that my mom was able to change his negative attitude about life. If I save her, he could turn out differently himself. And maybe I could even save his life, too...somehow."
Fluttershy turned her attention back to the oat patties and hastily flipped them over, still not sure what to say or even think.
"How--how would you save her?" she asked. "What are you planning to do?"
"I would go back to the day she died and tell her not to perform for me anymore," Rainbow answered with unbridled confidence. "And not only would I be saving her life, I would actually be meeting her for the first time!"
Fluttershy was numb to Rainbow's growing excitement, and simply attempted to concentrate her focus on the patties. She waited for the moment when Rainbow Dash would take several steps back and realize just how crazy she sounded, but her faith in the plan seemed to suggest that it was not coming.
"I want to go see Twilight right now!" Rainbow said enthusiastically, nearly jumping from her seat. "She should be able to tell me whether or not this is possible, and she might even be able to direct me to a unicorn who could send me back!"
"Wait!" Fluttershy cried as Rainbow fully removed herself from her seat. "Are you....are you absolutely sure that this is something you want to do?"
"If it means that my mom could still be alive today, and that I won't have to go to my dad's funeral tomorrow, then yes, it is," Rainbow Dash replied with a manner of sincerity that Fluttershy could not deny.
"But Rainbow Dash, time travel is...it's too risky, even if you're using it to save somepony's life," Fluttershy pointed out.
Rainbow Dash retracted at her response, lifting an eyebrow slightly to imply her lack of understanding as to why Fluttershy intended to stop her.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, what if you ended up changing something you don't want to change?" asked Fluttershy. "What if you never move to Ponyville? What if we never become friends?"
Rainbow Dash stroked behind her head as she pondered on this. Knowing that her father had been the driving force behind her decision to leave Cloudsdale, there was indeed no guarantee that she would have ever moved to Ponyville had her mother survived. Yet somehow, it was a possibility that seemed to dwindle when stacked against the alternative of growing up with her mother.
"I would be able to meet my mom," she said softly. "That would mean everything to me...."
Fluttershy lowered her ears and turned off the stove, looking sorrowfully at the thoroughly-cooked oat patties which she was now certain would not be eaten by either of them.
"Well, if that's what you want..."
The disingenuous nature of her tone did not go missed by Rainbow Dash, who raised an accusatory eyebrow. "You don't want me to do it, do you?"
Fluttershy silently lifted the two cooked oat patties and set them on two wheat buns on two separate plates before answering.
"I'm sorry, but it just....seems a bit reckless," Fluttershy said. "What if you end up doing something that you can't take back? I just don't think you should jump right into this. I think you need to take some time to think about it."
Rainbow Dash sighed with annoyance and sat herself back down at the table. Her mind had been made up from the moment the idea popped into her head, and even in spite of any potential risks on the table, the thought of choosing not to go back in time and save her mother now filled her with an overwhelming sense of anxiety.
"You don't know what it's like to want your mother so badly that you can't stand it," she said solemnly. "You don't know what it's like to stare at a single picture of your mother for so many years of your life and wish that you could have had the chance to know her. You don't know what it's like to forget the feel of your mother's touch and never remember it again. You don't know what it's like to miss that so much...."
Fluttershy said nothing as she decorated the patties with veggies and condiments, still fully convinced that it was a meaningless effort. Nevertheless, preparing a meal that would go uneaten still seemed to be the superior option to looking directly into Rainbow's hopefully optimistic eyes as she shot down her borderline insane idea.
"If there's a way...don't you think I owe it to her to try?" Rainbow asked, hoping to finally hear a response of approval.
Fluttershy did not answer before bringing their plates over to the kitchen table and sitting back down in her seat.
"I'll say that I believe you deserve to meet her," she replied. "It wasn't fair that you never got the opportunity to grow up with your mother, and I understand that. But....changing the past? I'm sorry, but I just can't see that ending well."
Rainbow Dash huffed with frustration and stared down at the oatburger underneath her nose, which still appeared appetizing enough despite knowing that her stomach was far too restless to digest any food...
"What if we never become friends with you?" Fluttershy asked in a mournfully desperate voice while she ignored her own burger. "There's a chance that if you do this, we'll never have the chance to meet you."
Fluttershy's concerns did not fall on deaf ears, and Rainbow Dash gradually felt her enthusiasm fading as she considered them. However, she merely gritted her teeth in response. There was surely nothing Fluttershy could possibly say to change her mind, so why did she insist on showing her no support?
"What if I can't handle this anymore?!" Rainbow cried, scowling at her. "What if I'm tired of not seeing my life past tomorrow? What if I just want this pain to end now?"
"The pain won't last forever," Fluttershy insisted. "Sooner or later, you'll learn make room for it and you'll start enjoying life again."
"But that time isn't now, and that's the point," Rainbow said bitterly. "How long is 'sooner or later?' I'm not even sure I could make it through another week!"
"We can help you!" Fluttershy replied desperately. "Even if you need us to stay with you overnight, you know that none of us would have any problem with that!"
"What if that's still not enough?!" Rainbow said as she slammed her hoof down on the table, causing the bottle to fall over and the remaining cider inside to spill out and leave a golden stain. "When my mom died, my dad only had me to live for. What if I don't have anything to fill my own emptiness, especially if Scootaloo never forgives me?"
"You have us!" Fluttershy cried reassuringly. "There are so many ponies who care about you. You have your career as a Wonderbolt, which you're only just starting. You have so much to keep you going, and I, for one, am not going to let you be consumed by pain!"
Rainbow Dash gritted her teeth even tighter, still more than certain that she could not dissuaded, but now lacked any further drive to continue arguing about it. She looked over at the spilled cider on the table and sighed, realizing that she would have nothing else to distract her from her anxiety.
"Couldn't you just sleep on it?" Fluttershy asked. "Make your decision tomorrow. I think you should also tell our friends and see how they feel about it. If you're going to be making a decision that could probably exclude you from their lives, don't you think you owe it to them to let them know?"
Rainbow's frustration exited her body with a deep sigh. "Fine."
"Thank you," Fluttershy replied with an appreciative nod. "I just want you to realize how big a decision like this is. It's not one that can just be made without taking a long time to consider it."
Rainbow looked down at her oatburger again, falling into silence as she begun to imagine what life with her mother would be like. She thought about every last moment in her young life when she had spoken with her mother's picture for solace, and had little capacity to imagine just how incomparable they would have been to the genuine tenderness and love she would have received from those moments had her mother been there in person. There would have surely been a night and day's worth of difference...
"Umm, by the way, you wouldn't happen to have any flowers would you?" Fluttershy asked suddenly.
Rainbow looked back up her, utterly confused as to why she would ask this question. "What?"
"Well, if you choose to have the funeral after all, you'll need some flowers to style your mane with, right? I've already told our friends about it and they'll be getting some themselves."
Rainbow Dash had forgotten all about Cloudsdale's funeral custom, but the idea of having flowers weaved into her mane somehow seemed unbelievably degrading.
"No, I don't," she answered tiredly.
"Well, I'll get some for you in the morning, then," Fluttershy said. "You know, just in case."
"Thanks," Rainbow Dash said with a nod, and then to Fluttershy's surprise, she picked up her oatburger and took a large bite, no longer able to maintain her immunity towards its alluring sight and scent.
"Rainbow Dash, I want to help you, I really do, but I'm just not sure your idea is feasible," Fluttershy said sorrowfully, her oatburger remaining untouched. "If ponies could just go back in time to save their loved ones from dying, I think we would have heard about it happening more often."
Rainbow gulped the chewed bits down her throat. "Maybe, but I still have to know for sure whether or not it's possible. I just have to know."
"I understand," Fluttershy replied with a single nod, then finally dug into her own burger.
The exchange of words between the two pegasi was minimal as they consumed their dinner and Fluttershy gave her close friend a much-appreciated hug before returning home, leaving Rainbow Dash to prepare herself for what she was certain would be the longest and most sleepless night of her life.
****
The therapeutic image of blissfully circling around the massive face of the moon occupied Rainbow's thoughts as she stared at it, having allowed her mind to take a blissful rest from the endless reflecting and debating she had been doing for several hours in her unpleasant state of sleeplessness. In the hours that had passed since Fluttershy's departure, as her excitement gradually wore itself away, Rainbow Dash had come to realize just how unrealistic her plan to save her mother's life seemed. The sheer difficulty of finding a unicorn who could cast the spell, let alone one who would be willing to waste their only opportunity to travel through time on her, and the unsettling notion that she would simply be postponing her mother's death, rather than preventing it entirely, both lent themselves to the ostensibly unquestionable ridiculousness of the plan. It almost made her feel as though she were just a filly, rife with naivety, holding onto an uncast wish as she watched the sky night after night in the hopes that a shooting star would streak across it, only to eventually lose hope that she would ever see one.
If there was any part of her mind that still believed in the idea's feasibility, it was now focused entirely on the question of how differently her life would have turned out had her mother survived. She was certain that she would still be just as dead set on getting into the Wonderbolts, yet she still could not deny the validity of Fluttershy's concerns. If her father had never pressured her into leaving Cloudsdale, it was entirely possible, perhaps even likely, that she would still be there. And what would that mean, not only for her, but for all of Equestria itself? Without moving to Ponyville, she may never have become the Element of Loyalty, and for all she knew, Equestria would be war-torn and almost entirely decimated around this time in an alternate future. Would there be another pony who could wield her Element? Or would fate somehow lead her to Ponyville regardless of whether her mother survived or not?
Meanwhile, as much as she struggled not to think about the letter, her father's final words to her still managed to ring through her head as strongly as though they had been shouted directly into her ear. She was beyond any doubt that she would not have believed her father had written a single word of it had she not recognized his mouth-writing, but what she had read was almost enough to give her the impression that she had never truly known him at all. The notion that he had once attempted to become a Wonderbolt himself was borderline impossible to believe after the many years he had attempted to tear down her dream, insisting how impossible it was and how she was simply wasting her time. It was almost just as impossible to believe that his own envy was what drove his efforts to turn her away from them, as she would have likely believed it to be among the last of his reasons why. How did he manage to hide those envious feelings so well? How was she supposed to feel about him now that she knew the truth...?
The only sense of solace the letter offered her was sitting comfortably right at its closing, where it would likely to bring tears to her eyes each and every time she read it. She could not even recall the last time she had heard her father had expressed love for her in person--with their relationship growing more and more strained in the weeks before her departure, he had not exactly been willing to show her any great deal of affection. She was warmly comforted by the words, even if she could never return them...
Rainbow Dash groaned as she continued to look upon the face of the moon, fully aware that she clearly needed more time to process these thoughts than what the night was going to provide her. What time was it now? How many hours before Celestia would bring forth the dawn? She dared not look at a clock. For now, she was simply satisfied that the moon still showed no intention of giving up its spot in the sky in favor of the sun, letting her know that she still had more time, however little it was.
With a silent sigh of reluctance, Rainbow crossed over to the other side of her bed and stared face-to-face with her mother's picture, which had since become almost too painful to look at now that she knew the circumstances behind her death.
"What do you think I should do?" Rainbow asked the frame, forcing a hopeful smile. "I'm sure you'd be happy to be alive again, wouldn't you? I'm sure you'd love to have the chance to watch me grow up, right?"
As always, her eyes scanned every corner of the photograph as she waited for her mother's response--the feeling of positive affirmation that she always received whenever asking her mother a question. But to her utter surprise, it did not come. Instead, it was replaced with an entirely different sensation, one that wiped her hopeful smile directly off her face and ensured that she would not simile again anytime soon. There no way Rainbow Dash could have interpreted the hollow emptiness and vacant emotion she felt in that moment as anything other than her belief that her mother was vehemently rejecting the idea.
"I could save you!" Rainbow replied with desperation. "You could be alive today, right now! You could have been here with me in person through all those times when I've needed you in my life. This is possible!"
Her mother's opinion did not seem change, and Rainbow Dash quickly regretted asking her at all. She bit down hard on her lip while confusion and anxiety took hold of her expression. Why would her mother refuse? Did she not want to be saved? Did she not want to see her daughter again and live a full life with her? Or could it be that, like Fluttershy, her mother also did not want her to change the past as a substitute for moving forward with her life?
Suddenly, as though her mother's refusal had managed click on a light bulb from within her head, Rainbow's idea to travel back in time no longer just seemed unrealistic to her, it now seemed downright childish. She was overwhelmed by the realization that it was nothing more than fruitless wishing, akin to that of a filly wishing for a massive snowstorm to occur overnight in the hopes of school being cancelled the next day, despite the fact that the season had since shifted well into mid-spring. It was something that was never going to happen, no matter how much she wanted it. And now, whether Rainbow Dash was willing to admit it or not, she realized that there was simply no escape from having to endure a last look at her father's deceased body before he would be raised into the sky to join the millions that departed the world before him....including her mother.
How foolish she must have seemed as she enthusiastically pitched the idea to Fluttershy, only to be left angry that her closest friend did not support it....
As swarms of droplets returned to her eyes, Rainbow Dash stared solemnly back into her mother's face, having accepted at last that she would never have the chance to look upon it from outside the borders of a photograph....
"I'm so sorry, mom," she said, trembling with helplessness. "I'm so sorry I can't save you..."
She turned away from her bedside table as she felt her heart bleeding from inside, urging her on for another well-warranted cry. She threw a blanket over herself and curled up underneath it just before a series sobs rushed to accompany fast-moving tears, and she could do nothing more than reflect painfully upon the empty excitement that the prospect of saving her mother had filled her with just hours ago. To think that she had actually been willing to accept the possibility that the endeavor would leave her growing up without ever knowing the friends she loved so dearly...and even Scootaloo....
For better or worse, Rainbow Dash fully understood that there was nothing that could save her from what was going to transpire within the next eight hours. There was nothing that was going to stop her life from moving forward, now without either of her parents...
As the tears poured out relentlessly from her eyes, Rainbow began to shiver, her body feeling colder and more empty than she could ever recall it being before.
****
Rainbow was still shivering as the dawn made itself visible, putting an abrupt end to a night of tears and brief periods of uncomfortable sleep. The first glimpse of the sun urged her to bury herself underneath her blanket as she had before, vainly hoping that the night would continue on if she simply refused to acknowledge the morning had come. It managed to work for an additional two hours, but came to an end once Rainbow Dash heard an unwelcome knock at her door, finally forcing her to accept that not even her blanket could save her from the new day. She groaned with displeasure, knowing that much like the sun itself, the pony at her door would not be going away anytime soon.
Kicking the blanket off of her body with irritation, Rainbow clambered out of bed and made her way to the bathroom, splashing cold, refreshing water on her face in an effort to hide her lack of sleep. She then slowly descended the stairs to answer the new day's call.
Once more, Rainbow Dash found herself staring into Fluttershy's face. A small basket of flowers was clasped within her hoof, which Rainbow immediately identified once she saw their wing-like petals.
"I have the flowers. Are Birds of Passion okay?" Fluttershy said as Rainbow Dash looked at them.
"I guess so."
"I suppose you'll be needing me to do your hair, then," Fluttershy noted. "That is, unless you've decided that there won't be a funeral today."
Rainbow sighed, and wordlessly stepped to the right of the doorway to allow Fluttershy's entrance.
"So, umm, have you made a decision?" Fluttershy asked nervously as she followed Rainbow Dash into the kitchen, where she took one of the chairs from the table and carried it into the bathroom.
"Just forget that I ever brought it up," she said as she took a seat in full view of the mirror. "It was a dumb idea, and I guess I was feeling too desperate at the time to realize it."
"That's a relief," Fluttershy replied with a smile, "especially since it wasn't possible anyway."
Rainbow blinked as Fluttershy began working to weave the weightless bird-like flowers through her mane. "How do you know it's not possible?"
Fluttershy appeared hesitant to answer, and waited until she had weaved the first flower in place before doing so.
"Twilight told me that unicorns can only send themselves back in time, not others. The time travel spell involves memories. You can only travel back in time so long as you're traveling to an event that you can remember. Since no other unicorn has your memories, it would have been impossible to send you back in time. And besides, you don't have any memories of the day your mother died, do you?"
Rainbow Dash was immediately gripped with worry at the fact that Fluttershy knew this information. "So...does this mean that you talked to Twilight last night?"
"No, actually....I've known about this for a while now," Fluttershy answered with even greater hesitation. "A few months ago, one of my poor badger friends drowned in a lake while trying to learn how to swim. I asked Twilight whether or not there was a way to send me back in time so I could save him, and that's when she told me it was impossible."
The recollection of this event forced a temporary break in Fluttershy's work, and she wiped at her moistening eyes while Rainbow Dash's own eyes narrowed into a fierce, unforgiving glare.
"Well then why didn't you tell me that last night?!" she demanded, nearly rising from her seat in anger. "Why did you let me get my hopes up for nothing?!"
"I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy said, frowning with shame. "I know it was cruel, but....I wanted to know what your choice would be if you believed that it were possible. I was hoping you would realize on your own just how crazy an idea like that was. And, well, I'm relieved you did."
Rainbow unslanted her eyes and shook her head, feeling an inexplicable desire to slam her head down upon a nearby table.
"I probably wouldn't have believed you, anyway," she admitted as Fluttershy resumed weaving. "I probably would have thought you were lying just to convince me not to do it. I was just so desperate about the idea of meeting my mom..."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't fault you for bringing the idea up," replied Fluttershy. "I understand why you had to know for sure. That's exactly how I felt when I went to Twilight to save my badger friend. If you don't mind my asking, what was it exactly that made you change your mind?"
Rainbow tightened her lips together. She was certainly not ready to let Fluttershy know about her private chats with her mother's picture...
"I just....I decided that giving up my friends was just too heavy a cost. Even if it means my mom survives, I don't want a new life where I never meet you or any of our other friends. It's just too much."
Fluttershy smiled with satisfaction at her answer. She continued weaving her way down Rainbow Dash's mane, inserting each Birds of Passion flower tightly enough so that they would not be at risk of flowing away in a heavy wind.
"Do you still feel responsible for your parents' deaths?" Fluttershy asked once she fitted the fourth flower in place.
"I don't know," Rainbow answered, shaking her head. "I guess that was also just a feeling that I had in the moment. My dad said in the letter that he doesn't want me to blame myself for what happened to my mom, so...I guess I shouldn't, at least for his sake."
"No, you shouldn't," Fluttershy affirmed. "And you shouldn't blame yourself for what happened to him, either."
Rainbow did not respond and turned her attention towards Fluttershy's work, appreciative of her efforts. Just a little over a week ago, she would have thought that being seen with flowers woven through her mane would have presented a dire threat to her hard-earned reputation. But that somehow seemed like a lifetime ago now, back when preserving her self-image was among the few petty things she once thought truly mattered to her. Nevertheless, wearing flowers still seemed like an exceedingly dull funeral custom.
"Rainbow, I think I owe you an apology," Fluttershy , initiating a new conversation. "I had no business forcing my opinion on the relationship between you and your father and telling you what you should do."
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"
"The other day, when we had that talk....back when I told you that you shouldn't be looking for satisfaction and should instead be looking to repair your relationship with your dad. I think I went too far. It did nothing but make you uncomfortable about telling me that he died, and also make you think that I would judge you for never going home to see him again."
"You don't need to apologize. You really helped me on that day," Rainbow said, then sighed. "I really should have just told you then. I actually almost did, but...something stopped me. I had already decided that I wasn't going to tell any of my friends. I just didn't want to make anything out of it because I thought I was going to be able to get through it easily. I didn't know at the time how wrong I was..."
Fluttershy frowned. "Well, I'm glad to hear that I helped you, at least."
"By the way, you're still going to speak at the funeral, right?" Rainbow questioned, suddenly remembering that she had asked to do so.
"Umm, well, yes," Fluttershy answered, shifting nervously as though she had just realized for the first time that she would soon be speaking in front of others.
"What are you going to say, anyway?"
"You'll just have to wait and see," Fluttershy answered with a sly wink.
Rainbow said nothing more to allow Fluttershy to concentrate on what she was doing. Within the next few minutes, the final flower was woven in place near the bottom of Rainbow's mane.
"Okay, all done," Fluttershy said, taking a step back from the chair. "I think you look nice."
Rainbow Dash swayed her head left and right in the mirror as she stared at the nine Birds that now nested in her hair. She could not deny that Fluttershy's work had been competently done--the Birds of Passion both blended and contrasted with her rainbow-colored mane, and she could not see even the slightest trace of the stems.
"Uh, thanks," she said with genuine gratitude.
"You're quite welcome," Fluttershy replied. "I'll get Rarity to do my mane. You can go ahead and get ready. We're meeting at Twilight's place before we leave for Cloudsdale."
Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and shook her head solemnly at her reflection in the mirror.
"Are you okay?" asked Fluttershy.
"I just....can't believe this is finally happening."
"I'm sorry," Fluttershy said, spreading her forelegs apart to initiate a hug, but Rainbow pretended not to notice it.
"This is something we all have to do at some point," Fluttershy said as she lowered her legs. "I'm sorry to say, but this won't be the last funeral you'll attend in your lifetime, nor mine."
Rainbow nodded wordlessly.
"Just take all the time you need," encouraged Fluttershy. "You know where to meet us."
She exited the bathroom and then exited the house while Rainbow Dash continued staring motionless at the Birds of Passion in her mane through her sullen visage in the mirror.
****
By nine o'clock, the new day had been embraced by all of Equestria, and an active Ponyville bounded underneath a crisp morning sky. Within the bark walls of Golden Oaks Library, Twilight was staring into the dressing mirror in her bedroom, looking at the bright red peonies being weaved through her mane by Spike, who was standing taller than usual, elevated by a tiny stool.
"Um, why do I have to do this again?" the young dragon asked as weaved yet another flower in place.
"It's a tradition, Spike," Twilight answered. "Pegasi have been weaving flowers in their manes at their funerals since Princess Celestia and Luna were fillies."
"Oh," Spike replied, suddenly more grateful than ever before that he did not possess a mane.
"Just keep working. You're doing a good job," Twilight said as she smiled at her reflection.
Spike grinned proudly at the compliment. The sound of Twilight's approval made him even more focused on his task, so much so that he barely noticed the sound of the front door opening from below, nor the sound of hoofsteps subsequently climbing up the stairs.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, almost stunned to see her arrive first. "You look great!"
Rainbow looked down at the dark blue mourning dress covering her body, which was mostly plain except for some rainbow-colored patterns surrounding each of its seams and openings. It was a dress Rarity had given her on the last Hearth's Warming, and had never been worn before now.
"Umm....thanks," she replied with noticeable discomfort which was further displayed in her slightly flushed cheeks.
"So...how are you feeling?" Spike asked before stopping himself to think about whether or not that was a question he should be asking.
Rainbow barely held back a sigh, hoping that she would not be repeatedly asked this same question from each one of her friends as they arrived, or any of the other funeral attendees.
"I don't really know," Rainbow answered, shaking her head. "I just hope I'll be able to keep it together throughout this whole thing."
"'Keep it together?'" Twilight repeated almost incredulously. "Rainbow Dash, this is your father's funeral. You have every right to cry as much as you want, and you wouldn't be impressing anypony if you didn't cry at all."
Rainbow Dash pursed her lips bitterly. She was beyond sick to death all the crying she had been doing lately, and felt even more averse to doing it in front of a small crowd of ponies whom she was sure would be observing her every action during the funeral.
"Yeah, well, I'll just...let you guys get ready," Rainbow said to deliberately dodge a reply, then trod back down the curved steps and into the base floor of the library.
She waited in silence, feeling a set of icy chills trailing down her back at the revelation that the funeral was only a mere short hour away. In her state of anxiety, each passing minute seemed to last twice as long, and by the time Rarity and Pinkie Pie burst through the front door, she felt as though she had been waiting a full half hour.
"Rarity did my hair!" Pinkie exclaimed with excitement, as though she had completely forgotten the reason for which she was all dressed up. "You like?"
Rainbow took a moment to examine the attire of her two friends. Rarity's mourning dress was almost entirely black, and a matching veiled hat nearly obscured the white orchids sitting in her indigo mane. Pinkie's gown was crimson red, which she seemed to wear with the expectation that she would be hosting a party with more of an elegant flair than what she was accustomed to. Her dark pink mane glowered with yellow daffodils.
"Yes, Miss Pie, it is quite lovely as I've told you," Rarity said, rolling her eyes.
Rainbow Dash was surprised to find a smile attempting to overtake her dour expression, but Rarity affectionately threw her forelegs around her neck before it could.
"I hope you know that we're here for you, darling," Rarity said, her eyes welling up.
"Yeah, I know, Rare," Rainbow replied softly. "Thanks."
The next of their friends to arrive were Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle after another ten (or perhaps twenty?) minutes had slowly ticked away. Like Pinkie and Rarity before them, they were each dressed appropriately for the occasion--Applejack was fitted in a country plain green-and-red dress, and scarlet roses within her golden mane accounted for the lack of her trademark stetson. Apple Bloom still wore her signature bow, but bright blue bellflowers clashed spectacularly with her mane, and even greater still with her platinum-colored mourning dress. Sweetie Belle's flower of choice was the pansy, and her mane was radiant with the flower's multiple colors, while the color of her dress matched that of her eyes.
"Hi, Rainbow Dash," Apple Bloom said, the first of them to speak. "We're really sorry to hear about your dad."
"Yeah," Sweetie Belle added with a nod. "And sorry, but we couldn't get Scootaloo to come. We're not sure why, but she..."
"Don't worry about it," Rainbow said, cutting them off before they could say too much. "I...I knew she wasn't coming."
The two fillies appeared more than a little curious, but said nothing more about it. Applejack gifted Rainbow Dash with an apologetic smile accompanied by a gentle touch on the shoulder, but it did little to make her feel better about Scootaloo's absence.
"Fluttershy's out renting the balloons that will be lifting us up to Cloudsdale," said Rarity. "I'm sure she'll be along shortly."
At last, Twilight and Spike finally descended the stairs and joined them, both fully dressed like everyone else. Twilight's mourning dress was a spring blend of yellow and sky blue, while Spike sported the same black jacket he wore at most of the formal events he attended, cleaned and ironed. His head was free of any flowers.
"Is it time to go?" asked Spike.
"We're just waitin' on Fluttershy," replied Applejack.
"I'd better cast the cloud-walking spell on you fillies," Twilight said to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.
Rainbow Dash turned her attention back towards the library's front door, paying no mind to the magical flashes that emerged from Twilight's horn as she gifted the two young ponies with temporary pegasi abilities. A fleeting hope had just emerged within her that Scootaloo would have a last minute change of heart and would be coming through the door next. Rainbow could barely tolerate the notion of enduring the funeral while she knew that her relationship with her surrogate sister was in no better condition than that between herself and her father...
Another unknowable stretch of time moved forward as Rainbow kept on waiting with only the faintest of hope and expectation of Scootaloo's arrival. Yet when the library door opened again, it revealed a thoroughly dressed and flower-maned Fluttershy accompanied by no one, especially not Scootaloo...
"The balloons are waiting for us. We're all set to go," she said to the entire room, stepping through the doorway to show off her teal mourning dress and the multicolored carnations in her mane. "Unless...there's anypony else coming?"
Every eye in the room looked to Rainbow Dash for confirmation that Scootaloo would indeed not be joining them. She averted her eyes away from their intrusive glances, thinking only about how much she desired to crawl back underneath her covers and stay there for the remainder of the day....and probably for several more subsequent days as well.
"She's not coming," Rainbow affirmed silently, almost as though she were speaking to herself. "Let's just go."
There was barely a word of response as they all exited Twilight's library and began a slow trot over to the hot air balloon rental station a few blocks away. Rainbow Dash kept her head down as she walked, hoping that their formal attire and flower-decorated manes would not draw the attention of the Ponyville residents out on their daily business. To her relief, the ponies who crossed their path paid them little mind, but any hope she may have had of Scootaloo rushing up to join them was quickly extinguished as they passed by her silent house.
Once at the station, Rainbow Dash entered the first balloon she saw and was joined by Applejack, Apple Bloom, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy while everyone else entered a second balloon. Pressed up against the basket's edge, Rainbow could not stop herself from looking over the side as they ascended, only to have all remaining hopes crushed again to see that Scootaloo was not hurrying over the them, desperate not to miss her only ride to Cloudsdale. She was simply nowhere in sight....
****
The ascent to Cloudsdale was cold, windy, and lacking in conversation. Much like Ponyville, the great sky city was also bustling with morning activity. As the two balloons both came to a halt upon the surface of the docking cloud, the eight ponies and dragon emerged from their baskets. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both exchanged uneasy glances about walking upon the airy cloud surface, but they were quickly relieved to not find themselves falling through as they took their first steps.
"So where are we headin'?" questioned Applejack.
"The cemetery is this way," Rainbow replied, motioning to the west. "There are small open spaces between the plots where Cloudsdale funerals are normally held."
With their destination in mind, the company strode silently in the direction of the cemetery. The Cloudsdale pegasi paid them almost just as little mind as the Ponyville residents had, but they did get a more than a few raised eyebrows after Rarity let out a frightened squeal, having nearly walked off the cloud's edge due to her distraction with a portable mirror as she checked her mane thoroughly to ensure that none of her orchids had blown away during their windy ascent.
When they neared the cemetery gate, Rainbow Dash nearly froze to see Grimmtock standing directly outside. In the week since he had informed her about her father's death and subsequently given her the letter, she had since come to associate him as a harbinger of unpleasantness.
"Ah, Rainbow Dash," he said, quickly noticing her amongst the group. "Head over to the space between the east quadrant plot. The rest of your party is waiting for you."
Rainbow bit her lip. She knew east quadrant plot was where her mother's headstone was located, and now it would surely be where her father's stone would be located as well...
Grimmtock promptly opened the gate for them to enter, and they each did so without giving him much acknowledgement. When they arrived at the gap between the plots in the east quadrant, Rainbow Dash was nearly taken aback by what she saw. Three small rows containing ten seats each and a front row containing only two were positioned in a straight line, filled with more ponies than Rainbow had expected to see in attendance. Wind Lily was seated in the row second from the back, just beside six fully-uniformed Wonderbolts which included Spitfire, Soarin, Blaze, and Fleetfoot. Raindrops and Meadow Flower were sitting in the row just ahead of them, situated to the far right side as though under the impression that all of the seats to their left were reserved. But the presence of Princesses Celestia and Luna was the biggest surprise of all, both of whom were sitting silently in the back row as though attempting to blend in as ordinary, unimportant guests. The front row was unoccupied.
Centered just in front of the seats was a podium, and behind it was an altar whereupon lay a cloud-like casket complete with a hoof-stitched pall, which immediately set Rainbow's nerves ablaze the second she caught sight of it. Seated to the left and right sides of the altar were four pallbearers, none of which she knew.
All idle chatter between the attendees was extinguished almost as soon as Rainbow Dash's arrival was made apparent. As Rainbow's friends dispersed to find their seats, Celestia and Luna immediately started towards her, becoming the first in a queue of ponies who were rushing up from their seats to do the same. Neither of the two princesses carried any flowers in their endlessly flowing manes, which Rainbow assumed was due to the probable difficulty of getting their manes to remain in place long enough to weave flowers into.
"You have our deepest condolences, Rainbow Dash," Celestia said in her usual graceful tone. "And we want you to know that we have covered any and all funeral expenses for you."
Rainbow almost raised a confused eyebrow. Funeral expenses was not something that had even crossed her mind before now.
"Uhh, thank you for coming," Rainbow replied, and then, to her own surprise, she chuckled. "I can only wonder what my dad would think if he knew that the princesses of Equestria were attending his funeral. He never really thought himself as anypony important."
The two princesses managed a chuckle as well, poorly hiding the subtle discomfiture they felt towards the remark.
"Um, if you don't mind me asking, how did you know he had died?" asked Rainbow.
"We keep informed about our subjects, Rainbow Dash," answered Luna. "We are informed about every birth as well as every death."
"Oh, well, I....didn't know that," Rainbow replied, not wanting to think about how daunting a task it would be to keep track of all life in Equestria. "Anyway, thank you again for being here."
The two princesses offered her a respectful nod before returning to their seats, allowing for the next two ponies in the queue, Raindrops and Meadow Flower, to approach her next. Raindrops' mane was covered in pink-and-red petunias, while Meadow Flower remained true to her name by sporting white-and-yellow daisies, picked from a nearby meadow earlier that morning.
"I hope you're not angry at us," Meadow Flower said apprehensively. "We had to pry into your business a bit to learn about your father's funeral today."
Rainbow shook her head, curling her mouth into a tiny smile to appease Meadow's concern. "No worries. I really appreciate you guys for coming."
Raindrops cast her eyes down for a brief moment, then looked back up at Rainbow tentatively.
"Rainbow Dash, I....I'm really sorry I was such a jerk to you yesterday. I was just worried that you would end up outshining us in our debut, and so it led me to lashed out at you. You really didn't deserve that."
"It's all right," Rainbow said, still maintaining her smile. "No hard feelings, Raindrops. We're cool."
Rainbow Dash held a hoof out towards her, and Raindrops promptly bumped her own hoof against it.
"I look forward to flying with you as a fellow Reserve," she said with a grin.
"So do I," Rainbow replied, nodding.
Raindrops and Meadow then returned to their seats, revealing Wind Lily to be the next pony in line, her mane moderately scattered with multi-colored lilies.
"Well, this is quite the unexpected turnout," she said with surprise. "I certainly hadn't anticipated to meet the Princesses today, nor was I expecting the Wonderbolts to be here. You're definitely more popular than I thought."
"I guess so," Rainbow Dash replied as her smile finally faded.
"How are you feeling?" Wind Lily asked, noticing the change in her expression.
"I....read his letter," Rainbow said, shifting her mouth uncomfortably.
"Oh, I see," Wind Lily replied. "And...?"
"Did he ever tell you that he once wanted to become a Wonderbolt?" asked Rainbow.
Wind Lily's eyebrows shot up, which was more than enough of a response to give Rainbow Dash the answer she was looking for.
"No, he didn't. That actually comes as quite a surprise."
"I know," Rainbow replied, nodding. "But now that I think about it, it just explains so much: why he was always so bitter about life, why he took every chance he could to shoot my dreams down..."
"I'm sorry," Wind Lily replied, tenderly touching her shoulder.
"I wish he would have told me," Rainbow Dash lamented, expelling a sigh. "I don't know if it would have changed anything or not, but...I don't know, maybe I would have felt differently..."
"Maybe, but it's no fault of yours," Wind Lily replied comfortingly. "It was his choice not to tell you. You shouldn't feel any guilt over that decision."
Despite her response, Rainbow Dash groaned with frustration. "The last thing I really needed right now was another reason for me to regret never seeing him again..."
"I just said that it's no fault of yours," Wind Lily repeated. "Your father should have told you about it, and I don't think that envy was any good reason for him to put your dreams down. I can only hope that he offered you an apology in the letter?"
"He did," Rainbow said with a slow nod.
"Well, at least he did that much. In any case, it's not something you should feel any guilt over. You certainly weren't wrong to pursue your dreams," Wind Lily replied.
Rainbow Dash refused to continue the discussion further, opting not to allow her numerous regrets to overwhelm her before she was staring face-to-face at her father's body again, or watching it float up to the atmosphere above.
"Hey, umm, I never told you this before, but..."
"Yes?" Wind Lily said, her head tilting slightly to the side.
"Thank you for being there for him. Thank you for being the friend that he needed. There were times when I would imagine him all alone in that house and feel really guilty about it, at least until I remembered the reason why I moved out. I'm glad that I won't have to imagine that anymore. I'm glad that he...didn't die in loneliness," Rainbow said with a solitary teardrop putting the period on her final sentence.
Wind Lily smiled, her own eyes beginning to moisten over.
"You're very welcome, Rainbow Dash."
They shared an affectionate hug, then like the others before her, Wind Lily returned to her seat while the six Wonderbolts in attendance simultaneously approached Rainbow next. Each of them bore only a single Birds of Passion flower, weaved near the top of their manes that projected out from beneath their cowls.
"I have to admit, when Spitfire told me that she wanted to attend, I didn't think all of you would be coming, too," Rainbow said, trying to force a chuckle which failed to emerge as anything more than a huffed breath.
"We wanted to be here for you, Rainbow Dash," said Soarin.
"You are one of us, now," said Fleetfoot.
Rainbow nodded with satisfaction at their words. "Thanks."
With either a sorrowful comment, or a physical touch on her shoulder, each of the Wonderbolts gave Rainbow Dash some form of acknowledgement before moving back to their seats in the third row.
"Um, Spitfire...?" Rainbow called out nervously as the Wonderbolt captain was returning to her seat.
"What do you need?" Spitfire asked after turning back around.
"There's, uh, something I want to--hey! What are you--?!"
One of the pallbearers had suddenly appeared beside Rainbow Dash, wordlessly took her by the hoof, and led her almost forcefully to one of the two seats in the front row, just in front of her friends, who now occupied the eight seats beside Raindrops and Meadow Flower. Spitfire simply shrugged casually and sat herself back down, apparently deciding that whatever Rainbow had to say could wait until the funeral was over.
Standing at the podium was a stout pegasus stallion, dressed in an entirely dark suit and looking even more grim than Grimmtock himself. Rainbow Dash quickly realized that he was the funeral host, whom she had chosen back when she was lackadaisically planning the funeral, knowing absolutely nothing about him other than that he was highly recommended.
"If we're all present and accounted for, I think it's time for us to get started," he said in a dry voice once the pallbearer had returned to his seat beside the casket.
Rainbow felt apprehensive about sitting in the front row. She could already feel the eyes of each and every pony behind her as they observed her every move, and from the front, the funeral host and the pallbearers also seemed to keep her directly within their line of sight. She wondered who the second seat was intended for, and its emptiness only served to remind her of Scootaloo's absence.
"We've gathered here today to celebrate the life of Rainbow Blaze, tragically taken from us sooner than we could have expected," said the host. "Forty-four years of age, son of the now-passed Sky Wonder and Rainbow Drop, husband to now-passed Sunstreak Shine, and father to Rainbow Dash. Let us now take a moment of silence for the deceased."
Everyone immediately fell silent, with every head bowing respectfully. In the silence, Rainbow Dash's uncomfortable feelings about being so close to her father's lifeless body were greatly intensified, and they were worsened still after a faint sobbing had broken out from behind her--Rarity had already begun to descend into tears.
When the silence had persisted for over a minute, the host began to speak again, this time appearing to recite something from a sheet of paper in front of him:
"'We have been given the freedom to roam the air
We have been given the freedom to shift the clouds
We have been given the freedom to control rain and snow
But on a day like today, our freedom is at last relinquished
And so must we return to the sky that gave it to us
To rest forever in the legacy of those who passed before
And to sadly leave those we hold dear behind until such another day arrives
But when we finally return to that unknowable place
We know we will feel no more pain
We know we will feel no more sorrow
And we know we will not go unforgotten
The madness of life shall not reach us there
Nor shall the burdens of mortality
And our souls shall instead remain at peace and harmony
For as long as time turns years into ages and ages into eons.'"
The moment he stopped reading, every head rose up almost simultaneously, now exhibiting faces which were significantly more dour than they had been before.
"Thank you," said the host. "At this time, we will have our eulogies. Should anypony wish to say some words, feel free to do so. You are welcome to speak for as long as you require."
Most of the attendees suddenly appeared hesitant, knowing that they would be unable to give any eulogy that would not simply consist of the usual condolence speech. Rainbow Dash turned to look at Fluttershy, but the nervous pony was shifting about anxiously, hoping that just about anyone else would step up to speak first. Much to her relief, Wind Lily rose from her seat and floated over to the podium while the host stepped aside. She exhaled a few deep breaths before speaking, preparing both herself and the attendees for a eulogy heavy with emotion for the deceased that almost none of them possessed.
"When Rainbow Blaze was admitted to the hospital, both of us thought that whatever he had was just a passing thing. I had suggested that perhaps he simply needed some stronger allergy medication or some flu medication. There was almost no reason for us to expect that there was anything life-threatening about his illness. After he was checked in, I left the hospital, believing that he would be ready to be discharged by the time I saw him again..."
She paused to catch her falling tears as they escaped from her ducts.
"It really does take something like that to remind you how fragile life is, and how quickly and unexpectedly it could end. Each and every time we part ways with our friends and family, we never tend to think that we may have just seen them for the last time. We all know that there will come a day when we will have to say goodbye forever to those we love, but none of us expect that moment to be right around the corner. I certainly didn't...."
She paused again for the same reason as before, struggling to keep herself from breaking down the longer she kept speaking.
"Rainbow Blaze was a troubled pony. His life wasn't exactly what you'd call a happy one. He had a defeatist way of thinking, and that's something he never truly managed to moved past permanently. But over the last few years, he was an irreplaceable friend to me. He was somepony I could rely on, and he was somepony who relied on me to get him through his hard days. I will miss Rainbow Blaze, and I will look back upon the last few years we spent together with fondness and love."
With that, Wind Lily stepped off the podium as her tears became too numerous to wipe away, returning to her seat within the small crowd of mourners, each of whom appeared slightly more saddened after listening to her short speech.
"Would anypony else like to say any words?" the host asked after returning to the podium, and once again found himself staring at hesitant faces within the silent crowd.
After realizing that no one else was going to step forward, Fluttershy finally rose to her hooves with a significant deal of reluctance and made her way towards the podium. Rainbow Dash cast her a comforting look as she passed by, but Fluttershy returned her a look pure terror, such as the kind she always bore whenever she desired nothing more than to either hide herself or fly away...or both.
"Umm, good morning," Fluttershy began nervously after she reached the podium. "Well, umm, I mean...it's not a good morning, but I was just....I just thought..."
Fluttershy appeared to grow more nervous with every word that sputtered from her mouth, and Rainbow Dash was almost certain that she was just moments away from removing herself from the podium and sitting back down, pretending as though she had never even stood up at all. But Fluttershy instead allowed herself a pause to ease her tension, fighting her hardest against each and every instinct that begged her to fly off and hide underneath the nearest bed.
"I only met Rainbow Blaze a few times when I was younger," she began with only little nervousness in her voice. "I wish I could say that I knew him better. I wish I could say that we had been on good terms. And I wish I could say that his loss has affected me more than it has."
Fluttershy took another few more focused breaths before speaking again, surprised that she was able to fend off her fear as well as she was.
"He wasn't unkind to me, but as I recall from our few interactions, I'm not really sure he approved of me much. I had always assumed that was because he knew that Rainbow Dash had been suspended from Summer Flight Camp for choosing to defend me. Even today, most of what I really know about him is what Rainbow Dash has told me. But I would have really liked to know him better. Because back when I was a filly, I wanted to know exactly who the the kind of father was that had raised not only the best flyer I had ever seen, but also one of the most compassionate ponies I had ever met. I wanted to know exactly who had raised the pony who had every reason to mock and ridicule a weak flyer like I was, but chose to defend me instead, even if it came at the cost of her own popularity. I wanted to know who it was I owed my gratitude to for bringing into this world the pony who helped me receive my cutie mark and who has been such a needed friend for me ever since. And if Rainbow Dash's character can give any notion of the kind of pony Rainbow Blaze was, if her values and her morals are ones that she inherited from him, then his loss is truly a tragedy for all of us."
She took another brief pause, and the audience of attendees nodded their heads and muttered with approval. Rainbow Dash coerced a smiled to her lips as Fluttershy's eyes met hers, displaying both subtle embarrassment and appreciation at her remarks. Meanwhile, Rarity's light sobbing had gradually spread to the rest of her friends, as well as a few other mourners, including Meadow Flower and Soarin.
"This is a hard day," Fluttershy continued. "It's a day when we're sometimes torn up by regret, wishing that things had turned out differently, or wishing that we had done just a little more--made that much more of an effort. It's a day where we may blame ourselves for things that are out of our control, even going as far as to wish that we could turn the clock back just to have that one last chance to try again. But it never helps to feel that way, and it certainly doesn't help our lost loved ones when they look us and see how much we're suffering. In life, there is only one direction all of us can truly move, and that's forward. No matter how difficult it can be to move on, it's something that we must find the courage and the willpower to do. One day, be it a month or even a year, the pain and regret will end, either because we make room for it, or because we learn to move past it. One day, we will be able to smile again and continue enjoying life. We'll never forget those we've lost, but we will bring them peace to know that we've managed to find a way to move forward. And nothing would bring them greater comfort than to know that."
At last, Fluttershy stepped away from the podium, looking particularly accomplished with herself at having made it through her eulogy without permitting her nervousness to get the better of her. As before, the attendees showed their approval for her speech, with most even praising it with a few well-earned hoof-claps.
"Is there anypony else who would care to say a few words?" asked the host, now looking directly at Rainbow Dash as though he expected her to give a follow-up eulogy.
But Rainbow lowered her head to avoid looking back at him. There was nothing she could even think of saying, and she certainly did not believe that she could make it through a full eulogy without breaking down after only a few words. The host waited for nearly a minute before it became clear that no one else was going to come up to speak.
"If there are no more remarks, then it is time for the final viewing," the host said. "If all of you will, please remove one flower from your mane to place upon the casket."
The mourners rose to their hooves simultaneously and formed a line at the right side of the rows, pulling one flower out of each of their manes as instructed. The six pallbearers also stood up, and one of them neatly folded half the pall back from the front of the casket, then opened it meticulously, exposing the lifeless body of Rainbow Blaze inside. Without any flowers to give, Celestia and Luna remained sitting respectfully, while Twilight removed two of the peonies from her mane to give one to Spike.
With the casket open, Rainbow Dash felt all the strength in her body being sapped away, and she nearly collapsed to the ground as she felt her eyes becoming wet again. Her father was indeed lying there, resting motionlessly, his flesh lifeless and necrotic. His eyes were closed and all color had vanished from his body, as well as the rainbow mane she had inherited from him.
All eyes fell upon Rainbow Dash to approach the casket first, but she lacked any strength or motivation to take a step, or to even lift herself with her wings. She knew that she was headed for the last face-to-face reunion that they would ever have--the last time she would ever see her father in the flesh. The very notion was enough to make her feel lightheaded and prone to passing out right where she stood.
Before Rainbow could express any refusal to approach the body, a soft and comforting hoof clutched hers, attempting to urge her towards the casket. Through her tears, Rainbow could see an identifiable filly standing beside her, and when she wiped her eyes dry, she found herself staring face-to-face at Scootaloo, dressed in dark green with only two small sunflowers in her mane, which appeared to have been hastily inserted.
Was this real, or was her mind, still overloaded with grief and regret, tricking her in the cruelest way she could imagine? Scootaloo's touch seemed far too authentic to be something her mind was capable of conjuring up, but her sudden and unexpected appearance also seemed too improbable to believe, particularly since no one else seemed to be acknowledging her. Surely Scootaloo had to be back at home right now, doing whatever she could to distract herself from the fact that she was deliberately missing the funeral. After Rainbow's failure to reconcile with her yesterday, how could she possibly be here now?
Rainbow Dash was thrust out of a daze as Scootaloo suddenly tugged on her foreleg, still trying to get her to move towards the casket. Rainbow finally shuffled her hooves to her father's body with all the coordination of a pony who had taken one too many licks of salt, still unconvinced of whether or not her once-surrogate sister was truly standing by her side. Her eyes were refreshed with another onslaught of tears as she stopped to take her final look at him, his stiff, motionless, and colorless body being almost unbearable for her to witness. She forcefully pulled one of the Birds of Passion from her mane and set it upon the casket, then peered regretfully at his close eyelids as though she could see his eyes from underneath.
Nothing she could tell him now would ever be heard. No attempt to take anything back or apologize would be ever be acknowledged. How was it that he could be so close, and yet so impossibly far away?
Rainbow Dash felt her cheeks going wet, which was promptly followed by her mind falling entirely blank, leaving her unable to think of any final words to say in their final reunion. The memory of the last time she looked upon his face before leaving home for Ponyville flashed through her thoughts repeatedly. There was nothing she would not have given to return herself to that time and rush back inside the house to repair their relationship before it would be left broken forever....
"I'm sorry..." she whispered to her father with the desperate hope that he could somehow hear it.
With no further words left to offer him, Rainbow Dash's grief burst open within her heart, and she descended into a fit of silent sobs so intensely that she barely felt her hoofsteps as Scootaloo led her away from the body. By the time her vision cleared and her mind snapped back to focus, she found herself sitting back in her seat while the rest of the attendees proceeded to pay their respects, leaving their flowers upon the casket as they passed. Scootaloo was sitting in the previously unoccupied seat next to her, looking forward at the mourners and trying not to pay Rainbow any mind.
"Um...hey," Rainbow said, drying her eyes.
"Hey," Scootaloo replied, still without looking at her.
"I...uh...I thought you weren't coming?" she said, now convinced that she was not talking to an imaginary figure.
Scootaloo turned her head slowly, staring back at her with disingenuous eyes.
"Don't read into it too much," she said harshly. "I still haven't forgiven you."
"So why did you come, then?"
"Because I figured that if I ever do forgive you, I'll probably end up regretting not being here today," answered Scootaloo. "I figured I might as well spare myself that."
Rainbow Dash felt only indifference towards her response. "So...does that mean you believe that you'll forgive me one day?"
Scootaloo neglected the question and shifted her eyes back towards the mourners as they examined the body within the casket, placed their flowers, and then returned to their seat.
"I need to know what you meant when you said I 'own' you," Rainbow said before a long silence could persist between them. "What does that mean?"
"You see me sitting here, don't you?" Scootaloo answered with a huff. "That's what it means."
Rainbow said nothing, but Scootaloo immediately sensed her confusion and heaved a sigh, realizing that she was indeed going to have to explain what she felt should have been obvious.
"I just helped you over to your dad," she said, looking at Rainbow sternly. "I did that even though I'm still angry at you. And that's exactly the point. I'm still so desperate to cling onto you as the pony I've admired for so long, and because of that, I feel like I may never reach a point where I can ever truly be angry at you. Don't you see that's the kind of hold you have over me?"
Rainbow Dash again offered no reply as Scootaloo's words left her with the sensation that she had been kicked in the teeth.
"It can't be that way," said Scootaloo. "I have to know that I can be upset with you without knowing that I'll just come running back whenever you need me to. And I can't have you thinking that I'll always forgive you right on the spot just because you want me to. Otherwise, what's to stop something like this from happening again?"
Rainbow's face went blank as she studied Scootaloo's words. "I'm sorry I've made you feel that way. But if that's really how you feel, then you shouldn't have come."
"I only came because you're only going to lose your dad once in your life," replied Scootaloo. "I'm not here because you asked me to be here or because you want me to be here."
"Well, why did you take me over to him?" questioned Rainbow. "I didn't ask you to do that."
Scootaloo pursed her lips. "No, you're right, you didn't. And maybe I shouldn't have, but it was just something I did in the moment."
"Well, are you still going to hold that against me?" asked Rainbow. "Is that another example of my...'hold' over you?"
"No," Scootaloo answered at once. "Look, it's not like I don't care about you anymore. I thought you were in need of help, and so I helped you. That's all it was."
Rainbow sighed, willing to take any measures necessary to diffuse the tension between them. "What do I have to do? Could you please just tell me what I have to do for us to get back to the way we were?"
"Give me time," answered Scootaloo. "I need time to forgive you. You still just don't understand. Before this week, I didn't think there was anything I wouldn't have done for you. And now I just feel like you exploited that. I feel like you took our relationship for granted. It's all just really hard for me to sort through right now, and I just need more time to do it."
Rainbow Dash hung her head and nodded slowly. "I'm really sorry, Scootaloo."
Scootaloo did not reply. One after another, Rainbow's friends gradually returned to their seats in the second row, each refusing to acknowledge Scootaloo's sudden presence to allow them a chance to speak.
"By the way, umm, how did you get here?" Rainbow asked.
"I begged somepony for a helicopter ride," Scootaloo answered, then heaved a sigh. "I wish I hadn't missed you guys. It's still more than a little embarrassing as a pegasus to still need a ride up here."
"We didn't think you were coming," said Rainbow Dash. "I mean, you did tell me you weren't..."
"I know," replied Scootaloo. "The point is, I changed my mind."
"By the way, Scoot, I'm really sorry about your mom. I understand now why you were always so reluctant to talk about your family. I wish I had--"
"Thanks," Scootaloo said almost emotionlessly. "But I don't want to talk about it right now."
Rainbow Dash nodded in understanding, and they spoke no more as they watched Soarin and Fleetfoot, the last of the mourners to view the body, place their Birds of Passion atop the casket and sit back down. At that time, one of the pallbearers slowly closed the casket and neatly folded the pall back over it, taking extra care not to cause any of the flowers to fall.
Rainbow's stomach churned the moment the casket was closed and her father vanished beneath the cloud. Their final reunion had thus come to a permanent end. She would now be forced to say goodbye forever to the last of the family she had, the foolish dream she had clung onto for so long, and every single remaining moment in her life that would go unshared between them...
"We've gone now as far as we can go," the host said once he returned to the podium. "But before we send our dearly departed friend to his final resting place, he made a request that I believe should be honored. He requested that a certain song to be sung by his daughter Rainbow Dash as he is lifted to the sky above. He ensured that she will know exactly which song he is referring to, "
Rainbow immediately felt as though her bones had frozen over before being mercilessly shattered with the strike of a sledgehammer. In her state of grief, so excruciating that she could have believed her world was coming to a gradual end, how could she possibly be expected to stand up in front of so many ponies and sing her mother's song, which up until now had been so private and personal to her?
"Will you?" the funeral host asked, casting her a serious look.
Feeling that she lacked any choice, Rainbow Dash stood up and floated over to the podium while each of the pallbearers lifted up the cloud-casket from the altar, releasing it from the invisible barrier of magic which kept it from floating away prematurely. They carefully moved it just in front of the rows of seats, where everyone present could see it clearly, then stood by, patiently waiting for Rainbow Dash to begin singing.
Rainbow shuddered with anxiety, wishing that her father had not put her on the spot like this. Had he truly expected that she'd be so unaffected by his death that she'd be willing to sing without any risk of breaking down? She looked over at each of her friends for encouragement, all of whom returned approving nods and smiles. But Scootaloo simply stared at her blankly, no longer willing to offer her anything more than her continued presence.
With a series of long, steady, and focused breaths, Rainbow Dash closed her eyes in an attempt to forget where she was and what was going on around her before she began to sing as clearly as she could.
"So many clouds scattered across the sky. The softest pillows lying way up high. Twisted and formed to the whims of a dream. Like fortresses of the heavens, or castles of ice cream..."
Finally, the pallbearers released the cloud-casket simultaneously. Slowly, with pall and flowers intact, it began to rise further up into the sky, and every head in the audience raised to watch it ascend.
Rainbow's eyes remained closed, keeping her mind focused on the lyrics of the song while she imagined herself sitting back under her mother's favorite tree, where she had heard it for the first time, with her father looking at her with tender affection as she sang him to his final rest. The audience of mourners sat silent and still as they continued to watch the casket float up into the blue atmosphere until it disappeared from all sight.
"...This dark day brings so much pain, and I'll be singing in the rain. Because today they cry."
With the song ended, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes in slow motion, feeling numb to the loud hoof-claps the mourners bestowed upon her. As she expected, the casket was no longer anywhere in sight, and even when she looked up, she saw not even the slightest trace of it in the atmosphere above.
It was over. Wherever her father was now, it was a place she could no longer reach...
"Thank you," the host said as he returned to the podium. "I'm sure he really would have appreciated that."
Rainbow Dash did not respond as she went to sit herself back down, an additional sting of sorrow piercing her directly in the heart over the fact that she had not witnessed her father's final departure.
"We pray that somewhere up there, Rainbow Blaze will find the peace he has earned," said the host. "We wish him a gentle rest now and forevermore. Until we meet again."
The host gave final bow of respect, which the crowd mimicked simultaneously.
"Thank you all for coming today," he said as his head raised back up, officially drawing the funeral to a close.
In a flurry of motion, most of the mourners formed another line towards Rainbow Dash to offer a hug or a final word of comfort before taking their leave while Scootaloo slipped away, believing that she had fulfilled whatever obligation had driven her to attend. Rainbow waited as patiently as she could to meet face-to-face with Spitfire again, which only happened after she had bid farewell to Princesses Celestia and Luna.
"You wanted to speak with me?" Spitfire said as she approached her.
Rainbow Dash breathed in deeply.
"I know that I'm not supposed to, but I wanted to ask if you'll let me wear my Wonderbolt uniform later on when I come back here. There's something I really have to do for my dad, and I'd like to wear it while I do it. It's kinda important to me."
Spitfire stared at Rainbow with indubitable skepticism, yet still showed little indication that she was willing to deny her.
"Well, that isn't something I would normally allow, especially without knowing the details," she said sternly. "However, for this particular occasion, I will allow it. Just so long as I have your word that you won't wear it for anything other than this one purpose only."
"You do," Rainbow replied with sincerity. "I mean, I won't."
Spitfire nodded to exhibit her trust in Rainbow's words, and the two parted ways after a fond farewell. Rainbow Dash stared up into the sky a final time, briefly wondering whether or not her father had already managed to find her mother...
****
Exhausted and beyond ready for a break, Rainbow Dash meticulously set down the heavy box she was struggling to hold after forcing it through the doorway of her father's old bedroom, wiping traces of sweat from her forehead as soon as her hooves were free again.
Following the funeral's closure, she had introduced her friends to Wind Lily, and they had all spent the last several hours assisting her former caretaker with her move after learning that she was unable to afford movers. While it was tedious and tiresome work, it granted Rainbow Dash a surprisingly potent distraction from her grief, as well as from the prospect of seeing her father's headstone for the very first time when she later returned to the cemetery wearing her Wonderbolt garb.
"I can't thank you all enough for all your help," Wind Lily said once the final box had been brought over, and Rainbow had returned to the almost overcrowded living room. "I don't even want to think about how strenuous it would have been for me to carry all of those boxes over myself, one-by-one."
"Think nothin' of it, ma'am," replied Applejack, bucking the box from her back. "We're happy to help."
"I'm not really sure why you'd want to live here," noted Spike. "I mean, won't this house bring back a lot of upsetting memories for you?"
"Yes, it probably will," Lily answered with a nod. "But honestly, I think just about anywhere is better than the place I've been living for I don't even know how many years now. I think I'm well overdue for a change, even if it's only a marginal one."
"If you don't mind me saying, Miss Lily, this home could do with a bit more flourish," said Rarity, staring with disapproval at the dusty drapes hanging over the kitchen window. "Fortunately, modifying fixer-uppers such as this happens to be included within my area of expertise. Should you wish to employ my services as an interior decorator, I'd be happy to lend them to you, free of charge."
Wind Lily chuckled. "Why, thank you, umm...Rarity, was it? I'll keep that in mind."
Pinkie Pie suddenly inhaled a deep gasp, which instantly granted her all of the attention in the room.
"Wait, wait, wait! So you were Rainbow Dash's caretaker, right?! That must mean that you have a ton of really embarrassing stories of Rainbow Dash when she was a foal that she would never want any of us to hear, and since we've never heard any of these embarrassing stories before since Rainbow Dash would never tell them to us herself because she'd never want us to hear them, we could hear some of these stories from you right now, right?....now?!"
Wind Lily blinked at Pinkie's rapid manner of speech.
"Well...I suppose so. That is..."
Wind Lily looked to Rainbow Dash, who responded only with a casual shrug, still not harboring enough care for her reputation to be concerned about any potentially damaging stories Wind Lily may have had on her.
"Alright, well, I do have one that's kinda funny," Wind Lily said with a chuckle. "One day, I was trying to get Rainbow Dash to eat mashed carrots, only to end up learning the hard way that mashed carrots was probably her least favorite food in the world. As soon as I fed her a spoonful--"
Uninterested in the story, Rainbow Dash stepped outside the house and took a seat by the front door, but she barely had any time to think to herself before Applejack also stepped outside and took a seat beside her.
"Are you ready yet?" she asked.
Rainbow shook her head. "It'd really be nice if I knew for sure that he could hear me. I mean, he used to be so convinced that mom could hear him, but I never believed it. And besides, it's not like he's actually resting there..."
"Don't let that distract you," encouraged Applejack. "If you just start talkin', you'll feel him there with you. It's not an easy feelin' to describe, but you'll know it when you feel it."
Rainbow said nothing, her mind occupied with the image of her parents reunited in the atmosphere, sharing a heartfelt reunion that she would have absolutely loved to join...
"You have a lot to say to him, don't you?" asked Applejack.
"Yeah," Rainbow said with a nod. "A lot."
"Well, he's waitin' on you right now," said Applejack. "And forgive me for bein' blunt, but I don't see any reason why you should keep him waitin' any longer."
Rainbow sighed. "I guess you're right..."
Applejack nodded with approval. "This is all part of movin' forward, Rainbow. It's part of acceptin' that even though he may not be here anymore, he still hasn't left you behind. You only got some practice the other day, but this here is the real thing. You can do it."
Rainbow Dash nodded with insincere agreement before standing up again and heading home to retrieve her Wonderbolt uniform, finally ready to do what she had been waiting to do for more than five years...
****
It was nearly evening by the time Rainbow Dash returned to the eastern plot, covered from head to hoof in her Wonderbolt garb. With the Birds of Passion removed from her mane, a gentle late afternoon breeze permitted it to flow without interruption. As before, the uniform felt like sheer bliss covering her skin and was almost enough to put her in a relatively happy mood, or at least a somewhat decent one.
Locking in on the east quadrant plot, Rainbow Dash lowered herself to the cloud-based ground and began a slow tread towards the location of her mother's headstone. When she reached it, she was not surprised to see that it had since been replaced by a larger and wider headstone, with her father's name inscribed next to her mother's. She recalled being asked whether she wanted their stones to be separate or shared, only to lethargically brush the question off. She was grateful that they were sharing a headstone, as she was almost certain that was what both of them would have wanted.
Rainbow was admittedly grateful that the entire plot was empty, not because she would have been embarrassed to be seen speaking to a stone, but because she would preferred to have privacy for her talk with her father. She cleared her throat as she focused on her father's side of the stone, preparing to speak with it just as she had watched him do for so many years while she simply stared on, only saying a single word or two whenever prompted.
"Well, here I am," she said somewhat loudly. "Let's just pretend for a minute that I'm standing on your front doorstep, and you've just opened the door. I'm trying to imagine what your face would look like. I'll bet you didn't expect to see me wearing this, did you?"
Rainbow was almost surprised to find herself grinning, but it soon faded as she was still unable to feel anything but her mane being brushed by the wind, with no indication that her father could hear a word she was saying.
"I read your letter, just so you know," she continued with a strain of bitterness present in her voice . "I don't know how you thought you could just throw all of that on me to live with for the rest of my life. I really wish you had told me a long time ago that you had once tried to become a Wonderbolt. And you're right, just because you envied me doesn't mean you should have tried so hard to knock me down at every turn."
Rainbow Dash waited before speaking again, still hoping to feel something in the air or the wind that would have told her that her father was listening to her. But the lonely wind offered her nothing more than silence and emptiness, and Rainbow Dash began to feel that this was indeed the meaningless effort she had always perceived it to be. With a sigh, she eventually resumed.
"For what it's worth, I regret never coming back, but I certainly don't regret leaving. I just...needed to find my own way, and I couldn't do that with you trying to hold me back. But that was your choice to make, and you can't be mad at me because I decided to make my own, even if it was wrong of me to never come back and visit you...."
Another pause granted her nothing but frustration, and she pursed her lips bitterly. Applejack was wrong. She had to be. This was simply a waste of time...
"I can't even believe I'm doing this right now," she said. "I don't feel any different than I did when you would bring me here as a filly. You're not really here. This is just a stone in a cloud. The real you is gone. Just like mom..."
Rainbow Dash's disappointment weighed her wings and legs down, and it was the only thing keeping her standing in place. Yet before it could wear off, a powerful and utterly indescribable sensation swept over her, which almost immediately morphed into the familiar presence of her father, stronger than she had ever felt it before. Her eyes widened with disbelief as her every last doubt faded at once. Finally, she was more than positive that her father was there with her, hearing each and every word that flung from her lips. She remained in momentary silence as she took the time to savor the feeling, which offered her a significantly greater bliss than gulping down cider the previous night.
"Thank you, dad," she whispered, tears collecting within her goggles. "Thank you for being here with me..."
The euphoria of the moment was such a contrast to the relentless sorrow and grief that had plagued her all week that it was almost as though she had stepped forward into a brand new life. For the very first time, her life beyond today no longer seemed like a spiral into an endless black hole. It seemed instead like a new beginning--an opportunity to move past this unbelievably tumultuous week and into a brand new one, where she would have the opportunity to move past her pain.
Rainbow Dash spent nearly an hour continuing to speak with her father, catching him up on her life for the last five years, as well as everything she had undergone leading up to the funeral. All the while, her father refused to leave her side, and the mental image of him holding her beneath his foreleg was the only fixation of her thoughts. It was no longer any wonder to her why her father insisted on talking to her mother's stone. She hated that she had wasted so many years not doing the same...
"I'm going to make you and mom proud of me," Rainbow Dash insisted. "One of these days, I'll come back with the news that I'm now a full-fledged Wonderbolt. And sometime after that, I'll come back and tell you that I've been promoted to Captain of the Wonderbolts. I'm going to live the prosperous life you want for me. I promise you."
With a her heart soaring with the warmth of her, Rainbow placed her hoof on the stone and stared at it as intensely as though she were staring directly into her father's eyes.
"I love you, too, dad. And I forgive you."
Smiling with satisfaction, Rainbow Dash turned to depart, and the over-encompassing feeling of her father standing beside her soon faded away.
Now all that was next was moving forward... |
Wear Flowers in Your Mane | Epilogue -- Moving Forward | Rainbow Dash was almost entirely out of breath as she landed outside the small office building of Dr. Hoofs J. Eyes'n'Neck just in time for her one o'clock appointment. Her face carried a satisfactory grin, having reached the office in a new record time--only twenty-seven seconds from her home, an improvement over her previous time of thirty-one seconds. Ever since receiving her Wonderbolt uniform, Rainbow now felt closer and more connected to them than ever before, and had since been challenging herself to get from place to place as quickly as she possibly could.
She took a minute to catch her breath before stepping through the office door where the spectacled, finely-dressed, and gray-bearded unicorn she had come to see was waiting for her.
"Good afternoon, Rainbow Dash," said Dr. Hoofs. "Right on time again."
"Afternoon, doc," Rainbow replied, taking a seat on the red, polyester couch which was situated against the wall just across from him. "I just got here in twenty-seven seconds flat!"
Dr. Hoofs raised his eyebrows, though he did not appear particularly impressed. "Is that so?"
Rainbow grinned and nodded. "I'm still trying to be the first Reserve who advances to become a full-fledged Wonderbolt. Since openings are few and far between, I have to ensure that I get in early. Otherwise, I could be waiting for years."
"I see," said Dr. Hoofs. "Well, I wish you luck on that."
"Thanks."
"Anyway, as before, I feel the need to stress to you that you do not need to continue having sessions with me," noted Dr. Hoofs. "I have already determined that you're mentally well enough to no longer require them."
"I know," Rainbow replied with an acknowledging nod. "But I want to be here. I didn't expect it, but I really enjoy these sessions. I think you really know what you're talking about."
Dr. Hoofs chuckled and magically levitated a clipboard and pen from off his desk, releasing the clipboard into his forehoof while keeping the pen hovering beside him. "Well, I should certainly hope so. This is what I've dedicated my life to, after all."
"Well, I'm no expert, but I really think you made the right life choice," said Rainbow Dash.
"So do I," Hoofs replied with a nod. "Anyway, it's now been over four weeks since your father's death. How have things been going for you since the last time we spoke?"
"I've been getting along alright," Rainbow answered. "I'm still not quite there yet, but I'm really starting to enjoy life again. And with the Equestria Games just two weeks away, I have something big to look forward to."
"And you'll still be competing in the Games, correct?" asked Dr. Hoofs.
"Yup," Rainbow answered proudly. "I'm still going to be in the relay race, flying for Ponyville."
"Well, I certainly hope you do well," said Dr. Hoofs. "Are you feeling nervous about it at all?"
"Just a little, but it's only because I'll be up against the Wonderbolts," answered Rainbow. "If I'm racing against Spitfire, I really can't say for sure if I'll win the gold or not."
"I see," Dr. Hoofs noted. "If I recall correctly, the last time we talked about it, you were worried that you would feel too much anxiety to perform because your parents would not be there to see you. Do you still feel that way?"
Rainbow Dash shifted her mouth and went silent for nearly half a minute, and the confident look on her face and tone of her voice slipped away.
"I don't know. I'm not as worried about it as I was last time, but this is definitely one of those moments I wish they could be alive for. But I'm only going to be competing in one event. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to keep myself together."
Dr. Hoofs gave her a nod, and then moved his levitated pen to the clipboard to jot something down.
"It's funny," Rainbow continued, causing him to look back up. "If my dad were still alive and nothing had changed between us, it wouldn't bother me at all if he wasn't there to watch me perform at the Games. How does him being gone change that so much?"
"The short answer is because now you know that there won't be another chance," replied Dr. Hoofs. "Perhaps there could have been another Equestria Games sometime in the future after your relationship had been repaired, but unfortunately, that's no longer the case. You did not expect that, and truthfully, only few of us ever really do."
Rainbow Dash nodded in understanding. "Yeah..."
"I'm sorry," said Dr. Hoofs. "I interpreted that question as though you were looking for a genuine answer, but perhaps that wasn't the case..."
"I did want an answer," replied Rainbow, shaking her head.
Dr. Hoofs wrote on his clipboard again, and Rainbow Dash waited in silence for him to finish.
"Do you feel any responsibility for your parents' deaths at this moment?" Dr. Hoofs asked after his pen ceased contact with the sheet on the clipboard.
Rainbow exhaled a sigh. Throughout their previous sessions, this question was the only one that had remained consistent, and she had thus been expecting it.
"Well, the doctors tell me that they still don't know what caused my dad's infection," she answered. "I don't think I'm going to feel sure until I have that answer."
"I can understand you wanting an explanation for his death," Dr. Hoofs replied, magically straightening his glasses. "But the unfortunate truth is that sometimes, things like that simply happen without much reason. Sometimes our bodies just stop functioning properly and become unable to fight off certain infections. And after all, our bodies are only designed to last so long."
"Yeah, I know," Rainbow said with a reluctant nod. "You told me that last time."
"I only tell you again because it's possible that you may never truly find out what caused his infection," said Dr. Hoofs. "It really could have been any number of things, but as far as my own medical knowledge goes, there's no infection in existence that can be caused simply by being apart from a relative for years, or anything remotely similar. As I told you before, you'll have to learn to accept that whatever it was, it had nothing to do with you."
Tears penetrated the surface of Rainbow's eyes as she struggled to imagine what must have been going through her father's head as he received the news that his life was at risk, as well as when he was writing his final letter, which he had known would likely be the last thing he would ever do. Since the funeral, Rainbow Dash had visited her parents' shared headstone again and vowed to her father that she would find out exactly what it was that claimed his life.
"What about going back in time?" asked Dr. Hoofs as Rainbow wiped her eyes before the tears fell. "Do you ever still feel like you'd want to do that?"
"If I did, it'd only be to meet my mom," she answered. "I wouldn't try to save her life, but I would still love to have the chance to meet her."
"How do you envision that meeting would go?" asked Hoofs after his levitated pen had swiveled upon the clipboard again. "Say you've gone back in time and you're given one minute to talk with her. What would you say, and how do you think she would reply?"
Rainbow Dash thought deeply before answering.
"Well, I would hug her before I would say anything," Rainbow answered, feeling slightly embarrassed. "More than anything else, I want to remember the feel of her touch."
"I imagine she'd be more than a little confused if you did that," noted Dr. Hoofs. "If you didn't say anything to let her know who you were, how do you think she'd respond to you?"
"I actually think she'd know exactly who I am," Rainbow answered confidently. "I mean, yeah, she'd probably be really confused as to why I'm suddenly fully grown, but I don't think it would really matter. She would still know her daughter."
Hoofs nodded his head in understanding. "Alright, then, what do you imagine she would say?"
Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin, now feeling as embarrassed as though she had been asked to read her diary out loud. Though she appreciated his help, there were times when she felt that Dr. Hoofs' questions seemed more than a bit too personal--the things he occasionally asked her to share were not things she would easily share with her own friends.
"Well, I'm sure I'd be crying as I hugged her, so...I guess she'd probably say something to comfort me," she answered silently.
Dr. Hoofs ran his pen across the clipboard again, and Rainbow Dash nearly protested against his doing so.
"So would you just hug her the entire time, or would you also try speaking to her?" he asked.
"I would tell her how much I love her," Rainbow said, closing her eyes as she tried to imagine the moment. "Other than that, I don't really know what I'd say. I would just want to feel her touch again."
Dr. Hoofs did not reply for a moment, nor did he write her response down on the clipboard. Before long, Rainbow Dash opened her eyes, which were again glazed over with tears that she did not permit to fall.
"What about your father?" Dr. Hoofs asked. "You said you would only go back to meet your mother, but would you go back to see your father again?"
"Yeah, but my mom would come first," she said with a nod. "And if I only had one chance to go back, I would choose to see her."
"Okay, then," Hoofs noted. "But speaking hypothetically, let's say your father was present when you went back to meet your mom. How do you imagine he would react to seeing you?"
"He'd probably be a lot more confused than my mom," Rainbow said. "He was always skeptical about magic, so it would probably take him a long time to accept that time travel is possible, while my mom would have been a lot more open to belief."
"Do you also believe that he would know who you were?" asked Dr. Hoofs.
"Yeah, I think so," answered Rainbow. "But as I said, it probably wouldn't click as quickly as it would for my mom."
"So what do you think you would you say to him?" asked Hoofs. "Would you tell him about his fate?"
"No," Rainbow replied guiltily, shaking her head. "But I would probably tell him that I would become a Wonderbolt someday, and that he shouldn't envy me for it."
Dr. Hoofs wrote on the clipboard again, and like before, Rainbow Dash felt uncomfortable about it. Though Dr. Hoofs had insisted that there was a confidentiality pact between them, Rainbow could not help but feel that her thoughts became decidedly less private whenever he wrote them down.
"So, just to clarify, if given the chance to go back in time, you would not try to warn your parents about the nature of their deaths?" Dr.Hoofs asked.
Rainbow Dash shook her head, feeling starkly irritated by the question.
"No, I already decided that it wouldn't be worth it," she answered. "I have to learn to move forward. Changing the past is too risky."
"Nopony alive can be saved from death," Dr. Hoofs replied with a nod. "There's no spell to reverse it or to stop it from coming, nor is there any field of scientific study that has ever come close to finding a way to stop it, or to 'cure' it. We simply have to accept that we're all living on limited time."
Rainbow Dash bobbed her head slowly, struggling to hide her irritation. "I know. Again, I've heard that before"
"Well, I have to say, Rainbow Dash, you do seem much better than you did the last time we spoke," noted Dr. Hoofs. "It really seems like you're well into the process of moving forward."
"Um, how long does it usually take?" Rainbow asked, suddenly somber. "To move forward, I mean?"
"There's no easy way to answer that," said Hoofs as he magically lifted his glasses from his face and simultaneously levitated a cloth from his pocket to clean them. "As a matter of fact, there's no easy way to define what 'moving on' even means. The way I define it is that you resume functioning in life without being overwhelmed by the pain of a loved one's passing. I think that's what you should focus on striving for. Take it one day at a time and try not to let it occupy your thoughts. As to how long it takes, I can't say. In general, it normally depends on how close you were to the one you lost, and how much regret you still have."
"Well, I still have plenty of regret..." Rainbow said.
"So I understand," noted Dr. Hoofs. "Has that gotten any better lately....or perhaps worse?"
Rainbow delayed her response for a few moments, and a sudden spasm of uncertainty flashed through her crimson eyes.
"Not everypony can move on though, can they?" she asked, ignoring his question. "Like my dad almost didn't move on after my mom died..."
"Unfortunately, no," said Dr. Hoofs, somberly shaking his head. "It is indeed true that not everypony can find that strength. For some, the pain often seems too great. And indeed, sometimes ponies do the only thing they think they can do to rid themselves of their pain. But I'm certain you're not one of those ponies, Rainbow Dash, are you?"
Rainbow shook her head slowly. "I guess not..."
Dr. Hoofs chuckled humorlessly to himself. "Oh, come on, you could stand to give yourself just a bit more credit than that, can't you?"
She returned a casual shrug, and Dr. Hoofs quickly came to the conclusion that there was something even deeper on her mind.
"Well, in that case, I think we've put it off long enough," he said suddenly. "How are things with Scootaloo? Have you made any progress with restoring your relationship with her?"
Rainbow's ears lowered at the question, another one she had known was inevitable. They had spent most of their last session speaking about her anxiety over never being able to rekindle her relationship with Scootaloo again.
"Nothing's changed," she answered somberly.
Dr. Hoofs frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that."
Rainbow Dash appeared to want to say something more, but only solemn sighs emerged from her open mouth.
"So you are you saying that nothing new has happened at all since our last discussion?" Dr. Hoofs asked once it became clear that she was not going to speak again. "You haven't seen her or spoken to her since?"
"I haven't spoken to her," Rainbow said, once again feeling as though Dr. Hoofs was prying into her personal life as though he was armed with an emotional crowbar. "But I did see her the other day."
"I see," noted Hoofs, marking on the clipboard again. "So did you see each other face-to-face? Did anything happen when you saw her?"
"No, not face-to-face," Rainbow answered. "I saw her, but she didn't see me. I was out flying near the schoolhouse and I just happened to see her outside, playing with her two friends. She really seems to be doing fine."
"Is that so?" asked Hoofs. "How does that make you feel?"
"Like I told you last time, the more I think about it, the more I feel that she was right," Rainbow said with a sigh. "I really did once think that no matter what, she would always have my back and never stay angry at me. I really do think that this was something I needed to learn."
"Do you still feel that you've lost her?" asked Dr. Hoofs, his voice not carrying quite as much compassion as such a question would warrant. "Do you think she still wants you in her life?"
Rainbow Dash said nothing for a long while as the question flowed through her ears and caused her entire body to go numb.
"I don't know..." she answered silently.
Dr. Hoofs' missing compassion finally spread across his face, breaking away abruptly from the serious demeanor he had maintained since they had begun speaking.
"I'm truly sorry, Rainbow Dash."
His expression made Rainbow uncomfortable, and she quickly shifted her eyes to the large window on her left where the partly cloudy sky was easily in view, and the clouds strangely appeared to take on the form of Scootaloo's face.
"I keep on wondering if she wants me to do something," Rainbow said once she was willing to speak again. "Like, I keep wondering that maybe she's just testing me. Maybe she really wants me to fight for our relationship, instead of just standing by, waiting for her to make the choice. She told me that she just needed some time to sort it out herself, but I still hate to think that there's nothing I can really do but wait for her. I mean, for all I know, it's going to take months."
"Well, I know this is yet another thing that you've heard from me before, but I really don't think she's going to ignore you forever," said Hoofs. "Regardless of what she chooses, I imagine she's going to give you an answer at some point."
Rainbow Dash shook her head sorrowfully. "Maybe not. Maybe she's already made her choice and I'm just expected to understand that she doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. Maybe it's just easier for her this way."
"Now, I certainly doubt that," Dr. Hoofs replied flatly. "I may not know Scootaloo personally, but I've spoken with enough estranged friends and family members to know that this approach isn't easier. I would wager that she's likely thinking about you almost every single day, and she most likely understands that she'll have to address this sooner or later."
Rainbow shrugged nonchalantly at the little comfort his words offered her.
"Well, it worked well enough for me, didn't it? I was completely serious about not seeing my dad again until I was a Wonderbolt."
"That may be so," Dr. Hoofs replied with a nod. "But you still had a goal, did you not? You knew exactly what would need to happen before you were going to see your father again, correct? It was never your intention to keep him out of your life forever because you were certain that becoming a Wonderbolt was all but inevitable for you."
"Well, yeah," Rainbow answered, "but it's not like I was thinking about him every other day either. In fact, it really didn't take too long for me to put him out of my mind. I was glad that I didn't have to listen to him crushing my dreams anymore."
"I would suppose it also helped that you moved away from Cloudsdale," said Dr. Hoofs. "You weren't bothered by the notion that you could just happen pass him by on a street corner on any given day. That's a sort of luxury that Scootaloo doesn't have, and that's why you're going to remain on her mind until she's settled her issues with you in one way or another."
Rainbow Dash paused for a moment before speaking again, no longer interested in continuing the conversation until it was offering her actual advice.
"What do you think I should do?" she asked as she pierced Dr. Hoofs with a look of genuine desperation, convincing him that the fragile nature of her relationship with Scootaloo likely hinged upon his answer.
Dr. Hoofs magically lifted the clipboard from his hoof and set it back down on his desk, along with the pen. He then looked back at Rainbow Dash as thoroughly as if he could see through her, and after a few moments, he finally spoke again.
"As I told you, I haven't spoken with her," he replied. "I couldn't tell you for sure what she does or doesn't want, because I honestly don't know. I'm simply basing my judgment of this situation purely on everything you've told me about her. And with that thought in mind, I would imagine that she would need some sort of proof that this has affected you. I cannot help but feel that if she hasn't forgiven you on her own by now, she's likely going to need an extra push to do so."
Rainbow Dash shifted her mouth. "What kind of proof do you think I need?"
"Well, that's a bit trickier to answer," noted Dr. Hoofs. "But I would think that above all, she would want to see proof that the relationship you share still means a lot to you. You said it yourself. It's entirely possible that what she truly wants you to do is fight for your relationship. Show her that you're determined to see it thrive again."
Rainbow nodded in understanding, even though she felt that it seemed almost too simple a solution.
"So you're saying that I should try talking with her again?"
"I think you'd be taking a risk either way," said Dr. Hoofs. "Don't misunderstand. I'm not going to offer you any guarantee that this will work. In fact, it could honestly backfire. I'm just telling you that based on what I know about Scootaloo, I feel that the course of action I've suggested is probably the best one. And at the very least, I think it would be worth speaking with her again just to ask whether or not she's come to a decision yet. Even if she's chosen not to forgive you, you deserve to be told about it directly."
Silence permeated through the room again as Rainbow Dash pondered his advice, feeling a bit more uncertain about his proposed solution than she would have liked.
"I....I'll have to think about it," she said.
"Of course," said Dr. Hoofs. "I would not expect otherwise."
Their session ended a short time later as Rainbow Dash became so focused on the thought of speaking with Scootaloo again that she lost all motivation to answer any more of his questions. With some good-natured parting words and a hoofshake, Rainbow left Dr. Hoofs' office, suddenly interested in finding out what the rest of the day would have in store for her.
****
Peaceful comfort from the sun engulfed Rainbow Dash as she trotted away from the small office building. A sunny afternoon such as this almost always made her want to find the nearest fluffy cloud and lie down upon it for an afternoon nap as the sunlight caressed her to sleep. Although she had no intention of napping at the moment, she could not help but smile at the realization that it was something she could do if she actually wanted to. It was all the more evidence that her life had almost entirely returned to a state of normalcy.
Though her relationship with Scootaloo still remained in question, Rainbow could not deny how much the status quo of her life had since corrected itself, which was something she had not expected would happen so soon after her father's funeral. Nearly every facet of her life had miraculously managed to return to the way it used to be. She had since resumed her job as the head of Ponyville's Weather Team, she was eating regularly each day since her appetite had returned, and thankfully, she was once again sleeping all the way through the night, without any troubling thoughts preventing her from getting enough rest.
However, new changes in her life still challenged the state of normalcy as they gradually settled into it. The Wonderbolts tended to keep her busy with hour-long exercises and drills up to three times a week. The box of her mother's pictures remained within the closet, and almost every day, she debated whether or not she was finally ready to look at them, fearing that doing so would only cause the hole of her mother's absence to sink even deeper. Her mother's flower book sat on her bedside table, and she slowly cycled through one page a night, reading the written descriptions next to each flower in the book which gave her only the tiniest insights into the nature of her mother's fascination with nature and life itself. And almost every other day, Rainbow dropped by Fluttershy's cottage for lunch, their relationship having strengthened since the funeral.
With her session finished, and the hour of two o'clock approaching quickly, Fluttershy's cottage became Rainbow's next destination. Rather than screeching through the sky in an attempt to set another record, she decided to take her time in arriving, allowing the anticipation of digging her teeth into the freshly-baked scones Fluttershy had told her she would be making build up steadily. By the time she arrived at Fluttershy's doorstep, her stomach was emanating a silent, yet firm rumble, and she pushed her way inside, expecting that the sweet scent of baked goods permeating the air would rise up to meet her nose.
"Hi, Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy greeted while in the process of inserting her forehooves into a pair of hoof-mits.
"Hey, Fluttershy," Rainbow replied as the enticing smell of the scones drew her directly into the kitchen.
Angel was standing cross-armed on the counter at the fact that his feeding bowl remained empty after a mere five minutes past his own scheduled lunch time. As Fluttershy carefully removed the hot scones from the oven, he jumped to her back and stamped his foot repeatedly, as though he believed that the only reason he had yet to be fed was because he was simply invisible to her.
"Just a few more minutes, Angel," Fluttershy said apologetically.
Angel shook his head angrily in response.
"Here, I've got him," Rainbow said with a chuckle.
She opened up the refrigerator and removed Angel's usual lunch assortment of lettuce, carrot slices, cucumbers, and tomato slices. With the impatient bunny scrutinizing her intensely, she mixed the medley of vegetables into his bowl, then placed it in his usual feeding spot on the floor. Angel rushed over to it and examined its contents thoroughly, only to soon turn away and stubbornly cross his arms again.
"What?" Rainbow said, irritated by Angel's disapproval.
"Umm, you forgot the cherry," Fluttershy silently reminded.
"Oh, right," Rainbow replied, rolling her eyes. She then went back to the refrigerator, pulled a cherry from out of a jar and squarely positioned it at the centermost point of the bowl.
Angel gave Rainbow a somewhat-appreciative nod, then immediately dug right into his lunch, savagely tearing through the vegetables as though he feared that the bowl would be taken away from him if he did not scarf everything down as quickly as he could.
Rainbow Dash watched him with a cocked eyebrow. "Um, aren't you chowing down a little too--?"
Fluttershy nudged her in the side, urging her not to say any more. Angel hated it when he was told that he was eating too fast.
"Uh, nevermind," Rainbow said, rolling her eyes at the hungry bunny who was not paying her any mind anyway.
"Lunch is ready," said Fluttershy, motioning over to the kitchen table.
Rainbow Dash took a seat as Fluttershy placed the dozen of scones on a tray alongside a pair of serving cups full of cream and strawberry jam. She then carefully set the tray down on the center of the table, between their two empty plates. Rainbow's stomach lurched at the sight of the scones, and she was almost left with the temptation to dig through them almost as savagely as Angel was with his own lunch.
"So, anything new?" Fluttershy asked as she placed a few scones on her plate.
"Had another session today," answered Rainbow, doing the same.
"I can't believe you're still having them," Fluttershy replied. "When Dr. Horse suggested that you have therapy, I told him that it was something you wouldn't want at all."
"Well, yeah, I didn't want it at first," said Rainbow, "but I think I really should have given it more of a chance. He's helped me more than I ever thought he would, though at times he can be a bit...intrusive."
"Well, as long as you think he's helping you, I hope you have as many sessions as you need," said Fluttershy. She waited to swallow a bite before speaking again. "So, umm, have you looked at any of your mother's pictures yet?"
Rainbow twisted her mouth with discomfort. "It's just too soon right now."
"I understand," replied Fluttershy with a slow nod. "Sorry. I really should stop asking that."
"I'm still looking through her flower book every night, though," said Rainbow Dash. "I can't believe she loved those things so much. The way she writes about them, you'd think they were the most valuable treasures in all of Equestria."
"Maybe they were to her," said Fluttershy. "Maybe she just connected with them the most, like I did with animals when I first came to the ground."
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I guess."
They fell momentarily silent as they swallowed one scone while moving onto the next, swiping it over with both the cream and jam. Having finished his lunch, Angel fled from the kitchen and jumped up on Fluttershy's couch to settle himself in for a nap.
"So, the Equestria Games are just two weeks away," Rainbow acknowledged. "I'm sure you know what that means, right?"
"That in only two weeks, I'll be performing in front of a crowd of thousands upon thousands of ponies who will be watching my each and every move, including a number of fans from Ponyville who will be expecting us to bring home gold medals?" Fluttershy said, her rapid speech overflowing with nervousness. "Yes, I'm aware of that...."
Rainbow blinked.
"Yeah, well, I...wanted to ask if you still felt comfortable about performing," she said. "If you're having second thoughts, I really need to know about it so we can make arrangements for a replacement. Not to put pressure on you, but our team is really counting on you to pull through."
Rainbow's words did appear not make Fluttershy any less nervous.
"I'm sure I can do it," she said with a self-comforting nod. "My time in the Pony Tones has really helped with my anxiety about performing. All I need to do is focus on the race and not think about all of those.....eyes....staring at me."
She shook her head quickly, as though trying to erase the nervous thoughts from her mind, and her face was refreshed with a look of confidence.
"Anyway, I'm not going to let you or Ponyville down," she said firmly.
Rainbow Dash nodded once, expressing her satisfaction by her response.
"How about you?" asked Fluttershy.
"Huh?"
"Are you nervous at all?" Fluttershy asked. "I mean--"
"Hah! I don't even know what that word means!" Rainbow Dash interrupted with an arrogant boast.
"Even knowing that Scootaloo will be there?" Fluttershy asked, and the question immediately erased the smug grin from Rainbow's face. "That is, unless she decides to patch things up between the two of you sometime before the Games."
Rainbow Dash sighed, stuffing another scone into her mouth to delay a response, but Fluttershy continued staring at her with the sort of curiosity which made it apparent that she was not about to retract the question or even say anything else until it was answered.
"I'm not really sure," she replied after swallowing. "I talked to the doc about it today, and he thinks that it might be better if I just took a chance and spoke with her again. He thinks that she wants to see actual proof that I've changed."
"Oh, goodness," said Fluttershy, her eyes widening. "What do you think about that? Last time we talked about it, you said that you were just going to give her the time she needs."
"I actually think he might be right," answered Rainbow Dash. "After all, my dad decided not to speak with me again until I was ready, and all that happened was that I missed my chance to ever see him again. I can't help but feel like giving her time is the last thing I need to do at this point."
Fluttershy briefly looked down at her plate in thought. "Well, it doesn't exactly sound like the 'wrong' answer, I guess. It has more potential to make things better than worse."
"Either way, I'm just tired of the tension between us," Rainbow said with a sigh. "I'm tired of waking up every morning and hoping that we don't happen to cross each others' paths. I'm tired of wondering whether or not the day will come when she finally decides to forgive me."
"Well, I really hope it goes well," Fluttershy said comfortingly.
"I'm not sure if it will," replied Rainbow Dash, rejecting the comfort. "I mean, if my dad had decided to speak with me before I was ready to see him, I'm not sure I would have been that open to forgiving him."
"Don't think like that," said Fluttershy. "If your dad made an effort to show his remorse, you wouldn't have just turned him away. And Scootaloo won't just turn you away either."
Rainbow Dash forced a half-hearted grin, then they both turned their attention towards the scones until there was nothing left on the tray but the two now-empty serving cups.
"Thanks for lunch," Rainbow said as Fluttershy collected their plates up and carried the tray over to the kitchen sink.
"Of course, anytime," Fluttershy replied contentedly. "So....what are you going to do now?"
Rainbow's mouth shifted from side to side in uncertainty. "I guess I'm just going to go take the plunge. There's only one way to find out whether it'll work or not..."
"Well, I'll be rooting for you," Fluttershy replied.
Rainbow Dash rose from her seat and promptly stretched her limbs, now even more ready for a nap than she had been before. But a surge of determination promptly spread through her joints and ensured that she would be incapable of receiving any rest before she and Scootaloo were standing face-to-face again for the first time since the funeral.
Fluttershy followed her back to the front door, and as they passed by the still-asleep Angel on the couch, Rainbow Dash turned to face her closest friend for a final time before heading out of the safety of the cottage.
"However this goes, I just want to tell you how much I appreciate everything you've done for me these past few weeks," she said tenderly. "I really hope that one day I'll get a chance to be there for you the way you have for me."
Fluttershy smiled warmly. "As I told you once before, I owe a lot to you, more than I could ever repay. And nothing has changed since then."
They shared a lengthy hug, within which contained the sisterly affection of more than ten years of a bond as close as family, unbroken by time. As they slowly released each other from the embrace, Rainbow Dash finally felt ready to see Scootaloo again. She stepped out of Fluttershy's home and simultaneously entered a state of limbo, upon one exit was the void of nothingness she had escaped from weeks ago, and upon the other was the life she had led up until the Saturday four weeks ago, when she was back in that field, innocently playing a game of catch with her once-surrogate younger sister...
****
The minutes gradually ticked down to the hour of three o'clock, and Rainbow Dash hovered above the Ponyville School House as she awaited the ring of the school bell and the subsequent release of the fillies and colts inside, some of which were struggling to stay awake in their seats, while others still hung onto Miss Cheerliee's every word.
Despite feeling confident as she departed Fluttershy's home, the reality of speaking with Scootaloo again had caused Rainbow's nerves to become overrun with doubt, and she found herself silently debating whether or not this was truly a good idea after all. She wondered how much the outcome of the meeting would affect her life's return to normalcy. After spending so much time in a depression that she never thought she would find her way out of, the last thing she wanted was to be thrust back into its encompassing clutches....
Before long, the bell sounded off with all the startling force of a bucket of icy water being spilled over Rainbow's sleeping face, and just as the fillies and colts spilled out of the schoolhouse, she quickly took cover on a nearby cloud, now more full of doubt than before. She peered over the cloud's edge to watch the last of the students make their exit, each of them excited to have the rest of the afternoon to enjoy. After a moment, she finally saw the three Cutie Mark Crusaders stepping out of the schoolhouse together, chatting amongst themselves as they joined the rest of their peers in the outside rush. Rainbow Dash's heart skipped at the sight of Scootaloo. Like before, the young pegasus filly appeared to be perfectly content, with no apparent signs that she had been struggling internally with a difficult choice--no apparent signs that she truly missed having her older surrogate sister in her life....
Rainbow's doubt almost immediately eroded away while fear instantly rose up to replace it. Suddenly, there was no longer any question as to what she was going to do. If Scootaloo had become used to her absence, it likely meant that the window to repair their relationship was closing fast, if it had not closed already. The only option available to her was to pry it back open, even if by force...
Utilizing her unique talent of enhanced focus from above, Rainbow Dash watched the Crusaders, hoping that they would eventually disperse and go their separate ways. But the longer they walked, the more it became apparent that they were headed in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, which meant that they were on route towards their clubhouse. Rainbow groaned silently, knowing that any Crusader activities they had planned would likely last for hours, and they were hours that she was unwilling to wait.
For nearly ten minutes, she followed them while still using the cloud for cover, deciding not to make her approach until their lengthy conversation had ended. They were nearly a quarter of the way to their clubhouse before she could no longer see any of their lips moving, and Rainbow Dash seized the moment to break away from the cloud and zip down just in front of them, causing all three fillies to stagger wildly at her unexpected appearance.
"Hey, guys," Rainbow said with a confident smile.
"Uh, hi, Rainbow Dash," Sweetie Belle replied.
Scootaloo looked almost terrified, as though convinced that Rainbow's appearance was some sort of ghostly apparition.
"Uh, hey..." she responded apprehensively, the first two words Rainbow had heard her speak in weeks.
"What brings you here?" asked Apple Bloom.
Rainbow Dash fixed her eyes on Scootaloo, who avoided eye contact with her as she stared down at the road beneath her hooves. The fairly cheerful expression she had worn just minutes ago had been sapped from Scootaloo's face and replaced with a look of disappointment, as though she had just come to the understanding that Rainbow Dash would never allow her to live her life in peace...
"Um, do you have a moment to talk?" Rainbow asked her.
Scootaloo immediately looked at her two friends, both of whom returned encouraging nods as though they had been awaiting this very moment for a long time, far longer than Scootaloo had herself.
"Go on ahead," urged Sweetie Belle. "We'll meet up later."
She and Apple Bloom then continued on their route to the clubhouse, while Scootaloo fought heavily against her desire to keep walking alongside them.
"Okay," Scootaloo said unenthusiastically. "I guess we can talk, then."
Her reluctance was easy to pick up on, but Rainbow Dash nevertheless remained intent to continue this through to whatever end it would have. She motioned to a nearby bench and walked over to it, and Scootaloo slowly dragged her hooves to take a seat beside her.
"Um, how've you been lately?" Rainbow asked once they were seated.
"I've been...fine," answered Scootaloo.
"Looking forward to the Equestria Games?" Rainbow asked, forcing a smile. "They're only two weeks away now, you know?"
"I guess so," Scootaloo replied, her voice carrying no excitement.
"You 'guess so?' That's it?" Rainbow said, almost surprised by her apathy. "I'll never forget how excited I was to carry Cloudsdale's flag in just the month before the Games. I thought it was going to be the highlight of my life. And up until then, it probably was."
"I know that. You've told me the story before," Scootaloo said, her voice laced with irritation. "Sorry, I'm just not really that excited about it right now."
Rainbow Dash frowned, and neither of them spoke again again for nearly a minute as they watched various ponies pass them by with little more than a glance in their direction. Rainbow bit her lip as she realized that Scootaloo had no intention of mentioning the ambiguity surrounding their relationship, and that if she did not continue the conversation, it was likely only a matter of time before the filly would eventually get up to rejoin her two friends.
"I have to ask. Have you....um...decided anything yet?" questioned Rainbow.
Scootaloo's face went stiff and her answer was delayed for several seconds, each of which made Rainbow feel more hopeless as they passed.
"No, not yet," replied Scootaloo, keeping her cold eyes fixed directly ahead of her. "Is that all you wanted to know?"
Her response called forth a surge of frustration to split its way through Rainbow's already-tense body. She suddenly felt as though she were sitting within a rotting cell while Scootaloo stood outside, dangling a key to freedom just out of her reach, keeping her hope alive while irreparably damaging it at the same time.
"How much more time do you think you need?" she asked, trying not to display her frustration through her voice. "It's been three weeks already."
"I'm aware of that," Scootaloo replied sharply. "I'm just a little..."
Scootaloo rattled her mind for a way to finish the sentence, but ultimately came up with nothing, inadvertently triggering another brief silence. Rainbow Dash knew that the time had finally come for her to take her biggest leap of faith.
"I really don't think you need any more time, Scoot," Rainbow said firmly. "I think you're really just stuck with a problem that you don't know the solution to. I think that you either don't want to forgive me because you think I still won't learn anything if you do, or you no longer want to have anything else to do with me, and you're not sure how you'll be able to avoid me forever if we're still living in the same town and have most of the same friends."
Scootaloo said nothing as she gazed at Rainbow with a look that was mostly lacking in any emotion, but Rainbow Dash avoided meeting her gaze as she clung to the hope that Scootaloo would continue listening.
"If I'm going to have any chance of getting us back to the way we were, it's going to start by proving to you that I've learned the lesson you wanted me to learn," she resumed. "Because the thought of not being able to do anything with you anymore, the thought of you telling me that you no longer want me in your life, it terrifies me. And I don't have any shame in admitting it."
Scootaloo remained in silence. She took her eyes off Rainbow Dash and opted instead to watch a small group of her classmates playing a game of tag in the grass just a few yards away, giggling with joy as they chased each other down. As innocent a sight as it was, Scootaloo's jaw clenched as she watched them.
"I was wrong for what I did to you," Rainbow said, also turning her attention towards the fillies. "You went out of your way to be there for me before I even knew how much I needed you, and I responded by turning you away. You never deserved that, and I'll probably never forgive myself for it, even if you do manage to forgive me. But I just can't let that be the end of the sisterhood we've shared for such a long time. My dad waited for five long years to see me again, to beg for my forgiveness, and I let him down. Maybe we could have shared a better relationship if I had just cared enough to go back and visit him, or if he had been confident enough to visit me. But it's too late for that now. I can't just go back in time and try to patch things up between us either, and believe me when I say that I've actually considered the possibility. But what's done is done, and that's why I'm here now. I have to try and fix this before it's too late for us."
Rainbow Dash paused to wipe at the fledgling tears beginning to overwhelm her eyes. She slowly cast her gaze to Scootaloo, who lifted her head to stare back, her face now brimming with emotion while her jaw remained shut.
"I'm so sorry, Scootaloo," Rainbow resumed, looking deeply into Scootaloo's eyes. "I'm sorry for hurting you, I'm sorry for pushing you away, and I'm even sorry that it's taken me three weeks to come to you like this now. But I can't wait another day. If you would give me the chance, I'll do anything to prove to you just how much I want to save our relationship--to prove to you that I no longer have the hold over you that you thought I had. Would you allow me that chance?"
In an instant, the laughter and joy of the fillies no longer made a sound as the world around Rainbow Dash slipped into slow motion. Her eyes remained locked deeply into Scootaloo's as the remainder of her body went stiff, awaiting the answer that would finally determine whether or not this leap of faith had been worth the effort....
"I think you have waited long enough for an answer," Scootaloo replied, her face heavy with doubt. "And the truth is that I really don't think I want our relationship to be over. I miss you. I miss having fun with you, I miss being as close to you as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are with their own sisters. And I miss having you as the pony I can look up to. But even if I decided to forgive you right now, do you really think we could just go right back to the way we were before? That's the real question I've been struggling with, and I don't have an answer for it."
Scootaloo's words offered Rainbow little more than a hollow victory, devoid of any actual accomplishment.
"No," she said as her ears flopped. "I don't think we can just go right back to it. It would take time, maybe even a lot of time. But I do think that we can get there again someday."
The doubt weighing down Scootaloo's face was cast aside by a smile, displaying her faith in Rainbow's answer.
"I really hope we can."
A confident smile spread across Rainbow's face faster than she could possibly stop it, and she felt the sensation that she had just returned home from a very long trip. For the very first time since that moment when she had thought that the mail pony was delivering her Wonderbolt uniform nearly a month ago, Rainbow Dash felt that she had finally reclaimed her life again.
****
The weather over the next few weeks was almost entirely sunny, as Rainbow Dash refused to allow any rain to fall in Ponyville before the arrival of the Equestria Games, mostly as a reflection of her significantly improved mood.
As the days gradually passed, Rainbow's life continued to fall back into place as the lingering fragments were picked up. She had since learned from the doctors that her father's death had been caused by a lone parasite that happened to infect his digestive tract until it made its way towards his heart, and she could not stop herself from crying as she shared the news with him, at last feeling absolved of any and all guilt for his death. She had finally managed to find the willpower to scan through the box of her mother's pictures, and her heartstrings pulled nearly to their breaking point as she savored each and every one. Eventually, she came across one that she loved too much to store it back into the box--a photo of her parents happily dancing together in the rain. It now sat within frame on her bedside table, filling her with a silent joy each time her eyes fell upon it.
Wind Lily could barely contain her enthusiasm about the Games, and was even excited just by the prospect visiting the Crystal Empire for the very first time. Rainbow Dash was thrilled that she would be attending, feeling that her presence would easily be enough to make up for the absence of her parents.
And today, the day just before all of Equestria would witness her racing against the Wonderbolts, Rainbow found herself returning to her favorite field alongside Scootaloo, their relationship still gradually weathering through the long process of repair as Rainbow was determined to be a better sister than she ever was before.
"Are you sure you shouldn't be training for tomorrow?" Scootaloo asked her as they arrived in the field. "Besides, I think Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle wanted us to go over our own routine again."
"Forget the Games," Rainbow replied nonchalantly. "You've run that routine like a million times already, and it's not like doing any last-minute training now is going to make me any faster than I already am."
Scootaloo chuckled. "It sure been a long time since we've done this, hasn't it?"
"It was a lifetime ago, Scoot," Rainbow replied with a nod.
They took a moment to reflect as the memories of their last game of catch came rushing back to both of them---the day Rainbow had excitedly told Scootaloo about how she would soon be wearing a Wonderbolt uniform for the first time, and the day she had received news that would go on to change her life forevermore...
A "lifetime ago" was putting it quite accurately...
"Go long, Scoot," Rainbow said with a grin, and the young filly turned on the spot and dashed several meters away from her older sister, just before she punted the ball through the clear, blue sky....
Their game lasted for hours, and somewhere high above the atmosphere, two ponies smiled contentedly as they looked down upon their daughter with pride, eager to watch her performance in the Equestria Games, and unable to wait until she was telling them all about it.
The End |
New Life | pre | Rest of the school day
The rest of the school day could not have gone any slower for the CMC. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom just wanted to sit with Sweetie Belle and comfort her but as they were spread out in the classroom, they couldn't do that. Much to their annoyance. Once the school day came to an end, the CMC walked together to their clubhouse to begin another day of crusading.
CMC Clubhouse
Sweetie Belle was curled up on the floor, thinking about what happened today. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were becoming very worried. They had never seen Sweetie Belle like this before. This wasn't something they expected.
This is because Sweetie Belle was the only CMC member who very rarely got sad and if she was, she never showed it to the others. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were at a loss at what to do. They were not going to push her, however, what happened between Button Mash and Sweetie must have hurt her a lot and they want Button Mash to pay because he hurt Sweetie Belle. They were told what happened in a nutshell and it angered them to the core and Sweetie Belle knew that.
Sweetie Belle uncurled from her little ball on the floor and looked at her marefriend and Apple Bloom - her sister. She yelped quietly and looked away. "Are you two mad at me?" She asked, quietly
Scootloo and Bloom shook their heads very quickly and Scootaloo held out her hoof. "Of course we're not Sweetie. Why should we be? You did nothing wrong!"
Sweetie took Scootaloo's hoof and hugged her and AB. "I'm sorry!"
The other two CMC members hugged back. "It's okay Sweets..." Apple Bloom said soothingly
After about 5 mins, the 3 of them separated. "You feeling better Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked
Sweetie nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, girls, I needed that."
Then they all got their CMC meeting up and running.
2 hours later
The CMC were back in the clubhouse and had been for a little while. The rain had been pouring down while they were crusading and weren't out for as long as they normally would be so they spent the rest of their time in the dry, sheltered from the rain.
"Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking at her sister
Apple Bloom looked at Sweetie. "Yeah, Sweets?" She asked
Sweetie Belle sighed and her ears flattened against her head. "Can I talk to you about something?"
Bloom nodded. "Sure Sweetie, what's up?" She asked, a hint of worry in her voice
Scootaloo's ears perked up but shook her head. "She can tell me when she's ready." She thought then went fell asleep
Sweetie Belle sighed again. "You and Scoots already know what happened between me and Button Mash. I just wanna ask you something if that's okay."
Apple Bloom nodded again. "Yeah, you can ask me anything Sweetie. What is it?"
Sweetie Belle looked at Bloom with fear in her eyes. "I know that me and Scoots are together now but... Do you think we'll drift apart as time goes on?"
Apple Bloom thought about Sweetie Belle's question before she replied. "I'm really happy that you two have found each other and are dating and I don't think that changes anything. You know why?"
Sweetie Belle shook her head.
Apple Bloom continued. "You two dating doesn't change a thing because you're both my sisters still and I'll be by your side when either of you need me. I'm never gonna leave you two no matter what cuz sisters stick together and we have done and that won't change, I promise."
Sweetie smiled. "You have already partly answered the other question I have but I guess I'm a little nervous on how to ask it." She said
Bloom smiled sympathetically. "Just say it, Sweetie, I won't care."
Sweetie Belle took a deep breath. "How do you actually feel about me and Scoots dating? Be honest."
AB giggled slightly. "Were you worried I would hate you both? That's not true, not true at all. Yeah, my family believes that a mare and a mare or a stallion and a stallion can't be together but I don't believe any of that! The way I see it is that if you're in love with somepony, you're in love with them, it doesn't matter if they're the same gender as you or not."
Sweetie giggled. "AB is an amazing sister." She thought
"So to answer your question, Sweetie, I'm so happy for you two. All I ever wanted was for you both to be happy and now I know that's happened because you've found each other and that's what matters because you're both happy together so that means I'm happy too. You two are perfect for each other and I know that you'll both treat each other right." Apple Bloom finished
Sweetie Belle hugged her tightly. "Thank you, sis."
Apple Bloom hugged back. "No prob sis. Remember, I'm never gonna leave you or Scootaloo, not now, not ever." She replied
Apple Bloom released the hug a minute later. "Oh shoot! I gotta go you two! See ya tomorrow!" With that, Apple Bloom left the clubhouse and went inside.
Sweetie Belle went to wake up her marefriend. "Hey, Scoots." She said softly as she stroked her cheek with a hoof
Scootaloo mumbled something and opened her eyes. "We leaving now?" She asked
Sweetie helped her up and nuzzled her. "Yep."
The 2 fillies then walked out the clubhouse and they walked home. As they were walking home Scootaloo asked Sweetie if anything happened while she was sleeping. "No nothing really happened. Me and her just talked." Sweetie Belle said
Scootaloo wrapped a wing around her marefriend and pulled her close as they walked. "What did you talk about?" She asked curiously
Sweetie Belle snuggled into her marefriends side before replying. "I just asked if we were all gonna drift apart..." She sighed
Scootaloo kissed her cheek. "Aww, why did you think that?"
"It wasn't aimed at us two, it was mainly about Apple Bloom... Since we're together, I guess I just thought that maybe we would stop meeting up with her and lose contact altogether..."
"But she wouldn't let that happen, you know that! She's our sister and she would do anything to see us." Scootaloo replied softly
"I know. I asked her something else too..." Sweetie trailed off again
"What was that?"
"I asked her about what she actually thought about me and you." Sweetie replied
Scootaloo tensed slightly. "It was good, right? She didn't say anything to upset you did she?"
Sweetie Belle shook her head. "No, it was quite the opposite actually. We know her family doesn't exactly believe in the love that we share. When we told her I feared the worst... I felt like she only said it to make us feel happy about ourselves but I was wrong."
"So what happened?" Scootaloo asked
Sweetie nuzzled Scootaloo. "She said that she didn't care about us dating because all she wanted was for us to be happy. Since we're together and we're happy, she is happy too. She also said that we're perfect for each other and she knew that we would treat each other right."
Scootaloo nodded and kissed Sweetie Belle softly and pulled away after a few seconds. "You got that right."
They got to the Carousel Boutique and Scootaloo stopped walking, causing Sweetie Belle to stop walking too. "What's up Scoots?"
Scootloo kissed her on the cheek and ruffled her mane. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna leave you. I promise." She said as they both walked inside |
New Life | 6: Should we tell her or not? | Chapter 6: Should we tell her or not?
By rainbowscoots1
Scootaloo kissed her on the cheek and ruffled her mane. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna leave you. I promise." She said as they both walked inside
Later that night
The 2 fillies were tucked up in bed. "I'm so glad Rarity said you could stay again Scoots." Sweetie Belle nuzzled her
"I'm surprised Dash said yes." Scootaloo said as she nuzzled back
Earlier that day
"Can Scoots stay again tonight sis?" Sweetie Belle asked
Rarity nodded her head. "Of course she can!"
"Thanks, Rarity." Scootaloo said
"Has Rainbow Dash said you could stay over Scootaloo?" Rarity asked quickly
"We haven't been over there yet, we came to you since we were on our way back from crusading." Scootaloo remarked
Rarity nodded in understanding. "Well, you can stay as long as she says that it's alright."
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had large grins on their faces. They both walked out the door. "We'll be back soon!" Sweetie Belle called to her sister
The 2 fillyfriends started their walk to Dash's house. "You sure she'll be in?" Sweetie asked
Scootaloo nodded her head. "She should be unless she forgot to tell me that she was going somewhere."
They both chuckled at that.
After about 10 minutes of walking, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were looking up at Dash's cloud mansion.
"DASH!" Scootaloo shouted
At first, nothing happened. However, a few minutes later, some crashing was heard from inside the mansion and then Rainbow Dash appeared, looking down at the 2 fillies.
"Oh, hey Scoots, hey Sweetie Belle." Dash said
"Can Scootaloo stay round again tonight?" Sweetie asked
Rainbow thought about it for a minute. "Are you having a Cutie Mark Crusader sleepover or just you two again?" She winked at them, having no idea that they were actually dating
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both blushed. "Just us again..." Scootaloo trailed off
Rainbow Dash chuckled softly. "I'm only teasing! But yeah, you can stay over again Scoots, just don't stay up too late and make sure you get back here by lunchtime!" She said sternly
Scootaloo fluttered her little wings in excitement. "Thanks, sis! I'll be good and be back here on time! I promise!"
Dash nodded. "Good. Anyway, see you tomorrow Scoots. Later Sweetie Belle!" She said before she flew back into her cloud mansion
The two fillyfriends then walked back to the Carousel Boutique to let Rarity know that Scootaloo was able to stay over.
Once they both got back to the Carousel Boutique, they went to talk to Rarity. "Rarity!" Sweetie Belle called out to her sister
Rarity entered the room and smiled at the two fillies. "What is it, Sweetie Belle? Did you and Scootaloo go and ask Rainbow Dash if it was okay for her to stay over again?"
They both nodded. "Dash says that I'm allowed to stay over again." Scootaloo replied
Rarity smiled. "Good! I just wanted to make sure that she knew where you were, just in case something was to happen to any of us."
The 2 fillies nodded. "Anyway, me and Scoots are gonna go upstairs and play." Sweetie Belle said
Rarity nodded and went back to work.
They both ran upstairs into Sweetie's room.
Over the next few hours, they played games, talked about ideas for their next CMC meeting with Apple Bloom, they had food when they were hungry and just spent time with each other and that's the part that they enjoyed the most.
_______________________________________________________
Scootaloo wrapped her forelegs around Sweetie Belle, pulling her close to her chest. "I'm glad she said yes..." She trailed off
Sweetie Belle turned around in Scootaloo's hooves so that the two were facing each other. "Me too..." She replied, trailing off as well
They then shared a small kiss. It wasn't a very long one, just a few seconds but to them, it felt like hours. It meant everything to them. They pulled away, smiling at each other.
"Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle inquired
"Yeah Sweets?" Scootaloo responded, nuzzling her mane softly
"How are we gonna tell them all? Who do we tell first? When do we tell them all?" Sweetie asked, a little worried about it
Scootaloo didn't reply straight away, she thought about it first. "Well, the answer to your first question: We just be honest and just say it. The answer to your second question: Maybe Rarity first? The answer to your third question: In the morning if we're gonna tell Rarity first."
Sweetie Belle didn't say anything. "Can I tell Rarity that I'm dating one of my best friends? She has always told me to find a colt and have fillies when I'm older, same with mom and dad but... That isn't what I want. All I want is Scootaloo. No colt and no other filly, just Scootaloo... I just... I hope she understands that... I hope mom and dad understand too, whenever we decide to tell them that is..."
Sweetie Belle snapped out of her thoughts when she felt Scootaloo nuzzling her neck. She giggled. "You okay Sweetie?" Scootaloo asked, worry present in her voice
"Might as well tell the truth... I couldn't lie to Scootaloo anyway..." She shook her head. She wasn't okay. "No... No, I'm not okay Scoots..." She answered, looking down as her ears flattened against her head
"What's wrong?"
Sweetie Belle sighed shakily as he eyes brimmed with tears, although Scootaloo couldn't see them. "It would make sense to tell Rarity first but... I'm scared..."
Scootaloo's ears also flattened against her own head. "Sweets..."
Sweetie looked up at Scootaloo and she could see the tears falling from her eyes. She was terrified.
"What if she doesn't accept us? What if she starts getting mad and starts saying bad things because we're together? What if she tries to split us up? What if~"
She was silenced by a hoof to her lips. Sweetie looked at the one she loved and she knew that maybe, just maybe she was taking it a little too far...?
"Sweetie... Relax okay? The way I see it is this: If Rarity can't accept the fact that her own sister is a dating one of her best friends and that you are happy with who you have chosen to be with, then she has no other say... If she doesn't accept it, you can move in with me and Rainbow Dash because I know that if you don't, she will harass you and try to make you change your mind because to her, it's wrong... Just because she may think it is, doesn't give her the right to force you to believe it too and if she tries that, we will get your stuff and leave because I'm not having that happen to you Sweets. I won't stand there and have my fillyfriends' own sister give her grief for her own life choice!" Scootaloo had tears in her eyes. "I won't... I'll be with you every step of the way."
Sweetie Belle relaxed and wiped Scootaloo's tears away with her hoof. "I know Scoots... Let's get some rest..." She kissed her fillyfriend on the cheek before she fell asleep
Scootaloo nodded, curling up next to Sweetie as she fell asleep too, just hoping that tomorrow went as well as she hoped it would.
Next morning
The next morning was something that neither of the two fillies wanted but on the other hand, they knew it was gonna happen. Hesitantly, they got out of bed and got ready for the day that they were gonna face.
After walking downstairs, they were greeted by no one. As usual, Rarity was making another dress. They got their own breakfast and thought things over before they decided that it was time.
They were sitting on the couch after eating breakfast and they both sighed deeply. This was going to be very difficult for them.
"Rarity!" Sweetie Belle called out to her older sister
A few moments passed until Rarity walked into the living room, wondering why her name had been called. "What is it, Sweetie Belle?" She asked
Sweetie gulped. "U-Um... Me and Scootaloo need to tell you something if you're not busy..."
Rarity sat on the couch opposite and observed the two fillies before her. They looked like they had a rough night and that something had been bugging them.
"What did you two want to talk to me about girls?" Rarity asked
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both took deep breaths. "This is it..." Sweetie Belle thought to herself. "Me and Scootaloo are in a relationship..." She trailed off, leaving it at that just to let it sink in
Nothing happened at first. Rarity's expression remained the same. Sweetie Belle held her breath, waiting to find out what Rarity was going to say or do. Rarity opened her mouth and decided to speak. "You two are dating?!" She screeched
The fillies flinched at Rarity's tone but nodded nonetheless.
Rarity was twitching slightly. "How long?" She asked bitterly
Sweetie Belle looked to Scootaloo for support. "We've only been dating for a few days." Scootaloo said
That seemed to calm Rarity down but only for a mere second. "You know what mom and dad told you when you were a little younger Sweetie?" She inquired
Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yeah, I do. Why?"
Rarity only glared at her. "They told you to find a colt! They said you need to foals when you reach that age and dating Scootaloo is not going to help at all! I don't agree with this and I doubt mom and dad would either!" The more she shouted, the louder her voice got
Scootaloo wasn't liking this at all. "Rarity, I'm gonna be honest and straight to the point okay? I don't like the way you are acting at all! This isn't how Sweetie's own sister should be reacting to her coming out about her new relationship! I don't care what you think about me dating your sister because, to be honest, it's not your decision to make and you can't stop us from seeing each other! Me and Sweetie Belle are happy together and if you can't accept it, then she can come and live with me and Rainbow Dash!" She panted from her little outburst.
Sweetie Belle wasn't taking it very well either. "Sis... I can't believe you! I know mom and dad are old fashioned and say that only Mares and Stallions or Fillies and Colts should be together but I don't care about what they told me! It's my life, not theirs... I'm not their 'little filly' anymore and I wanna try new things! I'm also not your 'little sister' anymore! You can't control who I can and can't date! I'm also really angry at the fact that I can't even come to my own sister about my new relationship! Mom and dad must have filled your head with absolute nonsense because I know that this town does not care about that, actually, most of Equestria doesn't care about it, including the Princesses because they believe ponies should be able to express themselves for who they really are!"
Rarity just sat there in shock at what she had just heard. "If that is how you both truly feel then I want no part of it... You can both take what Scootaloo said about moving in with Rainbow Dash and follow it because I will NOT have a fillyfooler living under my roof!"
The two fillies didn't say anything after that. They only ran upstairs to get Sweetie Belle's stuff.
_______________________________________________________
Sweetie Belle had grabbed everything that she wanted to take with her. They then left the Carousel Boutique and they started their walk to go and see if Rainbow Dash would allow Sweetie Belle to live with her and Scootaloo.
"Rainbow Dash will say yes Sweetie, don't worry..." She whispered
Sweetie Belle only nodded. "But then we'll need to tell Rainbow what happened cuz she will get curious so we'll have to spill the beans to her too."
Scootaloo giggled. "I'm not worried about that. She was happy for me when I told her that I liked fillies so it shouldn't be a problem."
Sweetie Belle chuckled. "When we tell her about what Rarity said, she won't be happy..."
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "At us or Rarity?"
"Rarity of course. No doubt after we tell her everything, she'll go over there and have words about it."
"Yeah, that's true."
The two stopped and shared a little kiss and intertwined their tails together before they continued their walk to Dash's cloud mansion, knowing that once they get there, everything will be okay. |
New Life | 7: The talk | Chapter 7: The talk
By rainbowscoots1
Sweetie Belle had grabbed everything that she wanted to take with her. They then left the Carousel Boutique and they started their walk to go and see if Rainbow Dash would allow Sweetie Belle to live with her and Scootaloo.
"Rainbow Dash will say yes Sweetie, don't worry..." She whispered
Sweetie Belle only nodded. "But then we'll need to tell Rainbow what happened cuz she will get curious so we'll have to spill the beans to her too."
Scootaloo giggled. "I'm not worried about that. She was happy for me when I told her that I liked fillies so it shouldn't be a problem."
Sweetie Belle chuckled. "When we tell her about what Rarity said, she won't be happy..."
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "At us or Rarity?"
"Rarity of course. No doubt after we tell her everything, she'll go over there and have words about it."
"Yeah, that's true."
The two stopped and shared a little kiss and intertwined their tails together before they continued their walk to Dash's cloud mansion, knowing that once they get there, everything will be okay.
At Dash's cloud mansion
Rainbow was sleeping, as usual, but she was rudely awoken by shouting. She groaned and got up and opened the window of her bedroom and looked out to see who was shouting. She saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, 2 times in 2 days as she saw them before they went back to Rarity's for that sleepover Scootaloo had asked about.
This time, however, things were different. Sweetie Belle had what looked like some luggage with her. Was she planning on staying here the night? If that was the case, where was Apple Bloom? Surely she would be here with them too if they wanted to sleep here the night.
Dash shook her head and went down to see them. "What's up, you two? You planning on staying here the night Sweetie?" She asked
"Sorta like that..." Sweetie muttered
"Yeah... Dash... We need to tell you something... Well, a few things actually..." Scootaloo said as she rubbed Sweetie's back, trying to comfort her.
Dash nodded and brought them inside her cloud mansion before sitting down. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sat on the other couch, beside one another.
"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" Dash asked
Both fillies sighed. Here they were about to tell Dash about their relationship and about what happened after the sleepover. "Well..." Sweetie Belle started
"Me and Sweetie Belle are together!" Scootaloo finished
Rainbow's face showed no expression at first but then she chuckled. "Well, it's about time Scootaloo!"
Scootaloo blushed. "Well, its what we both want and I love her." She nuzzled Sweetie Belle affectionately
"Well, I'm glad that you have found someone Scootaloo and I'm glad it was a friend."
The 2 fillies beamed in happiness, glad that Rainbow accepted their relationship.
"So... What was the other thing?"
"It's about Rarity!" Sweetie Belle squeaked as her body shook slightly
This caught Rainbow Dash's attention. This wasn't like Sweetie Belle at all. Something seemed...wrong. "Sweetie Belle...is everything okay?" She asked softly
Sweetie Belle shook her head. "Can I live here with you and Scootaloo?" She asked abruptly
Dash tilted her head. "Why...? Did something happen?"
"Y-Yeah..." Sweetie Belle's ears fell back against her head as she looked down. Scootaloo looked at Dash, glaring at her slightly.
"It's about Rarity..." Scootaloo said as she pulled Sweetie Belle into her lap, nuzzling her sweetly.
"What happened?" Rainbow asked. She was slightly worried.
Sweetie Belle went to speak but Scootaloo stopped her. "Rarity doesn't like same-sex relationships." She said bluntly
Rainbow's eyes widened in shock then they flared with anger. "You told her about your relationship?" She asked, her wings spreading slightly
They both nodded. "We did and things didn't go out so well..." They told Rainbow Dash what happened earlier that morning.
Flashback
The next morning was something that neither of the two fillies wanted but on the other hand, they knew it was gonna happen. Hesitantly, they got out of bed and got ready for the day that they were gonna face.
After walking downstairs, they were greeted by no one. As usual, Rarity was making another dress. They got their own breakfast and thought things over before they decided that it was time.
They were sitting on the couch after eating breakfast and they both sighed deeply. This was going to be very difficult for them.
"Rarity!" Sweetie Belle called out to her older sister
A few moments passed until Rarity walked into the living room, wondering why her name had been called. "What is it, Sweetie Belle?" She asked
Sweetie gulped. "U-Um... Me and Scootaloo need to tell you something if you're not busy..."
Rarity sat on the couch opposite and observed the two fillies before her. They looked like they had a rough night and that something had been bugging them.
"What did you two want to talk to me about girls?" Rarity asked
Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo both took deep breaths. "This is it..." Sweetie Belle thought to herself. "Me and Scootaloo are in a relationship..." She trailed off, leaving it at that just to let it sink in
Nothing happened at first. Rarity's expression remained the same. Sweetie Belle held her breath, waiting to find out what Rarity was going to say or do. Rarity opened her mouth and decided to speak. "You two are dating?!" She screeched
The fillies flinched at Rarity's tone but nodded nonetheless.
Rarity was twitching slightly. "How long?" She asked bitterly
Sweetie Belle looked to Scootaloo for support. "We've only been dating for a few days," Scootaloo said
That seemed to calm Rarity down but only for a mere second. "You know what mom and dad told you when you were a little younger Sweetie?" She inquired
Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yeah, I do. Why?"
Rarity only glared at her. "They told you to find a colt! They said you need to foals when you reach that age and dating Scootaloo is not going to help at all! I don't agree with this and I doubt mum and dad would either!" The more she shouted, the louder her voice got
Scootaloo wasn't liking this at all. "Rarity, I'm gonna be honest and straight to the point okay? I don't like the way you are acting at all! This isn't how Sweetie's own sister should be reacting to her coming out about her new relationship! I don't care what you think about me dating your sister because to be honest, it's not your decision to make and you can't stop us from seeing each other! Me and Sweetie Belle are happy together and if you can't accept it, then she can come and live with me and Rainbow Dash!" She panted from her little outburst.
Sweetie Belle wasn't taking it very well either. "Sis... I can't believe you! I know mom and dad are old fashioned and say that only Mares and Stallions or Fillies and Colts should be together but I don't care about what they told me! It's my life, not theirs... I'm not their 'little filly' anymore and I wanna try new things! I'm also not your 'little sister' anymore! You can't control who I can and can't date! I'm also really angry at the fact that I can't even come to my own sister about my new relationship! Mom and dad must have filled your head with absolute nonsense because I know that this town does not care about that, actually, most of Equestria doesn't care about it, including the Princesses because they believe ponies should be able to express themselves for who they really are!"
Rarity just sat there in shock at what she had just heard. "If that is how you both truly feel then I want no part of it... You can both take what Scootaloo said about moving in with Rainbow Dash and follow it because I will NOT have a fillyfooler living under my roof!"
The two fillies didn't say anything after that. They only ran upstairs to get Sweetie Belle's stuff.
End of flashback
"That's what happened!" Sweetie Belle was whimpering while Scootaloo calmed her.
Rainbow growled. "I won't put up with that! I'll go and have a stern word with her."
Scootaloo nodded slowly, not knowing what to say.
"I'll be back soon." Rainbow flew off, straight to Rarity's
__________________________
After a few minutes of flying, Rainbow landed at Rarity's and knocked on the door, taking a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
After a minute or two, the door opened and there stood Rarity, certainly surprised at Rainbow's presence. "Why, hello, Rainbow Dash. What brings you here?"
"We need to talk," Rainbow said, not anger in her voice at least, not yet
Rarity allowed her friend in. "Okay. What are we talking about."
Rainbow sat down on one of the chairs. "We need to talk about what happened today." She said
"What do you mean?" Rarity asked
Rainbow snarled slightly but it was quiet enough so that Rarity didn't hear her. "I had Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo show up at my house. Now, at first, that seemed normal but one thing seemed to stand out. Sweetie Belle had some luggage with her. At first, I thought that you agreed to have them stay at mine for the night but then, I noticed something else. I didn't see Apple Bloom with them and that shook that thought out of my head."
Rarity was very nervous. "Well, here's the thing-"
She was cut off by Rainbow Dash. "No, don't even start! Let me finish while I remain calm. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, I brought them in and they told me a few things. The first thing was, they told me that they were in a relationship and I told them that I was happy that they were together but the other thing was what happened before they came here..."
Rarity scoffed. "I stand by what I said!"
Dash's wings flared and she growled. "That's your own bucking sister who told you something that no one would feel happy about saying! But then, you have the nerve to say what you did. That's right, Scootaloo told me EXACTLY what happened! Well, I'm here to tell you one thing: As long as you are like this, Sweetie will be staying with me and Scootaloo and I don't care if they sleep together and do other things because I'm happy for them!"
"I don't care what you or the others think and yes, I may eventually agree with their relationship but as of right now, I can't stand their kind!"
Rainbow growled again. "Whatever, I'm done talking to you! Come and see your sister when you have realised how much that meant to her." Rainbow flew off.
Rarity grunted and went back to working on more dresses for clients.
__________________________
Rainbow arrived home. "Well, I said what I needed to say but it'll be best if you two try to keep away from her until she decides to understand the love that you two share."
The 2 fillies nodded sadly. They didn't want this but they were both thankful that Rainbow was looking out for them.
Rainbow looked outside. "It's getting late. Go on, go and get ready for bed, I'll be there in 5 minutes, okay?"
"Okay Rainbow!" They called and went to get ready for bed
__________________________
5 minutes passed and Dash was in Scootaloo's room, where the 2 fillies were cuddled up next to each other. "If you two ever get hate now, come to me. I'll sort them out for ya, I promise. Anyway, have you told Apple Bloom?"
They both nodded. "Yep!"
"So, what you guys gonna do tomorrow?" Rainbow asked
"Probably hang out with AB," Scootaloo said
Rainbow nodded and nuzzled them. "Get some rest."
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle snuggled closed and fell asleep before Rainbow left the room, hoping that their relationship would be good without too much trouble as she knew it would happen.
But, she would be there. She promised and she would make sure that she would keep that promise. No matter what the cost would be... |
New Life | 8: A new beginning | Chapter 8: A new beginning
By rainbowscoots1
Rainbow looked outside. "It's getting late. Go on, go and get ready for bed, I'll be there in 5 minutes, okay?"
"Okay, Rainbow!" They called and went to get ready for bed
__________________________
Five minutes passed and Dash was in Scootaloo's room, where the 2 fillies were cuddled up next to each other. "If you two ever get hate now, come to me. I'll sort them out for ya, I promise. Anyway, have you told Apple Bloom?"
They both nodded. "Yep!"
"So, what you guys gonna do tomorrow?" Rainbow asked
"Probably hang out with AB, we're not sure yet," Scootaloo said
Rainbow nodded and nuzzled them. "Get some rest."
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle snuggled close and fell asleep before Rainbow left the room, hoping that their relationship would be good without too much trouble as she knew it would happen.
But, she would be there. She promised and she would make sure that she would keep that promise. No matter what the cost would be...
__________________________
Rainbow stayed up for a little while. Her thoughts were mainly on how one-sided the conversation was between her and Rarity when she went to confront her about what she had been told by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Had she been a little too harsh though? She shook her head. "I had every right to say what I said as what Rarity said was not cool! Sure, everypony is entitled to their own beliefs and whatnot, but she could of at least said it in a better way than she did and maybe that would have made Sweetie Belle feel a little better...but no, she only thinks about herself! I just can't believe that she didn't even think about her own sister's feelings, even if it was just to listen to what she had to say!"
She huffed but decided to get some sleep and talk to the two fillies about it in the morning and maybe some other things too, she wasn't too sure yet.
__________________________
The next morning
Scootaloo was the first to wake up. She looked over at Sweetie Belle and nuzzled her before getting up. A few minutes passed and Sweetie Belle soon emerged from the bed, joining Scootaloo.
"Have a nice sleep?" Scootaloo asked as they got breakfast
Sweetie nodded in response. "Yeah, I did. How about you?"
"Yeah, I had a nice sleep," Scootaloo replied
Belle nodded and cuddled Scootaloo close to her.
"So, what we gonna do today?" Scoots asked
"I don't know... Maybe hang out with Apple Bloom if she isn't busy."
Just then, Rainbow appeared. "Morning you two."
"Morning, Rainbow Dash." Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle said simultaneously
"You two sleep alright?" She asked as she got her breakfast
Both fillies nodded. "We both slept okay." Sweetie Belle replied
Rainbow nodded as she ate her breakfast. "After breakfast... I want to talk to you two about some things."
Scootaloo looked at her older sister with a confused look. "Talk to us about...what?"
"I won't say until breakfast is over," Dash said
"Aww! No fair! Is the stuff you want to talk about important?" Sweetie Belle asked
Rainbow nodded. "Yes and no."
The two fillies sighed as they cleaned their plates and went back to the couch and once again, cuddled up to each other.
Rainbow, meanwhile had finished up her breakfast. Once she cleared her plate, Rainbow went into the kitchen and cleaned her plate before going back and sitting on the couch opposite of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "Okay... I know Scootaloo hasn't been told about this..." She trailed off as she took a deep breath. "Sweetie Belle, have your parents or Rarity have told you about the 'birds and the bees'?"
Sweetie Belle nodded her head slowly. "I know what happens when a stallion and a mare love each other a lot but... I don't know about us..." She pointed to herself and Scootaloo.
Dash sighed softly but smiled. "It's not the same... Basically, if you two are still together when you get older and want to start a family, you can't physically have a foal together but... there is another way; magic."
The two fillies tilted their heads. "Magic? How would magic help to give me and Sweetie a foal? How do couples have a foal anyway?" Scootaloo asked
Dash shrugged. "To answer your first question Scootaloo, it would be best to ask Twilight about that but wait until you're older. Remember, I'm not a Unicorn, I don't understand all that magic stuff that the egghead does in the library. As for your second question, a stallion will impregnate a mare using his "rod" which will release "milk" into her "cherry". After that, the mare's stomach will get larger over 11 months and will then give birth but sometimes, the mare may give birth to a premature foal." {If any of this is wrong, please let me know.}
Sweetie Belle whined. "Why do we need to wait that long?"
Rainbow sighed. "You are both too young." She said simply
Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sighed in defeat. "Didn't you have something else to ask us about...?" Sweetie asked
Rainbow's expression changed in an instant. "Yeah, I did..." She trailed off again
"What is it, sis?" Scootaloo asked.
Dash gulped before she spoke. "I wanted to talk to you two about what Rarity said..."
Sweetie Belle visibly flinched at the mention of her sister's name. "W-what about it...?" She whispered as Scootaloo pulled her close
Dash's ears pinned back against her head. "Sorry, Sweetie Belle but we need to talk about this... How much stuff did you bring with you in the suitcase when you left yesterday?"
Sweetie Belle thought for a moment. "Essential things really. Why?"
"Just checking... Listen, I know Rarity said some bad things and took what you said the wrong way and yes, that was wrong but... I think she will come around about you two and your relationship. It may take her a while but I sincerely hope that she just accepts that you two are dating and that you're both happy together. However, I want you both to know something; I will always be here for you both. If you ever get any issues, just come and see me and I'll sort 'em out. I know I said that last night but I'm saying again just so you know that I'm keeping my promise, no matter what."
"Thanks, Rainbow Dash." Sweetie Belle said
"Yeah, thanks, sis. That means a lot to me." Scootaloo smiled
Rainbow got up and ruffled their fur. "So... Apart from me, Rarity and Apple Bloom, who else knows about you two?"
"No one else knows about us..." Scootaloo said quietly
"Scoots... Do you want others to know about us?" Sweetie joined in on the conversation
Scootaloo really didn't know how to respond to that. "I do but...not yet... I mean, who knows how everyone will take it... I'm not ready for that yet..."
Sweetie nodded. "Well, when you are, I'll be right by your side the whole time." She gave Scoots an affectionate nuzzle.
"I will too! I'm sure everything will go well though, don't worry Scootaloo." Dash comforted
"I hope you two are right... No matter what happens Sweetie, I'm never leaving. I promise."
With that, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle smiled, knowing the challenges that they will face as time progresses but they also had someone who would be with them, every single step of the way. |
New Life | 9: A mistake was made... | Chapter 9: A mistake was made...
By rainbowscoots1
A week had passed since the incident between Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and her sister. As of right now, neither side had attempted to contact the other and when they had to be in the same vicinity together, no words were exchanged, only the occasional glare from the fillies while Rarity just did nothing and to be honest, that was probably the better thing to do.
She knew her sister and Scootaloo were still deeply hurt by what had happened, but who could blame them? After all, that wasn't something that they expected to happen. Rarity did love Sweetie Belle, right?
Right now, she wasn't really sure. The information was still circulating around in her head but, deep down, she knew that whatever she said to her sister, it wouldn't change her mind because, in this situation, the mind wasn't the part that could be changed. She still knew she had a sister, even if right now it didn't really feel like it and today, she was going, or at least try, to patch things up with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Did she have a planned apology? Well, no is the best answer and maybe it was better that way. She just hoped it worked.
Rarity decided that the best thing to do right now was to talk to Rainbow Dash first, just so she didn't end up making things worse.
After making herself look presentable, she trotted over to the location of Rainbow Dash's cloud house. Rarity was terrified on the inside, but she refused to show it to anyone. What if Rainbow didn't forgive her? Surely she wouldn't allow Rarity to see her own sister to talk things over. But...that talk wouldn't happen alone, would it? Scootaloo would want to be with Sweetie Belle or even but refuse the whole idea altogether. So many thoughts and possible scenarios were engulfing her judgement and understanding of the whole subject.
"Rainbow Dash!" She called out. No response. She tried again. "Rainbow Dash, it's me, Rarity! I want to talk to you!"
After a few minutes, a cyan pony came out from the cloud house's door and looked down at Rarity. "What are you doing here?" Rainbow asked
"As I just said, I want to talk to you!" Rarity huffed and rolled her eyes
"What about?" Dash tilted her head slightly, before gliding down to meet Rarity on the ground
Rarity took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she spoke. "First of all, I wanted to apologize for the way I have acted over the past few days. I know that sounds like more of an excuse, but it's true."
Dash sighed. "To be honest, it's not me that you should be saying sorry to and you know it!" Her wings flared with anger before she spoke again. "You knew exactly what you were saying and you knew how Sweetie Belle and even how Scootaloo would feel, yet you kept going, you didn't use your brain and realize when you needed to just stop talking. You made the situation worse and it all could've been avoided if you weren't so disrespectful." She spat, still angry about the whole thing
Rarity grimaced. Maybe coming here wasn't the best idea... "If you just let me talk to them, please! I've had a long think about what I said and what happened. I never wanted that, I just didn't know what to say, so I remember what my parents told me and I just...reacted to the news..."
"'Reacted' is an understatement..." Dash muttered.
"I just want to patch things up, that's all. They don't have to forgive me, but I at least want them to hear me out."
Dash sighed again. "Well...they aren't here right now. They're with Apple Bloom, but they should be back soon. However, I'll let you do what you gotta do, just don't be surprised at their answer."
Rarity nodded. "Thank you..."
"Yeah, yeah. Now, go on inside and I'll go and get them. Don't touch anything while I'm gone!" With that, Rainbow flew into the air and shot off to Sweet Apple Acres.
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After a short flight, Dash landed at Sweet Apple Acres and ran to find Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. "Come on you two, someone wants to see you back at home!" She called out
Suddenly, two heads appeared, poking out the door of the CMC clubhouse and sure enough, both of them heard Rainbow. "Who is it? Who wants to see us?" Sweetie asked.
Rainbow shook her head. "I can't tell you. Just say bye to Apple Bloom and get on my back so we can go home." She hated lying, but right now, it was the only option. If the truth was spilled out, then they may not even come back at all, which would make things even worse and right now, Dash didn't need that.
The pair nodded and went back in to say their goodbyes. Not long after, they were on Rainbow's back and they were heading back to their home. "Why can't you tell us?" Scootaloo asked
Rainbow just sighed, holding back a groan. "I just can't... You'll see why when we get inside."
The fillies remained quiet, not entirely sure what to expect once they opened that door.
_____________________________
Once the three of them got home, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were soon off Dash's back and were walking inside. After looking around a little, everything seemed normal, nothing out of the ordinary, which at first, led them to be confused as to what Dash was talking about before. That all changed when they saw who was sitting in one of the chairs. At the moment, no words needed to be exchanged, the daggers they shot at said pony should have been enough.
Rainbow decided to speak up. "Now do you see why I kept it from you?"
Completely ignoring her sisters' question, Scootaloo spoke. "Why are you here?!" She snapped
Sweetie Belle, on the other hand, didn't look as afraid as she did before, but her expression showed that she was more hurt and angry than anything else.
Rarity gulped audibly before speaking. "I just wanted to come and tell you two how sorry I am for the way I reacted to the news that you shared with me." She took a deep breath to collect herself as she saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle sit on the couch opposite and cuddle close to one another.
"I don't expect you both to accept my apology right away. After all, what I said made all of this happen and I know it's my fault. But I just want you to hear me out. That's all."
Scootaloo still looked reluctant to listen, but Sweetie Belle decided to give her sister the benefit of the doubt. "Alright. We'll listen." She said simply, not wanting to beat around the bush
Rarity had only just noticed that Rainbow had left the room, probably to give them all some privacy, then again, she may have gone to check on Tank. Regardless, she took a deep breath as she quickly tried to figure out what to say. "I just want you two to understand that I didn't intend for my response to be as harsh as it sounded. I spoke before I thought about what I was saying, which is something that you should never do at all."
"Anyway, I had no right to say what I did. I'm supposed to be a sister who should be happy with whoever her younger sister chooses to date and if Scootaloo makes you happy, then I'm okay with it."
Sweetie Belle smiled. "Thank you, sis. That means a lot."
Scootaloo, on the other hand, didn't look happy. "I can't forgive you yet. What you said hurt, it hurt a lot. I never expected you to be the type to judge based on sexuality, but you showed your true colours to me. You hurt all three of us because of what you said and I won't be forgetting it any time soon."
Rarity just nodded in understanding. "I completely get it, I do." She got up and walked towards the door. "Tell Dash I said bye and that I thanked her for doing all of this." With that, she opened the door with her magic and walked outside and back to the Carousel Boutique.
When Rarity had left, Rainbow walked back into the room to see Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hugging each other. "So, how did it go?" She asked softly, sitting beside them.
"It went okay, I guess..." Sweetie muttered. "I forgave her-" She was cut off by Scootaloo.
"But I didn't! I couldn't just forgive her just like that, not after what happened."
"Well...it's a start at least. Maybe everything will go back to normal soon, but the important thing is that you all talked about it." Dash said quietly.
Both fillies nodded, completely unsure if this would have any effect on the future or not, but right now, all they cared about were each other and nothing was going to change that. |
New Life | 10: Time to look to the future | Chapter 9: Time to look to the future
By rainbowscoots1
2 to 3 weeks had passed since the confrontation Scootaloo and Sweetie had with Rarity. During that period, Sweetie had managed to somewhat forgive her sister but she was still living with Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash. Scootaloo on the other hand still had hate to her fillyfriend's sister. Oh, boy, the hate she still had. No words could describe it. Nevertheless, they still carried on, living life the fullest, hanging out with AB while still getting issues from the usual bullies, but overall, life was starting to get better.
Right now, the girls were all hanging out, including the fillies. Well, all apart from Rarity. "Why isn't Rarity here?" Applejack asked
Rainbow sighed. "'Cause Scootaloo still hates her. Sweetie Belle has forgiven her, but I still think even she wants her sister to earn that trust and respect back."
By now, the girls had gotten used to what had happened. They knew about Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as well. All of them were happy that they finally "explored outside the norm" as Applejack put it when Apple Bloom ended up telling her about it. Twilight, like Dash, told them that she would happily help with any issues that the two should face. Fluttershy was happy for them and didn't really say anything else, but they didn't mind. Pinkie, as usual, threw a party for them and everything went well there. To the two fillies, it felt like a massive burden had been lifted off their shoulders now that everyone they cared out actually knew what was happening.
________________________________
Hours passed by, laughs were heard, stories were shared but in the end, they all had to go their separate ways. Well, it seemed that way at first...
"Rainbow, can I walk you home?" Twilight asked. After everyone had left, apart from the CMC, who were going to stay over at Dash's tonight, Twilight and Rainbow chatted for a bit longer until they to called it a night.
"Sure, Twilight." She rolled her eyes at her overprotective friend, although, She couldn't really talk, not with how protective she is over her friends and family. "Girls! C'mon! We're going back now!" She called to the fillies
They soon heard a 'Coming!' from the distance and pretty soon, the five of them were walking back together.
Twilight, bring her, decided to start a conversation again as they all walked on the route to Rainbow's cloud home. "So, Sweetie Belle, are you still finding it cool living with Scootaloo and Rainbow?"
The white unicorn nodded with a smile on her face. "I mean, I know the reason why isn't great, but it's still awesome!" Scootaloo giggled at that. "What?"
"It's just that last part, it sounds like something that I would say. Guess I'm rubbing off on you already." She teased with a grin.
Twilight smiled at the pair. "Aww! You two are so cute together!" Both fillies blushed at that, especially since they knew Twilight was right.
Apple Bloom giggled too. "They certainly are. I'm just glad everyone is accepting ya for being yourselves. After all, ya both deserve it after recently."
"Yeah, to us, as long as you're both happy, that's all that matters," Rainbow said
"Thanks, girls. Means a lot." Scootaloo said. Sweetie Belle smiled and thanked them all.
They soon reached Rainbows. "Go on you three, in you go, I'll be there soon." The best friends nodded and went inside.
Rainbow and Twilight just stood there for a moment before they embraced. "I know these past few weeks have been tough on you..." Twilight started. "But you've done an amazing job and you should be proud of yourself. You've allowed the girls to be themselves around people they care about. They don't have to hide away. I'm proud of you, Rainbow, we all are."
Dash smiled in the embrace and held her closer. "Thanks, Twi. It's been a bumpy ride but things are getting better. I'm just glad they're both okay."
"Me too. But don't worry, they've got all of us supporting them." Twilight soon pulled away and the pair had an affectionate nuzzle. "I'll see you soon, okay?" She whispered. Dash nodded.
The pair then went their separate ways, with Dash walking inside and Twilight heading back home.
Once inside, Dash made sure that Tank was okay, before going to check on the girls. She knocked twice before opening the door. "It's just me, wanting to see how you guys were doing." She said.
The girls were all sat on the bed, playing a board game that Scootaloo had. "We're just finishing this game then going to bed."
"Alright then, night you three."
"Night, Rainbow!" They replied before they saw her shut the door.
Rainbow then headed off to bed. Meanwhile, the Crusaders finished up their game and get ready for bed.
________________________________
"I wonder what Rainbow and Twilight were talking about?" Scootaloo thought aloud.
"They did seem touchy with each other. More than normal." Apple Bloom noted
Sweetie Belle shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Besides, if something is going on, I'm sure we'll be told one day."
The fillies then went to sleep for the night, wondering what Rainbow and Twilight were doing and what it meant. |
Building a Better World: Origins | pre | Everyone was normal. No one was a doll, and his head was not split open. Weiss looked at the invisible being that had saved him and greeted her. "Th-thanks." He held a hand to his head. "That was not fun."
Turning visible, the Legendary Latias revealed herself. Her red and white body, streamlined and jet like hovered above the ground as she flew close to him. "I could feel everything through our connection." she told him.
Weiss cursed himself for causing her pain. He looked away from her. His eyes eventually found Sabrina. When she levitated back to a vertical position he and everyone else stopped moving.
Sabrina brought her hands up to her face, letting her sleeves fall away from her hands. Underneath were two big black cuffs with broken green panels that looked like they should be glowing. "You broke my power restraint cuffs. They keep my power under control." She revealed her eyes that were now glowing red.
Weiss forcibly brought his flashback to a screeching halt. None of them had enjoyed that day. It had been embarrassing, humiliating, and damb scary.
They were able to leave on fairly civil terms. Weiss left immediately for his employer and told the man everything, and that Sabrina now knew who he was. As he left Weiss saw Giovanni pour a drink with a shaking hand.
Still in the middle of the road Weiss gave the order to stand down. Shredder backed off and put her sword away.
"You know what?" Sabrina smirked "your cute when you're being smart."
"... Thanks." he found it quite intimidating that someone who could turn him into a hand sized doll found him attractive. Then he thought about it. "Hey! I'm not ugly! "
She just laughed. "Well this has been fun, I think I'll go teas Xavier now." She teleported away.
"She seems happy...for once." Shredder said, more creeped out that the woman had actually smiled than anything else.
"Yeah," a man said as he stepped forward. He was younger than Weiss by a few years, but he carried with him an air of experience like no other human. "She's been getting out more lately, and I think she's making up for lost time."
Weiss smiled at the Kanto champion. Very few people could be called a friend of the mercenary, but this was one of them. Weiss would never degrade the man's reputation by claiming so in public. That's how you could tell that the Checkmate mercenaries truly liked you. They stayed far away.
"Good to see you Red." The two men shook hands. "Back at you Weiss." A Pikachu leaped out from behind Red, and landed on Shredder's shoulder. The electric mouse gave a happy chirp in hello, and got a scratch behind the ears.
Weiss took off his stupid sunglasses. "So, I'm here for a job?"he asked.
Red exhaled slowly, and pulled out an envelope. "Yeah, I wish it wasn't necessary, but until the world gets fixed, or finds a new balance you will always have a job." He gave Weiss the envelope. "Protection for this trainer. We got wind that this new Team that's popping up has an open contract on his life."
"The reason for the show of force." Weiss guessed.
"We couldn't be sure you hadn't taken the job already." Red answered and shrugged.
Weiss looked over the information. He smiled, and passed the papers to Shredder who in turn smiled as well. "We almost took a contract to kill this guy." Weiss told them. "Would have been a real life Romeo and Juliet death scene, except in this version the loving couple continue to live on after death without anyone knowing."
"Glad to hear it." the Champion smiled. "All you have to do is keep him alive, and deliver him to the Kanto League Tournament."
"Ha!" Weiss knew it was easier said than done. "He gets the badges, and you have my work that he'll get there, or your money back!"
"Payment awaits you at the tournament."
As they all parted ways Weiss looked at the young man in the photo and smirked. "You've got a lot of friends in high places Gene Phillips." |
Building a Better World: Origins | Luna Pissed Off | Princess Luna had accepted Mew's apology multiple times as the Legendary had felt so bad for saying what she said that she had had to apologize over a dozen times. It had eventually reached the point where Luna had started contemplating various methods of escape. The only thing she could think of that would work was to distract Mew with her work. So it was that the pink gerbil-cat raced off to her lab to begin converting the other races of Equus into pokemon.
Having had a rather stressful few days (what with the attack by Tirek and the destruction of her world) Luna did not quite feel up to performing her nightly duties. The alternative however was to stay up, and wander the Hall of Legends aimlessly. So she found her temporary room, and drfted off into her dream trance.
The dreams of pokemon turned out to be very similar from pokemon to pokemon. The only discrepancies were those that had opposite view points to each other. Those that preferred living wild, or tame. Liked, or hated humans. At the end
of it all the majority of pokemon simply wanted to be happy, and have fun, and their dreams reflected that.
That is not to say that they did not have bad dreams. Luna had already helped a crying Charizard recover its lost stuffed ursa toy that had run away with a Blastoise. She had consoled a broken hearted Delcatty whose trainer had traded for an Absol, and saved many a Grass type from runaway lawnmowers. There was also a fair share of true nightmares, but they were week enough that Luna felt no need to visit them personally, instead just dispelling them from afar.
Princess Luna was quite enjoying her peaceful work. Unfortunately she was interrupted by the presence of a powerful nightmare. It was a nightmare of such a level that Luna had to first shield herself from it before investigating. It was a nightterror, a bad dream so potent that if left unchecked a recurring one would eventually drive the dreamer insane.
She followed the dark power of the nightterror. As she got closer she began to see into the dream, and what she saw quickened her pace. Her friend Twilight Sparkle was the victim of the terror. Luna blurred through the dream realm like a streak of dark blue lighting. The dream ended before she got there.
She slowed down, and almost called it a night, but she noticed that Twilight was still dreaming. Curious, Luna poked her head into the dream wondering if Twilight had learned some dream magic. What she saw was Twilight, and a creature made of what felt to like living bad dreams. The creature was all black except for the white ghostly hair, and the red spiked armor around its neck. The creature spoke to Twilight, and it said <I am Darkrai, and your bad dream came from my power>.
Earlier
The great from of Lord Tirek loomed over her. Her body weak, and exhausted from the battle she had waged with the tyrant. She could still fight using her mind, and her magic, but only if she was willing to risk the safety of her friends.
She would never, and it shamed her to admit it, but she would never sacrifice her friends for anything, even the kingdom itself. It broke Twilight's heart to imagine what Princess Celestia would say when she found out that she had thrown away a chance, her only chance to save Equestria. She could already hear her mentor's words "How did you get so selfish." Tears formed in her eyes.
She had no choice, and so surrendered to Tirek. He cast her friends aside, reached to scoop her up to his gaping fanged mouth.
The last thing Twilight Sparkle saw before she was consumed was his face, a serpent's tongue escaping from a drooling fang filled mouth below two smoke spewing nostrils, and capped by his glowing fire filled eyes.
Then she fell. Down, down past the teeth, straight down his esophagus that was lined with rings of sharp needle like teeth that would jab at her, pricking her skin as she passed them. By the time she reached the stomach she looked, and felt like she had lost a wrestling match with a giant flexible cactus. Then she hit the acid, and it seeped into every single pin hole going directly into her blood stream...
A shower of pink glowing feathers brushed aside the bad dream, and Twilight found herself looking at pair of what she thought must be pokemon. One was a blue, and yellow swan like being with pink ring shaped wings. The other was dark with flowing fog like white hair, and spiked red neck armor. The swan smiled at the dark one before drifting off to some other dream, leaving it alone with Twilight.
"Um, hello?" Twilight asked.
<Princess Twilight, please forgive me,> he, as his voice was not deep but masculine, bowed <I am Darkrai, and your bad dream came from my power > Now
Before another word could be said a burst of moonlight ended Twilight's dream completely. Twilight woke up in her bed. She sat up with a sleepy expression on her face. Then she flopped back onto her pillow, and started snoring.
In the dream realm Princess Luna was glaring at Darkrai. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GIVING SUCH NIGHTMARES TO SOME INNOCENT DREAMER? WHAT GIVES YOU THE RITE TO DO SOMETHING SO HEINOUS?" she yelled at him in the Royal Canterlot Voice.
The Legendary Pokemon of nightmares flinched. He clasped his hands together in front of him and bowed. <I am sorry Princess Luna, but I did not cause Princess Twilight's nightmare on purpose. I was merely walking the halls of our temple, and just as I happened to go past her room my power reached out to her dreams on its own, as it always does >
Luna raised an eyebrow at Darkrai. "You are unable to control your dream powers?" she inquired.
<Not even a little bit > Darkrai looked at his hands, and clenched them into fists. <I am constantly worried that I will hurt someone who does not deserve it, or even someone that I hold very dear to me >
Luna was about to say something, when she heard crying. She looked to her right, and saw the former Element of Kindness in a nightmare. Fluttershy was curled up on her floor, crying uncontrollably, and hugging the headless body of her beloved Angel bunny. The rabbit's head was in the jaws of a hideous dream beast that she had apparently tried to adopt. The beast was now rampaging through her home trying to kill the rest of her animals.
Luna jaw dropped like never before. There was simply nothing that could be more horrifying for Fluttershy than this. A black tendril of darkness waved in front of her eyes, trailing from the nightmare. Luna, her eyes wide, her jaw still dropped followed the tendril to its source.
Darkrai swiped a claw through the tendril, dispelling the bad dream. He looked at Luna who was staring at him with a 'what the fuck' expression. Now Darkrai had actually had the pleasure of talking with Fluttershy earlier in the day, and in less than five minutes he had come to the conclusion that she was the sweetest, and most loving being in existence. So he knew exactly how bad this looked. <I
WOOMP!!
Darkrai folded over as Luna planted a hoof in his gut. With him doubled over she headbutted the back of his skull. He recovered enough in time to see her drive her hind hooves into his face. The blow struck with enough force to knock him into a nearby dream.
Rainbow Dash had done it. She had created a move even more awesome that the Sonic Rainboom. The crowds were cheering her name. Princess Celestia was presenting her with a medal. Princess Luna punched a black ghost into the sky, tearing a hole into space through which everything was sucked out. Once she was in space Rainbow Dash could no longer fly because she remembered Twilight going on and on about how it was impossible to fly in space.
Darkrai recovered, and tried to defend himself. Knowing that they were both dream walkers, he knew that pokemon moves would have no real effect. So he did the only thing he could. He would normally never even consider doing this, but he had to do something. Darkrai tapped into his nightmare powers.
Sending a tendril into a nearby dream he latched onto the first thing he could, and threw it at Luna.
Twilight was reading a book about dreams. Suddenly it became a book about snakes. A large anaconda slithered out of the book, and kissed her on the nose. Before she could properly freak out however, a zipper opened in her wall and a black rope wrapped around the big snake and pulled it through. The anaconda waved goodbye with its tail, and the zipper closed itself.
Darkrai through the giant serpent at the Princess. First he was surprised it had worked. Then he was very disappointed when Luna stabbed it with her horn, and it dissipated into nothing.
"THOU THINKETH THAT A NIGHTMARE?" Princess Luna exploded. She literally exploded, her body bursting to pieces as a being twice her size replaced her. Her horn was long, and thin like a rapier blade. Her body was the deepest midnight black, her eyes luminous blue her mane and tail like living pieces of the night sky. And her teeth were the triangular razor sharp fangs of a shark. BEHOLD THE FACE OF TRUE NIGHTMARES.
Darkrai muttered a single curse to himself <Oh, pokeballs > before he was forced out of the dream realm by what he could only describe as being hit with the moon.
> Prepare for trouble
Luna woke a little before dawn. She usually did not sleep so long, but she had decided to continue guarding the dreamers from more nightmares. Normally she would take naps throughout the day, and only go into a dream trance for part of the night, allowing her to know what was going on around her, and to rule the kingdom while Celestia slept. Having finally gotten a full night of sleep in a really long time (her time on the moon does not count) she felt incredibly well rested.
Luna got up, and stretched her neck, back, and wings setting off a series of cracks, pops, and snaps accompanied by a moan of contented pleasure. All of which was followed by a powerful wall shaking yawn. Using her magic Luna summoned a pot of coffee. Without bothering with a cup she sipped from the pot...and grimaced at the bitter flavor of the plain black coffee. Luna eyed her drink before again using her magic to add milk, sugar, and hazelnut. When she sipped again the results were much more enjoyable.
<Princess Luna?>
"Lady Mew?" Luna looked around a bit before remembering that her new friend was a psychic. "Ah, telepathy." Continuing with her drink Luna carried on the mental conversation. Good morning Mew, any progress with the typing of the other races?
<Oh, yes, but I did run into an interesting problem.>
Oh, and what would that be?
twenty minutes later
... And overall the only pokemon from any type both old, and new to this world capable of using Magic special moves are those that have the ability to focus whatever mystical energy they have into the spell.>
Mew finished her lecture, and turned back from the work that she had been pointing out the details to with a stick to find something unexpected. Princess Luna, still awake, and paying attention. <Did you follow all of that okay?> Mew received a nod. <How! Any other time the only ones capable of keeping up with my lectures are my Dad, Deoxys, and Genecect.>
Luna levitated her newly refilled steaming pot and simply stated "Coffee."
Mew blinked. <I'll have to stock up on that stuff.> she then reached out with both paws and asked <Can I have some?>
Luna almost gave in to the cuteness, but she resisted. "Have you had coffee before?" she asked while keeping a hoof extended between them.
<...yyyes. Yes I have.>
"You liar." Luna deadpanned.
<You're right, but can I have some anyway?> Mew's eyes doubled in size. <Please?>
"Well..." Luna slapped herself, and shook her head. "No! No coffee for you. Especially not this brew."
<Huh? You resisted Baby Doll Eyes.>
"Wait," Luna raised a brow at Mew. "Was that a move?"
<Nope no it was not.> Mew said a little too quickly. Then she remembered why she had wanted to talk to Luna. <Ugh, I got sidetracked.> she facepawed. <Again.>
Luna giggled at her friend's antics. "So what was it this time?"
<Well, it's about what happened between you and Darkrai last night.>
"I suppose that monster has troubled you all before?" Luna was not surprised that someone had felt what had happened in the dream realm. There were a lot of powerful ppsychics in the Legendaries.
<He's one of us.> Mew's blunt statement, and the serious tone with which she spoke kept Luna from interinterrupting. <Darkrai is on of the Legendaries. He can't control his abilities, and he feels horrible about what they do because he can see every single horrible tragic bad thing that an innocent suffers from them. Yesterday he met Fluttershy. He talked to her, and became friends with her. How do you think he feels now about what his powers did to her?>
Luna was quiet for a moment before she exhaled, and hung her head. "To be honest that is a relief as it means that I shall not have to fend off a dream demon on a nightly basis." She stood up straight again. "I have had to do that before, and it is tiring."
<So don't you think you should go say something to him.> Mew made a few shooing gestures with her tail.
"Yes, an apology is owed, and tis no better time than now." Luna set down her coffee pot as she spoke, and walked out of her room.
Mew watched the Princess go. Finding herself alone she teleported her work back to her lab. Instead of leaving however she eyed the pot of coffee. <Hmm, just a little bit to see for myself.> Using her Psychic Mew levitated a small bubble of coffee to her mouth. <Yum!>
Princess Luna found her way to Lord Darkrai's private chambers quickly enough. It was fairly easy to find the only other dark dream walker in the temple by way of tracking his aura. He answered the door when she knocked, and nearly slammed it back into her muzzle.
<What did you say?> Darkrai was not sure he had heard her correctly. "I am sorry for what happened last night, I lost my temper and would like to make amends."
<Oh, well thank you, but there is nothing to forgive, and I can't blame you for attacking me after what you saw.> His answer to her apology only made her feel worse.
"There must be something that I can do." Luna suddenly had an idea. "May we speak in private?"
<Alright.> Darkrai shrugged, and moved to let her into his room.
After the door closed a shadowy figure materialized in the darker parts of the hall. This individual was the most infamous prankster of the Legendaries, and woe be to any who becomes her target. Hm, to ship, or not to ship? Hoopa tapped her chin in thought. Definitely ship.
A few miles outside of the Kanto region border a young man and his pokemon partner were running away from some very angry women. The young man held his old wizard's hat on his head with one hand as his Guardevoir led him forward by the other.
Tell me Gene, exactly how is it that we get into these situations? They were communicating through her telepathy so that Gene would not have to waist his breath talking while running.
I'm never really sure how this happens, but hey it could be worse.
She looked at him and nearly stumbled. She considered using her telepathy to give him a mental slap in the face, but decided that it was not worth it at the moment. How could it possibly be worse? We're being chased by three, count them, three Officer Jennys who are no longer using Growlithes because they upgraded to Magnemite, which I happen to have a disadvantage to, and there is still at least five miles to the border.
Gene just grinned, and pushed the white hat further back from his blue eyes, revealing some of his blonde hair. Well, I could have not spent the last thirty minutes of running for my life while holding your so soft and lovely hand. No matter how many Steel types they have they still have to actually catch us first, and you're too good at what you do to let that happen. He saw her smile and blush out of the corner of his eye, and continued. Also it's only five more miles, and last I checked my beautiful fairy princess could teleport that distance easily.
Grinning widely she squeezed his hand, and got ready to Teleport the both of them five miles up the road.
Don't call me that.
Unfortunately for them they heard three simultaneous shouts of "Magnemite use Thunderbolt now!"
A quick glance back showed that Guardevoir that the triple attack was pinpointed on Gene. Knowing that she couldn't teleport in time she shoved him out of the way, and took the hit for him. Gene stumbled to the side of the dirt road, and took a hard fall on his right arm. His eyes widened in fear as his beloved was engulfed by a field of electricity. "Belle!"
"Oh, no!" a Jenny gasped. "Magnemite, stop attacking!"
The Electric attack was stopped. standing on the road were three very confused Magnemite, three very shocked Jennys, and one very happy Gene. There was also one very pissed off Guardevoir with a slightly sadistic smile on her face. I used Light Screen. she informed them. So thanks for the power boost.
Gene walked up to her grinning from ear to ear. "Belle," she looked to him. "Use Psychic." Her eyes started to glow.
"Do you want to hear a joke?" Twilight Sparkle sheepishly asked the Legendary colt pokemon standing on the other side of the bookshelf. She had managed to find her way to the Legendaries' library, and started to drool at the number of ancient tomes that had not been seen by mortal eyes in thousands of years. Then she had bumped into a young stallion by the name of Keldeo.
In his haste to get away from Rarity he had not noticed when she had given up the hunt. So Keldeo had spent the entire night running, ducking, dodging, and sneaking his way to safety. So of course it was his luck that he ran into another mare, literally. He had turned a corner around one of the many shelves in the library, and effectively tackled her to the ground.
They laid there on the floor with their muzzles touching, their lips pressed together. Both of them had been too embarrassed to move, or even think. It had been his, her, and their first kiss.
A few awkward minutes of alternating silence and conversation later they were simply walking through the library, each of them trying to find something to talk about.
A joke Twilight? she asked herself. You don't know any jokes. Well you know one, but nopony ever laughs at it except for Pinkie Pie, but only because she knows it's a joke, while everyone else just looks at you while they try to figure out the big words in it, and they miss the punch line!
"Sure." his answer froze Twilight in her steps. Eep! I can't remember how to tell it!
"Twilight?" Keldeo thought she might have left, and his voice carried a touch of worry in it. "Are you still there?"
"Oh, yes I'm here, I just need to remember how the joke goes." Twilight facehoofed in embarrassment because she of all ponies could not remember something.
"That's alright, take your time." Keldeo exhaled in relief.
Twilight tapped her right hoof against her head as she tried to remember. This is so embarrassing, how could I forget something as simple as this. Think! Finally she remembered.
"Okay so here it goes. There is this great detective Sherlock Hooves and his friend Doctor Trotson." Twilight explained. "Sherlock Hooves, and Doctor Trotson decided to go camping. After dinner, and a bottle of wine they laid down for the night and went to sleep. Some hours later Hooves woke and nudged his friend. "Trotson, look up at the sky, and tell me what you see." Trotson replied "I see millions of stars." "What does that tell you?" Trotson pondered for a minute. "Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies, and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that the planet Stalliurn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that Faust is all powerful, and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you Hooves?" Hooves was silent for a minute, then he spoke. "Trotson, you idiot. Somepony has stolen our tent!""
The slight moment of silence lasted for about half a second, but it still caused some anxiety for Twilight. Then Keldeo laughed out loud. "Some great detective." Keldeo laughed for a full minute. "Stolen our tent, haha!"
They both came face to face as they came around the end of the bookcase. They both glanced away. "Uh, would you like to do something later?" Keldeo nervously asked her. "Like at lunch time maybe?"
"Yes!" Twilight shrieked unexpectedly. "I, .. I mean um, yes that would be nice."
"Great." Keldeo smiled, then he yawned. "Ex-excuse me, but I stayed up all night so I'm going to go take a nap now." he yawned again, and bid her farewell.
After he left Twilight say down on her haunches, and exhaled a soft sigh. Her blushed face was held in a dreamy expression. Then she started to think, and her expression changed to one of alarm. "Did I just get asked out on a date!?"
Twilight Sparkle, alicorn, princess, Element of Harmony, ran the data through her computer like brain, and came to a single possible answer. She had been asked out on a date, and she had said yes. Twilight could think of only one way for a mature mare like herself to react. She freaked out, and started teleporting around the Hall of Legends at random shouting for her sister-in-law Cadence, her friends, and her mentor Celestia.
Three little trouble makers were on the move, and looking for adventure. They are Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, and together they are the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Currently they were sneaking out of the Hall of Legends because as big and awesome as it was, it was, to their young minds, very boring.
"Ya figure that between our sisters, their friends, the princesses, and a castle full of gods they would know better than to let us get bored." stated Applebloom.
"Yeah yeah," Scootaloo paid no attention to her friend. "Hey, Sweetie Belle, teleport us to outside the castle."
"What? After what happened yesterday?" Sweetie Belle gasped.
Scootaloo blew a half hearted raspberry in response. "So your sister tried to kill somepony. That wasn't our fault anyway, he should have explained himself better instead of making goo goo eyes at her." She spun a hoof around her ear, and crossed her eyes to emphasize her point.
"Well he ain't gonna be makin goo goo eyes at her any time soon." Applebloom predicted. "Not with the memory of her flying after him with murder in her eyes."
"Exactly," Scootaloo exclaimed. "Totally not our fault."
Sweetie Belle, and Applebloom both shared a look of confusion as they tried to figure out how Keldeo not explaining himself properly made yesterday not their fault. "Too much influence from Pinkie Pie?" Sweetie Belle guessed. "Eyup." confirmed Applebloom.
"Come on Sweetie Belle, teleport us outside so we can try to get our, um," Scootaloo rubbed her chin. "New world adventurers cutie marks? Yeah that's it!"
"So what would a cutie mark for that look like?" Applebloom wondered.
"Lets stop wondering and start finding out." Scootaloo nudged Sweetie Belle. "Teleport us already. Who's gonna know?"
Unseen by the crusaders Twilight teleported behind them. In the Royal Voice she yelled "Celestia!" and teleported away.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!' all three of them screamed, and they held each other close. Slowly they turned to look for the source of the voice, but saw nothing. "D-D-Do you think it was a g-ghost?" Sweetie Belle stuttered. "I'm not afraid of any ghost." said Scootaloo nervously. "There ain't no such thing as ghosts." Applebloom told them.
A shrill high pitched scream suddenly reached their ears. It was the most fear filled shriek they had ever heard, and they collectively came to a single conclusion about the origin of the scream. "Ghost!" Sweetie Belle instinctively teleported the three of them.
a few moments earlier
Mewtwo was having a rather nice day so far. Groudon, and Kyoger had reset their battle score, which meant that they were taking a break. This was a good thing as they had taken to asking him to referee. His mother was busy with the new pokemon, so he did not have to worry about her conspiring with Cresselia to hook him up with somemon. So all in all a very nice day so far.
As he passed Keldeo on his way, Mewtwo happened to catch a stray thought from the colt. Mewtwo frowned as Keldeo thought about gathering local foods for a picnic with the young princess. He knew that Keldeo had always been a wild pokemon, and could fend for himself, but... Carefully, and without being noticed Mewtwo telepathically gave him the idea of asking Shaymin, Cresselia, and Verizion to pack the lunch for him.
Mewtwo watched the colt for a moment. After Keldeo had gone the Psychic chuckled to himself. My good deed for the week. When he continued on his way Mewtwo paid little attention, and bumped into someone. Ah, my apologies.
The light gray unicorn stallion had blonde hair, a more athletic build than most, and a mark that resembles a star or a compass. He immediately stuck his nose up in the air, and walked on saying "Hmph! Next time watch where you are going you mangey flearidden feline abomination."
Mewtwo's eye twitched. A moment later a shrill high pitched girlish scream filled the Hall of Legends.
elsewhere
Sn oddly costumed man was lounging in his apartment, and watching tv. He lazily raised the remote, and changed the channel. Click, the tv blared the cartoon's theme song. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Swuritles, Teenage Mutant Ninja Squirtles, heroes in a half shell Squirtle power. Click another cartoon. "Spinarak-Man, Spinarak-Man, does whatever a Spinarak can. Click, "I want to be the very best. Click. "Sponge Bo-bangbangbangbangbangbangbangbang!
The cheap tv sparked and died from its gunshot wounds. "I hate that show!" said the man as he tossed the still loaded gun over his shoulder. The handgun landed just right to make it shoot off its final round which destroyed his fish tank. Goldeen did not appreciate her new spot on the floor. "If I ever get my hands on the guy who made that show I'll carve him up like a turkey dinner!" he stood up and viciously attacked his couch. "Then I'll shoot him full of holes!" he reached for his gun. "Huh? Oh, yeah." He pulled out a new gun, and put it in the holster. He then drew the gun, and unloaded the clip into his furniture.
Before he could grab the dynamite his phone rang. It was an email. -Gene Phillips. Dead. Soon as possible.- the price tag on this job made him jaw drop.
elsewhere
There was something different about the sun this morning. It was not anything that could be seen, but it was still there. If the young woman watching the sunrise had to guess, she would honestly say that it was magic. She didn't know it yet but that was it exactly.
Shaking her head to clear the thoughts away, she started to break camp. It was nothing more than a simple tent and sleeping bag, but it was high quality, and made to last. After that she made breakfast for her, and her pokemon. Granola bars and juice for her, pokeblock and distilled mineral water for her team. Nothing but the best for her and her's.
"Come on out." she held up four pokeballs. From within the spheres came her partners. Rapidash, Zebstrika, Dewgong, and Pidgeot. "Breakfast time." As the pokemon said their good mornings, and ate their meals (each bowl of pokeblock specifically blended for the individual) the girl looked over a map. Planning a journey was easy, making it fun and exciting was harder. The rewards of a hard journey however, were worth it. She smiled as she remembered how she had met each member of her team.
A wild Ponyta separated from its family, with a pack of hungry Growlithes on its tail. She had come from out of nowhere, admittedly by accident, and knocked the fire horse out of the way just before all of the pokemon went over a hidden ledge with water at the bottom. The pained yelps of the canines had been too much, and she and the Ponyta had worked together to save them. Now there was a wild pack of Growlithes out there that saw them both as family.
A pesky thieving Pidgey that kept stealing her food. She, and Ponyta had chased that bird across an entire town multiple times. They only caught up to it when a pokemon hunter caught it with a net gun. The net was electrified. The hunter said that a local gang was going to enjoy having the Pidgey that stole from them for dinner. A Fire Spin, and a brick to the jaw had solved that problem. After that the Flying pokemon had refused to leave her side.
Ponyta had finally evolved into Rapidash, and the young woman who was his trainer was beginning to have feelings for him. They were traveling through Unova when they came across a Blitzle that made fast friends with Rapidash. It followed them for days, and whenever the older Fire type was not looking, would stare at him with big adoring eyes and a slight blush. An encounter with Team Plasma left them stranded in a severe thunderstorm with no shelter, and the Blitzle had stayed with them the whole night keeping them safe by taking each bolt of lightning that threatened them. The next day the Electric type was revealed to have evolved into a Zebstrika. The two horse pokemon began racing, dueling, and training together. They were inseparable, and as she found out mating, sort of. She was still a little heart broken, but seeing as they were both males...she decided to be happy for them.
As for Dewgong. Imagine riding on the sea lion's back as it glides through the freezing arctic water, dodging around, diving under, and flying over ice floats at top speed as a tidal wave threatened to crash down, and swallow you whole. That was her favorite.
"Hehe." she smirked, and sipped her juice. "Kanto Grand Festival, get ready for the Fire Thunder Boom."
Arceus and Princess Celestia had once again been going over the details of how they would reveal the Ponies to the world, and they were once again interrupted. This time it was Twilight having another one of her near breakdowns. Though the reason for this one brought such happiness to Celestia that her mane shown with a brilliant heavenly light. Her student was going on her first date!
Celestia was able to calm Twilight down enough to get her to go find Cadence. She felt as if nothing could take this moment away. Then Arceus did it. <Does she know what being an alicorn means for her, other than being a princess?>
Celestia sighed. "No, I will tell her eventually, just...not yet."
<Don't you think she should be told sooner, rather than later?>
"Yes, but she has yet to get used to being royalty, and I wish for her to get used to this new world now before I bring that to her attention." She really did not want to talk about this.
<Cadence already knows, why not get it over with?>
"Lord Arceus." Celestia spoke stiffly. "We are not talking about this, and you will say nothing to her." she turned away from him.
<Forgive me.> his eyes twinkled mischievously. <But what exactly will you do if I do.>
Celestia turned back around on him with tears in her eyes. "Do you really think I want to be the one to tell her that she must now live on while her loved ones age and die?" She was not yelling as that would require being angry. No she was sad because of the memories that the conversation had brought up. "I remember every single one of my family and my friends from my thousands of years, and I always will. They were not immortal like your family Arceus. I have lost the most precious thing one could have more than once."
Arceus realized what she meant, and he felt as guilty as if he had taken them from her himself.
"I don't want to be the one to tell her, but I am the one who shall do it, no one else." She turned away and wiped her eyes with her wing tips. The tears were gone for now, but the memories would stay with her until she let herself remember them. There were many fond memories yes, but at the moment all she could think about were those that she had lost. She felt somepony embrace her in a neck hug. Without thinking about it she returned the gesture by wrapping her wings around him, and she let the tears flow.
Mesprit floated in through the door. <Who is being emotional?> Her question was answered by the sight of her father pulled into a very tight and intimate hug with a female who's face was pressed into his neck. Mesprit turned around, and floated back out the door. <Sisters, I think I need to forget something.>
Celestia let it out. The grief that she felt for all of her friends throughout the centuries. The grief she felt for every member of her family that had passed. Her heart ached for those close few that she had loved. Then there were those that she had watched over their whole lives, very few of them there were, but she had seen them grow, age, and die.
Her responsibilities as a princess were a constant burden, and so she rarely allowed herself anymore personal time than a few minutes each day. Then there were the near constant crises that always sprang up which demanded her attention. Not to mention Discord being permanently free now. Bottom line, this was the first time she had been able to think about all those she had lost in a long time.
So she cried for them all now, and after a few minutes she was done. With tears still in her eyes she slowed her breathing to calm herself. "Thank you Arceus I,"Princess Celestia suddenly realized that she had her muzzle pressed into a stallion's neck, and that she had him trapped in an intimately close embrace, and they had been like that for several minutes. "Forgive me." she withdrew from him in embarrassment. "I did not mean to do that."
<Do not apologize Princess. Weep for those that you hav lost.> Arceus sighed. <I admit to being glad to not know such grief.>
"I meant about the hugging." Celestia's face was literally glowing red.
<Ah, yes, well still no need to apologize. Heads up though one of my daughters saw us, and I give it an hour before the temple is filled with rumors.> the god finished with a deadpan.
"...ponyfeathers." Celestia wiped her face to clean the tears off. "So what now? Continue with the meeting?"
<No. I don't see the point when all we've really done so far is delay bringing the Equusians out of subspace and placing them on Earth.> he thought for a moment. <There is one thing we could do that would keep them safe longer, though it would isolate them a bit. I'll talk to my children about it later Princess.>
"You know what?" Celestia laughed, and shook her head. "I think we can stop using our formal titles with each other considering that I just spent five minutes crying into your shoulder."
Arceus laughed as well. <I suppose so Celestia.>
"Why'd you teleport us out here Sweetie Belle?"
"Scootaloo, you're the one that wanted her to teleport us."
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "I only meant for her to teleport us outside the castle, not to drop us in the middle of nowhere."
"Girls." Sweetie Belle tried.
"Well ya didn't say that." Applebloom argued.
"I did so!" Scootaloo argued back.
"Ya did not!"
"Did to!"
"Girls! " Sweetie Belle shrieked at them. "You've already tried getting your cutie marks in arguing! Right now we're lost, and I don't know about the two of you but I'm a little scared! So can we please just find someone to help us?"
Scootaloo and Applebloom ducked their heads, and flattened their ears. They weren't shamed or embarrassed as this kind of thing happened quite often with them. They were in mild pain as she had a very strong voice.
"Okay Sweetie Belle, we're sorry." Applebloom bumped Scootaloo. "Right?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah sorry." Scootaloo rubbed her ear.
Thanks, and sorry for yelling."
"That's okay." Applebloom told her as she hugged the other filly. "Now come on, the only way we'll find someone is if we start walking."
Together the girls set out looking' for somepony to help them. They walked for about an hour, following a dirt road. A few pokemon were seen in the distance, but nothing ever came close to them.
"Ugh, how much further?" Scootaloo was tired, and bored.
"Now how the hay are we supposed to know that?" Applebloom asked. "We don't know where we are."
Scootaloo opened her mouth to argue, but closed it. "I'm too tired to argue."
"If we just follow this road a little longer I'm sure we will find someone." Sweetie Belle said cheerfully.
"Ya mean like them things?" Applebloom pointed at two creatures that she had never seen before. The two bipedal creatures were seated on the grass beside the road, eating lunch.
"Applebloom!" Sweetie Belle scolded her. "That is not polite. They are not things, they are clearly intelligent because they are wearing clothes, and eating and drinking from dishes like civilized ponies." She approached the two bipeds with a bright smile. "Hello, my name is Sweetie Belle, would you be able to help us find our way back to where we belong?"
The woman looked to the man, and asked "Butch, have you ever seen pokemon like these before?"
"Never seen or heard of anything like them before Cassidy." he finished his sandwich. "How much do you think they're worth?"
"Not much now, but after they get trained up who knows." she set her drink down and reached into a bag. What she pulled out was a weapon similar to a net gun. Cassidy quickly aimed and fired at the three fillies. An energy sphere shot out, and caught all three, then solidified into a glass ball.
The girls all screamed in alarm. Applebloom tried bucking the glass only to have her hoof meet an electric shock. Scootaloo yelled at the humans to let them go.
"Hm, well they've got some unique looks." Cassidy mused. "We'll phone the boss about them, but if he's not interested we'll just sell them to the highest bidder."
"Sell us! We are not animals for you to sell in some dumb store! Let us go!" Scootaloo was about to continue when Sweetie Belle pointed out what was happening.
"We're being foalnapped!"
Applebloom and Scootaloo both started screaming. Butch, and Cassidy got to work, and loaded the containment sphere onto their vehicle. It was a state of the art top of the line hovercraft, with a little something extra. Once they were all loaded up the Team Rocket duo piloted their craft ip above the tree tops. Then far in the distance the crusaders saw what they needed. The Hall of Legends. Butch and Cassidy paid no attention.
"Maybe if we yell loud enough someone will hear us." Sweetie Belle suggested. The other two started shouting again, but it was barely louder than before, and the temple was a long way away. "Seriously girls? That is not how you scream for help." They thought about that, then smiled. Applebloom and Scootaloo ducked down, and covered their ears. Sweetie Belle faced the Hall of Legends, took the deepest breath she could, and screamed.
Butch and Cassidy squealed in pain as their ears were assaulted by what was quite possibly the loudest, and most powerful sound they had ever heard. The hovercraft rattled, and shook like it was going to die. The glass sphere that had withstood a kick from Applebloom cracked. This went on for longer than was seemingly possible, until she ran out of breath.
"Ow, I think I strained something." Sweetie Belle's voice was rough, and sore.
"Look!" Scootaloo pointed at the temple.
From the Hall of Legends came a rainbow colored streak of light. It arched up high into the sky. When it reached the highest point in its trajectory the rainbow changed direction, and dived straight at the hovercraft at just short of the speed of sound. |
Building a Better World: Origins | Chapter 9 | Arceus was by himself, having left Celestia to herself as well. He just knew that by now half the Legendaries had heard about what Mesprit had seen, and he was dreading the fallout, especially after Mew found out. Currently he was in his chambers going over the details of his newest idea. He could do it himself of course, but he had a habit of overlooking small details, and the other Legendaries would do a more thorough. The fact that this plan would give the Equusians a new home made it even more important to not skip the details.
As he paused in contemplation Arceus noticed a psychic pressure that had been building. It was Mew's power, so Arceus just assumed that his daughter was getting ready to make the changes to the DNA of the Equusian races. Turning back to his own work he picked out several spots that would be a good place to deposit them.
The psychic energy suddenly burst forth, but there was something off about it. <Hmm, either Mew evolved, or she has had too much sugar.> Leaving his work where it was Arceus teleported to his daughter's lab.
<...oh.> Arceus saw Mew's lab in a state of disaster. It looked like a Hurricane had been used. Papers were scattered all over the place, her stuffed animals had all had their parts mixed and matched, and there were several empty coffee pots setting at random around the room. <... Mew. Daughter where are you?>
He sensed her presence a little further on, and approached. She was hovering upside down, tilted slightly to her left, facing away from him with her tail down in front of her face like she was holding something with it. She was humming a song.
Arceus spoke slowly. <Mew, are you alright?>
<Daddy!> she shouted excitedly and spun around. Her left eye was twitching, the right staying wide open, her ears were cocked at different angles, and she was smiling just like a certain peppy pink party pony mare. <Imadeallthenewpokemoninlessthantensecondsflat!> She then drank the entire pot of coffee.
<Mew, who introduced you to caffeine?>
Mew giggled. <Luna left her coffee out so I drank it and it was yummy so I got more and drank it but it wasn't yummy so I got more and put sugary sweet stuff in it and it was yummy again and so I made twelve more just like it and now I can see eeeeevvvvverrrryyyyythiiiiinnnng!> her entire body twitched.
Arceus sweat dropped, and teleported any nearby coffee as well as anything with caffeine far far away. <How long until your current state wears off?> He could just remove any trace of the drug himself, but she would then snap back from hyper to not hyper, which could effect her Psychic abilities.
<Ummmmmmmm, a few hours if I'm left to myself, a few minutes if someone is able to calm me down and make me sit still while using a status healing move on me.> She vibrated for a moment. <CanIhavesomemorecoffee?>
<...how about I tell you a story instead? Would you like that?>
Still upside down Mew latched herself onto his head, and looked him in the eyes, somehow looking into both his eyes at the same time. <Story!>
<Alright then. This is how I first met the ponies.> He thought for a moment. <But first you have to promise me that you won't tell anyone.>
<Okie dokie lokie. I promise not to tell anyone. Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye.>
Arceus sweat dropped again. He didn't know where she had learned that. She had even did the proper motions, though she had thankfully not produced an actual cupcake from nowhere. <Okay then.>
I had just watched the human boy get put out of commission by Team Eternity. I was angry, so very angry that my power actually managed to bend the walls of my prison for only a moment. I tried again and again multiple times as the days passed, using my anger as fuel for my strength, but it was no good.
I felt a little better after my tantrum, and decided to get my mind off the current situation and onto other things for a while. So I cast my gaze elsewhere across the multiverse. A number of dimensional viewing screens appear before me, each displaying something different.
<Hmm, let's see here. Oh, dragons! Well that looks interes- Wait did that human with the ax just kill a dragon and eat it's soul? No thanks! Next. ... Walking dead humans eating living humans? How did that even...I mean who in their right mind...never mind. I'll have to have Giratina do something about that.
Are we a cartoon there? Yes, that is a cartoon of us. Nice theme song I suppose, could use different lyrics. Oh well, moving on. The multiverse is a confusing thing, even to a god, some things just happen. No, no, no, hm interesting but no. Hm? What's this? Is that a human writing a story about me watching a human write a story about me watching a human, OH! NO! No, not going into a reality loop.>
Eventually I found my way to the ponies world. I watched as Princess Twilight battled Tirek. She did her people great honor in combat, but he cheated.
In need of more information about this place, and it's ponies I have the screens show me the history of their world. One screen showed me the general history while another displayed the ponies interactions with other races. <Incredible. To think that they made peace with the predatory gryphons by offering friendship and love. Our own experiences with humans would lead you to believe that impossible.>
The last two screens show the princesses, the elements of harmony, and the six ponies that now stay in the temple with us. In the span of only a few moments I have seen all that they have done.
I then noticed that the pink one was staring at me from her side of the screen. <Wait, she can't see me can she?> She reached into her mane, pulled out a cupcake, and held it out to me. Just as I'm getting tempted to reach through the screen for it ,which I knew wouldn't work anyway, she suddenly rushed off after her friends. Spinning in the air for a moment before falling, the pastry landed upside down in the dirt. <Oh well, I couldn't eat it anyway. Why are they running? Ah, looks like I caught back up to the present.>
I watched helplessly as their last hope for saving their world was destroyed. I watched Tirek try to actually kill one of them. I cheered as Discord ambushed Tirek and took his power. Then I was saddened by the revelation that their world was now doomed without the crystal tree.
After they re-banished the centaur they got together and attempted to come up with an idea that could save them.
Equestria third person pov
"Maybe Discord can do something!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
Everyone looked to him, except for Pinkie Pie who just stared off into space. They all leaned towards him as if anticipating him to say "Got you!" and fix everything.
Discord just shook his head, and looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry everypony, but even with all the magic in Equestria I'm not powerful enough to stop it. Not even all the magic on Equus would be enough."
Pinkie chose that moment to giggle. Everypony looked at her like she was, well in her case like she was normal, but given the current circumstances they were actually worried for once. Rarity leaned in to whisper in Twilight's ear "She's finally lost it hasn't she."
Before she could answer Twilight was cut off by Rainbow Dash. "Uh, Pinkie, were you talking to someone?" Rainbow Dash had come to the life changing decision to just go with it when Pinkie was involved months ago, and she now had a suspicion that something big was about to go down.
"Yeppers, I was talking to the watcher in the window. He's sort of like a pony but not really a pony cause he doesn't have a mouth but I didn't notice that earlier cause Tirek had my magic but now I have my magic back. See." she pointed a hoof at her flank where her cutie mark had indeed reappeared.
Everypony else paused and looked at their own flanks to find them still blank.
"Now hold on an apple pickin minute. How the hay does Pinkie Pie have her cutie mark back, but the rest of us don't?" Applejack demanded.
Everyone looked at Twilight, then Celestia, then finally Discord. "Oh you want me to explain it?" he pointed at himself in slight confusion. They all nodded. "Uh, okay." He snapped up a giant microscope, and placed it perfectly over Pinkie to better ponder the peculiar problem that had presented itself to the perplexed ponies. He then looked through the other end of the device to see what he could see.
"Well it seems that miss Pie here is naturally attuned to chaos more so than regular ponies, but she somehow balances it out with harmony." Discord told them all.
Twilight blinked. "Wait...seriously?"
Discord rolled his eyes. "Well how am I supposed to know? I'm not a scientist." He managed to sound insulted by the idea of such an accusation. "But what I can tell you is that she really is seeing someone through the wall."
They all looked confused. "What wall?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, you know, the wall." he was teasing her now.
"Cut the manure Discord!" Rainbow got in his face. "Tell us what you're talking about!"
"I'll give you a clue, or two." Discord shrunk the microscope to normal size and threw it over his shoulder making it vanish.
In a lab on the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier Dr Banner found the microscope he was looking for when it smashed into the wall next to him. Turning, he found only Tony and Thor. "Okay." he held up the broken microscope. "Who did it?" They both pointed at each other and said "Him."
"You see I currently possess all the magic in Equestria, which means that all the magic in Equestria is chaos magic." Discord explained, and they all seemed to understand. "That much chaos can't be kept in one place however, not even by me, so it's been cycling in and out of me this whole time. That means that even though it's not doing anything you are currently surrounded by chaos."
This made the others nervous, but the princesses, and especially Twilight started to get what he was saying.
Discord continued. "Now, Pinkie, for whatever reason, is highly sensitive to chaos, and has displayed a potential for manipulating it even if she doesn't properly know how."
"So..." Twilight wasn't sure where Discord was going with this, but if he was acting like his normal self then he must have found a way for them to save everyone. "What you're saying is that Pinkie can somehow save the day."
Discord snapped his claws, and bell sounded. "We have a winner! You see while I can't see what she can, probably due to some other magic, Pinkie has naturally developed a way of letting her ignore certain laws of reality. That means that if she were magically powerful enough she could go to this creature and use him as an anchor to pull the rest of us into his world."
They were all silent for a moment, before one of them had a rather strong reaction. "Are you insane? We are not giving all of the magic in Equestria to Pinkie Pie! We are not going to break the universe! How could you even think that that was a good idea? Do you want everything to suddenly be made of candy and chocolate? Because that is exactly what she would do right before she ate it all!
When Twilight stopped yelling at him his face was turned around backwards on his head. He quickly corrected his anatomy. "Well I can't do it because my chaos is just close enough to the particular brand of power that the thing on the other side of the wall uses that I'm being blocked, and we don't have enough time to find something else to save us, but she can ignore the power that is blocking me."
It several minutes for all of them to be convinced that it was their only answer. So Discord reversed the spell that let him eat the magic, and fed it to Pinkie. Nothing happened for a few moments. Then she spontaneously sprouted two wings and a horn. Twilight's reaction was to start begging Celestia and Luna not to make Pinkie Pie a princess. The party pony then grew to Celestia's size, and her mane and tail started flowing lilke an enormous mass of streamers. Her form then began to glow.
"Hey look I'm all shiny and sparkly!" the glow intensified until POP! The others all gasped as Pinkie burst into a shower of sparkling light.
"...did we just kill her?" Rainbow Dash asked with her ears drooped and her tail tucked down.
"Nah, I'm good."
Everyone blinked, and looked to the left. There was Pinkie Pie, and she was perfectly fine, and not an all powerful alicorn, and she was eating a box of doughnuts.
"So...did you fix everything?" Twilight asked, though she was unsure if she wanted to know the answer.
"Well not me but Arceus was really nice and-
<Wait wait, hold it.> Mew interrupted her father. <You skipped part of the study!> she pointed at him accusingly.
<Oh, uh...did I? > Arceus hoped not to let anyone find out about this.
<Yes you did.> Mew crossed her arms and huffed, her tail twitching at random to show that she was still hyper.
<Alright, I'll tell you everything.> he shook his head in irritation.
<Wait.> I looked all over in her world but she was simply not there. <Did she implode?>
"No I'm right here."
I calmly looked to my right and saw that she was indeed standing next to me. <Well that answers that.> I then returned to searching for ger in her world...and then I realized what had just happened. <AHHIIIEE!!!> I jumped away from her in a very ungodly manner, and tripped on my own hooves.
She just laughed. "You screamed like a filly!"
Thankfully I did not take too long to recover. <How did you get in here?>
"Umm." she looked a little worried. "One second." she walked over to a damb gaping hole in my prison wall, and closed it.
<Are you crazy?! Why would you close us back up in here without an exit?!>
"So we could talk silly." She actually said that with a straight face.
<Talk.> I really couldn't think of a proper way to respond. <You locked us inside my prison that has held me without fail for five thousand years so that we could talk.>
"Yep." She smiled again. "See, with the tree of harmony dead thousands of I don't know how many thousands of years of bad magic is now destroying our planet. I've already checked, and that is what is going to happen." She then became sad, and for some reason I felt myself getting sad too. "So your going to turn us into' pokemon!"
I blinked. Her new cheerfulness was so random that it took me a minute to catch up to what she had said. <Wait, what? Why would I make you into one of my pokemon?>
"Because silly." She tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned around to see her behind me. I whipped my head around so fast that I caused a miniature sonic boom. <The hell?!> I looked back behind me again, and she was still there. <How the hell did-
I used my power to remove the pie from my face. Where she got it from I don't know. <What was that for?>
"As Rarity would say "A lady's ears are not to be soiled by such vulgar language.""
<Ah, my apologies.>
"Looky looky here." She zipped (that is the only word that fits) over to a screen, and pointed at the scene it displayed. "These pokemon are being treated like pets. You don't like it, they don't like it, and you can bet your pretty pink plates that Celestia won't like it."
<My plates are not pink...well not all of them.>
"Ummhmm." She bounced in place for a moment, which was an odd sight since she was still almost my hight. This made me suspicious so I checked my plates. They were pink! Completely pink! <How?> I stopped her from telling me by saying I don't want to know.
<Okay, so your princess will fight for pokemon rights. I still don't see why I should make you all be pokemon.> At this point I was determined to keep my eyes on her no matter what.
"Well," she rubbed her chin before answering. "The humans will just call us pokemon anyway, and we'll need a way to protect ourselves, and those pokeballs are made to be able to catch anything that isn't human which means that a human seeing a pony for the first time would pretty much just have their pokemon attack the pony that couldn't defend itself and then they would start training them to fight so it only makes sense for us to be pokemon anyway, and why are you staring at me like that, are you flirting with me?"
<Hmm, well you have a point about all of that ...I AM NOT FLIRTING WITH YOU!> I backed away from her.
"Oh good." she exhaled in relief. "Cause I already like somepony."
<That draconequis?> I guessed. She gasped. "How did you know?"
After that we spent five minutes taking about random things. Just do the same yourself and you'll understand what I mean. We negotiated about what to do, and it was decided that she would give me all of the magic that she had so that I could create a new plate to augment my power, and I would save every living thing on Equus. I then asked her to promise not to tell anyone about what had happened when we met. She said that she would have to tell Celestia, but that she would just get Celestia to also promise not to tell anyone. I then had to promise her that the Equusians would all be given a safe new home, and that I would give the humans a chance to ,as she put it, be nice, before I unleashed my cosmic might upon them.
<And that's it Mew. Now you know how I met the ponies.> Arceus finished his story.
Mew just stared at him with a deadpan expression. <Pinkie Pie just randomly appeared in your pocket dimension, and made you scream like a little girl.>
<Yes.> he just looked at her blankly.
<I don't believe you.> Mew rubbed her eyes. <Good story, but I don't believe you.> she yawned, not the move, but a regular yawn. <I'm going to take a nap.>
<Alright then, sweet dreams my daughter.> Arceus nuzzled his daughter, and left her alone. As he walked through the halls of the temple he became aware of something on his back. He looked over his shoulder and flinched.
Pinkie Pie smiled at him from her perch on his ring. "She didn't believe you did she." |
Building a Better World: Origins | Make it double part 1 | Diving down from the sky at nearly mach one Rainbow Dash looked like little more than a simple rainbow. The force of her strike when she turned around and bucked both hind hooves into the nose of the hovercraft said differently.
Butch and Cassidy had no idea what hit them. There was a loud impact followed immediately by their hovercraft tilting forward, and driving nose first into the ground.
The holding sphere that the crusaders were trapped in was catapulted off of the back of the craft. The three fillies screamed as they sailed through the air. Rainbow Dash sped after them and caught the sphere, and streaked back to the ground where she skidded to a halt.
"Are you three okay?" Rainbow Dash asked them as she started poking the sphere with a hoof.
"We are now, but those people were trying to foalnap us." Scootaloo told her. Rainbow Dash grit her teeth and growled.
In the hovercraft Butch and Cassidy recovered from the short trip, and raised the vehicle up off the ground. Cassidy saw the bigger pokemon trying to break the other three out of the sphere. "Not happening." she said, and then pressed some buttons which activated the weapon systems.
A panel opened up on the side of the hovercraft, and a small rocket launcher moved into place. Butch adjusted the trajectory, and aimed the rocket, and Cassidy fired the weapon.
Rainbow Dash heard the rocket take off before the girls had fully registered the threat and started yelling. She looked back in time to see the rocket already less than ten yards away. Without speaking or thinking she pushed the sphere sending the crusaders rolling one way, and then jumped as hard and fast as she could.
The rocket was actually just a low grade concussive bomb that would just knock you down and leave you stunned. It detonated so close to them however that they were all sent flying, and crashing along the ground.
Rainbow Dash slowly climbed to her hooves, and tried to steady herself as her body felt the aftereffects of the explosion. Her ears were ringing, her vision was blurry, and her head was killing her. As her vision began to clear she looked around for the girls. She found the remains of the glass sphere where it had broken against a tree. The crusaders looked mostly okay except for scrapes and bruises. Applebloom would need a new bow, and Sweetie Belle seriously needed her mane restyled, but they were both fine. Scootaloo gingerly touched her muzzle, and winced as the small cut on her nose bled and throbbed with pain.
Rainbow Dash's nostrils flared with anger. Her new pokemon DNA responded to her emotions causing electricity to shoot from her mane and tail. She looked to the ones responsible for the attack, and readied for a charge.
Inside the hovercraft Butch and Cassidy slightly sweat dropped. "The big one is glaring at us." Cassidy said.
"You don't think it can break in do you?" Butch asked.
Cassidy laughed. "Please, this thing is impervious. It's like a tank on air. Even the,glass is shatter proof."
Rainbow Dash burst into motion, her body shrouded itself in electrical energy, and in less than a second she slammed her front hooves into the metal armor of the hovercraft.
Butch and Cassidy shook uncontrollably as the electricity shot through them. "Buuut weee forrrgooot tooo turrrn ooon the ennnergyyy shiiield!" they both yelled.
The hovercraft was pushed back several feet by her Volt Tackle, and was left with char marks from the electricity. Rainbow' Dash looped around back from rebounding off of the vehicle's nose, aimed her next attack at the windshield. She timed her Comet Punches with her words as she yelled. "Don't ever touch my sister!" With each word she landed five punches.
Scootaloo heard this, and it made her so happy to hear Rainbow call her her sister that when she smiled she squeaked.
Being hit at rocket speed twenty-five times in the time it took to speak five words the shatterproof glass shattered from the vibrations. Glass shards exploded into the the cockpit. The glass went everywhere, it got into the controls, and into their suits and hair. Luckily for Butch and Cassidy the pieces that hit them were too small to do anything more than give them mild scratches.
Rainbow Dash flew back to the crusaders, and pulled Scootaloo into hug. "Are you okay Scoots?"
"Yeah, I'm okay." Scootaloo returned the hug, and finally felt like she had a family.
"Miss Rainbow Dash..." Sweetie Belle started to say something, but trailed off.
Rainbow looked at her, and saw that both Sweetie and Applebloom were backing slowly away from her. They were staring at something behind her, their eyes gone wide. She looked back herself, and saw why, though she wasn't scared she understood why the girls were.
Cassidy was glaring at them with eyes filled with fury, and tiny drips of blood starting to flow from the scratches on her face. "You ruined my face!" she screamed. "You're going to regret that! Butch, activate mechanization!"
"With pleasure." Butch flipped several switches, and then pushed a button labelled MECHA.
Rainbow Dash decided that being a little afraid might not be so bad. The hovercraft came apart like a puzzle, and reshaped into a robot that stood as tall as the trees.
Twilight Sparkle teleported onto the scene with Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. They saw the crusaders being 'helpful' by distracting the robot with insults, taunts, and thrown rocks. They saw the giant robot try to grab them only to get bucked by Rainbow Dash.
"I said get out of here!" Rainbow Dash yelled at the fillies.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled.
Rainbow Dash looked away from the robot as she heard her friend shout. Butch and Cassidy swung a massive metal fist at the pegasus, and connected with a lucky punch. A blue streak shot through the sky as Rainbow Dash was knocked away. The others gasped in shock.
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo screamed, and ran after her surrogate big sister.
"Not so fast!" Cassidy called out. She slammed the controls, and the mech gave chase after the small pegasus. It was too fast and caught up to her, and made to grab her. But its hand hit an invisible shield. "What?!" Cassidy looked around and saw the source of the problem. "The purple one! Butch, target it."
"On it." Butch controlled the weapons, and turned the left arm of the mech to aim its rocket launchers at the group of new pokemon.
"Gah!" Twilight made a protective shield as fast as she could. Just in time to keep them all safe from the barrage of explosives. The strain was obvious on her face as multiple rockets continuously detonated against the force field.
Scootaloo ran as fast as she could to try and get to the cover of the trees.
"Stupid little beast!" Cassidy screamed in frustration and gave chase once more. The mech caught up just as fast as before, but this time nothing stopped its robotic hand from slamming into the ground around Scootaloo.
Everything stopped. The rockets stopped firing. Twilight dropped her shield. The ponies stared at the mechanical hand.
"Ha!" Cassidy fist pumped and pushed a button on her console. A sound like a vacuum sucking up dirt came from the arm, and then Scootaloo popped up in another glass sphere on the shoulder of the robot.
"Uh... I'm okay apparently." she told everyone.
All the other ponies sighed in relief.
"Lets get out of here while we're ahead." Butch grumbled. He was about to convert the robot back to hovercraft mode when he noticed Cassidy staring at something in the sky. He looked too, and sweatdropped.
In the sky was a spark of rainbow colored light that was getting bigger and brighter by the second. The two humans kept watching it. The spark grew even brighter as it got closer. In the center of the rainbow light a shape could be seen. Cassidy had a suspicion that she hoped she was wrong about. Flipping a switch the woman activated a view screen that slid down in front of her and Butch to amplify what they could see.
Rainbow Dash was at the center of the spark, her mane lit up with electricity that was shaded by a blue energy, her pupils contracted to leave her eyes mostly red from her irises, and a mach cone of pure multicolored energy surrounded her as she dived at the humans.
Needless to say Butch and Cassidy freaked. "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" they both screamed in terror. They both started pushing buttons, filpping switches, anything else that would fire weapons. Rockets, lasers, electrified nets, and multiple types of darts all flew at the very angry pegasus.
Rainbow Dash saw the projectiles from over a mile away and pulled a maneuver to loop past them. To anyone else it would look like she had vanished and reappeared behind the barrage of weapon's fire. She then accelerated like she had reached a higher gear, and if anyone could see her wings clearly, they would see them moving so fast that miniature shockwaves were being generated by her Extreme Speed.
Butch and Cassidy hugged each other as they screamed. "AAAAHHHH!"
Rainbow Dash plowed into the robot's upper body, piercing through its armored shell like it was cardboard and...
BOOOOOOOOMMMM
Hours later after receiving such a large power boost from the Jenny's, and leaving both them and their pokemon with swirling eyes, Belle had decided to be a little romantic. She took Gene in her Psychic power, and levitated both of them high up over the treetops. And they flew over the forests of Kanto while holding each other's hands.
They performed several midair flips and rolls and loops. They pulled each other into a close embrace, and kissed.
Which is why neither of them noticed a small adorable orange projectile before it hit them. It slammed into Gene's back knocking him into Belle causing her to be pushed away from him and lose concentration. Belle released her Psychic, and everyone began to plummet to the ground.
While Gene was screaming he saw something out of the corner of his eye. A very small pokemon that looked like an orange ponyta with a purple tail and mane. It was unconscious. Knowing that the fall would most likely kill both of them, and that he would not be able to call out Draco in time Gene did the only thing he could think of. Swinging his body into a sideways roll Gene was able to get within range of the little pokemon, grabbed it, and rolled over with his back to the ground with the little one held to his chest.
Gene closed his eyes, and waited.
He waited some more. Then he noticed that he was no longer falling. Gene opened his eyes to find an angel smiling down at him.
"You know you're really sexy when you're being heroic." Belle told him. She then lowered everyone to the ground safely.
"Umm, ow." the little pokemon groaned as it started to wake up.
After lowering them to the ground Belle took the little one from Gene. She then knelt down and gently placed her burden on the ground with the head in her lap.
"Does it need a heal potion?" Gene asked.
"Probably, but let me see something first." Belle told him.
Belle placed her hands on either side of the little one's head, and her eyes glew slightly. Starting as far back as the memories would go Belle saw everything. Scootaloo as a baby foal in Cloudsdale with her parents, though she didn't remember them in detail she definitely remembered her mother having an black mane and yellow coat. A malfunction at the weather factory caused a storm that blew Scootaloo from her home, and Scootaloo then desperately trying to fly but hitting a tree back first hurting her wings. Being put in an orphanage.
Belle teared up a little at the memories. But she continued on.
Scootaloo seeing Rainbow Dash do stunts for the first time. Meeting her friends and starting their club. Trying, and failing to pretend that she was not scared whenever it was dark or storming.
Belle smiled at Scootaloo's happy life.
Then came Tirek. Belle saw how the demon looked to Scootaloo and almost flinched away from her in fear. She saw the sky begin to fade into an enormous storm. She saw the land crack open, and smelled the sulfur of burning magma. Then she saw them. Scootaloo had witnessed the Legendaries saving her people from extinction.
"Arceus!" Belle gasped aloud.
"What's wrong!?" Gene asked her.
Rather than tell him Belle showed him. Gene gulped when he realized that a very small, vulnerable, and possibly injured someone who basically had the god of pokemon as a protector was now in his care. It was a very intimidating thought.
"What do we do now?" he asked Belle.
"She'll wake up soon." Belle thought for a moment. "I'm going to share my memories with her so when she's awake she won't completely freak out."
Belle showed Scootaloo when she had first met Gene, him rescuing her from a Hypno and her becoming his Pokemon, the day of their seven year anniversary when they proclaimed their feelings of love together, the day they met Cynthia, Iris, and Shauntal and the time they spent with them, the wedding the rangers interrupted, and the conclusion that Gene's mom turned them in.
Scootaloo repeatedly opened and closed her eyes. She lay there with her head in Belle's lap and stared blankly up at her. "... How do I know you again?" she asked.
"You crashed into us. Are you okay?" Belle said before she started using her psychic senses to check Scootaloo for injuries. Nothing serious, just some muscle fatigue in her wings from trying to fly while she was rocketing through the sky.
"Yeah I'm okay." she sat up and looked at Gene. "Did you really scream like a little girl when Belle first talked to you with her mind?"
"Did you really have to show her that?" Gene complained. Belle answered with a giggle.
"Do either of you know where my friends are?" Scootaloo asked.
"Sorry, but you were unconscious for your trip just now so I couldn't see which way you actually came from." Belle told her.
"Oh..." Scootaloo hung her head and sighed.
"Hey, you can stay with us for now, and we'll help you look for them." Gene offered.
"Uh, thanks, but I only just met you and-
The sky had been getting darker as a storm moved slowly in. Somehow the storm suddenly sped up and let loose a crack of thunder directly over them.
"Yeah that sounds like a good idea." Scootaloo said from underneath Belle's gown.
Far up above standing on the clouds was a being whose body was comprised of parts from multiple animals. He tapped his one cloven hoof on the storm cloud he stood upon and hummed in thought.
"The weather here is over sensitive to chaos." he said.
He wiggled the toes of his lizard foot and a spark of electricity shot through the clouds. A moment later and the dark clouds burst into a full blown rain storm. Discord sighed in mild disappointment.
"I don't want to offend Arceus by sending his world into a storm of chaos and destruction." Discord said as he pulled off his goat beard in thought. "Except as a joke of course. I'll just take a vacation then." A second beard then grew back in place of the first one, and the other turned into an umbrella which he used to float away.
Gene was able to find an abandoned house that they were able to take shelter in. He decided to let everyone out of their pokeballs. "Everyone, this is Scootaloo." he told them.
Scootaloo looked at the new pokemon and recognised them from Belle's memories. Fang the Houndoom was impressive and cool. Draco the Flygon was a Dragon so he was automatically cool. Mage the Mismagius was a ghost so she was scary but still cool. River the Dragonair was less impressive to Scootaloo, and for some reason was twitching as she looked at the pegasus. Scootaloo finally turned to look at Webber and-
"Ahhh! Giant spider!" Scootaloo screamed and ran away from him, and straight into River's coils.
"Oh my gosh you're so adorable!" exclaimed River as she couldn't resist any longer and wrapped the little pegasus up in a snakey hug.
"I am not adorable." Scootaloo grumbled from within the inescapable hug.
Late afternoon on one of many dirt roads that run through the Kanto region between small towns walked Gene, Belle, and Scootaloo. The rain had not been too bad, but it had left lots of puddles which the young pegasus filly was only too happy to splash in.
It was an incredibly normal, peaceful, and beautiful day. The sun was shining through wispy clouds, the wind was little more than a gentle breeze, and various Flying and Bug pokemon could be seen moving through the trees in the distance.
"You know," Gene spoke up "if this were a movie, or a book then right about now would be when something dramatic suddenly happens."
Belle looked ahead and deadpanned. "You just had to say something didn't you." She pointed at the figure that was now standing in the middle of the road.
It was a female lopunny. She was quite a lovely one too, far more beautiful than most of her kind. She simply stood there, and waited for them to approach. Gene and Belle not wanting to be rude walked closer, and finally stopped a few feet away.
"Um, hello. Can we get by please?" Gene politely asked. They could have just walked around, but the lopunny was literally standing in the middle of the road with two large mud puddles on either side of her.
The lopunny crossed her arms and smirked. "Sorry handsome, but I can't do that."
Belle scanned the lopunny's mind, and immediately went on guard. The lopunny had her mind shielded by a much stronger Psychic than her. "Stay away from my mate." Belle said.
The lopunny blinked. Then she clutched her stomach as she started laughing. "No haha no need to haha hehehe w worry princess." she stopped to catch her breath. "Trust me he is definitely not my type."
Belle relaxed slightly, but stepped closer to Gene. Scootaloo was hiding behind Gene's legs, and trying not to be seen. Gene was just feeling a little insulted because of the definitely.
"Yeah I wouldn't touch him with a twenty foot pole." she gave them a cocky grin.
"You sure?" Weiss asked after Xavier told him the news. "Alright then. Shredder, Greninja, you two go on ahead and break up the fight that Roll just started."
"What has she done this time?" Shredder asked.
"Xavier didn't say." Weiss said. "Though he did seem slightly amused by something."
Xavier being amused by something was enough to make them all pause. After a moment the ninja and the sword blade pokemon hurried on ahead.
After they travelled the last five miles between their team and the target they slowed down to a jog so they would not startle anyone. They exited the trees to stand beside the muddy road to find a very unexpected sight.
In the middle of the muddy road a lopunny was grappling with a gardevoir. They were both covered in mud and their limbs kept slipping and sliding all over each other as they each tried to get a grip on the other's body. The gardevoir managed to get her legs up between her and the lopunny on top of her, and kicked several times. The Psychic's legs didn't have enough strength to do any actual damage, but she did pump her thighs quite a few times, driving her feet into the lopunny's stomach with each thrust. The lopunny stumbled back and slipped in the mud and fell on her butt. Getting a paw full of mud the lopunny flung it at the other pokemon's eyes. The gardevoir caught it in her Psychic power and sent it right back at her opponent's eyes.
Roll rolled back in a reverse somersault and then leaped forward to deliver a Rolling Kick, only to remember that she was supposed to protect her target not break her. She pulled back her attack. Belle took advantage of the hesitation to teleport just behind the lopunny as she landed, and reached back over her head to grab the big fluffy ears. Roll's eyes went wide as she was jerked up and flipped over backwards to land face first in the mud.
Belle still held the ears as she raised one foot to either kick or stomp, but Roll pushed herself onto her hands and kicked her feet forward to send herself sliding underneath Belle between her legs. The lopunny came out the other side of Belle's gown with a grin and a blush.
Off balance and being pulled forward Belle flipped over into the mud herself. Roll kicked herself up, and flipped backwards to come down on top of Belle.
Roll pinned Belle's arms to the ground with her hands, and sat on her lap with her steel hard thighs clamped to the gardevoir's sides.
She leaned in close face to face and said "Pinned ya!" with a very confident smile across her muzzle.
Belle looked into Roll's eyes for a moment. Then her eyes glew blue and mud erupted around them. When the splashing stopped Roll found herself alone sitting in a puddle and covered in mud.
Greninja did not know what to do simply because of how absurd the situation was. Here was one of his teammates, a highly trained fighter that had once tiptoed her way through a minefield at nearly her top speed...having a catfight in the mud with another female probably over something that she herself had said.
Greninja reached over and tapped Shredder on the shoulder, and then pointed at the fighting females as if asking what they should do. When he got no response he looked to his left to find her completely still with her mouth gaped, her eyes bugged out, and a slight nose bleed. He waved a webbed three fingered hand in front of her face. No response.
The cat fight continued when Belle dropped out of the sky with an elbow drop. Roll collapsed under her but then reached over to pull Belle into a headlock. They then began wrestling with each other in the mud again.
"..." Greninja finally decided to put a stop to it.
In a flash of movement the ninja was standing over them as they continued to roll around in a tangled mass of muddy arms and legs. He raised his arms, and smacked them both on their heads.
"The hell was that for?" they both shouted at him once they were separated.
Greninja jabbed a finger at Roll, and then pointed at Shredder. Roll stomped over to her mate mumbling under her breath the whole way. He then bowed to Belle and silently asked her with a motion of his hand to follow him back to Gene. When he stopped in front of Gene he bowed once more and handed him a note.
The note read: Please forgive us. We are not here to fight you. Shredder will explain in a moment. I promise to keep Roll under control.
Greninja then bowed again and returned to his friends.
"Well okay then." Gene said. He then turned to Belle. "Are you okay? You're not hurt are you?"
"I'm fine." she said and crossed her arms as a grumpy look crossed her face.
"Okay, if you're sure." Gene agreed. He then turned away from her and smiled like an idiot.
The bisharp walked over to them. Her face was bright red and the spot where her nose would be had a few small drops of blood. She stopped in front of Gene and purposely refused to look at Belle. In a completely serious voice that was contradicted by her blush and nose bleed she spoke. "Greetings, my name is Shredder. I'm a member of the mercenary group called Checkmate. We've been contracted by a concerned group of people who have reason to believe that your life is in danger. We're here to protect you."
"I don't need any help protecting my mate."
Shredder looked at Belle, and her blush deepened a little. "The people who supposedly want him dead are one of the Teams. Can you protect him from an army of religiously obsessed humans that want to keep the world exactly how it is, but minus the recent changes in the laws regarding pokephilia."
They were quiet for a moment. "Why do they want me dead?" Gene asked.
"Team Eternity wants to prevent the world from changing, and even reverse some of the progress that civilisation has made if our sources are correct." Shredder explained. "With how much your face has been on the news before and after the laws changed it's likely that you have become a symbol to represent this change in the world. So most likely they want to make an example of you."
"I'm still enough to deal with your playbunny!" Belle countered. "So how are you supposed to protect him if I can beat one of you?"
Shredder's face turned even redder than it has been before and her brain seemed to be nonfunctional at the moment. Roll on the other hand reacted immediately. "What did you call me you girly waifu!?" she yelled from several yards away.
"You stay out of this you big mean ...uh rabbit thing!"
Shredder and Roll looked at where the voice had come from and saw the little filly for the first time. She was standing in front of Gene and Belle now, and scrunched up her face in what was an adorable attempt at a glare. A dust cloud was kicked up as Roll moved with such speed that her image blurred. When the cloud was cleared away by Belle's Psychic the lopunny was found to be holding the young pegasus up in both paws and smiling wide enough to remind the filly of Pinkie Pie.
"Eeeeee! You are adorable!" Roll squealed with delight and hugged her. "What's your name? What are you? Do you get any bigger than this? Please tell me you can use Baby Doll Eyes."
After struggling for a moment to take a breath while having her body compressed by arms that seemed too strong for their size, Scootaloo answered the questions. "My name is Scootaloo, I'm a pegasus, I hope so, I do not under any circumstances play with dolls, and I am not adorable!"
Shredder facepalmed, which resulted in a loud clang as her metal hand met her face. Gene and Belle both sweatdropped.
"Just checking but that is the same lopunny from a minute ago right?" Belle asked the bisharp.
"...she likes kids." Shredder explained. "Look can we just wait here for the rest of our team? Weiss will explain, and hopefully not say anything to make you angry."
They shared a telepathic conversation before answering. Gene nodded his head in agreement.
It was another few minutes before Weiss arrived with the rest of Checkmate, though most of them stayed farther away. What he had to say was nothing that Shredder had not yet told them, with the exception of one detail.
"Hold it!" Gene held up his hand. "I get to enter the league?"
"Yes." the mercenary responded.
"Okay then, just let Belle read your mind to see if you're telling the truth and we've got a deal." Gene said with a wide grin.
"Gene! These people are crazy and you want to actually travel with them?" Belle asked incredulously. "Give me one good reason why we should go along with this."
"Because if we have them to keep the crazy people who actually want to hurt us away, then we can focus on getting the Kanto badges. We get all the badges, we go to the Indigo Plateau. Then we win it-" he took Belle in his arms and kissed her. "-and get married right there for the world to see."
"Okay, that's a good reason." Belle admitted with a sly grin.
"Mazal tov!" Weiss told them with a combination of sarcasm and genuine happiness for the happy couple. "Well come on then, read my mind, just keep away from anything that has nothing to do with you."
"Oh, Xavier already let me read him." Belle confessed. "I believe you."
"...seriously?" Weiss glared at his tactician up in the sky.
She is a Psychic and would never trust us if we did not permit her to see our minds. So I let her peek. Xavier said in his constant monotone.
By the next morning Scootaloo had already begun to bond with the mercenaries, and with the rest of Gene's pokemon. She had especially taken a liking to the ones that in her own words were 'The coolest...unless I compare you to Rainbow Dash' , which included Xavier and Shredder. This was not completely welcome by them.
Her initial reaction to Xavier talking in her head was to yelp in surprise and run around the campsite for a minute or two until Belle explained that he was also a Psychic. She then asked where he was, and he answered by showing her a mental image of himself as he hovered so high up in the sky that she couldn't see him. A short introduction from Weiss later and she was talking her head off to him. After all he was a spy who happened to be a giant metal spider that could fly!
So after swallowing some pancakes that Gene made Scootaloo spent the better part of ten minutes asking the elusive Psychic pokemon a nonstop series of questions. Just some of them included. "How do you fly without wings? Can you go into outer space? Are you really made of metal? Do you know any magic? How long have you been a spy?"
"... you are a rather curious being aren't you? Both in body and mind. I levitate, don't fly. Almost. Yes. Magic is an element reserved for either guileful individuals or Fairy-types, which I am neither of. I am not a spy." he responded. "Does that answer your questions little creature?"
"But you're spying on people. So how do you levitate? Can you teach me how?" she asked while giving him the big eyes.
"That doesn't make me a spy. My mental powers allow me to do so. No." he answered and then pointed a giant claw at her. "How can you do that with your eyes?"
Then she finally got a good look at Shredder. A walking talking sword with super powers and has her own sword, how could the filly resist. "Are you a knight? Where'd you get that sword? Can I have one? Has anyone ever tried using you as a can opener?"
To which Shredder answered with her own questions. "... why are you orange? Why aren't you on fire? Why do you have wings? Why aren't you flying if you have them?"
"... I'm handicapped...jerk." Scootaloo decided to avoid Shredder after that, and Shredder got a few glares from the rest of the group.
Her response to seeing Titania, who was basically a hopping flower, was indifference, which the fairy returned in kind.
When she met Pancha she felt a little sympathetic. "So you can't fly either huh? It's okay, you're still cool." Scootaloo told her.
"I know nina, I know I am awesome... perdoname but who said I can't fly!?" Pancha shouted and she literally got her feathers ruffled.
Scootaloo then asked a question of Roll. "So...Miss Shredder is your special somepony?"
"Special some... is your world filled with those puns? And yes she is." Roll answered with a smile.
"...But you're both girls. How does that work?"
Unless you want to have the sex talk with her, change the subject. Belle told the Lopunny telepathically.
Roll gave an 'It is on!' expression to Belle. "You see little girl..." she then grabbed two of her teammates ,a Goodra and Vespiqueen, to explain the story of the Pidgey and the Combees, and she was quite direct with a couple of topics. She then properly answered her question. "You got all that? Good, our relationship throws all of that out the window and just focuses on how much we love each other."
Belle, Gene, Alice who had played one half of the explanation, and Felicia who had played the other half, all stood there stunned at the graphic descriptions of what had just been said. Luckily Scootaloo had lost interest as soon as the explanation became too scientific, and had gone to pester Weiss.
"Are you one of those ninjas I heard about? Can you teach me-" she stopped her questioning when she saw Edge and Scyla. "Excuse me while I go make plans for a dragon catching cutie mark."
Weiss answered the first part. "I am a mercenary... you gonna do what?" and then he was left feeling very, very confused.
The rest of the morning continued like that for a while. Scootaloo would ask one of the pokemon a series of questions, and then it was almost lunch time. Weiss would have preferred to move on sooner but they still had to at least plan a route around the region, so he and Gene were doing that.
Scootaloo had just frightened Simon by asking why he doesn't take a bath to wash off the dirt in his fur, much to the young pegasus' confusion. She then asked Greninja why his scarf looked so strange.
Greninja looked at her. "..." the tip of the scarf moved and licked the filly.
"... I don't know if I should freak out or say cool... I'll go with eww. Ewwww." Scootaloo shook her head back and forth, and wiped her cheek. "So you are the real ninja?"
"..." he made a few hand signs and hit the ground, creating a huge water screen that he disappeared behind.
"AWESOME! Not quite as cool as Rainbow Dash but close. Can you show me how to do that?" she looked around for him with big eyes.
Greninja reappeared behind her and looked at her carefully.
"Please." Scootaloo turned around to face him. "I'd like to be a ninja." this time instead of simply making her eyes big she actually succeeded in using Baby Doll Eyes.
The Fairy move was highly effective against the Dark type pokemon. He used his Protein ability to change his Dark typing to Steel allowing him to resist it. After thinking about it the ninja motioned with his hand for her to follow him.
Soon enough it was lunch time. Gene made a vegetable soup, with beef jerky on the side for any meat eaters. The mercenaries had brought their own rations so they didn't have to worry about running out of food, but they all agreed that Gene was a much better cook than any of them. Pancha went for a second bowl of soup it was so good.
Scootaloo finished her bowl in record time and immediately took advantage of Greninja's training (he had only taught her the beginnings of a Quick Attack) to zip around and tag several of the pokemon. "Tag! You can't catch me!" she yelled at them and ran off into the woods.
It took a moment for them all to consider it, and then they gave chase. Scootaloo's excitement all morning seemed to be contagious. From Checkmate Pancha, Felicia, Titania, and Sylla (who shouted that she would get everyone) all joined in. Of Gene's pokemon it was Fang, Mage, and River who joined the game.
".......seriously?" Weiss asked nobody in particular.
The game of tag, or perhaps it was hide and seek none of them could really keep track, went on for a good hour or two with everyone tagging and getting tagged almost at random. It eventually became a contest to see who could get the most tags.
Titania was winning because her small size was the advantage. She was feeling quite smug about it too. She had just tagged Fang, much to his surprise (and shame because his nose had told him she was in a different spot) , and now she was hiding in a bush as she waited for someone to ambush. The Fairy giggled silently to herself as she saw Scootaloo slowly making her way to another bush. She readied herself for a fast tag and run.
Scootaloo stuck her head into the bush and threw up.
The game didn't last long after that. Scootaloo was carried back to camp by Fang who held her in his mouth. The day had apparently been a little too exciting for her, and her earlier eating habits didn't help any.
An Audino by the name of Doc looked her over and determined that she was okay. Doc gave her some medicine to help her sleep, and walked away muttering something about 'not getting paid to babysit' and 'billing them for the meds'.
Weiss rubbed his forehead and sighed. "We leave in the morning." he told everyone.
Belle was sleeping next to Gene in her own sleeping bag. Normally they would be cuddling together all snuggled up in the same tent or sleeping bag, but it felt weird to have so many people around.
Belle was not completely asleep, and was drifting in between the worlds of wakefulness and slumber. She felt something prodding at her shoulder. She responded by mumbling something about something sexy, probably Gene.
The prodding continued a little more insistently. Being slightly more aware of herself now Belle waved an arm at the whatever it was that was disturbing her.
"Belle?" Scootaloo asked. "Are you awake?"
No going back to sleep now. Belle yawned as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "What is it? Are you still feeling sick?"
"A little but..." Scootaloo trailed off.
"Hey what's the matter?" Belle got a better look at Scootaloo after she rubbed the sleep from her eyes again. The little filly was standing next to Belle with her ears down and big watery eyes. "Ooh, hey what's wrong?"
"I want to go home."
"Come here." Belle told her and held her arms out. Scootaloo climbed up into the hug. Belle just held her for a few minutes before saying anything. "Now talk to me. Why are you sad?"
Scootaloo pressed deeper into the hug. "I miss my friends. I miss Rainbow Dash. I want to go back home where Fluttershy takes care of me when I get sick and Applejack invites me to dinner and Rarity makes me new clothes every winter." She was literally on the verge of crying.
Belle knew all of this already from having shared her memories with Scootaloo, and she knew that if she hadn't done that then the child would have just kept all of this to herself and cried herself to sleep. "I know, I know." she told Scootaloo and nearly cried herself as she hugged her closer.
Scootaloo pressed her face into Belle's chest. "I even miss my foster parents and I've only known them for a month."
That broke Belle's heart. Instinctively she began to sing a lullaby that she remembered from before she met Gene. She wasn't sure, but she thought it was sung to her by her mother when she was a Ralts. When she finished Scootaloo was nearly asleep in her arms, but the little pegasus had one last thing to say.
"Belle...will you...be my...mom..." she asked in between yawns.
Belle clapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from shouting her answer. Yes, I'd like that. |
Building a Better World: Origins | Make it double part 2 | Shortly after sunrise on the third day after the destruction of Equus a Rapidash was running along a paved road, headed towards a city. The fire horse pokemon was running at its full gallop speed of over one hundred fifty miles per hour. Its hooves barely touched the ground and its flaming mane and tail stretched out behind it sparkling with excess energy.
Riding on this Rapidash's back was a young woman. Her appearance was blurred by the fire flowing around her, but in her arms she held something wrapped in a denim jacket. She clutched it tight to her chest with one arm while she held onto the pokemon with the other.
The pokemon's speed began to drop, and the girl knew that her friend was at his limit. Letting go of him she reached for another pokeball, and called out Zebstrika. The zebra pokemon appeared in almost full gallop alongside them, and the two equines matched their speed. Moving carefully she rose to a crouch on the Fire type's back, and with a graceful maneuver she hopped on the Electric pokemon's back.
As the girl called back her pokemon and continued on with her Zebstrika now running in a full gallop, they passed a trio of travelers. A man, a mawile, and a lucario. The Fairy type watched with raised eyebrows as the girl disappeared from view down the road.
"Wow, she's good." the mawile commented.
The lucario studied the fading aura signature of the small bundle in the girl's arms. It was definitely an aura pokemon, but it was different than any she had seen before. "I'm not sure, but I think she was carrying a riolu." she finally said.
THUNK!
The two female pokemon both looked to see that the source of the sound was their trainer walking head first into a tree as he had kept his face buried in his map. They both stared at him for a moment as the thought of 'Really?' passed through their minds. Then the buzzing started...
All three of them looked up in time to see the Beedrill swarm hovering above the same tree that the man had walked into. They took just enough time to scream before running away as fast as they could.
The girl had noticed nothing and continued on, her Zebstrika going all out. They came into the city fairly quickly and the pokemon slowed down in time to stop at the Pokemon Center. Leaping off of her ride the girl ran inside and called out for help.
"What's wrong?" asked the Nurse Joy who was sitting behind the desk.
"I found this pokemon on my way to town." the said as she placed the bundled up pokemon on the desk for the nurse to see. "I don't know what it is and it looks seriously hurt."
"Let's see here." Nurse Joy carefully unwrapped the jacket. A blue equine head with a mane of rainbow colors was revealed. "Oh my goodness, it doesn't look good. But we'll get this pokemon up and running around again in no time."
Wake up. Xavier told everyone in his monotone telepathy. It is time to move out.
There was quite a bit of grumbling from the others as they were woken up so bluntly. The powerful Psychic had actively brought them out of their sleep. The only ones not complaining about being woken up were the couple of mercenaries who had been on watch, and now had to move out instead of sleeping.
"What's the rush Xavier?" Weiss asked before letting out an impressive yawn.
Joker
The majority of Checkmate had the same reaction of a facepalm. Simon the Excadrill was still laying on his belly and simply buried his head in the ground after saying "Nope." The Gyarados and Noivern members of the group both muttered something about having a snack, which made Gene decide to give them some space.
"So who is this guy?" Gene asked Weiss as he started packing up his camping gear.
"...competition, and we're not going to wait here to find out if he's after you or not." the mercenary told his charge. "Pack it up fast people, we're leaving, now!"
"Is there anything I need to know about this guy?" Gene asked.
"You mean other than him being a complete nut job?" Weiss sighed. "Yeah actually you should know as much as necessary about him."
"...as much as necessary? Not as much as possible?" Gene asked.
"I wish that I knew less about him. So trust me when I say that you don't want to know too much." Weiss warned him.
"Okay..." Gene continued packing.
"I occasionally had to work a few jobs with him." with that said Weiss began a flashback.
A younger Weiss stood at a safe distance from a mine field. He was dressed in a standard combat and recon outfit in all black with lots of straps and pockets to hold his equipment. The day was bright but he still couldn't see where all the mines were. They had been standing there for nearly half an hour, and the longer they waited the more the other man got on his nerves.
"Hey Weiss, look at me!"
Weiss did not look. He continued to study the ground ahead in hopes of determining the best path across.
"Hey Weiss! Hey Weiss! Hey Weiss! Hey Weiss! Weiss. Weiss. Weiss. Weiss. Weissy. Weissy. Weissy. Weissy. Wei. Wei. Wei. Wei. Double u. Double u. Double u. Double u."
"What!? What do you want Joker!?" he finally yelled at the other man.
"Hi." he said with a small wave. "I forgot what I was going to say."
"... Why are you dressed like that?" Weiss asked when he noticed that Joker was wearing a white tutu, with a matching top, short baggy striped shorts, and shoes made for playing football.
"Comedic effect."
Having learned not to question the things Joker does already Weiss decided to ignore the odd choice in clothing and return to the task at hand. He suddenly found himself with an idea.
"Hey Joker, I'll bet you five dollars that you can't get through this mine field without setting off any explosions."
Joker looked Weiss in the eye with a completely serious expression. "Did you just bet five dollars on whether or not I die crossing a minefield?" he asked. "Is that really how much you think my life is worth?"
"... Yeah." Weiss confirmed with a nod.
"... Prepare to lose your lunch money!" Joker said. He then proceeded to prance across the minefield in a dance like fashion reminiscent of a very crude ballet that included quite a few too many pelvic thrusts. He then reached the other side completely unharmed and spiked an imaginary football into the ground. "You totally owe me five bucks!"
Weiss took a moment to process what he had just seen. After his moment he calmly walked across the minefield, being careful to step only where the other man had, and made his way to the other side unharmed. He then gave his wallet, which contained at least five hundred dollars to Joker. "Keep the change, I'm starting a tab."
"You're kidding, right?" Gene asked as they stepped out of the trees and on to the road. "That actually happened?"
"Yes." was Weiss' simple answer.
"I'm not sure I want to know anything else about him." the younger man said as he shook his head in an effort to clear away the unusual image that now existed in his mind.
"Fare enough." Weiss couldn't blame him for that. "If he is after you, you're going to get told to run. Some of us will stay with you, but just worry about running."
"Is he really that dangerous?"
"He once stole a contract from me that would have taken at least six of us to complete, by himself." Weiss deadpanned. "Guy doesn't really have the skills, but he can...do things."
Weiss was sneaking through a warehouse under the cover of darkness. In the classic black trench coat, combat boots, shirt, and pants of a stealth operative he blended in with the shadows. With him were Pancha, Rouge, Titania, and the Ghost Burton. Greninja was elsewhere in the building as backup.
The job was simple. Get in, get the item, get out, and remove anything that got in the way. The item in question was a set of documents that in the right hands would give that person control of a manufacturing company.
He came to the door of the office that his information said the documents we're held in. With his pokemon he slowly opened the door after picking the lock. What they found was not what they expected. "Joker?"
"Sup dawg!" Joker greeted them before he returned to rummaging through the cabinets for the documents.
"... Why are you here?" Weiss asked him.
"I'm working for the guy who is trying to take control of the company from the guy that you're working for." the other mercenary answered honestly and completely unconcerned about his competition knowing his business. "Hey you up for pizza later?"
"No I don't want any pizza." Weiss told him. He then walked up behind Joker and hit a nerve cluster in his neck to leave him unconscious. "Idiot."
As Weiss was going through the same cabinet his teammates started on the others. After a minute of searching he found it. "I've got the item, let's go."
"BRAAAIINNNSSSS!" yelled Joker as he leaped from the floor and grabbed Weiss in a headlock from behind. "BRAAINSS!"
"GAH!" Weiss stumbled backwards into the wall. The other man was still on his back and acting like a zombie. "The Hell Joker!? Get off!"
"Brains." Joker said as he reached for the documents.
"No!" Weiss yelled in defiance and held the documents away as he tried to get the other arm off of his neck.
"Brains!" Joker yelled back. He climbed up on Weiss piggyback style and reached for the documents again.
Weiss began running around the office and banging Joker into anything he could in an effort to dislodge him. "Get off! Get off! Get off!" he yelled each time he smacked into something.
"Brain!" Joker leaned over and licked the side of Weiss' face.
"Ahh!" Weiss exclaimed in disgust and threw his arms up to cover his head.
"Brains!" Joker shouted in victory as he grabbed the documents from Weiss' hand. He then jumped off of him and flipped in the air to land in a perfect two point dismount. "Yay!"
His victory was short lived as Weiss tackled him and pushed him out the window, being sure to grab the documents too.
"I HATE YOU!" Weiss yelled out the window. He turned accusingly to his teammates. "And where were the four of you?"
"We were here laughing." Pancha told him with a thumbs up.
"....let's just go get paid." he said.
Suddenly the door was kicked open by Joker who was wearing a jumpsuit and had a vacuum cleaner strapped to his back. "Who ya gonna call?" he shouted. Aiming his vacuum at Burton he flipped the switch to on, and a tornado like force sucked the Ghost into the machine. He then threw a jar of bugs at the floor in front of Rouge causing the Grass type to run away before they could get an appetite. He then pointed an aerosol can at Pancha and Titania, and sprayed them with the canned Stun Spore paralyzing them. He then took the vacuum cleaner off and threw it at Weiss who caught it with his chest.
Joker picked up the documents and walked out saying "You guys are fun you know that? We should do this more often."
A few hours later the Checkmate mercenaries were doing the walk of shame through town. They heard someone calling them and looked at the nearby pizza place. Joker was waving at them and pointing at an extra large pizza on his table.
"Ok you are either screwing with me, or completely serious. Either way I don't want to hear anymore about this guy." Gene told Weiss.
"I don't blame you." Weiss watched as his paycheck walked off to be beside Belle.
Gene held hands with Belle as she levitated Scootaloo through the air like she was flying. Weiss started to think about the little pegasus and what could happen to the mission while she was with them. He didn't like what he pictured.
Xavier, one to Roll, he requested via telepathy. Roll, the kid is going to put the mission in jeopardy. First chance you get drop her off at a Pokemon Center.
Affirmative, the Lopunny thought back.
That is ill advised, Xavier warned them. The Gardevoir and the young one have imprinted on each other as mother and child. So unless you want an angry mother Psychic type whose species is known for its reputation for seeking out those who hurt their family and taking vengeance, I advise against this course of action.
Oh please, how strong do you think she is? I could beat her easy if I wasn't holding back., Roll bragged.
Xavier sighed mentally. Roll, you do realize that if it was actually a true one on one battle without me to keep your mind shielded she would make you her puppet.
...yeah well she looks like a floozy, she thought back to Xavier only to get no response. Thinking that she had somehow won the argument Roll continued on walking with a smug look on her face.
"What are you so happy about?" Weiss asked her. He did not understand her answer because it only came in pokemon speak. "Xavier, you ok up there? We lost our mental link."
"NOIVERN!" the Dragoness Edge roared as she swept in low to smack her teammates out of the way. Roll and Weiss took a tumble across the ground, and Edge got slammed into the ground as Xavier fell onto her, thankfully upside down so she didn't get the spikes.
"Xavier! Edge!" the human mercenary ran to them. "What happened? What's your status?"
Apologies. I am under the effect of Gravity, and it was all I could do to slow my descent. Are you injured Edge?, the massive Steel type asked after re-establishing the Psychic link.
"Not injured, but I'd appreciate it If you would get off." she told him.
"What happened Xavier?" Weiss asked as several other pokemon, Bell included, carefully moved him off of her.
"That happened." he pointed one claw at a rapidly spinning purple object.
The purple object landed to reveal itself as a Starmie when it stopped in front of three other Psychic types, Beyheem, Solrock, and Lunatone. Team Diamond of the Royal Flush mercenaries.
An eerie feeling on the back of Weiss's neck told him they were being watched. He turned to find four Dark types blocking the road from that direction. The Scrafty, Liepard, Krookodile, and Weavile made up the team known as Spade.
A crashing sound was heard from both the left and right, trees were being knocked loose from the ground and left to tilt sideways. Finally from out of the trees stepped eight pokemon, four on either side of the road. The Venusaur, Gogoat, Breloom, and Whimsicott were team Clover. The Farfetched, Miltank, Snorlax, and Porygon Z were the final team, Heart.
Several of the mercenaries from either guild were glaring at each other, clearly having spotted their rivals. Weiss couldn't think of a way that this could be any worse, though he didn't voice his opinion because of Murphy's law. He knew that Joker usually worked alone and sent his pokemon on their own jobs, unless it was a very high profile target that he was after. So to see all of the Royal Flush mercenary guild in one place on one job, he knew that Joker wasn't far away.
"Alright, where are you you idiot?" Weiss asked. He received a handful of popcorn to the back of his head in answer. A look over his shoulder revealed that the man himself was standing in the middle of all of Checkmate, eating popcorn, and standing right beside Gene.
"Boo!" Joker shouted and threw another handful of popcorn at Weiss. "You never have a strong reaction to anything I do anymore. Oh my gosh that means that you've finally gotten used to me!"
Weiss saved himself from the incoming hug by thrusting his arm out and letting Joker slam face first into his palm. He then realized that he had in fact gotten used to most of Joker's antics, so he shuddered in disgust. Joker then licked his palm and he reeled back, quickly wiped his hand on his shirt, and punched Joker in the face.
Gene, Belle, and Scootaloo all watched as the crazy man rolled on the ground laughing at his own pain. He was dressed in rather unusual clothes for a mercenary. He was wearing a tropical shirt that he left unbuttoned with a white t-shirt underneath it, green pants with canary yellow pinstripes, and shiny black dress shoes. He was a pale pasty white man with brown hair that was swept back in an Elvis style. With a crooked nose from Weiss' punch and a wide toothy smile his laughter was a little disturbing.
Finally stopping his laughing fit Joker flipped himself up from the ground. "Oh man, Weiss it's been so long since we've seen each other. I missed you buddy."
Weiss brushed Joker's hand off of his shoulder. "You're on an important job aren't you?"
"Sure am." the crazy man reached into his tropical shirt where there was no pocket and pulled out a picture. "We're looking for this guy. You seen him?"
Weiss looked at the picture of Gene, with a big mustache drawn on his face. Weiss kept a neutral expression and silently prayed for luck, because if this worked they would be on their way. "Never seen him before."
"Well that sucks...how about you two? Ever seen him before?" Joker asked Gene and Belle. They both looked at the photo and sweatdropped before saying that they had never seen him before. "Dambit."
"Well it was nice seeing you Joker." Weiss said in his best sarcasm voice. He then pushed the other man in the opposite direction that they needed to go.
"Wait a minute!" Joker was suddenly standing in front of Gene. He held the photo up next to Gene's face and studied both of them. "The guy in the picture is uglier than you."
"....uhh, thanks..."
"That was certainly nice of you Joker, now go away." Weiss turned him around and pushed him again.
"...hold on a second." Joker looked at the picture and at Gene again. "Wait just a minute." he looked again. "Something ain't quite right here." he looked again. "Now hold on one moment." Joker suddenly latched onto Gene's head with one hand and had a black magic marker in the other. "Hold still while I stache you!"
After Belle teleported the crazy person away from her mate... Gene had the exact same mustache on his face as his picture. Joker laughed at the situation. "Now I remember! I got bored and put a mustache on his picture. Silly me." he rolled his eyes and smirked at his own foolishness. "Well alrighty then, Royal Flush vs Checkmate, it's going to be a battle, battle, battle of the bands...of mercenary guilds." he then threw a random pokeball that opened and let out a frightened and angry Geodude.
"Geo dude dude geo! Where the hell am I!?" it shouted as it instinctively went into a Rollout attack. Simon the Excadrill effortlessly caught the Rock type in one paw and threw it as far as he could.
Weiss took out two knives and stepped closer to Gene. The other members of Checkmate got ready for the fight, they had fought against Royal Flush on numerous occasions before and knew that they were just as skilled as them, though less likely to stick so strictly to their orders and each team had at least one obvious weakness. Joker reached behind him and pulled on a cowboy style gun holster with a revolver on each hip. "Let's dance!" the nut job said.
"Excuse me. Your pokemon is just fine now." Nurse Joy handed the pokeball to the girl who had been waiting in the lobby.
The young blonde haired girl stopped fussing with her ponytail and turned her green eyes towards the older woman. "Why did you put it in a pokeball? I didn't catch it." She asked in confusion.
"Well we have a Hypno who volunteered to ask her a few questions and answer any that she would have." Nurse Joy explained with a smile. "Long story short she doesn't know where she is, and she could use some help finding her family. She also said that she would like to try and repay you for your kindness when you helped her."
The girl took the pokeball from Nurse Joy and opened it up. After a flash of red light the girl and the mare were looking at each other. Rainbow Dash saw that her helper was a bit of a mix between Rarity and Applejack. Her yellow ponytail and green eyes, her jacket looked tough but was stylized and fashionable, her white pants didn't have a spot of dirt on them while her hiking boots were filthy.
She held out her hand and smiled at Rainbow Dash. "Hello, I'm Melissa Chapman, and I guess I'm your trainer now." |
Building a Better World: Origins | Battle Royal | Gene wasn't complaining, not too much anyway. The guy that was trying to kill him, Joker, had decided to use an oversized wooden hammer rather than the revolvers he had in his hip holsters. Unfortunately for Weiss this was something to complain about as it meant he got knocked to the ground several times, and his black trench coat got dirty which Joker found funny. With Joker being the only one that was actually trying to kill Gene and the pokemon members of Royal Flush just keeping the other Checkmates occupied, Weiss only had to worry about the one mad man.
Joker swung the hammer from his left to his right aiming for the other mercenary's head. Weiss ducked underneath the swing and thrust his right hand forward to try to stab Joker's arm, but Joker let go of the handle with the hand that was aimed at and he was thrown off balance by the hammer. Spinning in a circle Joker knocked Weiss' right hand away from him with his left hand, spun on his toes and aimed the hammer at the other man's back, but Weiss saw it coming and flipped himself onto the ground, rolling face up as Joker was in the right spot he kicked him in the gut sending him falling to his back. Weiss rolled himself up onto one foot and a knee, and threw a knife at Joker. Joker blocked the knife with the handle of his hammer just before his nose got pierced.
"Wooo! Weiss buddy, you're actually trying this time." Joker cheered as he stood up. He grabbed the knife with his left hand and pulled it out of the hammer's handle. Twirling the knife around in his fingers he grinned wider than he had before. "People are going to need more popcorn!"
Shredder and Roll had teamed up against two of the Grass types, Iosac the Whimsicott and Saraid the Breloom. Any other time the Fighting type would go directly for the Dark type since she has a double weakness to Fighting, but Shredder was too experienced and familiar with that strategy for it to work. So instead the the Fighting type was going up against the Lopunny and the Fairy against the Bisharp.
Shredder's sword danced through the air as easily as if it was an actual part of her body. The Whimsicott was fast, small, and highly skilled at evasion. Shredder slashed down at the rapid little Fairy who kept blowing raspberries at her every time she missed.
"Iosac you bastard leprechaun, hold still!" Shredder cursed as her sword cleaved into the ground. She hated fighting opponents like this, they used a different strategy each time and could switch to a different one at any moment.
"Hehehe! " Iosac zipped around her and dusted her with a Cotton Spore to lower her speed. He then sent a Razor Leaf across her back, the low level attack didn't do much damage to the armored Steel type but it was still one more hit that he had landed.
Not having the option of increasing her speed Shredder opted to increase her attack and defense with Swords Dance and Iron Defense. She would catch him eventually, it was only a matter of staying in the fight long enough to tire him out. She saw him come around her right side and thrust out her armored hand with a Night Slash.
Iosac pulled back just in time, the Night Slash had clipped the white fluff on his head. She may be slow to him but Shredder was still a member of queen in Checkmate, so she was NOT to be underestimated. So he used a Tailwind to boost his own speed started pelting her with Razor Leaves from every possible direction, and blowing raspberries the whole time. ""
Roll had quite the boxing match for herself. Saraid was the best hand to hand fighter in Royal Flush. The Breloom threw two left handed jabs at the Lopunny's face, only missing because her target ducked to the left. Roll came back at the Grass type with a right hook to the jaw. Saraid rolled with the punch and spun with an Iron Tail aimed at Roll's legs. But the Normal type hopped lightly over the metallic appendage, only to get a fast Mach Punch to the gut.
After sliding backwards a few feet from the force of the blow Roll remembered one crucial fact about her opponent. Saraid had the Effect Spore ability, which meant that every physical hit she took from the Grass/Fighting type pokemon delivered a shot of poison to her system.
Saraid taunted her adversary with a cocky grin and put her hands up in a boxer's pose. Roll Growled and cracked her knuckles, which ignited in flames as she powered up her Fire Punch. In the blink of an eye the two female brawlers were slugging it out like a pair of crazed bare knuckle boxers.
Elsewhere across the battlefield the various members of the two rival mercenary groups had paired off and were going at it. Simon the Excadrill was locked in a stalemate wrestling match with the Dark/Ground Krookodile, and the earth trembled and shook around their feet. Titania as a Fairy type had the advantage over the other three Dark types and was dancing around them while she hit them with various Fairy type attacks. Pancha and the Farfetch'd had taken to the air and were nothing more than two blurs striking each other repeatedly while in flight.
Among them all was a little multicolored figure dashing in between them and delivering light jabbing strikes to any of the Royal Flush pokemon that were fighting. Her green body moved fast, her red and blue flower bouquet 'hands' shooting Poison Stings at any nearby enemy, and the white petals on her head whipping to and fro as she changed direction to strike yet another target.
If I could just get close to Iosac and Saraid then I'd be able to take them out of the fight. Rouge thought to herself. She glanced at the two Grass types where they were fighting Shredder and Roll. The Whimsicott had a flat top where her teammate's sword had clipped his fluff, but Shredder was only getting slower as he hit her with more Cotton Spores. Roll was faring a little better as she landed a solid left right combination to the Breloom's face with her Fire Punch, but the poison was taking its toll as well.
Rouge returned her attention to the task at hand, and yelped as a sun and moon appeared in front of her. Before she could get away she was knocked down by a Psychic attack and was then trapped by a Fire Spin. She jerked back from the ring of fire around her and watched the two Rock/Psychics carefully. She didn't know these two members of Royal Flush very well. All she knew was that the Solrock was named Helios and was the muscle of his team while the Lunatone was named Selene and dealt more in countering attacks.
"Well hello." Helios greeted her as he floated just beyond the flames. "Are you from space baby? Because your thighs are out of this world."
"...What?" she wanted to be sure she had heard him correctly.
"How would you like to come back to my place and play? I'll be the naughty Professor and you can be the young naive trainer."
Rouge sputtered and failed to form any actual words as her brain refused to work. But a response was given nonetheless as one of her teammates had heard these words as well.
Simon the Driller, in a burst of strength and agility suddenly spun on his heels, grabbed his opponent's right arm in both of his massive clawed paws, and heaved. The Krookodile flew through the air (an unwelcome experience for the Ground type) and startled several of the pokemon on both sides of the battle, and rammed into the Solrock with enough momentum to keep going and crash through a few trees.
"THAT IS NOT HOW YOU TALK TO A LADY!" Simon bellowed.
Everyone else shrugged and went back to trying to beat each other senseless. Simon ran over to where Rouge was trapped by the still burning ring of fire and used his big claws to shovel large scoops of dirt onto the flames. They stood there for a moment, and then realized that Selene was still floating nearby.
"... I'll go check on Helios now." wisely said the Lunatone.
Simon watched the moon pokemon go before he spoke to Rouge. "Are you okay?"
"Oh I'm alright Simon." she told him and blushed just a little. "Thank you for saving me."
Simon noticed her blush and got a little concerned. "You're turning red there. Did the fire get you?"
"What? Oh, yes just a teensy bit I think, but I will be fine." she waved him off with a red bouquet and grinned sheepishly.
"Well if you say so. Back to the battle!" Simon turned to run back into the fray. He got about five feet before a Snorlax bellyflopped on him.
"Oh dear! Simon are you alright?" Rouge called to him.
The Snorlax stood up off of him and he rolled over onto his back. "Well if it isn't the rotund one." he taunted feebly as his lungs tried to recover the oxygen that had been knocked out of them. "Go take a jog."
Gordo did not like being told to take a jog, so he stomped on the other pokemon. Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp. Then he jumped and delivered another Heavy Slam bellyflop, the Steel type move doing increased damage from the Snorlax's massive weight. It did not end there though as the enormous Normal type bent over (somehow) and started slapping his face repeatedly.
Rouge could have left it to Simon if it was just the violence because she knew that he would look back on it as a good time battling his rival. What she could not stand however was the insulting way that Gordo was smacking him in the face, and the disgusting language that he was using. Choosing to indulge her temper Rouge cupped her bouquets at her right side and started focusing absorbed sunlight into a ball. She let the energy build up as much as possible before calling out the attack. Normally She and her teammates did not do that because it gave away the element of surprise, but she felt compelled to do it.
"Soooooollaaaarrrrrrrrr BEAM!" she yelled as she released the pent up energy and put as much force behind it as she could.
Gordo turned around in time to see what must have been the light of heaven itself. Then he exploded as the super charged Solar Beam hit him in the face from only six feet away. The detonation of the attack when it hit its target sent out a shockwave that knocked the other battlers nearby to the ground. The Snorlax was still standing, but he was also unconscious with his mouth slack jawed and his eyes while open were swirling.
Simon reached up and poked Gordo's belly with a claw, and the bigger pokemon promptly fell over. Simon stood up and looked at the fallen Mon. "My rival defeated by a single attack from my teammate." He threw an arm around her in a bro-hug. "I knew you had it in you! Just as I knew we would be the closest of friends from the day we first worked together!"
Rouge blushed again, and tried to push him away. "Um, back to the battle." she said as enthusiastically as possible. His answer was a hearty yes.
Once again the battle royal continued. While those on the ground recovered from the blast a Hawlucha and a Farfetch'd took their aerial battle to the ground.
Pancha ran towards the other Flying type and kicked off of the ground with her left foot to deliver a knee first High Jump Kick to the other bird's face. Rey blocked her kick with his left wing, and smacked her away with a blow from his leek. Pancha kicked off from the ground before she had even fully landed, leaped over her opponent, somersaulted in mid air, and kicked him in the back with both feet. Rey landed on his chest and rolled over just in time to avoid Pancha's next attack, and they both jumped away.
They faced each other again and waited for the right moment to attack. Weiss and Joker brought their fight around them at that moment, and Joker was swinging a cowbell on a rope as a weapon. Weiss grabbed the bell and smacked Joker on the head with it twice.
Ding! Ding!
The two Flying types rushed into battle. Rey swept his leek at Pancha's legs with a Fury Cutter. Pancha jumped and raised her right wing, her hand lit up with power and she brought it down on his head. His resistance to Fighting type attacks prevented the Karate Chop from doing any significant damage, and he used his leek to Cut her. Pancha had dodged fast enough to avoid the Cut's power, but the edge of the attack had still caught her leg and drew a small bit of blood. She picked up a small rock and threw it at his face, when he ducked it he left himself open to a punch to the gut. When he bent over she hooked her left arm around his and her right under his body, then she lifted him upside down and jumped. Pancha had Rey set to land head first when they landed, but he flapped his wings and kept them in the air long enough to start a Brave Bird attack. Before Pancha could escape Rey grabbed her around the waist and held her tight as they crashed to the ground.
When the dust cleared Rey was standing up, and got kicked in the face by a yellow clawed foot. Pancha grabbed him around the neck with a headlock and dragged him along as she ran up a tree. When she got to the top she leaped and threw him down to the ground with a Sky Drop, spread her wings and used her momentum to glide back up to the top of another tree. Before Rey could recover Pancha began snapping off small sticks, then used them for a barrage of Fling attacks.
Rey was pinned to the ground by dozens of sticks and Pancha had an opening. She back flipped over the top of the tree, landed on one of the branches, and used it to springboard high up into the air. When she reached the highest point she could and began to fall Pancha angled her wings in a way that would accelerate her by spinning her body like a bullet. The grin on her face at this moment would rival Joker's. As she descended from the sky a spiral contrail formed and followed her.
Rey opened his eyes and saw a red, green, and white object approaching him. When he tried to move the sticks dug into his skin. He struggled more when he could hear the whistling of the air as it passed over her form. He broke one wing free ...and Pancha hit her attack with perfect aim.
The resulting impact crator had a spiral impression carved into it, was about ten feet wide, two feet deep, and had two immobile forms at the center. Pancha's enhanced version of the Flying Press, the Corkscrew Flying Press left her with confusion, but it was a one hit knockout for most of the weaker pokemon. She rested with her right wing draped over Rey's body, and her beak close enough to nuzzle him if she wanted to.
"...Sexy hombre..." she said in her confusion. If she actually meant that or if she was too confused to know what she was saying is up for debate.
Three others had moved their fight off of the road and into the trees. Edge, the huge bat like Noivern swooped in low to blast the area with powerful sound waves as her teammate Scylla the Gyarados shot multiple Dragon Rage attacks at the enemy. The large Venusaur used his vines to block the attacks as much as possible, and swept the area with a Poison Powder before he pulled a boulder out of the ground with his vines tried to slam his opponents with it. Edge dodged and put some distance between her and the improvised Rock attack, Scylla took the boulder head on and Crunched it in her mighty jaws turning it into pebbles. The two Checkmates moved in for close quarters combat and attacked with claws, jaws, and pythonic coils.
Breasal was a strong Grass type, in fact most thought he was the strongest Grass type in the world. But as he found himself caught between two equally strong Flying types Breasal decided to step it up a dozen notches or so. With Scylla wrapped around him her jaws clamped onto his back, and Edge clawing at his flower he combined his two most powerful attacks. Outrage and Plant Frenzy. His eyes flashed a brilliant angry red and he gripped both of the females in his vines, and as dozens of trees suddenly grew and thrashed about he swung them around smashing them into the plants as they were actively attacked by the trees.
The rest of both Checkmate and Royal Flush gave that part of the surrounding forest a very wide safety range as it was being completely demolished by the three pokemon. If the wordless roars that could be heard coming from the woods were any indication of what was happening, not to mention the occasional full grown tree that was uprooted and thrown into the air, then it would be suicide for the three monsters to be interrupted.
Roll threw a left jab Saraid, but missed. After the Breloom dodged the Fire Punch she caught the Lopunny with a right hook to the kidney. Roll dropped her left arm down around the mushroom cap that made up the top of Saraid's head and held her tight as she hit her with multiple Fire Punch body shots. She would have continued if the poison in her system hadn't chosen that moment to fill her body with pain. Saraid broke loose and swung her head up to hit a Headbutt that sent Roll stumbling back. Roll came back at Saraid with another flaming fist, but a second spasm of pain tripped her up, and the Breloom hit her in the stomach with a Dynamic Punch while she was doubled over, and sent her flying up into lower orbit.
Saraid watched as her rival was about to disappear in a twinkle of light. But she was interrupted by a flying Whimsicott crashing into the tree to her left. Iosac was lodged upside down into the trunk of the tree with his eyes rolling around in unconsciousness. Saraid looked over her shoulder, and sweatdropped. Behind her stood Shredder who's eyes were two cold angry orbs. The Bisharp raised her sword and the Breloom sweatdropped even more.
A badly burned Breloom was soon seen running at full speed in an effort to escape the very angry Bisharp. Shredder had apparently raised her strength with Swords Dance so much to the point that she overpowered the effects of Cotton Spore and could almost keep up with the faster pokemon.
Through all of this Gene, Belle, and Scootaloo had stood there and just watched as the mercenaries, both the ones protecting them and the ones trying to kill Gene, all seemingly forgot that they were there. Gene scratched his head under his wizard's hat.
"Umm, not that I'm complaining, but shouldn't they at least be trying to catch me or something?" he asked nobody in particular.
They watched as Weiss grabbed Joker in a headlock and started punching the top of his head. Joker just stood there for a minute and let himself get punched, each punch to his head was accompanied by him saying "Ouch." Joker then slipped his right foot between the other man's legs and shifted his body, sending Weiss tripping over to the ground. Joker backed up and got a running start before he jumped and yelled "Elbow drop!" as he fell elbow first across Weiss's upper chest.
"It's called a distraction." the Audino named Doc said as she pushed him away from the battle. "Most of these idiots can't resist fighting each other whenever they meet. So move it while they don't care."
"Now that's not very nice of ye Doc." said someone with an Irish accent. "Not all of us in Royal Flush are so silly and foolish. Checkmate on the other hand..."
Doc glanced at the speaker, Riona the Gogoat and queen of team Clover in Royal Flush. With her were Inge the Porygon Z ace of Heart, Monarca the Miltank queen of Heart, as well as the king and queen of Diamond Saturn the Beyheeyem and Neptune the Starmie.
"I don't know if ye have noticed or not Doc, but you are a wee bit outnumbered." Riona said with a smirk.
"I don't know if any of you have noticed, but I can teleport." Belle deadpanned.
"Oh we know senorita." the older Miltank said. "We are just waiting for a good opportunity to take out two Tailows with one stone."
Xavier crashed down between the two groups. "The Gravity wore off, so I am now free to-" he stopped mid sentence as the Stamie spun its body to fly away.
"Thanks for being so helpful Xavier." Saturn said, and the Beyheeyem unleashed his Psychic powers. "Synchronize!" Psychic energy danced across the bodies of Belle and Xavier as the attack targeted their Psychic typing. The Beyheeyem then teleported directly in front of the Gardevoir and used another move. "Imprison."
Belle's eyes shot open and she tried, she tried, and she tried. "I can't teleport!"
"Perfect." said the Beyheeyem. He then sent her and Scootaloo away gently with his Psychic, he knew what Joker would do to him if he hurt a child even by accident so he took extra care when set Scootaloo down. He turned back to the job at hand. "Now where were we."
He was face to face with a Houndoom.
"Fang, Bite!" Gene grabbed two more of his pokeballs and called out more of his family. "River, Webber, make a storm!"
The Houndoom lunged with an open maw of vicious fangs, passed through the useless Psychic barrier that the panicking Psychic type had placed, and bit down on nothing as Saturn teleported away. River flew up into the sky and did a Rain Dance, and as the water fell the pokemon of Royal Flush looked blankly at the Electric pokemon. Webber's arachnid body sparked briefly.
"Well this will hurt." Riona said.
"Electro Web, Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt!"
Fourth wall.
Joker sat in a high backed chair. He was wearing a set of expensive black and red silk robes and pajamas. He sat with his legs crossed and held a tea cup in his hands.
"Hello everyone reading at home. I'm Joker, your favorite fourth wall character,and I'm here to give you a message on behalf of the writer. You see, because of the excessive amount of Electric type attacks seen in the Pokemon anime the writer has decided to not bother with describing the effects of being hit with them at this time. If you would like to see what it would look like then feel free to watch this video." he sipped his tea. "Enjoy."
"Oh, and for an erection lasting more than four hours, pat yourself on the back." he uncrossed his legs to reveal a video link. "You know you want to click it."
Riona recovered from the shock of the Electric attacks first thanks to her Grass typing. The Gogoat charged the Galvantula with her Horn Leech. Her horns are straighter than those of most Gogoats so she was able to run them underneath Webber and forklift the Bug over her. The Horn Leech recovered some health for her, and as Webber fell she bucked both of her hind hooves into his back.
Webber fell in a heap. He was pretty sure that kick had been some kind of Fighting type move. He climbed to his feet and was met with an emotionless faceless enemy. He shocked it but the Starmie was unfazed.
"I Camouflaged myself to gain immunity to electricity. If I cared I would advise you to use Bug type attacks, but since it was my Psychic typing that I replaced it would not have much effect." the Starmie warned him. He was then trapped by Webber's Spiderweb. "Really? Spiderweb? My kind's signature move frees me from this."
Webber would have facepalmed if he had had the time, or a palm, but instead he fired more Spiderwebs while he used Agility. It's not his normal style, but when the opponent is immune to your best attacks you tend to improvise.
Neptune escaped from the web with a Rapid Spin, and continued the move to make all of Webber's webs useless. If someone else didn't step in then Webber was finished.
"Willow Wisp!"
Several small blue balls of fire collided with the Starmie. He was thrown off balance by his new burns before he could reach Webber. When he righted himself Neptune could hear the laughter of a taunting Ghost. "Show yourself you insufferable intangible specter so I can Hydropump you!"
In answer he received another set of Willow Wisps to his back. And he heard more laughter as he turned around to strike at the vanishing Mismagius, only to get a Blizzard from River. It hurt quite a bit since he didn't have his normal resistance to Ice.
Fang leaped over Webber and charged with a Fire Fang. The Starmie didn't bother to dodge, but was surprised when the Houndoom jumped over him as well. Fang landed behind his target turned and slammed his horns into Neptune's back sending him flying right into Xavier's Meteor Mash.
"That was highly satisfying." the Metagross commented.
A stream of flames flowed over Xavier's metal body. He deflected the Flamethrower with his Psychic before it could do any significant damage. He tore up a chunk of earth with his claw and used his Psychic powers to improvise a Mud Shot, getting a direct hit in the face of the Porygon Z.
Inge ignored the hit and fired a Tri Attack, hitting Xavier with the Ice and Electric beams, but missed with the Fire beam. Xavier tried to get into Inge's head, but she had used her Conversion moves to become a Dark type. Before Xavier could move Inge shot him in the face with a Dark Pulse.
"Superpower!" a green clawed hand grabbed the Porygon Z and slammed it repeatedly into the ground. Xavier gave a nod of thanks to the Flygon. As Draco flew off to seek out the next enemy that he had an advantage over Xavier hit Inge with a Meteor Mash.
Xavier spotted Doc fighting off Monarca as the Miltank was trying to reach Gene. He was about to put a stop to it when he realized a problem. He had been shut out from his teammates minds. He knew that it would take a powerful Psychic to do that, or several strong ones. A quick look around and Xavier could see that the Psychics of Royal Flush had formed a four point Psychic trap to lock down any pure psychic powers that were not actual moves. It was an annoying tactic, but Xavier could appreciate its effectiveness.
Belle ran up to the Metagross with Scootaloo held protectively to her chest. "Something's wrong. I can't use my powers." she told him.
"Do you know Shadow Ball?"
"Yes."
"Put the young one down and aim where I indicate." he told her and pointed a claw at the top of a tree where Helios was hovering. Belle did as he said, put Scootaloo down between two of his big metal legs, and aimed a Shadow Ball at the Solrock. She let the ghostly energy fly, and grinned as it exploded in the enemy's face. Xavier pointed another claw at Selene who was between the battle inside of the trap and the one outside of it. Belle sent another Shadow Ball directly into the left eye of the Lunatone. Another claw pointed at Saturn, and the Beheeyem was knocked away in an explosion of ghostly shadows. The Starmie however simply let the attack hit, and nothing happened.
"Other than to avoid damage from a Ghost attack why take on Normal typing?" Xavier asked in mild confusion as he could not find any advantage.
"Just something I discovered." Neptune hinted.
The Starmie began another Rapid Spin and hovered up above the ground, above the trees, and unleashed a Hydropump. As the powerful torrent of water came down it began to rotate with the Rapid Spin, and became a storm of water and wind. Neptune increased his power output and the vortex became a charybdis, an inescapable whirlpool that drew its prey into it. Fang, River, Webber, Draco, Doc, and even a few of the surrounding mercenaries were drawn into it, before Neptune flipped over to reverse the direction of his Rapid Spin without losing any momentum and threw them out of the vortex.
Neptune fell to the ground in exhaustion. He lay there unable to move after using up the rest of his energy surrounded by the others who had passed out. Gene aimed his pokeballs and recalled his family. Doc stood up and kicked the Starmie before healing herself. And a Miltank did a Rollout attack to everyone that was standing.
Monarca stopped rolling and checked her targets. She had been extra careful to not hit the little orange Ponyta. Joker would definitely not be happy with her if she did, she wouldn't be happy about it either, but Joker is crazy and likes kids. Taking the opportunity while her targets were recovering Monarca revived her teammates with Heal Bell and Helping Hand.
"Body Slam!" Monarca's Normal type attack didn't do much damage to Xavier because of his Steel typing, but the move used left him paralyzed. Neptune followed up with another Gravity to lock him down from levitation. Helios then trapped him with a Fire Spin. And finally Saturn started slamming repeated Shadow Balls into him.
"Willow Wisp!" Mage had avoided any harm from the Charybdis attack by phasing out of the physical realm. Now she hit every possible target with the floating balls of fire as she phased in and out of site. When they were all burned she hit them with a Hex.
"Wake Up Slap!" Mage turned to look incredulously at the Miltank who was attacking her, a Ghost, with a Fighting type attack. Unfortunately for her the hit landed and both of her cheeks were slapped repeatedly.
"Ah! What the hell!?" Mage yelled.
Monarca jumped at her and delivered a Body Slam to paralyze her. "I'm a Scrappy old cow." she said in answer to the question of how her Normal moves were working on a Ghost.
"I hate that ability." Mage deadpanned. "Mystical Fire!" The area surrounding the two pokemon was engulfed by a blazing inferno that seriously hurt Monarca, but drained Mage's energy. She sighed as the flames held and continued to burn.
The flames dispersed and died down. Monarca used Heal Bell on herself as she jumped for yet another Body Slam. The impact fully paralyzed Mage and she struggled to move as Monarca stepped back and began charging her energy for a Hyper Beam. And then a Lopunny fell out of the sky, Bounced off of Monarca pushing her down onto her chest, and went to town on the other members of Royal Flush.
Monarca's Hyper Beam activated and exploded against the ground sending her flying up into the air. She didn't get as much height as Roll had, but she had no moves to save her from the return to earth.
Across the battlefield Joker and Weiss were still going at it, but being humans they were nearing the end of their endurance. Weiss drove his right elbow into Joker's shoulder after he twisted his left arm behind his back. Joker flipped over onto his back and swung his left leg up to kick Weiss in the chest. Weiss caught the leg and rolled Joker onto his stomach before trapping him in a submission hold. Weiss was trying to break Joker's ankle by twisting it between his arms, but suddenly the shoe was empty and he stumbled back. Joker rolled backwards, flipped up to land sitting on Weiss' shoulders, spun around to face the opposite direction as Weiss, and back flipped with enough force to throw him several feet.
"Woo hoo hoo!" Joker took a minute to catch his breath. "This is the most fun I've had in months. Weiss we have to try to kill each other more often."
"Killing isn't my idea of a fun time ass hole." Weiss stood up and rolled his neck to pop some of the kinks out. "I'm not a sociopath like you."
"If you insist on calling me crazy, at least call me the proper kind of crazy." Joker pulled out an official looking paper and read it aloud. "Subject displays traits of narcissistic personality disorder, sociopathic tendencies, dementia, possible nymphomania, obsessive compulsive tendencies leaning towards violence, obsessive compulsive tendencies leaning towards comedy, dissociative reality disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder." he put the paper away.
"So you're a self absorbed perverted nut job who is obsessed with cartoon violence believes he can see other realities and can't sit still for longer than five minutes." Weiss deadpanned. "I could have told you that for free."
"Well I didn't have to pay the doctors anyway because they all kind of went bonkers after diagnosing me." Joker smiled. Somehow everyone managed to hear that, and they stopped fighting to stare at him.
"...you drove your doctors crazy?" Weiss asked.
"Yep!" Joker smiled and gave everyone a thumbs up. Everyone sweatdropped, Joker's pokemon included.
"Well...that's something I didn't, and wish I still didn't know about you." Weiss pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Okay look, you have us outnumbered right now, but my guys are better and you know it. So how about you walk away before someone actually does get killed?"
"Better idea." Joker held a megaphone up and spoke into it. "SHUFFLE THE DECK!"
"You jackass!" Weiss had enough time to shout before all of Royal Flush suddenly exploded into action.
The next couple of minutes was complete random chaos. Attacks were thrown at random with no planning on who they would hit. Enemies and allies were grabbed and tossed at each other. Electric attacks were intentionally used on Ground types. At one point Pancha, Rouge, and Titania were all trapped inside several floating bubbles.
Scootaloo somehow found herself out of reach of the ...battle?...with a bowl of popcorn and a soft cushion to sit on. From her perspective it looked like Discord himself had set it all up.
Discord lay in a hammock strung between two active volcanoes with a pair of sunglasses on upside down, and a coconut filled with chocolate milk in his lion paw. He sat up so suddenly that his sunglasses flew off and his chocolate milk fell out of its coconut.
"Why do I feel as if I'm in two places at once?" he asked and shifted his eyes back and forth.
Weiss fell back after getting kicked in the gut by Roll. She started to apologize, but was snatched up by a Vine Whip and spun around a few times before being sent flying. Weiss held back several cuss words as he climbed back to his feet. He looked into the chaos, and saw Joker drawing his guns.
"Damn it Joker!" Xavier picked up the mental image from Weiss and manipulated the electromagnetic field around the bodies of his teammates to deflect projectiles. He extended the same protection to Gene and Belle. "If you-
Joker held his right gun straight out to the side and the left gun up pointing back over his shoulder. BANG! BANG! He spun and dropped to his knees with his arms crossed and the revolvers pointing out to each side. BANG! BANG! He stood up on one leg and pointed one gun under the raised one and the other behind his back. BANG! BANG! He back flipped and fired once while he was upside down and once after he landed, both guns pointing in front of him the entire time. BANG! BANG! He held his arms crossed straight in front of him with the guns held gangster style. BANG! BANG! He turned while aiming the right gun at random. BANG! And flipped the weapon in his hand to swing it into Weiss' jaw just as the man reached him.
The bullets had each hit their marks, the heads of Shredder, Pancha, Roll, Edge, Scylla, Simon, Rouge, Gene, Belle, Titania, and Mage. But they were all deflected by Xavier's skilled use of his telekinetic abilities, with the exception of the one aimed at Mage which passed harmlessly through her. The momentary distraction caused by the bullets allowed for Royal Flush to jump on the other mercenaries and restrain them.
Joker tossed a random pokeball at Xavier as he walked towards Gene. The pokeball released a slightly larger red and white orb that rolled underneath Xavier.
"Go away scary people!" the Voltorb yelled. "Self Destruct!"
BOOM!
Xavier's big heavy body took most of the explosive force from the devastating attack. He didn't fully pass out from it but his multiple brains were stunned and his legs collapsed from under him. He watched as Joker walked towards Gene who had been separated from the rest of the crowd, and sent a warning to the only Checkmate that wasn't pinned to the ground by a cluster of Royal Flush pokemon and was actually in a position to do something.
Joker walked right up to Gene and poked the barrel of his gun against his head. "Nothing personal pal. You're just going to make me rich is all." Joker shrugged.
"Hey idiot!" Joker looked at the speaker. It was Doc, and she had a Focus Blast primed and ready. "You looked." And she thrust her palms out to blast him in the face.
With Joker distracted by pain and an involuntary back flip Belle was free to teleport in beside Gene and teleport him to safety on the other side of the crowd.
Doc saw that the human was safe for the time being, and moved to heal her Xavier. Only she had not even took a step before she was kicked in the head and sent flying. She tried to stand, but Joker pistol whipped her back to the ground. The Audino settled for kneeling on one knee and glaring up at him. Her glare relented in fear when he aimed his gun at her.
"You know Doc, I actually like you. Hell I even considered hiring you out from Weiss a few times... By which I mean kidnap you." he told her honestly and with a friendly smile as he kept the the revolver aimed at her head.
"Well I guess I'm flattered that an annoying psychopath thought that I was worth the trouble of abducting." she said sarcastically. "Oh, wait I'm not because I don't like you."
"See! That right there is why I like you." he smiled even wider at the older pokemon. "But I had that pokemon poker where I wanted him, and you just cost me a ten digit paycheck. So I have to shoot you now. No hard feelings right?" Joker pulled the trigger.
BANG!
It was only because of an orange and purple blur pushing Doc out of the way that he missed. The first thing Joker did was scream childishly and throw his empty gun. After that he noticed a small splatter of blood around the bullet hole in the ground. He shrugged.
"Well I winged you so I'll call it even." Joker told her before walking away.
"I can't feel my wings..."
"Eh?" Joker looked back at Doc, and saw her using a Heal Pulse on Scootaloo.
"...no...no...nononono!" Joker had just broken the one rule he enforced on himself and his teams. He had just done the thing that he would kill people who tried to hire him to do. He wanted to just collapse right there but maybe he could still make it better. He snapped out of it and gave instructions to his pokemon. "Monarca, Selene, Riona help Doc now!"
The three did as they were told along with the other Checkmates who could help. Doc applied another Heal Pulse, Monarca sang out with Heal Bell, Roll used a Healing Wish,and Rouge gave Scootaloo some Aromatherapy. The healing moves combined with Doc's medical training made short work of Scootaloo's injuries, though Doc still had to wrap Her wings in bandages and put medicine on them. It was over as fast as it had happened, and a Sleep Powder later had Scootaloo sleeping through the rest of the day.
Roll whipped around and roared in the faces of the Royal Flush members that had helped, and her eyes flashed red. The rest of Checkmate did the same and glared at their opposition so intensely that lasers and daggers might as well have been shooting from their eyes. Royal Flush at least had the decency to look ashamed of themselves, and a few actually pointed at Joker.
Weiss and Xavier both started sweating bullets. "Xavier didn't you say that the Gardevoir had adopted the kid?"
"Actually what I said was that she and the young one had imprinted on each other as mother and daughter. The key difference being that they shared their memories, and had strong enough emotional reactions to each other's lives that they bonded on a psychic level."
"Meaning?"
"That." Xavier shifted his body to let him see Belle more clearly. "...we should go."
"Why?" Weiss looked at her. "...yep!"
Flecks of blue light could be seen zipping through the air. From every direction they came, and collected in a single location. The amount of the lights increase as well as the speed untill the mercenary pokemon of both guilds stopped what they were doing. They followed the lights with their eyes, and sweatdropped when they saw it all surrounding Belle. The ambient Psychic energy in the air was gathered to her, and it flowed from her feet up to her head in a manner similar to fire. The Psychic flames danced across her body, flowing into and out of and into her again as her mortal form could not contain all of it at once.
Belle raised her head and gazed upon the mercenaries, and they all flinched away from the look in her eyes. It was not a look of vicious vengeance that could be seen on her face. Nor was her face the mask of a sadistic smile hiding barely contained anger. The Gardevoir had passed the point of rage. The look on her face was the look of pure unrestrained wrath that could put the fear of Arceus into her enemies.
But these were mercenaries, they would not back down just because someone was angry with them. They changed their minds about that after she screamed just four words at them.
YOU SHOT MY DAUGHTER! Her words carried power and shook the air and the ground.
The mercenaries all sweatdropped. The stories of how protective Gardevoirs are of their trainers and mates were well known, and so too were the stories of how far they could go for revenge. The only reason there were not such stories about their offspring is because nobody in recent times has been stupid enough to hurt the child while the parents still lived.
The Checkmates all carefully retreated, very quickly, and Roll held Scootaloo in her arms. Royal Flush stayed still for fear of being singled out by the extremely angry Gardevoir.
"Oh come on!" the Krookodile exclaimed. "She is only one Psychic against all of us! Let me Crunch la petite dame!" He rushed at her and opened his jaws.
Belle effortlessly flowed out of reach of his attack, and punched him on the chin. The Psychic energy being held within her took solid form around her arm and reinforced it, muscles and bones became as solid as iron. He flew up and back from the impact and landed next to his teammates, with a few missing teeth.
With a forced smile Joker called out to Belle. "So on a scale of one to ten, how much is this going to hurt?" His pokemon all yelled at him to shut up.
Belle erupted in a blast of fire as the psychic energy she had gathered ignited. But she was unharmed by the flames, and when they died down she was changed. Her body was now all white and glowing like a brilliant light. Her eyes burned a bright angry red like two coals in a fire. Her spikes were sheathed in strong hungry fire. |
Building a Better World: Origins | Bonus chapter | "I cannot let this happen to another."
"Agreed, but what can you do about it?"
"I will return to the Hall of Legends and ask Arceus to prevent the Rage Shift from being used by mortals."
"Can he do that? I know he is a god but how can he be sure that nopony else will use it."
"If he cannot then I am sure that Mew can."
"She wakes sister."
Belle opened her eyes, and immediately threw an arm over them. She groaned. "Turn off the sun."
Luna giggled and Celestia rolled her eyes. The solar princess had heard that joke a lot over the centuries, and it was still annoying even in another world.
"Belle!" Gene grabbed her and pulled into a hug.
"Did I miss something?" she asked and looked around at everyone. The Checkmates were in full recovery from the battle and now they were just waiting for further orders. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who she recognized from Scootaloo's memories, were standing over her with inquisitive concerned looks. Belle immediately forgot almost everything else. "Scootaloo! Where is she!?"
"Over here!"
Belle saw the little orange filly waving at her. She was perfectly fine, and was playing tag with the Voltorb. Belle had a brief moment of panic when Scootaloo climbed ON TOP OF THE VOLTORB, but the Electric type was laughing and playing along.
"Ok someone tell me what happened."
They all looked at each other. Finally Gene asked her what she remembered.
Belle thought for a moment. "That man hurt Scootaloo, and I got angry, but after that Krookodile attacked me I don't remember anything."
"The Krookodile is Valete, the muscle of team Spade in Royal Flush. He rushed you after we cleared the road. You knocked out some of his teeth." Weiss told her.
"I knocked out a Dark type's teeth?"
Weiss reached a hand into his coat and pulled out three Krookodile fangs. "Rouge wanted to make them into a necklace for you as a trophy."
Belle eyed the fangs and imagined going into battle with them around her neck. "Cool. But...how did I do it?"
"According to Xavier you used an undiscovered Psychic move, but that is not the reason why we are here." Celestia said.
"After you struck your attacker you used a spell called Rage Shift-
Belle interrupted Luna. "What? I know I'm a Fairy but I don't know any magic."
-which is now possible for you to do because our magic spells have been converted into pokemon moves along with the introduction of us as the new Magic type." Luna finished with a deadpan.
Belle shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry."
"About that. Why a new type?" Weiss scratched his jaw. "Why not just put each species in a different already existing type? And why Magic as the type when Fairy pokemon can already kind of do that? Seems kind of cheap, like whoever decided it just went with the first thing they thought of."
"Twas Arceus who did it. Maybe you should question him about it." Luna told him.
"Sounds bad for my health."
Celestia used her magic to help Belle to her feet. "The Rage Shift amplifies the power of the one who uses it, but it must burn something as fuel to create that extra power. It uses your own energy as the fuel, and takes as much energy as you are angry so that your power and strength become equal to your rage."
"Okay, so I was really mad, ...how much of my energy did I burn through?"
"All of it."
Belle's eyes widened. Celestia and Luna both watched her carefully. Gene just hugged her again.
Celestia broke the silence. "Normally the spell only takes the caster's magic as fuel, or in your case the energy reserved for your moves, but you were so furious that when your reserves were used up it continued."
"You managed to tear open a black hole and cast your enemies into it." Luna told her. "I am not sure how this would normally effect a living creature in this dimension, but the magic behind the spell allowed them all to survive."
"So I didn't kill them?"
Luna shook her head no, and Belle sighed in relief. "Though they do now seem to be in some other new dimension."
"How am I even standing right now?! If you're right about me using up all of my energy...
"I detected young Scootaloo's dreams while she was sleeping off her injuries." Luna explained. "My sister and I teleported here and healed the both of you."
"I can't thank the two of you enough." Gene told them as he bowed.
"You owe us nothing so long as you and your beloved are good parents for Scootaloo." Celestia smiled. "Though an invitation to the wedding would be appreciated."
Weiss had his own concern. "What about the Rage Shift?"
The sisters gave him a cold look. Celestia spoke. "Fear not for your contract mercenary. I will be making sure that only myself and a select few that I believe worthy can use it from now on."
Weiss shrugged. "Fair enough, but I was referring more to her temper."
"Excuse me? What's wrong with my temper?"
"I'm thinking of a Gardevoir that I met once a long time ago." Weiss explained to her. "Read my mind."
As Belle did as she was invited the others standing nearby all watched. They saw it as her face went from offended to concerned, to worried, and finally horrified. She shut down her telepathy and looked like she might throw up.
"Never mind...I don't want to be like that..." Belle shuddered at the image of one of her kind breaking all the bones in a man's body and taking pleasure from it. "I'll stick to league battles from now on."
"Well it is my job to hurt people who try to hurt you, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't steal my job." Weiss grinned at her. "Now I will leave you alone while I pick my team for the mission."
"You're not bringing everyone?" Gene asked.
"Nah, going in undercover as a trainer. Only reason I kept so many around is because I didn't know who to bring." he explained. "Now that my biggest competition is out of the way I have a better idea of who I need."
So the deviant mercenary left the nice decent people alone and called in his family. He had good idea of who he would need and who would be overkill. The average trainer would get killed trying to battle me...hmm.
Before he could speak he was approached by Doc and Greninja. The ninja bowed to him and nodded at Scootaloo as she was telling the princesses about the battle. Weiss cocked an eyebrow.
"You sure?"
Greninja nodded again. He had stayed out of the battle with Royal Flush so that he could watch from the sidelines and get Gene to safety when he had a chance. But when Joker started shooting his concern had shifted to his own family for a brief moment, and he had had to dodge two of the ricochet bullets. In the time it took for him to recover and put his concentration back on Gene the little filly had already saved Doc and took a bullet to her wins. He had taught her Quick Attack, and if he hadn't done that then she would never have been able to do that. He felt both grateful and guilty. He would train her properly now.
Weiss nodded and looked to Doc.
"I owe the kid." she said simply.
"Okay that's two. Xavier I want you in the sky as usual, Edge stay out of sight unless we need some help or a quick getaway." he thought for a moment. "Any volunteers for battling the trainers who will almost certainly not leave us alone until we beat them?"
Pancha raised her hand.
"Anyone who won't accidentally cause serious injuries to the pokemon in question?"
Pancha put her hand down.
Weiss felt something bump into his legs. Looking down and around his feet Weiss found the Voltorb trying to get his attention. "What do you want?"
"Can I come?" the small Electric type asked.
Weiss raised an eyebrow at the question. "Why would I take you with me?"
"Before all of this...crazy...I was living in a metal scrapyard, and feeding on the electromagnetic energy that built up in the iron. It was boring except for when it wasn't, and when it wasn't I was fighting the invading pokemon who wanted my turf. It sucked and even if I wanted to go back I have no idea where it is."
"That doesn't answer my question." Weiss told the Voltorb. "Why would I bring you with me on mission where I'm supposed to protect someone while pretending to be a regular trainer?"
"I could battle the other trainers for you."
Weiss had to admit that it was a good idea. He wouldn't be using the Voltorb for the actual mission so his life would not be put in danger, and it would help his cover if he had a weak pokemon that he was trying to make stronger. "What moves do you know?"
"Electro Ball, Roll Out, Spark, Eerie Impulse, and Self Destruct."
"Hmm, not a bad starting set, and you can always learn more." Weiss thought about it one last time before he shrugged. "So what do I call you?"
"Scootaloo gave me a name." the ball pokemon said proudly. "It's Sparky Sparky Boom Boom!"
"...Do I have to call you that?"
"Yes!" Sparky Sparky Boom Boom told him. "Well you can shorten it to Sparky."
Weiss shrugged and reached into his coat for a spare pokeball. In the process of rummaging around in his many pockets Weiss accidentally dislodged a very different and unique pokeball. The Luxury Ball fell and rolled on the ground, and stopped just in front of Sparky Sparky Boom Boom.
Sparky Sparky Boom Boom's eyebrows rose up as even a wild pokemon would recognize such a valuable item. He tilted himself forward and bumped the button to expand the ball, and again to make it capture him. Ding!
"Eh?" Weiss looked down at the now filled pokeball, and his right eye twitched repeatedly.
"Hey Rouge?" Pancha whispered to her friend. "Is that the same Luxury Ball that Weiss had hacked to have the inside look like Alto Mare, and was going to give to Latias if ever retired and asked her to stay with him?"
"From the look of his face I'd say yes." Rouge sweatdropped.
Sparky Sparky Boom Boom popped out of his new Luxury Ball with an ecstatic look in his face. "It's awesome in there!"
Weiss carefully smiled as his right eye continued to twitch. "Glad *twitch* you *twitch* like *twitch* it."
"So you are not going to really need many of us for a while, right?" Roll asked.
Weiss sighed, and chose to just forget about the ball. It was not like he would ever actually force Latias to stay in a pokeball no matter how luxurious it was, but the money that had gone into the hacked Luxury Ball was now wasted on a random little Voltorb. He could get a new one, maybe.
"Yeah the rest of you can just-
Roll didn't wait to hear the rest. She turned around, grabbed her mate and ran so fast that Shredder's metal body was flapping in the wind like a flag. As they were both getting smaller in the distance a piece of paper floated down in front of Weiss. He picked it up and read it out loud. "On vacation, be back soon, call if you need us, but don't interrupt private time unless it's an emergency."
"...Like I said, the rest of you can just head back home and wait for orders." Weiss told them all. "I'll send word for two or three more to join us later."
A very loud yawn was heard by all, and many of the pokemon covered their faces expecting it to be the attack Yawn. But it was only Princess Luna.
"Apologies everyone *yawn* meditating for three days has that effect, even for Alicorns."
Celestia glanced at her sister. "So you were just meditating? Nothing else?"
Meditating and training with Darkrai in the dream realm." Luna confirmed. "Why?"
"Well there are a few rumors about what you were doing with him for three days in his private chambers." Celestia said sheepishly. "I refused to believe them at first, but you were in there for three days."
Luna's face darkened as she blushed, and then darkened some more as her temper rose. "Who is responsible for these rumors?"
Back in the Hall of Legends a small group of Legendary pokemon gathered. They were discussing the rumors that had started flying around about Darkrai and Princess Luna. Among them was Hoopa.
Hoopa thought that this was a great idea. By spreading the news that they had locked themselves in his room for three days she only had to steadily push Cresselia into marking her territory and taking him for herself. Her friends would finally be together!
A flash of blue light behind Hoopa stopped the others gossiping in it's tracks. Hoopa blinked and turned around to see what they were all staring at. Her eyes were met with an angry pair of cyan blue eyes.
"Would you prefer a lecture or to be blasted through a wall?" asked Princess Luna.
Hoopa thought about it for a few moments. She then flew away and yelled "You can't catch me!"
"Let the hunt begin." Luna said with a chuckle.
Mew's eyes glew as she scanned Princess Celestia's mind for the Rage Shift spell. After she found it she focused her power inward to find it in her own move set. Once deleted from her the move was automatically removed from being used by any pokemon species that she had created. Her eyes stopped glowing with a ding. All done!
Princess Celestia sighed. "Thank you lady Mew."
No need to be so formal, we're friends! Mew giggled with her paws over her mouth. And you hugged my daddy!
"Yes I did, as a friend nothing more." Celestia shook her head. She saw Mew's ears droop and her eyes get big and watery. The princess chuckled. "I'm surrounded by cute little ponies every day and night, the cute sad face won't work so easily on me."
Aw Rattatas! Mew pouted and kicked a foot paw at the air.
Princess Celestia rolled her eyes and smiled at the antics of the little pink cat. She looked around the room they were in, Mew's lab. It reminded Celestia of Twilight's room back when she lived in Canterlot, except with lots of odd stuffed animals mixed in with the scientific paperwork. In the center of the room was a pedestal that was projecting an image of a dragon.
"What is this?" Celestia asked.
Hm? Oh, I've been trying to figure out what to do with the dragons from Equus. Mew floated next to the image and crossed her arms. I mean they are REALLY BIG and...well you know them better than I do.
The princess smiled warmly as she remembered giving this exact same lesson to her students. "Equestrian dragons share many similarities with other reptiles from Equus, however they have one very important advantage. Dragons are immortal and so they can live forever, but that is not where it ends. You see young one-
I'm older than you.
-dragons, like other large reptiles, continue to grow larger as they age. Being immortal means that they grow very very large. This growth however is possible only because of the great amounts of food that they eat, so at a certain point in their lives they grow so enormous that no matter how much they eat they cannot trigger their growth, and so they seem to stop growing. Of course once they reach such a size nothing can threaten them, and so they sleep for hundreds of years if allowed to."
Mew was about to ask some questions, but was interrupted by a pink and purple pokemon adorned with golden rings flew passed her from out of a portal. Hoopa stopped just before she slammed into the wall and frantically looked around.
Hoopa? What's wrong? Mew asked her.
The answer came in the form of Princess Luna's disembodied head popping out of the portal. "Huzzah! Nowhere left to run!"
"No no no wait!" Hoopa pleaded and waved her arms frantically. "I'm sorry, I apologize, I won't spread rumors as pranks anymore!"
Hoopa could not believe how persistent Luna was when it came to getting revenge. She had gotten a head start and jumped through a portal after the first turn around a corner, but Luna had already gotten close enough to jump through it. This had continued for four more portals, and now Hoopa was going to get blasted through a wall.
"Moon Blast!"
Hoopa flinched and closed her eyes. She felt something bounce off of her forehead. She looked down and saw a rubber bouncy ball that was designed to look like the moon. Hoopa watched the ball bounce for a bit before looking to Luna. "Was that it?"
A flash of light burst forth from Luna's horn and a barrage of rubber moon bouncy balls was launched at Hoopa. When it was over Hoopa lay on the floor of Mew's lab covered in rubber moon bouncy balls.
"We are best prankster princess!" Luna yelled and retracted her head back through the portal laughing all the way.
Princess Celestia just stood there while Mew just floated in place beside her. Both of them just looked at the scene in front of them with their faces frozen in a 'what the fuck just happened' position, their eyes and mouths wide open. They did not move for a few minutes and had no actual thoughts in their minds because they were now broken. Celestia finally shook head head several times, bid Mew farewell, and walked out of the lab muttering something about switching Luna's coffee to decaf.
Mew just continue to float and stare. ...wat?
Melissa Chapman opened the door to her home. She dropped her keys in a bowl on the table next to the door. She walked through the living room, passed the couch, and into the kitchen. After opening the refrigerator and grabbing a drink she called out.
"Dad! I'm home!"
Melissa shrugged and figured that her father was out for work. She walked back out of the kitchen took off her jacket and hung it in the closet. After a bit of stretching to work out the kinks from her journey she walked out to the backyard.
"We're home everyone." Melissa called out and took four pokeballs from her belt.
From the first pokeball came a tall cream colored equine with black hooves, red eyes, a horn in the center of its forehead, and flames sprouting from its neck tail and hooves. From the second pokeball came a tall black and white striped equine with a jagged white mane extending all the way from its head to its tail which ended in a star shaped tip. From the third pokeball came a large bird with brown and cream colored feathers a red tail, and a long red and yellow crest on its head. From the fourth pokeball came a snow white sea lion like pokemon with black eyes, a black button nose, two short tusks, and a small horn on the top of its head.
"Everyone say hello to our new friend!" Melissa told them and threw her fifth pokeball up into the air.
Rainbow Dash hovered in the air at head level with Melissa and looked around at the new place they were at. The other four pokemon all watched her with curiosity. She saw the large stream fed pond that decorated the far end of the rather impressive yard, the flower garden that grew between the pond and the house, and the hedges that grew along the sides as a fence.
"You guys all get to know each other." Melissa told them. "I'll go get some food ready."
Rainbow Dash watched the blonde girl go back inside the house. Then she turned back to the others and waved her right front hoof a little nervously. "Uh, hi I'm Rainbow Dash."
"So very nice to meet you darling, my name is Dew." the seal greeted her in a polite ladylike manner.
"I'm Peck!" the bird said with a big grin on her beak.
"Hello." the striped equine said a little gruffly.
"Ah don't mind him. Strike is just a little slow to warm up to new faces." the fire horse told her. "My name is Rapid, short for Rapidash."
"Rapidash huh? So you're fast?" Rainbow asked with her front hooves crossed and a smug look on her face. "I happen to be pretty fast myself. Maybe we should have a race sometime."
Rapid snorted and laughed. "Ha! Gal unless you can beat one hundred and fifty miles per hour you ain't gonna match me."
Rainbow Dash burst out laughing and clutched her sides. "One fifty is the best that you can do?! I pass that just by getting out of bed."
"Let's see it then." Strike challenged her.
Rainbow Dash was off like a shot. She ran the length of the yard and left a trail of rainbow flames in her wake. When she reached the pond she spread her wings and launched herself up into a vertical climb with a rainbow streak trailing behind. After she reached a high enough altitude Rainbow Dash went into a series of zigzagging patterns at a much higher speed than the pokemon watching her had ever seen. Finally she finished with a full circle loop and a nosedive, and stopped just in front of Rapid's face.
"That. Was. AMAZING!" Melissa screamed from the door. She dropped the containers of food in her arms and ran back into the house. "New routines, better combinations, so awesome!"
"Um, what just happened?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"What just happened is that we won't see her for at least an hour." Strike said. He then looked at the food with an unamused expression. "And I'm hungry."
"So then eat." Rainbow told him.
"None of us can open the food." Peck said and pecked at a container.
Rainbow Dash shrugged and picked up one of the jars and unscrewed the top. "Who gets what?"
"Yay!" Peck flapped her wings and dropped a bowl for each of them on the ground.
Again Rainbow Dash shrugged and didn't try to figure out where the bowls had come from. She just poured each different food into a different bowl and gave herself a mix of what Rapid and Strike were eating.
Inside the house Melissa had gone up to her room to plan out a new contest routine for her new partner. She had promised that they would find her friends, but until they had some better information about where they were she could make plans for the stage. Melissa briefly looked at the note she had found stuck to her bedroom door. Her father had gone on a trip to the Kalos region to work on a high profile legal case and would be gone for a few days.
Melissa sighed and not for the first time wished that she could spend more time with her father, but he had a job and she was set on becoming a top coordinator. Of course there was still the Team, but she had honestly only joined because it was a family tradition.
Location: Kalos regional prison, high security sector, visitation wing.
A middle-aged man in a simple blue business suit sat in a booth on one side of the bulletproof glass. His hair was combed back in a respectable style, his glasses were plain black rimmed pieces that sat lightly on his nose, and he was clean shaven. All together he was a very respectable looking man.
On the other side of the glass two guards walked in with a prisoner in cuffs between them. The prisoner was set down in the booth opposite of the one the other man sat in. The guards left the room. The prisoner did not waste any time and pressed the button that allowed them to talk.
"I don't believe we have ever met, who are you?" the prisoner asked, his voice void of emotion.
"My name is Hedrick Chapman, I'm an environmental lawyer."
"Why are you here Mr Chapman?" the prisoner asked.
"To get you out of prison." Mr Chapman answered.
The prisoner was surprised by this information. "Are you with one of the government organizations that are hiding their connections to me?"
"No, nothing so trivial." Mr Chapman smiled earnestly. "I do however work for a Team of individuals who simply want to prevent harmful changes in our natural world."
"Don't waste time with pretty words Mr Chapman. You are here on behalf of Team Eternity."
"You know about us. Alright, I'll be frank." Mr Chapman mentally threw away the little speech he had planned. "We have a project that we have been working on. The Forever Ball, but we have encountered a few problems with the building and programming. We would appreciate your help."
"What do you hope to accomplish?"
"We intend to build a better world, but in order to do that we must break down the old one."
"And what do I stand to gain from this arrangement?" the prisoner asked emotionlessly. "Aside from getting out of prison that is."
Mr Chapman smiled as he knew that he had the deal sealed with his next line. "Completely unrestrained freedom of your research, provided that you work on what we need."
"I accept." the prisoner said without a moment's thought.
Mr Chapman stood up and pulled out a cellphone. "Glad to have you with us Dr Nurem." |
Building a Better World: Origins | The fate of Vincent Nurem part 1 | Fox looked VERY pleased with herself as she ran down the hallway. "Just a little more. Just you wait Nurem, soon you'll be where you belong," she grinned, before stopping by a door. Reading it, it seemed to lead to the containment cells of the 'subjects'. "You're a complete piece of scum, aren't you? Sick excuse for a scientist," she growled, and with a quick flash, disabled the door's locking system, forcing it to open.
Walking inside, she beheld several cells, each one with a unique 'mon behind what looked like one-way glass, otherwise they would have reacted to her presence. Each one had a door stamped with numbers, starting from one on her left and two on her right. The hallway continued on for quite a while, though the numbers stopped at thirty-six. The door at the end, though, was stamped with the number thirty-seven. Curiously, the cell for sixteen was empty, along with a few others afterwards...
Walking down the hall, she was about to start busting them out...when she stopped. "Hold on a sec...bastard must have been experimenting on them for Arceus knows how long. That doesn't exactly instill trust to humans. If I let them out now...I might end up getting mauled." she thought. However, for some reason, something spurred her to keep looking. Before long, she came across the cell with the number thirty-seven on it at the end of the hall. Peering inside, her eyes widened when she saw not a Pokemon, but a human boy inside, curled up and fast asleep. Thinking back to what she knew from the various reports, she realized who it was. "Vincent Nurem..." she gasped, before her eyes turned determined as she started disabling the lock. "Hang on, kid. I'm getting you out of this Arceus forsaken pit," she said, just as the lock was disabled, opening the cell.
The noise startled the kid awake, revealing his green eyes and messy black hair to the phantom thief. His panic only lessened when he realized that the one in front of him wasn't someone he knew, but spiked again when the lights failed to come on. "Who are you? What's going on?" the boy asked, clearly nervous as he looked up at the young woman, her red hair flowing out from under her black cavalier hat, and her form concealed by the black cape she wore. He wrung his white shirt with both of his hands while his eyes darted over her form.
"Relax kid," Fox said in a reassuring tone, holding his shoulder to keep him from...well...to keep him from doing anything stupid. "I'm getting you out of here, stat."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "You didn't tell me who you are...and how do I know this isn't some sort of test he's cooked up?" That had happened on more than one occasion...
Fox blinked, before sighing. "Sorry, can't help you there. Even if I said anything, I can't prove anything. But for names...just call me Fox."
"Okay, Fox, if you're here to get me out, answer me this question: how'd you get in? I know quite a bit about the things keeping us all here, and you'd have to do something drastic to get this far." Vincent waved a hand at the lights that had begun to flicker on and off in demonstration. "An EMP would only work for so long. There are backups within backups here. That was made clear to me: escape was futile. Multiple times."
"Oh that? Yeah...I kinda knew that the security would be a problem so I...broke it. Funny what a few viruses, bugs, a bucket of water, and an Ice Beam can do to a mainframe," she chuckled.
Vincent, however, was not amused. In fact, he was angry. "You did what to Bit?" He stated.
"Er...Bit? Who's Bit? I shorted out a mainframe, not a person," Fox looked honestly confused at his reaction.
"Bit. Subject sixteen, as he was also called. A Porygon2 the doctor broke and forced to serve in the mainframe. And you just told me you broke him again." Vincent had balled up his fists, shaking them slightly.
Fox's eyes widened, her pupils shrinking till they were little more than pinpricks. "Oh crap..." she groaned. "Kid, if you know anything. ANYTHING at all about the mainframe, tell me what you know if you want us to even have a CHANCE of saving your friend!"
"Only that Bit was to serve as the back-up in case anything like that happened to it...but he also wasn't supposed to be in it at the time!"
Fox's mind was running several miles per minute. "Okay...a mainframe has to link up to somewhere. It should be near the control room...with luck the guards are still either ice sculptures or mummies...Okay kid, new plan, we're getting your friend out. If he still has some survival instincts in him, he should have gone to any secure spot in the mainframe, and if we can find it, we can remove it, hopefully with him still in there. If not...I'm really sorry. I had no idea Nurem had a Pokemon inside the mainframe," Fox said, sounding very much apologetic.
"There is one spot that is going to be secure, you know," Vincent mused. "And it's the most likely one for Bit to flee to, should he come under assault while he's in the mainframe. But you're not going to like where it is."
"I'm afraid to ask, but where is it?"
Vincent sighed as he looked at his open door. "The Doctor's terminal, of course."
Fox blinked, before sighing in relief. "Oh...I was afraid you were gonna say it was near a power reactor or something."
"He also has his own backup generator in his room, and the security systems there are controllable from either his terminal or the wider server dedicated to such," Vincent elaborated. "Just like we couldn't get out, none of us were ever allowed into that room."
"Not a problem anymore. When I messed up the mainframe, I left a bunch of jammers and scramblers all over the place, and a few bombs too. We also sabotaged the generator so the power distribution would go haywire in the facility. I would have set it for Self destruct too...if it weren't for the fact that you and these Pokemon were here," Fox sighed.
"If you can let me and them all out, most of them will listen to me," Vincent said. "And...I'm trusting you, Fox. Bring Bit back to me, please. It's not his fault."
"Done. When this is over, all I want is to see Nurem carted off in a prison car...and to the electric chair if I'm lucky," Fox smirked at the end. "Just make sure they actually listen. I was going to free them earlier, but...I didn't want to get mauled."
"They listen to me or like me because I'm not them," the boy elaborated. "And some of them I call family. The rest...well, they should like the idea that you're not one of them, either, and that you're getting us out. They'll listen to the both of us, and I'll warn you if things start turning sour." With that, he stood up and hopped off his bed, stretching as he did.
"Alright then, I'm trusting you too on this one, kid," she smiled, before activating her ear piece. "Okay guys, I'm over in the containment area. We're doing a rescue mission now, and we might just get some backup. Oh, and Weavile, if you provoke anyone of them, I am NOT saving your butt this time...well, I'll make sure they don't kill you at least..." Fox said as she walked out of the cell, before moving on to the occupied cells, Vincent following her.
"These two," he said, pointing at thirty-five and thirty-six. "Family. Close as could be. If you would?"
"Gotcha," Fox said as she went to work. Before long, the locks disengaged and the two cell doors opened, revealing a Scyther and a Riolu. Both of them had been asleep, but woke up quickly at the sounds of the doors opening.
"What?" the Scyther asked in Pokespeak. "Vincent, what's going on? Who's that?"
"Vinny, who is that strange lady?" the Riolu asked. In response, Vincent crouched down, and the Riolu jumped into his body for a hug. He then walked over to the Scyther and led the two parties together.
"Fox, meet Lucy and Sam, my brother and sister. Lucy, Sam, this is Fox. She's getting us outta here."
The Scyther and Riolu turned to look at her with hope in their eyes then, and each stuck an appendage out at her for her to shake.
Fox jumped back a bit in alarm when the Scyther stuck out its arm as it was a...well...BLADE. Upon realizing it was friendly, she calmed down. "Sorry about that," she chuckled. However, when she remembered that since this wasn't her team, she couldn't really understand them, she stuck a hand into her pocket. "Hold on." and pulled out an odd looking earpiece which she affixed on her left ear. Fiddling with it a bit, she said, "Okay, could you repeat that?"
"I said sorry. I forget that not everyone is Vincent and knows I can be gentle with these things," Sam said, waving his scythe-arm around a bit. "Still, if you don't wanna shake, I understand."
Fox frowned, since the translation was still a bit garbled, but she got the gist of it. "No problem. Can't blame you after you all must have been through hell and back," she said, before tapping the ear piece. "Need to get some of the bugs out of this thing..."
"What is that thing?" Lucy innocently questioned. "It looks weird."
"Its a translator to let humans understand Pokemon. Its still experimental, so looks aren't really a big concern at the moment," Fox sighed, as she finally got it to be MOSTLY clear in its translations. "Still needs work though..."
"You mean understanding Pokemon isn't normal?" Vincent questioned with a tilt of his head.
"Er...no its not. Honestly, you're the second person I've met who could actually understand Pokemon...and somehow I doubt your case is...natural..." Fox sighed as she led them out.
Vincent carefully set Lucy into Sam's claws and motioned for the two of them to stand by the entrance to the rest of the compound. The two exchanged a brief nod, understanding what was about to be asked, and the boy turned to Fox again. "The rest," he stated, sweeping back at the other cells with one hand. "If you please."
"Right, right," Fox chuckled, as she got to work disabling the doors. However, in the middle of the way, two guards came into the room.
"Hold it right there!" they shouted, guns filled with both tranq darts and bullets at the ready.
"Yeaaaah...I'm kinda busy right now, so please don't bother me, Mr. I have a bigger problem coming in two seconds," Fox said dismissively, before both guards were violently pulled out the room, their muffled screams could be heard outside....just as Fox finished disabling several more doors, all of them opening at the same time.
The small mob of surviving test subjects had gathered in front of Lucy and Sam and were milling about, all of them eager to leave, but as Sam kept emphasizing, they would all leave together. Safety in numbers in this instance. Plus, there was no chance that any of them were going to be left behind. Vincent had turned to look at the guards when they spoke up, and blinked a few times at their sudden vanishing act.
"Do I...want to know? Or should I guess?" the boy asked of his savior.
"Go take a guess. Its more fun for me," Fox chuckled mischieviously.
"Well," Vincent said out loud in a mocking tone. "Considering your earlier remarks to one member of your team, along with your mention of an Ice Beam," here his tone had turned dark at recalling what it had been used for, before resuming normal operations, "And the fact that only one non-Legendary 'mon could possibly be that fast, and I presume I have Weavile to thank...unless said Weavile has a name, in which case, I'd ask for it and use it."
"Nice guess, little detective, but bzzzt, wrong answer. As for Weavile's name, that...is a secret," she said in a sing song tone as she watched the subjects mingle.
"How much do you want to bet that I'll learn it after hearing him talk for ten minutes? Assuming you don't tell Weavile I can understand 'mon," Vincent shot back, an actual smile on his face.
"Normally, I wouldn't take you up on the bet. But considering what you've been through...I'll give you five grand out of my own pocket if you find out," Fox shrugged, not the least bit concerned about losing that much money.
Vincent noticed that the last door had been opened by this point, and turned to the survivors. "Guys and gals, listen up please!"
More than a few turned to him, and he sighed before picking up a Whismur and gently petting her. "Guys and gals, listen up please, or I'll have Wendy start singing!"
With that, the attention of everymon there was Vincent's, and he smirked again, before turning to Fox. "The floor is yours," Vincent said with a nod.
"Don't look at me. I'm not that great at these kinds of things, but oh well. Long story short, you are all free, and before we leave, we are gonna be getting something from the good doctor's room, and we need your help. Feel free to horribly dismember any guards you come upon. No big loss to the world there," Fox shrugged at the end. After everything she had heard about these facilities, as far as she's concerned, there were no humans here...except for Vincent...the rest were just rabid animals.
One of the subjects spoke up, and the question was rapidly carried around, causing her translator to short out trying to keep up with all the different voices and speed at which they were speaking.
"...cousin Thomas is gonna kill me for that..." Fox groaned as she put away the now broken translator.
"They want to know what you did about the security systems and Bit," Vincent supplied.
"...only if they promise not to maul me. I didn't know for Arceus' sake!" Fox groaned.
A general noise of agreement came from the 'mon, and Vincent nodded as well. "They promise." One of the ones in front spoke up again, and the boy laughed. "Yeah, it would be pretty stupid to attack the first one to show us genuine kindness and a way out, wouldn't it?"
"Alright. I knew getting in here would be a problem with the mainframe online, so I...plugged in several flash drives worth of deadly computer viruses and bugs, before I doused the wiring with a bucket of water AND had my Weavile freeze it with Ice Beam. I even left scramblers and jammers all over the place. In short, I made sure to royally screw this entire facility's systems before I got in," Fox explained. Surprisingly, none of the 'mon in front of her seemed to react too much to the news. One voice spoke up, and Vincent snapped his head towards it.
"NO! NOT 'GOOD'! He was as much a subject as ANY OF YOU! He was BROKEN LONG BEFORE most of you CAME HERE! I WATCHED IT HAPPEN, I KEEP SEEING IT HAPPEN! No Porygon was meant to take both disks at once! NONE OF THEM!" He was absolutely livid at this point in time, but kept going.
"He was programmed to respond to the Doctor's VOICE-!" he started, only for Fox to suddenly interrupt.
"WHAT? He had voice activated systems? Oh come on, if I had known that, it would have been MUCH easier for me. Like this," she said, changing her voice into a copy of Dr. Nurem's at the end. "I wouldn't have had to go through the trouble of sabotaging this place," she finished, still in Nurem's voice.
"Considering that you likely couldn't have perfectly imitated him, yeah, you probably made a good call in forcing him to flee from the server he was in," Vincent said, not looking at her. "And he likely had a few routines written into him in the case of something like this happening. Regardless, Bit had no choice. Don't blame him for doing as the Doctor bid during your experiments." Vincent finished his rant with a look of rage at the escapees, and none of them could look him in the eyes.
"I did what I could with what leeway I could. Whenever he was imprecise in ordering Bit around, I exploited it for your comfort, you thankless little- no. Fox, I'm done. They can be shown the way out. They're no friends of mine anymore." Vincent then turned his back on the shamed 'mon, not capable of looking at them in his current state.
"...if you wanna stick around and help, by all means. If not..." Fox sighed, before tapping her right ear piece. "Liepard, if you would?"
A Liepard came walking into the room. "Anyone who wants out now, follow me. I'll guide you to the exit...or I'll MAKE one if needs be," she said pleasantly, though her tone made some of them shiver.
"No scaring the Pokemon we want to save," Fox sighed. "Honestly, what am I going to do with you all sometimes..."
Vincent gently set Wendy down, and the entire group of 'mon slowly walked over to the Liepard, their head hung in shame as they realized their 'tormentor' had been one of them the entire time. Vincent looked up to Sam holding Lucy, the pair of which were still looking at him. They knew about Bit already and had believed him, but he still pointed at the Liepard.
"I want you both out of here, now," Vincent demanded of them.
"Only if you come with us," Sam said in just as firm a tone. Vincent shook his head in response.
"I know Bit's code better than anyone here. Once Fox leads me to his room, I can make him listen. She wouldn't be able to. You two need to leave, now. This is our first real chance." He then looked over to the Liepard and pointed at Sam and Lucy. "Miss, if you would make sure they're the first ones out the door, I'd appreciate it."
"Sure thing, kiddo. I'll have a Hyper Beam prepped and ready. Fox?"
"Right," Fox nodded, before using several X Sp.Attacks on her, boosting her power to the max...for now.
"Oh that sounds like a wonderful idea," Vincent said with a roll of his eyes. "Let the swamp in, why don't you."
"Kid's got a mouth does he? You obviously don't know about the Fox gang then. We don't do normal, while impossible is a normal day for us. Besides, Rascal will be around to use Ice Beam soon enough if I DID get a swamp area," Liepard snorted...before Fox walked up to Vincent and handed him five thousand Poke dollars. "...I said too much didn't I?" Fox just nodded.
"To be fair, you couldn't possibly know, miss," Vincent replied while tucking his newly-won cash in the pocket of his pants. "Just, FYI, your trainer here ain't the only one who understands you anymore."
Liepard blinked. "Wow, and I thought N was the only human who had that kind of gift."
"We're in the research facility of a crazy geneticist. Not that surprising," Fox deadpanned. "Now get going before those items wear off."
"Right! Come along everyone!" Liepard ordered as she led the Pokemon out.
With a bit more vigor, the subjects followed the Liepard out of the room, though Sam cast another gaze back at Vincent. Vincent merely nodded in turn and pointed again, and Sam sighed before following the rest out. The kid then turned to Fox and cracked his knuckles.
"Right. You lead, I need to go over every single instance I can think of that Bit ever alluded to that would end up with his 'ownership' being transferred to me if we're to try and take him in peacefully."
"Gotcha. Next stop: The bastard king's lair!" Fox grinned, before she led him out of the room and down the halls. All the way, Vincent saw either people who were hung upside down in sticky cocoons, or people who had been frozen solid.
"My team has been busy. Good," Fox chuckled.
"So you have at least one bug-type on your team of some sort of spider," Vincent mused. "Y'know, it'd probably save you and them a lot of embarrassment further down the line if you just tell me who and what they all are."
"Naaah, I like seeing your cute little face when you're thinking too hard," Fox laughed, never once losing her playful tone.
"At the moment, the thing I'm 'thinking too hard about' is how to properly convince Bit that the Doctor is dead," Vincent deadpanned back. "That's the only way I can get him to agree to transfer ownership of himself to me."
"...that, or I could go stuff him in a ball. I have a few Ultraballs. I even have a Master ball on me right now," Fox commented. "As for dead...no thanks. I don't care much for killing."
"For the things he's done, if I had any of his damn concoctions in hand, I'd do it myself," the boy hissed between his teeth. "And good luck with the balls: Bit was balled before he was brought here. He's just...never used it since. I don't even know where it is anymore."
"Okay, one, no can do. I am NOT letting a kid like you commit murder. I'm going to catch him, leave him to the police, and let THEM do the dirty work. He's a dead man anyway. Second, is that all? I have some criminal balls on me too. Those can catch already caught Pokemon too, hence why they're called criminal balls," Fox said as they moved down the hall.
"Then you better make sure he's not in there," Vincent said darkly. "Or so help me, I will strangle him. I was forced to watch everything. And I want him to suffer for it."
"Yeeaaah...word of advice, don't talk like that when the cops arrive. Wouldn't want you to go to a mental institute for anything OTHER than therapy. Sides, I can easily stop you from doing anything stupid. I'll just wrap you in a nice web cocoon and haul you out of here with your friend...though if you want, I do have a taser or two on me. Feel free to use em," Fox chuckled at the end.
"On who?" Vincent said with a gesture at the bound guards. "Your team has done a remarkable job leaving them unfit-" here he gasped as an idea struck him. "That's it."
"Got an idea?"
"One of the protocols states that in the event of the Doctor being declared dead or unfit for duty, that ownership of this facility and all within shall pass to the next in line, and so on and so forth," Vincent explained rapidly. "All it needs is two people to agree that he isn't fit. The problem has been that there hasn't been two humans at this facility who weren't on his payroll...until right now."
At his words, Vincent promptly found Fox shoving him 2 tasers, and several small balls. "When we get in there, feel free to go crazy. Its all non-lethal. Debilitating though..." Fox offered him an almost malicious grin.
"There's only one I'd use this on," Vincent said, sticking the balls and one of the tasers in his front pockets after moving his won cash to one of the back ones. "And nothing is non-lethal if you have the know-how. But you've already stated you're going to stop me. So I question why you gave it to me in the first place."
"Eh, I honestly don't care much if old Nurem kicks the bucket. Once the cops get him, the only place he could possibly go with all his crimes, is the executioner. I just don't care much for actually doing it. And consider this a test of character," she said.
"The real test would begin once I had Bit," Vincent stated. "I need you up until then. After that, I'm willing to trust you until we get out. But I'd keep an eye on him if I were you. He's...always been a stickler for rules."
"Meh, fine by me. Once this is all over, you probably won't see me...except on the news and on wanted posters," Fox shrugged nonchalantly.
Vincent blinked a few times and shrugged as well. "You're helping me get out, and you aren't him. Frankly, they could decry your name from the mountaintops, and I'd ignore it."
"Fair enough. Now then, let's go see the good doctor," Fox chuckled, as she set a device on a large metal door, before pulling Vincent into a corner...right before the door exploded.
The room beyond was spartan and neat, except for the recently-added rubble to the floor. Everything seemed to have been placed just so, and just bespoke of a mind beset by some form of OCD. A terminal in the corner was softly glowing, and the image of a Porygon2's head was on it, though slightly glitching every now and again. All in all, it looked more like a place that was used, not lived in. There was no real warmth to it at all.
"Nice place he's got here," Fox commented sarcastically.
"Quick," Vincent said, pulling out the chair in front of the desk and sitting himself down in front of it. "Just follow my lead. Subject sixteen, activate Delta protocol, version five zero two."
The computer whirred for a few moments, before a mechanical voice spoke up from it. "Delta pro-pro-protocol requires TWO humaaaaaans to verify-fy-fy that the DOCtor is unfit. You only couuuuuuunt for ONE, Vincent."
"Then I second him. Dr. Nurem is NOT fit for control!" Fox quickly said.
With that, the computer whirred again. "Identify yoursel-sel-self," it said.
"Okay...now what?" Fox asked. Sure she could answer, but she doubted a Phantom Thief was in the list, and neither was her real name.
"If you are hu-hu-human and can testiFY to the doctooooor's state, that is all DELTA protocol requi-qui-quires," the computer responded.
"Bit actually wants to be free," Vincent said. "He just has to go through all the hoops. Just...tell him who you are and how you know that he's unfit."
"Fine. I'm Fox. Phantom Thief Fox. Dr. Nurem is unfit to lead on accounts of insanity, immorality, and if he comes in here, broken bones," Fox stated.
The computer beeped a few times before the screen lit up green. "ConTROL transferring...error, cannot-not-not contact any in the neeeeext of line...Greetings, MASTER Vincent. How may I hellllp you?"
Vincent smiled a bit at that, happy it had actually worked. "Bit, we're leaving this place behind. I'm ordering you to come with me."
The terminal sparked a few times before the glitchy, erratic Porygon2's form rose from it. He nodded once at both of them and turned to stare at Vincent. "I am at-at-at your disposal, MasTER."
"Well, we got what we came for. Let's get out of here," Fox said.
"Not quite," Vincent said. "Bit, where is your ball?"
In response, Bit pointed his head at the Doctor's bed. "It is kept neaaaaarby."
"...Under the mattress? Really? That's like...the oldest hiding place in the book, next to under the pillow," Fox deadpanned.
Once she lifted up the mattress, though, a floor-safe made itself evident to her eyes. "The Doc-doc-doctor did not want to TAKE any chaaaaances with the security of this facility," Bit explained.
"Well...at least he added a spin to the cliche. Fine, then, let's just crack this thing open," Fox simply said, before she started fiddling with the safe. Not long after, it opened. "Jackpot," she said as she pulled out a Pokeball.
"I'll take that, if you don't mind," Vincent said, holding his hand out.
"Here ya go. Not interested in this kind of treasure anyway," Fox shrugged as she tossed him the ball.
Vincent caught the thing and turned to Bit with a raised eyebrow. "Anything you think we need while we're still here, Bit?"
The program whirred a few times before shaking his head. "NEGatory. You have fr-fr-freed the other subjeeeeects, and myself as well. All that REMAINS is to get me out-out-outside, and the arrrrchives I contain will put the DOCtor away for all tiiiiime."
"Bit says we're good," Vincent translated for Fox.
"Hold it," Fox said. "What was that last thing he said? It sounded important."
"Something about how the information he has will put the Doctor away forever," Vincent expounded with a shrug.
"All by itself? No need to give it to the press or something?" Fox asked, her eyes narrowing. Something wasn't right here...
Bit dinged a few times as he explained. "In the event of a to-to-total escape or SYStem failure, the arrrrrchives are to be se-se-sent to Hoenn News, and to every other NEWS network. They contain informaaaaaation about everything the Doc-Doc-Doctor has done in the past sixteen YEARS."
"Once we get out, all the information in the archives will be sent to the news networks. It has things from..." Vincent sobered a bit before continuing. "Sixteen years ago? Hang on, that was before I was born..."
"That...makes absolutely no sense. Why on Earth would Nurem include a protocol that basically puts himself in line for the firing squad?" Fox mused. "Unless..."
The sound of rapid footsteps coming down the hallway snapped the party of humans and 'mon out of their thinking states.
"Which can wait till later. Let's get out of here," Fox quickly said, as she grabbed the Pokeball, returned Bit into it, and promptly scooped Vincent into her arms. "Exit: up!" she chuckled, before dropping a smoke bomb, filling the room with smoke, just as the owner of the footsteps entered. But when the smoke cleared, there was no one there.
"Subject sixteen, respond," a familiar, cold voice said.
"...Subject sixteen, this is the Doctor. Respond," it reiterated, and Vincent had to force himself to breathe normally.
"...I see. All the subjects are free, including that one, then. Perhaps it is time we turned the defenses on automatic anyways. I dislike it for the time it takes to boot up, but needs must."
There was the sound of clicking noises then, as the Doctor began activating the defenses himself.
"Not on your life, dirt bag," Fox snickered from her hiding spot in the vents, before she pulled out a switch, and pushed the button on it. The moment she pressed it, a few explosions went off, shaking the facility, before the systems went haywire, as controls sparked, screens were covered in static, before finally, all the screen changed to show a single emblem. A symbol shaped like a black Zoroark head.
"...Phantom Thief Fox, then. I had suspected as such. Truly an interesting match of intellects this was. I look forward to our next meeting, for I have no doubts that even from this, I can recover."
Meanwhile, on the roof of the facility, a hole was being carved open with a blow torch, before it was pushed open. "Fresh air. Finally," Fox gasped. It was getting stuffy in there...
"Well...this is novel," Vincent commented as he pulled himself out of the air vent. "I've heard about these sorts of things, but this is the first I've gotten to actually see them."
"Take it easy with your fill, kid. Cause this is your new life now," Fox chuckled as she pulled herself out. "And here comes the cavalry," she added as she noticed several people: Police Officers, surrounding the facility. "Guess Johnny-boy finally managed to get them to move," she chuckled.
"...What took them so long?" Vincent whispered. He seemed to be both angry and resigned at the same time.
"Eh, forms, bureaucrats, and politics. The ick of any authority," Fox chuckled, sticking her tongue out playfully. "But don't be too hard on them. Some like Johnny-boy really do try their hardest."
"...They'll have to work to earn my trust," Vincent proclaimed before looking over to Fox and holding his hand out. "If you would?"
"Hm? Oh right, Bit. Here ya go. Take good care of him. Also, here," she added, before handing him two empty Pokeballs. "For Sam and Lucy. I don't think you've seen the last of those two," Fox chuckled, as she got up to leave.
"Fair enough, but what now? I'm...free for the first time...and I have no idea what to do." The boy laid back on the roof and looked up to the sky above, sighing wistfully.
Fox smiled slightly. "Tell ya what kid. I kinda like you. Let's meet up again in a few days, and I promise I'll help you sort some things out," she chuckled, before leaning down upon him. "I guarantee you'll know its me when the time comes," she whispered into his ear, before standing up. "Well, show's over," she chuckled, before her cape wrapped around her in a spiral, before seemingly vanishing into thin air.
Just as she disappeared, Vincent heard something from the side, and turned to see two Spinarak crawling on the roof, a rope of webbing behind them as they stuck it to the roof.
"And you would be the ones responsible for quite a few webbed guards," Vincent deduced. "Well that, or you have a bigger brother I should be worried about. Thank you."
"You're-"
"-welcome," the two Spinaraks said, the male talking first, followed by the female.
"It was our pleasure," they finished together in perfect synch.
"...Okay, that could get freaky or annoying real fast," the boy said. "And I dealt with a Whismur with a Jigglypuff's voice. So. Is there a reason you two came up here besides for me to thank you?"
Both Spinaraks just gestured to the trail of webbing, as two familiar appendages climbed on to the roof.
"No way. You brought them here?" Vincent wasn't quite sure he could believe what he was seeing at the moment.
"Again, you're welcome," the Spinaraks said in synch, before crawling off, no doubt back to their Trainer.
"Wait, can I at least know your names?" the boy called after them.
"Spinner."
"Charlotte."
Vincent nodded as they crawled off, before Sam pulled himself up, Lucy riding his shoulders. "And there you are!" the Scyther crowed as his form finally crested the roof. "Good to see you again kid, especially on the outside!"
Vincent rushed the Scyther and hugged him. A heartwarming scene that only got more so when Lucy jumped down and joined in. "I'm glad you two are safe," Vincent whispered, before remembering Fox's gifts to him. "I have something here for the both of you," he said, pulling back and revealing the two empty Pokeballs. "Now I promise you that-"
He was cut off by both Scyther and Riolu pressing the buttons on the displayed balls near instantly, followed by the balls only wobbling slightly and clicking just as quickly. With a befuddled expression on his face, Vincent opened the balls and released his brother and sister from them. "You...didn't let me finish," he stated.
"Doesn't matter," Sam said. "I trust you."
"Same here!" Lucy said before resuming her hug.
The scene was interrupted when a Noibat flew up. "Noi!" she called out, before flying back down. Shortly after, a young man with a Combusken by his side climbed up to the roof. "Hey, I found more survivors up here. One of them's a human boy in his early teens, likely Vincent Nurem!" the man called out to below, before he walked over to them.
Once he drew close, however, the three there flinched. Vincent spoke for the group. "What took you so long?"
Jonathan for his part looked taken aback by the question...until he realized what Vincent was likely talking about...and his expression grew guilty, as even them being here was all because Fox had left them a trail of breadcrumbs to follow. "I'm really sorry...I have no excuse to give you, and no words to defend our failure," he said, bowing in apology.
Sam looked to Vincent and nodded once, and Lucy did the same. Vincent sighed and rolled his eyes. "Admitting your failure is a start," the boy said. "Just promise me he'll fry for what he's done to them all."
"That I can guarantee. The bastard who did this to you can only hang for what he has done," Jonathan nodded. "Now then, let's get you all down. I'll take you to the station in Laverre, and we can sort things out from there," he said, smiling gently.
"There, ah, is a rope over there," Sam said, pointing at where he and Lucy had come up. "Granted, it's made of Spinarak webs, but it'd work."
Seeing it, Jonathan only gave them a flat stare. "...Fox?" he deadpanned.
"Considering she got me, them, the rest, and even Bit out," Vincent deadpanned back, "I'm more inclined to trust her than you at this point."
"...fair enough," Jonathan sighed. "Honestly sometimes...I really wonder what you're doing on the wrong side of the law with how much good you do sometimes..." Jonathan mentally sighed as he helped them down. No matter how he sliced it, the fact remained that the real hero here was...Phantom Thief Fox. The irony was almost too much.
Once the small family was down (Vincent having put Lucy and Sam in their newly-acquired balls beforehand and letting them go once they were on the ground), they looked at the small horde of other survivors and nodded once. "Just...ask me or Bit about what they can do. And especially don't let the Whismur talk," Vincent informed Jonathan.
"Duly noted," Jonathan nodded as a small sheet was draped over Vincent. "Now let's get you out of here. I doubt you want to stay in the swamps for longer than necessary," Jonathan chuckled as a bunch of Quagsire walked by. "Then again, if you like Pokemon a lot..."
"I don't have a problem with 'mon," Vincent stated, before looking at the Combusken. "And usually, they don't have a problem with me, either. Your partner's been pretty quiet, though, so I don't know..."
"Just wondering why I see a human, but keep smelling a Psychic," Heat commented, as a Mightyena, Howl, trotted up next to him.
"He's right. I'm smelling an Abra off the kid," Howl commented. In response, Vincent reached over and gave the Dark-type a rub behind the ears, much to the Mightyena's enjoyment if the whimpers he gave were any indication.
"Blame the Doctor for that one. What I got out of those very few times I could from Bit, that's what I'm spliced with," Vincent said in response to both 'mon's statements.
"Okay...that's a new one. Didn't know you COULD splice Pokemon DNA into a human," Jonathan whistled. "Okay, let's get you all out of here. The paper work this is gonna give us is NOT going to be fun, but we gotta do it. Better sooner than later," he groaned. Paper work was, and always will be, the bane of his existence. Fox could never compare to the terror that is paper work.
"Guess that also explains why I think the kid can understand us. All Pokemon can understand each other. Guess adding Pokemon DNA does that to humans," Heat commented as he and Howl walked back to Jonathan's side.
"Yeah, Vinny always could understand us," Lucy commented, not letting up from her hug for a second. "Is it really that weird?"
After Heat translated for him, Jonathan just groaned. Suddenly he had a feeling this was gonna be more trouble than he thought. "Yeah, it is. Now let's get you all out of here. For real this time," he sighed, before picking Vincent and Lucy up and carrying them down the path towards Laverre City.
"...If anything happens, I will not be pleased," Sam stated as he stalked after the human that had his younger brother and sister.
"If anything happened to them on his watch, Jonathan might not bother dodging," Echo piped up as she flew alongside him.
"He'll make the third human I've ever trusted," Sam retorted. "And that's stretching the word 'trust.' You'd best be right, little bat."
Echo just shrugged and flew after her Trainer.
After an hour, all of them entered into Laverre City. "Welcome to Laverre City. Otherwise known as the City of Otherworldly Dreams," Jonathan said as he put Vincent and Lucy down. Shortly after, Sam walked up and stood next to his 'brother', and Vincent looked around with wide eyes.
"Okay, the pictures Bit snuck out? One thing. Seeing it for myself? Another thing entirely." He actually had a smile on as he took in the sensations. "I...think I'm going to like it out here."
"Glad to hear it. Since you just got out, I doubt you want to be stuck in the station for what might be hours," Jonathan said.
"Sam," Vincent said, turning to the Scyther, "Any idea how much a typical room in a hotel would cost?"
The Scyther just shrugged. "I stayed with an old man until he passed away in his sleep before I met you guys. We didn't, ah, exactly touch on that subject." Here he blushed and looked away.
Vincent shrugged again and looked to John. "I have a little money. Is there a good hotel in this town I could use for the duration?"
"Well...yeah, you could find one or two," Jonathan started. "But...you know what, I'm probably gonna get into trouble for this, but what the heck," he smiled slightly. "Tell ya what, you go with Heat, Howl, and Echo and see the town. When you're done, follow them back to my place. Its not much, since I'm also only renting a place here temporarily, but it'll do. And its free of charge," Jonathan smiled, before adding, "Though...where did you get... FIVE THOUSAND?!!" he gasped in surprise when he saw the amount of money Vincent had. He was expecting a hundred at most, if not at all, but this...took the cake.
"Oh, I won a bet with Fox. She bet I couldn't guess the name of one of her team, and another one all but told me, so..." Vincent smiled before putting the money back in his back pocket. "Thank you for the offer, mister...I don't believe we ever were properly introduced," Vincent observed.
"Jonathan. Jonathan Trace. I'm the officer in charge of Fox's case...speaking of which, I don't suppose you could tell me what the names of any of her Pokemon were, could you?" he said.
"Why yes, I do possess basic communication skills," Vincent observed. "However, seeing as she got to me first..." With that, he turned to the town and waved a hand behind him. "C'mon you three, or else I'll never find your Trainer's home in this mess!"
Jonathan just looked at him with a bemused expression. "Alright, I get it. Considering she did save you...I'll let it slide," Jonathan smiled slightly. "Fair warning though, DON'T tell any of the other officers that you have any clues on Fox. They're not as...understanding as I am..." he sighed. He wished more officers were more...honorable sometimes.
"Fair enough," Vincent said with a nod. "And unless they know exactly how to ask, I doubt I'll have to give any exact answers." He hoped that was enough of a clue to the detective as to how his own mind worked before he began walking off.
Jonathan did understand the meaning behind the statement. Vincent was basically saying that as long as he specified which one he wanted to know about, he would answer but... "If my grandparents saw this, they'd be rolling in their graves. But..." he sighed before looking at the sky. "You did good today, Fox. I'll leave this be for now," he smiled, before turning to his Pokemon. "Go on, get. I'll deal with the paperwork," he smiled, as the three of them went after the boy.
"Oh hey there, finally decided to join us on our little jaunt?" Sam questioned as he gave Lucy a piggy-back ride.
"Don't push us, bug," Heat jabbed in bemusement.
"We're the guides here, so keep up," Echo chuckled, before they led them around town.
"And here we have Laverre City Gym," Howl said as they walked by the building built into the massive tree. "Current Gym Leader is Miss Valerie, and her specialty is Fairy-type Pokemon. Not the best matchup for you guys at the moment," he chuckled at the end.
Sam merely fluttered his wings, which had suddenly gained a metallic quality to them. "So you say."
Vincent, however, was lost in thought. "For what basis does the one-Type-per-Gym system come from?" he pondered aloud. "Clearly, I would need to befriend and capture half-a-dozen Pokemon at best, a dozen at worst, and make certain they learned the correct moves, and there would not be a Gym I could not best with one or another by my side."
"Not that simple. Aside from types, each Gym Leader has their own 'style' of battle. So just knowing the right moves and the right type matchups won't be enough. As for why the singular type specialties...I honestly don't know," Heat explained. "I personally always thought it was a mix of preference for each Gym Leader, and as preparation for any trainers aiming for the top," at this, he turned towards the general direction of where the Kalos Pokemon League was located.
"Ah yeah, that championship thing," Sam said. "Doesn't the Champion only ever get there with a team sorta like what little Vincent here just described?"
"Fifteen, not little," the boy groused.
"Well, yes. But just because a person has a type specialty, doesn't mean they ONLY use that type. It's complicated really," Echo said, scratching the back of her head.
"Oh really? Valerie, Fairy..." Vincent leaned back onto his 'older brother' with a smug expression. "Tell me, what 'mon partners does she have that wouldn't be vulnerable to Sam's Steel Wing?"
"...her Mawile," Howl simply said. "Her strongest is her Sylveon though. Most likely it was her starter."
"Hey Lucy, how good are you at punching things?" Vincent asked idly. In response, Lucy found a nearby rock, lifted one foot, and brought it down on the rock...which split in two, and it had been her size to begin with.
"Ookay...so you've got some surprises too," Heat blinked, before an idea crossed his mind. "If you're so confident, how about you give it a shot. All gym leaders are required to choose their teams according to the level of the challengers, and in your case...it'd be a 2 on 2 Pokemon battle at most. Wanna try?"
Vincent pulled out Bit's ball from behind him and held it up to refute one part of what Heat had said. "Not yet," the boy replied. "And maybe not ever. I want to see these three safe at least, but Bit is going to need...work. Lots of work and deprogramming."
"Oh boy...you should have left him with Jonathan then. If you did, he'd have given Bit to his bosses, and they would have had your friend...fixed," Howl sighed, though he was careful on his choice of words.
"I was talking literally; Bit's a Porygon2," Vincent retorted before putting the ball back where he'd gotten it from. "And tell me they know him as well as I do, I dare you."
"Fair enough. But unless you're a computer wiz or something, you're gonna need help in that department," Heat said, scratching the back of his head.
"Eh, with Fox's help, I got Bit to transfer his perceived ownership of himself to me, so he'll answer all of my inquiries." Vincent shrugged before finishing. "It'll only take me five minutes at most to figure out if I need help."
"Then why not do it now? Not like you're gonna get anything from waiting. Sides, if this gets messy, I'd rather we do this outside," Howl suggested.
"...Fair enough," Vincent replied, before taking the ball out again and tossing it in the air. With a click, Bit's erratic and glitchy form was in front of them.
"Greetings, MASter Vincent. How may I-I-I help yooooooou?" the Porygon2 said.
"...okay, no offense, but that is just wrong," Howl shuddered.
"Yeah, that is just not right. How did he get that way?" Heat gulped.
"Do we even want to know for that matter?" Echo fluttered behind Heat.
"The Doctor made a Dubious Up-Grade; combined both of a Porygon's Evolution disks, and fed it to him. He Evolved, but I can tell you right now, it hurt," Vincent elaborated.
"I was right, we didn't want to know..." Echo groaned.
"How the hell does someone make an evolution hurt?! That's just...not natural," Heat sighed, while Howl nodded in agreement.
"Whiiiich defines most of us that survived," Sam said.
"The only unnatural thing here is how messed up it is that it took the world so long to finally save you guys," Howl growled. "And to think the higher ups keep putting focus on stuff like Pokephilia too..." he muttered under his breath.
"Bit, do you have a self-diagnosis or self-repair function?" the boy asked of the program.
The Program ticked a few times before dinging in response. "This UNIT does po-po-possess those functions, maaaaaster VINCENT."
"Excellent," Vincent said, rubbing his hands together in glee. "Bit, perform self-diagnosis and self-repair. Find out what's wrong with yourself, then fix yourself."
The Porygon2 locked up for a moment before speaking up again. "Processes started. Estimated time until scan finishes: eight hours. Estimated time until repairs finish: unknown. Please return this unit to its ball or to a computer to facilitate repairs."
Vincent pointed Bit's ball at the hovering mess of a Pokemon, and with a beam of red, Bit was sucked back in. "Well...that's a thing," the boy commented.
"At least you got that taken care of easily enough though," Echo simply said.
"True enough, at least something was simple in our favor," Sam agreed with a nod.
"So...while we're here, do you want to go in anyway? You know, maybe check out the gym...maybe catch some poor trainer getting pummeled along the way," Heat suggested.
"Battle nut," Howl and Echo deadpanned.
"Yeah, like I'm the only one who likes to watch a gym battle," Heat rolled his eyes.
"I...don't think so," Vincent replied. "These guys are essentially my family, plus, hearing others in pain..." Here the boy trailed off before raising a hand to his head. "Always made the headaches worse."
"That's...gonna be a problem," Howl sighed. "Now that you're out of the facility, truth is, Pokemon battles are a normal thing here. And since you're technically a trainer now, there WILL be some people who will challenge you to a battle, so..."
Vincent seemed to grow sad for a moment, before he looked down at the ball in his hands and smiled. "Oh, is that so?" he said in a too-sweet voice. "I'll keep that in mind. Sam, remind me, what's the usual forfeit for losing a battle?"
"A good chunk of change," Sam replied instantly, before taking notice of where Vincent was looking. "No. No, you do not get to use Bit when he's fixed. That is just unfair, and you know it."
"Nobody is gonna say anything though. As far as we know, a Porygon is a Porygon. Heck, if he's as strong as you seem to say he is, you SHOULD have him as a signature Pokemon," Heat shrugged.
"Bit was the backup for everything and ran the security systems," Sam explained. "He was also the trainer in the simulator room. All that time, working on his special attack...Pray he doesn't know a move you're weak to if you face him." Sam shuddered at the thought of his 'sessions' with Bit and Charge Beam.
The three police Pokemon just shrugged. To them, it sounded like as long as Vincent kept a leash on Bit, he shouldn't cause any problems if he were used in a battle.
"Plus," Sam tacked on, "You don't know what his state is going to be like once he is fixed."
Vincent sobered a bit at the thought. "Hadn't considered that," the boy said with a slight nod. "Still, his wide array of moves and his Download ability..."
"Well...we're not gonna force you to do anything. But all the same, it wouldn't hurt if you and your family...trained up a bit. Its definitely better than relying on only one Pokemon...or watching them get pummeled in a fight," Heat sighed.
"Aaaanyway, on a more cheery note, I say we go to the Pokemon fan club next!" Howl suggested.
"Sounds like a fine idea!" Sam said in response. Lucy jumped into Vincent's arms and pointed in a random direction.
"Mush!" she commanded.
"You don't know where it is any more than I do," Vincent deadpanned.
"...Mush!" she commanded again.
"Yep, she doesn't know," Echo chuckled, before they led them towards the right direction.
"Sorry about that. We didn't know the local kindergarten was having a field trip," Howl said apologetically. When they had gotten to the fanclub, they were all but swarmed by a horde of kids.
"Eh, you couldn't have known," Sam replied with a wave of a scythe. "And at least the boys were mostly gentle with me." It was close, though, even with his thick exoskeleton.
"Speak for yourself," Echo grumbled. Unfortunately, some of the kids who STILL needed to learn more about Pokemon got her and well...being treated like a stuffed animal was NOT fun.
"I got to sit on Vinny's shoulders!" Lucy said, still on her new perch. "It's fun up here! Looks like I can see more from up here too!"
"Yeah, it probably looks like that," Howl smiled.
"Well, since we've more or less seen the whole town, let's head back," Heat suggested.
"We can do that," Vincent agreed. "...Still, why was it important they not know about my...ability?"
"Well...for the police, its more that you know a clue about Fox. Jonathan would rather catch her fair and square, and not resort to taking advantage of her kindness...other officers though...let's just say they're not as honorable. As for in general...your dad is unfortunately NOT the only crazy scientist out there. A LOT of people might be interested in figuring out how to re-create what you can do," Heat sighed, before shuddering at the end.
"Plus, did you want to be there any longer?" Sam questioned. "They'd have kept you there for hours if they realized you were actually talking to us and hearing us."
"And that's a no, so let's get going," Vincent replied only quickening his walk in response afterwards.
The small group walked for a while, before coming upon an apartment building. Walking up to the front desk, Heat dinged the bell. "Yes?" one of the staff asked, before seeing Heat. "Ah yes, I assume Mr. Trace will be coming back late today again?" Heat nodded, before the staff sighed. "Very well, I'll open the door for you," he sighed, before noticing the new additions. "Friends of yours?" Another nod. "Very well, they may come as well."
"My thanks," Vincent said with a nod, following the Combusken onwards.
The apartment they came upon was...simple to say the least. Two bedrooms, one clearly a guest room, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. "Its not much, but Jonathan likes to have apartments like this in every City in case he has to spend a long time in any City. Normally, we live in Anistar city," Heat explained.
Vincent, Sam, and Lucy all made a beeline for the couch and sighed in relief as they managed to get some rest for their feet. "Hang on a tic, you've been carried this whole day," Sam pointed out, turning to Lucy's form.
"Can't talk, comfy," she retorted, working herself in deeper on the couch.
"Make yourselves at home. It'll probably be a while before Jonathan comes home," Echo smiled.
Vincent took note of the computer screen nearby and fingered Bit's ball, thinking about letting the program at some hardware...and deciding against it. He didn't want the officer to come back to a non-functional computer for however long Bit took.
"Yeaaah...please don't let the Porygon mess with Jonathan's computer. That thing is connected to all his computers in each city. All of them have all his data he's gathered on Phantom Thief Fox. That's five years worth of work," Howl sighed. He had gotten worried when the boy eyed the Pokeball, but was glad that he decide not to.
"I will admit I was tempted, but it'd be a poor repayment for his kindness so far to put Bit in his network," Vincent retorted. "At least, until Bit is fixed anyways. Then he might want a Porygon to help him out."
"Maybe, but Bit is your Pokemon. Besides, all we can do now is wait. So...tv anyone?" Heat offered, picking up the remote.
At the mention of the device, Sam turned red and decided to monitor the viewing for tonight, whereas Lucy and Vincent were curious right off the bat. "Didn't you tell us about this, Sam?"
"Ah, yeah," the Scyther replied, turning more and more red. "Just...it's been...a while since I've seen one. So it might take...some time to get reacquainted with..."
"Awesome. Okay, I know the perfect movie we can watch. It should be starting soon. So...I'll go get dinner ready. So...Pokemon food or human food?" Heat said.
At that, the three rescuees adopted a dead look and recited in monotone their diet for the past few years. "You will eat this nutrient paste full of vital vitamins and minerals, containing everything a body could need without sacrificing any taste. You will drink this water filled with the same. You will partake of this routine every day." And the three stuck their tongues out at the conjured memories.
"BLEH!" they stated in unison.
"Hard to sacrifice what you never had," Vincent commented.
By the time they were done, the three Police Pokemon had stepped back. A few feet back. "Oookay...Burgers and Fries it is," Howl deadpanned.
"That's not very healthy," Echo commented.
"I think healthy food is the last thing they want right now," Heat deadpanned as the three of them went to work in the kitchen.
Jonathan yawned as he got home. Once again, after filling in his paperwork, he got grilled. AGAIN. About how Fox got away. "Moron. I don't see him chasing after her," he grumbled. He loved his job and what he did, but he could do without the annoying bosses. "I'm home," he said, not expecting anyone to be awake.
The peaceful sight of the three he'd picked up dozing on his couch lasted for all of a second as the sound of an opening door reached them and triggered their reflexes. Instantly, they were up and in fight-or-flight mode. Sam stood protectively over Vincent, who was holding Lucy close to himself as their brains all slowly rebooted. "This...this isn't there," the boy whispered.
"Yeah, this isn't. Its not a dream, and if it is, then Darkrai just sunk to a new low," Jonathan sighed as he took off his vest and tie, before plopping down on a chair. "Pass me one of the Instant Ramen cups, please," he sighed tiredly.
Sam did him one better: there had been one too many burgers and some leftover fries, which he put on a plate and passed over to the detective. "Better than ramen, though still not good for you," the Scyther observed.
"I'll burn it off the next time Fox decides to come out," he simply said, before taking a bite. It was cold, but to the tired officer, it was one of the best things he had ever tasted.
"So...mister Trace, I think there are two things you should know," Vincent said, slowly leaning forward and prying Lucy off of himself.
"...what did Heat burn this time?" Jonathan deadpanned. He wouldn't trade Heat for anyone, but sometimes the Combusken was just too enthusiastic for his own good.
"Oh, just the first few burgers, which he ate himself, but that's not the important part," Vincent commented before pulling Bit's ball out from behind himself and putting it in his lap. "This is Bit...a Porygon2 that was meant to serve as the backup for everything from...there. He's currently fixing himself as best as he can, and I'll check on him when I wake up...but I figured you should know he's an option."
"An option to what? Unless he still has problems after he's done, he's your Pokemon as far as I'm concerned. The Nurem case is all but closed now too, since every media provider in the world just got a special delivery. Anyone who supports Nurem now is just ASKING to be on death row next to him," Jonathan sighed tiredly. He was happy, yes he was that Nurem could never harm another Pokemon again without SEVERE repercussions, but still, he had a long day.
"...Guess we missed it then," Vincent said, before taking the money out next. "And second...I want you to have this...if you'll let me give it to you, of course."
"Eh, you won it from Fox more or less fair and square. Besides, you're not exactly a member of the Rich family. Keep it, you'll need it," Jonathan simply said, pushing the money back.
"True," Vincent said, pushing it forward again, "But I don't know how to properly use it. I want you to use it, to help not only me...but yourself as well. I think...Fox knew something like this might happen anyways when she gave it to me."
"Kid. Fox is a whimsical as they come. Personally I think she just wanted to give you something so you wouldn't find yourself on the streets when you got out. But, if you'd like...I'll give you a hand. First thing tomorrow, I'll get you to the Pokemon Center. From there, we can get you an official trainers license, which will give you access to a trainer account, as well as the free services from the Pokemon Centers. After that...I think I know a few funds we could invest some of the money in," Jonathan smiled slightly.
"I'm still going to repay you for this kindness you've shown me," Vincent replied, finally taking the money back and putting it away in his pocket.
"Vincent. Just live. The nightmare is over. All I want is for you to live life like any other kid your age, and we'll call it even. Speaking of which, I got some info you might want to know," he said, as he pulled out a folder with a picture of a woman on it. "See this? Apparently, she's your mother. Your biological mother. She's been spending the last fourteen years looking for you after...you know."
Vincent looked at the folder and gently took it, not quite sure what to make of it. "I...Do you know where she is right now?" To say he was stunned would be a slight understatement.
"Last records of her were in Kanto a few weeks ago. Apparently she's been following any and all leads she could to find you since you were kidnapped. She's also a well known Pokemon rights activist, though part of the reason was to rally more people to help in her search," Jonathan smiled. "You've got one hell of a mom, kid."
Vincent blinked a few times before he realized that his vision was blurry, and he wiped away the sudden tears. "Huh...thought I stopped doing that a while ago," he commented idly as he noticed the moisture on his sleeve. "Well...thanks, mister Trace."
"Just call me Jonathan, or Jon if you'd like. Mr. Trace makes me feel like my dad," Jonathan chuckled. "As for your mother, unfortunately at the moment nobody really knows where she is, since many of the places she looks are a bit...off the grid. Until we can contact her again, I've volunteered to take care of you till then. Its the least I can do after fourteen years of hell you had to deal with. And don't worry. Its no big deal for me. My family is by no means rich, but we're...comfortable," Jonathan said.
"Yeah, just, as I'm sure you noticed," Vincent said with a weak smile and chuckle, "please, please try to avoid startling us again? For most of us, it'd not be an issue if you were outside of arm's reach, but for someone like Bit...there's no telling what he'd do when he's fixed and out of the ball."
"Yeah...I think I should add therapy to the list after all," Jonathan blinked. "Speaking of which, since the Nurem case is closed more or less, I've been ordered to go back to my main branch tomorrow. So yeah...sorry for the sudden info, but I hope you enjoyed your short stay here."
"Actually," Sam mused as he thought aloud, "It'd probably be a good idea to get further away from here. Might help you recover more if you're not as close."
Vincent thought about what Sam had said before nodding slowly. "Eh, fair point. Maybe a change of scenery will help."
"Great. It'll take us two days to get back to HQ, so we'll be stopping by one of the nearby towns first. That would be Dendemille town. Hope you like snow,"Jonathan smiled, before a thought crossed his mind. "Speaking of snow...a good friend of mine is over there right now for her research. Maybe we'll bump into her along the way."
Vincent shuddered at the mention of snow, along with Sam. "Not a big fan of cold," the boy explained.
"Oh boy, that could be a small problem. Anistar is close to Snowbelle, and while we're nowhere near as cold as Snowbelle, its often snowing there," Jonathan scratched his head.
Vincent thought for a moment, before he patted the pocket the money he'd been given was in. "How much would warm clothing cost, do you think?"
"Laverre doesn't see much need for it...so...actually, you'd be better off buying it in Dendemille. Here, people don't really need warm clothing, so the price is higher...maybe 2000 poke dollars per jacket. But In Dendemille, that would only cost you about 1500 poke dollars," Jonathan suggested.
"So a quick stop there to outfit me, maybe for you to see your friend," Vincent supplied. "And then on to the main HQ."
"Yeah, that'll work...provided Alice isn't in Frost Cavern...knowing her, that's probably where she'll be. Looking for frozen fossils and stuff no doubt," Jonathan sighed.
"And once we get there, you can put me right in that ball," Sam said. "I'm not sticking around cold if I can avoid it."
Lucy merely hopped back in Vincent's lap. "I'm stayin' with Vinny. I have a coat of fur, anyways."
"Plus the stopover will give me time to check on Bit," Vincent finished.
"Yeah, sounds like a plan. Alright, then I think its time you all turned in. We've got a long day of traveling tomorrow," Jonathan smiled.
The next morning, Jonathan brought Vincent to the Pokemon Center, along with Sam, Lucy, and Bit.
"Good morning, welcome to the Pokemon Center," the Nurse Joy running the center greeted pleasantly. "Ah, Officer Trace. Are you here to give your Pokemon a check up?"
"Nothing like that, Nurse Joy. I'm here to get Vincent here registered for an official trainer license," Jonathan smiled back as he motioned to Vincent.
The boy stepped forward a few paces, stopping still well away from the desk. He...wasn't fond of doctors or nurses, and with good reason. "Good morning," he said nonetheless.
"Is...something wrong?" Nurse Joy asked, a little worried by his reaction. At this point, Jonathan stepped forward and whispered to Nurse Joy, "Yeah...about that. Let me explain. This is Vincent Nurem. We only just saved him yesterday."
Upon hearing the name, Nurse Joy's eyes widened at the implication. "Ah...I see...the poor boy. I understand," she nodded, having heard reports on the infamous doctor, one of which being him kidnapping his own son.
"Well...Vincent does get along with Pokemon more easily," Jonathan idly commented as a hint.
"Ah, that's a good idea. Wigglytuff, could you please come here," Nurse Joy called to the back. Shortly after, a Wigglytuff wearing a nurse hat and apron walked out.
"Ah. Hello there," Vincent greeted the fairy.
"Hello!" the Wigglytuff said happily with a big smile. "Welcome!"
"Well she's certainly energetic," Vincent commented with a slight smile, taking a small step forwards, Sam and Lucy following. "I'm here to get registered as an official Trainer."
"Ah yes, I'll take care of that immediately. All I need is your name and age, but Officer Trace already told me your name, so all I need is your age, and I can take care of the rest," Nurse Joy smiled, happy to see the boy getting more comfortable.
"I...think I'm fifteen? I'd need to see the records to be sure," Vincent commented scratching his head.
"Alright, I'll write down fifteen for now. Please wait right here. I won't be long," Nurse Joy smiled, before walking to the back.
"So, how you feeling about being a trainer?" Jonathan idly asked.
"Not sure yet," the boy commented. "I'm more into the aspect where nobody will be able to take my family from me."
"Fair enough," he nodded.
"Don't you worry. Once your license is done, you and your family can be together forever!" Wigglytuff said with her big smile again.
"And how long does it typically take?" Vincent asked of the fairy, causing her to stop for a moment as she realized the boy had heard and understood her.
"Did you...actually understand what I said?" she asked in surprise. Normally, only Nurse Joy could really understand what she was saying, since they had been together for a long time. Most other trainers could only understand the general feelings she was trying to project.
"I think I'll start labelling these stages in reaction to this," the kid mused. "Stage one, denial. Not sure about stage two. Maybe relief?"
"I dunno about that," Jonathan chuckled, before kneeling down in front of the fairy. "Could you please not tell anyone about this. If word gets out, the kid'll have more problems than he already had, especially if the wrong people hear of this."
"Oh...okay," Wigglytuff stuttered, not sure what to say.
"Look, Jon, I'm happy you're looking out for me, really I am, but to me, this is just something I do. I'm not going to be able to hide it easily for a while...or ever. Why not tell people? They'll find out anyways. Sooner we tell them, the better. Especially if you say I'm in police protection at the same time." Vincent questioned the detective bluntly.
"Well...alright. I just thought we'd at least try to keep any...unwanted attention off of you first, especially since you just got out of that place. Alright kid, its your...gift...so if you want to show it, I won't stop you," Jonathan said, scratching the back of his head.
"Best to get it all done at once rather than drag it out," the former-lab-Rattata commented, speaking both wise words...and from experience. "Plus, given time, people might forget about it to some degree, or not even believe it if it's such a weird or rare thing. Meaning it won't really matter until the moments like this one happen."
Jonathan couldn't help but be surprised again by the boy. Despite living an...isolated life, he seemed very intelligent. Not at all like what he had expected to see. "Alright Vincent, you win," Jonathan chuckled, raising his arms in mock surrender. "Guess I was wrong to think you needed any protection...other than physical ones."
"Which we have handled already," Sam stated with a nod. Lucy gave off a positive-sounding hum at the Scyther's statement.
"Especially if Bit really fixes himself," the little Riolu added.
"Fair point. But just watch yourselves. You might do fine against normal trainers, but if you get any of the Evil Teams on your backs, well...don't get cocky," Jonathan sighed in amusement.
As he finished saying that, Nurse Joy came back with a device in her hand. A Pokedex. "Sorry for the wait. Your Pokedex and license are ready," she said, before placing the Pokedex on a panel on the desk. "Please place your Pokeballs on this panel too, so we can register your Pokemon as well," she said, motioning to the place for the Pokeballs.
Vincent slowly stepped forward and brought out Lucy and Sam's balls. "Do they have to be in them at the moment, or...?" he trailed off, unsure.
"Not to worry. They're already locked to the balls. Just placing the empty balls will do," she said.
Vincent nodded and placed the balls of his family next to the 'dex, before reaching and snagging Bit's ball as well and holding it in front of him. "I...don't think Bit's ready yet," he said, before putting the Porygon2 back where he'd gotten him from.
"Alright. But please register him as soon as you can. Any other Pokemon you catch after this will automatically be registered to your ownership," Nurse Joy explained. "Have a nice day. We hope to see you again," she smiled and bowed.
Vincent softly smiled in return, before reclaiming the balls and taking the 'dex. Upon getting his new gear, he realized a problem, and turned to Jon. "I...am going to need something to carry this all with at this rate," the boy wryly observed.
"Well...we'll see about getting you a backpack for this then. For now, just hold on to them. We'll get you a backpack when we get to Dendemille. Until then, I can hang on to your Pokedex for you if you'd like," Jonathan nodded.
"I think I can manage," Vincent said, his pockets bulging. "Barely. Sooner we get to that town, the better."
"Alright then, let's get going. Would you like to go by foot or by vehicle? I was thinking we could go by foot so you could take in more sights along the way," Jonathan smiled.
"Fair enough," Vincent said, before Lucy climbed over his head and sat on his shoulders. "But we're taking shifts with this little height maniac on the way."
"Mush!" she ordered.
"Fair enough," Jonathan sweat dropped.
Later, they were all on the road, taking the path towards Dendemille Town.
"Huh," Vincent said, looking at the leaves crunching underfoot. "Is it always autumn here?"
"More or less. Its all thanks to the climate," Jonathan nodded.
"Even this is more chill than I like," Sam said, now the one carrying Lucy.
"Pretty!" she commented, looking around. "It's real nice here. Colorful."
"It sure is!" Echo chimed in. She always did enjoy the routes around their home.
"Just watch out for some of the trainers around here. There are a few weirdos every now and then," Howl commented, while Heat nodded in agreement.
"Be nice you two. Some people are just a little...eccentric," Jonathan chided.
"I think we can handle eccentric," Vincent deadpanned. "Doesn't get much weirder than us."
Jonathan just chuckled in response as they walked through the path. Along the way, several trainers challenged Jonathan to a battle. Apparently he was pretty well known around these parts.
"Heat, end it. Overheat," Jonathan calmly ordered, as Heat fired the flames at his opponent, a Bannet. The attack hit, and after the ensuing explosion, the Bannet collapsed, its eyes swirly.
"Dang, you really don't let up, Officer," The Hex Maniac that had challenged him whistled. "Thank you for the battle," she said as she paid him his winnings, and recalled her Pokemon.
"...Something tells me I'm safer sticking with you for as long as possible," Vincent commented.
"Just, watch it, will ya? I felt the heat on that one," Sam said with a slight wince.
"As long as you stay a good distance away, its no problem," Heat chuckled, quite satisfied with the battle.
"As for the fight...yeah, I am pretty strong," Jonathan chuckled, as he pulled out a case, and showed Vincent the inside. There were 5 badges pinned inside it, from the Bug Badge to the Voltage Badge.
"That isn't bad," Vincent admitted with a nod. "I might try something similar one day...assuming I can find partners as strong as yours that get along well with my family."
"Don't force it. Trust me, its better to only have a few Pokemon who you can really bond with, rather than having a hundred that you can't connect with," Jonathan smiled as he put the badges away. "Why do you think I only have 3 Pokemon?"
"Because only three would put up with you?" Vincent snarked. "Seriously, good on you for taking as good care of them as you have...and vice versa," he said, winking at Jon's partner 'mon.
"You're a good kid, Vincent. Trust me, be true to yourself and you'll be just fine," Jonathan smiled before they resumed their travelling.
Once they had gotten to the ruined buildings, Vincent turned to look at them, only slowing down slightly. "What's the story behind these?" he questioned.
"That's the Lost Hotel. Apparently, there used to be a successful Hotel, but something happened years ago that left it in ruins. This is all that's left," Jonathan sighed. "Be careful though, that place has become a popular hang out for gangs and stuff, and even a few mercenaries have been known to use it as a meeting point," Jonathan warned.
"So avoid creepy places, because they're home to creepy people," Vincent summarized. "Sounds logical and reasonable."
"That and Ghost-types tend to live in areas like that a lot. Course, I'm not worried, since I've got Howl with me, and as you saw, Heat can deal with them well enough too," Jonathan nodded.
In response, Sam lifted a claw that now seemed to be edged with shadows, and Lucy's arms seemed to be darker as well for some reason. "Y'all should really stop underestimating his educational programs," Vincent commented without turning around, knowing what his siblings would be showing off. "And you two, put the Dark-type moves down."
Sam and Lucy returned to normal with a grin on their faces.
"Fair enough," Jonathan shrugged. "I'm just doing my job and at least giving you a warning."
"Appreciated," Vincent said with a nod. "But we can hold our own in a few situations, and that might expand rapidly, depending on if our third member is salvageable."
"Just being here so you know I got your back," Jonathan simply said. "Speaking of which, I can see the town now."
The chill had finally gotten to be too much for the Scyther, so he passed Lucy off to Vincent and nodded twice. "Okay, ready. Lemme out when we're somewhere warmer."
In response, Vincent pulled out Sam's ball and returned his brother to its interior. By that point in time, Lucy had climbed up onto his shoulders. "Onwards!" she demanded.
"She's cute. But I hope she gets a bit more mature when she Evolves," Heat smiled wryly.
"I hope for quite a few things when she Evolves," Vincent said, staring off into the distance for a moment before shaking his head and smiling wryly.
"We have shopping to do if I'm not mistaken," the boy then reminded his escorts.
"Yeah, let's get going," Jon nodded, before leading them to the clothing store. Once inside, they quickly picked out warmer clothing for Vincent.
"Well this feels much warmer," the boy commented as he tried on a fluffy coat, before taking notice of something. "Um. Where's Lucy?"
"Huh? I thought she was with you just a moment ago," Howl blinked.
"Well she's not here now," the boy pointed out, looking around for his wayward sister.
"Well, she had to have gone somewhere...let's go find some young ladies. Maybe they caught her to huggle her or something," Heat suggested, before deadpanning at the end.
The moment Vincent moved to follow Heat, his coat giggled, causing the boy to freeze and sigh. "Found her," he stated, before the Riolu's head poked out from the coat in front of his own.
"Hi!" Lucy said before ducking back into the coat.
"...no sugar for the Riolu," Echo deadpanned. "Or else she'd be bouncing off the walls." The rest of her team and her trainer nodded in agreement.
"And that'd be without any help in launching her at those walls," Vincent stated with a wry smile, recalling an incident from not too long ago. "Comfy in there, Lucy?"
"Warm in here! I like it. Gonna nap now."
"Quick, let's pay for that coat and get to the hotel before she wakes up. I don't feel like keeping track of an almost hyper Riolu in this town," Howl quickly said.
"Would you prefer the alternative?" Vincent bluntly questioned before taking his cash out and handing it to Jon.
"What alternative?" Heat blinked as Jon paid for the coat.
"She could be acting like the things that happened to her in there affected her," the boy elaborated. "I prefer this version of her rather than the one that she could be."
"...suddenly I don't mind dealing with a hyper Riolu," all three Pokemon deadpanned.
"Sounds like a good idea to me," Jonathan chuckled, as he handed Vincent his change back. Vincent put it in one of the coat's pockets, along with the Pokedex, making the load easier on his poor pants.
"Just one more thing to take care of before we can be going, Jon," Vincent said. "I'd like to borrow Heat for it if I may, seeing as how he's likely to know Fighting moves if worst comes to worst."
"...why would you want to go into Frost Cavern? The only reason I wanted to go there is in the event Alice isn't in town, she'd likely be there," Jonathan stated.
"You misunderstand," Vincent said, pulling out Bit's ball to make his point clearer. "Lucy's napping, so I need someone else...and she might not like the idea of hurting him, even if we have to."
"...alright. Tell ya what, I'll give you a hand too. Take Bit to the northern exit of town. There's an open field where nobody will get hurt," Jonathan said.
"Thank you," Vincent said before looking at Heat with a raised eyebrow. "If you want to, of course," he amended.
"Meh, I don't see why not. Sides, I always like testing myself against strong opponents," he grinned.
"And this is why I wonder how you're not a Blaziken yet," Jonathan deadpanned, especially since Heat was his main Pokemon for battle. Heat just shrugged in response.
"In that case, we'll be off for...hopefully not long," Vincent said. "Why don't you call your friend while we check up on Bit?"
"Sounds like a plan. I'll book a room in the hotel for us. Just tell them you're with me, and they'll show you the room," Jonathan nodded, before heading for the hotel. |
Building a Better World: Origins | The fate of Vincent Nurem part 2 | "Ready, Heat?" Vincent asked the Combusken, Bit's ball at the ready.
"Anytime," Heat grinned, fire already seeping out of his beak.
Vincent tossed the ball upwards, releasing...
Well, it wasn't a Porygon2 anymore. Sometime between when he'd been told to fix himself and now, Bit had apparently been upgraded to a Porygon-Z. Or maybe this was how he was supposed to be? The program ticked a few times as he took in the surroundings before he spoke to himself.
"Scenery suggests outside world, most likely that of Dendemille town...last known records indicate that Fox was breaking in before Delta Protocol 502 was enacted, transferring ownership of myself to-"
The program cut itself off and turned around, seeing Vincent standing there with a smile on his face. "Hey Bit. Feeling better?"
Bit slowly nodded before looking around again. "Is...this real?" he questioned.
"Well, one way to find out," Heat suggested, half joking as he raised a clawed arm. "One good punch will do," he joked.
Bit, however, didn't take jokes well. His head rotated around quickly and focused on the unfamiliar, to him, 'mon. "Combusken, fire/fighting type. Exploiting weakness. PSYBEAM!"
"Bit!" Vincent cried out, but too late, as the multicolored beam of light had already been fired.
"Oh boy..." the Combusken groaned, before he was blasted back. "I was kinda asking for that..." he groaned, his eyes swirly.
"Bit, calm down! That was Heat, the partner of Detective Jonathan Trace, the man who's looking after us now that we're out of there. I asked him to be here in case you were...less than reasonable," Vincent educated the program.
Bit ticked a few times before his arms and head hung down. "Apologies, Heat. I...still seem to have a few ingrained protocols to being startled," the program apologized.
"It's fine. Jon always did say I should watch it with some of my jokes. Well, I learned my lesson now," he said, still a bit dizzy.
"So Bit, are you...well, yourself again?" Vincent questioned.
The Porygon-Z considered for a moment, before nodding. "I appear to have found and corrected a vast majority of the errors present in my systems," he said. "I am willing and ready to serve, Vincent."
"Well, looks to me you got your third Pokemon, kid," Heat chuckled as he finally shook off the dizziness. "So...is that it? Anything else?"
"There is...much within my memory banks that should be shared," Bit stated. "As well, there were some things that the Doctor deleted off of the mainframe, but not myself. I possess quite a few things that the world should know about, assuming he is behind bars now."
"Oh yeah, he should be this time. I mean, with all the defenses down and the guards immobilized, rounding up everyone in the facility was easy. Plus, we caught Nurem trying to activate some systems instead of running away....though Jonathan didn't do the arrest," Heat commented. "Well, he won't be there for long. With his record, its only a matter of time before he's...executed," Heat sighed at the end.
"Then it is all the more imperative that the data be shared," Bit proclaimed, before turning his head around in an exact circle. "Looking for nearest terminal," he said by way of explanation.
"Why? I mean, wasn't he a total nut case? Why would this make a difference?" Heat asked in surprise.
"Data goes back sixteen years," Bit stated. "The Doctor only became what he is known for after an accident a few years into his seclusion. I do not know what the information precisely is, but all sides of this story must be shared, as the copies on the mainframe were destroyed."
"...alright, we can show this to Jonathan. There is a police station in town too. Its small, but it can still connect with the mainframe," Heat sighed, before they quickly went back into town.
"Alright then, so I'll see you tonight then. Glad to hear you've been finding artifacts that support your research...yeah, I'm doing fine. The kid can be a bit awkward at times, but he's a strong one. He'll be just fine. Later," Jonathan chuckled as he switched off his Xtranceiver. Like he had thought, Alice WAS in Frost Cavern, but her research there was going off without a hitch, so she would be back later in the evening.
At that moment, Heat suddenly came running into the room, followed by Vincent, and a Porygon-Z he assumed was Bit. "...something wrong?"
Bit merely locked eyes on the nearby computer and floated over to it. "Beginning data transfer," the program proclaimed, before images started to appear and vanish in rapid succession on the screen.
"Once we determined he was fixed, Bit said he had to share some of the information he had, as the Doctor had deleted the copies on the mainframe, but not on him," Vincent began.
"...I don't get it. What difference could more info on Nurem do?" Jonathan said blankly. With how deep Nurem had gotten himself in...only an idiot would defend him, and nothing short of infernal intervention could save him.
"Well, apparently, it goes back to before I was born," Vincent stated dryly, but perked up a bit afterwards. "And apparently he wasn't always so bad, but seeing as how I don't recall that, I'm taking what Bit's said with a grain of salt...about the size of a desert."
"...okay. I don't see what harm it could do," Jonathan shrugged as he turned his attention to the computer.
"Transfer complete," Bit stated. "Beginning broadcast with first deleted record, sharing with all news outlets, and proceeding through deleted records sequentially."
"Wait, what?" Jonathan gasped, before looking at the screen. True enough, the data was being broadcasted. "...I am going to be in soooo much trouble if they find out..." Jonathan groaned.
Vincent, out of curiosity, turned the TV in the room on. While the news networks were still running with the story about the Doctor being apprehended, the anchor was suddenly called off the set.
"...That's...not good, I'm assuming," the boy stated.
"I just hope the data doesn't cause a riot somehow..." Jonathan sighed in resignation.
Eventually the anchor returned, just as Bit finished his broadcast. "Uh, this just in," she said with a nervous smile. "New records from the Doctor paint him in a...well, different light."
"Oh boy...here comes the riot..." Jonathan groaned. A LOT of people were looking forward to the Doctor hanging when the news of his arrest came out.
"Apparently," the newslady said, "The start of his crimes wasn't something we normally associate with his name. He wanted to save people, one person in particular. His own mother."
"Okay, yeah, real funny, Bit," Vincent said with an eye-roll. "That's not the man I know."
"This...we will be showing the recordings...similar to the ones that were received a day prior...but in a very different light," the newslady was now speechless at what the videos contained.
"...Bit, what did you show them?" Vincent questioned, now very serious.
"The truth," the Porygon-Z replied. "No matter how hard it may be to accept, I showed them nothing less or more than the truth."
"Question is, will they believe it? Humans aren't saints. They're not above blocking out the real truth to facilitate the truth they want to hear," Jonathan sighed as the recordings began playing.
"...That...that can't be right," Vincent whispered as the broadcast finished.
"Hit by a stray attack from a Grumpig...lost sense of morality in process...greedy government spurring him on...scary part is it actually sounds legit," Jonathan sighed as he looked out the window. True enough a small riot had broken out in the streets, people arguing over what they had just seen. "Unfortunately, all that's done is made things harder on us. It was much easier when everyone thought he was an abomination..."
"Easier for me, too," Vincent said, shaking slightly in rage. "This...It can't be...but Bit's never lied before...just...ARGH!" the boy screamed.
"Pillow?" Jonathan offered, giving the boy a pillow to scream into. Vincent grabbed the thing and proceeded to scream his lungs out for a good minute or so, before looking up and quirking his head at the human nearby.
"Um...did you just say 'poor kid' or something like that?" he questioned.
"Did I? I think I was too busy trying to wrap my head around this. Honestly, when Fox left us a trail to the facility, I would have grabbed her and kissed her for leading us there. Now...I suddenly feel like the bad guy."
Vincent opened his mouth to comment, but let out a cry of pain and grabbed his head. "Ow. Ow. Oh goodness OW." He looked up and sighed. "Aspirin?"
"I'll call room service. How often does that happen?" Jonathan said, a worried look in his eyes as he reached for the phone.
"Whenever I get really angry," Vincent replied. "Usually right after I ask people if they said something I just heard too. So you didn't say that?"
That's when something clicked in Jonathan's mind. "No...I didn't SAY it...but I was thinking it. Oh Arceus, I don't know which is crazier. The fact he did it, or the fact it worked...to a certain extent."
Vincent was now scared as well. "Um. Okay, I'm just going to sit here until the world makes sense again," he said, bracing himself on the bed. "That...might take a while..."
"If ever. I think that operation did more than let you talk to Pokemon. You've got the same powers as them too. An Abra at least," Jonathan sighed, as he ordered some aspirin from the front desk.
"...I get the feeling this is going to be a thing that keeps happening, then," Vincent said, shaking slightly. "I...may need a bottle to take with me, and..."
With that, the stress of his tormentor having another side to him, along with the revelation of the true extent of his modifications, was too much for the boy. He passed out shortly afterwards.
"Aaand he's out...so...how much did you guys see or hear?" he asked as the Pokemon stepped into the room.
"Enough. Dang, and it seemed so...easy till now," Howl sighed.
"Yeah...why can't anything be straight forward?" Jonathan sighed, before he got a message. "...guess we won't be seeing Alice till tomorrow. Looks like she's found something else deeper in the cavern. Oh well, its better this way I suppose. Wouldn't want her to get caught up in the riots."
Vincent slowly came to with a wicked headache, and saw a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water nearby. Thankful for whoever put it out, he popped the pills in his mouth and washed them down before pocketing the bottle. "Let's hope they work fast," the boy muttered, before he felt something small, furry, and most likely cute, impact his back.
"Morning, Vinny!"
Vincent couldn't help himself, he smiled and turned around, grabbing his sister and plopping her in his lap. "And morning to you too, Lucy. What'd I miss?"
"I dunno," she pouted. "None of the grown-ups will tell me."
"Probably cause nothing happened after you woke up," Echo commented fluttering across the room, right before a plate of warm food was placed next to Vincent.
"You're just in time for breakfast though," he chuckled.
"Ah!" Vincent said, smiling again and picking some of it up before glancing at Lucy. Almost as if on cue, she sat back and opened her mouth while giving off a pleading whine. Laughing, the boy fed both himself and his sister from the plate.
"Well, looks like things have calmed down. So us getting out of the city shouldn't be too hard," Jonathan sighed. "Good thing Alice decided to come back now. Or else she would have been caught in the riots."
As if on cue, someone started knocking on the door. "Good morning!" came the cheerful voice of a young woman from the door.
The knock caused the two siblings to tense up for a moment, before they breathed deeply and sighed. "We are never going to get used to that, are we?" Vincent questioned.
Jonathan opened the door, and a young woman promptly pounced on him, causing him to stagger back. "Jonathan! Its been a while!" she laughed as Jonathan tried to maintain balance.
"...It's like she's an older version of you," Vincent said, looking between the arrival and Lucy.
"Hey!" The Riolu said while crossing her arms and huffing. "I know you're insulting one of us!"
"Oh? Who is this?" the woman chuckled, before patting Lucy on the head, "And what an adorable Riolu!" she laughed.
Lucy was startled by the sudden contact, as she'd had her back turned, and jumped right into Vincent's chest. "Save me, Vinny!" she cried. Vincent merely stroked her back to calm her down while looking up at the woman who'd come in so suddenly.
"Either you're Alice," Vincent deduced, "or there's some other lady in his life that he knows well enough to get away with that."
"That's me. Now that I think about it...you must be Vincent. I bet you're much happier now that you got away from that horrible place," Alice nodded, her voice becoming more subdued. "Sorry about that. I was just happy to see Jonathan again after so long. We've both just been very busy lately."
Lucy had slowly calmed down by the now calmer tone Alice was using and Vincent's comforting strokes. She turned around and sat down in her brother's lap, looking up at the lady who'd startled her. "Wow," the Riolu commented. "She's pretty."
"Right then, allow me to introduce you, this is Alice Maximilion. We've know each other for years now. And Alice, this is Vincent, and the Riolu is Lucy," Jonathan introduced.
"Its nice to meet you," Alice nodded.
"Likewise," Vincent said in return.
"I'm, um...sorry about yelling," Lucy said bashfully.
Alice just patted her head, having heard the embarrassed tone. "No worries." Lucy let out a pleased murr at the sensation, even leaning into it a little.
"So how bad is it out there thanks to Bit's broadcast?" Vincent idly questioned Alice.
"Could have been worse. People don't really like hearing that people like Nurem had an actual reason. I have to admit, I nearly dropped an important artifact when I heard the news," Alice recalled.
"Do you think we could get out of here without an issue?" Vincent asked, before turning to look at the one who'd caused quite the upheaval yesterday. Bit was still hovering nearby, silent for the moment.
"I don't see why not. I mean, its not like you sent the data...right?" Alice said.
"Not...me directly," Vincent said, hedging his answer as Bit came out of sleep mode.
"...we'll still be okay as long as nobody blabs that your Porygon-Z is the one who sent that data," Alice simply said.
"Or as long as I don't talk to anymon," Vincent snarked while looking over at Jonathan. "As someone seems to think I need to stop doing."
Alice actually blinked...then suddenly she was right in Vincent's face.
"Big mistake, kid," Jonathan snickered.
"You can talk to Pokemon? Fascinating. That makes you the second known case...then maybe my theory was right..." she started to rattle on. Vincent started for a moment, then reached up with one hand and gently pushed on her body to get her to back off.
"Talking to them isn't hard, I'm sure you do it everyday. It's understanding them that people seem to think is impossible," Vincent clarified. "And...please don't do that. I don't react well to sudden scares." Neither did Lucy, as she'd returned to hugging her brother over looking at the suddenly strange lady.
Alice blinked when she realized what she was doing. "Ah...sorry about that. I tend to do that whenever I hear anything that deals with my research. I'm researching on human and Pokemon origins. Its not easy since most people don't seem to like the idea that humans and Pokemon might have the same origin," Alice apologized.
"An...interesting idea," Vincent said, though he didn't take his eyes off of her. "I wish you the best of luck." The boy looked over to the other human in the room for a second before looking back at Alice. "She always like this?"
"For the last 5 years," he snickered, earning a light glare from the woman.
"...Promise me she won't do anything?" Vincent asked of Jon again.
"Don't worry. She's harmless," Jonathan snickered again, this time it earned him a light smack to the back of the head.
"I'm not that bad...am I?" Alice grumbled.
"You are when you go into 'researcher mode'," Jonathan deadpanned. Lucy slowly unstuck herself from Vincent again, and Bit hovered a little closer to Vincent before nodding at him.
"What is your wish, master Vincent?" the program asked.
"Okay, first, cut it out with the title," Vincent said with an eye-roll. "We're getting you out of that mindset if it's the last thing we do. And second...you didn't attach your name to any of the data you broadcast, did you?"
The program considered for a moment, before shaking his head in the negative. "I did not. Though I did not censor any information, neither did I think it necessary to take the credit for its reveal."
"Oh, that'll make things easier on us, then," Vincent replied, turning back to Jon and Alice. "Plan as I see it is get Bit registered to me, then on to Anistar, and try to limit exposure on the way. Sound good?"
"I got a better idea. How about we get out of this town before anyone retraces the source, THEN we get you registered in Anistar. We can take the train anyway...unless you feel like going through several feet of snow," Alice commented.
Bit responded to Alice's words, knowing that she wouldn't be able to understand, but counting on Vincent to translate anyways. "In order to break the sequence I used to transmit the data and hide the source, one would require either a super-computer with an assistant not unlike myself, or a network of powerful computers," Bit said.
"Bit says we can take a few minutes," Vincent translated. "If they ever break through whatever he did and find that it came from here, we'll be long gone."
"Alright, if he's sure. I suppose we can take some time," Jonathan said. "In that case, let's get you to the Pokemon Center and register Bit."
"There you go, all registered. Thank you for coming. We hope to see you again," The Nurse Joy in charge of Dendemille Town said with a bow after they finished registering Bit's Pokeball to Vincent.
"My thanks," Vincent replied, taking the ball back and nodding at the Nurse. He then turned to Alice and Jon and tilted his head. "Enjoying your passenger there, Alice?"
Indeed, Lucy had gotten over her fear of the strange lady by riding on her shoulders on the way over.
"Why yes, she's quite light," Alice chuckled. "And who could say no to such a cute little thing."
Vincent merely smiled and looked up at where Lucy was sitting. She responded by pointing one arm out and commanding Alice to mush again.
"I think you'd best give her back, though...unless you're going our way, of course," the boy pointed out.
"I am. I live in Anistar City, and most of my research data is there," Alice said.
"Ah," Vincent said with a nod. "Well, you can hold on to her for a little longer then...or give her to one of the others to carry. Me and Sam had her all of yesterday."
"Sure. I don't mind. She's not exactly heavy," Alice chuckled.
"We should really get going. The train won't wait for us," Jonathan reminded, before recalling his Pokemon.
"Oh yeah, that's right. We'd better hurry," Alice nodded.
In response, Lucy jumped down, then hugged Vincent close, worming in under his jacket. The boy sighed and rolled his eyes, but proceeded anyways. "Just don't nap in there," he warned.
"No promises. Really warm and snuggly in here," the Riolu responded.
Alice couldn't help but chuckle at the display, it was really cute. Jonathan also chuckled in amusement, before they headed for the train station.
"Enjoying the view?" Jonathan asked, as they rode on the train, going over the scenery.
"It looks nice out there," Vincent commented. "But at the same time, I can still feel the chill through this coat, so...I much prefer it in here, thanks."
"Yeah, it tends to get like that. Good thing they built this railway, or else we'd have to ride Mamoswines to get through," Alice nodded.
"I'm more concerned with proper clothing for me eating up what few funds I have," the boy retorted. Lucy's head poked up through the neck of the jacket once he was done talking, and she took in the scenery as well, with a soft sense of wonder.
"Pretty...But cold out here," she said, before ducking back in.
"Well...you've got some strong Pokemon. One good way is of course..." Alice started.
"They're my family first," Vincent interrupted. "And it's going to take a while for me to be comfortable with the idea of sending them out into battle. If ever."
"Well...I can respect that...hey, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't his mother looking for him?" Alice asked.
"Yeah, but last anyone heard of her was in Kanto a couple of weeks ago. It might be a while before she gets back on the grid," Jonathan nodded.
"I see...I know, how about for the time being, if you need a job, you can be my assistant. I'm not asking much. I just need someone to help around my house when I'm doing my research," she suggested.
"Translation: She needs someone to help her make sense of the ocean of papers," Jonathan snickered again.
"Ah, well, nobody's better at data processing than Bit, now that he's...sane again," Vincent said, absently fingering the Porygon-Z's ball. "Might have to go over what he has in his systems with him one day..."
"Its settled then! You're hired!" Alice chuckled.
"Well, more like Bit's hired, I'm sure," Vincent said with a laugh as well. "Still, thanks for the help, Miss Alice Maximilion."
"No problem," Alice smiled, before kneeling down, and saying softly into his ear. "After all, I did say I'd help you sort things out. Especially now that there is plenty of fresh air."
Vincent did his best to control his errant emotions, but he still experienced a moment of surprise as the words struck a chord in his memory. His uncontrollable powers spiked then, gathering Alice's surface thoughts.
What he got was a flash of an image. Of a woman dressed in black with a cavalier hat and a cape. Fox.
"We'll talk more later," she chuckled, before standing back up. "Glad to have you on the team," Alice smiled.
Vincent was about to say something before his headache hit as an aftereffect of using his power, and he groaned, holding one hand to his head while the other fumbled for the aspirin bottle. "Owww....they never get any easier," the boy moaned.
"Alice, quit messing with the poor kid," Jonathan chided, before adding, "You okay kid? Don't worry about what Alice said, she likes to tease people she likes," he chuckled. "So...heard anything interesting from around here?"
Vincent thought rapidly as the pain receded, before going with a vague truth. "Your friend is quite the interesting lady," he said, not going into details. "I think I'm going to enjoy working with her."
"Yeah, she can be. Especially after you get past her quirks," he chuckled, earning another playful jab on the shoulder from Alice.
"Yes, well, I'm sure she's going to learn a few things about me very quickly if she keeps it up," Vincent said with a small smile of his own.
After arriving in Anistar, the group separated for a bit, with Jonathan and his team going to the station first, while Alice brought Vincent and his family to her house. It was a sizeable house, but didn't look all too interesting other than the fact that it was pretty big for someone who lived alone.
"Well, here we are. Home sweet home," she chuckled as they walked in, she then reached out and plucked at an almost invisible string, before plucking it in a sequence.
"This is-"
"-Interesting," came two familiar voices as a pair of Spinarak descended from the ceiling.
"Spinner, Charlotte," Vincent said with a nod, passing Lucy off of his shoulders and to Sam's. He'd let the Scyther out once they arrived in the town, and finally gotten tired of carrying her. "I thought as much, Alice...or would you prefer I use your other moniker?"
"Alice is fine when I'm like this," Alice smiled as she took off her reading glasses. "Now then, shall I give you the grand tour?"
Sam blinked before looking at the Spinarak, then at Alice. "Vincent, is she?..."
Vincent smiled as well. "Most likely. And while I'm not hiding my talent, I'd like to know if you already told your team. I'm starting to enjoy those faces of shock when they realize what I can do."
"They already figured it out two nights ago," Alice simply said, as she took out a pokeball, and lightly tossed it, releasing her Liepard, Shade.
"I was wondering when you were gonna find the kid, Alice," she chuckled as she trotted up next to her.
"So we're taking visitors now?" came a mischievous voice as a Weavile, Rascal, jumped down. "Speaking of visitors, they're already waiting," he added.
"Business?" Vincent questioned his host.
"Family, actually," she chuckled. "Though I wasn't expecting them to come till later today. Guess mom and dad decided to come early."
"Ah, well, go on and see them," Vincent urged her. "I'm sure your team is competent enough to show me around. They got me out, after all."
"Hey!" Shade and Rascal snorted. Though the need was quickly unnecessary.
"So this is the boy you helped out?" came a voice from the stairs.
Turning to the source of the voice, Vincent saw a middle aged couple. The man had short red hair that was slightly messy. His eyes were a light brown color, and he was dressed in what looked like a three piece suit with a dark blue vest and pants and a white shirt with a red tie. His expression was that of confidence and a hint of mischief. The woman on the other hand, had long brown hair that flowed straight down her back, and light blue eyes. She was dressed in a simple, but lovely blue dress with a white ribbon on the front. Her expression was that of a gentle and graceful woman.
"So you're Vincent Nurem. Congratulations on finally escaping," the man said with a slight smile.
"Now now, dear. Let's not be rude. Its only fair we introduce ourselves. I'm Maria Maximilion, and this is my husband..." the woman started.
"Ralph Maximilion," the man smiled, before turning to Alice. "So, how does it feel to know you finally managed to help bring down old Rupert?"
"Quite satisfying...though the recent news has made it a bit...bitter sweet," Alice sighed at the end.
Ralph smiled when he heard that. "You do our legacy proud, Alice," he smiled. "And take comfort in knowing that at the very least, now he has a chance for some real help. Who knows, they might just be able to bring him back to his senses."
"Assuming he has any senses to come back to," Vincent snarked, before continuing in a more serious tone. "And I suppose I have you two to thank as well. Alice didn't learn the things she did to break me out on her own, I imagine. So...thanks."
"Anytime. Since our daughter has seen fit to tell you our secret, allow me to reintroduce myself," Ralph chuckled, before doing a dramatic bow like someone on the stage. "Ralph Maximilion. The previous Phantom Thief Fox. Alice is both my daughter, apprentice, and as of five years ago, my successor."
"Then thank you," Vincent reiterated. "Oh, and Bit?'
Bit beeped before speaking up. "Yes, Vincent?"
"What do you recall before being forced to flee the server you were in?"
The program ticked a few times as he went over the data. "The server was assaulted with various bugs and viruses, which I was in the middle of defeating. Then it was a bucket of water. Then it was an Ice B-" The program cut off as he took notice of Rascal, and two and two started to add up to four.
Rascal for his part was whistling innocently, while pointing at Alice.
"Traitor," Alice snorted, much to her parents' amusement.
"I'll give you three shots," Vincent said. "Try not to damage their house too much."
In response, Bit's eyes flickered red as he locked on to Rascal. "Signal beam loaded," he stated.
"Er...did I mention it was Alice's idea to add the Ice Beam?" Rascal chuckled nervously...right before there was suddenly a Weavile shaped space in the air for a second as he ran screaming like a frightened little girl. Bit darted after him, the first beam already firing out of his beak, and Vincent merely laughed.
"Oh, they're going to get along great," the boy stated.
"I hope so. Then again, the insurance should cover it. Glad I took out insurance for 'angry Pokemon'," Alice scratched the back of her head, before wincing as the sound of something breaking could be heard. "So....about that tour?"
"Like I said, I'll walk with Spinner, Charlotte, and..." Vincent trailed off as he looked at the Liepard, not knowing her name.
"Shade," the Liepard supplied.
"Spinner, Charlotte, and Shade. You can catch up with your parents, and if I run into Bit, I may or may not reign him in. It's probably a good idea to let him get a similar Beam attack in on Rascal before too long," the boy said.
"Okay then, run along. Oh, and do try to keep Bit from doing any serious harm. Rascal can be annoying at times, but he's still my friend. I like them when they're not at Yveltal's door..." Alice said, before she and her parents went upstairs.
Vincent then turned to the three 'mon Alice had left her with and nodded at them. "If you would?" he asked.
"So, Alice. Was it just me, or did Vincent actually understand what Shade was saying?" Maria asked her daughter.
"Yeah, he does. Apparently what Rupert did to him...gave him Pokemon abilities or something. So he's kinda...a Pokemon/human hybrid now," Alice explained...somewhat.
"That's possible? Is the boy okay? I know you say that humans might have been Pokemon at one point, but I doubt it would be healthy for a human to suddenly have Pokemon DNA put in them," Ralph asked, honestly a little worried.
"Well...Vincent seems okay...maybe I'll ask Bit if Rupert did any other experiments like that. For all we know, he's the only one," Alice said, nodding in agreement.
"Well, I do hope the boy is okay. Now then, enough about that. How have you been?" Maria said, before adding with a sly gleam in her eyes, "And how have things been between you and Jonathan?"
"I've been fine, and..." Alice blushed at this point. "Jonathan and I are friends, mom. We're not like that..."
"Oh, but you will be," Ralph chuckled, joining in on the teasing. "All you need is to get a bit closer. Maybe a nice dinner between the two of you," he said, wiggly an eyebrow suggestively.
"That's right Alice. Besides, we want to see some grandkids sometime," Maria chuckled, playfully nudging her daughter with her elbow.
Alice just blushed in embarrassment.
"So, how do you like our humble abode?" Shade asked as she led them out of the entertainment room.
"It's better than anything I've seen before," Vincent said honestly, before he felt the wind Rascal generated as he ran by, and snagging Bit's tail before the pursuit could continue.
"Bit, report. How many beams have you fired?"
The program whirred angrily, before calming down just a touch. "Two. I have yet to get a sufficient fix on that Weavile for the third to be risked."
"Ah," Vincent said, releasing the program at that. "Carry on, then."
The Porygon-Z darted off again in search of Rascal.
"He'll be doing that for a while. Rascal has been through the same training as Alice...albeit not as long. He's also very good at evading, so Bit might have to either go for area attacks, or go point blank," Shade commented.
"Yes, but Bit's the one who taught me, so he'll realize what I just said in about two seconds here, and-"
With that, there was a crack of thunder as Bit unleashed Thunder Wave in an attempt to catch Rascal with paralysis.
"-he'll start trying to slow Rascal down," Vincent finished with a small smile.
"Hey! That was three shots!" Rascal shouted while paralyzed.
Bit drew close to Rascal while Vincent elaborated to Shade. "Seeing as how I asked him how many beams he'd fired, not how many shots he had used, Bit took it to mean he's only allowed to fire three Signal Beams, while everything else is fair game. Give him an inch, he'll use it."
"Ah...gotcha," Shade commented...right before the sound of pain was heard...
"Agh! Foul! I call foul!!" Rascal shouted in between screams.
"Account settled...we have exchanged Beam attacks. Might I recommend not doing anything like your previous assault on me again?" Bit's slightly-angry tones made themselves known after Rascal was done complaining.
"Fine fine! Just don't get in our way, and we have nothing to worry about!" Rascal groaned.
Vincent and his family had slowly settled into their new routine around the Maximilion house. For most of them, it wasn't anything much more than cleaning or helping move things around...mostly moving for Sam, finding things for Lucy, and cleaning what he could reach for Vincent. Bit, however, nearly devoured Alice's records in one day before presenting her with a series of orderly binders that not only encompassed, but also cross-referenced her research where applicable. The system he used showed her where she was on to something and where she'd gotten a bit too far off the rails.
When she saw what he had done, the woman had literally grabbed the Porygon and kissed him on the...beak...mouth...thing, while squeezing the life out of him. It literally took a crowbar to pry the girl off of him.
"Enjoy your first kiss, Bit?" Sam snarked.
"This unit does not have a mouth to kiss with," he replied as his pink portions slowly grew even brighter. "Nor a gender, technically speaking."
"Excuse Alice. She was just so happy when you showed her what you did. You just jump started her research by months if not a year," Shade nodded.
"This unit merely followed one of the primary directives: repair and organize all data. Where would you like the digital copy stored within my memory?" Bit questioned while tilting his disconnected head.
"Wait. You did what?" Alice blinked when she heard that.
"All data is easily transcribed to a digital medium through me," Bit said. Fortunately, Vincent translated.
"Once he was done organizing your files, he probably had a set in his memory just from looking at them, so he did the same thing all over again...or maybe he organized both at once? Point is, your research exists here," the boy tapped the binders, before tapping Bit's body. "And here. Just tell him where you want the digital version."
"...." Alice didn't say a word...before Vincent and Bit suddenly found themselves in a bone crushing hug. "Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you!" the girl said. "If there is anything you want, anything at all, just let me know, and I'll get it for you. Heck, I'm so happy right now, if you asked me to go catch Arceus, I'd do it!"
Bit ticked as he pondered the question, while Vincent had a response ready. "Air!" he gasped, not liking the feeling of his trachea collapsing under her onslaught.
Alice let him go instantly. "Sorry."
Vincent coughed a few times before waving her off. "Not...a problem. Just gimmie...a moment."
Bit finally dinged as he came up with something. "This unit would appreciate a terminal for its own use. Mostly for self-maintenance, but also so it can communicate without needing to use Vincent's unique abilities."
"Bit wants a computer of his own," Vincent relayed.
"I'd get him a Supercomputer, custom made if he wants," Alice grinned.
"The amount of attention that would draw would be most unwise," the Porygon-Z stated. "However, a high-end model would not go amiss."
"The best would draw too many eyes," the boy said, slowly picking himself up. "Second-best at best if you really want to repay him and stay off the radar."
"...Shade, I'm going out. Please have them re-file my data today, and please make sure the artifacts are all stored properly," Alice said, as she grabbed her wallet. She was out the door before they could respond.
"...well, its been a while since I've seen Alice so happy," Shade chuckled in amusement.
"Bit just did what he does when he sees disorderly data," Vincent commented before placing the binders on a desk.
"Yeah well, Alice hasn't exactly been having a good time with the scientific community, despite the evidence she's unearthed," Shade sighed.
Bit ticked a few times as the others put the information away. "Legend states that Mew is the mother of all life, human and Pokemon alike...logic would state that one need only find said Legendary and ask."
"Not so simple. Alice doesn't really want to bother the Legendaries...not after what humans did to them..." Shade sighed, remembering the artifact that had spurred Alice on so much to prove her theory.
Bit went over the recently acquired records he'd been supplied with and actually winced. "A fair point," he conceded. "Still, at least now she knows where to look in greater detail."
"Yeah. Alice really hopes that if her data is accepted by the scientific community...maybe, just maybe...the world can go back to how it was supposed to be..." Shade sighed as she shook her head. "But then again...that would require freeing Arceus and all the sealed Legendaries. Not to mention the question of whether or not they held a grudge. Its...complicated."
Vincent gave the Liepard a deadpan stare. "Well golly gee, who do you think might be able to understand his point of view out of the ones here? Granted, none of us were held for nearly as long as he's supposedly been, but I wouldn't blame him if he did have a chip on his shoulder about humans!"
"And that's why Alice is hesitant sometimes. She wants to help make the world a better place...not bring an angry God down on our heads," the Liepard deadpanned.
"Well the first step would be getting him out," Vincent commented. "Step two would probably be leave your Pokeballs at home. Don't need to give him any wrong impressions about why you want him out of his prison."
"Yeah well, to start with, we'd need to find the keys. And unfortunately, those have been missing for some time now. The irony is that previous Foxes have gotten their hands on the Plates, but never kept them," Shade sighed.
"...Why not?" Lucy questioned.
"Yeah, something that's a key to the prison of Arceus sounds like something you'd want to hold onto," Sam tacked on.
"Fox never keeps what they steal. As for why they're missing...follow me," Shade said as she walked into another room. Fiddling with a book case, she revealed a hidden room. "Alice has been getting some data on that lately. Its all inside," she said as she walked in, followed by the Nurems.
When they got into the room, they noticed that it was covered in papers and articles. What really caught their eyes was some scribbles Alice had left, saying something about 'Team Eternity'.
"...Oh...kay," Sam said, reading the articles with a critical eye.
"Up!" Lucy demanded, and Sam sighed before putting her on his shoulders.
"The point of all this eludes me," Vincent said, looking at the collection. "Mind summarizing?"
"There have been some rumors circling in the underground lately, about a team calling themselves Team Eternity. Alice has been doing some research on them in secret. She found something a little troubling. It seems unlike other evil Teams, they don't want to use the legendaries. Rather, they want to seal them away PERMANENTLY if possible. Alice is pretty sure that they are remnants of the old civilization, likely descendants of the same humans who sealed away the Legendaries the first time. We believe they're the ones responsible for the recent disappearance of the Elemental Plates from the grid...or at least any attempts to find them," Shade explained.
"...So they would seal away all the Legendaries...to what end?" Vincent asked in a slightly subdued voice.
"Why, to prevent any chances of the world changing of course. The original perpetrators of the seal didn't have any 'noble' intentions...as far as Alice has managed to find, their real motive was NOT to 'free humanity from the tyranny of the Legendaries'. They just didn't want anyone stopping them from doing as they please. Why do you think Pokemon are now so...well...slaves isn't the right word for it for the majority of the world...but they certainly aren't treated equal to humans," Shade explained again.
"You seem to forget my family," Vincent said, taking Lucy off of Sam's shoulders and hugging her close. "I treat them as my equals, because in my eyes, they are."
"I meant in general. The laws governing the world nowadays don't see Pokemon as being equal to humans. Heck, some of them seem to think Pokemon aren't capable of making their own decisions with how trainers are blamed for anything and everything, with said Pokemon usually being taken away for...training or something," Shade sighed.
"Then what we really need," Vincent said, his mind whirling, "Is to raise people who can understand 'mon like I do, who treat them like I do, without the price tag my views had...and get them into positions where they can make a difference. Legends are nice to think about and all, but anything worth fighting for, you should fight for, not rely on a Legend to change for you."
"What do you think Alice is trying to do? She's not just chasing after Legends. Heck, if she can help it, she doesn't want to rely on the Legendaries. She wants people to understand how things once were and present proof that the legends were real. By raising that awareness, she hopes that maybe, just maybe, the world will slowly change. She even has wills ready just in case something happens to her. Especially now..." Shade sighed.
"Yes, well, let us try to make sure nothing does," Vincent said as he cast another look around. "After all, she's the first one to have shown us such kindness, so we have a vested interest in her well-being."
Shade nodded...before an idea hit her. "And you can. Bit, once Alice comes back with the computer, could you scour for data. Anything and everything you find on Team Eternity will be helpful. Heck, if you can, a few viruses set loose on any of their servers if you find any couldn't hurt. As it is now, with what you've done, Alice will be able to get conclusive data more easily...but when she does, she may come into their cross hairs assuming they'll try and stop her."
Bit thought about it for a moment before nodding his head. "I can try. I make no promises that I will be successful, but I will at least try."
"That's all I ask," Shade nodded.
A few days later, Alice was idly reading the paper while on break, while Vincent happened to be reading a book nearby. However, when he looked towards her, he noticed a mischievous grin on her face, before she plopped the paper down and promptly got up.
Upon reading the cover story, it appeared that some sort of rare meteorite was on display in the nearby museum. Thinking nothing more about the subject, Vincent shrugged and returned to his book.
Later though, that changed when Vincent sat down to watch the evening news with his family. At first, it was a normal news report, when suddenly there was an interruption. "We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a special report. This just in, there has been another notice from the infamous Phantom Thief Fox, this time to the Anistar Museum," the anchorman said, before a copy of the note was shown.
'The Meteorite will be mine. Phantom Thief Fox'
was what was written on it. "Police have issued a citywide alert, as they prepare to protect the meteorite. Local officer, Detective Jonathan Trace had this to say," the newscaster said as the screen changed to show Jonathan surrounded by reporters.
"As of currently, we are checking for any and all possible infiltration routes throughout the museum. Ideally we would have liked for visitors to not come until after Fox's latest escapade, but unfortunately, the museum management has insisted that visitors still be allowed as normal. As such we will simply have to adapt," he sighed.
Vincent put two and two together remarkably fast, and got up from his seat to go find Alice.
Meanwhile, Alice was down in her secret room under a different section of the house, pulling on her costume, having just stepped out of the shower, her hair now red from the special dye she used to make her hair like that of a natural red head. However, just as she was about to put on her cape, Vincent came running in. "Something wrong, Vinny?" she chuckled.
"You're going out," he stated bluntly. "Why? You don't need to steal something like that meteorite."
"Vincent, I don't need to steal any of the things I did," Alice said. "Besides, I haven't gone out for a while. Can't let the police get complacent," she chuckled.
"So you do this so they can sharpen their skills?" Vincent asked with a soft snort and an eye-roll. "Why do I get the feeling there's more to it than that?"
"Right now? Not really. But in the long run? Definitely. Anyway, you know how the police tend to be a little...slow, right?" she started. Vincent's deadpan stare answered that question. "Well now, picture this. What would happen if they had to go up against someone who kept pushing them to their limits, while rubbing it in when they don't succeed?"
"You liken yourself to a virus and them the immune system. All in all, not the most flattering of comparisons," the boy said with a chuckle.
"I prefer to think myself an 'immunization'," Alice chuckled back, as she put on the rest of her Fox outfit. "But I think you get the point."
"Still, every heist you pull puts you in danger of them one day catching you," Vincent pointed out. "And...I'd really rather they didn't. You're the one that saved us, after all."
"That's just the risk I run as Fox. I knew that was a possibility since I first took up the title. But don't worry," Fox smiled, tipping her hat over. "I have no intention of making it easy for them."
"And I'm sure the Doctor had no intention of being found by anyone with a shred of moral fiber," the boy retorted, before mellowing. "Just...take care out there?"
"Always. And Vincent, know this. No matter what you do, risk is always going to be a part of life. You can't be afraid to take a gamble when you have to. The only difference is I just happen to take bigger ones more often. But...I have no regrets of becoming Fox. Now you sit tight. I'll be back later tonight," she smiled, ruffling his hair, before she turned to leave. Vincent looked at Fox's team, who had just about left as well, and said one thing to them.
"Please take care of her."
"With our lives," they all nodded.
With that, the Fox was out to strike again, and Vincent sighed. He'd just about made a difficult choice...and now he would have to go see Bit. It only took him five minutes to get to the room with his new terminal, and Vincent sat himself in front of it.
"Hello Vincent. What do you desire to do?"
Bit's voice called the boy out of his contemplative state, and he asked a simple question of the program. "Are they still waiting?"
The response took Bit a few seconds to deliver. "Yes, the court would still accept your words, should you choose to give them. They have yet to decide the doctor's ultimate fate. There is...far too much for them to go over still." A pause then, and Bit spoke up again. "You don't have to do it, Vincent. It must be hard, but nobody would blame you if you kept silent."
"I would," the boy fired back. "Bit...begin recording."
(the next morning)
Once again, the headlines showed that Fox had done the impossible, and despite all the police's attempts, had stolen the meteorite, only to return it again by morning. However, this time, she wasn't the only one the news loved.
"The news this morning," the TV stated as Vincent turned it on, "Is full of crime...and possibly punishment? Last night, Phantom Thief Fox did the impossible again, stealing the Meteorite and returning it, but really boys and girls, by this point in time, we've come to expect that when Fox makes a promise, Fox keeps it. No, the thing nobody was expecting was little Vincent Nurem not only speaking up...but what he said as well."
Vincent's voice came from the speakers then. "Despite everything he ever did, if Bit is right, then there used to be a man under that monster's skin. I pray that you all will listen to my words...and let him live, for now."
The news anchor cut in at that point. "Yes, apparently, the boy says Doctor Rupert Nurem should live for the moment...though the why is interesting."
"Killing him would solve nothing. What would his death accomplish? Whereas if you can find a strong enough Psychic...you might be able to heal him, and then with his life, he might be able to do something, anything, to make up for all the blood on his hands...though at this point, he's really drowning in the stuff."
Vincent walked off then, heading to the kitchen, as the story finished, at least for the moment. "The boy who survived the Doctor pleads for his survival. We'll go over what he said and the meaning behind it later, and we'll call on a few psychology experts to see if he means what he's saying."
They finished their little snippet with one final quote. "I do this not because it is easy...believe me, the easiest thing would be to be quiet and let him die, and I almost want to. I do it...because someone has to."
"You're a better man than any of us thought, Vincent," came Alice's voice as she stepped into the kitchen for a cup of coffee.
"Yes, well, one of my conditions on letting him live was stated plainly just then," Vincent replied, pouring himself a glass of milk. "The other is far later on than they showed. I mostly rambled a little bit, but the general gist is that he should be allowed to live if and only if they can find a Psychic that can restore his sanity."
"Fair enough. I'd have sent you to a doctor to get examined if you didn't include that condition," Alice nodded as she sipped her coffee.
"The other one," Bit said as he floated in, "Was that the Doctor not be allowed within fifty feet of him ever again, even if he should be healed. I have already filed the necessary restraining order in preparation."
"Fair enough. Though if he IS healed, it might not hurt to at least try to reconnect...however little," Alice sighed.
"No," Vincent emphasized with a shake of his head. "Even if he were to be returned to normal, just the sight of him...it would most likely trigger far too many memories."
"I understand. Can't say I'm happy to hear that, but I understand," Alice nodded.
"So your heist last night was a success, I hear," the boy said, changing tracks with all the subtlety of a train crash.
"Yep. Just like always. They even had an electrified cage to stop me from getting in AND an array of laser tripwires, but I got around it. Used one of my inflating dummies. Dropped it and let it expand over the cage. As usual, only Jonathan realized I was about to dupe them, but his men aren't exactly smart. One of them opened the cage while several tried to dogpile the dummy. Locking them back in it was REALLY easy. The challenge was outrunning Jonathan. He and his team have gotten better," she chuckled, looking like someone who had just enjoyed a roller coaster.
"At least you enjoy what you do," Vincent said with a smile, before sighing himself. "Now if only I had an idea as to where I should go from here..."
"Well...there's lots of things. Its a big world out there. You could travel to the other regions. After all, I go to other regions all the time on my business trips. Next time you can come with me," she suggested.
"That sounds good," Vincent said idly, "But I can't be dependant on you forever, Alice. And the one avenue that's open to me for earning money at this time is also the one I really don't want to use."
"Well...technically you're my assistant. And as for work...you could always be a counselor. I mean with what you've been through, maybe you can help other people with their traumas," Alice suggested. "Or you could also work to be a researcher. I'm sure your talent would be useful."
"Call us what we are," Vincent said with his eyes half-lidded in irritation. "Sam, Lucy, and myself are the most ineffective trio of maids ever. Bit's the real assistant. Just because I hold his ball doesn't make his accomplishments mine."
"Well, you get the job done. My stuff is in order, and the house is clean. Sounds like a good job to me," Alice shrugged.
"And if you were anyone else, would you have hired us, much less put up with us?" the boy asked. "I swear, I don't know how you can just shrug off Sam's accidents, but at least they're not as often as they used to be. Factor in Lucy's energy, though, and her love of heights, and..."
"Alright Vincent, I get it," Alice sighed. "Yes, you're right. If you all had been anyone who didn't REALLY need it, I would have looked for more help. But you're not. The world may be cruel at times, but that doesn't mean I have to be. Look, I'm not pushing or asking anything. I'm just here so you know that you've always got a shoulder to lean on if you need one. Ask Jonathan too, he's also trying to be there for you too, despite how busy he is."
"Fair enough, and speaking of him," Vincent said, draining his glass, "How long d'you think it'll take for him to come looking for me, what with that little stunt I pulled last night?"
"Well, seeing as its already about time for them to finish setting up...I'd say right about...now," she said, and just as she did, the doorbell rang. "See?"
"Your house," the boy said with a smirk. "You can answer it. I have family to go rouse. If I don't come back, send someone to pry Lucy off my face."
"You know, with how happy she's been lately, I honestly don't know why she hasn't evolved yet," Alice idly commented as she got up to walk to the door.
Bit ticked as he considered the conundrum, before coming to a conclusion: Perhaps...she was only masking her trauma?...
As Alice got to the door, she opened it, revealing, as expected, Jonathan standing in front of her. "Morning, Jonathan," she said pleasantly.
"Morning, Alice. Is Vincent here?" Jonathan smiled back.
"He's waking up Sam and Lucy. So if he's not down in 5 minutes, Lucy probably latched on to him again," Alice chuckled.
"...how is that Riolu not a Lucario yet again?" Jonathan sighed.
"I just asked that same question a few minutes ago," Alice chuckled as she let Jonathan in.
Sam walked downstairs and sniffed a few times before making a beeline for the coffee pot. "Mine mine mine mine MINE!" he said along the way. "It has been too long!"
"...sometimes I think Sam died and came back a zombie. Only instead of brains, its coffee," Jonathan deadpanned as the Scyther went straight for the coffee. "So...Vincent?"
Both Scyther and Porygon-Z pointed upstairs with an appendage, as the boy's voice drifted down. "Lucy, I am not a ladd- LUCY! Watch where you're grabbing while you're climbing up!"
"...the usual?" Jonathan deadpanned.
"The usual," Alice sighed.
Vincent came down the stairs, Lucy on his shoulders. Upon seeing the others, she let out a little cheer. "Hiya Alice, hiya mister Jon!"
"Lucy says hi," Vincent translated for her reflexively.
"Hi, Lucy," both of them answered back.
"So...Jonathan, to what do I owe the pleasure this morning? I assume it has to do with work, since its not lunch yet," Alice said.
"Yeah...its about Vincent. Vincent and his testimony last night. The people at court want to deal with him further," Jonathan sighed.
"And why would that be?" Vincent questioned as he passed Lucy off to Sam. One really couldn't look serious with a Riolu on their shoulders. "I said what I meant, and I meant what I said." He crossed his arms over his chest while looking at the officer. "I was not raised to lie, much like Bit does not, Officer Trace."
"Yeah, but you sure like to dance around the truth," Jonathan sighed.
"Only when you aren't specific in your questions," the boy fired back. "However, since nobody forced me to give any testimony whatsoever, the only one doing the asking that night was me of myself, and the most important question I asked before I even began was simple. 'Do I honestly believe in the words I'm about to say?'" He looked away at that before continuing. "Yes. I honestly believed in the words I said. From the easiest thing being saying nothing, to the hardest thing being my belief that he should be forced to live if he can be healed."
"Well, either way, I've been asked to bring you to the court. So that you can testify immediately," Jonathan sighed. "We better hurry, before one of them blow their top and splatter your dad's brain when they see you," Alice called out.
"That will be interesting, especially if they take into account the restraining order," Bit commented. Vincent merely laughed as he considered the words, causing no end of confusion to the humans. They wanted to drag him into a court of law? He'd use their laws against them.
"Lead on," Vincent said, a smile not leaving his face. "Alice, can I trust you to take care of them while we're out?"
"No problem," Alice smiled.
"Well, let's go," Jonathan nodded.
At the courthouse
Vincent walked in and took a deep breath as he saw the man of his nightmares behind the desk of the defense. "Your honor," he stated from his position near the doors with only a slight tremble to his voice, "Either that man or myself will have to leave, as I have a restraining order against him now." Vincent pointed at the Doctor with a trembling hand.
"I'd highly recommend that, your honor," Jonathan nodded, putting a hand on Vincent's shoulder while sending a death glare at the Doctor. "I don't think Vincent will be able to think straight with...that thing in the room."
"Oh no, Jon, I can think straight. Straight back, but that's not the point of me being here, I don't think," Vincent commented, still shaking a little in fear as he remembered the things he'd been through. "Rather, I think we're here for something else entire, but I want to see if this court will even follow the law before they ask me to contribute."
"Oh, they will, Vincent. They will," Jonathan reassured, before sending a quick glare towards the judge too for emphasis. "I'm sure we can all honor Vincent's wishes. After all, he doesn't NEED to testify."
"Very well," the judge said. "Bailiff! Remove the accused for the duration of the testimony!" And with that, the Doctor was promptly seized and led out of the room.
Vincent walked forward as Jon directed him to the center of the room, where the witness would testify.
"Right, I'm here," Vincent groused, still slightly shaky at having to confront him so early. "Don't know why, I said everything I needed to last night."
"Its the procedure," Jonathan sighed.
"Watch your words," Vincent shot at the detective. He of all people should know!
"Sorry. No other way to say it," Jonathan apologized, realizing his mistake.
"Ahem. How about 'it's protocol?'" the boy snarked.
"...fair enough," he sighed.
"Witness, please proceed," the judge sighed.
"With what?" Vincent said, turning and raising an eyebrow. "Saying more than I did last night? I don't have a need to, and I meant everything I said. If you want me to clarify something, then clarify what you want me to clarify yourselves."
"Vincent..." Jonathan face palmed.
"Clarify your testimony on the accused. Keep in mind that what you say may decide if he lives or dies today," the judge said sternly, not liking the boy's attitude.
"I was pretty darn clear last night, but if you want me to use small words," Vincent snarked before breathing deeply, seemingly gathering himself up.
"I am going to admit, right now...and really, ever since I was freed from that room, that a part of me, a very, very large part of me, would like nothing more than to be his executioner." Vincent paused for a second, to let his words sink in. "And really, considering all the lives ended in those labs of his, he does deserve it. I heard their screams and saw them die."
"Your testimony, witness," the judge said, starting to get angry. "Yes, I am VERY aware of the body count. But we are not here today to discuss that."
"No, we're here to prod the recovering trauma victim until he snaps, apparently," Vincent fired off. "Let me talk at my own pace, or I will leave."
The judge glared, before nodding. "Very well, as long as you testify, that is acceptable."
Vincent nodded back and breathed deeply again. "But last night, I asked a friend of mine why they did something if it wasn't easy and they didn't have to. They painted a clearer picture for me: that it was necessary, even if it wasn't easy. It made me realize that even if it would be easier for me to say nothing, I should speak up. That even if it would be easier to condemn him...I should speak up." Vincent looked at the door where the Doctor had been led away and sighed.
"Bit...doesn't lie. He simply can't," Vincent supplied. "So those records, the ones stating that there once was a man under the monster? That's what I want. I want them to be true again. If...if you can find a strong enough Psychic to undo the damage that was done...then I want Rupert returned from the depths of that madness. There may be a lot of blood on his hands...but killing him isn't the answer."
"I see. And if I may, this...friend of yours...?" the judge inquired.
"Oh, you all know her," Vincent said with a smirk. "I ran into her last night not long after she issued her challenge. That's why I asked her why she did what she did."
Jonathan, who had gotten a glass of water, promptly did a spit-take. "Wait, what? You saw Fox again?"
"She seems to have taken a real shine to me for some reason," Vincent mused. "And clearly, if you all failed to capture her, then yes, I find myself agreeing with her: your police do need sharpening until they can actually catch her."
"Can't argue with him there..." Jonathan muttered under his breath, remembering last night's fiasco. The judge on the other hand...
"And you mean to say that you did nothing to stop her? One of the most wanted criminals in the world?" he glared. It was obvious that he did NOT like this boy.
Vincent just glared back. "Let's see, on my side you have me, a Scyther, a Riolu, and a Porygon-Z that doesn't understand the meaning of the word 'restraint'. All of us traumatized and only recently freed. And on her side? Who bloody knows! I'm sure if I had tried anything, she would have had a counter! Plus, let's also consider that she saved me first. Fifteen years of hell, and she saved me. Where were you? Sitting here on your bench, I bet! You're damn lucky I agreed to come in here!" The boy, apparently, returned the sentiment.
"That is irrelevant. Fox is still a criminal and thus will be treated as such!" the judge thundered, while there was a murmur of agreement from the stands. "Furthermore, while your situation was...regrettable and unfortunate, we also had other things to deal with, and not just a man hunt for a single man. We had to deal with various other criminals, INCLUDING your supposed 'savior'. And on top of that there were the issues of Pokephilia that kept on coming in," the judge stated.
Nobody noticed Jonathan face palm at that statement, which even he found was bull.
"Your incompetence is nearly as criminal as her whole streak!" Vincent shouted back. "The only way his death toll got into the triple digits was if he was paying off local authorities, or if the governments started hiding him!"
"You DARE suggest that the government had a hand in this? That we were actually HELPING that monster?!" the judge thundered, as a resounding chorus of angry agreement rose from the stands at the implication.
"Let's fucking ask! Subject sixteen, this is master Vincent! Are you within the court's systems at this time like I asked you to be?"
"Ah crap..."Jonathan groaned. Things were going to hell in an egg basket.
There was a pause, and from the speakers, Bit's mechanical tones rang out. "Indeed I am, Master Vincent. What do you desire?"
"Are there any records of the government helping, funding, or aiding the Doctor in any way, shape, or form in your memory?" Vincent questioned aloud.
"There are one hundred experiments located within my memory that can be traced back to one official or another," the Porygon-Z replied. "More as I reconnect with the Internet and start backtracking the money and pictures from the facility. As well, it was an official that suggest the swamps for his lab, and a government-contracted construction crew built the original facility."
While Bit was droning on, Jonathan had switched on his Xtranceiver and made sure to patch it through to the local police force. This was going to get MESSY.
"You dare sit there in your ivory tower and claim that you are either the paragon or the servant of the law, when the law has clearly been bent," Vincent scowled up at the judge. "Do you want me to tell him to start naming names, or will you take it on faith?"
The judge on the other hand was now white with anger at this...CHILD'S insolence. "Guards! Get this brat out of my sight!" he roared.
Before they took more than two steps, Vincent looked to the ceiling. "Bit, defenses if you'd please!"
The Program Pokemon leapt from one of the speakers and hovered over Vincent's form, his eyes red and cross-haired. "Defenses on-line," he stated, even though now only Vincent could understand him.
"Gentlemen, I really wouldn't," Vincent said, idly examining his fingernails. "He's not to be underestimated."
"Oookay, I think that's quite enough," Jonathan sighed, getting in between them. "Vincent, I'll admit I'm both disappointed and proud of you at the same time. I would think you would know better than to cause a ruckus when we came here for a simple reason. On the other hand, nice work not letting them push you around," he chuckled. "And as for all of you. I can't believe you still aren't accepting the truth when the proof is so glaring already," he sighed.
"They haven't earned any of my trust yet, Jon, so I felt a trump card was in order. And really, Bit's a trump card and a half," Vincent replied, looking up at the Porygon-Z. "Gentlemen, if you want me to keep him from naming any names at all, or more likely, if your superiors do, then you'll listen to me when I stated the Doctor's terms for continuing to remain amongst the living."
"What are you doing, officer? Arrest the boy!" the judge growled.
"Yeeaaah. I don't think so. You see, when Bit started droning on, I made sure my Xtranceiver was on. Oh, and I made sure it was connected to every police station throughout the city. Meaning they should be here right about....now!" he stated, right before the doors were slammed open and a SWAT team poured in along with several normal officers. "So yeah, sorry to say, but gentlemen...you are all under arrest."
"Well," Vincent said, blinking and smiling. "This is a happy turn of events."
"You CANNOT DO THIS to me!" the judge stated, getting up and practically roaring at the incursion into his courtroom. "I AM THE LAW!"
"Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, you stopped being the law when you started trying to deny proof. So yeah, see ya around," Jonathan said, before he walked up, and cuffed the judge to the table.
"...Still think I should trust the law, Jon?" Vincent asked as he pulled Bit down to be more level with himself.
Jonathan shrugged. "Your choice kid. Me? I gotta still trust it. What would happen to the law without a few honest folk in it?"
"Honest folk like Fox?" Vincent smirked as he turned to walk off. "Just like Bit, she hasn't lied yet."
"And the sad part...sometimes I honestly trust her more to NOT stab me in the back than my own fellow officers," Jonatan mentally groaned as he followed the boy out.
"So...what happens to him now?" Vincent questioned as they hit the streets once more.
"He'll be put on trial. But with this evidence, odds are he's not gonna get a 'Not Guilty' sentence," Jonathan just sighed.
"I'm fine with him being found guilty," Vincent said. "But I also want him to live, be healed, and work off his blood debt to society. What the courts need to find is a strong enough Psychic that it becomes a thing that can actually happen, rather than an idle fantasy."
"Here's hoping. Of course...if he IS ever returned to sanity, I'm kinda afraid that he might go nuts and try to kill himself out of guilt..." Jonathan mused.
"It...makes sense, but let's hope not," Vincent said. "It'd be hard to find someone as skilled as him to fix the survivors that want to be."
"Good point. Come to think of it, I wonder what happened to those guys...the police in Laverre took them in, but I don't know much after that," Jonathan mused.
"Let's hope they kept track of them at least," Vincent said. "And let's hope we can find the escapees before they find us."
"...why do you say that?" Jonathan couldn't help but ask. To him, they seemed harmless enough back then.
"Considering that very rarely if ever would they believe me about Bit, and that they all got past him running all the systems?" Vincent commented. "They're out there in the world somewhere, and I hope we can find them."
"I'll notify the rest of the police. Just in case," Jonathan sighed. He liked the kid, but the trouble that came with him...he could do without.
"Thank you. I'll try and remember what they were in a moment..." Vincent closed his eyes and hummed. "A Gliscor...a Gabite...A Rotom...an Eelektrik...and a Sandshrew," he finished.
"Seems simple enough. Any of them we should look out for in particular...or rather, any of them we should call you for help?"
"The Rotom should be easy enough to bring in," Vincent said. "He was just exposed to a plan to make it far easier for him to slip through things...and it worked. The Sandshrew has really, really sharp claws...but she's a chef, and had a trainer anyways. The Gabite has Kecleon in her, so she can go mostly invisible, the Eelektrik can make EMP's happen, and the Gliscor..." Here the kid shuddered.
"Ookay, I get the picture. Any and all of them, call you. Do they have names? Or even details on how they look?"
"Well," Vincent mused, thinking about the question. "Christine is the Gabite, and she'd be the most obvious one, as she also has a Kecleon's patterning...but if you look at it too long or draw attention to it, she'll likely get really mad. Tracy the Eelektrik tended to spark quite a bit, especially when she was practicing her talent. Specter won't look too different as compared to a normal Rotom, but he did say he felt like he needed to possess the objects they left him...to hold himself together. Mary the Sandshrew is Shiny, but probably found her trainer again by now. And if you find Gregory the Gliscor, keep him away from me. Please."
"Okay, I'll do what I can," Jonathan nodded.
"...And you may want to call in these guys as well when you find him," Vincent said with a jerk of his head at the SWAT team leading the judge from earlier away.
"That bad huh...:"
"He was battle-hungry before...kinda reminds me of Heat, actually," Vincent said with a small smile. "And then when all the treatments to make him better on nearly every level possible worked...well..."
"Too well I'm guessing. Alright. Let's go back. I'll alert the rest of the force as soon as I can," Jonathan sighed.
"To be fair, had I the capacity to have warned you some years ago when he first broke out, I would have," Vincent said honestly. "Oh, and Bit, you can resume normal operations."
The Porygon-Z's eyes flickered back to being yellow and he stopped eyeing every passerby as a potential threat. He nodded at Vincent twice. "I am glad to have been of service, Vincent."
Jonathan just chuckled in amusement at their antics. |
Building a Better World: Origins | The fate of Vincent Nurem part 3 | Vincent couldn't help but be on edge as he watched the heist from the hidden spot Fox had left him in. Just from watching, he could understand kinda why she did it. She certainly was a sight to behold as she evaded the police, all the while using tricks and illusions that were just mind boggling. In fact, the sheer excitement was causing him to shake a little as the adrenaline pumped through his veins...wait, that was more than a lit...tle... the next thing he knew, his world exploded in pain, before he collapsed, falling out of the hiding spot, just as Fox and Jonathan passed by, the rest of the officers having been incapacitated.
"Vincent?!" Jonathan gasped, not expecting to see the boy here. Even Fox was caught off guard. However, any other thoughts left him when he saw how the boy looked like he was having a seizure.
Fox was the first to get to him, and checking his pulse, her eyes widened in alarm when she felt the erratic pulse. "His pulse is erratic. Its like he's having a heart attack, but it's different somehow," she said, causing Jonathan to stop short. "Okay, Jonathan. We don't have time for our usual games. If we don't do something, Vincent won't make it. Truce for now?" Fox quickly said.
"...alright," Jonathan sighed. As much as he wanted to catch her, right now, Vincent's life was more important.
"You had a hidden tunnel like this in the woods?" Jonathan couldn't help but ask in surprise when Fox actually brought him to one of her hideouts, Vincent's life clearly more important to her. What REALLY surprised him was that when he got to the hideout, Bit was floating around there.
"Bit?! What are you doing here?!" he gasped.
Seeing Jonathan, Bit quickly went into the terminal that Alice had prepared for him. "Salutations to the pair of you, but time cannot be spared. Records from the facility have been dissected more thoroughly, and Vincent's condition is now more properly understood."
"But...how? What are you doing here of all places?" Jonathan gasped.
At this, Fox sighed. "I'll explain later...its high time I did..." she said, before putting Vincent on the table.
"Indeed, her explanation can wait until later. This one cannot. Vincent was not the only one to be made, but he was the only one to survive," the terminal declared.
"Explain," Jonathan said.
"Thirty-six volunteers signed up for the Doctor's initial project to fuse man and 'mon. Vincent was the unofficial thirty-seventh subject. The previous subjects died after six months, their bodies tearing themselves apart in rejection of what had been done to them...but for some reason, Vincent lived."
"Why is that? Why was it he was the only one to live?" Fox questioned.
"It is not known at this time," Bit replied. "The Doctor spent some years trying to determine why Vincent lived, but when the answer kept eluding him, he turned to trying to bring Vincent's powers beyond his capacity to understand Pokemon out." The terminal whirred for a second, and when Bit spoke up again, he did so hesitantly. "This unit...is formulating a theory, even now...but it seems...far-fetched..."
"What is it? Spit it out, or Vincent might not live!" Jonathan demanded.
"There are two legends about Pokemon representative of Life and Death itself in this region...perhaps Xerneas would be able to provide us with answers where we have none?" Bit said, not liking the idea of invoking a Legendary's name. But for Vincent...
"Xerneas? Can do. I can find a lead on where she likely is," Fox said. "Just look for the trainer who was involved in the Team Flare incident. According to the underground, he was reported to have Xerneas in his possession."
"Also," Bit pitched in. "The initial subjects survived for six months...with the last one being where their body started to reject the modifications. This, bad as it is, will pass after a day or so...only to repeat as his body gets closer to the end of such a month," the program elaborated.
"Then we'd better hurry!" Jonathan said, while Fox quickly looked through the data.
"Ah, my apologies, Fox. Do you desire for me to leave the terminal at this juncture?"
"No, stay in there. If you can help me find the trainer, then all the better," Fox quickly said.
"For Vincent, gladly." Images were quickly called up and dismissed, news articles and snippets of video flashing by. "Disseminating data," the Porygon-Z stated, before a map of the Kalos region popped up, a line starting to be marked across it. "Projecting past path based on the most likely to be true stories."
With that done, Fox stepped away, letting the program do his work. However, just as she did, Jonathan, grabbed her, and pinned her against the wall. "Alright, Fox. Talk! Why is Bit here? How do you know Vincent so well? Answer me!"
Fox sighed, before picking up a vial nearby. Removing her hat, she sprinkled a few drops on her hair, and before Jonathan's eyes, the red color of her hair seemed to flow off, staining her outfit, revealing brown hair. Then Fox fished out a pair of reading glasses and put them on.
The moment Jonathan saw it, he felt like someone had poured a cold bucket of ice on him. "No...no...it can't be!" he gasped as he stepped back.
"Its not. I'm really sorry Jonathan. I didn't want you to find out like this," Fox...no, Alice shook her head sadly.
"Path plotted," Bit spoke up then, distracting the two. "Most likely location determined. The trainer we are seeking appears to have booked a room at Lumiose city and has been waiting there for a few days now. Unknown as to why."
"Then we have no time to waste!" Alice said, before grabbing Jonathan by the arm. "Let's go! I will explain everything later! For now, we have to save Vincent!"
"R-right!" Jonathan said, before grabbing Vincent and going.
Calem sighed as he stepped out of Lumiose City. Xerneas had been trying to tell him something for a while now, and though he didn't know what, he felt that it was important, so he had waited here for a few days. And today, Xerneas was urging him to go by the Eastern exit.
What he wasn't expecting was seeing two people running towards him, a young boy in their arms. At that moment, Xerneas' Pokeball started shaking violently, before the Legendary broke free of the ball.
"Vincent Nurem," She stated, before bowing her neck and touching Vincent's forehead, her antlers shining brightly. "I am sorry it took so long for us to meet."
"Wha...what's happening?" the boy deliriously said, not quite sure what he was seeing.
"Wait...Xerneas...knows him?" Alice blinked.
"It...it looks like it..." Jonathan said, equally speechless.
"My counterpart knew the others like him," Xerneas said as she began to glow, channeling as much of her power as she felt the boy could withstand. "And once he told me of them passing, I felt this young one about to join them. I did what I could from far away...but someone wasn't always the best listener," she said shooting a quick glance towards Calem, before looking at the other two humans that had brought Vincent to her. "Otherwise this might not be happening."
"Well...can you help him?" Alice asked.
"Now that he is in my presence?" Xerneas said with a slight smirk. "There is a reason I am known as the Lady of Life. Vincent will not die this day...or any time soon. I will see to that."
Her antlers caught the sunlight, and beams of color danced around the nearby area, before every one of them was focused on Vincent's form. With a final dose of what could only be called raw power, the Legendary caused the boy's form to glow as well.
After about ten seconds, Vincent stopped glowing, and stood on his own power. He blinked a few times, before reaching a hand up to his head. "My...headache. It's gone."
"As are all the other downsides of what that Doctor did to you," Xerneas said. "You should live a long and healthy life...with occasional bursts of Psychic strength, but it won't be painful for you anymore."
"So...he's gonna be okay?" Jonathan asked. "What...did you do?"
"Granted him enough of my essence and power, and his body took it and used it to...hmm, 'bridge the gap'," the Legendary said. "It was as though both halves were warring for dominance, but I've managed to negotiate a cease-fire within him. He shall live. Though if he starts getting headaches rapidly again, have him come see me..." Here she glanced over at Calem again. "Assuming someone makes it easy for me to be found."
"Hey, understanding what you try to say isn't always as easy as this," Calem rejoined, before looking at the trio of strangers. "I'll give you my number so that in case of emergencies with the kid here, you all will be able to reach out to me and Xerneas. Just, uh," he said as he scribbled a set of digits down onto a scrap of paper, "Try to make sure you only use it in emergencies?"
"I..." Vincent reached up and gently stroked the Legendary's form. "Thank you."
"Not a problem, young one," she said, smiling. "Just live your life. That is all I ask in return."
"I will," he stated. "Thanks to you, I will."
After bringing Vincent back to his family, Jonathan brought Alice aside. "Okay, Alice, spill it. Why are you Fox? How long?!"
Alice just sighed. "Alright, follow me," she said as she led him to her study. Pulling out a particular book, she opened it to reveal a switch. Pressing it, the book case started to move aside, revealing a stairway down. "Follow me. Everything will be clear soon."
Walking down the stairs, Jonathan was surprised at what he found. Inside the hidden room, it was lined with pictures/paintings of various people. One thing in common was that they were all dressed in a familiar outfit, with an unmistakable hat in their hands. When his eyes fell on one particular painting, he gasped in surprise. "This is...Mr. Maximilion..." he said, recognizing Alice's father.
"That's right. Phantom Thief Fox. Every last one of them were members of my family. Jonathan, do you know why Fox exists in the first place?"
"Dunno. You've all been around for the last 500 years, and I doubt anyone was interested in a motive," Jonathan said.
"Alright...I'll start at the beginning," she sighed. "Its a long story, but it started from the first Fox, 500 years ago. If I'm not mistaken it was in Orre...before it became the wasteland it is today. Even in those days life was hard, and people horded what little they had. My ancestor was a penniless orphan, and with how things were at the time, he had all but resigned himself that he was going to die. However, at the brink of it, a kind family aided him, a stranger and outsider. For the first time, he experienced true kindness," she said, a distant look in her eyes. "However, once again, humanity's ugly side reared its head. Another family, one who was high ranked, yet greedy and jealous of what they saw, hated how that family was happy despite being poor, so they decided to take the only thing they could think of. They took everything the family owned, and because they were highly ranked, they were able to...cover up their tracks. My ancestor, angered by that injustice, and wanting to repay their kindness, sought a way to help them. He tried talking to the people, yet they were afraid. He tried talking to the authorities, yet they turned him away. After a while, he came upon his answer. If the right way wasn't going to give him his answer, then maybe the answer was in the wrong way. Taking a big gamble, he did the only thing he could think of, he stole what he could, initially intending to give it all to the family that helped him and tell them to run, but in the middle of that heist, he stumbled upon something else. Documents of the family's dealings. That was when he realized another alternative. Taking the documents, he leaked them to the authorities, and shortly after, that family was exposed, and everything they had taken was returned."
"That was...the very first Fox? And the first crime lord he exposed then..." Jonathan said slowly. Despite himself, he couldn't help but feel respect for the person he was learning about.
"And that was just the beginning," she chuckled. "Seeing what his actions had done, my ancestor for the first time felt like he had found his calling. At first he wasn't a Phantom Thief. He was just a thief who would sneak in, steal what he needed to expose his target, then give it to the police anonymously, while leaving a trail right back to his targets. However, he wasn't quite good enough at hiding his tracks. A few years later, a group of bandits, hired by one of the people he had 'ruined', managed to trace him back to the family who had helped him in the beginning, and took them hostage, threatening to kill them if he did not show himself. Naturally, he had been ready and willing to give his life, but he knew that if they killed him, nothing would stop them from killing his dear friends anyway. Desperate for an answer, he prayed for an answer. What he got was a glimpse of a creature who's image would forever be burned into his mind. A creature who could melt into the shadows, appear as anything it desired. Yes, at the time nobody knew what it was, but nowadays, we know that it was a Zoroark that he had seen. Inspired by it, he created one of the very first man made illusions of a large scale, as while he had little money, he had something far far more valuable. A bond of friendship with many of the Pokemon that lived in that area. Donning an outfit modeled after the creature that inspired him, and with the help of his friends, he managed to save his dear friends, all the while creating a spectacle that the people at the time would remember for generations. It was in that heist that he announced himself as Phantom Thief Fox, right before he and his friends fled the town. After that, time passed, he fell in love, married, had a child, and inspired by the tales, his child followed in his footsteps. This happened again and again with each generation, and before long, Phantom Thief Fox became a legend, even if each of them was a different person, but in the end, we all followed his footsteps, his desire to right the wrong that couldn't be corrected by the so-called 'right' ways. And I'm proud to be the latest in this legacy," she finished. ---
"Is that...that's why Fox exists?"
"Like I said," Vincent's voice pitched in from the nearby stairs. Apparently he'd wandered in at some point during her story. "I trust her more than you."
"Yeah...but..." Jonathan started.
"She rescued me," Vincent said. "She got the rest of them out and helped me save Bit from being stuck there. And if she hadn't come along, would you have ever found me?"
"I...." Jonathan tried to say...but Alice cut him off.
"Jonathan...I'm really, really sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. You're my best friend, and that was never a lie," Alice said sadly.
"Why should I believe you..." Jonathan said...though his voice lacked any real conviction.
"I know...I was scared. I was afraid of what might happen if you knew...but now...Jonathan, no matter what, I want you to know...this is how I really feel..." Alice said, and before Jonathan could react, she had pressed her lips against his, and pulled him into a kiss. Vincent looked away from the scene, pointedly not interested, waiting for one of them to talk again to signify that it was over.
Jonathan's eyes widened, and his first instinct was to push away....but before long, he found himself pushing back against the kiss, deepening it. His thoughts were going miles per second. On one hand, he was a cop and she was a thief...but as they remained locked together, he started to realize...it didn't matter to him. Here was the girl of his dreams kissing him on the lips, right after she had told him everything. Her reasons, her ideals, and really...he always did entertain the idea of reforming Fox if he ever caught her...
The two would have gone on, but they soon needed to breath. "Wow...just wow..." Jonathan sighed.
"Mmmhmm," Alice sighed, leaning into him. "I've hid it for so long, but I won't lie anymore. I love you, Jonathan Trace. You're my best friend, and even though we were on opposite sides when I'm Fox, those feelings never changed."
Jonathan hesitated for a bit...before hugging her back. "I...I need some time..." was all he could say, his mind still jumbled up.
"Take all the time you need. But please...I need to know how you really feel. Please, Jonathan," Alice nodded as she slowly let him go, before he walked up the stairs, his mind very much a jumbled mess.
"Well," Vincent said, looking back at Alice. "Really, that could have gone worse. And at least that's one secret I don't have to keep anymore. At least, not from him."
Alice just nodded, though she watched his retreating form, an almost longing look in her eyes, before she sighed and went back to work, her mind also too troubled to respond to Vincent.
"Oh this promises to be pleasant," the boy muttered, not liking the idea that he might be the only really functional one in the house.
Jonathan bursts through the doors to Alice's...no, THEIR home as he ran with a folder in his hand.
"Jon? Where's the fire?" Alice blinked.
"No time. Where's Vincent?"
"He's in the living room. Why?"
Jonathan quickly ran to the living room, where Vincent was reclining on a couch, looking at a spoon intently. Lucy sat nearby, and Sam was snickering behind a claw.
"Vincent!" he said, catching the boy's attention.
"Shh!" he said in response. "Focusing."
"Your mother called," Jonathan said.
Vincent whipped his head around, and the spoon flew upwards, lodging itself into the ceiling. "Who called?"
"Your mother. She's in Johto, and she just contacted my office. She asked me to take you to her," Jonathan said, handing him her file. The boy opened it and went through the papers, raising an eyebrow.
"I...recall you telling me about her, yes. But..." Here he sighed and looked at the far wall. "I suppose she's the only one left for me to see," he mused.
"I know it'll be more like seeing a stranger, but I think you should at least meet her," Jonathan said.
"I agree. You should give it a chance, Vincent," Alice said as she walked into the room. "At the very least, it'll give you both some closure."
"I...how would I even start that conversation?" Vincent said, still giving the wall the thousand-yard stare.
"Er...hello?" Alice suggested with a weak chuckle when he said that. She honestly hadn't considered that.
"There are worse options, I suppose," the boy said with a chuckle. He then seemed to consider something and looked at the file. "The Johto region? That's...not anywhere near us, is it?"
"On plane it would take us nearly a day to get there," Alice nodded. "Johto is connected to Kanto, so we can take a plane to Kanto from Lumiose Airport."
"And of course one of the regulations is that all trainer's Pokemon must be in a Pokeball," Vincent groused. "I really don't like doing that to them, you know."
"Well the only option is a ship then. But that would take us a week," Jonathan started.
"Plus really, I think only Sam would need to be in his ball. Lucy and Bit should be small enough to be allowed out of their balls," Alice added.
"Vincent, if it means you getting to see your mom sooner than a week, I'm fine with a day in the ball," Sam pitched in, causing the boy to sigh.
"...Fine, I'll go get their balls and put Sam in his when the time comes," Vincent said. "Let's just hope this whole thing isn't a mistake."
"Alright then, we'd better go soon then. The next flight is in a few hours," Jonathan said. "Oh, and don't worry about the money, I was given the money needed for a 2 way trip. Vincent was given money for only a one way trip though."
"I'll pay for my own ticket," Alice nodded. The kid went upstairs and rummaged in his room, locating his bag and packing what few things he thought he would need for such a journey. A change of clothes, a few items to maintain his hygiene, and of course the balls for his family. He came back downstairs and looked at the table with a raised eyebrow.
"Huh...where'd the spoon go?" he questioned aloud.
"The spoon you were bending?" Alice questioned. "Wasn't it right...here?" she blinked as true enough, it was missing. "...I did NOT take it."
Sam snickered again and pointed upwards, drawing the attention of the humans to the embedded silverware in the ceiling.
"...Okay, I did not intend for that to happen," Vincent stated.
"...I think the Abra DNA in you must have Evolved. I don't remember Abra being strong enough to do that," Jonathan deadpanned, while Alice nodded.
"It's a good thing I'm trying to get practice, then," the boy said, standing under the spoon and tilting his head. "Hmm. How to get it?"
Alice simply jumped up and plucked it out. "This is nothing to Fox," she chuckled.
"My thanks," Vincent said, holding his hand out for the spoon. Alice simply gave it to him, before she and Jonathan went to their rooms to pack up as well.
"Okay, so here we are. Lumiose Airport," Jonathan said.
Vincent whistled at the sight, before sighing and grabbing Sam's Pokeball. Sam nodded, ready to be returned so that everyone else would have no hold-ups in boarding. With a flash of red, the Scyther was gone for the time being.
"Let's get this over with," the boy groused.
"Aww...don't be so grouchy, Vincent. Once we get our tickets, we'll still have about 2 hours to get on the plane. We might as well enjoy the airport a bit," Alice chuckled as they walked in.
"Hm...I should probably get some souvenirs for mom and dad," he mused.
"Speaking of which...how are they reacting to...you know," Alice sighed, referring to their recent relationship.
"...Dad looked all but ready to disown me at first...but they've cooled off. It helps that its you. They're still a bit...iffy about me dating Fox," he sighed, saying the last part quietly.
"My parents won't stop teasing me about 'how long before your parents will start saying they have outlaws for in laws'. That and how long before they become grandparents," Alice deadpanned with a sweat drop. "They REALLY don't mind the idea of...us...one bit."
"Yeaaah....I can see that," Jonathan sweatdropped, remembering how...lax her father could be at times. The man was a good man, even if a little eccentric.
"Relationships seem to be a complicated mess," Vincent commented while Lucy sat on his shoulders like usual. "Really, you're imposing the rules of society upon your own basic biological desires. I don't see how it could ever end neatly."
"It doesn't," they both deadpanned.
"Its one of the reasons why I think laws like Pokephilia are Tauros Shit as they are now," Jonathan sighed.
"A law stating who you aren't allowed to love does sound like a terribly complicated one to enforce," the boy said with a nod. "And speciest as well. By enforcing it, you're essentially saying that you don't think Pokemon and humans are or should be equals."
"Unfortunately most people don't see it that way. They think anyone who loved a Pokemon was a depraved sicko for the simple fact that they 'obviously' trained their Pokemon for this purpose," Jonathan said, before sticking out his tongue. "Just look at poor Gene Phillips. Its only recently that thanks to Seth Crescent that we're cracking down on that law. Mainly we actually CHECK first before arresting."
"And thus sanity returns to the world," Vincent said, before returning to snark. "Now if only it could have happened a little sooner..."
"Well, unfortunately, even now things aren't so simple. A LOT of people still oppose the change. Old Hastings still isn't happy about this," Alice sighed.
"And when Old Hastings does something akin to what you two have for me," Vincent fired back, "Then maybe he'll be worth listening to."
Both of them just shrugged, as they walked through the airport. "No comments there."
Bit ticked as he floated behind the humans, idly processing the information. Perhaps when he had a free moment, he'd look up this Hastings with a bit more scrutiny...
"So which way are we going?" Vincent questioned his benefactors.
"Terminal 10. The plane goes straight to Johto," Jonathan said. The teenager looked up and took note of the numbers before angling himself in the correct direction.
"You're sure they won't have a problem with Bit?" Vincent queried.
"...most likely? If not, just recall him till they are done," Alice said.
"It's just, he's a Porygon-Z. And a plane, though massive, still operates on delicate systems. I think they may just have a small issue with him being out," the boy pointed out.
"We'll just see. If they ask you to keep him away, its better if you do. At least its just for the flight," Alice nodded.
"If they ask me to return Lucy as well, I swear that I will turn right around," the boy muttered darkly.
Both of them looked at the Riolu, then sweatdropped. "As long as she doesn't try climbing up anywhere she shouldn't I don't think they'll mind," Jonathan said.
"I'll be good," Lucy said. "Promise!"
"You'd best be," Vincent said, reaching up to give her ears a quick rub. "If I end up having to put you in your ball, I'll turn around and look for a boat."
"Yeah...please don't do that," Jonathan groaned.
The next hour or so was spent walking around the airport, grabbing a few souvenirs, and/or a few snacks. Before long, it was soon time to board the plane.
"Welcome to your first airplane ride. Hope you enjoy," Alice chuckled as Vincent was seated behind her, while Jonathan was behind him.
"Something tells me a certain little height maniac certainly will," Vincent laughed as Lucy squirmed in her seat.
"...please keep her in her seat if you can. She can look out the window, but PLEASE don't let her crawl around anywhere else," Alice sighed. The last thing they wanted was to be kicked off the plane.
"Yes miss Alice," Lucy said, settling down a little bit. "I don't want Vinny to be in trouble 'cause of me..."
"Aww," Vincent said, giving her a quick rub behind the ears. "Just be on your best behavior, Lucy, and everything should work out."
The plane ride was relatively uneventful. Fortunately, the available on board entertainment screens proved adequate amusement for the duration of the long flight. Alice had been reading a mystery novel, while Jonathan had decided to watch a few crime dramas. Vincent and Lucy alternated between cartoons and re-runs of famous battles within the League.
"C'mon," the Riolu muttered. "Get up, dodge it, come on, come- Noooo," she moaned. "Aww, that was just an awful fight."
"True," Vincent agreed. "But then again, that Red seemed to know what he was doing, bringing Dark and Bug types to the Psychic gym."
"Not surprising. Red's the current Champion of Kanto, and has so far remained undefeated since he took the title," Alice commented from where she was reading.
"...And how long ago was this?" Vincent asked, honestly curious. He hadn't spent much time looking such things up when he was at the house.
"Let's see...13 years ago, give or take," Alice answered.
"That is quite a time to hold on to that tile," the teenager replied, honestly impressed. "So...wait, how old was he when he took it?"
"17," Jonathan chimed in.
"He...must be quite gifted, then," Vincent said, falling silent as he thought about the ramifications.
"Well...he's known to be pretty reclusive. Lots of time you can hears stories of how he would disappear from time to time, though he's always present for a challenger when they show up," Alice mused. "Personally, I prefer champions like Iris and Cynthia. I hear they're quite friendly, and often journey around their regions, mingling with other trainers. There's also Steven and Diantha, but since those two are pretty much celebrities, they have a pretty good reason to remain out of sight in public."
"I wanna meet one!" Lucy chimed in, and Vincent laughed before giving her a quick scratch behind her ears.
"Hopefully not to fight them," he commented.
"Yeah, I'd give you 5 seconds at most. Probably less," Alice chuckled with a slight jab. "Next time if you want, I'm sure we could find Diantha. You just need to know where she's shooting her next film or something. Also, I hear she sometimes likes to frequent a few cafes in Lumiose. Apparently she's got a taste for some good chocolate cake."
"Where did you learn that?" Jonathan chuckled. "The underground?"
"Gossip column. Most of it is crap, but some of it is pretty good."
"Not everything Alice knows needs a shady origin," Vincent commented. "Though with her, it is hard to tell sometimes."
"I'll take that as a complement," Alice laughed as she went back to her novel.
"Well, here we are," Alice said, stretching a bit as they stepped off the plane.
"Oooh, that feels goo-ack!" Vincent's stretching was cut short as Lucy jumped into his chest, hugging him fiercely.
"Missed doing this," She said into his shirt.
"...I just realized. You are SO lucky that Pokephilia isn't strictly illegal anymore...unless its abusive. With how Lucy acts, all it would take is some jerk pointing and you'd have police on you in minutes," Jonathan idly commented.
"In which case I would ask them how they intend to Evolve any 'mon that requires a close, caring, loving bond with their trainer and not get called out for the same," Vincent replied while shifting Lucy to her customary shoulder perch.
"Well...most people think a little different in that sense. Then again, like I said, Tauros Shit law," Jonathan deadpanned.
"That's the truth," Alice shrugged.
"I'm pretty sure it had about fifty truck-sized holes in it the moment it was written," the teenage Trainer said with an eye-roll. "But let's not waste too much more time. I'd like to get out of here, let Sam out, and then we can see about finding...her..."
"Right," they both nodded. Once they were out of the airport, several Pokeballs opened up, revealing their entire team.
"Okay, so where did she say she would be again?" Alice asked.
"She's in Azalea Town I believe. We're in Olivine City," Jonathan answered.
"Okay, onward then!" Alice laughed, before they headed straight for said town.
A few days later...
"Ah, its been a long time since I've had to rough it out like this," Alice sighed nostalgically.
"Not surprising. Both of us were never interested in the league to begin with, so we didn't spend all that long for a Pokemon Journey," Jonathan nodded.
"I think I read about that," Vincent observed. "Something about sending the youth off with a starter Pokemon, some balls, and some funds to make their way in the world? Or am I mistaken?"
"More or less. Its not mandatory, and mostly based on choice. So really, most people come back better for it," Alice said.
"Everyone has to start somewhere and get experience somehow," Sam observed. "Seeing the world is a good way to figure where you want to go and what you want to do."
"And you would know that how?" Vincent retorted. "You spent most of your time with one old man in one city, learning...something. You never told me."
"And you don't want to know, kid," the bug replied instantly. "I'll tell you when you're older, maybe."
The teenager sighed and looked to the adults. "He always says that and never does."
"...old man huh? Why do I feel like I heard something about this before..." Alice mused.
"If you did, somehow I think we don't want to know," Jonathan deadpanned.
"The old guy lived in Celadon...I think," Sam said. "That's what everyone else called it."
Both of them looked at each other with a deadpan look. "The legendary pervert? Vincent, trust us. You do NOT want to know."
"How bad could it be?" the teenager said with an eye-roll. In response, Sam leaned in to Jon's ear and whispered.
"...that's warrant for arrest AND 10 years at least in jail," the officer blinked.
"...Okay, one of you is exaggerating, and I'm not sure who," Vincent said, still disbelieving. Sam shrugged and decided to whisper the same thing to Alice.
"...forget arrest. How was he not murdered by an angry mob of women," she deadpanned.
"...And suddenly I've reached a conclusion," the teenager said. "You can keep your secrets, Sam."
"Thank you!" the bug cheered.
"Speaking of which, here we are. Azalea Town," Howl commented as true enough they had arrived.
"Finally. Hey Jonathan, why don't we go challenge the gym here? For old times sake," Heat suggested.
"You wouldn't have much fun. Azalea Gym is a Bug-type gym. You have the clear advantage," Alice commented.
"Awwww..."
"Anyway, let's find the hotel. Ms. Jeanne should be there," Jonathan quickly said.
"I...hope so," Vincent said, swallowing thickly. "I still don't know what I'm going to say..."
Later, after searching the town, they soon found the hotel. Shortly after, they were waiting in the hotel lobby, having talked to the manager.
"She'll be here soon," Jonathan said.
"I just...I'm not sure. There's far too many emotions warring for control at the moment," the boy replied, running a hand through his hair nervously. "I barely even know her. Files can only do so much. For all I know, this is a mistake, coming here..."
"Well, we've gone this far. We might as well finish it. Don't go chickening out on us now, Vincent, or I'll shackle you to the table," Alice smiled with a half joke as she held up a pair of handcuffs she had swiped from a passing police officer.
"...I know I should comment, but I've been with you long enough to know that some things just aren't worth commenting on," Jonathan sighed as he checked for his cuffs. They were still there.
"And that's supposed to make me less nervous?" the boy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No, but it shows you've got worse things to worry about," Alice said with a slight troll grin.
"I, on the other claw, don't think Bit or I need to be here," Sam said, snagging a hold of the program and starting to walk off. "So I think we'll go see the sights...and give you fewer chances to distract yourself or claim that you need to leave early."
"Good boys," Alice chuckled. "Speaking of which....Ms. Jeanne, I presume," she chuckled as she turned to see the woman.
"Aaaand now I think we should be out of the way," Jonathan smiled as he pulled his girl aside.
There was a quiet beauty to her, Vincent would reflect. Someone who had probably been very gorgeous once, and only had it...muted through age. And stress. She was roughly his height...maybe an inch or two taller, with green eyes and blonde hair. The one thing that halted Vincent from trying to flee any further was simple:
She looked to be just as nervous as he felt. Vincent settled himself back in his seat and Lucy sat back in his lap, looking up at the unfamiliar lady.
"Hello Vincent," she said softly, sitting opposite him. He absently took in that she was wearing clothes that seemed to have been woven to be durable...and that there were a few holes here and there.
"Hello Jeanne," he replied, not quite ready to call her his mother just yet. She winced slightly at the name.
"I suppose I deserve that," she said in response. "I'll...be honest, a part of me was hoping you would call me some form of 'mother,' but I can understand why you wouldn't."
"I'm just not comfortable with it," he replied. "I understand that you did what you could to find me, but the fact remains...only he was there, and I don't even like to think of him as..."
By this point, Vincent had glanced away and was breathing erratically, but Lucy reached up and patted his cheek, drawing him back from...wherever his memories had led him. Jeanne smiled and looked at the Riolu. "And is this your partner?" she asked.
"Little sister, partner 'mon, friend and family," the boy replied, causing the woman to pause for a moment before her smile returned.
"Well it's nice that you keep her so close to your heart then, especially as that's one of the things needed for her to Evolve," Jeanne commented.
"Well aware," Vincent replied with a small smile. "Lucy, don't be shy. Say hi."
The Riolu climbed out of Vincent's lap and walked across the table to stand in front of the lady. "You're pretty," she commented, sticking out a paw in greeting.
Jeanne took the proffered appendage and gave it a light shake while making sure to keep eye contact with the small fighting-type. "And hello to you too," she said, before letting go. Lucy turned back to Vincent and took her usual perch back, causing him to sigh in frustration.
"I don't know why she doesn't ever stop," he said. "All I know is that she loves it up there."
"She probably likes seeing things before they see her," Jeanne said with a slight giggle. "You two are just perfect for one another."
Vincent was silent for a good ten seconds as he considered how he wanted to phrase his question. "I'm...not going to ask where you were. I'm not going to ask what you were doing. The files Jon gave me made those things quite clear. What I am going to ask is...what you saw in him."
Jeanne slumped and sighed, looking at nothing in particular before she started to reply. "Like that second broadcast said, he was once a normal man. And Rupert, while clueless to begin with, was devoted to his work. Once I got it into his head that I liked him and wanted to see him, he was devoted to me as well." She turned slightly and smiled at her son before continuing. "He would do any and everything to make sure that I wasn't mad at him, and he used to be kind and caring. If not for those few twists of fate...then maybe we wouldn't be meeting this late in your life."
"I see," Vincent replied, taking in the information and saving it away for later use. Jeanne suddenly grabbed his hands with her own.
"I'm...glad to have seen you, Vincent," she said, before standing up and walking out of the lobby. "Now let's see if we can find your friends. I have a few things I want to tell and ask them."
The boy blinked a few times before he got up as well, following after the lady who gave birth to him.
"So...how do you think Vincent is doing?" Alice asked as she and Jonathan sat on a bench not far from the hotel, their Pokemon running around free.
"Worried about him not working things out with his mom?" Jonathan smiled, putting an arm around her shoulder.
"No, more that we weren't there for moral support since SOMEBODY decided to pull us out first," she chuckled, elbowing him lightly.
"Oh don't worry. He'll be fine. Besides, he's got Lucy with him. He'll be fine," Jonathan reassured.
"Ah, well you two didn't go far at all, did you?" Jeanne said as she stepped out of the hotel, Vincent not far behind her.
"He's technically our responsibility, so yeah, we couldn't go far," Jonathan said back.
"Sides, he's been like a little brother to us. We wouldn't just leave him," Alice added with a chuckle. "I take it things are going well," she said.
"Well enough," Vincent replied.
"Yes, but you two have lives outside of this little town," Jeanne said. "Which leads me to what I wanted to ask you." She paused for a moment before staring at them both intently. "I want you to take Vincent with you when you go back."
Both of them stopped short. "Wait...what?" they both sputtered.
"I would love to have been there for Vincent throughout his life," Jeanne sighed wistfully. "But the fact of the matter is, through no fault of my own, I wasn't. And I would be a fool not to recognize the bonds he's made with the pair of you," she observed, then chuckled. "Or the bonds you two share with one another."
"W-well, thank you. We promise we'll take good care of him," Alice said.
"Yeah. You can count on us," Jonathan nodded. "But...are you sure about this? He's your son. Wouldn't you at least consider maybe coming with us?"
"I would like to, true," Jeanne said, but shook her head and looked at the old Slowpoke Well. "But I still have a few things to do. Just because my son is found doesn't mean there isn't still something to do to fight inequality. Besides, did you think I would just turn him over without a small fuss?" Here she winked at the pair.
"...ooohh!" Alice blinked, before chuckling. "I see where he got his devious side from."
"My condition is quite simple, dears," Jeanne said, before nodding at the nearby Pokecenter. "I'm going to work to build up my reputation and a modest amount of funds again, get back into the Coordinator line of work...but until the time comes when I can come to him? Sundays mornings, I'll call, and he'd best be free."
"No problem. Sunday's my day off anyway," Alice chuckled.
"Mostly cause you like to be her on Saturdays," Vincent snickered under his breath.
"Well then," Jeanne said, puzzled for a moment before brushing whatever they'd been talking about to the side. "Call the Pokecenter the Sunday morning when you get back, and I'll write your number down and do it myself afterwards."
"Done. But...we should still be here for a few more days at least," Alice commented.
"Yeah, I can arrange for my ticket to change the date of when I get back...assuming my superiors will let me do that," Jonathan nodded. "Actually, they DID say I've been racking up on vacation time. Maybe this would be a good time to burn through some of it."
"Going to take Heat up on his idea of challenging the gym then, Jon?" Vincent questioned with a bit of a chuckle.
"Eh why not. I already have 5 Kalos badges. Might as well get a few Johto badges while I'm at it," he chuckled.
"If you're going to do that," Jeanne commented, "Then I'll come along to watch."
"Sure, it could be fun," Alice chuckled.
"Well that was easy," Jonathan smiled as he held up his new Hive Badge to the sun, the light glinting off it.
"Not hard, considering you have a Combusken and a Noibat. Honestly, sometimes I wonder how Heat isn't already a Blaziken with how strong he already is. Echo should be a Noivern by now too," Alice commented.
"And you lot keep telling me that this little bundle of hyper should be a Lucario by now, but we can all see how true that's been," Vincent commented, tickling Lucy, who had in a rare moment consented to being carried instead of riding Vincent's shoulders.
"Well, we've got good reason to say that. She's pretty strong, plus she's been so happy since you got out. The only thing you'd need now at this rate is for her to thrash a strong opponent," Alice defended. "As for Heat, you know how he likes to fight. By all means, he should have racked up enough experience to Evolve."
"Well then, let's ask." Vincent turned to the latest victor over the Bug gym and quirked an eyebrow. "Heat? There any reason in particular you aren't a Blaziken? You wouldn't be holding back your Evolution on purpose, now would you?"
"Nope. Why would you think that?" Heat blinked. "Heck, when I evolve I say we should totally go to Shalour, and maybe find a Blazikenite. I'd totally want to go Mega."
"...and that leaves us at square one," Jonathan sighed.
"Pardon me, dears, but did you all just...?" Jeanne was befuddled to say the least. "I mean, I know some trainers claim to understand their partners, but..."
"Well, Vincent's technically part Abra now, though we're pretty sure its evolved into Kadabra with how strong his psychic powers have been lately," Alice commented. "Jonathan's just been with Heat for so long, talking to him is a no brainer for him."
"I...see," Jeanne replied softly. "And yourself? Any reason it looked like you caught a part of what he was saying?"
Alice pulled out an ear piece. "My cousins a genius and a tech geek. He's been designing this translator for humans to use, wanting to break the old language barrier between human and 'mon. Guess who's the lucky test subject," she said sarcastically at the end, remembering how often the thing would go haywire after a while, nearly causing her to go deaf in one ear.
"Do tell me he wasn't using your latest addition to your lives to do his research," Jeanne said, crossing her arms as she considered the idea.
"Nah, Vincents never even MET him. He sends stuff over to me all the time. Heck, its been a while since I've seen him out of his lab. I think I saw him looking a little pale the last time he sent a photo," Alice shrugged.
"Well then, I wouldn't mind an earpiece myself...nor would many of the more sane members of the Rangers, I don't think," Jeanne said. "I'm sure I have a list around here somewhere of Rangers who I've met who were nice folk. It's exactly the sort of thing we could use."
"No can do. This thing is far from ready. Sure it works, but it keeps having static. Not to mention it tends to try to drag my hearing down with it when it dies," Alice deadpanned.
"Alice, outta curiosity, which would have been better?" Vincent questioned. "Your earpiece dying, or hearing what Sam had to say not too long ago?"
"...my earpiece dying. At least I can't understand it."
Sam just chuckled. "And that was the intro course," he said with another laugh.
"...say anything else and I will personally wash your mouth out with soap," Alice stated, her voice deadly calm.
"Shutting up," the bug said, drawing a claw over his mouth.
"...Do I want to know?" Jeanne and Vincent asked at the same time.
"Not if you don't want to feel like tearing your ears off," the girl deadpanned.
"...Alice dear, I do hope you'll keep a good eye on that Scyther," Jeanne said, shooting Sam a glare that he could feel.
"Done," Alice glared as well. "Now then, what shall we do? Is there anything interesting going on?" she asked.
Suddenly the ground tremored, shaking up the whole town. When it subsided, all attention was on the various tv screens, all of which were showing the same thing.
"We interrupt all programs for a special report!" the newscasters all looked frantic. "This just in, a mysterious new landmass has suddenly appeared in the middle of the oceans near the Unova region! We have yet to be able to investigate, but all authorities assure that they will get to the bottom of this immediately!"
"...when I said anything interesting, I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT!!!!" Alice shouted to the sky.
Greetings citizens of Earth both old and new. I am Arceus, and I have returned. |
Building a Better World: Origins | Halloween anniversary special: Nightmare in Shadow | Twas a dark and stormy night. The sky above shrouded in a mass of impenetrable black clouds. Wind howled, lightning flashed, and thunder boomed.
Arceus hath made his announcement to the world. He hath told everyone of the new region, and of the many new species of pokemon that live upon it. Also he hath told the humans not to approach the new region until further notice so that the inhabitants of the land could adjust.
Truly all at first seemed well, but many things are not always what they seem.
Below the storm Spear Pillar sat upon the face of Mt Moon, currently in the region of Johto. Inside the temple a storm of a different sort was brewing.
After her three days of meditation to help Darkrai learn how to control his nightmare powers Luna was mentally and physically exhausted. This still was on top of the stress from the loss of her home, and the attack by Tirek. So it would come as no surprise that she now walked into her room, and collapsed onto her bed.
The chamber that she had received as her temporary bedroom was left plain with no personal decor. So it was that she now rested in a plain white chamber, and slept in a pristine white bed. And lo it was because of this even more unsettling what occurred next.
Deeply sleeping in a bed as soft as a cloud, Luna had not looked so peaceful in days. Her dark fur contrasted with the white sheets that covered her. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed. She stirred slightly as she dreamed, and a smirk came to her lips. Slowly she seemed to begin to wake, and one eye opened.
One draconian slitted eye opened.
Alone in one of the corridors inside the Hall of Legends was a green fairy like pokemon. Celebi was humming a cheery tune as she floated along by herself. She was very happy about what has happened. Her grandfather, Arceus was back and there were all new pokemon that she could play with!
Celebi paused for a moment as the light suddenly flickered into darkness around her. She shrugged when the light came back, though she failed to notice the darkness that still lingered.
So Celebi continued on her way, but she heard someone walking behind her. She turned around and looked into the deep shadows that shrouded the hall. The echo of bipedal steps sounded from beyond her sight. With each step the echoes grew louder, signaling that the one walking was getting closer. As the steps reached their loudest Celebi could see the human who approached her, and she became paralyzed from fear.
How...how d-did you get here? she asked, stuttering with her telepathy in her alarm.
The iron masked man sneered at her. He reached a hand up to his chest and grabbed one of the Dark Balls on his red cloak.
Celebi's little body trembled as she watched him draw his arm back...
Celebi finally screamed with her Psychic voice. The telepathic scream travelling much faster and farther than a regular one could have. It was heard by nearly all who were currently in the temple, but most importantly it was heard by one in particular.
Seventeen feet of blue and gray metal armored Dragon stepped out of a portal and stood protectively over his daughter. Though there was no threat that he could see, not even an illusion, he roared with enough volume to make the Hall of Legends quake.
It took not very long for the Legendaries to track down the source of the dark power that had haunted little Celebi. Luna and Celestia had both denied it at first, but they knew better than to ignore the possibility. So it was that they now gathered in the temple's meeting room.
I still think that I should just go into her mind and obliterate this Nightmare. Arceus stated not for the first time. Celestia and Luna both gave him a deadpan "No." , also not for the first time.
No offense dad, but you aren't very subtle. Mew told him. You would probably make think she's a Torchic or something.
I'm not that blunt. he muttered.
"How shall you be doing this?" Celestia asked Mew.
My sisters and me will go into Luna's mindscape, and get rid of Nightmare. Easy! Mew smiled and gave a thumbs up.
"That will not work." Luna shook her head. "Nightmare may have different motivation than me, but she has all of my knowledge and skill. If you go after her as a group she will only separate you and take you out one at a time. It would be best if only one goes after her, one who is skilled in mental powers but also skilled in combat. Is there a Legendary who fits this description?"
Mewtwo levitated through the darkness of Princess Luna's mind. He watched for signs of any daemon or dream spirits, but for now there was only darkness. He was confused about how this Nightmare could slip passed a seal set in place by Arceus. The only thing he could think of that would explain it is if Arceus had set the seal for something specific, and Nightmare was something else.
Soon it was that Mewtwo came upon a rusted crooked iron gate. On the other side of the gate was what looked like an abandoned village. Run down shacks and falling apart buildings, rotted dieing trees scattered around, a polluted lake, and a cemetery with open graves like they had all just been dug, or like something had crawled out of them. He passed through the gate and noticed that the shadows in the graveyard began to move. Mewtwo heard a slow creak from behind him, and when he looked the gated had slammed shut.
All around him the seemingly abandoned ghost town sprung to life...with ghosts! Ghosts and zombies and other creatures of the night, but they were all ponies. They had all just been standing there, or hiding just inside the shadows like they were waiting for something. Then they all started
singing.
When the song was done the monster ponies had surrounded Mewtwo, though they made no move to attack him. He paid them no attention and turned to face the the one who controlled them. She stood taller than he did, with her horn extending over a foot higher. Her body was black as a lightless void, her mane a flowing astral night sky, and she wore blue silver armor. Her draconian eyes illuminated with a semblance of moonlight, and her mouth pulled into a smirk revealed her shark like teeth.
"Nightmare Moon I presume." Mewtwo spoke, his voice being verbal rather than his normal telepathy sense they were already communicating telepathically. "You're not some simple figment of her mind are you."
"Indeed not." she trotted around him in a circle as she studied him. "Can you guess what I am truly?"
"You are definitely no simpled demon or spirit. Arceus placed the seal on Princess Luna's mind to keep such things out." he said as she continued to stalk around him. "So you must be a representation of some part of her subconscious mind. Am I right?"
Nightmare Moon snorted in aggravation, and her conjured minions adopted a more hostile appearance. "Just like that bearded fool... I am no 'piece' of her mind. I am my own pony, SEPARATE from Luna!"
With that she plunged everything into darkness. Mewtwo could see nothing, not even his own hand in front of his face. Still around him he knew that the monsters she had made were stalking him.
"You see Mewtwo, you are not in Luna's mind." He heard her whisper from everywhere and nowhere. "You are in mine. I have existed for only half of her life, but I have always been nothing but a thought. A living mind that existed on the astral plane, a mind without a body.
"So when you get right down to it, you are not simply in my mind." Nightmare Moon spoke clearly from just behind him, a malicious fang filled grin on her muzzle. "You are in the center of my very being...and I locked the gate when you entered."
Mewtwo's eyes widened as he thought back to the gate he had entered through. Had there been another sound that was muffled by the slamming of the gate? Had he heard the clicking of lock underneath the echoed clang of the rusted iron?
"...Oh pokebal-aarrgg" he screamed in agony as the spike she had formed from her mane retracted from his abdomen. It left no wound in the physical world, but here in her world was more real than any attack he had ever felt.
"I was hoping for something more feminine." Nightmare Moon told him. "But a body is a body, and I shall have one of my own!"
A pained groan escaped Mewtwo's lips as he stood. He focused and the wound vanished. "You will have to do better than that. None of this is real so any injuries I sustain will have never existed as soon as I recover from your attacks."
"I know." Nightmare Moon told him as she raised an eyebrow at him. She then pointed at the zombie, ghost, vampire, mutant, and other monster ponies around him. "That's what they're for."
The monster ponies all swarmed on him. Mewtwo threw himself into the air to escape, but some still clung to him. Lyra had her snake fingers wrapped around his left leg with their fangs biting into his flesh. Spike had climbed onto his back and was biting away at his shoulder. Pinkie Pie held onto his tail with one hoof while the other was trying to keep from dropping her face, she solved this problem by holding her face to his tail and biting it. The sudden pain in his tail made Mewtwo teleport out of instinct and he looked down to see them all plummet to the ground.
The cackling of witches got his attention. Twilight and Trixie were riding after him on their broomsticks, and behind them was Rainbow Dash the reaper. Twilight and Trixie both shot twin balls of green fire at him. He deflected the flames with a Psychic, but then Rainbow Dash zoomed in on him. With a wicked smile on her muzzle she swung her scythe. Mewtwo tried to block with a Psychic shield, but Rainbow Dash vanished in a haze of smoke. She reappeared behind him and he only avoided having his spine severed by blocking with his tail. Unfortunately the blade held a ghostly power within it and it caused him a great deal of pain as it cut into his flesh.
Mewtwo turned with a Fire Punch aimed at her face. The blow sent the undead mare flying off in the direction of the toxic lake with her head engulfed in fire. Mewtwo took the opportunity to focus his form and remove the wound, but this left him open to attack.
The unicorn witches flew around him as they cast fire at him. The flames burned his skin, but they also poisoned him. A rot formed around his burns and began to creep up his body. He teleported next to them and used a Psycho Cut on each of them. Once more Mewtwo restored himself as their bodies and heads fell separately.
"Here kitty kitty."
Mewtwo flinched as Rarity sunk her fangs into his neck and began draining his blood. He tried to teleport, but pony ghosts flew through his body and disrupted his concentration. They also sapped his strength and slowed his thoughts. As blood dripped down his body Mewtwo slowly sank to the ground.
"Your power may be legendary but your brain could use some improvement." Nightmare Moon laughed, her voice booming across her realm. "Too bad you didn't figure it out in time."
Mewtwo looked up at her as she trotted towards the gate. He noticed how her power was retracting into her from around them. He slumped in defeat... Then he realized his mistake, and grinned widely.
"Everything here is a part of you." he raised one arm and clenched his fist. "Even the ground!" Mewtwo struck the ground with an Earthquake and destroyed the minions that Nightmare Moon had created.
Nightmare Moon felt the blow like a physical attack, and fell over from the pain. She clenched her fangs, and turned on him with her horn glowing. From around his feet the hooves of zombified ponies dug out of the ground, and began to pull him under.
Mewtwo fought them off with Fire Punch and Psychic, but as strong as he was the sheer number of undead ponies made it an even match. Eventually though he managed to drive most of them off, and he noticed that they were appearing less and less as he fought. It seemed as if he would win...
A sound like the wind being cut through by a sword greeted his ears, and suddenly Mewtwo could no longer feel his right arm. Rainbow Dash flew around him with her scythe dripping blood, and his severed arm. The sight of his own limb dangling lifelessly in someone else's grasp was very unsettling. While he was distracted the zombies all rushed forward and pinned him down.
Rainbow Dash flew down and held her scythe above his head. "Any last words?" she asked him with a sneer on her burned face.
"Just one." he told her. "Psyshock!"
Nightmare Moon's entire world flickered in and out of existence as bolts of psychic power shot through her. The Earthquake had hurt, but this was a psychic attack delivered directly to a mind with no physical body... It. Was. AGONY! She screamed as her form distorted almost into nothing.
Mewtwo recovered from his injuries, and got a big foreleg to his face. After flying back from the blow he looked at the newest pony monster...a Frankenstein Big Mac!
As the Macenstein monster lifted his massive forelegs up to smash him...Mewtwo pulled his arm back, charged it with Psychic power, and jabbed a Psystrke into the undead stallion's chin. Big Mac's head made a nice whistling sound as it flew through the air.
"Enough of this!" yelled Nightmare Moon. She transformed into smoke, and streaked through the darkness towards the gate.
"No!" Mewtwo focused his mind on the gate, and a blue glowing symbol of his face appeared over it.
Nightmare Moon returned to her normal solid form, and gallopped to the gate. She scratched at the gate with her hooves, but Mewtwo's own seal kept her from even touching it. Her face contorted with rage.
"Too late." Mewtwo said as he floated towards her. "You can't get through that seal. Now how about we finish...this...are you laughing?"
"Ha ha, ha ha ha, Ha Ha, HA HA HA HA HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Nightmare Moon looked at him with her fangs showing through a feral grin. "You foal! I was going to just leave you here, but now in order for me to go you must die."
"...You were holding back?"
A wave of darkness flooded the world around them. The town, and all of its inhabitants were swept up in the shadows. When it stopped Mewtwo was left with nothing around him...unless he counted the endless expanse of a galaxy that met his eyes. Planets, stars, and even a nearby asteroid belt.
"Why would you cover this with that horror show?" he asked.
"Oh, so now someone appreciates the night?" she growled at him. "Too little too late."
Mewtwo saw her, and his eyes widened. As she had previously spread herself out to make the town Nightmare Moon had had to focus too much on her illusion for her to be a true threat. She swiped Mewtwo with a backhanded blow from one wing, and sent him flying off through space at the speed of a comet. Before Mewtwo could react Nightmare Moon teleported into his path and hit him with an energy blast.
This time Mewtwo was left to crash into a passing meteor. When he hit the meteor cracked open, and he found it to be hollow.
"What's this?" Mewtwo saw the inside of the meteor was actually a memory. One of Princess Luna's memories. "Hmm..."
He watched as a very young Luna walked up to a door and knocked twice. "Tia? Tia?" she called to her sister. "Does thou want to see the moonrise?" Mewtwo stayed to watch in the hope that he might learn something, but all he learned was that Luna used to cry herself to sleep.
Nightmare Moon burst into the meteor like wrecking ball, and rammed her head into him. He just barely managed to avoid being gored by her horn, but even so she still hit him with the force of a Dragon Tail attack from Groudon.
Sailing through space once again Mewtwo caught sight of another meteor, and in an impulse he changed his direction to crash into it. The inside of this one contained a memory from a slightly older Luna. She was somewhere between a filly and a fully grown alicorn.
Luna was alone in the library of the old castle at night. She was browsing the shelves in search of some specific book. She looked for some time before finding what she seeked. In her magic she pulled a single book from a shelf.
"Spells of the mind, memories, and emotions." she read the title aloud. After flipping through the pages for a bit Luna found what she was looking for. "Here it is. A spell to hide the emotions in the subconscious. This had better work, tis not right to be so jealous of our sister."
Mewtwo watched Luna cast the spell on herself. He knew from the memory that it was only a temporary spell meant for therapeutic use, but he was getting a suspicion about things. Then the floor erupted in an explosion of stone as Nightmare Moon crawled out of some hellish pit with the fires of the underworld following her. Mewtwo was gone as fast as thought would allow.
"This is getting interesting, but I need to see more." Mewtwo came to an asteroid belt, and thought about it. "What the hell."
Being in a world of the mind, and not bound by the laws of reality Mewtwo Mega Evolved. Twice. His combination of the X and Y Mega Evolutions was definitely cooler.
With his power amplified Mewtwo zoomed into the asteroid belt, and began smashing them with his fists. After a series of punches he decided to mix it up, and began to head but, kick, tail smash, and even crushing a few of the massive space rocks between his hands. Each one that he destroyed released a memory.
It took him a moment to sort the images into a linear memory, but he soon had a better understanding of Luna, and of her creation. The memories were still jumbled, and a little out of order, but they we're understandable.
A collection of memories from Luna's foalhood to her banishment. The battle with King Sombra which awoke the darkness fully. The battle with Celestia after her transformation. Nightmare Moon in her and Luna's banishment.
Among it all though was the recurring sight of Luna returning to the library, and recasting the suppression spell on herself. Luna did this whenever she began to feel jealous of, or angry at her sister. As time went on Luna would do this more often. The negative feelings that the spell blocked did not simply vanish, but were put away in the back of her mind. There the feelings and thoughts stayed as fresh as the day she had them, and with each casting of the spell they grew. Finally on one fateful day Princess Luna modified the spell to last as a permanent enchantment.
Mewtwo let his form return to normal. "So she inadvertently created you from her own mind?"
From behind him Nightmare Moon watched the memories herself. "Do you have any idea what it is like to be trapped within someone else's mind? Simply come into existence one day, and find yourself without any companionship? I eventually grew strong enough to push through the barrier that contained me, and Starswirl told Luna that the voice in her head was just some out of control dream magic that had manifested from her subconscious. They thought I was nothing!"
Mewtwo noticed a stray meteor off by itself. He raised one arm, and fired an energy blast that broke it open. The memory inside was of a newly made Nightmare Moon trying to call out to Luna, Celestia, and Starswirl. They ignored her, and placed a mystical cage around the part of Luna's mind where she lived. The young alicorn pounded her hooves on the barrier, and began to cry.
"I just want out!" she yelled at them, but this only seemed to embolden their actions.
"Don't leave me alone." she begged, but they did not listen.
As they were placing the final touches on the seal she lashed out in anger. She summoned a storm of shadow demons, shot bolts of lightning, and screamed vengeance at them. "I shall slay ALL of you for this!"
Mewtwo looked the alicorn in the eye, and thought for a moment. "How willing would you be to compromise?"
Mewtwo returned to his own body, and to consciousness in Luna's bed chamber where the Princesses, Mew, and Arceus had all gathered. Luna was coming out of her trance as well, and she nuzzled her sister who sat beside her on the bed. Mewtwo let them have their moment while he detached Mew from his head.
Why were you hugging my head? he asked after unlatching her nearly unbreakable hug from him.
YOU ALMOST DIED! she shouted, and once more clamped onto him. Though this time she attached herself to his shoulder.
Mewtwo decided to leave her where she was. I was not in danger of death at first. Her goal originally was to replace my mind with hers.
"Why would she want to do that?" Luna asked him with a confused expression.
Long ago you began to use a spell to suppress the negative thoughts and emotions that you had whenever the ponies favored the day over the night. This spell was only temporary, and did nothing more than put your problems away for a while. he reminded her.
"I..remember that yes, but what does it have to do with Nightmare Moon?"
When your bad thoughts would not stop you abused the spell nearly every day, and then you corrupted the spell by applying it to your mind permanently.
"Luna! Tell me you didn't." Celestia scolded her.
"...We may have." Luna mumbled. "But so what? It has nothing to do with her."
"Luna..." Celestia rubbed her right temple with her wing. "You placed a spell on your own mind as a permanent fix to something that we could have just talked about. You know that changing an established spell into something it is not meant for can have serious unexpected side effects."
In this case the unexpected side effect was the creation of a whole other being as a result of Luna's magic containing so many of her thoughts, memories, and emotions. Basically all of the magic combined with the repressed parts of her mind in a way that created the personality known as Nightmare Moon. Mewtwo explained to everyone.
Celestia and Luna both stared at him for a bit blinking their eyes. Nobody else moved or said anything while the information was being processed. Finally Luna asked a rather obvious question.
"What?"
You accidentally created a twin sibling by dividing your mind into two parts, and you both share the same body. Mewtwo told her. He then levitated himself up and stretched his surprisingly sore muscles. Starswirl then mistakenly advised you that she was a part of your subconscious that had been animated as a side effect of Sombra's curse, but truthfully that had only awakened her. You all then locked her in a cage when she had only the mind of a young teenager.
The Princesses could have chosen to not believe him, but they had always known that there had been something odd about how the Nightmare had just appeared. Starswirl had tried to find the truth before he had died, but he left little information on it. Celestia herself had tried to search for the answer, but after Luna's banishment there was no way to test her theories. Then there were the Elements. If she had not been banished or otherwise dealt with as Discord had been, then she was not evil.
I'll save you the trouble before you start blaming yourselves. Mewtwo got their attention as he levitated next to the bed with Mew still clamped onto his shoulder. While she is still angry she does not want to continue where she left off. Even if she did somehow manage to take over your body she would now find herself at odds with the Legendaries. So I have arranged for a meeting between her and Luna, so that they can negotiate a fair way of managing who gets to do what.
Once more in a trance Luna walked through her own mind, guided by Mewtwo. Luna was still unsure about facing her other half like this, but she knew that it was the best option. Mewtwo led her through the gate that separates the two minds, and Luna immediately wished that they could just battle and be done with it.
Luna found herself not in the nightmarish land that she had expected, nor in the endless beauty of the night sky that she would have welcomed. No, instead she found everything to pink. Not just pink, but bright pink with lots of frilly girly patterns that Cadence would love. And in the middle of it all was her twin sitting at a table set for tea with a sly grin on her muzzle.
"Won't you sit down?" she invited Luna to join her.
"...Can we by any chance just fight instead?"
"No."
Luna grumbled a little, but sat at the table anyway. Though she refused to drink out of the flowered teacups. "Well, let us get on with it."
"Agreed. First order of business, my name."
Luna blinked a couple of times as her darker counterpart fixed a cup of tea with ten sugar cubes. "What about your name?"
"Oh come on. You're the one gave me that name when you first heard me talking to you. Would you want to be named for a grown mare's moment of childish fear?"
"Ah, well...good point." Luna blushed a little as she remembered running into Celestia's room one night, as a teenager not a grown mare, and telling her about hearing a voice in the dream realm. "Fine then. Any suggestions?"
"I've put a good bit of thought into that actually. Do you take ten cubes of sugar, or twelve?" she pointed a hoof at one of the two cups that floated between them.
"Twelve please." Luna answered politely. Mewtwo dropped the cookie that he had been sneaking from the table.
"See we are not so so different." the darker alicorn said as she dropped twelve sugar cubes into her tea. For some reason Mewtwo started floating slowly away from the table. "You just got to walk around whenever you wanted while I was locked in a cage for my entire existence."
"Well maybe if thou had tried communicating with me about something other than terrorizing ponies that may not have happened." Luna countered as she levitated her tea to take a sip.
"Tis hardly our fault! Twas thee that created us from thy dark thoughts!"
"Thou still should have explained thyself! Least we would not have feared thee!"
"Thou should fear more our hoof upside thy head!"
The literal lightning storm that had manifested from the flaring tempers of the twin night alicorns was enough to remind Mewtwo that he was supposed to be the peacekeeper of this meeting. He imposed a Psychic aura over the area, and got their attention by lightly smacking a hand on the table. "Enough! This is a negotiation, not a battle. Now you two-
They both turned on him with a pair of cold dark stares that silenced him instantly. Mewtwo took about a millisecond to think about it before he removed himself from their minds and retreated to the real world.
The alicorns looked back to each other, and burst out laughing. After a minute or two they calmed down, drank their tea.
"He had a point." Luna said after finishing her drink. "This is a negotiation, or at least it is supposed to be."
"True. We were talking about my name I believe." Luna nodded for her to continue. "I would like to be called Artemis."
Luna narrowed her eyes at her. "Why?"
"Luna is an old Stalliatin word that means moon and is also the name of a forgotten deity. She was later forgotten in favour of a new goddess. Artemis was her name, and it translates into 'Hunter in the night'."
"So...you want a name that is younger than mine, and more badass as well?" Luna asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Locked in a cage for thousands of years without having done anything to deserve it." she calmly sipped her tea.
"Ah, ahem...yes fair enough." Luna nodded in agreement. "Well then, Artemis, what is the next order of business?"
"Only one I can think of is how to decide who gets to control our body and when." Artemis told her.
It was a few weeks later before the newly christened Artemis could walk the world in her own. It had been agreed that the night Alicorns would swap out control of their body as the moon traversed in its monthly cycle. So as the sphere became full Luna would take control, and as it left the sky dark Artemis would stalk the earth.
Upon a balcony at the top of the Hall of Legends stood Luna. Beside her were her sister Celestia, Arceus, Mew, and Mewtwo. These immortal beings waited for the moon to finish its cycle into its 'new moon' state, and watched as the last remaining sliver of moonlight was swallowed up by shadow.
Luna looked to her sister, but there was nothing to be said. She stepped forward away from the others, and changed. It was similar to, but still very different from her transformation into Nightmare Moon. Luna was swallowed up by a sphere of shadows yes, but there was no quaking of power. When it ended, Artemis was revealed.
"Mmm, good to be back." she said as she stretched her body. HER body, for a month at least. "Fresh air feels SO good on my fur."
A small noise got her attention. Artemis turned around to see Mew slightly trembling at the sight of her. "Oh, umm, Hello-
BYE NOW! Mew yelled, and she teleported away.
"...I see..." Artemis turned her deadpan look to Mewtwo, and was impressed with him. Her eyes scanned over him-
Don't you even think about it! Luna told her from within their mind.
A little too late for that. Artemis replied. But I promise that my first time out will not be for that.
"Luna?" Celestia took a step forward, and looked at her with a confused expression on her face. The dark alicorn before her looked like Nightmare Moon, but there was something off.
"No Celestia, the name is Artemis...and..." she paused before trotting up to Celestia, and looking UP into her eyes. "...Why the Draconequis are you taller than me?"
All around them there was nothing but war. Three sides all against each other. Earth erupted around the battlefield as the combatants fought with each other. It was their fault that this happened. They placed the blame on all of them. Team Eternity was to blame for creating the Forever Balls. Team Rocket was to blame for even thinking that they could, let alone actually trying to catch them. The Rangers were to blame for not going after the real criminals when they had the chance.
Now they were all fighting, and ignoring what had just happened. Finally the so-called heroes were trying to stop the villains, and all it took was for them to attack during the Indigo League.
In Luna's body they gazed down at the Forever Ball at their hooves with a heartbroken look. They. Had. Seen. Enough!
Like a fury they leaped their body into the air, and slammed back to the ground with the force of a comet. The expanding shockwave knocked even a Tyranitar off its feet. The battle ceased as everyone had to recover, and what they saw after was Luna rising from the ground as a swirling mass of black energy.
The energy turned red, and the outline of a much larger alicorn could be seen. Nightmare Moon, the true Nightmare Moon burst forth like a sudden hurricane. She scooped up the Forever Ball with her mane, and gently held it close. With her cargo safe Nightmare Moon cast her gaze upon the mortals who had done this.
They cowered away from her as she unleashed a wave of shadows. "YOU WILL ALL PAY FOR THIS! YOU WILL ALL PAY WITH YOUR LIVES!"
Mew and Celebi returned from their vision of the future. The two Psychics had went in search of confirmation about a theory that Mew had. What they found was more than enough to prove her right.
Celebi shivered as she had felt the cold of Nightmare Moon's vengeance even through the vision. So they can combine their minds into one in order to use all of their magic at once?
Mew nodded. Yes, and because each of them is a fully grown alicorn they are already powerful. Each of them has somewhere around two thirds of Luna's natural power, but they are so opposite of each other that they should not be able to join like that.
They look like they get along ok. Celebi shrugged. They even made a deal about who gets to walk around when.
Mew facepawed as she remembered exactly who she was talking to, and how naive Celebi could be. One of them has been locked in a cage for thousands of years INSIDE the other's mind, and she tried to conquer their world by force. Trust me, they are not going to just forgive each other.
Celebi leaned back and grabbed her feet like she was sitting on thin air. Well I still don't get why you are so worried about it. I mean she is scary, but how dangerous could she be? Let's invite them to a tea party! She suddenly jumped up and down in mid air,and clapped her hands.
Celebi then saw Mew do something that she had never ever seen her do. Mew's face lost all of its usual playfulness, and she actually looked old for a moment as something frightened her. Luna and Artemis can only combine into the form known as Nightmare Moon when they each agree to give the other control. We have to make sure that does not happen.
Celebi had never even heard of Mew acting so serious, let alone actually seen it. What's wrong?
Artemis is a natural Shadow pokemon. |
Building a Better World: Origins | This epilogue is only the beginning | Greetings citizens of Earth both old and new. I am Arceus, and I have returned. For many centuries, I have watched, helpless to intervene as this world suffered atrocities, and disasters. Now, I am free, and I will be able to deliver justice where it is needed.
However, today is not about those who have harmed this world. Today is about those who are new to it.
The quake that was felt across the world earlier today was the creation of a new continent. A new region of new pokemon.
These new pokemon are from a different world that no longer exists. Through the power of me, and my children they were saved. We brought them here to live.
These new pokemon are Ponies, Changelings, Griffins, Zebras, Deer, Hippocampi, Minotaurs, Breezies, and others. With them comes the new Magic type. Now I understand that this is very tempting for trainers, but be warned that anyone seeking to take one of them without the pokemon's own permission will answer to their Legendary guardians Celestia, Luna, and Artemia.
And me, Discord!
Ah...yes one more. Discord the spirit of chaos. ...Now where was I? Anyway, these Legendaries will allow a few professors to visit their land, but only after their subjects have had enough time to adjust. Soon enough after that they will allow visitation to trainers.
Farewell to you all, and I bless you.
Professor Oak put down the paper that he had copied Arceus' words onto. "In a world of pokemon wonders never cease. As big as a Wailord, or as soft as Flaffy's fleece."
The aging Professor stood up from his desk chair, and walked around his office with a cane in his left hand. "A whole new region. New species of pokemon. A new type of pokemon!" He thrust his arms into the air with excitement, and quickly regretted it. "Ohh, my back. I've got to stop doing that, but pokemon are so cool!"
Professor Oak heard the doorbell ring, and went to answer it. Outside he found three humans, a Greninja, and what looked like a small orange Ponyta with wings. In the sky he could see a Noivern flying off.
"May I help you?" Professor Oak asked them.
"I'm Gene Phillips." the young man almost didn't say his last name. It came out half mumbled as he reached out for a handshake. "I'm here to get my Kanto region trainer's license, and a pokedex update."
"Why didn't you say so?" Professor Oak smiled and happily shook his hand. "By the way, I was rooting for you the whole time. Are you aware that there is an ink mustache on your upper lip?"
Gene blinked a few times before he remembered. He then glared accusingly at Bell and Weiss. "You two really let me walk around with a magic marker mustache on my face?"
"Yep." Weiss smirked as Bell teleported ten pokedollars out of Gene's wallet. She frowned as Weiss had won their bet, and handed him the money.
Professor Oak chuckled. "Well come on in, and I'll get you on your way in no time." Gene and Belle walked inside, and Weiss started to follow. Professor Oak held his cane out in front of the other man to stop him. "You will stay out here."
Weiss had to process that for a moment. Old man trying to stop me from doing my job. He is poking a cane into my chest. Why am I letting him do this? "Look doc, I've got a job to do. I'm contracted to protect that guy. So if you don't mind?" He moved to grab the cane, and Professor Oak quickly jabbed it down onto his foot.
"I am perfectly aware of who you are young man, and you are certainly not allowed in my lab." the older man scowled at Weiss as he shook the pain from his foot. "Contracted or not, you are a bad influence, and you will not enter my home."
"And how exactly will you stop me?" Weiss asked with a sigh that was half annoyed, and half bored.
Professor Oak smiled. "Let me introduce a friend of mine. Charizard!"
Whooosh! A sudden wind blew past them as a large orange reptile landed behind Professor Oak. The Charizard let out a roaring torrent of flames that easily shot thirty feet over Weiss' head, and left a few singed hairs.
Professor Oak was still smiling. "Allow me to introduce my friend, Charizard. I'm sure that you have heard of his trainer, Ash Ketchum."
Weiss' right eye twitched for some reason. "Yes, I'm familiar with the Battle Frontier Brain."
Professor Oak continued smiling. "You see, I'm getting old, and since Ash was worried about me he sent Charizard to stay with me. Actually several of Ash's pokemon are here, along with some that were trained by my grandsons Gary and Blue."
"Bulba!" Weiss and Greninja looked down at the Bulbasaur that stood between them. The Grass/Poison pokemon had a small, but constant puff of Sleep Powder that was ready to be blasted out.
"...I still have to insist on one of my team going in with you." Weiss finally deadpanned. He took out Doc's pokeball, and called out the Audino. She looked around, and blinked as she recognized the famous professor. "Doc, Professor Oak. Professor Oak, Doc. Doc, you go in with him because he doesn't want me in his lab." Doc just nodded, and walked over to him.
"It's very nice to meet you Doc! Allow me to escort you inside." Professor Oak held his hand out for her to hold so he could lead her inside.
"Well it's nice to see someone is capable of behaving like a gentleman." Doc said as she took his hand.
Greninja tapped Weiss' shoulder. Having gotten his attention the ninja frog pointed at the Charizard, then at the lab door, and the he shrugged. The question was obvious to Weiss; "Not worth the risk?"
The mercenary scratched his chin. "Well...the Charizard is strong for a League pokemon, the Bulbasaur has us pretty good, and he was probably bluffing about his grandsons' pokemon...but do you want to take the risk of one of Red's pokemon being in there, and us pissing them off?"
Greninja thought about that, and then nodded his head in agreement.
Inside his lab, Professor Oak was giving Gene, Belle, Scootaloo, and Doc a tour. He showed them the nursery where all the younger starter pokemon stayed, and Belle almost went crazy over the amount of adorable that was in there. Then he showed them the garden, and Doc was able to collect some healing herbs for making her medical potions.
"Well here we are." Professor Oak announced as he opened the door to his lab. "This is where I help new trainers get started on their adventures. Ah, I remember each, and every boy, and girl who came to me for there first pokemon."
"You gave Red his first partner didn't you?" Gene asked as he saw three pokeballs set, and ready for a trainer to pick one.
"That's right! Red, Blue, Gary, and Ash. By far the four most talented trainers that came to me. Red became the Champion of Champions, Blue fell out of competition battling years ago but he still trains his partners, Gary followed in my footsteps and will take over as the professor of this lab someday, and Ash Ketchum is the Frontier Brain to beat right now." Professor Oak smiled in satisfaction at how far those boys had gone in the last twelve years.
"Wow! I'm glad I won't have to battle any of them." Gene rubbed the back of his head, and smiled sheepishly.
"Hey! We could win!" Belle protested him indignantly, and then she sweatdropped. "Well not against Red."
"By the way, Gene how would you like to have a pokemon from my lab? I don't think you have a Water, or a Grass type."
"Sorry, but no thanks." Gene just smiled. "My team is my family, and I like to have all of them with me. Any more than now, and I'd have to leave someone behind. Besides that, Webber can take care of any Water or Grass types we battle, and River is as good as any Water type herself."
"Alright then. Your visit was a bit of a surprise so, I'm afraid I don't have a license printed out for you, but I'll have it in a few moments if you just wait here." Professor Oak told them as he walked to his office.
"Sure thing. Hey, is it ok if I check my email?" Gene asked.
"Of course, the pc is just over there." Professor Oak pointed to the computer next to a pokeball transport system.
Gene thanked the older man again, and booted up the pc. He entered his password fairyprincess, and opened his inbox. The first thing he noticed was the sheer number of emails. "...I'm probably going to delete most of these." The second thing he noticed was an email from a very dear friend, right at the top of the list. "Bell check this out!"
Belle grinned, and shook his shoulders. "What are you waiting for? Click it!"
So Gene opened the email.
AbbyTrombly@PokemonRangers.gov ... ...
My dearest Belle and Gene, I apologize for taking so long to send this email to you, I've been quite literally swamped in work. Now... you've probably looked at the end of my 'name' above and seen where it is that I'm sending from, well, I hate to do this via email but as it stands I'm too busy to make the trek across the world to where you are right now so I suppose this is the way it has to be.
All those years ago when Kasai and I first found your little campsite, we weren't entirely honest with you. In fact, we were lying to your faces the majority of the time, and for that, you have my deepest apologies. Kasai and I have always been members of the Pokemon Rangers, Top Rangers in fact, simultaneously, we have been together for years, we never lied about that part. You probably would have noticed if we had about the last part, hah. Still, I'm stalling, sorry, I'm bad at writing emotional emails. Ehehe, this actually reminds me of how Kasai and I came out to the other Rangers after a certain law was passed... apparently 90% of the other Ranger Pokemon knew about us already so things went pretty smoothly... wait, right, sorry, still mentally stalling... sorry.
Right, where was I, ah, yes... Kasai and I had always been of the rather biased opinion that persecuting every Pokephilia case as they were all the same was wrong, so we liked to do some scouting out of each pair before we reported or arrested them. We'd take the guise of lost travelers, open up to them a little about our relationship and see how they reacted and what they'd tell us. If by the end of the night we decided that the relationship was a broken one, and that the Pokemon (or trainer, yes, it happens) was being abused, then they'd wake up handcuffed and slung over Kasai's back on their way back to the nearest Ranger station. If not, and this is your case obviously, we'd let them go on their merry way and file a report saying that even with Kasai's incredible nose that we were unable to find you anywhere in the area.
You and Gene however were different, you two were just so lovely and kind that Kasai and I couldn't help ourselves but come back to you over and over again. You're both some of our best friends in the world, and the ones who know us the most intimately... so... from Kasai and I, we love the hell out of the both of you, we'll see you when we finally get the current amount of mess that we're dealing with squared away. Oh, and Kasai specifically says 'I can't wait to be your noble steed again, Fairy Princess', heh. Anyways, feel free to reply and we'll see when we can get together again!
Love Abby and Kasai
P.S. Tell Mage that Luke says 'hi'.
The Email ended with a pair of pictures of Abby and Kasai in their Ranger outfits along with one of them both lying on a bed together, Abby with her face in Kasai's neck and the large Arcanine cradling her against his chest.
Gene, and Belle both stood there staring at the screen. They couldn't believe it. All that time, and they never knew. And now they just wished...that they could have seen the looks on all the Rangers' faces. Especially Professor Hastings!
"So I guess we know where to send the wedding invitations next year huh?" Gene chuckled, and blushed as he remembered what had happened on some of their camping trips with Abby and Kasai. What had happened between a known fugitive, and the Ranger who was supposed to arrest him.
"We should probably expect one from them too." Belle pointed out. Then her eyes sparkled. "Eeee! Double wedding!"
Scootaloo scrunched her face up as she thought. "What does it mean when it says that Kasai can't wait to be your noble steed again? And I thought only Dad called you his fairy princess."
"...Professor Oak? Is my license ready yet?" Gene called out.
"Coming right up!" Professor Oak walked back out of his office with a trainer's license, and new pokedex. He handed them both to Gene. "Here you are! Just transfer all your data over to this new pokedex here, and leave the old one."
Gene did as he was told, said goodbye to Professor Oak, and walked outside with Belle, Scootaloo, and Doc. They found Weiss, Greninja, a Bulbasaur, and a Charizard all playing poker. From the looks of things the Bulbasaur was winning.
"I still say that Bulbasaur was cheating." Weiss grumbled for the third time after Gene had all but forced him to abandon the game by walking off without him. "Give me five minutes and some pruning shears, and I'll have my proof."
"Sorry, but we apparently have a schedule to keep." Gene told him as he examined his new pokedex. "Looks like, Professor Oak gave me a map of a good route to take around Kanto. It's got all the gyms, Battle Frontier locations, and other stuff."
"What's the first stop?" the mercenary asked as he began to pick his fingernails with a knife.
"Looks like, Pewter City. Oh, hey! That famous gym leader from Saffron City is still running her gym." Gene heard a yelp, and some swearing from behind him, but he ignored it. "This will be SO awesome!"
And with that, Gene set out to take on the Indigo League. His beautiful, Belle, and his adopted daughter, Scootaloo at his side.
Theme song. |
Building a Better World: Origins | Episode two sneak peek! | I awakened in a forest. Regular looking trees with nothing special about them. There were strange creatures running around here, and there. Though at that moment I could not care less.
Freedom! I was free from my imprisonment! I thrust myself from the ground so fast that my hooves touched nothing more than air for a few seconds, and I was not even flapping my wings.
How did this happen? Was the first question I asked myself. I suspected it to be some trick, but as I walked my magic told me all that I needed to know. It was no illusion!
But where am I? That would be a great deal of help to know. The trees were not of the kind that grew in my jungle homeland. The creatures were unfamiliar. I had no clue where I was.
"Well now what do we have here?"
I turned to see the speaker. It was a strange looking biped dressed in green clothing with purplish hair. Beside this biped was a shorter one whose body appeared to be the inspiration for the design of the the taller one's clothes. They were both looking at me like I was some sort of prize.
"Never seen a pokemon like this before, Cacturne. Let's see what it can do, and if it's good enough we'll catch it." the taller one said.
"Right, Master!" the shorter one responded, and raised its arms to ready itself for a fight.
They actually thought that they could simply do this. Just attack, and capture me like a trophy? I laughed. Unknown to them, I had already begun to feed on the love they shared. It was not the love of two hearts like what I took from Shining Armor, but was enough to give me an edge.
"Come then!" I challenged them. "Test yourselves against Queen Chrysalis!"
I was uneasy. There was...something! I do not know what, but it was there. Like someone was watching me through a screen of some sort.
"Stop watching me!" I yelled to no-one in particular. Unfortunately this resulted in everyone looking at me. "What are you looking at? Can't a snake yell at nothing without everyone giving him odd looks? Stop looking at me!"
They all shrugged, and went back to what they had been doing. This was good because we had a mission. It is a simple, but very important mission. We were taking away the humans' ice cream!
Yes, I see that you understand how important this is. Ice cream looks like a pokemon! And humans eat it! So we will take the ice cream from the humans, and turn it into milkshakes for ourselves because milkshakes do not look like pokemon.
"The humans will surrender all of their ice cream to the Pokemon Liberation Army!" For some reason this got a very big cheer of approval from my soldiers. I raised my tail blade high as I gave the order to attack. "Take the ice cream factory! So says, I the great Commander Sev!" |
The Receiving End | pre | * * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"Mother, you are being outright ridiculous! You know how important that business is to me! You know how hard I've worked to sustain it! Sweetie Belle can always do community theatre or in college should she choose to pursue it! I don't need to be there to let her know that I care and wish the best for her!
"But, I do need to be there for these openings! It's a public appearance! All the big hot-shots were there, and I'm considered a big-time fashion producer now! I wouldn't have sealed my name in destiny if it wasn't for tonight! Princess Luna was there, Mother!
"Sweetie Belle has an amazing voice, no doubt. But she works for a few months and it's over. I have to work almost 24/7 to keep this up! If I don't, I lose everything. This business is my life! And I do not shut-out family, despite what you may think! I've accepted your calls. I could've hung up on all of them. I've had you over for Hearth's Warming Eves. I could've shut you out. But I didn't.
"Just because I couldn't make her musical doesn't mean I don't care about my family! And I don't know what it's going to take for you to understand that!
"Why am I even arguing with you? Sure, you're boiling mad now, but it'll go down. Then you'll see the errors of your ways."
<click>
* * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"Mother, Spike came home. He told me how wonderful Sweetie did onstage, something I was sure of even though I wasn't there. He also told me how upset she seemed that I wasn't there.
"She must take after you. Would you kindly explain to her that my business is a full-time job, and that I can't always be there to support her in person, but that I was always there in spirit? I don't need to break the heart of my youngest sister, either.
"Or, rather, maybe I'll have Spike do it. You seem a bit too mad to handle yourself at the moment. I'd do it myself, but I've got a business venture in Canterlot for the next week that can't be missed. If I was truly shutting my family out, would I not just leave Sweetie Belle to cry, ignorant?"
<click>
* * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"Well, I see that you haven't decided to call back, even after a week. Spike says you haven't, either.
"Look, I apologize for calling you delusional or offending you or anything like that. It's very unbecoming of a lady to say those things to anypony, especially to their mother. But, you must understand what my business means to me. It is my life. My destiny. And keeping up your destiny is a full-time job.
"I'm not sure what yours was, but, you'd want all the support you could get in achieving your destiny, wouldn't you? I need to have family not opposing me in my decisions. If anything, I'd love more for you to be supportive.
"I mean, I see how you all support Sweetie Belle so... much. Uh... well, everypony except me, that is..."
<click>
* * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"I've... done some thinking. I haven't really been to any of Sweetie Belle's shows, have I? Not even a single one?
"Spike tells me she's a wonderful actress. Sings like a goddess, and can fit into a role like it were... like it was one of my dresses. The very same dresses that keep me from... watching my little sister's... destiny.
"I, um - I don't really know what to say. It just dawned on me that I've never been to any of them. Never been there to tell her 'good job' or demand an encore or give her the standing ovation she probably deserves. I've been too caught up in the fashion business.
"I'm beginning to wonder - all those stores being opened and the ponies I've met and the places I've seen - I'm beginning to wonder if it was worth the price of not seeing a fantastic show with a fantastic girl.
"A fantastic sister."
<click>
* * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"It's been a month since the musical, you know. I'm guessing you've decided you aren't going to talk to me anymore, are you, Mother? I understand. I would never want to see me again either if that was the way I truly acted.
"If you're listening to any of this, tell Sweetie Belle that I'm... sorry. It won't mean much, but... it's all I can really do for her. If I could go back in time to see those shows, I would.
"I think maybe... maybe I wasn't treating everyone else right, either. You had to yell at me over the phone, all those years ago, that Dad had a heart attack. I haven't seen him in half of a year. I owe him so much more than just those. I almost lost my own father, and I was too blinded by my business to see that.
"I was shutting you out, too, wasn't I, Mother? All those times you just tried to talk to me I told you no, sometimes for good reason, sometimes not, and tell you I would eventually catch up. How many times have I lied to you? How many times have I told you that specific lie?
"Actually, I don't think I want to know.
"I'd say 'I'm sorry', but I don't think it does any justice here."
<click>
* * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"I've relocated back to Ponyville, Mother, in case you notice the phone number's different. Though, I highly doubt you listen to these messages anyway, so what's the use?
"I saw some of my closest friends for the first time in years. They've all... grown up. Two have gotten married. One's moved away. One has foals of her own. I just... I can't believe how long it's been. I haven't seen them in years. My closest friends.
"I also caught up with Sweetie Belle. She... she felt uncomfortable talking to me, but I told her what I could. What I needed to. It tore me up inside, seeing how she rejected me. We used to fight when we were younger, but this... this was distancing.
"She seemed to lighten up. She 'half-forgave' me, as she called it - the other half would come with time.
"From the little filly I care the most about, I couldn't have asked for anything better."
<click>
* * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"I saw you at Sweetie Belle's wedding, Mom. You and Dad were up front, Spike and I were in the back. I didn't dare go up to you, though - I didn't think it'd be right, considering you refuse to talk to me on the phone.
"Just as well, you didn't even notice me there. I can live with that, I guess. Not even Dad noticed me, but I did notice his walking. He breathes so heavily. He isn't a large pony. Is he having other problems? Or does that just come with age?
"Sweetie Belle's husband seems like a very nice pony. Spike and I talked with him for a bit - apparently, he and my sister were high school sweethearts. Huh. I guess if I had gone to her musicals, I would've seen that coming, now wouldn't I?
"Speaking of Spike, I fear that time when dragons go to take their 'nap' is fast approaching. I doubt I'll live long enough to see the end of it, but for now, I'm keeping him close. I don't want to have any regrets when he sleeps.
"I don't want to have any regrets with anypony anymore. But, I'm afraid that can't be fixed."
<click>
* * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"Sweetie Belle came by two days ago. She told me Dad was back in Intensive Care, after a second heart attack. I didn't hesitate this time. I rushed right up there and comforted him, staying overnight.
"I told him everything. You weren't there, you had left the room when I entered - pretended like I wasn't there again. He told me how disappointed you still are. I... I don't know what I can say. What I can say to make it better.
"But I told him how sorry I was. How I regretted everything I had done with this fashion business. How it just tore me away from everybody. And yet, I was still doing it. He told me that he was always proud of me, and yet I still had something to learn.
"He told me that destiny is a road with many rest stops.
"I've never heard him say anything philosophical like that in years. Heck, I haven't talked to him face-to-face in almost a decade. It's...it's been a while. A long while.
"Too long. But, it was so good to see him again.
<click>
* * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"I apologize if you were expecting me to say something meaningful at Dad's funeral. I... I couldn't. I didn't know what to say.
"I just finished crying about five minutes ago. I can't believe that his heart problems got to him. He wasn't that old at all. Certainly not old enough for heart failure, in my opinion. And, I don't know what I could've said that would've done any justice to him.
"I'm only glad that I made peace with him. I told Sweetie Belle this, and she told me that she had completely forgiven me. Remember, that 'half-forgiven' thing she told me that I told you about, all those years ago? If you even listened to the message.
"I did help write the eulogy. Sweetie Belle and I did it.
"It's still hard for me to believe that he's gone. It's even harder for me to believe you're still here, because you just avoid my existence. I know why, though. And I don't blame you.
"I blame my attitude towards my destiny. I hate it now, all the things that I had done to achieve it. I had placed business before my own family - I refuse to do that anymore.
<click>
* * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"I stepped down today as CEO of my corporation. Retired. I don't want any part of it anymore.
"I let that girl, Tiara, who's no longer a young mare, but a married woman with one foal of her own, become the head of the company. She was thrilled, and understood why I stepped down.
"That's it. No more paperwork, or phone calls or running of the stores or anything like that. I am affiliated with the founding of Carousel Boutique, and that's it. I am no longer anything of the company other than a symbol.
"Even that is hard to live with, now that I realized what it meant to get there.
"But, at least it's over."
<click>
* * *
"Hello, you have reached 761-8009. Please leave a message after the tone."
*beep*
"Hello, Mother, it's Rarity. I, um... well, I don't have any big news. It's just... it's been twenty years since you've last spoken to me. I feel like I could be talking to this answering machine the rest of my life.
"I'm glad I stepped down, made peace with everyone I could. I don't know if I could ever make peace with you, but we could start, if you're willing. If you're not, well, I probably deserve it.
"But, save that for another time. I just called to say I love you.
"Goodbye, Mother."
<click>
* * *
"Hello?"
"Rarity? Is that you?"
"M-mother?"
"Yes, it's...it's me, Rare. How - how are you doing?"
"F-fine... yourself?"
"Eh, a little tired, and a bit old, heh, but other than that, never better."
"Oh, I... I s-see..."
"Something wrong, dearie? You sound like you're crying."
"It's just... it's so good to hear your voice again, Mother."
"... it's good to hear yours, too. But, let's not linger on all the sentimental stuff, huh? I called to talk to my daughter, not cry with her."
"O-of course... I'm still your daughter?"
"Of course, dearie! Now, enough of this introducin' stuff - I know who you are, you're my Rarity! What I want to know is what my Rarity is up to nowadays."
"W-well...S-spike and I....before he takes his n-n-nap...we're going to Baltimare."
"Ooh, that's a neat-o place! When your father was alive, we used to go there often. For what reason?"
"We're... we're going to a wine tasting." |
The Elements of Pure Energy | pre | "Hello? Are you alright?"
Felix's mind was swirling. He felt like he was going to puke. He could barely make out the words someone was screaming into his ear. Ugh. He thought to himself. This is worse than a hangover. He managed to peel open his left eye. Above him stood a orange pony with bright green eyes. Her blonde mane, which was tucked into her cowboy hat, was bunched into a messy bun at the far end.
"Oh goodness! Thank Celestia you're awake! You scared the living daylights outta me and Big Macintosh! I told him that pushin' this cart was gonna be dangerous! Didn't I, Big Mac?"
"Eeyyup," came the sheepish reply.
"Good God, talking ponies. What's next, dancing zebras?" Felix asked sarcastically.
"Well, I only know one zebra, and she dances sometimes while she's makin' her potions," said the orange pony thoughtfully.
"Ah, yes of course you do," Felix rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm assuming I'm hallucinating, would you mind throwing me in the nearest lake? Killing me would work just fine, too."
The orange pony stared at him, then burst out into laughter. "Bahahaha! You're one of the funniest pegasi I've ever met! Speakin' of which, mah name's Applejack! This here's mah brother, Big Mac. He's the one that hit you with the apple cart. We're terribly sorry about that, ain't we, Big Mac?"
"Eeyyup," was the reply once again.
"Well aren't you a talkative one, 'Big Mac,'" said Felix. He attempted to sit up, but Applejack pushed him back down.
"Nuh uh, you're bleedin' pretty bad just above yer eye. We got some rags here. What's your name? You new to Ponyville? I haven't seen you around here."
"Name's Felix. I just, uhh, dropped in. I shouldn't be here for too long. Thanks, can you give me a hoof?" He cleared his throat. "Sorry, I mean hoof? What the buck?! Buck? BUCK! FFFFFFFFFFF- BUCK! Why can't I swear?!" Felix slammed his hands against the ground. Or hooves, rather. He brought them close to his eyes and stared at them with jaw agape.
"Holy shucks...." he swore.
"Uhh, you doin' alright, partner?" asked Applejack slowly.
"Doin' just fine! I'm insane, that's all!" Felix grinned.
Applejack and Big Macintosh hoisted Felix to his hooves.
"You sure are a weird one, Felix," said Applejack. "Come on, I'll introduce you to mah friends! Big Mac, you don't mind finishin' up here, do ya?"
"Nnnoope."
Felix watched as the large red horse slipped underneath the harnesses and made his way back towards the apple fields.
"Come on, silly-pony, Ponyville is this way!"
Felix turned to see Applejack trotting down the dirt path he woke up on. He made his way after her.
"So, tell me about yerself, Felix," Applejack turned and smiled.
The smile was contagious; Felix found himself grinning for the first time in a while. He chuckled. How am I going to explain this?
"Well, I'm from-"
"Cloudsdale, right?" interrupted Applejack. "You being a pegasus and all."
"....Right! Cloudsdale's where I'm from! And I..."
"Are you in Politics? Cause you seem like you could!" said Applejack in her southern accent.
"Uhh... yes... I'm actually the.... Mayor of Cloudsville-"
"Cloudsdale." she said and kept trotting.
"Right, Cloudsdale, that's what I said..."
The shock of what Felix had said finally hit her. "Sweet Celestia! You're the Mayor of Cloudsdale?! Well I'll be! You should meet the Mayor of Ponyville! I'm sure y'all could have a nice long chat about politics and other-"
"Well actually," Felix struggled to continue his lie, "I'm here... for vacation! And yea... no politics please..." he could feel the beads of sweat beginning to form at his brow.
"Fair 'nough" was Applejack's reply. "Here we are!"
Felix looked up. As the shadows lengthened, he could see the sun-lit tip of the tree that was Ponyville's library.
"This is Twilight's place. You need somewhere to stay, right? I think she has a few extra rooms available. Let's go!" Apple Jack burst through the front door without knocking. "Watch yer step!"
Felix looked down and saw his four hooves. Suddenly he couldn't remember how he had been walking the entire way from Sweet Apple Acres.
"Hey Applejack! What are you doing here?" By her voice and where she lived, Felix judged that this "Twilight" was a booksmart nerd. He hated nerds. They always made him look like an idiot. Felix wasn't dumb, he was just slow to understand things and to connect-the-dots, so to speak. He sighed, frustrated at his entire situation. Then he remembered where he was, at the threshold to the library, standing there like an idiot who forgot how to walk.
And that's exactly what he was. His anger built up inside him.
"Twilight, I want you to meet the Mayor of Cloudsdale, Felix!"
At that moment, Felix attempted to move his hooves, but only managed to lean forward and fall flat on his face. His anger rose up.
Twilight and Applejack gasped and ran over to him.
"Are you alright, Mr. Mayor?" Twilight asked.
Felix growled and pulled himself up. "I'm bucking fantastic! Stuck in this hell-hole of a body, hallucinating about talking horses, and you ask me how I am!" Felix attempted to get a hold on his anger, but it felt good to let it out. He didn't care if Twilight didn't deserve it.
"How are you, you sorry little unicorn? And you, Applejack? After you hit me in the head with your bucking apple cart! I bet that was hilarious!"
Twilight and Applejack began backing away, terror evident in their eyes.
"Uhhh, Felix..." began Applejack.
"SHUT IT, BLONDIE!" he yelled.
Felix's eyes darkened. His wings, which previously lay useless on his back, unfurled. Felix felt something inside him, like a click. Suddenly the room became warm. No, more than warm. Hot. Very hot. Sweltering even. It was too much to bear.
Felix stepped outside into the night air. He needed something upon which to take out his anger. The first thing he spotted in the bright night were the supports to Ponyville's water tower. Wait, why was the night so bright? He had seen the sun set just a little while ago. Bah, details. He could figure that out later. He aimed his hoof towards the tower and swung with all his might. As the tower crumbled, he was struck with the ice cold water it had previously held. Suddenly, the night was neither dark nor warm. He was cold. And tired. So tired. He slipped away right as the onslaught of water carried him down the streets of Ponyville. ~~~
Nick slept deep, and began to dream. In the dream, he resumed his human form. His goggles were in hand, so he decided to put them on. When he did, at first the view looked normal, but then his lenses began to glow. Suddenly he could see strange things. A strange glowing aura surrounded him, and a similar kind of aura coursed through the ground in veins. When he removed his goggles, he could see that where the veins of aura were was now the location of wiring. Intrigued by this, he replaced his goggles. He could see the auras again, and looked around further. A person stood in the distance, quite far away. Nick focused on the person, and the goggles zoomed in, he could make out the figure. It was a man in a suit, but turned away from him. Slowly the man began to turn, Nick removed his goggles in shock, but the man was suddenly standing in front of him. The man pulled out a knife and lunged towards Nick. Nick stumbled backwards and raised his hands, there was a bright flash of light and a loud bang. And then Nick was in darkness again.
"NICK! NICK! WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW!" Nick was startled from his sleep- a loud bang followed the voice of Twilight Sparkle. Nick felt rested, and he jumped out of bed. Somehow he had gotten used to walking on four legs, and so he ran towards her voice.
"Hey! What's going on here?" He started, but looking outside at the deluge of water coursing through the streets, he no longer wondered. "What happened?!"
"Some pony gone rogue appeared here and punched the water tower!" Nick stared in awe at the broken structure. "No normal pony could have done that...he appeared just like you, randomly and making outrageous claims!" Wait, this sounds familiar...
"I don't know if you know him, but you would definitely be the one to get to him!" Nick, Twilight, and Applejack ran out the door, hooves pounding and splashing the water everywhere. "Nick! He's going to drown!" Nick panicked and looked around, he couldn't see anything through the rushing water, then he remembered his goggles. Putting his goggles on, he tried to focus. Nothing happened at first, but then everything gained a blue tint as the goggles activated. Nick could see the auras again, a white glow emanated from him, with trails of what he assumed was energy radiating from him. He glanced back towards Twilight and Applejack. He noted that his energy sparks were reacting with something; Twilight had a strange purplish aura around her, which was also emanating sparks. The sparks arced and came together between them. Strange.
"DO YOU SEE FELIX?" Twilight called out, bringing Nick's attention back to the situation at hand.
"NO, I thought I saw him behind us..." Then Nick stopped, "His name is Felix?"
"Yeah! That's what Applejack told me!" Applejack nodded as the two other ponies continued searching the area. Nick began to panic again, if this was the Felix he thought it was...
He focused more, he knew Felix! He pictured him in his mind and continued searching. His goggles picked up a faint orange aura off in the distance.
"I think I found him!" Nick's heart was racing as his hooves splashed in the water. As he got closer he could see that the form was stuck under some debris. He couldn't reach his friend from here. Twilight and Applejack were running along the side of the current, out of the water.
"Nick! Use your magic! You can't reach him from there!" Twilight called out.
"Umm Twilight?" began Applejack, "I don't know if he can even use magic..." Twilight realized that this could possibly be true and started to call out to Nick. Suddenly a cart that had been swept up by the current came barreling towards the two ponies. Twilight put up a forcefield to block the cart as Nick tried to figure out how to use his magic.
"Ah! Think! Focus!" Nick began focusing on the branches that covered Felix, "Come on, move!" Suddenly the aura around Nick intensified, he felt himself get lifted up off the ground and a large amount of energy collect around him. He was in the air when he attempted to move the branches, focusing all his effort into moving the branches. "HNNNGGG!" The branches lifted up out of the water, and Felix bobbed up to the surface. Seeing this, Nick decided to release the branch. However in doing so, he released his control of the spell. Suddenly there was a bright flash and sparks of lightning erupted from his body. They struck the water and lit up the river that had formed, destroying some of the debris in spectacular explosions. Nick slowly floated down to the ground, thunderstruck by what he had just done. Felix looked very out of it now, assuming he hadn't looked like that before his shocking experience. He hurried over to his buddy, "Oh sweet Celestia...HELP!" Twilight and Applejack came out from behind their cover, dumbfounded by what they had witnessed. Nonetheless, they helped bring him to shore, Twilight levitating him with her magic.
"I have no idea what you just did there Nick..." Twilight began, "It's a very different kind of magic, one I have never seen before..." She looked on at Nick with both curiosity and fear. Applejack, hearing these words, became somewhat worried too: these strangers showing up with their weird magic that was never seen before.
"To be honest Twilight," he started, "I don't even know myself." He looked worriedly at Felix as Twilight applied healing magic to him. He noted that Twilight's magic was calmer, more focused on its target. If he could harness his energy with precision like that... "Twilight, when this is over you gotta teach me how to controooooo...." His o's elongated as he fell unconscious, the large amount of magic going into the spell draining his energy. Applejack rushed over to him and put Nick in recovery position.
"Well don't that beat all?" she started, adjusting the stetson on her head. "Two mighty powerful ponies in one day... do ya think Celestia might know about this?"
"Spike has already sent my letter, but she will only know about Nick." The two ponies continued conversing and tending to their patients as both laid there incapacitated.
It took a long time and two trips to bring both of the unconscious ponies back to the library. They had to drag them into hiding first, as Ponyville was now swarming with ponies wanting to know what had happened and cleaning up the streets. Felix was very tall for a pegasus, so Twilight had to levitate him as Applejack slung Nick over her back. Twilight's library was in an open area, so they had to sneak the ponies in one at a time. Using a cart that had washed up towards the library, the two rolled Nick and Felix inside . They took a breather as the door slammed shut behind them.
"Applejack, Nick is dry so he can just go into the guest bed near my room." Applejack nodded and carried him upstairs. "As for Felix..." he was dripping wet, so he wouldn't be able to get into the guest bed without soaking everything.
"You're sleeping in the tub then," Twilight levitated him into the bathroom and began to towel him off gently. Then taking a clean towel, she made some bedding in the tub for him to sleep on.
She went back out into the main area, calling out to Applejack. "Everything all settled?"
"Yeah Twilight, he's settled in snug as a bug in a rug." she chuckled, "Those two are quite a hoof-full aren't they?"
"They sure are Applejack...I wonder -" Twilight was cut off by the sudden entry of a rainbow pegasus.
"What happened?! I came when I heard all the loud noises and bright lights! The streets are swamped!" Rainbow Dash was talking at a million words a minute.
"Quiet Rainbow, you don't want to wake up the ponies-" Applejack started, but she was cut off by an indignant Rainbow Dash.
"What ponies? The ones responsible for this? Are they here? Just who do they think they are for just busting in like that and wrecking Ponyville?!" She began flapping her wings agitatedly while pumping her fists, "Why I ought to give them what for!" She began searching the house frantically.
"Rainbow, wait!" Twilight hissed, but Rainbow had already ascended into her bedroom.
"Who is this guy?!" She demanded, pointing at Nick who was asleep in Twilight's guest bed.
"This is Nick, we don't know very much about him." Twilight answered. She walked to the bedside, "He wields a strange kind of magic that I have never even studied. He saved the other pony's life and caused the electrical storm that you heard." Rainbow stood and eyed the sleeping unicorn suspiciously.
"Well he's in for questioning in the morning... What about the other pony?" She demanded the answer, to which Applejack responded.
"Follow me." And she led them downstairs and to the bathroom. Rainbow strutted in to see the second culprit, and found Felix laying on a blanket in the tub. "A pegasus..."
Rainbow Dash stopped. No words left her mouth. Applejack nudged Twilight, then gave her a questioning look. Twilight responded with a silent shrug. Rainbow Dash inched closer to Felix, her eyes never leaving his sleeping form. As she came closer, she softly trailed her hoof across his face. She sat down at the edge of the tub and rested her head upon the rim, eyes still locked on Felix. She cleared her throat and whispered, "What's his name?"
"His name is Felix; he told me he was the Mayor of Cloudsdale," Applejack responded.
Rainbow Dash giggled. "I bet he's really funny," she said dreamily.
"Hey Rainbow, we best leave him be for now. He went through a lot today," Applejack said. Rainbow Dash shook her head, as if recovering from a trance. "Yea, you're probably right..." she trailed off. The three ponies trotted down the stairs in silence. As Twilight opened the door to let them out, Rainbow Dash stopped suddenly.
She cleared her throat again. "Hey Twi, can I come see- can I check on Felix tomorrow? If that's okay with you?" she asked, with color rushing to her face.
"Yea sure Rainbow Dash, whenever you wan-"
"Thanks Twilight! You're the best!" she yelled as she dashed off.
Twilight was alone in her house again, save for the two strange ponies that had shown up that day. She walked up the stairs towards her room, stopping to check on Nick. Nick was still there, sleeping deeply. He must have been outright exhausted after all the energy required for that magic. She silently shut his door and returned to her room. She climbed into bed, pulled the covers over herself, and slept uneasily, thinking about what these strange ponies might mean to Equestria.
A/N: Sorry this one took so long, guys. Been hard getting the other authors to cooperate (well that and the fact that college gets time consuming sometimes... for all of us)... But here it is. This will be a three part chapter. Yay. I'd like to thank dusher4 for proof reading and invite anyone else who wants to proof read to do so. Thanks for reading! Constructive criticism is always welcome. |
The Elements of Pure Energy | Chapter 3: Through the Threshold (Part 2) | The Elements of Pure Energy
Chapter 3: Through the Threshold (Part 2)
Felix awoke to the sound of hushed murmuring and trotting hooves on a hardwood floor. "Ahh buck, my stomach!" he groaned loudly. This was followed by a yelp and a flurry of winged activity.
"Its okay, Fluttershy. I think he's just hungry," said a familiar voice. Who is that? Starlight? Skylight? Celestia, what's her name? ....And who the hay is Celestia?!
Felix moaned and attempted to sit up, pushing the heavy comforter off of him. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a mirror. His jaw dropped and he did a double take. The stallion in the mirror was lean, but very large. His coat was a glossy golden-yellow, and his mane was red orange, like a slow fire. His eyes, his eyes were Felix's: an intense teal green. Felix gasped and stepped backward. As he did, glorious and magnificent wings unfurled behind him.
"Whoa there big guy, don't want to spill your breakfast!" said a saucy voice at his back. He turned and was greeted by a cyan mare with a mane like a rainbow. If Felix's jaw could've dropped any farther, it probably would have hit the floor.
"Good morning, 'Mr. Mayor'," she winked. "The name's Rainbow Dash, if you were wondering. I hear your friend calls you Felix? I like it; sounds... dangerous," she winked again and set down his food, then flew off in a flurry of giggles and feathers. For some strange reason, Felix was slightly aroused. Sure wish I had pants, he thought to himself.
Wait, friend? What friend? No way it could've been Applejack or What's-her-face, he had basically screamed at their faces. Speaking of which, what the hell happened? He had so many questions, he didn't know where to start. But for now...
He slurped down the concoction as fast as possible, and even though it was almost boiling hot, he didn't feel any pain when it went down his throat.
"Ahh, that was good," Felix said to himself.
"Oh, you really think so? I-I... I made it myself, it helps ponies recover," said the most timid little voice he had ever heard. He looked around and saw a pink mane sticking out from behind a corner of the room.
"Yea, it was great... thanks!" he replied. "And you are...?"
"Oh, my name's Fluttershy, but you can call me whatever you want..." she gradually lost volume until she was barely speaking in a whisper.
"Uhm, thanks, but I'll call you Fluttershy, if that's your name," Felix chuckled. He took a step towards her and she immediately vanished with a yelp. Felix rolled his eyes. I'll never understand women, even when I'm hallucinating.
He headed towards the arched threshold of the room he slept in and realized that he was no longer in the town library. I must be in someone's house, he thought.
As he made his way around the home, he heard the sound of several voices conversing and arguing. He pushed open the door to the kitchen.
"Ahh! The Mayor is awake! Please, come in!" said the purple pony (sweet Luna, what was her name?) he had met last night.This was acknowledged with several giggles and stifled laughs.
"Oh hey, *murmur*-light. Sorry about last night, I-" he began.
"Last night? Oh, you mean three nights ago? Yes, forgive and forget. You know how it is. Come on over; we have much to discuss."
Felix glanced around and noticed several other ponies gathered around the kitchen table. A total of 9 ponies (not including himself) were seated in a circle, surrounding the table, which was riddled with parchments.
"Wow, its like bucking King Arthur in here," said Felix as he took up the only open seat.
"Sorry brah, already made that joke," retorted a silver-coated colt. His mane was similar to Rainbow Dash's, who sat next to him. But instead of coming down in bangs, he had it gelled up in a ridiculous rainbow mohawk. He nudged Rainbow Dash, who only rolled her eyes. She glanced over at Felix, then smiled wide at him. He returned the gesture, though he didn't know exactly why.
"Hey Felix, long time, no see, pal," said a familiar voice next to him.
Felix turned towards him. "... Nick? Is that you?"
"Sure is! Good to see you finally woke up!" replied his longtime friend with a smile.
"How long was I out? What happened? And what are you doing here?!" Felix demanded.
Nick just laughed. "Didn't you hear Twilight?" Oooh yeah, Twilight. "You were out for like three days, bud!" he laughed again.
"But what about-" Felix began.
"Alright, quiet down everypony. Felix, I'm sure you have many questions- as do we all. I spoke with Celestia about this. We're apparently waiting for two more ponies, afterwhich we are to meet Princess Celestia at Canterlot. We will travel by train as soon as we have all 6 'visitors,'" explained Twilight.
Her response was a chorus of interjections, accusations, and all around confusion from both parties: the four that recently arrived and the wielders of the Elements of Harmony.
"Okay! Okay! Everypony please!" yelled Twilight above the voices of the group. "For the sake of our guests, I'll start from the beginning."
Twilight spun a very shortened and brief version of the history of Equestria, its ruling class, the story of how Twilight first came to Ponyville, the defeat of Nightmare Moon and Discord with the Elements of Harmony, and all the events up to three days before.
"This is where I come in," whispered Nick while nudging Felix. Felix didn't hear him; he was still organizing all the information inside his head.
"So I was reading in the library- studying Starswirl the Bearded's seventh Tome on the construction of spells that deal with door hinges, to be precise-"
Felix and Rainbow Dash sighed and rolled their eyes at the same time. Their eyes met, but this time it was Felix's turn to wink. Rainbow Dash blushed and played with her bangs. Felix smiled. He liked it here.
"-when all of a sudden, I heard a loud sound downstairs. When Spike and I ran down, we found Nick on the floor, unconscious. After waking him up, we discovered that he had no idea where he was or what was going on. I let him borrow one of my spare rooms to get recuperated. I wrote a note to Celestia, telling her all about this strange visitor. Her reply was to 'Trust him'."
"Wait, hold up, how did you mail that so quickly? It should've taken at least three days by horse," interjected a black stallion. His green mane shook slightly with confusion, but his purple headphones stayed firmly on his head.
"Spike sent it, of course. Don't you have some sort of instant communication from where you come from, Scipio?"
"Well, we have these little-"
"There are several ways actually-"
"If you're using a computer, you can-"
"-but I prefer texts."
The four males in the room looked at each other; they had all tried speaking at the same time.
"Yes, we do. But not by dragons. Please continue Twilight," said Nick.
"Anyways, while Nick was resting, Applejack dropped by. With Felix."
"Mayor of Cloudsdale!" shouted the entire group, minus Felix. They all laughed. Nick slugged Felix in the shoulder.
"We only talked for a few minutes before something strange happened," continued Twilight.
"I've heard this part before; this is where it gets juicy," said the colt next to Rainbow Dash with a smile. He rubbed his hooves together in anticipation.
"Gabe, shh!" shouted Rarity from across the table.
Twilight pushed through the interruptions, but not without a stern glare at both Rarity and Gabe. She swallowed hard, trying to form her next sentence. "Felix... you caught fire," she said slowly.
"I what?"
"You literally burst into flames. Good thing you knocked down the water tower or the library would've been razed," she replied.
Everypony in the room stared silently at Felix. He blinked several times and sat back in his chair, hooves crossed. He cleared his throat.
"Go on," he stated blandly.
"You were giving off so much heat, that the tiles on the roofs began smoking. Also, you were glowing so brightly that it looked like it was day. It would have been quite incredible had it not ended so poorly."
"What did I do next?" Felix asked.
"Its not what you did, it's what Nick did to help," retorted Applejack, speaking for the first time since Felix last saw her.
Twilight continued. "Nick tried to help, alright Applejack? He didn't mean anypony harm."
"He could've killed somepony!" yelled Applejack, pounding her hoof against the table.
"What matters is that he didn't, okay?" Twilight responded earnestly. She turned towards Felix. "Nick tried to pull you out of the water, but instead of using actual magic, he produced real lightning. The whole of our water supply was gushing down the streets of Ponyville with approximately 300 million volts of electricity running through it. We thought you were dead, Felix. You're lucky to be alive."
Felix turned towards Nick, who was looking sheepishly towards the ground. "Sorry bro, I was only trying to get you out of there. I heard Twilight say your name and I knew it was you."
Felix laughed and slung his arm around Nick. "It's alright bud, I would've done the same. Well, that's a difficult situation to recreate, so lets just say, I would've tried to save you in any way I could, too." Then Felix looked upwards, thinking hard. "300 million volts, that's like-"
"Stronger than some lightning strikes. I did the calculation. It really is a miracle that you aren't dead," Nick chuckled.
"Good thing Dashie stayed by your side for those two days! She really is a loyal pony!" shouted a completely pink mare with a crazy afro.
"Pinkie!" shouted Rainbow Dash, turning red in the face. Pinkie tried to continue but Rainbow Dash slapped her hoof over her mouth and led her out the door. "She, uhh, needs to go feed Gummy! Besides, this is the boring part," she said whilst blowing Gabe a raspberry.
"Ohh, I'll go with you! I'm tired of all this shouting," said Fluttershy as she got up from her seat.
"Come back soon girls! We still haven't got through all the things on the checklist!" shouted Twilight after the two of them. "Well, that was two nights ago.The next day, these two-" she said while gesturing towards Gabe and Scipio, "showed up." ~~~
Scipio found himself in yet another dark place. He realized that he didn't know up from down and felt suspended in the air. Just as the water soaked through his clothes, he breathed in a mouthful of it. Scipio realized he was drowning.
"Help!" He tried to say, but it came out like: "Ugphflp!"
As he began to lose consciousness, he felt a tug and movement.
Scipio came to on the bank of a pond, coughing up water: "Ugh. Ow. Where am I?"
"Not drowning in a pond! What were you doing there anyway?"
"Huh? What? Who?"
"What: I just saved your life! Who: I'm Rainbow Dash, the best flier in all of Equestria. Who are you?"
"I'm Scipio and-" Scipio's jaw dropped as he realized what he looked like: "-woah."
Looking down at himself, Scipio realized he was no longer human. He had four legs, a black body, and seriously cool green hair. Its a called a mane, stupid, he criticized himself. Giving himself a more thorough examination, Scipio realized he didn't have a horn or wings, making him a normal pony. Earth pony, some hidden part of his mind whispered to him. Wait, how'd I know that? Scipio then realized that he had a tattoo... On his posterior. Woah. What is that? He asked himself.
Its a cutie mark.
A cutie mark?
Yeah.
What is that?!
Its a symbol of your special talent.
Oh. Cool. Wait, are you me?
Yeah.
So I'm talking to myself...
Yep.
Thats it. I knew it. I'm officially crazy.
Nope. You're perfectly sane.
Is my sarcasm really that deadpan? I can't tell whether you're - I'm - being serious.
I'm being totally serious bro. I'm not part of your normal subconscious.
What does that mean?
It means that when when you were human I wasn't there. Since you're a pony now, I'm your pony subconscious. I make sure you don't fall over in your new body and help you understand what everypony else is saying.
Does every human that comes here get a new subconscious?
Yep.
Do they talk to it like this?
Nope. Just you.
So I am insane.
No. You're special.
Insane.
Special.
Insane.
Special.
The very fact that I'm arguing with myself proves that I'm insane.
Well... Fine. You're slightly insane. But I'm cool, seriously.
Whatever.
"Hey Scipio, you okay? You got a seriously weird look on your face..."
"I'm fine, just thinking."
"You know, you never thanked me for saving you..."
"Oh right. Thanks. Where am I, exactly? I'm sorta... Lost."
"Oh you're just outside Ponyville. You're not from around here, are you?"
"Nope. In fact, I think that I'm from another dimension."
"Oh. I guess we better head on over to Twilight's. I wish you were a pegasus right now, I really wanna fly."
"I'll walk. I'm still pretty roughed up from the Nexus. Also, doesn't it bother you in the least that I'm from another dimension?" The two ponies, one confident and one totally confused, started walking towards Ponyville.
"Well a little. But Twi said we need to bring everypony that arrives from another dimension to her house immediately."
"Wait so you're saying that interdimensional travel is normal here?"
"No. But Princess Celestia sent us this letter telling us to expect you and some others. Two of them are already here, Nick and Felix. Felix has been unconscious though so I've been looking after him..."
"Why you and not the town's doctor or nurse or whatever?"
Rainbow Dash blushed. "Uh... The doctor is busy..."
"Mhhm. Of course. LAME EXCUSE. I'll pretend my ninja ears didn't hear that lie."
"Ninja ears?" Rainbow Dash collapsed onto the ground laughing. "Did you... did you just say... *snort* NINJA EARS? Bahahahahaha!"
"It wasn't that funny..."
"Its not funny, its ridiculous! Ninja ears! Haha!" Rainbow Dash collapsed onto the ground laughing.
"Stop laughing at me! It isn't funny!"
She's mean.
Hey. You just said ninja ears. That's pretty stupid sounding. Just saying.
Oh no, you too?
I am you. So yes, myself and yourself too.
Horsefeathers! Wait, horsefeathers? What the heck! I meant HORSEFEATHERS! No! Why can't I say horsefeathers? Fine! Since I can't say it, SHITZU! There! I said it!
No. You said a breed of dog...
Yeah well you know what I meant. Cause you're me. Why can't I cuss?
Cause me.
That makes no sense.
Well, as your subconscious, I prevent you from using human cuss words. You'll find that every time you try to cuss a pony explicative will come out instead of your human explicative.
"YEAH? WELL BUCK THIS!"
"Whoa. You ok Scipio?"
"Yeah. I'm just BUCKING dandy. Don't you have somepony else to laugh at?"
"Woah Nelly. What's going on y'all?" An orange pony with a blonde mane asked as she walked towards the source of the yelling.
"Well this is Scipio and he's being a potty mouth."
"Yeah well you're being... uh... ugh. You're a meanie, Rainbow Dash!"
"Is that really the best you can come up with? Hahaha!"
"Woah there. What in tarnation is going on?" The pony reiterated, staring at the pair of quibbling ponies, obviously confused.
"Who are you?" Scipio asked, his hurt fading a little.
"Ah'm Applejack, but my friends mostly call me AJ. Mighty pleased to meet ya, Scipio." The three ponies resumed their trek towards town.
"My friends call me Skippy or Skip. My squad calls me Skipper. You can call me any of those. Diggin' the Stetson, btdubs."
"Haha you got called Skipper? What did you do, skip out on them?" Rainbow Dash once again collapsed laughing, both at the ridiculousness of Scipio's nicknames and her own pun.
"Haha. Very punny." Scipio quipped, his expression deadpan.
"Just ignore her, Skip. Oh look, we're here."
"And where is here?"
"Well Skip, welcome to Ponyville!" Applejack dramatically swept her hand over the scenery and took a bow.
"Oh. Cool. Tell me Applejack, do y'all have airsoft here?"
"Air what now?"
Scipio then proceeded to describe to an intrigued Applejack and a curious Rainbow Dash the game of airsoft. Or sport. Or hobby. There are many ways to view it.
Before they knew it, the trio of ponies arrived at the library tree. Knocking on the door, they were answered by a voice from inside:
"Hold on! I'll be right there!" True to her word, a purple unicorn mare stepped out. "Oh hi AJ. Hi Rainbow. And you are -?"
"I'm Scipio. But you can call me Skip."
"Or Skipper." Rainbow Dash snickered, earning her a glare from an annoyed Scipio.
Twilight extended her hoof. "I'm Twilight Sparkle. I'm assuming that you're going to tell me you're not from Equestria?"
"Yeah. How did you know?"
"I got a letter from Princess Celestia and I have two others in the same dilemma staying here. One, Nick, has been here for two days, the other, Felix, has been here for almost as long, but he's spent most of his time unconscious. They're both staying here, you're welcome to as well, I guess."
"Oh! Thanks. Can I come in?"
Twilight stepped back. "Of course! Where are my manners? Come in, come in."
"If you don't mind Twilight, I have some weather to take care of. You ok taking care of him yourself?" Rainbow Dash asked, starting to back away from the door.
"Speaking of places to be and things to do, I have some apple trees that need bucking. D'ya mind if I go too, Twi?"
"You can go. The others are asleep, so I can handle Scipio."
Applejack and Rainbow Dash started to leave, but Rainbow Dash stopped: "Wait, can I check on Felix? I wanna make sure he's ok." Applejack rolled her eyes and walked off.
Twilight also rolled her optical receptors. "For the thousandth time Rainbow, he's fine. But sure, feel free to check on him." Even before Twilight finished speaking, Rainbow Dash zipped inside and up the stairs to where Felix was.
"I swear, she hovers over him like he is going to die without her..." Twilight shook her head.
"Yeah I know. I've spent barely thirty minutes with her and I can tell she's taken with him. It's pretty obvious."
"I can hear you, you know! And I'm not the only one hovering over someone else! Don't think I haven't noticed you staring at Nick!" A voice from upstairs called. Twilight blushed.
"Ok, now I've heard it all. I just got hit by a wave of tired. Is there a place I can turn in?"
"Oh yes, of course. You look like you're about to fall over. Oh Spiiiike! Could you show Scipio to the other guest bedroom?" A small purple and green dragon appeared from upstairs: "Hi! I'm Spike. I guess you're Scipio? Well, follow me." Scipio followed the little purple dragon. It just gets weirder and weirder...
If you think this is weird, just wait...
Horsefeathers. It gets worse?
No. You're just in for some serious culture shock tomorrow.
Buck.
Yep. That's about right.
I need to stop talking to myself.
But that would be no fun!
Shut it. I'm tired.
So am I. Cause I'm you.
Yes, we already established that. Goodnight, me.
Same to you bro. Sweet dreams. I'm really not in the mood for nightmares right now.
Same.
The dragon showed Scipio to a small room with a sink and a bed. "Well here you are Scipio, enjoy!"
"Thanks little guy." Scipio yawned. "Now, its time for some sleep..." Scipio collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep so quickly that he forgot to remove his headphones. Not like it matters though, they're magical. ~~~
"Uhh darling, are you okay? You really shouldn't sleep on these rocks, its bad for your posture!"
The colt groaned and stretched. "Uhhh, Rebecca I love that British accent you got going.... sexy...." he said contently. He smacked his lips and grinned sheepishly with his eyes closed.
"Oh please, I've heard plenty of better pick up lines than that before. Besides, my name is Rarity, not Rebecca," Rarity responded.
His face twisted in confusion. He slowly peeked his eyes open.
"Luna's lip balm, what the heck are you!?" he screamed and frantically got to his hooves. He stopped suddenly. All was quiet in the peaceful field. The stallion lifted his head slowly.
"What in Celestia's name did I just say?" he asked Rarity in a quiet voice.
"Uhh..."
"So it wasn't a dream!" Gabriel shouted with glee. He attempted to snap his fingers, then looked at his hooves. He burst into laughter.
"The name's Gabriel," he grinned wide at her.
Rarity stood there, mouth open, aghast at this pony's strange behavior.
"Oh, Rarity, why the long face?" Gabe asked with a pout.
She stuttered, and he burst into laughter again.
"Get it? Long face? Hahah!"
Rarity frowned at this new and unwelcome visitor. But she was still slightly curious, and couldn't just send him away. In the name of gossip, she pressed on.
"So, Gabriel-" she fluffed her mane "-where do you come from? And why did you fall asleep on these rocks? I was out here just gathering gems for my new dress."
"Well actually I was hunting for this peculiar object; some say it doesn't even exist," Gabriel explained with mystery.
Rarity's eyes widened with interest. "Is it... valuable?"
"To me, the most valuable thing in the world."
"Well, have you found it?!" asked Rarity.
"Thanks to you, Rarity, I have," smiled Gabe.
Rarity scoffed incredulously. "Well? What is it?!"
He looked at the ground, then smiled softly at her.
"Love," he winked.
Rarity sighed and gave up. Using her magic, she gathered her things and turned towards Ponyville.
Gabriel laughed and followed her down the trail.
"So, tell me about this place, Rarity," he pestered.
"What, Ponyville?" Rarity answered with confusion.
"Ah, yes, Ponyville. I'm not from around here. I'm from..." he started.
Rarity opened her mouth and raised her eyebrows, ready to interrupt with a strange accusation. "From another dimen-"
"-Phillydelphia. It's a wonderful city. Have you been there?" continued Gabe.
Rarity exhaled with relief. "Yes, I have visited once or twice. The city folk just love my spring and summer line."
Suddenly Gabriel gasped in shock. "No, it couldn't be. YOU are... Rarity herself? Goodness my mare-friends just love your designs! Really smashing work!" he said, mimicking her accent.
Rarity blushed with pride. "Why, thank you, I did not know I was so popular in Phillydelphia! I should hold fashion shows there more often!"
"You absolutely should! You are the only artist I buy from, really," Gabriel continued with his lie, making it more and more intricate.
Rarity beamed and held up a hoof to her mouth, while wagging the other at Gabe. "Oh stop, please. You flatter me, darling!" she giggled.
"You know, I would love it if you could design a new style for me, Rarity," Gabriel said.
Rarity gave him a quick up-and-down. Although Gabe wasn't the tallest earth pony, he was built lean, with thin hips and sculpted shoulders. He was also very handsome- small lips and a smooth face; a perfect male model.
"It would be my pleasure, Gabriel!" Rarity smiled.
Rarity unlocked the door to her studio and led him inside. "Let me put these gems upstairs- I'll be down in a moment!" she told Gabe.
"Take your time, princess," he said with a bow. She tittered and quickly galloped upstairs.
When she made her way back down to the studio, she found Gabe snoring on her couch. She huffed and made her way towards him. Gabe started murmuring in his sleep.
"Gabriel! Wake up!"
"Hehehum..." he chuckled.
"GABE!" Rarity yelled in his ear.
"Ahh!" he screamed and awoke from his slumber. "Good Celestia, what the hay Rarity?!" he asked in frustration.
"Oh, terribly sorry, Gabriel. I had no intention of waking you up," she smirked. "Let's get on with the design, shall we?" Gabriel nodded and wiped his face with both hooves. "Hmm, with you body style we could tailor down a few pret-a-porter styles, but I could also do some haute couture; it really is my specialty," she added with a smile.
Gabriel's jaw went slack- he had absolutely no idea what she was saying.
"Well, which do you prefer?" she asked.
Gabe stuttered. He fumbled around with tons of options in his head, but none of them seemed to work out. His lie was slowly breaking apart.
"Gabe, you do know fashion, correct? You said you lived in the city..." she continued.
Oh buck, what city name did I guess earlier? He thought to himself. Stallion... no... Colt....
Rarity's squinched her eyes together with realization. "You didn't come from the city, did you? You can't even remember what you said earlier! I bet you don't know a thing about fashion!" she accused him.
With his mind still groggy from the cat-nap, Gabriel attempted to argue, but his words wouldn't leave his mouth.
"Get out, you fake! Leave my studio!" Rarity yelled, shoving him out the door. As soon as he crossed the threshold, she slammed it shut.
"Good day to you, sir!" she hollered, her voice muffled from inside.
"Wait, Rarity, I-" he stopped himself. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on her door.
The door opened just enough to show Rarity's hurt face. "Well?!" she asked harshly.
"I'm not from here, okay? I only lied because... well... I wasn't sure what else to do. It's kind of my fall-back, you know?" he explained.
"Well, where are you from then?" she asked quietly.
"It's hard to explain..."
"I believe you. Come in. We'll head to Twilight's tomorrow. There are some others waiting for you, darling. You aren't the only one in this situation," she chuckled. "Oh Sweetie Bell! Would you be a dear and whip up something for our guest to eat, please? ....On second thought, nevermind darling!" she yelled through the house.
"Aww, please sis!" squeaked a tiny voice in reply. A tiny unicorn scrambled down the stairs. "Who's that?" she asked, forgetting about the food almost instantly.
"Just a friend, Sweetie," Rarity replied. "Aren't you going to a sleepover at Apple Bloom's house? The Cutie Mark Crusaders won't get their cutie marks by staying at home, now will they?"
Sweetie Bell pouted and ran past Gabriel, who had to sidestep to avoid her.
"Please ignore her, Gabe; just a young filly trying to get her cutie mark. Come in! Don't stand out there in the cold!"
Gabriel glanced around him and noticed the weather change; it had dropped several degrees since he first met Rarity. As he stepped inside, a gust of cold air followed him.
"Ohhhh!" Rarity shivered. "Looks like winter's coming a little early this year!" She closed the door behind Gabriel. "Let me get you some hot chocolate and dinner- you must be starving! Feel free to make yourself at home on the couch... much like earlier today," she cleared her throat.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Get used to it, 'darling'," he said, grossly mimicking her accent again. The way he pronounced it sounded more like "daaahhling". Rarity scoffed and trotted into the kitchen.
He sat down on the couch and closed his eyelids. For some reason, the weight of the heavy necklace on his chest seemed slightly less. He sighed contently as Rarity brought him his meal.
The last thing Gabriel remembered was tucking himself into the blankets on the couch. ~~~
Scipio woke up with an amazing headache. Not amazing in a good way, but amazing in a bad way. He was amazed at the fact that it was possible his head hurt so much. Ow. Wondering why his head hurt so much, Scipio thought about what could have transpired. Lets see, is this a hangover? No, thats not it. I haven't been drinking. What's up with my head? Hm... Remembering the Nexus and his arrival in the land of technicolor ponies, he doubted the truth. I dreamt I was turned into a pony. A black and neon green pony. That's one weird dream.
Dude, it wasn't a dream.
Oh. Hi.
The truth started coming back to Scipio. He was indeed in a land of technicolor ponies and was a pony himself. He was in Ponyville, which apparently was in Equestria. He was here to team up with some people (ponies?) he didn't know to save the world (and himself now, too) from total destruction. Or something along those lines. Oh, and he was officially crazy. He had held full conversations with his subconscious. Things were looking weird.
Dude. Its not that weird.
Stop butting into my head like that!
Can't help it. I live in your head after all...
How does that work, exactly? Are you a separate person feeding off of me like a parasite?
Scipio chuckled. Actually, his subconscious chuckled. In his brain. Weird. No. I am you. You're just especially in tune to yourself.
Crazy. This is so BUCKING crazy. You realize that, don't you?
Yep. Maybe you should talk to Twilight, she seems like the smart type. Maybe she can help you. Us. Whatever.
Yeah, great idea. Talk to the purple pony that is so graciously letting me sleep here. If she finds out how crazy I am, she might kick me out. Or just lose all hope that I can save the world and commit suicide. Or both. I'm not telling ANYPONY about this. About you. Me. Whatever you/me are.
Cool story bro.
Shut it. I'm gonna open my eyes now and do something that does not involve conversing with myself.
Scipio stayed true to his word and opened his eyes. Looking around him, he realized he was not alone in the guest room. In another bed, on the other side of the room, lay a sleeping white unicorn with black, curly hair.
"That's Nick."
Scipio jumped out of bed. "Holy crap! You scared me Twilight!"
"Shhh. You might wake him..."
Scipio rolled his eyes and made a disgusted face at her obvious infatuation. "Good Celestia y'all's faces are much easier to read than humans. You gotta work on concealing your feelings and such. Seriously. This stuff is gettin' weird."
"So what do humans look like?"
"Um... Well we aren't brightly colored, thats for sure. I don't think I'm the one to give you a lesson in human anatomy. Ask someone smarter. But I can tell you that we walk on two legs, have two arms with hands and four fingers and opposable thumbs and we do all sorts of cool stuff. Oh, and we always wear clothes. Speaking of clothes, I feel kinda naked. Do y'all wear clothes here in Equestria? Or does everypony just walk around naked? Does this count as naked? Cause I have fur and stuff... Am I naked? Oh and what about -"
"Scipio. Quiet. You're talking almost as fast as Pinkie. It hurts my brain. Yes, we wear clothes on special occasions. No, this does not count as naked. I don't know if anything does here. Now, you must be hungry. Lets go get breakfast."
Scipio followed Twilight to the kitchen. Spike, the little purple and green dragon, was making pancakes. Weird. Anyways, the little dragon served the pancakes. They were pretty good. Scipio didn't even try to understand how his hooves held the silverware. They just did. I give up. What the heck.
Look dude, its not that weird. This is what I'm for, to make sure you can do basic stuff without looking like a total dolt.
Awesome. This defies every law of physics that I paid attention to, and probably all the others I slept through the teacher talking about.
Different world dude. Different physics. If you think this is weird, just wait.
I feel like I've heard that before...
As breakfast progressed, Scipio found himself pelted with questions. Questions about daily habits, culture, and hobbies. Scipio described all the things he held dear: all kinds of music, the internet, headphones, airsoft, pop culture, clothing, computer games, YouTube, and chilling with friends. Then the questions started turning turning intellectual. Twilight asked about history, philosophy, literature, and other smart stuff that Scipio really didn't know or care about. He answered most of the questions to the best of his ability, but some he simply couldn't answer. Finally he had enough: "Look Twilight, I was never a good student. Heck, I was a horrible student. I slept through class or played Minecraft. Or both. I barely passed most of my classes. I was really only interested in the history of airplanes and guns and things that went boom. Actually, scratch that. I wasn't even interested in their history. I just knew they went boom. If you want to hear about history, literature, and all things intellectual, you need to talk to me friend Jonathan. He's pretty bucking smart. He saved my sweet plot on many occasions."
Plot? What the...
I don't even know. For some reason that means your rear end.
Da heck?!
I know right?
"Scipio? You have a weird expression on your face..."
"Sweet Celestia! Everypony keeps telling me that!"
"Oh. Sorry."
"Hey Twilight. Hey Spike. Oh, you're new." The white unicorn with curly hair walked into the room, looking exhausted. And hungry.
"Yep. I'm new. The name's Scipio, but you can call me Skip. Nice to meet you, ...?" Scipio held out his hoof.
The white unicorn shook it. "Nick. Good to meet you too, Scipio."
"Nick, you look famished. Spike, get Nick some food." The purple unicorn began fretting over Nick. Scipio rolled his eyes. He decided to see if Nick was in the same boat as him.
"So, Nick, digging the glasses. Are they a talisman, by chance?"
"Yes they are. I assume your earphones are your talisman, right?"
"Yeah. Thank Celestia I'm not the only interdimensional traveler here." Checking to see that Twilight was over at the stove and not in earshot, Scipio whispered: "Did you get any details on what we are supposed to be fighting? I didn't. This is trippy, dude. Its like something from a bad Sci Fi movie..."
"No I didn't get anything about the enemy we face. Only that its bad, really bad. And yeah, I'll admit this is a little weird. Its helpful to have a friend from our world to ground me."
"Dude, not saying you're not cool and all, but we just met. I don't know if we qualify as 'friends' yet."
"Agreed. I was talking about Felix. He's a friend from Earth, but he's still unconscious."
"You two can stop whispering, you know. I can hear you. Skip, Felix is a pegasus pony. He came in soon after Nick and is currently passed out in the bathtub. He managed to catch himself and the library on fire, knock over the town water tower, and get himself shocked with Nick's lightning-"
"Woah. Hold up. Nick has lightning? Dude that's bucking awesome! And weird. This really is a Sci Fi movie..."
Twilight had an offended look on her face. "Scipio, I would appreciate it if you didn't cuss so much. It's unbecoming."
"Sorry. Force of habit. Not around girls much, too much time out on the field or ingame on a computer, I guess..." Scipio said sheepishly.
"But the fact of the matter is Felix is out cold. He's taken quite a beating. Which is a problem because we need to get him to Fluttershy's house so she can check up on him."
"I think Nick and I can carry him, I mean, how hard-"
Scipio was interrupted by some knocking on the door. "Coming!" Twilight sang as she headed for the door.
"No! I wanna get it! I'm still figuring what I can and can't do with hooves!" Scipio yelled as he raced for the door. As he opened it, he saw a white unicorn and a silver pony with a rainbow dyed mane.
"Sup brah." The silver pony gave Scipio a "sup" nod.
"You're not Twilight..." The unicorn began.
"No he's not, but I'm right here. He insisted on opening the door so that he could test out his hooves. His name is Scipio, he got here yesterday." Twilight explained to Rarity. Meanwhile, the two stallions were having a different conversation.
"I'm Scipio. Nice necklace," Scipio extended a hoof.
"Name's Gabriel. Totally diggin' the headphones brah." Gabriel took the hoof.
"Who's this?" Attracted to the noise, Nick had appeared in the main room of the library.
"This guy is Gabe. You mind if I call you Gabe? No? Too bad. Gabe, this is Nick. Apparently there's another dude passed out in a tub. His name is Felix."
"Welcome to the team, Gabe." Nick and Gabe shook hooves. The three began an amicable conversation. As the dialogue progressed, Scipio sensed that Nick was a natural leader. Figures. He got here first, the leaders always pop in first. He also sensed that Gabe had a huge ego issue. And did he hear a lying problem? I never realized how much I depend on my ears... I can tell all I need from a person from listening to them. I always could do that, but now its just more... pronounced.
Duh. The Nexus dude enhanced your hearing. Nnnnnderp.
Shut it. Scipio rejoined the conversation before the others noticed his mental absence. Sadly, neither of the other stallions were airsoft players.
"Ok boys. Its time to get over to Fluttershy's. We will meet all of my friends there and discuss the issues at hand. Nick, Skip, go get Felix. Gabe, tell me about yourself. Quickly. We need to get going or we'll be late." Scipio and Nick headed off to the bathroom. There they found a lanky yellow stallion passed out in a nice little bathtub bed. "Tell me again, Nick, why is he in the bathtub?"
"Because he almost burned the library down when he self-ignited."
"Oh. Awesome. I hope he doesn't burn my back." Scipio said, looking slightly worried.
"I don't think he will. Here, let me get him on you. He's not super heavy, just really tall. You can handle it, you're stockier but almost as tall as he is."
"Aight, cool." Scipio accepted the extra weight with no problem. Even though he was shorter than Felix, he could already tell that Felix was quite a bit lighter. Interesting. I guess its cause he has to fly, extra weight would not be helpful for flying... Scipio walked back to the main room of the library, with Nick keeping Felix steady.
"Alright. Is everypony ready?" Twilight asked. "Yes? Good. Let's go."
The walk to Fluttershy's was not particularly long, but it dragged on for Scipio. Felix was starting to get heavy and the conversation was boring. After what seemed like an hour they arrived at Fluttershy's cottage. It was crawling with an assortment of animals. Is it normal for animals to be like that? Aren't they scared of us? Oh wait, we are animals... Goodness. Weird.
You think this is weird? Well, -
STOP IT. I KNOW IT GETS WEIRDER. STOP SAYING THAT. SWEET APPLEBUCKING CELESTIA. Scipio walked into the cottage. There he saw a bouncy pink pony, who he assumed was Pinkie Pie, having heard the name earlier and deciding it described her. He also recognized Applejack and Rainbow Dash from the day before. There was a yellow and pink pegasus that was doing her best to shrink into nothing. He walked up to her. "Hi, I'm Scipio."
"I'm Fluttershy..." The pegasus said, her voice barely perceptible. She hid behind her mane.
"Good thing I have great hearing. Hi Fluttershy. Where can I dump Felix? He needs your help, I guess." Fluttershy gestured to a couch on the other side of the room. Scipio deposited Felix there. Walking to the other room, he entered just in time to hear Gabe say: "Its like bucking King Arthur in here..." Looking around, Scipio noticed that the center of the room was dominated by a large round table.
While Gabe, Nick, and Scipio laughed at the joke, the other 6 ponies looked around, confused.
"Who's King Arthur?" Twilight ventured to ask.
"Great warrior of legend. Awesome guy. But that's a topic for another time. Why are we here, Twilight?" Nick answered. Everyone began to sit down and get comfortable, the explanation looked like it was a long one. Everyone except Fluttershy, that is. She trotted softly over to Felix to check on him.
"Ok. Well, I was just about to-"
Twilight was interrupted by a loud, "Ahh buck, my stomach!" followed by a yelp.
I guess Felix is awake...
A/N: Well, this is it. Longest chapter yet. Done with that. Expect the new chapter in a few says, I'm already almost done with it. Lol King Arthur is a boss. Anyone who doesn't agree is wrong. Boom. |
The Elements of Pure Energy | Chapter 3: Through the Threshold (Part 3) | Scipio was bored. Twilight had been going on with theorems and postulates for hours. Pinkie Pie was still gone, as was Fluttershy. No idea what they're doing... But it's probably better than this. What exactly is going on?
Well. Good question. Mostly, it's Twilight babbling as she tries to come to terms with the fact that we are from a different dimension and that there is something that the Elements of Harmony can't stop.
Fun. So essentially the only useful thing we've heard is that Celestia wants us to head over to Canterlot as soon as all six of us aliens are here.
Yep. Pretty much. This is boring.
This is the type of thing Jonathan or Javi would enjoy. Not my thing.
Well at least you have me. And I have you. We have each other.
I have me and you have me and we have ourselves. This is trippy. Sweet Luna, why can't something happen? When is another pony gonna show up?
As if to answer his prayers, Pinkie Pie burst through the door with a dull greyish-blue pegasus in tow.
Thank Celestia. ~~~
Things were dark for a long time. Rufus slowly began regaining his senses, it felt cold where he was. He opened his eyes and tried to focus them. He was in a dark room, the light shone from a dim light bulb and barely lit up the room. Rufus sat up and rubbed his head. "What...happened?" His confusion was only worsened when he realized that it wasn't a hand that rubbed his head, "Wh-what?! Hooves?" He looked at himself through the dim light, "I-I'm a small horse?" He was more shocked than scared, scanning the room. The floor and walls were stained with red, there was a banner hung across the wall that said, "Life is a party" Scrawled in red, with some of the red paint on the letters dripping down. There was a dress of many colors, poorly stitched together. There were strange patterns on the individual pieces of the dress, one had three apples on it, another three diamonds, a blue one had a red blue and yellow thunderbolt coming out of a cloud. The place he was in was so surreal, like a horribly written horror story. Suddenly he heard footsteps, and turned around. clop...clop...clop...clop...slow methodical steps sounded off in the distance. Rufus was positively terrified at this point, sweating bullets. As the steps drew nearer, Rufus hid behind a chest, shuddering and wishing he were somewhere, anywhere else. The door opened, and a pink pony walked in.
Her hooves were stained red, and her mane was flat and dripping wet. She carried a huge knife in her mouth, and had two sacks draped over her back. Oh gravy, Rufus thought, I wound up in the basement of some psychotic pony murderer! The pink pony began walking towards the chest he was hiding behind, ohbuckohbuckohbuckohbuckohbuck. She opened a drawer, and placed the knife in there. Rufus held his breath, petrified with fright. The pink pony moved to a far corner, and placed the sack in the corner with many others. I...figured it out, she cuts up her victims and puts them in flour sacks, she takes their skins and makes that dress! I bet she even cooks her victims... The pink pony walked over towards the dress and sighed, "It's just not the same..." Rufus realised that now she was distracted, it was his chance to escape through the door! In a flash, he bolted out from his hiding spot, knocking over the chest and making a lot of noise. The pink pony jumped up and turned around, yelping in surprise.
"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO KILL ME, YOU CRAZY PONY!" Rufus yelled and dashed for the door. Rufus was making good way until he almost reached the door. His hooves slipped and he tumbled into the wall. The force knocked over some furniture which now pinned him against the wall. He struggled in vain to free himself as the pink pony began to...skip towards him? Great, now I know she's psychotic. Well this is the end, it's over!
"Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie and I've never seen you before! I know everyone here in Ponyville, which means you aren't from Ponyville, and do you know what that means?" The pink pony was talking at an insane speed, her overly happy smile and big eyes making quite the impression on Rufus. He remained silent, staring fearfully into the eyes of his captor. "It's time for a party, silly!" She pulled out a party blower and threw some confetti around the place. Now Rufus was unsure what to feel.
"P-p-please d-don't hurt me" he was shivering violently. The pink pony stopped skipping around and came back to him.
"Why do you think I would do that?" She looked very intrigued sitting down in front of him.
"The knife, the bloody hooves, the flour sacks, the dress, the red walls, it's too scary!" He said all this as fast as he could turning his face away and shut his eyes.
"Oh you silly!" the pink pony began reorganizing the room, putting all the knives back in the drawer. "I don't know how you got here, but this is the basement storage room for sugar cube corner!" she opened up one of the flour sacks and pulled out a light bulb, she replaced the dim one and the room lit up. "Oh silly me, you're still trapped there!" She pulled away the furniture and Rufus breathed easy. He noticed that her hooves smelled oddly like...berries? "I was mashing berries to make jam for the pastries I bake, It kinda looks like blood doesn't it?" She licked a hoof, before screaming, "I'm a vampire, I'm gonna drink your bloooooooooooooooooood!" Rufus flinched and Pinkie Pie giggled, "Sorry, I guess you're really shy. What's your name?"
"I'm Rufus..." he said quietly, slowly calming himself.
"Well hello Rufus! I'm sure we'll be great friends!" She walked towards the dress again, "I have a friend named Rarity, she loves to sew and make dresses!" She turned around and looked sheepishly towards Rufus, "I thought I would try out sewing a dress together out of patches of cloth with the cutie marks of all my friends embroidered on them, I call it my friendship dress! It's just..." she paused and allowed Rufus to see all the uneven stitches, "well Rarity is much better at it anyways. It's pretty cold because of all the rain we have been having, the moisture is causing the paint to run! Except that's not paint, I thought it would be nice to paint the walls with the berry jam, but..." Rufus already knew what that would lead to: ants, ants everywhere. "Well come on upstairs! I can make a mean hot cocoa, it'll warm you right up!" Rufus was more than happy to leave the storage room.
Upstairs was much brighter, a fire crackled in the fireplace and the room was quite warm. Rufus looked around and saw the cash register and counter where the baked goods could be sold. "Here you go Rufus!" A warm mug of hot chocolate awaited him. He reached out to drink it, but then remembered that he didn't have any hands...He stood there staring at the drink, while Pinkie Pie watched in amusement. "Aren't you gonna drink it?" He turned around to see how Pinkie Pie had done it. Somehow her hoof fit through the grip on the drink, and she was enjoying it. Rufus tried to fit his hoof through the grip- it worked rather well to his surprise. He brought the drink to his mouth and began imbibing the warm drink. It felt so good inside him, warming up his cold body.
"Thanks Pinkie Pie..." he looked away feeling like he was intruding. He did pop into her basement somehow, and he had trashed the place and called her a murderer...
"Aww you're like my friend Fluttershy! She really likes animals too! I don't know about snakes though..." She said, motioning towards the armlet adorning his fore hoof. Rufus brushed his hooves against the ground uneasily, not sure how to answer that, or even how to explain. Pinkie changed the subject after she brought up Fluttershy. "OOH! We have to go!" She bounced up and down and grabbed Rufus. "There's a meeting at Fluttershy's house, and there are cakes, cookies, apple fritters, apple pie..." She kept going as the two exited the bakery.
The rain had stopped, leaving a nice cool and damp feel to the air. Rufus breathed deeply as Pinkie continued her rant. Why was he doing this? Rufus couldn't really have refused her if he wanted to. He felt bad for suddenly imposing himself on her like so. So the two continued until they saw a little house built into the side of a hill. "...and candied apples! Those are my favorite! Well, maybe not my favorite because brownies are my favorite, but they're still really good!" Pinkie skipped up towards the door, knocking a fine beat. The door opened and a purple pony greeted Pinkie.
"Is he here?" She asked, seeing Rufus she shifted her attention, "Hi! I'm Twilight Sparkle, we've been waiting for you!" She opened the door wider and beckoned Rufus to enter. Pinkie bounced in first, with Rufus slowly entering in behind her. Rufus could suddenly hear jovial talking. Four other ponies sat around the table, while Pinkie and Twilight stood near them. Rufus kind of watched as they continued conversing, Twilight's group inquiring the other group, and vice versa.
"Aren't you going to join them?" Rufus heard a soft voice speak out. A yellow pegasus with a pink mane stood beside him. At his turning toward her, the yellow mare shrunk back a little before regaining her composure.
"Well..." Rufus began casting his eyes down. Fluttershy cocked her head at first, but then smiled and said,
"Oh I see. There is no need to be shy around these ponies, they are my friends! My name is Fluttershy," Rufus was a bit taken aback. This pony was quiet, soft spoken, and even had shy in her name. It fit too damn well.
"My name is Rufus," Rufus began, at this everything was suddenly quiet as both groups stared at Fluttershy and Rufus. Rufus was at a loss for words when all of a sudden one of the ponies called out his name.
"Ay, did you say Rufus!" Oh no...was this? "It's me, Gabe!" Horse apples...might as well get this over with. Rufus took a deep breath,
"My name is Rufus, I have no idea who most of you are, or how we even got here..." He took a step forward, "but whatever it is that I need to do, I'll do it." Rufus didn't have moments like that often, but when he did...it felt so good. Several of the ponies nodded silently, but Gabe started laughing quietly.
"Alright Mr. Hero, sit your flank down and listen." ~~~
Scipio rolled his eyes and groaned inwardly. With the arrival of Rufus, Twilight decided to begin all over again. He tried to escape the table but she made him sit down again.
Goodness. This is worse than Mrs. Grant's class.
Who's that?
Dude. You're me. Check my memories. She was a crazy literature teacher. Hated every moment of that class.
Oh. Ew. Well I don't think that Twilight is that bad. These memories suck.
Fine. I was exaggerating. But its still bad.
You're right. I'm bored.
Me too. Watch. With our (my?) luck, as soon as she finishes the last pony is gonna show up.
Oh buck. You're right, Murphy's stinking law.
Scipio continued to converse with himself for the next hour. Just as Twilight wrapped up her presentation for Rufus, Scipio heard a squeal outside. Going outside to check out the noise, he saw a spring green unicorn trying to talk to Fluttershy. He heard the name "Jonathan" said in a British accent.
Dude! It's my friend Jon!
Cool. You know this means that Twilight is gonna start all over again, right?
Will the quest fail if I kill myself? ~~~
Bloody HELL. What happened to my head? Jonathan opened his eyes. Looking around him, he saw a forest on one side, a cottage on the other. The cottage was rather mismatched, it looked like something out of a cartoon. Figures. The equines I saw were oddly colored and shaped... Jonathan decided he would have better luck looking for somepony at the hut than in the woods. Slowly getting to his feet, Jonathan looked at himself. He was, indeed, an equine. A brightly colored equine. His body was an interesting spring green, and his mane was blonde and wavy. "Well, this is interesting..." Looking up at the cottage again, Jonathan noticed a horn protruding from his forehead. "Even more interesting. It seems I am a unicorn." Obvious though this statement might be, it helped Jonathan come to terms with reality. Jonathan continued his list of knowns: "What do I know? Let me see... I was reading in the library. Then two idiots hit me with a bookcase. Knocked my lights out. Woke up in a dark place called the Nexus. Some hooded bloke started talking to me about saving a world. He gave me a pipe, which he said had special powers. Oh wait, where in the blazes is my pipe?" Jonathan started looking around him for his pipe. It was nowhere to be found. Jonathan tossed his mane in frustration. The pipe flew out from where it was tucked behind his ear like a pencil. "Well. That is an odd place for a pipe. Ok. Pipe, check. Lets see, where was I? Right. Hooded bloke. He told me that the pipe has special powers. I guess I'll have to wait to see. Started reading a book. What did it say? Oh. Yes. This land is called Equestria. Fitting name for a land of equines. It is ruled over by two sisters. Apparently they are the source of harmony in the land. I appeared here, at the edge of a forest. In front of me is a cottage. I am assuming that the indigenous people of the land are peaceful, which means I should not have to worry about getting attacked. Do I have a weapon in case I get that's false?" Jonathan searched himself. "No I do not. I suppose that I could always use the pipe..."
With his list of knowns completed, Jonathan trotted towards the cottage. As he neared the cottage, he noticed a variety of wildlife climbing on and around the cottage. He stopped and observed the animals. After he decided that the various small life forms posed no threat, Jonathan trotted towards the cottage. He inspected the door. Deciding not to knock for the time being, he listened through the crack. He could hear many voices. Trotting around the cottage, Jonathan saw a chicken coop. Close to the chicken coop he saw a yellow and pink pegasus tending chickens. He quickly analyzed the situation, his procedure almost robotic. Subject is a yellow pegasus with a pink mane. Appears to be female. Assumed to be non-hostile. Jonathan quietly walked up to the yellow pegasus. She was occupied by a an unruly chicken, so she did not notice his presence until he spoke up.
"Good day. Pray tell, what is the name of this place?"
Fluttershy screamed and jumped into the air.
"Oh. My apologies. I am Jonathan, but you can call me Jon." Fluttershy shrunk from his gaze and mumbled off a few words that Jonathan could not make out. "Excuse me, but what did you say?" More mumbling. Well this is daft. "Could you repeat that one more time?"
"Her name is Fluttershy." Now it was Jonathan's turn to yell and jump. From behind him materialized a black pony with green hair and purple headphones. "Yo, whassup Jon. Its Skippy."
"Scipio? No way... How did you hear me out here?"
"Apparently my special talent is hearing and stuff. Sick, right?"
"Indeed. I wonder what mine is..."
"Probably something all smartical and such. Hence the wizard eyes cutie mark over there. Oh and Fluttershy scares easily, don't you, Fluttershy?"
Jonathan looked over for the yellow pegasus, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"I think she has disappeared..."
"Yep. Probably inside. Speaking of inside, we should probably go inside. Everypony is probably waiting for us."
"Roight then Skip, lead the way." Scipio didn't move. He had started staring off into space with an absent look on his face. "Skip? Skippy? Scipio?" Jonathan knocked Scipio on the head with his hoof.
"Ow! Why did you... Oh. Nevermind."
"Care to explain what that was about?"
"Um... No. Maybe later."
"Whatever you say. Now, shall we go inside?"
"Yeah." Scipio lead Jonathan inside the cottage. In it was an assortment of ten other ponies, four male and six female, sitting around a large round table. Makes me think of King Arthur... Jonathan spotted Fluttershy, but did not recognize any of the other ponies. Scipio started rattling off names and pointing.
"Ok. Now that the introductions are out of the way, would you please take a seat?" Twilight gestured to an empty chair. Jonathan sat. He had the urge to start asking questions but, before he could begin, Twilight silenced everyone with a hoof.
"Ok everypony, I'm going to recap what I told all of you to Jonathan here..."
Multiple heads slammed the table. |
The Elements of Pure Energy | Chapter 4: On the Road to Canterlot | "All aboard!" the train conductor yelled. The group of 12 ponies walked single-file through the doors of the Ponyville Express and found their seats. Celestia had given them a first class coach all to themselves. The band of ponies sat in the cabin rows facing each other. The Elements of Harmony sat on the the left side of the cabin, the new ponies sat on the right. The ride to canterlot was more than half of a day, so there was plenty of time to talk.
Nick could see quite plainly that Twilight Sparkle was the leader of her team. She was able to command her friends to do what needed to be done, she carried herself well, and she always had a plan. Nick wasn't sure how he was becoming his team's leader though. Somehow the others looked to him when there were things to be done. Granted, Nick had experience in leadership, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly. Nick saw this train ride as a good opportunity to ask Twilight for some leadership tips. He quietly began making a list of questions as the train continued down the track.
The train rumbled down the track noisily as each pony retreated into their own minds. The quiet was bothering Scipio. Or, rather, the lack of conversation was. The train was quite loud. To alleviate the burden of the train, and to make sure he didn't start talking to himself, Scipio decided to start up a conversation.
"So this one time, I was playing airsoft. And it was awesome. There were twelve of us pinned down at Whiskey Outpost by two hundred ragheads. No, I'm not exaggerating. It was twelve versus two hundred. But we had a base and they didn't. So, anyways, my team and I are just sittin' there pwning some idiots when a tornado grenade comes arching over the wall. Then I caught it. No joke. I. CAUGHT. A. BUCKING. GRENADE."
"Uhh Skippy, what's a grenade?"
"Don't interrupt! I wasn't even at the good part!" He took a huge breath, then stopped. "Wait!" Scipio looked at the pink mare in confusement, "You don't know what a grenade is?"
"Nope! Is it candy? I love candy! If it's candy I want to catch one too!"
Scipio's hoof met his face at novel speeds.
"No, in real life its something that explodes and kills lots of people. In airsoft it just sprays people with bb's so they are eliminated."
"Oh yeah! I forgot to ask, what is airsoft?"
"I didn't explain it to you? Oh sweet Celestia... Jon, please?"
"I have your back, Skip. Pinkie, airsoft is considered by many to be a backyard game. However, to the more intense players like Skip, it is more than a game. It is a military simulation. Essentially, teams dress up in army uniforms and use realistic bb-guns to simulate real guns. If you get hit by a bb, you are 'dead.' This means that you are out for the rest of the match."
"Why would you want to pretend to kill people? That's just silly!"
"Humans are much more... violent... than ponies. Killing and warfare is much more day-to-day and glory on the battlefield is a good thing. Throughout history, -"
Scipio put a hoof to his mouth and made a gagging noise. "Ewww, history."
"And what is wrong with history, Scipio?" a female voice interjected. Scipio looked over and saw Twilight with a flustered expression. However, before he could answer, Rainbow Dash spoke up.
"Nothing's wrong with it... for eggheads. But if you're normal, it's boring."
Felix chuckled. He couldn't help agreeing with every word that came out of Rainbow Dash's mouth. "So, when's dinner? Or lunch? I haven't eaten in like... 2 whole hours!" he groaned.
Rarity, who was sitting right next to him, nudged him reprovingly. "Be patient, Felix!" she said, "You're being rude!"
"Lighten up, Rarity, the big man's gotta eat!" yelled Gabriel as he flung his arms into the air. He nodded towards Felix as if to say, 'you're welcome'.
"We've been on this train a few times, we should be gettin' some grub pretty quick here," responded Applejack.
"Well..." Started a rather quiet voice, "I was getting kind of hungry...food right now would be nice...if that didn't bother anyone," Rufus looked over at Fluttershy and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, when I used to take care of animals, they would always be picky about when and where they wanted their food," he continued.
"Animals? You take care of them too?" Fluttershy's eyes lit up as a smile suddenly beamed across her face.
"Yeah, I mostly take care of snakes but I really like animals," Rufus found that he could easily identify with the yellow pegasus, who now began conversing with Rufus.
Nick had very mixed feelings about this whole discourse; his team was very different. Sure, it was nice to see them all act so jovially, but he couldn't help but worry about whether the team could hold together in times of trouble.
As the sun lowered in the sky, a waiter pony came in and handed out menus.
"The finest array of Canterlot cuisine from Canterlot itself, for the guests of her lady, Princess Celestia," he bowed, then gave them time to decide what they wanted to eat.
Felix slowly flipped through the pages, then frowned and flipped through them again. "Uh..." he cleared his throat, "where's the meat?"
"Yea," nodded Scipio in agreement, "I can only find vegetarian dishes on here."
The conversation stopped immediately. The females stared incredulously at the two who spoke.
"You- you can't be serious, can you?" asked Rarity with eyes wide. Fluttershy squeaked quietly with ears drawn back in fear.
Scipio's eyes ran back and forth in the train cart. His headphones roared with the crescendo of a whole orchestra of violins.
But suddenly the music stopped. A lone flute played a soft melody.
Nick quickly seized control of the situation, "Haha what a morbid joke, guys," he said, winking. Gradually, everyone started chuckling, then they burst into laughter- each for their own reasons. Rufus wiped his brow nervously and let out a sigh.
After they received their food (without any meat, of course), the conversation turned towards everyone's special talents. The mares explained the concept of the "cutie mark" to those who hadn't heard it, then they explained each of theirs.
"Well, how about ya'll?" asked Applejack. Twilight nodded vigorously. "Yes! Tell us yours! We'll go this way around the table," she said, pointing at Gabriel first.
"Well," he said, looking down at his flank, "mine is a prism, so that obviously means..." he trailed off. Everyone leaned in.
"I have absolutely no idea," he finished with a smile. Half the audience rolled their eyes, the other half chuckled.
Jonathan was sitting next to Gabriel. "Well, my turn. My 'cutie mark' is a pair of squinting eyes. So that probably means that my 'special talent' is discernation or inductive reasoning, if I'm not mistaken," he sniffed and inspected his hoof modestly. "Your turn-" he started, but was interrupted by Pinkie.
"Ohh! Show us!" she yelled loudly, pounding her hooves on the table.
He cracked his neck and regulated his breathing. His eyes swept towards Rufus, who was sitting next to him. "Rufus... You work at a zoo, but not for the money. You enjoy taking care of animals, but a certain type more than the others. Lets see.. amphibious? Not quite. Snake most likely. What type you ask? Hard to tell, except not if you know their biomes. By the residue on your hooves I would have to guess Asian or Indian. Since you work at a zoo, most likely the Burmese Python- one of the largest snakes in the world. Very big attraction at a zoo. Now that brings about the attention of where you live- or lived rather. Difficult to tell, now that you have changed species. But, judging by the residue in your left ear and the slight accent you have, I would have to say Florida in the United States- which helps my theory of the Burmese Python, due to the fact that they also live there. Any questions?"
Everyone's jaws were almost touching the table, except for Scipio, who was just smiling.
"No? Right. Scipio, I know you already, it would hardly be fair to repeat that on you. So we move on to Nicholas. Let's see... slightly nearsighted, due to spending too much time on the computer. How are those wrists treating you? You know you can get carpal tunnel syndrome from too much typing. Hm, a doctor in training if I'm not mistaken, which, I'm not," he laughed. "I take it that by your quiet calculating nature that you like to assume leadership positions, yes? May I assume that you were part of some organizations such as the Boy Scouts? You have most likely earned the Eagle Scout rank. Then, judging by the story of you fearlessly wading out into the raging waters during Felix's episode, I take it that you like outdoor activities? Entering raging waters without trepidation doesn't come without experience you know..." Jonathan paused and looked over at Nick, who was smiling.
"Fascinating!" exclaimed Nick in admiration, "That was very accurate...almost eerie." Nick applauded as the other ponies murmured. Twilight had to push Rarity off of her, who had swooned and fallen on top of her.
"Moving on yet again to Felix. Lower, right wisdom tooth is impacted, which causes your clenched jaw. You hold a lot of anger in you, as apparent through the stress lines on your forehead and beneath your eyes. I'm guessing a fatherly figure has caused you this?" Felix grunted and shifted in his seat. ".. but not your birth father. You work as a.... mechanic? Assistant mechanic due to your age. But not in a car shop. In a... hmm... laboratory? Not quite. Something to that effect, though." Felix narrowed his eyes.
"How could you possibly know these things?" he asked with a glare.
"Its quite obvious when you look at the facts given. As I stated earlier, the stress lines led me to believe you held an immense amount of anger inside you- stemming from your younger years. This could come from your parents. Mothers who walk out on their sons cause more sadness and depression than rage. Therefore that leaves your father, and when I mentioned him I knew to study your reaction. You gave me one, but not what I was looking for. If I had hit it spot on, you would have glared at me immediately. But since I was close, you became angry and uncomfortable. Now the stuff about the mechanic-"
"Enough!" Felix yelled, slamming his hooves down on the table. He flared his nostrils and some steam escaped from them. He pushed himself away from the table and made his way to the back of the cabin. As he slammed the door shut, the table cloth ignited where his hooves hit previously. Rainbow Dash and Jonathan hurriedly put out the fire.
"Good goin', egghead," Rainbow Dash muttered. Twilight and Nick also gave Jon a condescending gaze. He sighed heavily.
"My apologies everyone. I will make amends promptly," he stated as he excused himself from the table.
"Well I guess you'll never know me," Gabriel scoffed and leaned back in his chair, hooves crossed behind his head.
Jonathan spun himself so that he faced Gabriel directly. "Please. Narcissist that enjoys the company of women by telling them horse-feathered lies. You trick your family and friends to gain social status and importance in the eyes of your peers. You are as fake as Pamela Anderson's mammary glands and as two-faced as the change you carry in your pockets. I can read you easier than a book, sir, and you rival the Twilight series in your lack of good literature. Good night," he bowed and made his way after Felix.
Gabriel didn't utter a word. The only sounds in the otherwise quiet cabin were the dishes clanking together as the servants removed them and Pinkie Pie clapping her hooves together in awe. ~~~
Jonathan quietly shut the carriage door behind him and joined Felix as he stared out at the moonlight landscape around them. The train horn's blare was lost to the wind; all that could be heard was the sound of the train's engine chugging along the tracks. Jonathan took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, Felix spoke.
"Peaceful, isn't it?"
Jonathan let out his pent up breath. "Yes, it is," he smiled.
"That's quite a trick you've got there, Jon. I hope you can teach me that one day. How do you do it?"
"Well, its elementar-"
"Don't even say it."
They both chuckled softly. Jon began to apologize. "Look, Felix, I didn't mean to anger you, I just..."
"It's alright," Felix interrupted once again. "It's just a touchy subject, you know? My father. I forgive you, by the way. No hard feelings and all that other buckery." He groaned, "Sweet Luna I hate these new expletives. They have no where near the effect I want them to have."
Jonathan nodded his agreement. "Quite silly indeed."
They went back to staring at the beautiful night sky.
Felix sighed. "Wish I had a smoke..."
"I think I can supply that, actually. Here." He handed Felix a cigarette.
"Wait, how did you know I smoked? Aww hell, don't tell me. I faintly smell like smoke, or there are some tobacco leaves in my mane..."
"I saw you eyeing them at the train station and I decided to get them, just in case."
"Ahh," he laughed, "how about a light?"
".... Ah horsefeathers...."
"I think I can supply that," grinned Felix. He concentrated for a moment, and a small flame sprung up at the tip of his hoof. It illuminated their faces and the porch they stood on for a few moments while Felix lit the pipe. Jonathan watched in amazement. "You have to teach me how to do that," he said. Felix tilted his head thoughtfully. "I'm pretty sure it's my special power or something," he explained as he placed the cigarette in his mouth.
He inhaled deeply, then rolled his shoulders and exhaled. "Ahh... much better. Not too bad for tobacco from Equine-stria."
"I do believe it's Equestria..."
"Whatever. Here," he passed Jon the cigarette.
Jonathan stared at the tobacco before placing it in his mouth. He inhaled, and almost immediately started coughing.
Felix laughed boisterously and patted Jonathan on his back. "It's alright, you'll get it sooner or later," he said while smiling.
"Haha, thanks," replied Jonathan, returning the smile. "Right. I'm about to turn in. It was good chatting, Felix. Thanks for the smoke," he patted Felix on the shoulder. The door clattered behind him, leaving Felix in solitude once again. ~~~
Jonathan is a valuable teammate. Nick thought, But Felix, on the other hand, is a loose cannon. I have to come up with a way to keep him stable... Nick tried to fold his hands in front of his face, as was custom to when he thought, but instead of interlocking fingers, his hooves collided and pressed against each other. Ah...yes, hooves. Regardless, Felix has quite the interest in Rainbow Dash, and luckily for him, she seems to return the interest. Nick was so focused on his thought train, that he didn't notice everyone slowly start to stare at him. He sighed, "I suppose you want to hear about me now, correct?"
He scanned the colourful group of ponies around him.
"We gotta share! We gotta ca-" Rainbow Dash proceeded to forcefully slap her hoof over Pinkie Pie's mouth, shutting her up.
"Go on, Nick," Rainbow Dash smiled. Applejack silently thanked Celestia for a moment of peace.
"Well...as you can recall from Jonathan's observations, I like to assume leadership positions. This has been a large part of my life, as I come from parents with great expectations. I don't suppose you also have a de-facto leader, do you Twilight?" He glanced over at the purple mare who nodded in agreement.
"Well...yes, that leader usually happens to be me." The other mares nodded in agreement. Nick smiled and lowered his hooves before continuing.
"Wonderful, I foresee us working together a lot in the future." Twilight smiled as Nick continued. " As for my cutie mark...a plus sign...a positive symbol... I'm positive this has something to do with my electrical abilities." Nick waited as some snickers and groans went around the cabin. He chuckled and continued, "Bad puns aside, I find it rather odd that it isn't a negative symbol, electrons are the negative parts of an atom after all, and electricity is free flowing electrons." The rest of the ponies murmured: was this really the place for a science lecture? Twilight seemed a little curious, but Nick cleared his throat and continued, "Perhaps...I'm full of positive energy? I'm not sure yet. Whatever it might really be, I will do everything within my power to ensure that all goes well." He resumed his silent and distant position as the rest of the cart began to murmur again. This was interrupted by Jonathan's sudden re-entry. He had a pleased look on his face, and calmly trotted back to his spot.
"Rest assured," he began, "Felix is doing all right."
"I'm gonna check on him, just in case," said Rainbow Dash said as she made her way outside. ~~~
Felix sighed again contently. He hadn't felt this calm for a while. Something about this place, and the ponies in it. Suddenly two arms wrapped around his waist from the back. Acting on instinct, he flinched, but then relaxed as he realized it was Rainbow Dash. "Hey," she said quietly, "you feeling any better? I thought it best for you to cool off," she giggled. "Literally." He laughed along with her.
"Yes I am, thanks," he said returning her smile. He pulled her around and lifted her up, then sat her on the rail in front of him. She inhaled with fright at the sight of the quickly moving ground beneath her.
"I got you," he said reassuringly. She sniffed and embraced him.
"Don't tell any of the others, but I'm nervous about visiting the Princess. I don't know how this will turn out. I'm just.... lost." she said softly.
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm here for now, lets just enjoy this while we can." They both grinned and hugged again. As they broke their embrace, Felix and Rainbow Dash locked eyes- there was a slight pause before Felix drew back and stifled a chuckle. The two looked up at the beautiful night sky. Felix spoke first, "You know Rainbow..." but he stopped there. She looked at Felix and noticed his sudden change in attitude and looked at him questioningly. Felix stared blankly at the ground for a few seconds before seemingly coming to life again, "It's so weird being around you... almost everything you say, I agree with. Usually I'm more... prone-," he said, spitting out the more educated vocabulary word as if it were garbage, "-to disagreeing with ponies. But you..."
"I know what you mean," she said. "I love arguing with others for fun, especially stallions," Rainbow laughed as she kicked her dangling hooves. "Tell me about yourself, the good bits. I don't think Jonathan painted a good picture," she snorted at the mention of Jonathan.
"Well, let's see," he said, trying to think of the good things, "I, uh, like Jonathan said, I do work as a mechanic, in my dad's old position- mechanical design and innovation. But, I don't get paid for what I do. It's mostly like an internship..." he glanced at Rainbow Dash, who obviously had no idea what he was talking about.
"Like, engines and machine design!" he clarified, gaining an "Ahh!" from Rainbow.
"Yea, but I'm really lazy a lot of the time; everyday after I get home from school I-"
"Take a nap?" she interjected with a smile. He grinned. "How'd you guess?"
"I do the same! Except I don't go to school anymore. I work on my own time, and take naps on clouds whenever I want!"
"You can sleep on clouds?! How is that even possible?" he asked incredulously.
"All pegasi can walk on clouds! We're light enough to do that. Simple physics, Felix," she winked.
He snorted. That was anything but simple physics.
"Keep going!" she said, her smile bright enough to rival the moon itself.
He grinned and continued, "But I have really sweet ideas, improving machinery to benefit mankind and such, you know, be the hero." He chuckled as he stared at the extinguished cigarette bud on the floor. "If I make something amazing, something really revolutionary, maybe I can make enough money to get out of the situation I'm in..."
"Your, situation?" asked Dash.
"Yea, my-" he exhaled and cracked his neck. "Living with my stepfather. I can't do it anymore. As soon as I make enough bits, I'm going to rent out an apartment and live by myself. I think I'm almost there though. This new project that I just finished- I think I found out a way to combust more natural and replenishable items to make into fuels. It's a little more explosive than I intended, but-" he coughed and looked at Rainbow Dash, who was completely lost again.
He chuckled and apologized. "Sorry, seems like I lost you," he said.
"No, its okay! I just didn't take you for someone so smart!"
"Well, I like these types of things. Logical and factual. I'm not witty whatsoever," he laughed.
"Well that's okay. If you ask me, we have too much of that in our group," she giggled.
His smile grew greater as he lost himself in her gaze.
"You okay, Felix? Don't fall asleep on me!" she grabbed his shoulders and shook violently.
"Yes! I'm fine, its just that," he scoffed at the ridiculousness of the subject, "I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've ever received a compliment from a mare. I mean mare. Buck," he coughed, struggling through the Equestrian words. "Most mares are intimidated by me. The 'bad stallion' factor doesn't really work for me," he explained.
"I like it," she said quietly, blushing. Felix coughed and felt his face flush. What is this? I'm just talking to her and I feel like a foal! He decided to change things up.
"So what about you? I'm sure you're a real... stallion's mare..." he said blandly. He attempted to emphasize this with gestures, but his limbs ended up moving in circles. He decided to give up and rest them on the railing.
She sat quietly for a while before answering. "I guess you could say that! Who wouldn't want a piece of this?" she said, winking. But she lacked conviction.
"So you've been with several stallions? Sorry not been with, but like..." he couldn't think of the words to fill the void he created.
His phrase seemed to strike a chord with her.
The awkward silence that surrounded them lasted for more than two minutes.
Felix finally cleared his throat and began to apologize.
"No, it's okay," she whispered. "It's just so weird being around you. I've never felt this way before. Even though we just met-"
"I feel like I know so much about you," Felix finished.
"Exactly." She turned her head skyward and stared intently at the stars above.
Felix was the first to break the silence. "So, even though I have wings, I have no idea how to use them. Do you think you can teach me? I heard you're a darn good flyer," he added smirking.
"Yes!" she laughed, "Of course! And it's always been my dream to join the Wonderbolts! But now, I'm not so sure," she ended flatly.
"Why?" Felix responded lamely.
"Well, one of the members, Soar-" she stopped herself, but tried to play it off as a cough. "One of the Wonderbolts and I are not exactly in the best situation. If I join the Wonderbolts, I want to join because I'm the best flyer, and not because of someone on the inside."
Felix could tell there was much more to the story than she was telling. He tried to play it off as ignorance.
"Well, I'm sure they're missing out on the best flyer in Equine-stria, err, Equestria!" he exclaimed with a goofy smile on his face.
"Yea!" she responded. She threw her arms into the air and pretended as if she were about to fall off the railing. Felix exclaimed in fright and tried to grab her, but she tipped over the side.
"Rainbow!" he yelled, but she was back on the porch in an instant, laughing.
"Wings, remember?" she asked while wiggling her back.
"Oh yeah," he chuckled.
"Come on, lets head back in." While he stepped out of her way, she pecked him on the cheek. He stuttered as she laughed and dashed inside. His grin reached both ears as he followed her back into the cabin. ~~~
Scipio was bored again. Nick was talking everypony's ear off about leadership positions and nothing interesting had happened.
Jon needs to do his little intuition thing again.
Why?
Cause it's interesting, duh.
Right.
I'm bored again.
This seems to be a pattern...
It's not my fault that everypony is boring! I mean, seriously, between Nick and Twilight I might as well be back in school...
It's not that bad...
Yes it is.
Nope.
Yep.
Nope.
Yep.
Nuh-uh.
Uh-huh.
Nuh-uh.
Are we really doing this? Seriously? I'm arguing with myself like a three year old child... So?
Shut up. I'm going to sleep.
Felix and Rainbow Dash had just re-entered the car when Scipio stood up and yelled, "Hey everypony! I'm going to sleep! GOOD. NIGHT." He walked off to the sleeping car, leaving some bewildered ponies in his track. Felix and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, wondering if they had caused his outburst.
Jonathan sat, looking at Scipio walk off. He looked at the clock, "Well, it seems Scipio has a point. Look at the time. I do believe that now would be a good time to turn in." He followed Scipio. The other ponies sat there for a little longer, looking at the clock, then saw the wisdom in Jonathan's words. They got up as one and walked off to their respective beds. Felix kept wondering if his entry had caused Scipio's outburst, or if it was simply bad timing. He decided he would ask Scipio first thing in the morning. ~~~
Felix woke up in a cold sweat. He knew he had a bad dream, but he couldn't recount any of it. The more he tried to remember, the more he felt he forgot. He shivered violently and pulled the sheets closer to himself. He laid there for a few minutes, unable to get warm. He thought about sneaking to Rainbow Dash's bunk. No, I can't, he thought to himself. She was making moves, but he couldn't tell what she was after. He felt so hopeless when it came to women. It made him frustrated. Getting out of bed, he paced around the room. He could tell there was something different about Rainbow Dash, or the situation between them. He thought hard- maybe he could emulate what Jonathan had showed him earlier.
Rainbow Dash... why is she attracted to me? Well, I'm not that bad looking, maybe even handsome or whatever; supposedly that transfers to this world, too. But that doesn't seem to be all of it. There's more to it- because I feel myself unnaturally attracted to her. What was her Element of Harmony again? Loyalty? Yea that's it. And my special power is... fire? There's gotta be something there... Gah! What is it?
He needed Jonathan's intuition desperately. But he couldn't just wake him up. He'd have to wait until tomorrow. He sighed as he realized that he had a lot of talking to do tomorrow. He got back into bed and stared at the bunk above him where Nick was sleeping. After much more thinking and several more hours, he finally fell back asleep. ~~~
Scipio's headphones slowly brought him to consciousness. He looked at the clock. 1:00 a.m.
Perfect. These headphones are amazing. They have an alarm clock built in!
Yep. They're pretty cool.
Go away. Nopony loves you.
Scipio rolled out of bed and headed for the dining cab. As he entered, he found Jonathan sitting at a table with a solitary lamp on it.
"Wow Scipio, you're actually on time."
"These headphones have a built in alarm clock!" Scipio exclaimed quietly, "Ready to get you plot whooped?"
Scipio pulled out a paper, one side of which was filled with numbers and calculations, while on the other side was a sketch of the area surrounding Lake Trasimene.
"Ok Jon. Here we have a likeness of the terrain surrounding a certain lake in Italy. You can see a large force entering an ambush by another, smaller force. What was the battle and war and what were the troop and commander dispositions? What about the outcome?"
"Pshh. Easy. Romans under Gaius Flaminius versus Carthaginians under Hannibal Barca. The Battle of Lake Trasimene took place on June the twenty-first, in two hundred B.C. Crushing defeat for the Romans, second Punic War."
"Well look at you, you got the basic facts right. Troop numbers?"
"Romans: approximately 40,000. Carthaginians: more than 30,000."
"Good job! What were the casualties?
"Romans: 15,000 or more lost. Carthaginians: around 3,000 lost."
"Wrong! Hannibal only lost around 2,500. Boom!"
"Yeah well what about this, military genius?"
Jonathan pulled out his own paper. On it was sketched a crude likeness of a city on a hill being besieged by towers. Scipio assumed that said towers were fortifications of the besiegers. Another huge force was attacking the besiegers from the outside of their fortifications as the defenders in the city attacked the besiegers from the inside.
Ok. Lets do this. We agreed to stay with Roman Republic era battles. The fortifications for the besiegers are definitely Roman. Hilltop city, large relief effort. Oh, its Alesia. Boom pwned.
"You insult me with such an easy one. Plus your drawing is crap. Anyways, its the Battle of Alesia, 52 B.C. Gallic Wars. 60,000 Romans under none other than Julius Ceasar. 80,000 Gauls under Vercingetorix in the city. Somewhere between 120,000 and 300,000 large Gallic relief for-"
"What in tarnation are y'all doing talkin' history this early in the morning? And didn't ya say you hated history, Skip?"
Jonathan and Scipio both looked up in surprise at Applejack's intrusion. They looked at each other frantically, trying to come up with a valid excuse. Attempting to play it off as a joke, Jonathan looked at Applejack, and, while slowly moving his hoof through the air in Jedi mind trick style, said, "You didn't see anything..."
"Ahh didn't see anything..." Applejack mumbled, her eyes growing unfocused. Scipio and Jonathan looked at each other in amazement. Jonathan wove his hoof again,
"You will go back to bed and forget this ever happened..."
"Ahh will go back ta bed and forget this ever happened..."
Applejack exited the room in a stupor. When she had gone, Scipio and Jonathan burst into fits of quiet, barely restrained laughter.
"Oh Celestia, I can't breathe! Man, you just went all Obi-Wan on her plot!"
"That was amazing! I did not expect that to work, it was totally in jest..."
"But still! Sweet Luna! That's amazing!" Scipio fell out of his chair, laughing.
"Shhh! You'll wake somepony else! Then I'll have to 'go all Obi-Wan' on their plot!"
"Hahaha you said it. It sounds so much funnier coming out of your British mouth. Say 'may the Force be with you.'"
"We've done this a million times. My accent is only slightly like Obi-Wan's."
"Say it!"
"Ugh. May the Force be with you."
Stifling one last laugh, Scipio sat in the chair again. "Ok I'm done. As I was saying, the Gallic relief force was around..."
The two talked of history for another hour before going back to bed. Scipio went to bed amazed with Jonathan's mind trick, while Jonathan went to bed wondering how Scipio could transition from literally rolling on the floor laughing to reciting troop numbers in less than five seconds. It was not an original mystery, however. Jonathan had been wondering about that and Scipio's millions of other oddities for the years he had known him. ~~~
Beams of sunlight gently played upon Rufus' face as he stirred from his sleep. Yawning, he quietly eased himself out of his bunk and exited his cabin. The train was peacefully quiet as he made his way down the corridor. Rufus wanted to grab some fresh air; early morning was his favorite time of day. He approached the last door when he heard some laughing on the other side of it, he could make out the voices...was that...Felix?
"And...but he...and I...so...engine!" and then he heard someone else laughing, it was that rainbow pony. Rufus sighed, it wasn't like he wanted to intrude or anything, so he turned around and started to walk back. He had walked a few paces when suddenly a door opened, Rufus almost jumped back at the shock, but was relieved to see Fluttershy exit her cabin. She turned towards him, and stammered a greeting.
"O-oh! Good morning Rufus! I didn't expect to see you up so early..." She shuffled her hooves around before smiling, "Were you enjoying the quiet of the morning?" Rufus nodded,
"Yes, it's so peaceful in the early mornings, I like to sit outside with a hot drink and just admire the sunrise, it's really beautiful." Fluttershy motioned over to an empty cabin, and beckoned Rufus to follow.
"We aren't going to get a lot of time to talk if we wait for the others to wake up, want to, you know, chat? If that's alright with you..." She looked down at the floor before smiling and looking back at Rufus awaiting his response.
"Yes," smiled Rufus as he followed Fluttershy into the cabin. They opened a window and to draw in the fresh air. He inhaled deeply before sitting on one of the benches. "You have a lot of interesting friends Fluttershy, they are all so different: personalities and likes and so." He paused before continuing. "What keeps you together?"
"Well, it isn't easy...but we get along fine because we understand each other, we all have our ups and downs, and we work to help one another." She beamed happily and smiled at Rufus, who laughed, and slumped down in his seat.
"I hope our group can do it. We are just so different." Rufus waved his hooves in the air, "We've apparently got a big mission ahead of us, but I'm afraid that we might fail..." He sighed, Fluttershy put her hoof on his shoulder
"We've been in rough spots before but we always pulled through, I'm sure we can all manage this." She got up and walked to the door, "Come on, let's grab some breakfast, the others ought to be up by now." Rufus closed the window and followed her out smiling- he had found hope in a new friend. ~~~
Just then Felix and Rainbow Dash opened the door to the cabin. "... but what they didn't know was, nitrogen was part of the reaction!'" said Felix, ending a possibly bad joke. They both burst out laughing and took their spots next to each other at the table. Felix instantly dug into a breakfast roll. With her mouth in an "o" shape, Twilight gave them both a questioning look. Felix responded with a "carry on" motion as he swallowed.
The waiting staff stepped in with the drinks. "Excuse me, but could I get a glass of orange juice?" Felix asked. "One for me too!" Rainbow said.
The waiting staff returned with everyone's drinks, except Felix's. He stared at Rainbow Dash's full cup of orange juice. He cleared his throat forcefully, gaining the attention of the nearest servant. "Excuse me, sir, if you wouldn't mind, I would love a glass of orange juice to complement this fine meal," he asked slowly, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Rainbow slapped him upside the head reprovingly. "No but really, could I get some bucking orange juice? Been waiting as long as Nightmare Moon here!" he said.
"Right away, sir!" responded the colt as he galloped towards the kitchen.
"So, what's the plan of attack, Twilight? If I may call you Twilight, that is," Jonathan asked from across the table.
"Yes, that's fine Jonathan. When we reach Canterlot, we'll see Princess Celestia and Princess Luna immediately. We'll probably be there for several days, most likely staying for the Giving of Thanks," All the mares in the room gasped and started talking excitedly.
Twilight turned towards the males and began explaining. "The Giving of Thanks celebration is the time of year when autumn turns to winter. We celebrate this by expressing our gratitude towards everypony around us with feasting and presents!"
"And parties!" interjected Pinkie Pie.
"Yes Pinkie, and parties," responded Twilight.
"Sounds a lot like Thanksgiving to me," said Gabriel.
"I've noticed many similarities between Earth and Equestria actually," interrupted Jonathan. "There's got to be several more links and such, much like what the Guardian talked to me about in the Nexus."
The other stallions immediately dropped what they were doing and started shouting questions towards Jonathan. Nick eventually quieted them down and spoke first.
"You're saying that you've met a 'Guardian of the Nexus' and been inside of the Nexus?" he asked Jon.
"Why yes, have you all done the same?"
The six solemnly nodded.
"Why haven't we talked about this before?" asked Gabriel. "Pretty sure this is an important subject, guys," he scoffed.
"Well, what was everyone's experience like?" asked Scipio.
Everyone described the Nexus and the Guardian, all save Gabriel who sat quietly.
"What was yours like, Gabe?" asked Rufus quietly.
"Oh, same as everyone elses', I guess. Swirly mist and big scary man," he said nonchalantly. Jonathan stared at Gabe, attempting to discover if he was lying or telling the truth. Gabriel, noticing Jon, turned towards him and glared unblinking into his eyes.
Twilight broke the silence with a groan. "Where have I read this before? I know I have!" she said while pounding her noggin.
"Hey, its alright, we'll ask the Princess when we reach Canterlot in a few hours, okay?" Nick said as he grabbed Twilight's hooves from causing further harm.
The staff headed back in the room to hand out seconds and retrieve plates. One colt headed towards Felix with a glass of orange juice on a platter. "Here you are, sir, we apologize for the wait," he said as he handed Felix the glass.
"Finally!" Felix yelled and motioned to take a sip. Suddenly a loud explosion came from the front of the train that rocked the cabin. Felix exclaimed in surprise, but was able to keep any juice from spilling.
"Ha!" he said triumphantly and moved the glass towards his mouth. Another bang rocked the cabin, and his juice spilled across his face and neck. He started breathing heavy as his eyes darkened.
"I swear I will kill whoever's fault this-!"
An immense force ripped the train off the tracks and flipped it into the air. Dishes, ponies, and furniture went flying as everyone yelled at the same time.
A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out! We'll be better about time next time... |
The Elements of Pure Energy | On Hiatus | spu313:
Due to time constraints and differing opinions, ThePriest, Eridash, and myself have decided to put this work on hiatus for a little bit while we work on a more...um...unified story line and pursue other works and ideas that we have had bouncing around in our minds. I have no idea how long we'll be on hiatus, but I hope it isn't too long. Thank you for reading and being patient with us! |
The After Party | pre | "Me?" Twilight asked, taking a step backwards, "I didn't do anything to Rocket. I suggest that we begin searching immediately before something happens to somepony."
There was a scream and Peachy said, "Well, it looks like something might have already happened. Let's get moving."
Rocket grinned as he hid in an alleyway, surprised that his trick had worked so well. Getting up close to a pony in his current state wasn't easy, but he did and ended up scaring the life out of what looked like Bonbon. Still he should have felt something for scaring the poor mare besides the joy he felt. He peeked his head around the corner and scouted out who was roaming the streets until he noticed the Crusaders down the street. They were the perfect opportunity that he couldn't pass up.
"Look Twilight," Rarity said, moving a trash can to the up right position while the rest of the group moved on, "I know we agreed to help create the illusion, but this almost feels like we've gone too far. Can't you just cancel the spell and return him to normal?"
"I will when we find him," Twilight replied, though she pretended not to know anything, "besides, Luna should be here any minute to join the fun."
As Twilight flew after her friends she failed to hear Rarity say, "Sometimes I wonder what's gotten into you Twilight."
Princess Luna sat on her chariot as it approached Ponyville and her eyes scanned the streets. She wanted to know where the majority of the fun was supposed to be so she could easily get things in the spring she wanted them to be in. Plus she had to make sure that Rocket Sky was alright and wasn't suffering from his experience with the Ursa Major, but considering she had yet to answer to her sister Luna suspected that Rocket didn't remember a thing.
She heard a scream and watched the mare named Bonbon run down a street. but from what she couldn't tell. So, deciding not to waste anymore time, Luna unfurled her wings and headed down into the town, landing in front of Twilight and her group. Her appearance was met with pleasant comments, but she kept her eye out for whatever scared the innocent mare.
"Oh Princess Luna," Rainbow said, "we've got a slight problem on our hooves. It seems that Rocket Sky might actually be a werepony and is out in the town somewhere scaring ponies silly."
"A werepony you say?" Luna asked, pondering the events as they unfolded, "There should be none of those left in existence. Let us see if we can find Rocket Sky and determine the truth of this little mystery."
Chrysalis, now surrounded by fourteen Changeling soldiers, grinned and proclaimed, "Kneel before your new Queen you pathetic worms. I am the true Changeling Queen Chrysalis, Queen of the Swarm. Prepare to be conquered tonight on the night you lower your guards the most. Prepare to become food for my soldiers."
Everypony around them stared at her and started laughing as they went about their night, ignoring the Changeling Queen and her soldiers.
"Bu...but...but...," Chrysalis said, unbelieving that she was being foiled yet again, "come on here. I am the TRUE Changeling Queen. How are you not running around and screaming in terror?"
"Told you this wouldn't work," one of them, number 067, said as she separated herself from the group, "now I am going to hang with Peachy Keen and her friends for the night. See you around 'Chrysalis'."
Chrysalis hung her head in defeat and walked to the nearest bar, her soldiers unsure if they should follow her or leave her alone.
"My Queen?" one of them, the leader from the previous ambush, asked, "Are you alight?"
"I'm fine," she said, waving a hoof in a dismissing manner, "Go have fun and what not. Try to gather some useful data and such while I drink myself away. I will call you if I need you."
The Changeling nodded and then the group left, following whichever pony they could find after leaving the fountain area. Chrysalis watched them and laid her head on the table of what seemed like a familiar restaurant.
"And what would you like this fine evening?" the waiter, the same one that served Wisdom and Pinkie, asked.
"Got anything that makes you drunk by chance?" Chrysalis asked.
"I do believe we have some whiskey that was just delivered recently," the waiter answered, "Would you like some?"
"I think I'll take a whole bottle just to be sure," Chrysalis said, "and don't bother with a glass please."
"Right away Madam," the waiter said, vanishing into the store as she returned to watching the streets.
Apple Bloom and her friends ran down the street screaming, passing by Twilight and her now larger group. Luna caught something about a werepony in an alleyway and marched up the street, looking for the pony responsible for the tricks. As she looked she couldn't help but notice that a earth pony mare, dressed up like a Changeling of all things, had joined the group and was chatting with Peachy Keen. Luna was about to comment when something jumped her and she threw it off, tossing it into the open area.
"You're ruining my fun you know," the pony said, looking up to see Luna staring at him, "but if it's the Lunar Princess then I guess I'm cool with it."
"What? No fighting or begging?" Luna asked, shocked that the pony was even bothering to talk to her, "Well that's boring to say the least. And I thought wereponies weren't supposed to actually talk like a normal pony would."
"Then that means the illusion is strong," the stallion said, smiling a bit at her shocked face, "What? Did you honestly think that I was a real werepony running around scaring everypony I could find? Nah, I'm just a unicorn who had some help on his costume for Nightmare Night."
Sure enough the illusion faded until a normal looking Rocket Sky was standing there. He was wearing some sort of garments that allowed him to change his appearance at will, which had no doubt come from Twilight.
"Twilight, did you know about this?" Luna asked, turning to see the alicorn mare laughing.
"Of course I knew about it," Twilight answered, "Rarity was designing costumes for him and his friends when he came up with this little trick of his. Rarity designed the garments you see around his legs and I enchanted them. When I said he was putting the finishing touches on his costume I meant that he was getting ready to being his charade. Nicely done by the way."
"Thanks Twilight," Rocket said, "I couldn't have done it without your help and Rarity's lovely garments."
"Then you'll be taking them with you when we capture you," a voice behind him said, causing him to turn around and come face to face with a tall skinny dragon.
The dragon was black scaled and stared down at him, while two more appeared behind him. The other two were blue scaled and violet scaled. All Rocket knew was that he was in trouble. |
The After Party | XI: What a Fright | "What in the name of Faust are you three doing here?" Luna demanded, surprising Rocket and his friends with her choice of words, "You know the treaty makes it very clear that dragons are to stay in Dragon Territory and never directly come into any of our towns, cities, or settlements."
"Um, I honestly don't care," the black dragon said, clearly ignoring what the Lunar Princess had said, "Besides, we have no beef with you and the other Princesses currently. Sapphire, Violet, entertain our audience while I get what we came for."
"I always wanted to beat up some ponies," the blue dragon, Sapphire, cheerfully said as she approached a couple of bystanders.
"Keep your eyes on the prize Obsidian," Violet reminded the black dragon, "Keep your eyes on the prize."
"Come on sugarcube, let's fight them," Applejack was ready to go and defend those that the dragons were planning on hitting, "We can't let them hurt anypony."
"We physically can't do that Applejack," Twilight replied, hanging her head low, "The treaty Luna spoke of makes it so that any member of royalty, be they pony or dragon, that attacks any members of the other race declares open war."
"So we'll lose two of our fighters," Rainbow said, staring at the blue dragon, "Why should that matter to the rest of us?"
"Because the Elements of Harmony are included on the list of those who can cause open warfare," Obsidian declared, "We three aren't royalty, so our actions here won't cause a war."
"You still haven't answered me," Luna said, making the dragon face her, "Why are you here?"
Obsidian sighed and wrapped his hand around Rocket's neck quickly, turning towards the alicorn while holding his prisoner.
"See this pony in my hand?" he asked angrily, "He has an enormous amount of energy stored inside his body, just waiting to be released. How do we know he has that much energy? We can feel the magic in the air and we felt it only a few days ago when he released quite a large amount of it. We will turn the power of Rocket Sky against you all and then we'll eradicate the mare who holds power over everything in the whole of Equestria."
Chrysalis, having drunk herself into a drunken haze, looked up from her table to see some black creature holding the stallion she wanted to kidnap. She was sure that it was her mind playing tricks on her, but being drunk has that strange effect on ponies. She grinned her teeth and stood up, almost knocking the table over as she started walking towards the assembled group.
Behind her, now noticing the conflict before it happened, was the waiter who was supposed to have the night off and was working instead. He sighed and conjured his old set of armor, complete with a sword he used in case his magic were to ever fail him. Now properly prepared he walked behind the Changeling Queen, as she claimed to be anyway, and prepared to join the fight.
"You will not be taking Rocket anywhere you punk," Tick said, pulling his guitar out and plucking another nameless tune, "not if we have a say in it."
Wisdom hovered next to him, holding some sort of long wooden staff in his hooves, never taking his eyes off the dragons in front of him. Peachy, holding no weapon, stood next to her friends and her fox growled at the dragons. Rose growled and hoofed the ground, breaking the soil as she waited for one to strike.
"We can't just leave the fighting to them," Rainbow said, trying to join the fight but being pulled back by Twilight's magic.
"Yes we can Rainbow Dash," Twilight told her, "We can't cause war between the dragons and ponies. Let them do this since they aren't royal or part of the Elements of Harmony."
Wisdom flew over the two dragons as Tick unleashed a storm of musical waves at them, causing the dragons to advance towards him. He smiled and raised the guitar high above his head, preparing to smash it over the head of whichever dragon got near him first. Before he could even swing it Sapphire ripped it out of his magical grasp and slammed it into Tick's side, hitting him into the side of a building.
"Tick." Peachy shouted, turning on Sapphire and charging at her.
"Peachy, don't..." Wisdom said, realizing what was about to happen.
The dragon kicked Peachy in the side again and again until she was kneeling in the ground. Never had she tried to fight others and now when she did she was being beaten before raising a hoof.
"Oh no you didn't." Wisdom said, having tried to help his friends only to be stopped by Violet, "Your going down."
"Try it you stupid pony," Violet smirked, catching the end of the staff before receiving a hoof in her face.
Wisdom released his staff and slammed it into Violet's front foot, easily cracking the bones. The dragon growled and punched him in the chest, but he bounced back and struck her in her left armpit. Bone cracked and Violet screamed in pain, confused on how the staff was hurting her so much.
"Your pressure points are visible to me," Wisdom calmly said, turning the staff over until he slammed it on top of her head and knocked her out, "Now to rescue Rocket."
Before he could move Sapphire appeared in front of him and slammed her fist into his chest, which he blocked with his staff just in time. Unfortunately the staff shattered and her fist hit him square in the chest, cracking at least one of his ribs before he hit the ground. The blue dragon, he decided, was a monster in battle.
"Pitiful weaklings," Sapphire said, catching Rose by the neck and tossing her into a nearby building, "None of you are worth the effort it takes to fight you. Rocket Sky is as good as ours."
"Super Hoof of the Drunken Mare," Chrysalis shouted, her front right hoof blazing as she snuck up on Obsidian and struck him in the side, "Blazing Whiskey Punch."
Obsidian, after receiving the extremely weak punch, turned on the Changeling Queen and tossed her over Sapphire's head, causing her to hit the ground hard. She was quick to regain herself and charged at the blue dragon in her way, barely missing with her hoof this time. Before she could dodge she was moved out of Sapphire's way by magic, which turned out to be the waiter that had served her earlier. Only he was dressed in the armor of a Lunar Guard and carried what resembled a sword on his back.
"Ah, it is good to see you again Coffee Bean," Luna said, clearly pleased to see the unicorn stallion.
"Princess Luna, I take it an old captain has permission to engage the enemy?" the stallion asked, not taking his eyes off the dragons in front of him.
"Do what you must," Luna replied, turning to the letter she was only just starting to write.
"Who are you to interrupt our fun?" Sapphire asked, watching the stallion draw the sword on his back with his magic.
"The name is Coffee Bean," the stallion replied, holding the sword before him, "Ex-Captain of the Lunar Guard and personal mentor of one Captain Shining Armor."
Chrysalis, despite her drunken haze, knew the reputation the stallion had. She had heard of him while listening to Shining talk about his past while she was impersonating Princess Cadence. Coffee Bean was a legend among the Lunar and Solar Guards.
Sapphire charged at the stallion and swung her open hand at him, intending to rend the life out of him in one go, but found her attack blocked by the weapon he held. Coffee pushed his foe back and cut her chest lightly, causing her to think the wound was greater than what it actually was and faint. He smirk and approached the black dragon, spinning the sword as moved. Obsidian never moved once as his friends fell and that meant he was planning something.
Obsidian smirked and tossed Rocket into the air before rushing towards Coffee Bean and spinning around to dodge the arch of his sword. Before the stallion could react he slammed his fist into the armor and dented it before kicking it even harder, this time shattering the underbelly. Coffee stumbled backwards and, before he could even raise his sword in defense, received another blow to the chest, this time causing him to flip into the air. Obsidian appeared above him and slammed his fist into Coffee's exposed chest, crushing him into the ground and cracking the area around them.
Before catching Rocket Obsidian turned towards Chrysalis, if it truly was her, and smacked her across the face before slamming her into the ground. Then he caught Rocket by the horn and held him up, showing that not even the group of heroes could save the unicorn from his fate.
"You will claim to not know the power that this pony wields?" Obsidian asked, not that anypony had said that they didn't know he had power, "You will claim to know that he is trustworthy and all the nonsense that I know you'll claim to actually know. But allow me to show you exactly how powerful this unicorn truly is when he's not aware of his own actions."
With that said Obsidian raised Rocket into the air and slammed the base of his horn across his waiting keen, breaking the unicorn's horn in half. The shockwave that emitted after the deed was done knocked over Chrysalis and Coffee Bean, but everypony was surprise by the expression they saw on Rocket's face. His expression was of shock and his eyes were not moving, just staring straight ahead.
Pathetic.
Luna recognized the voice; it was the same one that had spoken that one word before Rocket took down the Ursa Major. Whatever the voice was didn't seem happy at all.
Without me you would have died. This time will be different.
Music
"What is this strange music?" Twilight asked, looking around for the source, but finding nothing.
Energy began to gather around Rocket as one of his legs got up, but instead of it being a normal pony leg it was the leg of a werepony. As Rocket got up it almost looked like his costume had come alive and was taking over, but his eyes were colored black with a golden center. When he was fully up he roared and almost everypony in the area seemed scared by what had happened.
"This is what we get for watching Bleach before eating those damned cupcakes," Peachy said, watching her poor friend as his horn regenerated itself.
"Instant Regeneration?" Luna asked, "That's impossible."
Obsidian laughed and said, "This is the form the creature known as Rocket Sky has chosen. Fear this form and the massive power that it contains."
Rocket grabbed Obsidian and tossed him into the air, surprising the dragon. Before he could react he was battered from every side by the quickest moving pony he had ever met. Just when he thought it was over he was thrown higher into the sky and he barely noticed his friends had joined him. Rocket landed on the ground and looked up at the three, energy beginning to form above his horn again.
Music
"Stop him," Peachy pleaded to anypony who would listen, "Stop him before he fires that...thing..."
Rose, despite her weakened form, ran up to the stallion and pounded on his chest. "Snap out of it Rocket," she shouted, the orb growing larger, "Don't do something that you'll regret."
Despite her efforts the orb fired and a huge wide beam of energy soared towards the three dragons in the sky and she feared that she was too late.
"Screen Divide," a voice shouted as the beam split in half and barely missed the dragons as they soared off into the distance.
Rocket growled as none other than Princess Celestia landed in front of him with Cadence right behind her.
"His power is great," Celestia said, her magic bound to Rocket's front right leg, "but it shall be bound."
Luna and Cadence followed suit, binding their magic to his front left leg and his back left leg. Twilight nodded and bound his back right leg, sealing the power by the combined might of the four alicorns. Rocket gave a low growl as his body returned to normal and collapsed to the ground.
"Now we all must discuss this turn of events," Celestia said, turning to leave, "but first we must wipe this night from the minds of everypony in Ponyville and deliver these dragons to the guards."
That was all Peachy remembered before everything went blank. |
The After Party | XII: Forbidden Conversation | "Luna, what in Faust's name are you withholding from me?"
That was the question that Celestia asked her sister as the Princesses transported the body of Rocket Sky directly to Canterlot after taming his power. His friends Wisdom, Peachy, Tick, and the pony dressed as a Changeling were left behind with the rest of the sleeping population of Ponyville. The only pony that came along with them was Coffee Bean, who had the three dragons that had caused the whole mess magically bound.
Luna had remained silent the entire trip, keeping her magic on the stallion in case his power was to erupt again. She was mauling over all the details that she had learned about the stallion. His power was immense, powerful enough to restore a severed horn and change his physical form into something that he wasn't.
If that had truly been the Changeling Queen Chrysalis then that might have meant that she was willing to aid the ponies she had tried to conquer from another threat. Luna also wondered if the Dragon King was going to come and wage war on them.
That was the question that rang in the ears of Cadence and Twilight, making them wonder how much more that they didn't know about Rocket Sky. It was the question that made Coffee Bean be on the watch for anything funny from both the dragons and the stallion's limb body. It was, more importantly, the question that was annoying Luna more than it should have been.
The Princesses were joined by Prince Shining Armor, who had left the Crystal Kingdom shortly after his wife had left for Canterlot and Ponyville. He was glad to see his old mentor again, but considering what was happening he kept a straight face and followed the Princesses. Together the group descended deep into the bowels of Canterlot Castle, heading past the dungeons and the crystal caves altogether. When they stopped they stopped in front of a huge golden door, which opened to reveal a room with a huge prison like cell made completely out of crystal.
"What is this place?" Cadence asked as Rocket was placed in the center of the crystal prison.
"A special holding place we developed a millenium ago," Celestia answered, closing the door with a hollow thud, "A room designed for holding those who could pose a serious threat to Equestria. Rocket Sky, with how powerful his magic is, is now considered a threat and must be dealt with. We must figure out what his power is and find a way to destroy it before it can harm anypony.
And that reminds me Luna; just exactly how much have you been withholding from me?"
"I wasn't sure if I should have told you," Luna began, stopping as her sister got up in her face.
"What did he do?" Celestia asked.
"He was being attacked by Changelings and an Ursa Major not long ago..." Luna began, only to be interrupted again.
"Then how is he still alive?" Celestia demanded.
"Its his power," Luna said, "It awakened in his time of need and destroyed the Ursa Major. It said 'weakling' or something like that and obliterated the Major. Whatever it is appears whenever Rocket needs it, just like last night."
"I swear if he evolves into an alicorn we'll have to seal him away," Celestia exclaimed, shocking her fellow Princesses, "If his power takes control and takes that form we'll have no choice but to seal him away until he can control it."
A groan reached her ears, so she turned towards the cell and watched as Rocket's power awakened yet again. Only this time instead of turning him into some sort of werepony creature he opened his eyes and displayed the same golden color as before. Chains shot off the wall and attached to him legs, which were to prevent him or the creature from moving much or using their power to escape.
"So, your awake," Celestia said, turning to face the stallion, "You will answer my questions. Who are you?"
"Who?" the stallion asked, almost sounding possessed and evil, "Ah, Princess Celestia, Rocket has great respect for you, your sister, and Cadence."
"And what about me?" Twilight asked.
"He has much more respect for you," the stallion answered, turning his head towards Twilight.
"Hey, answer my question," Celestia said, "Who the buck are you?"
"Hehehe," the stallion said, hanging his head low for a second, "My name is Dark Sky. I am the power that rests within Rocket, awakened whenever he needs me to save his flank from being killed by creatures like the Ursa Major."
"Next question; are you evil or a threat to Equestria?"
"Now that is the question isn't it?" Dark asked, toying with the Princess now, "Am I, the power of Rocket Sky, evil? Am I a threat to the safety of your precious ponies and the treaties you've established? Foolish Celestia, of course I am evil. Does the fact that I take over Rocket's body and change him against his will mean nothing to you and your fellow Princesses?"
"You wont be leaving this prison anytime soon," Celestia threw back, "These crystals will prevent you from leaving as those chains restrict the magic that courses through your body. Sure, you may take over Rocket and change him into a monster bent on destroying everything, but you wont be leaving the cell. And even if you were to escape this cell you would be destroyed by the magic of the six of us."
"SISTER!" Luna exclaimed, shocked by her sister's choice of words, "You can't leave Rocket to the fact of losing himself to his power and becoming something that he's not. You can't expect us to just stand by and let him lose himself, only to destroy him whenever he escapes."
"Of course we can," Celestia countered, "I will not allow the ponies of Equestria to be harmed by whatever Dark makes out of Rocket. Of course we can end this now by sealing him away on the moon or somewhere where nopony will ever find him."
Energy seemed to gather in the room, but Celestia knew that none of them were even attempting to use magic, so she turned to the cell and her blood went cold. Dark was powering up another one of those energy attacks, except that this one was aimed right at the cell and the crystal wall it was built into. She threw her magic at the prison and stood her ground, making it harder for the stallion to break his way through it. In an instant the chains shattered and the attacked fired, blasting a hole in the crystal wall despite Celestia's magic helping it.
"Catch him," Celestia cried, her magic looping around the stallion as he passed her.
"Nice try Celestia," Dark grinned, the magic slipping off of him as he raced up the stairs.
Celestia and the other Princesses ran at the walls surrounding the door and opened magical gateways that would allow them to travel up to the top of the stairs so they could beat him. Shining Armor and Coffee Bean followed from behind, their magic ready to take Dark down when they reached the top. As they soon found out magic was gathering around Dark, which meant he was likely powering up another attack for when he reached the top.
Celestia and the others appeared in the hallway, facing the door as they waited for the stallion to arrive. Their magic was ready to paralyze him so he could be returned to the prison and then likely sealed away so he didn't harm anypony. They heard his hooves hitting the stairs and prepare to loose their stun spells, but what happened next caught them completely off guard. As Dark appeared his magic activated and suddenly he was gone, the sound of a sonic rainbow echoing in the air.
"Where did he go?" Shining asked as he Coffee Bean emerged.
"No clue," Twilight answered, "but considering Rocket's friends are in Ponyville we should check there first."
Celestia nodded and they departed for Ponyville at once, though she hoped that they would arrive in time to stop Dark from doing anything to the sleeping ponies there. |
The After Party | XIII: Discovery | Twilight looked around the area, her eyes scanning for any magical trace of Rocket Sky. She wasn't going to banish him to some random location that would keep him there for a thousand years or more. She wasn't the kind of mare. She certainly wasn't going to kill him just because he had an intense amount of magical energy. And she wasn't going to let Celestia do the poor stallion in either.
Besides, none of the four Princesses had any luck finding any trace of Rocket. And that was really starting to irritate Princess Celestia, who was currently floating over the town on a huge white cloud. That was until they heard Spike shouting and went to investigate, finding him by Sugarcube Corner of all places.
"Twilight," the baby dragon exclaimed, hugging the mare as the four arrived, "There's been a break in at the library. I don't know who would break into a library, but he was still there when I left."
"Found you Dark Sky," Celestia growled, taking to teleporting the lot of them directly to the library, "Now it is time to...end you?"
They found no mess, no destruction, and no bloody mess. Instead they found the body of a sleeping stallion, who laid on the spare bed and seemed at peace with the world around him. Celestia's magic glowed and sharpened her horn, which she would then use to drive the point home with him. Even as she approached the stallion she found herself not opposed by Cadence or her sister, but her student of all ponies.
"Step aside Twilight," she commanded, "This must be done for the safety of all ponies."
"I can't just let you kill him," Twilight said, "Look at him; the chains are still intact. He isn't destroying the town or torturing anypony. He's just sleeping. He's thrown the monster back where it belongs. If you think the monster is waiting for us to lower our guard then take a look at his eyes and tell me that I'm wrong."
Celestia knew that whenever somepony was asked by Twilight to prove her wrong things tended to go wrong. So, being very careful, Celestia approached the sleeping stallion and used her magic to slowly open his eyes, just in case Dark was waiting for them. But when she opened his eyes she found the stallion staring back at her with his normal eyes and that dispelled her magic.
"Fine," Celestia softly said, "We'll leave him alone. I fully expect you to watch his power. We still might need to seal him away if things get out of hoof."
"I will watch over him," Twilight promised, "after all, he is part of my population now."
"We will come back in a week," Luna commented, "Take that time to analyze Rocket as much as you can. I'd hate for my sister to do something that she might regret later on."
"As would I," Cadence agreed, "Me and Shining have to get back to the Crystal Empire. It's nothing too serious, but one can never be too careful these days."
Twilight nodded and the three Princesses vanished, returning to Canterlot so they could prepare. She, however, was going to have to keep a close eye on Rocket in case something strange happened. And she also had to tell Spike about what she had learned about their guest.
Near where the dragons had once stood stirred a pony, but she wasn't like any pony that anypony had seen for a long time. 067 groaned and snapped her neck before making sure nothing was wrong with her body. Before anypony else woke up from their magical slumber she resumed her Rose Petal disguise, sighing to herself as she noticed a drunken Chrysalis on the ground.
Of course the Queen gets drunk, she thought, but why did she get drunk after working instead of waiting for Nightmare Night to come around?
The town looked like Nightmare Night had already happened, but she couldn't remember anything from the previous night no matter how hard she tried. That must have meant that Nightmare Night was going to happen soon and the town needed to be awake for that to happen. And Chrysalis needed to sleep off her drunken state before she could resume her disguise.
So Rose picked the body of the drunken Queen up and quickly moved to her house, where she could then lay her in bed before searching for the rest of the guards. They had to be somewhere around Ponyville. Or maybe they had already awoken and were waiting at her house before searching for the Queen.
Rose arrived at her house a few minutes later and found the door locked, which meant that nopony had entered it in the last couple of hours. It also meant that the Changeling Guards weren't inside waiting for her to arrive before they began their search. Rose also decided that the guards were just stupid and took the spare key from its hiding place behind the flower pot. Once inside she went upstairs and gently put Chrysalis on one of the beds, tucking her in slightly before turning around and heading back towards the front door.
Upon leaving her house she journeyed back to where she had awoken, hoping that she would find her new friends scattered about as she had seen earlier. She arrived quickly and found that Inner Wisdom, Tick Tock, and Peachy Keen were fast asleep like the rest of Ponyville. Rose smiled and gathered some water, lightly drenching the three of them and dispelling her magic before they would even notice.
"Buck," Tick shouted, shaking himself off as he got up, "Why does everypony decide that the best option for waking somepony up is to drench them in water?"
Rose left like laughing; it seemed like Tick was used to being drenched in water. Though he was still angry as he moved Peachy onto her side.
"Ugh, what happened?" Peachy asked, shaking her head to clear her mind, "My side hurts and I feel like a chunk of my memory has been removed or erased. Wasn't Nightmare Night supposed to be TONIGHT?"
"I thought the same thing," Rose answered, "but it seems that we all, meaning the whole of Ponyville, might have indulged in some sort of drunken party and can't remember what we did last night."
Rose knew that her assumption would only work for those who were in Ponyville during the previous night and not those who were, say, in the Everfree Forest. And seeing how she hadn't seen the Changeling guards yet she wondered if they had ventured into the Everfree and had yet to return. She thought about it so much that she heard Peachy say something and had to ask her to repeat it.
"I asked if you have seen Rocket around anywhere," Peachy repeated.
"I haven't seen him yet," Rose answered, her mind racing to remember where he could be at the moment, "I guess he might be in the library right now."
"Of course he is in the library," Wisdom piped up, appearing behind her, "He was assigned to live in the library with Princess Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike. Let's head over there."
Rose smiled and followed the three ponies to the library, watching the sleeping ponies as they passed them and wondering if they would awaken soon. Peachy seemed worried that something big might have happened and none of them could remember it at all. Tick wasn't too worried; his guitar was whole and he seemed to enjoy plucking nameless tunes on it while they walked. Wisdom, on the other hoof, seemed to be looking around as if he suspected that somepony was going to jump out at him and attack him.
When they arrived at the library they found Twilight standing over the sleeping form of Rocket, but there was something strange about him. Attached to his legs, all four of them, were the cuffs of chains that were snapped. The cuffs were very much intact, but Twilight seemed unconcerned for the fact that they were on Rocket.
"Are we interrupting something?" Wisdom asked, startling Twilight and causing her to turn towards them, "Because it feels like we missed out on something."
"Oh, its nothing," Twilight said, turning away to face Wisdom floating in front of her, "It is nothing that you need to concern yourself with. I'm just making sure that he's safe the excitement of last night."
"A likely explanation," Wisdom countered, "but I know something happened last night that made you and the other princesses cast a memory wipe on the town."
"You shouldn't even remember that part," Twilight exclaimed.
"Hey Twilight," a voice came from upstairs, "When are we going to tell the others about the monstrous power that resides within...Rocket Sky?"
Spike stalled his question a bit as he reached the bottom of the stairs and stared at the assembled ponies already gathered in the library. Twilight cursed herself for telling the baby dragon and now she had to deal with the ponies that were Rocket's closest friends.
"Of course it's his power," Wisdom said, as if that summed everything up, "Something happened last night that awakened the power and saved his life, but in the process that has made Celestia fear him. So tell me Twilight, what happened last night?"
Twilight sighed and gave in, the stallion already knew too much about last night. When she finished the short tale she was shocked to see that Peachy was shaking, Wisdom was passive, Tick must have ignored her since he was playing with the guitar still, and Rose wasn't moved by the information.
"That explains it," Rocket said, getting up and staring at the now shocked assembly, "I can fake sleeping fairly easily, but now I know why those Changelings were after me a few days ago. They're after the power I contain."
"Wait, what Changelings?" Twilight asked, "There haven't been any Changeling sightings around Ponyville lately."
"Doesn't matter," Wisdom commented, "They chased him and now we know they're after him."
"I'm heading to the Everfree Forest," Rocket said, his horn glowing, "Don't expect to see me for a couple of hours."
Before Twilight could stop him Rocket was gone and the magic trace failed to hang in the air for once. His skill in magic was improving if he could erase his magical trace in a instant. Rose sighed, his friends seemed unsurprised by the fact that their friend had such powerful magic.
Rose was going to say something, but then she noticed the flash of a black coated Changeling. The guards were returning to the town and they needed to report to the Queen. Or report to the next in command since the Queen was drunk off her flank right now. Rose excused herself from the library and headed home, now seeing that some of the citizens were awakening at last.
When she returned to her house and opened the door she found all thirteen of the guards waiting for her inside her house, just standing around for anypony to see if the door was opened wider.
"About time you guys showed up," she angrily said, closing the door behind her as she focused on them, "In case you haven't noticed the entire town is waking up and the Queen is drunk."
"That explains why she wasn't responding to our calls," the leader of the capture team, 008, said, "We thought she was in disguise again and couldn't take the time to respond because she was chatting with somepony else. Though it appears that we have a slight...problem..."
"Yes?" Rose prompted, eager to hear what could be a problem for thirteen of the highest guards in the Changeling ranks, "And this problem would be what exactly?"
"The Princesses are keeping taps on Rocket Sky," 008 replied, "Apparently something happened last night with three teenage dragons and his power went crazy. We kind of had a guard follow them to Canterlot and listen in on their conversation before returning here to inform the rest of us."
"I already figured that out by following his friends and listening to Twilight," Rose told him, pausing as she heard a knock on her door, "Quickly, head upstairs and wait until I call for you all."
The thirteen Changelings turned invisible and headed upstairs, mainly because Rose didn't want anypony to accidentally see one head upstairs before the door was closed. When she heard the click she opened her door and found a fully awakened Derpy Hooves, dressed up for work, waiting for her.
"Ah, Miss Rose Petal," the mailmare said, lifting a letter out of her bag, "I have a letter for Miss Salad Top. Can I trust you give this to her?"
"Course you can," Rose answered, wondering how the mare had known Chrysalis was at her house anyway as she took the letter, "I will deliver it to her immediately."
"Good," Derpy said, popping a muffin into her mouth, "Well then, I'll be seeing you later Rose."
"Bye Derpy," Rose called, watching the mare vanish as she stared at the dark green seal on the letter and recognized it immediately.
She closed the door, locked it up tight, and headed upstairs to find all the guards standing around a now awakened Queen Chrysalis.
"About time you showed up," Chrysalis commented, "I have debriefed the guards and I know Rocket Sky is within my grasp still...what is that in your hoof?"
"A letter from the Elder Council," Rose answered, handing the letter over, "I can tell by the seal that was put on it."
"Faust almighty what do they want this time?" Chrysalis angrily said, tearing the letter open and beginning to read it out loud, "Take account for my actions, be questioned by the council, and be there in one weeks time? Dang it Zircon, why couldn't you leave me alone for once?"
"My Queen?" 008 asked, curious, "Is everything alright?"
"I must return to the Hive," Chrysalis said, the letter burning up in her anger, "The thirteen of you will be coming with me to the Hive while I answer the summons. Rose, stay here and do whatever you want."
As Chrysalis assumed her Salad Top disguise Rose couldn't help but wonder if something else was up besides what Chrysalis had said. And what was up with the council sending a letter directly to Chrysalis? Rose sighed and figured she would find out eventually. |
The After Party | XIV: Taming the Demon | And so Rose Petal was left alone in her house, which had long served as the base for the Changelings in Ponyville since their defeat in Canterlot. She had hidden them whenever they needed protection and housed them when they needed to tend to their wounds, but for once she was truly alone. She didn't have to listen to Chrysalis in her head, barking orders that she didn't want to do. Now she could head into the Everfree Forest and find Rocket without being worried that she was being followed by her brothers and sisters.
So she left the house and locked the door tight, not that she had many personal items in her house anyway. She headed towards the edge of Ponyville, passing ponies who were now awakening and going on with their day as if nothing strange had happened. Only Twilight, the Elements of Harmony, and Rocket's friends would know that had happened last night and she was sure they would keep their lips sealed. Unless Spike let it slip again.
She smiled and said hi to everypony that she passed, stopping to help some as she went. Though she couldn't help but wonder how Derpy wasn't destroying anything right now. She sighed and stopped as she found herself at the edge of the town already, the trees standing tall over her. The last time she had been here she had been in the presence of Chrysalis and her guards, but now she was alone and she worried that some sort of monster might get to her.
She stepped into the trees and began her search for Rocket, who was likely deep in the forest and far away from Ponyville in general. He had only been gone for an hour and Rose was surprised that Twilight and her friends weren't already searching for him. She was more surprised that his own friends weren't already in the forest tearing the place apart looking for him. At least that meant that she didn't have to worry about noise driving him even deeper into the forest then he already was.
She stepped on a twig and snapped it, quickly freezing as she took a look at what was around her. She didn't want to run into something already and wanted to be sure she knew what her foe was before it even got near her. She didn't see any creatures around her, so she moved onward, being more careful as she pressed on. Not even a minute later she heard a roar that seemed like a possessed creature and a explosion further along the path, so she began to sprint.
When she arrived at the site of the explosion she saw two huge holes in the ground, one freshly made while the other was a few days old. She didn't see any trace of Rocket, so she moved on and searched for any signs of him or his massive power. She had a feeling that the two of them might be fighting for control and were destroying everything in the process.
About an hour later, after so much running around, Rose was tired and very sure that she wasn't going to find Rocket anytime soon. And she couldn't exactly turn around and head home anymore either. She had somehow lost her way and was now lost in the Everfree Forest, using the sounds of whatever she heard to guide her. Rose thought of her Changeling brothers and wondered if they were doing alright with the constant watching over of Chrysalis when she heard a slight humming.
She turned to the north slightly and moved quietly, using her Changeling training in case she came upon a monster or two along the way. She emerged from the trees to find an area with a waterfall ,a huge lake, and a small island in the center of it all. Sitting in the direct center of the small island was none other then Rocket Sky, but his eyes were closed and he seemed like he was meditating. He was humming something as he allowed his magic to freely fill the area around him, which made it a mystery as to why Twilight wasn't already here.
Rose leaned against a tree and relaxed her eyes, watching the stallion be at peace. She smiled and closed her eyes, allowing her tired body to succumb to sleep as the humming filled her ears and relaxed her mind. In a matter of seconds she was knocked out, leaning on the tree as she slept.
When Rose awoke it was to the shinning sun in her eyes, which stung slightly. She got up and stretched her body, silently wishing she could change back so she could stretch her wings as well. The idea stuck in her mind and she looked around, finding that Rocket's eyes were closed like last she checked, so she removed her disguise and stretched her stiff wings. She would have started flying too, but she was afraid that the noise might alert Rocket to her presence and she didn't want that.
She returned to her disguise form and laid on the ground, watching the still body of Rocket for a couple of minutes. She silently cursed herself for not bringing along anything to do once she had found the stallion and settled for hoofing the ground slightly. She noticed that there were a lot of broken twigs and branches scattered around the area, so she smiled and began constructing something to pass the time. It wasn't much, but it provided her with something to do while she waited for the stallion to awaken or even open his eyes for once.
An hour passed as she worked and eventually she had cleaned up the area around where she had been sleeping, making a nice little hut. Along with the hut she had started making a wooden barricade and a spot for a fireplace when she got around to starting fires. Plus she even built in a second rest area for Rocket, considering he might just sleep on the small island the entire time he was here.
She heard some growls and noticed that a group of timberwolves, more mature than the one Tick had, had entered the area and were approaching the lake. They took no notice of her, but instead focused on the stallion and the lake. Rose sighed and got up, quietly moving towards them as they began to make their way across the water towards Rocket. As Rose realized their intended target Rocket's eyes snapped open and the three wolves were crushed in an instant with magic. Rose gulped as she watched the pieces hit the water, not gathering together and reforming the poor wolves.
The pack of timberwolves were dead for sure, that much Rose knew for sure.
Rocket groaned and held his left hoof against the ground, which caused the water in the area to ripple before calming down quickly. Rose noticed that the tip of his hoof had turned a strange pure white color with a red aura gathering around it. But as quickly as the changes had occurred they receded back to wherever they had come from, leaving the stallion normal once again. Rose returned to her little area and watched the stallion, who seemed to be staring at her but not noticing her at all.
The day passed slowly for Rose, but she spent it gathering necessary tools that seemed to be scattered around the immediate area and berries that she could eat when she got hungry. Every once and a while she would stare at the stallion and she would find that he hadn't moved, which worried her to no end. So she built more of her wooden barricade and just relaxed, though she moved her huts closer to the water.
Night rolled around and with it came the undoing of Rose's disguise, though she willingly returned to her natural Changeling form and not the one she took the most often. The reality that she was actually taller then most Changelings still upset her, the larger wings made her an easier target while flying, and the longer horn was completely unnecessary. Even the small crown on her head was unnecessary. She cursed the princess form that she held and cursed Chrysalis for being her mother. She laid her head down on the ground of her makeshift hut and closed her eyes, silently hoping for Rocket to be okay.
Again morning rolled on past her and she continued her building, surprised that the stallion had not moved a single inch from where the center of the island. Rose figured that it could have been his way of dealing with the excess amount of power, but it almost seemed like he should have been able to control everything. She sighed and gathered the pieces of the long dead timberwolves, deciding to add them to her buildings while she worked.
As the day slowly passed Rose found herself fighting off all sorts of creatures that decided that they wanted to fight the stallion. She fought lions, tigers, bears, a swarm of wasps that she repelled with magic, a pack of strangely behaving birds, and a manticore. When she chased off the last of the challengers she returned to her hut area and laid down as she munched on one of the berries she had picked. She smiled and looked around, glad that she had done something useful with her spare time.
One thing was out of place though; Rocket was no longer on the island.
Rose bolted onto her legs and looked around frantically, trying to locate the stallion her mother was after. She finally found him standing at the base of the waterfall, though it looked like he was soaking his head so he could clear his mind. Rose calmed down and returned to laying on the ground, watching both the stars and Rocket in case he moved yet again. Before she knew it she was fast asleep yet again.
Something whacked her on the head and she snapped her eyes open to see that it was still nighttime, though Rocket was standing in front of her. It was actually more like she was being held in the air at his level with his own magic and pinned to the wall of the hut she had made. The only difference Rose could see was that his eyes were a unusual golden color, surrounded by a second pure black color. Oh, and he was smiling like a mad stallion.
"What do we have here?" Rocket sounded possessed by the power, a demon free to walk Equestria. "A Changeling spy for the vile Queen? I would have expected a spy like yourself to hide herself in the trees and watch from the shadows, not camping on the outskirts of your target's chosen location. You are pathetic."
"Your pathetic demon," Rose replied, feeling her throat close up a bit, "Taking over a poor stallion and using his power to cause chaos is pretty low for something like you."
"A demon am I?" the creature asked, laughing as he swung her into the sand and held her there, "Foolish Changeling, I am not a DEMON as you call me. I am the pure undiluted darkness that resides within 'poor' Rocket Sky. I am Dark Sky, a stallion born in darkness with the ability to wield great and terrible power."
"What you are is a thief Dark," Rose countered, spitting sand out of her mouth, "A coward who steals from everypony around him, not just the one whose body you've already stolen. Born in darkness? I say that your just Rocket's power seeking attention and this is the best you could come up with."
She was then thrown across the water to the small island, where she landed hard on her side. She barely had time to register the sudden pain when she felt Dark land on top of her and pin her to the ground.
"A thief am I?" the evil stallion challenged, "No Rose Petal, or whatever your real name is, you and your brothers and sisters are the true thieves. You steal emotions to feed yourselves and gain the power to topple countries, all without concern for those whose lives you've ruined. Go ahead, call me a thief, a coward, an attention seeker, but remember that your race is cursed to be the exact same as me, living in the darkness."
"We don't kill anypony though," Rose countered, "Most Changelings take what they need and leave the rest alone so they don't waste resources. You, on the other hoof, are a murderer. You kill when it suits you. You honestly don't care what happens to Rocket as long as you get his power. If my mother released you Equestria would cease to exist."
"That;s the point my dear," Dark happily said, "I will conquer all of Equestria and end the rule of Celestia completely. The Lunar Princess will be chained on her precious Moon as her sister is locked away in the Sun itself. The Princess of Love will be cast down into eternal hate with no escape in sight for her. The Princess of Magic will suffer as magic tears her bonds to pieces and she falls to the darkest of magic."
"Your a monster," Rose shouted, "Come on Rocket, fight him. You aren't a monster, he is."
"Foolish mare," Dark shouted, holding his head as the magic around him began to break, "I will return and when I do you will be the first one to fall to my power."
Everything that made Dark Sky vanished in an instant and Rocket laid there, breathing hard as if it was a burden on his body by having Dark possess him. He seemed so peaceful while he slept, so Rose activated her magic and lifted him into the air, moving back to her rest area. After crossing the water she laid Rocket down in the second hut before retiring to her own hut. The darkness may have been beaten today, but who knows when it would emerge yet again. Falling asleep proved to be easier tonight and soon Rose dozed off.
Morning arrived like usual and Rose smiled as she stared up at the sky. She was glad that the Princesses had yet to find Rocket, but she was getting worried that his friends hadn't done anything yet. When she thought the stallion would still be asleep when she emerged she found that she was dead wrong.
Rocket sat in the center of her small area, his magic constructing what seemed like a long wooden bridge for when he got tired from his activities. He didn't seem to notice her arrival from the hut, so Rose laid down behind him and watched him work. His skill in magic was to die for and now Rose knew why her mother wanted him so badly. Then she noticed that the water in the lake was rippling, almost like it was responding to the magic emitting from Rocket's horn.
"About time you awoke," the stallion said, surprising Rose as he continued his work, "I didn't know if you were going to be okay after the beating you received from Dark so I let your body do the healing for you. I caught the entire conversation between the two of you and I'm a little hurt Rose. Are you actually a Changeling or are you messing with me?"
"I'm a Changeling Princess to be exact," Rose answered, hanging her head a bit low, "My mother, Queen Chrysalis, has been searching for a way to turn the Hive around after our defeat in Canterlot. My father, the Elder of Wisdom Zircon, and the rest of the Elder Council forbid Chrysalis from going to attack Princess Celestia and she defied them. Now she has been summoned back to the Hive to be questioned by them and she left me here, alone at long last."
"Why haven't you taken over the Hive then?" Rocket asked, facing her as he asked the question.
"I don't want to rule the Hive," Rose replied, lifting her head, "I may be the Princess, but I want nothing to do with the warmongering of my mother. I was always told that I would follow in her footsteps and would be a much crueler Queen then she could ever be, but my father always told me that my destiny lied elsewhere in Equestria."
"If your a Changeling then doesn't that mean your name isn't Rose Petal?" Rocket asked, receiving a nod, "Then what is your true name? A Princess has to have a name."
"I'm called 067 by my mother," Rose answered, sighing softly, "and Rose Petal by my friends. Only my father has called me Viscarias, which is my true name. My mother wont call me by that name because it would mean acknowledging that she has an heir to the throne that she doesn't want to lose."
"That's a pretty name," Rocket said, shocking the Changeling Princess, "Hail Princess Viscarias of the Changeling Hive."
"Oh stop it," Rose said, blushing slightly, "So, what are you doing out here by yourself exactly. It doesn't seem to be just exploring that your after."
"I'm...trying to tame Dark Sky," Rocket slowly replied, shaking his head, "trying to tame the power the rests within me. He is a beast, a monster that destroys whatever he can when I'm in trouble and a fighter who doesn't care what side somepony is on. I need to tame him before he makes me do something I regret and I already regret involving you in all of this madness."
"Oh stop it already," Rose said, "You will fight Dark and you will win. I know that you have the persistence and the determination to end this once and for all. Your magic, be it Dark or yourself, is keeping the Princess from finding your whereabouts until you finish this dance with your inner darkness. You need to confront Dark directly and finish this, for the sake of everypony in Equestria."
"If you honestly think I should get it over with then I might as well show you the truth," Rocket said, putting down the bridge and approached the water, "There is a reason I chose this place as my area to meditate and fight Dark, it has special properties that you likely don't know about.
Come on out Dark Sky. Let us finish this."
At first nothing happened, but then the bubbling of the water increased until Rose was sure that it would explode and drench Rocket. Next thing she knew a pony emerged from the waters, but what was shocking was that the pony was an exact replica of Rocket. The only difference between the two was that the newcomer had a pure white coat, same colored hair, and the same eyes that Dark had.
"So, you dare to summon me into the real world?" the pony asked, sounding exactly like Dark did, "Your arrogance will be your downfall Rocket."
"Quiet Dark," Rocket commanded, his horn already lighting up, "I summoned you to fight, not to talk and annoy me. We will fight and you will die."
"Right back at you Rocket," Dark said, rushing out of the water quickly.
The two magic's clashed and the water split as Rose watched the conflicting energies fight. Rocket seemed confident that he could best his darkness, but then again Dark also seemed confident that he could best his light. They both summoned strange bladed weapons, similar to the Royal Guards spears yet different at the same time, and rushed at each other as the magic faded. The meeting of the two weapons split the ground around them, not like they were paying attention to where they were anyway.
Rose watched as Dark retreated and dodged an attack that made the sand explode on impact, turning around to return the favor and finding his weapon was met by Rocket's. Dark flipped into the air and charged his magic, which soon took the shape of the same dangerous orb at he had used twice so far. Rose recognized it from the tales that her mother told and wondered if Rocket could do something similar to Dark's attack, but when she looked she saw that he wasn't doing anything.
Right as the orb fired Rocket appeared behind his darkness and the spell broke apart in an instant. Sticking out of Dark's body was the bladed weapon of Rocket, which meant he was weaponless if the darkness attacked again. Instead of attacking Dark growled and fell to the ground, slowly turning to what seemed like a black mass. It hit the center of the small island and the ground shook as it faced Rocket, who stared down at it.
Rose was amazed; Rocket had managed to outsmart his darkness and had seemed to pierce its very core. But as she watched them fight she noticed that the barrier that seemed to protect the area faded away into nonexistence. If either one of them fired another high level spell it would alert the Princesses to their location. Unless they had already felt the disturbance and were on their way here right now.
"Come up behind me Rose," Rocket said, some sort of glowing cube appearing before his hooves as he levitated in the air, "I don't want to catch you in this attack."
Rose scrambled into the air and went behind him, watching as he approached the shadowy mass with the strange cube.
"I'm sorry Dark, but this is for the best," Rocket said, holding the cube in front of him, "Time for you to return to where you belong."
The next thing Rose knew the shadowy mass was gone and so was the cube, but Rocket seemed to be fine. They returned to the ground and Rose quickly assumed her disguise as four alicorns landed around them. Rose sighed, it seemed like they had a lot of explaining to do. Then again when wasn't there a lot of explaining when she was dealing with Rocket Sky and the amazing power that he contained. |
The After Party | XV: The Elder Council | Chrysalis stood at the doors to the Elder Council's meeting hall, all the way in the forgotten lands and in the depths of the Hive itself. The seven gathered in the Hive and usually a Queen or King of the Hive needed their permission to go to war. Chrysalis had forsaken that rule after they had decreed that she would fail in her invasion and had gone after Canterlot anyway, though she failed in the end. Now here she was, standing at the gate to the room that she had been in only one other time in her entire life.
So why was it she was scared of what lied behind those doors?
The Council knew many things and the fact that they had called her all the way back to the Hive wasn't a good thing. They didn't summon Changelings for fun and games, they summoned them if something bad had happened or they needed to understand something. They must have known about her blunder in Canterlot and were going to see what she was planning since had not returned to the Hive since the wedding. And here she was, waiting for their caretaker to tell her that they were ready for the Changeling Queen to enter their chamber.
Lucky for her Chrysalis had already sent the thirteen guards on a break so she could ponder everything without having to worry them needlessly. They were her worries and nopony else, not even her guards, needed to concern themselves with them. She had a great deal of things that she wanted to say to Zircon now that they were going to see each other again, but she suspected that she would not be given the chance to do so.
"Chrysalis, the Elder Council will see you now."
The changeling caretaker seemed to appear out of thin air, but Chrysalis knew better. Changeling magic allowed the caretaker to do that, but the fact he had appeared out of thin air wasn't what annoyed her. What annoyed her was the fact that she hadn't been called by her title, which meant that Zircon was trying to piss her off again.
"Okay then," she said, getting up and heading for the door, "Let's do this."
The chamber was the same as she had last seen it; huge, circular, and had seven seats that circled where she was standing and faced the center of the room. In the three seats behind her sat the Elders Aleu, Sequoia, and Jarrah. To Chrysalis' left sat Sorrel, who was next to Sequoia. On her right sat Spruce and Drunix, which left one spot open. Directly in front of her, sitting on the tallest of the seats, was the Head Elder himself, Zircon.
Each of the seven were dressed up in silver robes, which naturally covered their entire body and exposed their neck and heads. Each of them wore a small necklace with a gem attached to it, but Zircon wore one that Chrysalis swore looked like one of the Elements of Harmony. Unlike the Elements it had a silver neck piece and the gem was a combination of diamond and onyx, strangely shaped like the mark she had seen on Inner Wisdom's flank.
"Ah, Chrysalis, so nice of you to join us," one of the Elders, Sequoia, said, "I take it you understand why you have been summoned before the court at this day and time?"
"Cut the crap with me Zircon," Chrysalis said, turning towards the Head Elder, "You want to punish me more for my failure to take Canterlot and my disobedience for not following what the Council told me at the time? Or do you want me to stop my search for a way to defeat the dreaded Celestia and my eventual takeover of Equestria?"
"We want you to stop harassing the newcomers in Ponyville," Drunix spoke up, "We know why your interested in that stallion, but we fail to see what good will come out of it."
"Oh, so you want me to elaborate as to my plan is that it?" Chrysalis angrily asked, her eyes not leaving the silent stallion, "His power is unmatched. He killed a Ursa Major with pure magic and defeated three dragons using that same magic. If the Princesses hadn't intervened when they did he would have taken them down like he did the Major. He's losing control of himself and its only a matter of time before the monster remains."
"So you think you could tame such power?" Aleu asked, staring down at the Queen.
"Certainly," Chrysalis responded, "I'll just slip into Twilight Sparkle's library and steal him when nopony's looking. I'll turn him into a Changeling and command the power he contains. I'll unleash him on Celestia and watch him destroy the empire that she built."
"And how do you propose that you'll be able to contain this power?" Jarrah asked.
"Why contain it when I could use it on our enemies?" Chrysalis asked the Elder, though her eyes rested on Zircon, "Admit it, with such power we could take over the world and have an unlimited source of love to keep our nation strong for years on end."
"What makes you think that war is still the answer?" Zircon asked suddenly, opening his eyes and staring down at her, "The last time you stood before the Council you declared that you were going to war against Canterlot and that you were going to do so even if the Council didn't back your decision. You stood before us, told us every inch of your plan and backup plans, exposed everything just to get us to change our minds about going to war with Canterlot. Now, Chrysalis, what did we say to you?"
"That I was going to lose," Chrysalis spat, "You, the old Changeling King, told me, your own wife, that I was going to fail my empire, my people, all because of the love that the royal couple shared."
"And I was right," Zircon sighed, "Now here we are again, talking about war with Celestia all over again. Only this time you want to kidnap this stallion, Rocket Sky, and use his latent powers to destroy everything in your path so our people can be happy? Where is the happiness in destroying ones source of love? Where is the happiness in obliterating ponies who know nothing about us and could give us a chance?
Where is the happiness in destroying what our daughter longs for most?"
"You dare speak of her to me?" Chrysalis shouted, her anger getting the better of her, "She has no place in this conversation."
"Of course she does Chrysalis," Sorrel commented, "She is, after all, the Princess of the Changelings. If the Princess longs for peace amongst the races of Equestria, but the Queen longs for war, then who do you think we're going to side with?"
"So your going to side with 067, with Rose Petal, over your own Queen?" Chrysalis asked, "Over a Princess who hasn't tried to seize the throne from her mother yet? She doesn't seem to care that I'm in charge of things at the moment."
"Her name is Princess Viscarias," Zircon corrected, which annoyed Chrysalis, "and even if she hasn't expressed her opinion on these matters we know what lies in her heart. She doesn't care much for the way you rule, but she doesn't strike out because she doesn't want the throne. Eventually she will see that you will have to be stopped and she will stand against you. Mark my words Chrysalis, your daughter wont be siding with you much longer if you continue down this path that you have chosen to travel."
"Buck the lot of you," Chrysalis shouted, reaching for her magic but finding nothing, "What trickery is this?"
"Not trickery," Zircon said, "A bubble that prevents you from casting spells against the members of the Council. Now, if you want to go after one of us then I suggest you do it when we aren't in conference. Now, lets get back to the matter at hoof, your invasion to destroy Celestia for the second time."
"I'm done answering your pitiful questions," Chrysalis said, "Remove this barrier and let me show you that I can defeat Celestia. Or are you too scared to face me Zircon?"
"Hardly," Zircon answered, "I'm not scared of you, Chrysalis, nor am I afraid of your tricks. And if you are so sure that you can defeat Celestia this time I have news for you; you wont be getting close enough to fight her again."
The air between Chrysalis and Zircon rippled as a light blue bubble fazed into existence, only to begin falling apart moments later. The bubble was gone, which meant Chrysalis could easily cast her spells and take down the Council.
"Your so dead Zircon," Chrysalis shouted, her magic taking the form of an orb before she unleashed it right at Zircon.
Zircon barely moved as the energy passed where he was sitting, blowing a hole into the wall behind him before it began to settle down. Zircon was unfazed, having thrown up a shield to prevent the magic from hurting him, but all that seemed to do was annoy Chrysalis even more.
"Really Chrysalis?" Zircon asked, dispelling the shield, "You would go so far as to copy the power of the stallion your trying to turn? You will not succeed in your war against Celestia, nor will you be Queen much longer. I say that the Elder Council will not be backing you once more. All agreed?"
"The Council will not back Chrysalis," the other six agreed.
"Queen Chrysalis," Zircon said loudly, "The Elder Council does not approve of your war with Celestia, nor do we approve of your meddling with the ponies of Ponyville. Be warned, if you declare war on Canterlot again or steal the stallion known as Rocket Sky you will forfeit your title of Queen to your daughter. Now begone Chrysalis."
Chrysalis growled and turned around, marching out of the room and into the corridor she had been waiting in earlier. Her guards were waiting for her, which was to be expected since she had let off some steam in front of the Elders. She passed by the Caretaker without a word, not bothering to talk with the little changeling.
"Whats the plan my Queen?" one of them asked.
"Prepare your brothers and sisters," Chrysalis said, "We're moving into the Everfree Mountain. We're going to capture Rocket Sky and bind him to the darkness."
The guards smiled as they walked, Chrysalis would have the last laugh against the Council. |
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