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Spike's Polyamorous Honeymoon | Poolside | Right by the poolside, Fleur and Sassy were sunbathing while being tended to by their assistants. Relaxing by themselves while some of the mares were playing in the pool, their assistants were applying sunscreen to their skin to protect them from getting scalded by the sun while being fed fruit as well as reading their own erotic novels.
"Glistening silk, it's been a couple days since their return from the Crystal Empire~. Do you think they're feeling okay~? I can see Cadance having sex with some of the mares over there~." Sassy said as she observed the Love Princess's sexual prowess.
"She has been going at it ever since the day she has arrived here~. It's like watching Celestia and Luna play with each other~. Sooner or later, the Princess will be wanting to sleep with us~." Fleur said, observing the Love Princess as well.
"Yet we hardly get the time for each other~." Rarity's former assistant responded as she crossed her legs in a relaxing manner.
Fleur turned her head slightly and took notice of Sassy's legs. They were thick and shapely all the way down to her hooves. More than enough to catch a stallion off-guard. Which didn't even go into detail over her hourglass figure. It was so even and well-shaped that it rivaled her beauty. But then again, they are both Canterlot girls. So it was a given they would rival each other in terms of beauty. But as she kept looking, she felt her right breast groped by her accompanying friend.
"Your eyes are so easy to read~." Sassy flirted as she kept groping Fleur.
"As are yours~." Fleur retorted before getting on top of her friend.
Immediately, Fancy Pant's former escort kept a dominant position on top of Rarity's former assistant back in Canterlot before proceeding to kiss her. Groping each other on the beach chair as their assistants watched, Sassy's primal instincts took over and pushed off Fleur before kissing each other some more. Before long, they accidentally fall into the pool and get each other wet in the process. But they decide to sink into the water and kiss each other before Sassy goes down to suck on Fleur's large breasts. The latter quickly rose her head above the water to gasp for air while the former continued to suck and grope her breasts.
"Oh, it's been so long since we've enjoyed each other like this~." Fleur said before proceeding to grope Sassy.
"Oh, I haven't even begun to have my fun yet~." Sassy said before going underwater.
Briefly confused for a moment, Fleur suddenly felt her pussy get sucked on underwater and she could feel Sassy get off to it while feeling her butt get groped. She couldn't resist swirling her tongue around her walls while feeling the salty liquids drench into her mouth. But as she continued to give her fellow Canterlot citizen cunnilingus, they were suddenly pulled out of the pool via magic by Cadance.
"Having fun, are we~?" the Love Princess teased as she looked at the two wet Canterlot mares.
"Well, it is an awfully hot day, Your Highness~. And we just thought-!" Sassy said before getting silenced by a kiss from Cadance.
"Less excuses, more fucking~..." Cadance teased before kissing Fleur as well.
On that note, the Love Princess levitated the mares closer to her and grabbed them by their waists before proceeding to passionately kiss them some more. Carrying them, Cadance carries them both over to a hammock before falling on it. Furiously holding onto them, Cadance groped and kissed the Canterlot Mares all over and refused to let them go. But Sassy and Fleur pulled away from the kiss and proceeded to suck on the Love Princess's breasts.
"You two are so insatiable~." Cadance complimented as she grabbed their breasts.
But the moment they heard her compliment, they gained an idea and headed down to the lower part of her body before they each fed on her lower regions. Sassy licked the Love Princess's anus while Fleur feasted on her pussy. Cadance moaned as she felt her lower areas get feasted on and she moaned incredibly hard while the sensation rushed to her head.
"Oh yes~! Don't stop~!" Cadance begged while holding onto their heads.
Not a minute in and Cadance already felt the need to cum. The feeling was just too much for her at this point and she wanted to squirt all over while the opportunity presented itself. But for some reason, the duo stopped.
"Why did you stop...?" Cadance asked in a confused tone.
Giggling at her question, Fleur grabbed the Love Princess's legs and pressed her vagina against hers while Sassy proceeded to sit on Cadance's face. Fancy Pants's former escort started rubbing her pussy with her hips and held onto her right leg. Sassy, on the other hand, straddled and rubbed her butt on the Love Princess's face while feeling her anus get licked. Sassy then grabbed Cadance's large breasts and proceeded to squeeze them as she continued to rub her butt on the Love Princess's face.
"This sensation~! This unlike any other time we've had with each other~!" Fleur said as she continued scissoring Cadance.
"No other mare compares to you, Your Highness~! You truly are the Princess of Love~!" Sassy exclaims before pulling Fleur in for a kiss.
On that note, they proceeded to squirt all over Cadance and they screamed erotically while kissing each other to muffle it out. When they finished up, they collapsed on top of the Love Princess before falling asleep.
"You two are one of a kind~. The Royal Sisters were right to put you in charge of this beautiful establishment around here~. " Cadance said as she held the duo close to her side before falling asleep in the hammock as well.
. . .
Inside the bedroom, Spike was having his way with the Royal Sisters like no tomorrow. He was fucking Celestia while he sucked Luna's breasts. The past several days of trying to get over the divorce fiasco involving Shining Armor and Cadance was too much for him to handle and he just wanted to fuck in order to get the ordeal out of his head. But when he finished cumming one more shot, he took his penis out of Celestia's pussy before collapsing on the bed, exhausted from having sex.
"Oh, poor baby~. That court case really did a number on him~." Celestia cooed while stroking his face.
"He will be okay~. We just need to let him relax~. Me too, strangely enough~." Luna agreed before she yawned.
"Me three~. Let's pick this up later~." Celestia said before falling asleep as she stuffs Spike into her bosom.
"Agreed~..." Luna concurred before falling asleep with Spike in her breasts as well.
They went back to fucking each other the next day after before deciding to leave the bedroom. |
Spike's Polyamorous Honeymoon | Companionship | Out on the beach, Spike was having anal sex with the Royal Sisters while everypony continued to play at the Villa and he was about to fire his next load into Luna. Firmly holding onto her ass, the Dragon Prince fired another load into the Moon Princess. After finishing, he took his dick out of her ass before allowing her to drop to the ground. Letting her rest, he turns his attention to Celestia before proceeding to make out with her. But while he continued to passionately kiss his wife while holding onto her enormous chest, he felt a light tap on his shoulder.
"Hey, Spike." a voice said.
Spike and Celestia turned around and noticed that it was none other than Gabby. Curious, the duo stopped their intense make-out session and faced the Mail Griffin who seemed to be fidgeting for some reason.
"Hey Gabby, what's up?" Spike asked in a friendly tone.
"Um... I was wondering... you don't mind... if I-?"
"-Join us~?" Celestia interrupted in a seductive tone.
"If you don't mind..." Gabby giggled as she fidgeted in a shy manner.
"Come on in." Spike ordered in a dominant manner.
Doing as he commanded, the Griffin walked over to the Dragon Prince and Sun Princess before being grabbed by the waist. Immediately, Spike proceeded to kiss Gabby while Celestia started licking the Griffin's neck. It wouldn't take them long until they would get around to groping Gabby and sucking her tits. The Griffin moaned from feeling this form of love and companionship as they slowly started to fuck her.
"How long has it been since our last affair, Gabby~?" Spike teased as he started to finger her.
"Well, it has been almost a year since you did it with me, Fluttershy, and Rarity back in Ponyville while the others were busy~. At least until Pinkie bursted in and wanted in on part of the action~." Gabby recalled as she continued to moan.
"I almost wish she were here~. She is so bouncy when it comes to sex~." Celestia bemoaned before kissing Gabby.
Swirling their tongues around with rhythm, the two females moaned in pleasure as they proceeded to grab each other before Gabby broke away from the kiss and started sucking on Celestia's breasts. But while she was transfixed by the Sun Princess's bosom, Spike took the opportunity to sneak up on Gabby and grope her butt before proceeding to give her analingus.
"Oh, Spike~!" Gabby moaned while feeling her anus get penetrated.
The Dragon Prince paid no mind to the Griffin and he continued to rim her while she continued sucking on the Sun Princess's breasts. But pretty soon, Celestia pulled Gabby closer to her and proceeded to kiss her some more while having her massage her chest with hers. In unison, the two rubbed their docked breasts against each other and moaned as their soft chests moved like pudding. But on the other hand, Spike was in heat and felt ready to go as he massaged his dick between Gabby's asscheeks.
"Are you always like this during the day~? Don't you even have a small ounce of shame~?" Gabby teased while feeling his penis grind between her assglobes.
"Gabby, I forgot what the word meant to me a long time ago." Spike answered before inserting his penis into Gabby's puckered anus.
Immediately feeling the girth of his penis penetrate her asshole, Gabby moaned as Spike proceeded to ram his pelvis into her ass. She breathed intensely while feeling her anus get penetrated once more and she enjoyed every moment of it as he proceeded to spank her.
"Don't forget about me~." Celestia teased as she shoved Spike's face into her huge ass.
Already buried into Celestia's rump, Spike wasted no time in licking the insides of her anus and he couldn't get enough of it. The aroma was very enticing and it was quite clean. Something that the Sun Princess took pride in whenever Spike wanted to enjoy anal sex with her. The Sun Princess moaned in joy as she felt her husband lick her wall while feeling her butt get groped.
"Hey, focus on me~! The Royal Sisters aren't the only ponies you're fucking, you know~!" Gabby moaned while she sweated.
Taking his face out Celestia's ass, Spike responded,
"Don't worry. You're gonna be feeling it pretty soon."
Having said that, Spike proceeded to move his hips even faster as he started spanking Gabby. Watching her ass bounce like gelatin was enough to keep his erection going and he could feel it building up inside. Bending over, the Dragon Prince grabbed the Mail Griffin's chin and kissed her passionately while moving his hips evermore faster. He moved his tail between Celestia's crotch and she grabs it, so that she can grind herself on it. However, Spike was nearing his limit.
"Gabby, I'm gonna cum soon." Spike panted as he moved his hips.
"It's fine~. Cum inside me whenever you're ready~! I can take it~!" Gabby assured as she started to lose feeling in her arms.
Moving his hips as possible, Spike moaned with intense ferocity before finally cumming inside her. He let out all the jizz he had inside him and held onto Gabby while pumping out his jizz. When he was finished, he took his penis out of her anus and she collapsed on the ground in exhaustion.
"Geez, you went overboard~. And you've hardly even softened up~." Celestia noted as she looked at his still-hard cock.
"What can I say? I aim to please." Spike boasted as he grabbed her ass.
"Speaking of pleasing~..." The Sun Princess said before tackling Spike and kissing him passionately.
As the two resumed their love-making session, Gabby felt exhausted from her sexual affair with Spike and decided to sleep on Luna's pillowy mounds while she recovered. They woke up a few hours later and were covered in sunburns, leaving them inside the house for a week. Leaving only Spike and Celestia to themselves as they continued to fuck each other without reservation. At least until they receive a letter from Twilight on the next day... |
Spike's Polyamorous Honeymoon | Keeping It In | Lying down on the bed, Spike was playing Hotline Miami on the Nintendo Switch while Celestia was reading the letter sent in from Twilight back at Canterlot. Groaning with annoyance and frustration, the Sun Princess answered her former apprentice's message and agreed to see her back home in Canterlot.
"I have to go. Twilight mentioned something about an important meeting." Celestia bemoaned as she scrolled the letter up.
"She's alway busy Twilighting about such small things." Spike said in an annoyed tone while playing his game.
"It might take me a week until I can return. So please behave yourself while I'm gone~. I would hate to see what would happen if you went overboard with everypony around here~." Celestia teased as she stroked his chin.
"Do not worry, 'Tia~. Spike will behave himself~." Luna gloated as she wrapped her arms around Spike.
"Watch your tongue, Luna. Spike belongs to me for the rest of the week when I return. Enjoy yourself, Spike~!" the Sun Princess says as she activates her horn.
"He will~." Luna teased once more as she stuck her tongue out in a juvenile manner.
Groaning in annoyance, Celestia teleports back to Canterlot while Spike remains with the others back in the Villa.
"Okay girls~! Come in~!" Luna calls out after watching her older sister leave.
Immediately, Starlight, Trixie, Fleur, and Sassy enter the master bedroom. The Moon Princess kept a tight grip on the Dragon Prince as she placed her breasts between his head.
"Time for a little payback after the past week of recovery~." Luna said, referring to Celestia after being left in the sun.
"You rigged that letter, didn't you?" Spike asked, having caught onto his wife's scheme.
"It is only for a week~. Besides, she owes me this after leaving me in that damned sunlight~." she said before grabbing his dick.
Before long, Fleur went first and started blowing Spike. Sassy followed suit and started sucking on the tip of his tail. Starlight and Trixie, on the other hand, smothered Spike with their breasts and he clearly felt like he was in heaven. He wanted to grope them, but Luna kept a tight lock on him and refused to let go. Then she started massaging his head and shoulders with her breasts.
"Let us see how long you can keep it in for ten minutes~. If you do it, I promise that me and Celestia will do something special for you~. Can you do it~?" Luna proposed as she held Spike's head up.
"I accept your challenge." Spike said with a bold face.
"Good boy~. Let us see how long you can last~." Luna said before activating the time on the alarm clock.
Already a second in, Fleur and Sassy spent most of the minute blowing Spike while he did everything he could to prevent himself from ejaculating. In the ninth minute, Fleur and Sassy swapped out and Starlight and Trixie took over. The former grinded and licked his tail while the latter started to give him a blowjob. Another minute later into the game, Spike started to feel the pressure. Sweat beads started to drip from his forehead and he started to see precum leak out of the tip of his penis.
"Does it feel good~?" Luna seductively whispered into his left ear.
Spike felt the need to look up, but Luna stopped and made him face forward before keeping a lock on him with her breasts once more. Just then, Starlight and Trixie grabbed their breasts and wrapped their breasts around his penis.
"It must feel like paradise to have your penis covered like this~. To feel the tits of your friends rub against it while feeling your head sandwiched between my breasts~. And you feel the everloving need to open fire all over us before we reach the ten-minute mark~. It is the cutest effort that you can ever make as my child~." Luna whispered once more as she softly stroke his scales.
Spike could hardly handle the seductive whispering while being held like this. But he continues to endure it before reaching the last five minutes of their little game. However, he was slowly beginning to lose his composure as he started gasping and moaning to keep himself in control of the situation. The moment he raises his head, Luna grabs and kisses him passionately. In the next three minutes, he slowly started to lose his grip on sanity and started panting like a dog.
"You are doing very good, Spike~. Just two more minutes and the reward will be yours~." Luna cooed as she rubbed his chest.
Her compliments hardened him even more and he could hardly take it. He wanted nothing more than to splurt all over the mares and fuck them, but he only had two minutes. So he decided to endure it some more, even while his mind was reduced to that of a canine when he is in heat. His eyes rolled and his breathing grew more intense as he dick was fondled and sucked on. But then he had one minute left.
"Almost finished, Spike~. Just one more minute left~. Your reward is waiting for you~." Luna complimented as she watched her husband pant heavily.
Thirty seconds slowly passed by and Spike was almost about to lose his grip on reality. He did everything he could to focus his mind on the prize, but it was inevitable that he was about to lose. But just as he was about to cum, the timer suddenly went off. Hearing the buzzer, Spike fired massive shots all over the room. It covered Luna as well as the mares, but Spike didn't care and the game was finally finished. But just as he was about to faint, Luna shoved her ass into his face before saying,
"Now choose whichever hole you like~."
Hearing this, Spike immediately got up and chose Luna's anus. He piston-thrusts his pelvis into her ass as he begins fucking her intensely in a rabid state due to having nearly lost his mind in their little game of theirs. He even made the participants join in and continued to have his way with them for a week until Celestia returned with her nerve and joined in as well due to the stress of having to listen to Twilight's speeches. |
Spike's Polyamorous Honeymoon | Another Game of Fun | Another day has passed by and everything proceeded normally as usual. However, Spike was by himself in the bedroom because the Royal Sisters wanted each other for themselves for the entire day. So he spent most of the day playing video games while taking a breather from all the sex he had since the first day he arrived at the Villa. However, those plans were cut short when Rarity and Fluttershy shoved their breasts into his face by surprise.
"Guess who~." the fashionista unicorn flirted as she rubbed her boobs.
"Oh. Hey, Rarity. How've you been today?" Spike asked before grabbing her right breast.
"I could ask you the same question, Spikey-wikey~. Why are you upstairs all cooped up in your bedroom when you could be enjoying yourself outside~?" Rarity asked while continuing to block his field of vision.
"I agree, Spike~. It's not healthy to stay outside while it's still warm and sunny outside~." Fluttershy concurred as she hugged Spike into her huge chest.
The Dragon Prince was so enveloped by the female presence that he could hardly focus on any games that he's playing anymore. Pressing the pause button and throwing the controller aside, Spike moved his hands down and grabbed Fluttershy's ass, causing her to give out a cute moan before getting tackled on the ground.
"Spike...?" Fluttershy asked her with her hands on top of her breasts.
Ignoring her question, Spike grabbed her hooters and proceeded to furiously suck on them. The Shy Pegasus proceeded to let out more cute moans as her nipples were sucked on.
"Ahn~! You beast~!" Fluttershy teased while continuing to get her breasts sucked on.
"Don't ignore me, Spike~. I'm here too, you know~." Rarity teased as she held her breasts up with her arms.
Hearing her, Spike grabbed the Fashionista Unicorn and proceeded to suck on her breasts as well. Rarity let out erotic moans while the Dragon Prince had his way with her equally large chest. But while he was sucking on their breasts, Ocellus and Smolder were watching from the corner.
"Isn't that so cute~? Spike is actually sharing his affection~." Ocellus swooned while watching the act.
"I guess. Although he can be a little rough at times." Smolder said before feeling Spike's cum drip out of her asshole, causing her to blush.
"Oh really~? How about we see him at his roughest~?" Ocellus teased before grabbing Smolder by her waist.
"Hey, wai-!" Smolder objected before going into the room with Ocellus.
It was already too late when the Changeling barged into the master bedroom with her Dragon Friend. And now they have exposed themselves to Spike's presence as well as Rarity's and Fluttershy's.
"We're sorry for barging in, but can we join in as well~? Smolder has been craving for more of Spike's semen~." Ocellus asked as she grabbed Smolder's ass.
"H-Hey! I didn't-!" Smolder stuttered before getting shoved into Spike.
But before Smolder could do anything, Rarity grabbed her and said,
"I am terribly sorry, darling~. But Spike has already made plans with us~. So you will have to wait in line just like everypony else around here~." Rarity teased as she shoved Spike's face into her chest once more.
"I'm sorry, but I agree with Rarity~. We got to him first, so this is our first drink~. So get back in line just like everypony else~." Fluttershy concurred as she shoved Spike into her breasts as well.
However, Smolder and Ocellus had none of it and threw themselves at Spike. While the girls fought with each other on who got to the Dragon Prince first, Spike intervened and said,
"Girls! How about we settle this in a contest?"
Hearing this suggestion, the girls turned towards him like a deer facing headlights.
"A contest!?" all four girls shouted simultaneously.
"Whichever group can withstand me pounding your anuses for ten minutes without cumming gets to keep me for an entire day. Any members of the team that wins a round will be granted points. If the team racks up enough points, you win and get me for an entire day. Does that sound like a fair deal?" Spike proposed as he grabbed his large penis.
They had no idea what to make of this game. It was clear that they would get to at least feel Spike's penis penetrating them, but it would only be for a brief moment of time before either of them would have to surrender him for the day. However, none of them complained when he proposed the idea to the four of them. So after assigning the team as Rarity and Fluttershy as well as Ocellus and Smolder and making them get on all fours, Spike decided to go for Fluttershy first since she felt the softest of the four.
"Oh Spike~. I knew you would choose me first~." Fluttershy moaned while the others pouted.
Wasting no time, Spike grabbed his penis and inserted it into her anus. Already feeling it get penetrated, Fluttershy cutely moaned as she felt her ass get piston-thrusted by the Dragon Prince himself. If the former was being honest, she actually enjoyed the feeling of her anus getting penetrated by the latter. To her, it felt sort of therapeutic and it would help her get to sleep after getting fucked like this. However, she wouldn't be able to walk properly after this session. But it didn't matter to her. She enjoyed it and wanted the sensation to continue. But the ten minutes of her getting anally fucked passed and Fluttershy could feel Spike ready to cum inside her.
"Please~! Do it~!" Fluttershy begged before feeling her right asscheek get spanked.
Feeling no hesitation, Spike fired a shot of cum into her ass and held onto her until it stopped. After taking his penis out, Fluttershy collapsed and fell asleep.
"Sweet Celestia, she falls asleep so easily." Rarity bemoaned before feeling her ass get groped by Spike.
But before Spike could get to fucking Rarity, something fell onto him. It felt soft, squishy, and plump as pudding and it had a high-pitched voice. He pushed her up and he noticed that it was none other than Pinkie Pie. But she was naked like every other pony around the Villa.
"Pinkie?! What're you doing here!?" Rarity asked in a shocked tone.
"We came here to visit, Rarity~! Didn't Twilight tell you~?" Pinkie answered with her tongue sticking out in a silly manner.
"Twilight...?" Spike asked before looking up.
Looking up, the Dragon Prince saw the Friendship Princess in her voluptuous, nude glory with an intense, yet lustful look in her eyes. And Spike could already see where this was leading to.
"Hello, Spike~." Twilight greeted in a flirty tone. |
Spike's Polyamorous Honeymoon | Friendship Time | Strutting her way over to the Dragon Prince, Twilight picks him up before throwing Spike onto the bed. Then she got on top of him before saying,
"So this is where you've been hiding~. The Royal Sisters really know how to keep tight-lipped on the details~."
"Oh come one, it wasn't like I wanted to hide from you, but-" Spike said before getting kissed by Twilight.
"Poor delusional Spike, you of all creatures know that you can't keep any secrets from me~." Twilight flirted before kissing him once more.
Keeping him held down, Twilight assumed a dominant position and continued to kiss him passionately. Spike tries pushing her off, but the Friendship Princess would have none of it and continues to keep him down as his left knee rubs up against her crotch. She moans erotically while feeling his knee rub her pussy and moans once more as she embraces him. A minute later, Twilight breaks away from the kiss and says,
"You must've enjoyed yourself while I was stuck in Canterlot~. All those boring meetings, these pointless gatherings, and all that constant scheduling from my annoying secretary~! It's enough to make anypony crazy~."
"Hey, I went crazy from all of the above when I was your assistant. But you didn't see me bitching about it." Spike said, trying to defend himself.
"And you served your role well, my humble assistant~." Twilight complimented before grabbing his penis.
Using her magic powers, Twilight clinged Spike to the bed as she made her way down to the lower part of his body. In her eyes, she sees her former assistant's huge penis. Drooling and beginning to feel her crotch get wet, the Friendship Princess says,
"It has been so long since your friend downstairs has seen my eyes~. I want your semen in my mouth~."
"Now...?" Spike asked, starting to feel a bit on edge.
"Yes, Spike~. As your Princess, I want it now~." Twilight ordered before getting into a sixty-nine position with the Dragon Prince.
From there, Twilight proceeded to give him a blowjob while holding onto his head with her thick thighs. Knowing that there was nothing he could do to change his mind, Spike gave into her lust and decided to lick Twilight's pussy. He could hardly how long it has been since the last time he had sex with her. Out of all the Princesses that he fucked, Twilight was the most possessive of the four. Whenever she had him to herself, she would never let him leave her castle until she has either passed out or is satisfied. At best, it would've taken her a whole month until she would let him go. But even still, she was much more limber than either the Royal Sisters or Cadance could put together and that fact scared Spike to no end.
"Enjoying yourself, big boy~? We have hardly even begun to fuck~. Pinkie~?" Twilight called out as she turned to the Energetic Pony.
"Yes, Twilight~? Pinkie asked with an erotic look in her eyes.
"Would you be a dear and sit on Spike's face~?" Twilight ordered as she rubbed her butt in the Dragon Prince's face.
"Will do, Twilight~!" Pinkie willingly says before getting on top of the bed.
From there, Pinkie crawled to Spike's side as Twilight moved to get on top of Spike's waist. And not one second in, the Plump Energetic Pony sat her huge ass on the Dragon Prince's face as she proceeded to rub on it. But while Pinkie was keeping seated on Spike's face, Twilight gyrated and swung her hips on his waist while rubbing on his dick with her pussy.
"Oh, I can't wait to put it in after all this time of letting those old hags keep you from me~. Just like how much you want to bang anything that moves while feeling your cock getting ready to explode anywhere on sight~. But now you will be exploding inside me, my faithful assistant~." Twilight said in an erotic tone as she grabbed his penis.
Feeling his dick enter her vagina, Twilight felt a reaction upon slowly inserting it. Moaning heavily, the Friendship Princess blushed intensely as everypony inside the room, minus Fluttershy who was still asleep, watched her prepare to have sex with Spike. But as she moaned, she was kissed by Pinkie to keep her at ease as the penis fully entered her vagina, touching her womb in the process.
"Oh yes~. This feeling... it's all coming back to me~! Back when Celestia wanted me to forge an even deeper bond with you... to strengthen our ties with each other... to build up our relationship as friends~! It's so nostalgic~!" Twilight exclaimed after reflecting on the old times.
"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?" Smolder asked with a deadpan look.
"Yes~. Now sit back and as a real Princess does it~." Twilight said as she started moving her hips.
Not before long, Twilight swung her hips and started moving to the rhythm of hitting her uterus with Spike's penis. Panting and moaning while moving around, Twilight sweated profusely and would continue to swing her hips wildly as she started sucking on Pinkie's breasts before dragging Rarity over with her magic to kiss her. Just then, Ocellus transformed into Spike and proceeded to insert her penis into Twilight's anus while she was entirely focused on the real Spike.
"Ocellus... you..." Twilight moaned as her eyes watered from having her anus pierced.
"I wouldn't be talking right now if I were you, Princess~." Ocellus said in a smug tone as she started groping the Friendship Princess's breasts.
"Agreed~." Rarity said before sucking on Twilight's right breast.
"Me three~." Smolder said before sucking on the Friendship Princess's left breast.
Already feeling the humiliation, Twilight helplessly kept moving as she could feel Spike's penis enlarge inside her. He could feel himself ready to cum inside her any minute now since she has kept a good dominant position on him. However, she grabbed his legs and held them up, putting her into an amazonian position in the process. But she was just about to lose herself.
"Spike~! Do it~! Cum inside me~!" Twilight begged as she kept moving her hips.
Moving her hips faster than a pump at a power plant, Twilight moaned as she waited for Spike to cum inside her. In the next several seconds, the Dragon Prince fired off a huge load into the Friendship Princess herself. She screamed erotically from having the cum launched inside her and she was sweaty from all the action. Then she said,
"Time for the next round~."
"With us, perhaps~?" a familiar voice said inside the bedroom.
Twilight turned around and saw the Royal Sisters and Cadance standing there, more than ready to join in on the action. |
Spike's Polyamorous Honeymoon | Hypnosis | Pulling him over into her chest, Celestia kept a tight grip on Spike while looking at Twilight with lust in her eyes. Cadance walked over to the Friendship Princess while shoving the girls aside to hold her down.
"Did you honestly think we would allow you to have Spike all to yourself while me and Celestia were busy with one another~?" Luna seductively asked while pressing Spike's head with her breasts.
"I wanted him inside me. You think and your sister could just keep him away from me? You were supposed to share him, not hoard him from me." Twilight said while Cadance continued to keep her former sister-in-law held down.
"Which one of us introduced him to this lifestyle first~? Besides, you were always so conceited whenever it came to taboo subjects such as this~." Celestia taunted as she stroked Spike's scale.
Twilight was baffled by this response given to her by her former teacher. While she knew that Celestia was right, it still didn't excuse her from keeping Spike to herself along with Luna. It was something that the Friendship Princess took account of and she knew of it all too well. But then Celestia says,
"Now get comfy and watch how a real mare dominates a dragon~."
On that note, the Sun Princess pulled the Dragon Prince in for a deep passionate kiss. Tongues swirling, eyes fluttering, and arousal spiking, something started to take over Spike as Celestia embraced her husband. Luna leaned in closer and licked the side of his cheek as she proceeded to grab his penis while putting him into a trance. Then she strokes it as Spike was fully immersed into the kiss given to him by his dominant wife while she puts a spell on him with her magic. It was like he entered into a trance. He fully moaned and he paid no attention to Luna giving him a reach-around. Something that intrigued Twilight, but was quite shocked to see Spike acting this way.
"How is he-!?" Twilight asked before getting kissed by Cadance.
"Watch and learn, my sister~." Cadance said as she started sucking on Twilight's breasts.
The Friendship Princess could now only watch in silence as Spike suddenly opened his eyes. But this time, he had heart-shaped pupils on his eyes. And for a moment, he almost completely forgot about himself. Until he finally sees Celestia after opening his eyes. Upon noticing her, Spike said,
"Mommy~!!!"
"Hello, my child~. Are you ready to play with me~?" Celestia asked as she rubbed his cheek.
"You bet~!!!" Spike said before kissing her.
The Sun Princess nearly fell down, but she regained her and started to take charge. Luna joined in and smothered her nephew into a hug before tackling them into the ground. Grabbing his dick, Spike gets on top of Celestia and sandwiches it between her breasts. Cupping her breasts together, Celestia watches her child massage his penis between her bosom in a hyper manner as Luna sandwiched her breasts between his head. Watching in shock and amazement, Twilight asks,
"How did they do that? I never learned such a spell like this!"
"It's a seduction that requires both ponies, specifically mares, to pull it off~. That move was used as a means of seduction before assassinations were pulled off or having them reveal their fortune when their target was at their most vulnerable~. There are no records on who perfected this spell, but they were caught by the Royal Sisters by accident and forced them to show their spell to them~. What happened to them afterwards is a mystery, but I will say that their days of assassination were numbered~."
"You don't say..." Twilight said before getting kissed once more by Cadance.
The rest of Twilight's friends joined in on fucking her while the Royal Sisters continued to have their way with a hypnotized Spike. After firing a load of cum into her mouth, Celestia grabbed Spike and shoved her pussy into his mouth. Luna took the opportunity and decided to give her nephew a mixture of a blowjob and a boobjob. The Moon Princess moaned and giggled erotically while sucking his dick. Celestia, on the other hand, felt a lot of pleasure from having her pussy licked. Her clit was on the tip of Spike's nose and her vulva covered his entire mouth. Needless to say, the Sun Princess was clearly enjoying herself.
"Oh yes~! Keep going, my child~! Make Mommy feel good~!" Celestia encouraged as she felt Spike's tongue swirl around the walls of her insides.
The Dragon Prince moaned heavily as he licked the walls of her vagina. It tasted salty, but her banana-like smell provided the counterbalance to her musk. She rubbed and stroked his head while continuing to rub her pussy all over his scaly face. But as everypony watched, they all began to wonder if he was going to cum pretty soon. Even Rarity pointed out,
"Is nopony going to say anything about this? Spike will learn about this, will he?"
"Don't worry~. He will be back to normal after he cums~. Although I can't say that he will remember what happened during his sleepy time~." Cadence assured while fingering Twilight.
Celestia rubbed her pussy on his face even harder while Luna sucked even harder on his penis like a lollipop. And pretty soon, Spike was about to lose his marbles. At some point, he mumbled under Celestia's vagina that he wanted to fire his load out. But the Sun Princess responds,
"Just keep it a little longer, sweetie~. Mommy and Auntie want to enjoy ourselves some more~."
Having very little choice, Spike reluctantly complied to their demand and kept his cum held back. Even as he felt his penis ready to burst from all the joy he was feeling at this very moment. But pretty soon, five minutes had passed by and their brains were slowly turning into mush. However, Celestia looked down at Spike and said to her spoiled son,
"I'm going to cum all over you~! Be ready to fire at the same time~!"
Spike nodded and licked even more intensely as tears poured out of his eyes. On that note, the Sun Princess came into Spike's mouth while he came into Luna's mouth. Getting off Spike, his face and mouth was completely covered in pussy juice and he was now out of their hypnosis as Celestia moved his head onto her soft, cushy lap while he hugged her bare waste. But before he could say anything, Fleur said,
"Would you care if all of us joined in on your little party~?"
They all looked up and saw Fleur and Sassy as well as the other mares just standing there, all ready to have sex with Spike and the others inside the master bedroom. |
Spike's Polyamorous Honeymoon | Family | Surrounded by every single mare inside the bedroom, Spike could already see that they want every last bit of his seed. The only thing that comes to his mind is who will be going first. But out of all the mares that stared lustfully at the Dragon Prince, Fleur walked over to him first and pushed him to the ground with her left hoof.
"I hope you enjoyed your little warm-up round with the Royal Sisters~. Because we are going to push you until you have given us every last of your semen, my prince~."
Gulping at the idea of it all, Spike could only keep himself laid still as Fleur rubbed her hoof against his penis. But it wouldn't take long until she got on her knees and crawled on top of his body before inserting his penis into her vagina. Sweating and moaning from feeling his dick touch her womb, Fleur decided to let nature take its course and gyrate her hips in a forward manner as she looked downwards at Spike.
"Please allow me to enjoy myself for five minutes before any more of these mares decide to have their way with you~. It's the most that I can ask from you since you're always so busy tending to the Royal Sisters and your friends~. Now please tend to us, my prince~." Fleur said while continuing to move her hips.
Spike endured five minutes of Fleur having her way with him, all the while that she spent kissing him and rubbing her breasts against his chest. But then Spike stood up and started taking charge by hoisting Fleur up and holding her by her ass as he continued to fuck her.
"Oh~! So savage~! I can understand why Blue Blood has a low opinion of you~!" Fleur teased as she felt her insides tighten.
Not before long, Spike fired his semen into her as she screamed erotically. When he put Fleur down, he immediately turned to Sassy, who was all ready to be fucked by the Dragon Prince himself.
"Slippery silk, Spike~. You always push yourself when it comes to pleasing mares~. Now please show me how hard you can push yourself, my sweet prince~." Sassy flirted as she wrapped her arms around Spike's neck.
Picking her up, Spike proceeded to kiss Fleur passionately as he pushed her onto the bed before flipping her over. And it wouldn't take him long before he inserted his penis into her vagina and fucked her doggystyle. Plowing her dick into her, he moved his hips in a rhythmic fashion as held onto her. As he watched her ass bounce, Spike took a moment to move his hands and spank Sassy while he still had the opportunity presented to him. He clearly enjoyed watching her rump bounce, but he could already feel the sperm ready to explode out of him. In the next five minutes, the Dragon Prince came into Rarity's former assistant and left her to rest on the bed before turning to Honey and Coconut.
"Oh, it is an honor to be fucked by you, oh Brave and Glorious Spike~!" Honey swooned as he grabbed her ass.
"Let's see if you can hold out for ten minutes~." Coconut teased as she presented herself to the Dragon Prince.
Holding onto the duo, the mares held their tongues out and Spike proceeded to lick them like ice-cream. But not too shortly, Spike threw Honey Glaze onto the bed and proceeded to insert his penis her vagina as he engaged her in a ship angle. Like always, he moved his hips in a rhythmic manner and proceeded to fuck Honey for five minutes. After he came into Honey Glaze, he switched over to Coconut. Grabbing her hips, he held on her as he put his penis into her before engaging in a missionary position.
"Oh, yes~! Yes~!" the pegasus mare screamed as she felt the tip of his penis touch her womb.
Ten minutes would pass by and Spike would cum into her before switching to a few other mares. He had his way with them and then some. He was clearly having the time of his life, more so than he already is. But then he immediately turns to both Rarity and Pinkie before saying,
"Do you girls need some love~?"
"You know us so well, Spikey-boo~." Rarity teased as she pressed her breasts against Spike's chest.
"Show us all your love, Spike~." Pinkie said as she pressed her breasts on his chest as well.
After kissing the both of them, the Dragon Prince went for Rarity first and proceeded to lay down on his back before allowing her to fuck him cowgirl-style. Spike clearly enjoyed Fashionista Unicorn the most as he watched her breasts bounce. He clearly wanted to fuck her some more, but all the other mares were waiting for him. So when he finished enduring her for five minutes, he ejaculated into her before switching to Pinkie.
"Care to give me a creampie, Spike~?" the Hyperactive Pony flirted as she pounced onto Spike.
"Gladly~." Spike answered as he grabbed her plump, soft ass.
Inserting his penis into her, Spike held onto her by her plump as he went into a stand and carry position while Pinkie kept him in a leglock. Just like Fluttershy, she was soft and incredibly comfortable to fuck. Nothing could take the comfort away as he fucked her for ten minutes. Eventually, the Dragon Prince came into her before switching to Ocellus and Smolder. He fucked the both of them before he creampied the both of them. Finally, he switched to Princesses and he proceeded to fuck all of them for twenty minutes. After cumming into all of them, Spike turns his attention towards all the mares awaiting their turn before proceeding to fuck them for the rest of the night and onwards.
. . .
Several years later, all their children were playing around the pool and the beach as the other mares watched. A few others were pregnant, but they have yet to deliver soon. The children all had dragon-like traits, with the exception of Smolder's child who is an actual dragon. Celestia, now sporting a short hair-style along with Luna, calls out to the others and says,
"Okay, everypony! It's time to take the portrait!"
Every single mare and the children came running towards the podium as every single one of them got in line from shortest to tallest while the camera pony got the photo ready. The children were all lined up and ready to go as Spike stood in the middle with Celestia, Luna, Cadance, and Twilight standing beside him along with all his other wives standing right beside him.
"This is the greatest thing that happened to us." Spike said as he looked at Celestia.
"I could not agree more~." Celestia responded before kissing Spike.
"Okay, everypony! Say cheese!" the camera pony shouted.
"CHEESE!!!!" everypony shouted as the photo was shot.
From here on out, everypony would live the rest of their lives in the Villa with multiple generations surpassing the other even as Spike continued to have more children. Which couldn't have been a much happier ending for him than this beautiful family that he now claims for himself. |
Exploration turns out to be much longer than expected. | pre | "It looks as if someone had poured buckets of paint all over it..." Rainbow Dash mumbled, trying to hold the laughter.
J´zar smiled to himself at the silliness of the young mares. "What is happening to me?" he asked to himself "I have not smiled this way in years!".
"But there is a problem, J´zar my dear" Rarity worriedly said "¡I found no sleeping bag big enough to hold you!"
"That is no problem, esteemed lace-maker" J´zar saw Rarity priding herself on being called "lace-maker" "I can sleep outdoors, or I might not sleep at all"
"¡But ya must sleep sometime!" Applejack reasoned. The idea of a creature not sleeping for a long time seemed antinatural to her.
"I slept three days ago" J´zar gurgled "¡That should keep me up for another three days!"
"¿An how do ya keep up with that pace?" Applejack unsurely questioned.
"I received training" was J´zar's cryptic answer- Wait here while I get some wood.
J´zar walked to the nearest tree and ripped off several branches before returning to the improvised campsite. He proceeded to cut all the grass in a wide circle around the center of the campsite, and placed the sleeping bags around it. He piled the branches in the middle of the circle and reached for his pocket...
"¿Where did I leave that accursed tinderbox? I hope I have not forgotten all of them in that German castle I visited..." J´zar whispered worried. He looked at the mares "¿None of you has a tinderbox or similar, now do you?"
"Well, I do not have a tinderbox" Twilight Sparkle said "But I might be able to..."
"¡Of course!" J´zar exclaimed- "¡You're a magician! Work your magic, please"
Twilight Sparkle focused as a bubble of light formed on the tip of her horn. With a small cracking sound, the branches spontaneously bursted in flames. J´zar bowed his head in respect to the magician.
"You six should go to sleep now" J´zar recommended "We have a hard journey to undertake tomorrow."
"¿And you, J.?" Rainbow Dash asked, accommodating herself in one of the bags.
"¿J.? Is everybody going to call me a different way now?" J´zar wondered.
"I will stand guard in here. We do not know if somebody has followed us" J´zar explained.
"¿And who could possibly follow us?" Rainbow Dash fantasized, turning around in the sleeping bag.
-Some members of the Order followed Ix into banishment at the Maw. They form the rank of the Banished, and if the diseases of Ix have reached here, I fear his followers have done so too.
"¿But you're not scared are you?" Pinkie asked "¡You are the best warrior I've seen! ¿How many have you killed? ¿Three thousands? ¿Six thousands?"
"Two thousand three hundred and twenty-four" J´zar boldly answered "And their faces still haunt me"
A bush made an almost soundless rustle.
With lightning fast reflexes, J´zar threw a knife at the bush. From behind it a man fell, his chest skewered by the knife. Covering the man's face was a scratched mask made of white wood, covered in thorns and barbed wire. His robe was tattered and bloodied, yet held a strange beauty.
"¡Get out of bed!" J´zar screamed "¡The Banished are at hand!"
J´zar drew his swords and looked into the woods, expecting to be jumped at any time. The assault began sooner than expected.
With a shrieking scream, the first Banished sprang from the woods, swinging his razor-sharp claws madly. J´zar chopped of his head. More Banished (at least twenty of them) poured from the woods. J´zar stood in front of the flames; his ominous shadow perched upon the ravenous hordes like a murder of crows, and with a fearsome battle-cry, he charged towards his enemies, like a shadow throwing itself into a pack of wolves. J´zar had no time to notice what the ponies had been doing. His mind was solely focused on combat. Within moments, he forgot his purpose, his name, even his body. All that he could feel was the swirl of the world around him and the laughter of the blood-drinking gods. The thrill of battle had overtaken him, more colorful than even the best firework, more passionate than a lover's kiss. And before he noticed, the fighting was over. He was now standing among twenty bodies, some missing limbs, and some with their entrails hanging loose. His armor was covered in blood, the same that his blades.
The ponies had noticed something different than him during the battle. As J´zar charged towards the Banished, the six mares noticed something different in him. Something almost imperceptible, like the flicker of a light, the glimpse in an eye. J´zar's eyes were bright yellow in that moment, but something, a mere spark in the bottom of those golden pits, lost humanity. What those eyes held was not the usual wisdom or coldness. "Those" eyes were filled with murderous hatred. With unrelenting rage. And the ponies knew that those who defied those eyes would never see the sun rising again. As J´zar twisted his swords amidst the Banished, that hate, that rage turned into animalistic frenzy when the echoes of torn off limbs and broken bones crossed the warrior's ears.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that" J´zar whispered, and yet that regretful whisper seemed more menacing that a furious roar "But I can't avoid it"
"¿W-W-What was that?" Twilight asked in shock.
"That, my friend, I cannot answer" J´zar said grinning.
The ponies said nothing and went back to bed, though none of them managed to sleep. |
Exploration turns out to be much longer than expected. | The Equestrian steppes. | J´zar woke up early. He had not slept for a long time, barely a few hours, as he would not like his companions getting killed by the Banished. J´zar ate a slice of bread he kept in his pocket. As he chewed the bread, J´zar looked at the nearest hill as the sun began to rise. Slowly, a sliver of light passed over the hill and J´zar had to look away from the father star's brightness.
"A nice morning ¿isn't it?" Rainbow Dash said from behind J´zar.
"Good morning" answered J´zar "I thought you would sleep forever"
"Ha! I'm the best athlete in all of Equestria! Of course I can wake up early!" prideful Rainbow Dash said.
"The same can't be said about all of your friends" J´zar said "Though the farmer is good as you, I can say"
"Yeah, Applejack sure lives up to her reputation" answered the pegasus as she hovered above J´zar, an expression of remembrance on her face.
J´zar walked to where Twilight rested and softly shook her to wake the pony up. Between mumbles and snoring, Twilight woke up. J´zar proceeded to do the same with the other four ponies.
"C'mon, sleepers, we have a long way to tread. I'd say at least ten miles, which will take us about three days, if we hurry, and you can keep the pace" J´zar said as he kicked the ashes of the campfire to completely put them off. The ponies started getting up, and Rarity stored the sleeping bags. J´zar and Rainbow Dash went ahead and tried to spy on something from above nearest hill. When they returned, the six mares had a breakfast based on grass and daisies. J´zar used his spyglass to check the forest, just to make sure nobody followed them.
Finally, the party started to move. First, they had to carefully descend through the grassy hill, J´zar keeping a keen eye at the fields to check for holes. Then, they had to ascend the next hill, just to begin the process again. The first hours of the day passed in never-ending monotony, as J´zar and his companions focused on trespassing each hill. The wavy part of the valley didn't last for long, however and the group had to wade through a field of grass a meter and a half tall, which ended abruptly into a plain of short grass.
"This is so boring..." Rainbow Dash complained as they started walking through the plains "I mean, back at the forest we could have some fun, fighting foes and the likes, but now it's just plain walking"
"Travelling is a great deal of adventuring, my young friend" J´zar explained "Every journey commences with a single step"
"¿Couldn't we just teleport to Ix's base of operations or something?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"Maybe. But I do not think you can teleport somewhere you can't see or never have been at" Answered the warrior "Besides, Ix will have his castle heavily guarded against magic of all sorts"
The sun started to descend from the sky yet again. J´zar hurried his companions into finding refuge to pass the night. And so they walked even faster. Finally, they reached what seemed to be a cave in the side of a small hill. J´zar had to send someone to check it.
"¿What are you waiting, beastkeeper?" J´zar asked Fluttershy "It's your job to check for wild animals, ¿remember?"
"Y-Yes, sure" Fluttershy said "¿But what if there is another Banished inside?"
"He would have already attacked. Years of imprisonment inside The Maw have made them crazed, and they have no sense of stealth or tactic" J´zar affirmed.
"¿But what if he just doesn't sees us?" The cream-colored pony mumbled, almost hugging J´zar's leg.
"I own this to her" the Principal thought.
"Don't worry Fluttershy" J´zar said patting her muzzle "I'll go check it for you, no need to be scared"
"¿But what if one is there?" Fluttershy fearfully told J´zar.
"I can handle myself in a fight" J´zar answered drawing one of his swords and stabbing a piece of resin-covered cloth he had in his pocket on it. After Twilight set the cloth aflame, J´zar walked into the cave with the sword high in his hand to light the path. The cave was not very deep, and was empty as expected, except for a few centipedes J´zar accidentally stomped upon.
"¡Come here!" he yelled from the bottom of the cave "¡It's empty!"
The mares entered the cave and lighted a fire with branches J´zar had recovered that morning. Around it they put a circle of stones to prevent the campfire from setting the whole cave ablaze, and around it they put the sleeping bags, except for J´zar, who said he would sleep at the entrance of the cave.
"Tell me more about your world" Pinkie Pie asked.
"There isn't much to tell about it" J´zar said, thinking on the world he had left behind momentarily "It's cruel and harsh"
"It can't be all that bad," Pinkie reasoned "¡if there's candy on it!"
"¡Of course there are sweets in my world too!" J´zar said "But that doesn't makes the things much better. There are poor people in my realm, people who lives without a roof to cover themselves with and there are those who kill for money"
"¡That's impossible!" Twilight commented shocked "¿Who is evil enough to kill for something as trivial as money?
"All wars on my world are waged for money. For power" J´zar grimly said.
"If your universe is so bad, ¿why don't you change it?" Rainbow Dash wondered.
"My brothers and me are working on that" The warrior remembered all the glory of the Order in his year of birth "Trying to
change the world. But it's a war on all fronts"
"¿I guess there is no time for fashion in such a place, right?" Rarity asked, thinking of J´zar's world as an endless extension of trenches and cairns.
"Fashion is given too much importance on my world" J´zar affirmed dejectedly "It is something so important it leaves people blind from the truth" |
Exploration turns out to be much longer than expected. | The cauldron. | J´zar slept very little again.
This time, as he closed his eyes and hid those golden orbs from the world, another view appeared. "Where am I?" he wondered, unused to dreaming. He was standing in a tall tower made of stone, looking through a window to the ground below him. A group of people were crawling in the mud-covered field the tower watched upon, but one called his attention in special way, and once J´zar looked at that person, he could no longer move his eyes.
It was the twenty years-old J´zar, in his time as an Aspirant back in the year 531.
J´zar didn't remember that training exercise, but there were many things he didn't remembered of those times. He seemed to be crawling with the others in a field covered with mud. Then a cold, chilling voice spoke from behind him. He tried to face the speaker, but his entire body was motionless.
"¿Why do you fight for them" the mocking voice said "if they do not appreciate your efforts? Why if they do not know a world's fate?"
The voice started to laugh maniacally as J´zar fell through an ocean of darkness.
"¡Hail, warrior of the foolish!" the voice screamed.
A hand reached for J´zar's shoulder, which promptly rose up from his sitting position and grabbed the creature's neck, ready
to shatter it like glass.
He realized he was just holding Twilight Sparkle, who had tried to awaken him from the nightmare just as he was about to kill her. Letting go on his grip, J´zar kneeled, his mind filled with images of a man made out of what seemed to be pure darkness sitting upon an obsidian throne in a badly illuminated room. The man smiled.
"Give it to me" the creature said "¡GIVE IT TO ME!"
J´zar came back to reality immediately. He was able to think clearly again. ¿What had he seen and why? ¿What was going on? Only questions filled his newly-recovered conscience.
"¿J´zar? ¿ Are you okay?" Twilight asked, still gripping her own throat because of J´zar's reaction.
"Yes" J´zar said, trying to stay on his feet despite the knee-shaking "I think"
"¿What was that?" Applejack asked "Ya were shakin' like a leaf in a windy day, mumbling things we didn't understand"
"I do not know. It must have been some sort of vision" J´zar said with his mind uneasy "¿What time is it?"
"It's morning. We have already eaten" Rainbow Dash answered "I thought you would never wake up"
"I thought the same several times during my life" J´zar joked "If we have nothing left to do here, let's go"
The second day of travel was very much like the first, except this time, instead of going up and down through hills, they just had to relax and walk in the plains, always heading towards the mountains. J´zar knew that Ix would have preferred that location above all others because Ix had been born in Switzerland, and those cold mountains surely remembered him of his motherland.
-Jazzy! -Pinkie Pie screamed from behind him.
-Hmmm? -growled J´zar, annoyed by the massive amount of pseudonyms he was attaining.
-And, -she giggled while looking at Rarity, who walked besides her. J´zar rose an eyebrow wondering what where they talking about- ¿is there anyone special at your realm?
-¿What do you mean? -asked the warrior in confusion.
"You know, a very special somepony -she chuckled again.
"Erm...No" J´zar answered trying to decipher the expression.
"¿Really? ¿But don't you wish you had one?" Pinkie asked again.
"Well, no" J´zar reasoned "I think of love as an excuse for being foolhardy"
"¿But don't ya wanna have foals?" inquired Applejack, as if the idea made her shiver.
"¿Children?" J´zar mocked "They would only get in the way of my military career"
Applejack kept watching J´zar with an accusing look for the entire day. Finally, the day ended as they reached the first rocks of the mountains. Behind them there were the long and open steppes, and in front of them a pass which extended for barely twenty yards between the two mountains, with thick bushes at both sides. J´zar was wary of it being an ambush, so he kept a hand on the hilt of one sword all the time it took for them to get to the other side. The cauldron was a barren wasteland of rock and gravel which stretched for miles.
Treading it was almost a torture. The mares had their hooves to protect them from the sharp rocks on the grounds, but J´zar had only leather boots with sabatons and his feet were bleeding after barely half an hour of walking. But J´zar didn't cared. He had felt pain so much in his fifteen centuries of existence, tasting it was now like wearing an old glove. They came upon lonely trees that were dead even before J´zar had been born, the empty branches remembering them of clawed fingers trying to reach the skies, sprouting from bone-white trunks acting like cold hands.
"Makes me think of the last sentence from a poem I read once" J´zar said.
"¿And what was it like?" asked Twilight.
J´zar cleared his throat and recited:
"And from the shadows that fly ghostly behind the bust of Pallas, my soul shall rise...Nevermore."
The air itself seemed to tremble when J´zar's deep and cavernous voice pronounced the last word. A lonely crow left the branches of the tree, fluttering its black wings through the ashy sky.
With almost surgical precision, a single arrow stabbed itself into J´zar's right shoulder.
Reeling backwards from the force of the impact, J´zar reached into his shoulder and grabbed the arrow. The right pauldron of the armor had stopped the arrow from piercing J´zar's flesh, but the arrow was stuck between the armpit and the breastplate of the armor. J´zar ripped it off raising his arm and looked at it. The tip was serrated and jagged, designed to rip off large chunks of flesh when pulled out. The rest of the arrow was made out of ebony and the fins to stabilize it across its flight path were crow feathers.
"¡Take cover!"J´zar yelled as he unsheathed his swords.
The mares ran to a natural trench nearby and waited, popping only the tip of their heads to watch over the rocks.
"¡I said cover, not peeping holes!" J´zar reaffirmed, pulling down the heads of the mares with his hands to cover them completely.
He then turned around and scrutinized the mountainside, trying to find the shooter. He was not concerned about getting hit. Full plate armor could stop anything smaller than a Magnum round. A few more arrows fell around the area, but they all missed or hit the rocks, not harming the ponies. J´zar finally located the archer. It seemed to be hiding in a small pile of rocks a hundred yards away from them.
"¡Rainbow Dash!" the warrior screamed.
"¿Yes?" an excited voice answered from the trench. A pair of violet eyes popped out of the rocks and quickly retracted before an arrow hitted the stone right where they had been seconds ago.
"¡I need you to distract him while I approach by the flank!" J´zar yelled. Another arrow fell from the clouds, this time striking J´zar in the middle of the forehead. Luckily, the iron mask stopped the projectile.
"¡Done!" accepted the mare, taking off the ground with a few swipes of her wings. The archer fired at her as soon as she left cover, but the pegasus was too fast for him, and the arrow missed. Rainbow Dash traced a wide arch around the firing position, the arrows flying through the air and missing. J´zar started to run at full speed towards the rocky formation, dodging the occasional arrow. But the archer was too slow for both, and J´zar reached his position. With fury, he stabbed one of his swords into the enemy's chest.
Looking closer into the body, he realized the archer was a Banished, but that was impossible. No Banished was capable of learning how to operate a bow with so effectively. Not with the feral mind they possessed.
"J´zar..." Rainbow Dash mumbled "...look"
In front of them, built in the face of the mountain, a massive castle rested. Rainbow Dash had never seen such a majestic building before. The ancient castle was so big, the spires of Canterlot paled, and the skyscrapers of Manehattan seemed obscene and hollow.
"The Wolf" observed the warrior "It has followed Ix from the Maw"
"You certainly like referencing feral beasts, ¿don't you?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"You do enjoy making loops in the air, ¿don't you?" J´zar answered.
"Yes" the pagasus didn't seem to understand the mock.
"It was a rhetoric question!" J´zar said with playful annoyance.
The party reached the castle within the next few hours, and camped a few hundreds of meters away from it. J´zar made sure not to sleep, fearing having to meet the black creature again. |
Exploration turns out to be much longer than expected. | Pony crashers. | That morning J´zar scouted ahead of the ponies to check the enemy defenses. The first line of defense was a massive moat crossed by a thin bridge made of wooden boards. The bottom of the pit was shrouded in darkness, but J´zar could almost feel the stakes waiting to impale an unsure walker. Then there was what at first sight might have seemed thirty meters of open ground, but J´zar knew that was the magical barrier. After that, they would have to cross the walls (a stone barrier which had a hundred feet in height) through the door (a foot and a half of solid oak, defended by a whole squadron of spearmen) or climbing over it, though J´zar thought the last option was impossible because of the archers and the pony's lack of climbing skill.
"¿What are you doing?" Pinkie Pie sprung from a bush behind J´zar and spoke, or more like yelled, with cheers.
"¡Silence!" J´zar hissed, covering Pinkie's mouth with one hand to prevent her from speaking anymore "¡Unless you want our hides to hang on Ix's halls!"
Pinkie Pie said something, but the sound came out muffled from J´zar's hand. The warrior let her go.
"Don't worry" the mare whispered "We'll be silent as shadows in midnight. ¿What do we got?"
"The fortress is unassailable via common methods" J´zar said with critic eye "We must use unorthodox procedures then"
"¡Unorthodox is my specialty!" a voice said from behind. Rainbow Dash was there.
J´zar hissed again to prevent the sound for rising too much.
"¿So what's the plan?" the multi-colored mare asked.
"I have not girted one yet" J´zar answered "But I have an idea"
"Hey girls..." Twilight Sparkle appeared in the small open area behind the two ponies and the man.
"¡And guys!" J´zar remembered the librarian.
"And guys..." Twilight sighed "If we are going to attack, we better do it now"
"Three of your friends are missing" J´zar remembered Twilight.
"¿Who's missin'?" Applejack asked from behind a nearby tree.
"Not me, certainly" Rarity affirmed, appearing from behind a pile of rocks.
"Nor me" Fluttershy said, descending with a flutter of wings from another tree.
"¿Is this a bloody spying contest or what?" J´zar said "¿Why are you all here?"
"We just thought you might want to finish this as soon as possible," Twilight Sparkle explained, slightly proud of herself "so I grouped them up"
"Well, that I did not expect..." J´zar said "But to the matter, then. The enemy has secured himself inside that massive castle over there. He is protected by several layers of defensive mechanisms, including a magical seal, which you, Twilight, will have to shatter"
"¿And how will we do that, my dear?" Rarity asked "¿Teamwork?
"¡Ha!" J´zar grinned "I have something better than teamwork. I have a plan"
"Now here's my plan" J´zar said as he drawn lines on the dust in the forest floor "X" Represents the pegasii. "O" Represents the other four ponies, and that triangle is me. First, "X" flies above the castle to draw their attention while "O" shatters the magical shielding. Then, the triangle charges in and distracts the guards as "O" goes through a secret door located in the left side of the castle..."
"¡Wait a second!" Rainbow Dash stopped her friend "¿What secret door?"
"All castles have a secondary door to allow quick escape should it be necessary. That door probably leads into the main plaza. From there, "O" will open the front doors and let the triangle pass inside. ¿Any questions?" J´zar finished.
"Umm, yes, if you don't mind." Fluttershy said "If we (the pegasii) are supposed to draw the archer's attention ¿wouldn't that mean they would shoot us?"
"¡Of course, my little friend!" J´zar answered "But I'm sure skilled fliers such as you two will have no trouble dodging them. ¿Any other? ¿No? Perfect"
The group carefully approached the bridge. J´zar deemed it safe to cross it. With the old warrior at the head and the six mares carefully following him, they started to tread the relatively short bridge. Each step made it creak and squeak, and the ponies (especially Fluttershy) moved very slowly, fearing the next step to be the last. With a cracking sound, one of the boards broke and a short scream was heard. Rarity had stepped in the wrong board, but luckily her leg was perfectly fine, only stuck in the bridge.
"¡Damn it!" J´zar cursed "Be more careful next time, Rarity"
"¿And how am I supposed to know where to step?" the mare complained.
"Just move a little softer. Fluttershy does it like a professional" J´zar admitted, pulling Rarity out of the gap. The team made it past the bridge without any other inconvenient. At the other side, J´zar raised his clenched fist, to mark the mares to stop. They came to a halt too suddenly, and they all bumped into each other. J´zar pulled out the flask filled with blood from his pockets, and gave it to Twilight Sparkle.
"Disable the shield, please" he instructed.
"Ummm, this...I..." the mare babbled. Actually, she had no idea on how to break the shield, but she had to try. She lifted the small vial using her magic, and focused. She thought of a bubble standing between her and the stronghold, and imagined the bubble exploding while channeling magic through the flask. At first, nothing happened, but then Twilight started to feel some sort of strength preventing her from breaking the field. She focused harder to overcome the barrier. Her magic started to drain, but the wall of energy was slowly becoming shorter. Twilight put to the task the last of her strengths on overcoming the obstacle and the mare felt something pulling her entrails up to her throat when the barrier finally disappeared. She kneeled down and fully crumbled on the floor shaking and panting as if she had been running a marathon. J´zar grabbed her in the shoulder and made her look into his yellow eyes.
"¿Twilight? ¿Do you hear me?" he said, though his voice reached Twilight vaguely.
"Y-Y-Yes..." Twilight managed to mutter.
"¿Are you alright?" J´zar sounded worried "You just dispelled a very powerful magic"
"I...I think so" The unicorn answered, still breathing heavily "I never felt such a thing before"
"Being tired is common after doing such a feat" J´zar pointed out.
"No, it's not that" Twilight rose to her hooves, her legs shaking like leafs in a storm "I felt something far greater than common magic behind that barrier"
"Bad sign" J´zar foreshadowed "We must move on. Stick to the plan"
Rainbow Dash nodded and shook her head towards Fluttershy, signaling the takeoff. Both pegasii flied off the earth and into the sky, making a wide detour around the castle to finally fly over it. As soon as they did, screams and orders were heard as the Banished ran to their bows and started firing. The pegasii, however, were more skilled than what they looked like, quickly outmatching the archers.
"Now it's our turn" J´zar said pulling both swords out of their sheaths. With a furious roar, the warrior charged the enemy, quickly engaging in a bloody melee. J´zar was very careful to control his bloodlust, for blind rage was not needed then. At the corner of his eye, the warrior saw the other four ponies sneaking through the trapdoor at the castle's side. "They better open that door quickly!" J´zar thought. A spearman tried to stab him from behind, but J´zar quickly swirled around and plunged his sword in the chest of the Banished as blood splattered the ground. But another one had taken the opportunity and cut J´zar across the ankle. J´zar kneeled to the ground in pain, and the spearmen left formed a phalanx in front of the pit separating the raised bridge from the rest of the place. J´zar heard a creak as the chains holding the door started to loosen.
"You should be wary when near doors" he warned the Banished "¡They open in the worst situations!"
The creatures looked surprised to the skies as the chains totally loosened and the bridge smashed down upon the unlucky traitors. From the other side, a high pitched voice said:
"That door was very hard to open" Rarity whined "¡I totally ruined my hooves!"
"Don' worry, sugarcube" Applejack answered "Ah'm pretty sure ya'll get 'em fixed"
"¡This is something reality show hosts are going to talk about for days!" Pinkie happily yelled.
J´zar feared for their safety inside an enemy base for a second, but the archers were very busy trying to kill Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. J´zar picked them off one by one. It wasn't very hard, as they were totally focused on firing their bows. But something troubled the old warrior: most of the Banished knew how to use a bow. And the guards at the door had spears. ¿What could allow the Banished to gain such abilities?
J´zar walked down the stairs leading to the door of the main building: a square tower the size of a city block. He reunited with the mares at the entrance of the secondary fortification.
"That was so...so...¡Awesome!" Rainbow Dash screamed "I need to assault castles more often"
"Oh my young mare, fun is only getting started" J´zar said entering the castle. |
Exploration turns out to be much longer than expected. | Inside the castle. | The halls of the castle were dead empty and completely silent.
Not a single sound could be heard besides the hooves of the mares and the sabatons of J´zar. The warrior was very careful with every sound.
"This place is very creepy" Rarity commented "¿why do they call it "The Wolf" anyways?"
"Before joining the Order, Ix used to be a very famous hunter" explained J´zar "For every wolf he killed, he hanged the beast's pelt on the walls of his castle. So the castle came to be known as "The Wolf's hide". After he joined the order it was simplified to "The Wolf". Bad habits never leave, I guess"
"¿What do you mean?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"Most warriors (Me included) take trophies from defeated enemies, such as fingers, ears, tongues" J´zar said "Ix, however, flayed the bodies of his best adversaries and hanged their skins from his walls as he used to do with wolves. That earned him the hate of many"
"¿What? ¿Why?" Twilight pressed on.
"If a spirit's body is flayed, the spirit cannot rest in peace until the skin is restored to the body" J´zar sighed, as if anypony was supposed to know what flaying did to spirits "Denying rest to a respected enemy is seen as selfish by my Order"
"In Ponyville you mentioned that the castle was defended in the inside too" questioned Rainbow Dash "¿Why isn't it defended here?"
J´zar remembered that battle.
The newly appointed Commander had led him and Lethe (another Principal) into the Wolf, each one in charge of a few hundred men. The battle outside the castle was intense, surrounded by the piercing shrieks of the Banished, stepping in the bodies of fallen enemies and brothers alike. The fighting inside the castle was even worse however. Upon entering the castle, things went horribly wrong. Hundreds of nightmarish creatures summoned from various dimension attacked them at the same time. Mythological monsters fought against men, talons cleaved armor and swords sliced off limbs. J´zar still remembered the smell. Oh, gods, how much he hated the smell. The smell of blood, of sweat and sulfur. A smell that made his eyes weep. Something so utterly horrible that his entire vision got blurry. Each meter took dozens of lives, but the idea of killing a traitor was the entire stimulus the warriors needed.
"Don't complain of what favors you" J´zar said, his voice dangerously low "Or I'll give you something to complain about"
The mares stopped their walk instantly and backed off, slightly scared of J´zar's reaction.
They passed through a corridor which displayed a great dining hall, with a red silk tablecloth, and tens of comfortable velvet-lined chairs. Dishes, silverware and glasses were nowhere to be seen. At the other side of the table there was a single door eight meters wide and three meters tall. The hinges were studded and reinforced with iron strips. The door itself was made entirely out of iron, and it was locked with a large iron bar. It seemed that whatever was on one side wouldn't be able to get to the other.
On the other hand, if the group continued forward, they would have to cross a large stone arch which leaded into a long and lonely hallway. Besides the arch there was a lever. The pole was made of silver and ventured into a groove in the stone floor. The small handle was wrapped in leather to keep the grip firm. It looked as if it came from a time machine.
"¿What path do we take?" Applejack asked.
"Both seem dangerous" J´zar reasoned "That lever might leave us trapped if something pops from behind and pulls it. But it's the only open way"
A massive roar was heard, and it shocked even the great iron door.
J´zar drew his swords and adopted a traditional defensive fighting stance.
"¡Get behind me!" the warrior shouted.
"No way we're..." Rainbow Dash started speaking, but she was cut short by another roar and the sounds of the metal door being pounced upon.
"Hiding sounds pretty good now" she rephrased herself.
The mares ran and swiftly hid behind a wall, sticking their heads around the corner to watch J´zar, who was still standing in front of the door. J´zar was observing the door undaunted as each hit made the steel tremble like a leaf dripping water. The door started to give in as the reinforced hinges creaked and began to slowly but surely break down. Another furious roar shocked the ears of the scared watchers as a series of hits were heard. Then silence.
"¿Is it...?" Applejack asked.
"No" J´zar answered carefully.
The entire arch of the door bursted into debris as the monster at the other side stood among the dense cloud of dust, unable to be seen. When the dust finally cleared and the figure could be distinguished in the middle of the torn apart arch, none of the mares could hold a gasp.
A lion so huge it couldn't fit in the enormous gateway leading to the dining table was there looking at J´zar with maddened fury bristling on its bloodshot eyes. Its claws were so sharp they could disembowel a fully grown cow in a single swipe, and its maw (lined with two rows of teeth dirty with the remains of its fleshy nourishment) could easily accommodate a laying pony. Its bronze-like skin was shining to the small amount of light coming from the few windows.
"¡I'm sure you'll look excellent as a carpet!" J´zar said, throwing a knife directly at the beast's head. On a normal lion, the knife would have pierced through the skull and into the brain, killing it instantly. But this was no normal lion, as the knife harmlessly bounced off the monster's skin, as if it was armored.
"That is new" J´zar admitted. He barely had time to dodge the swiping claw as it crashed into the leftmost wall "¡I wonder why giant wild animals won't stop trying to kill me!"
The lion roared again and tried to swallow J´zar whole, but the warrior was too fast and twisted around his heels to slash the lion across the flank. The sword slid off his skin like a knife against a sharping stone. "Damn it!" J´zar quickly reasoned. "My swords can't kill it...but maybe...". The idea brought a beam of hope into the warrior's soul.
Using the table as a jump booster, he threw himself over the monster's head and into its back. The lion roared furiously and started bucking with rage, trying to get J´zar off his back. However, the warrior kept a firm grip on the beast's mane and quickly surrounded its neck with one arm and used the other to press the grip. The beast tried to get him off many more times, but J´zar kept his arm firmly locked around the creature's neck. Finally, the monstrous lion fell to the ground rattling. It raised a leg for the last time before his entire body went loose. It didn't move anymore.
J´zar sat in the lion's belly and wiped the sweat from his neck. He was breathing heavily. The mares knew he was very old (perhaps as old as Princess Celestia) but until then, they had never seen him as an old person.
"That was a real challenge" he managed to gurgle "Now let's check that hallway before..."
A very soft but undeniable sound of screams came from further down the door the lion had come through. |
Exploration turns out to be much longer than expected. | The struggle. | J´zar rose to his feet quicker than what it seemed possible.
"We have to get the hell out of this place" he signaled "Lest you wish to become some monster's lunch."
He and the mares walked over to the lever very quickly and soon they were on the other side. J´zar pulled the lever, but the only thing that opened was another door at the very end of the long hallway.
"Come on! Follow me!" J´zar said, running already towards the opened stone door.
Save for Applejack, who was growing suspicious on him, none of the mares doubted even for a second before galloping behind J´zar. The sounds of claws scratching stone were louder now, and when Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder, she saw what was making that sound.
What could be best described as an army of monsters was just turning around the corner to chase them. Groups of monstrous birds with gnarling snakes instead of claws, wolfs with rooster legs, women with the lower part of their bodies turned into serpentine tails, huge insects and so many other creatures it would be impossible to describe them.
J´zar wasn't slowing down because of this. He did exactly the opposite running much faster and quickly reaching the opposite end of the hallway. He grabbed what seemed to be another lever and waited for them to cross the door. Just as Pinkie Pie crossed the door, a huge fly with beaver-like teeth bit her tail and dragged her away from the door. J´zar, however, was faster. He threw a knife at the fly and grabbed Pinkie by the tail and dragged her back into the room just before pulling the lever and making the door slam with fury over the monsters, killing a few who were in the first line. The six ponies and the man dropped to the floor, breathing heavily due to the exhaustion.
"That was...close..." Rarity said "Why are they so obsessed with you?"
"They probably still remember the battle where we killed hundreds of those things" J´zar theorized.
"So, ¿are ya telling me they're chasing us because of ya?" Applejack asked "¿Ya led us here with all those things out there an' never warned?" "
¿How could I guess they were still here?" J´zar defended himself "Anyways, we have no time. We need to find a way out."
"¿Maybe that door?" Twilight Sparkle suggested. Indeed, a tall stone door was guarding the other wall of the room. Besides that, there was nothing else that could serve as an escape route.
"Hmmm" J´zar mumbled "I see no switch, no lever, anything. We should look at the door itself."
He approached the door. It was engraved with strange runes, which J´zar found loosely familiar but couldn't understand.
"This door doesn't say anything I understand" He explained "But maybe there are hidden locks or keys"
The mares helped him check the walls, the doors and the floor, but didn't find anything that could open the door or signal the way to do so. In fury, J´zar punched the door, but it did not even drop dust.
"¿Have you tried asking kindly?" Fluttershy wondered.
"¡Hello there, mister giant!" J´zar said mockingly, beating the door three time "¿Would you please open the door?"
He snorted in annoyance.
"Now what?" Fluttershy asked.
"¡I'll ram it with your thick skull, and if that doesn't open it, at least I'll have some peace and quiet to think without disturbances!" J´zar furiously yelled "¡Next time you open your snout, try not to ask stupid questions!"
Fluttershy blushed and backed off, hiding behind her mane. J´zar immediately felt guilt stabbing his heart like a knife.
Fluttershy had a self-esteem low enough without him pushing her even lower.
"I'm sorry Fluttershy" He said kneeling to stand the same height as the pegasus "I did not pretend to make you feel bad. It's not your fault I can't open a door"
She raised her head and looked at J´zar. A few tears were coming off her eyes.
"You mean it?" she said blowing her nose.
"Yes" the warrior answered, his heart slightly softer "I mean it"
Fluttershy gave him a dim smile.
"Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds, but we have a door to open" Rainbow Dash remembered them.
"Yes, indeed we do" J´zar accepted, rising to his feet.
He examined the gate yet again. But this time, he noticed something special. One of the signs looked exactly like a reversed "A".
"¿Any of you has a mirror?" he asked.
"Why yes, dear, I always carry one in case my mane gets all ruined and needs to be fixed" Rarity said, pulling a mirror made of purple plastic out of her saddlebag.
J´zar grabbed the mirror and used it on the door. He managed to read a few words etched into the stone, written reversed:
"Search in the belly of the bronze horse and rub the iron nail in it"
"¿What?" J´zar exclaimed "¿That's all?"
He told the mares what the door said.
"¡I see no nail in here!" Pinkie Pie said laying on the floor looking at her stomach.
"It was obviously not speaking about a living pony" Twilight reasoned "Nopony could survive such a wound"
"¿But what horse then?" Fluttershy asked.
"¡I was such a fool!" J´zar said, slapping his own forehead "¡A horse!"
"¿What did you find?" inquired Twilight Sparkle.
"In geology, a "horse" is a chunk of rock separated from the rest" J´zar explained "¡The message was speaking about a loose stone around here!"
"¿Like the one I'm laying over?" Pinkie asked. She stood up and revealed that below her there was a metallic rock below her. In the middle of it there was a small stud, like a button. J´zar pressed it and the door creaked open, moving on its rusty hinges, like a monstrous machine opening its maw.
The room behind the door was hexagonal, with a ramp in the middle leading to another hexagonal platform. In the platform there was a throne made of yew, and sitting in it there was Ix, the Arch-Traitor.
"¡J´zar, my companion! ¡Long time no see!" Ix greeted the party "¿May I ask why are you here, brother?"
"I am no longer your brother, Ix. You lost your place in the brotherhood when you betrayed us." J´zar calmly answered. "You know very well why your wardens come when you leave your cell. To put you back in it"
"¡Ah, J´zar, if you knew how ignorant you are being, you would act in other ways!" Ix said, laughing "It was not me who betrayed the Order. It was the Order who betrayed me"
"¿How can a master bite his dog's paw?" J´zar launched "No Ix, I know the tale of your felonies far too well how to be fooled by them"
"¡¿Are you so blind you still believe the lies of the Order, even when someone tells you otherwise?!" Ix exclaimed.
"¡The dead man scares the slain!" J´zar yelled back at him "¿How could I believe the man who betrayed many of my brothers?"
"I see there is no use in this speech" Ix said resigned "There is a small line between loyalty and zealotry, J´zar. And you crossed it"
Ix stood up from his throne and showed his full height. He was wearing a white robe of thick silk and a white mask with only two horns which made it look like a three-sticked "H". From behind his throne he pulled out a long, double-bladed axe. He had to hold it in two hands, for he could not even lift it with one. As answer, J´zar drew both of his swords and walked up the first steps in the ramp.
"¿Can't we solve this talking?" Twilight asked.
J´zar pointed at Ix with one of his swords.
"¡Go back to the Maw!" he said firmly.
"¡No! ¡I shall never return!" Ix answered.
"Don't say I didn't try." J´zar warned before charging at Ix.
The warriors clashed with fury. J´zar feinted and stabbed at Ix, but he parried the blows with ease. Ix kept swinging his axe at J´zar, but he was too fast for the cumbersome weapon, and rolled under it or moved it away using it as joint to swing around Ix and attack his back. But still, Ix and J´zar seemed to be equally skillful and could not find any weaknesses in the other's defenses. J´zar attempted a stab at Ix's chest, but the traitor deflected the blow and set his axe on the floor, using it as pivot to smash his fist in J´zar's face. J´zar fell to the floor from the shock of the impact. Ix had paid a price too: his knuckles were bleeding due to the punch to the warrior's iron mask. As J´zar tried to stand up, Ix stomped on his chest and raised his axe with both hands.
"¡It seems I am the deadliest warrior!" Ix said, not taking any hurry now that his enemy was helpless "¡How fitting you die in my trophy room!"
In the middle of Ix's laughter, J´zar noticed the dozens of human skins hanged on the walls, all of different sizes and colors.
"¿Want to pronounce your epitaph?" Ix mocked lifting his axe.
"¡Raise ravens and they will gouge out your eyes!" J´zar screamed.
Just then, Twilight figured a way to help. Using her magic, she ripped off one of the skins from the walls and threw it at Ix. The traitor, entangled in one of his trophies, tried to rip it off his face, but in the attempt he only achieved to get even more tangled. He managed to pull it off, but by then J´zar was already up. He had lost both swords because of the punch. Ix swung his axe, but he had been slowed down, and J´zar blocked the handle with his vambrace.
"¡If you detest your brothers so much...!" he said punching Ix in the face. Ix freed himself from J´zar's grasp and ran back to his throne. He raised his arms and invoked some sort of spell. Another white gateway opened in the middle of the throne and long tentacles started to spawn from it "¡...Nobody forces you to share a world with them!"
J´zar pushed Ix to the portal. The tentacles reacted and grabbed him by the legs, shoulders, waist and neck. He tried to scream but the tentacles constricted his neck and dragged him back into the portal. The last thing the mares and J´zar saw of him was his left hand, marked with the Nameless Rune reaching out of the portal and trying to hold into something. |
Exploration turns out to be much longer than expected. | Up and Away | As soon as Ix's skeletal hand faded away in the portal, the white hole started to develop its own tentacles of white light, which spread around the throne like a mesh, and then into the floor. Soon, the whole throne was entirely white. The voracious anomaly, however, did not stop.
The walls cracked, the wooden beams holding the stone roof creaked and the entire place trembled. White veins started to appear from the cracked walls and the damaged beams, quickly covering them entirely and proceeding onto other objects.
J´zar backed off from the throne as one white tendril tried to leash around its ankle.
"¡We must leave!" the warrior demanded "¡NOW!"
They ran towards the open door and reached the other room. The door was still closed, but it was also, as everything else, being covered quickly in white strands which leahed and writhed as if they were the hair of a monstrous creature. J´zar approached the lever and pulled it down, opening the door before the mares could say anything. Applejack was about to warn J´zar of the ravenous hordes of monster that laid behind the threshold, but she swallowed her words when she saw the hallway.
The monsters were running madly around it, trying to escape the white tentacles as they surrounded their bodies and heads, quickly engulfing even the largest monsters. Some were (apparently) less lucky: a wolf tried to run away from the leashes, but then a flash of electricity sprouted from the white things in the walls and hit it right in the chest. The wolf's head started spurt blood through eyes, nose and mouth. Soon the body was also devoured by the white mesh.
"¿What the hay is going on here?" Twilight Sparkle asked as they ran through the long hallway.
"¡The Wolf returns to the Maw!" J´zar yelled "¡Without Ix, the only thing that bound it here disappears!"
"¿And what does the Maw look like?" Twilight asked again, her mane flowing behind her as a white vortex of pure nothingness started to swallow that wing of the castle.
"¡If the Council banished Ix there, it's probably filled with barbed wire, sentry crossbows and psychotic killers!" J´zar theorized.
They turned around a corner and ran directly through the gate the massive lion had come through, soon finding themselves in a secluded area with a big staircase leading into the heights of the main tower.
"¡Come on!" urged J´zar, quickly ascending through the steps.
The mares followed him, except for Rainbow Dash, who preferred to fly up the tower, following them. When they had already turned aroudn several times, they noticed the white tentacles were following them, creeping up on the steps and constricting themselves in the spandrels.
Suddenly, as the first six members of the party crossed a section of the stair, three stepswere torn apart by the tentacles. Rarity would have fallen right into them wasn't it for J´zar, who quickly raced back and grabbed her by the only thing that he could grasp on.
The mare yelled in protest when J´zar grabbed her white horn and held her aloft.
"¡Not by the horn!" Rarity whimpered before being pulled back into the stair.
They continued ascending through the stairs and promptly reached the top of the main tower. J´zar looked around just to find themselves trapped atop the tower, a white mesh of nothingness pursuing them and surrounding the party.
"¡Twilight!" J´zar yelled.
"¡¿Yes?!" she answered.
"¡Get us out of here!" J´zar ordered.
The librarian focused and soon a halo of pink energy surrounded her horn. Just as the tentacles were about to rip them to shreds, J´zar heard a boom and was blinded by a flash of light. He saw a fast sequence of images, which blurred into darkness as he felt the soft breeze under his feet. The feeling only lasted a second before an object crashed against his back and threw him to the floor. That object was Pinkie Pie.
Since Twilight Sparkle had very little time to plan the teleportation spell, all of the beings would appear in disorder in the desired area. Unluckily, Pinkie had used J´zar's back as landing spot. Fate seemed to be playing a bad joke on J´zar, since the other five mares landed on top of him as well. The warrior disappeared under the bodies of the six mares.
With significant ammounts of yelling and being hit in the face by hooves, J´zar managed to escape from under the mares. The ponies quickly helped each other to their hooves and they were soon laughing of the incident.
"I'm sorry" Twilight excused herself "I am not very good with that spell if I don't get preparation enough"
"Nevermind" J´zar calmly assured "Being crushed under six ponies is not the worst injury I have sustained"
J´zar stayed calm just to provide example, as he was used to do with his own soldiers. But inside, he was very unsure. First, there was the subject of pony-human interaction. ¿What would happen if governments learned of this alternate dimension? Nothing good, of course. J´zar knew humans far too well how to trust on their peace and truces.
Secondly, ¿what about the inhabitants of this dimension? J´zar had barely learned anything about them. And their physiology would surely interest medics. But again, the test they would submit them too would not be very pleasant.
Lastly, there was J´zar himself. He was not sure on what to do. Now that Ix was dead, there was no reason for him to remain there. He could return to his world, to his known land. He would reassume his old lifestyle, and continue on his duty, as he always did. Then ¿why the idea didn't please him at all?
He had to admit he was taking affection on the mares. Their company was entertaining and distracted him from the horrors of his own world. But besides that, he believed that all other ponies were extremely immature, even naive. Everytime J´zar questioned his own thoughts, he could only find even more convincing facts to defend his theory.
"¿Now what?" he asked out loud, as if the world could provide a better answer than his own.
"Well, we probably should report to the Princess" Twilight Sparkle suggested.
"Good idea" J´zar accepted, trying to postpone his decisions. |
Exploration turns out to be much longer than expected. | Home sweet home. | J´zar had told Twilight that he preferred not to meet Celestia again. He excused himself saying that he was tired.
Indeed J´zar was, but the indecision he felt only made it worst. J´zar didn't want to think about it, but the subject just kept coming back to his head all the time.
"Okay then, I'll go" Twilight answered to J´zar's plea.
J´zar saw her depart in another blast of magic.
"So ¿what now? For us ponies, I mean" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I wish I could answer you, little mare" J´zar thought inside his head. Just then he remembered he had a report to give as well.
"I advise you to salute any other friends you might have" J´zar said, trying to get the mares off his back "I'm sure they are worried about you".
Saying various sentences of agreement, the mares departed towards the town. They didn't seem to notice J´zar wasn't following them at all, just staying behind. As soon as they were out of sight, he ran off to a nearby tree, slammed his back against the trunk of the tree and pulled out his radio. J´zar turned it on and waited.
"J´zar...¿you there?" the interferences made the words of Sp´hre almost unintelligible.
"Yes, Commander" J´zar answered.
"Good. ¿What is it? ¿Is Ix dead?" she asked.
"Yes he is" J´zar said, happy to give good news "But I do not know what to do now. I must admit this dimension has a certain allure in it".
"¿What's the special thing about it?" Sp´hre inquired yet again.
"Oh, nothing in particular" J´zar didn't knew exactly why was he hiding things "But it looks promising, with green fields and a lovely weather, at least for now"
"¡Well then, I guess we'll be glad to have you back!" Sp´hre spoke happily, not knowing that those words both calmed and terrified J´zar at the same time.
"J´zar out, Commander" he said, cutting the communication.
J´zar had his answers. He was leaving. He had to.
J´zar walked away from behind the tree, wandering into the town. He felt lost, as if a single piece of him was missing. Inside, he wanted to stay. Even though at the beginning of the trip he felt a certain dislike for the mares that were his partners, there are some things one can't go through without befriending those who accompanied you in them.
Just as he was starting to feel horrible, Twilight Sparkle reappered besides him in yet another blast of magical energy.
"Wow, we are like two squares away from the main plaza ¿what's wrong with me today?" Twilight told Spike (who was sitting on her back)as she gave a puzzled look around until she found J´zar "¡Oh, there you are!"
"Listen Twilight..." J´zar started saying. But suddenly he changed his mind. The fatalism that had traveled in life alongside him was now telling him that his departure was inevitable. No need to make it harder.
"¿What is it?" the unicorn asked before J´zar could rephrase himself.
"Oh, nothing, nevermind" the warrior hid up his lapsus "¿So? ¿What did the Princess say?"
"She says she wants to personally congratulate you" Twilight said "and asked Pinkie to set up a party"
"¿A party?" J´zar asked worried. He had never been fond of parties. Too much noise for his ears.
"Outdoors" the mare explained. J´zar sighed in relief. Parties he didn't like. Banquets were a different matter "¡The whole town is invited!" Twilight finshed.
J´zar felt his soul falling to the floor yet again. Sneaking out of a large dinner table would be very hard with everyone watching him. The gears of his mind were already working down a plan.
The preparations of the banquet kept the six mares busy as they worked on their respective responsabilities. J´zar saw Fluttershy teaching a few birds how to sing a cheerful melody as he walked past a bifurcation on the road. Curiosity got the best of him, and he approached the mare. The birds, perched on a branch of a dead tree growing in the small patch of earth between the two roads, stopped singing as soon as they saw J´zar approaching. Without any other warning, they spread their wings and flew away.
"¿What happened guys?" Fluttershy said. Since she was looking at the tree, she couldn't see J´zar walking towards her from behind.
"Hello" J´zar said when he was just thirty centimeters away from her.
The cream-colored mare let out something mid-ways between a squeal and a scream as she turned around.
"I'm sorry if I startled you" J´zar said.
"Erm...no...you didn't" Fluttershy curled up into a ball. Her fore and hind legs were almost touching due to her positon.
"¿What are you doing?" the warrior said curious.
Fluttershy muttered something so low and so fast J´zar didn't catch a single word.
"Ummm...yes, excellent work" J´zar said, unsure if the answer was logical "¿Mind if I sit here for a while?"
Fluttershy shook her head. J´zar sat on the ground at her side and let out a sigh. It was probably the last chance they would have to talk.
"¿Why are you so shy?" he asked. The nature of people's actions and feelings had always been an interesting topic for J´zar, and he was planning on expanding it to ponies.
Fluttershy remained silent.
"¿Is it because you are afraid of sounding stupid?" J´zar realized he asked because he felt pity on the mare "Please, tell me"
"I-I guess. Maybe" Fluttershy managed to say. She had changed position again. Now she sat on her hindquarters, putting her front hooves in the ground.
"In that case, let me tell you that you are a very smart mare in my opinion, regardless of what any other man or pony says" J´zar tried to comfort her "¡And I have never met before someone so skilled with animals!"
Fluttershy looked at him smiling.
"Thanks you" she said, rubbing her nose against J´zar's arm.
"Nevermind. It's my pleasure to help a friend" J´zar answered scratching her behind the right ear "But now we should get going. It's going to get late"
Flutteshy nodded and got up. She and J´zar started walking towards the town. When the mare and the man reached the main city, they couldn't keep going. The majority of the street was occupied by a massive table which was apparently designed to accomodate an entire town. Which was exactly what it was doing. There was nopony sitting at it, but the mares and stallions around it seemed to be very nervous about something.
Twilight Sparkle approached them.
"¡Oh, praise Celestia you didn't appear here late!" she said "J´zar's seat is up there, at the head of the table, right besides the Princess, and Fluttershy goes with the other five below them" Twilight finished explaining their positioning and ran away, evidently in a hurry.
The bystanders started to take their seats. Fluttershy was standing at the side of a small wooden coat hanger. She seemed to be talking with a flock of birds who where perched on the coat hanger. Shortly after, the birds emitted a symphony of chirps and from behind the throne at the head of the table appeared Princess Celestia, walking solemnly towards her seat. She took her seat and pronounced a formal speech on how prideful she was of several things. J´zar (like many other ponies) was bored by the speech. The only speeches which managed to captivate him where the ones about glorious battles and similar things.
But finally, the speech ended and the Princess took the first bite out of a delicious salad the royal chefs had made specially for that ocasion.
J´zar used his first opportunity to leave the table, saying he needed to relieve himself. He made a dash for the forest entrance without any pony seeing him. He found the white portal still hanging there. He took a last look behind his shoudlers to the town and took a step forward. A voice called for him before he could take the final step into the portal.
"¿J´zar?" said Fluttershy.
"¿Fluttershy?" the aforementioned was equally shocked "¿Why aren't you at the party?"
"I was returning the birds to their homes when I saw you over here" the mare explained "By the way ¿what is that thing over there? If it doesn't bothers you, of course"
"It's a portal to my dimension" J´zar said dejectedly.
"Oh. So you are leaving" Fluttershy hid her face behind her pink mane "¿Can I come?"
"No, you can't, my child" J´zar said hiding his sorrow with a smile.
"¿Why are you leaving?" she said, not able to hold the tears anymore "¿You hate us?"
"No. I like you six a lot" he affirmed "But my job is to fight corruption. And here I find none"
"¿Are you happier there?" the pegasus asked again, walking closer to him.
"Yet again, no. I am happier here" J´zar said "But there is people who need me at the other side. I can't be so selfish how to care only about me"
"Please ¿will I ever see you again?" Fluttershy cried out. She was standing just in front of J´zar.
"I will dream with you, and you will dream with me. So yes, you will still see me" J´zar smiled. He kneeled and hugged Fluttershy, surrounding her neck and upper back with his arm. Fluttershy hugged back, resting her head over the warrior's shoulder.
"Goodbye, Fluttershy" J´zar said. He smelled her mane again. It had the smell of fresh leaves and moist ground, the smell of mossy wood and rain water. The smell of the forest.
J´zar broke the hug, stood up and walked into the portal.
Arriving on the other side, J´zar saw Zephir and Sp´hre standing a few meters away from him.
"¿So? ¿How was it?" the Commander asked.
"Not now, Commander" J´zar said gently but firmly "I must check the archives"
"¿Where the hell have I heard their names before?" he mumbled to himself. |
Exploration turns out to be much longer than expected. | Epilogue. | The dark figure watched through what seemed to be an ethereal puddle of nothingness a man dressed in a black armor leave through a white portal, leaving behind a sad mare and a vulnerable dimension. He laughed, witnessing the plan he had worked hundreds of years on working perfectly. J´zar had left this dimension, and the only danger was now exposed.
"¡Oh, my little ponies, so ignorant, so foolish!" the voice claimed.
The image being viewed through the ethereal puddle changed, this time showing the busy streets of Canterlot.
"Soon, brothers," the dark creature hissed. His voice sounded dragged, as if every words caused him unimaginable pleasure, as if he wanted to savor the nuance of every single letter "¡Soon, we shall feel the chafe of air against our flesh, and this dimension shall feel our presence!"
The voice laughed, and other laughters joined in a cacophony of joy. |
The Road of Courage | pre | "Sup, girls!" Rainbow Dash greeted them.
"Hello there, darlings." Rarity replied in an elegant tone.
"Hi...." Fluttershy replied in a shy tone.
"Hi, Rainbow Dash and Applejack!" Twilight replied. When she saw the new stallions, one being a hybrid and the other looking like a mare, she looked confused, yet curious. "I'm surprised that you met those new ponies. One of them looks....pretty funny."
"Thanks for the reminder.." Dukey was slightly annoyed.
"Yup. We've met them at mah farm no less." Applejack replied, thinking back at their first encounter in the Sweet Apple Acres.
"Well, we needed a place to sleep somewhere." Johnny added.
"Oh my." Fluttershy was quite surprised.
"But hey, it's still better than sleeping in the Everfree Forest anyway." Rainbow Dash shrugged.
"What's that?" Johnny and Dukey asked in unison, since they had no idea.
"I would not recommend going there, since the place is filled with the most dangerous creatures ever known in Equestria." Twilight warned.
"Ok, I'm not going there!" The brown stallion was immediately scared. "I would rather be sleeping in the barn alive than sleeping in the forest being endangered!"
"Dude..." Johnny sighed and facehoofed.
That caused the mares giggling.
"Anyway, Rainbow Dash, who are they?" Twilight asked.
"Girls, those guys are Radiant Thunder and Coffee Paw! However you can call them Johnny and Dukey, if you want to..." Rainbow Dash was about to laugh from the "nickname".
"Rainbow Dash..." Applejack was not amused and glared at the prismatic mare.
"Sorry, couldn't help it." Rainbow Dash apologized.
"I'm Rarity. It's really nice to meet you." The white unicorn introduced herself.
"I'm Twilight Sparkle, it's an honor to meet you as well." said the purple mare.
However, the yellow pegasus looked away a bit.
"And you are..?" Johnny asked.
There was no response. "Uhm, hello?? Who are you??" he asked again.
"Uhm....F-Fluttershy..." she said quietly.
"Say wha?" He didn't understand what she said. In which Rainbow Dash told him: "This is Fluttershy. She is quite shy towards new ponies."
"You don't say?" The stallions said in unison. Then they hear stomachs growling from the guys.
"Since we are all gathered here, let's go inside." said Twilight.
They went inside the building and to a table. The stallions were amazed about the amount of tasty cakes, cupcakes and several treats on display. It was like straight from a tasty dream. No wonder, why Johnny started to drool.
"Does this place serve coffee here?" Dukey asked. The only response from the girls was Twilight saying: "Not really. But Canterlot has it."
"I see." he understood. He then turned his attention towards his best friend, who was still drooling. "Can one of you girls get some tissues, please? I think, he is drooling."
"Sure." Twilight used her magic to make some tissues appear. Dukey was confused a bit, but then shrugged off because of magic. The hybrid then used the tissues to wipe Johnny's mouth off. "There there." he said.
Then they heard a voice. A voice full of energy and life:
"Ok, everypony! It's ready!"
"About time! I'm starving!" said Rainbow Dash.
"So am I." Johnny replied.
Then they see the treats being carried by a pink earth pony with poofy pink mane, almost like cotton candy and a bright smile. Johnny groaned a bit, since pink is not his favorite color...at all.
"Great, as if seeing pink is not bad enough, I'm pretty sure, she would be an eyesore for me..." He thought to himself.
However, he met with annoyed looks from the others.
"Damn...I suppose, that was not really THAT subtle..." He thought to himself again.
"Alright, everypony! It's time for a-" However, her sentence was interrupted, once the pink pony saw the stallions and shrieked in excitement., as stars were in her bright blue eyes.
She immediately dashed to the two, leaving a big cloud of dust around her. Everyone coughed, due to the huge dust, that she caused.
"Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie! You must be new here! I'm so excited to meet new ponies like you! I have prepared a song, just for this occasion!"
They couldn't understand, because she spoke too fast. Like way too fast. The pink pony pulled out a big music box and pressed a button, in which instruments come out and play a tune.
Pinkie Pie
Welcome welcome welcome
A fine welcome to you!
Welcome Welcome welcome
I say how do you do?
Welcome Welcome welcome
I say hip hip hooray!
Welcome Welcome welcome
To Ponyville today!
Wait for it!
She ended the song with a pose and a wave to not just the boys, but also to the audience. That includes you, the watcher.
"Okay, I've seen crazy introductions before, but this tops everything, like geez!" Dukey was speechless.
"Yeah. Totally crazy.." Johnny agreed.
"That's Pinkie Pie for ya!" Applejack replied.
The mares giggled, yet the guys still looked puzzled. How was she able to do that?? It seems like, she has different logic than everyone else.
Then Dukey remembered a question, he wanted to ask, way back, when he was in the Sweet Apple Acres.
"The thing is, Applejack and Rainbow Dash left because of a friendship problem. What's this all about?" he asked.
Twilight explained: "You see, my friends and I are tasked to spread friendship to other worlds and occasionally, solve friendship problems. Rainbow Dash and Applejack went there, because they were chosen this time."
"Then why did their symbols on their sides glow?" he asked.
"Well, they were called to go to my castle. Think of it as a meeting. Then the Cutie Map will tell where the next friendship mission is and who will go there. There are times that the whole group goes on a mission because of a big emergency." the purple pony added.
"Really strange way for those thingies on the...uhm.." The black pegasus was struggling to find words, when he looked at the symbols on the sides of the mares. It wasn't until Twilight knew what he's wondering.
"Oh! Those symbols are known as Cutie Marks. They define a pony's destiny on what they do. They also reflect a pony's special talent as well as personality. My cutie mark represents my destiny in magic, while Pinkie Pie's cutie mark represents her destiny in spreading laughter and joy."
They looked at Pinkie's cutie mark, which has 2 blue balloons and one yellow balloon. They look at the other cutie marks, which contain gems, apples, butterflies, stars and a lightning bolt with 3 colors, before looking at their own. Johnny's cutie mark is a yellow radioactive symbol with a light blue lightning bolt, which fades to a bright light on the tip and Dukey's cutie mark is a dog paw with a cup of coffee.
"Speaking of which, what do our cutie marks mean?" Dukey asked.
"Hmm...That's a good question.... I'll think about it later." Twilight replied.
"But now, we have to celebrate for a victory!" Pinkie Pie shouted and gave the tasty treats to all of her friends, including the stallions. Everyone was excited. It didn't take long for Johnny to immediately bury his face to the slice of cake. His eyes sparkled with joy, because it tastes really good.
"This is awesome!" His chirped with excitement and joy
"Yes, but what you did was neither polite, nor fancy." Rarity was not happy about his manners.
"Hey, give us a break. We're guys. Besides, we are pretty hungry." Dukey disputed her claim, which earned him a glare from the white unicorn.
"Relax, Rarity." Rainbow Dash replied. The ponies laughed and eventually, Rarity laughed with them.
Soon enough, the black pegasus had an idea and threw a slice at Rainbow Dash with a snicker.
"Oh, it's on, pal!" She threw a slice back at him. Everyone was confused, except Dukey and Pinkie Pie, who knew, what's going on.
"Ooooooh!!! Are we having a food fight?" Pinkie shrieked in excitement.
"Judging what just happened, I'd say that's a yes." Dukey replied, before throwing a slice at Pinkie Pie.
"Food fight!!" Pinkie yelled in joy and threw some cake at the others. Soon, the others joined in the fun, safe for Fluttershy, who was hiding under the table and Rarity, who was not amused. It wasn't until, she got hit with cake, when she changed her mind.
"It...is...on!" the white unicorn soon used her magic to throw cakes at anyone in her sight. Neither of which backed down and continued throwing cake at each other.
Time has passed and the ponies exited from Sugarcube Corner after a party. It seems like they all had fun, while Rarity was fixing her mane.
"That was fun!" Pinkie Pie said it in excitement.
"You can say that again, buddy!" Rainbow Dash replied. She flew up in the skies with joy in her eyes. She flew around clouds, performed loops and picking up speed.
"That's cool! I wish I could fly too!" Johnny was starry-eyed with excitement of what he had witnessed.
"Johnny, you're a pegasus AKA a winged pony. Shouldn't you be able to fly automatically, as soon you spread your wings and such?" Dukey pointed at the black pony's gradient wings.
"Oh yeah. I forgot. Heheh..." He scratched his head in embarrassment.
The young stallion went to a spot, where he can get into a starting position. "Alright, here I come!" With a smirk, he spread his wings. However, this caused the mares to gasp in shock, especially Twilight, who was basically frozen.
"What? Is it because where I stand?" The pegasus was confused. Twilight immediately teleported to him and looked at his wings in utter shock.
"H-h-h-HOW DID IT HAPPEN!? A pegasus with alicorn wings!? That's impossible!"
"Uh, can you just back off?" Johnny started to get uneasy with Twilight.
She kept on looking and inspecting his gradient wings. She never saw a pegasus like this before, so her curious mind needed answers from him. Johnny on the other hand, was getting more and more annoyed and soon enough, he used his other wings to slap her.
"Get off from me!" he yelled at the purple alicorn. The mare paused in shock, however the young pegasus looked away.
While that was going on, they heard a voice: "Hey! Twilight!"
They looked at the source of the voice coming to the purple alicorn. It was a little purple dragon.
"Okay, that's new." Dukey was quite surprised. "I expected dragons to be bigger."
"Hey, I am still a child, remember!" the dragon glared at the hybrid.
"Well, I'm sorry!" Dukey replied.
The purple alicorn went to the dragon, who has some scrolls. "What is it, Spike?" she asked. The dragon replied: "Well, I received letters from Princess Celestia."
"Who is this little dragon?" Dukey asked.
"Oh. Sorry. This is Spike, my assistant." Twilight replied.
"It's nice to meet you, even though you look strange." Spike was confused about the brown stallion's appearance.
"Geez, can you girls and Spike stop commenting about my weird looks?..." The stallion hybrid was annoyed.
"Sorry, it's just, I've never seen this before." Spike apologized with a nervous smile.
While the conversation was going, the black pegasus was ready to fly. He jumped up into the air and began flapping his wings. However, he only managed to stay afloat for a while, before falling to the ground. He was quite annoyed.
"Ugh! This sucks!" he yelled in the air. Rainbow Dash flew to him.
"Is this the first time you attempted to fly?" she asked. In which Johnny replied: "Yeah.."
"Don't worry, I'll teach you the basics on how to fly and do it awesomely!" the blue pegasus mare encouraged him. "However, it would be a bit difficult with those kinds of wings, so I'll ask Twilight for help."
"You do? Cool!" he was excited.
As Rainbow Dash kept flying around the skies, Johnny couldn't help but to be amazed by her style and speed. He had a daydream of him flying through the skies, dodging clouds and performing loops. At that point, he felt really alive, while feeling the warm sun rays. However, that soon changed, when the skies suddenly changed from a happy bright blue to a sinister dark purple and the white clouds turn to black. He then heard voices, that taunt him and calling him the worst names possible.
"Ha! Look at yourself, you monster!"
"H-huh!????" The black pegasus looked around in a quick pace. His expression changed into paranoia. "What was that!!!! Show yourself!!"
"Very well then..."
Suddenly, he got grabbed by an unseen force and witnessed, as the clouds got closer and form glowing red eyes. They laughed evilly, as they called his name, while Johnny was stuck in fear.
"Johnny....Johnny....Johnny..."
"HEY!!!!!! JOHNNY, ARE YOU THERE!!??????"
That loud yell caused him to shriek and to snap out of that dream and back into reality. The pony looked around, only to see the 6 ponies and Spike looking at him. He looked on the right to see Dukey, after he saw his arm waving in front of him.
"Huh?? Uh, yeah, I'm fine! I was a bit distracted!" he responded.
"Geez, are you sure about that?" Rainbow Dash asked after she flew down.
"Yeah, I swear!" The pegasus stallion responded.
"Uhm...Girls? It's getting late.." Fluttershy reminded everyone. As the ponies witnessed a beautiful sunset, they knew that it's time to go.
"Welp, time to rest, everypony." Applejack told everyone.
Dukey yawned and said: "You know, a bed would be nice."
Twilight came to them and replied: "Perfect timing, because we have to go to my castle first."
"Wait, you have a castle?" Johnny asked. In which Twilight replied: "Yes. You see, I've been crowned as Princess of Friendship."
Dukey was confused: "Wait, a Princess of Friendship? I'm not gonna offend you, but the title sounds...strange."
"You'll learn about it tomorrow." Twilight replied.
"Okay then." The hybrid shrugged.
The group of ponies walked for a long time until they arrived at a castle, resembling a crystal tree.
"This place is huge!" Johnny was surprised.
"You can say that again." Dukey agreed.
They were mesmerized by the sheer beauty of the castle and its sparkling walls.
"Welp, it's time to go!" said Applejack.
"Wait, you're leaving?" Dukey replied in a shock
"Yes, because we have to go to our homes. Besides, Twilight and Spike live there." Rarity answered his question.
"However, I do have some guest rooms available for you two." Twilight assured them.
"That would be nice. I mean, I really want to go to bed now, considering I didn't get much sleep last night." The brown stallion yawned. The night before was not that pleasant for him.
"Well, it's time to say goodbye for now.." Johnny looked down.
"Hey, don't worry. Tomorrow will be a new day!" Rainbow Dash replied enthusiastically.
"Yeah." The black pegasus smiled a bit.
"Good night, Twilight! Good night, guys!" Pinkie Pie shouted and with those words, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy left.
"Follow me, I'll show you your room." Twilight reminded them and went inside. They followed her. After a while, they reached the guest rooms, in which Twilight opened the doors.
"Is there a way to sleep in one room? I mean, as a trusty dog/pony mix, I have to be close to my best friend, just in case of emergencies." Dukey asked Twilight.
"Hmmm....." She used her magic to rearrange one of the rooms. "There, it's possible now. But make sure that there is no hanky-panky!"
"Sure." The stallions replied.
"Good night, guys." said Twilight.
"Night, Twilight!" the guys replied.
As they closed the door, they went to their beds.
"Wow! It surely is comfortable like a cloud!" Dukey was amazed , after he laid down.
"You can say that again." The black pegasus smiled.
"I must say, this place doesn't seem bad at all. The ponies were actually friendly, although Pinkie Pie nearly gave me a heart attack... But still, from all the worlds, we've been through, this one is actually peaceful. No lies, no secrets and there are guardians to protect this world! Plus, it's refreshing to be in a different world with nice people. That's something, you won't see in other worlds though."
"Yeah, indeed." his friend responded and yawned. The earth pony hybrid did the same.
"It's getting late...Tomorrow will be a new day, so we need some energy for the next day. Good night, Johnny!'
"Night, pal."
After those words, the stallions fell asleep on their beds...
Meanwhile....
Somewhere, Johnny, in his human form was in a black void. Everything was dark and cold. And the atmosphere was pretty eerie.
"Where am I?" he shouted. "Hello?? Anybody here??"
He walked around the void. Due to the coldness, he started to freeze and shiver. "Man, it's cold..." he said.
Suddenly, he heard voices from angry people.
"You're a monster!"
"You caused it again!"
"Look at what you've done!"
They echoed throughout the void, making them loud and clear. Johnny covered his ears in fear.
"What was that?? Who are you????" he questioned in the air. The voices kept repeating over and over, adding to the intense situation.
"Johnny? We have some unfinished tests with you!"
He looked back to see big and frightening versions of his sisters, with red glowing eyes and sharp teeth.
"Leave me alone!" He began to run away. The sisters began to chase him.
"Run while you can! You can never escape!" The voices began to sound more demonic. At the same time, he saw his dad, also big and frightening like his sisters.
"Young man, we need a talk about your actions!"
"Damn it, leave me alone!" He sounded scared. No matter how fast he ran, it seems like they were catching up with him. As the distance got closer and closer, Johnny's expression changed that to absolute fear. Eventually, they got so close, that everything around him went black. When he opened his eyes again, he saw many angry faces. He tried to run again, but he couldn't. He was paralyzed, making him unable to move. They got closer and closer, as tears formed in his eyes. The voices get louder and more painfully evil.
"No! NO! GO AWAY! STAY AWAY FROM ME! STOP! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
He screamed really loudly and suddenly he opened his eyes. He was still in the guest room. He looked around to see Dukey looking at him.
"Geez, Johnny! What the hell?" he sounded quite irritated, since his scream basically woke him up.
He saw Dukey in that pony/dog mix and looked at his reflection on a mirror. He was still a pony, albeit a very sweaty and frightened pony with his hair being messy. His heart was racing with fear, he looked.....shaken.
"Dear God...." he sounded shaken. Tears are forming on his blue eyes.
"Johnny, did you have a nightmare?" Dukey asked, while rubbing his head.
"Yes! And a horrible one indeed... That pain....It's still there! Why can't I be just happy for once?!" Tears were dropping from his face and soon started to sob.
Then Dukey felt that breaking in him again.
"It happened again..Why do I feel a painful ache in me, everytime when I see Johnny in despair?...Unless..." he thought to himself.
Dukey was thinking about himself about the connection. It happened all the way back in the orchard. He witnessed Johnny having a mental breakdown for the first time and comforting him. He then remembered something: He too was emotional, as tears were on his eyes too.
"We are connected...But how?" He was asking himself. However, he decided to set the question aside and placed a paw on Johnny's head.
"Let's just go to sleep, okay?" he told the black pegasus. "It's still very late."
"I'm not sure....I couldn't sleep well last night for the same reason." Johnny looked down.
"Hmm...We will talk about this tomorrow in private, okay?" Dukey replied.
The black pegasus silently nodded, went to his bed and fell asleep. Dukey was looking at the sealing, thinking about several unanswered questions about the connection and the story a bit before he too fell asleep. It seems like, he has to find them out tomorrow.
Meanwhile....
Somewhere, a dark blue alicorn was standing on the balcony from a castle, looking at the horizon. She had flowing blue mane that sparkle like the stars in a night sky and royal regalia with a moon symbol. She looked worried.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." she then looked at the moon. What is going on?
To be continued.... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 3: Shattered to the Core | As the stars sparkled the purple night sky, the dark blue unicorn was standing on a balcony with her ethereal mane flowing. However, she was worried about something..
"What's wrong, my dear sister?"
A voice can be heard. She looked back to see a tall white alicorn with beautiful flowing mane and golden regalia. Her mane consisted of the colors of blue, green and pink, fading to brighter colors and sparkle like stars. It was no mistake. The tall white alicorn is the ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia and the blue alicorn is her younger sister, Princess Luna, who rules this world alongside her.
Celestia walked up to her younger sister, since she was worried about her. Then Luna finally answered: "While I was in the Dream World, I was doing my duties as usual, until I saw a dream like no other. Actually, it was a nightmare."
"A nightmare?" Celestia asked.
Luna replied: "Yes. But what's strange is, it came from a pony, I've never seen before."
"A pony, you've never seen before?" Celestia was surprised. "This is strange..."
"It's like he came from a different world." Luna added.
Celestia asked: "What was the nightmare all about?"
Luna closed her eyes, took a deep breath and explained the details:
"It was about a boy in a dark void being chased by evil creatures, I couldn't recognize. They looked like those humans, Sunset told us, except they looked more sinister and demonic. They told him several things, like it was his fault and what he did and called him horrible names. They were closer and closer, until the boy was trapped in the darkness, paralyzed from the fear. I saw the fear in his eyes, along with the tears, as he pleaded with them to stop. But they were relentless and got closer to him. The last thing I heard from him was a scream. A horrifying scream, that sent chills in me.. I've seen nightmares from several ponies before, but not like this.."
"This doesn't sound good.." Celestia was speechless about the unknown nightmare. Who was the boy? Why was he chased by demonic entities? Why was he scared? And most importantly: Who was the pony, who had the nightmare? There are so many questions that circled in her head. Then, she came back to reality and said: "We should keep an eye on this situation. We don't know much about the boy."
"I suppose, it's for the best." Luna agreed.
Soon, the tall white alicorn went to a stance and looked at her sister. "It's time."
"I know." The blue alicorn smiled and went inside, while Celestia used her magic to raise the sun, bringing the warm days.
Meanwhile, in Twilight's castle...
As the sun rays illuminated the room, Dukey woke up. "Wow, I must say, that's way better than sleeping in the farm or even in the animal shelter." He yawned and got up from his bed, as the walls shimmer from the light. He looked at the other bed, where his friend is. He is currently sleeping with his mane still being messy. He tapped on his back, but the black pegasus rolled around. He tried again, but with the same results.
"Give me 5 more minutes..." he mumbled.
With a sigh, the brown hybrid tugged his hair, causing the pegasus to wake up. "Ow! Not cool!" he said in annoyance and pain, as he rubbed his head.
The black pegasus slowly stood up and rubbed his eyes, as his friend noticed him in a cranky mood.
"Geez...You look like you didn't sleep well...The nightmares surely got you hard." the hybrid noticed that.
"Ugh, of course they did!" Johnny replied in a loud and cranky voice, as he struggled to keep his eyes open.
"Johnny, why not just wash your face with water? That look doesn't seem welcoming to anyone." Dukey asked.
Johnny sighed and replied: "Maybe, you're right... I need to wash it off.."
The black pegasus went to a nearby bathroom and to a sink, where he started to wash his face with water off. As he looked into the mirror, he saw something. It was a reflection of the demonic being in his nightmare.
"Johnny...." A voice can be heard. His eyes widened and shook his head hard. He looked himself at the mirror again, only to see that there was no reflection of the entity.
"What the hell!?" the young pegasus thought to himself. "This can't be....No...No way..."
Soon, he saw more demonic figures in the mirror and more voices could be heard. They looked and sounded even worse than before. The pegasus started to feel threatened and scared.
"Look, what you did, you ungrateful bastard!"
"You're the worst, Johnny Test!"
"You can run, but you can never hide from your actions!"
"You're the cause of the chaos!"
"Young man, you are in big trouble!"
"You spawn of the devil!"
Soon, the entities emerge from the mirror and morphed into a gruesome monster. Johnny couldn't move, because of his fear and trauma.
"No! Stop it!" he pleaded as he covered his ears, since the voices had been unbearable for him. And as the creatures got bigger and closer and as the voices echoed in his head, the pony curled up into a ball and shook for his life. They called him horrible names and such.
"Stop it! Leave me alone! NO! STOP IT!"
With scream, he punched the mirror, shattering into little pieces and when he opened his eyes, the entities were gone. His heart was racing in what it seems like at lightspeed, his body shaking from the hallucinations and his eyesight fading in and out.
"No....Please.....Anything but this..." he spoke quietly and yet shaken.
"What's going on?"
He heard a voice and the door being opened. It came from Twilight, as well as Dukey and Spike, who heard the commotion. Of course, they looked worried of what's going on.
"Johnny, are you okay?!" Dukey rushed to his friend.
"What happened to the mirror?" Spike asked, when he looked at the shards.
After a pause, Johnny answered with a lie: "Well, there was a spider and I tried to stomp it, but obviously, it got away."
"Uhm...okay?" Spike was still confused and looked around. "I don't see any."
"Like I said, it got away!" Johnny repeated it to the dragon.
Meanwhile, the purple alicorn looked at the shards and had an irritated look. It didn't take long until Spike saw her and then looked at the stallions.
"Guys, why not just take a walk outside? We will talk about this later." he said.
"Will do." Dukey answered.
He took the black stallion and went outside the castle together. After they looked around a bit, they went to an alley for some privacy.
"Johnny. About the nightmare...What did you see?" he asked.
"Well...uhm..." Before he could answer, he suddenly saw the nightmarish creatures and screamed in horror..
"Johnny? What's going on?" Dukey was concerned.
As the young pony shook his head, the creatures were gone and instead saw the trash bins.
"No...No!" his inner voice was telling him.
"You look like, you've been spooked by some ghosts.." he said.
"Duh...I'm feeling strange...as if I saw some sort of images...." the black pony responded.
"It means, you're hallucinating." Dukey noted. "I think you need a break."
"What? No no no! I'm fine! Maybe I was out of shape a bit." Johnny replied with a chuckle. "Oops. I gotta go! Rainbow Dash is waiting for me. See ya!" The black pegasus ran off.
Then Dukey felt something twisting in his stomach.
"Something is wrong with Johnny...He has been acting strange lately and now, he refuses to tell the truth...I think, I have to keep an eye on him."
The brown stallion ran off.
Meanwhile in a field near Ponyville...
The blue pegasus mare was waiting for somepony. In the meantime, she flew around a bit to pass some time. Eventually, Johnny arrived with a smile.
"Hey! Sorry for being late. My mind was somewhere again." The young pony added.
"It's okay, buddy! Anyway, are you ready to reach the skies in the most awesome way?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Johnny replied in an excited tone.
"Awesome! Let's begin!" Rainbow Dash flew around a bit.
Later, they went to a spot somewhere.
"Alright! First, spread your wings!" Rainbow Dash instructed the young pegasus stallion. He smirked and spread his large wings.
"Whoa. Still surprised about your wings though." Rainbow Dash was in awe, yet surprised over Johnny's large, gradient, alicorn-like wings, before snapping herself back to reality. "Anyway...Next, jump high and use your wings!"
"Like a bird?" Johnny asked.
"I suppose... " Rainbow Dash answered with a shrug.
The black pegasus jumped and used his wings to flap like a bird. Once again, he managed to stay afloat for a short time, before falling down.
"Don't worry. Keep trying!" The blue mare encouraged the black stallion.
Johnny kept trying to fly. He jumped and flapped his wings numerous times, in an attempt to stay afloat. He kept trying and falling, yet that didn't discourage him. In fact, each attempt he took, he stayed afloat longer than before. Eventually, after so many attempts and more encouragement from Rainbow Dash, he jumped and used his wings again, though this time, he didn't fall. He managed to float completely.
"This is awesome! I can fly!" he was overjoyed by his accomplishment.
"Eh, this is only the beginning, you know? Try to fly for a while." Rainbow Dash reminded him that he needed to fly forward. The young pegasus did attempt to fly, albeit sloppily. He wobbled, as he was trying to balance himself. In fact, he was so close to falling down, before Rainbow Dash caught him.
"Well, your flying skills need some work." Rainbow Dash flew upside down a bit to remind him about his skills. Johnny didn't take it well a bit.
"Shut up..." he said in a peeved tone, with his cheeks going red a bit.
"Hi, Rainbow!"
Twilight came with Spike, just to see what she and Johnny are doing.
"I see that you are teaching him how to fly. " she said with a soft giggle.
"Well, he only got the basics." Rainbow scratched her head as she looked to Johnny, who looked annoyed. Twilight assured: "I know how you feel. When I first earned my wings, I was not used to flying. I kept losing balance, was out of sync and crashed numerous times. But after some time, practice and patience, I was finally able to master my flying skills. All you need to do is keep trying and be patient."
"Bla bla bla, I get it! Can I just continue?" The young stallion said in an impatient tone, as he crossed his arms.
"Hey, don't be cranky. You can't master it in one day, you know?" Rainbow Dash reminded.
"She has a point." Spike added.
"Come on. It wouldn't be that hard!" Johnny nonchalantly replied and started to fly around. "See? Too easy!"
As he soared around the clouds, he felt the exciting rush of his adrenaline pumping, As a pegasus, he felt....alive. However, his peace soon shattered, when he heard a terrifying voice in his head.
"Johnny...."
"W-what was that!?" He looked around, however he saw nothing. He flew to the left, so maybe he can concentrate on something else. But the voice didn't stop.
"You can't escape.."
The pegasus started to feel uneasy and before he knew it, he saw the clouds transforming into the same entities from his nightmares. They start to taunt him and humiliate every single bit of him, in order to crush his spirit.
"No...No! Not again!" Johnny was in disbelief. How could they still follow him, even after he left his own world behind? This was a question that he couldn't answer. Then the creature grabbed him and pulled him close to it, as he was struggling.
"No! Let me go!" He pleaded, as he was afraid again.
As soon, he hit the entity, he lost his coordination and began to fall. The voices got louder and louder as well as more demonic. Just like in his nightmare. But before he would fall into an abyss, he was suddenly caught by orbs of light.
"Johnny! Johnny! Can you hear me?"
It sounded different from the entities, however he was so dazed by the visions, that he couldn't tell the difference. It wasn't until he was slapped by the orbs, in which the black pony snapped himself back to reality. Turns out, the orbs of light were actually Rainbow and Twilight, holding him.
"Johnny, are you okay?" asked Rainbow.
"You suddenly lost your coordination and fell. Thankfully, we caught you before you crashed to the ground." said Twilight. "What's wrong?"
"Probably..got..disoriented..." He couldn't build his sentence properly, as he was still in a daze.
"Geez...Seems like, your head is also scattered..." Rainbow Dash sighed.
"Come on, everypony. We have to take him to Fluttershy's Cottage! She'll help him." said the purple alicorn and she, Rainbow Dash and Spike carried him on the way. Unbeknownst to them, they were watched by someone, whose tail raised from a bush. It was Dukey, who was hiding.
"Great....He's so close to having another breakdown..." he thought to himself.
Then, he remembered something more. In every memory, that Johnny was mentally tortured by everyone on the inside, he was there.
"I was there, when everything happened...I witnessed it all..."
Then, another memory came in, which happened during Johnny's mental breakdown. He was in the animal shelter, when he felt the painful ache in him for the first time.
"That was the first time, I felt that painful ache in me. I didn't know why it happened, until I witnessed him having a mental breakdown. Then the ache returned..."
He remembered the moment again of Dukey feeling the ache when he witnessed Johnny's breakdown for the first time, before he came back to the present. However, before he can think about a plan, a different memory flashed in front of his eyes. Unlike any other memories of the past, this one was blurry and vague. It was about some evil creatures, however they were unrecognizable. They were circling around him. The only time, they spoke was this:
"You dirty dog! You're nothing, but a devil's accessory!"
That memory sent chills to his spine, after he came back to reality. What's more, it was a different memory like no other.
"What the hell? What kind of memory was that?" he thought to himself. It left with more unanswered questions. Like who are those creatures and why was he there?. "Whatever it is, I still have to get to Johnny, before it's too late!"
The brown hybrid began to sprint as fast as he could. Halfway through, he suddenly bumped into someone. As he was rubbing his head to ease the pain, he saw the pony, who bumped into him: a lavender-colored unicorn mare with dark purple hair with light purple and light teal streaks.
"I'm so sorry!" Both said in unison, as they stood back up. They bowed their heads, only to them hitting each other by accident. As they groan in pain and rub their heads, the stallion reminded himself about his mission.
"Look, I would like to talk with you, but right now, I'm in a hurry!" said Dukey before running off, leaving the lavender mare wondering.
He kept running and running through the fields and eventually Ponyville, dodging every single obstacle and several ponies, one being a blue unicorn mare who was handing out flyers. His heart was racing, but he wouldn't know when it's too late. So he picked up more speed as he was running.
"I heard, they were headed to Fluttershy. But where exactly!?" He was questioning about the location. It was at this point that he stopped to ask some ponies.
"Excuse me, do you ponies have any idea, where Fluttershy lives? I'm just asking." he asked.
"She lives in her cottage. Go this way and you will find it." a kind earth pony answered.
"Thanks!" Dukey resumed running, after thanking the pony.
Eventually, after some time and avoiding some obstacles, he finally arrived at Fluttershy's cottage and took a break. After all, the path was exhausting for the hybrid. He hid in a nearby bush and moved to a nearby window, in order to observe and investigate. However, flashes of that unknown memory kept showing him. Each flash revealed a small detail: They all had red eyes. But he decided to swallow it down.
Inside of the cottage, Twilight, Rainbow, Spike, Fluttershy as well as several animals were watching the black pegasus resting on a couch.
"I wonder what's going on with him..." said the prismatic mare.
"We were all thinking the same thing, Rainbow Dash." Twilight replied.
"I hope he's gonna be okay..." said the shy mare in a quiet tone.
A young eagle, who Fluttershy was taking care of, was looking around a bit, before he looked at the black pony. At this point, it noticed that the pony is sweating. It flew to Fluttershy and called for her attention.
"What is it?" The shy pegasus mare looked at the eagle before it pointed at the pegasus stallion sweating and having an uneasy look on his face. "Uhm...girls?"
Twilight and Rainbow looked at the yellow mare before looking at Johnny.
"Uh-oh...." said Rainbow Dash.
At the same time, Dukey saw the event through the window.
"Damn it! He's really about to..." he said quietly.
They witness Johnny moving in a quick pace and mumbling "No!" and "Stop!" , while he's sweating in his sleep.
"I think he's having a nightmare!" Twilight assumed.
As the pacing got faster and more erratic, his rumblings became louder. It sounded like he was in peril. Around the same time, Dukey felt a massive headache, just by witnessing him. The mares backed off, as the pegasus stallion kept moving in a very erratic way.
"No! I need to stop it!" The earth pony stallion went around to find the door and opened it. Just in time for the pony to scream and wake up from the same time. That scream caused Dukey to have the ache again, only this time, it got worse. And before he knew it, flashes of memories appeared in front of him, as well as the unknown memory getting clearer.
It showed him in his dog form in a dark void. He looked confused and uneasy, until the voices could be heard.
"You can't escape..."
"You are nothing but a devil as well!"
As he saw the nightmarish creatures, they looked blurry. But upon closer inspection, he was able to recognize them as people from his past life in Porkbelly. Among them are Johnny's family members. However they look even more terrifying than the others, almost looking like devils from hell.
"Wait! No no no no! This can't be!" he spoke in denial, until he heard a familiar voice.
"Dukey, help!"
He looked back, only to see his best friend, Johnny being trapped in a dark orb. His hair was fuzzy, his clothes being ripped and having bruises and a few cuts. His eyes were filled with fear and tears. It's clear, that they're responsible for the torture.
"What have you done to him, you bastards!?" he shouted angrily.
"We're basically giving him justice." The demons replied.
"Justice?! What kind of shitty excuse is this!? This is torture!" he fired back.
The demons didn't say anything, other than a glare. He tried to charge, but he couldn't move.
"What the?! I can't move!" his voice started to the crack, when his expression turned into fear.
"You're next..." The demons lunged at him but before they could get him, he suddenly snapped himself back into reality, just in time to see Johnny, who is still a pony, looking cracked.
"Oh my goodness, are you okay!?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine..." Johnny replied.
"No, you're not!"
He looked around to see Dukey, who had a worried look on his face and tears on his eyes. In fact, everyone looked at him.
"Dukey, what are you doing here?" Twilight asked, before being shoved away.
"Yeah, what are you-" Before he could finish asking the question, his friend interrupted him.
"Johnny, stop lying all the time! I know, you can't hide it forever! If you keep doing this, then it would get worse!"
"What?" the black pegasus acts confused. But before he could say something, Dukey interrupted him once again.
"No! Don't you see!? YOU'RE PRETTY MUCH DESTROYING YOURSELF! I know that it's hard, but that doesn't mean, you have to hide it!" he yelled.
Soon, the young stallion snapped: "Hey! Watch it!"
Dukey yelled back with: "NO! YOU SHOULD WATCH IT! YOU REALLY NEED TO COME OUT NOW!"
Fluttershy hid behind Twilight in fear and Rainbow Dash was just as shocked as her friends and the animals.
"Guys... " Twilight tried to get their attention, in order to stop the argument, but it fell on deaf ears. She tried again, but failed.
"You know, you're starting to get on my nerves!" the black pony responded.
"QUIET!"
A yell from Twilight managed to silence the two from arguing.
"What's with the fighting?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Ask him.." the earth pony hybrid pointed at Johnny and the mares, Spike and the animals all looked at him.
"Johnny, is there something, we didn't know?" Spike asked.
The young pegasus was sweating really hard, as he tried to find an excuse.
"Shit...They're so close to finding out the truth! Maybe I can...uhm..uhh.. Great, I can't find any excuses!"
"Seriously!? You can't find anything? Just admit it!" Johnny heard his best friend talking to him in a loud manner.
"Why can't you guys just leave me alone?!" he snapped. The room fell into silence.
The animals started to get scared and the mares were speechless. Suddenly, without a word, Dukey ran away, feeling hurt. It was at this point, that Johnny felt regretful.
"Dukey, no!" he reached his hoof, but he knew that he would not come back.
Suddenly, his sight faded in and out, as he heard the voice in his head, taunting him
"Haha! Now you did it! You scared your friend away! How does that feel, you devil?"
The voice became louder, as it laughed evilly. He immediately covered his ears, but he could still hear it. Soon, more voices started to taunt him and before he knew it, he saw the creatures, laughing and circling around the young pony.
"No! Leave me alone!" he pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears.
As the loud voices kept echoing in his head, he ducked down. Soon, they got closer and closer and with it, his fear became larger and larger. Eventually, it was too much for him and he screamed very loudly. Meanwhile, while the ponies and Spike couldn't see the creatures, they jumped at the scream. Before they could ask him of what's going on, he quickly flew and broke through the seal.
"Johnny, wait!" said the young dragon.
"Rainbow, find him and try to calm him down." Twilight talked to her friend.
"Got it!" The blue mare flew through the hole as fast as she could.
"What's going on?..." Fluttershy asked.
Meanwhile, Johnny was sitting in a dark room, having a somber expression on his face.
"Fuck....what have I done?..." he said to himself.
Eventually, he started to cry. It seems like his spirit has been broken...
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 4: A Cry for Help | In the Sweet Apple Acres, business went on as usual: The Apple family were doing some farm work, while Applejack was bucking some apples. Later, a young beige earth pony filly came to the farm with a velvet red mane and a pink bow. She had some fun with her filly friends earlier.
"Welcome back, Apple Bloom!" Applejack greeted the filly. "How was your crusade?"
"Pretty amazing! We had a great adventure and helped some fillies and colts on our way!" Apple Bloom smiled, while reminiscing her latest adventure with her friends.
"That's good to hear." Applejack replied, while being proud at her little sister's latest achievement.
The two ponies walk to the orchards for some farm work. During which, a very muscular red stallion with orange mane can be seen working on the fields in order to plant the apple seeds there. Then the orange mare got to work: She went to several apple trees with fresh apples and bucked them using her back hooves, while Apple Bloom caught them with baskets. Later, the big red earth pony collected the baskets and carried them to the farm, while the sisters were following him.
"Ah've seen, y'all did a good job!" A voice can be heard and it came from an elderly green earth pony mare walking to the three ponies.
"Eeyup." The red stallion responded.
"Indeed, Granny Smith." Applejack added.
The red pony, also known as Big Mcintosh or Big Mac carried the cart of apples somewhere, where they can be prepared.
"Apple Bloom my dear, could you please help out your big brother?" Granny Smith asked.
"Sure thing!" Apple Bloom accepted and walked on her way.
During her walk, she crossed the farm. Suddenly, she stopped, since she saw a shadow in the farm. The young filly went inside to find the source of the shadow. She walked closer and closer until she saw a figure. Apple Bloom was scared about the figure. Maybe it could be a dangerous intruder or even worse? Whatever it is, she ran off to tell her family about her discovery.
Meanwhile, Applejack and her grandmother were exchanging some talks, while looking at the apple trees.
"Ya see, I've met some....interesting friends sleeping in our barn." Applejack remembered about the encounter with the two stallions.
"Oh my. Why would they sleep there?" Granny Smith asked.
"One of them told me that he was really tired." Applejack answered and added. "I'm pretty sure, they didn't mean to cause trouble, although seeing the pegasus appear from a light in one of our haystack was strange."
"Strange indeed." the elderly pony agreed.
Then, they saw Apple Bloom running towards them with a panicked look. The mares immediately went to her.
"Is something the matter, sweetie?" Granny Smith asked. To which Apple Bloom responded: "There is someone in the barn!"
"Again?" Applejack responded. "It's been like yesterday!"
"Can you show us to the stranger?" Granny Smith asked.
The beige filly nodded and ran on her way to the barn with Applejack and Granny Smith following. Once they arrived at their family's barn, they entered, only to see the unknown figure as well. Apple Bloom hid behind her older sister, as the eldery pony yelled at the unknown figure.
"Listen up, fella! You have a few minutes left to leave our barn!"
No response. Just pure silence. Granny Smith tried to get the stranger's attention, but once again...silence. That was until the strange figure raised something a bit, looking like a tail. Applejack gasped. She knew the shape of the tail that well.
"Wait..." Applejack slowly approached the figure.
"Applejack, what are you doing?" Granny Smith asked.
"Could it be?" the orange earth pony mumbled.
It couldn't be Winona, since the tail was bigger than those from her pet. And as she got closer, the figure became much clearer to see. Sure enough, she recognized the figure as Dukey, but something was not right. He was sitting alone with a blank expression, however she couldn't see it, since his head was lowered.
"Uhm...Y'all alright, fella?" Applejack asked, but she received no response.
"What's going on?" Apple Bloom asked. And her older sister replied: "Ah have no idea."
She gently tapped his shoulder, which caused him to look back at her and her family. His eyes were full of sadness.
"What's wrong?" The southern mare asked.
He mumbled something that the family couldn't understand. When Applejack asked him what he said, he made his answer loud and clear: "It's because of Johnny! He yelled at me!"
"Come again?" Applejack asked.
"What happened?" Apple Bloom asked as well.
"Y-you see...I was witnessing Johnny in a terrible condition... He was falling apart....I tried to help, but he yelled at me! He was really mean to me, even if I didn't have the intention to hurt him! He is really destroying himself, yet he doesn't let anyone help him, even me! His best friend!!!" His voice was shaky from the event.
"Why would he do that?" Granny Smith asked. However the hybrid couldn't answer her question, as he buried his face into the hay and started sobbing. Applejack went to the crying stallion and gently rubbed his head in order to comfort him.
"There, there fella...Shhhh.."
The other two mares watched, as the mare comforted the stallion, until his crying became quieter. After that was over, the southern earth pony looked at him with a warm smile.
"Hey, why not take a walk outside? It'll gonna clean your head for a while." She said.
He didn't say anything at first, but after a minute of thinking, he finally agreed with a silent nod.
And so, the two ponies set out for a walk outside, while Apple Bloom and Granny Smith looked on.
"Ah was wonderin', what exactly happened between him and his friend?" The young filly asked.
"I wish, I knew the answer, sweetie..." Granny Smith replied with a sigh.
Meanwhile, in the dark forest, a black hooded figure was wandering around and as it turns out, that it was Johnny, who just put down the hood, looking very somber with his hair covering one of his eyes.
Johnny
I don't like my mind right now
Stacking up problems that are so unnecessary
Wish that I could slow things down
I wanna let go, but there's comfort in the panic
And I drive myself crazy
Thinking everything's about me
Yeah, I drive myself crazy
'Cause I can't escape the gravity
I'm holding on
Why is everything so heavy?
Holding on
To so much more than I can carry
I keep dragging around what's bringing me down
If I just let go, I'd be set free
Holding on
Why is everything so heavy?
You say that I'm paranoid
But I'm pretty sure the world is out to get me
It's not like I make the choice
To let my mind stay so fucking messy
I know I'm not the center of the universe
But you keep spinning 'round me just the same
I know I'm not the center of the universe
But you keep spinning 'round me just the same
I'm holding on
Why is everything so heavy?
Holding on
To so much more than I can carry
I keep dragging around what's bringing me down
If I just let go, I'd be set free
Holding on
Why is everything so heavy?
I know I'm not the center of the universe
You keep spinning 'round me just the same
I know I'm not the center of the universe
But you keep spinning 'round me just the same
And I drive myself crazy
Thinking everything's about me
Holding on
Why is everything so heavy?
Holding on
To so much more than I can carry
I keep dragging around what's bringing me down
If I just let go, I'd be set free
Holding on
Why is everything so heavy?
Why is everything so heavy?
Why is everything so heavy?
After he sang the song, sobbing can be heard...
In the meantime, Dukey and Applejack went on a walk outside through the scenic fields. However, Applejack was not happy, when he told her about the event that tore him apart.
"What he did to you was not nice... If I find him, he better apologize to you or else!" she said. However, Dukey shot down that suggestion with: "Applejack, it's not gonna be easy..."
"What makes you say that, fella?" she asked.
"There is a history of him, that is not all sunshine and rainbows. And I have the evidence. But first, we have to go to Twilight's castle, in order to retrieve it." he explained to Applejack and thus, they continued to walk, but this time...their goal was set.
Arriving at Twilight's castle, Applejack knocked on the door and after some waiting, Spike opened the door.
"Hey, guys." Spike greeted.
"Spike, we really have to go to my room. I must retrieve something in order to show it to Applejack." Dukey said to the little dragon.
"I have no idea what item you want to retrieve, but okay. You can go inside." Spike allowed them the entrance and the two ponies went inside.
After remembering the path and many trial and errors, due to the castle's sheer size and lack of memory, they finally went into the guest room, where Dukey immediately looked around at every corner and object, until he picked up the item, he wanted to show it to the southern earth pony mare.
"What's this?" Applejack asked, after Dukey showed her the blue diary.
"It's his diary. Yeah, it's strange that he started to write in a diary, since he usually hates diaries, but this is different. It's actually written like a journal, full of things, that are....say...disturbing." he explained.
"How much?" the orange mare was confused.
"Just read the diary...."
With those words from his mouth, Applejack opened up the diary and started to read the pages. At first, she was confused when she read the first page. However, as soon she started reading the pages, her mood changed into being horrified. The shaky writing, the teardrops and the pages about depression, abuse and other dark topics made her feel sick and filled with disgust. Why would they do this to him? She threw the diary to the ground with a yell.
"That tears it! They're a bunch of rotten apples!!" Her voice was filled with anger. She couldn't believe that those horrible people would tear him apart so much, that he was scarred for the rest of his life. Dukey put his paw on her head with a slight somber look and said: "They surely are.."
"Johnny? Where are you?"
They heard a voice and soon, Rainbow Dash flew around and looked at the room.
"Rainbow, what are you doing?" Dukey asked.
"Trying to find him." Rainbow Dash replied with a sigh.
"Wait, don't tell me, he vanished...." He was in a denial, but the worst fear came true, once Rainbow confirmed the fact. Johnny is gone!
His sight was fading in and out, his heartbeat racing fast, he was close to freaking out. Surely enough, he freaked out, screaming and jumping around. Meanwhile, Applejack went to her pegasus friend and asked her: "What in the tarnation happened??" Rainbow Dash soon explained:
"Well, basically he was feeling extremely tense. Then Dukey came in and said something about stopping to fake his emotions and such. Then they had a huge argument with him running away. As if things couldn't get worse, Johnny suddenly screamed and flew up, bursting through the sealing of Fluttershy's cottage. I attempted to chase him to the skies, however he was nowhere to be seen!"
"Say wha?!" The orange earth pony was alarmed by the situation. She slapped Dukey back to his senses.
"Come on, everypony! We have to find him!" said Applejack.
With that, the three ponies ran off in a hurry.
They soon meet Twilight and Fluttershy, who were looking around. At the same time, Pinkie Pie and Rarity came back.
"Rainbow Dash, Applejack! Any signs of him?" Twilight asked.
"Nope. No signs of him whatsoever.." Rainbow Dash answered.
"I just learned about the situation, thanks to Dukey." Applejack responded.
"Shit..." Thinking back of what Rainbow said about the event, he soon got very concerned. "His breakdowns are getting worse!"
"What?" Twilight was shocked. "If that's the case, we have to find him fast!"
"It seems like there are three locations, we haven't checked yet." Rarity reminded.
"Here's the plan, Rarity! Pinkie Pie! Go to Canterlot and find any clues there!"
"Okey dokey!!" Pinkie Pie responded with a smile.
"Fluttershy and I will check the Crystal Empire for hints. And as for Rainbow Dash and Applejack, go to the Everfree Forest!"
"Oh god...The death forest..." The hybrid was shaking in fear.
"Is it okay to let him join us? His dog skills will be coming handy later." Applejack asked.
"Hmm....Of course." Twilight agreed.
"Hey, calm down! We got your back!" Rainbow Dash calmed down the brown hybrid.
"O-okay. If it means finding my friend in that scary forest...then so be it!!" his expression changed to being serious and full of determination.
"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Rainbow Dash was happy.
The three groups split off to the three locations: Canterlot, The Crystal Empire and the Everfree Forest.
Arriving at the Everfree Forest, the trio looked around in order to find any signs of Johnny. Everything about this place would make anyone feel scared: The unsettling atmosphere, the fog, scary trees and dangerous creatures. It's no wonder why most ponies refused to go there, unless they have a death wish. Suddenly, a scary noise sent chills down to the hybrid's spine.
"Uhm....Excuse me....? I'm scared..." He looked at the mares with his voice cracked.
"Relax. We are with you. We handled those situations before." Applejack assured him.
They looked around the forest, but no signs of him.
"I might look around by myself. This forest surely is big." said Rainbow Dash and flew off.
"Guess, we have to find him on the other side." Applejack responded and she, alongside Dukey, went the other way.
On the other side, Rainbow Dash looked around. The unsettling atmosphere soon caught up to her and she felt scared. Suddenly, she heard a sound.
"Waah!! What the?!?!" she quickly looked around, but because of the fog it was hard to see. She sighed and landed on the ground.
"Man...Relax, Rainbow Dash....You've been there before and you dealt with it. This place is not scary!" She tried to convince herself, in order to continue on. She gulped the fear down and walked around for a bit. Despite the scary setting, she continued to press on and do her mission. Suddenly, she tripped onto something.
"Ow!! Man, that hurts!!" She rubbed her arm, after getting up. The pegasus mare looked back, only to see something on the ground. Then she smelled something.
"What's that smell..? Wait...Is it blood?!?!?" Rainbow Dash panicked. Sure enough, as the fog gets clearer, it's revealed to be a hooded pony, laying on the ground as well as some blood stains. At first, she assumed that the timberwolves had attacked that poor pony, but as she went to the other side, she saw some cuts on the arms, which made her feel uneasy. Who would do this?? And who was the hooded pony? The latter question got answered, when Rainbow Dash removed the hood to reveal the pony's true identity. And that discovery made her scream loudly.
On the other side, Applejack and Dukey were still finding clues, when they heard the scream.
"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack recognized the scream, belonging to her friend and quickly went the other way with Dukey following her.
"Oh my gosh...This can't be..." Rainbow Dash was traumatized at her discovery and backed off. She never saw someone being unresponsive and with blood. It was at this time, when Applejack and Dukey came to her.
"Rainbow Dash, what's wrong??" Applejack asked.
"NO!!!! JOHNNY!!!!!" When Dukey saw the black pony's body, he was filled with hysteria and shock and became uncontrollable, once he picked him up.
"No....This can't be happening...Johnny, answer me!!! Come on!! Answer me!!!!" his voice was filled with sadness and despair, when he attempted to wake him up. Tears were filling in his grey eyes and soon, cried on Johnny's lifeless body. As the mares watched, Rainbow Dash soon laid on Applejack's head and started to cry. The southern earth pony laid her arm around her. "There there, sugarcube...Shhhhh..."
As Dukey laid on Johnny's chest to cry, he heard a heartbeat. That's right, his heart was still beating. He was filled with hope that his friend might be still alive...
"Girls! Listen to his heart! It's still beating!" he yelled at them. The mares laid their heads on the black pegasus's chest and heard the heartbeat.
"Oh my goodness...There is still a chance that he can be saved!" said the orange mare.
"We need him to get him to the-" Before Dukey could finish his sentence, the prismatic pegasus mare picked him up and flew off at high speed. "Well that was quick."
"We have to follow her!" said Applejack.
"Got it!" Dukey replied and the two went off to follow Rainbow Dash.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash flew faster and faster. There was no time to spare. As soon she arrived at the Ponyville Hospital, she screamed for someone to help him. Nurse Redheart was doing her job, when she heard her cry for help.
"What in Equestria is going on?" the white mare asked. However, as soon as she saw Johnny's body, she rushed to him and told the doctors that there was an emergency. The doctors carried him to a bed, as they were rushing through the walls and into the operating room.
"We'll do our best to save him. Please wait in the waiting room." said Nurse Redheart and went off to help the doctors.
Exhausted, Rainbow Dash went to the waiting room. After some time had passed, Applejack and Dukey entered the hospital as well and sat alongside with the prismatic mare in the waiting room. There was one question, that she wanted to know:
"Why did he do it?"
Later, Spike came in with a worried look.
"I've heard that you found him!" he said.
"Yep. With his arms slit..." Applejack responded.
"Tell Twilight and her friends to get them here...now!" Dukey was on the edge, which is no surprise. His friend is now being treated at the hospital.
"Will do." Spike ran off.
Dukey started to cry again, but Applejack hugged him, in order to comfort the broken earth pony hybrid.
"Shhhhhhhhhh...It's gonna be alright, pal..." She softly spoke to him.
Rainbow Dash was still shaken after the discovery. "I...I can't believe it...Why did he do it?!?!" She asked and it was at this point, where the earth pony mare gave her the blue diary.
"What's this?.." she asked.
"It's his diary...It contains the answer to your question." Applejack replied.
With a gulp, the prismatic mare opened the diary, thinking that maybe the whole blood and his body was just a prank. But she was proven wrong, once she started to read the pages. Her sight was fading in and out, her hooves were trembling and her heart was racing. The reason of his suffering made her sick and filled with rage and anguish. And before anyone knew it, she suddenly flew off.
"Oh boy..." Applejack sighed.
Once the sky blue mare was outside, she flew in a circle, picking up more speed as she went around. Essentially, she created a big tornado. But it wasn't enough. Filled with tears, she flew up into the skies and after some heavy breathing, flew down, picking up even more speed than before. As she was doing this, a cone started to form around her and as she got faster, it got tighter and tighter, until it became like a pointy triangle. Then...it happened.
She broke the sound barrier, therefore creating a sonic boom. But not any sonic boom. It was rainbow-colored and flame like and Rainbow's trail became a literal rainbow with sparkles. It is known as a Sonic Rainboom.
After unleashing the Sonic Rainboom, the prismatic mare flew around the fields and Ponyville in a zigzag pattern. It would look dangerous, but at this point she was so blinded by the anguish, that she can't see the ponies on the ground. Or anything in that matter. She flew up again and then down to an empty field, picking more speed as she went. Finally, she screamed as she crashed to the ground, creating a rainbow-colored explosion. Because it was at a close proximity and because of it's greater impact, it caused a minor earthquake in Ponyville. Thankfully, no one was hurt and no building were damaged. But it was enough to throw anyone off guard.
As this was going, Applejack and Dukey felt the earthquake.
"Earthquake alert!!!" He panicked.
Suddenly, Rainbow Dash came back, however her mane was messy and had some scratches. She was breathing very heavily.
"Rainbow Dash, are you alright??" Applejack went to her best friend, while Dukey went to a nearby water container and filled a glass with water.
"Here. Have some water." He gave her the glass of water, where she immediately started to drink it.
"Take it easy, sugarcube." Said Applejack.
"All the time, that Johnny was happy, awesome and cool...It was....It was..." Rainbow Dash struggled to finish her sentence and the hybrid finished it for her with:
"...fake. He was broken on the inside, yet he decides to hide it. That's a sign, that he has depression."
Soon, Twilight and her friends arrived to the waiting room.
"We came here as fast as we could!" Said Twilight, while panting.
"Oh my goodness! Rainbow, are you okay?" Rarity asked.
"What did I just miss??" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Why did the earth shake that day?" Fluttershy asked.
"I....I...I had to let my emotions out." Rainbow Dash answered.
"It's funny, that the rainbow was all zigzag! It came up and down and up and down!" Said the pink earth pony in a chipper tune.
"I caused the zigzag rainbow... And the earthquake... because I did the Sonic Rainboom..." the blue mare confessed. "After I read his diary, I was sickened...I couldn't think anymore, it was all messy!"
"What are you talking about?" Rarity asked.
"Read the diary, okay!?!?" she yelled and threw the blue diary at them, however Twilight managed to stop it with her magic.
"Rainbow Dash, calm down!" Said the purple mare and opened the diary. Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Spike all looked at the diary as well. As Twilight read the pages, the emotions of anguish, sadness, rage and despair can be felt to everyone. Soon, Twilight struggled to read the final pages, as it was painful to do so.
"Oh my goodness..." Fluttershy was shocked.
"What in the name of Celestia!?" Said Spike.
"This is just...." Pinkie Pie struggled to find the words.
"This is horrible!! Horrible!!" Rarity cried out.
"I...I can't believe it... He's been broken all along? If he's in the hospital....then that means...he....he..." Twilight was in loss of words.
"He attempted suicide...." Dukey filled in the blanks.
"They've been all cruel to him..." Fluttershy was close to crying, when Rainbow Dash comforted the yellow pegasus mare.
"Yeah..they're monsters..." Rainbow Dash gulped.
"Let's hope, that he would make it..." Rarity was in tears. Her cheeks flow with black tears, because it ruined her makeup.
Soon, a nurse came in and the Mane 6 as well as Dukey and Spike rushed to her.
"Is he okay?? Did he make it???" Dukey asked in a rush.
"We have some good news. Despite the earthquake, we managed to bring him back to life." The nurse responded.
The group felt relieved at the good news, that Johnny's life was saved. However, with serious looks on their faces. They requested the nurse to visit him and with approval, they were on the way to his room. There was no time to spare.
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 5: Taking Action | The seven ponies stand before the door to the room. At this point, they knew the truth and they need to act now.
"Ok, everyone. This is it..." Twilight took a deep breath before opening the door and letting her friends and herself in.
When they got inside, they found him: Johnny, who was laying on the hospital bed with his arms bandaged and several medical stuff attached to him like a breathing device and a liquid to stop him from losing blood.
Dukey's heart cracked at the sight and he felt the ache again, however it felt more painful than before. Applejack was the first one, who noticed they hybrid clutching his chest with tears.
"What's wrong?" The southern mare asked.
"It's...it's really painful to see my best friend like this...fighting for his life..." He wiped his tears away, when Fluttershy hugged him.
"We feel the same thing, friend. It's really tragic that he did it...all because of those terrible monsters...." she responded with her voice cracked.
"I..I swear if they come for you guys, then I will give them a taste of my wrath.." Rainbow Dash hasn't recovered ever since she read the blue diary.
"Same here, pal." Applejack agreed.
There was no opposition from the other ponies, considering that Johnny's story of pain and abuse shocked everyone. So much so, that they feel no sympathy towards the people responsible for Johnny's misery.
Rarity was wiping her tears and the wet mascara with a tissue, when she said: "Those people are despicable....despicable!!"
"They're a bunch of nasty party-poopers!" Pinkie Pie added.
"Normally, we forgive someone, who feels remorseful after what he or she did. But what they did was unacceptable and unforgivable, because of their remorseless behaviour!" Twilight was just as outraged as her friend.
Even Fluttershy, the quietest pony and the sweet Heroine of Kindness, snapped:
"They....they....THEY ARE A BUNCH OF ROTTEN MEANIES!!" she yelled.
When he saw the Mane 6's reactions to the story as well as Spike's tears, Dukey felt something, he never felt before. He felt......touched.
"Those ponies....They're...concerned about him as much as I am...Normally, in my former world, nobody gives a single shit about him...But this isn't the case for the ponies in Equestria..."
He remembered the time in his old home, where people never give a single shit about the issues and only care of what they expect him, rather his true nature. However, ever since they arrived in Equestria, the reactions from the 7 were more genuine and actually real.
He walked towards them, before they can let their anger out and spoke to them:
"Girls, please! I know, that you are concerned and outraged about the whole mess. But let's face it: Johnny and I left our original world and everything else for a good reason. We should stop thinking about the past or the future and instead focus on the here and now, in order to change it!"
Twilight was moved by Dukey's words and told to her friends: "He's right. We have to be strong this time. We handled situations with a broken heart before, but this is serious. We have to do it together and get our friend out of the darkness!"
"Yeah!" her pony friends and Spike agreed.
Then they heard groaning and looked at the black pegasus, who slowly opened his eyes.
"Johnny! Thank god, you're alive!!" He hugged his friend with tears of joy in his eyes.
But something about him was off. His hair is still covering one of his eyes and the eyes itself looked blank, like all of his emotions being taken away, therefore feeling empty. Plus, he had a somber expression on his face.
"It seems like, the pain broke him completely." Twilight said with a sigh.
"Why are you here...?" Even his voice became quiet like Fluttershy, but without the spark of joy or any positive emotions.
"Johnny, this is serious. You need stop lying and destroying yourself." Said the hybrid with a serious look.
"We found out about your story, thanks to your diary." Twilight added and showed him his diary.
The black pegasus looked away in disgust. "So, you came here to laugh at my misery??"
The prismatic mare snapped and yelled at him. She said: "What are you talking about!?!? We're not gonna laugh at you!! Seriously, there is nothing to laugh about your pain!!! We're not heartless like those jerks!!! You really need to lay it off and just listen to us!!"
"Okay okay. Thanks for your words, Rainbow, now it's our turn." Twilight told to the blue mare and ushered her to the others. "Listen, we're not gonna laugh at your misery, because it feels very wrong to do so. Instead, we're trying to help you to get out of the darkness."
"It's too late..." he replied with a lowered head.
"No, it's not! There is still time, so don't give up just yet!" The purple alicorn replied,
"We were shocked by your story...I couldn't believe that they broke you so hard, you lost your spark! We really feel sorry about you..." said the white unicorn.
"Those people really brought you down to an abyss. But we're not like that! We are concerned, that you lost your smile!" Pinkie Pie added.
"See, Johnny? There ARE people or in this case, ponies and a dragon, who genuinely care about you." Said the stallion hybrid.
However, Johnny didn't answer anything and looked away. This enraged the blue pegasus mare and hit her hoof to the wall hard.
"HEY!!! We are literally trying to help you and you just ignored it!!!" she yelled, causing the young pegasus stallion to shiver in fear.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight scolded, but Dukey stopped her.
"Let her. I'm pretty sure, she is just as upset as I am." he responded.
"You've been hurting yourself all the time, without anyone knowing! Yet you decided to hide it, in hopes that it will be over! It doesn't, if you keep faking yourself!! You seriously need to face the music and accept our help for once!!" the prismatic mare continued.
The black pony shivered more and more in fear, as the ponies around him are looking for him. They want his confirmation or in other words, the truth.
"Johnny....you have to admit it....please.." Fluttershy begged.
However this caused the black pony to move erratically and tried to get out of the hospital room, however Twilight and Rarity used their magic to restrain him.
"Let me go!!" He yelled.
"Johnny, stop it!! If you keep doing this, then you would scare anyone away and you will be forever alone!!" Twilight yelled back.
The words "forever" and "alone" made him stop in shock and lower his head in silence. He really hated those two words, as it caused distress.
Dukey sighed and said: "It's no use.... he would continue doing it..."
The pegasus stallion feels shaken from the words from his own best friend.
"We should leave now.." said Applejack. The other ponies lower their heads, since their attempts led nowhere.
But before anyone can leave....
"Please wait!!!"
They heard a yell and looked back at Johnny, who at this point, was in tears. The pressure had given in and showed them his true colors: Broken and helpless.
"Don't leave me....." said the pegasus with a weak voice. "I confess....I confess..."
"Is it true, that you've been suffering?" the southern earth pony asked. There is no point of lying and faking any longer. They knew his story and now it's time to wake up from the delusion and confess the truth.
"Y..yes.... It's true.... The times, I smiled was all fake! My whole facade before was all fake! And I did this, so nobody would see my true self... Those damn idiots hurt me so much, that I started to despise them! That's also why I didn't bother to come out, because they will not respond to my cries for help and only make the pain worse!!! And to add insult to injury, they always tell me, that I'm responsible for the chaos, when in reality, they started my downfall! It's no wonder, why I decided to move to this world, but even then.....They would still follow me.... That's right, they would still follow me even after I left that stupid world!!!!!! They're the reason for the constant nightmares each night, the constant pain throught the day and the paranoia and distrust all the time!!!"
Tears were still streaming down his face, when he looked at the ponies and expected the same results like the people from his old world. But it wasn't the case, when he was pulled in to a hug by Fluttershy. Soon, Dukey and Rainbow Dash joined in and later the others. He was given something, that he lacked from the majority back in Porkbelly: Care.
This caused the black pegasus to be extremely emotional and started to cry very heavily. It sent chills in their spines, as his cries echoed around the hospital room. Soon, the mares and the dragon feel a painful ache in their bodies, like their hearts being broken by his story. The same painful ache, that Dukey felt, back when he first heard about the agonising tale of abuse and pain in the apple orchards.
"It's alright...we're here." The yellow pegasus mare said softly to the broken stallion.
As the stallion kept crying, the pain got worse and the gravity of the ache got heavier. For Dukey, it was really painful. For years, he always has been by his side, helping him, doing fun activities and having a good time, even if the whole world are against him. For Johnny, he is the anchor to keep him sane. And after the hybrid ran away, the guilt had overwhelmed him and without his best friend, Johnny became vulnerable for mental attacks and the constant guilt and pain, he had, made him to do that suicide attempt. The hybrid felt guilty. Hadn't he run away and stayed by his side as always, then the suicide attempt would have never happened. He placed his paw on his head with tears in his eyes.
"L-look. I know, that you are in pain....But b-believe me....There are ponies, who g-genuinely care about you... And we can....help you to...to.." Unfortunately, the earth pony hybrid couldn't finish his sentence, as he couldn't hold his emotions any longer. The guilt and sadness, he surpressed, became too much for him to handle and he soon starts to cry alongside his best friend. Similarly, Rainbow Dash also couldn't hold her emotions any longer, but this time, it was due to the horrible story making her messed up and she too cried as well.
"Oh, you poor, poor thing...." The sorrow caught up to the yellow pegasus mare and sobbed quietly.
"It's really sad to see a broken pony cry, especially from the horrible treatment, he's given..." Rarity's makeup was ruined again, because of the tears, but at this point it didn't matter anymore.
"I know...It's really tragic!" Even Pinkie Pie, the most joyful pony in Equestria, couldn't hold her tears any longer.
Eventually, they joined with the five ponies in the crying session. Meanwhile, Twilight, Applejack and Spike couldn't help but watch the sadness unfold. Soon, Spike felt like, he is about to cry.
"Come here, Spike." The purple alicorn hugged the tearful dragon, who started to sob quietly.
The pain felt real and Twilight was so close to let her tears out. But then something prevented her to do so: Her will. She took a deep breath and had a serious expression on her face. Applejack did the same thing. They knew, that it's time to take action.
"Girls, come with me. We need a plan." She said to her friends.
Eventually, they stopped crying and came to Twilight, Spike and Applejack. Then the Princess of Friendship gave them a speech:
"Listen, everypony. We've been through intense situations before. Chrysallis, King Sombra, Tirek, Discord. They tried to tear our friendship apart, but in the end we stayed together and defeated them with the magic of friendship. We also helped ponies , who fell victim from the vile actions of evil. Guiding them to the light and helping them regain their spark of life. But Johnny is different. He is not a victim from any of the vile creatures in Equestria. I mean, he didn't originate from Equestria from the start. He is only a victim from his own personal demons and the monsters, who broke his spirit. The reason, why he and his friend moved here, is because they want to escape from their horrible world, where he was tortured. He thinks, he can't be saved and it's too late, but it's not. There is still a chance and he needs help. We must get our friend out of the darkness and into the light! The light of guidance, friendship and hope. It's time to take action!"
Her friends nod. Their friend is stuck in the darkness of sorrow and despair and they need to help him now.
"Dukey, stay here and guard your friend. Make sure, he wouldn't do it again." Twilight told to the hybrid and he saluted and said: "Got it!"
And thus, the Mane 6 and Spike exit the hospital with a mission: Get Johnny out of the darkness.
When arriving at Twilight's castle, they got together around the Cutie Map, thinking for a plan.
"So, how are we gonna help him?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"How about a giant party?" Pinkie Pie suggested.
"I'm not sure, if this would help him, Pinkie." Rarity replied.
"Rarity is right. We need something more than just that. However, before we can think of something, we have to get help." The purple alicorn used her magic to get a paper and a writing feather, in order to start to write a letter to someone important. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were thinking about some suggestions. And so do Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike and Fluttershy. How can they help him? That's a good question.
While this was going on, the lavender unicorn mare went to them.
"Hey, girls. I learned some things about friendship and....uhm...What's going on?" She was confused about the mares thinking.
"Starlight, we are busy finding a way to save someone." Twilight replied.
"Who?" Starlight asked, not knowing about the story, in which the Mane 6 told her about the whole story about their friend being stuck in despair due to painful experiences from the past.
"Oh my gosh...I'm speechless.." She was just as shocked as her friends.
"We all are. And that's why we have to act now." said the purple alicorn as she finished writing the letter. She gave it to Spike, who used his fire breath to send the letter to someone important. "We are currently thinking of a plan."
"Can I join? If it means to help a friend, then I'm willing to help." The lavender mare told to her friends.
"Sure, Starlight!" Twilight agreed.
The purple alicorn went to her library and used her magic to get some books about pony psychology, trauma, depression and visions. She started to read them, in order to understand the subjects and learn on how to help a pony suffering from something traumatic. This was all done, in order to find ways to help Johnny.
"Why are you reading books?" Spike asked. In which the purple mare answered: "It's because, I have to know about those subjects first before we can spring into action."
"I see." the young dragon understood.
Meanwhile, her friends came to her.
"We have discussed each other for a while and we came to a conclusion, that we should give him the best day full of love and care." Rarity reported.
"I was thinking about performing a Sonic Rainboom in front of him, so at least he can appreciate the colors and the awesomeness." Rainbow Dash suggested.
"So far, we have some good ideas. But we still have to think about an effective way. That's why we have to learn about the subjects, what Johnny mentioned and felt, first." Twilight replied.
"Why not doing it now?" Rainbow Dash asked in an impatient tone.
"That would be risky." Starlight replied. "We have to prepare first, then act."
Meanwhile in Canterlot....
The two alicorn sisters were sitting on their thrones and doing their duties as usual. However, Luna couldn't stop thinking about the nightmares, as she recently saw another one. Princess Celestia was also thinking about the nightmare and the mysterious boy and the unknown pony, who had those nightmares. Then she saw the green flames and it turned into a letter. Using her magic to hold it, the princess began to read it:
Dear Princess Celestia,
the reason, I wrote this letter is because there is a serious problem.
The pony in question is named Radiant Thunder, who's been suffering from depression and trauma, all thanks to the horrible abuse and humiliation of the monsters in his original home world. This is also the main reason, why he decided to move to Equestria. However recently, he was seeing visions of those demonic creatures and couldn't sleep because of the nightmares. And the worst part is, he attempted suicide. Thankfully, he got resuscitated and is currently recovering in the Ponyville Hospital. But I'm afraid that if he got released, he would likely do it again.
That's why we need to act fast. We need to get him out of his darkness, where his inner demons reside and bring him into the warming light of friendship, love, hope and happiness. However, we are currently thinking of a plan on how we can do this. We need your suggestion.
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle
She also saw a photo attached to the letter. A photo of how the pony looks like. Princess Luna saw the picture and gasped. The mane looks suspicially familiar to the hair of the boy. He also had blue eyes, just like him. After some logic thinking, she connected two and two together: The pony and the boy are the same and it's this pony, who has those nightmares!
"Oh my gosh..." Luna was shaken to the core.
"I know. What Twilight described of him, it would make sense with these nightmares." Celestia answered.
"Do you have any ideas on how we can approach this issue?" the blue alicorn asked.
The princess of the sun took a deep breath and replied with:
"Since we are dealing with a pony with a broken soul, who recently atttempted to end his own life because of the horrible trauma from his original world, we have to gather everypony."
"Are you sure?" Luna asked.
"Yes. Since the trauma is so severe, that he has trust issues, it wouldn't be surprising, that he would end up isolating himself, turning over to the dark side or even worse....doing it again. We have to prevent this from ever happening! That's why we have to gather everypony and give him the most love and trust, he needs. It's so far the most effective way to save him." The white alicorn replied and used her magic to write letters to Twilight and the ruler of the Crystal Empire.
The first letter went as follows:
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I recently got your message and it was loud and clear. We have to do something.
I suggest to gather everypony around Equestria and inform them about the situation, so they can be ready to help. And as for your friend, I will send some of the royal guards to keep an eye on him, so he wouldn't do it again.
Sincerely, Your Mentor
Princess Celestia
And the second letter:
Dear Princess Cadence,
I decided to write the letter because of an urgent emergency. It's about a pony with a broken heart and soul. Please come to Canterlot immediately.
Sincerely, your aunt
Princess Celestia
The messengers were called to send the letters to the two other princesses.
Back in Ponyville, the Mane 6 received the letter from Princess Celestia. At the same time, Dukey came back from his visit.
"Hey. The reason why I came back is because of some guards visiting Johnny and they ushered me out." he said.
"Those are the royal guards from Canterlot. Princess Celestia sent them to guard Johnny and preventing to kill himself again." Twilight answered.
"Oh. I suppose, that would make more sense, I think." He was unsure. Normally, he would be taken to a mental hospital, but then again the rules in Equestria are probably different from their former home.
"Wait a minute. You look....familiar." said Starlight after she saw the dog/pony hybrid. "Aren't you the one, who bumped into me a while ago?"
"Oh...You see, I was in a hurry. To help my friend and all." he scratches his head with a nervous smile.
"It's ok. Now that I learned the whole truth and since you are his best friend, I forgive you." the lavender unicorn smiled.
Meanwhile, Twilight calmly stated to her friends: "Okay, everyone. Princess Celestia wrote back with a suggestion, which would help him to get him out of the despair. We have to gather everypony from Ponyville and beyond and helping us on this mission."
"Everyone?" the hybrid asked.
"Yes. Everyone." Twilight replied.
"Now that you mention it, it would be very helpful, since thanks to the trauma, he would have a hard time coming out in front of everyone, in fear of making the pain worse and assuming, that they're just like those scums. However, after you heard the story, you felt worried and wanted to help him. So I assume that, if we can gather everyone and tell them about his story, they can prove him wrong by showing him affection and care!" Dukey expressed his opinion about the suggestion.
"Exactly!" Spike agreed and so did the mares.
Then he reached his arm in the front. "So, are you ready?" The ponies put their hooves on his paw.
"Of course!" said Rainbow Dash.
"We are ready." Applejack added.
"Ready, when you are!" Pinkie Pie responded with her chipper attitude.
"We have to do this." Fluttershy agreed.
"We will save him." Rarity also agreed.
"Let's do this!" Starlight was determined.
"For Johnny's sake." So does Twilight.
"Yeah!" And also Spike.
With determined looks on their faces, they went out on a mission. A mission to get everyone in Equestria.
Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie went around Ponyville and the Changeling Kingdom to tell everyone to gather on the centre of Ponyville, while Applejack, Starlight Glimmer and Fluttershy went to the Crystal Empire and the Dragonlands to gather them to the goal. Twilight, Dukey and Spike went to Canterlot to do the same thing and also went to the castle to meet up with the royal sisters. Upon arriving, they saw the sisters alongside Princess Cadence waiting.
"Cadence!" Twilight was excited to meet her sister-in-law again.
"It's so good to see you again, Twilight!" And so was the Princess of Love. It's been a while since they met last time. They hugged each other in joy.
However, while this was going on, Dukey felt dizzy for some reason. Around the same time in the Ponyville hospital, Johnny was still laying on his hospital bed, looking depressed, while being watched by the royal guards. Inside of his head, the demonic creatures were still taunting him and hurting him relentlessly. As if his soul wasn't weakened by them enough, it took a toll on his body. He tried to escape, but one guard, who is a unicorn stallion, used his magic to restrain him to the bed, preventing any escape. The taunting voices became louder and louder and his sight fading in and out. Soon, he felt sick in his stomach and his heartbeat began to speed up. All of those factors and the continuous mental torture made the black pegasus pass out. Meanwhile, Dukey's body felt weaker because of Johnny's mental condition taking a toll to his body and when the pegasus stallion passed out, the hybrid soon lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor.
"Oh my god! Dukey!!" Twilight immediately rushed to him, followed by Spike and the Princesses.
"What happened to him??" Cadence asked.
"Guards! Get him to the infirmary now!!" Celestia called her guards.
The guards immediately picked up the hybrid and carried him to the infirmary, all while the ponies wondered, how it happened. It seems like, there are more unanswered questions, they need to answer and they followed the royal guards.
To be continued.... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 6: Operation: Healing Light | In the centre of Ponyville, everyone was gathered. Every mare, stallion, filly, colt and even foals were here, looking confused as of why they were gathered.
"Why are we here? Why did they tell us to go there?" Those are the questions, that they asked to themselves.
"Hey! Listen up!!"
They heard a voice and looked at the centre, only to see Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie stood there on pedestals. Rarity was also holding some copies of Johnny's diary entries. Then the snow white unicorn gave them a speech:
"You maybe be asking as of why we gathered you here. And we're sorry for interrupting your schedule. But the reason why we did it is because of a very tragic story of a new pony arriving in Equestria. He has been suffering his entire life back in his former world, because of the horrible, horrible monsters abusing him! So much so, that his spirit has been broken!!"
"And who is the pony in question? The great and powerful Trixie wants the answer!" The blue unicorn, known as Trixie Lulamoon, felt impatient.
"Well his name is Radiant Thunder! But we call him Johnny." Pinkie Pie answered.
"Do you have the evidence?" A mare, who is also the mayor of Ponyville, asked to the three ponies.
"We have. Rarity has the copies of his diary entries, which she will read it for you. Those will make you understand, how crushed he has become." Rainbow Dash answered.
The white unicorn started to read the first entry, which was written on Monday and contained his troubled life in school. At first the ponies were confused, but when she read the entry written on Tuesday, which contained his life on home being hellish, they start to feel a bit worried. And it wasn't until the entry on Wednesday, which raised an alarm:
Wednesday,
It keeps hurting... During school, I was I involved in a fight between Bumper and his goons. Why? Because they love making trouble. After a long time of bullying and with no weapons whatsoever, I fought back and punched at his face with my anger. Obviously, we were sent to the principal's office. Normally, the principal is quite a nice dude and very caring. Unfortunately, he was sick on that day and someone has to fill in. And fucking hell, it's that damn teacher... Idk why they chose him over others, then again, ALL of the teachers are mean. And to my shock, he suspended ME, instead of Bumper! He got away scottfree? How unfair is this!??!? They seriously don't care about my suffering! And on home, I didn't even bother to go inside from the door, so I have to climb to the window of my room. However, my sisters were already here with a coupon. And I have to test something again. This time, I had to drink a portion to have a beautiful look. Why? They want to make Gil notice them, even though it will NEVER work. And Dukey warned me, but at the same time, I felt pressured so I did it. Needless to say, something went wrong and even after I got cured, my body felt weak. After that, my best friend carried me to the bed, so I can rest. However my dad heard from my suspension and was obviously pissed, even though it was wrongfully done! But he doesn't care. He just doesn't. I was caught in his shouting when he entered my room. Because of my weak body, I didn't have the power to explain. As if that wasn't enough, I was later tied up on a pole by my dad, just because I refused to brush my teeth! Why do they only care for their expectations and not my well-being!?!?
This caused outrage from the community. Especially parents. They know, that kids don't want to brush their teeth, even though it's good for them. However, tie them to a pole?? That is too far.
"How dare they?!?!?!" One angry mare responded.
"It's only the tip of the iceberg." Said the prismatic pegasus.
As she continued to read the remaining copies, the outrage grew. They can't deny it. Everyone was so mean to him. They also feel sorry for him, for dealing through the pain and anguish.
"How could they to the poor thing? This is sick and twisted!!!" A stallion was really angry.
"Hey! I know, you're as outraged as we are. But we have to do it, because we can help him! It crushed him so hard, that he attempted suicide! We have to work together to get him out of his sorrow! Are you ready??" The pegasus mare asked.
"Yeah!" The crowd agreed. They want to help him.
"Let's go!" She confidently replied.
And thus, they worked together on a plan to save Johnny.
Everything was black for a while, until the eyes opened a bit and a voice can be heard:
"Twilight, Celestia, Luna!! He's waking up!!"
As the sight became sharper and the eyes opened further, we see the four princesses, Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Twilight looking worried.
"Dukey, are you okay??" Twilight asked.
It turns out that it was Dukey, who is waking up and it took place in his perspective.
"Ugh....w..where am I?" He asked with a weakened voice.
"You're now in the Canterlot Infirmary. The guards brought you here after you collapsed to the ground." Princess Celestia explained.
"We want to know, why you collapsed." Luna was curious and so are the other princesses as well as Spike, who has just arrived.
Then something flashed in his eyes and remembered about something. He looked extremely worried and asked the princesses with: "Johnny!! Is he okay??"
At the same time, one of the guards arrived with a report, who gives it to Celestia. She read the whole report and was horrified.
"They said, that he felt dizzy and nauseous. Like something is damaging inside of his body. He even threw up on the floor and later passed out." Celesita responded with a sigh.
"Oh fuck! Fuck, it's getting worse!!!" The hybrid became panicked.
"Calm down! We are still doing the plan. We will assure you, that everyone will help him. It's gonna be okay." Luna assured him.
"I do have a question. Why are you so worried about your friend?" Cadence asked.
"Because I am his best friend. We've been through together through hard times, no matter what. He saved me from the animal shelter on his 11th birthday and he chose me over the other dogs. I never felt so grateful for a second chance of life until that the cage opened and being welcomed by him. Since he saved my life, I vowed myself to do everything to make him happy and save his life from dangerous situations. " he explained to the princesses, while telling about his story on their first encounter. They were moved by the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Even Spike was moved to tears.
"What he did was so noble." Luna replied.
"Indeed. He does have a good heart." Celestia agreed.
"Which was unfortunately shattered by those bastards...And that hurts. Speaking of which, I need to confess something." he told them to the royals.
"What is it?" Twilight asked.
His expression turned a bit sorrowful, when he began to explain:
"You see, I've been thinking about a stronger connection between me and Johnny since all the way back in the apple orchards, in which I witnessed him breaking down for the "first" time. Actually, I've seen it for the first time, but the painful ache in me wasn't. It was after I was sent back to the animal shelter, where I first felt it. It stung to my heart hard. I didn't realize that Johnny was in a mental breakdown until after I've seen it happen. As more breakdowns happened, the ache got worse. Then I remembered something: Every time where he was mentally tortured, I was there. And during which, I always had a twisting feeling in my stomach. So I tried to comfort him, like I always do. And god knows, if it worked. Not to mention, while I saw Johnny being in a panicked state in the skies, a memory flashed in front of me. A memory about those monsters blaming ME. That's right, they also blamed me as well, calling me a devil's accessory. That memory came up again, this time they had Johnny being badly hurt. I tried to charge at them, but I was paralyzed! Paralyzed by....fear. And as I was thinking about it and the connection during the visit at the Sweet Apple Acres, the Everfree Forest and even in the hospital, I came to a conclusion..."
"That you are a witness?" Cadence asked.
But Dukey rebutted the question with: "No, Cadence....In fact.....I'm as much as a victim as he is..."
The princesses gasped. They didn't know, that the hybrid was also a victim as well.
"How so?!" Spike asked.
"I've been also tortured by them, both mentally and physically. Why I endured all of it and still kept calm, is beyond me." he answered.
"It must take a willpower made of iron, to endure all of it.." said the princess of the sun.
"And as for your friendship with you and Johnny. Based on what you said, it seems like, you have a stronger connection to him than anypony else. Almost like brothers. Not to mention, I have a feeling, that the connection is also telepathically and psychically. Like if Johnny has a mental breakdown, you feel that painful ache. And if Johnny became sick from the trauma and passed out, that means..." Twilight assumed.
Dukey finished the sentence with: "....then that means my body also felt weak at the same time."
"Interesting..." Twilight was curious about that psychic connection.
"This would explain, why you passed out. Your friendship with him is much stronger and unbreakable than any friendships with other ponies, I've seen." Celestia wondered.
"We never witnessed a connection like this until now." Luna was also curious.
"I can't believe, he was also tortured much like his friend...How tragic..." Cadence was in tears, but Twilight hugged her sister-in-law.
"I feel the same thing, Cadence." Twilight responded.
"We all do. However, if we stick together with our plan and get his friend out of the darkness and into the light, then he would get the closure, he deserved." Princess Celestia assured the others, that things will be okay.
"You're right, sister. We need to be strong!" The princess of the night agreed.
At the same time, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Starlight Glimmer came back from their mission to spread the news. They were confused as of why Dukey is in the infirmary.
"There is a simple explaination for that." Twilight explained to her friends.
She explained about Dukey's strong and psychic connection to Johnny and his confession, all of these were the reasons as of why he passed out. The ponies were shocked. They didn't know, that Dukey was sharing the same pain as Johnny.
"Oh my goodness..." Rarity was speechless.
"You too!?" Rainbow Dash asked to the hybrid, in which he nodded.
"I can't believe it..." Fluttershy was worried.
"It's sadly true, Fluttershy..." Twilight sighed.
"How is the progress?" Celestia asked.
"We managed to convince everyone to helping us with the plan. Although it takes a lot of convincing for the dragons to get on our side." Starlight answered.
Then the hybrid starts to tear up. The whole time, he was keeping himself together for Johnny's sake, despite the shared pain. Now, cracks were beginning to show, as tears streamed from his face. Cadence was the first one, noticing him like this and hugged him. As Twilight watched, she felt sorry for the earth pony hybrid.
"Girls...?" She pointed at Dukey being hugged by the princess of love. Soon, they all engaged in a big group hug. As he felt the warm embrace by everyone around him, he got more and more emotional. At this point, it has reached to a point, where he couldn't take it anymore. All of the same pain and abuse and all the time, that Johnny has to suffer all of it, caused the hybrid to burst into tears instantly.
"It's okay...We're all here." Fluttershy softly spoke to him.
His cries echoed throughout the walls and the whole area. Loud and clear. The ponies suppressed their tears, since they already shed some thanks to Johnny and his confession. They need to be strong, because Johnny and Dukey need them. They need their care, love and guidance. And if they want to succeed, they have to work hard...together. They need to get them out of the sorrow, the monsters have caused and guide them to a better future full of light and genuine happiness.
After what it felt like hours, the crying soon got quieter, until it became silent. Everyone looked at him wiping his tears away and looking at them.
"You're all very caring and nice..." he spoke.
"Hey, that's what friends are for. Ah swear to my honesty for that." Applejack smiled warmly.
"We're all here for you and your friend with all of our kindness, guiding you." Fluttershy nodded.
"We're making sure, you can smile with laughter!" Pinkie Pie smiled brightly.
"And giving you something special in the act of generosity." Rarity added.
"We'll always be there for you, guys. No matter what. This is true loyalty." Rainbow Dash smirked.
"And finally guiding you with the spark of magic. After all, as the guardians of harmony and friendship, we're making sure, we will help anyone from a shattered bond or even from a broken past. And I, Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, will do our best to help you and your friend guiding to a new future!" Twilight finished the combined speech.
"And no matter how hard the situation is, we can do it, as long as we get together." Starlight smiled.
The whole speech from the ponies, along with the warm smiles from the princesses, made the hybrid feel grateful for them. Soon, his body was filled with confidence and determination to help Johnny and be there for him until the end. Now, there was no time to spare.
"Okay. With that out of the way, let's get it started! Time for Operation: Healing Light!" He spoke to the ponies.
"Oooh! I like that name!" The joyful earth pony jumped in excitement with a smile.
"Okay, everypony. It's time to enact our plan now. Twilight, Cadence, Starlight, Spike, make sure, the crystal ponies follow our plan. Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow and Applejack, go to the other worlds and do the same thing. As for Dukey, Luna, Rarity and I, we will go to Ponyville to prepare for it. This is for Johnny's sake. We gather all of them to Ponyville in order to make it work. And when he arrives, we will give him the most care, he needed." Celestia spoke to everyone about the plan.
"Exactly. However, he has to be released from the hospital first, but the guards will keep an eye on him for his safety, both physically and mentally." Luna added.
"And if we managed to get him out of it, he can finally feel loved!" Dukey nodded.
"We'll see." Cadence answered.
"Let's get this party started!"
With those words from Pinkie Pie, the ponies split up to make the final preparations of their plan. Operation: Healing Light is now in effect.
In the Ponyville Hospital, the guards were still standing around Johnny, who is still depressed. His arms have now less bandages, now that the cuts were healed. However he still saw the scars. Soon, he heard a voice from a nurse:
"Radiant Thunder. You can go now."
"Whatever...." he quietly mumbled.
"Remember, we still keep an eye on you! Don't you even think of running away and end your life again, understood!??!" The guard scolded at the black pegasus.
However, the stallion guard was met with silence from the young pony.
When they exited the hospital, Johnny's mane still covered one of his eyes and he has a long, yellow scarf around his neck. He looked down, as he walked, with the ends of his scarf sliding on the ground. The guards were still close to him, making sure, he wouldn't make another suicide attempt again. But that hardly mattered to him anymore.
He then lifted his head up, only to see the ponies looking at him. However, he ignored them, thinking that they're here to make his pain worse. Later, he saw Rainbow Dash, waiting for him, as the colors of the skies turn into the colors of the dusk.
"Hey, uhm...You okay?" the prismatic mare asked.
However, he didn't say anything. Just pure silence. Rainbow looked at him and rubbed his head.
"Come on, where is the smile?" she asked, but she saw none. Just sadness.
"Excuse me, are you making trouble?" The guards asked.
"What? No! I am trying to hang out with him." she explained before getting Johnny's attention. "Hey, wanna fly?"
No answer. However, he slowly went to her, as she prepared to fly. She looked back at the guards, who are pegasi.
"That's good. So they can keep an eye on him in the skies." she thought to herself.
She flew up and performed some loops, while the guards and Johnny watched. Eventually, he flew up, albeit slowly. The guards were following him, as he flew up. As all the four ponies soar the skies together, they witnessed the beautiful sunset before the skies got covered by the stars and the moon . She started to hold Johnny's hoof, so at least he can feel something other being left alone. After some air time, they all land down near the entrance of Ponyville.
"Look, I know you are trying to help me, but don't you see? I'm already a lost cause, since everyone would probably ignore my help." he mumbled.
The prismatic mare started to think of a way to get him to the centre of the village. Eventually, she had an idea and as she rubbed his head, she said: "Look, I've been in Twilight's castle and-"
"No no...Knock it off.." he looked away. Appearently, rubbing his head turned him off, so she stopped.
"As I was saying, I've been in Twilight's castle and brought something to the centre of Ponyville." she explained.
"What is it?...." his voice became quieter, but Rainbow listened, since she was close to him.
"Come on, I'll show you!" she grabbed his hoof and dragged him. The guards followed them, as they didn't want to lose their sights at Johnny. However, even though he struggled, the pegasus mare tightened her grip and dragged him all the way to the centre of Ponyville.
"Why do you have to drag me?..." he asked.
"Because I want to show you something awesome, duh!" she answered.
"I don't want to see anything at all, It's just really depressing and-"
Suddenly, before he can finish his sentence, he was surrounded by colorful lights and the sounds of popping confetti can be heard. He shielded his eyes a bit, until he realized, that the lights were not that bright and he looked in the front.
"Surprise!!"
He saw everyone gathered infront of him. The ponies, the changelings, the dragons and so on. He also saw some packed gifts, delicious sweets, drinks, smiling ponies and non-ponies, wearing yellow party hats with his face on it. The princesses also stood there with necklaces with his cutie mark in a sapphire heart. Even Twilight and her friends wear wigs, which look just like his hair. Soon, Rainbow Dash put her wig on. Johnny didn't know, what to react. Should he be weirded out or flattered? He didn't know.
"We all heard your story and decided to help you." Mayor Mare spoke to him.
"I..I..I don't know what to say." he was speechless.
"Say wha? Excuse me? We all did this! For you!" Rainbow Dash snapped.
"Are you serious?" he asked.
The six ponies and Spike drop their wigs and went to him.
"Yes, of course! Everyone heard your story and they were all concerned! Those bastards were all greedy, more concerned on your expectations than your life! But we're not like that! We're generous ponies and we value your life more than anything material!!" Rarity spoke to him.
"They were so mean to you, it broke our hearts. But we will assure you, we'll be very kind." Fluttershy added.
"Everytime, you attempted to have fun, those party-poopers always ruin it! However, you will have so much fun with us, filled with laughter and joy!" Pinkie Pie looked at him.
"They were always lying to protect their reputation, even though it's already too late. They've poisoned you. But we are honest, that everything will be fine." Applejack resumed.
"They've betrayed you! Stabbed your back way too many times, then toss you to an abyss! We're not like that! We are loyal until the end!" Rainbow Dash continued.
"What they mean is, they tortured you so much, that you lost your spark. However, as the Princess of Friendship, I will assure you, that we will guide you with magic, hope and embrace." Twilight finished.
"Trust us... We will never betray you." Spike looked at him.
He looked at everyone with concerned faces, realizing that what they said, wasn't fake. The looks weren't fake, the gifts weren't fake, everything felt genuine. The Mane 6 and Spike put their wigs back on and began singing a song.
Rainbow Dash
I know the world can get you down
Things don't work out quite the way that you thought
Feeling like all your best days are done
Your fears and doubts are all you've got
But there's a light shining deep inside
Beneath those fears and doubts, so just squash 'em
And let it shine for all the world to see
That it is time, yeah, time to be awesome
Everyone
Ah, ah, ah-ah, awesome!
It's time to be so awesome!
Ah, ah, ah-ah, awesome!
It's time to be so awesome!
Pinkie Pie
It's true some days are dark and lonely
And maybe you feel sad
But we will be there to show you that it isn't that bad
There's one thing that makes us happy and makes your whole life worthwhile
And that's when we talk to everypony and get you to smile
Everyone
Ah, ah, ah-ah, awesome!
It's time to be so awesome!
Ah, ah, ah-ah, awesome!
It's time to be so awesome!
Pinkie Pie
Come on and smile!
Then out from the giant cake, Dukey came out, wearing a white tuxedo and a white tophat with a gold band and holding a gold microphone.
Dukey
No matter what obstacles stand in your way
You can shine brighter than the stars
Just crush the voices in your head
And let the light guide you!
Dukey with Starlight Glimmer
Embrace the warmth
Fight the dark
Fly high and reach the stars!
Burn bright like a phoenix
Rise from the ashes
Show them your bright side!
Starlight Glimmer
Because your friends are always there for you!
Everyone
Ah, ah, ah-ah, awesome!
It's time to be so awesome!
Ah, ah, ah-ah, awesome!
It's time to be so awesome!
Pinkie Pie
Come on and smile!
The Mane 8, Dukey and the princesses
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
A friend will be there to help them see
A true, true friend helps a friend in need
To see the light! (To see the light!)
That shines! (That shines!)
From a true, true friend!
So shine bright!
Brighter than the stars!
You are better than them!
Because we are always there for you!
Everyone
Shine bright!
It ended with Rainbow Dash performing her famous Sonic Rainboom in the night, this time creating a message that says:
We love you, Johnny!
followed by fireworks, thanks to a pony called Tempest Shadow.
Those events of love and appreciation made Johnny feel moved with tears in his eyes. He never felt this before, back in his former home world, but now. He witnessed everyone caring for him. He lowered his head and sobbed. This made the main heroes worried, thinking that their plan didn't work.
"Oh no...Did it work?" Twilight was in disbelief.
However, his next reaction was a surprise to everyone: He laughed!
"Wait, what!?" Rainbow Dash was caught off guard.
"Didn't see that coming." Applejack agreed.
"Oh my..." Fluttershy was in surprise as well.
Then as he lift his head back up and looked at them, he did something, that was impossible back then: He genuinely smiled!
"I just want to say...I never felt the love and appreciation back then. Instead, they crushed me completely. So much in fact, that my faith has been lost....until now. That 'It's too late and I'm already a lost cause' quote? Whoever said that, must be a jackass, because you proved me wrong and gave the most love, warmth, care and hope, I desperately needed. So...Thank you! Thank you, everyone!"
Tears were streaming down from his face, however those were tears of joy.
Everyone celebrated, that their plan succeeded in a big way.
"He's finally back to normal!" Pinkie Pie jumped in joy.
"Not quite. He still has to deal with the other issues, in order to be completely free from the past. However, if we stick together and continue to help him, then it will be all over." Celestia added.
"Whatever, he is finally back!" Dukey was filled with happiness. "Although I also have to face my demons as well. But first!" He went to his best friend and fixed his hair back to his original state. However a bit of his hair popped out on the front.
"Must been from me screaming in the pillow." the black pegasus scratched his head.
Rainbow looked at Johnny's scarf and said : "Eh, it needs to be 20% cooler." She took the scarf off from him and gave it to Rarity.
"I can fix this. Alongside making a bonus!" The white unicorn went to her boutique in order to do those tasks. After a while, she came back with two boxes.
"These are for you!" She used her magic to give those gifts to Johnny and Dukey. They opened them and for Johnny, he received his new and improved scarf. Torn to fit his style. And for Dukey, he received a red scarf with a diamond. They put them on their necks.
"Oh my god! This looks awesome!" Johnny was amazed by his new scarf.
"Indeed! We are cool scarf buddies!" Dukey hugged his best friend and soon, the Mane 8 joined in, all while everyone watched in awe.
"Thank you everyone..." Johnny smiled and shed a single tear in happiness.
Meanwhile, in a different universe...
In the night, where the moon shined, inside of a room of a house, a teenage boy with blond hair was punching a wall in sheer anger and sadness.
"Damn it!!" he shouted.
It appeared, that he is missing someone....like a friend...he cared.
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 7: Answers from the Dark | It felt like a dream. A warm and happy dream, that he thought, was impossible. Yet here he is, being loved and appreciated by everyone, but in a new world. Ponies, dragons, changelings and so on. It felt like, he was in heaven, feeling the embrace of guardian angels. During the party, everyone had fun and Johnny received gifts and sweets from nice ponies and non-ponies.
Dukey couldn't help but to feel happy. When he sees his friend being happy, he would feel sweet warmth inside of him. Back then, it was impossible to be happy. It always felt cold and empty. However, that was all in the past, as they found a new home and a new community of nice people, who will do anything to make him and his best friend smile. But at the same time, he had a feeling, that he and Johnny are not completely free from the shackles of the past yet and they need more help. Fortunately, Twilight, her friends and the princesses will be there for them. So, as long as they're here, everything will be finally okay.
Applejack went to him after finishing her talk with her friends and witnessed Johnny having a good time, while confetti was falling.
"Ah must say, we did a fine job." she was amazed by the results.
"Yep. Indeed" he agreed.
They watched, as Rainbow Dash flew with him in the skies. Sure, he had to play catch up with her, since he was slower than the prismatic mare, thanks to his sloppy experience.
"Geez. That surely looks sloppy." He commented about Johnny's flying skills.
"It will take time for him to improve. Trust me." Applejack assured him.
Meanwhile, Princess Celestia felt relieved, yet sceptical at the same time.
"At last, I was able to save someone...but is he completely free?" she thought to herself.
"Princess Celestia?"
She looked at Twilight, who was next to her.
"I have a question. Why did you decide to get everyone involved?" She asked.
The Princess of the Sun lowered her ears, as she explained her reasoning to that choice:
"It's because I have to make up for my biggest mistake. Back then, I wasn't able to save my little sister from her darkness. She felt alone and unloved...much like Johnny. However, she took it too far and transformed into Nightmare Moon. I couldn't reason with her, so I had no choice but to banish her to the moon with the Elements of Harmony. I felt guilty for doing it and even more for ignoring her cries for help. Had I've known about the issue earlier and took action immediately, then none of those terrible events would ever happen. And even though you and your friends helped my sister guiding to the light, I still felt the guilt inside of me. And when you brought up your friend being in a devastated state, I knew, that I had to do something fast...so I came up with that suggestion to gather everyone, so he would not fall in the darkness like Luna. And it worked. Even though I wasn't able to save Luna back then, I was able to save his life just the right time, before things would get worse..."
"Everyone did a good job, so we should be proud of that achievement!" Twilight smiled, however Celestia looked sceptical.
"However, there is still a long way to go. You can see them smiling, assuming that they were finally brought to the light. But we should not end our mission prematurely. There are still some scars from the past, that it'll be taken care of. We have to make sure, nopony will relapse themselves back to the dark again." She explained.
"I know. We will do our best." The princess of Friendship promised.
Celestia smiled, knowing that the Guardians of Harmony will not forget the task. After all, Operation: Healing Light is still ongoing and they will make sure, they won't rest, until the shackles of the past were broken.
Back to the party, everyone were playing some games and danced on the floor, as the sounds of cheerful music can be heard. And Johnny was the main star. He appreciated every single bit of this moment, turning a devastating moment of sorrow into an incredible and fun memory full of love. Even the fillies and colts were adoring him, since they see him as a special pegasus. Can't blame them. Being a pegasus with alicorn wings did have it's benefits.
During which, Dukey felt like something is on his head. It couldn't be the top hat, since it was a bit heavier. Sure enough, when he looked up, he saw a light pink Alicorn baby with purple mane, fading to pink and cyan streaks.
"Oh, hey there! What are you doing on my head?" He asked.
She teleported in front of him and then behind and so on. Obviously this confused him, but Cadence couldn't help, but giggle.
"I see. You have met my daughter, Flurry Heart." She responded, as Flurry teleported on her arms.
"Well for a baby, she is quite...mischievous." he scratched his head.
"She does have an adventurous personality." A voice can be heard and they saw a white unicorn with blue mane and blue hooves.
"Dada!" Flurry was happy to see her dad. Meanwhile, Twilight came to Princess Cadence and saw her niece flying around.
"Hey, uhm. Are you Flurry's dad?" The hybrid asked.
"Of course. My name is Shining Armor." He introduced himself.
Dukey couldn't help but to make a straight face. The name alone Is pretty much like the phrase "A knight in shining armour."
"Oh my god. As if this wasn't that obvious enough, he is with a princess. But I'm not gonna judge them, even though it does sound a bit cliched." He thought to himself.
His thought was interrupted, when Flurry Heart teleported right in front on his face and the hybrid jumped.
"It seems like, Flurry likes you." Cadence giggled.
"You can say that again." The hybrid smiled, despite the Alicorn foal pinching his cheeks.
As Twilight and later, her friends watched this unfold, they giggled. A few seconds later, the purple Alicorn discussed something with them in secret and came to the hybrid.
"Hey. How's the time with Flurry Heart?" Rainbow asked.
"As well, as you can expect." Flurry was still stretching his cheeks, like they were made of rubber.
Twilight used her magic to get the foal to her arms and played with her a bit.
"One more thing, can you get your friend, please? We have something to show it to you." Rarity asked.
"Okay then" the hybrid soon walked around and found his best friend, having fun.
"Hey, man!" He looked at his friend.
"Well, Rarity said, that I have to go with you because of another present or something." The pony/dog hybrid explained.
"What is it?" The black pegasus was curious.
"Come with me and they will show us." He replied.
The two stallions went to the spot, where Rarity was. However, they couldn't find her. Suddenly, they were blindfolded and before they could panic, they heard a familiar voice:
"Chill out, guys! It's me!"
It came from Rainbow Dash.
"What's the big idea!?" They asked her in unison.
They got pushed by Rainbow Dash and Applejack and it went on, until they arrived their destination: a house. Twilight soon quietly opened the doors and they were brought in by them.
"Alright, you can take these off." Said the blue pegasus mare.
They took their blindfolds off, only to see the inside of the house, decorated with gems, flowers, balloons and so on. There was also a shelf full of comics, a fridge full of tasty treats, carpet made with silky velvet and a lamp with black and yellow stripes.
"No way!" Johnny was stunned in awe.
"You actually made a home for us!?" Dukey was also in the same mood as his best friend.
"Yep! We just want you feel welcome at your new home!" Pinkie hopped around them
"We have decorated everything with all the beauty and passion. It needed some glamour and excitement of course." Said Rarity.
"And the awesomeness, it comes with!" Rainbow Dash smirked confidently.
While they look around their new house, Johnny was looking at the shelves. He took one of them out and looked at the cover. It contained a pegasus mare with mane similar to Rainbow's, but all grey and black and wearing an explorer's uniform. Her name: Daring Do.
"Who is Daring Do?" Johnny was confused.
Rainbow Dash froze and flew to him quickly. "You never heard of Daring Do!? The most awesome hero and explorer of Equestria?!" she yelled in shock.
"Uhm, I'm still new here and I don't know anything about this place." he replied.
"Well, her stories are completly action-packed and there are so many awesome moments! It's worth the time reading all of them!" she sounds excited.
"If you say so. Maybe tomorrow. Right now, I'm a bit exhausted from that day." he answered.
"We understand. It was quite a rush." Twilight understood.
The ponies left went outside, leaving the two stallions looking around their new house.
The ponies cheered, that the trauma is over, however the royal sisters and the Mane 7 knew better.
"We shouldn't celebrate prematurely. Even though we made him smile, the trauma is far from over. As far as we're concerned, scars from the past still remained. So we have to keep doing our mission, in order to finally guiding them to the light completely. It's a matter of time and patience, to reach our goal." Princess Celestia gave the residents a speech.
"And as long as we keep working together, the sooner it is to bring them to serenity and peace." Luna added.
The ponies agreed. They need to continue...for their sakes.
Meanwhile...
In the night of Porkbelly, everyone's asleep. However; there was one resident, who was still awake: A teenage boy with tanned skin and blond hair, walking around his room. He looked pissed, as if something had made him snap. As he kept walking, the more questions he had in his head, such as: Why did he disappear?
Then he punched the wall again with his frustration and grabbed a picture. It contained him in the skate park, alongside a kid with flame-like hair, making cool poses. He remembered the time, they hung out together in the skate park. It was quite an awesome time. But because of his friend's disappearance, it all came crashing down. The teenager began to sob with his tears dropping on the picture.
"Why, Johnny bro...why??" He cried out.
Much like everyone else, he heard about Johnny's disappearance from the news. It spread like wildfire and since then, a massive search group began a search effort in Porkbelly, assuming that he ran away somewhere to the other side, but to no avail. They even searched around the country, but there was no sign of him.
At the same time, he felt mad. Like he want to scream at the universe. However, he didn't know, why. He needs answers.
"Johnny would never vanish from his home...There is something odd and I need to find them!" His face changed into a serious look, as he hit his fist on his other hand. The teenager dressed himself in black clothes and a hat, like a spy or something, took some items and jumped out of the window, landing to the soft bushes. He looked around and walked to the house next door to his.
The teenager looked at the white house with blue roofs and went around the back of it. He noticed, that the window was open so the teen used a grappling hook to climb up to the open window. However, he had to be quiet, as the people inside of this house, were sleeping. If he woke them up, then it would be the end of the line. As he got inside, he saw the room filled with toys, posters and feathers. All of them made him clear, whose room belongs to. However he had no idea about the feathers.
"Why are they feathers in the room?" He looked closer, to see that the feathers came from the ripped pillow to the wall. However, he had a task to do.
"What the hell, I need to concentrate!" He slapped his cheeks and looked around the room quietly and stealthily, like a ninja. He looked under the bed, every single cupboard, the closet, everything. But he couldn't find anything to help him answer his question. When he turned around at the desk, he saw a computer, still on standby. The teen went closer and turned it back on. It showed the desktop in front of him, indicating that he forgot to log off and shut down the computer before his disappearance.
"I normally shouldn't look further into his computer.." he thought to himself, but his curiosity got the better of him and started to search the entire desktop. Nothing much out of the ordinary here: pictures from the past, videos, music and some computer games. So far, so good......that was, until he came across a video file, while searching through his computer. It was filed "Day_0.mp4".
"The hell does that mean?" He asked. Why is the video here?
Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming upstairs.
"Shit!" He quietly whispered, pulled out a USB stick and transferred the video to it. Time was slowly running out, as the footsteps were closer. Eventually, the computer finished transferring the file to his USB stick and he closed all of the folders and got out of the room via the window. He also managed to get rid of any traces of him, before the door was opened.
As the door opened, two adults were looking around the room. The man sighed at the sight of the messy room.
"Ugh...I told him numerous times to clean up his room! But he wouldn't listen!" He shouted, as he began to clear the toys away.
The woman felt uneasy, as a few days ago, when she was looking for her son, she got into his room. But it was silent. Assuming, he hid somewhere, she looked at every single corner of his room, but without success. That was until she looked under the bed, in which the note was found. She recalled her reaction, when she read the note. Needless to say, she was hysterical.
Back in the present, she put her hand to her husband's shoulder and said: "Maybe he hid somewhere in the world. Tomorrow, we will try to find him."
"Alright. Maybe someday, he will come back to his senses and just accept our rules!" He replied and both exited the room. Meanwhile, the teenager managed to went back into his own room undetected and looked at the USB stick. Knowing, that he has a computer on his own, he booted it up and after logging in, plugged the stick on the port, went to the folder and started playing the video.
"Let's see, what Day 0 means." He looked at the video closely.
The video started with pitch black for 5 minutes until someone turned on the flashlight. That someone was Johnny, who was hiding under his blanket. However he noticed, that the kid had bags under his eyes, indicating that he didn't sleep well. And he noticed Johnny in a sad mood. He looked around, pulled out the blue diary and held it tightly. Soon, he whispered:
"Nobody understands me... I've been stuck in an endless hell of torture and hatred for as long as I can remember...I felt tortured, pressured, stabbed, betrayed, abused and hated by almost everyone. So much so, that I decided to write on this diary....It will contain my true inner thoughts and emotions and trust me....it will be not as awesome as they think....if they ever find out my dark side...but that doesn't matter, as they ALWAYS bring me down and ignore my cries for help."
He brought a pen and started writing on the first page of the blue diary. He showed the title to the camera: "My Endless Pain". After finishing to write on the diary, he put them aside. But this is where the teenager felt alarmed: Johnny was in tears and showed the camera a wound on his left shoulder, as well as a slap wound on his left cheek.
"I received those from those bastards in this house...."
Then he got emotional, as he uttered one more sentence: "I can't be saved by them....Nobody will..." After which, he cried for the remaining 15 minutes of the video, before ending the recording with a somber look.
"Oh my god.....What does it mean?" The teenager was speechless. He didn't know, that his friend had a damaged side. His sight faded in and put from this revelation. However since it's in the middle of the night, he can't scream.
"Okay. Maybe I should go to sleep." He laid down to his bed and after a few minutes, he fell asleep.
Somewhere in a dark void, the teenager looked around with an eerie feeling in his gut.
"Where am I?" He asked. Soon, he heard evil laughter and when the teen turned his head on the other way, he found Johnny, standing still.
"Johnny? Bro?" He looked at Johnny and walked closer, but then he was terrified, once he saw the flame-haired kid put a noose around his neck.
"Johnny, don't do it!!" He ran as fast he could to get his friend. However the distance became more farther and farther, even though he was running the fastest.
"Goodbye, Gil..." Johnny mumbled in a somber tone before stepping down the chair. Gil watched in horror, as the noose strangled him for a long and agonising time, until his body became limp and lifeless. As if that wasn't terrifying enough, the demons soon celebrated over Johnny's death. Some of them look strangely familiar.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!"
With a yell, Gil woke up from his nightmare, while sweating bullets. His body was shaking from the horror. Soon, the first hint came into his head. By "the bastards from his house", he soon realized, that his family was responsible. Thanks to the hint, he became extremely angry and screamed as loud as he could and went outside and to the neighbouring house.
His screams caused everyone to wake up and gather to the house. Everyone was confused as of why he screamed and why he went to the house, knocking the door very hard. Soon, the family living there, opened the door.
"Excuse me, what's with the screaming?" The man rubbed his eyes. His twin daughters went outside and as soon as they saw Gil, hearts form in their eyes. But Gil was in a dark mood and soon yelled back at them:
"Shut up!! I know, what you did...You hurt Johnny!!"
The family were confused at first. They didn't know, what he was talking about.
"Uhm, we don't understand, what you are saying. We didn't do anything to Johnny whatso-"
"LIAR!!!" Gil interrupted the dad. "Stop pretending so damn sweet, you monsters!!"
The others gasped. But they were unsure, if they would believe in him or not.
Meanwhile, a cop car was driving around the streets. In it, there were two officers, one black and one white with both wearing sunglasses. On the plates, the names "Mr. Black" and "Mr. White" can be seen wearing at them.
"Wow, it feels like a dejà vu here." Mr. Black reminded.
"Can't believe, we're in the same position again, just because of you blowing up Malaysia again!" Mr. White yelled at him.
"How am I supposed to know, what button is for, after they were rearranged?" Mr. Black replied, resulting in an annoyed grunt from his partner.
But before they can discuss further, they witness a commotion afar.
"What the hell is this? We better check this out." The dark-skinned man told to his partner to drive to the scene. As soon as they got out, they witnessed Gill yelling at the family.
"Wait a second, are those Susan and Mary being yelled by that neighbour dude? " he asked.
"You don't see that quite often..." Mr. Black scratched his head and the two went to the scene and separated Gil from them. He then asked: "Hey! Hey, what's going on??"
"Gil started yelling at us!" Susan explained.
"They caused Johnny's disappearance!!" Gil rebutted.
This caused an argument between the two sides about the weight of Gil's claim. Eventually, the two cops had enough and used a megaphone to silence the fight.
"Quiet! First of all, you need to calm down! And second, as for Gil, you need evidence to support your claim!" Mr. White told to the teenager. At this point, Gil's patience ran out and gave them his USB stick.
"Just watch the damn content within. And as for you, bastards! I'm done being nice!! I'm done with the chill attitude towards you! It's over!!!" The teenager snapped at the family with all of his anger in front.
He was about to leave, when suddenly, the sisters grabbed his legs in denial.
"Don't do this, Gil!!" They were in tears, but Gil tried his best to get free by moving his legs.
"Get off from me!!" He yelled, as he kicked them. However, they were persistent as they soon jumped on him, to make an escape impossible, because at this point, the sisters have lost their minds.
"This is bad..." Mr. White commented.
"We have to do something!!" Mr. Black told to his partner and soon, both sprung into action in order to stop the chaos. They tried to pull the sisters apart from them, in which they started kicking and screaming. Eventually, they used a technique, in which they pressed a pressure point behind the twins' necks. This alone made them soon pass out.
"Don't worry. They will be fine. The effect will soon wear off in a few hours. In the meantime..Sir, please get your daughters to their room. We will talk about this later." Mr. Black assured them and the two carried the sisters to their parents.
"Y-yes, sir." The mother replied.
"And as for you, come with us." Mr. White took Gil to the police car. And his partner soon told to the crowd: "This was only a minor inconvenience."
They drove off with Gil wondering, why he was taken to the car.
"Uhm, why did you pull me in and last time, I saw you, you were agents. Why are you working as cops?" He asked.
"I blew up Malaysia again." Mr. Black bluntly replied.
"Do you really have to tell him that?!?!" Mr. White annoyingly responded to his partner, but he managed to pull himself together, before a fight even occured. "Anyway, the reason why we brought you here is for safety. I mean, Susan and Mary were hysterical and uncontrollable at that point and we would fear that they would do it again."
"The best option, we have is to put you under witness protection." Mr. Black assured him. "And as for the USB stick, we will look further into this."
"Please do it..." Gil was very serious and dark. After all, the evidence changed him. The men looked worried and after arriving at the station, they took him to a secret room, where witnesses can be safe from any danger. They lock the doors tight.
"Don't worry. You'll be safe here. In the meantime, we will look at the content of the USB." Mr. White assured Gil, but they only met with silence and a mad look. They soon went to the computer and plugged the stick in. After boot up and login, they looked at the contents, when they stumbled across the video.
"What's this? A video?" Mr. Black was confused, yet curious.
Mr. White played the video, titled "Day_0.mp4" and they watched It fully. At first, they were confused about why Johnny looked sad and tired, as if he was suffering from abuse. However, after the video was finished, their expressions change to shock and confusion.
"What the fuck?..." Mr. Black was speechless.
"I've never seen this side of Johnny before...." Mr. White was equally speechless as his partner.
They checked at the information about the video. Where it was originally found and when it was made. They were stunned by the answers.
"It was originally found on Johnny's computer and was made....3 months ago....wait a minute.." Mr. White was connecting the pieces together.
"It was made 3 months before his disappearance!!" Mr. Black told to his partner. "What's going on with Johnny during the three months before he vanished!?"
"I have no idea...This is quite a mystery." The dark-skinned man sighed. "We have to find out."
Suddenly, mist started to surround the men and before they knew, they saw a hooded figure and upon closer inspection, the figure was all black with a helmet hiding the identity.
"Who the hell are you!??! Are you friend or foe??" They pull their guns out, but the figure just stood here.
"I'm not here to harm you...I know about your problem and I'm willing to help you and your friend about your crusade." The mysterious figure spoke in a distorted
voice. "Trust me, I come without weapons this time. And as for my identity, it's none of your goddamn business. Focus on the task, if you want closure."
"Uhm...like I said, who are you??" Mr. Black demanded an answer. But the figure waved its finger and said: "Call me.....'The Shadow'. And I will guide you to the answer."
The Shadow soon used another smoke bomb to engulf the room and when the smoke cleared, he was gone.
"This is....bizarre..." Both men were speechless. Who was "The Shadow"? Before they could answer, they heard a loud scream.
They immediately rushed down to the secret room, only to see Gil awake and full of sweat. He was breathing heavily with his eyes widened.
"What happened??" Mr. Black asked.
"Another nightmare..." Gil was struggling to complete his sentence. "And it's worse than before!!"
"Calm down! What did you see in your nightmare?" Mr. White asked to the teenager.
He explained, that he was in an unknown era and witnessed Johnny committing suicide in various ways. Hanging, self-harm, immolation, falling from big heights and finally with a gunshot to the head. And he was met with evil demons laughing and celebrating his death.
"Oh my god....Are you serious?" The Caucasian asked in horror.
"Y-yeah..." Gil was in tears.
"Man...this is gonna be a hard case to solve..." Mr. White sighed and both went inside to comfort Gil, who was a mess after the nightmare.
The next day in Equestria...
Twilight, Spike and Starlight brought two therapy couches to prepare for the upcoming therapy session. Later, Johnny and Dukey arrived inside. Both had bags under their eyes.
"Oh my goodness... " Starlight was worried.
Twilight put herself together. She had a mission to do. She smiled and said: "Welcome, guys! Please play down on the couches. We will soon begin the therapy session."
They both did so, what she said.
"You look like, you haven't slept well." Spike spoke to them.
"Ya think!??!" Johnny was agitated.
"The nightmares were persistent..." Dukey answered.
"Wow...Anyway, let's start with a simple exercise. Please close your eyes as hard, as you can." Twilight instructed the two stallions and they closed their eyes. She then asked: "What are you currently seeing?"
"I see...demonic monsters.." Johnny explained.
"Okay, what are they doing?" The purple mare asked, while writing down her observations.
"They're getting...closer and closer with their sharp claws and teeth...and scary eyes..." Dukey was starting to feel uneasy.
"Uhm...ok...What else?" Twilight continued to ask about what they were seeing. However, she witnessed Johnny feeling tense and scared with constant moving and sweating. Soon, his friend followed suit. She tried to calm them down, but to no avail.
"They're getting closer! No! No!! Stop it!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" Johnny screamed and picked up a piano.
"Wait a minute, where did you get that-" She couldn't finish her question, as Johnny slammed the piano down on her. Miraculously, she managed to crawl out from it with only a few bruises.
"Ow...." Twilight moaned in pain.
"This is gonna be harder than I thought..." Starlight sighed.
"Yep..." Spike did the same.
To be continued.... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 8: Retribution and Euthanasia | "Johnny, stop!!!"
Those were the words of the teenager, named Gil, who witnessed Johnny about to end his own life. He tried to reach him, however the distance keeps going farther and farther. Hell, he tries to walk faster, but to no avail. Soon, a demonic voice can be heard, sending chills to his spine.
"Ha! You thought, you can save him?? My my, you have such a colourful imagination. Shame, that it will never come true!!"
"Fuck you!" Gil barked at the air, since the demons can't be seen.
Suddenly, he was surrounded by multiple versions of Johnny committing suicide in several ways. Some even bloodier than before. Hanging, stabbing himself, cutting his wrists, poisoning himself, falling from a dangerous height, shooting himself and the most horrifying of all: sobbing, while he's strapped to a bomb and as soon it exploded, all of the gory parts flew everywhere, with Gil being splattered by his blood. The horrifying sight, coupled with demonic figures laughing, dancing and even disrespecting Johnny's deaths made the teenager scream in horror and waking up in his room.
"Fuck...it's getting worse..." Gil was shaken from the bloody nightmare. It's been the third time, that this happened.
He went to the sink to wash his face off with water, in order to freshen himself up a bit and to bring himself at least back to the reality.
Ever since he watched the video, Gil became much more anxious and worried about Johnny's well-being. It didn't help, that the searches were unsuccessful and his family probably lied to save themselves.
"Ugh! I can't get it off from my head! I need to know, where the hell he is!!?!" He screamed in the room alone and later sat down on his bed to calm down for a while.
Suddenly, he heard banging on the door. At first, he thought, the men would like to visit him. So the teenager approached forward a bit. However, that thought was quickly shattered, when the door got broken down and the sight, that greeted him, is something out of a horror movie. It was the Test sisters, looking pretty psychotic and unstable with their hair being messy and twitching. Gil slowly backed off, but the sisters went closer.
"Gil..." They both spoke in unison. They sounded deranged and obsessed.
"Get away from me!!" He yelled, but it got on deaf ears.
As they got closer and closer, he looked around for an opportunity to escape. Eventually, the opportunity came in form of a hanging lamp. Gil jumped and swung himself from the lamp above them and ran outside. But it didn't take long, till they started to chase him. He ran through the halls and seveal security people as fast as he could. The teen tried his best to escape from the lunatic twins, so he ran even faster than before.
Suddenly, he was blasted by something and soon, he couldn't move.
"No!!! I can't move!! Somebody help me!!!!" He yelled around, hoping that someone would save him. Unfortunately, the sisters eventually caught up to him. Gil could feel the fear inside and it worsened, once they pulled out long and sharp knives. He tried to plead for his life with no success.
"If we can't have you...." Susan raised her knife, aiming at his head.
".....No one can!" Mary finished the sentence and raised hers too, aiming at his chest.
At this point, there was no way out of this. Gil is paralyzed and the sisters were about to stab him to death.
But then...
Before they even have the chance to stab him, a massive amount of electricity surged into their bodies for a while, until they fell down to the floor unconscious. Gil looked forward, only to see The Shadow holding two tasers.
"Trust me....I'm not here to harm you." The Shadow promised.
"Who are you?!?" Gil was still panicked from the ordeal.
"It's none of your goddamn business. By the way, if I were you, I would've hidden somewhere, where nobody can find me, like going underground." It took the unconscious bodies of the sisters and was about to go, when Mr. Black and Mr. White returned, now in their black suits.
"What the hell happened?!?" Mr. White was shocked and confused.
"Those lunatic girls tried to kill him. But thankfully, that didn't happen. Ugh... it seems like, their sanity has been broken. Like remember the time, when Gil was angry at them?" It asked.
"Well, we only came at the right time and even stopped the whole chaos, before it even erupted into much worse." Mr. Black answered, while his partner comforted a scared Gil.
"Well, that ordeal made them insane. And if I can remember, there was a school girl from a game, that if being rejected or something, she would snap and kill her crush before turning the blade on herself. Unfortunately, they were so close to bringing that moment to reality." The Shadow explained.
"Oh my god...." Mr. Black was horrified about their mental downfall.
"That's why I recommended him to go underground." It looked at them.
"Wait a minute, what about our mission?!?! We can't abandon it, otherwise we will never know, what happened to Johnny!" Mr. White shouted. Then the Shadow gave them two heavy suitcases and spoke to them with: "Inside of those suitcases contain very helpful tools and instructions on obtaining that goal. Now would you excuse me, I'll take them back home and try my best to stabilise their sanity a bit. " Then it vanished in a puff of smoke.
Meanwhile, Mr. White used a needle, that contained the antidote, on Gil, making him move again. However, he was still paralyzed, but this time in fear. The agent tried his best to calm him down.
"So, if what the Shadow is saying, is correct... then that means, that Gil is in serious danger and we really need to go underground!" Mr. Black explained.
"Although, how can we get Gil and those suitcases into Area 51.1 undetected?" His partner asked.
"Well, remember the time, where we put Johnny and the others into a crate and went through the base and to the elevator?" Mr. Black asked.
"Are you thinking, what I'm thinking?" Mr. White asked to his partner and he nodded.
"Okay then. It's a plan!" He confidently agreed. They now have a plan to protect Gil and continue their mission at the same time.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville...
In the Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie was teaching the stallions on how to bake some cupcakes.
"Excuse me, how is baking supposed to be relaxing?" Dukey asked.
"Well, it always brings a smile to my face, when giving my cupcakes to my friends!" Pinkie grinned.
The guys were really unsure. Back then, they were terrible at baking stuff and the end results would turn out to be......strange and gross. But Pinkie had strong faith on making them smile with baking, even if they are inexperienced.
"Uhm....We can't bake that well, Pinkie.." Johnny sighed slightly.
"Don't worry! I'll show you, how to do it!" the joyful Heroine of Laughter giggled and showed them steps on how to do it, accompanied with a song.
Pinkie Pie
All you have to do is take a cup of flour!
Add it to the mix!
Now just take a little something sweet, not sour!
A bit of salt, just a pinch!
Baking these treats is such a cinch!
Add a teaspoon of vanilla!
Add a little more, and you count to four,
And you never get your fill of...
Cupcakes! So sweet and tasty!
Cupcakes! Don't be too hasty!
Cupcakes! Cupcakes, cupcakes, CUPCAKES!
After so much trial and error, the cupcakes have finished baking and it's time for decorating.
"Okay! It's time to add the frosting!" Pinkie Pie had the frosting prepared with all of the beautiful colors and sparkling glitter. She put them in three bags and gave the two to the stallions.
"Okay! Try to mimic, what I do, okay?" She smiled at them.
"Uhm....k?" The guys were unsure.
Pinkie showed the stallions on how to put the frosting on the cupcakes. She held the bag with her mouth and slowly and gently squeezed them out to each cupcake in perfect shape.
"You know, what? I have a different idea!" Since Dukey is a pony/dog hybrid, he grabbed the bag by his paws and slowly and gently squeezed the frosting on his tray of cupcakes.
"Aw, man...." Johnny sighed. He was never good at baking and coupled with fact, that he is a pony, brings up a obvious disadvantage: He can't use his hooves, without losing balance and fall down to the floor. So he grabbed his bag with his mouth and tried to apply the frosting on his tray. But, because he was not really a precise being and that was his first time attempting, he squeezed the bag too hard and too much frosting came out. Not to mention, because of the pressure from the hard press caused the bag to burst in front of his face.
"Damnit! This stinks!!" The pegasus was frustrated and threw the bag in rage.
"Don't worry. It is your first try. There is always time and chance to improve!" Said the pink mare, while cleaning up the mess. At the same time, Dukey was finishing with the decoration.
"Eh....could've been better..." the hybrid was unsure about his end result, since the process was kinda rushed to make it ready. The frosting was decent, but since it was the first time, he decorated on a cupcake, it came out sloppy and shaky. He then looked at his best friend, whose face was still covered in frosting, so the hybrid proceeded to lick it off.
"Dude...." Johnny was peeved.
"Sorry. I just couldn't resist. The frosting did taste delicious though..." Dukey scratched his head in embarrassment. Pinkie Pie couldn't help, but to giggle at the sight. Johnny however, sighed, realizing that the whole cupcake thing was complicated.
At the same time, Twilight and the rest of her friends went inside of the kitchen to see, what Pinkie is doing with them.
"Hey, Pinkie Pie. We just came here to check on the progress." Said the purple Alicorn.
"Turns out, that Johnny and I are not suited in baking." Dukey scratched head in response.
"Why? Yours look decent." Rarity commented about his tray of cupcakes. Rainbow Dash took one of the tray and took a bite out of it for testing.
"Eh, it's...alright, I guess." Rainbow shrugged.
"Thanks for the critique." He sighed.
"I actually got the idea of baking, in order for them to find the joy within." The peppy pink mare explained to her friends.
"I'm not sure, if that would've helped, Sugarcube..." Applejack responded.
"Plus, Johnny's tray of cupcakes being unfinished and a bit burned, speaks for itself." Rainbow added, which Johnny groaned in annoyance.
"Hmm...Maybe we can think of other ideas to help them." Twilight spoke to her friends.
"I can continue teaching Johnny, so he can improve his skills." The prismatic mare suggested.
"And I can help them find their inner peace." Fluttershy quietly added.
"That would be good ideas." Twilight agreed.
"Hey, Johnny! Wanna improve your flying?" She smirked.
"Yeah. It is better than this mess." Johnny sighed, referencing his failed attempt at cupcakes.
"Come with me!" She replied and the blue and black pegasus flew outside.
However, Dukey became scared by an illusion of that nightmare monster, circling around him and laughing evilly. Thankfully, it vanished, as Applejack noticed the hybrid in panic and put her hoof on him.
"Hey, it's gonna be alright, pal." The southern mare assured.
The heroine of Kindness also went to the hybrid to comfort him.
"There there..." she quietly mumbled. "Why not go out for a walk?"
"I'll accompany him, just in case." Applejack replied.
"I suppose, that would work...I guess." He looked at them. Applejack smiled and together with Fluttershy, they went out for a walk. In the meanwhile, Rarity was speaking with Twilight about the progress and some concerns.
"Uhm, Twilight? I'm not sure, if our efforts would work well. I mean, there are a few issues about them, like there were some spirits of the past lingering around." Rarity was worried.
"Hmm.. We have to work harder and observe every single step to their road to recovery. If there are any setbacks, then we are not afraid of fixing them!" Twilight assured.
"I hope, darling..." Rarity sighed. But they have to continue, for their sake, so they exited the Sugarcube Corner and soon met with Starlight and Spike.
"How's the progress?" Starlight asked.
"Well, they had...let's say, a difficult time with cupcakes." Pinkie reported.
"Really?" Spike asked.
"I was trying to find the joy for them!" She responded.
"Anyway, we have to observe the progress and take action. That's the most efficient way of helping them cope. Johnny is currently with Rainbow and Dukey is with Applejack and Fluttershy. So we need to split up in two groups and keep helping them." Twilight explained.
"I suppose, that makes sense." Spike answered.
And soon, the group had split into two groups. Twilight and Spike went to the path, where Dukey took, while the remaining three ponies took the opposite path, where Johnny and Rainbow Dash went.
Elsewhere far from Porkbelly...
There exists a secret base, named "Area 51.1" , where secret experiments, projects and all other shenanigans reside, funded by the military.
Of course, since this is a secret base, we're talking about, it has the best security, known to man....most of the times. There are times, that a few people managed to get in, either through a close connection to a few or something. Or some of the employees are just plain incompetent.
Outside of the base, the agents in black were carrying a big, wooden box and were about to enter.
"You need to be quiet in this one, okay?" Mr. Black whispered close to the box.
"It's so hot.." Turns out, that Gil is inside of the box.
"Once we get to the elevator, you can come out. But now, we have to get to it first, without anybody detecting you!" Mr. Black responded.
"Fine.." the teenager sighed.
The agents soon entered the area, while carrying the crate. A lot of agents, soldiers and officers were there to discuss secret stuff, scientists experiment their projects and test them. Some of them actually looked at them and the crate, but they managed to make them go back to their usual jobs, by telling them, that they have some stuff to be taken to a secret warehouse. They were almost there, when a loud voice can be heard, that made them stop:
"Excuse me? What are you two doing?"
A general, who wears sunglasses and wearing too many badges, walked towards the men in black, looking kinda suspicious at the contents of the crate.
"Well, we are carrying secret supplies to the warehouse for safe keeping, sir." Mr. Black answered to the general.
"Hmmm...Are you sure, that there is nothing dangerous or suspicious inside?" He looked closer.
"No!" Mr. White immediately answered. He actually made a lie, in order to save themselves and the mission. A few minutes of suspicions silence occured, with the General still looking at the crates and the men in black, sweating in fear. Eventually....
"Ok. You can go now." The general shrugged and walked off. The men sighed in relief, now that they're left alone to continue. However, it wouldn't last, as they heard some struggles in the crate.
"Shit! We need to go now!" Mr. White is concerned and soon, they rushed towards the elevator, that leads to an underground bunker. They knew it too well, as they were underground before, back when the city was under attack by monsters, created by Johnny's mind, thanks to a monster-creating helmet. It didn't last, as they eventually found a way to destroy them and save the city.
Arriving at the elevator, they used their ID cards to grant access to the elevator and selected the option to go to the secret underground bunker. As the door soon closed, they immediately opened the crate and saw Gil getting out of it, while gasping for air and sweating.
"Gil, what happened??" Mr. Black asked.
"I was nearly suffocated, dude!!" The teenager was panicked and enraged.
"Why didn't you breath in with the oxygen tank?" Mr. White asked to Gil.
"Because I couldn't find one!!!" The teen yelled.
"We forgot the tank..." The men sighed and facepalmed, as they realized the mistake of not including a tube inside for Gil to breathe. It didn't help, that there were no holes on the crate whatsoever.
After a very quick ride (and by quick, I mean in a pace, where you felt squashed by the time, you've arrived.), the doors opened and soon entered the bunker. The agents activated the maximum security of the bunker and locked the door to the bunker for Gil's safety.
"Here we are again. Man, it surely feels like old times, huh?" Mr. Black remembered about last time, they were here.
"Yep. It surely does." His partner agreed.
"Can we just get it over already?" Gil was really impatient. He really wants justice for Johnny and more importantly, where he is and if he's alive.
"Right! Let's do this!" The agents agreed in unison and pulled out the suitcases, the Shadow gave to them and put on a table. They soon opened the suitcases and grabbed the contents out of them. They contained two laptops, various hacking tools, a note with an IP address, a radar to track down the twins, a monitor connected to the radar, that has a maps program installed, an alarm, a satellite and some instructions on how to hack computers and get surveillance footage.
"Wow. Never thought, that the Shadow gave us the essential tools for hacking someone's computer." Mr. Black was surprised. However, for their sake of their mission, they have to do it, by hacking and finding possible evidence, that are linked to Johnny's disappearance and the months before it.
They cracked their fingers a bit and started the hacking process. The agents typed down the IP address from the note and confirmed it. They worked really hard on hacking on that computer, while Gil was watching. They also looked at the monitor for possible suspicions activity of the two girls, in order to protect the teenager from future attacks and murder attempts.
After a while, the hacking process was successful and they were granted access on the computer's contents. It contained a lot of scientific projects, scans, surveillance videos, data about inventions and love notes to Gil. The agents shuddered. It was clear, that they had access to the laboratory's computer, which belongs to the sisters.
"Ugh...yep. Definitely belongs to Susan and Mary." Mr. White commented.
But they snapped out of the disgust and went straight to the surveillance folder, where all videos of the house, outside and inside and in different rooms, reside.
"Okay. Let's use these, that happened before his disappearance." Mr. White looked at the video files. They were recorded in chronological order. They started with the living room video, that was recorded on the last day, anyone saw Johnny, before he vanished. Thankfully, they have a programme, that allows them to switch cameras, allowing them for easy work.
In the living room section, the parents were upset. They talked about Johnny's misdeeds and actions, that was unacceptable for them and want to punish him. They thought of ideas, since none of the punishments did do anything and during which, his father was really outraged.
"I was really too easy on him and his dog. I even threatened him to take him away from Johnny, if he hadn't returned my camera! But as time went on, he hadn't really learned anything and ignored my warnings! He really left me with no choice!!" He yelled.
"What the hell does that mean?" Mr. Black asked, while watching.
They skipped some minutes, until they saw the parents set up a hidden trap and a plate of bacon as bait.
"Uhm, I have a bad feeling about this...." Mr. Black's stomach twisted at this sight.
A few minutes after the trap was set and the parents hid away offscreen. A sense of uneasiness and fear can be felt. They don't want to know, what's gonna happen next. And those following scenes would confirm their fears.
It shows Dukey, slowly sniffing at the scent of bacon and getting closer to the plate. Eventually, he reached the plate and ate the bacon. Suddenly, without a warning, a steel cage fell down on him and the parents, being dressed to completely hide their identities, jumped on them. Amazingly, Dukey fought back and tried to escape. That attempt brought them hope for a while, but ultimately it eventually crushed, once they knock him out with baseball bats.
"What the fuck?..." Mr. White whispered in disbelief.
With shaky hands, they switched the camera of the footage, this time, there are people from the animal shelter waiting. And before they see the parents give Dukey to them, the men immediately pause the footage.
"Uh-uh! Fuck that!" Mr. Black had enough of the ordeal.
"It was horrifying.... How could they!?!?" Mr. White was equally horrified as his partner.
"I don't want to see Johnny's reaction to that, when he finds out..." Mr. Black was reluctant to continue watching. Knowing this whole ordeal would break Johnny.
"But we have to....for our mission..." Mr. White gulped and skipped to the afternoon, when Johnny came back from school and switched the living room camera. They watched, as the family had a talk about Johnny's action. And as to be expected, when Johnny found out, what they did, as the ultimate punishment, needless to say, he was not happy. And that was a huge understatement. He actually snapped and let all of his anger out. Hearing Johnny yell at his own family with full emotion, made their hearts break. Despite being agents, seeing a child being sad is devastating. But to make matters worse, none of them even cared! And to add insult to injury, they witness Johnny being slapped to the ground....by his own father.
"Okay, what the fuck!?!?!?" The agents were outraged at this child abuse. And rightfully so.
They switched the camera section to Johnny's room and sure enough, when he locked the door tight, Johnny had suffered a mental breakdown. It was really painful to watch. What's worse is, that Gil watched the ordeal and immediately threw up in a nearby trash can.
"We're sorry..." the agents told to Gil.
"It seems like, we found out the reason of his disappearance." Mr. Black concluded and marked the three important evidence.
Then they heard ringing. There was a phone in one of the suitcases and Mr. White grabbed the phone. It had the symbol of the Shadow and as he looked at the contact icon, the same symbol can be seen.
"Hello?" Mr. White answered.
"Did you find the evidence? The Shadow asked.
"Yes." Mr. White answered.
"However. I'm afraid, that this was the tip of the iceberg. There's probably more incriminating footage on their computer."
"If you say so...." Mr. White answered and soon related the news to his partner, who began digging to the videos more.
Outside, in the surface, a big search group was going around the world, searching for Johnny's whereabouts. Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, anywhere. But there was no sign of him. Still, the family, who ordered the massive search, never gave up.
Meanwhile, the Shadow was hiding in the bushes and observing the search group. So far, the sisters look sane around their parents. However, he knew, that when they arrived to the lab and found out , that their computer was being hacked, they would do anything to stop it. So, it came up with a plan. It had a phone and a voice changer on the hands, as well as a phone number on a note. It typed down the phone number on the phone and proceeds to call it, while activating the voice changer.
Back to the search group...
They were heading to Canada now, also known as the next possible destination for Johnny's whereabouts. He has to be here, they thought. However, the people were really exhausted. They've been searching for him everywhere, even in the most dangerous areas. But the family keep on insisting to continue searching, much to their annoyance.
"How long does this gonna go on?" Mary was exhausted.
"We will find him! I'm very sure of it!" Her father was really confident on his goal.
Suddenly, the phone of her mother was ringing.
"Mom?" Susan reminded her mother by pointing her phone.
"Oh. Hang on." She accepted the call. "Hello?"
"Hello? Mom? Dad?" A familiar voice can be heard, that shocked them, but gave them relief and hope. It was no mistake! The voice belonged to Johnny!
"Johnny? Is that you?! We were so worried!" Her mother was happy to hear her son's voice again. The twins's father grabbed the phone.
"Where are you!?" He asked.
"I'm stuck in the Antarctic. Got into some crazy stuff and now, I'm freezing there! Get me outra here!!" pleaded Johnny in a dilemma.
"Everyone! We found Johnny! He is in the Antarctic! We have to save him!!" He shouted the news to everyone. With Johnny finally being found, they immediately went to the Antarctic.
However...it was all just a rouse, as the Shadow turned the phone off.
"Heh....Idiots. Always listening to lies." The Shadow scoffed. It soon pulled out the main phone and called the agents. "Hey. I just created a distraction to keep them busy. So, have you found more evidence?" It asked.
"I'm afraid, we found much more. Including one with Johnny being tied up to a pole and having his teeth being forcefully brushed by his dad. It was that sickening. Other scenes included Susan and Mary testing painful experiments on Johnny. I know, the whole family is crazy, but all of this whole torture would scar anyone!" Mr. Black reported the findings.
"Yep. Anyway, now that you have the evidence, it's time to show the truth to everyone. You have the satellite, I gave you, right?" The Shadow answered.
"We have it." Mr. White answered.
"Good. Hack the broadcasting satellite and show it to the world. Do not fail on me!" The Shadow ended the call.
Back in the underground bunker, the agents got the call and immediately got to work. They collected all of the incriminating footage and edited it in one big compilation. Soon, they got an e-mail about a video from the Shadow as an intro for the compilation. They added it at the start. After a while, they finished making the video and prepared the satellite. There was no time to spare.
"Time for the ultimate task!" Mr. Black began hacking the broadcasting satellite.
"How long does it gonna take?" Gil asked.
"Not for long. We're almost there.." Mr. Black was sweating because of the work, yet he is confident, that it will soon be over.
After a while, they got access to the satellite and sent the video.
"Alright. The job's done...all we need to do is just sit and wait." Mr. White sat down on the chair.
"Yeah. If there are other problems, the Shadow would handle those" Mr. Black nodded.
"I just hope the nightmare to be over with..." Gil hoped.
Tokyo, Japan
A Japanese business man was doing his usual office work on his computer. Writing letters, calculating, the usual stuff. Suddenly, the monitor of his computer started to glitch and the PC started a video.
"Nani??" The Japanese man was confused.
Auckland, New Zealand
A couple was watching a romantic movie on their TV. Right before the couple in the movie started to kiss, the TV glitched and showed them the beginning of the video.
"What's going on?" The woman was confused.
London, England
A group of teenagers were watching funny videos on a girl's smartphone, laughing their asses off, when it also became glitched and the video began to play.
"What in the bloddy hell is that??" The teenage girl was outraged.
"I have no idea, gal." A teenage boy shrugged.
New York, USA
In Times Square, everything went like normal, when all of the monitors glitched and the video started to play by itself. The people were shocked and confused. Some even suspected of a cyber attack. But then, they heard a voice in the video and when they looked at the monitors, they saw a being completely in black. It spoke:
"Greetings. My name is "The Shadow". I'm not here to cause any harm to all of you people from around the world. I just want to show you the reason of one of the biggest mysteries up to date: The mysterious disappearances of Johnny Test and his dog, Dukey! Now, you may know it from the news or from the ongoing search parties. But, what you may not know, is that their disappearances were caused by his own family! Don't believe me? Watch this video and you will know the truth. But be warned, because there are some atrocious things in this compilation. With that said....Please watch it."
It then shows so many things happening to Johnny, including being zapped, stung with needles, mutated or like cut with extreme pain by his own sisters, his father giving him ridiculous punishments and even recently, the parents trapping Dukey, knocking him out and giving him to someone from the animal shelter.
Needless to say, everyone and I mean, EVERYONE was outraged. They couldn't believe, that the very family, that spread the news about their son's disappearance had actually caused it. Their anger was everywhere: Africa, Russia, Turkey, China, Mexico and more. Even the smart penguins, residing in Area 51.1 were really angry. And obviously it didn't take long, till the outrage reached to Porkbelly.
"You took Dukey away?!?!?" Susan was very angry at her parents.
"We HAD TO, because Johnny keeps ignoring my rules!!!" Her dad shouted.
"YOU DIDN'T EVEN TELL US ABOUT IT!!!" Mary shouted back.
"Ahem!!"
The family looked back to see the search party being mad at them. It didn't help, that they had their torches and pitchforks ready.
"Obviously, we have a lot of bad ideas to do with you, criminals!" One man showed, while cracking his knuckles.
"Uh-oh..." The mother gulped.
Soon, the family ran off, with the search party turned mob, chasing behind. It spread around the whole town, park, pier, everywhere, until they were about to reach their house for safety. However, The Shadow, who was standing on a roof, had a blaster ready.
"Oh no, you won't!!" He aimed at the family and shot 4 beams at them. They were struck by those beams, before they could even reach the door and couldn't move, because the beams have paralyzed them. But when he saw the mob getting closer and raise their pitchforks, he became annoyed.
"Oh, for fucks' sake!" He then used a device to hack into their phones.
Before they can do anything with them, they heard the voice on their phones.
"HEY!!! Listen up! Let the police handle it, goddamnit!!! We want justice, not an execution! You people should've known the difference! Jesus Christ....Sometimes, you are really hard to listen to morals, do ya? Anyway, let the authorities handle the arrests. YA GOT THAT!?!?"
At the same time, the police have arrived and were ready to make the arrests. So the people backed off and let the police do it.
"Alright, everyone! Stay back! The criminals belong to us." The policemen and -women walked towards them with handcuffs ready.
"I-I can explain.." the father tried to explain, but was soon cuffed by the cops and watched, as his wife and daughters were also placed in cuffs as well.
"Yeah yeah. Explain that to the judge!" The female cop pushed him towards the cars. On their way, they were soon met with angry faces from everyone. But for the sisters, the most devastating happen to come from their own professor!
"I am so disappointed of you. Criminals never deserve wisdom!" The professor scolded.
"But...but..but-" Before they can explain, another female cop cut the sentence off.
"No more buts. You definitely belong to jail and not in a laboratory." She looked at them with a glare.
Finally, the family were put in two different police cars, separating the sisters from their parents and as they were driven off, they witnessed the other cops confiscating the trophies and medals and gave them back to the professor.
In the underground bunker, the trio celebrated their victory.
"We did it! We did it!" The agents did a high five in joy.
"It's finally over..." Gil was in tears, but he was relieved, that the culprits were finally caught are now facing justice. "Johnny, bro...if you can hear this, then you are free... " he whispered.
Suddenly, the phone rang and Mr. Black answered it.
"Since they're finally arrested, you guys can go to the surface again. But here is one more thing: Meet me inside of the base. I'm close to a secret portal with a locator built in. Don't ask. Just meet me there. Ok? See ya." Said the Shadow before ending the call.
"What does it mean?" Gil asked.
"Well, we can finally exit the bunker. But we also have to go to the room, where our secret portal device is." Mr. Black told to the teenager.
"Don't ask. I don't know, how he found out." Mr. White on the other hand, was puzzled.
The agents and Gil went to the door and with their ID Cards, exited the secret bunker and went back to the surface world or rather the base. After some turns, they soon arrived at the portal, where "The Shadow" was waiting.
"Thank you for helping us! Without you, this mystery would never be resolved!" The agents thanked it.
"Hmph. No problem." It responded.
"But...why did you decide to help us?" Gil asked a very important question, to which the Shadow replied:
"I helped you, because I want to make up a big mistake, I did."
The agents were confused at first, but then the Shadow soon added with this information:
"By the way, Johnny and Dukey are still alive. They just went to a different universe."
"Wait, what!? How do you know that?!" Mr. Black asked in shock.
"Because....the portal, he used..."
As the Shadow spoke, he slowly took the helmet off and showed the true face in front of the three. The agents were shocked about the true identity of the Shadow. It was actually an obese boy with brown hair and freckles.
"....belonged to me." He finished.
"Wait, is that Bling-Bling-Boy!?" The agents shouted in unison out of shock and disbelief. They couldn't believe, that he was actually responsible for helping them complete the mission.
"Wait, aren't you supposed to go after-" Before Mr. White completed the sentence, BBB cut him off.
"Do NOT mention her name ever again!" He glared.
This came as a shock to everyone. For years, BBB, known as Eugene, has been chasing for Susan for a long time and wanting her by any means necessary. But now, he doesn't want to do anything about her anymore.
"I beg your pardon, what?" The agents were dumbfounded.
"That's right! I'm officially done with Susan Test!" He snapped.
While the agents were frozen, Gil asked him a question:
"Uhm, what do you mean by, he used your portal?"
BBB took a deep breath and explained his reason:
"You see, shortly after I came back from my vacation with my mom, the news have about Johnathan's disappearance have reached everyone, myself included. I immediately went to my lab and watched security footage of the days before he was gone. This is when I came across at a point in the footage, where the portal was activated. And even though I couldn't see him, I could clearly see his shadow, alongside with the shadow of his dog. Knowing, that something was wrong, I immediately went to research about what's going on. I remotely hacked into his computer and watched the video, which sent chills down my spine. At this point, I want to solve this mystery, but at the same time, I couldn't do that as Bling-Bling-Boy, so I had to come up with a hidden identity. This is when 'The Shadow' was born. I was roaming around the town, looking for answers, when I stumbled across you, the neighbor, yelled at her and her family. Then the agents came and I came to a decision to help you guys, after witnessing that moment. And by the by, witnessing that murder attempt had disgusted me to the point, that my love for her was completely shattered. And it didn't help with the compilation. Instead, it helped me on my emancipation."
"Whoa...." Gil was surprised.
"I know, right?" The agents agreed in unison.
BBB soon went to the portal and turned it on. He also activated the locator.
Welcome to the locator. I can find anyone, anywhere.
He then pulled out a blond hair sample, placed it on the scanner and activated it. It scanned the hair and tried to match the sample to the being. Then, it would locate his current whereabouts. After a few minutes, the results came in:
Subject name: Johnny Test
Current location: Equestria
"Equestria?" The teenager was confused.
"Never heard of this place...You?" Mr. Black asked his partner.
"Uh-uh. Not a single clue." Mr. White answered.
"So now we know, where he currently is, we have to go there indefinitely. We will not come back." BBB was serious.
"What!? Why!?" Mr. White was surprised.
"Think about it. The reason, why he vanished is because, the system has failed him. I mean, how many times did anyone try to lift up his spirits, other than his dog?" BBB asked.
"Well, uhm..." the agents thought of an answer.
"Is it no one?" Gil guessed.
"Correct. Nobody gave a single shit about his problems and only care about what they expect from him and being part of their society. I mean, sure we do care about him, but the thing is, we are a minority. And nobody gives a shit about that either! So, I hope, the system in Equestria is better than this one!" The rich kid looked away.
"Wait, what about our stuff?" Mr. Black asked.
"We'll manage. Besides, the people there can provide that." BBB shrugged.
And so, the four were about to enter the portal, when...
"Hold up! I want to come with you!"
They looked back, only to see a green-haired girl, wearing pink clothes, walking towards them.
"Jillian? What are you doing?" Mr. White was confused.
"I'm done with my dad! He just couldn't learn from anything and never accepted my decisions! Not to mention, that he brainwashed my mom. It was enough reason to get out of this shitty place! That and I want to apologise to Johnny." She snapped.
"You're not the only one, young lady."
Another voice can be heard and it came from a old man.
"Aren't you the principal of Johnny's school?" Mr. Black asked.
"Not anymore. I quit my job shortly after the whole controversy started. Not to mention, that I felt partially responsible for his disappearance. So I want to make things right."
"Us too!"
It came from an old man, looking like a farmer, a teen with blue skin and ice as hair and an anthropomorphic mole king with his army.
"You too???" The agents were dumbfounded. They did not expect a reformed man and two of Johnny's enemies come forward.
"You see, Johnny has changed our lives. He helped us during hard times. Heck, thanks to him, I changed my ways." The old man, formerly known as "The Bee Keeper" , responded.
"Huh...I never thought, Johnathan's disappearance would cause an even bigger impact, than I thought." BBB was impressed.
"Okay. You guys can come with us. But if any of you two plot something evil, then we will not show any mercy!" Mr. White agreed, but warned at the mole and the ice boy, known as Zizrar and the Brain Freezer respectively.
"We won't. That's why, we came here unarmed. Plus, the whole abuse had changed us. Believe me." Brain Freezer answered.
"Oh my god...Can we just go?" Gil was really impatient.
"Oh, yeah. Right. Remember, we will not come back to this world anymore, because the world has failed us." Mr. Black reminded the group.
"Any objections?" Mr. White asked.
With no response, the group closed their eyes and went into the portal. This was the point of no return for them. Before Mr. Black got in, he starts the countdown of closing the portal.
Closing the Portal in 10...9...8...7...6...
During the countdown, the general ran towards the portal.
"Hold on! I'm coming!" He yelled and jumped into the portal. Shortly after, the penguins from Area 51.1 also jumped to the portal.
...5...4...3...2...1...
Suddenly, at the last second, a blur, running at sonic speed, jumped into the portal.
...0
Portal shutting down...
With that, the portal was shut down....
In Equestria...
Gil opened his eyes and saw many ponies having a good time.
"Whoa..." he was surprised by the location. However, when he looked at the others, he screamed.
"Gil, what's going on?" Mr. Black asked.
"Look at yourselves!!" He was shaken.
When they opened their eyes and looked at each other, the impossible happened: They've been turned into ponies!! Understandably, they panicked at the sight: Gil was turned into a aqua-colored earth pony, Jillian into a pink unicorn, the Brain Freezer into an icy-blue unicorn, the principal and the Bee Keeper into earth ponies, BBB into a obese, white unicorn and the agents into...unicorns? They looked too different from the other ponies, since they have hands on the front and beaks, like birds. Also, they have wings.
"What happened to us?!?! We're ponies!!!" BBB was panicked.
"Uhm, hello?" Zizrar was confused. Surprisingly, when they looked at him, it turned out, that Zizrar and his people were unaffected and therefore, still in their original forms.
"Wait, Zizrar and his people are still looking like themselves. What's going on?" The Brain Freezer was really confused.
"We have no idea..." The agents sighed.
Suddenly, another pony came out of the portal, alongside with penguins. He was a green earth pony, wearing sunglasses and a hat. What's interesting is, he has no mane and tail.
"Are those... Penguins?" Jillian was dumbfounded.
"Sir? What are you doing here?" Mr. Black asked to the general.
"I decided to go there to make amends." The General answered.
"Uhm..." the agents were puzzled.
"We have to find him! That's an order!" He barked.
"Yes, sir!" The agents nodded and went off with the general.
"We should better follow them." Gil looked at the group.
"Yep." They agreed and they followed the three.
Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was flying around the clouds and soared, while Johnny followed her. He got a little bit better at flying, but he still had issues like balance.
"Keep trying, buddy!" Said the prismatic mare.
"I'm trying, okay?!" The black pegasus responded.
He tried to adjust his balance, while flying and also improve his stamina and coordination. Of course, flying with Alicorn wings was something different. With Rainbow gaining speed, he did the same thing. It surely gave him an adrenaline rush, but he still had to work out with the kinks.
While this was going, Twilight and Spike observe them, while taking notes.
"Just in case, he would have another panic attack, we will intervene." Twilight noted.
While Johnny was flying, he suddenly saw illusions of the demons.
"Heh heh heh...."
"No! Leave me alone!" He yelled and increased his speed so hard, that he flew past Rainbow Dash in a blur.
"Oh no!" Rainbow Dash began to chase him. And so did Twilight and Spike.
Rainbow increased her flying speed, in order to reach Johnny. However, he was too fast.
"Johnny, wait!!" She shouted and flew even faster.
After a while, thanks to her experience, she managed to catch up to him and grabbed him.
"It's okay, I'm here!" The prismatic mare assured. "Just try to slow down!"
"I can't!!!" He was scared.
Rainbow Dash tried her best to slow him down by flying towards him on the opposite path. Both clashed, with neither of them stopping.
"You need to stop!!!" The prismatic mare yelled.
But he couldn't. So Rainbow kept flying faster, in order for him to stop. However, with the clashing speed caused a sudden electric explosion, that caused both ponies crashing to the ground.
"Guys, are you okay!?!" Twilight checked on them, after she arrived.
"Whoa. Never thought, he can fly that fast...." Spike was amazed, yet puzzled.
"Yeah, I'm fine." The prismatic mare stood up and they check on Johnny. Thankfully, he was fine.
"What happened?" He asked.
"Well, you had another panic attack." She explained.
Soon, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Starlight and Dukey came back, after hearing the boom.
"What's going on?! I heard a boom!" Dukey asked.
"It's something to do with them clashing at each other at full speed." Twilight assumed.
"Weird..." Applejack responded.
"You can say that again." Dukey agreed.
"Ooh! A boom! It surely reminds me of fireworks!" Pinkie smiled.
"Except it was unexpected and more....well...not good." Fluttershy told to the pink mare.
"You're nearly scared us!!" Rarity snapped.
"Calm down, Rarity." Starlight told to the white unicorn mare.
As the mares, Spike and Dukey went to the black pony for comfort and checking any injuries, they suddenly heard a voice:
"Thank goodness, we found you!'
They look at the direction, where it took place and it came from a group of ponies and non-ponies. Johnny and Dukey immediately recognized the group as the General, the agents, Gil, BBB and a few others.
"What are you guys doing here?" He asked with an annoyed tone.
"Look, before you make assumptions, couple of things! One: We are not here to take you back. That's out of the question. And two: We're sorry for not helping you sooner..." Mr. Black looked at them.
"Why did you take so long?" The dog/pony hybrid was not happy and demanded an answer.
"Because we lived in fear, dog!" BBB answered.
"Do you know them?" Twilight asked to the guys, in which they nodded.
"Listen, Johnny. We had no idea, that you were suffering in pain, until after you left. It wasn't after watching the video, which was originally on your computer, that we realized the truth behind this pain. So we worked with Gil and Eugene, to find evidence and get your family, who were responsible for the torture, arrested. And it worked. Now, they are facing justice and you can finally be in peace." Mr. Black spoke to Johnny.
"Please, bro...We care for you...Hell, I was so worried, that I had nightmares of you killing yourself in many ways and those monsters disrespecting your death... and me witnessing them... It was that horrible...So I had to take action, alongside with them....I mean, we had to....just to give you peace..." Gil was in tears, while confessing.
"Please, Johnny....We all care for you." The principal softly responded and everyone looked at him with sad eyes, even Zizrar, Brain Freezer and the penguins.
Eventually, after a while of silence....
"Okay. I believe in you. I mean, you guys truly cared for me in those hard times." Johnny smiled and when he saw Gil being close to crying, he hugged the earth pony. The stallion began to cry shortly after and everyone witnessed it.
The mares were touched by that scene, especially Rarity, who had tears in her eyes. Eventually, she broke down crying.
"Come here, Rarity.." Applejack hugged the unicorn mare.
After what it felt like hours, the crying soon became silent.
"So...uhm... I heard, you guys like this place." BBB spoke to the duo.
"No doubt about it. It's fantastic!" Dukey smiled.
"You know, the village is quite peaceful." The principal commented.
"Indeed." Twilight agreed.
"Well, I think, it's time." Johnny looked at the sky.
"For what?" The agents were confused.
"To throw away our past and start anew! We can all live happily in Equestria, without any problems!" He smiled.
"That makes sense. I mean, we all need a new start." BBB agreed.
"Yeah. I seriously need one, after dealing with my dad's bullshit..." Jillian strongly agreed.
Soon, the others agreed, however a few of then were a bit sceptical.
"Although, where should we continue doing our duties?" The General asked.
"We'll manage." Twilight answered with a smile.
Everyone laughed with each other. Twilight assured, that with the help of her and her friends, they will get new lives as new beings. Meanwhile, Johnny and Dukey couldn't help, but smile. Their new lives as ponies have changed them for the better. In order to be completely free is to shed anything related to the past...
Meanwhile, in a forest...
Something had crashed down from a portal...But we can't see, who it was, since dust has covered the whole area. Who crashed down from the portal? Only time will tell....
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 9: The Missing Piece | While Twilight and her friends had a evening picnic, enjoying each other's company, Johnny and Dukey were looking at the night sky and its stars. The soft glow of the moon and the sparkling stars gave them a serene aura. And Johnny knew it too well, since the night always comforted him, when he needed it the most back then in his former world. The night was the most peaceful of the whole day of his life, when everything else went hellish.
But this time, he had nothing to worry about. He found new caring friends, a new home and a community. However, there are some obstacles, he and his best friend had yet to conquer, like getting over from the remaining demons and letting go from the past.
The others were having conversations with each other, when Gil went to the duo for a small talk.
"Hey, Johnny...Can I talk to you for a moment?" The aqua stallion asked.
"Yeah. What is it?" Johnny was curious to see, what Gil wants to talk about.
"You know, this place feels much better than...I can't say it's name." He looked down.
"Yeah. I know, what you're saying. At first, it was awkward settling down in a world of ponies and other creatures and even living as a pony myself, I kinda got used to it after a few days...sort of. My flying is still wonky though." Johnny scratched his head.
When Gil looked at Dukey, he was....puzzled. Not only can he talk, but also is a half pony. A weird mix between a dog and an earth pony. He is basically a hybrid.
"Uhm, your dog looks...quite odd." Gil replied.
"I heard that! Plus, I still have no idea, how this happened.." Dukey sighed.
They had no idea either, how it happened, but to save frustrations, the trio chalked it up with magic, even though Dukey was mutated.
"The thing is....Why did you decided to help me?" Johnny asked. He wanted to know, why Gil went through all the trouble to get the monsters arrested.
After a sigh, the earth pony explained: "It's quite simple. You're my bro. On the day, I found out about your disappearance, it felt like my world came crashing down. I wanted to know, why. At first, I asked them, that if they know why. But they just shrugged and said that they have no idea. They also said, that he probably ran away, because he didn't do the chores. However, my gut was twisting, indicating that something wasn't right. Back then, I had no idea so I kept asking, but they always refused to answer. I kept trying and trying, but to no avail. At that point, I felt like, they were hiding something and started to lose my patience. So, I decided to find the answer by myself, by sneaking into your room and find some clues. This is, where I stumbled across that video and after watching it in my room, my anger reached to the max. I was so disgusted. And this is why I decided to get involved on the crusade."
"It's true. We also decided to help him complete the mission." Mr. Black, Mr. White and Eugene came to him with a confirmation.
"In fact, I even sent the compilation of evidence, that they made, to everyone around the world. In order to make them see the truth." BBB nodded.
Johnny was surprised. He had no idea, that there were people, who cared for him back then and actually were concerned, when he and Dukey left their world behind. It was quite a rarity, since the whole abuse made him forget about everything else.
"I don't know what to say, other than....thank you." He was touched by their dedication.
"Hey. As long, as you're ok, we are glad. I mean, hell, these guys had nightmares about you killing yourself!" BBB pointed at Gil and the agents.
"It's true. Somehow, that video emitted a negative aura around us and when we slept, nightmares occured. And god, it was really bloody awful. Literally." Mr. Black explained and the two shudder from that experience.
"But now that the whole mess is over and that we found you safe and sound, albeit as a pony, there is nothing to worry about." Mr. White smiled and the gang watched the night sky, when everyone saw shooting stars.
"Oooh! Shooting stars! Make a wish, everypony!" Pinkie Pie shouted.
Everyone closed their eyes and thought of a wish each for a moment, as the shooting stars can still be seen. After a while, they opened their eyes.
"So, what did you girls wish?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Parties! You?" Pinkie grinned brightly.
"Cool adventures. Duh." The prismatic mare shrugged.
"Mine is for great fortune in fashion and a great future." Rarity replied.
"Well, I wished for a peaceful future." Fluttershy warmly smiled.
"Mine is to help everyone about friendship everywhere, spreading the knowledge and harmony around Equestria and beyond." Twilight smiled.
"Well, what about yours?" Starlight asked Johnny about his wish.
"Simple. My wish is to be completely free of the past and start anew." He smiled.
"Same thing." Dukey nodded.
"We all do!" The group agreed. The guys looked at them with confused expressions.
"By the way, why did you guys decided to go there?" Johnny asked.
"Well for me, I wanted to escape and do my own destiny, not to be controlled by him!" Jillian growled a bit, remembering the reason.
"Don't you mean the-" However the men got cut off by the pink unicorn.
"Do NOT mention his fucking name! I'm so done with him!!" She yelled loudly, which caused everyone to look at her in shock, even if Twilight an her friends had no idea, whom she was referring to.
"Are you serious?" Dukey asked.
"Yes, I am!!!" She continued to yell, causing Fluttershy, Dukey and even the agents to immediately hide in fear.
"Geez, calm down. Tell us, what happened." Johnny calmly told to the pink unicorn mare.
"Sorry...it's just... what he did was just...unvorgivable..." Jillian apologized, while remembering the moment.
Porkbelly, hours ago
It was a warm day in Porkbelly, when sounds can be heard inside of a green house. Meanwhile, Jillian was listening to music with her headphones in her room. She was really bored, as since Johnny's disappearence, she had nobody to talk to.
"Back then, when you vanished, I had nobody to talk to. It came crashing down and at that point, I'm stuck. So, I refused to talk to anyone personally and spend time to the internet, in order to distract myself from my dad. Not to mention, he outright refused to me to find friends."
"Man, this is getting really boring!" She groaned. "I miss Johnny..."
She sighed and buried her head on her pillow. Suddenly, her phone started to glitch and a video begins to play.
"What the? What is going on?" She was confused and annoyed at the glitching.
"It was at this time, when I watched the video..."
The video included a massive compilation of Johnny getting abused by his own family. From inventions, tests, punishments, etc. Needless to say, the green-haired was shocked at the immense abuse.
"What in the..." She was in utter disbelief about the truth. "This can't be!"
She ran downstairs.
"Where are you going?" the voice of her dad can be heard. A man in a dark green suit blocked the door, but Jillian jumped out the window.
"I should've locked the window earlier." He facepalmed.
She ran and ran as fast as she could. Her heart was racing, as she continued running through. Eventually, Jillian managed to reach to her goal, only to see Johnny's family being arrested by police.
"When I saw them being taken in by the police, my fears were confirmed."
"Oh my god..." Jillian was speechless. She took a few steps back, when she heard a voice, calling her. Immediately, the green-haired girl groaned, when she recognized the voice and sure enough, her father, known as the Dark Vegan had followed her.
"What do you think, you're doing!?" He yelled.
"Have you not watched the video, dad? It's the reason, why Johnny is gone!" Jillian barked.
"Eh, who cares!? With Johnny Test gone, I can finally furfill my goal of destroying planets witout any hinderance!" The Dark Vegan laughed.
Witnessing her father's lack of empathy of his disappearence and the whole treatment, made her fill with anger.
"At this point, I had enough of his bullshit..."
"You know what, I'm done! You're fucking heartless!" She yelled loudly. It didn't sit well for the Dark Vegan.
"Hey, watch your language, lady!" He yelled back.
"I don't care! I had enough of your selfish and heartless ways! You didn't care for Johnny, for me, my mom or anyone else and instead care for your stupid plans, that would inevitably fail anyway!!" Jillian snapped with tears in her eyes.
"How dare you!?!" He was outraged. But she turned her back against him, as a sign of standing by her decision.
"I'm done! No more hiding, no more being passive! I have enough of your bullshit!" She was about to walk away, when the Dark Vegan pulled out his sword and was about to do something, when he was watched by the crowd, who were still there after witnessing the Test family's arrest.
"Hey, what do you think, you're doing?" A citizen asked.
"Out of my way, this is just a personal matter between me and my daughter!" He yelled at the crowd, but they didn't believe him.
"Yeah. Trying to disipline your daughter with a fucking lightsaber... You know, that you're not playing with us, when we saw the truth of what happened in this house!" The crowd soon got more angered.
"While he was distracted by the crowd, I ran as fast as I could. Hell, I used all of my stamina and speed in order to run really far away from him. And knowing, that he would look after me after he dealt with the people, my only solution is to go underground. So, I ran to that "Area 51.1" place and looked around for a bunker to hide."
The green haired girl ran to the military base and immediately hid from the soilders. Knowing, that there are bunkers, she had to come up with a plan. Eventually, that plan came with a soilder, holding an ID card to a bunker. So she waited, until the soilder came at a close proximity to where she is hiding. Sure enough, when he walked to the crates, Jillian knocked him out with a plank and stealthly hid him and took his ID Card away from him. The next step was to find out, where the bunker is and how she can access it. However, she had to do it all, without being detected.
"Thankfully, there was a cloaking device lying around. So I used it on myself, in order to sneek past the moronic guards."
She used the cloaking device and snuck past the guards and looked around for a door or an elevator to a bunker. She found one, but it was already taken, so she had to keep looking. Eventually after so many attempts to locate one and frustations and anger building up, Jillian managed to find an elevator, leading to a second bunker. And nobody is inside. So she placed the ID card on a scanner and soon, it granted access to the elevator. She then walked in with no hesitation. After a turbulent ride, it stopped at the lowest point and opened the door to the bunker.
"After finding a bunker, I hid there from him. I was actually scared for my life..."
Jillian walked around and sat on her bed for a while, when suddenly, she stumbled across a computer, that was connected to a drone outside. She turned it on and activated the software, allowing her to see from the point of the drone's view.
After finding a computer, that was connected to a drone, I used it, in order to see, what he's doing. God, I wish, I couldn't see that damn moment..."
The drone looked around the whole city, yet there was no sign of the Dark Vegan. Jillian thought, that he might went home from a failed effort to find her, so she controlled the drone to fly at her house. While positioning the drone to a position, where nobody can see it, she saw him having an argument with her mom.
"I can't believe, that you would try to do that to our daughter!" She was outraged.
"Hey! I was trying to teach her a lession! And besides, with Johnny Test gone for good, I can finally destroy planets without any problems and improve Veganda for the better!" He proudly responded. But his wife was unamused.
"You really didn't change much after your defeat, huh? All I wanted is to live in peace, without any mentions of destroying him or Earth or any planet! But you always and I mean ALWAYS keep having those thoughts in your head! Why not just forget all of this and start over for once!?" She yelled.
At this point, the Dark Vegan had enough. The failures and the fact, that his wife and daughter didn't support his plans were ultimately enough to make him snap.
"ENOUGH!!!!!!" He pulled out a ray gun and shot his wife with it. It didn't kill her, but instead putting her in a hypnotised stare. As she got up, her eyes were glowing green and she showed no emotions.
"What do you want me to do?" Even her voice was different. It sounded more monotone and emotionless.
Meanwhile, Jillian was horrified by the Dark Vegan actually hypnotizing her mother, the one who is also against his redundant plans. She shut off the programme, before she could see more of it.
"After witnessing that moment, I felt like my world has been shattered to pieces.... I had lost my mom to his madness and with that, coupled with you disappearing, I truly felt alone...with nobody to talk to...This was the point, where my anger and sadness got unleashed..."
She started to scream and destroy any object in her way. Her large amount of anger and sadness had blinded her senses, while she was wreaking havoc in the bunker. Glass breaking and wood smashing can be heard and feathers falling can be seen. After destroying the bunker, Jillian fell down on her knees and started crying.
"I've had enough!!! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF HIS BULLSHIT!!!!" She screamed with tears in her indigo eyes. After what it felt like 2 hours of her sobbing and screaming, the green-haired girl finally stood up with her fists clenched.
"That's it....He crossed the line..for years, I've been living in a cage, without any light... but now...I want to get out! I'LL LEAVE THIS SHITTY WORLD!! I'M SO DONE!!!" She yelled in the air and went to the door, while taking the ID Card.
The green-haired girl scanned the ID card on the scanner, which gave her the access to open the door and allowing her to enter the elevator. After a few minutes, the elevator reached top level. During which, she used the cloaking device again to hide from the guards and from the Dark Vegan.
"I tried to find a way to leave this world. I was looking around to find something, when I overheard a conversation of leaving this world..."
After she overheard a conversation, Jillian slowly sneaked towards the source, only to see Gil, BBB and the men in black activating the portal.
"At that point, it felt like, my prayers were answered. So I went to them, in order to leave it all behind."
She deactivated the cloaking device and ran towards them.
"Hold up! I want to come with you!"
Equestria, present
"Oh my God..." Johnny was horrified.
"So, what you're saying is...you had no freedom and despite your protest, didn't care about your opinion??" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Yeah... It still hurts, even after I left..." the pink unicorn mare looked down. Tears were forming in her eyes again, as even retelling that tale still hurts.
"Oh dear...I'm so sorry about what you've been through." The former principal looked at her.
"That must've suck." Zizrar shook his head. However, when everyone looked at him, he answered: "What? The video made us open our eyes. Plus, even we have morals."
While Jillian sighed in tears, the slightly elderly earth pony prepared to tell his story.
"As for my side of the story, I'm gonna explain it now." He said.
Porkbelly Junior High, a few days ago
Inside the principal's office, the former principle, known as Jules Harm, was doing his usual work. However, he looked sad, as he grabbed a poster about a missing person and looked at it. But not any missing person. The person, who disappeared a few days ago, was none other than one of his students and the one, he helped him with his kindness: Johnny Test.
"Ever since your disappearance, I felt like, something has been taken away from me..."
Meanwhile, in one of the classrooms, Mr. Teacherman was teaching his students with the usual subjects. As usual, students looked uninterested and bored. It went on, until the bell rang.
"Okay, class! School is over, but remember! If anybody has an idea, where Mr. Test is or have any clues, then we will talk about it tomorrow, because we will be a part of a search party! Understood?" Mr. Teacherman asked to his students, but they all left, without giving him an answer.
Back in the principal's office, Mr. Harm was still doing his work, like talking to the teachers, until he finished his day and went home. However, he kept asking himself as of why did Johnny vanish so suddenly? The last time, he met Johnny before his disappearance, he was his usual self and in good spirits.
"I kept asking myself, how it happened..."
Even, when he was laying on the bed, the questions were still in his head.
"In fact, the questions kept me awake, since the circumstances of the situation was pretty strange. I wanted to know the reason, as of why...but I was left in the dark. At the same time, I felt tired. I needed some sleep. So I thought of thinking about it tomorrow."
"Maybe tomorrow, I can think of that question.." he sighed and fell asleep.
The next day...
The principal was starting his work in the school by typing down some documents.
"The next day, I went on with the usual schedule. Hours have passed and there was nothing out of the ordinary, until..."
Suddenly, his computer started to glitch.
"What in blazes..?" He was confused.
Then, a video started to play. After the introduction by an unknown being, known as "The Shadow", a montage of the worst moments inside Johnny's home life can be shown. Experiments on his body, abuse, neglect and so on. All of the bad things, that would scar anyone. The principal was shocked and outraged. He couldn't believe, that Johnny was suffering behind close doors.
"I can't believe it! This is horrible!" He slammed his fist on the table.
But before he could ask himself, another video showed up on the screen. It was the Shadow again, this time, he had something different to say. He said:
"Greetings, again. My name is the Shadow. I know, that you are outraged about the reason. However, I'm afraid that the abuse is not exclusive to his home life. No no. His school life was also in shambles, just because of the same thing: Abuse and neglect, except add bullying to the list of atrocities. If you don't believe me, there is another compilation. Please watch it at your own risk."
Another compilation started to play, only this time, it contained recordings from cameras. It showed Johnny being bullied by a group of bullies, lead by a tough, mean boy, named Bumper. The bullying was not exclusively verbal, as Johnny was shoved into lockers and even being kicked, punched and hurt by them. Sometimes, other students can be seen witnessing the whole ordeal. What's worse is, they didn't do anything. They just watched and laughed. Even the teachers ignored the bullying problems. As if that wasn't horrendous enough, Johnny was doing bad at classes and nobody helped him. Instead, they would only make it worse. This, coupled with the bullying incidents, were enough ammunition to break a person. And it seems like, the abuse at home and at school is what pushed Johnny over the edge and vanished shortly after.
Needless to say, the principal was shocked, outraged and broken.
"I can't believe it....All of these horrendous things...is what made him disappear..." He teared up at the story. He now felt sorry for Johnny now and wished, he could've cursed at everyone responsible, but he couldn't. It wouldn't be wise to do so.
"I knew, that once everyone watched the second video featuring the abuse at school, the reputation of Porkbelly Junior High would suffer greatly. There would be massive outrage and hatred towards anyone and I was pretty sure, that many of them would blame me, even though I had no part in the abuse. Even then, I felt partially responsible, because if I knew the reasons sooner, I could've taken action immediately and sent Johnny to a psychiatrist. So, to save myself from the rage of the world and wanting to find your whereabouts, I quit my job shortly after. There was no coming back from this one."
He packed his stuff and left the school with no looking back and without telling anyone. They wouldn't deserve his answer, after what they did to Johnny. Mr. Harm was walking around town with a somber look. He was also scared, that Johnny might have committed suicide because of it. His thoughts were interrupted, when he found a note.
"What's this?" He asked, picked up the note and read it.
"Dear Mr. Harm,
I know, that you are outraged at the situation and even worried about Johnathan's whereabouts. But, I have some news to share. Meet me inside of Area 51.1. Specifically, in the room with the secret portal. Please go there.
Signed,
The Shadow"
"Area 51.1? The secret military base?" He questioned.
"I knew, what Area 51.1 is, thanks to some limited information. But there was a problem: I can't get into the base unannounced. Not to mention, I've never been there personally. I was left in the dark again, when I encountered a group of people and moles running."
He saw the Bee Keeper, Brain Freezer, Zizrar and his mole people running.
"Hey, excuse me!" He yelled, getting their attention. They stopped and looked at him.
"What are you doing? We are going to Area 51.1! We wanted to know, where Johnny Test is!" Brain Freezer replied.
"So do I. The Shadow wanted to meet me in the room, where a portal is." Mr. Harm replied.
"The portal, huh? Maybe he went to a portal somewhere...but where?" Zizrar thought to himself.
"Trust me, I've seen the videos about the reasons behind Johnny Test's disappearance and they were horrific. I was shocked about the extent of the abuse. I feel guilty for not knowing these reasons before and not taking action." The former principal looked down. But the elderly man, formerly known as the Bee Keeper, placed his hand on his shoulder.
"We all are." He replied. "And this is why we're going to the military base now. To find a way to search for Johnny and apologize."
"Since you are worried, like us and wanted to fix the mistakes.....you're in." Brain Freezer nodded.
"Thank you.." The former principal smiled.
Thus, the group continued their journey and eventually, after getting through the guards, they got inside Area 51.1. They were looking around a room with a portal and it wasn't until Zizrar found it, alongside the agents, Gil, Eugene and Jillian, who just arrived. The group gathered in front of the entrance.
"When we arrived at the destination, I was surprised by the amount of people near the portal."
"Isn't that the daughter of the Dark Vegan? What is she doing here?" Zizrar asked.
"I have no idea." The Bee Keeper answered. "But what we do know, is that he is currently in a world, called Equestria."
Once Mr. Harm overheard Jillian's reason of leaving this world, his heart was once again crushed. He hardly knew her, yet her story about her potential abuse from her father made him feel sorry for her as well. As for Jillian wanting to find Johnny and apologise, the former principal can relate. He wanted the same thing.
"I know, what she meant.." He mumbled, went inside, where the group are and said: "You are not the only one, young lady."
Equestria, present
"This means, you guys went there, in order to fix the mistake?" Twilight asked.
"Yes." He nodded.
"Not to mention, we wanted to start over with a clean slate." Zizrar added.
"When I heard about the news of his disappearance and later watching the compilations, I immediately wanted to fix my mistakes and thus went with them." The Beekeeper explained his reason.
"Same here. Even though we fought against Johnny seveal times, we also assisted him. Plus we were really shocked by the reasons behind your disappearance. We may know things about evil, but that was really horrendous, even for us." Zizrar added.
"Wait a minute, you didn't tell us, that there was a second video!" The agents were mad at Eugene for not telling about the second video featuring the school security footage, however, the obese unicorn was unphased and calmly explained: "Turns out, that the abuse is not exclusive to his home life, when I hacked into the school security cameras. I mean, the bullying and torment from bullies, other students and even teachers, coupled with the abuse at home, are enough to break a person apart, you know?"
"Fair enough." The agents got the point and calmed down.
Meanwhile, Johnny and Dukey were sceptical of Zizrar's claim of starting over with a clean slate. After all, he tried to destroy them several times in the past and they feel like, he would soon betray at any last second. The same thing can be said to the Brain Freezer as they glared at the blue unicorn.
"I know, that you guys wouldn't believe me. However, we can show you, that we come in peace this time." Zizrar promised, with the mole men spreading their arms out, showing that they have no weapons. But the guys were still sceptical, so they searched the entire mole group for any contraband. Eventually, they couldn't find anything.
"See? No weapons!" Zizrar responded.
"We did gave them a warning before we went there." Mr. White assured the stallions, that everything has been checked.
"What about you? Why did you decide to come here? I'm pretty sure, this is one of your tricks, icehead!" Johnny glared at the Brain Freezer, while Rainbow Dash couldn't help but laugh at the name "Icehead". But her reaction resulted of the prismatic mare being glared by everyone and getting an elbow hit from Applejack.
"Sorry." She apologized.
"Anyway...One, I don't have any plans on freezing you or everyone else-" But his sentence was interrupted by an elbow hit from the agents. He got annoyed.
"Do you mind? I'm trying to tell my story!!!!! Ahem...sorry. Anyway, I do not come here to cause havoc, which is NOT MY INTENT! And second, the reason is kinda similar to Zizrar, but more complicated."
Porkbelly, few days ago...
We see the Brain Freezer, flying around the whole city and freezing some people. But something about him was off. The blue-skinned cyromancer looked like, he had lost something important to him.
"After your disappearence, everything felt colorless...and it feels like, a part of me has been torn apart."
After some stuff happened, he sighed and went to a park, where the boy can sit on a lonely bench. Nobody was around him, since everyone ran away from him almost immediately. But that didn't matter for him. As he heard the birds chirping and the breeze blowing the trees ever so gently, he looked around, only to see a happy couple under a tree, kissing. Tears started to form in his icy blue eyes, before slowly freezing to ice. He also witnessed a group of kids having fun, playing as villains and heroes. The cyromancer reminded him of Johnny Test. Even though, he was an enemy and wanted to freeze him solid for all eternity, there were times, that they had fun racing and hell, even teamed up on a few occations.
Of course, there were times, that we had fun, despite being enemies... However, seeing those people being happy and having two things, that were impossible for me to get, things got really emotional. Those two things, I missed were friends and a soulmate. Mentioning the latter word alone caused me to remember a cruical moment for me."
A flashback within a flashback showed Johnny and Dukey actually helping him find a girlfriend, in order to reform him. It ranged to being honest, online dating, etc. And while all of those efforts failed miserably and went back to his evil self. eventually with the power of a device, that allows someone to get a makeover, he got a new look and even got some female admirers, while giving them some iced coffee. After the flashback, he remembered, that one of the girls actually asked him out for a date, in which he said yes. Their relationship was perfect, almost like a fairytale. That was until the makeover vanished, due to it being temporary, along the girl see, who he really was. From that day, his heart was broken and frozen. So much so, that he went back to his evil ways once again. He planned to freeze Johnny Test and the city for good, so he can destroy everything, however the plan was permantely derailed, thanks to Johnny's disappearence.
At that point, he felt like, his purpose was lost.
"I felt like a wothless being... all of the pain, all of the misery lead to my breakdown..."
Soon, the Brain Freezer couldn't hold his emotions any longer and broke down in tears. He cried for hours and during which, nobody came to him for comfort. He felt alone, broken and devastated...until he heard a familiar voice.
"It sure sucks to be alone and worthless..."
The blue boy looked at the other side, only to see Zizrar sitting next to him, while holding a daisy.
"What are you doing?" He sniffed.
"Well, just walking around, while feeling empty..." Zizrar sighed.
"Let me guess, the disappearence affected you too?" Brain Freezer asked.
"Sadly, yes...Despite our shortcomings, he did help us time after time and even had some fun. I mean, Earth has some wonderful things, like books, drinks, parties, everything! However recently, I felt really lonely... Like something is missing from me. Not even my mole men could entertain me, when I always have a hollow feeling. If Johnny was still around, I would obviously hide it, in order to not hurt my pride and kept trying to destroy him...but alas, that day turned everything upside down..." Zizrar explained, while looking at the daisy. He started to pick off each petal of the daisy, in a style of "Loves me...loves me not".Eventually he picked off the last petal....and he got the bad result. Brain Freezer was touched by his sincerity and honesty.
"You know, we are not so different after all." He looked at the mole king. The king soon connected the pieces and knew, what he's talking about.
"You're right! I mean, even if we are seen as sore losers and have our differences, the strong connection and the yearning feeling of being loved pushed everything else away!" Zizrar agreed.
"Do you know, what it means?" The cryomancer asked.
"Yes!" The mole king hugged Beain Freezer tightly. Even with the suit, the bear hug made him gasp for air. Immediately, he pulled away with a nervous smile and a chuckle.
"It was at this point, that I made a friend.... a best friend..."
They decided to spend the remaining day with some fun. Like performing pranks at unsuspected people, playing games, racing around and even showed each other's technology. However even if they had a fun time, they still felt empty and incomplete.
During the night, Zizrar, his mole people and Brain Freezer were looking at the night sky, when they saw a shooting star passing by. Immediately, they made some wishes. Some of them contain having some gifts, but for the duo, all they wanted was to be loved.
"You know, it sucks that Johnny Test just left without any reason. Like what is going on??" Zizrar asked.
"I have no idea, pal. Last time, I saw him, he was his usual self." Brain Freezer remembered the last time, he saw Johnny before he vanished. It was a sunny day and when they met again, the same things would occur: A fight ensues, but Johnny wins in the end.
"Same here to me...However, I have a feeling, that something isn't right, but I don't know, how to describe it..." Zizrar shrugged with a sigh.
"Hmm..We should take a look at it tomorrow. But right now, we need to rest. That day was surely a rollercoaster." Brain Freezer looked at the mole people.
"You're right. Maybe we can find some clues. Okay, everyone. We have to go back underground. Tomorrow will be a new day!" Zizrar told to his people.
"Good night, pal!" The cyromancer brofisted the king before departing ways.
"We hoped, that we could at least find some clues about your whereabouts. But we had no idea, that it would come by itself sooner..."
The next day...
The Brain Freezer, Zizrar and the Mole people were looking around, while wearing sunglasses and without detection. It went on for a few hours, but without success.
"Ugh. Still no sign of him....but there is a familiar face, I just saw..." the blue-skinned cryomancer suddenly found an elderly man, who was looking around. He recognized him, due to the bees around him.
"You know him?" Zizrar was confused.
"It's a long story." Brain Freezer replied.
The group went to the elderly man, known as Dr. Beebles. However, the Brain Freezer knew him as the Beekeeper back in the day.
"It's been a while, since last time." He looked at him and the bees.
"What are you doing in the town, boys?" The elderly man asked.
"Well, finding any clues about where Johnny Test is! Right now, we are at a dead end." Zizrar answered.
"What a coincidence. I'm also trying to find him as well." He told the group.
"And you have your bees to assist the search, right?" Brain Freezer asked.
"Exactly. However, they couldn't find any signs of him." The Beekeeper sighed.
"Same. My mole people couldn't find him either, despite how hard they tried." Zizrar sighed with him.
"I have an idea, how about we can team up and keep finding any sign of Johnny?" Brain Freezer suggested to the former villain, but he was sceptical.
"Are you sure, that this is not part of an evil plan of yours?" He asked to the group.
"No....They all died because of his disappearance." Zizrar responded.
The elderly man was surprised about the change. "Oh my. I didn't see that coming..." he said. "But if what you're saying is true, then I will help you." He agreed.
"Thanks." The blue-skinned boy smiled.
"Alright, everyone! Let's go!" With the words from the mole king, the group went for a search around the world, hoping that they could find any sign of Johnny and most importantly, if he was alive. They looked around Canada, Australia, Africa, China, Mexico, hell even Antarctica, etc. They used the mole people and the bees to look at other places, that they missed. But alas, they couldn't find anything. When they got together in Porkbelly again, near a TV store, they were exhausted.
"This is getting really hard..." Zizrar was out of breath.
"You said it, pal." Brain Freezer wiped his sweat off from his forehead. That sentence caught Dr. Beebles by surprise.
"Wait a second. Since when did you two become friends?" He asked.
"Well, Johnny Test's disappearance did have a profound effect on us. It brought us together." Brain Freezer answered, while scratching his head.
"Yep. All because we found out, that-" Before Zizrar could even finish his sentence, the TVs started to glitch.
"And then, the big moment came..."
"What in blazes is going on?" The elderly man looked at the screens.
"I have no idea." Zizrar shrugged.
Then they saw a being in the shadows, speaking to them in a disembodied voice. He said, that there is a reason behind Johnny's disappearance and they should watch at their own risk. After that introduction, the compilation of Johnny being abused, hurt and neglected by his own family. At first, the group were dumbfounded. They didn't know about his parents, since they barely knew them at all.
"What...just happened?" Brain Freezer was speechless.
"Was that Johnny...being abused?" The Beekeeper asked.
"Seems like it." Zizrar looked closer.
Before they can question though, another video showed up, this time containing Johnny's school life in tatters. Bullying and abuse were the main attractions of the footage.
"Those videos made us open our eyes..."
They were shocked by the revelation. As if his disappearance wasn't bad enough, the reasons made their hearts shatter into pieces. Zizrar slowly began to cry, while Brain Freezer felt sick in his stomach.
"I can't believe it...his family were the cause of his pain....I thought, that they were concerned about him..." the elderly bee keeper was moved to tears.
"You know, what they say....They know how to make themselves look normal. Evil...has a way of looking really nice and shiny on the outside." Zizrar quoted.
"Where did you get that quote from?" The cryomancer asked.
"From a horror movie, I watched." Zizrar answered after a shudder, since the experience scared him.
"Please! There is no time for casual conversations! We were so busy with all of the evil stuff, we never noticed Johnny being in distress on the inside. And we didn't reach out for him....which in that way, makes us partially responsible for his disappearance... Which is why we have to make things right now!" The former villain gave them a speech.
"You're right! We have to find him and make up for the mistakes!" Zizrar wiped his tears away.
"What are we waiting for? Let's do this!" Brain Freezer started his jetpack up.
The group now looked around for areas, they've missed. It was at this point, when they encountered Mr. Harm.
"During which, we met the former principal and...well, the rest is history."
Equestria, present
"And this is when all of this happened and ended up going to Equestria. I must say, what you do is very noble of you." Twilight smiled. The group nodded in acknowledgement, since their actions felt like right choices.
"Yes. We really appreciate your determination to give Johnny some peace at least." Rarity smiled too.
"Eh.....there are still some obstacles, that they have yet to conquer. I mean, you can't get rid of trauma that easily." BBB reminded them.
"We know." The Mane 6 scratched their heads.
"But right now, I seriously need some sleep....Today's been a rough day for me..." Jillian yawned.
"It was a rough day for everyone. Trust me, the penguins and I were stressed by the revelation." The General spoke to her.
"Well since it's been a....very interesting day for all of us, it's best for us to catch some zs. Tomorrow will be a new day for all of us." Twilight spoke to the whole group.
"The thing is, all of us have to get used to this new pony life." said Mr. White.
"We'll help ya with the change." Applejack responded.
"Only one problem. Where should we sleep?" Brain Freezer asked.
"Well, you can all sleep in my castle until we can find some homes for you ponies and....hippogriff hybrids, penguins and mole people..." Twilight was very confused and dumbfounded about the lineup of the others.
"And ponies thought, I have the weirdest look." Dukey responded with a straight face. The mares giggled at the response.
"Okay, guys. It's time to rest. Tomorrow will be a new start!" Johnny enthusiastically smiled and looked at the horizon. The crowd cheered, as the stars on the night sky sparkled, before walking back to Ponyville.
The next day...
Inside of Twilight's castle, the purple alicorn was mixing some potions and doing some research, by writing down on her notes, writing some formulas on the chalkboard and doing some trial and error by testing it on some animals. It was around this time, where Starlight was walking around the castle, when she stumbled across the princess doing an experiment. The lavender mare slowly and quietly approached Twilight, who was adding some finishing touches on something.
"Hey, Twilight!"
The purple mare jumped a bit from that unexpected voice, causing the table to shake. Thankfully, she used her magic to stabilise the equipment.
"What?!?" Twilight yelled at the lavender unicorn. Starlight felt a bit uneasy, but proceeded to ask her a question.
"I was wondering, what you're doing with the potions and what you're experimenting." She nervously smiled.
"Oh.." Twilight calmed down a bit, but not before explaining her plan. "I was experimenting the concept of hybrids. You see, since Dukey's arrival, I was caught off guard, but at the same time intrigued about the concept. So I decided to do some tests and attempt to make a potion. However, I've been having problems perfecting the formula, because I have no idea on how Dukey became like this."
"I have no idea either. Maybe we should ask him. ..but at the same time, I doubt, he would answer, since it could be related to the past..." Starlight doubted.
"I don't know..." Twilight sighed.
"Twilight! A letter from Princess Celestia has arrived!"
Spike came with a letter in his hand and gave it to the princess of friendship. She read the content and understood it.
"It must be about the preparations of the upcoming Friendship Festival. Spike, tell my friends about the news, so we can prepare for it." She told to the little dragon.
"Got it!" He runs off.
"In the meanwhile...I have to put the hybrid experiment on hold, until I found out the formula." Twilight put her stuff away and went with Starlight outside.
Outside of Ponyville, Johnny flew around the skies with his large wings. His skills got better, but still wonky, as he nearly lost his balance several times. During which, he thought about his future in Equestria.
"I'm not sure, what the future holds, considering....ugh..." He thought about his fight against his demons. Even though he was gaining strength thanks to his new friends, the demons are still proving him a massive nuisance. However, he has to keep fighting, in order to get them out of his head.
As he landed at the centre of Ponyville, the black pegasus walked around for a while. During which, he saw many happy pony families having a good time, causing him to have a somber look. But his expression changed, once he saw Rainbow Dash coming to him.
"Hey, Johnny!" She smiled.
"Sup. How's it going?" He asked.
"Well, we are preparing for the upcoming Friendship Festival and we could need some help, you know?" The prismatic mare asked to him, but Johnny has never heard of it before.
"What's the Friendship Festival?" He was confused.
"Well, in this festival, ponies will have a great time, celebrating friendship and the awesomeness!" Rainbow Dash smirked.
"That sounds awesome!" Johnny smiled.
"But right now, we are preparing for it and need some help. The others are helping us right now." She told to the black stallion.
Johnny was kinda conflicted. Back then, he was known to be very lazy, when it comes to projects. Probably as a result of bad communication or not giving him a clear structure. Or not getting help, since everyone was mean to him. Now, that he moved to Equestria and found some new friends, it could be his chance. But at the same time, he would struggle.
"So...what should I do?" He asked to the prismatic mare. In which Rainbow responded: "Come follow me! The festival will be at Canterlot."
"What?" Johnny had never heard of Canterlot at all, since he's mostly been in Ponyville.
"I'll show you!" She flew away, with Johnny following her.
They went to a train station and went into a train, on the way to Canterlot, while having the tickets. During the ride, Johhny saw more families in a good mood and was basically frozen, until Rainbow called his name.
"Uh...Johnny? You alright?" She asked.
It brought him back to reality and said: "Yeah. I'm fine. It's just, I'm wondering, how long the fight would last. You know, against my demons."
"Hopefully, not for long because my friends and I got your back!" She smirked in confidence. Her confidence and determination made him smile.
After some time has passed, they reached their destination and exited the train and went to the Canterlot Castle, where the festival will take place.
On the castle grounds, everyone is busy. Pinkie Pie prepared for cakes and sweets, Fluttershy teaching the animals about their performance, Rarity was focused on decorating, Applejack was preparing some apple treats and drinks and Starlight and Trixie planning the entertainment, with some help of Tempest Shadow. Hell, the others landed their hand on the preparations. The Beekeeper was putting up a stand for honey treats, with the help of an earth pony, Brain Freezer using his magic to create ice sculptures with the help of Zizrar, his mole people and the penguins, Mr. Harm was helping a pony named Cheerilee on the planning, the agents and the general tried to do some formations with a lot of trial and error and Gil, Jillian and BBB helping some ponies out. They also saw Dukey preparing the stage, alongside with some griffons and hippogriffs.
"Hey, pal!" The black pegasus waved at the hybrid, getting his friend's attention, who ran to him expectantly, like men's or in this case, pony's best friend.
"Hey, Johnny! You arrived!" He smiled.
"So, I heard, you guys need help on the preparation for the festival." Johnny noted.
"That would be really helpful." The hybrid responded.
"So, what should I do?" The black pegasus asked to the prismatic mare.
"Well, how about clearing the clouds ? I can show you, how it's done." Rainbow Dash flew up.
They watched, as the blue pegasus mare flew fast and kicked a cloud. The black stallion was amazed.
"See? Now, it's your turn!" Rainbow Dash smiled.
He took flight and kicked a cloud. This is where things get different, as this was the first time, he kicked a cloud.
"Whoa! That's awesome!" He was starry eyed and got another cloud. This is when the cloud felt solid to him. Johnny was curious about what would happen, if he stood on one. His best friend became sceptical, once he saw a grin.
"Johnny, don't you dare doing something ridiculous!" The hybrid warned.
But it was too late, the pegasus stallion landed on the cloud. But something felt....different. He stood on a cloud!
"Whoa! Didn't see that coming..." Johnny was surprised.
"But...h-h-how??" Dukey was dumbfounded, but Rainbow Dash answered his question with: "Well, it's pegasus magic, which allows us to fly and stand on clouds."
He didn't know, if he could take Rainbow's answer. Then again, since the land of Equestria is full of magic and magic is full of possibilities, yet many unknowns, he chalked it up as such and shrugged, as he continued helping the others. Meanwhile, Johnny cleared the skies from the clouds, with some help of Rainbow Dash and a few pegasi. It was around this time, when Twilight and Spike came to check up on the preparation.
"How is the progress?" The purple unicorn asked to every pony, in which they said "Yes" to her question.
"Good. Now let's hope, it will be better than last time." Twilight looked at them.
"What happened last time?" BBB asked but during which, Tempest Shadow looked down.
"Oh, you see, last time there was an invasion, courtesy of the Storm King and the army. And Tempest Shadow was one of his henchmen. But eventually, with the power of friendship, we saved Equestria and reformed Tempest." Twilight explained.
"It's true." Tempest Shadow nodded.
While this was going on, Johnny was flying around, when he saw some families. Once again, it made him pause with a somber look. When he landed down, the pegasus lowered his head. There is something about those families, that made him feel somber. It seems like, he was left out or something. But before he could think anymore, Twilight tapped him.
"Johnny, are you okay?" She asked.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine." He looked up. But Applejack was not convinced.
"Ya sure about that? You don't look like that." The southern earth pony mare responded.
"What are you talking about? I'm fine, okay?" He said nonchalantly, but Applejack was still not convinced. It didn't help, that sweat started to form on his forehead.
"Johnny, you're lying." Twilight shook her head.
"Yeah. Last time I checked, you were looking pretty down." Rainbow Dash crossed her arms.
"He was?" Fluttershy asked.
"Well, duh. He was basically frozen and silent." The prismatic mare answered.
It was around this time, the three princesses arrived to check the preperations, but instead watched the whole ordeal, as Johnny soon felt the pressure.
"Hey, look! There is nothing wrong with me!" He nervously smiled.
But the princess of friendship shook her head in disbelief. She had researched about depression and pony psychology before "Operation: Healing Light", therefore knowing the ins and outs.
"No. You are clearly lying. Even if we helped you smile, there is still one obstacle left, that you didn't tell us." She told to the pegasus.
At this point, his patience was slowly running out. As if it wasn't enough, numerous ponies overheard the ordeal and gathered around. Some of them are families. As Johnny looked around the crowd and seeing the families, that somber feeling returned. This time, he couldn't hide it anymore, as everyone is watching.
"Just leave me alone!" The black pegasus shouted.
"We can't. Otherwise, our efforts will be in vain." Princess Luna replied.
"Shut up!" He snarled.
"Hey, listen! We are literally trying to help you! Don't you dare to throw it all away!" Rainbow shouted.
"Johnny, I've noticed that when you see families, you always have a somber look on your face." Twilight noted.
"What makes you say that!?" He sweats hard.
"I mean, your reaction is already proof enough." Rarity responded.
"I think, I know why. You feel left out." Cadence got the answer.
"What? No! Of course not! In fact, I don't need a family! I can just live on my own just fine!" The black pegasus shouted.
But the princess of love knew better. She sensed that empty feeling in his heart.
"Are you sure?" She asked.
"Yeah! I'll be fine anyway." He responded.
"But, even with that, you would still feel-"
"SHUT UP!!!" The stallion interrupted Twilight with a yell, that startled everyone. As silence filled the area, he was panting really hard, as the fury was racing in his body.
"I'm starting to feel, that you're getting on my nerves..." With those words, he flew away, leaving the crowd stunned in disbelief. Fluttershy was in tears, as she felt hurt by his words. Pinkie Pie hugged the yellow pegasus, as the crowd got disgusted by his behaviour and left. Meanwhile, Twilight was surprised, that Cadence somehow got the answer. As does BBB and the agents.
"Cadence...How do you know?..." the purple unicorn looked at the pink princess.
"Love can be interpreted in many ways: Romantic love and familiarity love. As in love in the family. I sensed that empty, hollow feeling in his heart, when he looked at happy families. And that is how I came up with that conclusion." Cadence answered.
"And when his family abused him...." said the obese unicorn and Twilight, who just caught up with the infos, concluded with: "...his sight on family has been completely shattered!"
"Exactly! Which is why we have to prove him wrong!" The Princess of Love had an idea.
"Do you have an idea, your highness?" Mr. White asked.
"Yes. We have to find a nice, humble and caring family for him. They would help him coping with the pain, while at the same time, giving Johnny a new chance!" She smiled.
"That sounds like a good idea! What do you think, girls?" Twilight asked her friends about their opinions to Cadence's proposed plan. They all agreed.
"That's not a bad idea, sugarcube." Applejack agreed.
"It is a helpful one." Fluttershy nodded.
"Excellent!" Pinkie jumped in excitement.
"That my dear, would be very useful." Rarity smiled.
"Yeah! Awesome idea!" Rainbow Dash smirked.
"Yeah. It would definitely give him more love." Starlight and Spike agreed in unison.
"It would make more sense, since Johnny is still a kid. I mean, even if he claims, he can live all by himself, it would make him feel even more lonely." Mr. Black noted.
"And as far as I know by learning about psychology, that would make the pain worse than it already is, since without a family, he would be forever tormented by the demons." BBB explained.
"Exactly." Twilight agreed. "Okay, everypony, we have a plan!"
"But we have to make sure, that the family does not harm him in any way." Rarity reminded.
"We know, Rarity." Starlight scratched her head.
The Mane 7, Spike and Cadence ran off to find a new family willing to adopt him, not knowing that they've been watched.
The first stop is at Canterlot. The group were looking around and asking some ponies, but the reception was not positive. Given their typical Canterlot behaviour, they left a bad impression for the group.
"I don't think, a Canterlot family would suit him. I mean, they act like jerks." Rainbow sighed.
"Maybe we have better luck in Ponyville." Fluttershy assumed.
In Ponyville, they asked the ponies if they want to adopt him. The reception was better than in Canterlot, but many of them were unwilling to adopt him because either they have too many kids, have seen his behaviour back in Canterlot or just weren't interested.
"Hmm. How about the Crystal Empire?" Pinkie suggested.
"Maybe..." Cadence thought to herself.
As they arrived the Crystal Empire, they did the same thing, asking the ponies. The same reception from Ponyville can be applied here. However, the Crystal Ponies have never heard of his outrage. Some ponies actually considered it, but only left with vague responses, that sounded more negative.
Arriving back in Canterlot, they went to Princess Celestia and Luna to report their progress.
"Did you find one?" Luna asked.
"No...We couldn't find a suitable one." Cadence looked down.
"Maybe we have better luck in Cloudsdale or Manehattan or Vanhoover or other places, we overlooked...or...uhm.." Twilight was about to panic.
"Here we go..." Spike knew, that this was about to happen, when the purple alicorn was stuck. The little dragon gave her a bag to breathe in and out.
"Uhm...excuse me?" A voice can be heard. As they looked back, they saw a sky blue unicorn mare with purple and pink mane and a golden heart necklace, looking at them with her yellow eyes.
"Who are you?" Applejack asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry if I came here unannounced. My name is Sweet Serenity and I've heard, that you want to help a pony in need." She introduced herself, while being curious.
"Yeah. His name is Radiant Thunder and it seems like that thanks to the abuse, he doesn't want a family." Rainbow sighed.
"It's probably because he is scared of being part of a family again." Cadence looked down.
"Oh no...this is horrible...." said Sweet Serenity.
"Indeed. The abuse had changed him for the worst and even if we made him smile, there are still some obstacles on the way." Celestia looked worried.
"I think, I've heard this story before, while I was moving to Ponyville alongside with my family. And it hit me hard, because this story reminded me of my sister..." The blue unicorn mare sighed in sadness.
"Your sister?" Fluttershy asked.
"What happened to her?" Rarity asked as well. And it didn't take long for Sweet Serenity to gather her courage to explain:
"When I was a filly, we were living in a small cottage far away with my mother and sister. My father died from an illness, when I was 5. It was devastating for all of us, but it was especially heartbreaking for my older sister, Ruby Spark. Despite the grief, we moved on, because that's what he would've wanted from us. To be strong... Everything was fine, until my mother had married a stallion. He was not a nice pony and started to abuse all of us both physically and mentally. It didn't help, that he mainly targeted Ruby Spark. On school, many young ponies bullied her, due to her shy and reclusive persona. It kept going and going, until I had enough. Seeing my family being in an absolute worst state, made me fill with anger and used my magic against him. Immediately after, I ran as fast as I could. I didn't even stop, in fear of being caught. Eventually, I arrived at some officers and explained this whole situation. Needless to say, they immediately arrested him and after my mother had divorced him, we had to move to a different city out of fear. Even then, nightmares of the past kept returning and eventually, Ruby Spark had enough. When I was a teenager and doing my work, I heard my mother screaming and ran towards her, only to find my sister....dead in her room. She had hanged herself. At that point, everything came crashing down and I was really heartbroken. Since then, I avoided talking to other ponies, except for one...High Velocity. We met each other during our school times and it was love at first sight. However, we lost touch to each other after the move and it wasn't after he moved as well, that we reconnected our relationship. One day, I told him my story about the abuse and Ruby's eventual suicide. I was in tears, since the pain was still fresh. However, he hugged me and assured, that this will never happen to me or anyone again and that he will be there for me. I was touched by his nobility and kindness, that I began to cry in his arms. Later, our relationship soon blossomed into an undying and eternal love and we soon got married, when we grew up. And when I heard about his story, it immediately reminded me of Ruby Spark. I want to make sure, it will not happen to him or anyone ever again. Not to my husband, my son, my family and friends and anyone. And seeing his outburst had strengthened my determination, alongside with that of my High Velocity. This is why I made my decision to help."
"Oh my goodness..." Fluttershy was shocked.
"I'm sorry for what happened to your sister, Sweet Serenity." Celestia looked at her with a somber look. "I know that feeling of not helping someone you love on time..." She looked at Luna, while feeling emotional.
It was around this time, that a neon colored pegasus stallion with blue wings and purple mane with blue streaks, as well as a beard, landed to a spot close to the group.
"I also wanted to help too, since I witnessed it as well." He said, while hugging Sweet Serenity.
"So you are High Velocity. Right?" Rarity asked.
"Yes." High Velocity confirmed this. "And we made a decision. To take him under our care."
"So does that mean..." Applejack asked, but the couple confirmed it with smiles and nods.
"Yes! We found them!" Pinkie jumped in excitement.
"But how can we explain that to Johnny? He would probably be upset again.." Spike was worried.
"Don't worry. We will prove him wrong with the power of family." High Velocity assured the group, that everything is okay.
"Indeed. We will give him the most love and care, he deserved." Sweet Serenity nodded.
Meanwhile in Ponyville...
Dukey was rushing into their house, in order find Johnny, since earlier, he flew away after he was enraged.
"Johnny? Are you here?" He asked.
Eventually, he found the black pegasus in their room. But the atmosphere was dark, as he looked back with a mad look.
"What?...." he growled.
"Uhh, don't you think, you got a little too far with your emotions?" Dukey asked. But Johnny snarled more and said: "The fuck does that mean!? I don't need a family, end of story!"
Then they heard the doorbell ringing. As Dukey answered the door, he saw High Velocity and Sweet Serenity smiling.
"Uhm. How can I help you?" He asked.
"We just want to see him." The blue unicorn responded.
"You mean....I don't think, he is in the mood for visitors." Dukey sighed. But that didn't deterred the couple from going in, leaving the hybrid confused. As they entered the bedroom, they saw Johnny facing his back to them in silence.
"What the hell do you want...?" He growled.
The blue unicorn slowly approached the young stallion, while she felt the tension. But that didn't deter the mare.
"Go...away..." He responded with a threatning voice.
"Look..I know, that you are in pain... and you also feel lonely at the same time. But hiding in the dark alone is not a good idea." She softly spoke.
"Who cares? I don't need a family...They suck!" He looked away.
"No, they don't. They're important to our lives. Nurturing someone with love and care and guiding them to a bright path." High Velocity responded.
"Except for me... I've been living in the darkness for god knows, how long! They were nothing but demons from hell! Because of this, I gave up a long time ago..." The black stallion looked down.
"But that doesn't mean, you have to throw it all away. Even if you think, you can take care of yourself, you would still feel alone. Without a family, you will be lost in the dark with nobody to guide you." High Velocity went closer to the black pegasus. But Johnny didn't say anything other than a growl.
"Please... we just want to help you..." Sweet Serenity looked worried. At this point, Johnny snapped and stomped on the ground so hard, that the items on the shelves started to shake.
"Help me?! You can't!!! I had enough of family and I don't like to be part of one ever again! SO WHY NOT JUST FORGET ALL OF THIS AND-" Suddenly, the black pegasus was pulled in to a hug by the blue unicorn.
"It's okay, my dear. It's okay." She softly spoke.
The soothing and soft voice of the unicorn mare was enough to silence him in shock. Back then nobody came to him when he had problems. Not even his former family back in Earth.
"We know your pain and I want to make sure, we'll give you the most love and care as possible, while helping you with coping." She softly spoke.
"W-what?...." his voice became quieter.
"We promise, that we will be there for you. To make sure, that you'll be happy." The neon pegasus stallion joined into the hug as well.
This was the point, where Johnny realized that the couple actually mean well in taking good care of him. Those acts of kindness and love made him very emotional and eventually, when he couldn't hold his emotions any longer, the black pegasus soon broke down in tears, all while the couple kept hugging him.
"It's okay, sweetie. Let it all out." Sweet Serenity warmly smiled.
They kept being strong, despite his sounds of crying being so heartbreaking. After all, they have to, for his sake and for a better future. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the ponies, the Mane 8, Spike and Cadence, alongside with Shining Armor were watching it through the windows. Dukey was also watching it unfold, when he went to check up on his best friend. That sight made his heart feel heavy, while at the same time, it gave him hope, that Johnny would be taken good care by those humble ponies. Eventually, the hybrid soon joined the group hug as well.
After a few hours, the black pegasus soon calmed down.
"I'm sorry....it's just....I'm so scared to be part of a family again, thanks to the pain..." he wiped his tears.
"You don't need to worry about it, while we are around. As long as we are here, we'll guide you to a bright future of love and humility." The mare warmly smiled
"Wait. What do you mean by that? Unless..." Dukey was slowly coming to a assumption, but High Velocity soon confirmed their goal.
"We will adopt you two into our family." The neon stallion smiled.
"What? Are you serious?" Both Johnny and Dukey were surprised.
"Yes. We made up our mind, when we heard the story. Even though it was their idea." The blue unicorn mare pointed at the window, only to see the Princess of Love looking back at them and waving.
"It was also partially my idea as well, since I want to keep you safe, while at the same time helping you." She continued.
After a while of silent shock, smiles were forming on the faces of the best friends. That confirmation gave them more hope for a new, happy life.
"Hey, what did I just miss?" A navy colored pegasus colt with red and orange mane was entering the house with curiousity and confusion.
"Perfect timing, Cosmic Blaze! Say hello to your new brother!" High Velocity introduced his son to the duo.
"Wait, a big brother.....that...is...AWESOME!!!!" Cosmic Blaze immediately flew to Johnny with starry eyes.
"Hey, slow down, bro. I have yet to settle in this new life. But in the meantime, we will have some cool adventures." He hugged the navy colt.
This was something. Being the older sibling, despite being adopted, gave him something, that he was never able to do, back then: control. That means, he can finally have the control of fun, when it comes to his new young brother.
"And maybe I can dual as a pet. But maybe as a brother? I don't know.." Dukey didn't know about his role.
"We'll manage." The couple smiled and gathered a group hug with everyone as a growing family.
The group outside were smiling, now that they accomplished the mission.
"We did it!" Pinkie Pie jumped.
"Indeed, Sugarcube. Indeed." Applejack smiled.
"Now that he has a new family, I bet the nightmares would be soon be over!" Rainbow Dash was ecstatic.
The ponies celebrated, but somehow, Cadence didn't share their opinion, as the princess of love still felt a turbulence in their hearts.
Pony Johnny was flying away in a dark void from the demons, who were chasing him with sharp teeth, claws and piercing red eyes. He was flying faster and faster, all while demonic laughter can be heard.
"You can run, but you will not hide! Haha!!"
Eventually, they vanish.
"Phew....man..." He was wiping his sweat off, when a peculiar sight peaked his interest.
The black pegasus went closer and closer to the source, until it's revealed to be his human form, who is turning his back against his pony counterpart, all while he was crying.
"Wait...is that....me?" Johnny was confused and confronted his human form. "Hey, man! You okay?"
"I'll never be..." his human form responded, while turning back. Johnny was frightened by this following sight: His human form had bloodshot eyes, sacks under his eyes, a blue eye on his left one, several cuts, bruises and other injuries on his body, his clothes being ripped and some of the injuries left his bones exposed.
"Oh my god....No! This can't be happening! I thought, I've gone over them..." the pony said in disbelief
"No..You only managed to reach it halfway..... there is still more....." his human form twitches, all while the atmosphere became creepy. Suddenly, the voice became almost demonic, as he said to the pony counterpart: "Accept the help from your friends.....be more open or there will be consequences..."
This is when the moment took a trip to the most terrifying. His eyes became completely black, with black ooze coming out of them. Blood was dripping from his body and looking more like a zombie. His pony form backed off.
"Hey! What are you doing!? Don't come any closer!! Stop!!!!" His eyes were in tears, but that didn't help, as he witnessed his human form jumping on him.
Johnny woke up screaming from his bed, as that ordeal was another nightmare. Only this time, it became more serious. Around the same time, Sweet Serenity rushed to him, as she opened the door.
"Oh my God! What happened?!" She looked worried.
"Those nightmares! They keep haunting me!!!" Johnny was shaking in fear.
"Oh dear. Come here. It will be all fine." The blue unicorn hugged him and tried to calm him down. But Johnny still had that scared look.
Meanwhile in a forest...
Night time had arrived in the forest and we can hear the sounds of crickets, wolves and owls. However, in one of the bushes, a tail popped up. It was light purple-pink. Before anything happened, it came back into the Bush....as if someone is there....
To be continued.... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 10: Living the new Pony Life | In the middle of the night, we see Johnny in his bed. But something was off. He was pacing really fast in a frightened state, all because of nightmares...
Meanwhile in his nightmare, the demons circle around the black pegasus, while demonic laughter can be heard. He tried to cover his ears, but the laughter can still be heard, as it occured inside of his head.
Soon, his human counterpart emerged from the shadows, looking absolutely torn up with cuts, bruises and blood coming out of his mouth. Johnny was very scared of the sight. But that was nothing compared to the following scenes.
"Hahahahaha! You little devil! It's time to get the punishment!!" One of the demons grabbed Johnny's human version by the throat, while his pony form felt something tightening around his neck, even though he couldn't see something actually grabbing it.
"S-stop!" He tried to plead, but as always, it fell on deaf ears. Both versions tried to fight back, but the cold aura alongside with the piercing, cold, red eyes of the demons, slowly drained their energies, like they damage their soul. Soon, the demons pulled their sharp claws out. He knew, that they would do something bad to him and as to be expected, they stabbed Human Johnny in the back. During which, his pony counterpart feels a sharp pain in his back.
As the demons kept torturing him with stabs, slashes and burns from their breath, the black pegasus would feel the injuries as well. As he screamed in agonising pain, he once again pleaded to leave him alone and that he can defend himself. But the demons instead laughed and threw Human Johnny hard on the ground. The impact caused him to cough up blood, in which his pony counterpart would follow suit and as the stallion was lying down in agonising pain, he looked in horror, as his human form once again turned into his frightening form and said:
"DO SOMETHING!!"
Eventually, they stabbed him one more time and with a twist, his human form collapsed on the floor and bled out, all while the stallion's pain get worse and worse to the point, where he couldn't move.
The demonic entities got closer and closer to the defenseless pony, who was crying in fear. The last moment he saw, before he woke up, were the demons charging at him.
Meanwhile In Canterlot...
On the castle balcony, Princess Celestia was looking at the skies, while thinking about some plans on how to help them get over from the past. Suddenly, she heard a scream inside of the castle. Immediately recognising the scream, the white alicorn teleported to her sister's bedroom, when she saw Luna with a horrified look on her face.
"Luna, what happened?" She asked, while comforting the dark blue alicorn.
"The nightmares got even worse...." Luna replied.
"This is really bad. I'll immediately have to inform Twilight, her friends and Cadence about the news." Celestia had a worried, yet serious look on her face, as she started to write letters to the princesses of Love and Friendship respectively.
"We have to work even harder now." She mumbled.
"Indeed. We have to make sure, it wouldn't get even worse..." Luna sighed.
The next morning...
As the birds were chirping their melodies and the sun still shining, the black stallion went to the bathroom with bags under his eyes. The nightmares took a toll on him and his sleep schedule.
"Ugh....I need to wash it off.." He went to the sink and opened the water.
As he looked into his own reflection, there was a moment of peace for a while. Enough to take a deep breath and think quietly. Suddenly, voices in his head began to sound louder.
"Ha! You demon!"
Johnny tried his best to fight back and suppress those voices in his head. However, when the stallion looked at the mirror, he saw the evil monsters.
"No! Come on now! I had enough of this!" He yelled. But the demons wouldn't budge, despite how hard he tried. Soon, they emerge out of the mirror and the room started to twist.
"You think, this is over?! Think again..."
The black pegasus soon backed off a bit. During which, the air around him felt cold and heavy and the demons getting closer and closer. Suddenly, he felt like, he bumped to someone. Suspecting, it was a demon, he jumped and screamed, as he looked back. However the sight, that greeted him, made him snap him out of the delusion: It was Dukey, who is currently struggling to stay awake.
"It's you...let me guess, also had a bad night?" He asked, while panting.
"You know it..." The hybrid was even struggling to keep his eyes open, when he went to the sink to wash his face off. As the brown stallion looked at his reflection, he grabbed a brush and began to brush his mane and fur.
"The nightmares were surely an agonising experience..." Dukey rubbed his eyes.
"You said it, pal...They keep stalking us..." the black pegasus sighed and looked down. "Why can't they just leave us alone once and for all?"
"I don't know. Maybe, we should continue fighting." His best friend looked at Johnny, as he scratched his head.
"Yeah....I hope..." Johnny was worried about their progress.
"Breakfast time!" They heard the sound of Sweet Serenity calling anyone for breakfast.
"Let's go." The black pegasus looked forward.
The two left the bathroom on their way to the others. Meanwhile, Twilight just teleported outside and looked around, when she saw the brush, Dukey used, in the bathroom, while looking from the window. Her eyes widened because of it.
"Maybe with his fur, I can get the answers for why he is a hybrid!" Twilight used her magic to slowly taking the fur and the mane strings from the brush and outside of the bathroom. Once she obtained these objects, she teleported to her castle, being eager to solve this mystery.
Back to the family, Sweet Serenity was finishing up the touches, while High Velocity and Cosmic Blaze were sitting at the table. Eventually, Johnny and Dukey did came, but soon collapsed due to a lack of sleep.
"Oh my goodness! Are you okay!?" The blue unicorn rushed to the two and used her magic to get them back up. When she notices the bags under their eyes, she gasped.
"Geez, they look terrible..." Cosmic Blaze commented.
"It's because they had very nasty nightmares..." High Velocity sighed.
"But why?" The young colt was confused.
"I'm not sure, if you can handle their story, my boy." The stallion looked at his son.
"Everyone, please! We will help them as best as we can, but right now, they need some energy." Sweet Serenity was worried, while she guided the two to the table.
The two tried to open their eyes for as long as they could, but eventually they fall asleep.
"Oh, dear..." Sweet Serenity sighed.
"Is there any way to wake them up?" Cosmic Blaze asked.
The blue unicorn used her magic to give them at least some energy for them to wake up.
"What...happened?" Johnny was in a slight daze.
"You were really tired, because of the nightmares. I used some of my magic to wake you up." The mare answered.
"Thanks...we really needed a boost." Dukey smiled.
"You're welcome." Sweet Serenity giggled.
Meanwhile, Cosmic Blaze was impatient. After all, it was the weekend and he wanted to fly around and have some fun, like any other filly and colt do. Plus, he needed some energy for that fun.
"Don't worry, my kid." High Velocity assured the little colt and everyone began their breakfast.
Meanwhile, in Twilight's castle...
The purple alicorn was once again researching and experimenting about hybrids. Thanks to the fur and the hair samples, she can finally crack down the mystery. She used her magic and a few gadgets to analyse the samples, which contained Dukey's DNA. After some minutes have passed, the results were in.
"Let's see... according to the results, sometime before he went to Equestria, Dukey has been mutated to include intelligence and the mannerisms of a human... Which means, the mutation has carried over to his new form, when he went to my world. Interesting...." Twilight was very intrigued by the result.
"If I'm able to recreate the formula with magic, then I could get the same result, by testing it to an animal! And maybe...give Dukey a friend, so he wouldn't feel as the only pony/dog hybrid!" With those words, the Princess of Friendship went to work on making some potions.
She tried her best to recreate the formula by mixing some ingredients, testing on a few animals, changing the recipe, etc. Each of these attempts only lasted for a short while or didn't work at all. Or something went wrong, while testing. After a few hours have passed, Twilight was very close on her goal, but she realized, that an important ingredient is missing. It has to be the fur sample. However, since two potions have to be make, one being permanent, she had to think on how to handle the rationing.
"Hmmm..." The purple mare was thinking and thinking hard.
Eventually, she had to use parts of the mutated DNA to complete the potions and added some herbs and other important stuff to also complete the other.
"It's done! The potions are ready!" Twilight smiled at her achievements. She was very proud of her efforts. "Now, I need to test on someone and-"
"Twilight! Twilight! We have some bad news!!!"
A voice made the mare jump and shriek. However, she recognized the voice as belonging to her assistant, Spike, who was holding a letter and looking panicked.
"What!?" Once again, Twilight was agitated.
"It's from Princess Celestia! It's about Johnny and Dukey!" Spike gave the letter to the princess.
"Wait....are you serious?" The princess opened the letter:
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
it seems like, the nightmares got worse and worse. Luna told me, that she saw Johnny and Dukey encountering their original forms, after seemingly escaping the demons. But they returned from the shadows, in order to torment them again...but the way, they did was horrific. The monsters began to torture the original forms in the most painful ways possible and during which, their pony counterparts would feel a massive amount of agonising pain in their bodies. There are times, that they coughed up blood from their mouths! The most haunting is their human and dog forms saying, that they need to accept help from other ponies and open up more, as an advice, before getting brutally killed by the monsters. And that would made their pony forms paralyzed in pain and fear, before the demons prepare to attack them.
We have to maximize our efforts and continue to help them, by finding ways on how to stop the nightmares! It is advised to find an artifact, that would help them surpress their nightmares.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia
"No...this can't be! We have to gather our friends again and continue helping them guide to the light! Spike, there is no time to waste!" Twilight was in shock and now has to get back to the main goal. And so, she and her dragon assistant went off to get their friends.
After they left, silence dominated the castle, until some time later, sounds of sniffing can be heard. We see some light purple-pink paws walking and when it peeked, we see the nose of the unknown being.
Back to Twilight, once she gathered her friends to the centre of Ponyvile, she spread the news about their conditions, thanks to Celestia's letter.
"This is bad..." Rainbow Dash was nervous. "Really bad..."
"Ah feel the same thing, pal.." Applejack looked down.
"This is getting worse...We have to work harder than before!" Rarity responded.
"Exactly, Rarity. Princess Celestia mentioned, that we need an artifact, that suppresses bad dreams and I know the one, she's talking about. But I need your help." Twilight explained. "And as for them, someone has to keep an watchful eye on their progress."
"I'll do it." The prismatic mare flew forward. "Ever since I learned the truth behind the situation, I wanted to help them. The story was seriously messed up.."
"It was." Fluttershy agreed.
"But wait! Are you sure, you can do this alone?" Pinkie Pie asked.
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash nodded, but Applejack knew better.
"Nah. I'll come with you." She went to the cyan pegasus mare. "After all, we knew them more since the day, we met."
"Okay, girls. I can trust your willingness to watch them. And as for the others, we need to find the items for that artifact and spread the word on everyone again." Twilight explained her plan. "Do you understand?"
"Of course, silly!" Pinkie grinned.
"We wouldn't forget our goal." Fluttershy agreed.
"Come on, Rainbow Dash!" Applejack ran off with Rainbow Dash following shortly after. Soon, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Spike, Fluttershy and Starlight Glimmer went off to their own path.
On an open field somewhere in Ponyville, Johnny, Dukey and Cosmic Blaze were walking around for a spot.
"Why are we here again?" Dukey was confused, but the navy colt was brimmed with energy and responded with: "It's usually the spot, I can fly around."
The little pegasus colt soon used his wings to elevate from the ground.
"See? It always fill me.with excitement!" He smiled.
"You are quite a hyperactive one, bro." Johnny rubbed his little adoptive brother's head, even though he looked a bit annoyed. The black pegasus immediately knocked it off.
"Sorry. Didn't know, you don't like that." The pegasus stallion scratched his head.
"Nah. It's fine. You're my big bro, after all." Cosmic Blaze shrugged.
"You know, I also have a hyperactive side of me. Wanna see a demonstration?" He smirked.
"Yes! Yes!" The navy colt nodded.
As soon as the black pegasus spread his wings, his little brother was starry eyed.
"Oh my gosh! Your wings are huge....and that looks awesome!" Cosmic Blaze admired him.
"Well, he is a unique pony, after all." Dukey responded.
Soon, Johnny lifted off from the ground. His flying skills got better, thanks to Rainbow's teachings, however, the only things, he had to master is keeping his coordination.
"Don't worry, I'm still getting used to it." Johnny assured the young colt about his skills.
After a while of maintaining the balance, the black pegasus managed to soar without any problems. Cosmic Blaze could only watch in awe, as his brother soared through the clouds. As this was going on, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were watching from a distance, while hiding in the bushes. Ready to act, if the guys suffer from anxiety attacks.
"We have to be careful, sugarcube. Who knows, when they will suffer another one from those rotten apples?" Applejack looked closer.
"Yeah." Rainbow Dash agreed.
Soon, demonic voices of taunting can be heard, but Johnny and Dukey tried their best to fight them off. The struggle went on for as long, as they could, all while Cosmic Blaze being oblivious of the situation.
"Not this again..." Rainbow groaned, rushed out of the bushes and loudly spoke to the duo, who were struggling to fight off against their demons. "HEY!!! Stop listening to those voices and fight them off! Come on, you guys are better than them!!! You've been in Equestria for a while and we helped you! Now, it's the time to use our advice to stop this chaos!!!"
"Rainbow's right. Yer better listen to her advice!" Applejack added, when she ran to them.
Thanks to their advice, the duo got some fighting spirit and muted the voices. At least for now. The mares sighed in relief, but knew that the voices would eventually return, when the guys are at their weakest. So they have to step up the defenses.
"Y'all need a lot of courage and self-confidence, so y'all don't get broken so easily." Applejack noted.
"We are trying." The stallions sighed.
"Look, we are trying to help you overcome your trauma, but at least build up some guts to heal yourselves." Rainbow looked at the two.
"Hey, what's going on?" Cosmic Blaze was confused.
"It's a complicated story." Applejack responded to the colt.
"Listen, I know we appreciate your help, but right now, neither Dukey nor I have the courage to fix this messy chaos. It's just the whole event took them away from us." Johnny sighed, when suddenly, they heard a voice:
"Did somepony say 'Chaos'?"
Suddenly, everyone started to float, while chaotic things happened, like random transformations, random appearances and so on. The group started to panic.
"Hey, what's happening?" The navy colt couldn't move a bit.
"DISCORD!!!!!" Applejack and Rainbow Dash yelled in unison, as they immediately recognized the whole chaos and as to be expected or rather unexpected, a....unique creature with many features of several animals and a white beard, appeared out of Johnny's mane, while holding a glass of chocolate milk.
"Thaaaat's me!" Discord posed, while spotlights, which came out of nowhere, shone down on him, alongside a neon sign, saying his name and neon arrows.
"Dude, can you get out of my hair?" Johnny was annoyed.
Discord laughed, as he teleported in front the group with a smile.
"W-who is this....uhm...creature?" Dukey was extremely confused. At that point, he was given a card by the chaotic being.
Discord
Draconequus and spirit of Chaos
Spreading chaotic fun like no tomorrow!
"Well, that's Discord. He always wants some-" But the prismatic mare was interrupted by the draconequss,
"You get the drill, chaotic fun! By the by, you two mares really have some interesting friends. Especially the pony/dog one. I wonder, what happened to him." The spirit of chaos pulled out a magnifying glass out of nowhere and looked at the two stallions, especially the earth pony hybrid.
"As if Pinkie Pie wasn't random enough, Discord is like cranking it up to 1000... Why am I always surrounded by weirdos and oddballs?" The hybrid soon felt annoyed.
"Your card said, you are the so called 'Spirit of Chaos'. Really?" Johnny was sceptical.
"I am! Wanna see me demonstrate my chaotic powers for free?" Discord prepared to use his chaotic powers.
"Discord, that's definitely-" It was already too late. Applejack couldn't convince the chaotic draconequus. First, he turned trees into random objects, whenever into nutcrackers, cotton candy, whatever. Then he turned himself to several forms and outfits like no tomorrow. So many of them, that I'll leave this to your imagination.
"How about this one? Chaotix!" Soon, he snapped his paws and turned himself into a chaotic fairy with sparkly clothes and fairy wings and flew around a bit, before turning himself back to normal.
"Those were only the samples of my endless power of possibilities. If you want, I can actually show you some more!" The spirit of chaos smiled.
"Uhm, no thanks. We're good." Johnny sweated a bit.
"Besides. We now know, what you are capable of. Absolutely everything chaotic." Dukey understood.
"Well, you'll get used it. However, he doesn't mean any harm." Applejack noted. "At least nowadays."
"You see, young ponies...My story was pretty chaotic to begin with. Trying to take over Equestria and spread chaos and disharmony everywhere. But then, things happened, which lead to my banishment twice. However I was given a second chance by Princess Celestia. Almost everypony was sceptical and even angry at me. Almost. There was one pony, who was very genuine about my path of redemption." Discord explained about his past.
"Who would it that be?" Cosmic Blaze asked.
The spirit of chaos used his magic to teleport Fluttershy here. Needless to say, she was surprised.
"Discord! What is happening?" The yellow mare asked.
"Nothing. Just explaining my past to these guys." He pointed at Johnny, Dukey and Cosmic Blaze.
"Oh dear. Anyway, how is your day so far?" She asked again.
"Well, they almost had a mental breakdown, if it wasn't for our interference." Rainbow Dash responded.
"In other words, darn demons trying to break them again." Applejack looked down in disgust.
"Uhm, excuse me? What are you talking about?" Discord asked, but no one played attention.
"What are you talking about? They are fine." Cosmic Blaze smiled.
"On the outside..." Rainbow Dash sighed.
"What are you talking about? Are you saying, that something is not right with them." the young colt soon got irritated, not noticing that Discord is trying to get their attention.
"Well, it's complicated to say at least.." Applejack looked at the pegasus colt.
"Are you seriously hiding something, that I don't know-" Before the colt can finish his question...
"IN CASE, YOU'RE NOTICING, I'M STILL HERE!!!" Discord yelled at a megaphone at the group, causing the earth to shake and the manes and Dukey's fur to poof up.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, Discord! I didn't know, you wanted something..." Fluttershy immediately apologised. "Well, it's a complicated story, that caused their lives to be in shambles, until we started to help them. I'll tell you more about the story, when we go to my cottage."
"Speaking of which, I noticed that some animals look...distressed. For example, a bird's nest being broken." Discord remembered. That caused Flutterhsy to panic.
"Oh no! I forgot about the animals!! We need to go now!" She breathed in a quick pace.
"On it! Toodaloo!" Discord snapped his fingers and in the next moment, he and Fluttershy were gone, leaving Applejack, Rainbow Dash and the guys with poofy manes.
"Well, that was.....something..." Cosmic Blaze was confused. The others shrugged.
As the prismatic mare looked at the guys, she tried her best, not to laugh at their poofed appearances, much to their annoyance.
"Rainbow, don't." Applejack glared.
"Sorry. It just.." the blue mare apologised, but giggled a bit.
"Anyway... where am I again? Right. About the-" But Johnny interrupted his little brother, knowing that he was asking about the past. Since Johnny just wants to live his new life in peace, he doesn't want anyone to remind him about the dark age of his life again, so the demons wouldn't attack him later.
"How about we go to the park, so we can have some more fun?" The black pegasus responded.
"Yeah! I mean, we all need some distraction from...well that." The hybrid nervously smiled.
They dragged the young pegasus pony and left.
"Weird..." Rainbow Dash noted.
Meanwhile, Applejack felt like, someone is watching. She looked around, only to peek at a Bush, where High Velocity and Sweet Serenity were hiding. They soon came out, after the southern earth pony found the couple.
"What are y'all doing in the bushes?" She asked.
"We were worried about our son finding about the heartbreaking truth of why we adopted them." The neon stallion sighed.
"Why didn't you tell him about this sooner?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"We can't! Cosmic Blaze is still a young colt! Besides, we are scared, that it would scar and break his heart. And I don't want that, ever since my sister lost herself into the despair and took her own life...." Sweet Serenity soon began to sob. Their confession touched the mares. The blue unicorn had lost her sister from depression, so it's understandable, that she wanted to prevent any more heartache, after she found about Johnny's abuse story, that also ruined Dukey's life too, due to him being a victim as well.
"Hey. Ah understand your concern. It's hard to tell the fillies and colts about stories, that are not supposed to be told to them." Applejack sympathised. She went to the couple and comforted them.
"I'm so sorry....but I don't have the courage and I'm not sure, if Cosmic Blaze can handle the gravity of the tale..." Sweet Serenity wiped her tears, as she looked at the mares.
"Hey. Why not y'all take a walk and collect some fresh air? Pretty good to recollect thoughts and relieve all stress." The southern mare smiled warmly.
"I hope..." The blue unicorn mumbled.
The four ponies began to take a walk. Meanwhile, the couple were still thinking, if they should tell their son the truth or hide it, so he couldn't be broken. It's a tough choice for them, that's for sure.
Ponyville
A trio of young fillies, lead by Apple Bloom, were trotting around the centre, looking for new adventures and helping ponies find their destiny. Accompanying Apple Bloom, there was a white unicorn filly with curly, purple and pink mane and green eyes and a orange pegasus with purple mane and small wings. Those were her friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Together, they were the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"Geez, I'm bored.." Scootaloo sighed.
"Don't worry, Scootaloo. I'm pretty sure, it wouldn't last long." Sweetie Belle giggled.
"Alright, Crusaders! There are some ponies, who are still searching for their destinies and their cutie marks and our mission is to help them find their talent!" Apple Bloom told to her friends with confidence and determination.
"Yeah!" Her friends smiled in unison, remembering their mission.
"Let's go, Crusaders!" All three fillies, now filled with excitement and determination, ran off. To help young ponies with blank flanks find their calling.
During which, they helped some fillies and colts and overall having a great time. While running around, they passed a dark alley. That was until Scootaloo stopped and went back to the alley for some reason.
"What's wrong, Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom asked.
"I don't know. There might be something." The pegasus filly looked closer.
"We shouldn't go to dark alleys! Maybe there is a scary monster hiding there..." Sweetie Belle was scared.
"Come on, Sweetie Belle. I'm pretty sure, there is nothing. Besides, we saw worse stuff before." Scootaloo smirked.
"I-I guess..." the unicorn fully calmed down a bit, but still felt worried.
Suddenly, they saw something moving in the rubble.
"There might be some pony! Come on, girls!" The pegasus filly rushed into the alley, with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle following her shortly after. The trio looked around the alley, but they couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.
"I can't see anything out of the ordinary." Apple Bloom responded.
"Me too. I'm pretty sure, there is nothing." Sweetie Belle looked at Scootaloo.
"But I saw something moving, I swear!" The pegasus filly sweared the truth, however, they didn't believe it.
"C'mon, Crusaders. Let's leave the alley." Apple Bloom was about to leave with her friends, when all of a sudden, they heard a noise. They looked back, only to see something slowly standing up. Because the figure is so obscured and that the alley was dark, the fillies get scared. Soon, it slowly approached them.
"Hey..." it spoke to the fillies, but the Crudaders responded by running away screaming in fear. "Uhm, why did they run away? Wait a minute, did I just talk!?!?"
The figure looked around for something reflective like a mirror or a puddle. Thankfully, there was a mirror, albeit a slightly broken one, so it rushed to it to see the reflection of itself. It turned out to be a light violet-pink earth pony mare with short purple mane with a lightning bolt on it, however she has the features like a dog, like paws, tail and a purple nose. In shock, the mare screamed at the sight of her form. A scream, that caused the ground to shake and startle the residents.
"Oh my god! Oh my god! How did this even happen to me!??!" The hybrid mare was still panicked. She looked at herself, even turning around, only to discover a cutie mark. A bone and a lightning bolt.
"Hold on! Since when did this appear on my cheeks? I mean, it looks cool, but still!" She looked at her cutie mark again.
Suddenly, she reminded of something important. "Wait! I need to find her! But I don't think, those ponies would welcome me with this look." The earth pony hybrid sighed, because she was worried that her look might scare them off. She looked around for something to hide her identity, only to find a big box.
"That'll do it. Also I'm pretty sure, I can maybe pull this off like I'm in a stealth game or something." She grabbed the box and put it on her, hiding her appearance and began to walk. Thankfully, it had holes on the box, so at least she can see something. Everytime, when someone noticed something, she could stand still. When the coast is clear, she can move. However, it's harder to pull it off in a little town, since there are more ponies out there.
"I hope, this works..." She sweated a bit.
On the other side of the town, Jillian was walking around the houses and other buildings. During her walk, the pink unicorn saw some fillies and colts playing with their fathers and by the looks of it, clearly loved each other so much. But in Jillian's case, back then, her father was just too overprotective and controlling on her. She never had the fun or freedom, back in Veganda. Once she moved to Earth, she did become independent a bit, but still restricted and used by him. The sights of the young fillies and colts having a better relationship with their dads made her emotional, but mad at the same time.
"Uhm, excuse me?" An earth pony mare tapped her with a worried look. But Jillian snapped in anger and yelled: "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT!?!?!?!"
This scared the mare so much and having no control of her emotions any longer, Jillian ran away from the town as fast, as she could. She only stopped at Fluttershy's cottage in order to take a break. It was quite a rough day for her so far. Meanwhile, Fluttershy took care of the animals, with some help from Discord. However, this time, she had to take care of a bird family, who lost their nest from strong gusts of winds. She tried to help them by building new nests, while other animals also helped, but none of which passed their conditions: It should be comfy, have enough room for them and future offspring and should not break.
"Oh dear..." Fluttershy was exhausted.
It was around this time, Jillian went to them for some small talk. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"I'm trying to help the birds by building a new nest for them. Their old one had been damaged by the storm." The yellow pegasus responded in a quiet tone.
"Is that your job?" The pink unicorn asked.
"Yes. I take good care of the animals." Fluttershy warmly smiled.
The pink mare looked around to see several animals in Fluttershy's care. Birds, wolves, snakes, etc. But the one animal, that caught her attention, was a bear. Her eyes widened at the sight and soon got lost in joy.
"Oh my gosh! This bear looks cool! Can I have it?" Jillian grinned.
"Uhm, excuse me?" Fluttershy was confused.
"I swear, I would do anything for this bear! Hell, I can actually help you making a new nest or better yet, take these!" Jillian used her magic to take off her hair bands, one being white with golden sparks and necklace and gave it to the confused pegasus. Taking off her hair bands caused her hair to let loose, all while her eye was twitching.
"Uhm, Jillan..you're scaring me..." Soon, the heroine of Kindness felt very uneasy.
"What? I'm just trying to get the bear!!" Jillian smiled.
"Okay, it's official: You've lost your mind.." Discord was not happy about the pink unicorn's attitude.
"No, I'm not! See? I'm fine!" She widely smiled, while having crazy eyes. Discord went inside of her head to investigate the reason, only to come out coughing out smoke 5 seconds later.
"Yikes! Her brain must be on overdrive and it's probably malfunctioning." The spirit of Chaos coughed. The smoke he coughed, would later be turned into black balloons, floating into the sky. "I wonder, why she is like this..." he thinks. At that point, Fluttershy reminded the night, where Jillian confessed her reason, why she went to Equestria.
"I think, I know why she is like this." She noted.
"What is it, Fluttershy?" Discord was confused. That was until she whispered the answer in his ear, in which his perspective changed.
"I suppose her behaviour matches up with the 5 stages of grief. Right now, she is in a bargaining stage." Discord agreed.
Meanwhile, Jillian looks at the bear with a starry eyes and a slightly creepy smile. At that point, she became so desperatre to get it, even when the animals tried to stop her. However, since she is a unicorn, the green-haired mare used her magic to push everyone out of the way. Soon, even the bear got scared by Jillian's unhinged insanity. But that wouldn't last long, as suddenly, she got strapped to a chair with magical bandages, all while everyone watched. Soon, Discord reappeared in front of the trapped unicorn, while dressing up as a certain Austrian psychiatrist.
"So, what are you feeling in that moment?" Discord asked.
"Like I said, I'm fine!" The pink unicorn barked, but the spirit of Chaos and the heroine of Kindness knew better.
"Nein, nein, nein, nein, nein, nein, nein! Of course, you're not. Your mind is completely messed up. I mean, I looked inside of it and...oof, it was smoking." Discord debunked her claim.
"It's probably because you couldn't let go of your past...." Fluttershy told to the unicorn mare.
"What makes you say that?" The pink unicorn got irritated.
"Well, considering that you've been acting strangely around ponies with their parents, which was one thing I saw in the smoke, that you compared to your own, where that person, known as the 'Dark Vegan', giving you zero freedom and because your friend had vanished, that you were genuinely concerned, unlike him. I suppose all of those factors would give you scars, that would take a long time to heal." Discord wrote down on his notes.
"We're saying this, because we wanted to help you get over the traumatic past. Please, Jillian..." Fluttershy pleaded.
"You all making this up...There is nothing...wrong...with...me..." Her smile slowly turned into a sad frown, all while her blue eyes were filled with tears.
"Do you now get it?" Discord released her from the bandages, allowing Jillian to get up. But her emotions of sadness and loneliness overwhelmed the young unicorn and screamed in agony, before teleporting away.
"Oh no!" Fluttershy was shocked.
"Now, she is in a depression stage.." Discord noted, since Jillian had entered the fourth stage.
"I know...We need to find her quick! I just don't want Jillian to end up like Johnny...." Fluttershy was worried...She didn't want Jillian to attempt suicide, like Johnny. Rainbow and Dukey had told her about the time, where Johnny was found with slit arms, which gave her extra motivation to find the unicorn. With no hesitation, she flew off as fast as she could.
"Fluttershy, wait!" Discord was about to follow the yellow pegasus, when he picked up Jillian's hairband and necklace. After he got everything ready, he followed the path, that Fluttershy took.
In the Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, High Velocity and Sweet Serenity were returning from the walk. At the same time, they met Granny Smith and Big Mac, who were waiting.
"Howdy, y'all!" Granny Smith greeted the group.
"Sup?" Rainbow smiled.
"Ah see, y'all brought some guests there." The elderly earth pony noticed the couple.
"Well, this is High Velocity and Sweet Serenity." Applejack introduced the two to her grandma and her brother. But they noted, that they have concerned looks on their faces.
"Applejack, I've noticed, that they're concerned about something." Granny Smith looked at the orange mare.
"Eeyup." Big Mac agreed.
"Ya see, they currently have a problem." Applejack sighed.
"Why not go inside and tell us all about it?" Granny Smith suggested.
"We really appreciate your sincerity." High Velocity nodded and the group went on the house for some apple pie and some talk.
Inside, while Big Mac is preparing the pies, the, the Apple family and Rainbow Dash got around the table, where the couple was waiting.
"Say, what's the matter, you want to talk about?" Granny Smith asked.
"Well, it's about Cosmic Blaze and if we should tell him the truth, why we adopted them..." Sweet Serenity looked down.
"The truth?" The elderly mare was confused.
"About the whole abuse story." Applejack answered to her grandma.
"It seriously messed them up and one of them even attempted suicide!" Rainbow Dash remembered the unfortunate time, where she found Johnny laying on the ground with cuts on his arms, back in the Everfree Forest.
"Oh dear...It was horrifying..." the elderly pony was shocked at what the prismatic mare just told.
"Indeed, Granny... That's why, we're trying to help them get over their traumatic experience." Applejack comforted her grandmother.
"Anyway, we are afraid, that the story would break his heart, considering how tragic and painful the abuse was." High Velocity looked down.
"He is just a little colt... and we don't have the courage to tell him...." The blue unicorn was filled with tears.
"Ya know, it's best, that y'all better tell him the truth. If ya don't, then he will be clouded with suspicions and lies. And ahm pretty sure, y'all don't want that to happen. " said the elderly mare.
"Of course not! We love him after all!" High Velocity answered.
"Mah sweet Apple Bloom was in a similar situation. She wanted to know about our heritage. We tried to stop her, but it was inevitable, that ah have to tell her the truth about her parents and that she was half pear. For a long time, the Apples and the Pears were rivals. It wasn't until, the Pears wanted to make amends and therefore stopping the rivalry. As for Bright Mac, my son and Pear Butter, well they've since moved on to a better place. Ah had to tell the truth to my grandkids, but we are hopeful, that they'll be watching us." Granny Smith explained.
"Oh dear. I'm so sorry for the loss." Sweet Serenity was touched.
"Sometimes, the young fillies and colts have to learn the truth, that not everything is all sunshine and rainbows. It's part of growing up after all." The elderly mare looked at them.
"I've never thought of this lesson." High Velocity responded.
"Me neither. It does give us extra motivation to guide our son towards maturity." Sweet Serenity thought.
"Speaking of guiding, I need to watch over the guys. Making sure, that they wouldn't go through another episode." Rainbow Dash reminded.
"Go for it, sugarcube." Applejack nodded and the prismatic mare took off, while at the same time, Big Mac came back.
"What happened?" Big Mac asked.
"Rainbow had to go watching over our friends." Applejack answered her brother's question.
As Rainbow dashed through the surroundings, she passed through a giant box, where the hybrid mare was hiding. Due to the sheer speed, the box begin to spin really fast with her inside. Soon, it launched to somewhere, where the spinning took a while before losing its momentum, where the earth pony hybrid came out with a sick expression.
"Nrgh...What just happened?" She asked, when the mare felt her stomach being shaken and stirred. "God, I need to throw up..." The hybrid became green and soon threw up in a Bush. After which, she laid down on the ground, in order to rest a bit.
"Damn...could this day get any weirder?" The mare asked, when unsettling sounds can be heard from the forest. Upon further inspection, the forest emitted a negative aura to anyone close to it.
"Ugh...this forest is surely spooky as hell... I don't know, if I even have the guts to enter." She shook a bit in fear. But after some convincing, she decided to swallow her fears and enter this spooky forest.
"Hello? Anybody?" The hybrid mare muttered, while looking around the fog. The spooky figures were looming all around the forest, all while sounds of owls and other animals can be heard. This forest came exactly out of a horror movie. Suddenly, the mare got scared by a scream.
"Hell no! I'm outta here!!" She was about to leave, when she heard another scream, but this time, it didn't belong to the forest.
"SOMEBODY, HELP ME!!!!" The earth pony/ dog mare heard it loud and clearly. What's worse is, she recognized the voice almost immediately.
"Shit! Hold on, pal! I'm coming!!!" She ran as fast as she could, in order to find the source of the scream, in other words, a pony in peril.
And that pony in peril turned out to be a navy blue pegasus mare with blond mane and a crimson lightning bolt, being chased by a creature, known as a Chimera. She tried to run faster and faster, but due to the thick fog, she soon got disoriented and crashed her head to a tree, where she soon lost consciousness.
"Don't worry, little one. The pain wouldn't take long, while we are feasting on your flesh..." The tiger head was about to bite her, when all of a sudden, it got hit by a log.
"What was that!? Show yourself!!" The tiger head was enraged and looked around, alongside the other heads.
"Hey, stinky! Over there!" A female voice can be heard. The Chimera looked around to find the source of the voice.
"I'm over there, furballs!" The same voice can be heard, but on the other side. Little did they know, that the voice came from the hybrid mare, who was taunting the creature. Chuckling, she continued to go to different spots and call the Chimera out, further confusing the creatures. Due to the fog, it was a perfect opportunity to find the unconscious pegasus mare and took off. Unfortunately, the Chimera spotted the two ponies escaping and gave them chase.
"GET THEM!!!" The snake head was focused on the hybrid mare carrying the pegasus.
"Ah shit...it looks like, I pissed them off... This is gonna be a long afternoon..." she sighed.
The chase kept on going, all while they dodged obstacles and not losing speed. However, it seems like the Chimera was slowly catching up to the two. It seems like, hope is lost, when she saw two trees standing at a tight distance. With no choice, she jumped through the trees, all while making sure, not letting go of the unconscious mare. The creature on the other hand, due to its size, got stuck.
"Haha! So, who's the helpless creature now, huh?" The hybrid laughed, but soon dodged at the snake head trying to bite her. The snake head tried to hypnotise the mare. "Come closer....I promise not to hurt you and your friend..."
"Do you think, you can try to get me with that?" It turned out, that the hybrid had her eyes closed the whole time, thus protecting her from the hypnotic snake. "So long, suckers!" She took off with the pegasus.
"Ok, now I need a way to get out of that spooky ass forest. But which one?" The earth pony hybrid asked and tried to take several paths, hoping that one of them lead them to an exit. It consisted a lot of trial and error, due to the fog being really thick and that each wrong path contain horrid creatures, that they thankfully escaped. There was even one point, where she ran in circles, as she encounted the Chimera still stuck between the trees. After a lot of frustration and a lot of wrong guesses later, they've managed to get out of the forest and went close to a river.
"Phew, close call." She put the unconscious mare down to the ground and looked around for essentials, in order to treat a head concussion. During the search, she found a rag and took it with her. She then made the rag wet and cold and placed it on the head of the blue pegasus.
"Huh, I guess, I became smarter too. I like it." She said, since her new found intelligence were the key of saving their lives from the creatures.
After a long while of waiting and guarding, the blue mare woke up. Her sight was slightly dazed from the concussion.
"Hey, Sissy! Are you okay?" The hybrid looked at her. As soon as the pegasus' sight got sharper, she clearly saw the hybrid and instantly recognized her as her friend, Missy. However, the mare screamed at the sight, in which caused Missy to scream too...and then Sissy passed out.
"Ah, jeez..." the hybrid mare facepalmed and carried the unconscious pegasus closer to the river. She used her paws to collect some water and splash her friend in her face. Because of the cold water, she was immediately woken up.
"Wha? What the? Missy, what happened to you!? You look so strange!" Sissy had so many questions in her head, that needed to be answered immediately.
"Well, it's a funny story." Missy recounted her story of why she became a hybrid.
Ponyville, yesterday...
"Somehow, that portal, that we used, made us separate each other. I ended up arriving near a village.
It showed Missy in her original dog form, falling from a portal near Ponyville. She looked around in this new unknown world. She walked around, only to see ponies everywhere. Ponies doing their jobs, all while fillies and colts played each other fun games.
"I arrived into a world full of ponies!"
The discovery caused the dog to panic, especially without her friend. So she decided to find her by any means necessary. Either by looking for clues or trying to communicate with the other ponies, but they assume, she was a stray.
"Trust me, I looked for you the entire day! And I have to survive at the same time! It was pretty much a battle, not gonna lie. Although, there were kind ponies, who gave me some food and water.
We see some ponies giving her some food and water, so at least she wouldn't starve or suffer from thirst. Even in the night, she kept trying, even howling for confirmation, that Sissy must be somewhere. After feeling weak and tired from the search, she went into a dark alley, where she slept in some garbage.
"Eventually, I was tired...So I had no choice, but to sleep for the next try tomorrow."
The next day...
The female dog woke up and continued her search for her owner. She looked around in places, she missed ot never been there before, when she came across Twilight's Castle.
"It was at this time, I came across a Crystal Tree. But not any crystal tree. It had elements of a castle and looked beautiful. Trust me, once you saw that, your eyes would shine by its beauty. Anyway, hoping to find clues, I went inside, looking around in every room."
She looked around in every single room, without being detected. However, each attempt would leave her empty-handed. When she looked around the Library, the dog discovered something: Potions. Particularly a purple one.
"Naturally, because I was less smarter than I currently am, needless to say...I became curious. And then, an owl came by..."
She jumped to the table and looked closer at the potion, when the sound of an owl can be heard and an owl can be seen watching. Because she was a full dog, her instincts told her to chase the owl. A full cat and mouse like chase scene ensued, in which a lot of chaos was caused. The biggest one is when Missy was trying to jump on the table, where the owl was standing. With no other option, it pushed the potion down to the dog and straight to her mouth, causing her to drink the entire potion. After that misadventure, she ran away from the castle and back to the alley, where she got into the pile for some rest.
"It tasted like shit, not gonna lie. After that chase, I ran off and back to the alley. Because the chase used up my energy, I went back to the pile of junk and fell asleep."
After a while, she was awoken by the Cutie Mark Crusaders and tried to communicate with them. It was at this time, where she felt a massive difference.
"When I woke up, I noticed that not only I've grown twice the size of the original and being able to speak, but also the potion had make me smarter.
And then the whole event from several hours ago played out: Missy discovering her new self, finding her friend, etc.
Present time...
"I swear, if it wasn't for my new found intellect, then you would've been dead by the hands...or rather paws...of that damn Chimera!" The hybrid finished her story.
"Whoa...I don't know, what to say honestly." Sissy was speechless. She couldn't believe, that not only did her dog became more mutated, she saved her life because of that.
"Now here is my question: Why did you decide to go to this world and take me along?" Missy asked.
"Well, I have my own reasons..." Sissy looked down. "But first, we have to find him."
"We could ask some ponies for directions, but I'm not sure, if they would be okay with this." Missy pointed to herself, since her form was completely different to other ponies.
"I don't know. But we have to try." The blue pegasus responded.
"If you say so..." the hybrid sighed and the two went off.
Cosmic Blaze returned to his home after a day of games. But something doesn't seem right to him, like they're hiding something from the navy colt.
"Jeez. What's up with them? They kept a bright smile on their faces and ignoring my questions..." he mumbled, as he was on his way to his room, when the door to their room was open. Filled with curiosity, the pegasus colt went inside. It was filled with a some stuff. Daring Do books, toys, etc. Nothing out of the ordinary.
"Nothing strange here. I mean, I also have those Daring Do books. At least some of them..." he noted. He looked around, but nothing indicated of a secret. Exhausted, the pegasus sat down on Johnny's bed.
"Man, is there anything, that points out a secret?" He sighed and lied down, when he felt something uncomfortable under the pillow. By putting the pillow aside, he found the blue diary.
"What's this?" He picked it up. It was new to him. "Usually, my mom and dad wouldn't allow me to read into diaries out of privacy, but since they're not here and I need answers...." the young colt opened the diary, in order to know. The content was pretty disturbing for any young pony to read. Mentions of abuse, self-harm, burnout and depression were featured in a lot of the entries. An uneasy feeling creeped up to the young pegasus, as he looked at the several pages.
"That's so messed up! Who wrote this?" He asked. But the diary didn't mention the name of the owner whatsoever, making this mystery even more confusing. Wanting to find even more answers, Cosmic Blaze took the diary and headed off.
Of course, he had to hide from other ponies, so they wouldn't question him. The young pegasus kept going and going, until he came across the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who happened to help other fillies and colts find their destinies. Recognising them from an event shortly after he moved to Ponyville, the navy colt dropped the diary in a Bush and went to them.
"Hey, crusaders! Remember me?" Cosmic Blaze smiled.
At first, the fillies were confused, but after looking at his face, they recognized him.
"Hey! Aren't you the pegasus, who moved into Equestria?" Scootaloo asked, but with a nod from the colt confirms it. "How's your new life in Ponyville so far?"
"Well, it was quite a ride. A lot of things happened to adjust my new life, like a new school and new ponies, I barely know of. But it also brought out some cool moments, like a new park for me to explore and recently, my mom and dad introduced me to my new big brother! Like isn't that awesome?" Cosmic Blaze told them what happened, after he moved in.
"It seems like, you love this place." Sweetie Belle smiled.
"But, recently there are some secrets, that mom and dad didn't tell me. Heck, when I try to ask them of why, they would find an excuse like expanding the family. Now, I have some evidence in form of this diary." Cosmic Blaze went back and picked up the diary from the bushes, in order to show it to them.
"Do you have an idea, who this belongs?" Scootaloo asked.
"No idea. There is no mention about the name." Cosmic Blaze answered with a sigh.
"But this is someone's diary! You would be in big trouble, if your parents found out about this!" Sweetie Belle was not happy about his decision. "I suggest, you should return it now."
"But if I return it, I will never know the mystery of the whole abuse stuff!" The navy pegasus tried to defend his actions, but that didn't convince the crusaders.
"Why not just read it yourselves?" The pegasus colt threw the diary on the ground in a fit of rage.
"Like I said, we will never-" Unfortunately, Sweetie Belle wasn't able to finish, as Scootaloo started to read the diary.
"Uhm, Girls?" The orange pegasus filly looked at her friends and pointed at the content of the diary. Soon, Apple Bloom started to read it and it sent down a chill in her spine. Eventually, Sweetie Belle, whose curiosity got the better of her, started to read, only to be given a negative aura from it.
"Oh my goodness.." Sweetie Belle was horrified.
"Exactly...." Scootaloo agreed.
"You see, what I mean by messed up stuff?" Cosmic Blaze responded with a straight face.
"Whoever wrote this, must been through a lot..." Apple Bloom felt sorry.
"Those ruffians...Why would they do this?!" Sweetie Belle was in tears.
"No idea. But, I have yet to find the clues to that answer." Cosmic Blaze held the diary close.
"We will help you." Scootaloo and her friends joined.
"That's cool. Together, we will get to the bottom of this!" Cosmic Blaze smiled and went off with the Crusaders. They went around, finding for some clues of this mystery. They went on asking some ponies, but somehow, they knew about the story, thus confirming the young ponies.
"That's odd. Everypony knew the story." Sweetie Belle questioned.
"I know, right? Like someone told the story to them earlier. Here is the thing, did anyone told you about it?" The navy colt asked to the fillies.
"No. Mah family never told me about it." Apple Bloom shook her head.
"Rarity didn't tell me about it either." Sweetie Belle answered.
"I had no idea, since my aunts didn't tell me at all. Like what?" Scootaloo scratched her head.
"Weird..." He thought to himself.
On a beautiful scenery with a cascading waterfall and beautiful flowers, Jillian ran to the fields exhausted and completely messed up. She stood there in silence, as the sunray's shimmer through the clear waters and hitting the waterfalls, creating rainbows. However, it didn't make her happy. In fact, she is not happy at all. After suppressing her emotions for so long and the wounds of the past still being fresh, the pink unicorn finally broke down and burst into tears. Her cries became louder and more broken, as she let all of her emotions out. Later, she heard two voices, calling her by name. Looking back, she saw Fluttershy and Discord running towards her.
"Jillian, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, but got no response from the broken unicorn.
"Uhm, you dropped these." Discord pulled her hairband and necklace out of nowhere and was about to give them back to her. But Jillian looked away.
"I don't need them...They're basically a reminder of the past... Dad has really gone too far...Ignoring my wishes, oppressing my every thoughts, watching every step and eventually.....taking my mom away from me... You don't know, how much it fucking hurts!!!!!" She yelled, but that didn't phase the two and the heroine of Kindness hugged the mare.
"You need to move on...." the pegasus softly spoke.
"How? It's very hard to do so..." the unicorn looked down.
"I know your pain...being isolated and oppressed is awful. However, that doesn't mean, that your life is over. All you need to do is to let go and focus on the present." Fluttershy spoke.
"It's true. I've been there. When Princess Celestia gave me second chance, I was unsure about the future. Considering my past actions were...let's just say...not morally correct. Everyone hated me, because of those. I was so close to give up, if it wasn't for Fluttershy. She gave me second chance and even helped me rehabilitate, thus changing my destiny. Sure, I still like to spread chaos, but not for evil purposes anymore. It took a long time to get used of the new lifestyle and move on from the past. What I mean is, it's never too late to let go from the past and change your destiny!" Said Discord and together with the butter-yellow pegasus friend, they hugged the unicorn mare and comforted her with embrace. After a while, Jillan slowly regained her confidence and stood up.
"You're right. All I need to do is to forget everything about the past and start over." As her hair is moving from the wind, Jillian had a serious look on her face. "One moment." She teleport away.
"I wonder, what she'll do." Fluttershy wondered, all while Discord, who is holding the necklace and the hair band, had and idea and made these into a nest. "Does that count as a nest?" He gave it to Fluttershy.
"We have to give It to the birds." She answered and both left.
Meanwhile, Jillian teleported somewhere near Ponyville, where she found a pair of scissors laying on the ground. She thought of finding the owner and give it back, but she had a different idea. She went to a cliffside and used her magic to grab her hair and positioned the scissors close to it. She remembered the words, Fluttershy and Discord gave to her, as well as some positive moments with Johnny, Dukey and a few others, before doing the deed. Streaks of hair can be seen falling down.
Back in Canterlot, Cosmic Blaze and the fillies were arriving at the Canterlot Castle, looking around, when the navy pegasus colt found a microphone, which was connected to the speakers. At the same time, the crusaders went to him.
"Did you find something?" Scootaloo asked.
"I found a microphone. Not related to the mystery, but..." He held the microphone tightly.
"Uhm, Cosmic? What are you doing?" Sweetie Belle asked, but to no response. Other than putting the diary down, the colt didn't say anything.
"Cosmic, what are you doing??" Apple Bloom asked him loudly, but again no response.
"Something's not right..." Scootaloo felt uneasy.
"Me too.." Sweetie Belle was scared.
Cosmic held the microphone close fo his mouth and opened the diary to the first page. His mind is now set on something, but he didn't want to tell anyone. He turned the microphone on and was, breathed in and was about to say something, when suddenly....
"NOOOOO!!!!"
They looked back, only to see High Velocity, Sweet Serenity and Applejack running towards to them.
"Apple Bloom! What are y'all doing?!" Applejack was not happy to her young sister.
"Trying to find out, who wrote the stories.." the earth pony filly confessed.
"There is no need to!" High Velocity responded.
"Everyone knew the story, because me and my friends...told them a few days ago. " the orange mare confessed.
"Why!?" Cosmic Blaze demanded answers. But Applejack took a deep breath and responded with: "To help him...the pony, who wrote the diary and suffering an agonising pain of abuse and hatred...." Suddenly, they heard a voice, interrupting Applejack.
"...is me..." It came from Johnny, who happened to overhear the conversation and, knowing that the truth was inevitable, he confessed. "That's right. I wrote the diary, because of the abuse. In fact, I don't originate from Equestria at all."
"Are you serious?" Cosmic Blaze was in disbelief, but Sweet Serenity silently nodded.
"Yes...In fact, the story is the reason, why we adopted him...to give him a happy life and a happy family.....something, that lacked back in his original world... I don't want him to fall into the same fate, like my sister...I'm sorry, if the story broke you...I didn't have the courage to tell you, because I was scared...." The unicorn mare soon cried.
At first, Cosmic Blaze was silent, which sent them alarming signals to his parents. But then...
"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier? I would've helped him. Plus...the story reminded me of a time, I lost a friend because of those bullies..." He looked down. That statement threw the couple off guard.
"There was a time, I was bullied by some jerks, just because I was a blank flank. My friend was also bullied as well. However I didn't tell you, because they threatened me, that if I told them, then they would hurt me even more or even kill me....Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore and left....I found out about his deed from his mom. I was devastated, yet scared...Later, it got worse, until someone interviewed. A brave filly, telling them to get lost and helped me getting back up. Eventually, thanks to her, I became stronger and stronger. I stood up to the bullies and told them to the teachers and some cops. Thankfully, they got what they deserved." He explained his story.
"Oh dear...." Sweetie Belle was touched.
"Oh my goodness...My poor baby..." Sweet Serenity hugged her son in tears, much to his irritation.
"Mom...." He sighed.
"At least, you had someone saving you. If we have the chance of meeting her, we'll thank her for saving you." The neon pegasus smiled.
"Yeah. She was definitely brave." Johnny smiled as well.
"If you wonder, who she is. Well, her name is Golden Heart." Cosmic Blaze added.
It was around the same time, that Twilight and her friends, as well as Dukey, came to the group.
"I swear, if someone tries to hurt you, I'll protect you and even give them a piece of my mind and some butt whooping." Johnny wrapped his wing around his adoptive little brother.
"Hey, what did I miss?" Pinkie Pie was confused.
"It's quite a doozy." High Velocity scratched his head and explained, what happened.
"Wow. That was....quite an afternoon." Dukey was dumbfounded and everyone laughed.
"Together, we will be a strong family." Sweet Serenity smiled and hugged her husband, her son and her adoptive sons in embrace.
Pinkie was about to cry at the sight, when Twilight gave her a box of tissues. The peppy pony grabbed it and used the tissues to wipe her tears away.
The other ponies, headed by Gil, BBB and the hippogriff hybrids in black went to them and smiled.
"The preparations went very well. All we need is some entertainers." Mr. Black reported.
"I can think of Songbird Serenade, since it was planned for her to appear." Twilight assumed.
"Who?" The ponies were confused. They had no idea, who Songbird Serenade is. But before Twilight can explain, Spike ran to her with a letter. The alicorn princess grabbed the letter and started to read it.
"What!?!" Twilight was shocked.
"What's up?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Well, Songbird's planned appearance was scrapped, due to a controversy..." Twilight explained.
"What controversy?" Rarity asked.
"I....don't know. There aren't any details about it." The princess of Friendship answered.
"That's great! Who's gonna fill her spot!?" Rainbow Dash was frustrated.
"I can think of one. I've heard, that a band of four stallions, named 'Star Time Rush', needed a spot for their concert." Spike suggested.
"I'll contact them!" Twilight teleported away.
"Hey, guys!" A voice can be heard and it came from Jillian, but her look was different. Her hair is now short and is wearing a new golden necklace with gems and pearls and even a new headpiece.
Everyone was stunned by her new appearance. Gil was basically frozen especially.
"Whoa....Jillian...you look..different." Johnny was speechless.
"I decided to start over and let go from my past. And what better way to do that is with a new look." The pink unicorn smiled.
"Speaking of which..." Starlight was reminded and gave High Velocity and Sweet Serenity a box. Once they opened it, they found a dream catcher inside.
"What's this?" High Velocity asked.
"It's a dream catcher. It allows to let the good dreams through and catch the bad ones." Mr. Harm answered.
"It would be good to at least help them to sleep well." Starlight added.
"I think, it's a good idea. We'll hang it in their room." Sweet Serenity agreed.
After Eugene slapped Gil back to reality, the group were about to go to the centre of Canterlot to spend the remaining afternood, when suddenly.
"Hey, Test!"
Johnny groaned, as he instantly recognized the voice. And fair enough, when everyone looked to the left, they saw Sissy...being out of breath.
"What do you want?" He snarled. "Did you came here for revenge? To make fun of me? To at least humiliate me for something, I did!?!?" He always interrupted the pegasus mare of saying something. Eventually, she lost her patience and snapped.
"JUST GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!!!!" She yelled. "I did not come her to humiliate you or anything...."
"Then what is it!?" Johnny soon got angry, but BBB assumed with: "She is trying to redeem herself with an apology. That's the most likely answer."
"What!? Are you serious?" The black pegasus was in denial, but this is when the dark blue pegasus confessed her reason.
"He's right." She responded.
Porkbelly, a few days ago...
We see Sissy walking around the town, when news of Johnny's disappearance got out and spread like wildfire. At first, she was in disbelief and thought that it was only a prank.
"When I found out, that you vanished, I didn't believe in those news, assuming that you were pulling off a prank."
She ignored it and continued her day as usual, but something was definitely missing from her. Even Missy felt the same thing, since Dukey also disappeared at the same time as Johnny.
"Well...on the outside it seems. It's a different story on the inside, like something is missing."
The next day, she used her skateboard to traverse around the area, when she bumped into Eugene, who happened to take a walk.
"Ow!" She groaned in pain.
"Hey, watch where you going!" The young rich kid rubbed his head. The girl noticed the flyers scattered on the ground, which were missing posters.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Don't you see? Helping out the search for Johnathan, duh!" He responded.
"Why would anyone see this as a big deal? It's probably just an elaborate prank from him. I'm pretty sure, at any point, he would say 'Gotcha!' To everyone." Sissy shrugged. But Eugene didn't buy it, since he got dark.
"You don't even have a clue of what's going on..." He snarled.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sissy felt uneasy, during which her dog growled.
"You'll see...the truth will be very ugly..." the rich boy left, leaving the two confused.
"Back then, I had no idea, what it meant..."
"Weird..." She sighed and continued riding on her skateboard with Missy following her almost immediately.
"...until that fateful day."
A few days later...
The blonde girl was playing with her phone in a park, with Missy playing with other dogs. Everything was normal, until her phone started to glitch. Confused and dumbfounded, she tried to fix the issue, but with no success. Suddenly, a video started to play. After the introduction from a being called "The Shadow", a compilation of Johnny being abused, hurt, shouted and blamed on a daily basis, including the recent footage of his parents trapping Dukey and giving him to a guy from the animal shelter.
"Oh my god...no...this can't be real! This has to be some sort of sick joke!" Sissy was still in denial. She hoped, that Johnny would jump out and shout "Gotcha!" At her for that prank. Unfortunately, it didn't happen and it got worse, where the second video started to play. Same abuse here, except it's in his school and he's being bullied with nobody helping him. What caught her eye was in some footage, she was seen as one of the many students making the problem worse. At this point, everything came crashing down to her.
When Missy came back and noticed her owner being in a state of shock, she tried to comfort her, but the whole shock and guilt caused the girl to scream loudly. A scream so loud, that it caused a minor earthquake.
Many people noticed her scream and gathered around her. Unfortunately, since many people watched the second video, they instantly recognized the girl and started to shout and throw stones at her.
"You monster!" One citizen shouted loudly.
Sissy took her dog and ran away from the crowd. However, she kept getting attacked by shouts, insults and stones from angry people. The amount of pain and humiliation started to increase very quickly. Soon, she couldn't get the insults from her head, all while dodging the people, some of them tried to take Missy away from her. Eventually, the girl just couldn't take it anymore and ran as fast as she could, leaving Porkbelly hurt and in tears. As soon she arrived in a deserted area, she broke down in tears. Missy, also hurt from the stones, tried to comfort her.
"I'm sorry, Missy....but I just can't take it anymore..." Her blue eyes were filled with tears.
"I was so ashamed and humiliated to even go back to Porkbelly. Even to my mom, since she would be so disappointed of me because of the actions...At this point, there is no return in this one..."
Missy barked and hopped on her lap, hoping her comfort would at least cheer her up. It kinda worked, but it was a hollow feeling. It was around this time, she saw a group of people with moles and bees heading to a base. It turned out, she was close to Area 51.1! Out of curiosity, the girl picked up her dog and ran inside, while of course hiding from everyone. After looking around, she overheard a countdown, she assumed, it was a bomb. But Missy jumped out and went to the source: A portal counting down. Sissy followed her and at first, she was confused as of why her dog brought her here. But when she saw the display, showing Johnny's current location: Equestria.
"When I saw the information, that you're in a place, called 'Equestria', suddenly, a decision was made..."
"Missy...I think, it's time." She picked her dog up and started to dash in a blur. As the countdown almost reached zero, she managed to jump into the portal at the very last millisecond.
Equestria, present
"The reason, why I came here is to say.....I'm sorry...." Sissy was in tears, when she looked at Johnny. "I was such an idiot....not knowing my actions or inactions would cause consequences... and I didn't realise until it was too late..."
Johnny didn't say a single word. He was still sceptical to her, given the circumstances. But Eugene and Rarity didn't share the scepticism.
"We are truly sorry for the whole ordeal, you've been through. But me and my friends will help you find some forgiveness and also happiness." The white unicorn smiled and grabbed the navy mare's hoof.
"Rarity!!" Johnny shouted, but his ear was pulled by BBB, via his unicorn magic.
"Hey! Give her some time to prove herself for redemption!!" Eugene was not happy about the black pegasus' behaviour.
"Wait, where's Missy?" Dukey asked. That was until he heard a voice: "Over there, mutt!" When the stallion hybrid looked around, he saw her, being turned into a hybrid as well. Needless to say, the amount of shock and disbelief made Dukey faint.
"Oh come on!!" Missy was annoyed. She grabbed a nearby bucket of water and threw it to the brown earth pony hybrid, waking him up. "Seriously, you are just as dramatic as ever..."
"What did you say?!?!" Dukey growled, but Applejack broke up the two, before a fight even began.
"Alright, y'all need to stop!!" She shouted.
"Did she too became mutated?" He wanted an answer from this question.
"Well, idk. I drank a portion and than this happened!" Missy answered.
At the same time, Twilight returned.
"Okay, everypony. What's going on- W-WHAT!!??!" When she saw the hybrid mare, her jaw dropped.
"Here we go again..." Spike sighed.
She inspected the hybrid very closely, even to the smallest detail of change. Much to Missy's annoyance. Eventually, she came up with a conclusion: the hybrid potion was a success!
"It worked!! You are a hybrid! But I don't know, which one you drank..." Twilight didn't know, which version is the one.
"Twilight, do you remember the colors of the potions?" Starlight asked.
"I do! Green means temporary and purple means....oh dear. SHE DRANK THE PERMANENT ONE!!!!" The princess was in absolute shock and shouted. But since she was too close to Missy, she shoved the purple alicorn away.
"Get away from me!! Jesus Christ...." she growled.
"Uhm...how do you feel?" Zizrar asked to Missy, in which she responded: "Much smarter and more sassy. Since it's a permanent one, I have to get used to it. I mean, hell! I saved her life for crying out loud!"
Tensions rise between Johnny and Dukey and Sissy and Missy. Rainbow Dash and Applejack groaned.
"Okay, that's enough!" Twilight used her magic to separate the duos away.
"This has been quite an interesting afternoon." The General marked.
"Yep." The men in black agreed.
"Let's just go to sleep! It has been quite a messy day! Besides, we'll sort it out tomorrow." Jillian commented.
"Good point." Starlight agreed.
"Sweetie, I have put a dream catcher in your room, which would keep the bad dreams away." Sweet Serenity told to Johnny about the dream catcher.
"Not sure, if that would work.." Johnny was unsure.
"Princess Luna helped us creating that special dream catcher." Twilight noted.
"Besides, different world, different rules. Right?" Gil asked.
"We'll see about that." BBB answered.
"Hang on, where will we live?" Missy asked.
"We'll manage." Rarity answered.
"Let's all just hope for the nightmare to be over with..." Fluttershy hoped.
"We all do hope, Fluttershy. We all do." Dr. Beebles also hoped for a happy ending.
Meanwhile, in a maximum security prison in a different universe...
Everything was as usual. All prisoners were sleeping with the guards guarding them without any fail.
Suddenly, the alarm went off. The guards went to the cause, only to see two prisoners trying to escape.
"They're trying to escape! Stop right here!!!" A guard shouted and pointed his weapon at them. What they didn't know, is that their powers got increased somehow and managed to overpower the guards, knocking then off like bowling pins. They ran to a wall, breaking it through and soon, they escaped prison.
Why would they escape? What is their motive? I don't know, but I have an uneasy feeling about this.....
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 11: Reliving the Nightmare | In the night of Ponyville, Johnny was still awake in his bed, looking at the dream catcher, that his new mom hung it up. At first, he was unsure if it would work, since if it was back in Porkbelly, it would be nothing but a gimmick. But since he is now in Equestria, where not only magic exists, but also in many forms, maybe it could work. Plus, it contained some magic from Princess Luna, who's basically watching over the dreams.
"Alright, here goes nothing." He looked at Dukey for one more time, before falling asleep. During which, the dream catcher emitted a soft glow, thanks to the magic.
Meanwhile, in Canterlot.
Luna was standing outside the balcony, praying that with the special dream catcher would help them sleep.
"I hope, this would work. I put a bit of my magic in it." Luna hoped.
And so, everything was quiet in Equestria. But little did anyone know, is a lingering force of ancient evil is hiding for a perfect time to strike...
In an different universe, the two prisoners were still on the run from the police, who were trying to arrest them again.
"Stop right there, criminals!!!" A cop was aiming a gun at them. The plan was not to shoot them, but only scare them off so much, they would stop. But since the duo wouldn't stop, he tried to shoot. However they dodged all of the bullets. It was at this point during the chase, that one of them threw a rock at one of the cops, hitting him in the head.
"Dick! We need reinforcements! Over!" The other male cop told to his communication device to the station.
As the chase went to the centre of the city, the two went faster and faster, while trying to shake off from the cops. On the other sides, the roads were blocked by a the police officers and the military.
"Attention, officers! Make sure, they don't cross over the barrier!" The chief's voice can be heard from the transmitter.
"Don't worry, chief. With all of our units, helicopters and barriers, there is no way for them to go under us, around or through us. Ha!" The officer was confident about the barrier. When they saw the runaway prisoners running towards them. They prepared their weapons, in hopes to make them stop. But to everyone's surprise and shock, the prisoners began to jump really high, even over the helicopters and especially dodging the blades. Eventually, they reached the other side and continued running.
"Well, at least they didn't go under, around or through us...heheheh." the police officer laughed nervously at the fail. Meanwhile, two police officers were sighing in disbelief, when the prison uniforms fell on them
"Ah jeez... We have to get them, while being naked..." He sighed.
"The chief would be thrilled about the situation.." The woman had a straight face.
In the police station..
"Uhm, Alpha 1 to base, the barrier didn't work at all." The voice of the officer can be heard from the communication system of the headquarters.
"What?! Don't tell me, they escaped!" The chief was furious, but a confirmation from the officer basically answered his question.
"Damn you, assholes! I'll get you, one way or another..." He slammed his fist on his table in anger.
Back to the chase, the prisoners were still running from the cops. At this point, even the helicopters were present to help the cops. The duo looked around for a way out. Hell, they even tried to slow them down by ripping off the fire hydrants and even throwing some rocks at them. It made them slow down a bit, but not enough. Eventually, they had to hide by jumping to bushes, while the cops were distracted. By the time, they got through the obstacles, the criminals were gone.
"Hey, where did they go?" A policewoman asked.
"I have no idea, pal." A male officer shrugged.
The police looked around the entire city for them, not knowing that the two had already vanished into the shadows.
As the morning sun arrived in Ponyville, everyone was awaken by the welcoming warmth and light. Including the family of Cosmic Blaze, who was waking up feeling fresh.
"Man, I'm charged for some fun!" The navy colt was smiling, when he went to his parents, who were preparing for breakfast.
"Good morning, Blaze!" High Velocity smiled.
"Morning, dad! I hope, my bro gets better." The little colt hoped.
"We all do. Your mother hung a dream catcher in his room as a way to help them." The neon pegasus responded.
Eventually, Johnny and Dukey came to the family, looking better.
"Morning, guys." The black pegasus yawned.
"Good morning, sweetie! Did the dream catcher help you with your sleep?" The baby blue unicorn mare asked.
"Surprisingly, it worked." Johnny responded.
"That great to hear. The magic from Princess Luna did bring some wonders." She smiled.
"However, we have to keep going on helping you. I mean the trauma is far from over." High Velocity reminded.
"We know." Dukey nodded and the duo sat down on the table for the breakfast.
After the breakfast, the duo put their scarfs on and went outside for a new day without nightmares. Meanwhile, Sissy and Missy were walking around. The blue pegasus mare was worried, since that fateful day.
"What's wrong?" Missy asked.
"I don't know, Missy...It's just...the guilt is still haunting me, ever since I watched the videos." Sissy sighed.
"Like that rich kid said, you wanted to redeem yourself. So, you need to take the first steps. Like asking a friend for advice." The hybrid suggested.
"I think, there was a pony named "Rarity". Maybe we should go to her." Missy said to her friend.
"Maybe.." the pegasus is thinking.
The two mares asked some ponies as of where Rarity lives and they responded, that she is working and living in the Carousel Boutique. And after given directions from the village residents, they arrived their destination: an elegant looking boutique.
"Wow. It surely looks interesting." The earth pony hybrid was stunned.
"I know right?" The pegasus agreed and knocked on the door. After a while of waiting, the door opened and Rarity went outside.
"Welcome to the Carousel Boutique, where all beautiful clothes be made in all elegance! How can I help you?" The white unicorn smiled.
"Uhm, Rarity...is that correct? I need some advice. To apologize Test for being a jerk and at least earn his forgiveness?" Sissy looked at the beautiful mare.
"Oh! You wanted to make amends and need my help! Of course I can. I mean, you told me about your story and I was appalled by Johnny's reaction!" Rarity groaned.
"Yeah, he acted like an asshole. That's for sure." Missy sighed.
"Please come inside." Rarity went inside with the ladies following shortly after. Inside of the boutique, the two were awestruck by the amount of beautiful dresses and suits.
"Whoa. You made those?" Missy asked.
"Of course, sweetie! It was made by the most beautiful fabrics and sparkling jewels! All made in the name of fashion!" Rarity was proud of her achievements.
"If there is a prom or something, I would imagine myself wearing a cool dress." The hybrid smiled. But Sissy had important matters to do.
"Anyway! I need help on apologising Test, okay!?" The pegasus mare was impatient.
"Okay, I will help you. But please be patient!" Rarity sighed in annoyance.
"You gotta need to work on your attitude and your patience, girl. I mean, jeez..." Missy commented about the blue mare's behaviour, which resulted in a sigh from her friend.
At the centre, Rarity used her magic to put a mirror in front of the blond mare. "Okay, try to exercise about your approach." She responded.
"Does that mean, talking to the mirror and pretend, it's Johnny?" Sissy asked. In which Rarity responded: "Of course. You need to at least try to let go from your fear, darling."
The pegasus mare took a deep breath and started to have a conversation in front of the mirror.
"Hey, Test. L-look, I know I did a lot of fuck-ups in my life and I didn't realise, that those would be your downfall, until it was too late..S..so, I just want to say is...I'm...I'm...uhm.." Unfortunately, it seems like Sissy is really struggling to say "I'm sorry". After all, she had a rivalry with Johnny back in Porkbelly and that rivalry alone caused some bad blood. After struggling for words, she groaned and stomped on the ground.
"Are you okay, darling?" Rarity was concerned, but Sissy just couldn't stop. It was around this time, that BBB came inside and when he witnessed Sissy eventually breaking down, the obese stallion sighed.
"Let me guess, still struggling to say 'I'm sorry', due to the bad blood?" He assumed, but received no answer from the pegasus. Not even Missy would give an answer, because much like her, she also had a rivalry with Dukey before, which means that the outcome was identical.
"Hmm...it seems like, those two have a problem. Miss Rarity, I think they need more help on overcoming the bad blood and their fears." He commented.
"Why do you think, Missy has the same problem?" Rarity asked out of curiosity, in which the snobby stallion replied: "Much like how Johnathan and his dog can be seen as brothers, those two also have a special bond like sisters. They pretty much do the same thing, which unfortunately includes the rivalry between the girls and the boys. I've known this, thanks to not only Johnathan, but also from spying. Don't ask. That was one from the past actions, involving about a girl, I will never mention here. Anyway, what I mean is their bad blood to the guys and the fact that it took so long, would make it harder for them for changes. So I suggest to get more help from your friends, so at least they can make this situation easier."
"You're right. I think, I need to tell my friends about the situation!" With those words, the curly-haired unicorn mare ran off, leaving the other mares looking down.
"Hey. It will get better. You just need to adjust yourselves." BBB told to the two for motivation, even though he was well aware about the problem and their silence. As to be expected, he heard sighs from the girls. So, he and Rarity have to work even harder.
In the skies, the black pegasus was soaring through the skies. Ever since his arrival and Rainbow teaching him, his skills got better. Now, he can fly without any problems...at least, what he sees. Twilight, who was watching with Rainbow Dash, knew that he has yet to work on a few kinks. Especially with his alicorn-like wings. Eventually, when Johnny landed on a cloud, Twilight had to judge his skills in order for him to improve.
"Your flying skills has since been improved, I'm impressed. You also got better with the basics and the balance. There is just one more thing, you really have to work on: And that is coordination. Especially with your unique wings." Twilight made a critic, while looking at his gradient wings.
"Buddy, I just want to fly. Not learning about shit like coordination.." Johnny groaned, but Rainbow Dash knew better.
"The thing is, coordination is key for perfect flying. I mean, I learnt that from the Wonderbolts. Otherwise, you would crash down. " Rainbow Dash commented about her experience. "Yeah, flying is cool and wanting to be fast is awesome, but you have to check on your ego. I learnt that the hard way. Trust me."
Johnny was confused. Not surprisingly really, since he is still a kid and he has yet to learn about maturity and the value of life. And the mares knew it well.
"You have a long way to learn about growing up, right?" Rainbow asked.
"No shit, Rainbow. I'm still a kid." Johnny shrugged.
"Don't worry. We will help you make your journey easier." Twilight smiled.
"Besides, if you have any problems, talk to us and we will squash them!" Rainbow smirked. That claim made the black pegasus laugh.
"You girls are surely quite nice, you know?" He scratched his head.
"Thanks!" Twilight giggled.
"Anyway, shall we continue on your training?" Rainbow asked, while spreading her wings.
"I can't say no to that!" He smirked and said the same thing. Together, the two pegasi flew off with Twilight watching.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Dukey was watching the skies with binoculars. He saw the two flying and smiled, knowing that they're one step closer to normality and peace. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie came out of nowhere and looked very close at the binoculars.
"Hi!" Pinkie Pie grinned. However that sudden appearance from the peppy pink pony caused the stallion hybrid to jump and fall to the ground on the back like a cat, who got scared by a cucumber.
"Pinkie, STOP!!! You nearly gave me a heart attack!!" He yelled, but that didn't phase the heroine of Laughter.
"Did I just scare you?" The pink earth pony was asking, while looking curious, much to his annoyance. "Isn't it that obvious?!?!" The hybrid didn't get over from that jumpscare.
"Alright, fellas! Y'all need to calm down." Applejack came to them with a giggle.
"I was just saying hi." Pinkie scratched her head, even though the hybrid didn't share her over-the-top optimism.
"Anyway, how y'all doing?" The southern pony asked to her friends.
"I was looking on the skies, since Johnny is currently flying." He grabbed his binoculars and looked up with it. The mares looked up as well.
"HI, RAINBOW DASH!!" She shouted loudly and joyfully in the sky, trying to get the prismatic mate's attention. It didn't work, but it caused anyone, passing by, looking at her awkwardly.
"Don't worry. She may be crazy, but her heart is in the right place, You'll get used to it." Applejack warmly smiled, knowing Pinkie Pie very well.
"We'll see." Dukey was a bit sceptical, but the southern earth pony assured him that everything will be fine.
On the other side of the town, the Brain Freezer was sitting alone on a bench, all while watching many happy couples. He signed, since he didn't have a special someone and even if he did have one, the relationship didn't even last long. It was around the time, that Zizrar and Fluttershy, who were having a conversation, came by, only to see the icy-blue unicorn in a somber mood.
"What's wrong?" Fluttershy asked.
"It's just...it hurts to be completely left out of everything, when it comes to love..." he sighed.
"Well, he told me about the problem a few days ago and I can relate. He didn't have a relationship for a while. And hell, he gave up on love a few times." Zizrar commented.
"Oh dear. I know, you had a hard time with relationships and finding a special pony, you would spend with her until the end of time. But I don't think, you would give up on love altogether. All you need is to keep looking until you'll find her." The butter yellow pegasus comforted the cold pony.
"Whatever..no matter how many cheesy comfort, I don't think, it will ever ha-" However, a sight would pause him from finishing his sentence. A sight, he would never forget: Walking around the market was a mare. A snow-white pegasus mare with emerald-green mane, ruby-red eyes and chains with icy-blue pearls around her hair. Her eyes had a similar shape like Fluttershy's. At that point, his usually ice cold heart became warm, hearts formed in his eyes and fell into a trance. It was official: Brain Freezer is now in love! All while Fluttershy and Zizraw were puzzled.
"Uhm, dude? You okay?" The mole king tried to snap his friend out, but it didn't work.
"Uhm...Zizrar? I think, he's in love." Fluttershy answered. When the mole asked who, she pointed to the snowy mare, who was buying some groceries.
"Thank you! Come again!" The shop mare waved and the pegasus smiled, walking off.
Meanwhile, Zizrar slapped the blue unicorn back to his senses. But he's still love struck.
"Have you seen this beautiful pony? She's wow!" The unicorn stallion smiled warmly.
"We know. " Fluttershy giggled.
"Maybe you should make the first move." The mole king shrugged, but that caused Brain Freezer to be filled with nervousness and panic. Obviously, he's never good with girls, because of his evil deeds in the past and having little to no experience. One time, he was honest and told a girl about his deeds back in Porkbelly, only to get tasered by her.
"The problem is, I'm terrible at love.." he shook in fear, but Fluttershy comforted him and said: "Don't worry, my friends and I will help you."
Those words have him some comfort, but not enough.
"Why not just try to be honest?" Zizrar suggested, but the unicorn shot down the idea by saying: "Already done that and that resulted in me and my ass getting shocked by a taser!"
"You know what...hey you!" Zizrar yelled at the surrounding, trying to get the mare's attention. She looked back confused.
"Are you talking about me?" She asked. The mole kind then replied: "Yes, someone wants to talk with you! This guy over here!" He pointed at the Brain Freezer. The thought of being looked by the mare with the fear of making mistakes caused him to panic and run off.
"Weird..." she scratched her head and flew off.
"Zizrar, you don't need to push your friend like this! He needs to be prepared first..." Fluttershy quietly scolded at the mole king and ran off to find Brain Freezer. Soon, the king soon followed suit, not knowing that they're being watched.
Back in the skies, Johnny was doing a good job so far. Soaring around the skies, dodging the clouds and even performed some loops and aileron rolls. All while following Rainbow's trail at the same time. Soon, he eventually managed to gain some speed to catch up with her. Rainbow was kinda surprised. I said kinda, since back then, he got so spooked by a hallucination of his demons so much, that he took off at great speeds. She had to fly at the opposite direction, in order to stop him, but that resulting clash caused an electric explosion. Now, he is in full control and with it, gaining more experience.
Twilight, Dukey, Applejack and Pinkie Pie watched the whole spectacle unfolding, while sitting on the ground. The peppy pony was eating popcorn, Dukey looked through his binoculars and Twilight noting the progress.
"I must say, he really got better overtime." Applejack commented.
"Indeed, Applejack. I'm also surprised, that he managed to catch up with Rainbow Dash. The only other pony to do that could be Pinkie." Twilight noted.
"Not surprising really, since he is quite a quick dude. Even before our move." Dukey scratched his head, all while Twilight was curious about the speed.
"Ooh! It's so exciting!" Pinkie jumped in joy. Everyone watched, as the pegasi flew around the skies, while catching more speed. While Rainbow is obviously the fastest flyer, that didn't stop the black pegasus. Oh no. In fact, when he gained so much speed, his body was surrounded by electrical sparks and a cone of air formed around him, indicating that he was about to break the sound barrier. But...since he is not as experienced as Rainbow Dash, at least not yet...he got launched in the opposite direction.
"Oh, crud! Hang on!!" Rainbow saw this happening and immediately dashed with high speed and caught the falling stallion. Because his body was still charged, the prismatic mare soon felt the surge and both fell.
"Johnny!" The hybrid shouted.
"Rainbow!" Applejack did the same.
"Hold on!" Twilight flew up and used her magic to catch them mid air, saving their lives. However, when she looked at Johnny, his body is still surrounded by the sparks.
"Wait....how in the name of Celestia did it happen!??!" Her jaw dropped and inspected this strange ability of his. "This is unbelievable... not only are you able to catch up with Rainbow and almost broke the sound barrier, but while you were gaining speed, your body was charging with electricity!"
"Say wha?" The black pegasus was surprised. He knew, that throughout his life before he moved to Equestria, he used to be experimented by those...girls. Does that mean, that his genetically-altered genes had manifested into powerful abilities, when he was turned into a pony?
"Hold the phone! He can do that?! That's so cool, but also strange." Rainbow commented.
"I know, right? It seems like, Johnny had something more than just alicorn wings, despite being a pegasus." Twilight thought. "However, your body needs to be discharged first."
"Not sure, how long I'm charged. Johnny shrugged. The mares were also puzzled. They waited for a few minutes, until his body was fully discharged and therefore, free of electricity. After which, Twilight flew down with the two, landing safely on the ground.
"This has to be one of the weirdest moments today so far." Applejack was puzzled. Dukey agreed with a silent nod, but at the same time, he had a theory in his head. Johnny's DNA has been mutated and altered too many times, thus showing them up in forms of magical abilities like super speed and lightning powers, so it got him thinking. Since Dukey was also mutated, maybe some of them were converted into magical powers as well.
"If Johnny has those powers, thanks to his DNA....does that mean it would apply the same to me?" He thought to himself.
"Hey, dorks!" A voice can be heard.
"Oh god...not again..." The hybrid immediately recognized the voice and sure enough, when he turned around, he saw Missy and Sissy.
"Hey! What did Rarity and that rich kid told us?" Sissy shouted.
"I know, I know...Setting things straight and make amends." Missy sighed.
"So what do you want?" Johnny was equally irritated as his pal.
"I know, that you wouldn't trust me and such and I get it...I didn't know, that I was partially responsible for the whole mess in your life, until we watched the videos. For years, our rivalry has caused so much disrepair, that coupled with all fo the shit, you've been through, that you burned all connection with Porkbelly and anything about your life before this. And all I want to say is....is..." Sissy still struggled to say "I'm sorry" to Johnny.
"You guys know, what she means...right?" The hybrid mare noted. After a while of silence, the guys turned their backs against them, indicating a sign of rejection.
"Hey, I wasn't done yet, Test!!" The dark blue mare soon got impatient, but Johnny responded with an angry glare. She tried to get his attention multiple times, but he ignored all of them. But eventually, he soon couldn't take it anymore and snapped.
"Why the hell should I ever forgive to you?!? All you did is just ignoring my chaos and only make it worse, like everyone else!!! And obviously, I can't trust anyone easily, because of this!!!" He yelled at the girls with Dukey agreed with his opinion. After all, he was also a victim to the cruel world and its people.
"Uhm, hello? She is trying to apologise, you asshole!!" Missy rebutted.
"Well, it was already too late then! We just can't trust you, after all you have done.." the hybrid stallion snarled.
This caused an argument between the two parties, that lasted so long. During which, Fluttershy came back and was suddenly intimidated by the situation, given that she was unaware of the moments before. In the end, before anything could escalate into something worse than it already is, Sissy and her best friend ran away. During which, they came across Rarity, who was about to check up on then.
"It's no use, Rarity!" The pegasus was filled with sadness.
"What?! What in the name of Celestia is going on!?" Rarity was shocked by that outcome.
"Well, the dudes just rejected us. Why wouldn't they just listen to us FOR ONCE?!?!?" Missy loudly yelled in the air.
This caused Rarity to pause in shock, before they continued running away. Soon, her shock turned to anger, when the white unicorn ran to the duo.
"Do you even realise, what you've done?!?!?!" The unicorn mare snapped and shouted at them.
"Is...is it over?" Fluttershy was still scared, when Rainbow Dash comforted her.
"That was just really rude, pal.." Applejack shook her head in disappointment.
"How could you just reject their apology?! They didn't mean to cause any harm!!" Rainbow yelled, but the guys were unphased.
"Why can't you understand, that they were too late to realize!?" Johnny stomped his hooves on the ground. "They didn't contribute in anything and didn't even care!!"
"Well, what about the hippogriff hybrids, Gil, Jillian or anyone, they came for you!? You forgave them a few days ago!!" Twilight reminded.
"They're a different story..." Dukey looked away.
"But still...the girls now feel remorse of their actions.." Fluttershy protested, even though it didn't convince them.
"Ugh, why are you guys so stubborn and moronic?!?!!" The prismatic mare lost her patience, after they refused to change their mind.
"Why did you girls never understand, how hard it is to trust anyone!??!" The guys yelled in unison.
"Would you excuse me, we're leaving." Dukey and his pal were about to leave, when Twilight used her magic to prevent them from moving anywhere.
"No! We will not allow you to leave, until you fix this mess NOW!" The alicorn mare protested.
"Let us go!" Johnny tried to break free, but failed, since Twilight made her magic stronger, thus trapping them in a state of paralysis. At this point, the other ponies looked at them with disappointment and outrage.
"You know what, you girls are really getting on my nerves!!" The black pegasus growled, all while his body is slowly charging with electricity.
"Hey! That's no way to talk to your friends like this!" Pinkie Pie shouted.
"I...said...LET ME GO!!!" Suddenly, Johnny unleashed a massive shockwave of electricity, breaking him and Dukey free from Twilight's magic and knocking everyone away. Dukey's fur was completely messed up and he was about to ask, when the black pegasus responded with: "No comment...Let's get outta here..."
With no objections, both left....
Soon, the mares woke up and looked around the damage, he caused. The shockwave was powerful enough to destroy buildings and had enough scale to reach the entirety of Ponyville.
"My hair!!!!" Rarity was appaled, that her hair was charged up.
"Can't believe, he was so rude to us!!" Rainbow felt betrayed.
"I know right, sugarcube." Applejack agreed.
"Did he just...?" Fluttershy was still shocked, but Twilight sadly responded with: "Yes, Fluttershy... It seems like, they...ended their friendship.. "
"But, I thought, we can help him..." Pinkie was sad.
Suddenly, the Mane 6 got surrounded by a golden aura of magic and dragged away into an alley, where a shadowy being waiting.
"We've been kidnapped! Somepony, help!!!!" Rarity was scared.
"You idiots!!! Don't you realize the full picture about his mental health!??!!" It turned out to be Eugene, who was really outraged.
"Wait, how did you know-" Pinkie was about to ask, but the obese unicorn interrupted with: "I watched it in the shadows."
"What do you mean by not getting the full picture? They were so rude to Sissy and Missy!" Rainbow shouted.
"Yeah. I know, that what they did was really irresponsible, but keep in mind, that his mental health is still in tatters. I mean, think about it....Twilight Sparkle...We all know, that the abuse and injustice had broken him severely and caused depression and anxiety. Do you know, what other feeling, that pain caused?" BBB stared at Twilight.
"Of course, I know! It also caused....wait...don't you mean, that he is also paranoid?" Twilight realized her mistake.
"Correct! You heard, that he can't trust anyone so easily. Especially to Sissy and Missy, given their record of...well...participating in the pain, thanks to the bad blood. Me, Gil and the agents were let off easily, because we gave him justice by exposing his former family about the dark truth. Plus, we did care for him in some degree or form. Same with Jillian, the former principal and a few former villains. That's not the case with the girls. At least back then..." He explained.
"Oh my..." Fluttershy was speechless.
"And as for you girls, as the supposed guardians of friendship and as for you, Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship, you should've known better by looking deeper to it, instead of blindly shouting at them. I am so disappointed in you..." BBB shook his head and teleported away, leaving the girls feeling guilty of what they've been done...
Inside of Twilight's castle, Starlight Glimmer was just looking around for Twilight for some talk. She looked around several rooms, but with no luck.
"Twilight? Twilight, where are you?" She asked. When the lavender mare went to the library, she didn't expect seeing Johnny and Dukey inside...but something was not right with them....They've become...silent.
"Uhm, guys...are you okay?" She asked, but...no response. "Hello?"
"What?!?!?" They shouted in unison.
"I was just wondering, why you're here." The lavender unicorn was a bit scared, but they simply looked away, much to her confusion. She then asked: "Why are you so angry all of a sudden? Did I just miss something?" But they refused to answer her question.
"Guys, I don't know, if I can help you, when you don't tell me, what's going on.." she sighed. "Like, did you get into an argument or something?"
Even though they didn't say anything, a nod from Dukey confirmed, that they were indeed in an argument.
"Ok...Did someone caused this argument or did it happen with each other?" She asked again.
"Starlight, would you stop questioning and leave us alone??" The hybrid yelled, causing the mare to back off a bit.
"I have no idea, what's gotten into them..." she thought to herself and left the library in order to look for Twilight. However during the search, she suddenly bumped into somepony.
"Ow!.. Are you okay, Twilight?" Starlight was rubbing her head and assumed, that she bumped into Twilight. But when the mare opened her eyes, it turns out, that it wasn't the Princess of Friendship. Instead, standing over there was an orange unicorn mare with red and yellow mane and teal eyes, who was also rubbing her head.
"Wait...Starlight, is that you?" The mare recognised Starlight.
"Sunset? What are you doing here?" Starlight instantly recognized the mare as Sunset Shimmer.
"Well, I decided to take a visit in Equestria, during the holidays." Sunset scratched her head. "Anyway, is Twilight here?"
"No. But, while I was searching for her, I found my other friends." The lavender mare remembered.
"Your other friends? Do you mean Twilight's friends?" Sunset asked. But Starlight responded by taking her to the library, where Johnny and Dukey were sitting. Needless to say, the orange mare was confused. "Uhm...who are they?" She asked.
"Well, I've met them a few days ago. Their names are known as Radiant Thunder and Coffee Paw respectively." Starlight explained.
"Are they new in Equestria? Why does one of them look weird and more importantly...What happened?" Sunset had so many questions.
"Uhm....about that..." Starlight was nervous. "They didn't originate from Equestria at all and there is a reason behind the move." She proceeded to explain her friend about their backstory of how they share the same pain, how they've been abused and such.
"What...?" The orange mare was speechless.
"It's a complicated story, Sunset... Even I had a hard time grasping on what's going on. Recently, they got into an argument with someone, but they refused to answer my questions. It's just....confusing." Starlight sighed.
The two mares went closer to the guys, where Sunset felt uneasy.
"Something tells me, that they never got over with the whole mess..." Sunset commented.
"They didn't...at least not yet." Starlight answered. "We're still helping them to overcome the trauma, even if they can be stubborn sometimes." Starlight sighed.
"Oh dear...is there a way to at least calm them down?" The orange mare was thinking of an idea.
"One moment, please." Starlight went off, leaving Sunset with the silent stallions. Not knowing what to do, she tried to talk about different topics, apart from the argument.
"Hi, my name is Sunset Shimmer. I'm quite curious, that Twilight made some interesting friends. So..uhm...how's your day?" She asked, but gets no response from them. "This is gonna be harder than I thought..."
Soon, the lavender came back with four cups filled with hot cocoa and marshmallows.
"I thought, this would make them feel better." Starlight commented and gave Sunset a cup and two for the duo. Smelling the sweet smell of hot cocoa and marshmallows, Johnny and Dukey immediately turned around and took the cups. Of course, being a hybrid makes it easy for Dukey, all while Johnny had to struggle. However, he had an idea. Before the argument and even before he met the others on that day, the black pegasus saw some pegasi doing more with their wings than just flying, like holding stuff. So, he decided to give it a shot and grabbed the cup with his wing.
"Huh. Never knew, that your wings can do that." Dukey commented.
"Well, ask the other pegasi. I basically learned it by just watching." Johnny shrugged.
They took a sip from their cups and thanks to the sweet and warm taste of the cocoa, the duo got better. Starlight smiled, since her plan did work after all.
"Maybe we should stop mentioning the argument, since...you know." Sunset whispered to the lavender mare's ear. The mare silently nodded, knowing way too well that it would make them grumpy again. She then proceeded to ask them in a normal tone with: "So, how's your new life in Equestria so far?"
"So far, so good. The beginning was a little bumpy, but we since got used to it. Although, sometimes some panic attacks happen." The hybrid explained.
"He is referring to their hallucinations of their demons and anxiety attacks." Starlight told to the orange mare about their struggles. "Oh, I'm sorry! I shouldn't bring them up, right?" She immediately apologised.
"Nah, it's fine. We already told Twilight and the others about that." The black pegasus scratched his head.
"That's good. Knowing the problems beforehand is instrumental on helping someone. I've been there before and so did a few others." Sunset smiled.
"Wait. What do you mean, you've been there before?" Dukey was confused, but the unicorn mare proceeded to tell her tale.
"You see, before Twilight came along, I was hungry for power and ambition. So much so, I could do anything to overthrow Princess Celestia and take the power by myself. And that's where her crown came to play. During the night, I stole it in the Crystal Kingdom and escaped into the human world. But, I lost the crown sometime later and it ended up in the school. Later, Twilight followed my trail. During which, a prom was held and I tried my best to win the position of prom queen. But her kind demeanor won the crowd over and eventually got her crown back. Being a sore loser I was, I threatened to destroy the portal and after some stuff happened, I finally got the crown. But by putting it on my head caused a powerful surge of negative magic surrounding in my body and I was turned into a she-demon, in which I used the powers to take everyone under my control and attempted to defeat her. But Twilight never gave up and with the newfound friendship with Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy in the human world, managed to defeat me and undo the brainwashing. The defeat left me completely humiliated and at that point, I just wanted to leave and never come back...but Twilight offered me a second chance of friendship. Over the time, I was that hesitant since the incident had everyone hating me, so my confidence was at a low. That was until the Dazzlings appeared. Watching the fight unfold and with the girls losing to the sirens, I had to take action. My redemption and friendship with the others caused my destiny to change for the better. Since then, I became a guardian between the human world and this one, along with my new friends, including that world's Twilight." She told them about her past up until now.
"While in the subject of brainwashing, I am no stranger, when it comes to bad stuff in the past. Ranging from removing cutie marks, brainwashing a village of ponies and later messing up the timelines. Thankfully, Twilight taught me about friendship and since then, I am on a better path." Starlight recounted her past actions to the duo.
"Yikes. Good thing, that Twilight came into your lives. And as for messing up timelines, well Johnny and I are no strangers to that." Dukey scratched his head and even remembered the time, where they messed the timelines for fun.
"By the way, I'm also no stranger to bad stuff in the past, like blackmailing the girls, whom I never mention their names, for inventions. But that was because my mind was that chaotic. However, I fixed most of the mess, even though everyone continued to blame me." The black pegasus recounted the time, where due to his mental downfall, he did some bad stuff before.
"Well I guess, we all did some mistakes before." Sunset looked at them.
"But hey. Everyone makes mistakes, right?" Starlight asked and everyone laughed.
"Anyway, why do you decided to search for Twilight?" Dukey asked.
"Well, I wanted to talk with her about the future and such. Now that I mentioned it, maybe Twilight is outside. Would you excuse me, I'll go outside right now." The lavender unicorn once again left. This time, continuing her search for Twilight.
"So, anyway. Do you have any favorite hobbies?" Dukey asked to Sunset.
"I love to hang out with my friends and even play music with my guitar." Sunset smiled.
"That's awesome! Would you mind playing it for us?" Johnny grinned.
"Well, when I'm in the human world, yes. Maybe, you can visit me. Just go through the mirror over there and you arrived in the human world. It only opens every 30 moons." Sunset pointed at the mirror, that also acts like a portal.
"That got me thinking, what does 30 moons equal to a month or day or something?" The hybrid was wondering.
"Well, if I'm not mistaken, it equals to-" However, before Sunset can answer his question, they suddenly heard Starlight screaming from afar.
"Starlight!!!" Sunset immediately ran off.
"What's happening?!" Dukey was panicked.
"I don't know, man! Let's go outside!" Johnny flew off with his best friend following him almost immediately. When they arrived in front of the main entrance, they saw the lavender unicorn frozen in fear and horror.
"Starlight, what's wrong?!" Sunset asked the poor unicorn, but Starlight didn't say anything. She just opened the door and pointed at what's happening outside: Everything was dark and the building were burning brightly. The skies have darkened as well with no moon or stars be seen. The ponies didn't even looked panicked, as if they fell into a spell. Everyone was horrified that Ponyville fell into total chaos.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!?!?!" The hybrid screamed in horror at the sight.
"I don't know! It was peaceful a minute ago and then this happened!" Johnny couldn't believe, that his new home fell into darkness.
"We have to warn Twilight!!" Sunset shouted.
"Right!" The three ponies agreed and the quartet soon ran. But as soon as ponies saw them, they began to chase the group relentlessly.
"Uhm, guys? I think, they're chasing us!" The black pegasus related the message to Sunset. Suddenly, more ponies appear and tried to corner them.
"Shoot!! Everyone, dodge!!" Sunset shouted. They got the message and began to dodge the ponies, trying to block them from running. They were everywhere, from left to right, there were even pegasi and unicorns up and down as well, but Starlight used her magic to break through the barriers. However, there were just too many ponies, so Starlight had to stop and create a magical barrier around herself and her friends from the brainwashed ponies. What's especially horrifying is that she recognized some of them. Especially the two ponies that caused the most horror: Trixie and Sunburst.
"No....Trixie!! Sunburst!!!" Starlight was in tears, when she shouted. She couldn't believe, that her friends would be controlled by a sinister force.
"Starlight, we need to get outta here! There's too many!!!" Dukey grabbed the unicorn mare and told her that they need to escape.
"He's right! The barrier can't hold it any longer!!" Sunset pointed at the barrier, which was forming cracks by the sheer amount of brainwashed ponies and non-ponies.
"I'm so sorry..." Starlight looked down and teleported herself, Johnny, Dukey and Sunset out of Ponyville and into a safe area. There, the lavender unicorn began to cry. Sunset Shimmer, her only friend who was not brainwashed, comforted her with a hug.
"I'm here, Starlight. I promise, that we'll free everyone and stop the individual, who caused all of this." The orange mare softly spoke.
"Do you have any clue, who did this?" Johnny asked, but his friend shook his head and shrugged.
"I swear, it's becoming like a literal nightmare!" Dukey shouted. The word "Nightmare" caused Sunset to freeze in shock.
"What's wrong? You okay?" The black stallion looked at the unicorn.
"No....it can't be.." she muttered.
"What? What do you mean??" The hybrid asked and at this point, the unicorn began to explain.
"I think, I know, who's responsible. Nightmare....." Sunset assumed.
"You mean like our nightmares?" The guys were confused, however Sunset shot down that claim with: "No. I'm talking about the creature, known as Nightmare. During my time in the school for gifted unicorns, Princess Celestia told me about a tale, where her sister got really jealous and left out, thus creating a new kind of dark magic. She soon infused it with her and thus, Nightmare Moon was born... Even after the banishment and subsequent defeat by Celestia , as well as Twilight and her friends years later, it's said that the creature is still around. I didn't know about the full tale until Twilight told me. There was also at one point, Nightmare had possessed one of her friends. They did free her from that creature, with the help of Princess Luna. Unfortunately, I have a feeling that it possessed somepony else."
"Don't say, it possessed Twilight!!!" Starlight was in disbelief!
"We don't know! It could be someone else!" Sunset rebutted.
"Sunset has a point. We don't know the possessed individual, but we have to stop it once and for all!" Dukey told the mare with a determined look.
"Uhm...guys...?" They heard Johnny speaking in a terrified voice.
"What?" The three ponies looked at him with confusion, but when the pegasus pointed at the direction, he's facing, the confusion quickly turned into horror in seconds. More possessed ponies. What's worse is, that among them was Gil, BBB, the men in black, Jillian, the General and the others.
"You did this...!" demonic voices can be heard.
"W-what?! Are you nuts?!" Johnny was in utter disbelief. What are they talking about?!?!
"Why are you saying stuff like this?" The hybrid shouted. But it fell on deaf ears. They continued to chant insults at the two, all while Starlight and Sunset used their magic to create a barrier around them.
"Stay back!!!" Sunset shouted at the ponies. They came closer and closer, all while the unicorns continued to strengthen the barrier.
More ponies arrived and tried to break the barrier, but with no avail. There was a moment of relief, knowing that they can sort the mess out. But it was short lived a magical dark mist in form of a pair of hands, slamming the barrier with full force, shattering it.
"No!" Starlight was even more horrified.
"Everyone, run!!!!" Sunset shouted and the four ran away, with the hands chasing them immediately. During the whole chase, they kept dodging the ponies, all while the hands were getting faster and faster.
"Shit!! They're getting faster!!" Johnny shouted. "If we can't out run them, then we're done for real!!"
"Guess, that there is one option left. Johnny, grab your friend and fly as fast as you can!!" Starlight suggested.
"What!?" The pegasus was shocked.
"Are you nuts?!?!" Dukey was appalled.
"JUST DO IT!!!!" The lavender mare loudly shouted. With no option, the pegasus began to fly and grabbed his best friend's paws. He flew really fast, but he can't outpace the hands of darkness.
"You know, what?!" Starlight shot a beam of magic directly at the duo, giving them a massive speed boost. It was a sacrifice, that was necessary to keep the guys safe, because shortly after that, Starlight and Sunset were grabbed by the hands and vanished into the void.
Meanwhile, the duo kept being pushed by the beam for a while, until it lost its power and faded away. After which, they crashed into a tree and fell to the ground.
"Ow..man..." Both were in pain. As they got up, there was no sign of any brainwashed pony or the hands.
"Wait! What about the girls?" We have to save them!!" Dukey was about to run, when Johnny grabbed him.
"It's no use! They were probably caught by the hands....Starlight did this just to save us, you know?" Johnny was also out of breath, since it took a lot of stamina. "We should take a break. I'm out of energy..."
"Wait, Johnny! What if the hands find us?!?" Dukey warned him about the possibility of being found by the sinister hands.
All while this was going on, evil laughter can be heard, along with haunting chants. Everything was too dark and without Starlight and Sunset, they can't see anything. The only light source they can use, are the flames, but even then, they can't go back. After all, they knew that Equestria is burning....
"I have a bad feeling about this..." the hybrid felt uneasy by the creepy atmosphere. Johnny agreed. It didn't help, that they're still wanted by either the ponies or the dark hands. So, they continued walking forward, even though it was all pitch black. All while, they felt a cold aura around them. After some time has passed, they reached a dead end.
"Shit..." Johnny sighed.
"Maybe, we should go either left or right." Dukey suggested.
"Which one is left?! I can't see shit!!" Johnny shouted.
"Maybe over there!" Dukey ran off with Johnny immediately following him. Neither of them don't want to be lost In the darkness. However, they reached another dead end.
"Oh come on!!" The guys shouted in unison.
"Maybe the other way?!" Johnny was getting really irritated right now.
"I don't know, but let's give it a shot!" The hybrid ran off again. Johnny tried to follow him, but tripped on a branch.
"Ow!! It hurts!!" He got up and tried to follow his friend's path, even though the pain slowed him down. Unfortunately, he stopped at yet another dead end. At this point, it felt like a trap or it could be that he is in a maze. He couldn't tell due to the darkness. Suddenly, he couldn't hear the voice of his best friend. Like something had silenced him...
"D-Dukey? Where are you??" His hooves were shaking, as he searched and looked around the area. He even tried to backtrack to the point before they reach the walls. But, the sight that greeted him sent chills down his spine. A red scarf with a diamond. With a horrified look on his face, he instantly recognized that of his friend and grabbed it with tears in his eyes...
"No! Dukey!!!! NOOO!!!!!" He screamed to the dark skies as loud as he could. It's official: Dukey has been taken by the darkness!! The black pegasus soon cried in fear and loss, since now...he is the only one...alone....in the darkness.
"No...it can't be..." he still cried out, while tightly hugging Dukey's scarf. As he was grieving, he didn't realise something behind him, until it was too late....Suddenly, the pegasus got grabbed by the dark hand.
"No!!! Let me go!!!!" He kept screaming in tears, but it tightly squeezed the trapped pegasus for a short while, leaving him gasping for air. The dark magic kept stinging his body like needles, all while the torture kept going. Soon, it went inside to the void, all while Johnny's screams of horror can be heard...the last thing, we hear before everything was silenced....
Everything was completely dark.....
Soon, voices of ponies calling someone out by name can be faintly heard...
"Johnny! Johnny! Wake up!!"
As soon the eyes were opened, we see Dukey, Starlight and Sunset looking worried. The black pegasus was still dazed from the ordeal...
"Ugh...Dukey? Girls?.. You're alive..." the faintly smiled.
"I'll get you up, buddy." The hybrid picked his best friend up.
"Where are we?" The pegasus asked the girls.
"We're in...somesort of a dark chamber." Sunset answered.
Everyone was freezing, because of the chamber and it's cold temperatures. When the group looked back, they saw Twilight and her friends, also freezing.
"Twilight! Thank goodness, you're okay!" The lavender unicorn tightly hugged the purple alicorn. "We were worried about you..."
"What in the name of tarnation is goin' on here? Everything was fine a while ago, when all of a sudden, the skies got dark!" Applejack demanded answers.
"I think, I know, who is responsible...and you probably won't like the answer, I'm about to give it to you.....it's Nightmare..." Sunset answered with a sigh. Everyone was shocked.
"Wait! Nightmare?!?!" Rainbow Dash was really shocked.
"How did it come back?? I thought, we destroyed it a long time ago!!" Twilight was in disbelief.
"We have no idea." Starlight looked down.
"It's so cold..." Fluttershy was shivering.
"I know, right? It's unbearable.." Johnny agreed, while shivering.
"I wish, we had some winter clothes on... The cold is just unacceptable!!!" Rarity yelled.
"I mean, at least we have each other....Right?" Pinkie smiled, despite the cold.
"Johnny...I need to tell you something..." Twilight went to the pegasus.
"Let me guess...is it about the argument between Sissy and Missy and me and Dukey?" Johnny assumed.
"Yes...we didn't know, that you were also paranoid and that it was hard to trust them, because of the bad blood...We're sorry for not looking into this further.." Twilight apologized.
"No...I'm the one, who should be sorry....I was just too carried away with my feelings and my trauma...not knowing, that they were genuine about that..." Johnny looked down.
"Correction, WE should be sorry about the whole chaos....I also got carried away in my rage...." Dukey corrected. He too felt responsible for the whole fallout.
"And also...I'm sorry for all the stupid things, I told you today...Damn, I feel like an idiot..." the black pegasus had a look of regret on his face, when he and his friend got pulled into group hug by Pinkie Pie and the others.
"It's okay. Given that I had a similar experience before, I forgive you." Twilight warmly smiled, which gave the stallions at least a second chance of friendship. Soon, Starlight and Sunset joined in the group hug as well. However, Twilight is worried about a different matter. It's about her dragon friend, Spike. He too is missing.
"What's wrong, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. In which the purple mare responded with: "I'm worried about Spike. What if Nightmare did something to him!?"
"Speaking of which..." Applejack pointed at the mist coming at them, which obscured all sight.
"Girls, are you still here?!?!" Twilight shouted.
"We are still here!" Rainbow can be heard shouting, but she couldn't see her.
Meanwhile, Johnny was looking around the dark mist, where he found his best friend. They immediately hugged, but soon felt a sinister aura around them.
"I don't want to die in the darkness!!" The hybrid shouted.
"Same here!" Johnny agreed.
Soon, they got knocked out by an unseen force....
The two woke up in a ruined castle, where the only light sources were torches. They tried to move, but realized that the hands had trapped them.
"Damn it! Can this day get any worse!?" Johnny shouted in the air, when they saw the Mane 6, trapped.
"Do you really have to ask that!??!?!" Dukey shouted at the pegasus. Back then, when someone asked that question, of course things would get worse.
"Hey! You okay?!" Johnny asked the girls, but they didn't respond to anything. Meanwhile, two pairs of glowing eyes can be seen. They looked around until they locked their eyes at Twilight and her friends, who were afraid. A magical aura soon grabbed the six and pulled them inside the void. Screams of horror and pain can be heard, all while Johnny and Dukey had to helplessly witness the whole agony. Soon, the six came out, but now, they've now brainwashed, like everyone else. They screamed in horror at the sight, because they lost their friends from that vile creature.
"Wait! Sunset! Starlight!! Where are you!?" Dukey kept asking about their location, when he heard a voice, calling out: "We're over there!!"
On the left, they saw the unicorn mares tied up on poles.
"Twilight...no..." Sunset was in tears, when she too witnessed the horrible creature now controlling her friend. Eventually, Johnny just couldn't take it anymore and shouted at the glowing eyes with: "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!?!?!?!" Soon...he heard a voice.
"Hello, Johnny~"
"Wait, how do you know my name?" The pegasus was surprised, that the creatures knew his name.
"We haven't forgotten about you and Dukey."
"What's going on!??!" Dukey was panicked that they knew his name as well. Another response can be heard:
"What? We can't play with our favourite lab rat and your mutt?"
"What are you talking about? I can't remember that-" However, Johnny was interrupted by the second voice:
"What? You don't remember us?? How dare you..."
It was unsettling. How did these creatures know them? As if they were a part of their lives before? Soon, the hybrid asked an important question: "Like I said, who are you?? Show yourself!!" After a while of silence, Johnny yelled: "Just answer the damn question!!" Finally, the voice responded:
"And we thought, we were still siblings...Johnny Test....and as for you, Dukey...Very well..."
Soon, from the glowing eyes, two tall and dark unicorns appeared out of the shadows. Both have dark silver blue armor and long and dark red manes with a dark fade and sparkles. With their sharp teeth and evil eyes, they stared at the helpless stallions. This is where it hit them extremely hard: Those evil mares looked very familiar, even though they wanted to forget their faces....And that's because the pair of ponies are none other the forbidden sisters, Susan and Mary!!
"Have you missed us?" The dark blue unicorn laughed evilly.
"No...This can't be!! I thought, you were arrested! Like staying In prison or something, HOW DID YOU GET HERE!?!?!?" The pegasus was in utter disbelief, that his former sisters had somehow found a way to go to Equestria.
"Wait, you know them?!" Starlight was shocked, that Johnny knew them. But the hybrid had a somber look, when he replied with: "Unfortunately...yes... We do....much to our dismay..."
"Well, congratulations, Einstein! You now realized the truth!" The dark yellow unicorn snarled.
"Whatever you do, Nightmare...your plan of taking over Equestria will never succeed!!" Starlight shouted.
"Is that so?? Some wishful thinking from a pathetic pony...Once we get rid of you, we'll make this world into a personal laboratory of darkness...FOREVER!!!!" Nightmare Susan laughed, as her voice echoed the entire area.
"But wait, my dear sister...Why not just play with our boys for a while, before we destroy them and conquer this world...?" Nightmare Mary smirked.
"Right...we haven't played with them for a long long time...How about....hmmm..Making their nightmares into reality?" The dark blue unicorn looked at her sister.
"Good idea. Prepare for your worst nightmares to become reality!! It's gonna be fun for us, watching you suffer..." the dark yellow pony cackled, as she used her dark magic to surround the guys in a dark void.
"What are you doing?! Stop!!" The two shouted in the darkness, but no answer came. However, dark ponies soon became closer and chant out their crimes from the past and how they didn't forget them, referring their former lives in Porkbelly. It was horrific, but for Johnny...it was absolute torture incarnate. Every single moment from his nightmares soon came to life. From the insults, being paralyzed in fear, bringing up the mistakes, that wasn't his fault and the demons...Oh boy, the demons...They emerge as demonic versions of people from his former world: the bullies, the villains, the citizens and finally, his former parents... All towering the poor ponies, who were frozen in fear and dread. All while the nightmare sisters watched on their thrones, drinking their cups of their victims' tears.
"Ah yes.. the perfect amount of salt and despair." Nightmare Susan smiled.
"Quite an excellent combo, isn't it right, sister?" Nightmare Mary looked at the dark blue unicorn.
"Why, yes~" She smirked, while enjoying the torture from above.
They continued the torture of their former brother and dog with their twisted spells and illusions. The demons kept attacking them, both mentally and physically, as the people kept punching and kicking them. They kept screaming and crying for mercy, but for the sisters, it was like music in their ears.
"Ugh! I can't hear the music loud enough!!" Nightmare Mary was annoyed.
"Let me help you with that~" Nightmare Susan used a spell to amplify the noise. Soon, they heard the sounds of despair loud and clear. So loud, that it can be heard around the entirety of Equestria.
"Much better~" The dark yellow unicorn was satisfied.
Soon, Starlight and Sunset heard their cries of pain. It was painful to listen.
"Johnny...Dukey...." Starlight was in tears.
"No...I can't allow it!!!" The orange mare struggled to break free from the chains, but they were so tight, that any escape would be impossible. Even when she tried to use her magic to break the chains, they wouldn't budge a single bit. "Damnit!! I can't just stand there!!!"
"Sunset...." the lavender mare looked at her friend struggling to break free from the chains. It showed, that she had enough courage and determination to stop the nightmare once and for all.
Back to the void of nightmares, the nightmare sisters kept laughing, as Johnny and Dukey struggled against the monsters, as if they watched a dark and twisted comedy. However, the next chapter of their torture was about to begin: The stallions hot lifted up by a dark aura and gave them the worst pains ever. Albeit indirectly, as they used some voodoo dolls to cause harm to their victims. At this point, they were at the point of absolute pain and it became worse as they where smashed to the ground hard, like someone getting punched by a supervillain.
"I think, that's enough fun. Shall we?" Nightmare Susan stood up and floated with her unicorn magic.
"Sure. It should better be quick, because we have so many plans for Equestria to build." Nightmare Mary was impatient and floated down as well.
"Yeah, I know, my dear sister...You are so eager to start the experiments. I can relate with that. I'm sorry, guys. But I think, it is time for your demise! We had so much fun, while it lasted!~" The twisted blue unicorn laughed.
"Any last words?" The dark yellow unicorn leaned towards an injured Johnny.
"No...more..." he whispered in pain.
"Is that all? Don't worry, we will put you out of your misery right here, right now!" The sisters charged their horns up for a deadly spell. At that point, it's over...the two were just too injured to even move. Plus, the torture had basically broke them severely. So, might as well accept their fates and die then....But then....
"Don't give up just yet!!"
A light blue orb of light surrounded the injured stallions, however the sister can't see them.
"Y'all better fight against those rotten apples and stand up!"
"Don't listen to those ruffians! You are better than them!"
"Just ignore all the neighsayers and stay positive, no matter what!"
"You need to get out of the darkness and shine brighter than ever before!"
Four more orbs of light surround them, all shining as brightly as possible. And finally:
"You're almost there! Don't give up your progress, that you've worked hard for! Stand up and defeat your demons with your newfound friendship and courage!"
Finally, a purple orb came down and joined with the other orbs of light. They wanted the two to keep fighting.
"How...it's just too much..." the black pegasus was in so much pain.
"It's just useless-" But the hybrid was interrupted by the blue orb.
"Don't say that! Come on, you are better than these monsters!! All you need is to remember your original purpose!"
"Think about it, you always wanted a happy life, free from your demons. And despite all of the trials and tribulations, you openly confessed your problems to anyone! You have to keep going! Be more open and brave!"
"Remember and treasure your amazing moments! They will always brighten up your mood!"
"Because...true friends are always there for you."
"With Honesty..."
"...Kindness..."
"...Laughter!..."
"...Generosity..."
"...Loyalty!..."
"...and finally...Magic...Believe in yourselves and together..."
"You will overcome every obstacle! For a better future!!"
The colourful orbs of light soon formed a circle around them in a break neck speed and eventually went inside them, where their bodies began to glow.
"Sayonara, dorks!" The sisters together fired a beam of deadly magic at them; causing a gigantic explosion with the smoke covering the entire area. They laughed evilly, since they succeeded to kill them....or did they? Because when the smoke was settled, not only were Johnny and Dukey alive and well, but also charged up!
"What?! That's impossible!!! You should've been dead!!!" The sisters were shocked by that sudden miracle.
"Sorry for bursting your bubble, but I'm afraid that your show has been cancelled!" The guys were filled with enough magical powers to match the sisters on an equal level, if not better. They immediately jumped forward to their direction and head butted the nightmares out of the void and back to the castle.
"Guys! You're alive! Thank goodness!" Starlight was overjoyed by their marvellous return.
"And wow, you look really powerful and determined!" Sunset smiled.
"Thanks, ladies!" The hybrid winked and broke the chains, freeing the unicorn mares.
["His World" starts playing]
"Why, you little..!?" The sisters were outraged and sent the brainwashed Mane 6 forward.
"Okay, everyone. It's time to get serious!" Johnny prepared for the attack and so did the three ponies. "Ready?"
"Ready!" The three ponies had determined and serious looks on their faces, ready to fight them with their magical powers.
"GET THEM!!" The sisters ordered the Mane 6 to attack and so did the quartet. An epic fight as begun.
Starlight used her magic to defend herself against a brainwashed Twilight and Rarity, who were trying to attack her. However, the lavender unicorn dodged their magical beams and unleashed her beam at them, pushing them to the wall hard. But that didn't stop the white and purple mares and charge for an attack, but Starlight smirked and blocked all of them.
Meanwhile, Sunset was fighting against a brainwashed Pinkie Pie and Applejack, who were using their tricks against her. She dodged all of them except a surprise attack from Pinkie with her canon, knocking her to the ground.
"Don't give up, Sunset! We believe in you!!" Starlight shouted, while fending off against her brainwashed friends. This gave the orange unicorn enough determination and confidence to charge her horn up and unleash a shockwave, pushing them away from them far away.
"Yeah! That's more like it!" she smirked and proceeded to dodge and counter all of the upcoming attacks of the earth ponies with her magic, eventually throwing them away to a wall.
Up in the air, Rainbow and Fluttershy were chasing Johnny, who performed some maneuvers to shake them off. The prismatic mare was so close to catch when all of a sudden, he took a sharp turn and kicked her hard to the ground. Fluttershy tried to bite him, but the black pegasus soon grabbed her by the hair.
"Hey, Dukey! She's all yours!" She threw the yellow pegasus to the hybrid, who proceeded to spin her around by the tail and threw her to the sisters.
"So long-a-suckers!!" He shouted, but the sisters halted Fluttershy with their magic and summoned more of the brainwashed ponies and non-ponies, including Shining Armor and Discord. The four ponies group together for an all-out brawl. The crowd jumped on them, but the four kicked, threw or used their abilities to kick more ass, breaking free from the swarm of brainwashed ponies. The Nightmares soon got out the brainwashed group of Johnny's other friends, including a brainwashed Spike.
"Step aside, I got this!" The black pegasus used his electrical abilities to create a terrain around him that anyone enters it, would get the shock.
Meanwhile, Starlight and Sunset used their magic to grab the Mane 6 and Spike and unleashed a powerful spell at them. This caused the brainwashing to be undone, freeing Twilight and her friends.
"Ugh...Starlight, Sunset? What's going on?" Twilight was dazed.
"It's a long story, Twilight. But now, we have to stop Nightmare once for all. Ready for an awesome fight?" Sunset smirked.
"Okay! Every pony, you know what to do!" Twilight looked at her friends and they nodded with determination, ready for the battle.
"Let's do this!" Rainbow Dash smirked.
The Mane 8 charged through the crowds, using their magic, animals, kicks and party cannons to knock them away. Meanwhile Dukey jumped up and landed on his hooves, causing an earthquake that tumbled the group into the group. After which, he had his claws ready, now glowing from the power within. He dashed through them with his claws, attacking every single one of them.
And as for Johnny, he flew up far to the dark skies with the lightning on his body and the magic of his friends being his only light source.
"Here goes nothing!" He smirked and started to dash through the skies, gaining more and more speed, as he continued flying. As he got faster, more lightning surrounded his body and the air formed a cone around him. Last time, he was a bit inexperienced and distracted, but now with enough confidence, he decided to give it all, he got. As he reached terminal velocity, the cone around him got tighter and tighter, until eventually, he managed to create something amazing.
The black pegasus broke the sound barrier and created a sonic boom, similar to Rainbow's Sonic Rainboom. But unlike Rainbow's version, the flare ring didn't contain the colors of the rainbow and instead bears the colors of the flames. His body became even more electrified and left a trail of magical flames behind. This variation lightened up the otherwise darkened sky and the flames continued to burn for a while. He soon dashed through the walls and knocked out everyone at light speed. Rainbow was shocked by the sight and when she looked at the skies, the flare ring and the flames and lightning trail can be seen.
"Did....did he just create his own version of the Sonic Rainboom??!!" Her jaw dropped by that event.
"Indeed he did, Rainbow. Indeed he did." Applejack nodded, while putting Rainbow's jaw back up.
"Ugh! Get them, princesses!!" Nightmare Susan sent out the brainwashed Princesses, including Flurry Heart to attack. The four alicorns combined their beams into one and aimed at them. But Twilight, Rarity, Starlight and Sunset did the same thing by combing their most powerful spells into one and unleash a powerful beam, causing the two beams to clash each other, trying to get the dominance. Eventually, the magic of of Twilight and the three unicorns, coupled with the magic of friendship broke through the beam and hit Celestia, Luna and Cadence. Then, Twilight used her magic to subdue her niece and stop her from using magic.
"Ugh! Fine! We'll just destroy you by ourselves!" The sisters used their magic beams, but the group dodges all of the beams. Suddenly, Pinkie Pie appeared behind them.
"Surprise!!" She used her party cannon to shoot powerful confetti at the sisters, knocking them from their thrones and into the centre. Then Fluttershy used her animals to attack them, followed by Twilight, Rarity, Starlight and Sunset using their magic beams to shoot them up, Dukey and Applejack kicking them to the diagonal direction and finally finishing with Rainbow and Johnny performing a double kick to knock the sisters down.
"You imbeciles..!" Nightmare Mary coughed.
"You are pathetic and weak!!" Nightmare Susan shouted.
"Shut up and admit defeat, bitch." Johnny was not threatened at all by them.
"Okay, my friends! Let's unleash the magic of friendship!" Twilight flew up.
"Right!" Her friends took their positions and grabbed their hooves to form a circle. Suddenly, Johnny, Dukey, Starlight and Sunset started to glow and float as well.
"Whoa! We're joining into the climax!" Dukey was surprised, but also excited at the same time.
"I know, right?" Starlight and Sunset were as equally surprised as he was.
"Alright, you demons! This is the end of the line for you! And together..." Johnny looked at them and together with his friends:
"We will end the reign of tyranny once and for all!!"
Together, they unleashed a powerful rainbow, charged with other magical abilities from the quartet and although the sisters tried to push it away with their dark magic, it was a fruitless effort and the rainbow hit the two mares at full force, screaming in defeat, as the area got brighter and brighter. Finally, Twilight and all of her friends unleashed a powerful spell to undo the brainwashing spell and bring the light back to the skies.
[End of "His World"]
After the bright glow, the sun had returned to the skies, brighten up the days once again. Inside of the castle, Twilight and the others woke up and saw everything is back to normal now.
"Twilight!!" The purple dragon hugged the mare tightly. "I was so scared by the darkness!"
"It's okay, Spike. It's all over now." Twilight warmly smiled.
"That...was...the BEST ADVENTURE EVER!!!!" Pinkie jumped up in joy.
"Indeed, it was." Dukey smiled, who is starting to get used to her crazy personality.
"I'm so glad, that this is all over with. I mean, we were on the edge the entire time." Sunset scratched her head.
"Same here." Starlight agreed.
The group heard the sounds of other ponies waking up and being confused of what happened.
"Oh man...What just happened...?" Jillian was dazed.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie has no idea of the events beforehand..." Trixie was dizzy from the whole event and tripped from a random pony.
"I feel like, I've been drunk hard..." Mr. Black rubbed his head.
"Same. That or we've been high on something.." Mr. White assumed. Eventually, both agreed, that they felt like, they were high and drunk at the same time.
"Ow, my head...." Scootaloo felt like, she was spun out.
"I feel like, I was knocked out by a wrestler, dude...." Gil was trying to balance himself from the dizziness.
"Or being hit by a monster truck..." BBB fell down from the dizzying experience.
"What in the name of Equestria is going on..?" Princess Celestia was rubbing her head.
"Okay, everyone! I know, that a lot of you are confused of what was happening. But I'll explain the events and how we solved it." Starlight proceeded to explain their ordeal against Nightmare, the fight against the sisters and the eventual defeat with the magic of friendship.
"Well, that would explain, why everything became dark around us and then bam! Knocked out!" Zizrar noted.
"Except...who did Nightmare possess?" Celestia asked.
"We'll give you a strong hint." Dukey pointed at the ponies, whom Nightmare possessed: two unicorn mares, one being light blue and the other beige. Both have red hair and tail, glasses and hair clips. One of the ponies has a special ponytail and it's the same on her tail too. Both were laying unconscious.
"Oh....it's them..." BBB was not happy to see them.
"Can't believe, that they escaped prison, just to commit another crime." The men in black face palmed.
Gil on the other hand...was horrified, like he was having war flashbacks. Not surprising really, since they tried to murder him.
"Do you know them?" Jillian asked, but the aqua earth pony immediately hid behind one of the ponies. "Ah, jeez..."
"Wait...aren't those the girls from the video?" Sissy asked.
"Unfortunately yes." The former principal and Dr. Beebles nodded.
"God, I just want to freeze them solid, then smash them into little pieces..." The Brain Freezer was outraged, but that suggestion backed everyone off.
"What? Too graphic?" He was confused.
"Uhm...no? Not only is it wrong to do so, but that also wouldn't count as justice." BBB glared at the ice pony.
Suddenly, the castle began to crumble, as the essence of Nightmare resurgence in its physical form.
"Everypony, run!!" Princess Celestia ordered the citizens to leave the castle immediately and they did, leaving the princesses, the Mane 8, Johnny, Dukey, Spike and the unconscious sisters inside.
"It's..far from over!! I'll be back and continue spreading darkness throughout Equestria!" It spoke in a creepy voice and caused destruction. It soon got fixated on Twilight and her friends and jumped in an attempt to capture and possess them.
"Oh no, you don't!!" Princess Luna used her magic to protect them. "You will never get your evil hooves on them!"
"It's over, Nightmare... " Celestia glared at the creature. "Twilight. You know, what to do."
"I got it." Twilight nodded and once again, formed a formation with her friends. This time, Johnny, Dukey, Starlight and Sunset watched from the scenes, as the princesses and the Guardians of Friendship created a powerful spell and unleashing the rainbow at the creature, banishing it from Equestria. However, that didn't stop the castle from collapsing.
"The castle!!" Twilight watched, as the castle, where Celestia and Luna once resided, was now falling apart.
"We don't have much time, Twilight. We have to get out now!" Celestia told to Twilight, that the castle just can't be saved. The royal sisters used their magic to teleport everyone, including the twins and themselves out of the castle, only to watch, as the former Castle of the Two Sisters crumbled apart into millions of pieces. It was around this time, that the sisters woke up. But the sight, that greeted them was not friendly at all. Everyone looked at them angrily.
"You monsters!! Look what you've done!!!" A stallion yelled at them because of the damage, they've caused.
"Even though they were possessed, when the land was in ruins, that doesn't excuse the fact, that they drove these two ponies into severe depression and anxiety. One of them even attempted suicide! So an appropriate punishment is necessary. Guards!" Princess Celestia called her guards and ordered them to arrest the sisters. Suddenly, the sisters began to run away from the guards.
"Not so fast!" Starlight used her magic to stop the two mares. The twins tried to break free, even resorting to unicorn magic to stop it. But the lavender mare strengthened her magic to make an escape attempt impossible. But the clash between Starlight and the sisters caused them to be pushed away. While Starlight crashed to a nearby wall, Susan and Mary eventually fell on Sunset, who was trying to stop them.
"Ow...." Sunset was hurt by the hit and attempted to get back up. However when she touched each of the sisters' arms, her eyes started to glow white. While this was going on, the guards used their magic to get the sisters away from the orange unicorn, thus bringing her back to reality.
"Alright, you criminals. Your time is up!" One guard commented and they took the girls away to the Tartarus.
"Hey, Test!" Sissy ran towards the black pegasus.
"Let me guess, you want to apologise for your errors?" He guessed.
"Wait, how did you-" the blue pegasus was confused.
"Well, Twilight proved me a point. And that is not to be a paranoid jackass. Look, we're sorry for not accepting your apology. My mind was that chaotic." Johnny apologized.
"Well, OUR minds were chaotic, that's for sure." Dukey looked down.
"You see, they're still paranoid and they find it difficult to fully trust anyone. Trust me, if you learned one or two things about psychology, you should know that abuse, bullying and other stuff would traumatize someone." BBB explained to the mares.
"He has a point." Missy replied.
"Well, we were really acted like jackasses.." Johnny scratched his head
"Uhm. Missy and I are the actual jackasses, Test." Sissy corrected.
"Actually, all four of us are jackasses in different ways. I mean, we fuck up stuff all the time." Missy pointed out.
"Fair enough." The others agreed.
"See, nopony is flawless. And that is what makes each of us special." Twilight explained.
"Anyway, we accept your apology." They smile.
"Thank god, it's over. I can now restart our lives with a clean slate." The blue pegasus mare was relieved.
"Aren't we all?" The group laughed and everyone was happy that peace has returned to Equestria. They just need to repair the world and voila!
Everyone was happy....except for Sunset Shimmer.
Ever since she touched their arms, she saw something unbelievable. Something, that she would never forget. However nobody paid attention to her, except Starlight, who was confused.
"Sunset, what's wrong?" She asked.
"I've seen something in their heads...that was even more complicated..." the orange mare responded.
"What? What did you see?" Starlight was a bit curious.
"Well...it's difficult. I mean, the moments, I saw clearly were the demons, the chains and the blood. Anything else is a...blur." She tried to explain Starlight about what she saw.
"Wait. Doesn't sound like the same thing, that the guys had? Why would the girls have those thoughts in their head, like they were begging for help?" Starlight wanted answers, but Sunset didn't know it clearly.
"I..I don't know...ugh...this story is getting even more complicated than it already is..." the orange mare signed.
"Oh, jeez..." Starlight was a bit worried. For them, even more questions popped up, thanks to the sisters' arrival. Like what is going on in their heads? Why did they allow Nightmare to possess them and more importantly: Why would they go to Equestria?
Those are the questions, that the unicorn duo has to find out soon....
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 12: The Burning Chains | It's been a week since the Nightmare incident, that caused so much destruction and chaos. The ponies and non-ponies got together to rebuild their homes and restore the nature of Equestria. Within a week, with the help the princesses, Equestria has been restored. And although, they're glad that the girls are now in Tartarus, serving their times, there was a question, that baffled anyone, especially Celestia and Luna: How did Nightmare come back? Last time, they saw it, was during the time of Nightmare Rarity. With the help of the moon princess, Twilight and her friends managed to get Rarity out of the darkness and destroy it.
"I feel like, a much more sinister force managed to bring it back." Celestia thought.
"And it's because of the sisters..." Luna sighed.
"There is no doubt about it." The Primcess of the Sun is convinced.
"And as for 'Operation: Healing Light', we'll continue following it, if it means to cleanse them from the bitter trauma. Or at the very least, give them so much happiness and control to their emotions." Luna looked straight.
"You're right, dear sister. Their mental health is what's important." Celestia was convinced. At the time, there were no other invasions, apart from Nightmare. At least not yet. They looked at the murals, thinking about the future of what's to come.
Meanwhile, Sunset was reading books about nightmare. There was something, that felt off to her. Did they allow Nightmare to be possessed or did it by force? "Come on...There has to be something...I don't want to leave this story one-sided!" The mare kept looking and looking. It was around this time, that Starlight checked up on her.
"Why are you convinced about your idea of reformation? Don't you know, that they caused so much destruction and pain to not only Johnny and Dukey, but everyone in Equestria and beyond?" Starlight was sceptical.
"There has to be a reason as of why they came to Equestria and later became Nightmare's targets! I know, that there is some darkness in their hearts, but I want to help them, despite the odds! I mean, the 'Miss-A-Non' incident left me alienated for crying out loud! And there was no evidence, that I did it!" The orange mare kept reading the books.
"I get, that you are determined, but let's face it: Everyone DESPISES them!" Starlight pointed out, that the sisters became public enemies.
"That's what also happened to me after my defeat! Everyone hated me because of brainwashing them into obedient zombies and I thought, it was all over! If it wasn't for Twilight, of course! I mean, come on! I know, that you did some bad stuff before, but let me ask you a simple question: Did you come at a point, where it seems like, you've become hated by everyone? Was there any feeling of hopelessness? Did someone came to your rescue?" Sunset asked and without warning, she left on the way to the Tartarus, leaving the lavender unicorn speechless. A bit later, she shook off that feeling and moved on...Or did she?
After some time has passed and looking at the map several times, Sunset Shimmer had finally arrived at her destination: Tartarus. She knew, that only bad ponies, who did atrocious things with no regret would stay. But she knew, that she can't get there so easily. On top of that, this place is guarded, preventing any escape. She tried to go there, but of course the guards blocked the entrance.
"Halt! What is your reason to go inside?" A guard looked at her.
"Look. I want to visit the sisters. I just want to ask them a few questions-" But another guard cut her off mid-sentence.
"Denied! Those monsters are locked up for a reason and nopony shall ever visit them again! So, please just leave." He looked stern.
Sunset tried to reason her statement, but the guards always cut her off, because they refused to listen the possibility of their side of the abuse story and pushed her away.
"Ugh...Rude..." She was annoyed and left. It seems like, nobody would allow her to visit them, thus isolating them even further. She tried to tell other ponies about her thoughts, but they wouldn't listen and calling her crazy. It infuriated the unicorn mare and saw it as injustice. She tried to convince her friends about her cause, but of course they denied, leaving her as the only one...
"Man...I don't know, what to do anymore..." Sunset lowered her ears and went to an empty field. "Why did I even come to that mindset of saving them? Is it because of my experience? What if everyone was right and that they can't be redeemed?" She started to question about her cause. "Maybe it's for the best, that I'll go back to the human world...the portal is about to close at midnight anyway..." She said. It was a pretty impossible to convince anyone. Even though the mares had no control of their bodies, their abuse on Johnny and later destruction overshadowed anything else. But before she would leave in defeat, a teal aura pulled her to somewhere secret. At first, the mare was alarmed, but soon realized, that the color of the aura looked familiar. Sure enough, the pony, who pulled her somewhere discreet was Starlight Glimmer coming out of the shadows.
"Starlight!?" The mare was shocked. "What are you doing here?"
"You know, you asked me a very good question and I can answer with that. Yes, there was a time, where I felt hopeless. It came sometime after my second defeat and when Twilight started to teach me about friendship. I remember, that I was really scared to apologise Sunburst or the ponies in their village. So much in fact, that feelings of sadness and deep fear came to play. But Twilight assured me that things will be okay and I even made a new friend, in the form of Trixie. She too did some appalling things in the past, so we became kindred spirits almost immediately. It took a long time to work hard in order to earn forgiveness and being in the position, I am today. Anyway, it also made me think of a possibility, that maybe...just maybe, there could be a glimmer of regret in the sisters and hopefully with our way of teaching them, we will guide them to a different path. A path of friendship and humility." Starlight explained.
"I tried to go to the Tartarus, but they wouldn't allow me to visit them. It didn't help that no pony was willing to help me, which makes this situation even more biased than it already is! It's like they want to drive them crazy with isolation!" Sunset was still frustrated. Both unicorns are now thinking of some ideas on how to talk with them.
"I think, I have an idea." The lavender unicorn mare used her magic to teleport her and Sunset near the Tartarus and hid somewhere. "We have to wait, until the guards left. I don't know how long, but we have to find out, on why they caused all of this. After all, no story should stay one-sided." She looked at the guards from afar and both unicorns waited...and waited..
"I don't think, they'll leave." Sunset was unsure.
"Hmm..." Starlight was thinking of an idea on how to get inside and avoid the guards. They kept waiting, but they didn't move from their positions at all. Sunset was infuriated because they kept staying on high alert. Soon, Starlight had an idea.
"I have an idea. One moment." The lavender unicorn's horn started to glow, as she kept looking at several spots. Soon, she used her magic to create a distraction by forming it into a sphere and threw it far away. After a while, the guards heard an explosion from afar. Alarmed, they went to the source of the explosion.
"See? Now let's go." Starlight used her magic to teleport herself and Sunset inside. After a while of walking, they heard the sounds of screaming, crying, thrashing and the sounds of chains pulling. The mares felt uneasy, but they have to move on. At the time, they arrived at the centre, they found the unicorn sisters chained to the ground and their horns being covered by a special metal, that prevent the girls from using magic. What's more, the twins' hair looked completely messy with Mary's ponytail being undone and their hair clips on the ground. Both were crying, but was it regret or insanity?
"Oh my God..." The orange mare was shocked. They've been locked up for a week and already showing despair. She tried to reach them, but an invisible barrier prevented the mare from going closer. When the sisters looked at the mares, they tried to jump at them, but due to the short chains, they were unable to do so.
"I'm not sure, if I can trust them to be honest, Sunset. I mean, according to Johnny's diary and several recollections from Dukey and others, they've done some horrible things before." Starlight was once again sceptical about Sunset's mission, but the orange mare reassured her with: "Hey. Back then, a lot of them thought, that I can't be changed and forgiven. But I proved them wrong by changing my destiny for the better. Now, it's a matter, if they're willing to cooperate."
They kept screaming, kicking, crying, shaking and lashing on the ground, while pulling the chains. A clear sign of lost sanity. But Sunset was not deterred and proceeded to ask them a few questions.
"Hey. I came here to ask some questions. I wanted to know about YOUR sides of the story. How did you get to Equestria and why? And did you let Nightmare possess your bodies?" She asked. However, the sisters refused to speak. In fact, they due to their mental states falling apart, they couldn't speak at all. The only responses they can are screaming and grunting. But the mares didn't understand on what they're trying to imply.
"Oh dear...They really lost it..." Starlight witnessed their mental downfall.
"I know right? It would surely make the mission a lot harder..." Sunset sighed.
Suddenly, Starlight heard something coming and looking panicked, teleported her and Sunset out of the Tartarus immediately. They hid again and when Starlight peeked a bit, her fears were confirmed: The guards have returned from the inspection and stood their positions in front of the entrance.
"Shoot...I knew, that they'll come back.." Starlight correctly assumed. "That would make it almost impossible."
The orange mare sighed and looked down. Starlight looked at her friend with a worried look on her face. Ever since that blurry vision from the sisters, Sunset has been in an impression, that they maybe can be saved, due to her own experience back in Canterlot High. But sometimes, she would doubt herself about the cause. Maybe, the ponies were right after all.
"Uhm, Sunset? I think, you should take a break. You're really worked up and quite in a rush." The lavender unicorn suggested.
"I think, that's for the best..." Sunset nodded and the two mares left the area.
Meanwhile in Canterlot, rebuilding and preparing for the Friendship Festival, which had been delayed, had begun. Now, ponies worked even harder and it's not to see why: The nightmare incident had destroyed everything in Canterlot and beyond. The non-ponies even helped the ponies on the rebuilding of the stage, the building and especially, the castle. It was around this time, that Twilight went around, checking their progress.
"Okay...It seems like, the rebuilding went a little faster, than expected. Plausible, since Johnny's friends helped them out. Speaking of which..." the purple unicorn kept walking around and eventually stopped at the ponies, putting the decorations on the stage. Two of them were Sissy and Missy.
"Hey, girls! How's your progress?" Twilight asked.
"Pretty decent. I had no idea, that it was decorated before until after we arrived there and holy shit, the destruction they caused were...let's just say...hellish?" Sissy reported.
"You know, I slowly like my new form. Being a hybrid does bring several advantages like grabbing stuff with my paws and feeling more alive. Being smart and full of personality! Sissy on the other hand, struggled..." Missy commented about her friend being a full pegasus.
"Hey, I had a hard time picking up stuff, now that I've been turned into a pony!" The blue pegasus groaned because of her disadvantage.
"Why not try to grab stuff with your wings? I've seen Test doing it and a few others as well. Plus you ARE a pegasus." The hybrid mare shrugged. Sissy looked around and saw several pegasi grabbing objects from the ground and even Johnny using his wing as a bowl or something. "Granted, Test uses even more of his wings then just flying and grabbing, because of his wings being huge!" the hybrid added, while pointing at her friend's wings. As the blue pegasus spread one of her wings, it looked like any other pegasi's wings.
"I mean, you can also improvise, if you want." Twilight scratched her head.
"I'll think of some ideas." Sissy answered.
"Don't you also have to test your wings first? I mean, you don't want to get yourself injured with broken wings and such." Missy reminded. After all, no pegasus likes their wings being broken.
"I know, that I like the thrills but not the reckless ones." The blue pegasus scratched her head.
With a giggle, Twilight moved to a different spot, where the General and the hippogriff agents work with the decorations.
"How's your progress?" Twilight asked to the men. In which the bald earth pony responded with: "Our progress has been slow, but well, your highness!" That statement made the purple alicorn flush in embarrassment. She looked at the hybrids, using their magic to put some ribbons and glitter on the decorations. Even in the air, when they used their wings. In Twilight's mind, they're technically alicorns.
"I must say, wings and a horn are quite handy." Mr. Black was impressed.
"Yep. Plus, those claws also work as hands." Mr. White was also impressed by the claws, dualing as hands.
"About the hand one, that would make the five of you and your friends." Twilight was referring Dukey, Missy and Zizrar, who were helping out on the rebuilding and decorating for the upcoming Friendship Festival. Suddenly, a shriek of excitement can be heard and the hippogriff hybrids were soon pulled into a high by a female hippogriff.
"Oh my gosh!! Oh my gosh!!! Are you new here! I'm so happy, that I met new hippogriffs!" She was so excited. Twilight couldn't help but giggle, all while the hybrids were gasping for air.
"Hey, excuse me! I demand to let my men go!" The General tried to force the female hippo griff to let them go, but she didn't take his words seriously.
"It's okay, General. She is a good friend and a student from the Friendship School." Twilight smiled and flew to the female hippogriff. "Hello, Silverstream! Could you please let the two men go?"
"Oh, sorry..it's just, I'm so excited of finding new friends." Silverstream let the others go, who breathed heavily,
"It's okay. But next time, please go easy on the new ponies and non-ponies. I'm not sure, if most of them share your enthusiasm. Plus, it's been a hard day for everyone involved." Twilight gave the female hippogriff an advice.
"I didn't know, that I've been brainwashed by a sinister force, until Starlight told me." Silverstream scratched her head.
"Nopony knew that at the time. It just happened." Twilight confessed.
It was around this time, that Starlight and Sunset returned from the whole situation and arrived to the castle grounds.
"Hey, Twilight!" Sunset smiled.
"Hey, Sunset! I'm so impressed, that you used your magic again after a long time. Especially in a dire situation." Twilight commented.
"You know, I had to, just to stop the nightmares." Sunset replied.
"We all had to, Sunset. In fact, I'm glad that you helped us, because without you, we would've been in the clutches of Nightmare." Starlight remembered.
"I'm also glad, yet surprised about the guys' sudden boost of power and confidence. If it wasn't for that, then we would be lost. I'm really sorry for what happened to them and anyone else involved in the messy story." Sunset sighed.
"At least we helped them find some footing in Equestria by finding a new family and friends. Those were the first steps to bring them to normality and serenity at least. They have yet to control their mental issues and anxiety attacks though." Starlight reported.
"Thankfully, we're always there to help them. As long as we keep helping them on their journey, the complicated trauma will end. We just have to keep their hopes up." Twilight smiled.
"We'll see about that." Sunset responded.
"Anyway, what are you doing here in Equestria?" Twilight asked.
"I'm just visiting here and check up on you. That's all. However, I had no idea, that I would be soon involved in a crazy situation." Sunset scratched her head. "Even though we saved Equestria, the whole event made me messed up."
"Oh dear...Maybe you should take a break, Sunset. The week has been tough for all of us. After the rebuilding, everypony will take a break and rest. However, I'm not sure, if we can move on from the Nightmare incident just yet. Considering that there were some mental damage left behind." Twilight noted.
"I think it's for the best. I'm about to go back to the human world anyway. This day has been a rollercoaster for me." Sunset looked at them.
"I know." The purple alicorn smiled and she used her magic to teleport her and Sunset to her castle, leaving Starlight with a look in her face, as if she wants to test out a theory... But after a few minutes, Twilight came back.
"Okay, now, where were we?" She thought.
"How about checking up the others and also check on the deal with Star Time Rush?" Starlight reminded.
"That's right! I have yet to check on them!" With those words, the princess of friendship teleported away. Once again, the lavender unicorn returned to her thoughts, but decided to help the other out and went to some groups.
Human World, Canterlot Mall
In this particular mall, Sunset was hanging out with her friends and, while sitting on a table, told them about her experience in Equestria last week.
"No way! Are you for real?" Rainbow Dash was stunned.
"Were you okay?" Fluttershy was worried.
"Yes, it happened for real and don't worry. I turned out to be fine and defeated Nightmare once and for all with my friends." Sunset explained.
"Oh my gosh!!! You were so brave fighting off the monsters with all your might and magic! I wish, I saw this moment!" Pinkie Pie was filled with joy.
"But we were so worried, that you didn't come back last week!" Rarity was worried.
"Well, it was such a chaotic week and everyone had to recover from that." The light-orange girl remembered.
"Say, I'm quite curious about your new friends, Sunset. We never heard of them before." Twilight was curious about the two ponies.
"Oh. Here is the thing, I don't know much about them, but thanks to Princess Twilight and Starlight, I got some of the information. One of them is a pegasus and the other being a hybrid between an earth pony and a dog. Both are stallions, who moved to Equestria a while ago, because they want to find happiness. Their names are Johnny and Dukey and...well, the reason of their move is quite complex and serious. So much so, that I have to simplify their reason in a short sentence to you, girls. The reason is of...well, they want to escape the pain and abuse." Sunset explained about her new friends and some facts about them.
"What pain and abuse?" Applejack asked.
"Well, it's a complicated story. Even I can't grasp on the severity of the damage and how messed up it gets." Sunset confessed. "Thankfully, Princess Twilight and her friends got it covered and are currently helping them and a few others, who also moved to Equestria, to find peace and serenity in their new lives. And also, get over the trauma, of course."
"Well, it's a good thing, that Princess Twilight and her friends help them, because I couldn't imagine the pain, they've felt before their move..." Sci-Twi voiced her opinion.
"I know, Twilight...I know." Sunset sighed.
"It would be super exciting, if they can visit us! I want to know them well!" Pinkie Pie smiled.
"Easy, Pinkie. Sunset told us, that it has been an exhausting week for her and for them. Y'all need to be patient." Applejack noted.
"She's right. The nightmare incident and the rebuilding of Equestria has been very exhausting for everyone involved. Especially, Sunset and her friends." Sci-Twi replied.
"Yeah. It was...quite an earthquake, which left even more questions. But I'll think about them tomorrow. Right now, I'm so exhausted. Even if it's been a week. I had to help the others with the rebuilding and such." Sunset was exhausted.
"We understand, Sunset. I hope, you would rest well." Fluttershy smiled.
"But first, we have to do some fun together, girls!" Pinkie Pie smiled brightly and went to a candy store. The girls laughed and followed her. The group had some fun involving candy, music, games, etc. After a fun time, the girls said goodbye to each other and Sunset took a walk to her home. It's been after dusk and walking at night is dangerous. But the girl knew better, since she has a magical geode in form of a necklace, thus defending her from evil. Eventually, she reached at her home and went inside. There she did some errands and after a break, she went to bed and fell asleep.
Hours later, before midnight, while Sunset was asleep, the door bell started to rang. Annoyed, she went up and went go the door, even though whoever's on the other side, kept ringing the door bell. "Alright, I'm coming!" She opened the door, but without a warning, someone came inside, while carrying something. Sunset rubbed her eyes and turned on the lights, only to see the impossible: The shadowy figure turned out to be Starlight Glimmer and the stuff, she's carrying, are actually Susan and Mary, completely unconscious!
"W-wh...STARLIGHT!?!" She was shocked by the sight, but the lavender girl put her finger on her lips to hush her. She kept asking with: "What are you doing here?! And how did you get them out of the Tartarus?!?"
"Shh! You want to test your theory of possible redemption, right?" Starlight asked. "So, I decided to do an elaborate breakout and covering the tracks."
"How??" Sunset was still asking about the breakout. In which, Starlight took a deep breath and explained with: "You see, I've overheard a conversation by the guards, that they have planned to send the sisters back to their home world and erasing their memories, thus silencing them and their side of the story forever! So, I planned the whole escape the whole time, the day after the nightmare incident. I looked at the structure, the security, the time, everything. After preparing, I took action and used an invisibility spell on myself and snuck into the tartarus, where I also knocked the guards out. I went inside, where I saw the sisters looking pretty messed up and trying to jump at me. But the chains made their attempts impossible. Their screams and howls became really unbearable, so to save my ears, I knocked them out with a spell. Plus, I also used another spell to go through the barrier and broke them free from the restraints, including the metal around their horns. Soon, I used a spell to take out a bit of their hair to create clones, then restraining them, put the real sisters on my back and teleporting into Twilight's castle. Everyone was asleep at the time, so I had to be quiet and snuck to the mirror and went inside. However, I know, that there is not much time, so I had to hide, while at the same time, finding you. And the rest is history."
"But, what if anyone finds out, that they basically escaped and you also vanished? There would be chaos!" Sunset made a point, but Starlight assured with: "Don't worry. I also made a clone of myself."
That kinda gave Sunset relief, but she couldn't believe, that Starlight would do something extreme. She knew, that the lavender girl had learned and mastered magic, but the extent was really astronomical.
"Do you want to save them or not?" Starlight was impatient. The orange girl answered with: "Okay, okay! I know, that was my intention, but we have to test that theory first! And also, if they're willing to cooperate and such."
"Exactly. We don't know, if we can fully trust them, given their record. But maybe we can make them talk about their side of the story and maybe...just maybe, reform them." Starlight nodded. "However we have to make sure, that they wouldn't cause even more chaos again. So we have to add some safety repercussions."
"Agreed." Sunset agreed and they carried the two girls to a different room and made some makeshift beds, so they can lay down. They put the sisters down on the beds and tucked them in. Starlight noted, that their bodies were cold, so she brought an extra blanket to warm them. Meanwhile, Sunset turned on the heater to give them extra warmth. "I think, they're out until the next morning." Starlight commented about the spell and when it will wear off.
"As for the clothes....I think, I'll probably ask Rarity to make new ones for them tomorrow." Sunset responded, since the sisters wore only rags as clothes. "And tomorrow, with my magic of Empathy and your help, we'll maybe see their story unfold."
"Right now, I'm so exhausted...." Starlight yawned. The escape costed too much energy.
"We need some sleep. Maybe tomorrow, we have better luck." Sunset yawned as well and both left the room, slowly closing the door. After that, the lavender girl thought on where she could sleep. After some thought, Sunset suggested her to sleep on the couch, which can be turned into a bed. After some preparation, Starlight laid down and after saying "Good Night" to each other, the orange teenager went to her room. It was a very intense day and they need some rest.
Meanwhile, while the sisters were still unconscious on the bed, sounds of screams and fire can be heard. But it didn't come from the outside. Instead it was in their heads, like something was happening inside.
The next morning...
The sounds of the birds singing and the slight breeze ever moving the leaves ever so gently woke the fiery girl up from her sleep. After some stretching, she went downstairs to the living room, only to see Starlight still asleep on the couch/bed. Sunset tried to wake her up, but it didn't work, as she moved to the opposite direction.
"Just give me five more minutes.." she groaned.
Annoyed, Sunset went to her room, only to come back with an airhorn, that Pinkie gave it to her as a gift a few weeks ago. Slowly and carefully, she made sure, that she was in a correct distance, so the sound of the airhorn wouldn't make her deaf. She also had to consider about the girls in the other room. Afterwhich, she started sounding the airhorn close at the lavender girl, who jumped at the sudden and loud sound like a cat. This was enough to wake her up, only Starlight's hair was really messy.
"Seriously!?" Starlight was really annoyed by the loud wake-up sound, but at least she is fully awake now.
"Sorry, Starlight...but I had to." Sunset admitted and scratched her head.
After Starlight calmed down for a while and some stretching, they prepared breakfast, with Sunset teaching the lavender girl on how to make scrambled eggs. Then, she portioned it into four and put them on four plates, since they have to give two of them to the sisters, who are still laying on the other room. Sunset grabbed the two plates and went to the room, while Starlight grabbed some drinks and followed her immediately. As soon, as they arrived the door, they have to be prepared.
"Just in case, they would try to attack us, I have my magic ready to subdue them." Sunset told to her friend about her safety precaution.
"Man, I wish, I can harness my magic here." Starlight looked down, but Sunset assured her with: "All you need to do is just believe in yourself and channel your inner magic." With a smile, the two entered the room and closed the door, when they saw the sisters still laying on the bed, unconscious and naked. It didn't take long, till the magic wore off and the twins woke up from their slumber. Again, the only sounds, they make, were only grunts and noises. But no words or sentences.
"You're awake!" Sunset exclaimed. The girls looked around their surroundings out of curiousity and confusion. They looked at Starlight and Sunset, who were looking careful. Starlight then explained with: "Don't worry, you're not in the Tartarus anymore."
They looked down at the plates of breakfast, the friends placed in front of them. It has been a week since their arrival to Equestria, after they broke out from prison, they've been sitting for three days. During their confinement in the Tartarus, they were denied of food. Sure, they were given some water to drink, but still. It would also explain about why they looked almost malnourished, so it's no surprise that they immediately started to eat the breakfast like animals.
"Oh, geez...It's gonna be a hard job for us..." Starlight sighed.
"I know." Sunset scratched her head, but decided to go to the girls, while at the same time, creating an invisible barrier between her and the sisters. "Okay, I know, that you are confused as of where you are. Basically, you are in the human world. A world that is similar to Equestria, but more modern."
The twins looked at their hands and were astonished that even though they've been turned into humans again, their skins now consisted of bright blue and bright beige. Which means, they're colourful humans now. Literally.
"Anyway, my name is Sunset Shimmer and my friend over there is Starlight Glimmer. We wanted to know your side of the story and what happened to you before you went to Equestria, as well as the moments, after you arrived. Your information is required, if you don't want to feel the torture." Sunset explained. "Now we got that out of the way, I'm gonna ask you a question: Why did you decide to go to Equestria and did you allow Nightmare possess your bodies or did it possess you by force?"
Unfortunately for our friends, the sisters can't talk. In fact, they only respond with growls and grunts. Starlight and Sunset didn't understand, what they wanted to say.
"Ah, jeez....Is there a way to make them talk?" Starlight sighed.
"I have no idea, but we have to keep trying. After all, a theory needs to be tested multiple times in order to be valid." Sunset was confident. They thought of several ideas to make them speak. However, they also assumed, that because of their snapped sanity, they've lost the ability to speak. It's like something has made them walk to a darker path. Sunset touched the arms of the twins and as to be expected, with the magic of Empathy, her eyes started to glow. Screams, fire, chains and demonic voices can be heard, but the picture is still vague. After a while, she let them go.
"What did you see?" Starlight asked.
"I still don't get the clear picture, but I heard sounds of screams, chains, fire and demonic laughter. As of right now, I don't know, what they mean." Sunset explained.
"Oh, dear...Maybe, we can ask someone for help.." Starlight sighed.
"Maybe I can ask my friends about it, since we have planned to go around the city for a while." The fiery teenager replied. "But first...." she left the room, while Starlight had to watch over the sisters, figuring out on how to find the piece to the ever complicated puzzle. Right now, they were doing absolutely nothing, which is good, since Starlight would be safe. After a while, the orange girl returned with some glasses of water for them to drink. The moment, she gave the glasses to them, the sisters immediately drank from it.
"Problem is, they can't go out there like this." Starlight noted at Susan and Mary with the rags.
"Hmm....We have to find some better clothes for them to wear. But at the same time, we can't leave them behind. Who knows, when they would cause chaos again?" Sunset responded.
"Good point. We have to make sure, this wouldn't happen again." Starlight agreed. She soon went up to the girls and held their hands. "First, we have to get you girls dressed, okay?"
They soon went to the closet, where they can find some temporary clothes. However, while they were doing that, without any warning whatsoever, the sisters lost their minds and started screaming again. They thrashed around the area, but the friends were prepared and Sunset used her magic to subdue the red-haired girls and preventing them from moving.
"Hey!! We're trying to find out about your side of the story, so please just listen!" The orange girl was not happy, however it seems like, her demand fell on deaf ears. She used her magic to silence them, but they were still struggling. Starlight was worried about the situation, since Sunset's anger could jeopardize her theory. She walked up to her and said "Uhm, Sunset? I don't think, being angry would solve this issue. You need to calm down and find a different way, which doesn't involve in further abuse."
"You're right...I should not destroy my theory with my rage.." Sunset sighed and let them go. Thankfully, they stopped struggling, by the time, she let them go. "I'm sorry for restraining you, but at the same time, your insanity won't help our mission. You need to snap out of it and calmly tell your story. It's all, what we want, okay?" she told to the sisters. In response, they looked away in silence.
"Ah jeez...this is gonna be harder, than I thought..." Starlight sighed. Soon, the doorbell rang.
"I'm coming!" Sunset left the trio to answer the door and when she opened it, this world's Twilight Sparkle stood there with a smile. Unlike Princess Twilight, she wears glasses and her hair is in a ponytail. In her arms was a purple puppy with green hair. He is Twilight's pet, Spike. "Hi, Sunset!" She greeted.
"Oh, hey Twilight!" Sunset responded with a smile. "Let me guess. It's about our city trip?"
"Yep. I told the others about it and we'll be meeting them around 11 o'clock." Twilight explained.
"That's good!" Sunset responded. At the same time, Starlight walked to them. "Hey, Starlight! It's been a while since the Mirror Magic incident!" Twilight recognized the lavender girl.
"Yeah. It was a crazy ride." Starlight scratched her head with a nervous smile. "Anyway, what are you doing?"
"Sunset and I have planned to go to the city with our friends to hang out and have some fun." Sci-Twi explained about their plan.
"That's cool. You know, it's been a while since my first arrival in this world and I need to refine my skills as a human, so mind, if I can join?" Starlight asked. Sunset and Twilight giggled with the latter responding with: "Sure!"
But before they could start their plan and go to the city, they were suddenly alarmed by the sounds of screaming and glass shattering inside of Sunset's house. With the exception of Twilight, the two girls immediately knew, what was happening.
"Shoot!" The girls ran back inside as quickly as possible.
"Hey, wait!!" Twilight followed them. She was confused as of what is happening. The girls ran to the source of the sounds and saw the aftermath. Not only did they saw the door being slammed open, but when they went to Sunset's bedroom, the trio saw the window being smashed. What's worse is, that Susan and Mary weren't found.
"Oh, shit...this is really bad..." Sunset mumbled in shock.
"We have to follow them!!" Starlight yelled.
"Got it!!" Sunset nodded and they jumped out of the window to find them.
"Girls, wait! What's going on?!" Twilight followed them again, since she needed answers. Sunset, on the other hand, said: "It's a very complicated story! We're trying to uncover it!"
"Basically, there are two girls, that we're taking care of and let's just say, they're messed up." Starlight commented.
"What? What do you mean by 'messed up'!?" Twilight was even more confused, however, Sunset responded with: "Like I said, it's a very complicated story! But right now, we have to find them!"
"Wait, maybe I can try to smell their trail!" Spike suggested.
"That's a good idea, Spike!" Twilight agreed and put her dog down to the ground, where he started sniffing the trail, after sniffing the bits of red hair left behind. The girls followed Spike, as he kept sniffing. Meanwhile, questions arise inside of Sunset's head, like this one:
"What is happening in their heads?"
Meanwhile, in Equestria...
The Brain Freezer kept pacing anxiously around the fountain. It's been a week, since he saw the beautiful, snow white pegasus mare and being struck by an arrow of love, something, he never felt before. The problem is about his past. He's done so many crimes before in Porkbelly, like freezing everyone and everything and even stole some items. He was honest to a girl at one point and it led to some painful results.
"Damn it! What should I do??" He was feeling the panic growing inside of him. Around the same time, his best pal, Zizrar, came to him with new sunglasses.
"Hey, Brain Freezer! These new sunglasses are glamorous!" The mole king admires his new sunglasses, but the Brain Freezer ignored it, as he kept having a nervous look on his face. "Come on, what is it? Is it about the mare?" he asked.
"No, it is because of a visit- OF COURSE IT'S ABOUT THE MARE!!!" The icy blue unicorn snapped.
"Jeez, chill... Look, I'm also not experienced in romance, even though I recently started reading romance novels. Maybe try to impress her?" Zizrar shrugged. However, his lack of romantic experience was not enough to convince his friend.
"Impress her with what?" Brain Freezer kept pacing anxiously.
"I don't know, by being honest?" The mole king suggested, but this didnt help, as the blue stallion shouted with: "I've already done that before and IT DIDN'T WORK!!!"
It was around the same time, that the snow white pegasus came to the market for some groceries, when she overheard the yelling. "Uhm...what's going on?" She scratched her head. Neither of the two noticed her looking at them with a confused look.
As Brain Freezer kept pacing anxiously, Zizrar kept thinking about possible ways on getting her attention. Unfortunately, because of his lack of experience when it comes to romance and such (and probably because there are no female moles in Porkbelly, I think), his thought process was slower and more difficult.
"Uhm, how about gifts?" Zizrar suggested.
"With what??" The icy blue unicorn kept pacing around. Like what can he gift her? Roses and Chocolate or something unique?
"Let me think...umm...-" the mole king was in the middle of thinking, when all of a sudden....
"Excuse me, what's with the ruckus??" When the two looked around, they saw the mare, directly looking at them. This caused Brain Freezer to ironically freeze himself (not literally), because she was looking at him, wanting answers.
"Uh, not much really! We were arguing over some stupid stuff. That's all." Zizrar nervously smiled. "Anyway, you new here?"
"First off, at least find ways to resolve that crap and second, well I've been there in the past 3 months, alongside with my friends." The mare responded.
"That's quite nice. Me and my friend have been there for a couple of days, because of finding redemption and stuff." Zizrar continued to explain.
"Redemption?" The pegasus was confused.
"It's a long and complicated story." The mole king scratched his head. "Anyway, we haven't introduced each other yet. My name is Zizrar, king of the mole people. Those people over there." He pointed at several of his people having conversations with other ponies and even helping them out. Much like Zizrar, they too wore sunglasses to protect their eyes from the sun. Then he added: "Oh and this is my friend, the Brain Freezer."
"I'm not sure, why he's named after a slushie, but I'm not here to judge ponies and others. My name is Snow Emerald. And....is your friend even alright?" Snow Emerald pointed at the Brain Freezer, still frozen at the sight of her.
"Uh, let me see...Hello???" Zizrar tried to snap his friend out of the frozen state, but to no avail. "Would you please excuse me for a second?" He carried the frozen pony somewhere and slapped him hard, which brought the stallion back to reality at least. "Buddy, you need to chill. No pun intended." He noted.
"But how? That breakup had soured my perspective to love hard, ever since that girl saw the true me!!" Brain Freezer was frustrated, remembering when the girl broke off the relationship, due to his true form. "It didn't help, that I caused a lot of damage..."
"I know, but maybe this would be different." Zizrar shrugged.
"No..." the icy blue unicorn looked away. That dark response alarmed the mole king, so he yelled loudly at the crowd with: "HEY! SOMEONE NEEDS HELP WITH DATING!! ANYONE HAS A CLUE??"
A lot of the ponies were confused on what the mole king is talking about and backed off. The thought of helping a pony to get his love was just bizarre, since some ponies were either single or taken, but no idea, on how to do it. Everyone, except for one pony, who came forward and that pony is none other than an unamused Rarity. "Excuse me, but you could've at least talk to me personally." She sighed.
"Sorry, it was an urgent emergency." The mole king scratched his head with an nervous smile. "You see, my friend over there wanted to impress a girl, named Snow Emerald, but due to his past actions and a breakup, he was left soured."
"Hmm..." the unicorn mare was looking at Brain Freezer, while thinking for solutions. Like her friends, she heard about his past a week ago and together, they were trying to fix the problems and wipe their slates clean, while at the same time helping Johnny and his friend to get out of the darkness. "I think, you need some advice first, which include from adjusting your behavior to a makeover!" She smiled, grabbed the icy blue stallion by the hoof and took off on their way to her boutique. At the same time, one of the mole men came to him with a question.
"Your highness, where can we live? We can't dig an underground system under the village, because the ponies would be angry to us. And also, what would happen, if a war erupted under Ponyville?" He reported.
"Hmm...I think, we should think of possible locations. One, that is peaceful and at a close proximity to the city, In order to get food." Zizrar thought of some ideas. "Tell everyone about out plan, because the time of finding a new home for us is now!"
"Yes, your majesty!" The mole man ran off to tell the others.
"If we've done all those steps, we can live in peace!" The mole king laughed, but it contained an evil tone. However, it was short-lived, as ten seconds later, he got hit by a gray pegasus mare with derpy eyes.
"Oops....my bad!" She apologized and flew off. Zizrar on the other hand, was not pleased.
"WATCH, WHERE YOU FLYING, DUMBO!!!!" He yelled at the clumsy pegasus, not knowing that his yelling and laughter had scared most of the ponies until he looked around and realised the issue.
"Ahh...shoot. Note to self: Work on my anger issues and abandon the evil laughs...This is gonna be a very long journey, I'm sure of it..." he sighed, knowing that the path of redemption will take a very long time.
Back in the human world, the trio of Sunset, Twilight and Starlight continued following Spike, as he kept sniffing the trail of the sisters, who've became rouge.
"Still on their trail?" Sunset asked.
"Still on it!" Spike responded, as he kept sniffing.
"What is happening in their heads!?" Twilight wanted to know. She still hasn't received any answers from the girls.
"No idea, although Sunset may have a vague picture and only a few clues about the truth after she touched them." Starlight replied.
"There may be a small hint, that they feel remorse, but I don't know, because of their delusional state. Also, sounds of fire, chains clashing, screams and demonic laughter can be heard. As of right now, I don't know about the full image, but it's worth to search for more answers about this ever complicated story!" Sunset recounted her experience, when her Empathy powers reacted to the sisters back in Equestria.
"What story?!" Twilight was even more confused.
"The one, I told you about Johnny yesterday!" Sunset shouted. But before Twilight could answer, Spike suddenly stopped much to everyone's confusion. But the dog looked back and said: "Shoot. I lost their trail..."
"Great..." Starlight sighed.
Since the trail stopped near the city, it seems like, the sisters had escaped into it. But because they were delusional, it would cause a lot of problems.
"This is really bad...Their lack of sanity will cause a big scene in the city... Worse is, we don't know, where they currently are now. We should split up! Starlight. go to the center to find their whereabouts! Twilight and I will search for them in other areas." Sunset discussed.
"Got it!" Starlight nodded.
"I'm with you, Sunset!" Twilight agreed. "Come on, Spike! Let's go!"
The trio split up, when they entered the city. There was no time to spare.
Canterlot City, centre
The lavender girl kept running and looking around for any clues about the sisters' whereabouts. She was worried, that they would cause even more chaos than they already did back then. She also asked a few people about the red-haired twins, but they replied, that they've never seen the two.
"This is really bad...." Starlight was on the edge. Suddenly, she saw a traumatized girl and went on to ask one question: "Have you seen two red-haired girls?"
"Y-you mean the two wearing glasses? They went this way...." She pointed to the east.
"Shoot...Thanks for the info! And I'm so sorry, that you're traumatized." Starlight apologized and went to the east. As the girl kept going, even more people pointed at the direction, the girls went. It seems like, they too saw them. In a hurry, Starlight went to a phone booth. Thankfully, she had enough coins to make a phone chall and that's exactly, what she did and later dialed Sunset's number. While waiting, she kept pacing anxiously. Finally, after a few minutes, she got a response.
"Hello?" the voice of Sunset Shimmer can be heard.
"Sunset! I think, I know, where the girls have went! According to some people, they went to the east side of the city! We need to hurry!!" Starlight quickly responded.
"I know! I'll call Twilight about the news! There is not much time left!" Sunset replied.
"Exactly!" After those words, she quickly hung up the phone, exited the booth and continued running to the direction, the citizens were pointing. Eventually, she had to ask one of them about their exact location, only to be told, that they've been heading to an abandoned warehouse. After given directions, she ran as fast as she could to the abandoned warehouse, where she saw the girls running towards the stairs.
"Girls, wait!!!" Starlight shouted, but they didn't notice, as they began to ran upstairs. The lavender girl followed the two almost immediately. As the chase went on, the sisters gained speed, while Starlight was lagging behind. However, she didn't give up and continued. At the same time, why would they go upstairs on an abandoned warehouse? That's the question, Starlight was thinking. Eventually, the staircase ended with a door leading to the rooftop, open. When Starlight came to the rooftop, she looked around for their locations, only to see the two on the edge of the rooftop, slowly walking towards off the edge. No words or any sounds can be heard, aside from the wind. The sisters were also completely silent. This sight alarmed Starlight.
"What are you doing??!!?! STOP!!!!" Starlight rushed towards the two twin sisters, in order to stop them, but it was too late, as Susan and Mary jumped from the edge. "NO!!!!!" Not willing to give up, she jumped after them and gained speed by falling vertically, head first. Eventually, she reached towards the twins and grabbed them, in which the girls started to resist, all while Starlight tightened her grip.
It was around the same time, that a lot of the citizens gathered to the abandoned warehouse with horrified looks on their faces. One of which is this world's Fluttershy, who happened to be here.
"Oh my goodness!!! I need to save them!!" Fluttershy was scared and used her powers to transform. Meanwhile, Starlight was grabbing the sisters tightly, while they struggled. At that point, she knew the existance of magic in the Human World, but she never harnessed it by herself. Starlight started to concentrate and believe, as they kept falling, while at the same time, Fluttershy flew up and was about to grab the three.
"I...WON'T...LET THIS...HAPPEN!!!" Starlight shouted loudly. "I...MUST....SAVE THEM!!! I MUST BELIEVE!!!" At that point, they almost reached to Fluttershy, with her arms open in order to catch them, when all of a sudden, a miracle happened: Starlight and the girls have stopped falling, but that wasn't because of Fluttershy, as they were surrounded in a cyan aura of magic.
"Oh dear...Starlight?" Fluttershy was surprised about this miracle, as the aura made them slowly fall down to the ground. When Starlight opened her eyes, she noted that her hands were glowing for a while.
"What just happened?" Starlight was surprised and confused about this magical miracle, when Fluttershy flew down and explained with: "You used your Equestrian magic for the first time in this world..."
Starlight was about to question that, when all of a sudden, she remembered the words, that Sunset told to her:
"All you need to do is just believe in yourself and channel your inner magic."
"I see..." the lavender girl slowly understood the reason of her magical awakening. At the same time, Sunset, Twilight and Spike ran through the crowd and towards the group.
"Starlight, are you okay?!" Sunset asked with a worried look, but Starlight responded with: "Yeah...I'm fine. I feel like, my magic has been awakened here." That sentence threw Sunset off guard.
"Wait, what?! You used your magic in the Human World for the first time?!" She was shocked.
"She did, Sunset. She did." Fluttershy confirmed.
"What in the tarnation is going on here!?" A voice can be heard.
"Can someone please explain, what just happened?" Another one can be heard.
Sunset and Twilight immediately recognized the voices coming from Applejack and Rarity from this world! Sure enough, they went to the group, alongside with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. They all wanted answers.
"Well, I saved these two from falling themselves to their deaths with my magic." Starlight explained.
"Say what!?" Rainbow Dash was surprised.
"I know, right?" Sunset agreed. It was indeed unexpected. Meanwhile, the sisters started screaming and continued struggling.
"What's up with these girls? Why are they looking so ragged??" Rarity asked.
"I think, we all need a full explaination about the history, Sunset Shimmer." Twilight crossed her arms and everyone looked at her, wanting an answer to this mess.
"Ok....It's time to give you the full story." Sunset was about to explain the story, when Starlight interrupted with: "Uhm, help?" Applejack went to Starlight and looked at the girls, who were still struggling. "Hang on." The southern girl knocked the sisters out, in order to keep them quiet.
"I think, I can help Sunset with the explaination, since I knew the issue better, thanks to Princess Twilight." Starlight looked down.
"Shouldn't we go somewhere private first?" Rarity noted.
"We can go to my house!" Pinkie Pie grinned and everyone agreed. But...what about the people? This was a question, that the girls asked. Luckily, Twilight had a device, allowing to erase memories. As soon, as the group went to Pinkie's house, she used it to the citizens to erase the memories about this event and about the sisters.
Pinkie Pie's house
After some time has passed of the girls calming down from the event and doing some stuff like doing safety precussions, Sunset and Starlight prepared to tell the girls about the story of an ever-complicated web of abuse, trauma, depression, anxiety and nightmares.
"Last week was like any other in Ponyville...My friends, Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided to race to the Sweet Apple Acres. That decision would soon unfold into an unextpected meeting..." Starlight began to explain the story.
Equestria, a week and a few days ago...
In a flashback, we saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash racing through Ponyville and the fields, in order to whomever to reach Sweet Apple Acres the fastest. The thing was, Rainbow wasn't allowed to fly, in order to create an even match. Despite all of this, she cheated by using her wings as a boost in order to reach to the farm first. But Applejack saw this and was not happy about this form of cheating and Rainbow Dash felt busted and flew off, leading to a chase. Rainbow hid in one of the hay stacks, which turned out, that someone was hiding already, albeit invisible. While hiding, she felt something, touching her back, creeping the prismatic mare out. Eventually, she was so scared, that she flew up....in front of Applejack. Eventually, the southern pony dug up the haystack, only to touch something and immediately, light started to glow. (Unbeknown to everyone, it actually came from the time, that before he went to Equestria, Johnny had shot himself with the Invisibility Ray Gun and it seems like, the effect wore off.) From the light, they saw Johnny, who is now a black pegasus, asleep in the hay. Then we saw their awkward first meeting and eventually, meeting Dukey for the first time.
"It didn't take long, till they would meet his friend."
They saw Dukey and being shocked and confused at his appearance, as this was like no other. A hybrid between an earth pony and a dog was unheard of. Eventually, we switched to them coming back and making introductions to each other and to their friends. We also saw Rainbow Dash teaching Johnny on how to fly, because he was now a pegasus.
"They would go on to meet my other friends as well other ponies and non-ponies from Ponyville. On first glance, they were chill, yet playful ponies, wanting fun. And it seems like, they got along with the others....Little did anyone know, is that they were hiding a dark side that nobody knew....until that fateful day..."
A few days later, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle witnessed an argument between the two stallions, with Dukey shouting that Johnny should not hide his problems. At that time, no one knew about the story, even when they saw some alarming moments earlier, so they were confused. It culminated into a shouting match, with Dukey running away and later with Johnny screaming and flying off, disappearing into the skies. The mares, who were alarmed by that sight, immediately went off to search for the black pegasus, with Rainbow Dash flying up in the skies, but to no avail. Twilight contacted Rarity and Pinkie Pie about the news and she joined the search party, while Applejack had learned the story from Dukey.
"His sudden breakdown had caused a chain reaction, that would lead one thing to another...With my friends searching for him all over Equestria."
Together, the team split up into three groups, with Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Dukey going to the Everfree Forest for some clues about his whereabouts. Little did anyone know, is that they would soon discover a gruesome sight: It was Johnny, lying on the ground bleeding, unconscious and with his arms slit, a sign of an attempted suicide.
"However....Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Dukey eventually found him....nearly dead....from a suicide attempt....They were horrified....but there was a glimmer of chance, that he could be saved...
Noticing that Johnny is still alive, thanks to Dukey checking on his friend's heartbeat, Rainbow Dash immediately rushed him to the Ponyville Hospital as fast as she could and thanks to the quick timing and the best skills from the doctors, Johnny's life was successfully saved.
"But thanks to Rainbow's fast flying and the best skills from the nurses and doctors, his life was saved. Soon, the truth would come out."
Eventually, after a while of pressuring and with the Mane 6 learning the painful truth from Dukey and the blue diary, Johnny finally showed his dark side to them and confessing about his pain. Everyone felt sorry for him and they decided to help him. Eventually, Starlight heard of the news and his story.
"Since his confession, the goal was set: Free Johnny from his demons! Even I joined the crusade, after I heard about the story."
Since then, the group started their mission, by telling everyone in Equestria and with the help of the princesses. After lots of planning and a sudden confession from Dukey about his shared pain, a big party was made and when Rainbow Dash dragged Johnny from the hospital to the village's centre, everyone gave him a fun time.
"We all made a big celebration in order to make him feel loved. And after a song, a Sonic Rainboom and many fireworks, we were expecting the plan to work..."
At first, Johnny didn't know, how to react at the sight and sobbed, much to everyone's dismay. But then, the sobbing slowly turned into laughter and looked at them with a smile and tears in his eyes.
"...and it did....He finally smiled!"
With that, the plan was successful, but everyone, even the princesses knew, that the stallions still have a long way to learn on how to overcome the darkness and embrace the light.
"But the story was far from over....No...We had no idea, that soon, more would come into Equestria..."
As the days went, the ponies continued to help Johnny and Dukey on their journey of a new life. Suddenly, from a portal, new ponies and non-ponies came for a mission: to find Johnny, which they did. The best friends immediately recognized the group as their friends and even a few of their enemies. All with their own reasons and big news to share: the individuals, who were responsible for Johnny's pain, were finally arrested! This gave them relief.
"The group, who also came from the same world, that Johnny had lived up until he moved to Equestria, gave the two some closure by arresting the monsters! Plus, they wanted to apologise to them for not taking action earlier."
The group were forgiven by the duo and they began to start over in their new home! Eventually, Sissy and a magically mutated Missy would join in, Jillian cut her hair and gave herself a new makeover, and finding new friends, the team were on their way to a better future....
"They all live in peace...until something sinister happened..."
"And it was around the time, I came into the story..."
Soon, the nightmare incident happened...Equestria was in flames and everypony was put under a spell, except for Johnny, Dukey, Starlight and Sunset, who arrived to Equestria for a visit. After many chases, they were caught and taken to the darkness, where they saw the nightmare sisters for the first time. At first, all hope was lost, when the sisters took the Mane 6 in their control and tormented the guys...but soon, thanks to the words of their friends, Johnny and Dukey gained new confidence and awakened their powers, which they used to free Starlight and Sunset and soon an epic battle began.
"After we were freed, the battle has begun. Nopony on either sides backed down and we tried so hard to stop the Nightmare."
After a long battle, the good ponies got the upper hand and freed Twilight and her friends from the control and together, they used the magic of friendship to defeat Nightmare and cleanse the ponies from it. The ponies were the sisters Susan and Mary. They were soon arrested and taken to the Tartarus for their crimes, but not before a botched escape attempt, which resulted in Sunset seeing something in their heads.
"When they fell on me and I touched their arms, the magic of Empathy kicked in and I saw something in their heads, that left me wondering. Wondering about their side of the story and how can we solve this ever complicated web of problems."
Since then, Sunset was convinced on a theory about redeeming them, due to her experience. But no one believed in her and even the guards of the Tartarus refused her to visit them.
"Unfortunately, no one believed in me, thinking I was crazy and basically leaving them to die, since they refused to give them food!! All but one..."
It was Starlight Glimmer, who also had a similar experience like Sunset. She decided to help her friend. So she decided to break the sisters out of the Tartarus and carry them to the Human World.
"Yep. It was me. In fact, I broke them out, without anyone noticing. I wanted to help her test the theory."
Pinkie Pie's house, present
"That's crazy!" Rainbow Dash was shocked by the extent of that story and the breakout.
"That's horrible..." Fluttershy was in tears.
"Why would they do this?!?!?!" Rarity yelled.
"There has to be a reason!" Twilight crossed her arms.
"We are trying to find it! Plus, Nightmare possessed them, so it's not entirely their fault!!" Sunset yelled.
"But they still hurt the young fella and his friend, which is still terrible." Applejack shook her head in disappointment.
"How long did they abuse him?" Pinkie Pie was curious. But Starlight answered her question by giving her the copies of Johnny's diary entries. The girls started to read it and each entry sent them chills down to their spines. After which, the girls were angry at Starlight and Sunset for breaking the monsters out.
"How could you!?" Twilight was mad, since she was not told by the extend earlier. But Sunset defended her actions by saying. "HEY!! That's what also happened to me after my defeat!!! Everyone hated me, except for Princess Twilight and the others! They saw the different side of the story and helped me reform, despite the odds!" Except for Twilight, the girls agreed. They were there, when Sunset was defeated and given a second chance. But the purple girl with the glasses was still angry.
"Twilight...calm down...We need to at least test that theory first." Rainbow Dash attempted to defuse the situation, with the help of her friends. After a while and with the help of the girls, Twilight calmed down and said: "You're right. I'm sorry. It's time to help Sunset."
"Good. Let's go." Sunset smiled and went, with the girls following her to the bathroom, where they saw the sisters tied up to chairs for safety. They were still struggling to escape from the restraints.
"Oh dear..." Fluttershy covered her mouth.
"How can we snap them out of their insane attitudes?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I have no idea..." Applejack scratched her head.
"Be careful, they are still unstable. We have to be at a safe distance." Sunset warned her friends about the danger.
"Speaking of which, what did you see in their heads?" Rarity asked.
"It's blurry. I can't see the full picture, however, I heard the sounds of flames, screams, clashing chains and demonic laughter." Sunset explained her friends about her sight.
"That's crazy!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
"However, we have yet to solve this mystery. It's only a matter of time, if they're willing to cooperate or not." Starlight crossed her arms.
"But first, we have to restore them some sanity." Twilight had her notebook and pencil ready.
Fluttershy carefully approached the sisters at a safe distance and politely asked with a question: "Uhm, excuse me? Could you please take a deep breath and tell us, what's troubling you last week?" However, that didn't work, as they kept thrashing around. So much so, that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had to hold the chairs, they were tied to, down. By the shoulders.
"Are you two even listening?!?!" Applejack yelled. The screaming soon became unbearable for the girls, who covered their ears.
"It's unbearable! When will they stop screaming!??!!" Rarity screamed.
"Please, if you don't cooperate with that theory, then all of our efforts are for nothing and you would be sent back!" Starlight pleaded. That made the situation even worse with the screaming becoming even louder. Once again, the lavender girl tried to plead them for their cooperation, but soon...things would escalate immediately, when the sisters headbutted Starlight, after shaking the girls off. Losing patience and not taking to their antics anymore, Sunset snapped.
"ENOUGH!!!!!!" She slapped the sisters so hard, that when they fell down to the ground, they hit their heads hard. That impact made the sisters unconscious. The girls were shocked by Sunset's action. However, the orange girl was in the brink of tears and ran off immediately.
"Sunset, wait!!! Girls, make sure, that the girls are okay! I have to catch up to her and calm down the situation!" Starlight ran off shortly after telling the girls to check up on the twins.
"This is getting really ridiculous..." Rainbow Dash sighed.
"I know, right? But first, we have to check for any vital signs of the girls." Twilight noted.
"If you say so..." Applejack sighed and the girls helped Twilight to check on any vital signs like their heartbeat.
Canterlot City
On a rainy afternoon, Starlight ran outside to find Sunset, who ran away in a mess. Thankfully, she used one of Pinkie's umbrellas to protect herself from the rain. "Sunset? Sunset, where are you??" She yelled around the area, trying to find her whereabouts. After a while of guessing and asking the locals about the directions, she eventually found her friend in an alley, but in a messed up state.
"Sunset....are you okay?" She asked, but there was no response. Only sobbing. Starlight slowly approached her friend to see, if she's alright. Instead, she heard Sunset mumbling over something, that she couldn't understand. "Excuse me?" Starlight tried to get her attention and hear the sentence, that she mumbled.
"...maybe I was wrong...." the words can be heard, when Starlight listened closely. Confused, she asked, what in the name of Equestria she is talking about, to which Sunset replied with: "They're right....they can't be redeemed...I don't know, how I even came up with that idea!!! Is it because of experience or just simple wishful thinking!??! Or possibly a stupid idea in my head....I'M SUCH A MESS!!!!"
"Calm down, Sunset..." the lavender girl tried her best to reach for her friend, but she shouted back with: "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO CALM MYSELF DOWN, WHEN THEY NEVER EVEN LISTEN!?!?!?" Hell, Sunset was about to slap her in rage, but Starlight tightly grabbed her hand with a serious expression on her face.
"That's enough. I know, that you assumed something crazy after the Nightmare incident and even went so far as trying to find some footing and I know that I did something stupid by breaking them out and bringing them here. But, that doesn't mean, you can throw everything away! After all, a theory needs to be researched, tested and even brought evidence to be either true or false. Plus, your empathy sensed something different in the sisters, that doesn't add up to what the guys were saying. And I know, that they're never wrong. I beg of you, Sunset Shimmer...Don't throw the progress away. There is still a chance. All you have to do is believe in it, despite the odds." Starlight looked at her. Her words made Sunset tear up and soon broke down in Starlight's arms under the umbrella during the rainy afternoon. However, she soon stopped after 15 minutes.
"I'm sorry...I wasn't thinking straight, when all of this happened..." Sunset apologised. But Starlight warmly smiled and forgave her.
"It's okay. We can solve this mystery...together." Starlight nodded. That gave Sunset some hope and confidence to try again. "Let's go back inside. I don't want you to catch a cold." Starlight noted and both got out of the alley, when Sunset's phone started ringing. The girl looked at who is trying to call her and accepts it.
"Hello?" Sunset asked.
"Sunset, you need to come to Pinkie's house quick! Something's wrong with the girls!" It was this world's Twilight, who is calling her. She wanted Sunset and Starlight to come back immediately.
"You do know, that I knocked them out, right?" Sunset recalled the moment, where she slapped them so hard that they hit their heads on the ground.
"I know, but recently, they've been acting really strange, as if they're in peril. I have no idea, why." Twilight answered.
"We're on our way now." Sunset ended the call. "Come on, Starlight." Both girls were now on their way back to Pinkie's house.
Pinkie Pie's house
The duo immediately arrived at the house, where Twilight was waiting.
"Girls! You're back! Come inside quick!" Twilight went inside with the girls following suit. Upon entering the bathroom, they saw her friends in a confused, yet frightened state at the following scene: Susan and Mary were thrashing around in their restraints, but this time, they weren't screaming anymore. Instead, they moaned in distress. Not to mention, the twins started sweating.
"This is getting even stranger..." Applejack noted.
"What is happening?" Fluttershy was scared.
"Brace yoursleves!" Pinkie Pie responded.
Sunset went to the two, trying to calm them down, but upon touching their arms, she started screaming in horror and agony and her eyes glow white. Her Empathy powers were kicking in. Although this time, the glow was intense.
"Sunset!!!" Twilight was scared.
"What's going on!??!" Rainbow Dash was alarmed.
Twilight tried to pull Sunset away from the sisters, but it seems like she was basically glued to them.
"Girls, help me!!!" Twilight pleaded her friends for help and they immediately took action by helping her pulling Sunset away from them, but even with the power of 7 girls and a dog, when Spike started to assist them, it still wasn't enough.
"Oh, great..." Rainbow Dash sighed.
"It seems like, her Empathy powers prevent us from pulling her away, which means that whatever is in their heads, must be intense." Twilight assumed. And it seems like, her assumption was legit, as the behaviour of the sisters got worse. All three of them were groaning in agony and soon screamed loudly. After which, Sunset let the sisters go and lost consciousness, while the sisters also lost consciousness.
"Oh no! Sunset!!" Twilight ran to her friend, while the other girls were shocked and now scrambling for ideas.
"We need to get them to a hospital!!" Fluttershy suggested.
"I'm on it!" Rarity immediately called emergency services, while Rainbow Dash grabbed some towels to bandage their heads, all while untying them from the restraints.
"What is happening...?" Starlight had so many questions in her head at this point. After a while of waiting, when Rarity gave the dispatcher informations about the location and the situation, two sets of ambulances arrived at the scene, took Sunset, Susan and Mary inside and drove them to a hospital.
"We have to follow them." Twilight told to the girls and they're on their way to the hospital.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville...
Snow Emerald was still confused about her encounter with Zizrar and Brain Freezer, so she took a walk alone to clear up her mind. Suddenly, she heard a commotion somewhere and went to the source, only to see a red unicorn mare, protecting a colt from a couple. She was really angry.
"Oh for the love of..." Snow Emerald sighed and ran to the commotion.
"This is my final warning, if you keep hurting this kid, I'll burn you alive! YOU HEAR ME?!?!?!" the red mare shouted, scaring the couple.
"Stop it, Fire Jewel!!!" Snow Emerald was outraged. "You don't need to threaten them!!"
"But they hurt this kid!!!" Fire Jewel stood by her decision, all while her horn was glowing. In the meantime, the couple ran away in fear.
"You seriously need to work on your attitude, girl..." Snow Emerald facehoofed.
"What is going on here?" An aqua-blue unicorn mare with oceanic eyeshadow went to them.
"It's about your sister, Ocean Spark... She threatened yet another pair again for abuse." Snow Emerald reported.
"Again...?" Ocean Spark sighed and used her magic to grab her sister's ear and drag her away. "We'll talk about this."
"Ow! Hey, let me go!" Fire Jewel was struggling.
All while this was going, Johnny and Dukey were hanging out with Cosmic Blaze for a fun day out, when they saw Ocean Spark dragging Fire Jewel away, while Snow Emerald was following them.
"Don't mind us. It's just personal." Snow Emerald looked at them before following them, leaving the guys confused. Cosmic Blaze looked at the colt and asked: "Hey, what are you doing?" But the colt was scared to say anything and ran away. Johnny recognized that behavior and the injuries as injuries from abuse. Giving the fact, that he too was an abuse victim, it left him frozen in horror.
"Uhm, bro? You okay?" Cosmic Blaze tried to snap his brother out of it, but to no avail. Suddenly, he ran off to the direction, the colt ran off.
"Whoa! Johnny, wait!!" The hybrid followed his friend almost immediately. And so did Cosmic Blaze.
Human World, Canterlot Hospital
Starlight and the Humane Six were sitting in the waiting room, waiting for updates about the situation. Everyone was worried.
"I have a bad feeling about this...." Starlight looked concerned.
"I hope, they'll be okay..." Fluttershy prayed for the girls. Everyone agreed. They wanted the girls to be okay and at the same time, find out, what caused Susan and Mary to freak out.
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 13: A Glimmer of Courage | Somewhere in Equestria, there was a hidden building in the trees, that only a select ponies knew. And the select ponies, who were approaching were Fire Jewel, Snow Emerald and Ocean Spark, Using her magic, she gained access to this location and went inside. Inside of this building was a table with seven chairs, each with an elemental symbol. The trio sat down on their respective chairs.
"Why can't you girls just understand, that I hate abusive assholes?!" Fire Jewel protested. She was still mad after the whole ordeal. Snow Emerald responded with: "We know your story, but that doesn't mean, that you can threaten ponies with death without any surveillance." Ocean Spark added with: "You need to grow up and find ways to solve your crusade without any violence or death threats in particular, sister."
Soon, two ponies came inside: One being a green earth pony with pink mane and a black choker with ruby Pearl's and the other a dark blue pegasus mare with purple mane with cyan streaks and black piercings on her ears.
"How's the patrol, Cherry Swirl?" Ocean Spark asked.
"Well, Breeze and I discovered some ponies, that were....unique. four of them are hybrids. Two being a mix between earth ponies and dogs and the other two were hippogriffs with unicorn horns." The green Pony named Cherry Swirl reported.
"So far, we don't know, where they came from." The dark blue mare scratched her head.
Another pony came in, which was a yellow earth pony with blue mane, bound in a ponytail and a pink flower. She sat down on her seat, which is nature-themed.
"Hi, girls! You won't believe, what I saw! There was a black pegasus running after a colt with injuries! " She reported.
"Hey, that's the same colt, I defended from his disgusting parents!" Fire Jewel reminded.
"Again, we don't know, if they were abusive or not!" Ocean Spark yelled at her sister.
"What's going on?" Tropic Bloom was confused, so Snow Emerald answered her question with: "Well, we saw Fire Jewel threatening another pair for abuse."
"Really? Wow, going right to the fire, don't you think?" Cherry Swirl was not happy. This annoyed the red mare so much.
"Hey!!" she yelled. "I saw the abuse before and that alone proved me, that they were pieces of shit!"
"That's enough!" a voice can be heard and out from a purple spark came a pink alicorn mare, although it wasn't Cadence. This mare had blue mane, her wings fading to bright blue and she wore a heart necklace, that was fading from purple to pink. "What's going on?" she asked.
"Well, my sister threatened another couple. It's been the 10th time already!" The oceanic mare replied. But her sister got even angrier by everyone not believing in her and used her fire magic against them, but the pink mare stopped it with her own magic. "Enough, Fire Jewel! Go to the time out room, now!"
Fire Jewel went to the Time-Out room with a glare on her face. Everyone was not intimidated by her glare, however Tropic Bloom was worried, like something doesn't add up.
"Okay, everyone! Any reporting?" The alicorn mare asked.
"Well, about hybrids, mole people and new ponies, we never knew they live, Jenny." Cherry Swirl answered.
"Hmm...odd. Maybe they came from a different planet...or maybe from a different universe. Whatever of this, we need to be careful. We don't know, they they're friends of foes. Keep an eye on them,,while at the same time watch for any suspicious activity. I will not allow anyone to fall under an evil being...like many being taken by Shadow Nebula...Remember, may the powers of the galaxies and the elements be with you." Jenny explained and the ponies moves out...except Tropic Bloom, who went to the Time-Out room, where Fire Jewel was sitting. With a concerned look in her face, the yellow mare slowly approached her.
"Fire Jewel? Are you...okay?" she asked, only to get a growl from the enraged unicorn. The yellow pony continued with: "I'm sorry for not helping you...I was really scared....that I would hurt their prideful selves...I know your pain well, even though I wasn't abused. I know your intentions, but at the same time, you can be pretty aggressive..."
"They never learn true pain..." Fire Jewel growled.
"I think, they do. It's just their arrogance and pride kept them buried. Anyway, I want you to request something. Could you please stop threatening ponies?" Tropic Bloom begged for her friend.
"Do you have better ideas...?" the unicorn growled again.
"Well, you can report them to authorities or even to the rulers of Equestria. The easiest way is to tell to the Princess of Friendship in Ponyville. Please, Fire Jewel...I don't want to see more heartache and rifts anymore and you do know, that it will be devastating...I beg of you...Please...There are different ways...." The yellow mare pleaded her friend for more non-violent alternatives. "I can help you to overcome that phase, if you want...Just...Please...for me?"
After a while, the red unicorn broke her silence, looked back and grabbed Tropic Bloom by the hoof. "Fine, I'll try. I mean, you're my best friend after all." She smiled.
"Thank you." Tropic Bloom hugged her best friend. "We can solve this problem together." Soon, both left the base to go to a different lolocation.
Human World, Canterlot Hospital
The Humane 7 and Spike were still waiting in the waiting room for more updates. At the same time, they were wondering, what's inside of the sister's heads, which caused Sunset to be knocked out.
"I wish, we can find the answers..." Rarity sighed.
"Something in their heads was so wild, it knocked Sunset out! But Why?" Pinkie wondered. Meanwhile, Applejack went and then came back with cups of water. "We'll ask Sunset, when she wakes up. It's only a matter of patience." The country girl responded.
"Maybe we can visit her?" Fluttershy responded and they agreed. Together, the seven talked to a nurse, if it's okay to visit their friend and with her approval and guidance, they went to the hospital room, where Sunset was laying. The seven surrounded her with a worried look and prayed for a miracle. After a while of waiting and trying to answer some questions, they heard a groan and as they looked at Sunset, she slowly opened her eyes. Their miracle has arrived!
"Sunset! Thank goodness, you're okay!" Starlight hugged her friend with tears of joy in her eyes. Her friends were also happy, that their friend woke up and hugged her as well.
"We were worried about that, you wouldn't make it.." Fluttershy had tears in her teal eyes.
"Whatever, that was in their heads, must have overwhelmed you. Can you tell us about the details?" Twilight asked. After a while, Sunset explained her friends about what she saw in their heads:
"I saw....fire....fire everywhere....And along with it...where chains....Chains, that go upwards and being pulled. Along with it, I heard screams of pain and agony, as if they were being tortured. I'm not sure if they sounded like guilt or pain. The demonic voices can be heard, but they were no longer laughing....They said something about giving them everything they want...I'm not sure, what they were talking about. Plus, I didn't see them, due to the fire obscuring everything, therefore I didn't see their reactions. It was agonising."
This was bad news for the gang, even though the full picture still wasn't revealed. Only fractions of it were seen.
"Are they feeling guilt or what's going on?!" Rainbow Dash demanded an answer, but Sunset shook her head and said: "I-I don't know! I couldn't tell!"
"But wait! We need to check on them!" Starlight remembered of the sisters. They too were taken to the same hospital.
"I'll go and talk to a doctor!" Twilight ran off. While looking in the halls, she saw a doctor walking around. She went to him and asked him a question: "Excuse me? What are the conditions of the girls? The two girls with red hair and glasses?"
"You mean the girls, who look alike? Well, we are about to do a MRT Scan on their brains to check for any injuries. Right now, the nurses are taking them to the laboratory. I'll soon bring you the results of the scan, if we examined them, okay?" The doctor responded.
"I see. Thank you for the info." Twilight thanked the doctor and went back to Sunset's hospital room to bring the news.
"Did you get any news about the girls?" Sunset asked.
"Well, they are about to do an MRT scan on their brains to check for any injuries. The doctor will soon bring me the results." Twilight explained.
"I hope, they didn't hit their heads hard...It was all my fault..." Sunset felt guilty from her action, but Applejack assured here, that she was agitated and therefore not clear.
"Sugarcube, you weren't yourself during all of this. Plus, they have lost their minds and were loud. A'hm pretty, everything will be fine." The country girl softly spoke. That sort of gave Sunset some hope, but only a bit, because she is afraid, that she might have killed them. Starlight grabbed her hand and promised, that they'll soon handle the problem.
The girls waited for the results. During which, Rainbow Dash quickly get a cup of water for Sunset to drink, Pinkie Pie cheering her friend up with some jokes and tricks, Applejack making the pillow comfortable and Fluttershy brought her a cup of tea for relaxation. And meanwhile, there were questions about the sisters' mental condition and inner workings. In fact, Twilight, Starlight and Sunset already started to theorize several ideas on how they became the way, they are, while using the diary entries and eye-witness accounts as clues. Finally, the doctor came with a report.
"Any results about their brains?" Twilight asked.
"It seems like, there was a minor brain injury on both of them. Our staff will do their best to treat them." The doctor answered. "And as for your friend, there is no sign for any injury in her head. It's just so happened, due to exhaustion."
"I suppose..." Twilight thought to herself, before thanking the doctor, before he left for the operation. She soon related the news to her friends with: "They're fine. It just so happened to be a minor brain injury. The doctors will treat them and hopefully, we can solve this mess once for all."
"That's good." Sunset sighed in relief.
"There must me something behind the scenes, that we don't know..." Rarity wondered.
"We're starting to theorize about several possibilities on why they became like this. Like even though, they stayed in prison for three days, there might be signs of deterioration of sanity. This would also explain about their behaviour, after they were free from Nightmare's possession. Like there is a force slowly breaking them." Starlight assumed.
"Now, that you mentioned it...When I first touched them and the magic of Empathy kicked in, there was an eerie sense of discomfort and panic." Sunset recounted her experience back in Equestria, when they fell on her.
"Hmm...Interesting....Once they're done with the operation, we can talk to the girls about it, when they wake up. We need their words, in other words, the truth to find the missing piece of the messy puzzle and eventually rest this case." Twilight suggested.
"Let's just get this over with." Rainbow Dash agreed.
"This madness seriously need to stop." Applejack agreed.
"Indeed. It's driving me insane just by thinking about it!" Rarity crossed her arms.
"We just want the smiles, not drama!" Pinkie Pie sighed.
"All we wanted is to give everyone peace..." Fluttershy looked down.
"We all do." Sunset agreed.
"Okay, girls. Let's do this." Starlight had a serious expression in her face and so did her friends. It's time to end the madness once and for all.
Equestria, unknown fields
The young colt from earlier kept running away as fast as he could, all while Johnny, Dukey and Cosmic Blaze chased after him.
"What is happening with him!?" The navy pegasus colt questioned. "Was he hurt by bad guys?"
"Given the injuries of that colt and coupled with Johnny's reaction from earlier, it seems like, he was abused." The hybrid assumed.
During the chase, the young lime-colored colt ran as fast as he could, however since Johnny is faster than him, the black pegasus eventually caught up to the young pegasus and cornered him. Without any word, he looked at the colt.
"S-stay away from me!" The colt was scared.
"Just tell us, what happened to you." Cosmic Blaze wanted answers.
The trio cornered the young lime green pony, who is still begging them to stay away, but they ignored his pleas, sending that something is not right. Things immediately escalated, when he screamed and flew up. However, his flight didn't last long, as ten seconds later he collided into a tree. Cornered, the young pegasus backed off from the three, all while Johnny went closer, again without any words. The colt closed his eyes in fear and with tears in his eyes, assuming that he would hurt him even more. But he was proven wrong, when the colt felt like something embracing him. When he opened his eyes, he realized that Johnny had wrapped his wing around the young pegasus. Immediately after, he was pulled into a hug by the black pegasus. The lime colt looked up, all while Johnny was silently looking back. This made the colt emotional and cried in his arms, all while Dukey and Cosmic Blaze watched. What's noticable is, during that emotional moment, Johnny shed a single tear, while remembering his worst moments back then.
"Cosmic? Where are you??" A voice can be heard. The navy pegasus immediately recognized the voice as that from his father, High Velocity! "I'm here, dad!" He shouted and after a few seconds, the neon stallion flew to his son.
"What is happening? You didn't come back!" High Velocity wanted answers, when his son pointed at the crying colt in Johnny's arms. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the injuries, making the stallion feel worried.
"What's wrong?" High Velocity asked the colt. However, he was still crying. He even asked Johnny about what is happening, but received no answer, as the pegasus still said nothing.
"I think, seeing the injuries of that pony had triggered him." Dukey assumed.
"Given the circumstances of his past and the colt's injuries slowly lining up, I understand, why he is like this." High Velocity connected the dots together.
After a while, the colt calmed down and looked at the stallions.
"Hey, what's your name?" Cosmic Blaze asked. Despite the colt looking away a bit, he finally gave them an answer by quietly mumbling his name: Spring Gale. Of course, they didn't understand, what he was saying, so Cosmic Blaze had to listen closely, when he repeated his name and the navy colt relayed the message to the others.
"His name is Spring Gale." He replied.
"What happened?" High Velocity asked, but Spring Gale refused to answer, but Johnny looked at him and grabbed his hoof.
"What is he doing?" Spring Gale was confused, but Cosmic Blaze answered with: "He is trying to assure you, that everything will be fine!"
"Besides, we're here to help you. None of the bad guys are here, so you can tell anything and we won't tell." High Velocity smiled.
"There...is one thing... " the lime pegasus looked down.
"We're listening." Dukey listened and so did everyone. After a while, Spring Gale took a deep breath and explained his story:
"Ever since my mom slipped away...my dad had married a mare and....from that day, they've become...mean...They always hit me and lock me up in a box...it seems like, they don't want me...but the only anchor that keeps me from going crazy are my friends at school...however, I have to keep it as a secret, in fear that they would isolate me even further...as if I wasn't picked on enough, since I was additionaly bullied in school...it's a never ending cycle..." that story put everyone to tears.
"Oh no...I'm so sorry for what happened...." High Velocity lowered his ears.
"That must've been painful to be picked on by the worst of the worst..." Dukey shook his head.
Suddenly, they heard someone calling out Spring Gale....The lime colt hid somewhere in fear. His fears were confirmed, when the same couple, whom Fire Jewel threatened, came back. The group looked at them.
"Excuse me, what do you want from him?'" Dukey asked.
"We want to bring our son back, after he ran away from us! He didn't even do the chores!" The stallion replied.
"Chores? What kind of sick joke is this? You clearly hurt him!!" Cosmic Blaze flew to them with an angry look.
"Go away, you twat!" The mare slapped the navy colt to a tree.
"HEY! DON'T YOU DARE HURTING MY SON!!!" The neon pegasus was outraged at the two for hitting Cosmic Blaze. He soon ran to his son and checked for any injuries. The couple looked around the fields, but Dukey, knowing what is about to happen, when they find Spring Gale, growled.
"Stay away from him!!!" He growled with his teeth shown. But the stallion, being unaffected, went to the hybrid for a stare down. At the same time, a drunken scent can be smelled, indicating that he was drunk. The same can be said for the mare.
Meanwhile, the unknown mare suddenly saw Spring Gale peeking from a Bush.
"There you are, you little devil..." She went to the Bush, but before she can grab him, the hybrid stallion head butted her to the ground.
"I won't let you!!" He growled. This lead to a fight, where Dukey fended off against the abusive couple. "Run, Spring Gale!! RUN!!!" He yelled at the Bush and the lime pegasus ran away. The fight lasted for a while, with nopony backing down. The hybrid even bit them at one point. Unfortunately, the couple pushed him hard to a way and beat him up, severely injuring him. And even more unfortunately, Johnny was there, witnessing it all. But the worst was far from over. The couple chased the lime colt and despite his best efforts of increasing his speed, they caught him. He tried his best to break free, but they responded by slapping him and dragging him by the ear, causing more pain. To add insult to injury, they called him a devil and they said, they had wished, he was never born. Meanwhile, Johnny was witnessing the whole ordeal and filling him with anxiety, while reminding that of his bad past. All the pain, all the abuse, all the trauma, he had faced and now, someone is suffering from all of this....His shock quickly turned into anger, his teeth were crunching, his body was charging up, his clenched his right hoof like a fist...It was at this point, that Johnny finally snapped.
The black pegasus screamed loudly and unleashed a psyionic blast, knocking everyone down, as well as yellow lightning everywhere. Because his parents were knocked down, Spring Gale used his chance to escape and hid behind Dukey. The couple tried to dodge the lightning, but one of them struck the mare's leg, paralyzing her. Similary, the stallion got directly hit by one of the bolts. It didn't kill him, but he was paralyzed by that shock. Meanwhile, Johnny's screams became full of anger and vengeance, as he looked at the paralyzed couple with a menacing glare.
"Y-you don't scare us!" The stallion shouted nonchalantly, despite the injuries, but that response only got Johnny even angrier. The black pegasus went closer to them, while more lightning struck down the area. Meanwhile, High Velocity got Dukey, Cosmic Blaze and Spring Gale together to watch the event unfold and unbeknownst to everyone, so did Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom, who were hiding in the bushes. They overheard the chaos and peeked a bit to see, what is going on.
"You..." he pointed at them with a threatening voice, that makes everyone fear him, even to his new family and best friend. "You monsters!!" A yell, that sends chills down everyone's spines. As he got closer and closer to the couple, they couldn't help but watch helplessly, as they saw the wrath in his eyes. The atmosphere was tense, as his wrath increased at the sight of Spring Gale's parents alone, which is a sign for him, that they're irredeemable. Soon, he charged up for a big attack, as they're pleading for mercy, but it fell on deaf ears.
"What is he doing, dad!??!" Cosmic Blaze was scared.
"I think....he's about to kill them!!!" High Velocity answered with fear in his eyes.
"JOHNNY, STOP!!!" Dukey tried to convince his best friend, not to kill the couple. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears, as Johnny, lost in his wrath, finished up charging and is about to kill them with a lightning strike. His eyes were now glowing yellow at the full charge and is about to strike them down, when suddenly, he got ensnared by vines and branches. The black pegasus struggled to get free, but the restraints were too strong.
"Please, don't do this!!" It turned out to be Tropic Bloom, who came out of the bushes and using her nature powers. The yellow earth pony carefully and slowly approached the pegasus, who is still struggling. "There is another way, more non-violent...If you kill them, then there would be severe consequences...You don't want to suffer from those consequences, do you?....Do you??..." However, it fell on deaf ears again. That was until the yellow mare used a nature spell to summon flowers, which can emit soothing and calming aroma and scents. After a while of struggling, Johnny succumbed to the soothing scents of the magical flowers and calmed down, while the vines and branches let him go. However, it also made him collapse, due to exhaustion. Thankfully, Dukey caught him in his arms, despite his injuries.
"Thanks for calming my best friend down.." the hybrid smiled.
"You're welcome. I've seen the whole ordeal and I advice you to hand them to the authorities. Meanwhile, the colt should be taken to a nice family." The yellow mare gave them an advice. An advice, that they immediately noted.
Meanwhile, Fire Jewel was about to come out, when she smelled something. "What's that smell?" She asked and looked for the source of the smell, which turned out to be smoke. And that smoke came from a burning tree, which slowly caused a chain reaction.
"Ah, shit..." she was concerned before turning her attention towards the group and yelled: "HEY!!! Hate to break your moment, but we have to get out of here now!"
Before anyone can question as of why, the flames spread quickly.
"Fire!!!!" Cosmic Blaze was scared.
"Ok, everypony! If you want to live, follow us!!!" Tropic Bloom went to her friend and they ran off, while the yellow mare used her magic to bind the abusive couple together and carrying them away. The stallions did, what the mares told them and ran off. While they were running, Fire Jewel used her magic to push away the fire and Tropic Bloom made sure, that everyone stays together. After a while, the group managed to escape the burning forest, but due to his injuries, Dukey collapsed shortly after. It was around this time, that a wandering Applejack saw what was happening and rushed over to the gang, who were out of breath.
"What in the name of Celestia is goin' on!?" The southern mare asked.
"It's a complicated story..." High Velocity gasped for air.
"I can explain." Cosmic Blaze explained the full story about meeting Spring Gale up until escaping from the forest fire with the help of Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom. Applejack was shocked by the extent of the story and initially outraged at the couple.
"Y'all are completely out of your mind! Abusing your own son like this!? This is unacceptable!" She yelled.
"I absolutely agree with that. Those assholes should be punished!" Fire Jewel agreed with rage in her eyes. However, Tropic Bloom put her hoof on her back with a concerning look. Remembering the promise back then, she took a deep breath and calmed down.
"We know. That's why we're bringing them to the authorities. " Tropic Bloom reported.
"But...what about my brothers?" Cosmic Blaze was concerned at Johnny and Dukey.
"We'll take them to the hospital, my boy. Along with Spring Gale." High Velocity answered.
"And what about the fire over there?" Applejack asked about the raging forest fire. Fortunately, some pegasi, who were flying around, witnessed the fire and brought rain clouds to douse them down. Eventually, more and more pegasi came by to douse the flames down. "Okay then... C'mon, everypony!" With those words, Applejack and the others were on their way to first the authorities and then to the hospital. During that journey, Fire Jewel kept thinking about the incident and how it related to her.
"That pegasus...He shares the same perspective as I do...Does that mean..? Hold on, Fire Jewel...You have to speak to him first to find the answers, damnit! Well, that is, if he's okay..." The red unicorn thought to herself about talking to Johnny, when he wakes up. But she knows, that she has to be patient. The group meanwhile arrived at Ponyville and handed the couple over to the authorities, while providing eye witness accounts. After which, they went to the Ponyville Hospital, in order to get the duo treated. Cosmic Blaze was checked up by a doctor, only to find minor injuries. He got treated by the doctor and even gave a medicine to treat the minor head injury. As this was going on, Fire Jewel, Applejack and Tropic Bloom were waiting in the waiting room. However the yellow pony noted, that her friend acted anxiously.
"What's wrong, Fire Jewel?" Tropic Bloom asked.
"I...I just....I don't know, I have a feeling that they won't believe me..." The red unicorn lowered her head.
"I know..." Tropic Bloom sighed, knowing their behavior, however Applejack overheard the conversation and looked at them in confusion.
"What the hay are you talkin' about?" The southern mare asked.
"It's a messy story." Fire Jewel sighed.
The yellow nature pony proceeded to explain Applejack about the whole ordeal between Fire Jewel and the others, the many times, they disregarded her side about work as the guardians of the galaxies and how they clouded them.
"Say what? That's insane!" Applejack was unhappy about the revelation.
"However, when it comes to child abuse, Fire Jewel can be quite aggressive at times..." the yellow earth pony noted, but the red unicorn overheard the comment and got enraged.
"Me!? Aggressive?!?! HOW DARE YOU!??!" She's about to charge a fire attack at the duo, but Applejack put her hoof on her cheek and asked a simple question: "Tell me, what is the reason of your own crusade against abusers?" In which, the red unicorn looked down, took a deep breath and answered with: "I just want to save the kids from this horrible fate....A fate, that I had as a filly...You see, when I was a young filly, I grew up in a volcanic planet. Back then, I had no idea, that I've been adopted or even the existence of Ocean Spark...Anyway, I was raised by a couple in that planet. My father was a loving pony, who truly cared for me....but my mother on the other hand....She was literally the devil in my life.... She abused me every day and every night, always spreading misery and despair to me. In fact, she didn't care about my existence, when I ran away! It was around the same time, when I got hit by a orb, which is actually the Elemental Orb of the Flames. I have no idea, why it chose me...is it because of fate? Or just coincidence? However, I was found by the guards and brought back, much to my fear and dismay. As expected, my "mother" did the usual abuse thing to me. At that point, my father had enough and defended against me. It resulted in a fight, which in the end, due to her power, she injured my father severely...And I was there...watching....Then something in me has snapped and I screamed, while unleashing the fire powers at her, burning her alive. My grip to reality has been shattered and it wasn't until when I came back. Realising, what I've done and in fear of even more unfair punishment or time in prison, I ran away, never coming back....I was travelling planet to planet, trying to escape from the horror, but the event had truly broke me severely to the point of having no hope...I was truly alone and was about to end it all, when one day...I met...her."
Unknown Forest planet, a few years ago ...
We see a young Fire Jewel being filled with despair and pain, wanting to take her own her life by hanging. She found vines and tied it around her neck, but just before she can do the deed, a voice can be heard.
"What are you doing!?!" It came from a young earth pony filly, rushing towards her. When she got no response and was about to fall, she screamed and used her powers to grab her just in time and even untie the vine around her neck. After which, she slowly put the unicorn fully down. The yellow filly was actually a young Tropic Bloom.
"Why are you doing this to yourself?" The yellow filly asked.
"STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!" Fire Jewel lightened her horn up with immense light and heat in anger.
"Tell me, what happened? Where did you get the wounds?" Tropic Bloom pointed at the wounds, Fire Jewel was having. "Did someone hurt you?"
"WHY WOULD YOU ASK THAT?!" The red filly was still enraged, but Tropic Bloom kept calm, despite the situation and went closer to her, despite the threats of burning her.
"ALRIGHT, YOU ASKED FOR IT-" Suddenly, before she can go through, Tropic Bloom hugged her.
"It's okay...." Tropic Bloom softly spoke.
"Back then, no one even dared to help me in my home planet...Tropic Bloom was the first one, who was actually sympathetic towards me..."
This made the young unicorn filly break down and burst into tears. Despite this, Tropic Bloom made sure to comfort Fire Jewel as best as she can, even using her magic to make some flowers bloom, in order to cheer her up.
"It's okay. Look, I made some beautiful flowers bloom. I thought, they might cheer you up or something." Tropic Bloom tried to get the unicorn's attention, but she was still crying. Eventually, she sighed and grabbed her hoof.
"Let's go to a doctor. They will patch you up." She smiled and the fillies left the forest and to a doctor, who patched the young unicorn up and after some assuring from Tropic Bloom, Fire Jewel told her the story of her abusive past. This brought the young Tropic Bloom to tears.
"I was so emotional by her story, that it reminded me of a time, where one of my school friends suffered the same fate. Around the same time, I was also hit by the Elemental Orb of Nature. But one day, I witnessed her about to take her own life... I tried to stop her, but in the end...I was unable to save her, when she hanged herself. The image haunted me for the rest of my life. And after hearing Fire's story, I vowed myself to do everything to make her okay."
"You know what? I'll do everything to help you get out of the darkness. I promise." Tropic Bloom looked at her with a determined, yet serious look on her face.
"Really?" Fire Jewel was in tears. But the yellow filly nodded and hugged her once again.
"Of course." Tropic Bloom responded softly. And that gave Fire Jewel some hope and smiled, hugging her new friend back.
Equestria, present...
"And that is how we became friends. Later, we met the others and the rest is history." Fire Jewel concluded the story. Applejack was moved by the story and that point, she had so many thoughts in her mind on how to solve their problems.
"Ya know, I'm glad, that you saved her and eventually became friends. But what I don't get is why they acted cold to you..." the southern mare responded.
"It has something to do with either a possible return of an old enemy of ours or something sinister is popping up...Whatever it is, it made them work extra hard and disregarding emotions for the mission. This is something, I don't really get, since it's the pain and a shared interest in justice, that brought us together...Like Cherry Swirl being bullied as a filly, Jenny seeing her mother sacrifice herself to save her own daughter, Ocean Spark being tricked into working for Shadow Nebula, believing that Fire Jewel had killed her parents, until she told her the cruel truth, that it was Shadow Nebula, who killed them and as for Snow Emerald and Breeze Dasher...They had witnessed the events of war, but so did everyone else in the group, including us, since we had to fight the war in order to defeat our enemies..." Tropic Bloom sighed.
"That's messed up....You know, I'll tell my friends about this story, so we can sort this out. In the name of Honesty, I'll make sure to help you bring them to the truth and fix that mess." Applejack warmly smiled.
"Thank you... We really appreciate it, especially Fire Jewel." Tropic Bloom thanked.
"But first, Fire Jewel. Ya better need to mature and take the steps of becoming a grown mare." Applejack looked at Fire Jewel.
"How?" The red mare asked.
"By helping you taking those first steps." The southern mare assured the red unicorn, that everything will be okay. "But right now, we have to hope, that they'll be okay." Applejack was referring to Johnny and Dukey, who were still treated in the hospital. Meanwhile, High Velocity and Cosmic Blaze went to the waiting room to join the mares of waiting.
"Spring Gale is currently being treated by the nurses. They said, that a psychiatrist and a new family would be helpful for him." High Velocity explained.
"That's good. We'll keep that in mind." Tropic Bloom answered. Suddenly, the sounds of the door being burst open and when they looked at the source, it was Sweet Serenity and Applejack's friends, who looked worried. Especially Sweet Serenity, who hugged her son.
"I've heard, that you were at the hospital! Are you okay? Do you have any injuries??" The sky blue mare was worried.
"Mom, I'm fine." Cosmic Blaze answered.
"It was only a few minor injuries, sweetie. However....about our boys...." High Velocity hugged his wife to assure her. He was about to tell her about their conditions, when Fire Jewel interrupted with: "They're gonna be fine. The hybrid took a beating, while trying to save that colt. And as for the pegasus, wow...he used his powers to make their lives like hell. Seriously, even he was tired of the abuse!"
"I mean, wow....That was crazy..." Rainbow was shocked by the extent.
"I know, darling....I couldn't imagine his wrath against the bad guys..." Rarity agreed.
"Yeah. Especially when it comes to abusive parents. And yes, the green colt was abused by his own parents, just to let you know." Tropic Bloom added, which caused everyone to be shocked. "Don't worry, we handed them to the authorities, so now, they're gonna face justice."
"That's good." Twilight sighed in relief.
"Girls, I need to tell you something.." Applejack looked at her friends and explained about the messy situation between the two mares and her friends.
"Have they gone cray-cray??" Pinkie Pie was shocked.
"Seems like it." Applejack answered her question.
"Now this is getting really messy...." Spike sighed.
"I know, Spike... But we'll solve this friendship problem...together." Twilight had a serious look on her face. Now they have a new mission: To solve a friendship problem. At the same time, Fire Jewel was about to ask about Johnny and why he decided to attack the parents, when all of a suddenly, two loud screams can be heard. Immediately recognising the screams, the group left the waiting room and with the help of a nurse, went to their hospital room in a hurry. When entering the room, they saw the duo in a frightened state: sweating heavily, blood shot eyes and shaky behaviour. A clear indication, that the trauma of the past had returned in full swing and gave them nightmares.
"No....this can't be!!" Twilight and Rainbow were in shock and disbelief.
"Unfortunately....there is still that issue..." Applejack sighed.
"Oh dear!" Sweet Serenity immediately rushed to two and comforted the as best as she could. However, they were still paralyzed in fear.
"What issue?" Tropic Bloom was confused, since she was unaware about the whole situation.
"Well, in the last several weeks, our friends were suffering from trauma from their former home world and we're trying our best to ease their pain and break them free from the darkness." Twilight explained.
"What happened to them? Was there a genocide?? A war??" Fire Jewel was thinking for reasons.
"No, it's not...It's much more personal and much worse. And it's a similar fate, Spring Gale fell, much even more devastating." The words from High Velocity instantly rang a bell from the red mare, since she knew this problem way too well. After all, she was a victim as well.
"Oh my fucking God...You too!?!?!" She was in disbelief, but a nod from Johnny and Dukey confirmed her fears. Her sight faded in and out, her heart beat increasing and the air around her gets hotter and hotter.
"Oh no....Fire Jewel, please...remember our promise..." Tropic Bloom hugged her friend tightly.
"Oh dear... I'm sorry for your pain. But I'll promise, that me and my friends will help you..." Fluttershy joined in the hug. It was enough for the air to cool down, as the red unicorn calmed down.
"I'm sorry..." Fire Jewel apologised.
"I know, that you are worried as much as we do, but as the Princess of Friendship, I'll assure you, that everything will be okay. We will guide them to a peaceful life without any worries." Twilight put her hoof on the red mare with a warm smile on her face. Looking at the smiles from everyone made her tear up. At that point, she felt grateful.
"Thank you..." She was trying her best, not to cry, despite the tears. However the warm hugs from her best friend, Tropic Bloom and Fluttershy, alongside with the the warm smiles from the group made her feel secure and happy.
"Look, kid. I know that we share the same pain of abuse. I knew that too well. But as time passed by, I met some good friends, who had different tragedies and used the pain to fuel our desire for justice and became the courageous warriors, we are now. What I'm saying is, what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Use the pain as fuel your strength and fight back like a warrior!" the red unicorn told the black pegasus with some advice. "Like sure, I have my own problems, like always being triggered at abusive families, but that's because I want to save the kids from the fate, I've been through. Plus, I'm trying my damn best to improve myself, but I always relapse to the anger!"
"I think, it's best to manage your emotions and take steps towards maturity. We'll help you with that." Twilight smiled.
"Thanks. You girls are much nicer than the others, who couldn't take a break.." Fire Jewel sighed.
"It's due to their paranoia, but that doesn't excuse their cold behaviour to her." Tropic Bloom shook her head. She then looked at Johnny and Dukey and said: "And as for you, guys. If you have any issues, feel free to talk to me. My doors are always open. Plus, I'll help you with my sincerity and kindness." She hugged the two stallions with a smile. Then the yellow earth pony had an idea and used the same spell to summon the flowers with the most soothing scents. Those scents of peace are enough to calm them down.
"Those special flowers emit a calming and peaceful scent, able to calm even the most scared person down. This will help you with your anxiety, I think." Tropic Bloom smiled.
"You summon flowers? How?" Twilight asked. The yellow mare giggled and replied with: "You see, much like Fire Jewel, I'm a specialist in elemental magic, in my case, the magic of nature."
"You surely a help for my sons." Sweet Serenity was touched by her kindness.
"Thanks. We really appreciate that." Tropic Bloom warmly smiled.
"So, we have to turn the pain into power? Is that what she said?" Dukey was confused, so Fire Jewel responded with: "Uh, duh! Of course! I mean, if you show weakness to the enemies, then it's Game Over for you. You seriously don't want that to happen, do you?"
"Of course not. That's why we're still trying." The hybrid responded.
"That's the determination, we're looking for! Keep kicking your demons' butts and dash to the light, in order to stop the madness!" Rainbow Dash smirked.
"And remember: If you have anxiety and nightmares, keep in mind that we're always there for you with the Magic of Friendship." Twilight smiled. Those words gave the stallions more courage and determination to end their nightmares once and for all.
"We will! No monster can stop us!" Johnny raised his hoof in sheer determination and everyone cheered.
After a while of waiting, they got the news from the nurse, that Spring Gale will be taken to a nice foster family, after they heard his story and that he'll get support from a psychiatrist. This got High Velocity and Sweet Serenity thinking to do the same for their children.
"Should we do this?" Sweet Serenity asked to her husband.
"For their sake and their future, we should." High Velocity has decided to find a psychiatrist for the two.
"Good decision! With a psychiatrist, the quest of ending their trauma will become easier." Twilight praised their decision.
The group exited the hospital and waited for Johnny and Dukey to recover. After half an hour passed, the two were finally released, after managing to have a full recovery.
"Any news from Spring Gale?" Johnny asked.
"Yep. He was brought to a nice family, willing to take care of him." Applejack smiled.
"I don't get it...Everypony knew their story, there knowing on how to treat the kids? How come Spring Gale's former parents didn't heard about it?" Fluttershy was confused.
"I guess, there are ponies, who chose not to learn about their consequences, therefore being careless and cruel. Or perhaps there are circumstances, that lead to their abusive behaviour." Twilight explained the reasons.
"Whatever it is, there are some bad apples in Equestria, who are living among us." Applejack shook her head. "We have to be extra careful." Every pony in the group nodded in agreement. They knew, that they also have to stop the bad ponies to harm anyone, even abusive families.
"Come on, everypony. We need a break from that dilemma." said Twilight and everyone were about to go, when all of a sudden, a voice can be heard:
"Hey! Where have you two been!?"
The voice came from Jenny, who was not amused about the absence of Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom. Plus, she was not alone, as Breeze Dasher, Ocean Spark, Cherry Swirl and Snow Emerald were also there with the pink alicorn.
"You again? Ugh!" Fire Jewel looked away in disgust. This angered the pink and blue mares and Ocean Spark used her magic to trap her own sister.
"Hey! Stop it!!!" Rainbow Dash shouted.
"Do not interfere us! This is a personal matter!" Jenny glared.
"Excuse me, but you shouldn't punish your friend, just because of her being busy! She and Tropic Bloom helped us stopping the abusive parents, saved our friends' lives and helped them gain some courage!" Twilight was disgusted.
"Yeah! If it wasn't for us, then they would've been hurt or even worse, dead! Seriously! You need to stop your paranoia and just let it go!!!! " Tropic Bloom couldn't stand their ignorance any longer.
"Quiet, Tropic Bloom!" The pink unicorn was about to silence her, when Twilight used her magic.
"ENOUGH!!!" Twilight was now really angry at their lack of sympathy, while everyone watched.
"How dare you?!" Jenny was enraged at Twilight's interference, causing serious tension between the two alicorns. Meanwhile, Rarity used her magic to break Ocean Spark's spell and released Fire Jewel from the trap.
"I'm really appalled by your behaviour, you ruffian! Trapping your own sister like that!? This is unacceptable!!" Rarity shouted. This caused a fight between the blue and white unicorns. Meanwhile Breeze Dasher, Snow Emerald and Cherry Swirl watched the fights unfold. Same for Johnny, Dukey and their family, as well as Spike.
"This is really getting ridiculous...." Spike facepalmed.
Eventually, Cherry Swirl and Breeze Dasher had an argument with Applejack and Rainbow Dash and all of this made Snow Emerald sick. Much like Tropic Bloom, the pegasus despises arguments. And sure enough, the pressure made her snap.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!!! ALL OF YOU!!!" With a yell, the snow white pegasus created an ice wall, separating the groups. Everyone looked at Snow Emerald, who was not happy. "Why not just sort it out in private??"
"Good point. We don't want out reputation to be ruined. " Cherry Swirl sighed. Eventually, Jenny and Ocean Spark calmed down and agreed with Cherry's statement.
"Fair enough... Fire Jewel, Tropic Bloom! We'll talk about this in private! But now, we have to go now! Our mission is still ongoing." The pink alicorn told to the two mares. The group were about to departure, when they saw the red and yellow mares not cooperating.
"No..." Fire Jewel mumbled.
"Fire Jewel! How dare you to defy my orders?! There is still a mission to do!" Jenny shouted.
"THEN DO YOUR STUPID MISSION WITHOUT ME!!!!" Fire Jewel shouted as loud as she could. She had enough of the treatment. "The only thing, you cared about is that damn job and not the well-being for us and others! I'll leave this stupid group and walk my own path!!"
"Fire Jewel, you can't do this-" However, Ocean Spark was interrupted.
"SHUT UP!!!! You guys just dont care!!!! I mean, what happened to our bond, our pain and the desire for justice!?!? You threw it all away!!! I just want to help the kids and my new friends for a better future!!! But nope, you didn't listen to me and only care about sometging bad arriving? News flash, we defeated Shadow Nebula a while ago and last time, I checked, NOTHING SINISTER IS HAPPENING!!! SO YOU BETTER SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH ABOUT THAT NON-EXISTENT PROBLEM!!!!!" At this point, her emotions couldn't be hidden any longer, as Fire Jewel let it all out and soon, ran away.
"Fire Jewel!!!" Ocean Spark tried to reach her, but to no avail.
"Can't believe, that one of us decided to leave...." Jenny was in disbelief.
"Make it two!! That's right, I'm also leaving this stupid group!" Tropic Bloom made her decision.
"Are you crazy!?!?" The mares were shocked.
"No, you are crazy for not even listening!!!" Tropic Bloom unleashed a nature spell to unleash branches and wrap the four ponies around, all while everyone watched.
"Hey, let us go!!!" Snow Emerald struggled to break free.
"No...." The yellow mare looked away.
"You can't do this to us, Tropic Bloom!" Jenny tried to reason with her, but at this point, she had enough.
"Shut up, bitch... " Her abrasive behaviour shocked everyone. "You didn't listen to us! So prepare the punishment! A punishment, that'll make you think twice about your actions!" The nature pony unleashed a spell, in which the five ponies got trapped into strong vine cocoons and sent them to the Everfree Forest. To make sure, that they'll not escape, when the cocoons arrived in the forest, more vines, branches and ivy will strengthen the walls. But at least, she put small holes on the cocoons, so they could at least breath. After all, she knew that killing is a terrible sin. Tropic's actions shocked everyone, but she didn't care as she walked away in silence.
"Wow...that was messy.." Rainbow was speechless, while Pinkie's jaw dropped.
"I've never seen such disharmony and discord in a group before..." Twilight shook her head, when Discord appeared out of nowhere.
"Did somepony call my name?" Discord was confused.
"No, Discord. It's just a misunderstanding..." Fluttershy responded.
"What's going on?" Discord scratched his head.
"It's very complicated...A group of ponies, with such disharmony..." Twilight explained.
"What group of ponies?" Discord asked
"We'll talk about this later. Right now, we need a break." Fluttershy sighed.
'We really need one for sure. I mean, this whole mess gave me a migraine!" Rarity was stressed.
"We're feeling the same thing! Geez, can we just skip that?!" Johnny was not happy.
"I think, we should take a break, In order to clear our heads." Twilight sighed and everyone agreed. The whole ordeal was really messy, so of course everyone needed time to relieve from stress. And so, everyone went to Ponyville for some relaxation.
Meanwhile in the Everfree Forest...
The five cocoons stood, as the fog got thicker and thicker. Sounds of howling and snarling can be heard, as well as struggling from inside the cocoons. The sounds came from Jenny, Snow Emerald, Cherry Swirl, Breeze Dasher and Ocean Spark, who are trying to break free, but failed.
"I can't get out!!" Cherry Swirl was sweating.
"Tropic Bloom really did a good job to make those cocoons escape-proof." Snow Emerald sighed. "Even so far as using a spell, that makes our spells ineffective and having no effect."
"You don't say?!" The other ponies yelled in unison.
"Ocean Spark, whatever you do, do not use your water spells! It'll only make it even stronger!" Jenny yelled, as she couldn't see anyone, even with the hole on the cocoon.
"Damn...And I was about to use it. But I guess, I have to stand back." Ocean Spark sighed.
Jenny tried her best to get out, clawing, using spells or even using body force, but it didn't help and only brought injuries on her body. Her friends also tried with exact same results. It lead to nowhere and only got themselves injured.
"Okay, stop! It hurts!! Why not just take a break!?" Breeze Dasher was exhausted.
"I guess, you have a point. We need to rest." Jenny agreed.
"I'm tired..." Cherry Swirl sweated heavily.
"We all are, thanks to the heat inside..." Ocean Spark was really tired.
After a short exchange of words of agreement, that they need to rest, the sounds inside of the cocoons stopped, and only breathing can be heard. All while the spooky sounds of creatures can be heard.
Human World, Canterlot City Hospital
After making a full recovery, Sunset Shimmer was released from the hospital and went to her friends in the waiting room. They were waiting for the twins and if the surgeries were successful.
"There has to be a reason...There is no way, they'll do this to Johnny without some background." Sunset was thinking. She was determined to find the source of the discord in order to test the theory of redemption.
"I wonder, what caused them to do this? Maybe they were forced?" Pinkie suggested.
"Or something happened, that made them do some messed up stuff?" Rainbow theorized.
"We're not sure, so the only way to get answers is to ask them. That is, if they're willing to cooperate." Starlight made a point.
The girls waited and waited...and waited. Eventually, a doctor came by to bring them the news about the treatment.
"Good news, girls. The treatment was a success and they're now cured from the brain injuries." He explained.
"That's great! When will they wake up?" Twilight asked.
"In a couple of minutes. If you want, I can bring you to their room." The doctor suggested and after an agreement from the girls, guided them to their hospital room.
"Thank you, doctor." Sunset smiled.
"You're welcome. However, there is a chance, that they might suffer from amnesia, when they wake up. I recommend you to take care of them, until the amnesia problem was dealt with. Anyway, I need to go now to take care of others as well. Goodbye." After an explanation, the doctor left. With that information in mind, the girls went into the hospital room, where they saw Susan and Mary, laying on the hospital with ice packs on their foreheads. Right now, they're unconscious. Sunset sighed, as she went towards the sisters. However, when she was about to touch their arms, Rainbow stopped her.
"Hey, remember what happened last time, you touched them?" The prismatic girl reminded Sunset of the time, where she touched their arms, causing her to have a severe glow and eventually losing consciousness.
"I know...It's just... I'm worried about their conditions, that's all. That and the desire to find the reasons of their behaviour and helping them. I just want to bring some conclusion." Sunset sighed.
"We all do, Sunset. We all do." Starlight agreed.
"Say, how long does it take for them to recover?" Rarity asked.
"From what've I've known online, it'll take a week to three months for them to recover." Twilight answered.
"Oh dear... I hope, they'll recover.." Fluttershy was worried. Suddenly, they heard groaning and as they looked back at the sisters, they saw them slowly opening their eyes. The sisters are finally awake and they finally spoke!
"Ugh...where are we?" Susan was in a daze.
"You're in the Canterlot Hospital and you're here, because of a minor brain injury. Thankfully, the doctors treated you." Starlight explained.
"Wait...a brain injury? How!?" Susan was about to ask, when she suddenly screamed in agony, due to a headache.
"Please calm down! The stress would make the pain worse!" Twilight begged Susan to stop.
"She has a good point. Stress only makes it worse, according to science." Mary agreed. Susan took a deep breath and asked calmly on what happened. At first, the girls thought on telling the truth, but Sunset shot down the idea, since she was afraid, that they'll be angry at her, therefore making the pain worse. So, to spare herself and her friends from any more dilemma, she responded with: "You had an accident, which caused you to fall and hit your heads on the ground."
"An accident?" The sisters were confused. But Sunset assured them, that their injuries were caused by an accident. They didn't know, that Sunset was lying.
"I recommend you to rest and take necessary medicine, the doctors will give to you. It'll take a week to three months for a full recovery. I'm not sure on how long exactly for your recovery to be complete, but the point is, you're not in danger." Twilight recommended. "And as for the medical costs? My friends will cover that for you."
"I mean, you don't want to die from it, do you?" Rainbow crossed her arms.
"Of course not!" The sisters responded in unison.
"Good. For your sake of your health, rest and be patient. After all, scientists would say the same thing, since they contributed the health system." said Twilight. It's a good point. If you have an injury on your head, then it's best for you to rest for a while. And that's exactly, what the twins did.
"It's getting late. We have to go home." Applejack reminded.
"Good point. We're sorry, girls. We have to leave. But don't worry, we'll visit you several times. We hope, that you'll recover well." Sunset smiled and they left the hospital.
"Sunset, why did you lie about the cause of the injuries?" Twilight asked.
"I don't want them to be mad, therefore making the pain worse. I mean, that would be bad for their health, right?" Sunset answered. Everyone agreed. After all, it's been a rough day for everyone involved and the sisters needed some rest.
"Fair enough." Twilight replied.
"I think, I can stay here for a while longer. After all, my clone is in Equestria, therefore not causing any suspicion." Starlight told to the girls. "I made the clone to last for at least longer. Let's hope, that during the time, the girls will recover."
"We all do, Starlight." Twilight agreed and after a walk together, the girls said goodbye, as they went on their way to their homes, while Sunset and Starlight went to Sunset's house.
"Let's also hope, that we can find some answers sooner. I really don't want the dilemma to go on." Starlight hoped.
"Me neither." Sunset agreed. "Let's go to sleep. Tomorrow is another day." After those words, they prepared their beds and fell asleep. ???
Jenny was wandering around in a dark subspace, confused as of how she got there.
"Hello? Anyone? Where am I?" She called out, but got no answer. The atmosphere was dark and eerie, the sounds so mysterious and she was the only one wandering around. That was...until she saw two ponies standing their backs against her. As she got closer, the pink alicorn slowly recognized the two ponies as Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom.
"Fire Jewel! Tropic Bloom! I'm so glad, that I found you! Somehow, I was taken into this void with no idea on why. Maybe someone kidnapped me..." At first, Jenny was glad, that she found her friends, but she soon realized that something was off...the two ponies were not responding.
"Hey...are you listening!?" She tried to get their attention, but they still didn't respond. There was this eerie silence going on, that sent chills down to her spine. "Uhm...are you okay?" She grabbed them, but they stood still. Eventually, when they did turn around to see her, she was greeted to a horrific sight: Both Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom have completely black eyes with black ooze coming out of them. The pink alicorn screamed at the sight in horror.
"No!! This can't be happening!! What happened to you, girls?!!?" Jenny was backing away in fear, as the two got closer and closer. Eventually, the pink mare had to run away as fast as she could, while the two were chasing her. While the chase was going on, the surroundings got darker and darker, as well as the ground changing to a blood red. The terror was real. And it got worse, as Jenny stopped at the sight of her other friends, Ocean Spark, Cherry Swirl, Breeze Dasher and Snow Emerald. Much like Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom, they too have black, oozing eyes. When their mouthed opened, they too were pure black and also oozing.
"No...NOT YOU TOO!!!!" Jenny was in disbelief. They too became demonic.
"It's all your fault...It's all your fault..." they started to chant the same sentence over and over again with their distorted voices. It became louder and louder and louder and louder. So much so, that Jenny had to cover her ears, but even then, she could still hear the words echoing in her head. As the ponies surrounded her in a circle, it became unbearable for her.
"Jenny..."
A voice can be heard and the alicorn looked at the source, only too a tall lavender alicorn mare with ethereal dark blue mane, fading to bright purple and her wings also fading to purple. She immediately recognized as her mother!
"Mother! Please help me!!!" Jenny was in tears. But the tall mare looked away with:
"Why would I help a selfish pony, who committed sins?"
"Selfish pony? What are you talking about?! Who is that selfish pony?!" Jenny had so many questions, as her mother closed her eyes. "Answer me!!!!" She shouted and she soon got the answer, as she opened her eyes and said:
"You..."
What's worse is, she too had these black, oozing eyes, like her friends. At this point, Jenny was in absolute horror at the sight of her own mother turning demonic in front of her own eyes. As she went closer, the pink mare was frozen in terror.
"Me? Why!? I didn't do anything wrong!!!" She asked in disbelief. While her friends keep telling her, that it's all her fault, her mother explained with:
"You betrayed your own friends, causing disharmony...You didn't care about them at all and only focused on your non-existent problem...Selfish....And now....YOU'LL FACE THE PUNISHMENT!!!"
Suddenly, shadow hands appeared from the ground and grabbed the pink mare, as she was struggling to break free.
"LET ME GO!!! STOP!!!" She tried to fly away, but the hands were so strong, they prevented her from flying up. She tried to use her magic, but it had no effect on them. She screamed, as the hands drag her deeper and deeper into the ground, until the screams were replaced with silence.
When she opened her eyes, everything was dark red with black mist obscuring the surroundings. When the mare tried to move, she couldn't, as she was restrained by a dark force.
"Hahahaha!! How does it feel to be completely alone and helpless?"
A creature appears from the mist with. It looked like Jenny, except taller. She had a dark pink coat with her wings fading to a dark blue, yellow, serpent-like eyes with a teal aura around them, dark purple armour and dark blue, ethereal mane fading to black. She grinned at the helpless pony with her sharp fangs.
"No...it's can't be!!" The pink alicorn was shocked. First her demonic friends and mother and now this!?! It felt like absolute hell.
"Yes! Fear me! Give into the despair! Your actions really left you alone and helpless, which is an absolute delight to me! You actually made my job far easier, than I would! All it needed is some crocodile tears and some help from your demons!"
The twisted mare laughed evilly, as her demonic mother and her demonic friends appeared from the mist. As they got closer and closer, repeating the same sentence from before, Jenny was begging for mercy, but no avail. It's clear, that they won't stop, no matter what. She tried to use some magic, but nothing happened, like her horn was gone. The mare even tried to use her wings, only to realize, that they're also gone!
"No! My wings! My horn! They're gone!!!" She cried out, but her tears only motivated them even further.
"Hahahahahaha! You fool! Crying will lead to nowhere, except for making me stronger! Just give it up! All at once!!"
Then the twisted tall mare charged at her and went into her chest. The pink mare felt severe pain, as her body is slowly getting corrupted, with her coat turning dark and her eyes getting corrupted.
"Please, stop!!! It hurts!!! It hurts so much!!!!!!" Jenny pleaded the twisted mare to stop hurting her from the inside, but the evil mare only laughed, as the pain intensified. Soon, the demonic ponies also went in her to cause even more pain and corrupt her even further. And as the chants kept getting louder and more distorted, it made the pain even worse. So much so, that the mare screamed in fear and pain and she thought, her life was over....but then...when she opened her eyes, she realized, that she was still inside the vine cocoon! Jenny checked, if her horn and wings were still there, which indeed they are. It turned out, that she woke up from a horrible nightmare.
"Oh my god...." she was still in fear, thanks to that experience.
"Geez, Jenny! Can you just be quiet!? We're trying to sleep!" It came from Breeze Dasher. It seems like, that her scream woke them up. However, Jenny was too scared to say anything, due to the nature of her nightmare. She tried to sleep, even though the nightmare will still haunt her.
As the morning sun rose, everyone woke up. Meanwhile, Snow Emerald was completely silent and in tears. Like Jenny, she too had a nightmare.
"What have I done?...." she mumbled, as her tears dripped from her face and fell to the cocoon's ground. "Fire Jewel....Tropic Bloom....I'm so sorry..." At this point, she felt guilty for what she've done and wanted to make things right. This is when something happened: The vine cocoon, that Snow Emerald was held inside, opened, allowing the pegasus mare to be free from the natural imprisonment. It seems like that the vines had heard her apology with remorse and guilt and decided to release her. "Did Tropic Bloom hear my apology, thus releasing me?" The white mare asked herself. Her theory got more credible, as two of the four cocoons also opened, releasing Breeze Dasher and Cherry Swirl.
"Cherry! Breeze!" Snow Emerald hugged them tightly in joy.
"Snow! What happened? I mumbled my apologies to Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom and suddenly, the cocoon opened!" Breeze explained.
"Same for me. Mine also opened after doing the same thing." Cherry commented.
"It seems like, that Tropic Bloom listened to our apologies and let us go...I mean, she's always close to nature, thus controlling it with her powers and it seems like, they're her third ear..." Snow assumed.
"It's not an assumption. It's real." The green mare responded. "I've seen it before and given that I'm the elemental master of earth, I felt a similar connection."
"What's going on?" The voice came from Ocean Spark, who is now awake.
"We're free." Snow responded.
"What?! How!??!" The blue unicorn mare was confused.
"Wait, what is happening!?" The voice of Jenny can also be heard at the same time.
"We saw the error of our ways....Realizing about our stupid actions and their consequences..." Cherry mumbled.
"What!?" The two mares couldn't hear anything, in which the green earth pony snapped with: "At least, we knew our limits and didn't belittle anyone, unlike you two!!"
"Yeah, that's right! You two are nothing more than horrific tyrants!!" Breeze also snapped as well.
"What we're saying is, you've been cruel to Fire Jewel so much, that she and Tropic Bloom left, because of that! We are really ashamed of you. You seriously should've been more considerate, Ocean Spark and as for you, Jenny! As the leader, you should've known better and just left go of your paranoia!! But no! Your stubborn pride only leads to more harm than good! I'm sorry, girls...but we're leaving this damn group too! Goodbye..." Those were the last words from Snow Emerald, that Jenny and Ocean Spark heard, before the freed trio left the forest and the two for good.
Those words left them in shock and soon, sounds of hysteria from both can be heard, but Ocean's seems to be the loudest.
"NO!!! HOW CAN I'VE BEEN SO STUPID!!!?!?" The blue unicorn screamed and pounded the walls of the cocoon with tears in her eyes. She kept hitting and screaming, even if it means hurting herself. But at this point, it didn't matter to her anymore. Especially, that much like Jenny, she too had a horrific nightmare earlier in the night. "FIRE JEWEL, I'M SO SORRY! I WAS WRONG! I WAS SO DAMN WRONG!!!! I'M SORRY FOR THE PAIN, I'VE CAUSED, I'M SORRY FOR THE WHOLE IGNORANCE, I'M SORRY FOR BEING THE WORST SISTER IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!! I'M ALSO SORRY, TROPIC BLOOM!!!! FOR ALL THE TROUBLES, I'VE CAUSED!!!!!" She screamed and cried, as she kept hitting the walls. Tears were dropping from her face hard. Eventually, she had to stop hitting the walls due to the pain and continued sobbing, when all of a sudden, her cocoon opened, releasing her from the prison and allowing to see light from the day...
"I'm free...but at what cost?...." She mumbled, as she looked at the sky. Soon, her emotions became dark and it became darker, once she heard Jenny's voice.
"Ocean? Ocean! I'm glad, that you got out!" It turns out, that Jenny was the last pony to be released from the cocoon, due to guilt and was about to approach the blue unicorn, when all of a sudden...
"DON'T GET NEAR ME, YOU BITCH!!!!" Ocean slapped the pink mare so hard to the ground with full anger and sadness.
"Ocean, what are you doing!?" Jenny was hurt by the slap and her shout. "Why did you do-"
"SHUT UP!!! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!!! I'VE BEEN YOUR SECOND-IN-COMMAND THE WHOLE TIME AND LISTENED YOUR ORDERS, BUT YOUR ACTIONS CAUSED US TO LOSE OUR FRIENDS AND FOR ME, LOSING MY SISTER, THE ONLY FAMILY MEMBER, I'VE LEFT!!!!!!" The blue mare kept shouting, while at the same time, the skies get even more clouded and sounds of thunder can be heard.
"I know, but maybe we can solve this together?" Jenny tried to reason with Ocean, but at this point , she was too angry to be reasoned with, as she was clouded by the guilt.
"NO! FUCK YOUR REASONING AND MOST OF ALL, FUCK YOU!!!! YOU CAN DO THAT ALONE NOW, SINCE I'M DONE!!!" Ocean Spark ran away in tears, after those words.
"Ocean, wait!! Please!!" Jenny tried to catch up with the blue mare, but she ain't having it.
"DON'T EVER GO NEAR ME AGAIN, BITCH!!!" Ocean Spark shot out a beam of water to push Jenny far away from her, as she kept running away, while the sky started to rain. The water beam pushed the pink mare all the way back the centre of the forest, until she got hit by a tree and then fell to the ground. She got up, however at this point, it didn't matter to her anymore.
"What have I done?.....It's all my fault..." Tears streamed down from her face, as the rain got stronger. She felt great remorse and guilt, as it was her actions, that lead to the group getting disbanded, as everyone left, leaving her as the only one. At this point, she truly felt alone and hated...and it hurts...Eventually, she couldn't hold her emotions any longer and burst into tears, while she was poured on by the heavy rain. At the same, Ocean Spark also cried, while running away. During which, the chimera tried to attack her, but she pushed it away with a water beam, made from the rain and her own tears. She wanted to fix her relations to her sister, but didn't know, what to do. It seems like, both ponies felt the massive gravity of their actions and their consequences, although it seems like, because Jenny was the leader, her pain was much worse...
As the days passed by, the Humane 7 and Starlight kept visiting the twins at the hospital, in order to check on their recovery and give them gifts. At one point, Rarity gave them some clothing to wear, only those were simple dresses and shoes. However, she promised them to give better clothing, since she still has to work on the styles. It seems like, that they felt like, those were friends, but due to their stubborn nature, they ignored it. (And also due to the amnesia.)
After a week has been passed, the sisters were fully recovered from the injuries and released from the hospital, while wearing the simple dresses and shoes. Those were basic clothing with only one color.
"We look really dumb..." Susan groaned.
"Excuse me, I'm still trying to find the style, so please be patient!" Rarity was unamused, since she had to repeat her reason.
"Anyway, I want to ask some questions, regarding to your side of the whole abuse story." Sunset prepared to ask the sisters some questions, but then the sisters look confused.
"What abuse story?" The twins asked in unison. That caused a shock to everyone.
"I'm sorry, what!?" Rainbow was really confused.
"The abuse regarding about Johnny and his pal. Last time, I checked, you were part of this." Starlight explained a bit more. However, the sisters still didn't understand the story.
"Last time, we checked, Johnny and Dukey were fine. Why would be involved in abusing them? " Mary answered.
"But...but, you were arrested because of your actions, broke yourselves out of prison, went to Equestria, got possessed by Nightmare, turned back to normal, only to be sent to the Tartarus, I broke you out of it and brought you here!! How in the name of Celestia do you forget about those details! Again, your actions caused his disappearance!!!" Starlight was dumbfounded and tried to tell them, what happened to the sisters, after Johnny had left his former world behind.
"That doesn't sound right. Since when did we get arrested and there is no scientific way, Nightmare existed. Also, about Tartarus? That is just nonsense! However, he's in a world, called 'Equestria', so we have to go there!" Susan was adamant about it and went with Mary to find a laboratory.
"They...they...they FORGOT EVERYTHING!??!" Everything fell apart for Sunset Shimmer. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TEST THE THEORY, IF THEY'RE NOT COOPERATIVE!?!?" Her shock turned to anger at this point. Suddenly, Twilight remembered the words from the doctor and told the girls about it.
"Girls! There is a reason as of why they forgot about it! Remember, when the doctor said, that there is a chance, that when they woke up, they would suffer from amnesia? Well, that chance happened just now! Now, they don't remember anything after Johnny had left his former world!" Twilight explained to her friends about the reason.
"Ugh....Great...Now they made the job even harder..." Starlight was annoyed. Now their mission has become much harder now.
"But! We can bring the memories back, if they're given evidence about it happening!" Twilight continued.
"The only evidence, we have are the copies of his diary entries." Starlight pulled out the copies.
"I mean, it's better than none at all." Pinkie Pie shrugged.
"Ah feel like, it ain't enough though." Applejack was sceptical about it.
"I mean, we can at least try..." Fluttershy was hopeful about bringing the lost memories back.
"Fluttershy has a point. It's either showing them something or nothing." Rarity agreed about Fluttershy's stance on trying.
"Yeah. Pretty sure this would make remember!" Rainbow was confident.
"You're right. We have to try, in order to be closer to the truth!" Twilight smiled.
"Okay then. Let's give it a shot!" Sunset smirked, when Susan and Mary came back, looking confused.
"One question, is there a laboratory somewhere, that we can built a portal device there?" Susan asked.
"Well, I have my own laboratory for some experiences and constructions-" Susan and Mary were about to dash off, when Twilight interrupted with: "BUT! We have to go together, since if you dash off already, then you'll get lost easily!"
"Why can't they use the portal on the school?" Rainbow asked.
"For one, the portal opens once every 30 moons and even if they decided to use the portal, the other side only lead them inside Princess Twilight's castle and if she's there and saw them coming out of the portal, then there will be a lot of trouble." Sunset shot down Rainbow's idea, knowing too well, where it'll take them. So of course, that have to play safe and thus went to Twilight's laboratory. During which, the sisters were too eager to built and experiment on something or even worse, someone. Their behaviour scared Fluttershy and startled the others.
"These girls are crazy..." Rainbow whispered into Applejack's ear, while feeling uncomfortable.
After a while, they arrived at Twilight's laboratory and the very first thing, the sisters do is to look at the inventions in awe, like excited children in an amusement park. Immediately, they grabbed some materials for work.
"Uhm, girls?" Sunset tried to get their attention. She did, but she accidentally pissed them off.
"What!?" They were annoyed.
"Uhm. I just want to show you something." Sunset grabbed the copies and gave it to the twins. "Those were the copies of Johnny's diary entries. Immediately, they began to laugh at the concept of Johnny having a diary.
"Rude....Even the whole amnesia stuff..." Rarity was disgusted.
"Yeah, laughing at someone, whose diary entries are like describing his inner problems? Talk about reaching an all time low..." Rainbow crossed her arms.
"Please, just listen to me! Those diary entries are written like journals, detailing his inner struggles of his life, before he went to Equestria! This is something, that no one should be laughing at, nor is it funny! It's just nothing but pain and sorrow in each and every sentence!!" Sunset was losing her patience at their insolence.
"What she's saying is, laughing over someone's pain, even in the form of a diary, is never funny. It never was and never will be! Want more context? Read the entries to get a understanding on what we're talking about." Starlight suggested the girls to read the entries.
"Maybe later. But for now, we have to build a portable portal device." Susan replied and the sisters began their work on building it. That alone annoyed everyone, but Twilight was curious about their skills. Eventually, after several minutes have passed, they finished the device.
"I must say, they're really talented and smart." Twilight was impressed by the result.
"But also egotistical..." Sunset groaned.
"I mean, weren't you in a similar situation before? You know, back then, when you stole Twilight's crown?" Starlight reminded her friend of that particular event in the past. Specifically the time, when she was a bad girl.
"...touche..." The orange girl sighed.
Immediately after completing the device, Susan tipped the words "Equestria" on the display and pressed a button, where a portal was formed.
"Uhm, wait a minute, girls...Don't you have to test it first!? What if it's actually dangerous!?" Twilight was worried.
"We don't have much time." Mary replied.
"I don't think, the ponies in Equestria would welcome with open arms, considering, that everyone knew the story, due to the diary entries." Starlight was nervous.
"Why? It's probably a misunderstanding." Mary replied and before anyone could do to stop them, the girls have already entered the portal, which it closed.
"Shoot...Worse is, we can't use the mirror..." Starlight sighed, when all of a sudden, Sunset had an idea.
"Twilight, can you please build two more of those portable portal devices? In case, the one gets either destroyed or stolen?" Sunset asked. "We have to go after them!"
"I think, I can try." Twilight immediately went to work on building two portable portal devices for her friends to use, in order to go after Susan and Mary. Eventually, after some fine tuning and testing, she completed the devices.
"Aside from bringing you to any universe, you can also go back here by setting a save point." Twilight explained and set the save points here in her laboratory. "Make sure, no one sees them and bring them safely back there. I wish you the best of luck."
"We'll make sure, Twilight. Girls, stay here! Starlight and I go to Equestria to get them back!" Sunset activated the portal device and typed down "Equestria" as their destination. Together, the two girls entered the portal with no time to spare.
"I just hope, it goes well..." Fluttershy was begging for a safe return.
Equestria, unknown fields
Out of the portal, Starlight and Sunset, now in their pony forms, came out and looked around in an absolute hurry. They don't know, where the sisters currently are.
"Okay, Starlight! We have to make sure, that we find them before anyone does!" Sunset related the mission.
"Got it!" Starlight responded.
The two ponies searched around ten whole fields, forests, deserts, beaches, etc, just to find the sisters. They kept looking and looking, however there were no clues of their whereabouts. Fearing, that they arrived in a crowded place, they immediately went to the first place, they'll go to: Ponyville. Immediately, they hid from everypony else. Starlight peeked a bit around the area for some clues and she found something unbelievable.
"Uhm, Sunset? I think, we're too late..." Starlight whispered and Sunset peek a hit to see, indeed the sisters in Ponyville. Worse is, everyone was not happy about their presence.
"Shoot....This is really getting worse..." the orange mare was worried.
Meanwhile, the twins asked some ponies about Johnny's whereabouts, only to be met with a lot of hate.
"You monsters? Back again for more trouble!?" The crowd got even angrier, as more and more ponies gathered to see them. Susan and Mary were confused about the whole ordeal.
"Uhm, Mary? Have we done something to them?" Susan asked.
"I don't think so...However, they think, we did something bad, due to the superstitions or perhaps they were isolated." The beige mare theorized. However it seems like, no one is sharing their thoughts at all. Eventually, Twilight and her friends arrived at the scene.
"I couldn't believe, that somehow, you got out of the Tartarus and go back here to cause some trouble..." Twilight was suspicious
"Excuse me, we didn't do anything to you, ponies!" Susan tried to reason with them, but none of them believed.
"LIARS! We know everything about you and your actions!" Rainbow Dash shouted, all while behind the scenes, Starlight and Sunset watched from afar. It didn't help, that the anger from everyone in Ponyville is getting tense. The twins backed away a bit, but the crowd had already surrounded them.
"Any ideas on how to get out?" Mary asked.
"We can use the device to get out!" Susan suggested, when all of a sudden, a familiar voice can be heard.
"That's not gonna happen."
They looked back, only to see BBB with a gang of his allies. Sissy, Missy, Jillian, Dr. Beebles, Mr. Harm, Brain Freezer, Zizrar, the penguins, the mole people and finally the hippogriffs in black followed by the general. Everyone wanted to give them a piece of their own justice.
"What are you guys doing here?" Susan was confused.
"Stop pretending to be innocent, you psychos! I knew, that once you got out, you would do it again!" BBB yelled at the sisters.
"What are you talking about!?" Mary wanted answers.
"Like destroying Equestria again and torture us? Yeah, that. This time, this ain't gonna happen!" Missy looked away in disgust.
"Wait, we didn't mutate you, how did you-" However the blue mare was interrupted by Sissy, who is protective towards her best friend.
"At least, I'm glad that you didn't mutate her! Like geez! Also one step closer to her and you're dead meat!" The navy mare growled, slightly startling the twins. At one point, they saw Gil being among the crowd and of course, they were love struck. But the aqua stallion immediately ran away in fear and hid behind the crowd.
"Why did Gil just run away from us??" The sisters were puzzled, only to be responded by Mr. White with: "You tried to kill him! Have you seriously forgotten about that?!?!"
"I think, it's time for you to be given an even harsher punishment!" The general glared at them, even with the sunglasses on. The twins attempted to run away through the crowd and it seems like, they're almost there to the exit, when a wall of lightning was blocking their path.
"Wait, who is causing the walls of lightning?" Susan was confused, when they felt the air around the village charging up and as they looked back, the crowd cleared the path for two ponies to go through, a black pegasus and a brown earth pony/dog hybrid. Both wearing scarfs and the pegasus' eyes are glowing yellow with each charge. The girls' eyes widened, since their appearances are very familiar and it should be, because those ponies are actually Johnny and Dukey! They were about to reach for them, when something was off: Their expressions was not welcoming at all and full of hatred and wrath.
"Guys! What's with those angry looks? Is it because we denied you access to our lab or what?" Susan asked. Once again, they were completely oblivious of their behaviour, given that they had amnesia. However, they didn't respond to their question at all. There was only one thing in their mind: revenge. And it was clear, that they were too far gone from any reasoning, as Johnny went around the sisters and created a lightning sphere, trapping them inside. Then the hybrid charged for a massive headbutt and when he hit his head to the sphere, it launched away to a nearby rock, where it exploded. The sisters got up, confused as of they the guys were attacking them without any reason. They tried to reason again, not realizing that could've used their unicorn magic to defend themselves. But since that fact didn't caught up to them at all and since they had no idea, that they're unicorns, they couldn't dodge the second attack from the guys. They grabbed the sisters and threw them up to the skies and before they knew it, they were kicked down hard by the two. With so much speed, they crashed to the ground hard, hitting their heads in the progress.
And yikes, it must've hurt HARD, as the sisters are basically stuck, as the crowd got closer and just watched, as the stallions prepared to finish them off. Meanwhile, Mary opened her eyes and looked at their faces. They had bags under their eyes, indicating a lack of sleep, but what the beige unicorn did next, she would never forget: When she saw Johnny's arms at close inspection, despite her pain, she could see scars on them. She gasped, as the amount of the slit scars and how deep, some of them where, she realized, that it didn't come from an accident, but rather from a suicide attempt. By putting two and two together, it's clear that Johnny must've been a victim.
"The scars....the bags and the glare...How-" Without a warning, her eyes widened and flashes of memories can be seen. All of it and in detail. The time, that he's been experimented, their disappearances, a murder attempt, being arrested, sent to jail, only to get out and going to Equestria with a portal. And even though, she couldn't remember the time, she was possessed by Nightmare, the aftermath of being imprisoned in the Tartarus in the most cruel conditions. Everything came back to her.
"Burn in hell...forever!" The black pegasus was about to end their lives, when all of a sudden....
"STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
They were pushed away by a magical aura and everyone saw Sunset jumping out from the Bush and guarding the injured sisters. Everyone was shocked. Why would Sunset protect the monsters?
"Sunset, why!? Why would you protect them, when they caused nothing but despair???!" Twilight was in disbelief. However, the orange mare was angry, like really angry.
"You ponies didn't listen....and that SICKENS ME!!!!" She yelled, but before anyone asked her, she interrupted each of their attempts for reasoning with: "There has to be a reason for all of this! A reason to explain their behaviour and why all of this abuse ever happened!!! I want to test out a theory, that with enough information and trust, I could reform them!!! BUT, NO!!! EVERYONE OF YOU ARE LIVING IN AN IGNORANT BLISS, ALWAYS SEEING THE WORLD IN BLACK AND WHITE, WHEN REALLY, THERE IS A LOT OF GRAY THERE!!"
"Sunset, just-" Twilight couldn't finish her sentence, as the orange unicorn once again, cut her off.
"SHUT UP!!!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO FORGIVENESS??? WHAT HAPPENED TO EQUALITY???? WHERE IS THE LOGIC?!? I know, that nobody is flawless, BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT YOU HAVE TO GIVE THEM HELL, WITHOUT LOOKING FOR THE REASONS AS OF WHY THEY DID IT!!!! PLUS, THEY COULD FEEL REMORSE, BUT YOU IGNORED IT!!!" Her anger was in full force, as her horn emitted a harsh, red glow.
Meanwhile, Mary got up without saying a single word and walked away from the crowd. Meanwhile, Susan woke up and when she saw her sister walking away, she got up and went after them.
"At least, one of them listened out warnings and decided to never come back again." BBB commented.
"Mary, wait!! We can sort this out with science!" Susan told to her sister, but got no response. She tried to get her attention numerous times, but Mary ignored all of them, continuing to walk away. But, at the 9th time, when Susan once again tried to get her attention, the yellow unicorn had enough and slapped her own sister hard to the ground, causing everyone around them to be shocked.
"Mary, are you crazy!?!?" Susan was appalled by her sister's decision of slapping her, but Mary just looked away and mumbled two words: "No more..."
"What are you talking about??" Susan asked, but for the other sister, who us known to be nicer and more sophisticated than the other, snapped with a yell of words: "No more of the pain and lies!!!"
"What pain and lies?" It seeks like, Susan is still suffering from amnesia, unlike Mary, who now remembers everything.
"Don't you realize, what we've done!? Thanks to our actions, we lost everything! Our family, our reputation, everything was simply thrown away!!!!" She yelled. "And worse of all, everyone hates us, not only in our world, but in this one too! Meaning, that our future has been obliterated into nothing!"
"But maybe, we can erase their memories and rewind time to undo all of this-" Immediately, Mary cut Susan off. At this point, she couldn't hold her emotions any longer.
"LISTEN UP!! I just want to stop the madness, gaining at least some normality, but you only think about changing something, that is impossible! The damage had already been done and we cannot undo it!!! Sometimes, your behaviour sickens me, but I cannot stand to your ignorance any longer!!!!" The beige unicorn was still mixed with anger and sadness.
"Come on, Mary! Maybe we can just take a break and forget all of this! I mean, you're my twin sister after all!" The blue unicorn was sweating, but the argument had already reached a boiling point anyway.
"NOT ANYMORE!!!" The yellow unicorn mare yelled back and suddenly, shot out a beam at Susan, knocking her to a wall and ran away.
"Hey, wait!!!" Sunset was about to follow the beige unicorn, when she heard booing from the crowd. "YOU ARE SERIOUSLY NOT HELPING AT ALL!!!!" After yelling to everyone, she ran off.
"Wait a minute, if Sunset was in that Bush, then that means..." Twilight used her magic to get someone out of the Bush and in front of her. And that someone was Starlight.
"I think, we really need an explanation from you, Starlight Glimmer." Twilight was serious and so were her friends.
"What's going on, Twilight?" The voice of Princess Celestia can be heard, as the princess of the sun went to Twilight, alongside with Princess Luna.
"The guards had told us, that the ponies, who were in Tartarus to serve their sentence, had mysteriously vanished. Right now, they're searching for these two ponies, far and wide around Equestria." Luna reported.
"We found one!" A guard had pointed to Susan, who was down with the damaged wall behind her. At the same time, the blue unicorn rubbed her head to ease the pain, when everything came flashing back in front of her eyes. Every single one of them. She stood up, now being silent, as the guards approached her. Soon, they tackled her down, preparing to restrain her even further, when without a warning, a blast pushed them away. It turned out, that Susan had unknowingly used her unicorn magic to break free. Her head was lowered, her hair messy and her glasses being cracked a bit. Soon, she approached Starlight and took one of the devices away from her.
"I see, what you mean..." Her voice was a bit more quiet and more down, as she prepared to walk away. "You'll never hear from me again... I'm pretty sure, no one will miss me..." she slowly walked away from the crowd, until the unicorn was gone.
During all of this, Twilight noticed, that Starlight didn't say a single word and had her back against the princess. "Starlight, say something! How did they escape? " she asked, but she got no answer. Only silence.
"The guards noticed, that there were bits of their mane, alongside with a bit of a magic trail. It seems like, that those were clones and cloning magic is known to be the most advanced, with only a few unicorns mastering it. And given, that you have mastered magic in every level, I conclude that you helped them escape, Starlight Glimmer!" Celestia pointed out.
That revelation was a shock to everyone and immediately, she was met with boos and insults. The whole ordeal was getting more and more intense, as her horn started to glow.
"Starlight, how could you?!" Twilight was in disbelief.
"I can't believe, you did this..." Fluttershy was in tears.
As for Johnny and the others, they simply looked away in disgust. Everyone was too close to her, when all of a sudden, Starlight snapped. She screamed and unleashed a shockwave, pushing everyone away from her from a big distance. Soon, she flew up, as the area around her got brighter. The lavender mare looked at everyone with anger and in tears.
"Why....WHY ARE YOU NOT LISTENING TO ME AND SUNSET!? YOU ARE LIVING IN AN IGNORANT BLISS, WHILE OTHERS HAVE TO SUFFER, WITHOUT GIVING THEM A SECOND CHANCE?? THINK, EQUESTRIA!!! THINK!!!! SUNSET AND I DID SOME HORRIBLE THINGS AND YOU GAVE US A SECOND CHANCE, BUT YOU DIDN'T DO THE SAME THING FOR THE SISTERS!!!! STOP WITH THIS INJUSTICE!!! I'M PRETTY SURE, EVERYONE HAS MADE A BIG MISTAKE IN THEIR LIVES, DESPITE SOME OF THEM CLAIMING THAT THEY'RE PURE! Think about it....What was the biggest mistake in your lives?? What is your biggest crime?? At any point, did you feel guilt and regret? And most importantly....WHY?!?! THERE'S A REASON FOR THE ACTIONS, REGARDLESS IF THEY'RE RIGHT OR WRONG!! BUT, NO!! YOU CHOSE TO IGNORE ALL OF THIS IN FAVOR OF THE VICTIMS, WHO I'M PRETTY SURE, THEY ALSO DID SOME BAD STUFF IN THE PAST!!!!! You really disgust me....All of you!...You know what, I'm done! I'm going to the human world and never come back again! I doubt, anyone in Equestria would listen to me and take advice, for being SO HYPOCRITICAL WITH THEIR DOUBLE STANDARDS!!" Those words echoed through the entirety of Equestria, as everyone watched.
Eventually, the lavender mare flew past the crowd, saw their faces one final time in disappointment and looked away...
"I'm done with all of you...Goodbye..." She flew away, leaving everyone in shock. However...little did anyone know, that there are a few, who took this message to heart.
Human World, Twilight's Laboratory
The Humane 6 were waiting for any sign for Sunset and Starlight and if they found the girls. Eventually, a portal opened and someone came out. It was Starlight.
"Starlight! Did you find the girls?" Twilight asked, but the lavender girl only growled in response.
"Are you okay?" Fluttershy was worried.
"NO!!! THEY'LL NEVER LEARN FROM ANYTHING!!!" she screamed in anger, scaring anyone.
"Calm down, Starlight! What happened?" Twilight was worried about her friend, but that didn't change her angry demeanor.
"They're always living in double standards and in an ignorant bliss. Therefore,into helping in my case...You know, what? Screw Equestria!! THIS IS MY NEW HOME!!!" Starlight shouted. The fact, that she'll stay in the human world permanently, shocked everyone with Pinkie doing a spittake, while she was drinking, Rarity fainting and everyone else frozen. But didn't matter to her anymore, as the lavender girl stormed out the lab.
"Uhm....did...did she just...?" Twilight was dumbfounded.
"Yep...." Applejack was speechless.
At the same time, Sunset returned from her trip.
"Sunset! Any news?" Rainbow asked.
"A lot of things have happened...." Sunset proceeded to explain about the whole ordeal from Susan and Mary going to Ponyvile, nearly getting killed, the memories being restored, an argument which lead to Mary cutting ties to Susan to Sunset being mad at the ponies.
"That's insane!!" Rainbow was shocked, while Pinkie's jaw dropped.
"I know, right? And now, I've lost her and I don't know, what happened to the other one! Ugh...wait...where's Starlight?" Sunset asked.
"Uhm....about that..." Twilight proceeded to explain, that Starlight was really angry at the people and decided to stay on the human world for good.
"Oh my goodness...I can't blame her, I was also outraged at Equestria." Sunset sighed.
"Should we go after her?" Fluttershy asked.
"I think, it's best to leave her alone for a while. After all, the whole ordeal had caused so much stress. But if there's anything good coming from this story, is at least the amnesia problem was solved...half anyway." The orange girl answered. "I had no idea, that I'll be involved in an ever complicated web of problems and secrets, when I went to Equestria for a visit a few weeks ago. And now, I don't know, if we can solve it..."
"Don't worry. We'll find a way to end this mess together. It's only a matter or time and effort, in order to find the missing pieces." Twilight hugged Sunset with a comforting smile and soon, the rest of the group joined in the hug.
"Thank you, girls..." Sunset smiled, while wiping her tears away.
"Hey, that's what friends are for." Rainbow smiled.
"I think, I should go looking for Starlight." Sunset was about to leave, when her friends decided to tag along. She smiled, knowing the strength of their friendship and the group went out looking for Starlight.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Canterlot City...
We see Susan, slowly walking through the busy streets and crowds with nothing but silent sorrow. She saw many happy people around her, including families and couples. She said nothing, as she kept walking and walking, until she stopped in an empty alleyway. It was run down, that's for sure.
"Maybe I'll just live there for the rest of my life..." she sat down and sighed. Everything went upside down, after that fateful day. And that lead to so much despair and discord.
Suddenly, she heard a noise coming from a trash can. She went there to inspect the noise, by opening the can. However, the noises actually came from rats trying to find food. Feeling relieved a bit, she closed the lid and went back to the corner. Soon, another noise can be heard, although she chalked it up to being city sounds, as well as sounds from run down fans. Eventually, she stood up and went for the garbage bins, searching for something edible. During this, she became completely oblivious of her surroundings, as Susan was focused on finding food. After all, she's hungry.
Then, without a warning, she was grabbed by a man in black. She couldn't scream for help, as he held a piece of cloth over her nose and mouth. She tried to fight back as best as she could, but he was too strong, as he grabbed her tightly. At the same time, Susan felt like, her body was slowly shutting down, realizing that the cloth is laced with a sedative drug. She tried to hold her breath, but it was impossible, as she was struggling and each time, she breathed in, more of the drug would enter into her body. Her eyesight was slowly fading away, while losing control to her nerve system, until finally....everything went into total black and her body becoming limp. The being in black carried Susan's unconscious body to a mysterious van and after he got in, the van drove off. It's clear, that Susan was kidnapped...while being alone...
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Chapter 14: Struck by Karma | DISCLAIMER: This chapter contains torture, a murder-suicide, blood, twisted individuals, PTSD and so on. If you are very sensitive or don't want to be scarred, please don't read this and seek help! If you're willing to read the extreme chapter, please proceed it with caution. Viewer discretion is advised.
The Humane 6 and Spike looked around some parts of the city, in order to find Starlight. Last time, she was seen in the Laboratory, looking very angry. It all happened, when the society of Equestria chose to ignore the sisters's side of the story and Starlight, alongside with Sunset didn't like that at all, as they were really trying to find the missing pieces to clear the suspicion and find some sympathy in them. Anyway, a lot has happened in Equestria and now, the group are looking around the city. Eventually, after a while of looking and asking the locals for clues, they found Starlight in an alleyway, who is hitting the trash can with a stick.
"STOP!!" Immediately, Rainbow Dash and Applejack ran as fast and restrained Starlight from causing damage of property. "Please, calm down! This is not gonna help!" Sunset tried her best to calm her friend down. "I know, that you're upset. Their behaviour was really infuriating, not gonna lie. But cutting all ties with Equestria? Don't you think, that's kinda too far?"
But that hardly mattered to the lavender girl, as she was consumed by her own rage. "SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!" she shouted, as she was struggling. In response, Rainbow and Applejack had to tighten their grip.
"Please, Starlight...You need to calm down..." Fluttershy pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears. Eventually, Sunset lost her patience. "Let her go, girls." She said to the two.
"Are you crazy!?" Rainbow was shocked.
"Y'all know, that this is a risky idea." Applejack reminded her of the situation.
"I'll be fine, girls. Besides, she helped me overcome the sadness and rage in me and now...it's time to repay that debt." Sunset slowly approached her friend, as Rainbow Dash and Applejack let Starlight go, while Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Twilight and Fluttershy immediately covered their eyes, fearing for the worst. As to be expected, the second she was released, Starlight dashed towards Sunset and tried to tackle her down. A thud was heard...
When the other girls opened their eyes, they didn't believe, what they saw: Sunset was still on her feet, now tightly hugging Starlight, who was struggling hard. Despite this, she refused to let her friend go.
"It's okay, Starlight. I'm here." She softly spoke. The other girls watched, as Starlight thrashed around, yet Sunset kept calm and continuing to hold her friend in a tight embrace. After what it felt like an hour of screaming and thrashing, Starlight stopped and broke down in Sunset's arms. Meanwhile, Sunset kept strong through the ordeal, while the others tear up. Eventually, the cries has been slowly silenced, as Starlight calmed down and looked at her friends.
"Look, I know that their reactions were cold at worst and the girls' behaviour didn't help much. Sure, they had amnesia, but still. However, that doesn't mean, that we have to give up. We can prove them wrong by finding the reasons of their behaviour and help them reform! It's our mission to find the missing pieces and let the case rest. With you, me and my friends, we can end this complicated mess once and for all and douse the flames of hatred in Equestria." Sunset smiled and so did her friends.
After a while of silence, the lavender girl wiped her tears away and looked at them with a determined and confident look on her face.
"You're right. I won't allow any obstacles to deter me from completing the mission. Together, we can find the missing pieces and end the nightmares!" Starlight smiled.
"Yeah, that's the spirit!" Rainbow Dash raised her fist up.
"Way to go, Starlight!" Pinkie cheered.
"Say, what happened to the other girl?" Twilight asked.
"That's a good question...From what I remembered, the blue unicorn, who is named Susan, just walked away and get this, I looked at her face and it was full of shame! Meaning, that her memories are back! However, I was so angry at Equestria, I didn't bother to go after her. I know, that she is in the human world here, alongside with her sister, Mary...but they could be anywhere and I'm worried, that they'll get lost so easily." Starlight recounted the event.
"Huh. The more you know.." Applejack was intrigued, now that she now knows the names of the girls and that they're sisters, at least until Mary decided to broke off with Susan completely out of guilt.
"Maybe we should split up, just in case." Rarity suggested.
"Good idea. Each of us would go to different sections of the city and ask civilians about their whereabouts. There is no time to waste. Let's go, girls!" Sunset agreed and with those words, the group of nine went off to search for Susan and Mary, who are currently MIA.
On the North side of the city, Sunset went around and asked a few citizens about their whereabouts, only to tell her, that they've never seen the girls. In fact, when she went to a nearby cafe, she asked a teenage girl with "Hey. Excuse me for asking you so suddenly, but I'm looking for two girls, one blue and one yellow, both red hair and glasses. Have you seen them going around somewhere?"
"I don't think, I saw those girls walking around " the teenager answered.
"Shoot...But thanks for answering." With a sigh, Sunset walked away.
The orange girl kept asking people about their whereabouts, but to no avail. It's not surprising, as Twilight erased everyone's memories about the scary incident, where the sisters were bare and scared, as well as insane. Of course, she did this in order to save the others from potential PTSD.
"Oh man...It's like, they vanished into thin air...What is happening to them?" Sunset was worried, since they just vanished without a trace. What's worse is, she didn't know, if they were dead or alive. With a sigh, she went off to a different section of the city, hoping that she would find them safely. ???
Everything was dark for a while....until the eyes were opened. We see Susan, slowly regaining consciousness and waking up, after she was drugged by an unknown individual. Even when she woke up, the room was too dark to see anything.
"Where am I?" She was woozy from the drug's effects. She tried to get up, only to find out that she couldn't. It's like, the girl was strapped to a table. "What the?...Why can't I move?" She asked, when suddenly, she was blinded by a bright light, shining right at her.
"Ah. She's finally awake." A disembodied voice can be heard. When Susan opened her eyes a bit, she saw unknown people, whose identities are obscured by masks and lab coats. The light also showed us, that Susan was indeed tied down to a table with strong leather and metal restraining her body and limbs.
"Where am I? What is the meaning of this?" There are so many questions in her head and she asked to the mysterious captors, but she received no answer, as some of them went to mix some chemicals, while the others just stood there...menacingly. Sounds of mechanical machines can be heard, indicating, that she was in an unknown laboratory. Susan would be excited, if it wasn't for those questions:
What's with the masks? Why was she strapped down? And who was her kidnapper?
"So, given the sounds, it's seems like, you're scientists. Right?" Susan assumed. "That means, you do experiments for the greater good?"
"Oh hell no. It's only for our twisted pleasure. Now stand still and be our obedient and submissive Guinea pig" The masked individual spoke in a menacing tone, sending chills down her spine. Susan was confused. Who does scientific experiments for their twisted pleasure? Unless...those aren't actual scientists, but rather twisted people with a high IQ, yet very low morals. That assumption became correct, when they unveiled a big device with a lot of syringes, filled to the brim with chemicals.
"Uhm...What's going on? Why so many needles? It wouldn't hurt that much, wouldn't it?" Susan started sweating nervously. What's more is that, it looked...familiar. The fear is slowly getting into her body and mind. The individual said: "It'll hurt...A LOT!!!". Finally, one of them pulled a lever and the device went down on the helpless girl, who's getting stung and injected by the chemicals. Sounds of screams, filled with pain and horror can be heard, while her tormentors just stood there with no emotions whatsoever, seemingly enjoying her agony, which became worse, when she felt her body burning and mutating in a painful way. While the pain was still going, a memory flashed in front of her, where back when she and Mary had it all and about to experiment on Johnny, they said the same thing and used the similar looking device on him! And now, Susan is on the receiving end of a twisted torture. Being experimented on, except her captors have absolutely no sympathy towards her.
Next, the group went on to grab some clamps and attach them to the table, some of them being attached to Susan herself. With a signal, one of them pressed a button, where the surge of electricity would course to her, causing more pain. As she screamed in massive agony, there is a twisted aura around the tormentors, when beneath their masks, they were grinning. Once they stopped the electrocution, the people opened the restraints, grabbed her and tied her up to a chair. By the time, Susan was slowly losing consciousness from the amount of pain and shock.
"Hey! Pay attention, bitch!!!" One of them slapped her hard, in order to regain her consciousness, while two of them brought the operating table with tools.
"Please....make it stop..." At this point, Susan was in tears right now. The amount of pain and agony caused her to beg them for mercy. Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears, as they prepared their scalpel and drills to do some "surgery" (more like cutting some skin open) on her. Without any anaesthetic whatsoever. Of course, she screamed extremely loud, since the pain was excruciating. It didn't feel like a science experiment anymore, but rather absolute torture. It went on for hours with no end in sight, until they ended their twisted action. Although they did patch her up, it was rushed to say the least and also in a painful way. Finally, Susan was carried and then thrown into a dark room by her captors, in which they locked the door. If you think, this was the end, think again. The horror has just begun.
At first, Susan felt some relief a bit, however the lasting pain prevent her from calming down. Suddenly, she smelled something....rotten.
"What's that smell?" She looked around for any source of light, in order to find the source of that smell. Thankfully, after looking around and touching everything, she felt something. Upon closer inspection, It was a working flashlight. "Thank God, I found a flashlight." She said. By that time, the smell became unbearable, so she turned the flashlight on, only to be greeted with a horrific sight. There were multiple decomposing corpses lying around, most of them are female. On the walls, they were splattered with blood and other nasty stuff. Most of them either died by the injuries or by starvation and some of them even died a long time ago, while some of then are recent. However, there were some, who died via suicide. Needless to say, Susan screamed in absolute horror, since she was in the middle of a mountain full of death and despair. At the same time, there were sounds of a few survivors, but those were pleas for help and one of them even asked someone to put her out of her misery. But there was one voice, that is different.
"You...!" Susan turned around, holding the flashlight and it turned out, that the voice came from Mary! Much like Susan, she was also tortured by her captors.
"You too?" Susan was in shock, that not only her sister was also there, but she also endured the same torture as she did. Nonetheless, she was happy, that she found her, although Mary didn't share her enthusiasm. After all, she was still mad at her for all of the actions, causing them to get convicted and imprisoned multiple times. She thought, that Susan was the main suspect, the brains of the actions, while Mary did so for her.
"I didn't expect to see you again..." Mary growled.
"Look, I know that you are not in the mood of talking with me. But in this case, we have to find a way to get out of this place. There has to be some items left to make a lockpick or something. " Susan was thinking of some ideas for an escape, all while Mary's anger grew and grew. Eventually, she tried to punch Susan, but she was so weakened and tortured, she couldn't even throw a punch and collapsed.
"Mary, are you okay?!" Susan rushed to her sister's side, despite her injuries.
"Don't go near me, bitch..." Mary coughed.
Suddenly, the sound of the door unlocking can be heard.
"Shit! We need to hide!" Susan grabbed Mary, despite her struggling and hid in one of the piles. Her fears were confirmed, when the door opened and the voices of the tormentors can be heard.
"Alright, who's next?" One of them spoke. Sounds of women screaming "No!" And "Stay away!" also can be heard.
Meanwhile, the masked monsters looked around and eventually found a blue and green-haired girl, curled up into a ball in fear.
"It seems like, the lucky Guinea pig is you! Now get over here!!" He grabbed the poor girl by the hair, which really hurts and dragged her out of the room of corpses and death, while she screamed and struggled. The sounds of terror and fear even continued, when they shut the door tight, leaving the others in total darkness. Except that Susan still had the flashlight, as she came out.
"They're gone..." She whispered. "Damn...I feel sorry for the girl..." Susan was horrified, since given the injuries, it seemed like, she was tortured for a long time. And she was not the only one feeling the pain. Mary, as well as the other victims also felt the terror, the girl felt.
As if wasn't that enough, the girls heard sounds and when Susan shone the source of the sounds with the flashlight, they wouldn't believe, what they saw: 2 sisters in horrible conditions. They were filled with despair and terror.
"Hey, are you okay? Don't worry! We'll find a way out of here!" Mary shouted, assuring them that everything will be okay, but it fell on deaf ears. Soon, they saw something alarming: a knife. One of the sisters found it under the mountain of corpses.
"Please, put me out of my misery, sister..." the dark-haired sister pleaded.
"No...if you go down, I'll go down with you! I don't want to be alone anymore! I would rather kill myself than continue living in agony under the monsters." The other sister hugged her sibling with tears in her eyes. It's clear, that they lost hope of salvation. They cried a bit, when the black-pink haired sister grabbed the knife and raised it up. The sight was alarming for Susan and Mary.
"What are you doing? STOP!!!" Immediately, the twins ran towards the sisters to prevent a murder-suicide. Unfortunately, due to their injuries and the corpses littered around, they were slowed down and one time, Mary tripped one of them and fell down. Susan tried to get Mary up, but of course, she didn't want to do anything with her anymore and only snarled in response. Because of those obstacles and Mary being uncooperative towards Susan, they were unable to stop the inevitable, which was about to happen:
While shedding a single tear of sadness, the black-pink haired girl grabbed the knife tightly and stabbed her own sister on the back, causing the latter to cough up blood, while the other sister cried and apologising her sister for that action. The screams and the coughs of the dark-haired girl sent chills down to anyone's spines. It was truly an agonizing sight. After a while of agony and pain, she let go of her sister, as she was dying and slit her throat open to end her misery. This resulted in the dark-haired girl dropping dead, all while Susan and Mary screamed in horror. With the sister dead, there was no other reason for the girl to live, as she turned the knife on herself.
"STOP IT!!! THERE HAS TO BE ANOTHER WAY!!!" Susan screamed, begging the girl to stop ending her own life. Mary did the same thing, as the two went towards the girl, despite their injuries. But alas, it fell on deaf ears again and in the end, it was hopeless, as after looking at the twins with a sorrowful look in her face, she grabbed the knife tightly and plunged it deep in her throat, which after removing it, causing an immense amount of blood spraying out of her throat in a big distance, that even Susan and Mary got doused by some of the girl's gushing blood. Finally, after a while, it stopped spraying and the girl dropped dead. The horrifying experience lasted for around 10 minutes. The aftermath wasn't very pretty, as Susan and Mary became scarred and their reactions varied: Mary had a severe mental breakdown and fell on her knees, while Susan curled up into a ball and cried heavily. As if that want bad enough, the flashlight flickered and eventually died, due to the batteries running out, leaving the twins in complete darkness.
"Shit....We're gonna die... We're really gonna die..." At that point, Susan lost all hope of salvation. First the torture, then the corpses and now a murder-suicide. It became absolute hell for the two...one that there is seemingly no salvation for them. And it became worse, when the door opened and the tormentors came in.
"Okay, girls! You're next!" The had their tools ready, when they saw the dead bodies of the sisters, while Susan and Mary stood there in terror, covered in blood.
"Ah, fuck! They're dead! Why they must be so disobedient?! Oh well, we can improvise. At least we have these girls left, so might as well be their stand-in." One of the tormentors looked disappointed by the deaths, but decided to use the twins as their back-up. They went to the sisters to collect them, despite their screams and cries. As they grabbed the sisters for their twisted experiments, they struggled as they could. As Susan cried out for help, one of the captors licked her cheek, causing so much discomfort. When they couldn't stand still, they decided to punch the sisters to the ground, knocking them out. "Why....are...you... doing this?" Susan faintly spoke, before losing consciousness. The tormentors picked up their unconscious bodies and went on for their experiments.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville...
As the ponies worked, played and overall had a good time, Cherry Swirl, Snow Emerald and Breeze Dasher looked around the crowd. They want one thing: Find Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom and apologise for their ignorance.
"Okay, girls. You know, what to do." Snow Emerald told to her girls about the objective.
"We know. Find them and apologise." Cherry Swirl nodded.
"But first, we have to find them first. I mean, we last saw them, before we got trapped in cocoons, they were outside of the hospital. Perhaps, they went to a different location." Breeze Dasher assumed.
"That's why we're about to ask the ponies about their location." Snow responded and the girls went on and asked several ponies about the whereabouts of the two ponies. However, many of them had no idea, where they are, since they've never seen the two.
"Shit.." Breeze sighed.
"Keep trying, Breeze. Remember, there are ponies, we didn't ask yet." Cherry responded and went to different sections of the town and asked several ponies, although they said, that Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom were in the south of Ponyville, so they went to the south, but there was no sign of them. It was around this time, Fluttershy came by.
"Hey, you!" Snow Emerald shouted at the yellow pegasus, startling her.
"Geez, Snowy! Stop scaring her!" Cherry was not happy, that her friend accidentally scared Fluttershy.
"Oops...Sorry about that..." Snow apologized Fluttershy. "Me and my friends are searching for Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom. We just wanted to apologise to them for being ignorant. We were just following orders from Jenny, who didn't get the memo. Tell me, where are they?"
"You mean these two, you mentioned? Well, they are currently in Canterlot, in order to help my friends prepare for the Friendship Festival. I'm about to find Discord, so we can go there together." Fluttershy asked.
"Mind if we join?" Cherry asked.
"Of course, you can!" Fluttershy smiled.
"Thank you. We really appreciate it." Cherry smiled as well. At the same time , Discord appeared out of nowhere.
"You called me, Fluttershy?" Discord asked.
"There you are, Discord! We'll go to Canterlot, in order to help my friends prepare for the upcoming festival." Fluttershy hugged him.
"Say, who are those new ponies?" The chaotic creature was curious about the three ponies.
"My name is Snow Emerald and these are my friends, Cherry Swirl and Breeze Dasher." The icy pegasus introduced herself and her friends to him.
"Ooh! It's nice to meet you! Also one of them is ice related? Well, you don't mind, if I can use this to cool my drink!" Discord put the drink on Snow's head and after a while, he got it back and it became chill.
"What the?! How!?!" Snow was confused.
"Girl, you are the elemental master of ice and snow. You probably have a cold body." Breeze shrugged.
"Really funny, Breezy..." the icy pegasus sighed in annoyance.
"Or it's because Discord used his magic. He can do anything with it." Fluttershy explained. "But I'll explain it later. For now, we have to go now. Twilight and the others are waiting."
"Yeah. It's best to go now, so we can apologise to the others and release the guilt inside of us sooner." Cherry agreed and the group of five were on their way to Canterlot. They decided to go by train. However, little did anyone know that they were followed by a pony in a long, black robe.
Ponyville Train Station
They arrived at the train station, all while Cherry and her friends were waiting anxiously. At the same time, Fluttershy went to the ticket booth and bought five tickets to Canterlot. Next, they waited at the station for the train to arrive. While waiting, Discord exchanged some talks with the elemental trio and Fluttershy explained them about Discord's powers. The trio were speechless about the infinite possibilities of the reality-bending magic. After a while of waiting, the train has arrived.
"It's about time!" Breeze was impatient. She waited for the train for a long time and when the train had arrived and the doors were opened, the group went inside and looked for seats to sit down. After finding some free seats, they sat down and Snow looked at the window with a concerned look. After many ponies went inside, the doors closed and the train went off to the destination.
Inside of the train, Breeze noticed Snow looking concerned. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"I'm worried, that they'll never forgive us...After all, we are guilty of the crimes..." Snow sighed.
"Hey, we were just following orders. Jenny and Ocean Spark are the real culprits. We're just their pawns. We can explain them, that we also have second thoughts. So don't worry, Snowy." Cherry Swirl smiled.
"Yeah! Don't be so gloomy! She released us, meaning that she did hear out apologies! Plus, Tropic Bloom is a sweet Pony!" Breeze put her arm on the pegasus mare.
"I know! I know! But...knowing Fire Jewel, she would be completely hesitant, given the topic... You know, what I mean....The one, that was mostly ignored by the two. Plus, she can be quite a hot head." Snow Emerald sighed.
"Don't worry. Everything will be okay." Fluttershy smiled.
"I hope..." Snow looked out the window.
"Breeze, we have to make sure to help Snow to gain the hopes up." Cherry Swirl talked to her friend.
"Got it." The blue pegasus nodded.
"Say, is there any reason, why you wanted to apologise?" Discord was confused.
"We've been quite ignorant to Fire Jewel, when it comes to her stance against abuse. Sure, there were times, that she almost went to far, if it wasn't for out interventions, but...In general, we didn't listen to her pleas and were outright cruel... However, we were just following orders, while Jenny and Ocean Spark disregarded everything. In response, they left the team and imprisoned us in vine cocoons. Believe me, during the night, we couldn't sleep, due to the nightmares. Eventually, the guilt was too much and I apologized in tears. Suddenly, the cocoon opened and I was free and soon, so were Cherry and Breeze. After seeing the errors of our ways and realizing, who are actually responsible to the disharmony, we left the team as well, leaving them alone and trapped in the cocoons. It's just...I couldn't bear the pressure anymore.. " The icy pegasus was in tears.
"Basically, a lot of shit happened." Breeze sighed.
"Yikes...That's a lot of chaos. I know, I'm literally a being of chaos and disharmony, but that, alongside with the other abuse story, this is where I draw the line." Disord scratched his head. As if an abuse story wasn't enough, now he knows about the whole disharmony among the group, causing it to be disbanded. It was clearly too much.
"Me too...It's getting more complicated..." Fluttershy sighed, since now she has to deal with two big problems at the same time.
"What abuse story?" Cherry asked.
"I'll tell you about it later. But for now, we have to focus on the current task." The yellow pegasus told the three ponies, since explaining it now would mean more heartache and a headache. After which, Snow continued to watch out of the window, while Breeze and Cherry looked around without saying a word. It was clear, that they're really anxious and worried. What if they'll never forgive them? What would they do? They've been circling around their heads like vultures.
Meanwhile in the human world...
The Humane 6, Sunset, Starlight and Spike gathered at a cafe, after a long time of searching for Susan and Mary's whereabouts. It's been hours since the incident.
"Any luck?" Starlight asked the girls about their results.
"Nah..." Rainbow sighed.
"Not even a clue..." Rarity looked down.
"None at all!" Pinkie frowned.
"They literally vanished without a trace." Twilight answered.
"No results, y'all..." Applejack crossed her arms.
"They were nowhere to be seen..." Fluttershy looked sad.
"I tried so hard, even so far as asking so many people and even some police officers about their whereabouts, but to no avail..." Sunset was stressed out.
"Shoot...For me, I came empty-handed." Starlight sighed. There was literally no single clue about their whereabouts.
"Should we report them as missing?" Fluttershy asked.
"I mean, we can at least try." Spike added. "Besides, they've been there for a week and a few days here, plus the hospital knew, what they look like. So we could make a sketch about their appearances and bring them to the police."
"I guess..." Sunset stood up and the girls went to a nearby police station, in order to report Susan and Mary as missing. After talking to the receptionist, a police officer brought them to a room for questioning. He asked them a few questions about their names, looks, etc. But there is a problem: There were only a few information about the sisters, that they know of. They know, what they look like, their names, their conditions, but not everything, since they didn't bother to introduce them fully. But the police want the full information in order to report the two missing.
"Okay, I'll tell you the details, we know of. Their names are Susan and Mary. Both have red hair and glasses, one being square and the other crescent-like. Susan is light blue, while Mary is bright yellow. Currently, they're wearing simple white dresses with shoes, because Rarity has to find the perfect style for them. They've been in the hospital for a week and a few days, since they had to recover from a brain injury. And finally, they had some problems mentally, like something is plaguing them inside. As of now, I don't know." Sunset explained all of the details, while the officer noted them.
"I see. What are their eye colors?" The officer asked.
"I think, Susan has blue-teal eyes, while Mary has teal ones." Starlight answered.
"We are worried, since they're only here for a few weeks and we're afraid that they would get lost so easily, since they've never been in this world before." Fluttershy pleaded.
"Or even worse, getting kidnapped nonetheless or heck, even worse, killed." Applejack crossed her arms.
"Please, sir...We just want them to be returned safely." Starlight pleaded.
"We'll do our best to find their whereabouts. In fact, we'll ask the hospital for records of the girls." The officer smiled and filled the report.
"Thank you. We really appreciate it." Twilight was relieved. Eventually, they signed the report and the officer went on to spread the report to his fellow officers and the whole station. After thanking the officer and Sunset giving the address of the hospital, the girls left the police station. However, Sunset and Starlight were still anxious and worried about their whereabouts and their safety.
"Don't worry, girls. They'll do their best." Applejack assured them.
"I know, it's just...I'm worried, where they are and even if they're okay. I'm not even sure, if they're even alive or dead..." Susent sighed.
"Let's just hope, they'll find them and return to us safely." Starlight looked at the sky with a sad look.
"Same here." Twilight looked at her friend.
"We should better take a break from the whole mess. I mean, the whole ordeal is just painful.." Rainbow was exhausted.
"Good point. It gave me a headache!" Rarity complained.
"You know, I really need your help, girls. This weekend, there will be a science fair and I entered it, because not only I want to improve my skills, but I could use the prize for charities." Said the nerdy girl.
"Sure, we can. I really need to distract myself." Sunset sighed, since the whole ordeal gave her so much grief.
"I mean, it's better than nothing." Rainbow shrugged and the girls left the district and were on their way to Twilight's laboratory, in order to help Twilight with her entry.
However, on the other side of the city, a black-hooded girl was strolling around the streets. Even though the identity was obscured by the hood, a frown can be seen, like something happened, that made her angry.
"That damn girl..." she growled. "One day, I'll get my revenge and take her place...Just you wait!" She continued walking around the streets, while avoiding eye contact to everyone.
Canterlot Train Station
After a while, the train had arrived their destination: Canterlot Train Station. The doors opened and many ponies went outside for a day out, work or other stuff. The four ponies and Discord wanted to go to the Canterlot Castle for various things: Prepare for the upcoming festival and in the case of three elemental ponies, find their friends and apologise.
"Here we are." Said the snowy pegasus.
The group soon went to the castle, where many ponies were still preparing for the festival, with even Twilight talking to the manager of Star Time Rush for the negotiations. The other ponies and non-ponies helped their fellow friends and loved ones on decoration, food, drinks, entertainment, etc. Eventually, they met Pinkie Pie, who was making balloons.
"Hi, Fluttershy!" Immediately, the peppy mare hugged her friend in a few seconds.
"Hello, Pinkie." The shy pegasus smiled.
"Ooh, are those new ponies?" Pinkie was curious about the three ponies, not knowing that those were responsible for the disharmony. However, it can be chalked up by a very busy schedule.
"Actually, those were three of the ponies, whom Tropic Bloom imprisoned them into cocoons." The shy pegasus explained the incident.
"We're here to find the two and apologise for being part of the mess. We feel very guilty about our actions, which lead to the team disbanding. At the end of the day, we were simple pawns, who follow the orders..." Snow Emerald looked sad. The guilt made her open her eyes and realizing the consequences. So did Cherry Swirl and Breeze Dasher.
"So, you were not actively cruel?" Pinkie asked.
"Of course not! We had doubts, but we pushed them aside out of fear. Fear of igniting their fury." Cherry lowered her ears.
"With that out of the way, where are Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom?" Snow asked. She wanted and answer badly.
"Hmm..Tropic Bloom...Well, she is currently somewhere, helping Rarity out. But for Fire Jewel, she is preparing the torches as decoration. I can bring you to her, if you want!" Pinkie smiled. However, that was met with mixed results. Cherry and Breeze were for it, while Snow had some doubts to it. After all, knowing the red mare's personality as a hot head, not to mention the consequences from their actions showing, she became very nervous. As a result, Snow became very anxious. Cherry knew this and held her friend's hoof, while they went on to follow Pinkie. During the walk, several ponies can be seen helping each other out. Eventually, they found Fire Jewel, who was placing the torches.
"Hi, Fire Jewel! I have some friends, wanting to talk with you!" Pinkie smiled and got the unicorn's attention. Unfortunately, when the mare saw the three ponies, everything went south.
"What the hell are YOU doing here!?" She snarled.
"Listen, Fire Jewel. We're not here to cause any more drama. We just want to make amends and try to close the rifts of hatred, we've caused." Cherry Swirl tried to douse the flames of hatred, but Fire Jewel didn't listen and looked away on disgust.
"I don't believe you..." the red mare looked mad.
"Listen! We are really regretting our actions! We did fucked up things, sure...but at the end of the day, we were just pawns of two ponies, whose names we do not speak of!" Snow Emerald plead with lowered ears. Unfortunately, the red unicorn didn't listen, as she was not forgiving to them.
"Sure. You're doing this, just to make you feel better..." She growled.
"No, we're not! We are truly sorry about the incident!" Breeze Dasher got a bit irritated at Fire Jewel's ignorance. At the same time, Sissy and Missy were helping out a few ponies, when they saw the argument.
"What the hell? What's going on?" Sissy was confused by the whole ordeal. "Also, why does this look....familiar?"
"I don't know. Let's check it out." The hybrid went to the scene, alongside with her best friend. Arriving at the commotion, they felt a sense of tension between the ponies.
"I don't want to listen to your damn lies!!" The red unicorn shouted.
"We're not lying! In fact, we've been haunted by the nightmares and voices all the time up until now! You gotta understand..." Snow felt scared.
"Understand the palm of my hoof, bitch!" The red unicorn slapped the snowy pegasus mare so hard, she fell to the ground. Cherry and Breeze tended to their friend, who felt hurt by her anger and was about to cry. Since everyone overheard the commotion and watched the scene unfold, needless to say everyone was shocked.
"Hey! What the hell were you thinking!?!" Sissy was outraged at the red unicorn's cold action to the ponies. "They're trying to apologise!"
"So you are backing those fuckers up, huh?!" At this point, Fire Jewel's horn started to glow in a menacing orange, while flames startled to go around her. But the girls were not phased by her rising anger.
"Geez, girl! You've really gone off the rails, huh?! Look at them! They're hurt now, because you were so damn hostile!" Missy shouted.
"She has a point, Fire! All we wanted is to free ourselves from the guilt by apologising you and Tropic Bloom for what we've done!" Breeze shouted, while comforting a broken Snow, who was rubbing her cheek.
"Plus, I'm pretty sure, that Tropic has listened our apologies. I know, she is your best friend and that she saved you, but she doesnt want to be fully on your side, since she hates any sort of conflict, whatsoever!!" Cherry added some points in their defense. Suddenly, they heard a voice, saying:
"It's true! I heard their voices!"
Behind them was none other than the flower pony herself, Tropic Bloom! She slowly approached her friends in defense of the three, causing the red pony to widen her eyes in disbelief.
"Listen, Fire Jewel...I know your pain and I know your struggles and your clear intentions of saving the poor fillies and colts. At first, I felt sorry for you and even helped you out. But...the more I thought about it...the more I realized, that you're slowly losing your grip on reality and your sanity! What I mean is, I'm worried that you would eventually lose yourself to the madness! And you know damn well, that I hate any conflict, especially ones within the group with friends!!!" Tropic Bloom was in tears, screaming with all of her emotions out.
"Wow...." Breeze Dasher was surprised at Tropic's sudden burst of emotions. Normally, Tropic is known to be a quiet and nice pony, who kept things to herself and never meant to hurt anyone. But this was unexpected.
"Holy shit...Didn't see that coming..." Missy was speechless.
Suddenly, the atmosphere became hotter and hotter, as the flames on the torches started to rise even higher than before. Everyone backed off in fear, because of those signals. And those signals were caused by Fire Jewel herself, whose eyes were changed to red and menacing, serpent-like eyes with the whites changed to a dark orange. All while a burning aura emitted from her eyes. "I see, what you mean...You are talking and working against me... I should've known, that I would not trust anyone...You know what, bitch?! It's over!!" With a distorted voice, she slowly ran towards the yellow earth pony.
"What are you doing!?" Tropic was scared, when Cherry defended the poor earth pony from the unicorn's insane wrath. "Stay back!!" The green pony shouted, but it fell on deaf ears.
"You know what, Fuck your intentions! Fuck your lies and most of all: FUCK ALL OF YOU!!! I'm done being lied and ignored by everyone in this damn world!!! And as for you, girls! We are no longer friends!!! Now GET THE HELL OUT OF MY FACE, BEFORE I'LL BURN YOU ALIVE!!!!" The red unicorn screamed with all of her anger and hatred in front, bringing the four elemental ponies into tears, especially Tropic Bloom, who've become hurt by her friend's cruel and heartless words.
"Fire Jewel....how could you?..." The yellow pony was close to breaking down and all four ponies, who all felt hurt, ran away from Canterlot, crying. Sissy and Missy became furious by Fire's cold action.
"Seriously, you're really acting like a hostile bitch!" Sissy shouted.
"SHUT UP OR I'LL BURN YOU TOO!!" At this point, Fire Jewel lost herself in the hatred and anger, she created.
"Go on with those threats, we don't care! You hurt your own friends, who are trying to apologise and set things straight! There is proof, that they're feeling regret! Have you've not seen their eyes!? Have you've not seen their faces!!? You chose to ignore it all, just because you are seriously OFF THE GODDAMN RAILS RIGHT NOW!!!!" Missy furiously shouted at the red unicorn at the lack of empathy.
"ALRIGHT, YOU ASKED FOR IT, BITCH!!!!" The red mare unleashed a massive beam of flames directly to the girls. They were so close, when suddenly, a clash of fire, magic and electricity took place, as someone guarded the mares with their powers. As the dust settled, it turned our to be Johnny and Dukey, using their powers to protect Sissy and Missy, with Johnny's body being surrounded by lightning.
"That's enough!!!" Both stallions were not happy at Fire Jewel. At the same time, Pinkie Pie, who watched the whole ordeal, became confused and Fluttershy, who curled up into a ball in fear, quietly sobbed, when Twilight and her friends came to her side.
"What in the tarnation is going on here!?" Applejack demanded answers.
"Cherry Swirl and her friends wanted to apologise to their friend for the abuse, but Fire Jewel became hostile and even became mean to them, even to her best friend, Tropic Bloom!" Fluttershy explained.
"Say what!?" Johnny was shocked.
"Don't tell me, she did the exact same mistake, we did..." The hybrid stallion was in disbelief.
"Well, judging her reaction and her friends ran away crying, I'd unfortunately say...yes." Missy told them the truth
"Okay, this has gone too far!" Rainbow was outraged.
"We feel the same, darling..." Rarity agreed.
"Fire Jewel, you have seriously gone too far! All they wanted is forgiveness and closure, but no! You decided to shun them and end your friendship with them, breaking their hearts in the progress! You better go there and fix this mess, NOW!" Twilight demanded Fire Jewel to fix her own mess, but instead, she fanned the flames even further, as the red unicorn snapped and more flames go around her in a sphere. Everypony backed off a bit, as the flames became brighter and hotter. Eventually the sphere eventually morphed into a menacing dragon, made from fire with piercing red eyes. It roared, as the flames on the torches reached the skies, scaring off the pegasi away. What's more.. Fire Jewel wasn't seen, indicating that she turned herself into the burning dragon.
"Twilight, what's going on!?" Princess Celestia flew to the princess of friendship, demanding answers.
"She lost it..." Twilight answered.
The dragon roared loudly and flew off, spewing fire around Canterlot.
"Welp, can't have that! Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie! Find Tropic Bloom and the others and comfort them! Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash! Evacuate the ponies out of the flames safely! I'll take care of Fire Jewel!" Twilight spread her wings and made her horn glow a bright pink, as she was ready to attack.
"Actually, make that three." Dukey responded as he and Johnny stood beside the purple alicorn.
"Make it five!" Sissy and Missy also stood beside Twilight, ready for a fight.
"Are you sure about that? I don't want you to get hurt!" Twilight protested.
"Man, we've been through worse before." Johnny defended the reasoning, as he and Dukey were in some intense situations before.
"Plus, we just wanted to straighten her out." Sissy added. "Also, I've handled a dragon before."
"Uhm..." Twilight was confused.
"Let's just move on, before Fire Jewel would destroy everything. .." Dukey was not patient, as he pointed at the burning flames in Canterlot.
"Right! Let's do this, everyone!" With the words from the purple mare, the five ponies went off to stop Fire Jewel from destroying everything.
"Meanwhile, outside of Canterlot...
Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were searching for the four ponies, who left Canterlot with tears in their eyes. They looked around the area.
"Wait! Maybe they want to go back to Ponyville?" Pinkie theorized.
"If that's the case, we have to go there!" Fluttershy went off with the peppy party mare following her immediately.
The two mares ran as fast, as they could, hoping that they were not too late and the ponies being lost forever. After a while of looking around and searching, they heard sounds of sobbing in the bushes. They investigated every single Bush for their whereabouts, until Fluttershy found them in a Bush near a field with trees.
"There you are! Don't worry, we're here to comfort you." Fluttershy slowly approached the elemental ponies.
"I know, that she was quite a meanie to you, but you were sincere with your attempts. You really wanted to apologise to her, right?" Pinkie asked with the ponies silently nodding.
"I wanted to know, why you did this....There has to be a reason." Fluttershy wanted an answer.
"There is a reason...You see, we are concerned by Fire Jewel's mental health. If the damage reached a certain threshold and if we didn't prevent it, she would easily lose it and go on a blind rampage. And it would become worse, if she wasn't stopped in the right time. It all stemmed from the abuse, the time that Ocean Spark was tricked by Shadow Nebula into believing that Fire killed her parents, when in reality, Nebula killed them in cold blood and finally, seeing the children, who were traumatised by the horrors of the worlds, thanks to the evil forces. The truth is, she may be a tough and reckless hothead, on the inside, she's a traumatized pony, who just wanted to be free from the pain. We all sympathise her, since everyone had a different kind of pain in the past, but feeling similar. It's the pain that fuels our desire for justice and order. But recently, Ocean Spark and Jenny had lost themselves and forgot the purpose." Cherry explained.
"Oh dear..." Fluttershy was shocked by the whole revelation.
"Why didn't you tell them to stop a while earlier?" Pinkie asked. She was still confused.
"I assume it's either the return of an old foe or something sinister would come to Equestria. I don't know, that's what Jenny told to me at least." Tropic answered.
"But hey, we're accepting your apologies!" Pinkie hugged the ponies with a bright smile. "And I'm pretty sure, my friends would also forgive you!"
"What?" Snow was still in tears. "Are you for real? After everything, we've done...you forgive us?"
"Of course. Everyone deserves a second chance of redemption." Fluttershy warmly smiled. The warm smiles sent a calming and serene aura to the quartet, soothing them. After a while, the four ponies wiped their tears away and smiled.
"Thank you..." Snow smiled.
"On top of that, we'll help you restore the friendship with Fire Jewel and improve yourselves. After all, we're tasked to solve friendship problems, since we're chosen for this destiny, alongside with our friends." Fluttershy smiled.
"Yeah! We are experts in this! Although nopony is flawless, we can learn from our mistakes, while keep fighting with a smile!" Pinkie grinned.
"You know, despite our shared desire for justice, there are times that we argued many times, sometimes for silly reasons. So, I think, we need some advices from you." Breeze admitted.
Meanwhile, Tropic Bloom was looking around a bit, when all of a sudden, she saw a high pillar of flames, seen from afar. "Uhm....girls?" She tapped everyone and pointed at the pillar.
"WHAT THE F-" Breeze was frozen in shock.
"It's Fire Jewel! She's destroying all of Canterlot and soon, the whole of Equestria!" Fluttershy was alarmed.
"Oh hell no...Not again...." Snow was scared.
"Not again? What do you mean? Did it happen before? Tell me!" Pinkie wanted some answers.
"You see, it happened before... But there is no time for any explanations! We have to stop her!" Cherry stood up.
"You're right! This madness really needs to stop!" Pinkie agreed.
The six ponies ran as fast as they could, in order to stop Fire Jewel and save everyone. Again, the black-hooded figure just watched from afar and after a while, it followed them, without saying a single word and much like a ninja, it avoided detection from them.
Back to Canterlot, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Rarity helped the other ponies to evacuate, while stopping the flames. Rarity did her best to block the fires from spreading, as they guided the citizens out of there.
"Stay close each other, y'all!" Applejack instructed the other ponies.
Suddenly, the group of ponies were blocked by a high wall of flames, courtesy of the dragon.
"Oh, come on!!" Rainbow was infuriated.
They heard the dragon roaring and spewing fire at the group, but Rarity took quick action and used a shield spell to protect everyone from the out of control beast. Despite the temperature getting higher, the white unicorn stayed strong and kept the shield up.
"Keep going, Rarity!" The prismatic mare cheered her friend on. In response, the dragon roared even louder than before and spewed a powerful blast of fire. Rarity did her best to strengthen the shield to the maximum limit, but unfortunately the blast was too powerful for the unicorn mare to handle, causing the shield to break and everyone being knocked away from the force.
"Rarity! Are you okay!?" Applejack shouted, however Rarity collapsed from exhaustion shortly after. The dragon was about to spew flames at them, when all of a sudden, it got hit by a pink, magical beam. It looked around, only to see Twilight shooting another beam from her horn. In response, it spewed another powerful blast of fire, which resulted in both beams clashing each other. It kept going and going, with neither of them showing any signs of weakness. Eventually, it caused a big and powerful explosion, knocking the two away from each other. Meanwhile, Johnny and Sissy, both holding buckets of water, waited for the perfect timing. As the dragon got up and was ready to roast everyone, it heard voices, taunting it.
"Hey, flame butt!"
"You're too slow!"
"Come and get us!
Those voices belong to Dukey and Missy, who made faces and taunting the beast more. As to be expected, it roared in a furious rage and began to spew fire, but they dodged every single attack of them in quick succession. As they it kept trying and the hybrids kept dodging, the pegasi eventually came out and doused the dragon with water, but...here is the problem: It became unaffected by the water!
"Hey, what the!? Did it just evaporated the water!?" Sissy was shocked. What's worse, their action only made it even angrier. As suddenly, the dragon grabbed the pegasi and threw them into the ground.
"Johnny!!" "Sissy!!" Immediately the hybrids went to their friends, who were left with injuries. They picked them up and ran off. But the dragon spew a fire blast in front of them, creating a fire wall.
"Let's go the other way!" Dukey was about to go to the left side, when it spews flames on both sides, trapping them.
"Shit! We're trapped!!" Missy backed off a bit.
The dragon wasted no time to spew a quick beam to finish them off, but it was suddenly stopped by an earth wall, followed by a beam of lightning and ice.
"Stop it, Fire Jewel! You're gonna hurt innocent ponies or even worse, kill them!!!" A familiar voice can be heard and and it became clear, once the earth wall was lowered. It was Cherry Swirl, Breeze Dasher, Snow Emerald and Tropic Bloom, who managed to protect the quartet from a burning doom in a nickel of time.
"It's you!" Dukey immediately recognized the ponies.
"Don't worry. We got this!" Breeze assured them. At the same time, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy came to the scene and a few seconds later, so did Twilight, Applejack, who was carrying an unconscious Rarity, Rainbow Dash and later Spike, who managed to find them.
"Is everypony okay?" Twilight asked.
"Well, water didn't work on her." Johnny answered in a daze.
"What?! That's impossible!" Twilight was in disbelief.
"Her massive rage has made her stronger. So strong in fact, that she is immune to water." Snow explained. "There is really no time left! We have to stop her, before she could burn everything into the ground!" The four elemental ponies charged their powers up for the attack and so did the dragon. It blasted fire, but the four ponies blocked it with a combination of a shield made of earth, nature, ice and thunder.
"They have a point! It's time to douse the flames!" Twilight got ready and so did her friends, as well as Johnny, Dukey, Sissy and Missy.
"Bring it on, lizard!" Sissy shouted. "I've dealt with dragons before and you are no different!"
The dragon roared and charged toward the group with a burning tackle, but the group dodged it in quick succession. Soon, Breeze, Rainbow and Johnny flew up and circled around it to not only confuse the creature, but also creating a tornado around it. Around the same time, Cherry used her powers to create rock pillars, while Snow connected them with her ice powers to create slopes. Pinkie, Applejack, Dukey, Missy and Tropic used the slopes to slide on then with incredible speed and aim towards the eye of the storm, which is to attack the creature without touching the tornado. As they flew up, all four earth ponies performed a combined drill kick to take the creature down. Soon, Twilight, a recovered Rarity, Spike and Tropic used their powers to create a combined blast made out of magic and flames to hit it with full force. Finally, the three pegasi, who created the tornado earlier, got into a formation, in which Sissy soon joined. "It's now or never!" Breeze shouted and the four pegasi dashed at a great acceleration. They spin around to create friction and around them, a cone started to form, in which it started to spin like a drill. The dragon spew a big fireball to slow them down, but they came through it and managed to hit the dragon, causing it to crash into the ground. The four pegasi flew back to their friends on ground and checked, if the dragon and in extension, Fire Jewel, was truly defeated.
"Did we defeat her?" Sissy asked.
"I'm not sure, but half a minute has been passed..." Missy shrugged.
"Whatever it is, let's hope, we can end this nightmare and make Fire Jewel explain herself." Twilight noted.
But before anyone can say anything or even go closer, the walls of flames got even higher and the dragon got up. The combined attack only got the creature even angrier. It roared so loud, the earth started to shake and the temperature git even hotter. Soon, it blasted a massive beam of flames in a quick succession. Twilight tried to shield it with her magic, but the overwhelming power of the creature's ever rising blind anger caused Twilight and everyone to be knocked far back. Another blast from the dragon caused everyone to fall down. Their screams of pain can be heard, as the dragon kept firing out. Eventually, everyone is on the ground, struggling to even get up, due to their injuries.
"It can't be....She overwhelmed us..." Twilight faintly spoke.
The dragon landed in front of them, glaring at the weakened group one more time, before it charged up for one fatal blast. No one can even defend themselves anymore, again due to their injuries. Tropic Bloom looked at the dragon with tears in her eyes.
"Fire Jewel...please...stop..." the yellow earth pony pleaded for mercy, but unfortunately...it just didn't care about mercy. The group closed their eyes, as they're about to embrace their fates, as the dragon shot the blast out. Everything was hopeless....until a beam of water collided with the flame blast, causing a large amount of mist to appear. The dragon was confused. Who was responsible of preventing her from burning everyone? The answer became clear, once the mist was settled: It was the pony in the black cloak!
"Stop it right here!" The pony shouted.
"Get out of here, please..." Twilight warned the pony, but she didn't listen.
"No. Fire Jewel must be stopped, before more lives would be changed for the worse or even taken! She may be nearly invincible on the outside, but on the inside, she is as vulnerable as ever. Let me do it!!" It commented.
"How do you know, you can defeat her? She's too strong!" Tropic shouted. At the same time, the dragon spew fire, only for the pony to dodge. However, some of the flames managed to get the cloak, causing it to slowly burn.
"It's personal, buddy. In fact...." the pony grabbed the cloak and threw it away, revealing the identity of the pony: A oceanic blue unicorn mane with beautiful mane, oceanic eyeshadow and light teal/cyan eyes. Tropic, Cherry, Snow and Breeze gasped at the revelation. The pony is none other than Ocean Spark!
"...I wanted to end the mess, I've caused!" The blue mare finished her sentence.
Everyone was surprised and shocked by her reasoning and the fact, that she's free. But Tropic explained them with: "Despite her actions, it's clear that she felt the massive guilt and wants to fix the whole ordeal."
"Time out, she was a jerk to her own sister!" Rainbow didn't believe the reasoning.
"I'm not sure. Let's see, if she really wants to fix the mess." Snow answered. Of course, there's some suspicion, but who knows.
As the dragon immensely roared at Ocean, the blue mare stood calm.
"I know, I fucked up, causing our sisterhood to be torn apart and me losing everything. But I've since seen the errors of my ways and felt the gravity of my actions in a severe way. I want to say is...I'm sorry..." She softly spoke, but the dragon kept shooting fire, in which the blue mare used her water spells to douse them all.
"I can't believe, that you're not listening....I'm sorry, but you left me with no choice..." Ocean Spark used her immense water magic to transform herself into a mythical sea serpent, made of water. The eyes were glowing in a calming blue, in contrast to the dragon's furious red. Thus, a battle between the dragon and the serpent began with both using their powers at maximum.
As the fight was going, Silverstream, Mr. Black, Mr. White and several of the hippogriffs, lead by the unnamed General, went to the injured group.
"Everyone, we have to bring them to the royal infirmary on the castle! Pick them up and fly as fast, as you could!" The General commanded the hippogriffs.
They responded to pick each of the ponies and flew off in groups.
"Do you think, they'll be okay?" Silverstream was worried.
"Don't worry...they will.." Mr. White answered.
The hippogriffs soon arrived to the royal castle, where the royal sisters, Cadence, who is comforting a crying Flurry Heart, Shining Armor and the royal guards, were waiting. The hippogriffs brought the injured ponies to the guards, who immediately rushed to the infirmary. Princess Celestia looked at the damage with a worried look on her face.
Back to the centre of Canterlot, the dragon and the serpent continued fighting, each of them trading blows to each other. Slowly, the dragon got the upper hand, when it surprised it from behind and pinned it down.
"Please, Fire Jewel! You need to snap out of it!!" Ocean Spark's voice can be heard, when the serpent used telepathy to communicate with the dragon. But it kept roaring and charged up another fire ball. This is when the serpent decided to retaliate and create a water sphere to counter it. Both fire and water spheres clash, causing more mist to appear. As they kept firing, more mist appear due to the elements clashing, causing the flames to be evaporated. Suddenly, the dragon lost control, when the serpent liquidated itself to free itself and reappeared, when the mist has been slowly settled. The water creature closed its eyes and focused on a weak point. The dragon roared and directly charged at the serpent, but it liquidated itself again and moved around to disorient the burning creature, by reappearing then disappearing in puddles of water around it. After what it seems like hours, the dragon had enough and spew fire all over it, causing the water to boil and evaporate. It seems like, the dragon stood victorious, when all of a sudden, the serpent, now glowing with full power, used a spell to go inside of the dragon from behind.
In a burning void, Ocean Spark, who is protected by a sphere of water, looked around, searching for her sister. Eventually, she found Fire Jewel, who is encased with fire, still with the menacing, serpent-like eyes.
"Stay away from me, bitch!!!" The red mare was about to use the flames, when Ocean, with tears slowly coming from her eyes, came closer. Despite numerous warnings, the blue unicorn didn't listen and kept going.
"You're still persistent, huh!??!?! Alright, prepare to get-" Suddenly, the red unicorn is pulled in a hug by Ocean. During this, the elements clashed once again.
"I know, that my actions drove you away from me, alongside my friends....I didn't mean to hurt you, sister...It was Jenny, who is persistent with her orders. I couldn't say no, due to me being a second-in command. Plus, I don't want to hurt her feelings and ignite her fury, so I had to follow her orders...I got blinded by her words, until it manifested into my head...In the end, it was me, not having enough courage to stand up to myself....if I knew about my actions and their consequences and stood up sooner, then none of the heartache would even happen...I'm so sorry, Fire Jewel..." Ocean shed a single tear, while the red unicorn stopped struggling and her eyes reverting back to normal. After a while of silence, the red unicorn screamed, as the water overwhelmed the flames and everything around them going white. Meanwhile, in Canterlot, the dragon started roaring, as it slowly faded away in a bubble and mist appeared for a final time. After it settled, the citizens came back, only to see Fire Jewel on the ground and Ocean Spark standing over her. They started to cheer, although some of them even demanded to kill the red unicorn.
"I can't. This is not the right way! Even though she caused damage, I refuse to kill my sister!" Ocean refused and looked away.
"You coward...!" The red unicorn stood up and her horn shone brighter.
"Fire Jewel....If you're really willing to take revenge and release yourself from all of your hatred inside of you, then you would have to kill me first...Go on! Do it!" the blue unicorn spoke back, without showing any resistance. The red mare would've ended her life right here, right now...except, it didn't happen. After a while of hesitation, her horn stopped glowing.
"I...I can't...I can't bring myself to do it..." Fire Jewel fell down on all fours with tears in her eyes. What's more, seeing some ponies, who didn't manage to escape unharmed, had angry looks on their faces.
"This is all my fault....I'm nothing, but a monster!!" Fire Jewel sobbed.
This is around the same time, the guards arrived to apprehend Fire, but to their surprise, the red unicorn went to them, without any sign of resistance whatsoever and without saying a single word. It seems like, the gravity of her actions hit her hard and decided to give up. After some confusion, the guards grabbed the silent mare and left, all while Ocean Spark watched, as her little sister got taken by the guards for her punishment. Tears were streaming from her eyes, when she heard Princess Celestia coming.
"I knew, that you would come, your majesty...and I know, that you wanted answers. So, I'm willing to tell you everything about her and what transpired before the chaos in great detail!" The blue unicorn looked at the princess right in the eyes. The sun princess was surprised about Ocean's willingness to come clean.
"I see. But first, you're coming with me to the castle." Celestia added.
"I know." Ocean Spark went to the princess, who used her magic to teleport them inside of the castle.
The Castle of Canterlot, a few hours later...
After Ocean Spark explained Fire's entire backstory, her times with her friends as guardians, meeting Ocean, which due to a severe misunderstanding and deception by Shadow Nebula, caused her to attack her sister, the revelation, her ending the fight and Ocean redeeming herself, Jenny's paranoia and mental deterioration and everything else, the sisters were shocked by the context.
"I can't believe it..." Luna responded.
"It's the truth, princess. Also, the reason, why we even have to restrict her is out of a genuine fear, coming from me. I was afraid, that she would snap, due to the amount of abusive parents in this world and causing a devastating rampage. I really don't want this to happen, so I talked to Jenny about my fears. At first, we came up with that plan and it all went smoothly....but soon everything spiraled out of control, when Fire became more erratic and Jenny becoming colder. It's a perfect storm, which lead to the team disbanding with bad terms..." Ocean added.
"Hmm...on one side, it's unacceptable to destroy friendships and going on a rampage. But on the other side, due to her being a victim of abuse, betrayal and the effects of war, it's inevitable that all of these problems would make her snap." Celestia commented.
"And it's all my fault...I'm nothing more than an igniter!" The oceanic mare sobbed, as the royal sisters comforted her.
"It's not your fault. Twilight told me, via letter, that there was disharmony in the group. I think, it's best to take a deep breath and find ways to pick up the pieces and start anew. And as for Fire Jewel, thanks to your honesty and willingness, her sentence will be reduced to only a few months in the dungeon and community service. Which means, she'll rebuild Canterlot with others, but without using any magic." Princess Luna explained.
"And as for your problem, it's best to tell Princess Twilight Sparkle, so she could help you with the friendship problem. Right now, she is recovering in the infirmary, alongside with her friends. So we have to wait for their recovery. " Princess Celestia noted. However, Ocean still looked sad, since she still felt guilty for what she had done, which worried the royal sisters. They now have to think on how to solve the entire mess and help Ocean regain her courage and confidence. ???
Back into the unknown place of horrors underground, we see the masked sadists in lab coats preparing their tools for their next twisted experiments. Meanwhile, we see Susan and Mary, chained and shackled to a wall with duct tape on their mouths, preventing them to say anything. They tried to break free, but one of them slapped the girls to stop them from resisting.
"Ready for the next batch of experiments, girls?" He grinned evilly. Despite the muffled screams from the twins, they brought the tools and the chemicals on the table and cracked their knuckles for their twisted fun. Two of them grabbed come cables and attached them to the girls' bodies, while the other two grabbed some chemicals and a generator. They connected the cables to the device, which is powered by the generator and as they turned it on, they felt an electric shock. Granted, not as painful as last time, but it still gave them a sense of pain. Unfortunately, the worst has yet to come...
As they laughed at their pain and misery, they inject the girls with the chemicals, in which they reacted almost immediately. The pain was so unbearable, that they struggled violently. During this, memories of the past repeatedly flashed in front of their eyes. Those memories were about them experimenting on Johnny with electricity and DNA manipulation. It kept going, as they felt like, their bodies were changing for the worst. Severe burns even to the bones, their brains overloading and their hearts accelerating to the max. Soon, they stopped the device, as they became fascinated by their durability.
"Ah, it seems like those girls are more durable than the others. Interesting..." one of them commented.
"This means, they're so much fun to play and experiment with than those other whores. Hehehehe...." one of them chuckled in a sinister and sick tone. If that doesn't convince you, that they're irredeemable and twisted individuals, then I'm pretty sure, the next part surely will: He went towards the girls, who were crying and begging for mercy and rubbed their thighs, just to give them so much discomfort and terror as possible. They continued laughing, as the sisters were still crying.
(At this point, I warned you. I'm sorry for potentially scarring you for the rest of your lives. Sadly, psychopaths like these existed in real life and still do. I really don't approve their behaviour at all.)
"Hey, take it easy there. We still have so much time left with them. Plus, they're really valuable. So we have to preserve them really well." One of them told his pal. For them, they have so much time, although for the sisters, the passage of time has been lost. They released them from the chains, although there was really no point in escaping, as Susan and Mary were severly weakened by the experiments. They carried the two to tubes, restraining them tightly and fill it with liquids. At least, they were given oxygen masks, but only to sedate them with drugs, as they started the preservation process. At the same time, two of those "scientists" came back with two more unconscious girls.
"I've got new Guinea pigs for us to use." He said. Everyone laughed evilly and strapped the new victims down and prepared their tools, while Susan and Mary were stuck in tubes, being unconscious, not knowing how much time they even have left.
Later in the night...
Inside of the house, Starlight was peacefully asleep, but Sunset was still awake, still being unsure about the plan.
"Ever since that fateful day, everything became incredibly messy...On one hand, they surely did some terrible things to the others, especially to Johnny and Dukey....But on the other hand, the whole Nightmare incident was something out of their control...plus, I still have to find the reasons of why and learn about their backgrounds. However...I'm having doubts recently...Is Twilight right? Are they really irredeemable? Should I just accept the reality and face the punishment?... I don't know..." She was thinking about everything, what happened previously. Ever since the Nightmare incident and after seeing inside of their heads, she was thinking about her own past and became convinced to save them. But...as time went on and after what happened in Equestria with the sisters coming back and such, Sunset became blinded by her mission, that it costed many friendships. However, the whole scenes inside of the sisters' heads kept haunting her. At this point, she became conflicted. Should she continue going through the risky route or just give up and play safe? She looked at the sealing, while being plagued by very difficult choices, which were linked to Susan and Mary's fates.
"I should better get some sleep..." Sunset sighed and tried her best to fall asleep, even when the questions kept bothering her...
A few days later into the weekends...
Applejack, Rarity, who was holding Spike, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, who was holding her rabbit "Angel", Rainbow Dash and Starlight Glimmer were waiting in front of the convention building for Sunset.
"Where is Sunset? I told her to come here in a few minutes." Rarity asked.
"Easy, Rarity. She will come." Applejack assured her.
And on cue, Sunset ran towards them in a quick pace. She was exhausted, since she had to run as fast as she could.
"I'm sorry, girls! I woke up late and since I couldn't catch the bus, I had to run!" The orange girl was out of breath.
"It's okay, Sunset. Now that everyone is here, we can go to the fair, so we can meet Twilight." Fluttershy smiled and the girls went inside the convention building.
The science fair was filled with many guests and participants, showing off their greatest inventions to anyone interested. Many boys and girls, with aspirations and dreams on making their wishes come true, couldn't wait for the eventual presentation. One of them was Twilight, showing off her invention to anyone. The others go to her, to give her some motivation.
"Twilight, we wish you the best of luck!" Pinkie cheered her friend on.
"You got this, Twilight." Applejack smiled.
"Thank you, girls! I'll soon give everything, I've got!" Twilight smiled.
"I'm quite amazed at all the inventions, everyone made, including yours." Starlight was amazed.
"I know right? However in the end of the day, it's a friendly competition where everyone have some fun." Twilight noted. "The presentation is in an hour. Why not just look at the other inventions from fellow smart people?"
With a nod, the girls went to the other participants and their inventions, while Twilight stayed. Pinkie went to a girl with a custom-made candy dispenser, which is able to give anyone the ideal candy. Rainbow was with her, when she tried it out. It scanned her and gave her a jelly bean.
"Oooh!" The peppy party girl ate the jelly bean and since it scanned her a while ago, she got the very sweet one. "BEST CANDY EVER!" She jumped in excitement. Rainbow couldn't help but scratch her head and giggle a bit.
Meanwhile, Applejack and Rarity checked out several inventions from others, including those creating eco-friendly accessories, amazing visual effects in 3D and so on. Sunset and Starlight also checked out the other inventions from several participants and got amazed by the results. Finally, Fluttershy and Angel went around, when she saw a male teenager with his own invention.
"Hello, mister. I'm wondering, what your invention is about." Fluttershy got curious.
"Oh, this? It's a groundbreaking invention, that allows to create amazing wonders and solve many world problems!" He showed her with a charming smile on his face.
"Can you show me one of those wonders?" The shy girl was intrigued by the invention.
"Sure thing!" He pressed a button and it produced eco-friendly energy to make a flower grow.
"It's wonderful!" She was amazed by the performance.
"It can do more wonders, if you want!" He replied.
"Of course!" She smiled.
Meanwhile, one of the participants, who was next to the teenager, showed off her invention to some guests, when all of a sudden, it smoked hard and caught on fire.
"Oh no!! My invention!!" She was distraught, when it made loud bangs. Thankfully, she grabbed a near by fire extinguisher to douse the flames. However, the loud bangs scared off Angel to the point of jumping off from Fluttershy's arms and hopping away. Unknowingly, the boy just...smiled.
"Angel, wait!" Fluttershy went after her rabbit throughout the crowd. As Angel keep hoping in a fast pace, so did the pink-haired girl. During the chase, she went through the crowds and apologising them. As the spokesperson announced the presentation, Angel went to the backstage, all while Fluttershy went in shortly after. The guard was already distracted by two rowdy kids, which left the entrance unguarded. Fluttershy used it to her advantage and eventually, catching Angel in the progress.
"There you are, Angel! I'm here now." The shy teenager did her best to calm her rabbit down. She was about to leave, when she saw something...odd: One of the wooden boards was open a bit.
"What's this?" She went a little closer and opened the board, which revealed a secret staircase going down. With the curiosity getting the better of her, she slowly and quietly went downstairs. As she went further down, the darker it got, until she arrived at a hallway. It was illuminated by a few lanterns. After a while of following the path, she heard sounds of screams in agonizing pain.
"What was that?" Fluttershy quietly spoke. She was getting worried, that the screams came from much worse than she thought. As she gently opened the door a bit, she saw the most horrifying scene in front of her eyes: The masked people in labcoats "experimenting" on Susan, Mary and the green-blue haired girl, all while they screamed in agony. The tormentors just laughed in their sick enjoyment. Needless to say, it severely horrified the poor Fluttershy, who immediately left and went upstairs back to the backstage.
Meanwhile, the crowd became excited by the inventions, the participants showed off. Sunset and her friends were also watching the presentations and waited for Twilight's turn.
"Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I'm so excited!!!" Pinkie jumped up and down in excitement.
"We all do, Pinkie!" Starlight smiled.
"Up next, Twilight Sparkle!" The spokesman called and Twilight herself came with her invention.
"Thank you, sir." Twilight smiled and showed off her invention and presented them, what it can do. As everyone became awestruck, including her friends, the scientists were impressed. However, it was around the same time, Rainbow was bumped by a terrified Fluttershy.
"Huh? Fluttershy, what's wrong?" The prismatic sports girl asked.
"It's horrible! It's really horrible!!" Fluttershy panicked.
"What in the tarnation happened??" Applejack was confused.
"Yeah. What happened, Fluttershy?" Starlight also wanted answers.
"I saw...something...horrible...it's about the girls...They're getting....they're getting..." Suddenly, Fluttershy ran off to the backstage.
"Fluttershy, wait!" Starlight and the others followed
"What's going on, Sunset?" Twilight was confused.
"I have no idea! We'll be right back, Twilight!" Sunset ran off to follow her friends to the still unguarded entrance to the backstage. None of them are aware of this, since they were focused on the presentations. As the girls followed Fluttershy, she was still panicking. That was until Applejack hugging her shy friend.
"Calm down, fella... Why did you go there?" Applejack asked, when Fluttershy showed them that particular board.
"Huh? What's this? Why is it slightly open?" Rarity was confused.
"I have no idea, but it seems like, it's a door to something underground." Sunset looked closer and opened the board, revealing to be a door to a staircase.
"A staircase? What is a staircase doing here?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm not sure....but the only way to get answers is to go down." Sunset went downside, alongside with her friends. Applejack was still holding Fluttershy, as they went to a dark and deep decent, which led to pathway with a few lanterns. As they went through the hallway, they heard the screams.
"What was that??" Pinkie was alarmed.
"This doesn't sound good..." Rarity was worried.
"Wait a minute..." Sunset listened to the screams carefully, in order to identify them. Alongside an unknown scream, there are two, that were really alarming to her. "No...it can't be!" She was shocked.
"It really is them..." Starlight was also shocked by the revelation.
"We have to help them!" Fluttershy replied.
"Yeah! Who ever is doing this to them, should not get away scotfree!" Rainbow cracked her knuckles.
"Okay, girls! We have to transform!" Sunset told to her friends.
"But wait a minute. Starlight can't transform yet. How is she able to do help us out?" Applejack asked.
"I'll do, whatever it takes!" Starlight stepped forward. "We have to do this together!"
"Right!" Sunset and her friends, minus Starlight, used their necklaces to transform into their magical forms.
Meanwhile, due to the chemicals being injected, the blue and green haired girl was turned into a rat and was placed in a maze, where it began to run. They also placed a robot with saws and other deadly weapons on the same starting position is the poor victim, where it began to sense the rat and began to chase her. As the tormentors cheered the robot on, the sisters had no other choice but to watch. However, it won't be for long, as have their drills ready to drill their heads in. But before they can do that, the door was bust open by Applejack and the girls went inside.
"Leave them alone, you ruffians!" Rarity demanded their release.
"You better that or else!" Rainbow was in a fightning stance.
"How about no!" They pressed a button on a remote, where many robots appear and they used the chemicals on themselves, in order to mutate to monsters.
"Prepare to die!" One of them said in a menacing tone.
"Get ready, girls!" Sunset told her friends and thus, both sides went out for a battle.
Rainbow and Applejack used their powers to destroy some of the robots in close combat, while Pinkie used her powers to distract them with colourful confetti explosions. When the robots fired lasers, Rarity reflected them with her gem powers and Fluttershy used her powers to summon creatures to attack them. This leads to Sunset and the monsters. At first, they slammed their fists to the ground, but Sunset dodged all of the attacks. She then shot out magical blasts at them. Not to be outdone, they used their extractable arms to grab her, but she defended herself with a well-timed shockwave.
While this was happening, Starlight snuck through the fight to free Susan and Mary from the restraints.
"Don't worry, girls. I'm here. Now, let's get out of here!" She spoke to them.
"Not a chance, sissy!" After a voice, she lavender girl was suddenly knocked down by one of the "scientists", who didn't mutate, but instead used a baseball bat with lots of tasers attached.
"Stay back!" Starlight tried to use her magic, but nothing came out. She tried multiple times to perform any form of magic, but once again, nothing came. "What!? How!?" She was in disbelief.
"Hahahahaha! You fool! Do you think, magic will stop me?" He smirked.
"I'm not scared by your threats! If you even dare to hurt them even more, you have to fight me!" Despite the pain, Starlight never gave up, as she stretched her arms out to protect the sisters.
"Very well, then. This will be your last!" He tightly grabbed his bat, while Starlight had to grab an iron bar, which was close to her.
"Bring it, punk!" With those words from Starlight, they engaged in a battle, with neither of them showing any sign of weakness. It went on and on, all while the others have to deal with the robots and mutants. It seems like, there was no sign of a decisive winner. And as for Susan and Mary, after seeing the exit, they used their remaining power to crawl. Mind you, since they're still injured, their speed has been drastically slowed down.
"How long is this gonna go on?!" Rainbow asked.
"Not for long!" Suddenly, the six girls were hit to the wall by a surprise attack by the robots and mutants.
"No!!" Starlight shouted, before the robots punched her hard to the wall. As she collapsed, she saw the mutants taking her friends hostage and the non-mutated individual standing victorious, as the robots grabbed the sisters.
"You know, it's been fun playing. But unfortunately, your paths end here right now!" He laughed evilly, as the mutants began to slowly crush the others and the robots shocking Susan and Mary. It seems like everything was hopeless, when all of a sudden....
Fueled by rage, Starlight screamed and unleashed a massive shockwave, knocking everyone down and freeing her friends. Everyone watched, as Starlight was engulfed by a bright teal light, until it faded away, only to see Starlight, now with her human ears changed into pony ears, her hair being extended with that resembling a pony's tail and her eyes brightly glowing white. It's clear, that her powers are fully awakened.
"Do you think, you can try to kill my friends and get away so easily!?!" The lavender girls spoke in a menacing tone, echoing through the laboratory of hell.
"Starlight...What happened to you?" Rarity slowly got up, asking on what happened.
"She...she had transformed and thus, fully awaken her Equestrian magic." Sunset explained.
Then Starlight unleashed yet another magical shockwave, knocking them even further, while allowing her friends to grab Susan and Mary, as well as Applejack freeing the third girl, who was turned back to normal thanks to Starlight's magic.
"Get out of this hell, girls! I'll take care of those scums..." Starlight told to her friends to go upstairs.
"Are you sure, you can do it yourself?" Pinkie asked.
"Knowing Starlight, she can. After all, her expertise on magic is phenomenal." Sunset assured Pinkie. "Okay, girls! Let's get out of here!"
The girls left this underground place and while the bad guys tried to stop them, the lavender girl used her magic to hold them in place. "You tried to kill them and now, you'll pay the price!" Starlight started to float up, as there are literally no limits to her magic.
Upstairs in the actual science fair, nobody was fully aware about what happened underground. (It's due to the soundproof barriers.) After the participants have presented their inventions, the spokesman and the scientists came forward.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have witnessed many amazing inventions from our participants! And as great as they are, only one of them will be chosen as the invention for the future! Without further ado, I will announce the winner of this year's Canterlot Science Fair!" He smiled and as the sounds of the drums rolling can be heard, he was given an envelope and he opened it to announce the winner.
"The winner is..." The tension was high, everyone was excited it kept building, until he announced the winner's name.
"...Plasma Storm!"
Indeed, the boy, who he talked to Fluttershy an hour ago, named Plasma Storm, came to the stage to receive the money price. Everyone cheered for him, all while Twilight just stood, when suddenly, Sunset's voice can be heard.
"Hold it!!"
It came from Sunset, who ran to the stage alongside her friends, who were holding Susan, Mary and the third girl in terrible conditions. Everyone was horrified by their conditions. So much so, that the ambulance people, who were at the scene, in case of accidents causing in severe injuries or worse, immediately rushed to the stage, grabbed the girls and ran as fast as they could to the ambulances.
"Girls, what happened to them!?" Twilight was really worried, when she asked her friends about what's going on....
"I've seen...I've seen....I've seen those monsters torturing them!!! They laughed at their pain and misery, while hurting them with their tools in a name of 'science' , when in reality it's nothing but a sick and twisted pleasure for them!!!! THEY'RE NOTHING BUT HEARTLESS MONSTERS!!!!" Fluttershy screamed the whole truth as loud, as she could. This sent massive shock to everyone, including Twilight.
"No...It can't be!!" Twilight was in disbelief.
"It's sadly true, Twilight...It sadly is.." Applejack sighed.
"Hehehehe..." One voice was not like any other...In fact, it was a completely different reaction unlike anybody else! And it came by none other....than Plasma Storm!!
"I guess, the jig's up then..." He pulled out a knife and hold a scientist hostage. Panic ensued as everyone tried to leave, only for him to press a button, in which all the doors became locked, trapping them.
"Let her go!!" Sunset shouted.
"Don't take a step closer, missy or she's history!" He had a crazed look on his face, while tightly grabbing the knife, which was close to the scientist's throat.
"Calm down! We can slowly work this out!" Twilght tried to de-escalate the whole situation, but Applejack was suspicious to Plasma Storm.
"Twilight, it's no use... Why? Because I have a darn suspicion, that he's workin' for them!" The southern girl replied.
"What!?" Twilight was shocked
"Well...you got that part right, wanker!" He laughed.
"Why are you doing this!?" Sunset shouted. Everyone demanded answers from him. But he just laughed off in a fit of insanity. As the heroines got closer, he threatened them to slit the scientist's throat like a pig, if they went one step further, but that didn't deter them from stopping him.
"Aright then, YOU ASKED FOR IT!!" He was about to do it...He was about to take a life, when all of a sudden, he stopped like a statue.
"W-what happened to my body?!? I can't move!!" He was terrified, that he couldn't move, suddenly, his arms opened without his control, releasing her from his grasp, all while being surrounded by a teal aura. "M-my arms!! No!!!" He was in fear. When the girls looked back, they saw Starlight, still in a ponied up, rage fueled state, while having the tormentors trapped and restrained.
"Starlight?" Twilight was left speechless at this moment.
The lavender girl threw the "scientists" into the ground hard and threw Plasma Storm to them, causing him to drop the remote. Twilight grabbed it to unlock the doors and letting everyone out. At the same time, a police force came in, after someone called 911.
"Starlight, I think that's enough. The police will take care of them." Sunset told her friend to stop, but it fell on deaf ears, as Starlight started to unleash pulses of magic blasts, hurting them.
"Starlight, stop!!!" Sunset pleaded her to stop, but it didn't work.
"I think, she completely snapped." Twilight explained.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash tried to restrain her, but Starlight unleashed a psionic blast at them. Rarity tried to trap her in a gem, but she broke free. Twilight used her magic to even stop her, but again Starlight cancelled it. This leads now to Sunset, who decided to tackle it head on. She grabbed her friend and tightly hugged her, while she screamed and unleashing more psionic blasts.
"Starlight, you need to stop right now!! Please!!!" Sunset pleaded as loud as she could to stop her friend. Sure, she felt the blasts hitting her, but she kept her tight grip on her friend and even used her magic to stop her from hurting anyone. It went on for 15 minutes, until magic blasts stopped and Starlight detransforming and losing consciousness in Sunset's arms. The girls went to the two, while the police arrested Plasma Storm and his comrades.
"If you want the answers, please follow me." Fluttershy told to a police officer about the hidden path and went with him backstage to show him the entrance.
"What the...Since when does the exhibition centre have a hidden entrance?... Don't worry. We'll investigate this mysterious entrance." He told Fluttershy about it.
"Thank you, officer..." Fluttershy thanked him before going back to her friends.
"We have to bring her to my house." Sunset commented and the girls left the centre with sad looks on their faces.
Canterlot City Hospital
"Hurry, we have to get them to the operation rooms!" The doctors ran as fast as they could, while carrying Susan, Mary and the girl to the operating table. It was an urgent emergency. Ever since news of the science fair incident quickly emerged, the doctors and nurses worked as hard as they could, in order to save the victims.
As the doctors brought them into three separate operation rooms, the tension was high. They'll try their best as they could to save them. First, they scan their bodies, only to see injuries inside of the bones. So they have to be immediately operated.
Meanwhile, The Humane 7 went to the receptionist, asking her about the conditions of the girls.
"Our doctors will do their best to save them. All we have to do is just hope and pray." The receptionist answered.
The girls waited and waited for a doctor, just to get to the results. Everyone was on the edge. After waiting for an hour, they've realized that the operation would take long and left the hospital.
Meanwhile in the centre, the police investigated the pathway to the underground laboratory, only to find a lot of terrifying stuff, straight out of a horror movie. But it was nothing compared to their reaction, when they opened the door to the dark room, in which they found a lot of dead bodies and a few weakened survivors, who gave into their great despair. One of the officers threw up, two of them cried and three fainted from the shock. It was truly the most horrifying sight, they've ever seen.
Four days have passed and the news about the science fair incident and the dark cult of deranged people went wildfire. Everyone couldn't stop talking about it and it caused severe damage to the exhibition centre's reputation, since nobody was fully aware of the underground chamber. The trial wasn't pretty, as many of the victims' families were distraught by the news, all while the culprits just laughed and mocked them. Eventually, the jury and the judge had enough, who sentenced them either life in prison, without possibility of parole or even the death penalty. Even when justice was served, the families were still left with an empty feeling, as nothing could bring their girls back. Not even with compensation. It was truly a dark day for everyone.
Meanwhile, Sunset and Starlight, who has recovered, went into the hospital again to ask the doctors about the conditions of the girls. And after a waiting for a few hours, eventually a doctor came to them.
"Are they gonna make it? Tell me!" Sunset was impatient. Not surprisingly really, since the incident affected her and Starlight.
"Well, it took a long operation session to fix them, but it seems like the procedure is not over. We had to put them into a medically induced coma, in order to continue. I'm sorry for what happened to them." The doctor explained and apologized.
"It's...It's okay..." Sunset looked down and left.
"Sunset, wait!" Starlight followed after her friend. Tears were streaming down from Sunset's face, as she walked away silently and with a sorrowful look. Starlight grabbed her hand and looked at her friend. She sighed and continued to walk to her home, without saying a single word. In face, neither of them said anything on their journey. It was completely....silent.
Equestria, fields near Canterlot, several hours later...
In the night, we see Ocean Spark, laying on the grass and looking at the night sky with nothing but sorrow and silence.
She couldn't stop thinking about what happened: The disharmony of the group, the fallout, her reputation being destroyed, everything. The oceanic mare stood up, as she felt the wind.
Sorry belongs to Daughtry
Ocean Spark
Will you listen to my story?
It just be a minute
How can I explain
Whatever happened here never meant to hurt you
How can I cause you so much pain
When I say I'm sorry
Will you believe me?
Listen to my story
Say you won't leave me
When I say I'm sorry
Can you forgive me?
When I say I will always be there
Will you believe, will you believe in me?
All the words that I come up with
They're like gasoline on flames
There's no excuse, no explanation
Believe me if I could undo what I did wrong
I'd give away all that I own
When I say I'm sorry
Will you believe me?
Listen to my story
Say you won't leave me
When I say I'm sorry
Can you forgive me?
When I say I will always be there
Will you believe, will you believe in me?
If I told you I've been cleanin' my soul
And If I promise you I'll regain control
Will you open your door?
And let me in take me for who I am
And not for who I've been, who I've been
When I say I'm sorry
Will you believe me?
Listen to my story
Say you won't leave me
When I say I'm sorry
Can you forgive me?
When I say I will always be there
Will you believe, will you believe in me?
When I say I'm sorry
When I say I'm sorry
When I say I'm sorry
When I say I'm sorry
When I say I'm sorry
Can you forgive me?
When I say I will always be there
Will you believe
As she sat on the grass and the wind blowing her hair ever so gently, she looked to the skies again, thinking on if she would be able to restore on what's left on her relation to Fire Jewel, her friendship to everyone and how she would even do it. There are so many unknowns.
She thought about her sister, the only family member, she has left and wondered, how she really felt about her. Is there still hatred in her or did it fade away? She is completely unsure about herself and everything, as she looked down to reflect, what she've done.
Meanwhile, Fire Jewel was in her cell, laying down and not saying a single word. Her expression was completely silent and sorrowful...
In the end, it's everyone's fault...
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Side Story: Finding a new Purpose | It's been a few days since the fire dragon incident and in the royal castle, the royal sisters were waiting for the report. Several guards came in with the report.
"Your majesty! We looked at the situation and calculated the number. The number of casualties will surprise you. The amount of fatalities are...zero. Indeed, nopony died. Although there are injured ponies." One of the guards reported. The amount of deaths or at least a lack there of, surprised the sisters.
"It seems like Twilight and her friends did an amazing job on evacuating everyone." Luna was amazed.
"It's not just Twilight and her friends. A group of ponies and mole people also helped with the evacuation, while using their powers, which included ice, bees and more." Another guard reported.
It was clear, that Johnny's close friends and former enemies played a big part on the evacuation. In fact, it became more evident, when Jillian, Brain Freezer, Mr. Harm, Dr. Beebles, Zizrar and his mole people were called to come to the throne room by the guards.
"I've heard, that you also evacuated the other ponies without any problems. I'm impressed." Celestia looked at them.
"Mind you, it was a massive team effort. If it wasn't for Brain Freezer, Eugene and the others, then the outcome would've become much worse." Dr. Beebles answered.
"Hang on. Where is that Eugene?" Jillian asked. They realized, that Bling-Bling-Boy is not here among the group.
"That's actually a good question. Unfortunately, he just...left, leaving everyone without any clues. This happened after the evacuation, by the way." Brain Freezer answered.
"I'll send a few guards to look after him." Princess Celestia responded and sent a few guard to look after him.
"One more question. Is johnny gonna be okay?" Jillian asked about Johnny's condition.
"Right now, he and the others were recovering in the castle infirmary. Only time will tell." Princess Luna responded. The others were still worried about them.
"If you want, the guards will guide you to the infirmary." Celestia offered them a chance to visit their friends. With their approval, two royal guards guided them on the way to the infirmary. Meanwhile, the royal sisters were still thinking on what to do with Fire Jewel. At the same time, Luna was thinking about something. It was about a massive shout from a certain unicorn. But right now, she had to put it aside, in order to rebuild Canterlot, even though it'll be put in the background of her head.
Ponyville, Equestria
Since the dragon incident only happened in Canterlot, none of the civilians in Ponyville had any idea about it and thus, life went on as usual. However, it didn't take long, until news of the incident spread to anyone and soon, everyone was talking about it. The extra papers showed the news in great detail and sell in a crazy rate. However, this result a slight divide in the community. The majority already painted her as a villain, who deserved go rot in the dungeons, but there are some ponies, who are wondering, why she would do that. One of them is Spring Gale himself. He knew, that she was one of the ponies, who saved him. So he told his new adoptive family about his whole story. They were surprised and curious on what exactly happened to her, to make her like this. Needless to say, everything has become chaotic.
However, there was one voice, who was completely silent about it. In fact, it had nothing to do with the incident at all. Sitting in the park alone, was Eugene himself. As the chaos went on, the unicorn was alone with his thoughts, blocking himself from the commotion. He looked like, he was worrying about his future and his destiny. The obese stallion sighed in sorrow, as he looked up to the skies, feeling unsure about himself. As the fillies and colts can be seen playing and having a good time, he ignored all of the sounds, as he lowered his head and ears to cover his face. He was completely alone with his thoughts, when all of a sudden, he heard a voice.
"Uhm....excuse me?"
This was enough to break BBB from his thoughts and looked at the source of the voice, only to see a pale magenta earth pony filly with a tiara. She looked concerned at the sad stallion.
"Huh? What do you want?" He asked to the filly.
"Oh! I'm sorry to disturb your peace. My name is Diamond Tiara and I went to the park, in order to wait for my friend, Silver Spoon for some playtime, when I saw you in a sad mood. You looked like, something broke you severely. So....what's wrong?" Diamond Tiara asked after her introduction and reasoning.
"It's very complicated...." he sighed.
"What? What's complicated?" The filly was confused. Eventually, after a bit of silence, the stallion finally explained his story:
"I couldn't help, but to reflect about my past and what I've done...Back then, I thought, I had it all. Money, possessions, everything. But there was someone, I valued even more than money and gold. It was a girl, whom I refuse to speak her name. Ever since seeing her for the first time, I knew that she will be the girl, I spent time with for the rest of my life. Back then, I did literally anything to win her heart or even hypnotize her. I literally had no idea about what happened behind the scenes with Jonathan. I was focused on her and her heart. Sure, I did notice him and the others, but they were like obstacles to me. I was so blinded by ignorance and love back then. It wasn't until Jonathan disappeared, when I started to open my eyes. I began investigating about the cause, after seeing footage of him, being invisible, activating the portal device in my former laboratory. I hacked into the computers of the Tests and found evidence, that not only contianed the answers, but also really changed my perspective towards that girl. It became more evident, when I witnessed her and her sister attempting to murder someone, who also wanted answers on his disappearance. From that moment, everything fell apart and my love for her had completely shattered to the point, where it can never be restored. Instead, in its place stood a burning flame of hatred of her and mist of guilt of what I've done, since I was partially responsible for his disappearance. Together with that boy and the agents, I managed to find even more evidence and exposed the truth to everyone as my other identity 'The Shadow', which it worked and they faced the punishment. When looking back at the actions, I've done, I felt a big amount of guilt and regret, that I really want to fix. And the best reason at the time is to leave everything behind, get the people and go to the location, he's currently in: Equestria. Sure, the truth also made a select few of people open their eyes and went with us. Now, I'm living my new life here, but since I left everything related to the past behind, I've since have constant worries about my destiny and my future. Like what can I do? How can I use some of my skills to good use and more importantly: What will my future be? They've been constantly circling in my head, ever since the arrival in this place."
"Oh...I'm so sorry about that..." the filly was shocked and moved by his story. "You know, based on your words, you were really spoiled and a single moment made you realize your errors and changed your ways. I know this, because I was in a similar situation before." She then admitted her past mistakes to him.
"Wait...You were spoiled before?" The unicorn was surprised by her revelation. She nodded and told him about her story:
"I thought myself higher than everyone else, especially the ponies without a cutie mark. I often talk them down about the "blank flanks" and had little regard to anybody. I wasn't alone, as Silver Spoon also felt the same way. At least in my eyes anyway. It wasn't until the class president election, where I lost to Pipsqueak, where everything changed for me. Not only was my reputation damaged, but also lost Silver Spoon and as if that wasn't enough, got berated by my mother. Those events really made me open my eyes and realise, how much of a jerk, I was. At that point, I really want to make up for the mistakes and eventually, I found the courage and confidence to not only help the others, but also stand up against my mother and accept friendship."
"Oh wow." He was surprised by the fact, that he and Diamond Tiara shared similarities to each other and both reforming in the end.
"I've since come around it and focused on improving myself and the future for the better. And it's best, you should do the same." Diamond Tiara offered him her hoof in friendship. It took a while for Eugene to consider, since he was hesitant a bit, but eventually, he accepted her. At the same time, a gray earth pony filly with glasses ran to the duo.
"I'm here, Diamond Tiara!" She told to her friend.
"Oh! Hello, Silver Spoon! I just comforted someone, who's in dire need of a change." The tiara wearing filly explained.
"Uhm, who is this unicorn?" Silver Spoon looked at the stallion with confusion.
"Right...You haven't introduced yourself to us yet." Diamond realized.
The stallion sighed and looked away a bit, which concerned the fillies. In his mind, his mistakes were really foolish and his arrogance didn't help it either. It was done out of a hopeless goal of love, that in the end, became out of reach permanently. Even the name "Bling-Bling-Boy" became tainted, due to the actions. He wanted a complete restart.
"I was originally going to...but I decided to just wipe my slate clean! From now on, everybody will know me as...uhm..." He was thinking on alternative names, he could use. The closest contestants are "Glistering Gem", "Splendid Treasure" or even "Dazzling Diamond". However, in the end, he decided on one name. A name, that would suit him.
"What is it?" Silver Spoon got a little impatient.
"In the past, I may be known as Eugene or as I often be wanted to be called back in the day, Bling-Bling-Boy. But from now on, I'll be known as Brilliant Diamond!" The stallion looked at the skies.
"You really want to remove any instances from your past?" Silver Spoon was curious.
"Given with the circumstances back then and his realization, yes." Diamond Tiara answered for him. "Anyway, Silver and I will go out to the centre of Ponyville for some playtime. If you want, you can come with us."
"I mean, I really wanted a distraction from those thoughts." Eugene smiled and went with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to the centre for some playtime. Perhaps, the playtime would brighten up his days. After arriving at the centre of the town, they went to a milkshake bar, where they sat down to a table, after ordering some milkshakes. While waiting, the Cutie Mark Crusaders also went inside for a fun day out, in which they saw Diamond Tiara.
"Hi, Diamond Tiara!" Apple Bloom greeted. It's been a while, since they last met her on their school.
"How are you doing?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Just hanging out here with Silver Spoon and a new friend, I met in the park a while ago. His name is Brilliant Diamond." Diamond Tiara answered.
"Nice to meet you!" Sweetie Belle smiled.
"I've heard, you're one of Johnny's friends, right?" Scootaloo asked out of curiosity.
"Well, it's complicated. Nowadays, I became friendlier to him, but back then, it's a different story. However right now, I wanted to take a break from the gloom." The stallion explained.
"I've heard the whole story about the whole incident, so it's okay." Apple Bloom understood Eugene's past. After all, Applejack, High Velocity, Sweet Serenity and even Johnny himself told them about the whole story. Soon, the CMC sat down on the same table with the others, while they waited on the milkshakes. Once they got their shakes, the fillies did some small talks about their day and other topics. Watching them happily talking made Eugene feel a bit sorrowful. He never had true friends back in the past, before he met the Tests. And even then, once he met the Tests and later did had some fun time with Johnny, Dukey and a few others, he didn't see it that way, since he was blinded by arrogance and ignorance. It wasn't until Johnny left his world behind for Equestria, that he finally opened his eyes.
"What's wrong?" Diamond Tiara asked. She was worried about her new friend.
He sighed and didn't say a word for a while, which made the fillies worried. It wasn't until he broke his silence.
"It's just....I never had real friends before. Which means, because of that, coupled with my past arrogance and my reputation back then, it was very difficult to find friends to begin with, due to a lack of social interaction." He explained.
"Oh my...We can help you with that, alongside with Twilight and her friends! They'll help you with your friendship issues, while we'll help you find your new destiny!" Sweetie Belle smiled.
"Are you sure?" Eugene looked at them.
"Of course! We'll promise, that with our help, you'll get out of the black hole and be new and improved!" Scootaloo smirked.
"After all, they helped me realise about my errors and improve myself at a greater scale. And with that experience, me and my friends will guide you to your new peace." Diamond Tiara added. The fillies reached out their hooves to him as a sign of friendship and guidance. This is something, he never had before and that action made the stallion feel emotional. However, he decided to grow up and accepted their sign by reaching out to the fillies.
"Okay, Cutie Mark Crusaders! It's time for a new mission!" Apple Bloom proudly smiled, as she, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, alongside with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, were about to change Eugene for the better, when the royal guards arrived at the scene.
"Excuse me, Bling-Bling-Boy?" One of the guards approached the unicorn.
"From now on, please refer me as 'Brilliant Diamond', okay?" The stallion made sure, that he'll be called by his new name.
"Oh. Apologies for that. Anyway, Brilliant Diamond. Princess Celestia wanted your presence and as such, you're coming with us to Canterlot." Another guard reported.
"We'll come with you!" Scootaloo responded, as the fillies stood next to him. After they received the approval of the guards, the guards took the stallion and the fillies to Canterlot.
After a long carriage ride, a walk though Canterlot, arriving the castle and going inside, the group have finally arrived into the throne room, where Celestia and Luna were waiting for him.
"I've heard, that you left the group, after you and the others evacuated the rest of the ponies, without saying a single word. Do you care to explain, why?" Celestia wanted answers, however the obese stallion just looked down.
"What's wrong? Is something bothering you?" Luna asked.
"Well...uhm.." Scootaloo scratched her head, when Eugene decided to open up.
"Well, there is something, troubling inside of my head. You see, ever since my emancipation and redemption, I've been constantly worried about my future and my new destiny. Looking back at my past actions back in Porkbelly...really made me realize, how much of a massive twat I was and how these actions shattered my reputation. I just wanted a complete restart in my life and a new destiny. And the better away to start it is with a new name, which would be 'Brilliant Diamond'. But...even then....I'm afraid, that I would destroy my progress and everything, because of my instability." He explained.
"After hearing his story, we vowed to help him on his new journey." Diamond Tiara added.
"It's really nice, that you young fillies decided to help him. However, when it comes to the other aspects, Princess Twilight and her friends have it covered. But, right now...they're recovering in the royal infirmary, alongside with their friends." Luna informed.
"Oh no! Is my big sister gonna make it??" Apple Bloom was worried.
"Will Rarity be okay?" Sweetie Belle also became worried about her sister's condition.
"What will happen to Rainbow Dash??" Scootaloo became anxious.
"In other words, will they make it?" Silver Spoon asked.
"Don't worry, little children. They will. So far, they're recovering well. Our doctors also do their best to take care of their injuries. " Celestia assured them.
"Well, that's a relief. Can we at least see them?" The unicorn stallion asked.
"The guards will guide you there." The princess of the sun responded and two guards guided them on their way to the infirmary. Meanwhile, the princess of the moon was still troubled by her thoughts and that important question:
How would she do it?
Meanwhile, in the royal infirmary...
As the allies were worried about their friends and waited for the results, Eugene and the fillies arrived at the scene. There was a sense of anxiety looming in the air. Even the CMC, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon felt that air.
"There you are! Where have you been?" Zizrar asked.
"I was lost in my thoughts all alone. I was worried about my future and had no idea on what to do. It wasn't until this filly, named Diamond Tiara, offered her hand in friendship, in which these girls follow suit" the obese unicorn explained.
"It's true. We decided to help him to find a new destiny and secure the future." Diamond Tiara added.
"And the first thing, I did, is to make a new name, in order to shed myself from the past. In my case, my new name will be 'Brilliant Diamond'." Eugene told to the others.
"Wait a second, you decided to change your name?" Mr. White was confused.
"Well, most pony names have something to do with their cutie mark. At least, that's what I've heard." Eugene scratched his head.
This caused the agents, the General and the others, except for Zizrar and his mole people, to check on their own cutie marks and think of ideas. Thing is, in the case of Mr. Black, Mr. White, Brain Freezer and the General, they're really struggling to come up with any names, that would fit in this world.
"Hmm...I think, I have some suggestions. Natural Spark, Glimmering Leaf and so on...hmm..You know, what? I decided! My new name will be Natural Spark!" It took a while for Jillian to find a new name for her.
"I think, Honeycomb would be a good choice." Dr. Beebles came up with a name, which suited him, since he's no longer the Bee Keeper anymore.
"Is it possible to keep our names?" Mr. Black was out of any ideas.
"I mean...Mr. Black...Mr. White....I suppose, it could also work as pony names, right?" The General suggested. The others were discussing about that. One one hand, their real names are completely unknown. But on the other hand, they're worried about the reaction of the ponies and beyond. Ultimately, Eugene made a decision by saying: "Fine. You can keep your names. It can also duel as pony names."
"What about me?" Brain Freezer asked.
"Uhm...You do realize, that you introduced your name to that snow pony earlier, right?" Zizrar reminded.
"Oh yeah....I forgot..." The frosty pony face palmed.
"What about you, guys?" Jillian was referring to the final two: The General and Mr. Harm. Zizrar and his mole people are completely excluded.
"Well, I'll be thinking about it." Mr. Harm responded. "Right now, I have no idea. However, in the future, I'll be finding the one, that suits me the most."
"Same for me!" The General added.
Suddenly, they heard someone running as fast, as it could. It sounded pretty chaotic. Also, there were sounds of a guard, telling it to slow down. As they looked on the right, it turned out, that the sounds actually came from Gil, who was completely exhausted. The same can be said for the guard.
"Sir! You can't just walk around the castle without any guidance!" The guard warned.
"Is Johnny okay?!" Gil was worried.
"Excuse me, but WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!?" Brain Freezer wanted answers.
"Well...I was in Ponyville, just chilling and hanging out with some dudes. I literally had no idea about that incident, until I overheard a conversation." The aqua earth pony confessed.
"You literally had no idea until now!?" Jillian was not happy.
"You are really that absent-minded, aren't you?..." Eugene facepalmed.
But before the situation would even escalate, they heard the door being opened and saw a doctor, coming out.
"I have some good news. The ponies have regained consciousness and are in no critical danger. Even though, there were injuries. Right now, they're recovering from it. If you want, you can go inside to visit them." The stallion reported. It was a big relief for everyone, knowing that Johnny and the others are not in any danger. After hearing about the good news, the group went inside to see the others, being fully awake. Johnny, Dukey, Sissy, Missy, Twilight, Spike, their friends, Breeze Dasher, Snow Emerald, Cherry Swirl and Tropic Bloom. All of them slowly got up, when Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle hugged their big sisters, Scootaloo hugging Rainbow Dash and the others being happy, that their friends are okay.
"I've heard, you guys were in an intense fight against a burning dragon." Jillian told to them.
"Yeah...Wow, she was really strong..." Rainbow rubbed her head.
"A bit too strong, if you ask me. Seriously, everyone would be burned, if it wasn't for Ocean Spark's clutch moves." Breeze commented.
"What's the big deal of her? She seems like a bitch, if you ask me." Johnny is not happy.
"I mean....her past basically broke her so hard, she snapped." Cherry Swirl answered
Suddenly, they heard Tropic Bloom having a mental breakdown and crying on her bed. The three elemental ponies looked at her friend, whose scars from that verbal attack from her best friend still felt fresh.
"Poor Tropic...Fire Jewel must have hurt her so bad...." Snow sighed.
"At this point, we're completely torn apart... On one hand, what she did was just rude and cruel...but on the contrary, she had a terrible past, revolving about abuse, war, PTSD and suicidal thoughts. I don't know...It's just a whole mess..." Cherry felt overwhelmed by the whole affair. "I'm also not sure, if Fire Jewel would completely get out of this, due to her reputation now being shattered."
"The whole thing is a big ass mess! Once a minor problem, it has fully escalated to a gigantic friendship problem and a mental problem at the same time, which eventually grew into a crime! And now, she's basically rotting away, because it was basically OUR FAULT!!!" Breeze shouted really loud, as she let her anger out.
"This is really getting even more complicated than ever before..." Spike was worried.
"I know, Spike...It seems like, their stories are completely messed up and they caused a chain reaction, which lead to this. Girls, we have to talk with them about their past and the pasts of their friend, in order to find the missing pieces of the puzzle, while also at the same time, continuing with our mission to help the guys." Twilight made up her mind.
"I've never thought, it'll get even crazier and more headache inducing...." Rarity moaned.
"I feel like, our arrival basically made everything worse for everybody..." Snow looked down.
"Don't say that! It's not your fault. You had so much stress, during your quest as guardians of the galaxies. Plus, each of you had issues from the past." Twilight assured them.
"It's true. For example, I was severely bullied by many of the ponies in my home planet, when I was a filly..." Cherry sighed.
"Or me being neglected by my parents, in favour of my brother. Don't get me wrong, it was not malicious, just being absent-minded, but back then, it caused a resentment to them, that as a filly, I ran away from home. Thankfully, after the first defeat of Shadow Nebula, they did apologise and promised to do better. But, it was not completely solved, as I still have the scars." Breeze told them about her past.
"Even though I came from a loving family, during the war, there was an overwhelming sense of fear everywhere..." Snow explained about her past.
"Same... Except, none of the people in my home planet, Synthesia, had any idea, since it was an isolated planet, in which no one even attempted to take over the planet." Tropic Bloom added, while having tears in her eyes.
"And Ocean Spark...Oh boy...it was really painful...First seeing her parents being murdered in front of her eyes, but also falsely believed, that Fire Jewel killed them, when in reality...It was actually Shadow Nebula herself. Regardless, she held a big grudge on her and even joined on Nebula's side for a while. Eventually, Fire did eventually tell the truth to her and after a lot of convincing and evidences from us, Ocean felt guilty and redeemed herself by not only destroying one of the bases, but also liberated a planet from her control. In the end, she joined in our team." Snow added.
"And then, there was one more pony, who also lost someone dear...but...we decided, not to talk about it.." Cherry commented.
"Wow, those are really messed up!" Pinkie Pie was frozen in shock.
"I see...It's clear, that you have troubled pasts and traumatic experiences, before and during your time as guardians." Twilight made it clear.
"Yeah. And it increased, as we decided to use our elemental powers to protect others and defeat evil. I mean, a guardian of the galaxies is really no joke!" Breeze responded.
"Yikes, you really had go through so much! I swear, you girls have more willpower than anyone else!" Missy answered.
"I mean, if they're protecting the galaxies, that must been a heck of a responsibility." said the orange country mare.
"But right now, thanks to the whole friendship problem and that, we are emotionally drained..." Snow felt sad.
"Don't worry, we'll help you overcome from your worries and such." Fluttershy promised.
"Thank you...We really need it." The green earth pony smiled.
"Uhm, Brilliant Diamond?" Silver Spoon got the stallion's attention. "What are we gonna do about their issues?"
"The best way is to at least help them." Eugene responded. Meanwhile, hearing Silver Spoon calling BBB with a completely different name threw Johnny and Dukey off, while Sissy and Missy were just confused.
"Wait! Wait! Hold the phone! Brilliant Diamond??" Dukey immediately wanted answers.
"That's right. You and Jonathan are not the only ones with different names nowadays. I decided to rename myself in order to distance myself from the past. That's not all, as Jillian and Dr. Beebles have new pony names right now. They're now known as Natural Spark and Honeycomb. As for the former principal and the general, they have yet to decide, while the rest kept their names, as it could also dual as pony names. By the way, Zizrar and his mole people are not included, because they're completely different." Eugene explained.
"New pony names? Damn, why didn't I think about this before?" Sissy asked.
"Probably because we're caught up in other issues and also a busy schedule?" Missy answered.
"You guys decided to rename yourselves?" Gil was thrown off. He literally had no idea, that some of them decided to take new names.
"Well, with these guys having new names, I think, it's best for the three of us to do the same. Let's see..." The navy pegasus mare looked at her flank, where her cutie mark is. It showed a crimson lightning bolt. She then looked at the flank of her friend, which showed a violet lightning bolt and a bone. "I think, I have some new names. I could be named 'Crimson Bolt', while you can be 'Zapped Bone'." She then shared this idea to the hybrid mare.
"You know, what? Those are cool names!" Missy loved the names. Their new names are Crimson Bolt and Zapped Bone. Finally, it's Gil's turn. His cutie mark resembled a star with a surfboard. The problem is, he couldn't figure out a new pony name, since....well, he lacks intelligence.
"Oh boy..." Applejack looked on.
"Actually, I have no idea..." Gil looked down, since he was out of ideas.
"Maybe later, man..." Johnny nervously smiled.
"We'll think about some good ones later." Dukey scratched his head.
The mares giggled a bit, however they knew, that it'll take time to recover. One pony was worried for a different reason. It was Tropic Bloom. Despite Fire Jewel treating her harshly, she hasn't given up on her. After all, she was the first pony to help her recover, when they were fillies. That action lead to an inseparable friendship up until then. She looked out of the window, wondering if there's anything to do , to fix the broken relations and end the nightmares.
Meanwhile, in the dungeons...
Speaking of Fire Jewel, she was still locked up in the dungeon with her horn being covered by that metal cover, which prevented her from using magic. The red mare looked down with her face not shown. Tears came from from her face and fell into the ground and the silence kept going...that was...until she started sobbing. Her sounds echoed through the area, as it became more broken. The guilt had completely taken the mare over, causing her to fall into a deep depression.
"I'm a monster....I'm nothing, but a monster..." she mumbled.
Soon, she heard sounds of hoofsteps and saw the guards, slowly approaching her.
"Fire Jewel, it's time to do your Community Service." One of the guards reported. The red mare didn't say a single word, as she was taken by the guards from her cell and went upstairs. It was completely silent. The unicorn avoided any eye contact from the guards by lowering her head, as thoughs of sorrow and regret circled in her mind.
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Side Story: New Divide | As Canterlot was slowly recovering from the whole dragon incident, the guards were watching Fire Jewel rebuilding the buildings with only tools. To make sure, she would not get away from community service or someone even attempting to hurt or even kill her, more guards came by to monitor the situation. However, that didn't stop the residents to call her horrible names and terrible stuff, like "devil" or "I hope, you die!" and so on. All of those insults, coupled with some ponies throwing trash at the red pony, severely worsened her depression. The other ponies, who didn't harass and and throw junk at her, like it's in the medieval ages, only watched, as they pass through, adding up to the humiliation.
When the day ended, they put her back in her cell and another guard came by to watch her. During this time, the mare was completely silent and didn't even resist to anyone. Everything in her head is getting worse and worse, as she stood in her cell, without moving a single muscle.
Later, in the midnight, the guard was doing some routine watching, when he heard a sound, coming from the halls. The pegasus stallion went inside, leaving Fire Jewel unguarded. Turns out, the sound actually came from a door opening and it was a female unicorn guard. Without saying something, they switched positions, since she was the night guard. As the mare went downstairs, she didn't expect the unthinkable: The guard saw Fire Jewel, tying a noose, made from sheets, tightly on her neck and when it was tied to the highest position, which in this case was the ceiling, she was about to step down from the highest bed and committing suicide.
"NO!!!" The guard used her magic to stop her fall and untie the knot, releasing her. As she opened the cell door to check up on her, she saw her face, which was full of despair and hopelessness. As the guard kept checking, the red pony still didn't move.
"Just next time, don't do this to yourself." The female guard told to her, but it seems like, it fell on deaf ears, as the guard put the red mare to her bed, left the cell, locked the door and watched intensely. Fire still hasn't moved at all, while she was watched. In face, she couldn't fall asleep, because of her depression. What's worse is, apart from the abusive past, another memory is secretly and slowly getting unravelled in her head. Eventually, the guard witnessed the mare crying herself to sleep.
The next day, she was escorted out by the guards for the community service, after she was woken up. That day, the night guard told the other guards about Fire's attempted suicide and they decided to raise up the surveillance and put her under "suicide watch". That means, there will be several guards available to watch her during the night, in order to prevent another suicide attempt.
Anyway, she kept rebuilding the houses, the castle and other buildings, while also disposing of debris and other trash. Unfortunately, the day was the same as yesterday, as the citizens continued taking down on her and making sure to make her days as miserable as possible. Sure, not all of them are for it, but there are numerous people, who want her completely miserable, until her death. After all, they only saw her as an irredeemable criminal. As the days turned into weeks and as Canterlot gets slowly rebuilt, the harassment continued. It went on and on, while the pain got worse and worse. Also, when the unicorn wasn't busy working, she would sit in her cell and not moving an inch. Unlike Susan and Mary, when they were held in Tartarus, the guards actually allowed the mare to be visited by someone. In the end, only one decided to visit her and she'll soon be a frequent visitor, during her imprisonment: Fire's older sister, Ocean Spark.
During one of those visits, Ocean brought her some home baked cookies for her little sister, who was still silent.
"Fire....I know, that you are in a very difficult time and I know, I did a lot of shit in the past...I just want to tell you something...I'm really sorry...After that incident in Xeon, I wanted to prevent something like this, so I told to my friends about it...It was a good intention on paper...but...unfortunately, the execution was completely chaotic. Soon, we were so caught up in our duties, that I basically forgot that original goal, until it was too late...I made you even more agitated than before and that resulted in tons of paranoia, which lead to that second dragon incident.... Since then, I feel really awful every time, causing for the group to be disbanded in bad terms." The blue mare told to her sister about her feelings, when her teal eyes became filled with tears. "I really don't mean to hurt you, yet it did happen...It was a perfect storm of issues, that lead to a domino effect...And now...everybody hates you, because of that!! It was really my fault and I should be the one locked up!!! I'm really sorry, Fire Jewel!!!" The unicorn soon cried, as the guards watched. Unfortunately, there was no response from the red unicorn, as she was frozen in despair. After a while, the guards told Ocean, that the visitation time was up and she had to go home, in which the blue mare did just that. But not before looking back at her sister one last time of the day, with tears in her eyes.
"I just wish, you would forgive me and for us to go back to the good old times..." Ocean sobbed a bit, before leaving Fire Jewel alone with the guards.
As the night began to rise, she was greeted with more night guards, before laying down on her bed and once again crying herself to sleep.
A few weeks have been passed and the rebuilding was almost complete. She just had to finish the buildings. Once again, some residents call her bad names, while the majority went on with their days. One of them was Tempest Shadow. She was taking a little break from spreading the good news about Storm King's defeat, when she saw Fire Jewel doing the final tasks to rebuild Canterlot, while being harassed by the residents. It was around this time, where cracks began to show. After the constant pain and abuse from everyone, she screamed and tried to run, but the guards held her in place.
"Hey! Don't you dare to do something stupid, pal!" One of the guards reported. "You really don't want to have an extended sentence in the dungeons, don't you?"
"WHY DON'T YOU GUYS JUST KILL ME INSTEAD!!! EVERYONE HATES ME, BECAUSE OF WHAT I DID!!!" The red mare screamed and shouted, as the extent of her depression showed. "I'M PRETTY SURE, EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY WITH ME DEAD, BECAUSE I REALLY DESERVE IT!!! I TRULY DON'T DESERVE A SECOND CHANCE!!!" She was in tears, as everypony watched, including Tempest. The majority really didn't want to and backed off. The red mare had truly given up and thought, that her death will be the ultimate release and making everyone happy.
"What's going on?" The mare with the broken horn was confused. She had no idea about the dragon incident, since she was somewhere else.
As I said, the majority of the ponies really didn't want to kill the red mare and backed off in fear. (Because for real, if someone did have the guts to kill a person, they hate or killing a criminal in universe or in real life, he or she will face the consequences, because it's still murder, no matter the circumstances. A lot of people don't have the guts and any ideas to do just that and just stay away from the trouble, since let's be honest, NOBODY wants to go to jail and have their reputation ruined in real life! It's called common sense!) However, one reaction was completely different from the rest:
"Don't worry....You'll soon get your wish, bitch!"
As everyone looked at the source of the voice, it came from a crazy unicorn stallion with a burnt face. His eyes were really small, as he crackled and laughed in a fit of insanity. As if that wasn't enough, he had a knife, ready to kill the red unicorn and cut her up like a pig.
"I'll make sure, everyone will be happy....by CUTTING YOU UP LIKE A PIG AND CRUSH YOUR INTESTINES!!!!" He laughed loudly, as the ponies backed off in fear, except the guards, who prepared for the big defense and Tempest, who got ready.
"Don't take a step further!!" One of the guards shouted, but it fell on deaf ears, as the crazed unicorn dashed to the scene. The guards did their best to slow him down and disarm him, but the sheer amount of insanity made him stronger and broke through them like bowling pins. Tempest unleashed a magical shockwave to knock him away. The unicorn mare was about to take the knife away, when he stood up and began a fight with her. As they struggled with the constant kicks and magic blasts, one guard tried to escort Fire Jewel out of Canterlot. Unfortunately, the crazed stallion with the burnt face, who was fueled by insanity and a twisted sense of "revenge", pushed Tempest out of the way, causing her head being hit onto the ground and used his magic to throw the guard away, like trash. The red mare was locked in fear, as he went closer an closer.
"DIE!!!!" He was launching himself at the unicorn, when all of a sudden, he was pushed away by a beam of water. That beam came from Ocean Spark, who appeared from the shadows.
"Don't you dare to even lay a hoof on my sister!!!" Her horn glowed even brighter than before, as the oceanic mare became angry. Soon, a fight between Ocean and the crazed stallion began, as neither of them backed down. Meanwhile, Tempest slowly got up, as the fight became more intense, with both unicorn shooting beams to each other. Due to Ocean's expertise in her magic and experience, she had the advantage. Eventually, she used her magic to trap him in a strong bubble. "That'll teach you on doing something dangerous! I'll take you to the authorities, so justice will punish you!" The oceanic mare was very careful, when she slowly approached him. She looked at Tempest and said: "Ma'am, please take Fire Jewel to a safe location."
"I'm on it." The dark mare with the broken mare was about to go to the red mare, when all of a sudden, the scarred pony started laughing hysterically. "You think, you can trap me in a stupid bubble! Once I'm done with that monster, I'll kill all of you!!!" He unleashed a powerful spell, breaking free from the bubble and knocking Ocean, Fire and Tempest into the ground. Soon, he jumped at the helpless red mare, grabbed her by her throat and started choking on her, while laughing and shouting "DIE!" over and over again. Ocean Spark got up, when she saw this unfold. She screamed and grabbed the crazy individual in a headlock. He tried to break free, even so far as to bite Ocean's arm hard. Despite this, she never let go of her grip, while Fire Jewel was still choking. She tried to use her water magic to prevent him on killing her sister, but eventually, she realized, that nothing can stop him and as she saw Fire's eyes about to roll up, she was left with no other option: The blue mare started to scream and used all of her strength to snap his neck, which proved to be fatal, as he dropped dead to the ground and letting Fire go, as she gasped for air.
Of course, the terrified crowd witnessed it all, including Tempest. Soon, the blue mare backed away and with shaken arms and blurred vision, she immediately realized the gravity of her actions and suffered a severe mental breakdown, as she fell down. Eventually, the guards have arrived and immediately went to their positions to apprehend the mare, when she suddenly ran away, which the guards immediately began to chase her.
"Hey, are you okay? Tell me! Are you okay!?" Tempest checked up on Fire Jewel, who still gasped for air. The guards, who were there, since the beginning, immediately went to the red mare and checked for any injuries.
"I doubt, she is safe here...We have to bring her back to the dungeon for safety." One of them commented, as they brought Fire Jewel and were on their way back to the dungeon. Meanwhile, Tempest stood there, confused on what just happened. There were several questions in her head. "Excuse me, what's the meaning of this?" She needed answers from the guards. In the end, the guards stood her about the dragon incident in full detail, alongside with Ocean's words about Fire's past. After that bombshell of information, a memory flashed in front of Tempest: The attack from the Ursa Minor, her time as a commander for the Storm King, her crimes, everything. She soon felt sympathy for Fire Jewel and wanted to help her. But first, several questions had to be made, such as:
Who was the stallion?
Meanwhile, the chase went on and on, as Ocean ran as fast, as she could, until the chase continued in the castle. "Stop right there!!" One of the guards shouted. They thought, she could harm more ponies on her way inside of the castle, but this is, when the story turned into into the very strange. She went downstairs, rather upstairs. It went on and on, until the guards realized, that Ocean was on her way to the dungeons on her own! It became more evident, when she used her water magic to evaporate through the door and when they opened the door, they saw Ocean in a closed cell already.
"Go on...lock my horn...I deserved it..." She spoke.
That completely baffled the guards. They never had an incident like this. So many questions circled in their heads, as they had to understand on what's going on.
"We'll be right back..." They went upstairs. They wanted to tell the princesses about this strange situation.
Meanwhile, in Canterlot centre...
Tempest looked around and asked ponies about the identity of that scarred stallion, in order to get answers. Most of them are too scared to even tell something, since it happened so recently. She kept going and going, until one pony came forward.
"The pony with the scarred face? His name is Vanity Shine. He was so proud with his beauty, that he liked to brag about it all the time." One of the Canterlot mares told her about it.
"Hmmm...It seems like, when his face got burned, he went insane..." Tempest started to connect the dots. "This is really not good.... Where is his home?" She thought to herself and then asked someone for the location of his home. She really needed the missing pieces. After looking around for so long and asking other ponies about the house, someone actually gave her directions on Vanity's house. After a while of following directions and several backtracking, due to mistakes later, she finally arrived. As Tempest entered inside, she was met with complete silence. But as she looked inside of several rooms, she was about to leave, when sounds of banging can be heard.
"What was that?" She used her ears to track the sound and followed it to the wall of the bedroom. At first, the mare thought, that it was all a trick, as the wall was solid...or is it? Because as she knocked on the wall, it turned out that there was a room hidden in the wall. In the end, Tempest unleashed a burst of magic to tear the wall down, only to see something horrible: It was an indigo mare, with messy lilac hair, tied up and her mouth covered in duct tape. She was weakened and covered in dust. Immediately, Tempest untied the mare and got the duct tape off her mouth. It seemed like, she was locked behind that wall for weeks.
"Ma'am, are you okay?" Tempest asked.
"Do I look like, I'm okay?!" The unknown mare twitched.
"What happened to you? Do you know anything about Vanity Shine? Tell me, I need answers!" The scared unicorn grabbed the mare by the hoof and helped get up, but she was wobbling.
"He....he....he's my boyfriend...." She weakly responded. "The burns of his face made him go insane...He was literally obsessed over a red unicorn, thinking, that she was responsible for his burned face.... He fantasised about killing her in so many ways and disposing her body in a way, where no traces of her can be found...He talked to himself, that he would do society a favor by killing her...I became really scared by the sudden change...He may be arrogant and vain to the extreme, but the dragon changed him for the worse. One day, I tried to reason with him, that killing her would not do anything better, but instead damage his reputation and getting him locked up in Tartarus, but he didn't listen....Until he had enough and I was left beaten, tied and left to die behind the wall..."
"Oh my gosh... I'm so sorry for what happened to you..." That story horrified Tempest. "The thing is, he did try to kill her, but her sister tried her best to stop him, until she was left with no option, other than snap his neck. But now that you're free, I can take you to a doctor to fix you up." She tried to pick the mare up, but she resisted and ran off. The unicorn chased her to the kitchen, where she witnessed the mare pulling out a knife, but not to try to harm Tempest...
"What are you doing!?" Tempest shouted.
"I just can't be saved....The weeks of imprisonment made me insane...There is literally no hope anymore..." the mare answered. "The only way to get out of it is to end it all.." She was about to turn the knife on herself, when the dark purple unicorn tackled her to the ground in an attempt to disarm her. That resulted in a big scuffle between the mares.
Back in the Canterlot Castle, in the throne room, the guards reporter the royal sisters about what happened in Canterlot. The beginning of the community service, Fire Jewel becoming suicidal, thanks to the constant trashing by the citizens, only to be prevented, the suicide watch, her snapping and wishing the guards to just kill her, only for Vanity Shine to go through the guards and almost killing the red mare, until Ocean Spark snapping his neck and running all the way to the dungeons by herself, in a sign of immediate guilt. The sisters were completely baffled and horrified by the story. Even though the weeks, leading up to it were uninterrupted, since Fire Jewel was doing her sentence just right, except that her suicidal behaviour lead her to be put under suicide watch, the dragon incident became a catalyst on what happened today.
"I can't believe, that things would become much worse..." Princess Celestia was overwhelmed. "Their arrival surely made everything even more complicated..."
"Which makes it difficult to focus on the royal duties..." Luna looked down. "I swear, most of the ponies wanted to fan the flames even further, which leads to Fire Jewel becoming hopeless. At this point, I have no words to describe this ever complicated incident."
"I think, it's best to talk with her friends about the full backstory, in order to understand them more." Celestia suggested. "Guards, get Breeze Dasher, Tropic Bloom, Snow Emerald and Cherry Swirl to the throne room. We need their stories to fill in the blanks."
Four guards nodded and went off to find them. At the same time, a pegasus guard flew inside with an urgent message.
"Princess Celestia, there has been a scuffle in Canterlot!" He reported.
"A scuffle?" The sun princess asked.
"Yes. A fight broke out, in which Tempest was involved." He then added more information. The sisters were thrown off. They last saw Tempest after Storm King's defeat and the Friendship Festival.
"What is she doing here?" Luna asked.
"Guards, make sure to break up the fight!" Celestia ordered and the guards went off. At the same time, Luna was thinking about something. This time, it's about a memory of the past.
"Hmm...Why do I have the feeling, the dragon incident sounded.....familiar?" Luna thought to herself. "Or is it just me?"
The guards outside of the castle and on to the scene, when they heard glass shattering and tumbling. Soon enough, the unknown mare and Tempest came out, in which she broke free, grabbed the knife tightly and backed off a bit.
"Listen! You need to think this through! Taking your own life will affect everything negatively. Is this, what you wanted? If not, please....take down the knife, calm down and let me help you...Everything will be okay..." Tempest tried to reason with her, but the mare was about to turn the knife to herself, although she was hesitant a bit. As the guards came closer and as the tension became higher than before, the mare was really about to slit her own throat.
"Please...I beg of you...Don't do this to yourself....Just give the knife to me and we can take you to a doctor..." Tempest slowly approached to the indigo unicorn, who became really scared. But eventually, she had second thoughts and put down the knife, in which she was pulled into a hug by the mare with the broken horn. "See? I'm here now." She softly spoke. "And as for the guards, they're not here to hurt you..."
However, the guards demanded answers. So the dark unicorn looked at them and responded with: "Take her to a doctor. I'll explain the full story, when we go to the castle, so the princesses will hear the tale." With those words, one of the guards took the indigo mare to the hospital, while the other guards took Tempest to the castle.
As they arrived inside the throne room, Tempest told to the princesses about everything, what happened. From the discovery of that indigo mare, the escalation and finally her preventing her from taking her own life. "Now, she's been taken to a hospital, where the doctors would take care. Also, I've heard about the whole dragon incident and the past, before it. Of course, there are many unanswered questions, that need to be answered." She explained.
"This is, why we decided to bring her friends in, in order to elaborate on the backstory further. Speaking of which...." Celestia explained, but stopped herself, once she saw the four elemental ponies entering the throne room. "Just in time!" She smiled.
"You want our backstories and everything to fill in the blanks?" Cherry asked.
"Of course. We wanted to know about you and your friends, as well as your professions." Luna was curious.
"The thing is...despite of what happened, that is really not Fire's nature....She may be hot headed and wild, but she has a soft and caring side to all of us, especially to her big sister, Ocean. The dragon incident was a result in ignorance, anger and over exaggeration." Tropic explained.
"Actually...That was the second time, she lost control and caused a rampage." Breeze noted.
"The second time? What happened before that?" Tempest was surprised. Snow decided to take a deep breath and explained the story about the first dragon incident:
"It all began in the planet, Xeon, when we were in a fierce battle against the shadow ponies. Cherry and Tropic helped the citizens evacuate, while the rest of us fought of an entire army. We were defeating the shadow ponies with out elemental powers and purification spells. However, everything turned upside down, when Shadow Nebula arrived..."
Xeon, a few years ago...
In a flashback, we see a nefarious dark pony with golden regalia and sparkling, velvet mane, fading to purple, walking through the flames and facing against Jenny, Fire Jewel, Ocean Spark, Snow Emerald and Breeze Dasher.
"You!" The pink unicorn snarled at her arch-nemesis.
"You know, that we kicked your army's asses, like always! So why don't you just quit?" Fire Jewel shouted.
"Do I look like, I would listen to your pathetic words? You realise, that once I'm done with you and take the elements by myself, I'll cover this universe in darkness and rule it for all eternity!!" The nefarious pony laughed.
"You'll never get your dirty hooves on the elemental orbs! Girls, let's go!" From the words of Jenny, the five ponies and Shadow Nebula engaged in a lengthy and ferocious fight. Beams were exchanged, light VS. dark clashed each other and neither side showing any sign of weakness.
"It was a ferocious battle between the two sides..."
"Get a load of this!!!" Shadow Nebula unleashed a powerful beam of magic, knocking the heroines into the ground hard. Like really hard. However, Ocean stood up a bit and tried to attack the nefarious alicorn, but that resulted in Ocean getting caught and tortured by painful magic spells.
"Unfortunately, in the end...she got the upper hand. Keep this in mind, this was our sixth mission. But still...She was stronger than us, due to our teamwork not being completely harmonised than in later battles. She then started torturing Ocean...which was the tipping point for Fire...And then, it happened..."
Seeing her sister being tortured by Shadow Nebula, who was laughing at the pain, really set off the red unicorn hard. So hard in fact, that she screamed and got surrounded by a lot of flames. As everyone watched in shock, the flames got higher and higher and soon, the fire dragon came out. She soon attacked the evil pony, releasing Ocean in the process. A hard battle between the two insued. During which, the others checked up on the blue unicorn.
"Ocean, are you okay??" Snow asked.
"Yeah...I'm fine...But my sister....is..." Ocean Spark looked up to see the dragon.
"She had transformed...into an elemental creature." Jenny answered.
"We forgot to mention, that the dragon is Fire's elemental creature. Each of us has the ability to transform into a specific animal. Ocean would transform into a water serpent, Breeze into a falcon, me into an polar bear, Cherry into a lion and Tropic into a big butterfly. However, there was one, has hasn't been able to transform into her elemental creature yet... But I digress."
Eventually, after a while of fighting, Shadow retreated with her army, after being weakened.
"You may won this time, Luminous 7....but soon, I'll be back!" She shouted at the group, before disappearing in a magical mist. The dragon couldn't be able to catch her.
"Unfortunately...Shadow's retreat really set her off and thus, losing control...."
Essentially, it caused the dragon to go on a rampage, spewing fire everywhere. By the time, Cherry and Tropic returned to the group, the rampage had caused damage.
"Oh no! What are we gonna do?!" Tropic was scared.
"We have to stop her from causing damage!" Jenny responded, before flying up to the dragon, up close. "Fire, stop! You're gonna hurt a lot of innocent people, if you continue!" She shouted, but it fell on deaf ears, as she attempted to scorch the pink mare, but Jenny immediately teleported away to safety.
"Shit! She lost it!" The alicorn looked at the situation.
"Is there a way to stop this?" Breeze asked.
"We have to go inside the dragon, in order to reach her!" Ocean suggested.
"Wait! Are you sure? What if this won't work and we get killed in the process?" Cherry was worried.
"If we manage to sooth her from the inside and get her back into reality, we can stop it for sure." Ocean added.
"It's a risky idea...but we have no other choice, but to take it!" Tropic was convinced. At the same time, Jenny teleported herself back to the group.
"Fucking hell, she is too strong!" The pink mare looked at the dragon keep scorching fire blindly.
"Jenny, we have to use our combined powers to go inside of the dragon, so we can break her from the blind state!" Ocean suggested.
"That's actually a good idea....Okay, girls, get into your position!" Jenny's words made the others to go in a formation. As they focused on an entry point, the dragon kept roaring. However, Breeze distracted the dragon by causing a storm. This was enough for them to charge with full speed and going inside of it. Inside, it was burning hot, with flames everywhere. Eventually, they saw Fire Jewel, blinded in rage with the same serpent-like eyes, as in the Canterlot incident.
"Fire, please!! You need to control yourself! Innocent lives are at stake, if you keep continuing! Please, I beg of you!!!" Ocean immediately hugged her sister, as the others soon joined and soothed their friend. Although the red unicorn screamed and the temperature rising, they refused to let her go. Eventually, after a while, everything was covered in smoke, as dragon faded off in it and the group emerged outside, thanks to Jenny's protection spell.
"In the end, we finally managed to soothe her....but she would soon see the damage, she caused."
Soon, sounds of ponies, saying hurtful insults of the unicorn mare can be heard. As the red unicorn opened her eyes, she saw the angry crowd with burn Mark's, indicating, that some of them weren't so lucky. Her heart broke at the sight and became so scared and so guilty, that she ran away crying.
"Fire, wait!!" Cherry and her friends immediately followed her.
"It was really painful for her to have her reputation damaged by a mistake, she couldn't control...This was and still is the biggest downside of her transformation, due to the lack of control, which was contributed from the pain of the past. Even though Shadow Nebula caused a lot more damage, the incident alone burned in everyone's minds.
Canterlot Castle, present
"From that day, Ocean suggested to watch over Fire, in case of yet another blind rampage...but this time...it's our ignorance and Fire's mental deterioration, that lead to the second incident...God....I feel like, our arrival made everything worse..." Snow looked down in sadness.
"You don't need to apologise for your arrival. It's just, you have been dealing with an internal friendship problem, nobody knew until now." Celestia assured them.
"You don't understand...Our ignorance lead to this! Coupled with the fact, that her mental health has been deteriorating, due to the countless cases of abuse and her stubborn personality! We are responsible of Fire's downfall and now she and Ocean are in the dungeons, because of us!!" Tropic was getting really emotional. "I think, everyone would be better off, if we just left and never came back..." The yellow mare ran away crying.
"Tropic...." Breeze looked concerned at her friend.
"And as for our backstories, we'll tell you." Snow sighed, in which the three ponies told their backstories to the royals and Tempest in full. (Their backstories will be in a different, upcoming story, all about them and their friends.)
"I'm so sorry, that you had to suffer through several issues..." Luna looked sad.
"However, it's the pain and our shared sense in justice, which held us together...but now...our friends are gone, because of a stupid mistake...." Cherry sighed.
"Would you excuse us, we have to close ourselves up from the public in shame..." Breeze looked down and the three ponies left in sadness. It's clear, that they're ashamed of their actions. The others couldn't do anything, other than watch...but then...
Something came up in Tempest's mind. Hearing the stories, as well as the trials and tribulations of those elemental ponies, really cranked up her determination on doing something to release everyone from their burden.
"Princess Celestia and Luna! I demand Fire Jewel and Ocean Spark to be immediately released!" She had a serious look on her face. That threw the sisters off.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Celestia was shocked.
"Think about it...These ponies did some terrible mistakes in their lives...Just because someone did a mistake, that doesn't mean, their life is over! There is still a chance, that they could be redeemed! I know that from my experience, when I was responsible for the invasion...I thought, doing the Storm King's orders would help me restore my horn....but I was wrong, when he betrayed me and sent me right into the storm...But despite all of this, all of the atrocities, I've done, Twilight Sparkle never gave up and forgave me....At first, I thought, that this wasn't happening...I gave up on friendship! But even then, she was determined to make me change the sides...Her friendship made me realise about my errors and changed myself for the better. And now, I'm gonna use my experience to help the sisters!" The dark unicorn was determined. "I know, that some are still angry and never want to forgive her, but tell me...Where is the line drawn between reasonable hatred to just straight up harassment?? Has anyone even made a mistake in their lives?"
"She has a good point... Everypony made some terrible mistakes in their past...which includes me." Luna suddenly agreed. "Think about it, my dear sister. Think about that certain event many moons ago...when I was consumed by jealousy and hatred. Your ignorance didn't help at all."
That sent chills down to the sun princess' spine, since she was really referring to the Nightmare Moon incident thousands of years ago. "It's like, you want to repeat history, but with two different ponies." Luna glared at Celestia, as she went to Tempest. Those words really felt painful.
"Tempest Shadow, you have not only my permission, but also my assistance. I too, did terrible things in the past." The moon princess told to the former commander of the Storm King. "With my experience and kindness and your determination, we can get the sisters out of the darkness." The two left the throne room, leaving Celestia without any words. Soon, tears were streaming down from her face. She couldn't believe it....The princess of the sun made the same mistake from thousands of years ago.
The guards kept watching the two unicorns, who are in separate cells. Fire Jewel being depressed as always and Ocean Spark being silent. However, the silence was broken, when the guards heard steps and saw Princess Luna, coming down.
"Guards, release the two unicorns." Luna demanded.
"Are you serious? What if the crowd of ponies try to kill her again?" A guard was referring to that attempted murder from earlier.
"Don't worry. I'll bring them to a distant place, where they can stay there safely." The moon princess assured. "I just want to safely monitor them, while helping them reform." At the same time, Tempest came downstairs.
"As I said, Tempest and I will keep an eye on them." Luna added.
After some convincing and Tempest's reasoning, the guards were at first hesitant, but eventually, they opened the cages, allowing the mares to be free. Luna and Tempest grabbed each of the sisters' hooves and the moon princess used her magic to teleport herself and the others into a safe location.
Equestria, unknown forest location
The quartet arrived in an unknown forest location. Fortunately, it's safe for them to do the mission. The first thing to do is to release Fire and Ocean from the metal on their horns, allowing them to use magic again.
"Why?" Ocean asked.
"Well, you're not the only ones, who made bad mistakes in the past." Luna spoke to them softly.
"For example, due to the Ursa Minor incident, that left me scarred and my horn broken, I gave up on friendship completely and became the commander for the Storm King. That means, I did atrocious things in his name, like invading lands, imprisoning the citizens and captured the princesses, including Twilight. I did all of this, because I clung onto the foolish belief, that he could restore my horn....Sadly, the truth was not like that, when he betrayed me. But despite all of this...Twilight never gave up on me." Tempest explained her backstory to the sisters.
"Celestia also never gave up on me, even when my hatred and jealousy got manifested, when I transformed into Nightmare Moon many moons ago. However, I didn't know it back then, since I was blinded by negative emotions and the darkness. It all stemmed, that I put the most effort with creating a beautiful night, yet the ponies ignored it. And my case didn't get better, once I was cast to the moon by Celestia and the Elements of Harmony. Many moons later, I returned as Nightmare Moon and banished my sister, in an effort to last the night for an eternity. However, even though I destroyed the elements, it eventually got restored and chose Twilight and her friends as the new bearers, which lead to history being repeated...except I dint get banished for the second time, but instead turned myself to normal. I felt really guilty for everything, I've done. When I saw Celestia returning, I was scared, that she would never forgive me...But instead, she did." Luna explained her backstory. "You see, we are not flawless and made terrible mistakes in the past. But that doesn't mean, that you cannot be redeemed. There is always light at the end of the tunnel."
But Fire Jewel simply looked away. "This is bullshit...." she mumbled.
"What?" Ocean couldn't understand, what she said and neither did Luna and Tempest.
"Don't you see!? I've caused nothing but harm in the last few months!! I'm nothing but an irredeemable monster, who deserved to die!!!" The red unicorn became really caught in the despair.
"Please don't say that..." Luna tried to calm the red unicorn down, but it didn't work.
"Shut up!!! Look at me!! I've got too much blood on my hooves! I'm nothing but a-" However Fire was interrupted by Tempest.
"Stop it! You really didn't mean to harm anyone! It was due to blind anger and being stuck in the delusions! Just like me, back then...What I'm saying is, you need to stop being hopeless and improve yourself for the better!" She shouted. However, that resulted in the red unicorn running away crying, with the others chasing her. However, the chase only lasted for less than a minute, before she bumped into somepony, who was also running.
"Fire, are you okay!?" Ocean rusher to her sister's aid.
"Hey! Watch, where you're going!!" They heard a voice. As the group saw the individual of the voice, being down on the ground, it was none other than Trixie Lulamoon!
"Trixie? What are you doing here?" Luna asked.
"Please...I'm not in a mood..." Trixie looked away.
"What's wrong?" Tempest asked.
"I really miss Starlight, that's why!!! I've been thinking about her words from several months ago and it made me feel guilty....Now, she's gone, because I was partially responsible!!" She screamed.
"I know that feeling. I've been thinking about it during the last few months as well. Making a terrible mistake, that cost you the reputation and friendship. I'm no stranger to this and neither is Tempest." Luna sighed. She knows the feeling way too well.
"Wait, you did something terrible before?" Tempest asked to Trixie, in which the blue unicorn responded with: "Yes. It turns out, that the Great and Powerful Trixie....is not perfect...You know, what? Let's cut to the chase. I was so caught up in my own ego and thought myself better than everyone else, despite my magic skills being not good. That changed, when Twilight defeated me in a duel. Fueled by revenge, I found the Alicorn Amulet and used it to gain an unfair victory and changed Ponyville to my image. In the end, I was defeated by Twilight once again and I was left ashamed. Later, I met Starlight and since we had similar experiences of being formerly evil, we formed a special friendship. It also helped me reform. But now, with her gone, I feel terrible..."
"I'm so sorry for that..." Tempest hugged the blue mare.
"I'm not sure, how I would deal with this..." Trixie sighed.
"We're also not sure about it either." Princess Luna answered. It was around this time, that Trixie saw the sisters.
"Uhm, who are these ponies?" Trixie asked.
"These are Fire Jewel and Ocean Spark. Two sisters, who did terrible mistakes in their lives, just like us." Luna answered, before giving the unicorn mare with information about the two mares, including their backstories, the dragon incident and the time, where someone tried to kill the red unicorn. Needless to say, Trixie was shocked by the extent.
"Oh my gosh....This is awful! I'm so sorry, that you have to go through this...." Trixie apologised.
"It's okay....We've been through shit time after time, but it's what makes us stronger...Well, that was until now. The group has been through petty fights each other before, but it's my ignorance, that lead to the final nail in the coffin." Ocean looked sad.
Suddenly, Fire tried to run away again, but Luna used her magic to hold her in place. "Fire, you need to stop!!" She shouted, before turning her attention to Trixie. "I'm sorry. The second dragon incident, coupled with the citizens hating and attacking her, made her really suicidal."
"Wait a minute...you know about the Xeon incident?" Ocean was surprised.
"Yes. Your friends actually told me about it. Celestia and I called them to the royal throne room, in order to get a better picture about you and the others." Luna answered.
"The second time?" Trixie was confused, in which Ocean proceeded to tell the Xeon incident to her in full. "That's crazy!" The blue mare was shocked by the whole revelation.
"I thought, monitoring her would prevent incidents like this from ever happening, but....a poor execution and a shit ton of ignorance only let the doors open for even more disaster..." The oceanic mare became sorrowful. "And now, my sister is suffering and wants to kill herself, because of me... I am responsible for all of this! It's all my fault!" Soon, she was pulled in a hug by Tempest.
"That doesn't mean, it's set in stone forever. You can use your experience to learn from the mistakes and improve yourself for the better." She softly spoke.
Meanwhile, Fire was still struggling to get out the magic aura, but Luna refused to let her go. Screaming, kicking and thrashing can be heard, as she struggled further. The rest couldn't bear to see her like this, so the moon princess used her magic to get the red unicorn close to her and pull her in for a hug. "It's okay. I'm here. I know that feeling, I've been there before. But like Tempest said, you can learn from your mistakes and change yourself. There is a saying, that where there is darkness, there is also light." The dark blue alicorn mare softly spoke to the troubled mare, who at this point, stopped struggling and started getting really emotional, as she started to have a mental breakdown. At the same time, Trixie put her hoof and Fire's head.
Meanwhile, Luna was recounting on the letter from Twilight, which mentioned that Johnny attempted suicide before. Since they, the princess of friendship, her friends and his new family would keep an eye on him. And now, history is repeating itself, but this time with Fire Jewel. This time, she will double the effort to help her, alongside Tempest and Trixie.
"Look, we may have out flaws, but here is the thing: Nopony is perfect. And we can learn from the mistakes to improve ourselves." said the former commander of the Storm King.
"But...they'll never forgive me..." Fire looked down.
"I know. But if you want things back to where it was before the mess, you have to work really hard on yourself." Trixie added.
Soon, Ocean, Tempest and Trixie joined in a group hug to the red mare. They want to make sure, that she would be safe and happy.
Ponyville, Equestria
The news about the attempted murder and the release of the two unicorns of course caused a lot of controversy. Unlike, with the dragon incident, Ponyville has been divided by so many opinions. One of them is Twilight Sparkle herself. She knew, that something is wrong with the whole group. Once her friends have arrived to her castle and gathered around the map, she proceeded to make a statement.
"You know, there is a lot more to Fire Jewel and the others, that we don't know of. Like their profession, their history, their reason to arrive in Equestria. There has to be a reason!" she said.
"Don't you think, we already been through too much?" Rainbow was exhausted.
"Rainbow...There is always a reason to all of this." Applejack looked at the prismatic mare.
"The worst part is, I couldn't find Tropic and her friends, since they basically vanished from the public eye..." Fluttershy looked worried.
"And with Fire Jewel and Ocean Spark gone, it's difficult on finding answers." Rarity sighed.
"Wait! We have forgotten about someone, about a pink unicorn with blue hair!" Pinkie reminded of Jenny, who is still M.I.A.
"If only I know, where she is..." Spike answered.
"This is why, we have to go to Canterlot, in order to find the answers. It can't go on like this, especially that Fire Jewel and the others are still suffering. I've seen some ponies and non-ponies, who did terrible things before and apologised for that. They saw the error of their ways and wanted to redeem themselves, but we managed to help them with the magic of friendship. And now, it's clear, that the group is clearly in need of a guidance." Twilight explained.
"Wait, what about Johnny?" Rainbow asked.
"We'll tell High Velocity, Sweet Serenity and his friends about this, so they'll keep an eye on him and Dukey." Twilight responded, as she wrote a letter to Johnny's parents and then several others to his friends. "Come on, girls! We have to find the answers about the group."
With those words from the alicorn princess, the Mane 6 and Spike went on their way to Canterlot, in order to talk with Princess Celestia, while also sending the letters to the rest.
After some time has passed, the group had finally arrived the castle and entered the throne room, only to see Celestia sobbing.
"Princess Celestia!" Twilight rushed to her mentor. "What's wrong?"
"I can't believe, I did the exact same mistake again, causing Luna to leave..." The sun princess was still in tears. "How can I be so foolish??"
"Wait, Princess Luna left!?" Twilight became panicked.
"Yes! She left with Tempest, in order to release Fire and Ocean from their cells and vanished, alongside them! But not before saying, that I would let history repeat itself, but being ignorant of the whole matter!" Celestia was still in tears.
"Oh no..." Twilight hugged her mentor, in which her friends did the same. It was clear, that they would double the effort to find the answers and solve the ever complicated problem, once and for all. At the same time, a guard came by, only to watch the scene unfold. After a while, the sobbing was silenced, as Celestia wiped her tears away.
"Your Majesty, are you okay?" He asked.
"I'm fine..It's just, I was sad, that I made the same mistake again, which cost my relation to Luna dearly." Celestia sighed. "Anyway, what brings you here?"
"We wanted information about the group as a whole." Twilight answered.
"I have the documents ready." The guard was holding a folder of the documents, about Fire Jewel, Ocean Spark, her friends and everything, in which he handed it over to the Princess of Friendship. The Mane 6 started to read the information about them in full. Their backstories, their profession, their rise and fall, everything.
"It's clear, that we're dealing with a troubled group, who needed a lot of help. Girls, we have to find Cherry, Breeze, Snow and Tropic!" Twilight became serious.
"Excuse me, darling? We have no idea, where they are." Rarity reminded.
"This is why we have to double our efforts to search for them. Come on, everypony!" With those words, Twilight and her friends ran off, in order to find the four elemental ponies. Meanwhile, Celestia was thinking on what to do, in order to fix the mistake. It'll take a lot of time, but she had to do it, in order to not make the exact same mistake again, as now and thousand years ago.
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Side Story: Adjusting the new Human Life | In the Human world, it was the early afternoon, when school day has ended in Canterlot High. Many of the students were exhausted from a long day in their high school and were excited for some free time. Seven of which, are Sunset Shimmer and her friends, as they talked about on what to do. At the same time, Starlight waited for the girls, when she saw them.
"Hi, Starlight!" Pinkie Pie hugged her friend. "How's your day?"
"Let's just say...boring to say the least... I have nothing to do, other than visiting the hospital to check up on them." Starlight sighed. She was referring to Susan and Mary, who are still in a coma.
"Oh... Look, we're also worried about them, like you. I just wish, a miracle would happen, in which they'll wake up one day." Sunset looked to the lavender girl. "However, we have to wait, since we have a plan."
"Oh..." Starlight looked down.
"What's wrong, Starlight?" Fluttershy asked.
"You know, that I've been living there for the past few months. However, I feel like, I haven't really settled in and felt left out, when I saw you returning from school. I just want to be more engaged with you." The lavender girl responded. "And plus, I want to make an impact here."
The girls were thinking of ideas on how to make it true. Eventually, they have many ideas.
"How about a part-time job?" Twilight asked.
"Maybe something fun?" Pinkie grinned
"You can sign up for Canterlot High!" Rainbow suggested.
"I'll help you find a home!" Rarity also suggested.
Needless to say, Starlight was overwhelmed by several suggestions of her friends. "Girls! Girls, please! We only can do those one at a time, in order to not overwhelm her." Sunset slowed them down. "We'll help you with that." She said to her friend.
"Thank you." Starlight hugged her friend. At the same time, Twilight was thinking about something. The whole affair about the sisters and the science fair incident, caused a big, magical awakening in Starlight. However, she's afraid, that the lavender girl would lose control and go completely off the rails, like what happened in the fair. "Girls, I need to talk with you about Starlight." She got her friends' attention with an important matter.
"What is it, Twilight? Need something to get out?" Rainbow looker at her.
"You know...Remember the abandoned warehouse?" Twilight asked.
"I remember it clearly!" Fluttershy answered.
"Same with me and Sunset." Starlight responded.
"You see, on that day, Starlight tapped into her Equestrian magic in the Human world for the first time. It was an urgent situation, so she had to focus. And then...under the exhibition centre, when we fought off against the crazy scientists, who tortured Susan and Mary, it happened again, only this time, she awakened her magic fully. Unfortunately, there was a problem. She was blinded by her own fury, which resulted in her nearly killing the scientists, if it wasn't for Sunset's intervention. I'm saying this, because Starlight....you have to control your Equestrian magic in this world." Twilight commented, then told Starlight on what to do.
"You know...ever since those events, I feel like, my magic had been awakened. But the thing is, I have no idea on how to do it, since this world is still new to me." Starlight looked at the skies.
"Don't worry, we'll help you." Sunset smiled.
"You can count on us!" Pinkie brightly grinned.
"But first, i have to make a list about the suggestions." Sunset wrote a list about the suggestions from her friends about Starlight fully settling in. "After which, we have to do those one at a time. And the first thing to do is to find a part-time job for Starlight, so she can earn some money."
"I mean, it would be nice to earn some money to cover my essentials." Startlight scratched her head.
And so, the girls went into the centre of the city in order to find a part time job for Starlight. They looked at every job offering, every shop, every small company, they had to find a good one for her. Then, they made a list of the most likely jobs, the lavender girl would take. Camp counsellor, an assistant for a book store, a volunteer for an animal rescue, anything. As Starlight grabbed the list and read the suggestions, there are some potential jobs for her, but she has yet to choose one, in order to earn some money. However, there are still other matters to do, like enrolling to a school and keeping her Equestrian magic under control.
"Hmm...you know...I can choose one later. Right now, I have yet to tackle through the other priorities." Starlight answered.
"It's okay, Starlight." Fluttershy smiled.
The lavender girl looked at her hands and remembered the time, when her magic was fully awakened. Unfortunately, she lost control of her magic, due to her being blinded by rage. Sometimes, when she's angry, her magic will become stronger. However, anger, if it's too much, would only result in more harm than good. That's what her friends are currently thinking, mainly Sunset. They have to make sure, an incident like the one in the science fair would never happen again.
"The first thing to do is to control my magic." Starlight made up her mind.
"Good decision. You know, you can do that in my laboratory, while we'll make sure, not to lose control." Twilight suggested.
The others agreed and went to their destination, not knowing that someone was watching from afar. It was the girl with her face obscured by the black hoodie, who was standing on the other side of the road. Without saying a word, she left, while having some dark thoughts.
Twilight's Laboratory
We see the girls in front of a transparent wall out of the strongest glass and Starlight, hooked to a device, monitoring the amount of magic, she would use. Right now, it's 0%.
"Okay, Starlight. Let's start with you doing some simple tasks. Try to lift this ball using your magic." Twilight spoke via a microphone.
There was a ball, standing on a nearby table, where Starlight was standing. She started to concentrate and tried to use her magic to just lift the ball, but it didn't work. While Twilight was writhing down on her notes, Starlight tried again and again to lift the ball, but it wouldn't even move a single inch, leaving her frustrated each and everytime. Eventually, Starlight became so frustrated, that she was about to give up, when suddenly, she unleashed a magical explosion. Thankfully, no one was harmed.
"Uhm, Starlight?..." Twilight asked.
"I know!" The lavender girl was not happy.
"Look, why not just try to take a deep breath and focus. I know, you can do it!" Sunset gave her friend some motivational advice. Eventually, Starlight had no other choice, but to follow it. She took a deep breath and started to focus to channel her magic. It took a few tries, but eventually, a teal aura emitted from her hands and the ball started levitating.
"I did it!" Starlight was happy with the results. The girls cheered at the success.
"Not yet. There is still a long way to go. But we can help you." Twilight smiled, but knows, that her friend has to control her magic.
A montage of Starlight attempting to control and harnessing her Equestrian magic in this world by doing some tasks, Twilight and the others gave her. Some of them are successful, others though....not so much. However, Starlight is an expert of magic and over time, as the days have passed, she managed to harness magic and control it. It's clear, that she was going to a right path.
Another few days have passed and the Humane 7 were sitting in a cafe for some chatting and some relaxation. The topic of their conversation was important, since next year, they're gonna graduate form Canterlot High. Everyone was talking about their dreams and what they'll do in their future with excitement and curiosity. Everyone...except for Sunset Shimmer. There is one thought, that has been bothering her for a while. But she didn't know, why.
Meanwhile, Starlight was on her way to the cafe, while buying a bouquet of flowers from a nearby shop. She wanted to give it to the twins, who are still in the hospital. She saw her friends and was about to approach them, but something caught her attention instead. It was the girl in the black hoodie, watching the girls, while getting closer.
"Hey!" The lavender girl tried to get their attention, only for the individual to run away and for Starlight chasing after it. It went on and on, while nobody slowed down.
"Hey! Come back! What do you want?" Starlight asked, but the individual refused to answer, as she ran faster. So, of course, the lavender girl had to try to catch her up. Suddenly, she went into a crowd full of people, who were witnessing a performance from some musicians. Even though Starlight tried her best to find him or her, there were too many of them. In the end, she had to give up and went to the cafe, where her friends are waiting. Meanwhile, the black-hooded individual came out form the other side of the crowd.
"Ugh... Good thing, I got away from her...Anyway, with that out of the way, I'm gonna plan my revenge." The girl sighed, before continuing to walk away.
Back at the cafe, Starlight met up with her friends and sat down to the table with them.
"Hi, Starlight! Nice flowers! Any reason to buy them?" Pinkie was curious.
"I bought them, because I want to visit Susan and Mary in the hospital, so I can give it to them." Starlight answered. "Anyway, what you're doing?"
"We'be been discussing about our upcoming graduation from Canterlot High and our future plans." Twilight answered.
"You're gonna graduate?" Starlight was confused.
"Yes. Next year, we'll finishing our time at school with a ceremony, followed by a party. The girls and I have discussed about what we'll do in the future, like Twilight wanting to become a famous scientist and Fluttershy an animal vet." Sunset discussed.
"I want to become a world-famous fashion designer, while also helping those in need." Rarity told Starlight about her future.
"And I want to be an awesome athlete!" Rainbow commented.
"I want to become a party planner, baking pies and spreading fun!" Pinkie Pie smiled.
"And finally, I'll be taking over the farm and work hard as always." Applejack answered.
"What about you, Sunset? Any thoughts about what you're gonna be?" Starlight asked.
"Well... That's a good question....but right now, I'm in the middle of so many questions and unknowns." Sunset answered.
"What's wrong, Sunset?" Fluttershy asked.
"The thing is, I have no idea on what to do about many things. On what to do with Susan and Mary, since there are some clouds of doubts, my future and importantly, my true destiny." She sighed.
The girls were confused. But Sunset replied with: "It's a very complicated story."
"As for Susan and Mary, we're not really sure, since they're still in a coma. In fact, we don't know, If they'll ever wake up, considering on what happened to them." Twilight explained. "But there is still a glimmer of hope, that they'll be okay. We just have to keep our hopes up."
"You're right. We just have to believe!" Pinkie replied.
Her friends agreed and after some time hanging out, they left the cafe and went to the hospital. As they entered the hospital room, they saw Susan and Mary, laying on their beds. The monitors showed their heart rate, while they're attached to a breathing tube. On the desks, their cracked glasses stood. A painful reminder on what happened. Starlight went to them and after filling a vase with water, put the flowers in there.
"Oh, girls... I'm very sorry for what happened to you. Those 'scientists' were cruel psychopaths...Thankfully, we stopped them and saved you, before it could get any worse...I know, it's tough, but we're here for you. We all wish for you to recover form this horrible experience..." Starlight spoke to them, despite them being in a coma.
After the girls prayed for the best and some well-wishes, they left the hospital, but not before Sunset looking back at the sisters and shedding a single tear. No one knows, if they'll ever be able to wake up...
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Side Story: Flickering Voices | Somewhere in a dark and misty void, lit by various torches, we see Fire Jewel wandering around the area. Aside from the torches flickering, there are no other sounds, that fill the empty and eerie silence. The ground itself is reflective, while the background is just a black void.
"Hello? Anybody here?" The red unicorn asked, but there was no answer in this void. She kept walking and walking. During which, the mare felt a slight, yet cold gust of wind, rushing by. Despite this, she continued walking through the void, when all of a sudden, she heard a voice.
"You demonic criminal!"
When the red unicorn looked back, she saw many of the ponies with angry looks on their faces. But those weren't normal ponies. Many of them had severe burns on their flesh, some of them exposing their bones, their eyes completely black, with blood coming out of them and some of them are still burning. What's worse is, she recognized them as the citizens of Canterlot. Suddenly, they charged and the mare started running away in fear. As the chase went on, the light of the torches started fading away, slowly engulfing everything in total darkness, except for the burning ponies.
"Get away from me!!" She screamed, when all of a sudden, she bumped into someone. As she looked up, she saw her best friend, Tropic Bloom, looking like the creepy burned citizens.
"Oh god no!!! Tropic, what happened to you!?!?" Fire was locked in fear, when the yellow earth pony looked at her in disgust and spoke.
"What happened to me? You tore me apart with your foul words and your hatred! You pushed everyone away with your arrogance and wrath!"
The burning pony looked at the red mare with her cold, black eyes, as she crawled away in fear. Suddenly, she bumped into someone again. It was Cherry Swirl, also charred and bloodied like the rest. Soon, Snow Emerald, Breeze Dasher, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Johnny, Dukey, Sissy and Missy appeared from the dark mist.
"No!!! Look, I'm so sorry for all of this!!! I didn't mean to harm anyone!!" The red mare pleaded for mercy, but it fell on deaf ears, as they went closer and closer to the helpless pony. As if that wasn't bad enough, the heat was increasing to an alarming rate, that even Fire herself couldn't handle it.
"You really have no idea, do you?...
YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF.
SELFISH"
The everlasting chants of "You'll never get everything back." and other hurtful words made the red unicorn curl up into a ball and cry in fear and regret. Suddenly, the ponies around her burn even brighter than ever and the flames getting even closer to Fire. If things couldn't get any worse, her stepfather and Ocean were seen and as Fire Jewel looked at him, they simply shook their heads in disappointment and left into the dark mist, leaving her completely vulnerable to the burning ponies and their wrath. Then, without a warning, the ponies turned fused each other into a demonic lava monster, who grabbed the red mare by throat and shot some lava at her, causing a spontaneous combustion. As Fire Jewel screamed in pain and agony, the flames soon began to char her skin and eventually inside of her body. The cherry on top of this sundae was when hooves grabbed the red mare and dragged her underground, presumably hell, when all of a sudden...
She screamed and opened her eyes, revealing that she was in a cabin. All of this turned out to be a terrible nightmare. At the same time, Princess Luna was standing on the other side and placed her hoof on the mare's shoulder.
"I'm here now." The moon princess looked at the terrified unicorn. "I know, that your nightmare wasn't pleasant, in fact, Ocean had a similar one, except that in the end, she was pulled by horrific versions of her friends into the deep blue, where she drowned. But don't worry, Tempest, Trixie and I will help you overcome it." She pulled the red unicorn into a hug, in which she started to sob. The dark blue alicorn looked down, as she made sure to comfort the terrified pony the entire night.
The next day, the three ponies went outside to discuss on what to do to help the two sisters.
"Why not doing a therapy session?" Trixie suggested.
"Hmm...I suppose, we have to go deeper by hearing their sides of the issues, in order to find the right solutions." Tempest agreed and looked at Luna, who nodded.
"We have to find the root of all of their problems." Luna looked serious.
Soon, the elemental sisters came out of the cabin. Both of them looked very tired and weak, with Fire Jewel even struggling to stay awake, while also dealing with depression. Trixie and Tempest guided the sisters to a flower field and sat down in one circle.
"We start with you, Ocean Spark. How are you feeling?" Luna asked.
"Really bad. I had a nightmare, when my friends and my deceased parents chased me in a dark void, where the ground was reflective like the water. They gained even more speed, while I slowly lost my stamina, causing them to catch and drag me down into the deep blue. It seems like, it represented my thoughts of regret and pain..." the oceanic mare responded.
"The events of the past are still haunting you... You know, all of us had experiences like this before, but with the help of our friends and loved ones, we managed to overcome our own darkness and embracing the light of friendship. And it's time for us to do the same for you." Luna explained, that she, Trixie and Tempest all had similar experiences with guilt of the past, before deciding to listen to their friends' advices. Ocean Spark looked at her sister, only for the red mare to look away.
"I know, how you feel. The scars of your actions are are still fresh in your mind and the constant harassment from the ponies made everything worse. But here is the thing...if you're at the rock bottom, there is no other direction, than to go up. In other words, just because you made something terrible, doesn't mean it's set in stone forever. All you need to do is to tackle your insecurities down and improve yourself for the better, in order to stop those constant nightmares." Trixie hugged the red unicorn with a smile. "Plus, we are here for you, that's for certain." The mare soon remembered her own past, where after she was defeated by Twilight twice, she saw the error of her ways and tried her best to fix them. It wasn't until Trixie befriended Starlight, where she got better with her progress. Ocean watched, as tears formed in her sister's deep blue eyes and hugged the red unicorn as well. Soon, Tempest and Luna joined in for a group hug.
"I know, I've done terrible things before, my dear sister and I'm really sorry for causing all of that heartache in the first place. But...we can start over again and focus on improving....that is, if you forgive me..." Ocean looked at her younger sister.
"It's true. Nopony's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes time after time, but we can learn from them." Luna commented.
"How am I supposed to do that, when I can't even forgive myself?..." Fire quietly answered.
"Remember, we're here for you. We all thought the same, after realizing our mistakes. But we overcame our demons and embraced the light. You just need to forget the past and try to move on." Tempest responded.
As the mares kept hugging the red mare, Fire looked down, while shedding tears in silence. At the same time, Ocean felt a bit of relief, since she found ponies, who also made similar mistakes and changed themselves for the better. However, she and the others have to focus on helping Fire Jewel.
Meanwhile....
Twilight and her friends have been searching through several cities, forests, fields, even up to the skies in Cloudsdale and underwater in Seaquestria, but so far, they found no trace of Tropic and her friends. Even, when Twilight contacted Cadence for their whereabouts, the princess of love couldn't provide them Information. Currently, they're searching in a forested area. They can't leave them completely unnoticed and certainly empty handed...or in this case empty hooved.
"How long is this gonna go on?" Rainbow was impatient.
"There has to be a clue on where they are! They can't just disappear!" Twilight responded.
"This forest is sure quite big." Applejack commented.
"They could be hiding anywhere! Maybe they turned themselves invisible? Oh! They're probably underground or even in space!" Pinkie became curious.
"Whatever it is, they have to be out somewhere, Pinkie." Fluttershy responded.
"Okay, everypony! I think, the best way of finding them is to split up. Spike and I will move forward, while you have to go to different directions. If anyone finds them, give us a sign, got it?" Twilight told to her friends about the plan.
"Okey dokey, Twilight!" The peppy party pony jumped up and down in joy.
"You can count on us." Applejack smiled.
Soon, the six ponies went to separate ways, while Spike stayed with Twilight. Each pony had their own tactics to find some clues. For example, Fluttershy talked to the animals for some assistance, Pinkie Pie just using her Pinkie sense, Applejack looked around very carefully, Rarity using her magic to find something and in this case for Rainbow Dash, flying around.
"Hello? Come on, girls! Where are you?" The prismatic mare shouted, hoping for a response, but nothing came out of it. "This is getting ridiculous... What's up in their minds?..." she sighed, as she continued to fly around. Half an hour has been passed and Rainbow couldn't find any sign of them, when all of a sudden, she hit something hard and crashed to the ground.
"Ow! What was that?!" The pegasus rubber her head to ease the pain. There was nothing to see and yet it felt like, she crashed into something made out of steel. Rainbow Dash reached her hand to touch the unseen object and sure enough, she heard a sound. She started to fly around this thing, while also crashing to more unseen steel, since she had no idea about the size of that object. Eventually, after some bumps and crashes, she went ot the other side and knocked on the unseen object.
"Hello? This isn't funny!" Rainbow shouted, when all of a sudden, something flashed a bit. As she kept knocking, the object became more visible, revealing to be some sort of a headquarters. Or is it a spaceship? The building itself looked futuristic and sleek.
"W-what is this? Is this a spaceship?!" Rainbow became baffled by the appearance and the fact, that it existed. "I gotta find Twilight and the others!"
The prismatic mare flew up and at first shouted: "HEY, GIRLS!!! I FOUND SOMETHING!!!!" But there is a problem: Where would they go, if they heard her shouting? She had to signal them something. Suddenly, an idea came.
"I got it!" The prismatic mare flew up so high and when the time was right, she flew down as fast as she could. During which, she built up more speed and the air around her started to tighten. It became tighter and tighter, until it formed into a cone around her and soon, she broke the sound barrier by unleashing her Sonic Rainboom, in which Rainbow used this to her advantage by flying around the building. She then stopped and waited for her friends to come. She didn't have to wait long, as she heard her friends coming 5 minutes later.
"Rainbow, did you find something?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. This....thing over here." Rainbow pointed at the headquarters. Everyone was in awe at the sight and at the futurists architect. They've never seen something like this in Equestria.
"Oh my goodness..." Fluttershy responded.
"OH MY GOSH!!! A SPACESHIP!!! ARE THERE ALIENS INSIDE? ARE THERE ROBOTS? IF SO, ARE THEY FRIENDLY? DO I NEED TO THROW THEM A WELCOME PARTY?! DO THEY LIKE CAKE AND CUPCAKES??" Pinkie questioned everyone about what was in her mind. Of course, not sure throwing a party towards unknown strangers would sound like a terrible idea, but then again, it's Pinkie Pie, we're talking about. Anything is possible in her eyes.
"Calm down, Pinkie. We have to make sure, if they're friendly." Applejack calmed her peppy friend down.
"I have a question. How can we get inside? The door IS closed, you know?" Spike pointed out the obvious problem: The door is closed! At first, Fluttershy knocked on the door. "Hello? Is anyone in there? We want to know, where Tropic and her friends are." The shy mare softly spoke, but there was no response.
"Excuse me, but we need an answer!" Rarity demanded, but there was nothing.
"Guess we have to go through the door. I know, it sounds wrong, but we have to find a way in." Twilight looked closer at the door to find something. At the same time, Rainbow kept knocking, hoping that someone would open the door for them. Suddenly, Twilight had an idea and called her friends to gather around her. She used her powerful magic to teleport herself and the others inside of the ship.
"That was easy." Twilight commented. "Okay, girls. We have to look around for any signs of them, okay? Maybe they could be anywhere-" Suddenly, a red alarm has been caused and the mares became panicked.
"What is happening?" Rarity freaked out.
Before anyone knew it, a white mist covered the group fully and after while, when the mist has been settled, they've been completely frozen in ice.
"Alright, how dare you to break into our headquarters?!" A voice can be heard, alongside sounds of someone slowly walking in a careful pace. Out of the shadows came out Snow Emerald, who didn't hesitate on using her full ice powers.
"What's going on, Snowy?" The voice of Breeze Dash can be heard, who came in.
"A couple of intruders came in and even bypassed our security." Snow explained, who pushed the blocks of ice to the room with the big table and seven chairs.
"Damn, maybe they're some Shadow Ponies, we probably missed!" Breeze assumed.
"Perhaps. We have to interrogate them!" Snow agreed and used her powers to thaw the ice out, releasing Twilight and her friends. Suddenly, they recognized them as the ponies, who were helping them in Canterlot, especially Twilight, who is the princess of Friendship as well as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who comforted them outside of Canterlot.
"Oh shit!!! I'm so sorry! I thought, you were shadow ponies, intruding out headquarters!" Snow profusely apologised.
"Alright, alright! What's going on here?" Cherry came into the scene and saw the Mane 6 and Spike shivering from the cold. "Seriously, Snowy? Seriously?!?" She scolded the ice pony, before sighing and going to the ponies. "Sorry, girls. There has been a terrible misunderstanding."
"Although I wonder, how they found out about our HQ and got inside undetected." Breeze was wondering.
"But first, we have to warm them up, before asking questions." Cherry noted.
After the elemental ponies used blankets, warm drinks and increased heat from the heaters to warm the heroines of friendship as well as Spike, they sat down around the table.
"We heard a lot of you from Princess Celestia and the guards. It's clear, that you've been dealing with a massive friendship problem, that in the end, there the entire group apart. We wanted to help you with that." Twilight explained her reasoning.
"I really appreciate your concern, but right now, we're really in no mood for anything, given that the mistakes basically destroyed everything, we stood for." Snow sighed.
"I know, that you've been living with the guilt from what happened a few months ago. But keep hiding from everypony else and not doing something actively against it, doesn't really help at all." Fluttershy made a good point. "We can help you overcome your insecurities."
"That is, if you're really willing to accept our help. If you really want those nightmares to end indefinitely, then take my hoof and we'll help you with the magic of friendship." Twilight reached her hoof to the three ponies. At first, they were really hesitant, since the pride is restricting them, but in the end, the will of breaking the chains of hatred and go forward overwhelmed their minds and were about to take Twilight's hoof, when all of a sudden, the ship started to shake and heard the motors starting up.
"What in the name of Equestria is going on?!" Rarity became panicked.
"It comes from the cockpit! Come on, girls!" Breeze found out and the three elemental ponies ran off with the Mane 7 having no other choice than to follow them. Arriving at the cockpit, they saw Tropic Bloom, preparing for launch. With tears in her green eyes, she started the countdown.
"Tropic, stop!" Snow shouted, but the yellow mare didn't listen, as the countdown started from 10 seconds.
"We need to stop her from taking the ship off!" Breeze told to the others. At first, Applejack used her trusty lasso to catch Tropic and restrict her from moving, but she was persistent and pressed the button for launch.
"Breeze, cancel the launch!!" Cherry yelled at the dark blue pegasus and she did presses some buttons to override the launch.
"Launch cancelled." A voice can be heard.
"Tropic, what do you think, you're doing!?" Snow yelled with the yellow mare curling up in fear.
"Please don't yell at her, Snow. You would make her even more terrified." Fluttershy reminded.
"But she just attempted to start the ship!" Snow tried to defend herself, but Applejack silenced her with a single hoof on the pegasus' mouth
"Just take a deep breath, sugarcube. Too much anger is quite unhealthy, y'all." The southern mare made her point, before turning her attention to Tropic. "Tell me, what's the matter?"
"Our arrival caused nothing but trouble, when everything became public...." Tropic was stuck in the blue.
"Yeah, she really hasn't recovered from that second incident at all....especially, since....you know." Breeze sighed.
"We know, darling. It wasn't pretty...." Rarity looked down.
"I swear, everyone would be better off, if we just left and never came back!" Tropic became even more distraught.
"Don't say that! You did some good stuff before! Applejack told me, that you saved Spring Gale, got everyone out of the burning forest and even helped us on out battle against Fire Jewel. Sure, in actuality, it was Ocean who managed to stop her, but we really appreciate your efforts on trying." Twilight responded.
"Plus, you have soothed two of our friends back in the hospital with your powers. I'm impressed, that you could even do that, especially that they've been dealing with their own demons." Spike referred to Johnny and Dukey, who were calmed down by Tropic's nature powers.
"Wait, they've been dealing with their own demons?" Breeze was confused.
"Yes. But instead of explaining it to you, I'll give you his diary." Twilight used her magic to teleport Johnny's blue diary here and give it to the four ponies, who began to read it whole. Needless to say, they were shocked by the extent of the abuse.
"Ey yo, what the fuck?!?!" The dark blue mare was outraged.
"This is horrible! I can't believe, he and his friend would endure all of this..." Cherry felt sorry for them.
"This story alone breaks my heart..." Tropic was in tears.
"When we read his story, we can't help but to remind him of Fire Jewel...She too was a victim of abuse by someone, who's supposed to take care of her." Snow looked down. "Speaking of who, we're not sure, what happened to Fire...She's probably rotting away in the dungeons.."
"Uhm....about that..." Spike responded and proceeded to tell them, what happened to Fire and Ocean, after they left.
"Wait, they've been released!?" Tropic was shocked.
"Yes. It was Princess Luna and Tempest, who came up with the idea. But after they were released, they just disappeared from the public eye." Twilight explained. "It's clear, that they want to help them reform, like my friends and I did the same to them. Speaking of reforming, you girls should do the same. We're here to help you overcome your massive friendship problem."
"Our...friendship problem?" Tropic asked.
"Yeah. We were about to accept their help, when you suddenly decided to start the ship up and leave this world." Snow answered.
"Do you mean it well?" The yellow mare asked to the ponies one more time, but the heroines of friendship nodded their heads. After some consideration and a bit of hesitation, Tropic reached her hoof to Twilight, who grabbed hers in return.
"We're telling the honest truth, dear." Applejack warmly smiled.
"With all of our kind hearts..." Fluttershy came to them.
"...and our loyal instincts..." Rainbow continued.
"...as well as our generous promises..." Rarity smiled.
"And bright laughter!" Pinkie jumped in joy.
"...I promise, we'll help you overcome your insecurities and embrace the magic of friendship." Twilight finished the sentence.
"You know, we've been prideful and stubborn, but that's the part of youth. But now, it's time to shed the demons away and start growing up." Cherry smiled and the ponies engaged in a big group hug, symbolizing their acceptance of friendships and willing for the change.
"Come on, girls. Let's go back to Ponyville." Twilight smiled and the group left the ship. During which, the elemental ponies opened themselves up more and told them, that they came from different planets and became blessed with the powers of the elemental orbs. However, the side effect of those orbs is the bearer would stop aging, until they severed the ties. They would of course do that, when all threats were fully defeated. And of course, since their headquarters was built by different parts from different planets, that would explain its futuristic appearance.
Ponyville, Equestria
The group returned to the village, where business went on as usual. It was around this time, that Eugene came to them, alongside with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
"Hey, where have you been?" The white stallion asked.
"Well, we found Tropic and her friends in a spaceship, in the middle of a forest, nonetheless." Applejack answered.
"A spaceship?" Diamond Tiara was confused.
"It's a complicated story, kid." Cherry giggled.
"Does that mean, that they don't come from here?" Silver Spoon asked.
"No. We come from different planets and we've been travelling through galaxies and stopping threats as galactic guardians. The reason, why nopony heard of us here is because not only that we arrived there a few months ago, but we've been also working in the shadows." Snow explained. "In other words, we were REALLY secretive."
"I see. They've been trying hard to keep their identities secret, like ninjas." Eugene understood.
"In a way, yes." Breeze laughed.
"Anyway, what do you want?" Twilight asked.
"Well, it's about that upcoming Friendship Festival. Aside from someone named, Colortaura, I've heard that a group of four stallions wanted to sign in. They're entertainers, not musicians. I have no idea, who those ponies are, but I do have a picture of them." The obese unicorn gave a picture to Twilight. It showed a group of four stallions posing. We see a pink pegasus with a dad beard, a blue earth pony, who wears glasses and making funny faces, a green earth pony with glasses making an adorable pose and finally a purple unicorn, posing and winking. What makes him different from the others is his eye shape, which looks more oriental.
"I see. I'll talk to them about negotiations." Twilight answered and teleported away.
"How you're doing, man?" Rainbow asked.
"Quite well, actually. Diamond and Silver were really supportive of me and my redemption, since they too did similar mistakes, just because of money." The unicorn stallion explained.
"That's so sweet of you!" Fluttershy was in awe.
"Are you taking good care of him?" Pinkie asked.
"Of course!" Diamond and Silver smiled.
While they exchanged some talks, Snow Emerald decided to take a walk, in order to cleanse her mind. During which, she saw Brain Freezer taking with Zizrar and dealing with a few shenanigans. The snow mare with the emerald mane couldn't help, but giggle. Soon, she came up with an idea. "Hey, guys! Let me join!" She went to them, when Brain Freezer became red again and we can her Zizrar laughing.
Meanwhile, as for Cherry, Breeze and Tropic, they were happy, that they found new friends along the way.
"Hey! Why not hang out in the Sugarcube Corner for some funtime?" Pinkie suggested and everyone agreed. And so, they were on their way to the Sugarcube Corner for some fun.
But wait...haven't we forgotten someone? ???
Meanwhile, in yet another forest area, we see a pink alicorn with messy blue hair, just wandering around with sad thoughts in her mind. It's been a few months after the altercation and she hasn't recovered from it ever since. Suddenly, a voice can be heard inside of her head.
"Yes....Give in to your darkness...."
All while a bit of a dark aura can be seen emitting from the poor pony, while shedding tears along the way.
However, it's not over. At the same time, in a familiar world, in a big mansion, we see a purple male cat with a bowtie, sitting on the window and watching the scenery in silence. Around him was an aura of sorrow. Soon, he shed a single tear, as he felt the wind gently touch him.
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Side Story: Sorrowful Loss | In Porkbelly, a lot has happened, ever since Johnny Test and Dukey disappeared without a single trace. News about this incident spread like wildfire and it lead to many search groups, who tried to find him, but came back empty-handed. A few days later, a masked entity named "The Shadow" hacked all televisions and phones, in order to show them a video about the horrible truth, that Johnny's own family were responsible for him leaving the house and Porkbelly forever, while taking Dukey with him from the animal shelter. Everyone was shocked and outraged about the truth and it lead to the family being arrested and sentenced to prison. For the parents, named Hugh and Lila, they were given life sentences, while the twins got 20 years, due to them being minors. At the same time, more people have vanished. The agents, the general, Sissy, Missy, Eugene, Jillian, Mr. Harm, Dr. Beebles, Brain Freezer, Zizrar, his mole people and the penguins. A few days later, the sisters broke out of the prison and it lead to them being chased by police. They did disappear a bit, but they were later found in a forest by a ranger. (BTW, those aren't the real Susan and Mary. It'll be explained in a future chapter) They were later arrested and their sentences were extended.
Since those events, there were more unsuccessful search efforts, times of grieving and hatred towards the Test family. A few months have passed and after no new development, the police closed the case, assuming, that Johnny was probably killed by his own family, while the government officially and legally declared Johnny and Dukey dead in absentia, along with the others, who also vanished. As if that wasn't enough, new laws were passed to prevent child abuse and bullying. They really don't want other children to end up like Johnny.
Now, it's been six months after the disappearance and the town of Porkbelly never felt the same again, as the people still felt the aftermath. Some of them made statues and shrines in his memory, while others kept campaigning for a better future for the children, with Child Protection Services and other charities helping them. Schools raised up their surveilance and offered abused as bullied children special education and therapy sessions, parents became more aware of their actions and started to become more careful. All of this proves, that Johnny Test wasn't an ordinary child and that his disappearance made a big impact in everyone's lives.
One of them is a male, magenta cat, sitting on the window in a big mansion. He had purple stripes on his face, his fur on top of his head was pushed back in a style of rich men and wore a red bowtie. He was watching the scenery outside with a sorrowful look on his face, while being touched by the gentle breeze. However, he is not an ordinary cat, as he knows Johnny too well and he has a great amount of human intelligence and speech, much like Dukey. He is none other than one of Johnny's enemies, Mr. Mittens.
"Ugh....Everything has gone downhill, ever since he left..." he sighed. He knew about Johnny's disappearance too well, since he heard about it in the news, like everyone else. Even when Johnny was his arch-nemesis, there were of course times, where they raced against each other, played games and even helped him out sometimes. Those were the good old times. But now, with him gone, he was left with a hole on his heart, that can never be filled. It was around the same time, an elderly butler came to him with a cup of tea.
"Here is your cup of tea, sir." The butler gave him the cup of tea, in which the cat took it.
"I just don't get it, Albert...It's been six months since he vanished and yet, it feels like, it happened yesterday..." Mittens sighed, while drinking his tea. "How did that happen? Last time when I met him, he was his usual self. Everything was pretty much normal, but then...the next day, he was gone and everything came crashing down..."
"Haven't you watched the videos from 'The Shadow'?" Albert asked.
"Of course, I did!! I was playing some video games, when it happened. I was basically forced to watch the videos!" The male cat stood up, looking a bit more agitated. "Back then, I was not in a good mood, when so much drama happened, which lead to the split of the Johnny Stopping Evil Force 6! It was a really messy one, as there were so many clashing opinions and petty fights. I was about to let my frustrations out on Test, when I received the news about his disappearance, which really didn't help my mood at all!!!" He screamed in anger.
"Sir..." Albert was about to tell him to calm down, but Mittens was blinded by his negative emotions.
"AND NOW LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!!!! I lost so many allies and enemies in a week! Brain Freezer, Zizrar, the Agents, the General, even the former Bee Keeper, all of them are gone, while I just stood there, still having to process on the whole ordeal!!!!!!! And you know, what?? IT STILL HURTS, LIKE A PART OF MY HEART HAS BEEN BRUTALLY TORN APART!!!!!" The male cat stomped his foot and threw the cup down, shattering it, in rage and pain. He heard about their disappearances a day after the arrest of the Test family.
"Sir...may I suggest you to go out for a walk or perhaps do some exercises?" Albert suggested. "I'm concerned, that your stress would burn you out. In the meanwhile, I could bring you some snacks and cake."
"You know, Albert? The whole ordeal caused so much migraine in my head... I'm going to play some video games to ease off the pain a bit, even though it's not much..." Mittens went to the living room to play some games online with random strangers, all while Albert went to the kitchen to prepare the snacks and cake.
The magenta cat was playing an online battle royale game, but it felt empty, playing with random strangers, now that his friends and enemies are gone. Regardless, he managed to take out two of his enemies, before hiding his character somewhere. At this point, there is no time for moping in an online game. He has to concentrate, if he wanted to win. As the session grew longer, more players got eliminated. Also during that session, the voice chat was on for the players to communicate or rather hurl insults and swears to another, whenever it's in English or in a different language. Eventually, only Mittens and a random Korean player were the only ones left standing. Both of them were really skilled. A long battle between the two players in the game ensued with one of them trying to eliminate the other, while dodging the projectiles. In the end, after so much teeth grinding and skillful maneuvering, Mittens finally managed to eliminate the other player, winning the game, all while he heard the Korean player swearing and banging the table with his fists hard.
"Got 'em." The magenta cat smirked and put his controller down for a well-deserved break, when Albert came back with the snacks.
"Here are your snacks, sir." Albert politely reminded.
"Now get me some drinks. I have to play yet another session." Mittens grabbed the controller again and joined a session with other random players.
"As you wish." Albert went back, but Mittens didn't notice, that the butler's movements were...slightly off. As if...he was tired.
The game started and the players engaged in a long battle against each other. Mittens concentrated himself for the win and did as well, as he could, while eliminating some of them. But it was around this time, when the empty feeling had returned, alongside a new emotion for Mittens: Loneliness. The disappearances of his allies and enemies, especially Johnny, was still a shock to him, given the reasoning and the timeline. The empty feeling really dampered his skills of the game. Suddenly, he heard a sound of a shot. That sound brought the cat back into reality and realized, that he was eliminated by the same Korean gamer from before, who started laughing at him.
"OH, COME ON!!!" He threw the controller on the TV in rage and sat down. "Why can't this feeling leave me alone?!?!!"
As if that wasn't enough, he heard sounds of Albert falling down and glass shattering, coming from the kitchen. Annoyed, Mittens got up and went there, assuming that Albert had accidentally dropped the glass. "Ugh, Albert! You just dropped some amount of high quality-" But, when he arrived at the kitchen, his expression of annoyance has changed into horror, as he saw Albert, laying motionless on the ground. His sight was fading in and out at a rapid pace and his heartbeat increasing, as the cat fell into total panic.
"Oh God, no!!!! Albert, wake up!!!" Mr. Mittens tried to wake him up by shaking the butler's body, but it didn't work. He checked Albert's pulse, only to hear it beating slowly and his breathing being shallow. Not knowing, what to do, he grabbed a nearby phone in the mansion and called 911.
"911, what's your emergency?" The dispatcher can be heard.
"Hurry up and please come here, my butler has just collapsed!!!!" Mittens yelled.
"Please calm down, sir. What's the address?" The dispatcher asked, in which Mittens provided the address of the mansion, alongside the necessary information about Albert, including his name and age.
"Is he breathing?" The dispatcher asked about Albert's condition. Mittens checked on Albert's body, only to realize, that he wasn't breathing anymore.
"He's not breathing......HE'S NOT BREATHING ANYMORE!!! HE'S REALLY NOT BREATHING ANYMORE, JUST COME HERE PLEASE!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!!" The cat became panicked.
"Okay, calm down, sir. Help is on the way." The dispatcher assured.
All while Mittens stayed on the phone to talk with the dispatcher, it took around 15-20 minutes for the ambulance to arrive. After hearing it coming to the mansion, Mittens hid somewhere, while emergency responders went to the kitchen to pick up Albert's body and carried him to the vehicle for a quick ride to the Porkbelly Hospital. Immediately after, the magenta cat came out and grabbed a hat, a pair of gloves, shoes and a trench coat and ran outside. The reason, why he did this, is because he had to keep his identity a secret, like something happened, that damaged his reputation.
Porkbelly Hospital
Immediately after arrival, the doctors rushed Albert to an emergency room for a resuscitation. There was really no time to spare, as they immediately grabbed the necessary tools and began trying to revive the butler. First, they tried to gibe him oxygen and then kickstart his heart with a defibrillator. All while monitoring his vitals at the same time.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mittens went inside the hospital to talk with a receptionist. He wanted to know, if Albert would be okay.
"Don't worry. The doctors will do their best. Please wait for further results." The receptionist responded his question, which lead to the cat go to the waiting room.
As he waited for any progress, he can feel the massive anxiety and tension tightening around his shoulders. This was something really unexpected, as for his age, Albert seems to be perfectly fine. There was literally no sign of him showing any weakness up until now. What's going on? Is Albert actually okay? Is he....dying? So many questions circled around the cat's head like vultures on a hot desert day. After a few hours of waiting and praying, a doctor came by and guided Mittens to Albert's room. There he was, laying on a hospital bed, being attached to a breathing tube and a monitor, showing his vitals. The doctor left Mittens alone with the butler, but...with a sad look....as if he knew about what's going to happen...
"Albert! Albert!! What's going on!?" Mittens demanded answers. "You were fine just a few hours ago!"
The old butler slowly turned his head towards his master and with a weak and painful voice, he responded: "It hurts..." Hearing Albert speak like this really hurts.
"Hang on, I can get some painkillers!" Mittens was about to go, when Albert interrupted him.
"Don't....It's not gonna help, because I really don't have much time left...." He weakly spoke.
"D-don't say that, Albert!! I...I can fix this! I could get some powerful painkillers or making a cure for that pain or hell, use that tea house time machine from the Tests to prevent that from ever happening and even bring Test back!" At this point, Mittens was in complete denial of the harsh reality. It's clear, that Albert is in a lot of pain, but the cat chose to ignore it, due to his mental instability.
"Please...t...there is no need for all of this....s-sir...You need to m-move on....from t-the past...." Albert was serious and genuinely concerned about Mr. Mittens' declining mental state. "It...hurts...Could you please bring me a glass of water.....sir?" He then asked his master, in which the cat, with tears in his green eyes, brought a glass of water. With shaky paws, the magenta cat poured some water into the butler's mouth for him to drink it, since he was too weak to do it on his own. Suddenly, the butler grabbed his master's paw.
"I swear to God, don't leave! Who's gonna clean the litter box for me?!" Mittens tried his best, not to cry, despite the fact, that tears were streaming down from his face.
"I'm pretty sure...you can do it....all by yourself....since...I'm going away..." Albert responded. "It's time....It's...It's been.....it's been an honor....to serve you...despite the ups...and downs....I wish you....the best of luck....and farewell....s....s....sir...." Albert shed a few tears from his face, before drawing his final breath and dropping his hand, letting Mittens go. The next thing, the cat heard was the sound of a flat line, sadly making a nightmare come true.
"No....NO!!!! ALBERT!!! OH MY GOD!! DON'T DO THIS TO ME!!!! THIS CAN'T BE REAL!!!! WAKE UP!!!!! WAKE UP, GODDAMNIT!!!!" Mittens tried to violently shake Albert to wake him up, but that didn't work, as he felt his butler's body becoming cold and limp, like his spirit leaving the mortal world behind. Hell, he slammed his fist on his butler's chest out of frustration and sadness, but it didn't help. As a last ditch effort, he repeatedly pressed the red emergency button on the device, calling nearby doctors and nurses to go there. They tried their best to revive Albert, all while Mittens watched in horror. They really did try their best....but unfortunately...it was all for nothing. One of the nurses looked back at the cat, whose identity is still obscured by the trench coat and hat and shed a few tears.
"I'm....I'm very sorry, sir..." She responded.
"We really are...We tried our best to bring him back, but in the end...it was all for nothing....He's gone...he's dead...." The doctor added, before pulling the white blanket over Albert's body. The news really sent Mittens into an unbelievable amount of shock and sadness. The fact, that Albert just died was too much for him to handle....
"NOOOOO!!!! ALBERT!!!!!!!!!!!" Mittens suddenly jumped at the bed and broke down on his dead butler, leaving the doctors and the nurses having no other option, than to watch helplessly, as his cries became worse. So much so, that the nurses began to sob and the doctors lowering their heads in silence. At that moment, the room was filled with sorrow, grief and despair.
Meanwhile, in a certain toy company...
A group of programmers, who possessed a copy of the game "No Escape!", tried to overwrite some codes, while employees watched. It was a long and agonising effort, as they looked into every piece of code and finding a way to overwrite it. Apparently, they didn't have to look further, since it turns out, there is a flaw in the game's programming, that allows anyone with great skills to exploit it or even delete it in general. It was connected to the core of the system. After finding it, the programmers wasted no time and overwritten the code completely. After which, they turned the game on and see the robots being disabled, allowing one prisoner to escape from the game and jump into the real world. A prisoner with poofy blue hair on his sides and on the top of his head.
"I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!! And it feels so good to be free!" He shouted in joy and relief. Immediately after getting out, he went to the meeting room for some planning. "I still haven't forgotten about my last defeat, but this time, my new plan of getting rid of all of the children, will be perfect!"
Much to the dismay of his employees, the toy maker, also known as Wacko, hasn't really changed that much. "Sir...It has been almost a year, since your last plan failing. After all of those constant failures, you think, you could just stop and be a better person by making toys for children to enjoy." The secretary was getting fed up.
"Nope! All I have to do is to think of better plans and not screw it up! It's been almost a year since I was captured by that video game...Now I have to step up my game! Now what do kids like to play these days....?" He thinks about several plans, before looking at a newspaper article about children on their phones. This is when a lightbulb came off. "That's it! Phones! I could develop an app, that is kinda like No Escape, but even more foolproof and perfect! And this time, I will get rid of every kid, including my enemy, Johnny Test!"
"Uhm, sir...? Johnny Test has since been declared dead." One of his employees told him about the recent news.
"WHAT!?!?! WHAT DID I MISS!??!?!!" Wacko was shocked. He literally had NO IDEA about Johnny's disappearance and presumed death, since the last time, he saw him, both were in the "No Escape" video game, battling each other and also avoiding the robots. In the end, Johnny and Dukey overwritten the code of who the robots have to catch and guard and escaping, while Wacko himself gets imprisoned in the game.
"A lot actually, sir." His secretary gave him several newspaper articles about the disappearances of Johnny and Dukey in chronological order, from the first report all the way to their presumed dead confirmation. This was unexpected for the evil toy maker, especially when it comes to the timeline and reasons why.
"Ah, man! Worst past is...I didn't get the chance of destroying him and now that opportunity is now gone!!!" Wacko was outraged, before calming himself down. "Eh, whatever...I can live with that. On the plus side, NOBODY will stop me on doing it again!!!" He laughed evilly, as he went to a different room. Unbeknownst to him, the secretary pulled out her phone and secretly called someone for some...confirmation. After that short call, they went to follow their boss, who called the programmers to make that app.
The programmers used the "No Escape!" video game as a reference and looked at the code for some flaws. After which, they wrote down a lot of codes, added functions, failsafe, etc. Except they added some stuff, like better guards in the programming, stricter surveillance and some psychological ways to prevent children to escaping. After a lot of programming and a lot of testing from crash test dummies, as well as a lot of perfecting the app, Wacko came to them for the final test. They saw the crash test dummy playing the app for a while, until getting sucked into the phone. They waited for a few hours for the dummy to get out. If it didn't get out, that means, the app was foolproof. And it did, as the dummy didn't resurface.
"It worked! Now it time to get the app to the store! But not by marketing and such, I'm gonna hack the store and get the app in!" At that point, the toy maker's mind went insane, as he started typing on the computer to hack the app store and was about to put the app in with evil laughter and crazed eyes, when all of a sudden...
"FBI, OPEN UP!"
They heard glass shattering and doors broken down and saw a fuck ton of soilders storming and tackle down Wacko, all while the employees ducked down for safety.
"Sir, you are arrested for crimes against humanity!" The leader of the soldiers made his point clear.
"Excuse me, what's going on?!" Wacko was dumbfounded, while betting pointed by the weapons.
"We've been searching for you for a long time, thanks to this video, which included all of your crimes." The solider showed him a video, in which included the truth. It started with the mysterious vigilante, The Shadow, appearing out of the dark.
"Hello again. This is the Shadow speaking. You think, that all of the perpetrators were brought to justice and the story being finished? Unfortunately, no. Why? Well, I've been researching about the whole case, when I found something peculiar. It seems like, in one of those 'Experiments', they did convert Johnny's memories into video files. And some of them featured a notorious person, who's determined on getting rid of all children in Porkbelly and perhaps...the entire world. Anybody, who has some common sense knows, that this action would basically drive humanity into extinction. If not, well this video will show you, how twisted and cruel this person actually is. For any parent out there, even though you won't like it, this video will open your eyes and be more careful."
After those words from the Shadow, the video faded to a montage, showing the evil toy maker's crimes from start to finish. What's worse, it was all for a petty reason. He just wanted peace and such. Any sane person could just kindly tell them to keep it down, talk to their parents, do their business elsewhere or even better, JUST IGNORE IT. But no, Wacko literally chose the insanity route and decided to get rid of ALL children, which is not only petty, but also without children, there will be no new generation and that the human race would slowly go extinct.
"That's probably just a misunderstanding, right?" Wacko tried to double down the incidents.
"In the past, probably...but this is not the case today. You can thank Johnny Test's disappearance for the massive change. Anyway, you're coming with us." The leader responded with an angry glare.
"Oh, really? In that case, if you want a fight, then so be it!" Wacko pressed a a button on a hidden device around his wrist, which was covered by one of his sleeves. Suddenly, many of his dangerous toys appear out of nowhere with dangerous weapons. Immediately, the soldiers prepared their weapons and shoot the toys, but many of them are bulletproof and attacked the soldiers, as Wacko laughed like a madman. Many of the employees backed away in fear, only to be held hostage by the dangerous toys.
"SIR, PUT DOWN THE TOYS!" One soldier commanded him to stop the madness, but it fell on deaf ears, as the toys kept rampaging. So of course, the soldiers kept firing and firing. While that was going on, Wacko went to the computer, in order to start his plan of getting rid of all children. He laughed and laughed, as he was really about to push the button, when suddenly, he was tackled by one of the soldiers, leading to a big scuffle, leading to screams, scratches and kicks. It went on and on, but eventually, the crazy toy maker got the upper hand by throwing the solider to a wall. He was really about to push the button for real.
"I'm afraid, your pathetic plan of taking me down will end right here, RIGHT NOW! And THIS TIME, I'M GONNA WIN!!!" Wacko laughed in a maniacal tone, as he was inches away from the computer and he was about to push it for real, when all of a sudden, he heard a voice.
"No. Your path ends now!"
Suddenly, the toys dropped like flies, releasing the employees and stopping any shots and such, as footsteps can be heard. Everyone looked around, only to see the secretary with another remote, which included a kill switch. "Sir, we are completely tired of your nonsense! All we wanted is a complete restart and making toys for children to enjoy, but you never listened and instead used your resources and your company name to ruin our reputation!" She yelled, before turning her attention to the FBI. "Gentlemen, he's all yours."
"Gladly, ma'am." The leader responded and the soldiers tackled Wacko down and arrested him.
"YOU TRAITOR!!! I'LL BE BACK, I SWEAR!!" Wacko shouted, but the secretary just looked away in silence, as he was taken away by the agents and guards. His shouts and snarls of clear insanity can be heard, sending chills down to everyone's spines. But as time went on, the sounds became less laudable, as he was taken further and further away, until eventually...it became silent. As the injured soldiers slowly got up, the leader went to the secretary and shook her hand.
"Thank you for your cooperation." The leader looked at her. "The operation was a success."
"Believe me, it's for the good of mankind. But, remember about our side of the deal." The unnamed secretary reminded the leader of a deal, they took.
"Of course, ma'am. You and the other employees will use the resource to make a brand new company to start over from scratch, while we'll erase the data and you'll be excluded from the trial." He nodded.
"We just wanted to start over. That's all. Ladies and Gentlemen, it's time." The secretary told to the employees and they sighed in relief, as their nightmare was over. They took the assents and resources and immediately began working on their restructuring.
It turns out, that all of this was part of an operation from the employees and the FBI. In fact, just two weeks before the incident, they confronted the employees with the mission of shutting down the company for good, due to the constant scandals and controversies. But after the secretary and the employees told them their opinions on Wacko and his deeds, the FBI thought about it. In fact, the secretary herself offered a deal on catching the crazy toy maker, in exchange for the agents to wipe all of the data clean and for them to just start over with a clean slate. After the FBI thought about it for a while and some discussions, they agreed and for the next two weeks, they confiscated a copy of the game "No Escape!" and hire the best programmers to get him out. And the rest is history.
Five days later, Wacko stood on trial in a cube, made of plexiglass, while many parents and a lot of angry toy makers and companies gathered, because they believed, that thanks to him, the toy industry as a whole will collapse. The trial was not pretty to say the least. As the parents of his victims testified against him, a sense of dread and insanity loomed in the air, Wacko's sanity became shattered and laughed like a mad clown. Children became scared and cried and their parents became mad, as the toy maker shouted insults at them, which really didn't help him with the case at all and instead showed, how cruel he actually is.
"Order! Order in the court!!" The judge banged his gavel on the desk to silence everyone and they did, except for Wacko, who still laughed. Eventually, security guards have to put him a mouth cage around him, since his behaviour became too unbearable for everyone. Once the guards silenced him, the judge resumed with his judgement. "Has the jury reached a verdict?" He asked the jury.
"We have, your honor. We declare the defendant, Wacko, guilty of all charges of child kidnapping, attempted murder and also attempted genocide." A man in the jury read out the verdict and the others agreed. Although they discussed earlier, if he would be plead guilty or not, when he's insane. And if that's the case, would he be sent to death or life sentence in a max prison?
Ultimately the judge had decided a fitting punishment in his mind. "With that said, the court sentences you to death! Normally, I'm neutral during the cases, but this one...it's undeniably clear, that it makes every parents' blood boil, myself included! I am a father of three children, who are destined for greatness and yet, they deserve happiness. You are basically trying to break them by separating them from their family for all eternity and erase the human race slowly and painfully, all because you have very petty reasons! No wonder, why Johnny Test had disappeared, it's because of you! Well you and his family and a few others!" The judge sentenced him, while being angry. Given that the judge is a father of three children, it's understandable. After that sentence and a slam from the gavel, the guards took the crazy toy maker away, but not before for him ushering an even crazier laugh. A sign, that his sanity has been completely shattered and couldn't be restored at all. A laugh, that echoed throughout the entire courtroom and giving anyone a very unpleasant memory....But regardless, the parents, as well as toy makers and companies were relieved, that their greatest enemy has been given, what he deserved. But, it will take a long time for the toy industry to rebuild itself again, after that case.
Inside of the mansion, Mr. Mittens has been laying on his bed with a depressed look on his face, moping and grieving. He had truly lost everyone: His allies, Brain Freezer and Zizrar, even the Bee Keeper, despite him retiring from being evil permanently, his enemies Johnny, Dukey, the agents, the general, the sisters, despite them being arrested and sentenced in prison, some people, he didn't really care, like Eugene and Jillian and now, his trusty butler, Albert. (Side note, he never met Sissy, Missy and Mr. Harm) It was just too much for the cat to handle. And so, he decided to isolate himself from everyone by staying in the mansion, thinking that he's not in a mood for everything. As the days went by, despite Mittens making sure to meet the essentials, like food and water, his grief prevented him on checking on his other needs, causing his fur to become really messy. It went on and on, until two weeks later. On Wednesday, he has to attend Albert's funeral. So he brushed his fur all by himself and prepared himself for that day by dressing himself with a black trench coat, gloves, shoes and the hat. Mittens also took an umbrella and went out. On that day, the skies were cloudy as hell and heavy rain poured all over the city. Regardless, he went out on a walk to the cemetery, while being plagued by a lot of negative thoughts. As he arrived, the cat noticed that one person was not in the crowd: His former owner.
"Wait a minute...where is he?" Mittens wondered. He theorized, that either he had no time to attend the funeral, due to a very busy schedule or he had already moved on from him and Albert. He leaned more on the latter theory, since it's been a long time since his very first plan and even before that, him leaving his owner and taking Albert with him. However, he couldn't recall time, as he was busy with other things, like races and other foiled plans. But this time, the cat had to focus on the present and say goodbye to his butler, while reminiscing on the times, where there were turbulent moments, but also good ones, despite Mittens himself not being nice. He silently hid in the crowd of the mourners, as Albert's family members and close friends carried the casket to the open grave and a chaplain preparing his words.
"Ladies and Gentlemen...We are gathered to mourn the loss of Albert." The chaplain went on to tell about Albert's life and his accomplishments, despite the fact, that he helped Mr. Mittens on so many plans on destroying Johnny and turning everyone into cats. Speaking of Mr. Mittens, the cat himself was trying his best to not stand out from the crowd and avoid any eye contact. It went on for a few minutes in the pouring rain, until the coffin was lowered and the mourners leaving bouquets of flowers behind. Before the grave was filled, Mr. Mittens threw a single white rose into it and left the cemetery, without saying a single word and shedding a few tears.
As the feline went by the other passerby and even a few couples kissing under the rainy city, his heart broke even more, since it's clear, that his massive loneliness extends to love as well. Since he is the only anthropomorphic cat in this world, the reason as of why he would turn everyone into cats, other to rule the world, is some form of companionship. Well, at least, that what he sees now. Back then, he was such a nasty cat, but as time went on, he spent more time battling Johnny and his gang or even playing games with him or hell, teaming up on one occasion, the magenta feline became a bit softer but still nasty. That was until Johnny and Dukey disappeared from this world and with them, his allies and enemies as well, in which the cat found out the truth of why. As if the drama, resulting in the alliance disbanding under bad terms wasn't frustrating enough, their disappearances added more weight to his already heavy problem. And recently, losing Albert was the breaking point.
He couldn't even think straight, as the feline continued walking down the streets, while ignoring any eye contact. Eventually, he had to go to a quieter place than the loud hustle of the city. More specifically, he was about to go back to his mansion and was about to open the door, when all of a sudden, the magenta cat was caught in a dark bag, courtesy of men dressed in black.
"Hey! What the hell!? Let me go!!" Mittens struggled to break free from the bag, while the men grabbed it tightly. In fact, he tried to claw his way out, only for the bag to not budge, as if it was made from a very strong material. Suddenly, one of the men opened the bag a bit and sprayed a substance inside. Meanwhile, Mittens still tried his best to get out, but he didn't realise, that breathing in the gas would slowly make him lose consciousness. "Are you guys deaf or something?!!? I said let....me....go..." Those were his last words, before passing out, while the men carried the bag to an uncertain destination.
Meanwhile in Equestria...
Rarity was doing her usual job inside of the Carousel Boutique by sketching some ideas and making dresses, when she heard a knock from the door.
"One moment, please!" The white unicorn responded, while finishing a recent dress. After which, she went to the door and opened it, revealing to be the Brain Freezer.
"Oh! Brain Freezer, what brings you here?" Rarity asked.
"Uhm...you know...I'm still stuck on trying to win Snow Emerald's heart, since...well. I'm still nervous as hell. That's because she started to hang around me and Zizrar for a while." The icy unicorn explained.
"Well, my friends and I are still trying to fix their friendship problem and guiding them to righteousness. Right now, they're slowly improving, when I last met them. It's still crazy, that it all happened without our knowledge! You know, the whole drama amongst them, because of certain events, which lead to that dragon incident and Fire and Ocean being taken by Princess Luna and Tempest? It still gives me migraines..." Rarity sighed. "But it seems like, it would soon go away. I hope... Anyway, I know, that you are still scared about being rejected again, if you decide to tell her about your past. I was originally going to tell you to forget the past, which I'm still recommending for you to do so for your sake. But, after the whole drama, I was like 'Screw it! Try to be honest with her! Lying is not good at all!'. I know, that you are still hesitant, but it's better to tell her the truth than not saying at all!" The heroine of generosity gave him some advice. "And also, be nice."
"Again, how? What if my past would make her hate me!?!" The blue stallion became nervous.
"I'm pretty sure, she will understand, darling. Plus, Starlight and a few others did some terrible things before and were forgiven. If they bounced back from their actions and redeemed themselves, I'm pretty sure, you can do it too. Same for your friend, Zizrar, who I still have to make some new sunglasses, after his old ones were destroyed by accident." Rarity assured him, that everything is okay. "Now would you excuse me, I have to finish some new dresses and decorations for the upcoming Friendship Festival."
"Uhm...I've heard, that the last one was interrupted by the Storm King some time ago. Is that the reason, why there will be another one?" Brain Freezer became curious.
"Actually, since there was so much progress with our relations to non-ponies, thanks to Twilight's efforts, the princesses have decided to plan another one. That and Tempest actually wanted to attend, since she just wanted to have a good time." Rarity explained, before closing the door, leaving the icy stallion to think about the advice, he was given.
After which, Brain Freezer went out for a walk in Ponyville, while he heard the sounds of the citizens working hard and playing hard. Seeing many young and old couples having a good time made him imagine his future with Snow Emerald. They sounded wonderful, but of course, he was dealing with so much anxiety and doubts. Like what if things would go wrong? He was really scared of yet another rejection, after what happened in the past, when his true identity was revealed in front of his former girlfriend. In fact, he was so busy dealing with his thoughts, that he didn't pay attention to his surroundings, when all of a sudden, the icy unicorn bumped into someone hard and fell onto the ground.
"Ow! Watch, where you going, man!" The stallion yelled, while rubbing his head. At first, he assumed, he bumped into a random pony, but upon opening his eyes and looking around a bit, he saw Snow Emerald herself on the ground, groaning in pain and rubbing her head and around her were dropped bags of groceries.
"Oh, shit! I'm sorry! I didn't you here!" The icy unicorn profusely apologized and used his unicorn magic to pick up the bags.
"It's okay. I was also lost by my own insecurities as well. Also, thanks for picking up the groceries." Snow forgave him and grabbed the bags. "I've been trying my best to move on from...well...that drama."
"Oh yeah. Twilight told me about it. It's about that drama between you and your friends, which leads to the disbanding of your team and losing your friends." Brain Freezer responded, before remembering, what Rarity said to him. Before Snow could leave, he grabbed her hoof, took a deep breath and confessed with: "I'm sorry, if I'm being pushy, but....I can't stay silent any longer...I have to get this out of my chest. You see....I had a dark past before..." That confused the pegasus mare, but curiosity got the better of her and listened to his confession. But before, he could tell her about his past, the stallion used his magic to teleport him and Snow to a different section of the village, where there is not much activity.
"I don't originate from Equestria, but instead from a different universe, specifically in a city, called 'Porkbelly'. It all started a long time ago, outside of the Institute of Technology. Back then, I was just a coffee guy there, but with an exceptionally high IQ and twisted thoughts. I was showing off one of my inventions at a contest, in hopes of winning. But of course, reality wasn't really kind to me and I got belittled as just a coffee guy. Something snapped inside of me and froze everyone, except for a particular duo, shown here." Brain Freezer pointed at Johnny and Dukey playing with their brother, Cosmic Blaze and Breeze Dasher.
"You mean your friends over there? Those two ponies, named Radiant Thunder and Coffee Paw?" Snow asked.
"Yes. But back then...It was very complicated. At the beginning, I saw them as threats, trying to prevent my plan of freezing over Porkbelly. They tried to trick me, but of course, they couldn't differentiate the cups and I was so close on defeating my enemy, but was ultimately defeated by...a rich looking friend of his. That rich guy is the one playing with the fillies." Brain Freezer referred to Eugene, who is seen playing with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, before continuing his story. "As I said, the relation between me and him was very complicated. On one hand...or should I say...hoof...he and his pal were my enemies and stopped my plans time after time, even when I teamed up with other bad guys, it still wasn't enough to defeat him. But on the other side, I did enjoy spending time with him racing, playing games and even teaming up time after time. But that was nothing, compared to the time, he helped me finding love. I was really lonely, but too stubborn to show it. It wasn't until one of my many defeats, where the truth came out to them. Amazingly, they decided to help me find a soulmate for me. It was...messy to say the least...a lot of chaos and failures happened and at one point, gave up my pursuit altogether and went back to my evil ways. But in the end, I was locked into a device, which made me look really handsome and eventually, I made a new life for myself. I did eventually found one girl and started a romantic relationship with her...but my true identity eventually came out and she was horrified at me, severely breaking my heart. Completely heartbroken, I went evil again, but my connection with Radiant Thunder, or as I know him as Johnny, surprisingly improved. It's more like a frenemy situation. I really can't describe it in full, due to how complicated it is. But one day...everything changed for me. Johnny had disappeared without a trace, alongside with his doggy pal, which really broke me even harder. Keep this in mind, before that, the alliance between me and others fell apart, due to constant arguments and petty fights. I was already stressed at the time and with his disappearance, also made me...depressed, as the loneliness and sadness from that heartbreak returned at full force. Even when I found a best friend, in form of Zizrar, it still wasn't enough to fill the void. And soon...I saw the videos from the Shadow, in which my eyes opened at the full truth about Johnny's disappearance. Disgusted and feeling guilty of being part of that mess, I went with my friends, as well with a kind man, to make amends and find him. Eventually, when we arrived at Area 51.1, I was told by the agents, that Johnny actually went to this world...Equestria. As to be expected, we went there PERMANENTLY and after a while of searching, we found them and apologized for what we've done. They did forgive us and we started to live our new lives as ponies and non-ponies. Right now, I'm still trying to redeem myself." During the confession, the icy blue stallion had tears forming in his cold blue eyes.
"Oh my God..." Snow was shocked of the whole story.
"You know...looking back...I can't believe, how insane I was back then." Brain Freezer sighed.
"Sounds like, you have a very serious problem with yourself. From what I've heard, you couldn't get over your own past, especially from that heartbreak." Snow commented, causing the icy unicorn to look down in shame. "Look, I don't want to sound too harsh...but, you have to confront your problems and trying to solve them one by one." The pegasus mare added.
"I'm trying, okay?!" He shouted. "I'm just scared, that you would hate me, because of it!" The icy blue stallion lowered his head, while tears fell down from his face.
"Wait...why would I-" The snowy pegasus was confused and was about to say something, when Brain Freezer interrupted her.
"No, seriously! Unlike the others, when I first saw you in this village, something had changed inside of me. It became...warmer and softer..." At this point, Brain Freezer was struggling to find the appropriate words for Snow, due to his high anxiety.
"Well, what is it?" Snow asked, but before the stallion could even tell her about his feelings, they heard a shout from Breeze Dasher.
"Hey, guys!" The dark blue mare flew to them with a worried look on her face. "Uhm....hate to interrupt your conversation, but...I really could use your help right now."
"What is it, Breeze?" Snow asked to her friend.
"Well...I was just minding my own business, when I saw some mole dude stuck in a hole, with some muscular moles around him, trying to get him out." Breeze explained.
"What?! Where is he!?" Brain Freezer was shocked to learn, that it was Zizrar, who got stuck.
"Follow me!" Breeze flew off with the icy ponies running after the mare out of Ponyville and they arrived near a forest, in which they saw Zizrar, stuck on a hole upside down.
"Can someone tell me, what's going on?!" Brain Freezer asked.
"Well, we tried to find a place for the mole people to dig and make a new home, when we saw a hole. Zizrar was about to inspect it, when he tripped and his crown fell down into it. Of course, our king jumped inside of the hole, but got stuck halfway." One of the mole men explained. "We tried to get him out, but the hole is too tight."
"Shit....We have to get him out now!" The icy unicorn replied and tried to use his unicorn magic to pull Zizrar out, but it cost a lot of stamina and power. Of course, it didn't work and instead left him exhausted.
"Have you guys tried to extend the hole by digging?" Snow asked.
"The ground is dry." One of the mole men explained and even touched the ground a bit, which was indeed dry.
"Why not trying to watering the ground to make the soil easier to dig?" Brain Freezer had an idea.
"It's a good idea, but....there is a problem. Ocean Spark is currently unavailable, due to...you know, being taken by the moon princess! Alternatively, I could use my ice powers, but that would not be a good idea and even if you want to use fire, keep in mind, that Fire Jewel is also unavailable for the same reason!" Snow explained, which lead to the group thinking of other ideas. None of which would do something, but Brain Freezer had an idea.
"Wait! Why not using our ice powers and the other would use torches to melt the ice and watering the ground? As for your friend not being available, we can improvise!" The icy unicorn explained his idea in full and thought of something, when another "Eureka!" moment came by, when he saw her friend, Breeze Dasher. "Hey, you! You can use a bit of your lightning to create fires!" He added.
"Wait, are you serious? You know, that my lightning powers are no joke, pal!" Breeze references the power scale of her elemental powers.
"Also, what do you mean by 'our' ice powers? Wait...don't tell you have..." Snow was taken aback by what Brain Freezer said, before knowing, what he meant.
"...ice powers as well? Yes. And as for the lightning, you could make smaller ones on some strong branches, yet strong enough to make torches." Brain Freezer addressed both of the girls' questions and concerns.
"Hey! Could you guys hurry up?! I think, my blood is on their way to my brain!" The voice of Zizrar can be heard, who's getting impatient. "Also I still need to get my crown back!"
"You heard him, guys! Let's start!" Snow had a serious look on her face and the group start their plan on freeing the king. The mole men went around to find some strong branches and after they returned, Breeze used her lightning powers to set the branches ablaze. And while Snow and Brain Freezer used their ice powers to create small ice blocks around them, the men use their torches to melt the ice down, with the dark blue pegasus mare using her wind powers to keep the fire burning. The fire caused the ice to melt and soil the ground around Zizrar with the water. At the same time, one of the mole men kept checking the ground, if it's wet enough to extend the hole and getting their king out. After a couple of minutes, he started digging around the hole, extending the diameter in the process. After a while, the hole was big enough for the ponies and the mole people to pull Zizrar out. Thanks to the soiled ground and the extended size of the hole, they managed to get him out of the hole and lay him down on the ground.
"Wait! My crown..." The mole king was a bit dazed, while also shielding his eyes, due to the sunlight.
"What happened to your sunglasses?" Snow asked.
"You see....Rarity said, that he accidentally broke his old sunglasses and that she'll make a new one for him." Brain Freezer explained.
"Uhm....How did that happen?" Breeze was confused.
"It was... really chaotic. I had a lot of bad luck, like getting hit in the head by a falling flower pot, bumped into that clumsy pegasus again and finally, tripping and falling on my sunglasses." Zizrar recounted on the event.
Meanwhile, one of the mole men inspected the hole and looked down, only to see, that the crown somehow went missing. "Uhm...excuse me?" He went to the king and attempted to explain about the situation. "Your crown...uhm.."
With those words, Zizrar immediately stood up and looked down on the hole, when he noticed, that his crown wasn't there anymore. "MY CROWN!!!! How did this happen!? It was there a minute ago, when I got stuck!!" He yelled in shock and in disbelief.
"I was about to say, that it somehow went missing." His right hand man responded.
"Hold up....There's no way, it could just disappear so quickly..." Breeze doubted.
"Perhaps, someone stole it from underground, because there are no other ponies and creatures around aside form us. And even then, I didn't hear someone taking it via magic or just by hoof and running away." The snowy mare theorized.
"That means, someone stole my crown from down under the hole! Gentlemen, go down into the hole and get it back, now!!" Zizrar commanded his men to go down into the hole and find the thief, in which they nodded and after extending the hole further, went inside and dug even deeper.
"What about the new sunglasses?" Zizrar asked, while still covering his eyes.
"Pretty sure, Rarity is still working on it. Why not go back to Ponyville to check up on her? Maybe she had it finished." The icy unicorn told to his friend.
"Good idea! Let's go!" Zizrar was about to run, when Snow grabbed him.
"Not so fast! We don't want you to get lost, okay? We're gonna go to Ponyville together. So stay close to me, okay?" Snow responded.
"Hmmm...actually, you can go. I'll go inside the hole, making sure, these dudes are at least protected." Breeze made her decision and told her friend about it.
"Are you sure, you want to go inside alone? You do know, what happened last time, you did something similar, right?" Snow was sceptical.
"I know. I know. It didn't go so well and got my ass captured by them. But, trust me! I'll be careful this time!" The dark blue mare responded in a confident manner, before zooming into the hole, leaving the trio behind.
"You know. Breeze can be a bit cocky, but she is a loyal warrior." Snow told the guys about her friend. "Actually...I haven't told you about my friends, Cherry, Fire, Ocean and Tropic yet. But first, we have to go back to Ponyville. It's been quite a day." She continued, before flying her way back, with the guys following them. However, she excluded someone else, due to drama. Meanwhile, Brain Freezer was feeling down, because he didn't get the chance on telling Snow Emerald about his feelings, before Breeze interrupted them with the emergency. ???
Elsewhere, Mr. Mittens slowly woke up in an unknown, windowless room with a single steel door, a table and a few chairs.
"Ugh....where am I?" He was still dazed by the substance, which knocked him out earlier. He tried to get up, only to feel something preventing him on doing so. It turned out, that he was handcuffed and chained to the chair, he was sitting. Immediately realizing, that he got captured, the feline struggled to break free from his restraints, but due to the strength of the chains and the cuffs, he couldn't get himself out. But that didn't deter him from trying his best multiple times, even though it cost him stamina. Suddenly, the door opened and a group of men in black, holding several files in cases entered inside. After closing the door shut, they sat down to the table, put down the files and started at the magenta cat.
"Well, well, well. Look, who decided to wake up." One of the men spoke to the struggling feline, when two of them hold him in place, preventing any struggle.
"What is the meaning of this!? Let me go!!" The feline hissed at the men, but they were unphased by his anger.
"We've heard a lot of you, thanks to our former agents, who've you encountered a lot of times." The man responded, while pulling out a secret file, containing a lot of confidential info, alongside a profile of Mittens himself. "It's no surprise, why you're here, considering that we have a lot of information about you. Attempting to turn everyone into cats, destroying public property, even going so far to team up with other criminals for the most damning of all: trying to destroy Johnny Test. " He then pulled out another secret file, this time about Johnny Test and his disappearance and death. "You know, the boy, who had disappeared without a trace and was declared dead a few weeks ago?"
"Wait a minute..." The feline was slowly putting the pieces together, as of why he's here and who those men are. Eventually, he then remembered the moment, he was bagged and knocked out by an unknown individual. "Don't tell me, you're..." He finally got the answer, who the men are, but one of the men finished the sentence for him.
"FBI agents? Yes. And you are in big trouble, furball! Because we have the evidence right here!" The agent slammed his fist on the table hard.
"Look, I'm not in the good mood for talking at all, given that I lost my butler a few weeks ago! " Mittens yelled. "And even before that, I felt really empty, because I lost so many people in my life! Especially my enemy, Johnny Test!"
"That doesn't change the fact, that you've done so many crimes in the last years alone! I'm pretty sure, you're gonna spend your entire life behind bars! That is....unless you have to do a little favor from us..." The FBI agent told him about something...odd. He offered something to Mittens.
"What do you want from me!?" Mittens became annoyed.
"Remember, when I told you about connections, you had in the past? Well, recently, several of your allies have either vanished as well and got declared dead or in the case of the evil toy maker, arrested and sentenced to death. However, there is someone, we had trouble on capturing him. Someone, who is stronger than any of us." The agent put down another file and opened it. This time, it showed a picture of a man in a green armored suit and tons of information about him.
"I know him. Even though I only met him a few times." Mittens recognized the person as the Dark Vegan. "But..,. Like I said, I was such in a bitter mood, that I isolated myself from everyone. Why? Because I had a feud with members of the Johnny Stopping Evil Force 6 a few weeks before Test vanished. Why are you telling me this?"
"Well, one of our agents overheard a conversation of him planning to drain all life sources of our planet and then destroy it altogether, while he was outside his house. He said, he'll do it tomorrow. Of course, we have plans to stop him once and for all, since he too has a long history of crimes, this time, it's attempted genocide. But the problem is, he has an entire army and advanced technology. He destroyed our jets and weapons many times. This time, he would do it again, if we go to the offensive. This is why, we need a willing agent to infiltrate his ship and ambush him. And we think, you are the only one, who fill all of our credentials, plus with the extra knowledge about him." Another agent explained the situation about Dark Vegan's upcoming attack on the planet and looked at Mittens, as if he wanted to recruit him.
"But be warned, if you decline our offer, then you would be sent to a supermax prison for the rest of your life, without the possibility of parole. And perhaps, we would remove the formula, which makes you the smart talking cat, you are, PERMANENTLY." The agent warned the feline, who responded in silence.
"So...I'll ask you one final question. Either jail time for the rest of your life or help us on taking down Dark Vegan and his army once and for all? Make. Your. Decision." The agent emphasized the choices hard, while the other agents went around the feline, who only looked at the lead agent in silence. They really want an answer from him right here, right now. Keeping the silence even longer would land him behind bars immediately and be turned into a regular cat permanently. So keep being silent is not an option. Which means, Mr. Mittens has to decide his own fate right now, since the agents wanted a definite answer from him. After some quick thinking, he made his decision. So he looked at the agents with a serious look on his face and told them about his final decision.
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Side Story: Grieving in the Rain | As Brain Freezer, Zizrar and Snow Emerald returned to Ponyville from the forest, they saw Cherry Swirl talking with a few ponies. However, the talk wouldn't last long, as Cherry turned her head to see her friend.
"Hey, Snowy!" The green mare ran towards her pegasus friend.
"Hi, Cherry! How's it going?" Snow smiled.
"Pretty well. I've been socializing with other ponies and non ponies, while learning new things about friendship. It is hard for sure, but it feels so therapeutic. Speaking of which... recently, Tropic felt much better than before. Fluttershy helped her overcome with her insecurities with the help of her animals. I mean, nature and animals go really well." Cherry explained about her progress, alongside that from Tropic.
"Yeah. I'm really glad, she is in a better mood than before. As for us, we had to deal with a situation." Snow responded. "Basically, Zizrar became stuck in a hole, while trying to retrieve his crown back. Since Fire and Ocean are unavailable, we had to improvise on how to get him out. Brain Freeze and I had to use our ice powers a bit, while the mole people used some torches to melt them down."
"And get this: after I got out, I went back to the hole, only to see, that my crown has disappeared! So I had to send my men down there to retrieve it." Zizrar added.
"Breeze also stayed behind to help the men, even though I told her to be more careful." Snow told her friend about Breeze's decision.
"Now, that you mentioned it, I have to go back to get my crown!!" Zizrar proclaimed, much to the dismay of the girls.
"Are you fucking crazy!? We don't know, what lurks underground!" Snow tried to convince the mole king about the dangers, but he immediately went off, leaving everyone behind.
"Oh my god..." Snow sighed and face palmed.
"Let me tell you, he's quite an eccentric one." Brain Freezer chuckled.
"Go figure." Cherry scratched her head."
"Oh! I just realized, I don't know much about you girls and what you did before you arrived here!" The icy unicorn just realized.
"I mean, since we're friends now, we can tell you just that. But first, we need to go to a nearby cafe or something. There's got to be one near Ponyville." Cherry noted and the trio went off to find a cafe, since they wanted to take a break. Eventually, they found one and after ordering some drinks, they sat down to a table. Coincidentally, Fluttershy and Tropic Bloom were also here, looking for a free table and when the yellow ponies noticed the others, they went to them.
"Hey, girls!" Cherry smiled at the two mares, before turning her attention towards Tropic. "I've heard, that you're feeling much better now, huh?"
"Indeed, I feel so much better now, thanks to Fluttershy, her friends and of course, her animals. In fact, I actually helped her with the animals with my nature magic to not only improve their homes, but also getting resources for future assistance." Tropic smiled, while demonstrating her nature magic by making nearby fauna bloom.
"That's quite impressive!" The stallion was in awe of the yellow mare's ability to control nature.
"It's all thanks to the Elemental Orb of Nature. You see, my friends are chosen by the Elemental Orbs and with these, we protect the galaxies and stop evil. Each of us have different elemental magic, along with other great spells. For example, Snow controls the magic of ice, while Cherry controls the earth. Then there's Breeze, who managed to control two elements, wind and lightning. Fire Jewel obviously controls the power of the flames and her sister, Ocean Spark, controls the water." Tropic explained. "And then....there's one more. The elemental orb of the Shining light. But we don't want to talk about it."
That last sentence made Fluttershy a bit suspicious. The elemental ponies never talk about the pink alicorn, they last encountered outside of the Ponyville Hospital. Of course, she's aware of the drama, but the fact, that they refused to talk about her, even though she was mentioned by them, when they explained the first dragon incident to the royal sisters, is certainly off.
"Uhm, what happened?" Brain Freezer was confused. "Who has that Shining light orb?"
"Please...don't even think about going there." Snow became cold towards the answer and the same can be said to Cherry, who looked away and Tropic, who felt saddened.
"But-" Before he could ask why, Snow grabbed him by the cheeks.
"I said: "Don't. Mention. Her. EVER." The icy pegasus mare replied in an aggressive tone.
"Snowy, let him go..." Cherry sighed and tapped her friend's shoulder. The snowy pegasus let him go and sighed, before the green mare turned her attention towards Fluttershy and Brain Freezer. "I'm sorry, but we still have to get over that drama." She replied. "Plus, we had to deal with our own issues."
"I understand. The incident was quite painful for us all." Fluttershy tried to be sympathetic towards Snow, but the icy mare still had the cold glare.
"No. You don't understand, how it feels to have a leader, who doesn't know better! One, who was too strict and yet, fails, due to that bitch not being able to being paranoid for five fucking seconds!" Snow yelled at the shy mare, immediately scaring her.
"Snow, please...." Tropic slowly got anxious by friend's assertion.
"Oh dear....it sounds like-" Once again, Fluttershy was cut off by an angry Snow.
"...a total bitch?" She glared.
An argument between the two pegasi ensued, while Brain Freezer was left confused and Tropic covering in fear, until eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. However, Cherry was aware of it and immediately covered her ears.
"EVERYPONY, STOP!!!!" The yellow earth pony mare screamed, unintentionally causing some the bushes and trees to go out of control for a short time, before she stopped.
"That's enough, Snow!!" Cherry was not happy over her friend's cold demeanor and grabbed her ear.
"Why is she acting so mean?!" Brain Freezer was in disbelief, in which Cherry sighed and explained him the following:
"You see, Snow can be quite pessimistic and assertive on a bad day. And sometimes, she can be quite cold to others....no pun intended. But....I'm pretty sure, it's not her intention to be a bully. She's a headstrong and calculated mare, who controls the ice with efficiency. Even though, she can be brutally honest, she's also known for being a loyal pony, once you know her for a while."
"Ugh....I just needed a break..." Snow sighed.
"In that case, why not start socializing with others? I know, your cold demeanor would make it difficult, but try to open up a bit more and warm up?" Tropic suggested.
"You know...Maybe I can help." The icy stallion raised his hoof. "You know, I also had a difficult time with socializing others, mostly due to my background as a bad guy. Even after I slowly began to redeem myself, I still have yet to go through those obstacles. And it's clear, that your cold demeanor also prevents you from socializing. But I'm pretty sure, we can work it out together....that is, if you really want to." He reached his hoof towards Snow Emerald as a sign of sympathy. At first, the snow white pegasus was hesitant, mostly due to being plagued by the drama and other factors. But after slowly realizing, that he was really genuine about it and after some encouragement from the other mares, she finally grabbed his hoof.
"You know....I always had difficulty to open myself up to others, due to the rules back then in my home planet and other factors. But....after meeting my friends and realizing that they were genuine to me, I slowly started to do some progress. Alright, I'm in." The pegasus mare smiled, causing Brain Freezer to blush and the other mares to giggle.
"I'm happy, that you managed to soften yourself up." Fluttershy smiled.
However, Cherry Swirl became worried about her best friend, Breeze Dasher. It's been a few hours and the dark blue mare hadn't returned.
"What's the matter?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh....it's just, I'm worried about Breeze. That's all." Cherry responded. "I just don't want her to be missing again. For those, you don't know, there was a time, where she got involved in a squabble. She heard a mysterious sound and went after it, only to be never seen again. It wasn't until combining my earth and Tropic's nature powers to find her location. It turned out, that she was caught in a conflict between two clans and got herself captured. Of course, we managed to save her and solve the conflict once for all, since....it turns out, they had a rivalry before."
"Oh my...That's horrible..." The shy mare was shocked.
"Don't worry. She bounced back after that incident...although this lead to us deciding to watch her, making sure an incident like that would never happen again." Snow chuckled a bit. "She is quite a cocky one, that's for sure, but she is one of the fastest fighters in our group."
"Man, I've heard Rainbow Dash is currently the fastest pony alive. Imagine her racing with Breeze." Brain Freezer nervously smiled.
"Oh boy...This would be a very quick, yet chaotic race, that's for sure." Cherry giggled and scratched her head.
"Here are the orders?" A waitress served them their drinks and some sweets.
"Thanks." Snow smiled.
After they received the orders, they began to talk about their hobbies, professions and what they're doing recently. Snow and Cherry talked them about their friendship progress and that Twilight and the others got their back, if they have problems. At the same time, Fluttershy tood them about her activities and the friendship school, in which she's one of the teachers. However, recently there has been some hiccups. Meanwhile, Brain Freezer watched, as the girls chatted each other, but he only set his eyes for Snow. As he watched her laugh and talk about various topics, he smiled and blushed, thinking that she would be the right one for him. In fact, he had a plan to confess his love to her, but there was a problem. He still hasn't got the confidence, he needed. Plus, he's been plagued with anxiety. Like, what if she doesn't like him back? But regardless, seeing the snowy pegasus does melt down the anxiety.
Meanwhile, on the park, we see Johnny, Dukey and Cosmic Blaze playing with a blow up ball, passing it to each other. They had a fun time with each other. For Johnny and Dukey, this was a well-deserved break, after the dragon incident, as well as a wholesome distraction from the usual struggles against their demons. Plus, the serene atmosphere did help them recover as well.
"Here I come!" Cosmic smirked and prepared himself, when Johnny passed the ball at him. As soon, as the ball got closer and closer, the navy colt prepared for a pass of a lifetime, until he hit the ball so high up, it nearly reached the height of a tree. The three ponies raced for who would catch the ball first, but a sudden change in wind direction caused the ball to fly to a completely different direction and land into a tree far away from the group, causing it to become stuck in a highest place between the branches.
"Geez, Cosmic. If this was Baseball, that would be a home run." Dukey commented.
"Don't worry, bro! I got this!" The black pegasus smirked and flew up to the same tree, in order to retrieve the ball. It took a while to find the ball inside of a tree, but he managed to grab it and flew down to the ground. Finally, he threw the ball to Dukey. Seeing this gave Cosmic a new idea?
"Hey! Why not threw the ball up and the one, who catches it first, wins?" He suggested.
"That's a good idea....except the fact, that one earth pony hybrid and two pegasi would be unfair." Dukey doubted about the idea. Him competing against Johnny and Cosmic would be nearly impossible, unless some compromises had to be made.
"Why not for me and Cosmic not using our wings?" Johnny suggested.
"That's a good compromise!" The hybrid liked it. It's enough to make it fair for everyone.
Even though Cosmic is a bit bummed, he eventually agreed and they take their starting positions. They waited for the moment, the hybrid to throw up the ball high.
"Aaaand...GO!" After a while of anticipation, the hybrid threw the ball high up and the three ponies ran towards the direction of it's path, with each one of them hoping to get it first. It was quite a fun competition between the trio, as they tried to get the ball, jumping, reaching their arms out, etc. (Well, except for flying.) In the end, thanks to many experiences of jumping around, Dukey was the one, who caught the ball in the end.
"I win!" He cheered and performed a victory dance.
"Rematch!" Johnny shouted and the trio agreed. The same thing happened as last time, with the hybrid pony throwing the ball up and the ponies sprinting and jumping for it, except at the end of the second round, it was Johnny, who caught the ball.
"Yes!!" He celebrated his victory,
"Rematch?" Dukey asked.
"You bet, buddy!" The black pony smirked and threw the ball up. The round went on and on, until the end. Johnny and Dukey were really close to getting the ball. They fought for it a bit, but a breeze of wind blew it away from them and into Cosmic's direction. The colt eagerly awaited to get the ball, but Dukey's dog instincts kicked in, sprinted really fast and grabbed the ball by his mouth.
"Oh, come on!" Cosmic was getting really annoyed. He didn't got the chance to win in the previous rounds.
"Dude, really?" Johnny was not amused by his friend, who's holding the ball.
"Sorry. I couldn't help." The hybrid apologized with a nervous smile. "Next time, I'll play it fair."
In the fourth round, the earth pony threw the ball really high up and the exact same thing happened. The three ponies chased at the direction of the ball, however a other sudden gust of wind blew it in the opposite direction, throwing them off. However, since it was blown off at the reverse direction and since he was behind his brothers, Cosmic took the opportunity to make a sharp U-turn and ran as fast as possible.
"Oh no, you don't!" The duo went to Cosmic's direction, also going really fast. However, the navy colt noticed them from behind and ran even faster than before. The duo did the same thing.
"This time, I'm gonna win!" Cosmic smirked and as he saw the ball went right, thanks to a breeze of wind (not to mention, the ball being very lightweight, since it was a blow-up ball.) He quickly went the direction, following by the guys immediately after.
Johnny was behind Dukey and his brother. He had to do something to get the upperhoof. In the end, he decided to not follow the rules and used his wings to boost him forward a bit, without them noticing him cheating. He got really close to Dukey and was really close on catching him up, when all of a sudden, he got hit by a water balloon. Meanwhile, Dukey had no idea about his friend being hit and he wouldn't have the time to look back, because immediately after, he too was hit by another water balloon.
However, Cosmic had no idea about them falling behind, since he was so focused on the ball and winning the round. He hasn't won one since the first round, thus his determination rose even higher than before. Eventually, with a quick sprint and a long jump, he managed to grab the ball, thus winning the game.
"YES! I FINALLY WON!!" He flew up and around in excitement and joy for a bit, celebrating his first victory, before coming down to tell the guys about it.
"Guys! Guys! I did it! I finally won-" However, the navy colt saw them looking around, while dripping with water. "Uhm...what just happened?" He got confused.
"Don't look at me! I'm not the one responsible!" Dukey defended himself, when the pegasi brothers looked at him. "Plus, I got hit as well!"
Out of the blue, the guys, except for Cosmic, got hit with even more water balloons. What's more, they were coming from different angles.
"Hey! Not cool!" Johnny shouted in annoyance.
"Whoever's behind of that, stop!" The hybrid shouted as well. It's at this point, that they heard laughter from the other side. As they looked around, they saw Sissy and Missy coming out of a bush, laughing at them.
"Oh, your faces are so priceless!" The pegasus mare laughed, while throwing two more at the duo.
"What are you doing!?" Cosmic was getting defensive and confused at the same time.
"Just having some fun, kiddo." Missy smiled and threw another balloon at Dukey, who growled in response.
"Knock it off!" The black pegasus shouted in a very angry tone.
"If so, then catch us, if you can!" The navy mare threw another water balloon, before she and Missy took off, while the guys chase after them immediately after. Cosmic, who's still confused, ran after them.
"Hey, guys! Wait!"" Cosmic ran as fast, aa he could to catch up to them, but the little colt couldn't keep up to his brothers. Suddenly, he saw them doing a sharp right turn and did just that, but he suddenly tripped on a rock and fell to the ground.
"Ow! Man...that hurts..." Cosmic slowly got up. "And I lost them.... darn it...." The navy colt sighed and walked off to pick up the ball. Once he grabbed it, he was about to fly back to his mother, while on his way, he saw a silver-white unicorn filly with golden mane, reading a book. His eyes widened at the sight of that unicorn, as if he knew her. Sure enough, a crucial memory flashed in front of his eyes.
Several months ago...
A group of bullies have cornered the scared pegasus in a playground. In Cosmic's view of point, they were shadowy ponies with glowing eyes and distorted voices.
"Give us your coins, now!" One of them shouted, but Cosmic curled up in fear.
"Do it or we'll beat you to a pulp!" Another one shouted in an impatient tone.
"Leave me alone!!" Cosmic cried in terror. He was constantly bullied by them, just because back then, the navy colt had no cutie mark. At first, it was just typical bullying stuff. Getting thrown into a trash bin, being pushed and insulted and getting laughed at. But over the time, it got worse. At one point, he was threatened with violence, if he didn't give them money. In fact, the bullying was the main cause for the death of his friend.
"Like if we're ever listening to a puny blank flank! Come on, ponies, you know, what to do!" The leader smirked, as he directed his grunts to beat him up. It seems like, this was it, when all of a sudden, a magical barrier was formed around the navy pegasus. As Cosmic opened his eyes a bit, he saw that unicorn filly, using her magic.
"Hey! Leave him alone!" She shouted at the bullies.
What happened soon after this is that the filly managed to grab Cosmic, escaping from the bullies and alerting the authorities about the incident. In the beginning, they just dismissed the bullying, but since the death of Cosmic's friend happened was recent (It happened before this). The school was on high alert. Thankfully, they managed to find the bullies and gave them appropriate punishments. They also contacted authorities, just In case. However, out of fear and pain, Cosmic chose, not to say anything to his parents. But that didn't stop the filly from helping him recover.
Present day...
Thankfully, Cosmic became so much better than before. The navy colt and his family moved into Ponyville, gained his cutie mark and met his adoptive brothers. Eventually, he did tell his story to his parents, after hearing Johnny's entire story of abuse and bullying. And now, the same filly is in the same park as him.
"No way...Could it be..?" The colt was speechless. Eventually, after putting two and two together, he recognized the unicorn as his saviour, Golden Heart!
Meanwhile, the filly herself was still reading her book, when she heard a voice, calling her.
"Huh? What was that?" She looked up and around, only to see Cosmic coming to her. "Wait....is that...Cosmic?" Slowly, she recognized the navy pegasus, as fun fact: They actually went to the same school.
"Hi, Golden! It's been so long, hasn't it?" Cosmic was excited.
"It sure does, Cosmic. How's your new life in Ponyville so far? I've been busy with schoolwork for a long time, after the incident." Golden was curious.
"So much has happened to me since then. I met the Cutie Mark Crusaders and they helped me find my destiny, in which I earned my cutie mark, I went to a new school, the teacher is quite nice and most of all, mom and dad gave me two awesome brothers! Mind you, they're older than me, since they're adopted, but still. I had so much time with them, since they're brave, cool and fun!" Cosmic explained the filly about what happened to him afterwards.
"That's quite amazing! I'm really glad, that you're really happy now!" Golden was glad, that the navy pegasus finally recovered from the trauma. "Although, I'm quite curious about your brothers. Like, are they new here?" She asked.
"Well....about that..." Cosmic scratched his head and explained the whole story to Golden.
"Oh, geez...That's quite a rough one. In fact, it could be theorized, that this is why the bulles became like that back then. But that's just speculation." Golden had theorized about something about the bullies. "Anyway, as for me, things have become really busy for me since that incident. My mother got a job at the Ponyville Hospital, which meant we had to move in there, as our previous home was too far away from it. Since the move happened a few months ago, I have yet to go to a school. It's quite a difficult process, let me tell you. I still have to wait for my mom to get a response. In the meantime, I spend time studying magic and psychology." She then explained to him, what happened to her after it. .
"Wow. That would explain, why we haven't talked to each other for a long time." Cosmic was surprised at her answer. "Anyway, since my brothers are currently busy chasing after girls, like really though....I still have no idea why they do that....I just wanted to play ball and have some fun."
"Mind if I join in?" Golden asked.
"Sure!" Cosmic was happy. Suddenly, they heard a familiar voice.
"Hey! Let me join too!"
That voice came from Spring Gale, who was running towards them for some playtime.
"Hi, Spring! How are you doing?" Cosmic asked, while being happy to see the lime colt feeling better again. It's been a while since he was rescued by his abusive original parents.
"Thanks for asking, Cosmic. I'm feeling much better now. Gee, it's been a while since we last met at the hospital." Spring replied, while reminiscing of the more difficult times.
"Yeah. It surely was quite a hard time." Cosmic commented.
"What happened to you? Was there an accident?" Golden looked at Spring's scars and was worried at him.
"No...It's much worse...." the lime green colt looked down in sorrow. The filly was confused by his response.
"Oh boy...It's a long story, Golden....And a hard one for that..." The navy colt gulped.
"Well, my mom said, that one of the patients is a victim of abuse, since she works as a psychiatrist. She also said, cases like this have become more frequent recently." Golden responded.
"Well....the thing is...." Cosmic tried to explain the reason of the increasing cases, when all of a sudden, they heard a voice.
"It's due to a tragic story."
That voice came from the princess of friendship herself, Twilight Sparkle, who was walking by, when she saw the kids talking about the case.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Golden Heart bowed down, which lead the purple mane to be flustered.
"Oh please, I'm flattered. Anyway, I overheard your conversation and I decided to tell you the whole story. That is, if you're brave enough to hear it." The purple mane explained.
"I'm actually used to it, thanks to my bro and Spring." Cosmic assured.
"I see. And I heard, that your mom is a psychiatrist, right?" Twilight asked to the white filly.
"Of course. Plus, I've been studying magic and a few things about psychology." Golden answered.
"I see. Okay, since the story is quite a long one, I'm going to tell you a short and simplified version of it." Then the princess of Friendship proceeded to tell them a shortened version of Johnny's story. After which, Golden was speechless, while Cosmic and Spring just responded in silence, since they already knew his story.
"But don't worry, Golden. He's getting better! He has a good mom and dad, a good little bro and lots of amazing friends, who're all helping him!" Cosmic smiled, knowing that the situation is going to be okay.
"That's wonderful!" The filly was relieved.
"Anyway, what are you doing here, Cosmic?" Twilight asked, but the navy colt just sighed.
"Well....I was playing with them, when two girls just threw water balls at them. Currently, they are chasing these two." Cosmic explained.
"What do they look like?" Spring asked.
"From what I can remember, there are a pegasus and a funny looking earth pony, just like Coffee Paw. Like she's half dog or something." The navy pony recalled their appearances.
"Oh my...You must be talking about Crimson Lightning and Zapped Bone, also known by some as Sissy and Missy. There is some sort of a rivalry between they boys and the girls. And from what I've heard, that they would pull pranks at them. You know, they remind me of Rainbow Dash, who also pulls those pranks at anypony. But don't worry, she doesn't mean any harm and she did learn the lesson of not overdoing them. And I'm pretty sure, the girls won't do it either. I know for a fact, that I've talked to them a few days ago and they are still learning on becoming better ponies. It's just....sometimes, old habits die hard." Twilight laughed. Meanwhile they heard the chase still ongoing. "They will eventually learn someday, don't worry, kids. Friendship can be a rocky road sometimes, but in the end, it can still prevail, when all of those issues are resolved peacefully and with dignity. And sometimes, rivalries can become to friendships."
"Ooohh." The three kids understood, what she said. Suddenly, they heard the sound calling out Cosmic's name. The baby colt immediately recognized it as that from his mother.
"I'm here, mom!" He immediately went to the direction of the voice, which came from Sweet Serenity, looking for him.
"Where are your brothers?" The light blue unicorn asked.
"Uhm....about that..." Cosmic was nervous.
"It was due to Crimson Lightning and Zapped Bone pranking them with water balls. But don't worry. I'm pretty sure, they don't mean any harm, although the bad blood in the past would make the guys not see in that way. It's a long and complicated story, Sweet Serenity." Twilight explained the whole ordeal.
"Uhm...hi....you're Cosmic's mom, right?" Spring was really shy, meeting Sweet Serenity.
"Of course, I am. And you must be Sping Gale. My husband and my son told me a lot about you. I'm really sorry, that you had to go through so much pain, but I'm really happy, that you are feeling much better now with more supportive parents." The unicorn mare comforted the lime colt.
"Don't worry, I'm slowly getting better." Spring assured.
"Oh. My name is Golden Heart." The golden haired filly introduced herself.
"You mean, THE Golden Heart, who saved my baby from those bullies?" Sweet gasped in a worried manner. "Tell me, was he okay?"
"Yes, he was. Well, it was a silent issue, considering that he never told you about it out of fear of their threats being realized and...well, the aftermath being not really smooth, considering that he was also grieving for a friend, he had lost before. My mom had to help him through out the months, until he had the courage to tell you about it. It was good, that I had to intervene at the right place at the right time. I mean, who knows, what happened to him, if I hadn't. But thankfully, it's becoming a thing in the past now." Golden explained the whole story to her.
"Honestly, I wouldn't imagine it either, if you haven't took action." The blue mare had tears in her eyes. "And frankly, I don't want to.... I don't want anyone, I love so dearly, to fall under the same fate, like Ruby Spark. So....I am really grateful, that you have saved my son...."
"Who's Ruby Spark?" Spring asked.
"Her late sister. She too was bullied and abused, until she had enough. The story alone is really messy for you to understand." Twilight sighed and comforted the sad unicorn.
"I'm sorry...the memories about Ruby and her final moments changed my point of view towards society a bit and it could've been worse, if it wasn't for High Velocity and my family." Sweet wiped her tears away. "It was too heartbreaking..."
"It's okay, Sweet Serenity. Not everypony has a happy life. But the tragedies became as cautionary tales about the aspect of a pony's life and how easy it can be shattered. However, we can learn from these to save other ponies' lives and make Equestria a better place." The princess warmly smiled. "With enough love, patience and of course, the magic of friendship, we can overcome even the most tragic events. Of course it takes a lot of time, but in the end, we have to keep looking forward."
"I know. My family and new friends are supporting me through thick and thin!" Cosmic smiled and jumped up in joy.
"Aw, shucks. Please." Spring Gale blushed in embarrassment, yet smiled happily.
"Hey! Why not play some ball, in order to being some fun?" Cosmic suggested this, just because it would bring out some light-hearted distraction from the traumatic pasts.
"Sure! I'm so down for it!" Spring agreed.
"Of course, I'd love to!" Golden nodded and the three kids went off with the blow up ball for some play time, all while Twilight and Sweet Serenity watched on with smiles on their faces.
"You're really have such a loving family, huh?" Twilight looked at the unicorn.
"They really helped out my life in more ways than I could've ever think of." Sweet was very grateful of her family for being here for her throughout the times, ever since she started one with High Velocity. "And I couldn't imagine a life without my rays of sunshine."
"I'm really happy for you, Sweet Serenity. Keep up your good work!" Twilight congratulated. "But....now that you excuse me, I have to break up a potential fight over there. Making sure, that the girls have to learn, not to overdo their shenanigans." She then used her magic to teleport away, in order to break up a chase.
As Sweet Serenity watched her son playing with his new friends, it made her reminisce of some happy memories of her childhood, where she used to play games with a few of her friends.
"It surely bring back memories..." She smiled.
Unknown Fields...
A few months have passed (There is a reason for the time contradiction from last chapter. You'll see why.) and Tempest, Luna and Trixie observed and watched, as Fire Jewel and Ocean Spark slowly improved themselves.
"I never thought, that we would meet like-minded ponies, who made similar mistakes." Ocean looked at them. "We were so busy saving galaxies and stopping evil, that we haven't have the time to check up on ourselves and such."
"Well, there are a few more like us. Namely Discord and Thorax. We can meet them, if you want to." Trixie reminisced of these two, who also made similar mistakes in their pasts. One caused a lot of chaos and disharmony and the other used to work for Queen Chrysalis.
However; they are still worried about Fire Jewel falling back. The dragon incidents and the drama severely affected her self-esteem and confidence. And it all stemmed to her traumatic childhood, which was the cause for all of the heartache, she caused.
"Fire, are you okay?" Ocean asked her sister, but the red mare didn't respond to the oceanic mare's question. She sighed with "Sometimes, I wonder, what it could've been, had I realized the consequences of the actions sooner and took action immediately.
"We were thinking the exact same thing, when we were in your hooves, Ocean Spark. I for example, had a hard time earning the ponies' forgiveness, after I had turned into Nightmare Moon. But as time went on, Twilight, Celestia and the others never gave up on me and eventually, I made peace with myself." Luna recounted her events as a tale to remember and learn.
"Same here for.me, after the whole Ursa Minor and Alicorn Amulet shenanigans." Trixie added.
"And for my service as a former commander for the Storm King." Tempest remembered. "What we're saying is, just because you made mistakes in your past, it doesn't refine you as a whole. You can get out of it, if you're believing in yourselves and having enough support to reignite the confidence."
"But...how am I supposed to do that, if I can't be able to forgive myself...?" Fire asked.
"Don't be hard on yourself, Fire. Take a deep breath, learn from your mistakes and you can get out of the void of doubt." Luna embraced the fiery unicorn, as the sun is slowly setting. The moon princess used her magic to raise the moon, because it's still her duty to do so, even if she had distanced herself from Celestia, due to the aftermath.
After getting motivation from the reformed mares, Fire Jewel took a deep breath, thought back of the past, used these as cautionary tales and lessons and began to slowly mature. Ocean did the same, since she too was guilty of the whole mess.
"Ocean? I'm really sorry for being such a stuck-up bitch. I was really blinded by my own past." The red mare apologized to her sister about her mistakes.
"....Actually, I'm the one, who needs to apologise." Ocean admitted and the two sisters hugged each other.
"..Uhm....How will Breeze, Snow, Cherry and especially Tropic react? Will they still forgive me, even after what I've done?" Fire asked in a worried tone.
"They will." Luna assured the red mare.
"Hey, Fire. After we're done with the whole journey, we should start over with a clean slate. You know, to symbolize a new beginning?" Ocean reached her hoof out.
After a while, Fire nodded and took her older sister's hoof. "You're right, sister. For a new beginning."
The three mares smiled, knowing that they have reached to the acceptance stage, but...there are some doubts, considering that it's basically been months after the dragon incident and Fire Jewel didn't got help during her time behind bars. It didn't help, that most of the ponies outright hated her guts. Most of them were understandable, but it soon devolved into straight up harassment and at one point, a murder attempt. So, unless a miracle would happen, they have to work harder than before.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville...
The family were looking up the skies to see the stars, when they saw a shooting star flying by.
"Quick, everyone! Make a wish!" High Velocity directed everyone to close their eyes and wish for something. After a minute of silence, he then asked: "So, what did you wish for?"
"A beautiful future." Sweet Serenity answered.
"Some action and fun!" Johnny answered.
"To make our lives as ponies a bit easier, since it's hard to let old habits go." Dukey chuckled a bit. "So, what did you wish for, Cosmic?"
"Being happy with all of you! And of course wishing for Spring having a happy future." The navy colt replied.
"That's quite nice of you." The neon stallion was proud of his son.
It was around the same time, they saw some small, flying orbs of light.
"Ooh, what are those?" Cosmic was curious of those lights. It wasn't until, that Johnny and Dukey took a closer inspection to reveal that the lights actually came from fireflies.
"Those are fireflies, bro." The black pegasus told his brother.
"Sweet!" The colt was mesmerized by the lights, the fireflies emitted. Johnny couldn't help, but smile.
As the little critters flew around in several formations, everyone was amazed by the beauty of the scene. After a while of giving them a bright show, they flew away to their next location. Probably, to their homes.
"Alright, everypony! It's slowly getting late. Let's go back to our house." Sweet Serenity noted the others to go to their home, in which they did just that. At the same time, the fireflies reminded one of the parents of a precious childhood memory. ???
Somewhere, in another universe, a mysterious individual in spy armor and helmet, snuck around neighborhood as silent and fast as a ninja. Making sure, nobody would see them, they would hide in various spots and not making any sound. After while of sneaking around and hiding, they eventually reached a green house hid in one of the bushes. They heard a sound and peeked a bit, only to see a woman with glowing green eyes, entering a door. The mysterious spy looked around and put their head to a nearby wall, to hear something. In it, they heard a conversation between her and a familiar-sounding person.
"At last, after months of planning, construction and stealing toasters and bread, the ships are now ready to launch!" They heard the voice of a man, laughing evilly.
"What are you gonna do, sweetie?" She asked.
"Well, to pick up, where I left off, duh! Cutting down the trees, sucking all water out and destroying the Earth! And with Johnny Test and the other enemies out of the picture, nobody will stop me! And if the government attempts to stop my plan, I have a surprise for them! Hahahahaha!! Not get into the ship and let's get to work!' The man commanded.
"Yes, master." She complied in a monotone manner and the spy heard footsteps of them entering into a ship. They looked up on a open window and used a cloaking device on themselves to sneak inside of the house and quickly into the ship, before the doors would close. After which, they hid in one of the rooms and waited for a perfect opportunity.
"Agent Zero, you hear me?" They heard the sound of a person inside of the helmet, which has a hidden Communicator.
"Yes." They responded in a distorted voice, possibly to hide their identity. "I'm inside of the ship."
"Excellent. Now wait for the perfect opportunity to strike and take him down once and for all. Understood?" The person asked and gave him instructions.
"Roger that." They understood and ended the call.
Meanwhile, the ship took off into space and took its position. Meanwhile, the mysterious man, which was shown as someone in a dark green armor, radioed a message to someone far away.
"Attention, my people! I have finally returned to make everything great again! Meet me in the Solar Galaxy and we can pick up, where we left off!" He called out and waited for the other ships to arrive. At the same time, he prepared the machines for the big moment. Two robots went on to search around the whole main ship for any intruders, just in case.
"Soon, my lifelong mission to destroy the earth will be complete!" He gloated, as he watched the planet one last time, before starting the destruction.
Back to the robots, they were looking around, scanning each corner of every room for any sign of intrusion and to check up on the items, devices and machines, which were about to be used. Surprisingly, they didn't detect Agent Zero, due to them using a special kind of technology, allowing themselves to avoid detection from scanners. They were hiding in the storage room, waiting for the robots to pass by. After they went by the door to the storage room, they snuck out and hid somewhere else again. Once they saw the robot, they used a hidden blade from the utility belt and stabbed it right through the head, destroying it. As more robots went by, they hid themselves and one by one, systematically eliminated all of them with a sneaky stab. Basically, he was acting like a ninja. It went on and on, while getting closer to the cockpit.
After a while of waiting around, the ships have finally arrived.
"About time! I was munching on toast, while waiting. Heck, I was about to start without them! Eh, whatever. Now, with everything ready, the show can now begin and nobody will stop the Dark Vegan from completing the mission!" The armored man, who is known as the nefarious Dark Vegan, laughed evilly, as he finally decided to direct the attack and pressed the button. "Attack and steal ALL of their resources!"
The ships surrounded the planet and began sucking all of the water and cutting down all of the trees. (Really though, the humans would've done a huge favour for him to be fair, given that how they handled nature recently, but that's just me.) He watched, as the ships do its job, but he wasn't done with that. To make sure, the planet will be indefinitely destroyed and leaving no evidence of its existence, the main ship has a giant laser cannon ready, which is powerful enough to pulverise even the smallest of atoms.
"In a few hours, the earth will finally be destroyed!" At this point, he was gloating in victory.
But all of a sudden, a red alert was sounded, causing the former ruler of Veganda to immediately check on the surveillance system for the cause. To his shock, he saw the robots being eliminated one by one by a mysterious blur.
"What!? Who's doing this!?" Dark Vegan slammed his fist on a table and slowed down the footage of the eliminations. Even with the slowdown, he could only see a bit of the individual, since they moved too fast. As if that wasn't enough, he saw ships coming from the Earth, ready to take him down.
"It seems like, they are trying to stop me, huh? Well, too bad!" He presses a button and watched, as the cannons shot down lasers at the ships. Some avoided them, but others weren't so lucky. However, once they shot down those homing missiles, it was lights out for the remaining ships.
"Where was I? Oh, right..... Guards, destroy that intruder!" He commanded the robots to destroy Agent Zero, in which they complied and left. However, surveillance footage showed, that not even a minute later, they destroyed the robots in no time.
"He's good..." Dark Vegan commented at Zero's skills. "But this won't be enough to stop my plans! Sweetie, take care of that intruder! I'll prepare the cannon and eat some toast!"
"Yes, master." His hypnotized wife nodded, grabbed a saber and left, all while he pressed some button to do some coding, in order to prepare the cannon.
Meanwhile, Agent Zero just destroyed a robot and prepared to enter, when they saw her.
"Wait a minute..." Agent Zero looked closer at the wife, who's about to strike. Thankfully, they dodged the first attack.
"What is it, Agent Zero?" The person from the intercom asked.
"Something's off about her. Her eyes are glowing bright green, which normally isn't the case....It's clear, that she's doing this against her will. In other words: She's hypnotized." They analyzed the situation.
"Shit! If that's the case, don't hurt her! Find a way to snap her out of the state and get her out of here!" The mysterious boss responded.
"Got it, boss." They ended the call and has the weapons ready: Two blades from the wrists. They had a intense stare down, before the fight has begun.
[During this battle, Sonic's Fight starts to play]
The red-haired woman rushed ahead for the first attack, but Zero dodged it with a slide to the left, before jumping up with the blades out. However, she was aware of it and used the saber to protect herself from the blades, which caused them to spark like crazy. As a result, Zero jumped away and switched their weapon with a saber on their own, except it had a lilac coloured glow. The two charged forward with their sabers for an epic sword fight. Neither of them backed down, as they kept trying to attack the other. And it wasn't just on one spot either, as they kept jumping at different spots of the hallway and clashing each other, with sparks flying by from each of the sabers clashing.
"Ma'am, you need to snap out of it! He's controlling you!" Zero tried to convince the wife to wake up, but it didn't work, as it seems like, the mind control was too strong for words to break her free. She kept trying to kill them, only for them to blocking them and trying to figure out, how to break the mind control. And they had to do it quick, as they had to stop the Dark Vegan and save Earth. There wasn't any time for strategies, so they decided to side step to the right, grabbed her and threw the wife to the ground. They were about to do something, when she used a powerful force to grab them by the neck,. As she stood up, she had the blade ready to finish them off.
"Any last words?" She asked.
"Yes. There!" They pressed a button, in which she got shocked by a current of electricity, courtesy of a sticky shocker on her back, letting them go by the process. After which, they used a blaster to shoot her, but it didn't kill her, as it was designed to undo any effects of mind control. They panted, as they watched her slowly standing up from the injuries, now with her eyes returning back to normal.
"Ugh...what happened?" The wife groaned, in which she saw Zero.
"There is not much time, ma'am! Use the escape pod and get the hell outta here! Dark Vegan needs to be stopped now!" The agent commanded her to escape from the ship. However, the name "Dark Vegan" caused her to remember, what happened before she fell under mind control.
"I can't believe, he had used me like a solider and not faring a single bit about Jillian, Johnny or even anyone!!!!" The woman yelled in anger, as she felt like, Dark Vegan had betrayed her. "THAT TWO-MOUTHED BASTARD!!!"
"Ma'am! I know your pain, but this isn't the time right now. Let me stop his crazy plan and save this planet, while you get out of here and tell them everything." Zero was empathetic to the wife, but he had to hurry up. "Now go!" They yelled at her again, but after some consideration, she silently nodded and ran off to an escape pod, while they ran as fast as they could to the cockpit, but by that point, Dark Vegan saw everything via surveillance and decided to do it himself. Which would explain, why before Zero could even reach the cockpit, the green-armored man was waiting for him, blocking the entrance.
"Ugh! People like you give me such a migraine! You are just like Johnny Test, always trying to stop my plans with your tricks and devices! And I thought, with him gone, I could've destroyed the Earth like nothing!" Dark Vegan complained, while having his saber ready.
"Even with him gone, I won't allow you to cause any form of harm to this planet!" Zero shouted, while having their saber ready. "I would like to have a squabble with you, but I have to destroy your devices right here, right now!"
"You have to go through me first, which I doubt, you would do that! I'll destroy you right here and there!" Dark Vegan held his saber tightly.
"Come get some." Zero prepared for the ultimate showdown.
Dark Vegan jumped forward for the first attack, but the agent threw a smoke bomb to throw him off guard. "Hey, that's unfair! Then again, I don't care about the rules." He commented, before looking around and listening for any signs of Zero. Being on high alert, he then heard something from behind and used his saber to defend himself. Sparks came out from the clash, which came from Zero's saber, confirming that it was indeed them, attempting to do a sneak attack.
"You're quite good. But can you dodge these?!" Dark Vegan pulled out some built-in lasers from his suit and shot multiple times at Zero, but they either dodged all of them or in the case of the final two shots, deflected them with a special shield.
The two then dashed forward for an epic clash of swords, in which sparks emitted from each and every strike. Both sides kept on dashing forward, attempting to strike each other, while protecting themselves. And it went on, as they went to several spots of the ship. It went on and on, until Zero used another smoke bomb to distract Dark Vegan again. However, he was prepared for this, as his helmet came with a sensor. He stood still, waiting for any sign of the mysterious agent. The silence went on for a few minutes, while not moving a single muscle.
Finally, the sensor detected something 45 degrees from the right, confirming that it was Zero. So he decided to do a different method: The armored man suddenly side stepped to the left and ducked, causing Zero to miss him. As if that wasn't enough, he pointed his lasers and shot them in the back, causing the agent to be flown to a wall. Thankfully, the suit protected them from shots. Zero immediately stood up and attempted to strike him down, but unbeknownst to them, there was a hidden trap in the room, they're currently standing. So when the agent crossed that specific spot, they got trapped in a plasma ring, caused by hidden antennas around that room. And it wasn't painless either, as Zero screamed in agony.
"Gotcha, you fool! You think, you can stop me with your toys and movements? Ha! Think again!" Dark Vegan stood triumphant towards the trapped agent. "However, before I destroy you, I'll now uncover that face of yours and show you to the world as a message, on how you and everyone failed!"
"Agent Zero!! What's going on!? Answer me!!!" The boss got worried by their condition, but Zero couldn't respond, due to the pain. As Dark Vegan was about to rip the helmet off, there was a sense of tension emanating in the air, while Zero struggled. Eventually, he took the helmet from Zero off, to see the true identity of the intruder....but he didn't expect on who Zero was under the helmet. The true identity of Agent Zero, the one who attempted to destroy DV's plans on world annihilation, the one who's somehow at the same level as him. It isn't a random person, no. Zero was no other than the feline himself, Mr. Mittens!
"You cannot be serious right now....WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE IN MY SHIP NONETHELESS!??!" He yelled, still in shock of all people, it was Mittens, who decided to stop his plan. However, the feline refused to answer and lowered his head.
"Oh, wait! Let me guess... You are trying to save the Earth, just for you to conquer it all by yourself? Newsflash: Your idea is pathetic! Turning everyone into cats, has been the stupidest plan, I've ever heard!" He shouted, but Mittens still refused to say anything. "Plus, being stuck with people, who have no idea about competence or even sharing, was a bad idea....In fact, the only thing in common is us having the same enemy. But now with him gone, I decided to fully break away and focus on destroy the earth!"
"This is none of your business...." Mittens quietly growled, thinking back of the argument. "Plus, I'm not in the mood right now...."
"Not in the mood for what? Breaking through my ship without my permission? Trying to stop me, when we could've worked together? First of all, you're just a party pooper, who doesn't know anything about fun! And second, why are you doing this!??" Dark Vegan yelled at the feline right in the face.
"Zero! Respond, damn it!!!" The boss can be heard yelling for a response. Unfortunately, the armored man saw the earpiece, Mittens had for the mission and took it away from him.
"Wait a minute....They sent you of all people to stop me!?" He felt betrayed by the fact, that the feline worked for the government. As a response, he threw it to the ground and stomped it hard. "Oh....now you threw me off BIG TIME!!" He had his saber ready to finish him off. Mittens still kept his mouth shut, but closed his eyes, as if he knew, it's over for him.
"Say goodbye, fur ball!" He aimed at the neck and was about to decapitate Mittens. It seems like, it was all for nothing, but then.....
The ship was suddenly rocked by random explosions, causing Dark Vegan to lose his balance and the antennas to malfunction, causing Mittens to be released.
"DANGER! DANGER!" A robotic voice can be heard through the speakers. As if that wasn't enough, Mittens suddenly chuckled.
"You were saying, pal?" The feline stood up and got his saber back. "You see, while you got lost in the smoke, I quickly left behind some "presents" all over the place. What's that? You had no idea? Too bad, that I ran in a blur, before attempting to strike you. In other words, the smoke bombs and me attempting to strike you down? It was all just a distraction." He smirked.
In a flashback, we can see, the second after the smoke bombs covered the area, the feline activated the super sonic boots to run faster than sound. After which, he ran all over the whole ship and placed down some explosives in specific places. This was done twice and during the second time, he left a bomb at the cockpit. And that specific bomb as exploded there, causing massive damage.
Back to the present, Mittens was about to leave, when Dark Vegan attempted to shoot him. However, the sudden tilt made him fall of and shoot at the ceiling, then bounced off multiple times multple times, before grazing over Mittens' right eye, in which the feline screamed a bit in pain. Surprisingly, it only left him with a scratch, due to his eye being closed and the projectile not being close enough to damage the actual eye.
But this was enough to turn around and tightly hold the grip of his saber on one of his paws, while the other is covering the injured eye.
"So, you have chosen the hard way, huh?" Mittens responded in a serious tone. "Fine. I wouldn't go down without a fight anyway. Even when I'm slightly wounded, this wouldn't stop me from completing my mission!"
"Bring it!" Dark Vegan prepared for a fight and the two began their second round of swords clashing and not holding back, all while the ship is slowly destroying itself, thus they also have to dodge falling debris.
Dark Vegan attempted to slash Mittens, but the feline dodged it with a slide to the right and round-house kicked him to the ground. Not to be deterred, the armored man stood up and punched the cat in the jaw. This caused in a very serious fight, in which all gloves were off. They stopped using their sabers and instead punched and kicked each other, while the pummeling continued through the ship, up until the escape pods.
During which, Mittens started to think back at that argument, in which he and other bad guys disagreed to their methods and reasons. It didn't help, that Brain Freezer was gone for a while, before returning to the gang. It slowly evolved into petty fights and eventually, it ended off in a sour tone, as Zizrar was the first to go and one by one, the others followed suit. And then, a few days later, Johnny Test had disappeared from the Earth. A lot has happened, including the truth coming out, the Bee Keeper, Brain Freezer, Zizrar and his mole people disappearing as well and finally, Albert's death and him being forced to work for the government, just to keep his freedom. This was enough fuel for him to roar like a lion and punched Dark Vegan so hard, it send him flying to a wall and being buried by the debris.
The feline panted hard and took a breather for a while, but then he heard a message from the intercom:
SELF-DESTRUCT IN T-15 SECONDS.
"Ah shit!" The magenta cat stood up and ran towards the rubble of debris, when Dark Vegan suddenly got his head and arm out.
"I'll destroy you and everyone!" He tried to grab the cat, but the weight of the debris, coupled with his suit malfunctioning, caused him to get stuck.
"Take my hand!" Mittens tried to reach him, but the stuck vegan still tried to destroy him one way or another. It didn't help, that he had ten seconds left.
"Stop resisting and get out of here!" Once again, the cat tried to convince him.
"No! You ruined my plan! You are as worst as Johnny Test!" The vegan shouted back at him. That was enough for the cat to turn his back against him and slowly walk towards one free escape pod.
"I tried to give you a second chance, but you chose, not to listen to me. Fine...then enjoy your last few seconds here, while I'm getting out. Goodbye, Dark Vegan." Mittens looked at him one final time with a glare, before entering into the pod and activating it. The pod was soon launched from the ship and began it's course towards earth.
"CURSE YOU ALL!!! YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME! I'LL BE BACK, JUST YOU WAIT!!!!" Dark Vegan screamed at the top of his lungs during his final five seconds of his life.
5...
4...
3...
2...
1...
0...
Meanwhile, in space, Mittens watched, as the main ship exploded in a big burst. The resulting shockwaves caused the remaining ships for explode as well, causing a chain reaction, releasing all the water and trees back into the earth. As the pod descended deeper and deeper, the turbulence became more frequent and eventually, that turbulence caused Mittens to hit his head to a steel wall, losing his consciousness shortly after.
The cat slowly woke up on a hospital bed, covered in bandages. Yet, he still felt the pain from the fight, as he struggled to get up. He looked around a bit to see, that he was in an infirmary. He wasn't alone however, as he saw the red haired wife of the Dark Vegan standing beside him.
"Thank goodness, you're okay!" She looked at him.
"Where...am I?" Mittens groaned.
"You're in the infirmary. Specifically in a place called Area 51.1. You've been there for at least half an hour." She explained. "During which, I talked to the agents about everything. Including my actions under his control. Although they did sympathise with me a bit, it didn't change the fact, that I was responsible for stealing the resources and being an accomplice for nearly destroying the world. That means....I have to face the punishment, no matter what..." She had tears in her eyes, as several agents appeared to detain her. Since there was no resistance, she looked at Mittens one final time.
"If you see my dear Jillian, tell her everything....and tell her, that I love her so much. Goodbye, Mr. Mittens....and once again....thank you....for everything...." She sniffed, as she was taken away from the infirmary, leaving Mittens all alone, contemplating on what she said.
"Okay, sir. I did, what you said. I took down Dark Vegan and the planet is safe....can I please go now, so I can try my best to move on from Albert's death?..." He asked the FBI agent to be released. He had enough.
"Hmm..." The agent thought about the deal. One one hand, the feline did manage to stop the Dark Vegan and his plans, even though attempting to catch him alive ended in a disastrous failure. But that doesn't excuse him from the fact, that he still attempted to take over the world multiple times and destroy Johnny Test, who had been friends with a few Area 51.1 agents, before he, the agents and even the general vanished without a trace. But there's also the fact, that he lost so many people in his life by either disappearing from the face of earth or in Albert's case, slowly dying in front of him. After thinking about everything for a when, he came with a decision.
"On one hand, you did some terrible crimes in the past....and even though I wished for you to be punished, since you have basically saved our planet and everyone from Dark Vegan, I was left with no other choice....than to let you go." The agent stepped away for Mittens to leave.
"Please...I had been through so much already...." Mittens responded inna sorrowful tone, before standing up and leaving the infirmary behind. Surprisingly, the agent didn't do anything
As he was slowly leaving the base behind, a tense aura of suspicion and paranoia filled the air. Before he went to the exit door, he suddenly stopped and sensed something with his whiskers. He looked around, only to see nobody.
"That's weird...." Mittens commented, but still kept his guard up, assuming that the government would attempt to catch him with a trap. To make sure, he looked around, grabbed a piece of wood and threw at the door, when all of a sudden, a cage has been dropped from the ceiling, confirming his suspicions. Thankfully, he wasn't near the door.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of a red alert and footsteps coming closer.
"What the hell??" He looked around, only too see agents with electric nets, jumping at him. However, his cat instincts allowed him to dodge them.
"Hey!! We had a deal!! I just did your dirty work and yet you still tried to catch me!?" Mittens felt betrayed by the government.
"Sorry, pal. But the thing is, we wanted to to take the credit and get rid of you, because of your crimes. Now, hold still, kitty!" One of the agents responded.
This response sent Mittens into a blazing fury, as when the agents tried again to catch him, not only did the feline dodged all of them, but scratched them furiously. After which, he stole one of the blasters to shoot a hole on the wall and escaped the facility, with tears in his eyes.
It was a very stormy night, with heavy rain, thunder and high winds. But despite his injuries, Mittens didn't stop running away as fast, as he could, until he reached his mansion and locked the door. Everything what happened this night, coupled with the loss of so many people around him, caused the feline to suffer a severe mental breakdown, in which he destroyed furniture, smashed glass down and scratching everything in his way, all while screaming and crying in sheer pain and misery. It went on for five minutes, before curling up into a ball and cried on the floor. His crying was soon mixed in with the sounds of rain outside and the lightning bolts from the sky.
After what it felt like an eternity, Mittens stood up, went to a room and grabbed a rope. Next, the feline created a noose around it and went to his room. He tied it to the highest point of his bed, grabbed a ladder and placed it there, in which he climbed up. After suffering through so much, he decided to just end it all. But before he would put the noose around his neck, a loud lightning strike caused the magenta feline to jump up in fear and fall down the latter and into the ground, causing more pain in his body. He screamed in response, but he attempted to get up, in order to finish the job, when there was something under his bed, that caught his attention.
"What's this?" Mittens looked closer and reached his arm under his bed as far, as he could. After fiddling around, he felt something, grabbed it tightly and pulled it back towards him, in which the object in question turned out to be a letter. "A letter....to me? But who wrote this?" The feline decided to open the letter and read the content of it.
Dear Mr. Mittens,
if you are reading this letter, then there is a high chance, that I have died. But I have already seen it coming for a few months. So, I decided to write this letter and tell you my concerns and truths here.
I've noticed in the last few months, that you've been feeling really unwell, sir. Not physically, but mentally. Ever since Jonathan's disappearance and subsequent death in absentia, you have been isolating yourself from the public eye and lived in loneliness and sorrow. It's not just that, as the drama of your former group, coupled with the disappearances of a few of your teammates, made everything worse. But that was nothing, compared to the fact, that you have been yearning for some sort of companionship with another feline for a long time. Specifically, a lady feline.
I tried my best to keep you company and help you, even if you don't fully notice my dedication. In fact, I had plans on bringing you another cat and mutate him or her, just to keep you company. But things have become so difficult lately, due to the Shadow exposing everyone, who are responsible for Jonathan's disappearance. And sadly, you were part of it, which made everyone scared of you.
So, if trying to bring happiness to you won't work in this world, perhaps I could do so in another world, but my health has been deteriorating as of the writing of this letter. In the end, I had no other choice, that to leave you find happiness on your own and maybe....just maybe.... find some redemption yourself.
I wish you the best of luck and even in death, I'll be watching you from above, no matter, where you go.
Best wishes,
Your butler, Albert
The letter has made the magenta feline even more emotional than ever and cried hard. He couldn't believe, that despite the ups and downs and his nasty attitude, Albert still cared for him in some ways. Not only that, that letter made him open his eyes for the very first time.
"Even when I was bad, he still cared for me..." he sniffed.
All of this made him think of something....what if Johnny and the others aren't truly dead, like what the officials said? What if they're in a different world or even...in a different dimension? This theory made him filled with so much determination to find them.
"No..they just can't be dead. They have to be somewhere alive! If so, I have to find them and tell them the truth!" The feline stood up, finally having a goal in his mind. "And fast, otherwise the government would find me and....ugh...I don't want to think about what they would do to me.." He shuddered, before going to his own laboratory, taking his stuff and Albert's letter with him. It contained so many gadgets and weapons, enough for future plans. But that's not, what he wants. He knew, that he had just built a portal device on his own, originally to find allies from other worlds. It even has it's own DNA searcher.
But now, he wanted to use it to find the others. However, as soon, as he started it up, he coughed out a hair ball.
"Ugh, hairball!" He coughed, but then, the feline had an idea. He knew, that underneath all of this, a bit of Johnny's hair had to be inside. So he tore it apart and combed through each and every hair fiber for the blond and orange one. Eventually, he found it in the deepest core and put the hair on a scanner, in order to find him. After a few minutes of analyzing the hair, searching for Johnny and more, the location has been revealed.
"So...according to this scanner, Test must been in Dimension 10102010. And if I'm not mistaken, the others are also in that world." Mittens looked at the monitor. "Okay! With that information out of the way, it's now or never!"
He put the coordinates on the machine to activate a portal to Dimension 10102010. But there wasn't any time left, as he heard explosions from downstairs.
"Shit! I have to do it immediately!" Mittens commented and looked at the portal. Despite the pain, he activated some bombs around the laboratory and ran into the portal. It was done in order to prevent the agents from tracking him.
???, Dimension 10102010
During a heavy rainstorm, Mittens emerged from the portal and started to crawl, due to his pain. Problem is, even though he had arrived in that dimension, he was actually set in an unknown location. However, the feline didn't know that, as he kept crawling and crawling, hoping he could at least finding them. He also hadn't noticed, that something feels....a bit different about him.
But that didn't matter, as he stopped crawling after a few minutes, because he was exhausted. Didn't help, that the pain was getting more and more intense with each movement, despite being patched up with bandages. So he has left with no option to close his eyes and rest in the rain. Before everything would go black, a female voice can be heard, along with footsteps.
"Oh my god! Are you okay!?"
Meanwhile, in a forest....
After a few hours have passed, the rain has stopped and we can see Princess Celestia taking a walk with an umbrella. She has been thinking about so many things, including Luna, the elemental ponies, the sisters and of course, something that she hasn't told them to anyone else.
"If only I can see Luna again and apologize to her..." the sun princess sighed, before she noticed something peculiar. "What's this?"
The princess went closer and closer, only to see a pink Alicorn with dark blue hair and gradient wings. Her head was lowered and her hair being so wet, it covered her eyes. She felt a sorrowful aura around the mysterious Alicorn.
"Excuse me? Are you okay?" Celestia asked, trying to get the mare's attention, but it didn't work. She looked at her face, only to see a frown, but not her eyes, as they were covered by her wet hair. It's clear, that something is wrong with this Alicorn mare.
Suddenly, the mare started to float upward and being covered in a dark purple mists. Celestia dodged from the mist, but had no other choice, than to watch. During which, she saw a few tears dropping from the pink mare's face, before being fully covered by the mist. Soon, a bright light emitted form the mist. It was so bright, that Celestia had to shield her eyes with her wings. At the same time, ominous sounds can also be heard, along with evil laughter. It went on, until the light faded away and the sun princess uncovering her eyes, only to see that the bright pink alicorn was not here anymore and in her place stood a tall, dark pink Alicorn with sharp teeth, silver-blue armor and a ethereal dark blue mane fading to black with sparkles around it. Her eyes had a dark teal aura around them, as she looked at Princess Celestia.
"Oh! A princess! I didn't expect to see one in front of me." She noted.
"What have you done to her and who are you!?!?" Celestia demanded answers.
"You mean that Alicorn girl? She has accepted the full despair and allowed me to take control of her body. And as for who I am? I'm glad, that you asked. I'm none other than the darkest star of the universe, Shadow Galaxy!" The tall pink Alicorn introduced herself. "And once I'm done with those pathetic elementals, I'll conquer this galaxy for all eternity!" she laughed evilly.
"I can't let that happen!" The sun princess prepared for battle.
"Bring it, sunbutt!" Shadow Galaxy smirked and the two shot off magical blasts at each other, causing them to clash and then explode.
Celestia shot more magical beams at the tall Alicorn, but she created a barrier around her to deflect magic back at her. The sun Princess avoided all of her own projectiles and created a strong beam of magic, in which she fired it off, but Shadow Galaxy teleported at the last minute somewhere.
"What?!" Celestia was shocked and looked around, when Shadow Galaxy teleported behind her.
"Surprise!" She shot a powerful beam at Celestia, causing the sun Princess to fall to the ground hard. "For a sun goddess, I expected you to be stronger, not be such a jobber. Oh well, you wouldn't be able to realize that anyway, as I'm about to destroy you!" She shot out another powerful, magical beam, but before it could hit her, Celestia used her magic to teleport away at the very last minute.
"Damn! Whatever, I can live with that. She will be my messenger of my upcoming arrival." She smirked and laughed evilly.
Meanwhile, Princess Luna was looking at the sky with a worried look. It seems like, she sensed something dark in Equestria, but she didn't know, who is causing it. While Tempest, Trixie and the elemental sisters were sleeping, the moon princess couldn't help but to worry about her older sister, Celestia....
"I need to find her...." Luna spread out her wings and flew away into the night, in order to find her sister.
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Side Story: The Dark Galaxy | The next morning, Twilight Sparkle went to her castle for her usual duty: maintaining friendships and solving problems all around Equestria. This day, she had an appointment with her friends to check on the cutie map for some potential friendship problems. As she entered that room, her friends were waiting.
"Good morning, Twilight!" Pinkie smiled and waved.
"Geez, last night was quite something, huh..." Rainbow Dash scratched her head.
"I couldn't sleep well, because of those horrid lightning storms! I swear to Celestia, I had to calm down Opal, because she got scared by those..." Rarity complained.
"I know, girls. It was quite a rough night. But I hope, this wouldn't distract us from our quest." Twilight assured and the girls sat around the cutie map, waiting for a new mission.
"Now let's see, if there's anything." Twilight looked closer.
"Oooh! I can't wait for the next exciting adventure! Whatever it is, it'll be fun!" The peppy party pony was really excited.
"Easy there, sugarcube. We have to wait. It's not like, it'll come to us by itself." Applejack calmed her friend down.
"TWILIGHT!!!" They heard the voice of Spike being panicked. And sure enough, the purple dragon rushed toward his friends for an emergency. Right after, he tripped and fell down in front of the mares.
"Spike, are you okay!?" Twilight was worried of her assistant.
"Twilight...the letter...it's....urgent..." The dragon panted hard, while holding a letter.
"Whoa there! Chill! What's the problem?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"It's from Princess Celestia!!" Spike gave the letter for Twilight to read. However, this one made her worry really hard.
"No..." the Alicorn was concerned.
"Twilight? What's going on?" Fluttershy asked.
"We need to go to Canterlot immediately! Come on, girls!" Twilight ran off with her friends following her shortly after.
"You were saying, Applejack?" Pinkie jumped, resulting the country mare sighing.
The Mane Six and Spike rushed out of the castle and through Ponyville in such a hurry, that they haven't noticed some ponies around the area.
"Do you have any idea, why Celestia needs us in the morning??" Rarity asked.
"No, but I have a bad feeling about this! Maybe I was failing my role as the princess of friendship or Equestria being attacked or....Anything!" Twilight got very anxious about it.
"Don't say that! You're doing an amazing job as a princess!" Pinkie replied in her usual optimistic tone. "Plus, we've dealt with so many scary monsters and bad guys before and our fun friendship powers always send them flying to oblivion! It's basically our thing!"
"Pinkie's right. Whatever it is, this will be a piece of cake! Plus, we ALWAYS get your back!" Rainbow smirked. Though the word "cake" got Pinkie perked up.
"Cake!? What's the occasion? A party!? What ingredients should I use!?" At this point, the peppy pony was asking so many questions about cake.
"Easy there, sugarcube." Applejack attempted to calm her friend down. At the same time, Fluttershy went to help the southern pony.
"This is not the time for cake, Pinkie! Princess Celestia needs us!" Twilight shouted.
"But what if it's for something else?" Pinkie hopped.
"Pinkie, please..." Fluttershy replied.
Since Applejack and Fluttershy were focused on calming Pinkie down from her usual shenanigans, they haven't noticed the surroundings around them. And before they knew, their road came to a crashing halt, when they suddenly bumped into some ponies.
"Girls, are you okay!?" Twilight went back to check up on them.
"We're fine, dear. We just got bumped by a few of the ponies, while we had to calm Pinkie down." Applejack explained.
"Will you three watch, where we're going!?" A familiar voice can be heard. Sure enough, when the Mane Six and Spike looked forward, the three ponies standing on the other side are none other than Snow Emerald, Tropic Bloom and Cherry Swirl. Right now, Snow was rubbing her head in frustration, while Cherry and Tropic got up.
"Hey, girls. What are you doing?" Twilight asked.
"We're currently on our way to the hospital." Cherry answered.
"Is it about Johnny again? Now that I mentioned him, I'm really getting concerned." Rarity was starting to get worried about Johnny, since she and her friends haven't checked up on him for a while, due to many other events happening for a long time. It's been a few months after all. "Please don't tell me, he's having a shock or something worse..."
"No no! He's perfectly fine! I met him yesterday and he was in good spirits! In fact, I did exchange a bit of small talk of him about the process." Cherry eased Rarity and her friends. "Recently, he, his pal and an aqua stallion, in which his name is apparently Gil, were last seen hanging out with some ponies. Plus; they've done so many tricks, that made the fillies and colts look on in awe and-" Cherry was too carried away by what she was supposed to say.
"CHERRY!!!" Snow yelled at the green mare, being completely annoyed. Once again, her shout startled everyone and scared Fluttershy and Tropic.
"W-what she's s-supposed to say is.." Tropic was still shaken up a bit and tried to explain the real reason, but Snow's glare is scaring her.
"Geez, for an ice pony, she seems to be quite a hot-headed jerk." Rainbow commented, which resulted getting growled by the icy mare.
"Everypony calm down! Rainbow, you're not helping..." Twilight was annoyed at Rainbow, before turning her attention to Snow. "And as for you, take a deep breath and tell us why you and your friends are going to the hospital."
"Fine..." Snow took a deep breath and explained. "I was doing my regular business this morning. Reading books and doings some errands. Everything was normal....until I overheard a conversation between Lyra and Bon Bon."
A few moments ago...
We see Snow sitting on a bench and drinking, while reading books. The birds were chirping melodious tunes as always and there was a gentle breeze coming by. A few ponies were walking by, either with someone or just being alone doing their regular business.
Meanwhile, Lyra and Bon Bon were walking around the village, rubbing their eyes a bit.
"Man, the storm last night was something..." Lyra yawned.
"I know, right? It was quite loud." Bon Bon agreed. "But it was nothing compared to what happened later, when an injured pony came right to our doorstep. It was really terrifying...."
Snow happened to be nearby to hear the conversation. Curious, she walked towards the duo, wanting to ask questions.
"Hey. I overheard something about an injured pony on your doorstep. Can you please elaborate further?" She spoke to them.
The two mares were puzzled by Snow just walking by and wanting to listen more about the situation.
"Pardon for just walzing by. I'm Snow Emerald by the way." She introduced herself.
"Uhm...okay?...I'm Bon Bon and this is Lyra Heartstrings." The cream colored earth pony introduced herself and Lyra in an awkward manner. "Why are you asking this?"
"Well, I had similar cases like these back then, when me and my friends are patrolling the galaxies. Mind you, most of the time, Shadow Nebula had either had a hoof on all of these, her Shadow Ponies or just them escaping from their captors. This was all in the past though, as we finally defeated that bitch and restored peace, but we still had to do our jobs, since...well, there's still evil afoot." The icy pegasus was drinking her drink and explained her reason. "What I'm saying is, what you're saying peaked my interest. You said, an injured pony came to you. What happened?"
"Well, it happened after the storm cleared. After it finally ended, we were relieved to get some good sleep, when we heard knocking on the door. It was persistent, so Bon Bon had to answer the door. Meanwhile, I was on the bedroom, when I heard her screaming. I rushed to her immediately after, only to see an injured dark blue pegasus mare on the doorstep. She was looking at us for a short time, before she collapsed. So, we had to bring her to the hospital." Lyra explained the entire situation, while Snow was drinking. Unfortunately, the word "dark blue pegasus mare" made her spit it out in shock.
"Does this mare happened to have short purple and blue hair?..." She was shook from the revelation.
"Yes. But her mane was really messy and she was covered in dirt. Like-" Before Bon Bon could even explain further, Snow dropped her drink and flew past them as fast as she could.
"After which, I immediately called Tropic and Cherry for an emergency meeting, to tell them the entire story. There is no doubt, that it had to be none other than Breeze! Last time, when we saw her, she went with the mole men to a hole, to investigate the matter. After that, she was never seen again until now." Snow finished her explanation. "But now with that information, we're going to the hospital to ask her on what the hell happened! Come on, girls!" The icy mare ran away, with Tropic following her. But Cherry stood there for a while to tell them something.
"Uhm, girls? Here's something, I need to get out of my chest. I need you to check up on Snow time after time. Recently, she's been extremely agitated, secretive and impulsive. I know, the drama is the main factor, but I fear, there's something else going on inside of her mind. Like a secret conflict or something." She quietly told the Mane 6 and Spike about her thoughts and worries. "There's also one more thing... It's about the-" Before the green mare would continue, she heard Snow calling her.
"Cherry, hurry up!"
"I'm coming!" Cherry shouted back and before she ran after her friends, she looked back at the ponies and said this: "Please....She needs to learn..." That left the mares and Spike confused.
"Did anyone catch that, what she said?" Spike asked in confusion and the girls were just as puzzled as him.
"I swear, this group is hidin' more secrets from us..." Applejack felt suspicious, despite knowing their backstories. She had a feeling, that there're more to the group.
'What makes you think of that, Applejack?" Rarity was confused.
"Well, like Cherry said, Snow has been acting....quite different. More aggressive and isolated." The country mare explained her suspicions. "Plus, I think, we forgot somepony, that they refused to mention."
"We'll talk about it later, Applejack. But now, we have to go to Canterlot. Princess Celestia needs us!" said the princess of friendship and the group continued on their journey. However, the orange earth pony mare wasn't the only one feeling suspicious, as Fluttershy had the same thoughts too.
Meanwhile, we see Sissy and Missy walking around the little town. However, the blue mare was feeling a bit down lately.
"Come on, Sissy! It's a beautiful day, why the long face?" Missy asked.
"It's just....ever since I moved into this world and got turned into a pony, I've been worried about my future. Like what should I do? What job should I take? There are so many questions in my head, I can't ignore them any longer! Didn't help, that even though we apologized to Test and his mutt, I still feel the anxiety!" Sissy explained her worries to her best friend. It's clear, that ever since she left her original world to Equestria, she's been dealing with constant worries about the future.
"Oof. Yeah, that sucks. We'll have to talk with Twilight, if we meet her next time. But for now, why not just have fun and turn off those thoughts for a while? I mean, I don't want you being such a downer all the time." Missy commented.
"I guess, you're right. But the problem is, aside from Test and his mutt, as well as Rainbow Dash, I have no idea, who else I should hang out with." Sissy explained one of the issues. It's clear, that she couldn't think of anyone other than Johnny and Dukey. And even though she and Rainbow became friends, it's hard to hang out with her, due to the prismatic mare having a busy schedule with the Friendship School, solving friendship problems and being part of the Wonderbolts.
"I can relate. I also couldn't stop thinking about the mutt. It's not like, I have a crush on him! No! It's just..." Missy tried to find a reason, but gave up after couldn't think of anything else and Sissy interrupting her friend.
"Can we just move on?" The blue mare looked at her with an annoyed look and red cheeks, indicating that she's hiding something. Like a crush or something. At the same time, Jillian was walking around, when she spotted the girls.
"Hey." The pink unicorn walked in, feeling bored. "What are you doing?"
"Taking a walk, pal." Sissy answered. "You look quite bored."
"Well....this world has its benefits, like being vegan friendly and being you know, peaceful. But...recently, I'm feeling really bored. Like I have no idea, what to do with my new life as a pony here." Jillian explained. "At the same time, I'm trying to make my own future, away from my "dad". Even though I have moved on, doesn't mean, the demons in my head are fully gone. Thankfully, I have become better handling with them, thanks to Fluttershy, who is quite decent. Pinkie is obnoxious as hell, Rarity is....well, too much, Applejack's fine, Rainbow reminds me of Johnny and Twilight...well, she's doing her job."
"I mean, you're not wrong. All of them are quite cool, though Pinkie can be a bit too loud. That's just my opinion though. Anyway, I've been thinking on what to do with my life in Equestria. But so far, I have no ideas. Maybe we can talk to Test for some help!" Sissy commented.
"Uhm...yeah....About that..." Jillian scratched her head.
"Oh, jeez... I don't like the tone...what is it?" Missy is feeling a bit bummed and sighed.
"From what I've heard from them, they're currently going on errands for their mom and dad. Well, the nicer ones to be precise." The pink mare explained to them, that Johnny and Dukey are currently unavailable.
"Aw man!" The girls were bummed by the news, however that left Jillian wondering about something.
"Do you girls have a crush on them?" She bluntly asked them a simple question.
"What?! No! What makes you say that?" Both Sissy and Missy denied in unison.
"Just asking. I feel like, you haven't hung out with anyone else in this world. Whilst for me, I'm still trying to open up more." Jillian shrugged.
"Hmmm...hey! Why not hang out at a nearby cafe? You know, to know each other more? Because frankly, we hardly know you." Missy purposed to the mares, in which Sissy agreed.
"Eh, I guess it's better than just wandering around." Jillian shrugged and went with them to a cafe nearby and sat down. However, Missy noticed a group next to them. A group of familiar looking ponies. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the group of ponies are none other than Mr. Black, Mr. White, Gil, the General, the Beekeeper, Mr. Harm and Bling-Bling-Boy, who are having a conversation.
"Hey, dudes! Whatcha' talking about?" Missy yelled at the group
"Oh. We're just talking about what we've been doing lately in Ponyville." Mr. Harm answered. "If you want, you can join us." He asked them, in which the girls agreed and sat down with them.
"So, what were you doing lately?" Sissy asked them a question.
"I'm glad, that you asked, Sissy. For the past few months, I found a job as a teacher in a school in Ponyville and have been teaching the fillies and colts about the usual school lessons, while also giving inspirational life lessons in between. One of the new students was Cosmic Blaze, who has recently started his new day there. He was so excited on meeting new friends, but also open about his past of being a victim of bullying. I could see the fire in his eyes, similar to how Johnny had back then and still has. Brave, undeterred, yet heroic and kind. I guess, him having an older brother, albeit an adoptive one, gave him a massive boost of confidence."
"As for me, I started a honey business there, the same way, I did back then. At first, there were some hiccups due to me getting used to the new status quo, but a small community of beekeepers around Ponyville helped me getting better. So far, the business is going well. In fact, I took one unicorn mare, named Honey Hive, under my wing." Dr. Beebles gladly recounted his story, while filled with joy.
"Well, my goal is a bit more ambitious. You see, before all of this, I was known as a rich, evil mastermind, flaunting my status and chasing an impossible dream. If it wasn't for Jonathan, wait...Let me correct this." Eugene had to correct something. "I mean, if it wasn't for Radiant Thunder's disappearance, I wouldn't be in that place, I am now. That event really made me open my eyes and look, what I've done. Not to mention, hanging out and making friends with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon made me realise, that I have a great potential, but my ego from the past always pushing it back. I'm still trying to learn more and..well, be more humble about it. But I hope, that I can get behind my past and use my skills as a inventor and genius for the better and maybe...push Equestria into a new age of technology. But for now, it'll take a long time, since they don't have the right resources. However, I can improvise, now that I have learned about unicorn magic."
"Whoa, wait dude! Radiant Thunder? Since when did you call Johnny like that?" Gil was confused about Eugene mentioning Johnny by his pony name.
"I've been calling him like that, ever since me finding my new name. Brilliant Diamond. Plus, we have to get rid of our original names once for all, if we want a complete restart. And I'm not the only one, who's been thinking about that. I mean, look at Crimson Lighting and Zapped Bone over there, the new names of these girls." The white unicorn pointed at Sissy and Missy respectively. "Mr. Black, Mr. White and Brain Freezer are the only exceptions, but other than that, aside from Dr. Beebles, now known as Honeycomb, some of you haven't found new names." He made a point.
"Newsflash, I already have one. It's Natural Spark." Jillian corrected.
"And I have recently found mine. Humble Mind. That was before I introduced myself to the students as a new teacher." Mr. Harm noted about his new name.
"I'm still finding my new name! Just you wait! I'll come up with one in no time!" The General spoke with false confidence. In reality though, he has NO IDEA. (Can't blame him, because nobody knows his real name.)
"And as for you, have you even looked at your cutie mark for once?" Eugene turned his attention to Gil.
"I have a cutie mark?" The aqua stallion was puzzled, much to everyone's disappointment and shock.
"Oh come on!" Sissy was irritated and got up, after the revelation made her fall down in a comedic fashion.
"Oh my God, everyone has a cutie mark, dumbass!" Missy became outraged.
"Ladies, please. We can solve this issue without any drama." Mr. Harm calmed the girls down, preventing any escalation.
Everyone, including Gil himself, looked at the cutie mark. It resembles a golden star with a red and cyan surfboard. Has that cool dude vibe.
"Just think of a name, based on your cutie mark!." Jillian noted.
"Right..." Gil smiled....but only for a while, before responding with: "Yeah, I don't get it."
"Do you really want a restart or what!?" Missy became even more agitated.
"Missy, chill!" Sissy scolded her friend.
"Wait a minute...Chill..." That word caused Gil to think hard about his new name. There were some ideas in his head, but only one of them will come out. Meanwhile, the former agents and Eugene were surprised, that Gil started thinking hard and take things a bit more seriously, since being a vital point on helping them finding Johnny and arresting those, who are responsible for the mess. Eventually, a lightbulb went on in the aqua pony's mind.
"I got it! Chill Vibe!" Gil proudly presented his new name, before hugging Missy. "Thanks for the idea, man!"
"Uhm....you're welcome?" The pink hybrid awkwardly responded in frozen confusion.
"I actually like the name. What do you guys think?" Jillian asked the group about the new name, in which the others agreed.
"Okay. Now that we solved his problem, I am still curious about the others." Sissy changed topics. "What about you two dudes? I have never heard you two up until now."
"Well...it's a work in progress." Mr. Black answered.
"What he means it...we have no idea." Mr. White lowered his head in embarrassment. "I mean, we could do something similar by applying as guards, but applications recently is taking a very long time to respond. Not to mention, we had to do little side jobs to earn some money."
"Have you tried to apply for the jobs as royal guards?" Dr. Beebles asked.
"Actually, we haven't even considered on that idea." Mr. Black scratched his head.
"To be fair, we've been really rusty on that experience. It's been a long time, after all." Mr. White made a point.
The others are currently thinking on some ideas on how to help the unicorn hybrids to find some jobs, when all of a sudden, the sky became dark purple.
"Wait a minute, what the hell? The sky has become dark!" Sissy pointed everyone about the sky out.
"Perhaps it's night time?" Gil questioned.
"I doubt that." Eugene shot down the question. "It's currently in the middle of the day. There's no way, it would suddenly switch into night. Plus, I don't see the moon." He pointed out, that the sky became really cloudy with the only semblance of light being the glowing swirls of stars.
"You're right! Who could've done this?!" The General asked, when all of a sudden, they heard a voice.
"I did!"
As they looked back at the source of the mysterious voice, they saw a tall, dark pink Alicorn mare, with a dark blue, ethereal mane, purple armor and sharp teeth, standing with a menacing smile and a dark galactic aura around her eyes.
"Who are you?!" Sissy loudly yelled at the dark galactic mare.
"Oh, I'm glad, that you asked, child. My name is Shadow Galaxy! But you can call me....future empress of the universe." She smirked.
"Future....empress?" The blue pegasus mare became frozen in shock.
"That's right! I'll conquer this universe and everyone will bow down to the one and only! Me!" Shadow Galaxy laughed, as the ponies around her feared of her presence.
Ponyville Hospital
Snow, Cherry and Tropic rushed into the hospital and looked everyone.
"Where is she?! Where is Breeze!?" Snow yelled. Meanwhile, Cherry asked a nearby nurse.
"Excuse me, we're looking for a dark blue pegasus mare with violet and blue mane. She is our friend. Is she here?" Cherry asked.
"Well, yes. She's recovering here. I can guide you to her room, if you want." The nurse responded.
"Thank you." Tropic thanked the nurse before she guides them to the room, where Breeze is. All while Snow was extremely anxious. As soon, as the nurse opened the door, the snowy mare rushed inside, while the earth ponies following their friend, apologising the nurse about Snow's behaviour. As soon as they entered the room, they saw the blue mare laying in a hospital bed, bandaged and hooked up to an IV.
"Oh my God..." Tropic quietly gasped.
"I know right?" Cherry stood there in shock.
"Breeze! WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP, GODDAMNIT!!!" Snow screamed at her friend, begging her to wake up. Soon, her wish was granted, when the blue pegasus groaned and opened her eyes.
"Where...am I?" Breeze groaned, when all of a sudden, she was grabbed into a hug by Snow Emerald.
"BREEZE!! Thank god, you're okay! I've been worried about you, since you went missing!" The icy mare was in tears.
"We heard, you crawled to a couple of ponies, looking beaten up and covered by dirt in the early morning. Tell us....what happened?" Cherry asked.
"Oh...I'll tell you. You girls remember last time, you saw me, right? When I entered a hole to help Zizrar get his crown back?" Breeze asked, before telling them, what happened after that. "You won't believe, what happened next."
A few days ago...
We see Breeze Dasher along with Zizrar and his mole people, going around the underground tunnels, while making new ones. Their goal: Find Zizrar's crown.
"Uhm, your majesty? I'm confused, as of why there are some existing tunnels. Did we dig them?" One of the mole men asked.
"Hmmm...I don't remember us digging those tunnels around the area, where I got stuck." Zizrar doubted. "Perhaps, we should go even deeper. Men, dig deeper!"
The mole men did, what he asked and dug deeper and deeper underground, all while the group followed deeper. Thankfully, some of them have lanterns to illuminate the path.
"Aw man, how long is this gonna go on?" Breeze was impatient.
"Until I get my crown back, feathered horse!" The mole king was too determined to get it back.
"At first, Zizrar was quite a pain in the ass to endure."
"Dude, I have a name, remember..." the blue mare became annoyed. "Also, are you trying to redeem yourself, or what?"
"I'm still trying, you know?" Zizrar understood, as he kept going. "And honestly, I don't like your current attitude."
That severely angered the pegasus mare, as she suddenly stopped. "The fuck did you just say?!" She snapped and was about to rumble. "At least, I have met some friends, who aren't such prompted assholes, like you!"
"How dare you, cloudy?!" Zizrar is about to square off.
"Oh, you wanna fight, huh?" The dark blue mare growled.
"Uhm, guys..." One mole man was trying to bring their attention, while putting his head up to a wall, but the two were too focused on their argument. It didn't help, when insults were thrown around both sides. It almost came to a fight, but thankfully, two of the mole men grabbed Zizrar and Breeze, in order to prevent any discord. Needless to say, the whole thing was pretty chaotic. Meanwhile, that one mole man kept trying to bring up everyone's attention, but his voice was lost in the squabble, as nobody listened. Eventually, he had enough.
"HEY!!! WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP!?!" He yelled, silencing everyone and stopping the chaos altogether. "I heard something from the other side, while I was putting my head to this wall!"
"What did you hear?" Another one asked.
"Well, it sounded like...voices." The listening mole man described the sounds. The others put their heads to the wall and they indeed heard voices.
"But then...we heard voices from the other side."
"Could you dig a very small looking hole? Just in case? But not too big! I don't want the crown thief know, that we're here." Zizrar commanded one of the men to carefully dig a very small hole for them to look through. After that's done, Breeze volunteered to peek through the hole.
"Once I peeked through the small hole, my eyes wouldn't believe, what I saw. There was....life underground. What's more, they look....quite similar to Zizrar and his army....but with a twist."
Through the hole, she saw a hidden civilisation of mole people during a training session. They have quite a few similarities to Zizrar and his mole men. The major difference is, the hidden mole people were all female.
"What the...?" The blue mare whispered at the sight of it. She had seen hidden civilisations on other planets throughout her journey through galaxies. She did encounter a few underground people before, but never in her life had she seen a hidden civilisation, full of strong mole women.
"Let me see!" Zizrar pushed Breeze away and peeked a bit, to see the women, who are built like amazons, practice their weapons. "Well, I'll be damned. There are mole women!"
"Shh! Be quiet!" Breeze hushed the mole king and listened more to the ladies fighting, when all of a sudden, they heard a stern voice:
"Ladies! Here comes Queen Iris!"
Zizrar peeked through the hole again and he saw something. A group of mole women, lead by a strong built queen with a platinum crown and jewelry, holding a long scepter. As soon, as he saw this amazonian-like lady, the mole king basically froze. As for the mole men, as far as they know, their kind only consist of men. So seeing a different kind of mole people, only consisting of women, was a massive surprise for them.
"Any progress made ladies?"" The queen asked.
"Nothing much, our majesty. Just improving our skills and keeping everything in check." One of the mole women responded.
"Actually, there is something, Queen Iris..." The one with the ponytail had something.
"What is it, Talia?" Iris asked to her soilder, in which the mole woman, named Talia, pulled out a golden crown, that looked awfully similar to Zizrar's crown.
"I found this crown, while doing my routine inspection underground. I had to use my hands to blindly test the ground, in order to protect my eyes. Needless to say, from all of the objects I took, this has to be the most peculiar." Talia explained, who gave the crown to Iris, who looked closer at it.
"Careful, Talia. You'll never know, what happens on the surface. Therefore, we don't know, if this is safe or not!" The mole woman, who's been next to Iris, became suspicious.
"Evelynn, please. I just checked this crown and it seems to be safe. But something is off about it. It doesn't look like something from our home. But at the same time, I'm really curious about some potential treasure from the surface world. Unfortunately, the bright light prevent us from exploring! Unless there is a miracle item out there, I'm afraid, we're currently stuck there. But regardless, we have to wait for this opportunity and until then, we have to keep training and push ourselves to the absolute limits." Iris made a speech to everyone, including Evelynn.
Meanwhile, Zizrar saw everything, but he was still frozen, which annoyed Breeze Dasher and some mole men, who wanted to see the ladies.
"Dude...can you move?" Breeze tapped Zizrar multiple times, in order to snap him out of it. Frustrated, the dark blue mare pushed him away and looked a bit through the hole.
"Hey!" The mole king angrily stood up.
"You've been there for too long!" The pegasus mare yelled at him, while the mole men looked nervous, like they knew, what's gonna happen.
"Watch your tone, Breezie!" Those words from Zizrar seriously ticked Breeze off, but thankfully, two of the mole men restrained the two from starting a fight, but they kept on shouting each other.
"Stop it, you two!" One of the mole men pleaded Breeze and Zizrar to stop the argument.
"...and I still stand by the opinion of him being and asshole. Like, seriously! I can't stand him!"
"Calm down, Breeze! What happens next?"
"Being too angry is not good for you..."
*sigh* "Sorry about that, girls...Anyway..."
On the other side, one of the ladies, who was close to the wall heard something. She tapped one of her friends for attention.
"What is it, Auriana?" One of them asked.
"I heard something on the other side..." Auriana listened closer to the wall, when she saw the tiny hole. After peeking through it, she saw Breeze, Zizrar and the mole men. "Queen Iris! There are intruders on the other side!!" She yelled, shocking everyone.
"Ladies, break the wall down and capture them!" Iris commanded her soldiers.
"Yes, Queen Iris!" The women complied and they formed a formation, where the most buff women stood at the front, preparing to break the wall down.
"...I had no idea about my surroundings, since I was too focused on the argument, until it's too late..."
Back to Breeze, she and Zizrar were still arguing, while the mole men did their best to defuse the situation. It seems like, their arguments would keep on for what it seems like an eternity, while all of them were unaware of their surroundings. That was, until they heard the wall broken down, several footsteps coming closer and the weapons pulled out, along with a voice:
"Freeze, intruders!"
That came from Evelynn, whom she and the ladies surrounded the group with their spears pointed at them, who were thrown off by the sudden appearance.
"Damnit! This is all your fault!" Breeze blamed Zizrar for blowing the cover.
"Why me? You're the one who pushed me!" The mole king refused to take responsibility.
"YOU'RE BOTH AT FAULT FOR THIS!!!" The shout of an angry mole man can be heard. He really had enough with their arguments. "WHY CAN'T YOU TWO JUST STOP WITH THE SILLY SPATS AND JUST GET ALONG FOR ONCE!??! BUT NOW, THANKS TO YOU, WE'RE APPREHENDED!!!"
The other mole men stood by, as they saw their friend pant after a long time of yelling at the two.
"Enough! Ladies, take them to the dungeons." Queen Iris commanded the girls to take the group to their underground prisons, while both Breeze and Zizrar didn't say anything, because they're progressing on what the mole man just said.
"Oh my God...you were imprisoned down there?!" Tropic was in shock.
"Yeah...However, I was taken to a separate cell away from the mole men, because apparently they've never seen a pony before." Breeze further added.
"Those mole women sound really ruthless and strong." Cherry commented.
"Well...not all of them..." The dark blue pegasus suddenly rebutted, causing her friends to fall in a surprised shock.
"What?! What do you mean by not all of them!? They've imprisoned you and the others!! Not to mention, they stole the crown and probably beat you up!!" Snow furiously yelled at Breeze.
"Let me explain, goddamnit!" Breeze shouted back, before taking a deep breath. "Where was I?.....Oh yeah."
Underground, several hours later....
The group of the mole men and Zizrar were sitting in multiple cells, seperated from the others, but there were a few mole men sitting with others. And then, there was Breeze herself, who was held in a cell away from the others, completely alone. The dungeon was guarded by a mole woman, holding a spear, making sure, her prisoners behave and not trying to break out. And just to be sure, Breeze's wings were tied up in chains.
"Great...as if things couldn't get any worse..." She sighed and sat down.
"Silence!" The guard yelled, causing Breeze to pout in annoyance. Soon, everyone heard the door opening and a braided mole girl came out.
"Okay, youngling. Make sure, those prisoners behave and not make any nonsense. Understood?" The guard told to the young mole, who is feeling a bit unsure.
"G-got it..." She quietly responded and grabbed the spear. The guard glaring makes her even more nervous, before taking her place, as the woman left. "Okay, focus on the task..." She quietly spoke to herself. However, she overheard something in one of the cells.
"I can't believe it....First, my king fell down a tight hole and lost his crown, then he started arguing with the pegasus and now we're held prisoners by a bunch of strong and mean mole women! This has to be the worst day of my life..." That came from one of the mole men, who's really frustrated and down. "This is all their fault...."
The shy guard went to that specific cell, holding the same mole man, who yelled at Zizrar and Breeze, before getting captured. He put down his sunglasses and glared at the girl. "What do you want? Should I be silent in my corner of sorrow, for your enjoyment!?" he snarled, causing the girl to become more scared.
"N-no....I-I....I'm truly sorry for what happened..." she gulped.
"That's a lie..." he looked away.
"No, I mean it! I also apologize for the mean behaviour coming from the other soilders and our commander, Evelynn... Even though they're trying their best to protect themselves from danger, I feel like, they take things a bit too far. Especially Evelynn, who is the most stern and ruthless." She softly spoke with empathy. "Also I've never seen a bunch of mole men before...That reignited my curiousity of the surface world once again, after being underground for so long." She then looked at Zizrar and Breeze, sitting in their respective cells and sighed. "And as for them, I looked at their faces and it seems like, they feel remorse on what they've done. Or perhaps they're sad of their imprisonment. Especially that pony, who really doesn't belong here underground..."
"Even though I overheard everything, I didn't say a single word. I was just....silent. Didn't help, that I wasn't looking."
To prove him, that she has different intentions, the mole woman gave him some apples.
"I know, the other guards will give you some food, but I thought, giving these fresh apples might help you." She softly spoke. Those words and the gesture of giving him the apples, surprised the mole man. Most mole women he encountered were mean and tough, but this one was timid, but very sweet and kind.
"I never thought, I could meet a sweet mole woman. The others were acting all tough and were mean and hostile." He looked down.
"They really haven't interacted with other species of people for a long time, due to them choosing to isolate themselves from everything and train themselves to their absolute limit. So much has happened, which caused them to follow that path for a lifetime." She explained. "Even though, I understand their concerns, at the same time, their behavior concern me...Plus, I just wanted to explore the world, meet new friends and live a peaceful life..." The braided girl looked at the other mole people in their cells, including Zizrar and at Breeze, before turning her attention back to the mole man. But before one would them would say anything, they heard the sound of the rusty door opening. The girl shrieked and quickly returned to her position, where it fully opened to reveal Evelynn and a few guards walking in, looking around.
"Alright, fellas! Who is the leader of the bunch?" Evelynn yelled sternly, causing everyone fo shake in fear. They walked around and looked at every cell, before stopping at Zizrar, who's looking at the ceiling. It took one of the guards to hit her spear at the bars, in which he turned his attention towards the ladies.
"You look different. Are you the leader by any chance?" The stern commander asked.
"Actually, I'm the king of the mole people. Well...of the mole MEN, that is." Zizrar admitted and clarified his answer. "Why do you ask me this?"
Hearing the confirmation, the guards opened the cell and took the mole king, while the mole people watched. After which, At the same time, they shackled his hands, just to be sure.
"If that's the case, then you're chosen for interrogation by queen Iris." The commander explained the reason as of why they'll take him away and then turned her attention towards the shy guard. "So far, nobody decided to make foolish decisions to get out. Keep an eye on them, Amber! Understood?"
"Y-yes, commander Evelynn..." she nervously responded, while she was shaking in fear. Evelynn on the other hand, couldn't understand, what she said, so she got closer.
"I can't hear you!" She shouted.
"Yes, commander Evelynn! Understood!" She loudly repeated her response.
"Hmph. Since you are still new to this, I'll let you know, that we're never gonna take easy on our enemies, no matter what. Now get back to work!" As the group exited the dungeon, Evelynn looked one last time on the shy lady, whose name is confirmed to be Amber, before leaving with Zizrar and closing the door shut. As soon, as the door was closed, Amber dropped the spear and collapsed on the floor our of exhaustion.
"Are you okay?" The mole man asked.
"I'm sorry...But I'm so scared of my peers...especially Evelynn..." She groaned, before getting up and returned to the mole man. "Anyway, you've probably overheard my name being shouted from her. I'm Amber. What's your name?" The shy more girl introduced herself and asked him on what his name is.
"The name's Roy." The mole man introduced himself as Roy. "Can you tell me more about your people? I'm kinda curious."
"Of course, I can!" Amber smiled and proceeded to explain more information about her people, all while Breeze is slowly overhearing everything.
"I heard, that someone named Amber befriended one of the mole men, named Roy. And it sounds like, she's a nice girl."
The blue pegasus looked back to see Amber and Roy chatting each other. It seems like, they were slowly starting a friendship. This caused the mare to smile, since it reminded her on her first encounters with Cherry Swirl, Tropic Bloom, Fire Jewel, Snow Emerald, Jenny and finally Ocean Spark, in which she became friends with them and even formed a team with them to stop evil. Those were the good old times. Kicking the bad guys' asses, visiting planet after planets and having a fun time. Despite their trials and tribulations, they eventually came together stronger than ever. Too bad, the drama tore the team apart.
"Man...it surely reminded me of the good old times." She sighed, since she missed that feeling.
"Hey, Roy! Don't tell me, that you're chatting with a guard..." One of the mole men yelled, since he was far away from Roy.
"Don't worry! She's friendly!" Roy assured his fella, that she's different from the other mole women.
"Uhm...Amber?" Breeze spoke to the braided mole girl, who got distracted.
"Yes?" The shy mole went to Breeze's cell, when she heard her asking her something.
"Uhm...Do you have any plans to start your own life?" The mare asked out of curiosity, since she over heard the mole speaking about her curiosity of the surface world.
"I wish....It's just, the other girls are really iffy about the surface world, due to the war back in our home planet. Since Queen Iris and her people escaped to this planet, they've became really paranoid and stayed underground ever since." Amber explained about the reason. "But...I don't think, everyone is pure evil. I just wish, I have the courage to speak up and go out, but I'm afraid, that they would punish me..."
"Actually, I overheard about Queen Iris being curious about the surface world, after getting Zizrar's crown from one of her soldiers, named Talia. She said, that the light is preventing them from going up there." Roy responded, after being reminded of something, he overheard before being captured.
"Really? She really said that? I'm sorry... I was somewhere else, doing some small errands." Amber sighed.
"He's actually right. I also overheard Iris saying that." Breeze shrugged.
"I see..." Amber answered, taking their words into consideration. "I guess, that makes sense, when Zizrar was taken for questioning by Queen Iris. She might be curious..."
From that day onward, the three of them became friends. However, most of the mole men became cold to their bond, due to the superstition of the mole girls being mean.
A few days passed and the group were still in their cells. Everytime, Zizrar and one of the mole men will be taken for more questioning by the guards. During that time, Roy refused to talk to Zizrar or anyone about his new friendship with Amber, since he was fully aware, that they wouldn't accept it. Given that the other guards were too strict and loud to them. Hell, they threatened them with their lives, if they didn't comply. Even Breeze was aware of these and also refused to speak even further.
"But most of them disliked my friendship with Amber and Roy and their friendship in general, due to them being treated like prisoners by the other guards. Even though Zizrar didn't know that, Roy and I decided to keep it a secret. And then last night... it came into motion."
Yesterday, Amber was about to end her shift, when Roy had an idea.
"Hey, Amber! I need you to tell you something! " Roy quietly got her attention, since Zizrar was taking a nap. The mole girl came to Roy's cell, in which the mole man whispered something in her ear. At the same time, four of the guards opened the door. They opened Zizrar's cell and took him away. But two of the guards stopped in order to look at every cell, before stopping at Roy's cell.
"You! You're coming with us." One of the guards sternly looked at Roy and took him away, as the cell was opened. She stopped near Amber in order to switch the jobs.
"On it, Gia." Amber took Gia's job, much to her sadness. But regardless, she had a job to do and left with the others, while Gia grabbed a spear and watched over the prisoners with a stern look. Most of them were silent, due to their treatment.
"Hmph. I'm actually impressed, that you guys behaved so damn well." Gia commented. "As long as you follow the rules, nobody will be harmed."
The others silently complied, including Breeze. It went on and on until late at night, when everyone was asleep. There were no guards at the time, but of course, they didn't try. That was until the door was silently opened and someone tiptoed through the chambers and looked around the cells, until they found Breeze's cell. They sliently unlocked the door and released the mare from the chains, allowing her to fly again. All while Breeze's asleep. Then the mysterious individual grabbed several rocks, shaped them like a lying pony, painted it blue, glued some fake violet and blue hair on the front and back, mimicing a mane and a tail, painted a face, then did their best to make it look as close to the blue mare as possible. However, those small noises woke the mare up, who was close by.
"Ugh...what's going on?" The pegasus groaned and opened her eyes, only to see that shadowy individual building something. What really caught her eye is due to the silhouette of the individual, having a braided hairstyle and being petite.
"Wait a minute...You look familiar..." she stood up and looked closer, only to feel lighter around her wings. Sure enough, when the mare opened hee wings, there was no restraint to hold them back. She went closer and closer to that individual and tapped them, only for them to shriek in fear.
"Wait! That voice..." She thought. That voice sounded feminine and shy. And there was only one, who has that voice and that braided hairstyle. Sure enough, the shadowy individual turned out to be none other than Amber, who's been trying to free Breeze all along! But before the mare would even respond, the mole girl immediately hushed her.
"Shhh! You need to be quiet! I'm trying to get you out of here." Amber quietly whispered, as she finished the fake pony construction and grabbed a nearby torch to light up the area.
"Get me out of here..? Was this your idea?" Breeze scratched her head.
"No. It was actually Roy's idea. He requested me to get you to the surface world, because he said, you have some 'elemental' friends, right?" Amber explained, who was responsible for the plan. Which meant, what Roy whispered to Amber earlier was actually a secret plan to get Breeze out of the chambers and back to the surface world.
"Well, yeah. Not sure, why he wants me to get my friends though...." Breeze was still puzzled.
"To get some help? Now please follow me. I know a way out." Amber grabbed Breeze's hoof and left the chamber. They snuck through the tunnels and around a few guards. A few minutes later, the reached a wall. However, Amber began to push something, which revealed a hidden tunnel going up.
"Damn...You're really clever." Breeze was impressed.
"Thank you." Amber giggled. "I actually made that secret tunnel a while ago, so I can explore the surface. But only at night, since most of them are asleep. Now go, young pony! You deserved to be free."
"Never thought of a mole girl actually helping me out... Thanks, Amber! And don't worry, I'll get my friends for backup and we'll kick their asses and save the others!" Breeze was about to go, when she suddenly had a question. "Wait! What about you?"
"Don't worry. I'll be fine. I'll keep it as a secret." The shy mole assured, which relieved the mare to climb upward. The last things, she heard before was the tunnel being closed. From that point onward, it's just Breeze Dasher climbing her way up to freedom. Unfortunately, not even a few minutes later, the dark mare became exhausted.
"Man, how long is that tunnel exactly?!" She groaned, assuming the tunnel would take so long. In fact, she didn't know, if the chamber was really deep underground. Regardless, she kept on crawling upwards, even though it took most of her stamina. Eventually, she touched something hard, so Breeze moved the objects away and crawled out of a hole, now covered in dirt, since the ground was wet a while ago.
"After what it seems like ages, I finally got out! And goddamn, it was a pain in the ass to crawl through a tight space! My back hurts from thinking it..."
"Oh man...I swear to God, I'll never climb through a tunnel ever again!" The pegasus mare groaned again, when she got up and laid down on the solid ground, to catch some air and energy. The breeze and the sounds of the grills and other animals brought relaxation to Breeze, since she missed the surface so much, even though she was imprisoned underground a few days ago. After a half an hour of resting, the blue mare got up and looked around.
"The problem was....I have no idea, where the hell I was. It was super far away from Ponyville. I mean, it could also be far away from our ship!"
"Okay. I'm feeling a bit better now.. But....where the fuck am I?" Breeze didn't recognized the area around her. "What direction should I go and WHERE THE HELL IS PONYVILLE!?!" She screamed to the sky, as she became even more frustrated. Breeze flew up and around the forested area, searching for something. A light, a house, anything to point towards pony civilisation. But instead, she saw nothing but trees, rocks, lakes, fields and wild animals. During the search, she became even more and more annoyed, until eventually, she landed on a field and stomped her hooves.
"Man, could this day get any worse?!?!" The blue mare angrily yelled and painted, as she was exhausted again. Suddenly, she heard a voice.
"Thing is, a few days ago, while I was hanging out with Radiant Thunder and Coffee Paw, they said something like: 'Don't ask, if things could get any worse! It always makes things even shittier!' Back then I assumed, that they had the worst luck imaginable. But looking back at that moment, I really shouldn't have said those words, because immediately after I said that...of course it did get fucking worse....But in the worst way imaginable. And no, I'm not talking about the mole girls catching up to me, hell no! Instead..."she" came back."
"Hello, Breeze. Long time, no see.~"
"What the?! Who's that?!" Startled, the blue mare looked around for the source of the sound, only to see nothing. "Aw man, this is one of those mind fucks, huh?" She kept looking around, while hearing laughter somewhere. "Where are you!? Show yourself! I'm not afraid to throw hooves at ya!" Immediately in a battle stance, Breeze prepared for the mysterious enemy. Then out of nowhere, a dark, galactic aura surronded the poor mare, making her unable to move and lifted up, as dark mist surrounded the area close to her. Soon, she heard hoofsteps getting closer and she was met with glowing yellow, serpent-like eyes with a blue to pink aura around them and a glowing horn.
"Oh no...Not this shit again..." The dark blue pegasus was afraid of the pony, to whom she knew. Sure enough, her fears were confirmed, when Shadow Galaxy stepped out of the shadows with a wicked grin.
"Missed me?" The dark pink Alicorn nonchalantly smiled.
"I thought, you're gone for good! Like being destroyed by the power of the elements and Jenny overcoming you!" Breeze shouted.
"Oh you silly pony, you have no idea, that little drama of yours and your friends gave me enough strength to return from the shadows and picking off, where I left off! And you might ask, what drama...Well, the one, that started with a rift between Fire Jewel and us!" Shadow Galaxy explained her return and rubbed salt to the wound.
"No...." Breeze was left shook from what she just said. The drama between Fire Jewel and her own friends and sister, causing the team to be broken off on bad terms, which lead to a lot of misunderstandings, terrible mistakes and lots of lives ruined and caught off in a web of the dilemma, were all the cause for more damage than good. Examples being the dragon incident and recently, Shadow Galaxy's return after a very long time.
"Oh, but don't worry, little one. I'll make sure to do everyone a big favor by getting rid of you and your friends. And once I'm done with you, I'll cover the universe in darkness and rule it as the supreme queen for all eternity!!" Shadow Galaxy preceded to laugh evilly, as sounds of lightning can be heard roaring from the skies. "And don't be sad. It'll be quick and painless" She was about to charge a killing blow, when all of a sudden, cyan lightning bolts hit Breeze, charging her up and breaking her free from Galaxy's magic.
"I may have been out of shape a bit, but I still got some fight in me left!" Immediately, the pegasus mare prepared for a throw down. "I'm gonna defeat you, just like me and my friends last time!"
"Bring it, twerp!" Shadow Galaxy smirked and also prepared for an attack.
[During this battle, this theme plays:
First, Shadow Galaxy unleashed a dark beam at Breeze, but the mare dodged it by flying away.
"Charged hurricane!" Breeze used her powers to created an electrical hurricane to send it right at the dark Alicorn, whom she flew through it and fired several shots, in which the pegasus created a powerful wind to bring those shots right back at her. Shadow Galaxy responded by blocking them off with a barrier. Next, she unleashed a powerful shockwave, causing a minor earthquake and slightly throw Breeze off and thrown her to a nearby boulder.
"That does it! Amped Kick!" Breeze got up and flew up to the skies, in order to charge herself up to a powerful attack. After which, she flew down at rapid speed and positioned herself to a single kick, while being surrounded by lightning bolts. Due to its incredible speed, she managed to hit the evil Alicorn and also sending electrical shocks at her. What followed is an all out brawl between Shadow and Breeze, which including unleashing their spells at each other, kicking, etc. It went on and on, until the dark blue pegasus flew so fast and kicked her away. Exhausted, yet triumphant, Breeze smirked.
"Is that, what you got!?" She chuckled, but her demeanor changed, when Shadow Galaxy hit a tree, she suddenly turned into dark smoke. "What the!?" She looked around, but unbeknownst to Breeze, the dark alicorn reappeared behind her from a mist.
"No, but thank you for asking that, Breeze." She smirked and fired off a beam, in which it hit the pegasus mare to the ground. After which, she fired off several shockwaves at the helpless mare, giving her more pain and agony. "That was sure fun, but unfortunately, your time is running out!" After which, Shadow performed a drop kick at Breeze and used her magic to pick her up, in order to finish her off. It was pretty hopeless, as she charged for yet another powerful blast for a killing blow.
"I would've been a goner, since she was too strong and I was exhausted, due to the escape, but then..."
An innocent rabbit came by and made noises, while searching for food. However, the sound distracted the shadowy mare.
"Huh? How dare you distracting me from getting my victory!?" She snarled, scaring off the rabbit, whom it ran away. However, during that brief distraction, her horn stopped glowing and Breeze was let go. She used that brief time to fly away as fast as she could.
"Now, where was I-" Shadow Galaxy turned back, only to see that Breeze had already escaped. "Damn it! She escaped, just like the princess! Whatever, I'll pick them off next time. Besides, I have more time to set my plan in motion and soon, everypony will bow down to the future empress of the galaxy!" She laughed evilly.
Meanwhile, Breeze flew as fast, as she could to get away from Shadow Galaxy, however, her injuries slowed her down hard, until she had left with no other option than to land down on the ground in order to run, but even then, the injuries hindered her journey even further. She tried to walk for a while until she had no choice but to crawl.
"I got away as fast as I could, but it hurts so bad, that I had to slow down. Meanwhile, I had no idea, where I was, though in reality, I was close to Ponyville. So imagine my relief, when I found houses. After which, I tried on knocking on every door, so I can get some help."
It went on and on for a while, until she found houses, which meant, she arrived at a village. Relieved, she used her remaining strength to crawl further and knock at every door, in order to get some help.
"And of course, it lined up with you eventually knocking on a particular door, in which Lyra and BonBon eventually answered, before losing your consciousness."
This was the last thing, Breeze did before losing consciousness, thus ending the flashback.
Ponyville Hospital, present
"I never thought, that bitch would come back after so long....Hearing her name makes my blood boil...." Snow growled, while Cherry and Tropic backed off. "We have to stop her!"
"Yeah! There's no way in hell, she will succeed this time!" Breeze was motivated, but when she moved, the injuries caused her to groan.
"No, Breeze! You're still injured! Please rest, while we're taking the mission." Snow stopped her friend from moving.
"B-but...what about the mole people?" Tropic asked, since Breeze's story made her worried about Zizrar and the others, who they've still been captured underground.
"We'll take care of this later! But for now, we have to go to Ponyville to raise the defenses and prepare for the battle! She'll regret invading this planet, when we use our elements together!" Snow rebutted.
"Yeah, but think about it, Snow. There are only three of us. Breeze is still injured and not to mention, FIRE AND OCEAN ARE STILL ABSENT!!! That shit ain't enough! I suggest, we should get some assists!" Cherry made a point, since despite being three versus one, she remembered one time, where it wasn't enough, when they fought against Shadow Galaxy a long time ago. Presumably the first encounter and battle. But Snow didn't want to hear anything about it.
"No! The last thing we want, is more casualties and injuries! I really don't want anyone to fall under her foul hooves and make everything worse! So, it's now just the three of us now or never!" Snow outright shot down Cherry's request and ran off.
"Damn, what's up with her?..." Breeze scratched her head.
"Recently, she's been extremely agitated and hard to work with. The drama is of course the main reason of all of this and I get, why she doesn't want more assists, but....I fear, that Snow is hiding something, since she reacted to the drama a lot worse than the others." Cherry theorized, before switching topics. "Hey, Breeze, you said, you escaped to the surface to get our help, right?"
"Uhm, yeah. That's what Roy wanted. Breeze nodded. Suddenly, Cherry had an idea.
"Uhm...Cherry? Shouldn't we go after Snow to help her?" Tropic was worried.
"Hmm....Breeze...We'll help you get the men out." The pink-haired mane made up her mind, much to Tropic and Breeze's shock.
"Cherry, you don't understand! If you don't follow Snow's orders, she'll kill us!" Tropic tried her best to convince Cherry to change her plan, but Cherry stood to her decision.
"That's the thing! Snow really needs to learn to be more open and less bossy to us and everyone! Plus, I think, it's time to tell everyone the whole truth about us, including...you know, who. That's right! I'm going to tell the entire history about...her...my best friend..." Cherry was getting more and more emotional. "You may be apprehensive about it, but it's time to change it! It's OUR fault!! We brought many innocent ponies into OUR petty mess! And I don't want to be associated with the drama and being the target of bullying again! I JUST WANT TO BRING OUR FRIENDSHIP BACK AND THINGS TO BE BACK TO NORMAL!!!!" With tears in her violet eyes, Cherry looked at her friends. "Girls...you really need to understand....we need to take responsibility and mature....and of course trying our best to restore our friendship....I learned that from Princess Twilight and her friends..."
"Cherry..." Tropic watched on, as he friend was in an emotional state. It reminded her on when she met the green mare for the first time, when Breeze brought her to the cottage. It all happened in the planet, Shima.
Shima, several years ago...
Inside the cottage, Tropic was preparing in the kitchen, while Fire Jewel prepared the fireplace with wood and her own fire magic, when all of a sudden, the door was bust open by Breeze, who was carrying Cherry.
"Huh? Breeze, what's the matter?" Tropic ran to her friend, while Fire was confused.
"Wait....who's the new girl?" The red unicorn was confused.
"No idea, but while I was flying, I saw her falling from a cliff. It's a good thing, I flew as fast I could and catch her, before she hit the cold waters. She resisted at first, but then stopped." Breeze explained her reason on bringing in a new pony.
"Tell me, who pushed you?" Fire asked, wanting answers, but the green earth pony looked away in sorrow.
"Please...we're not here to hurt you... " Tropic pleaded.
"You're probably saying this, to make yourselves better and make my life miserable, like everyone...." The green mare mumbled.
"What the fuck, we're not bullies!" Fire snapped, but Tropic held her friend back.
"Fire, please! You're scaring her! Anyway....we just want to do the right thing and make the universe a better place, protecting people and stop evil. Bullying is not part of our nature." Tropic assured, that she and her friends were not doing any harm and instend present them as potential heroes.
"Of course, you wouldn't help me from what I've been through! You wouldn't help someone, who's been called 'a weakling' or something for so long!" The pink haired mare snapped.
"The hell are you talking about? Were you....bullied?" Fire guessed.
"Seems like it." Breeze looked at Cherry.
"I'm truly sorry for what happened to you... I know, that we just met and thus, don't know about you at all. But I assure you, that we're different. If you have any issues, you can talk with any of us. Our doors are open." Tropic slowly approached the green mare, who's been hostile, fearing for the worst. But her suspicions were debunked, once she was pulled into a hug by the yellow mare. "It's going to be okay. We're here now." She softly spoke to the green earth pony, who's been touched by Tropic's kindness.
"Besides, if those bullies show up again, we're gonna give them a piece of our minds and a good ass whooping!" Fire Jewel added and joined in the hug, followed by Breeze shortly after.
"I....I....I..." Cherry was at a loss for words, due to being emotional by their actions.
"Don't worry, man. We're gonna protect you....no matter what..." Breeze smiled.
"She's right. That's what friends do." Tropic warmly smiled, as the green mare had tears streaming down from her face, to which the yellow earth pony wiped them away.
After which, the four ponies sat down and Cherry proceeded to tell them her struggles with bullying. They were shocked by the extent and told them, that despite having different experiences with pain, like Fire Jewel being an abuse victim, Tropic being unable to save a friend from suicide and Breeze with abandonment issues, they've bonded over their pain and their shared desire for justice.
Ponyville Hospital, present....
"Cherry...I made up my mind... Let's help Breeze out and set things straight. Besides, it's best to tell them about her, so that mistakes like these will never happen again." Tropic quickly hugged the green mare, finally convinced to join her plan. She then turned her attention to Breeze. "Breeze, we'll get the men out and stop Shadow Galaxy for good. And maybe....talk things out. You can rest, while we're doing your request." She smiled.
"Thanks. I knew, I can count on ya!" Breeze smirked.
Meanwhile Cherry was brought back to reality through the power of friendship and proceeded to leave the room with Tropic, while Breeze watched and laid down to recover.
Meanwhile in Ponyville...
We see ponies running away from Shadow Galaxy, who used her magic to cause destruction and capture ponies. Some of the running ponies were Sissy and Missy, who were running as fast as they could or in Sissy's case, flying.
"I swear to God, we can't catch a break! First the dragon and now this, despite that being months ago!!" Sissy screamed.
"Where the hell are Test and the mutt!? They could've been a REALLY big help right here!!" Missy shouted, while running. Suddenly, the hybrid tripped and injured herself. Sissy came by to help her friend up, but they were closed to be captured by the dark orbs, when all of a sudden, they were shot down by beams and Jillian coming out to protect the girls.
"Stay away from my friends!" The pink unicorn charged her horn, ready for the fight, as more orbs appeared. She shot down more and more of them down, however more of them appeared. Regardless, the unicorn mare kept on going, until they were surrounded by the orbs. Suddenly, a blizzard froze them solid.
"Hey, where did that blizzard come from?" Sissy looked around for the source, when a white pegasus with emerald green mare flew by, to protect everyone. In other words, Snow Emerald has arrived.
"Everypony, get out of here! The guardians will take care of this!" Snow spread her wings in order to save everyone. The girls did just that, but not before Missy stopped to ask a question.
"Wait, guardians? You're the only one." She asked, before being grabbed by Sissy and Jillian and running away. That question hit Snow hard, as she looked around for the two earth ponies.
"Wait....Where the hell are Cherry and Tropic!? Did they just abandon me and the mission?! I swear, if I see them, they're gonna be in so much trouble!" She screamed, but unfortunately for her, Shadow Galaxy was standing behind. "And...she's already behind me, isn't it?" She turned, confirming her suspsicion. However, the icy mare was prepared for it with her ice spells.
Canterlot Castle
The Mane 6 and Spike arrived inside of the castle and once they arrived the throne room, they saw Princess Celestia with bandages on her body and some doctors watching on her.
"Oh my goodness! Princess Celestia! I read your letter and we came here as fast as possible! Are you okay!? What's going on here!?!" Twilight was worried and panicked of seeing her mentor and fellow princess being taken care of her injuries.
"Not to mention, the sky was getting really funny, with all of the starry swirls and night colors It's like, they are gathering around for a weird party!" Pinkie Pie added, because earlier, they've seen the skies change.
"I'm okay, girls. But earlier, I've discovered something unbelievable. It was about a pink alicorn, with dark blue hair being covered in mist and the next thing, I knew was a menacing alicorn with dark galactic mare coming out, calling herself as Shadow Galaxy, whom she tried to destroy me. Luckilly, I managed to escape to Canterlot and wrote the letter to you, because Equestria really needs your help again." Celestia explained. Suddenly, a lightbulb came off in Pinkie's head.
"Pink alicorn? Blue hair? Hmmmm...I swear, I've seen her before..." The pink party mare started digging in her head, finding for a specific memory and in a short time, a "Eureka!" moment came in. "Girls! Girls! Girls! Somehing just tickled my brain hard! Remember when we last been in the Ponyville hospital several months ago, when we first met Fire Jewel and Tropic Bloom?!"
"The Ponyville Hospital? What do you mean, darling?" Rarity was confused.
"Now that you mentioned it Pinkie, something flashed in front of my eyes just then.." Fluttershy commented.
"Same here, sally!" Applejack nodded. Soon, a crucial moment flashed in front of everyone's eyes. In other words. the last time, where they saw the alicorn mare. It was outside the hospital, where they just left with Fire, Tropic, Johnny and Dukey. She stood there, along tith Snow, Breeze, Ocean and Cherry, reprimanding the mares. One thing lead to another, more drama insued and finally Tropic imprisoned them in vine cocoons, due to her having enough.
"Wait! Princess Celestia, it's slowly becoming clear now! We've seen the pink mare before, when we exited the Ponyville hospital, with Fire, Tropic and the guys! It happened several months ago! It was a very messy ordeal to witness a drama between friends, who've clearly been through so much and have been together for several moons. In fact, I talked with Tropic for a while and she said, that the drama really hurt her self-esteem. What happened next is that Fire snapped and causing damage to Canterlot and almost getting herself killed several weeks later. Despite knowing everything about the rest of the ponies, we've never known about her, because they refused to talk about it!" Twilight explained the memory and everything, what happened to them.
"Actually, it was Snow, who refused to talk about it...In fact, she was incredibly offensive about it and she would get really angry and scary, if I mention her. The others were not in the mood to talk about her, but I feel like, she may have a hatred towards her." The shy pegasus pointed something out.
"I'm startin' to distrust those ponies, y'all...They've been clearly hiding a lot of secrets in front of us and they've been seriously troubled, ever since they arrived at Equestria..." Applejack was slowly getting more doubtful of helping the elemental ponies. "For someone, who've been protecting beyond the stars, they were really terrible with friendships!"
"Applejack, I know your concern and I get, where you're going...It's been months since the fallout. But maybe, if we decide to calmly talk to them and assuring them, that we're helping them restoring their friendship, then perhaps, they're gonna tell them the full story. " Twilight comforted her southern friend, before turning her attention towards the sun princess. "Was there something about the alicorn, princess?"
"Yes, there was something...I've seen tears dropping from her eyes, before being fully covered by the mist. Like she was completely saddened by something. That's something, that kept me thinking that perhaps...she's been remorseful about her actions. So, there is still a chance, that if we manage to find her, we can talk this out and bring the group back together." Celestia recounted a small detail and a very interesting theory about what happened before. "However, I fear, that maybe Nighmare has returned and possesed her. But at the same time, I doubt it, since she was completely alone. Not to mention, we have defeated it a long time ago, back when it possesed the sisters."
"We're not exactly sure, how exactly happened with the mysterious alicorn, but one thing is clear: We have to stop her and save Equestria!" Twilight was determined with the mission.
"Now, where is she currently?" Rarity asked. "We have no idea, where she went after her encounter with Celestia."
"She said something about conquering the galaxy. But she had to start somewhere. " Celestia was thinking about a possible location, when all of a sudden, a royal guard just informed her, that Shadow Galaxy is currently in Ponyville.
"If that's the case, then we have to go back! Okay, girls! Get close to me, because I'm gonna teleport us there immediately!" The princess of friendship had a serious expression on her face and as soon, as they closely gathered around the purple alicorn, she used her horn to perform a teleportation spell to get herself and the others to Ponyville.
"Good luck, ponies." Celestia nodded and sat down. At the same time, she missed Luna so dearly and was thinking of apologizing to her.
Unknown fields
Cherry and Tropic have just arrived at the hole, where it all started. The hole, where Zizrar got stuck and his crown was last seen, before being taken by a different kind of mole people. They noticed, that it became deeper, since the mole men went into the hole, along with Breeze to find the crown thief. Now, that they know what happened to them, they're ready to free them. But they're also aware, that Amber is the only good one, so they're gonna let her go. So they went into the hole and walked through the tunnel.
"Okay, how are we gonna find them, without getting caught by those women?" Tropic asked.
"Hmm...Perhaps I can detect them, by using my power to feel the earth's vibratons underground. Stand back, Tropic. I'm gonna do it. " Cherry had an idea and Tropic stood back, as the green mare's hooves started to glow and she closed her eyes to feel the vibrations. The mare concentrated even harder during this time. After a few minutes of tracking down the vibrations, her ears started to twitch. "I sensed some vibrations over there! Come on!" Cherry and Tropic proceeded to follow the vibrations. As they got closer, the more intense the vibrations became, meaning they're getting closer to the source. As soon as they arrived to the spot, Cherry put her ear to the wall, listening to something. Using her powers to feel even the earth's slightest vibrations, she heard a male voice.
"I heard someone. Which means, we are close to the guys! Now stand back, I got this!" Cherry turned around and her backhooves glew orange, as she started to charge for an attack. "Terra Break!" She shouted and kicked a massive hole through the walls and going inside. They saw a mole man being surprised by the hole, but unfortunately, a guard was nearby.
"Cease, intruders!" The guard opened the cell with a spear in her hand.
"Can't let this happen! Rock Trap!" Cherry stomped down the ground, which caused the guard to be trapped by a cube of rocks. The mole man saw this as an opportunity to get out with the ponies following him shortly after. The yellow mare used her nature powers to unlock the cells by creating branches, that act like lock picks. Unfortunately for them, two of them are missing, which are Zizrar and Roy.
"Wait! Where are the remaining two!?" Cherry asked.
"You mean our king and Roy? Well, they've been taken by the guards. We're not sure why, but I'm afraid, that they're in danger." One of the mole men answered.
"In that case, we have to find them!" With those words from Tropic, the group charged through the door in search of the two, who may be taken to the queen. After knocking out some guards and lots of looking around later, which meant, taking some wrong paths, they've arrived closed to the throne room.
Slightly peeking through, without any suspicion, Cherry and Tropic saw several mole women gathered around in a large circle, along with the sounds of metal clashing. When they couldn't see, what's going on, Cherry used her powers to elevate the ground, she's in a bit, in order to see. What she saw, is Zizrar and Roy fighting for their lives against two of the best warriors with nothing more than a sword and shield. While Roy had a slightly better advantage, both of them lack their skill of fighting with weapons, since that's something they didn't have back in Porkbelly. Not to mention, the mole men weren't really the smartest, even when they started to go to the library to read books. The mole women on the other hand, have a lot of combat experience and intelligence to boot. So it shouldn't come off as a surprise, that the female warriors managed to overpower the two and disarm them from the weapons. The other mole women cheered, while Queen Iris and Evelynn watched. Well, all but one, as hidden in the crowd, Amber was looking away in horror.
"Finish them! Finish them!" The crowd cheered.
"Hmph....They're such pathetic creatures..." Evelynn scoffed, before turning her attention to the queen, who's been watching the spectacle. Meanwhile, the warriors prepared for a killing blow to the two, who were incapacitated. They were about to, until the ground started to shake and before they knew, Cherry landed in front of the guys, causing pillars to appear.
"Sorry, ladies! The show's over!" Cherry stood tall, while Tropic landed next to her friend.
"Get them!" Iris commanded the soliders to attack the intruders, but unlike Breeze, Cherry and Tropic were prepared. Using a spell, named "Glistering Soil", Cherry used her magic to make the ground perfect for Tropic to use her nature spells.
"Wild Branches!" Tropic stomped down on the ground to make branches appear to slow down the soldiers.
"Wait, you're Breeze's friends, right?" Zizrar asked.
"Yep. And partners at saving the universe. Now stand down, more soliders are coming! Terra Break!" Cherry kicked some of the soilders away with her glowing back hooves. Meanwhile, Tropic screamed out green shockwaves, which caused vines to appear. Most of them are caught and incapacitated by the vines, except Evelynn, who slashed the vines down. The yellow mare backed away a bit, due to the pain.
"You won't get away with this!" The commander charged with her sword and shield, however the yellow earth pony dodged them.
"What are we gonna do, amiga?" Tropic was fully tensed by the battle, while also fighting Evelynn off. It didn't help, that more soliders appeared to assist Evelynn, while Cherry is fighting against Iris. Eventually, the mares have their backs each other, while being surrounded.
"How about a convergence spell?" Cherry suggested an idea.
"Right with you!" With the words of the nature mare, the two ponies closed their eyes, their hooves started to glow and focused on creating a convergence spell. "Elemental Convergence: Nature's Rumble!" With those words, they unleashed magical shockwaves, which caused the earth to rumble and branches and vines to sprout out and attack the women, all while Cherry erected a rock shield around the guys and unbeknownst to everyone, aside from the ponies, Amber. She hid behind the guys during the battle. Once the guards and the queen were subdued and trapped on the ceiling, since they don't want to kill anyone (which is something, superheroes and magical girls never do, with some exceptions of course) Cherry opened the shield and Amber hid from everyone else almost immediately.
"That'll do. Come on, guys! Let's get outta here!" Cherry shouted and she, Tropic and the group left, while the ladies were left hanging. However...one of the guards, Auriana was thinking about something...peculiar, like she knew, that there was something, nobody knew before, regarding to Amber.
Meanwhile, the group stood to an area far away and Cherry used a spell to cover herself and everyone in a rock cube and lifted it up to the ceiling, like an elevator.
Equestrian Fields
The cube emerged from the earth and opened up, getting everyone out and feeling the breeze once again.
"You must been her friends, right? In this case, thank you for saving us." Zizrar thanked the two mares and the other mole people bowed down in a sign of gratitude.
"Breeze told us everything, what happened to you, so we got here as fast as we could. It's a good thing, we stopped those ladies from causing harm." Cherry responded.
"Uhm...guys?" Tropic pointed her hoof up to the sky, which was still dark with the strange swirls of stars.
"Shit...We almost forgot about Shadow Galaxy!" Cherry was reminded on what's going on. Not to mention, a distant orange glow from afar suggested them, that they're somwhere close to Ponyville. "We have to go to Ponyville and stop her once and for all!"
"Pardon me, but...who's Shadow Galaxy?" Zizrar was confused on who Shadow Galaxy was. After looking at each other, Cherry and Tropic sighed and looked at them with a serious expression.
"I knew, this moment would come..." Tropic lowered her ears.
"It's time to break the silence and tell them about the whole truth...." Cherry lowered her head and was about to tell them everything about Shadow Galaxy and by extension, the mare behind it, when all of a sudden, a mole man alerted them of ice shards flying towards them.
"Uh oh! Natural Cloak!" Tropic created a magical barrier around her and the others, protecting themselves from the ice shards. The yellow mare already knew, who's responsible and right on cue, they saw Snow Emerald, all bruised up and looking very angry.
"Where the hell have you two been!?" The pegasus growled.
"I'm sorry, Snow...We had to take a different route and save the mole people from a different kind from mole people, whom they're all women and coming from another planet." Tropic responded in a scared tone.
"We were on our way to Ponyville to assist you on defeating Shadow Galaxy." Cherry added, but the name already made the icy mare's blood boil even further, scaring the yellow earth pony even further.
"Uhm...can we go now?" One of the mole men asked.
"You heard him right...She's scaring all of us." Zizrar echoed his concern to the mares. With no choice, Tropic created some vine capsules for them to enter.
"They'll automatically bring you to Ponyville...Now go..." Tropic lowered her head in defeat and ordered the mole people to go into the vine capsules, in which they did, but not before Roy looking back at the yellow mare, who had tears in her eyes and lowering her defenses.
"Okay, Snow...We'll go with you..." In a defeated tone, Tropic started to walk towards Snow through her shield, much to Cherry's dismay, which soon evolved into rage.
"There you go, Tropic. Now come on, Cherry. We have to go now. Equestria needs us." Snow looked at her friend, begging her to come with them, but the green mare suddenly turned her back against them.
"No..." Cherry mumbled.
"What...What do you mean by "no"?" The icy mare turned around in disbelief.
"Snow...I'm tired of living with the guilt of everything, including the lies. Not to mention, if we keep doing this, it'll bring out more harm than good!" The earth pony's voice was shaken from the whole drama. "I know, the drama tore us apart and I get your concern...but at the same time, keeping the truth about her from others would make the problem a lot worse...I'm sorry...but I have to break my silence about her!"
"Cherry, don't you dare mentioning about her!" Snow growled.
"Cherry...." Tropic was scared.
"Tropic, I have to do it! It's the only way to get rid of the nightmares and guilt!" Cherry looked at her friend with small tears, before turning her attention towards Snow. "And as for you....I don't get it, I really don't....You used to be honest, smart and loyal...you may be secretive, but knew what you're doing... But now, you're nothing more than a cold control freak!"
"Hey! I don't want anyone being pulled into out business! Remember the last time, when Fire nearly destroyed everything!?" Snow shouted. "And I swear, if you mention her one more time, then I'll-"
"Looking back at our actions, that came from our pettiness, empty promises, lies and lots of misunderstandings...I've been thinking about those the whole time and realized, that it's OUR FAULT! We let ourselves being carried away by our emotions and caused so much grief, that our reputation there became shattered! I just want things to go back to normal and I will start by telling everyone everything about us, including about our former leader." Cherry closed her eyes, as if she knew, that Snow would attack her, if that pony was mentioned. Regardless, she stood ground on her decision was wasn't gonna change it one way or another. This resulted in a massive argument between the two, in which Tropic was close to tears, having no choice, but to watch. When it was too much for her to handle, she screamed and covered herself in a vine cocoon to hide.
"Great, you just made Tropic hide herself!" Snow was angry.
"No no no, you're the one, who did this. Your bitchy demeanor was a pain in the ass for us recently, ever since our group fell apart and the dragon incident! When will you realize, that it's never gonna help? Like, I feel like, you just hate her!!!" Cherry yelled.
"SHUT UP!!!" Snow's eyes glowed white, as she unleashed a powerful blizzard at Cherry, out of anger. Suddenly, an ice wall was erected in front of Cherry, thus protecting her from the storm.
"That's enough!!"
That voice came from Brain Freezer, who happened to overhear the conversation. His horn glowing was proof, that he erected the ice wall. Needless to say, he was disappointed by Snow's behaviour.
"Stay out of this! This is none of your business!" Snow growled.
"None of my business? NONE OF MY BUSINESS!?! You kept pushing away everyone, kept secrets from your own friends and you were outright mean to them, when all they want to do is to set things straight! Like jeez, what the hell is your problem!?" The icy unicorn went straight to the snowy mare.
"How dare you?" Snow looked at him.
"I dare! If it's wrong, it's wrong! I actually don't care, if you're smart or not, you're mean, cold, disgusting, distant and if you're keep doing this, NOPONY WILL EVER GO NEAR YOU AGAIN!!"" He yelled at her right in the face, much to Cherry's silent astonishment. A few minutes of silent later, something unexpected happened with Snow: the icy mare had tears in her eyes and before anyone knew, she flew away crying.
"Damn....You actually did it..." Cherry was still stunned by what happened.
"I don't get it...Where is the Snow, I once knew?? Why is she so mean to us? Why can't she tell us the truth!?" They heard Tropic crying in the cocoon. "She used to be nice and honest..."
"Uhm...what does it mean?" Brain Freezer was confused. In response, Cherry took a deep breath and whispered something in great detail in his ear. "I see...Tropic told me something about the drama earlier. And man...I didn't knew, it had more consequences than I thought."
"I know right! We not only lost four friends in a span of months, but disintegrated everything, we've worked for, all for a string of unfortunate events, caused by our pettiness and outbursts! I can't believe, that we became something, we swore to fight against several years ago....and now I'm ashamed and broken...." Cherry was saddened. "And Tropic is right. Snow used to be nice, smart and loyal....But the drama reared its ugly head and completely soured her and caused a flame of hatred towards her to ignite....And I thought it was extinguished, when Snow started to trust her more, after our friend has saved her life and proved her leadership skills..."
Then something clicked inside of him. After everything, Cherry told him and reflecting to his own past and his mistakes, Brain Freezer knew, what he had to do. He looked at Cherry with a serious face. "Go get your friend and go to Ponyville. I'll be right back." He said.
"But-" Cherry was about to tell him a counterargument, but Brain Freezer had his eyes set for a mission.
"No butts! She needs to learn!" With those words, the unicorn ran of to where Snow flew off, leaving Cherry behind, who knocked at the vine cocoon.
"Hey, Tropic. We need to go back to Ponyville." The green mare softly spoke.
"But how are we gonna suppose to do that with just the two of us?..." Tropic was still inside the cocoon.
"I have no idea, but as our former leader has said: 'We have to do our best, no matter how dire the situation is. As long, as we have each other.'" Cherry placed her hoof on the cocoon and after a few minutes of silence, it opened and Tropic came out, in which Cherry comforted her.
"See? Everything will be alright. Now let's go. I'm pretty sure, they need us." She softly spoke with a warm smile. After which, Tropic silently nodded with a smile and the two mares ran off to save Ponyville from Shadow Galaxy.
Ponyville, Equestria
In this village, Shadow Galaxy was currently in a battle against Twilight and her friends, who they've arrived to evacuate everyone and stop her. Pinkie fired off many confetti and random cupcakes from her confetti cannon, while Rainbow Dash dashed around to deliver some fast kicks. On the other side of the spectrum, the dark pink mare unleashed several shots at the Mane Six, in which Rarity used her magic to block them off, scaring Fluttershy to paralysis and engaged a 1v1 battle against Twilight. Meanwhile, Applejack used her lasso to ensnare the dark Alicorn, but broke herself free with a spell.
"Y'all have ideas on taking her down?" Applejack asked her friends.
"I know!" Pinkie turned her confetti cannon into maximum overdrive and took cover. "INCOMING!!!"
After Pinkie'a friends took cover, the confetti cannon steamed heavily and fired off a massive cake, balloons, confetti and lots of glitter at Shadow Galaxy, causing the mare to be slowed down.
"How dare you throwing the party stuff at my face!? If anything, it should be done after conquering the galaxy!" The mare screamed.
"You're wrong, Shadow Galaxy! Or should I say, the mare behind the darkness?" Twilight shouted. "That's right, Princess Celestia told me and my friends about everything, what happened to you. It seems like, you're feeling guilty on what happened with the whole drama! I know, it hurts, but you have to fight it!"
"Wrong! That pony is long dead and will never come back, while I'm still around!" The dark alicorn fired off shockwaves at the Mane Six, but they refused to get down, as they began to charge themselves for a finisher.
"Perhaps the magic of friendship will guide you to the light!" With those words from the princess of friendship herself, the six heroines fired off a rainbow beam at Shadow Galaxy, who fired off a massive beam at the other one, which caused a clash between the two beams. It kept changing the direction on which one will hit who. In fact, it went on for hours, until the magic of friendship overcame the dark magic and hit the dark mare, causing an explosion of light, magic and smoke. The battle was over and the heroines looked at the smoke and presumed that they have cleansed the pony with the magic of friendship. At first, they celebrated over their victory, but when the smoke has settled, Fluttershy noticed that Shadow Galaxy was gone.
"Uhm..girls?" Fluttershy alerted her friends and pointed at the dark mare's absence, which caused Twilight to investigate the spot almost immediately. Meanwhile, her friends were worried, that perhaps, they've killed her, but unbeknownst to the mares, it was not the case. In fact...they didn't realize it, until it was too late, when the ponies were surrounded by a magical aura, paralyzing them in the progress. And right on cue, Shadow Galaxy reappeared in the process.
"Hey! That was dirty!" Rainbow Dash called foul at the dark mare for her cheating.
"But...how did you escape at the very last second? There is no way, the magic of friendship would miss!" Twilight became panicked, but Shadow Galaxy just put her hoof on the purple alicorn's face with a smirk.
"Oh, you have no idea on what I'm capable of. That pesky pony was a better master in magic since she was trained from the best of the best. And I've just took those skills and made them incredibly stronger! And while you have fought valiantly, unfortunately for you, it won't matter anymore, as I'm just gonna destroy all of you and setting these ponies and beyond as an example that no one will mess with me!" With those menacing words, Shadow Galaxy fired off shockwaves, beams and other magical attacks at the girls, making them scream in agony and pain, all while the dark mare stood there, laughing menacingly. She then proceeded to throw them so hard to the ground, that they couldnt move any further, due to their injuries. Her horn supercharged and shot off a powerful beam at the mares and it seems like, this was the end of the heroes of Equestria....or is it?
"Not so fast!"
When the dust was settled, the unexpected happened.
"What?!" Shocked, the dark pink mare saw Twilight and her friends surrounded in a magical shield, created by none other than the returning princess of the night, Princess Luna!
"Princess Luna?...You're back!" Twilight was happy to see the moon princess again, despite her injuries.
"As soon, as I saw the skies changing, I immediately knew that something was wrong and got here as fast as I could." Luna explained the ponies about her sudden return, before turning her attention towards the dark mare. "And as for you, Nightmare...I didn't expect you to return and possess a poor pony once again. I demand you to release her from your grasp or else!"
"Nightmare? I don't even know, what you're talking about, but I hate, when twerps like you interfere my conquest!" Shadow Galaxy was about to charge up her horn, when the ground around her started shaking and vines grabbing her hooves, courtesy of Tropic and Cherry, who ran to the scene as fast as they could.
"We're not gonna let you take this planet!" Cherry shouted.
"Are you girls okay!?" Tropic rushed to Twilight and her friends.
"We're fine. Just endured a beatin', sally." Applejack struggled to get up. Seeing these ponies in pain made Cherry and Tropic to go to Luna's side with serious expressions on their faces.
"Princess! Let us handle the situation!" Cherry looked at Luna, who was surprised by the green pony's wish. But the earth pony proceeded to explain her reason with: "I know your concern, but this is something, Tropic and I have to deal with. We're incredibly sorry for dragging you into our mess....In fact, I've been getting nightmares about our drama everytime and I personally wanted it to stop! We've lost our friends from our dangerous misunderstandings and pettiness in general alone and we don't want to lose even more and damaging our reputation! It's bad enough, now that only four elemental orbs are active, due to the fire, water and light one shattering at the pressure of their actions, now with Snow being agitated and gone and Breeze in the hospital, i just wanted to end the drama indefinitely! Please, princess...I just want the drama to end, so we can live our peaceful lives..."
"Please...It's been bothering her for the last few months and I hate seeing my friends being hurt and broken...The drama also hurt me in some ways..." Tropic begged the princess.
After hearing their stories, she reminded om her time helping Fire and Ocean and giving them lessons about forgiveness and redemption. As such, she sympathised the earth ponies and made up her mind. "I heard your stories loud and clear. In fact, I will assist you on your battle. Let's take her down together!" Luna smiled, much to the mares' relief and gratitude.
"Thank you, Princess Luna." Cherry smiled and she and Tropic stood side by side with Luna, as they prepared to continue the fight. "Twilight, get yourself and your friends out of here. We'll handle this." She looked back at Twilight, telling her to get her and the others to safety, all while Luna and the earth ponies, now charged up with their earth and nature spells, were ready to take Shadow Galaxy down once and for all.
Unknown forest, Equestria
"Snow? Snow, where are you!?" Brain Freezer shouted, as he kept searching for the icy mare around the forest. He kept looking at every angle, every spot, trees, bushes, rocks, literally everything, but so far, he couldn't find a single clue about her whereabouts. That was, until he found a little patch of snow, which is unusual, because winter season hasn't arrived yet.
"Huh? Snow in the middle of the forest? I know, winter season is not here yet, which means, she's not far behind..." Seeing the patch of snow made Brain Freezer follow the wet trail, with some snow patches in between, all while dodging dangerous animals and even freezing them out of self defense. Eventually, he found a big dome made out of snow and ice in the middle of the forest, confirming that Snow was indeed inside the dome.
"Well...seems fairly obvious...Alright. time to go inside of the dome." The icy unicorn looked around for an entrance, but couldn't find any, due to the dome being made in one piece and therefore, bring frozen shut. So he decided to just break in by using his unicorn magic to blast a hole at the dome, allowing him to go inside the dome.
Inside the dome, not only he's met with a large maze made out of ice and snow, but the hole was automatically closed through ice magic, that Brain Freezer didn't do at all. On top of that, it was incredibly cold, like -40 to -50°C (or approximately -40°F. Idk, I'm not a mathematician and I have no idea about Fahrenheit, since I live in Europe). Fortunately for the icy stallion, the years of perfecting his icy weapon, freezing everything and even make everything colder around him or just make it permanently winter, made him get used to the freezing cold.
At first, he went into the maze and tried to find a way to get to the snowy mare, but there was a lot of trial and error with the blue stallion kept going to dead ends, avoiding traps, making wrong turns and overall had to backtrack his steps, but got lost, because the maze was overall pretty confusing. "Alright, fuck it!" Frustrated, Brain Freezer unleashed a powerful spell, destroying the maze completely, leaving behind an ice wall in front of him. Blasting a hole through the wall, the unicorn went inside another room with lots of snow around the area and there she was: Snow Emerald, sitting on ice with her back against Brain Freezer and head and ears lowered in silence. Knowing what to do, he approached her, but she ignored his presence, being silent.
"Well, well, well. It seems like, you're here in this ice dome, you created, huh?" Brain Freezer commented, but Snow refused to say anything. Eventually, she looked back at him but only for a short time, before looking away. But during the short time, he saw guilt in her eyes.
"Hey, uhm...I know, it's pretty awkward to talk to you again....but...I just want to get some answers from you. Your friends were terrified of you and Cherry commented, that you may have a secret. Like a hatred towards that pony or something. Really, what's the deal? Why were you like this? Look, I don't want to be rude and what I said was not really nice and all. I just....snapped. But seriously, what's the whole thing with you and your friends!?" The unicorn demanded answers from Snow. He wanted info about her, but the mare kept being silent. He was about to lose it in frustration, but he was suddenly reminded by what Twilight said to him during his first days at Equestria:
"Even though the past hurts, you have to learn from them, in order to improve yourself and remember, keep a calm mind, even at the most infuriating situations."
All of a sudden, Snow looked back at him again, only this time, with tears in her ruby eyes, streaming down from her face and from this moment onward, she didn't look away. It's like, she wanted to make things clear.
"You don't know, what it's been like to know someone for a long time, only to get betrayed and hurt for such petty reasons...that's because I've been feeling this this the entire time!!!" Snow yelled.
"Calm down, Snow! What do you mean by getting betrayed? I thought, your coldness came from your planet having strict cultures, at least that's what I've heard." Brain Freezer was taken back by the sudden revelation, but wanted more from the snowy mare.
"I can't, because they would use me for their selfish needs and then throw me away, like a useless toy!" Snow refused, but the stallion ain't having it and grabbed her face.
"Excuse me, you and your friends have been in Equestria for at least a few months and you even met new ones! Stop being so delusional about it!! Nopony's gonna harm you, not even your own friends!! Just tell me, what the fuck happened that made you like this and I swear to god, you better not lie or else!!" His horn was glowing in rage as a result, scaring the pegasus more into tears.
"OKAY, FINE!!! I'M GONNA TELL YOU THE ENTIRE TRUTH!!!!" Snow screamed, before attempting to calm herself down, after realizing, that Brain Freezer would just leave her behind, if she kept acting like this. She sat down and proceeded to tell him everything:
"The whole strict culture thing is actually partially true, but that's not the issue here. It all began, when I was a little filly, in a planet named Neveon. I had a promising upbringing, since my mother is a teacher and my father being a scientist. So of course, I was brought to the best school there to study. I was known for being incredibly smart, but had problems with fitting in the crowd and socializing, which caused me being a social outcast. Didn't help, that some ponies were jealous of my talent and and bullied me or used me for their selfish needs. I was in a similar position to Cherry, but I had a few friends, whom I spent time with them to recover myself from the constant trauma. It didn't help, that Neveon was lead by a strict rule and some of the bullies had connections with some of the most powerful politicians and mayors, so I had to keep myself shut and just move on. Didnt help, that my parents weren't really rich, but not poor either. It's like in between. But regardless, I kept on going with my life, when one day, I was hit by something, while studying for an astrology project. It was like a small, yet bright shooting star, but it didn't hurt me. It turns out, that I was actually hit by the Ice Orb, one of the seven elemental orbs, sent out to find chosen ones to save the galaxy. However, because I didn't know that at the time and the element hasn't activated yet, I was left confused and later decided to move on to continue my studies. In the end, I managed myself to ignore what they said by isolating myself, but still kept my friends and family in touch. In fact, I was about to write a test on my 8th birthday, when one day, everything went downhill....when Shadow Nebula and her forces invaded my planet. I remember the images of weapons being fired, people being taken away or even executed and lots of destruction and despair. My family and I did, what everyone could by finding a safe place. My friend, Mirror Note, offered some shelter for us and brought us to what it seems like an entrance for a bunker, they owned. But when we got inside, I was knocked down by a Shadow Pony and saw my family being taken away, as Mirror Note just stood there with a cold stare, which was the last thing I saw, before getting knocked out."
"Jesus....That's horrible..." Brain Freezer was shocked by the story, bit Snow proceeded to tell him more, because in her perspective, the pain had just begun. And during her explanation, short flashbacks occurred.
"When I woke up, my family and were shackled in a cell. I couldn't believe, that Mirror Coat, my childhood friend, would do something like this...She was a friendly and caring individual, who used to stand up for me. Anyway, we've been used as the Queen's personal work slaves and needless to say, it was like hell, as we worked so hard without any breaks and punishments would result in torture or even worse, execution. It went on for what it seems like months, when my dad saw an opportunity to break himself and his family free. Keep this in mind, it happened in Nebula's spaceship. We ran away from the deadly guards in Hope's to find something to escape. When we reached to the escape pods and locked the door, we were so close, but unfortunately, the Shadow Ponies and commanders have reached to the door and were attempting to break in. Knowing, that their fates were basically sealed, my parents pushed me into an escape pod and activated it. I remember hearing the last words from my mom and dad, before being launched off into the deep unknown of space..." With tears, Snow recounted, that her parents said their goodbyes to their only child, before being launched off into space, drifting away with the certain thought, that her parents were executed shortly after.
In the flashback, her escape pod kept on flying and spinning, until it crash landed to the planet Xeon. Fortunately for her, a couple of resistance fighters saw the falling pod and when they went to the location, they found the unconscious filly and took her in. Snow then recounted, that she woke up in a base and after telling her story, the fighters were sympathetic and felt sorry for her. In the years, that followed, not only was she raised by them, but trained in martial arts and became the group's engineer and the smartest of them. She went on to do missions for the group, freeing citizens, stopping armies and helping each other. One day, their base was attacked by the shadow ponies. The group fought valiantly with Snow assisting them. It was an intense battle, which slowly went to their favour, when one of Snow's teammates suddenly pushed her into a pile of the monsters. He just looked at her with an evil grin, as it turned out, that the stallion was actually an agent for Shadow Nebula. Worse part is, he was her best friend. It seems like, the Shadow Ponies were about to kill her, when the memories of torture and betrayal fueled her rage and therefore unleashed a powerful blizzard, freezing everyone close to her. She went on to escape to another planet, named Shima, in which after remembering her torment, decided to completely isolate herself and train her newfound ice magic.
A few years have passed and Snow became a master of the ice and snow. What she didn't know at the time, is that the elemental orbs have a side effect, in which the wearer would stop aging. But that hardly mattered to her anymore, as she kept training herself and avoiding anyone in the process. It went on and on for a while, until one day, shadow ponies arrived to attack her. However, the hard training made her into a formidable and calculated fighter, in which Snow demonstrated by attacking them with her ice powers, before freezing them solid and shattering them with kicks.
"Don't ever touch me again, bastards!" She yelled and looked away, when all of a sudden, she heard an explosion and something being flown into the ground. That something turned out to be a red unicorn mare, AKA Fire Jewel, who just got up.
"Man, those guys are tough..." The red mare rubbed her head, being unaware that Snow was next to her.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" Snow growled.
"Look, I wish I could talk to you, but now, I have to go back to help my friends! See ya!" The unicorn ran away as fast as she could, leaving Snow behind. At first, she would just ignore the mare and continue with her usual routine. But the constant explosions made it hard to ignore any further and the snowy mare flew to the source of the explosions.
When she arrived, she saw Fire, Tropic, Cherry and Breeze fighting off against an army of Shadow ponies and a monster leading the troop. The shadows were defeated by the elemental ponies, but the monster was incredibly tough. Not only did they tank the elemental attacks, but also used them against the mares. In the end, they threw the convergence spell against the mares, sending them flying to a boulder. Meanwhile, Snow felt something, that the ponies had similar auras and wavelengths to herself, but also sharing the same enemy.
"Hahaha, you fools! You are match against my might! Now prepare for your doom!" The monster laughed, as he prepared to destroy them. Suddenly, the troop and they were hit by an ice shard. Looking back to see, where it came from, they saw Snow.
"Leave them alone!" Snow shouted with her wings sprouting, infuriating the monster to charge. However, the snowy mare dodged the attack by sidestepping and flying away. A big battle inside between Snow and the monsters. They tried to use their powers to destroy her, but the pegasus mare used her ice powers to freeze them solid. Next, she unleashed a hail of ice at them, while charging herself at the monster, kicking them to the curb. After lots of kicking and a somersault strike, she froze the monster solid and shattered it to pieces, all while the four ponies watched in awe.
"Damn...Did you see that?" Fire was stunned.
"She saved us..." Tropic was left speechless.
"And kicked their asses with ice powers..." Breeze was quite impressed.
But then, Snow was suddenly ambushed by a new army of shadow monsters, which caused the four ponies to intervene and defeat them and save the icy mare in the process.
"Man, those assholes don't know, when to quit, huh?" Breeze huffed.
"No shit, girl." Fire agreed.
"Are you okay?" Tropic went to Snow and reached her hoof to pick her up, but the snowy mare got herself up.
"I'm actually fine." Snow looked away a bit. "I must say, you girls are...unique. As in having elemental powers and such."
"Well, so are you. I mean, we've seen you unleashing blizzards and freeze monsters solid." Fire shrugged. During this time, Tropic felt a connection between herself, her friends and Snow. "Oh my...This aura...I feel like, we're alike..."
"Please, I'm just doing my job. Plus, I'm actually fine with working alone." Snow looked away, before being dragged by Breeze.
"Dude, don't be such a buzz kill! Shadow Nebula is getting stronger and you have the guts to take her down! We have the same goal, same enemy and all of that shit!" Breeze smirked.
"Uhm...Breeze? We don't know her..." Cherry told to her friend about the obvious.
"My bad...My name is Breeze Dasher, fastest flyer alive and master of wind and lightning!" The blue mare proudly introduced herself.
"I'm Cherry Swirl, master of the earth. It's nice to meet you." The green mare smiled.
"I'm Fire Jewel, the burning wildcard and hottest pony!" The red mare confidently spoke.
"Uhm...I'm Tropic Bloom...The guardian of nature." The yellow pony shyly introduced herself.
"You girls are quite....interesting so to say. My name is Snow Emerald and as I said, I prefer working alone." The snowy white mare repeated her point.
Suddenly, they hear more Shadow Ponies coming.
"Damn, these guys are coming for more, huh?" Breeze was annoyed and the five ponies were in their battle stances. What follows is a fight between teen the two sides. The downside was because the four ponies lack any plans or strategies, they would eventually fall behind.
"After seeing those ponies in danger again, I decided to use my brain to help them out."
"Fire, Cherry! Go to the left! Cherry, Tropic! Go to the right! I'll stay here! Once we're in our positions, we have to use our strongest attacks!" The pegasus mare told them about her plan.
"Are you sure, this would work?" Cherry asked.
"Believe me, we have to form ourselves into a circle formation! Therefore, our strongest attacks will combine into a strong convergence spell, that would get rid of all of these monsters! Now, go!" Snow explained her plan further and thus, the four ponies decided to follow her plan, after having no choice. After all, there were so many of them. The best thing to do is to gather them into one place, which is exactly what they did. They followed to a spot and trap them using their magic. After which, the group went around them and charged themselves up for their strong attacks.
"Aim above them, girls!" Snow shouted at them, before having enough power to unleash her attack. "Arctic Storm!"
"Amped Hurricane!" Breeze shouted.
"Volcanic Overdrive!" Fire shouted her spell.
"Eco Storm!" Tropic unleashed hers.
"Rock Fissure!" Cherry unleashed her spell as well.
The most powerful spells went above the enemies to clash each other and combine them into a powerful convergence spell, which caused a powerful explosion, destroying all the shadow ponies at once.
"We did it, girls!" Breeze and the girls celebrated, while Snow watched. Then Tropic went to her.
"Thank you for helping us." Tropic thanked her.
"It was nothing." Snow answered.
"You know, you have the potential on becoming a hero, someone willing to save the universe from evil. And since our powers are somewhat connected, that would explain, why our elemental powers combined so well." The yellow mare smiled. "Say, if you personally don't mind-" Before she could say anything though, Breeze dashed towards the two girls.
"Hey, Snow! You can join our gang!"" Breeze was excited.
"Yeah! It would be really awesome!" Fire smiled.
"Girls, girls, please! Don't force her!" Cherry scolded the two mares, before turning her attention to Snow. "Anyway, you have the potential for greatness and to be fair...we really needed someone with so much smarts, since..well...we've been through some dumb stuff before. Sorry...Don't know, why I just blurted it out. Anyway, it would be really nice, if you join us to fight for a better future. Not just for us, but also for the universe, since...those orbs told us to protect the galaxy." Afterwhich, Cherry reached her hoof to Snow and while the snowy mare hesitated at first, the connection between her and the ponies, plus with the fact, that they saved her and they're genuine about it, she grabbed the green mare's hoof, therefore accepting the offer.
"From this day forward...I made new friends, whome I spent time with them defeating bad guys, saving citizens, having fun and overall helping each other. Sometime later, we met our future leader of the group, Jenny, a new friend, named Ocean Spark and....well. The rest is history. We went on to protect the galaxies and eventually, we defeated Shadow Nebula once and for all, together."
"Oh my God..." Brain Freezer was shocked by the entire story. He couldn't believe, that the snowy mare, who controls the ice with efficiency, was a victim of multiple betrayals, bullying and war. But mostly betrayals.
"And...I was so damn close on getting my past behind me. I really was! I found friends, who would stand for me, no matter what and having a shared sense in helping others....Even though, I always kept things to myself, out of fear of getting back stabbed again....even to my own friends, due to my stupid paranoia! But....ever since the drama, I felt like, my heart was stabbed with thousands of daggers and I had an even harder time opening up! And it got worse, when one day, I was checking stuff in the headquarters, when I discovered the elemental orbs of fire and water completely shattered, due to their actions. And hearing about their actions made everything even worse!! So I often blamed Jenny for ruining everything!! Which is why, when I heard the news about Shadow Galaxy returning, I just wanted to defeat that bitch!! Granted, we had different ideas and I didn't get along with her at the start, but I warmed up to her until I can call her a friend, until the fucking drama destroyed everything, including our friendships! That and Shadow Galaxy hurt my mother! It was accidental, but I was so damn mad at her!!! IN SHORT, IT WAS A FUCKING MESS, THAT TORE ME APART AND MADE ME FEEL PARANOID AGAIN, BUT THIS TIME EVEN MORE SO THAN BEFORE!!" Snow screamed so loudly, letting her anger out, while tears streamed down from her face. During this time, the air around them was getting even colder, due to her rage dropping the temperature around the area. Not to mention, the ice ground, they stood started to crack at every powerful stomp from the mare. Seeing this, makes Brain Freezer once again think of his own past, where extreme emotions got the better of him. In fact, he was about to say something, but the temperature dropped even further and more ice formed everywhere, when Snow got even angrier and more torn up. So, before things would escalate even further and potentially leading in anyone being harmed, Brain Freezer immediately pulled Snow Emerald to a much, MUCH needed hug. From that point onwards everything became silent.
"You don't need to keep everything to yourself, including your emotions. I mean, it's okay for some private stuff, but sometimes...you just have to face the music with honesty and humility. Sure, what you did was stupid, but you know what, so did I. In fact, everyone makes mistakes, no matter the size. But we can learn from our mistakes, take notes to them and thinking about ways to get out of the darkness and change ourselves for a better future. My point is, tell them about the truth and learn from your mistakes." The stallion comforted the mare with words of wisdom and guidance. After what it seems like hours of silence, she was so touched by his kindness, that the normally cold, distant yet smart pony began to break down in his arms. All while snowflakes were floating, like time around them has stopped. Despite the fact, that they're inside of the ice dome, it seems like magic was responsible. However, it didn't matter for the two of them, as he kept comforting the mare inside of the glistening ice. Eventually, Snow calmed herself down and a after a bit of no response, she saw that the stallion reached his hoof out to her. At first, she hesitated, due to her fear, but since she wanted to end them right here right now, she grabbed his hoof, symbolizing her finally accepting help.
"I never thought about getting some psychological help for very long time...I know, that I'm secretive, but I never thought myself, how much I kept them in..." Snow reflected herself.
"Hey, I was in the same position as you. Back then, the loneliness and the anger got the better of me and I spent time freezing people and doing evil things. But after Radiant Thunder helped me with romance, I was so grateful, that I keep on remembering it to this day. But then, I lost it all, once my true face showed up again to the girl, I've been dating. I felt like, I was stabbed with a giant dagger and snapped again. I was about to take it out on everyone, including him, which eventually...would never happen. I realized about my mistakes and went to Equestria to make amends and trying to redeem myself." Brain Freeze recounted his past experience. "Keep in mind, I'm not perfect. I still have lots of things to learn, but regardless...my stay in Equestria had improved me to be more social and hard working. I made new friends, including those with similar experiences as me, learning new things and hell, I'm starting to make ice coffee for everyone again, only this time, without freezing everyone. And after hearing your story, I made up my mind. Just like what Radiant Thunder did to me, I'll help you guide towards redemption and friendship."
Hearing those words made the mare smile with tears, in which she wiped them away shortly after. After hugging him as a sign of gratitude, Snow used her magic to make the ice and snow disappear around her.
"Damn, making ice and snow disappear? You're really are talented." He was impressed by Snow's skill.
"I've been training for years, so this isn't new to me." Snow giggled. It was around this time, where they heard someone coming and it turned out to be Trixie and Tempest, who were coming.
"Uhm, where are you going?" Brain Freezer asked to the mares.
"We're going back to Ponyville, because the skies became more insane!" Trixie answered, while pointing the sky getting darker with more starry swirls.
"Whoever's responsible for this, he or she won't get away with it!" Tempest added.
"I know, who's the culprit." Snow proceeded to tell them about Shadow Galaxy in full detail. The mares were shocked by the revelation.
"She did what?!" Even Brain Freezer was stunned.
"It's a long story, guys. But now we have to go back! Everypony needs us!" Snow was about to go with the group, when all of a sudden, she heard a familiar voice.
"Hey, Snow."
"It can't be!!" Snow gasped, since she knew the voice. In fact, once she turned back, her eyes widened in shock, much to Brain Freezer's confusion.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville...
Luna, Cherry Swirl and Tropic Bloom tried their best to weaken Shadow Galaxy in some way and stop her for good. During this chaos, the Mane 6 and Spike decided to evacuate every pony out of here. But they weren't alone. Sissy, Missy, Jillian, the hybrids in black and white, the General, Eugene, Gil, Dr. Beebles and Mr. Harm helped the girls on getting everyone out of the village. But there were some ponies, who were stuck inside the burning flames. Two of these are Lyra and BonBon, who were trapped in a circle of flames. Although Lyra used her unicorn magic to grab a bucket of water and attempted to douse the fire, the size of the flames themselves made dousing them with a bucket of water pretty difficult. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash and Sissy grabbed them flew them out of the flames. There was also a small group of ponies including the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who Applejack, Rarity and Dr. Beebles had saved, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon being saved by Eugene and Pinkie Pie and so on. But then, there was also High Velocity and his family, who were stuck inside, while trying to navigate out of a burning building.
"Stay close to me, everyone!" High Velocity looked at his family, while coughing due to the smoke.
"Dad, I can't see anything!" Cosmic was scared.
"I know, Cosmic! But stay close to us, okay?" He looked back at his son. Suddenly, they heard the ceiling cracking.
"Oh no! Get down!" Sweet Serenity screamed and they ducked, as the debris were about to tell them, when all of a sudden, a blur knocked them away.
"Follow me!" A voice can be heard and the family had no other option, than to follow the voice of the person, who freed the path before them and getting them out of the house. Upon opening their eyes, it turned out to be Amber. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"We're fine. Thank you for saving us." Sweet was grateful.
"You're welcome. Now please get to safety!" Amber responded and the trio complied by running away. The mole girl ran around to save ponies, without protection to protect from the bright light. But at this point, the skies were pretty dark. During her rescue mission, she saw Roy evacuating the animals. Surprised, but happy, she went to him.
"Amber, what are you doing here?" The mole man was stunned.
"I'm doing my best to help everyone!" Amber answered with determination.
"Look, I appreciate your concern and determination, but if Zizrar, Iris or anyone sees us together, we'll be screwed! Since they just arrived there!" Roy was seriously concerned, so he begged Amber to leave, in which she did, much to her dismay. And his prediction became correct, once Zizrar and his men have arrived.
"What are you doing here? We need to find Brain Freezer!" Zizrar was worried about his best friend.
"Yes, your majesty!" Roy complied and the group went to the right direction.
Meanwhile, Amber ran around to look for helpless ponies to save, when all of a sudden, she heard a magical explosion and got hit by a blurry object. But as she opened her eyes, the blurry object turned out to be Tropic Bloom.
"Oh my goodness, are you okay?!" Amber was worried about the yellow mare.
"I'm fine. Wait...You must be Amber, right? The one, that Breeze talked about?" Tropic was curious, when she looked at the shy mole girl. Once she nodded, Tropic smiled. "From what she said, you're really nice and I wanted to thank you to save my friend."
"Y-you're welcome." Amber blushed a bit, being flattered by the sign of gratitude.
"She also told me about your concerns and I can say is, that I feel sorry that you're the black sheep of the mole people." Tropic softly spoke before giving her some advice. "But you should be proud of what you really are. You just need to gather some courage and stand by your decision, even when there will be backlash. In other words, don't be afraid and come out of your own shell, even if it takes time. I know that well, since it took a long time for me to do so."
"Tropic! Are you okay!?" Suddenly, she heard the voice of Cherry, running towards them, along with Luna.
"I'm fine, girls!" Tropic smiled, but all of a sudden, they heard Shadow Galaxy say:
"Not for long!"
Suddenly, with the exception of Luna, who just evaded, Cherry, Tropic and Amber were held in a magical aura by the dark pink mare.
"Let them go!" Luna demanded.
"Only if you surrender your rule, princess." The dark mare wanted Luna to surrender, so she could take over the galaxy.
"I've heard this multiple times by many vile individuals, who were trying to take over Equestria. I'll never surrender to your dark presence!" Luna refused.
"Oh...And I thought, I could've just spare you, if you just surrender....Very well then...If I don't get, what I want, I'll just take it by force and eliminate anyone, who defy me! Starting with these girls." Shadow Galaxy mad her horn glow.
"Jenny, please! This isn't you!" Cherry pleaded the pony behind the darkness by any means necessary, but it didn't budge.
"I told you, that pony is long dead! But...since your drama has reawakened my strength to take control over her body, I shall return the favor by just eradicating you from existence!" She laughed evilly, as she shot down beams at the three girls, as they screamed in agony.
"No!" Luna screamed, but Shadow Galaxy kept on laughing.
"Sorry, princess...but it's already too late for reconsideration. So I shall destroy you too!" The dark mare snarled with her sharp teeth.
"Not while I'm standing!" The moon princess shot down a beam at the dark Alicorn, but the later used a barrier to reflect it back at her in a much faster speed. So fast, that she didn't get time to react, before getting hit.
"P..please...." Tropic was weakened with tears, while she saw the dark mare charging for the final blow. It seems, everything's hopeless now...until, the dark mare was suddenly hit by a beam of fire and ice, releasing Tropic, Cherry and Amber from Shadow's grasp.
"Leave our friends alone, bastard!"
A voice can be heard, that shocked everyone except Amber. Along with the cracking of the flames and destruction, faint hoofsteps can be heard, slowly coming towards them. At first, three shadowy individuals can be spotted from afar, but as they got closer and closer, they became clearer to see. Tropic and Cherry widened their eyes in shock, while Shadow Galaxy was stunned in disbelief at the following sight of those individuals, who have serious faces. Sure enough, the mysterious individuals turned out to be Snow Emerald, along with two familiar ponies, whome they've been M.I.A for a few months. Two unicorns, one being red and having a fiery mane, the other being blue with wavy mane, resembling the waves. Which meant only one thing: the unicorns were none other than the returning Fire Jewel and Ocean Spark!
"Snow, Fire, Ocean!" Cherry struggled to get up, while being surprised, that they came back.
"How?! How did you come back!? What about the drama? The one, that tore you and your friends apart, thanks to you?!" Shadow Galaxy yelled at Fire in disbelief.
"Sorry, but this time, I'm not feeling that bullshit today!" The red unicorn answered, while standing tall.
"We're here to at least make up for what we did for the last few months. Even though we won't be fully forgiven by some people due to the extent of our actions and the consequences, we've been learning from our mistakes and accepting the situation, thanks to being taught by a select few of ponies, who did similar mistakes like us." Ocean explained.
"It's true! I was there, teaching them about redemption, humility and, facing their fears, along with Trixie and Tempest!" Luna confirmed the story.
Angered, Shadow Galaxy shot several beams, but the elemental sisters deflected each and everyone of them. "We may fucked up lots of times and we were at the lowest level, but we've since learned our mistakes and decided to make amends for what we've done. Especially me...I just wanted this nightmare to end!" Fire was serious about the redemption arc.
"Shut up! SHUT UP!!" Shadow Galaxy kept on shooting, but the sisters kept on reflecting and even Snow froze one of the beams solid.
"No, you shut up!" Snow yelled, angering the dark Alicorn so much, that she shot out a massive beam at the three mares, when all of a sudden, a miracle happened. There were a pair of red and blue lights surrounding the sisters and the glowing shards gathered together to become two orbs. Cherry and Tropic were shocked, since those orbs were none other than the Fire and Water orbs. It's clear that their redemption and willing to make amends have their elemental orbs restored and returned to their respective bearers. Not only that, but they were protected by a magical barrier, courtesy of the newly restored orbs.
"No! It can't be!!" The dark alicorn was in total disbelief at the sight of this miracle.
"Well, we got dome good news and bad news. The good news is, we have our powers back. The bad news is, WE HAVE OUR POWERS BACK, BITCH!" Fire shot off a beam of flames at the shadowy mare so quick. Coupled with the shock and the quick speed of the beam, she got hit and was sent flying far away. Meanwhile, Cherry and Tropic got up, despite their injuries and hugged the sisters.
"It's nice to see you again after a long time." Ocean smiled.
"We all do." Snow looked at her friends, before turning her attention towards the direction, the enemy has flown. "We have to get ready. She'll come back soon." Suddenly, a voice can be heard:
"Hey, don't forget about me!"
That came from Breeze, who just landed next to her friends.
"Breeze, how? You're supposed to rest!" Snow was shocked.
"Yeah. I just couldn't rest during this. Plus, I just want to help you. So....I cheated by getting out of the hospital, entering our ship and grabbing some healing potions, while taking one by myself. I have currently three of those left." Breeze showed them the bag, filled with the three healing potions. After seeing Tropic, Cherry and Amber in an injured state, she gave the potions for them to drink, in which they did just that and the healing effects kicked in.
"Thank you so much, Breeze!" Amber hugged the dark blue mare. But then, she saw something alarming: her clan had just arrived the village from afar. "Oh no! They came back!"
"In that case....go back to your people and don't tell them about our secret. My friends and I will take it from here." Snow told to the shy mole girl, which she complied gy running off. And as she expected, Shadow Galaxy teleported back to the spot.
"You! You'll pay for this!" The dark Alicorn screamed.
"Good luck with that, but you're not gonna bring us down, now we have the powers and our confidence back! Ready to kick some ass, girls? Just like last time?" Ocean responded with a serious look on her face before asking her friends.
"Ready!" Her five friends responded with optimism.
["I Burn" (Metal Remix) starts playing during the battle]
Both sides charged for an all out battle, while the Mane 6 and Spike watched, after they finished the evacuation of the citizens. First, Shadow Galaxy fired off several projectiles, but the elemental ponies dodged them with impressive and quick moves and the unicorns fired off magical beams at the dark mare. She quickly blocked them and created some clones of herself to attack them, which would result in a close combat with the ponies taking on each of the clones.
"Pyro Arrow!" Fire shot out burning arrows at the clone, in which it resulted in some burns.
"Diamond Wind!" Snow flapped her wings so hard, it created sparkly, yet cold winds at her clone.
"Vine Scream!" Tropic unleashed a powerful scream at her clone, in which several vines tightly grabbed her.
"Fluorescent Tide!" Ocean unleashed magical waves at one of the clones.
Meanwhile, Cherry and Breeze stood their backs against each other, while fighting against two of the clones. Eventually, they performed a convergence spell, called "Volt Terrain", in which they charged the ground. Then the two, now supercharged, kicked the cloned so hard. It went on and on for a while, with the elemental mares keep attacking the clones with kicks and magic, until they were dissolved into smoke, once they delivered the final blow. In response, the dark mare proceeded to fly up and used her magic to create shockwaves at the mares, whom they used theirs to protect themselves.
"Enough! I'll destroy you one way or another!" Shadow Galaxy fired of a massive magical beam at the ground, throwing the mares off guard and sending them flying all over Ponyville, except for Fire and Ocean, in which they were thrown to the opposite direction together. Refusing to back down, they kept on firing, but the dark mare kept on deflecting them, before grabbing the sisters with her magic.
"Hmph. You still don't get it, huh? Oh well, allow me to demonstrate!" Shadow Galaxy used her magic to torment the sisters with past memories of their actions. Her goal was to break them again, so she can easily destroy them. But the sisters kept on resisting the memories.
Meanwhile, Cherry, Tropic, Breeze and Snow have gathered together again and once they saw Shadow torturing the girls, they tried to intervene, but the dark mare was aware and used a magic to trap them in crystals.
"Hey! That's so uncool!" Breeze shouted and knocked on the walls hard, but that didn't matter to Shaodw whatsoever, as she used the maximum amount of their magic to torment the unicorn sisters further with memories of the dragon incident, the drama, the murder, everything related to them. They were so close, until a voice from Luna can be heard.
"Don't let the past get the better of you!"
"Remember about your journey and the purpose! Learn from them!"
"Yeah! Focus on the here and now and let the past go! In other words, keep fighting!"
The latter two came from Tempest and Trixie respectively, whom they've just arrived next to Luna. Seeing the mares and their expressions caused Fire and Ocean to take their advice to heart, learn from their past, reevaluate the purpose of their journey and gathered so much courage and strength to make their bodies glow and eventually break free from Shadow Galaxy's grasp.
"What!? That's impossible!" She was shocked by their sheer willpower.
"Now you're getting it! Though the last few months, we've been taught about the lessons of courage, forgiveness, redemption and most importantly of all, the magic of friendship!" Ocean explained.
"She's right!" They heard the voice of Twilight, whom she just freed the elemental mares from the crystals and she stood along with her friends. "Even though we haven't seen them after a long time, I can see from their faces, that they have learned the most important lessons of all!"
"At first, I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, inside of my own darkness, because I was weeping from my actions and drowning myself into the sorrow and guilt. But Princess Luna, Trixie and Tempest managed to get me out of that zone and after some training, have finally accepted the reality, regained my confidence and decided to change myself for a better future by focusing on the present. And look, where I am now! Stronger and better than ever before!" After those words, Fire unleashed a powerful beam at Shadow Galaxy, hitting her and the sisters ran to friend's friends side. Together, the twelve ponies stood against the dark Alicorn.
"Step aside, girls. We got this....together!" Snow told Luna, Trixie and Tempest to back off.
"It doesn't matter, if you are many, I'll get my goals of conquest one way or another! Even if it means to destroy the planet and reshape it in my image!" Shadow snarled.
"Not while we're standing!" With Twilight's words, the twelve ponies charged for a massive team attack. In response, the dark Alicorn used her magic to destroy them, but they dodged them all with some well timed moves, like in the instance of Rainbow Dash and Breeze Dasher, flying around them.
"Hey, Dash! Wanna combine our speed to create an awesome attack? Like going ALL OUT for this?" Breeze suggested with a smirk.
"Aw, yeah! Let's go, pal!" Rainbow was excited and the two speedy pegasi flew around Shadow Galaxy, in order to distract her. She tried to slow them down with spells, but they managed to flew around them with quick precision and finesse. Meanwhile, Applejack and Cherry Swirl ran towards her with the former pony swinging a lasso around.
"Okay, Applejack! I'll use the ground to traverse you around and boost you up!" Cherry explained her plan, before using her magic to create rocky pillars for the southern earth pony to jump around and throw the lasso at the mare to immobilize her and while swinging around, she used a diagonal pillar to jump further and deliver a powerful back kick at her. Meanwhile, Shadow Galaxy destroyed the pillars with magic blasts, but Breeze and Rainbow managed to kick her up to the skies. Then the two pegasi flew around her as fast as possible. The combination caused a colourful, yet amped tornado, trapping the dark mare with electricity. While in the skies, Twilight and Snow Emerald flew into the tornado.
"You're not going anywhere, Shadow Galaxy! Ready, Twilight?" Snow asked the princess of friendship, after she yelled at the dark galactic mare.
"Got it!" Twilight agreed and the two mares flew up and while the purple mare charged her horn up to maximum, Snow concentrated herself and gathered enough energy for her spell "Arctic Storm". At the same time, the princess of friendship fired of a massive beam and after they've combined into a convergence, it sent the dark mare crashing to the ground and dispersing the tornado at the same time. Enraged, Shadow Galaxy quickly got up and fired several homing shots at the flying mares. They responded in flying away from them as fast as they could.
Suddenly, Rarity and Ocean Spark circled around the mare in order to distract her. In response, Shadow created dark orbs to destroy them, but the unicorn mares kept on running and dodging them. At one point, Rarity deflected one of them back at the mare.
"Keep running, darling!" Rarity shouted at Ocean.
"Got it, Rarity!" Ocean complied.
At the same time, Fluttershy and Tropic Bloom stood by, waiting for an opportunity.
"Are you sure, this will work?" The shy pegasus mare was nervous and unsure about the plan.
"Trust me, Fluttershy. It will!" Tropic assured her with confidence. They watched, as Rarity and Ocean used their horns to create a convergence spell to shoot out sparkling water at the mare. Once that's done, Rarity shot out several fast beams at her, while the blue unicorn used one of the waves to move around with grace. Once she found a sweet spot, she kicked the dark mare towards the yellow ponies.
"Now!" Tropic made her hooves glow and summoned branches and vines to trap Shadow. They went so far to cover her horn, to stop her from using magic. Fluttershy flew up, navigated around the arms of nature, then performed a roundhouse kick underneath the dark alicorn. At first, Shadow Galaxy pulled off a scary face to intimidate Fluttershy and while it worked for a short time, Tropic jumped at the leaves, grabbed Fluttershy, went around her and unleashing shockwaves, knocking her down. Then the two mares grabbed her tail, swung around and then threw her off far away.
But the dark mare returned and unleashed shockwaves to threw everyone off and hurt them in the process.
"You think, your tactics will stop me?!" She yelled, but a voice can be heard behind her.
"Hey! Look around, Shadowy!"
Shadow Galaxy turned around, only to be attacked by a very speedy Pinkie Pie and her speedy, yet rhythmic kicks, spins, random objects out of nowhere, like a rake, a hammer or even something outlandish, like a balloon sword and the occasional blasts from her party cannon.
"And now for the big one! A big, fiery siesta!" The peppy party mare happily shouted, while aiming and firing off a big shot from her party cannon, in which included cupcakes, cakes, (both of them have burning candles) confetti, balloons, silly strings and the crowing finish, Fire Jewel in the middle of the party shot.
"Careful, it's gonna be too hot to touch!" With a smirk, Fire unleashed a beam of flames at the dark mare, launching her to the ground.
What followed was a quick, all out attack from Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, Tropic Bloom, Cherry Swirl, Ocean Spark and Fire Jewel, whom they all used their signature moves to hit the dark mare multiple times, with the finishing blow of the sisters performing thrust kicks at her. But this was not the actual final part, as Shadow Galaxy was launched upwards. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash, Twilight Sparkle, Snow Emerald and Breeze Dasher quickly came back with the homing beams trailing behind them. Shadow Galaxy was eager to destroy them, when they made an unexpected move.
"Coming right back at ya!" Rainbow smirked and the four flying mares made sharp turns at the very last second and at close proximity. This caused the beams not having time to make sharp turns and accidentally hit the dark mare in the process, crashing her down to the ground. After what said and done, the twelve mares stood together, as the dark Alicorn struggled to get up.
"No....It can't be....I can't let myself to be defeated by those colourful rats!!" Shaodw Galaxy shouted in pain.
"Yeah, yeah, we've heard that shit many times from many bad guys, we've encountered. Shut up and accept it for once, bitch." Fire shut her up with facts.
"Shadow Galaxy or whoever's is behind the darkness, I know, that the drama might have hurt you so much, you let yourself be taken over by darkness." Twilight spoke with some sympathy.
"Shut up! That mare is long dead, you hear me!?" Shadow angrily screamed at Twilight.
"No, she's not! I can sense her still being trapped there! And I'm pretty sure, we can resolve this without any destruction or drama! I'll show you the magic of-" Twilight was about to finish her speech.
"Bruh, can we just skip to the good part?? You know, light her up with a powerful spell?!" But Breeze cut Twilight off, because she was impatient.
"Shall we combine the magic of friendship with our elemental powers, princess?" Ocean suggested.
Twilight and her friends agreed and they used their combined powers to gather much energy for the finishing attack. Similarly, Fire and her friends did the same by gathering enough power. The twelve mares floated upwards and gathered around in a circle, with their powers combining for the ultimate convergence. Their bodies began to glow, as they charged themselves up for the final attack, the one which will end the terror once and for all.
"Elemental Convergence: Harmonic Friendship Blast of Purification!" All twelve ponies shouted, while unleashing their combined powers of Harmony of Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty and Magic and the Elements of Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Nature and Ice into a very big, very colourful and sparkly beam, directing towards the dark mare. Shadow Galaxy tried to stop the beam by firing of her extremely powerful beam of dark magic at it. Even though she tried her best to push the beam back at the group, the combined efforts of the twelve mares, the magic of friendship and the cosmic elements proved to be too much for her to handle and it pushed through the dark beam and onto the galactic mare of darkness herself.
"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!" Shadow Galaxy screamed in agony, as she was engulfed in a colourful light. At the same time, Twilight and the rest of the group also unleashed a blinding light towards the surroundings and shot another one to the sky, not only turning the sky back to normal, but also extinguishing the flames and most importantly, ending the battle against Shadow Galaxy once and for all.
[End of "I Burn"]
After the dust was settled, the twelve ponies landed down to witness the aftermath. The skies were back to normal, the flames were extinguished and many ponies returned to their village, cheering and celebrating, that the threat was finally stopped. Three of them were Luna, Trixie and Tempest.
"You did amazing, young ponies." Luna congratulated the elemental mares. "Especially you, Fire and Ocean. I'm so proud of you."
"I knew, that you managed to make it." Tempest was proud.
"Like, we've seen the colourful spectacle of magic clashing each other and you coming out victorious!" Trixie cheered.
"Thanks, but honestly we wouldn't be in that place, if it wasn't for you, girls. You made me and my sister realize about our mistakes in our lives and taking action." With those words from the red mare, the sisters hugged the three ponies, who have taught them the importance of friendship, humility and redemption.
"Luna!" Suddenly, they heard the voice of Princess Celestia, who not only returned from her recovery, but seeing her younger sister again made her feel a bit emotional. "I'm truly sorry for not listening to you and your perspective about the sisters, therefore making the same mistake as those many moons ago. I have no idea about their story, until listening to Cherry and her friends talking theirs to me, after the fire dragon incident. Hearing them makes me feel more empathetic towards their tales of abuse, loss and mistakes." She apologized to the moon princess about her reaction.
In response, Luna hugged her princess, understanding that she didn't mean to fully ignore their pleas earlier, as she had no idea on how massive the drama actually was. "It's okay, my dear sister. I forgive you." She smiled.
Seeing this, Fire Jewel looked at her friends, ready to make amends. "Uhm...girls? Speaking of which...I'm really sorry for fucking everything up and being responsible for the break up of the team...I just wanted to help the kids, who had troubled pasts as I, but my reaction was....not really the best or appropriate in that matter, which caused in me losing myself in my own madness and damaging my own reputation by nearly destroying Canterlot and everyone, I hold dearly. I didn't took the reactions from you guys and anyone in consideration, until it was already too late..." the red mare apologised to her friends, until she turned her attention towards her sister. "As a result of my recklessness, I lost everything, including you, sis...I am aware, that not everyone will forgive me, it's just...I wanted to set the record straight..."
After a few minutes of silence, Ocean spoke up. "Actually...I should be the one apologising for not listening to you..."
"No...It should be me, because I kept so many secrets and didn't tell you the entire truth about my feelings..."Snow looked down, but when she saw Brain Freezer, who's encouraging her to tell the truth, she proceeded to tell them the true reason of her behaviour, in which she was a victim of multiple betrayals, oppression and war. Needless to say, her friends were shocked at the sudden revelation.
"Oh my God...I'm so sorry about what you've been through..." Tropic hugged the snowy mare.
"Holy shit, man....Those guys were just assholes, who decided to use you and then throw you away, like trash..." Breeze was not happy.
"I didn't tell you that, because I was scared...Scared, that you would turn against me...." Snow was understandably worried. "But keep bottling up my secrets and emotions turned out to be really bad, as demonstrated in my mistakes recently..." But what happened next was quite touching, as the elemental ponies hugged the icy mare as a sign of comfort and confirmation, that they'll never betray her, no matter what. Everyone, who witnessed it, were touched by the revelation. Especially Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy.
"It's nice, that it wrapped up quite nicely, right darling?" Rarity was in tears, before dramatically sobbing in Applejack's arms. The southern mare herself got a box of tissues for that occasion. Fluttershy grabbed some to wipe her tears away, while Pinkie used her mane as a makeshift tissue. (Don't ask.)
"Actually...there is still someone missing..." Twilight pointed the obvious out, as she looked at the pink Alicorn mare, who just woke up. Soon, all eyes were on her.
"I didn't expect to see you again like this..." Cherry sighed.
"Especially since...you know..." Fire looked away in disappointment.
"Girls, I..I...I" the pink mare attempted to tell them something, when she heard the angry crowd of ponies, who were not happy at the destruction, she caused. Meanwhile, the elemental mares just walked away with Cherry looking at the mare for one last time, with sadness in her eyes.
"I'm sorry...." Cherry looked away with small tears.
"No! Cherry! Girls! Wait!!" The pink mare was in tears, trying to reach out to them, before being completely overwhelmed by the angry crowd and their shouts.
"Please...I really didn't mean to..." She started to curl up and shake hard, as she kept hearing the shouts of the angry ponies, which were getting louder and louder in her head and thus, became a lot more vulnerable and hurt than before. Eventually, she started to scream really loud, silencing everyone and used her magic to teleport herself out of here.
"Wait!!" Twilight attempted to go after her, but it was too late. "I just...I just wanted to ask her about her side of the story..." She lowered her ears in defeat.
Suddenly, Roy was running and looking around frantically. "Anyone has a big supply of sunglasses!?" He asked, while looking worried.
"Why?" Rarity was confused.
"Let's just say, my king and a different set of mole people REALLY need them...Problem is, I don't have enough money!" He explained his reasoning.
"I can help you, sir." Rarity decided to help her. In response, Roy tightly hugged her, looking incredibly happy.
"No problem, but....could you please let me go?" Rarity was gasping for air, in which he complied and they went to a nearby store, where they have sunglasses.
"Wow, this day has been the weirdest so far..." Spike commented.
Meanwhile, Twilight saw the six mares slowly walking away from everyone. After hearing similar stories from a select few, namely from Sunset, Starlight, Trixie and a few others, the princess of friendship made up her mind and approached them.
"Girls, wait!" She shouted.
"Look...we're not in the mood, considering that we dragged you into our mess..." Cherry responded with sadness.
"I know, but...you said something about 'setting the record straight' and 'making amends'. I'm actually happy, that you made up with each other, but I couldn't help but to point out, that...well...despite the fact that you've been friends for a long time, there has been a lack of connection lately. Maintaining friendships can be hard, I know that well with my friends. However, at the end of the day, we appreciate each other and acknowledge our flaws each other, since nopony is perfect. We're unique in our own ways. Which is why I was thinking on teaching you about the importance of friendship." Twilight smiled and offered some help to them.
"The thing is...we may have our fair share of arguments in the past and we've been pointed out by some wise ponies about it. But never in our lives, have we actually considered it, since we were really busy saving galaxies and stopping evil." Snow pointed out.
"I'm aware of that. Hence my offer of guidance." The purple mare nodded. The mares proceeded to discuss each other in a circle, which lasted for a few minutes, before coming up with a decision.
"Okay, Princess. We made up our minds. Please teach us about the important lessons of friendship and redemption." Cherry bowed down as a sign of respect, in which the others followed suit.
"Then it's settled!" Twilight hugged the mares and from this day forward, she became their mentor and teacher.
"After all, at the end of the day, we're still young ponies..." Cherry responded.
"I know. It takes time and effort to mature. But I'm pretty sure, my friends and I will help you with that, if you have any concerns." Twilight smiled, assuring them, that everything will be okay.
"She's right." Princess Celestia agreed. She and Luna were witnessing the current moment.
"Uhm...Your majesty? There's just one thing, I REALLY want to explain to you, in regards to the pink mare, you saw. We used to be friends with her and heck, she was our leader. That is...if Snow's okay of it." Cherry was nervous.
"Go on, Cherry. I honestly don't mind. Everyone needs to learn the truth." Snow didn't care and gave the green mare her blessing to tell them about the pink mare. After all, Brain freezer showed her the way of redemption.
"Alright....The blue haired Alicorn, you just saw, was none other than Jenny, our leader of the group. She used to be the bearer of the Shining Light orb, one of the seven elemental orbs beyond the stars. Her leadership skills and powerful spells lead her to be regarded to be the best of magic in the galaxy, we came from. She too had a traumatic past, losing her family in an invasion of her home planet, where Shadow Nebula attacked. She managed to escape and later chosen by the light orb. Then one day, I found her in Shima, during a heavy snowstorm and managed to save her life by bringing her in, much to Snow's irritation, since she wasn't used to new people at the time. In fact, there was constant arguments between those two, but eventually Snow learned to at least tolerate. As we went on to several intergalactic adventures, we battled evil, learned each other more and saved many citizens from different planets. I used to be her best friend and she would confide in me, because she was incredibly anxious about herself. Eventually, we got stronger and stronger, managed to defeat Shadow Nebula once and for all, after numerous fights against her throughout the years and brought a new era of peace. A few months ago, we decided to go to Equestria for some rest and such, but something happend to her, that made her paranoid. I'm not sure what caused this feeling to occur. Maybe she has sensed a new kind of evil or something, I don't know. Regardless, it was the ball, that kept rolling and coupled with our own issues and arguments, lead to our massive downfall, as you have seen. And as for Shadow Galaxy, it was due to a dark curse/corruption, Shadow Nebula put on her, when she got captured. The worst part is, even after we freed her, the dark magic was and still is a big problem, since it feeds off Jenny's negative emotions and would awaken at a certain threshold. She did manage to control her emotions at one point, but of course the drama sent everyone over the edge, including her... and sadly...it lead to Shadow Galaxy's return....We have no idea on how to break it, since it's a very tricky one. " Cherry explained the princesses about the pink mare, who's name is confirmed to be Jenny. Some ponies were confused at the name, but then again, they assume that there were different rules in different galaxies.
"I see...There are indeed several factors behind the downfall, most of them on an emotional level." Luna was thinking.
"After hearing this story, I'm slowly starting to see a pattern there between your pasts and Jenny's. We'll figure it out on how to solve this web of problems." Celestia made up her mind. "And don't worry, Cherry. My sister, Twilight, her friends and I will spread the word. In fact, we'll contact Princess Cadence about it."
"Thank you, princess." Cherry bowed down, but the sun princess instead hugged her with a smile.
It all seems to end well, until a pony overheard shouts from the other side. "Uhm...ponies? What's going on? I heard shouting over here." An earth pony pointed at the direction.
"I have no idea. Come on, everypony!" Twilight and everyone followed at the direction of the shouts. As soon as they've arrived, they saw the mole men and women against each other, with Zizrar and Iris in a shouting match. The bug difference is, Zizrar and the ladies have their sunglasses on. Things escalate even further, when they pull out their weapons.
"So, you want to fight, huh? Then bring it!" Zizrar shouted.
"It's on!" Iris glared and both sides charged, only to be stopped by the combine efforts by the three princesses using their magic.
"Excuse me, what's going on?" Luna demanded an answer.
"Well, we want payback against those ladies, who have basically tortured us! I mean, we almost died, if it wasn't for the earth ponies!" Zizrar explained.
"I'm sorry, but they were rude to us and disrespected our code of honor!" Iris rebutted.
"Earth ponies?! Alright, which one of you have sent them here?!" Evelynn was enraged. "Say something!"
"Excuse me, but I may have the answer." Gia stepped out
"Gia, what's the matter?" Iris asked, only for her and Evelynn to be explained by the soldier about her discovery. "So, you're saying, that the blue mare had escaped? But how!?" She was stunned.
"Breeze? What did you do?" Ocean asked. The dark blue mare sighed and explained with:
"Okay...I admit, I was underground for a while. I was helping the guys on finding the crown, when we first saw these girls." She then proceeded to tell them everything, but left certain things out, like her friendship with Amber, due to the promise. Needless to say, the moles weren't happy by the breakout and were eager to kill the mare, but her friends immediately surrounded her, ready to stop them.
"Great...here we go again..." Cherry sighed.
They were about to attack, when all of a sudden...
"STOP!!!!" They heard someone screaming and before they knew, Amber was seen covering for the ponies.
"Amber!?" The women were shocked.
"What is the meaning of this!?" Iris demanded answers.
"Please...No more wars, that would only result in bloodshed! I know your concerns and the need of protecting ourselves, but keep attacking at anyone, when they didn't do anything wrong and isolating ourselves will only result in more harm!" Amber let her true concern out. "Why can't just live our lives in peace, without paranoia rearing its ugly head?! Why can't we just lower out guards down for once!?"
"Amber...." Breeze was stunned by Amber's newfound bravery.
"Holy shit..." Fire was stunned, yet amazed.
"Amber, we-" Auriana tried to reason with her, but the braided mole had enough.
"NO! I was keeping it myself for a long time, in order to please you, but the truth is, I've always have my own goals and no one will attempt to deterr me from accomplishing them!" Amber threw her spear on the ground as a sign of her commitment and her pacifist nature.
Even the mole men were confused on why Amber, a mole girl would stand up for the ponies and everyone. However, they still havent forgotten about the treatment from the other guards during their imprisonment and even forced Roy and Zizrar into a death match, even though they have zero experience in weapon and hand to hand combat. Speaking of which....after watching Amber's bravery and looking at Breeze one last time, he knew, what he had to do.
"I'm sorry, Breeze...but I can't stay silent any longer..." Roy mumbled, before stepping out, revealing to be siding with Amber. "She's right! That also included to you, guys!"
"Roy, how could you!?" One of the mole men was disgusted by his position. In fact, most of them actually opposed to it, while Zizrar just stood there silently. The same can be said for the mole women towards Amber, especially Evelynn. Although Iris also stood there silently.
"Fine! If that offends you, then I'm leaving!" He screamed, while going to Amber.
"What are you doing!?!?" Tropic yelled, trying to convince the mole man otherwise, but he wasn't having it.
"So, you have betrayed us???" Evelynn pointed her spear at Amber, but Roy shielded himself for the shy mare. "That's it! I'm gonna execute you!" She was about to strike, when...
"Evelynn, that's enough!" It came from Iris, who stopped the commander by grabbing the spear. She then turned her attention towards the group with: "My apologies. Truth be told...We escaped to this planet for a long time, but even then....the scars of the past still remain....Ladies, it's time to retreat."
"But, Queen Iris-" Evelynn tried to find and argument, but the queen cut her off again.
"Look. Even though, we're strong warriors, we also have a code of honour and respect. If Amber decides to leave, then let her. In other words, you should not worry about her anymore." Iris told to the Commander, before leaving with the army. But not before Evelynn gave Amber the most painful glare, signaling that for her, it isn't over. Iris on the other hand, looked at Roy and nodded, as a way to say "thank you" to giving her and her clan the sunglasses.
As a result to this cold reception from the commander, Amber weeped in Roy's arms, feeling hurt. So, the mole man looked at everyone one more time, said: "It's best to leave us alone for a while...And I'm sorry, Breeze...It had to be done." and left with Amber somewhere into the unknown, leaving everyone frozen, including the elemental mares.
"Man...out of all conflicts, we've encountered... this, along with ours, has to be the messiest of them all..." Fire commented.
But Snow had a completely different reaction. She was theorizing about something, when all of a sudden, she saw a note, in which she picked it up.
"There is more to Evelynn and our clan than what's on the surface. Meet us at the fields on midnight and we'll give you the information.
Signed, Talia and Auriana."
The icy mare kept the note to herself, since she felt suspicious about Evelynn and how her behaviour had similar patterns to herself, before Brain Freezer pointed them out, despite meeting her for the first time.
"Hmm...There's something, I want to do, to help everyone and solve this conflict...But how?" Snow thought to herself, before returning to the group. It seems like, not all mole women are the same. Not to mention with the circumstances behind it.
"Man....Today has been a really crazy one, huh?" Rainbow Dash commented.
"And a very stressful one at that." Applejack added.
"Excuse me, we can actually help you on rebuilding the village...that is, if you're okay with that." Ocean suggested some assistance.
"That's very nice of you, Ocean. We really need some helping hooves on rebuilding Ponyville anyway." Twilight approved.
"Yeah. Pretty sure, it'll take a while." Spike looked at the damage, before suddenly spewing fire. From the green flames, a letter emerged, in which he grabbed it. "Uhm, Twilight? It's for you." The little dragon gave the purple mare the letter, who she opened it up and started reading.
"What does it say?" Rarity was curious.
"Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
after throughly reading your message about your request and the circumstances behind it and some negotiations behind the scenes, we came to the decision to agree letting Star Time Rush perform for the upcoming Friendship Festival.
Sincerely,
Quartz Records"
"It's about Star Time Rush! They agreed to perform at the Friendship Festival!" The purple mare happily reported the good news to her friends.
"Hooray!!" Pinkie cheered.
"But....what about the picture, you have? About the group of ponies?" Rarity asked Twilight about the picture of the stallions.
"Now that you mentioned it..." Twilight went to Eugene for answers. "Brilliant Diamond, do you know anything about those stallions?" She asked about the picture of the three stallions.
"Actually, I have no idea about these guys... I found the picture somewhere, while I was in Manehattan for a break. The only info I know about them, is the name of the group. They're called the 'Try Guys'. Other than that, I have no idea, who they are and where they're performing." Eugene gave her a bit of information. "In fact, the only reason, I suggested these guys for the festival, is because...well, they could be a fun addition."
"I see... I'll try to contact anyone, if they know this group and find ways to contact t them and ask, if they're willing to participate and perform for the Friendship Festival." Twilight responded and teleported away.
Meanwhile, Fire Jewel was talking with her friends, when all of a sudden, Spring Gale came to her with a smile.
"You're the nice lady, who saved me, right?' Spring asked
"Uhm...yeah. why?" Fire answered.
"Thank you so much for saving me again! And my family!" Spring hugged the red mare.
"Yeah! You're really awesome!" Suddenly, Cosmic joined in to the hug.
"We saw you and your friends stopping that menace and words cannot describe, how grateful I am." Golden Heart smiled and also hugged the mare. In fact, the citizens actually thanking Fire Jewel and her friends for rescuing Ponyville and being more open to her was a stark contrast to the ponies in Canterlot a few months ago. A strong sign, that she has grown, but still has so much to learn. This caused the red mare to tear up and hugged the kids back.
"Fire? Are you crying?" Ocean asked.
"Uhm...No...My eyes are burning!" Fire feebly denied.
"Oh, Fire." Ocean giggled and everyone laughed.
It was all good vibes and such, when they heard hoofsteps and panting from the other side. As everyone looked to the source, they saw Johnny and Dukey, running and then collapsing to the ground in exhaustion, while carrying bags.
"Came here....as fast...as we could...Man....can't go on...anymore." the black pegasus was out of breath.
"Whoa, what are you talking about?" Spike was confused.
"The skies were changing and we assumed that something was going on... it was full...of swirls..." Dukey tried to explain, while gasping for air and sweating like bullets.
"Bruh, you just misssed out on a lot. Like A LOT a lot." Breeze explained.
"Hey, where have you two have been!? We could've used your help, when Shadow Galaxy attacked us!" Sissy demanded answers and so did everyone.
"Who's Shadow Galaxy?" Johnny was completely confused. Especially since he never heard of her at all.
"Uh oh...How are we gonna explain this to them, along with a lot of other things, that happened during their absence?" Breeze was nervous.
"Especially that we're completely exhausted to do so." Cherry sighed.
"It's a long story, boys. And a really messy one at that. But right now, we're just exhausted, man..." said the red unicorn to the boys.
"Wait...why are you back?" Dukey was confused on why Fire Jewel came back.
"Again, it's a long story..." Fire collapsed from exhaustion and Ocean picked her up.
"I'm sorry, guys. There were a lot of things, that happened to us, during the few months. We'd like to tell you everything, but right now, we need some rest." The blue mare apologised.
"Where were you been?" Rainbow asked.
"We actually sent them to Vanhoover for some errands this morning, like getting some items for us and such." High Velocity explained the reason.
"We got the items there, but a lot of things happened. First, Johnny had to take a detour, because he saw a special shiny Daring Do figure in a store. I tried to convince him to just ignore it, but he gave me that sad stare and I just couldn't resist and had to buy it for him. Yeah, he's been a fan of Daring Do, after reading the books." Dukey explained.
"Told ya, that Daring Do's awesome!" Rainbow smiled in excitement. "Also a shiny Daring Do figure? WHERE CAN I GET ONE!?" However, Applejack pulled her away by the tail.
"Simmer down, sally. Let him continue." She was not amused.
"Uhm...okay?" Dukey was left speechless for a while, before continuing with his explanation. "As I was saying, after we got everything, we bought two train tickets back to Ponyville and went to a train back home. We were there just chilling and chatting, when the second obstacle occurred. The train suddenly stopped, due to a boulder standing on the track. And it happened just 15 minutes after it took off! So we had to wait, till they can get rid of the boulder. But as we got out, we saw the enormous boulder blocking the path and we were understandably frustrated. Then...we saw the skies change to the weird night with swirls. At first, we thought, it was perhaps an illusion or perhaps a mind fuck. But everyone saw it and became confused by the sight and presumed, that it was night time, so they went inside. But what kind of night sky would have swirls on there?" He then looked at Johnny, hoping that he could continue, but of course he was still out of breath. "Anypony have a glass of water?" He asked anyone.
"Perhaps, I can help you with that." Ocean used her magic to make a glass appear and filled it with water. After which, she gave it to Johnny, whom he immediately started to drink it.
"Oh my" she commented.
"Thanks, man." Johnny thanked the blue mare, but he lost track on what he was about to say, so Dukey had to whisper it to his ear. "Oh, right... We had to wait for half an hour and it was the most frustrating one ever! I tried to push it, but it was too heavy! I tried to kick it, but it was too hard, that I almost sprayed my ankles. Not to mention, there were those conductors there and had to carry me away..." he continued.
"We could've waited longer, if it wasn't for someone. You see, there was a pony, who exited from the train, just to look at the boulder. A gray earth pony wearing a dress and having a a bored face. We approached her and she spoke in such a quiet and monotone way, that Johnny fell asleep. She sounded...boring." Dukey added.
"Oooh! You met my sister, Maud???" Pinkie grabbed the hybrid's face. "She told me, that she was on a train ride coming back from a mining trip or something. I literally have no idea, that she was in the same train as you were! Tell me, what happened next?!" She wanted an answer.
"Pinkie..." Rainbow pulled Pinkie away, being unamused.
"Well, here's the crazy thing, we had to distract the conductors, since she requested us to do so, after we explained the problem to her. What happened next....I..I honestly can't describe on how ludicrous and insane it was...She went to the boulder....and outright destroyed it into pieces. We were let speechless, like what the hell just happened...? However there was something glimmering on where the boulder was, that we had to investigate. Turns out, there were gems and crystals inside." Dukey continued, but the mention of gems and crystals perked Rarity's interest.
"What kind of gems and crystals exactly? Can I take a look at them?" She asked out of curiosity.
"Man, just let us finish...." Johnny was getting slightly annoyed at the interruptions.
"Sorry." The white unicorn apologized and backed off.
"As I was saying....We eventually took some of them with us with Maud taking the other half and went back to the train. When the conductors came back and saw the track being free, our journey continued. Everything went smoothly...until yet another problem occurred. The train had to slow down multiple times, due to traffic and at one point, some haystack blocking the path. And by the time, we reached Canterlot station, the train had to stop again, due to a check. By this point, Johnny was completely fed up and wanted to go home. He was like "Fuck it!" and left the train to go home by foot....or in his case by flying. I had to follow him, because it was a crazy idea for him. The heavy bags and the long road to Ponyville were definitely factors on why we came back completely exhausted..." At the end, the hybrid stallon collapsed again. After which, Rainbow and her friends helped them unload the bags. Meanwhile, Rarity was unloading the bags, when she felt something hard. Once she opened the bags, she was greeted by a colourful shine.
"Oh....oh my goodness... I can't believe my own eyes..." this unicorn mare gasped in shocked, before fainting.
"Uhm...Rarity? Are you okay?" Spike was worried.
"Wake up, Rarity." Applejack tapped her friend multiple times.
"Oh man..." Breeze scratched her head.
After a while, the purple haired unicorn woke up and quickly unloaded the gems and crystals out of the bags, in order to admire the sheer beauty of them.
"The colors, the shine, the glitz and glam! There're also very colourful crystals, shimmering from the light! Oh, they're are so glamorous!! Oh! The inspiration hits! I can see them being used for beautiful gowns, suits and some accessories! I have to work with these beautiful gems and crystals! Heck, they're also perfect for decoration for the Friendship Festival!!" With sheer excitement, Rarity used her magic to grab the shiny crystals and gems and quickly went to her boutique.
"Oh, Rarity..." Fluttershy sighed.
"I have to agree with her. Those were actually beautiful." Ocean commented.
"Your friend is quite something, huh." Snow was stunned.
"Well, that's Rarity for ya!" Applejack chuckled and the mares laughed with each other, while the guys gave the items to their parents, essentially checking that objective off from the list.
"Hey, Johnny bro! I finally have a new name!" Gil came to them with excitement. He wanted to share them about his new name.
"Oh, what is it?" The black pegasus was curious.
"You guys ready?......It's Chill Vibe!" He presented them with his new pony name.
"Man, that's a good one!" Johnny complimented Gil's new name.
"Thanks, bruh! Hey, wanna hang out and doing some tricks?" The aqua stallion asked.
"Hang on." Johnny quickly left to his parents to ask them, if he can go. After a while, he came back. "Sure thing! Mom and dad are cool with it."
"Hey, mind if I join?" Breeze asked.
"What about me, big brother?" Cosmic asked as well?
"I can teach you some awesome tricks, if you want to! Rainbow smirked.
"Sure, you can!" Johnny smiled and everyone were happy. After that, Gil, Johnny, Dukey, Cosmic, Rainbow and Breeze went to a day filled with awesome fun. Meanwhile, Cherry, Tropic, Fire, Ocean and Snow watched.
"Hey, girls. I know, we fucked up multiple times in our past and such. But perhaps, it's time to put these to rest and start a new life there. What do you think?" Ocean smiled and stretched her hoof out. "Fire and I promised that after we changed our paths, we'll start over with a clean slate."
Soon, the four ponies put their hooves above Ocean's with Snow being the last one to do so.
"For a new beginning!" The mares shouted and jumped in joy, as they reached their hooves to the sky, finally ready to start their new life, start over and rebuild their friendship, all while being guided by Twilight. After months of drama and uncertainty, the conflict was over....well, not really. Almost...They are still thinking about Jenny, where she currently is and the most importantly of all, if they can see her again. After all, the entire group was at fault for their public fallout. Not to mention about the elemental orb of the shining light, which is now broken. But for now, they have to focus on learning about friendship and spreading the truth to everyone, in hopes of not making the same mistakes ever again, while also protecting everyone. It'll surely be a tricky task, which they're gonna be ready for.
Unknown location, ???
[???'s POV]
Everything was completely black and silent for a while, until I slowly regained my consciousness. My sight was slowly opening and sharpening and I heard a voice next to me.
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
It was a voice, that sounded feminine, I thought, it was probably just a bad dream and that I was probably just laying in the Area 51.1 infirmary. But when I opened my eyes... or my eye, as the other one was covered up by bandages, it seeks like, I was inside of a cottage or something with a faint light coming from a lamp somewhere. I groaned a bit, due to pain coming from my body.
"Oh my God, you're finally awake!" There was the voice again. Who was in the house? And where the hell am I? I moved my head to the right a bit, only to see someone standing next to me. A female feline in black and white, with blue hair and differently coloured eyes. One being blue and the other being yellow. She was looking for me, being worried. This makes me question: Who is she?
However, I was somewhat lost at the sight of that lady, like I was captivated or something. I tried to get up, but the pain on my body, makes it difficult to do so. However, there were new bandages around my body, but there was something...odd...I don't know....like I look somewhat the same, yet at the same time, not....
"Please... you're still wounded..." the feline spoke to me, wanting me to keep laying down and rest. Of course it hurts like hell, so I laid down and fulfilled her wish.
"Where...where am I?" I asked the cat girl for answers.
"You're currently at my grandma's cottage. I'm living with my grandma, after my parents disappeared." She answered. "It happened, when the Storm King attacked our home and I had no other choice but to flee."
"Man..." Being forced to flee after your home getting attacked by a bad guy...that's just messed up, even by my standards. Soon, I heard the sounds of a high pitched whistle.
"Oh! The tea is ready!" She went off to presumably a kitchen. I don't know, since I'm still laying on the bed. So, I had to wait till she came back with some cups of tea.
"Here you go." She put the cup of tea to a cupboard next to me. I slowly got up a bit, because it hurts and grabbed my cup. As we're drinking tea, I couldn't stop thinking about her. I have no idea why, but it's like this feline has been a chosen one in my life.
"I actually found you in the quarry, while I was taking a walk. You were wounded with one of your eyes being covered." She explained on how she found me. Oh right. The injuries. I never have forgotten on how these happened.
"So...do you have any idea, what place I am?" I asked her about the location. I know, I'm in that cottage, but I wanted to know about the name of this world.
"I'm not sure about it myself, but I have a feeling, that we're a bit close to a land, named Equestria." She assumed, since there was a map on the wall. So it seems like, I'm close to a land named Equestria. But then, she forgot about something.
"Oh my! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Belle. What's yours?" She asked. Belle, a very charming name for a charming feline, don't you think?
But, wait...I have to introduce myself to her. Shit... I was too distracted. So I had to slap my own cheeks to snap myself out of it. So I looked at her and introduced myself with the following:
"My name....is Mittens. Mr. Mittens."
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Side Story: Rebuilding | It's been a few hours since the Shadow Galaxy incident and the citizens of Ponyville were working hard to rebuild their home. Despite the fact that the skies were back to normal and once again, no casualties reported, due to yet another successful evacuation by the Mane 6, the General and his group, the ponies and non-ponies were still mentally reeling from the aftermath. One pony, who's been really feeling gloomy and down lately is Cherry Swirl. After all, the drama mentally tore her up and she lost her best friend in the process. Since then, even though she helped the ponies on the rebuilding, she became reclusive and distant.
"Uhm...Cherry? Are you okay?" Ocean asked her friend, but the green mare didn't respond at all, as she kept rebuilding the house. The blue mare sighed, knowing that today's events took a toll on her.
"Man...this was all my fault...If only I haven't been such a stuck up, hot headed bitch, perhaps things could've been different." The red mare felt guilty about the whole situation, since she felt responsible for the whole fallout.
"We all are, sister. If only we've been a bit more transparent about it..." Ocean went to her sister and comforted the fiery pony.
"She's right...But a combination between paranoia, secrecy and pride eventually lead to a tragic domino effect, leading to this...Especially from me." Snow lowered her ears, before doing a little speech. "But....at least we told them everything in full detail, which lead to us being Twilight's new students. However...I know for a fact, that healing and redemption takes a lot of time and effort, not to mention with some of the ponies being angry at us, after our drama lead to so much destruction In Canterlot and Ponyville. The best option for us is to just focus on ourselves and the present, learn from our mistakes and push forward to live life to the fullest. After all, we never know, if today would be our last."
"You're right, Snow. Which is why we're doing this...to wipe our slates clean and start anew." Ocean nodded and the ponies proceeded to continue rebuilding the little town and helping ponies along the way.
After a few hours, the elemental ponies were still rebuilding the houses, while Mayor Mare watched the process. At the same time, Applejack went to the elemental mares to check on them. She had mixed feelings towards them. On one hoof, the dragon incident in Canterlot and the Shadow Galaxy attack in Ponyville, which were results of their petty fallout, caused damage to their reputation in Equestria. Especially Fire and Ocean. But on the flipside, they didn't mean to hurt anyone. In fact, they've been helping her and her friends out on several occasions, like saving Spring Gale from his abusive parents, giving pep talk to Johnny and Dukey and helping them out to stop evil. Recently, she had softened a bit towards the mares, but the southern pony knew, that it takes a lot of time for them to make up for their mistakes and change.
"So...how y'all doin'?" Applejack asked to the mares.
"Well...a bit rough, but other than that, we're fine..." Snow breathed out, while doing her job. "Well...except for....you know.." She looked at Cherry.
"To be fair....the whole situation was our fault. It all stemmed to misunderstandings, poor reactions and jumping conclusions too early. It wasn't until it culminated to a messy break up and the destruction of our friendship and reputation, all because of our emotions getting the better of us, rather focusing on logic." Ocean sighed.
"Exactly...didn't help, that my bitchy behaviour and burning ego made things even worse...It's so hard to forgive myself for all of that shit going on." Fire looked down.
"Healing takes lots of time and patience, sugarcube. And even though you won't be fully forgiven by everypony in Equestria, your story gives them a whole different side of the story to understand. I advice y'all to cool down, take small steps and work hard on 'em." The orange earth pony gave the sisters some words of advice and a hug.
"Thank you, Applejack..." Ocean mumbled.
At the same time, they heard Johnny, Dukey, Gil, Rainbow, Cosmic and Breeze, coming back from their break laughing with each other and sharing stories.
"And there was the time, my friends and I went against an army of cyborg and trolls, lead by a space pirate and we were kicking their asses and releasing people from their clutches. Man, being a galactic guardian has its cool sides." Breeze told them abour her life. The elemental mares, minus Cherry, looked at their pegasus friend being happy and in high spirits. Tropic, Snow, Fire and Ocean lightly smiled, knowing that even when situations are dire, she would joke a few things or two, but over all, she's pretty optimistic, even when things do not go in their way or getting hopeless.
"Wow, you are actually much cooler, than I thought." Rainbow was amazed.
"And I thought, Johnny and I always had those crazy adventures involving aliens, robots, crazy people and everything in between." Dukey commented about their past experiences with enemies like these.
"Kind of think of it, after settling into a world of ponies, where stuff like these happens, I wouldn't be surprised, if aliens decided to visit here. It would be quite awesome." Gil chuckled.
"Well, that depends on the aliens and their motives, bro. Not to mention, if they know this place and such." Breeze scratched her head.
"Yo, Breeze! We could've use your help right now!" Fire was carrying some wooden borders, when she shouted from afar.
"No problem, Fire! Check this out!" In a flash, the dark blue pegasus grabbed the borders and rebuilt a few houses in just a few seconds. Coming back, she smirked and said: "See? In just a few seconds!"
"Whoa! Did you guys see that?" Cosmic was stunned.
"Looks like, you've got some competition, Rainbow." Johnny commented to the prismatic mare.
"Uhm..Breeze, we really appreciate your help, but..." Tropic thanked her friend at first....before pointing at the houses, being hastily built. "...they look really rushed and messy. Like, they could collapse at any minute now..." And as to be expected, the houses collapsed, pretty much proving Tropic's concern.
"Oops..." The dark blue mare scratched her head with a nervous smile, while everyone looked at her with slight annoyance and embarrassment.
"I can help you, if your want." Rainbow offered Breeze and her friends for help.
"That would be great, Rainbow." Breeze was thankful of the offer and the prismatic mare began helping her and her friends on the rebuilding of some houses by actually securing them and taking time on the borders. However, the guys have noticed, that Cherry wasn't doing anything to help them and that she was looking down with her ears lowered.
"Uhm...Are you okay??" The hybrid shouted and tried to get the green mate's attention, but she ignored it.
"Hey, what's the deal??" Johnny tried any method to make Cherry notice them. Shouting, poking her a bit, even a bit of shaking, but she wouldn't budge. "Man...what's up with her?" Those words caught Breeze's attention and she rushed to them.
"Oh, shit! I forgot to tell your about what happened! Man, I was too carried away with the tricks and playing with y'all." She nervously smiled.
"Uhm, what's going on?" The aqua stallion was confused and so did Cosmic. The black pegasus and the hybrid were concerned of them, since they couldn't understand the whole story of drama and so on. Especially Cosmic, since he's still a young colt. They want to make him good influences as big brothers. So, they held the dark mare off from explaining.
"Uhm, guys. Why don't you help the others out?" Johnny asked the two of them to leave.
"Especially you, Cosmic. I mean, I'm pretty sure, mom and dad are concerned." The hybrid added.
"I could need some help now!" They heard Pinkie shouting from afar and Gil left there with a shrug. Meanwhile, Cosmic was still confused, but regardless, he knew, that his parents were needing some help, so he flew off.
"Okay, what's the story behind it?" The hybrid was curious.
"Well, since that shit is complicated as fuck, I'm gonna give you an abridged verison of the whole deal. So...remember our first encounter and the whole dragon incident and such, which came from our drama?" Breeze proceeded to explain as simple as possible. The whole thing is just a mess. So much so, that the blue mare had to repeat some moments for clarification.
"Basically someone, named Shadow Galaxy tried to conquer the galaxy and destroy anyone, who dared to defy her, Fire and Ocean coming back, along with Snow and you eventually stopped her. Is that right?" The hybrid is slowly catching up.
"Basically the whole thing in a nutshell." Breeze shrugged. The guys knew about the situation in some ways, as they dealt with aliens, evil robots, robot aliens and so on, trying to conquer or even destroy Earth several times. In other words, it wasn't new to them. However, they haven't experienced something, like Shadow Galaxy before, at least not in that magnitude. Something, that their former villains and even those, like Whacko and Dark Vegan will never match.
"Dude, the whole thing gives me a headache..." Johnny groaned.
"Same here, man. The whole drama is a fucking mess. I've been trying to cope through this with jokes and such, just to lighten up the mood a bit. I mean, someone has to do it, huh?? Not everything has to be all doom and gloom!!" The dark blue mare was getting more and more frustrated, but suddenly calmed herself down and sighed. "Sorry. It's so hard living with that pain. It's so fucking hard for all of us...But hey...at least, Fire and Ocean are back and they had learnt their lesson, so there's something. Right, Cherry?" She looked at the green mare, who still wasn't responding.
"Hey, Breeze. We need your help again and..." Ocean came back, along with Fire, Snow and Tropic, when all of a sudden, Cherry started walking away.
"Cherry, where are you going?" Tropic asked, in which the green mare finally broke her silence.
"I'm going back to the ship..." Cherry mumbled, while walking away from her own friends and although her friends tried to convince her to stay, she ignored their words due to her depression and left Ponyville, leaving everyone worried, including Applejack, who just came back. Looking at the mares, who looked defeated and down, especially Fire and Ocean, a decision was suddenly made.
"Not on my watch!" Applejack proceeded to follow the direction, Cherry went.
"Where are you going?" Dukey asked.
"Helpin' a fellow pony in dire need!" Applejack answered, while running off.
After that, Dukey proceeded to comfort Tropic and the elemental sisters apologising to Johnny on their actions with dignity and maturity. But there was one pony, who had something else in her mind: Snow Emerald. Ever since the mole incident and finding the note, the snow white pegasus mare has been thinking about the mole people, their origins, how the mole women went to Equestria and possible ways on ending the conflict. But there's also some questions, that needed to be answered, like "Why did two of the mole women leave a note behind?" Needless to say, she's determined to help Roy and Amber and end the conflict between the two sexes once and for all. But for now, she had to help her friends on rebuilding Ponyville.
As the sun had settled, the ponies decided to take a break and go to sleep, but some of them decided to continue their work on the rebuilding process.
Meanwhile, the elemental girls were tired of the whole day and were about to return to their ship for some sleep. Tomorrow is another big day, so they have to be prepared for it. As they arrived, the doors opened and Applejack came out with Cherry.
"How did it go?" Ocean asked.
"Don't worry, fella. I've been comfortin' and helpin' her the whole time, as soon, as I've arrived at that ship. Thankfully, she didn't plan on takin' her own life, but I have to make sure, she won't." Applejack explained that while everyone has been in the rebuilding process, she managed to comfort the green earth pony for hours.
"Thank you, Applejack." Tropic was grateful, that the southern pony helped her friend.
"This ain't over though, Tropic. She needs a lot of help right now. So, I'm gonna take her to Sweet Apple Acres for some R&R." Applejack proceeded to tell them, that Cherry needs some therapeutic help and her plan.
"Are you sure about that?" Snow asked.
"I swear to my honesty, I'm doin' my best." The southern mare tipped her hat a bit in confidence, before leaving with Cherry, while the others entered the ship to sleep. However, little did they know, Applejack actually had plans to cheer the elemental ponies up, including Cherry.
Several hours later into midnight...
Everyone was fully asleep in Equestria....Everyone...except for Snow Emerald, who's in the ship. She slowly got up and sneakily snuck around the others, without making any noises and silently left the ship, while holding a block of paper, a pencil and the note block.
"Here goes nothing." Snow took a deep breath and flew up and away to several fields far away, where Talia and Aurianna are probably waiting.
Speaking of who, the two mole women were currently waiting in a field, standing near a tree.
"Uhm...You sure, this is gonna work?" Auriana was concerned.
"I hope, someone has responded to our message and decided to come here. All we have to do is wait, Auriana." Taila was confident on someone coming for a talk.
"But...what about the others?" The other mole girl asked.
"Don't worry. They're currently asleep." Taila assured her friend, that they're safe.
They waited for a while, in which the two ladies looked at the stars and their constellations. They are currently worried about a certain incident, involving their clan and Amber. They kept on waiting and waiting, until they saw a figure flying through the skies and landing to the ground, revealing to be Snow herself.
"Stay back!" Talia pulled out her spear at Snow in self defense, but this was due to them meeting her for the first time.
"Relax, girls. I'm the one, who found your note and decided to go here to meet you." The pegasus mare eased their worries by showing them the note and has her note and pencil ready. After which, Talia put her spear away. "In fact, I'm really curious about your species and the history, along with the whole incident involving Amber, whom I know thanks to a close friend of mine, named Breeze. But enough of the fluff, what do you want to talk about?" The two mole women looked at each other and silently discussed about what topic, they want to talk about. After a few minutes, they made up their mind.
"Alright. You know about our clan and that we escaped to this planet here. But our clan in Equestria is actually a fraction of the original amount of mole people in our original home planet Primaia, where it used to be bigger and more prestigious and strong." Taila noted, before proceeding to explain Snow the entire history of their clan:
"A long time ago, Primaia used to be full of life and prestige, filled with luscious nature, brave legends and a thriving community, ruled by the original queen, Calypso. Known for her wisdom, maturity and kindness, she ruled our clan, while also teaching us the importance of loyalty and peace. Some of them decided to live their lives in peace, while others strive to be like her, with one of them being Iris herself. Given that she had a rough upbringing, she strived to be strong and wise, just like her. She worked hard on her training, just to get in the army, even though she was poor. Eventually, it paid off and she transformed herself into a confident and happy woman, ready to make the world a better place. Many soldiers in training admired her for her kindness and wisdom and being a respectful sparring partner. One of her sparring partners was Evelynn. She used to be bright and full of energy, while also being on the same level as Iris. In fact, they were the strongest warriors and their experience were put to the test, when they fought in a duel for the role as the queen's commander. After a long and arduous battle, in the end, Iris won the battle and earned the role as commander. However, she had a condition, that Evelynn would be her right hand lady. A few years have passed and everything was great, with Iris working for Queen Calypso with respect and maturity. That was....until that fateful day....where our lives were permanently changed..."
Auriana then continued the story with: "An army of shadow ponies had invaded our planet, lead by a cunning and menacing being, named Shadow Nebula as a part of a intergalactic conquest. Many of our species either got captured, escaped the planet or even worse, lost their lives during the invasion....we were one of those mole people, who managed to escape, including Evelynn, several more of our clan, Iris and a little mole girl, she's been holding. The little girl was none other than Amber. After waiting in space, we arrived at a planet and on the land, named Equestria. The first thing, we saw, when our clan set foot on the place, was the moon with a mysterious symbol of a pony, made out of the moon craters, before finding a place to dig underground and building our own civilisation. Since then, we've been more secluded and aware than before."
"Hmmm...A moon with a face...." Snow was thinking about the moon, before realizing what they meant. "You know, I've spent time researching about Equestria's history from the day, I made friends with Twilight and from what I've read, that face on the moon was the symbol of Nightmare Moon's imprisonment over there. Given that Princess Luna is reformed now and that Amber is grown, I assume you went to Equestria presumably many moons ago, during Luna's imprisonment."
"Seems like it." Talia confirmed.
"I feel sorry for you girls...Having to escape your home from a maniacal megalomaniac, thirsty for power and darkness, really messed you up. I know the feeling, since many people from different planets had the same experience before. Hell, even me and my friends went through that same shit before." Snow showed lots of sympathy to the mole women.
"Except that Evelynn became even more aggressive and secluded these days.... and the worst part is, we don't know the real reason why, given that she never told us about anything." Talia sighed, but the mention of Evelynn's secrecy and aggression perked the snowy pegasus, especially that she went through a similar phase before several times. One time, when she first met her future friends, the second one was when she was with Jenny during the first mission and the recent one was after the whole drama. In fact, she started theorizing about the possibility, that Evelynn might went through a traumatic experience or even several of them before. Maybe those could explain about her behaviour, but she has yet to confront the commander about the secret.
"At this point...maybe Amber was right after all and we need to change....but Evelynn refused to see it that way and Iris refused to comment about it..." Auriana looked down, after she told the pony about her feelings. "Oh god....I feel really sorry about her....I can't believe, we just stood there, not helping her...." During those words, she started to tear up and Talia had to comfort her friend, all while Snow listened more about their problem. The situation is clear: Amber's emancipation from the clan caused a secret divide and the two sexes were at tension against each other. She had to do something.
"I made up my mind. I'm going to unite the two civilisations into one and bring Evelynn back to her senses." Snow had a serious expression in her face, as she made her decision, much to the girls' shock.
"What!? You can't be serious right now! Evelynn is known to be the strongest and the most ruthless one and she would not hesitate on putting your head on her spear!" Auriana tried to convince Snow, not to follow her plan. "I mean, at one point, she threatened the males and your friend with immediate execution during their captivity!"
"You'd be surprised, on how capable I am. Plus, I had my experience facing against ruthless criminals, a few dictators and even Shadow Nebula herself, with my friends on my side, so I have the necessary resources and smarts available. Not to mention, I have the elemental orb of ice. I could just freeze her and her followers no problem." Snow was confident.
"I know, that you're trying to help us and we really appreciate it...but couldn't risk our lives to defy our commander. Anyway....thank you for letting us talking about our problems..." Taila was about to depart with her friend.
"You're welcome and remember. Never underestimate the power of the elements and the magic of friendship." Snow smiled, as the two women departed. During the time, she finished up noting everything, what they said and making ideas for her plan. The mare packed up everything and left the forest, but on her way back, she bumped into someone.
"Hey! Who just bumped into me?" The pegasus mare rubbed her head and opened her eyes and despite being in the middle of the night and in a forest, she can recognize the mysterious individual due to the moonlight glimmering on the mane and tail. There can only be one pony, whose mane and tail glimmer at the light from both the sun and the moon and having the shape of an iceberg. And sure enough, the individual turned out to be Brain Freezer.
"Brain Freezer? What are you doing there in the middle of the night?" She was confused on why he was in the forest. Especially after midnight.
"I was about to ask the same thing." The icy blue unicorn rubbed his frozen head, when he saw the note block. "Is that a note block, you're carrying?" He grabbed it up and although Snow tried to intervene, he read all of it in detail.
"It seems like, they too felt remorse." The icy unicorn commented, which threw Snow off.
"What?! What are you talking about?" She was perplexed by what he said. The blue stallion proceeded to explain her about that peculiar detail:
"You see, I was honing my unicorn magic that night in a secluded area, because I felt it was the safest time. Not sure, why I decided to do that in the middle on the night though. Suddenly, two mole men appeared out of nowhere and they scared the shit out of me. Like I almost froze them, but the beam was inches off from them and hit a random boulder. Naturally, I was pissed at them, but then...something unbelievable happened: The mole men, named Lance and Brandon, also felt guilty for ignoring Roy and that they couldn'do anything out of fear as well! Why? Well, it's due to the divide amongst the men! And it seems like, Zizrar refuses to talk about it! He just...looked away in silence that day."
"What? If that's the case...then it's clear, there's a huge divide between the two clans and another one amongst each of them! The worst part is, my friends and I haven't experenced something similar! So, this is all new!" Snow realized the problem, which got even more complicated than ever, especially with the lack of experience.
"Take it easy, Snow. We'll think about something tomorrow. For now though, we need some sleep." Brain Freezer slowed things down.
"You're right. Perhaps some sleep would clear my mind." Snow nodded and the two of them left the forest. During the time, the icy unicorn looked at her and blushed, thinking about an appropriate time to confess his feelings to her and what he would say, but also dealing with the constant anxiety and focusing on his redemption journey. However, he has to push those feelings aside for now, in order to help her and bringing Zizrar back to reality.
The next morning, Twilight and Spike were staying in the castle, doing their usual duties, with Twilight overseeing the Cutie Map and Spike writing the letters and receiving them. Some of them were from Princess Celestia and Luna, telling them that they have made up and they're overseeing the rebuilding of Ponyville and the upcoming Friendship Festival. Other letters were about finding the trio of stallions, named the "Try Guys" . At least, Star Time Rush agreed to attend and perform at the festival, but the other group was sort of hard to get. Recently though, a name popped up in one of those letters, that could be helpful of finding at least one of them: Jolly Goodie. So, Spike decided to write a letter to Princess Celestia on finding Jolly Goodie and if he and the others would be able to be part of the festival.
At the same time, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy, arrived to the main room to meet with Twilight and continuing their duties.
"Good morning, Twilight!" Pinkie greeted her friend with her usual joy. However, they noticed, that their Alicorn friend looked....stressed. "What's the matter? You look quite under the weather today."
"I know, Pinkie..." Twilight sighed and looked at the map. "You know....just when I thought, we could just relax and rest, after the defeat of Cozy Glow and the return of magic, we got caught in two separate main incidents, that are connnected in some aspects. One being about Radiant Thunder and his constant battle against his mental demons and the other being a group of friends in shambles. What's more, both of them caused a bigger impact to Equestria as a whole, both good and bad. Mostly good, since the subject of abuse has been become more and more aware and that our elemental friends have redeemed themselves in the end....it's just...Everything is getting more and more complicated..."
"I know that feeling, darling. Sometimes, things are getting rougher and more complicated. But rest assured, those problems are slowly going away." Rarity assured Twilight with a smile.
"Yeah, Twilight. Like I met Johnny and Dukey this morning and they're doing well. We talked about some awesome stuff, we're gonna do today and heck, Sissy is getting better with her flying. As for them an Missy, yeah, it's kind of a mess, but hey. They're getting better." Rainbow commented.
"I talked with Jillian and she said, she's improving and started finding new friends. Although she told me, that she kinda missed her people." Fluttershy told her about what Jillian, AKA Natural Spark has been doing.
"I'm actually glad, that they're doing just fine. The issue may be fully over with....if it wasn't for what Sunset and Starlight said about.....the sisters. At first, I haven't thought anything of it, but after the whole debacle with Fire Jewel, her sister and their friends being somewhat resolved, there was this lingering thought, that perhaps....the story might been a a lot more complicated than we thought and that the two had a point." Twilight said something, regarding to Sunset, Starlight and the Test twins, before clapping her cheeks. "But that's just me. We don't know for sure, since it's been months after the last sighting. As for Fire and the others...I'm glad, they're slowly improving, but there are some unknowns, namely about the Alicorn named Jenny. It's a shame, that she's basically missing."
"The one, who basically started that mess? Jeez, she should've been punished by this point for starting all of this, along with those....nightmare sisters!" Rainbow responded negativity about the mares, much to everyone's annoyance. The most notable thing about the prismatic mare, aside from her impressive speed and being the heroine of loyalty, is her enormous ego and pride.
"Rainbow! There are some things, we can't blame Jenny for! Namely due to her being through so much pain and heartache! Plus, those ponies from outside of our galaxy, which means, some things are different than here. And as for those girls, the whole thing is too complicated and unless we get confirmation from them or even from Sunset and Starlight, it'll be left completely open for conspiracies and theories!" Twilight responded in a stressful manner.
"Take it easy, sugarcube. We have to do those things only one at a time, starting with those elemental ponies. Recently, Cherry has been stayin' at the Sweet Apple Acres with my family, who are watching over her." Applejack suggested the ponies to do things one at a time.
"How about talking to those ponies and give them company? Like for example, Applejack could talk and comfort to Cherry, while I could spend time with Fire Jewel, Fluttershy with Tropic Bloom and so on? And also give them some advice for them to learn!" The peppy party mare suggested, that the Mane Six spend time with the six elemental ponies, while teaching them valuable lessons.
"That's actually a really good idea. What do you think, girls?" Fluttershy asked to her friends, in which they agreed. "Wonderful! I planned to invite Tropic into the tea party with me and Discord."
"I'd like to help out one of them, but recently, I had to finish up decorations for the festival and making dress requests. One pony wanted a beautiful dress and the other an elegant, black dress." Rarity pointed out, that she had to work for the festival, which has been postponed to a week.
"Now that you mentioned it, Spike! Can you write a letter to Princess Celestia, asking her to find someone, named Jolly Goodie and if the group can participate the festival? So far, we got Colortaura, Star Time Rush and PostCrush as musicians and we got some entertainers, but there is still one spot left." Twilight asked her dragon assistant to write a letter, in which the purple dragon is in the progress of doing so. She then returned her attention to her friends and asked, if there are objections. After nothing came, the purple mare responded with: "Okay. With the current objective settled, the meeting is adjourned."
Twilight and Spike stayed, while the others left to do their jobs. After that, Twilight continued her duties as the princess of friendship, while also dealing with the Friendship School, while Spike finished the letter and sent it to Celestia with his magical dragon breath. However, a few moments later, Spike was standing in front of the main door, when he heard a knock from the other side. Upon opening it, he saw Snow Emerald.
"Hello, Spike. Is Twilight here?" The snowy mare asked.
"Uhm, she's currently at the Friendship School. What do you want from her?" Spike was confused.
"I just want to talk with her about something. It is about...a particular event yesterday, related to mole people and such." Snow answered.
"Hang on, I'll talk to her. In the meantime, wait here, okay?" Spike went off, while the pegasus mare went to a nearby room to wait. While waiting, Snow kept on thinking about what the mole women said and what to do to stop the conflict. It went on for at least 15 minutes, until Spike returned with Twilight. After which, they went to a separate room, with a table and seats. After sitting down, the purple duo wanted the reason, why Snow decided to talk with them.
"I've heard, that you had a lot of experience on solving friendship problems with your friends, as well as uniting different kinds of species together, is it true?" Snow asked a simple question.
"As a matter of fact, we do." Twilight answered, but is unsure, what Snow wants with this information.
"Well...there is that...issue from yesterday, relating to the mole people. I am aware of the existence of mole women, thanks to Breeze, since she was held there, but ever since Amber and Roy had left their people, most of them were opposed, but there were a few, who felt sorry about the whole instance. Two of them, are two women, named Talia and Auriana. I went to the meeting spot in the middle of the night, since they want to tell their clan's tale and expressed guilt over what happened." Snow explained and proceeded to tell Twilight and Spike about the history of the mole women and why they decided to flee to Equestria, which took place during Nightmare Moon's imprisonment and WAY before she and her friends have arrived, as it turned out, they landed in that planet after Twilight's castle was built. During the wave of explanations, Twilight carefully listened and Spike took notes of the whole ordeal.
"But it turns out, that the same thing happened for the men, when Brain Freezer told me about him being told by Lance and Brandon, that they're feeling sorry for Roy and that Zizrar has been awfully quiet about it. So, yeah. Both clans are currently dealing with constant tension amongst them, all because of Roy and Amber leaving their people behind. I'm saying this, because I want to help them and end the conflicts once and for all." Snow concluded her thoughts, all while Twilight and Spike carefully observed. For Twilight, it wasn't new. Applejack and Fluttershy told them about their quest to solve a friendship problem in the village of kirins and helping out Autumn Blaze to break the silence and return the emotions of the other kirins, all because of their philosophy of drinking the River of Silence would prevent any arguments. Despite several hiccups, including the two mares arguing and getting captured and almost dropped to the river by the community, thanks to Autumn Blaze, they managed to talk with the kirins out and bringing back their voices and emotions. So, hearing Snow's tale about the mole people and the conflicts made the Alicorn mare think about possible ideas.
"Hmm...from what I've heard, the mole people have been completely split and in shambles. However, unlike the kirins, it's clear that a few of them don't share the same view as the others, when it comes to Amber and Roy. I think, the best way for this plan to work is to talk with Roy and Amber directly. Then, you have to go to the mole people and attempt to reason with them. If all of those steps work, then teach them the importance of friendship and slowly bringing them together." Twilight explained the first steps of a plan.
"To be fair, isn't it a bit too early to ask them about what happened yesterday? Pretty sure, they're still reeling from it." Spike was concerned about Roy and Amber, given with the fresh wounds.
"Perhaps give them some time to heal. Like wait for a few days or even weeks." The princess of friendship suggested to leave them alone for a while.
"I guess, you're right....I honestly don't want to overwhelm them even further, after...well....that.. It's just, I've been invested about it, simply because of Evelynn. I have a feeling, that she is hiding a secret and...perhaps, feeling constant paranoia and distrust, after multiple betrayals, like I did." Snow reconsidered her options.
"I appreciate your concern, Snow, but sometimes, it's best to take things slow and focus on other things, like rebuilding your friendship with the others and being more open with yourself." Twilight gave the snowy mare some advice. After thinking about it for a while and taking the princess' advice to heart, Snow nodded and left the castle, leaving Twilight and Spike to do their usual work.
As Snow went to the centre of Ponyville, Brain Freezer was waiting there.
"So, how's the meeting with Twilight?" he asked.
"Well, here is the thing. Although she gave me some basic steps about the plan, Spike pointed out, that it's too early to take action. Especially, if the two mole people are still reeling from what happened yesterday and the others being apprehensive about it." Snow explained her meeting with Twilight and how it turned out.
"I tried talking with Zizrar about that event, but he basically refused to comment further and even gave me the meanest glare, when I persisted. Man, whatever is happening to the guys, it wasn't pretty. I even talked with Lance and Brandon about it, but they didn't say much else, other than their guilty looks on their faces." He sighed.
"Damn....But it's best to leave them alone for a while and focus on other things, like me focusing on my friendship studies, reconnecting myself again and also with my friends. I mean, the very last thing, we want, is further conflict and the possibility with neither of them speaking with anyone again. I mean, do you really want that happen to your best friend?" Snow reiterated Twilight's point in a serious tone and that last question made the icy unicorn reconsider about doing the plan. He'd been best friends with Zizrar ever since Johnny's disappearance and it would be foolish for him to ruin it all, especially with the messy breakup and the end of his alliance with the other villains, due to constant tension. All of those factors made him to what he is today.
"I guess, you're right. It's not worth to pressure him and the others any longer. Plus, it happened just YESTERDAY." He now realised it, that pressuring the mole people about an event, that happened yesterday, is not a good idea after all. Not to mention, there's also the fact, that he has feelings for Snow Emerald, so he wanted to be on her good side. After all, prior to their meeting today, he had visited Rarity in the morning for some advice and she told him, that clear communication and mutual understanding are key for a good relationship. Then, he decided to switch topics. "Hey...uhm...If you have nothing to do today...then maybe we could-" Before he could finish his question, a pony was asking anyone for help on rebuilding the shop.
"Hey! I can help you! Sorry, I had to go now." She left the dumbfounded unicorn to help the pony in need. After a few minutes of awkward silence and lots of processing, he yelled "Man, I blew it!!!", which lead to draw attention from some slighty peeved ponies, which made the situation even more awkward and embarrassing. So much so, that Brain Freezer was feeling, he was about to shut down, but luckily, he went somewhere else to attend to.
In the skies, Rainbow Dash was practicing her skills by flying through the clouds, performing impressive tricks and overall flying really fast. All of this was partially done to prepare herself for the Friendship Festival, as the Wonderbolts will be scheduled to perform an air show later on. And since she is part of them, she had to practice harder, in order to achieve perfection...or at least close to perfection that is. Not to mention, she will perform her iconic Sonic Rainboom to wow the crowd. After a while of flying around, the prismatic mare stopped to take a break.
"Phew. That was cool and all. It's really crazy, that I haven't practiced my skills for the festival for a while. Oh well, there's lots of thing to catch up!" She wiped the sweat off from her forehead, before resuming her training of improving her tricks. However, during her training, she flew into a particular cloud, when she hit something hard. So much so, that she lost balance and fell down to a nearby cloud below.
"Ow...What that that?..." Rainbow rubbed her head, groaning in pain, when she started looking at the source of the impact...which revealed to a particular, dark blue mare with violet mane, also groaning in pain on another cloud, which was facing Rainbow.
"Dude....you could've killed me..." The dark blue mare was not happy.
"Oh! Sorry, Breeze! Didn't really see you in that cloud. I was practicing my skills and overall being fast, when I didn't pay attention." The prismatic mare apologised for that sudden crash.
"To be fair, this wasn't the first time, someone bumped to me, while was was inside of the cloud. And yeah, I often prefer to relax and nap inside of clouds, rather than on top of it. Sometimes, I relax on top of them, but being inside of a cloud is quieter. I love the thrill of action and adventure, but sometimes, I like to just relax and bask in." Breeze rubbed her head, explaining that the crash wasn't her first rodeo, before proceeding to feel the breeze. "Man, it's nice to have a break, after all of that shit happened in the last few months."
"I feel ya. Things are getting better with Johnny and the others. Everyone's learning and redeeming themselves and you and your friends are doing the same thing, ever since Twilight got you under her wing." Rainbow smiled, but Breeze suddenly became serious and showed her a different side underneath her free-spirited and cocky shell.
"Hey...can I talk to you about something?" The blue mare asked, like something's troubling her.
"Sure, I'm open." Rainbow nodded, ready to listen. After which, the dark blue mare took a deep breath and proceeded to tell her everything:
"Well...Remember, when I told you a bit about my backstory about me being neglected by my parents, in favour of my brother? There are more ramifications to me than you think. When I was a little kid, everything was quite normal with my parents loving me, but that changed, when my little brother was born. They focus on him way more than me. I tried ho get their attention and love, but I got ignored and even if I DID get their attention, they half-heartedly acknowledged me. Don't get me wrong, my little brother loved me and hell, he still does and I often hang out with him, playing games and going outside and such. I mean, before I went to Equestria, I visited of him, being really proud of him graduating. At the same time, I had to focus on school and while I was excelling with sports, i was terrible with math. Not to mention, i was a quiet pony back then, with only having a few friends to hang out with. But here's the thing. While I was neglected by my parents, when we visited my relatives, namely my uncle and aunt, they gave me something, I didn't get: love. They cared for me, they supported my decisions, which my parents do, just....you know...being occupied with my brother and hell, my uncle was the reason, why I became so confident and free-spirited, since they often take me to beautiful fields for me to fly around. Plus, he made me laugh with jokes and such, which would be my thing later on. Anyway, all of this would eventually boil up to one moment. I was doing my flight classes and I got an achievement for the fastest time in a course. I was so excited to tell my family about it and while my brother was proud of me...my parents were...okay with it. Keep that in mind, I was a kid at the time and well, they were busy with their jobs as well....and looking back at it....it's very complicated...I was completely fed up and that lead to an argument between with me and my parents, before screaming that, they're not my parents anymore and locking myself in my room. Later at night, I flew away from home and tried to find my uncle and aunt, but that night, it was seriously foggy as fuck, so I got lost easily somewhere. Didn't help, that there was a heavy hunderstorm going on. I tried going back, but that made things worse by getting myself even more lost. Suddenly, lightning struck down the ground and I was scared. But then before I was hit by one, a blue orb struck me In the chest and when I was hit by one of the lightning bolts, a sudden surge of energy made me shot out bright bolts in the sky and strong winds. That caught the attention of someone, after those surges stopped and lead me back to my home, in which my uncle and aunt welcomed me back and after telling them my story, they basically gave my parents a much needed wake up call and they've been trying their best, even though, as I got older, I became...distant and ran away again, this time to another planet, to make my own decisions, where I would meet Fire and Tropic and...well...the rest is history."
"Jeez...This story kinda reminds me of Scootaloo, given with how busy her parents are and such." Rainbow was sympathetic towards Breeze.
"Yeah....In some aspects, but completely different. Thank God, they learned from their mistakes and are trying to improve our relationship, although again, they did it a bit too late, but hey. Better late than never, I guess...But the most important thing is....I can be quite anxious in secret, but I masked it with my attitude and jokes. I was slowly learning to be more genuine during my adventures with my friends...however the recent drama made me completely relapse myself." Breeze sighed. "I was just afraid."
"Let me tell you something, Breeze. It's okay to not be okay. Nopony's perfect. We're basically unique in our own way and if we mess up, we can make things right again. Plus, there's no need to be afraid, as long as you have awesome friends, like me, Johnny, Pinkie and many many more! And if you fall back, there's always a chance to get right back up and try again! We're all here for you and that's, what really matters at the end." The prismatic mare gave the dark pegasus a motivational speech to liften up her spirits and energy.
"You know...I never thought of that...I mean, it's been AGES, since I got up again from a fuck-up. " Breeze slightly smiled, before getting up, now being more confident. "You're right! I've been through so much before, but I'm gonna stand tall and fight them like those Shadow Ponies! And if I don't succeed, I'll fucking do it again!"
"Yeah, that's the spirit, Breeze!" Rainbow cheered on. "Hey! If you're free, are you up for a race? I could use a partner right now."
"Hell yeah, I'm in!" Breeze prepared herself and the two pegasi started their race in the skies.
Meanwhile in the Carousel Boutique, Rarity was working on some dresses and decorations for the second Friendship Festival. Thanks to the crystals and gems, Johnny and Dukey brought, she was able to make beautiful looks, ribbons and so on. She was marvelling of her finished products, when the doorbell rang. Immediately, the unicorn mare answered the door, only for the pony to be revealed to be Ocean Spark.
"Oh hello, Ocean! Come in!" Rarity was happy to see Ocean and the two unicorns went inside the boutique. She noticed, that the blue mare was wandering around a bit. "What brings you here?"
"I'm just...wandering around." Ocean quietly responded in a tone, that was not quite happy and Rarity was suspicious about it. "I've heard, you're really a good designer and since I love fashion, I though I could check this place out.
"You don't sound so enthusiatsic today. What's wrong, darling?" Rarity asked.
"It's nothing." Ocean sighed, but Rarity didn't believe it a bit. It didn't take long, precisely just a few seconds, she cracked and immediately blured out the truth. "Forget it....The whole drama made me feel guilty and scared, just like what happened, when I lost my parents as a filly. I blamed at someone at Jenny for our downfall, even though I was also responsible for that. What this reminds me of in some ways, is the time, I falsely blame Fire for murdering my parents, when I had no idea, that she is my sister and that Shadow Nebula was the true culprit. I'm such a foolish pony, who would blindly pick sides for selfish reasons..."
"Darling, let me tell you something. You are not a horrible pony. You are just flawed, like everypony in Equestria and beyond. And I know for a fact, that you've been through so much, that no words describe on how tragic they were. But there is always some form of beauty in the rain, you're standing, if you believe in yourself and look at the bright side at the end of the tunnel. In other words, if you set those things aside, holding you back, be more generous and considerate and believing in yourself, you can shine brighter than any beautiful gem out there! That is true inner beauty!" The heroine of generosity gave the water pony some words of advice. "Plus, it's best to practice by looking at the mirror and convince yourself, that you can do it."
"You mean, that there is some form beauty and I have to start looking at the bright side?" Ocean asked.
"Of course! Even when there are doubts, just keep doing, what you love and continue walking your path of redemption." Rarity smiled, which made Ocean consider. "Since you love fashion, maybe you can help me with the dresses."
"Well, I'm not really a fashion designer..I just like to dress in trendy and beautiful looks, but I can at least try." Ocean nodded.
"Actually, I need a model, who can give me some constructive criticism for my projects, so I can improve them." Rarity scratched her head.
"Sure!" Ocean agreed and decided to help out the white mare.
In the Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie was preparing some cake dough for delicious deserts, while also preparing some party stuff for the Friendship Festival at the same time, without any setbacks, because she can do literally ANYTHING. Since Cheese Sandwich will attend there for decorations and entertainment and Pinkie being his collaborator, more work had to be done, all while being joyful about it. Suddenly, she heard the door opening and immediately dashed towards the entrance, in order to welcome the customer. "Welcome to the Sugarcube Corner!" She grinned and the customer was revealed to be Fire Jewel. "Oh hi, Fire Jewel!"
"Uhm...hi. Wow, you seems to be extremely chipper today." Fire entered the store.
"Of course, I do! The Friendship Festival is coming soon and while the last one was rudely interrupted by the Storm King and his party poopers and that new forms of friendships are made, like new ponies from a different dimension and even our of space, it deserves a second comeback! I'm so excited to meet new friends, hanging out with my best friends, while also giving everything, I got and having a fun time!" Pinkie explained.
"That's cool! Where will it take place?" Fire warmly smiled.
"In Canterlot, duh! Just like last time!" Pinkie smiled. Unfortunately the mention of Canterlot soured Fire's mood.
"Oh...Canterlot...woo.. Look, I just to get some cakes, since I'm starving." The red unicorn sarcastically responded, before ordering something.
"Which one do you want? Red Velvet? Vanilla Cake? Oh! How about a Rainbow Cake?" The peppy earth pony asked.
"Uhm...Just surprise me, okay?" Fire sighed.
"Okey dokey!" Pinkie Pie rushed back to the kitchen, while Fire sat down. During her wait, the mention of the name "Canterlot" brought so many unpleasant memories there. After a while, Pinkie came back with some slices of cakes.
"Here you go!" She smiled, while handing down the plates.
"Thanks." Fire slightly smiled.
"Hey, do you want to come to the festival?" Pinkie asked.
"On second thought....I'm just fine by staying in Ponyville and y'know...just chilling." Fire responded in a tone, that made Pinkie feel suspicious immediately.
"But why though?" The pink mare demanded an answer.
"Nothing really...it's just, I don't want to go there." Fire was about to leave, when Pinkie suddenly appeared in front of her.
"Whoa! You just scared the shit out of me! How do you do that?!" Fire was suddenly scared by Pinkie's instant reappearance.
"Is there something, you haven't told me? Is there some sort of....a grudge??" Pinkie suspiciously stared at the red mare, with one of her eyebrows raised, which deserves a certain sound effect.
"Leave me alone..." The red mare growled, as she was about to leave, but Pinkie kept on reappearing in front of her, as if she was teleporting in an instant pace.
"Is it because of....oh, I don't know....A CERTAIN INCIDENT, INVOLVING A BURNING DRAGON?" Pinkie got closer and closer, bringing up the dragon incident, which brought even more unpleasant memories for Fire.
"Do not bring that up!!" She yelled, but Pinkie was persistent and unphased
"Why though? Is it still etched in your head, because of what happened there and as a result, doing your punishment, while enduring so much hatred from everyone in Canterlot, which results in you almost getting killed by a crazy individual, until your sister had to step in and later being taken by Luna and Tempest for some therapy? Because I have a feeling, that you don't want go there, because you're afraid of being abused again??" The pink pony suspected of Fire not wanting to go there, due to the dragon incident and its aftermath, which pissed Fire off.
"SHUT UP!!!" She blasted off a fire beam at Pinkie, only for the mare to throw water from a bucket, causing the fire to evaporate and the room being covered by mist. Where did the bucket of water come from? No idea. Anyway, Fire looked around in the mist, searching for Pinkie Pie. It went on for a while. During which, she raised her defenses up, when all of a sudden, she was "ambushed" by Pinkie Pie. And by "ambushed", I mean the peppy mare immediately pulling Fire into a tight hug out of nowhere, causing her to pause. All of this in the mist, which was slowly fading away.
"It's okay, not to be okay. I'm here now and you can talk to me about your problems." Pinkie smiled, which caused the red mare to become emotional.
"Fine...you got me....I still haven't forgotten the fact, that Canterlot hates my guts....So much so, that even it's been months, I still can't step a fucking hoof there, without getting harassed by everyone there. It's a living reminder of my biggest fuck-up, I've ever done, just because I was such an emotional bitch, who refused to let go from the past!!" Fire screamed, letting her frustrations out.
"Hmm..." Pinkie was using her head to think about a solution, before coming up with one almost immediately. "You know, when I was a little filly and the sun was going down, the darkness and shadows always made me frown and hide in my pillow. But Granny Pie taught me, not to be afraid at those shadows and that I have to face my fears, stand tall, realizing that those shadows aren't gonna hurt me and in order to make te disappear, I have to just laugh! Soooooo...giggle at the ghostly, guffaw at the grossly, crack up at the creepy, whoop it up with the weepy, chortle at the kooky, snortle at the spooky and tell those big dumb scary faces and nightmares to take a hike and leave you alone and if they think, they can scare you then they got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna laugh! In other words, if things are tough, be brave and just laugh and smile through it! That's the importance of laughter!"
"I...uhm....I actually have no idea, what you're talking about..." Fire was at a loss of words, being seriously confused at what Pinkie just said. "What do you mean by just laughing through the pain?"
"I'll gladly show you!" The peppy party pony grabbed and pulled Fire away somewhere with so much joy.
Outside of the cottage, Fluttershy was taking care of her animals of their needs, only this time, Tropic Bloom was helping her out, using her nature magic and her motherly instincts. Notable examples include Tropic taking care of the bear and rabbits and using her nature magic to make some grass grow for the animals to eat. After they finished their work, they went inside for a tea talk.
"It's nice, that you decide to help me taking care of the animals, Tropic." Fluttershy smiled.
"You're welcome, Fluttershy. I had the experience from taking care of my garden with all of the exotic flowers and other forms of fauna. Plus, I had to take the role as the mother of my team. Like for example, I had to break up a fight between Snow and Breeze, due to their differences and slowly talking things out or I had to take care of the others, when they got injured. In exchange, they helped me overcome my fears and protect me anytime against terrible foes." Tropic explained her experience.
"I really appreciate your kindness and compassion to your friends ans loved ones. I would do the same to my friends and family as well." Fluttershy smiled, but noticed that Tropic has been a bit down lately. "What's wrong, Tropic?" She asked.
"You know, I'm scared, that through my sheer amount of kindness, people will assume, that I'm a weak pony. And even though I proved them wrong on multiple occasions, I couldn't shake off my anxiety from my system. This would result in me not having a stronger connection to nature in some occasions, which is linked to my emotional state. Another problem is, when I get too angry, my magic woulf go out of control. That's something, not even the best sorcerers and masters can figure it out." Tropic explained her feelings.
"Oh my. It could be, because you have so much unrest and doubt in you. I suggest to take things slow and find your inner voice. Believe me, I was in the same situatuon as you. I was cowardly and anxious in the beginning, not being able to help my friends in some situations and even fell under Discord's spell once. But my friends helped me find my inner voice and it took a long time for me to truly come out of my shell and be more confident with myself. What I'm saying is, kindness is not a weakness and you should not be afraid of doubts. Be more confident and proud." Fluttershy gave the yellow earth pony mare some impactful advice.
"I actually never thought about finding my inner voice and make peace with myself. Thank you so much, mi amiga." The nature pony thanked the heroine of kindness.
"That's what friends are always for." Fluttershy hugged Tropic in a warm hug.
In the Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack and Big Macintosh were working on their orchard, while Granny Smith watched the progress. Apple Bloom wasn't here, since she went with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo earlier. Of course, she did help out before going with her best friends to help out ponies to find out their destinies. It was all part of their usual routine, but there were two exceptions today. For one, the Apple Family were slowly connecting with the Pears, ever since they found out the family truth and the other one was Cherry Swirl helping the siblings out. It was actually part of Applejack's idea, to make the green mare focus on something else other than her own sorrow and while it did work a bit, she and her family kept a watchful eye on her, since Applejack told them about Cherry's story.
She was carrying some baskets of freshly bucked apples, when she thought back about her friendship with Jenny and the good times, they had. That made her so emotionally numb, that she didn't pay attention to her surroundings, until she tripped and dropped the basket. Immediately, she picked them up at a breakneck speed, put them back in the basket and continued moving, only for the pink-haired mare to trip again.
"Y'all good?" Applejack asked.
"Y'all seem to be off your game lately." Granny Smith came to her.
"Sorry. I'm not much of a farmer myself...Although some of my relatives own a cherry farm. But I'm trying my best! Failure is not an option!" Cherry got up and kept going.
"Whoa there, nelly! You soundin' not too enthusiastic today." Applejack held her back, being suspicious lately.
"I'm just....a bit tired lately." Cherry answered and left, but the apple family were suspicious, so Applejack and her brother decided to follow her in secret.
Cherry went to the farm and sat down on the hay. She kept thinking back of the good times with her friends. Hanging out, going on festivals, amusement parks, malls, concerts and other fun areas on their day out. Feeling emotional again, she laid down and buried herself in the hay.
"Jenny....girls...." Cherry missed her friends dearly, especially her best friend, who's been there for her and vice versa, during the hard times. In fact, during the later missions, they took a best friend test and got the highest score out of anyone. Sure, best friends come in different shapes. In fact, the were all like a family of victims of different circumstances all sharing big dreams and aspirations. But it was Jenny, who Cherry understood the most. She was the one, who helped the green mare stand up to her demons and moving on from the past. In exchange, Cherry helped her friend on her own personal demons, like dealing with her dark side and finding ways to combat it. That dark side, known as Shadow Galaxy, was and still is a big issue, that hasn't been resolved to this day. But from that fateful day onward, nothing has been the same anymore and she has been down on her spirits since. She was about to close her eyes and just take a nap, in an attempt to sleep it off, when she was uncovered by Applejack, causing the green mare to jump.
"What in the hay are you doing there?" Applejack asked a simple question, but instead of simply answering, Cherry jumped above her and ran off.
"Oh no, you won't!" Applejack grabbed her trusty lasso and chased after her. Big Mac was outside of the farm, when he saw his younger sister exiting it and decided to go after her. Together, the southern ponies looked around for any signs of the green pony, when they found something peculiar....a small cube, made out of rocks.
"Pretty sure, she's in there." Applejack assumed.
"Eeyup." Big Mac nodded and the two went to the box, which Applejack kicked the rocks down with her hindlegs, causing a hole. But when Applejack went inside, Cherry wasn't there.
"What's going on here?" Granny Smith wondered about the commotion, while Big Mac investigated the place.
"Cherry has been actin' seriously strange lately and now she hid somewhere.." Applejack sighed, slowly getting frustrated.
"Gee, she's quite a tough one..." Granny scratched her head.
"Down here!" Big Mac pointed at the ground beneath the cube, hinting that Cherry might be underground. The mares went inside and the strong stallion demonstrated by putting his ear on the ground, which Applejack and Granny did the same thing, confirming his theory. The orange mare dug a hole on the ground and it didn't take long, till the ground gave away automatically, revealing Cherry Swirl underneath. Not taking chances, Applejack used her lasso to lift her back to the surface.
"Seriously, Cherry! You're making this harder for all of us! We tried to help you, but you just refused to tell you and lied to us! I think, you're just prefer to be alone by then! In fact, your friends did more harm than good with your drama, the dragon and now Shadow Galaxy almost destroyed Equestria and kept on lying, just to make you and your "friends" look better! I actually don't care about your past as a guardian or something, you and the others are a bunch of liars!!!" The southern mare snapped and yelled at the pink-haired mare with all of her frustrations. Predictably, Cherry felt severely hurt by what she said.
"If that's the case...then nobody deserves my life!!!" Cherry broke free and ran away crying in full shame. Big Mac and Granny looked at Applejack, not happy about breaking her heart driving her away. Immediately, Applejack felt really bad about it for being too honest about the situation and overall, being too negative about her and the others.
"Sweet Celestia....what have I done?" Applejack felt guilty about it, before looking at her grandmother and brother. "I know...I know, that I'm responsible...Don't worry...I'll take care of it myself." She immediately took responsibility, grabbed her lasso again and took off.
"Big Macintosh, follow your little sister, just in case." Granny spoke to the stallion.
"Eeyup." The red pony nodded and went after the direction, his sister left to chase Cherry.
Belle's Cottage, Somewhere in Equestria...
Mr. Mittens has been recovering from his injuries from his fight against Dark Vegan and recently, he became a bit better. Now, he's sitting on the table, along with Belle's grandma, waiting for the tea and cookies.
"So...what exactly happened to you guys?" The magenta feline became curious.
"Well..we lived with our people for a very long time, with our family being together for various events and occasions. Everything was fine...until the day, where the Storm King and his army invaded our home...Everything went into total pandemonium, as our people escaped. Some of them got captured by his army, while others escaped to secluded locations. Belle and I were one of the lucky ones, who managed to escape. But her parents on the other hand....they're currently missing to this very day and we have no idea, where they are. Anyway, we've been hiding since, until Belle found you in the quarry." The elderly gray feline explained the truth.
"Man...That's awful...." Mr. Mittens was appalled, even though he had done bad stuff before, but not like this.
"I know...But the worst part is, we have no idea, what happened afterwards. I assume, the Storm King is still out there, conquering land after land. Hence the reason, why we hid in a secluded area." The gray cat sighed.
"The tea and cookies are done!" Belle happily shouted and brought a tablet of tea and cookies to her grandma and Mittens.
"She's trying her best to be optimistic, even during the dark times. Although she is not good with socialising." The grandma giggled.
"Good for her." Mr. Mittens thought in his head. Plus, he can't blame her, given with the past. And honestly, given with his own past and that he had to feel the consequences in form of Johnny's disappearance, Albert's death and him being used as an agent for the government to fight Dark Vegan, only to be betrayed later, of course, he's trying to be a bit more positive. Even when the wounds are still fresh from the aftermath.
While they're having the tea and cookies, Mittens couldn't help, but to look at Belle. At the same time, he felt something....warm inside of his otherwise cold heart. As if something is thawing the ice out. Could it be, that he....actually fell for the tuxedo feline?
"Say, we haven't heard about you, Mr. Mittens. Tell me, what happened there?" Belle was curious, but the question snapped him back to reality....and not in a good way for obvious reasons. Like how the hell was he gonna explain this, without upsetting her? After all, his villainous past would definitely scare her away. Eventually, the amount of stress caused him to have a migraine and eventually him fainting.
"Oh my god!!" Belle rushed to the magenta feline. "Nana, what are we gonna do!??"
"Take it easy, sweetie. We'll figure it out." The granny calmly responded and the two head off to the bedroom, where Belle put him there.
"What is happening?" Belle was concerned about Mittens, being unaware of his past.
Back to Applejack...
The orange mare has been running through the woods and fields, in order to stop Cherry and rectifying her mistake. There was no time to spare, especially with the possibility of Cherry ending her own life at any time.
"Cherry?! Cherry, where are you!?" She looked around for any sign for the green mare, while she kept on running. It went on for a while, with the mare looking around at every corner and running in a fast pace, until she saw a green glint far away from a cliffside. Alarmed, Applejack went to the cliffside as fast, as she could, with her lasso on her.
After a while, she arrived at the cliffside, where she saw Cherry standing at the edge with a blank expression on her face, like she had given up on life.
"Cherry, don't do it!!" The orange mare shouted, trying her best to convince her, not to jump off, but unfortunately it fell on deaf ears, as Cherry proceeded to jump off.
"NOOO!!!!" Immediately, Applejack acted fast, jumped down and threw her lasso, in order to catch the green mare. After she successfully caught Cherry, she grabbed on a branch.
"Let me go, Applejack! I don't deserve to live!" Cherry struggled.
"No, I'm not gonna allow that! Not even once!" Applejack refused to let her go, even when they were literally hanging on a branch. Cherry tried to swing around, but the southern mare tighten her grip on the lasso and she pulled her up.
"Why?....our arrival caused nothing, but trouble...And it seens like, you and the other want us to be gone forever...." Cherry was completely depressed.
"That's not true! I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier!" Applejack attempted to apologise, but Cherry refused to listen.
"You're just saying this, just to make yourself feel better!" Cherry kept on swinging, in an attempt to break free and continue falling to her doom, but Applejack tightened her grip even more. Unfortunately, both heard a crack and realizing, that the branch is gonna give way and both of the mares plummeting to their deaths, the southern mare had to do something.
"You're wrong! I actually didn't mean to yell at you! It's just the entire story has caused so much chaos and division soured my perspective! It wasn't until, I heard your stories about your past, where I finally saw the whole picture! But my stubborn pride and brutal honesty were hindering the progress..." The orange pony explained her apology even further, but hearing another crack, she took a deep breath. "Cherry, listen....I know, things are seriously tough now and that you dearly missed the good times, including your best friend, Jenny... and I can understand that, losin' someone, who's been there for you. And that you had a very tough life, with all of the bullying and the wars...But, not everything is all full of darkness and sorrow and you and your friends are not full bad apples. You and your pals did more good than ever before. Remember the time, where you helped us out against the dragon and later Shadow Galaxy, combining the power of the elements and the magic of friendship, saving Spring Gale, helping Johnny and Dukey out and some small deeds, you've done before? Tell me, are you willing to just throw all of your progress away, just because you have a bad day? Do you really want that?!"
That made Cherry stop resisting and think about the consequences, if she decides to go through with it. However, there is not much time left, because more cracks can be heard, as the branch was about to give away. The green mare had to make a quick decision. Either perish in the fall, all because of a temporary problem, than can be fixed with enough help or take Applejack's words into consideration and take action? After all, it reminds her of the same situation, where she tried to jump off from a cliff, only for Breeze to stop her and later the others supporting her through the dark times.
And the decision was finally made, when the branch eventually broke and the two mares were sent falling....but only for....10 seconds, as they suddenly land on a platform, made out of of the rocks.
"Cherry..." Applejack was surprised and the green mare stood up and approached her in silence. But before she could respond, a long rope fell down from the cliffside to them. Instinctively, the two mares grabbed the rope and got themselves pulled up. It took a while for them to reach back to the cliffside, but they eventually got there and the mysterious individual, who threw the rope, turned out to be Big Macintosh.
"Big Mac!" Applejack rushed to hug her big brother. "Thank Celestia, you came here for the save." Afterwhich, she released the green mare from the lasso.
"You...saved me..." Cherry finally broke her silence.
"Like I said, I'm honestly sorry for what happened earlier." The southern mare tipped her hat down. "But I promise, I'll make up for it by actually helping you. That is, if you're willing to take my hoof and accept the change." She reached her hoof to the green mare.
"Actually....I'm the one, who should apologise... my mind wasn't clear on that day, especially with the reeling aftermath. Plus....I admit, I'm just scared of failures, thanks to my upbringing. As in, my parents taught me, that failures aren't an option and that they were strict in some ways. Not to mention, the bullying and the wars...." Cherry apologized for her behaviour and admitted other aspects of her past, like her upbringing. "The worst part it, it's something, that sticks to me to this day."
"Gee, didn't realize about that part of your childhood...Sorry for the amount of pain." Applejack was sympathetic.
"I appreciate your transparency and honesty. However, if you still have the issues of the past, it's best to let go, accept and learn from your mistakes. You can look back at the past sometimes, but don't overthink too much, pal." Big Mac gave the mare some advice.
"He has a point." Applejack agreed, while still holding her hoof out. After some consideration and some thinking of the past, Cherry finally took Applejack's offer and grabbed her hoof.
"Come on. Let's go back. There's some work to do." Applejack smiled and thearth ponies were on their way back.
[What follows, is a montage of Cherry, Breeze, Fire, Tropic and Ocean hanging out with the Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity respectively, while this song starts playing:]
Up in the skies, we see Rainbow and Breeze flying as fast, as they can, all while performing some impressive tricks, like aileron rolls, loops, etc.
"Heh. Impressive, Breeze! But can you keep up with the fastest pegasus alive?" Rainbow complimented, as she started to fly even faster.
"Oh, it's on, man!" Breeze smirked and also increased her speed.
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was doing some entertainment for the citizens in Ponyville, to cheer them up, with Fire helping out. At first, she wasn't good with the accordion, all while standing on her back legs. Needless to say, she fell over with the accordion on her face. The red mare was humiliated, but Pinkie brightly smiled, signaling her to keep going with a smile.
Fluttershy was helping out some animals, in short of food, when Tropic used her nature magic to grow some fruits and grass for them to eat. One time, there was an argument between Angel and another rabbit and Tropic used her aromatherapy magic to soothe them. The yellow mares giggled each other.
In the Carousel Boutique, Ocean was wearing the dresses, Rarity made for some feedback. And while she liked some of them, when she wore the sexy, black dress, she was quite confused.
"Don't worry. Someone, named Fine Pride, requested this kind of dress! She liked it dark and elegant." Rarity gave her some context.
"I mean, fine by her and I'm not gonna question anyone's fashion choices. It's just...a few embellishments could not hurt. I don't know." Ocean critiqued.
"Noted." Rarity took notes.
In the Sweet Apple Acres, the Apple Family working hard and preparing their products, all while Cherry inspected and made a few suggestions.
"Have you guys tried to combine apples and cherries into one recipe? I can think of a good one." Cherry suggested.
"You sure about that?" Granny asked.
"I'll write down the recipe for you and a sketch on how it looks like." Cherry ran off to the house to write down a recipe and draw a sketch. After a while, she returned with the recipe and the sketch.
"It's an apple and Cherry crumble crisp recipe! We can try this out and make the others test it. Just in case!" Cherry smiled. "I can get the cherries for you!"
After a while, the apples agreed to try the recipe out and went straight to work.
In the skies, the pegasi flew faster and faster, all while dodging clouds. Suddenly, Rainbow Dash had an idea and flew down extremely fast, in order to perform the Sonic Rainboom.
"Ooh! I can do this too!" Breeze proceeded to do the same.
All while they two pegasi flew down and having the air form around them, they kept increasing the speed. At the same time, in separate locations, Tropic learned more to embrace herself, Cherry and Applejack preparing the recipe, Fire becoming more and more confident and performing her acrobatic fire tricks to wow the crowd, Ocean modeling and having fun with Rarity.
As the two got faster and faster, Breeze's body started to charge and being surrounded by electricity, like Johnny, but the difference here, is that her electricity is more controlled. Then the most incredible moment occured: Rainbow successfully pulling off her Sonic Rainboom, while Breeze...pulled off something similar. She broke the sound barrier, but the effect is similar to a Sonic Rainboom, but the colors are more violet and cyan, reflecting the colours of her mane. Another difference is, Breeze's trail is also electrically charged and the Sonic Boom self caused high winds in the skies. Enough to push the clouds away.
In Ponyville, everyone has seen the colourful, double Sonic Boom in the skies and the trails, swirling around each other and creating impressive shapes with them, like arches, stars, sharp curves, flowers, hearts and more. Needless to saw, everyone was amazed by the spectacle, as Rainbow and Breeze rushed their way to Ponyville. That included Johnny, Dukey, their friends and the elemental ponies. And yes, that included Cherry, who was with Applejack with the apple-cherry crisps for testing. Eventually, the elemental ponies went after the trails and even went as far, as to join in by creating magical rings for them to fly through and creating an elemental spectacle on their own. Breeze saw the spectacle and joined in by creating electric spheres and shooting them in the skies for her friends to shoot to create beautiful fireworks. Finally, Rainbow and Breeze landed to admire the spectacle.
"That was awesome, Breeze!" Rainbow was excited.
"Hehe. Thanks, Rainbow." Breeze blushed and smiled, while everyone applauded for their performance. As they cheered, the elemental friends felt even more appreciated than ever before.
"That was soooooo cool!" Fire expressed her happiness and excitement.
"It was really memorable!" Tropic smiled.
"Yeah. I know right? Speaking of which, Applejack and I have some crisps for anyone to test. If anyone wants that, go on!" Cherry has some crisps in her hoof and anyone, who are interested, tried it out with positive reactions.
"That was delicious!" Pinkie was amazed.
"Never thought, apples and cherries would go well with that." Sissy smiled.
The elemental friends were so touched by the positivity, they hugged their friends and each other as a sign of gratitude. Twilight couldn't help, but to be proud of their first accomplishment.
Suddenly, Spike spewed a flame, which took form of a letter. "Twilight! I got a response!" He gave it to the violet mare to read. It went on as followed:
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I'm so proud of taking the elemental ponies under your wing and teaching the ways of freindship. However, as for Jenny, the pink alicorn, we just got the word, that she was last seen on her way to Ponyville last night, but she teleported away to parts unknown. It's implied that she was on her way to your castle. If only we can find her and also teach her about friendship and redemption. But in the end, it is what it is.
On a positive note, not only that Luna and I reconsiled our sibling relationship, but progress was made for the Friendship Festival, when we not only found Jolly Goodie, but he also responded, confirming himself as part of that group! Although, one group of entertainers stepped out at the last minute and we need a replacement. Anyway, I'm sending his response to you.
I wish you the best of luck.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia.
"Oh my..." Twilight was surprised at the new information, before Spike spewed another flame, which took form of another letter, in which she immediately took and read it fully:
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
we are quite surpised, but also humbled by your request. However, we are aware, that you're having questions about us. Well, allow us to give some info on what we're doing.
The Try Guys are all about trying out the unknown, stepping out the comfort zones, embracing improvements and overall positivity towards Equestria's generations, whatever it's celebrating all things LBGTQ+, mental health acceptance and so on. And also overall making everyone laugh.
After so much discussion and consideration, we agree to perform at the Friendship Festival.
Sincerely,
Jolly Goodie, Lively Tea and Fine Pride AKA
The Try Guys
"It's the Try Guys! They responded and agreed to perform!" The princess of friendship was excited about the news. Everypony had no idea, who they are, but at the same time they were also curious and excited to see them. Now with Star Time Rush and the Try Guys being part of the festival, there was that one space, that had to be filled. But looking at the elemental mares, Twilight had an idea. But she had to inspect her castle, because Jenny might be there. But she has yet to confirm the theory.
"Wait. Where's Snow?" Fire asked.
"She and Brain Freezer went out to take a walk to the fields. Just to admire nature and hanging out." Twilight answered.
"Oh my. I wonder, what they're doing." Tropic was a bit curious.
Somewhere in the fields...
We see Brain Freezer and Snow Emerald just chilling in the fields, while feeling the slight breeze.
"What a beautiful day today, huh?" Snow smiled.
"Yeah. It's nice to just get away from the stress and just relax." Brain Freezer smiled back. "Feeling better, Snow?"
"Yeah. You know, being under Twilight's wing is actually quite a godsend. A blessing, considering that our mentors didn't know much about friendships, let alone specialising in it. I mean, there was that one sorceress, who sort of knew, but her ways were....quite outdated. After travelling through different galaxies and stars, fighting evil, while also doing small deeds of kindness, being open towards minorities and so on, it's nice, when we have a break and go out to either have some fun or just relax." Snow explained more stuff about her life as a guardian, all while the icy unicorn watched and smiled. At the same time, he was thinking of doing his move. As in...confessing his feelings to her.
"Okay, Brain Freezer...You've been in love with her for months and I was held back by many inconveniences. But now it's time. I'm not gonna fuck this up and let that chance slip away! This is the moment, I've been waiting for!" He thought, while hearing his heartbeat increase and his face becoming flushed. He's been waiting for this moment and now, he's gonna take it. He cleared his throat, stood up and asked: "Hey, Snow. I need to tell you something...."
"What is it?" Snow was confused, but proceeded to listen.
He took a deep breath and proceeded to explain with: "Well....where do I even begin? Remember the time, when we first met in Ponyville, where you've been shopping for groceries? During that time, I was reeling from the amount of pain of heartbreak and loss, back in Porkbelly. I've been happy during a short time, when I was with a girl, when Radiant Thunder helped me out on my loneliness, until she saw my true face and since then, I wasn't in the mood of finding love...until I met...a particular pony, who's been there for me and being a very charming, funny, smart and loyal individual, I've ever met...And you may ask, who that pony is....Well, the pony, I've been looking for, was none other than....was none other than..."
But before he could finish his confession, a yell from Zizrar can be heard from afar, calling his name. Once again, it was rudely interrupted.
"Ugh!!! Excuse me for a moment..." Brain Freezer was visibly frustrated, but kindly excused Snow and left to the direction.
Meanwhile, Zizrar and his mole men were looking around, when the icy unicorn arrived, looking pissed.
"Seriously, guys!!! I'm in the middle of my biggest moment and I'm tired of being rudely interrupted all the time!" He snapped.
"Actually, we could've used your help. We found a spot for our new home and we need new furniture and stuff. It's unfortunate, that we have one member less thanks to those ladies, but we can try our best to move on." Zizrar explained his reason. The last part irked Brain Freezer, as he was fully aware of the while tension between the sexes and he and Snow have plans to end the conflict. He looked at Lance and Brandon for a bit, knowing full aware of their concerns, but given with the whole drama, he wanted to keep it a secret.
"Actually, what is your biggest moment?" One of the men asked.
"It's none of your damn business." The blue stallion looked away, like it's clear, that they basically ruined his opportunity. In fact, he's beyond frustrated.
"What? Why do you keep it from your friends?" Zizrar asked, but the icy stallion ain't having it.
"Because, this is something, I've been working so hard for that moment! I've been trying to confess my feelings, since I've been in love with her for a long time and I can't just let that opportunity get away! But, nope! I got interrupted at least 4 fucking times in two days and that REALLY PISSES ME OFF!!!!" He screamed all of his frustrations out.
"Is it because you have a crush on that Snow pony?" One of them asked.
"YES!!! BUT I'M SO FUCKING ANXIOUS AND PISSED RIGHT NOW!!!" Brain Freezer just couldn't calm down. Suddenly, before anyone can answer though, a female scream can be heard from afar.
"Snow!!" Immediately, the icy pony ran off as fast, as he could, thinking that someone is trying to harm her. The mole men immediately followed shortly after.
He ran as fast to the meeting spot, only to find, that Snow is not there. Assuming the worst, he ran around the area, hoping for any sign of the white mare. During his search, he heard a loud commotion and ran to the source of it, which came out of a wooden cabin. At the same time, he heard the windows being smashed, so he busted the door down, only to find Snow fighting against a crazed and feral Evelynn and Amber, grabbing her throat and gasping for air.
"What the?!? Amber, what the hell is going on?!" Brain Freezer demanded answers.
"It's Evelynn! She tried to kill me..." The braided mole girl still gasped.
"When I got inside, she was strangling her, so I had to take action!" Snow explained, while fighting the crazed woman. The fight was pretty messy to begin with with screams and so many kicks and bites, as well as attempted slashes and blasts. Unfortunately, the deranged strength was just too much for the mare and next thing she knew, she was on the ground, with Evelynn trying to stab her with her spear, with the mare trying to hold her off. Seeing Amber being so scared of her own life, because of the attempted murder and Snow being in danger, caused something inside of his body to snap and his horn glowing intensely.
"ENOUGH!!!!!!" With the maximum rage, he blasted a powerful ice beam at Evelynn, instantly freezing her and freeing Snow in the progress.
"You...you saved me..." Snow took a breather, but the expression of his face started to worry her. Before she knew, he broke through the wall out of rage. Immediately knowing the condition, Snow ran after him, leaving Amber completely stunned. But it wasn't over, as the mole men have arrived and seeing a mole woman and having flashbacks of their imprisonment and treatment, they surround the sky girl, intending to capture her.
"Please....no more..." Amber curled up into a ball in fear. But before anyone can do something, Roy came back and immediately defended her.
"Stop!!! She's harmless!!" He screamed.
"How so? She's one of those ruthless people! I mean, you and our king were taken to the execution for crying out loud!!" One of the mole men hasn't forgotten about it. Before Roy would say anything about it, he heard a familiar voice.
"They're not! They's just trying to defend themselves!" That came from Brandon. He and Lance are ready to explain.
'This morning, two mole girls, named Talia and Auriana, visited us and explained the true reason of their behavior. Originally from a planet, named Terraria, they escaped here, after an invasion, that lead to some of them either killed or captured. Hell, there were a few, who sided with the bad guys, just to save themselves! Worst part of all, their original queen, named Calypso, is still missing to this day! In other words, they've been through so much! They also told us, that they want to set things straight and talk to their current queen, Iris about the situation, hoping that the conflict would end. They feel sorry for not helping Amber, just as we failed to help Roy..." Lance explained everything, shocking everyone.
"Wait....They came from a different planet and that they've been through so much pain?" Roy was genuinely surprised by the revelation.
"Yes...But seriously though, we can't live with yet another mistake, just like with Johnny Test and his disappearance, right? Is this, what we really want??" Brandon reminded everyone about the consequences. Hearing Johnny's name froze Zizrar, since his disappearance and the subsequent reason shocked everyone to the core. He may be a Villain in the past, but he had and still has his own standards and despite some minor setbacks, actually cares for his people. After a while of the silent realisation of what happened.
"Gentlemen....It's time to make up for the mistakes." The king became serious. He looked at Amber for a while, before taking off. The other men followed shortly after, with the exception of Roy, who picked her up.
"It seems like, they learnt their lesson. Unlike Evelynn..." Roy looked at the frozen mole women in shame, before taking off with Amber.
The group have arrived at the hole, where the women are and went inside. There was no time to spare. As soon as they arrived at the centre, Brain Freezer was attacking several mole women and even freezing them out of anger, while Snow tried to stop him.
"Help me!" Snow asked for help, in which Lance and Brandon complied.
"What is happening here??" Zizrar asked.
"Let's just say, a lot has happened. Due to the event yesterday about Amber, Evelynn went insane and we had to lock her up. But she had escaped and attacked some of us out of blind fury. And now, the ice pony is attacking us!" One of the mole women answered.
"Say what?" The mole men were surprised.
"If only I know, why Evelynn's like this..." Gia sighed.
"Where's the Queen?" Zizrar asked.
"She's in the other room....But she's not in the mood for talking right now.... But why do you want to talk with her?" Gia answered.
"This madness needs to end.." Zizrar answered, before going to the room. At the same time, the mole men assisted Snow on stopping the icy unicorn and the women had no other option, but to help them out too.
Meanwhile, Zizrar went inside and looked around for a while, before seeing Iris' silhouette in the shadows and got closer. He noticed, that she was completely silent and that she was sitting in a corner with her head on her knees and facing the walls.
"Uhm...hey...Can I talk to you for a moment?" The mole king awkwardly asked, but there was no response. There was a sorrowful aura radiating from the queen and Zizrar felt it. Suddenly, he realised the fact, that Iris kept on questioning him out of genuine curiosity, not out of paranoia. With that in mind along with the backstory, he sat next to her.
"Look....I had no idea, that you and your people existed and sure, the imprisonment was not really the most welcoming or even comfortable, which lead to that negative stigma towards your kind....but...my men and I also had no idea about the circumstances behind it, until Roy split from us and Lance and Brandon telling us about it. And...man....the invasion, seeing your people getting killed, imprisoned or hell, changing sides, just to save themselves and having no choice, but to escape to another planet? That sounds like the worst kind of pain imaginable, no wonder, why your kind has been defensive until now..." He sighed.
"You don't understand the pain, I'm feeling....I broke Calypso's promise and indirectly hurt Amber....I can't believe, that I'm a terrible queen..." Iris doubted herself.
"What kind of promise?" Zizrar was confused about the promise part.
"Two days before the invasion, Queen Calypso called me to the nursery room, where she had her baby in her arms. She made a promise, that if anything happens to her, I'll take care of her as her godmother. Looking at her innocent eyes, I accepted it and held her in my arms. She was indeed, the sweetest little girl. I couldn't imagine it happening even sooner than I thought. She also made a secret, not to tell them about her heritage, until she's 18. This was made, so that there wouldn't be any conflicts among us." Iris explained.
"But what does this have to do with Amber?" Zizrar asked, unsure if the story has any relevance to Amber.
"It turns out, everything has to do with her! Because....Amber is in fact....the daughter of Queen Calypso, which makes her a princess! But I had forgotten about the promise, due to the constant paranoia and constant training, ensuring that none of this would ever happen, until she defected herself from the clan, where all of a sudden, all of the memories came back and I feel awful about myself...So much so, that I hid myself from my own people in shame....The worst part of this is...I don't know, if I'll be able to forgive myself after this!! I doubt, Amber would forgive me, due to my actions and inactions, like treating her the same as the others, because of the secret and outdated beliefs! It's all my fault and I deserve to be punished in whatever shape it be!!" At this point, Iris was in tears, feeling guilty of what she's done. Hearing this gave Zizrar a whole new perspective, which has some shades of familiarity to it, considering his own mistakes. With all of the information in mind, he grabbed Iris' shoulder, since she is taller than Zizrar, but she is on the ground.
"Hey, I also make mistakes all the time and even though some made me doubt about my position, I got the right amount of help to bounce back up and learn something from them along the way. Back then, I had a rivalry with a particular black, flame haired pony, who used to be human in original world, that went back and forth. Then came the day, where he disappeared and the videos from the Shadow made me wake up and realize the truth....Feeling awful about myself, my mole people, a couple of friends and I went to the place, he went, also known as Equestria, in order to set things straight. What I'm saying is, everybody makes mistakes, but we can learn from them to become better. I know that from Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends, as well as from my own friends. There are of course moments of doubts then and there, but I know for a fact, that you're are better than that. Plus, being perfect is overrated." The mole king gave her a motivational advice to the Queen. "I may not be the right person, who can teach friendship, since I'm still learning. But I know someone, who can. And you can get the help, if you can trust me and take my hand." He reached out to Iris, but instead of taking his hand, she pulled him in for a hug.
"Please help me..." Iris responded with a shaky voice, before letting him go.
"You'll get it." He nodded, until both heard a bang from another side. "But first, we have to go back to our mole people and stop my friend from causing havoc. He has lost it, by the way."
With those words, the king and queen exited the room and went to their people, only to see Snow using her magic against Brain Freezer in a cold fight.
"Stop it, Brain Freezer! The mole people have stopped fighting!!" Snow screamed, but it fell on deaf ears. In the heat of the moment, she tackled him to the ground, just as he finished charging an ice beam. But that caused him to misfire the beam and bounced around the room, which caused everyone to take cover. At one point, Zizrar had to push Iris out of the way. But the beam was about to hit Taila and Lance, as they couldn't find cover.
"Lance, watch out!!" Roy ran as fast as he could.
"Talia, no!!" So did Amber and in the nick of time, they pushed the two out of the way to save their lives, but that would result in the two taking the hit and when the mist had settled, they were frozen in ice.
"AMBER!!!!" Iris screamed in horror, as she saw her godchild frozen and rushed there. Everyone was shocked so hard at the sight, everything fell into silence, like the flow of time itself had stopped.
"No..." Brandon was in disbelief at his friend encased in ice and when the ice ponies came to, the unicorn saw the damage, he had caused.
"What have I done..?" He was shaken of what just happened and when Snow was about to say something, he backed away. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!" He screamed and ran off in guilt and shame.
"Wait!!" Snow was about to after him, but Zizrar stopped her.
"Snow, let me handle it. He's my best friend after all." He looked at the trail and went after it, leaving the pegasus mare with the mole people and witnessing Iris being completely shattered at the frozen tragedy.
"THIS WAS ALL MY FAULT!!" Iris banged on the ice with a broken heart. "IF I'D BEEN MORE CONSIDERATE AND TOLD HER ABOUT THE TRUTH SOONER, THEN NONE OF THIS WOULD EVER HAPPEN!!" Hearing this perked Snow's ears up.
"Hey..." Snow approached the broken queen.
"What...do you want?" Iris was slowly becoming bitter, when she looked at the ice mare.
"I'm just curious on what truth, you're talking about." Snow answered.
"Wait...what truth? Your majesty? Is there something, we don't know of?" Auriana looked at the Queen and soon, all eyes are on Iris. With Zizrar's advice in mind, she sighed and proceeded to tell them the truth about Amber.
"You see...Amber is...was...I'm sorry..." Iris apologised, being so close to her breaking point, before gathering enough strength to continue. "She's the daughter of Queen Calypso..."
"That means, she's actually...a princess!?" Taila was shocked, like everyone else.
"Why didn't you tell your people about that earlier?" Snow asked.
"Because....I was afraid of causing more unrest amongst my people....and i was just afraid of someone betraying us, just like what happened in Primaia or using this info for their worst plans..." Iris explained her reason. Much like there are shades of familiarity to Zizrar, there are like those for Snow as well, given that she made a similar mistake to her own friends.
"I understand your paranoia, given that I was in a similar situation to my own friends before...After the drama relating two of my friends, which then escalated to a full on fallout for all of us, I was left disillusioned by the betrayal, that I kept things to myself and became more and more cold and hostile...It wasn't the first time though, given that I was betrayed and hurt by a few of my close friends in the past, that shaped my paranoia and distrust to ponies and non-ponies in general, until my friends came along. But I was so afraid of telling them my story, out of fear of history repeating itself. It wasn't until, when Brain Freezer made me realize my own mistakes, that I shouldn't hang on to my fears and I have to let the past go and be more honest to them. It is debatable, if the reason may be valid, but the point is...You should let go from the past and move on. Our mistakes have may been written in ink already, but there are a lot of open pages for our stories to continue. There's always a chance for improvement for a happy ending. In short...if you have something in your mind, my door is always open and it's okay to show weakness in front of your own people, because they care about you." Snow hugged the Queen, which after bottling up for so long, she broke down in the pegasus' arms. Witnessing the bittersweet moment caused Lance and Brandon offering Talia and Auriana their shoulders to cry on, which they did, some mole people letting their sadness out, while others fight back their tears and lowered their heads in a moment of silence. Needless to say, the air was filled with grief and sadness at the loss of their friends, when all of a sudden, Snow's wings emitted a warm glow and created a mist of magic around the ice. The magic itself slowly melt the ice down, freeing Roy and Amber from the cold prison and witnessing the moment.
"Queen Iris?" Amber softly spoke, getting everyone's attention.
"Amber!" Iris immediately hugged the young mole."I thought, I lost you from the ice..."
"Go on. Tell her." Snow encouraged the Queen to tell her the truth.
"Amber, there is something, I need to tell you." Iris then proceeded to tell Amber the truth about her heritage and being the daughter of the former Queen, Calypso.
"I didn't know, I'm actually a princess and I had a mother...I thought, you're my mother." Amber was surpised.
"You were a baby at the time and your mom promised me to take care of you, if something happened to her." Iris looked down. "I'm sorry for not telling you about the past...there are so many factors, preventing me to do so."
"It's...very complicated to say the least..." Snow added.
"It's okay, if you don't forgive me. I just wanted to get it out of my chest. I was trying to protect you..." Iris felt ashamed, but to her surprise, Amber hugged her godmother back.
"You really forgive me? After everything, what I've done?..." The queen was surprised.
"Of course! You are my mom after all and it's clear, that you love me." Amber smiled. "And as for all of you, I forgive you."
"What do you say, Amber? Can we start everything over with a clean slate?" Iris asked and Amber nodded, which everybody cheered.
"A hurra for the queen and the princess!" Auriana cheered.
At the same time, Zizrar came back with Brain Freezer.
"We're baaaaaaaaacck! Jokes aside, he's okay now. All it takes is a lot of counseling." Zizrar reported about the situation.
"I'm sorry for the damage, I caused...I relapsed back to my insanity for a minute..." The unicorn apologised.
"It's okay, but next time, you should get your emotions checked and find way to calm down." Snow responded, in which she was pulled into a hug by the blue stallion.
"Thank you! I thought, I have ruined our bond with that stupid stunt!" He was emotional about it, which caused Snow's cheeks becoming quite rosy.
"Roy...we're really sorry about not listening to you. We literally have no idea about what's going on behind the scenes. But realizing, that the women were not as mean, as we thought and that you are clearly happy with Amber, it's clear that we need to change." Zizrar apologised to Roy and the others looked at him, sharing their guilt.
"You mean..." Roy was slowly realizing, what they're on about.
"Of course, silly! We're uniting two kinds of mole people into one! That is, if Queen Iris is actually okay with it..." He looked at the Queen.
"I accept your offer." Iris nodded, wiped her tears away and shook hands with Zizrar, making history at the same time.
"Well, would you look at that. Everything is concluding quite nicely." Snow smiled.
"Yeah, I agree." Brain Freezer agreed, but looking good at Iris again, reminded him of something. "But what about Evelynn?"
"I wish, I have the answer on what's going on inside of her brain..." Snow sighed, which caused Zizrar to overhear and consider about Evelynn and the possibility of helping her overcome, whatever demons she has in her brain.
"Let's go back to the surface. We could use a nice break after all." Zizrar answered and put on his sunglasses.
"By the way, I want to thank to Roy for providing us with those sunglasses, which were quite a massive blessing for us." Iris smiled.
"What can I say, he has quite a gold heart." The mole king chuckled and everyone went to the tunnel back to the surface.
As everyone got out of the hole, everyone admired the beauty of nature, especially the women, who haven't seen the surface world, ever since they left Primaia. They enjoyed the beautiful sunset and felt the gentle breeze of the wind.
"It's...so beautiful out here.." Gia was amazed.
"I know, right?" Talia smiled.
"Snow? Snow!"
A voice can be heard, which the icy mare immediately recognised as those from her friends.
"I'm here, girls!" She waved and saw her friends running towards her.
"Man, where have you been? We've been looking for you for hours!" Breeze asked.
"I'm okay, girls. I just had to resolve some conflict with the mole people and it worked. They're slowly getting along." Snow explained.
"That's excelente, mi amiga! I'm actually glad, that they get along after so much tension." Tropic was proud.
"Yeah. It was as messy one, believe me." Breeze remembered about the imprisonment.
"Girls, it's best to just move on from all of this, okay?" Snow was exhausted.
"Got it!" Her friends agreed.
"Hey, Snow! The Friendship Festival is in a week and we could use your help right now." Cherry noted.
"Sure! What do you think, guys?" Snow asked the others.
"Eh, what the heck. We're in!" Zizrar joined and everyone were now on their way to Canterlot, even though Fire and Ocean were feeling quite nervous about it. At the same time, Zizrar was thinking about Evelynn and how he can help her.
Human World, Canterlot Hospital
"When we were at the amusement Park, I was quite squeamish at first, when we went to the roller coaster, but Sunset assured me that everything will be okay. And guess what, it was awesome! We had a good time hanging out, while also playing lots of games, eating delicious foods and taking photos. I wish, you were there to see all of this." Starlight was telling the comatose twins a story about her at the amusement Park with Sunset and her friends. She was laughing at first, until it faded away, since they still weren't responding.
"I wish, I could just see in your head and find out, what happened in your perspectives..." She sighed and looked at the sisters in sorrow. It seems like, there was like no progress was made, even though they were in stable condition. Suddenly, a nurse entered the room.
"I know, I know. Visitation time is over and I have to head home. It's okay." Starlight knew, what the nurse was about to say, got up and left the room, but not before looking back at the sisters with a sad look. "Take care, girls...take care." Little did she know, that one of the sisters started slightly twitching their fingers.
As she exited the hospital, she looked at the sunset for a while, before going her way back to Sunset, when all of a sudden, she was bumped by a blur.
"Ow!" The lavender girl rubbed her head as she opened her eyes, she saw a purple-pink, heart shaped necklace on the ground. As she picked it up, she was about to give it to the individual, but they ran off so quickly, she didn't have a chance to approach them. The only thing she saw about the individual was, that he or she has long, blue hair.
"Oh, man...I should better hold on to this necklace, until I return it to its rightful owner." She put the necklace into her bag, before continuing her journey. At the same time, she had some guilt in her about what happened in Equestria.
"Man, I actually miss Equestria and my friends....But it is what it is and i have to live with the consequences..." Small tears form in her eyes, as she thought about Equestria and how she felt homesick. But since her decision was to help Sunset on finding answers, she felt like she burned down the bridge and had to live with it. As she kept walking through the city to Sunset's apartment, she could feel the breeze and the few rays of the sun, as it was slowly setting.
Sunset's apartment
"Aaannd...done!" Sunset clicked on the upload button, since she finished making a video for her channel. It was about her announcement about her future, involving about the upcoming graduation. She just had to study for the final exams and she would be done for the school. However, there were some thoughts about where she truly belongs to, as well as with the sisters. All unanswered questions, that she has yet to answer. Suddenly, she heard the doorbell ringing and as she opened the door, Starlight came in.
"Hey, Starlight. How's the visit?" Sunset asked.
"I actually don't know. I shared my story about what happened today, but as usual, they didn't respond. I wish, they could just wake up from their coma..." Starlight sighed and sat down on the couch.
"I feel you, Starlight...I'm starting to get worried about them and the possibility of them never waking up and thus, making this mystery completely unsolved..." Sunset sat down with her friend. It was at this time, where Starlight pulled out the necklace and put it on the table
"Where did you get the necklace?" The fiery haired girl asked.
"Someone must have dropped it, when he or she bumped into me at like light speed. But they went off as soon, as they got up. I'm currently keeping it, until I can return it to the owner." Starlight explained.
"Oh...The necklace looks quite beautiful, if I say so myself. But I understand, that it clearly belongs to someone." Sunset looked at the necklace.
"Yeah." The lavender girl agreed and yawned, as she was exhausted. They prepare themselves for some rest, while also having those thoughts about those currently unresolved situations.
To be continued... |
The Road of Courage | Side Story: Ending the Nightmares | It's been almost a week since the Shadow Galaxy incident and things have been quite busy in Canterlot, due to the Friendship Festival happening in three days. Everypony were working hard on the preparations of the stage, several stands and so on, like Dr. Beebles and his apprentice working on their honey stand, several hippogriffs and kirins working together, the Apples and Pears collaborating for delicious delights and even added the apple cherry crisps, thanks to Cherry Swirl, Pinkie Pie and Cheese working on their party stuff, Rarity doing the decorations and so on. Everyone has been in good spirits, despite of what happened last time, but since Ponyville was almost complete with the rebuilding process, the festival would be their well deserved break and reward.
Meanwhile in the castle, Princess Twilight Sparkle went to a meeting with the princesses, with Spike carrying the plans for the Friendship Festival and their main attractions. The difference between this one and the last one, is that Twilight has become a lot calmer and more considerate since then.
"Okay, princesses. I have a lot of plans for this Friendship Festival. Since we have a more down to earth celebrities this time, I was thinking of personalising the stage for them. For Star Time Rush, the stage would be a bit more simple, yet fun, In contrast to Songbird's extravagant look. They would perform a couple of their songs, while Pinkie would fire off sparkling confetti. As for the Try Guys, I have their schedule. First, they would attempt to bake something without a recipe, then having a performance and so on. Now, there is that issue of the empty spot, but I know exactly, who will fill it!" Twilight explained the plans, all while Spike showed them.
"And who would it be?" Cadence was curious and in response, Twilight whispered something in the ears of each princess.
"Are you sure about that?" Luna was a bit concerned.
"Trust me, they'll be perfect for not only performing, but also showcasing a new type of friendship, that is out of this world." Twilight smiled and soon, Celestia and Luna knew exactly, Where she is going.
"What happened there?" Cadence was confused. She was aware about the dragon incident, but not about the Shadow Galaxy one. In response, the other three princesses gave the princess of love the story about it and how she was ultimately defeated by a cosmic convergence between the magic of friendship and elemental magic, along with backstories for the ponies.
"Speaking of which, at the day, where Brain and Snow ended the conflict of the mole people, I actually entered my castle to find Jenny, the pink alicorn, but without success. But then, before midnight, I heard a noise coming from somewhere, and when Spike and I went to the source of the noise, which came to the room with the portal to the Human World, but it was inactive. I'm actually afraid to say, that she may escaped into the human world, before the portal had closed and that we have to wait for 30 moons for it to reopen. I'm sorry, princesses. It seems like, I wasn't able to get her in time..." The princess of friendship was bummed at her failure to reach to Jenny, but Celestia put her hoof on the violet mare's cheek.
"Don't get too upset, Twilight. Perhaps she was so distraught and needs some space to process. And when she comes to Equestria next time, you'll reach her for the necessary help." Celestia warmly smiled and hugged the violet princess, with Luna and Cadence joining in the hug shortly after.
"But for now, we should take a well deserved break from the debacle and concentrate on the upcoming festival." Luna changed the topic and suggested, that they should concentrate on other things. With nods from the other princesses, they exit the castle.
As the princesses inspected the progress, Twilight took the chance to visit her friends, who are currently working on their designated jobs: Rainbow clearing the skies, with the help of several pegasi, Rarity decorating the stage, Applejack working on her apple stand with her family, Pinkie and Cheese doing the entertainment preparations and Fluttershy organising the animals on the singing. It's similar to the first friendship festival, but without any interventions from evil and of course, Twilight being a lot calmer than last time. But there were a few shades of concern in her.
"Hi, Twilight!" Pinkie Pie immediately jumped into a hug with her best friend. "How was the meeting?"
"It actually went quite well. I talked to them about the plans and the last spot was filled." Twilight explained her friends about the meeting.
"It's quite crazy, we're doing another one, just because we made friends with new kind of non-ponies and even ponies from out of space! But you know what, I don't mind, because it lead to more awesome moments!" Rainbow was excited.
"That and Tempest actually wanted to relive the experience, because of...well, you know." Twilight scratched her head. "You know...all of this reminds me of the first Friendship Festival, given with the deja vu. Except this time, there are no form of evil interrupting and me being a lot calmer than back then. In fact, I'm not exactly sure, why I was so nervous back them. Must have been the anxiety of doing this festival for the very first time." Twilight giggled, recalling of the last festival. "But this time, we got this...together!"
"That's the spirit, pardner!" Applejack smiled.
"Yeah! Let's give everypony the best party EVER!!!!" Pinkie gleamed in joy.
"As long, as we have each other..." Fluttershy warmly smiled.
"...we're gonna have an amazing time, darling." Rarity winked with a smile.
"What do we waiting for? Let's get to work!" Rainbow was excited.
"Yeah!" With those words, everypony worked even harder than ever before, ensuring that everything will be better than ever before. At the same time, they meet other ponies and help them out. Dr. Beebles with his apprentice, Honey Hive, several non-ponies like hippogriffs, kirins, griffons, yaks and many more. In fact, Twilight took her time to visit her old friends, Twinkleshine, Minuette, Lemon Hearts and even Moondancer. As time went on, they were so close of being completed. During the inspection, Twilight was suddenly visited by a tall, dark and strong pony with no mane, but wearing sunglasses and a suit. He looks similar to Mr. Black and Mr. White, but as a full pony.
"Are you the princess of friendship?" He asked.
"Yes, I am." Twilight confirmed her status and the tall pony stepping aside, revealing that behind him was a group of four young stallions. A black unicorn, a blue earth pony, a red pegasus and a white unicorn. After a while, they looked at the princess.
"So you are Twilight Sparkle, right? We are Star Time Rush. My name is Stellar Harmony." The red pegasus introduced himself and the band, confirming that they are Star Time Rush.
"It's nice to meet you, Stellar Harmony." Twilight shook hooves with Stellar, but then the black unicorn pushed him aside with a smirk.
"The name's Diamond. Diamond Tune." The unicorn, known as Diamond Tune, introduced himself in a suave and slightly flirty way. "It seems like, I found the Sparkle in the dark, because you shine brighter than anypony else."
That made Twilight speechless, but that's because she was thrown off guard by the black unicorn and his sudden pickup. But before she would say anything, Diamond was pulled away in a magical aura, courtesy of the white unicorn.
"Dude, she's a princess, you shouldn't just barge in! You're gonna set us up for big time trouble!" The white stallion was not happy about Diamond's direct approach.
"Hey! Performing this festival for everyone, including the princesses, is a high tier opportunity, so of course I had to look really beautiful." Diamond showed his face to the stallion, but that resulted in the two bickering...but not for long, as the tall and strong stallion, who is also their bodyguard, lifted them up with all of his strength.
"Okay, Freight Train! I get it!" The white unicorn was afraid.
"Sorry about that. We may be pretty chaotic, but our hearts are in the right place." Stellar apologised to the princess. "Oh! The white unicorn, you see is Rhythm Mind and finally, the blue one is Allegro Crash. We're all best friends, by the way." He then introduced the white and blue stallions to her.
"Sup." Allegro greeted in an excited manner, before looking around. "Wow, this place looks awesome!"
"It sure does." Stellar agreed. Around this time, Rhythm and Diamond were put down, after they stopped fighting each other and went to their friends.
"I'm honestly pretty nervous right now..." Rhythm was anxious abour their performance.
"We all are. But remember, opportunities like these come once in a life time and we have to live to our fullest as much as we can. In other words, go Big Time!" Stellar gave his friends a motivational speech.
"You're right! Plus, it's gonna be really fun meeting new ponies and having a good time all around." Allegro smiled.
"I really appreciate your optimism, guys." Twilight giggled. However, Freight Train was called by the the manager.
"Boys, we should head over to the hotel now, otherwise he will be pissed." Freight Train got the boys' attention to get to the hotel.
"Sorry, your majesty, but we have to go to our hotel to prepare ourselves." Rhythm told the princess of friendship, that they should go.
"'I'll get the best one!" Diamond proclaimed.
"No, I'll get the one!" Allegro protested.
"Race to the hotel!" The boys proclaimed and proceeded to run, but Freight Train followed them, after apologising to Twilight.
"I must say, their friendship is...pretty interesting, but also chaotic...." Twilight scratched her head, feeling quite bamboozled at the level of chaos. But then again, those stallions are younger than her and since this is their first concert in Canterlot, she chalked it up to excitement, but also a little tension, before continuing her inspection. On her way, she talked with PostCrush, witnessed Applejack and Colortaura reuniting and watched the progress, when she saw a group of ponies discussing each other. What caught her attention were three ponies: A pastel blue pegasus wearing glasses and a silver ring necklace, a pastel green earth pony with a shorter and more fragile built and also wearing glasses and a pastel purple unicorn with beautiful mane and the narrowest eye shape, she had ever seen. She compared to the picture, Eugene gave to her and after comparing, Twilight had realized, that those three ponies are in fact the trio from the picture, in other words, the Try Guys have arrived.
"Oh, hey! You must be Princess Twilight Sparkle, right?" The green one saw Twilight and went to her. "I'm Lively Tea and it's been quite an honor to be there."
"It's nice to meet you, Lively Tea. I've heard about you and your friends from the response letter, but I'm quite curious on what you're doing exactly." Twilight answered out of curiosity.
"Glad, that you asked! We try out new things and more, while entertaining the crowd with puns, jokes and all of that shit. Like with food, fun or whatever the hell it could be, because frankly, we keep bringing out new things, while also continuing things, we love. Like with Fine Pride over here, bringing out all things gay and style and Jolly Goodie being a fun comedian, with a love for food." Lively explained.
"I actually have a feeling, that Jolly would be great friends with Pinkie, given that she is all about laughter and deserts." Twilight chuckled, but as if on cue, Pinkie Pie appeared out of nowhere.
"You called my name?" The peppy mare grinned, before seeing Lively Tea with stars in her eyes, she greeted him with high energy. "HIII!!! I'm Pinkie Pie! It's really nice to meet a new friend!"
"Wow, your energy can rival Jolly at time now." Lively laughed. "Speaking of who, you can meet him and Fine Pride over there-" But Pinkie dashed faster than the green pony could even finish his sentence. Bemused, he followed her, while Twilight watched, as the pink mare met Jolly and Fine for the very first time. Jolly Goodie was happy and excited, while Fine Pride on the other hoof...felt really uncomfortable around her. It became more evident, when Pinkie hugged the two stallions.
"Oh my god...Stop..." The violet unicorn became really, REALLY uncomfortable about the hug. Jolly on the other hand, chuckled.
"Pinkie, you should let them go!" Twilight demanded her friend to let them go, before apologising the stallions.
"Nah, it's okay. I mean, we all do some chaotic fun sometimes. Like the few times, where Fine Pride sat on my lap and I was full of chaotic joy." Jolly took it quite well with a chuckle and reminiscence about the fun time, resulting in Fine Pride just curl up and laugh out of embarrassment.
"Say, if you guys decide to visit Ponyville, I recommend to check out the Sugarcube Corner, where I create delicious treats for everyone, with a big bright smile!" Pinkie jumped and recommended the team.
"That sounds like, I could do a "Eat the Menu" episode there." Jolly responded with a smile, which both he and Pinkie laughed with each other.
After a while of discussing about the plans and so on, the Try Guys left with their team to their hotel, while Twilight and Pinkie stood there.
"Say...what about that last spot? I could bring in someone new to fill in!" Pinkie suggested.
"No need to. I know just a group of ponies, who are capable to do their own wonders." Twilight shot down her suggestion, knowing well, who that group could be, but wanted it to be a surpise.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville...
We see the elemental ponies hanging out near a flower shop. They've been feeling slightly better since the incidents, revolving around them, thanks to supporting friends and their new mentor, Twilight Sparkle. Recently, they were excited for the Friendship Festival, since it'll be a time to take a break and relax from the drama. Everyone....except for Fire and Ocean. Breeze was the first one, noticing the sisters in a blue mood, but quickly understood about why.
"Oh, right....I almost forgot about...that incident...Man, it really sucked..." Breeze felt sorry about the sisters. Her friends shared her feelings, since in retrospect and in hindsight, it was their fault.
"Even if it has been months ago, I still don't dare to step hoof on Canterlot..." Fire sighed, since Canterlot was hell for her.
"I feel you, sister." Ocean put her arm around her little sister, since she also had bad memories about Canterlot as well. But before they could sulking in dread, Trixie overheard the conversation and went to them.
"What's going on?" Trixie asked.
"Nothing, really...Just we're not in the mood of going to Canterlot.." Fire's ears and gaze lowered.
"Is it because of the mistake?" The magician asked.
"No, it's because of preference- Yes, of course, it's because of that fucking dragon mistake!! It's this reason, why I don't even bother going there..." Fire became frustrated about the guilt, she felt, which Trixie can sympathise with her. However, since Twilight forgave her and making friends with Starlight, she became a better pony since.
"Listen, girls. I understand your feelings, since I was in a similar situation. But here's the thing. Running away from the problems is NEVER an option. If you do that, you'll never find any peace and resolve. I know it, Tempest knows it, Princess Luna knows it and you should know it too. Rather than running away, it's best to just, you know...face it head on like making a statement? For example, I did my apology tour as a way to make up for my stupid mistakes." Trixie recalled her feelings, before giving them some advice.
"How the hell am I supposed to do that, when Canterlot hates my ass?" Fire was out of ideas.
"Like I said, just face it and make a statement, that you want to make amends! All you girls need is to muster some courage." Trixie made her point clear. "If that's difficult, it's okay. I can help you."
"That would be nice." Ocean faintly smiled.
"We REALLY use some help right now." Snow sighed. "ESPECIALLY Fire."
"Anyway, I'm about to go to Canterlot right now, since I have to practice my magic for my performance." Trixie explained and was about to leave. "If you want, you can come here too. Although I have to accompany the sisters, in case."
"You know, It wouldn't hurt to check out this place." Breeze shrugged.
"One second!" Fire rushed away from the group and ten seconds later, she came back with a black cloak, which obscured her identity.
"Oh boy....This is going to be harder than I thought..." Snow slowly facepalmed.
"Yep." Trixie agreed and the group left for Canterlot.
Meanwhile, Zizrar was walking around the village, being lost in his own thoughts. He couldn't stop thinking about Iris and Evelynn and how he can solve the issue. He tried to focus on other things like making sure, the men and women are not fighting. And it worked, as slowly but surely, they were slowly getting along. But now, he can't just leave the Evelynn situation hanging any longer. He HAS to act.
"No...I can't hide that any longer! I have to find out!" Now with full determination, Zizrar headed off to the place. Thankfully, he knew about the cottage, where Roy and Amber stayed for a while.
Somewhere in Equestria...
Inside the cottage, Evelynn was still frozen since that fateful day almost a week and everything has been quiet, apart from the occasional birds chirping. It wasn't until Iris entered the cottage and lamented at the sight of the frozen commander.
"Evelynn..." The queen sat down and touched the ice. "I wish, I know, what happened that caused you to be like this...." She then remembered the good times, where they've been training back in Primaia and while the winner kept on changing, they respected each other and their skills. Evelynn was known for being ruthless, but honorable. What happened to her? But before she could sulk in her misery, she was spooked by the sound of the door opening.
"Wow, I didn't expect the queen of the mole people to be squeamish." As Iris heard a voice, she looked at the door, revealing to be Zizrar, who opened it.
"What are you doing here?" Iris asked, masking her sorrows.
"I want answers." The king replied with three simple words, but with a big impact and went to the ice, with the intention of ending the problem. He pulled out a torch, much to Iris' surprise, but he couldn't reach up, due to his height.
"Damn it! I want to thaw her head out!" He was frustrated, before noticing that the Queen looked at him quite awkwardly. "What? I've since become smarter, ever since I started staying in Equestria. Not to mention, this is also the safest method, without getting us killed. Now could you please give me a lift? He needed Iris' help, who after thinking about it for a while, proceeded to pick him up and lift him to Evelynn's head, in which the king used the torch to thaw the ice out. But it took so much time, so he pulled out a thick stick and turned it into a second torch, which sped up the process a bit. After a while, Evelynn's head has been thawed out, but as he got down and the former commander regained consciousness, she began to snarl, which freaked Iris out, but the mole king stayed cool and determined.
"Hello, Evelynn. I've heard a lot about you." The king approached her. "Tell me, what happened, that caused you to be like this?" He asked, but it fell on deaf ears.
"Evelynn...You used to be honorable..." Iris slowly approached her former sparring partner with tears in her eyes. "I thought, the tough exterior came from the pain of having our home planet robbed from evil and that's what everyone had been thinking up until recently....But even with the people being slowly united, I can't stop thinking about you, given that you were the best and we used to be friends..." She put her hand on the commander's cheek, which caused her to pause for a while...until she used her head to slap the queen's hand hard. Seeing Iris in a hurt state cause something inside of him to snap, got up to the ice and slapped Evelynn with a disapproving look on his face.
"Hey, she's trying to help you and this is your response?? Like, what the hell were you thinking!?" He yelled at Evelynn, who had snapped out of her feral state, due to the slap. "It could've been easier, if you just talk about what in the name of Celestia and beyond happened, that caused like this and we could've gone the easy route...but, all you did was hurting those, whom you considered as your fellow brethren, severely hurt Amber and just recently, made Queen Iris sad!!" He pointed at a now hurt Iris. But before Evelynn could respond, the queen ran off sobbing, feeling hurt, which angered Zizrar even more. "Oh, now you just made her cry! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW?!?" He screamed, but at the last minute, the king got his act together and got off the ice. But before leaving, he looked at the disgraced Evelynn and uttered those chilling words with: "I am seriously disappointed and ashamed of you..."
As he went outside, Zizrar wasted no time to find Iris, which didn't last long, as he found her sobbing near a tree. Without saying a word, he hugged the broken queen and thought of an idea on how to cheer up. The king looked around and saw a beautiful white and pink hibiscus flower. Immediately having an idea, he picked it up and tapped on her shoulder, since she was sitting on the grass, getting her attention.
"It's not much, but I thought, that would cheer you up." Zizrar gave the flower to Iris, whom she accepted the gift.
"Thanks..." Iris put the flower on her hair, but was still in a blue mood.
"Let me tell you something. There's an old saying, that goes like this: When one door closes, another one opens. I've heard that from a fortune cookie back then. Just because Evelynn can't be convinced, doesn't mean, you're an awful friend and queen. Everybody makes mistakes. Hell, I know that WAAAAYY too well." Zizrar made a speech. "But, you have a lot of your people, doing their best, to make you happy, even non moles like Twilight and Snow are helping us. They're always reminding me to always look at the bright side and I think, you should start doing the same." He then came up with an idea to cheer Iris up by playing a game. "Let's play a game, to liften up the spirits."
"What could it be?" Iris was still down about what happened.
"How about Hide and Seek?" Zizrar suggested.
"I think, I played the game a few times, but that was before I went to the army." Iris admitted.
"Then I guess you can relive that experience then. And to make things easier, I'll count and you hide." Zizrar came up with a solution and turned around to count. While he was counting to 10, Iris proceeded to hide somewhere.
After finished up counting, the king turned back and searched for Iris. He looked around trees, bushes, rocks and other areas, until eventually, he found Iris in a small cave. Afterwhich, it's Iris' turn to count and after a while of counting and hiding, she went on to find Zizrar in a Bush next to a river. It went on and on for a while, as they kept switching turns and so on. During this time, the queen slowly felt better and better, as she spent time playing with the little King. Eventually, the game ended with Iris finding Zizrar underneath some bushes and they went to a quiet place, where they witnessed a lot of fireflies flying around.
"You know, I never had something quite peaceful and joyful since the days before the invasion." Iris admitted, while watching the fireflies.
"Hey, it's best to live life to the fullest and make everyday count. Plus, it doesn't hurt to have some fun, you know?" Zizrar smiled and the two watched, as the fireflies flew around in a dazzling spectacle. The fireflies reminded them of the good old times. For Zizrar, it was about, when at one point, he and his men were watching the fireworks from afar, with the sunglasses on, due to how bright they can be. And for Iris, it was the innocent times as a little girl and that she used to stargaze.
And don't worry, the fireflies are small and not that bright enough to burn their eyes. After a while watching the fireflies and then looking at the stars, which at one point, when a shooting star appeared, they immediately made their wishes, they got up and were about to leave, when they heard a scream, filled with anguish.
"Ignore her." Zizrar recognised that from Evelynn and advised Iris, not to go there, much to her dismay, but given that she was yelled at, it's best for everyone to call it a day and recover. After all, they're only a few days left till the celebration and they have to look out for their people.
Canterlot, two days before the festival...
Preparations were under way for everyone involved, including the Mane 6, who were doing their usual duties, while Applejack met Rara again and the others meeting Star Time Rush for the first time.
"So, you were saying, that you had to work yourselves to the top?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yep. In the beginning, we were just four hockey players, but one thing led to another and our manager, Abrasive Blast, made us into a boyband. Mind you, Diamond Tune wanted to be a famous singer and we tried to help him, but because I stood up for my friends, here we are." Stellar chuckled.
"Yeah. I mean, I wanted to be famous, but...I was a bit nervous though. Thank Celestia, my best friends helped me shine through those obstacles." Diamond Tune appreciated, that his best friends became part of his life.
"Plus, being a popstar is really fun!" Allegro smiled.
"It is...unless if you count being yelled by our manager, excessive training, crazy fans, someone trying to sabotage our careers, etc." Rhythm counted some setbacks.
"Geez, that sounds harsh." Rainbow scratched her head.
"We'll manage." The boys shrugged off. It's clear, that they're a lot more outgoing and social than Songbird Serenade. Plus, it doesn't matter, if their stage isn't glamorous. They just wanted to have a fun time on stage. During their exchange, they learn that Allegro has a tendency of being a wildcard, often wearing a helmet, Diamond being a charmer, who at one point, winked at Fluttershy and Rarity, Rhythm being quite smart, but also anxious and that Stellar is doing his best to keep the band together.
"Dogs!! Rehearsal time!!" They heard someone yelling.
"Oh, man..." The boys sighed, recognising the voice as that from their manager, Abrasive Blast. They immediately go there, except for the black unicorn.
"Sorry, ladies. We have to go now. But our performance will be legendary, especially with this handsome face." Diamond Tune gleamed in his beauty, before leaving to follow his friends.
Afterwhich, Applejack returned to her friends to talk about what Colortaura has been up to lately, just as the Try Guys returned to witness Vinyl Scratch checking on her equipment.
"So, you are the Try Guys, huh? Brilliant Diamond heard a few things about you, before telling us about it." Rainbow became curious of the trio.
"Pretty much, unless he mistook us for a different group." Jolly chuckled. "I'm basically the funny food guy, making jokes and being a chaotic goofball. Lively is quite the quirky and lovable one, who also makes a joke or two and then there's Fine. Honestly though, his wardrobe and his presence could intimate anyone, but he has an eye for creativity and is dedicated to the craft, he makes." He then explained, what their personal shtick is
"It's really nice to meet somepony, who has an eye for talent with a brilliant dedication to it!" Rarity was amazed by Fine's dedication to his art, even though she was intimidated by his aura.
"By the way, is my dress ready?" Fine asked, which threw the generous unicorn off guard.
"Wait...so, you're the Fine Pride, who requested this dress?? I thought, it came from a mare...albeit a bigger one." Rarity was dumbfounded.
"You have a problem with that?" Fine looked at Rarity with a slightly annoyed glare.
"I mean, don't get me wrong, anypony can wear whatever they want and I've seen a few stallions wearing dresses. It's just, I had no idea about your identity until now." Rarity made a clarification and apologized about the misunderstanding. "And as for the dress, I have it ready." She used her magic to give the dress to the violet unicorn.
"I'll let it slide this time." Fine answered.
"Hey, guys! Check this out!" Vinyl Scratch showed them a sound test by playing a bass drop and that caused the surroundings to shake. "How was it?" She needed some feedback.
"Uhm, that's sounds good, but could you please tone down the bass a bit? Wouldn't want the stage to collapse at any minute, given that I spent so much time decorating it." Rarity fixed her hair, as the bass drop fizzled it, as she gave Vinyl her feedback.
"Noted." Vinyl kept working on the audio balance.
"Not gonna lie, that sounded like a giant's stomp." Jolly commented on the bass drop, which caused Lively and Fine to laugh with him.
Meanwhile in Canterlot...
Trixie and the elemental ponies have arrived in the town and have been looking around the buildings. While Trixie and Breeze were excited for the spectacle, as the magician will perform some tricks for all ponies to see and the others being happy, that they'll taking a break, there were two ponies, who don't share the enthusiasm: Ocean Spark and her little sister, Fire Jewel, who has obscured her identity even further with the addition of white, high stockings, a mask and sunglasses. Being in Canterlot brought bad memories for the sisters for obvious reasons. As they kept walking, Fire made sure to avoid any eye contact with anyone out of fear of being exposed. As for Ocean, she had seen fearful glares from a few ponies, but other than that, most of them minded their own business.
"It's still haunting to return to Canterlot a few months later after....you know." Ocean sighed, feeling uneasy. But her sister was even more so, by remaining silent.
After a while of walking, they reached the stage, where they marvel at the decorations and other things, this festival will offer.
"Well, I'll be damned." Snow was amazed by the beauty.
"It looks beautiful so far. I honestly can't wait for the festival!" Cherry smiled.
"There you are!" Twilight welcomed them with a smile.
"Sup, princess." Breeze greeted.
"It's nice to meet you again" Snow bowed, flattering the princess of friendship.
However, her expression changed into confusion, as she saw the heavily cloaked pony. "Uhm...who is he or she?" Twilight asked, in which Ocean whispered her answer into her ear, revealing to be Fire Jewel in disguise. In response, the cloaked pony went to Twilight with a worried expression behind the mask and sunglasses.
"Seriously, Twilight. I'm not really sure, if I have the guts to be there. Normally, I'm known to be fiery and confident, but this place scares me." Fire whispered.
"Don't worry. You have amazing friends to support you, no matter what and you have done good things in Ponyville recently." Twilight was confident and proud of Fire's progress.
"Not to mention, you and your friends are slowly improving, so that's a good thing." Spike appeared, having overheard the conversation.
"That's a good point, if it wasn't for that obvious problem." Snow pointed at Fire, hinting them about the Dragon incident.
"I know. We'll figure it out." Twilight acknowledged the incident, before reminding of something. "Follow me." She went with Spike, much to the ponies' confusion, but decided to follow them out of curiosity. After a while, she lead them to the castle grounds and later, into the throne room, where the princesses are waiting.
"Welcome back, Twilight!" Cadence warmly smiled.
"And it seems like, you've brought your students along." Celestia looked at the elemental ponies with a warm smile as well, although she was confused about Fire with her identity being obscured.
"I know your issues, Fire." Luna approached the mare and removed the hood from the cloak, revealing her fiery mane.
"Nah, it's okay." Fire looked away, but Luna knew better.
"Sometimes, it's okay to be vulnerable. It makes you want to change things, despite the obstacles. Speaking from my experience. And I know, that you're currently afraid of facing the past after a long time, but remember. If you don't face the past, you'll be stuck with those negative emotions for a very long time." Luna responded, but the warning scared the mare a bit, so the dark blue alicorn comforted her with a hug.
"Remember, Fire. We're best friends for a long time." Cherry approached her friend.
"And we always got each others' backs!" Breeze smirked.
"And even though our behaviour and actions messed up our connection somewhat, we managed to pull through and picked up the pieces for a new beginning." Tropic added.
"Because at the end of the day, we're all destined to be great friends, hoping for a better future." Snow nodded.
"We're always there for you, sister." Ocean smiled. Their words gave some hope for the red mare.
"Thank you, girls. I honestly wouldn't be there, without you." Fire hugged her friends and her sister, while the alicorns smiled and Spike tearing up with joy. However, Twilight was feeling unsure on how to tell them about Jenny's escape to the Human World.
"Come to think of it...if only Jenny was there, so we can rebuild our friendship. Sure, she fucked things up, but so did we... Our behaviour didn't help much... She was and still is our best friend after all..." Ocean was feeling regretful of the pink mare's absence.
"I know, where she is...but...you have to wait till you can see her." Twilight went on to explain about Jenny escaping into the human world and that they have to wait for 30 moons for the portal to be active. Even then, it has a 24 hour limit for being open.
"30 moons?! Damn..." Breeze lowered her ears.
"Dear God..." Ocean shed a single tear, in which Twilight hugged the blue unicorn. "I'm not sure, if I'll be able to forgive myself for yelling at her back in the forest...." She was shook by the event.
"Same...we were just so shitty to her..." Snow sighed.
This left the alicorns wondering on how they can solve this problem. However, Twilight may have an idea. But she has yet to make an important announcement.
"Girls? There is something, I want to say." She turned her attention to the mares.
"What is it?" Snow was confused and so were her friends.
"Well... recently, there is one spot left for performers and I've been wondering about who will take the place. Well, I have since decided on which ponies will perform their magical spectacle, if you know, what I mean." The princess of friendship explained.
"Uhm....I don't get it." Cherry scratched her head and the others were equally as confused as her. That was...until a light bulb moment occured in Ocean.
"Hold up....you don't mean.." Ocean put two and two together.
"What?" Tropic didn't get it.
"Girls, remember the time in Ponyville, when we saw Breeze and Rainbow breaking the sound barrier and later joining in with our magic." Ocean recounted.
"Oh shit! I remember! So, does that mean....we're chosen to be performers on stage?!" Snow just realized and asked Twilight for confirmation, if which she and the other princesses nodded in response.
"Bro, this must been the craziest moment of my life...well, along with other crazy moments, I can think of." Breeze's mind was blown.
"No shit." Cherry agreed.
But that announcement would make Fire even more anxious than ever. Being chosen to be on stage in front of ponies and non-ponies, with some of them being from Canterlot, whom she really felt the most vulnerable, caused her heart to race so fast, she couldn't even think straight.
"What's the matter, Fire?" Celestia asked.
"Do I really have to be on stage?? In front of everypony??" Fire responded with a twitching eye.
"Easy, little pony." Luna comforted the red mare with a hug. "We'll figure it out."
Unknown Forest, the night before the Friendship Festival
After some time has passed, Zizrar returned to the cottage, Roy and Amber had built. He had a feeling, that there was still some unresolved problems to deal with and to visit Evelynn. When he entered the cottage, he saw that the ice has been fully melted by the torches, which were put with makeshift holders, which meant the former commander has been freed from her ice prison. But she's currently sitting on the ground, hugging her knees tight and her face buried on them.
"Hey...How are you doing?" Zizrar sat beside her, but she wouldn't respond to his question, out of guilt and sorrow. So, the mole king had to think of something to make her break out of her shell. He sighed, stood up and went to her, to speak with her, even though he couldn't see her face.
"Listen. I know, that you've been feeling crushed after the whole debacle with you and your people, especially Amber. And I can understand that. I have a friend, who's been feeling the same way. His name is Brain Freezer and he too let his extreme emotions get the better of him all the time and It result in severe damage and chaos. But as he realized his mistakes, he was and still is slowly learning on how to be better. But he's not the only one feeling that way, as Snow Emerald also had a similar experience. But it was a result of multiple betrayals in her life, that made her cold and distrusting towards others. But eventually, with help of her friends, she managed to slowly get out of the shadows and learning to be better as well." Zizrar recounted the stories of Brain Freezer and Snow Emerald and their mistakes and eventual redemption as examples on something, he wants to say. He put his hand on Evelynn's shoulder and continued with: " What I'm saying is, it's never too late to change your ways and become better. I'm pretty sure, your heart is saying the same way."
But then that tender moment was interrupted, when the king smelled a burnt scent and as he looked back, his King's coat has been catching fire, due to him being unknowingly too close to one of the torches. Immediately, he got it off and tried to put the fire off. He managed to stop the flames, but that left the coat to be singed.
"Oh, that was my favourite coat!!" Zizrar was understandably frustrated at the damage, but before he could yell more, he was grabbed by Evelynn, whom she finally showed him her sorrowful face. Apparently, Snow's story had caught her attention.
"Is there something, you want to say?" He looked at the vulnerable woman, which after a while of silence, finally broke it by revealing a story.
"Yes....It's something, I buried it deep into my head a long time ago and didn't tell the others, out of paranoia...So...remember the invasion in Primaia? I was helping Iris on evacuating the people to several escape pods, when one of my sisters remined me of my family, who were trapped inside the burning house. Feeling alarmed, I went there, tearing down debris and fighting through the flames until I reunited with my mom and my other sister. After a while, we tried to get out of here, when the unthinkable happened....Shadow ponies have ambushed us and I saw my sister, Eris just standing there. I called her name, asking for help, but she didn't respond. Instead, she grabbed my mom, looked at her with the coldest stare, I've ever seen and as me and my other sister, Kryssa were held captive by those monsters, we were forced to watch Eris execute our mom in cold blood and stole her necklace. It became clear, that she betrayed us for those Shadow Ponies....But as we get taken into a ship, Kryssa saw an opening and attempted to fight off those creatures, while freeing me. Knowing, that she wouldn't survive, she yelled at me to run as fast as I could and never come back. I was hesitant as first, since she was and always has been, the best sister, but she insisted, telling that I have to live. With no other option, I did, what she said and ran off the burning house, feeling severely betrayed, hurt and pissed. However, one of the mole women, named Nara, noticed me and informed Iris about my whereabouts. Afterwhich, we escaped Primaia into the parts unknown, until we reached at a planet, housing a land, named Equestria. As we hid underground from anyone, the pain and anguish fueled my flames of negativity and began distancing myself from anyone, out of fear, but that cost my sanity. Despite all of this, I've seen my people as family, even Amber, despite my rough exterior. But then she left, which caused something inside of me to snap. I literally had no idea, why....but I'm not really sure, if I'll be able to get out of this hell, I created...." She lowered her head, after explaining her story. "As a matter of fact, the only thing, I deserve, is death... Go on....kill me..."
The revelation threw the mole king off guard. He knew Snow's story of betrayal, but Evelynn's was much, much worse. Being betrayed by a friend is one thing, but being betrayed by your own sibling and witnessing them to kill your parent, is a whole new level of pain. Sure, what she did was terrible, but her story gave him a new perspective and context. Despite of the revelation, Zizrar refused to kill Evelynn and instead hugged her.
"Why?....I am beyond any point of redemption...." Evelynn was surprised, but feeling hopeless.
"Don't say that! You're not a terrible person. You just made a mistake. That's all. I'm no stranger to mistakes as well, but even then, I eventually found my way of redemption, with the help of friends, I've made in Equestria. You should do it too. Just because you made a mistake like this, doesn't mean your life is over. As one popstar from one TV show said: "Everybody makes mistakes. Nobody's perfect." I said that to Iris and she considered it. So, what do you say? Are you willing to shake off those demons and start over with a clean slate?" Zizrar reached his hand out. At first, Evelynn hesitated a bit, as her actions and the consequences made her entirely miserable, but something inside of her heart told her to take action, so after a while, she took his hand, but also pulled him into a hug. It seems like, she saw Zizrar as a father. As a response, he smiled and hugged back.
"The thing is, Iris has no idea about my inner struggle with my demons..." Evelynn admitted.
"Until now..."
That voice came from Iris, whom she decided to visit Evelynn. She overheard the entire conversation as a result of it.
"Queen Iris!" Evelynn was surprised by the queen's appearance and bowed down. "I'm truly sorry for what I've done to Amber... My demons and emotions made me snap, as I was afraid of being betrayed again..."
"Actually....I'm the one, who should be apologising. We all had no idea about the consequences of our actions. I had no idea about Calypso's promise until Amber left and while I felt really guilty about it, Zizrar and his people and friends showed all of us, that there is a different way to find redemption and solace." Iris admitted. "It was OUR fault for not being transparent about the issues. Not realising, that Amber is much more important, than we thought, due to our pride and time being cruel..."
"Just to let you know, Amber is a princess." Zizrar added some clarification, which shocked Evelynn. She had unknownly harmed a princess, which made her feel even more miserable. Thankfully, Zizrar hugged her once again, to comfort her. Seeing this made Iris join in and Evelynn staring to sob quietly, letting the remaining bit of her sadness out.
"There, there...Everything will be okay." Zizrar comforted the broken commander, before turning his attention to Iris. After a while, the sobbing stopped.
"Hey...the Friendship Festival is tomorrow and it would be a good time for a break. What do you say?" Iris asked.
"I'm honestly not sure..." Evelynn answered.
"Hey. We're here for you and if you have something in your mind, tell us." Zizrar showed his fatherly side to Evelynn.
"I guess, I can join....But I'm not, what the others will say. Especially Amber..." The commander was concerned.
"We'll help you apologise to them." Iris smiled, giving her friend some much needed hope. After a while, the mole people left the cottage, with Evelynn holding Iris' and Zizrar's hands.
Meanwhile, in the Canterlot Castle...
In the middle of the night, Fire Jewel was on her way to the bathroom to wash her face. But on her way, she heard angry voices in her head, along with the growls of a dragon. As she reached the sink, she turned the water on and looked at the mirror, only to see the fire dragon in her reflection, spooking her. Immediately, the red mare proceeded to wash her face multiple times and turning off the sink, but as she pondered at her own reflection, the dragon flashed in front of her once again.
"No..." Fire was horrified until the voices in her head became louder and more unbearable to her. Memories of her punishment in Canterlot, of her being ridiculed and belittled by the people and almost getting killed by a crazed pony, was driving her crazy...
"GO AWAY!!!" Feeling Critical, Fire punched the mirror into pieces and curled up into a ball. But then, she started hyperventilating and gasping for air. Thankfully, a male bat pony, who is working as a night guard, heard the commotion and went there, only to see the red mare gasping for air.
"Hey! Are you okay??" He immediately rushed to the mare, who was having a panic attack. "Hey! Easy there! Take a deep breath." He coached her to take a deep breath and continued to do so. After some fast breath, her breathing finally slowed down. He looked at the shards and was confused. "What happened?" He asked Fire about it.
"I....I..." Fire was struggling answer, when Ocean suddenly appeared.
"Fire, what's going on?!" The blue mare immediately rushed to her sister.
"She had a panic attack." The guard reported.
"Is it because of-" Ocean was about to tell her about the incident, when she was interrupted.
"YES, IT IS BECAUSE OF THAT DAMN INCIDENT!!" The red mare screamed.
"Calm down, ma'am! What incident!?" The confused bat pony wanted answered.
"Oh...It seems like, you're new to the situation, we're dealing with. Don't worry... I can explain." Ocean answered and proceeded to tell him everything. The dragon incident, the drama between friends, the paranoia, the Shadow Galaxy incident, EVERYTHING.
"I see... And you've been trying to restore on what's left on your friendship with the others and the relationship with you two." The guard slowly understood the entire story.
"But the problem is, Fire's Canterlot experience was so awful, she wouldn't even dare to step a single hoof in it, without freaking out or even worse." Ocean sighed.
"I see... Listen, Fire. As much as I understand your concern and I do feel sorry for what happened to you, what you're doing is running away from the past. It NEVER leads to something good and would haunt you for all eternity." He warned the red mare about what she is doing.
"Isn't it, what Princess Luna told me earlier?" Fire asked.
"Exactly. Like you want those nightmares to end, do you?" The guard asked a very important question.
"Of course, I do!" Fire answered.
"Then you should face it head on. Make a statement, take action and forge a new road of redemption! You just need to gather some courage." The bat stallion gave her and Ocean some motivational advice for them to consider.
"That's what me and my friends have been doing recently." Ocean nodded, before turning her attention to her younger sister. "And as for you, I know, you're scared. But remember, your friends and I are always here for you." She hugged the red mare for comfort.
"I know...." Fire lowered her ears and hugged back. "I'm tired of living in the shadows for so damn long and being plagued by my demons....I want to change that...No...I want to face It head on like a warrior!" The red mare stood up.
"There you go." The guard nodded with a smile.
"Oh and...sorry for breaking the mirror. I was haunted by my past." The red mare apologized.
"Don't be sorry, lady. Be better." The guard replied, leaving Fire more motivated to make amends.
"Come on, sister. We have to go back to sleep." With Ocean's words, the sisters went back to their room to sleep, while the guard continued his duty.
Canterlot - The day of the Friendship Festival
It's showtime! The Friendship Festival is about to begin and every pony and non pony entered the town for a good time. Kirins, changelings, dragons, griffons, hippogriffs and many, many more have joined for the festival as a symbol on how much Equestria has grown. One group of Kirins, lead by Autumn Blaze, headed to the court.
"This is soooooooo exciting!!! This is my first time, I visit this festival and I can't wait for meeting new people and sing songs!" Autumn gleamed in excitement.
"Easy there, Autumn. The festivities haven't started yet." A female kirin calmed the excited friend down.
"But we can check the stands in the meantime, like the apple stand over here." A male kirin pointed at the stand, occupied by the apple family, but when Autumn saw a particular, orange mare, her eyes dilated.
"HI, APPLEJACK!!" She ran to the stand to meet her friend, even if it means cutting the line. "It's been a long time, since we last met, isn't it?" She brightly smiled.
"Howdy there, Autumn! Though next time, be more patient. There are a large line of ponies waiting here." Applejack pointed out the line of angry ponies.
"Oh. Sorry. I'm just so excited to be in this festival and meeting you again." The kirin chuckled.
"It's okay, pardner. Just keep that into consideration, okay?" Applejack giggled.
"Got it!" Autumn nodded and went at the start of the line, leaving the other kirins being slightly annoyed, but bemused by her antics.
Other notable sights include the hippogriffs talking with other kirins for the first time, the Student Six tasting some honey treats, Dr. Beebles and his students prepared, Sissy and Missy playing a game, Jillian meeting some likeminded ponies, Fluttershy, Angel and the Penguins helping out with the birds, the beautiful ice sculptures, Brain Freezer and Snow Emerald made and several ponies and non ponies having a good time. Two of which were a lilac pegasus and a beige unicorn having a good time.
During this time, Johnny, Dukey and their family had just arrived at the courtyard.
"This festival is quite lovely, isn't it?" Sweet Serenity smiled, admiring the beauty of the festival.
"It sure does. But nopony can be as lovely as you, sweetie." High Velocity smiled at his wife and kissed her, much to the annoyance of both Johnny and Cosmic Blaze.
"Dude, stop!" Johnny shielded his eyes.
"Mom, dad! Stop!" Cosmic was embarrassed.
"Wait, you too, Cosmic?" Johnny was surprised by his little brother sharing the same opinion as him.
"Really goes to show, that you guys are too young and inexperienced about love. I mean, I also share the same statement as you two, it's just....well, it's complex to say the least." Dukey scratched his head.
"Hey, Cosmic!" The family heard a voice coming from Spring Gale and his parents, who were also visiting the festival.
"Hi, Spring! Are you also here for the party?" Cosmic was excited to see his friend again.
"You bet, buddy!" Spring jumped in excitement.
"You must been Cosmic's parents, right? Spring has told us a lot about you and your children." The kind earth pony mare greeted the couple.
"It sure does." High Velocity smiled, seeing his son hanging out with Spring.
"I just want to thank you for giving him a better home." Sweet thanked them.
"It's nothing. After hearing his story, we knew, we had to take care of him." The unicorn stallion smiled, before introducing himself and his partner. "My name is Picture Snap and this my fiancee, Iridescent Dawn."
"I'm High Velocity and this is my wife, Sweet Serenity. You already known my son, Cosmic Blaze, but those two ponies are our adoptive sons, Radiant Thunder and Coffee Paw." The neon stallion introduced himself and his family to the couple.
"You've been adopted as well?" Iridescent Dawn was surprised by the fact.
"Yep. For a very long time." Dukey answered with a chuckle.
"And man, it was the best decision, since they treated me sooooooo much better than the last one." Johnny commented.
"It shows." Picture Snap chuckled.
"Hey, guys!" Another voice can be heard. This time, it came from Golden Heart and her mother, whom they were also visiting the festival. "You are also here too, huh?" The silver filly smiled.
"You bet, Golden!" Cosmic responded.
"Easy there, kids. The festival hasn't started yet." Golden's mother calmed the kids down.
"That's the thing. We were about to go to the stage for the announcement and performances." High Velocity stated.
"Same here. Hey, why not going there together?" Iridescent Dawn asked.
"Sure, that would be great." Sweet agreed and so did Golden's mom and the dads and the group of families were on their way to the stage. On their way, Johnny and Dukey met with Eugene, the men in Black, the General, Mr. Harm with a group of filles and colts for a class trip, along with Cherilee, Gil with his new friends of ponies, a dragon and a griffon and later, Sissy and Missy, whome they finished the game and all of them were on their way to the stage. They also met the mole people and meet the women for the first time.
"It's so crazy, that we're meeting mole girls from out of space." Johnny commented.
"Our culture and stories are much crazier, trust me." A mole woman, named Carissa, chuckled in response.
Every pony and non pony have gathered for the opening announcement. Even Tempest Shadow, Grubber and the reformed Storm Creatures, Captain Celaeno and her crew, Capper, Queen Novo and Princess Skystar were there to attend the second festival. After a while of waiting, they heard the horns, as the princesses finally appeared.
"Citizens of Equestria and beyond! We're all gathered to celebrate a new era of friendship!" Princess Celestia introduced the festival to everyone.
"Recently, there has been great progress made of friendships. It's not just limited to Equestria and our world, as ponies and non-ponies from different dimensions and even from different galaxies arrived and made friends with our people." Princess Luna continued.
"And as the months go on, despite some setbacks, friendship and love continued to blossom, thanks to the new development, while also getting introduced to their cultures and stories." Princess Cadence smiled.
"And their stories caused a big impact to our lives, etching them in history books for all eternity. We couldn't be any happier with this new era of Equestria, we're ushering in. So...without further ado, in the name of the Sun and the moon, love and friendship and all things positive, let the festivities-" Twilight was about to finish the speech, when her microphone was taken away from her, being in a orange aura. That actually came from Fire Jewel herself, who is on stage.
"Hey! It's that fire demon again!" Someone from Canterlot noticed and soon, some of them booed at the sight of the red mare, who was getting even more anxious. The bad memories have returned and was about to break, when all of a sudden...
"Hey! Leave her alone!!"
That voice silenced the crowd and it came from Ocean Spark, who came to the stage with her friends to defend her sister.
"Seriously. What is up with you and constantly harassing her, just to make yourselves feel better?! Do you guys feel no shame??" Cherry called them out, feeling tired of her friend being verbally attacked. But that didn't stop the angry ponies from protesting.
"EVERYONE, SHUT UP!!!!!" Snow screamed at the crowd, silencing them indefinitely. "Thank you." She lowered her voice.
Seeing her sister and friends defending her, gave Fire even more hope and remembering the words from Luna and the bat pony, coupled with a smile from the moon princess herself, she took a deep breath and put the microphone close to her. "Before we start with the party, there is something, I want to get it out and address even further."
"Something, WE have to get it out. Because we got this...together." Ocean corrected and after looking at the princesses, they were given with five more microphones to make their official statement.
"I'm pretty sure, you guys are aware of our actions, which lead to my dragon form nearly burning Cantelot to the ground and by extention, Shadow Galaxy invading Ponyville. I know, that you have a lot of questions....So...we're gonna give you a timeline of what happened, along with a public apology later on." Fire opened her statement and letting one of her friends to continue.
"But first, some background info. We actually come from different planets in a galaxy far, far away from yours. Our galaxy had been in war against a nefarious warlord and conqueror, Shadow Nebula. In ancient times, there were seven powerful sorcerers with orbs, called the elemental orbs, able to defeat and seal her for a very long time, until the seal has weakened, allowing her to return. The seven sorcerers put those orbs in a temple called "The Temple of Order" and put a protection spell on them. Fast forwards a lot of years and the elemental orbs had been drifting in space, until they sensed and chose seven special ponies with divine elemental power. Those ponies are us, along with another one. A pink alicorn named Jenny." Snow added some history to their galaxy and the orbs.
"A divine pony, named Galaxy Shine, who was Jenny's mom in a higher level of existence, have warned us about Shadow Nebula's return, after me, Jenny, Fire, Cherry, Snow and Breeze have gathered in Shima and thus started a very long adventure, full of danger, trials and tribulations. But during our decade long adventure, due to the orbs heavily slowed down our aging process, we grew closer and closer and became best friends." Tropic explained about their start of a long adventure and how they grew to be best friends.
"Eventually...I was part of it. At first, I was seriously bitter, thinking that Fire had killed my parents and had followed Shadow Nebula's orders to destroy them. During many of our battles, I used my water powers to best them in combat and in one occasion, actually defeated them. But later, Fire, with the truth of Nebula being the true murderer and the knowledge, that we're long lost sisters, approached me and after a long battle, she won. As she wouldn't bring herself to kill me and me not being able to do the same either, I apologised to her and slowly but surely, redeemed myself and eventually joining the team." Ocean added her story of blind revenge and redemption.
"Eventually, after a long and arduous battle, the Luminous 7 were finally able to destroy Shadow Nebula for good with the power of the elements and friendship, which created a very powerful convergence, similar to those, which defeated Shadow Galaxy in Ponyville. We went on to be immortalised in history books around the universe and decided to go to Equestria for a much deserved break....but we had no idea about the Storm, that was about to brew among us..." Breeze sighed.
"We had no idea, what caused Jenny to be on high alert and being distrustful towards new ponies. Either she sensed a new kind of evil in this place or something else. Whatever it may be, settling in Equestria started off really rocky. But as I saw some couples abusing their kids, I got terrible flashbacks of my own childhood, where my stepmother abused me...I had to take action to protect the kids, but....looking back, I was so damn immature and too lost in my own emotions...." Fire recounted the start of their troubles.
"I only wanted to keep an eye on my sister, due to what happened in Xeon, where she transformed into a fire dragon and, after losing herself in her rage, causing damage to the cities. I wanted to prevent another Xeon disaster here, but....in hindsight, the execution was terrible to say the least...." Ocean lowered her ears, while explaining the reason.
"In fact, the whole plan literally fell apart outside the Ponyville Hospital, when we stood against Fire and Tropic. One thing left to another, which lead to our natural imprisonment, arguments occured left and right and our immaturity caused the split and eventual end to our group. And it only got worse with the dragon incident, which severely crushed our spirits. And we wouldn't be there and left the planet out of shame...if it wasn't for Twilight Sparkle and her friends. They showed us about the importance of friendship and mental solace. They were here, when there were no other way, they guided us to where we are and that's something, we're really grateful for." Cherry explained the Storm of negativity, which lead to so much dissaray and Discord, which where slowly solved with the help of their newfound friends.
"However...there was also Jenny, who after being left alone for a while, let her negative emotions got the better of her, which allowed a dark force to take over her body and turning her into a wicked pony, known as Shadow Galaxy. That dark force was caused by Shadow Nebula herself, when she used her magic to corrupt her during her captivity. That dark side caused so much strife for us, that we're still figuring out on how to dispell that evil side permanently, but without any sign of success, as this force was so persistent and difficult to deal with. The only time, it really rested, is when Jenny dealt with it in a mental battle inside of her subconscious mind. And it seemed like, she conquered the dark side for a long time....but the drama caused Shadow Galaxy to return and spread havoc in Ponyville..." Tropic sighed.
"Fire and Ocean were unavailable at that point in time, since Luna and Tempest had released them and took them to where the hell they were, I was injured by the fight and before that, had to deal with mole women and later, Snow was getting even more outraged and distrusting, until Brain Freezer had to call her out and knock some sense to her. What's worse about it, due to their actions, the fire and water orbs got shattered. So, my friends had to face against Shadow Galaxy on their own. Even when they got help, she overwhelmed them and was about to defeat them, when Fire, Ocean and Snow returned from their absence. And thank God, they were back." Breeze recounted on the Shadow Galaxy incident.
"My sister and I were taught about redemption and the importance of friendship and bonds by Princess Luna, Tempest Shadow and later Trixie Lulamoon. As time went on, we learned more and more about those topics and took action to slowly end our nightmares and restoring our relationship and friendships with them, until that particular day, when we were ready to face It. At first, it was nearly impossible, until the fire and water orbs have been magically restored due to our redemption and got our powers back. After a long battle, in which me, Fire, our friends and even Twilight and her group teamed up and combined our skills and wits to weaken her, we performed a magical convergence between the magic of the elements and the magic of friendship, defeating the dark pony once and for all...even though it only suppressed her as always, as we still have no idea on how to purge that force out of Jenny. Speaking of Jenny, the magic cleansed her from the influence, but feeling guilty of her actions and our behaviour not doing anything better, she teleported away, with her now being in the Human world, which is currently not open until 30 moons later." Ocean explained about her and Fire's redemption arc and the defeat of Shadow Galaxy.
"Look, I get that there are still some unresolved questions and we wished to go further, but there are some things, we have to consider, as we're currently go through everything. And for those, who keep on harassing Fire, knock that shit off! I'm pretty sure, everyone has made a mistake in their lives at some point! That includes me, whose fear of betrayal and pain had fanned the flames even more." Snow lowered her head.
"I don't know, if we can fully articulate from the pain, we're currently feeling right now. Our pride and arrogance had costed a lifelong freindship, we've built for many years...We...We lost a friend, a leader, that we can count to, someone who has changed our lives for the better. It's weird and we're really sorry for dragging you into our personal dilemma..." Tropic apologised.
"Things will change. But, we hope that through the dark times, there will be a chance to grow and become better ponies for a better future. We're slowly improving, as time went on and made some progress. I mean, I was vital on saving Ponyville with a renewed confidence." Fire scratched her head. "So, in conclusion..."
"We're really sorry for our actions." The six ponies bowed down, while issuing their public apology.
"We hope, that you can understand, that nopony's perfect and that there's always a chance for redemption." Fire concluded the speech. "And we hope, we have cleared enough things up. If not, you can ask us anytime and we'll give you more information."
At first, the crowd was purely silent, which gave them a bad impression, that their apology didn't work, since some ponies are quite tricky to be convinced. Even when the dragon incident happened a few months ago. But before they can leave the stage, they heard a clap from Tempest....followed by Grubber, then Johnny and Dukey, then Trixie, then Brain Freezer as well as Sissy and Missy, followed by the men in Black and Dr. Beebles and slowly, more and more of the crowed clapped with them until eventually, they were given a big applause for their transparency and maturity. Even the princesses applauded for them.
"You did it, girls! You managed to bravely stand up and make amends in front of everypony! I'm so proud of you." Twilight congratulated the elemental ponies with a hug. The group were finally relieved, as a big weight around them has lifted. Especially Fire, who she finally felt the Sweet and serene peace, after months of mental discord and finally regained her full confidence.
"Wait a minute!"
They heard a voice from behind, revealing to be Zizrar, who's with Iris and Evelynn the entire time.
"Evelynn?!" The mole women were surprised by her return.
"Go on. Tell them." Iris smiled at her friend, encouraging her to come forward.
"What are you doing here?!" Roy was not happy to see Evelynn again.
"I know, you're still mad at me for hurting Amber and I get that. But please...hear me out..." Evelynn responded, before clearing her throat. "I'm truly sorry for what I've done. I was so caught up with the past and my emotions, that I forgot about my consequences until it was too late. You may be asking, what past? Well...during the Primaia invasion, my sister, Eris betrayed me and Kryssa and even worse, killed my mom in cold blood, revealing to be working for the invaders. But even when Kryssa managed to get me out of here and escaping the planet, the betrayal had seared into my heart and soul so bad, that I've became distrustful, rough, persistent, prideful and angry all the time. I hid my pain through my tough exterior, as I kept on training and even when I became Iris's commander, the pain and anger was still there. It wasn't until I hurt Amber and Zizrar calling me out of my behaviour, that I finally got back to my senses and realized about the consequences, my behaviour and actions have brought. At first, I was feeling hopeless with death being the only release, but Zizrar showed me another way, that doesn't end in my death. One filled with hope, friendship and courage. In other words, he gave me an offer of redemption, which I gladly accepted. Now, I'm trying my best to become better, even there are some doubt. But I'm not giving up. As long as I have a loving family, there will be a good future." She offered everyone a big apology on her own. Hearing Evelynn's story had confirmed Snow's suspicion of feeling betrayed.
"You're not the only one, who had been betrayed in the past. I know that issue too well, since I was in that situation multiple times, except it came from those so called "friends", I had the closest connection to. So, let's make a promise. I'll help you overcome your darkest fears, just like somepony did that to me." Snow hugged Evelynn with a warm smile.
"Thank you...but I'm not sure, if I have the courage to tell Amber about it..." Evelynn was worried, when they heard a familiar voice.
"No need to, Evelynn."
The commander gasped at the voice, which revealed to be Amber, who came out of the crowd.
"Amber! I'm really sorry for nearly killing you..." Evelynn was in tears, feeling regretful of her actions. "I was....not feeling myself on that day, feeling consumed by my own demons and-" before she could finish her sentence, Amber hugged her. "But...but why?" The short-haired mole woman was left speechless.
"Simple...Despite your stern behaviour and the trauma, you're like a big sister to me. I never gave up hope on you, because I always had a feeling, that you cared for me in your own way. I mean, you helped me fix my braid at one point." Amber smiled.
"What?!?" Roy was shocked.
"Roy...please hear me out." Amber looked at Roy, before turning her attention back to Evelynn. "I know, things have been really rough, But I was never mad at you. In fact, I was concerned. Concerned on what's happening to you. And now that I heard abour your past, I feel really sorry for you and understand, why you were like this."
"I understand." Evelynn wiped her tears away."it's just....I want to set things right. Restoring on what's left and becoming better. So...what do you say. Should we start over with a clean slate, Princess Amber?" She bowed down in front of the shy woman, which shocked everyone, since they had no idea, that Amber is a princess until now. Regardless, Amber accepted the offer, while Zizrar and Iris were proud of them.
"Awwww!" The crowd were touched.
"Well, looks like, there is a happy ending after all." Cherry smiled.
"It sure does, man. It sure does." Breeze nodded. It was, when the Try Guys approached the elemental mares.
"You know, the way, you girls handled the apology surely reminded us of a dark time, where we also had to make a statement like this and restructuring our company and group for the better." Jolly commented.
"What happened?" Ocean asked, in which they told them about the event, that threw them off guard in a bad way.
"Oh my God..." Tropic was shocked. "I'm truly sorry for what happened to you."
"We all are." Fire corrected, feeling bad for them.
"But we've since moved on from that shitty time and became better." Fine was happy about their independence and emancipation.
"That's actually good." Snow nodded.
"Anyway, when will the party start?" Lively asked.
"Oh! Twilight, if I may?" Fire asked Twilight for her permission.
"Of course, Fire. You have my permission." The princess of friendship nodded.
"You have all of our permission, Fire." Princess Cadence smiled.
"Sooooo...With the nightmares being finally gone and everything being alright again, are you guys ready?" Fire smirked and asked the crowd, in which they cheered. "I can't hear you! Are you ready?" The question made the crowd cheer even louder.
"Then let the party begin!" Fire used her magic to light up the torches, signaling the beginning of the festival and a good time. Everybody cheered, as the elemental ponies were now excited for their upcoming performance and having the best time of their lives, even though Jenny wouldn't be present.
Sunset's Apartment, Human World
We see the fiery teenager packing her stuff, as she and her friends were about to go on a vacation to a different place. As much as she's excited for it, since that would meen good times together and even performing for a crowd, she knew that, she needed someone to watch over her stuff.
"Alright, everything's settled." She picked up her suitcases and went to the door, where Starlight was waiting with money, she earned from her new part time job. "How's your new job, Starlight?" She asked to her friend.
"It actually went quite well." Starlight replied. "So....you're going away with your friends today for a while, right?"
"Yeah. We taking a little vacation there to relax and take things off from our mind before our final tests next year. And since you've been watching over my apartment and my stuff, you do realise, what you should do." Sunset told to Starlight about her duties as a housesitter.
"I know, I know. Don't touch your personal stuff and taking care of Ray." Starlight already understood the rules, causing Sunset to chucke a bit.
"I know, I can count on you." Sunset smiled, before giving spare keys to the apartment complex, the mail box and the apartment itself to her best friend. "Take care, Starlight!" She said goodbye, as she left her apartment to join her friends below. After a while, Starlight opened the window, seeing her friends.
"Hope, you girls have a good time!" Starlight waved, as the girls smiled, when they entered into a limo cab, which Rarity paid for transport and drove off to the airport. Afterwhich, she went to the living room and picked up the heart necklace, wondering about the possibility on who the owner could be. Didn't help, that she was still worried about Susan and Mary, who were still in a coma. She had visited the hospital once more before Sunset left, only to hear nothing from them. But at least she gave them some gifts and flowers, before leaving.
"I wish, they could finally wake up, so I can talk to them...." Starlight sighed and sat down, feeling concerned about their health and if they would ever wake up. But regardless, she had to keep praying for a miracle, so she got on her phone, which was a gift from Rarity, to browse on the Internet.
To be continued... |
The Mage and the Filly Fair | pre | -seem to like that they can rely on me to produce good work. "Exceptional as always, Miss Shimmer," is the common response.
-let me do my own thing in class, I guess because they know my spellcasting is on such a different level.
Friends Classmates:
-"Yeah, good job," they mumble. They're polite, but I can't tell if they're scared of me or just jealous
-I'm sure they would invite me to hang out if I showed interest in it. They recognize a busy mare when they see one
Princess (you):
-Kind of distant lately, I guess because you're giving me some space to become my own pony
-don't ask about my dreams anymore (I still have flying dreams, by the way)
A rustling from the doorway drew Sunset's attention away from her journal. She looked up to see an elderly stallion leaning against her bedroom door, his dark blue cloak hanging off of his bony frame in sheets. Sunset opened her mouth to demand what he was doing here, why he was disturbing her when she was so obviously busy, but their eyes met and she paused.
His eyes were dark, the iris and pupil blending together to the point where he had no eye color, only twin pools of shadow that looked at her with an unfathomable expression. Sunset fidgeted.
In the end, only one question seemed to matter.
"Who are you?" she asked, hesitantly.
He bowed his head. "My name is Starswirl," he replied, and in that moment the memories came rushing back, one after another.
Sunset remembered the courtyard, and the prophecy, and the tiara--words and promises bubbled up from within her mind, filling in the gaps that her dreams had floundered in for so long.
I was supposed to be a Princess.
The thought must have shown on her face, because the stallion closed his eyes.
"I was wrong," he said, and his voice sounded as though the words weighed a million pounds. "I read the prophecy wrong."
Sunset stared at him, unblinking.
At last, she asked, "What do you mean?"
"I read it wrong," he wheezed. "I thought it was you."
Sunset barely noticed as her journal dropped to the floor. "What's 'it'? What did you mean you thought it was me?"
Starswirl shook his head mournfully. "I could have sworn it was you. I could have sworn it! The stars said--"
"What did they say?" Sunset breathed, sliding down from the mattress. Surely this was a mistake. Surely he was simply confused.
"They said there would be a filly, born with magical powers the likes of which we'd never seen. She would be the heart of magic, the Princess of Prophecy." He waved a hoof helplessly. "The time was right. We thought it was you. We could have sworn it was you."
She was destined for greatness. Of course it was her.
"But it wasn't you, Sunset Shimmer."
Sunset stepped towards him. "No."
"I'm afraid so. I was confident. I was careless. And I was wrong."
Sunset was running towards the door. "No!"
"You aren't meant to be Princess, Sunset," he sighed. "There's another--"
She didn't hear him, not over the anguished, wordless scream that burst from her mouth. Sunset charged past the wizard, running out into the hallway without sparing him a second glance.
Objective: Get out.
Deadline: Go go go
Outlook: Just go just go
The stars twinkled at Sunset when she burst onto the roof of the Northernmost Tower. Cold and distant, they watched dispassionately as she aimed her horn at them.
Furiously blinking back tears, Sunset charged her horn one last time.
Tell, said the spell.
Who is the filly of prophecy? Who will be Princess? Sunset demanded.
When the stars spoke, the force of their voices sent Sunset reeling. Quite suddenly, she felt silly for disturbing them.
It is not you, they thundered. It was never you, Sunset Shimmer.
It was never you.
It rang in her ears as she staggered down the stairs. Sunset supposed she ought to feel something, but she barely registered her own hoofsteps as she passed through the halls of Princess Celestia's castle.
Princess.
It was never you.
A pair of guards galloped past Sunset, shouting urgently. They didn't seem to notice her. She stared after them, dazed, then noticed that her horn was sparking and glowing. Such a pretty, regal blue it was.
It was never you.
The air around her turned cold. Damp. Musky.
The chill cleared some of the haze from her mind, just enough for Sunset to notice that she stood in a darkened stone corridor. The walls to either side of her--devoid of any ornamentation--were lined with shelf after shelf of treasure.
Silver necklaces, golden goblets, a platinum crown that could only have belonged to the Princess herself--a fortune of treasure caught the glow of her horn and reflected it back to her in a dizzying cascade of blue rays.
Sunset didn't notice she had reached for the crown until it pressed down gently upon her brow. It felt good. It felt right.
It was never you.
At the end of the hallway stood a mirror. Sunset moved towards it, eager to see how she looked with the crown.
She looked like a Princess.
The mare that stared back at Sunset was both unsettlingly familiar and breathtakingly exotic. Her golden coat glittered like stardust, her long legs rising elegantly from their steel-grey horseshoes. Her mane--crimson and yellow and every shade of orange in between--wound through the air sharply, undulating above a pair of powerful-looking wings.
Sunset stared at herself. This was it. This was who she was.
It was never you, Sunset Shimmer.
Sunset's eyes froze, transfixed by the golden tiara with the star-cut gemstone upon her head.
"It was always me," she whispered to her alicorn counterpart. The princess seemed to nod.
Sunset stepped into the mirror.
In Princess Celestia's study, in a drawer with all of Sunset's fillyhood homework, remained one assignment that the Princess would look at many times in the months following Sunset's disappearance.
It was a simple task, really. Just an exercise in analogies.
The Moon is to the Daybreak as the Sun is to the _____.
Sunset, the filly had scribbled, in large, shaky penmanship.
Princess Celestia would spend many bleary-eyed evenings wondering if it was a sign that Sunset's teacher had marked her student's answer wrong.
The Moon is to the Daybreak as the Sun is to the Twilight. |
Mane-iac: Shadow of Vengeance | pre | She set the cup down on the counter and flexed her fist open and closed a few times, feeling the small kinks left behind from the fight.
"Shadowbolt's a good fighter, fast, but I've got far better training. He sure was smart though, the longer we fought the more he figured me out."
Charles set the tray down beside the microscope, trading it for her utility belt, and looping it around his arm.
"And he let slip no clue as to who he was?"
"No. not directly anyways..." Turning her attention to the computer screen, she called out to it.
"Computer, search for: Cornet Labs."
"Searching for, Cornet Labs." The artificial voice repeated. In half a second, the screen was filled with references and several pictures. What Mica saw among the links only increased the mystery.
"Massive accident destroys lab." Mica read off the screen. Some of the accompanying pictures showed the building before the accident, "Experimental energy program backfires, causes explosion, claims the lives of project scientists."
"Good lord." Charles gasped.
"Seeing the news articles again brought me back a few years, during my... previous life. Back when I wouldn't have looked too deep into things like this. I remembered Cornet labs used to be on the northwest outskirts of the city, out in the rural lands. It occurred to me that if I had just remembered this little detail when I had finally met up with Shadowbolt, perhaps I could have started a real dialog. Though in my defense I suppose I was a little preoccupied."
The next collage of pictures showed the rubble and devastation left in the wake of the explosion, the façade of the building standing in front of a crater. Debris scattered for a mile in every direction, even a report of a middle-aged woman who had been struck in the back by a bit of metal shrapnel. Mica continued to click into one of the articles.
"It says the accident occurred in the middle of the night, when it was just the three project staff and two security guards in the building."
"By the grace of God, the security men were having a smoke break outside." Charles observed from the text. "Got thrown fifty yards and suffered internal bleeding, concussions, fractured vertebrae, but alive."
"The scientists weren't so lucky." Navigating through more links, Mica found more of the information she was looking for. "The three of them were working on some new energy technology for space vehicles."
"The specifics were omitted... interesting."
"Something went wrong, and there was an explosion. They think whatever it was obliterated the bodies, no remains were found."
Her mind's eye flashed back to the box she found in the subway room.
"If the lab was blown to hell, then where did that box come from? And why was it at the end of a trail of blood?"
Scrolling along, she came across a black and white picture of the team provided to the newspapers by a family member. It showed the group in their white lab coats, posed behind a long counter topped with various bits of machinery that looked like they belonged in a science-fiction movie.
"The black and white photo had their names and positions under it: Gary Straub, aerospace engineer, Stacey Meriwether, particle physicist, and Thomas Jacobs, theoretical physicist.
Staring at the screen, Mica wondered what any of this could have to do with Shadowbolt, if there was any connection at all
"The box could be a complete coincidence, maybe he'd had it from long before, maybe he found it in the garbage. But then what are the odds of having that box, from that lab? It was too damn much of a coincidence."
A chime from the DNA alerted Mica to the results. "Error. Cannot complete analysis. Unknown elements are present."
"Unknown elements?" She repeated, as if saying it aloud herself would untangle her confusion. Thinking quickly, she gave a new command.
"Computer, isolate contaminants."
"No contaminants found. All elements are genetically coupled."
"It didn't make any sense..."
"Perhaps Mr. Bolt is a Martian of some kind." Charles suggested with a measure of dry humor.
"Wouldn't that be interesting." Spinning back around to the blood she had between the slats, Mica focused back in on the tiny cells. They remained as dreary as she had left them. Adjusting the backlight, she noticed the strange fur-like texture coating the cells rippled in response.
"Well that can't be an accident."
The more she turned the light down, the more active the cells became. She dimmed the light as much as she could while still being able to see them, following the reaction."
"What the hell are you?"
"Is this him?" Holding up a sketch pad Mica had hastily drawn on when she got back, Charles examined the rough outline of Shadowbolt.
"Frightening fellow."
"You should meet him in person." Mica got up from her seat and headed for the changing pod, a noticeable stiffness in her back. "Great sense of humor."
"I do hope The Mane-iac isn't planning on a night of acrobatics and daring-do." The butler said, replacing the tea cup onto the platter with a disappointed sigh. "She may find it a bit more, challenging than usual."
"Well..." She bent her back and touched the floor to stretch out her spine. With a long exhale she unfurled herself to an erect posture and mentally prepared herself. "If it were easy Charles, everyone would do it."
Mica climbed into the pod, allowing the doors to slid shut around her. After a moment's notice and a whirl of machinery, the glowing chamber popped back open and the fully costumed Mane-iac sat up with a grunt of determination
"Besides, I'm just going to visit an old friend."
==========================
LATER
==========================
"Motoring."
Detective Stephen Langoud flipped through the keys on the ring as he approached his personal vehicle in the underground parking garage of the precinct. With a paper bag of day-old doughnuts and half a sandwich in hand, he rounded the bumper, using the cuff of his sleeve to wipe off the corner of his mouth.
"What's your price for flight? In finding mister right?"
He had the tune stuck in his head all day after hearing a snippet of it on the radio, and at the end of his shift found himself absent-mindedly muttering the melody. "And something that rhymes with 'light'."
Langoud shot a glance to the backseat of his car, making sure the old break room coffee maker was still there. He may not have been given explicit permission to take it, but since the new one was up and running, no-one seemed to object.
He found the proper key and opened his driver's side door, slipping into the seat of his 1990 Coltler Manehattan. Tossing the bag to the passenger seat, he stuck the key in the ignition.
"MOTORING!" He yelled out within the protective confines of his car.
"Please stop."
"BAH!" He yelped, banging his thighs against the bottom of the steering wheel as he jumped in surprise. He twisted in his seat to find Mane-iac staring back at him from under the brim of her hat.
"You really can't sing Steve."
Taking a deep breath to calm down, he mustered his bravado. "Oh thank god." He chuckled nervously. "It's just you. For a second I thought my ex-wife had found me."
"Sorry to scare you. But I decided it best to stay incognito." Checking the entryway to the garage, she made sure to keep her face hidden.
"Good thing." He agreed. "Word is that when the commissioner found out about the damage you two caused last night, he hit the roof. Put out the order to arrest either one of you on sight."
This did not come as a surprise, but as least it wasn't the command to hunt her down. "So are you gonna take me in?" She asked.
"Pfft, as if I could."
"In that case I was wondering if you could help me with something."
"While there was plenty I could learn off the internet, there were some things that just couldn't be found online."
"I'm digging into Shadowbolt, and I need you to get me anything the police might have on file regarding the explosion at Cornet labs three years ago. I think there might be a connection."
"Oh yeaaaahhh, I remember that." Putting a hand across his mouth, Langoud tried to think of where something like that might be kept. "Not sure how much of anything we'd have, it was an accident, not a crime."
"Could you just check? Please?" She knew he was risking his career just by talking to her. It wasn't easy for her to admit it to herself, let alone anyone else, but when the pressures of what she did really weighed on her, it was good to know there were people she could count on.
He thought for a moment longer. "Alright, let me go take a look." Getting back out of the car, the detective headed back inside. Mane-iac hunkered down in the seat to lower her profile.
Ten minutes later, he returned, going straight to the door of the back seat.
"Gonna need this." He said, taking the coffee maker in hand before closing the door and heading back to the offices.
Ten more minutes later, Langoud sat back down in his driver's seat and handed a file over his shoulder.
"It wasn't much, about half an inch worth of contents. But it was better than nothing."
"Now I didn't look in it, for my own sakes." Steve ran a hand through his hair. "But I hope it does you some good. Turns out the parent company took ownership of most of the stuff that wasn't blown to bits, and most of the stuff we had was junked years ago."
"Thanks again Detective." Mane-iac got out of the back seat, and started to slink away when another thought caught her.
"Stephen, what was with the coffee maker?"
"Oh that." He grumbled. "Had to make a deal with the guy working the evidence lock-up. He drove a hard bargain."
"Sorry to hear that." She apologized, feeling genuinely regretful for what approximated as a friend. "I'll make it up to you."
"Really? 'Cause I could-" Stunned by her proposition, he put his arm around the headrest to face the backseat, only to find it empty and with no trace of the lady.
"She's just playing hard to get." He told himself.
Dropping into the alley a block from the precinct where she had parked Black Beauty, Mane-iac opened the door with a tendril of hair and slumped into her seat. She turned on the heat before the door was even closed, the winter chill starting to work its way through her outfit.
"Let's see what the vultures left me."
The file contained a loose assortment of post-incident reports, written by police investigators on site and a few follow-ups dated throughout the next three weeks after.
"There wasn't much in the way of anything helpful, it was mostly the facts of the accident scene, witness and survivor statements. One curious thing however, was a report of Government agents arriving to conduct their own investigation. They identified themselves as working for the Aeronautics Administration, but nothing more than that. Cordoned off the site for a day as they examined the debris, bringing in their own forensic teams and taking various samples of material. A picture stapled to the report showed a trio of people covered head-to-toe in protective suits extracting soil from the center of the crater.
I had to wonder just what exactly I was digging into, and if any of this actually had any authentic connection to Shadowbolt. Still, it was pretty interesting."
Part of the alley was illuminated for a few seconds by the headlights of a passing car. Glancing back to see if they warranted any more investigation, Mane-iac decided to take her late-night reading somewhere else.
The Black Beauty pulled out of the alley on the other end, and turned south.
"Plenty of places in the city to duck away for a little bit."
She raised the volume on her police scanner, "No excuse to ignore the rest of the crime in the city on account of one guy."
Passing under a bridge, her fingers tapped the steering wheel in deliberation.
"Motoring..." She muttered melodically under her breath.
A streetlight shining into her cab as the car took a right turn swept over the uncovered items from the file, the momentum of the turn yanking one picture from where it was lodged between sheets and onto the floor. The light allowed her to catch sight of its fall, and not wanting to lose any part of it to a casual accident, a couple strands of hair reached down and plucked it back up.
When she saw the photo, she slammed on the breaks and came to a skidding, rubber-smoking halt in the middle of the street. Grabbing the picture in her hand and clicking on the overhead light, she stared at it in disbelief. There, standing in the picture, were the same three project scientists she'd seen in the online article, Straub, Meriwether, and Jacobs. Only this shot was taken while they had been at work, with Straub overlooking a design of some fuselage, Meriwether working out equations on a chalkboard, and Jacobs operating on some large metal chamber. And around Jacobs' neck, were a pair of protective goggles.
The same goggles Shadowbolt wore.
Even more to her luck this photo was in color, and Mane-iac could see that his hair, while cut in a short, conservative style, was the same indigo blue.
"Thomas Jacobs... How the hell did you survive?" The whispered question came out in a huff of vapor. For another minute she sat in place, trying to think through all the possible explanations as to how a man could survive an explosion that decimated a building. Not only that, but come back with superpowers. An approaching car in her rearview snapped her back to the present, and she put her foot back on the accelerator. Snapping off her overhead lamp and she drove, she peeled back the mask from over her right eye, and held it up to the mirror. After a soft chime, a small panel slid out from the center console, a miniature version of her computer in the lab.
"Computer, information on Thomas Jacobs, Cornet Labs, deceased."
"Thomas Jacobs." The small window buffered the search results, cobbled together from multiple databases, and displayed them in chronological order.
"Jacobs was quite an achiever from what I could tell. Honor Society in high school, joined the Army Corps of Engineers, retired after 10 years with a medical discharge due to a knee injury, but not before utilizing his benefits to go to college. That's where he got into physics, ultimately getting a Master's degree. 43 at the time of the accident.
Intelligent, determined, resourceful, sounds like Shadowbolt alright. Aside from that, the information got curiously Spartan: No children, parents deceased, unmarried, employed by the Aeronautics Administration until four years ago.
Hmm... if he was out of the Government, then why were their agents on the scene faster than kids to an ice cream truck?"
"ALL UNITS, ALL UNITS." The police scanner barked. "Report of a break-in at M&T Shampoo factory, suspects said to be armed and dangerous, please respond."
"Break in on the east side. I could use a little warm-up before my rematch."
The Black Beauty was thrown into the next gear, and sped off.
Nestled in the industrial district of Maretropolis' east end, the Mane & Tail Shampoo factory loomed silently among the other buildings. Sticking out from the top two floors, was the flashing neon sign that animated a lady dumping their brand of hair product onto her long locks. She'd beaten the police to the scene, and parked her car in a dim alley, throwing a black tarp over it for good measure.
Guarding the inside of the doorway, a very nervous, very sweaty overweight man in a grey turtle neck and ski-mask glanced back to where his two accomplices were busy relieving the supply room of some chemicals.
"Hurry up you guys!" He cursed.
In the room, two other burley men in masks were working together to roll a metal barrel onto a pallet where three others waited.
"Boss said to make sure not to shake these up too much." One of them grunted, hefting the container onto the wood.
"Something to do with molecules or something."
"What do you think he's using this all for?" His partner asked. "Gonna make his own knock off brand?"
"Will you guys just load the stuff on the truck already?" Door Guard brushed the mask against his forehead to soak up the sweat beginning to drip into his eyes. "I don't wanna be here when the cops show up, or worse that Shadowbolt psycho."
The others, having put the last barrel in place, stretched their backs out before one of them headed off.
Turning back to his post, Door Guard shivered and stuck his head out to check around the corner.
A python of purple hair coiled around the lower part of his face and lifted him off his feet. He raised his gun but more strands stuffed themselves behind the trigger as his finger squeezed on it, and pinned his hands behind his back.
"What? I don't even get a mention?" Mane-iac stared him down as she dragged him outside, in her voice was no hint of comedy.
"How many?" She asked. "Not including yourself."
The man mumbled behind the rope, his brow furrowed in confusion. Not that he could see, Mica rolled her eyes.
"Just... blink."
Door Guard blinked twice in rapid succession.
His feet kicked a bit as her strands wrapped around his neck, applying pressure to the carotid arteries. Eventually they went limp.
Leaning his back against the barrels, the man who had stayed behind was twiddling a knife between his fingers when a number of tendrils wrapped themselves around his limbs and pulled him up and over the tops. He tried to scream and struggle, but found he was strapped to the containers.
Reaching down, Mane-iac removed the mask, surprised to see who was under it.
"It was one of the same guys from the subway tunnel last night, one of the two who got away."
"This the second night in a row I run into you guys. Who are you working for?"
"Dunno." He said, albeit strained under the grip of the hair around his jaw. "Never gave us a name."
"What does he look like?" She pressed.
"Dunno that neither, never seen him in person. Always talks to us from a TV, keeps himself all shrouded, you know, like one of 'dem, anonymous whistleblower types."
"So what do you know?" Lifting him off the barrels, she suspended him upside-down, his long coat slipping down to overreach his hands and head. "What does he want with Shadowbolt?"
A panic began to overtake him as she began to swing him up and down, hoping the vertigo would shake a clear answer loose. "I dunno what he wants with that freak! Swear to god!"
"Swear to me!" Mane-iac barked.
She was about to ratchet-up her powers of persuasion to tumble dry, when she heard the rumble of an engine coming their way. The headlights flashed on at the last second, the forklift about to collide into them.
In a single heartbeat, she flipped her captive out of harm's way into a stack of plastic tubs and jumped straight up, the ends of the fork bars stabbing right through where she had been. Landing on the roof, she used her tendrils to secure herself, staring straight down at the driver whose startled eyes met hers.
"It was the guy I had cornered in the room, the one I saved from Shadowbolt. I could see the same fear in his eyes."
He swerved left and right to shake her off, but she clung on despite being pitched like a boat in a storm. Like a spider she crawled over the side and tried to pull him out of the seat.
"Hey! Let go!" The man cried, taking both hands off the steering wheel to fend her off. His attention diverted, no one would blame him for not seeing where the floor dropped four feet at the loading dock.
The prowess of her enhanced vision catching sight of the hazard ahead of time, Mane-iac braced her body to the overhead guard. Driving over the edge, the forks jammed into the concrete, providing the fulcrum as the vehicle continued to somersault. Columns of her hair shot out, creating a series of spokes that supported the forklift and enabled it to roll forward until it landed back down on its wheels.
Crashing into the opposite wall, the driver was flung into his side of the loading backrest. He stumbled out of the cab with a hand on his head, trying to make a break for freedom.
Mane-iac came flying after him with a dropkick, striking him in the back where he sprawled to the floor.
"Whoever your boss is, needs to hire better goons."
Extracting a pair of handcuffs from the back of her utility belt, she got one wrist secured when something heavy tackled her. They rolled in a heap, white boots reflexively lashing out to kick and catching a big shoulder.
Separating, she realized it was the man she'd tossed into the empty containers, and he was swinging for the fences. Big, meaty fists came at her, but she weaved and countered, landing a blow of her own on his mouth.
While some criminals had a glass jaw, others she had discovered, had jaws of iron. He was one of the latter. The man's head moved slightly to the side, then snapped back without any noticeable effect. Like a bear he charged and seized her with both hands to the side of her face, trying to crush her skull like a coconut. Her suit could only do so much to deflect the pressure in such a small spot.
Both of her hands dung into the sides of her belt, sliding the fingers into a set of knuckle dusters and unlocking them from their mechanism. She struck upwards, hitting the tip of his left elbow and eliciting a cry of pain, but not dislodging the grip. Again she struck, two more times, and finally he pulled his arm back.
Mane-iac slung her left arm around his right, pinning it into her armpit, and proceeded to land a punch into his breadbasket. His only reaction was to huff, and reach back out to grab her wrist. A normal person would easily be rag-dolled by such a brute, and she could feel the hundred-or-so pounds of muscle straining to control her. But Mane-iac had been through the chemical baptism, increasing her strength to just above peak. Still, it was like wrestling a gorilla.
Amidst a trading of grunts and snarls, she waiting until he tried to press over her, and when he did, she dropped her weight and swiveled her hips into a hasty aikido toss. With him on his back, she transitioned into a mount over his chest, and drove a shot into his left temple to disabuse any violent retaliation, and finished with a short left jab between his eyes to put him out.
Once sedated, she slid off a chest that could span a bed.
"Jeez, was this guy's father an ox or something?"
The clink of metal bracelets brought her vision up, where she looked directly into the muzzle of what she realized was a forty-caliber pistol. In slow motion she heard the hammer being cocked back and the firing pin preparing to strike the primer.
In a flash a tendril of hair was stuffed down the barrel, the round going off inside the chamber. With nowhere for the bullet to go, the gas was forced elsewhere, and caused the gun to explode, the slide and frame separating violently.
"AAAAHHHHH!" Forklift screeched as the parts went flying, his hand a bloody, misshapen thing. Dropping to his knees and clutching the wrist, he wept. It lasted for all of two seconds before a booted foot cracked his jaw and knocked him out.
Standing over her work, Mane-iac let her heart rate calm back down.
"THERE SHE IS!"
"FREEZE!"
Mica twirled in place to see two policemen leveling their own weapons on her from the doorway to the rest of the factory.
"Shit." She said to herself as her eye patches widened.
Sprinting out of the supply room the way she had entered, bullets pinging off the walls and two frustratingly fit patrolmen on her tail, Mane-iac dashed around the corner, leaped over the body of Door Guard, and slung herself off the street.
The two policemen, nearly stumbling over the unconscious thug, thought better of their plan and stopped to secure the actual criminals.
Coming down off a low roof and into the alley where she had parked, she came to a stop next to her disguised car. Putting aside the newly acquired aches and pains on top of the old ones, she noticed that something was off about how the tarp looked.
When she removed it, she could have alerted the entire city's police force with her cursing had she not contained herself.
The Black Beauty, was upside-down.
======================
SATURDAY NIGHT
======================
"Hot as I was after spending every waking hour today restoring Black Beauty to her proper lust and shine, I had to come at things tonight with a cool head.
Not only did I expect there to be a lot of muscle around the mob meeting, I sure as hell expected Shadowbolt to be stalking around somewhere. And there was no way I was going to let him get away from me a second time."
In the south end of Maretropolis, where the industrial district bled into harbor freight and port shipping facilities, Mane-iac perched her elbows along the guard wall of the dormant parking structure. Spired five-floors off the ground, it provided an ideal place for her to conduct a little recon. The freshly buffed Black Beauty parked behind her, she leaned forward, using her elbows to support the telescope.
"This part of the city was notorious for being a haven for the seedier elements of society. Various labor unions controlled what went on here, in daylight and at night, and being that they were interested in profit and influence over everything else, their turf was often used as neutral territory for the mafia. Not only was tonight one giant mea culpa for the shooting at the restaurant, but it was also serving as a war planning summit. A war on Shadowbolt."
Below her, the fish cannery had become the center of late-night activity. She scanned the property through the green filter of the night vision, taking mental note of guards, vehicles, access and egress routes.
"A bevy of cars easily as expensive as the Black Beauty were parked around the building, a dozen on my side, more on the opposite. Parked around the area on side streets, were cars of... lesser value. No doubt the hired help and some of the lower ranking crew."
Several men, dressed in long winter coats over their casual suits and carrying submachine guns hung from slings over their shoulders kept watch from their positions.
"Two men posted at each door, two on the roof with NVG's, another two guarding the cars that I can see. Probably another two-dozen guns inside to guard the meeting. They're smart, but they're underestimating Shadowbolt."
Ducking behind the wall, Mane-iac folded the scope in half, replacing it in the back of her utility belt.
"And they're underestimating me."
One of the guards watching over the vehicles leaned his rump against the wooden guardrail buffering the side of the building, letting the drum magazine of his Thompson rest on his thigh. His lean build shivering slightly under the layers of warm clothing, he adjusted the wool cap.
"Shadowbolt ain't stupid enough to come here." He grumbled, his pencil thin mustache contorted in a miserable scowl. "Freezin' my ass off for nothing."
The dart stuck into his neck without a sound, the thin grey body with the little poof of red fur on the end injecting the medium dose of sedative into his bloodstream. He raised a hand to feel for the spot, but consciousness left him before the fingers reached.
As his body began to slump, purple tentacles held him up, fixing him into a sitting position on the wooden bar, and propping the weapon across his lap. The shadow of the spot would hide him long enough.
Moving past the sleeping guard, Man-iac pressed her body to the stucco, the hundreds of individual hair ends finding holds to dig themselves into. Crawling up the side of the building, Mane-iac's hair shimmered in waves like a house centipede, continuously moving upwards with thousands of tiny grips.
The top of her hat, then her eyes popped over the roof, hesitating just long enough to see the two roof guards staring off in different directions. She took the window of opportunity, slinking over the edge and finding the roof access door unlocked. The blow dart pipe raised to her mouth, she watched every move they made as she slowly opened the door, and stepped inside.
"Thank you all for coming gentlemen." Two long rectangular tables had been pushed together, around them were seated the top Mafioso in Maretropolis. Most of them captains, but sitting at the head, were the three heads of the city's mob families.
Antonio Ponezetti the godfather of the south end, Ricardo Flankastro, godfather of the north end, and Dominick Stallionato godfather of the west end and most powerful of the three. Together, these men divided the city into three parts, and until recently had maintained a cordial truce of respect and deference.
"I'm glad you all could make it." Addressing them, was an intermediary, not connected to any of the families, in a grey suit and medium length blond hair, grey eyes peered keenly through his glasses.
Antonio, who had to breathe through a mask attached to an oxygen tank hooked to the back of his wheelchair, glared at the younger man with ire in his black eyes. Ricardo, white hair trimmed with class stewed under his black velvet coat, his bejowled chin a compliment to the prodigious girth of his belly. Dominick, the oldest, silently appraised the speaker. Tiny translucent hairs carpeting his otherwise bald head. He was a wiry old man, years of outwitting his rivals having left him the disposition of an experienced predator, calm and observant.
Smiling, the speaker opened his posture to make himself as non-threatening as possible. "My name is Lukas, my benefactor would like to thank you for taking the time out of your night to-"
"We are old." Stallionato interrupted with a raised hand and a gentle voice. "Your benefactor is taking what little time we have left, please get to the point."
Slightly taken off script by the composed yet authoritative directive, the speaker got over his stumbling block and continued with a bowed head of regard.
"Absolutely Don Stallionato. My benefactor understands that you are experiencing a growing problem with this Shadowbolt character. He would like to offer his services in getting rid of him for you."
"And just who the hell is your benefactor, huh?" Flankastro spat, his personal grudge against the new vigilante shining through.
"He has not authorized me to reveal that information at this time." The man apologized. "But, he is willing to meet with you all in person once a deal is reached."
"And what is his price?" Dominick asked, narrowing his gaze.
"Merely some logistical assistance in a minor personal affair that he understands you are well capable of providing."
Ricardo turned to face his senior. "He wants a favor."
"Essentially yes." Lukas admitted. "But one that you can easily afford."
Stallionato leaned forward in his seat. "What kind of, favor, are we talking about?"
A crack of nervousness broke across Lukas' face, "Sorry but, again, I am not authorized to reveal that information at this time."
"Then what are you authorized to do?" An angry Flankastro slammed his fist on the table. "You have one sentence left to stop jerking us around, before we throw you in the Damsire!"
"The Damsire? In this cold?" Mane-iac thought to herself, watching the events below from her spot in the rafters. "That river must be half-frozen over on a night like this."
Finally stuck for words, the young man was saved by the ringing of the cell phone on the table. Glancing down, he saw the number and snatched it immediately.
"Yes Sir?... You what?... O-okay I-... Alright."
"Was that him? Yanking on your leash?" Ricardo scoffed.
"Indeed it was." Lukas said with a tone of disappointment. "He wants to address you himself."
"He's here?" The elder Don asked, glancing around the room.
"Not quite." Bending down, Lukas was grabbing his briefcase when no less than six of the other men at the table got to their feet, reaching inside their jacket breasts.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Putting his free hand in the air for them all to see, he slowly placed the case on the table, and unlocked the latch. "It's just a tablet."
Warily, the men eased back into their seats. Lukas took out a white tablet device, and configured the protective case into a triangular support to enable the 10-inch screen to face the paterfamilias. He pressed the power button, and the screen morphed to display the shape of a man in silhouette.
"Hello gentlemen." The modified voice purred.
"The man on the screen. The one those goons were working for." Crawling heel-toe across the steel beam, Mane-iac positioned herself to get a better view of the image.
"My associate is not quite used to dealing with such commanding men." The figure moved little, but had the shape of a man from the waist up sitting at a table. "My deal, is that in exchange for your help, I will deliver Shadowbolt to you within 24-hours."
Taken aback, the Mafioso looked among each other. Stallionato leaned is face towards the screen and gave the mysterious figure a hard examination.
"You can guarantee this?" He asked.
"Most precisely. The only question is, do you want him dead or alive?"
With strained breathing, Ponezetti removed his breathing mask, hand trembling and face stone cold. His voice was gravely and weak, but still carried a venomous hatred.
"Alive."
Outside, one of the vehicle guards caught sight of his partner asleep against the wall. Shaking his head, he walked over.
"Wake the hell up Johnny!" A slap on the shoulder brought no response, it only moved the gun to slip limply between the man's legs.
"What?" Taking a flashlight out of his pocket, the guard shined the light in his partner's face, seeing now that he was out cold. Closer inspection revealed the dart still embedded in the neck.
"HEY! SOMEBODY'S HERE!"
Word caught on fast and soon the yelling reached the inside, startling the assembled table into a flurry of action. Bodyguards swooped in on their respective leaders and hurried them away and towards the cars.
Lukas, thoroughly terrified, snapped up his tablet, shoved it in the briefcase, and was turning to make his own escape.
He would have made it, if not for the woman in a gold costume and mask who dropped down in front of him.
"I need to talk to your boss."
Mane-iac seized him by the lapels of his jacket and threw him onto the table. Her hair tendrils secured his wrists and ankles to the surface as she took the briefcase in hand, slamming it down on his abdomen.
"Please no!" He cried, squirming like a cat that didn't want to be held. "Nobody's supposed to use that but me!"
"I'll tell him you're indisposed." Opening the briefcase, she grabbed the tablet and turned it on, coming face-to-digital face with the man in black.
At the vehicles, Ricardo Flankastro was huffing his way towards his car, stopping for a moment to brace himself on the hood.
"You two!" He told his men, "Stay here and cover our escape. I'll send a car for you."
Unenthused, they nonetheless obeyed and posted themselves to handle anything that came their way.
Flankastro turned and knocked on the driver's window, where his man was waiting behind the wheel to evacuate him at a moment's notice. The knock however garnered no response.
Confused and increasingly agitated, Ricardo bent down to start yelling at his driver to unlock the doors, but saw to his fright that he was slumped over in the seat, a rivulet of blood trickling down from a gash in his scalp.
All he could manage was a gasp before something grabbed the back of his head and smashed his face through the glass.
"Mane-iac, it's so very good to meet you at last." Mica could hear the smarm in his voice carry through the audio masking. "They always say ladies are much prettier in person."
"How about we get together then?" She jabbed back. "You tell me all about your plans, and I'll leave you conscious enough to greet the police."
"That does sound marvelous, but you simply must bring your little playmate Shadowbolt with you."
"What do you want with him?" Her tone dropped. "What's his story?"
"A very terrible one I'm afraid. Though... not as terrible as it will become."
Dictating that he take a less direct, and therefore predictable escape route, Antonio Ponezetti was being wheeled out of a side door, instead of the more accessible handicap ramp. However, this plan forced them to go through a somewhat narrow hallway. A menacingly dark hallway in the late hour. Two of his men running point rounded a corner, weapons up just to make sure all ahead was clear. The soldier pushing the chair paused, waiting for the signal to progress.
After a few tense seconds, the wave of the arm came, and with a methodical haste, the wheelchair was moving.
They came around the corner, and before they could stop, the chair ran into the downed body of one of the men. Momentum thrusting them onward however, Antonio was pitched out of his seat and atop his fallen guard.
"Christ!" His remaining man yelped, rushing to help his pater back into the chair. With some hurried action, the wheezing Ponezetti was belted into the seat to avoid another spill, and they continued towards the exit, which lay in the form of a glass door not ten meters away.
Half the distance left, Antonio felt the chair jerk backwards, and then the sensation of his man's hold on the handlebars come away, letting the chair roll on a few more feet. The hallway was too dark to see much of anything around him, except where the ambient light of the outside gleamed off the door.
A hand, a terrifyingly strong hand came around his face and pinned the mask over his mouth and nose. Antonio tried to shake himself loose, but the belt held him in place, and sheer panic confounded his efforts to unbuckle it and claw at the arm at the same time. The presence behind him made no sound, said nothing, offered no final taunt, but there was the sound of the knob of his oxygen tank being turned.
He felt the gas pressure increase instantly, until he couldn't exhale.
All he could do was watch his reflection in the door writhe, seeing his own horrified eyes staring back at him as he tried to breathe.
"Who are you?" Mane-iac demanded, ready to twist the tablet in half. "What do you want?"
"What I want! Mane-iac..." The surge of anger was stifled just as quickly as it flared. "Ironically enough, is a little recognition."
Somewhere, up in the top right corner of the screen, a series of flashing lights passed by the corner of a window.
"Now, do be a dear and bring me Shadowbolt before he kills the last of the men capable of helping me."
Mane-iac's bewilderment was betrayed by the scrunch of her mask.
"He's there Mane-iac!" The dark figure exclaimed. "He's at the facility with you!"
"How do you-" Her question was cut off when the screen went black. Outside, a grown man screamed.
"Shadowbolt's here? Oh God!" Lukas whined, trying to pull away from her strands.
"Oh be quiet!" Yanking him upright, she laid a forearm across his face, knocking him out.
"He may be a few circuits short of a neural processor, but at least Shadowbolt's no coward. Hmm... I'll have to thank Gigan for that phrase."
Shots rang out, bullets swallowed up by the shadows as Dominick Stallionato's men encircled him, escorting their patriarch to safety. The men were nervous, reacting to every phantom of movement they perceived.
His time in the army had served him well, given him a tactical mind. Now, his men treated him like one of the VIP's he'd protected in his youth, providing three-hundred and sixty degree security while moving through hostile territory.
More importantly, it instilled in him a mind that was cool under pressure, didn't flinch in the face of death, wasn't afraid of what lurked in the dark.
Police sirens could already be seen coming down the streets, and if they arrived, he knew the chances of Shadowbolt daring to attack would be reduced greatly.
In a few moments they were all loaded into black SUV, doors locked, windows up, and ready to roll.
The vehicle started with a whiplash, not wasting a second in accelerating. They were just about to pull onto the street when Dominick caught a flash of motion outside.
The SUV was struck on its right side, above the rear tire, causing the vehicle to spin so violently, every neck inside snapped to the shoulder. Left side tires found purchase, forcing the momentum to transfer sideways, and send the vehicle onto its flank.
Stallionato watched from a daze as one of his best men, the one who had been on his right, recovered his wits, pulled out his handgun, and stood up to open the door that was now above them. After some muscle and grunting, he managed to force the warped frames apart, and began climbing out to point his weapon at any oncoming threat.
Instead, the rear window was kicked in, not in a shower of bits but as a single pane. An arm reached in, grabbed the man by his shin, and pulled him out kicking and screaming. The screaming only lasted a second longer.
For Dominick, the worst part was always the waiting.
The glass pane was drawn out, and next he felt hands on his shoulders before being dragged back into the frosty night air. But even an old Stallionato still has some fight left in him.
He curled his knees into his chest and kicked out, hitting what his instincts told him was a human jawbone. Unlike the cordite-scented sands of a beach 40 years ago however, these hands didn't let go. Dragged to his feet, he found himself shoved against the underside of the SUV, returning a hard glare of his own to the one who held him.
"Dominick Stallionato." Shadowbolt growled, his mouth quivering in rage. "You tried to kill me." |
Mane-iac: Shadow of Vengeance | Part 4: To the Light of Day | =============================
CORNET LABS
THE NIGHT OF THE ACCIDENT
=============================
"SOMETHING'S WRONG! THE REACTOR IS OVER HEATING!"
"Stacey's scream filled the control room, piercing above the alarms."
Thomas Jacobs, Stacey Meriwether, and Gary Straub went into emergency mode, dashing among the control panels on their side of the room. The translucent panel separating them from the other room alternated in flashes of white and blue light. Contained in the room beyond, the rumble from the reaction chamber continued to increase in volume. The seams of the chamber, shaped like a sphere in the middle of a vertical cylinder with a number of pipes and cables tethering it to the walls and floor, began to bulge.
Polished steel, the body was comprised of several 5-inch thick pieces, riveted together to house the electronics and fission reactors in the top and bottom ends. The center of the chamber was where the action would take place, it's face to the control room was the windowed access hatch. At that moment, an amazing show of convulsing and coalescing energy was taking place, sparks and arcs of manufactured cosmic power dancing into existence.
"If this thing goes," Straub cried, frantically trying to adjust the external controls. "It'll take out the whole building!"
"We hadn't tried to generate much, just a few molecules to test the theory. Now these few infinitesimal specks threatened to multiply into ounces, enough to wipe Maretropolis from the surface of the Earth. The military overseers had been worried about the dangers of trying to create dark matter in a laboratory, and we had so arrogantly assured them of our safety. The future of space travel required a more capable fuel, and we had wanted to be the ones to create it."
"Thomas look!"
"Stacey, beautiful as ever even when she's terrified, was pointing to a video feed of the rear entrance to the chamber room, replaying moments right after the fission reactors started to malfunction."
"There was someone in the back." She said, stunned. "There was someone trying to sabotage the rear containment valve!"
"We had been warned about potential spies and agents of hostile governments attempting to interfere in the experiment, steal the research. But we never thought they'd resort to something like this. I watched the hooded figure do something out of sight, get real angry, then escape out of the back door."
"The release is jammed..." Jacobs realized.
"I've cut off the power to the generators, but the process is already underway, unless we can get the rear valve working again, it'll push all excess energy to the forward hatch!"
"Straub was panicked, but his mind was used to that. His hands moved across the controls like a madman, only interrupted by brief seconds of him using his sleeve to wipe the sweat from his forehead."
"Thomas..." While Jacobs was making his own adjustments to his side of the control panel, Stacey approached him, her hands shaking.
"Thomas, if we can't control the gestation... I just, I just wanted to tell you-"
"Tell me about it afterwards Stacey." He told her, turning to grab her by the shoulders and stare into her watering brown eyes. "Right now we have an explosion to prevent."
"No matter what we tried in the booth, nothing seemed to stabilize the metastasization of the dark matter. It was coming into being, and without the rear containment valve, the energy produced by its generation would be compressed until it blew the chamber. And us along with it.
With the seconds ticking by I realized the only way to fix the problem was to enter the chamber and manually open the rear valve."
"Nothing else is working..." looking at the volatile generation chamber, Jacobs steeled his resolve. "I've got to go in."
"Are you out of your mind man!" Straub took the lapels of Thomas' lab coat by the fistful, pushing him against the wall. "The radiation will fry you!"
But Jacobs' fixed his friend with resigned calmness, laying his hands across Gary's forearms. "I'll wear the suit."
"We had been so eager. Far ahead of any time a testable engine could be built, we designed a suit for the pilot to wear. It would shield the wearer from any ambient radiation produced by the dark energy.
In short order I was dressed, Gary and Stacey helping me into the skin-tight body suit. It may have been immodest, and I may not have filled it out as well as I'd have liked, at least we had given it a stylish color scheme.
"Are you sure about this?"
"It wasn't lost on either one of us that this was the last time I might see her. In fact, even if were successful, I'd still be exposed to lethal dosages of radiation, which would claim me eventually.
But it had to be done."
"It's either this, or something much worse." Thomas told her, pulling the mask up over his face, leaving only the mouth, eyes, and crown of his head uncovered. "So I'm about as sure of this as anything in my life."
"Then you'll need these." She said, holding a pair of protective goggles in her hands. "Gotta protect those steel-grays of yours."
"When she placed the goggles over my face, it was the last time her skin touched mine. I remember it being so warm and soft. Passion overcame me, and I pulled her in for a kiss.
Entering the chamber room was like stepping over an event horizon, the point of no return. The door locking behind me, I could feel the heat coming of the chamber, and I knew I was being inundated with radioactive particles. I might as well have put my head in a microwave and set it for 10 minutes on high.
Carrying the tool bag with me, I hurried to the rear of the chamber where, to my horror, saw that the control handle on the rear release valve had been welded in place. This was haw the saboteur had defeated the fail-safes. Whoever it was hadn't managed to tamper with the control handle on the emergency vent though, a pipe just above that would release the excess energy into the room instead of the containment cells. This was the way.
With no other choice, I opened the emergency vent."
"THOMAS WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"
"I heard Straub screaming, knowing full well the consequences of releasing the excess into the room. I had effectively just created a whole room of artificial cosmic energy, still horrible, but not as catastrophic as an explosion. I just had to hope the room's seal held out."
"Oh my god..."
"Stacey was staring at data display, where we would find out if our dream had come true, to produce dark matter. She was fixated on it for some reason."
"Thomas..." She called out, "The dark energy, it's... it's working!"
"Well, at least we had proven the science correct. Hopefully the next team to pick this up would all survive.
Since the damage had already been done I decided to see the process for myself. Kneeling down, I gazed into the hatch window, and watched our attempt to play god come to fruition."
A series of flashes from the chamber caused a new surge of activity from the data controls.
Gary gasped, "It's not stopping! It's generating exponentially!"
"When I heard that, I realized the precious seconds that existed between the levels of disaster.
I opened the hatch, interrupting the process, and reached inside. The last thing I remember seeing before my world ceased to exist was the name of the project we had stenciled onto the hull. Our mission not for man to explore the stars at the speed of light, but, at the speed of darkness.
Project: Shadowbolt."
The laboratory was consumed in an instantaneous explosion, and so with it, the building.
===================
WEEKS LATER
===================
"But death refused to claim me. By the time I woke up, I had not imagined the world I would come back to would be as dark as the particle I had once tried to father. Rising from the dirt, I looked around to see myself standing in a crater, knowing in my bones it was the epicenter of something terrible.
For a while I didn't even know my own name, I just knew it hurt to be in the light. So I was relegated to living in the darkened crevices of the city where I survived like an animal, scrounging for food, sheltering in shadows, and keeping away from people. In all that time, I watched. I observed how the underbelly of Maretropolis really turns, how the criminal and the abhorrent preyed on the innocent and the beautiful.
It wasn't until years later, when I overheard some mobsters talking about how they knew someone who knew something about what happened that night in the lab. By sheer chance, they had entered the same public bathroom I was in at the time to wash my face. With no way out before they came in and turned the lights back on, I ducked into one of the stalls and pulled my legs up. They went to the urinals and began chatting, the usual stuff about how they had strong-armed honest people, which cop they had paid off this week, how much they made by turning teenagers into addicts. I had grown so jaded by then, I just didn't care."
"You hear about that kid? The one from the west end boys?" One of the men in cheap suits asked, tilting his head laterally. "Heard he got roughed-up pretty good by some Ponezetti crew."
"Oh yeah.. He-he.. Always running his mouth." His partner chuckled. "That kid never does know when to take no for an answer. You hear he started bragging about that uh... Cornet Labs accident?"
"The mention of the lab brought back a flood of memories all at once. It was almost too much to handle, but I was able to remember, remember what happened that night."
Zipping up their pants, one of the men shook his head. "Saying he was behind it. Now why would anyone wanna brag about that? No money in blowing up labs."
"What happened once my mind calmed isn't exactly clear. I just remember the rage. The stall door was kicked off its hinges, I grabbed it and hurled it like a spear at one of them. I think I heard his ribs shatter, I'm not sure.
When the other one pulled his gun out of his jacket, I moved, then my hands were around his throat, then I... I..."
========= NOW
=========
"Dominick Stallionato, you tried to kill me."
"The hell are you talking about!" The old man growled, feeling the uneven surface of his SUVs underbelly dig into his shoulders. "I ain't never tried to kill anybody, I got it done."
"One of your lackeys." His grip tightening, twisting the aged mobster's lapel, Shadowbolt bared his teeth. "You gave one of your miserable underlings the order to sabotage Cornet Labs. Your man, your order, your hand at work. What was his name?"
Genuinely perplexed, Stallionato returned the sneer and shook his head. "Kid, I don't know what you heard, or what lies you been sold, but I ain't never given anybody such a stupid order, as blowing-up some science lab!"
"YOU'RE LYNG!" Shadowbolt raged, lifting Dominick off his feet. "Tell me his name or I'll pop your head off like a dandelion!"
Through the fog of anxiety and indignant anger, A thought cut its way through the years of Dominick's faded memories, one recalled by the accusation.
"Wait... There was a rumor floating round, about some kid in my turf, but he was full of shit, nobody ever believed him."
Lowering the Don to put their eyes on an equal plane, Shadowbolt asked one last time in a voice that could chill the devil.
"What, was his name?"
"Shadowbolt!" Standing behind them both, Mane-iac poised herself, ready for anything.
"Put him down!" She commanded. "You're coming with me!"
Before he could respond, Police sirens and squealing tires came around the block. The window for answers was closing, and Shadowbolt knew it.
"The lady..." Stallionato whispered, "Or the tiger?"
Shadowbolt turned his head to Mane-iac, growling in frustration.
"I'm not finished with you." He told Dominick.
Throwing the old man over his shoulder, Shadowbolt darted out from between the two sides, heading into a row of quiet industrial buildings. Just as fast, Mane-iac was after him.
Encumbered by the weight, he wasn't as fast as he usually was, but he was still able to keep pace ahead of her.
"Oh no you don't!" Throwing tendrils of hair up around streetlights, Mane-iac slung herself forward, arms outstretched. But he maneuvered out of the way just in time, dodging her by inches.
The chase continued, even as it left the street when he leaped from the top of a car, onto a low roof, and into the window of an adjacent manufacturing plant. Entering the room, he immediately saw the tall metal cabinet next to the window. With one arm he reached back and yanked it off-kilter to block the way.
"Damn!" Making the split decision, Mane-iac opted to head higher.
Coming to a stop on a catwalk above the plant floor, overlooking a number of machines and stacks of crates, Shadowbolt took Stallionato and put his back against the railing.
"His name! Who sabotaged the lab!"
"Go to hell." Dominick said, sticking his chin out in a final act of defiant courage.
Pulling his arm back to deliver a punch to the old man's ribs, the sound of scampering from above distracted Shadowbolt.
Taking his chance, Stallionato gripped the combat knife stuck in his belt line, drew it out, and stabbed it into Shadowbolt's left breast to the hilt.
"AHH!" Seeing the handle sticking out of his chest, the flash of anger blinded his senses. Shadowbolt drove his fist into Dominick Stallionato's sternum, crushing his ribcage like an empty eggshell. The dying mobster coughed-up a spray of blood onto his killer's face, collapsing.
"Noooooo!" His best chance to find out who had destroyed the lab taking his knowledge to the grave with him, Shadowbolt cursed himself. He pulled the knife from his flesh and threw it away with such force it was embedded in the concrete wall.
Mane-iac dropped down from above, aghast to see what he had done.
"I don't care what your cause is, Thomas Jacobs, that's the last man you kill."
Facing the one who had interrupted him just when he was about to get the name, who now set herself to deny him his revenge, Shadowbolt turned on her with a cold fury.
"I've still got one or two left in me."
She was ready when he charged, ducking around his lunging fist and coming back with a left hook to the inside of his knee, followed by a right into his solar plexus. He buckled, but it wasn't enough to throw him off.
He grabbed one of the tails of her scarf, using it to drag her to the side and against the railing. With her back against the bar, he seized her throat in his hand, pressing forward, trying to bend her whole body.
"I told you to stay out of this!" Shadowbolt growled, her hands grabbing onto his arms. "I told you to walk away!"
Staring back into his face, Mica could almost see the eyes behind the goggles. "Like hell!" She choked out.
Purple tendrils wrapped around Shadowbolt's ankles, and pulled upwards, heaving both of them over the railing and out of sight.
Close by, A man sitting in shadows watched the fight play on one of several monitors surrounding him. He watched the pair tumble over the handrail with a light gasp of fascination. The shine of the screen's light reflecting in a stripe across the lenses of his glasses.
Mane-iac and Shadowbolt crashed onto the barren concrete floor, she saving them both from injury by taking the brunt of the impact with a curved construct of her hair. They rolled to the side, still gripping one another like animals locked in combat for survival. As he reasserted his grip around her throat, she reached over and drove the palm of her hand into his jaw repeatedly. She knew it wouldn't be enough to seriously harm him, but it was a sufficient tactic to keep him distracted from the tendril of hair creeping behind his back.
The vine wrapped itself around Shadowbolt's neck, a sister around his left shoulder, and both worked in tandem to pry him off and fling him into a steel support beam for the catwalk above. He hit the strut hard enough to curve the metal, a grunt of pain escaping him. Mane-iac shot to her feet, rushing over to hopefully incapacitate him at the first opportunity. She leaped forward, aiming a boot for his chin, but he saw the blow coming in time and ducked to the side.
She struck the beam, and for a split second her momentum allowed her to stand on the vertical surface. It was enough time for Shadowbolt to counter attack. He seized the leg, placing the back of her shin on his shoulder, and yanked her to the ground. Immediately he swung her in a tight arc, warping her right side around the beam, shattering one of her ribs.
"Ahh!" The sharp stab of pain shooting across her midsection became her whole world, the fact that her impact-dulling armor had prevented much worse damage was something she was too preoccupied to be thankful for.
Not finished, Shadowbolt grabbed her arm, and with both limbs tossed her into the painted cinderblock wall. Mane-iac hit the bricks with a thud, face clenched as she started to slide down. At the sound of his footsteps, she reflexively lashed out with angry, snapping strands, aiming just to keep him at bay for a few moments longer.
The tactic worked, and by the time he managed to weave his way through the tendrils of hair that jabbed and beat, she was ready. When he went to land a punch, she caught the arm in a standing scarf hold and leveraged him against the wall with a pivot of her legs. Mane-iac put a knee into up into his lower ribcage, trying her damdest to snap one of his ribs in turn. She fed two into his side before she felt something give way, and put in a third to the liver for good measure.
Shadowbolt muscled free of her hold, pushing her face away with the edge of his hand against her nose. She knocked it away, and teed off with a series of rights and lefts to his jaw, throat, breadbox, and cheeks. He tried to counter, but she easily deflected his wild swing, and laid another salvo into his head, finishing it with an elbow across the mandible. He staggered, coughing up a gob of blood that splattered on the floor.
Teeth grinding and battle fury coursing through her veins, Mane-iac didn't see a chance for de-escalation, rather she saw an opportunity to deliver a finishing blow. She threw her head back, then whipped it forward, morphing her hair into a battering ram. The blunt end of the purple instrument struck Shadowbolt in the chest, and hammered him through the wall in a burst of concrete bits and dust.
The room on the other side was filled with abandoned construction equipment and material, the result of a retrofitting attempt the previous year. Long settled dust and cobwebs were pitched into chaos when Shadowbolt came crashing into the room and demolished a stack of cinderblocks.
Mane-iac stepped through the rough opened they'd created, casting her hat aside, focused solely on rendering her foe a sack of disjointed bones and organs. She grasped a handful of his hair to drag his face up, drawing her leg back for another knee strike. But he gripped her arm, and propelled himself upwards at an angle to smash the crown of his skull into her nose and top row of teeth. A gush of crimson and cry of agony was the sign of his success as she stumbled back, eyes watering and world spinning.
Shadowbolt managed to get a hold of a tendril of flailing hair, and he yanked on it, pulling her directly into his lunging fist. The knuckles buried themselves into her gut, doubling her over before he slipped his arm around her neck. He squeezed her in the front face-lock like an orange, lifting her off her feet until she was almost upside-down. Purple hair became an angry kraken, lashing out at anything within reach, striking bricks into a million pieces.
A path of clarity broke through her fury, hundreds of hours of training snapping back to the fore. Mane-iac dug her hands into her belt, slotting her fingers into the knuckle dusters. Now sporting a bit more armament, and none too soon as the choke hold on her throat threatened had cut off her breath. Mica regained control of her wild hair, sending it to coil itself around Shadowbolt's face. He simply couldn't maintain his grip as his neck was bent backwards, and released her.
Mane-iac fell to the debris covered floor, sucking in lung-fulls of glorious oxygen. For a split second it reminded her of some deep-water diving she had done, training her lungs to stay down longer and longer before needing to surface. Sometimes preparation came in handy in the oddest places.
Shadowbolt continued to wrestle with her super-strands, experimental science giving his muscles the ability to pry them off. He spun in place to undo the coil, taking the length of it in both hands, fighting it for dominance. Mane-iac lunged through the midst's of her hair, knuckle dusters leading the way. At the last moment, Shadowbolt turned his back to her, dragging the length of her locks with him, taking her off balance and careening into a rusty wheelbarrow. Mica and the cart toppled over one another, loudly, colliding into several upright wooden planks.
In the mess, the weapon on her right hand was jostled off. She tried to get her feet under herself as quickly as possible, but a boot to the ear put her back down. Insensible, Mica once more struggled to stand, reaching out and finding something to grab with her left hand, Shadowbolt. He grabbed the hand, holding it in place, and brought down a hammer fist over the knuckles, using the metal bracers to break two of her phalanges.
"AHHH-HUUUUUH!" She shrieked, curling her body into a fetal position to protect her injured appendage. What Shadowbolt didn't see as he huffed for breath, was the smoke pellet she was removing from her belt. In the blink of an eye, she struck her hand out and smashed the orb on the floor, releasing the contents to expand and fill the space with a choking grey fume.
The sudden shroud forced Shadowbolt back, covering his mouth and teetering away to find clear air. Seconds passed as he coughed and spat out the chemical residue, the finer material of the smoke bomb leaving a thin layer over the lenses of his goggles. He had a lot of difficulty defending himself when Mane-iac emerged from the mist with her collapsible baton raised. She kicked half a red brick to initiate a distraction, it shot up and hit him leg, causing him to lean down reflexively.
She swung for the exposed area on the back of his skull, just grazing the top of his crown when he reacted. Nonetheless, the glancing blow torn his skin, lacerating three inches of the uncovered portion of his head. Mica's training took over her attack, striking next with a back blow as he stood erect to avoid a direct impact to the face. Her footwork danced through the assault, one leg spinning around for a roundhouse that was battered away with a forearm, only for Mane-iac to use her hair as a backstop, and suspend her at an angle.
The technique caught him by surprise, and she capitalized, drilling a dropkick into his chest that projected him into a partially demolished section of concrete wall. Shadowbolt's hand caught a length of rebar sticking out from the jagged masonry, tearing out a two-foot branch of metal. Mica was again pressing the advantage, this time her baton was met by the steel rod as he rose to his feet, the impact of the two colliding enough that blood from his head wound and her broken face were pitched forward, coating both weapons in droplets.
"What happened to you Thomas?" Mane-iac asked him face to face. From behind re-enforced safety glass and custom-weave mesh, their eyes locked on each other. "What turns a man like you into a murderer!?"
"Thomas Jacobs died saving Manehattan, the price of trying to play god!" Shadowbolt curled his lip back, blood staining his bared teeth. A flash of memory over what happened in the lab that night almost enough to bring him to tears. "NOW THERE'S JUST ME!"
With a shoved he pushed her away, putting a few steps between them. Maybe it was the battle-lust, maybe it was the pain wracking her body, but it was only now Mica took stock of the wall on the right side of the room, the one with more than a few good cracks in it below the window to the outside.
Shadowbolt swung, the length of the rebar forcing her to sidestep and guide it away with her shorter baton. She used her weapon to maneuver his, leading it in a loop that allowed her to step around his side in twirl. He stumbled, giving her a precious second to reach the transmitter on her belt. Mica's fingers were still throbbing and refusing fine dexterity, so she jammed the knuckle of her pinkie finger on the little button. Now she had had to make sure he would stay put.
Though her left hand was only partially functional, it could still grip. As Shadowbolt again swiped his rebar, she lured his attack in before tossing her baton from her right into the left. Her counter was a combination, edging her good hand along his arm, redirecting his momentum as she drove the butt of her nightstick into his shoulder blade and pushing him.
Mane-iac knew she would only have one shot at this, so in spite of the pain and adrenaline, she bent her mind to focus. She drew her blowpipe from its sheath on her belt, a tranquilizer dart preloaded as it always was. The pipe was already in her lips, a breath being funneled through it when Shadowbolt turned around. The dart's aim was true, puncturing his skin in the small sliver of space between his mouth and the side of the mask. Mica didn't want to chance that the suit was able to protect him, so she aimed for exposed skin.
He recoiled and raged, swatting the barb out of his skin. In truth she didn't know how effective the dosage would be, no telling what kind of factors at play that might diminish the effects or even render him immune. But she didn't need it to knock him out, she just needed him slowed down. Whatever was in his system, she couldn't let him burn off.
So she moved in close, raising her baton in challenge. Shadowbolt brought his rebar down, intent to break her weapon in half. The two rods skimmed one another, Mica allowing the force of his blow be directed to the side. That was when she reached up and wrapped her fingers around his jaw, shoving his head back. She powered her legs forward, at the same time interlocking her left arm around his right. She just needed to keep him in place.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spied the window, and the growing light from the other side.
Shadowbolt brought his free arm in a haymaker arc, laying the palm of his hand upside her face, crushing her ear and rattling her balance. The blow legitimately disoriented her, knees losing their resolve, equilibrium no longer under her control. Any other time she might think herself vulnerable, even worried about being in such a defenseless state. But not this time.
Sensing an imminent victory, Shadowbolt grabbed a length of her hair peeling it back until he could stare down at her face.
"Sorry..." Mica muttered. "But I gotta go."
"What?" The confusion was apparent on Shadowbolt's face behind the mask and goggles. She took a small joy in his reaction.
A bright light from the outside beamed through the small window, drawing Shadowbolt's attention, the roar of the engine rapidly approaching.
"My ride's here."
The Black Beauty smashed through the wall, high-beams bathing him head to toe. He covered his face in the half-a-heartbeat, it was all he could do as his enhanced reflexes were retarded by the light particles. Robbed of the ability to dodge the impact, the vehicle's grill plowed into his body, sweeping him away as he was bent over the hood. The car had come within inches of
Mane-iac's nose. They struck the wall on the opposite side and into a larger space.
Three walls of the room demolished, Mica wondered if the ceiling would not collapse as she knelt in place. Using her sleeve to wipe off a trickle of blood off her face, she agonizingly rose to her feet, having to create a third leg with her hair to keep her from sprawling. She ambled to next room, stooping down with a pained groan to pick-up her hat, flopping it onto her crown without ceremony. The loose knuckleduster was also recovered, placing the pair of them and the blowpipe in their respective compartments. Mica retained the nightstick in her functional hand.
"Give me Matter-Horn any day..." She grumbled.
Stepping through the jagged entrance, she saw that Black Beauty had come to a stop, engine idling as its receiver transponder told it that it had reached its destination. The room itself was huge, another storage hanger filled with stacks of grime layered cargo crates, shipping conexs, and other objects under large plastic sheets. As Mane-iac rounded the side of her car, she placed a hand on the roof, leaning on it to give her excruciating ribs a break.
Shadowbolt's arm slapped down on the floor, entering her vision from beyond the car's bumper, clawing like a zombie from the grave.
"Oh for the love of Faust..." Mica dropped her head to the roof in frustration. Her laborious task before her, she tightened her fingers on the baton. He pulled himself across the floor, a slimy tendon of lifeblood and mucus extending from his mouth. His left goggle was shattered, the right a crack down the center. The sound of her footstep caused his head to turn in her direction with a slight wobble. He emitted a guttural cough in spite of his apparent defeat.
Mica raised the baton shakily over her head, glad to finally end this feud.
The overhead lights in the room directly above her illuminated before the blow could fall, leaving her too stunned to do anything else but stand in confused silence. Shadowbolt surrendered one final grunt and lost consciousness.
"Absolutely incredible!" Came a voice not far away. "Such brutality!"
The sound of several guns being cocked snapped Mane-iac to look around, armed men emerging from the stacks and rows, automatic weapons leveled in her direction.
"I'm sure your strange friend from Christmas would have loved a chance to join in the activities!"
The voice was coming from somewhere above her. But as she scanned what she now saw were a network of catwalks crisscrossing the second tier of the room, something else dawned on her.
"I know that voice! It's the man from the tablet! The one who was orchestrating the robberies and trying to broker a deal with the mobs!"
"Who are you?!" She called out, posturing to defend herself from the thugs who continued to tighten the circle. "What do you want?"
"Like I said before, all I want is a little recognition." Noises on the walkway indicated someone moving into position. "By the way, each of my men are equipped with armor-piercing rounds. I admit I'm unsure if your hair can protect you from them, but I am very curious to find out should the need arise."
Mica regarded the men warily, considering if any of them looked like they had an itchy trigger finger.
"Regrettably, I, am a nobody."
Something fell from the scaffolding above and landed atop one of the taller objects just outside the illuminated area. Instead of landing on it with a thud, the top of the dark monument pressed down.
A cloud of vapor was projected from the mysterious aperture, covering Mane-iac. She reflexively reached to pull her scarf over her mouth and nose, but found her movement arrested as soon has her fingers pinched the cloth. Her whole body became frozen in place, as immobile as a statue, every strand of hair suspended.
Whoever it was that had leapt from above made their way to the floor, working from one surface to another. Mica could still see the movement out of the corner of her eye, the figure reaching the ground and standing calmly in the shadows.
"You see Mane-iac, I tried to be somebody, somebody great, somebody like you."
Mica thought it might be an effect of whatever gas she had been dosed with, or just a product of straining her vision to get a better look at him, but she could swear that something was very odd about her captor.
"Well, not quite like you." He continued. "I tried to be like the Malice -Mares."
"The Malice-Mares are involved in this somehow? Why am I not surprised."
"But I'm just a man you know. I don't have any superpowers, I didn't have any fancy gadgets, nothing. Just plain old me. Oh sure I have an intellect worthy of historical record, but they didn't care, they just wanted power. No matter how I appealed to them, they rejected me, scorned me.
You know what they called me? Hmm? They called me useless, they called me dull..."
Sharp footsteps came around from Mica's side, and came to stand within arm's reach in front of her. He was not what she expected.
"They said I was... 'Humdrum'."
Glaring up at Mane-iac, was a diminutive man, no taller than five-feet, avocado green skin, and light brown hair. He was dressed in clean black slacks and a pristine white suit jacket over a grey shirt. Glasses so thick they could be used for a telescope distorted his eyes, making the roan irises pop out at you.
"Can you believe that?" He spat, anger and heartache setting the muscles in his face to twitch. "Humdrum! Me!"
"Oh my god.... I know this guy! Horace Billetino, black sheep and general embarrassment of the extended Stallionato family. The product of the questionable breeding of a bottom-feeding soldier. Despite his dwarfism, he tried to use his brain to rise through the ranks of the family. But the idea of him being anywhere near the actual movers and shakers got quashed at every turn. Bad optics for the prestige of the organization.
Even with his shortcomings, he's managed to garner a reputation all his own. Years of ridicule and exclusion gave him a nasty temper and a cruel streak you could race cars on. The nickname they gave him wasn't one he enjoyed, in fact, mentioning it was known to set him off. I suppose I would too, if my nickname was 'the baby dragon'."
From out of her vision, Shadowbolt moaned. "He must be coming around, but the light is too much for him!"
"Ah... And our volatile friend here. In possession of great power, that should have BEEN MINE!"
The pint-sized fiend turned his back to her, clasping his hands behind.
"I have no-one with whom I can relate, Mane-iac, do you mind if I share a little story with you? You aren't going anywhere are you?"
A small chuckle preceded a sigh.
"Since the Malice-Mares would not have me for lack of powers, I decided that I would simply acquire them. Industrial accidents, I find, have a surprisingly high rate of turning the average person into something more."
He turned to Mica with a sly grin. "As I surmise you are familiar with. But..." Raising a finger, Horace pressed another hand to his chest for a dramatic pause. "It just so happened, that I was able to learn about a nearby facility hosting a new energy project. It was a simply matter of bribery to learn more about what they were doing. You'd be surprised how talkative a security guard can be when you put a suitcase of money and a gun in front of him, and ask him to pick one."
"So I set about to expose myself to the powers generate by the dark matter experiment. Either I would die a death unlike any other in the history of the world, or I would be transformed. Hopefully, into something great. Then the Malice-Mares could no longer dismiss mundane little me."
He turned his heel on a dime and strode over to the fallen Shadowbolt, looming over him, his lips twitching, hands tightening behind his back.
"I made sure the chamber would vent the cosmic radiation, so that I could soak it in, every cell, every molecule and atom of my being transformed by it. But there was a complication I failed to foresee. You see..."
Billetino twisted his neck, remembering his disaster. "I was too short to reach the control handle, too short to reach my destiny."
He held his hand in front of himself, examining it, and clenching it into a fist.
"Then he stole it from me. Took the power that should have been mine. And what has he done with it?"
He scowled, and in a flash, kicked Shadowbolt in the ribs. "Huh! Live in the gutter!" Another kick. "Waste his time with common street scum!" Another kick. "Treat his incredible gift like a curse!"
The flare of wrath sated, he stepped back, hyperventilating breath slowing down until it whistled softly through his teeth.
But... If I can't have amazing power, I can take it away from those who do."
Mica strained to move, whatever the spray was still held her immobile. She could though, feel its potency slipping when her mouth could move ever so slightly.
"Just a little more!.... Come on!"
"I was experimenting with some kind of chemical enhancement, when I stumbled upon this peculiar formula."
Extracting a remote control from his jacket, the Horace pressed a button. The room responded, reams of lights flickering on throughout the breadth of the increasingly revealed space. In front of Mane-iac, where the little man had released the paralyzing mist, now stood what appeared to be a giant aerosol can.
"I call it the 'Hairspray Ray of Doom!', for now at least. Capable of rendering even the greatest superheroes-"
He strode over, bending over to smile smugly a few inches from her.
"-or heroines, completely powerless. Just like me."
Albeit hidden behind her mask, Mica glared at him. "Youu.. Wonnn't... get away.."
Before she could finish her sentence, he moved in uncomfortably close to her, inspecting her face like a scientist would a newly discovered insect species.
"Huh... It seems the formula requires some modification."
Billetino gestured casually to one of his men, waving towards the oversized hairspray container.
"If you would be so kind."
"You got it boss." The unnamed henchman slung his automatic over his shoulder, secured a ladder resting against one of the high shelves, and swung it over onto the aerosol canister. Ascending it, he pressed the top down, once more releasing a jet of the lavender chemical compound that the small man made sure to step aside from.
Mane-iac felt her features harden once more, and would have cursed if she had the ability.
"When I get my hands on this grubby little creep!"
"For my safety and yours, I'll just take this for now." Horace fumbled his fingers around the buckle of Mane-iac's belt, and after a few grunts of frustration, found the release.
"Wouldn't want you playing with any of your toys now would I? And what's this?" He tossed the belt aside and grabbed her by the left arm, wrenching it down for him to get a closer look at the slight but noticeable pad on the inside of her forearm. Mica had already skated by on one stroke of good fortune, and as she watched the strange little man fiddle with her wrist panel, she really hoped fate could spare her one more tonight.
"Oh please, oh please let him be stupid enough, please let him press the right button!"
"Interesting device you have here." He complimented, running his gaze over the array of features. Circuitry embedded into the fabric displayed a series of small inlaid buttons.
"I wonder what these do..."
The more he stared at them, the harder Mica screamed in her mind for him to press the one closest to her elbow. His fingers wiggled, hovering above the slim device like someone tantalized.
"Come on!"
But he retracted his arms and seemed to lose interest for a moment. "Tell me Mane-iac, does one of these blow something up?"
"Press it and find out!"
"Perhaps we'll find out later." Billetino snapped his fingers, two of the men responding to the summons.
"Take the lady to my lab, I've got a few tests I'd like to run."
One of the men paused to stare and point his thumb at the still comatose body of Shadowbolt. "Uh, Boss, what about this one?"
"Leave him, he's not going anywhere in his condition." The dwarf in charge ordered, beginning to walk away.
"Whatevah' you say Boss." One of the men went and took Mane-iac's asymmetrical mass of hair in both hands, leaning her forward as if they were about to move a couch. The other, decided to hold onto her by the arms.
Horace stopped in place, "Oh, and be careful not to-"
As soon as the thug's hands wrapped around her forearm, he felt the slim button depress.
The lights throughout the entire complex died, leaving them all in darkness that was only pierced by the faint moonlight streaming in from the various windows along the higher levels of the walls.
"....... Oh dear god." The small man muttered to himself, his crew asking among themselves what could have happened. As fast as his trembling little hands could move, he took a penlight out of his pocket. He shone it in his immediate area. "Of all the bumbling idiots in Maretropolis to hire!"
His light swept over to Mane-iac, who remained statuesque in between the perplexed goons. Then, carefully so as not to miss anything, he moved his light over to where Shadowbolt had been laying, a silent prayer on his lips. When the spot was illuminated, there was nothing to be found but a small puddle of blood and a number of red smears.
The gulp in his throat was audible. Slowly, he started to back away. A sound, a terrible crunching sound, froze him in place temporarily. He listened intently for anything else but nothing came. The urge to flight compelled him once more to chance a stealthy escape. Memory of how things were positioned in the room might have saved him some trouble, but a pervasive fear dampened his better senses. His leg collided into the corner of a wooden crate, making a very loud, very attention-grabbing noise.
Small man clasped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from yelping, biting the flesh of his palm.
A skittering clatter came closer and closer to him, until he felt something bump against the heel of his shoe. Mouth still covered, he pointed his light down, and saw one of his men's rifles laying there.
"Hang on, hang on." Someone complained. "I got a light." Elsewhere in the room, another goon thumped his own flashlight against his hand, the light flickering. A steady connection was finally made, and the beam filled out. The first thing he saw when he pointed the light ahead of him, was the bloodied, snarling face of Shadowbolt. A scream, and the struggle was over.
"Hey!" One man called out, feeling his way along a row of covered boxes. He carried a shotgun, the upper and lower receivers shaking. "Anybody there?"
The two men who had been about to move Mane-iac stayed put, huddling close to her as if proximity to her offered some kind of safety. Two loud shots went off somewhere in the room, followed by a cry of pain that was cut short.
"What do we do?" one of them asked the other.
"I don't know!" His partner said.
Mica flexed her hand, then balled it up. A thought flashed into her mind about how the spray worked, but she put it aside for the time being. Though the room was nearly pitch black, her double irises could still see far better than any of the criminal hirelings. Straining her muscles and willpower, she felt the rigidity of the chemical's hold on her break apart.
When her body and hair broke free, the effort of having to keep herself upright despite the still-throbbing injuries sent her sprawling belly-first to the floor. The men reacted with surprise, both of them turning to stare at what they could barely see was empty space. Taking the advantage, Mica wrapped her coils around the legs of the man behind her, and yanked them out from under him. Simultaneously, she smashed her baton into the knee of the one who had grabbed onto her arms, deriving a surprisingly high-pitched cry of agony from him.
Swinging her coils, she sent the first man sailing into the body of the massive canister, the blow to the back of his head knocking him out. The second man fell to his side, clutching his folded leg. Mane-iac sprang forward on all fours to bring her nightstick across his cheek, putting a short-term end to his suffering. Her immediate problems solved, she took a few hard breaths before climbing back to her feet.
She was buckling her belt back around her waist when something in the shadows moved. It was barely above a whisper, but she heard the sound of someone stepping very lightly. It was too soft a patter to be the dense Shadowbolt, and she grit her teeth in conclusion.
"I probably should be going after Shadowbolt right now... but I really don't like this guy."
Without warning a burst of gunfire tore through the aisles, forcing her to dash for cover behind a low section of shelving occupied by crates she hoped were filled with things heavy and solid. The shots continued for another three seconds until the unmistakable smack of fist on flesh put an end to it.
"I don't know how he can keep going like this, but he sure is handy in a pinch."
A exit on the far end of the room swung open, the door clanging against the wall with a bang. Mica rushed to pursue as best she could, but when she took a few steps and reached her hand out for support, she touched the cylindrical body of the Hairspray Ray of Doom. She hesitated as an idea took shape.
Shadowbolt too was alerted by the loud escape, letting go of the guy he was holding up by the collar of his shirt, staring over to where the clamor had come from. Years of pent-up revenge welled within him, knowing he had found his quarry at long last. While he may have been incapacitated during the man's egotistical monologue, he heard everything.
The small man ran out into the industrial yard, perspiration beginning to drench his hair, his heart ready to erupt through his sternum. He sprinted on his little legs over the dirt and patches of loose gravel, towards his car parked just at the edge of the road that ran split down the middle. It wasn't a flashy car, or even a pretty nice car by any means. Like him it was small, remarkable only in its banal, aged red paint job, and being a sedan that should have been consigned to the junkyard two decades ago.
Dawn was rising, its fingers reaching across the yard. A cloud of exhalation trailed him like smoke from a coal-powered locomotive as he made his way. His foot slipped on a rock, and he belly-flopped into the ground. "HUFF!" Something in his chest felt wrong, and when he tried to push himself up, he found breathing had become difficult.
The crunch of gravel behind him put a whole new sinking feeling in his heart. Horace spun onto his back, and saw Shadowbolt stalking him, the glimmer of the sun reflecting off his broken goggles. A light snow had begun to descend on Maretropolis, tiny flakes of frost sticking out against the dried blood it settled on. Horace could only stare up at him in terror, a hard wheeze from his lungs increasing in pace.
"Gary Straub." Shadowbolt said, a piece of glass falling out of the goggle's left lens.
"Thomas Jacobs." He took a step forward.
"Stacey Meriwether." Shadowbolt's expression darkened to a degree, the small man thought he might turn into an actual shadow. Then he reached down to take his target by the ankle.
"Don't kill him!"
Holding the Hairspray Ray of Doom in the coils of her hair, Mane-iac hugged an elbow to the left side of her torso. Instead of a an accusing finger or a challenging fist, instead she held out her hand, trying to reach out to him.
"He'll answer for his crimes! Everyone will know what he's done!"
Shadowbolt looked to her, then glanced to the squirming Billetino in his grasp. "Yeah... in the obituaries."
"You said Thomas Jacobs died saving Maretropolis!" Mica said, calming her voice. "I don't believe you when you say there's nothing left of him in you, I don't think a hero died that night."
"I didn't know if I believed the words coming out of my mouth, but there had to be something left of a good man in that suit. Otherwise, why would he be so enraged by the injustice of corruption? Of perversion? Preying on the innocent?
I'm not sure why I didn't just freeze them both right there. Maybe I was just in the moment, maybe I wanted him to choose the right path, instead of me choosing it for him."
Shadowbolt's eye twitched, a frustrated snort as he processed what she had said. Part of him wanted to tear the little man apart, another part, albeit one with a lower volume, told him to stop this madness.
"Thomas died... and I... don't know what came back."
"I can help you Shadowbolt, help you understand what happened to you. But it starts with putting him down. If you stay on this path of violence, it'll destroy whatever's left of the hero inside you. And it'll leave only a monster in its place."
"I seemed to be getting through to him. His arm began to lower."
"What if I am a monster?" Shadowbolt's free hand tightened. "What if there's nothing left to be helped?"
"I think that's up to you. Do you want to be a man? Or do you want to be a monster?"
Billetino was hauled up, his breath sounding like a struggling asthmatic, waiting with spellbound dread for a single blow to end his life. Shadowbolt stared hard into his eyes, lips pinched, a deep-throated growl building.
With a swing of his arm, Shadowbolt tossed Horace into the door of his car. "WHAAA-GHUK!" The baby dragon smacked off the metal, falling into his face. Dislodged by the hit, the lock came apart and the door drifted open with a creak.
Shadowbolt stood in place, his head tilted down in contemplation. "Whatever I am, Mane-iac, I know I'm done spilling blood on account of that little bastard."
Mane-iac eased the pressure on the head of the can, setting the whole thing down as a show of trust.
"You know I gotta take you off the streets now." She told him.
"Yeah, I figured." As he faced her, she could see the part of his eye revealed by the missing part of the lens.
"I don't quite know how I could describe what I saw. I think it must be like what astronomers think the event horizon of a black hole must look like."
"Whoa."
"You think the police will know what to do with him?" Shadowbolt asked. "Maybe they have a dog cage they can keep him in."
"I have friends on the force, plus, I'm sure the police would be more than happy to get a pair of cuffs on the notorious "baby dragon" of the Stallionato family."
Just as Mane-iac took a step, looking to where Billetino had been crumpled, she now realized that he was pointing a pistol directly at her.
"I don't... like that name!" Horace spat, leaning back on an elbow. A trail of blood coming from his nose, glasses bent. Right behind him, the open driver's side door.
"He must have grabbed it while we were talking, had it tucked in beside the seat. The weapon looked like a custom job, large caliber, frame built to accommodate his small hands. Had to assume it was packed with the same armor-piercing rounds he gave his men. I don't think my hair or my suit would stop the bullet."
"Is your suit bulletproof?" Shadowbolt muttered to her out the side of his mouth.
"No, is yours?"
"No."
"Billetino was nervous, I could tell by the way the muzzle wobbled, that and he was clearly suffering some kind of internal injury and the blow to the head. A steady shot is always preferable to a shaky one, easier to gauge, to counter. You get one who can't keep his hand still, that bullet is on a hair trigger, gotta be careful not to startle-"
Shadowbolt took a sudden side step, placing his body between Mane-iac and Billetino. The shot was instantaneous, Horace recoiling like a scared cat from the movement, his finger tightening around the trigger. Before he even realized it, the bullet was already gone. It struck Shadowbolt in the upper left of his chest, throwing him into a spiraling pitch to the ground.
Billetino stared in shock at what he had done, jaw hanging slack, the gun going limp in his hand.
"In the moment, I was more bewildered than worried, and the time it took for him to go down seemed to pass in slow motion."
"SHADOWBOLT!" Mane-iac started to kneel, but instead, she made her way to the still stunned diminutive gangster. He was transfixed, not batting an eye when she reached his side. Very carefully, she took the gun from him with as much ease as if it had been dangling from a hook, unloaded the magazine, and operated the slide to eject the next chambered round.
"I've never shot anybody before..." He said in his daze. "never... killed."
"For what it's worth, I'm not sure he can be."
Horace Billetino blearily craned his neck to the side, gazing up to her like a frightened child.
"So what happens now?"
"Now..." Mica dropped the gun and pulled back her right arm. "I knock you out."
He made no effort to avoid the punch, and his last conscious image was the darkened crevices of her fist.
================
TWO DAYS LATER
================
"...The first officer on the scene, Detective Steven Langoud, described what he saw."
"It was the craziest crap I ever seen in my life! I-i-i-it was like the set of some action flick, buildings busted up, bodies all over the place. Mane-iac and Shadowbolt musta went through hell fighting all them guys."
"I admit, part of me just couldn't help myself."
Sitting in the firelight of her polished den, a recovering Mica Hackett held her cup of coffee with both hands, sitting cross-legged on her couch, nestled in her fuzzy robe. She took a sip and cocked her eyes up to the television screen, where the comically befuddled Maretropolis detective played the fool in the footage shot the other night.
"It's a good thing someone like the Mane-iac was there, otherwise things could have been a lot worse."
"I always got a kick whenever he had to play dumb. He may not be a singer, but damn if he doesn't deserve an award for that act of his."
=================
In the parking garage of the Maretropolis 46th police precinct, Langoud tossed the crinkled paper bag of leftover pastries into the passenger seat of his Coltler Manehattan. Sliding into the seat with an audible degree of effort, he shut the door, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and leaned his neck back.
"Another day, another stale doughnut."
He chanced a sidelong glance into his rearview mirror, and was surprised to see a bright purple ribbon shining in the back seat. Langoud twisted around, and found himself looking at a box for a brand-new coffee machine, an expensive looking one at that. Taped to the side, a bag of Prench Vanilla coffee, his favorite.
Steven smiled. "I knew she liked me."
=======================================================
Mica's phone buzzed, she picked it up in a tendril to see a new message from Gigan. 'Wish you were here!' the text said, accompanied by a picture of him wearing a Metallicolt shirt, and posing with the lead singer, James Hoofield. They were both giving the camera the two-fingered rock-on gesture with outstretched tongues. Mica rolled her eyes with a grin. Then another message appeared; 'So who's this Shadowbolt guy?'.
"Hmm, I'll text him back later.".
The graphic behind the news women changed, now showing the picture of Horace Billetino being escorted in handcuffs, surrounded by police.
"In related news, known criminal Horace "Baby Dragon" Billetino appeared before a judge today, pleading guilty to charges ranging from racketeering, unlawful imprisonment, weapons trafficking, and grand larceny. There are also unconfirmed reports that investigators are looking to file charges stemming from the Cornet Labs explosion four years ago.
"Luckily, the security guard that survived the explosion was perfectly willing to turn himself into the Attorney's office. It was a simple matter of jostling his conscious.
The major families are going to be dealing with the power vacuum for months. You never see people get so ruthless and vindictive then when their divvying up the inheritance. Though I am concerned on who might emerge as the new leadership, something to keep my eye on."
============================================
BALKHAM ASYLUM
============================================
"STEP FORWARD INMATE!"
The re-enforced door slammed behind Horace Billetino, causing him to jump from the sound. Wearing an orange jumpsuit and beige slippers, he held his bed sheets in front of him. The little man was terrified, swallowing a lump of fear as he turned to face down the hall. Shaking like a Chihuahua in November, it took the nudging of the guard behind him to get his feet moving once more.
"Welcome to the big house little man!" Another inmate called out from his cell.
"They put some toddler clothes on you?"
"You gonna need a stepstool for the showers!"
Horace continued down the hall, keeping his face straight.
"In here." The guard said, pointing to a hallway breaking off to the left. "Single cells for inmates requiring 'special circumstances'."
The hall was quiet, no jeering denizens leering out from between bars, no noise. Just a row of cells along the right side.
"You're at the end."
His destination before him, Horace began the final march. But as he passed the first cell, he heard a voice that seemed very out of place.
"Valiant try darling, too bad it didn't work out."
Horace looked over to see Radiance in the cell, dressed in similar attire, giving him a coy smile as he walked.
"Ya got a lot of spunk kid." Mistress Mare-velous complimented from the next cell.
"What was Shadowbolt like? Was he scary?" Bound by a number of restraints, Fili-Second grinned like a jester before bouncing around her cell like a rubber ball and laughing.
"Lotta brains in a such a small package, coulda used the muscle to back it up." Saddle Ranger said, leaning against the bars.
As he passed Zapp, the woman looked at him like a cat would to a mouse. "And they call you the baby dragon huh? Well played."
Two cells remained, and he knew who must be in the next, who would be his new neighbor.
"Looks like I underestimated you kid." Masked Matter-Horn said, standing in the center of her cell door with a satisfied smirk. "You're not so Humdrum after all."
Horace entered his cell, feeling overwhelmed by the kudos of the Malice Mares. The cell door slammed shut as he stood transfixed by his new circumstances.
"Let me know if there's anything else we can get you."
He thought about it for a moment. "I want a cape."
=================================================
"As for the mysterious Shadowbolt..." Mica's attention focused hard on the broadcast, the screen taken up by a picture of a figure under a white sheet carried on a gurney. Coroner's office personnel rushing it into the back of an ambulance.
"There is still no word on his condition, or current whereabouts."
==============================
CLASSIFIED MEDICAL FACILITY
==============================
"Are we sure about what he remembers?"
"Can the experiment be duplicated?"
A number of men and women, scientists, occupied a darkened room. In front of them was a one-way mirror to a lighted cell.
Cables, tubes, and chains hung from the ceiling, in the center, Shadowbolt was restrained. His cell was a combination hospice and prison, nurturing him back to full health while making sure he could not escape. The chains were attached to a straightjacket, specially made of industrially durable elastic materials. A breathing mask covered his mouth, and a white band covered his eyes. He breathed in a steady rhythm, the mask providing air, the cables monitoring his vitals.
"I wonder if he remembers the time between his death and his resurrection." A single man among them, taller, older gentleman, with the image of the cell reflecting in his glasses. He wore a plain black suit, thin tie, and stood with his hands behind his back. "Just imagine what we could learn from him."
A door to the rear of the room opened, a new group of people entered. The first was a man in uniform, an Army Colonel, followed by a handful of soldiers. The Colonel came to stand beside the tall man, likewise peering into the room beyond.
"How soon until he can be moved?"
Inside the chamber, Shadowbolt's head jolted.
===============================================
Mica used the remote to shut the television off, taking a deep breath as she listened to the fire. A passing winter wind rattled a window, but she didn't mind, closing her eyes and letting her head rest on the back of the couch.
"Shadowbolt disappeared hours after I left him to the paramedics, removed from all paper trails, taken off the grid.
In the end, it turns out Shadowbolt wasn't my enemy, and I wasn't his. Thomas Jacobs was a man lashing out in pain and anger, trying to right a wrong, and see the guilty punished. He was a symptom of what happens in the absence of justice, when revenge is the only recourse one has left. He is what I'm ultimately trying to prevent.
I'll find him someday. I saw the humanity that was still left in him, I believe that he can still do great things, as he once hoped to do."
A cell phone on the table in front of her began to buzz once more, this time an alert that somewhere in Maretropolis, the wicked were not at rest. Mica downed the last of her coffee, and got off the couch. She approached the bookcase, using the tendrils of hair to pull on several books at once, triggering the secret doorway to open. She paused for a moment, struck by the dark precipice she was about to enter into as she stood in the firelight.
I know that he can find that balance, between the light of justice, and the shadow of vengeance."
Roll end credits music! |
Bed Time Stories | pre | "I do know," he says, upon releasing her, his lips still brushing her skin. "But I've never heard you say it."
Is that what it will take? Does he think that she can't, that she's too embarrassed? Maybe it is a little embarrassing, but for Celestia's sake. Her hooves find his face, pulling so that he'll look up at her. Her cheeks bloomed red, but her eyes don't waver, and neither does her voice.
"I want to come. I want you to make me come."
She's never seen a color burn the way blue does.
A protest bubbles up her throat when he pulls further away from her, but it's stifled when his hooves push at her thighs and he lowers his mouth to the place she's wanted all along.
"Oh!" Oh, indeed. She only expected his hooves, but his tongue is lapping against her clit in quick, gentle strokes, sending crackling pleasure up her spine. Her hooves grip the blankets and her head falls back with an almost painful thud. The floor. She nearly forgot that she opted for warmth over comfort, but the blanketed wood isn't bothersome. In fact, as Sunburst pulls her legs snug against his head, she finds the contrasting rigidity aiding in her desperate climb.
"Sunburst, I, I--" One of her hooves fists in his hair, silk against her skin, and his tongue increases pressure and pace. Her hips move in time, grinding against his mouth, and she's staring at the ceiling but she can't see it, can't see anything except stars.
And then his hoof pushes into her.
She clenches around it.
He must feel it because he groans into her, his tongue faltering for just a second, the longest second of her life.
"Please, I--"
She doesn't have to beg this time. He gladly obliges, resuming, withdrawing his hoof before driving it in again. And again. And again. Not all the way, just enough to keep her at the edge, pressing against the wall that makes her buck, the spot that draws those short, shrill noises right out of her. No matter how long it's been, every time he touches her he remembers her body like a life-long skill, like writing, a second language, and--
"Yes, yes, yes, yes..."
And she's coming, pleasure spiraling all the way to the tip of her horn, gasping as her muscles clamp repeatedly around his unrelenting hoof, crying out as she falls apart. He never stops when she seizes, just flicks his tongue faster, harder, drawing out every last pang of her orgasm. Her hoof is gripping his mane with what must be an uncomfortable tightness, but he only ceases when she releases him, falling limp against the blankets.
Her chest is heaving, and sweat beads along her hairline as she slowly descends back to the earth and finds her senses again. The fire's a little too warm for her now, but she doesn't think she has the strength to move.
"Beautiful."
It's so quiet, she wonders if her ears are still ringing. But when she looks up at him--his disheveled hair, his glistening lips, his wandering, lidded eyes--she realizes he hadn't meant to say it out loud. She imagines she actually looks quite the mess, all sprawled out and red-faced, panting like she's galloped a mile. But there's not a thing he could say that she wouldn't believe with the expression he's wearing, and when his lips began to trace up the plain of her stomach, her vitality springs anew.
She's going to die.
That's what it feels like, at least, as he drives in and out of her, his chest against her back, slick with their sweat, and the fire burning and burning and burning.
Her hooves dig into the wood as she cries out with each thrust, and every breath she draws is hot, suffocating, not really oxygen at all. But she's so full, so completely full of him, and she thinks, no--she knows--this is the closest they'll ever get to being one. She moans helplessly beneath him, tears prickling at her eyes. Has it ever been this intense? She can't tell if she's suffering or overdosing on the thrill. She might blackout.
But his movements slow, and then they stop, and the noise she makes as he withdraws from her is alarming, even to her own ears. She watches, dazed, as he leans back, pushing his wet hair from his face with one hoof before offering her the other one. His voice is breathless.
"To hell with this fire."
Let it be damned, then.
He helps her stand on her shaky legs, and she wobbles, but his hooves are at the ready to steady her. Concern flashes in his eyes when she meets them, but she smiles, supporting herself on his side.
"I'm alright," she says, "don't even think about carrying me."
"Starlight, if you need to rest--"
"I've rested enough. Too much." Her voice cracks, and she's...
Oh, no. She's crying. Sunburst's eyes widen in astonishment, and he leads her from the fire quickly. The cold air is hugely relieving, so pleasant against her overheated skin. It makes the tears stream down faster, and she blinks desperately, willing them away. Why? This ruins everything she wanted this time to be for them why now, why here?
He leads her to the bed, letting her sit on the edge of it before kneeling in front of her. He gives her space but keeps her hoof. For the first time today, she doesn't meet his eyes.
His voice is soft, but his words are pained, laced with worry. "If I did something, Starlight, please tell me what it is." No, no, that's not it. But her voice won't work. "I'm so sorry for not noticing that the fire was too much. Let me get you some water, okay? I'll be just a minute--"
Her heart picks up speed, her hoof tightening around his as he starts to pull away from her.
"No, please stay." She sounds broken. She hates it. She can't look at him.
"You're flushed and dehydrated. Let me--"
"Please." It's a far cry from her earlier plea, but just as desperate. "Don't leave."
She feels his hoof on her face and her lip trembles.
"Look at me." It's gentle, but it's also stern. She knows that voice; he uses it rarely, but it's distinct. She's worrying him, and it's not fair. She's not a child. She looks at him, her eyes are watery but subdued. His hoof strokes her cheek, brushing through the wetness. "What on earth is the matter?"
Use your words.
"It hurts to miss you." They're selfish, burdensome words. "After all this time, I thought it might get easier. I know it's wrong to think that you belong to me because I know you have your life, and your duty will always be to the Princess first. But I just..." Her brow furrows. "These past few months have been so hard. It doesn't get easier to be away from you, it just gets more difficult." She's not even allowed to feel these things, much less say them out loud. But they keep pouring out. "I'll keep waiting for as long as it takes because what we have is worth it. You are worth it. But my heart, Sunburst--it aches."
He stares at her for several long moments, so many emotions flickering in his eyes--too many to accurately identify, though she tries desperately. She holds her breath, her stomach flipping. Was she too honest?
"I want to tell you something," he says at last. "But I'm getting you some water first."
She's in no position to argue.
He makes her take three big, long drinks from the cup. He insists, even counting them out loud, and it nearly makes her laugh because water is exactly what she needed. It's from the well, cold and clean, and it takes her body temperature down almost immediately. How is she so rotten at taking care of herself, when her very livelihood is helping others?
"Thank you." He nods before leaning back in the chair he's pulled up across from her, eyes drifting past her as they grow thoughtful. She doesn't know what else to do except wait, and her hooves clasp together beneath the sheets she's pulled around herself, horseshoes digging anxious crescents into her skin.
"You were honest with me," he says, at last, his eyes flicking to meet hers. "You always are, but not like that."
"I'm sorry," she says quietly, her heart sinking. "It was unfair of me to say to you."
"No." His head shakes once. "Your feelings are your feelings. Don't ever apologize to me for sharing them it is a relief to know that they run so deeply." Her pulse ticks up. "Missing you hurts, too. More than you know, Starlight. Every time I leave your side, another piece of my heart stays with you. I am a Crystaller, and my duty is to this kingdom--but before that, and despite it, I do belong to you. I always have. From the day we reunited, I knew I'd never leave you like that again."
Tears spring to her eyes again as she thinks of all of the moments that very sentiment rang true. Maybe it's because it still surprises her--his devotion, his passion, and the resolve in his voice when he speaks of it. She's never known the kind of love she sees in his eyes, never thought that anything like it could exist, that it could be so delicately soft and at once immovable, that she'd be able to see her own unwavering reflection in it--clear as a star-filled sky, the one they've spent countless nights looking at from different windows.
"I knew long ago that I wanted to marry you. Before we discussed it before it ever became plausible. That's why I worked so hard, I wanted to be a pony worthy of you. Princess Cadance knew that and she helped in every way she could, even if it meant being apart time and time again."
Their bond grew stronger, each and every time.
She's speechless, and her heart...it's soaring.
"But we never gave up. And...there's a reason I wanted to come here with you today, aside from, well," his gaze shifts toward their abandoned blanket pile near the fire, "but you were naked, and I thought it could wait, but I should have just told you first--I wanted to tell you first, but--"
Her heart stalls.
"Tell me what?"
He looks back at her, his eyes sparkling again, a smile she's never seen before growing on his lips.
"This information hasn't been released to the public yet, but I wanted to see the look on your face when you hear it for the first time. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor decided to send Flurry Heart to the friendship school, and Princess Twilight offered me a job in it."
She starts.
"Flurry Heart? Twilight?" He nods eagerly in response.
"Yes. Once the new semester starts. Early spring--the thirty-first of March." That's only two months away. He doesn't have to tell her why it's significant, but she wants to hear the words come out of his mouth, so she clamps her own shut. "Once Flurry is settled, once I'm officially hired, Starlight, we're free to...well, I...I can... propose."
Sunlight filters into the room, and before she knows it's happening, she's launching from her seat, straight into his forelegs.
"We really should be heading back soon," Sunburst murmurs. They're both wrapped up in the sheets, spent and bleary-eyed. She hums her agreement. "If it snows, we'll be trapped here until it stops." A pause. "On second thought..."
Her stomach grumbles. Audibly.
She feels laughter rumble in his chest, warm and light against her ear.
"We can pack a lunch next time," she says quietly, a smile on her lips. "We've taken our time today as it is. Do you think you'll be in trouble?"
She feels him shrug beneath her. "I had the chance to tell everyone about my new job two days ago when I first returned from Canterlot. I think they were probably expecting this." That turns her red, her suspicions confirmed.
But then she thinks about two months from now when the air will start to warm and spring flowers will bloom, bright and new. She wonders if they'll look different to her, if they'll be more vivid, and...
"Oh!"
He sits up, his head whipping toward his fallen coats and bag.
"What is it?"
"Do you think we have a little bit of time to look around outside? Just around the cottage? I just remembered--I brought a book with me, an encyclopedia of winter flowers."
"Flowers?" Her expression grows curious as he looks back at her. "Flowers bloom in this cold?"
He smiles brightly, excitement welling in his stomach. "All kinds! They're not as bold as springtime flowers, but they're just as beautiful. More so, if you consider that they've had to adapt to the climate and evolve in order to produce blossoms. In fact, I have one I'm looking for."
Her eyes are tender as she sits up, full of love, full of winter light, full of forever.
"Of course we have time. Let's get dressed." |
Bed Time Stories | Morning Glory | The morning sun stretched lines along his bed, waking him. He stretched leisurely with a yawn, blinking the sleep from his eyes, he turns from his window with a grunt and stares at the other side of his bed. The place beside him was empty, a bittersweet feeling settles on his throat, as he traces the spot she had just occupied hours ago.
Starlight was needed back in Ponyville, with the Friendship School back in full swing, Twilight needed all the help she could get and she relied heavily on Starlight these days. So, when the urgent letter signed by the Princess of Friendship came asking her to return as soon as possible he didn't protest, no matter how much he wanted to otherwise.
Shrugging to his back with a yawn, he stretched his forelegs high and dropped a hoof on his face to rub away the crust of sleep and lines of drool. He scratched down his stomach and was momentarily startled by how mussed his yellow coat was--before recalling the long goodbye he shared with Starlight before she had to catch the last train to Ponyville. That had been...one heck of a goodbye. The urgency of the summon had only served to fuel the flames of their passion, since neither of them could know when they would be together like this again, or what kind of crisis she had to deal with when she got there and the worry made him cling to her all the tighter. They had made the most of the few hours they had together--just the thought of it brought a tingle of warmth and bliss to his body. It was overwhelmingly enough that he let out a soft laugh into the empty room, and cover his face with a soft 'my star'...as he recalled the debauchery they had gotten up to.
How had he gone so long without her? True, it was odd to think that now they were exclusive, he was still accustomed to being alone, he sometimes found it exhausting sharing his time, but with a pony as amazing as Starlight, every discomfort was fleeting or repaid in bliss. Their last afternoon together was no exception, his cheeks colored when the images tinted in red and gold rushed to his mind; the clearest being the flush face of his Starlight--above him, riding him in bare carnal pleasure.
"Starlight..." He muttered her name in a boyish whine looking at her space in his bed. The rousing thoughts made her absence not just lonely--but a touch maddening. If only she was there, he could wrap his forelegs around her petite body, kissing her until she woke up, then let his body relieve some tension with a grind against her backside. Ah, that plot of hers--could he be any luckier? The memory of their last afternoon together flooded him like an encompassing fever.
Twisting in his warm cotton blanket, he resumed the pose of last evening, happily passive in his bed. She'd lifted his front hooves to her rear when he kept gripping the pillows out of pleasure instead. The warmth, the intimacy, the sheer audacity of how confident and aware of her beauty she was--all of it had wrecked him with the bliss of such intensity that it filled him with longing now. The room was feeling humid, and the muscles in his barrel were clenching as he felt the prickles of arousal awakening his sex.
He didn't want to glance at the clock by his bedside and he didn't even bother to put on his glasses. Judging by the light in his room it was closer to midday than morning. His schedule was pretty clear now that Starlight wasn't there and a frustrated groan left him when he didn't know when she would be back. Already he could feel his cock unsheathing at the memories, perking awake and demanding attention unless he wanted a frustrating tension in his limbs for the rest of the day.
Well, he couldn't expect her to drop everything just to please him now could he, and he certainly had years of practice alone. Licking his hoof, he reclined in the mattress and reached down to stroke himself gently--maybe the feeling would pass with a little indulgence. However, he thought of her, and the heat coiled like a spring in his pelvis, demanding a firmer touch for relief. He needed to press harder if he wanted some respite, feeling his hoof slowly coaxing his cock to his full length as the desire grew.
Starlight's flushed face came to mind--that hungry look of pleasure, all the fire she carried in her daily life, usually restrained, finally unleashed between them as she allowed herself the freedom to voice and act on them--he knew nothing could be more beautiful or erotic. With his free hoof, he circled soft lines upon his bare stomach as she liked to do.
With a firmer grip, he began some tight jutting rubs, trying to mimic the feeling of her slick folds around him. He pictured Starlight and her beautiful hips, her smoldering eyes staring right to his soul and filled with desire, the sound of their skins meeting as he roughly pushed his hips to meet hers and rocked their bodies with the eagerness of his thrusts. That long purple mane, as dark as midnight in the dying sunlight, sometimes in moonlight, dressed her like a sheer gown as it plastered to her glistening coat from the sweat her vigor brought on. And she was all his. He was the one she looked for, his was the bed she laid on, and his essence was allowed to remain in her--all of him fully accepted by her.
His head tossed back with a moan as he kicked away the blanket, the sweat began to dampen his skin. The sound of his rapid strokes echoed in the otherwise empty room with liquid smacks. Starlight, Starlight, Starlight--fierce, independent, cunning Starlight...all his. She had been his for an entire week, and maybe, if he played his cards right, she could be his for the rest of their lives. The room was hazy, his already bad vision became even more clouded with the images of her body, images of her face, her words, her shrieking orgasm when she convulsed on top of his cock, vibrating him with pleasure, and screaming in his ear; I love you, I love you, more, more, Sunburst...Sunburst...
"Sunburst?"
That hadn't come from his head.
His eyes shot open and he hastily reached for his glasses, he put them on just in time to see the door opening fully, Starlight coming in to see if he was there. It happened too quickly. They both froze; she with her saddlebags strapped to her back, him as nude as the day he was born with his cock in a death grip. Then reality caught up to him with the force of a meteor and he scrambled in the bed like they were in an earthquake, snatching the discarded blanket and pressing it over his lap as though there was something she'd never seen before. Then he managed a crooked smile, but it stretched his lips too wide and it looked more like a painful grimace--it didn't help that his glasses and his hair were too messy and unaligned to pretend nothing was going on.
"He-Hey, Starlight! You're back!" He reclined on his bedpost, ignoring the screeching pain in the back of his head complaining about how close he had been to release. However, panic and embarrassment had a hold of his reigns now, and neither was about to relent.
Starlight blinked, and his heart jumped around his ribcage like a frantic bird as he wondered what she would do. Would she laugh? Be disgusted? Scold him? All this was uncharted territory for him, and there was no book on what to do when your partner catches you in the middle of pleasuring himself--then again, he hadn't thought to look for such a book until now.
Starlight finally stirred from her rooted position and finished closing the door behind her. She eyed his panting body with a kind of curiosity that made him feel exposed. Maybe she hadn't noticed, maybe he was making a big deal out of nothing,--
"I...I see you're happy to see me..." Starlight's tone was musing, and to his surprise, there was no trace of disgust in her eyes, on the contrary, they were wide, engaged, and slightly mischievous as she dropped her bags on the floor while keeping her eyes on his nervous face.
"Oh...ah...I'm sorry...I woke up and couldn't help it, so I just...uh...you know what I-I'm gonna go and take a c-cold shower." He laughed nervously and looked away, trying to make a hasty escape to his bathroom, until the creak of his mattress brought his retreating gaze back to hers. Her front hoof was pressed on the mattress, and her gaze was cunning and filled with interest.
"You don't have to stop on my account...It's not like I haven't seen your dick before...or your face as you cum." There was something melodic in her voice, a pleased undertone to her words. It made his cock twitch beneath the blanket.
"You're not mad?"
"Depends on what you were thinking of." The smirk on her face reassured him, and a cautious smile began on his own.
"I'd think it would be obvious."
"I want to know." Her azure eyes never left his as she climbed slowly to his bed.
"Yesterday..." The edge of the blanket began to glow with her magic, she gave it a little tug until his desire was exposed to the cool air once more. The feeling of the cotton sliding away made him shiver, and he eyed her with needy desperation.
"Which moment?"
"When you were on top of me, and I was inside you...and you were so in control...you looked so gorgeous..." Just talking about it forced his erect member to shiver and momentarily tap against his stomach. He didn't think he could get any harder.
Starlight crawled closer until she sat beside him and she leaned into his ear with a hot breath.
"Keep going..."
"Huh...with you...?"
"I want to watch you while hearing what you're thinking of."
Oh. A dribble of precum ran down the side of his cock, and she rested her head upon his shoulder, watching with the attentiveness of a predator.
"W-Wait, how did you get here so fast? I thought you went back to Ponyville?" He asked, bewildered. Starlight frowned and rolled her eyes.
"Turns out there was no crisis, it was just Discord playing a mean prank on me. I was so mad I was about ready to blast him to smithereens, but Twilight calmed me down and forced us to talk it out." She sighed and pursed her lips. "He was just jealous I was spending so much time with you."
"Jealous? Discord?" His eyebrows shot to his hairline.
"He's still new to friendship, so he doesn't understand that friends are allowed to have other friends and significant others," she said with a huff. "So, I told him that next time he felt that way, he should talk to me about it or ask to hang out with me, he apologized and then teleported me here to make it up to me."
He nodded as he finished listening to her story, but bit his lip as a dark thought crossed his mind and made his stomach turn. For all the awe he felt knowing she had chosen him, a protective jealously surged in him at the thought of some creature thinking they had some sort of right over Starlight's time and who she hung out with. He was more than miffed with Starlight's friend, for taking her from his side on a selfish whim, for making him think that she was going to yet another world-ending adventure with nothing he could do about it. He wasn't miffed, he was downright furious.
"That bastard..." He growled between clenched teeth.
"I set him straight."
"I'm sure you did, doesn't change what he is."
"At least he sent me here to you...sometimes the world feels so tiresome and foolish...but being beside you, in our world, it's comforting." She pressed her muzzle to his neck, letting her voice vibrate to his skin and making him shudder again, chest rising with her every word. "Stroke yourself, tell me what you're thinking," the words had a hypnotic and sensual quality to them as she whispered them to his ear.
He groaned and hastily ran a hoof downwards, once more curling his hoof around his erection with a meek gasp. "I'm thinking...I'm thinking that I...I wished I was there to see you...to make him regret that he wasted your time, you don't deserve the crap he pulled on you..."
"I can take care of myself..." She sighed into his shoulder, her gaze fixated on the way his hoof glided around his cock, tugging at the base and then the head, in alternating patterns.
"Hmm...I know, I know, you're so strong...but I wished I was there--you're mine after all." The thought made him jerk a little faster, his hips curving slightly off the mattress.
"And you're mine, how do you think I feel when I see other mares approaching you because of your status? I nearly wrung the neck of the mare who kept swaying her tail to get your attention last week..."
"D-Don't be mean..." The possessiveness in her gaze, the force of her touch as she slides her hoof down, tightening around his flank like he could be taken away, made his need all the more vicious as he stole a glance in her direction.
"Oh really...could you say the same if I told you some idiot slapped my flank when--"
"What!?" The words left his mouth with a snarl. Fury, protectiveness, jealousy, all of it burned in his stomach as he stopped momentarily, looking at her surprised expression, the blush coloring her cheeks. "Who? What did he look like? When!?" His hooves went to her shoulders on instinct.
"Why? Are you jealous?"
"No one has the right, Starlight--no one..." His voice trailed off, his anger momentarily put aside as she slipped closer. She straddled his thigh and he panted as though he was galloping to keep up with her. A feral part of him longed to push her against the bed, claim her as his own and use his body to protect her from any prying hooves and eyes.
"I love it when you're so protective, it's adorable that the only thing that makes you angry is anyone coming between us..."
"If anyone hurt you--anyone--" Before he could go on, she caught him off with a firm kiss, and they were soon tangled in a messy battle of tongues. Drool ran out the corners of their mouths, and they had no qualms in claiming the other with long, cleaning licks. "Oh, sweet Celestia..." Sunburst whined, his hooves went to her hair and cupped the back of her head--tangling his hooves in her purple mane and messing her hairstyle.
"Keep touching yourself, I want to see you cum...you're the only stallion I ever want to see that way and feel it..."
"Starlight, you're the only mare who brings me to the point of it." It was true. He stared at her flushed face, he had messed up her mane but she didn't seem to mind. She glowed with the radiance of a goddess, at home with her body and sensuality. "You're a lady and you deserve respect."
"I like it when you call me that, I like it that I could do anything and you would still think of me like a lady." She moved closer and purred in his ear. "Even if some asshole tried to grope me."
"Of course, you're...you're always a lady--you exude attention...dignity...you're so beautiful and it makes me...makes me want to connect with you...oh, fuck--I love it..." His cock twitched violently in his grasp. Words were beginning to fail him and he hardly noticed that she had begun to drift away until he felt her resting her head on his thigh--so close to his frantically stroking hoof.
"Cum on me," the simple command made his stomach jump to his throat. He tried to slow his pace, but his body was nearly mechanical at this point. A weak protest came out between his gasps.
"You-You're joking...you're--hmm, I wouldn't...it's so...degrading."
"I want you on me...I want to have a piece of you when I go out in public...so when some jerk looks at my face, I know that your mark is there." To tempt him even further, her horn glowed and she scooped his balls with her magic, giving each testicle a little squeeze that sent him dangerously close to the edge--his hips jerked sharply in response. Then she uttered three little words that broke him. "Please, my love..."
Starlight, despite her friendship lessons, loathed pleading for anything. Knowing her desire had reached such a point made his mind go blank--and he finally obeyed, carefully pushing her under towards his pelvis, she angled herself for the warm seed to hit her cheek. The first wave that rushed out of him was almost painful, making him gasp, so pent up from all his pausing that his release was thick and voluminous. A line fell along her cheek, over her bangs, through her eyelashes and eyebrow.
With every ounce of willpower he had, he tried to check to see if she wasn't recoiling or regretting her wish before the second wave. To his relief, a nearly euphoric look settled on her features--a smirk tugging at her lips. His second release came out in a perfect line, where it splattered across her lips and muzzle, dripping over her chin and under her jaw.
Struggling to keep his gaze from wavering he waited anxiously--waited for her approval. With a nonchalant motion of her hoof, she cleaned the mark over her eyelid and slowly lick it from her hoof. Azure eyes opened, tinged with stars. Fire burning in her wild, free, untamable spirit not to be tied down by the expectations of peers and society on what was appropriate to do with one's lover. He watched with wonder, seeing her tongue lick his mess clean from her hoof, just to watch it run over the white splotch across her bottom lip.
"Now I feel better...those mares won't ever know this taste...or feel something like this. This is all mine." The image in front of him set fireworks in his head. How could she sit there, covered in his orgasm with such pride? Because she was Starlight Glimmer, his one and only. Unafraid of the pleasures of their flesh and the ties that bind them together. Suddenly he felt reinvigorated--this beauty, this lovely mare, his headstrong Starlight--he needed her, now.
He pressed her against him in a hard kiss, and he wasn't put off by the taste of his own release on her lips--on the contrary, the salty reminder showed him what he and only him had been allowed to do to her. A guttural noise rumbled into her chest, and the thought of her being harassed or demeaned while walking through town made him see red. It felt like his mind was getting lost in enveloping her, possessing her, and shielding her from a world so horrible towards her sex, it was just like the mania he had that made him get lost in his studying.
Swiftly, he yanked her petite, warm body to his, breaking the kiss. Starlight opened her mouth to speak, but her words were lost when he gripped her by her barrel and spun her around--her back flush against his chest as he buried his muzzle on the side of her neck. A soft smirk grazed his lips, mischief coming to his reawakening brain as he heard her squeak when he used his magic to grip her calves and spread her back legs apart, giving him an explicit view of her sex by peeking over her shoulder. Starlight's breath came out in huffs, normally it was her who did such dominant and mischievous things in bed--whenever he did so, she always seemed surprised and helpless in his grasp, it was impossible to resist.
"This, right here..." His hoof slid down, tracing the outline of her weeping sex with the barest of touches, "is what had me losing my mind...thinking about how warm you are...how beautiful you look when I'm inside you."
Without warning he dipped his hoof in her slit, collecting her sweet nectar to use as lubrication, and stroked upwards as he traced her sensible folds with the most delicate of touches. She whimpered and she rolled her head to look at him with hooded eyes.
"Best in all of Equestria I am told," she murmured, using his own words against him.
"And no one else will ever find that out..." His voice was shuddering with desire, lowering his voice to a husky baritone that sent shockwaves to her very core, with his hoof coated with her desire he begins stroking her clit as he coaxed it out of its protective hood. "And you're the only one who gets to see the most private parts of me...you won't find my release on anything but you..."
"Sunburst," she chuckled, looking at him with a dazed, drunk look in her eyes. "Unless you're pleasuring yourself to thoughts of me...you needy stallion."
"Can you blame me?" he muttered possessively, pushing down on her fleshy little button and her hips bucked--but his magic prevented her from closing her legs. "Good or wetter?"
"Wetter...it stings a little bit." She answered and his hoof ran up her neck, leaving a trail of her fluids.
"Then won't you be a dear and help?" He whispered into her ear, nipping at the tip. "Or is that too much? Does it make you squeamish--"
Possibly out of pride she sucked her own essence from his hoof, trailing her tongue over the edge and taking in as much as she could, giving it the same amount of attention like it was his cock. But Sunburst turned away from those thoughts unless his shaft sprang to life prematurely. Once his hoof was dripping with her saliva he drew it from her mouth, cleaning a line of drool off her face he went back to her sex.
"Why should I fear my own body?" She murmured back, "If some jerk on the street thinks they have a right to it, then I have nothing to worry about..." She wiggled against him, and her tail brushed his resting member deliciously. Her forelegs wrapped behind his head as she watched his actions with a hungry expression, her chest rising and falling in tandem with her panting.
"My Star..." He reserved that nickname for times like this, even then she would roll her eyes and scold him for being so sappy. "Anyone who dreams of catching you are fools..." Before she knew it he spread her legs further apart, ripping a gasp from her throat, she must have been truly lost in the moment because she didn't scold him--not even when the cool air of the room touched her vulnerable, spread cunt. His wet hoof covered her slit and started to trace tiny, not really touching, but glorious circles around her clitoris. "I feel you throbbing..."
"You know I like it..."
"I know exactly what you like, from our many hours of practice..." he muttered matter-of-factly, nipping at her ear as his hoof pressed down and it earned him a moan from her. "I know you like this too," suddenly his hoof picked up a frantic, slathering pace, shaping her delicate folds with the force and speed of his touch. The sound of her dripping flesh was like a chorus of angels to his ears, as was the image of her curling into herself from the intense pleasure--letting out a series of squeals into the room.
"Sun-Sunburst!"
"Yes?"
"D-Don't, this...is...don't--AH!" She trashed in his embrace as he picks up his pace, but she couldn't close her legs as his magic keep pining her legs apart. "Oh, oh, it's--it's too m-much!"
"None of that, you just don't like it when you aren't in control," he purred against her neck, licking over her veins. "Don't worry about it, just let yourself go, I'll be here to catch you."
"Ah! Ah!" Her voice was shaking her whole body, and he wanted nothing more than to find a way to keep it with him wherever he went, the vocals were so raw and unhinged and free from any sense of pride and decorum. It was powerful and emotional, just as she was.
"Good...yes, relax...just enjoy it..." Sunburst instructed.
He smirked into her neck when her body finally convulsed in shudders that became more uncontrollable than her other attempts to slow him down. For a moment he gave her a pause as she gasped for air. Having mercy on her, he traced the lines of her body as he waited for his star to come down from her high. A few tears escaped her eyes and mixed with his drying semen, and he lifted her face to kiss them away.
"See, that wasn't so bad."
"You're...ridiculous...when you...get...this way."
"Ah, my star, you love to dish it out, but you can't take it, at least most of the time." He scolded her gently, as his hooves traveled downwards and stroked her perking breast. The slightest touch made her quiver in the sensitive state he had left her in. "Hmm, you still look stressed from your trip--maybe you need some more?"
"I don't...hmm..."Her words trailed off with a sigh as his hoof flicked her exposed nipple. "Maybe I..."
"Ask for it nicely."
She huffed.
"Ask..." He pressed her nipples down into each breast as her back curled off his chest with a wince.
"Touch me."
"Where?"
By now they'd played this game enough that she knew his script--she hated it, but today--today she was putty in his embrace from the moment she caught him bare in his bed. He started to trace her form, squeezing every curve with intention. Part of him longed to push her down and grind on her body until he was hard enough to fill that petite body and mark her with the same intensity he had left on her face. But this was too much fun, watching her like this, seeing her lost and hazy in her pleasure.
"Between my legs...until--until I cum..."
"All over my hooves, you promise?" He teased in her ear and she bit her lip, caught between shyness and desire.
"I'll do whatever you want...just touch me damn it."
The words made him tense with anticipation, he scooped her tight to his back, and without mercy, his hoof began to feverishly, touch and grind on her sensitive bead--already swollen and sensitive from her last orgasm. She was nearly liquid in his embrace, laying her head back with a whimper, louder than ever before, his free hoof was clutching her closely.
"You have such a pretty flower, you know that? I'm tempted to eat the petals every time I see it...I'll have it for breakfast if you let me...you're not the only one who enjoys those kinds of things."
"Oh...m-my love..." she said it with a mixture of pleasure and bashfulness. Yes, her love, just as she was his.
"Yes, my star?" He pushed down hard, pulling and molding her whole pussy as his entire arm shook with the force and intensity of her orgasm. A crying scream came out from her throat, she came undone in his hooves just as he wanted--gasping, crying, and trashing. The beautiful mare from the stars, proud, cunning, headstrong, now so warm and fragile in his embrace. He held her gently against him and murmured soft words of praise to her skin as she calmed down.
Slowly, he released her legs, his magic gently depositing her legs on the mattress. Nuzzling her messy mane, he pressed kisses against her sweaty skin--some of the sweat mixed his own essence and ran down her chin. What a precious sight. What special, hidden joys they discovered together.
As she caught her breath, he licked his hoof clean, moaning into her ear with a smirk.
"Thanks for the meal."
"You're welcome," Starlight murmured, her eyes closed as she laid against him. "Don't worry...I kicked him in the face..." She said with a sigh as his hoof traced small patterns on her shoulder.
"Tell me next time," he muttered with a soft scold.
"And miss my chance on seeing you so wild...you been holding out on me, Sunburst."
Despite what they had just done, his cheeks heated up with shame, and he tried to cover it up with a nervous cough.
"S-Still, the point stands, I'm sure I can get Shining Armor to rough him up or something."
"Sunburst," she scolded, but the word came out too slurred to be taken seriously.
"Alright, I won't abuse my power."
"Good..." She was nearly dozing off against his stomach. He smiled softly as he played with her hair and brushed it off from her eyes.
"I love you...but seriously, what did he look like?"
"I'm going to take a bath," she murmured but didn't make a move to leave his embrace.
"Not unless I come with you." And with a sudden yelp, he scooped her in his hooves. "After all, who is going to protect you from the evils of a bachelor's bathroom?" Despite his serious tone, her laughter echoed down the hall. |
Bed Time Stories | Memories | In Sunburst's life, there have only been three occurrences that he can vividly remember.
The first was the time he levitated something successfully with his magic. It was his mother's favorite flower vase and he broke it. He was only four at the time, and that was the year he learned to read, so his path as a devoted magic-user was cemented.
The second was the day, err, the night he had almost blown up his classroom. To make a long story short, one of the classmates he had picked up hanging around the schoolyard wanted to study something a bit less...well, unconventional and boring. Turns out a bunch of unsupervised colts practicing dangerous magic in the middle of the night went as well as expected, the spell backfired and flung Sunburst and his group across the room, shattering windows, furniture, and one of the colt's back legs. He had been lucky that all he got from the incident was a nick on his shoulder and a terrible headache. That's when Sunburst found out that magic was dangerous if not handled carefully, and it took that scar month to heal up.
The third was a bit more sentimental and not so violent, if he may say. It was the first holiday he spent without his father, and his mother in typical Stellar Flare fashion had gotten rid of all trace of him. Looking back he realized it was her way of coping with the loss, by moving on as fast as she could, but Sunburst couldn't keep up with his mother's pace. He waited until she had stepped out to go up to her room and look for anything, the littlest trace of his father that Stellar Flare might have missed, he dove under her bed and tucked between the wall and the leg of the bed frame was a wrinkled blue tie. He snatched it and ran back to his room, his heart in his throat, half expecting his mother to scream at him for going into her room, for holding on to something from a pony that didn't want anything to do with them. He hid in his room and Stellar Flare never found out about it until years later, when he wore his father's tie on his own wedding day.
No, he never really understood why these three occurrences had stuck out to him. He had had many encounters in life that should've overshadowed these of less importance, but they didn't. They were pushed away; tucked in a corner for the days he was thinking extra hard. Or didn't want to think at all.
"Whatcha thinking about?"
A gentle hoof brushed his cheek, warm skin on warm skin, and the trembling her foreleg contained brought him back to the now, to her; to a memory, he would keep forever. He knew it would happen. Knew it. It would stay tucked in beside the other three; warm, cozy, and meaningful.
"You." The word dropped from his lips as he looked down. Her appearance set off the feeling that he didn't know he could feel until he met her. Even now, after they had been together nearly a year and a half, he was still discovering new and exciting things about her. Her cheeks were red and her lips swollen, her hair was disarrayed, as he imagined he was, and her blue eyes shone in the moonlight with bountiful curiosity. He had never seen anything so beautiful.
"Me?"
"You."
"Mmm." Her lips hummed against his bare chest as her hooves traced his barrel, and he closed his eyes to memorize the way she moved.
He was surprised she wasn't talking more. She was always the one to discuss and depict new and exciting things and encounters. Like when they were foals, she'd be clutching his foreleg and looking up at him with those blue eyes, asking more questions than he could answer and at a speed faster than he could keep up with.
"What are you thinking about?" He whispered, his right hoof running down her spine with a slow, meaningful purpose. Her breath traveled down his stomach, leaving a warm trail behind.
"You."
"Me?"
"You."
He chuckled, his hoof bunching up against her skin. He quickly remembered the way her dress would bunch in his grasp, when she had it on, of course. "What about me, if I may ask?"
"Your face."
"My face?"
"Mhm," she was quiet again; retreating to her thoughts. He almost felt as if he was intruding on her; as if it were an entirely private moment to herself.
"Are they good thoughts about my face?" He raised his brow at her, yet she didn't look at him.
"Of course."
"Oh?" She was being awfully quiet, and he was intrigued. He wished nothing more than to be able to read that brain of hers. Not just on this occasion, either. Being the inventive and curious pony she was, he knew being in her head would be a colorful journey full of things she'd never tell him. Of which, included him, apparently.
"Yeah," she said, her voice just over a whisper. Her hooves moved about his chest as if she was painting an invisible mural on his skin. "I was thinking of the way you look at me."
He smiled, knowing full well that he looked like a love-drunk idiot when he laid his eyes on her. "How so?"
"When you see me after a long day of classes or when you wake up from a bad dream," she moved her head up, her eyes meeting his. Her lips were pulled up at the corners and her features relaxed. "You always have this look of relief. It's like I can see this huge weight lift from your shoulders."
"You make me relax."
"Why?"
Always curious. "Because I love you."
Her small eyebrows furrowed. "Just that?"
"Not exactly," he mused, taking a strand of her hair; now a mess from the way she had tossed her head and the way he knotted his hooves in it before this whole conversation took place. "I do love you. More than anything in the world. That's why we had that big old ceremony today, remember? The one where you wore that big dress and walked down that excruciating long aisle to me in front of all our friends and family?"
"How could I forget it?" she breathed. His heart skipped.
"Exactly. I did it all because I love you. And-"
"That's why we made love."
His heart skipped again, loving the way she quietly spoke the words he'd never heard fall from her lips. They dripped curiosity, determination, and a sense of newfound confidence. His hoof rubbed circles in her back as he stared at her.
"Yeah."
He could see that she wanted to talk about it, and he wanted her to. They were married now. He didn't want her to hold anything back from him anymore. She had already given herself to him in every possible form, and he wanted her to trust him.
"It was much different than I thought it would be," she whispered, her gaze not leaving his.
"Same for me." It was the truth.
Sunburst had never given sex much thought. He never saw any difference between that and 'making love'. The words were practically synonymous. The same thing was happening in both, so what was different? The way you moved? The way you spoke? He wouldn't know; he had never done either. So there was still a part of him that thought when he and Starlight gave each other themselves, it would be the same. And he was stupid for thinking that because it was completely and utterly wrong. She was his everything, his other half, and he had never felt so whole as he did when she pulled his name from her soul below him. It was completely different in every single way. He was gentle with her, his touch just heavy enough to set her on fire, and he gave her all of him. He didn't hold his feelings back. He didn't have to worry about holding out for anybody or living up to some ridiculous expectations. She wanted him; raw, real, and uncovered. And that's what he gave her.
"I didn't think I'd feel so much...so much..."
"Love?"
She looked at him, a smile breaking out on his lips. "Yeah. Love."
"What did you think it would be?" Probably the same as he did.
"Well," she blushed. He loved it when she blushed. Especially when he was able to make her do it. "Pleasure?"
He chuckled. "I'd hope there still was-"
"Oh, don't worry. There was."
He laughed out loud, and so did she, and he grinned at her. She took her lip into her mouth, between her teeth, and gazed up at him with a look in her eyes that made him shudder in all the right ways. He reached out to brush her hair out of her eyes with the lightest touch.
"I love you," she breathed, barely a whisper. Her forelegs trailed up his chest and around his neck as she pulled herself onto him. He could see the metal of her ring, her wedding ring, glinting in the low light on her horn. Her lips were above his, nearly a centimeter away, and he pressed up to kiss her with more love than he knew how to contain.
"Love you, too, Starlight."
Yes, there were only three things he could vividly remember before this occurrence. And maybe those would've been the only three he would always remember if he hadn't reunited with her. Now, as they fell back into each other, he decided it was time to let go of the past. It was time to make room for memories like this; things with actual meaning. Not some petty injury or stupid accidents that were there for entertainment. Things that he could look back on and smile at; things he could actually blush on or get flustered over. Those were things that he wanted to remember. He was now hers and so was the space in his mind. For, without her, he wouldn't be anything more than a lonely wash-out wizard. He'd be nothing because she was his everything. |
Bed Time Stories | Bubble Bath | Starlight sighed as she sank into the warm bubble bath until everything under her chin was submerged in the scented water. She loved being in the water so much her father used to tease her, saying that she'd probably been a fish in her past life. With a content smile, she lifted her back legs to peek above the bubbles, wiggling her hooves and splashing lightly.
Thanks to her friends earlier that day, there were scented candles gently illuminating the dimmed bathroom, a suggestion from Trixie, who enjoyed the fresh cinnamon scents in particular. After taking the candles and bubble bath bottle home, Starlight wasted no time in treating herself to them. The bubble bath softened her skin, making it smell like jasmine while the heavenly scented candles filled her lungs. Sure, she could have gotten a better treatment at the spa, but something about doing this in her own bathroom made it extra special and relaxing.
The door at the other side of the room creaked open, and Starlight turned to see Sunburst standing by the frame with his eyebrows raised.
Starlight blinked, and then her blue eyes darted over the expanse of the bathroom, looking at the changes she had made. "...What?"
Sunburst stood still for a moment, before shaking his head and stepping toward the sink. "...Nothing, I just wasn't expecting it."
Starlight giggled in response; her cheeks warm. By this point in their relationship, they were comfortable with seeing each other in the bath or shower, it was routine by now, just like brushing their teeth together in the morning and getting ready for the day. Gone was the stallion that blushed and sputtered when given a compliment or a suggestive wink.
"What do you think?"
"I can barely breathe," he answered honestly as he turned the faucet and splashed his face with cold water. It was clear judging by his messy hair that Sunburst just returned from a rigorous study session.
"That's cause your stink is mucking it up," Starlight chirped with a grin, giving a small splash over the foams. Then she had an idea, one that left her quiet for a few moments as she watched his neck bent over the sink, deep in consideration.
When Sunburst gave a small pained groan at a stiff muscle in his neck, Starlight reached a conclusion and scooted to one side of the bathtub to make room. When he turned around, she smiled sheepishly.
"Um...care to join me? The water feels really good! And you've been working really hard lately so..."
To her shock--and pleasant surprise--her proposal was interrupted with the sound of rustling cloth and Sunburst dipping a leg into the bubbled water. In less than a minute he had fully removed himself from clothing and slowly began to sink in the clean white porcelain tub, sitting across from her. His eyes closed, cringing as he got used to the hot temperature of the water.
Starlight gave him a sympathetic smile. "Was it that bad today?" It had to be, for him to jump so eagerly into a scented bath without a comment.
Sunburst grunted in response, sighing afterward. Starlight raised her hooves to his shoulders and began to knead, which clearly pleased him as he opened his eyes. "Work was fine for the most part. It's the students that are giving me a migraine," he commented, referring to the small class of preadolescents taking a summer beginner friendship course that the Academy of Friendship started to offer some years back. "They don't study the material on their own and it's painfully obvious, then they go complaining when they do badly in the mock exams."
Rubbing her hooves in tight circles over his clavicles, Starlight hummed. "Is the material too difficult for beginners?"
"I don't think so," he scoffed. "They just don't listen to a thing I say. They're at that age where they believe they know best when they don't."
Starlight laughed at that. "You're starting to sound like an old grouch!" She only laughed more at his scowl. On impulse she gathered up a pile of bubbles to her chest and lifted them up, smearing them across Sunburst's face. "See, you're an old pony now!"
"Hey--!" he jerked back, but it was too late, for he now sported a great bubbly beard. He gave her a deadpan look as she dissolved into a fit of laughter, unable to control her giggles at such a silly image.
"So, you think of me as an old pony, huh," he said, reaching up to wipe off what he could of the bubbles. When she finally began to calm down, Sunburst raised an eyebrow.
"Mmhmm, a really, really old and wise pony." She leaned forwards to kiss the tip of his snout.
"I never knew you were into older stallions," Sunburst commented, going along with her game. "Can't help but wonder what everyone else would say."
Going back to kneading his muscles, Starlight declared proudly: "They can take their opinions and shove it!"
"Hmm," Sunburst said, half listening and relaxing into her touch. "No. I still think something is missing..."
Starlight blinked and looked at him quizzically, but he only offered the smallest hints of a smirk at the corner of his lips before he reached out and shoved a handful of bubbles at the top of her head. Starlight flailed, falling back to the other side of the tub and causing the soapy water to splash about.
"There. An old mare to complement the old stallion. No one will have any objections."
Despite the pout she threw at him, her eyes were beaming. Shifting, she moved across the tub to sit closer to him, almost on his lap. She rested her head against his shoulder, letting the suds slide down the back of her neck as he wrapped his foreleg around her body, taking a moment to relax from the fun, sighing.
Starlight kept quiet, but...a part of her did wonder if they would be able to grow old together. Holding hooves and raising kids, staying by each other's side even after they're too old to teach...Somehow the image wouldn't leave her mind.
"You know, I bet you'll be really handsome, even when your hair gets all grey and you get a beard." She smiled into his skin.
"You think so?" he said idly, stroking his damp goatee. "Now that you mentioned it, I've been thinking of growing a beard."
"You're serious?"
"Of course, I'm serious."
"Why?"
"No reason, just thought it would be cool."
Starlight wriggled in her spot, sitting fully on his lap with her legs spread and crouching as she straddled him. "This should be fun."
That earned a look from Sunburst, and his hooves paused in their trek down her spine. "...Fun how, exactly?"
"Like..." After taking a moment of consideration, Starlight leaned in to softly press her lips to his, allowing her lower lip to brush against his ever so lightly. Her hooves went to cradle his face, her eyes were closed, but then flew open upon meeting with something unexpected. She pulled back, her hooves falling back to rest on his shoulders and she exclaimed: "Wait a minute, you're already growing a beard!"
Sunburst laughed, but she could see the redness creeping up his cheeks. He almost sounded petulant as he corrected her. "No. I've been too busy and haven't had time to shave. There's a difference between a full-grown beard and just a stubble."
Reverently, Starlight reached up to stroke his cheek, the rough texture greeting her soft hoof. Now that she was closed enough, even in the low light, she could just see a slight darkening on his jaw that wasn't the light playing tricks on her, and she could feel it.
"Hmm," she continued to stroke his face in curiosity, pleased that Sunburst allowed her to do so at the very least. "I kinda like it..."
"Do you." He murmured quietly; his expression softened as he gazed at her. The way even the smallest things like this could make her day never failed to amaze him. Soon, he returned to stroking her back, the water waving back and forth in the tub in small, barely noticeable waves.
"Yeah," she whispered and leaned in to kiss him again. This time she kissed slowly and fully, taking her time to feel his lips as she cradled his face in her hooves affectionately.
Sunburst's eyes closed, enjoying the attention as she worked his hooves to her shoulder blades. He gave a light lick, a small flicker before receding back, and it was met with a lazy nip to his lower lip. She tugged lightly and pulled back, proceeding to shower his face with wet kisses.
"Feels rough and soft at the same time," she giggled, wrapping her forelegs around his neck. He settled his grip about her waist in return and sighed when she returned to kissing him and nuzzling against his skin.
"You really like it that much, huh," he whispered.
"It's different...but good."
"Hmm."
It didn't take long for him to realize when Starlight continued to brush her cheeks against his own, and he soon returned the gestures, letting her feel the small prickles dragging across the skin that was too beautiful to desecrate. Soon he bent his head down to kiss her neck, relishing in the heavenly sighs that he was rewarded with.
Unable to hide how aroused she was, Starlight squeezed her back legs around his middle, her hooves gliding up into his hair at the same time. Without a pause, he pressed heavy kisses to her neck and collarbone. Once he had reached as low as he could go, Sunburst abruptly planted his hooves on her rear and tugged, pulling her up for him to be eye level with her chest. Starlight squeaked in surprise but allowed him to support her as he went about brushing his stubble against her neck and jaw, lathering the skin with his warm, soft tongue. His horn glowed and Starlight felt the ghost touch of his magic playing with her nipples, she arched at his touch, letting out a throaty moan.
He left her guessing what would come next. He completed his attention with her favorite--nipping quickly at her skin and pulling, knowing she inexplicably loved the sharp feeling. She cried out, her face flush from cheek to cheek. The sight never failed to turn him on.
"Had enough?" Sunburst asked, rolling his eyes up to look at her while he continued to nibble on her skin.
Smiling blissfully, Starlight shook her head. "I want more, I want to feel it all over."
"All over," he repeated slowly. "That's a real challenge you're presenting."
Before Starlight could reply, he gripped her ass and jerked her to stand up even further, and soon had her standing on her back legs before him, water and bubbles running down her lithe naked body. Letting her support herself by gripping the back of his head, Sunburst circled his tongue around her navel and left a trail of kisses down her body in teasing, light motions, not once forgetting to utilize the stubble she had a newfound fondness for.
Soon enough he reached his target, sliding his tongue between the warm and wet folds of her sex. Starlight's legs quivered, her thighs flexing as she moaned. The small tentative licks soon turned into open-mouthed kisses as he parted his lips to run his tongue up and down before closing to let his chin scrape the soft flesh.
Like going back and forth between velvet and sandpaper, Starlight thought to herself--not that his stubble was painful like sandpaper, but her brain was too muddled in the heat of the moment to think of a proper analogy. Her head lolled back and she whimpered, her hooves digging into his messy hair. Sunburst groaned in return, pulling her closer from his grip and her rear to all but devour her, proud of the way he made her tremble.
"Sunburst," she gasped, "p-put me down--I can't stand up--"
"I got you," Sunburst said, squeezing his hooves into her backside. "I promise."
Starlight nodded, dazed, and lightly began to move her hips in half circles to grind against his mouth. Her knees were weak, almost completely unable to support herself, but just as he promised, he held her up. Like he always did, and would forevermore.
When she came, she expelled the breath in her lungs with a high pitch whine, her thighs flexing and tightening almost painfully around his head. For just a bare fleeting moment her hooves did slip--but he held her fast to allow her a slow and safe descent, watching as she all but melted against him on her way back down.
It took a few moments of catching her breath before she could safely say she came back down to earth. Resting her head on his shoulder, Starlight gathered her bearings as she felt a few small aftershocks trembling her inner muscles.
"Ah...hahaha," she giggled. "That was...ah...mm." Without moving her head, she glanced up at him, still smiling. "Wow."
"Does it really make that much of a difference?" Sunburst asked, slightly amused.
"Yeah," she affirmed. "Definitely."
A few minutes of peaceful silence followed, where they rested comfortably in the other's embrace. By then the bubbles had disappeared, leaving the tub mostly filled with soapy lukewarm water.
Then Sunburst shifted, closing his eyes. "I'm growing the beard."
That broke Starlight into a fit of giggles, shaking her head against his neck in glee. "That's great! A great beard to go with a great wizard! But in the meantime, could you do that thing again in the future...?"
"I don't see why not."
She could feel him growing hard between her legs the longer they sat there, the blood pumping in full hearty throbs. She did nothing to stop him--if anything she encouraged him, lifting her hips to rub against his length teasingly. It never failed to make her giddy, feeling the direct evidence of how he so earnestly derived pleasure from giving her pleasure in turn.
Her wicked scheme did not go unnoticed, and he glanced down at her with a grin.
Starlight's eyes shined as a naughty smile spread across her face. "Are you up to it?"
It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was referring to, which was evidenced all the further when she gave another languid roll of her hips.
They had fooled around in the shower before, even over by the counter, but the bathtub was thus far unexplored territory. Sunburst had to admit that the idea roused his curiosity--as well as other parts of himself--aided by the remaining rush in his veins leftover from tasting her. He was still feeling considerably worn out from work, however, and hesitated as he mulled over whether he had enough stamina to last or if he would have to decline and postpone for another day.
But he was nothing but resourceful, and after another moment of contemplation, the grin on his lips grew wider.
"Sure, I'm up for it," he said, stressing the 'up' in a lightly teasing tone.
Starlight purposely wriggled in his lap and arched up to meet his kiss. Neither in the mood to rush things, they took their time to enjoy one another, making small contented sighs and playful nibbles between the moments. With a small hum, Starlight lifted her hips to stand on her knees, reaching down with the intent to hold him in place as she lowered herself, but paused when she felt Sunburst taking her hoof and stopping her in her tracks.
"Hold on..."
She looked at him to read his expression, but he didn't appear to be having second thoughts. In fact, when he reached for her hips, it was so that he could guide her into shifting around. The water sloshed as Starlight turned around with her back to his chest, anticipation thrumming in her body as he arranged her to his liking.
Eventually, she ended up spread-eagled in his lap, the position leaving her feeling open--and incredibly excited.
"Is this alright?" His voice brushed against the curve of her ear in a husky baritone, sending a pleasant shiver down her spine.
"Yeah..."
Once again, she sought his length, angling her hips to make a proper alignment. When she felt the head sliding along her sex, she began slowly sinking herself onto him, both of them releasing blissful sighs as she took him inch by delightful inch. She loved the full feeling, especially from behind like this.
And Sunburst knew it. Perhaps the decision to position themselves like this was a bit strategic on his part. Usually, he would save the act of flipping her over and driving into her from behind for last, as it was definitely the most effective way of pushing her over the edge just when she ached for it most. But if he wasn't meant to last very long in this encounter, then he figured he might as well utilize the knowledge to ensure both their satisfaction to his best ability.
He gave an experimental roll of his hips, receiving a breathless moan in response as Starlight lolled her head back to rest on his shoulder. Feeling content with the arrangement, Sunburst placed his hooves on her hips and braced his legs against the other side of the porcelain tub, grounding himself as he began to move at a steady, even pace.
Starlight hummed her approval before releasing a giggle her hooves reaching out behind her to skate through his hair. He pressed kisses to her cheek and neck, of which she then arched, feeling once again the rough texture of his stubble. After getting a good look at the wonderful manner her face flushed, his eyes fell to her chest, and watched in transfixion as her body moved above and below the soapy water surface, up and down. One foreleg wrapped around her chest, and the other roamed down her body: her stomach, her perky nipples, down her thighs, and back up again.
Starlight abandoned her hold on his neck to grasp the sides of the bathtub, her cries escalating in frequency and pitch as she lost herself, his hips moving back and forth of their own accord. Her growing urgency was quickly noted as Sunburst wrapped his forelegs around her, clutching desperately as he felt himself climbing that precipice. Her long purple hair draped over the edge when she threw her head back on a particularly fulfilling thrust, (just in the right spot--), and neither of them could care for the water that spilled over the tiled floor as a result of their lovemaking.
Pressing another stubble-scraped kiss to her neck, Sunburst reached down between her legs and feverishly began to rub in tight circles. Starlight tilted her head and captured his lips, practically dazed and pulling more embarrassing sounds from her throat that would otherwise mortify her in any other context. But not like this, not when Sunburst was making her feel so good.
Sunburst had predicted the session would be brief, and he assumed correctly; it did not take long before he felt her clench around him and she shouted her abrupt orgasm. It seized her body, feeling as though it ripped her from the seams--and after already having an intense climax earlier that left her wobbling on her feet, Starlight had yet to finish riding it out before Sunburst quickly began driving into her, seeking a swift release of his own. A low, guttural sound ripped from his throat once he found it, and their bodies slackened against each other, catching their breaths and letting the water slowly drift to a settling calm around them.
After several moments Starlight gave a small giddy squirm, only to be subjected to a rush of guilt when the grunt Sunburst emitted was a pained one.
"I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking...you were already tired from work and still, I went and asked--"
"Starlight," she felt the rough texture of his skin as he kissed the area behind her ear. "I wouldn't have done it if I didn't want to."
She felt the slightest tinge of guilt, but at the same time knew that Sunburst doesn't say things like that if he didn't mean them. Blushing, she gave a nod. "Okay."
They spent a few more moments in the quiet, feeling the bathwater gradually flow to a still. Many of the candles had burned out, they grew used to the scents, and the water was cold, now raising gooseflesh upon their skin in the lukewarm temperature.
Wriggling, Starlight nuzzled against Sunburst and giggled breathlessly. "We made the water dirty now," she said quietly.
Sunburst glanced at the half-empty tub and gave a contented sigh. "It's not that bad," he mumbled. "But you can take a shower if you want."
Starlight shook her head. "Maybe later, not right now."
"Shall we dry off then?"
The pads underneath Starlight's hooves began to wrinkle by then, so there was no objection in her voice when she said yes. She leaned forward and let him gently slip out of her before standing up, her legs still wobbling a little in exhaustion. Sunburst rose immediately after and reached for her hoof, steading her carefully.
"Wait here," he soothed. "I'll get the towels. Can't have you slipping and hitting your head on something."
"I'm not that clumsy," Starlight mumbled in faux petulance but listened as Sunburst stepped out of the tub and made his way over the towel rack, dripping water over the floor in his wake. To be fair, she really did feel as though she may trip if she tried moving too fast. They went through quite a workout just now.
Sunburst had never been the over-protective type, he mostly left her to her own devices and was more than happy to follow when he was needed. Perhaps a better word would be 'attentive'.
He quickly wrapped a towel around his withers and grabbed another, shaking it out and turning to Starlight, holding it wide in expectation. She smiled, her eyes glowing softly in the low light, as she quickly padded wetly towards him and allowed him to wrap the towel around her body and scoop her up in a comfy cocoon, hugging her close to his chest.
Leaning her head against him, Starlight hummed. She could say with confidence that she felt glad she invited Sunburst to join her in the bath. Even if at first, she'd expected him to politely decline.
"Maybe we could do this more often?"
Sunburst glanced down at her.
"I mean," she amended, "we don't have to do--to do that every time, but just as a way to relax! Especially when you're feeling stressed and stuff."
In all honesty, Sunburst didn't have to consider it for long. But he did keep her hanging for a few moments, just as a small tease.
"Hmm..." Leaning down to kiss the top of her head, he smiled. "I don't see why not." |
Bed Time Stories | Vanilla | Sunburst hated summer, or summer in Sire's Hollow. Maybe it was the heat, and his love for dark-colored capes didn't help. Perhaps it was his messy mohawk and goatee he insisted on letting grow, his long bangs and facial hair sticking to his sweaty forehead and chin.
He and Starlight had arrived at their childhood home some days ago, but the twist this time was that Firelight wasn't there, gone to some convention or other, leaving Starlight to house-sit while he was away. With Firelight gone his mother was busier than usual, he had no idea what running a town as small as this one entailed, but it appeared to be a lot of work since she was gone most of the day, leaving him to his own devices. Needless to say, this was the best visit he's ever paid to his mother, made even better when Starlight invited him over to "help" her house-sit, and sometimes he would invite her over for some "tea", sneaking around Stellar Flare's back like a pair of teenagers despite them being close to thirty.
He might have considered cornering the sorceress for more tea before his mother came by for lunch, but it was too hot. He groaned, wiping more beads of salty sweat from his forehead with the back of his hoof. Sunburst sat under one of the trees in Firelight's backyard, trying to cool off after moving around some boxes to the storage shed.
Why he had to move the junk that particular day was beyond him, he would kill for a cold shower now. But no, Starlight insisted upon putting him to work, and like the sucker he was, he bought into it when she fluttered those dark lashes at him and her horn glowed like a warning. The truth was that he'd been bribed into it by the mare as well, offered something cold and palatable after all was done. That alone piqued his interest and kept him motivated. But as he sat there, his dark cape soaked through and sticking to his back uncomfortably, Sunburst felt robbed.
Starlight had left him sitting there, after he was done, going back inside the house to finish preparing the treat she promised. The effort didn't seem worth it now, but maybe she had something refreshing in mind after all, like lemonade or iced tea, or heck, just a bag of ice right about then would have been heavenly. He groaned again, almost wanting to take off his cape before she got back, but that required effort and strength he didn't have. Sunburst was half tempted to nod off too if it weren't for the sound of metal churning and the hum of machines from the house. What was she making anyway?
After a few minutes of hearing the ruckus from the house drown out the cicadas, it stopped. He was grateful, closing his eyes as he settled against the tree. It was so peaceful outside too...
"Ahem?" a questioning voice asked, as he slowly opened one eye, a blur of purple hair, pink fur, and white fabric standing over him holding...something, "Are you gonna take one or not?"
Starlight peered down at Sunburst as his eyes finally opened completely, recognizing the items floating in front of her as creamy, white ice cream on top of a waffle cone. He scowled. "Starlight, what is this?"
"Vanilla ice cream, made it myself. Didn't have time to let it sit in the refrigerator, so it's kind of soft, but smooth, eat it before it melts," she said with a grin while shoving one cone into his hoof. "Come on, you can't tell me you don't like ice cream?"
"It's dairy."
"Yeah, what about it? If I just used ice it wouldn't be ice cream," she said as she sat down on the grass next to him, careful to smooth out her thin white apron while not spilling her own cone, "Pinkie gave me the recipe and taught me how to make it, so it's perfectly safe, and it's sweet, just give it a try, please?"
"Starlight, I'm lactose intolerant."
She turned to look at him with wide eyes. "No way, we used to eat ice cream all the time when we were kids!"
"Yeah, the ice cream my mom bought, she made sure it wasn't dairy base."
"...Can you at least try it, pretty please?"
"No."
"How can you say no to something not only sweet but cold in this heat?"
Sunburst glanced down at the cone in his grip, eyeing the white stuff suspiciously, especially the small black flakes mixed in it. Tempting, especially as it felt ice-cold through the waffle, but it was his mortal enemy in a sweet packaging. He hated milk, the way it coated his throat if it were whole or cream, the way it tasted like water if it was skim. Heck, he even disliked cheese on principle alone. With ice cream, it wasn't much better despite being cold and sweet. While it was a shame to waste if after Starlight had gone to the trouble of making it...
"No."
She glared at him. He was sure he was about to be at the receiving end of a nasty hex till she gave a loud snort and went back to looking at her own dessert. "Fine, you sour-puss, I'll have it, I'm hungry anyway so I'll eat mine quick than yours."
"Fattening up?"
"Ha, ha, ha, not nearly as funny as usual. I just don't like it when food goes to waste," Starlight said with a small grin before pointedly ignoring his comment. She was half turned towards him as she ate, licking the very top of the soft scoop, a piece of it disappearing into her mouth.
He didn't notice at first, but the longer he sat there holding the second cone, the more his eyes focused on her tongue as it darted and swirled over the creamy surface. She had an unusual way of eating after the first bite, going from the base to the top to catch the dribbles of melting cream before they slid down over her hooves. Maybe it was the heat getting to him, but her lips and tongue were red from the intense cold. And between bites, she stopped long enough to lick the stickiness away, biting and wetting her mouth as he suddenly felt dry.
She was doing this deliberately, wasn't she? How could she not know what she looked like eating that ice cream in the summer heat?
The thin white cotton apron she wore clung to her skin, one thin strap falling off her shoulder. The pink ribbon tied around her back hugged the curve of her waist and the ends fell around her backside, the breeze playing with the ends like small flags that called for his attention. But the beads of sweat rolling down her back and below the low cut of the apron weren't as mesmerizing as the way she ate. His blue eyes went back to that last subject, ignoring the melting ice cream cone in his hoof completely. Starlight's head was tilted to the side as she opened her mouth, sucking in the dessert in such a way that Sunburst just about jumped. The white fluid was smeared over her chin as she giggled to herself, wiped it off with the back of her hoof, and then licked the stickiness away like a cat. He shifted uncomfortably, trying not to think about how it would feel to be licked like that, or the sweetness of her mouth after all that sugar and vanilla.
As she started eating again in long, dragged-out flicks of her tongue, Sunburst bit his lip to keep from groaning. In the melting heat, she forgot about being clean any longer and stuck to just trying to eat it before the delicate ice crystals turned back into a mixture of cream, milk, eggs, and flavor.
It was funny how his mind kept inserting images of other things colored white, or other things meant to be licked, mostly parts of himself that longed to be licked. Maybe it was because the only thing he could think about that week in Sire's Hollow was her. Or maybe it was that when he did think of her, it all equated back to not just her herself but being with her. Yet, it also could have been that in all their times together, she'd never used her mouth on him there. Those red lips, that small pink tongue, the warmth he knew from kissing her, and those teeth that playfully nipped him almost everywhere but there. Maybe he wouldn't have been imagining it if he'd felt it just once.
Then again, maybe it's the heat frying his delicate, magic knowledge-filled brain. But damn, was he ever wrong if watching her eat an ice cream cone didn't make him squirm while trying to hold back lecherous thoughts. Then he saw her tongue slowly curl over a lump of white ice, drawing it into her mouth with a slow moan of pleasure from the cold and the cream. He wished he was that ice cream cone, very, very much. This time Sunburst did groan out loud, hitting his head against the back of the tree. He was not a pervert! At least that was what he kept telling himself over and over in mantra.
Starlight's attention snapped towards him at the sound, her eyebrows arching up in curiosity. She was fairly certain he had groaned, his eyes tightly shut while pounding his head backward. A grin spread over her lips as she stopped eating to notice the melting ice cream dripping all over his hoof and down towards the ground.
"Sunburst," she said in a scolding tone as his blue eyes shot open. "This is why you should have been eating some instead of being such a baby about it."
Before he could retort, the mare moved closer on her knees and grabbed his wrist, bringing it to her mouth. He made a noise that was a mix of a gasp and a cough as she started to suck and lick the melted vanilla off his hoof. It was too much. The visuals combined with the stimulation of her tongue on his already burning skin fried every shred of resistance he had towards all things dairy and all things Starlight.
She felt him move forward suddenly but kept his hoof still. The mare tried to pull away before their faces collided, but his other hoof pressed against the back of her neck, stopping her as his lips moved closer. She squealed in surprise as he kissed her, licking her lips quite literally. Her protesting murmurs only escalated as his tongue delved into her mouth as if seeking a sample of the lingering sweet taste without actually eating any of it. And yet, all her complaints faded the longer he remained locked against her. Slowly, the sorceress forgot all about the ice cream in her hoof as the cone slipped right out of her grasp. It fell into Sunburst's lap, and he broke the kiss with a yelp. "Ah! Cold! Starlight!"
His hooves flailed at the cold, letting go of his melting treat as well. In the confusion, it landed on her chest and splattered down the front of her apron. At the sudden cold, she gasped and then screeched, turning red with embarrassment before focusing her anger on her childhood friend. "Sunburst! For a wizard, you're so dang clumsy!"
"Look who's talking! You dropped yours first!"
"I don't care! I'm all sticky now, and it's your fault! Gimme your cape!"
"What!?" he yelled back at her, turning red himself for different reasons besides anger. "Why do you need my cape!?"
"Because you've sweat through it anyway, and I need a rag to clean this up! Now pass it over!"
Grumbling, he peeled out of his dark cape and threw it at her, suddenly regretting kissing her at all. Why did he feel the need to kiss her? All it did was cover them both in ice cream, including the one that had dropped right on his crotch. That hurt beyond the indignity, as the cold liquid seeped right through his thin yellow coat and to his skin. He really needed a shower now. Sunburst picked up the remains and hurled them away from them into the dirt, scowling. He didn't notice Starlight at all as she tried to blot the melted cream off her neck and apron, huffing as it stuck to her, "Damn...I hope you're happy, this could've been avoided if you just ate the stupid ice cream."
Sunburst finally looked at her and tried not to whimper at what he saw. The white apron was nearly see-through when she gave up and dropped his cape, wet and sticking to her front like a second skin.
Her dark blue eyes studied the stallion in front of her, sitting completely naked under the tree, his eyes transfixed by something. It was then that she noticed where his gaze was stuck, on the trail of white stickiness still over her skin and apron. She grinned. He was oblivious to what he was even doing, so far gone that he was nearly drooling with hungry intent. Sunburst hadn't looked at her like that before...He even missed the massive stain of ice cream on his lap. Starlight had all sorts of ideas about why he was looking at her, her grin turning into a smirk.
Maybe he did like ice cream after all, but for different reasons.
Before Sunburst knew it, she dropped the ruined cape into his lap and proceeded to mop up the liquid. His eyes nearly popped out of his sockets, trying to stop her wandering hooves. "What-! Stop! Get off me!"
"You're a complete mess, now hold still!"
"I can get it on my own, now let go!"
"No!" she yelled back as he tried to tug on the cape, battling his hooves away. He continued to squirm, pushing on her shoulders to get her away from him until her hoof touched something. She stopped completely and looked into his eyes. Sunburst looked at her with a mix of horror and embarrassment, the blush across his face going all the way to the roots of his vermillion hair. And then, her hoof started to rub again, as if to continue cleaning as if nothing had happened.
"Starlight..." he said slowly, trying not to hiss as her rubbing slowed down as he spoke. "Let go..."
An impish grin spread across her face as her grip tightened, letting him know that she knew exactly what she was touching. Starlight leaned forward, staring into his cornflower blue eyes as she sat between his open legs. "You sure about that?"
"No..." He said weakly, then he groaned as her hoof continued to massage him through the dark fabric, making it very difficult to think of anything else. She giggled at his non-committal answer, avoiding kissing his lips as she nibbled on his neck. The salt of his sweat mixed with the remnants of the sweet ice cream in her mouth, the clashing flavors tasted better than she thought as she slowly crept down his body.
Sunburst groaned louder the closer she got to lay on the grass before him, her lips kissing his stomach as it tightened under her touch. Her hoof hadn't stopped its movement, making it very hard to stop her or even try to grab the little temptress. Part of him wanted to return the favor, to pin her under him and see how she liked to be touched and licked. And yet, every other part of his body had mutinied, agreeing it was much better for him to sit there, shut up, and go with it before she changed her mind.
Starlight stopped and pulled the rag that was his cape off his lap, revealing his half-raised member to the world. Her hooves touched it gently, rubbing the outlines with slight hesitation while she pressed butterfly kisses to the heated flesh. Sunburst's mouth dropped open, too engrossed in the sight of her playing with his member. Blood rushed to his head--and down his crotch--as the realization of her ultimate goal hit him, sure that if he were still a virgin, he would've come then and there. Starlight didn't seem to care as her touch became bolder, her shy kisses growing in intensity, bringing his attention back to what she was doing.
Traitorously, his hips pushed up from the ground at her urging, and he scooted closer to her until she was resting comfortably on his lap. As his member reached its full height her touching became daring and firm, Sunburst groaned louder, torn between stopping her or...he couldn't think of what else he wanted, but it would've felt good.
"Huh..." he breathed, sweating more than when he moved the boxes for her earlier. "You don't have to do this..."
She'd never done this before, which lent to part of his fear and excitement. It didn't help that her hooves and himself were tacky from the ice cream, making him stick to her wherever he was touched. Starlight didn't say a word but shot him a fiery look, her blue eyes practically daring him to try and stop her, while he was in her intimate grasp. No, she wouldn't stop, that was evident enough as her tongue gave the head a slow, firm lick. The heat of her mouth would have made him cry out if his throat weren't as dry as the desert. His hooves dig into the grass, transfixed on the sight of her lips wrapping over him. Her tongue licked him, taking the head of his member completely into her mouth, and he was utterly lost. "Oh, fuck me..." Sunburst said, despite his usual aversion for such vulgar language.
Starlight didn't notice his slip of the tongue, too intent on her work. She always did want to do this to him, if only to see his reaction, which was bordering between spastic and rapturous. She could read him like a book each time something like this happened. Unless he came on to her, he always looked torn between ecstasy and complaint. If he disliked being seduced, he didn't show it ever by pushing her away. And who was he to complain? She was the one doing all the work to seduce him. It was particularly delicious work too, as her mouth pulled back to lick the underside of his cock, the taste of ice cream, sweat, and sex making her drool.
Sunburst groaned and shifted lower against the tree, apparently unwinding and giving in to the inevitable. His hips moved upwards on their own accord. His body unconsciously begged for her attention again as her mouth took one of his balls, sucking on it while she continued to stroke his dick with eager motions. Shaking like a leaf, his hoof reached out to touch the mare's dark purple hair, messing her hairstyle slightly as he slid his hoof down her bare neck. "Star..."
She ignored him, her mouth continuing to move back up. The slight nibble of her teeth made him tense, fearful until he felt her restraint teasing him. Her small bite was followed by a low, muffled moan then sucking as her lips wrapped over him. That combination was unnerving, fighting to keep his hips still as she went upwards. His member slid into her mouth, almost disappearing into her, but he didn't want to think about where it went. Slowly, Starlight's head went up and down, each pass stealing a little more of his breath till he felt like drowning.
It was a battle to keep from bucking into her mouth. Heck, it was a battle to keep himself in check. Sunburst's shuddering only got worse as her hooves stroked him as well between pauses. There was a determination in her blue eyes whenever she glanced up at him, probably bent on driving him insane. It was working, and he adored her for it. The pit of his stomach flared with heat standing right on the brink of release when he finally stopped her.
"Enough."
Starlight looked up at Sunburst, confused at first then hurt as his hooves pushed her away. At least, she thought he was pushing her away. It wasn't until he grasped her by the elbow and hauled her body into his lap that she understood.
His lips were on hers at once, consuming her while he locked her in place with his embrace. There would be no fighting him, that message was clear as he groaned into her mouth. And yet, she still fought back in her own ways, messing his mane with her questing touches, and then pressing eagerly against him. Sunburst pulled away from her lips with a cry that turned into a growl as she shuddered in his embrace. His hooves dove down her back, quickly pulling the pink ribbon that held her apron in place. Starlight clung to him, her legs on either side of his hips as he pushed the apron aside before cupping her aching center.
She tried not to cringe at the suddenness of it, but that was quickly replaced with a moan as his head came down her neck. Her breath came in gasps as he licked the warm and sweaty skin, struggling to get the gauzy fabric clinging to her out of the way as he yanked it with his teeth. The mare gave a small cry as Sunburst's hoof changed angles, rubbing her clit in almost painful motions, and her hooves dig into his back, nearly breaking his skin. Another growl from the wizard, one born out of frustration with the flimsy garment.
"Of all the times you decide to wear clothes you had to pick this one."
"Shut up and get me off," Starlight snapped before her voice was cut out by another quake of pleasure from her body. "Oh my gosh...!"
He kissed her desperately, hugging her to him as he tried to get to his knees. Unfortunately, he was no pegasus so gravity wasn't on his side. They tumbled backward in a sprawled heap, both of them uncaring of the change in scenery in the middle of a lip-lock. When Sunburst's lips finally backed off, he grinned down at her, at least until she grabbed his naked ass. That simple, but reverberating, touch propelled him back into action, pressed intimately against her again as she wiggled under him.
He didn't waste a second longer, setting himself at her folds, then parting them with a thrust. Starlight gave a startled yelp but moved with him as he pushed into her. Her eyes were tightly shut, focusing on not just the heat in the air but the heat between them as it burned over her skin.
Sunburst groaned as she arched up, her apron still slinging to her, but yanked away from her lower half and neck. He attacked her neck just as she did the same to him, careful not to leave suspicious marks that couldn't be smoothed over with her fur. Her cries only picked up in volume as he licked a trail of sweat from her cheek up to her ear, nibbling the sensible flesh. The sticky sweet taste of vanilla still clung to her along with her scent, overwhelmingly powerful and heady. He gave up on sampling the remains on her skin, hunched over Starlight, and moving as if possessed. Her hooves touched his sweaty shoulder blades, clinging to him as she looked for purchase on his gleaming back. In this state, he was hypersensitive to her every move, but he didn't complain when she clung to him in a painful grip.
Every time he moved within her, it felt like he was sinking deeper and deeper, losing himself piece by piece. Maybe that was part of why he wanted her so much, couldn't get enough of her, oblivion, sweet release, and comfort wrapped into one blissfully smiling package. She was smiling up at him, pulling on his hair so that he'd look at her eyes. When he did, he smiled back, almost forgetting how close they both were till her smile turns into a rapt but silent cry. Her hips bucked up into his, and he gripped her body tightly as she came. Her voice resounded in his ear with a whimper, saying his name before she moaned into his neck.
That was it for the wizard as he pushed in one last time with a shout.
Sunburst nearly collapses in the waves of release, dizzy, exhausted, but deliriously happy. He was dimly aware of his seed shooting into her even as her walls gripped him, but it didn't matter. Physical reaction, he learned, took second place to the torrent of feelings that boiled in the aftermath of love.
Starlight went limp under him as he curled around her, a little concerned as her eyes were closed and her breathing shallow. Did she pass out? Not that he could blame her. He felt like passing out too, his head pillowed in the gentle rise and fall of her chest. She shook with a start moments after he'd collapsed, exactly where he wanted to be, and then sighed, contented. He felt her hooves play with his hair and he shuddered but let her play with it, too happy to move. It was too hot to move anyway. The sorceress giggled as he snuggled into her neck, not missing the goofy grin that spread across Sunburst's face.
"You're a pervert," she declared after a minute of further silence between them.
"Look who's talking."
"But I still love you anyway," she said as he looked up at her, his blue eyes wide. Starlight smiled as her hoof brushed through his mane again, and he smiled back.
Slowly, he crawled back up till they were face to face, their bodies barely touching anymore. Sunburst tilted his head subtly and leaned down, kissing her tenderly with a brush of his lips. Before it could turn heated with passion at all, he pulled away, planting more delicate kisses over her face till he stopped at her forehead, nuzzling her horn with his nose.
"I love you," he said so softly that she barely heard the words over the hum of the cicadas.
They stayed like that for a few more minutes, lying in the grass in each other embrace, a tangle of sweaty limbs and dirty clothes, till Starlight finally groaned. "I need a bath; I think I got dirt up my tail thanks to you."
Sunburst chuckled. "I think I still have ice cream running down my legs, we're even."
"You should have eaten some of it," she said with a pout, "I make it for you, and you turned your nose up at it, you're so...picky."
"I told you, I'm lactose intolerant, milk makes me gassy."
"Didn't stop you from eating half the cake at my graduation ceremony."
"I paid for it dearly that night, trust me," he said sarcastically with a scowl, at least until she kissed him on the cheek. Sunburst blushed as she was smiling again, acutely aware that he wasn't as tired anymore, and they both were practically naked. Starlight giggled again, as the hungry look in his eyes was back.
She slid out from under him, fixing her apron while not bothering with her mane. "Come on, mister important wizard, showers await. If you're a good boy, I'll even pull out the last batch of ice cream I made, chocolate."
She turned and started to walk back to the house as Sunburst sat there a moment, letting her offer sink in. Showers, more ice cream, and Starlight. Was he dreaming? He had to be, given the vision in his head from contemplating the last three objects of his desire at once.
Even if he detested all the milk in the ice cream, he could possibly stomach it...depending on how it was served.
Sunburst sprung back up to his feet, shaking some stray blades of grass and snatching his ruined caped from the ground as he ran after her. "Wait! Can we discuss this?! I'm getting an idea!"
Starlight turned and smiled from the porch, watching him while leaning against the door frame. "Why, Sunburst, I do believe you've been corrupted."
"Only when it comes to you," he said, his grin incredulous as he grabbed her. She squealed, trying to get away, but not really fighting all that hard as he tickled her.
"I'll make a dairy lover out of you yet, Sunburst!" she yelled as he chuckled darkly.
"Only if it's on you," he whispered into her ear. "Now, where's that ice cream?" |
Bed Time Stories | Pull Me Closer | Of all the places, she finds him on the south side of the school building. It's a shadowed little nook and she only went there as a last resort when she couldn't find him anywhere else on the grounds, but there's no mistaking the unicorn stallion with messy red hair and sideburns who's propped against the stone between two towering columns.
He looks like he's brooding, she thinks as she approaches, clipboard clutched to her chest. He's leaning against the wall and looking rather intently at the ground. She's not entirely sure if he just didn't notice her or if he's being distant on purpose--but with Sunburst, it was most likely the latter.
Starlight is not the kind of mare to let things go without an explanation. She isn't sure what it was that upset him during her lecture on magical history she gave to the first-year students at the end of the day, but she's been with him long enough to know when he was in a bad mood and was no longer put off by them.
And besides, she wants an answer--straight from the horse's mouth.
She stops a few feet away from him, he still hasn't looked up and she clears her throat awkwardly.
"Sunburst." She says his name clearly, but he still gives her the cold shoulder. Her cheeks puff out with annoyance. "Sunburst." She repeats with more force, her annoyance building with every second he doesn't look her way.
He shifts, which is the most movement she has seen from him so far, but it bothers her even more somehow. What's his problem?
"Was it really that bad?" she huffs out, brows drawn together as she stomps her hoof against the stone floor. They had been dating for a couple of months now, she thought he might be at least a little more supportive, even if she didn't go to a fancy magic school to study the material like he had or was barely on his level when it came to magical knowledge. "I did my research! I studied well into the night to get everything right! I don't see why you had to--"
"That's not it," he cuts in, though he's now purposefully looking away from her.
"Then what is it?" she presses, taking another step forward. She really wasn't in the mood for any guessing games. Did he have any idea how embarrassing it was for her when she nearly finished her presentation and he just...stood up and left? "If you don't tell me, I'm not going to understand!"
He turns to her, briefly staring at her before sharply turning away once more. She watches him swallow for a moment before his lips part. "...Never mind."
She tries not to let it get to her--she really does. But Sunburst knows how stressed and tired she is, how much she worries and cares about every creature in the school, Starlight thought that he would at least talk to her to ease her nerves if nothing else. And she can't decide if she feels angry or disappointed about his dismissal. He's teased her before, but this wasn't the same, something is very obviously bothering him and he won't even trust her enough to tell her what.
She breathes in slowly and lets it out in one long sigh. "...You know I'm going to worry about it right? Whenever you say things like 'never mind' or 'it doesn't matter' it makes me worry more because I know you're hiding something! If I upset you somehow then I have the right to know!"
If he really wants to be alone then she would let him, but she didn't want this kind of tension to follow them back home, either. At least if it was out in the open, she could apologize or fix it or something. It was better than letting her mind go in circles, reviewing every little thing she ever said or done to him, wondering what it was that made him withdraw. Besides, it took her twenty minutes to find him, she wasn't going anywhere until she got an answer.
And yet Sunburst remains stubbornly quiet, not moving a muscle, his shoulder leaning against the building and not meeting her eyes. She didn't want to fight, despite being angry with him, because she knows that prodding him would only make him retreat more into his shell until he breaks from it with a shout and a barrage of angry words, such a blowout generally leads them to not speaking to each other for a full day sometimes, and since they were working closely it wouldn't do them any good. That isn't something that she wants and she doubts that he does either.
With one more glance in his direction and another sigh, the head-mare turns around. "Write a report about my presentation with everything I got wrong by Monday," she pauses and adds with a smaller voice, "and you don't have to come to any more of my lectures, if they bother you so much, alright?"
Before she can walk away, she feels something yank at the edge of her blazer and she stops with a small jerk of surprise. She looks at her side and sees the golden aura of his magic on her, she's surprised that he was capable of such magical output.
"I said that wasn't it," he speaks from behind her, and she thinks that his voice sounds a little strained. "This isn't...this isn't something I should tell you about, let's leave it at that."
Any lingering resentment she was holding onto fades away at those words, quickly replaced with concern. He sounds more awkward than normal; his words don't carry the gentleness that she's used to. Her concern makes her reach out to him. "Sunburst? Are you alright?"
She feels terribly guilty all of a sudden. She'd been so worried about her own embarrassment that she didn't even stop and consider that Sunburst might have left for other reasons, he even said so! She wanted to kick herself for being so selfish.
At least he wasn't trying to hide from her anymore, and Starlight takes advantage of that to step closer and nuzzle his cheek gently, trying to convey that she was there for him with the simple action. He responds with a gentle hug, but she feels his muzzle lowering from her cheek all the way down her neck in a slow but purposeful matter until he stops at the collar of her shirt, his motions are oddly soothing.
"Sunburst...?" she tries again, but her voice is softer than before.
His nuzzling stops momentarily, and his hoof slides over her shoulders, down her back...
And with a small squeak of surprise escaping her throat, she finds herself all but pressed right up against him, she drops her clipboard as she puts her hoof between them out of instinct, but it ends up pinned against her chest in the process. A flush swiftly turns her face to match the color of his hair. "S-Sunburst?"
"Don't...move away," he breathes into her ear, his words almost hitched. She could almost feel his heartbeat where her hoof rests up against his chest. "I just need..."
He doesn't elaborate, but the near pleading tone of his voice is enough for her to follow his wishes. She likes being held by him--that was something that the mare discovered long ago--but this is not quite the same. This warmth is...different. It's...
It's cloying and she can almost feel it like a hot pressure that surrounds her--like he's radiating the heat himself. She squirms, once, and the sharp gasp in her ear makes her own breath catch in her throat.
When did Sunburst ever make noises like that? She feels something almost like a shiver that wants to course through her, but she's not cold. She's far from cold.
They simply stand like that for a long moment, his heartbeat against her chest, his breaths shallow and tickling the curve of her ear. And her face growing hotter, as though she's channeling in that abundance of heat that he's giving off.
It's strange, but now her heart is beat is increasing as well. This is nothing like when they shyly held hooves and when they kissed that first time, or the second or the third or the fourth.
He seems desperate somehow--his grip is unrelenting, as though he's afraid she might just vanish if he releases her. And she doesn't understand, but even with her mind racing for answers, she cannot find the words to ask.
He rarely touches her--most especially in public--and it's usually fleeting. They don't kiss for long, he usually gets awkward about holding hooves, and embraces are more or less initiated by her. This is different, the way he's holding her, the hat, his breath lightly tickling a few stray hairs of her mane against her face, he's close and he's not moving away.
After what feels like forever, she finally manages to make her mouth work long enough to ask, "Sunburst, is s-something wrong?"
She feels his hoof sliding up and down her clothed back. "Something...might be wrong with me," he mumbles and his breathy voice makes her goosebumps form along her body beneath her work clothes. She opens her mouth to speak and she feels him giving a sudden jerk; like he was trying to push her down. But before she could fall, he retreats just as quickly. "I..."
Starlight is unsure of what to think. Was he sick? Should he take him home? Those are the obvious things that come to mind, but there's a part of her that tells her that wasn't it. So, what does he--
"I want to touch you," he interrupts her thoughts, his voice lower than before, and the shiver she fought tingles straight up her spine without warning, her eyes growing wide. "I need to..."
The words sound so strange to her ears. They almost sound like something that couldn't come from his lips, and yet she's certain that she didn't mishear them.
Before she can bring herself to respond, she feels him move--edging them both toward the side of the building and still keeping his grip taught around her. "Starlight," he speaks her name in a needy manner that she is completely unfamiliar with, but that is strangely nice to her ears. "Please..."
"I..." her own voice, she realizes, has grown hoarse. Swallowing hard, she tries to break the words free. "I...can help?"
By now, he nearly has her all but pinned up against the side of the stone building, she braces her forelegs against the wall to keep her balance, his chest pressed tightly to her back, his hooves on her hips, and one of his legs rubbing along the side of hers. The warmth from her face begins to spread, reaching her ears and her neck. "I need you," he responds in that same husky tone, leaning in far enough that she can feel his lips brush her cheek as he speaks. "That room was stifling...I couldn't take it...I had to get...out."
His words are full of contradictions. He wanted her, but he ran away instead? But what did she do to get him like this? She was sure she didn't do anything flirty or provocative, did something else drive him out?
"Then...it wasn't my fault?"
The pause that follows her question makes her insides tighten a little bit further with uncertainty.
"It's your fault," he responds as he presses his warm lips right beneath her ear. "And mine."
Trying to understand Sunburst was usually difficult since his mind is lightyears ahead of hers, but he normally made sure to explain things to her in a way she understood--even if it meant being blunt sometimes. Now, she only felt more and more confused with every word that passed through his lips.
Lips felt good against her skin though...
"But, what...did I do?" She really wants to know, but her voice almost cracks when she feels his hips move forward against her backside. He pulls away slowly, and she can feel...something stiff pressing up against the small of her back through her skirt.
"You..." his breath is hot on her neck, his red bangs brushing her skin in a way that makes her tense in his grasp. "Talked...captivated me...made me want..."
She shivers and braces herself when she felt her grip on the stone slip for a moment, his voice making her weak in the knees. "Want?"
His breath releases in pants, the hooves around her hips finally loosening their vice grip. "Want you," he says with a firmer tone than before, and in the blink of an eye, his hooves are under her skirt, cupping underneath the small mounds of her breast.
For a moment Starlight is too shocked to react. She isn't familiar with being touched there, but she can feel the heat from his hooves, feel it flooding into her. And it's making her squirm.
"S-Sunburst?"
He answers with his actions, by biting her ear and using his magic to pinch the sensible tips of her breast at the same time, and she gasps out in surprise from the sudden shock that lights up in her. "A-Ah!"
"Please," he repeats, licking the offended ear and leaving a short trail of wet kisses down along the juncture of her neck and jaw. "I can't..."
She knows what he's pleading with her for and part of her is hesitant in giving in to his wants, but Starlight can't deny that even if the sensations are new and strange, it feels good. He has never touched her like this before, and for once he's not shying away or shutting her out.
"Mm," she responds with a tight breath of her own, arching into that strangely addicting motion of his magic and hooves over the springy flesh. "I...I like that."
And she's not making it up for his sake either, his hooves feel good where they massage her breast. He is not as hesitant as he was when he would hold her hoof in his, or brush it along the side of her face. She likes this change.
It's not long before she can feel even more confident in his touch--or maybe it's desperation, she's not sure--but he's growing firmer and more eager in his ministrations. Her breath is getting shorter as a result, the heat moving and expanding within her.
"I won't go too far," he says as if reassurance to her. Starlight nods but she's too lost in the sensations to really hear his words, but she really doesn't care. She knows Sunburst cares about her--and she trusts him.
With his declaration, he starts moving too quickly for her to really follow what is going on--especially when she's facing the building. His hooves leave her perky tits and start lifting her skirt almost frantically, but his magic is still stimulating the sensible mounds. She moans and her body feels hot, her bangs are clinging to the side of her face with the moisture of her sweat collecting at her temples.
"Starlight," he speaks her name again, and this time it sends a wave of heat through her--which only intensifies when she feels a draft before his groin is pressed directly into the back of her tail. The stiffness she thought she felt before is definitely there, but it's not restrained, and she can feel his pulse against the curtain of hair that separates their skin.
Sunburst groans into her ear as he rubs the hardness up against her backside, pushing her further into the wall. Her tail twitches and flags at his movements, she feels him trying to brush the long hairs out of the way.
The area under her tail feels damp. And hot. She wonders how she didn't notice until now, but she feels it when he tugs at her tail impatiently.
"Sunbuuurst," her own voice takes on a needy edge and she sways her hips against his as if that will help somehow. All it does is provoke a strained noise from him, and he slides his hoof over her exposed flank, the shudder that goes through him passing straight to her.
This is definitely the most touching he's done and the most intimate they have ever been, but Starlight is not alarmed. Sunburst is bringing out something in her and she wants to experience new things with him. If he can make her feel good, she wants him to feel good, too.
It doesn't occur to her that they're in the back of the school building, together in a manner that is certainly inappropriate for the academy grounds. All that exists is this heat and him and the press of his body against hers.
He moves again from behind her, little grunts escaping him as he pulls back slightly from her backside and jerks his hoof around her tail. Then, a moment later, he releases a sound she can't quite identify--almost like a sharp hiss--and the hairs on the back of her neck instantly stand up on end.
His breathing has somehow grown even harsher and his grasp on her hips is unwavering as he shifts--and then she feels it.
Her voice raises a little as she flattens herself into the stone wall, legs quivering. What was hard and pulsing is now touching her rear, with no cloth or barrier between them, and the heat is just too intense for her not to react. One of his hooves snakes around her waist while the other appears at the wall next to her head, and she can literally feel his heavy unsteady breaths as he just marginally moves his hips up against her.
"Ngh...you feel so..."
He trails off between gasps and grunts and other low-pitched noises as he slides himself against her, his cape draping over them and hiding the actions beneath from direct view. She cannot even form words well. The heat is so tight, the throb of him against her is making her feel so strange, but she needs--
"M-More...!"
Starlight is not even sure about what she's pleading for, but she knows that she needs him to keep going. She needs to feel more of this.
And he obliges wordlessly, grunting out against the back of her neck as he increases the pace of his thrusts. The hoof bracing against the wall once again lowers, moving to hold her chest to keep her steady as he moved.
Starlight is so lost in the motions that when he stops a whine escapes her throat almost immediately, but from one moment to the next, he's moving his hard length from between the cheeks of her backside to the heat between her legs, stroking the wetness she felt earlier. The sensations are so overwhelming that her whines turn to cries of pleasure.
"Y-Yes!" he moans out against her skin as if responding to her, the jerking motions of his hips increasing, but losing more and more control as the seconds pass. "That's it...that's..."
Sunburst cuts off with a loud groan as Starlight's thighs press together tightly around him, bringing him closer to her folds. With a jerk his heated flesh prod against a sensitive nub of nerves and she tenses up, a strangled noise catching in her throat. It suddenly feels like everything is just too much, even though she wants more, and she can't make sense of everything but somehow, she just needs...!
He is moving even faster. She doesn't know he could move so fast, but he is and she feels so much and her back arches and she feels like she's going to come apart at the seams! Especially with the way, he was grinding on that sweet spot so relentlessly, driving her closer--!
"Star...Star--!" His voice is so strained that she thinks he sounds like he's in pain, but he's not stopping. And she doesn't want him to. The metal of her horseshoes all but scrapes at the stone wall as she fights for air, and he's clutching her body to hold her solidly against him as he bucks her into the wall over and over.
Then, like she had been hit by an avalanche, Starlight could no longer determine what was even happening. He tenses first and she feels it and she feels a huge throb against her folds just before he cries out her name and his body shakes and trembles almost violently from behind her. Something overtakes her completely when he presses so harshly against her sensitive nub, sending her body, her mind, her entire consciousness suddenly flooding through with white and pleasure and exploding a myriad of dancing colors in front of her eyes.
Starlight doesn't know how long it is before she feels like she knows who she is and where she is once more, but she finds herself half-collapse against the wall of the building, Sunburst's warm weight pressing over her, and feeling like she just ran for her life. She heaves for breath, taking in all she can to refill her needy lungs. Her body feels sweaty and sticky but there's the relief and unmistakably nice, warm feelings running through her.
That was just...with Sunburst, she shared this...incredible moment.
"I'm sorry," his voice suddenly rasps out after a short groan when he shifts against her, his limp length still trapped between her legs. He takes several breaths before he continues. "I knew...I was going to lose it if I stayed around you...you shouldn't have come looking for me."
She blinks, certainly not expecting those to be the first words out of his mouth.
"You're an idiot," she says, her voice still not completely back to normal. "For being sorry."
Maybe Sunburst didn't have all the answers, after all, she thinks. While this was definitely new to her, and probably for him too, she wouldn't take it back if she was given the opportunity. It's special and it means something, and she instinctively knows that.
"...You're not upset?" His voice sounds oddly surprised. "After I just..."
Starlight can hear the underlying shame in his tone and she doesn't want that. She wasn't him to be as pleased about this as she is.
"I feel closer to you," she blurts out and feels her cheeks heat up a bit. "I like that feeling, it's so much better when you don't try to shut me out or shy away from everything."
She turns in his slackened grasp, moving to press her lips rather clumsily to his cheek, and seeing his puzzled expression she can't help but smile. "Please, don't treat this like a bad thing? I'm glad it happened, I'm fine...I'm better than fine, I promise."
He stares at her for a long moment, with that same quizzical twist to his features, and then leans down to bump his forehead against hers. "You drive me crazy. You're so unpredictable. You're..." he breaths out against her skin, almost like a contented sigh. "...everything I could ever want."
The last of his words are so unexpected that Starlight lets out a startled laugh, and she asks half-jokingly and half-seriously. "Who are you and what did you do with Sunburst?"
His lips curl into a smile and he lets out a snicker, leaning closer, and kisses her on the mouth. It's gentle and very sweet, Starlight all but melts against him and she pouts when he pulls away. "What? Didn't you say that I always shut you out?"
She huffs, "Oh, you're such a..." she stops, blinks, and looks around her with a blush on her cheeks. "M-Maybe we should continue this conversation somewhere more private."
"Starlight, no one comes to this part of the school." He says with a raised eyebrow.
"I rather not risk it," her horn glows and she gave him a wink. "Besides, the wall is uncomfortable, I rather we continue this in my room."
And then they were gone in a flash of turquoise magic. |
Bed Time Stories | Body Heat | The winters of the Frozen North were no joke.
Even with the Crystal Heart active, it wasn't enough to stop the full force of a winter storm that came barreling down the mountains. A long time ago, a system of heating crystals had been set across the city to keep the houses warm, since wood and other fire-starting materials were too scarce and precious to waste. Each district of the Empire had a "tower" that heated the houses, and it wasn't uncommon for them to fall or fail during a storm like this.
Sunburst heard it before it happened; the harsh, winter winds taking out his district's tower, the heavy crystal falling with a boom, and a crash that rattled his windows. Then came the abrupt silence of the heating crystal in his house shutting down, gently rousing Starlight from her sleep. She blinked sluggishly at him and gave a tired groan at the realization, flopping dramatically into the bed. Wasting no time, they both got to their hooves and began moving about the tiny house to gather a few things. Sunburst grabbed a thicker, but scratchier blanket to layer underneath the both of them, and Starlight unraveled a thick comforter from her overnight bag; always prepared for the little things.
After a few minutes of fixing the bed to resemble a nest, the unicorn yawned and began to slide back in. However, Starlight was going through her bag at a frantic pace, mumbling softly about not leaving something behind. Sunburst raised an eyebrow and gently nudged her shoulder.
"Starlight, come on. Get back in here before all the warmth is gone."
"Gimme a second. These babies never fail to keep me warm at night."
There was some rustling, but he could barely see since most of the outside lights were also out; only the gentle glow of her magic lit up the room. Be that as it may, he got a good look at what she had been shimmying onto her legs when she stood up; hopping lightly to tug the cotton up past her thighs, just underneath her cutie mark. A warm blush spread on his cheeks at the peek of skin above the cotton, the fabric soft and colorful, clinging to the curvature of her legs. His gaze roamed downwards as she turned back around and climbed into the bed with a blissful sigh, feeling warmer already.
"Man, I love these! Hey, if the tower isn't up by morning, let's go to the castle for brea--Eep!" Her sentence was cut off by white hooves gripping at her cotton-clad thighs, squeezing tightly on the thickest part.
Looking back at the stallion, Starlight quirked an eyebrow and snorted a little. "Hey there, pal. Can I help you?"
"These are...new. How long have you had them?" His voice was a bit softer, inquisitive even as he rubbed small circles into the covered flesh.
"You hadn't seen these? Sunburst, I've had these since I was in high school."
His face gave way into a deadpan. "What kind of school lets you wear these?" He enunciated the last word with a snap of the hem to her thighs, making them jiggle slightly.
"Hey! I just wore them at home, you pervert!"
"Who are you calling pervert!?"
She let loose a short laugh and craned her neck to peck his lips lightly; much more partial to huddling in the pile of blankets, even if the one beneath her was scratchy as hell. "Just go to sleep, Sunburst. I can feel it getting colder already."
With that, she pulled the covers up past her ears and curled into a tight ball; Sunburst enveloping her waist to tuck against the radiating body heat. The only sound to lull Starlight's mind to sleep was the harsh winds outside and the steady breathing of her boyfriend, a content grin on her lips.
Suck.
A tempting whimper left her lips.
Lick.
By the stars, why were her ears so sensitive?
Bite.
Starlight was grinding against something now. Firm and warm, pressing with agonized precision to her clit and rubbing circles. Magic, more than likely; pinching the swollen nub with gentle strokes, making her jerk her hips and huff into the air.
Slurp.
The hot tongue lavishing her ear was almost too much, sending constant tremors down her spine and pulling a pitiful whine from her throat. However, it was the heat that really had Starlight coming undone beneath the onslaught of sensations; warm skin and cotton pressing to her body. A hoof trailed beneath her stomach and rubbed her already-hardened nipples to the point of delicious pain. Starlight knew she was asleep, but the pleasure was too good to wake up from and fix. She simply wanted to drift with these feelings and let them consume her being until all that was left was a pliant, wet puddle.
Kiss.
Lips graced her neck with deep, open-mouth kisses; his cock slipping past the dripping folds of her pussy to thrust freely. She wailed as he spread her open, rolling her hips deeply into the shallow push and pull, very sure that she was drooling. The hoof that had been teasing her teats pulled away, only to trail down to her thigh and lift it with a squeeze. Oh, Starlight could even feel the cool air lap at her wetness and she arched; back pressing tightly onto the firm body behind her. There was a distant, bitten-off grunt as she writhed; the gentle motions of his hips picking up speed and pulling an almost too loud moan from her lips. That same voice chuckled lightly and turned her head to steal a series of deep kisses; thrusting hard at her g-spot.
Drip.
A tongue flitted lazily against hers, lips suckling the muscle as his dick made obscene noises within her sopping pussy; an amorous moan rippling from her throat. She hiccupped softly and clutched at the hoof holding her thigh up into the air; so ready to beg for something more, but her voice never came. Deep in her sleep, it was as if she were submerged in warm darkness with only the lustful sensations surrounding her. Teasing touches and an echoing voice vibrated down her spine, abusing every spot that drove her to a whimpering mess. It was deliciously thick and sultry beneath the swarthy depths of subconscious pleasure, but the ache was growing unbearable. She mewled sharply and accidentally broke the kiss as a particularly hard thrust made her nerves sing.
"P-please!"
Consciousness suddenly flooded her senses, Starlight cracked her eyes open and craned her neck back, but was pushed face-first into the pillow she had been lying on. The same heat was still tingling on her skin, but so much more real. It was burning and scorching every inch of her with a throbbing need that settled on her clit and she whined. Pitiful and wanting; her sock-clad hooves dug into the scratchy blanket as the same body settled against her back. Wet kisses were pressed up against her shoulders as Sunburst mumbled feverishly; "So cute", "I can feel you clenching on my dick...", making heat spread to her ears. She couldn't even be upset, knowing that both of them had agreed to the occasional sleep play, but sweet Celestia, if he hadn't worked her up well. There was a slick, obscene noise of him grinding into her cunt until he pushed inside especially deep; teeth biting into her flesh lightly. The wail that tore from Starlight's throat was pure and saturated with a deeply rooted desire to be filled, to have that blistering heat consume her all over again.
The wizard tucked his hooves up under her thighs and whispered sweet words into her ear as he pumped inch by inch of his throbbing member into her heat. It was easy to hear in his voice--rough and coated in lust--that he had been just as strung out by the teasing. When his hips sat flush against her ass, Sunburst gave a shaky moan and bit her ear; relishing the gasp from her lips.
"Hey. Keep making those noises for me, alright?" |
Bed Time Stories | A Place to Unwind | All it took was a glance, a discreet tilt of her head, and Sunburst was trailing behind her without question.
Like most homes in Sire's Hollow, Firelight's house didn't have a fence surrounding it, so all they had to do was step over some bushes and the pair slipped to the backyard with ease. But despite the lack of security Sunburst minded his step, avoiding any hedges or anything that made too much noise, looking over his shoulder every so often as he followed Starlight deeper into the property.
When they were foals, Firelight's backyard seemed like a jungle to them, the plants tall enough for two kids to get lost in and pretend they were on some quest through an enchanted forest. Now it was just a big and overgrown garden, the innocence of foalhood gone as he frowned. He wondered why he hadn't contracted a gardener or something to fix this place, but part of him was glad that he hadn't, the bushes and trees provided excellent cover from prying eyes. Starlight was short enough that sneaking around the overgrown hedges wasn't a problem for her, but Sunburst had to crouch and duck on multiple occasions, worried that his messy orange hair would give him away.
Starlight reassured him that Firelight wasn't home, and Sunburst managed to shake off his mother minutes earlier, but Sire's Hollow was a small town, a small town with nosy neighbors and blabbermouths. If any of them saw them sneaking off like this, they were done for―Sunburst more than Starlight. Sunburst was sure that her father held no animosity towards him, but he couldn't imagine that Firelight would be too thrilled if he found out that he was screwing his daughter without putting a ring on her horn first. Heck, they weren't even officially dating.
Starlight still introduced him as her friend, she never asked him to take her out on dates or do anything special besides the occasional "stress relief", as she liked to call it. And Sunburst felt he was in too deep to ask for clarification, fearing he would ruin whatever it was they had going on, but lately he couldn't help but wonder...
He vaguely remembered where this path led too, despite how things had changed around it, and his suspicions were confirmed when they turned a corner and an old little shack came into view.
"Hey, it's the old clubhouse!" Sunburst said. He wasn't one to delve too much into nostalgia, but the feeling appeared as he stared at the old building. "I can't believe it's still here."
It was actually just an old shed, a storage space filled with the things that Starlight's father was unwilling to throw out, which were a lot. Back in the day, they would use whatever junk they could find for their games, building forts, ships, and castles out of boxes and old furniture. Sunburst didn't think it changed that much, except that it looked a little more weathered and it was a heck of a lot smaller than he remembered.
"I'm not," Starlight answered with a shrug. "The only way my dad will ever get rid of this place is if a storm blows it away for him."
Judging by the old stallion's refusal to let go of the past, the complete opposite of Stellar Flare's need for change, Sunburst was inclined to agree.
The shed's door creaked on its hinges when Starlight pushed it open, the door unlocked and unprotected. Sunburst would have questioned this if this weren't Sire's Hollow―that was the beauty of small towns, he supposed, when every pony knew every pony it was hard to do much crime. Starlight stepped in first and Sunburst closed the door behind him when he followed her in. It was cramped and dusty, but there was more than enough room for two grown ponies to move around.
"Hmm, just as I thought," Starlight said and turned to the only window in the shed, it was grimy from years of disuse, and the light poured in like a beacon when she opened it. "Dad hasn't stepped a hoof here since I left."
It definitely smelled and looked like it, he thought as he sneezed. The room was warm, almost uncomfortably so, and smelled of humidity, the dust dancing in the sunlight and coating every surface. Boxes lined the walls and were stacked together in high towers, covered in spiderwebs and grime, untouched since they were placed here. White sheets covered bigger objects, which he assumed were furniture, but even the covers looked yellow and old in the sunlight.
His sense for antiquing wanted to peek inside the boxes and underneath the sheets, briefly wondering if Starlight would mind if Firelight would be willing to part with his treasures for the right price. But then Starlight walked past him, her tail flicking and hitting him gently on the chest, reminding him of what he was here for, which had nothing to do with shopping.
"What did you use this place for?" He asked, trying to hide his eagerness with a little small talk.
"To practice my guitar, it became like my second room after the neighbors complained that my music was too loud. Once I came here, they stopped complaining." Starlight took off the sheet over one of the boxy shapes, revealing an old, beat-up couch, big enough for two. "Which is why it is the perfect place to...unwind without being overheard."
Sunburst didn't have to be a genius to know what she meant.
Her head turned, her indigo eyes shining with a light that had his insides burning. Her tail lifted and flicked enticingly and, despite his best efforts to keep his eyes on hers, they followed the motions of her tail, towards the place that was usually hidden. His mouth watered and he swallowed the excess before he got closer, his eyes tracing the curves of her body, her bewitching smile, and her dark blue eyes that followed his every move. Sunburst didn't fully understand how she did it, how she could turn him on with just a look and a few words, sometimes without even meaning to, but she did and he didn't mind it too much, because Starlight always took care of him.
The couch creaked and moaned with their combined weight which they barely heard, too busy falling into each other. Starlight sat on his lap and wrapped her hooves behind his head, bringing him closer to her chest. Sunburst wasted no time and planted kisses underneath her jaw, licking every little inch of skin he could reach, dragging his goatee up and down her neck as he went.
"It tickles," she giggled, scooching closer to him.
Sunburst wrapped his white hooves around her waist and mumbled into her skin. "Maybe you could play the guitar for me sometime?"
Starlight hummed, he wasn't sure if it was because she was thinking about his request or enjoying the way he was nibbling her neck. "I haven't played that thing in ages..."
"I still want to hear it." His hooves trailed down her hips, caressing the purple fur and tracing her cutie mark before going back up.
"Later," she sighed, grinding her hips against his lap and messing with his mane. "We got a friendship problem to solve."
"After we relax and unwind?"
"After we relax and unwind."
Sunburst couldn't resist and covered her naughty smile with his lips in a kiss. The sweet and lazy pecks escalate into something more passionate. It had been a while since they'd been together like this, and though they usually took it slow and enjoyed themselves, they were aware that their time here was limited―their parents were probably aware that they were missing, and it wouldn't be long before they came looking. Starlight licked his bottom lip and Sunburst didn't hesitate to let her in, their tongues met and her flavor inundated his tongue...along with the taste of the smoothie she had earlier.
They broke the kiss with a grimace. "Ugh, what was in those smoothies anyway?"
"I don't know, but I doubt it was fruit," Sunburst huffed. "Don't you have a mint or something?"
"No...but I got something better." She got off his lap and laid on the couch, spreading her legs and he had an unobstructed view of her pussy. She rubbed her winking clit in lazy circles. "Come and get your palette cleanser."
The drool collected in his mouth the longer he stared, but despite the time limit, he decided to enjoy this. He told himself that the point was to relax, to clear their minds to better solve this friendship problem, not because he missed her, not because his excitement in being summoned by the map doubled when he realized she was called to, not because the only highlight of this trip so far was getting to spend time with her. No, not at all, of course not, why would he have such ridiculous ideas?
He crawled over her and placed kisses on her chest, leaving a trail of them down her barrel, past her stomach, stopping for a moment to lick at her belly button―making her giggle as his tongue dipped into it―and reached her teats. They were small, the nipples are hidden underneath her fur and barely noticeable, but Sunburst latched to them like a hungry foal. She gasped when he bit down slightly, her hooves reaching for his messy mop of orange hair, pressing his face against her as he soothed the bite with gentle licks.
"What is it with stallions and teats?" Starlight mused out loud, her back arching when he suckled on the other teat. "Not that I'm complaining..."
Sunburst gave a nonchalant hum, the vibrations traveling down the nooks and crannies of her body that usually went unnoticed, making her shiver. He could think of a thousand reasons why he was fixated on Starlight's teats, but his mouth was currently occupied with them, and he hated to part with them too soon for no good reason.
That reason came in the form of a smell that was far sweeter than anything else, a scent that he knew well and yet never failed to excite him. He could feel his cock unsheathing from its hiding place, responding to her scent, his tail flicking with anticipation, but he ignored his need for the time being. He let go of her teats with a wet pop, kissing each mound one last time before he dived lower, towards the place of greatest pleasure.
She sighed as he spread her lips and licked deeper, her legs hooking behind his head and keeping him in place. He teased her entrance with his tongue, getting a taste of a flavor that was so uniquely Starlight that there was nothing he could compare it to, it wasn't sweet like candy or any other food, but it was musky, heady and Sunburst couldn't get enough. He made his way upwards with slow, teasing licks, soaking everything he could reach with his tongue. Once he reached her clit he licked it more forcefully, coaxing it out of its hiding place for a bit, until he got tired of waiting and wrapped his lips around it and gave a hard suck.
Starlight moaned, rotating her hips against his face, her forelegs grasping the armrest of the couch to keep herself steady. His ears perked at the noises she was making, and he peered at her from the rim of his glasses, never once stopping the motions of his tongue. She was a sight for sore eyes, with her dark mane spilling from the couch, her rosy cheeks, and her plump lips mouthing her pleasure for his ears alone; he was mesmerized the first time he saw her like this, and he was mesmerized by her even now.
He was so hideously nervous and awkward when they started this...arrangement, for a lack of a better term, all those months. But Starlight had been patient with him and taught him what she knew, which combined with a little side reading took him to the point that he was now, to the point that he was no longer so nervous and scared of messing up, to the point that he trusts her enough to tell him what he needed to do. Not that she has to give him much direction these days now that he knew all her cues, in fact, he could see one coming.
Starlight dug her hooves into the plastic of the armrest, which squeaked in protest and was ignored in favor of her loud panting and moaning. The grinding of her hips grew more frantic and Sunburst kept going, licking and sucking without mercy, her clit hard enough that he had no trouble finding and holding on to it with his lips, playing with it with his tongue. She grew louder at this.
"Yes! Keep going, I'm almost―!"
Her knees locked behind his head, her hips stilled and her back arched as she gasped. Sunburst moaned as well, her nectar flowing into his mouth in time with her orgasm, and though he tried his best to catch it all some of it dribbled down his chin. She tasted way better than the smoothie. His frantic licking turned more soothing as she rode the waves of her pleasure, and he helped her prolong it for as long as he could. Her grinding slowly turned more languid, her back relaxing on the couch and she sighed, her legs falling away from his shoulders.
That was another cue. He gave her pussy one last kiss before rising, his erection more than obvious, bumping against his stomach and dribbling a bit of precum. Starlight smiled when he met her eyes, but her grin was far from innocent, especially when she lowered her gaze to the part of him that was desperate for her attention. She sat up and reached for his shaft, her hoof just about grazing the sensitive skin when he stopped her.
"As much as I would like you to return the favor, I don't think we have that much time," Sunburst said, taking her hoof in his.
"We have more than enough time," she leaned over and kissed his pouted mouth. "Don't be such a worrywart."
Sunburst didn't look convinced. "But if we stall too much some pony is bound to notice that we're missing."
Starlight looked at the window for a moment, the sunlight that poured on the dusty floorboards had moved slightly since they got here, and Sunburst could practically hear the gears turning in her head. In the end, his reasoning had won and she conceded with a sigh, but it quickly turned into a smile as she climbed on his lap and motioned for him to lay down. "I guess it's time for the main event."
It took a little maneuvering since the couch wasn't all that big. His back legs dangled on the edge of the armrest, but he was comfortable enough when Starlight sat on his lap. Sunburst couldn't fight the stupid smile that formed on his face as he watched her. Taking in the long purple hair that framed her face, her slightly mused fur, the light highlighting her body from behind, and the small, slightly bashful smile she was so desperate to hide behind the curtain of her hair as she positioned herself.
Sunburst wasn't a stallion that paid much attention to details, but with this, he paid attention to every minute detail.
By his count, they have done this eleven times, this one being number twelve, but each time never failed to take his breath away. The feeling of her walls parting and wrapping around him with just the right grip, moist and warm and very much alive, was a feeling that he would never tire of, that and the expressions that she made when she sank into him were things he would treasure for the rest of his days. He groaned, his hips rising to meet hers, jostling her slightly from her place above him.
Starlight's long eyelashes fluttered as she lowered herself, throwing her head back with a moan so sensual that it made his cock twitch inside her. She wiggled her hips, working around his medial ring, and pushed through the last hurdle with his help, and they both shuddered when she sheathed herself fully on his shaft. Now it was his turn to moan, gripping her generous hips to keep her in place.
"Starlight," he gasped when she began to move.
She started slow, lifting her hips forward and then back in fluid motions, resting her hooves on his chest as she grinds. She looked down at him with half-lidded eyes, slowly withdrawing from his dick until his medial ring was at her entrance before she pushed it back in with equal slowness. It felt wonderful, he couldn't deny it, but he was starting to get impatient, which he showed by thrusting his hips into her every time she retreated.
"What's wrong?" She asked with mock concern, her hips stopping entirely. "Don't you like it?"
He tried driving his hips into her, but she sat on top of him, pinning him to the couch with her weight, and sheathed herself on his member, and his desperation only grew when she didn't move. "Stop teasing me," he said through gritted teeth, "and just g-get on with it!"
"Oh, you think this is teasing?" She asked, smiling in a way that made him pause and reconsider his choices. "I'll show you teasing."
He cried in dismay as she slipped from his cock entirely, thinking for a moment that she was leaving, but she didn't. Instead, he felt her magic wrapping around his legs, pulling his forelegs over his head and keeping his back legs still. He tried to struggle his way out of his bonds, and though he knew how to break this spell, he lacked the magical talent to do so, so all he could do was wiggle uselessly underneath her.
"Starlight!" He said as he pulled at his bonds. "W-What are you doing? Cut it out!"
She didn't say anything as she lowered herself over his cock, pressing it against his stomach and rubbing her soaking pussy over the heated skin. Sunburst groaned, pushing his hips into her in a useless attempt to get back inside her, but the angle wouldn't allow it. Starlight, still sensitive from earlier, rubbed her clit against his member, moving her hips in short but hard movements, essentially using him for her own pleasure.
Sunburst slammed his eyes shut, and tried to erase the image of her riding him from his mind. The tension on his hips was building and he did all he could to stop from releasing too soon. If they had more time and a friendship problem wasn't hanging over their heads, Sunburst would've let her get away with this, since he would have time to prepare himself for round two. But they didn't, and he was desperate to bury his cock deep inside her. After the morning he had, he wanted nothing more than to rut inside of her and forget his troubles.
Even if she was one of them.
"Starlight, please!"
By some miracle, Starlight's hips stopped moving. After a few deep breaths, he opened his eyes, meeting Starlight's gaze. Her hair was a mess of purple framing her flushed face, and she looked down at him with an expression he couldn't quite name, but his heart still pounded by the intensity he found there.
"How bad do you want to fuck me?" She finally asked, her hips pressing over his quivering member for emphasis.
His hips bucked. "B-Bad. Very, very, badly."
Her expression didn't change, but she seemed to reach a conclusion when he saw a glint of determination on her face. "Then show me," Starlight broke the spell and lifted her hips. "Show me how badly you want me."
Sunburst watched, his mouth slightly agape when she turned around on the couch and lifted her tail, presenting herself. It was the first time she put herself in such a submissive position, she usually preferred to be on top, leading him and setting the pace. He couldn't help but wonder about her change of attitude. But his doubt was quickly overshadowed by his desire, a feeling that Starlight had inadvertently awoken in him when they started this facet of their relationship.
It was a little tricky at first, since the couch was small and old, creaking with their combined weight as it might break at any minute, but they pressed on. Starlight laid on the couch with her stomach down, her hips raised and gripping the armrest for support, Sunburst stood above her, one of his legs on the floor for balance, his forelegs resting on either side of her, caging her under him.
Sunburst swallowed, nervous as he was by taking the lead, but he couldn't deny that having Starlight underneath him sent a dark thrill down his spine.
"Ready?" He asked, his voice soft with concern.
She looked at him from the corner of her eye and nodded, pressing her hips against him.
He didn't think he'd ever been this hard before, but it worked to his advantage, making it easier to guide his member to where it needed to go. The flat head of his cock pressed against her entrance, and since he was so hard and she was so wet, it was a simple matter of sinking his hips into her until he hilted.
Starlight shuddered and let out a little sound, somewhere between a moan and a gasp, her hips surging to meet his. "Sunburst..."
He almost didn't hear her, his mind clouded by the pleasure and the instincts that drove him to buck into her. He started slowly, looking for a rhythm, testing the limits of what this position offered, before he increased the speed, the couch groaning and rocking in time with his movements.
"W-when did you get so bo-oh-old!?" Starlight squealed, holding on to the couch for dear life as he plowed into her.
Sunburst only grunted and kept going, leaning into her and pinning her down with his weight as he rutted into her. The feeling of her silken walls wrapped around him was familiar to him, but now that he was the one marking the pace he found that he liked the freedom, he liked to hear what noises she could make, and it spurred him on like nothing else. He paused only to toss his cloak to the side, the sweat collecting on his forehead and back, though the room was warm Sunburst shivered as the air hit his exposed skin.
Now completely unhindered Sunburst moved into her with short but hard strokes, the sound of skin against skin as loud as their panting and moaning. Starlight basked in the attention, lifting her head to nuzzle him as his neck curved to meet her.
"See? I knew you had it in you," she giggled. "I was tired of doing all the heavy lifting."
"Sorry," he mumbled and pressed his snout into her hair, smelling the lavender from her shampoo mixed with her sweat. "I'll be more proactive...starting now."
His horn glowed and Starlight gasped as he started to play with her clit and nipples. He might not be as powerful as her, but he made up for it by the finesse in which he used his magic. His aura was gentle and firm, the warm, tingly sensation of his magic sent shivers down her spine--and Starlight loved every second of it. She wiggled beneath him, as much as she could with Sunburst on top of her, soaking in the feeling of him all over her and inside her.
Her pussy clenched around him and the feeling tore a curse from his mouth, closing his eyes in pure bliss as he used more force to drive his cock inside her, pushing the couch further against the wall.
The heat was unbearable at this point and yet the thought of pulling away was the furthest thing on their minds. Sweat glistened their coats, Starlight's long mane sticking to her neck and face in messy waves. She looked beautiful like this, disheveled, her cheeks red and the lust shining in her eyes like precious stones, unlike him, who just looked like a mess, his face scrunched and twisted with the effort of not coming too soon, to keep going until Starlight went over the edge.
It was a skill he hadn't completely mastered yet, that's why he always made sure she came first.
Starlight was practically singing underneath him, saying his name brokenly, again and again, encouraging him to keep going. With his eyes closed, Sunburst was truly lost in her, his whole world had shrunken down to the movements of his hips, the feeling of her pussy around him, and her voice, and he couldn't be happier. He wished he could stay like this forever if only his stamina allowed for it--if only life and destiny didn't intervene so often to keep them apart.
Sunburst could feel the heat building in his lower stomach, turning into a burn that threatened to erupt at any moment, and Sunburst pushed through it, pushing his hips to go faster and harder as he made the desperate climb towards nirvana. Underneath him, Starlight took the onslaught like a champ, her backside moving into him in near-perfect synchronicity, her grip on the couch so tight that she almost ripped through the plastic and the stuffing, but it held.
She cried out as he pistoned into her, using his weight to pin her against the couch and leave her helpless, since she could no longer even move her hips. Sunburst groaned, his breathing a harsh sound in her ears, nearly drowning out the lewd sounds of her juices dripping down her thighs, the harsh slap of his hips against her.
"Starlight, I-I'm almost..." he said through gritted teeth, trying to warn her. "I can't hold back."
"Me neither," she answered between moans, "do it inside, it's okay."
What little self-control he had snapped at her words. He stopped thinking altogether, his hips moving of their own volition with a need so animalistic that it would have scared him if he weren't so far gone in the pleasure. His cries of gratification were mingled with Starlight's and the couch hitting the thin wood of the shed until--
"Sunburst!"
Her hips stilled and Starlight's back arched as she came, letting out a whine of pure pleasure. Her pussy tightened around him, which combined with the sounds she was making was what finally shoved him over the edge.
Sunburst pushed his hips into her hard enough that it tore a gasp out of Starlight, burying his cock inside her as deep as he could possibly go, and exploded inside her, filling her in the most biological, primal way, and the satisfaction leaves him weak in the knees. He closed his eyes so tightly that stars exploded and burned behind his eyelids, his body wrecked by the tide of sensations that he thought that he might drown and disappear altogether, if not for Starlight's body and voice anchoring him to reality.
Dimly, he realized that, when the world was falling apart and all seemed lost, she had always been the one constant. He could always count on her to make things right.
The tide receded and Sunburst collapsed on top of her in a quivering, sweaty pile of skin and nerves. Starlight grunted but otherwise didn't complain, still coming down from her own high to pay him much thought. Sunburst would have laid there for all eternity, but he thought that this couldn't be comfortable for her, crushed between his gangly body and the old beat-up couch, and sure enough, Starlight wriggled underneath him a minute later.
He pulled out from her, both of them flinching from the sudden loss of connection, and the two best friends find a more comfortable position where they could still be close.
It took some maneuvering, but they eventually ended up tangled in each other, pressed closed together so Starlight wouldn't fall off the couch, even though Sunburst had wrapped his hooves tightly around her. Starlight was still underneath him, but laying on her back, her head resting on the armrest, while Sunburst lay on his side, caught between the backrest and Starlight's body. His head came to rest on her fluffy chest, listening as her heartbeat and breathing slowed, his eyelids growing heavy when Starlight began playing with his messy mane.
"If I'd known you like being on top so much...I would've let you do it much sooner..."
"Hmm?" Sunburst mumbled, blinking the sleep from his eyes. "Oh, well, at least I understand why you like being on top so much..."
He could hear the smile in her voice. "It has its advantages."
Sunburst grinned and nuzzled her chest, making her giggle, the hooves around him pulling him closer into her embrace. It was moments like these that he treasured the most, when they're both relaxed and unguarded, where touch and laughter came so easy to them that he could almost believe that they were something more...and it confused him immensely.
Awkward as he was when it came to relationships, even he could tell that something else was going on here, between them, something more than just casual sex. He caught glimpses of it when he stared into her eyes, felt it in his skin when she touched ever so casually, and the way his heart rate picked up whenever she was around. If he didn't know any better he could've sworn that it was magic, but Sunburst ate and breathed magic ever since he learned how to walk, and he was certain that this wasn't a spell, it was something deeper and equally powerful...could it be that he―
"Sunburst?" Starlight's voice, soft as it was, broke through his thoughts like a baseball through a glass window, making him jump. "What's wrong? You got quiet all of the sudden..."
He looked up, his throat suddenly tight with the things he wanted to say, but didn't know how to word them properly. He met her eyes and his mouth opened, prompted by her concerned gaze, and the feelings that he was too scared to name poured from his mouth.
"I was thinking about...I meant to ask, what are...what is this to―?"
"Silly Filly? Is that you?"
Sunburst's legs scrambled on the couch, heart on his throat, and hyperventilating when he practically jumped from the sofa to reach his cloak, sending Starlight rolling to the floor where she landed on her rear with a thump and an undignified yelp.
He was dead, he was so, so dead, Firelight was going to kill him, probably strangle him on the spot, (once he took in their messed up appearance and the smell of sex in the air) and send his body to the glue factory to hide the evidence, chopped him into tiny bits and throw the pieces into the lake. Or worse, he was going to tell his mother what happened, and she would start pushing and demanding and prodding about his plans with Starlight, how long they've been dating? Had he proposed yet? Was he moving to Ponyville? How many kids were they having? She probably had a list somewhere for baby names as long as Sire's Hollow was wide―
Before he could scream, or even think beyond the feeling of pure dread and the image of his mother's manic grin on his mind, Sunburst found himself face-first on the floor, squished between the wall and the back of the couch. He coughed as he inhaled a mouthful of dust bunnies, slapping his hooves over his mouth to stop himself from making too much noise. Something fell on top of him―his cloak, he realized a second later―just as the door squeaked open.
"There you are!" Firelight said, all cheeriness and parental pride in his voice. "But what are you doing here―oh! Is that your old guitar!? I haven't seen that thing in ages!"
The soft strumming of acoustic strings filled the air. It desperately needed a tuning.
"Yeah, I found it here as I was going through my old stuff."
Starlight sounded so innocent that even Sunburst would have believed her if he weren't hiding behind the couch and trying not to cough the dust out of his lungs.
"Aw! You know I would never throw away the things that made you happy! I remember when we bought that guitar, your face just lit up like a heart's warming tree! And the way you took to it, well, I was sure my pumpkin-wumpkin was going to be a big―ACHOO!"
"Dad! Your allergies!" Starlight berated, the couch creaked and he heard hoof steps on the floor. "Go back outside before it gets worse."
"Sorry honey!" Firelight's voice was nasally and slightly muffled. "Finish what you were doing, your papa will take care of your friendship problem for you!"
Sunburst heard the stallion retreating and his shoulders relaxed. That was close...
"No dad, I'll take care―"
"Oh! Speaking of which: have you seen Sunburst?" Sunburst resisted the urge to yelp when he heard his name. "Stellar Flare's been looking for him, something about a plan she's working on."
"N-No, of course not! What am I, his foalsitter?" Starlight's panicky tone made his own anxiety rise.
There was a pause, a short one, but it dragged on long enough for Sunburst to fear the worse. He wondered if his punishment would be worse if he remained hidden until Firelight found him or if he stood up and accepted his fate. Thankfully, before he could decide, Firelight sneezed again and his voice sounded further away.
"Just wondering honey, you know how Stellar gets when Sunburst is out of her sight for a minute," Firelight said with a chuckle. "But I understand her concern, colts get into way more trouble than fillies, not all children are as well behaved as my silly filly!"
Sunburst rolled his eyes and resisted the urge to snort.
Starlight didn't respond to the comment, but he heard the exasperation in her words as she finally ushered her father out of the shed, closing the door with a bang and a relieved sigh.
The couch moved and Starlight stood over him, her coat cleaned and not a hair out of place. Unlike him with his sweaty coat covered in dust and his mane messier than usual, his glasses crooked on his nose, and his cloak wrinkled and dirty beyond recognition. Starlight took one look at him and snorted, her hoof coming over her mouth as she burst into a fit of giggles, which grew louder when he shot her an unamused glare.
"Yeah, real funny Starlight," Sunburst grumbled as he stood up. "Almost died of a heart attack back there, or by your father's horn, but at least my misery is amusing to you."
"Come one, don't be like that," Starlight said and wiped the tears from her eyes. "My dad wouldn't hurt a fly."
"Unless that fly touched his precious little pumpkin-wumpkin."
She cringed and shuddered. "Ugh, don't call me that, it's bad enough when my dad says it, you make it sound worse."
Sunburst chuckled and wiped the dirt on his chest, but only made a bigger mess. He felt the tingle of Starlight's magic, a flash of turquoise blinding him for a moment, and when he looked down he was as good as new.
"Don't get too comfortable: this is an illusion spell that'll wear off in about an hour or so, you might want to take a shower as soon as you can," Starlight explained. She paused for a moment, her hooves crossing awkwardly and biting her lip before she asked. "So...what were you saying earlier?"
Sunburst blinked. "Earlier?"
"Yeah, before my dad barged in..."
"Oh...Oh! That, I was just..." Sunburst trailed off, his eyes darting around the room for an excuse. His earlier courage had left him and now he was fumbling with his words. "I, huh, I was thinking we should t-talk to the others! To figure out if maybe the friendship problem is with them, not us―I mean them! Our parents! Like what the baker pony suggested!"
Starlight's face was unreadable and Sunburst wished the ground would open up and swallow him whole. He has never been a good liar, especially under Starlight's steady gaze, but he was good at playing stupid when it suited him, and he would stick to his story no matter how many holes it had. He was stubborn in that way, and he was willing to use that stubbornness because this wasn't the time (much less the place) for this.
Maybe later, when there wasn't a friendship problem hanging over their heads and they weren't hiding from their parents in a musty, old shed, would he open up to her. Celestia knew he would need the time to gather the courage he needed.
In the end, Starlight relented. His heart sank when he saw the flash of hurt in her eyes, but it was gone before he could do anything about it.
"Alright," Starlight nodded, a small smile on her face as she opened the door. "I'll go ahead and gather the others, meet you at the bookstore in half an hour."
She gave him a friendly wave before she closed the door behind her, leaving him alone in the dusty shed. His stomach twisted with the feeling that he had missed something, and more than aware of his social ineptitude, he probably had.
Sunburst sighed.
He hoped this didn't turn into another friendship problem. |
Bed Time Stories | The Mistress and The Stallion | She knows it's his birthday. And everything that she does should be for his benefit, but damn it, he looks good in a suit. He should know better than that.
Starlight could understand the need for formality today. Twilight and the rest of their friends decided to throw Sunburst a party, not just because he turned thirty, but because his achievements in the field of magic are finally being recognized, and now he's a wizard in more than just name. He isn't showing it, but he's happier than he's ever been, and a little prouder than he feels he should be, but Starlight disagrees. He earned this, his place among the great and the wise, and she's incredibly proud of him.
This is why she should let him lead--let him take her and use her--because today is his day.
But then he comes out of his room wearing the suit.
This get-together is considered formal, but that's never stopped him before--never stopped him from wearing his dorky capes and plain glasses--but he comes out in a full suit, blue shirt challenging his eyes to outshine the color, and his eyes winning. His posture is corrected, leaving him at his tallest, and the muscles of his chest press against the fabric of his dress shirt. The jacket only seems to bring attention to how broad his withers are, the muscles in his frame more noticeable in this get-up than when he's naked. His hair, always disagreeable, does not disappoint, it flies wherever it sees fit, giving this put-together-looking stallion the sense of obliviousness that is so intrinsically Sunburst that her heart skyrockets underneath the black dress that decks her body, her eyes brimming with desire when she looks at him. His glasses flash when their eyes meet, and the pearly-white grin that follows tells her all that she needs to know.
He did this on purpose.
"You smug, infuriating, jerk." She snarls and she leaps up from the couch, crossing the room in a few strides.
She grips the lapels of his jacket with her magic and pulls his mouth over hers. She's unyielding, unrelenting in her familiar exploration of his mouth, passing the gates of his teeth, meeting his tongue with urgency. She's already past the teasing; he's done most of the work at this point. Her pink tongue rubs against his slowly, refusing to let him enter her mouth. Her hoof reaches out and grips a handful of his wild mane, tugging his head back.
He pulled away from her mouth with a hiss, his glasses askew, snarky blue eyes drowning in lust, his girlfriend knew his every button like the back of her hoof. Starlight smiles, licking her lips slowly, plans formulating in her head and the spark of mischief in her eyes glows brighter the more she meditates. Her magic curls around the silky black tie and she pulls him until he's slouching again, and her lips can reach his ear.
"You really want to play this game with me?" She hisses, nipping the shell of his ear, and he shudders, trying to hide his reaction from her, but it's impossible. She sees everything. Sunburst tries to answer, but the words die in his mouth, smothered by the choked moan that escapes when her teeth discover the skin of his neck, and she bites down into her Stallion. Her teeth may not be sharp, but she refuses to let go until she leaves a mark.
When she finally releases his skin and studies the angry red welt that would be impossible to hide, Starlight grins quite maliciously. She pulls his mane once more so that his mouth is back on hers, and his hoof slides over her withers, through the lacy black dress she's wearing. She presses her body against his, feeling the muscle that's outlined by his tailor suit as their bodies mold together, his tongue insistent on breaking past her barriers, to gain entry into her mouth.
She denies him, and Sunburst groans against her lips, he realizes that this would not be the last time she will deny him tonight. But it was his fault; he knew what he was getting into when he put on that suit.
Starlight pulls away abruptly, and yanks him towards the room, using his tie as a bridle. Sunburst follows her, every cell in his body screaming to do whatever she asks, he is too far gone, he relinquished control long ago.
Dimly he questions why she picked her room. For the most part, anytime they fooled around, it was in his room. It's bigger, and it seemed that she preferred his bed over hers. He's confused by the sudden switch up until she pulls him, slams the door behind her, places her hooves flat on his chest, and pushes him onto her bed. It's smaller than his, and he miscalculated, slamming his head against the headboard. Ow.
Starlight isn't fucking around tonight.
She drapes her body over his before he has a chance to reconsider what he's gotten himself into. She's heat, a ball of searing fire when her lips press against his skin, where her thighs spread against his hips, where she exhales against his neck, where her tongue trails his collarbone. His hooves grip her hips, where she was paying careful attention to swivel her hips in just the right way that stole the air of his lungs and his reason.
Then the heat was gone, her body disappeared, and he whimpered, unsure of what happened. Standing by her dresser, Starlight giggles at the sound of his whimpers, her eyes scanning the wood of her bureau until she finds what she's looking for among her clothes and toiletries. She pulled the fabric and held it behind her, so he could see.
The scoff that escapes him is almost endearing. "I thought you were the one supposed to be wearing it tonight." His words are searing with snark, but he sounds breathless, the knowledge of what she had planned makes him painfully hard, and the grin she throws over her shoulder doesn't help matters.
"I changed my mind," is the only response she gives him before she slides out of her dress, the concoction of lace and silk pooling on the floor by her hooves, leaving her in her underwear.
His eyes travel up and down her body, memorizing and cataloging every inch of her skin like he's never seen it before. Her desire surges forward at the unguarded want he displays on his usually shy features. Sunburst's mouth is parted slightly, his breathing puffs out between his teeth, and his eyes don't move from her body since she led him here. He wants her; the request is written all over his face. It was up to her to take what was hers.
She comes back to him, pulling him up by his tie until he's sitting across from her. She says nothing, but he takes off his jacket and tosses it aside, his eyes never leaving hers. He starts undoing the buttons on his shirt, and Starlight puts a hoof on his chest to stop him. Leave it, she commands with the way her magic brushes his own aside, how her eyes change from blue to liquid sapphire, and the way her teeth scrape across her bottom lip, and Sunburst knows he'll never be able to deny her anything. Ever.
He holds his hooves out to her, fetlocks crossed, his eyes placating, a small smirk on his face. She almost can't believe, how easily he agrees, how underneath the lust in his eyes, there's trust. More trust than she believes she deserves, or could even possibly understand, but there he is, the way he always is, with his hooves offered to her, a smile on his face. Her teeth dig back into the skin of her lip as she brings the silk scarf to his fetlocks, winding it around until it's tightened, and she holds both his hooves in her own, her mouth meeting his quickly, pushing Sunburst onto his back.
He lays flat while she crawls on top of him, her hips already grinding against his, leading his bound hooves to the top of her headboard, hooking them there. She pauses and leans back to straddle her Stallion, taking the sight before her. His hooves are suspended in the air, bound by the white fabric that's both delicate and strong, the white fabric that held her Stallion at her mercy, the sight of him so open and thrusting underneath her only served to increase the desire underneath her tail. A moan slips past her lips, and her Stallion smiles, a grin somewhat sweet and lecherous at the same time.
Her body leans over his again, kissing the mark she had bestowed earlier, following up with her tongue. Sunburst exhales slowly, his eyes screwed shut, his hips pressing against hers, unable to hold back his arousal, his need for her triumphant over his patience. Her hooves caress over the first button on his shirt, and she pops it off deftly with her magic, repeating the process until his shirt is open, and his chest is exposed to her. Her hooves splay across the golden fur, her manicured hooves dragging down his stomach slowly. Sunburst releases a breathy moan, muscles spasm under her keratin, body yielding to her just as completely as his spirit has.
Starlight trails her hooves over the white marks on his chest, spots of white fur that he keeps hidden with his cloak, they remind her of constellations, dotting his fur in seemingly random patterns, more noticeable where his heart is. She watches as his eyes screw shut and his mouth drops open, body quivering and hips grinding with much more insistence. She smirks before she repeats the action, but this time with her mouth. A true moan escapes the prison of his teeth, and his back arches from the bed, gibberish spilling from his lips, but the plea echoes in the silence. He's begging her, pleading, he wants her so badly that it hurts.
But he can't touch her.
He can't touch his Mistress.
And it's driving him insane.
She drags her body slowly downwards, coming to rest on his hips. She smirks against the fur of his barrel, petting him as she looks up at him. Sunburst's eyes are lowered, hellbent on keeping his eyes on hers, lust pooling in his irises and darkening them. His mouth hangs open as he gasps for more air, trying to remember how to breathe as Starlight's breath brushes over his hardness.
The pace she sets is slow, her lips just barely brushing over his need, enjoying the euphoria that spills from his lips for the contact he so desperately craves. It makes her smile, the way he's so hard for her, it makes her hot, knowing that he felt this for her, and only her. She turns away and makes a grand show of putting his coat and her dress away, folding them properly, taking off her jewelry, and tying her mane so it's out of the way. They did have a party to attend after this, and she didn't want the guest of honor showing up looking like he had been mauled by a manticore.
Too much.
Once the clothes and the jewelry are safely tucked away by her desk chair, she turns her attention back to her needy Stallion bound on her bed, nearly sobbing her name, too aroused to think straight. She decides that she's tortured him enough, that the little stunt he pulled with the suit has been forgiven, and she was feeling merciful tonight. Not to mention that heat underneath her tail had grown into molten desire without her Stallion's touch. She wants him, wants to touch him, wants him to touch her, but she doesn't set him free. She's making a point.
She's the Mistress, he's the Stallion.
He doesn't lead her.
She settles herself over his legs, her hooves resting on his hips. She kisses his length with gentle touches, and he strains against the headboard, groaning through his clenched teeth, eyes shut tightly as he praises his Mistress, praises her tongue, her touch, her existence. She grins against his length, and she flattens her tongue against the head of his cock, licking the pearls of pre-cum beading down the head. Her Stallion chokes as she toys with him.
"Fuck, f-fuck Starlight," he pants, forelegs strained against the wood of her headboard. "Your tongue, your tongue, fuck!"
Starlight only smiles far too innocently before she takes him into her mouth, humming around him. He bites his lip, trying to keep his cries down. He doesn't want to deal with Trixie's complaints tomorrow. But she flicks her tongue, and all thoughts of Trixie fly out of his mind, he'll deal with her later because Starlight moans around his dick and his body begins to quake. "S-Staar. Starlight!" He moans. "Please Starlight, let me fuck you. P-Please. Starlight!" It's the tone, the small whine at the end that makes her look up, that makes her throb with want, that wants to take the pain from his voice. She wants him to forget every word that isn't her name.
She releases his dick with a pop, and she runs her tongue over her lips slowly, and Sunburst growls with his eyes screwed tight. "Please, Starlight, please."
She crawls up to her Stallion and slides out of her underwear, his eyes glued to the skin she reveals. The small, sweet sigh she gives as the cool air meets her sex makes his nostrils flare, catching her scent, and his cock twitches when she smiles at him. "Please, Mistress, please!"
She moans with approval at that, and crawls up to her mate, straddling him quickly. Their hips grind and he howls, words spilling from his mouth, nonsense to those that don't know him, but Starlight is well versed in this language, making sense of his half moans and choppy words. "So wet, so warm, you're perfect, you're beautiful." She loves it when he talks like that--so open and honest--when he usually spends his time choosing his words slowly, overthinking everything. "I need you, I need to be inside you," he moans, the silk that binds him to the bed straining against the wood and his skin. She moans and draws herself up on her knees, lining Sunburst's cock with her entrance before she sinks down on her Stallion.
Instantly, he throws his head back with a cry, his voice raspy as he worships her with his chapped lips. "Oh fuck, fuck, fuck Starlight, damn it, fuck." He moans; he can't stop talking, never wants to stop talking, to stop telling her how perfect she feels, how she's wonderful, how warm she feels. "Thank you." He breathes, as she sheaths into him completely, her own moan spilling from her lips. "Thank you, Mistress."
His Mistress doesn't answer, she just starts bouncing on her Stallion, just as desperate to find release, the pleasure building to almost uncomfortable levels, and she wants to see him come undone underneath her. She's not disappointed. His fetlocks strain against the silk scarf and she hears a tear in the fabric, but it holds. His eyes flash as he stares at her, eyes lock on hers and she can't look away, not that she wants to, not when he breathes more worship into the air between them. "I love you."
"Sunburst," she moans, picking up the pace, feeling the heat in her abdomen ignite, her panting turning into needy moans, and the keratin of her hooves dig into his skin. "You're mine, Sunburst, do you understand?"
"Only yours," he agrees, breathing haggard, eyes rolling into his head, her hips swiveling and bouncing frantically. "Always yours."
"Always mine," she cries out as her pace becomes less controlled and more frantic, running towards oblivion with him.
"Star, 'm gonna--" he can barely get the words out, his back arching from the bed. Starlight bounces against him harder, a scream slipping from her throat as she does.
"Come for me, Sunburst!" She whimpers, her own body contorting with pleasure, the fire in her blood searing to its hottest point.
Sunburst's muscles contract inside her, he throws his head back again and roars, his orgasm hitting him hard, knocking the breath out of him. He tries to keep it down, but it's impossible, he can't find the sense to care. His rapture is what sends Starlight over the edge as well, her release spilling over her like a waterfall, her back arching and a violent tremor wracking her body as he fills her. She had never felt this full, this satisfied, this complete, than with him.
The pleasure ebbs away like the tide and Starlight falls onto Sunburst, boneless, a pile of nerves and quivering flesh. Sunburst is not much better, he's panting, his eyes closed, and his glasses missing, but his satisfied smile shows that he really doesn't care.
"Star," he slurs, and her ear twitches at the sound. "L'mme go?" he asks, still completely subservient to his Mistress.
Without raising her head, her horn glows like a dim lightbulb and the silk slips away from his fetlocks, freeing him. The first thing he does with his freedom is wrap his hooves around her, pulling her closer, tracing the curve of her back, the other bringing her mouth to his, trying to make up for the touching he had been unable to do.
His shoulders burned with pain, his fetlocks throbbed, the exhaustion settling into his bones and he wanted nothing more than to crawl under the sheets with Starlight and sleep. But his eyes settle on the clock over her nightstand, realizing he's already twenty minutes late to the party, Starlight has successfully undone all the grooming and makeup she applied on herself, but Sunburst is too tired to care. Starlight, unfortunately, eyes the clock too, and groans, pulling herself up. "Come on, we got to hurry."
"If you're thinking of spending another hour to get ready--"
"I'll just throw the dress back on," she winks at her boyfriend. "You, on the other hoof, have to change."
He groans again, the idea of having to watch his girlfriend interacting with her friends like nothing was wrong, while the memory of her riding him into completion still fresh on his mind turned him on more than he thought it would. "I just wanted to wear my suit and look decent for once."
"Yeah, well, you should know better by now." |
Bed Time Stories | Tangled Up In You | A seething heat pools in the bottom of her stomach as Sunburst stares down at her, his half-lidded gaze heavy in the faint moonlight streaming through his window. It douses his hair and turns the red into silver, bright against the dark backdrop of his bedroom, but there's an intimate aspect about it that sets her heart on fire.
She pulls him down for a kiss to extinguish it, her lips moving languidly against his as his cock enters her slowly. A small squeak escapes from her throat in response, but she cuts it short by hooking her back legs around his waist. Doing so relieves some of the pressure and she sighs contently.
Sunburst settles on top of her, his forelegs caging her in and making the moment more romantic than it should be. Their breaths mingle together. Sharing the warmth that their bodies create as the air heats up around them. He starts moving, his hips thrusting into her in the same way that he kisses her: sweet and slow.
Usually, she likes it when he's rough with her, using his larger frame to pin her against the bed and pounding into her until her thighs feel sore, but this is nice as well. It makes her feel loved and wanted with the way that he touches her. Sometimes she wishes he did this out of the bedroom. Sometimes she wants to lay her head on his shoulder and have him wrap his foreleg around her waist to bring her closer, but she'll take what she can get. And if sex is where she can find it, then that's what she'll settle with.
Because being friends with Sunburst is more important than expressing her feelings.
"Ah!" She gasps when she feels his magic grope her tit.
He silences her with another kiss, his grin boyish and coy enough that makes her want to smack him upside the head. His magic is warm and tingly as it tugs and squeezes her pert nipple, drawing a sigh from her. Her hips rise off the mattress at the action and she tightens her hold on him, trying to beg him for more, but all that comes out of her mouth is a moan. Grunts and moans fill the silence between them in the place of words.
Her head is fuzzy and her body feels light. Everything is perfect.
His mouth leaves a trail of kisses up her cheek and he nibbles on her ear before whispering. "You feel good?"
It sounds like a question, but it could be a compliment for all she knew. She can't tell the difference between how foggy her brain feels. All she knows is that Sunburst is an attentive lover, and the sex with him is the best she's ever had.
"Amazing," she whispers in response.
Lifting his head, Sunburst stares down at her. His gaze feels too intimate, too loving for someone who's meant to be her best friend and nothing more. It makes her analytical brain want to examine and poke at it; figure out if it means what she thinks it means or not. But she doesn't allow herself to dwell on the thought for very long, it will only give her false hope, something she can't have at the moment.
Friends. Just friends, she tells herself.
It leaves a sour taste in her mouth and another voice, timid but more sincere, denies it.
More. You're something more.
Starlight pushes the intrusive thoughts away, focusing instead on the pleasure that Sunburst is giving her, his mouth, and his cock as it slides in and out of her. It's then she realizes that he's changed the focus of his magic, toying with her clit instead, and another moan escapes from her. She throws her head back, exposing her neck, noting that he doesn't waste any time kissing her underneath her jaw. The pressure finally breaks and heat washes over her body in waves of pure delight and ecstasy, her walls tightening around him as her back arches with the pleasure.
His name spills from her mouth with a weak cry that he muffles with a kiss. She feels more than hears her own name on his lips as he reaches his limit, finishing with one last pointed thrust inside her.
They lay there, panting, neither one saying a word, in a world where words aren't necessary because they both know. They both probably knew all along how the other feels, but the fear of the unknown stops them from going further. Both fearful as to what would happen once the truth is out, once the damning words are uttered and the enchantment shatters, ending what they have.
Not wanting to be one to break the spell, she swallows the phrase that creeps up her throat. It doesn't stop the intrusive voice from whispering it to her heart, though.
I love you. |
Bed Time Stories | 34 + 35 | Starlight Glimmer wanted to buck and squirm and squeal as Sunburst's tongue lapped at her pussy, but his hooves dug more into her hips with each small movement from her. He circled his tongue around her clit, licked along the seam of her lips before fucking her with the muscle. His tongue slid in past her opening, curved up along her walls, and receded like a small wave. She bit her bottom lip to stifle the moan that crawled up her throat. Her core clenched as Sunburst went in for another round of loving her, and her hips arched up slightly to give him more access, her tail rising and twitching but otherwise out of the way.
She wasn't a big fan of this position, but when it was with somepony like Sunburst, she didn't mind. He knew exactly what he was doing. From his grip on her body to the movements of his mouth as he pleased her, Sunburst was pure perfection at doing the 69.
His mouth noisily sucked on her clit, and she felt his nose bury itself within her. The sensation was strange and not what she was used to, but she could not deny that it was also hot. Sunburst gently used his teeth to tug on the small pink bud before leaning in to kiss it and suck on it some more. His tongue circled her clit, up along the side of it, and pressed against it to draw a long moan from her. Everything he did was pure torture to her--wonderful, blissful torture--and she found it difficult to focus on her own task.
While he was fantastic at the position, Starlight wasn't.
She tried to go back to his cock standing to attention in front of her, but every time she did, she had to turn away again to either moan or gasp. Starlight hadn't expected to enjoy this at all; she had thought they were going to do it for a couple of minutes, realize how uncomfortable it was, and go back to pleasing each other separately. But no. Sunburst had proven himself fully capable of eating her out with her above him, and his dick stayed hard despite the lack of attention on her part. It shouldn't have surprised her, though. The stallion was really good at giving her oral no matter the position.
"Ah, fuck," she cried as Sunburst kissed her opening, tongue curling up to lick her walls.
"You okay?" He breathed against her. His breath was warm and cooling against her sensitive opening, and she ached for him to go back and give her pleasure until she forgot her name.
"Yeah. You?"
"I'm good."
"Are you sure? How are you even still breathing down there? You were doing that for longer than five minutes, at least."
Sunburst laid his head back on the bed and laughed against her thigh, his beard tickling her skin. He kissed her flesh, softly bit, and sucked it while his hooves caressed her ass. She moaned when he squeezed and spread her cheeks before placing his mouth back on her and pleasuring her once again. Starlight moaned as her lower abdomen tightened and her muscles clenched. A small wave of satisfaction rocked through her, warmth spread throughout her body, and she yearned for more. More of his mouth, his tongue, his attention. She wanted--needed--all of it.
Far too soon, he removed his face from her pussy, and Starlight whimpered in protest.
"Relax, Starlight. I'm not done yet." He paused to kiss her thigh. "What do you mean how am I still breathing?"
"It's just...Doesn't it...Well, doesn't it, um...Ugh, this is so embarrassing." She bit her lip as she tried to find the least embarrassing way to ask him, but coming up with none, she swallowed her discomfort and just said it. There really was no clean way to do it. "Doesn't it smell?"
He barked his laughter, and she felt his smug grin against her skin. "Maybe I like the smell of you."
"Sunburst!"
"It's true! And it's a compliment. Besides, you know how much I love giving you oral."
It's still you. The most private part of you that no one gets to see, let alone touch, was what he had said when she asked why he liked to please her more than her pleasing him. She had never been with a stallion who actually enjoyed giving her oral over her giving him a blowjob until she met Sunburst. The unicorn had the nice habit of putting her first which she very much enjoyed. It was nice to be put first in the bedroom instead of her being expected to cater to his needs. A mare could definitely get used to this.
"I know." She side-eyed his still-erect dick and pouted. "But I haven't even done much to you besides kissing the side, no thanks to you."
"My penis. You can call it what it is."
She smirked. "Can I name it?"
"No! It's a penis, a body part, it doesn't need a name."
"But that's so boring!"
"What else are you gonna call it?"
"...Sunny Junior?"
"No!" He cut her off. "Horseapples, you're terrible at naming things."
"But it's cute, just like your dick!"
"Starlight Glimmer, you're not naming my penis!"
"Fine," she scoffed.
He laughed, and there was a short pause. The sound of the fan spinning lazy circles over them filled the silence of the room, and they lay there contentedly. Sunburst's hooves rubbed soothing circles along her flanks, having left her rear only moments before, while Starlight stared at his dick. She really did want to please her boyfriend--show him that he wasn't the only one who could leave their partner a sobbing mess with their mouth skills. She had done it before, many times. Of course, they weren't in this position, but what was the difference?
Now that she thought of it, there wasn't any.
Starlight didn't second guess herself as she pressed her lips against the side of his shaft and kissed up along it. She stuck her tongue out to lick the ridge of the flared head. She sucked the flesh there with her mouth before moving up and swirling her tongue around the tip of his dick. A small grunt came from Sunburst's direction, and his hooves stilled their movement as he was distracted by what she was doing.
Teasing his head, she mouthed and tongued it. She coated the tip with her spit and the precum that spilled and moved away to spread it across the rest of his shaft. Sunburst moaned as she licked the underside of his medial ring while her hoof gently caressed the rest of it. Starlight wrapped her hoof around him and moved it up and down along his length. His hips bucked up gently as she pulled on him, and she felt her name mumbled against her thighs, a low rumble vibrating along her flesh. She moaned her pleasure on his cock as her pussy twitched and heat spread throughout her body.
"You want to focus on me right now?" Sunburst breathed out.
She licked along the length of his shaft and drew out another moan from the stallion between her legs. Starlight found the sound hot and enticing. The feel of his low rumbles with each moan reverberated against her stomach and to the rest of her body. Heat swirled around her lower abdomen and her core yearned to feel the same rumble against it as he ate her out. Just the mere thought of it made her moan--but if he did go back to pleasuring her, she knew she wouldn't be able to focus on him. And as much as she loved him sucking and licking on her pussy, it wasn't about her right now.
"Yes," she said. "It's my turn to please you."
His shaky breath coated her loins with warmth and caused a shiver to run up her spine as it hit a sensitive part within her. "Alright."
"You okay with that?"
"Yeah...I'll tell you when to stop, though," he whispered. "I don't want to finish like this."
Starlight nodded and went back to work.
Grasping the muscle in her hoof, she moved up to get a better angle and draped her mouth over the tip to suck and lick him. Her hoof worked up the length of him she couldn't reach, twisting and turning as she roughly bobbed her head along his dick. Her ears twisted towards him to better hear his grunts and moans, they shook through her body, and she felt her nipples harden at the reaction. She wanted so desperately to touch herself as each of his sounds filled the room. To move her hoof in time with her actions, pounding within her like he had done so many times before. Her hips bucked against his chest. The moisture dripped down from her winking pussy to his fluffy chest, and Sunburst must have gotten the hint because the next thing she knew, she heard the tell-tale sound of his magic and his hoof was circling her clit.
She moaned as his magic, so warm and electrifying at the same time, curled and dragged along her walls. Her core clenched around his magic as he drew out another moan from her--her voice muffled by his dick--sending her body into a frenzy. Sunburst's magic spread her tunnel and fucked her gently, his hoof circling her clit as he continued to pleasure her. Since she wasn't sitting on him, she was free to buck and squirm as she pleased, her fear of suffocating or putting him in an uncomfortable position long forgotten as his magic fucked her in time to her sucking on him.
The whole experience left her craving for more. Each time his magic entered her and curled along her walls, Starlight wished that it was his cock within her, sliding in and out as she ground her hips in time with his, their bodies working together while their hooves roamed across the others. She wanted to feel the dips and curves of his barrel as her forelegs floated along his chest while he groped her ass and teased her tits. Starlight wanted more than just oral pleasure; she craved the complete experience.
Her orgasm grew closer and closer with each of his rapid movements. His cock pulsated in her hoof as her head bobbed up and down. It throbbed against her tongue and cum spilled out from the tip, Starlight swiped her tongue across it to taste the salty liquid. Sunburst's moans became louder and his movements slowed as his release approached. His magic disappeared and his hooves grabbed her ass as he cried out her name, his hips bucking up into her mouth. A curse escaped from his lips, but before he could orgasm, Starlight removed herself from his dick and sat upon his chest.
"Damnit you're good at that," he laughed.
Starlight coyly glanced over her shoulder, bit down on her lip, and smiled. "I thought you didn't want to finish like this."
Sunburst's blue eyes were dark and lustful as he stared up at her through half-lidded eyes, but his grin was playful as he slapped her ass. "Where do you want me to finish?"
A blush crept up Starlight's flesh, and she bashfully stared down at her chest. Her black lashes dusted her cheeks in what she hoped was a seducing manner before she glanced back up at him. She prayed her eyes were as dark and lustful as his, that her blue irises had the same effect his own had on her. From the way he noisily swallowed to his still erect dick, she guessed it was working.
She swung her leg over his chest, turned around, and straddled his body so that she was facing him now. Leaning down, she trailed white-hot kisses along his jawbone and nibbled on his yellow ear. Sunburst's low moans and grunts were music to her ears. A symphony of sounds only she was able to pull from him. It sent a wave of desire through her body, from her heart to her stomach, and down to her moist pussy. Starlight arched her ass a little and felt his dick rub against her. It was hard and warm and ready for her.
Pulling her most seductive voice, Starlight whispered, "Inside of me, as I ride you like there's no tomorrow," into his ear.
Sunburst gulped. "My stars, that's hot."
"Was it really?" Starlight asked, moving to look at him. Her eyes searched his to make sure he wasn't lying or teasing her.
"Why would you think it wasn't?" he laughed.
"I'm not used to talking dirty like this," she mumbled. "I've never been with somepony who openly encouraged it."
He ran the blunt nail of his hoof up and down her spine, his touch warm and soothing against her fur. "Shh, don't worry. You're really good at it. Turns me on."
"It better," she smiled.
Running his hoof through her hair, Sunburst pulled her down for a gentle kiss. Their lips brushed against each other afterward. "Are we done with the foreplay?"
She felt her cheeks burn at his words, and she rolled her eyes. "So impatient! Can you be a little more romantic?"
"I love you. You're beautiful. You have an amazing body that I would really like to see move on top of me. Is that better?"
Starlight laughed and shook her head, pushing herself up into a sitting position. "You're such a poet."
"Thanks, I try," he said with a toothy grin.
Lifting her butt off his chest, she scooted back a little and wrapped her hoof around his cock. She positioned herself over him, rubbed his tip along the seam of her pussy, and they both moaned at the sensation. Starlight released a shaky breath as she slowly slid him inside her, taking him in little by little as her walls expanded to accommodate him. He filled her completely, and once she felt comfortable enough, she carefully started to grind her hips against him until she found a rhythm she was comfortable with.
"Want to see some tricks I learned while living here?"
Sunburst nodded. "You know I'm always eager to learn."
Licking her lips and raising one foreleg, Starlight rested it behind her head while the other kept her stable on top of Sunburst. Her hips moved up and down, her abs tightened as she controlled herself, and she rode him in the way she had seen farmers ride a bull. Sunburst bucked against her, his hips thrusting into her like a real bull in the arena treated a cowboy when it tried to buck them off. But Starlight remained stable as she rocked on him. She tried to match her speed with his, tried to predict how he would move, and eventually, they were moving at the same pace, in the same direction.
She watched as his lips counted down the seconds--eight seconds if he remembered correctly from the rodeo they went to see last weekend--his eyes trained on her hips as his dick slid in and out of her. His breathing was ragged and unsteady, blue eyes turned darker the longer he stared. It was hot watching him as he looked at their movements and how their hips rose and fell in time with the others. Starlight bit down on her lip to stifle the gasp that begged to be released. Her foreleg grew tired as the seconds wore on. It felt like time had slowed down for them at that moment so they could both enjoy the other's presence. Sunburst's lips formed the number eight, and he smiled.
"You're good. You could have a career as a cowgirl."
Starlight dropped her foreleg, shook it to relieve the tiredness, and planted her hoof on his chest next to the other one. "I don't know, I might need more practice before I ask the Apples for the job."
"Well, you can always practice on me if you like."
Featherlight touches trailed up her thighs, her stomach, and along the underside of her tits. She arched her back into his touch as he kneaded and molded her tits, rolling her nipples with his magic and tugging on them gently. Sunburst sat up and kissed her deeply, and Starlight wrapped her forelegs around his neck as she fell back a little from his hips shifting beneath her. Squeezing her thighs around his waist, she continued her hip grinding while he gently bit her lower lip. His tongue filled her mouth, kissing her noisily--the sound echoing in the room and sending chills down her spine--while his magic continued to grope her tits.
Starlight's body felt like it was on fire from the stimulation. Every time her hips dropped down to meet his, her clit rubbed against his shaft. Her lower abdomen started to grow tired with her continuous movements, but she was so close to the edge, she kept going. Hips thrusting into each other, Starlight broke the kiss as she cried and moaned, her head tilting out towards the ceiling. Her forelegs wrapped themselves in his hair to press him against her chest. Her fucking became faster and more unstable as she ground against him, and a shudder broke through her as her walls clenched around his dick.
She leaned into Sunburst who quickly wrapped his forelegs around her and pulled them toward the bed. His hips were slow and gradual as he slid his cock in and out of her, trying to reach his own orgasm. Starlight quivered in his embrace as wave after wave of pleasure flowed through her body like the ocean coming up to kiss the sand in a hurricane. It was wild and pleasurable. Endorphins flew through her muscles as the afterglow of sex began to take over. Sunburst gently kissed the side of her face while his hoof soothingly caressed her back.
"Sunburst," she moaned against his cheek, and that was his undoing.
With one final thrust of his hips, Starlight felt his hot seed fill her and his cock throb as her walls tightened around him, milking him for all he was worth. Her name was a hoarse sound as it left his lips, but it was music to her ears.
They lay there for a while, spent but satisfied and much too comfortable to move. Once she felt some of her clarity returning to her, Starlight rolled away and fell on the bed beside Sunburst. Her chest heaved up and down just like his, and she turned to smile at him. He returned her grin and threaded his hoof through her hair to softly kiss her lips. It was chaste and quick, but she tasted the sweat mixed with the traces of her juices that coated his lips, reminding her of what they had been doing only moments before.
Ignoring the heat and discomfort that it brought, Starlight draped her leg on his waist and pulled herself closer to him. She didn't want to think of the stench that filled the room--the smell of sex wafting around them--or the sweat that dripped off him. She wanted to remain blissful and happy for a few seconds before they both left to clean themselves off. She wanted to bask in the glow that radiated off him; wanted to enjoy the warm, fuzzy feeling he gave her as he hugged her to him and kissed the tip of her nose.
"I love you," he whispered.
"I love you, too."
"You're really good in bed."
"Thank you...I guess."
"You make the cutest noises ever and taste great." She pouted and felt his smug grin against her lips.
"You're gross."
"I'm only being honest."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Starlight lightly pushed him and rolled away from him. "As much as I'd love to stay like this, we seriously stink and your fur is gross and sweaty." She swung her legs over the bed and made a quick dash to the bathroom. "I call dibs on the shower!"
"Don't take too long!" He yelled after her.
Starlight giggled as she closed the door behind her.
Before it closed, though, she did catch his small smile and the look of his half-lidded eyes as he watched her ass wiggle while she ran to the bathroom, his seed running down her legs despite her efforts to hold it in. Sunburst was a closet pervert, and she adored that the most about him because he reserved that side for her and her only. |
Bed Time Stories | Midnight Haze | Eyes open slowly but she doesn't realize, it's just as dark in her room as it is behind her eyelids. Sound comes to her first--a serenade of crickets, a band of cicadas, the chorus of a warm breeze through the grass and trees--and a midnight concert pours in through the open window. It was summer, so it only made sense to leave it open, white curtains dancing with the wind and the moonlight. Starlight can't see this, but she feels that breeze tracing an icy finger down her spine and she shivers. Such a contrast to her front that's warm--far too warm for comfort.
But instinct tells her not to pull away, it beckons her closer instead to the source, and Starlight Glimmer, who, even in her waking hours follows her gut more than her brain, is powerless against it. She leans in and her muzzle meets something soft, something warm and alive. She can't put a name to it at first, images and feelings flooding her mind instead--old books, the softest smile, spilled ink, magic like sunlight caressing her, teal eyes that make her heart race--and her lips twitch with a smile. Sunburst.
He's warm, much too warm, even though there's not a stitch of clothing between them. He left his cloak on the hook of his closet door right before bed, and Starlight kicked off the sheets in her restless sleep long ago. She should retreat, but instinct tells her no, closer, go closer. She follows the call, mind still cloudy with sleep, lips dragging along the golden fur of the stallion she calls hers.
Sunburst's breathing is deep and steady, his back to her as he dreams. He doesn't feel her kisses at first, which admittedly are nothing but a lazy caress of her lips across his fur and skin until she gets to his neck, where the skin is much more sensitive and exposed. His breathing changes, rhythm interrupted, and he wakes, somewhat. There's no confusion, no surprise, he knows where he is, and he knows who is responsible for his interrupted dreams. He's known those lips and their owner his whole life.
He lifts his head from the pillow, only just, and tries to speak, but all that comes is a "Hmm?"
"Hmm," she answers, unrelenting in her lazy kisses.
He understands, though, and turns slowly to face her, then he wiggles his way down. His face settles in her fluffy chest and he sighs deeply as her forelegs wrap around his head and play with his mane. His hooves find her waist and stay there, holding her close as she nuzzles the top of his head. He closes his eyes, taking in her scent intermingled with the summer air, and melts under her touch.
Starlight always loved his hair, even when they were foals and his mother cut it short and neat, like the rose bushes in her garden--perfect squares without a leaf or flower out of place. His mane is longer now, growing and curling wherever it pleased without Sunburst doing much about it, too busy with his books and theories to care about his appearance. But Starlight thinks she loves it even more now. It's long and wild, but it's also soft and clean and smells like home.
She buries her snout into it, breathing in his scent. She leans in to kiss the crown of his head, but she miscalculates and catches the tip of his ear between her teeth. His ear twitches and flicks her nose--she starts, caught off guard, and giggles breathlessly at her own reaction.
Her giggling rouses him, making him think it was the chirping of a nightingale outside announcing the dawn, but the sound it's sweeter and dearer to him than that of Luscinia megarhynchos. The stallion lifts his head, the only sign of curiosity he can show in this state. His wife doesn't answer, instead, she continues with her kisses, leaving a loving trail from the crown of his head, past his horn, until she reaches the blaze of alabaster on his nose.
His hooves make lazy circles above her flank, tracing the edges of her cutie mark. Sunburst can't help but think that she is the softest thing he's ever had the honor of touching.
Both of them are so quiet, it's a wonder that they can still understand each other, but love, instinct, and time made them well-versed in this kind of intimacy.
"Good?" She mumbles, barely coherent.
"Hmm."
Starlight nudges him until he rolls over and she's on top of him, kissing the long, flat bridge of his nose, specifically the two spots where his glasses leave a tiny indent. His eyes open blearily, hooves automatically going to her waist to steady her. His eyesight is terrible, but he's seen and touched her body so many times that he has every curve and plane memorized. Sunburst loves the way she drapes over him, how she fits and fills those empty spaces in him--completes him. His grip tightens and his lips go to her neck, pressing them into those secret places that she loves so much, places that only he is allowed to touch.
His caresses resonate through her body like it's been struck with a new vibration, and Starlight sighs appreciatively, her grip on him tightening. She's always craving his touch and that hunger guides her now that her inhibitions are lowered, all she knows is that she feels good, and that she wants more.
In the dark they easily find each other, lips meeting in a lazy but loving kiss and it doesn't take long for tongues to get involved, their taste sweet and familiar, but always exciting. They don't need light to know where the other is, they have been in this position a thousand times and hopefully a thousand times more were to come. The couple soon adds the creaking of the bed springs to the midnight serenade outside, followed by their gasps and moans.
In this midnight haze, all Sunburst can feel, hear and taste is her. Her tongue, small but demanding, intermingled with his, using her position to her advantage to take what she wants from him. Sunburst doesn't fight her or challenge her, instead, he moves with her, following her lead because they were a team first and foremost.
Because he surrendered to her a long time ago and hasn't looked back since.
Her tail flicks, her hips grinding against him in response to his touch, and it is then that he notices--that he feels just how wet she is. Her smell, strong, sensual. Overwhelming. It wakes him up.
And Starlight can feel it, Sunburst waking up--right between her thighs.
They rolled onto their sides, and their legs, at first heavy with sleep, now grip their lover with renewed strength and vigor; pulling each other close, chest to chest, heartbeat to heartbeat. Their kisses escalate, from sweet pecks to open-mouthed and hungry, breathing turns to panting as Starlight's kisses grew more demanding and Sunburst's touch was heavy with desire.
He eventually breaks the kiss, his lips brushing over hers as he murmurs, "Turn around."
She obeys, scooting herself until her back molds against his chest. Sunburst's body temperature ran higher than most ponies, but his skin feels scorching tonight, almost feverish, and she shivers. But it wasn't the difference in body heat that made her tremble, but the feeling of her stallion around her, pulling her close and tracing the curves of her body with his gentle touch. The feeling of their bodies fitting together so perfectly despite being so different was something she would never get used to.
His hoof goes from tracing her hip to her ass, scooping her tail out of the way and looking down.
By Luna's stars, she's soaked.
His nostrils flare, shivering as her scent fills his lungs. His heart races and his cock stirs, the need he feels for her it's almost painful at this point. Sunburst wants nothing more than to bury himself in her and drown his senses in lust, love, and animalistic desire, and Starlight too by the looks of it. She wiggles in his grasp, initiating that ritual dance of finding the right angle for both of them, and letting out a low whine when her mate wasn't cooperating, if she weren't half asleep and horny, she would probably tell him some quip to get him moving. The thought makes him chuckle breathlessly, and it gives him an idea.
Starlight feels him hook a hoof under her leg, lifting it into the air, and she lets out a sound that was between a gasp and a moan. This was new.
Whenever they made love, Sunburst had always been gentle with her, almost polite, letting her do as she pleases and going along with whatever she wanted. Not that he was a doormat in bed, but more often than not she had to ask him (beg him) to take the initiative and use her as he pleased. Opening her up for what feels like the world to see, spreading her out like this it's almost a rude gesture, coming from somepony like her husband.
And yet...
She feels a rush of excitement between her legs. Cool air blows from the window over to her throbbing pussy, making her shiver, and her clit winks involuntarily in the night. The cold doesn't last long, though, as her husband's warm cock nuzzles against her folds. It's drooling with precum, sticky with anticipation as he grinds against her opening, warming her up and testing the waters. And then he enters her easily, comfortably, and they both moan in unison, voices filled with lust and relief.
When he hilts her, Starlight turns her head and nuzzles his scruffy cheek, using him as an anchor for the pleasure that floods her. Having him so deep inside, to the core of her heat and desire that's been building in her all night, makes her dizzy and desperate in the best possible way.
His grip on her leg tightens, and she feels that leg stretch out involuntarily, spreading her open just a little more to the night and heat that cradled them.
They pause for a moment or two, and then he withdraws, slow and gentle, but Starlight still whimpers a "yes". Her pussy grips around him, the folds winking, trying to pull him back in and keep him there. His strokes are light at first, humping against her backside with experimental thrusts, barely making a sound save for the whisper of his fur against the sheets. He groans something that sounded like her name, but he's too tired to understand what it is.
But Starlight just repeats herself; "Yes, yes."
And the bed starts to rock.
He's putting more force into it, hips finding a comfortable rhythm, keeping that leg in the air, her pussy spread open, allowing her juices to slide over the inside of her thigh and drip onto the sheets. She loves the control he has, the way it feels when he draws halfway out before pushing back in. It's that cycle that drives her wild, in and out, push and pull. The contradiction of wanting to be stuffed full and satisfyingly empty at the same time is a feeling she can't help but chase.
His thrusts become fuller, and the soft percussion of fur on fur adds to the crickets and the moans and the bed springs. That slick, wet crackle of flesh meeting flesh, sweat, and cum dripping and mingling and becoming one, staining the bed and their bodies until morning when they will be washed away with a shower and a giggle.
But now Starlight reaches down to play with the hard pearl of her clit, throwing her head back in pleasure, her hoof is vibrating like a hummingbird's wing over herself. Ecstasy plays with the features of her face, opening and closing her mouth, screwing her eyes shut, and furrowing her brow. And then she's there, electrified and squealing at the heavy rhythm her husband has taken up, sweat running down her brow, backlegs closing together as it slips from Sunburst's grip.
Sunburst is desperate to follow her into bliss. His free hoof snakes around his wife's stomach, pulling her in hard as he feels his orgasm approaching. It's like something has taken over his brain, turning his actions automatic, working only on instinct and desire to fill his mare. There's no stopping now, and he knows it.
Starlight is crying out, riding her own orgasm, he can barely hear it but he can feel it. She's writhing in his grasp, hips grinding against his thrust to prolong the pleasure, to bring him close to her, and Sunburst is forced to use his strength to keep her still long enough to finish.
And then, all at once, his rhythm falls apart as his climax rockets through him. He struggles to keep his eyes open while his hips do this strange, jerking puppet dance as he thrusts one last time, grinding against Starlight's cunt as it hugs his cock, which has swelled and taken up all the room it can inside her.
Some kind of sound fishes itself deep from within Sunburst, the kind you could never make on purpose, something deep, guttural and primal that makes Starlight shiver as she lays there in his embrace.
He can feel his cum move through him, releasing inside her, coating his own head with it over and over. It's a pleasure that overwhelms him, it almost feels painful. He closes his eyes tightly against the onslaught, hard enough to see stars as he releases his potent seed inside her.
Starlight can't really feel his cum inside her, but she can feel the excess leak out of her, dripping over her abused opening, down her legs and over the sheets. Her tail twitches at the feeling but otherwise, she lays still, relaxed, sated, and content.
They both lay there, defeated by each other's love, spent in both body and soul.
There aren't words they could say, even if they were awake enough to put them together.
And they fall asleep, caked in sweat, without a care in the world. |
Man With The Moon | pre | After what seemed like hours Twilight finally came back with a huge book. She trotted through the room and plopped the ginormous book down on top of a small table that looked like it wanted to just give up. Like a small, skinny, nerdy kid holding up a fat kid in gym class. Twilight began flipping through the pages before she finally landed on the right page. Twilight hoofed Anthony over to the spot that he was told to stand. He nodded and grabbed his helmet and walked over to the X mark on the floor.
Anthony stood there as Twilight continued reading. When she nodded a few times she looked over at Anthony and her horn began to glow. The glow became brighter and brighter before it finally went off. But it was a defective spell that ended up being a stun spell.... that just so happen to go straight towards Anthony's crotch.
"AH-HAH-HAOW JESUS FUCKING BALLS IN A HANDBASKET BEING SHIPPED TO FUCKING ANTARCTICA!!!!!" Anthony screamed rather loudly.
Luna couldn't hold back a laugh, nor could Twilight as she began giggling. Anthony laid there curled up in a ball covering his crotch, not moving. It was kind of freaking the mares out now. Twilight took a few small steps towards Anthony before leaning down to his face.
"Anthony? Are you okay?" Twilight asked.
"I fucking hate you." Anthony wheezed.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked again.
"Fuck no." Anthony replied.
"Oh, well I'll just give you some time to recover before we try again." Twilight said.
"Could you make sure it's the CORRECT spell this time?" Anthony wheezed.
Twilight giggled and nodded before walking back to the book. After a few minutes, Anthony finally staggered to his feet. Twilight asked him if he was ready and Anthony replied with a thumbs up as he covered his crotch and braced himself. Twilight read the spell over a few times before nodding again and looking back at Anthony. Her horn began to glow once more as Anthony braced himself more. The spell finally went off that acted as a projectile and shot at Anthony, sending him flying into the wall. The mares yelped Anthony groaned.
"Anthony! Are you okay?!" Luna called.
"Ugh... surprisingly... I feel fine." Anthony said as he pushed himself out of the hole in the wall with ease.
Anthony wiped the dust and dirt off of him and stretched. Twilight just stood there staring at Anthony with a look of shock on her face.
"Uh, Twilight?" Anthony said.
"Anthony... don't move..." Twilight said.
"What is there something on me that's bad?" He asked.
"No. but uh... for some reason... another type of energy level has been added to your system... magic levels. And your magic levels are spiking right now!" Twilight replied.
"Wait. WHAT?! You gave me magic powers that I don't even know how to use?!" Anthony shouted.
"Well... sorta." Twilight replied with a sheepish smile.
Anthony sighed as he pulled a chair across the room with his magic and sat down in it as he buried his face in his hands. He suddenly looked forward and stood up looking at the chair with an odd look. He slowly backed all the way to the other side of the room and lifted up his hand. He pulled his hand towards him and the chair shot across the room and behind him as if he were going to sit down in it.
"Holy shit, I just did that!" Anthony exclaimed as a smile spread across his face.
"Well, looks like you're already getting the hang of it." Twilight said with a smirk.
"Hmm... I wonder what else I could do..." Anthony muttered.
"Well, whenever we want to do a certain spell, we have to have a lot of energy, and we need to have a lot of concentration too." Twilight said.
"Well, thankfully I have both." Anthony said.
"So, is that all Twilight?" Luna asked.
"Um, I guess." Twilight shrugged.
Anthony was still, experimenting with his new powers thanks to Twilight. Luna and Anthony headed off for Canterlot. Anthony showed Celestia his new powers and she approved them. Anthony never imagined having powers in his life, but now he does, and it's fucking awesome. They returned to Luna's quarters where Luna laid on the bed as Anthony glided a chair across the room and sat in it in front of Luna.
"So, what do you think of the new magic?" Anthony asked.
"Not much... yet. But I believe that you will become more experienced with this kind of stuff, being the the curious and amazing coltfriend you are." Luna said with a smirk.
"Aww, thanks love." Anthony replied.
They both leaned forward and shared a loving kiss, then another, and then another before they both locked their lips together. Luna levitated herself on top of Anthony as he pushed the chair back into a wall. Anthony's hands slid up to Luna's soft rump and kept themselves there as the two continued their kiss. Anthony's arms then wrapped around Luna's waist and pulled Luna's warm body into his. Their tongues slid into each other's mouths and began dancing and wrestling with each other. Anthony felt himself getting hard and he used his magic to unzip his pants and pull them off.
"Getting better hon, getting bet- whoa!" Luna yelped as she was lifted off of Anthony and onto the bed.
"Don't, do that." Luna growled.
"Sorry." Anthony said sheepishly as he crawled into bed with Luna.
"Oh, shut up and c'mere." Luna demanded as she draped her forehooves over Anthony's shoulders and leaned forward into another kiss.
Anthony position his hard, throbbing member in front of Luna's dripping pussy and slowly inched his way in. Luna became flustered and used her magic to shove him inside further. She yelped and moaned into Anthony's mouth as he responded by pulling in and out of her quickly. Luna began to grind her hips against Anthony's adding pleasure to both of them, making Anthony's thrusts faster and harder. Their motions continued on for a while before they felt themselves getting closer to their climaxes.
"Oh fuck, Luna, I'm gonna cum." Anthony gasped into Luna's ear.
"I am too, Anthony." Luna replied.
Their moans became louder and Anthony began to nibble on Luna's ear, causing her to fidget underneath Anthony. Anthony tensed up as he groaned and shot his seed into Luna. Luna let out a pleasureful cry as she came just after Anthony. The two panted heavily. Luna enjoyed the feeling of Anthony's warm breath on her neck.
"I love you so much Luna." Anthony sighed.
"I love you too Anthony." Luna replied, wrapping her forehooves around him in a hug.
Anthony rolled off of her and pulled the covers over them and cuddled closely with Luna as they both fell asleep from exhausting sex. Even though Anthony fell asleep a few minutes after Luna from excitement of getting his new powers. |
Man With The Moon | Chapter 6: Just Like Last Time | A groan echoed throughout the bedroom as the rays of the morning sunlight stung Anthony's eyes. Knowing that he would not be able to go back to sleep, he decided to stroll around the halls for a while until everypony began to wake up. Doing his best trying not to awaken his sleeping beauty, he silently slid his arm out from her four-legged grasp. The dark blue princess tried to sleepily take back her precious arm only to fall limp.
Anthony twisted his back which in return gave of a terrible crackling noise. He let out a relieved sigh, for he hadn't done that in ages. Luna mumbled incoherently before rolling over. This made Anthony chuckle lightly, how cute the love of his life was in her sleep. He scratched his chin and also noticed he hadn't shaved in a while either. Shrugging it off, he stood up and groggily shuffled towards the door. Anthony was never really a morning person. There was only one thing he loved about mornings: his cup of hazelnut coffee.
Faint steam rose from the small mug of coffee Anthony held. Sighing and smacking his lips happily after every sip. The sun was only high enough to give the morning that light bluish tint. Anthony stared out the large windows as he walked along the long stretch of red carpet. Not paying attention to where he was going, he accidentally bumped into Celestia, thankfully not spilling his coffee.
"Bah, excuse me princess." Anthony apologized.
"No need Anthony. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Celestia replied.
"Well, neither was I." Anthony chuckled.
The two shared another chuckle before silence stole the hallway again. The two awkwardly looked around trying to find something to make conversation. Celestia finally broke the silence.
"Anthony?"
"Hmm?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Ask away."
"What...uhm...what's it like... t-to feel love?"
A lump formed in Anthony throat and his heart fell to the pit of his stomach. He had hoped she'd never ask that question, for it was hard for Anthony to explain.
"Well uh...love is when you get that weird felling in your chest, like when someone hugs you or kisses you for the first time and uh..." Anthony cleared his throat, "u-uhm...you're kinda just...filled with happiness. Like you're so happy, that somebody loves you, and you love them, and like...you finally figure out that you both love each other and well...it's kinda hard to explain for me." Anthony trailed off.
"I see." Celestia nodded.
"Uh...anything else?" Anthony asked.
"Actually, yes."
"Really?"
"Where did you get that coffee?"
Anthony almost dropped his coffee at the question.
"I guess you spend so much time in the throne room you don't get much time to wander around." Anthony joked.
The two shared another laugh as Anthony led Celestia to her desired coffee.
Luna fumbled and tossed around in her bed mumbling and groaning and moaning incoherently. She wiggled and writhed as her wet dream tormented her with waves of endless pleasure...
Anthony pinned Luna's forelegs to the bed and continuously rutted her brains out. Luna moaned to the high heavens as she clamped her walls tightly around Anthony's large stiff cock. His thrusts became more powerful and fast paced. Luna finally managed to get her forelegs out from her lover's grasp and wrapped them around Anthony.
"Come on babe, harder. Give me more of your huge cock." Luna growled into Anthony's ear.
Luna screamed in ecstasy as her lover obeyed and pulled out all the way to where the tip barely came out then slamming his full length into her. He continued this technique a few times before rolling over, dragging Luna on top of him. Luna planted her forelegs on Anthony's chest and rocked her hips lightly.
"Is it just me, or-AH!- h-have you gotten better?" Luna moaned.
"I don't know sweetheart, you tell me." Anthony replied while sliding his hand over Luna's rump.
He gave a firm squeeze followed by a light smack, making it jiggle slightly. Anthony grinned as he squeezed her flank tightly while bringing his free hand up to Luna's face. Her long, dark flowing mane flooding through his fingers, Anthony lightly rubbed the dark mare's cheek with his thumb.
"I love you Luna." He said soothingly.
"I love you too Anthony." Luna replied.
She began bouncing lightly on Anthony's rod, progressively getting faster each minute. Anthony's grip on Luna's flank tightened as her pace quickened. Waves of lust and ecstasy pulsated through the pair as they continued to make passionate love to each other.
"No! Where did you find that?" Celestia asked.
"Over at the snack bar, I saw and thought, 'hey maybe Celestia would like this'." Anthony replied.
The two viciously stared down the chocolate filled chocolate chip topped deliciousness that is an overused meme which's origin comes from a game that involves portals and a psychotic robot. They'd hit what jackpot was in their definition: Cake.
"Do you wanna open it?" Anthony asked.
"No you open it."
"Together."
They both grabbed one side of the lid. Anthony mouthed the countdown, then they both removed the lid together taking in the delicious scent it gave off. Their mouths watering just from looking at it. They both looked up at each other.
"I'll get the plates." Celestia said.
"And I'll get the silverware." Anthony replied.
The two nodded and parted ways to get the materials.
Luna moaned Anthony's named over and over like a broken record. She continuously tossed around in her bed thrashing the blankets around. Her pussy was dripping slightly and her sweat drenched the sheets and the blankets. Her wet dreams were no longer helping.
"Anthony!" She moaned loudly.
"Anthonyyyyyyy!!!!" She moaned louder.
Anthony was on his way back to the cake when he heard a certain voice echoing through the halls. He stopped to listen for the voice and where it was coming from. The voice echoed once more, but he still couldn't quite make out the voice. He leaned in the direction of where he though it was coming from.
Anthonyyyyyyy!!!!
"Ahh, shit." Anthony murmured to himself.
He rushed back over to the cake and saw Celestia waiting for him. She opened her mouth to speak but stopped when she heard Luna's cries for Anthony. She looked at him and nodded, and Anthony nodded in return. Before he left he left the silverware with Celestia before jogging off to his room. As soon as he left Celestia sighed and pouted. She glanced over at the cake and grinned deviously...
"Anthonyyyyy!!!" Luna moaned.
Anthony suddenly opened the doors and quickly closed them behind himself. He saw Luna tossing and thrashing on the bed, moaning and groaning. He let out a flustered sigh. Here he was, seven o' clock in the morning, about to enjoy his cake with Princess Celestia, then Luna has to go into heat.
"Fucking hell love." Anthony muttered.
"Anthony? Come on, lay down..." Luna said seductively.
"Already on my way hon-MMPH"
Silence overtook the room when Luna's lips met Anthony's with a hard impact. Her tongue prodded at his teeth begging for entrance. Knowing not to deny her during heat, Anthony allowed her tongue access. Their tongues met and lust completely consumed Luna. The alicorn pressed her head forward further trying to shove her tongue down Anthony's throat. He didn't wanna do this but he had to, in order to save his own life.
Luna gasped as something pressed against the front of her neck and pushed her back onto the bed. She opened her eyes to see Anthony staring calmly down at her.
"I'm so sorry Anthony..." Luna muttered.
"Calm down babe. You were just in heat." Anthony said, "Would like me to assist you, as I did before?" Anthony asked.
The alicorn smiled and nodded, Anthony nodded in return. He brought his hand up to her cheek and began to gently stroke it with his thumb. He crawled onto the bed and sat Luna upright and scooted her closer to him, keeping his hands on her hips. Luna enjoyed it when Anthony groped her, how his fingers felt caressing her fur. It was a feeling of warmth and bliss just to be in his arms.
Luna hummed in surprise as her thoughts of Anthony groping her were cut off with a kiss. His lips lightly pressed against her's. Luna hummed once more with bliss as she pushed herself on top of Anthony, just so she could have him wrap his arms around her waist. Their kissing became more passionate as Anthony used his new magic to slowly pull off his pants along with his boxers.
Once his boxers were pulled down, his hard cock flung up, slapping against Luna's marehood. She quickly pulled away from the kiss with a breathless scream. The mare looked down and grinned as Anthony began to position himself. Luna gasped softly as she felt Anthony's tip brushing against her dripping lips. He was getting ready to thrust when Luna stopped him.
"Allow me, love." She said.
Luna slowly began to lower herself down onto Anthony's rock hard member, first taking in his head. With a light moan she lowered herself further. Halfway through she surprised Anthony by slamming herself down on top of him. They both moaned loudly. Anthony felt Luna tighten herself around him.
"Ah, shit babe!" Anthony groaned.
"Shh, why don't we talk for a little bit before we actually get going." Luna giggled.
"Why?" Anthony asked.
"Well we never really talk to each other all that much no less before we actually get into it." Luna replied.
"Yeah true." Anthony murmured.
The dark mare smiled before ever-so lightly rocking her hips back and forth. As they talked about the different things that happen in their daily lives, Luna was picking up the pace. Anthony was in mid sentence when a moan escaped his mouth. Luna grinned as she began to rock her hips harder.
Anthony began to thrust lightly mixing with Luna's grinding. His hands never left her sexy hips as he began to massage them. The beautiful and sexy mare on top of him began to release her own moans. Anthony smiled at her signs of pleasure as he grabbed her head and brought it to his, Luna was expecting a kiss, but instead, he leaned past her face and bit down on her ear while releasing her head to massage her wings.
The moon goddess bit down on her lip stifling her moans as her lover pleasured her in different ways. Her hips stopped rocking as Anthony began thrusting harder than she could rock. She wrapped her forelegs around him and held him close to her as she released her moans.
"Oh fuck! Anthony! I-I'm your's! I'm all your's! Harder, faster! Oh, you make me so wet! Don't stop! Don't ever stop!" Luna moaned wildly.
Luna's cries and moans of pleasure made Anthony smile. He released her ear from his teeth and began to give her neck little nips and kisses. Luna began to do the same thing as she felt herself getting really close.
"Oh! Oh yes Anthony! Fuck you're gonna make me cum! Ahhh! I'm cumming!!!" Luna screamed.
Anthony buried himself inside of Luna as her juices coated his dick. Luna panted as she held onto her coltfriend tightly. After she finished, Anthony kept thrusting. Luna continued moaning loudly as he kept thrusting intensely. It wasn't long before Anthony moaned and buried himself deep inside of Luna and fired away. The lovers laid there with each other, cuddled together tightly. And once again, they fell asleep together. |
Past is Present | pre | "Thank ya'll, we're much obliged for your help." Apple Jack drawled to the seaponies.
"You're welcome, and if you ever find yourselves in trouble again just use this seashell to call us." Seaspray threw the shell to Apple Jack who put it in her pack. The ponies waved goodbye as the seaponies disappeared into the depths of the river.
"Soooo what just happened here?" Rainbow Dash still looked dazed by the whole event.
"Ah'm not sure but Ah reckon those were the strangest ponies I ever did see." Apple Jack replied. "We should probly get a move on, I don't like the look of those storm clouds." she said indicating the mass of black clouds flashing red in spots where lightening connected. The thunder roared causing the ponies to jump.
"Yeah, I'm thinking we should head out." Rainbow Dash agreed.
"So, you say Equestria used to be called Ponyland?" Rarity inquired of her blue guide who rode beside atop a Stoneback. Despite many offers of assistance she had opted to only have one Furbob, Whistler, accompany her - their contrarian nature left her head aching.
"Yes, a long time ago back when Furbobs used to go to the surface world."
"What changed?" Rarity asked.
"Here, I'll show you. We're almost at the story wall our ancestors painted." Turning a corner they saw a large, crudely drawn mural.
"Ooo pretty" Pinkie Pie said, wide-eyed. The first panel showed a group of insect like ponies fighting a group of ponies who stood beside the furbobs and stonebacks.
"There was a war against a big dark army. The furbobs fought alongside the ponies." there was a snort. "And the Stonebacks. But the army found Furbobbia and so a Unicorn named Sparkler sealed the door with a spell only she could break." Whistler indicated a picture of a pale blue unicorn, whose flank was bedecked with diamonds, using her magic on a door Rarity recognized. "She said she'd come back when it was safe but she never did. So we never left." the furbob explained walking past a picture of the inhabitants of Furbobbia merrily at leisure in their underground world forgotten by those who inhabited the surface world.
"I wish I could report it was safe to return to the surface now, but it seems there is some trouble brewing." Rarity replied.
"It's ok, we're happy in our little world." Whistler replied merrily, leading them further on. "The castle should be just around this bend."
Twilight Sparkle was the first to arrive at the castle. "Alright everypony, let's get inside before that storm breaks." she order, her eyes scanning the ominous dark clouds overhead.
"Has anyone seen Junebug?" a stallion asked.
"What about Roma?" another inquired. Names of missing ponies began to ring out among the crowd.
"Now, now, everypony calm down." Twilight Sparkle said, trying to contain her own growing nervousness. "They just got seperated but they'll be along shortly... I hope" she added in a whisper. Suddenly she heard a triumphant whoop, her heart soared as she saw Rainbow Dash flying corkscrew patterns in the sky above. Below, Apple Jack crested the hill top, behind her the remainder of Ponyville. The ponies filed through the castle entrance while Twilight Sparkle check off name after name "Mr. and Mrs. Cake, Poundcake and Carrot Cake. Randolph. Toe Tapper..." - as the last of the ponies entered, Twilight Sparkle looked over her list with concern. "Rainbow Dash, have you seen Rarity or Pinkie Pie?"
"Weren't they with you?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Pinkie Pie was, but she must have gotten separated during the attack."
"Rarity was with me." Fluttershy whispered nervously. "I lost sight of her when we were running. Oh I do hope they are okay."
"It's getting late, we'd better form a search party." Twilight Sparkle spoke authoritatively. "Apple Jack, you and Fluttershy team up to cover the east side of the forest. Rainbow Dash, you and I will take the west side. Now we'll need a sign to alert the others if we find them."
"There they are." Apple Jack said.
"I'm not sure if that will be loud enough, but good thinking." Twilight Sparkle answered, lost in her plans.
"No, I mean there they are!" Apple Jack repeated pointing Twilight Sparkle's head to a hole in the ground where a large rock had been rolled away and was replaced by Pinkie Pie, who was assisting Rarity in climbing from the pit.
"If I never see another underground tunnel in my life-" Rarity sputtered, losing her footing and falling back into the hole.
"Pinkie Pie! Rarity!" Twilight Sparkle cried happily.
"Oh hi guys!" Pinkie Pie waved cheerily, dropping Rarity.
"How'd ya'll get in that hole?" Apple Jack inquired, coming to Rarity's aid. With the help of the others they were able to pull Rarity out.
"It's a long story I would prefer never to think about again." Rarity stated, attempting to brush the dust from her fur. "Oh, look at my mane! It's absolutely ruined!" she cried. Pinkie Pie bounced up and down, eager to tell the story,
"Well first we were being chased by timberwolves." she imitated a growling Timberwolf. "Then we rolled down a hill into a door." she tumbled over mimicking them splatting into the door. "Then Rarity opened the door and we slammed it on those bullies." she mimed slamming the door with the inexplicable sound of a door slam at the end. "And that's where we found the furbobs!" she proclaimed with a grin.
"What's a furbob?" Rainbow Dash asked. Rarity gestured to the hole - the ponies looked in.
"Hello." Whistler said with a wave, the stoneback mutely parroted the motion.
"Gah!" Rainbow Dash fell backward.
"Oh look how cute they are!" Fluttershy beamed swooping up the blue furbob and nuzzling it.
"Ack!" the critter squawked in surprise.
"Better put him down Fluttershy." Twilight Sparkle advised. "I don't think he likes flying very much." Fluttershy did as she was bid.
"Thank you." Whistler sighed, as his paws touched the familiar ground.
"You're one of the creatures in my book!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed, producing the text and flipping to the page that held a sketch which unmistakably resembled the furry creature in front of them. She turned to show him, "See."
"Hey, it's me!" the creature exclaimed. "And there's our cousins, the Bushwoolies." he said pointing to the furry mops of creatures with their only other visible features being their long arms and large eyes.
"Those are your cousins?" Twilight Sparkle inquired.
"Yes! But we haven't seen them since we were sealed underground. I hope they're okay." Whistler answered.
"Me too, but I've never even heard of them." Twilight Sparkle replied.
"Anyway, I should be getting back home - being above ground gives me the willies." the furbob said with a shudder. The ponies bid him farewell, but just before Rarity replaced the rock they had come from under Whistler reappeared, "If you ever need any help, don't hesitate to call on us. You ponies helped us once and we'd be happy to return the favor."
"Thank you, Whistler." Twilight Sparkle said, gratefully as the furbob once again disappeared from view and the hole was sealed.
"Ah reckon this has been the strangest day ah've ever had." Apple Jack declared. "Timberwolves, Seaponies, Furbobs, weird books - what next?"
"I don't know, but I think it's time we asked Discord for help. If anyone would know what's going on around here it would be him."
"You called?" a slick voice from behind them caused them to jump. There, relaxing on the castle balustrade propped up on one elbow, lay Discord. |
Past is Present | Chapter 10 | Chapter 10
Discord's Warning
"Now really, you ponies should know better than to wait so long to ask for my help." the Draconoquis sneered. "Hello Fluttershy." he waved sweetly, his eyes large with thick, long lashes.
"Discord, tell us what's going on around here?" Twilight Sparkle demanded.
"How should I know? I've been on vacation." he answered, lifting his shades to see the ponies more clearly. He was suddenly dressed in a Hawaiian shirt sipping a brightly colored drink topped by an umbrella. Just then a bolt of red lightening struck near where he reclined. He looked to the massive crimson-hued thunderhead approaching their position. "Oh, well it's been very nice chatting with you. Now if you'll take my advice I would recommend leaving Equestria with all due haste." he shot out quickly. In one hand there appeared a large brown suitcase leaking a shirtsleeve - he picked up Fluttershy as though she also were a handled suitcase in the other. "Anyhow toodle-loo." the lasso landed over him before he was able to disappear. Applejack pulled it taut,
"Now you wait just one cotton pickin' minute."
"Fine fine." Discord grumbled pushing the lasso off from around him. "If you insist."
"Who is the Master? And what is his throne?"
"The Master - oh you remember him." He transformed each trait onto himself as he listed off the parts, "big horns, horse body, face only a mother could love." he held up a picture of a female version of the monstrosity wearing an old polka-dot dress, round glasses, and a grey bouffant hairdo. The image in the photograph took one look at his face, shreiked, and fainted dead away. "Well, perhaps not."
"Tirak!" Twilight Sparkle whispered.
"Ding ding ding! Tell the pony what she's won!" Discord announced taking on the form of a Game show host, a second, female Discord wearing a slinky sparkling dress and long blond hair guided Twilight Sparkle toward a screen on the game show set which had suddenly appeared from nowhere.
"You have won a lifetime of servitude to your new overlord!" the female Discord replied breathily. An image of the ponies laboring, exhausted and filthy in a mine played on the screen.
"And that's not all!" Discord intoned.
"You've also won these lovely chains. The perfect accessory for all slave labor occasions. Whether you're breaking rocks or building giant statues of tyrannical despots these all-purpose, weather-resistant chains will ensure complete obedience - or else!" the smiling female supplemented showing off a set of thick iron chains.
"But we defeated Tirak and sent him back to Tartarus!" Twilight Sparkle protested.
"Don't you ponies know anything?" Discord sighed. "That was merely a test of your powers."
"So, we beat him once, we'll beat him again!" Rainbow Dash declared punching the air.
"Oh, it is not nearly as simple as that."
"What do you mean?" Fluttershy shyly interjected.
"Well, you see, he's coming to reclaim his throne."
"So? What's the big deal about that?" Rainbow Dash argued.
"Because," Discord replied, pointing to the cloud. "That is his Kingdom."
"He comes from a cloud?" Pinkie Pie laughed. Discord wiped his face with his hand in frustration, causing it to contort up and down with his movement.
"No, it's what's in the cloud." lightning flashed and the ponies could make out the distinct shape of turrets jutting out from above the grey fluff.
"What is that?" Twilight Sparkle breathed.
"Tambelon."
"Tambelon?" A filmstrip complete with projection screen appeared. Discord hit the play button and a nasal voice began to narrate the grainy black and white projection.
"Yes Tambelon, the city in the clouds, home to the King and Queen of the eternal city." the film showed a rather pleasant pair of smiling humans in full royal regalia sitting on large thrones, around them two young boys, one with light brown hair and the other with black hair, played. Standing beside them a disapproving man with a beard stared down at them, on the other side a younger, long-faced man smiled on. "Tambelon was a happy place until the King and Queen died leaving the princes in their stead. The older Prince wanted all the power in Ponyland under his control and made a pact to join with the Lord of Darkness in order to take over the entire land." The image changed to a young man with light brown hair topped by a crown being struck in his chest by a bright light while above him a large, horned black shadow hovered, its tail rising up from a book. It's fearsome clawed hands seemed to be controlling the lightning striking the boy. "Consumed by darkness the Prince turned all the people in his kingdom into beasts," The film shifted from one picture of humans to one exactly the same filled with monstrous creatures where the humans had been. "including his younger brother." the film showed the black haired young man transforming painfully into a large simian beast. "But the dark magic transformed him as well and his heart was filled with hatred for all things bright and good - especially the Ponies of Ponyland who lived below." the film cut to an image of frolicking ponies kicking up their heels and capering about. "The Prince and his brother set out to capture the ponies and turn them into his army of darkness. But while he was gone the source of Tambelon's power was stolen by his vizier Grogar. The ponies were able to banish the kingdom of Tambelon" there was an scene showing a pony ringing a bell "and defeat the evil Prince and his royal vizier." an image of the rainbow of light flew across the screen before the film ended and the screen turned to white.
The ponies stared at the white screen, stunned.
"So are ya sayin'..."
"Yes, yes, Tirak is the true ruler of Tambelon and now that it has reappeared he can reclaim the power of Tambelon and unite it with the power of darkness thus allowing him to seize control over all of Equestria with his army of Changelings. Keep up Apple Jack, really!"
"The Changelings work for Tirak?" Spike interjected. Discord sighed heavily,
"Yes, the Changelings work for Tirak. Remind me again how you ponies ever survived without my benevolent guidance?"
"And the humans used to live in Tambelon until Tirak changed them all into monsters?"
"Ugh! Humans used to live all over Equestria, the place was practically infested with them - sheesh, you ponies! You haven't seen something in a thousand years and suddenly it becomes a superstitious legend!"
"So how do we defeat him then?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"You'll need the Rainbow of Light-"
"Check!" Rainbow Dash declared. Discord rolled his eyes.
"Do I have to tell you ponies everything? That's the Rainbow of Power, not the Rainbow of Light. And besides, you'll need the power of the sunstone too."
"The sunstone?" the ponies and Spike said in unison.
"So where do we find this Rainbow of Light and Sunstone?" Twilight Sparkle demanded.
"How should I know? They were gone by the time those ungrateful ponies asked for my help."
"Some help." Rainbow Dash muttered.
"I am wounded by your accusation!" Discord cried with a hand draped dramatically over his eyes.
"Well, you did enslave all of Equestria." Fluttershy offered gently.
"Et tu Fluttershy!" Discord said, a knife stuck in the back of his toga.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." Fluttershy apologized.
"Oh Fluttershy you know I could never be mad at you."
"Do you know who might possibly know where the sunstone and rainbow of light might be."
"Ask the Moochick. He always has his nose in everyone's business."
"What's a Moo-chick?" Rainbow Dash demanded.
"He's not a what but a who. And a very annoying who at that."
"Well where can we find him?" Twilight Sparkle inquired.
"Try the old ruins. He used to skulk around there a lot. Anyhow, I really must be leaving, I don't particularly wish to slave away in darkness for all eternity. Sayonara ponies!" He declared with a wave as he disappeared.
"The old ruins!" Rarity cried. "But they're supposed to be haunted!"
"Don't worry, I'll protect you Rarity." Spike volunteered.
"Guys, we've been over this before - there's no such thing as ghosts." Twilight Sparkle said reassuringly.
"That's a lot easier to believe when you aren't in the old ruins." Rarity cried.
"We don't have a choice, Rarity. We have to find this Moo-chick and see what he can tell us."
"Well then, let's saddle up and get the hay outta here!"
"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash agreed.
"Wait, what about the castle?" Spike reminded Twilight Sparkle who had already begun walking with the others.
"Spike, you stay and guard the castle." Twilight Sparkle answered offhandedly.
"But... but... who will protect you from Tirak?"
"Don't worry, Spikey Wikey, we'll be back before you even have time to miss us." Rarity said, smooshing his cheeks about his face.
"Okay... if you say so." Spike looked about nervously.
"Thanks Spike!" Twilight Sparkle called back as they continued towards the old ruins.
"You're welcome." Spike's reticence caused his voice to waiver slightly as he bid them goodbye with a clawed hand. Looking back, he watched the ponies of Ponyville running back and forth about the Castle courtyard. "Oh great." he muttered. "Now what do I do?" He sighed, raising his voice he announced: "Okay Ponies here's what I need you to do..." |
Past is Present | Chapter 11 | Chapter 11
Paradise Estates
The old ruins sat only half hour's walk from the Castle of the Two Sisters, yet the forest around it was so dense and spooky no pony had ever dared to traverse it. Even in the fading daylight it was black as pitch. Strange blue lights glowed as in the distance.
"Ooo how pretty!" Pinkie Pie squealed, walking over to a light that instantly flashed out at her approach. "Where'd you go?" the perplexed pink pony called. A little ways off another appeared. "Oh there you are!"
"We've been walking for hours," Rarity complained. "Are you certain we're going the right way?"
"The map says the ruins are this way" Twilight Sparkle answered turning the glowing map this way and that as it floated in front of her.
"I don't know about ya'll but this part of the Everfree forest gives me the willies." Apple Jack stated glancing back and forth from one side of the dark enclave of trees to the other. "Maybe you should fly up and have a look around, Rainbow Dash."
"Be back in a flash!" Rainbow Dash declared.
"Wait!" Twilight Sparkle cried out; Rainbow Dash froze mid-take-off. "If Tirak really is back we can't let him know where we're going. We've got to lay low."
"That's right, lay low!" Pinkie Pie crouched down, crawling along the ground. "Real low..." She approached a bush which suddenly shook. "Eek!" she cried out falling backwards onto the other ponies, knocking them into a pile. The bush continued to shake.
"What is that, do you reckon?" Apple Jack asked nervously.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, we can take it." Rainbow Dash postured. "Come out of there!" she demanded.
"Okay, okay," came a familiar voice. A small pink dragon fought to disentagle himself from the brush.
"Spike!" they cried out in relief.
"If you wouldn't mind, I could use a hoof." he said through gritted teeth, pulling against a particularly thick vine coiled tightly around his arm.
"Here let me get that." the vine glowed as Twilight Sparkle unraveled it.
"Thanks Twilight." Spike said gratefully, rubbing his freed limb.
"You really should be more careful Spikey Wikey; it's too dangerous to be traveling out here alone."
"Not for a dragon like me." Spike replied proudly.
"Weren't you supposed to be helping out at the castle?" Twilight Sparkle suggested.
"Oh, I got somepony else to do that."
An annoyed Discord sat among a small herd of tiny foals who seemed very interested in climbing all over him. "That is the last time I ever bet on a game of Dragon Chess - what is Dragon Chess anyway? Ouch!" he cried pulling Carrot Cake from under him. She smiled at him. "Oh what are you smiling it?" he muttered. A frying pan clocks him in the head with a resounding clang. Discord hears laughter above him and turns to see Pound Cake, glowing orange frying pan still cradled between his hooves. Hearing laughter he looks to the unicorn filly still in his hand. "This is your doing isn't it?" she nodded, her brother fluttered next to her. "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." he grinned slyly. "And you are so cute!" he declared nuzzling the little babies.
"So how much longer until we get to the ruins?" Spike asked, stretching.
"They should be just over this next hill- woah!" Twilight Sparkle stopped dead at the crest of the hill causing Spike to crash into her legs.
"What is it, Twilight? Oh!" Fluttershy and the others stood dumb beside their friend, mouths agape. There, before them, stood the remains of what must have once been a grand building. Faded pink walls and white columns marked its former glory. A rusted metal gate hung from the remains of a wall. Within the recessed area of what might have once been a fountain or even swimming pool sat, filled with rubble;
"This place is creepy." Rainbow Dash whispered as they walked by.
"Discord said the Moochick would be here - somewhere." Twilight Sparkle said hopefully.
"Twilight, I don't think anypony's been here in years." Rarity said, brushing off an errant vine.
"But he has to be here! We need him so we can find the Rainbow of Light! Mr. Moochick! Mr. Moochick!" she called, her hope quickly turning to desperation. "Mr. Moo-"
"No, I think not." a shadowy figure rose from behind a pile of brush to reveal his full enormity. Red cloven hooves pawed the ground, "I think not."
"Tirak." Twilight Sparkle whispered backing up a few steps before finding herself among her friends who had lined up to protect her. Seeing them about her she gathered her courage, "We defeated you once, Tirak, we can do it again." Tirak let loose a deep laugh that ended as abruptly as it had began,
"Defeated me? No. It was not yet my time. I merely devised that little game so that you would reveal the full extent of your powers - and I must say, I was not the least impressed. Though I was not expecting you would reveal the location of the traveling rainbow that was - oh how should I put it? - and unexpected delight. Now I shall be able to spread my dark reign throughout the realms."
"Now you wait just a galldarn minute-" Apple Jack started before a dark red cloud swept her into the air where she struggled to right herself.
"Oh yes, I remember you- what did she call you again? Oh yes "AppleJack!"" the name he cried out in the imitation of the shrill scream of a girl.
"You let her go right now!" Twilight Sparkle demanded as Tirak turned her friend about above their heads still twisting in the dark red coils of cloud.
"Or you'll what?" he shot her a glare of pointed disinterest, as though she and her friends were no more than pesky flies that might be swatted at any moment should he wish it.
"Girls." Twilight Sparkle warned, her eyes glowing. The others, save for Apple Jack (who did as best she could) readied themselves, their cutie marks aglow. Tirak laughed, loosening a bag from his belt he spilled forth the contents. The blackness swept over them, causing them to tumble backward, it traveled to Apple Jack in a large black band. It hesitated a moment before the airborne pony before wrapping itself around the ball of red cloud.
"What the hey!" Apple Jack cried just before the darkness enveloped the ball and her within. The ball grew, flames visible between the circling bands of black - the blackness retreated to the bag and where Apple Jack had been stood a large dark dragon with massive tusks. It let out a horrible shrieking roar.
"Come to me my pet." Tirak commanded, the dragon obeyed, allowing Tirak to pet its fearsome head. The ponies stood transfixed in horror. "Now then, my little ponies, it is time the rest of you learned the true power of darkness- gah!" Just as he had begun to loosen the bag again something pulled a basket over his head. On top of the basket stood a small brown rabbit who motioned to the ponies,
"I think he wants us to follow him." Fluttershy interpreted. The rabbit shook his head vigorously bouncing off his perch, once again pushing the basket further over the villian's head. The ponies took off in a run after the creature,
"But what about Apple Jack?" Rainbow Dash argued.
"We'll have to come back for her. There's nothing we can do, now." Twilight Sparkle shot back as they rounded a corner, Spike holding onto her neck for dear life.
"Or she'll come for us!" Rainbow Dash cried looking back; the dragon that had formerly been Apple Jack was crashing through the trees behind them bellowing its high pitched roar. "Run!" The five ponies doubled their speed but the creature still gained. The rabbit waved them into a clearing that possessed several large toadstools the dragon only seconds behind.
"Stop you poor corrupted beast!" the voice of an old man cried from behind them. Looking back, they saw a small, elderly gnome wearing a large mushroom for a hat and brandishing a walking stick at their former friend. The dragon struggled but seemed unable to pass beyond the edge of the clearing.
"Ah, the Moochick - so this is where you've been hiding." Tirak smirked as he caught up to his pet.
"Yes, until now. Now is the time we defeat you once and for all." the old gnome waved his stick threateningly at the centaur.
"I doubt that, old man. Behold my power!" Tirak loosed the bag and the dark coil of black lit by blue streaks of lightning flew out. It made for the gnome who stood before it as though unafraid. The darkness spread out over the clearing forming the outer impression of a dome.
"No need to fear ponies, Tirak and his dark magic cannot enter the Mushrom while the Rainbow of Light still exists in the world." the gnome merrily reassured the cowering ponies as Tirak raged outside the bubble.
"You may think you are protected by your magic Moochick, but rest assured I will be back once I have corrupted all that is good and light in this world and then I will destroy you!" Tirak spat vehemently, calling back the darkness. Climbing aboard the dragon that was once their friend, he flew off into the heart of the storm.
"A good riddance!" the gnome called out, waving his hat. A troubled look crossed his wrinkled face, "But he will be back. We don't have time to waste. Well come on." he said waving the ponies to follow him."
"Are you... the Moochick?" Twilight Sparkle was the first to find her tongue.
"Oh yes, I'm sorry, where are my manners!" he seemed more a doddering old man than a powerful wizard. "Yes, I am the Moochick, and this is Habbit whom I believe you've met." he said, indicating to the brown rabbit who held the door for them. A small black rat holding a broom began squawking angrily at the group, "Oh, and this is Reeka, my housekeeper - don't worry about her, she's just cross I didn't tell her we were having company. So now, what brings you to my Mushrom?"
"Well Discord-"
"That trouble maker! Don't tell me he's still around?"
"Unfortunately." Rainbow Dash muttered.
"He's reformed now." Fluttershy defended her friend. The Moochick looked to Twilight Sparkle dubiously who nodded in confirmation.
"You don't say. So why did he send you here?"
"He said you would know how to stop Tirak." Twilight Sparkle answered.
"I would? Oh yes, I would!" the abstracted gnome walked into another room. The ponies watched, perplexed. A moment later he popped his head out the door, "Well, aren't you coming?" The ponies nodded and followed him through the doorway. |
Past is Present | Chapter 12 | Chapter 12
The Moochick's Tale Begins
"Alright my ponies, gather round, gather round and look into the pot." the Moochick waved them to a large boiling pot at the center of the room. "Now tell me what you see?" Various objects floated and sunk in the bubbling surface.
"Ummm... carrots?" Rainbow Dash answered, dubiously.
"Yes, carrots, precisely! Wait! No! Wrong pot!"
"Mmmm smells yummy!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, her pink nose sniffing the vegetable perfumed air. The Moochick pushed them, including a struggling Pinkie Pie who seemed determined to get a bowl of the stew for herself, into the next room where a larger black pot burbled with a strangely colored liquid.
"Sorry, that was my lunch." he confessed sheepishly. "Here now, Reeka, show them." The fat black rat hopped onto the stool and, grabbing a spoon, began stirring the pot. She stopped,
"There now, tell me what you see." the Moochick repeated. Twilight Sparkle squinted her eyes as the cloudy liquid began to clear showing a strangely familiar shape,
"Why, why it's Equestria! But it looks different somehow." she tilted her an an attempt to discern what it was about it that seemed so out of place.
"It's Equestria alright but where's Manehatten?!" Rarity cried out; the first to notice the alteration. "Or Baltimare, or Vanhoover?"
"Where's Cloudsdale?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Now Twilight Sparkle saw it, she scanned the entire map just to confirm,
"Where is everypony?" she uttered.
"This was Ponyland, Equestria as you now know it, it was a dark place of sorcerers and evil magic." Images of ponies cowering before warlocks and witches flashed before their eyes in the brew. Some of these were animals but a few appeared... almost human! A trio of human witches, two of them seeming quite young, harassing a pony with magical bolts appeared,
"Reeka! Vanity!" the rat's grin fell, her plump cheeks glowed a faint pink as she grumbled some unintelligible curse. "the ponies were at the mercy of the sinister Tirak and his darkness until Megan came and released the power of the rainbow of light, banishing Tirak and his evil influence from the land." The ponies watched as a young blond girl released a rainbow that was devoured, then devoured the darkness the beast they knew as Tirak released from his bag, defeating him and banishing him from the land. "Megan broke the curse on the land and ushered in a new era of hope for the ponies. The curse upon the stallions which forced them to forever race across Ponyland only to return one day a year was broken and families began to emerge." a scene of a pony family with twins capering about the meadow appeared. "Foals were born and given new names for there were more than enough to carry on the ancient names from one generation to the next. An alliance was made with the Flutterponies," the scene from Twilight Sparkle's book came to life in front of them with the blond girl speaking with the butterfly-winged ponies. "and the witches and wizards who still practiced the ways of darkness were defeated. But the darkness still lived on in the hearts of some..." The image seemed to settle on the face of the pale pink maned yellow flutterpony,
"Where are you off to today, Morning Glory?" she asked, a light blue flutterpony with a gold mane stopped midflight, as though caught about something she had hoped not to be noticed in. She turned, smiling the broad, nervous smile of one who intends to disguise a falsehood as truth but has utterly no skill in the practice.
"Only to the Eastern meadow to check on the lilies, Queen Rosedust."
"I believe East is in the other direction. You were going South" Queen Rosedust corrected.
"Umm yes, of course." Morning Glory replied sheepishly rubbing her mane with her forehoof. "I guess I got a little confused." The Queen smiled on her flustered subject,
"Then go, I expect a full report when you return." the blue flutterpony let out a sigh of relief and began to fly off toward the East. "Oh! And Morning Glory," Queen Rosedust added, the blue pony instantly froze. "Do try to avoid any wells." Morning Glory nodded her pink cheeked face.
"You know she's not going to the Eastern meadow." a suspicious sounding pink flutterpony accused.
"Yes, I imagine she intends to visit the ponies at Paradise Estates. But at least now she shall look in on the lilies before she goes."
"I don't like it, it's too dangerous. She could be captured."
"I know, Honeysuckle; but if I try to keep her in Flutter Valley she will only be more anxious to leave it. At least this way we know where she is going."
"Should I follow her?"
"Not this time, I need you to attend to the honey harvest. Queen Bumble and her subjects have been quite busy this year."
"Ah, so that is why you let Morning Glory go."
"Yes, while I know she would be glad to see Sting again I really cannot allow them to grow too close. It affects her ability to do her work." the pink flutterpony nodded, knowingly.
"I spent far too long in the Eastern meadow." Morning Glory grumbled as she flew over the still snowy mountains of the North. "Now I'm going to be late for the winter wrap-up party." An icy gust of wind blew her backwards, she tumbled head over hooves twice before she was able to regain her balance. "Oh, I don't like the look of that storm." she said, peering out from under her hoof at the dark grey clouds ahead. "I'd better get a move on if I want to have any chance of beating it."
It was too late before Morning Glory realized she had underestimated the speed of the storm. She found herself being tossed this way and that, buffeted by the snowy gales that refused to release her from their cruel play. "Woah-oh!" she cried as she tumbled, unable to right herself. "I'd better land before my wings freeze! But I can't even tell where the ground is in all this snow!" From somewhere beyond her she heard faintly what sounded like... music! "Or is it just the wind playing tricks on my ears?" she wondered aloud. She pricked her ears up to listen through the howling winds - No! It was definitely music - and the most beautiful music she had ever heard! Facing the direction from where the music seemed to be emanating, she fought against the force of the wind until finally, furious with her defiance, it deposited her in a snowbank. "Oh, my head." she moaned, rubbing her head with her hoof. The snow seemed much less terrible from here, soft flurries fell upon her nose and eyelashes. Pulling herself up she fluttered her wings to clear them of snow. She looked around at the vast expanse of snow drifts broken only by craggy grey rocks. "Where am I?" she wondered aloud. "Everything looks so different from the ground." she looked up into the grey sky, the howl of the wind made her shutter. "Well, I suppose I had better start walking. With any luck the storm will pass soon and I can get back home." But the storm refused to cease its fury. As Morning Glory walked on for what seemed near an hour her wings began to frost over with ice. "I hope I find someplace warm soon." she shivered. "Wait!" she cried, stopping short to listen. "There's that music again! But where is it coming from?" Her hope renewed, she ran towards the music. "Wait a moment! That's not music! That's singing!" Sure enough, as she closed in on the sound she could hear words emerging.
"Travel on dear moon, travel on through the night. Traverse the dark sky; its stars shining bright. For there is no rest for you till the sun shines its light; only for those who sleep safe in your sight. Away now dear moon-"
"Excuse me!" Morning Glory called out, still unable to see the maker of the music. "Excuse me- oh!" she cried sliding down the snow-coated edge of a stone landing at the feet of a large white unicorn stallion, his jet black mane waving in the wind, but it was his lilac eyes that sparkled even in the moonlight which most arrested her attention. He was, without question, the most handsome stallion she had ever seen. She stumbled to find her voice.
"Are you alright?" the stallion asked, helping her to her feet.
"I-I think so." she stuttered. "Was that you singing?" He smiled shyly,
"I didn't think anyone was around to hear that."
"It was lovely! If I could sing as well as you I don't think I would ever stop!" he seemed slightly embarrassed.
"Thank you." he answered. "My name is Night Moon."
"Mine's Morning Glory." |
Past is Present | Chapter 13 | Chapter 13
The Crystal Empire
"Where is she going?" Honeysuckle muttered to herself as she watched Morning Glory looking this way and that from behind a tree before quickly flying to the next hiding place in the early morning sun. As she peered out from the corner of a house Honeysuckle snuck up behind her, "What are you doing?" she asked incredulously.
"Oh nothing."
"It doesn't look like nothing." Honeysuckle accused. Morning Glory seemed to be searching for an answer.
"I'm just... practicing my hiding for the Spring Picnic with the ponies."
"Hide and Seek?"
"Yes, and you found me so I'll have to try again." she said quickly, rushing off.
"Hmmm..." Honeysuckle muttered as she watched the blue flutterpony fly to another part of Flutter Valley.
"Phew! That was close." Morning Glory sighed in relief as she flew over the snowy mountains. "I'll have to be more careful next time. Of all the flutter ponies I can't have Honeysuckle finding out - she'll go straight to Queen Rosedust." She redoubled her speed over the still, snowy plains.
"Morning Glory!" The white unicorn hailed.
"Night Moon!" she cried, soaring down to his side. They greeted each other with loving nuzzles. "I missed you!"
"I missed you too."
"Good Morning, Morning Glory." a second stallion, deep blue in color with a shimmering silver mane that matched his iridescent gold eyes, smiled at her.
"Star Song! I'm glad to see you again."
"We almost couldn't get away." he answered. "Father wanted our help preparing for the Crystal Faire."
"But when I told him it was you we were meeting... he felt we could do with a little break." Night Moon finished.
"I can't wait to meet him! You've both told me such wonderful things about him."
"I know he is eager to meet you as well. Will Queen Rosedust be attending our wedding?"
"Well..." Morning Glory hemmed. "About that..."
"You still haven't told her?" Night Moon looked stunned.
"Well, I still have time." she defended.
"The ceremony is next month."
"See, thirty whole days." she answered with a smile. Night Moon fixed her with a stern look. "I wish it were so easy; but I don't think Queen Rosedust would approve."
"You'd better believe she wouldn't!" Honeysuckle exclaimed, flying up to reveal herself from behind a snowdrift. "So this is what you have been up to! Well you had better get yourself home before Queen Rosedust finds out." she said pushing Morning Glory away from Night Moon. Recovering from her shock Morning Glory found her footing.
"No." she answered, standing her ground. Honeysuckle stared, stunned.
"Excuse me?"
"I said NO. I'm not leaving."
"But-but... you know what this means! Queen Rosedust will be furious!" she cried. "Morning Glory, this is madness! Please, what can I do to convince you to come home and forget all of this?" Honeysuckle pleaded.
"Nothing. Without Night Moon it would never be my home." Morning Glory was resolute.
"But... but..." Honeysuckle sought for answers.
"Please don't tell Queen Rosedust!" Morning Glory pleaded. "At least not until after we are married. It's only a week. Pretend you didn't see us."
"I can't - I can't do that."
"Please Honeysuckle!"
"I would wager," Star Song interjected - Honeysuckle stared open-mouthed at the stallion she had not yet noticed. "That it shouldn't hurt anypony to wait a week. I don't think these two are going to change their minds if you gave them one hundred years." Honeysuckle found herself unable to reply; Morning Glory giggled in understanding,
"Honeysuckle, this is Prince Star Song; Night Moon's half-brother. Star Song, this is Honeysuckle."
"Prince?" Honeysuckle finally managed.
"Yes. He and Night Moon are the sons of good King Sombra of the Crystal Empire." Morning Glory explained.
"It is a pleasure to meet you." Star Song said with a graceful bow.
"Yes. The same." Honeysuckle stuttered.
"I know you're probably very busy, but since you are here, would you like to see our Kingdom? We'd be honored to give you a tour." Night Moon suggested, picking up on Morning Glory's lead. Honeysuckle looked about, flustered, as though unsure whether to stay or go;
"I suppose it couldn't hurt..." she finally ventured.
"The Crystal Empire has flourished, undisturbed, for over a thousand years." Night Moon led the foursome through the streets.
"They say it is protected by the power of the Crystal Heart which was carved by the very first Unicorn ever to come to Ponyland." Star Song added to Honeysuckle.
"The Crystal Heart?" Honeysuckle asked.
"Yes, it magnifies the power of love giving all Crystal Ponies their sparkling eyes." Star Song answered. "A long time ago it used to light up the entire empire as though everything and everypony were made of crystal."
"Yes, but it seems like every year it grows weaker and weaker." Night Moon continued as they approached the giant blue spire in the center of town. Within it stood a Crystal Heart that flickered weakly with a blue glow. "If we can't find a way to restore its power soon we won't be able to protect the empire from the frozen snows and we will have to leave our home."
"That's what Night Moon was looking for when we first met."
"We'd heard stories of the Moochick; we thought, perhaps he could help us. But it is a long journey - we can't wink as far as we used to be able to and it requires more power each time."
"What did the Moochick have to say?" Honeysuckle asked. It was unbelievable she had scarcely even noticed Morning Glory's absence; but then with all the work in Bumbleland... How had Queen Rosedust failed to notice?
"He told us the magic of the Crystal Heart was being stolen but that dark magic prevented him from seeing who was doing it." Morning Glory continued. "Good King Sombra cast a spell to locate where the dark magic was coming from but to no avail - it only led us into a wall of ice."
"Whatever creature is stealing the magic must be powerful enough to interfere with father's magic."
"Or else vanish into a block of ice." Star Song added as they approached a large crystaline palace balanced upon four thick legs of iridescent gems. Below the castle, visible even from a distance, the heart-shaped stone seemed to twinkle.
"It's beautiful!" Honeysuckle said, awestruck, as she approached the flickering stone.
"Thank you." a tall snow-white mare appeared from behind the stone. She did not seem especially old, but something about her aspect told Honeysuckle that her heart had aged beyond her years. She fluffed her wings revealing a tear shaped shimmering stone surrounded by silver. "I see you have brought us a new friend, Night Moon."
"I believe she is Star Song's guest, mother." Night Moon answered, a glint of mischief in his eye.
"Is this true, son?" The white mare asked. Star Song colored slightly.
"Yes, mother. I suppose it is."
"Please excuse my son's manners for not granting us a proper introduction. I am Queen Tiffany, and who might you be?" despite her attempt at warmth, Honeysuckle felt a coldness from the Queen that made her shudder.
"My name is Honeysuckle. Pleased to meet you, your majesty." She replied with a bow.
"Likewise. Please make yourself at home while you are visiting my kingdom. Morning Glory, it is wonderful to see you again - we do hope you both will join us for dinner this evening." Morning Glory nodded. "Until then, I will leave you to your guides." she said, and, spreading her wings she flew up to the castle.
"Your mother is one of the six Princess Ponies?" Honeysuckle cried, dumbfounded.
"Yes, Princess Tiffany, ancestral ruler of the Crystal Empire and keeper of the blue wand of magic." Star Song said, mimicking his mother's haughty tone. "I am certain she will tell you all about it at dinner, if you come."
"Well... I'm not sure... I think we should get back before Queen Rosedust misses us." Honeysuckle hemmed.
"Perhaps another time then?" Star Song inquired, hopefully.
"Perhaps." Honeysuckle conceded. Her pink cheeks turning an even darker shade of rose.
"Then you won't tell Queen Rosedust?" Morning Glory asked eagerly.
"Well... no. Not yet, anyway. Does it always flicker like that?" Honeysuckle attempted to change the subject.
"It didn't before, but now it is becoming so weak... we fear one day it will go out entirely and not even the Crystal Faire will be able to restore it." Star Song answered, worriedly.
"Don't worry, we'll find out the cause of it." Honeysuckle reassured him, placing her own hoof upon his comfortingly. Star Song glance over at her and their eyes met. Both colored and turned away, embarrassed. The moment was not lost on Morning Glory and Night Moon, who looked at each other and smiled.
"I suppose our secret is safe, for now." Night Moon whispered.
"I suppose so." Morning Glory replied giving her special somepony a nuzzle. |
Past is Present | Chapter 14 | Chapter 14
The Birth of the Alicorns
The bubbling brew in the pot clouded over dark green and then cleared, revealing the Crystal Palace once again. A crowd of twinkle-eyed ponies lined the long red carpet down which two flutterponies in white gossamer gowns, crowned by sparkling crystal tiaras with translucent veils trailing, walked slowly toward a pair of handsome stallions who stood, smiling nervously, at the end. In the center stood King Sombra, a dark gray unicorn with a mane as black as midnight, and beside him, Queen Tiffany. Bright music played, announcing the arrival of the brides. The pair of flutterponies split off to their respective grooms. Morning Glory smiled shyly at Night Moon while Star Song gave his filly a wink causing her to pinken spectacularly. King Sombra stepped forward.
"It is my duty and my privilege to mark the end of this year's Crystal Faire with the wedding of my two sons to these lovely flutterponies. May they have many years of happiness!" behind him the Crystal Heart glowed with the joy and love of all those in attendance as the ponies of the Crystal Empire cheered loudly. "Night Moon, if you and Morning Glory would step forward." he indicated to the couple. "Prince Night Moon, eldest son of the Crystal Empire, do you take Morning Glory to be your wife?" Night Moon answered,
"I do."
"And Morning Glory, do you take Night Moon to be your husband?"
"I do."
"Prince Star Song, heir of the Crystal Empire, do you take Honeysuckle to be your wife."
"I do." the stallion replied.
"And Honeysuckle, do you take this headstrong young stallion to be your husband?"
"Yes." Honeysuckle answered shyly.
"Then if we have no objections, I pronounce you mare and stallion."
The Crystal Heart lit up the wedding with irredescent light. For the first time in many years the ponies of the crystal empire flashed with their true colors. King Sombra's eyes flared red for a moment and his stately smile transformed into a vicious grin. He shook his head momentarily and when he looked back toward the crowd it was his normal visage the crowd saw - had they been paying attention to him. Then, without warning the Crystal Heart ceased it's glowing. Everypony looked about, confused and frightened.
Suddenly there was the loud sound of wings flapping from above. Out of the sky descended an army of flutterponies and at their head was Queen Rosedust; fury blackening her features. Slowly she descended until she was flying just above the wedding party. Morning Glory and Honeysuckle quailed in the presence of their queen. The princes rushed forward to defend their brides but Morning Glory and Honeysuckle shot them looks that warned them.
"Stay back." Morning Glory warned.
"How dare you!" she whispered in a tone far more terrifying than any shout. "How dare you defy our laws and join yourselves to outsiders!"
"We beg your forgiveness, Queen Rosedust." Morning Glory apologized, her voice wavering. "It was my fault, please don't blame Honeysuckle!"
"I will forgive you, and allow you to rejoin your fellow flutterponies in Flutter Valley, if you leave now and swear never to see or speak of these stallions again. And you, Morning Glory, are never to leave Flutter Valley again." Queen Rosedust answered in such a way to suggest she believed the offer quite magnanimous.
"But they're our husbands!" Honeysuckle objected, rallying despite her terror. "We can't just pretend they don't exist."
"Honeysuckle's right. We won't leave them." Morning Glory announced defiantly. "If that means we can no longer see Flutter Valley, then so be it."
"Honeysuckle, what say you?" Queen Rosedust asked the pink flutterpony. Honeysuckle bowed her head sadly, in response. Queen Rosedust rose into the air surrounded by her army. "Then it is thus decreed. From this moment forward the Flutterponies Morning Glory and Honeysuckle are forever banished from Flutter Valley. No Flutterpony may see or speak to them for any reason on peril of banishment. Let this be a lesson to you all. Now let us depart." and just as quickly as they had come the Flutterponies departed, leaving Honeysuckle and Morning Glory to be comforted by their Princes. King Sombra stepped down from the dais and approached his weeping daughters-in-law.
"We are so very sorry; you are both welcome and beloved Princess of the Crystal Empire, now." he said consolingly. The crowd, still shaken from their experience, stood silently until one stallion from the back shouted out loudly,
"Yeah, we love you Princess Morning Glory, Princess Honeysuckle!" One by one other ponies joined in shouting their affirmations of love to the new princesses until the din grew into a deafening roar.
"Thank you." Morning Glory said, tearfully. "Thank you all."
"We love you too." Honeysuckle added. The Crystal Heart glowed brightly once again and, from his position consoling the princesses, King Sombra looked to the glowing stone and his eyes flashed red with fire.
"Honeysuckle, come quickly!" Star Song shouted as the Flutterpony approached the Crystal Palace. She landed gracefully.
"Is it Morning Glory?" she asked anxiously.
"Yes! You were almost too late." the stallion answered, happily leading the way from the palace balcony. "What news from Paradise Estates?"
"There was, apparently, some trouble with the witches this time. They were caught trying to cast an eternal sadness curse on the ponies - it was so bad Shady seemed downright cheerful. Anyhow, Northstar was able to avoid the worst effects of the curse by using logic to deduce the root of the problem but the sadness made her unable to fly which is why she sent for me. So I had to go over the Rainbow bridge to get Megan - she sure is heavy - she was able to use the Rainbow of Light to defeat the sadness and banish the witches back to their volcano." Honeysuckle looked somewhat concerned as she finished the story.
"I know that look. What is it?" Star Song asked.
"I can't help feeling like it was too easy. Oh well, we're here anyhow." she said approaching the door. Suddenly, there was a blinding flash of light! Crystaline colors covered the whole room around the ponies, they looked at each other - both sparkling as they had on their wedding day. A pale green comet trailed by a red, pink, yellow, and green tail flew across the hall, through the closed doors, and into the room where Morning Glory was - the crystal magic receding as it followed the strange ball of light into the room. An explosion of golden light, like stars, blew open the doors and showered onto the ponies. "Morning Glory!" Honeysuckle cried, rushing into the room. And there, calmly resting, lay Morning Glory. A little white foal yawned and curled up closer to her mother. Beside her a tiny midnight blue foal slept. Honeysuckle looked at the scene, bewildered. "Are you... Are you alright?"
"I'm fine." the new mother answered serenely. "Come, meet your nieces. This is Celestia," she indicated to the white foal, "and this is Luna." The miniature blue filly turned so her back was facing Honeysuckle. Her blue mane was famed in lilac and seemed to undulate with the stars of the night sky. Honeysuckle's mouth stood agape, her eyes as wide as saucers.
"I suppose it is a gift from the Crystal Heart, Celestia is the same except it is a rainbow. Like my mother." Night Moon added the last sentence sadly. Honeysuckle and Morning Glory exchange glances - this was the first Night Moon had ever mentioned his mother; neither had even heard her name mentioned. Before they could probe any further Luna, startled from her slumber, began crying, her tiny wings spread. Night Moon rushed to her nuzzling the tiny form, "There there, Luna, my precious little Luna." in a moment the foal was sleeping soundly.
"They have Pegasus wings and unicorn horns!" Honeysuckle exclaimed.
"Yes, I guess it's the Flutterpony in them that allows them to be all things at once. With both the magic of the Unicorns and the Flutterponies in them I believe they will have very powerful magic." Morning Glory answered. Celestia, not content to sleep, woke with a start and began tugging at Luna's ear, causing the tired filly to begin crying again. Star Song and Honeysuckle exchanged smiles.
"It won't be too long before it's one of our own." The stallion said.
"No, not long at all." Honeysuckle smiled back, nuzzling her husband. |
Past is Present | Chapter 15 | Chapter 15
The Mare in the Mirror
"I got it! I got it!" came the dull voice of the long, lanky red head as she ran up the stairs of the volcano holding a vial of dark liquid in her hand. A plump witch with black pigtails tackled her, catching the vial as it flew from her sister's hand.
"No, I got it!" she cried triumphantly, stepping on Draggle's head as she started up the steps. Draggle shot her sister an icy glare. As the plump witch continued her run from out of nowhere the red head swooped down from above and snatched the vial.
"No, I got it." she finished with a dull laugh. She was so caught up in her success she failed to notice the flat rock face before her. She crashed into it with a loud thud, her body flattened against it in a comically contorted position. The vial fell from her fingers and into her sister, Reeka's, waiting hands.
"Momma, momma, I got it!" she cried. Just then Draggle pounced upon her from above and the vial flew from her hands. Both witches grabbed for it but it tottered over the edge and fell. The witches let out a cry of horror.
"No, I believe I have it." the vial rose surrounded by an aura of red light. It landed neatly in the outstretched hand of the cloaked figure who stood next to the cauldron, accompanied by the ancient witch Hydia.
"You two girls are a disgrace to witches everywhere!" Hydia scolded the pair.
"We're sorry momma." the dull voiced witch said. Immediately she realized her mistake. "I mean Hydia! Hydia!" But she was too late for correction. Hydia waved her walking stick and turned her daughter into a newt. She picked up the newt by the tail and held it before her eyes.
"I just don't know where I went wrong." she said, her disappointment evident.
"We got the Ponies' Sadness." Reeka said, stuffing a half rotten fish into her mouth and chewing while she continued. "The plan worked just like you said, when the ponies' banished the sorrow spell we were able to collect it.
"Very good." the cloaked figure purred. "Now we only need one more ingredient to complete the spell."
"Then it'll mean the end of Fluttervalley forever!" Hydia exaulted. Waving her wand she pointed it at Draggle who had climbed partially up a wall to escape from her mother's cauldron. Instantly Draggle transformed into a human again and fell to the stony ground. "Think of it! No more Flutterponies!"
"I need you to get the Lavander and Pink wands from the Princesses Serena and Starburst. Their power is the final ingredient we need to finish the spell." the cloaked figure directed the witches.
"And once we do..." Draggle began,
"It'll be the end of Flutter Valley..." Reeka added,
"Forever!" the three witches cackled in unison.
The golden ball rolled across the floor to the little blue alicorn who reached out for it. Without warning, the ball glowed pale yellow and flew away from the child. "Daddy, Celestia won't let me play with the ball!" the filly cried.
"Celestia, don't tease your sister." Night Moon scolded.
"But Daddy!" Celestia whinnied.
"Can I play?" a small pink pegasus filly yawned, trying to stand in her crib.
"Yeah, Daddy - can Cadence play?" the two fillies, their fight forgotten, pleaded.
"What do you say Honeysuckle?" Night Moon asked, looking to the mother. Honeysuckle smiled and nodded.
"Yay!" the trio of fillies cried in unison as Night Moon lifted Cadence from the crib to join her friends.
"Now, play carefully- oh!" Morning Glory cried.
"Mommy, is baby brother acting up again?" Celestia lisped.
"What makes you sure it's going to be a brother? It might be a sister." Morning Glory gently teased the child.
"Oh, the Mare in the Mirror told me."
"The Mare in the Mirror?" Night Moon looked to his wife, perplexed.
"It's just their imaginary friend." Morning Glory assured him.
"She's not imaginary, she's real!" Celestia insisted. "She comes to play with us every night and tells us stories! She told me mommy's going to give us a little brother." Celestia and Luna approached their mother's bulging belly. "Hello little brother!" she called.
"Come out soon so we can play!" Luna added.
"Go on girls." Night Moon urged and the three fillies ran off into the castle. He looked to his wife's belly, "Well, not too soon." he murmured and gave his wife a nuzzle.
"Only one more month." Morning Glory said. "Oh, their ball!" she cried, watching the golden ball roll from the room.
"Let me get it." Night Moon volunteered.
"No, let me get it while I still can." she teased, following the ball into the corridor. Just as it seemed to be slowing and Morning Glory bent down to pick it up, suddenly the ball bounced away from her muzzle and down the hall. "Oh!" she cried in surprise, following the ball as it rolled through the halls and stopped before the strangely lit doorway of a room. "Huh, I don't think I've ever seen this room before." she said to herself. The doorway to the room was topped by a glowing purple crystal - much like the one that formed the backing of King Sombra's throne. The ball rolled into the room. "Now, you get back here!" Morning Glory called, following it into the room. The room itself was filled with piles of old furniture, most covered by sun stained white sheets, dust hung in the air illuminated by the light of a single window. Morning Glory crinkled her nose as she breathed in the musty aroma. She thought she heard a sound like laughter - or could it have just been a bird? Her head snapped to follow a movement only caught in the corner of her eye. There was that sound again! "There you are!" she cried, spotting the golden ball nestled against the foot of an old mirror from which a draped sheet nearly obscured the reflective surface. "I've got you now!" she said victoriously as the picked up the ball. Raising her head, the ball fell from her open mouth and bounced to the floor. Staring back at her was not her own reflection but that of a pale green unicorn with a multicolor mane.
"Hello." the apparition said.
"The Mare in the Mirror!" she cried in terror, instinctively backing up.
"Don't be afraid, Morning Glory."
"H-how do you know my name? Who are you?" Morning Glory stuttered.
"My name is Mimic. I see my grandcolt is getting big now." the mare said, looking Morning Glory over.
"You-you're Night Moon's mother?"
"Yes, I've been watching over him and you ever since Sombra trapped me in here." Mimic said, rearing and placing her hooves on the glass.
"Why would he do such a thing?"
"Because I wouldn't tell him where I hid the golden horseshoes when I realized his evil intentions to use their power to conquer all of Ponyland."
"The golden horseshoes? I'd heard of them in pony lore but I didn't know they actually existed."
"They were brought to Ponyland from Argite by my ancestor, the first Unicorn, and lost for centuries until only recently when the ponies of Dream Valley found them and returned them to me. They hold great power when united; in the wrong hooves a pony could rule all of Ponyland. I was a fool, I truly believed Sombra loved me, but it was only the power of the golden horseshoes that he loved. So I hid them where he will never find them." she related the final sentence triumphantly. Morning Glory could scarcely believe her ears! To think the good King of the Crystal Empire had done such a wicked thing was almost unbelievable - yet the proof was standing before her. "His lust for power is endless - he has already consumed Princess Tiffany's wand's power and has now moved on to draining the power of her kingdom. Do not be deceived! He intends to use my grandfillies for their powers once he has finished draining the power of the Crystal Heart. You must get them away from the Crystal Empire before he can! To you I give the secret of the Golden Horseshoes." her horn glowed and suddenly the golden ball transformed into four golden horseshoes. "The first grants you the power to see the future, the second to read minds, the third gives levitation, and the fourth generates light. Use them to make your escape."
"But what about you?"
"I'll be fine." she reassured the flutterpony, but a moment of sadness flashed upon her face that gave Morning Glory pause. "Don't worry about me. If Sombra is able to harness the power of the alicorns all will be lost. Only they hold the power to defeat him. Now go and save your family!" |
Spawn of Disharmony | pre | The next day we were on a train heading for Canterlot.
"So, Seth have you ever been to Canterlot before?" Twilight asked me.
"Not I haven't actually."
"Oh this will be fun!" Twi joyfully said clapping her hooves.
I then noticed that Spike wasn't coming. I wonder why. I mean we are making this trip to see Rarity so you'd think he'd be the first on and off the train. I was about to ask Twi about that when we came to a stop and I lost my train of thought. (No pun intended.)
We stopped at a station on the castle grounds where the Princess was standing nearby to greet us.
"Twilight, my student. It's nice to see you and your friends again and happy birthday."
"Thank you Princess." Twi said while bowing, then she pointed towards me. "I don't think you've met Seth before."
When Princess Celestia looked at me I swear for a fraction of a second I saw a weird look in her eyes. Did she realize who I was? I hope not. If Celestia out of all ponies found out what I am, I'll be so screwed. Then she spoke.
"No, I haven't, but I remember that you mentioned him in some of your letters before."
Then, She told us that Rarity was up in the room she was staying in. So we started up the stairs. The whole time I was thinking about Celestia and that look she got in her eyes when she saw me. Does she know? If she does then how? Was I just letting my fears get the best of me? Yet, don't I have a right to be worried? I mean she's PRINCESS BUCKING CELESTIA! If she sees me as a threat to Equestria she can easily have me arrested or something.
Now calm down Seth. You're a nice guy. You have many great friends and they see you as there friend too. Hell, one of them let you into her home when you had none. So Celestia wouldn't punish you just because you were created by one of her worst enemies, right?
While I was lost thought I didn't realize that we made it to Rarity's room and when she opened the door the others all yelled out. "Surprise!"
When I snapped back into reality it seemed that Rarity had fainted.
"Uhhh....Is she okay?" I asked.
"Oh don't be silly! She must of been so happy to see us she end up fainting." Pinkie responded before she turned to Rarity and started talking about a whole lot of nothing before she finally came to.
"What are you? How are you? Why are you?" Rarity babbled.
"Listen to her. She's so excited to see us she can hardly talk." Applejack said.
"What I mean to say is, what are you doing here?"
Twi gave the explanation and then Pinkie popped up to her. "Balloons are super easy to pack." Pinkie then opened a small suit case and a bunch of inflated, untied balloons came out. How the hay is that even possible?
"Wow first you get me a suite at Canterlot Castle and now this. I don't what to say, Twilight."
Rainbow flew up to her. "How about by saying what your doing in that fancy get-up."
I have to say I was thinking the same thing.
"This...uh...well I uh...I always put on something a little fancy when Opal is feeling under the weather. Cheers her right up."
"Poor Opal. Where is the sick darling?" Fluttershy asked.
"Oh she's...hold on for a minute." Rarity then close the doors leaving everypony confused. I felt like she was hiding something.
After a short while she reopened the doors. "She's resting on the bed." Rarity said before Fluttershy zoomed past her.
"Poor baby. She looks awful." Fluttershy stated hugging a sickly looking cat.
Everypony else walked into the suite.
"Is that my dress?" Twilight asked looking at a butter yellow dress that had a pink ribbon around it.
"Yes." Rarity answered nervously.
"It's so simple. So practical. So me! It's the perfect dress for my birthday party. I love it."
"You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that."
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Later we walked to the castle ballroom.
"Isn't it fancy pants?" Pinkie asked Rarity
"Fancypants? Where? I mean where did you find the time to set up all these decorations?"
Okay Rarity is diffidently hiding something.
"Oh I never leave home without my Party Cannon!" Pinkie said while pulling a light blue cannon out of nowhere.
How did she? You know what? It's Pinkie Pie, screw logic.
Twilight walked to the window. "I thought about having the party outside, but they're having another party on the castle grounds today."
"Let's Party!" Pinkie shouted and the festivities began.
When we started eating the cake before I got a piece Rainbow threw one at me. Oh it was on. We all started a playful food fight that left everypony in hysterics.
Then, we got to the pinatas and I ended up getting hit in the face by Applejack.
"Oh sorry sugarcube, you okay?" She asked not taking off her blindfold.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." I removed my hoof from my nose to see a red liquid. "Okay I'm bleeding. I'll go get myself cleaned up. You gals carry on." I went to the stallion's room to wash off the blood and when I finished and walked out to be greeted by a white alicorn.
"Hello Mr. Seth." Princess Celestia said.
The tone of her voice made me freak out. I was on the ground with my arms over my head while begging for mercy. It went something like this. "Princess please don't have me arrested! I didn't do anything! Don't punish me for what Discord did!"
"Well, I was just saying hi, but what's this about Discord?"
Wait what?! She didn't figure it out earlier? And now I spilled the beans...Crap!
I figured that I already dug myself in too deep so I ended up telling her everything. Me being created by Discord, Screwball, the dreams, even my feelings for Rainbow somehow got in there. I have no idea how the hay that happened.
"So if you se me as a threat to your country, I won't hold anything against you, but I promise that I have no loyalty to Discord."
I looked up at the Princess and she was smiling. What the? Why is she smiling?
"Well, I must say that all this has been...surprising, and I'm amazed that you'd come clean so easily."
"Well, I was a little scared and I haven't really told anypony else."
"You don't have to be scared of me, I don't unjustly punish ponies." She fell silent for a few seconds, but it felt like hours. "Why haven't you told your friends the truth? You are going to need to sooner of later."
"I know."
I went back to the ballroom to see that everypony was missing.
"Hello? Is anypony here."
I walked to the window to see the them at the other party. It looked like Rarity was giving a big speech to a bunch of rich ponies. I walked outside to met up with them.
"Hey what'd I miss?"
A unicorn stallion walked up to Rarity.
"Miss Rarity, is this another friend of yours?"
"Oh yes. Fancypants this is Seth. Seth, Fancypants."
"Uhh...Hi." I responded. So Rarity introduced us to everypony at the garden party. Nothing too spacial happened.
"I just realized that you where gone for awhile, what happened?" Twi asked me.
"Oh I ran into Princess Celestia and we talked."
"What'd you talk about."
I feel silent for a second remembering what celestia said.
'Why haven't you told your friends the truth? You are going to need to sooner of later.'
"Nothing important." |
Spawn of Disharmony | Secret of My Excess | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 8: Secret of My Excess
I was lying on the balcony just relaxing, I had nothing else to do so I was a little board. I know Twi was reshelving the books in the library, which I offered to help, but she told me that she can take care of it. I heard a familiar humming coming from the ground. I saw Rarity walking into the library. Nothing out of the ordinary, but when she came out I saw her levitating a book and a fire ruby.
"Hey, Isn't that Spike's." I asked.
Rarity looked around for a few seconds before she saw me above.
"Oh you see, little Spiky-Wiky gave it to me. Isn't that just so sweet of the little darling?"
"So he gave you a shiny rock? I bet he won't be getting anything beyond a kiss on the cheek."
"What was that last part darling?"
"Oh nothing." Then I realized that now Spike didn't have anything for his birthday dinner like he planned with the fire ruby, but then an idea popped into my head.
"Hey Rarity can I ask you a favor?"
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
I was now in a barren area near Ponyville. I asked Rarity if she could tell me how I can do her gem finding spell and to my surprise, I was able to do it. Recently my magical abilities have been improving, they're still slightly below average, but still improving. I went along the area looking for a decent replacement for Spike's ruby that I can give him for his birthday next week, when I got to a big rock that was sticking right out of the ground. I could just feel that there was a nice find in there, but how am I going to get it out. I mean I did bring a shovel, but I'd say a pickaxe would be much better. Also that could take a while anyways. So how am I going to get it out quickly and easily. I got it! And it involves using my favorite pegasus.
"So what do you want me to do?" Rainbow asked following me to the rock
"I found a gem inside that rock that I want to give to Spike next week, but I want to get it quickly, so I want you to do a Sonic Rainboom so the shockwave will split the stone."
"Ah, so you need my awesomeness."
"Yes, unless you can find me somepony else that can do a Sonic Rainboom."
"Nopony else can! Because nopony is as awesome as me!"
There was that confidence of her that I just loved. She flew up into the air and when she got to a point I could barely see her she flew back down at a 45 degree angle. I saw a mack cone forming around her and when she was about 20 feet from the ground she turned upwards at a 90 degree angle and causing a multi-colored shockwave. As I thought the rock cracked right in half showing an emerald that was in the shape of a pyramid.
"See I told you that nopony is as awesome as me!"
"And I didn't disagree with you now did I?"
Rainbow looked down at her hooves and was quite for a few seconds. "No I guess you didn't, thanks Seth."
Thanks? For what? Calling her awesome?
"Oh, uh...your welcome and thank you for helping me."
"Anytime."
"Hey can you hold on to the emerald? I mean just in case so Spike won't find it."
"Oh okay." She took it a flew away.
I was walking back to a library when I was called by a familiar voice.
"Hey Seth! Perfect timing!" Screwball called to me.
That made me remember that I agreed to do another test run for her. Not a big deal because I just assumed that it'll end up like the other 7 I've done. Me just standing there with a propeller on my head. She put it on and told me what she tweaked, which to me was mostly technobabble. I could never understand her when she talked about this stuff. It was even worse when I introduced her to Twilight. Trust me when I say that a conversation between an expert on magic and an expert on technology is less interesting than it sounds.
She pressed the button and as I said I was expecting much, but boy I was wrong. I actually started to get lifted into the air, but I wasn't to comfortable.
"Hey Ball?"
"Yeah?"
"This is kinda pulling on my neck."
"Does it hurt?"
"A little."
I turned it off and landed on my hooves. After that I took it off and hoofed it over to her.
"Hmmmm...That is a bit of a design flaw. Oh well back to the drawing board. Hmmm...maybe a full body suit." She then walked away saying a bunch of technological stuff to herself. I continued on my way back to the library.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
It was a week later on Spike's birthday. It turned out that this was the first time Spike got gifts from somepony other than Twilight, who apparently always gives him a book. When he opened my gift he said nothing, but his eyes widened and his mouth began to water, so I think I did pretty well. I walked up to Rarity and jokingly asked her.
"Your not going to give him bedroom eyes to get this one too are you?"
She glared at me.
"I'm just kidding."
Spike left when Pinkie told him that The Cakes had a treat for him. Everypony helped clean up and when we finished they all left. Even Twi left to go find Spike. I went onto the couch and this probably isn't a shock, but I ended up falling asleep.
I was in some house I've never seen before. I walked to the outside to see the waves of the ocean hitting the shore. The water was glowing in the reflection of the orange sunset. It was truly a beautiful sight.
"Hey there." said a voice behind me.
I turned around to see Rainbow Dash, but she looked a little different. Her mane was a little longer and overall she looked like she was about 5 years older than usual.
I saw that there was a bracelet around her left hoof that had a rainbow gem in it. Wow those things are super rare. Wait could that be what I think that is. I looked up at my horn to see a ring around it. Holy crap!
She wrapped her arms around the back of my neck and started to lean forward. Her mussel was starting to get really close to mine until they were only two inches away for each other.
And that's when I woke up...Dammit!
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
So, the next day I woke up to see that Spike was twice his normal size.
"The hay? Am I still asleep?"
"No. I'm going to take Spike to the doctor to see what's going on. Can you watch the place while we're gone?"
"Isn't that my job?"
Twi took that as a yes and walked out with Spike. I then went on with my usual routine. I made my breakfast and ate it. Then, I just sat down with a book.
I was about 4 chapters in when Twilight ran in, levitating a broom and being chased by a 20 foot tall Spike shouting "Spike Want!"
"What the buck just happened?"
Twi was blocking a doorway with her body. "Spike is getting bigger because he's being greedy."
"How does that..."
CRASH!
"Oh no what now?" Twi said opening the door to reveal a dragon shaped hole in the wall.
Twi & I ran out.
"You follow Spike I'll warn the townspony." I suggested.
"I think they already know."
"Oh, uh...I'll think of something." So I ran off trying to think of someway I could be helpful, I didn't.
Sometime later a now giant Spike carrying Rarity in his tail ran past me. Rainbow and Fluttershy then flew up to him and did some sort of good cop/bad cop routine before they got caught in the cape Rarity was wearing. They fell into the river.
"Are you two okay?" I asked.
"We're fine. Thanks for your concern." Fluttershy responded.
Rainbow popped up. "Look! The Wonderbolts!"
The three pegasi flew around attacking Spike, yet the only damage they did was trimming some scales. Spike ended up trapping them inside the top of the town's water tower.
Rarity started yelling at Spike, but since they were quite the distance away from us. All I heard was Rarity shout "This is a crime against fashion!"
I facehoofed. When I took my hoof off my face Spike was back to normal and falling with Rarity.
"Somepony do something!" Pinkie shouted falling on her back.
"On it!" Rainbow responded pulled Fluttershy with her. They grabbed the cape and rushed to save them from certain death. Thankfully they did and they lowered them down to safety.
"We did it! I can't believe we did it!" Fluttershy gleefully cheered.
"All in a days work." Rainbow added.
Rarity walked over to Spike looking over the destruction he caused.
"Spike I just have to tell you how absolutely proud I am of you."
"Proud of me?"
"Yes, It was you who stopped...you from destroying Ponyville."
"Well he still did a number on it." I mumbled before being smacked in the back of the head by Twilight.
Rarity continued, "You're my hero Spiky-Wiky." She then kissed him on the cheek.
This reminded me of the dream I had yesterday and I looked at Rainbow and then turned my head away with my face feeling warmer. Twi seemed to be the onlypony to notice and she gave a small chuckle.
I realized something. If they were able to forgive Spike so easily for doing this, then
would they accept me if I told them my origins. I looked back at Ponyville in shambles. Now probably isn't a good time. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Hearth's Warming Eve | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 9: Hearth's Warming Eve
I was on a train heading for Canterlot with the others, Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Princess Celestia asked Twilight and the others to preform in a play about the founding of Equestria. As for me and the Crusaders we were left out. I kinda wondered why they were here, but I guess Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle wanting to watch their sisters preform would make sense. As for Scootaloo I'd assume she wanted to be with her friends and/or wanted to watch Rainbow Dash preform. Now that I think of it does she even have a family? I mean I've never seen or heard any mention of parents or siblings or anything. I'm not sure how I could even ask her about it.
When we arrived at the train station I noticed the Crusaders running off.
"Hey shouldn't somepony keep an eye on them?"
Nopony seemed to have heard me. So I guess it's up to me to foalsit.
They walked though Canterlot for a good while before they even noticed me.
"Oh hi Seth." Apple Bloom greeted. Then the other two turned to look at me.
"Have you been here this whole time?" Scootaloo asked.
"Indeed I have."
"Why?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"I figured that there should be a responsible adult to watch over you three."
I realized the irony in this because I may have the body and mind of and adult stallion, I am technically much younger than them. Hell, everypony except Screwball and Princess Celestia thinks I'm 19.
"Besides I don't know how familiar you are with this city, so somepony has to make sure nothing happens to you."
"Well I guess that makes since." Apple Bloom replied.
"Hey where's Scootaloo?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"What she ran off?! Oh great! Just great!" I responded.
"Oh there she is." Apple Bloom pointed.
And yes there was Scoots, with her tongue stuck on a giant candy cane.
I facehoofed.
"Okay we just need to get some warm water and..." I was saying before the other two jumped up and shouted.
"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS EMERGENCY RESCUE!" They grabbed Scootaloo and pulled.
"I don't think you should do..."
SNAP!
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!"
"...that." Okay is this Hearth's Warming Eve or Not Listen to Seth Day.
Then Sweetie Belle looked around the candy cane. "Hey look another filly is stuck, Cutie Mark Crusaders."
The little filly looked worried so I stepped in. "Wait girls! Let me try something." I levitated some snow off the ground. I focused on it till it melted into some water. I poured I down the cane and the filly's tongue separated from it.
"Thank you sir." she said before running off.
"Sssseeeeeeettth. Why did you do that? We could of gotten our cutie marks." Sweetie Belle whined.
"I doubt ripping ponies off of poles is your special talent."
"Yeah, Sweetie Belle what kind of talent is that?" Scootaloo asked.
Sweetie Belle shrugged.
I looked at a nearby clock. "We should be getting to the theater."
The four of us sat in the front row and watched the play.
In it, it showed how Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns worked with each other until a snowstorm ravished the land causing them to fight and eventually leaving the country they were currently in and they all ended up in what would become Equestria. They each claimed the land and once again augured over it. The snowstorm seemed to have followed them and they to refuge in a cave. Eventually the leaders of each tribe, played by Pinkie, Rainbow and Rarity, got frozen solid. Their assistants, played by Applejack, Fluttershy and Twilight, found out that the storm was caused by Windigos, pony-like spirits that feed off of hated. They say that the don't hate each other and the warmth of friendship defeated the Windigos and unfroze the leaders. The decided to live together in harmony. At the end everypony in the theater sang a song that I didn't know so I faked it.
The after party was what you'd expect. Music, food and punch. I left to take a short walk. I ended up running into Princess Celestia.
"Evening Princess. What are you doing here?"
"I'm going to congratulate you friends on the play. Speaking of them, I assume you still haven't told them yet."
"Well, no, but..."
"May I ask why?"
"I'm...afraid."
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Afraid?"
"Yes... I'm afraid that they'll not accept me... I mean I'm pretty sure they will, but it's just the what if. They're all I really have. Okay I do have Screwball, but she treats me more like a test monkey than a brother."
Celestia chuckled at the last part, but quickly regained her regal composer.
"Sorry. If they really mean everything to you, then you should trust them."
I thought for a while, the I finally spoke. "Thank you Princess. I'll tell them the truth tomorrow."
___________________________________________________________________________
It was 2:00 P.M. the next day and I was going to be a stallion of my word. One by one they showed up in the room I was staying in at the castle. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Fluttershy. I turned to them.
"I assume you are all wondering why I asked you all to come here. Well I talked to Princess Celestia about this and I feel that I need to tell you all something that I've been hiding from you since, well, since I've met all of you."
They all got a mix of expressions on their faces. Some shocked, some confused and Pinkie was just smiling away.
"I'm different from most ponies."
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"I wasn't born normally. I was created by magic."
Now all of their faces were in shock and Fluttershy was the first to respond. "What about Screwball? You two claim to be siblings."
"We are. It's the same thing for her."
"Well shucks sugarcube that don't seem like a big deal." Applejack said.
"Well here's the thing. It's not just that I was created by magic it's who created me."
They all leaned in and all in unison asked "Who?"
"Discord."
After I said this each one of their mouths were agape, well except for Pinkie who had a smirk on her face like she knew the whole time. And if that's the case then I might have to become scared of her. The others were dead silent until Rainbow flew up to me.
"So what are you saying? That your not really our friend? That everything has been a lie?!"
"What?! No I was..."
"You were what? Planning to free Discord?"
"I don't have any loyalty to him."
"Yeah right! I bet Princess Celestia caught you and is making you confess."
"I'm doing this on my own choice."
"Do you really expect us to believe that Celestia would let something like you go free?!"
I tried to put my hoof on her shoulder to calm her down or something, but before it could...
SLAP!
There was a loud gasp from the others. Rainbow flew right out of the room. I was in complete shock. She... She just... slapped me. Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie went after her, leaving just me, Twilight and Rarity in the room. Twi trotted up to me.
"Seth, I'm so sorry that just happened."
"Please, Twi... I want to be left alone right now."
"But, I'm sure Rainbow didn't think about what she was..."
"Twi please.."
"Seth..."
"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE!"
A flash of light came from my horn and when it cleared I was no longer in that room with Twilight and Rarity. I was now in some cave. What the hay? Did I just teleport? How? Where am I now? Ah screw it that's not important now.
My fears became a reality. I'm not sure how all six of them feel about the situation, but the one mare I hoped would stay by my side rejected me. Oh Celestia, if anypony had to abandon me why did it have to be Rainbow Dash?
I lied down and put my head in my arms and I cried. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Family Appreciation Day | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 10: Family Appreciation Day
I was once again at that beach house so I turned around to hopefully see Rainbow Dash, but when I did, I didn't see anypony. I close my eyes and felt a tear roll down my cheek. If only I could talk her again. Yet, she didn't liston to me back at the castle. So why would she even want to see me now? I opened my eyes to see that I was now in a dark void alone, or so I thought.
"Mahahahahaha!"
That laugh echoed all around me. I realize who it belonged to, but no it couldn't be. I had to be wrong.
"So this is what has become of my creation." The voice said.
"D-Discord?"
"Ha ha ha! Correct you are my boy!"
"Where are you? Show yourself!"
"I'm back at Canterlot trapped inside a statue, remember? Anyways I just came to say that not only did you become friends with the welders of the Elements of Harmony, but you actually have fallen for one of them. How laughable! Oh well I guess every artist how his share of mistakes."
"Mistakes? Mistakes?! So what am I just some sort of failed experiment to you?!"
"Of course, I mean you can always change this now that you no longer have your precious little Rainbow Dash."
I just snapped when he mentioned her. "Don't you dare say anything bad about her I swear I will..."
"You will what? I'm just a voice in your head. You can't do anything! Besides even if you could why would you? She abandoned you, slapped you in the face, called you a thing. Why would you still defend her?"
"Because even after all that I'm not mad at her. I don't know why I'm not, but I don't care. To me she is the most important pony in my life. She is my life. If anything she along with the rest of them are more responsible for who I am than you are!"
"Bahahahahahahaha! Wow! Really? A big emotional speech? Did you really think that would make me go. "Oh he doesn't care about me I guess I'll be on my way." I'm not nothing to you, You're nothing to me."
"SHUT UP YOU MOTHERBUCKING PIECE OF..."
I awoke shouting every obscenity that I could think of, eyes still closed.
"Wow Sethy you got quite a mouth on you!"
My eyes snapped open to see Pinkie Pie looking down at me.
"AHH! Pinkie, what the hay!"
I looked around to see I was back at the library, I swear when I went to sleep I was in that cave. Looking at my side I saw Fluttershy.
"Uhhh... hey guys ummm... how did I get here?"
"Oh...umm...you see..." Fluttershy began to say before Pinkie jumped in to answer more quickly.
"When you teleported we began to look for you. So we looked all around and couldn't find you till Zecora told us that she saw you in the Everfree Forest. So we searched in there till I found you sleeping in a cave. So Twilight teleported us back here and now she's going to get Dashie so you to can make up." She ended with a huge grin.
"Ooookkkaaaayyyy." I responded. "Wait why is Twilight getting Rainbow? I'm sure that she doesn't want to see me."
Before anypony can respond we heard almost the same question come from downstairs.
"Why are you taking me to Seth? I'm sure that he doesn't want to see me."
Twilight came in levitating Rainbow who didn't look at me. Twilight set her down about 6 feet away from me.
"Now you two need to talk and I'm not letting ether of you leave till you made up." Twi said with authority in her voice. She along with Pinkie and Fluttershy left the room and closed the door, most likely locking it.
So Rainbow and I sat there not saying anything. I looked at Rainbow, but she was still avoiding my eyes. We remained silent for a good three minutes till I finally spoke.
"I'm sorry Rainbow." Is all I could think of saying.
She looked up at me with a confused look. "Why are you sorry? I made all those assumptions of you, I abandoned you when you needed me. You wanted my support more than that of anypony else's and what did I do? I slapped you in the face!" After she said that she started to break into tears. Now seeing her upset during the Mare Do Well incident is one thing, but seeing her actually cry is another. "After I flew out I ran into Princess Celestia...she told me that she never unjustly punished you because you told her how much we mean to you. How much...I mean to you. I then realized how much you mean to me. I went back to your room to applogize, but you were gone."
She flew at me and pinned me to the ground with her embrace, which I returned.
"I'm so, so sorry I did all that to you. Can you please forgive me?"
"I was never mad at you." I answered.
"How could you not be?"
"I'm not sure. All I know is that you are the most important pony in my life. All the time we spent together, the fun we had, the pranks we pulled. It all made me happy. I guess what I'm trying to say is I love you Rainbow Dash."
She grabbed the back for my head with one of hooves and quickly pulled me into a nice passionate kiss on the lips. When she broke the kiss I just stared into her magenta eyes for what seemed like forever before she said four simple words, but they were the greatest ones I ever heard.
"I love you too."
Then an audible growl came from my stomach. I got a small blush on my face.
"Hungry?" Rainbow asked.
"A little."
"Wanna go to Sweet Apple Acres? It's zap apple season."
"Sounds like a date."
"I wouldn't count standing in line as a date."
I gave a small chuckle and we went on our way.
So it happend. I'm dating Rainbow Dash. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Baby Cakes | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 11: Baby Cakes
It's been a little under a month since Rainbow and I started dating and quite a bit has happened. Well there is now a decent size list of ponies who know the truth. Spike has been informed and he almost freaked out and sent a letter to Princess Celestia, like that would have done anything anyways. I've also been informed that Princess Luna is well aware of the situation as well. Also, the Cutie Mark Crusaders found out while trying to get there cutie marks in spying. Luckily they saw it as cool and agreed to not tell anypony else.
Anyways, during this time I've been working on my magic. I first worked on perfecting teleportation. It may have taken quite a while, but I was able to teleport whenever I wanted without getting a headache and/or winded.
Then, Rainbow remembered the cloud waking spell that Twilight apparently cased during the Best Young Flyer Competition last year and suggested that I should try it so we can hang out more, but I'm wondering if she has other intentions.
As I was saying I practiced constantly and finally after much trail and error, and by that I mean falling through clouds and face planing in the dirt, I was successful. I was already happy, but what happened next made everything even better.
____________________________________________________________________________
"Yes! It worked! It finally worked!" I shouted joyfully before Rainbow tackled me down to the cloud giving me kisses on my face and neck. Which is a little strange for her because she doesn't really get lovey-dovey in public, but I'm not complaining.
Twilight then came up from a distance.
"Well I see that you succeeded." Twi then looked at Rainbow. "So have you asked him yet?"
"Ask me what?" I said a little confused.
Rainbow then got off me, sat down and tapped her hooves together. "Do you remember a few months back when you didn't have a place to stay and I said that I would let you stay with me if it wasn't for the fact that you're not a pegasus? I mean I know you're not still not one, and I don't have any problem that you're not. Anyways since you can now both teleport and walk on clouds, I was wondering if you would like to...move in...with me?" She was seriously blushing at that point and dammit she looked so cute right then and there.
I gave her a quick kiss and looked directly into her eyes. "Of course I would."
I was back at the library packing my things into my saddlebags. Which is just my moneybag and some old books Twi said I could have. I have just brought the guest bed back into the basement. I started to speak to Twilight and Spike.
"Guys I really can't thank you enough for letting me stay here for the past few months. You let me in when I had no home and you treated me like family, instead of just somepony you were renting a room out to." I wrapped my arms around them in a hug, which they returned. "It really meant a lot to me."
After we let go of the group hug Twi spoke up. "You know you can still work here at the library if you want."
"Really? Thanks Twi."
"No problem and you'll actually be getting paid now."
"I don't get paid." Spike mumbled.
Twi ignored him.
I levitated my saddlebags on my back and began to walk out.
"Just remember to cast that spell every three days or so, or you'll fall through the floor." Twi called.
"Of course." I responded.
"If you have any dreams you want to talk about I'll still be your therapist."
"I kinda figured that."
"Don't forget to..."
"Twilight, I said that you treated me like family, but I never said you can act like you're my mom or something."
Twi got a small blush on her face while Spike just started laughing.
____________________________________________________________________________
I got to Rainbow's house and I found her in the kitchen, where it seemed that she was making lunch. I didn't think she noticed me till I spoke up. "Hey there."
Rainbow turned around and flew up to me giving a kiss on the cheek.
"I'm so glad you agreed to move in. This is so awesome!" She made this adorable face when she said those last two words.
"Yes, I can see just how excited you are." I said pointing at her extended wings.
She then quickly closed them and gave me a playful hit on my arm.
"You're lucky that I love you."
I just laughed and the responded with "I know."
We sat down to eat the lunch Rainbow made, which were HBLTs. I decided that this was a good time to give Rainbow a little surprise I had for her.
"Hey Rainbow, remember when I convinced you to spend the afternoon at the spa with Rarity and Fluttershy last week?"
"Yeah they almost made me get a hooficure, so don't remind me."
"Did you wonder why I asked you to join them?"
"To torture me?"
"No, I needed to have you occupied so I can get these."
I levitated two tickets out of my saddlebag. They were for a Wonderbolts air show next week. When Rainbow saw what they were she let out a fanfilly squeal and hugged me while giving me a string of thank yous.
_____________________________________________________________________________
"Come on Seth! We need to get to Cloudsdale!"
"Relax Rainbow the air show doesn't begin for another three hours."
"Yeah but, I want to show you my hometown." She gave me adorable puppy dog eyes.
"Okay" I said levitating my saddlebag on. "I'll race you!"
I then teleported outside to a nearby cloud. Rainbow popped out of the house and flew up to me.
"How the hay is teleportation fair?"
"It's fair because I can't fly and no way am I asking Twilight to give me some flamboyant butterfly wings."
Rainbow gave a loud laugh after obviously picturing it.
"Besides if I wasn't being fair I would of teleported right to Cloudsdale. Yet, long distances do still give me headaches though."
She gave me a small nudge and flew off.
So we got to Cloudsdale with Rainbow winning our little race.
"Aww Yeah! Not even your magic can keep up with me!"
"It *breath* wouldn't have *breath* been as fun *breath* for you if *breath* I didn't *breath* hold back."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. *breath* Just a little *breath* tired from *breath* all the *breath* teleporting."
We went around town. She showed me many of the shops and gave me a tour of the weather factory. While there she told me while she was clearing the clouds earlier today The Cakes asked her to babysit for them. I must say how two earth ponies produce a pegasus and a unicorn is beyond me, but I'm not going to make any assumptions of Mrs. Cake.
We got to the stadium and sat down in our seats. Rainbow seemed to extremely excited.
Then the Wonderbolts flew out. While they were preforming Rainbow explained to me who each one of them were and the names of their tricks. Before I knew it the show was over. It's really amazing how fast time can go by sometimes.
"Well I must say, they may not be able to stop a dragon, but they are talented fliers. I can see why you want to join them."
"Well they are the Wonderbolts. They're the best of the best."
"Yet, I didn't see them do anything like the Sonic Rainboom, so I can't see why your not one already."
"Hey didn't you say something like that on the day we first met?"
"Yeah I think I did say something similar. I bet back then you didn't think that in a few months you'd be dating the homeless guy you found sleeping in the Apple Family's field."
"Not at all."
We both laughed and started to make our way back to our home. Huh, it is both our home now isn't it? You know I really like the sound of that. Our home. |
Spawn of Disharmony | The Last Roundup | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 12: The Last Roundup
"Are you awake yet, you lazy bum? We have to help with Applejack's party." Rainbow said nudging me with her hooves.
"UUUUHHH." Is what I responded with.
"Are you okay?"
"I don't feel so well."
"Oh, well I can stay here and try to take care of you, I mean I'm not like Fluttershy at that stuff, but..."
"You don't have to do that. I'll be fine. Just say hi to AJ for me."
"Okay I guess. Bye Seth, I love you."
"I love you too."
Rainbow flew out and I just lied there unable to sleep.
Sooner that I expected Rainbow came back.
"The party over already?" I asked.
"Applejack didn't show up."She responded.
"What?" I asked as sitting up. "What happened?"
"We don't know. All that happened was that we got a letter from her saying she's not coming back. So we're going to look for her. Will you be okay here without me? I mean since you're sick and all."
"Of course. Besides Applejack might be in trouble or something."
Rainbow hugged me and said "Okay Seth, I'll hopefully see you in a few days."
"Good luck at finding Applejack. I'll see you when you get back. I love you."
"I love you too."
______________________________________________________________________________
A few days later I was starting to feel much better, but I figured I should still rest. So I laid down in bed and drifted off to sleep.
I opened my eyes to see that I was surrounded by nothing, but black.
"Great a dark void. I haven't seen this before." I said out loud in a very sarcastic tone. "Seriously do I have any imagination? So, what is it this time? That evil looking version of me? Discord?"
"Not even close." Said an unfamiliar voice that seemed to have a undetectable accent.
Right before my eyes a giant callum of fire rose from the ground. When it seddled down all was left a strange creature looking at me.
It seemed dragon-like. It stood on two legs and was probably about 6 feet tall. It had orange skin and had long black hair. It also had huge wings on it's back.
"Who and what are you?" I asked.
The creature smirked at me. "Greetings I am Inferno and I'm a gargoyle."
"Aren't you guys supposed to be made from stone or something?"
"That is a stereotype."
"Oooookaaaaaaay...So what are you doing in my dream."
"I brought you to this realm here. You see the princesses trapped me here over a thousand years ago and you are going to help me with my plan."
"Why would I do that?"
"Oh you and I have something in common. Something that'll make you question your own significance in the universe."
"Uhhhhh...what are you talking about?"
"Oh I'm not ready to reveal everything yet." Inferno snapped his fingers and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
I woke up right then. I wondered what the hay just happened. Was that all just a dream or was I really just talking to a thousand plus year old gargoyle who have issues with the princesses and claims to have some sort of connection with me? I decided not to take a chance on the latter and got out of bed and sat down at the desk with a quill and piece of paper.
Dear Princess Celestia,
"BOO!" somepony shouted behind me, almost making me spill the ink.
"BAHAHAHAHA!"
I turned to the very familiar laugh to see my favorite pegasus.
"Hey there beautiful, so I assume you found Applejack."
"Yup."
"So what happened?"
So Rainbow told me that the reason why Applejack didn't come back because she didn't win any prize money at the Canterlot Rodeo and was too ashamed to come back. Seemed legit because she can be stubborn at points and she promised to use the money to fix town hall, which was damaged by Ditzy Doo, who also dropped a wooden beam on Rainbow. Yeah I'm still a little mad at her for that.
During her story I finished writing the letter to Princess Celestia.
"So what did you write to Celestia about?" Rainbow asked me.
"I'll tell you on the way to Twilight's."
______________________________________________________________________________
So we made our way to the library as I said I explained everything to Rainbow.
When we walked in we were greeted by a loud "WHAT?!"
Twilight stood at the door with her mane in a bit of a mess.
"Oh, Seth, Rainbow. Sorry for shouting it's just I'm now a few days behind schedule and..." Twilight was saying before I interrupted her.
"Don't worry it's understandable Twi. I just need Spike for a second."
"Hey Seth. I see you're feeling better." The little dragon said as he seemed to pop out of nowhere. I levitated the note to him. He took it in his claws and blew flames on it sending it to Princess Celestia.
"So what did you..." Twi began to ask before.
BURP!
A letter came. I leavatated and opened it up the letter only said one sentence.
I'll be there as soon as I can.
______________________________________________________________________________
Not long after there was a large flash of light in the middle of the library and when it cleared the Princess was standing before us.
"So..." I began to ask. "Who's this Inferno guy?"
Princess Celestia was silent for a few seconds before answering.
"About 1,300 years ago Luna and I fought Inferno to stop his war crimes agenst the griffins and we defeated him using the Elements of Harmony. When we did he completly vanished into thin air."
"So you thought that he got vaporized?" Rainbow asked.
"Yes...that what I hoped, but if he's contacting Seth that shows that he's probably still alive."
"But how can that be?" Twilight asked. "You said you defeated him about 1,300 years ago. Even if he wasn't killed by the Elements shouldn't he be dead by now anyways? Last time I cheched the oldest living gargoyle in history was 122 before they died."
"I'm wondering about that too." Princess Celestia responded.
"So are you going to have Seth guarded or something?" Twi asked.
"Since Inferno is contacting me in my dreams I don't think the royal guard can really help much." I said.
"Maybe you should learn some combat magic. Just in case if you have to stand up against him."Twi suggested.
Princess Celestia nodded. "That is probably a good idea."
______________________________________________________________________________
So it was decided that I would go to Canterlot so somepony from the royal guard can teach me some combat spells.
Rainbow and I were waiting at the train station.
"I'm really going to miss you and I know how excited you were to spend cider season with me and..." I was saying before Rainbow put her hoof on my mouth.
"Seth, I'm really going to miss you too, but this is more important than some cider. I mean if anything happened to you...I just wouldn't know what I would do."
I gave her a kiss on her forehead.
"I'm so lucky to have you. I promise that I'll be back by Hearts and Hooves Day."
She smiled and gave me a long kiss before the train arrived.
"All aboard to Canterlot!" the conductor called.
"Bye Rainbow, I'll see you soon. I love you."
"I love you too." |
Spawn of Disharmony | Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 13: Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
The train arrived at the castle grounds train station. I got off to be greeted by a white unicorn stallion with a blue mane. I saw that he was wearing purple armor.
"Are you Seth?" he asked.
"Yeah."
"Hello I am Captain Shining Armor, Princess Celestia asked me to give you training on combat spells."
"A captain huh? I was expecting some drill instructor or some old Star Swirled the Breaded look-alike, but let me guess because of the situation the Princess assigned you because you're the best of the best right?"
"Well I wouldn't say that."
"Come on, a royal guard Captain, you probably know some really powerful spells. Hell, I bet you know five ways to kill somepony with a toothpick without magic."
"Well 8 actually, but that's not important."
"Okay."
We started walking off to the castle when I spoke up again.
"I'm sorry, but what was you name again?"
"Shining Armor."
"Hmmmmm... Where have I heard that name before?" Then it clicked to me. "Oh I remember now, your Twilight's brother."
"So you know Twily?"
I just started laughing at that nickname, before I saw Shining Armor glaring at me.
"Sorry, yeah anyways to answer your question, yes, I'm her friend/employee/former roommate."
"Ah okay."
We got to the training field, which was a rectangular dirt field with a obstacle course and several training dummies.
"So Seth how many spells you know?"
"Well I've read a few spell books, but actual ones I can do? Let's see levitation, gem finding, heating up water, teleporting, and walking on clouds. So five. I know not really impressive."
"Hmmm... Well some of those have potential to be used for offense or defense, but I still have a lot to teach you."
"Like what?"
"I've been asked to teach you three spells in particular. Forming a shield, shooting a beam and, probably the most advanced, spawning a weapon, but first I want to expand on that gem finding spell. If you can take gems or rocks out of the ground you can use them as projectiles."
"Oh yeah that's how I'm going to defeat Inferno. By throwing rocks at him."
"You never know. I mean levitation can already turn anything into a projectile and a rock is a nice solid object. Hit him in a good spot on the head, bam, he's dead."
"Okay fine."
I searched the area till I found a good size rock underground I focused on it until I felt that I had a good grip on it with my magic. Then I ripped it right out of the ground, but instanly dropped it due to the headache I got from doing that.
"Aaaaaahhhhh" I exclaimed rubbing my temples.
"Not bad. I mean for somepony who's technically not even a year old and..."
"So you do know about it."
"Yeah Princess Celestia told me before you arrived."
"Yet, she didn't tell you that I know your sister, let alone used to live with her."
Shining shrugged and then told me "That's good for today."
______________________________________________________________________________
I made it to the room I'd be staying in where I sat my stuff down on the bed. I opened up one of the bags to take out a picture. It was of Rainbow and I on our first, official, date at Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie took it with out our consent, but we still liked it and decided to keep it. It showed the two of us siting at a table with two milkshakes on it. Rainbow was giving me a peck on the cheek while I was just blushing. I put the picture back and sighed. "I miss you already."
______________________________________________________________________________
A few days later I was in the middle of the training field practicing the stone attack, which I was extremely close to perfecting. The area was set up with about six dummies. I used the levitation spell and took a rock out of the ground and threw it at one of the mannequins, taking it's head off.
"Well done." Shining said. "Now can you get the rest?"
I smirked and used all my might to take several stones out of the ground and fired them all at once. It was a scattered shot, but I took out all the targets.
"Nice job now I think we can..." Shining began to say before somepony behind him spoke up to him.
"Having fun?"
Shining turned towards the pink alicorn.
"Oh hey Cadence. Come to visit me at work?"
"I guess so." She giggles and the looked at me. "So you're Seth?"
"Yes." I responded.
"Shining's told me a little about you. I'm Princess Cadence. Shining Armor's girlfriend and niece of Celestia and Luna."
"Uh...I'm Seth. Rainbow Dash's boyfriend and employee of Twilight Sparkle."
"Twilight? Wow, I used to foalsit her. I don't personally know Rainbow Dash, but I know of her."
"Wait you said you two are dating right?"
"Yes." Answered Shining.
"So you're a royal guard captain and dating a princess, and as for Twilight she's Princess Celestia's personal student and the wielder of the Element of Magic. Man, your parents have some serious bragging rights."
They both laughed and Shining responded with "Yeah I guess they do."
______________________________________________________________________________
It was two days later and I got the shield spell down surprisingly quickly. So I was ahead of schedule.
I walked into my suite, where I found a box on the bed. I opened it to find a bottle of cider and a note which said 'Yes we saved you some too.'
"Hey Seth are you busy right now?" Shining asked from the door way.
"Oh not at all. What are you here for?"
"I came to give you these instruction on the next spell."
"Oh yay! Homework!" I said sarcastically.
Shining smirked and put them down on the room's desk.
"So what do you have there?" He asked.
"Cider. Want some?"
"I guess one glass won't hurt."
One hour and a bottle of cider later...
"You, you know Seth? You are a really cool guy." Shining said in a drunken state.
"I-I-I wouldn't...descibe myself as...cool." I said also quite tipsy.
"Oh don't be hard on yourself."
"I'm not...I mean I'd say that...my life is more stressful than cool. I mean I was created by Discord...I'm a little surprised...t-that the P-Princess didn't...have me arrested be-because of that. I'm not that great at magic and I can't even sleep...w-w-with...out being reminded that. Thank Celestia I have Rainbow Dash."
"You really love her don't you?"
"I do. I mean...she's the most amazing mare in the world! She's beautiful, fun, cute, funny, adorable, cute."
"You said cute twice and adorable is almost the same thing so three times."
"But she is. That sleek coat, that flowing mane, those gorgeous magenta eyes."
"Heh...I see Cadence the same way...hey Seth can you keep a secret?"
"Sure man, what?"
"I'm planning to propose to Cadence soon."
"Well congratulations."
"Thanks." Shining looked at the clock. "It's getting late I should be getting home."
"Okay see you later."
He left and I closed the door behind him then walked to the bed I looked at the picture and smiled.
"Goodnight Rainbow." I said to it before going to bed. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Read It and Weep | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 14: Read It and Weep
With a completely focused shot I took out a row of mannequins with a blast of red energy.
Shining clapped his hooves. "Well done Seth."
"Thanks." I responded. "It may have taken a week, but I'd say I got it down."
"Well you and I both know that you had the most trouble with aiming." he then gave a small chuckle.
He was referring to that about three days ago I completely missed the target and almost hit Princess Luna. Thankfully Shining stepped in before her personal guards assaulted me. Now that I think of it what the hay were they? I mean they had bat-like wings and fangs. Are they vampires or something? No, that can't be it. They're just myths like Big Hoof or seaponies. Maybe those were dragon wings and they are some sort of pony/dragon hybrid. That makes a little more sense to me.
A guard pony walked up to us with a scroll.
"Excuse me Captain, but Princess Celestia got this letter for Mr. Seth."
I raised an eyebrow. Why would Celestia receive a letter that's for me? Unless, somepony needed it to get to me quickly. Oh I hope nothing bad happened. I took the letter and opened it to read it's contents.
______________________________________________________________________________
Dear Seth,
I'm writing you this to inform you that while practicing her flying Rainbow Dash lost control and crashed. She's now in the hospital and I'd assume that you'd probably would want to come to Ponyville to be there for her.
Your friend,
Twilight Sparkle
______________________________________________________________________________
I quickly dropped the note and use my energy to teleport, and with a bright flash of light I was in the middle of Ponyville. Granted, from teleporting that far I got a huge migraine, but I don't care. My girlfriend is hurt so the only thing that matters to me is that I know she's okay. I started to run in the direction of the hospital.
______________________________________________________________________________
I was going through the hallways of the hospital when I heard the voice of the pony I was looking for.
"Why not a few years!"
I turned to the room it came from and ran through the open door. Everypony turned to look at me. Rainbow's face in particular seemed to light up when she saw me.
"Seth?!"
"Hey there beautiful."
"What are you doing here?"
"Twi sent me a letter telling me what happened and I got here as quickly as I could. Since I teleported all the way from Canterlot, my head feels like I went 20 rounds with a Ursa Major, but as long as you're okay I don't care. Yet, that shouldn't surprise you. You know how much I love you."
She leaned forward and gave me a little peck on the cheek. She then sat back into the hospital bed. "It's great that you're here and all, but I'll still be board out of my mind!"
Twilight then ran out of room and came back with a book. Rainbow picked it up and read the title. "Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone."
"This is the first story in the series. I own all of them." Twi said giving a huge grin.
"No thanks." Rainbow said throwing the book to the side. "I so don't read! I'm a world class athlete. Reading's for eggheads like you Twilight, no offence, but I do not read. It's undeniably, unquestionably, uncool."
Everypony else laughed and basically told Rainbow that they all like to read. Well, Pinkie said something about oranges. I didn't say anything because I work at the library so it goes without saying.
We were asked to leave so Rainbow can rest. I reluctancy left with the others, and by reluctancy I mean Twilight had to carry me out with her magic.
"UUUGGH! Why do we have to leave! I mean it's only 11:00! Rainbow doesn't normally nap till 3:30!" I complained once we got outside the hospital.
"Seth you have to be patient." Twilight told me.
"Okay Twi, you get a significant other and be separated from them for almost to two weeks, and then let's see how you act." I responded, more coldly then I was intending to.
Twilight didn't say anything, but her face got a small blush. Not too shocking because I basically just said 'get a boyfriend.'
______________________________________________________________________________
I woke up the next day and quickly made the bed, ate breakfast and fed Tank. I then pictured the hospital room in my head and teleported right at the foot of Rainbow's bed. She didn't seem to notice me because she was reading the book Twi gave her.
I smirked and the asked, "Enjoying the book?"
She instantly looked up in surprise. Her face was a bright red.
"Oh...uhhh...S-Seth I....uhhh...okay you caught me. I'm an egghead!"
"Yes, Rainbow you have joined the darkside! You are now one of us! We drink blood and play Creatures & Caverns every Friday!" I said jokingly, but Rainbow didn't find it funny so I put my arm around her and then told her "Rainbow, like the others said there's nothing wrong with reading." I levitated the book up. "How about we read together?"
She smiled at me. "I'd love to."
We sat there together reading aloud, alternating between every other paragraph. I've read the book before so she didn't have to backtrack for me. As I was saying we continued with this till there was a knock on the door. Rainbow grabbed the book and hid it under the covers.
"Hi Rainbow Dash!" Twilight and Fluttershy said at the same time.
"Oh and hi Seth." Fluttershy added.
"Hey...guys." Rainbow said.
"We thought we come to cheer you up." Fluttershy said.
"We brought your favorite board game." Twi said levitating it.
Oh great Battleclouds. Rainbow always kicks my flank at this game, but at least I always win at Gamble. Hey if you rule the Kangaroo Kingdom, you rule the world.
"We now how much you like to win." Fluttershy stated.
"You go first, Rainbow Dash." Twi said.
"No, no, you first." Rainbow responded.
So I watched Rainbow purposely lose the game without even getting a single turn as Fluttershy pointed out.
"You win some, you lose some." Rainbow said putting on a nervous smile.
"But you don't lose some. I don't think you ever lost a game of..." Twi began to say before being interrupted by a loud yawn from Rainbow.
"Thanks for coming."
"But yesterday you where disparate for things to do."
"Do?! Who said anything about Daring Do? I told you I'm not interested in reading."
Rainbow shut off the lights and pretended to sleep.
"Alright then." Twilight said walking out the room.
Rainbow pulled the book out from under the covers and we carried on with the reading. We read another chapter tell we heard, "Hellooooooooooo Rainbow Dash!"
Pinkie, Applejack and Rarity walked in and once again Rainbow hid the book.
"How's our patient doing today?" Rarity asked.
"We need to get some fresh air in here. You're looking sweatier than a pig wagerer on a summers day." Applejack said walking by us to open the window.
"Uh...Well guys thanks for visiting, but..." Rainbow said before a nurse walked in with a tray of what could barely qualify as food. "Oh, just in time I am so hungry."
"Don't mind us Rainbow Dash." Rarity said.
"Go ahead and eat up." Applejack added.
Rainbow then, quote on quote, "ate" the food in way that made all three of them uncomfortable enough to leave.
Rainbow spat out the food and pulled the book back out. We continued to read until the nurse came in asking me to leave so Rainbow can rest, but I know she probably read that book all night.
______________________________________________________________________________
I went back the next day to see that Rainbow was being checked out off the Hospital.
I pushed her wheelchair out for her. When we got outside Rainbow didn't seem happy.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I didn't finish the book." She told me.
"Hold on."
I teleported into the room, grabbed the book and then teleported back to Rainbow.
"There you go I just committed petty theft for you."
Rainbow smiled and then hugged me. "Thank you so much!"
"You know there's a lot more Daring Do books so if you want to read the others I'd suggest you'd go to the library."
"I can't after I called Twilight an egghead and all."
"Oh, come on now Rainbow, we're talking about Twilight here. I'm sure she'll forgive and respect you for admitting that you where wrong."
Rainbow was silent for a second. "I hope you're right Seth."
We went back to the house. Rainbow had the book under her arm.
"So you'll take my advice?" I asked.
"Yeah I will." She answered.
"Okay I should be heading back to Canterlot."
"'Kay see you on Hearts and Hooves day."
"Oh, speaking of which what would you like for it?"
"Just dinner out would be nice."
I gave her a quick kiss. "Okay. Bye Rainbow. I love you."
"I love you too." |
Spawn of Disharmony | Hearts and Hooves Day | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 15: Hearts and Hooves Day
The training grounds echoed with the sound of metal clashing. Shining and I were sparing with our magically spawned weapons. His was broadsword and mine ended up being a rapier with a silver and purple handle. After several clashes of our weapons I pushed Shining down with my magic. While he was down I pointed my sword at his throat. He looked up and smiled.
"Nice job, you finally beat me." He said getting up.
"Thanks." I said.
"So I'd say your training is done." He then gave me a salute, not to be rude I gave him one as well. "Congratulations on completing these spells and thank you for not being too difficult to work with."
"It's been a honor Captain."
"Seth, I told you that we're friends now so you don't have to call me Captain."
"Do you want the sign of respect or not?"
We then both laughed.
I was heading to my room when I saw Princess Celestia standing in the middle of the hallway. (Okay do I ever run into her anywhere other than a random hallways in the castle.)
"Afternoon Princess." I said, bowing to her.
"Good afternoon Seth, so I heard you completed your training."
"Yeah and one day before Hearts and Hooves Day too. So I'd say perfect timing there, but about the spells I learned, do you think they will be enough to stop Inferno? I mean you said you had to us the Elements of Harmony to defeat him before."
Princess Celestia feel silent for a few seconds before answering me. "The thing is...we didn't have to use the elements on him, Luna and I probably could have defeated him with out them."
"Then why did you use them if he wasn't that big a threat?"
"Oh he was a threat don't get me wrong, but the story is longer than what I told you in the library back in Ponyville."
"Care to explain?"
"Okay, but in the throne room please."
So we got to the throne room. Princess Celestia sat down and began the story as she said she would.
______________________________________________________________________________
"All those years ago the Griffins and the Gargoyles were in a brutal war with each other. Inferno was the leader of the Gargoyle Nation at that time, as I said he committed several war crimes, mostly the killing of innocent civilians, but that was part of the reason we fought him. He claimed that he'd do the same to Equestria when the came here to say that to us personally."
"So he's not too bright is he?" I asked.
"Well, I wouldn't say that. I think his idea was to toy with us psychologically, but it didn't turn out well for him because as you know we used the Elements to defeat him."
"You, still haven't told me why because you said you could have done it without them. Was it to because it was the easiest way or something?"
"Not really...while he was here he made...an example of...somepony who was very...special to me."
I got what she was saying as a tear rolled down her cheek
"So you used the elements out of anger? Kinda seems a little contradictory with the whole magic of friendship thing."
"Yes I did...That's why I hopped that he was killed."
The Princess started to actually break down into tears. May I remind you this is Princess Celestia here. The most powerful pony and ruler of Equestria. Saying that it didn't feel right is an understatement.
"I understand Princess, I mean if anything like that ever happened to Rainbow...I don't know what would happen." after I said that I got a quick flash of that evil-looking version of myself. It made me shudder a bit. "I'm sorry if I brought back any bad memories."
"Oh, don't worry. I'm okay...you can't change the past...I've tried."
"Wait, so what you tried time travel and failed."
"No, but I was encountered by a brown earth pony who told me that changing that even could have a drastic effect...he also told me about you."
"Wait what?!"
"He told me that he's worked with you in the past or I guess in your case the future and how you'd take care of it."
"Uhhh...this is all confusing me. So if you've been told about me then you did know who I was when you first meet me, that's why I wasn't arrested for being created by Discord, so wait does that mean you know the whole time about Discord and Inferno."
"To answer you questions. Yes, kinda, and no for both of them."
"What do you mean but kinda and no?"
"What I said before about you not being like Discord and being friends with Twilight and her friends mostly helped you there and by no I me he didn't tell me that you were created by Discord, maybe he didn't even know, and when he said that "Seth will take care of it." I didn't know what he meant at that time."
"So who's this time traveling earth pony who told you about me?"
"He's called The Doctor."
______________________________________________________________________________
The next day I have just got off the train and I was now back in Ponyville. I started looking around for my favorite pegasus, but I ended up being tackled to the ground by a blue blur. Huh, that happens to me a lot now doesn't it?
So I was on the ground in Rainbow's embrace while she was digging her head into my chest.
"Welcome back Seth. I missed you." She said.
"I missed you too Rainbow." I responded, giving a small kiss. "Happy Hearts and Hooves Day."
"Yeah, happy Hearts and Hooves day." |
Spawn of Disharmony | A Friend in Deed | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 16: A Friend in Deed
I have just finished putting the returned books back and I was making my way downstairs. As I was I started to hear the voice of Pinkie Pie.
"I just can't believe it. Cranky said he would never, forever be my friend. It was horrible."
Then Twilight spoke up. "I know this is hard for you Pinkie, seeing that you're friends with everypony, but you're just going to accept that Cranky is going to be an exception. He just doesn't want to be bothered."
"Yeah, he doesn't want to be bothered by your over the top, super hyper antics." Rainbow added.
"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted at her.
"No, no. It's okay Twilight. I get what you're saying, what you're both saying. I guess I can leave Cranky alone. Right after he accepts my apology!" Pinkie said before walking out.
Twilight slammed her face into her book.
I was standing on the step above the one Rainbow was lying on. Not really sure if that's really that comfortable, but she's known to nap in trees sometimes so what do I know. Anyways I leaned down to give her a peek on the forehead. She looked up and smiled.
Suddenly a pink mare with a purple and white mane ran burst through the door.
"Congratulations Seth, I have some use for you again." She said.
"Oh hi Screwball haven't seen you in a while." I said.
"Hey don't blame me, Colgate keeps piling me with paper work."
"Oh yeah, you're her secretary. I forgot about that."
"Anyways, as I said I need you're help."
"With what?"
"I heard you now a gem finding spell and I have to find some of these magically charmed stones that I can use for my armored suit."
She then took a book out of one of her saddlebags and flipped it to a certain page with a picture of a flat circular gem.
"Sprit Stones?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Hmmmmm...I guess I could try to find this gem. I mean I've been practicing a locator spell so maybe I can use both to..." I said trying to do it when my horn started glowing. "Okay follow me."
______________________________________________________________________________
We walked along the path that my horn was pointing me witch was through the Everfree Forest. We avoided a patch of poison joke, walked by Zecora's hut and finally we made it to a huge cave.
"Is this it?" Screwball asked.
"Yup." I answered.
"Okay let's go in."
We walked into the cave and I asked her "So if you're building armor why do you need magic gems?"
"For flight and maybe pulse blast."
"You sure that's a good idea?"
"You can't stop progress. Hey with the ideas I have I bet in ten years time I'll be one of the riches ponies in Equestria. I mean where do you see yourself in ten years?"
"Married to a Wonderbolt."
"You would say that."
We got to the center of the cave to find a large pile of jewels.
"Okay Seth find the gems!" Screwball commanded
"Oh, so I'm you hunting dog now?"
"If you want to put it that way, yes."
I rolled my eyes and went around the pile.
"I only found four." I said levitating them to her.
"Oh that's perfect."
"Okay we should go now."
"Why do you sound so nervous?"
"Well, cave plus pile of gems normally equals..."
"RRRROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
"...dragon."
Seemingly on cue a fully grown green dragon came into the cave and look down at us.
"What are you doing in my cave?!" It said in a deep, very pissed voice.
"We're taking a few gems for science. Huh, using magic for science I realize how weird that is." Screwball answered.
It lowered it's head down to her. "You think I'll let you little ponies steal from me?"
Screwball got a devilish grin on her face and reached into her saddlebag.
"Yes, because...ACID!"
She threw a glass vile that shattered on the dragon's face.
"RRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" It screamed in pain.
"Okay Seth lets go!" Screwball said.
"Huh?" I responded, dumbfounded by what just happened.
"Teleport us out of here you bastard!"
"Well, that's some unnecessary rudeness." I said smirking at her.
"Just do it!"
So with a flash of light we were at the edge of the forest.
"Thanks for you help Seth." Screwball said walking off.
"Wait, I just want to know, why the hey did you have a vile of acid on you?"
"I have my reasons."
She then walked away leaving me a little confused.
I went back to the library to see Rainbow, Twilight and Pinkie.
"Hey guys." I said walking in.
"So Seth you find those gems?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah, we stole them from a dragon, but still yeah." I anwsered. Then I turned to Pinkie. "So did that Cranky guy forgive you?"
Pinkie got a smile on her face. "Sit down Sethy. Auntie Pinkie Pie is going to tell you a story."
______________________________________________________________________________
"So he spent all this time looking for her...wow...Well I do understand. I mean if Rainbow disappered I'd do the same."
Rainbow then nudged her head agenst my arm.
"You sound so sappy right how." she said.
"But, I thought you liked it when I got sappy." I said before kissing her.
She giggled. "Yeah I do. It's sweet."
"Thank you Rainbow." |
Spawn of Disharmony | Putting Your Hoof Down | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 17: Putting Your Hoof Down
It was 8:30 A.M. on a Saturday morning. I woke up and the first thing I did was recasting the cloud walking spell on myself. I looked over to my right side to see Rainbow still asleep. I smiled at how cute she looked and then rolled out of bed. Walking into the living room I found Tank on the couch curled into his shell. I walked up to him and cast the cloud spell on him as well.
I walked into the kitchen and started to make some toast and coffee. Somepony suddenly wrapped their arms around me.
"Morning beautiful, you sleep well?" I asked her.
She nodded and dug her face into the back of my neck.
"Awwww...You two...are so...cute to...gether!" A voice from behind us called.
Rainbow let go of me and we both turned to see the head of Pinkie Pie popping in and out of the floor in our kitchen.
"Uhhh...Hi Pinkie...what's up." Rainbow said to the mare.
"Well thanks...to this...trampoline...I'm up...and down...up and down...up and down...up..."
"We get it." I said slightly annoyed.
"Sorry...I came...over here...because...Ditzy Doo...put Dashie's...new Wonder...bolts catalogue...in the...Cake's mail...box so...here you go." She then hoofed it over to Rainbow.
"Oh thanks Pinkie." Rainbow said.
"No problem...Dashie...but to...tell the...truth I looked...at it and...there are...some weird ...things in there."
"What do you mean?"
"Well I...found some...thing called...'Soarin's Special...Offer'...it's some...weird rod...shaped thing."
I then facehoofed and turned to Rainbow. "Don't even think about it. I know how muck you love Wonderbolts merchandise, but..."
Rainbow laughed "Oh please Seth, that's what I have you for."
______________________________________________________________________________
A few days later I was out to get some supplies for Twilight when I noticed that everpony was running out of the streets and into their homes. What was going on? Is there some sort of monster in Ponyville? A stampede? No, the ground wasn't shaking for into to be that. Was there just some new creature that they've never seen before and were just being racist to? Like I heard they did to Zecora. The answer was no to all, because over the horizon came what everypony was hiding from. It was Fluttershy! Wait what?!
Fluttershy? Everypony was hiding from Fluttershy? The sweet, little, innocent, meek, animal-loving pegasus, who would most likely cry if she accidently stepped on an ant? I couldn't help, but laugh at this.
"What are you laughing at?!" She said to me.
I was still laughing and then she got an angry expression on her face.
"You laugh at me. I wrath at you!" She shouted before trying to buck me in the face. I teleported out of the way and she ended up face planting in the dirt.
"Okay one, are you okay? And two, what's wrong with you? I-Is Discord back?"
"Do I look gray to you? Besides there's noting wrong with me! This is just new Fluttershy!"
"Well I can that I liked the old one was better."
"Why is that because old Fluttershy was weak, helpless, a doormat?"
"No, old Fluttershy wouldn't try to assault me. There are quite a few things that I thought I'd never see and I have to say, you attacking somepony is defiantly high up there."
She got up and looked at me very angered. "You mock me. I sock you!"
She then tried to punch me, but I stopped her with my magic.
"Okay Fluttershy I'm asking you to stop this now. I don't know why you're acting like this, but I don't want to fight you."
"Why are you scared?"
"No, not at all. It's just that there's no situation where I'd look like the good guy fighting you."
"Well you should be scared."
She the closed and opened her eyes and gave me this intense look that felt like she was staring right into my soul. It even some how canceled my magic.
"Now be a good pony and just stay there." She told me before walking off and I did. I couldn't move at all.
______________________________________________________________________________
"Seth what are you doing? I sent you out to get those scrolls two hours ago!" Twilight said walking up to the still unmoving me. "Why are you lollygagging around and...Seth? Are you okay?"
I couldn't answer her and a very worried expression grew on her face.
"Oh...uhhh...stay here and I'll get some help." Twi said before running up.
'Stay here? Sure I could to that.' I thought to myself.
She came back with Rainbow.
"See I just found him like this." Twi explained to her.
"Oh, this was caused by The Stare. I know it's happened to me before." Rainbow told her.
"Wait are you saying Fluttershy did this?"
"Yeah, but you know she can't control it so it had to be an accident."
'An accident, yeah right.' I thought.
"What do we have to do to snap him out of it?" Twi asked.
"We have to stay something that shocks him." answered Rainbow.
"Like what?"
Rainbow tapped her hoof on her chin. "Hmmm...I got it!"
She then floated to my ear and whispered "Seth, I want to break up with you."
I snapped out of the trance and I quickly grabbed Rainbow to hug her.
"Please Rainbow don't. I'm so sorry if I did anything to get you mad at me and..." I begged her then I remembered what they said earlier.
Rainbow laughed. "Yup, that's what happens. The thing that snaps you back into reality is what you first react to. Even though you could see and hear the whole time."
"Really? Interesting." Twi said writing things down in a notepad that seemed to come out of nowhere.
"So what happened Seth?" Rainbow asked.
I sighed and explained the whole thing.
______________________________________________________________________________
A few days later Fluttershy dropped by our house.
"Oh...hi Seth. I came to apologize for trying to assault you and...you know using The Stare on you. I was trying to be more assertive and I was given some bad advice." She said hiding behind her mane.
I smiled at her. "It's okay Fluttershy I forgive you."
"Thank you Seth." She said before flying away.
______________________________________________________________________________
Later that night, while asleep I found myself facing, who less, but Inferno.
"Greetings Seth."
"Okay Inferno are you going to tell me what is plan or yours is or what?"
"Right to the point. I mean you're not even trying to trick me into monologging. I like that, but no not yet. I will give you a hint in the form of a question. Have you ever heard of the multiverse theory?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with..." I was asking before he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Author's Notes
I kinda have an idea to make a separate story involving Seth that shows stuff happening to him that has nothing to do with any of the episodes. Kinda like what TotallyNotABrony did with "A Dream".So this would basically be Spawn of Disharmony's "More Dreams". It's also an excuse to have Seth interact with other characters. Like I already have an idea of Rainbow and Applejack forcing Seth and Big Macintosh to have a guy's night out. What do you guys think? |
Spawn of Disharmony | It's About Time | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 18: It's About Time
Rainbow and I were going through town when Twilight jumped onto a bridge post with a pair of joke glasses on.
"Listen everypony I got something really important to say." She announced, only to be laughed at due to the glasses. Realizing this she threw them off and continued. "This is no laughing matter, we got a crisis on our hooves."
A gasp came from the small group of ponies.
"I just been visited by myself from the future."
More laughs came from the ponies.
"This is not a joke! My future self tried to warn me of a horrible disaster, that's going to occur sometime before next Tuesday morning!"
"What kind of disaster?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know. I got sucked back into the future before I could explain."
"Run for your life!" Pinkie screamed, floating thanks to a bunch of balloons.
"What ever should we do Twilight? How do we stop a disaster if we don't know what it is?" Rarity asked.
"We'll just have to work together to make sure we're safe. Rainbow Dash!"
Rainbow flew into the air.
Twilight continued "You and the other pegasi spread out over Equestria and look for any problem that can lead into a disaster, and I mean anything."
"You got it." Rainbow responded before flying off.
"Everypony else." Twi said before being interrupted by a screaming Pinkie Pie.
"Anypony else want to panic with me? No?" She then screamed on.
"Everypony else time to disaster-proof Equestria." She finished saying.
______________________________________________________________________________
So I was assigned to go along the dirt roads and take any rocks sticking out of the ground.
After I appeared to be finished, I began to walk back when I started to hear this strange noise. I can't really describe what it sounded like. When I walked over to where it was coming from I saw some short of blue booth thing appearing out of nowhere.
I went over to it to examine it. Like I said it was a blue booth. It had the words "Police Box" above the door. Which suddenly they opened to reveal a chestnut colored earth pony.
"Oh, well hello there." He said to me.
"Uhh...hi I'm Seth. Who are you?" I asked.
"Oh I'm The Doctor."
"Wait, You're The Doctor?! I mean I've seen you around Ponyville, but I can't believe that the time traveling pony that Princess Celestia told me that told her about me was right under my nose."
"Wait what?" A voice from inside the box which turned out to be Ditzy Doo.
She straighten her normally crossed or "Derped", as someponies in town put it, eyes and looked at me. "Oh, Hi Seth. You're not still mad at me for dropping the beam on Rainbow are you?"
"Nah, I got back at you with that exploding muffin prank remember?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Muffin murderer."
"So what were you saying about Princess Celestia?" The Doctor asked me.
I sighed. "Time for back story."
______________________________________________________________________________
"So The Doctor in the future tells Princess Celestia in the past about you in the present and that you in the future well defeat one of her enemies from her past." Ditzy reiterated.
"Basically yes." I responded.
Yeah I told them about what Princess Celestia told me about Inferno and that The Doctor stops her from changing the past. Of coarse I left out the one detail about myself that I obviously would.
"So, Is this you're time machine?" I asked.
"Yes this is The TARDIS." The Doctor said.
"Looks like it'd be kinda cramped in there."
"Oh it's bigger on the inside." Ditzy said, "Good thing right Fatty Doctor."
"I'm not fat!" The Doctor responded to her.
"Fatty Doctor the Time Lard." Ditzy taunted.
"I'm not fat! And it's Time Lord!"
I was on my back laughing.
"What's so funny?!" The Doctor asked in an angry tone.
"Oh nothing." I said with a smirk on my face. "So anyways are we going time traveling or what?"
______________________________________________________________________________
"Sweet Holy Mane of Celestia!" I said walking into a large circular room of The TARDIS.
"I told you that it was much bigger on the inside. You should see the swimming pool." Ditzy said.
"I don't know. I've never really gone swimming before."
"There's no time for that anyways." The Doctor said.
"A guy with a time machine says there's no time for something." I say aloud. "I don't know why, but that's a little funny. So anyways are we going to see what this disaster Twilight was talking about was."
"We just got back from doing that. No disaster, she went back to the past to tell herself not to worry about meeting her future self. Would of made more sense to not go back at all in my opinion, but we're just lucky that she didn't cause a time paradox." The Doctor responded. "So Seth was it?"
"Yeah."
"Hmmm...I have to say I haven't meet many ponies with human sounding names."
"Hu what now?"
"Would that be short for Setali?"
"Well yeah, but just call me Seth."
"So not only a human name, but a Jewish one."
"What the hay is a Jewish?"
The Doctor laughed and then continued with what he was going to say before.
"Okay Mr. Seth any particular date you want to go to and check out?"
I thought of it for a second before a certain date popped into my head.
"Yes." I said. "September 17th of last year."
______________________________________________________________________________
We stepped out of The TARDIS to see what I was hoping to. Pink checkered ground, floating pies and chocolate rain. Yup this was it. September 17th, the day Discord was free. The day of my creation.
"Why did you want to come here?" Ditzy asked.
"Well, the best way I could put it is that it's the day I came to Ponyville and more importantly my birthday." I told her.
"You did this when Discord was loose. Wow, bad timing."
"Let's just say it wasn't up to me."
"What do you mean?"
"*Sigh* Well since most likely you two are going to follow me you're going to find out anyways. So walk with me as I tell you why I wanted to come here."
______________________________________________________________________________
"You were created by Discord?!" Ditzy shouted.
"Shhh...not so loud." I tell her.
"Wow fascinating, but I'm not too shocked I mean I'm a 900 year old Time Lord currently in the body of a pony and I've seen stranger things anyways." The Doctor says.
"Does this change you're opinion of me? I mean I know we barely know each other and..."
"Well that depends do Twilight and the other element wielders know?" Ditzy asked.
"Of course they do and they've accepted it because I obviously don't hate them. Hell, everypony know's I'm with Rainbow Dash so there's no way that would of happened it I did."
"Good enough for me." Ditzy said.
"So anyways the reason I wanted to come here is because I don't know why he created me. If I have a purpose for existing. So really I just want some closer." I explain to them.
"Finding one's purpose? Well that's defiantly a good reason for us of the TARDIS, but don't make it a habit of borrow it. It's my machine and don't do anything that can drastically change the future." The Doctor instructed.
"Don't worry Doctor I'm not going to touch myself or anything."
I then facehoofed at what I just said.
So we found the Draconequus we were looking for, but stayed hidden a earshot away. And it was perfect timing too.
"Ahhh...Feels so good to be out of that stone." Discord said aloud. "Hmmm...What to do now?"
He looks around and see's Screwball flying around with a beanie on her head.
"Meh, I made a mare, why not a stallion?"
He then snapped his fingers and a dark blue unicorn stallion with a red mane appeared out of thin air.
"Now my little spawn of disharmony say here while Daddy sits on his throne and drinks chocolate milk." He said to the unconscious unicorn before snapping his fingers and vanishing.
"He made me because he was bored?" I asked to nopony in particular.
"Oh Seth, I'm so sorry for you." Ditzy said.
"Why are you sorry? This is great!"
"What?" They both asked.
"Well, if there was no reason for my creation then that means Discord isn't responsible for who I am. And notice that, that past version of me looks different. I've seen that version of myself in dreams before, but what's important is that I look different now and I'll ask you how can that be?"
Ditzy gasped and said, "The Element's of Harmony!"
"Exactly. So that means that when Discord got hit by them and erased all he did, it effected me and I assume Screwball too. That's why I didn't have any loyalty to he and became friends with the wielders. They're responsible for who I am! You see that's why this is great!"
"Wow, I never thought it could be possible to be happy about not having a reason to exist." Ditzy said.
"Well I my birth my not have a reason, but my life does. And that reason is named Rainbow Dash."
______________________________________________________________________________
So we got back to The TARDIS and when back to the present.
"Well thank you Doctor. We should do this again sometimes." I say walking out of The TRADIS.
"Sure I mean I'll be interested to have a unicorn for a traveling companion. Granted you're not the purple one, but that's okay I guess black looks cool." He said.
"What do you mean by 'Granted you're not the purple one'? Doctor do you have a thing for Twilight?"
"What?! No!"
"I mean if that's the case, I mean I'm good friend of her's and I work for her. I could introduce you to her and..."
"He's not interested." Ditzy mumbled.
"Well I could..."
"He's not interested!" She shouted before slamming The TARDIS's door in my face.
"Jealous much?"
"I'm not Jealous!" She shouts from inside.
I shrugged and started to make my way back home. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Dragon Quest | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 19: Dragon Quest
I along with Rainbow, Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie where in a trench to watch the dragon migration. Rarity wasn't there yet and Fluttershy stomped on Rainbow chest and ran away. Truthfully if any other pony, but Fluttershy did that, I probably would prank them or something to get revenge, like I did with Ditzy. Oh well.
Twilight was looking through a pair of binoculars.
"I don't see any dragons." She stated.
"Me neither." Applejack added.
"Me neither, neither. Shoot." Pinkie said holding her binoculars backwards.
"You don't think we missed them do you?" Rainbow asked.
"I don't think so. We're just a little early and I'm glad we are. This way we can watch the migration without bringing any unwanted attention to ourselves." Twi said.
"Yoohoo!" Called Rarity walking down a red carpet with an explosion of confetti.
"Well? What do you think? Am I the toast of the trench or what?" She asked.
"You'll be toast alright. When the dragons see you prating around in that getup." Applejack whispered.
Twilight teleported the carpet and confetti away and said, "You look very nice Rarity, but could you maybe look nice down here in the trench with us?"
"Nice is an understatement. I look fabulous. Who says camouflage has to be drab?" Rarity then said.
"Well nopony, but camouflage is suppose to be practical. I mean where could you blend into? A circus maybe?" I asked.
Rarity gave me a small glare while everypony else chuckled a little bit.
"Dragons ahoy." Pinkie called.
We watched hundreds of dragons fly above us.
"Amazing." Twi said as one did a loopy-loop.
"Pretty lame move. That all you got?" Rainbow said.
Two dragons started fighting and we all ducked under the fiery breath of one. Well technically I instinctively grabbed Rainbow and pulled her down with me, but I'm sure she would have ducked anyways.
"What do you think of that move Rainbow Dash?" Applejack asked, "Still super lame?"
"Uh...Not so much. The word fierce comes to mind." responded Rainbow.
"And formidable." Rarity added.
"And super duper scary." Pinkie added as well.
"Yeah us dragons are a force to be wrecked with." Spike, who I have no idea were he came from. I swear he wasn't here a second ago, said giving out sweets to everypony.
Rainbow started laughing. "Yeah right Spike. That's one of the scariest aprons I've ever seen."
Pinkie, Applejack and I started laughing as well.
"What's wrong with wearing an apron?" Spike asked defensefully, "You won't be laughing when you spill blueberries all over your scales, feathers. That's one tough stain."
"One tough stain against one lame dragon." Rainbow said laughing again.
"You leave him alone Rainbow Dash! Spike's style is unique. He doesn't have to look like other dragons." Rarity said.
"Or act like them." Twilight added.
"My little Spiky-Wiky is perfect the way he is." Rarity said playing with his scales.
"I don't act like other dragons?" Spike asked.
"Oh not even close." Pinkie answered.
"But why, would you want to Spike?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah last time you did you almost destroyed Ponyville remember?" I added.
They all stared at me.
"What? Did I say something offensive?" I asked.
Rarity looked back at Spike and continued "You got something those dreadful, fierce dragons can only dream of."
"What's that?" Spike asked with hope in his eyes.
"The cutest little chubby cheeks." She answered playing with them.
"Cute?! Dragons aren't suppose to be cute! Right?"
"Oh you're turning the most delightful shade of red. It's most becoming."
Spike grunted and walked out of the trench frustrated.
"Aww, isn't he adorable when he woddles off in anger?" Rarity asked everypony.
"Woddles?! UUUUUUGGGGGHHH!" Spike shouted back.
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The next day Rarity, Rainbow and I were walking to the library to invite Twilight and Spike to breakfast.
"Hey guys!" Rarity and Rainbow said opening the door.
This startled Spike, making him jump behind a pile of books.
"Good morning." Rarity sang.
"You want to join us for breakfast?" Rainbow asked.
"That sounds great. I'm famished." Twilight said.
"Count me out. I got to get an early start." Spike said.
"An early start?" Rarity repeated.
"Yes, I'm going on a quest of self discovery. I need to have to learn what it means to be a dragon. The only way I'm going to do that is to join the dragon migration!"
"WHAT?!" We all shouted.
Rainbow walked up to Spike as he was packing and said to him, "Spike that's nonsense talk. I know you're a dragon and all, but those dragons mean business. They're big and tough and scary."
"And I'm small and weak and I like to wear aprons. See this is exactly why in need to spend time with them." Spike said.
"All I'm saying is that you can get hurt."
"Darling, this time I really have to agree with Rainbow Dash. I don't want those big, ugly, nasty dragons to hurt one little scale on your cute little head." Rarity said, but Spike walked away from her.
"I'm sorry, but I made up my mind." He said walking towards the door.
"Quick! Do something! Stop him before it's too late!" Rarity commanded.
Rainbow tried to grab this stuff and had a bit of a tug of war with him before Twilight teleported them apart. She then floated what Spike packed to him.
"Don't tell me you think her should go?" Rainbow said.
"Yes. Spike, I couldn't answer your questions. My books couldn't either. I understand wanting to look elsewhere. I
truly believe in you to go on this quest and we have no right to stop you." Twi told him.
"I suppose not." Rarity said rubbing the back of her head.
"I still think you're nutty, but hey I've done lot's of nutty things." Rainbow said.
"We know." The rest of us responded.
"Well then, I guess this is good bye Spike. We can't wait to hear about it when you return." Twi said hugging him.
Rainbow then spoke, "Yeah we hope your trip..."
"Quest." Twilight corrected.
"Quest answers some of your, who am I, questions."
"Good luck man." I said.
"Thanks everypony, I know it will." He said.
Spike walked off and we waved good bye.
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"Doesn't this go against what you just said to Spike?" I asked them as they were getting into a three-pony dragon suit that Rarity made very quickly.
"We're not stopping him, we're just looking out for little Spiky-Wiky." Rarity answered defensefully.
"Whatever just be safe yourselves."
"Oh come on Seth. Do you think some dragons are going to harm us?" Rainbow asked.
"Weren't you the one that said that were big, tough and scary?"
Rainbow got a small blush on her face. I quickly grabbed her into a hug.
"D'awww, you should see how cute you look right now."
"Don't say stuff like that!" She shouted, with her face almost completely red now.
I just let out a laugh.
Well, during the time the were gone all I really did was put all those books back because Twilight didn't clean after herself. Yeah fun.
Anyways nothing happened, until one night.
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"Celestia dammit! You again?!" I shouted at Inferno. "I'm really getting bucking tired seeing you! So just tell me you plan already!"
Inferno just started laughing, "Fine, do you remember what I asked last time? About the mutiverse theory?"
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?"
"You see it's true. There really are multiple universes and You and I are from the same one."
"How that important?"
"You see we're both oddities."
"What does that mean?"
"To my knowledge you and I don't exist in any other universe, but the one we're from."
"How would you know this?"
"What do you think I've been doing for all these years?"
He then rased his arms up and hundreds, maybe thousands of light blue orbs filled up the area and Inferno carried on.
"Each of these orbs represents a different universe. When the Elements trapped me here I started to study them because they all seem to have some sort of shield around them preventing me of entering them. All different versions of our world, but with just some small differences. The most common ones are beings who are just in one universe. I dubbed these as oddities, but one day I realized that I wasn't in any or these other universes. That I too was an oddity. But, one day the shield around the universe I was from started to get weaker. The day Discord created you. I'm not sure how this works, but your existence is leading to my freedom."
"And you haven't seen me in any others?" I asked.
"Nope."
"Well Discord also made Screwball, so isn't she also involved in this?"
"No, I've seen her in other universes, but I'll say this Screwball is much different from others I've seen."
"And you told me all this because, why exactly? I mean if you never brought me here to begin with I wouldn't have left for Canterlot training to fight you, witch come think of it why am I not doing that now?"
"Don't bother. I can't be harmed here. I mean come on how do you think I'm still alive after 1,300 years? This area between universes somehow kept me alive all this time. I don't understand how, but I'm not complaining. As for the training I really don't care. I don't think you could even scratch me when I get free. Anyways I'll see you then."
He snapped his fingers and disappeared.
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I woke up and saw that I now had a sleeping Rainbow Dash next to me. Huh, I wonder when she got back. I definitely have a lot to tell her in the morning. Come to think of it I should write down what I was just told while it's fresh in my head so I can send it to Princess Celestia in the morning as well and Twi would be interested too. I'm going to have a busy day tomorrow am I? |
Spawn of Disharmony | Hurricane Fluttershy | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 20: Hurricane Fluttershy
In the library a presentation to the town's pegasi on collecting rainwater just finished/messed up so Rainbow flew in front of the projector screen to explain the rest to everypony.
"So here's the deal. Cloudsdale has chosen our own reservoir for the source of the rainwater for all of Equestia and you know what that means. That means it's up to Ponyville's Pegasi to bring that water up to Cloudsdale. Not only that, but Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts, will be here to oversee the water transfer and record our top tornado wind speed. Now last year Fillydelphia broke the wind speed record with a top speed of 910 wing power, but I think we can get a top speed of over 1,000! And each and everypony trains and trains hard to get their wing power numbers up!"
Somepony coughs.
"That coughing better be from a popcorn kernel Thunderlane. Nopony gets sick on why watch. So are we are going to train hard?!" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah!" Replied the crowd.
"Are we going to be strong?!"
"Yeah!"
"Are we going to be fast?!"
"Yeah!"
"Record smashing fast?!"
"YEAH!" Shouted one overly muscled pegasus, who's name I believed to be Roid Rage.
"Who's with me?!" Rainbow shouts before everypony starts cheering.
"Wow Rainbow, I never realized you were such a motivational speaker. Just look at how pumped everypony is." I told her as she lowered herself to the ground.
"Not everypony." She said pointing to the empty space that Fluttershy was a few seconds ago.
"Huh, I wonder where she went."
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I have never felt so useless before in my life and I don't like it. All the pegasi were measuring there wing power, Rainbow getting 15.5, while Twilight and Spike record it and I sit here on my flank doing nothing. I really wish I could help, but being a unicorn doesn't help you here.
Anyways it was Fluttershy's turn to test her's and it ended up being 0.5. She ran away crying. I really feel bad for her.
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A few days later I was watching the pegasi train when Fluttershy came back. She got onto the track and this time got a 2.3.
"2.3? That must be some kind of mistake. I worked so hard." She said defencefully.
"Fluttershy that's a huge improvement." Twilight told her.
"You did awesome Fluttershy." Rainbow added.
"No I didn't." Fluttershy responded.
"I'd say you did." I said. "Think about this, you went from 0.5 to 2.3 in less than a week. You may think that's not a big improvement, but really that's a 460% improvement. That's the equivalent of Rainbow here jumping up to 71.3 wing power in the same amount of time. So be proud of yourself."
"There's still no way I'll be able to get to 10.0 wing power by tomorrow."
Rainbow put her arm around her. "So you won't fly with 10.0 wing power. Every bit counts."
"How would you feel if everypony else was going at 10.0 wing power and you at 2.5?" Fluttershy asked.
"Actually it was only 2.3." Spike said before Twilight bopped him on the head and gave him an angry glare.
"Well uh... I be a little..." Rainbow was saying before Fluttershy interrupted her.
"Exactly! Humiliated. I'm sorry Rainbow Dash I just can't do it."
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Well, I was the next day and as it turned out 8 pegasi were out sick with the feather flu and according to Twilight's math this could effect everything enough to make them not even able to get the water to Cloudsdale. Rainbow decided to try any ways and they started the tornado.
Twilight noticed Fluttershy crawling towards us against the wind.
"What are you doing here?" Twi asked.
"I figured if I can't help Rainbow Dash the tornado the least I could do is give moral support." Fluttershy answered.
The tornado then feel apart and Rainbow went face first into a tree.
"Are you okay?" Twilight and I asked.
"I'm fine." She answered.
"You were so close to 800 wing power minium. Sorry Rainbow Dash." Twi said.
With my help Rainbow got pulled out of the tree and turned to Twilight.
"We got to try again!"
"But you pushed your crew to their limit already. If you break apart again somepony can get hurt. You should quit now to be safe."
"No! One more time. I got to know we gave it our all. If I go down. I'm going down flying! Come on ponies let's make this happen!"
On their second attempt they got to 795, Twi called to Fluttershy.
"They need you up there." Twi said.
"I won't make any difference." Fluttershy said back.
"You can make a difference."
"But I'm a measly 2.3 wing power. It's still too little."
"It's sticking on 795. I don't know if they got any more in them." Spike said.
"Do it for Equestia, do it for Rainbow Dash, do it for yourself." Twi said levitating a pair of goggles to Fluttershy, who took them and went into the tornado.
The arrow slowly made it to 800 wing power and the water shot out of the tornado like a cannon and landed into a collection tower in Cloudsdale and the Pegasi broke the tornado.
I trotted up to Rainbow and gave her a quick kiss.
"Congratulations Rainbow." I said to her.
"Thanks." she said before we both looked up to see Fluttershy still flying in circles.
Rainbow stopped her with a cloud.
"Whoa girl, take it easy." Rainbow told her.
"Wha? Did we do it?" She asked.
"Yeah we did it. You did it."
They then high winged.
They lowered themselves down and Spitfire flew up to Rainbow.
"Nice job Rainbow Dash. You may have not set a new record, but you showed a lot of guts."
"Thanks, but if you want to talk guts, you got to give it to my number one flyer, Fluttershy. Let's hear it for Fluttershy!" Rainbow called out to everypony.
They started to chanting while carrying her.
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Later that night Rainbow and I were back at home and Rainbow was speaking.
"Thank Celestia Fluttershy helped out, huh Seth?"
"Yeah at least she was helpful." I said.
"What do you mean?"
"I couldn't do squat to help you. You where leading this whole thing and I was stuck on the sidelines. It burned inside me that you needed all help you can get and here I am sitting on my flank."
"We got it done anyways."
"I know, it's just that I hated feeling useless."
"Seth..."
"I've never told you this, but sometimes I wish I was a pegasus. Not just to have helped with the tornado, but I want to know what it's like. You know to fly side by side with you. I know that probably sounds a little stupid."
"No that doesn't. That's actually a really sweet thing to say."
"Really thanks, but it's not just that. Sometimes when we go to Cloudsdale I sometimes notice stares from some of the city's pegasi towards us. I worry that they're thinking less of you for being with me a non-pegasus."
"Seth that's crazy. Sure Cloudsdale's my home town, but some judgmental ponies staring at you is not going to change what we have. Also, just to let you know, before I met you I used said I wouldn't ever start dating until I became a Wonderbolt."
"Really?"
"Yes, but then I met you and after we spent time together and especially when you told me you loved me I didn't care about that anymore. I just wanted to be with you."
"You put aside a personal oath for me?"
She smiled and nodded at me.
I wrapped my arms around her and started to tear up a bit.
"I love you so much." I said in a broken up voice.
"I know Seth. I love you too."
I realized then how much I loved her. She's not just my girlfriend. She also my best friend. She's my soul mate. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Ponyville Confidential | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 21: Ponyville Confidential
I was walking out of Quills & Sofas after picking up an order for Twilight when I heard somepony shout "Fire!" and saw two pies flying towards me. I stopped them in midair with my magic. I then noticed who were the ones who threw them at me. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Not shocking at all. I flipped the pies around and threw them back at them. Pinkie just opened her mouth and swallowed the pie, tin and all. As for the other pie it got Rainbow right in the face.
I walked over to them laughing.
"You two have to do better than that." I said between laughs.
Rainbow took off the tin and her face was now covered with whip cream. Pinkie and I fell onto our backs laughing. Rainbow then picked up what was left of that pie and...
Squish!
I quickly took the tin off of my face to see Rainbow with the biggest smirk I've ever seen.
"What was that about trying harder?" She asked.
"Okay you got me." I said. "Now I think I should get myself cleaned up before I get these to Twilight."
"Oh I can help you with that." Pinkie said before she, with one sweep of her tongue, wiped all the pie fragments off of mine and Rainbow's faces.
"Pinkie." I said.
"Yes Sethy?" She asked.
"Please never, ever do that again."
"Oh, Okie dokie lokie!"
Then Rarity came up to us with a newspaper.
"Hello everypony." She chirped.
The three of us all gave our different ways to say "Hi Rarity" at the same time.
"What's with the newspaper?" Rainbow asked.
"This is what I wanted to show you." She said levitating it over to us.
The three of us started laughing at the picture of the two colts stuck together with chewing gum.
"So what is this?" Rainbow asked.
"Gabby Gums. It's an article in the Foal Free Press, the newspaper at Sweetie Belle's school. Now, if you excuse me I still have to show this to the others. Ta, Ta." Rarity said before walking off.
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During the next week or so the Gabby Gums article became quite popular around town. Personally I didn't care as much as everypony else, but Rainbow was really into it. So I was often informed about new stories. Once she even dragged me along with her when she wanted to show an article with the rest of the gang, who were all at the spa.
"Hey guys!" Rainbow called, surprising Spike. Who quickly sat up, making the cucumber slices on his eyes fly off and land on Rainbow's.
"The new Gabby Gums is out. The Great and Powerful Trixie's secrets revealed." She said before eating on of the slices of cucumber.
"We already read that one Rainbow Dash. Come on, relax, have a hooficure. It feels amazing." Rarity said.
"Did you forget who you're talking to? The day I get a hooficure is the day I turn in my daredevil licences. Besides I haven't read this Gabby Gums yet."
"Well do it quietly." Spike said taking back the cucumber slice on Rainbow's eye. He was about to try to get the on that Rainbow just ate, but I slapped his claw.
"Owww! What the hay Seth?!" He said.
"Don't stick your claws in Rainbow's mouth. I mean how would you feel if you had a girlfriend and I shoved my hoof in her mouth? Besides I don't know where you claw's been." I said to him.
"Well I don't know where her mouth's been" He responded with, making Rainbow and I blush a bit. "Also she ate the other cucumber."
"Get another one."
He grumbled and did as such.
"I like Gabby Gums too, but don't you think she can be a little mean?" Twi asked.
"Ease up a bit Twilight. She's a hoot." Applejack said.
"Celestia just like us. Gabby Gums doesn't value anypony's privacy."
"Oh lighten up Twilight. It's nothing, but harmless gossip." Rarity said.
Pinkie then popped out from under the water of the hot tub with a somehow perfectly dry newspaper. "Yeah Twilight. Listen to this one. Mayor not naturally grey. The Mayor in a mane dying scandal. Who wouldn't want to read that?"
I raised my hoof.
"I just can't help, but feel sorry for the ponies features in the columns. They have to be a little embarrassed." Twi said.
"Are you kidding? You know how awesome it is to get your name in the paper?" Rainbow asked.
"Rainbow why don't you join in one of these delicious hooficures?" Rarity asked her.
"It's that good huh?"
Twi nodded.
"Well maybe just one little hoof." Rainbow said before lying down.
She then freaked out a little bit and said, "Forget it. I don't like Ponies touching my hooves."
Which was technically true. During that first month we were dating I jokingly tried tickling the bottom of her hoof, only to end up being kicked in the forehead. I probably had a horseshoe shaped bruise there, but it wasn't visible thanks to my dark coat. Hey looking like a generic character designed by Rob Liefoal, minus the always closed eyes and oversized shoulder pads, has it's benefits.
Rainbow landed near the newspaper on the ground and said, "Now I'd love it if Gabby Gums did a story on me."
"She did one on me." Spike said, before everypony else surrounded him shouting "What?!"
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Okay remember when I said I didn't really care about the Gabby Gums articles, well I care now. Well Rainbow did get what she asked for, but probably not in the way she wanted. The article about her was titled "Rainbow Dash: Speed Demon or Super Softy?" So I decided to go talk to Cheerilee about this issue. Hey, nopony messes with my Dashie.
Anyways I made it to the schoolhouse and walked into the classroom that onlypony in it was a magenta mare.
"Oh, good afternoon Seth. What brings you here?" She asked.
"Afternoon Cheerilee. I came to make a complaint." I told her.
"A complaint?"
"Yes, you see the school newspaper has posted an article of Rainbow, as well as the rest of my friends and they're really upset over them."
I placed a copy on her desk and she look through it.
"Oh, I had no idea that they were posting stuff like it."
"How could you not know? Are you saying that you leave this whole thing unsupervised?"
"Well...yes, but..."
I facehoofed and said, "Whatever, could you just do something about this?"
"Well, if anypony else also complains then yes."
I started to walk out, but then Cheerilee called, "I'm surprised that you didn't say anything about the one on you, yet it is ridiculous."
"One on me?" I asked before levitating the paper to me and reading it aloud. "Seth: Spawn... of... Disharmony......... Oh Buck Me!"
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Well, if I was upset before over the one about Rainbow, I'm really bucking pissed now. And guess who this Gabby Gums really was. The Cutie Mark Crusaders. Thanks to them all of Equestria knows the truth. Also in the past few days I've been insulted, kicked out of stores, had rocks thrown at me and also the other day I got a letter from somepony sating that they were going to stab me! I'm not kidding. Thanks to those little brats, somepony threatened to kill me! Because of this I haven't left the house with out a force field around myself. Thank Celestia I have Rainbow here to comfort me, but I worry about her too. Now everypony thinks she's dating a monster. I don't want to lose her because of this... I can't lose her... I... I can't live without her.
I told her this and she, as she always does, tackled me onto my back, hugging me. She then said to me, "Seth, I know all of this has been very stressful for you and all, but you and I know you're not a monster. There's also no way in Tartarus I'm going to leave you over this. Remember what I told you over a week ago? That some judgmental ponies well never, ever change what we have. Hopefully everypony well see the love we share and accept you for who you are."
I just stared deeply into those beautiful rose colored eyes and said nothing, but I saw her smile like she knew what I was thinking. Okay if there's a term stronger than "soul mate" than that's what I feel for her right now, if not then somepony needs to invent one.
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The Cutie Mark Crusaders made they're final article as Gabby Gums and apologized for what they did to everypony, but I was still very angry with them over the fact they didn't keep my secret safe. So we decided to talk with everypony in town.
I was standing with a shield around myself and the others where talking to the townspony telling them that what was said I the article was a lie, but something inside me told me that now that it was out we might as well not cover it up.
"Wait guys!" Called to them, making everypony turn to me. I walked closer to the crowd of ponies and began. "Hello everypony. My name is Setali Depongono le Uova di Disarmonia and that article about me was true. I am the spawn of Discord. Now before you shun me for that let me ask you all some logical questions. Have I ever harmed any of you?"
The crowd replied with several nos.
"Have I done anything to threaten any of you or Equestria?"
More nos.
"Have I shown any treason against the princesses?"
"No."
"Or loyalty to my creator?"
"Well how are we supposed to know?" asked Lyra.
"The answer is also no. You see thanks to somepony called The Doctor I saw my own creation and do you know what I learned? That I was made out of boredom. That's right I'm here now for no reason at all. He had no plans for me. Now I don't know how you would act in this situation, but I was happy because it now all made sense to me. Why I became friends with the wielders or the elements. Why I feel in love with Rainbow Dash. Now despite that one difference between me and the rest of you, I'm just a normal pony, and you hope you can look past this whole Discord thing and see me as that. A normal pony."
The town was dead silent everypony just stood there. I was so nervous. What were they thinking? Is everything going to go back to normal? Or am I going to be a outcast? Then out of the silence came stomping. Everypony turned to the grey and yellow pegasus stomping her hooves on the ground. Then, my friends join in with her and so after everypony was stomping a cheering.
They really did it. They don't fear me. That was much easier that you'd think huh? Yet, Ponyville's been through situations like this before with Zecora and Princess Luna, so maybe this wasn't too big a stretch.
I lowered the shield and quickly was grabbed into a group hug with Rainbow in the others. So here I am. Everypony knows what I am, but they also know who I am. And the main reason why those are two different things is thanks to the six mares that have me wrapped in their arms. They are really the best friends I could ever ask for. |
Spawn of Disharmony | MMMystery on the Friendship Express | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 22: MMMystery on the Friendship Express
I was running late to get onto the train heading for Canterlot for the National Dessert Competition. Ironically because I had a dentist appointment. It turns out that even if your sister is Colgate's secretary it won't make the waiting any shorter for you. Back on track I got on to the train to met up with everypony, who were marveling over The Cake's entry in the competition.
"And it's sure to win first prize." I heard Pinkie say as I stepped onto the train, only to have a griffin shove me out of his way. Yeah rude, right? He said something about his eclairs, but I didn't pay attention.
"Donut Joe, what are you doing in Ponyville?" Twilight asked the Unicorn stallion boarding the train, who I noticed had a donut for a cutie mark.
"Picking up the final, all important, ingredient for my contest entry, Donutopia! And with these super sprinkles my donut are going to dunk all the other lossy deserts, steal first prize, and make my donut shop famous forever!" He then broke into a laugh.
"Wait do donuts even qualify?" I asked him.
"What do you mean?" He responded.
"Well, this is a deserts competition and I would consider donuts more of a breakfast, but that's just me."
"Silly Sethy deserts are great anytime. Have you ever had cupcakes for breakfast? They're even better!" Pinkie said bouncing as usual.
I then heard another voice as a brown moose was being pushed in, but I had no bucking idea what it said.
"Hello. What's your name?" Pinkie asked the fake moose as a donkey popped up from behind it and said, "I am Mulia Mild. Behold my chocolate mouse moose. I will trample all your treats. Making it first prize and making me the greatest chef in equestria."
"It's just a pun and a bunch of pudding." I whispered to the others, who gave different reaction. Rainbow and Rarity nodded in agreement, Applejack gave a small smile, Twilight rolled her eyes and Fluttershy hind behind her mane.
The bakers started trash talking each other like this was a match in the Equestrian Wrestling Federation till Twilight stepped in.
"Well it sure looks like we're in for a delicious competition tomorrow. Maybe we should all settle in for a good night's sleep." She suggested.
"But it's daylight." I pointed out only to be ignored.
"I gotta admit I'm pretty beat." Rainbow said stretching.
"Yeah I'm going to hit the hay myself." Applejack said walking towards the sleeping cars, only to be blocked by Pinkie.
"Wait! Didn't you hear those chefs we have to protect MMMM." She said pointing at the cake.
"MMMM?" Rarity repeated.
"Mm-Hm. I know for super sure MMMM is the best desert in Equestria, and I know that they know it too."
"Soooo?" Rainbow asked.
"Soooooo, one for them is going to sabotage our cake tonight. You have to help me stand guard."
"Pinkie you're overreacting." Twi said.
"Yeah, those chefs aren't going to do your cake any harm." Applejack added.
"But they are. I just know it." Pinkie exclaimed.
"Fine, if you want to stand guard go for it. We're going to bed." Rainbow said flying over Pinkie.
Pinkie put her arms down and we followed Rainbow.
______________________________________________________________________________
I awoke to the sound for screaming and rushed over to where it was coming from.
"It's the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness, it's been mutilated!" Pinkie shouted getting a loud gasp in response.
"Now I just need to find out who done it."
"You mean 'who did it'." Twilight corrected.
"Exactly, who did done doed it."
"Well having read many mystery novels, I know that the only way to find out is to investigate."
"Exactly." Pinkie said putting on a detective's hat and blowing from a bubble pipe. Both she got from who knows where. "And as chief detective that's Exactly what I'm going to do."
"Uh you're investigating?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah!" Pinkie said putting a hat on Twi's head. "And Twilight shall be my lonely assistant. Who asks silly questions with obvious answers."
"Fine Pinkie should we start looking for clues?" Twi asked.
"Perfect silly question Twilight and the obvious answer is..."
"Yes?"
"No, because I know who did it."
Twi shook her head and asked, "Pinkie how could you possibly know?"
"How could you possibly not know? Clearly this dastardly deed was done by the bakers. Who knew their deserts could not measure up to the mastery of the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness. I guess you feared your eclairs lacked flair Goston!"
Pinkie went about accusing the other bakers with wild stories with logically flaws that Twilight pointed out. After being proven wrong Pinkie started to question on why the other dishes weren't eaten. Then we went through a tunnel and the two other deserts and one breakfast were also eaten.
"This mystery gets more mysterious every minute." Pinkie said.
"Well, you have to stop wild accusations and get to the truth. Everypony go back to your cars while we do a little investigating." Twi told us, but then an idea popped into my head.
"Wait, everypony I have an idea that can help us figure this out more quickly." I said.
"What do you mean Seth?" Twi asked.
"Remember that spell I did to help Screwball get those Sprit Stones she wanted?"
"Yeah."
"If I cast it on the cake I can figure out who did it. I mean you can clearly see that it's been eaten so most likely it's still in there digestive tracks."
Twi hit her forehead. "Why didn't I think of that."
I did as I said I would. I cast the tracker spell on the cake and I saw a red glow around it. I turned around to everypony and saw the same glow around three mares.
"It was Fluttershy and Rarity." I said.
"What?!" Pinkie shouted.
Fluttershy and Rarity walked up to her and apologized.
While nopony else was looking a gave Rainbow a wink letting her know that I knew she was just as guilty and I covered up for her, but she took this the wrong way and came clean.
"What?!" Rarity shouted walking up to me. "Let me guess you knew she did too and decided to through Fluttershy and I under the chariot. While keeping Rainbow Dash safe. How bias for you Seth."
"Sorry" I said.
Rarity smiled and turned to Rainbow, "Well Rainbow Dash, I certainly say you programed you stallion very well."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
During this Pinkie figured out that the other bakers ate each other's creations, but after apologizing to each other everything seemed fine. Except the mostly eaten deserts and breakfast, but Pinkie had a idea. Which turned out to be to combining the scraps to make a super dessert. They ended up winning.
Pinkie ate the whole thing in one bite and I didn't get to eat anything. Oh well.
Author's Note
I need some help with the next chapter. Does anyone know what the hay Applejack says after she's told that she'll be providing the catering for the wedding? No matter how many times I listen to that line I can't understand it. |
Spawn of Disharmony | A Canterlot Wedding Part:1 | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 23: A Canterlot Wedding Part:1
So the seven of us were having a nice picnic when Spike came running up to us, out of breath.
"Twi... Twi... I.... have *breath* let me just *breath* *breath*"
He then burped out a scroll that Twilight opened up and read aloud.
"Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as excited as I am for the upcoming wedding in Canterlot... Wedding? I will be presiding over the ceremonies, but would very much like you and you friends to help with the perpetration for this wonderful occasion. Fluttershy, I would like you and your songbird's to provide the music."
"Oh my goodness. What an honor." Fluttershy said.
"Pinkie Pie, I can think of no one more qualified than you to host the reception." Twi read.
"Yip, Yippy, Hooray!" Pinkie cheered while doing some flips.
"Applejack, you will be in charge of the catering for the reception."
"Well color me pleased as punch." Applejack said.
"Rainbow Dash, I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a Sonic Rainboom when the bride and groom complete their I dos."
"Yes!" Rainbow exclaimed, flying up a little bit in joy.
"Rarity, you will be responsible for designing dresses for the bride and her bridesmaids."
"Princess Celestia wants me to... wedding dress... for a Canterlot wedding." Rarity babbled out before fainting.
"Seth."
My ears perked up because I wasn't expecting to be assigned something.
"Since you are a friend of the groom, I would like you to assist some of his other friends with the bachelor party."
"I am? Sure I can do that." I said.
"Lucky, I wanted to do that." Spike grumbled.
"Do you even know what a bachelor party is?"
"No."
"See. Besides even if you did, you would be too young anyways."
"You're younger than me!"
"Yes, but I'm not a kid."
Twi continued with the letter.
"And as for you Twilight, you have the most important role of all. Making sure that everything goes as planned. See you all very soon. Yours, Princess Celestia."
Twi looked at the letter confused.
"But I don't understand. Who's getting married?"
"Oh wait. Uh, I was probably suppose to give you this one first." Spike said.
Twi took the new note and read it.
"Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and... *Gasp* My brother?!"
"Your brother's getting married? Congratulations Twilight, that's great news." Applejack said.
"Yeah great news. That I just got from an invitation, not from my own brother, but from a piece of paper. Thanks a lot Shining Armor. I mean really. He couldn't tell me personally?" Twi said before levitating a sandwich up and proceeded to speak with it using a voice that sounded nothing like Shining.
"Hey Twilight, just thought you should know I'm making this really big decision that changes everything. Oh never mind, you'll hear about it when you get the invitation." She put the sandwich down and spoke normally again.
"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Who in the hoof is that?!"
"That's Princess Cadence." I said.
"What?!" Twilight shouted.
"Yeah the two of them were dating while I was at Canterlot and Shining told me that he was planning on proposing to her..."
"He told you?!"
"We'll we were drunk at the time so maybe he didn't remember telling me..."
"And you didn't tell me?!"
"Uhh... Yes I did."
"When?!"
"The day after I got back I told you all of this. So let me ask you this Twilight, did you just forget or did you ignore me?"
"Well it doesn't matter if either you or the invitation told me, it should of been him. It's just that Shining Armor and I always have been so close. He's my BBBFF."
We all looked at her confused.
"Big Brother Best Friend Forever." She explained
"Oh." We all responded.
"Before I came here to learn the importance of friendship, Shining Armor was the onlypony I ever accepted as a friend."
Twi then broke into a sweet song. Okay singing at random moments is not uncommon for ponies, especially for Pinkie Pie, but I never have done it. Hell, I question where the hay the background music was coming from.
After it Applejack walked up to Twilight and said, "As one of your PFFs."
None of us knew what that meant.
"Pony Friends Forever." She explained.
"Oh." The rest of us responded.
"I want to tell you that I think your brother sounds like a really good guy."
"He is really special." Twi said sitting down. "I mean they don't just let anypony be Captain of the Royal Guard."
Rarity ran up to Twilight and said, "Let me get this straight. We're helping out with the wedding of not only a princess, but a captain of the Royal Guard?!"
"Yes we are."
Rarity fainted again.
______________________________________________________________________________
We were on the train to Canterlot. Everypony seemed to be excited, except for Twilight. Who seemed to still be upset that Shining didn't tell her about the wedding in person.
We got to Canterlot, passing through a giant force field, and we exited the train.
"Whoa what's with all the guards?" Rainbow asked.
"I'm sure they're just here to cation. Royal weddings do bring out the strangest ponies." Rarity said.
Speaking of the strangest ponies Pinkie the sneezed out some streamers and confetti. I swear if everypony didn't know better they'd think Pinkie was the spawn of Discord instead of me.
"Well let's get going. We got work to do." Rarity then said.
"And you got a big brother to congratulate." Applejack told Twilight.
"Yeah congratulate, and then give him a piece of my mind." Twi said before walking off.
The rest of us exchanged looks of concern.
Note to self if Rainbow and I ever get married remember to tell Screwball. Hey if all sisters act like this I don't to take my chances with her. She apparently carries veils of acid with her and I don't want to look like some Batcolt villain.
______________________________________________________________________________
A while later I was at the training grounds. I heard about the threat against Canterlot and figured that I should try to practice my abilities more just incase of it being Inferno.
"So you're Seth Disarmonia." A voice from behind me said.
I turned to see two ponies in Royal Guard armor walking up to me. One a dark blue pegasus with a light purple mane and a golden arrow for a cutie mark. The other a grey unicorn, who had to be at least a foot taller than me. Who had a darker grey mane and a stone wall for a cutie mark. The pegasus extended his hoof out for me to shake.
"Hello, I am Light Arrow, greatest markspony in all of Equestria, and this is Steel." The pegasus said.
"Hi." said the unicorn in a voice so deep it would rival Big Mac's.
"Uh, hi." I said. "I'm..."
"We know who you are. Setali Depallaonigo whatever the rest of your name goes Disarmonia." Light said.
"I think you mispronounced my name a little bit." I said jokingly. "So who are you two exactly?"
"We are friends of Captain Shining Armor, we were told that you be helping us with the bachelor party." Steel said.
"Oh come on Steel we don't need help with the party. Everypony knows all you need for a bachelor party is booze and strippers. Or in other words we just go to The Magical Mare." Light complained.
"You and I both know that you're banned from that place after you..." Steel began to say before Light shoved his hoof on Steel's mouth.
"You agreed that we would never speak of that again!" He shouted.
After that we chatted a little more and agreed to meet up at Shining's place a little later.
______________________________________________________________________________
I joined the others to have a drink.
Twi walked up to the table and said, "Bet I can guess what you're all thinking. Cadence is the absolutely worse bride to be ever."
We all looked at her.
"Who me?" Spike said playing with a Cadence doll.
"Spike, that goes on the cake." Applejack scolded.
"Twilight what ever are you talking about? Cadence is an absolute gem." Rarity said
"Rarity, she was so demanding." Twi said.
"Of coarse she was. Why shouldn't she expect the best for her wedding day?"
Twi turned to Applejack and asked, "Applejack, did you know after she told you how much she just love, love, loved your orderves she threw them in the trash?"
"Oh she was probably trying to spare my feelings." Applejack responded.
"No, she was just being fake and totally insincere.
We all looked at each other and Fluttershy said, "She did raise her voice at one of my birds during rehearsal."
"See, rude." Twilight said.
"But, he was singing a little off key." She said bringing said bird from under the table. Who let out a loud screech.
Twi then went to Pinkie, who was too busy playing with dolls with Spike to answer her.
"Rainbow Dash you're with me right?" Twi asked.
"Sorry Twi. Been too busy prepping for my Sonic Rainboom to pay my attention to the bride's bad attitude." Rainbow told her
"Please Seth, please tell me that you agree with me." Twilight said to me.
"I haven't seen Cadence at all today, but I talked with her a few times back during my training and truthfully she has to be one of the nicest ponies I ever met. So if what you're saying is true then it probably is just premarital stress."
Twi grunted and Rarity put a hoof on her shoulder.
"Seth's right darling. The princess is about to get married. I'm sure any negative behavior she might be displaying is simply the result of nerves."
"And I forward her as being an awful pony who doesn't deserve to even know Shining Armor let alone marry him!" Twilight shouted.
"Think maybe you're just being a tiny bit possessive of your brother?" Applejack asked.
The rest of us nodded in agreement.
"I am not being possessive and I am not taking it out on Cadence. You're just all to caught up in your wedding planning to notice maybe there shouldn't even be a wedding!" Twilight shouted slamming her hoof on the table, spilling all our drinks. She then walked away.
______________________________________________________________________________
About an hour later, I went to Shining's place, meeting up with Light and Steel along the way. We walked in to see him rubbing his temples.
"You okay?" I asked.
"Oh hey guys just a small headache from the shield." He said.
"Well if it's bothering you maybe a bachelor party isn't a good idea." Steel said.
"What?!" Light shouted.
"Think about it. Shining has to keep up the shield and the consumption of alcohol can mess up a unicorn's magic." Steel explained.
"Psssh. You unicorns are lame. A little booze and you can't do any of those fancy tricks of yours."
"Well last time I checked pegasi aren't aloud to fly while intoxicated." I said smirking.
"Guys don't worry the shield should be good till tomorrow afternoon. So let's go." Shining told us.
The four of us got to some bar and basically just sat down, drank and talked. I know not much of a party. Yet, at one point Shining and Steel were poking fun at Light for being the only single guy in the group, not to mention the only non-unicorn and the only pony who name doesn't begin with the letter "S", but that's not important. Anyways Light got pissed and basically said he could get any mare he wants. What happened next was hilarious.
He stumbles over to a blue mare with a silver mane sitting at the bar. I don't know what he said to her, but it couldn't have been in good taste, because she punched him in the face and shouted, "A drunk such as yourself doesn't deserve the company of The Great and Powerful Trixie!"
Shining, Steel and I started to laugh our flanks off.
______________________________________________________________________________
The rest of the night was kind of a blur. I kinda remember us deciding to play baseball in the training field for some reason, drunk off our flanks may I remind you. I also remember that despite the fact that Light calmed to be "the greatest markspony in all of Equestria" he could throw that ball for crap. The rest of the night is a complete blank, but I did wake up this morning with Rainbow's arms wrapped tightly around me and she had a huge smile on her face. So I'd say it was a good night.
A little later Rainbow went with the others for the wedding rehearsal. I didn't go because I'm not really needed there and besides it's just the rehearsal. It's not like anything interesting will happen. |
Spawn of Disharmony | A Canterlot Wedding Part:2 | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 24: A Canterlot Wedding Part:2
Well I was wrong. Apparently Twilight claimed that Cadence was evil. These assumptions made Cadence cry and got Twilight kicked out of the wedding by Shining. Seriously, not cool Twilight.
Now I'm getting dressed in the suit Rarity made for me. It was white, not to blend in with my coat color, with a red shirt. I have to say she did very well.
"Wow, I never knew you looked so good in a suit." Rainbow said standing next to me.
I smiled at her and said, "And you look just amazing, but it's not like you needed help with that."
Rainbow blushed and gave me a peck on the cheek.
"You two lovebirds ready yet?" Applejack asked with a small chuckle.
"Ready to go?" Rainbow asked.
"Well it's not like they're going to hold off the wedding waiting for us." I said grinning.
We walked together to the room where the wedding was being held.
_______________________________________________________________________
"Princess Cadence and Shining Armor it is my great pleasure to pronounce you..." Princess Celestia was saying before being interrupted.
"SSTTTOOOOOP!" Twilight called from the end of the doorway.
"Uugh! Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?" Cadence asked aloud.
Princess Celestia gave her a look.
"Why does she have to ruin my special day?" Cadence then asked crying.
"Because it's not your spacial day. It's mine." Said another Cadence, this one looking like she's been trapped in a mine.
"What?! But how did you escape my bridesmaids?"
Twilight and The now obviously real Cadence explained how they did such. It involved distracting them with a bouquet of flowers.
"Hmp. Clever, but still too late." Fake Cadence said.
"I don't understand. How can there be two of them?" Applejack asked.
"She's a changeling. She takes the form of somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them." Real Cadence explained.
A circle of green fire formed around the fake Cadence and she turned into her true form. Which was a black pony-like creature with insect wings, blue hair, fangs, a jagged horn, and many holes in her legs.
"Right you are Princess, and as queen of the changelings it's up to me to find food for my subjects. And Equestia has more love than any place I've ever encountered. My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it. "
While she was monologging it popped into my head to do something, so I cast the gem finding spell to find loose brick. I took it out of the wall and quickly levitated it at the changeling queen.
"Oh I doubt that." She said before turning her head and getting a brick in the face. She fell to the ground unconscious.
Everypony gasped and turned to me.
"What? Am I really the onlypony who thought about doing something like that?" I asked.
Then there was the sound of clapping from the other said of the room. We all looked to see a six foot tall orange gargoyle.
"Nice work Mr. Disarmonia. You took out Queen Chrysalis quicker than any other being I've seen. Granted some have successfully killed her and you only knocked her out, but still well done. You're a hero." He said in a very sarcastic tone.
"Inferno!" Princess Celestia shouted.
"Oh hi Tia. Long time, no see. Tell me how's Captain Claymore doing? Oh wait, I forgot, I killed him. Yet, he would of been dead by now anyways."
Now Princess Celestia looked very, very, very pissed. I walked up to her and said.
"Don't worry Princess. I'll take care of him."
"Oh look here. Setali Disarmonia challenging me with so much confidence just because for a time loop."
"What?"
"You see I know Celestia here told you that you'd defeat me because The Doctor told her, but that only happened because you told him. You see what I mean? There's no real proof it will happen. But, since you want to play I guess I can have some fun with you before I finish what I started 1,300 years ago."
Inferno snapped his fingers and both he and I disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
_______________________________________________________________________
When the smoke cleared I was coughing and I saw that we were in a new location. It seemed to be a cavern with several reflective crystals.
"You like this place? This is were Chrysalis was holding Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadence." Inferno said.
I shot a beam at him, but he flew out of the way. He then charged at me claws out. I spawned my sword and swung when he got near me.
I felt a pain in my lower abdomen. Then before I knew it I was thrown through the air. I quickly put a shield around myself right before I hit the wall. I got onto my hooves to see Inferno holding his shoulder which was bleeding he smirked.
"Huh, last time I did that I killed that little colt toy of Celestia's and he was wearing armor not a blood stained suit. I must really be out of practice" He said before laughing.
I looked to see that there was blood on my suit on the right side of my belly button area, along with five holes.
I then tried to use my sword on him again, but before I hit him he flew up and swooped down. He grabbed me by my shoulders with his feet and dragged me across the ground before throwing me at the wall. This time I wasn't quick enough to put up a shield and felt the full impact of being, well, thrown into a wall.
I was dazed and coughing. I tried to get up, but now I was pinned under a pile of rocks and I felt too week to use magic.
"Where's that confidence now Setali?" Inferno asked.
"Even if I... Even if I don't *cough* don't beat you... the Princesses did it before. They can do it again. Or even my friends the Element wielders will stop you."
"Oh I'll get to you're friends later, but I do look forward to facing the princesses. Especially that tyrant Celestia."
"What?"
"What do you mean what? Didn't you ever wonder what my motives where? You see that story Celestia told you about me had some details left out. I not just some asshole who wants to take over the world, just to take over the world. No, I just wanted to take Equestria because of you stuck up, superiortic, little pony bastards. Thanks to your Princesses Celestia and Luna and their god complexes you ponies think you're greater than all other species. Hell, the proof is in you vocabulary. Everypony, anypony, nopony. These are words you use no matter what species you're talking about. It's proof that you ponies reign supreme while all other species are second class citizens in Equestria. Kind of unfair, and Equestia is the biggest and most powerful country in the world. It should be the prime example of how the world should be, yet this has remained unchanged for thousands of years. I am here to make the world as it should be, all species and races together as equals and without rulers like Celestia having her subjects worship her like a goddess."
"But, she's an alicorn, she immortal, she controls the sun." I said.
"Yes she is an alicorn, but she is not completely immortal, and you unicorns were able to move the sun am the moon in the past without the princesses." Inferno said.
"Okay maybe you have some good points. Maybe terms like anypony sound unfair, maybe someponies do think we're better than other species. Yet, you're wrong about the second class citizen thing. All citizens in Equestria, whether it be pony, donkey, griffin, or anything else has equal rights. And I think we are the ones who chose to think the princesses as goddesses because they fit the bill. And I can tell that you would not do what you said you would. You'd just bring a reign of territory!" I shouted before I got a small burst of energy and was able to teleport out of the rocks. Yet, when I did I fell to the ground in pain.
"I swear I will stop you. I will do whatever I can to protect my friends, the mare I love and all the citizens of Equestria!"
Inferno just started laughing like a lunatic.
"Oh yes, the mare you love. You're precious little Rainbow Dash. Trust me you may be an oddity, but dating her is nothing special." "
What are you talking about?"
"I've seen many universes, and I've seen many different relationships between beings, but none more then that girlfriend of you're. I've haven't seen anyone else with more partners than her. Stallions, mares, other species, even inanimate objects. So if you think of all these as the same mare, then overall she's the biggest slut in the universe!"
I have never in my life felt more angry then I did right there and it felt like I just got a whole bunch for new energy out of nowhere. I was able to get back onto my hooves and when I saw myself in the refection for the crystals I saw what happened to me. My eyes were completely red. My coat and hair slowly was turning from black and indigo to dark blue and red. Then I spoke and it felt and sounded like somepony else was speaking at the same time with me.
"Nopony and I repeat, Nopony! Insults my girl! Nopony messes with MY DASHIE!" Is what I shouted before everything went red.
_______________________________________________________________________
The next thing I knew I was laying down in a bed with Rainbow's face looking right at me.
"Oh thank Celestia you're okay!" she said before hugging me.
"W-what happened?" I asked her.
"I should be asking you that. You just reappeared in the room were you and Inferno left, with both of you unconscious. Of course he was in worse shape then you."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you bucked him up really good."
"How good?"
"He's missing several teeth, one ear, three fingers, and both wings. I never knew my sappy boyfriend was capable of something like that. Oh, yeah his face is also practically unrecognizable. I think Rarity almost threw up when she saw him."
"I-I-I really did that?"
"Looks like it. But Seth can I ask you. What did he do to make you do that? How did you do that?"
I told her what I remember. The battle, what Inferno said his motives where, what he said about her. Everything till there was a big blank.
"So when he insulted me you just snapped?" Rainbow asked.
"I guess so. I apparently turned into a Gary Stu." I said.
"A what?"
"According to Twilight it's a term when a character in a story is made too powerful. Like how you made yourself in that Daring Do/Wonderbolts fanficion you wrote."
"Don't bring that up."
"Okay, okay. Anyways Rainbow I'm wondering, do you feel insulted by the claim Inferno made about you."
"Hell yeah I do, but you still fought for me and besides we both know that claim is wrong. Even if other versions of me are with other ponies, those are different Rainbow Dashes. And this Rainbow Dash is all yours." She said that last sentence in a slightly seductive tone.
_______________________________________________________________________
I was informed about what happened with Chrysalis. It turns out that she regain consciousness right after Inferno and I left. She fought Celestia, and despite my blow to her head, she was somehow able to beat her. Then Rainbow and the others fought an army of changelings trying to get the Elements of Harmony, but failed because there were too many of them. Then Cadence snapped Shining out of the trance he was in and they defeated the changelings by the power of their love. Yeah creatures that feed on love get defeated by love. Wrap your head around that one. I mean is that like fight fire with fire or something? I don't know.
Anyways I had to have Rarity make me a new suit, the first one was nowhere to be seen. And I got ready for the wedding. And it's a good thing suits cover the abdomen because it turns out I have a few cracked ribs from being trapped under those rocks. So nopony saw my bandages.
_______________________________________________________________________
The wedding went off with out a hitch. From Cadence's entrance, to the vows, and of course Rainbow's Sonic Rainboom. Everything turned out well.
Later at the reception, after dancing a bit with Rainbow and meeting Soarin of the Wonderbolts, I went up to the Princesses to talk.
"Evening Princess Celestia and Princess Luna."
"Good evening Seth." Celestia said smiling.
"Hello Seth, I heard about you're battle with Inferno, plus I saw the damage on him. Quite impressive." Luna told me.
"Uuhhh... okay I guess." I responded.
"I think what Luna is trying to say is that you saved Equestia and we thank you. In fact we would like to give you something." Celestia said before her horn started to glow and a metal in the shape of a fused together sun and moon appeared on my jacket.
"Thank you princesses, but truthfully I feel kinda bad for what I did."
Celestia raised an eyebrow and asked "What do you mean?"
"I let my emotions get the best of me and you saw what happened. I didn't just defeat Inferno, I deformed him. Do you think I went too far?"
Princess Celestia put her hoof under my chin and tipped my head up.
"What you say is true, but you still save Equestria from a threat and you showed your loyalty to Rainbow Dash by protecting her honor. Maybe the results were a little on the extreme side, but I don't think any less of you for it. A when the news of what you did gets out to everypony I think you may be seen as a hero."
"Thank you Princess Celestia." I said.
"You know Mr. Disarmonia maybe if you can learn to control this other form of yourself maybe you can make a great member of the Royal Guard." Luna said.
"If that's an offer then I have to decline it. I think I'm quite happy with where I am now in Ponyville."
"We understand." Celestia said.
I met up with the others as the newlyweds chariot was pulling away.
"Now this was a great wedding." Twi stated.
"Let me guess Rainbow, best wedding ever?" I asked.
"Maybe more like best wedding so far." She reasoned nudging me a bit.
I felt my face blush as the others giggle.
_______________________________________________________________________
I am Seth. I am a Spawn of Disharmony. And my story will continue, but until then everypony, I'll see you later.
Author's Notes
Okay so I guess that's it for now till season three comes out. So until then I might write some other stories. Some possibly related to this, maybe not. Who knows if I can get a good idea we might even see this Fanfic that Rainbow apparently wrote. I hope to see you all again soon and thank you all for liking and favoriting this story.
Sincerely,
KenSES64 |
Spawn of Disharmony | More Stories (A Message From Seth) | Hey everypony, Seth here. As some of you might know there are two other stories about me. And if you don't know here they are.
More Stories Featuring Seth
Seth Disarmonia and the Universe Hopping Princess
Okay there you go and...
Wait, wait, wait. What the hay?
Oh hi Screwball, what's up?
You get three stories and I have yet to get a spin-off? That is so unfair!
Well if they want one you might get on.
Okay you bronys, give me my spin-off or you'll get a face full of acid! That goes for you too Ken!
Don't bring me into this.
What the author is here now?
Don't worry this is non-conon. Neither of you will remember this.
Okay then. |
Spawn of Disharmony | The Crystal Empire | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 25: The Crystal Empire
The girls, Spike and I were on a train heading to a place known as The Crystal Empire, that was in the arctic north of Equestria. The train stopped and we all got off. Spike carried a ton of stuff for Rarity like a pack mule. I really feel bad for the little guy sometimes.
"Twilight!" called a familiar voice.
"Shining Armor?" Twi responded.
The white unicorn of that name came up to us and exclaimed, "Twily, you made it!" The two siblings/BFFs then hugged. "We better get moving. There are things out here that you really don't want to run into after dark."
"What kind of things?" Fluttershy asked worried.
"Let's just say the Empire isn't the only thing that's returned."
We followed the Captain thought the snow. "Something's trying to get in. We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place."
"Of course." I say aloud. "Why can't forces of evil ever stay imprisoned? I mean, Nightmare Moon, Discord, Inferno, and now this Sombra guy. Wait if those first two didn't happen Twilight wouldn't have met you gals, Princess Luna wouldn't be back, and as for Discord I wouldn't exist. Come to think of it because of Inferno I now know most of the spells I use to defend myself. Huh."
Ignoring me, Twilight said, "But, Princess Celestia said that I was being sent here to protect the Empire. If King Sombra can't get in then it must already be protected."
We all then heard a strange noise.
"We have to get out of here now!" Shining commanded as a large black cloud appeared behind us and we ran like a bunch of bats out of Tartarus until we ran through a bubble shield. It was nice and warm on the this side. Shining was the last to come through. He had small black crystals all along his horn. He tried to do magic, but failed.
I sighed and said, "I know that feeling bro." I toke a closer look. "I could try to remove them with an alteration of the gem attack, but I might end up snapping your horn. So I wouldn't risk it."
"Yeah, too risky." He responded.
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We walked to the castle in the center while Rarity marveled at the sights. We went into the throne room were Cadence was. She and Twilight did this hoof shake thing.
"Sunshine, Sunshine. Ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake."
I kinda wanted to make a joke at the two mares shaking there flanks at each other, but 70% of the beings in this room are female and I didn't feel like being slapped in the face. Plus those two mares are Shining's wife and sister, and I really don't feel like being punched in the face. Not that I think he would, maybe he would find it funny, but I didn't want to risk it.
"One for this days we need to get together when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance." Cadence said.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked.
"Cadence has been using her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting it, but she hasn't slept. Barely eats. I want to help her, but my protection spell's been countered by King Sombra." Shining explained.
"It's okay Shining Armor, I'm fine." His wife insisted.
"She's not fine. She can't go on like this forever and if her magic were to fade. You saw what's out there waiting for that to happen."
"That's why we're here." Twi said.
"Why we're all here." Applejack added.
"Well with Cadence putting all her strength in keeping her spell going and me keeping an eye on trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the Crystal Ponies." Shining said.
"Crystal Ponies! There are Crystal Ponies?!" Rarity exclaimed sounding almost too excited.
"But we have to believe one of them knows how we can protect the Empire without any use of Cadence's magic."
"A research paper!" Twilight said.
"Huh?"
"This must be part of my test. To gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you." She pointed at her brother. "This is going to be great. I love research papers."
"Yeah who doesn't?" Rainbow said sarcastically.
"Ooh, ooh, let me guess! Is it Spike?! No, no, Fluttershy?! Rarity?!" Pinkie asked.
"Don't worry big brother. I am really good at this sort of thing." Twilight told Shining.
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We got no information from the Crystal Ponies, except for Applejack who was told to check the library. Twilight saw all the books in it and almost had a nerdgasm. After much searching Twilight found a book that can help. The solution was to put on a Crystal Fair. So after setting it up while in song,which I actually joined in for once, we were ready.
"It looks amazing, I don't know how I could of done this without you. One last check to make sure everything is in place then the festivities can begin."
"What's this thing for?" Applejack asked nudging a heart shaped rock.
"The last page of the book mentioned a crystal heart at the fair centerpiece. So I used my magic to cut one out of a crystal block."
"Nice work Twi. Think we're ready to get this fair up and running."
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So the fair began and the Crystal ponies started to look less depressed.
I walk up to Rainbow while she was adorably munching on some corn. I was about to say sometime, but she then rushed up to two mares, overhearing their conversation.
"Of course we have it." Rainbow said, "Can't have a crystal fair without a crystal heart, right?"
"Of course you can't." Said an older mare that we saw at the library earlier, "The whole reason of the crystal fair is to lift the sprites of the Crystal Ponies, so the light within them can power the Crystal Heart, so the Empire can be protected." She then ragained some color, "I do work at the library!"
"What's this about powering the heart?"
"I just can't believe you found it. King Sombra said he hid it away, where we will never see it again. I only hope it will still be as powerful after all these years."
Me, Rainbow and Applejack (who was now next to us) exchanged looks or worry. Rainbow flew towards the castle, taking a flag. I teleported there. Rainbow covered the fake heart and said to Twilight, "I think we may have a problem."
We went to Shining and Cadence to tell them this. Turns out there was a page missing from the book. Then Cadence fainted and the shield went down. The Empire was soon surrounded by smoke that started to take the shape of a grey unicorn head with a red horn and glowing green eyes.
"The empire is under attack!" Shining exclaimed. He help Cadence get back up and she was able to put the shield up, but for how long was the question. "I have to find the Crystal Heart."
"No." Twilight told him. "You stay with Cadence. She needs you Shining Armor. I'll retrieve the heart."
"Let's do this!" Rainbow added.
"Allons-y!" I shouted. I hope The Doctor doesn't get mad that I stole that from him. Well, he isn't here so he won't care.
We all rushed out of there. A plan was made. Twilight would look for the heart while the rest of us keep the Crystal Ponies busy.
This involved me hosting a corn eating contest, selling this weird goo stuff that they call Gak and jousting against Rainbow. Yeah, Fluttershy went up first and got blown away so I offered to take over for the poor mare.
Rainbow smirked and said, "You know Seth, I'm not going to go easy on you just because you're my fiance."
"Oh okay then." I respond while putting on some armor. "How about we make this interesting. Loser pays of our anniversary dinner in January?"
"You're on." She said starting to walk to her starting point. She turned and said, "You know Seth that armor looks really good on you."
"Oh, so you like a stallion in uniform?"
"Maybe I do." She said with a chuckle.
We got ready for our match and ran right at each other lances out. I was knocked down so she won. What? Just because she said she wouldn't go easy on me doesn't mean I wouldn't go easy on her. She is my Dashie after all. I can't hurt her pride. Not hurting her pride is what gave me a shot with her in the first place. She basked in the cheers from the crowd.
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After that things went downhill. The Crystal Ponies found out about the fake heart, Cadence ran out of energy and Sombra started attacking.
"Hey up here!" Spike called holding what I assumed was the real heart, but he started to fall. Sombra fully formed and started going after the heart on a giant growing black crystal. Then Shining literally threw Cadence so she could catch Spike and the heart.
Me not wanting to just sit there I tried to slow down Sombra by holding hid Crystal back with a reverse version of the gem attack. Which yeah he started to go slower. He then turned his head at me and his horn glowed with an aura that was a mix of green, purple and black.
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The next thing I knew I was home. "The hell." I said to myself. I walked into the bedroom where I found Rainbow. "Uhh... Rainbow do you know why we're back here?"
"Don't you mean, why are you back here?" She responded.
"What?"
"I've grown bored of you so I'm dumping your sorry flank."
"W-What?!"
"You were just good for a few sextimes, but like I said, I'm tried of you. Now if you excuse me I have a date with Soarin."
"Please don't do this to me! I love you!"
"Did you really think that I loved you?"
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"Seth? Seth?! SETH?!" Rainbow shouted shaking me.
"W-What happened? And why is everypony shiny?"
"After Sombra did that thing you're eyes turned all green and you started talking to yourself. What happened there?"
"I saw this vision or something. You... you were leaving me. You said that you were bored of me and you didn't want to be with me anymore."
Rainbow wrapped her arms around me to tell me that, that's not going to happen.
"You still haven't told me why we're all sparkling."
Basically the Crystal Heart did that along with vaporizing King Sombra.
______________________________________________________________________________
We when back to Canterlot and waited nervously for Twilight as she spoke to Princess Celestia. She jumped out and Exclaimed, "I passed!"
We all sang as we went back to Ponyville.
On the train ride I thought I heard somepony whisper my name, but it didn't sound like anypony I knew and there was nopony else, but me and the gang in the train cart. I guess it was just my imagination. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Too Many Pinkie Pies | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 26: Too Many Pinkie Pies
I was walking through town on my way to the jewelry store, when I heard a mare call me. I looked to see Screwball with what looked like armor on her legs. She was also floating a few feet off the ground. "I did it. It took 8 months, 8 bucking months, but I did it. I have the legs of my armor done."
"Oh that's awesome sis."
"So what are you doing?"
"I'm finally going to buy a wedding bracelet for Rainbow."
"Isn't buying it two months after you get engaged kinda weird?"
I shrugged and said, "I don't make that much working for Twilight. It's not her fault, I mean the town pays her. Yet I still did have to take some money out of my bank account so I have enough to get a decent bracelet."
Screwball flew in front of me and said, "Save your money. I can help you get the perfect gem for free."
"Huh?"
"Don't you remember? We known of a cave filled with gems." She stated putting her arm on my shoulders.
"Yeah, a hoard that belongs to a dragon."
"What are you telling me you're scared of dragons?"
"What?! No! Hell, I work with one everyday. You know, I just realized something, he doesn't get paid, yet if Twilight's out he outranks me. Come to think of it so does Owlohsius."
Screwball let out a small chuckle, "Wow, if the only staff member you outrank is a baby phoenix named Peewee, I would rethink my choice in jobs if I where you. And as for the dragon don't worry, Larry and I are cool."
"Larry?"
"Yeah it's amazing how you instantly gain somepony's respect once you blind them by throwing acid in their face." She then gave a huge grin.
"How in the holy hell was I the one that had to prove to the town that I wasn't evil?"
"Those three fillies chose you to do that article on. The worst they did to me was saying that me and Carrot Top were dating."
______________________________________________________________________________
We walked to the edge of the Everfree Forest where we ran into Pinkie Pie.
"Hey Pinkie, what's up?" I ask.
"I'm going to look for the mirror pool so I can hang with both Dashie and Applejack at the same time. What are you two doing?"
"Screwball and I are going to steal a gem from a dragon named Larry that'll be perfect for Rainbow's wedding bracelet, but when you see her don't tell her." I said.
"Why? You and Dashie are already going to get married?"
"I know, but when I proposed I didn't have the bracelet, plus I was kinda tipsy from the zap apple cider. So I want the actual giving of the bracelet to be more professional than that."
"Oh, Okie dokie lokie. You have fun." She then bounced off into the forest.
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So Screwball and I walked through the forest and we spent the time catching up. I told her about the girls and I traveling to another universe a couple of months ago, while she told me how thing were going working of Photo Finish. She also told me a few things about Berry and Colgate.
"Wow that's why Berry Punch drinks so much? I never knew something so bad like that happened to her. Damn, now I feel terrible for making fun of her that one time."
"Hey you yourself were drunk at that time. Besides she forgave you. Plus she has been drinking less sense she and Colgate started dating." She then let out a deep sigh.
"Is something wrong?"
"Well it's just, you know my two closest friends are together and you're getting married in a few months. I guess I kinda wish I had a special somepony."
"Have you tried asking anypony out?"
"Well no..."
"Then do so. Whether they be stallion or mare I'm sure they'll say yes. I mean you're a model and you invented a way for ponies to fly without wings or magic."
"Well technically the gems powering them are magic."
"Whatever, what I'm saying is you have both beauty and brains so just get out there."
Screwball stopped. I turned around to see why the next thing I knew she was hugging me.
She then whispered "Thanks Seth."
______________________________________________________________________________
We got to the cave where we heard the booming voice of a green dragon that had scaring around its eyes that where now pure white. "Who's there?"
"Hey Mr. Larry!" Screwball said.
"M-Miss Screwball?! O-Oh, I-I-I-I'm sorry! Feel free to have more gems if you want. Also can you please stop calling me Larry I told you my name is..."
"I don't care what your name is."
"Okay."
I raised an eyebrow "What did he mean by more gems?"
"What you though I would leave a hoard like this? Also you're a really bad hunting dog because I found like at least 50 more spirt stones." She told me.
I start looking through the pile for like a good while until I found it. It was smooth and in the shape of a perfect oval. It also consisted of six colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. A rainbow gem, one of the rarest gems known to ponykind. Perfect for a mare named Rainbow Dash don't you think.
So we left, Screwball toke the gem so she could make the bracelet. I walked back to town to find the others, except Pinkie walking from Sugarcube Corner.
I smiled and asked, "Hey everypony did I miss anything?"
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A few days later Rainbow and I were walking home after having a nice dinner. I stopped her in the middle of the park.
"I have something to give you Rainbow." I told her.
"Oh really what?"
I levitated a black box out of my jacket pocket and opened it to show her the bracelet with muti-colored gem inside.
Her jaw dropped. "Is that a rainbow gem?"
"Indeed it is. It's you wedding bracelet. Sorry it's a little late."
"It's fine, but how in the hay could you afford this?"
"Let's just say I got a 100% discount."
"You stole it!"
"No! I mean well kinda yes, but not from a store. From a dragon. The one Screwball threw acid at."
"Oh I see. So that's what you were doing when we were dealing with the Pinkie clones."
I slipped it one her left hoof and asked, "So do you like it?"
She wrapped her arms around me, gave me a small kiss and said, "I love it." |
Spawn of Disharmony | One Bad Apple | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 27: One Bad Apple
I woke up one morning and I noticed that something was off. Okay a lot of things were off. First of all Rainbow was nowhere to be seen, I got no response when I called for her. Then, all the furniture in the room was just gone except for the bed. Finally, the floor and walls were black like a storm cloud.
I carefully step out of bed hoping not to get shocked by lightning from the floor. Thankfully I didn't. I walked all along the house and yeah, everything was missing, and I mean eveything, the couch, the kitchen table, the guest bed, the desk, even the toilet!
"What the buck is going on?" I ask myself as I walk into the bedroom to see that now the bed was gone too, but was replaced by a strange dark blue book. I levitate it up to me, open it, and flipped though the pages.
Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order. Order cannot exist without chaos. Chaos cannot exist without order.
It basically was like this throughout the whole book. Then a strange laughter echoed around me.
______________________________________________________________________________
I then woke up again to see that everything was normal again. White walls, furniture in the room and of course Rainbow next to me filling up the room with the sound of her snoring.
Okay that was a weird dream. Which from my past experiences with that, that's not a good sigh. I'll talk to Twilight later about it. It has been awhile since our last therapy session. Yet, I may just be worrying about nothing.
Later that day was the Summer Harvest Parade. Not sure why it's called that when it's late November and not summer, but whatever. I saw a light brown earth pony stallion wearing a bow tie and some rather unusual headgear. I walked up to him and said, "Hey Doctor, Why are you dressed like a pear?"
The time traveling pony turned towards me and said, "Oh, hello again Seth. Well, you see I kinda lost a bet with Ditzy and well, I had to wear a pear hat. Out of all the fruits she had to pick a pear. I hate pears."
"Ah, okay. So where is Ditzy?"
The Doctor looked around the crowd and said, "Truthfully I don't know. I haven't seen her since she gave me the hat. Though I was suppose to meet her at the movies and sat next to a mare that I though was her, only to realize halfway through that I was sitting next to a different pegasus mare named Cloud Kicker."
"Cloud Kicker is purple and her eyes aren't, well you know. So, how could you screw that up?"
He just shrugged. Then something clicked in my mind. 'Oh by Celestia, The Doctor is completely clueless isn't he?' I mean from the few times I saw them with each other you could clearly see some small redness on her face, so it's obvious that she has feelings for him. I bet she saw The Doctor sitting next to Cloud Kicker, got jealous and is now giving him the cold shoulder. Of course I didn't say this out loud just in case I'm wrong and so I wouldn't be the one to tell The Doctor about Ditzy obvious affections. If I run into that mare I'll talk to her about it since I seem to be good at that sort of thing. Yet, the other two times were too, Colgate, who's a lesbian, and Screwball, who's my sister and I have no idea what she's into.
I said bye to The Doctor and went back to the girls and Spike.
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As I got back the Cutie Mark Crusaders ran up to us. Apple Bloom tried to tell us something, but was drowned out by the noise of the parade.
"We booby-trapped it!" She was finally able to get out, only to leave an awkward silence.
"Babs! Bully! Payback! No time to explain!" Scootaloo babbled before the three little fillies ran off after a float shaped like a giant golden apple being driven by Applejack's little cousin, Babs Seed. Who I swear that if her coat was a few shades lighter she would look like how I imagine Filia Solis probably looked like as a filly. Except as an earth pony instead of an alicorn.
We saw the float go off a cliff into some mud. We all rushed to the to make sure that they were okay. Thankfully they were.
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A few days later I picked up the newspaper off of our door step to see a headline that surprised me.
Local Pegasus Mare Gone Missing.
Under the headline was a picture of a certain crossed-eyed pegasus. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Magic Duel | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 28: Magic Duel
While Twilight and Spike were at Fluttershy's to practice some magic, I was in the library doing some of my own. I shoot a small red ord out of my horn, it floated there for a second then my own shadow started to move towards it and then started to rise, it then wrapped around the orb, there was a flash of light and when it faded there was another me, well kinda. I tried to touch it and my hoof went right though it. Just as it was suppose to do.
"Okay I got the shadow part down, now let's try the puppet part." I say aloud while using my still glowing horn to move the fake me around the library. I actually looked really convincing.
"Okay, Shadow Puppet, check. Now let's see if this 'ventriloquist' spell works. If so I should be able to make you talk."
After a few seconds the fake me open it's mouth and said, "Testing, testing. One, two, three. Sweet it worked. Great job Seth."
"Why than you Seth, I worked really hard to get this prefect."
"It certainly shows."
"Wait if I'm talking to myself and controlling both sides of the conversation then does this mean I'm insane?"
"Is that a rhetorical question?"
"If you weren't a shadow I'd punch you."
"Whatever, so what are you going to do now?"
"Well after I found an invisibility spell in the book Twi got me for my birthday, I been trying to preform it, with little success. Yet, I think I almost have it." I then focused on trying to hide myself in light bending energy. After I felt a bit of a magic burst I asked myself, "So did it work?"
"How the hay should I know? You're controlling my every action."
"Fine smartflank."
"Who are you talking to?" I hear Rainbow ask as she opens the front door, she then walks past me and to my shadow puppet, so I assume she couldn't see me.
"Oh nopony, beautiful. Just practicing some magic." I make my puppet say. "Some that I think can be useful in battle or even pranking."
"Oh really? Care to give me a demonstration?"
"I am, I'm not even in front of you."
I then make myself reappear as she turns around to see me. She jumps back a bit surprised. She then starts looking back and forth. "There's two of you?" She asked.
"Not really. The other me here is just an illusion." I explain as I stop the spell making my puppet vanish, my shadow returning to me. "It was the closest thing to thing to a cloning spell I was able to find, you know like the one those two changeling brothers did. I mean think of the possibilities if I was able to make several of me."
Rainbow's face started to get a faint tint of red as her wing then flared out.
I chuckle and say, "Wow Rainbow, I was still talking about pranking, but your mind went straight to dirty thoughts." I started slowly walking towards her as her face turned redder and redder. "Who knew that under all that tomcoatishness, you were such a naughty filly underneath." At this point I was right in front of her, so I leaned to her ear and whisper, "Too bad that Mr. Disarmonia has to punish naughty fillies." Her face was literally pink at this point.
That's when Applejack burst in and asked "Where's Twilight?... Uh... am I interrupting anything?"
"Oh just me playfully teasing Rainbow a little bit. To answer you first question, she's at Fluttershy's. Why?" I ask.
"It's an emergency."
"What kind of emergency?" Rainbow asked.
"There's some mare in a hood in town casting spells on the townsponies. Twilight has to stop her."
"I'll get her." Rainbow said while flying out of the library.
I followed Applejack to where this mare was.
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So, Twilight, Rainbow and Spike got back as the mysterious mare magically put an ugly dress onto Rarity. Rarity being the dramatic pony that she is then fainted onto Applejack who carried her away with Pinkie Pie.
"What's going on here?" Twilight asked
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Twilight Sparkle." The mare said taking off of her hood. She was a blue unicorn with a silver mane and purple eyes that glowed red for a quick second. I swear I've seen her somewhere before, but I couldn't put my hoof on it.
Twilight gasped and exclaimed, "Trixie!" When she said that name it clicked with me. She was that chick that Light Arrow hit on at that bar we went to for Shining Armor's bachelor party, which I've met up with Light Arrow recently where he told me of something that I don't have any memory of. Apparently we also went to a restaurant called 'Flanks' that night. Yeah, I'm going to leave it at that.
"What's she doing here?" Spike said in a slightly angry tone.
Rainbow flew up to her and asked, "You call that great and powerful?"
Then Trixie zapped Rainbow making one of her wings huge, throwing her off balance. Now, I'll admit that I like wings... a lot, but I still had to defend my mare.
"Hey!" I shout, getting everypony's attention. I trot up to Trixie and say, "Nopony, and I mean NOPONY, harms my Dashie in any way and gets away with it."
"Oh really And who are you?" Trixie asks raising an eyebrow.
"I am Seth Disarmonia, the spawn of Discord, and that mare you just messed with is my fiance, so I'd recommend that you change her back before you regret it."
She just smirked as her horn glowed with a red aura that soon surrounded me. I then was slowly lifted into the air unable to do anything. "So you're the Spawn of Disharmony, huh? I've heard of you. So if Discord's practically your father then I bet you wouldn't mind being a little bit more like him."
The next thing I knew I couldn't feel my legs. I look down to see that they where now a greyish-white color. S-She was turning me to stone! I last thing I heard was Rainbow shouting my name.
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I opened my eyes to see that I was the bar that I was in when I met Discord and those other weird creatures. Speaking of the draconiquus that created me, he was facing me wearing a smug grin and taunting me with a slow clap, "Well done my boy, you just got owned by Trixie Lulamoon of all ponies, I have a feeling that you're not going to do well in the tournament. Yet, she did beat Gilda, without that Alicorn Amulet she had on so who knows."
"Tournament? What tournament? And who the buck is Gilda?"
"Huh, you'd think that future wife of yours would of told you about some of her old friends from flight school. As for the tournament, well that doesn't really matter, besides even if it did it would be more fun to leave you in the dark."
"So how long do you think I'm going to be here?"
Discord rolled his eyes, "Kids today so impatient. I was trapped for over 2,000 years and you're complaining after a few minutes."
"Well, I have friends and a fiance, two things I'm sure you never had."
"Actually Celestia and I had a thing way back when, but I'd rather not talk about it."
After shuddering at the picture of them together I asked, "Harsh break up?"
"She and her sister turned me to stone, what do you think?"
There was a short silence before I asked, "So what do you do to past the time?"
"Wanna play some board games?"
Do you know what I learned, Discord sucks at board games. I beat him at almost everything. Gamble, Hint, Battleclouds, Business Takeover, Candy World, Apology, the list goes on and I beat him at all of them. Many games ended with him flipping the board.
After a few days of this when we were in the middle of a game of Rat Trap I notice a pink aura around me and I started to fade. The last thing I heard was Discord say, "This counts as a forfeit."
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I woke up to see my friends around me and with pieces of stone around my hooves. The only sound I made was "Uuugggh..." Then I was hug attacked by Rainbow, but this time she gave me several quick smooches around my face. When she finished she sighed and said, "I missed you."
So we explained to each other what happened while I was Trixie's lawn ornament. I told them about beating Discord's flank in many board games. On there side apparently Trixie challenged Twilight to a magic duel, loser leaves Ponyville. Twilight lost and trained with Zercora, while Trixie took over the town. Twilight came back, challenged her to a rematch, and tricked her into taking off the amulet that was giving her so much power.
Later that night Princess Celestia came to town with some ponies from Saddle Arabia. Twilight provided the entertainment. At the end of the show there where fireworks presented by... Trixie? I walked up to them hearing Trixie asking for forgiveness, which Twilight did give.
Truthfully I wouldn't have been as sure to do so.
So as Trixie ran off I trotted after her to just give her a piece of my mind. When I got not that far from her I saw something strange. She was just standing there with what looked like some red mist around her. Then there was a flash of light and she was gone.
"What the hay?" I say aloud.
The mist moves showing what looked like two glowing blue eyes. There was a sound for laughter and a voice that said, "I'lL gEt To YoU sOoN sEtH." It then vanished.
"That can't be good." I said before I rushed back to town to tell the others what I just saw.
If any of you don't know what Discord was talking about he was refering to this fic.
DEATH BATTLE: Equestria |
Spawn of Disharmony | Sleepless in Ponyville | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 29: Sleepless in Ponyville
I was looking throughout several newspapers, looking for stories that seemed to be affiliated with last week. Let me explain, after Trixie vanished into thin air and that red mist thing spoke to me, I ran back to Ponyville to tell the others what happened, and they didn't know what to make of it, not even Princess Celestia. So I decided to do my own research on this and basically now I'm going slightly mad.
As I was cutting out yet another article Rainbow came into our bedroom after a day of flying and whatnot. She got a look of concern in her eyes when she saw me. "Seth are you okay?" she asked, "You don't look too good."
"Don't worry, I'm *yawn* fine. Just working." I respond.
"Seth I know you better than anypony else, I can tell when something's wrong."
I let out a deep breath and said, "I'm just worried about what might happen. I mean after what happened last week. Not just that, but you know about Ditzy Doo going missing about two weeks ago?"
"Yeah, I heard that her daughter is still crying over it."
"Well it... wait, Ditzy's a mother? Nevermind, anyways after doing some research I found something troubling. In the past four months a total of 78 Equestrian citizens have been reported missing, including Ditzy and Trixie. I tried to case my tracker spell to see if I could find any of them..."
"And?"
"I got nothing. No signal, no directions, no quick flash of where they were. As though they never existed. I just have this feeling that something big is going to happen. I mean 80 beings don't just drop off the face of the planet like that."
"Beings?"
"Yeah, it's not just ponies. There are some griffins, three zebras and a donkey in the reports. Another thing that worries me is the when the earliest of these reports came out, yet it may be just a coincidence."
"When?"
"The day after we returned from that alternate universe."
Rainbow put her wing around me and gave a reassuring nuzzle, "Seth, I see why you're all stressed out and I agree that this isn't normal at all, but as long as we have each other's backs nothing going to happen to us." Her grip tightened around me, "I promise that I won't let anything keep us apart. I...I can't lose you, I almost did six times already and that's six times too many."
"Rainbow?" I say as I see tears form in the corner of her eyes.
"When you fought Drez and he just destroyed you, I just couldn't watch and before you opened your eyes after we defeated him, I honestly thought you were dead. Then I was worried about your safety when you were captured by those gargoyles and changelings, the two times when you fought Inferno and even last week when Trixie turned you to stone."
"Wait, that's only five."
"Yeah the last one, well technically it's was the first to happen, but it was when you ran off after a slapped you about a year ago. I-I hate that one the most because I was the one at fault."
"Rainbow, I told you that I wasn't mad at you then and I'm not mad at you now. I love you more than anything else in the whole world."
"I know, I love you too." She said before wrapping both of her arms around me and started crying into my chest. Now I absolutely hate seeing Rainbow cry, despite that fact that she normally only lets out these feelings when it's just the two of us. I just returned her embrace and gently ran my hoof down her long, muti-colored mane.
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A few days later Rainbow and I were asked by Applejack to join her, Rarity, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders on a camping trip. We agreed thinking It'll be a good way of helping me relax and take my mind off of the disappearances. Yet, it doesn't help that this morning I found out that the entire town of Dodge Junction's population has gone missing too. Yeah an entire town of ponies gone over night. I know I shouldn't be thinking about this right now, but the missing count jumped from 78 to 263!
Now, now Seth. You need to put it aside for now. You're on a camping trip with your beautiful fiance, two of your best friends and three cute little fillies, so just relax and enjoy yourself. Wait, am I giving myself a prep talk in my head? Am I really that stressed?
'Or MaYbE yOu'Re JuSt LoSiNg YoUr MiNd.'
I look around the campsite, where Rainbow and I were waiting for the others.
"Um... Rainbow, dear? Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?" She asked.
"Nevermind."
"Okay. Now when they get here I'm going to set up a fire pit with nothing, but my awesomeness."
And she did. She kicked some logs out of the trunks of some still standing trees, I'm not even going to try to question that, and she flew into a nearby river and grabbed some rocks for the pit. With that she was done while wearing a cocky grin.
I was just amazed and muttered, "I love that mare."
Apparently Applejack heard this and whispered, "Just don't love her too much with my little sister and her friends around, if you get what I'm saying." She then gave a wink.
I felt my face warm up, "You'd think that Rainbow and I would do something like that right in front of three little fillies? Seriously AJ, what do you take us for?"
"I'm not saying y'all would, it's just that in that other universe I heard you two up on that cloud you where using. Y'all two ain't that quiet." Applejack then walked off to begin unpacking.
I walked up to Rainbow while she was sitting on a log next to Scootaloo, "Looks like you'll be sharing a tent with me and Seth huh?"
"Yeah, if that's okay with you." Scoots responded.
"Sure as long as you don't snore. You do snore do you?"
I chuckle and say, "Oh the irony."
Rainbow raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, to tell the truth Rainbow, you yourself tend to snore, quite a bit, but don't worry I think it's kinda cute. Well, nowhere near as cute as when you sometime talk in your sleep."
Rainbow blushed as the other giggled a bit. She then gave me an angry look and said, "That's it, you're going to sleep outside tonight."
I chuckle and say, "Okay I know you're joking. You wouldn't do that to me, right sweetheart?... Right?"
She did.
I have to say it wasn't that bad actually. It was kinda nostalgic for me of the first few weeks of my life, before Twilight took me in. Yeah, Rarity offered for me to stay in her oversized two storey tent, but I declined. I soon fell asleep.
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I saw the silhouettes of two ponies. One a pegasus, the other a unicorn. It looked like they were kissing. Then a bolt of lighting stuck and the sky turned red. They both jumped back surprised. Then two dark blue eyes appeared and a voice echoed throughout, "ShE cAn'T pRoTeCt YoU sEtH."
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I then woke up and it was morning. After packing up we traveled on to our next campsite. I saw Sweetie Belle pulling a cart full of crap for Rarity. I really wanted to offer to take over for the poor little filly, but the harness clearly wouldn't have fit me and, I'd get tired pretty quickly if I used magic to carry all of it. So I gave Sweetie Belle the rest of my water, so she can hydrated and also made a mental note to give Rarity my two bits about this sometime later. I can't really call her out on it right if front of everypony.
Anyways, Scootaloo went on ahead on her scooter, but we found her in a bush not that long after. Weird. What was weirder is that she was extremely jumpy.
That night we took shelter in a cave after Rainbow told another campfire story like last night and Sweetie Belle sang "99 Buckets of Oats" and I gotta say her singing was nowhere near as good as it normally is. We feel asleep during it. Not to be rude, but it was just super late, but we awoke when she finished by shouting the word "Wall". She herself then instantly fell asleep.
As did I when I got in my sleeping bag, and since Rainbow wasn't really mad at me anymore I got to have my sleeping bag next to hers. So, I was nice and cozy with my favorite pegasus. Yay.
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I had the exact same dream that night except when the lightning struck the pegasus was gone and the voice now said, "I'm WaTcHiNg YoU sEtH."
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"Seth, Seth, Seth." Rainbow said while shaking me.
"Wu-What? Rainbow?" I mumble.
"Scootaloo's gone!" She exclaims.
I'm sure my eyes widened as I instantly cased the tracker spell to make sure nothing happened to her. Thankfully I sensed that she hadn't disappeared, but she was still in danger of falling into a river.
We rushed out of the cave to fine said river and rainbow caught her as she went off a waterfall. She place her down here where I was and began to scold her, "What are you doing out here in the middle of the night?!"
Scootaloo ran up to her and said, "I'm so, so sorry Rainbow Dash. I just wanted you to hang out with me and see how cool I was so you'd take me under your wing and teach me everything you know and become like my big sister, but then you started telling those spooky stories and I got scared. I thought I heard that headless horse, so I ran out here by myself. Well, I guess you know the rest."
Rainbow smiled and said, "Hey, I'm going to tell you something, but if you tell anypony else, I'm going to deny it. First time it heard those stories, I was scared too."
"You where?"
"Sure, I mean I got over it because I realized pretty quick that if there was such a thing as a headless horse, I could totally take it on." She paused for a second. "So you're looking for somepony to take you under their wing huh?"
"Uh-hu."
Rainbow wrapped one of her wings around Scoots, "Yeah, I might be up for something like that."
"Really?"
"As long as you don't go falling into any more rivers in the middle of the night."
"It's a deal."
They then hugged and I had an incredibly hard time holding back a "D'aww".
Rainbow looked at me and said, "You know you can join it too, if that's okay with Scootaloo."
"I'm fine with it."
So I wrapped my arms around them both and smiled. I felt really nice, almost like a little family.
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At the falls with rainbow colored water (I don't remember what it was called) I sat there just marveling at the sights as the mares and fillies finished a race. Rainbow flew back and sat next to me and asked, "So are you feeling less stressed out."
"Yeah, I mean I'm still concerned, but whatever happens I'll hopefully be ready." I then looked at Scootaloo talking with the other Crusaders. "So you'll really be taking her under your wing huh?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I'd say she couldn't have picked a better teacher." I then gave her a peck on the cheek and she then gave me a tackle/hug/kiss. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Wonderbolts Academy | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 30: Wonderbolt Academy
The mares and I were under my and Rainbow's house waiting for the mail. This was because Rainbow applied the Wonderbolt Academy and we wanted to see if she made it, especially Pinkie Pie.
"I wish the mailpony would just come already. I can't wait to see if Rainbow Dash got in or not." She exclaimed.
"Pinkie Pie, you're acting more nervous than Rainbow Dash." Twilight said.
"I'm not nervous at all. When I get in the Wonderbolt Academy..." Rainbow began to say
"If you get in. If. You. Get. In. Don't jynx it." Pinkie said grabbing her.
"I'm telling you it's in the bag."
"Don't jynx it!"
"She is the best flyer in Ponyville." Applejack said.
"In Ponyville?" Rainbow asked before flying around a nearby cloud, shaping it into a slide and going down it headfirst on her back, "I'm probably the best flyer in all of Equestria. I wouldn't be surprised if they just went ahead and made me a Wonderbolt on the first day." Rainbow then bumped into the legs of a mailpony, who gave her a letter. She tore it open and grew a look of disappointment, "I didn't get in."
We all were shocked and saddened before Rainbow flipped it over showing a seal of approval, "Gotcha. You guys are so gullible. Like I wasn't going to get in."
Pinkie then gave Rainbow a tackle hug, not like the ones Rainbow gives me, because this had more squeezing and no kissing. I mean if Pinkie did start kissing Rainbow, well I wouldn't know whether to be angry or aroused. "I'm just sooooooooooooooooo happy for you!" Pinkie shouted.
"Uh, thanks. Pinkie Pie, I kinda need to get going."
Pinkie gave one more big squeeze before letting go, "Okay, I'm done."
"Sooner I get there, the sooner I get to show my stuff." Rainbow then quickly flew by, giving me a kiss on the cheek and grabbed her saddlebags from Applejack and Rarity. "See you guys in a week."
"Good luck." Applejack told her.
"Won't need it."
"Love you, beautiful!" I call as she flies away.
"Love you too!"
Pinkie then pulls out a giant megaphone and shouted "DON"T FORGET TO WWRRRIIITE!" She then asked us something after that, but I didn't pick up on it, my ears were ringing too much.
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So three days later while Twilight and the others were talking with Pinkie Pie about the waiting by her mailbox, Spike and were having some important conversation.
"Spike, I'm telling you Batcolt would so beat Daring Do in a fight." I said, defending my side of the debate.
"No way, Daring has the flight advantage and she has her whip." Spike responded.
"You're point being what? Cat Mare uses a whip and Batcolt has flying enemies, like Grif-Bat."
"Well Daring Do's is at least more sane than Batcolt. Even if her love interest is a Diamond Dog."
"Yeah, true, but we're not talking about that. We're talking about if these two got in a fight, who would win, and it'll be Batcolt."
That's when Twilight and Pinkie came in with a package. "Hey Sethy the girls and I are going to deliver a care package for Rainbow so she won't forget who we are, if she hasn't already. She may not remember about how much she loves you." Pinkie said to me.
I roll my eyes and say, "Pinkie, it's only been three days, she wouldn't of forgotten us even if it was three weeks, months or years."
"You don't know that."
"Well remember when I was training in Canterlot. I was gone, but didn't forget you gals. Hell, I teleported all the way from there when Rainbow got hurt."
"Well, I guess that's true, but still don't be surprised if you're wrong."
I sigh and say, "Fine, but don't pull this crap while Rainbow and I are on our honeymoon."
"If you have a honeymoon. If."
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So the three of us (Spike wasn't coming. Something about doing research to prove me wrong.) met the other three by Pinkie's hot air balloon. As we went into the air Pinkie asked me,
"So Sethy if Dashie doesn't remember you then what would you miss about her the most?"
"I know she didn't forget and if she did, well I'd just would have her fall in love with me again." I respond.
"What if she didn't want to be with you again."
"If we're really going that route then..." I pause for a second to think about it since I doubt 'everything' would be an acceptable answer. "I guess I'd miss that pure confidence of hers. Sure somepony's my say it's just her being cocky, but I'd say they're idiots. It's her way of dealing with things, because no matter what stands in her way, no matter what life throws at her she'll overcome it and reach her goals because she knows she can. I always found that inspiring and it's one of the first things about her that I fell in love with, and now to think how close she is to achieving those goals. I'm just so happy for her."
As I finished the only response I got was Applejack shouting, "It's a twister!", as a huge tornado came at us and sucked us into it. The next thing I know is that the ropes snapped and we were all plummeting to our dooms. I tried to use magic, but was too dizzy to focus. We then landed on some clouds that acted as springs and sent us back up into the air, but we were caught by some of the Wonderbolt Academy trainees, I was caught by Roid Rage, which I couldn't help, but feel embarrassed by that, I then caught the care package. I also noticed Rarity hugging a pegasus I recognize as Thunderlane. Hmmm... I wonder if there's something going on there.
We were let down on solid ground as Rainbow flew up to us. "Are you guys okay?!"
"Uh-hu." We responded.
"Pinkie Pie!" Rainbow shouted at the mare of that name who was laying on the ground.
Pinkie hugged her saying, "You remembered me!"
"Well yeah of course I remembered, but what are you guys doing here?"
"We wanted to bring you a care package, didn't realize that you'd be in a middle of some crazy tornado drill." Applejack explained.
"That was awesome!" shouted a aqua mare with a golden mane.
"Awesome? My friends and fiance could of been smashed to pieces!" Rainbow shouted at her.
"Yeah, but they weren't right? Can't say the same for the clouds. We totally whipped them out with that tornado. The other cadets would have to be up there for days to push as many clouds as we did." She then extended her arm out.
"A hoofbump? Seriously? You made me clip my wing, send half our class into a serious tailspin on the obstacle coarse, you unleashed a tornado that nearly demolished my friends!"
"Yeah and?"
"And I know you want to be the best, so do I, but you're going about it the wrong way."
"The Wonderbolts don't think so. After all Spitfire did make me the leader and you the wing pony."
"You're right she did. Now if you excuse me I have to talk with her." Rainbow then flew off.
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When she got back she told us that she quit.
"You did what?!" Applejack shouted what we were all thinking.
"Being a Wonderbolt was your dream." Rarity added.
"Not any more." Rainbow responded.
"What about that promise you made to you mother before she..." I began to say before Rainbow turned around to show the tears in her eyes and I stop what I was saying.
"I'm sorry Rainbow Dash. I know how much this meant to you." Twilight said before we all got into a group huddle to show that we were there for her.
"Rainbow Dash!" Captain Spitfire shouted, "How dare you storm out of my office without giving me a chance to respond. The Wonderbolts are looking for the best flyers in Equestria. You were right, being the best should never come before the expense of our fellow ponies. It's not just about pushing ourselves, it's about pushing ourselves in the right direction. You shown that you're capable of doing just that."
Then that aqua-colored bitch from earlier came up and Spitfire got in her face tearing off a golden pin off of her suit and motioned for her to leave.
Spitfire turned back to Rainbow and continued, "You're no wing pony Rainbow Dash, you're a leader." She put the pin on Rainbow suit.
Rainbow fluttered her wings with a string of 'Oh my gosh's. Too cute.
"Now get up there and give me 20!" The Wonderbolt captain ordered.
"Yes Ma'am!" Rainbow responded taking off.
"Wait you didn't get to open your care package!" Pinkie called at her. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Apple Family Reunion | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 31: Apple Family Reunion
Rainbow and I were waiting at the train station for the train to Canterlot. The reason for this was because after sending Princess Celestia a full report on all the ponies disappernces, she wanted to see me. While we were waiting Applejack came up to us.
"Pardon me Rainbow Dash, is it possible for you to help me with this tiny little thing I need for my family reunion?" She asked as the train just pulled in.
"Sure thing, but can you let us say goodbye first?" Rainbow asked her.
Applejack nodded.
"Okay I guess I'll see you when you get back." She said to me.
"Yeah, but don't worry, I'm only going to be gone for one, maybe two days." I said.
"Yeah, but that's still one or two days without my wonderful stallion."
I couldn't help, but laugh a little bit, "Wow, that almost sounds like something I'd say. I guess I'm rubbing off on you."
Applejack facehoofs and Rainbow blushes a bit, making me realize the double entendre that could be made with that last sentence, but I assume they knew what I meant. Rainbow and I gave each other a kiss goodbye and I boarded the train.
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A few hours later I arrived in Canterlot, to be greeted by three familiar faces, Shining Armor, Steel Wall and Light Arrow, all in their armor, and light had a bow and quiver full of arrows on him. I gave them a solute, because I felt like I had to with them being high ranking members of the guard. Shining being a captain and also a prince now, Steel's 1st lieutenant, and Light is the head of the archers.
"At ease." Shining said, indicating for me to put my arm down.
"So the Princess wants to see you huh? So what's that about?" Light asked.
"You weren't told?" I responded.
"No, we were only told to make sure you get to Princess Celestia safely." Shining explained.
"Well that's nice of her, and no offence to you guys, but I don't need three guards to protect me. Hell, I don't even think I need one."
"Oh thank Celestia." Light exclaimed, "Can I go to lunch now?"
Shining Armor rolled his eyes and said, "Fine, but you owe me a solid."
"Okay then." The dark blue pegasus said before taking off, and flying away.
"So should we get going?" I asked.
"Yes, the Princess is very busy so it'd be best to not keep her waiting." Steel said.
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The three of us made our way to the throne room, where Celestia was waiting.
"Greetings Princess." I said, bowing.
"Hello again Seth. So I've looked into your report to me about the missing citizens and I have no clue what it could be." She said.
I then fell onto my face at that statement, I got up rubbing my forehead. "No offence Princess Celestia, but why did you drag me all the way to Canterlot to tell me that?"
"So I can do some research of my own. You said in your report that this being has visited you in your dreams."
"Yeah, but so did Inferno. So what, are you going to enter my dreams or something? Isn't that Luna's department?"
"Well yes, but that doesn't mean I can't do that too. Also you don't have to be asleep for what I have in mind."
"What do you have in mind?"
"You look around you head for any possible answers, since this thing is contacting you there might be something locked away in there."
"Oh YoU bE wAsTiNg YoUr TiMe PrInCeSs." A voice echoed all around us.
"What was that?" Steel asked.
"I'm ThE oNe ThAt SeTh AnD tHe PrInCeSs WeRe tAlKiNg AbOuT."
"Who and what are you?" I asked the voice.
"I aM oNe WiThOuT a NaMe, As FoR wHaT, wElL i'M nOt gOiNg To RevEaL mY tRuE sElF jUsT yEt."
"Why are you ponynapping my subjects?!" Celestia said with a slight tone of anger in her voice.
"BeCaUsE tHeY wErE gIvEn A cHaNcE tO ExIsT, wHiLe I wAs sEaLeD AwAy ThAnKs To ThOsE eLeMeNtS oF hArMoNy. IrOnIcAlLy ThE tHiNg ThAt DeNiEd Me Of My LiFe AlSo GaVe It BaCk To Me. AlSo It'S nOt JuSt EqUeStRiA's I'Ve AbSoRbEd."
"What do you me?" Shining asked.
"YoU SeE In ThE pAsT tWo WeEkS oR sO, I'vE bEeN tO oThEr PaRtS oF tHe WoRlD. tHe GrIfFiN kInGdOm, GeM fIDo, SaDdLe ArAbIa, AnD nOt To FoRgEt To MeNtIoN tHe HiVe. WhIcH yOu ShOuLd ThAnK mE fOr ThAt OnE. tHe ChAnGeLiNgS wErE pLaNnInG aNoThEr InVaSiOn, BuT nOw ThErE aRe No ChAnGeLiNgS, WeLl ExCePt FoR tHaT WiFe Of StEeL's. MaYbE i ShOuLd CoMpLeTe My CoLlEcTiOn. "
Steel's horn glowed with a light blue aura and he jumped forward. "You stay away from my love bug!"
If this wasn't such a serious situation I would have laughed my flank off at the fact he called her his, "love bug".
The voice just laughed and some red lightning came out of nowhere, and struck Steel, then he was just gone. There was a gasp from both Celestia and Shining.
"Is he dead?" Shining asked.
"Oh No hE's VeRy MuCh AlIvE, bUt He'S JuSt PaRt Of Me NoW. I CoUlD AlSo EaSiLy Do ThE sAmE tO YoU cApTaIn, BuT i'Ll WaIt, JuSt BeCaUsE i FeEl LiKe It. UnFoRtIoNeNtLy, ThE PrInCeSs Is ToO RiSkY fOr Me RiGhT NoW."
"And what about me?" I asked.
"YoU wErE tHe FiRsT i TrIed To AbSoRb, BuT I wAs uNaBlE tO. It WaS tHe SaMe FoR yOuR fRiEnDs BeCaUsE oF ThEiR cOnNeCtIoN WiTh ThE eLeMeNtS."
"Why were you unable to absorb me? I mean I'm not complaining, just wondering.
"OrDeR aNd ChAoS. cHaOs AnD oRdEr. TwO sIdEs Of ThE sAmE cOiN. A cOiN tHaT hAs AlWaYs CoMe Up On HeAdS, BuT sOoN iT wiLl LaNd On TaIls."
"What does that even bucking mean?!" I shout.
"I'lL SeE yOu AgAiN SoOn SeTh." The voice said, fading away.
Shining turned to the Princess Celestia asking, "What do we do Princess?"
Celestia gave a look of concern and said, "I don't know." |
Spawn of Disharmony | Spike at Your Service | Spawn of Disharmony
By:KenSES64
Chapter 32: Spike at Your Service
I was asleep when I felt something nudging me. I open my eyes to see Rainbow Dash poking me with her hoof.
"Seth, you have to get up, you're late for work." She said.
"Oh, *Yawn* crap!" I said jumping out of bed, and rushing to get ready.
While I was doing my normal morning stuff as quickly as I could, Rainbow followed me around to speak with me, "Hey Seth you've been so stressed since you got back from Canterlot. I'd say you're even worse than when Trixie disappeared. I mean when did you even get to bed last night?"
"Honestly I don't know and of course I have. How can can I not be? So red mist thing is absorbing beings not just from Equestria, but the whole world, including one of my very few guy friends. Which his wife, Copy Cat, took extremely hard. Have you ever seen a changeling cry? It's surprisingly more depressing than you'd think it'd be, and Light Arrow blames himself for it because he went to lunch, yet it's not like he could of stopped it. The biggest thing I'm wondering about is what I have to do with this." I was quiet for a second before I repeated the voice's hint, "Order and chaos. Chaos and order. Two sides of the same coin. A coin that has always come up on heads, but soon it will land on tails." I was silent for another few seconds, "I still have no bucking clue what that means."
"Seth I told you before that..."
"I know, nothing's going to go bad as long as we have each other's backs. Still this thing is a threat to the whole world, and I need to stop it."
"We need to stop it." Rainbow corrected, "According to what you told me the mist said was, that me, the others, the princesses and you can't be absorbed for one reason or another, so we'll work together on this when it comes, but for now I don't want you to drive yourself insane from worry." She then flashes some bedroom eyes, "Besides you've be neglecting your duties as my fiance." I roll my eyes and Rainbow makes a pouty face and says, "What a mare has needs and you're my only option, element of loyalty after all."
"You're making this sound like you can do better than me."
"Implying that there is anypony better than you?"
I smile at my mare and say, "Like I said last week, I'm rubbing off on you." I give her a kiss before I leave, hoping that Twilight's not mad at me.
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As I was rushing to the library I ended up running into Spike.
"Hey Seth, Twilight told me that if I ran into you to let you know that you should bother going to the library." He told me.
"Wait, are you saying she fired me?!" I said as my jaw dropped, "I mean I know I'm late, but..."
"Oh no, I didn't mean it like that. You see Princess Celestia assigned a dozen books for her to read, so she gave both of us the day off."
"Oh, well thank Celestia, and I mean that both figuratively and literally."
"So, what are you going to do now? As for me I'm bored."
"Go back home to Rainbow of course."
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So I made my way back home and teleported inside, so I can try to surprise Rainbow. I find her at the desk reading, I sneak up behind her and cover her eyes, "Guess who?"
"I thought you were going to work." She deadpanned.
"Twi gave Spike and I the day off." I explain as I remove my hooves from her eyes. "So do you want to do anything like go out to lunch, see a movie or..." I lean up to her ear, "I can make up for neglecting my duty as your fiance."
Rainbow got a small blush and said, "I like the sound of that last one."
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Some time later afterwards Rainbow and I were walking together in town, by Rarity's so Rainbow decided to stop by to say hi. She flew up to the open window and said, "AJ, Rarity, what's happening?"
"Applejack saved Spike's life and now he has to serve her forever." Rarity said.
"Sweet. What are you having him do? Wash your laundry? Clean your room? Help you with your unfinished novel? Mine's about this awesome pegasus, who's the best flyer ever, and becomes the captain of the Wonderbolts."
"How ever did you come up with that engeniusly woven intricate plot line?" Rarity asked sarcasticly.
"Just came to me."
"Is that a novel or just the sequel to your Daring Do fanfiction?" I ask smirking.
Rainbow doesn't answer, but shoots me a short glare.
"The thing is I don't really want him to serve me forever, but I don't know how to get him to stop." Applejack explained.
"That's easy, just make him help you with something really, really, hard." Rainbow said.
"I don't know, I don't want him to get hurt."
"Pah-lease, he'll quit way before there's a chance of getting hurt."
There was a crashing sound and Spike came out with a pipe.
"Leave this to me." Rainbow said to Applejack. "Sooo Spike, Applejack was going to help me stack some hay, so I can practice smashing through it, but I'm feeling extra, extra powerful today."
"You are?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah, I am. So, instead of hay, I'm gonna smash through rocks!"
"Rocks?" Spike asked.
"Rocks?!" I asked nervously.
"Yeah, a huge tower of rocks, and you're gonna build it." Rainbow said, putting her arm around Spike for a second.
"I am?" He asked.
"Yeah, I mean unless you don't want to help Applejack."
"I do! It's Spike's dragon code." He said, bowing.
"Then get to it."
Spike ran off, and Rainbow turned to AJ, "Trust me. This is gonna work like a charm."
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So Spike ended up building the rock tower. Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow and I all looked at it surprised.
"Bad news, he actually ended up building the whole rock tower. Good news, I got a rock tower to knock down." Rainbow said nerviously.
I pulled her aside, hoping that Spike won't hear us and said to her, "You don't have to do this. I mean I can just use my magic so it'd look like you knocked it down. I don't want you to get hurt."
"Would you?"
I nodded, and Rainbow flew at the tower. I did as I said I would and pushed it over right before she made impact.
"That... was... awesome!" Spike exclaimed before a boulder landed right in front of him. "Want to do it again Rainbow Dash? Applejack can rebuild it for ya, and when I saw Applejack, I of course mean me."
"Sure why not?" She said, landing on the ground and giving me a quick wink.
"No! I mean, I don't think Rainbow Dash needs any more of your help, my help, I don't think she needs it. Right, Rainbow Dash?" Applejack said.
"Yeah I guess I'm good for now."
"And so am I. I just can't think of one more thing I need help with. So, you don't have to do anything else."
Spike fell onto his back, "W-What do you mean you can't think of anything else I can help with?"
"Exactly that. There's nothing else I don't want you to do anything."
"But, if I don't help you how will I know if I'm a noble dragon?"
"Well I..."
Maybe there's things you need help with that you don't realize you need help with." The Spike when through a few ideas like giving AJ a massage, singing to her, and even breathing. Yeah, I don't want to get into that one.
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Later as Applejack had Spike distracted with having him count grass, the mares and I were in the barn thinking of a plan.
"Alright y'all, here's the deal. Spike needs to save my life."
Pinkie pulled out a bunch of random crap and said, "And you wanna shoot out a cannon, towards the hornets nest, and give Spike the butterfly net so he catch you near seconds before you hit the nest and are stung by a thousand angry hornets! I'll wear this mustache."
"Wait did you say hornets?! Sorry girls, but I hate bees and anything related to them so I'm sure you can handle this without me! 'Kay bye!" I quickly said before teleporting out of there. What I despise bees, why you may ask, well I may go into more detail sooner or later, but lets just say it involves that hellspawn of a rabbit Fluttershy calls Angle.
A while later, Rainbow explained what they did, and they didn't do Pinkie's plan, so my cowardly exit was pointless, but hey, in the end they didn't need me.
What the plan was to fake Applejack being attacked by a Timberwolf, but Spike didn't fall for it, then a few real Timberwolves showed up, and in the end Spike did save Applejack. They agreed that they were even and to just stick to Applejack's code of "that's just what friends do."
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That night, while I was asleep I had a dream of nothing, but the mist's voice, and it said, "YeS sEtH jUsT lIsTeN tO rAiNbOw AnD wAiT fOr YoUr EnD oF dAyS. iT wOn'T sLoW mE dOwN. yEt, NoThInG eLsE wIlL. oNe SiXtH oF tHe WoRlD's PoPuLaTiOn CoUlDn'T." Then of course it started laughing. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Keep Calm and Flutter On | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 33: Keep Calm and Flutter On
I along with Rainbow, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie and Spike were all waiting for Princess Celestia, who was coming to Ponyville with a special guest. She was also running a bit late.
"Maybe it's somepony so terribly important, she still had many terribly important things to do before she got here." Rarity suggested.
"Maybe the visitor has a deer antler, a goat leg, a bat wing, and a snake tail." Spike said, sounding worried.
"Yeah right, that's Discord." Twi said.
"Why in the wide, wide world of Equestria would Princess Celestia bring along someone like that?" Rarity added.
"M-M-Maybe you should ask her." Spike said pointing at two carriages, one containing Princess Celestia, the other a statue of a certain Draconequus.
The sight of my creator right there made my jaw drop.
Twilight walked up to the Princess and asked, "With all do respect Princess Celestia, HOW COULD YOU BRING DISCORD HERE?! Your majesty."
"I'm fully aware that the last time Discord was here he created serious havoc." The Princess responded.
"If by "serious havoc" you mean turning Ponyville into the chaos capital of the world." Rainbow said.
"And tricking all into being the opposite of our true selves." Rarity added.
"And making yummy delicious chocolate milk rain all over the place, without a single dollop of whip cream anywhere in sight. Not a single dollop!" Pinkie added.
"Yes I understand, but I have use for Discord's magic if he can be reformed to serve good, instead of evil. This is why I brought Discord here, because I believe that you are the ponies that can help him do just that." Celestia explained.
"This will never work. This is a disaster. How will we ever control him? We're doomed!" Spike shouted.
"Need I remind you that you are the ponies who back to stone like this in the first place."
"I suppose we can just use the Elements of Harmony against him, if anything gets out of hand." Twi stated.
Spike then offered to go get them, but Celestia already brought them, and said she casted a spell on them, so he can't steal them.
"Now where is Fluttershy? I believe she may know best on beginning to reform Discord."
"Fluttershy? Really?" Rainbow asked.
Celestia nodded, and the Rainbow flew off to get Fluttershy and Applejack.
While we were waiting for them Princess Celestia came up to me and asked, "Is something the matter Seth? You seem awfully quiet."
"Oh no, I'm fine. Just thinking." I tell her.
"Thinking about what?"
"Just this whole thing here, I mean if we can reform Discord or not. If we can then maybe I can finally know what it's like to have a father, but who knows. I doubt he even sees me as a son. Hell, the first time I talked to him, he said that I meant nothing to him. So I'm not sure that if I want to help out with this or not."
The Princess nodded and said, "Well, I'm not going to force you to, but I would appreciate it if you, and possibly your sister, help out with his reforming. I do believe that you two may be able to help him out even more if you make him feel like he has a family."
I thought about this for a second, before saluting her and saying, "Princess Celestia, I promise that I will do whatever I can to help with the reformation of my creator, but to let let you know, I believe that Screwball is at some fancy party that has something to do with her work, so she can't really help."
She responded with a warm smile.
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A few minutes later Rainbow came back with Fluttershy and AJ, and Princess Celestia explained the situation to those two.
She also spoke directly to Fluttershy about it, "I realize that this is a tall order, but I wouldn't ask if I weren't confident you could get him to use magic obediently of his own free will."
"And you really think I'll know best how to do that?" Fluttershy asked.
Celestia tipped Fluttershy's head up and said, "I do." She then flew back to her chariot and said, "Now I must return to Canterlot for Equestria's Royal Summit. You may release Discord when ready." She then left.
I then stood back as the other walked around Discord.
"Okay ponies, guess it's time to get started. Let's just hope this releasing spell works." Twilight said.
"Or let's not." Spike said.
"We best keep our Elements on at all times till further notice."
"Check!" The rest said simultaneously.
Twilight's horn, and the Elements lit up as a rainbow ring came out of them, connecting each one together, leading to the Element of Magic. Then a rainbonic (I'm not sure if that's even a word, but who cares) light came out of it, and went right at Discord statue, which began to crack.
Then the stone blasted off of him, and he began stretching, "Well, it's about time somepony got me out of that prisonblock. What a relief." He snapped his fingers, making a nearby squirrel musclebound.
The others gasped at this, but truthfully I found it kinda funny, yet I did my best not to show it.
"What are you doing?!" Twi asked.
"Why, stretching of course. When you're a creature of chaos stone bodysuits aren't your typical go to fashion choice." He shaped his fingers again, doing the same to a rabbit.
Pinkie gasped, "Make that bunny cute again, now!"
"He's adorable the way he is." Discord said before the super bunny tried to bite him. Discord crossed his arms and stuck his tongue at it. "You know what else is adorable? You ponies truly believe you can reform me, and that you're putting your faith in this one here to make it happen." He loomed over Fluttershy with a magnifying glass. He then teleported, and reappeared on the other side of her dressed in grandma drag, "Make me wanna pinch your little horsy cheeks."
"How'd you know about that?!" Twilight asked in a demanding tone.
"Being turned to stone doesn't keep me from hearing every word Celestia saids, although I'll admit it makes rolling my eyes a challenge." He then literally rolled his eyes like a pair of dice.
"It doesn't?" I ask, "So when Trixie trapped me in stone I could've chosen to have been conscious, if I wanted to?"
"Of course. Why I didn't mention that?" He then made this face at me.
"Not you didn't, kinda surprising considering how much you rage quit at almost every board game ever made."
"Well... I uhh... shut up!"
"Unless you want us to turn you back to stone, you'll zap those animals back the way they were pronto." Twilight ordered.
"Oh you wouldn't dare turn me back to stone and risk disappointing your precious princess."
"Try us Discord." Rainbow dared.
"You think you can treat poor, defenceless animals like that, and get away with it?" Fluttershy added, before flying at him.
"You go Fluttershy!" Rainbow cheered.
"You best watch your step buster or I'll give you the stare!"
I gulped, remembering when I got stared, and how badly I had to got to the bathroom afterwards, but let's not get into that.
"The stare, oh please not that. Anything, but your disapproving eyeballs." Discord then burst out into laughter.
She then did the stare at him, and at first it looked like it worked, until he started laughing, showing that it didn't.
"If it turns out we need to use our Elements against you I'm sure we can convince Princess Celestia it was for a good reason." Twilight stated.
"I suppose that's correct." He then snapped his fingers, turning the animals back to normal. "Well it seems like I know where I'll be crashing while I'm being reformed" He said those last two words with air quotes.
Please not with me and Rainbow. Please not with me and Rainbow. Please not with me and Rainbow. I mean I love Rainbow with all my heart, but knowing her, she'll make this reforming so much more difficult if he stays with us.
"With you Fluttershy." She reappeared in his arms and he gave her a noggy.
"Yes!" I cheered, only to get stares from everypony, "Umm... sorry." I said with a nervious smile.
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We all then went to Fluttershy cottage, where Fluttershy explained her plan while Discord lounged on her couch.
"He may be horrible, but that doesn't mean we should act the same way, we should at least try to be hospitable." She turned to her flankhole rabbit and asked, "You don't mind giving up your favorite spot on the couch, do you Angel Bunny?"
Angle rushed at Discord, trying to pull him off the couch, but quickly gave up.
"Oh I'm sorry about Angle, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked my creator.
"Oh yes. Thank you Fluttershy of your concern, if only your pony friends could be as considerate."
"Don't listen to him Fluttershy." Rainbow said, "He's just trying to drive a wedge between us, like he always does."
"Always? You girls only met him once. Hell, I've talked to him at least three times by now." I said, only for nopony to respond to what I said.
"Now why in the world would I ever try to do a thing like that?" Discord asked.
"So we can't unite and use the Elements of Harmony against you, that's why." Rainbow exclaimed.
"I never thought of that."
"You big liar!"
"Now look who's a liar. Anyone can plainly see that I'm not big at all." He said now a fraction of his normal size. He changed back, knocking over a lamp. He snapped his fingers, and "fixed" it, making it look like himself.
The others left, leaving Fluttershy and I to reform him. Twilight and Fluttershy talked for a bit, but I didn't pick up on it because I was paying more attention to Discord and Angel's fight over the couch, which I'll admit I was more rooting for Discord.
"So watch that goat-legged step of yours pal!" Twilight warned.
Discord made the couch into two chairs, one with him, one with Angel. He was now wearing a light blue suit and top hat, and they both had tea. "What? Look at me, I'm parctically reformed already."
Twilight then left.
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"So Discord..." I began to say, but he put a finger up, telling me to stop.
"Oh come now, I don't want to start with any daddy issues you have with me so just sit there and look pretty." He then snapped his fingers and I was suddenly in the most feminine dress you can think of.
I shoot him a death glare and said, "If you don't get me out of this right now, when I'm through with you, you'll be begging for the elements."
"You're no fun." He then snapped his fingers, removing the dress from me. Then, he got in my face, "And about that treat of yours, may I remind you that I created you, and with a snap of my fingers I can erase you from existence, but then that girlfriend of yours and her friends will pur my back in that prison, so it's not worth it."
"She's my fiance." I corrected.
He extended his arms and exclaimed sarcastically, "Look at all the bucks I give. They're just falling from the sky." He lays back down and said, "I'm hungry. Are you hungry?"
"Umm... No thanks."
With another snap he had something to eat. Which appeared to be a bowl of paper. I chose not to question that, yet Fluttershy did when she came into the room.
"Are you eating paper?"
"Am I? Huh, how odd of me." Disord said taking another bite.
"Well I'm just heading out, so just make yourself at home while I'm gone."
Fluttershy then walked out, I suddenly had the urge to go to the bathroom, so I left the room for a minute.
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Some time later, after Fluttershy got back, Discord decided to make himself at home by having the house spin around. While Discord was laying on a floating couch and Fluttershy was flying, I did my best to keep on levitating myself.
Fluttershy, being the Element of Kindness, said she was fine with it. "If this makes you comfortable, by all means, feel free."
"Well it does, very much so. You're so very kind, my dear Fluttershy. I always knew that you were the understanding one."
"Hey, I'm giving you chance too." I said.
"Yeah, but you're not one of the Element wielders, and you threaten me earlier when I was just playing dress up with you."
"Key word is dress." I deadpanned, "Also you threatened to delete me."
"Fine I'm sorry."
"Really?"
"Oh yes. I think Princess Celestia was right to chose you two to reform me. You're off to such a good start, I actually considering being reformed."
We then heard Twilight calling for us, Fluttershy flew out with Angel and I teleported to the ground, to meet up with Twi and Spike.
"What's going on? Are you two okay?" Twilight asked.
"We're fine. Everything's going great right Seth?" Fluttershy asked me.
"Well I could be worse." I said, looking back at the spinning house.
"We come to get you away from Discord, he's just terrible, and from the looks of it completely out of control." Twi pointed out.
"Oh, but you're wrong. We're making great progress." Fluttershy told them.
"Seriously?" Both Twilight and Spike asked.
"I'm earning his trust by giving him a little space to be himself."
"He used that space to be himself to tear out all the reforming spells from the library." Spike said holdind a book with a ripped out page.
"That does explain the paper eating."
"He ate them?!" Twilight shouted.
"I'm so sorry about that Twilight. You can take the money to replace those books out of my salary if you want." I told her.
"No, no. It's not your fault." Twi told me.
"We aren't going to need a spell." Fluttershy said, "He's already really considering being reformed. He said so."
"And you believed him?"
"If I'm going to be his friend, I have to start by giving him the benefit of the doubt. Tell you what, bring all the ponies over for a dinner party this evening and I'll bet him manners well be really improved by then. I'll even get him to put the cottage back on the ground first."
______________________________________________________________________________
After Discord got bored of the spinning cottage, Fluttershy sat the two of us down to talk.
"Now I want you two sit down for some family therapy." She told us.
"Seriously." We both said together.
"Oh yes. I think if you two just talk out your differences, you help build a proper father/son relationship."
Discord laughed at this, "Oh come now, he doesn't count as a son. I made him out of boredom. As I said I can get rid of him if I wanted to."
"But, yet you don't."
"Only because that'll put me back to stone."
"I'm sure you don't really mean that. Besides you didn't tell Seth that he could decide to not play those games with you when he was turned to stone."
"Yeah, that's right." I said, "You wanted to spend time with me didn't you?"
Discord was silent for a second and said, "Okay maybe, but what does that matter?"
"It means that you do care about Seth, and I think you do see him as your son."
"Well, even if I do, he doesn't see me as a father."
"Well, yes and no." I tell him, "I do see you as my father, but you haven't really done any fatherly things."
"Kinda hard when I'm busy being a lawn ornament."
"I know, but the reason why I'm giving you a chance is so that might finally know what it's like to have a parent."
Fluttershy smiled and said, "I think we're getting somewhere. You two keep talking while I start up dinner." She flew out as Discord turned to me.
"So, what do we do now? Play catch?" He asked.
"Do I look like I'm ten?" I ask.
"No, but even if you did you'd still look older than you really are."
I then laughed a little bit and said, "I guess you're right, but I'd rather be the way I am now. I can drink, I don't have to got to school and I get to have some of Rainbow Dash's sweet flank almost every night."
"Please don't make me imagine that."
"Hey you made me imagine you with Celestia."
"Actually we never had sex, and don't blame me for your mind going to that, you pervert."
We then both burst into laughter.
______________________________________________________________________________
That evening as the others came over to Fluttershy's, she showed them all Discord's progress, which I'll admit, he actually seems to be doing well. Yet, they all still seemed hesitant.
We all sat down, me next to Rainbow, of coarse.
Fluttershy at the head of the table said, "As you all know, Princess Celestia hoped we'd help Discord use his magic for good instead of evil. Pinkie Pie care for some gravy?"
"You bet." The pink mare responded.
"Allow me." Discord said before he brought the gravy boat to life.
Pinkie thought it was cute, but Rainbow disagreed.
It then poured itself on her lap. "Hey! That's hot!"
"Discord." I said in a tone.
"Oops, I'm so sorry." Discord claimed.
"He did that on purpose." Rainbow accused.
Discord claimed it was an accident, and then made the candles dance.
Rainbow blew them out, "I'm not falling for that. Discord is trying to distract us..." The candles started hopping on her.
I levitated them off of her, melting them with a heat spell.
"Rainbow, can I talk to you for a second?" I ask her.
"What? Why?"
"Just come with me."
The two of us walked into the other room closing the door behind us.
"Rainbow can you please try to be nice?" I asked her.
"Me?! Discord's the one who attacked me with gravy and candles!"
"I know, and I'll talk to him about that, but I just want you give him a chance."
"Seth, he's Dis bucking cord, nothing good can come from him!"
"What about me? Are you saying I'm not good? That I shouldn't exist?!"
"What?! No, of course not." She said hugging me, "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, it's just weird that before now, you always said you didn't care about Discord, but now you seem to be on his side."
"No, I'm just trying to get him on our side. The Princess asked us to try to reform him, so she can use his magic for something, I don't know what it is, but it may have something to do with that red mist that's absorbing beings into itself. I mean Discord can do whatever he wants, he may be the only one who can stop this force."
"I guess that makes sense, still I'm not just going to just be all open arm about this."
"Please, just try to be nice to him, I mean like it or not he's going to be your father-in-law, and from the time I spent with him, I'm really thinking we're starting to bond a little bit."
"Like I said, no promises."
We came back to the table.
"Everything alright?" Fluttershy asked.
"Yeah." Rainbow said, "As long as Discord doesn't make any more "mistakes"."
"The candles weren't my fault, you just got them mad, and the Seth murdered them, and they were so cute." Discord told her.
"There's something fishy going on." Twilight stated.
That's when a fish shaped soup terrine started spitting on everypony.
"Discord?" Fluttershy asked.
"It's hardly my fault that soup terrine finds the term "something fishy" to be offensive." He said to defend himself.
"Not the dress! NOT THE DRESS!" Rarity screamed as she was spat on.
"That terrine is only doing what you're making it do." Applejack said, coldly.
"Now let's not jump to any conclusions." Fluttershy said to everypony.
"Fluttershy, can you see what he's doing? He's playing innocent with you, so you'll never agree to use the Elements of Harmony against him." Rainbow accused.
"Beautiful, now what did we just talk about?" I ask her.
"I know, but he's clear still the same."
"Well, now that's a bit harsh, isn't it?" Discord asked.
The terrine still continued, and Rainbow put a cover over it. "You see what I'm saying right guys?"
I didn't know what to say, yes Discord is clearly controling this, but I don't want to fail the Princess, and if my theory's right, that fate of the world my be resting on his reformation.
"You know what I see?" Fluttershy asked, "I see that Discord's far from perfect, but I also see no of you, but Seth giving him a chance."
"What's gotten into you? Why are you cutting so much slack?"
"Because that's what friends do."
"We're friends?" Discord asked her.
"Why of course. I can't remember my house being this lively before you came along."
"Well, I never really had a friend before."
"Well, now you do."
"And you have a son." I added trotting over to my creator.
"Seth?" I hear Rainbow asked.
"Well only as long as you want me to be your son, do you?"
Before Discord can answer Angel came in to try to tell us something, turns out that Sweet Apple Acres has flooded, thanks to a bunch of beavers.
We all stood aside as Fluttershy tried to talk with the beavers, nopony stood anywhere near me, and truthfully I almost felt like crying. Yeah, I know that's not the macho thing to do, but I felt like I did over a year ago when Rainbow slapped me when they found to the truth about me. Sad, alone, nopony to tell me that I mean something to them. To make it worse, I'm starting to think that Discord hasn't changed. That I'm still nothing to him.
"It's no use, they won't listen to a word I say." Fluttershy explained.
"You see Discord is behind all this right?" Rainbow asked.
"Of course I do. Do you all think I'm a silly gullible fool?"
They all gave a nervous sounding answer.
"I just been trying to gain his friendship anyway I can. So he'd come to trust and listen to me." Fluttershy explained.
"Hey there Fluttershy! You want a turn? The water's great!" My creator exclaimed, while water skiing by.
"Time to see if it worked."
Discord ran up to the land, "Fluttershy there you are, a sight for sore eyes."
"As you can see, there's a big mess down here at Sweet Apple Acres."
"Oh yes, awful isn't that?" He said drying himself off.
"It is awful, this is Applejack's home and it's being destroyed by innocent creature, who would never be acting this way if it weren't for your reckless behavior. You need to fix this."
"Well, yes. Very well. I will fix it, I only ask for one thing in return."
"Yes?"
"I ask that you never use your Element of Harmony against me. As a sign of our friendship."
Fluttershy turned to the others, who were all shaking their heads no. I just remained silent. She turned back to Discord and said, "I will never use my Element of Harmony against you." She demonstrated this by taking it off, and throwing it to Spike.
"Excellent!" He exclaimed snapping his fingers, after a flash of light, all the water was frozen. "There much better! I prefer ice skating to water skiing. Don't you?" He skated past three other hims, who all held up point cards with 10s on them.
"Discord!" Fluttershy shouted, "That's not fixing it!" She ran right to him, "Why I otta.." She slide past him.
"Where you going? What's wrong pal?"
"Don't call me your pal!"
"Ohh come skating with me, and we'll let bygones be bygones." He spawned four skates and wave them in her face.
Spike slide over with the Element of Kindness, "Here you go Fluttershy, game on."
"He fixes this or he goes back to being stone, Princess Celestia will understand." Twilight added.
Fluttershy looked back and forth between the Element and the skates before speaking, "I made a promise not to use my element against him, and I'm going to keep it." She took the skates.
Discord laughed, "You see, she wants to have fun with me because we're friends. She can't use the Elements against me because we're friends. I'm free forever!" He laughed again.
"Not your friend!" Fluttershy shouted, throwing the skates.
"Who cares? I could do whatever I want, whenever I want. I'm Discord, the master of chaos! You think you can boss Discord around? You think I'm going to turn this back because you say so? Because if I don't I'll lose the one friend I ever had?" He then got a look of realization, then sadness on his face. "Huh, well played Fluttershy. Well played." He sat atop a tree and turned it all back to normal.
The others rushed over to Fluttershy, but I just slowly trotted over to her, still kinda mad at myself. Rainbow noticed this and rubbed up against me as to tell me, "I'm not mad at you."
Discord reappeared, "I like it better my way, but I guess when your friends you can't have it exactly your way all the time."
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The next day Princess Celestia arrived to pick up Discord. Discord walked up to her and said, "Yes Princess I'm ready to use magic for good instead of evil. Most of the time."
"Congratulations on your success ponies, I definitely sense a big change in Discord." She leaned over to Twilight and whispered something to her.
"You were right when you said Fluttershy would be the one to find a way to reform Discord. By treating Discord as a friend, she got him to realize that friendship was actually important to him, and something that once he had, he didn't want to lose." Twilight explained.
Fluttershy walked up to Discord and said, "Go on. Say it,"
"Alright, friendship is magic." He then looked around for some reason.
"See he can be a real sweetheart once you get to know him."
Shortly after they were about to leave, and Discord turned around and waved, "Goodbye everypony." He then looked at me, "See you later son."
I was surprised for a second that he actually called me his son, but I smiled and said, "Bye Dis... I mean... Bye Dad." |
Spawn of Disharmony | Games Ponies Play | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 34: Games Ponies Play
I seemed to be standing in the middle of a field that was surround by trees when there was a crack of lightning, and the sky turned red with two dark blue eyes looking down on me.
"TiMe'S uP sEtH." was all The voice said before I woke up.
I then rolled out of bed, to see Rainbow with Tank.
"Morning Rainbow." I said kissing her cheek.
"Morning." She responded, "Oh just to let you know while clearing the weather, Screwball told me that she need you for something, I don't know all she told me is that 'it's ready'."
I realized what she was talking about, I smiled and said, "Perfect."
______________________________________________________________________________
After leaving Tank, as well as everypony else's pets with Spike, (not sure how smart this is considering last time we did, Angel took over the library) we went to the train station to go to the Crystal Empire, to help Princess Cadance with trying to get the Equestria Games there.
"This gonna be a real treat. Princess Cadance said she's never seen the crystal ponies so excited." Applejack said.
"Duh, of course they're excited. They're up for the Equestria Games. It's only the biggest sporting event in all of Equestria." Rainbow exclaimed.
"Didn't Cloudsdale host the Equestria Games one year?" Rarity asked.
"No." Rainbow said sounding disappointed, "Cloudsdale should of hosted the games one year. I'll never forget when we got the bad news."
I knew the story. She was a little filly, standing on my dad's back, eagerly awaiting for it to be announced that the games go to Cloudsdale, but no, they went to Fillydelphia instead.
"These crystal ponies lost a thousand years to an evil king's curse. They've had enough bad news. No way we're letting them experience the pain of losing out on these games." Rainbow said with determination.
"Exactly." Twi said, "Princess Cadance is counting on us to do our part to convince the games inspector to chose the Crystal Empire, and we are not gonna let her down are we?"
Pinkie slid on her back knees, making a dramatic "No!"
We all look at her weird.
"What I was just answering Twilight's question." She said.
______________________________________________________________________________
We arrived at the Crystal Empire, and getting off the train with my saddlebags I sensed something. I turned to see the arctic off in the distance, and I heard the broken up laughter of The Voice in the distance. I quickly turned completely running to the arctic.
"Seth where are you going?!" Rainbow shouted.
"Sorry girls, but I need to take care of something!" I call back to them.
______________________________________________________________________________
I run through the snow covered ground looking for a cloud of red mist. Sure enough it appeared and I put my saddlebags to the side.
"HeLlO aGaIn SeTh." It greeted.
"Don't even start." I said coldly. "I felt you call me here, what do you want?"
"YoU sEe I'vE rEcEnTlY lEaRnEd SoMeThInG. dEaD bEiNgS aRe EaSIeR tO AbSoRb ThAn LiVe OnEs, So I fIgUrEd ThAt I'd TrY sOmEtHiNg."
Then the mist started to change into the shape of a pony. The eyes disappeared and it started to change from red to dark blue. It soon started to look more and more like a real pony, a unicorn to be precise, with a dark blue coat and a red mane, and after it stopped it opened up it's eye that were glowing completely red. What stood out the most was the cutie mark. I was of a gray star. Just like mine. In fact over all it looked exactly like me, but with the colors described.
"But, I don't... What?!" I shout.
"I sEe ThAt YoU'rE sUrPrIsEd By My TrUe FoRm."
"How? Why do you?"
"LoOk LiKe YoU. tHaT's BeCaUsE iN A wAy I aM yOu."
"What?!"
"WhEn DiScOrD cReAtEd YoU, iF yOu ReCaLl YoU rEsEMbLeD mE. AnD wHeN tHe ShOcKwAvE oF tHe ElEmEnTs Of HaRmOnY cHaNgEd HoW yOu LoOk ThAt'S nOt AlL tHaT cHaNgEd. I wAs WhAt YoU wErE oRiGiNaLlY mEaNt To Be, AnD i WaS sEaLeD aWaY iN tHe BaCk Of YoUr MiNd. I sTaYeD tHeRe UnTiL yOu SnApPeD wHeN iNfErNo CaLlEd RaInBoW dAsH a SlUt, BuT tHeRe I wAsN't FrEe, AnD wAs BaSiCaLlY jUsT a HeRoIc SpAz AtTaCk. AfTeR yOu WeRe DoNe I wAs FoRcEd BaCk InTo YoUr MiNd. ThEn YoU wErE dIrEcTlY hIt By ThE eLeMeNtS aNd ThEy dId MoRe ThAn CoNvEnIeNtLy HeAl yOu. ThEy SeT Me FrEe."
"Of course, order and chaos. Chaos and order. Two sides of the same coin. A coin that has always come up on heads, but soon will land on tails. Oh by Celestia, I'm so stupid!"
"NoW sEtH pRePaRe To FiNalLy Be In mY hOrSeShOeS." Then The Voice spawned a rapier.
I summoned mine and the two clashed repeatedly. He tried to stab me in the chest, but I teleported just in time, reappearing behind him, bucking him in the back of his head. The Voice faceplanted into the snow and rolled a couple of feet. Before getting back up, shaking the snow off his coat.
He glares at me, and I use the invisibility spell to shroud myself and he gets a confused look on his face. I create a tomahawk a throw it at him, but he smacks it away with magic, and then turns into mist, and goes into the ground. I unsure where he went turned off the invisibility spell, not my smartest move.
He reappeared right in front of me and before I could react I was hit in the head with a crowbar. I recoiled back, and charged up my horn until sparks were coming out of it. He tried to hit me again, but I pointed my horn at his chest and shot a bolt of electricity right at him.
He gasped in pain, making the crowbar disappear, but he seemed to be stuned, so I teleported very far away from him and with my magic I created arrows. Hundreds and hundreds of arrows, and shot them all into the air at once for them to come down upon The Voice.
I was sure that I'd win with that, but saw that at the last second he was able to put up a shield around himself. The arrows sticking out of the ground soon vanished.
I saw a quick flash of his horn, and the next thing I knew we were hundreds of feet up in the air. I was then grabbed by his magic and swung round a little bit before he let go, throwing me at the ground with speed. I landed on the ground with so much force I made a decent sized crater with body.
The Voice reappears right in front of my still down body smiling, "YoU sEe I aM tHe MoRe PoWeRfUl SiDe Of YoUrSeLf."
I'm able to stand back up, but with much agony, and I say, "I'm not done yet."
The voice punches me in the face, knocking me back down. "Oh YeS yOu ArE aNd AfTeR yOu ArE dEaD aNd If I cAn MaKe YoU A pArT oF mE I sHalL dO tHe SaMe To ThOsE wHo I cOuLdN't BeFoRe AnD fInIsH oFf ThIs WoRlD."
"Then what are you going to do?" I ask trying to get up again.
"I wIlL sPrEaD tHrOuGhOuT tHis UnIvErSe UnTiL iT AnD I aRe ThE sAmE. FrOm ThErE i WiLl TrAvEl FrOm UnIvErSe To UnIvErSe aNd Do WhAt I hAvE dOnE hErE. EvErY sTaR, eVeRy CoSmOs, eVeRy DiMeNsIoN. aLl ThInGs LiViNg AnD dEaD sHalL bEcOmE mE. nO eMpTy SpAcE, nO lImItS, nOtHiNg ExIsTiNg ExCePt FoR mE. ExIsTeNcE sHaLl BeCoMe DeFiNeD bY mE bEcAuSe I aM eXiStEnCe."
"And then what are you going to do?"
"WhAt?"
"I'm just wondering what are you going to do once you completed your goal. You will have absorbed everything and I do mean everything. You will not have just be the only being in the universe, you will be the universe. So I ask, what are you going to do as the universe? Well you create things? I'd assume not, because then it'd be something different from you and you'd reabsorb it back into you anyways. So again I ask, what are you going to do once you completed your goal? Why do you want that goal?"
"EvEryThInG eLsE dOeSn'T DeSeRvE tO ExIsT. EvErYtHiNg MuSt Be Me."
"And when everything is you what are you going to do next? What is your purpose once your purpose has been fulfilled? What will be your meaning once you made the ultimate achievement? Is existing an end of itself? Well that can't be it because you're already existing and there fulfilling that part of it. So I dare you go ahead and absorb everything so you are existence itself! In the end you'll have you will have the problem that there is no challenge left. No heaven to aspire to, no tartarus to avoid. You will live forever, alone as everything, and existence itself shall become your new prison. All experiences will be a part of you. All possibilities will have been considered and completed. Every life form, every being, every should and never should and it all have been done. Everything will be you, and everything will be meaningless. And when you do become existence, you will scream when the line of your existence is laying bare because there is simply nothing else left for you to do! You will be there alone in the darkness of mere being forever!"
"SILENCE!!!" It shouts spawning a blade that made a deep cut me in the shoulder before I teleported out of the crater.
I made used another spell to make the earth around his legs wrap around them as I took something out of my saddlebags. He was about to teleport away, but I threw a ring like thing at him that wrapped around his neck, and his magic canceled out.
"W-WhAt?!" He exclaimed.
"Anti-magic collar." I said, "If you were able to see through my eyes, then you'd remember these back in that alternate universe. I asked for Screwball to make me one of these just in case. I even have a wing bounder on me just in case if you were able to fly."
"HoW dId YoU kNoW yOu'D nEeD tHeM?"
"I didn't, but it's amazing what extra time you have when you lose so sleep. I thought of many different ideas and ways to beat you with many different types of beings you could of been. Plus I've been preparing for this encounter by learning some new spells as you may have noticed. Now I'm going to try another new on out."
After I said this I raised my horn to the shy as a small ball of fire appeared from it, that slowly grew bigger and bigger until it was the size of an elephant. I looked at the voice, who looked like he was ready to piss himself, yet you would too if you were in his situation.
I smile and say, "You're fired." (I apologize for that horrible pun.) as I throw the fireball right on the trapped unicorn, who let out a loud, high pitched scream as he burned alive.
As the flames died down there was just a still standing black corpse. I stare for a few seconds before it just suddenly exploded into a bright flash of blinding light. I cover my eyes, but I see visions of ponies and other beings slowly return to the world, and fading back into existence.
After the light fades I notice how much magic I used. I'm not surprised, but I had enough to teleport back to the Empire.
______________________________________________________________________________
I reappear in front of Shining Armor.
"Seth?" The Prince asks.
"The Voice *breath* is *breath* dead." I make out before I fall to ground.
______________________________________________________________________________
Now the rest is a bit of a blur from a mix of being knocked out of a while and some pain meds I was put on when my shoulder wound was being worked on, but I remember getting off the train to see Spike, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and the pets at the station.
Scootaloo walked up to me looking at my bandages. "Whoa Seth, what happened at the Crystal Empire?"
"Oh just saving the mutiverse from an evil version of myself that escaped from my brain about six months ago." I said with a straight face.
The Crusaders and Spike all got faces to show that they didn't know how to respond to that.
______________________________________________________________________________
A couple of hours later I was outside relaxing my leg a bit when a brown earth pony came up to me with a newspaper.
"Seth, have you seen this?!" The Doctor asked.
I read the headline, "Local Pegasus Mare Gone Missing... Uhh... Doctor, two things. One, this paper is from like three months ago, and two." I pointed my hoof to behind him where a grey, crossed-eyed, pegasus mare with a blond mane was standing.
"Ditzy! Oh thank heaven you're okay. I was worried that something happened to you."
"Y-You were worried about me?" Ditzy asked with a blush.
"Of course I was, you're my assistant after all."
Ditzy started to get tears in the corners of her eyes.
"Ditzy? Is something wrong?" The time lord asked.
"Doctor!" She exclaimed, jumping on him and giving him a huge hug.
I smile and walk away to leave to two alone with each other. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Magical Mystery Cure | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 35: Magical Mystery Cure
A few days have past since we returned from the Crystal Empire. With my injured shoulder I was given so time off to heal. So I was just sitting by myself at home, bored. I wasn't sure where Rainbow was, but hey we can't be with each other 24/7.
I'm sitting on the couch, and I look over to Tank besides me and think, 'Is it possible to teach a tortoise how to play Science?'
Then there was a flash of light in the middle of the living room, when it vanished and certain draconequus.
"Hey Dad." I greeted Discord.
"Hello Seth." He responded.
"So what's up?"
"Up is a direction." He said smirking.
"I mean, what are you here for?"
"Celestia is giving Twilight some test, and she doesn't want you to interfer."
"So Princess Celestia sees me as a distraction? Well that's good to know." I say slightly offended.
"Oh I'm sure she doesn't mean it like that." He snaps his fingers making a recliner appear and he sits down, "Besides we need to talk."
"Okay about what?"
"A few things, first is that battle you had with that other you"
"Yeah, I'm wondering about a few things, like is that was I was meant to be originally? Or how the hell was it able to absorb other beings? And come to think of it when he threw me to the ground how did I survive that, let alone have no broken bones?"
"Well, yes I made you look like that, but the whole "Everything must be me" thing came from bitterness of being trapped in your mind."
"So he wasn't my true self, just a piece of my personality?"
"Yeah."
"And it's gone?"
"Not really."
"Huh?" I ask tilting my head, "So it's not dead? It's still out there?!"
"No, no, no. It went back to where it came, but I think you have more control over it know, but who knows, we have to see next time somepony gets you really pissed off." Discord disappeared, and reappeared upside down with a cup of coffee, "Now, for the absorbing thing, and this goes with the surviving thing. You see, even though I made you and Screwball out of boredom I put much more work into you than you think."
"What do you mean?"
"Well Screwball's a genius, she's already made some inventions way ahead of this time, and as for you, well being a unicorn you can use magic, but you have even greater powers locked away inside of you."
"I-I do?"
"Well yeah, but you need to unlock them yourself to find out your full potential, and I think I know what can help that."
"What?"
"Both Celestia and I sense that there is a much greater evil on the horizon. A being who's older, more powerful, and much more terrible than even myself. His name is Dormis, he is a goblin with powers very similar to mine. And you know how I'm the spirit of chaos. Well he's the spirit of misery."
"And I have to deal with him?!" I asked shocked, "Well, how long do I have to get ready?"
"About a seasons worth of episodes."
"Uhh... What?"
"Probably about a year, but he may make himself present before then."
"Hmm..." I all I say.
"Something wrong?" Discord asks.
"Just wondering something, if I'm able to survive things that would normally kill a pony and I apparently have great powers locked away, and considering that you basically a god, does that make me a demigod?"
Discord floats down to the ground and rubs his chin "Hmm... haven't really thought of it that way, but come to think of it, yeah you kinda are." Discord teleports next to me dressed in a light blue suit, and holding a microphone, "Congratulations Seth you have gone up in Gary Stu levels, what are you going to do now?!"
"Umm... I don't know."
Discord facepalms, "You were supposed to say 'I'm going to Disneyworld'."
"What world?" I ask.
"Nevermind." Discord's suit disappears and he looks at a watch, "Besides it's time for you to join your friends." He snaps his fingers and there was a flash of light.
_____________________________________________________________________________
I reappeared by myself in Ponyville where nearby was Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, and Spike. I also notice that he seemed to have healed my shoulder. Well that was nice of him.
"Seth where'd you come from?" Spike asked.
"Home. Discord teleported me here after telling me that there is a greater evil coming, and that I'm technically a demigod." I explain.
Before there was a response a ball of light to resembled Twilight's cutie mark appeared in the sky, and descended down to the ground.
After the light cleared it was revealed that it was Twilight, and she now had wings.
"Awesome! A new flying buddy!" Rainbow exclaimed, hugging Twilight.
"Why you've become an Alicorn. I didn't even know that was possible." Rarity said.
Pinkie than Swung by shouting, "Alicorn party!", as balloons seemed to just come out of nowhere.
"Wow, you look just like a princess." Fluttershy told Twilight.
Princess Celestia came down from the sky and said, "That's because she is a princess."
We were all surprised, Pinkie even pulled a glass of water out of nowhere to do a spit take.
"A-A princess?" Twilight asked.
Celestia put a hoof on Twi's shoulder and said, "Since you've come to Ponyville you're displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and of course the leadership of a true princess."
"But, does this mean I won't be your student anymore?"
"Not in the same way as before. I'll still be here to help and guide you, but we're all your students now too. You are an insparation to us all Twilight." Celestia bowed and the rest of us did as well.
"But, what do I do now? Is there a book about being a princess I should read?"
Celestia giggles, "There will be time for all of that later."
______________________________________________________________________________
The next day at Canterlot we were all dressed up and standing in the throne room of the castle in front of a crowd of ponies. Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence were standing together as Celestia spoke, "We are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous occasion. My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, has done many extraordinary things since she's lived in Ponyville. She even helped reunite me with my sister, Princess Luna. But today, Twilight Sparkle did something extraordinary. She created new magic, proving without a doubt that she is ready to be crowned Equestria's newest princess. Fillies and gentlecolts, may I present for the very first time, Princess Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight walked up to Celestia, all dressed up herself, and Spike came up with a tiara, that Princess Celestia put on Twilight's head.
They walked out to the balcony and Twilight began a speech, "A little while ago, my teacher and mentor Princess Celestia sent me to live in Ponyville. She sent me to study friendship, which is something I didn't really care much about. But now, on a day like today, I can honestly say I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for the friendships I've made with all of you. Each one of you taught me something about friendship, and for that, I will always be grateful. Today, I consider myself the luckiest pony in Equestria. Thank you, friends. Thank you, everypony."
The crowd cheers, and we go back inside.
Shining Armor and Cadence run up to us. "Twilight! I'm so proud of you."
"Are you crying?" Twilight asks her brother.
"Of course not, it's... it's liquid pride totally a different thing."
They both laugh and hug.
"Way to go, princess." Applejack says.
"Best coronation day ever!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"We love you, Twilight." Fluttershy said.
"I love you too girls." Twilight said before they made a group hug.
Thought at the end of the room I notice something, a strange creature standing there. It was a little shorter than what Inferno was, wearing a dark blue suit and hat. It had yellow skin, straight white hair, and a long nose. It's eyes were pitch black with red dots for pupils. It smiled and waved at me before disappearing in a cloud of dark purple aura.
'So I assume that's what I'm up against.' I think to myself, 'Bring it on.' |
Spawn of Disharmony | The Supernumeraries | Hey Seth here again, so have you ever wanted to know more about some of the side characters of this story?
Some Random Guy: Not really.
Shut up. Well he's a new story that Stars someponies that haven't really gotten much of a spotlight here.
The Supernumeraries
I hope you enjoy.
> Dimensional Battle Royal
I looked over the checklist of things to take care for the day that Twilight assigned for me. 'Okay, I got got some potions from Zecora, still think Twilight should pay me extra for going through that creepy-flank forest. Damnit Rainbow Dash, I love that mare, but because of that I have to look behind my shoulder every time I hear something to make sure I'm not being followed by Slenderpony or something.' Anyways, back to the list. 'Picked more quills for Twi, picked up that late book from Vinyl, thank Celestia that she wasn't getting busy with Octavia this time. Yeah, that seems to be about it.'
I put the list away into my saddlebag and not soon afterward I made it back to the library. As I walked through the door I saw two mares sitting at a table reading. One a lavender alicorn, and the other a cyan pegasus.
They both looked up from their books at the sound of me walking in. I levitated the potion, quills, book, and late fee from Vinyl, out of my saddlebags and over to where Twilight was sitting. Twilight thanked me as I did and I took a seat next to my favorite pegasus, nuzzling up to her.
I saw that she was reading Daring Do and the Temple of Chaos, the first appearance of her diamond dog boyfriend and that so called "son of Discord". Yeah, I'm sure that Rainbow's going to have a grand ol' time poking fun at me for that one, or maybe she'll be more creeped out when it turns out that Celestia's the mother.
You know, I couldn't help but wonder what their opinions were on this.
-Meanwhile in Canterlot Castle-
"Bahahahahahahaha!" Discord laughed as sat by a fireplace that seemed to be frozen as he drank some blue liquid from a triangular mug. "Hmmm... it seems that this author likes Diselstia shipping. Also a son with powers like mine. Hmmm... should I give Seth that? Nah, he's already boarderline OP." That was when the princess of the sun walked into the room.
"Discord, I came to talk to you about me not really having you do anything and... Wait, what are you reading?"
"A fanfiction that the author keeps referencing as part of the Daring Do series, but since he assumes his readers get every reference he makes he won't just flat out say it's Echo the Diamond Dog. Oppies, sorry that I just spelled that out."
"Umm... apology accepted?" Celestia said, yet was still unsure.
"I wasn't apologizing to you."
"Umm... okay. Wait, Daring Do? Diamond Dog? Don't tell me it's that book..."
"Yup, its a story were a long time ago you fell for my natural charm. Well, that actually happened, but here we actually..."
"Discord, just stop right there. I know of that book. I remember when it came out not too long after you were free. I remember the rumors that began because of it. Please don't remind me."
"Oh you're no fun. Makes since you fell for Claymore, but he only existed to be dead." The second those words left Discord's mouth, the frozen fireplace thawed out. Discord turned around to see Celestia with literal fire in her eyes. "Shit."
-Back in Ponyville-
"Hey Seth, can you put the book you got back from Vinyl back where it belongs?" Twilight asked.
"Well, you don't pay me to cuddle with Rainbow." I said as I got off my hunches.
"If she did you'd have more money than the royal family." Rainbow said, not taking her eyes off of her book. I couldn't really disagree with that, but since I don't get paid for that I just picked up the book with my magic and found it's place on a nearby shelf.
Once that was done I walked back over to them, "Oh yeah Twi, Zecora said to make sure that potion is...", I began to say, but then I was cut off by a dark purple aura rising right in front of me.
"What the?" was my natural reaction to a magic wall appearing right in front of me. It started to form in a circle around me, and then formed into an orb. I saw Rainbow and Twilight rush over to me. I tried to teleport out, but somehow I just couldn't.
Rainbow tackled the magic orb, but she bounced right off of it.
"Rainb..." I shouted right before I felt what I'd assume being electrocuted feels like, and I scream out in pain. Then there was bright flash of light and I had to close my eyes.
Continued in Dimensional Battle Royal. |
Spawn of Disharmony | Princess Twilight Sparkle | Spawn of Disharmony
By: KenSES64
Chapter 36: Princess Twilight Sparkle
So I was in Canterlot helping my sister, Screwball move into her new house with Light Arrow... Yeah, still not too fond of the idea, but I've already given Light Arrow a..... fair warning about what would happen if he ever broke my sister's heart, so yeah. Still not entirely on board with the idea, but I'm not about to tell my sister what she can and cannot do.
I had just placed a large, red sofa down in the living room when she walked in.
"Sweet. Thanks again for the help us out Seth."
"No problem," I said back to her. "Though to be honest, this is just good timing." I was, of course, referring to the fact that the girls were here in Canterlot helping the newly crowned princess Twilight Sparkle get ready for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration. Well, mostly it was Rainbow helping her out with flying cause really, who else could. Yeah, nothing against Fluttershy, but I don't think she'd make a good flying instructor.
"Oh, I'm sure I could've of talked you into this even if it wasn't," Screwball said to me. And that was when Light Arrow came into the room.
"You.... You guys could of.... helped me with the.... bed," he said breathing heavily, and now trying to push a mattress up the stairs, I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
"If I remember correctly," I said to the struggling pegasus. "You said that I was showing off by using my magic and wanted to do that without help."
"Yeah, but... shut up!" he shouted as he dropped the bed that slid past him down that stairs, making and a loud thud once it hit the floor at the bottom of them
"Okay boys, settle down," Screwball said as she stepped in between us. "No need for a dick measuring contest."
"Do you have to make almost every conversation awkward?" I asked.
"Of course," she responded with a.... rather weird looking, smirk.
Neither me nor Light Arrow said anything else as I helped them move some more things into the house. After a few hours we were done. It would have been faster, but Light Arrow kept refusing to let me help him on some of the heavier things.
"Thanks again, bro," Screwball said to me with a hug.
"You're welcome," I said back to her before I left. "I'll see you later I guess. I gotta-"
"Yeah I know," Screwball interrupted. "You gotta be a good little doggie and check back in with the one who holds your leash." Then at that she started petting my head. "It's okay, you don't wanna be a bad little doggie and keep your master waiting do you? You wanna be a good boy don't you. Good boy." I...... I'm still not really sure how I feel about that. Behind her, Light Arrow had this look on his face that I couldn't really place. I wasn't sure if he was making fun of me or was seriously weirded out by my sister speaking to me like a puppy.
"Yeah..." I just said as I looked past her right at Light. "Well, take care Light."
"Umm... yeah, take care," he responded with a wave.
So with that out of the way, I went off to the train station to meet up with the girls.
7 minutes later...
I walked into the station to hear Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity recite, "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Which of course was accompanied by the gestures Pinkie invented for that.
"And you will be with us right after the Celebration," Rarity said, "We already have an appointment on the books to discuss the royal upgrades to your loft decor."
"Hey girls," I said as I walked up to them. "Did I-"
"All aboard for Ponyville!" the conductor suddenly shouted from the train before I could say anything else.
"Well what do you know, perfect timing" I said to myself as all the girls except for Pinkie shared a quick group hug. After that they all headed for the train, and then head for the train, shortly followed by me.
"Whee!" Pinkie suddenly exclaimed right as I stepped onto the train. Without warning she leapt off the ledge and tackled Twilight to the platform for a good long hug. As soon as she started it, she let go and then hopped back toward the train. The violet bookworm stood up in time to see us waving goodbye just as the train started rolling back to Ponyville.
The Next Day...
The day started out like any other. With Twilight and Spike back in Canterlot, I had to run the library by myself, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to it a little.
On the way there, I noticed something that seemed... I would say off, but that would have been a bit of an understatement.
What was off? Well the sun and moon were out at the same time.
'Okay...' I thought to myself... 'Either the princesses are really drunk or there's something bad going on. Though the princesses being drunk might be a bad thing if of itself.'
I went on and once I turned a corner I saw a wall of black vines.
"Okay, now there's something going on here," I said to nopony in particular as I spawned my good ol' rapier.
So, as I usually would do, I ran at the vines and started slashing at them, but before I could, I noticed that something was also off with my good ol' rapier. At first it just started shaking in the air, but when I stopped to look at it, it suddenly turned itself around and started jabbing at me.
"Shit shit shit!" I shouted as I leapt backwards, only for the rapier to give me a small scratch on my right foreleg. I winced in pain, but tried to ignore it due to the fact that my own weapon was attacking me!
Without listening to my commands, the rapier kept jabbing at me, and for a few moments I kept dodging said jabs, but then I realized something, my magic was still going. So I simply switched it off, and traitorous my rapier vanished into a cloud of red mist.
'Huh, why didn't I think about doing that right away?' I thought to myself, 'Eh, no matter, I have to go see if everypony else is alright.'
Eventually I reached town hall to find Rarity trotting up. She kicked away one vine and said, "Something very strange is going on, and..." Her protestations were cut off by a sudden gasp as a massive vine erupted in front of her. Before it could touch her she galloped up onto the town hall's porch. "I for one would appreciate an explanation!"
At that Rainbow flew down from the sky.
"All I know is the sky's split in two, and these clouds moving in sure aren't from around here!" She said in a an obvious panic.
"Neither are all these crazy plants!" Applejack said as she caught up with us. "They're comin' from the Everfree Forest! And try as we might, us earth ponies can't do anythin' to get rid of 'em!"
Then suddenly Pinkie appeared... By way of sliding along the black bends of one of the plants and executing a perfect four-point landing.
Applejack then turned to Rarity and I and said, "Don't suppose you know any magic that might stop 'em from spreadin'?"
"Alas, this whole 'raging forest' situation seems to have left my horn on the fritz," Rarity explained.
"Same here," I added. "I tried to cut them down as soon as I saw em, but my own sword started attacking me, so I stopped."
Fluttershy, who I didn't realize was here up till now, then spoke up. "We have to figure out something. I don't know how much more of this Ponyville can take." At that, one of her hind legs got snagged by a vine. As soon as it touched her she flew up as far as could can with a cry, only for Rainbow to blasts across and kick the snare apart. "I don't know how much more I can take!"
"The forest is expandin', y'all. And judgin' by how fast it's movin'..." Applejack said before pinning down a vine. "...it doesn't seem content just takin' over Ponyville. I reckon before long, it'll cover half of Equestria!"
"So... to the library?" I asked, not coming up with any better ideas.
"Seems so, sugarcube," Applejack responded.
"Okay, to the library!" I exclaimed while dramatically pointing my hoof in the direction of Golden Oaks.
So the six of us frantically dug through all the books that we could find, which since it was a library, was a lot, trying to find some sort of answer to whatever these plants were and how to defeat them. Needless to say we had little success, and by little success I meant no success whatsoever.
That's when Twilight suddenly materialized in a screaming violet tumble and rolled, into a pile of books, scattering literature throughout the library. After a moment, my boss pulled her head out of the scrambled books, seemingly disoriented by the hit she took.
"Well, that happened," I said aloud.
"Oh, thank goodness!" Rarity exclaimed.
"Oh, I hope you know we wouldn't normally go through your books without permission," Fluttershy said to her.
"Well, I gave you permission," I pointed out.
"Oh... right."
Twilight then shook her head clear just as the front door opened and Spike crawled in, half-delirious.
"Sweet ground!" He shouted as he kissed the floor repeatedly. "Sweet, sweet, wonderful ground!"
"Okay, I get it! I need to work on my flying!" Twilight grumpily said to the baby dragon, who was still kissing the floor.
Pinkie then suddenly zipped over, bumping right into Rarity in the process, and said, "I don't know if you've noticed, but the Everfree Forest is just a teeny tiny bit out of control." Her tail choose this moment to twitch madly as she hit the deck just as a thorny vine punched though the room, missing her but plowing Rarity away.
"Guess it turned out you were missin' somethin' here in Ponyville after all," Applejack said and with some effort as she got the window closed and cut off the length inside the building; a dazed Rarity stood up and shook some sense into herself.
"But perhaps you already know what's causing all of this calamity," Rarity said as Rainbow and Fluttershy moved closer. "Has Princess Celestia sent you to dispel it post-haste?"
"Not exactly," Twilight answered. "You see, Princess Celestia is...well, she and Princess Luna are both-"
"They're missing!" Spike shouted before Twilight could finish. His two clawed hands quickly clapping over his mouth, but not before his little outburst earned a six-way gasp from the rest of us.
"I don't know who has taken them, but I've got a hunch we're going to need the Elements of Harmony to get them back," Twilight explained as she turned her attention to the glass case that held the other five Elements and levitated its cover away. Fluttershy and Rainbow's necklaces are floated over to them and put on.
"Oh, yeah! Just like old times!" Rainbow cheered.
Rarity got hers next, smiling fiercely, then Pinkie as Twilight walked over and high-hoofed her.
"Ah, boo-yah!" the pink party pony exclaimed.
Last was Applejack.
"I told you we'd always be connected by the Elements," she said as she touched Twilight's chest. "Now we just gotta figure out who to aim these bad boys at..." As she said that a vine inched up behind her. "...so we can get Celestia and Luna back and keep the rest of Equestria from becoming plant food!" She then used one of her hooves to pin the unwelcome flora to the floor. "Any ideas?"
At that Twilight let out a "Hmmm."
"I haven't found squat in any of the books I've been looking through!" Pinkie quickly said, hunkered down on the boards with a couple of coloring books and a box of crayons. "Oopsies! Missed a spot."
With nothing else to go on, Twilight started to pondering to herself. "Half day, half night...strange weather patterns...out-of-control plants...I think I'm starting to get a pretty good idea of who we're up against." I couldn't speak for the rest of them, but I had a pretty good idea of who we were up against, and I didn't like it.
We then all followed Twilight outside and gathered in an open area that wasn't too badly choked with vines. Once we were all there, Twilight threw her horn into high gear. Why she could still use magic when the rest of us couldn't was beyond me. Probably had something to do with the whole new "alicorn" thing. Anyway, the energy spread through to her tiara, then a brilliant white glow built around its star jewel before throwing off magenta rays. The gems in the other necklaces all ignited as well lifted them of the ground. Ribbons of rainbow light laced from one to the next in both directions, finally curling around Twilight and connecting into her tiara before swirling across in a varicolored tornado. After a few moments, the tornado cleared to reveal Discord sitting in a bathtub scrubbing various bits of his crazy-quilt anatomy with a soapy brush.
"Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wrap U..." he sang to himself before he noticed us. "...ooh!", Throwing the brush away, he conjured up a towel and wrapped it around himself with a slightly embarrassed laugh. "Now, Twilight, you know Princess Celestia said that you were to give me a heads-up before you summon me..." He said as he stepped out of the bath and tapped her tiara. "...with that little spell she gave you." The tub then vanished as he started drying himself off. "In case you haven't noticed, I was in the middle of a particularly invigorating shower."
"Enough!" Twilight shouted as She shoves him away. "Release Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and stop the Everfree Forest from invading! "
At that, Twilight was suddenly and thoroughly wrapped up in a heavy black vine, the end of which, stopped inches away from her face. After less than a second, the growth transformed into Discord, who just looked her straight at her at point-blank range.
"Why, whatever are you talking about?" he asked, chuckling innocently.
"Don't you play dumb with us, Discord! We know you're the one behind all of this!" Applejack shouted at him.
He then slithered away and reappeared on a roof behind a house. "Don't get me wrong." He said as he pulled out a camera and started taking pictures. "I absolutely love what you've done with the place." He then sidles up to Fluttershy; camera gone. "But I couldn't possibly take responsibility. I'm reformed. Don't you remember?"
"Yeah, right! This has got your cloven hoofprints all over it!" Rainbow said to him.
"I'll have you know that I have only one cloven hoof. Such accusations. And here I thought we were friends. And you Rainbow Dash, how can you say such things to your favorite Father-in-Law," he then gave her giant puppy-dog eyes.
"Drop the act, buster! We're onto you," Pinkie says, squinting rather forcefully.
"Ladies, ladies! I'm innocent! Would I lie to you?"
"Yes." All of us, but Fluttershy said.
"Um, maybe?" Fluttershy added.
"Well, then, it seems we've reached an impasse. I'm telling the truth, but you think I'm lying. What do friends like us do in a situation like this Princess Twilight?" At that he then threw a forelimb over her shoulders. "Congrats, by the way, on the promotion. You totally deserve it."
"I say we blast him back to stone!" Rainbow suggested.
"Works for me," Applejack chimed in.
"Hear, hear!" Rairity added.
At that the three of them warmed up their Elements, ready to crank off a bit of petrifying vengeance. Before they could however, Fluttershy quickly moved in to intercept.
"Hey!" she shouted. "We can't do that! What if he really is telling the truth?"
Discord then stitched on an ear-to-ear grin, along with a halo appearing above his head to really drive the point home. It disappears as soon as he spoke. "Well, finally! Somepony willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. The rest of you could learn a lot about friendship from my dear friend Shutterfly here."
On the end of that sentence, he reeled in his left arm, which was wrapped around a rather irked Rainbow Dash. The yellow pegasus flew up on his other side.
"Um, it's Fluttershy," The correct pegasus mare said.
At that Discord threw Rainbow aside and put the other limb around her shoulders. "Oh, right, whatever."
"If you're not the one responsible, then help us figure out who is!" Twilight demanded.
"I suppose I could, but after all the hoof-pointing and besmirching of my good name..." he said as he producing knitting needle and stretched out a vine, "...I just don't know if I'm up to it." He then started passing the time by doing a little crocheting.
Twilight then voiced a loud, frustrated groan that just made Discord smirk a bit. "Why don't you ask your zebra friend if she knows anything?" At that we noticed that he knitted a large arrow pointing off to his left, which coincidentally, pointed at Zecora, who was trudging into view, hitched to a cart piled with all her belongings.
"Zecora!" Twilight shouted before we gallop over as the zebra dropped to her haunches. Fluttershy and Rainbow airlifted some of her gear away while Applejack and Pinkie unhitched the cart and rolled it back.
"From my home I've had to flee. The forest has grown too wild even for me," Zecora explained.
"Any idea why all this is happenin'?" Applejack asked the zebra as a vine stole her hat.
"I'm afraid it is a mystery to me as well," Zecora explained. "but I may have something that, if combined with a spell..." She then pulled out a bottle of some purple liquid and set it onto the ground in front of us "I do not dare to use it myself. The results would be tragic. It only responds to alicorn magic. Princess Twilight, you can turn the potion from purple to white. After a sip, you may see why the sky is day and night."
With the achievement of at least somewhat of an explanation, or at least an explanation of how we could find out what the tartarus was going on, Twilight dropped into a half-crouch with magic boiling around her horn. The same green-rimmed purple aura similar to that one that King Sombra used appeared rather than her usual purple magic. After a long, pained groan of effort, she fired a beam of black energy into the potion. As she did, its purple hue faded away as Pinkie leaned down for a closer look, letting out an "Ooooh" in the process.
That done, Twilight just floated the bottle up to head level to really get a look at it. Zecora stepped over with a nod and nudged its trailing edge up to her nose. At that, Twilight looked at it for only a second longer before she took a long swig. A lot of nothing proceeded to happen as she licked her lips.
"Doesn't seem to be worki-" she said just before the lack of action came to a rather sudden and screeching halt as her wings spread to full extension and her eyes blazed white, the potion bottle dropping to the ground in the process.
Then, for the next few minutes she just mumbled to herself. There was a point that she even started crying. She must have been seeing something we weren't. I couldn't help but wonder what it was. I really wanted to know.
Then, just as quickly as it set on, it was over and her eyes went normal again. When she got back to normalcy, she looked at us confused
"Why are you all looking at me like that?" she asked us, not that I could blame her.
There's a long pause before Applejack spoke up.
"It's just...you were mumblin' to yourself," she explained.
"Ooh! And don't forget the uncontrollable sobbing," Pinkie spontaneously added as subtly as a brick to the head.
"We were really worried about you," Fluttershy added.
"I for one found it delightful," Discord chimed in, oddly enough with more subtly than Pinkie Pie. "Sort of a one-pony theater piece, if you will. You should really consider taking it on the road." He then pulled out a sheet out of nowhere depicting a video clip of Twilight crying her eyes out, accompanied by the sound of a bawling infant.
Rainbow, who was hovering in place and kicking at air chose this moment to chime back in.
"Did you find out whose rump we need to kick and where we can find 'em?" she asked.
"I saw something from a long time ago, but it didn't explain what's happening now," Twilight explained.
"Perhaps farther back still are the answers you seek," Zecora chimed in. "Another sip of the potion will give you a peek."
"You sure about this?" Spike asked Twilight, obviously worried. Not that I could blame him, hell I kind of was.
She just looked at the bottle for a few more seconds before she went "hell with it," and took another swig. She didn't say that part out loud, but I could tell that mentally she was saying it.
Discord then suddenly appeared with a movie camera on a tripod as well as a new set of clothes that I could only describe as "a director with an incredibly bad fashion sense." No, really, his clothing consisted of half-green/half-purple jacket, white pants, red ascot with white polka dots, beret, pencil-thin mustache.
"Oh, I do hope she breaks into a song this time!" he exclaimed.
Then Twilight's eyes went white again. A few moments later she opened them.
"So what'd you find out?" Spike asked.
"I still don't know what's happened to Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, but I think I know why the Everfree Forest is acting this way. Something's happened to the Tree of Harmony." Twilight said, confusing the rest of us.
"The Tree of what, now?" Rainbow asked.
"It's where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna found the Elements. I think it's in danger."
"Well, all right, then! Let's go save a... tree. Uh...where is it exactly?" Applejack asked.
"I think it's in..." Twilight began before she pointed into the Everfree Forest, "...there."
"I'm going to need more popcorn!" Discord said with glee.
Twilight then turned to me and said, "Seth, stay here and keep an eye on Discord while we're gone."
"You don't want my help in there?" I asked, confused.
"It's not that, it's just..." she paused for a moment. "He's your father, we trust you more than anypony else to make sure he doesn't do anything that he'll regret."
"Oh," I responded with immediate understanding, she was right, in a way. So I just nodded and said, "Okay."
With that, all the girls and Spike all went off into the dangerous unknown that was the Everfree Forest. With nothing else to to, I turned back towards my creator. Father. Thing..... Under the circumstances, he pretty much is my father.
"And, so they leave you here to babysit me, can't say I'm surprised," my "father" said.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, confused.
"Well, aside from the fact that this chapter is the season 4 opening. You don't get to have that many opportunities to do anything since too much plot is happening and a new status quo has to be introduced. Plus, there's the fact that your magic will be on the fritz right?"
"Yeah..." I responded, confused as all hell. I've pretty much learned to zone him out with he starts talking about stuff like that, so I really didn't pay attention to what he said.
"And without your magic can you even really do anything to help? I mean without it, all you are is a stallion with a hot wife. A hot wife who pretty much has you on a leash at this point, but a hot wife nonetheless."
And thats the second time a member of my family brought that up. I wanted to feel insulted, but instead I asked about something else I caught on.
"Wait, you think my wife is hot?" I asked, a little weirded out.
"Not really," he answered. "I just thought that would make you feel better."
"Oh... Thanks," was all I could say in response.
"So," Discord said as he snapped his fingers as summoned a scimitar, which he swung in the air for a few seconds as some more vines shot out at him. "You're going to watch me, and make sure that I don't do anything right?" As if on cue, as he finished that sentence, the scimitar disappeared.
"Yeah, pretty much," I said. Yeah I didn't like it either.
"Well then I gotta ask, exactly how do you plan to stop me from doing so?"
"With a threat of my friends returning you to your stone prison if you disobey," I responded confidently... Yes, confidently, and not at all insulted. "Think about it, they know me, they trust me. If you do anything, hell, even if you try and deny it, which one of us do you think they'll believe?"
At that, Discord scowled and lowered his head so that he could make eye contact with me.
"Remember, 'son,'" he said with air quotes around the 'son" but before he pointed up at my chin. "I made you, and I can erase you too."
"Yeah, try that. See what happens," I responded with a smirk on my face that matched his own earlier.
There was a long silence with nothing but the two of us staring at each other, waiting the other to blink, or to see who would do what, but mostly blink.
Eventually, Discord blinked first and let out a rather loud sigh before he moved away from me and spawned a lawn chair
"Fine, you called my bluff," he said as he laid back. "I'm just going to sit here doing nothing. You can go off doing something else. Don't worry about me, I'm not going to do anything, lest I get turned back into stone because you snitched on your dear old dad tha-."
"Yeah, I'm not an idiot," I deadpanned.
"No, but you're no fun." Discord said before he pulled a pair of sunglasses out of nowhere and just kicked back on the lawn chair.
So for... I don't even know how long... I just stared at him, making sure that he did nothing at all, which he did.... remarkably well actually.
He was just sitting... and doing nothing... at all..... for who knows how long.... I had to say, I didn't really believe in him, but he did it, he, wait.... WAS HE DOING THIS JUST TO BUCK WITH ME!? He is definitely the type of pony... chimera... thing, that would do this sort of thing, so was he!? I couldn't tell.
I mean yeah, he is the god of chaos, and I'm not supposed to be able to tell what he's doing, but if he is then...
Wait, what if he isn't, what if he is actually scared of the consequences, what if I got to him more than I thought I did, what if I got him to ACTUALLY listen to me.
But what if I didn't?
What if he was just making me think I did, so that I would turn away for an instant, then he would quickly snap his fingers and turn all the houses into toothpicks or something like that.
Then I would have failed, and GAH THIS WAS SO-
"No luck finding your tree?" Discord suddenly said, breaking my concentration in the process as he looked up from his lawn chair to see Twilight coming back.
"We ran into some trouble," Twilight said before she stopped and sat on haunches. "And my friends decided it would be best if I return to Ponyville while they continue the search. Equestria will need me if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna don't return."
"Wait, seriously?" I couldn't help but ask, taking my eyes off of Discord for a moment. Remarkably though, all Discord did was stand up and start talking.
"I'm just surprised that you agreed to their plan. I never thought you'd be the kind of pony who would think she was better than everypony else."
"I don't think I'm better than anypony!" She shouted at him, practically ignoring me.
"Oh, well, how silly of me to assume that you would think that," Before he said anything else, he conjured up a royal purple robe, trimmed in purple-spotted white fur, onto her back, accompanied a gold scepter topped with a red gem at one end and a sculpture of her own head at the other. "All you did was choose to keep your precious Princess self out of harm's way while your friends thrust themselves right into it. I'm sure you'll all be the best of pals again when they return from their terrifying yet deeply bonding experience that they're having without you."
"Lay off her!" I shouted at him, "This is a serious situation. I mean if Celestia and Luna are..." I was TRYING to say, but then I stopped when I noticed Twilight galloping away, back into the forest.
"Aww... there goes my fun," Discord said before he turned back to me. "You know," he began. "If there were ever an opportune moment for you to actually do anything meaningful in this chapter. One that would add to the character arc of you or another pony.... that was it. And you missed it."
"Shut up," was all I said in response.
"Duly noted," he replied to me before lounging back onto the lawn chair.
So once again went back to staring at my father and making sure that he didn't do anything that would say... violate parole.
Then after some more time, all the vines vanished into thin air.
"Well, I'm going to guess that they fixed the problem," I said.
"Oh really, I would never have guessed," Discord deadpanned.
Not long afterwards, the girls and Spike emerge from out of the... I suppose now formerly Everfree Forest, given how it looked now, and I noticed that they were no longer wearing their Elements of Harmony.
Before I could contemplate that any further, or even ask them about it, banners suddenly drop down from nowhere and signs popped up, also out of nowhere. The former were marked with #1 and pictures of all their faces, yet I was strangely absent... of course, and the signs just showed "#1." Though one showed an arrow that points at them. Oh, and confetti, party horns, and cheers accompanied all of these. Of course.
And of course, Discord appeared in front of them, with a giant #1 foam finger on his lion paw and a pennant striped with the group's coat colors in his taloned grip.
"Bravo, ladies, bravo!" Discord cheered for them. "However did you save the day this time? Blast the beastie with your magic necklaces, I presume?"
Before anypony, even I, could answer him, he instantly appears on Applejack's back, smaller-sized and dressed as a cowcolt, peeking under her mane.
"Where are those little trinkets of yours?" he asked "You know, the ones you used to send me back to my extremely uncomfortable stone prison."
"Gone," the farmpony told him.
Then, with another flash, he was back to his normal dimensions and out of the duds.
"Gone?" he said, seemingly thoughtfully, twiddling paw/talons. "Gone..."
Before anything could happen (thankfully) Fluttershy flew right up to him and said, "But our friendship remains." She glares at him. "And if you want to remain friends, you'll stop thinking whatever it is you're thinking and help us clean up."
He shrunk down on the latter part of that. Kind of satisfying to see really. Then he suddenly winked out, only to reappear, full size, in a Prench maid outfit and holding a feather duster, which well... seeing my FATHER dressed liked that... disturbing isn't even a good enough of a word.
"Fine, but I don't do windows," he might have said, but I didn't hear him.
As we all headed back into Ponyville, him I heard Applejack say, "One thing I don't get. Why'd all this happen now?"
"I have no idea," Discord suddenly said as he stopped and made the maid outfit vanish (thank all that is holy), "Those seeds I planted should've sprouted up ages ago."
"Wait what!?" I couldn't help but shout as I gave a rather nasty glare at him.
"What did you say?!" Twilight shouted with rather obvious shock.
"Oh, why should I try to explain it when you can see for yourself?" Discord said to her as he moved over and, with a blip of light, Zecora's white potion was in his grasp. The irked young Princess floated the bottle over and took a chug; her eyes flaring white again.
"Well, obviously things didn't go according to my original plan," Discord explained while Twilight was still... gone. "My plunder seeds should have stolen the magic from the Tree of Harmony and captured Princess Celestia and Princess Luna thousands of moons ago. Alas, it seems, the Tree had enough magic to keep the seeds from growing up big and strong. Until now, that is."
Twilights then shook the light out of her eyes and used them to aim her most hostile glare Discord's way.
"You realize this is information we could've used hours ago?!" she said to him.
"And rob you of a valuable lesson about being Princess?" he responded as he pinched her cheek. "What kind of friend do you think I am?"
"You're a dick, you know that right?" I couldn't help but ask him.
"Oh, of course I do." He responded with a grin as he let go of Twilight's cheek. "And I have fun with it."
The two of us didn't say anything else to each other for the rest of the day.
Hours Later...
So with everything solved, Twilight went back to help with the Summer Sun Celebration while the others went back onto helping with Ponyville's celebration.
So what did I do? Well, even though babysitting a god of chaos wasn't the hardest thing in the world (thankfully), especially if he listened to you, I was still tired.
So I just simply went to bed and had a good night's sleep. |
On the Wings of a Pegasus | pre | "Heh, yeah. Sorry about that girls." Scootaloo rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "This weekend so far has been..." she trailed off, looking to Rainbow Dash for help.
"I've been running her ragged with flight training." Rainbow jumped in to save the filly. "Future Wonderbolts got to put in a lot of hours of training before qualifying."
"Cool!" The other two Crusaders chorused. Scootaloo mouthed a quick "thank you" to Rainbow Dash, who responded with a wink. "Are you free to play now? I've got a bunch of new ideas for how we can get our marks!" Said Applebloom excitedly.
The thought of going off alone without her protector still scared Scootaloo. She was about to refuse when Rainbow Dash came to her rescue again. "I think you're done with training for the weekend, Scoots. Why don't you go play with your friends, and if you need me, I'll be around." Remembering her promise to keep watch over Scootaloo even when Crusading, Scootaloo felt a lot better.
Pretending to fly off, Rainbow hooked around and sat on a cloud, out of sight of the Crusaders. As they ran off, she thought she heard something about "Cutie Mark Crusaders: Manticore Tamers". Letting off a small laugh, Rainbow Dash flopped onto her back and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing through her mane.
Those kids are gonna end up doing something stupid and hurting themselves. Or somebody else. Probably a good thing I'll be nearby from now on, even if I'm probably the worst one out of my group of friends to do it.
"Well that was a bust." sighed Scootaloo dejectedly.
"We've searched forever now, and haven't found even one manticore! Ah guess that's another X for the chart." Applebloom sighed.
"We've found a ton of tree sap though." Sweetie Belle chirped, trying to pry some of the sap off her shoulder. "You think we can use this as a building material? We've found enough to stick us together plenty of times after all."
"Ah've already asked mah sister about that." Applebloom piped up. "She said it wasn't strong enough and wouldn't last."
"Oh poo." Sweetie Belle sighed, blowing a raspberry. "So Scoots, what was it like staying over at Rainbow Dash's place?"
"Oh it's the coolest place ever!" Scootaloo jumped in the air, excitedly hovering. "It's way up in the sky, and it's got like, cloud furniture, which is actually really awesome. And she's got like... Well I'm not sure what they really are but they look like fountains of rainbows pouring down and then they just kinda fade. It's so awesome!"
"Featherweight says he caught Rainbow Dash dying her mane in a rainbow once. He said it's naturally just one color. He also said it tasted like candy." Sweetie Belle gossiped. Scootaloo couldn't help but laugh.
"She definitely doesn't dye her mane in rainbows. And I'm pretty sure her mane just tastes like hair."
"But do you know that for sure?' Sweetie Belle squeaked on the last word.
"Tell ya what, I'll ask her tonight. Pretty sure I know the answer though."
"Oh, you're sleeping at her house again tonight?" Applebloom asked innocently. "Ah kinda thought your parents would be back by now."
Scootaloo felt a shiver run up her spine at the mention of her parents.
"Uh yeah, yeah. I'm staying with Rainbow tonight too. In fact, I may be having to stay a little longer." Scootaloo lied nervously. "I got a letter from my mom saying there were some problems with transportation."
"So Rainbow Dash is going to bring you to school tomorrow?" Sweetie Belle continued, oblivious to her friend's reaction. "That will be awesome! I know you weren't there for it, but when Rainbow Dash did that Sonic Rainboom on Friday and flew off with you, Diamond Tiara was furious! Kept muttering things we couldn't hear."
"Ah bet seeing Rainbow Dash drop you off would sour her mood even more!" Applebloom giggled happily. "Hey girls, did y'all hear Princess Twilight set somebody in this town on house arrest yesterday? What'dya reckon he did?"
Scootaloo's blood ran cold at the mention of her father being put under house arrest.
"Uh, I just remembered girls, I left my scooter at the schoolhouse. I should go get it before I lose it or somebody else takes it" Scootaloo said, interrupting Applebloom mid sentence as she started trotting off. "But I'll see you girls tomorrow!"
"Scootaloo, wait!" Sweetie Belle called after her friend. As Scootaloo vanished from sight, she turned to Applebloom with a confused expression. "But her scooter will just fall right through the clouds, right?
"Ah have no idea."
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo called out to the sky. The sun was starting to set, and as a moment passed, Scootaloo wondered if Rainbow Dash simply wasn't there. Or had fallen asleep.
"Right here, squirt." Came a voice from Scootaloo's left as Rainbow swooped down to the ground. "All set to head home?"
Home. Rainbow Dash was referring to her house as my home.
Scootaloo smiled and nodded. Clambering onto Rainbow Dash's back, she settled in as Rainbow Dash took to the skies.
Scootaloo bit her lip. She had a burning question on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't want to ask for too much and make Rainbow mad. Or maybe look too weak, and then Rainbow would hate her. Deciding to bite the bullet, she build up her courage to ask.
"H-hey Rainbow Dash?" She began hesitantly.
"Yeah? What's up Squirt?" Rainbow replied nonchalantly.
"I was wondering... if it isn't too much to ask, can you read to me again tonight?" Scootaloo replied slowly.
"Yeah, sure."
Scootaloo blinked in confusion.
"A-and... can I sleep with you again tonight?" Scootaloo asked, almost sure Rainbow would say no.
"Sure."
"A-and uh... if you don't mind... tonight can you do that winghug thing again?" Scootaloo held her breath, half convinced Rainbow was about to buck her off for even asking.
"If you'd like me to, then of course."
That... that couldn't be right. If she asked the same thing of her father she'd be sent to bed alone. Or spanked. Or something terrible.
"Are you sure that's okay?" Scootaloo finally asked, awash with fear.
Rainbow Dash sighed, landing on her front porch.
"Listen Scootaloo." She began slowly, doing her best to choose the right words. "You got pretty terrible treatment at home. But not all adults are like that. If cuddling up to me and having me read to you would make you happy, then I'll do it every night for the rest of my life. After the stuff you've had to endure, I want nothing more than to make you the happiest filly in Equestria. So no more... being afraid to ask to be comfortable, okay?"
Scootaloo wiped a happy tear away and nodded.
"Now come on." Rainbow said, opening the door to her room and watching Scootaloo get all comfy as Rainbow pulled her to her side with a winghug.
"We were just getting to the good part!" |
On the Wings of a Pegasus | Chapter 11 | The birds were singing. The sun was shining. There was a gentle breeze blowing on this beautiful gift of a morning. And somewhere, inside of a magnificent home high in the skies, there was a very irate blue pegasus listening to the rather annoying snore of the sleeping filly cuddled up to her.
Snoooooorrrre
Scootaloo, you're lucky you're cute. Rainbow Dash thought irately. The filly's muzzle was pressed firmly against Rainbow Dash's chest, pushing her nose off to the side and probably causing the snore. But every time Rainbow moved, the filly moved back to the same spot, eventually getting in the same position.
Is it near time to get up and ready for school yet? Please say yes. Rainbow thought, doing her best to look out with window without waking her precious, annoying package.
Rainbow quickly judged the time due to the sun's position. It was just peeking over the horizon. Probably had two to three more hours before school started. Rainbow could just quickly leave and go get...
No. Rainbow thought. She's told me numerous times how being alone freaks her out, and last time I left her alone in the house for five minutes, I found her stuck in the same spot she was in when I left, and shaking like a leaf. Rainbow's gaze softened as she regarded the peaceful sleeping form of the filly in front of her. I guess I can take another hour or two of her snoring just so I can make sure she doesn't freak out when she wakes up.
As gently as she could, Rainbow Dash brushed a lock of hair out of Scootaloo's face. I can't imagine for the life of me, even while drunk off your ass, how somebody could want to hurt this adorable little filly. Screw the fact that she should have been able to fly a long time ago, the creature in front of me was one of the kindest, most caring fillies I've ever met. And one of the worst snorers.
Unable to resist the urge, Rainbow Dash pushed down on the cloud mattress, forcing it to drop, and slunk her left forehoof under the filly's barrel. She threw her right forehoof over her shoulders, right under the wings, and softly pulled Scootaloo into a tight hug.
By Celestia, if any of my friends ever saw this I would never live it down.
She hear a soft groan and felt Scootaloo stir. Scootaloo woke up to a world enveloped in rainbow colored hair.
Rainbow wondered quickly of whether to release the hug before she realized what was going on. She knew the orange pegasus saw her as an idol, like an idyllic representation of what a pegasus should truly be. One that was tough and didn't show feelings.
Ah screw it. Her happiness is more important to me than my image.
"Mmmm." Scootaloo yawned. "Good morning."
She stretched out her hooves, but didn't try to break out of Rainbow's hold.
"Uh, hey squirt. Good morning." Rainbow replied, doing her best to sound nonchalant. "How'd you sleep?"
Scootaloo responded by cuddling in closer to Rainbow.
"Like a filly!" She paused, thinking of whether or not she should even mention what she was thinking. "Hey, uh, Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah, what's up?" Rainbow waited with bated breath.
"I just want to thank you for, y'know, this." Scootaloo blushed. "I mean, not just taking me in, but... Ever since I ran away from home I've been having... nightmares. Except for the last two nights." Scootaloo trailed off awkwardly.
That's... pretty sweet. Curse this filly, she makes it harder for me maintain the unshakable tough girl look each day.
"Of course Scoot." Rainbow started, putting on a slightly silly tone to sound like a comic book hero. "Nightmares know better than to mess with you when the mighty Rainbow Dash is around to save the day!"
Scootaloo giggled. The two relapsed into a serene silence, as Rainbow watched the sun rise.
"Alright you." Rainbow Dash yawned. "It's time for you to get ready for school."
"Aww c'mon." Scootaloo groaned. "Do I have to go?"
Rainbow chuckled. "Yeah, yeah you do. I know school sucks, but at least you get to see your friends again, right?"
Scootaloo nodded. "That's true. But you dropped out of flight school and still made a good living for yourself, so is school reeeeeeeeally that important?"
"Nice try, kid." Rainbow laughed, gently nuzzling the filly. "But I only dropped out because I couldn't handle the bullying. And it did make it much harder to get a job. Truth be told, the only reason I got the job I did, is because the boss challenged me to a race. He was fast, and he was hotheaded, but I totally kicked his flank."
"Wow!" Scootaloo said, eyes growing big. "But wait, you got bullied? What would ponies have to bully you about?"
"Heh, well..." Rainbow chuckled awkwardly, tossing her mane over her shoulder. "At first it was because I had a rainbow mane. Because of that I heard every fillyfiddler joke in the book. And then I became 'Rainbow Crash'. I may have uh... tried to do a trick a little out of my league on the first day of Flight School and ended up landing in a trashcan. And then crashed a couple more times for the rest of the time I was there."
"Well look at you now! You're a Wonderbolt!" Scootaloo beamed. "Also, some kids were talking about the mane thing yesterday. Featherweight says your mane tastes like candy."
Not expecting that, Rainbow burst out laughing. "Well I can assure you my mane does not taste like candy, it tastes like a normal mane. And right now I'm not a totally Wonderbolt per se, I'm just kind of like... I guess my best analogy would be a understudy in a play. I'm not there to fly, but I can take the role if another Wonderbolt gets sick or injured."
Scootaloo thought for a moment. "You still have a Wonderbolts uniform."
"Yeah, a reservist one." Rainbow yawned, getting to her hooves and picking up Scootaloo as she flew to the kitchen.
"That's still a Wonderbolts uniform to me!"
Rainbow set to work making them breakfast. "And it will be a full Wonderbolts uniform soon enough!"
The two sat in silence, munching on sandwiches Rainbow made.
"So..." Scootaloo started. "What are you going to do while I'm at school all day?"
"Well first." Rainbow said thoughtfully, slowly chewing. "I'm gonna have to talk to Miss Cheerliee, let her know I'm your legal guardian for now. Twilight sent a scroll here yesterday that can prove that. And then, I'm gonna go get a cookbook from Twilight, because I can't feed you off of sandwiches and pancakes forever. And the only other possibility is getting take out all the time, and I'm not sure I can afford feeding two mouths like that."
Rainbow missed the guilty look on Scootaloo's face as she heard that.
"And then I'll need to go shopping." Rainbow Dash continued obliviously. "And then I was thinking of talking to Twilight and trying to draw up a training schedule for you, to get you flying." Scootaloo instantly perked up a bit at that. "And if I still have time to kill after that, I can work on some tricks."
"But in the meantime squirt, we gotta get your butt to school."
Seeing both of them were finished, Rainbow grabbed the aforementioned scroll in her mouth, sat down so Scootaloo could climb onto her back, and took off to the Ponyville Schoolhouse. |
On the Wings of a Pegasus | Chapter 12 | As Rainbow Dash flew toward the schoolhouse she idly thought of her own progress in school. She was never the smartest pony, electing to spend her free time focusing more on her physical prowess rather than mental aptitude. She frowned as she realized now that she was Scootaloo's guardian, she was probably gonna have to brush up on her knowledge, lest Scootaloo came to her for help on homework. But it couldn't be so bad, Rainbow Dash had already passed the year of school Scootaloo was currently in. There no doubt was nothing the awesome Rainbow Dash couldn't do.
Rainbow Dash hummed softly as the schoolhouse came into view.
"Hey Scoot, you wanna make an awesome entrance?"
"Of course!" Scootaloo grinned.
Rainbow Dash dropped into a dive, swooping up at the last moment and closing her wings. She dropped a few feet, landing on her hindlegs and stomping the ground with one of her forelegs. She was meet with "ooh"s and "aah"s from the nearby schoolponies. Scootaloo hopped off her back and gave her a grin.
"Bye sis!" Rainbow called out. "See you after school!"
Scootaloo waved at her and then set off to find her friends before school started. Meanwhile ignoring, but secretly reveling in the awestruck looks of the foals around her, Rainbow set toward the schoolhouse to find Cheerilee. She rapped quickly on the door, and a moment later the earth pony teacher opened it.
"Oh, Rainbow Dash. I wasn't expecting you." She said, motioning for the pegasus to follow her inside. "Is there something I can do for you?"
The inside of the schoolhouse was rather small. There were tan painted walls and windows with blue curtains. The desks arranged in columns of threes. On the walls were several pictures of famously smart ponies, and on the blackboard was an extremely long division problem that made Rainbow's brain hurt.
Rainbow Dash handed the scroll to her. "I'm taking over as legal guardian for Scootaloo right now. Her parents are... otherwise occupied."
Cheerilee's eyes bugged out as she read the scroll. "This is... This is signed by Princess Celestia herself! Usually these get signed by judge ponies." As the implications dawned on her, Cheerilee looked up in alarm. "Oh, is Scootaloo okay? This was signed recently, so what is... Was it a family member of hers that was put under house arrest on Saturday? What about-"
Rainbow Dash held up a hoof to stop her. "Yes, it was her father. I really don't have time for questions, but what's very important is that if any pony but me and Twi- actually, if any pony other than an Element Bearer comes to pick her up, I need you to not let her go with them. Especially if that pony is a pegasus stallion. In that case, I want you to hide her in the schoolhouse, and wait until one of us shows up. Okay?"
Cheerilee bit her lip. That brought up several very unfortunate implications. "What happened between her and her father?"
Rainbow Dash quickly looked around to make sure nobody could overhear her. "He's been abusing her for years. She's been crashing at my place until we figure something permanent out."
Cheerilee gasped sharply as she covered her mouth with a hoof. She'd known Scootaloo for years, and she was dealing with abuse all that time? And Cheerilee just didn't know? She bit her lip again as a wave of guilt and shame hit her. Maybe she couldn't have known, but she felt like she should've.
"Of course." Cheerilee finally managed. "I'll also keep an eye on her during recess."
Rainbow Dash breathed a sigh of relief and nodded her thanks. She pushed her way out of the schoolhouse and took to the skies, heading toward the town library.
"Scootaloo! That was awesome!" Sweetie Belle yelled, running to her friend alongside Applebloom.
Scootaloo gave off a cocky grin. She felt the admiring stares of the schoolyard colts and fillies come her way as soon as Rainbow Dash went inside with Cheerilee. It was a pretty good feeling to be admired by others.
This must be what Rainbow Dash feels like all the time!
"Yeah! It was super cool." She laughed. "Rainbow Dash is an awesome big sister!"
Rainbow Dash knocked politely on the library's front door. Moments later, the door was enveloped in Twilight's magical aura as she swung it open.
"Hello, how can I help y- Rainbow Dash? You know how to use doors now?"
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Ha ha, very funny Twilight. I was hoping you could recommend me a good cook book? I don't know how to make much, and since I'm caring for Scootaloo now, I figure I should learn a couple more things."
Twilight smiled. It was nice seeing Rainbow Dash acting a little more mature while taking care of the filly. She gestured for Rainbow to follow her, then turned around and started scanning her shelves for a good book.
"There's something else..." Rainbow trailed off. Twilight turned and looked at her quizzically. "Can I uh... Well..."
Levitating a book down to Rainbow Dash, Twilight waited patiently for her to speak. Rainbow Dash looked down and rubbed one of her forelegs with the other.
"Well it's just that..." Rainbow sighed. "Look Twilight, we both know I'm not the smartest pony. We also know Scootaloo lives with me and looks up to me and I was just thinking..." Rainbow cast her eyes off to the side. "I don't want to disappoint her, so maybe you could tutor me in some of the things she's learning so I can better help her? I mean, it's fine if you don't, and I know you could do a hundred times better just on your own..."
Twilight walked up to Rainbow and lifted her chin to meet her gaze. "I would love to help you Rainbow. And for the record, I'm proud that you are willing to do so much to help her."
Rainbow Dash chuckled awkwardly. "Thanks Twi. Heh, you tell me a month ago I'd be asking for lessons just to help the kid, I'd call you crazy. I guess Scootaloo's grown on me more than I thought. But enough sappy stuff, I still got lots to do today." Rainbow grabbed the cookbook in her mouth and nodded at Twilight.
"Ehanks afain" She muttered through the book, before walking out of the library and taking to the sky. |
On the Wings of a Pegasus | Chapter 13 | "That's all for today my little ponies! Class dismissed!" Chirped Cheerilee.
The was a cacophony of cheers as the school ponies made their way outside, eager to spend the rest of their day playing and having fun. Three specific fillies rushed out together, eagerly planning what they were gonna do for the rest of the day.
"I'm just saying Applebloom..." Sweetie Belle argued, "Cutie Mark Crusaders: Hypnotists might not be the best idea. Remember what happened when we tried being snake charmers? I swear, Rarity looked like she was about to have an anyuerism when she caught us!"
"Well Ah don't rightly know what that is." Applebloom argued back. "But we can't risk not trying something. What if one of our cutie marks is as a hypnotist?" Applebloom sighed. "Scootaloo, what do you think?"
Scootaloo was not paying attention. She had been on the fence about telling her friends what the real story was about her parents all day. On one hoof, they were her friends and deserved to know. On the other hoof, she didn't want pity, or for her friends to see her differently. She was the tough, stubborn pegasus with a devil-may-care attitude, not some pathetic kid who couldn't fight back against her father for years. She bit her lip and gazed up at her friends, who were looking at her expectantly.
"Huh?" Scootaloo asked.
"Ah said what do you think about trying to become hypnotists? Y'all doing alright Scoots? You've been kinda out of it all day." Applebloom asked, worried for her friend.
Scootaloo decided just to bite the bullet and get it over with. They were her friends, surely they'd just take the knowledge and respect that she didn't want to be coddled.
"Actually girls, there was something I was hoping to talk to you about..." Scootaloo trailed off, just to be interrupted by the sight of Rainbow Dash swooping in to land next to her. She had flecks of red all around her muzzle, various small cuts around her face, and smelled like she'd just been in a burning building. "Ohmygosh Rainbow Dash! Are you okay?"
Rainbow Dash laughed awkwardly and looked away. "Heh well uh, so you know how I went to go get that cookbook from Twilight? I tried making you a little afternoon snack of grilled cheese and tomato soup, but I guess I only skimmed the directions and... well you're not supposed to put unopened soup cans on the stove. So the tomato soup exploded on me..."
The three fillies giggled, and Rainbow Dash blushed.
"And then while I was cleaning that up, I forgot the grilled cheese was also on the stove. And that caught on fire. And that's why I smell like smoke. So uh, if you girls are going to head off Crusading, you wanna just meet me at Sugarcube Corner in like, three hours? I'll get you something there."
Scootaloo laughed and ran over to give Rainbow Dash a quick hug. "Sure thing Rainbow Dash. See you then!"
Rainbow Dash leaned over to whisper in Scootaloo's ear. "So hey uh, since the kitchen is a complete mess, you want me to leave that until later so I can watch over you? Fair warning if so, the kitchen is probably gonna smell like smoke for a few hours. If you don't feel safe I'll be ten seconds away though."
Scootaloo paused. While it's true going off alone still terrified her, she could just stick to public areas... And it's not like other adult ponies wouldn't be able to help her if her dad found her. Plus, she was fairly certain her dad didn't know about the clubhouse. And she also did want to tell her friends what had happened, and it might be nice to have some privacy for that. Scootaloo kicked the dirt for a minute then fixed Rainbow Dash with a determined stare.
"I'll be okay for now, but in return you're reading twice as much Daring Do tonight, d-deal?"
Rainbow Dash gently tousled Scootaloo's mane and gave her a proud smile. "Deal, squirt. See you at Sugarcube Corner."
As Rainbow Dash took off Scootaloo gave an involuntary shudder. She wasn't sure of the decision she just made, but if Rainbow Dash had bent over backwards to accommodate her, the least she could do is force herself out of her comfort zone and try and make it easier on her.
Scootaloo sighed heavily and looked over at her friends, mentally steeling herself to tell them the news as a pit formed in her stomach.
Here we go. No turning back now.
"Girls, I need to talk to you about something."
Applebloom's eyes looked ready to bulge out of her head. She walked around furiously, unable to believe all this had been going on and nobody had done anything. Sweetie Belle meanwhile had a look of shock and sadness frozen to her face, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Scootaloo had her eyes downcast, having just taken her friends to the clubhouse and told them all that had been going on recently.
"And so after we talked to Morning Skies and had the scan done, Rainbow and I went out and got ice cream. Then we ran into you two. Rainbow Dash hid on a cloud the entire time because I was too cowardly to be alone. And then... now we're here."
Sweetie Belle gave a sniff and ran over to go hug her friend. Applebloom joined in a moment later. Scootaloo felt like a heavy weight had been lifted off of her. She had hated lying to her friends.
"Why didn't you tell somebody sooner?!" Cried Sweetie Belle. "Maybe somebody could had intervened!"
"Well..." Scootaloo sighed. "I was scared if word got out my dad would find out and... nobody would ever hear from me again."
Sweetie Belle replied by hugging her friend harder.
"But I don't want you guys telling anybody, okay? Aside from you two, the only ponies who know are Rainbow, Twilight, and Morning Skies. Not even your sisters know."
The other two mumbled their agreement.
Breaking out of their hug, Applebloom gave Scootaloo a solemn nod. "Is there anything else we can do for y'all? Ah feel just awful knowing ah was doing nothing while y'all were going through hell."
Scootaloo thought for a moment. "I don't want things to change. I don't want you guys giving me all sorts of pity now that you know the truth, I just want our friendship to stay the same." Scootaloo glanced out the window. "Also, we should probably get to Sugarcube Corner now. I don't want to be late and worry Rainbow Dash."
"Scoots!" yelled a blue blur as soon as Sugarcube Corner was in sight.
Rainbow Dash zoomed by, grabbing Scootaloo in a tight hug as she flew by.
"You were late, and I was worried something... might have... happened..."
Rainbow Dash blushed deeply as she noticed Sweetie Belle and Applebloom watching her. She softly deposited Scootaloo on the ground and gave an awkward cough. "I mean... good to see you, squirt. How was Crusading?"
The CMC gave off a collective giggle.
"It's okay Rainbow Dash, I just got through telling them everything." Scootaloo reassured.
"Thank you for taking care of her!" Squeaked Sweetie Belle.
"Yeah!" Agreed Applebloom.
Rainbow Dash came to land and rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Aw, it was nothing. Scoot here is a joy to have around the house." Rainbow nudged Scootaloo's shoulder softly. "Now c'mon, lets go get some grub. I'm starving!"
Scootaloo blushed herself, but then eagerly followed Rainbow Dash, the rest of the CMC in tow.
Hours later across town, after the sun had set and the moon had risen, Twilight was woken up by a sudden cold shiver down her spine, and a low throbbing pain in the base of her horn.
She gasped in horror.
"Scootaloo!" |
On the Wings of a Pegasus | Chapter 14 | "'...And so, with Ahuizotl defeated, and the Sapphire Statue secured, the world was safe and sound once again, thanks to Daring Do! The end." Rainbow finished. The book was still great even after the countless amounts of time she'd read it.
Scootaloo gave an excited squeak. "That was awesome! Can we start the next book now?"
Rainbow yawned, snuggling Scootaloo in closer and closing her eyes. "You know, after almost burning my house down and panicking when I couldn't find you at Sugarcube Corner, I'm pooped. How about we start the Griffin's Goblet tomorrow?"
Scootaloo grumbled but agreed. She relaxed, letting the warmth of Rainbow's coat envelop her in a feeling of absolute safety.
There was the sudden sound of glass breaking in the kitchen. Rainbow Dash's eyes snapped open and she stood up warily. "Scoot, go grab Tank and hide in the bathroom."
"But-" Scootaloo argued.
"Now, Scoot!"
Rainbow Dash slunk into the hallway, ears on pivot. There was somebody in her house, and she was about to show whoever it was why it was a bad idea to mess with Rainbow Dash.
In the kitchen was a burly pegasus stallion, with a light brown coat and a tan mane. He also had an ugly, heavily scarred wing. Rainbow Dash gasped, remembering Scootaloo's description of her father. This stallion fit him to a T.
"Thunder Chaser?!" Rainbow shouted.
The stallion turned his icy blue eyes to look at the challenging mare.
"Rainbow Dash." He spoke in a gravely voice. "You and that useless chicken ruined my life. And now I'm going to ruin yours."
Rainbow Dash started seeing red. This was the one pony that was responsible for her Scootaloo being in a world of pain. For her being terrified all the time. For all her suffering! Without a second thought, she flared her wings out and lunged at him.
Thunder Chaser was expecting that. He flattened himself to the floor, diving under Rainbow's attack, then landed a buck on her jaw with both his hind legs. The impact launched Rainbow into a wall, head first. Stars exploded in her vision. She looked up in time to see Thunder Chaser pick up a knife and slice at her, and just managed to dodge out the way. The knife made contact with her ear, slicing a portion of her left ear in two.
Shaking off the fog in her head, she swung a left hook at him. Thunder Chaser reared up on his hind legs, and came down on her outstretched hoof, taking her to the ground. He brought down his other hoof on the back of Rainbow Dash's head as he came down, disorienting the mare. He swung his knife a few times at her, but she threw herself backwards, dodging his blows. Backed against a wall, Thunder Chaser caught her with hook, stomped on her ribs until he heard something crack, and brought down her knife on her face.
Rainbow Dash screamed as the vision in her right eye went black. Thunder Chaser reared up again, preparing to finish the mare off, when he felt something small catapulted against his head. Knocked off balance, he turned his head and saw a furious Scootaloo, getting to her hooves from where she had fallen.
"Leave her alone!" Scootaloo screamed.
Knocking Scootaloo to the ground with a backhoof, he pinned her down, eyeing her wings. He intended on slicing off the offending, useless appendages until he found another pony throwing herself at him. He roared as Rainbow Dash struck him upside the head, then keeping her momentum, turned around and bucked him in the ribs. He managed to grab the mare and throw her into the kitchen, standing up and preparing to fight more. Yelling like an animal, Rainbow Dash threw herself at him, lunging for his neck. Thunder Chaser dodged to the side, and with one swift movement, brought his head back around as the knife in his teeth nestled smoothly between two of Rainbow Dash's ribs. Rainbow Dash let out an involuntary wheeze at that, and collapsed into another wall, seemingly unable to get back up.
Seeing the terrified look in his daughter's eyes, he grabbed her tail with his teeth as she turned to run away. With his prize in hoof, he kicked Rainbow's door open and took off into the night.
Grabbing Scootaloo's barrel with his forehoof, he released her tail and gave off a laugh.
"You're never getting away again, girl. We're gonna leave town and I'm gonna have my fun with you. In all the time you've been gone we've missed several of our... bonding sessions." Ignoring her screaming and squirming, he brought his face closer and whispered "I'm gonna torture you long and hard for this girl. You made my life hell, and now I'm gonna make yours hell too."
Electing to lose anyone who might have spotted him in the forest, he went for a landing, before hearing an earth shattering explosion. He looked back up just in time to see an expanding circle of rainbow energy fill the night sky, and the last thing he saw was a certain pegasus diving furiously at him before he lost consciousness.
Coughing up blood, Rainbow stumbled out her front door. She instantly flew up, ignoring the stabbing pain in her eye, and the stabbing pain in her lungs every time she breathed. She sailed up a hundred feet or so, searching frantically with her good eye to spot the pegasi. As her vision started to darken, she spotted a rapidly descending pegasus stallion heading for the woods.
"Gotcha." Rainbow whispered to herself as she instantly went into a dive. Her vision darkened more as she picked up speed, eventually feeling the familiar feel of the mach cone start to surround her. She shook her head furiously, trying to blink back the darkness as the cone tightened around her. And then suddenly...
BOOM
Her speed instantly doubled as she pulled off the Rainboom. She sailed toward Thunder Chaser. Almost blacked out, she felt her hoof make impact with the lower part of his back. Grabbing around, Rainbow felt something soft and small, which she hoped was Scootaloo. She grabbed the filly and pulled her in close to her chest. She tried to pull out of the steep dive and fly to the left, and was unsure if she did. Her whole body was becoming numb. Not knowing where they were or how close to the ground, she wrapped all four legs and both her wings protectively around Scootaloo. A second later she hit the ground.
Rainbow thought she heard somebody frantically calling her name for a moment before she blacked out. |
On the Wings of a Pegasus | Chapter 15 | ...Beep...
...Beep....
...Beep...
Huh?
...Beep...
Am I dead?
...Beep...
Rainbow Dash slowly cracked open one her eyes. She lifted a hoof to rub them and was immediately seized by a stabbing pain. She cried out.
Rainbow tried opening her other eye. It wouldn't open.
She tried to breathe in and was stopped by another blinding pain.
What happened to me? Last thing I remember I was reading to...
Scootaloo!
Rainbow Dash struggled up, ignoring the pain. The ECG she was apparently hooked up to start beeping in distress. For some reason, everything below her neck refused to move.
Oh no. I remember crashing to the ground. What if I...
Alerted by the ECG, several doctors rushed in, looks of panic on their faces.
"Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash screamed. "Is she alright?!"
"Miss Dash, please settle down. Scootaloo is fine!"
Rainbow settled down and breathed a sigh of relief, which she immediately regretted as a sharp pain came from her chest. She vaguely felt something attached to her side, seemingly inflating her lungs with air without her even trying. She also couldn't move anything below her neck, and couldn't see anything out of her right eye.
"What's wrong with me, doc?" Rainbow Dash asked with trepidation.
The doctor picked up a clipboard from next to the bed. "You have a punctured lung, nine broken ribs, a broken wing, the other wing sprained, severe trauma to your right eye, a large abrasion on your left ear, and a concussion." The doctor rattled off calmly. "You're lucky Princess Twilight found you when she did, a couple more minutes and you would probably had bled out."
Rainbow Dash stared at the doctor in horror.
"B-but why can't I move?"
"Per Princess Twilight's order, you have been strapped to the bed. She said something about 'protecting not only Rainbow Dash, but the well-being of everybody else near her.'"
Rainbow let her head fall down on the pillow.
"How long am I going to have to stay here?" Rainbow asked, knowing she was going to hate the answer.
"Six to eight weeks." The doctor responded slowly.
"What?!" Rainbow Dash shot up again, wincing as a sharp pain overtook her. "Last time I was here for a broken wing I only needed to stay here for a week!"
The doctor just sighed. "And if you only had a broken wing we could have you out of here in a week. However you managed to break ten different bones, and if that's not bad enough, just healing the punctured lung will take six to eight weeks regardless."
Rainbow Dash let her head hit the pillow again, tears welling up in her eyes.
"There's one other thing Miss Dash." The doctor continued. "Princess Twilight and Scootaloo are both here to see you... but before I let them in there's something I must let you know. With our current medical science, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do to restore sight to your right eye. I'm truly sorry, Miss Dash. Would you like me to let the others in?"
Rainbow simply nodded as hot tears streamed down her face. She could only hope she gave as good as she got.
Moments later, she hear two screaming voices as Twilight and Scootaloo rushed into the room. Scootaloo instantly threw herself up on Rainbow's bed, and threw a hug around Dash's neck, ignoring the grunt of pain, and started sobbing. Twilight stopped next to Dash's bed, looking like she'd seen a ghost.
"Rainbow Dash I'm so sorry!" Twilight cried, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I felt the tripwire spell around Thunder Chaser's home go off, but by the time I saw the Rainboom and found you... You were unconscious, lying in a pool of your own blood, and you had these bones sticking out of you, and a knife in your side and... I thought... I thought we were gonna lose you."
Breaking out into tears herself, Twilight went around to the other side of Rainbow's bed and hugged the other side of her neck, only pulling back she Rainbow cried out in pain after Twilight jostled the device pumping air into her lungs. Twilight quickly sat down and apologized.
Rainbow nuzzled the sobbing filly. "Hey, it's okay squirt." Rainbow spoke in her most soothing voice. "Are you okay?"
Scootaloo broke the hug and nodded. "I just got a small bruise from where my d-... Thunder Chaser smacked me." Scootaloo immediately returned to hugging Rainbow.
Rainbow grit her teeth at the name, then remembered how the fight with them had ended.
"Twilight, what happened to Thunder Chaser? Did I..." Rainbow trailed off, not wanting to go down that road.
"No, you didn't kill him." Twilight spoke in a low voice. "But from what I overheard, it seems your slamming into him after the Rainboom did massive amounts of damage to his spinal cord and... well, he's now a triplegic. Everything except his front right hoof and the area above his neck is completely paralyzed."
Rainbow paused for a moment, processing what Twilight just told her. "He deserves so much worse." Rainbow finally uttered.
"They managed to get Scootaloo's mother into a mare shelter, which specialize in taking care of victims of domestic abuse. She's... she's really bad."
Rainbow simply nodded. "So where is Thunder Chaser? And why did you order me to be strapped down?"
Twilight took a long time to respond. After what felt like an hour, Twilight finally found herself able to meet Rainbow's questioning gaze.
"He's here, in this hospital."
"WHAT?!" Rainbow shouted, the ECG beeping in distress again. "Let me out of here, I'm gonna finish him off!"
"No, Rainbow." Twilight's glare hardened. "This is why I ordered you to be strapped down. If you kill him you'll be arrested, and we won't be able to legally take Scootaloo out from his care and put her into yours permanently."
Rainbow Dash snorted in annoyance and instantly cried out again from the stabbing pain in her lungs.
"Can you do anything to get me out of here faster, Twi?" Rainbow asked hopefully. "The doctor said I'm gonna have to be stuck here for like, two months."
"I don't really know any healing magic..." Twilight bit her lip. "But I might be able to ask Zecora if she can come up with anything that can heal that eye of yours."
Rainbow Dash nodded. Amidst all the other panic she'd felt when she woke up, the fact that she was half blind now hadn't really sunk in.
"And one more thing, Rainbow." Twilight met her steely gaze. "I sent a letter to Princess Celestia while we were waiting for the doctors to let us see you. Among other things, she said the trial is going to take place roughly a week and a half after your projected release date."
As that sunk in, Rainbow Dash looked over at the filly unable to tear herself away from Rainbow's side. After that, she could legally take care of Scootaloo, and Thunder Chaser would no doubt rot in jail for the rest of his life.
For the first time since waking up Rainbow Dash managed a smile. |
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