Sorry for the delay. I was busy with school crap. That, plus my habit of procrastinating, delayed this chapter. I'll do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again.
CHAPTER 20
RECOVERY
"*Blurp!*
A wisp of green flames emerged from Spike's mouth and swirled around in mid-air. Twilight, who was waiting anxiously for this and for her friends to arrive, got up and galloped over to him just as a rolled-up scroll popped into existence. She quickly snatched the scroll away and unrolled it.
My dearest pupil Twilight Sparkle,
I do hope that you are well enough when you receive this message. Please send a reply as soon as you receive this letter.
I trust that the Elements of Harmony are safe wherever they are. I have dreaded another attempt to obtain the Elements since the incident weeks ago, and it seems my fears were confirmed. I have assembled a squall of royal guards ready to be deployed; just give the word, and they will be there in under an hour.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia of Equestria.
Twilight read her mentor's letter several times already feeling reassured. "Spike, take a note please." The dragon quickly produced a quill and parchment. "Dear Princess Celestia," she began pacing in front of him. "Rest assured that I am perfectly fine and unharmed."
"I'm also happy to report that the Elements of Harmony are untouched by the ponies pursuing me. The three of them are brothers named Solstice, Ironhead and Scarlet Blur. The latter two entered Ponyville a few weeks earlier, but it was only when Solstice arrived that they began to act. They chased me though out Ponyville all while questioning me on the Elements' whereabouts."
"Even though I refused, they managed to view some of my memories but not all of them. They fled after a mysterious tremor shook Ponyville and haven't been seen ever since."
"You think we should get those guards?" Spike asked. "What if those guys come back? We can't exactly wait for another earthquake or something."
"Hmm...Good point." Twilight considered the idea. "Having them around does seem like a good idea, but..." A thought crossed her mind.
"But what?" Spike asked.
She sighed. "Even though Solstice threatened the town, he didn't seem to want to hurt me or the others; the worst he's done so far is veiwing my memories. It just doesn't make sense."
"We almost lost the Elements last time. I wouldn't wanna take chances with those guys if I were you." Spike said.
"Still, I don't think I have all the pieces. If I could get some more information from them, maybe I get a better picture of things." Twilight said.
"Oh please." Spike rolled his eyes. "You're just saying that 'cause you wanna see that Solstice guy again." He raised his eyebrows twice. "I saw those goo-goo eyes you were making. You like him don't you?"
"S-Spike!" Twilight exclaimed though the flush on her cheeks gave her away. "The point is that I need more information. Now back to the letter." Spike readied his writing tools, and Twilight cleared her throat.
"As assuring as having extra protection around sounds, I have to decline the offer for now. I still don't have all the information I need to make an important decision. I ask that you keep the guards on standby until have all the information I need."
"Until next time, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."
With the letter done, Spike rolled up the scroll and breathed wisp pf green flames which engulfed the scroll and sent it off to Canterlot. Just then, a gentle knock came upon the library door. "Good, that must be one of them." Twilight said opening the door with her magic.
Fluttershy bounded into the room, worry and concern on her face. "Twilight! When I heard you were being chased, I was so worried. Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"
"I...I'm fine Fluttershy." The latter managed to calm down. "All they did was chase me; they didn't exactly try to hurt me."
"Speak fer yerself." a southern voice said. Both mares watched was Applejack walked into the room with a slight limp.
"Oh my. What happened to you Applejack?" Fluttershy asked hovering over to her friend.
"I gave one of 'em a good 'ol buck to the face, and well, I guess now I know why they call him 'Ironhead'." Applejack said, her hind legs still stinging slightly from earlier. "I'm OK; won't be long 'till these fellers stop achin'."
"I heard ponies talking about the fire on the way here." Twilight said. "Is everything alright at the farm?"
"Granny, Applebloom and Big Mac're OK. The fields're also just fine Twi'." She hesitated a bit. "Kinda thanks to Ironhead in fact. Couldn't've put out the fire without 'im ta be honest."
Twilight could tell that her friend was still upset over being lied to. She opened her mouth to say some words of comfort but was interrupted by the door suddenly bursting open. "Hey Twilight! You find out where those guys went? I thought I saw Scar after the earthquake thing." Rainbow said flying about.
"No I didn't see them Rainbow. Whatever that earthquake was, it scared them off for some reason." Twilight replied. The pegasus huffed and crossed her forelegs. "Still upset about Scar?"
"It's just...I can't believe that guy!" Rainbow exclaimed frustrated. "He came all this way just to get his hooves on the Elements; I thought he was my friend..."
"Rainbow..."
"Hi guys!" Twilight jumped only noticing at that moment that Pinkie was right next to her. "I got everypony Twilight. Rarity should be in here in...Oh hi Rarity!"
The white unicorn entered the library. "Twilight, there you are. What in Equestria is going on here?" she asked wanting to be brought up to speed.
"They were looking for the Elements." Fluttershy gasped at the news. "Solstice came to me and asked me to tell him where the Elements are. When I refused, he called his brothers." Fluttershy's ears perked up for a moment, but nopony noticed. "I refused them as well leading them to chase me around town. They left after that earthquake hit."
"Huh. If those guys tried showing their faces again, I'll make sure they get what's coming to 'em." Rainbow said cracking her hooves.
"Not so fast Rainbow." Twilight reprimanded. "Something doesn't make sense here. Solstice threatened Ponyville, but neither he nor his brothers tried to hurt any of us. Don't you think that's strange?"
"Well it certainly sounded like they were about to hurt you." Rarity said remembering how panicked Twilight was when she arrived at the boutique.
"I was stressed out. All I really cared about at the time were the Elements." Twilight admitted.
"They chased ya 'round like Winona with a squirrel." Applejack pointed out. "They're lookin' fer the Elements Twi'. We can't take chances with this."
"That's what I said, but Twilight here says she wants to try talking." Spike said jerking his thumb at her.
"There's still so much we don't know." she reasoned. "I don't think we should take any action against them until we know what exactly is going on."
"And how do we do that?" Rainbow asked. "They could be anywhere by now."
"Uhm..."
"They could be in their evil lair, plotting their next move and laughing evilly like this: MWAHAHAHAHA!" Pinkie said rubbing her hooves together as the light around her dimmed from some strange reason.
"I think I know away..."
"Now Pinkie, that sounds simply ridiculous." Rarity said. "Evil lairs only exist in those silly comic books you've been reading."
"Hey, those comics aren't silly." Rainbow interjected. "In fact-"
"Excuse me." A meek voice caught the group's attention. Startled by the sudden shift of attention to herself, Fluttershy drew back a bit. "I um...think I know a way to find out more about those colts."
"You do?" Twilight asked.
Fluttershy nodded and turned to Rarity. "Remember that colt I told you about? The one I was trying to help."
"Why...why yes. What does he have to do with this?" Rarity questioned.
"I met him today and talked to him a bit. Well...when that thing exploded in the sky, I think he recognized it." she told her friends. "He might know about solstice and the other guys. Maybe we could ask him."
It seemed like a good idea, but Rarity had her objections to the plan. "Darling, from what you've told me about this colt, I believe we won't be getting his cooperation."
"Just how bad is he Fluttershy?" Twilight asked.
The pegasus's eyes darted from side to side. "Well this morning...He sort of...got really mad and yelled at me a lot..."
"Seriously? What did you do, apologize too much?" Rainbow joked.
Meekly, the shy mare rubbed her foreleg with her hoof. "Well, he got really angry when...when I asked if we could be friends."
"Sounds like he needs a party. Good thing I brought this!" Pinkie said in a sing-song voice as she pulled out her party cannon from out of nowhere.
"It does sound like our only lead." Twilight said after some careful thinking. "If he knows anything about the brothers, we could find out exactly what's going on here."
"If he's anythin' like his brothers, he oughtta be somethin' fierce." Applejack said. "Y'all saw what those three can do; what if he's got some freaky powers too?"
"I don't think he'd hurt any of us." Fluttershy reasoned.
"Fluttershy, you told me he shoved you." Rarity's revelation stunned the rest of the group.
"B-But he looked really miserable after he did it!" Fluttershy said trying to put everpony else at ease.
"So what? They hurt one of us, they're gonna have to deal with the rest of us." Rainbow said flying up to her fellow pegasus. "I say we find this guy, find out what he knows, and then kick his flank all the way across town."
"D-Dash...!" Fluttershy said alarmed.
Luckily, Twilight was there to calm her friend down. "Easy there Dash. Charging in like that isn't very wise nor safe. I agree that we should meet with this colt, but let's not do anything rash OK?"
Rainbow just huffed and nodded in reply. "All right, but I'm comin' with ya Twi'." Applejack said. "There ain't no tellin' what this here pony can do."
"I wanna go too." Pinkie said bouncing up and down excitedly. "Somepony has to lighten up Mr. Grumpy Pants when he's all saddy-waddy."
"Um...his name's Ash Pinkie." Fluttershy corrected.
"I shall accompany you as well Twilight." Rarity announced. "I wish to have a few words with this Ash as well."
"I guess it's settled then." Twilight said turning to Fluttershy. "When can we meet him Fluttershy?"
The latter did some thinking. "He was really upset when he stormed off today, so I don't think he'll go back to where I found him. Maybe we could try tomorrow."
"Then let's all meet up tomorrow at Fluttershy's." Twilight announced earning nods from everypony else. "In the meantime, do you need any help on the farm AJ?"
"Actually...yeah. Without Ironhead, movin' all those dead trees're gonna be a real pain in the flank." the farmer said bitterly. She shook her head. "'Preciate the help Twi'."
"Anything for a friend AJ." Twilight said with a smile and a nod. Her other friends gave nods of agreement which made Applejack smile.
"Alrighty then. Let's hop to it girls." Applejack said adjusting her Stetson and leading the way out of the library. She and her friends began their way towards the ruined portion of Sweet Apple Acres."
"Twilight?" A soft voice to her right caught her attention. Fluttershy walked up to her and looked at the ground. "Listen...I don't think Ash is a bad pony. He's just...sad all the time. You believe me right?"
Twilight thought about how to respond. If Fluttershy, the nicest pony she knew, said that Ash wasn't so bad, then there wasn't anything to fear. Then again, hearing about the things he did to her made her wary about dealing with him. What if Ash started going off and did something worse than he'd already done?
However, one thing predominated all those uncertainties, her trust in Fluttershy. Twilight hadn't met Ash yet, so it wasn't her place to judge him. She would just have to trust Fluttershy's words and hop for the best.
"I'll...give him the benefit of the doubt." she finally answered. "If he's easily upset, then I'll do my best to make him feel comfortable. Besides, somepony else has to make sure the others don't do anything rash." She rolled her eyes over to the other pegasus in the group.
Her answer earned her a gentle smile from Fluttershy. "Thank you Twilight. I...I really appreciate it, and...I hope Ash appreciates it too."
"It was a brave and wonderful thing, offering to be his friend." Twilight said. "Friendships change lives; I mean, l'm the perfect example. If you believe your friendship can save him, then I say go for it."
Fluterrshy nodded but looked away sadly. "But what if he gets mad again? What if he doesn't want friends?" She knew that the problem was more complicated than that; Ash said that he didn't deserve friends.
"Then...I suppose you'll have to deal with it Fluttershy." Twilight answered. "And I guess we'll have to deal with him if he gets too upset."
Fluttershy nodded once more and busied herself with her thoughts. Twilight though about this Ash she'd heard of and his possible connection to the brothers. If he cooperated, that would be good for all of them, but if he got violent, would they be able to handle him?
Ironhead has his strength. Scar has the wind. Solstice has his magic. What's the worst he can do?
"What happened out there?!"
Scar and Ironhead flinched a little at their dad's raised tone. Equinox was never the type of pony usually yelled or raised his voice; heck, he rarely got angry at all at anypony. Yet, here he was in his study upset and shaking his head in disappointment while his two sons hung their heads in shame.
Next to the alicorn was Blues, a look of sympathy on his face. He could remember how shocked he felt when they discovered that Solstice had left without warning, worrying them both. Then, his dad came to him with the news that Ironhead and Scar had returned with bearing an unconscious Solstice. His unicorn brother was still out cold, sleeping in his room while their dad dealt with the other two.
The silence that followed was interrupted by a merciless laugh. Right by the door to the study stood Psych who had come to watch Ironhead and Scar get chewed off by their dad. By his side was Ash who was silently watching the scene before him, his mind trying to put away thoughts of Fluttershy's offer earlier that day.
"You were supposed to investigate the town undetected. You chased a mare throughout Ponyville." Equinox continued earning a snigger from Psych. "I can only imagine how frightened she must have been as she fled from you.
"We didn't wanna hurt her..." Scar explained. "He had to know what she was hiding from us. It was our only lead dad."
"That still didn't make it right to hound after her like a pack of timberwolves." Equinox countered still disappointed. "You were in Ponyville for weeks. Even with your job Ironhead, your investigation should have learned something before now."
"I-Its was hard OK?" Ironhead reasoned. "We didn't even know what to look for. And we kinda...got distracted..."
Equinox gave his sons an incredulous look. "I thought you two wanted to save Ponyville. I thought you were willing to spare those ponies the pain you've experienced. How could you let yourselves become sidetracked from what you were trying to achieve?"
"C'mon dad." Scar said a little frustrated himself. He could tell his brother felt the same way. "Have you ever fallen in love with somepony before and did something really stupid and now you're regretting it because you think they hate you and never wanna talk to you or even want to be your friend anymore?"
The alicorn's reaction piqued Psych's interest. He saw Equinox swallow, blink his right eye quicker than his left, and sweat a little on his forehead. Huh...Just what're you hiding? the maroon earth pony thought, mischief in his eyes.
"Look dad, we're sorry; we really are, but we got other stuff to deal with." Ironhead said.
"Allow me to continue." A sudden flash of teal light momentarily blinded everpony. Solstice had appeared in their midst and adjusted his glasses.
"Solstice, you should still be resting." Equinox told his son worriedly.
"If I still required rest, I would still be in bed." Solstice replied. "Father, I was unconscious and yet showed no sign of physical injury. You know only one thing could do such a thing to me-an earthquake..."
The air in the room suddenly felt heavy. All six brothers trembled at the word "earthquake". Solstice shook the painful memories from his mind. "Father, you know what this means."
For the first time, the reality of what had just happened struck Equinox. "It...It's starting...It's only a matter of time before..."
"Before every living soul in Ponyville's wiped out? Wouldn't that be like, the ultimate irony? The one thing those ponies were trying so desperately to protect is responsible for their own destruction, how cool is that?! Hey, if it's possible, can you get me an exact time and date? I wanna be there to watch it all crumble before me." Psych said with an evil grin.
"Psych..." Equinox said looking sadly at his son.
"Light in Ponyville's soil is reaching alarming levels." Solstice continued summoning up a chart with his magic. "And I now know the source of this Light."
"You have?" Equinox said leaning in.
Solstice nodded and lit up his horn. "The Elements of Harmony."
Using his magic, he summoned a hovering rectangle in front of his dad. It flashed and began showing an image, more specifically, the memory he found in Twilight's head. It showed her taking the Elements out of their case and handing them over to her friends telling them to keep them safe. Solstice paused the memory right there and looked at his dad.
Psych raised an eyebrow in interest. He turned to his side and was surprised to see Ash's pupils dilated. Confused, he traced Ash's gaze to one of the mares on the screen, the butter-yellow pegasus with the pink mane. Just who was this mare, and what did she have to do with Ash?
"But...Those are the Elements of Harmony?" Equinox asked pointing a hoof at the five bracelets and tiara.
"They must be." Solstice answered. "Twilight was so willing to protect the Elements. This memory shows that something. These have to be the Elements."
Equinox still looked uncertain. "But...The princess is their current wielder. What are the Elements doing in the hooves of six ordinary ponies?"
Solstice did some thinking. "Could it be that these six mares are the new wielders of the Elements of Harmony?"
His suggestion got the room thinking. Ironhead looked over to the image of Applejack, her face determined as she held the necklace that held a jeweled apple, just like her Cutie-Mark. He suddenly thought all about her and what other ponies said about her, and everything made sense.
"Applejack..." Ironhead said pointing at the orange mare. "...Element of Honesty..." No wonder she was so upset when she found out I lied to her...
Scar looked at his with a raised eyebrow before he understood. He looked over to his crush holding the necklace. Knowing her, she wouldn't let her friend down. Twilight trusted her to protect what she was holding, and he knew she would never let her down.
"That's Rainbow Dash...Element of Loyalty..." he said, his eyes on the determined ones of the blue pegasus.
"I'm surprised they managed to make their Element of Magic appear as well." Solstice said, his gaze on the golden tiara in Twilight's hooves. "It seems rather fitting that Twilight wields it."
"That just leaves the other three." Equinox said looking at the three remained mares.
"That one's uh...Fluttershy." Scar said pointing at the screen. "No idea what her Element could be though."
"...Kindness..." Ash whispered loud enough for anypony else to hear. He ignored them thinking how fitting that was. She was the Element of Kindness; no wonder she did all those things to him...
Surprised gazes were directed at him, but he remained silent. When he refused to elaborate, Equinox turned back to the screen. "That just leaves the other two." he said.
"That's Pinkie Pie." Scar said. "She's an insane, bubbly, over active, ball of sugary sweets that just wants to make everypony smile."
That description caused Psych's ears to perk up. He looked up and found the pink pony Scar had described. His legs began to tremble slightly as he took in her that bubblegum coat, that poofy mane, those blue eyes.
...Pinkie Pie...
"...The Element of Laughter..."
"Huh, that kinda makes sense." Ironhead said agreeing with Psych while ignorant of what was going through his brother's mind. "That just leave Rarity over there with the Element of Generosity."
"If your descriptions are correct, then these mares must be the ones chosen by the Elements." the silvery alicorn said. "The fact that they were able to summon up the spark for their Element of Magic proves this. Still...how did ownership of the Elements get passed onto them from the princess?"
"I can't think of any connection between them and the Princess Celestia." Solstice said. "More research into the matter is needed."
"Perhaps so, but not today." Equinox looked at his three sons who returned from Ponyville. "The chasing, the earthquake, you three have been through so much today. We will find a solution to this, but for now, you three need to rest up."
Ironhead bowed a little. "Yeah I uh...got a lot to think about. I'll...I'll see you guys around." he said before silently walking to his room.
"Y-Yeah. Me too. Sorry again dad." Scar said doing the same.
With his source of entertainment gone, Psych left as well. Noticing Ash, Equinox opened his mouth to speak, but the grey pegasus turned and let as well. Equinox bowed and sighed shaking his head in the process.
"Father?" He looked up at the sound of Solstice's voice. "Father, I wish to take full responsibility for what happened. I initiated the chase, and I admit my methods were rather harsh." Images of Twilight's face throughout the whole encounter flashed in his mind. "I regret my actions just as much as Ironhead and Scar do."
Blues trotted forward and patter his brother's shoulder. Both brothers smiled slightly. "I know you meant well Solstice, but the one you should be apologizing to is this Twilight you speak of."
Solstice nodded. "I pray that she is just as forgiving as you are father." he said before lighting up his horn and teleporting out of the room.
Equinox sighed and did some thinking. An idea struck him, one that could help them get the information they needed. "Blues, I have a task for you." The beige unicorn's ears perked up. "The mares must still be upset with the three of them, and Ash and Psych remain uncooperative. Only you can do this."
Blues nodded understanding that he was being trusted with this task. "What must I do father?"
It seemed like the only way. He was afraid to get involved in case these mares had connections with the princess. Blue's task would be simple, and unlike Ironhead and Scar's, didn't involve keeping too many secrets.
"How would you like to be a mediator?"