“How’s the eyepatch, Fluttershy?”
The yellow mare winced at being reminded of her injury after the run-in with Sombra. Her new eyepatch, made of bandages, was distinctly seen by everypony in town and she didn’t like the attention. At least they were all nice and said gentle words whenever they did talk to her. Most others respected her privacy and gave a kind nod to her.
“Oh, it’s fine. The doctors said I shouldn’t touch it for about three weeks, but I can’t remove it for two months,” Fluttershy answered.
“That’s... not very comforting to know, really,” said Rainbow Dash. “Two months? That’ll take longer than this expedition if we’re quick.”
“On the plus side, they said I’ll make a full recovery,” said Fluttershy. “I was very lucky.”
Rainbow let out a big sigh of relief she didn’t know she held in.
“Ah hope we all get back into shape after that throwdown,” said Applejack. “It stinks more than a rotten bushel of apples tossed into a compost after gone through a pig’s stomach and back out.”
“Oink!”
“Umm... no offense,” Applejack apologized to the passing pig following its pony master. The pig walked away with a smile for that one.
“I would not have used such words myself, but I agree with Applejack,” Rarity commented, looking pristine as always.
“Why do you have so much makeup around your eyes?” Rainbow asked her.
“I did receive a couch flying right into my face, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity told her. Fluttershy winced at remembering the event “I cannot afford to look so horrid even after all that. But if I may continue on the current subject, this was a very bitter blow to us back then and we should definitely use some, as Rainbow Dash tends to say, payback.”
“Speaking of back then, ah’m curious, Pinkie. How did that pegasus manage to steal the Element of Laughter from you?”
Pinkie stood still as she simply looked forward into the air. It was very unnerving to see.
“Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked.
-
“In you go!” Pinkie shoved in a few rockets alongside a box of hairnet requisitions and an inflatable shark into her party cannon and used a ramrod to jab them in there.
Somepony handed her a concrete block with his hoof. “Oh, thank you,” she said.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
“I’m loading up my cannon so I can join the fight. And I’m packing everything in there.”
“Everything?”
“Yes,” said Pinkie, ramming in another shark.
“Even that necklace of yours?” He asked and she stopped. A firework went off nearby. “Okay, I think you’re not gonna do that,” he said.
“No, it’s super-important that I hold onto it. Princess Celestia told me so, so I made a Pinkie Promise that I would take care of it.”
“In that case, maybe I should hold it while you load your cannon,” he said and Pinkie looked at him with narrowed eyes. “..I promise to take care of it.”
“Pinkie Promise?” She asked, doing the routine in front of him.
“Pinkie Promise,” He replied, repeating the motion.
She beamed up and took it off. “Okay, here you go, weird cute pegasus stallion I haven’t met before! Don’t go anywhere while I reload, okay?”
“I won’t,” he replied and took off into the air. “Er.. this doesn’t count as “go”, right?”
“Nope!”
-
They all stared at her.
“Were the sock-puppets really necessary?” Rainbow asked her.
Pinkie deflated (Not with the mane!) and took the socks off.
“Not my proudest moment,” she told them quietly.
Rarity sighed and looked around. “Say, where is Twilight and Spike? I can’t imagine what it would be like to be facing your own brother in all of this brewing chaos.”
“They went with the princesses back to Canterlot in order to acquire sum’ means of transport,” said Applejack. “With the peace summit coming soon, Princess Celestia reckoned we needed speed in order to catch up with Sombra.”
“No need, I’ll be flying solo,” Rainbow stated. “I’m gonna track him down myself.”
“And do what, might I ask?” Rarity inquired.
“Trash him so bad he’ll regret coming back.”
Applejack took a long blink. “Dash, as much as we know ya can deliver that, he did trash us not too long ago, and even with us fully healed, who’s to say he can’t do it again.”
Pinkie Pie walked up to stand beside Rainbow. “Because we’ll be prepared this time that he’ll be prepared this time. So we need to get prepared for him being prepared that we are prepared. Unless he’ll have prepared for us-” Rainbow shoved a forehoof into Pinkie’s mouth. Pinkie kept mumbling about how they needed to be prepared for him being prepared for them and so on.
“I also got a wing to pluck with that Tempest fellow. Wonderbolt or not, he’s working with Sombra now, and that’s all the motivation I need to take him down,” said Rainbow as Pinkie kept mumbling through the hoof.
“We all have personal scores to settle,” Rarity pointed out. “That slimy pegasus thief... certainly knows his way to charm a lady, I’ll give him that, but to use such skills for personal gain when he could have been an actor or a business pony? I’ll destroy him next time I see him.”
“Ya gonna have to get in line, Rare,” said Applejack. “Cuz if Ah’m hearing things right from Pinkie, that stallion broke a Pinkie Promise.”
This caused the pink pony to stop mumbling with wide eyes. Fluttershy thought for sure that if Pinkie was recalibrating the events herself, then-
Pinkie narrowed her eyes very tightly with steam blowing out of her ears. The eyes turned flaming yellow. Rainbow Dash took the hoof away and stepped back from her. “Nopony breaks a Pinkie Promise.”
Fluttershy noticed that she was suddenly under a shade and looked up. She gasped to see a large airship form above them all and it was getting bigger as it closed in.
It was colored white and blue as the Royal Guard were, with a dash of gold here and there. It spanned the length of half Ponyville and built for speed as well as endurance, meaning it was sleek yet large to house supplies. Almost anypony with an eye for engineering specs and/or a hobby for airships could see it.
A white form leaped from its observation deck and dove down towards them. Fluttershy almost wanted to get away until she saw that it was Princess Celestia, free of her bandages now. She landed gracefully in front of them, carrying Twilight and Spike on her back.
“Princess!” Rarity reacted first and bowed, the others following in tow. Celestia dismissed them and referred instead to the airship.
“The ERAF Spectrum. Built for long distance travel in rapid time with full crew, it’s one of our military prides.” Twilight and Spike jumped off her as she spoke. “And as Commander-in-chief of the military, I deemed it a necessary action to hand it over to my finest band of heroes.”
“Ya mean...” Applejack pointed to the whole group of them. “Us, Princess?”
“Yes, Applejack,” said Celestia. “King Sombra poses the biggest threat to us all and he has stolen the Elements. Without them, Equestria is left without one of its greatest defenses and the peace summit would go very ill for us. Need I say more?”
“Not at all, your Highness,” said Rainbow Dash with a wide grin. “We’re itching for payback and you just gave us something reserved for birthdays.”
“I just wish I could redecor,” Rarity commented, still looking at the airship. “but I’ll gladly take the chance to go traveling on that marvelous piece of machinery.”
“So when do we leave?” Applejack asked.
“Tomorrow,” said Twilight. “The princess and I are going to be busy working on a device that will help us track down the Elements. The rest of you should take the time to finish up with whatever work you have and get ready.”
“Just like that?” Rarity asked. “Twilight, I understand that you want to bring your brother back home, but we need to be certain that nothing happens here while we’re away.”
“Which is why we’re leaving tomorrow,” said Twilight. “I’d have us leave immediately, but Princess Celestia said I was being too rash with that.”
“You could say that again,” Spike commented. “Twi was all over the place, telling everyone to please hurry at the refitting, telling her parents, packing maps and books we might need...” A glare from Twilight sent Spike to a quiet place.
“I sympathize with Twilight,” said Celestia, muzzling her pupil briefly. “but we cannot be overcome with stress constantly during this mission. Please, explain to the your families and friends what is happening and why you need to-”
“Whoa there, Princess,” Applejack interrupted. “Nearly everypony in town saw our showdown with Sombra. Ah don’t think they need to know why we’re leaving as much as we need to ask for extra help to look after our work here.”
Celestia stayed silent for a few seconds, before smiling. “Yes. Exactly.”
Rainbow took off swiftly back to her house, Rarity trotted back to Carousel Boutique, the others went back to their respective homes. Fluttershy went slow, walking rather than trotting back to her hovel and she couldn’t help but think.
She had been stabbed in the eye, meaning she couldn’t use the Stare. And she was going to help her friends against a unicorn who was known to inspire and invoke fear in other ponies.
How much help could she really be against somepony like that?