Justice Itself

by Autocharth

Act IV - Ch. 32 Setting Up The Dominoes

Chapter 32 Setting Up The Dominoes

***

Mayor Mare trotted into her office, and let out a deep, pained sigh at the stack of papers waiting for her. The next few minutes were spent cursing Nightmare Moon. Not for threatening to bring A Night That Would Last Forever, nor for ruining the carefully prepared Summer Sun Celebration she had worked so hard on. Oh, those were bad, certainly. Mayor Mare considered both to be definitely against the public interest. In the end, however, it was neither of these that made Mayor Mare curse the long gone force of darkness. It wasn’t even for the possession of most of the town that she cursed; surprising, considering how recent that was.

No, she cursed Nightmare Moon because that was when it all began. Before Nightmare Moon, the only real problems Ponyville had needed to contend with were things like waking up Rainbow Dash so she could finish her weather duties, or Pinkie Pie being, generally, herself. After Nightmare Moon had come barging in with all the mannerisms of an overdramatic storybook villain, it had just gotten so much worse. Parasprites and minotaurs and magicians and baby dragons turning into greedy adult dragons, and a dozen more, all equally random and all disruptive events.

She picked up the very first document. The hospital. A headache was already beginning to throb its way to life inside her skull. The Mayor put the document down, sighed, sat down at her desk and got to work. It might be a town of ponies who panicked at the drop of a hat, where chaos visited on a weekly basis, but it was her town. Sadly, this meant it was her stack of documents to work through. If she didn’t take the time to read and sign them all, who would? If she didn’t make sure the right orders got to the right ponies, who would repair the hospital?

Mayor Mare wasn’t about to sit back and find out. It was her job, and come eternal night or lord of chaos, she would do it. She set her quill to work, knowing that each stroke and each line of ink put the hospital one step closer to normal. There wasn’t much normal left in Ponyville, so it was important to protect it.

She was on the fifth document when she noticed it. A shadow behind the door she had come through, left open. An open door policy worked best, she found, when there was a visual metaphor that fit reality. The best metaphors were like that, at least in her mind.

“Did you want to see me, Pinkie?” The Mayor asked, doing her best to keep her voice polite and welcoming.

“Awww.” Pouting, Pinkie bounced out from behind the door. “I thought you wouldn’t spot me for at least an hour! You’re really good at this!”

Mayor Mare gave Pinkie tired smile. “Thank you, dear. Although…” She shook her head. ‘No need to point out she always hides there.’ “Never mind. Did you need something?”

Before she could blink, she had Pinkie Pie right in front of her. There were only inches separating their faces.

“The question is,” Pinkie whispered ominously. “Do you want something?!”

“Uh…” The Mayor blinked. “Pinkie Pie, do we have to have another discussion about personal space?”

Pinkie leaned back. “Nope! I was just checking if you remembered! So! Question! Do you want something?”

“Pinkie Pie, this is my office,” the Mayor reminded her.

“Yeah-huh.” Pinkie nodded, grinning widely.

A few seconds of silence passed before the older mare sighed and gave in. “Yes, Pinkie Pie, there are many things I want. Is there something in particular you mean?”

A slip of paper, a ticket of some kind, landed in front of her. “Wanna go see the Canterlot Orchestra?” Pinkie asked. “Dashie was gonna come but she’s all banged up and Applejack said she’ll get her Granny’s paddle if Dashie even thinks of getting out of bed until she’s better — I don’t think she meant it literally though, so don’t worry, she hasn’t gone and gotten it yet, and they don’t even have a ping-pong table at the hospital so I don’t see why she needs it — so I thought I should give it to somepony else and I saw the ponies working on the hospital wall which made me think of you and all the hard work you must have had to do to get them there so fast and then that made me realise how much stuff you must have to do with all the fun stuff that happens in Ponyville-” Pinkie stopped to breathe, then took off again. “Wanna come to the orchestra in a few days?”

The Mayor was quite familiar with Pinkie Pie, given how often they had to have apparently futile talks about noise pollution laws, so it didn’t take her much effort to follow along. Her eyebrows rose as she considered the pony before her.

“Pinkie Pie, are you offering me a ticket to one of the most expensive and popular orchestras in Equestria?” she asked, just to be sure.

“Uh huh! You do so much stuff, I thought you deserved a break, even if it’s only for an evening. How about it? Wanna come to the orchestra with me and Rarity?” Pinkie pleaded eagerly, giving the Mayor a wide eyed begging look.

The sight made the Mayor laugh, but she pushed the ticket back to Pinkie. “I appreciate the gesture, I really do. It means a lot that you ask. Give this to one of your friends, and have a nice time with them instead. I just have too much work to do.”

“Aww…” Pinkie’s ears drooped as she pouted. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” the Mayor assured her. She smiled at the pink pony. “You’ve made my day much better just for offering.”

The Mayor stared after Pinkie, frowning at the odd reaction. She had tried to be gentle, but-

Something Pinkie had said finally pinged in the Mayor’s brain. She sat up abruptly. “Pinkie Pie!” she called, jumping out of her chair and running into the hall. Fortunately for her, Pinkie was leaving in a way that was normal for other ponies for once. “Did you say there were builders at the hospital?”

Pinkie nodded, looking as confused as the Mayor felt. “Yep. They were already working on fixing it up.”

Looking back to her desk and its pile of documents, among which lurked those she needed to finish and file to have builders come in and start work on repairing the hospital, Mayor Mare realised today might not be as simple as signing paperwork after all.

***

The foremare looked at the pony who said she was the Mayor of Ponyville and shrugged. “Papers’ve been filed, not my business who did it and stuff. You’d have to ask the head office, sorry ma’am,” she said, managing to convey that while she was sorry, it was only so long as being sorry meant all she had to do was shrug and say so before getting back to work.

The Mayor frowned as the foremare shrugged and got back to work. She looked back at Pinkie, who had followed her from her office, and sighed.

“Well, this isn’t any help. I suppose I don’t have any real reason to complain, but I do wish whoever had done this would have informed me first!” The Mayor groaned. “There are meant to be permits and paperwork. At least the hospital will be back to full working order soon.”

Pinkie grinned at her, her odd mood from before vanishing. “That’s the spirit! Always look on the bright side of life!” She took a deep breath, preparing to break into song.

“I appreciate that you let me know, however unintentionally, but I must get back to work.” Giving Pinkie a wide smile, mostly sincere, the Mayor began to hurriedly trot off without looking away. “Please let me know if you find out who sent-ooof!”

The Mayor staggered back, falling back on her rear. She blinked to clear the stars from her eyes, feeling a hoof help her up.

“Thank, goodness, I’m sorry about that,” she apologised, rubbing her eyes.

“Tis of no concern, my little pony!” Boomed a regal, distinctive voice. The Mayor’s eyes snapped wide open and she stared up at Princess Luna in horror.

“Your Highness! I-I’m so sorry!” she stammered, backing up until she hit Pinkie.

The alicorn waved the apology away. “It truly is of no concern, Mayor Mare. It is an unexpected pleasure to see you already. It saves us all time. I assume you are here over the ponies already at work? Have no fear for your noble town of Ponyville! We have organised to have the hospital return to its glorious original state as fast as hooves can work.” Princess Luna gave the crew at work a satisfied look.

“Oh, I see...thank you very much your Highness, Ponyville will certainly appreciate the gesture.” The Mayor bowed. “Uh, was there anything you needed from me?”

“Neigh, good Mayor! Return to your duties with my blessings. Pinkie Pie shall serve as an able guide to the library of Twilight Sparkle. Your fair town needs your vigilant and skilled care.” Princess Luna strode past the Mayor, beckoning her to rise. She waited until the grateful, if slightly overwhelmed, Mayor was gone before turning to Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie Pie, if you would-”

Whatever Pinkie would do, what she actually did was hug the princess. Luna paused, not quite sure how to react to the pink pony now clinging to her, arms thrown around her neck. She raised a hoof, only to drop it back for lack of anything to say with the gesture.

“Noble Pinkie Pie…” Luna trailed off, trying to think of what to say. ‘Get off’ seemed a bit blunt, and it wasn’t like she minded being hugged. It was quite nice, all told. She didn’t get enough hugs, although after a few too many glasses of wine Celestia did get a bit huggy.

“Hiya!” Pinke beamed up at her. “How are you? I’ve been wanting to give you a hug for aaaaaaaaages! You and Princess Celestia do so great, and nopony ever gives you hooray-you’re-amazing hugs! How unfair is that?”

Luna finally found her voice. “Y-yes, Pinkie Pie, it is indeed a shame and truly I have few complaints about this, but we must go to the Golden Oaks library post-haste! My sister should already be there with her faithful student.”

“Sounds like a plan!” Pinkie agreed without moving an inch.

“...so perhaps we could get there faster if you were not to cling to my neck with a limpet-like grasp?” The princess suggested.

After putting that to some serious thought for about two and a half seconds, Pinkie replied.

***

The door to the library swung open, and in trotted Princess Luna. Of particular note was the fact Pinkie Pie did not trot in. Nor did she bounce, skip, flop, roll, fall or, as she had once, perform a Dynamic Entry via malfunctioning cannon. Nevertheless, she entered the building as only Pinkie Pie was able.

Namely, she entered by clinging to a moon-raising demi-goddess alicorn with a several thousand years of life under her most likely metaphorical belt.

Princess Celestia looked up from her conversation with Twilight and stared for a moment. Princess Luna return their stares with a flat look that told them not to ask. By the twitching at the corner of Celestia’s mouth, she wasn’t going to ask but there was no promise she wasn’t going to burst into laughter.

“I have returned, sister, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, nodding to each in turn. This was made a bit harder by her smiling pony-limpet.

“W-welcome back,” Celestia managed to reply with only the slightest tremble of suppressed giggles in her voice. She smiled, slightly wider than usual. This was worth smiling for, after all. “And hello to you too, Pinkie Pie. It is a pleasure to see you again.”

Twilight facehoofed when Pinkie waved back without letting go. “Hi there Princess Celestia! How are you?”

“Oh, I’m….I’m wonderful.” Covering her mouth with a hoof, Celestia coughed. Well, it was probably a cough. Mostly. Kind of.

A devious idea blossomed in the scheming depths of Luna’s mind. Her sour look became a smirk. She craned her neck to look down at Pinkie. “Pinkie Pie, did you not have concerns that both my sister and I were not getting enough hugs in thanks? My dearest sister has been working even harder and longer than I to care for Equestria, and with even fewer hugs!”

Pinkie gasped in horror, which wasn’t far off from the look on Celestia’s face. She shot Luna a betrayed look when Pinkie transitioned from one alicorn to the other, moving so fast for a moment she became a pink blurry line between the two before snapping firmly onto Celestia. It was Luna’s turn to suppress laughter at her sister’s expense.

“Here’s a hug just for you!” Pinkie beamed up at Celestia.

“Why, thank you very much.” Celestia spoiled Luna’s fun by smiling and hugging Pinkie back. She sat down, still hugging Pinkie, and looked back to Twilight. “So, you were saying?”

“Uh…okay, right, well so far, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom appear to have somehow come into possession of fragments of an angelic soul. Paladin thinks it must be Ardleon’s, since he claims the energy he gave my friends and I are the only remnants of the power he had.” Gathering her notes, Twilight tried to get her thoughts in order. It was surprisingly hard to focus on her presentation with Pinkie and the Princess hugging.

“I see. Do go on.” The Princess’s voice was warm and interested, looking at Twilight attentively

Giving her notes a look over, Twilight did her best to continue. “They appear to reflect ‘aspects’ of the angel Ardleon. Most of what this is based on is Paladin’s informed judgements. Since it only happened last night, I haven’t had a chance to do more than give Sweetie Belle a cursory examination this morning when Rarity brought her over and…” she faltered, looking down. “I was more focused on Spike.”

“Is Spike still asleep?” Pinke let go of Celestia at last, bouncing off the floor to land next Twilight. “I can make him wake up. I didn’t think I put him to sleep for that long.”

“No, it’s not that. He woke up, he’s just…” Abandoning her notes, Twilight looked up at her mentor desperately. “He won’t talk to me. I should be telling you about what I’ve discovered, a-and trying to work out a defense or something, I’m sorry Princess, but I need to ask; W-what do I do? He won’t even talk to Rarity! He’s never done that!”

Celestia leaned over and gently nuzzled Twilight. The smaller mare visibly relaxed, but her worry didn’t fade. While the white alicorn comforted her student, a look of sadness and regret had come to Luna’s face as she watched.

“Perhaps,” Celestia said, her voice soft and quiet. She looked past Twilight, to Luna. “Somepony else could get him to open up. Luna—”

“Say no more, sister.” Luna nodded, standing. Her voice no longer boomed and her mood was somber. “I shall speak with young Spike. I do have some experience in matters such as this.”

Twilight looked back to Luna with palpable relief on her face. “Please, Princess Luna, anything you can do for him. He woke up and just wouldn’t talk to me. H-he won’t even look at me.”

Watching this all go on, Pinkie felt that horrible, depressing feeling again. She felt useless. As useless as she had been last night. How would laughter help here? It would just be ‘inappropriate’ and annoy them all. She slowly drew back, ducking out the door and trotting away silently.

Inside, Celestia and Twilight waited for Luna to trot upstairs. The unicorn leaned against her mentor, comforted by the wing over her side.

“I hope she can help. Pinkie, do you think you could- Pinkie?” Twilight looked around. “Where did she go?”

Celestia calmed her with a motherly nuzzle. “Pinkie seemed to feel a bit out of place. Don’t worry,” she added when Twilight began to protest the very idea. “You can go and talk to her now if you want to. Your friend is more important, I think.”

Sighing, Twilight shook her head. “Pinkie will be gone by now. I’ll find her and talk to her with the others. She did seem a bit upset last night.”

“She wasn’t there to help with Spike and,” Celestia practically spat the next word. “Scorpan, was she?”

As odd as Celestia’s reaction to that name had been, and continued to be, since learning it Twilight focused on the issue at hoof. “No, she was on the other side of the farm when I teleported into town.” Her eyes widened. “Do you think that’s it? She’s feeling bad about not being able to help?”

“Perhaps. I cannot say with complete certainty. I am not, after all, omniscient. If I were, Scorpan would not be bothering us today.” Expression darkening for a moment, Celestia shook off the black mood a moment later. “Enough of that. Rarity and Applejack are downstairs with their sisters. We shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

Twilight couldn’t deny being curious. When the Princess had first arrived, she had explained what had gone on last night with Applejack and Rarity’s assistance. The name of their apparent enemy had elicited a second’s expression of anger. Unless Twilight had imagined it, the room’s temperature had spiked as well.

Suppressing her urge to question, Twilight nodded and led Celestia down to the basement. She smiled as the Princess admired some of her work.

“Your lair is coming along marvellously.”

That somewhat muted Twilight’s pleasure at the praise. It was not, she struggled not to cry, a lair. Mad scientists had lairs, and Twilight was, at most, a slightly annoyed scientist. Crazy doctors had lairs, and Twilight didn’t have her doctorate yet so she couldn’t be one of those by definition. Bad guys had lairs. Villains had lairs.

Twilight just had a basement that was a bit lairy.

“Thank you, Princess,” she said anyway.

Within the main chamber, Rarity and Applejack were busy keeping their sisters from causing destruction. It was a challenge, but fortunately for all involved, without Scootaloo the amount of damage was limited. Twilight had once done the calculations and found that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were far less dangerous with only two present. Regardless of which two it was, the chance of fire, sap, landslide, or any other assorted disasters went down significantly when one of them was absent.

“Princess!” The fillies cheered, looking at the alicorn in wonder. Their sisters bowed before promptly grabbing them before the youngsters could do anything silly like try to hug the ruler of the whole nation.

“Hello there, my little ponies,” she greeted them warmly. “Rarity and Applejack, it is always a joy to see you both. I hope we didn’t keep you waiting.”

“Ain’t nothin’, yer Highness.” Dismissing it with a tip of her hat, Applejack nudged Apple Bloom to give the Princess a more polite greeting.

“Howdy Princess Celestia!” Apple Bloom said, to the sound of Applejack sighing.

“Hiya!” Sweetie Belle squeaked with equal regards for royal formality, and just as much as Celestia liked.

Rarity didn’t sigh, but she did twitch. “Not at all, your Highness. We were all happy to wait as long as you needed. Especially if you can help Sweetie and Apple Bloom.”

“Help? Why do we need help? I saved the day!” Sweetie Belle protested, pouting fiercely. “I can do magic singing!”

Nodding, Apple Bloom nearly bounced out of Applejack’s hold. “Yeah! We’ve got super powers! Ah’m gonna be Apple Mare!”

“I’ll be, uh...Sing-Song!”

“Ah thought Sing-Song lived down the road from the sofa store?”

“Oh yeah…”

Twilight winced as the fillies got lost in the world of pointless, silly discussion in front of the Princess. She gave their elders a frantic look. Applejack shrugged helplessly.

“Girls, please,” said Rarity. She gave the fillies a stern look. “These ‘super powers’ as you call them aren’t that simple. Who knows what sort of effect they could have on you? Twilight and Princess Celestia are just going to make sure nothing happens. Apple Bloom, darling, don’t you remember how strange you were acting?”

That made Apple Bloom frown as she thought back. “Ah s’pose Ah was actin’ a lil’ funny. But can’t they just get rid of that part but leave the super powers?” She gave Princess Celestia one-third of a (patent-pending) Cutie Mark Crusader Pout Assault, with added wide, shiny eyes. “Pleeeeeeease Princess?”

Concealing her mirth at their childish antics, Celestia gave the pair a regretful smile. “If I could, there are no fillies I’d trust like you two, but I’m afraid Rarity is correct. We need to make sure you’ll both be fine. We just don’t understand as much as we need to.”

“Ah thought you were, uh, omni-...omni-pot?” Apple Bloom rubbed head.

“Onimi?” Sweetie suggested.

Apple Bloom shook her head. “Nah, the one that means she knows everythin’. Ah thought ya knew everythin’!”

“Omni-science!” Sweetie Belle remembered with a victorious and adorable squeak.

“Right, that one!”

“Girls, the Princess don’t know everythin’. Heck, even Twilight don’t know everythin’. Princess Luna doesn’t either. They do know a lot more than a pair of fillies though,” Applejack explained. She nuzzled Apple Bloom and softened her voice. “Ah know ya wanna feel special, but yer safety is more important.”

“Awww, okay.” Sweetie and Apple Bloom deflated somewhat, but their sisters’ attention and reassurance kept either from feeling too sad.

“Why don’t you two go play upstairs? Just don’t leave the library. We need to have a grown up conversation, and yes, I know neither of you wants to be told that.” Rarity patted Sweetie’s mane. “But I’m sure a trip to Sugarcube Corner will make up for that later, yes?”

A cheer from both fillies answered that and they scurried upstairs, leaving the adults to their probably boring discussion.

Twilight smiled at the resolution of that, and turned their attention to her with a cough. “Now, we only have so many possibilities to remove the essence. In Apple Bloom’s case, and from what I’ve seen in Sweetie Belle’s, the angelic essence hasn’t actually melded with their souls. This makes it much easier for us to think about removing it, since neither of them are being kept alive by it.”

“And that’s different from us, how exactly, darling?” Rarity asked curiously.

“Your life-force was drained significantly by the Nightmare,” Celestia took over this part of the explanation. She created an image in the shape of a pony, a black silhouette filled with blue like a picture of a full tank. A pipe appeared, draining away the blue until only the barest was left. “Paladin, or as he was then, Tyrael gave each of you a portion of his own being. His life-force, however, is not the same as yours. It is an order of magnitude higher, and for a being such as he was it is not simply energy as it is for ponies. In practical terms, a pony’s soul and life-force are different things. Tyrael’s was not. To give you one, he had to give you some of the other. So he ‘refilled’ the six of you with his own essence.”

Another pipe appeared on the other side of the pony silhouette and began to pour green into it, slowly refilling the image until the pony was full. The blue and green mixed to make purple until there was just one colour rather than two. Another image appeared next to it, this one in a field of Twilight’s magic, of a pony full of blue.

Twilight took back over, this time to explain to all three. “So that energy became our life-source, mixing with what we had left to become part of us. What has happened with the girls, on the other hoof, is not at all the same. You can see in my pictures, how the blue of a pony’s soul is full? Here is the angelic essence.”

It appeared within Twilight’s pony, a solid green mass that shifted and began to displace some of the blue. The green slowly began to expand, turning the blue around it purple, and then green.

“This is what is happening to Apple Bloom, and most probably Sweetie Belle. There is no mixing occurring, no naturalisation. The angelic essence isn’t adjusting to become one with them, it’s just trying to absorb all the energy around it.”

Applejack and Rarity kept their eyes on Twilight’s image, their silence and expression speaking of their horrified understanding of the implications. Applejack was the first to find her voice, though it seemed to trip over her tongue as she tried to get it out.

“So...so, we gotta get it outta them!” she exclaimed. The farm-mare shot Princess Celestia a hopeful look that Rarity mirrored. “Ya can do that, right? Take it out of them before they get hurt?”

Celestia looked to Twilight. “Twilight? How has your research progressed in that area?” she asked, a grave sense to her voice.

“I have made some progress, don’t worry. In fact, I even have a working hypothesis. Princess, can I show them?” Trotting over to a tall, cloth covered case, Twilight fiddled with the cloth nervously. “It’s fascinating, and I think it will help us immeasurably.”

It took the Princess a moment to answer, but finally she nodded. “They have a right to know if we can do anything for their sisters.”

With the agreement, Twilight pulled the cloth from the case. Three shocked gasps filled the lair, eyes riveted on the pair of longswords contained within the glass fronted case. Runes of suppression and concealment lined the wood around it, keeping the angelic longswords safely stored. Ardleon’s weapons, blades reforged with angelic steel and mortal frostiron, stood before them.

Celestia was the first to notice, and did so instantly. She spun, looking up to see the source of the third gasp, when there were only two ponies in the room who didn’t know what was in there. Her eyes fell on Paladin, standing frozen on the stairs. His expression began to unfreeze, heated fury melting through his shock.

“Paladin!” Twilight exclaimed. She gulped nervously. “Uh, what a surprise-”

“Why,” he snarled. “Why in all the hells do you have those?”

“Because we needed them. They were left intact after Ardleon was destroyed. We couldn’t simply leave them there for anyone to find.” Celestia stepped between her student and the former-archangel, shielding her from his obvious anger.

“Why was I not informed? I should have been informed the moment you found them!” Paladin trembled with anger, fueled by the pain of their lack of trust. “Angelic weapons are not toys! They should be sealed in the deepest of vaults, or- or destroyed!”

“We’re all fully aware of that. You weren’t told because there was no reason to. They appeared lifeless and without power, and the spells around them are the strongest Luna and I can forge together.” Celestia sighed. “Paladin, please calm down. We couldn’t simply destroy them.”

“They should be.” The sheer anger in his voice took them all by surprise as he glared the weapons.

“Hold on there sugarcube, calm down! Yer upset they found these things, gave ‘em to Twi’ and didn’t tell ya?” Applejack asked, walking around the Princess. “Ah admit, Ah can understand why ya’ll’d wanna have the last stuff a fella ya were close to left—”

He cut her off, stomping a hoof furiously. “No! I want to see them destroyed.” Stepping back, Paladin forced himself to breath. To calm down. The sight of the weapons as he had come down to find his friends had shocked him, sending a deep pang of pain and guilt into his heart. “Those weapons were the conduit through which Ardleon was corrupted. They are tools of evil. They should be destroyed, undone, unmade!”

Understanding suddenly filled Celestia’s eyes. “Ah.” It was a very loaded ‘Ah’. She stepped closer. “Paladin, you can’t blame the swords. He may have used them to forge his bond with the windigoes, but in the end it was Ardleon himself who made the decision. From what Cryptic Word has been able to tell us, Ardleon forced him to reveal how to forge frostiron under threat of killing his companions slowly and painfully. All so he could make new weapons. He had already begun to fall. The swords are not to blame.”

Paladin met her kind gaze, glaring for a few seconds before the anger just...drained out of him. He let out a sigh, tension leaving him as he looked away. “Fluttershy felt that…” he muttered, almost to himself. “Damnation. I...I apologise for my anger. You still should have told me you found the swords.”

“You’re right, we should have.” Twilight appeared next to him, teleporting past the Princess to pat him on the shoulder. “I apologise for not telling you before. I thought seeing them would hurt you, remind you of him. Was I wrong?”

“No, you were not.” It was hard to admit it, but he did. She was right that it hurt. “But pain is an inevitable part of life, and I have the right to know if anything of Ardleon remains. He was my responsibility, once, and he came searching for who I once was. I owe him that, to at least keep an eye on what he left.” Paladin looked up the stairs. “Speaking of which...the angelic essence within Sweetie Belle. I came to tell you; it is most definitely part of Ardleon. His lightsong inspired what Sweetie sung.”

“Then it’s all his. The energy in my sister, and in Apple Bloom too, is all his?” Rarity shook her head in dismay. “How is that possible? When could he have done it? Why?”

Coming down to look at the swords, Paladin frowned. “I don’t believe he would do it on purpose. Considering his opinion on my state, I find it hard to believe he would ‘sully’ his essence by transferring it to mortals as some sort of...I don’t know, fail-safe against defeat.”

“We shall have to set aside the mystery of why and how they received his essence, though we must be sure not to forget it. For now, Twilight, you said you believed the swords would be of use?” Celestia turned the conversation back to her student.

Twilight nodded and turned to looked at the case. “Thanks to you and Princess Luna recovering Cryptic Word, his assistant and their guard, we know that Ardleon learned how to forge frostiron, and he used it to repair his weapons after they were shattered. He combined Equestrian material with those native to his own existence. I think, and this is a theory but one I believe I can confirm, that we can use it to transfer the essence out of the girls!” She beamed as she began to explain, pulling out a stack of notes that were entirely incomprehensible to her friends, the magical jargon and equations lost on them both. “Ardleon made the swords and they were linked to his being, so some of that link should remain and allow us to draw the essence out. The Equestrian material used to reforge them-”

Applejack held up a hoof. “Twilight, Ah appreciate the thought, but Ah don’t need to know how the darn things’ll let ya fix my sister, just that they will an’ it’ll be safe. That’s all Ah need to know.”

“Oh…” Twilight looked embarrassed. “Yes. I think we can do it, we just need a vessel of some sort. Something symbolically linked or reminiscent of Ardleon to carry the essence. After all, once it’s been removed we need somewhere to put it.”

“And once it has been removed, it must be protected and monitored. An angel’s essence should return to the Crystal Arch, yet it has not.” Paladin shuddered as he eyed the weapons. “This is like finding a dead friend’s body parts unexpectedly attached to others.”

A tad queasy looking, Rarity shuddered at the thought. “How dreadful. There is nopony I trust like you to do this, Twilight. Do you have any ideas for a vessel?”

Paladin stepped back once Twilight began to explain why she hadn’t found one yet. He could think of one. Made in Ardleon’s image, with emotions and concepts tied to the lost angel that made the choice of vessel so hard. He should just volunteer it now. It would save time. It was the right thing to do. Except….he didn’t want to.

“I need to think,” he said as he trotted up. “I just need to think this through. I…” Paladin hesitated. “I may have something we can use. Your Highness.”

Celestia returned his nod, watching him go. Spike was not the only one here who was troubled, it seemed. She hoped Luna was at least making progress there.

***

“You will open this door this instant, or I shall unmake it and unleash all my dark fury such as the world has only dreamed of facing! And believe me, I know about dreams!” Luna banged her hoof on the door again. So far her attempts to confront or comfort Spike had been impeded by the door.

Technically she could destroy it, or teleport past it, but she was giving Spike a chance. A chance that was very quickly fading as her temper ran out. Luna’s starry mane waved about her head like a majestic flag as she glared at the door.

“This is your final warning! The shattered remnants of this door shall be strewn in all directions as I lay my words of wisdom upon your young head!” Continued threats had no effect. Princess Luna scowled. Her horn was swathed in magic and released it a moment later into a teleportation spell. When she reappeared, the door behind her, the room before her was...entirely normal.

It was also empty.

Luna looked to and fro with no success. There was a singular lack of little purple lizard. Her glare shot daggers around the room. She pulled the sheets from Twilight’s bed with a dramatic ‘ha!’ that proved to be a bit premature when she found no sign of Spike. Leaning down, the Princess of the Night repeated her dramatic, unsuccessful cry of victory.

“Drat. Spike, wherever you hide- there!” Her magic pulled the closet open. Spike was not, it turned out, in the closet. “Curses. I shall find you and impart wisdom, young dragon, and no hiding place can conceal you from the mistress of shadows!”

Lightning boomed, and the wind howled, blowing the curtains behind Luna as she let out the proclamation. Frowning, the alicorn looked through the open window she hadn’t noticed until now and leaned out. “Mailpony! A lightning cloud during this weather is uncalled for. Please remove it!” she called.

“Woopsy! Okie-dokie!” The grey pegasus waved and began to push the cloud away.

Bringing her head back inside with a pleased smile, it faltered as Luna blinked and looked at the window again. A few seconds passed.

“Ah ha! An open window! You shan’t escape so easily, little Spike, for Princess Luna is on your path!” She stepped onto the balcony with her great dark wings spreading wide. With a leap she shot off into the sky wearing an expression of intense concentration and determination. This was a princess with business on the mind, her expression said, and getting in the way would only get you banished, and imprisoned where you were banished to.

Nearly a minute passed before the lowest drawer in Twilight’s chest of drawers opened. Spike stuck his head out, taking a deep lungful of delicious air. He climbed down, kicking aside the pair of socks.

“Why does she even have so many socks? She never wears them,” he grumbled. The dragon began to pick up the socks that had come out with him, including a pink one that had somehow gotten around his neck like a scarf. “I hope she doesn’t notice the mess.”

“Fair Twilight Sparkle has other things on her mind, young Spike, than the state of her much over stuffed sock drawer.”

Spike froze. He gulped and slowly turned around to face Princess Luna. She favoured him with an amused smile.

“T’was a good attempt at misdirection nevertheless. Were I as foolish as some ponies, or in such a great rush to find you, it may have fooled even me!” she praised. Her magic gathered Spike up and carried him to the bed where Luna deposited him and sat down so they were on relatively equal eye-level. “Now then, enough of this nonsense! I have acquired your ear and I shall fill it with wise words!...but first, young Spike, I would listen to you.”

He blinked, looking at her in surprise. “Uh, l-listen?” Spike asked uncertainly. “To what? There’s nothing to say. Everypony probably knows what I did already.” His eyes began to tear up, the little dragon looking away with an expression of shame. Her hoof wiped at his eyes, but Spike tried to push it away. The gesture was unwelcome. He wanted nothing more than to dwell in misery and sulk.

“Ah, and that is what I would listen to. I must first know what, exactly, is doing such harm to you that leads you to hurt somepony who loves you.” Luna didn’t let him push her away. She drew Spike’s head back to look at her. “Because, little one, that is what you are doing. You are hurting yourself, and you are hurting Twilight Sparkle.”

Spike pulled back, glaring wetly at Luna. “Sh-shut up, I’m not. She’d be better off without me anyway. I just screw things up! Look what happened last night! Everypony in town had those horrible visions and I made all the ponies in the hospital feel so bad and—”

“And nothing! You did nothing. Your body was not under your control, and you had no say in what you were doing.” Leaning closer, Luna’s expression was an odd mix between sternness and sympathy. She poked Spike in the chest gently. “You are an innocent who was used like others have been by a foul, unsightly being wielding a power that should be long gone from this world. No responsibility hangs over you, nor should it, and nopony believes you are to blame save yourself.”

She drew him closer, nuzzling Spike.

“It hurts, to know another has used your body to harm somepony you love. To bring pain and suffering, and be helpless to stop it. I understand, Spike, I understand more than anypony else. It hurts more than can be imagined to watch from within as your form is warped and turned to hurt the ponies most precious to you.” Luna sighed as she spoke, tilting Spike’s chin up when he tried to look down. Their eyes met as she tried to impress what she said upon him. “You want to suffer and be punished for being able to do nothing to stop it.”

Though it wasn’t a question, Spike nodded. He saw the same pain and guilt he felt reflected in her eyes. It reminded him quite firmly that she could certainly understand, and he held onto her like a rock.

“I-I...I should have done something…” he murmured, tearing up again. “I d-don’t deserve—”

Luna began to shake her head before he finished the sentence. “It feels like that,” she interrupted. “But punishing yourself, telling yourself that you don’t deserve their love and forgiveness, does nothing for you or them. Pushing them away because they refuse to see it as you do is worse than simply unhelpful. You hurt them, the ones you hate yourself for hurting.”

Spike went still, a warm presence clinging to the Princess’s side. Luna’s expression softened, running a hoof along his spikes as she let him take it in.

“I’m...hurting Twilight?” Spike mumbled guiltily.

She hated to see the flash of pain in his eyes when she said, “Yes.” It was, sadly, a blow she couldn’t soften. “It hurts her when you refuse to talk to her. When you shut yourself away and deny yourself contact because you don’t feel you deserve it you are making her suffer. How do you think it makes her feel when you will not talk to her and will not welcome her embrace? Twilight Sparkle loves you, little one, and has since the day she hatched your egg. Celestia has spent many hours regaling me with stories of your time together. How a little filly went around apologising to all the maids after a certain baby dragon left half-chewed diamonds to tear through the carpets. How he ate her homework, when she was afraid she couldn’t finish it in time, so she could say ‘my dragon ate my homework’.” Luna chuckled, and to her pleasure saw a tiny curve at the edge of Spike’s lips as he remembered the stories she had only heard.

“She really told you about that?” Spike asked. His voice was still quiet and sad, but no longer so frightened and small. Her words were reaching him, however slowly.

Luna nodded, chuckling again before the sound died away. “Yes. She did. My dear sister told me much my first year. I am ashamed to say I often did not listen, or tried not to. I, too, believed that I had no right to the love and forgiveness I did not feel I deserved. I spent a year in the manner you now seek to seclude yourself in.” Luna lifted Spike, holding him with her as she trotted to the window and gesturing out at the town beyond. “Look at that, Spike. I refused to look beyond my own misery and see the world beyond. It took me that long to realise how much it was hurting Celestia too. She had been waiting for me, gazing upon the moon each night with sorrow and guilt, only for my first actions to be to push her away. Realising that she was as hurt by my actions then as any I might take the blame for was simply the first step in discovering that forgiveness such as I wanted but did not believe I deserved comes from within, not without.”

“...within?” He looked up at her. Spike looked worried and afraid, unsure if he deserved even this help from a princess. “But, I hurt her, hurt Rarity, why would I forgive myself? How can I?”

“It is hard. So very hard. But if you truly love your friends, you will find your way to forgiving yourself for something that was not truly your fault. It never was and never will be.” Luna sat there, letting Spike hold onto her and reassuring him as best she could. She gazed contemplatively across the town. “Do not push Twilight Sparkle away. Do not push any of your friends away out of guilt. They love you, truly and deeply, and are ever ready to leap to your aid. There is nothing there to be ashamed of, my little dragon.”

Spike nodded against her fur. “I’ll try,” he agreed after a few minutes of silence. “I promise. It’s just...you’re right. It’s hard. Really hard.”

“But you will get there.” Luna leaned down to nuzzle him again. “You are a brave, strong-hearted dragon. One day you shall tower above the ponies you love, and it shall be the lessons you learn today that make you a dragon to be loved. Not, that is, that you are not already a dragon to be loved.” A sly grin came to Luna’s muzzle as she teased, “From what I gather, you are already working hard to make a certain mare aware of that.”

The scales of his cheeks were suffused with heat. Spike looked away, something like a pout on his face. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” He exclaimed with a stutter that was entirely unrelated to his previous teary-sputtering.

“Of course you don’t,” she giggled, patting him on the head. “Darling little Spikey~wikey.”

Never before had a princess been so evil, in Spike’s view that moment. But never had a princess been more cunning, as she pulled Spike’s mood from dreary self-loathing with teasing most unbecoming of royalty but undoubtedly the product of being a sister for several thousand years. Teasing never got old, only the current content.

As Spike leaped to his defence, knocks resounded on the door behind them.

“Spike!” Apple Bloom called desperately. “Ya gotta let me in! Oh no!”

Luna reacted instantly, bringing Apple Bloom into the room with a teleport that dropped the filly on the bed. A frustrated whine came from behind the door, ending in a squeak.

“Aw, come on!”

“Young Apple Bloom! What is the cause of your distress? Has some great peril assaulted the library? Was there an accident?” she demanded, horn glowing brilliantly.

Apple Bloom shook her head as Spike ran over to her. “No! It’s even worse!” she said breathlessly. “Sweetie nearly got me!”

“...huh?” Spike stopped, his worried expression vanishing. his confused expression was mirrored on Luna’s face. “Got you?”

“Uh huh! She’s it!” Apple Bloom turned, sticking her tongue out at the door and raising her voice. “But now she ain’t gonna catch me! We’re playin’ tag.”

“You cheated!” Sweetie whined from the hallway.

“Nuh-uh! The rules said we can’t use magic, an’ Ah didn’t! Princess Luna did!” Looking quite proud of herself, Apple Bloom sat down with a pleased smirk.

“That’s not fair!”

Luna’s magical aura dimmed and her expression went flat. After a moment’s consideration she smiled deviously. The weakened aura appeared over the locked door.

“A game of ‘tag’? Surely, young Apple Bloom, you would not wish to spoil the fun by hiding in here?” she asked, smile spreading into a grin. Spike watched with a gulp as the door handle began to turn. “Come forth, Sweetie Belle, and make much fun!”

With that she flung the door open, letting the unicorn filly spill in and the chase to begin. Somewhat related, chaos came to Twilight’s carefully maintained bedroom in the form of two fillies, a dragon and a Princess who indulged far too rarely.

***

Celestia stopped, cocking an ear as the four of them walked into the main room. A smile blossomed as she listened. Nothing was as heartwarming as hearing her sister’s laughter, save except for hearing her laughter joined by another’s. In this case, the laughter of three others.

“I think,” she murmured to Twilight, “that Luna may have made some progress.”

The relief on Twilight’s face was palpable. She let out a sigh, the hidden tension of fear for Spike and his mental state easing. “Thank you. I mean, I need to thank Princess Luna, but thank you for asking her too.”

“I’m just pleased to hear her laugh. I hear it so rarely.” A fond smile, one Twilight recognised from whenever Applejack or Rarity were speaking fondly of their sisters, spread Celestia’s lips. “Lulu needs to relax more often.”

Applejack and Rarity exchanged surprised looks, but neither could admit to feeling displeasure. Their only fears were that Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle could offend ‘Lulu’, but from the sound of it they were having as much fun as the younger Princess.

“That’s one problem dealt with, I hope.” Twilight winced at the memory of Pinkie’s odd reaction. “Girls, we need to talk about Pinkie. She was here earlier, and she seemed a bit...odd.”

Raising an eyebrow, Rarity tried to put it delicately as she said, “Well, darling, it is Pinkie Pie. Odd is her in a nutshell. A very strange nutshell, from a bizarre tree that feeds on chocolate milk, strawberry delight and pure liquid sugar.”

“Not odd like Pinkie odd. Odd like the way Rainbow Dash described Pinkie’s imaginary friend party.” Twilight shared the wince with her friends as they remembered Dash’s description of how she found Pinkie Pie on her own birthday.

“We’ll talk to her, together,” Applejack agreed with a nod. She swung her head back to Rarity when the fashionista cursed.

Blushing brightly at swearing in the hearing of the Princess, who just gave her an encouraging smile, Rarity explained to the others, “I do hope not. Until Sweetie Belle is back to her darling self, I can’t bear to leave Ponyville. Pinkie Pie received invitations to an orchestra in Canterlot in a few days. I’m afraid I shall have to rescind my acceptance of one of her tickets. Oh dear, I do hope she doesn’t take it badly, but I just can’t leave Sweetie…”

Rarity trailed off guiltily, already feeling bad, knowing she had no choice but to just tell Pinkie. It did not, unfortunately, make it any easier to stomach. Contrary to what most would guess of her, Pinkie Pie was not the ever-happy party pony she presented to the world. An incident or two had made it quite clear she could be hurt as easily as anypony else and that she took things much, much worse than they’d expected.

“Dash can’t go ‘cause she’s in hospital until she’s healed. Whatever might be eatin’ at Pinkie could’ve maybe helped a lil’ bit if she’s gonna do somethin’ with friends. Darn it, Ah can’t leave either. Think Paladin an’ Fluttershy will wanna go?” Applejack asked.

“Will Paladin and Fluttershy want to go to a fancy orchestra in Canterlot, the most splendid, romantic city in Equestria, where they shall likely need to at least wear something slightly formal?” Rarity asked, raising an eyebrow. She let out a girlish giggle, clapping her hooves together for a moment. “Oh yes, I think they can be convinced to say yes! Oh yes indeed!”

Even Celestia had to admit the cackle Rarity let out was rather impressive. The mare herself became embarrassed when she realised she had done it in front of her friends and the Princess. She blushed and gave a nervous laugh.

“Perhaps I can collect Sweetie Belle and….” Rarity stopped, listening to the sounds of play. “Actually, on second thought, I might leave her to play if you don’t mind. Fortunately, I have taken a page from Pinkie’s book.”

Twilight wasn’t the only one giving Rarity a surprised look at that little comment. The fashionista would have rolled her eyes if Celestia wasn’t here. It was, after all, unladylike. She instead retrieved from one of the cabinets a slim case within which waited a sketching pad and the same pencils she used in design-sketches.

“...ya hid stuff here like Pinkie hides party stuff?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow.

Rarity gave a haughty sniff. “I hid nothing, darling, I simply asked Spike to put them there in case I needed something to do while waiting for, well, anything we needed to wait here for. You don’t mind, do you darling?” she asked of Twilight.

Her friend shook her head. “It’s fine. I’ll be in the basement, working on this. Uh, Princess, would you like to come down and help?” Twilight shuffled her hooves nervously. “I’m sure you’re busy, but maybe—”

“Maybe,” Celestia said, gently silencing Twilight with a soft boop on the nose. “I have cleared my schedule and would love to spend some time with my faithful student.”

Twilight’s smile was brilliant and bright as she turned to descend into her lair once more. She stopped to exchange farewells with Applejack, the farm-mare tipping her hat to Twilight and bowing to the Princess. They all had their work to do, and every one of them took it seriously.

***

Pinkie had no work to do. After her ‘trials’ last night, the Cakes had insisted she take the day off. Never mind that she didn’t actually do anything, as she tried to explain.

“You’re just being modest, dearie,” Cup Cake had told her with a fond little laugh. “We all know how hard you try to help when something bad happens.”

Carrot Cake was no help either. “We can handle it today, trust us,” he had assured her, adding when they heard a whine from the foals, “Including the twins. Go and relax. You deserve it.”

“But…” Pinkie muttered to her empty room. “I don’t.”

She heaved a heavy sigh as she lay forlornly on her bed. She stared at the ceiling, wondering if her friends had noticed how useless she had been last night. She sniffled weakly. She hadn’t done anything.

“Oh, Gummy!” Pinkie whined, turning over and grabbing her pet. The little alligator blinked at her. “It’s terrible! Everypony else was in danger and trying to help, but I wasn’t doing anything! I’m a terrible friend! Dash doesn’t want to go to the orchestra anymore, and I bet Rarity is gonna find a reason why she can’t go as well, but she probably just doesn’t want to spend time with me at it too!”

Gummy blinked.

“You’re right! I’ll probably ruin any chance to be friends with Octavia! But I wanna be friends so much!” Rolling onto her back again and hugging Gummy, Pinkie’s lip wobbled. “I feel terrible! Because I am!”

There came, as Pinkie tried to calm herself with hugs and a loving gnawing from Gummy, quiet, timid knocks. She shot upright, beaming brightly at the door.

“Come in!”

Her smile dimmed ever so slightly when Fluttershy came in. The pegasus wore a sober, worried expression. When she came to a stop in front of the bed, Fluttershy didn’t say anything yet. She just looked at Pinkie with sad, serious eyes that saw right past her mask for a few seconds.

Slowly, Pinkie’s smile dimmed. She looked down, pouting. Soft, reassuring warmth flowed from Fluttershy as she trotted over and climbed up next to her. She wrapped her pink friend in a hug.

“I felt how bad you were feeling,” Fluttershy murmured. “Please don’t pretend you’re alright. Please.”

Pinkie sniffled. “I feel useless,” she whined. “I should have been able to help last night. But all I did was run and run and run and by the time I arrived, it was all over and I didn’t help anypony. I helped Spike sleep, but that’s it! I’m supposed to make ponies feel happy and good and laugh but I didn’t! Everypony else was helping…”

“I wasn’t,” Fluttershy pointed out. She nuzzled Pinkie when the mare gave her a confused look. “I was unconscious. Twilight at least teleported everypony before she fell unconscious, but I didn’t do anything.”

“...oh. Well, if you had been awake, you’d have helped. And even if you weren’t awake, you were still there. You could have helped, but I couldn’t,” Pinkie insisted with a stubborn pout. “You’ve been doing heaps of stuff since Pally arrived! Like cosying with him!”

A blush spread across Fluttershy’s cheeks at that, but she resisted the embarrassing tactic. “You have been helpful. Maybe not last night, maybe not all the time, but nopony is always free or able to help. There have been times when any one of us hasn’t been able to help with something. But that just means when we can help, we try even harder. You just have to have to be willing to keep trying.”

Fluttershy’s blush grew as she looked away, embarrassment colouring her features. Perking up slightly, Pinkie peered at her friend curiously.

“I...I kept failing to, well, ‘c-cosy up’ with Paladin, but I kept trying. And he and I are going to..well, you heard last night. Please don’t be sad because you couldn’t help last night. You’re a wonderful friend and you do your best all the time. I don’t know why you can’t see that, Pinkie, but you really have been.”

“Then why doesn’t Dashie want to come to the orchestra anymore?” Crossing her forelegs, which left her squeezing Gummy even tighter, Pinkie looked at her friend questionly with wide, inquisitorial eyes.

Fluttershy wasn’t much for making smart remarks, but she felt the urge right then. “...Rainbow Dash doesn’t want to go to the orchestra?” she asked slowly, as if she was unsure what she had heard. “Uh, Pinkie...Not only is Rainbow Dash hurt, but she’s also, well, um...Rainbow Dash.”

Pinkie nodded. Then she stopped nodding and put a hoof to her chin. After a few seconds she let out an ‘oh!’ of understanding. She giggled, giving Fluttershy a slightly embarrassed grin.

“Woopsy. I guess you’re right! There’s as much chance of Dashie wanting to go to the orchestra as there is of her secretly having a wardrobe full of frilly girly dresses!” Pinkie giggled, her sadness dying down in Fluttershy’s awareness as the idea of Rainbow Dash like that took hold. Fluttershy giggled quietly as well.

“I’m sure you’ll find somepony to go with you.” She hugged Pinkie again. “It sounds like it would be lovely.”

The first hint Fluttershy got was the sudden sparkle in Pinkie’s eyes as the party pony looked up. Pinkie grinned.

“It does, doesn’t it? Hey, Fluttershy, have you and Paladin decided what you’re going to do together? Huh?” Pinkie’s grin turned sly. “Because if you don’t, Auntie Pinkie has an ide~eaaaaa~!”

Fluttershy stared at Pinkie. It hardly took a moment to realise what Pinkie’s idea was. Unlike many, many, many of Pinkie’s ideas, this one did not seem immediately ridiculous upon first inspection. In fact, it seemed like a good idea. A good, non-crazy idea.

Still, there was one problem.

“Pinkie, I’m older than you.”

***

“Well, if it isn’t my most awesome number one fan!” Rainbow Dash waved, wincing slightly when her muscles protested the gesture. “Okay, ow. Why does waving my hoof make my flank ache?”

Scootaloo waved back, her grin faltering slightly, before dragging over a stool and climbing up to see at eye level with her hero. The filly held out a small sack that bulged with sugar.

“Hiya Rainbow Dash! I got these for you from Sugarcube Corner and Bon Bon’s stall. They’re your favourites!” Her wings buzzed as she opened the little bag to expose the delicious treats within.

A grin split Dash’s face in half when she saw what her little fan had brought, and they would have been devoured before Scootaloo had finished talking if her abrupt attempt to grab them hadn’t sent jolts of pain through her foreleg.

“Ow! Okay, gotta slow down.” Spotting the concerned look on Scootaloo’s face, Rainbow Dash forced herself to grin again and reached – slowly – over to ruffle the filly’s mane. “Hey, don’t look so worried. I’m right as rain.”

Scootaloo glanced at the battered state of her hero, consisting largely of bruises and bandaged scratches all over the place. “I-if you say so.” Doubt clung to every word.

Hiding the wince at the pain of her aching muscles, Rainbow forced herself to sit up and flex. “See? I’m too, nh, awesome to be anything but fine! How’re you doing? That stuff hit you hard last night?”

Looking away, Scootaloo shook her head. “No, I’m fine. I didn’t feel a thing!” she boasted with a burst of bravado.

Magically empathic she might not be, Rainbow Dash could still see through a feeble lie when it was laid before her so thread-bare. She raised an eyebrow at Scootaloo, giving her a disbelieving look.

“Squirt, not even I was fine. If you need to talk about anything, you can talk to me, you know that right? I mean, I’m not that great at it,” Dash added with an uncomfortable shrug. “But, you know, I can try.”

Rather than outright reject the offer, Scootaloo actually stopped to think about it. She glanced at Big Mac, his back to them, and then back to Rainbow Dash.

The older mare rolled her eyes and flapped her hoof at him. “He’s a lump, sleeping all the time,” Rainbow Dash said dismissively, rubbing the hoof she had waved, as though she didn’t spend random stretches of time doing the same. “Ignore him.”

“Oh, okay…” Scootaloo rubbed the back of her neck, looking down. “Well, I mean, it’s nothing big, but...why do Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom get super powers but I don’t?” She pouted. “I saw Sweetie this morning, and she’s got a whole magic song voice thing, and Apple Bloom can make magic stuff. It’s so unfair!”

Rainbow Dash couldn’t hold back a chuckle. It ended in a wince at the tremors that sparked twinges all over her. “Squirt…” she gave an amused sigh, ruffling the filly’s mane again. “The way things are going, you’ll probably end up with something too. I mean, come on, first Apple Bloom, and then Sweetie Belle? If I’ve learned anything since meeting Twilight, it’s stuff happens in weird patterns like that.”

“Really? I’m gonna get super powers too?” Scootaloo bounced, rocking the stool with her wings abuzz. She beamed. “This is great! I bet I get, I don’t know, super-speed! Or super-strength!”

Trying not to laugh, Rainbow Dash held a hoof out to stop her. This didn’t work, given that Scootaloo bounced from the stool onto the bed. She landed with a soft thump, still bouncing and wings buzzing.

“Or maybe I’ll get heat vision! That would be awesome! Or I’ll be like Zapp! Or Filli-second!” Scootaloo went on. She only stopped when she tripped over Dash’s leg. The older pegasus let a short, sharp hiss of pain, but she tried to cover up the pained look when Scootaloo sat up. “Oh no, I’m sorry Rainbow Dash!”

“A-all good, kid,” Rainbow said with a weak shrug. “Just a little bruised. Who’s Zapp? And, what was the other one?”

“Filli-second! Spike showed me them the other day, in these comics! They’re superhoes! He’s saving up to get a special edition that’s meant to be even better!” Scootaloo grinned. “I bet you’d love them. Zapp is almost as cool as you.”

“Well, I am pretty cool.” Patting part of the bed a bit closer, she waited for Scootaloo to sit down and get comfy. “So, tell me about–”

The door swung open to admit Nurse Redheart. She raised an eyebrow at Scootaloo. Rainbow Dash gave the nurse a nervous grin.

“Uh, actually squirt, maybe you better go get lunch or something.” She gave the filly a prod. “I’ll still be here.”

“But I’m not hungry!” Scootaloo whined with a pout. She looked back at the mare, deciding that she was to blame for some reason. Her lower lip trembled. “Can’t I stay?”

Rainbow Dash sent Redheart a pleading look. She didn’t want Scootaloo to see her idol having her bandages checked and changed. It would be a blow to Dash’s pride if nothing else. Sighing, Redheart gave Scootaloo a warm smile.

“I need to give them both check-ups,” she explained. “Rainbow Dash is right; she’ll be here when you get back. I promise, she’s not going anywhere.”

Sighing, Scootaloo jumped off the bed. “Alright…”

The disappointment in her voice made Rainbow wince again, a look of guilt washing over her face. “Hey, uh, Scoots, wanna do me a favour and check on Tank for me? Fluttershy said she’d look after him, but it would mean a lot if you made sure he’s alright.”

“Sure!” Scootaloo’s smile returned, brighter than before. She saluted Rainbow Dash, her grin spreading wide. “He’ll be fine with me on the job!”

‘Sorry Tank,’ Rainbow Dash thought as the filly blazed off. Thankfully, his shell would protect him...hopefully.

***

Paladin stared at his reflection. Occasionally he blinked. Mostly, he stared. Stared and thought.

‘I wish I could be angry,’ he mused. ‘It would make things easier. So much easier. I could just be indignant and furious and act as though my feelings and I are the most important things in the world. But...’ Paladin sighed.

“I’m not,” he muttered.

Something zoomed over the bridge behind him, but screeched to a stop a few seconds later. Little hooves made sounds on the bridge, and a curious voice spoke up from his side.

“Sorry, Mister Paladin, did you say something?” Scootaloo asked. She glanced back at her scooter anxiously. “I didn’t hear you. I didn’t do something wrong did I?”

“Hm?” Raising his gaze from the stream below, Paladin looked down at her with confusion written in his eyes. Understanding replaced it a moment later. “Ah, I see. No, I was just talking to myself.”

She stared at him, cocking her head to the side. “To yourself? That sounds kind of weird.”

Paladin snorted in amusement. “It does, doesn’t it? Never mind me, Scootaloo. Don’t let me hold you up.”

“It’s fine! You’re pretty cool. Not as cool as Rainbow Dash, no offence,” the filly was quick to add. “But Rainbow Dash said it’s alright to talk to somepony if you need to. If you don’t wanna talk to yourself, you can talk to me! I bet I’m a great listener!”

The earnestness on Scootaloo’s face made Paladin chuckle. He smiled down at her. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ll be fine. I just need to remember that sometimes the right decision isn’t about what I want. It’s not a lesson I needed to learn until I came here.”

“Why’s that? Aren’t you Princess Celestia’s awesome knight or something?” Scootaloo hauled herself up onto the bridge’s rail, hanging over it so she could be on more equal level. “You must know the right thing to do, you keep saving the town!”

“Yes, I do. But something...upset me. I felt that I should have been informed of a particular development, yet I was not. As much as it galls me, my reaction simply proved them correct. I would have cast them aside, or sought to destroy them, and we would be helpless to…” Paladin trailed off. He looked at Scootaloo with a raised eyebrow. “I said I was fine, and yet here I am talking.”

She grinned at him. “Yeah! I must be awesome great at listening, you were talking to me. Rainbow Dash is going to be so proud!”

She squealed in joy, kicking her hooves happily. Her squee became a yelp as she began to slide off the rail and towards the water. Paladin caught her in a wing, pulling her back and setting the filly on the bridge safely.

“I think she’ll be even more proud if you keep from falling off the bridge,” Paladin pointed out with a chuckle. “I take it you’ve been to see her? Is she well?”

“Yep! She’s great! Well...she’s all bruised and she’s got lots of scrapes and stuff that are bandaged up, but other than that she’s fine. She asked me to check on Tank for her,” Scootaloo couldn’t have hidden how proud that made her if she tried.

“I see. At Fluttershy’s?” Paladin rubbed his chin thoughtfully. He didn’t notice the very mortal gesture. “Perhaps I shall accompany you. I wish to speak with Fluttershy about…” he hesitated. “Business.”

Scootaloo looked at her scooter and the attached cart. She looked back to Paladin. “Uh, I don’t think you’ll fit,” she said doubtfully.

That made Paladin laugh again. He smiled down at her as they rotted off the bridge. “I think I shall walk, thanks all the same.” His stomach rumbled loudly, reminding him that it was past time for refuelling. “But perhaps some lunch first. Come. Think of it as thanks for listening.”

Grinning, Scootaloo cheered and jumped onto her scooter. “Awesome! Let’s go!”

And so they went. Scootaloo kept her speed to Paladin’s pace, occasionally shooting away only to return seconds later or circling him. She was happy to tell Paladin all about the Power Ponies, regardless of his interest. By the time they reached Sugarcube Corner, however, he found himself engaged in the conversation.

“Yet every villain they put away escapes eventually?” Paladin scowled. “They should work harder! Why don’t any of these ‘superheroes’ become guards for them? If all they do is catch them and then leave the villains with incompetent guards, no wonder they keep getting out!”

Scootaloo shrugged. “I dunno, I never really thought about it. I just love the action scenes!” She shuddered as she left her scooter outside the bakery and followed Paladin in. “Sweetie Belle keeps going on about ‘shipping’, and Zapp and Mistress Mare-velous. I don’t think either of them work on the docks!”

“Hmm, that is strange.” As they walked in, Paladin found his gaze caught by an unexpected pink mane. “Fluttershy! I was coming to see you.”

His sense of her, so calm and warm that he hadn’t even noticed the growing strength, surged with….The Emotion. The one he didn’t like to think about because it made him far too nervous. The Emotion was one Paladin carefully kept his thoughts away from.

The pegasus trotted over with a shy smile. She tucked her mane out of the way as she approached. “I didn’t expect to see you here, uh, not that I’m sad…” she trailed off as they stood in front of each other. They were both aware that they were, or intended to be, ‘going out’. Neither was quite sure what they were meant to actually do.

Scootaloo looked between them, confused. “Are you two mad at each other?” she asked. “”cause you’re just standing there and not saying anything.”

They both started, shaking their heads at the same time.

“No, not at all,” Fluttershy assured the filly. She gave Scootaloo a smile, trying to distract her. “How are you?”

“I’m great! Rainbow Dash wanted me to go to your place and see Tank, and Paladin is getting me something because I listened to him! If Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were here, it would be even better.” Her enthusiasm died a bit when she remembered that. Scootaloo pouted. “But they’re off at Twilight’s having super powers.”

Fluttershy blinked, staring down at her. “Oh, um, I’m...sorry for you?” She focused her attention on the part that made sense. “I was about to go home. Well, I mean, I was going to find you first Paladin, and then go home, but if you want we can go and see Tank as soon as you have something to eat.”

Scootaloo nodded, grinning again. “Thanks Fluttershy!”

Slipping Scootaloo his bit pouch, Paladin gestured to the counter. “Get us both something. I’ll leave the choice to you.” It was a risk, and the way Scootaloo seemed to vibrate with excitement at the responsibility didn’t reassure him, but it left him alone with Fluttershy. “So…you wanted to talk?”

She gulped, letting her mane fall down and partially hide her face once more. “I, uh, yes, I did.” Drawing a breath and raising her head, Fluttershy gave him a firm nod. “I did. I was hoping, if the thing we talked…”

She closed her eyes for a moment, the pegasus forced herself to resist the urge to lower her head meekly and hide behind her mane again. She could do this. No, she would do it. No more excuses and meekness and trailing of awkwardly.

“The date,” she blurted. Despite her resolve, heat filled her cheeks. “We talked about it last night, and when I was talking to Pinkie I had an idea. She wants some of her friends to go with her, and it is an orchestra, and I know it’s not really just us since Pinkie will be there but it would mean so much to her and I’d like to go with you and...and…”

Paladin cut her off, stepping closer with a nod. His shock was plain to see, but his indomitable nerves left no room to retreat in this conversation. “I would be honoured to go. I have nothing to judge it against, Fluttershy. I have no idea what to expect or what to do. But I think, if you’re there, it will be all I need.”

Her blush grew, and unless she was mistaken there was a hint of colour to his dark cheeks. Yet her smile was wide and genuine. Excitement buzzed in her chest, and the same ran across their bond. She couldn’t tell if it was all hers or all his, but they both felt it.

Their eyes met—

“I got you cupcakes!” Scootaloo trotted between them, carrying a flimsy box of baked treats. “And donuts! And an eclair!”

Their eye contact broke, both looking down at the beaming filly. Cream and chocolate framed her wide smile and decorated her cheeks.

“I, uh, maybe got more than one eclair,” she added sheepishly when she checked her face, wondering at their intense stares. Scootaloo wiped the debris off and licked it up. “But I saved the other one! Mrs Cake even added something special. She said it was for you two to share!”

Paladin and Fluttershy looked up to Mrs Cake, the plump mare waving at them with a sly smile. Looking down at a gentle nudge, he took the diminished bit pouch from Scootaloo.

“Thank you,” he said, not bothering to check how much she had spent. Whatever the cost, it was worth it. Paladin looked up to Fluttershy’s smiling face and felt The Emotion again. It made his insides feel strange. He didn’t like it, but oddly it was hard to imagine not feeling it.

“W-we can eat at my cottage, if you want?” she asked nervously, biting her lip. “S-so Scootaloo can see Tank.”

Paladin found himself agreeing before he had even had the chance to think about it. It was a good idea, he knew. He was only thinking of Scootaloo, who was desperate to do what Rainbow Dash asked her to. He had no pressing duties…

‘And I would like to spend time with Fluttershy,’ he admitted to himself. The thought didn’t embarrass him like he thought it would. He was simply being honest with himself. His cares about Ardleon’s swords faded into the background for now. Right now, he was going to spend some time with Fluttershy and relax from the problems of the world.

***

It felt like the precious short time spent with company was a world away for her now. Gilda felt her stomach grumbling, but she ignored it. She had been ignoring a lot lately. Ignoring things was the best defence. Technically it was her only defence.

The wind struck her, making the griffin shiver. She pulled the storm-grey scarf tighter around her neck. The gesture reminded Gilda of her fruitless attempt to find the stupid pony. It made the cold of the north, even bleaker and freezing than this, run chilled talons through her memories. She shivered again.

“Idiot,” Gilda mumbled to herself.

She wasn’t lonely. She had to keep reminding herself of that. Changing her mind and flying back to find him, then going north, she hadn’t done those because she was something as lame as lonely. It hadn’t been because she hadn’t had a friend in...it felt like years, though she didn’t know. Gilda was certain if she kept telling herself that, she would believe it. Maybe if she convinced herself it was true, she would stop being lonely. Then it wouldn’t be true, and she wouldn’t have to lie to herself anymore.

That probably didn’t make sense. Gilda had decided to ignore this, thus proving that ignoring problems was the best solution. Eventually it would work on her loneliness.

Given she had the perfect cure-all, she was left in a pickle to explain to herself why she had gone so far north until she found the scarf, blown against a rock in the mountains. Despite the harsh conditions it was in perfect condition. Now she was heading south, without any plan or ideas about why.

“Stupid Paladin.” The half-hearted curse wasn’t even loud. She just spat it, and not with any heat. “Stupid...lame…”

‘I’m not lonely,’ she thought once again. ‘I don’t need friends. She’ll just choose her dweeby frie-’

Her wing beat was thrown off at the sudden and unwelcome inclusion of her. Gilda regained control, but slowed her beat until she landed on a hill. Try as she might, she couldn’t ignore those thoughts. Ever since parting with Paladin, she kept remembering her former friend. The friend who had rejected her, who had picked those dweebs over her, who had…

...who she missed. Because she was lonely, soul-crushingly lonely, and thanks to Paladin she couldn’t ignore it anymore. It ate away at her, gnawing at her thoughts every day. Gilda wanted to hear the voices of others again, even if they were ponies. She didn’t want to stand on this lonely hill in the middle of the empty plains. Nothing in sight, only the chilly winds left from the windigoes to taunt her with whispering gusts, almost like voices at the edge of her hearing—

‘...wait a second...’ She stood, unable to remember when she had fallen to her knees and buried her head in her claws. ‘Those are voices!’

Gilda began to look around, trying to find the source. Voices. She could hear them, she was sure of it. This time it wasn’t her being fooled by the wind blowing through a cave. They were real voices! Her wings spread as she took to the air, looking for the source.

“Hey!” she shouted, coughing at how hoarse from disuse her voice was. “Anyone out there?”

The voices stopped, but not before she caught sight of a small forest just to the east. The shadows were thick but she could make out particularly odd shapes at odds with the rest. One was tall, and as she approached she guessed it was a minotaur. She’d only seen a few, but what else had such huge horns?

“Hey, you two!” Gilda landed at the edge of the forest, a raised bank of earth showing where someone had once fenced it in. “I can see you in there!”

She realised, now that she was here, she didn’t know what to say, or why she had come over. The moment she had seen that there was someone nearby, she had just flown straight over. Gilda tried to cover her uncertainty, stretching a wing and looking away lazily.

“Thought I’d check if you were some lost dweebs or something,” she said with a nonchalant shrug. “You can come out of there. I mean, I know I’m intimidating. Griffins are pretty epic. But don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you.”

A deep, amused chuckle rumbled from the forest. The sound made something in the primal part of her brain tremble. It was like the feeling she got when she saw fish flitting just below the surface of a stream, unaware of her impending talons, yet utterly different. The closest thing she could compare it to was still wholly useless. Gilda turned to look, confused.

“Hey, dweeb,” she growled. “What’re you laughing at?”

The biggest shadow, the minotaur, stepped from the darkness. Except the darkness followed him. It clung to his four hooves, draping across his hairless red-skinned back like a cape.

“You,” laughed Tirek as the shadows grew around him, swelling with power and intent. “Hurt me?”

She began to react, trying to return to the air even as the shadows exploded. Threads of liquid darkness curled around her legs, pulling her down. The griffon shrieked a fearsome warcry, slashing at the thickening shadows. As more began to latch onto her, pulling her down. Gilda’s cry changed. Anger and defiance were replaced by fear. She screamed furiously, desperately slashing and calling out. But there was, she knew, no one to help her.

Yet she was not without help, not entirely. Her scarf flared, burning away the shadows that sought to consume her. Soft luminance surrounded her, giving Gilda hope. Her shriek became triumphant as she began to pull away.

The monster stopped laughing. Tirek scowled and gestured. A sharp branch, torn from a tree and grasped in a thin shadow at the base, rose up and slashed at the scarf. The fabric didn’t break, but the branch tugged until it came free. She realised what was happening too late, reaching up as it rose away from her grasp. She began to sink once again.

As she was dragged into the seething darkness, Gilda realised what that feeling had been. She had been right. She had felt the tingle of predator looming over prey, but only now did she understand that this time she was the prey.

Tirek chuckled again, lifting the mass of shadows that now held the griffin off to one side. The branch carrying the scarf was held before him. The power within the scarf had died away, the light fading the moment it was no longer wrapped around the griffin’s neck.

“It seems my senses were correct. The griffin is not a vessel, but this still contains angelic power.” Confusion filled Tirek’s expression. “I do not recognise this essence. It is...mixed. Tainted. Pure, but not as it should be.”

Scorpan dragged himself forward, his steps slow and pained. The punishment for his failure had not been light.

“Perhaps, my lord, it is from one of the Elements of Harmony? We have observed they somehow possess a measure of holy power with them,” he suggested. It hurt his pride more than his body to cower this way before his soon to be temporary master. The stolen shadow magic from the dragon was hidden deep within, where even Tirek couldn’t peer.

Tirek stared at the scarf. “Perhaps, perhaps.” He turned his attention back to the griffin. “Still, an intriguing find. What was it the creature was screaming just now?”

Scorpan limped to his side, studying the griffin as he recalled the words. His eyes lit up. “Rainbow Dash. She screamed Rainbow Dash. The name of one of the Elements. The Element of Loyalty.”

Tirek laughed. It was long, and loud, and full of savage glee. How could he do anything but laugh, when an angelic gift had drawn him to another gift entirely. Ancient hate settled into his laugh, turning the already dark voice even deeper and fearsome.

“Loyalty,” he sneered as he laughed. “This will be a joy.”

Scorpan hesitated to speak up. He glanced south, towards Canterlot. “What of the vessel you detected in Canterlot, my lord? I dare not venture there myself, not while those wretched alicorns dwell there. If you send one slave against the Ponyville vessels, I beg you, send another with me.”

Scowling, Tirek turned from his prize. His horns burned with magic for a moment. A hellish light appeared, forming into a screen. A lash of red energy struck Scorpan, knocking him to ground before dissipating.

“Be silent, you imbecile. Unlike you, I am capable of planning and not failing the instant I attempt it. Need I remind you of your failure?” Without waiting for an answer he turned back to the swirling screen of demonic magic. It resolved into an image that peered into a hall. Music began to dimly sound from the screen. “Watch, and study. The vessel is near to the breaking point on its own. Take someone close to it, to add to the strain, and my success is assured.”

“But, master,” Scorpan cowered, trying to present a smaller target. “The vessels are using the essence against us. If we take one of them, we have no idea how it might react. Even you are not immune to the harm they could cause.”

Tirek snorted, disgusted at Scorpan’s cowardice as the creature lay submissively beside him. “Do you think I am a fool? I’m not stupid enough to take the chance the essence will react to my presence. If it devours the full life force of its vessel, even the meekest of death curses are dangerous. Clearly we cannot assault them while the vessels are able to contain and control the essence. But once the essence grows too great and its vessel approaches self-destruction…”

Climbing to his feet with a pained wince, Scorpan followed his master’s gesture and peered through the portal. It centred on the pony mare who stood alone on the stage, playing her instrument with intensity that belied the beautiful sound. Her expression seemed as focused as it was furious, as though the sound vexed her with every note that befouled her rehearsal.

“ I will be perfectly safe. You shall harvest the vessel,” sneered the Lord of Betrayal. The scrying spell turned, scanning the empty chairs until it settled on the white-coated, two-toned blue maned unicorn snoozing, slumped on her chair in the unlit rear seats. “And her ‘friend’ will help you do it.”

***

“Psst, Rainbow Dash! It’s me!”

Rainbow Dash lowered her Daring Do book, turning to stare at the door. Scootaloo stood there, looking up and down the hall constantly. She had a backpack in her hooves, one she clutched protectively.

“Scoots,” Rainbow Dash asked wearily. “Why are you whispering? Loudly?”

The filly scurred into the room and put down the backpack. She looked back into the hall suspiciously before closing the door again. She turned back to Dash with a grin. “I brought you something awesome, but I didn’t think I’d be allowed to.”

“What?” That caught Dash’s attention. She sat up, ignoring the twinge her everything made telling her to stop. “What is it? How was Tank?”

Scootaloo didn’t answer. She just grinned and unzipped the bag. Holding it open, she waited proudly. Rainbow Dash continued to stare, until the filly looked down in confusion.

“Come on, move, you want to see her, right?” she whined, giving the bag a shake.

“Uh, squirt?” Rainbow was starting to feel a bit worried about her little fan now. “Something wrong?”

“No! It’s fine, he’s just gotten a little stuck. Ngh, come ooooon,” Scootaloo said as she pulled at something. She came free with a squeak, rolling back as something skidded out. Dash looked down, asking Scootaloo if she was okay with a note of worry to her tone.

The only answer she got was the familiar sound of rotor-blades beginning to move. Tank rose from the ground, his flight system whirling away to throw him at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus caught her pet with a grin on her face. She nuzzled the tortoise.

“Tank! Scootaloo, you brought him all the way from Fluttershy’s?” Hugging him as she looked down, Dash ruffled Scootaloo’s mane when the filly pulled herself up onto the bed. “That’s awesome!”

“Thanks! Fluttershy said he was really concerned about you, so I thought he’d feel better if he saw that you’re getting better, and you’d like to see him as well.” Confidence swollen with pride, Scootaloo couldn’t contain her glee at Rainbow’s praise. Only afterwards did she realised how loud she was being, and looked over at Mac.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “He’s probably asleep. He always is. I tried to talk to him, but the big foal just clammed right up. He- hey, come on, stop that.” This was directed at Tank.

The tortoise was inspecting her bandages, and the look he sent gave her was surprisingly emotional. It wasn’t hard for Dash to see how unhappy her state made her pet. She nuzzled his scaly head again.

“I’m fine, I promise, and you’ll be home in a few days,” she promised.

“Fluttershy said he’s been really, really protective of you lately. She had to take away his flying thing because he kept trying to come find you,” Scootaloo explained. “When she did, he started ignoring her and just sat by the window staring towards town. He was really worried.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled, amused by her pet’s protectiveness. “Don’t worry Tank, I’m fine. A little beat up, but, you know me, that happens from time to time.”

Judging by his unhappy little expression, this wasn’t making the tortoise at all reassured. He butted her nose with his head in displeasure. Waving him off, Dash snorted.

“Geeze, what’s with you? At least I know you’re fine. Seriously, thanks squirt. Wait...if Fluttershy took it away, how did you find his flight belt?” Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Scootaloo.

The filly began to look nervous. “I, uh, I kind of...took it without asking. And him. I’m sorry!” she cried out. Scootaloo looked at her with pleading eyes. “But he seemed to really want to see you and you wanted to know he was alright. Fluttershy was so distracted with Paladin it was easy, but I feel kind of bad.”

Eyebrows shooting up, Rainbow Dash smirked. “Oh, so Paladin was there? Heh, no wonder. You better take him back so she doesn’t worry though.”

Tank shook his head and butted her again. The message was quite clear as he hovered out of Scootaloo’s reach. He wasn’t going anywhere.

Rainbow Dash sighed. “Tank, go with her. You can’t stay here. Nurse Redheart will just have another go at me for ignoring ‘hospital regulations,” she said, her tone dropping to mocking tone at the last part.

Unfortunately the tortoise proved as stubborn as his owner, keeping out of Scootaloo’s reach. The filly whined, holding out her backpack for him.

“Come o~ooon, we’re gonna get caught,” she whined at him. He just shook his head.

Sighing, Dash rubbed her forehead tiredly. Despite herself she was feeling tired without having to do much more than entertain Pinkie for a short visit and Scootaloo today. She looked up at Tank beseechingly.

“Tank, I hate to do this, but…” She struck. Her hoof hit the buckle, twisting the release switch and jerking it roughly away to make sure it came free. Since it had been made to be difficult to take off, for fear of an accident knocking it loose and sending Tank plummeting from the sky, she had to be rough to do it.

The flight belt came loose. Tank instinctively pulled back into his shell, as Rainbow Dash knew he would, and fell right into Scootaloo’s bag. The orange filly closed it the second Dash threw the flight belt in.

“Sorry, Tank,” Rainbow apologised sincerely. She patted Scootaloo on the head, “Thanks squirt. Take him back to Fluttershy, okay?”

“Sure thing, Rainbow Dash. I hope you feel better soon.” Slipping her backpack on, Scootaloo jumped from the bed. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Yawning as she waved goodbye, Rainbow Dash curled up in her bed the moment the door shut. It wasn’t long before she was drifting off to sleep. Her Daring Do book lay where she had put it for a full minute before a big red hoof reached over and silently liberated it.

Scootaloo trotted from the hospital with a grin on her face. Rainbow Dash had said she was awesome. Rainbow Dash said she was awesome. There was literally no way to make today any better.

“Unless I got super powers,” she whispered to herself. “Maybe I’ll get super-durability, like turtles have! I bet I could be as tough as Rainbow Dash and Tank put together!”

Tank squirmed in the backpack, displeased by the trick. He pushed futilely, determined to get back to Rainbow Dash. He had to protect her. She was just going to get hurt without him. He had to protect her, but he was too small. He was tough and durable, but at his size he couldn’t do anything for her.

Tiny reptilian eyes narrowed in more than animal determination. He would help her. He would protect his beloved pony. If he had to grow bigger to do it, so be it. He was Tank. He was Rainbow Dash’s, and she was his.

In the darkness of the backpack, Tank’s eyes burned for a moment with pure white light.

***

Author's Note:

I hope this chapter was made even better with the addition of my third pre-reader, xbox432! And also coming out faster than usual. Hopefully another without too long a wait either.

Come on, who saw Tank coming? I reeeeeeeeeally hoped someone had looked back and realised where I set this up. Come on peoples!

Whether you did or not, please comment! They fuel my never-ending fury of writing!

Comments

[Nealend86]

I'm sure the orchestra will be fun! There's no way that it will go catastrophically wrong!

[Grahf]

looks like Octavia and tank are next for essences

[Emperor of Jurai]

4641772 You fool you have doomed us all!....Oh wait this is the mane six...chaos and destruction follows them everywhere. Carry on.

Anyway onto the chapter...one I really enjoyed this as it was a nice bit of character building...or at the very least it had a lot of cute parts such as with Luna and the kids, or with how Flutters and Pally act around one another. All in all epic update is as always...epic.

[clonezero]

her secretly having a wardrobe full of frilly girly dresses!

You never know!
-------------

“Pinkie, I’m older than you.”

Sigh .... Trust me Fluttershy the opposite of this is far worse. As a dude who's hair is going white way to early, I should know.
------------

OMG! Tank is gonna turn into Gamera!
----------

Hhhhm I'm still not sure what your hinting at Mr. Author but my guess the ones affected are connected by a certain event. Maybe Ardleon's first appearance in Canterlot? I think I'll be rereading some chapters because I'm curious now!

[l0vot]

Angel turtle? Wat?

“You will open this door this instead, or I shall unmake it and unleash all my dark fury such as the world has only dreamed of facing! And believe me, I know about dreams!”

I think you can see the problem here

[Xaldon Ajide]

Sounds like a good Idea to bunker down, might as well follow this guy's advice.
coffeeticks.my/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/RoyReid.ca-Celebrity-name-puns-13061012.jpg

[xbox432]

Another marvelous update Auto, I gotta say that the emotional moments were running pretty high in this chapter. This one in particular just seemed to make me want to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Not to mention the fact that if an immortal Arc Angel is terrified of asking someone out it kinda vindicates the rest of us.

And I think Luna needs to play with the foals more often; with her being the de-facto head of Knightmare Night, and all the candy that comes with it, I'd say that they would pretty much worship her.... just think of it, the CMC sacrificing lollipops to her the day before the holiday to ensure they get a good haul. Somehow I just imagine Scoots coming up this idea to get her cultist cutie mark.

[Lux Aeterna]

Mad scientists had lairs, and Twilight was, at most, a slightly annoyed scientist.

that line... that wonderful, PERFECT line.

[RanmaChaos]

Awesome

[RanmaChaos]

When Rarity goes to tell Pinkie that she can't go to the orchestra and Pinkie tells her that it's cool because Fluttershy and Paladin are going and making it a date, Rarity should use that as an opportunity to help all three of her friends. Pinkie with her feelings of uselessness, and Fluttershy and Paladin with advancing their relationship(cause lets face it, no matter how comfortable they are with their feelings and each other, without a little nudge its probably going to take forever just to get to the first kiss).
Pinkie I have a mission for you.
Oooh! What Is It?! What Is It?! What Is It?!
I want you to make sure that Fluttershy and Paladin's date is the best ever, while being subtle and un-intrusive.
Don't worry Chief! Super secret Love Ninja Pinkie Pie is on it!

[71M073J]

4642421 my thoughts exactly. Also the fact that she only has a basement that was slightly ...lairy.:)

About tank tho, I got a feeling we got a godzilla incoming.

[Hoof of Approval]

I can't wait to see this asshole get curbstomped once and for all. Tirek is crafty, but he ain't as clever as a determined Twilight.

He's in deep shit once she actually learns Angelic Magic.

[SwimmingDalek98]

4641772 Especially not by having a certain tortoise freak out and transform into a TMNT!

By the way, this story is just guns away from being Warhammer 40k crossover. That would be COOL! Sanguinius and Tyrael, working together to kick ass and protect ponies!

[the Joyless1]

Spike showed me them the other day, in these comics! They’re superhoes!

superhoes go!
give them the clams
and the hurting of butts!

[Frazzled Pony]

Great chapter. I like the buildup and character interaction, lulls are necessary, but you make them as entertaining as the most intense chapters. Great work.

Uuuh, is Tank a vessel!?

Good to see Gilda is coming back. She's on a long road to redemption, all the way around corruption apparently. I'm looking forward to that.

Man, my mind is in the gutter. I did not think about Scoot's cart when she said Paladin wouldn't fit. Bad brain, bad!

Also, Twi getting all sciency, while insisting she isn't a mad scientist and doesn't have lair, that is all pure gold.

"Thankfully, his shell would protect him". Was that a nod to "luckily my shield will protect me"?

Two mistakes I noticed. One, you used "breath", the noun, once, when you should have used "breathe" the verb. Second:

"for Princess Luna is on your path!” Shouldn't it be "trail" instead of "path"? There is a slight difference in the meaning of those two words, at least in that sentence construction. By the way, I love the alicorns in this chapter, they are great. I particularly really, really like your Luna, she is perfect, and I like the explanation for why she was off screen up till Nightmare Night.

Fantastic stuff as always. Well done.

[Gordon_Freemane]

Hah, Tank has angelic essence? This is gonna be good!

[Oreon]

4645166
10 bucks said it's the angelic essence of Light-speed movement and gigantism.

A giant lightning speed tortoise saves the day.

[Gordon_Freemane]

4646228
I'd say it's, wait for it, loyalty.

[Exgallion]

With that she flung the door open, letting the unicorn filly spill in and the chase to begin. Somewhat related, chaos came to Twilight’s carefully maintained bedroom in the form of two fillies, a dragon and a Princess who indulged far too rarely.

Speaking of chaos, I wonder how Discord is doing in his stone prison with all these commotions about.

[Emerald wake]

It's spelt tortoise

[Jonuts]

4649104

How many skill level charms do you carry!?!?

[DeltaOsprey]

Tank, transform and roll out you beautiful tortoise you.

This is going to be fucking awesome.

[Web of Hope]

REVENGE OF THE LASER TURTLE TORTOISE

[Web of Hope]

4642997
Yes, absolutely the point behind weaponized friendship lasers, fighting ancient evils in epic combat, and becoming royalty is all because the main 6 are 'normal'.

[CanadianFluttershy]

4651394 Do you know the names of the fics? Cuz I wan't to read them so badly

[Nealend86]

4652341 One is listed in Auto's author notes in the chapter she's introduced in.

[CanadianFluttershy]

4652709 Thanks!

[Silver Page]

4643000
They're here to kick ass and make out with mares! And they're all out of ass...

[Quantum_Shift]

Super-Tank fights vigorously to defend his pony from MeGilda (pronounced as a portmanteau of 'mega' and 'Gilda') while also stripping away the evil essences corrupting her, so that she can be friends with his pony again. because that would make her happy.

Meanwhile, Octavia goes ballistic at the orchestra, and begins shipping the ponies int he stands, even though all of them are just being shipped with ponies they're already in relationships with at the time. Nopony has the heart to tell her this, and the evening goes quite splendidly.

All in the next exciting chapter of... JUSTICE ITSELF
So tune in next [week/month] for the action, adventure, and the drama in... JUSTICE ITSELF

[4morian5]

Aww, poor scoots, left out to dry again. Best friends get super-powers and she gets beaten to the punch by a reptile.

[The grey paladin]

Tank is a teenage mutant ninja turtle! I knew it! I fucking knew it! They called me crazy, BUT WHO'S THE CRAZY ONE NOW?! HAHAHA, GAHAHAHAHA, BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Kenny]

Man, I love this story; I just got around to getting D3 and Expansion, and every time I continue reading, I can't help to think of this as an AU D3... or whatever Tyrael was doing in the twenty years from the start of the campaign.

It is worth noting that I laugh maniacally as I enter Whimsyshire and murdilate everything with Batman The Demon Hunter.

[Finalmagnus]

Question is this version of Equestria's origins ever going to be revealed? I know the worldstone was used to creat it but by who? The magics and wards used to keep out demons and angles are a lot like the ones used in that nephalem city under Westmarch. The worldstone was connected to the humans in that world for who knows how long, and there no telling how many worlds could have accidently been created in that time. I know the worldstone creats worlds but i dont know how they control it. And all the life there in this version of Equestria is like that on Sanctuary form the legends and life form there. I know Malthal got in but he was in a state between life and death, but lke Tyrael said in the game he could be effected by weapons and magic like that unless the hero also channled deaths power.

[Honey Blossom]

Man, at the rate Vinyl keeps napping, maybe Scorpan will have to deal with a lazy minion.

[Nanofield]

4829254 don't worry, a3 is hard to navigate. Out of all the acts, that one is hard to nav. Gets easier later.

[dusk flame]

4651394 4652341 flutter's mom in the 99 worlds saga is pretty freaking weird. Author of that was blackrose raven if I remember correctly. You can fine some of the stories in the saga on the longest fic list.

[SCP049]

You know underneath all the grammer/dialoge... issues there's something wonderful about this story.

[Autocharth]

4965500 Ah, yes, seen and corrected. Amazed that went unnoticed for so long...Thanks for picking that up.

[SeventhSkull]

“You will open this door this instant, or I shall unmake it and unleash all my dark fury such as the world has only dreamed of facing! And believe me, I know about dreams!”

Charming as ever Luna.

[The Warrior Scholar]

Daaamnnn, ardelons essence really went all over the place didn't it?
And sweetiebelle ships? So much yes.

[sorenxoras]

Fair Twilight Sparkle has other things on her mind, young Spike, than the state of her much over stuffed sock drawer.”

orig03.deviantart.net/ed38/f/2015/169/b/5/sweet_celestia_by_auroraswirls-d8xuxrv.png

[HF Fury]

Pinkie grinned at her, her odd mood from before vanishing. “That’s the spirit! Always look on the bright side of life!” She took a deep breath, preparing to break into song.

Was she about to go all Monty Python?

[Comet_Chaser]

In the darkness of the backpack, Tank’s eyes burned for a moment with pure white light.

Oooohohoho fuck this is gonna be good lol