“Drifter!” Wonderboom cried out with tears in her eyes, galloping into the private hospital room in Canterlot castle’s infirmary. Moonrise Drifter lay upon a wheeled bed that was currently held in place. Her entire lower body was put into a series of casts and were being held perfectly still. One of her wings was completely covered and was forced into full extension so as to heal properly. Drifter glanced over to the filly, a weak, weary smile coming over her face.
“Hey, there, Wonder. You doing okay?” she asked in a raspy whisper, barely able to hide the strain it put on her to speak.
“Drifter! Oh my gosh, what in equestria happened to you?!” Wonder asked, rearing back onto her hind legs and resting her front hooves on the side of the bed.
“I got beat up.” Drifter replied with a small smile. “I went down swinging, though.”
Wonderboom wilted. Her eyes screwed shut and she looked at the floor, crying quietly. Drifter lost her smile and sighed heavily.
“Hey… it’s alright, Wonderboom. I’m okay.”
“No, you’re not!” Wonder shot back, opening her eyes and gazing intensely into Drifter’s. “You’re hurt! Look at your legs! Your wing!”
“Shh, shh, I know… it looks worse than it is.” Drifter tried to soothe her, but she wasn’t having any of it, though she didn’t have a response beyond shaking her head wildly. Drifter looked at her forlornly for several moments before letting her head flop onto her pillows, staring blankly into the ceiling. “...Wonderboom, where’s Palmwood?” I need to talk to you two.”
“I’m, uh… I’m here.” came the colt’s reluctant response as he trotted in. His eyes were wide with horror at Drifter’s condition. “...You’re uh… not gonna die on us, right?”
Drifter chuckled lightly before wincing in pain. “Ack!... yeah, no. Don’t you two worry, I’m not dying from this. I’m going to feel like absolute shit for a few days, but, well, I’ve been there before.” she explained softly.
“I overheard one of the doctor ponies say something about your body hurting itself or something.” Palm replied, looking Drifter over with a scrutinizing eye. “What does that mean?”
Drifter closed her eyes and fell painfully silent for several long moments. “...You know the story about Nightmare Moon, right? How Princess Luna’s emotions can overthrow her better self if they get bad enough?”
“Uh-huh…” Wonder and Palm affirmed quietly, looking at Drifter worriedly.
“I have a… similar problem.” Drifter opened her eyes and held up the forehoof with the claws in them, letting them slide free to be visible. “I’m half fiend. Fiends have an almost insatiable desire to eat, hunt and kill anything they can. Heck, if Horizon weren’t keeping them focused on his own goals, they’d be running rampant…” she flexed the claws slightly. “But, well, I have some of that… bloodlust in me. That raw, ruthless, animal instinct that compels me to hunt, kill, maim and torture…”
“Where is this going?” Palm asked nervously, wrapping a foreleg over Wonderboom and pulling her closer protectively.
“If I go for too long without a good meal, if I… go hungry…” Drifter started, letting her claws shrink back into her hoof. “Then I become vulnerable to that instinct. When Luna and I were fighting Skeintooth, she got hurt, and so did I. I was furious. I saw how he hurt my aunt, and… I snapped. I attacked him. My body was already pretty beaten up, but everything else just tuned out. No pain, no fear…”
Drifter screwed her eyes shut, breathing in deeply through her nose before netting it out in a long exhale through her mouth. “Just… anger, hunger, blood, screams… it felt like I was starving and Skeintooth was the only food around. I pursued him without any consideration for the worsening condition of my body.”
“You could have died…?” Wonder whispered near silently.
“Mhm…” Drifter hummed out a soft response. Opening her eyes, she glanced at the foals. “The instinct only dies down when I’ve eaten something; enough to sate my appetite. I lost Skeintooth and… well… you don’t need to hear that part.” she gave a gentle smile. “I’m going to be fine, though, don’t worry.”
“Oh, thank goodness…” Wonderboom breathed out in a trembling voice, burying her face into her hooves. Palmwood pat her softly on the back in a comforting manner. Drifter closed her eyes again, bracing herself for what she now had to do.
“...Kids, I… I need to tell you something. I need you to listen to me, alright?” she finally said calmly, but firmly enough to silence both of them and draw their attention. After a short pause, she continued. “I’m… when I’m healed up in a day or two, I’m going to be leaving Canterlot. You won’t be able to come with me on this one, though.” she held a good hoof up to silence them before they could vocalize their questions. “I don’t like it either, but… it’s best if you stay here for now. Where I’m going… there won’t be any way for me to watch over you and do my work at the same time.”
“But you said you wouldn’t leave us…” Palmwood said hollowly, his eyes disbelieving from what he was hearing.
“I know, I did… but for this, I have to. I’m sorry, really, I am. But… you two are smart kids and, well, lying to you won’t solve anything for any of us. There is a good chance that I won’t make it back from this.” Drifter replied solemnly, looking blankly up at the ceiling.
“Where are you even going?! Why are you going there if it’s so dangerous?!” Wonderboom sniffled out, trembling and seeking comfort in her brother’s forelegs. Palmwood’s glare towards Drifter was cold as ice.
“I’m going to join Princess Luna, my aunt, along with Princess Twilight Sparkle and an amassed army of ponies in an assault on Luminous Horizon, the creature whose creations murdered your mother and whose end-goal is to see all of us turned into his own personal buffet. As for why…” Drifter opened her eyes, a flicker of determination, resolve and fiery anger burning within them. “It’s a matter of family. Luminous Horizon is my biological father. He’s turning everything in equestria into an abhorrent nightmare and…”
The foals looked at her expectantly. Finally, Drifter managed a weak smile and held out a foreleg to the two, gesturing them to come closer. They understood and were swiftly wrapped up in her warm embrace.
“...And I could never allow him to succeed without trying to stop him. I can’t let you two grow up in a world like that.” she whispered softly, pulling them close and burying her face into their collective manes. “I’d never be able to live with myself if I didn’t try to stop him... “
Palmwood slowly pulled out of the hug and looked at Drifter with tears forming in his eyes as well. “Just… just promise m you’ll come back to us alive, okay?”
“I can’t promise that.” Drifter answered morosely, her gaze falling. “I can only promise to try.”
“Well then you’d best try really freaking hard!” Palm snapped, wiping his eyes with a foreleg. “My sister and I can’t lose another mom…”
Drifter felt her heart skip a beat and a tear come to her eye. With a quivering smile and rattled voice, she reached out to him to pull him back into the hug. “I will try harder than I ever have before… y-you have my word.”
“Say what, now?” Applejack asked incredulously, looking at Twilight with narrowed eyes and a harsh frown on her face. Everypony else wore expressions of at least a similar sentiment; confusion.
“I’m being called to join Princess Luna and the combined forces of Equestra and the Crystal Empire in an assault on Horizon’s hideout and, well…” Twilight sighed heavily. “It’s quite likely that I won’t be making it back alive.”
“If you go on your own!” Rainbow snapped, throwing her forelegs wide in the air. “But you’re not! You’re going, we’re going with you! Plain and simple!”
“Darn tottin’. We ain’t lettin’ you go out there on yer own, Twi..” Applejack added, nodding along eagerly.
“Girls…” Twilight tried, but she lost her voice and let her head fall. Pinkie pie added her two-bits at about this point.
“Yeah! Besides, the armies are going to need to be well fed and cheered up for the big fight, right? I should go along so I can throw them all a big ‘good luck saving the day’ party!” the excitable pink mare declared, confetti popping out of a wall behind her. Another hidden cannon.
“As, uh, unorthadox as that is, Pinkie…” Rarity cleared her throat before continuing. “I am in agreement. We should all be going with you. We’re your friends, Twilight, and we can’t let you go on this mission alone. It goes against everything we’ve done together ever since we met.”
Fluttershy simply nodded along quietly.
“...I’m sorry, everypony, but no.” Twilight finally let out, her voice twisting and contorting with building emotion. She looked up to them with tears welling up in her eyes. “I can’t let you come with me on this one.”
“And why NOT?!” Rainbow demanded, flying right into Twilight’s face and giving her a harsh glare. “We’re your best friends! And you are the Princess of FRIENDSHIP!”
“Because good friends don’t put their best friends in danger!” Twilight finally blurted out, closing her eyes and visibly sagging in place. “...I know you want to come with me. I would love nothing more than to have you all come with me, but… not if you’re all going to be put at such risk.”
“We ain’t takin’ no for an answer, Sugarcube!” Applejack snorted, trotting up to Rainbow Dash and pulling her out of Twilight’s personal space with a yank on her tail. “We’re goin’ with ya. Ya ain’t arguin’ yer way out of it!”
“Of course! What would the princess of friendship even be if she didn’t have her friends with her?” Pinkie Pie added with a more calm approach, trotting to join Applejack and Rainbow Dash in front of Twilight. “I’m going, too!”
“It goes without saying, darling,” Rarity began as she and Fluttershy came to join the others in front of Twilight. “That we are all going with you.”
Fluttershy nodded along with a smile. “We love you, Twilight. We aren’t going to let you do this alone.”
“It’s what good friends do.” Rainbow finally finished off, holding out her forehoof in front of her. The others did the same, putting their hooves together in the center of a swiftly formed circle, looking to Twilight expectantly.
Twilight looked at all of her friends with wide eyes and a gaping jaw. Finally, she closed her mouth and smiled at them all with fresh tears in her eyes. “...I am so glad I know you all…” she reached out with her magic, pulling them into a large group hug. She let herself feel at ease in their comforting embrace. “Okay… you win. You can come with me.”
“Woohoo! When are we leaving?” Pinkie asked in a high-pitched, excited squeal, breaking free from the hug in an ecstatic bounce.
“Just as soon as Princess Luna sends me the letter saying it’s time to go. A day or so, tops.” Twilight replied, slowly slipping out of the hug and wiping her eyes with the back of her foreleg.
“Then I’m going to have to work extra hard for this!” Pinkie stated with determination before turning and sprinting from the room. Twilight watched her go and then chuckled lightly under her breath.
“She’s going to orchestrate a big party for all of Ponyville, isn’t she?”
“Yup, probably.” Applejack nodded along.
“Wouldn’t be Pinkie if she didn’t.” Rainbow added with her own smile gaining a playful jester sort of tilt.
“Twilight, dear, we might not return from this mission, so…” Rarity looked at the alicorn and nodded along. “Let’s just make sure we have the best time here in Ponyville that possibly can. If Pinkie is to throw a party for us all, I say let her make it the biggest and best party she has ever thrown.”
“Yeah, somethin’ for all of Ponyville to remember us by if we don’t make it.” Applejack nodded along.
“Yes, I think that sounds nice. They’ve all been so wonderful to us, it’s the least we can do.” Fluttershy added softly.
Twilight smiled and nodded to them. “Alright… okay, yes. Let’s do it. One more Pinkie Party for the road.”
Everypony nodded along and trotted out of the castle after Pinkie, who somehow already had invitations for all of Ponyville in distribution. Twilight lingered behind a bit. She looked back into her castle’s main hall, a small spark of magic drifting from her horn to the center of the room. The floor gently glowed for a moment before returning to normal. Twilight nodded in satisfaction before turning and leaving the castle as well.
