//------------------------------// // Two Famillies, Incomplete // Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Nemesis // by Scipio Smith //------------------------------// Two Famillies, Incomplete   This place didn't look like a hospital. It had beds, a dozen of them with only three occupied, and it had hospital stuff like bleeping machines and bags of clear liquid and folks dressed like doctors and nurses walking around, but that didn't make it a hospital. It made it an empty warehouse that somepony had put beds and blinking machines and bags of transparent liquid in and persuaded a bunch of doctors and nurses to walk around in. All of which left Rainbow Dash rather curious as to what she was doing here. Princess Luna had brought her here but she had not said why. Now she stood on the edge of the makeshift hospital, unneeded and, apparently, unwanted. Her eyes glanced at the batpony guards hovering on the edges of the warehouse. What was this place, and why had Lyra, Bon-Bon and Lightning Dust been brought here, instead of to a regular hospital? What was going on around here? Rainbow Dash walked quickly and softly across the warehouse floor to the bed were Lightning Dust lay. Her head had been bandaged up but she lay comatose, eyes closed, limbs unmoving. She looked as though she could be dead, and only the fact that machines she was hooked up to seemed placid enough told Rainbow otherwise. "Hey," Rainbow murmured, not knowing whether or not Lightning Dust could hear her. Sure, she was unconscious, but that didn't mean that she couldn't hear, somehow, right? Or maybe it did, Rainbow wasn't smart about stuff like this. "Lightning Dust...I know that you and me we've had our differences. I know that we don't always see eye to eye but...but you did good out there, you should remember that. You're still a hothead, but you were my kind of hothead today." "She saved my life." Rainbow Dash looked up. A unicorn stood on the other side of Lightning Dust's bed, a unicorn with a pale coat and an ugly sweater, wearing cracked, square glasses. Her shoulders were hunched and her back was bent, her hands were clasped together in front of her. She looked...she looked as though she wanted to be anywhere but here right now. Rainbow's brow furrowed. "Do I know you? I kinda feel like I should, maybe." "My...my name is Moondancer," Moondancer murmured. "I was...I was a friend of...Twilight." "Right," Rainbow said. "Sorry, I...Twilight had a lot of friends." "Don't apologise," Moondancer whispered. She looked down at the unconscious Lightning Dust. "She saved my life. That...Raven would have...if she hadn't...this is all my fault." "No it isn't," Rainbow replied. "Everything that Raven did today is on her, all of it. If it hadn't been you it would have been someone else." "No, it wouldn't," Moondancer cried, as tears began to well up in her eyes. "I...Raven was after me! Because of Twilight's research! I'm the reason everyone got hurt, I'm the reason that Lyra is...oh, Lyra." "What...slow down a second," Rainbow demanded. "What about Twilight's research? Researching what?" Twilight was always researching something or other, and as much as Rainbow loved and respected her dear friend a lot of it was...what was that polite word for 'boring' that Twilight had tried to teach her once? It began with an 'e'. The idea of it being something worth killing over...it seemed kinda ridiculous to tell the truth. "Twilight left me everything," Moondancer explained. "Her books, her papers. Twilight was looking into old space pony history, there's this symbol...it means creation and then...if you take a star map and lay the symbol over it...and then you take maps of individual colony worlds and lay the symbol over that and then look at United Equestria-" "Slow down!" Rainbow said sharply. "Maps, symbols, what does any of this have to do with Raven?" "She wanted it!" Moondancer yelled. "She told me that she needed to destroy Twilight's research! She told me to tell her where it was and that's when she..." Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. She thought back to her interview with Raven, when her mask or whatever or culture and refinement had slipped and she had talked about the real reason she had killed Twilight. Pony princess poking her nose into our business. Raven hadn't given any details, but could this be it? Had Twilight stumbled onto something dangerous enough that she had to die to keep it a secret? But then what was the secret? And what did it have to do with ancient history and maps anyway? "Are you sure that was it?" she asked. "I mean, wasn't Twilight working on anything else?" Moondancer shook her head. "Not when she...she died, no." That settled that, then. It didn't sound like anything important, but it must have been because...well, if it were anything else then they - whoever 'they' were, Raven had talked about her 'Daddy' but hadn't given any details - wouldn't have waited until after Twilight was done and moved on to other projects before they sent Raven after her, would they? It made no sense. "Where is Twilight's research now?" Rainbow asked. "My servants are collecting it and bringing it here even as we speak," Princess Luna declared, as she strode across the warehouse to join them. "In light of these events I think these materials deserve heavier security than you can provide. As do you, Moondancer." The princess placed one arm on Moondancer's shoulder. "Fear not, Raven shall not find you again; certainly she will not find you unprotected. You are under my protection now, and if I cannot protect then my friends will. You have my word." "Thank you, Princess Luna, but...but I don't deserve your protection," Moondancer murmured. "I should...I should go now, before anyone gets hurt." "Go?" Rainbow yelled. "Lightning Dust nearly gave her life protecting you from Raven and you want to, what, walk out of here and make it all meaningless!" "It's because of Lightning Dust and Lyra and Bon-Bon that I have to go!" Moondancer cried. "Raven, she...she was after me! She only hurt people because they were around me and they got in her way! If I hadn't...if I'd been alone then...Lightning Dust almost died, Lyra won't ever play her harp again, and Bon-Bon...I have to get out of here before I get more people hurt." "That's selfish and backwards and you know it!" Rainbow shouted. "You didn't making Lightning Dust fight, you didn't force her into battle, you didn't throw her at Raven to use as a shield; she chose to fight because she's a brave mare and she made a choice, a choice to do the right thing even though she knew it was dangerous. Just like Lyra made a choice, and Bon-Bon. And you don't get to take those choices away from them just because you want to marinate in self-pity, you don't get to make this all about you even if...even if it was, sort of. Understand?" "Rainbow Dash has the right of it," Luna said. "If you leave now you invalidate the sacrifices made thus far for your survival." "But Lyra-" "All that can be done will be done," Luna replied. She turned Moondancer to face her and, with surprising tenderness, embraced her in her arms. "Brave heart, child. Equestria requires your courage as much as it requires your wit." "Princess Luna, why are we here?" Rainbow asked. "Why aren't we in a real hospital, no offence?" "Because no Starfleet doctor can be trusted, and no hospital is free of them," Luna replied. "Both of you should come with, there are many things that we must discuss." "Right," Rainbow said. As Luna led Moondancer away, one arm around the pale unicorn's shoulders, Rainbow made to follow. "A brave mare? Hay, Captain, I resent that. I'm fearless." Rainbow whirled around to see Lightning Dust's eyes open, a cocky smirk upon her face. "Have you been awake this entire time?" "Not the entire time," Lightning replied. "But enough to catch that compliment. Don't stop now, boss; there's more, lot's more." Rainbow grinned. "Impulsive, arrogant-" "Awesome, dashing." "Insubordinate." "Get that mirror out of your face and look at me." Rainbow sniggered for a moment. "You saved a life today." "The glasses girl?" "Yeah. Her name's Moondancer." "Is she important?" "She's a person, of course she's important," Rainbow replied. "I just meant-" "I know," Rainbow said. "And the answer is yeah, it looks like." "And Princess Luna doesn't trust Starfleet," Lightning Dust murmured. "Is that a problem for you?" "They did give me a job when the Wonderbolts wouldn't," Lightning Dust said. "But on the other hoof - hand, whatever - they also made me take orders from a bunch of pompous, overbearing know-it-alls who couldn't fly well if their lives depended on it. And those are just your good points, captain." She winked. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," Rainbow said. "Listen, I gotta go now, but...get better, okay. You did good out there." "When you get back, I expect more compliments!" Lightning Dust called out, as Rainbow turned and walked away. Rainbow Dash quickly followed where Luna had led, into a small room hived off from the main warehouse floor that was serving as a kind of hospital. Before she could notice much about it however- "Oh, Rainbow Dash!" A mass of lilac-coloured hair obscured her vision as someone collided with Rainbow from the left, wrapping her arms around Rainbow's neck and holding her close. "Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, as he brushed the hair out of her face with her hands so that she could look at Fluttershy, eyes wide and filled with tears the predecessors of which had already stained her yellow face. "Hey, what are you doing here? Are you okay? What's up?" "Twilight," Fluttershy gasped, as more tears flowed out of her soft, green eyes. "Rainbow Dash...Twilight's alive!" Rainbow Dash froze in place. "What? Come on, Fluttershy, this is no time to be kidding around." "I'm not kidding!" Fluttershy declared, the soft-spoken misery of Fluttershy's tone vanishing to be replaced with a nearly-as-soft-spoken stubbornness. The fact that Fluttershy was always so polite - verging upon deferential - about everything tended to mask the fact that she could dig her heels in deeper than any mule when she had the mind, and Rainbow knew her well enough to recognise the tone when she heard it. "I saw her! She came to my apartment, it was Twilight! She's back!" "Well...that's a matter for some debate, I think," Sunset Shimmer said. "Something is here, but whether it qualifies as back is...an open question." Rainbow looked away from Fluttershy and around the room. It was an office, a little more brightly lit than the main floor outside, although also not as clean, probably because nobody needed to get rid of all the germs before the patients arrived. A grey table sat near the centre of the room, while a smaller desk with a computer on it nestled in the corner. A brown earth pony sat at the desk, typing away on the computer with dizzying speed, and he made no effort to look around at anyone sharing the room with him. Princess Luna stood behind the grey table, with Moondancer at her side. Sunset stood not far away, looking at Dash and Fluttershy. A pair of batpony guards stood beside the door. And leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest stood- "Major Wonder?" Dash demanded. Major Cerise Wonder smirked. "I don't think there's much need to stand on ceremony in this company, Executive Captain. It's not as if this is what you might call an official gathering. You can call me Cerise, Rainbow Dash." "Yeah, we'll see," Rainbow muttered. "What are you doing here anyway?" "She is here at my invitation," Luna declared. "I have gathered you all together because I think that we must work together now, all of us. For some time now we have each ploughed our own furrows, where we troubled to plough at all, and in these lonely endeavours we have criss-crossed one another and trodden over the same ground wastefully because we had the luxury of doing so. That luxury may not exist for much longer. So I have brought you here that we may put our cards on the table, and comprehend as much of the picture as we have seen, collectively." "That's all very well, princess, and it sounds great, but just what is going on here?" Rainbow Dask asked. "I mean one moment Raven has escaped from prison and the next Moondancer's telling me that-" Moondancer squeaked with alarm, stopping Dash's words in her throat. She glanced nervously at Cerise Wonder. Sunset's eyes rose. "Are you sure it's okay to speak freely in here, Princess Luna." "If I were a spy you wouldn't be suffering these hesitations," Cerise stated flatly. "And if I were to here to arrest I wouldn't need to listen to your conversation first." "You'll forgive us if your uniform doesn't fill us all with warm and fuzzy feelings," Sunset said. "I know that Starfleet isn't perfect, believe me," Cerise replied. "I may not think as little of it as some of you, but I'm well aware of it's flaws; and I know that someone is spending the lives of good ponies to their own purposes and I don't like that at all. I'm here because I want to get at the truth, just like we all do." The pony on the computer snorted. Rainbow shook her head. "Is somepony going to start explaining? Anything? I mean, Twilight's alive? Since when, and why didn't she try to contact us? It's been over a year and she just...what? She let us grieve and do nothing? Twilight wouldn't do that to us, or to anypony." "As she did not," Luna said. "It may help to think not so much of return as of...rebirth." Rainbow tried. "Nah, still not getting it." Luna snorted. "With luck all will become clear soon. Mister Bolt, how goes it?" "Well let me put it like this, princess," the earth pony at the computer grumbled. "This is an external hack, which means I have to get through mulitple layers of security just to get into the Starfleet battlenet, then hack through even more security to reach the restricted areas and if I make even one mistake I'm going to set off so many alarms that they'll hear it in outer space. So you can't rush these things, I'm going as fast as I can." "If you wanted to hack internally you could have used my office," Cerise said. "Gee, thanks for that," the earth pony replied. "Not that it isn't too late now, anyway, but I don't think I'd be a comfortable in your office. I'm allerging to hairs from totalitarian jackboot thugs." "Who is this guy?" asked Rainbow. Sunset sighed wearily. "Meet Brass Bolt; one of my guys. He's a great hacker-" "I beg your pardon? A great hacker? A great hacker? I'll have you know that I am the greatest hacker, thank you very much," Brass Bolt said, without looking away from the computer. "And you're the great Rainbow Dash, nice to meet you. How's that handing over Equestria to a brutal dictatorship working out for you?" Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "Peachy sweet, thanks." "Well, perhaps if you'd all used just a little bit of foresight beforehand you wouldn't have to regret it with hindsight now," Brass Bolt said. Rainbow rolled her eyes. "You'll get used to his winning personality," Sunset said. "Or try to kill him, one of the two." "Yeah, yeah, if you didn't need me...but you do need me, so I guess I have job security." Brass Bolt hit the 'enter' key with a triumphant flourish. "And we are inside: everything you ever wanted to know about Project Sentinel but were afraid to ask." "Project Sentinel?" Rainbow asked, as she began to walk towards the computer. "What's that?" "I'll spare you the sales pitch and cut to the basics: clone soldiers," Brass Bolt said, scrolling rapidly through pages of information. "Clone super-soldiers to replace space ponies." "Makes sense," Cerise murmured. "Long ago, His Majesty used magic to create the first space ponies to be his soldiers. Now science has given him the ability to create better soldiers, so why wouldn't he?" "You're okay with the fact that you're going to be made redundant?" Sunset asked. "That depends on what form my redundancy is going to take," Cerise said. "I wouldn't book a cruise just yet," Brass Bolt muttered. "They got through prototype stages and weren't ever happy with the result. And...hello. This is interesting." Rainbow leaned down over Bolt's shoulder and tried to make sense of the mass of information before her eyes. "What?" "It says here that Princess Twilight Sparkle ordered that the project be shut down, citing ethical concerns. The Grand Ruler countermanded her instructions on the QT. Gotta love dictatorships and their immaculate record-keeping." "Ethical concerns?" Fluttershy murmured. "Probably a euphemism for morally unconscionable," Sunset muttered. "And it makes what happened next even worse." "What happened next?" Rainbow asked. "Meet Sentinel prototype Three," Bolt said, pushing a button. Rainbow gasped as a picture of Twilight appeared in front of her upon the screen. "They...they cloned Twilight? Is that what you meant when you said she was back, they cloned Twilight? They...they..." Rainbow stepped back, stammering into speechlessness. She didn't know whether to be outraged or overjoyed but she was starting to lean heavily towards the latter. Twilight was back! They'd brought her back! Sure they'd done it using means that Twilight herself had found questionable but who care about that? Twilight was back! They'd brought Twilight back to them! "So...where is she? When can I see her? Why isn't she here, is she okay? When can we tell the others? Just wait until Pinkie finds out about this she's going to be so-" "Rainbow Dash," Luna said firmly. "Calm yourself." "Calm myself, Princess how can I be calm when Twilight's back?" "Is it Twilight?" Luna asked. "Can the being that emerged from the cloning process really be called Twilight Sparkle. I am not so sure." Rainbow looked around the room. "I don't get it, I mean...why am I the only pony in here who seems happy about this?" "How about for starters, they didn't clone Twilight out of the goodness of their hearts," Bolt said. "She was supposed to be programmed to be loyal to Starfleet. Twilight Sparkle's power and intellect allied to unwavering devotion to the Grand Ruler, so unwavering that she couldn't even conceive of disloyalty." "So Twilight...as a slave?" Rainbow said. "Okay, I take back everything nice I just thought, they are a bunch of-" "The good news is that the conditioning didn't take, or else it got broken," Sunset said. "While you were fighting with Raven...the clone of Twilight came to see me. She told me about Project Sentinel, and the cloning that Brass Bolt just confirmed. She told me...she talked as though she was Twilight, she remembered things that only Twilight would know. It..." Sunset hung her head in shame. "I didn't take it very well. I got angry. I told her that she wasn't Twilight and I...I chased her away. I shouldn't have been so harsh." "You shouldn't have said that she wasn't Twilight," Rainbow snapped. Sunset scowled. "I regret the manner in which I spoke but I don't regret my sentiments because they're true." "She looks like Twilight, you said yourself that she has Twilight's memories, in what way is she not Twilight?" "She doesn't have Twilight's soul," Sunset declared. "How can you know that and what does that even mean?" "They killed Rhymey," Fluttershy said. “Huh? What?” “It must have been after Sunset…sent Twilight away,” Fluttershy murmured. “She came to my apartment with some other ponies…other clones. I…I fainted, I was so astonished. Rhymey came home and they…they killed him.” Huh. One point to the clones, I guess, Rainbow thought, but didn’t say because that would have been a level of tactlessness that not even Spike would have displayed on his worst day. Instead she said, “Fluttershy, I…” she struggled to find anything else to say because the truth was that she’d never really liked Rhymey, not one bit, but that was hardly something she could say to Fluttershy now that he was dead. Not when she looked kind of broken up about it anyway. If she’d been dancing for joy then Rainbow Dash would have joined in happily, but she didn’t. She was trembling, she had tears in her eyes. So what could Rainbow Dash say? Nothing. There was nothing she could say. But there was something that she could do. She crossed the distance between them quickly and pressed Fluttershy’s face against her shoulder as she enfolded her oldest friend in a hug. “It’s going to be okay,” Rainbow Dash said. “It’s all going to be okay.” Fluttershy let out a wordless sob. Rainbow Dash squeezed her tight. “It’s okay. I’m here. I’ve got you.” “Twilight…Twilight would never kill anyone,” Moondancer said. “Was it this Twilight clone who struck the blow, or another?” Luna asked. “A…another,” Fluttershy said. “The one with red eyes.” “Don’t call her that,” Rainbow said sharply. “Rainbow Dash?” “Don’t talk about her like she isn’t Twilight,” Rainbow demanded. “She is, it’s Twilight. She’s come back.” “Then where is she?” Sunset asked. “She’d be right here if you hadn’t scared her away,” Rainbow snapped. “Why don’t you want this?” “You think that I don’t want this?” Sunset demanded. “You think I wouldn’t give anything to have Twilight back? Do you think that I wouldn’t exchange places with her in an instant, if I could? But that isn’t Twilight. You can’t just take some of Twilight’s hair and add some mad science and untested magic and voila: back from the dead! It doesn’t work that way. Twilight was…Twilight was special, Twilight was unique, Twilight…you can’t recreate what she had.” “I know what Twilight was,” Rainbow replied. “And I know that if there’s a chance, even a small one…maybe you’re right. Maybe it isn’t Twilight, maybe…I don’t know. But if there’s any chance at all that Twilight has come back…then she has to come back to us.” Luna regarded her with an even and inscrutable expression. “What are you saying, Rainbow Dash?” “I’m saying that it’s time to put this family back together,” Rainbow declared. “Fluttershy, you’re in right? You want to bring Twilight home?” Fluttershy looked up at her. “Of course. How could we do anything less, for Twilight?” Rainbow grinned. “You said it, Fluttershy.” Luna smiled. “I am glad to hear it; once again you do not disappoint, but this is not a task to be undertaken by only two of you. It requires a larger party, perhaps…” “Six?” Rainbow suggested. “I was about to say five, but…yes, six will do better,” Luna said. “Mister Bolt, have you had any luck raising the Princess Twilight Sparkle?” “Hack the database, Brass Bolt, find the starship Brass Bolt; one thing at a time, princess, please.” “We cannot afford to delay,” Luna said. She sighed. “And yet it appears that some delay must be endured, until we can locate Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack and bring them here.” “I’ll fly to Zebrica right now and bring Pinkie back, then to Rangivar and the same with Applejack,” Rainbow said. “And how will you find Applejack in all of Rangivar?” Luna demanded. “We cannot afford to delay, still less can we afford delays forced on us by rash and ill-thought action. And besides…you will forgive me but I do not want to let you roam too freely, in case…” “In case of what?” Fluttershy asked. “In case some enemy, Raven or some other foe, has designs upon you,” Luna said. “Losing Twilight was enough. More would…I fear Celestia could not bare it. Please remain with us.” “Who’s ‘us’?” Rainbow asked. “The resistance to the Grand Ruler,” Sunset said. “We-“ “Yes, yes, tell the Starfleet officer all our secrets, why don’t you?” Brass Bolt demanded. “And in the meantime, what are we supposed to do, just hide?” Rainbow demanded. “In the meantime we get to work on Twilight’s research,” Luna said. “And find out what she was working on that was so important she had to die to keep the secret.” They had laid out Rhymey on a slab of stone, in a chamber so cold that Starla's breath misted up in front of her face, deep in the bowels of the palace. He was utterly still. Of course he was, he was...he was gone. His eyes were closed, his face was set in an expression of something like repose. They had folded his arms across his chest and placed his sword in his hands. He looked very like the stone image that would rest atop his sarcophagus when they laid him to rest in the family crypt. Save for the wound, that raw and ugly gash from his shoulder down across his chest, disfiguring his form and making it...making it impossible to pretend that he was only sleeping. Rhymey was dead. Their knight was fallen. Their poet had been silenced. Rhymey was dead, slain in battle. Starla felt her hands clench into fists. I'll have somebody's blood for this. "They will look for him," Starla murmured. "At every family gathering, at every Hearth's Warming, every time a toast is raised they'll look for Rhymey...but he will not be there." "His family?" Artie asked. "His other family," Starla clarified. Buddy and Artie stood with her in the vault. They shouldn't have been alone, the three of them. Lightning should have been here, and Dyno and Myte too. Lightning might have been in hospital, but so what? Rhymey was dead, for the love of the Grand Ruler, the least that Lightning could have done was rise up from his bed to honour him and to mourn. She remembered, when she was a young girl, walking behind her mother's coffin as they laid her to rest. With her, walking a step behind, had been an old family friend, a fellow officer of the Starfleet. He looked sickly, Starla had never forgotten how sickly, drawn and gaunt he looked. He had looked as though he might die at any moment, but he had insisted that he would follow the funeral procession, for 'every pony in the Starfleet will curse my name, if I do not attend your mother's funeral'. He had passed away himself, not two weeks later...but none had cursed his name, and many had praised him. Lightning should be here, Starla thought. He should be here for this, he should be here with us, he should be here for Rhymey. Does he know that Rhymey is dead? Does he even care? He stood vigil for Twilight Sparkle, why won't he do the same for Rhymey? As for Dyno and Myte...they had the excuse of being off-planet, but...they should be coming back and if they weren't...had anyone told them? Had word been sent? Starla should have done that herself, but...but she had rushed down here when the news reached her and...and she couldn't leave now, not until her vigil was complete. "It feels...it feels like we ought to say something, you know?" Artie said. Starla frowned. "Fare thee well, noble warrior, thy wars and trials are done, Pity us, who must march onward now, though you are gone." Buddy nodded. "Short, but I think he would have appreciated that." Starla did not respond to that directly. "Have they found Fluttershy yet?" "Not as far as I know," Artie murmured. Starla shook her head. I hope they make her suffer. It was an uncharitable thought, but one that they could not escape. All our troubles began the day that that sly minx bewitched Rhymey. Before that day...everything had been so perfect. Lightning had been such a good stallion, so noble and so fierce and so full of love for her; and she had loved him in return, she had found it easy to yield up her devotion to his virtues; and Rhymey had been alive. It had been the discovery of Equestria that had caused everything to change and fall apart for them. It was this world and these ponies who had killed not only Rhymey but all of Starla's dreams as well. It was inconceivable that a weakling like Fluttershy could have killed Rhymey, and so the only explanation was that she had been kidnapped by Rhymey's murderers. Although Starla would avenge Rhymey, she would not take it at all hard if she arrived too late to save his wife. The door into the vault opened, and Captain Shaina walked down the stone steps towards Rhymey. Her footfalls echoed in this dark place. "His Majesty requires your presence." Starla frowned. "Convey our apologies to His Majesty, our vigil is not yet complete." "This is not a request," Captain Shaina said. "His Majesty's business will not wait." "You'd have us leave him here, unattended?" Artie asked. "Of course not, I will relieve you until you return, or his brother arrives." "He was our brother too," Starla snapped. "We're staying." "His Majesty commands you to attend him now," Shaina said. "Please, Major, let me relieve you. I vow I shall not move until you return." Not long afterwards found Starla, Artie and Buddy stood in the throne room beneath the august gaze of the Grand Ruler. Starla's eyes were as wide as moons. "Twilight...Your Majesty...did you say Twilight Sparkle is alive? And she killed Rhymey?" "I fear that it is so," the Grand Ruler murmured. "She is returned, and it appears she means to have her vengeance on us all. Although what I fear most of all is..." He looked so sad, and so noble in his sorrow, that Starla's heart was filled with pity for him. It was not right that this most noble creature, the font of authority and the upholder of all order, should be so overcome by care and fear. "Please, Majesty, will you not speak your fears aloud and, in so speaking, diminish them in your heart as shadows are diminished by the light?" The Grand Ruler chuckled. "It is not for me, being a king, to cast my cares off on my subjects' shoulders." "Have you not borne my cares many a time?" Starla asked. "Majesty, if only once I would be honoured to return the favour you have often done to me." The Grand Ruler closed his eyes and bowed his head. "I fear...I fear what Twilight Sparkle thus returned may too. Already she has gathered a band of miscreants around her and slain poor Rhymey, but what more might she do? What if she were to gether her old friends to her side, raise the people against my rule, why even my own wife and queen might turn on me for Twilight's sake! Oh, that she has returned. Oh, that she is villainous." "I think, Majesty, that she always was," Starla declared. "Yet now she no longer troubles to hide her malice." "You have the right of it, dearer than daughter, no doubt," the Grand Ruler said. "She has corrupted Lightning, whom I loved as a son, she came between your marriage, she set out at every turn to subvert my policies and principles. And now she strikes down my faithful servant Rhymey. Do you know what I dread most, sweet Starla?" "Majesty?" Starla whispered, half-fearing to hear the answer, for what could make so majestic a ruler feel dread? "I fear that, if Twilight were to come for me, I could not rely upon Lightning to protect me. Even were he uninjured...she has corrupted him too greatly. My own son and she...she has stolen him from me. I fear he would not consider her a threat." Starla closed her eyes for a moment. The truth was...the truth was that she shared his fear. It seemed most plausible. Lightning, do you know how much you are hurting him? Do you care? She took a single step forward, and placed one hand upon her heart. "Your Majesty, many a time you have dried my tears, eased my fears, soothed my soul with your loving comfort. Allow me now to repay some little part of that great debt I owe." She knelt, and Artie and Buddy knelt with her. "Although Lightning's warrior spirit has been tarnished by the noxiousness of this place, although his star-born soul has been weighed down by gravity, mine has not. While he is weakened, let me serve you in his stead. With Your Majesty's leave I shall hunt down Twilight Sparkle and any who aid her, avenge Rhymey and deliver your justice to all or any traitors who plot against your rule." Artie knelt. "And with Your Majesty's permission, I will go with her." Buddy knelt too. "And I too, if it please Your Majesty." Starla glanced behind her. "You guys." "It's like you said, Rhymey was our brother," said Artie. "We owe him this," Buddy said. The Grand Ruler stared down at her, his face and eyes revealing nothing. "Your Majesty," Starla murmured. "Please. Don't deny me this." The Grand Ruler seemed to almost sigh. "Very well. We grant you leave, and furthermore we shall recall your comrades, Dyno and Myte, to bolster up your strenght. But, with Rhymey's death and Lightning's incapacitation physical and spiritual, you are bereft of knight and uniforce alike; therefore we shall assign to your command two warriors fit to serve in those capacities." "Your Majesty, that is most generous but quite unnecessary," Starla said. "With your permission I would prefer to keep this quest within the family." "I understand your feelings, Starla, but this I cannot allow," the Grand Ruler replied. "Against such powers as are arraigned against you...without the uniforce you would be in grave peril, and that I cannot allow. I have lost Rhymey, I have lost Lightning's heart...I could not bear to lose you also, nor even to see you come to harm in stricken battle." His tone brooked no argument. He was her sovereign lord, it was for him to give commands and for her to obey them. "As Your Majesty pleases." "Prepare yourselves," the Grand Ruler declared. "We will cast our eyes across the world and search for sign of Twilight Sparkle. Once she is found, and your whole company is present assembled, we shall despatch you straight to seek her out. Be ready." "Always, Your Majesty." Chickpea gave her husband some space as she stared down at the dead body of his brother. Whoever had done for William in the end had messed him up a little bit, that wound was vicious. She hoped that he hadn't suffered too much; nobody deserved to die like that. It was true that she hadn't care much for him - and he hadn't cared much for her either, which made them even as far as Chickpea was concerned - but she could tell that his passing had hit Lawrence hard, and so she was sorry that he was gone even if he wouldn't have tried to put her out if she was on fire. Lawrence stood over William's body. He looked much as he always did: stoic, impassive, expressionless. But Chickpea knew her husband like she knew her own self, and she could spot the little tells in his face, the way he held himself. He was upset, and angry. Considering the circumstances she couldn't hardly blame him, although she did hope to divert his anger away from undeserving targets. "Lawrence," she murmured. "Honey, I know that Fluttershy didn't have nothing to do with this." Lawrence glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "No, I don't know where she went or why she hasn't turned up yet, but that doesn't make her guilty," Chickpea declared. "I know her, she's not the kind of person that would do this." Lawrence turned his head, and looked up at her. "Okay, maybe I don't really know her much but that don't mean I'm wrong!" Chickpea said vehemently. "Do you really think that adorable sugar lump is the killin' kind?" Lawrence turned to face her. "Yes, I guess we will find out what happened from her own self when we catch up to her," Chickpea said. "Just...promise you won't do anything rash before you give her a chance to explain." Lawrence folded his arms across his chest. "Of course I trust you, I just...I'm sorry if I implied otherwise. I know he meant a lot to you." Lawrence glanced down at William. Gently, he reached out and placed his fingertips on William's hand. He closed his eyes, and nodded once. "Okay," Chickpea said. "Just let me grab my sword and we'll be off." Fluttershy had some explaining to do.