//------------------------------// // In This Quiet Night // Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Nemesis // by Scipio Smith //------------------------------// In This Quiet Night Rarity had generously vacated the Captain's Cabin aboard the Princess Twilight Sparkle in favour of Princess Fairgrace, choosing to double up with Applejack in one of the guest quarters designed for visiting ambassadors; and so it was against the door of the captain's cabin that Lightning sat, back resting against the cold metal, arms resting on his knees, head bowed. Princess Fairgrace was inside. He was...he supposed he was sitting guard over her while Snowflame was away...sorting out her feelings about all of this. Spending some time away from him. He didn't blame her. Just like he didn't blame Fairgrace for not wanting him in the room with her. She hadn't said as much, but...he could tell. He wouldn't have wanted him in the room either. "Lightning?" Krysta said from where she sat on his shoulder. "Lightning, come on, say something." "What should I say, Krysta?" Lightning asked. "What should I...what should I do about this? My best friend just told me that my...that the person I looked up to as my father, the person who raised me, the person who taught me...that he was the one who destroyed my home and killed my parents. What do I say to that? What do I say to her, to either of them?" "Well, before you can work out what to say, you gotta work out what you feel first." Lightning looked up. Pinkie Pie stood in front of him, lounging against the corner where the wall curved inwards for a few paces leading up to the cabin door. Her blue eyes were big and wide and her face...he hadn't known that she could look so earnest. Or perhaps I just didn't bother to imagine that she could be anything other than a sillyheart. He started to his feet, but Pinkie held up one hand to forestall. "It's okay. You don't need to get up or anything." She wandered over, and in fact sat down beside him, leaning ever so slightly against his shoulder. "What's up?" Lightning looked at her. "You don't have to be here, Pinkie." "I know," Pinkie said. "I mean I don't have to be anywhere. But I think, right now, that here is exactly where I need to be." "Why?" Lightning asked. "I mean...I never gave you any reason to like me, or want to help me or-" Pinkie giggled. "Oh, silly. You don't have to give me a reason to want to take your frown away. It's just what I do. And besides, we're friends aren't we?" "I..." Lightning hesitated. He was...honestly, he was kind of in awe right now. He had mocked this girl relentlessly, and what was more he had done so in the most petty, passive-aggressive, prissy way imaginable; he had huffed and harrumphed and rolled his eyes at her, without even showing the courtesy of Starla's honest disdain for all she stood for. He had treated her like a burden, an idiot, a nuisance, he had treated like someone with no good qualities whatsoever and yet...here she was, offering him friendship and a sympathetic ear nonetheless. And it wasn't that she was too stupid to realise the way he'd behaved towards her, although he might have believed that once; she knew...but it didn't matter to her. Her heart was so big that she could forgive him all of it, and she didn't even have to consider it. He couldn't fathom how anyone could be so loving. He envied her. "I'd like that, very much," he said. Pinkie's smile illuminated her whole face. "Well, there you go then. So, what's eating Lightning Dawn?" "You heard what Snowflame said," Lightning said. "The Grand Ruler killed her father, Starfleet destroyed my home, I...if she's right then my own...then the pony I looked up to as a father took everything from me." "Do you believe her?" Pinkie asked. "I...I don't know what to believe," Lightning replied. "I mean...I remember Serpent-Tyrant, I remember the fire and the smoke and the serpent coming for me, I remember all of that...but I didn't remember Snowflame until a few days ago when she turned up on the dock having been liberated from a slave ship, just like I didn't remember Princess Fairgrace. I remember going to kindergarten, but at the same time I can't remember any actual details about that and...I'm not sure that I ever did. I remember arguing with Snowflame, I remember playing with Fairgrace, I remember helping my mother in the garden...and I don't know how I ever forgot that or where these memories came from. I don't...I don't know what's going on in my head." "Then don't focus on your head so much," Pinkie said. "What does your heart say?" "My heart?" "Yeah!" Pinkie cried. "What do you think the magic of believing is all about anyway? It isn't about what you can think about, it's about what you feel; what you know to be true even if you can't prove it. Isn't that supposed to be your thing?" Lightning laughed. "I guess I suck at it just like I suck at everything else that was supposed to be my thing. My heart tells me...I feel...I believe that Snowflame is my best friend, I believe that she looked out for me when we were kids, I believe that she would never lie to me." Lightning bowed his head. "Which means they both must hate me by now." Pinkie reached out and ran her fingers through his short brown mane. "Why would your friends hate you?" "Isn't it obvious?" Lightning replied. "They spent more than ten years in slavery; Starfleet sold them into slavery, the Grand Ruler...Starfleet exists to fight for justice and eradicate all the evils of the galaxy and yet the Grand Ruler sold my friends into slavery. Is that what happens? Is what always happens? Do all the anti-slavery patrols just turn around and sell the slaves they liberate back to someone else? Was it all a lie? All the ideals of justice and peace, where they all just a bunch of bull all along? Valour, duty, sacrifice, was it all just empty words." "If it was all a lie then...Snowflame and Fairgrace wouldn't be here, would they?" Krysta asked. "I mean...the New Baltimare didn't sell them on, or the other slaves they found." "I think...I think that Krysta's right," Pinkie said. "Whatever the Grand Ruler did to you and your home...the whole of Starfleet can't be all bad, the same way that no group of ponies can be all bad. It's as ridiculous as saying that an entire species is evil, isn't it?" "I guess," Lightning murmured. He blinked. "Did I just hear you defend Starfleet...and diss it at the same time?" Pinkie let out a little laugh. "Can I tell you a secret?" She leaned forwards, not waiting for him to reply, and said in a conspiratorial whisper. "I totally get it." "Get what?" "Why Starfleet!" Pinkie cried. "Do you understand how hard I have to work not just throw myself on everypony I meet, to make them do things my way? It's like...I look at someone and I know what would make them happy. I know how to make their life better and fill it up with sunshine, so why shouldn't I do it? Why shouldn't I make them my friend and show them the right way? And that's what Starfleet does: it knows what's best, and it makes sure you know it and do it too. I get it, I really do...it's tempting, isn't it?" "To impose yourself and your way because it's right," Lightning said. "To see an injustice and stop it immediately because you have the power to do so. Yeah, it's very tempting." "But it isn't right," Pinkie said. "Because people have their own choices. I don't always remember that...but I try to. Starfleet does a lot of things that are wrong...but it has good intentions. Mostly, anyway." "Yeah...mostly," Lightning murmured. "Which won't make Snowflame or Fairgrace hate me any less. I mean...they were slaves, they were made slaves by the person who took me in and made me a prince in all but name and...I had everything and they...I can't imagine what they went through while I was living the high life." "None of that matters," Pinkie said. "It's not like you meant it, and even if you did, your real friends will always forgive you anyway if you're really sorry." "Because that's what friends do?" "Because that's what it means to love," Pinkie corrected him. A slight smile tugged at the corner of Lightning's mouth. "You're really very wise, Pinkie Pie." "Nah, I just see how simple lots of things are when you get right down to it." Lightning might have something else if the door hadn't opened behind him at just that moment, causing him to fall backwards with a squawk of alarm (Krysta flew upwards, and so avoided being tipped over). He found himself lying on his back, with Princess Fairgrace looking down upon him. "I...I d-don't hate you," she said. Lightning's eyes widened. "How much did you hear, princess?" "All of it," Fairgrace replied. "I d-d-don't hate you, Lightning. I d- I don't think that...that Snowflame d-d-does either." "I left you," Lightning murmured. "All the things that-" "N-none of that m-matters," Fairgrace said, forcing the words out of her mouth. "I thought...I thought you were...dead! I thought you were dead and then...I'm just so happy you're al-l-live." Tears began to spring from her eyes. Lightning scrambled up onto his knees and put his arms around her. "Likewise, princess. I can't believe I ever forgot you." "That is the weirdest part about this whole thing," Pinkie mused. "I mean, what could make you forget your own friends? It would be like me waking up one day and forgetting all about Twilight." Lightning sighed. "I don't know the answer to that, Pinkie," he said. "I wish I did. Princess, do you know where Snowflame is, I really need to talk to her." The door slid open with a hydraulic hiss, admitting Rainbow Dash into the Princess Twilight's observation deck. Soft lavender lights set into the walls glowed warmly, lending the long room a pleasant glow while not being so bright as to detract from the sight that greeted Rainbow outside of the window that was as long and high as the wall itself. All of space seemed to be spread out before her, stars whirring past as the ship sped on towards Luminoth - and Twilight. Rainbow Dash walked in, her footfalls soft upon the floor, and only when she had reached the window did she realise that there was someone else in there with her. One of Lightning Dawn's friends, the mare with the white coat and the bright red mane. She was staring out the window, but she looked up as Rainbow approached. "Oh. Hi." "Hi," Rainbow replied awkwardly. "I, uh," she scratched the back of her head with one hand. "Listen, I didn't know anyone else was in here, I'll just-" "I don't want to kick you out," the other mare said. "I've been in here a bit, I'll leave." "You don't have to do that," Rainbow said. She hesitated for a moment. "Or, you know, we could just share the room. It's big enough for two." The other mare looked up and down the observation lounge. "Yeah, I guess it is," she said, with a slight trace of a grin on her face. It was a big room, but Rainbow found herself sitting down not far from the other mare. For a while, neither of them said anything. They sat in a silence verging upon the companionable as they stared out into space, watching the stars go by, lighting up the blackness of spce with their trails of light as the Princess Twilight Sparkle sailed on by them. They were so free. No one to bother them, no one to give them orders, no one to tell them where to go or what to do. They were free. Like we used to be, the six of us. Five stars gathered around the brightest star of all. Their bright star had gone out once, and now it had been re-ignited...but without the five stars around her. We have to find her, we just...we have to! We have to make this right. "They're beautiful, aren't they?" the other mare murmured. "So free. No walls, no cages, no whips, no masters. They're free. Free to shine as bright as they can and nothing can touch them." She glanced at Rainbow Dash. "I'm Snowflame, by the way." "Rainbow Dash," Rainbow said. "And...yeah, they're a sight to see that never gets old." Silence returned between the two of them for a little while, "Are you really from Harmonius?" Rainbow asked. "Yup," Snowflame replied. "And it wasn't destroyed by a giant space serpent, was it?" "No," Snowflame growled. "It was destroyed by the same person who stole our Lightning away from me. But then...I hear you know what that's like." "Huh?" "Having a friend stolen." "Oh, yeah," Rainbow muttered. "Yeah, I know about that." "Her name...it was Twilight Sparkle, wasn't it? She's the one they say isn't really dead." "Something like that, it's complicated," Rainbow said. "But yeah, her name was Twilight Sparkle." "What was she like?" "Why do you want to know?" "Because when Lightning talks about her he gets this kind of catch in his voice...like she was important to him somehow," Snowflame said. "Stop me if I'm outta line, but...you know, he's changed so much since when I knew him and I...I supposed I'd like to start to understand that. I look at him and I still see the crybaby who used to climb on my back to reach the apples, but at the same time it's like the boy doesn't even exist anymore. He's my friend...but now I'm the pony who knows him least of all. What's he like?" "He's an arrogant, pompous jerk," Rainbow spat. "Don't sugarcoat it, will you?" "You asked," Rainbow said. "Or at least...that's what he was." "And now?" "I don't know," Rainbow Dash admitted. "You're right, Twilight changed him. I couldn't say what she changed him into, but she changed him." "She was something special, wasn't she?" "Oh yeah," Rainbow said. "She was smart and cute and funny and...and honest and loyal and kind and generous. She had the best of all of us inside her. Of course she was also a total egghead loser who read science books for fun, but...somehow that didn't really matter. In fact it kind of grew on you after a while, it almost made her cool...because she was herself, you know? She never pretended to be what she wasn't. Until she decided to pretend to be a soldier." "This Starfleet thing?" "She had no business signing up with those guys!" Rainbow spat. "She had no business getting involved with something like Starfleet. She had no muscle and she couldn't sprint very far and...she had no business joining Starfleet and she had no business trying to take on Raven without me!" Snowflame looked at her without flinching. "It'll eat you up if you let it," she said quietly. "What will?" "The anger, the rage, the hate," Snowflame said. "Take it from me...from one warrior to another." Rainbow Dash snorted. "I'm not a warrior." "You didn't set out to be, you don't even want to be, but you are," Snowflame replied. She looked out of the window at the stars in flight. "It takes one to know one." Rainbow looked at her without speaking. "You're their protector, aren't you?" Snowflame continued, still looking out at the stars beyond. "You're the strong one, the one who can take the hits and dish them out, the one that they can hide behind when they're in trouble, because you're the one who takes care of trouble, who always comes through. You're the one who keeps them safe. Only you didn't. You can't. And it's ripping you up inside and it's making you so angry that you don't know who you hate more: the people who are hurting the ones you love, or yourself for letting it happen." Rainbow's eyes were wide. Her voice trembled. "I never wanted this." "I did," Snowflame admitted. "But not the way I got it." "I wanted to be a stunt flyer. I wanted to race and roll and do tricks while hundreds and thousands of ponies yelled my name. But they put in a Starfleet uniform and sent me off to war to watch my friend die." "I wanted to be a guard, a Stormbringer like my father. I wanted to protect my home and the people who were precious to me. But they put me in a cage and sent me to the arena where I could fight in front of hundreds and thousands of people who just wanted to watch me bleed. And then they put me back in the cage so I couldn't do anything to keep my princess safe. Nothing at all." "The world really screwed us over, didn't it?" Rainbow said. "Does it ever get any easier?" "Kind of," Snowflame murmured. "The princess...she's my lodestone. Even after everything that...when I see her smile, when I remember that under all that pain is the little princess I knew...I can tell myself I didn't fail completely. And now with Lightning-" "Lightning what?" Lightning said, as he came in. He paused, scratching at his ear. "I...I didn't mean to interrupt but...Snowflame, I need to talk to you." Snowflame rose to her hooves. "Yeah. I guess we do." Lightning walked towards her. "I'm so sorry, Snowflame. I honestly had no idea." "No," she murmured. "I kinda figured that. I'm not sure how it happened, but...someone did something to your mind, didn't they?" "It seems that way," Lightning said. "I don’t know if my real memories are still buried somewhere like the others were, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to get them back, but…I’m so sorry, Snowflame. I should have-“ “Stop,” Snowflame said. “Just…stop. Don’t do that, not to yourself, not to me. This isn’t your fault.” “I live with him,” Lightning said. “With all of them. I…and you were…” “Not your fault,” Snowflame repeated. “What were you going to do? Were you going to protect me, were you going to rescue the princess? You, who cried and shook and needed me to look after you? You survived, like we survived. We all survived and we’re together again, here, now. Isn’t that enough? Isn’t that worth celebrating instead of beating yourself up because you didn’t save the world when you were a kid? I didn’t save it either. My father, my mother, all their Stormbringers…if they couldn’t save Harmonius then what were we supposed to do.” Lightning nodded weakly. “Was it…was it terrible.” “You really don’t remember?” Snowflame said. “Then…maybe you should be glad of that.” Lightning bowed his head. “When I think of what you must have been through…I’m so sorry.” “Stop saying that!” Snowflame cried. “Why do you keep saying that as though this is somehow you’re fault?” “Because I don’t understand how you and Fairgrace don’t hate me!” Lightning shouted. “I don’t…I don’t understand how you don’t hate me. I lived with the people who sold you, I joined the force the burned our home, I…I don’t understand.” Snowflame stared into his eyes. “You know…I can still see it.” Lightning blinked. “What?” “The little kid I used to know,” Snowflame said. “You’ve grown up, you’re body has been changed by freaky science and stuff, you’ve become a completely person in a whole lot of ways but when I look into your eyes I can still see him, that little boy. That’s why I don’t hate you. I can’t hate you. Because you’re my boy and I’m your girl and we’ll always be together, you and me and the princess. Right?” “Right,” Lightning said, with a nod of the head. “Hey, Snowflame?” “Yeah?” “Do you think…do you think there might be others out there? Others like you and the princess, survivors who got taken captive and sold?” “I…I don’t know, maybe,” Snowflame said. “We weren’t the only ones to be…but how many of them made it…I couldn’t say. We got separated, sent to all kinds of different places. The princess and I were lucky, really lucky, that we stuck together as much as we did. The same…owner. But…it’s not impossible, I guess.” “We’ll find them,” Lightning said. “Once all this is over we’ll find them all, together. I’ll do whatever it takes, I swear.” “Once we’ve found your princess?” “Yes,” Lightning said. “I know it might sound selfish, but…it’s something that I have to.” “I get it,” Snowflame replied. “I really do. I had to take care of my princess, it was…it was the only thing that kept alive sometimes…it was the only that kept me from losing hope or…I get it. You found a different princess and now…now you have to square things with her.” “Something like that, yeah,” Lightning murmured. “Thank you, for understanding.” Snowflame snorted. “Maybe I want to meet her myself, this princess who made you what you are today. She seems…she seems like someone worth meeting.” It was night, at least according to the clock - not that you could tell from looking out the windows - and so the lights in certain sections of the ship had been turned down low, giving off only a faint glow, just enough to see your way without tripping over or something. So it was in the corridor outside Pinkie's room, where Rainbow Dash lingered. When I see her smile...I can tell myself I didn't fail. Snowflame's words echoed in Rainbow's mind, and when they did...it was always Pinkie's face that she pictured. Pinkie who could still smile and laugh after everything that had been done to them, Pinkie who had the biggest heart of any of them, Pinkie who... What, I can't even think it? I'm such a coward. Or why am I standing out here, instead of in there? Because I'm afraid that I'll make her like me. Rainbow's brow furrowed. Just because she felt...she didn't have the right to burden Pinkie with all of her troubles. It wasn't right to expect her to do that, to become a receptacle for her problems. If she forced her to do that...how would she be any better than Rhymey, really? On that scary and disgusting note, Rainbow turned to go. She heard the door slide open behind her. "Rainbow Dash? Where are you going? Don't you want to come inside?" Rainbow glanced over her shoulder. Pinkie stood in the doorway, wearing a set blue pyjamas with yellow polkadots that didn't quite fit; the sleeves covered her hands from view. "Pinkie," Rainbow said. "How did you know I was out here?" "I just had a feeling," Pinkie said cheerfully. "Don't you want to come in." Rainbow hesitated. "I...I can't, Pinkie, I can't ask you to-" She was about leave, when Pinkie reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. Her grip was gentle, but firm nonetheless. A smile was affixed upon her face. "But if I ask you to, then that's not the same thing at all, is it? If I ask, if I want you to, then isn't that okay?" Rainbow glanced down, at Pinkie's hand concealed within her pyjama sleeve, and then back up at Pinkie's sweet and lovely face. "Yeah," she said. "If you ask me then...I guess it's okay." She allowed Pinkie to guide her by the hand - well, wrist - into her room. It was even darker than the corridor outside, with only a little light coming in from the stars without. The furnishings of the room were mere dark silhouettes, black shapes looming in the shadows like creatures in ambush. Pinkie led Rainbow to the largest and blockiest of those silhouettes, the bed clearly, as was proved when Rainbow sat down upon it - with her back to Pinkie Pie and her face to the now-closed door - and felt the mattress crumple beneath her. Pinkie herself knelt on the bed behind her, one hand resting upon Rainbow's shoulder as if she were about to start giving her massage. "What's up?" Pinkie asked, her voice as tender as the summer breeze that cools the cheek when the sun's hot light assails it. Rainbow bowed her head and closed her eyes. "I...I need help, Pinkie. Ever since Twi died I've just...I've been so angry." "With who?" Rainbow snorted. It might be easier to list who I'm not mad at. "Raven, Starfleet, the Grand Ruler...me. I've been trying to hide it, I...I didn't want you to think about me that way...but I can't do it. I can't shake it, Pinkie. It's like it...like it's a part of me now." Pinkie wrapped her arm around Rainbow's shoulders, clasping her tight. "No, it isn't. Believe me it isn't." "How do you know?" Rainbow asked. "How can you be so certain." "Because I know you," Pinkie whispered. "And because you've got me. Our hearts are tied together, Rainbow Dash; so long as I'm here you'll never lose yourself. I'll always help you find your way back home." Rainbow snorted. "Yeah. Yeah I will. You know you're the only person I could talk to like this, Pinkie, you...you're the one who...you're my lodestone, and when I see you smile it...I...I love you, Pinkie Pie." There was a moment of silence broken by the sound of Pinkie giggling. "Oh, Rainbow Dash," she said, as she planted a kiss on the back of Rainbow's neck. "I've known that for a long time now." She began to kiss her way around the side of Rainbow's neck, the lush kisses circling around and upwards, Pinkie's lips crawling up Rainbow's cheek even as Rainbow turned her head to meet her. Their lips met as they started to take off one another's clothes. Kitty sat with her back against the wall of her compartment, hugging her knees. She could feel it, the string between Miss Pinkie and Rainbow Dash getting stronger. Not just stronger, but...changing too. The thread was turning, just like his had turned when he met her, when Hitomi had stolen her friend away. "Are you not worried at all?" she asked the little fairy who fluttered beside her. In the dark, Krysta was mainly visible by the motes of silver light that she gave off. "Worried about what?" "That he'll leave you behind," Kitty explained. "Now that he has them." "No," Krysta replied. "Lightning wouldn't do that. I don't believe that Pinkie would either." "He did," Kitty insisted. "He didn't need a friend any more once he had her." "I don't know who they are, but Pinkie Pie isn't like that," Krysta said. "It seems like she's got room in her heart for just about everyone. And Lightning...let's just say I trust him. You have to trust your friends, otherwise...they're not really your friends, are they?" Kitty leaned her head back, resting it against the wall as she looked up and out the window at the stars beyond. They were so cold, lonely and distant...the way that she used to be, before Miss Pinkie had showed her the way. She didn't want to go back to that. But at the same time...she didn't want to make Miss Pinkie unhappy either. That would be the worst way of repaying her. I guess...maybe if I hadn't made Van choose between us...he wouldn't have pushed me away. I trust you, Miss Pinkie. "Thanks," she said. "It was nothing," Krysta said. "And if the worst comes down to it, you and me can stick together, right?" "Like a rejects club?" "I was thinking more of us being too cool for the rest," Krysta said. Kitty looked at her for a moment before she giggled. "Yeah, too cool, that's us alright." Snowflame lingered in the doorway to the cabin that she shared with Fairgrace. "Hey...Lightning?" Lightning crouched down so that he and Snowflame were at more eye level, and he wasn't looking down on her in the literal sense that might give rise to metaphorical associations. "Yeah?" "Do you remember when you used to have nightmares, and wet your bed?" Snowflame said. "And then...and then you'd sometimes climb into mine?" "Um..." Lightning looked away, scratching his ear nervously. "I...yeah, I remember that now. Although I kind of hoped that you might have forgotten." "Bad luck, I'm never going to forget a single moment," Snowflame said, with a fleeting grin that faded as it quickly as it bloomed upon her face. "Listen...could you come in here...into bed with us...like you used to." Lightning's eyebrows rose even as his mouth dropped. "Snowflame, I..." "It's not like that!" Snowflame snapped. "I just...it's just that...I have bad dreams. Please...I don't...it's hard for me to say but-" "Okay," Lightning said gently. What she wanted, what they both wanted if he understood it right, was grossly inappropriate...but according to who? To the Grand Ruler who had destroyed his home? To the strictures of Unicornicopian society that said it was okay for him to sleep with other mares but not to feel anything for them? Besides, Snowflame had said herself that it wasn't like that. It was two friends who wanted him. And, to be honest, he would probably welcome that kind of comfort himself. "Okay," he said again, as he followed Snowflame into the bedroom. Lightning and Snowflame lay snuggled together beneath the covers, her with her back to him and he with his arms wrapped around her midsection. In the darkness, illuminated only by starlight, Princess Fairgrace sat on her haunches and watched over them. You have such sad dreams, both of you, she thought, as she brushed some of Lightning's mane aside with her hoof, and watched the two them stir fitfully. Snowflame seemed better now, than she had been sometimes, but still...such sad dreams. Fairgrace started to hum a tune, a song that she had learned in her master's house. Then, in a voice that rang as clear as a bell, she raised her voice and began to sing. In this quiet night, I'm waiting for you, As the soft melody and Fairgrace's gentle voice washed over them, Snowflame and Lightning quieted, as if the music had some magic power to balm their souls and soothe their distemper. Forgetting the past, And dreaming anew, Kitty and Krysta laughed as the criminal formerly known as the Friendship Bandit took her first tentative steps towards making a new friend. Time passes by, And memories fade, Fluttershy stood by the side of her bed, looking out at the window. It felt...strange, sleeping alone. She hadn't actually done so in some time. Rhymey had always made sure that he was back in time to comfort her. This would be the first time alone in a real bed...for some time. It was strange...but she'd get used to it. "Goodbye, Rhymey," she murmured, as she lowered the shutters on the window and climbed into bed, alone. But time can't erase, The love that we've made. Rarity knelt down beside Spike, who already slumbered peacefully in a makeshift basket at the foot of her bed. She leaned down to plant a gentle kiss upon his forehead. "Sweet dreams, Spike. My brave knight and my little one." And the stars in the sky, that I wish upon Can't bring you back to my side. Though you're not here with me, I dream of the day we'll meet again. Applejack looked out the window. "It's strange to imagine that she's out there somewhere, ain't it?" "Yes," Rarity agreed. "Very strange...but at the same time it's completely wonderful." Hold me close, so deep in your heart, I will find you, no matter where I have to go, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow lay entwined atop the bed, the covers thrown askew and pushed aside, Rainbow's head resting upon Pinkie's forehead, and her wings unfurled to enfold them both in a soft, warm, feathery embrace. And dream of me, for I will be there. Follow the stars that lead...into the quiet night. Into the quiet night. And the Princess Twilight Sparkle sailed on.