Altogether Now
Snowflame and Fairgrace were still asleep, Lightning Dawn was doing one-handed push-ups on the floor when he felt the Princess Twilight touch down upon the surface of Luminoth.
“Home sweet home,” Krysta murmured, from where she fluttered in front of Lightning’s rising and falling face.
Lightning looked at her as he switched arms and continued doing his push-ups. “Are you thinking of stepping out for a visit?”
Krysta snorted. “Nah, I think I’ll just stay here…with you.”
“You say that with such weight to it.”
“Really? I was trying to say it with surprise,” Krysta said. “You really don’t want to go with them? I mean…we came all this way to find Twilight.”
“Want?” Lightning repeated. “Yes, I want to go with them. I want to be out there right now. I want to take the lead, I want to…yes, I want to go with them.”
“Then why are we staying here?”
“Because there’s a difference between want and need and shouldn’t,” Lightning said, as he changed arms again. “I want to go with them, I want to take over this whole thing, I want to put myself and how I feel and my relationship with Twilight at the centre of this story…but I shouldn’t. I don’t need to and I won’t. They’re Twilight’s friends, regardless of how I felt or feel about Twilight…they’re her friends, they’re the ones she loved, they’re the ones…they’re the ones who had a claim upon her heart. This isn’t the movie, I don’t have the right to march on and order them to change up the theme music to suit me. This isn’t even the show. I’m not the hero here, if I ever was. It’s not my place to go out there. This…this is something that they have to do alone together, if you see what I mean.”
Krysta was silent for a moment. “Yeah, I get it. I guess…yeah, I can see that. This is something that they’ve got to do. How do you think they feel right now?”
“I don’t know,” Lightning confessed. “I never was much good at getting into other peoples heads and understanding their feelings.”
“Are you worried?”
“Worried?”
“Raven’s still out there,” Krysta said. “Are you worried about what will happen if they have to face her?”
“Are you asking me if I’m worried or if I’m worried that they’ll have to face her without me?” Lightning asked. “You might remember that the two of us didn’t so hot against Raven last time.”
“You held back without the uniforce.”
“So did she,” Lightning reminded Krysta. “I think…I’d like to have faith, and maybe Twilight would tell me to have faith in her friends…but honestly? I think if they have to go up against Raven head on then they’re dead, all five of them. Raven’s too strong, too fast and too cruel. She’s got the edge on all of them, and they haven’t got anything to set against her.”
“Then why-“
“Because I think the same is true of anyone,” Lightning continued. “Me, Fratello, Rhymey’s brother, Pinkie’s sister? Raven would rip any or all of us apart with her bare hands, and if that didn’t work she’d burn us all with the uniforce. She’s…I’m starting to wonder if it’s even possible for her to lose. Her very body is as hard as diamond, practically. My best hits barely seemed to wind her. Twilight’s friends can’t beat her, but in part that’s because nobody can.”
Krysta looked crestfallen. “Then what’s the point?” she asked. “They’re dead anyway.”
“Not necessarily,” Lightning said. “Remember, Twilight’s with her. If she’s still the Twilight that we remember then there’s no way that she’d let Raven hurt her friends. She might let Raven hurt me, but…”
Krysta didn’t smile.
“Come on, that was a little funny,” Lightning said. “You’re always telling me to try and grow a sense of humour.”
“Not that kind of humour,” Krysta responded. “So…that’s it then? Hope is all they’ve got.”
“A fools hope,” Lightning agreed.
“Yet you’re awfully calm and resigned.”
Lightning was silent for a couple of push-ups. Sweat trickled down from his brow to snake across his nose. “Krysta, do you remember the first time that I fought Titan.”
Krysta nodded. “He was handing you your flank with all the trimmings until you busted out the uniforce to scare him away.”
“Because I believe that I could save you,” Lightning said. “In the teeth of all the evidence, in spite of the fact that all the other facts were square on Titan’s side, I believed that I could beat him and get to you. I didn’t know how, I didn’t have a plan, but I believed it. I believed it because I didn’t have a choice, there was no way that I was going to let him take you away from me. And maybe…maybe that’s what the magic of believing is in the end.”
“Being too stubborn to quit?”
Lightning grinned. “Something like that, yeah. Believing in something even if it makes no sense at all. Yeah, on the basis of all the facts there’s no way those girls can do this. On the basis of the facts Raven will kill them all before they get anywhere near Twilight. But I…I believe in them. I believe even though it doesn’t make any sense because that’s about the only time you really need to believe in anything. And so, because I believe…I don’t need to go with them. Because I believe I can wait right here for them to come back, with Twilight.”
Krysta grinned. “Look at you, all grown up and accepting that your not the centre of the universe.”
“It was bound to happen sooner or later.”
“There were times when I wouldn’t have bet on it.”
Lightning stopped doing his push-ups. “Hey, Krysta.”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks,” he said. “For always putting up with me. Thank you, for everything.”
Krysta’s smile broadened. “Don’t thank me yet, the ride’s not over. So, are you going to wish them luck?”
“What do you think?” Lightning asked.
Rainbow Dash looked in the mirror, and for a moment she saw that she could see Twilight’s face staring back at her instead of her own.
She recoiled at the sight of a pair of purple eyes framed in the glass, she gasped at the lavender face replacing the expected cyan visage…but then it was gone, and there was only her, Rainbow Dash, staring in shock at her own reflection like an idiot.
Pinkie sat up in bed. “What’s up, Rainbow? Is something wrong.”
“No,” Rainbow said. “Nothing.”
“It didn’t sound like nothing.”
“Well, it was,” Rainbow muttered. She rubbed her eyes. “I guess…the occasion must be getting to me or something.”
Pinkie was out of bed and on her feet in a second, and in just another second she was standing right behind Dash, one arm draped over Rainbow’s right shoulder while the left served as a pillow for Pinkie’s chin. “Hey there, Executive Captain Grumpypants, now what’s really bothering you. This is a happy day. This is…this is the happiest day that I can remember since…since that day.”
Rainbow smiled, if only a little, as she reached up and took Pinkie’s dangling hand in her own. “I get what you’re saying, Pinkie; really I do, I just. There’s a part of me that can’t believe it, that this is real that…that she’s actually back. It’s like there’s a voice in my head telling me that this, that all of this, is just a dream and any minute now I’ll wake up and…and she’ll be gone and we’ll be apart…and I’ll be taking orders from the Starfleet again.”
Pinkie wordlessly spun Rainbow around and kissed her, long and slow, until Rainbow Dash was left breathless by the time it ended. As she drew back, Pinkie stared into Rainbow’s eyes, her own blue orbs guileless and tender. “Was that a dream? Did that feel like a dream to you?”
“No,” Rainbow murmured. “That felt like the most real thing in the world right now.”
“This is real,” Pinkie insisted. “This is it. The change of everything. The whole world is going to get better starting right now. Because she’s back. She’s really back. Twilight. She’s back, and all we have to do is bring her home.” She stuck her fingers in Rainbow’s mouth and pulled her lips upwards. “So smile, will you? This is the most awesomest day in the history of awesome since Twilight became a princess! She’s back, and when we find her everything is going to be okay. I can feel it.”
Rainbow grinned. “And who am I to argue with the Pinkie Sense? Thanks, Pinkie.”
“For what?”
“For being you,” Rainbow said, as she kissed her on the nose and made Pinkie giggle. “Are you ready?”
“Just give me one second,” Pinkie said. One second later and Pinkie stood before her dressed in a white t-shirt, trimmed with pink, with blue shorts and hard-wearing hiking boots. A pair of pastel pink nunchuks were thrust into her belt, and in one hand she was toting what looked an awfully lot like a blue rocket launcher.
“Pinkie?” Rainbow said. “Is that a bazooka?”
“A PARTY bazooka, you bet!” Pinkie said. “I’ve got everything we need to throw Twilight a ‘Congratulations on Coming Back to Life’ party right here; I came up with it at first because Starfleet was always telling me how I needed to be all serious and military and all that stuff, so that I thought that if I could redesign the party cannon in such a way as it looked serious and military than the surprise would be all the more, well, surprising, and sometimes the really surprising surprises are the most fun of all. Plus, it’s a little lighter than the party cannon which can get just a little bit heavy I admit.”
Rainbow Dash’s face was crinkled with a smile. “Pinkie?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t ever change,” Rainbow said. “Although…if you wanted it to look like a real weapon maybe you shouldn’t have painted it bright blue.”
“Oh, I don’t want it to look like a real weapon, then people might think I enjoy hurting people.”
“Yeah, really don’t change,” said Rainbow fondly. “Not for anyone, not ever.”
Rainbow Dash threw on a few clothes of her own before they left, heading out of Pinkie’s room and down one of the lavender corridors towards the exit.
They hadn’t gone very far before they found their way blocked by Maud.
“Pinkie,” she said, her tone soft and inscrutable.
“Hey, Maud,” Pinkie said cheerfully. “Come to wish me luck.”
Maud stared at them both for a moment. She grabbed her sleeve with her other hand, and looked aside for a second. “I understand why you don’t want me to go with you-“
“It’s not that I don’t like having you around or anything,” Pinkie said. “It’s just that-“
“I said I understand,” Maud said, firmly but yet still softly at the same time. “I get that this is something you have to do by yourselves. But that doesn’t mean that…take care of yourself, Pinkie.”
“I don’t need to take care of myself,” Pinkie said. “I’ve got all my friends here to take care of me.”
“Pinkie.”
“But I’ll take care anyway, if it makes you happy,” Pinkie said, throwing her arms open. “Come here, Maud.”
The two sisters embraced, squeezing each other close as they parted ways for who knew how long. Rainbow didn’t know. She hoped it wouldn’t be long, it was getting to the point where every second wasted until they reunited was making her itch with impatience, but she didn’t know for sure. Pinkie and Maud might not see each other for a while.
“Good luck,” Maud murmured.
“Do you want me to say Hi to Twilight for you when we catch up with her?”
Maud was silent for a moment. “Yes. I’d like that.” The two sisters released each other from their grip. “I…love you, little sister.”
“Aww, and I love you too Maud.”
For a moment, it almost looked as though Maud might smile. Then she stepped away from Pinkie and turned her attention to Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash.”
“Hey, Maud,” Rainbow said, slightly awkwardly.
Maud stared at her for a moment, and then another moment after that. She stepped forward, looming into Rainbow’s face with her gaze unblinking. She said, “If you break my sister’s heart, I’ll break your neck.”
Rainbow’s eyebrows rose.
“That was a joke,” Maud said.
“Uh…hahaha?”
“But seriously,” Maud said, without altering the sombreness of her tone in the slightest degree. “Take care of her, she’s-“
“I know what she is,” Rainbow cut her off. “She’s amazing.”
Maud nodded, and took a step backwards; she pressed herself against the wall to let them pass. “Good luck out there. I…I believe in you, my sister.”
“Fluttershy, I need a word with you.”
Fluttershy was coming out of her room, dressed simply in a white top and green skirt – it was, she realised with just a touch of discomfort, the first time in a long while that she had worn anything chosen by herself, as opposed to chosen for her by Rhymey – when was accosted just outside by Chickpea.
Of Lawrence there was no evidence.
Fluttershy clasped her hands in front of her as she looked up at the tall earth pony. “Yes? Is there something I can do for you, Chickpea?”
Chickpea looked down at her. Her expression was stern without quite falling into grimness. Her hands were tucked into the sleeves of her lavender-and-blossom-patterned yukata, and her sword was as invisible as her husband right now.
“You’re about to leave, aren’t you?” she said. “You’re going after her?”
“Yes,” Fluttershy said, as a smile pricked at the corners of her mouth. “We’re…we’re finally going to bring Twilight home.”
Chickpea nodded, but said nothing for a few moments. “You know, Lawrence wanted to impose himself on you, but I managed to talk him out of that. Told him he’d be as welcome as blight in a cornfield and I think he got that into his head, but…we’re going to need a word with her and her friends when she gets back.”
“Twilight didn’t have anything to do with Rhymey’s death!” Fluttershy cried. “I told you, it was-“
“And I’d love to believe you, Fluttershy, trust me on that,” Chickpea said. “But-“
“But you don’t,” Fluttershy said, with a touch of anger entering her voice.
Chickpea did not grow angry in turn. In fact she even smirked out of one corner of her mouth. “Listen, I know that I don’t really know, and I certainly don’t know any of your friends, and I know that sometimes that show and those movies just plain old makes stuff up for the ratings…but when I say that I know every last one of you would take a bullet for the rest I’m not too far off the mark, am I?”
Fluttershy’s brow furrowed. She had an uncomfortable sense of where this might be going. “No,” she whispered. “No, you’re not.”
“And compared to that, lying to us about who really killed William might not seem such a big thing at all, would it?”
“I’m not lying,” Fluttershy said.
“Then you won’t mind us hearing it from Twilight Sparkle herself, and from her new crew now, will you?” Chickpea replied. “His brother’s dead, Fluttershy, he’s entitled to some kind of closure from that, same as you’re entitled to have your friend back. He won’t hurt her, I guarantee it. He won’t hurt anybody, but…”
“But what?”
Chickpea frowned. “Whoever did it will have to answer for what they did. You know that, right?”
Fluttershy stared up at her. She didn’t…Twilight…she didn’t want to let her go. She didn’t want to take the risk, she wanted…she wanted to hold her tight and never let her go, she wanted to…she wanted to treat her with exactly the same cloying, coddling, patronising ‘affection’ which had led Rhymey to imprison her. She wanted to lock Twilight away like a priceless porcelain doll and never let her into danger again…as though that were her choice.
As though that was anyone’s choice but Twilight.
If Twilight did do this, she wouldn’t want us to stand between her and responsibility for her actions, no matter how much we wanted to.
Twilight was always the first to own up to her mistakes.
“Okay,” she said, and if she sounded a little begrudging about it then who could blame her really. “You can both talk to her, when we get back. But…maybe not alone.” If she, Fluttershy, didn’t want to let Twilight out of sight and into harm’s way ever again then she could only imagine what Rainbow Dash was feeling right now, or any of the rest of them.
Chickpea chuckled. “Okay, she can have her bodyguards in there too. I’d get my dander up about you not trusting my word, but well…if my Lawrence came back from the dead I’d probably get a little smothering about him myself.” She winked. “Go get her, tiger. We’ll be waiting.”
They gathered just outside the ship, on the green and verdant meadow upon which they had set the Princess Twilight down. They were all there: Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow herself and Spike, who so often seemed the least of them but was no less a part of their hearts.
They weren’t alone, at least not for now. Kitty, Lightning and Fratello were there too, standing a little apart, closer to the ship. Observing them, but not apart of them.
“I wish I could go with you, Miss Pinkie,” Kitty said. “I could be really useful in finding your friend.”
“I guess you could,” Pinkie said. “But we owe it to Twilight to do this together, without anyp- anyone else.”
“We’re Twilight’s friends,” Rainbow said. “Her real friends, her best friends…and though we couldn’t save her life together we’re sure going to bring her back together.”
“I’m sorry, Kitty,” Pinkie continued. “But it wouldn’t be right to get anyone else involved in this, no matter how useful they might be.”
Kitty nodded glumly. “But you’re going to come back, right?”
“Sure I am!” Pinkie cried. “I’ll come back and we’ll introduce you to Twilight and then we can go back to Ponyville and you can make lots and lots of new friends.”
“Really?” Kitty cried, her eyes lighting up with excitement. “Okay then! I’ll be waiting but you’d better come back real soon, Miss Pinkie!”
Lightning took a step forward. His hands were thrust into his pockets, making him look unusually awkward. “I…I feel like I’ve got so much that I’d like to say to you girls, about the way that I’ve acted and the way that…I’ve got so much I’d like to say, but at the same time I’ve no idea how I ought to say any of it. So for now, I’ll just tell you that I’m sorry, and…” he bowed his head. “The six of you, the seven of you, are truer heroes then I could ever be if I had a thousand years to practice. If anyone can do this thing, if anyone can set right all the things that seem to have gone wrong, that I and people like me who though we were so much better than you have allowed to go wrong, it’s all of you…and Twilight. Good fortune attend upon you all.”
“The hearts of every pony aboard ship are with you,” Fratello said. “Please, give my regards to the princess; she’s the only reason I was able to see my sister again.”
Rarity smiled. “Don’t worry, darlings, you’ll be able to tell you herself in just what high regard you all hold her very soon.” She turned to her friends. “Well, girls, are we ready?”
“Not quite,” Rainbow said. She shifted uncomfortably. “I kinda feel as though somepony oughtta say a few words, you know? I don’t know who wants to, but…anyone?”
They all looked at one another, eyes flickering across each of the members of the group in turn as they stood in a hollow circle facing one another.
Applejack took her hat off briefly, and ran one hand through her blonde mane. “Well, I guess I’ll take a crack at it, since you insist.” She placed her hat back atop her head, and smiled for a moment. “Feels like we’ve come along way don’t it? We’ve got a long ways left to go too. But we’ve come this far, and we’ve made it through everything that fate and Starfleet and the Grand Ruler could throw our way, even if we did need a little help sometimes.”
A chuckle ran across the circle.
“But here we are,” Applejack continued. “Here we are where we never even dreamed we’d be. Twilight’s back, and she’s out there waiting for us. All we have to do is find her, and bring her home.
“We started this journey together, and though we got split up pretty soon after, we all made it back in one piece just like we said we would. Now here we are, together again. Now I believe that when we all sat down in Sugarcube Corner somepony said that we were never going to be apart. That was the right thing then, and I do believe it’s even more right now. We started this together, and together is how we’re going to finish it. All of us, together, with Twilight.” Applejack thrust her hand forward. “Altogether now.”
One by one they all placed their hands on top of hers, even Spike – who Rarity had to pick up with her other hand, but never mind – joining hands in the centre of the circle. Applejack could feel the warmth of each of them, feel the bond that bound them all together and bound them all to Twilight.
The bond that would carry them to success here just as it had carried them through all their other trials and tribulations.
“Together until the task is done,” Rarity said.
“Together until the end,” Rainbow declared.
“All of us, united as a family,” Applejack said.
“For friendship,” said Fluttershy.
“For love,” said Pinkie.
“For Twilight,” said Spike.
“Together!” they all cried out as they raised their fists in the air, filled with the joy that comes from a sense of imminent impending triumph.
They were about set out when suddenly the voice of Bridge Bunny cut through on their communicators. “Cap- I mean, Miss Rarity! We’ve got a bit of a problem here.”
“What is it?” Rarity asked.
“A Starfleet battleship, the Revenge, just dropped out of warp above the surface of the planet and is currently descending into low orbit,” Bridge Bunny. “And I’m afraid they know we’re here…and they’re hailing us. Hailing you, all of you, specifically.”
The friends glanced at one another.
“Put them on,” Rarity said.
“Yes, Miss Rarity. Right away.”
“This is Major Starla Shine of the Starfleet addressing all the ponies aboard the Perfect Pony Princess Twilight Sparkle, but especially to all the members of the rogue squad formerly known as Friendship is Magic,” Starla’s voice echoed loudly into their earpieces. “I’m not interested in dialogue with murderers and traitors so keep your mouths shut and listen up. I know that you are all in cahoots with the traitor Twilight Sparkle. I know that Fluttershy murdered Major Rhymey because he found out about your little scheme. I know that you are all a pack of worthless scum and in the name of the Grand Ruler I, Starla Shine, vow that I will see you all pay for your crimes against United Equestria.
“I want my husband back, I know that he’s down there with you under your malign influence. I want to see Rhymey’s killer hang from the highest yardarm in New Neighfolk for what she did, and I want to see Twilight pay for what she has done to His Majesty and to me. If you make me come down there and take you by force then rest assured that I will kill each and every one of you and where possible I will do it slowly and in such a manner as to cause you all a great deal of pain. But, if you surrender now and give yourselves in peacefully, if you tell me where the great traitor may be found, then I will spare the lives of all of you save Fluttershy. I’ll even be merciful and kill her quickly, with a snap of the neck as the rope tightens. And the only punishment the rest of you will receive…is having to watch as I take the head of Princess Twilight Sparkle.”