//------------------------------// // Reunion // Story: My Brave Pony: Starfleet Nemesis // by Scipio Smith //------------------------------// Reunion They stood at the entrance to a cave or a tunnel or something like it. Nothing natural, that was for sure. Natural caves didn’t have the walls lined with metal, and all prettied up with glowing white and blue lights in the walls and the floor. Someone had built this here thing, and they hadn’t done it yesterday neither. Applejack pushed her hat back on her head. “I’m not construction expert, but I reckon it would taken either a mess of years or a mess of folks to dig this, especially if it goes as deep as it looks to go.” “I quite agree,” Rarity murmured. “I’m no expert either, but I can tell you that whatever this place is it isn’t a mine.” “How do you figure that?” Applejack asked. “Because they didn’t actually mine this place,” Rarity said. “I can still detect any number of rare and valuable gems down there, buried beneath the metal of the walls. I’d guess it was built for transit.” Applejack chuckled. “We might not have all of Twilight’s smarts and knowledge, but we make do.” “Yes, we certainly do,” Rarity said in an amused tone. “For now.” The earth shook, sending shudders through all five ponies and the baby dragon, to the extent that Fluttershy and Rarity were nearly knocked off their feet and had to be caught by Pinkie and Applejack respectively. “There goes another one,” Rainbow muttered. Applejack followed Rainbow Dash’s gaze and her outstretched arm, pointing to where another of those things that looked like giant mechanical bugs, and were followed by whole swarming mess of smaller creatures, broke out of the ground like an ancient monster and began to fly upwards into the sky. They seemed to be converging on something, joining others that had risen up before them in heading towards something…some kind of smudge in the sky. A ship maybe? Where those flashes that Applejack thought she could see far off gunfire from it defending itself? Or was she imagining things? “How many is that now?” she asked. “Has anypony been keeping count?” “Twelve?” Rainbow hazarded. “I might have missed a few.” “I think it’s closer to fifteen,” Fluttershy murmured. “That would be the few I missed.” “Sixteen,” Pinkie said. “With another due to come out…now!” She gripped Fluttershy tighter as another one broke free of its earthen confinement and rose up into the sky. Applejack didn’t get the impression that they were making a conscious noise, but their engines certainly made a sound like the deep-throated roaring of some primal beast, and the little critters that thronged about them, well, their smaller engines or the like sounded a whole lot like they were shrieking because they were mad as anything about something. It was a little unnerving to tell the truth. “What do you think they are?” Spike asked. “I have no idea,” Rainbow said. “Honestly? I don’t even know if Twilight would know what the hay those things are. We never saw anything like them.” Rarity pried herself out of Applejack’s arms. “Do you think…I hate to be the one to say it, but do you think that this could be connected to Twilight in some way?” “It would be one heck of a coincidence if it wasn’t,” Applejack conceded. “Still doesn’t tell us much about what’s going on, though.” “We should keep going,” Pinkie averred confidently. “Twilight wanted us to come this way, which means that she wanted to us to find this tunnel, which means that she wanted us to follow it. We have to keep going, and then we’ll find her.” Pinkie’s train of thought certainly made sense. They had been led here, that was undeniable. They hadn’t just happened to stumble across an artificial tunnel in the middle of nowhere by sheer luck and happenstance. They had been guided to this point by signs, signs that they would recognise as being signals to them: a trio of balloons – two blue, one yellow – tied to a tree stump, a trio of diamonds left where they glittered in the sunlight, a net full of butterflies – Fluttershy had released them all of course – a row of apple trees pointing in the direction they were ‘supposed’ to go. Signs in the form of their cutie marks, or something close to it, leading them onwards, ever onwards. And they had followed those signs even as they led them here, even as the ground started to shake and things started to break free from the earth of Luminoth still they had followed the signs because darn it, they wanted to believe. They wanted to believe that at the end of the yellow brick road there she’d be, with that smile and that voice and those goofy mannerisms. They wanted to believe that she was calling them to her. But…Applejack scratched the back of her neck. “Pinkie…I don’t know if that’s such a great idea.” Pinkie had already walked to the very gaping maw of the tunnel. “But we’ve come this far?” “I know,” Applejack said. “But walking in there…I don’t know, but I don’t have the best feeling about this.” “But why?” Pinkie asked plaintively. “Twilight’s down here, at the end of this cave. Twilight’s waiting for us.” “If it is Twilight?” Rainbow was gliding a few feet up off the ground, but now she landed with a crunch. “What do you mean, if it’s Twilight? Who else would it be?” Applejack shrugged. “Evenfall?” she suggested. Rainbow furrowed her bow. “Listen…Applejack, buddy, I know what you think that you saw-“ “I didn’t think I saw anything,” Applejack replied hotly. “Twilight came to me and she didn’t say nothing about reincarnated or getting a new body or nothing like that. She told me that she was being held back somewhere and more importantly she told us that we couldn’t trust this Evenfall pony.” “You’d been shot, in the head!” Rainbow said. “How do you know that you weren’t just hallucinating?” “Because it felt real,” Applejack said. “She felt real.” “She felt real to me, too,” Pinkie said, and though her voice was soft it cut through the stillness of the air. “When I saw her, in Zebrica…it felt real to me, then. It felt like it was Twilight. I knew it was Twilight. She’s back. She’s back and she’s waiting for us. I can feel that. Unless my feelings don’t count because I’m too stupid to know any better.” “I never said that, and I never will,” Applejack said. “I just…” She paused for a moment, taking in the looks in there eyes. They didn’t…it sounded harsh to say that they didn’t believe her but the honest trust was that they plain didn’t believe her. They didn’t want to believe her. They wanted to believe in Twilight. Tartarus, Applejack wanted to believe in Twilight. If she was flat wrong and the whole thing had been a hallucination of hers then she’d give a loud hallelujah…but she didn’t believe that it was a hallucination. She believed that Twilight had given her a warning, and she had a bad feeling in her gut that they were ignoring it. But what was she going to do? It wasn’t like she was going to turn back and the let the rest of them go ahead without her. I’m sorry, Twilight. I’m sure you wouldn’t want me to leave them behind, would you? Applejack reminded herself that she hadn’t exactly been diligent in acting on Twilight’s warning. When they had told her all about the clone she…she had allowed herself to get swept away, just like the rest of them. Twilight returned, Twilight reborn, Twilight…Twilight back again. A second chance. A chance to pretend that they hadn’t all let her down the first time. It was only when they got onto the planet, and all of this weird stuff started happening, that Applejack started to wonder. Something about this…it just didn’t feel right. Like why was Twi making them follow a trail? The Twilight she knew would have been outside the ship waiting for them. She probably would have apologised for getting herself killed too, because that was the kind of adorable idiot she was. So why the trek and why this tunnel. What was going on here? Whatever was going on here, she’d face it with the rest of them. And she’d keep them safe, if that’s what it came down to. She smiled out of one corner of her mouth. “Okay. You girls want to see what’s down there, I get it. I want…I get it. So let’s go.” “Really?” Pinkie cried. “Yeah, really.” “Yes! You won’t regret this, Applejack. It is Twilight down there, I really can feel it.” “I bet you do,” Applejack said, as she walked towards the tunnel mouth. They formed a line, there under the shadow of the opening cave, and reached out and took one another’s hands. “Together!” they said, and took the first step forward. As soon as they had taken the second step, which put them definitively and firmly inside the tunnel, a metallic door rose up from out of the floor and slammed shut behind them with a definitive thud. “I guess somebody wanted to make sure that we went the right way,” Applejack said. Fortunately there was more than enough light in the tunnel for them to find their way – they didn’t really need to do much finding since there was only one way, but Applejack preferred to see where she was going and she was sure that she wasn’t the only one – as they walked with echoing steps down the enormous tunnel. “I wonder that whoever built this had to build it so big,” Rarity murmured. “Who was using this that it was necessary for it to be so high. You could fit the Princess Twilight down here.” “Beats me,” Rainbow said. She grinned. “I know who would know.” “Yeah, she’d be geeking out about this place,” Spike said. “Our bookworm princess probably would have given us a potted history of this place by now,” Rainbow said. “Whoever built it…I have to say they didn’t entirely lack a sense of style,” Rarity said. “Metal and lighting isn’t really my preferred aesthetic, but look at how neat the lines are, looking at how they flow into one another.” She gestured with her hands to make her point. “Look at the symmetry. I wouldn’t call it beautiful, too functional and grey for that…but someone had a care for the aesthetics during the design process.” They found themselves coming to a wall at the end of the tunnel far quicker than Applejack would have supposed, but as they drew near a console appeared, circular and mostly transparent, with a trio of circles of blue light appearing on what looked like air of mist, certainly nothing more solid than that. And as the lights appeared, a thin metallic voice whistled a few bars of a song that Applejack felt as though she’d heard before, even if she couldn’t quite put her finger on where. “Anyone else find that music familiar?” Rainbow said. “Just what I was thinking.” “I’ve heard it, but I can’t remember what it’s called.” “Oh, girls,” Pinkie sighed. “Don’t you remember. When I was a little filly and the sun was going doooooown?” Rainbow snorted. “Giggle at the ghosties? Yeah, yeah that’s the tune, I remember that now. I haven’t heard that in years.” “Those were the days, huh?” Applejack said. “I wasn’t there for that,” Spike grumbled. Rarity rubbed the top of his head affectionately. “Don’t worry, Spike. You’re here now, and that’s what really matters.” “Outside of the five of us, Twilight was the only one who knew that song,” Fluttershy said. “So it really must be her. She wants us to go this way.” “Sure, but how?” Rainbow asked. Pinkie reached out and grabbed – for want of a better word – two of the circles of blue light and flung them upwards into the third. “Did you have some pinkie sense telling you to do that or did you just guess?” Rainbow said. Pinkie shrugged. “Can it be both?” There was a shuddering, and then without any sound but a slight smooth whirring the floor panel on which they were all standing began to descend. The shaft through which they dropped was cut from the same cloth – or metal – as the tunnel that they had just passed through: the surface covered in metal which retained a little of its sheen despite the fact that they might be the first folks down here in a long, lone time. There were lines carved into the metal, making some kinds of weird patterns that Applejack couldn’t quite make out the nature of, which long white light in tubes – symmetrical, like Rarity had pointed out there were – for definition, and individual blue lights for emphasis. Whoever had built this place, they’d meant to stick around it for a while. Applejack’s earpiece crackled. “No!” cried a voice that, through all the distortion and the static sounds, sounded a lot like Twilight. “Applejack…I told you…don’t-“ The connection was abruptly severed. “Hello?” Applejack said. “Twilight? Twi, was that you? Hey there, whoever that was, who are you?” “Applejack?” Rainbow said. “I thought I heard something,” Applejack said. “It sound like it might be-“ Her earpiece crackled again, and this time she guessed that everyone was picking it up. “Go!” yelled the voice that might be Twilight. “Not…trap! Don’t…Eve!” “Twilight!” Pinkie cried. “Twilight, hold on, we’re almost there. We’re nearly with you!” “And what will you do once you find her?” Raven asked from the other end of the earpiece, her sibilant voice hissing straight into Applejack’s ear. From the ponies and Spike there was, for a moment, no sound, just the soft whirring of the elevator as it carried them down into the bowels of the earth. “Raven,” Rainbow Dash growled. “So it’s true,” Rarity murmured. “Twilight is with you. And here I’d hoped it was a misidentification.” Raven laughed. “And who could be mistaken for me, being as I am unique in all the universe?” “I rather doubt that,” Rarity replied. “Unfortunately, common thugs are, well, as common as the name suggests. And self-pity can be found from the unpleasant in many places.” “Self pity?” Raven demanded. “Hypocrisy thy name is Rarity. Isn’t it about time for you to faint on your couch?” Rarity let out a tittering laugh. “Oh, darling, I never faint when the situation is serious. You’d know that if you knew anything about me at all.” “Oh, but I do know you,” Raven said. “I know everything about you. She’s told me everything.” “She…you mean Twilight?” Fluttershy asked. “Ah, Fluttershy speaks,” Raven said. “Commiserations on your widowhood, my dear. Or should that be congratulations?” “Just answer the damn question!” Rainbow snapped. “Do any of you find it odd that your trusted friend should keep so much to herself?” Raven asked. “Does it seem strange to any of you that she should make you go so far just to see her again?” “I did,” Applejack said. “Though now that I can hear your voice it doesn’t seem so surprising any more. Where’s Twilight?” “Are you implying that I am holding her prisoner? Are you suggesting that I am keeping you apart?” “Where is Twilight?” Applejack repeated. “Safe,” Raven said. “For now.” “For now?” Rainbow yelled. “Why you little-“ “Why are you doing this?” Pinkie cried. “All we want is our friend back, all we want is to see her smile again, all we want is to bring her home so that we can be together…” she bowed her head. There were tears welling up in her big blue eyes. “All we want…all I want…is our Twilight back, is that so wrong? What did any of us ever do to you that you’re…why? Why are you doing this? Why are you keeping her away from us?” Raven chuckled. “Bring her home? See her smile? What juvenile concepts, and of what little meaning to who she is now. If you knew what she has become…what would you do then, I wonder? Perhaps I’m protecting you from…the harsh truth?” “Where is she?” Spike demanded. “What have you done to her?” “Nothing, except kill her the first time obviously,” Raven said dryly. “Now…I stand in defence of my friend…and of our ambitions.” “Friend?” Rainbow snarled. “You don’t get to use that word about Twilight.” “Your time has passed, all of you,” Raven declared with magisterial disdain. “The mantle of destiny now rests upon the shoulders of the artificial, those who were not born of mare or from the wombs of any living creature.” “That’s enough, Raven,” Twilight said. “No more mind games. Go have your fun some other way.” Applejack’s eyes widened. She said nothing as the elevator came to a stop at the head of another long shaft. No one else said anything either. They all just stared unseeing, or at least not really seeing the tunnel stretched out in front of them. “Twilight?” Applejack murmured, and in that moment she wanted to believe it just as badly as any of the others, she wanted to forget the dream or vision or whatever it was she’d had, she wanted to be swept away by it all. She wanted to believe because if it was true…if it was true then sweet Celestia that would be wonderful. Hearing her voice again, it was like the sunlight breaking through the clouds on a grim day, it was like the refreshing rain that brings a drought to end, it was like finding water in the middle of a burning desert, it was like finding your way again after getting lost in the forest it was…it was mana from the skies above. Twilight’s voice, her friend’s voice, that voice…she wanted to believe it so badly. She wanted to banish the memories of that broken body, torn up and charred and beaten so bad that Applejack could hardly look at it. She wanted to banish the memories of letting Twilight run off alone to her last and fateful battle while she wasted time playing around with that darned Harkin, and then stood around with one thumb up her butt while her friend died. She wanted to believe that that didn’t matter now, because Twilight was back and they’d see her again real soon. She wanted to believe it all so badly. She wanted to believe every last bit of it and never doubt. “Twilight,” she repeated, in a soft whisper because this moment, this sensation was like a glass figurine: if you held it too tight you’d shatter it into pieces. “Twilight…is that you?” “Yes,” Twilight said, and in her voice was held all of the enthusiasm that Applejack could feel within her own heart. “Yes, it’s me. And you…you all made it! Oh my, I…I can’t believe you’re here.” “Well where else would we be, silly?” Pinkie asked, as she wiped the tears from out of her eyes. “Where…where else would we be, but…but here with you, our best friend?” “I…I don’t know,” Twilight said. “After everything that happened…I wasn’t sure if you still cared.” “I’m sorry, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “I…I was so shocked and then…after Rhymey…after he died I…I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have reacted the way that I did. And Sunset couldn’t be here, but I know that she’s very sorry too. Can you…can you forgive us?” “Perhaps,” Twilight said. “Maybe, if you…we’ll see.” Applejack frowned. Now that didn’t sound like Twilight, not one bit. Twilight forgave them their faults and foibles so fast it was like she didn’t even see them sometimes, the same way that they forgave her for her mistakes just as quick. She’d even forgiven the time that they all turned on her on the word of the Changeling Queen and she hadn’t said a word about it after the fact even though she would have been well within her rights to stick it to them over it. But that wasn’t Twilight’s way, she forgave easily because she was that kind, and that kind too. She wasn’t the sort to hold a grudge or demand that you make it up to her or anything like that. Which is why it was so strange to hear her talk that way now. The Twilight I know would have understood that Fluttershy was going through a lot, and that showing up back from the dead is kind of a shocking thing. Why, if my Pa walked through the door and said, ‘Hey, Applejack, what did I miss?’ I’d probably faint myself. “You okay, Twi?” Applejack asked. There was a pause. “I’m fine, Applejack, why do you ask? In fact I’d say I’m better than ever.” “Don’t!” cried the other voice on the line, that voice that sound like Twilight too past all of the distortions. “Apple…remember!” “I’m afraid the underground conditions are causing some distortions to the comms,” Twilight explained. “I’m not sure there’s anything that I can do about it. Sorry about that.” “Uh huh,” Applejack muttered. “Say, Twilight, does the name Evenfall mean anything to you?” There was another pause. “Evenfall? I can’t say it rings any bells. Where does it come from?” “You told it to me,” Applejack said. “You told me not to trust her. Said something about saving the world.” Twilight laughed. “Applejack, that’s not possible. This is the first time that we’ve spoken since…since I died.” “Girls, listen…not…don’t…” the last word from the other Twilight-sounding voice was cut off by a scream of pain. “Twilight?” Pinkie cried. “Twilight, are you okay?” “I’m fine, Pinkie, don’t worry,” Twilight said reassuringly. “Pay no attention to the distortions, I told you. Applejack, where did I apparently tell you this?” “It doesn’t matter,” Applejack said. “I must have just dreamed the whole thing.” “Where are you, Twilight?” Rainbow asked. “How do we get to you?” “Just keep following the tunnel in front of you, for now,” Twilight said. “You’ve already gotten most of the way. You understood my signs, and you’ve made it this far, just like I knew you would. You’re almost there.” By now, Applejack was starting to get a bad feeling about this. A bad feeling in her gut and in the way that her palms were starting to itch. If this was Twilight, it wasn’t exactly the Twilight that she remembered…but on the other hand she hadn’t exactly left them with many places to go either. Don’t give up on her yet. She’s not all bad. Twilight had told her that as well. I sure hope you’re right about that, Twilight, and it isn’t just your optimism talking. Because it looks like we’re just going to have to walk into whatever she’s set up for us. They began to advance down the corridor. “Twilight, darling,” Rarity said. “One hates to impugn your judgement, especially at a time like this, but…Raven? Really, dear? After everything that she’s done to you, I’m afraid I just don’t understand it.” “I know what Raven’s done, believe me,” Twilight said. “Just like I also need you to believe me when I tell you that Raven is more sinned against than sinning. I know that sounds strange, but trust me okay? Trust me, like you used to.” “She sounds like she doesn’t want us to meet up,” Rainbow said. Twilight chuckled. “Raven…she’s got the idea that she needs to protect me from you.” “What?” “I know, it’s ridiculous isn’t it?” Twilight said. “Yeah, it is,” Rainbow said. “What makes her think that it’s safer for you to be with her than to be with us?” “It’s complicated,” Twilight said. “I can explain everything when we’re face to face.” “When’s that going to be?” Spike asked. “Soon, I promise.” “Why can’t it be now?” “He’s got a point, Twilight,” Applejack said. “Why do we have to come all this way?” “What, is a little walking too much effort for you now?” Twilight demanded. “I…I’ m sorry, I don’t know what came over me there. I promise, when you get to me, everything will become clear.” The earth shook. “I’m sorry about the tremors,” Twilight said. “After all this time…the only way to release the insecto armada is to physically force their way up to the surface.” “The insecto armada?” Pinkie repeated. “Exactly,” Twilight said. “A great fleet and army of automatons left here by Titan in ages past, buried for aeons beneath the surface. Now under my control. With this, I can wrest the cosmic destiny away from the Grand Ruler and his monsters and take it upon myself. That’s what Raven is worried about. She’s afraid that some people will resist my…assistance. As ridiculous as it sounds, she’s worried that you’re among them.” “Raven and you both talk about this destiny,” Rainbow said. “What is it?” “I’ll explain everything once you reach me.” “Ain’t there nothing you can give us to work with here?” said Applejack. “Not…have to…stop…!” “You all understand the purpose of the Starfleet, right?” Twilight said. “It gives the Grand Ruler something to wave around in dick swinging contests,” Rainbow said. Twilight didn’t laugh. “Starfleet exists to enforce the Pax Equis Solarum, the Space Pony Peace. All those who acknowledge the suzerainty of the Grand Ruler are safe beneath the protection of Starfleet. The benevolent police state provides food, medicine and education-“ “And all it takes away is freedom and choice and the right to live without someone breathing down your neck the whole time,” Rainbow said. “Exactly,” Twilight said. “The Grand Ruler is a tyrant, and so his vision of the peace is perforce tyrannical, but that doesn’t mean that it has to be. Think of the founding credo of the Starfleet. ‘This is your destiny, my proud space ponies: to rule all peoples by command, and to impose on them the custom of peace; to lift up the humble, and to war down the proud.’” “Okay,” Applejack said. “But what does-“ “With the power of the armada,” Twilight said. “And with…other power, that I’ll acquire later, I can destroy Starfleet and impose the Pax the way it ought to be. With true benevolence, under a truly benevolent ruler. I can be the Grand Ruler that the galaxy truly needs: fair and just and honest. With my intelligence, and with all the virtues that you, my friends, have instilled in me, I can usher in an era of true peace, using the armada to police worlds and-“ “Okay, who are you and what have you done with Twilight Sparkle?” Rainbow said. “Excuse me?” “Come on, Twilight, since when do you talk like this?” Rainbow continued. “Imposing peace? Policing worlds? How is that any different from what the Starfleet does right now?” “I’m not like Starfleet.” “No, you’re not, because you don’t act like they do,” Rainbow replied. “But…look, just saying that you’re a good person doesn’t give you the right to do bad stuff, yeah? You’re a good person, Twi, you’re the best person I know…but that’s because you do good things. Because you’re always there for your friends and you always try to do what’s right even if it doesn’t always work out. What you’re talking about now…if people don’t want to accept your rule are you going to attack them? Are you going to set rules and punish people if they don’t follow them? That’s evil when Starfleet and the Grand Ruler do it and it’ll be no less evil when you do it just because you’re cute and we like you.” “It won’t be like that,” Twilight insisted. “I’ll explain it better once we’re together.” They had reached, by now, a great chamber, a wide and cavernous space opening up out of the corridor that they had just traversed. Not all of this place was lined with metal. Some of it left the rock bare, and there were even lava flows descending the walls to add an orange glow and a touch of heat to the illumination. On the other side of the chamber, there were six corridors to choose from. “Hold it right there!” Applejack turned to see Starla Shine and her Starfleet team appear above them, weapons at the ready, glaring down at them from a rocky ledge above the corridor that they had just emerged from. “Former members of Friendship is Magic,” Starla declared, her voice dripping with acid. “Stand down and surrender yourselves and you will be taken into custody. Resist and you will die. The choice is yours.”