//------------------------------// // Back to Freedom // Story: The Island of Tambelon // by Rakoon1 //------------------------------// Now with the shadow that covered Tambelon gone, happiness slowly invaded the inhabitants’ hearts as they tasted the freedom that they had. But, despite everything, there were things that needed to be done. Twilight, Blue and Star went to the treasure room, finding a vault that was heavily protected. “Looks like this is it” Blue said. “I have to say I’m disappointed. Grogar was very smart and he hid the star seeds in a regular vault in the treasure room?” “A vault that is protected by a lot of spells” Star observed, while using his magic to detect the safe’s defenses. “And the metal used to do the vault is impervious to magic.” “And I’m certain the star seeds are in there” Twilight told. “I can feel it. Very well, Blue, you can use your magic to nullify the defensive spells, so Star can then remove the vault’s door.” “If you say so, Twily” Blue replied, charging his horn with magic. “Let’s do this.” And he casted a beam that hit the defenses of the vault that started to fade away. Once there was no more defensive spells left, he told to his son: “Go for it, buddy.” So Star covered himself with Kurama’s energy and then summoned two tails that grabbed the vault’s door and pulled, eventually taking it out. After he placed the door down and returned to his normal mode, the three of them entered in the vault. The vault was filled with many objects, most of them looking to be valuable or magical. But their attention went to the ceiling, where, floating in dark bubbles, were numerous star seeds. “There they are” Blue said. “Let’s go take them out and bring them to their respective owners.” “We have to be careful, dad, as normal star seeds don’t retain their lights for long” Star said. “Those bubbles are keeping them from being deployed of light and filled with darkness.” “What just makes me even more surprised that Grogar didn’t take advantage to turn them into dark ponies” Blue said. “My grandfather, despite being Grogar, still had his honor, Blue” Twilight said, while looking around. “He would never create unnecessary slaves or break star seeds for no reason. Besides, he already had the stone ponies, so he didn’t have any use for dark…” But she stopped what was saying when something caught her attention. “So that’s where she was…” Twilight said. “Who?” Blue and Star asked, at the same time. And they saw what she was seeing: a statue of a beautiful unicorn mare. The crown on her head didn’t lie about her identity. “That’s…” Star started. “Queen Nova” Blue completed. “Of course he had put her where nopony could reach.” Twilight looked around the bubbled star seeds and then was able to locate the one that belonged to the queen, bringing it to herself and releasing the star seed. Immediately after, the alicorn princess handed the star seed to her rightful owner. The stone started to crack and turned into coat and Queen Nova got to life again. The unicorn queen had a light blue coat, a mane with a unique combination of shades of purple and bright pink eyes. She took a deep breath and, looking a little confused, she asked: “Where am I…?” The thought of Grogar came to her and, noticing Twilight, Blue and Star, she got into a defensive position, while asking: “Who are you?! Where is Grogar?!” “You don’t have to worry, Queen Nova” Twilight told. “Everything is fine. You and your kingdom are now free.” She then proceeded to tell Nova about how Grogar took over Tambelon and ruled for decades, being succeeded by the Dark Mistress who proceeded to enact the Lord of Chaos’ plan to bring the Smooze to the Pony World. After knowing what happened, Queen Nova got very thankful for everything Twilight and the others did. After using magic to reconstruct part of the central tower and to recover the other ponies that had their star seeds removed, Twilight, Star and Blue were able to return the other star seeds to their respective owners. With that, Tambelon could now have its freedom back completely. It was then that the time to return home arrived. Queen Nova, in order to repay partly what the saviors of her kingdom have done, prepared for them a ship that would take them back to Equestria. At the docks, the ship was now prepared to take everypony back. Twilight, her friends (except for Applejack), Star, Blue, Moonlight and Thorax were saying goodbye to Queen Nova, who was accompanied by two of her guards. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay a little longer?” Queen Nova asked. “I wanted to, at least, make a feast to honor you all for everything you did to save me and Tambelon.” “The honor would be ours, your highness, but we have to return to Equestria” Twilight said. “I have my own kingdom to rule and a desire to see my daughters, and I assume my friends want to return to their families as well.” “I understand” Queen Nova said. “Please send my regards to Princess Celestia. It will be nice to finally meet her again, even more when her sisters are back.” “Don’t worry, I will” Twilight said. Applejack was with her parents, who were coming along with them. But they shared with her some unexpected news. “So ya decid’d tah keep livin’ here after everythin’?” Applejack asked. “We know it sounds weird, but we get us’d tah tha place” Jonagold said. “We have lived here for twenty-five years and you and your brother and sister have already built your own lives” Buttercup continued. “We will keep seeing each other, but… We don’t think we can live in Ponyville after being away for so long.” Despite not liking her parents’ decision, Applejack couldn’t blame them for feeling that way. Besides, she was too happy to have reunited with them to be able to argue with them. “Ah understand… and Ah’ll support ya” she replied. And the three of them shared a hug. So, they all got on board on the ship, with Rarity saying: “Oh, I can’t wait to get home and see Shadow Claw and Silver Wind again. Also this all journey had given me a lot of ideas for a new collection.” “Really, you were able to get inspiration from all the danger and near-destruction that we just faced?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Oh, Rainbow, darling, you should know I can get inspiration from almost anything” she replied. “Yeah, it is just like when I can get any inspiration to plan any kind of party” Pinkie Pie said. “Can you imagine how it would be if I only used balloons, streamers, confetti, cake, punch… Okay, now that I think about it, I may have said most of the things used on a party, but the point is still valid.” “I was wondering if we can visit Allegro at her island” Moonlight suggested. “I guess so” Twilight said. “We just have to say the captain where to go.” “Despite the trouble we had there, her island is really a good place to rest” Fluttershy said. “As long we don’t return to the Isle of Dread” Star said. “I don’t want to deal with those five-legged beasts again.” “Don’t worry son, now that we know the generic area where that place is, we can pass it” Blue said. “I’m just a little worried about how the other ponies will react when they see me” Thorax said. “Don’t worry, Thorax, everything will be fine” Moonlight reinsured him. “They will get to know your true nature, mainly after getting to know that you faced one of Chrysalis’ mutant changelings to save me.” “I hope you’re right, Moonlight” he told. “Ah can see ya weren’t exaggeratin’ ‘bout the adventures ya had on yer way tah Tambelon” Jonagold commented. “Well, I normally say things how they are” Applejack replied. “But, ya know, that’s what made tha journey interesting.” And so they started their way back to Equestria. After a few days of traveling, making the way around the Isle of Dread and resting on Allegro’s island, the Tambelon ship finally arrived to Equestria. Twilight, Blue and Star returned to the Light Kingdom, where they were reunited with the twins and (in Star’s case) Timber, who licked all of his owner’s face. Twilight’s friends returned to their families, with the reunion being emotional. But the most emotional one was the reunion between Jonagold and Buttercup with their parents and children. Big Mac couldn’t believe when he saw his parents coming to Sweet Apple Acres along with Applejack with his only reaction being going to hug them. Granny Smith and Grand Pear were also shocked to see their son and daughter respectively, but the shock quickly turned into tears of happiness. Apple Bloom, who had never met her parents, initially approached them timidly, but then to embrace them. The same went to Jonagold (the young one), Apple Flower and Apple Storm. Thorax moved to Ponyville where, much like how Moonlight told him, he was received warmly, despite the initial suspiction. Because it was vacant, Twilight allowed him to stay at the Golden Oak Library. Peace had once again returned to the Pony World, as another threat had been stopped. Everyone was enjoying that peace… except for one being. The Lord of Chaos was watching how everypony was happy and that only irritated him. “I can’t believe this!” he exclaimed, while hitting his fist on the arm of his throne. “Another big plan ruined by those light lovers. Can it be that I won’t have any glory against those miserable insects? But I won’t let them think they have won. Someday, I will have the upper hand and that reality will be mine! I just have to be patient and wait for my next chance… The End