//------------------------------//
// Aftermath 
// Story: The Legion of Bronze 
// by Sixes_And_Sevens 
//------------------------------//

Scootaloo woke up to the sound of soft beeping. She blinked. The room was dim, but she could still clearly see the figures around her. Her aunts sat together on her right-hoof side, slumped over each other, their hooves entwined. On her left, Ditzy sat, faceplanted in Scootaloo’s mattress. At the foot of the bed, Dash had fallen asleep with her chin resting on the footboard.
Scootaloo looked down at herself, and for a moment she wasn’t sure why that simple action caused such a wave of disappointment. Then the events of the last several hours washed over her. She sat bolt upright, the paper sheets crinkling as she moved. She winced as the saline drip in her forehoof yanked her back, but did not cry out. Why was she in a hospital?
The shifting sheets must have disturbed Ditzy, because she stirred and rose, blinking.
“Scootaloo? You’re awake!” she said happily. Then her eyes went wide. “Scootaloo! You’re awake!”
That was enough to wake the others with a start. It was impressive, watching Rainbow go from zero to sixty faster than Scootaloo could blink. Almost immediately, the older mare was up in her face, almost shouting apologies, questions, and explanations. Scootaloo just sat there, clutching her sheets between her hooves, letting the incomprehensible stream of babble wash over her.
Her aunts woke slower, and sat more quietly. They just stared at her, eyes wet and lips tight, each mare’s hooves clasped in the other’s. They said nothing until Rainbow had stopped speaking, her breath coming in thick, short pants. “Well?”
“Well what?” Scootaloo said. “I don’t think I understood a word you just said.”
Rainbow smacked her forehead and muttered something under her breath. She looked up and said with forced calm, “Are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah. I think so.” She looked down at herself. “I think I made it out pretty OK, considering.”
“I-- No! I mean, are you okay here?” She tapped her chest for emphasis.
For a second, Scootaloo considered inspecting her own chest and cracking wise, but looking at the concerned faces around her, she decided that wouldn’t go down well. “Where’s the Doctor?” she asked.
Ditzy coughed. “Taking care of a few loose ends.”




The Doctor hummed a little as he tried to tune the screwdriver. “You are sure you want me to take this off you?”
“Let me think,” the Rani said tonelessly. “Return to a prison sentence from the Time Lords, or escape to return to my studies. Decisions, decisions…”
“You won’t be able to travel much,” the Doctor pointed out. “And it’s no use trying to bum a lift with me, I’d be on the couch for a week.”
“Doctor. I would sooner bite down on a test tube of sulfuric acid than ask to ‘bum a lift’ from you.”
“Charming. Remind me why I’m helping you again?”
“I don’t believe you ever said. You just put Scootaloo in your medbay, and when you came back you offered to take my bracelet off.”
“Oh.” The Doctor lapsed into silence.
The Rani studied him, the way she would an unexpected bacterium under her microscope. “Why are you helping me?”
The Doctor looked up at her. “I don’t really know. Because it’s the right thing to do? Because it’s kind? Because we were friends?”
The Rani stifled a snort. “Were we?”
“Well. Frenemies, I suppose,” the Doctor allowed. “Or maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s the way you turned up out of the blue. Maybe it’s the way you told me that Gallifrey stands, in some way or another.”
There was a last buzz from the screwdriver, and the time ring clicked apart. “Doesn’t matter, really. It’s done now.”
The Rani flexed her foreleg, considering. She slipped the ring from her hoof and stowed it in her saddlebag. “It will be useful for spare parts,” she said. There was a long pause. “...Thank you,” she said at last.
“You’re welcome.”
A stallion poked his head in. “It’s all ready, Lieutenant.”
The Rani made a face. “Never call me that again,” she ordered. “I’ve had it up to here with military life. I hope I never see this city again.”
The charioteer gave a sort of half-smile. “I plan to enjoy my time here, myself. What I’ve got left of it.”
The Rani’s face darkened, and the Doctor glanced away. She turned to him. “Leave us.”
“Right, brilliant. I’ll just be checking over the TARDIS’ inner workings, make sure she’s not been overworked.” He hurried into the blue box and slammed the door behind him.
The Rani turned to the charioteer. “I’m sorry.” 
He gave her a tired smile. “Not your fault.”
“It was, actually,” she said.
“What, the disease? Letting those little pests out of their box? No. It was the will of the Gods.”
The Rani bit her tongue. She had very little patience even for Gallifreyan deities, let alone the religions of other worlds. But apparently, they represented something important in this culture. She would let the theological discussion slide today. “You were saying that it was ready?”
“Ah! Yes, Lieu-- Rani,” he corrected hastily. “The entire building has been separated from the city. Though, if I may ask--”
“No. You will see why soon enough.” The Rani turned away. “You may wish to leave now, if you value your life.”
He smiled, a sad, lopsided grin.“Not much left to value.”
“You said you had a family. A wife, a child.”
“Yes, I suppose that’s true.”
“It has been a long time since I had either,” the Rani said shortly. “Spend your time with them. After you’re gone, these days will be all they have.”
The charioteer--Rolling Wheels, she remembered suddenly, that was his name-- was no longer smiling. “I will.”
“Then go to them. I can do nothing more for you.”
“I will,” he repeated, turning to leave. At the door, though, he paused. “And Rani?”
She half-turned to face him. “Thank you,” he said.
And then he was gone.
The Rani stared at nothing, scowling. She felt weak. She hated feeling weak. Was this what trying to be a kinder person got you? Bah humbug, then.
But that last thanks echoed in her mind and stuck there. Perhaps it was something governing this universe that forced this saccharine sweetness on her. Perhaps it was something in the water. Or the air?
Well, she’d certainly have time to work it out. When she was certain that Wheels would have left, she pulled a lever on the wall. The center of the floor burst into flames. The clouds would be too dry to put it out, now that the storm Scootaloo had created knocked out all the water. That was okay. She didn’t intend to try.
The Rani flew up and knocked a hole in the roof. She hovered there, just long enough to watch the Doctor's TARDIS’ hostile action displacement system swing into action. It roared and wheezed into nothingness, and the Rani felt an odd pang of sadness watching it leave. Then she turned and flew away, back to the only thing of true importance; the pursuit of science.




The Doctor glanced up at the viewscreen as the TARDIS started to dematerialize. He frowned. “She might at least have said goodbye.”
Applejack glanced up from her side of the console. “Whatchoo talkin’ about?”
“Nothing, nothing. Shall we head home, then?”
“Yes, please,” Cheerilee said fervently. “I’d really like to go to bed.”
“How can you sleep after a night like that?” Bonbon asked.
“I don’t know, but I certainly intend to find out.”
The Doctor pushed a few levers up. “And… there!”
“Really?” Romana asked.
“Really.”
The unicorn peered at the monitor. “Not quite, I’m afraid. You’re actually about to land on Sweet Apple Acres…”
The Doctor gestured to Applejack. “Perfect, then.”
“...some three hundred years before Princess Luna’s banishment.”
“Ah.”
Romana gently pushed him aside and began working the controls herself. As she worked, Ditzy and Rainbow trotted in. Ditzy had one wing around Rainbow’s barrel, clearly supporting the younger mare. Applejack rushed over to help her marefriend to sit on the floor. For once, Rainbow didn’t seem to mind the PDA. The Doctor’s face fell as Ditzy trotted over to him. “How is she?” he asked.
“She wouldn’t say,” Ditzy admitted. “Not to us. Holiday and Lofty are still in there, Scootaloo told us that she needed to talk to them both in private.
The Doctor nodded. “She’ll be okay,” he said, turning back to the console. “She’s tough. She’ll be fine.”
“Are you telling that to me, or to yourself?”
The Doctor didn’t answer.




When the door to the medical wing closed behind Rainbow and Ditzy, Scootaloo and her aunts were left in silence. After what felt like an eternity, Lofty cleared her throat. “I’ll just flick on the light, shall I?”
Neither her wife nor her niece objected, though both of them winced when the room lit up. Lofty settled back into her seat and waited.
Eventually, Scootaloo found her voice. “I’m sorry,” she said.
Holiday nodded. “I judged you guys too hard,” Scootaloo continued. “You were trying to finally tell me the truth after all these years, and I shut you down. That was a stupid move, and it hurt you, and I’m sorry.”
“We forgive you,” Holiday said. “Now, will you forgive us?”
Scootaloo frowned. “Huh?”
“You’re certainly not the only one who needs to apologize,” Holiday said, slumping in on herself. “We shouldn’t have kept the truth from you for so long.”
“And we shouldn’t have beat around the bush so much when we did tell you,” Lofty said, side-eyeing her wife.
“Yes, yes, alright,” Holiday grumbled.
“And what’s this ‘we’ business, anyway? I always said we should tell her--”
“Well then, you shouldn’t have listened to me, should you?” Holiday took a breath and collected herself. “Well, that’s neither here nor there. The point is, we should have been more open with you about your past. Will you forgive us?”
Scootaloo nodded. “‘Course,” she said roughly. “Love you.”
Lofty smiled. “Now, isn’t this nice? C’mon, Holly, get around the other side. Time for a Scootaloo sandwich!”
“Ah! Auntie Lofty, no!” Scootaloo said, laughing. “I’m too old for that!”
“Too old for hugs? Nonsense,” her aunt said, climbing up on the right side of the bed and snuggling up to her niece. Scootaloo could feel Aunt Holiday’s weight fall on the left side and do the same. Scootaloo was squished, safe and warm, between her two loving, caring aunts. And in that moment, her cares and fears were lifted. She could just lie there, safe and loved and happy. 
“Of course,” said Lofty casually, “now that’s over, we do still need to think of what degree you can switch to, now you’re out of weather control.”
“Oh, I’ve got some ideas,” Scootaloo said sleepily. “But they can wait.”
“Yes, be quiet, dear,” Holiday agreed. “Let us rest for awhile.”
Lofty murmured an indistinct apology, and slid into a doze. After a while, so did Holiday and Scootaloo.




Cyclone woke slowly. Everything felt oddly fluffy and far away. She blinked her one good eye open. She was inside of a cloud. Why was she inside of a cloud? She couldn’t remember much at the moment. The last thing she remembered was going to investigate Lieutenant Pallas. After that…
Attack
Obey
Upgrade
Metal
Her one eye went wide, and she shot out of the cloudbank, ready for action. In the process, she launched Sgt. Siege Warfare off his hooves, then into and through a nearby house. She winced slightly in sympathy, but relaxed when she saw him raise a hoof out of the rubble and wave it helplessly. Quite how he was the brother of Flash Magnus, she had no idea.
She tried to focus. What had caused this? The box had caused this. Commander Hurricane had insisted that the box was harmless. The memory of her earlier heart-to-heart with the commander came winging back to her, like an arrow from above. She winced. Truly, she did not wish to strip him of his rank, but there seemed no way to escape that action without going back on a threat. That would show weakness, and weakness could not be permitted.
First, though, she would have to find him. She looked around, and saw motion every which way. It would be an impossibility to find him in this mob of movement. “Propraetor! Propraetor, there you are!”
Cyclone struggled to keep her balance as Pansy bounded into her, shoved off course by the chaotic motions of the crowd. “Oh! I’m so sorry!”
“At ease, Private, at ease,” Cyclone said, regaining her composure. “Where is Hurricane? I must speak with him.”
“That may take some time, Propraetor.”
Cyclone perked up. “Is he injured?” Wounds sustained in battle might grant her the out she needed. Hurricane was a good Commander, and she feared the repercussions of stripping him of his rank.
“No, Propraetor.”
“Oh.” She deflated.
“He’s organizing the repairs and relief effort.”
“The…” Cyclone trailed off as the full impact of the crowd hit her for the first time. They were not milling about in confusion, nor were they panicking. They were calmly and collectively putting the city back together, cloud by cloud. The streets were almost smooth again, and the holes in the buildings were being repaired even as she watched.
“It was of course a great travesty that the storm caused Lt. Pallas’s lab to drift away,” Pansy continued. “All the work inside is lost now, including the Lieutenant herself.”
“A storm,” Cyclone repeated.
“Oh, yes. But thanks to your excellent leadership and the Commander’s skill at organizing tasks, the city suffered no casualties and only a few losses of property.”
“I see,” Cyclone mused, looking at Pansy more closely. Behind the mare’s wide blue eyes, something winked back at her. “And this was in no way related to… any boxes, for instance?”
“Boxes, Propraetor?”
“No. I thought not. In that case, I believe the Commander has earned himself a commendation, as have you.”
“I, Propraetor?”
“A private one, Private, if you wish.”
“That would be most good of you, Propraetor. Thank you for recognizing me.”
“Oh, I recognize more than you know,” Cyclone said. “Tell me, Pansy, have you ever considered a career in politics?”
“No, thank you. I prefer to remain out of the public eye.”
“I quite understand. But as an advisor, perhaps?”
“Officially, Propraetor, my duties require me to remain with Commander Hurricane at all times.”
“And unofficially?”
Pansy gave a shy smile. “We can discuss that later. Say, tomorrow in your private gardens, CM-hours?”
Cyclone smiled. “You realize you aren’t on duty, Private? VII tomorrow evening sounds fine.” She glanced around. “We may even have the city repaired by then.”
“Yes, ma’am. Would you care to join in?”
“Certainly. What areas need the most attention?”
Commander Hurricane watched from afar as his subordinate chatted up the most powerful mare in the city. He allowed his expression to unfreeze just enough to give a fraction of a smile. He supposed he rather approved of her moving up in the ranks. Perhaps it wouldn’t be quite so lonely at the top with a compatriot. Then he turned back to organizing Skyzantium’s full restoration.




Applejack sat on the floor of the TARDIS, holding Rainbow tight to her chest. “AJ?”
“Yeah?”
“Sorry about running out on you like that.”
“‘S okay. Ya needed to make things right. Ah respect that.”
“Yeah.”
There was silence for a few minutes. “I think I need to make things right with you, too.”
“Oh? How’s that?”
“I--” Dash huffed and muttered something unprintable. “Look, I’m coming out, alright?”
Applejack blinked a few times. “Sugarcube, Ah reckon Ah got th’ idea after the first few times you kissed me--”
“Not to you! To Ponyville!”
“Oh.” Applejack decided that, Archdeacon of Honesty or not, now might not be the most tactful time to mention that everypony in town already had a pretty good idea of their relationship. “What brought this on?”
Dash shifted awkwardly in Applejack’s hooves. The farmer let go, only for Dash to shove herself tighter against her barrel. “No, keep holding me. I like that. Being held is awesome.”
Applejack chuckled and ran a hoof through her marefriend’s mane. “You were sayin’?”
“Oh, yeah. Uh.” Dash cleared her throat again. “Look, Cloudsdale wasn’t exactly a good place to grow up… y’know. Not hetero.”
“Uh-huh?”
“So when I came into my mom's book club meeting, babbling about this real cute filly sitting next to me in class--”
“Point of order?”
“Uh?”
“What was her name?”
“Oh, it was Blossomforth.”
“Right. Carry on.”
“Uh, yeah, the other book club mares flipped. Told mom it was me being rebellious, and she should do something about that, and a bunch of other stuff. That was the last time mom had a book club. But the other mares... well, they loved some nice juicy gossip.”
Applejack’s grip got tighter. “Yeah, pretty much,” Dash said. “Mom and dad always supported me-- I mean, you met them, you know how they are. But they were basically the only ones in the city who were remotely chill.”
“Ah see. But when you talk about Cloudsdale, y’all always seem so--”
“Happy?” Dash shrugged. “Yeah. I had some good times there. Pretended to be straight, fit in. Like I said, mom and dad were always there for me. I made friends with some other cool pegasi. That’s where I met Thunderlane. Plus, you can get away with a lot more if you can fly well enough. Point of pride, or whatever.”
“So all this time you bin keepin’ it a secret because o’ that?” Applejack asked quietly. “Aw, Dash. Ah wish you’d’ve told me. Ah wouldn’t’ve pushed so hard--”
“No way,” Dash said. “I shoulda told everypony in town a long time ago. Ponyville isn’t Cloudsdale. It isn’t proud or vain like Cloudsdale is. It’s, like, a hundred times cooler than Cloudsdale ever was!”
“You think so?”
“Well, you live there, don’t you?”
Applejack paused. “Rainbow, Ah do believe that was the sweetest thing you ever said to me.”
“Really? Shoot, I’m losing my touch…”
Applejack hugged her tighter. “Ah like sweet talk.”
“Oh. Eheheh.” Dash went pink.
Romana leaned over to Bonbon. “How did she ever think they were keeping this a secret?”
Bonbon shrugged. “Celestia knows. Maybe this will correct the cosmic balance and Lyra will stop thinking that pet names and public displays of affection are appropriate roommate behavior.”




Silver Spoon poked her head out from under the Cutie Map table. “You think it’s over?”
“It sounds like it,” Diamond said, following her friend out. “Wonder how trashed Ponyville got this time?”
Silver trotted over to a window. “Can’t tell. It’s all fogged up outside.”
“Too bad. If we could look outside, we could go out when all the cleaning was already over.”
“Heh. Yeah.”
Diamond frowned. “Silver? What’s the matter?”
“Nothing, nothing. It’s stupid.”
“No, tell me!” Diamond insisted, trotting over to her friend’s side.
Silver shrugged. “I was just thinking about what Rumble said. About there being one thing we needed to do for him to forgive us.”
“Yeah?”
“You think it was… apologize?”
Diamond was silent for a long time. "Shit."
“Yeah, it was kinda obvious, wasn’t it?” Silver agreed. “So, should we go do that?”
“What, you think he’d forgive us now? After we didn’t even think to apologize when he all but laid it at our hooves?” She shook her head. “No. We just showed him how much we didn’t change.”
Silver sighed and looked at the foggy window again. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Maybe it’s time we just moved on with our lives.”
“Can we do that?” Diamond mused. “Without being forgiven? It seems kinda hollow.”
Silver shrugged. “Maybe. But we don’t have any choice.”
Diamond sighed. “No, I guess you're right.” She looked up at the fogged glass. “When do we ever?”
Silver took her friend’s hoof and held it. “Don’t be like that. Like you said, your dad always keeps his promises.”
“Yeah,” Diamond agreed. “He always said breaking a promise to me would be the last thing he did.”




Rumble sat alone in Ditzy’s backyard. Every other pegasus had gone home, weary and not a little embarrassed about being part of what had nearly destroyed Ponyville this week. 
When the Doctor had brought the TARDIS back to pick up Lofty, he’d offered the young stallion the chance to come in as well. Rumble had said no, of course. He wasn’t much good at bedside manner, and that was what Scootaloo probably needed. When she got out of the TARDIS, though, that would be a different story. So he would wait here as long as he needed to, under the fading clouds and the shining stars.
He was just starting to think about breakfast when he heard the wheeeze of the TARDIS arriving. He blinked the weariness from his eyes as he watched the big blue box fade into existence slowly.
The door burst open. “Hey Rumble! I’m dating Applejack!”
Rumble yawned. “That’s great, Dash.”
Dash gave a loopy grin. “Isn’t it? I’m gonna tell the whole town next!”
Cheerilee hurried out and put a hoof on Rainbow’s back. “Perhaps it might be a better idea to save that for later.”
“No! I’ve been holding onto this for actual years,” Rainbow whined.
“Then it can wait until the sun is actually up,” Cheerilee said firmly. “Bedtime.”
“Aww,” Dash sighed.
Ditzy trotted up. “Don’t worry, I’ll take her home. C’mon, Dashie.”
“Hey, Ditzy, did you know I’m dating Applejack?”
“Why, no I didn’t! Why don’t you tell me all about it while I fly you home?”
Applejack chuckled, looking up at her marefriend fly away, clumsy and punch-drunk on affection. “Well, Ah guess Ah’m glad she’s ready to spill th’ beans, now. Ah jes’ gotta keep her from talkin’ bout nothin’ else.”
Romana was the next out, followed by Bonbon. “Well, there’s nothing like escaping a group of deranged Cybermen to really guarantee a good night’s sleep,” Romana said. “Night, all.”
She went out through the back gate, and Bonbon and Cheerilee followed her out. Applejack was about to follow suit, when the Doctor poked his head out the TARDIS doors. “Applejack, could you give me a hoof for a mo’? I want your opinion on something.”
The farmer blinked, then shrugged. “Aw, what’s a few more minutes awake at this point? Alright Doc, show me what you need…”
Before she entered, she paused as Scootaloo and her aunts trotted out. Lofty was still asleep, draped over Holiday’s back like a blanket. “Hey,” Rumble said.
“Hey,” Scootaloo said back. She looked at Aunt Holiday. “I’ll catch up with you.”
Holiday hesitated, but eventually nodded. She gave Rumble a very weary smile, then headed off through the gate.
The two friends sat together under the fading stars. Rumble glanced at Scootaloo's flank. It was marked with an emblem of a wheel pursued by a blue lightning bolt. “So,” he said. “How’d it go?”
“Um,” said Scootaloo. “Okay, how much do you already know?”
“Nothing.”
“Then I’ll skip to the end.” Scootaloo looked up at the sky. “I got to fly.”
“Oh.”
“And now I’ll probably never fly again.”
“I see.”
“So I’m changing my plans for the future.”
“Okay.”
“I’m gonna be a stunt planner.”
“Wait. What?”
“Stunt planner. Never really thought about it before, but you know what the Wonderbolts need to pull off all their cool tricks? Math. Lots of math. Math to make sure they don’t die. And I managed to think my way out of a lot of problems on the fly tonight.”
“Well,” Rumble said, sitting back, “I’m glad. It sounds like you’ll be good at that.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
They sat in silence. Rumble nudged her. “You alright?”
“No, not really,” Scootaloo said. “Maybe I’ll never be alright. But you know what? Maybe I will be. And I’m definitely more alright than when I was hoping for a miracle. I’m taking my life back, Rumble. And you know what I think? I think that’s a start.”
“Good.” Another pause. “You wanna hug?”
“Yes, please.”
They sat like that for a few minutes, two friends just being there with each other and for each other under the dark curtain of night.




Inside the TARDIS, Applejack leaned against the railing of one of the catwalks. “So, uh, what didja want me ta look at, Doc?”
“Just a moment,” the Doctor said, peering intently at a monitor. “I need to find the right footage.”
Applejack rubbed her eyes while the Doctor rewound the footage. “Right. Now, I’m counting on your Countess of Honesty powers, here.”
“K.”
“I want you to watch this security cam footage and tell me what you see.”
Applejack squinted. “Looks kinda grainy.”
“No, it’s rainy,” the Doctor corrected.
“Oh. Ah see.” She squinted as a faint wheezing groan rose from the speakers. “Huh. Sounds like it’s movin’, but Ah don’t see th’ rotor goin’ up an’ down. Except--” she squinted. “It’s like Ah’m lookin at two pictures at once.”
She frowned. “An’ where’d that fella spring from? Is that another of yer faces?”
“Not one I’ve ever seen, no,” the Doctor said darkly. “So you can see it, then.”
“Ah can’t say Ah know what it is, but yes Ah do.”
“I see. Very helpful.”
“Ya don’t sound best pleased.”
“I’m not. I was hoping this was just some kind of trick with the footage. Would you be able to see through a camera trick like that?”
“Dunno. Ah’ve seen ‘em in cinemas, but Ah know they’re all lies anyhow afore Ah get there. Guess it might fool me.”
“Hm.”
“Doc, what exactly is it you’re trying ta ask me?”
“I’m not sure,” the Doctor said grimly. “All I know is, there’s something very wrong with my TARDIS. Thanks for trying, Applejack. I’ll let you go to bed, now.”
“Alright, Doc. Hope ya work it out soon.”
She trotted out and closed the door behind her. The Doctor looked back to the screen, where the pale figure was even now meddling with the controls. “Something wrong with the TARDIS,” he mused, “or something very wrong in the TARDIS.”
There was a clatter, and the Doctor jumped. But when he looked round, it was only a wrench that had fallen to the floor. He frowned at it. “Jumping at shadows,” he muttered, trotting out of the TARDIS to go to bed.
Behind him, the lights went out, one by one, as the TARDIS entered sleep mode. The last one, though, stayed on a long time. One last light, burning red like a beating heart, stayed on several minutes after all else had switched off. Then, with a flash, even that went out, leaving the console room in darkness.