//------------------------------// // Chapter Forty-six: The Captain's End // Story: A Rather Large Adventure // by BradyBunch //------------------------------// The pierces and slashes came across Firestorm’s axis in almost random whirls of darkness. Firestorm had to keep both his swords in motion on both sides of him to avoid being sliced in half by the Black Blade. Firestorm was only half-paying attention. His mind was clouded with rage at the demon with the obsidian sword. Right now, what mattered was killing the threat. Firestorm allowed his fierce determination to carry energy into his wrists and arms, keeping them in perpetual motion to deflect the strikes of the demon. Their fight had taken them up the steps to the metal balcony near the gargantuan brass telescope. The small eyepiece of the telescope, hanging over the railing, was swiftly lopped off by a missed slash of the Black Blade. “You cannot destroy me!” the captain zealously roared at him. Black foam coalesced at his filthy black lips. “And you cannot escape!” “Dude!” Firestorm yelled back at him. “You’re the one stuck up here with me. Below you, there are, like, two dozen-ish people who really really want to see you dead!” Captain Slath spared a glance over the railing. Indeed, over three-quarters of his initial forces were hewn down into ashen piles. The girls--and the force of the figure in black wielding a yellow staff of power--were more of a force to be reckoned with than he imagined. Firestorm slashed both of his fiery swords at the steel ground in front of him. “So you, sir, are staying here with me until I’m done with you!” Captain Slath, giving him a sneer, slashed across the controls located on the wall with the Black Blade. Electricity spat from the control panel as the controls overloaded. “Not. For. Long!” The top of the observatory, with a massive, overriding creak, split open like an egg, showering dust below and displaying the blue night sky in its splendor and beauty. The gargantuan telescope, hanging from steel cables and beams, began to extend outward through the crack in the top of the observatory. Captain Slath, after feinting to the right, leaped to the railing and stepped off onto the top of the telescope. Scrambling over the bends in the telescope near the base, he alighted upon the main body and ran up the top like he was running on top of a fallen tree. Firestorm followed without a second thought for his safety, and within moments was racing up to Captain Slath to continue their duel. With a furious slash from both directions, he resumed the fight. Meanwhile, below the brass tube, the fight was slowing down. The girls all were formidable in warding off and immobilizing most of the Noxxa. Bodies were thrown, kicked, shoved aside, and hurled to the ground. Normally, the Noxxa would get up again after that, as the girls weren’t trying to kill. But, thanks to Freedom Fighter, most of the surviving Noxxa were dispatched quickly. Twilight, however, was still kneeling in grief over the broken body of Star Swirl the Bearded. The Staff of Sacanas was in splinters and sprinkled around his body. The gold key had been removed from his neck, but that only made the body desecrated; the key, unimportant. A gentle hand laid itself on Twilight’s shoulder, and the weight made her look up. Starlight Glimmer was there, solemnly gazing upon the body. A gentle tear was running down her cheek. “What were his final words?” she asked. Twilight clasped Star Swirl’s limp hand in her own. “You... have already lost,” she responded numbly. “Captain Slath has the map,” Starlight said. “We need to stop him from getting away,” Twilight said. A fresh wave of determination was coursing in her veins, washing away any kinds of pain or discomfort she had. “Where is he now?” “Up there.” Starlight pointed up, and Twilight followed. Up near the emergence of the telescope through the roof, amidst a flurry of darkness and flame, Captain Slath was pressed backward by Firestorm. “We need to help him!” Twilight exclaimed, getting to her feet. “How?” Starlight asked desperately. “They’re all the way up there! How can we help?” The noise of a coiling cable whizzed above the din, and Twilight turned her attention to Freedom Fighter, who had fired a cable out of his left arm into the underside of the telescope. Slapping a hidden button on his arm, he sailed upward. “Freedom!” Twilight cried, lunging for where he had previously stood. “He’s going after the captain!” Starlight realized, pulling on Twilight’s ripped and torn shirt. “He’s going to take care of it! We need to take care of the Noxxa down here!” There were only ten Noxxa left now, and most of them were determined to fight with countless injuries before dying. A trail of color sped around the room, slamming into bodies and throwing them into debris, but for all of the other Rainbow Dash’s efforts, they only rose up once again. “Why-won’t-you-just-die already!” she screeched, before kicking one in the chest so hard he flailed backwards and hit the corner of a table. The other Applejack hurled one Nox over her shoulder onto the ground, and on impact he curled up and folded his arms across his torso. “Help me git rid o’ these varmints, Pinkie!” While Pinkie Pie threw sprinkles from her palms to the downed Noxxa she saw, exploding into bursts of color on impact, the other Rainbow Dash craned her head up to see the swirls of flames and darkness enfolding the two duelists move up and out of the observatory roof. “Firestorm!” Rainbow Dash cried, outstretching a hand imploringly. “Stormy, you big lunk! Get down from there!” The other Rainbow Dash looked over her shoulder at the cyan wings sprouting out of her back. Then she gazed back up at the telescope. The navy blue night was a beautiful color, but it was bisected by the swirls of light and darkness that weaved around both combatants on the telescope. The telescope itself was so thick that both men could stand with their feet apart and not slide off; that said, balancing was still a precarious deal. The lawn beneath them was seventy feet down, barely discernible in the night. Firestorm wheeled and jabbed, spun and deflected, thrust and slashed. Nothing could get past Captain Slath’s defenses. He was a fellow duelist, and could anticipate the attacks Firestorm could make. So Firestorm decided to change that. After feinting to the left, Firestorm caught an opportunity to hack at the response the captain involuntarily made to meet it. Reversing his sword’s direction, he slashed at his lower right arm. Flame and steel shore through chitin and flesh, and away flung a sharp-clawed hand, clutching the spinning Black Blade tightly until it disintegrated and fell like a stone to the lawn below. Firestorm gave a shout of triumph, and lunged with both of his flaming blades to impale the demon. Instead, Captain Slath twisted to the side as the blades came near, and grabbed for both sword hilts with two of his remaining three hands, closing over Firestorm’s hands. Hard chitin crushed malleable flesh, and Firestorm, yelling in pain, released his swords. Captain Slath caught both swords with the same two hands used to crush Firestorm’s, and clasped Firestorm around the neck with his third. Sneering contemptuously, he turned around and threw Firestorm to the end of the brass telescope. Firestorm laid to rest with his head hanging over the edge, swordless and exhausted to the end of his ability. Firestorm lifted his head up weakly and tried to stand once more--only to find Captain Slath aiming one of his own swords at his chin. He held the other fiery blade horizontally, and with his one remaining hand, he dangled the furled scroll of ancient paper above the raging bar of flame. Firestorm froze in place. It felt to Firestorm that if he made even the smallest movement, it would make the fragile paper drop to the flame, even though he wasn’t the one holding the map. “Now,” Captain Slath panted with malice. He glanced at the map, precariously poised over the fire. “This is a rather perilous circumstance, wouldn’t you say?” Firestorm looked up at him and answered with his idiosyncratic sarcasm. “You don’t say!” Captain Slath narrowed all six eyes irascibly. “But I did say. I was the one asking you if you would say--never mind! Shut up!” He shook the paper above the flaming sword, and a small tongue of fire leaped off of the blade and almost set the map afire. “The only key to begin the path to the lost Elements is about to be swallowed!” “So you’d better not burn it,” Firestorm advised him. Captain Slath gave him a simpering sneer. “Why should I?” “Because I said so,” Firestorm said. He gently raised his body up by pushing on his hands. “If you get rid of that map, we won’t be able to find the Elements of Harmony.” “That’s what we’re trying to thwart!” Captain Slath almost bellowed. “Not if you get them first,” Firestorm suggested. “Not if we-” he started in incredulity. Then he leaned back in realization and widened his eyes. Then he began to chuckle uproariously. “Oh, you foolish child.” Firestorm swore under his breath. “How fortuitous it was that your tongue slipped,” Captain Slath said triumphantly. “You truly are right. If we possess the only weapons capable of destroying our master, then you have no chance to use them. Moreover, we shall have the power to shape the universe to our whims and desires. None shall stand in our way.” “So what are you holding that above the flame for?” Firestorm asked, trying to swallow his fear. “Because it is better that neither of us know where the lost Elements are than to have you alone know,” Captain Slath said. To prove the point, he jostled the sword so that the flame almost licked the bottom of the scroll. Firestorm restrained the urge to lunge at the scroll to save it. He kept himself back by clenching his fists. “Firestorm!” came a distant and indiscernible cry. Firestorm craned his head over the side, and seventy feet below, splotches of color were crowding together. White, pink, blue, yellow, orange and purple were all in a massive bunch on the observatory’s lawn. “Look at that,” Captain Slath said mockingly. “Your friends are here to save you. They can do nothing from down there to alter the delicate balance between us.” Firestorm knew he was right, but said nothing to confirm it. Anything he did or said right now could lead to either the salvation or destruction of the map. If he failed right now, the fate of the world was on his hands. And that was something he didn’t want to be attributed to his name. “So why are you keeping me alive?” Firestorm demanded, looking away from the color splotches far below. Captain Slath looked thoughtful in the wavering orange light of the fiery swords. “That’s a good question,” he conceded. He jabbed the sword so that the tip almost entered Firestorm’s skin. “Why am I?” “Because you like me?” Firestorm asked. The heat of the sword near his face was so intense that he was forced to lower himself on his hands once more. Captain Slath cocked his head, looking frightfully demonic in the fiery light. “Admittedly, that is part of it. You disarmed me; I have nothing but respect for a creature that can deal a drawback to me.” “I dishanded you,” Firestorm corrected. “I cut off your hand, not your arm.” Captain Slath glared at him. “Are you always like this?” Firestorm nodded solemnly. “Even in death, I act like a buffoon. My bravery is proven even more, isn’t it?” Captain Slath turned his hand and jabbed the sword into the telescope with a metal-torn shriek near Firestorm’s ear to shut him up. “Your bravery means nothing in the presence of my power,” Captain Slath declared. “Your precious map shall burn.” Something blue flashed in Firestorm’s peripheral vision. Before the map could drop onto the flaming sword, the map, held in his free hand, disappeared in a flash, and Captain Slath staggered back under the force of a heavy blow. Spitting out a rancid oath, both he and Firestorm turned to the source. The other Rainbow Dash, hovering in the air with her cyan wings, struck a defiant pose at Captain Slath. Holding up the map and shaking it, she stuck out her tongue and fluttered softly down. Firestorm, with a surge of appreciation for the other Rainbow Dash, slowly returned his gaze to Captain Slath, whose face was livid with anger. “It appears the tables have turned, wouldn’t you say?” he asked with a jaunty grin. Captain Slath narrowed his gaze once more. “You. Don’t. Say.” Ripping the point of Firestorm’s sword out of the spot next to his head, he swirled both swords in an X in front of him. “But you cannot possibly destroy me.” Firestorm nodded. “You’re right. I can’t.” Firestorm pointed past the captain. “But he can!” “What?” “Twilight, catch me!” he exclaimed, and slid to the side and fell off the telescope. Captain Slath leaned to the edge and peered over the side to see a much smaller Firestorm settle gently to the earth below, coated in a violet aura of magic from a miniscule, straining purple girl beneath. The magic cut out, and the light below disappeared. Captain Slath angrily smashed both swords in a cross on the telescope under his feet. Then, remembering the final words he spoke, turned around slowly. Behind him on the telescope, silhouetted against the dark blue of the night sky, stood a tall black figure with his legs apart and his arms at his sides. Captain Slath leveled one off the flaming swords at the dark figure. “Come no more against me and my master’s intents.” Instead of getting out of the way, the dark figure sprang three blazing yellow claws out of his left fist. Holding them up to his face, the sunfire illuminated his black, bulky armor and his expressionless dark cowl. Captain Slath swirled the stolen swords in the air, and a trail of flame followed each movement. “Then die, foolish warrior--from in front of me, and no further away!” Before he was even done, the warrior actually sprang forward and sprinted at him with his left arm out to the side. Captain Slath quickly stepped to the side and thrust with both of the swords as he got near, and impaled the warrior straight through the chest with both flaming swords. Or at least, that’s what he intended to do. What ended up happening was the warrior shifting the claws back into his fist just before he struck the captain and curving around the thrust aimed for his abdomen. Both his hands latched onto the sword hilts as the blades missed him, and his hands were crushing the chitinous claws holding the hilts. Captain Slath recognized it as an odd reversal of roles from earlier. He would not let it repeat itself. So he lifted both arms above his head, forcing the warrior to lift his hands as well, and with his one remaining functional hand, he snaked out and caught the dark warrior around his throat. He began to squeeze as hard as he could. Captain Slath grinned maliciously and stared into his eyes, flickering in the light of the fiery swords above their head. He knew instantly that he should not have looked. The warrior’s scarlet eyes held unbalanced, feral anger behind them. They didn’t even register the pain of asphyxiation. It was as if there wasn’t an actual creature underneath the mask at all. He was fierce, and powerful--and he was hungry. And those eyes narrowed to slits in quiet rage. The viselike grip around his chitinous claws tightened even more, somehow, and Captain Slath, wincing, turned his wince into a scream of pain. The warrior’s left hand seemed to be imbued with unnatural, inhuman strength, and it was crushing the captain’s right hand like it was crumpling paper. Finally, after he could take it no more, he dropped the sword in his right hand, which the warrior deftly caught with his released left hand, and he swept the sword laterally across his axis, shearing through the arm gripping his throat. Finally, he kicked the captain in the abdomen so hard he fell back and stumbled on his butt. Captain Slath hurriedly got back up to his feet, wincing aloud in pain. Two of his hands were disabled, and another arm was shorn off at the elbow. His one remaining hand held one of Firestorm’s swords, and the warrior held the other in his right hand. The warrior had his eyes closed tightly as he held the flaming sword out to the side. Opening his eyes, the red iris roared and twisted like a hellish inferno. There wasn’t even anger in the scarlet eyes illuminated in the devilish light of the sword. The emotion far transcended anger. It was fury. And he suddenly screamed--a high, piercing, cracking scream like the bellow of a crow--and launched like an arrow at the captain with his sword swinging down upon him. Captain Slath could only put up his sword in desperation, but before he was even done moving, the slash came from another direction and opened a wound on his shoulder. Dust blew out of his wound and trailed behind him. The fiery sword reversed direction one more time, faster than the eye could see, and slammed into Captain Slath’s sword so hard it was almost knocked out of his hand. The barrage of meteor strikes came on for fifteen more seconds, but to the captain, it was an eternity he had to bear. There were simply so many strikes from the sword that he couldn’t even meet them all. After contemptuously wearying him down, seemingly for fun, the sword in the warrior’s hand twisted his blade out to the side effortlessly, then wheeled downward and sliced cleanly through his one remaining hand. The flaming sword spun to earth, and Captain Slath screamed in shock. The warrior wasn’t satisfied with that, however. Twisting in elaborate swings, he then slashed off two more arms at the shoulder with two swift, fiery strikes, then swiped upward across his face. The right three of his six eyes went dark, and burning pain raked all across his entire being. Helpless to stop the inevitable, Captain Slath saw, out of his left eyes, the tip of the demon’s sword lunge for him, and he felt the burning steel enter his abdomen. The pain was incomprehensible. Captain Slath did not know it was possible to endure this much agony. He screamed and twisted his body on the sword, only enlarging the wound. Ash poured from the hole in his body and sizzled on the flaming sword. The heat was cauterizing his insides into some form of hardened rock, and it hurt so much to have your insides solidify into hard scabby stuff while it was still open. The dark warrior keeping the sword inside of him was gripping his cheek now. He used that grip to pull the captain further down onto the sword. All this he did without breaking his eye contact, and it hurt to stare into the warrior’s eyes and see the fury contained within. Captain Slath did not know how he was still alive to endure more. All he knew was that he wanted it to end. What could possibly be worse than this? The warrior then took the hand off his cheek, undid the clasps holding his cowl to his body armor, and with one hand pulled it off. It revealed the face of a young man, who was displaying a truly impressive array of scars across his complexion. His hair was thin, ragged, and parted to the sides and fell down his cheeks, like curtains on a stage. But what made Captain Slath gasp harder than ever before was the white elliptical birthmark. Captain Slath had experienced pain before. He had experienced fear. But this feeling he had while gazing upon the deformed face of the sworn enemy of the Noxxa was entirely new to him. It was terror. “Y-you!” he gasped at the end of his life. He twisted his face in anguish and clutched the sword that had impaled him. “Unforgiven!” The dark warrior grinned so hard, the corners of his lips reached his earlobes. Red showed between his teeth, discoloring them into a demonic appearance. He opened his mouth and spat coagulated blood onto the captain’s face. “Y...y-” the captain pathetically started to say. The dark warrior ripped the sword right out of his body, spun around, and kicked him in his abdomen, right on top of the wound. Captain Slath stumbled back, teetered on the edge of the telescope behind him, and fell. Captain Slath didn’t even have time to contemplate the end of his life as he plummeted helplessly through the howling air. Not even three seconds later, he hit the ground, and his pain ended at last. The girls all jumped back and screamed when the captain’s disintegrating body impacted on the lawn and shattered into dust. It shot across the dark green grass and tainted it a blackened color. The other Rarity brought her hands away from her mouth. “Oh... oh, dear goodness.” “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust,” the other Pinkie Pie recited deeply, her hands behind her back. “Should... someone clean that up?” the other Rainbow Dash asked uncomfortably. “Leave him,” Twilight grimly said, clutching herself around the waist. “It’ll decompose in time. We won’t waste time giving a pile of ashes a proper funeral.” Fluttershy leaned back in surprise, unaccustomed to hearing that amount of nonchalant callousness from Twilight. But being the shy, nonverbal person she was, she said nothing about it and folded her arms under the curves of her breasts. Footfalls from behind them all made them turn. Noble Blade was trudging out of the observatory with Flash Sentry’s body slung across his armored back and his dust-covered sword in his other hand. Following him were the three sirens, quiet and humbled. “That’s the last of them taken care of,” he breathed to Twilight. He stooped down and settled Flash to the soft grass. “And the captain?” Twilight glanced at the mound of scattered dust on the lawn for an answer. “We have the map, then?” Noble asked. “I got it,” the other Rainbow Dash proudly said, presenting the ancient scroll to Noble Blade. He took it gingerly and put it away at his waist. “What’s the map for?” Sonata asked. It was the first time any of them had spoken since the beginning of the battle in the observatory. “None o’ yer business!” the other Applejack said vehemently, stomping over to them. “Whad’ja do this time? Dija really side with those demons b’cause ya thought it’d be easier ta overpower us with ‘em on yer side?” All three sirens spoke at the same time. Aria said “No,” Sonata said “Kinda…” and Adiago said, “We didn’t have much of a choice…” “You didn’t have much of a choice?” Twilight asked in surprise. “What do you mean?” Adiago shot Twilight a dark look before answering. “We were just getting back from the mall this afternoon when this four-armed black naked guy shows up and demands to know where you were. He was about to sink a sword into all of us, so it’s not as if we could have another way out.” Both Twilights held a hand to their breastbone uncomfortably. They didn’t know which Twilight the Noxxa were searching for, but either one could be applicable. The pony Twilight, so as to achieve the Noxxa’s goals. The human Twilight, so as to have a path of revenge against the human girls. “You know what you could’ve done?” the other Rainbow Dash asked angrily. “You could have decided from the beginning that you weren’t going to be sucking up to him!” “What do you think I tried to point out?” Aria asked the other Rainbow with equal vehemence, whirling to Adiago. “I just wanted to go home to Equestria. You decided you wanted revenge against Twilight!” “Twilight wasn’t even my first priority!” Adiago insisted. “I thought that by working with the Noxxa, we could get home and... get Twilight as a secondary objective.” “What do you need revenge against me for?” Twilight softly asked, pressing forward. She passed over the unconscious Flash and leveled a finger at Adiago. “For protecting my friends? That was two years ago!” “Our lives were ruined!” Adiago pointed out, stepping forward to be face to face with Twilight. “They were ruined before then, and they were even more ruined afterward!” “And this is my fault?” “You and Sunset Shimmer destroyed our voices and our futures! We were barely subsisting on the power we had before, and the instant an opportunity came up for us to rise to our former glory, you took everything out from the foundations!” “You’re a siren! The reason you were even banished here in the first place is because you were destroying the peace in Equestria!” “So you’re gonna start blaming me for who I am now, huh?” Twilight stepped back. “No. But you could have been better than who you are.” “You said it yourself, Twilight! I’m a siren, and getting people to break the bonds of friendship is just what I do. I can be no better than…” She stopped and rubbed her eye. “...than who I am now. Okay?” Applejack came up to her human counterpart and folded her arms. “You can’t git rid o’ yer powers. We know that. But ya know what Ah think? Ah think ya could use yer powers fer the greater good.” “How?” Adiago asked bleakly. “Yeh’ve got th’ power ta manipulate loyalty and obedience. Yer good at stirrin’ up anger and disagreement.” She adopted a sly smile. “What if we could use that ‘gainst th’ Noxxa?” “As in, we’re going to be on your front lines, fighting those bug people?” Aria asked in shock. “Celestia would be more than happy to pardon you,” Twilight insisted. Adiago shook her head. “So now I’m fighting alongside the race I once tried to destroy? I’m a tool in an army of ponies that I have no obligation to obey?” “You’re a participant in an army,” Pinkie Pie corrected. Then she shrugged. “But yeah, a tool.” “Now would be a good time to stop talking,” Fluttershy advised Pinkie with a hand on her shoulder. “Give me a reason why I should support Equestria more than the Noxxa,” Adiago said plainly. “Adiag-” Aria started to protest, but Adiago shut her up with a glare, and Aria shrank back. And pushing away the people gathered on the lawn, a dark figure stomped angrily to the three sirens and stood there with his black fists clenched at his sides. In his right hand was the cowl he normally wore over his face. As he stood there, staring the sirens down with his fiery eyes sunken within his scars, the girls native to the human world gasped and whispered in shock at his face and his artificial deformities. “Freedom Fighter?” Twilight asked in surprise, looking up at the edge of the telescope from atop the observatory. “How’d you come down from there?” Freedom Fighter held up a fist, and the end of a long cable snaked back into his hidden mechanical arm. “He rappelled,” Noble Blade explained to her. Then he let his attention turn to Freedom Fighter. “So... what are you going to do?” Freedom Fighter made a few gestures by flicking his fingers. “Yes, I’ll help you translate,” Noble promised. Freedom Fighter then looked Adiago Dazzle in the face and, holding his furious gaze, began to flurry his hands and fingers in an elaborate series of twists and motions. “He was once part of of a tribe that fought against the Noxxa,” Noble Blade began, his face betraying his own shock at Freedom Fighter’s story. He kept it in check, however, and continued to help translate as promised. “But the Noxxa eventually destroyed it by burning the village, herding everyone into a circle, and impaling everyone with their cruel spears and their flashing knives. He was the only one taken hostage.” Adiago, Sonata, and Aria already looked uncomfortable. Noble Blade continued to translate as the hands flurried. “He was chained in the basement of the Noxxa capital and was tortured for weeks. They flogged the skin off his back, tore deep wounds all over his body, and cut off his tongue and arm; the only thing they didn’t do was provide him the mercy of killing him.” Noble shot him a stare, but Freedom Fighter didn’t notice. Going back to translating, he spoke: “He was not the only one taken prisoner, however. He was able to hear the terrible, awful things the Noxxa did to the other ponies. “The Noxxa took stallions, mares, and foals and fillies alike. The stallions... they slaughtered them as soon as they were taken prisoner. And they…” Noble stopped, then forced out, “...feed the stallion’s wives and children with his flesh, with almost no water.” The sirens gasped, but they weren’t the only ones. Everyone else was shocked by the evil described by Freedom Fighter. Some stayed silent, while others gave audible whimpers. Noble continued to translate, in despair. “The mares, no matter the age, all get the same treatment. The Noxxa... they…” Noble wiped an eye, and after a pause spoke again. “...rob them of that which is most precious to a mare. Their chastity... is wiped away.” All of the girls felt like their throats had been blocked by their hearts. None of them said a word, as their minds dwelled on the horrible thought of a Nox taking away their virtue. It made them all sick, made their stomachs clench in pain, made their minds reel. “And after they do this, they torture them until they die in the cruelest manner that they can think of, and eat their flesh, right down to the bone marrow.” He seemed to compose himself as Freedom Fighter added the final comment, and Noble spoke the final point with a hint of contempt. “And they do it for a token of bravery.” Freedom Fighter never broke eye contact with Adiago Dazzle while he flickered his fingers about in the recant. “A despicable race of parasitic demons like that,” Noble Blade said when Freedom Fighter picked up once more, “can never be allowed to continue to live on the earth. And if you dare to think that the peaceable, sympathetic ponies who inhabit Equestria are worse than the Noxxa, then it can be assumed that you are supporting the Noxxa instead.” Freedom Fighter then whipped out a knife twelve inches long from his waist and pointed it between Adiago Dazzle’s eyes. Adiago didn’t even see the knife until an entire second had passed, then she belatedly shrank back from the quivering tip. “And if you are with the Noxxa,” Noble finished, “He will kill you.” He punched Freedom Fighter in the shoulder. “Come on, Freedom! Stop with the threats!” Freedom Fighter shook his head no violently, while still staring down Adiago Dazzle. But after a few seconds to make his point, he grudgingly obeyed and lowered the knife. Adiago swallowed something and put her hands behind her back. “I’m sorry. I just... I... didn’t know that.” “Have you changed your mind about us somehow?” Rarity asked her. Adiago pursed her lips in thought. Then she pointed at Twilight. “I still don’t like you all that much.” “I know,” Twilight said. “But I also know now that however bad you may be, the Noxxa are even worse.” Adiago sighed heavily and extended her hand to Twilight. “The enemy of my enemy is my... friend.” Twilight hesitated for half a second before shaking her hand. Adiago and Twilight didn’t break eye contact while they shook hands, and they let go after three seconds. “This switch in motivation isn’t because Freedom Fighter threatened to kill you, is it?” Firestorm piped up. Adiago looked at the ground. “Partly.” “We’re good now, right? Miss... um…” “Adiago,” she offered halfheartedly. “Okay. Because, you know, I might forget your name in an hour or something.” He began to whisper her name under his breath repeatedly. “So now that we have the map, can we go back to our dimension now?” Rainbow Dash asked, stuffing her hands inside the pockets of her leather jacket. “Sure.” Twilight looked behind her at the ruins of the helicopter that still lay on the ground on the hill. “But our ride is down.” “We could always take the train,” Pinkie reminded everyone. Everyone looked at Pinkie. “What? It’s how they got here.” She pointed at the Dazzlings. “I’m pretty sure a train conductor wouldn’t take such a motley crew as us,” the other Rarity said to Pinkie. “Actually,” Sonata said before any of the others, “we kinda just went along as the Noxxa conducted the train for us.” Sunset turned to Twilight as she deduced what she meant. “They hijacked a train?” Twilight knew it wasn't the first time. “Well,” Twilight sighed, “At least we now have a way to get back to the school before sunup.” “You’re leaving already?” the other Pinkie asked in shock. Her hair seemed to droop inexplicably. “But we were going to have so much fun!” “As much as I would like that,” Noble Blade said reluctantly, “we have to go. Our country needs us. And you remain in danger the longer we stay here.” “But we will return when all of this is over,” Twilight promised Pinkie, then turned to face the whole group. “I don’t know what I would have done without all of you. You’ve all given so much for me and our goal that I don’t know how I can ever repay you.” “For our friend?” the other Rainbow Dash asked, slinging an arm around Twilight. “Anything.” “We just love helping you out, Twilight. I know that you would have done the same for me.” “Oh my gosh!” Adiago snapped in exasperation. “Can we have this discussion on the train?” Everyone started to say something at the same time at that, but they all began to walk down the hill of the observatory anyway. Adiago did have a point, after all. So, with the sirens listening to the girls all talking with each other about the friendship memories they had made over the years, and the four men having a group discussion about whether a cupcake or a pancake counted as actual cake, the entire group eventually disappeared off the hill and started for the metro station, leaving the destroyed remnants of the helicopter as the only sign they had been there. Stationed inside the crushed, ruined helicopter, after every person had gone out of earshot, a crouching, black, four-armed creature took out a communication device. “The mission failed. We’ll get ‘em next time.” The Noxxa spy then clicked the fangs in his mouth. “Ambush them at the portal! Don’t let the Equestrians get through!”