//------------------------------// // Chapter Sixty-One: The Miracle // Story: A Rather Large Adventure // by BradyBunch //------------------------------// The first thing that woke up Freedom Fighter was the stream of deep golden sunlight through the lone window in his room. It rested upon his eyes, and after they had overstayed its welcome there, he groggily opened his eyes and turned to the side of the sun ray. The medical bay was small. All that was allowed was a little alcove in the wall to lie down in. It was at the rear of the ship so he could hear the incessant, constant chugging of the ship's engines. It was uncomfortable and cramped, which made his body feel the same way. Freedom Fighter made a small grunt in his throat and stretched out his body like he was being pulled on the rack. After that, he curled up again, taking care not to scrape the arrow shaft still stuck in his side. As he did so, he gritted his teeth instinctively as he prepared to hurt his new wound over his countless preexisting others. However, the pain he was expecting simply...didn't come. That's strange, Freedom Fighter thought. He opened his eyes wider as he realized something else. And why aren't my thoughts being spoken out loud? 'Maybe the effect of the spell wore off,' he suggested, wiping his face with his metal hoof and arm. 'We should go to Twilight and ask her about it.' What, looking like this? He threw the blankets off his body. Excuse me, Twilight, and forgive my absolutely horrible appearance, but I need you to reapply that spell- He gasped as he saw his body, and his mind went blank all of a sudden. After several moments, his short-circuiting brain caught up to reality. What...is...THIS?! How...what?! 'This isn't real!' he thought, beginning to shake. Soon his entire frame was trembling with shock. He felt like he was going to faint. 'This isn't happening! This isn't happening!...Am I...dreaming?' After a gasp, a disbelieving grin came onto his face. With the exception of his metal arm, his entire body was flawless, soft, and smooth, without a single trace of a scar or wound on any part of him. His damaged skin pores had been sealed, and hair had grown back in places where it once was absent. Craning his head while twisting his body, he saw that his back was no longer red and ripped, and his skin was uniform yellow all throughout. There was still an arrow shaft in his hip, but the flesh around it had sealed, and it was cleared of dirt and debris. Afraid to believe it, he gazed at his trembling arm of flesh. It was smooth as well. No Black Blade marks, no stripes from self-cutting, no trace of loathing or evil. It was as if he was a newborn child, free from imperfection. It was as if he was newly baptized, and his sins had been washed away. He was a new pony. A restored one. Was this-? Was he really… Freedom Fighter touched himself. It was indeed smooth. Unnaturally smooth. Was this how normal ponies felt when they touched themselves? It seemed so frail and soft. He felt an unnatural weight in his mouth that he couldn't move around at first. He didn't recognize it, but it was attached to him! Opening his mouth to see, a pink tongue lolled out and hung there. Tears began to drip from his already-welling eyes. He gasped for air, which no longer hurt his throat. His vocal cords were no longer snapped! His esophagus wasn't scabbed over! "...Ah…" He tried again; his throat hurt. It wasn't from physical harm; it was because he felt like choking on his own tears. "I...I...can...s-s-sp...sp...speak…" He gasped. Was that it? He had just about forgotten how to speak well. Using his mouth to talk was hard. His voice was hoarse and weak, but all Freedom Fighter knew or cared about was that it was there. He ran his hooves over his arm, over his chest and face. He felt no ridges, no old patches of dead skin. It was all new. "Th-this...isn't...real," he whispered, knowing perfectly well that it was real. He dared to believe it was so, and hoped that it was, and that was what made it so. It was a dream come true. Rolling out of his alcove and landing on four hooves, he stumbled over to the lone silver mirror in the large wood-smoked room. As he walked, making a clink every fourth step, he noted that his hip wasn't hurting from old pains given years ago. In his reflection, he saw a different pony. Those eyes were the same, all right. And so was that arm. And his lips, thin and tight. But there weren't any stripes crisscrossing his face and slicing his expression to ribbons. His body wasn't white, black, or raw red over his original color anymore. It was just plain gold, the color of the shining sun, over his form, like a gilded ancient god of some kind. And in his forehead was an ellipse of white, anointing him as the Unforgiven. For a long, long time, Freedom Fighter just stared at himself. He was not counting the time, but instead where the wounds once were, now replaced by smooth skin. On his flank, the evil U brand that had marked him as the Unforgiven was gone entirely, along with the layers of flesh it had burned through, replaced with soft, fresh skin instead. His true cutie mark was now on full display, so long covered up that even he had forgotten what it once was. A feather and war ax under the rising orange sun. Seeing it there made him weep freely once again. When he was done with crying, he twanged the arrow in his side. It hurt. Freedom saw no reason for it to be there anymore. Pulling on the feathered end, he closed his eyes and cringed as he slowly pulled the shaft out of his body. Because the flesh had sealed itself, he had to reopen it as he yanked it out. Skin tore as he juggled the long thing back and forth, back and forth, until- "Aaaugh!" was the sound he made when it was out. Blood began immediately to stain and soak his sterile white bandages. But almost as soon as it happened, the wound began to steam in a thin wisp as wide as a pencil. Before Freedom Fighter's eyes, over the course of several minutes, the pain disappeared, and the blood stopped expanding on his bandages. The wound had healed. He was still wobbling in wordless wonder. What should he do? What was this? Who could he turn to now? Well, who else had he turned to for all this time when reality felt altered? "N...Nob...le...Blaaa...de…" he said, at last, ruffling his full, thick hair. "Noble...Blade!" Feeling overflowing with energy, he barged at the door and rammed into it. The door remained shut. It was then that he saw it was a pull door instead. Chuckling from his mistake, giddy all of a sudden, he yanked the door open so hard it rammed into the wall at the end of its arc and raced down the hallway to the dining room. For all of the Storm King's many vices, one of them was gluttony. Though it was indeed a terrible thing, it meant good tidings for the ponies, who had discovered a tremendous store of food in the ship's cupboards the previous evening. Having sustained on little food for the past several days, and were, according to Applejack, "More tired than a hungry bull after a wild rodeo," the ponies found it to be no sin to indulge themselves on such an evil creature's food supply. It was from this store of food that they procured the eggs and pancakes with the apple-cinnamon sauce they were having for breakfast. Eight of the twelve ponies, plus Spike, were feasting on the goods loaded on a long, rich table in a spacious room lined with hand-carved mahogany. Swirls in the wood's grain ran up and down the length of the entire table, and its deep oak-brown polish reflected the lantern light high in the rafters. Twilight took a pause from her pancakes to speak up. "Who's going to wake the others?" "Let 'em sleep," Spike advised. "It's been exhausting these past few days. They've earned the right to sleep in. Especially now that we're safe." His eyes shifted to the ponies sitting next to Twilight. "And them as well." Shining Armor and Winter Gleam, thin and dirty from days in a cell, were taking small bites from barely-laden plates. Their pancakes were small and thin and had only a slice of toast on the side. Twilight's heart ached to see her brother look so beaten, but she knew the process for his recovery was slow. "What are you talking about?" Shining Armor asked with a weak grin. "I'm feeling on top of the world, Spike!" "I'm not," Winter said, stirring a piece of his pancake in a stream of syrup. "Waking up this early is like a slap in the face." "I only woke up this early because I do that all the time," Firestorm said, sipping a glass of milk when he finished speaking. "I'm gonna be honest, I got up the same time as him," Rainbow admitted. "What else could I do, you know?" "Same here," Fluttershy piped up, speaking around a bite of egg in her mouth. Noble Blade gave her a glance to quickly admire how cute she looked with a jagged, messy, pink morning mane and a sleepy voice. After that, he smiled and helped himself to his plate. "Well, I don't know about sleepyheads waking up in sleepy beds, but I'm just happy we get to have food!" "As am I, Pinkie," Noble quickly placated her with a hoof on her arm; she was about to launch herself out of the chair. "Maybe we could give breakfast in bed to everyone," Fluttershy suggested. "That way they can feel a little bit better." "That reminds me," Twilight said all of a sudden. "What about Tempest?" Firestorm took his eyes off Rainbow Dash's tousled mane to blankly stare at Twilight. "What about her?" "She's got to be hungry. Shouldn't we give her some food as well?" A shadow of hate passed across Firestorm's eyes. "No." He then stared at everyone else at the table as if inviting them to challenge him. "Look, Firestorm, I know you aren't inclined to give her anything right now-" "Except for a good hoof in the nose," he muttered. "-but we need her alive. Ponies do need food to live, you realize." "We went without food for some days on this journey," Firestorm reminded her. "Let her taste the same experience we had. She'll live, and be eager to talk if we promise food." "Storm," Noble firmly warned, and there was a hard glint in his bold blue eye. Between him and Firestorm, an unheard conversation was taking place. Though it was intense, only the two understood what the other was saying. At the end of it, Firestorm let out a groan and sat back in his seat with his lips pressed firmly together. It was about then when Starlight Glimmer entered the dining room, accompanied by Rarity and Applejack. "Oh," Applejack said in a satisfied tone, pressing her hat to her chest while sniffing. "Oh, that grub smells heavenly." "Save some for me!" Rarity added, sitting down at the nearest seat. Starlight and Applejack followed. "Who's going to check on Freedom?" Twilight asked, looking around. After a moment or two had passed, Firestorm piped up. "I thought you were doing it, Twilight." "I was making breakfast," Twilight defended. "She was helping me make breakfast," Spike corrected with a glance. "Did anyone check on him?" Noble asked, swiveling his head. No one answered. Noble sighed and threw a napkin on the table. "I'll do it," both he and Fluttershy said at the same time. Giving each other surprised looks, Fluttershy finished with, "We'll both do it." "Good idea," Noble said. From the doorway leading out, however, they could suddenly hear hoofsteps and the banging of doors. The movements and sounds were quick and frantic. "What's that?" Pinkie Pie wondered, chewing suspiciously around a bite of pancake. "There isn't anyone else on the ship, is there?" Starlight asked, halfway out of her seat. "It's gotta be Tempest," Firestorm muttered evilly. "I'll take her out now!" "No, wait!" Twilight cautioned, pushing him back in his seat with a foreleg. "Let's see who it is first." "Who else could it be? Freedom Fighter? He's got an arrow in his hip, keep in mind." The nine ponies and baby dragon waited with bated breath for the mysterious figure to reveal himself. When the hoofsteps came close to the ajar door, it was pushed into the room, revealing the pony standing in the way. Rarity's magic was holding a fork in the air with a bite of food on the end. Upon seeing the figure in the doorway, the magic cut off and it splattered on her plate. For the pony she and the others saw was the one that had been critically wounded just the previous day. Freedom Fighter looked like he didn't know what to do. With every other member of the party assembled in the same room, he had frozen in place. Twilight's mind refused to believe what she saw at first. Freedom Fighter didn't look like that! He never looked so...perfect before. In fact, she was surprised that she recognized it as Freedom Fighter at all, he looked so different. He had rich, full hair now, a firm, solid coat, and an expression that wasn't disfigured by deep scars. What had happened? None of the other ponies needed any explanation either, though it took them a while. Every single pony had their mouth drooping open in pure shock. Pupils were basically nonexistent, they were so small. No one moved a muscle. The exception was Freedom Fighter, who cleared his throat for real--without coughing up blood!--and opened his mouth to speak! "Noble...Blade…" The pony in question pushed aside Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity as he slowly walked his way with an open mouth and wet eyes. After scanning him once more and finding that what he was seeing was indeed real, he yanked the golden pony to his chest and gave him a crushing embrace. Tears traced down his pale blue cheeks as Noble began to sob, overwhelmed by joy. The other ponies broke down a few seconds later and all rushed forward in a tremendous group hug, daring to believe in the impossible. Each of them was trying their hardest to wrap an arm around, or even just touch, the one pony who had overcome all in his way. When the mass of ponies broke away, Noble held the Unforgiven at arm's length to scan him once more. Both of them had fresh tears leaking from their eyes. "I'm alive, Noble," Freedom said, straining to speak. "For the...first time...in ten years...I feel alive." Firestorm, right beside him, ran a hoof along his arm. His expression was frozen in one of disbelieving relief. Finally, he gave another hug to him on the side and squeezed Freedom Fighter hard. To Twilight, it was as if Firestorm needed to be tethered to him for a reliable grip on reality. "Oh...My goodness…" Rarity squeaked, dabbing at her black-running eye with a napkin. "What a wonderful day this turned out to be!" Rainbow Dash and Applejack were circling him, on ground and in air, examining him and confirming that he was as whole as a pureborn baby. Twilight found herself unconsciously moving from her seat to Freedom Fighter, and when she had come close she put a hoof to his chest. It was indeed smooth; as smooth as her own coat. No trace that the wounds from long ago had even existed. Twilight also noticed that his heartbeat got faster when she touched him. Was he nervous at her touch? Overcome by a sudden wave of emotion for the wounded warrior, she gave him a heartfelt nuzzle. Freedom wrapped his arms around her, and she could swear he was getting warmer by the second as his heartbeat increased even more. "Outta the way, Twily!" Pinkie peppily said, pushing her aside. "I have to hug the poor pony now!" And hug him tightly she did. Pinkie had on a warm smile the whole time. Twilight was reminded of when he had first exposed himself in Rarity's boutique several weeks ago. Looking back, the contrast between those two events was startling. Their emotion lay heavy on all of them in both circumstances, but despair had turned to joy, and sympathy had evaporated entirely, leaving nothing but admiration. After several minutes of tearful hugs from everypony else, Twilight, leaning back on her chair, managed to let out, "How...did this happen?" "I have...no idea," Freedom Fighter said, patting himself on the chest. "Yesterday I went to bed...with a shredded body, and...this morning I woke up...with a blank canvas." "You have regeneration abilities?" Pinkie Pie deduced in a heartbeat. "Well, I didn't...have that power before," Freedom said, scratching his full mane of hair. It was flat and flowed naturally down his back to his shoulders in an ebony waterfall of individual strands. It was a great mane, Twilight noticed. "So what changed it?" she whispered, still trying to wrap her head around what had happened. She was still staring at Freedom Fighter, and now that his scars had gone away, she was more able to take in just how powerful he looked. It made her body warm the more she lingered on his arm and chest. "Something gave him that power, and recently," Noble Blade was saying. "You don't think it was…" He pointed his chin at the golden stone burning his left shoulder socket. "Sweet Celestia," Rarity gasped. "The Element of Sacrifice?" Freedom Fighter twisted his head to get a better look at his shoulder. It was still glowing, unearthly yet merrily. "I suppose that's the individual power his Element gave him," Fluttershy surmised. "What kinds of powers will we get when we get our own Elements?" "Okay, look. Our Elements have been stuck in the Tree of Harmony for like, four years!" Rainbow butted in. "And that was after we had been using them for another three! And we didn't get any special powerups like Captain Marevel powers-" She pointed at Firestorm, "or regeneration abilities." "You just haven't unlocked them yet," Pinkie Pie said. "That comes with DLC." "Hold on," Starlight said. "That's actually not a bad theory." "DLC?" Pinkie asked. She gave a hoof-bump. "I knew it!" "No, the unlocking thing. We just haven't unlocked our own abilities yet." "Oh." Her expression fell. "Have we not done enough already?" Twilight asked with some irritation. "Ah'm with Twi. We sure as heck earned 'em, didn't we? Otherwise, Nightmare Moon would still be around." "I know," Firestorm mockingly commented. "Our powers were inside us all along and we never even noticed." "...Maybe." "I meant that as a joke, Rarity." "No, think about it!" Rarity said, growing in insistence. "All we ever used the Elements of Harmony for were rainbow lasers. What if...we had powers while using the Elements that we never fully explored before?" "Maybe…" Freedom Fighter smacked his hooves together in realization. "The powers the girls had...in the human world…" "Those were our Element powers?" Applejack widened her eyes. "Star Swirl the Bearded did say that they were connected," Twilight said. Her demeanor had changed to one of apathy and reflective rage on the inside upon having the human girls brought up. Testy and short, her mind was eager to get off the subject. "So…" Rainbow gestured at herself. "My Elemental power...is going fast." She scoffed. "Hate to break it to ya, but news flash! I'm the fastest pegasus on the planet!" Firestorm gave her an incredulous look. "Fastest pegasus mare," she quickly corrected. "Ooohhh!" Pinkie Pie squealed, giving a devilish grin whilst rubbing her hooves together. "I get to blow things up! Look out, Noxxa! Pinkie Pie's coming through!" Noble Blade, staring apprehensively at the pink party pony, scooted aside until he was safely several meters away from her. "That may be pushing the line a bit far, darling," Rarity hastily interjected. "Gettin' stronger than ever," Applejack whispered, flexing a foreleg. "Creating powerful shields," Rarity murmured, chiming her horn to life for only an instant. "But...what about me?" Fluttershy asked, curling the end of her bubblegum mane with a hoof. "I'd suppose your range and power of influence over animals would be increased," Starlight disinterestedly said. Her expression turned to one of consternation; evidently, she was preoccupied with another thought. "The problem is...what's my power?" "Maybe you'd have one similar to Sunset's," Twilight provided. There was an alarming tone of resignation present in her voice. "Getting a feel for how someone would think." "No, I'm not Sunset Shimmer. Sunset is Sunset. What am I?" "Thou art the Last Hero," Noble supplemented, lapsing into archaic language. "Mayhap it may be a way to magnify thy magic for one final stand in our most desperate hour?" "Ooh, I love it when he does that," Rarity whispered. Seeing Fluttershy's raised, inquiring eyebrow, however, she kept her mouth shut. "You'll get to those powers when you get to wield the Elements yourselves," Shining Armor said. He had been listening the whole time with nothing to contribute until now. "You've got two of the new Elements now. And we're on a pretty handy airship. What do you say? Swing on over to Ponyville and pluck the Elements from the Tree of Harmony?" "Yes! Yes, that's-" "No!" "Yes, I agree, it's a good idea-" "But Rarity-" "Look, listen to me-" "She's not the only one who thinks-" "Well, neither am I-" "Okay, people!" Noble said above everyone else. "Pipe down. Pipe down." Gradually, they piped down. "If we go back to Ponyville, we'll be sidelining the quest for the Elements," Noble pointed out. "And we still have no clue where the next Element is." "Exactly. So maaaayyyybe returning to Ponyville for the other Elements will give us a hint!" "Besides," Applejack followed up on Pinkie, "we ain't got any clues out here. And the longer we stay out in the open the longer we give Malice and that satyr a chance to pursue us." "The Storm King," Winter Gleam said all of a sudden. "He's called the Storm King. He's as mean as he is ruthless. That Tempest girl's just his little pet." "Pet?" Firestorm remarked, his voice sarcastic. "She's not exactly the tamest of all pets, is she?" "More like...the lamest of all pets!" Rainbow countered. "OOOOHHH!" Pinkie exclaimed, giving Rainbow Dash a hoof-bump. "Roasted!" "Now, wait a minute, guys," Twilight interrupted. There was a complication here that she had noticed. "That's another thing. What do we do with Tempest if we do land in Ponyville? She needs to be kept somewhere where she won't do any more harm." "That means Canterlot," Shining Armor said. "We could take her there in this airship while dropping you all off in Ponyville." "But then we don't have a way to get where we need to go," protested Rarity. Freedom Fighter held up a hoof. "We have these." "I'm not the biggest fan of walking, as you should know." "News flash! You all aren't as lucky as Rainbow or me. With these bad boys on my back, I can just ease along, gliding by in life. I just subject myself to walking to give you all a chance to keep up." "I had wings before." "Oh? Where are they?" "They showed up once in Season one." "Sorry, what, Pinkie?" "Nothiiiiing," Pinkie sang. "We got another component of this whole caboodle that needs ta be brought up," Applejack added. "The ship's fuel can only last for so long. Ah'm not an expert in Storm King engines, but even with ma efforts ta try'n squeeze the juice outta those engines, we might not have enough ta hit all the stops we want to." "Let me set this all straight," Twilight said above everyone else, and the other ponies quieted down. "Tempest needs to be taken to Canterlot with Shining Armor and Winter Gleam. That's a given. The problems we have are side stops. Leaving the airship, and either going to Ponyville or not. Staying with the airship and return to Canterlot, and then just start all over again from where we began. Who's going to decide this?" "I, uh, want to know what Noble thinks of this," Starlight said, giving the unicorn a jolt of her head. "Why him?" Firestorm asked. " 'Cause he's th' last one of y'all that don't have an Element yet." "Oohhh. Thanks, Applejack." Noble's face was creased in deep concentration. Twilight could almost see the gears turning under his scalp. Finally, Noble shook his long mane of bright blue hair and put a hoof on the table. "It's important to me that we finish this task as soon as possible," he said. "You all know that I prefer knowing the plan in advance, rather than making it up on the go. It feels to me...that going to Ponyville again will include a lot of improvisation. Not to mention having this airship run out of fuel sooner. Besides, I…" "What?" Rainbow pressured. "Now we have the initiative," he added with a fresh wave of enthusiasm, giving a hopeful smile. "We have half of the missing Elements, and squashed the enemy at Mount Aris. Malice doesn't have the resources or troops to mount a proper counterattack now, and the Storm King's navy was splintered. Losing three airships in one day is no laughing matter, even for one with a fleet as vast as he. In any case, what I'm saying is we have time. We can figure out where the next Element will be and retrieve it before Malice gets another whiff of us. We won't have this opportunity again. We should make the most of it." Murmurs of conflict and agreement circulated amongst all those present. "I think we should go with Noble's idea," Twilight eventually said. The choice was as clear as day now. "He's absolutely right. It's them that are on the run now, not us. Besides, we already know where the original Elements are. We can just pick them up when we retrieve all four of the lost ones." "Do you think Malice would know that too?" Shining Armor asked. "If he did, he would have gotten them by now." "He certainly has the conviction to hunt us all down now," Freedom Fighter said. His voice was getting better. It was more firm, less hoarse. "He...kinda...sorta...knows that I'm the Unforgiven now." He shrugged. "I scuffled around with him and kicked his butt pretty good. He saw under my mask, though. He knew." "It's…" "Yes, Firestorm?" "It's...just so...surreal now...I've been looking at you for the past five minutes. No homo. And your defining features are not scars anymore. It's like your purpose in life has been redefined. You don't...have any reason to stay hidden. Why wear a mask anymore?" Freedom Fighter contorted his face to make an angry response. But before he did, he stopped and contemplated the idea. "Huh." Freedom Fighter nodded. He looked as if a bolt of lightning had hit him. "You're right. What's the point anymore?" He even managed to let out a small chuckle. "Oh, this day is just up and down, isn't it? Now!" He clapped his hooves. "I need some food. My food depot is empty." Twilight, watching, noticed his uneasiness and identified it, having felt that way before so often in the past. He was eager to get off the topic. Not because he was comfortable with it. That she was sure of. But what was there to be uncomfortable with? He was leaving his past life behind. And suddenly, Twilight understood that it was the reason. He sat down at the table. A plate of preset pancakes and toast was lying there, along with a glass of juice. Slicing the pancake into little pieces with the butter knife like a savage animal, he stabbed one of the syrup-soaked pieces and put it to his mouth. His eyes widened all of a sudden. His chewing became slower, more deliberate. In a seemingly inexplicable display of emotion, tears welled up at the corners of his eyes. After several moments he had to stop, set his utensils down, and put both of his forehooves to his mouth. Twilight put a reassuring hoof on his back. "Hey. What's wrong?" All he did was inhale and exhale through his nose as he tried to chew and cry at the same time. Finally, he swallowed and took a shuddering breath. "I never...thought I could...ever taste...sweetness..again…" he managed to spill, before burying his eyes in the crook of his elbow and sobbing. "But...now I can! I…it tastes so good…oh, Faust!" Out of all the ponies moved by his outburst, Pinkie Pie was the most affected. With a quivering smile, she crawled over, rather than her usual bouncing, and began to scratch him behind his repaired ears. Freedom Fighter paused from his tears to take his bloodshot eyes from his elbow and give an irritable glare up at the pony petting him like a cat. He stared up at Pinkie for a few moments, then gave a reluctant sigh and relented. His ears drooped in relaxation, and a satisfied sigh escaped his thin lips. "Thanks." "No problemo, Freedom." The veteran picked up his knife and fork and started to slowly eat the rest of his breakfast, savoring each bite as they came in. Twilight could only imagine how it felt. The concept of taste returning to you after having lost it for ten years wasn't something she had experienced herself, but she empathized nonetheless at his desire to experience the most out of life. It was such a big change from his previous apathetic, reserved behavior that she inwardly marveled at his adaptability. Experiencing the most out of life? That didn't sound like Freedom Fighter at all. What had changed him? How could it turn a suicidal schizophrenic into a...semi-normal pony? And...could it possibly change her for the better as well? Twilight felt woozy all of a sudden. She couldn't stay here. Not in the same room as him. "I have to go," she whispered, backing away. The back of her leg joints felt like someone was slicing a knife into them. Oh, Celestia, it hurt! "Where are you going?" Shining Armor asked. "To check up on Tempest," she answered. Truth be told, it had just popped into her head without any thinking on her part. "I'll come with you," Shining Armor said, his eyebrows beetling. "I need to ask her a few things." The two siblings left the room. Just before the doors closed, when Twilight looked back, all she could see of the others was the rest of her friends gathered around the rejuvenated Freedom Fighter, watching him smile warmly as he tasted true sweetness with his eager, loving friends. Oh, how that must feel! She felt a twang of jealousy in the pit of her stomach, wishing she could feel the same way. Then she sighed, longing to be there with him, and began the walk to Tempest's cage in the middle of the ship.