Gasping loudly, the cold sensation subsided as the sword withdrew its freezing defence, I opened my eyes and stood completely rigid as the purified mana from Stardust’s soul flowed through me, repairing every wound I had, the kirikan claw inside my chest completely dissolved and the protruding tip fell to the ground. Finally, my muscles relaxed and I dropped down to one knee, sword still in hand; after a few faint breaths, I arose to take in my surroundings, the first thing to catch my eye was that the collar had come off my neck, it was most likely removed by magic when I first touched the sword to sever my connection to Twilight, which was probably for the best after all I’d just experienced.
The next thing I noticed was the sword podium, the transparent blue crystal was crumbling, with the lightest touch from my fingertips, it shattered into tiny grains. From the faintly glowing remains, a shape began to manifest, a thin cylinder, no bigger than a wallet, it had a rectangular loop on one side, a perfect fit for a belt; and on the top was a spherical dip with a horizontal slot, a perfect fit for the blade. After reaching down to collect it, I picked up the faint sound of hooves in the distance, I took off my belt and attached the weird item while I waited for them to arrive. Upon inserting the blade, I was amazed to find it was somehow deeper on the inside, the blade completely vanished into the slot, leaving nothing but the handle; it somehow remained bottom heavy as well, meaning that the sword wouldn’t ever fall out by accident.
“CALLUM!” Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs.
I looked up to see the unicorn galloping towards me at top speed, she must have expected the worst after receiving no replies via telepathy, yet as she approached me, she found that I couldn’t be in a better state; I was standing upright and was in no pain at all, the only visible blood was that of the kirikan.
“You’re… You’re okay… I don’t understand.” She panted, out of breath.
“Yeah, I’m only just getting my head around it too.” I replied.
The others caught up to Twilight and surrounded me, all bewildered by my perfectly healthy condition.
“I thought a kirikan attacked you?” Applejack said, confused.
“It did attack me, and I would be dead, if not for this…”
Gripping the handle, I pulled out the sword, the blade grinding against the sheath as I did so, creating the most beautiful crystalline song; the blue light which it emitted lit up everyone’s faces as they gasped in awe at the relic.
“Whoa, dude, that’s a sword!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.
“That’s not just a sword, that’s a piece of art right there!” Rarity followed.
It took Twilight less than a second to understand what she was witnessing, and gulped loudly.
“Th-That’s… That’s… That’s Vitra ‘Aku…”
Everyone turned to face her with confusion.
“Vitra what-now?” Dashie quizzed.
With her lips quivering from the shock, Twilight elaborated.
“Vitra 'Aku, it's known more commonly as the Titan’s Sword. It was formally owned by Stardust Moonshimmer, the Forgotten Champion, and before him, the Regal Mother.”
“You mean to say… this is the Titan's Sword? From the old stories?” Rarity gasped.
“Oh my gosh…" Applejack breathed, "So it really weren't just some old story. Granny Smith was right, it's real…”
Licking her dry lips and gulping once more, Twilight nodded, before speaking under her breath at me.
“Which means… you… you must be…”
Without another word, Twilight gasped sharply and dropped down, bowing before me with respect, Applejack and Rarity followed suit, both of whom had the same look of awe upon their faces. The other three had absolutely no idea what was going on, but they also bowed out of courtesy. The most unexpected occurrence then followed; Twilight, Rarity and Applejack began speaking in unison to me, (although their heads remained bowed), and it seemed as though they were reciting a poem of sorts.
“O’ thee hath arrived before us all, with Vitra ‘Aku in tow.
Earned from the Champion before thee, with thy final killing blow.
Esteem for thee need not be earned, for the knowledge of thee is told.
Thine being here is welcomed, though thy reason shalt be cold.
For when Titans' chosen comes, Calamity's soon to trail.
So unto you we ask thee now, may you halt its deathly veil.
And when thy duty hath been done, may thy body lay to rest.
For when we art in need again, another may take thy test.
A newcomer that hath strength like thee, can fulfil thy mighty role.
For Equus shalt always be shielded, by possessor of Regal Soul.
O’ welcome thee, o’ welcome thee, we bow before thy thrall.
We hail to thee thine Champion, the saviour of us all.”
There were a handful of lines that Rarity and Applejack had forgotten, but Twilight recited it flawlessly. They looked up to me and I blinked rapidly, gulping. The poem was about me, but that wasn’t even the scary part; what concerned me more was that I knew exactly what it meant, as though I had heard it before. It was a welcoming recital for the new Titans' Champion, a grim acceptance that there were unavoidable dark times ahead. It was a poem for welcoming the apocalypse, and the gods' chosen to prevent it.
In simpler terms, something very bad loomed ahead, and it was my duty to stop it...
“Rise.” I spoke after a moment of silence.
They all did so, and I smiled to my friends and lightly shook my head.
“None of you are to bow to me. I’m your friend, not your bloody king.”
“You're something far beyond a king, darling." Rarity replied, "The Titans have chosen you as the next Champion! You are the Holy Soldier, the living blade of the gods!”
“You’ve seen them? Haven’t you?" Applejack spoke up, "You’ve seen the Titans?”
I nodded, and then held up the crystal blade.
“They live beyond death, inside this sword." I explained, "They're spiritual duplicates of their corporeal selves, similar to how Nah'Lek's shade works, I think. They exist there eternally, in a looped pocket of time, to test the next challenger and see if they're worthy to become Champion.”
“What do they look like!?” Twilight yelled, and then covered her mouth with both hooves.
I raised an eyebrow at her, and she dipped her head.
“Sorry, I’ve been wanting to know more about them since I was a filly.”
“I’ll tell you more about them soon, but right now I need to wrap my own head around things, I’ve just been through one heck of an ordeal since encountering the kirikan.”
“So, uh, yeah… Can somepony please tell me what the fuck is going on?” Rainbow Dash piped up.
“Um, despite Dashie’s language, I’d also like to know what’s happening…” Fluttershy mumbled.
Chuckling lightly, I sheathed the sword and sat back down onto the cold stone floor, before explaining everything to them.
Starting off with how I broke down the door and discovered the underground tropical paradise, I explained in great detail about the kirikan which had emerged from the pond and attacked me, and how I used the sniper rifle’s piercing shot mode to kill it just as it leapt at me. Upon realising one of its claws had gone through my chest, I stumbled around looking for a way to find the girls, and then found the sword floating above a podium; upon touching it, my collar was detached from my neck and everything went white.
“So that’s why I couldn’t reach you… You scared the life out of me!” Twilight muttered loudly.
“I had no idea it’d happen, I didn’t even realise until I returned to my body.”
“Returned to your body?” She repeated in question, her brow furrowing.
“Ah… Yeah… Well don’t be alarmed, but I may have possibly died when I touched the sword.”
“What!?” The girls all cried out in unison.
I continued to explain what happened, and how the sword possessed the ability to absorb souls; I told them how it had literally ripped the very soul out of me and trapped me inside the sword, where I met the Titans in person, within their pocket of looped time.
“That’s when I was pitted against the Champion before me, Stardust Moonshimmer.”
“Goodness, now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while…” Rarity murmured.
“Wasn’t it Stardust who ended the Great War?” Applejack asked.
Nodding, I explained how I was made to fight him to the death in ritual combat, and I narrowly came out on top after a fight that felt like hours of dodging and deflecting hostile spells with the sword itself, while trying to land killing blows myself.
“So, you actually killed him? The actual Stardust?” Twilight quietly inquired.
I gave her a look of regret and sorrow, it was no secret that she was enthralled by the legendary unicorn and enjoyed his secret company, while she wasn’t as close to him as I was, she certainly considered him a friend.
“Yes, I killed Stardust.”
Despite the sadness in her eyes, she remained astounded by what had transpired, and hummed to herself.
“You defeated somepony with a Regal Soul, incredible…”
“A what?” I asked.
“A Regal Soul is what we call an extraordinary soul that has surpassed its natural strength, it is made up of an unusually large amount of mana, and gives the owner certain abilities, depending on their own personal traits, it ties into the same magic surrounding cutie marks. Very few beings are known to possess them, from what I know, the only Regal Souls belong to Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Discord, Hades, Starswirl the Bearded, and all the previous Champions.”
After a moment of taking in that information, I tilted my head.
“Do I have a Regal Soul now then? Seeing as I’ve absorbed Stardust’s?”
“I imagine so… Do you feel any different?”
Inhaling deeply, I shrugged and shook my head.
“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you, I feel really shaken up and weird right now. I think I need some time to adjust to all of this before being able to tell what’s changed within me. All I know is that I’ve got a neat sword, and this strange object.”
Standing up once more, I showed Twilight my magical sheath, and she instantly grinned proudly upon knowing what the object was; she went on to explain that the item was called a void sheath, a small and lightweight vessel for a weapon. Void sheaths were bigger on the inside; the only visible part of the blade would be the handle, with the rest suspended within its own pocket dimension, similar to the ponies’ enchanted bags.
“All Canterlot Guard Captains have one, although they’re nowhere near as exquisite.” She finished.
“You can say that again, it’s gorgeous!” Rarity exclaimed.
“More like awesome, you’ve got a secret weapon of mass destruction hiding on your hip!” Dashie added.
I couldn’t help but draw the weapon once more and inspect the design, causing everyone’s faces to gravitate towards it, awestruck by its brilliant blue glow.
{There’s so much going through my head right now…} I thought to myself while they were distracted.
This was all too much, it was like torrents of incomprehensible information was being processed all at once, was I ready for this? Like, actually ready for this responsibility? Did I need to act differently? More formal? Would I need to compose myself like Hawnu Rey’eng and be all mysterious and biblical in my speech?
I very nearly asked Stardust for some advice, expecting his words of wisdom to echo in my mind, but no such thing came, nor would it again; for I had killed my friend.
{I truly am a killer… A eighteen-year-old boy with a proficiency for ending life…} I thought with indignity.
How was that a Champion? How on Earth could I live up to Stardust’s legacy?
“Callum? You okay?” Applejack asked.
Coming back to my senses, I slammed the blade into the sheath and cleared my throat.
“Yeah, I’m fine, just taking this all in.”
Nodding with understanding, Fluttershy drew attention to the blood on my attire.
“So, I take it you’re not, um, dying? From the kirikan attack?”
“Thankfully not, Stardust’s soul repaired the damage when I absorbed it.” I replied.
“Can I take a look? Just in case?”
Knowing she would persistently worry about me if I refused, I took off the cloth shirt and couldn’t help but gasp, (as did everyone else), at my new physical state; not only had my friend’s Regal Soul repaired the kirikan’s attack, but it had completely fixed the damaged tissue across my body, my skin was smooth as a baby’s bottom, without a single scar to be seen; even the burn from Twilight’s fireball had vanished.
And that wasn’t even the best of it, it seemed that I’d undergone the Captain America treatment, as my muscles seemed somewhat bulkier; while I didn’t feel any stronger at all, I definitely looked it.
“Whoa…” Rainbow Dash exhaled.
“Bruh, I’m fuckin’ swole!” I exclaimed.
{I like Regal Souls…} I thought to myself, grinning.
“Are you sure you don’t feel any different?” Twilight asked.
“Honestly, I don’t feel a bit different. Maybe I’m in shock? I don’t know.”
Humming, Twilight agreed with that theory and decided to drop it, and so I moved to another subject.
“So, guys, we really need to figure out what to do next. Are we heading straight for the next shard? Or are we resting for a while? I’m not sure about you lot, but it’s been a long few weeks.”
Mostly nodding in agreement, the girls and I went into a discussion about our further plans, and eventually decided to set up camp in the underground tropic area and rest up for a few days, before embarking on our new destination, the fourth shard of the Titan’s Orb…
Six Days Later
My eyes shot open as the screaming echoed through the underground garden, I rushed towards Twilight’s tent with a hand firmly grasping Vitra ‘Aku’s handle, ready to engage; the other girls emerged from their own tents and followed suit. The adversary, however, turned out to be nothing but one’s memories of torment. Gripping Twilight’s shoulders, I shook her awake and she lashed out in all directions, (thankfully not hitting me in the process), until she eventually opened her eyes and recognised me.
“It’s him, Callum! He’s back! Nah'Lek's back!” She wailed.
Shaking my head in response, I sat down properly beside the unicorn and held her tightly.
“Nobody’s here, just me and the girls.” I replied.
As her wild lashing slowly came to a halt, she looked around and then back to me, before burying her head into me; I rocked her side to side as the girls watched awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
“Another one in the Frozen Forest?”
Her answer was to splutter heavily onto my collar, coating my neck in saliva.
{Thanks for that.} I moaned in thought.
I decided it might be a good idea to use the collars to visit the forest again at some point, and see how much her mind had healed since purging her brain of the Fel, perhaps it would serve as some exposure therapy?
Now wasn’t the time, but I’d certainly keep it in mind.
“False alarm gals, head on back to bed, I’ll keep an eye on this one.” I commanded.
Nodding, everypony wearily went back to bed, while I remained until Twilight had calmed down; when the tears finally came to a stop, I zipped up the tent and lay down beside the unicorn.
“You’re staying?” She asked.
“Would you like me to leave?”
Shaking her head, Twilight flopped back down and sniffed a few times, before taking a deep shaky breath.
“Why were you still up?”
“How’d you know I was awake?” I replied.
“You’ve still got your boots on, you never took them off when we all went to bed, you’ve been pacing around the sword room again, haven’t you?”
Sighing, I nodded.
“Observant as always.”
“Of course.”
Chuckling, I put an arm around her and caressed the sword’s handle, still around my belt.
“It’s been about a week, and I just can’t wrap my head around this Champion shit, I’m really struggling with where I’ve come, and the choices I’ve made…”
Now it was my time for the waterworks; quite unexpectedly, a wave of emotion came over me, and I couldn’t help but face Twilight and press my cheek against the fluffy part of her chest.
“… I’ve killed so many people, Twilight.”
“Oh, Callum.”
Putting a foreleg around my neck, she returned the comforting gesture I’d given her only a few moments prior, and held me while I let out the months of pent up stress.
“I didn’t mean to… I didn’t want to… I had to keep you all safe! But it feels so normal to me now, like I was born to do it. I don’t like how that feels, Twilight, I want it to be difficult, I don’t want to be a psychopath, I really don’t!”
Easing herself to a position where she could face me, Twilight grabbed my shoulders and pressed her nose to mine, being sure not to gouge an eye out by accident with her horn.
“Listen to me. You are not, a psychopath.”
Sniffling, I let her continue, trying to track with her words and not break down further.
“You’ve done nothing but protect us from day one, and I never saw that until recently. What happened with the clone at the airport started all this, and it was my fault, and I’m so, so, sorry…
I started messing with your head from the very beginning of all this, and that’s on me, but you’re not a psychopath, there’s not been a single death on your hands that wasn’t to protect someone, everything you’ve done, you’ve done for a reason.”
“But, I don’t feel anything anymore, there’s no shock, no remorse!”
“What do you call this then? Huh? You’re in tears, buried in my chest, crying about it. If that’s not shock and remorse, then I need to retake my psychology exams, because how you’re behaving right now is exactly how a psychopath wouldn’t be.”
Wiping my eyes, I sniffed.
“I don’t enjoy killing.”
“I know, trust me.” She breathed.
Knowing she was referring to when she killed someone in Portugal while under the Fel’s corruption, I knew that she had once felt a true desire for causing pain and death, Twilight knew better than anyone what it felt like to have pure evil flow inside your veins.
“Now stop this nonsense, Callum. I just woke up from my own spooky memories, I don’t need you breaking down on me too, okay?” She teased.
“Spooky? That’s the word you’re using to define it?”
Even in the dark, I knew she was now emitting one of her famous sheepish grins.
“You know that’s what we’re calling them now, right?” I chuckled.
Her response was to moan with playful annoyance, and we settled on calling Twilight’s night terrors ‘Spookies’, and that they would be the code word for whenever Twilight had a bad night, so I could look after her accordingly during that particular day.
Yawning, I realised how tired I was, and decided to call it a night.
“Well, I should let you get to sleep, and I’m knackered, so yeah.”
“Please don’t leave, I don’t want to be alone.” She requested.
Rolling my eyes, I zipped the tent entrance shut and flopped next to the unicorn.
“Yay…” She whispered.
“Mm’hmm.” I hummed back dully.
Giggling, she got comfortable and placed a foreleg over my shoulder, and we drifted off together.
{Bloody weird dream…} I thought, rubbing my eyes.
Having just dreamt about Nah’Lek wearing a fez, attacking me with oversized maracas, I chose to get up and begin the day; Twilight still slept soundly beside me, clutching my pillow to her chest, this explained the crick in my neck.
{Huh, so that’s where that went.}
Slowly unzipping the tent and standing up outside, I had my morning stretch and looked around for anyone else who might be awake, and thankfully found Applejack and Rarity a few yards from the tents around a cookpot.
“Morning, darling!” Rarity sang.
“Howdy.” Applejack added, yawning.
“Heya.” I replied, sitting down beside the farm pony.
Before I could respond, a cup of tea was levitated towards me, I gladly took the cup and took a sip.
“Ooh, that’s some good tea.”
“Well, I’m glad someone likes it!” Rarity said, glancing at Applejack.
“Oh, har har, don’t make remarks just because I don’t like your hot dish water.”
Before they could begin the day on a squabble, I asked what was in the cookpot, which turned out to be potato and leek soup, my favourite.
“Just using up the last of my spuds, thought it would be nice to start the day well fed.” Applejack explained.
Nodding with agreement, I gratefully accepted a bowl and proceeded to consume it within seconds, Applejack couldn’t help but emit a small laugh.
“Well I’ll be, Sugarcube, someone’s appetite has grown. I hope just a mere bowl of soup can suffice for the mighty Champion’s stomach!”
“I can cook something more filling if you need, m’lord.” Rarity offered.
“Oi, what did I say about that, Rare? I refuse to be addressed like some sort of deity.”
Apologising, Rarity awkwardly filled my bowl with some more soup for me. Afterwards, I got up and went to drink from the nearby basin in the sword room; from what we’d discovered, the whole underground temple ran on water, which was continuously replenished via the lake at the centre of the tropical zone.
We had also found a prayer room full of skeletons, which gave us a clue to whom had built this place; Twilight’s theory was that when the orb shards and the sword came to Earth, Hawnu Rey’eng had helped a small group of people to build a technologically advanced temple underground, where they would live and thrive on endless water and food from the tropical zone. In return, they would worship him and protect Vitra ‘Aku until the ponies discovered it.
The inhabitants of the temple had since died out from unknown causes, (most likely just from the lack of sunlight and continuous inbreeding), and their temple remained sealed off. We speculated that Hawnu Rey’eng had then somehow brought a kirikan from the Everfree Forest to Earth, and set it loose into the tropical zone to continue guarding the sword chamber after his worshippers had died off.
“Callum.”
I turned around and found Rainbow Dash stood before me, her eyes bloodshot, and the fur on her face soaking wet with tears, it looked like she’d been crying for the past few hours; I rushed towards her and gave her a tender hug, before wiping some of the tears away from her cheeks.
“Oh Dashie, what’s wrong, sweetie?”
She looked at me, shaking like a leaf.
“I remember.”
Tilting my head, it took me a moment to realise what she was saying, and when the penny finally dropped, all I could do was hug the mare; it was no wonder she’d been crying so much, the emotional toll such a thing would have taken on her brain was beyond comprehension.
Rainbow Dash now had the memories of two lives, two childhoods, and two fathers.
“Oh god, I had a feeling this was going to happen at some point…” I sighed.
“You knew, this whole time?”
Nodding, I explained to her that it was Celestia’s decision to erase the memories of Earth from her mind in order to spare her the emotional distress, and believed that her brain physically wouldn’t handle the raw impact of two entirely separate lives, on completely different planets for that matter; the sheer amount of information for her brain to process could have possibly damaged, if not killed her. Understanding why I’d kept such knowledge from her, she didn’t feel angry towards me, but certainly felt like she had been lied to by the princess.
“I need to go see him, I’ve got to find my dad…” She told me.
Before I could open my mouth to speak, she continued with an unexpected bombshell.
“Alone.”
This was a problem, a very big problem.
I could only imagine what Dashie was feeling right now, but I knew there was no way I could outright deny her to see her human father, but vice versa, it would be impossible to let her go and see him all by herself; as both the Titan’s Champion and the ponies’ guide, I felt like it would end up being my decision, but I wouldn’t make it without heeding council from everyone.
“Okay, well it’s not my call right now, we need to let everyone know and explain the situation. From there we can plan our next move and see where the road takes us.”
She seemed to take that answer well enough, and bowed her head. Getting onto my knees and giving her another hug, I lifted her chin and forced her to make eye contact; her pupils were extremely dilated and her eyes were still very bloodshot.
“Dashie, are you alright?”
“What kind of question is that? Of course I’m not alright dude!” She barked back.
“I’m sorry, that was a stupid question… Look, I meant to say, are you as okay as you can be? You are experiencing a traumatic event that I can’t even begin to comprehend, so I need to know if you’re still in the game, Rainbow.”
Sighing, the pegasus broke eye contact and looked at the sandy dirt around her hooves.
“I haven’t a clue… Everything feels fucked up right now…”
After a moment of pondering, she looked back up at me with a solemn expression.
“Look, I don’t think we can have sex anymore dude, not for a while anyway. Looking at you right now, it feels like looking at my dad, and I’m not into that whole ‘daddy-daughter’ shit, I’m sorry.”
I exhaled out of my nose with surprise, and smiled warmly.
“Dash, you don’t need to be sorry, not in the slightest. I wholeheartedly understand and I actually agree with you. You’ve got to clear your head and process all of this, us not sleeping together will help that in my opinion. Besides, we’re just friends anyway, we just had some benefits on the side for a while.”
Smiling back at me, Dashie gave me a reassured nod and planted her forehead into my chest.
“Thanks bro, you’ve always understood me.”
“What can I say? You’re easy to understand.” I replied teasingly.
“Am not!”
“Are too.”
“Go on then, sum me up!” She challenged.
“You’re a thrill seeker with a deep underlying anxiety problem, you’re socially insecure and cover it up with daring acts of bravado in a desperate attempt to be respected and seen to be without weakness.”
Rainbow Dash stared at me with her mouth agape, before shaking her head and frowning at me.
“Yeah? Well… Well… Eat a dick!”
Raising an eyebrow, I raised my hands to my chest.
“I admit defeat, your original and well-thought-of insult has wounded me to the core.” I stated dryly.
Before Rainbow Dash could tackle me (as she was clearly planning), Twilight came into the sword chamber and called out to us.
“There you are!”
“Twilight, what’s up?” I asked.
Galloping over to us and skidding to a halt, she focused on Rainbow Dash and instantly noticed her bloodshot eyes, and grabbed her face with both of her front hooves to examine her.
“Oh my… Oh dear… You’ve remembered too, haven’t you?”
“Get off my face, egghead!”
Looking up at me, Twilight took in a deep breath before unleashing a hyperactive burst of dialogue.
“So, back when we first met, I explained that a year in your world is a day in ours, and somehow you already knew that, well now I know how you knew that! Rainbow Dash was caught in an experiment of mine years ago and was sent to Earth, and was somehow turned into a filly, where a human found her and raised her as a daughter, which is how the Princess knew of this place, and it’s why the Titan’s Orb came here in the first place! All the dots are connected, it all makes sense Callum! IT ALL MAKES SENSE!”
Gasping for air, Twilight panted with verbal exhaustion, while I slowly raised an eyebrow.
“It appears Rainbow Dash isn’t the only one to regain her memories.”
Shaking her head to regain focus, Twilight turned to Dashie with an expression of melancholy endearment, clearly only just realising the emotional impact this would have caused.
“Rainbow… Are you okay?”
The pegasus remained silent, and I knew she needed to be left alone for a bit to think on this further.
“Twilight, do you mind if we had a moment to talk? Perhaps with the others as well?” I requested.
It took less than a second for her to clock on, and nodded keenly. I gave a tender hug to Rainbow and left her alone to her thoughts; while on the way back, I thanked Twilight and asked her further about her memories of the ‘My Little Dashie Crisis’.
“So how’d your memories come back exactly? Was in it a dream? Or did you wake up with them?”
“Both really, I had a dream of the moment we came back to collect her, but it didn’t feel like a proper dream, it felt really real, the details were too fine. When I woke up, it all just hit me that we’d been to Earth before, and then the memories came flooding back.”
{Curious…} I thought, humming.
I’d originally thought it was due to the circumstances that Dashie had finally regained her memories, but now it seemed far too coincidental that Twilight had remembered during the exact same morning; my guess was that Celestia’s spell (unknowing to her), could eventually wear off.
After gathering the girls and having them seated with a bowl of soup each, Twilight and I broke the news to them about Rainbow Dash, and gave an in-depth explanation about what had happened, and that her memories had returned; needless to say, everyone was startled and confused at first, but were soon able to get enough of a grip on the situation.
“So how does this come into play, in the grand scheme of things I mean?” Rarity asked.
“Well, that’s the issue I wanted to bring up, because I thought it would be best if we all made a group decision on this matter before making our next move.” I said.
Sighing, I looked around at everyone and read their facial expressions for a few seconds, hoping to foretell their judgements before telling them.
“Rainbow Dash wants to leave the group, to find her human father.”