MLP: FiM
Piercing the Heavens
By: Calm Wind
Chapter 172: The Missing Piece
Discord Spun around, his pupils shrinking as his eyes met the flat, unamused gaze of Sombra. His ghostly appearance was nearly identical to Celestia’s, but more subtle with a dim, soft blue glow as opposed to a brighter yellow.
A lot of gasps and shuffling came from everypony. The Wonderbolts and Renegades didn’t move, but Dash’s friends nearly tripped over themselves stepping forward. Twilight stood in front of Celestia protectively as Shining Armor instantly shifted in front of Cadence with a shield generated in front of them, glaring through it.
Sombra casually glanced about at all of them and lifted an eyebrow, sighing and shaking his head as he remained in place. After a few moments of silence, all those who had frantically stood at the ready relaxed, looking about at one another in confusion.
“No, Discord…” Celestia spoke up. “He’s still in here with me.”
Discord twitched hard, quickly lifting his hands towards Sombra. A white arrow materialized above Sombra. It made a loud CLICK noise followed by passing diagonally across Sombra while generating what appeared to be a box with dashed lines expanding with it. When the box completely surrounded Sombra, a giant white, square shaped button with the word ‘DELETE’ on it appeared beside Discord. He punched his fist into it as hard as he could, the rest of him remaining stiff as a white light flashed and loud BLIP sounded within the area of the box.
But Sombra was still there.
“This is an apparition, you raggabrash twit.”
Discord grabbed his ears and yanked them right off his head before smacking his hands over his eyes and releasing a high pitched scream. His body turned to stone from the ground up, holding the form for a second before cracks appeared all over it. He shattered into tiny pieces, his eyes remaining in the air as the rest of him fell into a pile of pebbles on the floor. His eyes fell and landed on top of the piled, still staring wide at Sombra.
Sombra lifted an eyebrow at him.
“Having fun?”
“NO!” Discord yelled as the bits and pieces of his body quickly put themselves back together and he de-stoned. “NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!” he threw a tantrum while stomping. “Why?! Why won’t you just go away?!”
“You’re asking me?” Sombra lifted his brow while making a head motion towards Celestia.
Everypony glanced at Celestia. She scrunched up her face and blushed in embarrassment as she looked to the ceiling.
“Celestia!” Discord rushed over to Celestia. “You have some control of your power, right?! You need to find him in there and obliterate him! NOW!” he pointed angrily at Sombra. “If he’s still active, then he will keep trying to take control! We just went through this! You have to prevent it!”
Dash swallowed and stepped forward, but Spitfire held out a hoof and stopped her. Dash blinked and quickly looked towards her, but Spitfire didn’t even glance at her. She just shook her head subtly. Dash bit her lip and refocused on Discord and Celestia.
“I…” Celestia looked past Discord at Sombra. “I… don’t know if…”
“Save your breath, snake,” Sombra spoke up, causing Discord to snap around and stare at him with his mouth jammed shut and his lips slightly sucked inward. “I have no intention of the sort,” he snorted as he whisked his mane and looked away from all of them. Discord blinked rapidly for ten seconds.
“Oh yeah, sure!” He threw his arms out and snarled at Sombra. “You waited a thousand years for your moment and now you’re done? Give me a break!” He stared at Sombra, glaring for several moments, but Sombra just snorted again, his lips parting slightly. Discord paused for several moments, his expression lightening when he realized Sombra was not giving him any lip or harsh comebacks. “Whoa… wait a sec… are you telling me…” he lifted a finger with a blank look on his face.
Sombra kept his eyes averted, his face contorting so much that he looked like he had bad gas and was holding it all in.
“You can’t?” Discord finished.
“Grrrgh…” Sombra swished his mane around to block part of his face as he quietly snarled.
Discord’s jaw hung open for a moment before turning and looking at everypony else. He looked like he was at a loss, too many reactions conflicting for him to say or do anything as if they all cancelled out.
“Okay, Dash… now go,” Spitfire motioned to her.
“Huh?” Dash blinked and glanced at her.
“It’s time to start asking the questions around here, and I think you should go first,” she suggested. Dash was caught off guard, but… Spitfire was right. Sombra appearing filled her with questions, and since she was clearly a part of what happened…
Dash stepped forward, several eyes fixing on her as she moved past Celestia, walking slowly up to Sombra. Sombra perked up and turned his head slightly to see Dash coming closer, but he huffed and looked away again.
“So you too huh?” Dash stated casually. Sombra blinked and looked directly at her. “Both you and Celestia are trapped in Soarin?”
“I’m not trapped.” Sombra huffed.
“What do you want to call it then?” Dash added, lifting her brow. Sombra glanced at her briefly, but puffed his cheeks out and blew the air out through his lips.
“I’m not trapped, I’m… stuck,” he weakly argued.
“Pffffffffff…” Fleetfoot nearly burst out laughing, but Spitfire quickly bopped her on the head.
“Fine, we’ll go with that,” Dash sat down and crossed her arms. “So what exactly is stopping you from trying?” Dash asked.
“Trying what?”
“Taking over,” she clarified. Sombra narrowed his eyes at her. He looked up and around, his eyes landing on Luna, Celestia, and Discord. He then glanced at Soarin.
“I don’t owe you any explanation,” he turned his back and sat down.
“So it’s just, ‘you can’t’ then?” Dash asked.
“I… Rgggggggh!” Sombra growled angrily. He shot a glare over his shoulder, but Dash didn’t budge. “Feh…” he slumped down slightly, shaking his head out before turning only halfway back around. “Fine, I can’t… is that what you all wanted to hear? I’m stuck inside Soarin between his Spirit and Celestia’s power!”
Dash smirked as he angrily snapped at her. She was able to pry something out of him after all.
“I can’t do anything to Soarin! He has the power of a god welling within him!” he looked away and appeared to calm down a little. “Besides… even if it was within my power to try. I won’t do it. I’m a stallion of my word.”
“Huh?” Dash blinked, then perked up as the sound of a quiet gasp came from behind her. She looked over her shoulder to see everypony glancing at Celestia, whose eyes were wide and had a hoof over her mouth.
“Stallion of your word?” Dash asked. “What do you mean?” she prodded as Sombra’s eyes widened.
“No, enough.” He turned away from them again. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well what the hell did you come out here for then?” Spitfire asked as she stepped up behind Dash. “Or was Discord’s voice just that annoying to you?”
“Mostly that,” Sombra didn’t hesitate to say as Discord harrumphed.
“Well I hate to break it to you, your majesty, but you can’t just pop out of my friend as a ghost and expect us not to be curious. If you didn’t want to talk, you should’ve stayed in there.” Spitfire said while pointing at Soarin. “Well?”
“Meh…” Sombra half-heartedly replied.
“Not so tough when you can’t intimidate us with power, are you?” she added.
Sombra spun around and glared at her, his lips parted to reveal gritted teeth.
“Yes, yes, you’re big and scary,” Spitfire said sarcastically.
“And pretty damn sexy…” Fleetfoot dreamily added from the back.
“Look, you’re not fooling me or anypony,” Spitfire took a step towards him. “If you can show yourself out here, you can just as easily go back in. You’re choosing to stay out here. So are you going to talk to us about anything? Or were you just lonely or something?”
“My vote’s for him going back in and staying there…” Discord muttered quietly.
“I heard that,” Sombra snarled towards him.
“Oooooo! Such a tough guy!” Discord slithered up into his face and gave him a one-eyed glare. “What are you going to do, project yourself on me?” he snapped back as Sombra flattened his brow and snorted. “Say, how are you doing this anyway?” he asked while pulling back and rubbing his chin. “Celestia I can understand, but you?”
“I still have my own magic, nitwit,” Sombra grunted while pointing to his horn, a very soft glow appearing upon it. “Please, if she can do it, then so can I.”
“All of your magic? Or just a little bit?” Discord smarmily cooed at him. Sombra scrunched his face. “HA! Thought so!”
“Okay, okay…” Celestia suddenly moved forward. “That’s enough…” she said as she stepped in between the two, but faced Discord as she sat between the two of them. “Sombra is inside Soarin with me… we are both in the same situation, able to move and exist freely thanks to our magic reserves being present, but unable to rip ourselves free. Sombra’s magic is likely still accessible by Soarin, but it’s being held in place by my own power,” she explained, keeping her eyes on Discord. “So he’s telling the truth… you don’t need to worry about him trying anything because he can’t.”
“Hrmph…” Sombra huffed.
“And…” Celestia glanced back at Sombra. “I firmly believe he doesn’t intend to try.”
“Terrific…” Discord turned to the side and crossed his arms. “So much for my good mood.”
“To hell with your good mood, I’m glad to ruin it,” Sombra snorted at him.
Discord turned to snap back, but Celestia threw her wings out.
“I said that’s enough! Both of you!” she said sharply as the Wonderbolts looked on. “Discord, this isn’t the time! Right now we need to figure out how to stabilize Soarin. Look at it this way, Sombra will be a big help in getting him figured out.”
“I have no intention of helping you,” Sombra quickly retorted. Celestia blinked as her eyes grew.
“I could have told you that was coming,” Discord said while shrugging. Celestia quickly turned to him.
“Sombra! Why? You’re just as stuck here as I am!” she demanded, but Sombra shrugged.
“I’m not the one who got us all into this now, am I?” he said while tilting his head. “This is YOUR mess. YOU clean it up.”
“Why are you being like this?!” Celestia pouted and stomped a hoof angrily.
“Sheesh, Spitty…” Fleetfoot moved up between Dash and Spitfire as the two continued to bicker. “It’s like watching a married couple.”
“Hrrrgggnnn…” Spitfire groaned, rubbing a hoof to her forehead. “I can already tell this is going to be LOADS of fun.”
Dash watched as Celestia and Sombra continued to go back and forth at one another. Discord was standing close by, staring flatly at the two of them. With a quick scan around the room, Dash found the rest to be just sort of there. The rest of the Wonderbolts had been silenced. Descent was still in the back with the Renegades, her Ponyville friends along with Shining Armor and Cadence just continued to stare, and Luna looked mortified.
“Wow,” Fleetfoot went on as Celestia started looming over Sombra, using her slight size advantage. “Makes me wonder what the make-up sex is like. There’s no way he’s on top.”
Spitfire winced as Dash let a chuckle escape her lips.
“Fleet, you find the weirdest times to think about these things,” Spitfire said with a sigh.
“It’s a talent,” Fleetfoot giggled. “For real though, what if he’s the one in control? Man, how good is he if he can get an eternal goddess going beneath the sheets?”
“Fleet, stooooooooop,” Spitfire threw her head back and groaned.
“Say, Dashie, when they got down and dirty in Soarin’s head, did you feel it?” she asked. Dash ignored the question, but lifted an eyebrow.
“Weren’t you grossed out by that a second ago?” she asked.
“After giving it more thought it sounded kind of kinky,” Fleetfoot shrugged and bounced her eyebrows.
“Okay, FINE! How about this?!” Sombra suddenly yelled, catching their attention again. “I’ll consider helping you…” he narrowed his eyes at Celestia. “If you… give them the last detail!”
Everypony just looked on as he said it, not sure what he meant. But Celestia…
Her ears perked up and she stiffened.
“You heard me!” Sombra pressed as he leaned towards her. “That was a fine little explanation and admission of guilt, but you left one particular tidbit out! What, afraid it will completely ruin your standing with them? That is, if there is anything left to salvage.”
“What is he going on about?” Discord asked. “Celestia?”
Celestia was frozen in place. Everypony else was focused on her as well.
“That look should tell you she knows exactly what I’m talking about. Did you think I wouldn’t notice? And did you really think I’d let you get away with that one?”
“Whoa, hold on…” Spitfire stepped forward when she noticed Celestia’s demeanor. “Oh for crying out loud, don’t tell me you flat out lied to us right here!” she asked angrily.
“Oh she didn’t lie…” Sombra stood up and started pacing around her. “She just didn’t tell the whole truth. Go on, Celes… you can’t wiggle out of this now.”
Celestia suddenly blinked hard and took a deep breath, exhaling.
“You’re right… I can’t,” she said firmly, surprising Sombra slightly. “And I’m ashamed of myself for trying to. But… if that’s what it will take to get your help, fine. I’m done running away from this.”
She turned and faced the rest of them, even Discord looking curious.
“I said that I saw a vision of the future…” she began. “And it was without Soarin, leading me to use his critically injured state as a front for my goal.”
She paused, taking note of how Spitfire, Fleetfoot, and Dash all specifically hardened their gaze as she once again spoke of something they were all very much a part of. Celestia swallowed, but did not falter.
“I saw his demise… long before the tornado incident in Ponyville,” she swallowed again. “And… I was there when it happened.”
There was a brief pause.
“Wait, wait, wait…” Fleetfoot held her hooves out. “What do you mean you were there?!”
“I was watching from afar…” Celestia admitted, glancing up to see even Discord staring at her with slight surprise. “I let Soarin almost die so I could go through with my transfer of Sombra’s spirit.”
The room went completely silent. Dash, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot all staring with wide eyes as Sombra smirked behind Celestia. Spitfire sat down, the look on her face changing to disturbed.
“I… what…? You…?” Spitfire’s face twitched as if she didn’t know what to say. The admissions before had satisfied her but something about this one bit left out was digging in really deep.
“That’s just…” Fleetfoot looked back and forth between Soarin and Celestia. “What in the fuck is wrong with y—?”
“For crying out loud…” a voice from the back interrupted. Dash perked up and looked over her shoulder to see Descent moving towards them with a frustrated look on his face. “WHO CARES?!” he belted while shaking his head. “How long are we going to spend on this?” he asked as he stepped right by Dash, Spitfire, and Fleetfoot. He placed himself between them and Celestia, looking back and forth. “At this point, what the hell does any of it matter?!” he exclaimed as he held a hoof out. “Soarin this, Soarin that… he said, she said, he did, she did… We’re picking through one small part of events that happened a year ago!” he exclaimed while turning to look at Spitfire. Fleetfoot’s expression lightened and she tipped her head slightly.
“It’s only been a year? It’s felt way longer…”
“I really don’t give a damn how Soarin was infused with Sombra or what led up to the moment he was,” Descent went on. “None of this has to do with the Shadowbolts. We attacked Ponyville on Nightshade’s order, I engaged Soarin in combat, and we almost killed each other. It happened, it’s over, and it’s done with. We’re sitting here pointing hooves and throwing accusations when we should be more worried about what’s still out there here and now!”
“But…” Celestia bit her lip. “The Shadowbolts targeted Soarin after I transferred Sombra to him. That is what your focus became, isn’t it?”
“And what would be different had you not?” Descent snorted as he lifted his brow at Celestia. “Our benefactor sent us after Soarin because of Sombra’s power. Had you not transferred it, we could have come after you for all we know. Or…” Descent put a hoof out to his side. “Knowing the nefarious nature of what’s taken hold of my family… for all we know our orders to attack Ponyville were given to us knowing of what you intended to do. We cannot rule that out.”
“Now you have others making excuses for you, Celes… how convenient,” Sombra cut in.
“Don’t start talking like you know anything about this,” Descent sharply turned to Sombra.
“I beg your pardon?” Sombra huffed.
“The one pulling the strings of the Shadowbolts has made one thing clear… they are after YOU! They completely disengaged the Wonderbolts when you took over Soarin’s body for crying out loud!” Descent sharply jabbed his hoof in Sombra’s face. “And as far as I’m concerned, nothing that has happened in between matters, because that would still be the same. The Shadowbolts would still be under control and still be a threat,” he turned to Celestia. “So how about we stop all this senseless mudslinging and start worrying about the only part of this mess that has affected us all?”
Spitfire stared for a few moments, her face still somewhat showing signs of disgust at Celestia, but…
“I… hhrmmm…” she sighed and hummed. “Descent… I’d really like to tell you to shut the hell up and stay out of our business, but… why the hell do you have to make so much sense?” She looked up, her eyes looking tired and done for the moment, glancing back and forth at Fleetfoot and Dash. “As much as I want to stick my hoof as far up Celestia’s ass as possible and tear all of her heavenly insides out, we need to be real about this. We all need to be real about this. We had our disaster situation with Soarin and Sombra, but here we are on the other side of it. The circumstances just got really weird…” she trailed off as she looked between Soarin, Celestia, and Sombra. “But that doesn’t change the fact we still very much should be spending our time and energy on dealing with the Shadowbolts. We just now have to work with what we have… and we can start,” she pointed at Soarin. “By solving this problem. So why don’t we handle this first. Anypony disagree?”
Dash perked up as Spitfire turned and looked directly at her, as if she was asking her specifically. But the look in Spitfire’s eyes said more than words really could. She looked exhausted and extremely frustrated.
Dash found herself at odds as well. She wanted to be angry, but even before Descent spoke up she felt strangely unaffected by Celestia’s admission. Perhaps Descent spoke what was on her mind. At this point, what did it really matter? She didn’t like it, but there was no time to dwell on ‘what if’s. Celestia came out and admitted that she had been wrong in her actions so what did one more piece on the top of the pile matter? They were here. This was now. The Shadowbolts would have been around regardless. That didn’t mean they were suddenly going to be fine with Celestia, or any of the gods for that matter, but none of them had to say that… it was a given at this point.
Dash watched as the Wonderbolts came forward, congregating around Spitfire with concern as they sensed the slight distress of their captain, but she tried her best to not let it show.
“Good,” Spitfire said with another exasperated sigh. “Get to work on him, please,” Spitfire whisked a hoof towards Celestia and Discord.
“I… yes, we will,” Celestia looked away from her. “Come now, Sombra. We have much to—”
“I’m not doing anything,” Sombra abruptly cut her off, drawing everypony’s attention.
“What?!” Celestia exclaimed. “I confessed! Now help like you said!”
“I said I would CONSIDER helping you, I never said I would,” Sombra explained.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Celestia fumed at him, as Discord sighed heavily and looked up at the ceiling.
Descent glared at the two of them as they started bickering once again, but Dash reached forward and grabbed his shoulder, shaking her head as he looked back at her.
“Let them figure their part out,” Dash suggested.
“Such a clown show…” Descent grumbled as he followed Dash back over to Spitfire and the rest of the Wonderbolts, Lightning Dust lingering behind them.
“Hey, Descent…” Spitfire spoke up as he approached. “Thanks for handling that, I… ugh…” she grunted.
“I just want us to stay on point. I couldn't care less how we got here because the real problem has never changed,” he said with a snort.
“Maybe for you,” Fleetfoot huffed. “This part of it is a bit more personal for us,” she stated with several of the others nodding in agreement behind her.
“It is personal for us,” Spitfire agreed with her. “And we’ve made that crystal clear to them, so there’s no need for us to push it any further. All I want right now is for Soarin’s situation to be worked out and that’s something only they can do. Our energy is best focused elsewhere. Speaking of…” she turned to Descent. “We haven’t touched base in a while. You’ve been sending out scouts, right?”
“Yes, but I have nothing to share,” Descent said with a snort. “I’m not about to believe that the Shadowbolts have run away, but there has been no sign of them. That’s with a large expansion in our covered ground, by the way. Not even the Fortress has been spotted anywhere. Wherever they are, it’s not within a hundred mile radius of the Empire.”
“That’s… I’m not sure how to feel about that. But I guess there’s nothing else we can do about it. If anything, it’s clear they can’t get through the shield.”
Dash perked up when she heard Spitfire mention the shield. They couldn’t get through the shield? Part of her wanted to speak up about Ruin but… her memory of his involvement was hazy at best. Something held her back… she didn’t know what, but… it was almost as if she no longer considered Ruin to be one of the Shadowbolts. He was with them, sure, but something about him was entirely different.
But also… they had an answer for him. If he was the only one who could get through, so long as they had Twister they would be fine. Dash had seen enough to understand just how hard Twister smacked him in the face for doing anything against them… and frankly, Ruin seemed to dislike Twister to the point of avoiding him at all costs. So… as long as Twister stayed put and didn’t pull another vanishing act, all would be well.
“That isn’t an excuse to relax,” Descent stated firmly.
“I’m not gonna argue with you about that right now,” Spitfire said with a sigh. “I just need a few things to be set in place before I consider anything else…” she said while looking at Soarin, but her eyes were drawn towards Sombra and Celestia STILL arguing. “Uuuuughhh… I’m done here,” she turned back to the Wonderbolts. “We’ve wasted enough time with…” Spitfire froze in place. “With… with… whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”
Everypony looked at Spitfire curiously as her speech suddenly got really strange and her eyes started to grow wider.
“Whhhhhhh… Celestia… image… magic… Celestia… we need…” she started rambling, her eyes growing wider and wider and her ears pointing up as straight as possible.
“What in the fuck has gotten into her?” Blaze asked as everypony else stared with concern.
“Spitty? Hello?” Fleetfoot waved a hoof in front of her face as she and Surprise looked her over carefully.
Dash looked at Spitfire as she continued to babble, slowly tracing her line of sight towards Celestia and Sombra bickering as Discord and Luna looked on.
“CRYSTALS…!” Spitfire shouted, smacking her hooves against the side of her head. “SPELL…! CELESTIA…! WE NEED… AAAAAAAAAH!!!!!” Spitfire suddenly rushed forward, crashing right through Fleetfoot and Surprise.
“WAH!” Fleetfoot yelped as she was thrown to the ground.
“WA—oh, wait…” Surprise halted mid-fall and pulled out a small bed that she placed beneath her. “WAH!” she also yelped as she landed on the bed with a POMF.
“Captain! What in the world are—” Fire Streak called after her, but Spitfire galloped towards Celestia, putting on the brakes and sliding right through Sombra’s image to stand directly in front of her.
“YOU!” she yelled in a frantic tone. “You… you said you can control some of your magic, right? RIGHT?!” she asked in a desperate tone.
“My… magic?” Celestia blinked. “Oh, yes. I can focus it through this projection a little,” she looked up at her horn and focused, the light appearing on it. “Why do you ask?”
“TWILIGHT!!!!!” Spitfire leaned over and yelled. “THE SPELL!”
“Huh?” Twilight Sparkle perked up, surrounded by Dash’s Ponyville crew as Spitfire called to her. The Wonderbolts were still confused, but then it hit Dash… and she gasped.
“The spell to cure the crystal sickness!!!” Spitfire yelled to her.
A massive rush of realization shot through all the Wonderbolts, ears turning up, eyes widening, and jaws hanging open.
Wave Chill.
“Celestia is here! She can use her magic! Where is the damn spell?! Where did you put it?!” Spitfire demanded. At this point it had hit Descent as well. His demeanor had completely crashed and became eager as well at the thought of helping the afflicted Shadowbolts.
“Oh!” Twilight remembered, Princess Cadence visibly reacting as well. “I… uh…” Twilight looked back and forth. “I don’t have it here with me…”
“What are you sputtering about?” Sombra grunted, glaring down at Spitfire for interrupting. Spitfire spun around and jammed a hoof in his face.
“YOU SHUT UP!” she shouted at him before immediately turning back to Celestia as Sombra leaned back and blinked a few times.
“I’m sorry, what is this about?” Celestia asked as Sombra listened in curiously. Spitfire sharply turned to her with an anxious look on her face.
“We have several ponies in medical confinement right now who are suffering from a sickness caused by the chaos magic the Shadowbolts’ crystals are imbued with,” Spitfire spoke a mile a minute but Celestia’s ears flicked back and forth, listening. “Most of them are Shadowbolts but there is one VERY IMPORTANT member of our force suffering from it as well. We found a spell that we think will cure them that requires the elements of harmony but we also need—”
“I wouldn’t get too excited if I were you,” Discord leaned into Spitfire’s view. “Did you forget our conversation before? If it was possible with so little power we could have had Lulu do it. We need Celestia for the spell, but she barely has any of her power under her contro—HRK!” Discord choked as Spitfire violently grabbed him by the neck and pressed her face into his.
“Listen here you slimy SHIT!” she hissed into his face. “I haven’t been able to have nice things for a long time now so if you try to pour cold water on my head when I finally have some hope, I’m going to tie the back end of you to a metal pole, tie the front end to the Crystal Express, and tell the engineer to punch the throttle all the way. After you’re completely stretched out as far as your silly body can manage, I’m untying the back end so it can whiplash all the way back to you so hard that your ass shoots out of your goddamn mouth!”
Discord just stared blankly at her, the whole room silent after her extremely elaborate threat.
“Can we try that anyway?” Sombra asked quietly.
“Let me see the spell,” Celestia calmly asked, looking towards Twilight.
“I got it,” Discord said in a higher pitched tone, Spitfire’s hooves squeezing his neck as he snapped his fingers and a scroll dropped out of the air at Celestia’s hooves. She reached down to pick it up, but her hoof passed right through it.
“Oh… right,” she chuckled nervously as her magic lit up and the scroll hovered up to her within her yellow aura, turning and opening. Spitfire dropped Discord on the ground, eagerly turning to Celestia as the Wonderbolts made their way forward to join her. Dash stayed with them, glancing briefly to see Twilight make her way towards them and place herself beside Celestia.
And then they waited. They waited and watched as Twilight began pointing to parts of the scroll and conversing with Celestia, who nodded and hummed along as they examined it. Spitfire kept tipping forward little by little, eventually getting to a point where the Streak twins both reached out to stop her from falling forward on her face.
“Hmmm…” Celestia suddenly hummed, her eyes narrowing slightly as she stared at the scroll.
Dash bit her lip, that didn’t sound good. The moment the idea of Wave being cured came up she felt excited for Spitfire. If anypony needed something to go right for them, it was her.
“I’m… not sure,” Celestia spoke as she rubbed her chin.
“Not sure of wha—Yee!” Spitfire squeaked as she tripped over herself, falling directly against Misty Fly. She caught herself, but eagerly stared at Celestia.
“I’m not sure the amount of power I can control will be enough, but…” Celestia continued to rub her chin as Twilight looked up towards her.
“But what?!” Spitfire bounced off Misty and stepped forward, barely able to see Celestia behind the scroll.
“But I can at least try,” she said as she closed the scroll and smiled at Spitfire. Spitfire’s pupils grew large as Celestia proposed it.
“Are you sure that’s wise?” Discord asked. “The amount of power you control is barely a fraction of what you’re normally capable of. No doubt you’re having trouble keeping it within your grasp with the rest of it so close by. Is it worth risking being trapped beneath it again?”
Spitfire was about to launch herself at Discord again, but Celestia quickly shook her head.
“If you discussed this before and power output was the issue, you’re mistaken,” Celestia explained. “It’s not the amount of power that matters here, it’s the properties of divine magic. More specifically, awakened divine magic and the caster’s ability to shape and focus it. The Elements of Harmony need more output from within to make the spell work, but it’s less about how much power I pump into them and more about finding the sweet spot that will convince them to go the extra mile, and pushing my magic against it.”
Discord blinked.
“I was… what—OOF!” he grunted as Spitfire pushed him to the ground out of her hooves and clasped her hooves together towards Celestia.
“I didn’t understand a word of that, but will it work?” she asked.
“As I said, it’s at least worth trying. And as for the potential risk to myself…?”
She gave Spitfire her a firm nod.
“You said I had work to do to earn your trust back… I’ll start with this, here and now,” she said adamantly.
Spitfire didn’t know what to say. She swallowed and nodded in return.
“T…thank you, you can move a little from the body right? Come this way…” she beckoned Celestia and started moving to the door.
The rest all followed right behind, but Dash blinked and glanced over her shoulder.
Sombra had not budged, but he was staring at Celestia, his lips subtly parted as he watched her follow Spitfire out. He caught Dash looking at him and quickly averted his eyes, turning away as everypony else left. Dash shrugged and did the same.
Spitfire eagerly pushed the doors open, both of them swinging all the way around and hitting the wall with loud BANGS as she rushed in, fairly far ahead of the others. All the clerics in the room froze and quickly turned to look as Spitfire’s eyes landed on Wave Chill, still frozen in his containment crystal on his bed. The clerics glanced back and forth between one another, some of them with horns still alight performing a simple routine check before they were interrupted.
Spitfire spun around, blinking when she realized that none of the others had kept up with her.
“Hey! Come on!” she yelled while impatiently tapping a hoof on the floor.
“Yikes, sis, calm yer fucking tits,” Blaze commented as the rest made it to the doors.
“We can’t do anything until Twilight brings the elements,” Dash added, looking back at the rest of her Ponyville friends in tow, minus Twilight.
“Mmmmmfffgggmmggg…” Spitfire held her breath, puffing her cheeks out as she turned her back to them and stared at Wave.
“Well she better hurry up,” Descent grunted as he quickly trotted past everypony and started looking over all the Shadowbolts. He pushed aside any clerics in his way as they started looking over all the frozen Shadowbolts with concern. Lightning Dust followed behind.
“Sorry,” Dust apologized to the flustered clerics, who started actively getting out of Descent’s way as he made the rounds.
But the surprises were not over for the clerics. They all gasped suddenly, turning and facing the doors with their eyes wide as Celestia walked in with Shining Armor and Cadence in tow. Cadence quickly lifted a hoof to signal all of them.
“We’ll explain later,” she said calmly to them, which didn’t seem to work. They all just kept staring in surprise.
“Hmprh…” Discord slinked in behind Celestia with his arms crossed, pacing forward and stopping right beside the Wonderbolts as Spitfire continued to mumble to herself and teeter back and forth while looking over Wave Chill. “We don’t even know if this is going to work, you’d best calm down.”
Spitfire spun around and glared at him, her face scrunching up with anger.
“Oh, stop that already!” Discord threw his arms out. “I’m being realis—YEEEEEEEOOOW!!!!!" Discord yelped and flinched violently as Misty Fly suddenly slammed a hoof down over his tail as hard as she could. Discord quickly reached back and grabbed his tail, blowing on the spot that was stepped on. He glared down, but blinked when he saw Misty Fly shooting him a look of disapproval. He flattened his brow and placed a hand on her head, the chaos magic lighting up. “Really? You can’t even hear what I’m saying!” he growled. Misty simply lifted one eyebrow. “You ASSUMED I said something to deserve it?! Oh, come on!” Discord ripped his hand free and trudged away from them, leaning against a pillar and grumbling to himself.
The Wonderbolts all snickered to themselves as Misty put Discord in his place, but Dash perked up as she saw Fleetfoot moving towards Spitfire. She turned her ears to listen.
Spitfire had turned back to Wave, still mumbling to herself and pouting. Fleetfoot moved beside her and placed a hoof on the side of her arm.
“Don’t let that jackass get you down, Spitty…” she said in a soft, comforting tone while rubbing her hoof gently on Spitfire’s shoulder. “I hope this works too.”
Dash’s throat felt tight as she saw Spitfire struggling. She couldn’t hold back, feeling compelled to go to her as well. Spitfire had just finished expressing how much she wanted to re-establish their friendship. It was time to make good on that. Without another thought, she made her way forward to join the two of them.
“Yeah, screw Discord,” Dash said bluntly, and clearly loud enough for Discord to hear as she nudged Spitfire from the other side. “I think he’s just mad that he isn’t part of the solution.”
“Hardly…” Discord mumbled off to the side, but was ignored.
“Look, I get it…” Dash stepped in front of her and poked a hoof to Spitfire’s chest. “Hell I know exactly how this feels, I’ve been through it several times with Soarin.” She explained.
“Hrmmmm…” Spitfire hummed, looking Dash in the eyes for only a moment.
“I’ll do my part in the spell for you, not just Wave, okay?” Dash promised. “Just leave it to us.”
Fleetfoot smiled, exchanging a nod with Dash as Spitfire jittered and sat down, releasing a heavy sigh.
“I just… want him back… so badly…” she said shakily, reaching a hoof over and grabbing her opposite shoulder. “I need him…” she nearly whispered as she shivered.
Fleetfoot about broke on the spot, quickly hugging Spitfire tightly, turning her head to the side as her cheek nestled against Spitfire’s chest. She glanced towards Dash as she held onto Spitfire, she said nothing, but the look in her eyes was one of pleading, as if begging Dash to make this work, even if she was just a small part of it.
Dash nodded, determined to succeed or at least do everything she could to make sure it did. And right on cue… Twilight trotted into the room with the box containing the elements.
“I’m here! Sorry for the wait!” she exclaimed, drawing all eyes to her. “I’m hoping the elements are stable…” she said nervously as she placed the box on the floor.
That little bit didn’t go unnoticed though. Dash’s ears twitched as she turned from Spitfire and made her way towards the elements with the rest of her friends.
“Stable?” Dash asked as she tried to look past them, but couldn’t see the elements until she pushed by Applejack and Rarity. But when she stared into the open box, nothing looked out of the ordinary.
“Didja already forget?” Pinkie suddenly asked as she popped up beside Dash. “We all got our minds blown!” she exclaimed while placing her hooves on her forehead and making a fwoosh noise with her lips while slowly moving them away.
“Oh… right,” Dash gritted her teeth, but regardless…
“They look fine t’me, what’s the hold up?” Applejack asked.
“They didn’t really look fine for several days after all the fighting,” Twilight explained with a pout. “They were still steaming three days later… and the gems only stopped flashing a few days ago.”
“Oh my…” Fluttershy quietly said as she took a step back.
“You were up and about in three days?” Rarity groaned as she rubbed her head. “My headache didn’t go away for a week at least!”
Dash scrunched her face, not particularly liking the tone going around here. Not after she just adamantly decided to give it her best shot for Spitfire.
“Oh, whatever. Let’s get this going!” Dash stated strongly as she reached into the box and grabbed her necklace, fastening it around her neck and turning to look at all of them. “See? I didn’t explode in a giant fireball of pain, now quite bellyaching and get geared up!” she demanded, tapping one hoof into the other.
Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie all didn’t hesitate, but Dash’s eyes shifted to Rarity and Fluttershy, who still seemed to hesitate. She sighed and glanced between the two of them.
“Please?” she added simply before looking towards Spitfire. “Can you help me do it for her?”
The two of them looked over to Spitfire as Fleetfoot continued to comfort her.
“Ooooooh…” Rarity moaned. “I will… I just don’t want another headache…” she said as she grabbed her necklace with her magic and put it on.
“Um…” Fluttershy stood still as her cover behind Rarity ceased the moment she stepped away.
“Please, Fluttershy?” Dash repeated, trying to sound the least demanding as possible.
“Oh… um, I… was going to anyway. I’m just… itreallyhurtlasttime…” she said really fast, shrinking down for a moment. “Hmmm…” she hummed meekly as she retrieved her element.
“We’re ready,” Twilight nodded towards Celestia as she placed the tiara on her head. Celestia smiled back, but Discord stepped over to her.
“The question is, are you?” he asked Celestia seriously. Celestia looked at all the Element Bearers, all the Wonderbolts, and everypony else staring at her. The only pony not looking at her was Spitfire.
“As long as the Element Bearers can maintain the lens… I will do my best to complete the spell,” she said, trying to suppress hesitation. The Element Bearers turned and moved into place, setting themselves up. But before Celestia could join them, Discord leaned towards her ear.
“Look me in the eye for a second will you?” he whispered. Celestia blinked and looked at him. “Is what you said about the spell actually true?”
Celestia flinched subtly.
“You lied, didn’t you… you do need more power to do it, don’t you?” Discord snorted. “You’re just trying to get back on their good side by ‘trying’ is that it? And lying on top of it? You really are just trying to snake your way around all this.”
Celestia stared at him, her expression frozen for several moments, but narrowed her eyes.
“So what if I did?” she hissed quietly back at him as Cadence stepped in front of the Elements of Harmony. “Who says I can’t try with what I can control? I’m VERY serious about that!”
“Is it really worth potentially losing your current form and being sucked back into a place where you can’t communicate with or help us?”
“Yes it is,” she huffed without hesitation.
“Seems like a wasted effort to me…” Discord rolled his eyes.
“You haven’t been put through what I have… Now butt out.”
Discord’s eyes widened and he turned back to Celestia, but she had already turned away from him. She moved in behind the Elements of Harmony and gave them a nod.
Dash whistled forward to Fleetfoot.
“Yo, Fleet!” she called making a head motion to the side. “We’re gonna do it!”
“C’mon, Spitty…” Fleetfoot grabbed her and gently tugged at her. Spitfire swallowed, but didn’t resist, keeping her eyes locked on Wave Chill as Fleetfoot pulled her back towards the rest of the Wonderbolts, who all gathered around her to keep her steady.
“Alright, we’re using the usual formation,” Twilight explained. “Once we’re all connected, we just need to hold it in place while Celestia does the rest. Everypony set?”
They all nodded, Dash nodding harder than the rest as she kept her eyes trained on Wave Chill’s bed.
“Cadence, you’re up,” Twilight gave a nod towards Cadence.
Princess Cadence took a deep breath as she stepped forward and her magic lit up on her horn.
“This should only take a moment,” she said with a nod. “Removing the crystal containers is not nearly as dramatic a process as creating them. I’ll have them ready for you in short order.”
“We’ll start the moment they’re free,” Twilight agreed.
Celestia kept her eyes forward from the back, but she glanced to her left as Luna approached her with concern.
“Please be careful…” she said weakly. “We wish for you to remain where we can reach you…”
“I’ll be fine, Luna,” Celestia assured her. “Even if I get pulled back into Soarin… I’ll find a way back out.” She said with a smile. Luna did not look convinced, but she also knew she wasn’t going to change her mind. So she stepped back and stood beside Discord, who was lightly shaking his head with his arms crossed.
Cadence tipped her neck up, the soft glow around her horn intensifying for a moment until it all gathered on tip of her horn in a ball.
“Here goes!” she exclaimed as she sharply whipped her head down. The ball of light jumped from her horn and into the air, stopping in the center of the room. It hovered in place for a couple of seconds before it pulsated rapidly and popped, sending a small, fast moving beam of light towards every single occupied bed. The beams struck the crystal surfaces, the light covering each crystal entirely, glowing brightly for only a moment before the magic appeared to simply wipe them away from the head of the bed down. The light slowly traveled over each crystal… until each one of them was gone without a trace and uncomfortable grunts and groans started coming from the bed occupants.
Fleetfoot flinched as she felt Spitfire’s hoof grip her shoulder very tightly. Wave was out, and he was stirring just like all the others. They were all still clearly in immense pain.
“Up we go!” Dash called to her friends as Twilight began the sequence, channeling the power of the Element of Magic. The others came to life and they began to rise. Dash was admittedly nervous at first. She talked a tough game, but she hadn’t forgotten how much it hurt when the Elements backfired. The others were all watching their Element as well as they began to glow and they began to lift up off the ground.
But the process continued without any sign of problems, Dash glancing about at the others and smiling as they all realized the Elements were not shaking, steaming, or giving them any headaches for that matter.
They could do this. Easy as pie.
They were all in position shortly, in their pentagon formation with Twilight in the center. Their eyes were filled with light and a white glow shined out of them as the rainbow ribbons began splitting out and connecting all of them together. All of the ribbons eventually made their way to Twilight and she threw her head up as the connection finished. But unlike usual, she did not direct it to fire outward, she held the energy in place.
“Your turn, Princess!” Twilight yelled back to her.
Celestia stepped forward, staring adamantly at Twilight, specifically at the back of the Element of Magic, her target. She took a long, deep breath, exhaling as she concentrated, the aura of her magic appearing on her horn. She held steady, bringing forward as much of the power as she could as carefully as she could, her image flickering as she worked to maintain her projection. She needed the projection to remain to even use the magic at all, so losing the form was not an option.
“Rgh…” she suddenly twitched and her image fizzled and waved for a moment, but she steadied herself and opened her eyes. “Looks like that’s all I’m going to get…” she said to herself, peering up at the yellow aura surrounding her horn.
Without waiting for another moment, Celestia tipped her horn towards the Element of Magic… and released it.
A thin, sharpened beam of divine alicorn magic shot out, striking the star on Twilight’s tiara.
“Ooooh!” Twilight flinched in surprise “Whooooaaaaaa!!!” she shuddered as a yellow outline surrounded the white glow encasing her. Celestia stuck her tongue out of the side of her lips, her eyes narrowing as she carefully navigated the flow to the five connecting points leading out to each of the other elements.
The rest reacted in kind, the warmth of Celestia’s power catching them all off guard as the zinging euphoric sensations climbed up and down their bodies. Dash recognized it… she felt the same way during her little incident in the gym recently, but it wasn’t nearly as strong… so it was up to her to keep the rest in line.
“Focus, girls! Focus!” Dash yelled. “I know it feels good! But we’ve got a job to do!”
It seemed to do the trick. While they all wore varying expressions with some more thrilled and stimulated than others, Rarity in particular, none of them were on the verge of losing their focus, all still aware of what they were trying to do.
“There!” Celestia smirked, panting lightly as she managed to navigate the magic all the way around the formation and back to the center. “Now… I just… Need to…!” she took a step forward, slamming her eyes shut as she pushed everything she was able to muster into the beam. She grunted uncomfortably as the flow expanded, striking the Element of Magic.
The effect that ensued was a spectacle, the elements of harmony acting like the sun itself as a wide ray of gentle sunlight expanded outward, bathing all of the bed occupants in its warmth.
“Ahhhh… AAGGH!!!!” Celestia suddenly groaned, her legs buckling and her image flickering madly.
“Celestia, STOP!” Discord stepped out with Luna close behind.
“Sister! You mustn’t!”
But both of them suddenly lurched backwards, yelping in surprise. Luna fell flat, but Discord fell to a knee, looking back just in time to see a blue magic aura vanish from around his tail.
“HNG!” Celestia opened her eyes, her image stabilizing. “I can… hold it together! I… can…”
Everypony shielded their eyes as the projected sunlight began to flash brightly in all directions. Even Dash and her friends were forced to squint as the light became too bright to look directly into.
But then with a sudden shrill crackling noise and a small blip, all the light vanished.
Celestia gasped and fell, her image becoming filled with static and barely holding together.
“Princess!” Twilight exclaimed, the ribbons of light between the elements receding and all of them lowering to the ground.
Twilight ran to Celestia with Luna, Discord, and Cadence close behind. Discord reached down to support Celestia, but his hands went right through the image.
“Ahhh…” Celestia gasped weakly as she opened her eyes, taking heavy breaths. “Ow… that was… not pleasant…” she commented.
Dash stared towards Celestia, then looked towards Wave Chill.
Nothing had changed. There were still crystals on his body.
“What happened?!” Spitfire yelled out as she stared towards Wave. “Did anything happen?!”
“It…” Discord blew air through his nostrils. “It doesn’t look like it…” he said with a grunt as he stared down at Celestia barely keeping herself together.
“Wh… what…? But…” Spitfire began shaking as several of the Wonderbolts grabbed hold of her.
“It failed?!” Descent yelled as he stomped forward. “Is that what you’re telling me?!” he snarled at Discord, who didn’t even look at him.
“Heh…” Celestia suddenly chuckled. Everypony blinked and looked down at her, her image stabilizing again, though she still looked drained. “On the contrary…”
Every pair of ears stood straight up as quiet crackling noises began to fill the air. Dash’s eyes widened as she looked back towards Wave and gasped.
“SPITFIRE! LOOK!” Dash exclaimed.
But Spitfire was already looking, her eyes stuck open as wide as can be as the crystals covering Wave… began to chip and crack.
“I barely had enough, but… I think I held on just long enough…” Celestia added as she sighed heavily and let her head rest on the ground, a smile on her face.
“WHOAIIE!” Fleetfoot yelped as Spitfire nearly shoved her off of her, breaking into a gallop. Dash stood aside, pulling Fluttershy and Rarity with her to clear the way as Spitfire charged towards Wave’s bed.
Spitfire skidded to a halt, placing both hooves on Wave’s bed as she stared at the crystals on his body.
One by one… they started breaking apart. Spitfire nearly went into shock. She held her breath, her heart thumping madly as her pupils shook.
One crystal gone.
Then another.
Then another.
And another.
No markings were left behind, all the scarring vanishing.
“Ah… ah…” Spitfire sputtered, sitting down as she clasped her hooves over her chest. The sounds of clinking and crackling filling the room as the crystals on every afflicted pony broke apart one at a time. Aside from the sound of Descent’s hooves galloping towards the Shadowbolts, not another sound was made, all of them watching in awe. Even Discord was in disbelief.
Spitfire blinked, freezing in place as the final crystal on Wave’s body shattered.
And he began to stir, his eyes twitching.
“Ngh…” he grunted lightly, his body shimmying a little beneath the blanket.
Then he slowly opened his eyes, staring directly up into the air with a very drained and tired look set upon his face.
Spitfire clasped her hooves over her mouth.
“Uhhhhh…” Wave groaned again, his eyes slowly opening wider and blinking. “Wha…?” he blinked a few more times, still looking straight up. “I…” he moved his arms. “The pain is…” he slowly shifted, placing his arms on the mattress and scooting back…
He started to sit up.
Spitfire’s body started shaking, light and quick breaths escaped from her mouth, and tears started squeaking out of her eyes as she watched Wave rise from the bed, slightly hunched over, looking dazed and confused.
“I’m… all better…?” he said in calm disbelief as he looked down at his hooves. Then he perked up, blinked, and turned his head, locking eyes with Spitfire. “Captain?”
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE!!!!!!!!!” Spitfire cried out, launching herself at him.
“Whoa!” Wave yelped as Spitfire tackled him, pushing him right back down onto the mattress with a very uncomfortable grunt. “GHK! Gah… C…Captain… Spitfire… I’m sore… ouch!” he sputtered weakly, his body jittering all over as she squeezed him.
But Spitfire refused to let go and refused to let up. She held onto him as tightly as she could, her body shaking, sniffling and whimpering as she dug her face into his chest. As groggy and confused as he was, Wave noticed… and instead of asking questions, he let it be. He was better… and Spitfire was overwhelmed. He’d figure out the rest later. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and placed a hoof gently on the back of her head, rubbing it gently as he looked over towards the rest of the Wonderbolts.
He scanned them, seeing the look of relief on their faces. Fleetfoot was leaning into Rainbow Dash and had her hooves clasped together in front of her face, crying her own tears of joy for both him and Spitfire. The Streak twins and Surprise were struggling to hold back Misty, who looked extremely eager to rush forward. High Winds was comforting Blaze as she held a jittery tear filled pout, both angry at him for worrying her and happy that he was okay. Air Mach had his glasses in his hoof, keeping his exclamations to himself as he acknowledged the recovery of a fellow stallion.
He frowned briefly when he saw that neither Soarin nor Silver were present, but again… he’d figure out the details later. He was roughly informed of what had been going on, but he had no idea how long he had been out.
But again, that could all wait as he returned his attention to the wailing mare in his arms, repeating his name over and over while squeezing him as hard as she could.
“Heeeeeeeeee!” Fleetfoot made a sound close to that of a tea kettle as she leaned harder against Dash. “Oh my god… Ahhhhhhhh, this is the best thing…!” she said quietly as she grabbed Dash and hugged her tightly.
“Whoa, whoa…” Dash chuckled as Fleetfoot nearly pushed her over, placing a hoof on her head and pressing down to keep her from bouncing.
Dash herself could scarcely believe it. It was one thing to suddenly have the hope that they could cure Wave, it was another to actually do it… and see him sitting up and free of the sickness. Add one extremely frustrated mare moved to tears, finally having something go her way? It was the most heartwarming thing she had seen in a long time. She also appreciated that the Wonderbolts were not crowding him, Spitfire clearly needed this moment… though it looked like the rest of Misty’s squad was having a hell of a time holding her back.
While most of her attention was on Wave, Spitfire, and the quietly squealing mare melting on her side, Dash took a moment to glance towards the Shadowbolts as they all slowly rose from their beds looking just as groggy and confused as Wave. Descent was quickly making the rounds, checking on each of them one at a time with Lightning Dust hovering behind.
Dash was happy for Descent too. He was holding a no-nonsense expression as he went around, but he wasn’t fooling her. He had spoken extensively on how important the Shadowbolts were to him and had often referred to them as if they were his own kin. He was putting on a tough guy act right now, but inside? She had no doubt he was ecstatic.
“I… huh…” Discord’s voice came from behind Dash.
Dash blinked and looked over her shoulder to see him standing near Luna, and Celestia as Twilight and Cadence moved in to help the clerics run checks on the newly cured patients. Discord was staring at the cured ponies, his lips parted as he scanned them over.
“I don’t know what to say…” he admitted as he looked back at Celestia. She was still sitting, panting, and generally looked extremely tired as she held onto her projection. She smirked at him and lifted her brow.
“I told you I could do it,” she said coyly with a wink before groaning and leaning forward a bit as her image flickered.
“Reckless as always…” Discord sighed and huffed, crossing his arms and looking away after being proven wrong. It was an interesting sight for Dash, to say the least. Discord refused to ever admit fault or a misstep to anypony else… but Celestia? He didn’t hesitate to admit anything to her. Gotta earn those white knight points it seemed.
“Huh?” Dash perked up as something caught her eye.
In the back… behind a pillar near the door…
Was that Sombra? The image of Sombra was subtly peeking around the corner. His head shifted, his eyes suddenly meeting Dash’s. He flinched so hard that his image flickered before he stepped back and was gone from view.
“Guys, help…!” Fire Streak suddenly called out as he, Lightning, and Surprise began skidding a little along the floor.
“She’s on a warpath!” Surprise exclaimed as Misty was starting to drag them along in her attempts to get to Wave.
Dash quickly scanned the others, but none of them were really paying attention. So she took matters into her own hooves.
“Hey, everypony… let’s wait outside,” she suggested as she managed to detach Fleetfoot from her and moved in front of them. “Let them have a moment… we can catch up with Wave later,” she suggested as she moved in front to block Misty. She placed a hoof on Misty’s chest and gave her a stern, but soft look, indicating that she wanted her to reign it in for now. Misty seemed to catch on, but her response was to make her eyes very wide and put on the most adorable disappointed pout Dash had ever seen.
Dash’s face twitched a little, but she held strong and shook her head no as she started helping them pull Misty back, the rest all turning to follow Dash’s suggestion. Dash ended up next to Fire as they pulled the unwilling Misty Fly along. She nudged him and chuckled.
“What a face, how in Equestria do you ever resist it?”
“With extreme difficulty,” Fire answered without hesitation as they all made their way to the door.
But they barely moved a few paces back into the hallway before they all stopped abruptly and stared directly at the image of Sombra. He was frozen in place a few paces ahead of them, legs up mid stride with his back turned to them, and looking over his shoulder with wide eyes like a colt caught stealing a jar of cookies. His eyes darted back and forth as the Wonderbolts just stared at him.
“You saw nothing,” he said before turning quickly, but he stopped immediately as Discord appeared directly in his path with his arms crossed.
“Oh I saw it alright…” he snorted. “How about you don’t touch me again with your filthy magic?” he asked sharply. Sombra flattened his brow, glancing back at the Wonderbolts to see Celestia drag herself out of the room with Luna in tow.
“Mrghrgh…” Sombra grumbled in defeat, sitting down. “I’d prefer not to touch you at all,” he shot back at Discord.
“What are you two going on about?” Dash asked as she approached them. Discord nonchalantly waved a hand towards Sombra. “This oaf pulled on my tail with his magic while Celestia was—”
“I did no such thing, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sombra cut him off, speaking quickly as he nervously glanced back at Celestia.
“Oh, how precious,” Discord rolled his eyes. “Did the big scary tough guy have an emotion? Heaven forbid!”
“I’ll pull your tail again and this time tear it OFF if you don’t hold your tongue!” Sombra threatened with a growl.
“Oh, stop it…” Celestia chimed in, shakily pacing towards them and sitting down between them. “We executed the cure successfully, but the two of you go right back to jawboning. This is their moment, let’s not make it about us,” she suggested.
“I did nothing,” Sombra repeated quietly.
“Hush,” Celestia shot him a look as he scoffed and turned away.
“Liar,” Discord added.
“That goes for you too,” Celestia turned her scolding to him.
“I’m not the one sneaking around and stalking your shapely illuminous flank,” Discord said sarcastically. Celestia’s eyes widened, but Sombra twitched and sharply turned around.
“That’s it,” Sombra growled, his magic dimly lighting on his horn as he moved to step through Celestia’s image to get in Discord’s face. “Your tail is coming off right—”
“Ah!” Celestia yelped and Sombra flinched in surprise as he ran directly into her. They toppled over one another, Celestia falling flat on the floor as Sombra rolled off her and fell on his back.
Discord’s face went blank as the two quickly sat up and stared at one another. After several moments passed, Sombra reached a hoof towards Celestia, his hoof touching her once softly before poking her in the shoulder several times.
“Huh…” Celestia tipped her head as she felt Sombra’s hoof push against her as if the two were solid. “That’s unexpected.”
“Oh, that’s just not fair!” Discord threw his arms up, growling angrily. Sombra suddenly smiled devilishly, turning and looking Discord in the eyes as he continued to poke at Celestia.
“What? Is there a problem?” he asked, sneering. “Does this anger you?” He poked her faster.
“YES!” Discord stomped, grinding his teeth together as Celestia reached up and grabbed Sombra’s hoof, sighing in frustration.
Dash cleared her throat. Loudly.
Discord, Celestia, and Sombra all stopped and slowly looked towards her.
“Sorry to interrupt this important conversation, but now that we have a moment I’d like to ask a few questions,” she asked while looking at Celestia.
“Do you not give up?” Sombra butted in angrily.
“I’m not talking to you, sore-highness,” Dash shot him a flat look as Discord turned and held in a laugh. “You already made it crystal clear that you’re going to be a stiff ass, now kindly shut it.”
“Mrghfrghrgh…” Sombra grumbled to himself again as he paced away and sat facing the wall.
“Now… Celestia,” Dash sat down, a frank and upfront tone in her voice. “I… well… first. Thanks for helping Wave. I can’t begin to tell you how hard things have been for Spitfire.”
“That stallion is special to her… As those others are to your counterpart. I’m glad I could help,” she said with a smile as Dash noticed that she still looked a bit fatigued.
“And are you fine?” she asked, tipping her head.
“I’ll be alright… but this will take some getting used to. Such a small amount of power nearly overwhelming me is foreign territory for me,” she explained while rubbing a hoof to her head.
“But you are stable… and so is the magic?” Dash pressed. “Should we go check on Soarin? Nothing happened to him, right?”
“I would have felt it if something did,” Celestia assured her. “I’m practically a detector for my own power now. The little I have control of is still very much connected to it. I’ll be the first to know if something ever goes wrong. I'm willing to believe you would have felt something too with the nature of your connection.”
“I see…” Dash hummed to herself, not sure if she liked the answer, but at least Soarin was undisturbed by what they just did. “Is there anything else you can tell me? Anything about Soarin or what’s going on with him? This is kind of important for me too since I’m being directly affected.”
“I wish there was more I could tell you,” Celestia admitted with a frown. “This is as new of a circumstance for me as it is for all of us. But now that I’m able to communicate outside of Soarin’s body, it should make figuring everything out much easier. Or at the very least figuring out how to stabilize him physically and mentally. I’m not sure we’ll ever find an answer to how… but who knows what we’ll find out?” She said while smiling towards Discord.
“Yeah, sure… it’ll be loads of fun with Sombra around…” Discord mumbled and turned to walk towards the other wall opposite of Sombra as Celestia rolled her eyes.
“Have fun with those two…” Dash said sarcastically.
“I’ll do my best to keep Discord focused,” Celestia assured her. “Though I have little sway over Sombra.”
“Not even a flank sway?” Dash smirked, catching Celestia off-guard. She chuckled nervously and tipped her whole body slightly to the side.
“Well… maybe…” she said nervously.
“So… um…” Dash’s tone suddenly changed. Celestia quickly picked up on it, noticing the drop in confidence.
“Yes?” Celestia smiled warmly at her.
“Can I…” she looked back at the doors. Her eyes remained fixed on them for several moments. “Can I come and see Soarin whenever I want? Discord kept turning me away before, but now…” she trailed off, the look in her eyes weakening considerably as her lips quivered.
Celestia blinked, looking up at the doors as well before putting two and two together. No doubt… after seeing Spitfire and Wave…
“Hmm…” Celestia rubbed her chin. “Probably.”
“Probably?” Dash pouted.
“I guess it depends,” Celestia explained. “Discord’s concerns about Soarin are very much reasonable. While the risk of a major disaster is averted, keeping him as balanced and at rest as possible is necessary if we are to get any progress or answers. We have to be wary that he’s in an unstable mental state and not to take too many chances with the effects your connection with him has on you both. Although… If you are able to keep yourself at ease around him, both physically and emotionally, then we can probably work something out. Please understand, we’re just taking precautions here.”
“I… okay,” Dash sighed. “That’s better than nothing.”
“We shouldn’t risk it,” Discord suddenly moved back towards them, speaking to Celestia. Dash glared at him, but Celestia shook her head.
“We can handle it just fine, Discord. I don’t want to keep her from somepony special to her.”
“Fine, fine… just don’t blame me if it causes problems,” Discord caved quickly, which was still odd for Dash to see.
Everypony perked up as the doors opened, all of them turning in time to see Spitfire walking through… with the most outrageously happy and satisfied look on her face that any of them had ever seen. She was almost swaying as she walked, barely able to remain upright as she moved towards the rest of them with Shining Armor, Cadence, and Dash’s Ponyville friends in tow.
It was an incredibly welcome sight for all of them. Hell, none of them could remember the last time they had seen Spitfire look just so darn happy. She stopped in front of all of them, placed a hoof on her chest, and released a long sigh.
“Hey there lover girl,” Fleetfoot giggled as she moved up and nudged her. “How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been reborn,” Spitfire quickly answered, pulling no punches as she sat down and smiled giddily, her eyes wandering up towards the ceiling. “I feel so… good.”
Fleetfoot placed a hoof over her mouth as she examined Spitfire’s demeanor, she bounced up and down in place briefly before reaching forward and giving her a big hug. The rest of the Wonderbolts gathered around to show their support, even Blaze showed a strange amount of affection towards Spitfire. They had some common ground over Wave Chill, after all.
“Wave is getting a quick check up by the doctors to make sure everything is fine. Aside from feeling a bit weak and sore, he should be out of there and back on his hooves in short order. We’ve got him back, everypony… and it’s about time.”
Hearing her say that clearly had a positive resonance with the Wonderbolts. Some good news after so much struggle. But before she could get lost in the euphoria with them, Spitfire quickly turned to Celestia, bidding the rest give her a moment as she moved towards her.
“Princess?” Spitfire sat right in front of Celestia, the two looking each other right in the eye. “Thank you. I… can’t begin to describe how much I appreciate this.”
“It is the least I can do,” Celestia nodded. “I don’t want there to be any doubt between us any longer.”
“Well,” Spitfire tipped her head to the side. “You have a ways to go before you’re out of that forest, but…” she smiled and nodded. “Can’t deny that that was a hell of a way to start.”
“I don’t expect it to be easy, but I’ll keep doing what I can until then,” Celestia agreed, making it clear that she understood and would not protest. She even quickly held a hoof up to stop Luna before she could come forward and argue. Celestia clearly had a lot of control over Discord and Luna and was making frequent use of it. It was something Spitfire could get used to for sure.
“Come along now, Celestia,” Discord suddenly stepped in. “We should really get back to work on Soarin,” he said while making a head motion towards Luna as well. He slowly looked towards Sombra and grunted. “You too I guess.”
“Do NOT speak to me, malformed fopdoodle,” Sombra hissed as he got up and moved in the direction of Soarin anyway. Celestia giggled to herself as Discord sighed and shook his head.
“Do NoT SpEaK To Me, MaLfOrMeD FoPdOoDlE,” Discord mocked Sombra’s voice with a nasally tone and scoffed. “Give me a break, somepony really needs to update their insult dictionary…” Discord grumbled to himself as he glanced at Celestia still giggling to herself.
Discord frowned, looking the image of Celestia up and down as she turned and looked at him curiously.
“I’m… really glad you’re here…” he suddenly said. “Really, I am…” he reached towards her and tried to touch her, but his hand went right through her. He sighed heavily and stared at his hand in disappointment. But then he perked up as a faint yellow light appeared around his hand and he felt a light tug on it. He looked up to see Celestia’s horn glowing faintly as she smiled at him.
“Thank you, Discord,” she said warmly. “Let’s go.”
And with that, they left the rest behind. Spitfire watched them leave as the rest of the Wonderbolts approached her, Rainbow Dash breaking away from Cadence and her Ponyville crew to join in as they gathered around.
“Well…” Spitfire looked at all of them. “Looks like something finally went our way,” she said with a chuckle.
“It’s been so long,” Fire Streak commented with a chuckle. “To be honest I’ve almost forgotten how it feels.”
“He’s… really okay…” Blaze suddenly broke her silence, still clinging to High Winds. “Holy Fuck… Chiller is… he’s fine, isn’t he? I’m not dreaming?” her voice shook.
“Don’cha know it,” High Winds gave her a heavy pat on the head, shimmering brightly as she yawned. “Both him, and the old bastard in the hospital. Looks like Squad Two lives on.”
“So what now, captain?” Fleetfoot happily asked while leaning against Spitfire.
There was a long pause as all eyes landed on Spitfire. Indeed, they were eager for a word of direction from her. She had not issued any orders or organized anything for the Wonderbolts since the battle ended.
So what would it be? Picking up the pieces? Getting back into a routine? Meetings with squads? Training regiments? Teaming up with Descent’s scouts for reconnaissance?
Spitfire looked up with determination in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but then froze.
The rest stared blankly.
“You know what?” Spitfire lifted a hoof and pounded it into the other. “We need a vacation.”
Everypony blinked as Spitfire turned around and spotted Cadence among Dash’s friends.
“Princess! You have a sec?” she asked. Cadence glanced towards her, turned and made her way over.
“Yes?” she answered, looking at Spitfire curiously.
Spitfire put on a slightly devilish smile.
“What’s the swankiest resort hotel around the Empire?”
---To Be Continued---