Chapter Ten: Mending Part 2
Echo took a long look at Rainbow Dash and thought to himself. ‘I know that I have to say something to ease her mind, but there's also the...news.’ He kept staring at her not knowing what to say, a frown forming on his face. "You know uh, it's a bit rough at first dealing with mechanical limbs, it’s something I had to learn to deal with. But you gotta accept the reality and move forward." He told her feeling a little bit of pride in what he figured out to say.
“It’s not just that! I have to get better! Twilight must be super busy… she hasn’t visited.” Rainbow’s voice lowered before glancing at where her wing used to be. “Guess it must be super stressful dealing with everypony panicking."
"Um...about your Twilight friend...man, how should I put this?" He said, starting to look away and rubbed the back of his head. "She...didn't make it." Echo's head hung downwards as he delivered the news. Rainbow Dash blinked as she tried to process the news. “Wha…”
She swallowed, trying to think about the Nurses, she couldn’t remember if they even mentioned Twilight. Her voice began to tremble as she spoke. “N-no, no way. She can’t, she’s powerful, she's brilliant! She can’t be dead!”
Rainbow Dash felt her chest tighten as she moved to sit up. “I-I know we were being overwhelmed but… she would have had a plan to get all of us out of there. Alive, we’re heroes, without her... no! She’s got to be alive!”
Echo's head stayed as it was as he went on saying. "She did have a plan, in fact she saved many lives but...she did so knowing that she might not make it. Her wound, well...she was gone before anyone could have helped."
Rainbow Dash held back a sob as she began to shake. She knew she couldn’t blame them, they weren’t the cause of the sudden change in Palpatine. She didn’t trust them, but they risked themselves to save them. ‘Not all of us.’ she thought bitterly biting the inside of her cheek to keep herself from snapping at Echo. But the bile and anger was threatening to spill out.
Echo turned to look at Rainbow Dash as he said. "I know you probably feel like it's our fault, you wouldn't be the first. I know what it's like to lose those you care for, many of my brothers died fighting for the Republic putting their lives on the line. You can't bring them back...but you can at least honor their sacrifice by moving forward."
Rainbow pulled the cover over her head saying. “Yeah, really easy to do that when her sacrifice would just be picked apart by every single pony who doesn’t like one thing that she did. I can yell and snap all I want, but it won’t make a difference. Once somepony makes up their mind…”
Rainbow looked at the metallic hoof in front of her face. “It’s hard to get them to change it. Even if you sacrifice everything, one bad thing spoils their opinion on you.”
"People in the Republic...they didn't look too highly of my brothers and I as we fought. Some found us expendable, others thinking we did more harm than good. But despite that we kept on fighting for them, a cause we believed in. Now, what do you plan on doing?" Echo told her with a pretty serious expression on his face. "As for me, they can think what they want but I will still do what I can to help anyway."
“What can I do?” Rainbow Dash asked, sticking her remaining foreleg out of the blanket gesturing to the area of her remaining wing. “I’m a fast flier, with only one wing. I can’t fly and even if I can, it won’t be as fast as I used to be able to go.”
"Which is why for now you have to be patient, you will be flying again. For that I can promise." Echo said in response, smiling. Rainbow poked her head out, unsure of how he thought she could be flying like she used to. Yet she appreciated his words, she didn’t feel as quite energetic as she used to but she managed. “Thanks.”
In another area, Crosshair was leaning against a wall and watched ponies bicker about whether or not he and the others were to blame. "It's just like the Republic all over again, and now it's the Empire. We should just leave them and be on our way."
“So you would prove them right?” a voice gasped behind him as Rarity approached her head hidden by a scarf. “Their first meeting with… Humans and they are attacked. I don’t agree with what they say, but darling, can you blame them?”
Crosshair turned to look at Rarity as he said. "Who cares? I have been in this situation before and I don't want to be around."
“And here I thought you are protectors.” hissed Rarity looking up at him as she stood nearby. “You would rather leave us to defend ourselves when we have little experience maintaining this vessel let alone flying it. Not very noble or honorable… not even generous. We might not be grateful now, but eventually every gem must shine and we will be amazed at what you bring. Darling, you need to start polishing their view of you, show them your strengths. What makes you different!”
Crosshair continued to look at Rarity as he responded. "You say eventually but I find that hard to believe."
“I see the inner beauty in a lot of things. Most ponies don’t. There are a few things that I am mad about but none of them you caused.” Rarity told him before shaking her head. “In fact most of the ponies who are against you never fought alongside you. In fact all of the ones who fought in the battle are grateful for your knowledge and assistance.”
Rarity glanced at the floor seeing the remainder of her mane in the reflection causing her to sigh. “There are many things we wish we could have changed. Perhaps if you had remained in Equestria longer these ponies would have gotten to know you. Yet we have to make do with what we can.”
Rarity's eyes flickered over to Crosshair’s armor briefly scanning it up and down. She hummed slightly under her breath as she muttered. “Little to no scratches, well taken care of, most likely does not like to be involved directly in combat… perhaps something comfortable yet blends in.”
"I am a sniper, if I find myself in those situations I am not doing a very good job and I always do a good job." Crosshair said as he pulled out his sniper rifle. "I could shoot through a small hole miles away."
“Have you tried threading a needle?” Rarity asked, looking at the weapon holding up her hoof. “And put that away, darling, you are making everyone nervous.”
Crosshair reluctantly put his weapon away and folded his arms, ignoring the question and looked at the ponies. Rarity tilted her head to the side before fishing through her saddlebag before saying. “Hold out your hand darling and close your eyes, please.”
He did what she asked but not without looking annoyed. Rarity studied him a little bit before finding the right item. She placed a polished black onyx in his hand saying. “Instead of focusing on those who are loud, you should focus on those who you can help become a better pony.”
She turned around, heading off using her magic to remove the scarf revealing a shortened shaved mane. It had been ruined during the battle yet she remembered to not just focus on the outward beauty. She could shine from the inside out. ‘For Twilight.’
Crosshair eyed the onyx as he said in return. "And what about you? What will you do?"
“Darling, I am going to do what I can, after all I wielded the Element of Generosity. Just because the Elements are shattered, it doesn’t mean I should stop doing my job.” Rarity chuckled looking back at him. “I believe that our hearts are in the right place, it’s whether or not we listen to them.”
"If you say so. I'm gonna find a place to train on this ship so my skills don't dull from not being in much action since the war ended." Crosshair said as he started walking off. Princess Celestia passed him nodding her head in greeting a warm smile on her face. Her eyes glancing at Rarity who was already heading off somewhere. “Only one left.”
Tech was doing some inspections on the ship when he happened across Pinkie Pie who was curled up into a ball in a corner of the engine room. He approached her slowly wondering if he should do something. "You alright? Well obviously you're not, but anything I could do?"
Pinkie Pie shook her head, her normally bubbly and bouncy mane straight, her coloring was dull. She glanced at Tech before mumbling. “No, Twilight… she isn’t here to share this journey with us and everypony is fighting. I tried to help, keep everyone happy, but they told me I was just getting in everyone’s way. If I’m in here I’m not in anypony’s way.”
Tech put a hand on his chin as he thought of a way to respond. "You could make me happy, how about giving me a hand? Or a hoof I should say."
“What do you need help with? And you can say hand, I know what you’re talking about.” Pinkie told him climbing to her feet feeling the familiar tingly feeling of the blood rushing back to her legs. “Ooooh! Tingly!”
"Uh, right. I am doing some maintenance checks on the ship, why don't you tell me what the readings say about the condition of the engine while I get out the necessary equipment." Tech instructed.
“Well the engine is fine, you should be worried about the ship in general. Have you noticed the shaking and trembling the walls have been doing since last night?” Pinkie asked walking next to him her body shaking slightly.
"Of course I have, I have been up nearly 24 hours working on this ship. If it's not the engine being faulty causing the shaking then...hmmm." Tech said placing a hand on his chin again. Pinkie mimicked the motion before bouncing up letting out a gasp as she realized something. Her mane and tail spazzing out as she hovered in the air for a few seconds.
Tech eyed her curiously. "You're an odd one, though I guess I am one to talk. What's on your mind?"
Pinkie grabbed Tech’s face in between her hooves getting really close as she gasped. “Discord!”
"Prease wet go of by face." Tech said, trying to get his words out. Pinkie Pie let go before bouncing off of him. Instead she chose to bounce quickly around him as if herding him towards an area.
"One moment you're curled up in a ball and the next you're bouncing off the walls." Tech pointed out with a surprised expression. He followed where she was leading him. Pinkie stopped bouncing and was now breaking out into a canter saying. “Well seeing as we’re about to crash I don’t really have the time to process many things. Buuuuuut if you really want to know how I’m feeling I guess the way to explain it is lost and hurt and sad and confused. Seeing what happened to Twilight also has me scared and with the Elements of Harmony destroyed I can’t think of many things that can help bring hope to the ponies with us.”
"I don't quite understand, but I can tell you that I know how you feel." Tech said in return. "Lost a lot of family myself."
Pinkie paused looking at him before feeling the ship shake harshly. She tried to think of the right words to say, it was hard. Twilight did a lot of the thinking and planning, yet all she could manage was. “How do you deal with it?”
"By keeping on doing what I am good at. I am still alive so I can try to make a difference in their place." He explained. "I miss them but I can't bring them back so why just sit around?"
“To allow yourself time to process and understand how their loss affects you and to find a place within you to house and honor their memory.” Pinkie Pie chirped as she stopped in front of the door. “We can’t just keep ourselves busy and not stop to allow ourselves that time."
"That's not what I meant, I still do those things I just keep doing my job. So what are we doing here?" Tech asked. Pinkie Pie opened the door revealing a very exhausted looking Draconequus saying. “Discord! He is keeping the ship together with his magic, because he didn’t have enough time to actually finish welding the ship together. So on top of teleporting and sorting out ponies, teleporting… us to a unknown location, as well as… Twilight’s body. So he’s suuuuuper tired.”
Meanwhile, Hunter was grabbing some supplies when he saw Celestia walk past him, a look on her face as if she was preoccupied with something. ‘That's the direction where I saw Rex earlier.’
Celestia hummed under her breath before looking over her shoulder then slipping into the kitchen teleporting a bucket next to her. She was filling it up knowing that she had just enough time to pull this prank. The ship shook harshly causing the bucket to drop to the ground. Her eyes widened, not even noticing the water spreading across the floor. Her magenta eyes locking onto the fire surrounding the ship as well as the changing from space to sky. Her horn glowed quickly hoping to keep the ship from breaking apart in the atmosphere. She was flung forward as the ship crashed everything going black in that one moment.