//------------------------------// // Love and Trust // Story: Way Past Equestria // by Onomonopia //------------------------------// Bunnie decided she needed to be the one to check up on Cadence. Because she was the only one who could kind of understand what the poor mare was going through. Twilight's team had managed to get those trapped in the crystals back. Had managed to save their lives. And when they had shown back up at the base, for a brief time there had been celebrations. Then the four learned of what had happened after they had been trapped in the crystals. And who had been lost. Celestia and Luna took it the best. As ancient, near immortal rulers they had witnessed plenty of death. But Bunnie had seen the pain in their eyes. Shadow had tried to pretend that it didn't bother him, that he was as cold and emotionless as he acted. But, when he thought no one was looking, Bunnie had seen him slam a fist into the wall, barely able to hear him cursing his own weakness. Cadence understandably took it the hardest. Her husband was gone. And their foal was still in the grip of Sombra and Eggman, fate unknown. She had retreated to one of the back rooms and had yet to come out. Twilight had wanted to check on her, but Bunnie had insisted. "Cadence, are ya there, sugah?" Bunnie asked. She tapped against the door with her new claw arm, still getting used to it. When there was no answer, Bunnie pressed a button and the door opened. She walked inside to see Cadence, sitting alone in the dark, with scorch marks all along the walls. "Can ah come in?" Cadence didn't answer. Bunnie came in anyway. All the furniture was ash, with the walls not fairing much better. The only light in the room came from a single bulb that had managed to survive the onslaught. But all Bunnie was looking at was the mare, who, now that she was closer, Bunnie could tell was shaking. Bunnie placed a hand on Cadence's shoulder and Cadence jerked away like the touch burned her. "Ah'm so sorry. For what ya have to go through," Bunnie said. "If ya want someone to talk to or just an ear to listen, ah can-" "Get out," Cadence whispered. "Ah can't do that. Not when mah friend is hurting so badly," Bunnie gently replied. "Ah'm here to share yer pain, alleviate it if ah can." "You can't. You have no idea how this feels. To lose your one and only," Cadence whispered. "Yer right...and yer wrong," Bunnie chuckled. Cadence didn't turn around, but Bunnie could tell she was listening. "This might not make much sense. Heck, even ah treat it as ah nightmare, but...the world me and mah friends come from is...different than what it was supposed to be." "And?" Cadence asked. "What ah mean is...there was another world before ours, where all of us lived similar, yet different lives. And on that world, mah Sugar-Twan...nearly gave his life to save the king of Mobius. He...was dying, if the memory is right," Bunnie admitted. "And while the world got reset and everything changed, including him being the picture of health now...ah still have nightmares about holding his dying body in mah arms, praying to whoever would listen that ah would give anything if he was saved. Ah guess, in a way, someone answered." "Where are you going with this?" Cadence asked. "Where ah'm going is that ah understand how you feel, ah truly do. But at the same time, ah have no right to...impose mahself or tell you that we're the same. Because someone up there gave mah Sugar-Twan another chance," Bunnie admitted. "But know that ah'm here for ya. Even if ya don't want me to be. Even if ya feel ah have no right." "So what did you do?" Cadence asked. "What did you do when they took your love from you, left you alone without the one who swore to be with you forever?" "Ah...decided to avenge him. To make sure that his death wasn't in vain," Bunnie admitted. "Because even though he sacrificed himself, that doesn't mean our enemies would stop. So ah swore as long as ah still drew breath, ah would carry on his battle. Does that help?" Cadence didn't answer. She sat in silence, in the darkness, for a long time. Bunnie was beginning to wonder if she should leave the mare to grieve when Cadence turned to look back at Bunnie, her eyes blazing with the fury of not just a wife...but a mother. "You want to help me, Bunnie? Then you can help me in doing exactly what you just said," Cadence seethed. "I will carry on Shining's legacy. I will save our worlds. I will kill Eggman. And what I will do to Sombra words cannot do justice. But above all else, I am getting my daughter back." Bunnie smiled at Cadence's words. "Now yer speaking mah language. If yer ready to fight, then come with me to the main room. Sally and Twilight have had some time to think and they have one hell of a plan cooked up," Bunnie chuckled. "Insane, I take it?" "Borderline suicidal." "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get my daughter back." ||==O O==|| "I don't believe it," was all Rainbow could say as Bunnie and Cadence came out of the back rooms, a fire burning in Cadence's eyes that Rainbow was shocked to see. Cadence headed for Twilight and Sally while Bunnie walked over to where Rainbow, Antoine and AJ were sitting. "A few minutes ago I thought Cadence had given up, now here she is with a look that could slay an army. How'd ya do it?" "Ah just sympathized with her. And let her know that sometimes all we can do is carry on," Bunnie shrugged. Antoine pulled her close and nuzzled her with a laugh. "Mah Cherie is magnifique! What a way with words she has if she is able to turn despair into determination like zat," Antoine praised. "Aw, yer making me blush," Bunnie giggled. "She getting brought up to speed, then?" Rainbow asked and Bunnie nodded. Rainbow chuckled. "Wonder if she'll have second thoughts after hearing the "plan." Or lack of plan, in this case." "Are ya kidding? With how she's feeling ah have a feeling she'll tear through Eggman and Sombra's whole army to get to them," Bunnie replied. "Sombra's in fer it, though. Ah count at least four of our friends who want to tear him limb from limb, and those are the nicer options fer him." "Well he more than deserves it," Antoine added. "After what he has done to her family, especially to her foal. He has no standards whatsoever." "Ah wonder if Cadence will let us foal sit when this is over. Ah would love to meet little Flurry Heart fer mahself," Bunnie said. Then she pressed herself against Antoine and smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck. "And who knows? Maybe one day Cadence can return the favor?" "You want a foal?" Antoine teased. Bunnie smirked and pushed him back slightly. Rainbow rolled her eyes and pretended to gag, but she had a smile on her face. "Aren't ya scared?" All three sets of eyes turned towards Applejack, who looked at the group with concern on her face. "Scared of what, sugar?" "Scared of losing all of...this?" Applejack asked, motioning to all of them. "Yer loved ones. Yer futures together...yer future families? How can ya be so...laid back?" Antoine and Bunnie shared a pained smile before they sat next to Applejack. "As sad as it is to say, we have spent nearly all of our lives fighting against Eggman, knowing zat every day could be our last," Antoine explained. "We have gotten used to it, so you might say." "And we've learned that ya have to enjoy every moment ya got, since ya never know when it might be yer last," Bunnie added, leaning into Antoine. "So yeah, we could all die tomorrow. Which makes it all the more important to spend the time we have today together." "And hey, there's no reason to be worried," Rainbow Dash said. She sat down beside AJ and pulled her into a hug, smiling at her. "Because now that we know that Eggman and Sombra have, we can beat them. Like they said, they beat us once, and then we come back and kick their flanks something fierce. Don't worry, though. I'll let you be the one to finish off Sombra." "Sombra is mine!" Both Shadow and Cadence yelled at the same time. The two glared at each other for a moment. "Finish him off together?" Cadence asked. "As long as it's painful," Shadow replied. "Deal." Applejack stared at the odd sight for a moment before a laugh slip passed her lips. She leaned into Rainbow Dash and sighed. "Yer right, Bunnie. We need to make the most of what time we have," Applejack agreed. Then she smirked at both Antoine and Bunnie. "And hey, if Cadence doesn't want to watch yer kid, ah'm sure Rainbow would have no objections to the two of us looking after them." "Oh yeah, I'm great with foals, er, kids. I've got a lot of cool words I can teach them!" "Rainbow, no." ||==O O==|| Sonic stood alone on the surface outside of the base, feeling the freezing wind tear through him as the ice bit at his body. He had been glad to hear that Cadence was back in the fight, but he need some time alone. Some time to think. Things were moving fast and normally that was a good thing. But right now...he needed a moment to slow down. "Chili dog?" Sonic didn't even bother looking to see who was there. He took the chili dog from Pinkie and took a few bites, not surprised in the slightest that it was perfect. "So what are you doing out here in the cold acting like Shadow?" Pinkie asked. "Trying to cool off and think," Sonic said. "You? Thinking? I'll take sentences I'd never thought I'd hear for five hundred," Pinkie teased. Sonic smirked back at her before a more serious expression crossed his face. "Pinkie, you've...messed with reality before, right?" Sonic asked. "Every day. Why?" "Because I'm going over all of our options, trying to figure out the best way to stop Eggman and Sombra...and maybe save all of our friends who were lost. A part of me thinks that maybe I should...reboot everything, like I did when I teamed up with Rock," Sonic said. Then he sighed and shook his head. "But with the Chaos Force as weak as it is and without the Chaos Emeralds to accurately channel the power...I fear I would make things worse. What do you think?" "Mmm, reboots are always a mixed bag. I mean yeah, it's cool to see everypony at the start of their story again and seeing them learn and fight foes for the first time, but then you're throwing out years, maybe even decades of development and interactions and that's not even getting into the characters that would be erased because they aren't there at the beginning of the reboot and oh no I've gone cross eyed," Pinkie replied. "Heh, I get the idea. Reboot's come with pros and cons," Sonic chuckled. "It's just...I can't think of any other outcome that results in a happy ending. Say we stop Eggman and Sombra. Maybe...once and for all. Say we fix the Chaos Force and split our worlds back to how they're supposed to be. It won't bring back Shining. It won't bring back Silver or Blaze. They'll be gone. And we'll have to keep on going." "But isn't that what life is? A series of ups and downs, meetings and farewells, triumph and loss, until one day we too check out?" Pinkie asked. "I know nobody likes to say goodbye, especially with how they had to go, but if you reset everything, if you reboot it when things get bad...can that really be called living? Or are you just stuck? Forever and ever, reliving the past with slight tweaks? Never allowed to grow? Trapped in the stories whoops I'm cross eyed again." "Wow, that...was kinda deep," Sonic replied. "It doesn't answer my question...but I don't think this question has an easy answer. Eh, so I'll go in and figure it out as I go. Same old same old. Thanks Pinkie, I guess I was overthinking things." "Glad I could help! Now maybe you can help me," Pinkie said with a smile. "With what?" Sonic asked hesitantly. "Remember how you said you were the strongest Sonic?" Pinkie asked and Sonic nodded slowly. "Well, I want to put that to the test. Come with me!"