//------------------------------// // Fallout // Story: My Little Spark: The Movie // by Real Solaris //------------------------------// —Mt. Aris, Base of the Mountain, Beach— Air bubbles pop off the water's surface, and after a few moments of bubbling, the Mane Seven, Spike, and Tionic breach the surface, gasping for air and coughing up water. To their relief, they see that no one is missing as they look around. Spotting the beach, they all swim toward it. After reaching shallower water, Rainbow lets go of Sonic. He jumps out of the water and dive-bombs the beach. "Land!" Sonic exclaims, his tail wagging hard as he hugs the sand. "I don't care if it's sand and I get bad traction on it, but it's land!" "Drama hog," Rainbow coughs, hacking up the leftover water in her lungs before collapsing beside him. "Do you know what it's like to nearly drown dozens of times in water levels?" Sonic questions. He doesn’t get a response. "Yeah, didn't think so." "Twi, what were ya thinkin'?" Applejack asks, wringing her hat out before shaking the seawater off her body. "Ah mean, stealin' their pearl? What did ya think would happen?!" "It was the only way to save Equestria," Twilight sighs, brushing a strand of her mane out of her face. Tionic, whose face was planted in the sand, groans in frustration as he picks himself up. "Did you completely forget about our conversation five minutes ago?!" He exclaims, brushing off the sand from his face and clothes. "I explicitly told you that wasn't our only option, and yet you were still going to go with your original plan?!" "Plus, the Queen was going to say yes!" Pinkie adds. "We did what you told us, and that made her realize we were ponies worth saving!" Her eyes widen in shock as she realizes what Twilight was planning. "Unless... You didn't really want us to show her the best time ever! You just wanted us to distract her!" Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy gasp, the pieces clicking all at once. Sonic growls, glaring daggers at Twilight. "I never would have done it, but this isn't Equestria!" She explains, rubbing her forehead with a hoof. "We can't just dance around with con artists, make rainbooms in the sky, and expect everything to work out! It's not enough! We are not enough!" "No, Twilight, we stuck together!" says Rainbow, jabbing a hoof at her chest. "We were gonna get the help we needed! The only thing that stopped us was you!" "I'm doing the best I can!" Twilight groans, falling back on her flank. "It's all on me. I'm the one Tempest wants. I'm the last Princess!" "It's not all on you, Twilight!" Sonic points out. "You're not the only one threatened by this, and neither is this just your responsibility!" "You're also the only one who doesn't trust her friends!" Pinkie exclaims. "Do you not trust your friends enough to do that?!" "Maybe I would've been better off without friends like YOU!" Twilight snaps, flaring her wings and magic. Her eyes widen in horror as she realizes what she said. Pinkie gasps, her hair visibly losing most of its poofiness. Fluttershy whimpers, and the other's jaws drop. Twilight wants to take it back, but the damage has already been done. "Pinkie, I-" "I-I just can't talk to you right now," She sniffles as she walks off. The girls and Sonic follow her, giving Twilight various glares and scowls as they pass her. The worst was Sonic's, as he gave her a look of sadness and disappointment. Spike stays by her side, but Tionic is the only one who hasn't moved. He just stood there, his jaw ridged and fists clenched so hard they turned white. "Twilight. Sparkle," Tionic growls slowly, his eyes darkened by shadow. When Twilight turns to him, she was the only one to see his face covered in shadow, his irises glowing a menacingly bright blue. They pierce through the shadow and bore into her eyes, making her flinch. "What. The. Hell. IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” "Wha-?!" She's taken aback by his explosion of anger, and her ears flop against her head. Tionic's echoing shout stops the Mane Six in their tracks, and they turn back to them. "You're taking it out on them?!" Tionic exclaims, his voice carrying a deadly edge to it. "You were the one who was trying to steal the pearl, not them! Why are you blaming your closest friends?!" "I-I'm not blaming them for this!" Twilight stammers, attempting to alleviate the anger she could feel radiating off Tionic. "Even if we got help from the hippogriffs or tried to find another way, it would've been too late! The Chaos Emeralds are spread around the planet, so Super Sonic is off the list, and the Elements are locked in the Tree of Harmony! That pearl was the quickest option we had!" "We can go Super, but we just need fourteen hundred rings to do it," Sonic mutters, rolling his eyes. Rainbow punches his shoulder in response. "You don't need some gems and trinkets to take down that yeti!" Tionic exclaims. "You had the power to do just that already, but you threw them away!" "Then why don't you use your powers, huh?!" Twilight yells back, irritated that this was getting nowhere. "Actually, why didn't you use them to save the princesses? Why didn't you stop Tempest?! How come you've held back when you could've solved the problem -?!" "My mom is dead because of my powers!" Tionic roars, his powers lighting himself and the beach up. Sonic, Spike, Twilight, and the girls gasp. Tears well up in the girls' and Spike's eyes, and though he tries to hide it, tears nip at Sonic's eyes, too. The beach falls silent, and nothing but the howling wind and the crackle of electricity is heard. "I have been on the run for six years since then, Twilight. Ever since I learned about my powers, they've been nothing but a curse! Every time I've used them, someone has gone after them, and it's ended up with others getting hurt or killed, my mom included! I am NOT going to use them only to lose you too, damnit!" Twilight gasps softly, bringing a hoof to her muzzle as her tears well up. She knew Tionic cared, but to that extent? "T-Tio… I…” "Don't. Call me that." Tionic growls, his tone sending chills down Twilight's spine. His powers crackle across his scarf as he clenches it tightly. Teardrops hit the sand as tears well up in Tionic's eyes. “Ever. Again." Without a second thought, he blasts past Twilight, shattering the sound barrier in an explosion of electricity and wind. Sand flies everywhere, creating a dust cloud and obscuring everyone's vision momentarily. Once it settles, the Mane Six look back at Twilight, and they turn to go after Tionic, leaving her and Spike alone. After all that, it became too much for Twilight, and she finally broke down. All the stress and emotion from the past few days catches up to her, and she just lets it go. "Twilight?" Spike says softly after a moment, laying a claw on her shoulder. "It's okay, you'll figure it out." "No, I can't!" Twilight cries, sobs wracking her body. "I-I ruined everything! I pushed away my friends, and I-I hurt Tionic! There's no chance to save Equestria now. It's all my fault! It’s all… my… fault…” Twilight falls to her knees and lets everything out onto them, not caring if Spike saw the sorry state she is in. She's unsure how long she cried, but she forces herself to look up when the purple alicorn realizes she no longer feels Spike's claw on her side. "Sniff… Spike?" "Twilight, look out!" Spike tries to warn, but his warning is muffled by a Storm Guard's paw and comes too late. Twilight immediately charges up a spell, but to her horror, a cage closes up around her and traps her. "What?!" Twilight exclaims, firing the spell. To her horror, the mana bolt dissipates on contact with the bars, meaning they were made of a magic-absorbing material. She feels the cage being lifted into the air and sees a chain drawing into the open bottom of one of the Storm King's ships. "No, no, no, no, no! Noooooo!" "Twilight, help!" Spike struggles against the guard's grip, trying to free himself. But the guard's grip is firm, and manages to keep a hold of Spike. "Spiiiiiike!!!" Twilight screams, trying to reach out the cage's bars, but it's evident it's futile. Spike manages to free his snout and bites down on the Storm Guard's hand as hard as he can. His sharp teeth immediately puncture the skin and draw blood, making the guard scream in pain and drop the dragon. Spike clambers to his feet and runs after the rapidly rising cage, but he quickly runs out of space and can only watch as his surrogate sister and mother is taken away. "Twiliiiiiight!!!" —Somewhere above Equestria, Tempest's Ship— Down in the brig, Twilight's cage hung above a mesh of metal above what looked like lava, but she hadn't felt any heat from it, and the ship hadn't gone up in flames, so it was safe to assume it was just for ascetics, same as the puffs of steam that occasionally rose from it. Twilight fires bolt after bolt at her cage, hoping to break the bars. But to her frustration, the mana bolts still fizzle out on contact. She's about to fire the largest bolt yet when hoofsteps draw her attention to the other side of the room. "Aww, the 'Princess of Friendship,' with no friends!" A voice chuckles, and Twilight sees Tempest slowly making her way over to the cage. "And no way out." "Why are you doing this?!" Twilight exclaims, hoping to get some answer from her captor. "You're a pony, just like me!" A bolt strikes the cage's bars, making Twilight yelp as she backpedals, and Tempest slams a hoof on the cage. "I'm nothing like you!" Tempest shouts, her expression full of rage and making Twilight flinch. Tempest quickly composes herself, letting her hoof slowly slide down the bar to the floor. "I'm more than you'll ever be." She circles the cage, watching Twilight follow where she is before she starts to sing. It's time you learned a lesson It's time that you understand Don't ever count on anypony else In this or any other land Tempest walks away from the cage and stares at nothing, her gaze lost in thought. I once hoped for friendship To find a place among my kind Her voice had a spark of hope, but she extinguished it as fast as it appeared. But those were the childish wishes Of someone who was blind She turns around in perfect sync with another gush of steam from below, giving the following line of her song more power behind it. Open up your eyes See the world from where I stand Me, among the mighty You, caged at my command Open up your eyes Give up your sweet fantasy land It's time to grow up and get wise Come now, little one, open up your eyes Tempest places a hoof under Twilight's chin, forcing her to look at her captor's cerulean eyes. Behind them, Tempest relives a past long forgotten, one of fillyhood innocence, and naivety. Three fillies play with a ball together - a blue filly with a dark blue mane and tail, a sea green filly with a sky blue mane and tail, and a younger Tempest with her horn intact and no scars. The three pass the ball around with their magic; the yellow, blue, and magenta auras mingle as the ball circles in the air. We all start out the same With simple naive trust Young Tempest accidentally puts too much magic behind her toss, and the ball flies off. It bounces into a boarded-off cave surrounded by danger signs, each telling anypony who came close to turn the other way. One depicts a blue bear, which would most likely be what lies inside the cave that Young Tempest and her friends approached. Shielded from the many ways That life's not fair or just Reaching the mouth of the cave, her friends are nervous to be this close to the cave. One of them gestures for Young Tempest to go in and retrieve the ball, and being the bravest of the bunch, she does. But then there comes a moment Young Tempest quickly finds the ball and picks it up with her magic, but the looming figure that appears from the darkness makes her drop it. The creature that came out of the gloom was no mere bear but a cranky Ursa Minor that had been awakened from its nap. Young Tempest's magic swiftly changes to an offensive sell, but before she can let it fly, the Ursa Minor swings a massive paw at her head- A simple truth that you must face -and shatters her horn. If you depend on others You'll never find your place Later on, Young Tempest is on the outskirts of a village, now sporting the scar across her eye and shattered horn her older self has. The two friends she was playing with before the attack are playing with the ball she managed to retrieve, and when it rolls to a stop in front of her, they gesture for her to join them. Young Tempest tries to use her magic, but without her horn to focus her mana, she gets sparks and a slightly smoking ball. She tries again, forcing her magic through her stump of a horn. This time, an energy field appears, but it only lasts a second before it collapses in on itself, the mana too wild and unfocused. Afraid of Young Tempest and her unstable magic, the two fillies take the ball and run away from her, joining a yellow filly and playing with them instead. Young Tempest watches as the trio runs off, giggling and laughing, tears nipping her eyes as she walks down a path leading away from the village. And as you take that first step Her walk turns to a trot, then a canter before she gallops as fast as she can, holding tears back as she races away. Upon a path that's all your own You see it all so clearly Reaching a hill that overlooks the area, Young Tempest looks back at the village she called home, lingering on the memories she once held dearly. Making her decision, she clenches her eyes and trots away. When she opens them, they're full of determination, resentment, and, most prominently, hatred for the ones she called 'friends' for abandoning her. The best way to survive is all alone Finished reliving her past, Tempest turns away and trots up the stairs. Reaching the platform it leads to, she looks back at Twilight. Open up your eyes See the world from where I stand Me, among the mighty You, caged at my command Tempest walks over to a lever and pulls it, making the cage jump as the mechanism holding the chain reels it in, raising Twilight to her level. Open up your eyes And behold the faded light Tempest grabs the bars and pulls the cage closer to her, grinning as she sees the fear in Twilight's eyes. It's time to grow up and get wise Come now, little one, open up your eyes Tempest lets go, allowing the crane above deck to do its work as she watches the cage rise. Open up your eyes! The light blinds Twilight for a moment, forcing her to shield her eyes as they had gotten used to the dim lighting of the brig. Once they focus, she wishes they hadn't. Looking across the aerial view of Equestria, she can see plumes of smoke rising from the villages and towns that had been attacked, and she instantly recognizes Matterhorn Mountain in the distance, Canterlot barely visible under the haze of smoke and shadow above it and the mountain it resided on. Twilight stares, unable to take her eyes off the city as the ship draws closer to it. She snaps out of it when metal hoof guards clanking on the metal deck reach her ears, and she sees Tempest walk out from the brig. "I'm so sorry you felt so alone," Twilight sympathizes, feeling sorry for the scarred unicorn. "I saw the truth," Tempest says. "My 'friends' abandoned me when times got tough, and it looks like I'm not the only one. Face it, Princess, Friendship has failed you, too." "No, friendship didn't fail me," Twilight murmurs, turning away and lying on the cold metal floor of the cage. A tear falls from the alicorn's eye, splattering in the shape of a broken heart. "I failed friendship." —Mt. Aris, base of the mountain, Beach— Tionic stares out across the water, his scarf billowing in the breeze that blows by occasionally. After his outburst, he ran until he felt he'd gotten far enough away, stopped there, and sat down on a rock face that reached out over the water. He didn't notice Sonic and the girls approaching where he sat or when they called out his name. Seeing that they were getting nowhere, Rainbow nudges Sonic ahead. “Go talk to him, babe,” She encourages. “You two seem closer than the rest of us, so maybe he’ll open up to you.” Sonic looks at Tionic and turns back to his wife and nods. He jumps onto the boulder, and slowly walks over to the Spark. "Tionic?" Sonic says, stopping a few feet behind the Spark. "You wanna talk?" "…" Tionic says nothing for a moment, then he speaks. "Have you… ever lost someone close to you?" "Well…" Sonic plops down beside Tionic and leans back, racking his brain. "There was someone a few years back. His name was Chip. He lost his memories when we first met, probably due to me landing on him after my unplanned skydive from space." He chuckles at the memory. "So, I promised to help him get them back. This was just after ol' Egghead cracked Mobias apart to use the energy of Dark Gaia, an ancient deity sealed in the core. We didn't know it then, but Chip was actually its counterpart, Light Gaia, destined to seal Dark Gaia away again." "We had so much fun traveling the world together, seeing new places, meeting new people, getting his memories back; it was a blast! When we finally defeated Perfect Dark Gaia, I fell unconscious, and Chip threw me out while he stayed in the core. It… it hurt having to say goodbye. Still does, actually. But he did give me something to remember him by as a parting gift." Sonic reaches into his quills and pulls out a silver bracelet, designs etched into the precious metal, a green orb holding the two ends together. "'I will always be with you. As part of the earth you tread,'" He recites with a sad smile, remembering Chip's final promise. "As much as I miss the little guy, I know he's with me, no matter what." Unbeknownst to them, a small, see-through figure appears next to Sonic, smiling as it places a paw on his shoulder. Sonic runs a thumb over the bracelet, relishing his memories of Chip. Instead of putting it back in his quills, Sonic slips it over his left wrist, smiling as warmth runs through his body like someone is hugging him. "I'm guessing losing your mom felt like that?" "Yeah, except hundreds of times worse," Tionic sighs. "I understand you couldn't do anything about it. Light Gaia, or Chip, as you call him, couldn't come with you and had to stay. I had all the power to save my mom, but I turned and ran away like a coward." "Did she tell you to run?" Sonic asks, and Tionic reluctantly nods. "Then that means you were just listening to what your mom said. She wanted to keep you safe from harm so you could have a life to live. You aren't a coward, Tionic, and neither are your powers a curse." "Then why is it that everywhere I go, someone gets hurt?!" He exclaims, gripping his head. "I tried to stay hidden, but something always found me. It didn't matter in the end." "You either just had bad timing, were in the wrong place at the wrong time, or fate was just kicking you in the ass," Sonic shrugs before his expression turns bored. "And I'm speaking from experience, so don't say that's not true." Tionic laughs a little, and Sonic smiles. He could see the Spark opening up little by little. "Just like me once before, you were young at the time, and you didn't know there were other options." "I know that now," Tionic groans. "But even if I knew that then, I had to stay true to my mom's word and play it safe." "You mentioned earlier that maybe your mom was wrong about hiding your powers," Sonic says. Tionic nods in response, curious as to where the hedgehog was going with this. "Well, I think you're right. It's yours alone to control; no one should ever take that away from you. This is also from experience; power doesn't choose what it will be used for. It's the user that decides how it's used. So if you use it to run, that's what it'll do. But if you use it for something else, like protecting others…" Sonic trails off, hoping that Tionic will finish it. For a moment, he thought the Spark wouldn't answer, but the slight smile on his face squashes that doubt. Tionic stands up, looking across the water. "…then it'll protect others. You're right, Sonic. I've used my powers to run for so long that I forgot I could use it for other purposes. Well, no longer – I'll use them to protect and fight for what I care about!" "Yeah, there you go!" Sonic grins, standing alongside Tionic and giving him a fist bump. "That's the spirit! I knew you had it in you, buddy!" "You two are so cute together," Rarity giggles, and the girls nod in agreement as they approach from behind. "Oh, please, what?" scoffs Sonic. "We are not." Tionic denies. "No, we're not cute." "We are a couple of loose cannons just living by our own rules." "Exactly." "Oh, really?" Rainbow smirks, skeptical about that answer. "Yes," Sonic nods. "Nothing more, nothing less." "And our rules include expressing heartfelt emotion," Tionic adds. "If you say so," Rainbow shrugs, rolling her eyes. Before she can say anything else, Spike comes barreling down the beach. "Spike? What are you-?" "She's been! Taken!" "Huh?!" "Twilight's been taken!" He exclaims. "Tempest! She grabbed her! And took her on her ship!" "What?!" Tionic roars, startling everyone as massive arcs of thunder explode from his quills. "Tempest got Twilight?!" "We gotta get her back!" Sonic growls, slamming a fist into his palm. "But how?" Fluttershy asks, her ears flat against her head. "Not all of us can run or fly as fast as you, Rainbow, or Tionic! We won't be able to keep up!" "Good thing I happen to know of a group of heroes that could handle this easily!" A voice says from across the beach. Turning, Tionic, Spike, and the Mane Six see a familiar cat in a red trench coat standing on a boulder. Capper slides down it, and the girls scowl at the cat. "Well!" Rarity huffs. "Look what the cat dragged in! Himself!" "Hey, hold on, Rarity," Tionic says, holding a hand out before turning to the cat. "Let's hear him out for a second. You got something to say, Capper?" "Yeah, I do," He sighs, rubbing his forearm. "I just wanna say I'm sorry for trying to sell you guys. I was desperate to get rid of my debt, and when I saw you guys, the instincts I've garnered over the years told me this was my big opportunity. But after Rarity fixed up my coat and didn't want anything in return, I felt bad deceiving you. When Verko came to collect my 'debt payment,' I really regretted doing it. I don't expect you to forgive me right away, but I do ask for us to start over again." No one says anything for a moment. Then Tionic walks up to Capper, making him nervous about what the Spark would do to him, and the fact that he was still emitting electricity didn't help. Tionic stops before him, staring at the cat as he shifts from paw to paw. But to Capper's and everyone else's surprise, the Spark extends an open hand to him. "Apology accepted," Tionic grins, and his powers dim. "I knew there was some good in you." "Thank you," Capper nods, accepting the handshake. "And I hope you don't mind if I brought some friends I picked up along the way." He gestures behind him, and to the Mane Six and Co’s surprise, Captain Celaeno and her entire crew walk over the ridge. Rainbow grins and flies over, happy to see the pirate birds perfectly fine and in one piece after Tempest and her crew boarded their ship. "You guys are alright!" "Gonna take more than an angry unicorn to stop us!" says Boyle, giving Rainbow a high claw-hoof. "Plus, we figured you could use a claw!" "We're on board to help you fight the Storm King!" says Captain Celaeno, then she scratches her head. "Just not on board our... actual ship." "That crazy unicorn sunk it," Mullet grumbles, and he turns to Rainbow. "But you got back our argh, and we're ready to kick some booty!" Boyle and other pirates laugh heartily at the little joke, but bubbling draws their attention to the water, and a golden glow shimmers from below. Everyone, sans Tionic and Sonic, gasps at the sight. Then somepony, or somegriff, bursts out of the water and elegantly lands next to them. "Is that what I think it is?" asks Capper, his eyes widening. "Eyup," Sonic grins and Tionic nods with a smirk. "That's a hippogriff, alright." "Hellooooooo!! Me again!" Princess Skystar giggles, now sporting a beak and feathers instead of scales and fins. "I'm gonna get so grounded, but I talked things over with Shelly and Sheldon, and they pointed out that you were just trying to help your friends." "Awwww!" Pinkie gushes, and she gives Skystar a grateful hug. "Thanks, Skystar!" "So I wanna help too, 'cause ya know... one small thing..." Princess Skystar drops down to a whisper. "Can make a really big difference!" "That's it, right?" Spike wonders, looking around. "We didn't make friends with anypony else?" "Not that I know of," Sonic shrugs. "But Pinkie does have a habit of making friends with everyone, so who knows." "All right!" Capper grins, eying the group gathered. Our course is clear. Y'all ready to do this thing and save Equestria?" "Yeah! We're coming Twilight!" Pinkie exclaims, and everyone cheers. "As soon as we bake up a plan – literally!"