//------------------------------// // Chapter 19: A talk bewteen friends // Story: Equestrian Paradox: "Worlds at war" // by An Sturmmann //------------------------------// "This is stupid" A rowdy voice could be heard as a pegasus mare flew from one side to the other of a room, while three other Mares were sitting in a couch, looking at the cowering alicorn in front of them "You, saw a group of nasty pirates, murderers... ponies that only the royal guard could take on... and offered yourself as a bargain even after seeing the guardsmares being murdered in cold blood..." The rainbow maned mare spoke as she stopped mid air and looked back a Twilight who was cowering in place. "And you... never told us you did something so utterly EPIC!" The mare shouted as she suddenly bolted down and lifted Twilight with her front hooves, smiling so widely her jaw could dislodge any time. "Mare, I knew you were a badflank but this?, I think that not even Spitfire would do something so Trixie, please tell us more Twilight, this is worth a book, just like one of Daring do series!" "Ah' be honest Twi, that was idiotic, but awesome and gentlemarely, Darn it, i'm not even sure how you don't have a hole the size of a ping pong ball aywhere, but i'm damn happy you made it back and saved everypony, just that, next time you better bring us too, kicking flanks is nice on its own, but kicking flanks with friends is far, far better" An orange mare spoke with an smile as she gave a little kick with her front hoof to the rainbow maned pegasus, disorienting her and getting her to sit down, wide eyed and unable to focus her eyes for a few seconds. "OW! What was that for Applejack!" "Don't be a fancolt Dash, you pretty much drooled Twilight's mane, do you think that colts would like a Mare who smells like other Mare drool?" Applejack chuckled and Dash rolled her eyes "Really?, Again with the colt thing?" "Not my fault you like mares" Applejack laughted softly and Dash gave her a little kick on her own disorienting her this time, after a few seconds she shook her head and recovered " Ah' guess I deserved it..." "Yeah, you kind of deserved it Darling" Rarity spoke as she was sitting on the couch, next to Twilight gently hugging her "I mean, you know that Rainbow Dash isn't exactly in the mood to talk about colts... or relationships in general" "Ow, ow!" Dash fainted... or apparently feigned so before getting up and smiling widely "Hey, I know I had a really bad break up but that isn't a reason for everypony to change how they talk, just be a bit careful and I'll be all right" "Heh, Knew it" Applejack smiled before suddenly she was shoved to the side by a pink hoof "YEEEES! I knew that dashie was feeling allright!, We should throw a party for Twilight! All hail Princess Twilight Sparkle saviour of Equestria, protector of the colts and the most heroic Mare ever!" A pink pony spoke, pretty much shouting and laughing as she did, causing both Applejack and Rainbow Dash to chuckle before the trio stood up and began to chant out loud while holding a hoof in a military salute. "All hail Princess Protector Twilight Sparkle, savior of Equestria, protector of the Colts and the biggest bad flank in Equestria's recent history!" The trio chanted several times as if it was some sort of military parade causing Rarity to giggle and Twilight to blush a little before laughting out loud. "Thanks girls, I'm happy to be back" "And we are happy to see you back and in one piece, however you really have to be careful" Dash spoke as she flew a bit to land just to the side of another mare... a bigger, far more beautiful mare, with a pink mane and yellow fur, that mare was easily towering over the other five and yet she was the only one who kept silent "Come on Shy, I think that Twilight deserves to hear your voice, don't ya think so?" "I... i'm happy to see you back Twilight, I'm sorry for not talking much but... it is just that... Zephyr Breeze happened to be at a date with one of his bad influence marefriends... he was on New Horseleans when all of that happened, He managed to escape yes, but he can't stop crying..." She spoke, her voice being the epitome of what a Mare's voice should sound like, oddly resembling that of Celestia's or Luna's, standing up she towered even more over the other Mares, her sudden movement making Dash lose her balance in her seat due to the sudden loss of weigh in the couch "I'm.... silent because I truly don't know how to thank you Twilight... so please, I hope, I really hope a mere Thank you can be enough for now..." The yellow one said as she bowed down a bit, Twilight got up and walked closer to her using her hoof to softly tell her to look up. "Come on Fluttershy, don't be like that, we both know that given the situation, you would have done the same" Twilight smiled as Fluttershy seemed a bit surprised, before smiling too "W...well... y...yes... I would..." "Now, all of this is making me a bit hungry, and I'm sure you all are hungry too!" Spoke Pinkie pie as she jumped out from somewhere, tackling Applejack down and offering Twilight a burger. "Here!, Your favorite!" Twilight didn't hesitate at all, taking the burger with her magic and starting to eat like if she was starving, wich logically she was after refusing to eat due to her worry, then Applejack stood up as Pinkie Pie used her like a plataform to jump and reach Rainbow Dash wich was flying in the air, hugging her and tackling her down to the couch. Upon landing Pie quickly did another jump spinning in the air around twelve times in just the time span of a few seconds, launching at maximum speed a pair of cupcakes wich quickly fell in place before Applejack and Dash, intact as if they were simply laid there rather than thrown at maximum speed, causing both mares to chuckle. "OH NO!" Rarity shouted as she tried to jump away, but failed to do so, getting a cake straight to her face, launched at such speed and strenght she barely had enough time to brace for impact, the cake spread out all over her face, however by some kind of miracle the cake never reached any part of her mane. Rarity looked down with the cake smeared all over her face before letting her tongue out and taking an small bit of the cake, nodding with delight "Well, at least the flavour is nice" "Bleh, Cake with makeup!" Dash joked causing everypony to laugh a bit, just as Pinkie Pie landed over the floor with a wide smile. "Heh, See dash? Ten seconds flat!" "Good work Pie, I see you have been training!" Rainbow Dash chuckled as Applejack smiled too. "Oh, Almost forgot!" Pinkie then took an small cupcake and walked up to Fluttershy, offering it to her with a wide smile. "Thank you Pinkie" Fluttershy smiled softly taking the cupcake and giving it an small bite, almost mouse sized while Applejack whistled suddenly "Damn straight! Exactly ten seconds flat counting that!" "What? Did I miscount before?!" Rainbow Dash looked at her friend and she nodded "Eeeeyup, as Big Macintosh would say, she did all of that in five seconds flat, then took four seconds to reach Flutters and one for her to take the cupcake, at this rate Pinkie may be the fastest out of us" "Pffft, as if I would allow that to happen!" Rainbow Dash smiled widely before looking at the pink mare "What do you say Pinkie? Should we have a race someday?" "ohyeswhynot!?,perhapswecouldevenraceallthewayfromcanterlottocloudsdalesoIcantrytousetheflyingmachineagainyouknowtheonethatbrokewhenwemeetthatsillyandmeangriffonwhoIstillwanttogiveacupcakebecausenoonegetsdeniedacupcake!" Pinkie shouted so fast and so suddenly that Twilight had to cover her ears to avoid getting hurt by the loud voice of her friend, meanwhile Fluttershy kept nibbling at the cupcake in such a slow and steady manner, it was by far the cutest thing in the entire room "YES! Next week?" "I accept thy challenge!" Pinkie roared happily as she clashed hooves with Rainbow, both of them smiling widely, before looking at Applejack "What?" "Aren't you gonna join us?" Asked Rainbow Dash and Applejack stood up, walking to the two of them before clashing hooves with the two "DAMN STRAIGHT I WILL!" The trio laughed as Twilight chuckled, before looking back and noticing how Rarity had almost cleaned up the whole cake by now, however what was far stranger than the eating speed she had just revealed she had, was the fact that her makeup was mostly intact, except for that tiny spot on her muzzle were she always had some extra sparkles, something wich Applejack was very vocal against. "Well, I have to be honest, the cake was not only delicious, but by somehow it didn't ruin my makeup, is this a new recipe darling?" She questioned as she walked up to both, Twilight and Fluttershy, while Pinkie Pie looked back and nodded fast enough to cause an small wind current akin to that of a fan "Yes! I learned it while I was practicing my Long distance cupcake messages! Who would have guessed that I only needed to use some cinnamon in the mix?!" "I doubt cinnamon can cause such an effect... So i'll attribute this to Pinkie being well... Pinkie" Twilight chuckled as Fluttershy helped Rarity to finish cleaning the cake off of her face, using a napkin. "Oh, I almost forgot Twilight, Spikey was worried, extremely worried once we reached safety, Right now He is asleep so I haven't had the time to tell him you're back, poor little Spikey couldn't sleep for days, we had to get him an potion from Zecora to help him take a little nap, I brought him here and he is currently sleeping with your parents, I think that you should check on him soon" "Yes, Thank you Rarity, I... had been so busy and worried of everything that I almost forgot my own little dragon... has he been eating?" "Barely enough, he was a mess of tears and fear, no matter how much Sweetie Belle tried to play with him he refused, looking at the library and hoping you would appear as if nothing happened, even if Duly tried to talk him to go to the Spa with Him he refused, he just ate some gems, looked at the library and then cried... for hours, no matter how much I tried he wouldn't even sleep" Twilight felt a hint of sadness and dissapointment, feeling worse than she ever felt, once again she had completely forgot about Spike during the whole turmoil, and while logic dictated that she did the right thing focusing on what mattered at the time, her heart felt hurt upon noticing how much pain she had inflicted on the little one with her decision. Then, she took a deep breath and began walking up. "Girls, I'll be going to my parent's house, do you want to come?" "Of course!" Was the answer by everypony but Fluttershy who nodded while giving one last tiny nibble to her cupcake, or well, what remained of it, finishing it up, and walking to reach the others." The walk home was rather nice, her friends were pretty much national heroes so the ocassional noble or merchant would be as polite as possible, specially now that she was a princess. If her eyes didn't lie, she could even see one of her former bullies before she joined Celestia's school for Gifted Unicorns... heh, seeing that unicorn just cower and hide felt abnormaly nice, even if she shouldn't feel proud about scaring someone... but then again she still had several ties to correct and heal... for instance there was Moondancer, she really should go on and meet up with her again, and over everything else apologize for just dissapearing like that and not even bothering to go to her party... and overall being quite the bad friend to her. Another hint of sadness and dissapointment, she really was a neglectful pony, wasn't she? Then again, her former house was on the horizon, just a mere minutes away now, and she wasn't the only one here it seemed. There was Cadence... there was Shiny... there was... Twilight stood silent before slowly walking... quickly turning into a full sprint and then a full speed flight as she heard a male voice shout her name. Tears streaming down her face, Twilight embranced the scaly body that threw itself against her, crying out loud just like she was, but while she kept silent, the small being was very vocal about its sadness... and relief. Her posture switched, landing on her back and acting like a pillow for the small creature, embrancing him just like he did embrance her, like a mother embrances her foal, slowly petting the back of his head with her right hoof, spreading her wings to hug the scaly being, cuddling it and letting his head lay against her neck. Slowly Twilight began to sob too, while she kept nuzzling and cuddling the creature, tears coming down her face, before an smile began to appear, soft and weak at first, but turning more and more confident and happy with each second. There... there... I'm here Spike... I... I'm here again... I'm sorry for leaving you behind... I really am...