//------------------------------// // And After Several Very Long Explanations... // Story: Legends Never Die: Friendship is Magic // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// “Well, it seems like there’s only one thing left to do.” Sunny’s head hurt just trying to process all of the new information that was being thrown at her right then. She was still in the air station, surrounded by her friends, Twilight and her friends, and the creatures aboard the zeppelin, as the respective groups told their stories to the others so that everyone was on the same page. Sunny learned that the leaders of the other creatures had gone missing as well, and that they suspected that the shadow wolves were responsible; she learned of how Misty and Comet had recovered the Elements of Harmony; she learned of how her friends had defended the ponies of Zephyr Heights as best as she could when the wolves had attacked. Flurry Heart and the other creatures on the zeppelin already knew all of the events that had happened up until a couple days ago because they had finally received Sunny’s letters, which explained all of that, so with the exception of the kidnapping of leaders, they began their tales starting a few days ago. Everyone’s eyes had grown wide as Twilight had described how Sunny had defeated all the shadow wolves in Ancient Equestria, and Sunny felt her face growing red as she mumbled something about having help, and that she couldn’t have done it without their help. When Sunny had revealed what Sprout had told her inside the shadow wolf, the creatures had all looked at Sprout with wide-eyed expressions with faint recognition in their eyes, as if they had known that they faintly knew him from somewhere, but they couldn’t place it; but now that they knew, it was easier for them to remember flashes and bits of stolen memories. Misty had looked at him as if she was seeing him in a whole new light; she, of course, hadn’t been there when he had almost started a war, or when he had helped save Equestria on numerous occasions. However, for Hitch, Zipp, Pipp, and Izzy, it was a bit harder, because they saw all the horrible things that Sprout had done and only remembered him from that. Just like with Sunny, they started having faint flashes of the memories that had been traded for their freedom, but they found it harder to fully believe the story and eyed Sprout with distrust. Sprout looked like he had expected it and just stared at his hooves, keeping quiet. Together, they pieced together that the shadow wolves needed a host to draw power from, and that the more guilt or pain or sorrow a host had, the more powerful the wolf would be. Sunny also suspected that the physical power of a host might be a potential factor as well, which would explain why the wolves wanted her so bad. They tried to guess at Grogar’s plan, which was fairly simple: kidnap the leaders of all the creatures in Equestria to instill some fear and panic in the subjects, which will make them perfect prey for the wolves; build up an army; and take over Equestria, ruling it in a constant state of darkness and evil for all eternity. “You get pretty good at guessing these after you’ve defeated as many villains as we have,” Rainbow Dash had said, tossing her head and looking a bit smug. “We have defeated more than our share of evil villains,” Zipp had immediately countered, and the two had started bickering about how much each villain was worth, and whether it counted any more if they were reformed instead of just defeated. None of them had any idea why Grogar would open up that portal to Ancient Equestria and attack there as well until Sprout suggested that maybe “he was looking for more powerful hosts for his wolves. Here and now, ponies have only just begun to master their magic, and from what I understand, most of us are nowhere near as powerful as some Ancient Equestrians. Maybe he was trying to build up his army.” None of them were sure, either, why Sunny was able to free the ponies trapped within, while other creatures - even other alicorns - were only able to hold them off for a while. But Sunny had declared gravely that, as long as that responsibility sat on her shoulders alone, she would do whatever she could to use it for good. So they had assessed the situation. They had tried to gather all the knowledge that they could about their adversary. They had formed an alliance capable of taking him down. Now all they had to do was figure out a plan. Which was when Imara said, “Well, it seems like there’s only one thing left to do.” All eyes turned to her. “What’s that?” Spike asked. Imara rolled her eyes like the answer was obvious. “Find this Grogar and take him down. We have the power to do that, and we’ve already weakened his forces. If we’re right, he was planning on building a bigger army by invading Ancient Equestria, but that failed, and now Sunny already started to take apart the last of his forces. He’s going to hunker down in his stronghold and wait for an attack. Well, we have the numbers, and we have the power. Let’s go take him down.” She slammed her hoof on the ground for emphasis. “But how are we all going to get there?” Rarity pointed out. “Not all of us can fly, and won’t it take a while for…” She quickly counted heads. “Twenty-five creatures to walk halfway across Equestria?” “We have the Marestream,” Misty offered. “But it definitely can’t hold twenty-five of us.” “I have a zeppelin,” Hugo piped up. “But I’ve got the same problem.” “Actually,” Izzy said suddenly, “I might be able to fix that.” Hugo’s zeppelin had drifted a bit in the wind and was now fairly close to the Zephyr Heights palace. Flurry teleported the griffon onto the deck, and he gently piloted the ship until it landed gently on the green next to the Marestream. Izzy took Sunny’s lantern, which was the magical key for the Marestream, and took it onboard, joining Hugo at the bridge. “What exactly are you going to do?” Hugo asked nervously, his claws fiddling with his glasses. Izzy shot him a grin. “I’m giving it a magical upgrade.” She set the lantern on the middle of the helm, just behind the steering wheel, and stepped back. And nothing happened. Outside, the other creatures assembled there stared at the zeppelin as more nothing continued to happen. “Huh.” Izzy pouted. “I guess the lantern only works with the Marestream-” But as she reached for the lantern again, it suddenly began to glow, and beams of light twisted out of it and spread to the rest of the ship, covering it as it began to grow and expand. Hugo and Izzy ran to the edge of the deck and dove overboard to avoid the magical transformation, and they watched in awe with everyone else as the magic did its work. The zeppelin grew to twice its length and size, the sails enlarging and the wings spreading wider. Everything glimmered with magic for a moment before the rainbow glow faded away as if nothing had happened. Beside the larger zeppelin, the Marestream also glowed briefly before its shiny exterior faded away, revealing what it really was under all the magic: a broken-down tram car. “Woah,” everyone said in awed unison. Izzy leaped back to her hooves and grinned at the wide-eyed creatures. “Yeah, uh, I guess it works,” she said smugly, rapping her hoof against the zeppelin’s new hull. Hugo took off his glasses, polished them, and put them back on again, as if what he had just seen would turn out to be nothing more than a smudge on the glass. He blinked several times, hard, and shook his head, but nothing changed. He walked slowly around the ship, inspecting it from several angles, before he rejoined the others at the front, still staring. “I, uh, think it’ll work,” he said faintly. “Everyone aboard?” As if it heard him, a gangplank slid down to the ground, right at Hugo’s claws. He cautiously boarded his own ship, his eyes still wide, as if he expected it to start talking to him. In the bridge, though, he was relieved to discover, all the controls were still the same with the exception of the rainbow lantern, shining on the dashboard, but the control board had expanded to be three times its original size, containing all manner of new gadgets and gizmos, and Hugo had no idea what any of them did. “So…” Sunny said awkwardly, turning to face the others, “is every creature coming?” Everyone stared at her and didn’t answer, but no one said, “No.” “Comet?” Sunny turned to the Auroracorn, who had been silent the whole time, finding an especial interest in Flurry Heart, but not saying anything. His eyes were so wide that she thought they might pop out of his head. When she said his name, he blinked and looked around wildly for a moment before he realized who was speaking to him. “I know you’re kind of new to… all of this… I wouldn’t ask you to do anything if you didn’t-” “Are you kidding?” A huge grin split across his face. “And miss the adventure of a lifetime?” Despite the dire circumstances, and Sunny’s desire to correct him that this wasn’t, in fact, just a fun ‘adventure’, she could feel his infectious optimism, and a hesitant smile played at her lips. “Okay, then…” Sunny looked around, studying each of their faces. She met Twilight’s eyes and hesitated, wondering if perhaps the purple alicorn should take the lead from here. As if she sensed her question, Twilight shook her head. “You’re in charge here, Sunny,” she said. “We’re all just following you.” Sunny nodded, her head feeling dizzy. “Right,” she mumbled. Turning around to face the gangplank, she took a deep breath and began to walk up the ramp and onto the zeppelin’s deck. She heard footsteps behind her and knew that everyone else would be following suit. Once all of them were onboard, the gangplank retracted into the depths of the ship. The creatures all stood at the railing, feeling the full gravity of the situation for the first time, and perhaps feeling a bit afraid. But as long as they stuck by together, they would have nothing to fear. “Hugo,” Sunny called, and the griffon poked his head out of the bridge, “let’s get this ship in the air.” He saluted her with one claw. “Aye aye, Captain Sunny!” The zeppelin gracefully rose into the air, its sails snapping out and catching the wind. Hugo gently turned the wheel, and the massive ship turned in a large, sweeping arc to head in the direction that Grogar and his shadow wolves had gone. From the looks on her friends’ faces, Sunny knew that Hitch, Pipp, Zipp, and Izzy really wanted to talk, but Sunny had to make sure that they were well on their way before then. She gave them a look that said, “In a moment,” and went to the bridge to talk to Hugo. Kailani was already there, and the two of them were theorizing what each of the different, new buttons did. “Sunny, look!” Hugo said excitedly, pointing to a clear plastic switch. “I think this one is dynamic camouflage - it’ll make us completely invisible to anyone looking on the ship from on the ground! Grogar will never see us coming!” Sunny nodded. “I think it’s a good idea,” she said carefully. “I’ll just let all of our,,, winged friends know to be careful when they go flying too far away.” She glanced at the compass. “How long before we get there?” “I’d say tomorrow morning at the earliest,” Hugo said, frowning at the map. Sunny had marked Opaline’s lair on it, but the zeppelin moved a great deal slower than the Marestream, and the sun was already setting. Catching the nervous look on Sunny’s face, Hugo said quickly, “But I’m sure that Grogar won’t try anything drastic before we get there. He’s going to be regrouping and assessing the situation.” “Don’t worry, Sunny,” Kailani said comfortingly, laying a claw on Sunny’s shoulder. “Grogar is in no position to make offensive moves. He’s going to dig in and try to wait it out while he searches for an escape route.” “What if he goes through the portal to Ancient Equestria, though?” Sunny stressed. “We left it virtually undefended when Twilight and her friends came here - he could easily have free reign of the land. And he could build up his army again with all of those innocent ponies and creatures-” “Sunny.” Kailani grabbed Sunny’s other shoulder and shook the earth pony slightly. “We can do this. We have right here the greatest group of heroes Equestria has ever seen, in any time. As long as we stay together, Grogar doesn’t stand a chance.”