//------------------------------// // The Reunion // Story: The Winds of Change // by AgentSnail //------------------------------// The Reunion As Dash slowly drifted back awake, a few meaningless thoughts passing through her head. A brief thought about the Wonderbolts, then something about hamburgers. What were those anyway? She had never really listened yesterday she he was talking aimlessly, on her back, with a stab wound... She jolted upright, looking around at the curtains that cut her off from the rest of the large room, attempting to figure out how she got here and what had happened to Jason. All she remembered was galloping into the light and saying something before she woke up here. She pulled a few tubes out of her foreleg, prompting a prolonged beep from one of the neighboring machines. A few ponies quickly parted the curtains, letting out exaggerated sighs when they saw the tubes and wires in Dash's hoof. They left the area before Dash could ask them anything so she got up, pausing a moment to inspect the bandages that covered parts of her hooves and chest. She parted the curtains, much to the surprise of the nurses. "Where's a patient by the name Jason?" They stared at her blankly before picking up clipboards and madly flipping paper around. After running out of papers to look through they resumed their blank stares. "Do you ever say anything?" "We don't have a patient by that name." Dash started to get a little more worried. "Changeling, all black, stab wound?" Looks of recognition flashed over their faces. "Oh, the changeling. Right this way miss. Tell me, how are you feeling?" "Fine. How far is it?" The nurse pointed to a curtained off area as they walked by several peacefully sleeping bandaged ponies. "Why is everypony asleep?" "We put them all under sleep spells so that they wouldn't feel any pain." As she finished her statement she pushed a curtain aside to a hospital bed that held Jason. The nurse saw tears well up in Dash's eyes. "I'll leave you two alone." Dash nodded gratefully and made her way over the bed, still fighting off tears. He had a large cut over one of his eyes, along with a dishearteningly large stain in the sheets overtop of his chest wound. She flinched a little before removing the sheets to see equally soaked bandages. She traced a hoof along his cheek, feeling his shallow breath on her hoof as she moved it along one of his fangs, noticing that it had gotten chipped at some point. A tear landed on his chest and beaded up before being joined by another and rolling off onto the bed. She tried to talk before clearing her throat and trying again. "I guess I'm not really one for these types of moments. It's probably because no pony has ever actually meant this much to me. I know you can't hear me in there, but you've always been there to pick me up. Here I am in the same situation, and I just--I just can't do anything. Fastest flyer in Equestria and I can't even help." She curled up next to Jason on the bed, brushing a hoof past his ear. "You just have to make it through this like you have with everything else. I think--" She choked back some tears. "I think I love you." __________________________________________________________ Dash slipped in and out of slumber for the next however many hours, always managing to navigate back to the same nightmare. She always woke in a cold sweat to the unchanging face of Jason. Sighing, she tried to sleep once again; the nightmares were better than the thoughts she had while she was awake. She managed to fall back asleep a few minutes later, her hoof wrapped tightly around Jason's. The intelligence station suddenly appeared out of the void, thrusting her into a position she knew well from the repetitive dream state. As usual, she was standing next to Jason as the flash-bang bounced off the table harmlessly and the griffins turned their heads in slow motion to the source. The first two griffins were dealt with before more griffins came through the doorway and surrounded them. The same part played over in her head numerous times in the perfect clarity only a nightmare can convey as she ran between two griffins and threw a knife into one of their legs, turning to stab another. She always turned her head to see Jason slamming into the wall and slumping at the bottom. Yet the events stayed the same, unchanging no matter how many times she watched her own actions, her own failures to protect the one she loved. Yet again the spear entered his chest as Dash futilely tried to make her way over to do something, anything. Yet all she could do was stab the offending griffin, over and over, still seemingly unable to change the scenario to her liking. Then she turned to the griffin with a look of pure rage in her eyes and charged-- --only to wake up again in the same circumstances as before, except there was something different this time. Jason's face twitched and he moved, taking a much deeper breath. Dash made an uncharacteristic squeal of joy before putting her hooves around him. __________________________________________________________ Jason woke up with a start, immediately regretting his movements as a hot jet of pain rushed through his chest and he cringed. One of his eyes was held shut by something sticky. Some soft warm things wrapped around him, and he tried to pull them off, attempting to figure out what the hell was going on as he moved a hoof to force his eye open. He opened his usable eye, and suddenly Jason's eye was on fire as he looked into a ridiculously bright light. He shielded his head with a blanket as prior events started to filter back. Dash! He pulled the covers back to see a confused looking Dash on the bed next to him through his one open eye. He opened the other one with a hoof and pulled her into a hug. "How long was I out?" "Fifteen hours." He looked a little shocked before he noticed the tears in her eyes. "Hey, don't cry..." "I just missed you so much. I don't know how you made it with all that blood. The nurses said you probably wouldn't make it. And it was my fault that you got stabbed." He hugged her tighter. "It's not your fault. Shit happens, you couldn't have changed anything. You know some stupid spear isn't going to take me out." "Just never do something like that to me again. I don't want to lose you." Jason leaned forward and kissed her. "Deal. Stabbing is really pretty overrated anyways." He paused before pushing Dash slightly back so he could look her in the eye. "So what happened when I was out?" "Not much, a bunch of ponies came back from the surface." Jason quickly sat back up, attempting and failing to ignore the pain in his chest. "And?!?!" "I think I can answer that question." Jason jumped as Shining Armor got off of a chair at the end of the bed. "You really had this mare here worried. I hope you know how much she cares about you." Dash blushed and averted her gaze. "Anyway, the results, militia ponies first. Fifteen missing or captured, fifty three injured, forty five killed in action. Known enemy deaths: One hundred and forty nine. Apparently one captured." He glared at Jason. "For my guards, thirty one deaths, forty injuries, five missing or captured. One hundred and ninety known killed. We now control seventy five percent of the city, and are making preparations for attacks on the castle troops. Blocks G3 and E5 remain under enemy control, although it seems your counterattack was still a resounding success." He paused. "Now, in terms of you and Dash, here's the obligatory briefing. How did it go out there?" Dash laughed. "I guess it doesn't look like it went that well, does it?" Jason shrugged. "Can I get a mirror?" Shining levitated one over, laughing at Jason's flinch to his own appearance. A crack in his forehead was the explanation behind him not being able to open his eyes, although besides a chipped fang and a few other scratches he looked unharmed. Then he tore his eyes away from the mirror to look at his chest. Luckily somepony had the foresight to wrap his torso in bandages, a large portion of which were stained crimson red. "So what's the situation with this?" He gestured to the bandages. "Well, it's not like anypony actually knows how to fix a changeling, or what's wrong exactly," Dash sighed. "But basically from what I can tell from your past injuries and what the civilian doctors could tell me, the crack that you had was pushed and expanded by that spear, and anyway lets just say the bandages aren't just there to catch the blood." "So are you trying to say that the bandages are holding me together?" "Assuming you don't have an endoskeleton, yes." "Oh that's cool then, I think I do. I've been cracking by back every time I wake up, so..." "I don't think I've ever heard anypony say 'I think I have a skeleton.'" "And you probably never will again." He noticed Shining's stare. "Oh yeah, so basically the short version of the story is, we came out of the hatch, cleared a house, where we killed two griffins and took that prisoner. He basically told us that there was an enemy intelligence station nearby, and that there were high ranking officers inside, so we hid him and basically said that if his information was wrong, no one would be there to find him. So then we went down the street and took out a total of four griffins, moving towards an abandoned church. We killed a griffin guard and found the intel room." He sighed. "Then nothing went to plan and I got stabbed after my knife got caught in one of the griffins' necks. All of them were killed in the end though, mostly by Dash. Then she pulled me onto her back and kept me conscious until after we grabbed the griffin and got into the tunnels. After that I have no idea what happened. With the amount of blood I lost, I kinda thought I was a goner." Dash picked up the story. "Then I ran like hell and got you here before I passed out in front of all the mares and foals. From what they told me, a few of the mares were doctors and got you and me fixed as best they could." "And here we are." Finished Shining. "Alright then, I'm just gunna get up, and then we can..." Both Dash and Shining panicked and tried to push Jason back into the bed. "Hey, if I can't actually walk around I'll lay back down. I'm not going to sit here being useless. I at least want to see the injured ponies." They let up, which slightly surprised him, and he got out of the bed, wincing at the pain. Dash moved next to him in an attempt to give him the equivalent of a crutch, which he gladly accepted. They walked out of the infirmary after he was informed not to disturb any of the still sleeping ponies. They exited into the main room, which hosted the usual mothers and foals, along with a large smattering of bloodied, partially bandaged ponies. Jason and Dash navigated over to the ledge, where Jason managed to get into a sitting position on the edge, signaling for the attention of the injured soldiers. What conversation there was quickly became silent. "So evidently you all fought and were injured, and I guess I'm just here to honor your sacrifice and say that all of you are hereby awarded a purple heart." The ponies stared at him in confusion. "It's an award given to combatants that survive injuries. Besides that, I hope that some of you decide to stay in the guard, and judging by what happened on the surface, you look like a pretty badass group of soldiers. You all have potential if you decide to take advantage of it." There was a quiet cheer from the injured ponies as Jason was helped up by Dash. "I should probably say something to the mothers and wives that lost family members." Dash nodded. "Why do you take all this on yourself? I mean, you don't even have to say anything, they already know what happened." "Yeah, but it was my plan. It's my fault that they died, I put them in the field. It's my responsibility." They had neared the group, a few of which were weeping openly while others just sat silently, staring off into space. Most of the group noticed his presence, meeting him with a mixture of blank looks and contempt. He sighed, a wave of nervousness washing over him before he finally cleared his throat for his address. "So apparently Shining Armor had already read off the list of casualties, and for those of you with loved ones on that list, you have me to thank for that. It was my plan that put those ponies out there, my plan that got them killed or critically wounded." He paused. "I know it won't alleviate the sorrow that any of you are feeling right now, and trust me, I know how it feels, but maybe you can rest a little easier knowing that these deceased are the reason that the kingdom of Equestria still exists, and that through their legacy any of you can go on to live a life of freedom. It's not much, but these ponies shouldn't just be a cause for grieving, but a cause for awe and remembrance for their ultimate sacrifices, their devotion to their families and country by keeping them both safe." The faces of the mares softened a little, although he only slightly quelled the weeping of some of them. "That was quite the speech." Jason jumped, letting out a hiss of pain at the sudden tensing of muscles, and turned around to see Luna. "Thanks princess." "Call me Luna, there art no needs for formality here. I heard your plan went well, yes?" "You could say that. The numbers say it did, although I don't exactly feel the same." Luna gazed over the mares. "I see. It takes a lot of courage to take responsibility for the failures of your attack, I did the same thing to most of Canterlot after I was freed from the Nightmare, back when ponies were still afraid of me. It's much the same as with you." "I guess I never drew that comparison. You're right though." "Hey princess, what's the process for adoption around here?" Dash asked, prompting stares from Jason and Luna. "Well that question was, what is it they say? Out of the grey?" "I think it's 'out of the blue'." "Ah yes, that question was certainly henceforth from the blue." Now it was Dash's turn to stare. "Just go to the orphanage and pick up the corresponding paperwork, then there's a short approval process, then you have a foal." "That's all well and good, but she doesn't really live at an orphanage exactly." "Art thou saying that this foal has been living homeless and alone for some months?" "Yeah, apparently. We just recently took her under our wing when she followed us into the Everfree." "Well this simplifies things greatly. Technically she is undocumented, so all you need to have is an interview to see that you are fit parents for this child. That means a steady income, no major medical conditions, and a house of course. I'm assuming you have all these things?" "Had," Dash sighed, "We kinda left it all with the whole escape thing." "I see. As far as I can tell though, you two should make excellent parents for this foal. What's her name anyway?" "Scootaloo." "A strange name, but my sister assures me that these names are commonplace nowadays." "Hey Dash, how do you think Scoots is doing anyways?" "I don't know, but I'm worried. If we control most of the city right now, couldn't we just go up and grab her?" I think it's, what, dusk or something?" Jason gave an exploratory flap of his wings. "If flying stuff isn't too painful, considering the wound is in the front of my chest, I could go but I sure won't be able to carry much. You'd have to carry Scoots." He sighed. "We would still have to ask Shining though." "Ask me what?" They both jumped. "You know, for ponies that pride themselves on stealth, you sure aren't very good at hearing me walk over." Jason glared at him. "We want to briefly leave this base to bring another foal here that we have set up in the Everfree." "Did I hear that right? A foal in the the Everfree, all by his or her lonesome. How did you even get a foal?" "It's a filly." Shining gave Jason a glare. "And she's totally safe, in a platform high up in a tree with more than adequate food and water. I actually thought of everything. She followed us into the forest by the way." "You shouldn't be going anywhere in your condition." "I heal fast, it'll be fine. Ironically I can't heal myself, but Dash does a pretty good job of that." "What do you mean, I did a pretty good job?" "I'm just going to go out on a limb here and assume that being in the possession of lots of love helps me heal, and you have been around me for the last some number of days almost nonstop." He paused, "I guess my point is, I should be fine. Well, fine is a relative term but you know what I mean." He nuzzled her affectionately. "You have half an hour." "Huh?" "Tick tock," Shining started to walk away. Jason pushed his jaw back into his mouth and gestured to Dash to leave. They immediately took off, flying through the a tunnel in the opposite direction of the one they had originally come through. After a few minutes, Jason motioned to Dash that he needed a rest, and they landed on the bottom of the pipe. Jason groaned and let himself fall over onto the ground. "Why are you trying so hard, Jason? We're still way ahead of where we should be at this point." "Yeah, but I don't want to leave Scoots worried for any longer. It's been almost two days, she may even think that we're both dead. I don't want to let her think that another two ponies died on her, I just want to get her back here so she doesn't have to worry." He sighed. "I guess we can actually give rational thought to adoption without it seeming like a pipe dream now, huh?" "Yeah, although I guess I don't exactly know how this will work, all things considered." "It'll probably sort itself out, but we should really get going again." Dash nodded her agreement and they took off again, only to rest a few minutes later. "How many hours did we walk through here for the first time?!?!" Jason yelled, causing Dash to look down the tunnel for some sort of light. She strained her eyes into the darkness, but as per usual, wasn't able to see anything. "Hey Dash?" Dash looked towards Jason, who was no longer where he just was. "Dash?" "Yeah?" She noticed the light of his horn by the ceiling and saw that Jason was upside down, seemingly stuck to the cieling by his hooves. "Did you know changelings apparently stick to walls?" "Before I ask how, why are you up there anyway?" "There was this thing that looked like a bit, but it's just a washer." He paused. "Pretty cool though, would've been nice to know about this earlier I guess." He started walking back across the ceiling before losing his grip while walking down the wall and sliding the rest of the way down into Dash, knocking them both over. He groaned. "Why does nothing ever go to plan? You have a nice flank by the way." Dash blushed before shoving Jason off of her and rising to her hooves. She punched him in the shoulder. "You make it too easy for stuff to fail." "The counterattack didn't fail." He shot back. "Yeah, but you came back like this." She gestured, prompting Jason to mumble some things under his breath. "What was that?" "Nothing. How much further is it until we get out of here?" "I honestly don't know. See anything?" "There could be a light over there, or it could just be a spot in my vision. I'm not sure, really." He fluttered his wings. "Let's just get out of here, something about these tunnels just doesn't feel right." "Are you getting all cold again?" "Yeah, and I still don't know why. Flying and everything doesn't even warm me up. It's like I have a fever and can't get warm." He took off with Dash at his side. The spot in his vision grew until he could no longer deny that it was an entrance. "Slow down, here's our stop." I hope." They ascended through the opening as the light from the surface gradually increased. They carefully exited the maintainance building into the late dusk light, realizing that they had ended up at the foot of the cliff over Canterlot. "It's about time something doesn't go wrong for us." Dash said. "Don't jinx it." They rested for a few moments before taking off again for the top of the cliffs, slowly rising past the crest and resting again until Jason managed to stop panting. "This is the most tiring thing I've ever done before." "Yeah, it probably wasn't a good idea to let you come with me." "As if I wouldn't find a way to go anyway." He snickered, trotting into the trees after Dash. They quickly found the treehouse and flew up, both landing quietly. "Do you see her?" Dash whispered, moving over to the couch where Scootaloo normally slept. "No, let me check the bed here." He flung off a few blankets before finding Scootaloo, in a little ball of orange and purple. "Aww... Dash look at this." She came over and stared at Scoots. "Aww..." "That's what I said." They stared at her for a few more moments. "I guess we have to wake her up then..." Dash nodded, seeming a little disappointed. Jason took a corner of one of the blankets and dangled it over Scoots, brushing it across her exposed muzzle. She batted at her nose with a hoof, mumbling about something inaudible before she seemed to stir, lazily opening an eye to see Dash and Jason hanging over her. Her tired expression turned into one of joy and she jumped up, grabbing both of their necks with her fore hooves. "I missed you guys so much!" "Same with us Squirt," Dash said. "So is Canterlot saved then?" "Almost Scoots, we're here to bring you somewhere safer until then. Sound good?" "Yeah!" She noticed both of their bandages, especially the blood stained ones from Jason. "Are you guys okay?" Jason nodded. "It's just a flesh wound. We're fine, well mostly anyway." "So you're not gonna die?" "No Scoots, now grab anything you want to bring and let's go." She nodded excitedly and ran around the platform, picking up a blanket and the Wonderbolts poster. "That's everything?" Dash asked. "Yeah!" "Alright, hop on." Scootaloo climbed on top of Dash and they all took off, heading over the edge of the cliff. "Hey Scoots, hold on tight." Dash yelled above the wind as she dove towards the city, spiraling straight down. Jason chuckled a little at the spectacle as he dove after them, making sure that the bandages didn't decide to blow off in the wind. He flared his wings and leveled out his dive, carefully landing next to Dash. "That was amazing Dash! How did you do that?" "Lot's of practice Scoots. That and a little bit of instinct." Jason cut them off from further conversation. "Maybe we should get below ground before you two decide to discuss the logistics of flying." Dash blushed a little before making her way over to the nearby maintenance door, quickly disappearing into the darkness before a muffled clop sound from below told Jason that they had landed. He carefully descended after them, flaring his horn light before he reached the bottom. He pointed in one direction of the tunnel. "The base is that way. Lets just get the fuck out of these stupid tunnels." He realized what he said and smacked a hoof into his face. "Hey Rainbow Dash, what does fuck mean?" "It's a bad word Scoots, you shouldn't use it." "Shouldn't use the word fuck?" "Yeah." "Are you sure I shouldn't use the word--" "Yes I'm sure." She replied. Jason snickered. "I got a story for you two. Hopefully you'll be able to understand most of it." He chuckled a little before starting. "So here's the context. This woman I used to work with ran out of space for paper on her desk, so she balances them on a recycle bin. Long story short, she yelled at the janitor the next day for throwing out all these papers, even though realistically it was her fault. Now, she told me and some other people about how her son had been alone this one day in his room, doing whatever it is seventeen year old boys do, and then the fire alarm starts beeping, because it's running out of power. So he's sitting there an he hears the beeping, every minute, on the dot. So after trying to figure out what was going on, his theory was as follows: somebody broke into the house, took one of the chairs, and is now pushing the fire alarm every minute. So he grabs a pistol off the wall, which is a stupid thing to give a seventeen year-old, even if they weren't as dumb as this kid, and-" "What's a pistol?" "It's a weapon that fires metal bullets at high speeds. It's pretty lethal." He sighed, "Anyway, he points this pistol towards the wall and decides that he's going to shoot the burglar through the wall, but then decided that there might be two of them, so he better not shoot. And the mother tells us how glad she is that he didn't shoot, because there was an expensive cabinet on the other side of the wall, yet didn't actually question his actions. So the kid, wise as always, decides that he needs to get help, to get the two criminals out of his house, so he climbs out of his second story window in his pajamas and walks to the neighbors house. He woke them up at three in the morning, pistol in hand, and told them the whole story. The mother, showing the conveyance of like genes between generations, told us how proud she is of her son's quick actions, and how well he did in the situation." Dash was busy laughing off to the side with Scoots. "That really happened?" "Yeah, it's really too stupid to make up." He paused. "We're here by the way." Jason sighed, glad to be out of the tunnels once again. "Wow..." Scoots said from Dash's back. "This place is huge!" She continued to look around as Luna made her way over. "This is the foal?" "Yeah. Hey Squirt, why don't you go say hi to some of the other foals around here?" She nodded and excitedly rushed off Dash's back, not even noticing Luna's presence. "You don't want her to hear?" "I want it to be a surprise. If it doesn't work out, I don't want to disappoint her." "I wouldn't worry, I will, how you say, tug some ropes." "Pull some strings?" Asked Jason. "Yes. Base criteria are an annual bit income of thirty grand, easy access to the house and floorspace of at least sixteen hundred square feet. If you have all that, I'll write up the documents as soon as I can." "We do." "Then as far as I'm concerned, you have a new foal." Dash and Jason looked at each other. "You're serious?" "Why wouldn't I be?" Dash and Jason shared another look before smiles dawned on their faces and they hugged. "Do you want to tell her or should I?" Dash asked. "You tell her, she's your biggest fan." "Okay fine." She gleefully clacked her fore hooves together. "Hey Scoots, can you come here a minute?" Scoots turned around from some conversation she was having with a filly and made her way over. "How would you feel if I told you that you've been adopted?" Her face fell. "By who?" "Us!" Her face did a full turnaround of emotion as the importance of Dash's words sunk in. "So you're saying that I'm your daughter?" "Well actually I don't know what you are, but daughter sounds good." "Welcome to the family, Scoots." Jason bumped a hoof into Scootaloo's shoulder as she bounced around excitedly. He yawned. "I'm going to go sleep. This whole thing's just taken it out of me." He walked into the barracks, to the bunk that he shared with Dash. He turned around to see that both Scoots and Dash had followed him. "I'm assuming that you don't want to sleep right now Scoots, so just don't get into trouble and get to sleep at some point tonight. This bunk above me is yours." She scampered out of the room, leaving only Dash and Jason. "You tired too?" He yawned again. "Yeah, I didn't really sleep well when you were injured and unconscious." She rolled into bed with him, pulling the blanket over herself. Jason looked at her for a moment before he leaned in and kissed her. He pulled back for a second, seeming to contemplate what to do, before he opened his mouth to speak. "I love you Dash." She smiled and pulled him into a hug. "I love you too."