Chapter 11: Civics and Physics
As the Rock-Biter walked away from the group and off into the distance, Rainbow angrily kicked a stone in frustration at their predicament. The little stone rolled across the ground and onto the glistening surface of the desert, where it turned into a pale crystal before their eyes, “Wow, look at it. It didn’t even last a few seconds,” Pinkie said.
“Well, this is just great,” Dash yelled as she looked over the desert, “Just how the heck are we supposed to cross this stupid thing?!” She began to walk a little on the perimeter, trying to get some clue if there was anyway to cross the vast expanse. Though they were helped a little by the light of the quarter moon above their heads, she and the girls could barely see anything around them except for what the desert illuminated with its soft deadly glow, “So what do we do now?”
Applejack pulled down her stetson over her face, sighing, “Its too dark right now to see anything. So, Ah think that we should all turn in for the moment.”
As Pinkie Pie leapt up to make a comment, Rainbow dash turned a quick look to her, “not a word Pinkie!”
“Awww,” Pinkie floated back to the ground.
“And then begin to look for something in the morning,” With that, Applejack began to find a good place to set up camp.
“I guess so.” Dash said before grabbing some sticks from her bag to set up a fire for all of them.
Pinkie skipped over to the campsite alongside Dash, a smile on her face, “She’s right! Everything always looks brighter in the daytime, and with some sleep we won’t fall asleep while we are thinking up plans! We will be all bright eyed and bushy tailed to go and save Twily!!!”
“...And then, when she turned around: She saw...The Slack-Jawed Killer!” Rainbow Dash yelled, causing Fluttershy to squeak and hide behind Applejack.
“Alrighty then, ah think we’ve had enough ghost stories fer one night, we all need to get some shut eye.” Applejack chuckled to herself as Fluttershy slowly crawled out.
Pinkie set herself up to sit in the middle of the group, taking the time to look around and watch as he friends began to get to their own places to rest. As she began to get comfortable, a smile came to her as she was confident that no matter what came next, her friends would be there for her. Rainbow Dash lifted a wing and invited Fluttershy to snuggle in, allowing her to be protected by her body and warmth. Fluttershy took in the offer, snuggling up close to her cyan friend. Resting her head onto Dash’s shoulder, she sighed and was contented to be protected by a dear friend. Applejack took a position a few feet away from the group, wanting to be the first one to spot danger if it were to come and the first one to wake everypony up to get them moving. Rarity, sat close to the group but began to feel very alone, “Hey girls,” Rainbow said as she looked around.
“What?” Applejack turned to look at the awake Rainbow.
“You know what I am going to say to Twilight when we see her again?”
“What is it?”
“Thank you. Because without her, I don’t think that I would’ve become as close to you guys without her.”
“Ah would have to agree with on that,” Applejack slowly rubbed the ground in front of her, “If Ah never gone on that adventure with y’all Ah…probably would never got to know what great girls ya are, on the inside.”
“And I want to say,’Hi Twilight! Lets celebrate by partying until we can no longer move!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Rarity just smiled sadly,”I was thinking of saying I’m sorry, but,”her eyes burned with fire and she let out a big happy grin,”instead I will say ’Let’s go get you a dress that will shame the Princesses themselves! Welcome back, Twilight Sparkle!”
“Do you know what I am going to say when Twilight gets back,” The girls looked to Fluttershy as she began to get sleepy, “welcome home.” The 5 ponies nodded in agreement.
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Rarity walked through a barren wasteland, unable to see anything but desert and the bleached bones of ponies. Looking around at the horrors before her, she let loose a slow shudder of fear. Walking further on, she began to call out her friend’s names in a hope that they could hear her and help get her out of there. The only response she could find, was a deadly silence and the blowing of wind. Again, she shuddered, both from the cold and the fear of loneliness. Walking now at a faster trot, she saw a figure in the distance. As she neared the being, a smile came to her face as she recognized the shape of a dear friend, “Oh Pinkie! Am I glad to see you, do you know how we got…oh my,” Rarity took a step back as she neared the crystal body of Pinkie. Rarity took a good long look at Pinkie, seeing the look of horror frozen in the pink pony’s eyes. Reaching a hoof to try and touch it, she watched at the crystal figure shattered before her touch.
A voice came out from behind Rarity, moaning in pain, “A…A…re they ok?”
Rarity turned to the voice, ecstatic at hearing Rainbow Dash’s voice but then took a step back at the sight of the blue mare. Her eyes looked at the arrow laden body of her dear friend in sympathy and horror.
“Rares…are the…” Rainbow tried to continue as she walked to Rarity, her eye noticeably gone as if it was ripped from her socket.
Rarity, continue to stare in shock and horror at the state of her friend, lied, “Y-yes, they are fine, you can go rest now.”
“Go…od,” Rainbow Dash then collapsed, blood slowly dripping and oozing from each arrow. She laid there before Rairty in her pooling blood, slowly breathing in pain until soon she stopped breathing altogether.
“No, no. Not you too Dash,” Rarity backed up in horror, her mind reeling from the shock of seeing two of her friends dead. She then bumped into a pony. She turned and smiled as she saw the all too familiar shape and yellow coat of Fluttershy, “Oh Fluttershy! Thank goodness you are here- Pinkie Pie and Rainbow are all…dead. We need to leave and find a…”
Fluttershy gave no response when Rarity touched her shoulder, she did not turn her head to see her friend, but what she did do was have her head roll off her body slowly and onto the floor while the rest of her body fell to the other direction. The blood seeping through the head wound as it laid there unmoving. Taken in by utter and total fear of the situation, Rarity turned and ran away from the scene of the three dead bodies. All she wanted at this moment was to get home and find a way to make up for the deaths of her friends.
“WOAH THERE SUGAR,” Applejack yelled as she stood in front of Rarity, catching her in a hug.
“Applejack, darling its horrible, simply horrible,” Rarity began to cry her eyes out onto Applejack’s shoulder, “Fluttershy, Rainbow dash, Pinkie Pie, are all…dead!”
“I know Sugar, that’s why I was looking for you. I wanted to make sure you were safe and then get the varmints responsible for all of this and make them pay.”
“NO! We can’t, we can’t do this, it’s too much for us Applejack. I don’t want to lose a…another…”
“You ain’t losing me,” Applejack then noticed the look of fear in Rarity’s eyes, “What’s wrong?”
Rarity shook her head, “Applejack, I am sorry you can’t help me, you…are a true friend.” She then draped both hooves on Applejack’s shoulders and hugged her tightly as Applejack began to turn into stone before her eyes. Her fear now gone, she began to convert it all into utter rage, “ Who is responsible for all this. Who took all of my friends away?”
A purple unicorn walked out of the shadows, “Twilight?” Rarity asked
“Why it was you, you selfish little bitch,” She said in a calm and demure voice.
“Me? But I didn’t”
“You died didn’t you? Your sister burnt your house to the ground and you died. Then the brave little unicorn sacrificed herself in order to save a miserable creature like you! And now…your friends are dead in trying to fix your mistake!”
“But I”
“ YOU ARE A JOKE! Just a little dressmaker who will fade away when she achieved her goals, only to be remembered by the foolish and those focused on the trivial. I would be remembered forever by scholars and mages for years! So tell me, dearest Rarity, where is equivalent exchange in that? How is your measly life worth the lives of a future wonderbolt, an farmer trying to help her family, a girl who makes everypony happy, and an animal caretaker,” ‘Twilight’ looked at Rarity with damning eyes as she watched Rarity try to explain herself but words would not come out of her mouth, “See? Nothing, nothing at all. You should have stayed dead and stop yourself before you kill anymore.” Lifting her hoof towards Rarity, she summoned a bunch of shadow wraiths. Their wails of torment sounding throughout the wasteland as they reached out and grabbed the young mare and pulled her into the shadows.
The scream that came out of Rarity’s mouth was loud enough to wake up the entire group, “Rarity, what’s wrong,” Fluttershy asked as she watched her friend jump up and began to back away from the group.
“S-STAY BACK,” Rarity screamed as she waved her hoof at the girls, trying to keep them away from her, “If you get any closer to me, you’ll die!”
Applejack arched an eyebrow in confusion, “What are y’all talkin’ about?”
Rarity dropped her hoof, getting the visions of all of her friends dying out of her head. As she looked upon all five of them standing before her, she fell to her knees and cried, “Oh goddess, I am so sorry. This is all my fault, I am the cause of all of this.”
“What,” Rainbow walked up looking befuddled, “You are the one who turned the desert into crystal?”
“Rarity, what did you do,” Fluttershy asked, looking worried for her friend.
“What I did was die!”
“Yeah, that was controllable,” Dash snarked.
“ I died, Twilight had to sacrifice herself and send herself Celestia knows where, and now…and now, because of me, We are miles away, near a death trap and have no way to cross it. Even if we do, so what? We don’t know what lies in Dream Valley, it could be another death trap just waiting for us. AND WHY ARE WE HERE? Because Twilight,” Rarity turned her head, tears now flowing even harder, “Because Twilight sacrificed herself for a worthless dressmaker. A star that will fade once she has achieved her dreams…you should’ve just let me stay dead.”
“NOW YOU JUST CUT THAT OUT,” Exclaimed Pinkie as she sped over to Rarity and gave her a big hug, “Don’t say that, don’t even think about that for one little second. You aren’t worthless, you are a very special pony to us and a lot of ponies back home. Just like Sweetie Belle and your parents.”
“No, I am not. I am a horrible sister, I ignore her and focus only on myself.”
Applejack walked up to Rarity, placing her hoof onto her back and rubbing it, “Yeah, but Ah also know that she is one of the most important things in the world to you, better than any gem. Ah also know, that if anything were to happen to her, you would be right there ready to do anything to protect her. You find so many ways to spend with her, Ah am not sure how you do it.”
A blue hoof joins Applejack’s as Rainbow Dash joins in, “ Hey, I may not care about dresses like you do, but you inspire me.”
“I do?”
“Yeah! The way that you put everything into making sure that your dresses have style and beauty, helps to remind me to incorporate a little flash in my routines.” A smile came over her face, “You don’t just make things beautiful Rare…you help to inspire.”
Fluttershy came into the slowly growing group hug, “You also, help bring out the beauty in things…even if they’re ponies who don’t think that they’re that beautiful, like me.”
“See all that sugarcube, you are something important to us,” Applejack said, looking at her straight in the eyes, “And if Twilight were here, she would say the same thing. And to tell you the truth, I was thinkin’ about doing something foolhardy to bring ya back myself if Spike didn’t do it.”
“Me too,” Dash said looking confident.
“ooh,Me three!” Pinkie said ecstatically.
“Um, well, I would do it too or even help them,” Fluttershy said behind her bangs.
“See, together, we’re pretty complete…but without one of us, there is just that little piece missin’, Sugarcube.” Applejack said, now looking with a heartfelt smile.
Tears began to come from Rarity, no longer tears of a broken pony, but tears of joy as she could feel the love of her friends. As she looked at the group before her, she thought she saw a ghostly version of Twilight standing with them, smiling back, “You, you guys are…”
Pinkie took a few steps back and smiled as she began to sing
Pinkie Pie then gave another hug to Rarity as Fluttershy nuzzled her dear friend and joined in with the song, a smile crossing her face
Applejack, memories of how she first met the fashionista flowing through her mind and how her friendship bloomed took the next verse as she placed her hoof onto Rarity’s shoulder and smiled at her
Rainbow Dash joined in, hugging Rarity once more before looking at her eyes, brushing a hoof through Rarity’s mane
[i
Rarity wipes the tears from her eyes and looked at the four mares before her, each one meaning the world to her. She could see in her head all of the times they shared together, all of the times she cared for her sister, and all of the times that she will share. She then saw the shadow of Twilight standing with them, smiling back at her.
Almost as if she was connected by a bond that none could explain. A sixth voice joined in with the group, a voice that they all knew too well, this special pony looked at them and smiled as she picked up.
As Pinkie Pie finished the last verse, she could see how the others began to fall asleep beside her. Yawning loudly she began to nudge herself in between her friends, getting just in front of Rarity. Rainbow Dash laid next to Fluttershy and Applejack and Rarity was above them. At that point, there seemed to be an additional spot reserved for their missing friend.
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Rarity found herself in a chapel, in a long and lovely wedding dress (designed by herself of course) standing next to a handsome stallion. She could not make out his features or his race, but she knew that she loved him. Turning around she could see all four of her friends standing next to her, dressed in bridesmaids outfits, and then turning to the front she could see a purple Alicorn, looking regal and splendid, “Fillies and Gentlecolts, we are here to witness the union of this stallion and my most dearest of friends, a mare who risked everything to come here and save the stallion she loved the most-Rarity Belle,” Twilight then smiled at her friend, “Congratulations, Rarity.”
“Oh thank you Twilight,”
‘Twilight’ then went down next to Rarity to whisper, “And they’re right…she would have said something about the gift you gave her.”
A tear came down Rarity’s face as she murmured in her sleep, “Thank you…Luna”
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Despite the fact that their determination had been renewed by their little pep talk that night, they still lack of a way to reasonable way to cross the desert. Rainbow sighed to herself, “ Can’t fly there, it would be too much even for me to carry three ponies in succession over a thousand miles.”
“Girls, look at where we rested last night,” Pinkie said as she finished off a cupcake and pointed to a very large tree.
“Gosh, look at it. Its buckin’ huge, I wonder how it got so big around here,” Applejack walked to the tree and put her hoof onto the trunk as she admired it.
Pinkie, meanwhile, had a smile as she came up with an idea. Running over to the edge of the desert, she put a cupcake wrapper underneath a rock and then placed the stone onto the desert floor, “Well look at that.” Pinkie smiled at her work.
Fluttershy walked up beside Pinkie and looked down at the rock, “Pinkie Pie, what were you doing with that rock?”
“Well, I was wondering if the crystal thingie would only affect things touching it directly, and look! I was right.”
Rarity looked at some of the blade-like and jagged crystal spikes that littered the ground, and then back to the tree that they were resting next to, “IDEA!” she said with a huge smile on her face. Using her magic to pull two of the crystal spikes from the ground, she walked over to the big tree and readied the spikes with her spell.
“WAIIIIIIIIIT,” Fluttershy yelled as she flew up into the tree. Taking a few minutes to fly around in the branches and leaves, she soon came back down with a flock of birds and some squirrels, “Ok, now.”
The girls rolled their eyes in unison as they watched Rarity get to work. Using her telekinesis to spin the twin spikes at a high pace, turning them into miniature saws and putting them to the base of the tree. In but a few moments, the tree fell down to the ground with a thud. Walking around to the other side of the tree, Rarity put the still spinning crystal spikes to the fallen spruce and began to cut it very vast. The tree was molded carefully and loudly in a flurry of splinters and flying branches as the girls watched on in amazement at the artist doing her work. In an hour, Rarity took a step back to admire her latest work, “Hmm, not my best but it was my first time doing woodwork. Maybe I should have added a little hat to the goat head in the front. Ohhh, maybe I could get some…” As Rarity continued to talk to herself, the others looked and admired the boat.
On the side of the boat, it was labeled “USS Fabulous,” while the main body resembled that of a very large canoe with enough room for five ponies, “Why five,” Applejack asked.
“That’s just in case Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash get tired and need to rest while on the trip.”
Pinkie Pie jumped around and began to examine all over the boat, taking in all of the big and small details, “GIRLS! It has cupcake and cup holders!”
“Cup holders? No, wait, that’s not the weird part, Cupcake holders, Rare?” AJ asked
Rarity looked at Applejack in shock as she placed a hoof to her chest, “Darling, you do not expect me to travel across the desert at Rainbow speeds without some perrier on hoof do you and don’t you think maybe we would like a place to put our cupcakes?”
Applejack let loose an irritated groan as she walked to the boat and got on it with her friends; however, on the inside she smiled. Taking her lasso out of her saddlebags, she tied the rope around Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy before tying it to the bow of the ship.
Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy, noticing her nervousness, “Hey,” she said as she placed a hoof onto Fluttershy’s shoulder, “Don’t worry about losing pace with me pal. Just keep thinking to yourself that Twilight is over there and is going to need us to help.”
A soft smile came across her face as she flew up a little with Rainbow, “Thank you Dash.”
Turning her head over her shoulder, Dash looked at the other 3 ponies in the boat, “You guys ready?” Seeing them nod, she smirked as she turned to face forward,“Good…CAUSE HERE WE GO!” and in a streak of yellow and blue they took off across the crystal desert.
Fluttershy could feel the weight of the boat begin to tire her out. She then looked to Dash and remembered her advice, and thought about what state Twilight might be in when they get there. Eyes scrunching up in sheer determination, she began to fly even harder than she did earlier. Their speed helped to push and carry them across the desert for the next hour until they soon reached the far side of the desert. As the boat laid onto the ground, Dash and Fluttershy landed next to it, “Heh, nice job Flutters,” Dash said as she reached a hoof to congratulate Fluttershy.
Fluttershy turned to Rainbow and smiled softly in return as she gave a hoofbump to her dear friend, “Thank you Dashie.”
“WOW! Look at this place,” Pinkie said as she stepped off the boat to look at the valley before her. A colorful forest laid before them. It looked somewhat ominous as it stepped off into a deep valley cut through by a small river.
“Ya know, compared to Unicornia and Coltonville…this place ain’t so bad,” Applejack said.
“Oh sure, TEMPT FATE WHY DON’T YA,” Dash yelled as she flew up into the sky, following the others into the woods, “You might as well put up a giant sign with the words, ‘Please mess us up even harder, please Celestia, Luna, and whatever other gods might be listening’ on top of us with words like that!”
The girls looked up at Dash in realization, and then thought about it before having a good laugh.
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As the 1000 Sunni sailed into the harbor to dock, the three alchemists had no idea that they were being watched closely by a few guards on top of the roof. The guards communicated with each other silently as they watched the ship sail in and paid close attention to the three particular passengers on board the ship. With a quick jump off the ship and onto the dock, the three walked into the port talking to themselves about where to go to next, “HALT! Edward Edel Elric, former Fullmetal Alchemist, Alphonse Heiderich Elric, and Twilight Starshine Underdark Natasha Sparkle, you three are under arrest for crimes against the emperor,” A guard said, his gun pointing to Ed.
“Under arrest? On what charge? And no one’s allowed to use my middle name! Actually, how did you know my middle name?” Ed glared as Twilight and Al began to communicate between each other behind his back. Silently, Twilight looked at Al questionly and put her hands together in a clapping motion. In response, Al nodded and pointed to the stonework beneath the guards and tapped his foot. Twilight opened her eyes a little and nodded back in understanding.
“We have reason to believe that you three are on a mission to steal our most holy of relics, the Fraternity Stone,” The guard looked at three, his eyes not leaving them for a second, “We will now take you to Fort Ferdinand where we will interrogate you for a bit and then, when we have planted enough evidence in order to falsely accuse you. We will then execute you for your false crimes and place your remains on top of pikes.”
Al blinked,”Descriptive.”
“Here’s why that isn’t going to happen, you need to be on solid ground to catch us,” Ed smirked as he watched his student and little brother clap their hands and place their palms onto the ground. With a flash of light, the masonwork beneath the guards turned into a stone catapult that threw the men across the dock and into the bay.
As the guards watch the trio run away from them, the leftmost one turned to his friend, “ Hey boss, I guess we are all washed up!”
“Gosh darn it Phyllis, stop it with the puns!”
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Despite the fact that they were in an area that they had never been before, the alchemists were able to weave their way through the city quickly. They started bobbing and weaving their way through the area until they reach the end of an alley, it was here that they rested next to a building, “Just what is these guys’ deal with that stone?” Ed asked as he looked towards his two companions.
“I don’t know, brother, but with us being on the run like this,” Al panted as he looked at the building that they were next to, reading the sign, “It’s going to be hard to find information on the stone.”
“Wow, Al, I thought we were going to have an easy time, what with all the people running after us!” Ed said.
“Maybe if we could find a library,” Twilight said, putting her hands onto her knees.
“Like this one?” Al grinned
“Which one,” Ed asked, looking around the alley. With a smile, Al pointed up to a large sign above their heads on the side of the building.
“Sunrise books- wake up and read up,” Twilight squeed “Thank you, princess.”
Using their alchemy to open a door for them, they walked silently into the library. Upon gazing at the rows and rows of books scattered throughout the library, the three bookworms had to hold in their urge to squee at the sight of so many books. Quietly, they grabbed as many history books (and some science books that Ed wanted to rewrite) as they could and lay them across the table. With great speed, the trio began to research and read as much as they could in hopes to find out more about the history of the country that they were in. However, they did not know about the figures in black watching them from within the shadows, planning, “Found something,” Twilight said.
Ed and Al walked over to Twilight, looking over her shoulder, “What did you find?”
Twilight pointed to the page that she was reading, “About 10 years ago, a man carrying a stone of brotherhood,” Twilight pointed to a picture of the Fraternity Stone, “Came and used the power within the stone to destroy a great evil. In honor of this, we had made him a king. For the past 10 years he has ruled over us with kindness and power thanks to the help of the Fraternity Stone linking us in brotherhood. And look,”
Al looked at the picture of the man in the book, “Brother, look! That was the man I saw!”
Ed took note of the facial features of the man in the picture, “And he sort of resembles the old man that we chased back in Port city.”
Closing the book, Twilight turned around to look at the brothers, “ I can see why they wouldn’t trust us with their relic…its too important to them, “ Twilight then sighed as she looked down, “But we aren’t going to steal it, just use it for a few minutes to get me home. So I don’t know why the old man wants us-WHAT WAS THAT?” Twilight asked as a flashbang rolled into the library, blinding them. The figures who had been watching them quickly ran into the building and began to attack. All the three of them could do was struggle and try in vain to fight back. Once the blindness wore off, there were only two left in the building, “Brother!!! They took him.”
Twilight shook the last of the blindness off, “They probably took him to that fort they were talking about, though why didn’t they take us?”
“But we don’t have any idea where that fort is!”
“Actually,” Twilight slyly smiled, “In this history book, I found a map of the country and where the emperor lives as well as the fort’s location.”
“Wow, awesome Twilight!”
“I just hope that Ed will be ok when we get there.”
“Don’t worry Twilight, I am more worried for the kidnappers…than him.” They then quickly ran outside to the city and into the countryside.
Somewhere in the prison of the fort, Ed woke up slowly, “Well, this is unfortunate…for them.” As Ed said that, a shadow loomed over his right arm, making it look like he no longer he had his arm anymore.
To be continued...