The Crystal Empire was torn asunder, not a single building exempt from the unbridled devastation the past two days had brought. Families across the kingdom ventured through the rubble, trying to find remnants of their old lives and praying to a higher power to find their missing loved ones. Yet even amidst all of this destruction and loss, there was a silver lining. Sombra had been vanquished permanently, thanks to one they had tried to kill the moment they laid eyes upon him.
Among the massive reconstruction effort three ponies, one a unicorn, one a pegasus and the other a small alicorn, stood at the base of the once proud crystal castle. Their eyes glued to the one that had saved their lives, watching him carry the titanic crystals which would soon act as the castle’s new support.
“I never would’ve thought it just by looking…” Rarity said in a mesmerized tone. “That he would be easily ten times more chivalrous than ANY stallion I’ve ever met. I mean the way he defended Princess Celestia, even when all hope seemed lost.”
“You do remember that he IS the cause for most of the destruction right?” Rainbow said nudging Twilight so she would agree. “And he wasn’t all that trusting of us ponies when we finally came to.”
“I think we remember quite clearly.” Twilight added, looking to the tips of her charred feathers. “It took Luna nearly half an hour to somehow convince him that she wasn’t going to hurt her.”
“He was only doing what he thought was necessary my dear.” Rarity replied looking to Twilight. “And wasn’t it YOU that theorized that he acted solely on instinct while he is a monster?”
“Well yes…” Twilight said nodding, “But even with that as a factor I really couldn’t see why he was so protective.”
“It’s because he wants to keep a lady safe, Twilight.” Rarity said turning her attention back to Grimlock. “He may not be much to look at, nor is he the brightest gem, but his code of honor and strength more than make up for it…”
“I guess you’re right…” Twilight said while Rainbow rolled her eyes. “But there’s still a few things that-“
“If only he were a stallion…” Rarity suddenly said with stars in her eyes.
“What?!” Twilight and Rainbow asked, rubbing their ears. “Did you just…”
“I SAID NOTHING!” Rarity suddenly blurted out, gaining the attention of everypony within earshot, even Grimlock took a temporary pause because of the sudden outburst.
Rarity’s eyes shrank into pin-needles while her friends gawked at her. Awkward seconds passed before everyone finally went back to work, but not before Grimlock could shake his head and mutter ‘ponies’ under his breath. The return to work didn’t stop the two friends from staring down their counterpart, still frozen after the words she had spoken.
“Well…” Rainbow said looking around, trying to find a convenient way to change the subject, “I think it’s about time I head over to the west side and see how they’re doing… bye!”
Before anypony could say anything a gust of air whirled up and Rainbow was halfway across the city, safely away from anything the two remaining ponies would say. Twilight had to brush some debris off her wings, but she didn’t really mind. The only thing she really cared about was what she thought Rarity had said and if she had heard right, it would’ve been one for the ages.
“I know that she’s not here anymore.” Twilight said examining her still frozen friend, “But I’m sure that Rainbow would agree with what-“
“I told you I didn’t say anything!” Rarity scoffed, biting her lip as she looked away. “Now if you’ll be so kind as to drop the issue I’d greatly appreciate it.”
“Of course…” Twilight said with a sly grin as the earth began to shake.
The two looked to the construction effort and saw that Grimlock had placed his load on the ground for the workers to take. Rising back to his feet, Grimlock turned away from them and proceeded to make his way to the two who had been observing him. Rarity acted quickly, her horn giving off a light blue hue while she pulled out her handkerchief. Waving it at Grimlock playfully she began to flutter her eyes, causing Twilight’s eyebrow to rise to unnatural heights on her forehead. Grimlock paid no attention to them however. In fact he stepped on the handkerchief when Rarity dropped it at his feet. Twilight couldn’t help but snicker at how distraught Rarity looked when he walked by, she hadn’t seen her act like that since the night of the Gala.
“Why the NERVE of that… that… BRUTE!” Rarity huffed, scrunching her nose in disgust. “To think he would just walk by a lady and-“
“Easy there Rarity.” Twilight said placing a calming hoof on her shoulder, “He isn’t technically ignoring you… he didn’t know you were there anyway.”
“You’d think he’d notice…” Rarity pouted following Grimlock with her eyes.
“His mind is in other places right now Rarity…” Twilight said looking to Grimlock as well. “Besides it’s that time again.”
“What time?” Rarity asked, “Isn’t he busy helping building the castle?”
“Well yes…” Twilight answered, “But every hour or so he stops to go check on one of the hospital’s more recent patients.”
“He’s actually going to check on her?” Rarity asked, stars returning to her eyes.
“He’s been checking at the top of every hour…” Twilight explained looking to the sun, “In fact I should probably see how she’s doing as well.”
“He really DOES care…” Rarity said sighing romantically.
“Well, I’m sure if you were nearly killed by a giant hydra that was bent on enslaving the world I’m sure he’d do the same thing for you.”
With that Twilight began to fly uneasily in Grimlock’s direction, leaving Rarity to dream up whatever strange fantasies she could whip up in her imagination. Meanwhile, next to the remains of the once proud hospital, a small group of ponies stood vigil over their resting ruler. To many it was a miracle that she was still alive, she had used every last ounce of magic and then some in her fight against The Black King and afterward a metallic titan wouldn’t let anyone near her. That was until her sister convinced him otherwise, now she slept peacefully regaining the strength she had lost.
“Are you sure that this is the right place for her?” Fluttershy asked the concerned dark alicorn standing next to her. “Surely Canterlot would be much safer.”
“My sister cannot me transported in her current state.” Princess Luna replied, “Even if I were to attempt a teleportation spell, the strain it would put on her might be too much.”
“Strain on her?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yes…” Luna replied gently brushing away her sister’s mane. “In all spells there is a certain amount of stress put on the caster, this is particularly evident in teleportation… but if said caster were to teleport multiple objects, that strain would also effect the ones teleported.”
“Oh… I see,” Fluttershy said now even more concerned, “But what about-“
The low rumble of the earth behind them cut her off. “Ever the punctual one aren’t you?” Luna asked smiling to herself.
“Grimlock here to make sure Celestia still okay.” He replied kneeling at her bedside. “She better?”
“She’s alive.” Luna replied letting out a deep sigh, “And I have you to thank for that.”
“You told Grimlock that last time.” He said rising to his feet. “Me not need to be told same thing over and over.”
“Well Grimlock, on account that you turned down every award I could possibly think of I guess I just have to give you my thanks again.” Luna replied rolling her eyes.
“Me need nothing from ponies,” Grimlock said turning around so he could get back to helping, “Knowing she okay is all me really need.”
“I know the one thing everypony needs!” a nauseatingly high pitched voice shrieked. “A PARTY!”
Suddenly, Pinkie appeared from behind Fluttershy, brandishing her trademarked party canon. Normally, this would lift the spirits of all who saw it, but to a certain sixty foot tall robot, he saw a weapon, a weapon pointed directly at the one pony he truly respected.
“NO!” Grimlock roared, sending his fist from on high towards the ground.
Thinking quickly, Luna grabbed both Fluttershy and Pinkie while throwing up a shield that she hoped would protect them and her sister from harm. Grimlock’s fist slammed directly into the canon, sending debris and confetti alike into the air as yet another crater was formed. At its center, Pinkie’s once proud party can was now nothing more than twisted metal. No less than a second after Luna’s barrier had disappeared Pinkie rushed to the edge of the crater. The sight of her once most super prized possession turned into scrap metal made her usually messy, fluffed up mane fall straight, but that wasn’t the end of it. Within the next few seconds Pinkie was staring down the business end of Grimlock’s blade, his once blue optics glowing with red fury.
“You not hurt Celestia…” he growled using the blade to knock Pinkie to the ground.
He raised his blade into the air, but before anything could come of it a flash of sapphire burst directly in front of Grimlock’s optics, effectively blinding him. Seconds later he regained is vision, but instead of staring down a terrified pink pony, he was face to faceplate with the other pretty horse and she didn’t look too pleased.
“I will NOT allow you to hurt one of my subjects…” Princess Luna growled with a rage that took even Grimlock off guard.
“Crazy pink pony try to hurt Celestia.” Grimlock replied, pointing his sword at the accused. “Me will protect Celestia, no matter who attacks.”
“She wasn’t attacking Grimlock…” Luna explained the rage all but gone in her voice, “That was Pinkie’s ‘Party Canon’ as she calls it… its purpose wasn’t to harm, but to heal.”
“Heal?” Grimlock asked confused, “How stupid canon heal?”
“The power of happiness can do wonders for the sick.” Fluttershy said, surprisingly entering into the conversation. “I don’t know how many times a somepony wasn’t feeling well and pinkie made them feel better with a party.”
“Y-yeah…” Pinkie stuttered rising to her feet, “I-I wasn’t going to hurt her… I was trying to help.”
Grimlock looked to the two ponies then to Luna and finally to the still sleeping princess. Growling, Grimlock turned around, his sword returned into his arm, but before he took a step away Luna appeared before him once more, seemingly wanting something from him.
“What now?” he huffed, “Me need to get back to work.”
“I want you to apologize.” Luna said sternly. “You broke one of my subject’s most prized possessions and scared her half to death, the least you could do is offer peace.”
The request took Grimlock off guard. He had never considered apologizing for his actions, mainly because that was admittance that he had been wrong. But Grimlock was never wrong; the millions of years of war had proved that much, because if he ever was wrong, he wouldn’t be standing here today.
“Grimlock never apologizes…” he growled walking past the baffled Princess without as much as a thought.
Just as Grimlock started to walk back to the castle, Twilight flew next to her mentor’s side, wondering why Pinkie looked like she just had a brush with death.
“What just happened?” Twilight asked walking to her friends, “You look like you’ve just seen a gho-“
Before Twilight was done talking she fell head first into the crater Grimlock had made earlier. Tossing and turning until she reached the bottom, she had to take a few seconds to get her bearing, but that didn’t mean that she knew something was off. Granted the fact that there was a crater where there previously wasn’t one for starters, but of the many books Twilight had read about the sediment of the crystal empire none of them ever mentioned dense material this close to the surface.
Perhaps it was some of the crystals, she thought, but there was something wrong with that theory, the crystals that made up the surface of the empire were smooth and sharp if they were shattered. What she was now laying on felt more like twisted metal. Twilight finally decided that she wasn’t dizzy enough to open her eyes to see that her prediction was correct. The object she had landed on was light blue, and had several distinct resemblances to a certain pink pony’s item of choice.
“Twilight!” Fluttershy called out, “Twilight are you okay?”
“I’m fine…” Twilight grumbled rising to her feet, “but could you tell me what I think is Pinkie’s party canon is doing smashed at the bottom of this crater?”
Fluttershy shrunk lower to the ground as a cry of despair rang at the mention of Pinkie’s beloved canon. That in itself was answer enough for Twilight; flapping her wings at a feverish pace she popped out of the crater to confirm her theory. Casting her gaze in the direction of the tears Twilight saw Princess Luna casting a wing over Pinkie, doing her best to console her.
“Pinkie… what happened?” Twilight asked, even though she already knew the answer.
“Grimlock.” Luna replied as Pinkie sobbed into her shoulder. “He destroyed Pinkie’s party canon and threatened to take her life.”
“He did WHAT?!” Twilight roared her mane and tail catching a small flicker of fire. “And YOU let him get away with it?!”
“It was a grave misunderstanding.” Princess Luna replied, showing a great amount or restraint towards Twilight. “He believed that the canon was in implement of death, not of entertainment.”
“That still doesn’t explain why he threatened her!”
“She had aimed the canon at my sister,” Luna continued, ignoring Twilight’s interruption. “And Given Grimlock’s sudden disposition towards my sister I could understand if he were to react in such a way.”
“Are you saying what Grimlock did was right?” Twilight asked shocked.
“No far from it.” Luna replied looking down to Pinkie, “but it has only been hours since the fall of Sombra and I-“
“Are you going to say KILLING Sombra was the right thing to do next?” Twilight growled. “After all YOU didn’t seem to mind when you saw his headless corpse.”
Twilight knew that she had struck a nerve at the mention of Luna’s reaction to seeing Sombra’s body. In the minutes after his defeat they were among the first to see the results of the battle. Most of them reacted as they were expected to, shocked, disgusted, Cadence even threw up at the grizzly sight. But Princess Luna, Luna didn’t so much as flinch, in fact Twilight swore that she saw a smile on her face when Luna saw the headless body in a pool of glowing purple blood.
Further adding to her argument, instead of running around searching for her sister, she walked up the corpse. Twilight swore she saw Luna’s lips moving while she stood there, but she was too busy trying to find Princess Celestia. Then finally the icing on the cake, Luna used a simple pyro spell to light Sombra’s blood on fire, in turn igniting his body as well. Though that was what they had intended to do with him in the first place they certainly didn’t expect Luna to do it especially without so much as a thought.
At that moment Luna gently pushed Pinkie away from her shoulder and approached Twilight in a terrifyingly calm manor. The way Luna carried herself words Twilight made her nearly regret what she had said, but there was no escape in sight, no apology that could unsay what had been said. Twilight was about to get an earful. Luna finally stopped her advance only inches away from Twilight herself, looming over her with a presence that Twilight could only describe as terrifying, Luna cast her gaze directly at her.
“If you knew only half of what that ‘King’ did to me…” Luna growled, her eyes starting to glow pure white. “Maybe you would see the justice that had been done with his death.”
“T-that doesn’t mean that we should take the matter into our own hooves…” Twilight stuttered, now unsure of her words. “W-we can’t just kill without due process!”
“And do you think Sombra would have followed the same ethics?” Luna asked, raising a brow. “If given the chance he would’ve destroyed us… well MOST of us.”
“What do you mean ‘most’ of us?” Twilight asked.
Luna’s eyes returned to normal as she took a step back, she certainly hadn’t expected that question, but since it was asked and also given Twilight was a princess now she decided to tell her the truth.
“Sombra always had an… unhealthy obsession with me… sending letters, writing poems, even a speech or two in the royal court…” she began, shaking her head. “I was too young to see it back then. I just saw it as a mere crush.” Suddenly Luna turned her attention to the shattered empire taking a deep breath she continued. “When word of the crystal princess’s disappearance reached our ear Sombra had already taken the throne, called himself king and began to enslave the populace.”
“Was there anything that could’ve been done?” Twilight asked.
“Looking back, yes…” Luna answered looking back to Twilight, “But we reacted too late, when word of what Sombra was doing. I took it upon myself to investigate, seeing that he had feelings for me I thought I could bring him to reason alone…” Luna’s body language suddenly changed. The alicorn who had been oozing with power suddenly buckled into herself seemingly withdrawing from her own thoughts. “I was wrong…”
“W-what happened?” Twilight asked, fearing the answer.
“What you would expect.” Luna replied, regaining her composure. “I wasn’t prepared for a fight… but somehow… he’d been expecting me the entire time.” Luna took a heavy breath before continuing “Using his dark magic he made me incapable of defending myself and worst of all I was at the mercy of a mad stallion obsessed with me… and he had none…”
“Wha-what did he do?”
“He stole something from me…” Luna answered, fighting a tear, “Something that could never be replaced…”
Twilight’s jaw nearly hit the ground while she tried to process the Luna’s confession. “H-he… he…”
“He did.” Luna answered, desperately trying to remain stoic. “And he did so with reckless abandon, proclaiming that our heirs shall be… the mightiest spawn the world had ever known.” Finally Luna broke down and if not for Twilight being there to catch her, she would’ve fallen. “T-three days…” Luna stuttered slowly wrapping her forelegs around Twilight. “Three days I endured his torture… three days I suffered more than anypony should ever suffer…”
“P-Princess Luna…” Twilight said returning the embrace. “I-I don’t… I’m so sorry…”
“It only stopped when Celestia arrived with the elements in hoof…” Luna continued, releasing Twilight to stand on her own again. “And we cast that monster down. A part of me wanted it would be forever, but I didn’t want to risk so many innocents for my revenge.”
“But you still found a way.” Twilight said, “You found a way that didn’t involve killing… and you still won.”
“We didn’t win anything that day Twilight.” Luna replied, “We both knew that one day he’d be back… and that he would try again.” Luna’s eyes suddenly ventured off into the direction Grimlock had left, wiping away a stray tear from her eye. “What Grimlock did… though brutal… was necessary.”
“Are you sure?” Twilight asked, “There’s always-“
“No there isn’t Twilight.” Luna interrupted, looking back to her. “You are still young, but one day you will see that sometimes things must be done for the good of us all.”
“But does that make you a good pony?” Twilight asked. “Does taking a life for the good of us all still mean that we ourselves are still good?”
“I don’t know Twilight.” Luna replied shaking her head, “But we must accept the past for what it is… and try to move on.”
“What… what are you two talking about?” Celestia said weakly gaining the attention of the two alicorns.
“Sister!” Luna said happily, placing her hoof on Celestia’s forehead. “You’re finally awake!”
“Yes…” Celestia replied with a smile. “How long have I been out?”
“Only a few hours Princess.” Twilight replied, “But given your injuries I’m surprised you’re already awake.”
“One of the perks of being an alicorn,” Celestia said raising her head off her pillow. “Accelerated physical healing… but magic still takes a while…”
“Then rest sister.” Luna said gently pushing her back down. “I shall inform the others of this most recent development.”
Luna left her sister’s side, but not before walking past Twilight with the same look she had given her before their conversation. Twilight shuttered at the sight, but she somehow knew that Luna wanted to keep their conversation between the two of them just that. In an instant Luna was gone, leaving Twilight alone with Celestia. That actually confused her a bit, Pinkie and Fluttershy had been there before her talk with Luna, but now they were nowhere in sight.
“Twilight?” Celestia asked. “Is there something wrong?”
“Just… looking for my friends,” She replied, her eyes still looking in every direction.
“I’m sure they’re fine.” Celestia said reassuringly. “Now it’s just me and you.”
“Actually Princess…” Twilight said, a light bulb clicking on in her head. “Now that we’re alone… I kind of wanted to ask you something.”
“You know you can ask me anything Twilight.” Celestia replied with a nod, “What do you wish to discuss?”
“I wanted to talk to you about a few days ago.” Twilight answered. “When you told me that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”
“I’m listening.” Celestia said.
“Why would you say something like that?!” Twilight asked. “He was my brother! None of us knew he was alive and when I saw him I-“
“Believe me Twilight I understand…” Celestia said knowingly. “The ties of family are among the strongest.”
“Then why did you tell me to forget about him?!” Twilight retorted, “You said that I should-“
“I don’t think you truly understood my meaning Twilight.” Celestia interrupted yet again. “Was it wrong that you went toward your brother first? No… but was it what you were supposed to do? No.”
“So I would’ve been wrong either way?”
“Far from it Twilight,” Celestia replied. “But you must remember that now as a princess you must sometimes have to put the wellbeing of many in front your family.”
“How is that a good thing?” Twilight asked, now more confused than ever. “You-“
“Twilight… if I didn’t put the needs of the people before those of my family, there is a good chance that we may very well not be having this conversation.”
“Wha-what… what are you talking about?”
“My sister.” Celestia answered, “My own flesh and blood… when she became the monster Nightmare Moon.”
“But she was trying to cast the world in eternal night!” Twilight said, “You had to-“
“Does that change the fact that she was still my sister?” Celestia said. “Because she became a monster that means that I no longer shared a bond with her?”
“N-no…” twilight said lowering her head, “I guess I never thought about it that way…”
“I understand Twilight…” Celestia said with a nod. “Nightmare Moon and Luna are polar opposites, it is easy to see them as separate entities.”
“That still doesn’t mean that I should…” Twilight suddenly found it hard to think of what to say next, but Celestia was more than willing to fill in the pause.
“You should never forget who your family is Twilight.” Celestia said softly, “But sometimes you have to make the choice of-“
“Howdy princess!” A cheery voice interrupted. The two looked to the direction of the voice to see both Applejack and Rainbow Dash headed their way. “Heard from yer sister that ya’ll doin’ better! Wanted ta be one of the first ta ask how ya feel?”
“I feel just fine Applejack.” Celestia said with a small nod. “And I have Grimlock to thank for it.”
“Speaking of that tin can, where is he now?” Rainbow asked looking around. “Last I saw him he was helping rebuild the spire.”
“He visited about twenty minutes ago.” Twilight answered. “But I’m sure that he’ll be back as soon as he hears about this.”
“He’s helping rebuild?” Celestia asked pleasantly surprised. “Well, after subduing Sombra I wouldn’t expect him to-“
“Uh… Princess…” Applejack said, removing her hat. “He didn’t really… subdue Sombra…”
“Oh?” Celestia said with a cocked eyebrow. “Then how did he stop him?”
“He RIPPED his heads off!” Rainbow exclaimed. “There was blood EVERYWHERE! How could you forget that?”
Celestia fell silent for a few moments, trying to process what she had just heard. The three sat down and waited eagerly for her answer, wondering what opinion Celestia had on the matter. Twilight had already gotten an earful from Luna, so she was prepared for whatever her mentor had to say. The other two however, had very different thoughts.
Applejack, though believing that killing wasn’t really the best way, believed that Sombra brought about his own fate, no matter how grizzly the end result was. Rainbow Dash however, expected Celestia to explode with fury, to her Killing was never an option, even if Sombra had used her to stay alive and attack her friends and she expected Celestia to agree with her one hundred percent.
That and the fact she still didn’t care for Grimlock that much. He had beaten her and proved her wrong on more than one occasion, but the main reason was the fact that Grimlock seemed so willing to end life, something that Rainbow held higher than all else. Everypony other than her saw him as a hero, but she knew the truth, she knew that he was just a giant with insatiable blood lust and with the news of Sombra’s death, Celestia would see it too.
“Well…” Celestia finally said bring a hoof to her forehead. “That is… that is hard to believe…”
“You bet it is your highness!” Rainbow said in slight triumph. “Grimlock murdered him and now-“
“He didn’t murder Sombra.” Celestia interrupted. “Grimlock did what was necessary to protect us all.”
“B-but he…” Rainbow stuttered in disbelief, “HE KILLED HIM!”
“He did.” Celestia agreed, “But he didn’t do it out of malice, nor out of enjoyment… he did it to save us from a fate far worse.”
“I’d beg to differ…” Rainbow grumbled under her breath.
“But there coulda been a different way right?” Applejack asked, “I’m sure that we coulda thought of something’.”
“You’re right Applejack.” Celestia answered. “It is unfortunate that Sombra had to die, but there is no changing the past.”
“So you’re saying…”
“I’m saying that I wouldn’t have wished for it to end this way… but I’m glad the threat is over.”
“How could you just-“
For the second time that day somepony was interrupted by the sound of tons of metal headed in their direction. The ponies turned to see Grimlock sprinting at top speed to get to them, this came as a surprise to them. However that surprise quickly turned into fear when they saw that it didn’t look like he was about to stop, they stood there frozen in their own fear, waiting to be crushed. However, before that moment could come to pass Grimlock slammed one of his feet down harder than normally, effectively creating a ditch that he could use to slow down and Slow down he did, but not before he knee was inches away from Rainbow’s muzzle.
“ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Rainbow shouted, throwing her hooves in the air, “YOU COULD’VE-“
“Celestia awake?” Grimlock asked, ignoring the furious mare. “She better?”
At that moment Grimlock took a knee and reached for Celestia. His hand overshadowed all the ponies, but stopped gust inches in front of Celestia.
“I am…” Celestia replied resting her head on Grimlock’s finger, “thanks to you.”
“Grimlock protect Celestia from monster.” He replied with a nod. “Me make sure nothing bad happen to ponies.”
“I’m sure you did.” Celestia said, taking notice of something white close to Grimlock’s shoulder. “What’s that?”
“Little white pony,” Grimlock replied and Rarity ungraciously fell from her perch to the ground. “Luna tell Grimlock Celestia awake, white pony want to come too, so me grab her.”
“I thought it would be a bit more romantic…” Rarity said struggling to her feet as her friends gathered around her. “I had NO idea that I was in for a rodeo…”
“Maybe next time ya’ll be a bit more prepared.” Applejack said fighting back a laugh. “I could show ya how ta stay on if ya-“
“There won’t be a next time.” Rarity scoffed, throwing her nose in the air as she pranced away. “I never want to be treated so rough ever again!”
Rarity suddenly turned her attention to the reason she came. Celestia was resting her head on Grimlock’s finger, smiling euphorically as she gently buried her head as deep as she could into it. Rarity’s attitude suddenly had a complete turnaround at the sight, spinning to face Grimlock she batted her eyes and bit her lip.
“But I’ve always been the one to give someone a second chance…” she cooed with half closed eyes.
“Uh… aside from odd romantic interests…” Applejack said looking back to Celestia, “What are we gonna do next Princess?”
“Well I could continue to rest and leave the rest of the repairs in your capable hands.” Celestia said in a very non suggestive manner. “I’m sure Twilight, Cadence and Luna can manage the effort well.”
“Well… Cadence is sick…” Twilight said, not mentioning why. “And Luna’s still off trying to find Pinkie and Fluttershy.”
“Then I’m sure that you’ll do fine on your own.” Celestia said removing her head from Grimlock’s finger and resting it back on her pillow. “Now go, there’s still much to be done.”
“Ponies here Celestia.” Grimlock said rising back to his feet. “Now we work!”
With that all except Twilight left Celestia’s side, leaving them with only temporary peace. Just as they were about to continue their conversation Princess Luna appeared in a blinding flash of light, startling them.
“Always one for show, eh sister?” Celestia said with a smile.
“You’re one to talk…” Luna replied with a smirk, “I take it everypony knows you’re alright?”
“All except for Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie,” Twilight answered. “Did you tell them?”
“I did…” Luna replied with a nod, “But they opted to return home early for obvious reasons.”
“I understand.” Twilight said lowering her head. “I hope that blows over soon.”
“What blows over?” Celestia asked, her interest peaked.
“Nothing!” Luna and Twilight said in unison, causing a small giggle to escape Celestia’s lips.
“What I mean is Pinkie Pie is also not feeling well.” Twilight said with a failing poker face, “Fluttershy’s taking her back to Ponyville so she can get better.”
“Really?” Celestia said cocking her eyebrow. “I hope that we don’t have any more ponies getting sick…”
“Sister…” Luna said shaking her head. “At the moment, ponies being sick is the least of our problems…”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
“What do you mean that we’re already out?!” Starscream roared. “We’ve only filled three cubes!”
“I used nearly half of my samples developing the process as it is…” Shockwave replied, placing the final cube on top of the other two. “And it takes ten of these organics to fill one.”
“I didn’t expect them to be gone so quickly…” Starscream hissed, looking at the pile of bodies at the edge of Shockwave’s table. “I could get the remaining Combaticons to-“
Starscream was interrupted by five energon signatures appearing on his sensors. That confused him, Starscream sent the four out to discover an organic energon source not so easily reached by Grimlock, that was two days ago. They were back much faster than expected, in fact he didn’t think they’d be back for at least a week and possibly with enough organics to cause another signature to appear. He walked to the entrance of the cavern, expecting to see the Combaticons carrying their precious cargo with pride.
So when he was essentially ran over by a frantic group of Decepticons it certainly caught him off guard. The worst of it was they didn’t seem to care, whatever they were carrying was more important to them. The four rushed Shockwave, placing whatever they were holding before him. Seconds later, a cacophony of sounds blared in Starscream’s auditory sensors forcing him back to his feet in a rage.
“What in the name of Primus is going on?!” He roared, holding his head still. “I demand an answer!”
“Sorry ‘Commander’ Starscream…” Onslaught said looking back to him. “But we were busy doing a recovery mission.”
“I take it you found something…” Starscream growled walking over to them. “More organics I hope?”
“No.” Brawl answered. “Something a lot better…”
The Combaticons stepped aside allowing Starscream to gaze upon what they had brought in. Starscream’s jaw partially unhinged at the sight, Swindle the fifth and final Combaticon, barely alive and pouring energon.
“H-how?”
“We detected his signature about thirty miles from the impact crater.” Onslaught explained.
“And we got him back here as soon as we could.” Blast Off added. “Now all Shockwave’s gotta do is patch him up like new.”
“Like hell he is!” Starscream barked, “Doing that would cost us all the precious energon we’ve managed to extract!”
“I would have to agree with both logics.” Shockwave said looking over Swindle. “But we must consider the long term effects… if Swindle becomes one with the All Spark, then the Decepticons lose a possible deciding factor in the war.” Shockwave then walked over to the three full energon cubes. “But this planet is full of creatures full of energon, we can extract more if need be.”
Starscream let out an exasperated sigh, nut he knew Shockwave was right. Besides he would need Bruticus later if his plans were to fall into place correctly.
“Very well…” he said walking over to Swindle, “If it will increase morale I see no harm in it.”
“Then stand aside.” Shockwave said pushing Starscream away like a rag doll. “I need to operate.”