***Sparky***
Pain. New levels of pain. Every part of me hurts. That's good. Right? Pain tells you that you are alive. I guess. I feel a hot body next to me. I'm enveloped by wings. I flare my nostrils. I know that scent. I move my hooves around Rainbow Dash. She's sleeping, and in her sleep she shifts against me, squeezing me tighter with her hooves. She murmurs “I love you Sparky.” I turn my head and whisper in her ear.
“I love you too Rainbow Dash.” She runs a hoof up and down my chest. Then she freezes. Her eyes pop open.
She looks at me in shock. “You're awake?”
“I think so, if I'm not awake, don't wake me up, because I don't want this to end.” My throat is in a huge amount of pain, all I can manage is a whisper. But for all that, I end up on the receiving end of a very enthusiastic kiss. After several seconds, she breaks this kiss off. She grabs a cup of water. I drink greedily. My throat is soothed by the cold wetness. I gulp as much as I can.
“You are in trouble mister. You missed your wedding.” I think the look on my face must be upsetting to her, for she quickly added. “But it's been rescheduled due to you being unconscious after saving Equestria.” She sighs and lays her head on my chest. “To be fair, the bride has been in the hospital as much as the groom. But she's not a patient.”
I chuckle, it comes out as a wheeze. “How long was I out Dashie?”
“You have been in an induced coma for nineteen days. After your healing, your brain swelled. The coma was to protect you. You know you should be dead Sparky. With what La Rouche did to you with his knife. He very nearly gutted you.”
I look down at my belly, soft fur and unblemished skin meets my exploratory hoof. I feel where the knife went into my chest. No scar. “Did my daughter do the healing? I was injured far too badly for even the weave I used on you. I really should be dead. How did this happen?”
Rainbow Dash smiles. “All the Princesses of Equestria helped. Twilight linked with your daughter, and the rest linked unicorn magic to keep you alive during the healing. I watched it all happen. You made it!” She hugged me. Then released me quickly when I yelp in pain. “Heh heh, sorry.”
I kiss her. “That doesn't hurt Dashie.”
Our kiss is interrupted by a pony clearing her throat.
I look up, it's all our friends, they crowd in the room. My daughter follows them. Moments later, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence join us.
I put my hoof around Rainbow. “Thank you, Princesses. For everything. You, and my wonderful daughter, saved my life. Thank you all.
Luna comes up to me. “I see now that I was wrong about you Sparky. You risked your life to save mine. We are forever in your debt. And we have talked. You are welcome to stay in Equestria for as long as you wish. And all of Equestria thanks you.”
I'm at a loss for words. In moments an idea comes to me. I hug Rainbow tighter. “Princess Luna. Would you perform my wedding ceremony. I've always wanted to get married by moonlight.” I looked over at Rainbow. She's nodding enthusiastically.
The Princess of the Night looks at her sister, then back at me. “I would be honored to.”
I look at Celestia. “I know it's not you performing the ceremony, Princess. But would you be my best mare? Twilight is already Dashie's Mare of Honor.”
A big smile from the Crown Princess of Equestria. “Certainly, Sparky. Be aware, I'm going to throw you the best bachelor party you have ever attended.” She ends that with a smirk.
Rainbow pipes up. “When are we doing this?”
I look at my daughter. “Leanne.” She jerks as I use her birth name. “Moonshine. When can I get out of this hospital?”
She comes up to me, puts her hoof on me, I feel the chill of her delving me. In moments she weaves into me, and my pain level drops considerably. I release a pent up sigh that I didn't know I was holding. She smiles. “I think we can release you tomorrow Dad. But I want you to rest at home for a few days. Preferably on a cloud bed. That will support your body the best and be the most comfortable. After that, you can do your wedding. But I don't think you should be channeling in the near future.”
After a while, our friends take their leave. I lay back with Rainbow Dash. I'm not at all tired. I turn onto my side, with her next to me.
“Rainbow, what happened while I was asleep?”
She buried her head in my chest. “It was awful. The wreckage is still being sorted through. The soldiers gathered up the ponies in Canterlot when they invaded. They kept them in barracks. They were ethical. I think. They did not go out of their way to kill civilians. But any resistance was ruthlessly squashed. The highest casualties were among the Royal Guard. Nearly a thousand are dead, and about that number are injured. The unicorn forces took the highest casualties. They gave as good as they got, but they were simply overwhelmed.”
She shudders. “Their leaders took the palace. They had captured Celestia and Luna. They were tortured. It's amazing that Celestia was able to raise the sun and moon. Every time she tried to resist, Luna was brought out and beaten in front of her. She stopped resisting very quickly. I can't blame her for that. I don't know what I would have done in her hooves. She had resigned herself to death. That was until she got that opening, and was able to get to Ponyville to warn us.”
“What of La Rouche?”
“He's in the hospital. When he was knocked into the wall, that device was broken. He's a pony now. Twilight got him really good with her magic.” She smiles at me. “They recovered Carter's body. Cadence did a real number on him didn't she?”
“Yes, she saved my life.” I give Rainbow Dash a hug and throw the covers off of me. “I need to walk around.”
She supports me as I walk around the hospital. I need my strength back.
The next few days are a blur as I'm released, and I get back into my home. I have to make a gateway to get up to the cloud portion of the house. Though with Rainbow's help, we did get a cloud bed installed in my workshop apartment.
In fact, nearly a week after I'm released, I finally get all my friends and the Princesses into my basement workshop, it's big enough to be essentially a conference room.
“Princess Celestia, I need to interrogate La Rouche.” I say to her as she makes herself comfortable.
She jerks back. “Why ever would you feel the need to do that?”
“We are from the same world, I was his target. I need to find out who his bosses are. I must make it so this can never happen again. I see now that our preparations were not even close to being sufficient to repel these invaders. We need to make it impossible for them to attack us again. If I have to go to the US President and secure a treaty, I will. But I need to get information, some that I was unable to get previously through my sources.”
“The US President?”
“A good portion of those soldiers were actual military members. Someone with a lot of pull was able to get all of that equipment and personnel. Especially to come to Equestria, where they became ponies on coming through the gateways. I need to find their leader. I need to end this.”
Celestia considers this for a long time. She looks at Luna, Cadence, Twilight in turn. Their faces are unreadable. She finally turns to me.
“Do you really think this is not over Sparky?”
“No, Your Highness, I don't. I will keep in contact with you and let you know what's going on. But I need to find out who is in charge, and end that threat.”
She smiles at me. “You are thorough Sparky, remind me never to get on your bad side.”
I smile right back. “I don't think you are capable of getting on my bad side Princess. You are too noble for that.”
“Fine, Sparky. You can interrogate the prisoner.”
“Good, now that the most unpleasant business is taken care of. I want to know from everypony here, we just had a horrible battle here. Does anypony have anything on their chest they want to talk about?”
Silence from the room, I know they are waiting for somepony else to talk first. So I decide to force the issue. There are a few here I want to know more about what happened.
“Princess Luna. I hear some of what happened to you. Can you tell me from your perspective?”
Princess Luna sighs. “It was a horrible fight in the throne room for them to capture us. I had just gotten into my sisters study when they burst in. They had some kind of armor piercing ammunition for their guns. The enchantments on our Guard's armor wasn't nearly up to the task. They were mowed down. We were taken by sheer volume of bodies. They were smart, somepony with them deduced that we would have a way to nullify the magic of rogue unicorns. And the palace armory was seized first. The charms were stolen. And while we were held down by the soldiers, La Rouche came in himself with that device on his head. It somehow protected him from turning into a pony. He laughed as he placed the charm over our horns. From then on, we were slaves to his will.”
I turn to Fluttershy. “You were amazing Fluttershy. I know you hate violence. How did you get past that?”
The pink maned Pegasus smiled shyly. “I saw what they were doing, Sparky. I had to decide between my friends and my aversion to fight. And my friends won. Anypony I stopped, was one less pony that could threaten my friends.”
I smiled hugely at her. “Flutters, you have just put to words exactly why I fight. I hate it. We all do, I believe.” A chorus of nods from around the room. “But we all understood that we had to fight them. And then deal with the consequences of fighting them later. And that later is why we are here.” I stop for a moment. I'm choking up, this is hard. “War is a horrible thing. I don't want another pony, or human to die because of this organization. That is why I need to end this.”
Twilight turned to me. “Sparky. You told me that your Source didn't have a weave for true teleportation, merely the ability to weave gateways. What happened?”
Her question caught the attention of both Princesses and Rarity as well. Apparently they all were wondering.
I looked down. “I really don't know how it happened. I was looking at La Rouche, I was thinking I can't get across that distance faster than he can pull a trigger. I felt a surge of Saidin, and somehow I teleported.”
“Can you do it again?”
I think on her question. “I don't know, I don't know what the weave was, I couldn't see it as it was all internal. Let me see.”
I think about the space near the wall, behind the girls. I focus hard. In moments I feel the surge of Saidin. Everything goes dark for an instant, then I'm where I wanted to be. I turn to them with a huge smile. “I guess I can.” I say, they whirl around.
Twilight beams at me. “You've discovered a new weave for your magic. That's wonderful.”
I trot back to where I was originally sitting. “Yes, I will have to remember that.”
I turn to Celestia. “On another note, all the pony deaths, especially the Royal Guards who died defending you. How are the families being taken care of?”
She smiles sadly. “There are already laws in effect that take care of reparations to Guards who fall in the line of duty. Their families will be generously compensated. I know it's not enough to truly replace the pony lost. But it's what we can do.”
“Is there any way I can add to that? As you know, I'm not hurting for bits.”
“That is very generous of you, but I don't think you can compete with the royal treasury when it comes to reparations.”
I sigh, well, at least I tried.
I turn to Luna, “When is the wedding rescheduled for, Princess?”
She smiles impishly. “You have twenty one days of bachelorhood left Sparky. I've already talked to Rainbow. And my sister is planning on your bachelor party the day before the wedding. Good?”
I smile hugely, then I think about it. “Wait a second, nightmare night is happening in three weeks. Are we seriously going to have nightmare night as our anniversary?” Rainbow giggles.
We continue talking until very early the next morning. I know there will be long lasting effects from what happened. But talking about it is the best medicine.
Mid morning I'm back at the hospital. It's time to interrogate La Rouche. Rainbow Dash is next to me. I flair my one wing for a moment and then nudge Rainbow Dash with my hip. “You ready?”
“No, but we do need to do this.” We make our way through the hospital, into the rapidly prepared secure wing that's holding all the soldier ponies. We don't have enough of a jail for all the prisoners. So this is where they are staying for the foreseeable future. I finally am standing in front of the door to La Rouche's room. I seize Saidin and open the door.
He's bandaged up, he apparently wasn't injured enough to get my daughter to heal him, though I don't think she would have healed him if he were moments from death. To be truthful, I would have a hard time healing him in that case.
He turns his head as I enter the room. “Ahh, my target, the adept. I should call you stumpy now, in honor of your missing wing” he says in mock concern.
“I have a name.” I say crossly.
“Oh, I know your name. I really don't care. You are nothing to me, a target, an adept.”
“Well, what you are to me is a spigot. A spigot holding back a large amount of information. And I'm going to twist that spigot until one of two things happens, one, I get the information I want, or two, it breaks. Which will it be La Rouche.”
His eyes widen as I stalk towards him. I seize Saidin and place my hooves on him. He thrashes in the throes of healing. I may not be a good healer, but his injuries were relatively minor. I use currents of Fire and Air to strip his bandages off. In moments he is exposed to me. I weave a ward quickly around the room, no sound will make it in or out.
“We are private now La Rouche, you can scream all you want. But until you scream the answers I want, you will keep screaming.” With that I pick him up and throw him against the wall. I don't let him fall, I pull on one of his forehooves.
“You would be surprised how much pain a body can take. In fact, being a pony, your nervous system can take more pain that it could as a human. I've found that out personally.” I hold onto his body, then extend his forehoof. It is quickly past full extension. I pull a little more, and I hear the pop as his shoulder dislocates. “And I'm going to show you how much pain you can feel.” I pull more, his knee is dislocated now. I pull more, and his ankle is useless. I let all my weaves go. He collapses to the floor. He gets up on three legs.
“How can I answer your questions if you don't ask me any?” He pants in pain, he's trying not to scream as he favors the injured leg.
“Oh, I'm not to the point of asking questions La Rouche. I'm at the point of letting you know exactly how much pain you have caused.” I pick him up again, I slam him against the wall. “To my friends.” I slam him against another wall. “to the people I love.” I slam him against the ceiling and then let my weaves go, he drops heavily to the floor, crying out in pain. “And to me as well.” I snarl at him as I push my face right in front of his. I seize him with Air again and lift him up.
“Stop Sparky, please stop.” I hear a wail as Rainbow tackles me. Her eyes are full of tears. “I know what this pony is here, he is evil. But please.” She sobs, tears start running down her cheeks. “Please, don't become like him.” I look into her eyes.
“He doesn't deserve mercy Rainbow Dash. Did you hear what he said he would do to you?” I snarl over her shoulder at him, my blood is still boiling.
She hugs me with her forehooves and her wings. I put my one wing around her. I hug her back. I place him back on the bed. He smirks at me.
“You weak, pathetic fool. I had doubts you would actually be able to torture me. And it turns out your little bitch here is the source of your weakness.”
She whirls on him, wings spread in fury. Fortunately, I was able to gain control of my emotions holding Rainbow. I put a hoof on her shoulder.
“Actually, La Rouche, she is the source of my strength. Without her, I was seriously considering simply killing you regardless of the information you might possess. But since I can't extract the information with pain. I'm going to do something far worse to you than torture, and immensely worse than merely death. I'm going to give you something. Something precious, and you have no choice in the matter.”
I smile at my wife to be. “You remember how I saved you, love?”
Her eyes widen. “Yes.... are you seriously suggesting that you do THAT to him?”
“He can't deceive me that way.”
She looks sad. “I know, but are you sure?”
“No, but I think it has the best chance of success. I came here for information. And I'm going to get it.”
I come close to La Rouche. His eyes are pinpricks, he obviously has no clue what we were just talking about. He is terrified.
“Now, this won't hurt a bit.” I say, actually meaning it this time as a complex weave of all five powers springs into existence between our hearts.
Minutes later, I stumble out of the room. I can't get any farther, I empty my stomach contents on the floor.
Rainbow closes the door behind me. One of the guards for the room comes up to me.
“You weren't connected to him very long, did you find out what you needed?” She asks.
I heave again. “I have never...” again, I heave, I thought I didn't have anything left in my stomach, I was wrong. “never, never, even come close to knowing any creature so vile.” Once again my stomach clenches, and more comes up. “Even the feel of his mind connected to mine was greasy and slimy. He only thinks about himself, and what he can do to increase his power.” I heave one more time. This time, thank Celestia, nothing. The guard is trying to be helpful, he snatches a towel from a nearby rack and hands it to me. I grab it and wipe my face.
“Thank you, and I need to see Celestia as soon as possible. Send a runner that I am on my way.”
I turn to Rainbow Dash. “I know what needs to be done.”
She tosses her head back at the room as we walk towards the exit, “What will be done with La Rouche?”
We are walking slowly to a safe point for me to open a gateway for Canterlot. I can see a Pegasus winging his way towards the city on the mountainside as we exit the hospital. In moments I open the gateway to the repaired main entrance to the Palace proper. Two guards salute as we walk past. Rainbow and I are deep in conversation throughout our walk. Shortly we arrive at the throne room.
Celestia comes from her study. “What was so important Sparky?”
I bow before her. “Princess. I will have to go back to my world to end the threat. I have found out who the leader of this organization is. He is immensely powerful. He controls not only this organization, but he controls several of my world's leaders. And the most disturbing thing is, I've met the man. In my financial dealings, I've met him. I would never have guessed it was him until I got the information from La Rouche. But again, Princess. I need to go.
Princess Celestia thinks about what I said for a minute. Then she speaks, “And of the man, La Rouche?”
“My advice would be for him to be executed. He has deserved that penalty a hundred times over, in my world, and here.”
She considers. “I have not executed any pony in over eight hundred years. I don't want to do so ever again. So, I do know of a secure place that he will never be found, and he will be in solitary confinement for the rest of his natural life. Good enough?”
I sigh, well, it's the best I could hope for, considering... “It will have to do, Princess. I would be happy to...” she cuts me off.
“I sincerely hope you aren't suggesting going against what I just said, Sparky.”
I smile sheepishly and subside.
“Well, with that out of the way, you, of course, have my leave to depart this world any time you wish. But I would like to ask you to delay at least a month.”
I'm confused. “And why is that Princess?”
“Because, Sparky. I want you to marry that mare next to you.”
I look at Rainbow Dash. “Yeah, I can't think of anything more important that that date.”
She hugs me. “Neither can I.”