//------------------------------// // Chapter 24: Words with the Watchers // Story: Rising Sun // by Jet Howitzer //------------------------------// The rest of the day passed with little of consequence. When you get home, though, after having some dinner at a small diner in Ponyville, you find yourself unusually tired. You head right upstairs to your bed, and you quickly lie down, and wait for sleep to claim you once more. It comes quickly, and you find yourself in a restless sleep. Your dreams of flight are cut short by a blanket of blackness that swoops in, and claims the beautiful vista below you. You wait for a moment, unsure of who will be speaking to you this time. You suddenly feel a tug in your belly, and then your hooves land on the floor. You don’t see anything, but with solid ground beneath your feet you slowly turn around, and come face to face with the watchers. The looked the same as first time you saw them. None of them spoke, but they all seemed to be looking at you. Once more their collective voice rings out without a sound to be heard. “We have watched you. Your conflict with Discord was foreseen, and we have planned around it.” “Um, okay?” You don’t understand the meaning of this conversation, but with a mental shrug you dismiss your worries. If they brought you here, there must be a reason. “More than you think hangs in the balance, and all of it rests on your shoulders. You hold the fate of both your realm, and ours, in your hooves. You will not be alone in this task, though. Keep your allies by your side, and remember that true strength comes from within, not without.” You watch in awe as one of the watchers approaches you. He stops when it is just an arms length away. It raises a hoof to your head, and you recoil slightly, expecting a shock of some sort, but none comes. “This is your greatest weapon against Discord. He has taken much from you, but he has only a copy. When the time comes, remember that you are always capable of more than you think.” It lowers its hoof, and then moves back to the others. “Thanks, but I don’t understand. What do you mean, I’m capable of more than I think?” As you shift your gaze from one to the next you feel a lightheaded for a moment. “Seriously? I want some damn answers! Don’t just give me some lines of prophetic bull, and then send me away!” Before you can get into the really juicy insults, though, the watchers disappear. You try to continue your tirade, without an audience, but you are unable to speak. Of course. They summon me, tell me some tripe about being more capable, and then they just leave. And they don’t even put me back in my dream! Seriously, what the hell. You continue to float in the blackness for a few more minutes, when suddenly you feel your eyes open. The ceiling of your room looks like it always has, and for once you feel really glad to see it. Hello, ceiling. For once, I am glad to see you. You roll out of bed, and head to the bathroom to freshen up for the day. As you usually do, you look at yourself in the mirror. With yesterday’s mental refreshment you look at yourself in a new light. You look identical to yesterday, but at the same time it is all so different. You are happy with who you’re turning into, and that causes you to have a smile on your face. You look deep into your eyes, and you see the twinkling that was missing yesterday. Before you turn to leave, you think that you see many eyes behind your own, but when you look closer there is nothing. With a shrug, you turn, and head out of the bathroom, and down to the kitchen. Twenty minutes later, and you exit the house, fortified after a quick breakfast, you stretch out your wings. They are stiff, but you need to get flying again, so you give a few beats of your wings, and you take off. There is some pain in your wings, but it quickly goes away as you stretch out the muscles. You circle the town a few times, and after a few quick maneuvers you spot Rainbow Dash closing in on you. You slow down quite a bit, and Rainbow quickly catches up to you. “Hey, Storm. Weather’s easy for today. Mostly clear skies all day, so we just need to take care of the clouds around town. I’ll take the eastern half, and you can get the western side, okay?” You give a quick nod, and Rainbow heads to the east as you head west. It takes less than an hour to clear the skies, but your mind is occupied with thoughts about Rainbow, and the others as well. I figure that I can end my short relationship with Applejack, and move on to Pinkie. I did promise her she was next. Hopefully AJ will understand, and it doesn’t go badly. I did say that I’d go out with all of them, so she knew what was going to happen. You let that stew at the forefront of your thoughts for a bit, and it doesn’t get any easier to accept. Sadly, even though she and I both knew this was coming, it doesn’t make it easier. Now then, what will I do about Rainbow/Rachel? I still love Rachel, and I don’t think I’ll ever stop. But do I love Rainbow Dash? There are so many parallels to them, which makes sense, but Rainbow is also so different from Rachel. I suppose that upbringing is a big factor here. You let out a small chuckle, as you come to a realization. If only I was back in Bio class. I could make one hell of an argument for nature versus nurture. As you buck the last cloud out of existence you proudly survey your work. Out of the, perhaps, hundred clouds you started with, there are now just a dozen slowly sinking to the ground below. (True story, clouds do actually fall to the ground, but REALLY SLOWLY.) You start a gentle glide to the ground below, and you watch as Rainbow zips about the sky, heading down to meet you at the ground. You are in no rush, so you make it down eventually, leaving an impatient Rainbow glaring at you. “You could’ve hurried it up a bit.” She makes a face at you, and you know that she’s not really upset, so you play along. “Yeah, and I could also decide to just drop like a rock, but that wouldn’t help. I take my time, Dash. I’m not going to let the whole Discord problem change the way I act. When the time comes I’m confident that I...” You pause for a moment, then reconsider. I’m confident that we will be able to beat Discord, no matter what he throws at us.” Rainbow gives a smile as you speak, and you recognize the smile. It’s been almost four years since you saw that smile, and yet it seems like much longer. The last time you saw this smile was when you asked her to the dance, and she said yes. “It’s been a while since I last saw you smile like that, Rachel.” Her gaze was wandering slightly, while you spoke, but at the mention of her old name, her gaze locks on to you. “I know. You’re Rainbow Dash now, fastest flier in Equestria, and all of that. But there’s still a part of me that wants to go back to Kurt and Rachel.” You let out a massive sigh, and you shake your head. “Have you ever wondered what life could’ve been like if you hadn’t died?” You hear a small sniff, and you notice a tear trailing down her cheek. Smooth, Storm, you made her cry. “I did wonder, for a bit. When I got my memories back I cried for a while. I cried for what I had lost, and what had been denied me. But then I realized I had been given a great gift. This new world offered up so much more than I could have ever gotten on Earth. I am sorry for what happened to you, but I’m not sorry that I died.” Her words leave a hole in your heart. You understand what she’s saying, but that doesn’t make it easier to hear. “I’m willing to wait for you, Storm. Even with the changes to who we are, I’m willing to wait for you.” You had turned away while she spoke, and you feel a gentle nuzzle on your neck. “I understand, Rainbow. Until we have all the time in the world to discuss what happened, and what will happen, I’ll have to deal with what is.” You take a few steps away, and Rainbow does not pursue you. You were about to head off to the farm, but a voice in your head, a voice not entirely your own, told you to stop. Before you could stop yourself, you heard your voice, your old voice, speak through your mouth. “I love you, Rachel.” Before you can wait for a reply, you take flight, unwilling to hear the response that you knew was coming. A tear makes its way down your cheek, but you rub it away. Not now. I can’t let any of them close, or Discord will use them against me. I just don’t know if I’ll be able to keep them out of my heart… /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ You land outside of the barn at Sweet Apple Acres, and you strain your ears for the sounds of manual labor, and you do hear it faintly. You set off at a brisk pace towards the sounds. After a couple minutes you crest a small rise, and you see Applejack and Big Macintosh bucking the apple trees. You trot over, and they both greet you with hearty grins. With your help the three of you make quick work of the remaining trees. Lunch comes quickly, and the three of you head off for the barn, to drop off the collected apples, and have some food. Big Mac pulls the cart with ease, but you and Applejack both lend a hoof pushing. The trip to the barn is short, but still tiring. You all decide to have some lunch before taking care of the cart load of apples. You head to the house, and you glance down the path that leads off the farm, and you happen to notice a certain blue pegasus heading down the path. You stop dead in your tracks, and both Applejack and Big Mac stop as well. The pegasus approaches nervously, as he should, given what he did here. You approach him, and he stops a couple yards away from you. You eye him coldly, and you wait for him to speak first. Almost a full minute passes, and you finally tire of waiting. “Right, what do you want? We’ve paid our debt to you.” Odd, I refer to myself as a member of the family. You give a mental shrug, and wait for Banknote’s response. “Ah, well. After what happened yesterday I felt bad about what happened. I wasn’t conscious to see what happened, but everypony told me. I am honored that you would come to my aid so readily. For that, I wanted to thank you. I had to ask around a bit, to find you, though. So, here I am.” You just stare at him, and you can see him squirm beneath your gaze. There’s more to it than just apologizing, and you can tell. “And?” Your question causes him to jump slightly, and so he begins nervously pawing the ground. “And, I wanted to return some of the money that I collected yesterday, in thanks.” He pulls out a bag of bits, and he hands it to you. You open it up, and you judge, based on its weight, that it is likely a thousand bits. “The Apple family did owe money, so I couldn’t return it all. Take it as a token of my gratitude.” You’re about to speak, when Big Mac steps up next to you. “We don’t need your apology money. If you weren’t willing to give it without any outside influence, than just keep it. We aren’t hurting for money bad enough to take it from you.” He grabs the bag from you, and tosses it at Banknote’s hooves. He quickly turns around, and heads back to the farmhouse, finished with the conversation. You shake your head at Banknote, and you also turn away. You hear the sounds of hooves departing, and you risk a quick glance over your shoulder to see Banknote walking away. The Apple family just turned down a thousand bits to preserve their pride and honor. I’m impressed. Lunch is, unsurprisingly, comprised of all apple based food. After you eat, you head outside, followed by Applejack, and Big Mac. Big Mac heads to the barn and you tell him that you’ll catch up in a minute. You motion for Applejack to follow, and she does so. You walk only a short distance, and then you take a seat. Applejack sits next to you, and you just look at the nearly cloudless sky for a moment. “AJ, you remember the game of truth or dare we played, right?” “Yeah, and Ah think Ah know where you’re going with this. Don’t worry, Ah’m alright with it. Ah know that you want to spend time with all of us, and this is just your way of doing it. Ah won’t lie, mostly because Ah can’t, but I’d much rather you stayed with me.” You meet her gaze, and she gives you a heartfelt smile. “Ah know that Ah’ll always hold a spot in your heart. Ah can tell that, and that’s good enough for me.” She gives you a quick kiss, and then she stands up. “Now, why don’t you head on over to Sugarcube Corner. Ah can think of a certain pink pony who’s waiting for you.” “Thanks, AJ, for everything. And you’re right. I think that you, and all the others, will always have a spot in my heart. Now it’s just a matter of finding out how big each of those spots will be.” You stand up next to Applejack, and you give her a peck on the cheek, and you take flight, heading for Sugarcube Corner, and the next big part of your life.