//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 - Holding Out for a Hero part 4 // Story: The Foals of Harmony: Equestrian Rhapsody // by Rainy Meadows //------------------------------// “Twilight?” The young purple mare slowly pulled the bedcovers away from her face to reveal her violet eyes, almost as if she was afraid that the small lizard in front of her was about to bite or otherwise attack her. “I- we just thought we should tell you-” Spike began. “You’ve got visitors,” said Hex. “We told them – or tried to tell them – that you weren’t really in a fit state to see anypony, but they were rather, shall we say, insistent.” “Would you like to see them?” asked Spike. Twilight didn’t say anything: she simply nodded. “Okay,” said Hex. “We’ll be downstairs if you need anything.” He led the purple dragon out of the room, and soon Twilight found her vision filled by three pegasi, two large and one incredibly small, and all in shades of blue. “Hi Twilight,” said Rainbow Dash. “How are you?” “Rainbow told me about what happened down there,” said Soarin’. “We came to see how you were doing, although to look at you, I’d say you weren’t doing all that well.” “Soarin’!” Dash gave him a punch on the shoulder. “What? It’s true!” Soarin’ pointed out. “Wait, Lightning, what are you...?” Without a word (which was possibly because he hadn’t progressed beyond incoherent babbling yet) the tiny colt climbed onto the bed and looked at Twilight’s face, before walking over to her and giving her a hug – well, as much of a hug as he could when he was only a little larger than her head. She hugged him back, and once again Dash and Soarin’ exchanged a look which illustrated their thoughts: this was completely beyond them. It had been exactly one week since Twilight had woken up, and a full fortnight since the incident under the mountain. Hex had tried to assure himself that she would be alright, but after the second day of doing nothing but strumming his guitar and trying to focus on his GLaDOS, he agreed to stay in the library and help Spike care for Twilight until she was able to function on her own again. But so far, she was showing no signs of heading that way. Since she had come out of her coma she had yet to complete a full night’s sleep without some kind of terrible nightmare, or say more than a sentence’s worth of words to anypony, or even eat a proper meal’s worth of food. She had become almost a complete vegetable, barely able to look after herself or even move from her bed – if she did move from her bed it was most likely to curl up and cry in the shower, which was something she sincerely hoped Spike and Hex didn’t know about – and with the loss of her horn she had never been more vulnerable in her entire life. Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, easily the most sensitive of the Element bearers, had found themselves unable to see their friend in such a terrible state, so Applejack had volunteered to take them on a little excursion to Appleloosa, a place she had apparently been meaning to revisit for quite some time. Rarity had wanted to go as well, but for quite different reasons which involved a little crush and a lot of denial on both her and Spike's behalf. Soarin’ had finally moved in with Rainbow Dash, and the two now lived with Lightning Strike in Dash’s cloud house. Dash had resumed her job at weather control, Soarin’ had resumed contact with his friends in the Wonderbolts, despite showing absolutely no signs of rejoining their ranks – everything was going swimmingly for the young family. But even so, for everypony it was next to impossible to believe that something so horrible had happened practically on their doorstep, and to one of their best friends. It was beyond thought, and yet none of them could get it out of their heads. One in particular – a certain bespectacled unicorn – had been acting rather strangely of late. It was almost like he’d had more than his fair share of experience with this kind of thing. “I saw it all the time when I was travelling the multiverse with Amber,” he explained to Spike after the pegasi had gone. “There were worlds where society had taken an arrow to both knees, and girls of all ages were used like-like- I don’t even wanna talk about it.” “You keep talking about this Amber girl,” said Spike, “but you’ve never actually told anypony what she’s like.” Hex sat down and leaned casually against a bookcase. “She was... indescribably brilliant,” he said. “She was like all our friends rolled into one: she was honest (sometimes to the point of it being brutal), completely loyal, absolutely and unbelievably beautiful, cared a lot about things that didn’t want to kill her – even though that made it a rather small list – knew everything there was to know about the multiverse, incredibly energetic and... let’s just say, if you weren’t listening to what she was talking about you had a better chance of staying on topic because she would come out with some of the randomest smeg I have ever heard in my life.” Spike scratched his head with an eyebrow raised in confusion. “Seriously,” Hex continued, “I remember when we were in a spaceship which was dangerously low on power and could fall out of the sky at any moment, and she asked me how many Batman villains there were. I think there was the Joker, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, the Riddler, Rha’s Al Ghul, the Penguin, Two-Face, Catwoman – although she was more of an antihero – Scarecrow, Carmine Falcone, Mr Freeze, the Black Mask, Bane and the Red Hood, although those are the only ones I can come up with off the top of my head, and the Red Hood wasn’t originally a bad guy. Y’know, come to think of it, it’s a wonder Batman has any time off considering how many baddies he has to fight on a daily basis. No wonder he’s always so angsty, I mean-” “Hex, you’re getting a little off track.” “Sorry, sorry. That’s the most interesting thing about Amber: she was contagious.” “What? Contagious?!” The baby dragon scrambled away from his unicorn friend with a cry of “Ewwww!” “No, no, no!” said Hex, laughing at Spike’s plight. “I don’t mean she was sick or anything, I mean- smeg, how can I put this? You know how if you hang around somepony with a really strong accent, like Applejack or Rarity, you actually start to pick up on it?” Spike nodded, interest piqued. “Amber was kinda like that,” the brown unicorn explained, “but it was more than just the voice, it was... everything. In the first couple of weeks I was with her she completely changed my view of the world as I knew it. I started to see it like she did: massive, beautiful, exciting. And I really, really wanted to be part of it. But I also saw the dark sides as well, the parts which were like dreams come true.” “Dreams come true? That doesn’t sound so b-” “The kind of dreams where upon waking up, you never want to sleep again in case it continues.” Spike’s face became one of apprehension and horror. He understood perfectly – he’d had a fair few of those dreams in his lifetime – one particularly nasty one involved a giant cabbage and some sort of whirring knife thingy. Another had included some kind of mud and everything turning blue, and in yet another he had been (prepare yourselves, this is gonna be nasty) middle aged. Yuck! But by far the weirdest dream he’d ever had was when he was some odd creature called a vampire, shaped like a tall almost-hairless ape with a short blonde mane which was always slicked back, whose “look” had been stolen by a famous musician – Willy Eyeball or something. Curiously enough he was always in some kind of rivalry with another tall almost-hairless ape vampire thing with dark hair with the same name as Fluttershy’s pet bunny, but Spike didn’t want to go into too much detail because a) he didn’t really like Angel and b) the dream was too weird to think about for an extended period of time. Plus, it was almost completely unrelated. “Look,” said Hex, “the point is that I perfectly understand how Twilight’s feeling. She’s feeling like she’s alone, completely and totally alone, like if she ever told anypony what happened they’d push her away for allowing it to happen. She feels like nopony can help her, no matter how hard they try...” He paused, wiped his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing. “And it’s eating her up,” he said. “It’s killing her inside. She feels like she might never be happy again, like her entire life has been ripped out of her hooves, ground into dust and tipped into the sea right in front of her eyes. And there’s... and there’s nothing, nothing, she can do about it. Nothing.” By now, both he and Spike were holding back tears, and knew they couldn’t keep it up for long. “But-but why?” asked the little dragon. “Why would anypony do something like that? How could anypony make Twilight feel that way? How-how could anypony- Twilight’s incredible! She’s the best pony I’ve ever known, she’s like a sister to me! How could anypony just take her life and-and just destroy it? Like it was nothing? She means everything to me! EVERYTHING!!” “I don’t know!” said Hex. “I just- I don’t know! People like Deluminata, ponies or not – they don’t care how they make others feel. You try to reason with them, and what does it get you? I’ll tell you: a big nothing! They’re like sponges; they take, take, take and drain others of their love and emotion. And you know what? There’s no way to stop it until after it’s happened. And I hate that! I hate it with all my heart, do you hear me? I HATE IT!!” By now he was standing up, practically screaming at Spike, before realising his mistake (i.e. terrifying the poor kid) and sitting back down on his haunches. “Oh, come here.” And at that, the baby dragon gratefully ran into the brown unicorn’s open hooves, and the two of them sat weeping helplessly in the library for smeg knows how long. All they knew was that by the time they were spent, Celestia’s sun was dipping below one side of the horizon, and Luna’s moon was cresting the other. “You know,” said Spike, “you could probably take a break. Go back to your shop for a bit. I *sniff* I could probably look after Twilight by myself.” “You’re kidding, right?” said an incredulous Hex. “I told you before, Spike, and I’ll tell you again that there is no possible way you’ll get me to leave Twilight until she’s in a fit mental-” “I know, I know!” Spike interrupted. “It’s just- you’re always doing things for everypony. You pushed alien invaders out of Equestria single-hoofedly, and helped Twilight when you were in the same world those aliens come from. You even helped deliver Rainbow Dash’s kid, for crying out loud! When was the last time somepony did something for you?” There was a pause as Hex tried to work out how to not sound ungrateful. “Wow,” he said. “You know, that is incredibly thoughtful of you, Spike. I’ve met a lot of dragons, but I think out of all of them you might just be the nicest.” “Oh, come on!” said Spike bashfully, and then added. “I said come on.” “Don’t push your luck,” said Hex with a smile as he stood up. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should take a little time off. But if anything goes on with Twilight, and I mean anything, you let me know, okay?” Spike raised a stiff claw to his forehead with a determined smile on his face. “I’ll take that as a yes,” said Hex, and he copied the salute, albeit with a lot more (and taking a rather confusingly long time) swirling of his hoof. “I’ll be in the shop if you need me. Got a lot to catch up on, you know.” What Hex had neglected to tell Spike was exactly what he had a lot of to catch up on. And that... ...was sleep. In the time that Twilight had been unconscious, he had not even dared to close his eyes in case she came round. He had lived on a diet of apples, crackers and the occasional can of Red Bull, which he would shove out of sight if Pinkie ever came in. Smeg knows what would happen if she got her hooves on some of that stuff ever again. The duration of the past week had also been rather short on rest. He had yet to complete a full night’s sleep without Twilight waking up from some terrible nightmare and needing to be calmed before her control over her magic was completely lost. But when he did sleep, he would dream about her. He considered himself lucky that he had “borrowed” some blueprints for a dream recorder in the same world where he had picked up the word ‘smeg’ because these were the kinds of dreams where he never wanted to wake up. There was a good chance he would dream about her again tonight, so he placed the metal ring around his head, connected up all the appropriate wires, turned the monitor on and lay down in his hammock. Oh, of course! He forgot the music. So he tipped himself out of his hammock and landed with a small clop on the stone floor. Upon reaching the stereo, he instead turned his attention to the tall stack of CDs which stood next to it. “LMFFO? Nah, too disco-ey,” he thought out loud. “New Foals on the Block? Who put that there? My Magical Romance? Not really in the mood for the Black Parade or the Bringjoys right now. Hmm... Think I might use this one.” He took out a box marked ‘PRINCESS’, with a picture of a stallion on the front with the most epic moustache he had ever seen, and inserted the silver disk into the stereo before pressing the play button and relaxing in his hammock as the lyrics started wafting through the shop. He even sand along a little. “Pressure,” he muttered, “pressing down on me, pressing down on you, no mare has more. Under pressure that tears a nation down, splits a family in two, puts ponies on streets...” Screw sleep. As the chorus came closer he ripped off the dream recording headset, leapt out of his hammock and whipped out the air guitar. “IT’S THE TERROR OF KNOWING WHAT THIS WORLD IS ABOUT,” he yelled, “watching some good friends screaming LET ME OUT!! Tomorrow gets me higher. Pressure on ponies, ponies on streets...” He lowered his head, tapping his hoof in time to the bass riff. “Jumpin’ around, keep my brains on the floor, these are the days it never rains but it pours...” Dear sweet smegging Celestia this song was awesome! “IT’S THE TERROR OF KNOWING WHAT THIS WORLD IS ABOUT,” he yelled again, louder this time, “watching some good friends screaming LET ME OUT!! Tomorrow gets me high, high, HIGH...” Upon the final cry of the word ‘high’ Hex raised his front hooves into the air and stood on his hind legs. Unable to balance, he fell forward onto the stone floor and started snoring. He had fallen asleep in mid song. He was woken up a few hours later by a frantic beeping. “Owww,” he moaned. “Nice idea falling asleep on the stone floor, Hex. You must study under... oh smeg, what now?” The teleporter was bleeping: obviously somepony wanted to come through. He got to his hooves, staggered a few paces forward, and fell flat on his face just short of the gate. Then he got up again and fell over. Following this failure, Hex just reached up and turned the teleporter on, and was almost blinded by the whitish-blue light which lit up the shop like a lightning bolt. For a few seconds nothing came through, and he reached for the off switch, but it flickered for a moment and... “Spike?” said the scientist. “What’s wrong?” “I was wrong, that’s what!” cried the baby dragon. “I thought I could handle Twilight on my own, but she’s having a nightmare and I can’t get her to calm down! If she can’t get her power under control, she’ll tear herself apart!” Hex turned his horrified gaze to the teleporter, and jumped through just as it closed, landing on the dusty ground outside the library. The building’s windows were ablaze with white light, tinted purple, mostly emanating from the upper floor. Without a second thought he galloped inside, one hoof held over his eyes, and made his way upstairs. Twilight was laying on her bed, convulsing in a foetal position, her eyes wide open and glowing with pure whiteness as they had when she had taken Hex out of the tunnels under the mountain. The bed sheets were wrapped around her body – smeg knows what was going on in that dream of hers because of that. The brown unicorn galloped up towards her, forcing his way through the magical field, until finally he was close enough to touch her. “TWILIGHT!” he screamed. “YOU HAVE TO CALM DOWN!” She couldn’t hear him over her massive amounts of fear. Straining with all his might, Hex pulled himself towards the bed and ripped the sheets away from her, and she seemed to settle a little now that her limbs were free – at least, the fiery glow died down a little – but then she started thrashing around wildly. So instead, Hex pulled himself towards her, grabbed her by the shoulders and pressed his horn to her forehead. Within seconds, he had entered her mind, and by smeg was it a mess. It was like a Jackson Pollock painting had been put in a washing machine on Spin. He searched around until he found what he was looking for: her emotions. She was scared beyond belief, which naturally went without saying, but... Ashamed? Twilight was ashamed? It looked like- it almost looked as if she blamed herself for what happened. She... she blamed herself for getting kidnapped, tortured, brutally beaten and having her magic drained. And worst of all, she blamed herself for being a burden to her friends. Hex could see that she was afraid of opening up about what happened in case they worried about her even more than they already were. She was killing herself in there, for crying out loud! “I’m sorry,” Hex whispered, “but this is going to hurt.” When Twilight woke up, it was to a pounding headache. She thought back to the horrible dream. She had been in the chamber under the mountain, Deluminata standing over her and laughing as her cronies closed in, but then... Then something had happened. “Twilight?” She looked into the eyes of the pony who had suddenly appeared in her room, and she could see that they were filled with horror, sadness, and above all, understanding. He... he knew. She could- she could tell him. “It’s okay,” he said as he embraced her, “you can tell me, it’s okay.” He rubbed the back of her head in a wonderfully comforting fashion, and she placed her hooves around him and drew him close, not wanting to let go. "I..." she said quietly, "I've-I've never felt so lonely in my life. I thought... I really thought that-that I was going to die down there." Hex said nothing. He simply held her closer and softly stroked her sweat soaked indigo mane. "And I thought-" She sniffed and wiped her nose with a hoof. "I thought, what if you didn't find me? What if nopony came for me and I was just abandoned here? Or worse, what if-what if they caught you too?" "It's okay," Hex said quietly to the despairing unicorn. "I promise, they are never going to hurt you again." Twilight sat up straight and looked into her terracotta companion's brilliant green eyes. "You really believe that?" she asked. "Because what if they come back? What if-" "What if my coat were pink polka dots?" Hex asked meaningfully. "Listen to me, Twilight Sparkle, when I tell you that neither Deluminata nor any of her minions are ever going to hurt you ever again." "But if-" "She's gone, Twilight. And if anypony else wanted to hurt you, they couldn't, because..." He trailed off. "Because what?" Hex looked thoughtful, almost nervous for a moment before he spoke in a voice which bore complete conviction and total confidence: "Because I. Won't. Let them." The lavender unicorn saw her reflection in those vivid green orbs, and suddenly it hit her like a ton of bricks. 'He knows,' she thought. 'He knows how I feel about him. The way he's looking at me... there's no doubt about it. I mean, I've read about ponies feeling like this but-but I never thought I would feel this way. 'Does he... Does he feel the same way about me? As I do about him?' 'Does he... love me?' The building tsunami of emotions overtook her mind, and she collapsed, sobbing once more, into Hex's waiting hooves, and he seemed more than willing to receive her. She thought back to the time she and her friends had spent the night in his shop. When she had walked in on him, playing a guitar and creating the sweetest song she had ever heard. "Hex," she said quietly, "could you..." "Yes?" Twilight was quiet for a moment. "You'll think I'm stupid," she said. "Twilight, you have an entire library's worth of knowledge stowed away in that head of yours," said Hex. "You're practically the complete opposite of stupid." Well, it's now or never, Twilight thought to herself. "Could you... sing for me?" Hex stared at her. "I'm sorry," she said quickly, "I know, it was a stupid idea-" "I don't know why you'd think that," said Hex. "You know I would do anything for you." Do anything for you. Twilight rolled the words wistfully around inside her head. There was something about the way he said it... Then he began. "When she was just a girl She expected the world But if flew away from her reach So she ran away in her sleep..." Twilight listened. She recognized the tune: it was the one he had played on his guitar early on in their relationship. When she had first experienced that feeling of trust and security. It felt almost like the song was meant for her. The tune was indescribable in its beauty, and the lyrics entered her mind and seemed to be describing exactly how she felt at that very moment. Dreams of paradise... Less than four minutes later, it was over. Hex breathed out slowly and carefully, so as not to disturb the now peacefully slumbering unicorn who lay in his hooves. He had never seen anything so adorable in his life. 'She knows,' he thought. 'She knows how I feel about her. The way she looked at me... there's no doubt about it. I mean, I've heard about people feeling like this, but I never actually thought I would feel this way.' 'Does she... Does she feel the same way about me? As I do about her?' 'Does she... love me?' He thought back to when he'd first felt this way. The first time he had experienced this feeling of trust and security when she was around. It had been Nightmare Night, hadn't it? When he had admired her costume? No, it was that night they had all spent at his shop... Come to think of it, he couldn't remember when he'd first started feeling this way. It felt almost like he'd loved her from the moment they'd first met. Carefully, so as not to disturb her, he laid her down on the mattress and rested her head upon the pillow. He considered leaving, and going back to his shop via the teleport gate, but he ran the risk of waking her up. And if there was one thing Twilight Sparkle needed right now, it was a companion. Spike was presumably still in the shop, and he wouldn't know how to work the teleport gates (which was why Hex had installed the bleeper thingy in the first place). So instead, the equine scientist gently lay down next to the young mare who was the object of his heart's desire, hooves still wrapped around her torso, and levitated the quilt over them both. But before he did, he planted a small kiss on her forehead, just below her fractured horn. And as he lay down to join her, Hex could have sworn he saw her smile. Ten hours later... This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for. It had taken so long – oh, so long – and now, at last, it was finished. Finally finished! His own GLaDOS! All he had to do know was to press the button and turn it on. Sweet, sweet victory! “Hey Hex!” He almost leapt out of his skin. “Oh my gosh, sorry!” said Twilight. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?” “Yeah,” said Hex, “yeah, I’m fine, you just made me jump. What’re- How did you get up here without-?” Twilight smirked and gave the side of her head a knowing tap. “I’ll never be able to comprehend how incredible you are,” said Hex. “I notice you’re out of the library. What’re you doing here?” “Well, I...” ‘She’s so cute when she’s blushing,’ he thought, ‘and I’m not afraid to think that.’ “I just wanted to thank you,” she said. “What you did last night, I-I don’t think I’ll ever be able to make it up to you. Even if you left poor Spike up here all night. Poor little guy was scared out of his mind when he came back.” “Yeah, sorry about that,” said Hex, “and just so you know, you’re very welcome. It’s just that- well, you know, I just wanna see you happy and, well... um...” ‘He’s so cute when he’s blushing,’ thought Twilight. “Anyway, um, how’re you doing?” the scientist asked. “You’re looking a lot better than you were.” “Again, I have you to thank for that,” said Twilight. “I was afraid that if I told anypony else what had happened, they wouldn’t understand, and I’d just be even more alone than I already was. But I have to know what you did.” “I call it a Mind Sweep,” Hex explained, “because I ‘sweep’ your mind and uncover the problem. I probably shouldn’t have done it though, it was an invasion of privacy and-” “No, it’s okay,” said Twilight. “I mean, I did consider seeing how you felt about me, but like I said, it would be an invasion of your privacy, but-” “Hex, it’s alright,” said Twilight. “You saved me from myself. Again, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to repay you.” He didn’t say anything else on the subject – he merely smiled. “What’re you doing up here?” Twilight asked. “I noticed you finished your GLaDOS... or maybe, I’ve never seen one before, so I can’t really tell.” “Nah, it’s finished,” said Hex. “I was just about to turn it on.” “Oh, can I watch?” asked Twilight ecstatically. “Sure, why not?” The brown unicorn led his purple friend over to a big red button, because it’s always a big red button, reached out, and slammed it into the wall. Instantly, everything flickered into life. Hundreds of tiny lights flickered with newfound illumination, innumerable wires buzzed as electricity ran along them for the first time, culminating in a small camera like box which turned towards the two ponies as if looking at them, like a newborn baby looks up at its mother, wondering what the smeg was going on. “It worked!” said Hex. “I can’t believe it! It worked!” “There’s no need to sound so surprised,” said Twilight. “But-but I never expected it to actually work,” said Hex. “These things never do! I mean-” “What’s the matter, little Haydie? Too much for your itsy bitsy human brain to handle?” The two unicorns turned and stared in horror. “No,” said Hex, “no, it-it can’t be...” “Why not?” asked the GLaDOS in the voice of Deluminata. “I thought you had travelled all over the multiverse, little Haydie. You should know that I, of all people, would be able to come up with a failsafe if I ever met an untimely demise.” It paused, waiting for either Twilight or Hex to answer, but both were stunned speechless at this horrifying new revelation. “I have a riddle for you,” said Deluminata. “What’s dead, and dead, and dead all over?” “YOU!!!” The teleport gate suddenly exploded into life, the suction dialled up to 11, and it pulled the two unicorns through and spat them roughly out the other side. When they looked around, they found themselves on the far side of the Everfree Forest, at the spot where the Combine had tried to break through. “Twilight, are you okay?” asked Hex. “I’m alright,” said Twilight as she picked herself up. “How about you?” “Couple of scratches, but nothing too major. Mostly it’s my pride that’s hurt.” “How?” “I should’ve known that Deluminata couldn’t be just killed, like any ordinary person. She’s the most horrible thing in the multiverse; of course she’d have a backup plan! How could I have been so stupid?!” “Hey, hey!” Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder in the hopes that it would be comforting. “You had no way of knowing that was going to happen, no way at all! We’ll find a way around this, we’ll...” She trailed off. The ground was not supposed to be shaking. Or glowing. Or... ...or cracking. At the spot where the super portal had once stood, a massive fissure was spreading out and consuming the grassy ground. Twilight and Hex both tried to move, but they were paralysed with fear, and found their legs completely unresponsive. Under their hooves, the earth started to crumble and fall away. Twilight managed to get back to safety, but Hex wasn’t so lucky. He tried to follow her, to get to a more solid area of ground, but the elements had conspired against him and he would have fallen into the rapidly growing hole, had he not managed to hang on by his forelegs. He dangled precariously by his elbows over a crackling, electric blue ball of light, which had... things just visible inside it. “Hex!” Twilight galloped over to him and held his forelegs. “Hang on; I’ll try to pull you up!” She concentrated, trying with all her might to summon up her magic once more, but it had been a miracle that she was able to teleport into Hex’s shop, and she knew she had no hope of succeeding in telekinesis. Hex looked over his shoulder, at the terrifying hole of death, and gulped. “I have an idea,” he said, “but you’re not going to like it.” “What is it?” asked Twilight. “Tell me, quickly!” “This is happening because I gave the GLaDOS control over the rift,” he explained. “Right now there is one smegload of power going through it, and if we overload this thing then it’ll shut down.” “There’s a ‘but’,” Twilight said. “There’s going to be a ‘but’ isn’t there?” Hex nodded, his face painted with shame and regret. “At the moment,” he said, “the best way to overload it, would be... would be if a unicorn, even one at the most basic magic level, were thrown into the works.” It took the purple pony less than half a second to work out what he meant. “What?” she said. “But-but- no! No, Hex, you can’t! You just- you can’t!” “If it means you’ll be safe,” said Hex, “then I’d be willing to give myself up. I’d be willing to die if it meant you would live a full life.” “No, you can’t!” Twilight cried, tears leaking involuntarily down her cheeks once more. “If you do this, then I’m going with you!” “Twilight, that’s highly illogical,” Hex pointed out. “Please, just- please, don’t make this any more painful than it is already. I... I’d rather die than see you suffering. And if the Combine takes over Equestria, you will suffer.” “But I’d rather die with you than live without you!” said Twilight. “Hex, I...” “...I love you.” Once again his brilliant green eyes connected with her deep violet ones, this time brimming over with sorrow and lament. “With the Combine,” he said slowly, “there’s one rule: Don’t stop. Don’t think. Just run. I’m gonna have to do this, but I’m doing it for you, Twilight. And I want you to know, before I do, that I’ll be thinking of you, because...” He didn’t finish that sentence. Instead, he pulled himself up until he was level with Twilight, and pressed his lips against hers. She was only too glad to reciprocate the motion as she cradled his face in her hooves with her eyes softly closed, their muzzles dancing in perfect synchronicity as they finally expressed the feelings that both of them had kept repressed for far longer than either of them had wanted, both knowing that this would be the last moment they would ever have together, and both wanting to make it as special as possible... ...and then, all too soon, it was over. Twilight opened her eyes, and found herself facing thin air. She couldn’t bring herself to look over the edge, but knew that she would never see that incredible brown unicorn again. “No...” she whispered, and descended into helpless, heartbroken sobs. Overhead, clouds swirled in the sky and crackled with thunder, before a single lightning bolt lanced down with a deafening CRASH and struck the massive hole at its core. The clouds surrounding it started to glow and pulsate with vivid blue light as more lightning branched off like a gigantic, terrifying tree of pure, concentrated electricity. Twilight’s despair was temporarily overridden with fear, and she leapt to her hooves and galloped away into the Everfree Forest. It hadn’t worked. “Haydon Baxter, in the flesh, or should I say, in the fur.” Hex opened his eyes. He was being... pulled away? And in front of him was a pony – a strange stallion, white in his coat and black in his mane and tail, with aqua coloured eyes which almost seemed to glow, and a formal looking pinstripe suit with a red tie. No cutie mark, which was creepy. It was... the G-Man? No, he was a pony now, so G-Stallion? G-Colt? “I have taken the liberty of relieving you of your magical powers for the time being. It was never really yours to claim. As for the new physical structure, I think you’ve earned it.” G-Colt seemed to work. “The world of Equestria is under the Combine’s control for the time being, thanks to you. Quite a nasty piece of work you managed back there; I am impressed.” The scientist tried to respond, to tell him that he had to go back – it was the only way to save Twilight – but he couldn’t move. He couldn’t even open his mouth. “That is why I am here, Mr Baxter. I have recommended your services to my... employers, and they have authorized me to offer you a job. They agree with me that you have limitless potential.” ‘I remember this,’ thought Hex. ‘He’s going to give me a choice.’ “You’ve proved yourself a decisive young man, so I don’t expect you’ll have any trouble deciding what to do.” ‘What did I say?’ “If you’re interested, just step into the portal and I will take that as a yes. Otherwise, well, I can offer you a battle you have no chance of winning... rather an anticlimax after what has just come to pass. Time to choose.” True to his word, a portal opened behind him and he stepped through and vanished. Hex sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Twilight,’ he thought, and followed in the G-Colt’s wake. “Wisely done, Mr Baxter. I will see you up ahead.” Dear Princess Celestia, It is with great sorrow that I must inform you of my knowledge of Equestria’s current situation. Our fair country has been invaded by a ruthless alien race known as the Combine. I know this because... because I know whose fault it was. His name was Hex, and he was the most incredible young stallion I will ever know. Over the course of several months, I have grown to develop feelings for him – feelings which I never thought existed outside Rarity’s romance novels. I loved him. I loved him with all my heart. Hex has taught me that you should always make the most of what you have at the time you have it, because you never know when a good thing is going to come to an end. Especially when that good thing is the best thing you have ever experienced. He sacrificed his life so that we might continue ours, but unforeseen circumstances have led me to believe his attempt to prevent the Combine’s invasion has failed. I don’t know what they are going to do to Equestria, but judging by what I have seen of them, it is unquestionably not going to be pleasant. My recommendation is that a warning be issued to the public, although as I stated before, I have no idea what the Combine will do. My only hope is that this letter reaches you before they do. As always, I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.