Chapter 27 When Something's All Worth Fighting For, Some Feelings Never Die
"It's over here you guys!" Pinkie cried out.
Around a large area of the canyon, the girls came together from looking for the missile that Pinkie Pie had just found after two hours of searching. They surrounded the rocket and Twilight dug through the exposed insides. The temperature was much colder than before and the sun was soon going to set. They were only a few miles from Nydeabaen as the icy mountains were visible in the distance. Fluttershy flew around her nervously, "Twilight? Are you sure you know what your doing?"
Twilight nodded confidently, "Don't worry Fluttershy, we got all the time in the world to check this thing out. I'm not making any risky moves without knowing of what I'm doing first."
Rarity flicked her mane in the wind and began to shiver, "But it's going to be dark soon and it's really cold. Can't we come back tomorrow?"
"Rarity, it's full day walk if we try tomorrow. It's already going to take us most of the night to walk home. We might as well figure it out now." Twilight told her.
Applejack stepped in, "I don't know Twi. What if we tried takin it apart and took the bomb part of it with us. That way we can get on home and try to shut this here thingy off at the same time."
Twilight took the idea in while she continued to examine the innards of the missile. But after another couple minutes of frustration, she stepped away from it and scratched the back of her head, "Well it does look a little complicated. I mean it'll take me an hour to dismantle it...Alright, somepony gonna help me unscrew the top of this thing? I forgot my bag in the cave."
Rarity politely moved her aside and used her knowledge in tailoring to concentrate her magic on the small screws that kept the top base intact, "Allow me. Years of dress making have given me an edge in dealing with small details...I'll have this thing off momentarily."
"Thanks Rarity. How's your leg holding up AJ?" Twilight asked with curiosity.
Applejack circulated her leg around and smiled back, "I'm tryin to keep pressure off of it. It's definitely a sprain. A few days off this here leg and I'll be back in full health." Then she sighed as her ears buckled, "I don't the slightest clue on how were gonna rebuild the farm...I mean we got the orchard to replant, a new supply of livestock to order and a brand new Apple Cellar and a barn that'll need put'n up. I only got two front hooves."
"Don't Applejack, we'll help you." Pinkie bounced gleefully.
Rainbow Dash agreed, "Yeah, don't worry about it. We'll have a Sweet Apple Acres up in no time at all."
"Well I was thinkin of callin it somethin else." AJ cut in.
"Really? What're going to name it?" Asked Fluttershy eagerly.
Applejack pondered for a moment and brought her head up with an answer, "I want to name it...Macintosh Ranch or something like that."
Instantly there was a moment of silence. They thought about the ponies they knew, that were victimized by Nova's regime. Berry Punch, The Mayor, their team of freedom fighters, and of course Big Macintosh and Princess Celestia. A few minutes passed and Rarity notified the group that she had the bomb detached, and soon after they carried it off. Laughing and singing as they once did. But on the inside, their innocence was gone, and it was time to go home.
-----
Eight hours later, Twilight and the girls were nearly back in Ponyville after a long trot from the middle of Suffolk Valley and back on the long trail towards Equestria. It was around 3am and the moon was shining bright, illuminating the road once again as it did before. Three of them at a time carried the active bomb. They took half hour shifts and were extremely exhausted when they seen the lights of Ponyville just beyond. This time the lights were not as dim. They were lively bright, as they were a few weeks ago and before the madness of Nova Sparks had begun. That's when Twilight and the girls knew, it was finally over. The dogs, the brainwashed ponies, manarite and the dictatorship were no longer an issue and everything could go back to normal.
They walked into the silent streets of Ponyville and noticed everything was back in place. All the Nova Sparks propaganda had been removed and no dogs roamed the streets. After the longest few weeks of their lives, they approached the library and stopped at the door. Twilight Sparkle looked around and couldn't be happier. The reminiscence of home, and no more thoughts of danger. Her friends too, gazed around their surroundings, feeling safe and at ease. At last she unlocked the door and smiled, "Come on everypony...Let's get some rest."
Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie entered first, carrying in bomb then laying it next to the door. Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash soon followed, shutting the door behind them. Twi placed her hoof over a light switch and flicked it on.
"SURPRISE!"
All six of them nearly jumped out of their skin of shock when the room brightened. Standing around the library were Aspen, Granny Smith, Applebloom, Dr. Whooves, and another few of Aspen's comrades. Even Trixie and the Wonderbolts showed up. The girls were astonished and Applejack never hesitated to embrace her sister and grandmother. Rainbow Dash flew around, high-hooving the dogs and Wonderbolts, while Twilight Sparkle met with Dr. Whooves for the first time since their last encounter on the road, outside of Sweet Apple Acres, "I knew you'd be back Twilight. I knew you had it in you."
She smiled kindly, "Thank you Doctor...What happened while we were gone?"
Whooves sat down and explained with his hoof on his forehead, "It was bad, I'll tell you that. It got to the point where we were scanned every time we left our house. Not to mention we were banned from leaving the town. Unfortunately...around thirty ponies were executed because they either disobeyed the law, shot trying to escape town, or caught promoting anti-Nova propaganda. It was a dark time. But thanks to Aspen, we were liberated and now we're free to come and go as we please and live the way we want...What a month."
Twilight placed her hoof on his shoulder and smiled down, "It's all over Doctor. We can rest easy now, Nova's gone."
Meanwhile, the Apples remained with each other, and never said a word. Their tears and cheerful smiles were enough to know that they missed one another. Then AJ thought of Big Macintosh and figured she had to break the news sometime. She wiped away her tears and decided to get it over with, "I uhhh, got somethin I gotta tell ya'll."
Granny Smith knew and put her head down and hoof on Applebloom's shoulder, "We know my dear...That blue mare over there told us...We will miss him Applejack. He knows we'll miss him."
Applejack felt the water collect into her eyes and collapsed once again, "...Oh Granny."
She fell into her Grandmother's hooves and burst into sorrow. The first real cry for Big Macintosh who with many others, to be honored for their valiant efforts against the Nova regime. The Apples felt close. Closer than they ever will be, they were reunited and they felt that their worries were over.
In the meantime, Twilight Sparkle turned away from Dr. Whooves as she was tapped on the shoulders by a familiar mare, "Hello Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight smiled back and held her hoof out, "...Trixie. I'm glad you came back."
They shook hooves and Trixie actually had a friendly atmosphere about her, "I am too Twilight, I am too. I've decided to get back into magic shows. I just wanted to tell you one thing before I left."
"Where are you going?" She asked curiously.
"...I'm not sure...Maybe Las Pegasus. But I'm gonna go out there and do what I do best, and that's put on a show." She replied energetically.
Twilight laughed, "That's great! What did you need to tell me?"
She looked at Twilight with a blessed smile and shook her hoof again, "I just wanted to say...Thank you for what you did for me back there. I just want to apologize for everything that happened between us. Even what happened a couple years ago...If it's not too much trouble, could you show a couple pointers?"
Twilight was surprised and teased her, "What? The Great and Powerful Trixie asking a simple pony like ME for pointers?"
Trixie laughed along, "Yes yes I deserved that one. What do you say...friend?"
Then with a gratified smile, Twilight hugged her which came to Trixie as a surprise, but accepted her compassion, "Sure thing...friend."
Over in the corner with every other pony distracted with each other, Rarity and Spike held hooves and claws with one another by a window and stared up at the moonlit sky, "Spike, I'll never forget how you rescued me..."
The small yet romantic dragon shook his head, "Rarity I already told you, you were the one that pushed that guard off to save my life."
She laughed charmingly, "I wasn't talking about that incident Spiky Wikey...I want to thank you for...loving me, and caring for me all this time. Nopony has ever said those kind of words to me when we were in those retched cells. But even though it was still a dirty cave, I felt safe with you."
Spike looked into her sparkling sapphire eyes that shined like the moon itself then leaned in to kiss her. She too leaned in but suddenly Spike halted for a moment, "What's the matter Spike?"
"Wait..." He told her, searching between his scales.
He scanned over his body then beneath one of his scales was a diamond necklace, and he wrapped it around Rarity's neck and held it up to her eyes. She was wowed and was beginning to tear up, "Oh Spike...Where did you get this?"
"Got it off Bradshaw when he dropped it a while back." He smiled joyfully.
He cradled it in his claws a little longer until leaned in and surprised Rarity with a kiss, then pulled away once more, "Like our love, this diamond will never fail because like this diamond, our love is forever..."
Not being able to hold back her emotions any longer, Rarity began to cry happily and leaned back in to kiss him, "Oooh Spike..."
Everypony in the room finally felt at ease. Harmony was restored to Equestria, Sparks' laws were abolished, the manarite mine was sealed off (perhaps permanently), and Nova Sparks was ultimately defeat once and for all. The only task left was to decommission the bomb that lay dormant. But that was job for another day as Twilight, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash could finally put their hooves to rest until sunrise and get a well needed sleep...or could they?
Among the small party, there was a sudden, very loud, and familiar noise that not only shook the library, but the town as well. Everypony looked around confused and startled, "What the hay was that?" Rainbow hollered.
Then there was a dead silence among the room before the incredibly loud trumpet-like sounds blasted again. The sound then followed with a nervous chill in everypony's body. Twilight turned directly at Applejack with a frightened tone, "You don't think..."
"Naw...It couldn't be." Applejack answered uneasily.
"...It is." Trixie corrected anxiously and worried.
Everypony galloped outside worried to death to hope Trixie was wrong (even herself), but she was not. Roaring in the sky, approaching Ponyville was undeniably the massive Supernova Airship, which expressed severe damage from the previous explosion at the mine. Rainbow Dash freaked out, "How did he survive?! He couldn't have possibly survived the blast we gave him."
"Somethin ain't right here." Applejack shivered.
"You don't say?" Dash mocked angrily.
"How long do we got until it gets here?" Fluttershy timidly asked, shivering behind Twilight.
"About half and hour at the most." She regretfully answered.
Rarity clenched on to Spike in fear, "Oh What are we going to do?"
Meanwhile Pinkie Pie felt her tail begin to twitch, "...Uh oh..."
"What's wrong Pinkie?" Asked Applejack.
She sat down and tried to explain while she forced her tail down, "I think it's my Pinkie Senses acting up. My tails-a-twitchin...That means something is going to fall!"
She ran around screaming, provoking Fluttershy and Rarity to worry as well. Along with the noise, the lights of houses began to flick on and Twilight realized this was going to most definitely cause a panic. Annoyed with her friend's screaming, she turned to Aspen and the Wonderbolts, "Could you guys get them to stop please? I can't concentrate."
"No problem." Spitfire assured.
"Twilight do you think it'll really fall?" Applebloom looked up at her with fearful eyes.
Applejack grasped on to her, as well as her grandmother, "Now don't you go thinkin stuff like that. Twilight'll figure this here problem."
Then she and Twilight stared at each other. AJ noticed the look on her face. It was seen before, that same expression when they were riding to Canterlot in Buckingham's coach. It made her nervous and she thought, "You'll figure this out Twi...right?"
Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy were soon compromised and Twilight could think at last, but she was drawing blanks. She didn't have a clue on how they were going to stop the ship. But a few feet next to her, staring death in the face, was Rainbow Dash. She thought about it, and thought about it some more, then looked back at the bomb that lay inside the library...Dash gazed up at Supernova once more, and in her eyes, she seen that humongous, and doomed airship begin to change angle and it went from a view, to a kill. It was going to crash.
-----
Meanwhile in the control room of the large ship as it fell from the sky, parts falling like fiery rain, a once prideful Nova Sparks sat pondering in the captain's chair while his real captain, Khan Quest navigated the ship, there wasn't much time left. Sparks wiped the sweat and blood from his forehead. The control room was shrouded in smoke and fire. There was just barely enough visibility to see out the cracked windows. He knew he wasn't going to win this war, but sure damn knew he wasn't going to lose. The blast from the Supernova would incinerate all of Ponyville and collapse all of Canterlot City, killing many thousands of ponies with it. No, he didn't plan on losing. He planned on a draw, on his terms. The devious, disdainful grin arose again as he neared Ponyville. He thought about all the years of work he put into this plan, the years with the Diamond Dogs, developing his technology, recruiting his militia...the waiting game. All this, just to be thwarted by just a trio of mares. Three...Out of the millions of ponies in Equestria. He wasn't going away quietly. The ship was well big enough to destroy everything around it. Rebellion, revolution, all the words that his cutie mark represented meant nothing anymore, except revenge...and revelation. He had lost his army thus he had lost his power factor. The thought about Ponyville and Canterlot drowning in the sea of an inferno, made Nova smile one more time, "Congratulations Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, you've succeeded in your intentions. You've destroyed my mine, turned most of my army against me, crashed my empire, killed off the remainder of my loyal militia, but...Can you stop the impending calamity that will perpetuate Ponyville's cease of existence? I'm going to blast these cities off the face of the earth. Mr. Quest?"
"Yes your excellence?" Khan replied.
"Have the escape vessel ready." Nova demanded, "Then after you have that done, go up to my office and retrieve all of my documents from my desk."
Quest put the ship on auto-pilot and trotted off, "Of course Mr. Sparks, right away."
Then Sparks held up his hoof, "Oh and one more thing...Since Comet and Bradshaw Buckingham are now...deceased. You are now the No. 2 of my organization."
Khan Quest smiled down on him and shook his hoof, "Thank you very much sir. I won't let you down."
He smiled briefly and nodded, "Yes yes, now go. We haven't got much time."
Finally Quest galloped off throughout the ship and Nova stood up then approached the wheel. He switched off the auto-pilot and took control himself. He looked at a clock, then down at Ponyville only minutes away. His horn was shattered and all that was left was the cracked remains of the base, and his mane was partly scorched. His suit was dusty and torn, and his glasses were slightly cracked. He looked at his fuel gauge and noticed it was running low. He guessed a possible fuel leak then blasted the ominous horn once more. He determined, that it was finally time.
-----
"Rainbow Dash, what are you doing?" Hollered the perplexed Twilight.
Without an answer the girls seen her drag the meteor bomb out then raided into Applejack's saddlebag, "Now what in tarnation are ya doin Rainbow?"
"Just give me a sec." She murmured from inside the bag.
Everypony watched her as she retrived AJ's rope and tied one end of it to the explosive, then fastened the other end around her body. Twilight looked at her very strangely then up at the approaching ship, then realized what she was trying to accomplish and shook her head hastily, "Wait...Your not seriously thinking of doing what I think your doing are you?!"
Then Dash stopped, and looked up at her friend with a concerned frown. She trotted up to Twilight, and embraced her, "I'm going to try set it off and escape at the same time, I know there must be way, and it's really our only option...and you know that..."
"Were goin with ya!" shouted the bold Applejack.
Dash shook her head slowly and explained, "You can't...I need you guys, Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot, and those dogs to evacuate Ponyville immediately. Get everypony to take refuge in the Everfree Forest. There should be some nearby caves that can protect you guys. Make sure everypony is in the deepest part of those caves. Like you said, we only got about half an hour so let's get to it. Plus I gotta carry this bomb up there and you guys know Fluttershy can't carry all of you. I promise I'll stop Nova. Trust me on this guys..."
Everypony stared at her nervously, but then Twilight Sparkle smiled at her with respect and pride, "Your right Rainbow, and we do trust you...We know you'll try your best...Good luck Rainbow Dash, Equestria is in your hooves now."
Dash smiled back and embraced her, "You were always like a sister to me, Twilight. Not only you, but Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Spike as a brother too."
Then she turned around to each of her friends and trickled a tear with a caring smile, "I just want to let you guys know...If I don't come back, I love you girls."
Immediately they all broke down and crowded around each other, trying to make the moment last as long as they could. But they knew time was not an expendable factor, and Rainbow Dash forced herself to break from the pack. Before she flew off, Rainbow looked around at everypony that gave her their own strengths. She felt Twilight's intellect, Applejack's determination, Pinkie's aura of happiness, Fluttershy's innocence, Rarity's consideration, and Spike's everlasting hope...These aspects of courage pushed her ahead and she waved good-bye.
"Go get em RD!" Spike shouted proudly.
"Be safe Rainbow..." Fluttershy smiled.
"...Good luck my dear friend." Rarity cried with sorrow and admiration.
"Yeah make him pay once and for all!" Pinkie asserted passionately.
Then Aspen, Trixie and her fellow Wonderbolts showed up to see her off, and she shook hooves with both of them, "Thanks, you guys."
"Your going to do fine." Aspen encouraged.
The Great and Powerful one agreed, "Surely you can win...He's powerless without an army."
Then together, Spitfire, Fleetfoot and Soarin padded her on the back. Spitfire laughed, "Hey when you get back, we'll have your uniform ready."
Finally, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack said their farewells, and waved for good luck. Applejack acknowledged her, "We've been through a lot but boy howdy! Nopony has shown more spunk than you Rainbow Dash, and I jus know yer gonna bring it to that guy."
Twilight nodded confidently, "Yeah, and remember. This isn't for us, not for the Princess, but for everypony...For Equestria!"
"For Equestria!" Rainbow repeated loudly with her hoof up high.
Then at last she faced the Supernova's direction and looked up, and flapped her wings to start. One more time, she looked back and winked to her friends. It was time for her to come face to face with the stallion that once tore the world away from everypony and was trying to do it again. Her wing speed accelerated and she soon lifted off the ground. At first she had difficulty flying due to the dense and complicated warhead, but after a little more effort, she managed to get it airborne. Dash contemplated to peek back one last time, but forced herself not to. All she wanted on her mind was Nova and she remembered how anxiously she wanted to get her hooves on him. Now she had that chance. She flew onward, approaching the eerie ship. Then as Rainbow heard the commotion begin to arise behind her, she thought to herself, "I don't know how you survived after that blast you took, but this is one Pegasus...you should not have messed with."
[...To be concluded]