Chapter 26: Forgiveness And Rescue
“Okay, so this goes here like this, and this should be there….got it! Okay, that should fix it.” Twilight said after working hard to repair the portal. She had been working tirelessly to fix it so she could go after Dawn.
“Twilight, don’t you think we should’ve told the princesses and king and queen about this?” Spike asked.
Twilight looked to Spike in worry. “Are you kidding? They might never forgive me if they hear Dawn went to another world and something bad happened to him! I don’t feel right about keeping secrets from them, but if anything bad has happened, then I’ll take full responsibility for it and face the consequences.” Twilight stated. “I just hope nothing bad has happened.” She looked over the portal and all the connections before nodding and smiling in satisfaction. “All right, looks like everything is okay.”
“Um, Twilight, the book is glowing and vibrating.” Spike pointed at the book that sat atop the portal which was the key for the portal to work.
“What?” Twilight looked up to the book and quirked a brow in curiosity. “It must be Sunset Shimmer, maybe she and the others found Dawn.” She quickly used her magic to bring the book down to her and looked inside to begin reading the message. “Dear princess Twilight Sparkle. Me and the others found Dawn Light in front of Canterlot High. Don’t worry, he’s perfectly fine and safe. He was really shocked when he found himself turned human but he’s okay otherwise. We’ll be staying at Applejacks tonight and will write to you often to tell you where Dawn will be so you can find him.” Twilight sighed in relief. “Whew, that’s good.”
She continued. “We’ll be taking care of him and showing him around for a while until you can come get him. Also, we met up with the sirens and Dawn is offering to give them a second chance. He convinced all of us to and said they would be able to come back to Equestria if they want.” This caused Twilight to pause. “WHAT?! Come back to Equestria?!”
Spike was also shocked and surprised at this. “Those three, after what they did?”
“Hold on, there’s more coming in.” Twilight said and continued to read. “Hey there cousin, it’s me Dawn. No need to worry, I’m fine. Also, I promised the dazzlings a second chance, much like how Luna got one as well as Discord. They deserve it. You should have seen how they looked when I first saw them, it was sad. Hope to see you again soon. You’re cousin Dawn.” Twilight paused again.
“Well Twilight, what are we going to do?” Spike asked. “Should we let them come back?”
“I…think we should tell Celestia and Luna about this.” Twilight said. She began writing a message back. “Dawn Light, I will be coming to get you soon. I’m glad to hear you’re safe. Please be careful and stay close to the girls. As for the dazzlings, I may have to consult with your sisters on the matter. Once I hear back from them, I will come and bring you home. Take care Dawn, you cousin, Twilight.” Twilight then gave a sigh and looked to Spike. “Spike, take a letter please.”
“You got it.” Spike quickly retrieved a piece of paper and quill ready to take a letter.
Back in the Human world, Dawn Light, Sunset Shimmer and the girls, along with the Dazzlings, had gathered at Applejack’s home as it was the only place that had enough room for them all. “Well, she knows now.” Sunset Shimmer said after getting Twilight’s message back.
“That book sure is amazing.” Dawn commented. “And Applejack, I have to say I think your place is great. It’s almost just like Applejack’s back in Equestria only with all these modern techno thingies.”
Applejack chuckled. “Glad ya like it partner.”
“So what’s that thing called again?” Dawn asked as he pointed at a large television.
“It’s called a television, or T.V. for short.” Rainbow explained. “You can watch all kinds of funny shows on it or play video games?” The Television was situated at the center of a large entertainment center with CD player, DVD player, surround sound speakers, and a collection of DVD’s, music CD’s and video games.
Dawn tilted his head in confusion. “Video games? What’s that?”
“Oh, they’re super fun, you should try them out.” Pinkie Pie said.
“Just so happens I have quit a bit ta choose from.” Applejack said. “You three want to try?” She asked the dazzlings.
Aria pointed at herself. “Me? Um…no thanks. I’ll pass.”
“Yeah, games aren’t really my thing.” Adagio said in a bored tone.
“I want to play.” Sonata said cheerfully. “What kind of games do you have?”
“What about you Shimmer?” Rainbow asked. “You wanna play too?”
“I’m not really into them myself.” Sunset said.
Applejack started scanning through her collection located to the right of the T.V. until she found one that would be good for four players. It was a co-op RPG game. “How bout this one?”
“Sweet, put it in.” Rainbow Dash said.
“All my time here and I never played a video game before.” Sonata pointed out. “So how do you play?”
“Don’t worry, we’ll help ya both learn how ta play as we go along.” Applejack said.
“Yeah, me and AJ are pros at this one.” Rainbow said.
“I’ve played that one myself a lot, it’s super fun.” Pinkie said.
Rarity and Fluttershy simply watched as the four got ready to play and tried to strike up a conversation with the other two sirens. “So…Aria…I must say, despite all the bad things that happened between us, I must say I did admire your fashion choices. You three really looked marvelous now that I think about it.” Rarity said.
“Um, thanks I guess.” Aria said.
“I do have an eye for fashion after all.” Adagio said proudly. “I had to pick something that would make me look good as a performer.”
“Oh, I…think you three looked good too.” Fluttershy said meekly.
“So how does this work anyway?” Dawn asked as the game started up. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Dawn, and Sonata were going to be playing.
“Relax kid, we’ll get to that once the game gets started.” Rainbow said. “This game is known as an RPG game. Short for role playing game. Meaning you can create and customize a character and go on a big quest to either save someone, or save the world and stop some super evil powerful dude. You can choose to be a warrior, a rogue, a mage, an archer, or a mix of others.”
Applejack began explaining the different types and what they can do and focus on. “I like the warrior type myself.”
“I like the rogue.” Rainbow said.
“Sounds cool, I think I’ll go with a mage then, some of those spells sound awesome.” Dawn said.
“Guess I’ll be a cleric then.” Sonata said. “I can still attack but sounds like the focus is on healing.”
Once the game started, the two newbies were mesmerized by the graphics and the animation that was the intro to the game. Once they had their characters created and the game began, so did the coaching. After a while of getting a hang of the controls and gameplay, Dawn and Sonata really started to enjoy the game.
As Shimmer, Rarity, and Fluttershy tried talking with Aria and Adagio, they were actually starting to get along. “So you three actually used to live out in the ocean?” Shimmer asked.
“Yeah, we used our voices on sailors before we decided to come to Equestria and do what we did that got us banished here.” Aria said.
“But why did you do that?” Rarity asked. “I mean, what exactly were you trying to do when you were causing so much trouble so long ago?”
“We were power hungry.” Adagio said. “We liked the feeling of controlling others with our songs and wanted more. I guess you could say we got greedy.”
“So greedy we found our way to Equestria and started using our powers on the ponies there.” Aria continued. “We were able to control more and more ponies and grow stronger and stronger, making them argue with each other. But then some unicorn banished us to this realm.”
Despite being fascinated with the video game Dawn was playing, he still overheard the story. “I’m sorry to hear that, it must have been hard for you to come to a strange new world you’ve never been to, find yourself as a whole new species and your powers limited.”
“It pretty much was, yeah.” Sonata said. “But we managed to get by.”
After a while of playing and talking, there was a knock at the door. “I’ll get it.” Applejack said as she paused the game. Upon opening the door, Applejack smiled first and waved the individual in quietly. “Hey Dawn, there’s someone here ta see ya.”
“There is, who?” Dawn questioned curiously. He looked to where Applejack was standing and smiled brightly. He quickly got up and dashed to the individual in a big hug. “Twilight, Spike, you came!” He cheered.
Twilight happily hugged back. “Of course I did Dawn. You didn’t think I’d leave my favorite cousin all alone did you?”
“Yeah, besides, it was a good excuse to see our human friends again.” Spike said.
“Hello Twilight, so good to see you again.” Rarity said as she and the others got up to greet her except for the dazzlings. They sat where they were.
“TWILIGHT!” Pinkie cheered and leapt at Twilight and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. “Oh my gosh, it’s so great to see you again. It’s been so long since the last time we saw you.”
Twilight giggled. “It’s good to see you all too.”
Fluttershy kneeled down and greeted Spike with a scratch behind the ears. “Hey there Spike, you’re looking cute as ever.”
Even though he was a dragon and didn’t like being called cute, his canine instincts gave in to the scratch and gave a whimper of approval.
“So Dawn, I trust everyone has been treating you well?” Twilight questioned.
“Of course Twilight, everypony….um…one…has been real nice and been looking out for me. All we really did was play this cool thing called a video game for a while once we got here.” Dawn said.
“And what about the sirens?” Spike questioned.
“Believe it or not, they’ve actually been pretty good.” Rainbow said. “Not really a sign of any trouble from them.”
Twilight looked past her friends to see the three standing up together. She walked past her friends up to the dazzlings with a straight face. “So, I understand that Dawn may have helped you figure that you want to come back to Equestria but you won’t cause any more problems?”
“How can we when you and your friends destroyed our source of control?” Aria questioned.
“I’ll admit it’s not the most ideal thing, but it beats being here I guess.” Adagio said.
Sonata seemed to be the only one of the three to show some joy about it. “We’re sorry for what we did and we would like a….what was it Dawn called it, a second chance?” She looked to her sisters for confirmation. All she got in return was a shrug. That was good enough for her and she smiled. “Yeah, a second chance. So….what do you say?”
Twilight kept her straight face for a while before smiling. “All right, you three can come back to Equestria. I asked princess Celestia and Luna if it was all right first and they said it was Okay because Dawn thinks you three deserve a second chance.”
Sonata smiled wider while the other two seemed rather surprised by this. “Um, thank you.” Aria said.
Before the conversation went further, three familiar little girls ran into the living room and saw everyone gathered around. They first noticed Twilight and Spike and smiled as they ran up to them. “Twilight, Spike, yer back.” Apple Bloom said.
“Hey you two, what’s up?” Scootaloo asked.
“It’s good to see you two again.” Sweetie Belle greeted.
“Hello girls, good to see you three as well.” Twilight greeted.
“What brings ya by here?” Apple Bloom asked.
“We came by to get him.” Spike pointed at Dawn.
Dawn stared for a while at the three young preteens before him. “Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo?”
“That’s us, who are you? And how do you know our names?” Sweetie Belle asked.
Twilight informed them as she kneeled down. “His name is Dawn Light, he’s from the same world as us and is our cousin.”
“You mean that world full of ponies and such that has like pony versions of us?” Scootaloo questioned.
“Yep, that’s right.” Spike answered. “And Dawn is friends with your pony selves back home.”
“Oh, well I guess that makes sense then.” Apple Bloom said. “Howdy Dawn, pleasure ta meet ya.” Apple Bloom approached Dawn and held out her hand for a shake.
“Oh, um, hello.” Dawn greeted in a bit of confusion. The shock of seeing his friends in human form seemed to rattle him a bit. “Sorry, still getting used to this whole alternate dimension thing.” He took Apple Bloom’s hand and shook.
Scootaloo waved a hand dismissively. “No worries dude, it’s cool.”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Sweetie Belle added.
“Hey, ya’ll wanna come up ta ma room so we can talk? I want ta ask ya a bit more bout this world ya’ll come from?” Apple Bloom said.
“Um…okay, sure.” Dawn said with a growing smile.
“Great, let’s go.” Scootaloo grabbed Dawn by the hand and started dragging him away with the other two girls close behind.
Twilight couldn’t help but chuckle at this, along with the rest of the group, save for the former sirens. Twilight turned her attention back to the three. “So, while Dawn is busy re-making friends, how about we have a little talk to get to know each other better.”
“Okay.” Sonata chirped.
“I guess so.” Aria responded.
Adagio remained silent with a straight face.
There was an awkward silence. “Okay then, well, let’s just…have a seat then shall we.” Twilight said. The group gathered around and started talking while Dawn was busy with the human CMC who he found really were just human versions of his friends back home. They were just as desperate to find what they were good at like the other fillies back home. They also introduced him to a few things their world had to offer like some music he had never heard before.
Dawn really enjoyed it and the many other things he was learning while telling his new human friends about his world and his filly friend. He still blushed at the mention of her though. As time went on, Twilight and Spike decided it would be all right for them to stay the night and they would take Dawn home tomorrow, along with the former sirens.
Twilight came to the room the four new friends were in and knocked on the open door. “Hey Dawn, me and the girls were talking and thought you might like to hear one of the songs we played before while we were in the band.”
Dawn smiled at the idea. “That sounds great! I’d love to.”
“Cool, I love hearing you guys play.” Scootaloo cheered.
The group headed for the garage and the seven friends gathered their instruments. The three dazzlings found some chairs for themselves while Dawn and the three preteens took a seat on the floor in front of the girls. “All right girls, let’s give him a show.” Rainbow cheered and started up a song. The one they chose was titled shake your tail. A bit into the song, the girls all sprouted pony ears and got pony tails while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy sprouted wings.
We've just got a day, to get ready
And there's only so much time to loose
Because tonight, yeah were here to party
So let's think of something fun to do
We dont know (we dont know)
What's gonna happen
We just know (just know)
It's gonna be alright
All our friends are here
And it's time to ignite the lights
Shake your tail cause were here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail,
Shake your tail cause were here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail, shake your tail
Twilight: So what'cha did you get ir right in the first time
Pinkie Pie: Laugh it off no one said it is a crime
Rarity: Do your thing,you know your a original
Applejack: Your ideas are so funny that their criminal
We've just got a day,to get ready
And there's only so much time to loose
Because tonight, yeah were here to party
So let's think of something fun to do
We dont know(we dont know)
What's gonna happen
We just know(just know)
It's gonna be alright
All our friends are here
And it's time to ignite the lights
Shake your tail cause were here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail,shake your tail,
Shake your tail cause were here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail,shake your tail
Shake your tail cause were here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail,shake your tail,
Shake your tail cause were here to have a party tonight
Shake your tail,shake your tail
Shake your tail cause were here to have a party tonight!!!
Dawn cheered loudly and clapped. “WOO! Way to go girls! That was great.”
Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle cheered along. “That was so sweet.” Scootaloo said.
“I’ll say, you all are great.” Apple Bloom added.
“Thank you dears, we’re glad you liked it.” Rarity said with a smile.
“So Dawn, what do you think?” Twilight asked.
“I think you all are great.” Dawn cheered with a jump. “You all make an awesome band.” He then turned to the three former sirens. “What about you three? Could you do a song too? I’d like to hear how you sing.”
“You want to hear us sing?” Adagio asked.
Dawn gave a smile. “Yeah, of course I do. Twilight did say that despite what you were doing, she did think you have great talent. Please.”
Adagio smiled with the other two. “All right, if you insist.” Twilight and her friends moved away from the instruments and let the Dazzlings take the stage. “If you thought they were good, wait till you hear us.”
Adagio: We heard you want to get together
We heard you want to rock this school
We thought of something that is better
Something that changes all the rules
Why pretend we're all the same
When some of us shine brighter?
Aria and Sonata: Shine brighter
Adagio: Here's a chance to find your flame
Are you a loser or a fighter?
The Dazzlings: Me and you, you and me
Why don't we see who is better?
We don't have to be one and the same thing
Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?
Are you afraid of failing the audition?
Adagio: You're a star and you should know it
Yeah, you rise above the rest
It doesn't matter who you hurt
If you're just proving you're the best
The Dazzlings: Ah, ahh-ahh-ahhh
Battle! You wanna win it
Let's have a battle, battle of the bands
Let's have a battle, we'll go all in it
Let's have a battle, battle, battle
Battle of the bands
Battle!
Battle!
Battle!
Battle!
Me and you, you and me
Why don't we see who is better?
We don't have to be one and the same thing
Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition?
I'm going out and winning the audition
Battle! We wanna win it
Let's have a battle, battle of the bands
Let's have a battle, we'll go all in it
Let's have a battle, battle, battle
Battle of the bands!
The girls all clapped in approval as Dawn cheered out again. “Wow, you three are good, that was pretty great.”
“Why thank you.” Adagio said as she bowed.
“I gotta say, it kind of feels good to get a real applause instead of using magic to make others like us.” Sonata said.
“It…does have a certain appeal I guess.” Aria added.
“You three are amazing too.” Dawn said.
“They were pretty good.” Sweetie Belle admitted.
Applejack interupted. “All right ya’ll, it’s getting late. I think we should all start getting ready fer bed here.”
“Awe!” Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo whined.
“Guess we gotta go then.” Scootaloo said.
“We’ll see you later Apple Bloom. Bye girls.” Sweetie said with a wave as she and Scootaloo headed home.
Bye girls, it was nice meeting you.” Dawn waved back to the two.
Twilight came up to Dawn and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Come on Dawn, let’s start getting ready.”
Dawn smiled up at Twilight. “Okay, I am kind of tired. I really had a good time today.”
“We’re glad to hear it partner. We had fun with ya too.” Applejack said.
“But tomorrow, we’ll have to leave and go home.” Twilight pointed out.
“I understand.” Dawn said a bit sadly.
“Don’t worry, we can come back another time.” Twilight added with a smile.
This made Dawn smile in return. The group headed back into the house and started getting ready for bed before turning in for the night.