Twilight stirred slowly, dragging herself inch by inch from the blackness that enveloped her mind. As she struggled, she heard a familiar voice. "She is waking."
"C-Clank?" she managed to say, her voice still weak. "W...what happened? I dreamed...the Nightmare got out..."
Clank let out a sad sigh. "It did, Twilight. But Ratchet put it back where it belongs."
Twilight reached a hoof to her head. She didn't really like thinking about that thing being inside her.
"Twilight!" Ratchet gasped out, racing into the room and scooping Twilight into his arms. "Thank the gods you're okay!" He held her close to his chest, stroking her mane and crying his eyes out.
"D-Daddy?" Twilight gasped in shock.
"You're okay now, Twilight!" Ratchet whispered firmly. "You're okay, we're back together now, and I'm never leaving you in someone else's care like that again! I won't ever let something like this happen again!"
Twilight blinked for a bit. "Umm...does Clank count as 'someone else', or does this mean you won't be taking Angela on a date?"
"Wait, what?" Ratchet asked, shocked. "Me and Angela? No, no there's nothing like that, Twilight!"
"Dammit!"
At Twilight's sudden oath, Ratchet and Clank burst into laughter. A blue fuzzball bounced up to nuzzle them.
"Mr. Fuzzy-Biter?" Twilight said, shocked. "What are you doing here? And..." She glanced around at the spacious, well appointed apartment and out the windows on all sides to the spacious city vista visible. "Where is here?"
"This is our penthouse apartment in Megapolis," Clank explained. "Mr. Fizzwidget - the real Mr. Fizzwidget - decided we should keep the apartment Qwark assigned me while pretending to be Fizzwidget. Mr. Fizzwidget also decided that Mr. Fuzzy-Biter should stay with you, since he seems to have imprinted on you somehow."
Twilight smiled as she cuddled the original Protopet, but frowned a bit when her mind registered the rest of the sentence, not sure how to feel about Qwark. "And...the Captain?"
"In intensive care back on Yeedil," Ratchet explained, rueful compassion in his voice. "Even someone as tough as him doesn't get back up easily after a full RYNO II salvo to the back."
"He what?" Twilight demanded in shock. "Why'd you do that?"
"I think it'd be better to let her see for herself," Angela said from the door to the room, walking towards the TV. Halfway there, she tripped and fell flat on her face. "...I meant to do that," she groaned, holding her hand up assertively.
Clank chuckled briefly before picking up the remote. Twilight then watched the video recorded by the security cameras on Yeedil of the fight between Ratchet, Qwark, and her inner Nightmare. "But...but why did Qwark leap in front like that?"
"Because he saw what I missed," Ratchet explained. "That any damage to Dark Star-"
"Dark Star?" Twilight asked, confused.
"It's what the Nightmare that came out of you has been dubbed," Clank explained.
Twilight frowned. "Why the heck did they have to make it sound so cool?" she pouted. This startled another chuckle out of Ratchet and Angela. "You were saying?"
"Qwark spotted that damage to Dark Star was being echoed onto your body," Clank explained. He pointed on the feed to where Twilight's recumbent form was burned, and showed her the same spot on her own body. "Had Qwark not taken that blast...you would have taken the full force of a RYNO II salvo...with your armor's nanotech already empty. With that empty and all your magic in Dark Star..."
"I...I would have killed you..." Ratchet whispered. "I wouldn't even have known..." Tears beaded the corners of his eyes.
Twilight wrapped her forelegs around as much of Ratchet as she could reach. "It's not your fault, Daddy. You didn't know..." She took the remote from Clank's hands and began scrolling the video back and forth over Qwark's charge to protect her. "But how did he move that fast? It's not scientifically possible, and Qwark doesn't have any magic as far as I know..."
Ratchet managed a chuckle, pleased to see Twilight more like herself again. "Maybe you can explain the rest of it?" he asked, scrolling the video ahead.
Twilight stared, her jaw slack, as she watched the magical conclusion of the battle. "...since when do you have magic, Daddy?"
"No idea," Ratchet admitted, scratching the back of his head with his heavily bandaged arm.
"I guess I'll have to rebuild your Power Gauntlet," Twilight began, trying to sit up, only to fall back into her bed. "Or maybe just order a replacement from Gadgetron..."
Ratchet tucked Twilight back in. "You just rest up for now," he told her. "You'll be better in no time-"
"How was the mission?" Twilight spoke up. "I want some stories!"
Ratchet laughed. "Alright," he said easily, sitting beside her bed. "What part would you like to hear about?"
Twilight thought for a time. "How about how you found out the thief was Angela?"
"And perhaps his initial reaction to realizing she was female?" Clank offered teasingly.
"Hey!" Ratchet snapped at Clank, startling laughter all around. "Well, that's pretty late in the story. So how about I start at the beginning?" When Twilight nodded, he smiled and continued. "Well, it all started out when I infiltrated her aerial base..."
Angela sat back, watching as Ratchet told Twilight tales of his most recent adventure. She at first winced as he came to some of the things he told about her own actions, but he focused more on the humor of her occasional ineptitude rather than her more malicious actions. Admittedly, the only thing she did that could be classified as malicious was when she zapped Clank to try and make Ratchet back off, although Twilight found that more humorous than frightening.
Not that being known as the villain who can't push the right button is any better, she grumbled in her thoughts. Continuing to watch, she was happy to see that Twilight was going to be alright, and she was beginning to see why Ratchet was so focused on her rescue. Sighing, she pushed herself off the wall, turning to leave.
As she approached the door, however, she saw a sign stuck to the wall near her in a handwriting she didn't recognize.
No hurry.
Wheee!
Chuckling, she continued to make her way to the door, only to trip and fall. Grumbling, she pushed herself up, only to trip again the moment she took another step, falling forward but somehow finding herself closer to Twilight's bed than the door. When this repeated a third, fourth, fifth, and sixth time, she threw up her hands in defeat. "Alright! I'll stick around!"
As she turned to rejoin the storytelling, she missed the Zoni dressed as Cupid vanishing with a quiet, "Wheee!"