Chapter 21
“Acrylic?” The soft, distant voice tickled her ears. “Acrylic!” This more forceful call accompanied by a rough shake finally caused the mare to stir.
“Hmm?”
“Oh, thank goodness!” She felt herself being pulled into a strong embrace, supported by large, powerful wings. It felt so warm and safe... she almost dozed off again. But wait! Who exactly was this? Her rescuer was too strong to be her sister as she’d previously assumed, not to mention masculine. Fully awake, she now took a good look around. The first thing she noticed was the chocolate brown. That meant...
“Torchwood?” Acrylic blushed crimson when she realized who was holding her.
“Yeah?” He pulled away, his near-black eyes full of concern.
“You’re... back, then?”
“I... uh... suppose so. Thanks for that, by the way.” He hastily set her back on her own four hooves, and sheepishly looked away. It was harder to notice the red creeping into his own dark colored coat.
“Sure.” Both of them shuffled, waiting for somepony to break the awkward silence. “Wait... where is everypony?” Acrylic realized that part of the reason it was so quiet was because they were the only ones around.
“I guess they all took off after I... ya know... blew up.”
“Oh...” she timidly nodded.
“Sorry about that, by the way.”
“It wasn’t your fault. Chrysalis was controlling you. You couldn’t help it.”
“Yeah, but... it was like I was still at least partially aware of what I was doing. My hearing was foggy and my eyesight blurry, but I could still make out my surroundings.”
“Oh... uh... h-how much did you hear, exactly?” Torchwood gave her a sly smile.
“Enough.”
“Oh.”
“And yes.”
“Yes? Yes what?”
“It would be okay with me.”
“Oh. Oh!” Her face turned an even deeper red, if that was possible. “Uh... good. Cool.”
“You guys are okay!” Wild Flower and Cedar bounded back down the crystal boulders. Wild Flower collided with her sister just like she’d bowled into Cedar before. The stallions, however, shared a less wild but just as tender hug.
“See, Doctor?” The pegasus, earth pony and alicorn had trailed behind more slowly as to give the thestrals a private reunion. “I told you things would work out alright.”
“You did,” he confessed. “But how did you know that would work?”
“Whether they know they have feelings for each other or not... you can’t force love. It just has to run its natural course... even if you don’t like the outcome.”
“You sound like you’re speaking from experience, Miss Doo,” the Doctor raised an eyebrow.
“M-Me?! N-N-No, not at all. Why would you think that?”
“You are! Have you got a crush you never told me about?”
“Um... sort of?”
“Well, spill! Who is he? I’d like to meet this bloke!” the Doctor was acting as giddy as a school girl.
“I think you’ve already met him,” Cadance subtly winked.
“Is that right, Ditzy? I don’t remember meeting your boyfr- er, stallionfriend. Was I going off on one of my extraterrestrial tangents? I don’t usually remember much of what happens after I start ranting.”
“Oh, would you two just kiss already?” Wild Flower burst.
“Wild Flower!” Acrylic hissed, winding both arms around her sister’s mouth to make sure it stayed shut. Ditzy’s face turned even redder, and the Doctor froze. He looked like he’d been the one brain-washed.
“What?”
“Not possible! How did you escape my control?” Oh yeah. They still hadn’t taken care of Chrysalis yet, had they?
“Let’s get ‘er!” Wild Flower had escaped her sister’s gag, and was now rearing to go.
“Wait!” The Doctor stopped her. “This is the touchy part. We can’t get rid of her yet. The timeline is still in flux. Originally, Chrysalis’ appearance is what prompted Acrylic to reveal that she was a thestral.”
“I gave up our secret?” Acrylic’s eyes were wide.
“It all worked out for the best,” the Doctor assured. “The point is, if we get rid of Chrysalis now, Acrylic won’t reveal her wings at the wedding, the princesses won’t prosecute her, then Torchwood won’t start the-”
“Doctor! That’s enough,” Ditzy interrupted him, noticing how horrified the thestrals looked.
“What exactly happened in the original timeline?” Cedar glared at them through narrowed eyes.
“You do realize Chrysalis is still standing right in front of us?” Cadance pointed out.
“Thanks for noticing,” the changeling huffed.
“Well, if we can’t get rid of her, then what are we going to do?”
“Well, we can’t leave her running around, can we?”
“Would you stop talking about me as though I’m not here?!” Chrysalis burst.
“But we just saved Cadance. We can’t send her back into the caves now.”
“Excuse me?!” the princess shrieked.
“No one is sending anyone back to the caves,” Cedar stomped.
“Why can’t we get rid of Chrysalis now, and I’ll just show my wings at the wedding anyway?”
“No! You can’t do that!” Wild Flower squealed.
“They say it’s the only way to fix the timeline.”
“They also said they’re from an alternate reality. You don’t really believe that, do you? It’s all just a bunch of hooey!”
“I’ve had enough!” Chrysalis charged her horn.
“Cool it, bug queen. You’re outnumbered. Four thestrals and an alicorn, a pegasus and a time lord. One thestral would be an equal counter to you- you created them that way, didn’t you?”
“How do you know that?” the Queen’s gaze flickered with uncertainty. “Four will be more than enough to stop you. Plus an alicorn thrown in the mix? You don’t stand a chance.
“Run away, Chryssy. Run away, regroup, and come back to fight another day.”
“I...” she looked over the four angry thestrals, the fuming alicorn princess, but mostly the burning rage in the earth pony’s eyes. Who was he? She’d never seen such fierce eyes. Not since... not since Kindling Pyre.
In the end, she just snorted, furious. “I’ll be back.” In a flash of green, the Changeling Queen vanished.
“She’s gone, just like that?” Cadance barely dared to believe it.
“Looks like.”
“Like I was saying, you can’t give up our secret just because a couple of crazy ponies told you to. I mean, they aren’t even thestrals! You can’t trust them.”
“Oi!”
“It’s not so much trust as authority,” Torchwood corrected. “They aren’t of our kind. It’s not their decision to make. It’s ours.”
“Who’re you kidding? This is way bigger than just us four. It affects all thestral kind!”
“I know...” Acrylic sighed. “But I think that’s why I have to do it.”
“WHAT?!”
“Please, Wild Flower, just hear me out,” Acrylic shushed her. “Ditzy was telling me about their ‘alternate universe.’ It’s one where thestrals live openly amongst the rest of ponykind. And it’s because I showed my wings at the wedding, didn’t I?” Ditzy gravely nodded.
“Acrylic-”
“I know they sound crazy- it all sounds crazy- but I believe them.”
“You do?”
“She told me things... that Torchwood’s mother’s name is Rose...”
“Rose Petal,” His eyes widened. “I never told you that.”
“Or me,” Wild Flower pouted.
“...and she knew we were thestrals before we ever sprouted our wings, and knew all your names...”
“I suppose that’s true, but-”
“...and she said that in the future, Torch and I are going to have two kids.”
“Oh, so they’re from the future now, too?”
“Look at her. Doesn’t Ditzy look older to you?”
“We only just met her, Acrylic. We wouldn’t know one way or the other.”
“Well, I’ve known Ditzy- at least, the Ditzy from this reality- for a while now. That Ditzy is my age. She doesn’t have wrinkles or gray hair.”
“Hey!” Ditzy pouted. The Doctor chortled.
“The point is... I believe them. And I think this is what we have to do. What I have to do.”
“You really think it’ll work? That showing your wings somehow leads to thestrals rejoining Equestria?”
“Yeah. I do.”
“It won’t be easy,” the Doctor warned, his whole demeanor solemn. “It’s a rough road.”
“It’s never easy, and the rough road is always the path that leads to the brightest destination,” she coolly retorted.
“Well put, Miss Storm!” the Doctor proudly boasted.
“Well I, for one, think you’re all crazy. I’m going to go home and pretend this was all one weird, messed up dream,” Wild Flower turned up her nose and marched out.
“Oh, come on, Wild Flower.” The rest of her friends chased after her, now cracking jokes and teasing Acrylic and Torchwood once more.
“And I get to go home to Shining Armor...” Cadance blissfully sighed.
“Hurry up, Ditzy! We’ve got to get back to the TARDIS before our changes start to take effect! We don’t want to be here when the timeline snaps back.”
“How long do we have?”
“Eh, who knows? Just run!” The pair bolted out of the crystal caves, leaving Cadance all alone.
“Oh yeah, don’t worry about me. I’ll just walk myself home.”