//------------------------------// // Reunion // Story: A second chance // by MagicalEntaty //------------------------------// Trust and forgiveness go hand in hand... You must trust to forgive and forgive to trust Twilight couldn't help staring, there standing in front of her were her best friends! Rarity: a beautiful white mare with a deep purple mane that had an elegant curl travelling to the end of it. Her cutie mark was three jewels: whose colour matched the same crystal blue of her eyes. Now her coat was stained with mud and dirt, leaves and sticks tangled in her mane, and her eyes were filled with fear. Rainbow was covered in small cuts from head to toe; along with Applejack, who also had a black eye. A dirty pegasus with a powder-pink mane called Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow. The only one who wasn't hurt was the one and only Pinkie Pie: she looked a little disheartened but okay in all. The shock that had overtaken Twilight promptly vanished when an echoing roar cut through the silence. Now it was normal for ponies to come into the country like this, and ponies being chased did happen; but for those who stood wide eyed before her it was another story entirely. It turned out that Twilight didn't have time for this, a Chimera happened to be on its way. A Chimera is a beast that has attributes of multiple animals but is not normally found in nature. The ones in existence were either products of crazy scientists or clawed their way out of Tartarus. This Chimera was one of the latter: you could easily tell from the eyes. Scientific Chimeras had relatively normal eyes, but the others had eyes the colour of fresh blood; set on a black so dark that it absorbed the all light around them. Because of this, the latter Chimeras were called 'Blood Eyes' and they were a hundred times more terrifying then the 'tub' Chimeras (the crazy scientists’ experiments), but they were not the worst things in the forest. It roared, showing dripping jaws and hellish rage on its faces. Twilight attacked quickly and efficiently, taking the Blood Eyes down with one of her most powerful attack beams. The Chimera shrieked and collapsed. Its dead body then dissolved into flames. Luckily for the ponies, it had been caught off guard by Twilight’s sudden attack and no more damage had been done. That was that. Taking a deep breath, she turned back to face her friends. A sudden thought popped into her head. ‘Are they still my friends? Why are they even here?’ Questions exploded into her head as she looked at the ponies before her. Before she could get a chance to speak, however, the injured rainbow-maned pegasus stared at her. "Twilight?" She sounded hopeful. Twilight smiled. "It's me, Dashie." Their faces all lit up with beaming smiles. Pinkie’s was so far the biggest as she started to bounce around with pure joy. "Wait Twi, what are you doing here?" Rainbow Dash suddenly blurted out. "I'll tell you everything soon but first, is there anyone else that was with you or that you met on the way?" Rarity then started to panic. "Oh no! We left Sweetie Belle in the cave, didn’t we?" Applejack also looked worried. "If there are anymore of those thin's out there, they can't protect thems'lves! Oh no, Applebloom!" "Scoots!" Rainbow was just about to take off when she started to moan in pain. Fluttershy immediately went to her side. "Rainbow, your wings are still broken: you need to let them rest. Besides, Spike is with them. They’ll be safe for now." Twilight shook her head. Frustration at the perceived danger, determination to solve this dilemma, and worry for her friends’ injuries were all building up inside her. It wasn’t good. “It's alright. Dr. Health, can you please take them to the clinic and give them a look-over." Before the five injured ponies could say anything, Twilight continued: "I'll look for the others." A white stallion, whose mane and tail matched his coat colour, stepped forward. He had yellow eyes and his cutie mark was a stethoscope. "Whoa there! Why should we go with him? And … where are we?" Applejack spoke up. Twilight flushed, feeling a little sheepish not to have mentioned it before. "Well..." the purple alicorn began, but was interrupted by Pinkie Pie. "We're in your own country which you called Rises because of two things: the sun rises every day, and this place is the place where you can rise again and live a new life! You have your own holidays and today is your founding day where you saved your first ponies and it only got better from there! You were sooooo scared at first but now you’re all YAY!!! And you now protect everyone but you still miss your friends. But you don't have to worry about that anymore! 'Gasp'" she said, somehow in one breath. A bystander spoke up. "How did you know that?" "Just a hunch!" she said with a huge smile. Pinkie was grinning at the pony who’d just spoken, face-to-face: hanging upside down in mid-air with no tree or anything to hang from. Everyone was beyond confused at that. In the silence afterwards, they heard Princess Twilight muttering: "It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it. It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it." So they listened to her advice, and let it be. "Anyway, it's as Pinkie said: this is Rises but right now we don't have time for all the details. The forest is filled with dangerous creatures, and the sooner I start looking for Spike and your little sisters, the sooner I find them and more likely in one piece." Being blunt to her friends was hard but it had to be done. "You need to be looked after just in case you bumped into any of the aforementioned creatures on your way here, and their claws or fangs were poisonous, or if your wounds are infected, or anything else. We will talk when I get back, and we can all discuss what I’ve been doing and what brought you here." The five newcomers then knew that any more questions to their best friend would be unanswered. The less time that was wasted, the more likely they will see their sisters and dragon friend. Dr. Health was leading his new patients off when a blue unicorn filly ran to Twilight. It was Ocean Star, showing off her new cutie mark: a star with crashing waves behind it to show that she was skilled in magic but was strongest in water magic. Following close behind, was her best friend Crystal Apple, with her new cutie mark too: a cut-in-half crystal apple. Her short red mane had grown slightly longer and was now tied in a ponytail. "We're coming with you!" Ocean Star said, sliding to a halt in front of her mentor. Ever since she’d come to terms with what happened to her parents, she’d always wanted to help look for straggling ponies. "We want to help these ponies!" Crystal agreed; she too wanted to help others as Princess Twilight had helped her family. The purple princess smiled but shook her head firmly. "No, I'm sorry but you’re too young to go out there." Ocean suddenly developed a tic under her left eye which twitched in an irritated fashion. That was what usually happened when the blue filly got mad. Her magic was aggravated too apparently, a faint aqua aura sparking around her horn. Twilight quickly thought up an idea. "How about when you come of age, we all can go looking for stranded ponies. That way, you can invite some of the other young ponies, potential friends, to go with you." Crystal Apple smiled at the idea. Ocean Star pouted a little but agreed in the end. In Rises, the coming of age for young ponies was 16. Crystal Apple was 11 and Ocean Star was 12 so they still had 4 and 5 years to wait but they were okay with that. With all the loose ends tied up, Twilight went searching for her old students and her little brother/son that she thought that she would never see again.