Torkuda looked back at the draconequus. “I suppose first I will apologize for my behavior.” He cracked his neck a few times and reached out his hand to Luna’s body. Celestia’s body tensed up as he did, her horn appearing to warm up for another attack. Torkuda gently picked up the princess of the night and handed her to Celestia. “Knocked out, but I doubt a simple hit could have killed her.” Celestia levitated her sister next to her.
Suddenly Lightning shot away from the rest of us and slammed into her father’s face, hugging it best she could. “Daddy… never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never-“
Discord bowed. “Well I suppose I’m unnecessary now. And as much as I would like to catch up with my friends here, I doubt they’ll be up to anything besides more fighting. I need to check in on Fluttershy again… she’s been a mess with worry about her friends fitting in on a military base… I should probably omit a few details… hmmm-” He snapped his fingers, disappearing.
“I will never do that again, I promise you my child. I never wanted to in the first place.” He gently nudged her with the back of his right claw. He then held out his hand, her flying into it. Lightning sat down, looking up at him. Torkuda gently petted her mane with the back of his claw. “I still love you Lightning, you are still my daughter and I would do anything to protect you. That is why I was fighting. I thought Luna was putting you in danger.”
Lightning looked up at him. “Momma Luna? She would never hurt me.”
Torkuda closed his eyes. “We’re both very different from those around us child. Trust will never come easy for us.” Torkuda looked back to Celestia. He bowed his head. “I must apologize for my behavior.”
“It was a misunderstanding,” Celestia said. “That being said, NEVER ATTACK MY SISTER AGAIN!” her voice boomed and the ground beneath us started to shake at that statement.
“Maybe Gray is lucky this plan didn’t work,” I noted to Vinyl. Vinyl didn’t respond to me, she just looked down at the ground. I looked at her face and realized she was still crying. “Hey, it all worked out,” I noted. “I guess I feel bad about Moonstone.” Vinyl gritted her teeth, starting to sob. What was wrong? It was so frustrating not being able to talk to her.
Lightning’s eyes actually widened a little when she looked back over at me. “Vinyl!” she yelled, not as loudly as she had been yelling earlier, but yelling still. She flew out of her father’s palm and over to me and Vinyl. “It’s okay Vinyl, everything worked out. Really, I know you couldn’t help, but we didn’t really need you this time.” Yea what was up with-oh. “Thanks for trying.” Vinyl hid her face from the filly. “Vinyl… I love you… you know that right?” Vinyl invited Lightning into a hug, nodding. Lightning flew up and embraced her. It was only halfhearted on Vinyl’s part and any adult would have realized that. Sheesh did I feel guilty. I had been tricked before, but with Vinyl, I had basically thrown her biggest weakness in her face and now all she could do was bear it as a loved one just tried to guess what was bothering her.
I whispered to her. “I’m so sorry…” I said. “We’ll get you some paper so you can talk again when we get back to base I promise.”
Lightning separated from her finally. “Where’s Dusty?” she asked.
“Back behind the rock,” I said.
“Gray is alive and we left him alone?” Lightning asked with panic in her voice. “What if he was standing right there?”
“Would be a pretty big coincidence,” I noted. “I know a few unicorns could use dispel magic in the base so sticking around long enough to see what your dad did with his own eyes-“ but she shot away. Before I might have worried about Lightning in that moment, but I was getting used to her antics. I watched her go, knowing I would need to follow soon. “Ya know, say what you want about her problems and demeanor, you always know where her heart is.” Vinyl did smile at that notion.
(***)
We all eventually returned to the night base, yes, everyone including the Mistress of the day and the massive dragon. Torkuda’s reception was mixed, some cheered, others were angry to see him. I tried to defend him, he had been tricked like the rest of us, but the ponies wouldn’t listen.
I did secure some new writing utensils for Vinyl however, so I suppose that went well enough.
I returned to my friends and the rest of the foals. I explained what happened to them. “So guys, we’re gonna need to talk about what to do now. Guess Twilight isn’t here so, who's the leader?”
AJ looked over at Rarity. “Rarity,” she said.
Rarity nodded her head and began to speak. “Yes well… I suppose there’s a topic that’s long overdue for discussion. Regarding Torkuda. Apparently we’ve taken Spike for granted. We need to remember what dragons are. They’re monsters. Celestia made a mistake letting him adopt foals-“
Yea… guess I didn’t mention Vinyl, Lightning and Dusk had stayed with me. Lightning immediately flew up in Rarity’s face. “Take. That. Back.”
“You think I’m afraid of you? Do you have any idea what I just went through?” Rarity said.
“I was there remember?” Lightning asked. “I saved your life twice. You’re making me regret that.”
And when an eight-year-old says something like that- I put my hooves up and pushed the two apart. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s all calm down here, shall we?”
“It’s not that I have a problem with dragons in general,” Rarity said. “I like Spike, but he’s a different breed. Torkuda is the breed we met during the dragon migration. He can’t change his scales. There’s a reason Equestria has very few dragon allies.”
“Yea,” AJ said, looking at her with lowered eyebrows. “Ah wonder what that reason is.”
“Well don’t look at me like that,” Rarity replied. “Am I the only one to think this entire elaborate scheme of Gray’s hinged on Torkuda acting like a brute when faced with a problem? It certainly worked.”
“Rarity, ya know what, there are times when ah can’t stand yer inability to ignore things like class and species. How many times have you insulted me and ma family? But to insult a child’s father right in front of her, that’s a new low.”
Rarity snorted. “I’m just the only one with the courage to say what everyone else is feeling. That beast just tried to kill one of our leaders.” She pointed a hoof at Celestia who was currently flying above the base and the other ponies, Luna still being carried unconscious beside her. “Look at them. Celestia is trying to hold it together but she’s scared. Can’t you tell? Luna is bleeding and I’ve seen three doctors examine her as we’ve been talking. Luna is the second most powerful pony in all of Equestria, and how much effort did it take for him to do that to her?” she looked to me for an answer.
“I don’t know, he punched her,” I replied.
“One punch?” Rarity’s eyes went wide. “Think about it. Even if we give him the biggest benefit of the doubt we can, just one snap, that’s all it would take and either Lightning or her brother could be killed. Even if we ignore dragon nature, he’s still massive.”
“We know almost nothin’ about dragon nature,” Apple Jack pointed out.
“That doesn’t change what I said now does it?” Rarity said back. She looked at me again. “C’mon Rainbow, from what I understand there was a time when you had your doubts about Torkuda as well.” I looked back at Vinyl, Dusk and Lighting, Vinyl having to do her best to hold back Lightning with her telekinesis. “Well?”
“Scootaloo can’t fly,” I finally replied.
“Hm?” Rarity said back.
“Rarity, it’s been a while since I’ve gotten pissed off at you.” I stared her in the eyes. “Get your head out of your ass. If I wanted to hurt Scoots all I would have to do is grab her, fly up and drop her, there’d be nothing she could do about it. That’s what kids are, helpless. That’s why when they’re in trouble we feel so helpless. That’s why I’m so pissed right now! Even if I do understand what you’re saying, I know it’s not you. Do you fucking understand me? GRAY IS BACK!” I started to pant and pulled myself back from her. Rarity seemed to jump in place, her eyes wide. “He was never gone. The ponies we counted on are all humiliated, injured or dead and once again he looks bigger and better than ever!” I tried to breath to calm myself down. “This isn’t you Rarity. You have your moments, but you’re not a racist prick.” Rarity looked away but I could tell she was starting to cry. “You’re scared, we all are. I get it.”
“You’re actually saying you’re scared?” Rarity asked, looking back, her eyes showing a little shock. “YOU’RE the first to admit it?”
“Hate ta’ be that mare,” Apple Jack said. “But can ya’ll stop curssin’ in front of the foals?” I bit my tongue and looked down at Scootaloo who was at my hooves at the moment. “By the way ya’ll are scarin’ the stuffin’ out of em’.” Scootaloo was trembling. I put a foreleg over her.
Scootaloo looked down at her leg. “He… he…” she started to stutter. “Gray beat a dragon.”
“Not exactly squirt,” I tried to prove her wrong. “I mean Torkuda is fine save for a small crick in his neck.”
“He almost killed Luna,” she said back.
“That was a misunderstanding-“ I started, but she interrupted.
“No it wasn’t!” Scootaloo shouted. “A misunderstanding is a mistake. That attack is what Gray wanted to happen. Torkuda didn’t attack Luna, Gray did. He was just using Torkuda. He’s turning us on each other, even you guys are fighting now.” She pulled my foreleg around her. “This just keeps getting worse.” Sweetie and Apple Bloom both started to hide under their sisters. “He broke my leg, he hurt all of you, he killed Moonstone, he almost killed Apple Jack… what’s next?” She kept shaking, harder and harder. “He’s gonna get us all… no one can stop him.” I wanted to talk her down but the words caught in my throat. “I close my eyes and I see his. I just want this to stop.”
Lightning Strike stepped over to us. “It will stop,” she said. There was something… different in her voice.
“There’s nothing you can do either. All he did was use you,” Scootaloo said.
“That’s cause I didn’t do it right,” Lightning said.
“Do what? What do you mean?” Scootaloo asked.
“You’ll see,” Lightning had a kind of cold determination in her voice. She walked back to Vinyl. “Vinyl can we leave?” she asked. “I’m really tired.” Vinyl looked at her with confusion. I didn’t like her tone either, but we had other things to deal with besides extremely vague comments from an eight year old. She, Vinyl and Dusk finally left the group. I had thoughts on the subject of following them but decided that would probably not be best. I turned back to Rarity.
“Well… that happened,” I said. “What now?”
“I don’t think right now is the best time to plan our next move. We did all just blow up at each other,” Rarity replied.
“Is she alright?” Came a voice. A large shadow loomed over us and I turned, wings at the ready to- yea it was Celestia. She pretty much ignored my near panic and continued. “I mean Lightning Strike of course. That must have been terrifying for her.”
“She’ll be alright I would guess,” Rarity said. “But Luna, how is she doing?”
“Looks worse than she is,” Celestia said back. “She’s recovered her consciousness finally… sometimes I think she’s a better ruler than myself. Her first questions were to ensure Torkuda was alright. Even out of it as she is, she’s currently trying to oversee preparations for funeral services for her soldiers.”
“How many died?” I asked.
“Twenty four, including Lieutenant General Moonstone.” Hearing that Rarity looked down. “Any soldier dying is a high price, but he’s been at Luna’s side since she came back. His soldiers respected him very much.”
“So the service will be mostly for him?” I asked.
“He would have been insulted if it were,” Celestia replied. “He was the first officer to suggest one of the military reforms we currently have. Officers and common soldiers are buried with the same honors.” We nodded to this. I only knew Moonstone for a short time, but even so, that sounded like him. Celestia shook her head. “I remember promoting him. So nervous. He didn’t believe he could do a good job.” Celestia smiled. “Rarity, I also came here to speak with you. Do you think you can help with the ceremonies? Somepony needs to oversee the decorations and general aesthetic.”
“I’m not an expert in that field, but I’m sure I can manage something,” Rarity said.
“And Rainbow Dash, it seems one of the bat ponies has been asking everywhere to speak with you,” Celestia motioned with her head to a bat pony standing a small distance away.
The pony had a dark green coat, nearly black. Her mane was a faded red with cool blue highlights. I knew her, Dark Echo.
Dark had tears streaming down her face. I didn’t know her very well, but still, I rushed over to her, Scootaloo following. “Dark… Look… I’m so sorry. If we hadn’t shown up-“
“No,” Dark interrupted. “If you hadn’t shown up, Night wouldn’t have had the chance at some of her dreams coming true. She got to meet THE Rainbow Dash. The fastest pony in Ponyville, probably in all of Equestria. She got to dance with you and she got to go to a Pinkie party. She was so happy. I wouldn’t have taken that away from her even if… well I don’t know. I would want her to still be here… is that right or wrong?”
“It’s okay. I can tell. You’re a good friend,” I said.
“But my friend is dead. What good is being a friend when a friend passes away?” she asked. “I just came to say “thank you”. Like I said, you have no idea how happy you made her. I guess I just said what I came to say… I’ll go…”
“No, c’mere,” I said, trying to grab her with my wing. I failed to grab her, but she still stopped. “Look, she was a lot of fun, even what little time I knew her. I’m really sorry about Night.” I closed my eyes. “Is there anything I can do?... Please, something… I failed to protect the general, all I could do was watch when Luna and Torkuda fought, I couldn’t even give a fan a race, it seems like I can’t do anything right tonight. I feel so useless.”
Dark twisted her lips. “Smile?” I didn’t. “I guess that’s a bit much to ask right now… but listen… just… just- just don’t call my best friend’s idol useless. She wouldn’t like it… try smiling again? She always said your smiles were beautiful.” I wasn’t happy, but I did my best to manage a kind of side smile. “Well… I don’t know if I can pay you the same compliments she could… your daughter is cute.”
I looked down at Scootaloo, currently at my leg. She looked away nervously. I don’t know that she likes being called cute. It’s a fact that she is, but that’s doesn’t mean she likes being called it. Still, I drove a hoof into her mane saying, “She knows she is.” she pretended to flinch away. I sighed, letting Scoots go. “You sure there’s nothing I can do for you?”
“Well… it’s kinda lonely being the only mare on the base- well besides the princesses, but that doesn’t help. I know you have your own friends, but I’m not that good with so many strangers at once… I can’t say goodbye to her alone. Can you stay with me tonight?” I nodded.
(***)
I’d be lying if I said spending the night with Dark was at all pleasant. She apparently had a couple friends to say goodbye to, Night Blaze was just the closest.
Scootaloo stuck close to me, her fear seeming to lessen as the night went on. To be honest, that’s probably because both of us were tired as heck. Scoots finally just passed out during the funeral service.
The funeral service was rather well decorated, as was expected. The main portion of it was a procession of the bodies in various caskets. Some were covered because the remains were too unsightly to be displayed. One of those was Night Blaze. Still, when her covered casket came by, Dark Echo cried into my mane.
It was good to be there for somepony, to feel necessary. I held the bat pony close, my wing around her.
“Is she really gone?” Dark asked.
“Yes. She is... What do you need?”
“Just stay beside me. This hurts…” I closed my eyes.
“I know. You’ll get past this,” I said.
“How are we gonna beat this guy?”
“I don’t know. But we will, I promise.” I didn’t feel as confident as I sounded, but still, saying it made me get a little confidence back.
When the funeral ended, I finally got back to sleep.
(***)
I woke up the next morning, groggily turning over. Dark Echo had allowed me and Scootaloo to stay in Night Blaze’s former room. It wasn’t a comfortable feeling staying in such a room, but we made the best of it. Uncomfortable sleep is better than no sleep at all.
I crawled over Scootaloo on the bed, deciding to let her keep sleeping for the moment. I got to my hooves and- stared straight into the worried face of Twilight Sparkle. “Hi… didn’t hear you come in-“ I started.
“Teleported- I was listening from behind the door- irrelevant. Are you okay?” she quickly spat out.
“Physically? Yea sure,” I replied.
“Emotionally?” Twilight asked, shirking her head back a little.
“Yea that’s another story.” I rubbed my eyes a few times to get the sleep out of them. “I assume you teleported to the base or something. Been here a while?”
“I flew here. Been here, oh maybe an hour or two,” Twilight said. “I heard what happened and I had to come ya know?” I nodded. “I caught up with everyone else… poor Pinkie… she’s being so brave.”
“She’s awake?” I asked.
“Yea. And the doctors say she’ll recover soon enough… doesn’t make second degree burns fun though,” we both grimaced at that line. “I… I think… I think I might have said something pretty mean to Dusk…” another grimace from Twilight. “And now Lightning won’t talk to me… I know it wasn’t really his fault, I just reacted. Pinkie got hurt protecting him and- hmmmm, I practically bit his head off.” She watched me for a second as I rummaged around the room, finding my toothbrush. “You’re not disappointed in me for that?”
“Last night we had a falling out where a few of us said some things we’re probably gonna regret. I’m hoping it's normal considering the situation,” I said back in an almost monotone voice. I took my tooth brush, finally finding it and got ready to clean my teeth. I looked in the mirror and paused. “How long were you waiting outside my door?”
Twilight bit her lip. “Oh ya know- not long… maybe ten minutes-“ she looked at my alarm clock. “Maybe thirty minutes-maybe more. I knew you needed your sleep so I waited but I couldn’t leave the barracks room until I knew you were okay so… I just kinda stood there with my ear to the door like a stalker… sorry.” Twilight started nervously shuffling her hooves.
I chuckled looking in the mirror. Twilight smiled at me. “Good old neurotic Twi,” I said. She grinned at me nervously. My hoof started shaking. “What am I gonna do Twi?” I squeaked out. She rushed over to me. I looked in the mirror again, but then had to look away. “I don’t even know the pony in the mirror anymore. What… I…” I hissed. “I let so many ponies down yesterday. Moonstone died when I abandoned him, I almost got Torkuda killed, and I’m so lucky Luna is alive at all, I went to a funeral and watched as they took the body of this one mare who looked up to me and I couldn’t have done a damn thing to save or even help her, Scootaloo is terrified and I don’t know what to say and… and…” Twilight wrapped a wing around me.
“Hey,” she started. “This isn’t the Rainbow I know. C’mon. The other ponies speak highly of how you tried to fix things yesterday. Flying out there all by yourself. You even had the idea to use Vinyl to get through to Torkuda-“
“I shoved her disability in her face Twi!” I shouted. “I’m such a little fucking bitch!”
“Rainbow!” Twilight said, hugging me a little tighter. “Don’t talk like that.”
“Why not? It’s true. You should have seen the look on Vinyl’s face after what I did.”
“You panicked,” Twilight said back. “She understands.”
“I didn’t do any good… seriously- how- how do I even know I’m a good pony anymore?” I asked. I looked over at the bed, Scootaloo staring at me, starting to cry. She bit her lip.
Twilight stepped away from me and between us. She looked back and forth between the two of us. “Look, girls, please, just listen to me,” Twilight said. “Rainbow, Gray used you, none of that was your fault okay?”
“I’m such an idiot, that’s why he-“
“KNOCK IT OFF!” Twilight shouted. “Stop insulting my friend! You listen to me and you listen good! Rainbow Dash is one of the bravest ponies I know. She’s not always the brightest but she loves her friends and she’s grown a lot over the years. She makes mistakes, but she doesn’t hurt ponies on purpose and she’s dreamed of being a hero her whole life. She stood up to bullies as a kid, she proved the sonic rainboom exists by accident, she adopted a little filly as her sister just for the asking, she encourages Fluttershy when she’s feeling bad, she took in a foal because she was needed- these are not the actions of a pony I have to wonder about. She’s good, she’s strong, she’s brave-“
“Is she really me?” I asked.
Twilight calmed down. “Yes, she’s you.”
“I don’t see her right now.” I shook my head. “I don’t see the mare who adopted Scootaloo. I see a mare who almost orphaned Lightning Strike and Dusk. The difference between a good pony and a bad pony is what they do right?” I asked.
“Well it’s not that simple…” Twilight replied.
“You would have said yes a few days ago wouldn’t you?” I asked.
Twilight sighed, nodding. “That’s only because I wouldn’t have thought of something like this though.”
“So what’s the difference?” I asked.
I looked back at the bed, Scootaloo starting to sob. I clenched my teeth, dropped my toothbrush and shot over to her, wrapping her in a hug. Twilight looked at us for a few seconds. “That,” she said, pointing at us. “Maybe you don’t always succeed, but… there is a saying Rainbow. It’s pretty old. ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also’. Your heart is with your friends Rainbow, and your daughter. You’re not upset because you got a little beat up. You’re upset ‘cause you think you’re letting them down. You love your friends and family Rainbow. You have a good heart. I can see it.”
I started to sob myself. “Do you still believe in me Scoots? Do you?” Scootaloo just hugged me tighter. “Twilight, I can’t stay here. Get us out of here.”
I looked out of my tear soaked eyes to see what she would do with that. “Luna seems pretty sure this group of monsters is after us… I mean the element bearers. Gray doesn’t even seem all that interested in Dusk or Lightning Strike… which I guess is good news for them. Thing is, we can’t safely move Pinkie right now so the six of us are just gonna be staying here. Fluttershy is here too by the way.”
“I want to go home Twi.”
“Hey, c’mon… we’re actually safer here. Myself, Luna, Celestia, Honor Guard and a few others here can all perform the dispel magic spell. Gray can’t just walk around here without fear of being caught.”
“He did.” I said. “How do you beat someone like this?”
“I don’t know. I guess… maybe we can monitor everything we can, check everything we can… indefinitely…” she looked away. “I’m gonna go talk with Celestia. Maybe she has an idea.”
I grabbed her wing as she turned around. I felt like a scared little filly with her mother. “Don’t leave me,” I held Scootaloo tightly. “Please?”
“Then just come with me. We’ll go talk with Celestia. I’ll keep you safe. I promise.” She wrapped her wing around me and squeezed tightly. “Trust me, please.”
“Cast it.”
“Dispel magic.” Twilight’s horn glowed. No blue eyes. No teeth. No Gray. “Now follow me.”