Chapter 41: Move Out!
After assuring Twilight that my world did, indeed, have books, the remainder of our day 'on the town' was surprisingly relaxing, despite my company. Our day past the spa started with the café, where being able to read the menu did indeed make a difference. Though, still less than a difference than I would have liked - being able to read the menu told me that most of it was just fancy grass, fancy hay, fancy grilled hay in the shape of a burger, and other things I don't think my body can even digest properly. Thus, my trip to this café wasn't much different than my previous one to the place we ate in Dodge Junction - a salad of mostly-edible vegetation, though with a milkshake instead of cider. The main thing of note was that - despite her previous ribbing - a certain blue unicorn was surprising silent during our stay, leaving most of the conversation in the hands, or rather, hooves, of Shining Armor, Rarity, and Twilight, Trixie only talking when spoken to. We traded some looks, and once or twice, I again caught her with that wistful look in her eyes.
From there, our walk through the town turned into a sightseeing expedition to help Trixie, Shining Armor, and myself become better oriented with Ponyville's layout, more than anything else. Mainly, I learned to avoid an otherwise fine bakery called Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie Pie's apparent place of employment, though the Perpetual Party Machine itself was absent, something Twilight thought very unusual. We also passed Sofas and Quills - proving that they weren't suffering from mass insanity, and it did indeed sell both sofas and quills. Weird.
While we also perused a few other places, such as a street market area, most of my day's attention was, instead, on Trixie. She didn't spend the rest of the day quite as quietly as she spent our time at the café, but... I could notice the small slips in her character throughout the day. I've become convinced that her entire face today has been just that - another character, which she layered that of The Great and Powerful Trixie atop for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I won't be able to try and get her to drop that character until we're away from the others, though...
Which, at least in part, is why I'm happy our group is now back out front of the library, Rarity still accompanying us. There's still a bit of daylight left, but not much, as we end our day on the town. As Twilight opens the door, however...
"Surprise!" Pinkie appears in the doorway the second the door is open, front hooves open welcomingly, a can of confetti exploding in one of said hooves while she blows into a noisemaker, party hat atop her head.
"Ack!" Twilight jumps back in surprise, the rest of us taking a step back as well from the sudden jolt of pink jubilation. "Pinkie, what are you doing?"
"I'm throwing Trixie's 'Congratulations-On-Beating-Up-The-Evil-Space-Monster' party today because it got canceled yesterday!" Pinkie tilts her head as she talks, giving Twilight a look of 'isn't it obvious?' "Duh!"
"Is it really that surprising, Twi?" Rainbow Dash asks as she flies up behind Pinkie Pie, wearing one of the party hats as well. "Everyone else is already here, so don't sweat it."
Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash move to the side so we can get inside the library, the party pony shutting the door behind us. Applejack and Fluttershy are sitting at the table and wave at us as we come in. Twilight looks around, eyebrow raised. "How did you even get in? I locked it before I left."
"I let them in, silly!" Pinkie Pie responds, bouncing on her hooves to move in front of Twilight and giving her a wide grin.
"...And how did you get in, Pinkie?" Twilight deadpans as Rarity pulls off both her own and Twilight's saddlebags with her magic, setting them against the coat rack.
Pinkie doesn't miss a beat in beginning her reply. "Well, first I-" Though, she's cut off by Twilight placing a hoof over her mouth.
"On second thought, nevermind, Pinkie. I don't think I want to know."
"Good!" Pinkie replies, darting away and then back to us in a single, fluid motion, before going down the line, placing a party hat on Twilight, Spike, Shining Armor, Rarity, then Trixie, topping it off by plopping my cowboy hat on my head. "Then it's time to par-tay!"
A quick look around the library shows all the decorations from the previous night - the banner, the cake, and everything else, all put up exactly where they were the night before, down to photographic precision. It's... scarily impressive, thinking on it.
"Heh." Trixie steps a bit ahead of the rest of us, taking the decorations in. "Maybe I'll get to enjoy it this time."
"Darn tootin'!" Pinkie Pie zips in front of her and shoves a noisemaker into her mouth before Trixie can react. Trixie replies by blowing into the noisemaker, prompting Pinkie Pie to do the same with hers. "See? Better than yesterday already!"
"Yeah... it is. Thanks, everypony." Trixie nods, moving the noisemaker to the side of her mouth.
"That new coat you have is nice, Trixie." Fluttershy comments as the remaining ponies convene around the table. I, meanwhile, head to the wooden crate that's become the holder of all my things, slipping off my cloak and folding it over once before placing it inside, slipping the cowboy hat back on my head afterward to avoid a rather nasty stink-eye from Pinkie Pie.
"Isn't it just?" Rarity chimes in, smiling at her work once again being appreciated. "It's the fruit of the little expedition I dragged Cloud out on yesterday."
"Quite!" Trixie stands back slightly, pressing a hoof to her chest dramatically, showing off both herself and her new clothes to the ponies at the table. She raises her dramatic hoof to her face, pressing back her mane in her characteristic flip. This ends up revealing her forehead, which causes Applejack and Rainow Dash to stare blankly for a moment, while Fluttershy's face quite visibly falls. The unicorns at the table shift slightly in their seats, doing their best to hide the still-fresh discomfort at what they're looking at. Pinkie, however, is just wearing an odd smile as Trixie flaunts. If Trixie notices any of this though, she does her best not to show it. "It accents my colors quite well, don't you think?"
"The gold's a bit gaudy, if you ask me." Rainbow Dash replies with a shrug, turning a bit to the side in her chair, the first to recover from her stupor. "Though, gaudy's right up your alley, isn't it, Trix?"
"Rainbow!" Twilight admonishes, Rainbow Dash's comment pulling all the eyes off Trixie and on her instead as she sniggers. "There's no need for that, is there?"
"It's not entirely wrong, Twilight." Trixie replies, shrugging her shoulders as she takes a seat with everyone else. "I can't exactly capture the imaginations of a crowd if I don't stand out, can I?" Her eyes then narrow, aimed squarely on Rainbow Dash. "Though, what have I said about calling me 'Trix'?"
"Ah, sorry, sorry," Rainbow waves a hoof at her nonchalantly, staying turned to the side for a moment, before turning to her with a smirk, "Beatrice."
"Why you...!" Trixie huffs herself up. "You remind me of a pony I used to hate!"
"You mean, you?" Rainbow smirks at her jab, leaning in slightly.
"Yes!" Trixie slams her hoof down on the table, leaning in as well. Rainbow's smirk meets Trixie's glare for a few seconds before both begin breaking down in a small fit of laughter.
"Hey now." Applejack cuts in once their fit dies down. "Let's cut this here cake and get to enjoying ourselves."
"Right! I must know if this cake is as delicious as it looks!" Trixie declares, eyeing the dessert emblazoned with her cutie mark as I take a seat next to her. "Finally decided to stop being such an anti-social weirdo and join us?" Trixie jabs as soon as I sit, not turning away from the cake as Twilight takes the knife in her magical grip and begins making slices into it.
"May as well." I reply. "It always seems like I leave this town the day after a party."
"Oh? You're leaving again already?" Fluttershy's ears droop. "But, you've barely had any time to rest at all..."
"We need to." I begin explaining. "Luna will be ready then, and we can't afford to wait. The longer we wait, the more it recovers."
"Yeah, but..." Fluttershy starts to argue back, but trails off, her thoughts picked up by Applejack.
"What about those Night Guard that Princess Luna sent?"
"They haven't made contact since they went to the burrows." I answer, leaning forward in my seat. "There's no way to know for sure until we go, but..." I fond my hands in front of me, looking down at the table. "But, they're probably dead."
A silence falls over the table for a second before Applejack speaks again. "So you an' Princess Luna are just gonna run in there and fight it on your own?"
"It'll be fine!" Trixie turns to Applejack, the mirth at the prospect of the cake still in her voice. "It's just, what, a shapeshifting parasitic alien that travels the universe and measures its victims in planets?" She waves a hoof toward me dismissively. "Pfft, for Dusk over here, that's basically a Tuesday. Besides, if things go sour, he'll always have me to fall back on."
"Wait, yer goin' too?" Applejack raises an eyebrow at her. "Yer barely even out of bed, Trix. That's just bein' reckless. 'Sides..." Applejack allows the rest of her argument to hang in the air, though it's not exactly hard for me to sort out what that argument is.
Nor is it for Trixie, apparently, as she pulls up one of the lapels on her coat, revealing the Materia underneath, smirking. "Don't worry, Applejack. I'm still quite capable of handling myself."
Applejack's eyes narrow and they turn from Trixie to myself. "Ah can't believe yer condonin' this." She says, her voice a mix of deadpan and accusatory.
Rainbow Dash pulls herself slightly into the air with a beat of her wings. "I don't see what the big deal is, Applejack." She says, punching the air with her front hooves. "As far as I'm concerned, this is just the spirit! I've been saying the whole time we should be the ones to beat the crud out of this thing!" She lands again, beating her hoof against the table as Twilight begins passing out the cake to each of us. "You know what? I'm going too! I'm gonna teach this thing what happens when it messes with my friends!" Here we go...
"RD, ya forgettin' again, no Elements of Harmony?" Applejack asks, giving the prismatic pegasus an annoyed glare. "The answer to Trixie goin' when she darn-well shouldn't be ain't you goin' off to get yerself killed too."
"We didn't need the Elements back at the wedding!" Rainbow Dash insists, crossing her hooves.
"That settles it!" Pinkie Pie cuts in, front-right hoof raised triumphantly, her declaration defusing the coming argument before it starts.
"Settles what, dear?" Rarity asks, cocking her head.
"Our party is now a slumberparty!" Pinkie Pie grins. ...Wait. All of them. At once. For an entire night? This is going to be an... experience, isn't it?
"...Excuse me?" Rarity tilts her head further, clearly confused at the pink pony's thought process. Or, if I'd hazard a guess, lack thereof.
"Well!" Pinkie Pie smacks her front-right hoof into her front-left hoof, like a fist into an open palm, except without fingers or thumbs involved. When she speaks, I'm certain she's intentionally trying to imitate Twilight's exposatory tone. "You see, Rarity. Grumpy and Trixie are going to embark on a big, dangerous quest tomorrow to fight the evil space alien, right?" Rarity nods. "So, what better way to see them off than a slumberparty? We'll all get to hang out until Princess Luna shows up, then we can have her give us the Elements of Harmony and all go beat up the evil space alien together this time! It'll be like a quest!"
"...Um, Pinkie, darling..." Rarity blinks, not quite sure how to reply to that, followed by Applejack.
"A sleepover sounds great, Pinkie." Twilight nods. "It'll be good to at least ask Princess Luna some questions about what she and Princess Celestia know before they leave as well. We can't be too careful at this point."
"Meanwhile," Trixie says, mouth half-full, before swallowing, "this cake is delicious!" Right. It appears everyone else had forgotten about the cake amid the discussion of whose going on which suicide mission tomorrow. Well, everyone else, except one.
"Pinkie's cakes are always the best!" Spike chimes in, his own mouth half-full as well, and already halfway through his cake.
"Spike..." Twilight shakes her head. "How many times have I told you to swallow your food before you speak?"
Spike swallows, casting an annoyed glance at Twilight. "What? Trixie was doing it, too!"
"Yeah, Spike, but she's..." Twilight starts, before Trixie cuts in.
"Rude, self-absorbed, uncultured, and generally a terrible role model?" Trixie grins as she talks. Since when was she into so much self-deprecating humor?
"...I was going to say an adult." Twilight replies, deadpan. "But I'm starting to question that, now."
The rest of us dig into our shares of the cake, the conversation taking a more casual direction as Rarity, Trixie, and Twilight begin filling the other girls in on the events of our day's field trip. Shining Armor and I share a couple looks as they talk, but it seems we've both decided it best to stay away from a seven-mare gossip train. That's one I'm sure we're both happy to see leave the station without us. The cake, on the other hand, is even better than the one from the first night I spent in Ponyville. Apparently, Pinkie's insanity and lack of heed for basic physics somehow translates into consistently delicious desserts.
Once we're done with our cake, the 'party' itself proves to be pretty tame. It's closer to a larger group of friends enjoying a night than anything else, if the decorations and banner are ignored. That isn't to say the party has no games, though - I doubt Pinkie Pie would allow such a party to ever exist, even with my limited knowledge of her. They're simple games, such as Pin the Tail and Rubber Chicken, with bits of friendly conversation and ribbing in between. And I, in my fashion, avoid all of them. Twilight indeed lives up to her word and tries to initiate a game of Twenty Questions, which goes nowhere when I show as much inclination to play it as the other games and, as Trixie predicted, no one else in the room wants to go anywhere near the game.
Things truly escalate, though, when Twilight pulls out the beddings for the night. I'd wondered before why Twilight kept so many spare sets of blankets and pillows stashed away, and now I know - sleepovers like these. Though, I didn't expect the first thing to happen to be a pillow flying through the air, clocking Rainbow Dash straight in the face. I trace its flight path with my eyes to find Trixie's hoof extended, a smug grin on her face, the coat and shirt made by Rarity removed for the night and folded next to what's quickly become my personal crate of holding things.
"It seems not even the fastest flier can dodge a strike from the greatest pillowfighter in all of Equestria!" ...Really?
"...Really?" Rainbow Dash echos my thought, eyebrow raised.
"Of course." Trixie flips her mane back with her right forehoof. "What kind of sleepover is it if there's no pillowfight to assert dominance between the participants?"
"Well- Hey!" Rainbow Dash winces, taking a second pillow to the back of the head.
"She's right, Dashie!" Pinkie chimes in, holding the pillow she just beaned Rainbow Dash with. "The pillowfight is basically the most important part of every slumber party!"
"Yes!" Trixie's eyes glance quickly to me, before returning to Rainbow Dash. "And be assured, in this test of skill, Trixie and her assistant shall be victorious!" Her third-pony speak is making a cameo appearance, though it has a clearly-playful inflection.
I decide this is one game I don't mind getting in on, taking grip of my pillow in my right hand. I narrow my eyes carefully at my target, wind back, and throw - nailing Trixie clean in the face. Her right forehoof raises, gripping the pillow and sliding it slowly off her face, eyes locked in mine in a glare.
As she speaks, she proves if there's one thing she excels beyond even Twilight Sparkle in, its an aggressively deadpan delivery. "Of course you realize, this means war." In response, seven more pillows fly through the air, striking Trixie from all directions, then sliding to the floor around her. "...I see I'm facing a coalition."
"Seems like it'd be better for you to sign a treaty while you still can, Trix." Rainbow Dash sniggers.
Rarity yawns. "Besides, dear, we best turn in early, considering the contents of tomorrow for Trixie, Cloud, and Shining Armor."
"Aw!" Pinkie Pie whines in protest, frowning as her poofed mane seems to deflate slightly, almost like it's a curly balloon that's inflated based on her mood and not hair. "But...!"
"C'mon, Pinks." Applejack comes up and drapes a hoof over Pinkie's shoulder. "It's been a fun party, hasn't it? Let's hit the hay and get some shut-eye. You dun wanna be sleepin' when they take off in the mornin', do ya?"
Pinkie Pie's pupils dilate for a second at the thought, before she bursts out of Applejack's grip. "Nope!" In a flurry of motion, she grabs a pillow and dives under one of the blankets, laying on her side. Once the dust settles, her side is moving up and down rhythmically, as if she's already somehow asleep.
Shining Armor and Trixie blink, clearly a bit dumbfounded at what they just witnessed - and I don't blame them. Our pillows return to their respective owners under the glow of Twilight's magic, and with a few more pleasantries we're scouting out spots for each of us to sleep. For once, I don't choose the spot under that accursed window, deciding to sleep next to a bookcase on the far side of the library instead. I shut my eyes and prop myself on the single pillow, trying to get myself to sleep, partly to be rested and partly to just get Princess Luna inevitably invading my dream-privacy over with.
"Hey." A certain voice stops me though, hushed as to not disturb the others in the room. I crack open one eye to see the silhouette of a particular azure unicorn, even if her colors aren't visible to me well in the dark, her blanket and pillow tossed across her back. "Do you mind?"
I close my eye again and shrug my shoulders, and hear the soft plopping of beddings against the library floor. She settles in, and everything is silent. I begin drifting off, until...
"Do you think we can do it?" She asks, softly.
I crack my eyes open, again turning them to her. She's laying on her side, facing me, eyes reflecting the moonlight seeping into the library's first floor. "Hm?" I ask back, in an equally hushed tone.
She closes her eyes, collecting herself for a moment before speaking again. "Jenova. Do you really think we can beat it. Shining Armor, Princess Luna, and us?"
"We have to." I reply simply.
"You know that's not what I asked."
I turn my eyes to the ceiling, exhaling myself and crossing my arms. "...It's pretty hopeless when you think about it, isn't it?"
"Yeah..." She sighs, and I hear her shifting under her covers. "But so what if it's hopeless, right?"
"Right." I close my eyes, allowing myself to relax for a moment before opening them again, turning them back to her. "Even if it's hopeless, we can't just give up."
"Mm." Trixie murmurs to herself, closing her eyes.
"Hey." I say, the one to break the silence this time.
"What is it, Dusk?" She asks, not bothering to open her eyes again.
"Is everything alright?" This is likely the last chance I'll get to speak to her with any candidness before everything goes belly-up, so it's time to see if I can suss out the cause of her weird behaviours today.
"As well as they can be in these circumstances." She replies with a groan, stretching under her covers and repositioning herself again.
"I can tell when you're lying, you know." I reply bluntly.
"Yeah... I know." The inflection in her voice becomes distant as she speaks. After a hanging silence, she speaks again. "...I'm sorry."
"For?" I ask, curiously.
"You don't have time to be worrying about me like this, right now."
I shake my head on my pillow. "You're wrong." I turn my head to face hers cleanly. "Tomorrow, I won't have time to worry about you. Right now though?" I turn my head up a bit, glancing out one of the windows across the library. "Right now, I have all night."
She laughs twice, muffling it with her hoof. "I suppose so. I'm just... drained. Tired."
"You could've told them no." I reply, understanding what she means. The day, the party, the many masks of Trixie Lulamoon. "They would have understood."
"Yes, but..." She averts her eyes from me. "If things go... less than well, I wanted to try having friends again, at least for a day." She locks eyes with me again. "Besides, if I push everypony away, I'll just become what I used to be." There's a pause as she laughs into her hoof again and smirks. "Or worse, I could become you. And we both know how awful that would be."
I give her a smirk of my own. "Yeah. In fashionista terms, it'd be absolutely dreadful."
With a final laugh, she sighs and closes her eyes again. "Goodnight, Dusk."
"Goodnight." I turn back to the ceiling, resting my eyes as well. The soft breathing to my side tells me it doesn't take long for her to fall asleep. Her words stick with me, though, and something deep in my chest stirs. Things can't go 'less than well'. I can't allow them to. Especially not now. It's with that thought, that determination, that I finally fall asleep.
The next thing I know, my body is heavy. I'm sitting, propped against something. I can hear wind whistling, the hum of an engine, tires grinding against the dirt. My vision, however... my vision is just a blur of light, and nothing on my body will move. Not an arm, or a leg, or even a finger. As I fight futily with my own body, another sound reaches my eyes - the crack of air, one after another.
Gunfire.
Someone grabs me, lifting me, dragging me as I hear the tires screech against the ground, the engine's roar becoming louder but more distant. Before long, I'm propped up against something again, my brain still swimming, my eyes still burning with light, my body still frozen. I hear a laugh, and someone shakes me. At that, my vision begins to clear, and I can see a man standing to my left, smirking, a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek, black hair slicked back aside from a single bang in front of his right eye.
Zack...? But...
He stands up, turning his back to me, the massive, single-bladed Buster Sword clearly visible along his back, the pristine metal shining in the sun. He begins to walk, in the direction the gunfire came from, and it takes everything I have to simply raise my left arm, reaching for him, mind still swimming, trapped like a prisoner in my own body. The sun glares in my eyes, obscuring vision, and...
Wait.
The sky, it's... rippling. Rippling with a deep blue, that temporarily blocks out the sun. Zack, still on the edge of my vision, takes one step back, then two, then turns and runs back to my side, scooping me up and throwing my right arm over his left shoulder, hoisting me up as he begins dragging me along the road. What's...?
"Buddy, you're not gonna believe it," Zack lets out an amused laugh, "but I think divine intervention just saved our butts."
There's a distinct clatter of something landing in front of us, and Zack stops walking. I concentrate, trying my best to raise my head, and see what's on our path. Blue. Wings. Four legs. Horn. Wispy, twinkling hair. Large eyes. I... I know what that is, don't I? I hear Zack draw the Buster Sword with his right hand, and feel his body tensing.
After a moment, it speaks. "...Ah, greetings." My eyes widen and my vision sharpens, the fog lifting from my brain. Princess Luna. Her expression is wrought with confusion, but it's definitely her. Then this is... a dream? Of course. A dream of when Zack... But, my body won't move, still. I can see, I can hear, I can twitch my fingers and toes, but I can't truly move, nor can I speak. Princess Luna's set things off course, but it seems the dream isn't dispelled completely. Zack is still present, and the effects of Mako Poisoning are still paralyzing my body. Has she only dispelled the parts of the dream that she deems to be a nightmare?
"Hey!" He calls back to her, waving at her awkwardly while the Buster Sword is still in his grasp. He turns to me, shaking me with the arm he's using to prop me up. "Cloud, look at this, man! It talks!"
The confusion on her face shifts to a smile. "Yes, We can speak." She nods, coming closer.
Zack moves us closer as well, both of them moving to close the gap in distance between them. "You the one that took care of those Shin-Ra creeps for us, erm...?"
"Yes." She nods. "And Luna, please. You are?" ...This is beyond uncomfortable, being passenger to Princess Luna essentially interrogating my subconscious.
"Zack Fair, SOLDIER, First Class!" Zack replies, planting the Buster Sword into the ground and giving her a thumbs up, then turning away, talking under his breath. "Wait, can't use that one anymore..." He scratches at his head a moment then turns to her again, thumb back in the air. "Zack Fair, ex-SOLDIER, First Class, mercenary for hire! Boring stuff, dangerous stuff, whatever it is, I'm your guy!" He then motions his head and thumb to me. "And this is my partner, Cloud Strife. You could say I'm the calm and he's the storm."
The Princess giggles, and I begin willing my entire body to move, to speak, to do... something, as she looks to me, her expression faltering a bit. "Your... companion, is he well?"
"He'll be fine." Zack shakes me again. "Just a bit of Mako Poisoning. Nothing you can't handle though, isn't it, buddy?"
She takes a few steps closer, coming uncomfortably close to my face as I'm able to force out a groan, then turning to inspect Zack with the same curiosity. "Your eyes appear the same. Brothers?"
"Nah." Zack leans in to her, allowing her a closer look. "Eyes infused with Mako. They're a SOLDIER trademark - eyes the color of the sky!"
"Ah..." Princess Luna takes a couple steps back as a rage-filled, desperate knot builds in my chest. I need my body to move! Her eyes turn to Zack's sword planted in the ground, and even in my state, I can see several expressions of realization flash quickly across her face.
Zack draws the sword from the ground, flicking his right wrist to try and shake the dirt off. He spins it between his fingers, and in that moment... I'm finally able to take a step. As he's placing the sword on his back, I slip away from him, taking one step, then two. "Cloud...?" Zack doesn't appear to move behind me. "You okay, buddy?" I stumble, falling forward with my arms out, my body landing against Princess Luna's, my hands digging into her mane as I try to stay upright, now on my knees.
"Lu... na..." is all I can manage to croak out, hoping that anger is properly conveyed in those two, weak syllables.
She closes her eyes, taking a breath before speaking. "Dreamer... We did not mean this. We merely sought to quell thy nightmare before our task on the morrow, but in Our haste, We have committed a terrible folly, and made thy pain greater." She pauses, taking a moment before continuing. "...Though it means naught, We offer thee Our deepest apologies." Her head bows, and she extends her wings. And, with a single beat, the dream dissolves, everything disappearing, including the Princess of the Night herself, and I'm left on my hands and knees in a void, my chest trembling. I raise my right hand up, now free to move again, and punch down at the void in frustration, and what meets my ears... is the distinct sound of a fist against wood.
"...Cloud?" A familiar speaker asks. "You alright?" Twilight Sparkle. I open my eyes, and find myself back in the library, sunlight filtering into the room.
"Yeah." I assure her as I sit up and look around. All the pony and dragon eyes are on me, Spike and Trixie halfway through setting the table for breakfast, stopped in their work. Everyone else is awake already. Twilight keeps looking at me, expecting a more elaborate answer, but I don't give it to her.
After a minute, she sighs, giving me a sympathetic look. "Well, I was just about to wake you anyway. Breakfast is ready."
I give her a small nod as I try to collect myself. "Thanks." From how Luna spoke, that... incident, seems to have been an accident, but...
"You okay there, big fella?" Applejack asks as we convene around the table.
"Yeah." I look down at the breakfast, a mix of waffles and... eggs? I look around the room, the other ponies around the table having a mix of greens instead of the eggs for themselves. At first, I assume the eggs must be something Spike cooks for himself, until I notice his plate has a... gemstone on it. A gemstone. Between the question of why they have eggs and why Spike's apparently going to eat a gemstone, though, I default to what I've been doing when I encounter something that seems to defy explanation here in Equestria - give up and roll with it. It's easier that way.
"Thanks for helping with the breakfast again, Trixie!" Spike picks up the gemstone from his plate as he talks, taking a bite and confirming both my suspicion and my resolve not to ask about it. "I'd never thought of making waffles like that, either! That's really clever!"
"Just some ingenuity my mother graced me with, Spike." Trixie replies, grinning proudly and showing how faux her humility really is. "Back when I traveled the road in my wagon, neither bits nor space allowed for much beyond the basic kitchen wares, so I was required to learn the old ways of cooking such things should I desire them."
Spike takes a swallow of his... gemstone. "Still. I was losing faith in unicorns that knew how to cook between Twilight and Shining Armor!"
"Oh, hush, Spikey," Rarity interjects after a swallow of her own food, "you know full well my cooking is marvelous, and I'm a unicorn, too, you know."
Spike gives a nervous laugh. "Of course I knew that, Rarity..." He replies, clearly sucking up as Twilight and a few others roll their eyes at him.
I stab absentmindedly at the eggs with a fork, raising them to my mouth and taking a bite. It's hard to even taste it today, though. Between the anger still stewing in my chest at Luna and the weight of what's to come on my shoulders, it's a bit difficult to enjoy the simple pleasures of a good morning's breakfast.
"Um... are you sure you're alright, Cloud?" Especially with ponies asking essentially the same question over and over again. This time, it's the flying butter stick.
"Yeah." I give the same answer I've been giving.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's all you've got to say, huh?" Rainbow Dash leans over the table, pointing a fork at me accusatorily. "We're supposed to be friends here, aren't we? The least you could do is open up a bit if something's eating you this much." She leans back, crossing her hooves.
"Yer one to talk, RD..." Applejack gives her friend a sidelong glance as she mutters.
"Oh, can it!" Rainbow huffs in reply.
"It was just a dream." I cut in before an argument between the two can get fully underway. "Nothing important."
"Want to talk about it?" Twilight asks, taking up the conversation from Rainbow Dash.
I turn my eyes from her, to Trixie, then back down to my food. "...I'd rather not."
"Probably better not to press this one, Twilight." Shining Armor warns her, and it's all I can do to stop a small smirk of appreciation from making its way onto my face. "I have a bit of experience with that look he's got." I'm beginning to take quite a liking to Twilight's brother, now, despite our tense first encounter.
Twilight nods, turning back down to her food. I take a look at Trixie again, and this time she's returning it, her eyes again unguarded, wistful, but also clearly sympathetic. I quickly turn back to my own food, deciding it's the most interesting thing in the room as I get to eating. Whatever chatter crosses the table ends up merely sounding like background noise. After I'm done eating, I excuse myself from the table and head over to my crate of things. No fuss involved, thankfully.
I strap on the leathers of my SOLDIER armor, then the chest plate from Luna's armory, then the matching arm guards, and finally, the cloak. I steady myself with a clench of my fist, and that's the time the one missing member of our party decides to show up. No chariot, no entourage, not even a knock on the door - a simple pop of a teleportation spell, and Luna is standing in front of Twilight's front door, inside the library. A solemn determination is etched into her face, her body clad in her usual battle attire.
She scans the room with her eyes before speaking, all eyes on her after her sudden entrance. "Excellent, the Bearers are all present. This shall make matters simple."
"Princess Luna...?" Twilight's question trails off as she tilts her head.
Luna's horn glows, and a golden box teleports in, held in her magical grip. The top opens, and inside it sit five golden necklaces and a single golden tiara. The necklaces bear gemstones in the shape of a lightning bolt, an apple, a diamond, a butterfly, and a balloon in their centers, while the tiara bears a six-point star on its crest, all similar to the ones inscribed along the gold trim of my cloak from Rarity. Could these be...?
"The Elements of Harmony?" Twilight half-asks, confirming my guess. "Why do you have those, Princess Luna?"
"Our Sister has entrusted them to Our use, Miss Sparkle." Luna explains, as her magic floats the items to the appropriate ponies. "While Our Sister, and indeed, Ourself, believe that relying on the Elements of Harmony to vanquish an interplanetary foe is a gambit that should be avoided, after the encounter in the Ghastly Gorge, we both deign it prudent to keep them as a last resort."
"So, that means..." Twilight starts, but gets cut off before she can finish her thought.
"You want us to come, right?" Rainbow Dash finishes the question, floating up off the ground with her wings and punching the air in what seems to be a usual fashion for her. "Good! 'Cuz I was planning to come anyway!"
"Do not be so eager, little one." Luna shakes her head disapprovingly at Dash. "This merely means the danger to you and the other Bearers is greater, not lesser. That we shall not return is an outcome that must be weighed heavily." Luna closes her eyes, and Rainbow Dash loses a bit of her bluster. "We shall understand if you Bearers wish to remain."
"No." A soft voice answers, and all heads turn to Fluttershy. I'd pin her to be the most against this plan, but... "If there's something we can do, and we don't come now... it'll be able to recover and become too strong for us to do anything later, right?"
Luna nods. "That is Our understanding of this creature, Miss Fluttershy."
"Then we have no choice."
"But..." Applejack turns to speak to Luna now. "What about Princess Celestia? If it's so dangerous, why ain't she here, too?"
"It is because it is so dangerous that Our Sister does not accompany us." Luna steps forward, meeting eyes with the farm pony, then looking across the room at everyone present before continuing. "Should our attempts to fell this monster meet ruin, Our Sister shall remain to attempt to find a new means to preserve Equestria." Luna takes a deep breath before continuing. "It has been Her burden to bear in the past, and She is ready to do so once more."
Silence takes over the room, the 'Bearers' as Luna referred to them as sharing looks, resolve for a mission most hadn't been expecting to undergo firming. The first one to speak, however, is Shining Armor. "Twilight."
"Shiny, I-" Twilight tries to head off what she must expect to be another 'it's too dangerous' speech, only for Shining Armor to use a hoof to place one of the pony-sized helmets we salvaged from Luna's old storehouse onto her head.
"Keep this on." He gives her a smile. "Those brains of yours are too important to let get knocked around."
"...Yeah." Twilight gives him a smile of her own as her horn glows, levitating the rest of the armor set over to herself as she turns to Spike. "Spike, I..."
"I'm staying here, Twilight, don't worry." He looks up to the unicorn, worry clear in his eyes. "I want to come and I appreciate Trixie standing up for me back in Canterlot, but... you wouldn't even be going yourself if you didn't have your Element of Harmony, right?" Twilight nods as he continues talking. "I don't have anything like that, and if you got hurt because you had to protect me, then..."
"Oh, Spike..." Twilight pulls the dragon in for a hug, squeezing him tight. "Everything will be fine, don't worry. We'll be back before you know it." I sure hope that'll be the case, Twilight...
"Dreamer." Luna's voice pulls me away from the pair, but when I meet her eyes, she flinches away slightly. "We have one more matter of business before we embark, however..." Her eyes turn to the floor as her horn glows, and she teleports in a second box. This one is resting against the ground, wood, and about five feet in length. It's a bit larger than I expected, but the shape is unmistakable - this must be the re-forged sword that Luna promised. She turns her eyes away from the box, looking toward one of Twilight's bookcases. "We sought to give you a boon, in gratitude at your efforts to preserve Our ponies... yet now We believe We may have performed an even greater offense than during our previous encounter."
I feel a knot build in my chest, and walk over to the box silently. I take a breath, wondering just what Luna's done this time, and slide the cover off, the wood clattering gently against the floor. Inside is... is...
The engravings along the guard are just as I remember them, but the metal is a midnight blue that matches my 'borrowed' arm guards and chest plate, instead of gold. Stemming from the middle of the guard, in line with the hilt, is the strip of metal meant to secure the Materia... but instead of two simple Materia slots, there are eight familiar, linked slots. The metal itself is bronze - easily recognizable as the metal from my previous sword, clearly salvaged and re-forged for this purpose. The blade is one-sided and straight, transitioning into a sharp, fourty-five degree slant near the tip. The blunt is wide, etched with familiar, lined engravings that disappear under the extended length of the Materia latch. The metal for the blunt, however, isn't the deep grey I remember. Rather, both the blunt and the blade are a shimmering silver, that easily reflects even the smallest bits of lights in the room. My face is clearly visible in the sword's metal, much like a mirror.
I take a breath and reach my right hand tentatively to the hilt, gripping it. It's a long hilt, able to fit both my hands with a bit of room to spare, the pommel a simple metal piece that matches the midnight blue of the guard. I lift, and even the weight is just as I remember it. My breath and my hand both tremble, as I transition the sword to a two-handed grip. I press the side of the weapon to my forehead, clenching my eyes shut. It might have its differences, but what this is intended to be is clear.
The Buster Sword.
The Buster Sword... Zack held it like this once, too, didn't he?
The memory plays back in my mind, a thing I've come to appreciate being able to do again. The two of us are sitting on beds at the inn at Nibelheim. It was just after our first trip to the Mt. Nibel Reactor. Something had happened... though, it's hard to remember what. This was the trip that sent Sephiroth into the mansion's basement, hunting for knowledge, so for now, the town was still in one piece.
"Don't worry, Tifa's safe." Zack assures me, as I stare into my hands, dressed in the uniform of the Infantry Division.
"If only I were SOLDIER..." I hadn't been able to do anything this time, either. "...Zack?"
"SOLDIER is like a den of monsters. Don't go inside." He replies, looking at me with a deady seriousness.
I sit up, leaning closer to him. "What happened?"
"I don't know, man. I thought I knew, but..." He groans and throws himself against the bed, sighing for a minute before slowly rising to his feet, taking one unsteady step after the other toward the center of the room, where his Buster Sword is resting against a table. "I'm with SOLDIER, so fighting's all I do. Sorting things out is someone else's job." His voice trembles, getting more aggressive as he talks. "What's going on? Who's the enemy? It makes no difference to me!" He grips the hilt of the Buster Sword in both hands, spinning in place to face me and bringing it over his head as if to swing it down. He stops himself though, his face becoming pained as he thinks to himself, eventually bringing the Buster Sword in front of him, resting the side of the blade against his face as he takes in a trembling breath.
"Hey, Zack?" I ask, as he takes another breath. "You know, I've never seen you use that."
Zack slowly moves the Buster Sword away from his face, looking at it, eyes clouded in thought. He grips the hilt tight, clearly lost in some fond memory. "This... is a symbol of my dreams and honor." He holds the blade out in front of him, eyes moving from the hilt to the tip. "No, it's more than that. That's right, I had almost forgotten... Thank you, Cloud."
"Right!" I say out loud, alongside the Zack in my memories.
"...Dusk, are you okay?" Trixie asks, pulling my from my thoughts as I turn to her. She's now fully dressed in her new clothing from Rarity. We lock eyes, and this time, I'm sure she's not the only one whose eyes are unguarded.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I stand, turning to her. "Don't worry. I mean it this time." I extend the Buster Sword forward, eyes tracing along the blade much as Zack had in my memory. "You know... it's a lot lighter than I remember."
The Princess lets out a breath behind me, and I can feel her eyes on my back as she speaks softly. "Just be more careful of the wear, tear, and rust this time." She was right before, I shouldn't have tried being cryptic to the Princess that governs dreams.
"Don't worry." I assure her, resting the weapon against my right shoulder, as I head over to my crate to retrieve my Materia. "I don't think that will be a problem anymore."
"The sword," Princess Luna starts, voice taking on its usual tone, "is made from a material known as Starmetal. It is a rare substance known for its ability to conduce various forms of magic. It is Our hope that this more conducive material will help you perform greater amounts of magic before succumbing to magical exhaustion." She closes her eyes, pausing for a moment. "That material is also why it shimmers so beautifully in the light."
"Thank you." I reply, giving the inlays of Materia along the blade a final check before securing them. "Are we ready to go, then?"
"Just one more thing!" Pinkie Pie answers, raising her hoof into the air. Her talking now just makes me realize how quiet she's been this entire morning. She zips over to me, reaching her hoof into my crate and extracting my cowboy hat. In a single motion, she's up my body, pulling my hood back, and slapping the hat down on my head once more. "Now we're ready!"
Heh. I tilt the hat down with my left hand, right still bracing the sword against my shoulder. Between the cloak and the chest plate, there's no arrangements of straps that would allow me to sheathe the Buster Sword properly... but right now, that doesn't seem like such a bad thing. "Alright, everyone." I turn to everyone in the room, giving my left fist a pump. "Let's mosey!"
There's one snort, and then two, as both Rainbow Dash and Trixie break down into a fit of laughter, one forehoof around the other's neck, their remaining forehooves both pointed at me as they lay on the ground in a fit. "Did... did he just say let's mosey?" Rainbow Dash asks in between her laughs. "That has to be the least cool thing I've ever heard!"
"He's such a dork, isn't he?" Trixie chokes out, pounding one hoof against the library's floor.
"Yeah, total egghead!" Rainbow Dash agrees, the two finally having their laughing fit calm as the rest of the ponies in the room can't help but have a small laugh themselves.
Yeah, this is how things should be. And, once Jenova's gone, this is how they'll stay.