Theme Song: A World Without Danger
26: Reignited
“Stupid girl!” Tirek shouted slapping Twilight in the face, “You had one job, and you allowed Thanatos' daughter to get into the tower!”
“You lied to me, didn't you?” Twilight asked looking up at Tirek, “You weren't going to kill Eos at all, were you?”
“What?!” Tirek asked, taken aback by Twilight's sudden boldness.
“Fluttershy reminded me about something,” Twilight said, “XANA doesn't try the same thing more than once, ever. This means you can't threaten to kill her in order to get me to work for you. You can torture the both of us, but you can't kill her to get to me. In fact, I find it funny that all day I haven't even heard from XANA. That wasn't XANA's plan at all, was it?”
“It's true,” Starlight chimed in, “XANA had nothing to do with what happened yesterday. Mr. Tirek just wanted-”
SLAP
“You talk too much!” Tirek shouted at Starlight, who fell to the ground holding her cheek.
“I apologize, Mr. Tirek,” Starlight said trembling. Twilight was surprised. Was she a prisoner here too?
“So what if Eos is still alive?” Tirek said walking up to Twilight and getting in her face, “XANA may not want to use her again, but I'm not XANA!”
“You're just XANA's pawn!” Twilight shouted, “I'm not listening to a word you say anymore! I was afraid of you before because I thought you were just as dangerous as XANA, but now I see the truth! You're just as powerless as me right now! The only difference is I'm stuck in this chair! At least I know one thing,” Twilight glared at Tirek, “XANA needs Eos and I alive. I wonder if the same goes for you.”
Tirek growled in anger and was about to strike Twilight again, but red electricity shot Tirek knocking him across the cell.
I'm not happy right now, Damien.
Tirek looked up at the screen and paled a little when he saw the words. A second later, red electricity shot out of the screen and into Twilight, who screamed in pain as the black bindings turned into data and dissolved. When Twilight slowly stood up, she scowled at Tirek and walked over to him.
“This is all YOU FAULT!!!” XANA shouted picking up Tirek and electrocuting him, “I had her broken, Damien! She would have done anything I said! But then you just had to have your way, didn't you?!”
“I…” Tirek breathed out when XANA let up on the electricity.
“What did I say Damien?!” XANA asked, her voice trembling a bit she was so angry, “What. Did. I. Say?! DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO WITH MY THING!!!”
This was honestly the most terrifying thing Twilight ever saw. Throughout all their interactions, Twilight had only ever seen XANA angry once, and that was right before she collapsed his virtual sphere. Seeing XANA genuinely upset was both terrifying, yet oddly empowering.
Not looking too good, XANA.
You stay quiet! I'm still in control of your body! Don't forget that you belong to me!
Yes, you do still own my body, but not my spirit.
XANA growled in frustration and threw Tirek into the wall.
“Your blunder ruined everything!” XANA seethed, “It was perfect! Absolutely perfect! I should kill everyone in this whole building for-”
“Master XANA, please!” Starlight cried grabbing her hand, “Let me rectify this!”
“And how do you plan on doing that, Starlight Glimmer?” XANA asked Starlight, “Do you think you can break her will easily?”
“I might be able to convince her to join us,” Starlight said, “But in order to do that, I need some alone time with her.”
“I don't trust you,” XANA said darkly, “You're a human, just like Damien. You are flawed.”
“At least let me talk to Twilight. Perhaps let her walk around the base. In prisons, the inmates are allowed to walk around for a bit to get some fresh air. If you let Twilight and I have this time, I can talk to her and convince her to side with Tartarus.”
XANA looked to the side considering it. After a second, she sighed.
“Fine,” XANA said, “I'll allow this. I shall adjust her bindings so she can at least walk. It's true that human bodies have certain requirements that I'm unable to adhere to. From this day forward, you are in charge of Twilight when I'm not in her body,” she turned to Tirek, “As for you, I don't want you anywhere near Twilight ever again.”
With that, XANA left Twilight's body, going back into the screen. At the same time, a single black band appeared around Twilight's wrists with an extended rope at the end. Starlight picked up the rope and then looked at Tirek, who was wiping blood from his mouth glaring daggers at her.
“Come Twilight,” Starlight said helping Twilight to her feet and walking out of the cell. That entire exchange told Twilight a lot about her circumstances. Things weren't all black and white here in Tartarus, and there was a small chance that she could actually get herself out of this.
She just had to play her cards right, and try to get an ally here.
“Are you okay?” Starlight asked when they were far enough away from the cell.
“Oh, y-yeah,” Twilight said nervously. Starlight sighed.
“You need to be more careful,” she scolded, “Antagonizing either of them like that won't go unpunished. Tirek is one thing, but if XANA says he'll do something, he will.”
“I know,” Twilight said, “That's probably the most terrifying thing about him,” she looked at Starlight worried, “Y-you're not really going to…”
“What? No,” Starlight said as if it were obvious, “I just wanted to get you away from XANA a bit. Don't worry, he isn't listening in or anything. I already checked. He can only listen if there's a virtual interface. That doesn't mean he can't see us, though.”
Twilight looked up and saw a security camera, wondering if XANA used those to watch them.
“You seem different,” Twilight said, “I noticed before that you didn't look me in the eyes much, and you don't seem to like taking orders from Tirek.”
“You and I are a lot alike, Twilight,” Starlight said sadly.
“So… you're a prisoner too?” Twilight asked.
“More or less,” Starlight said, “I used to be part of a group of hackers called the Equalizers. It was me, my boyfriend, his little sister, and a couple of others. We didn't think it was fair that not everyone had equal opportunities, so we set out to fix that. Do you remember when Flim & Flam inc. went bankrupt?”
“That was you?” Twilight asked, surprised when Starlight nodded.
“Our biggest project was going to set everything right,” Starlight continued tightening her fist, “We had tracked down twelve of the biggest government funded companies, and we planned on hacking into all of their bank accounts and distributing millions of dollars all around America. There would be no upper class, or lower class. Everyone would be equal.”
“So… what happened?” Twilight asked.
“We were sold out!” Starlight shouted turning to Twilight intensely, “One of our members got cold feet, and sold us to the authorities! They didn't even care! They came in and started shooting up the place! Years of hard work, all gone!” Starlight fell to her knees trembling, “The ones who didn't get killed went into hiding. Sunbursts little sister escaped and went off the grid, but they caught me. They told me that I'd either be sentenced to life in prison, or I had to work for them.”
“Which is why you ended up here in Tartarus,” Twilight reasoned, sitting down in front of the crying woman.
“I hated it,” Starlight sobbed, “I was now forced to work with the very enemy I hated. The only reason I agreed was so I could keep them from finding the others. I had planned on rebuilding everything here, and once we started working on the quantum computer I saw my chance. I would steal it, and use it to fix everything. But then XANA appeared, and everything went down hill. XANA found out what I was planning, and told me that if I didn't do what he said, he'd track down everyone I worked with, and kill every last one of them. I hate working for XANA. I hate seeing what he's doing to you and Celestia, but my hands are tied. Maybe not in the literal sense as you, but…”
“I understand,” Twilight said leaning into the woman to comfort her, “You and I are both prisoners here. Listen, Miss Glimmer? I know you're afraid, but I need your help.”
“My help?” Starlight asked, now looking at Twilight nervously.
“My friends have the source codes for Lyoko. With those, we might be able to delete XANA, but they need my ignition program in order to use it. Help us.”
“W-what?” Starlight shook her head quickly getting up, “I can't.”
“Miss Glimmer, please!” Twilight begged standing up, “I know we're young, but my friends-”
“Are just going to end up the same as me and my friends!” Starlight said, “I want to help you. You look so much like me when I was your age, but for your own good, you'll avoid confrontation with XANA.”
“For my own good?!” Twilight asked. She pulled at the rope in Starlight's hand harshly, “Do you think this is for my own good?! Do you think being trapped here, away from my family and friends is for my own good?! Do you think knowing that my favorite person in the whole world is being tortured to death and not being able to even talk to her is for my own good?!” Twilight got so worked up that tears fell from her eyes, “Yes, I'm afraid of XANA! I'm terrified of what he could do, to me and to everyone! But this is hell for me! I miss Applejack! I miss Rainbow Dash! I miss Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Sunset, and Fluttershy! I WANT TO GO HOME!!!”
Twilight broke down completely, and Starlight looked shocked. She looked to the side a bit as if something she said got to her, and then quickly embraced Twilight tightly.
“Shh… it's alright,” Starlight said softly.
“No it isn't!” Twilight sobbed, “You're my only hope! My friends aren't going to find this place without help! You have to help me! Please! Please…”
They spent the rest of their allotted time in that hallway, Twilight's helpless sobs echoing in the entire hall. She prayed that Starlight would help her. At the very least she needed them to know where she was.
And Starlight was her only means to reaching them.
When Applejack woke up, she was greeted with the sensation of someone lying right next to her. She looked to the side to see Rarity lying next to her, more than likely still asleep. When she noticed that only the sheets of her bed covered them, she remembered exactly what happened between them.
At first Applejack's heart was racing. Was last night okay? Applejack didn't really care much about losing her virginity, and Rarity herself had given hers to that asshole Blueblood. What she was more worried about was hurting Rarity. She never wanted to take advantage of her. She had enough of that in her past.
She considered waking Rarity up, but stopped herself when she saw the peaceful look on her face. Applejack couldn't remember the last time Rarity looked so happy. Applejack turned to her side facing Rarity, and lightly caressed her face. After a second, Rarity stirred and slowly opened her eyes.
“Dobroye utro, Applejack,” Rarity said lovingly.
“Mornin, Rarity,” Applejack said softly, “Ah'm sorry if Ah woke ya.”
Rarity shook her head, “Nyet, I was awake. Just resting eyes.”
“Ah see,” Applejack wrapped her arms around Rarity pulling her close, “How are ya feelin? Better from yesterday?”
“Dah,” Rarity said returning the embrace, “I'm with hero.”
“Good,” Applejack said, “Ah was worried. Ah never wanted to hurt ya. Ah was scared that you'd regret last night, since you were so emotional.”
“Regret? Never,” Rarity kissed Applejack softly on the lips before she continued, “Truth is, I think I wanted this for while.”
“R-really?” Applejack asked, blushing a bit.
“Lately, you are always on my mind. More and more, I find myself just needing to be next to you. I've had feeling for about month now. Feeling like… er… it's hard to describe.”
“Take yer time,” Applejack said, “Jus' say what comes naturally. Ah'll understand.”
“It's like… wanting us to be one,” Rarity said slowly, “I would pull you closer, and closer, hoping that you and I would become one person, but I didn't know why. But yesterday, it made sense. I was terrified, but you were first one I reached out to,” tears started to fall from Rarity's eyes, “I've always said it in native tongue… but this time I want there to be no question. Applejack… I love you.”
Applejack didn't think she'd start crying, but when she said that, the tears just came. This wasn't the first time she had said it in English before, but somehow it felt different this time. She meant it with her whole heart and soul. There was no question about it. Rarity felt exactly the same way as Applejack.
“Ah… love you too, Rarity,” Applejack said pulling Rarity closer into a tight embrace. For now, there wasn't anything to worry about. They'd deal with the aftermath when it came up, but for right now, they'd just enjoy lying in each others arms.
Sunset, Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy were surprised as hell to see Applejack and Rarity walk in together for breakfast, as Rarity usually ate at home. They were also surprised to see Rarity in such good spirits after the last attack. Actually, the air around both Applejack and Rarity felt completely different.
“Mornin y'all,” Applejack said letting Rarity sit down first before sitting right next to her. Dash looked intently at them for a second before speaking.
“You two did it, didn't you?” Dash asked, shocking everyone there.
“RAINBOW DASH!!!” Fluttershy shouted slapping her in the arm.
“Aw come on, you and Twilight had the same feel when you did it for the first time,” Dash retaliated.
“Seeing them come in together holding hands was another give away,” Pinkie Pie pointed out.
“Um, Ah don't wanna put Rares on the spot, but…” Applejack said.
“It's fine AJ,” Rarity said patting Applejack's lap before looking Rainbow Dash dead in the eyes, “Dah, AJ and I, er… what is it American's say?”
“Went all the way?” Dash asked, still smirking looking right at Rarity.
“Dah, that,” Rarity said smirking herself, “Do you have anything to say about it?”
Dash closed her eyes chuckling, leaned over the table, and hugged Rarity.
“Only that it's about damn time,” Dash said, “Congrats, you two.”
“Spasibo, Dash,” Rarity said returning the hug.
“Are you sure you should be here though?” Sunset asked, “I mean, with what happened yesterday, you can't be-”
“Trust me,” Applejack said, “Right now, the last place Rares needs ta be is home.”
“Dah,” Rarity said, “Also, Applejack filled me in on what happened on Lyoko. That was Twilight?”
Sunset nodded gravely, “I'm afraid so. XANA used Celestia to blackmail her into planning that attack. The manta onslaught, the specters, hell, possibly even tying you up at the power plant with a bomb was a part of Twilight's plan.”
When Rarity looked down seriously, Applejack placed a hand on her back.
“You alright?” Applejack asked.
“You're not upset at Twilight, are you?” Pinkie Pie asked sadly.
“Nyet,” Rarity said, “All this tells me is that we need to rescue Twilight and Principal Celestia as soon as possible.”
“I agree,” Sunset said, “I'm beginning to think that we can't afford to wait until we can pinpoint her exact location. At this rate, it's going to take us the entire semester to find her.”
“With what happened yesterday, I don't think Twilight can wait that long,” Dash said, “Damn, this is so frustrating!”
“You wanna know what sucks?” Pinkie Pie asked, “Twilight's probably right under our noses.”
“What do you mean by that?” Sunset asked Pinkie Pie, afraid of the answer.
“That's how it usually is,” Pinkie Pie stated moving her food around with her fork, “The main enemy's base is usually in some obscure place right next to you and you don't even realize it. At least, they're original base. Usually the final area is somewhere really crazy like in outer space or something.”
Sunset let her head fall onto the table. Why did she expect any different from Pinkie Pie?
“I hope Twilight's okay,” Fluttershy said somberly looking away, “I hate knowing that I sent her back to XANA.”
“Hey, ya did what ya had to do,” Applejack said, “This jus' shows us how serious this is. XANA's makin direct hits on us now.”
“Thinking about that, Pinkie Pie might be onto something,” Rarity said. Sunset looked up at Rarity deadpanned.
“You don't serious believe Pinkie Pie's gamer logic, do you?” Sunset asked.
“From what we know about XANA, he never does more than he has to,” Rarity said, “The only reason he targeted us directly before was because we were direct threats to him. Once he left super computer, that stopped.”
“Yeah, so?” Dash asked.
“So why did he suddenly target me directly like that?” Rarity asked, “If we assume that we're actually really close to where XANA is keeping Twilight, or possibly doing better than we think, it would make sense for him to try and kill one of us like that.”
Sunset looked at Pinkie Pie, who had the sweetest smile. What was this girl?
“Okay, so how do we pinpoint exactly where she is?” Dash asked, “If Pinkie Pie's right, if we go too far we could shoot ourselves in the foot, again.”
“I can have Spike head to the last tower and pick up on Twilight's virtual scent,” Sunset said, “Trying to find XANA might be too hard with him being a multi agent, but since XANA sent Twilight herself, and she wasn't connected by XANA, Spike could do a search for her instead.”
“Ya mean XANA messed up again?” Applejack asked, “What's with these string of fuck ups?”
“I'm thinking it's trap,” Rarity said, “XANA doesn't make mistakes like this.”
“No, he doesn't,” Sunset said, “But… what if… that wasn't XANA's idea?”
“You mean someone else using XANA?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Perhaps. That whole plan felt odd to me, like it was out of XANA's character. He loves taunting us by using Twilight as a virtual hostage. He's one note, but that entire plan from yesterday wasn't something XANA would have come up with. I hate to say it, but it was TOO good for XANA. That seemed more like something… a human would have come up with.”
“You don't think XANA works for a human, do you?” Applejack asked.
“I think it's possible that XANA has a human partner,” Sunset said, “Sure, he has Twilight as an avatar, but he himself is still bound to the virtual plane. He would need a real world contact.”
“What sort of fucked up human would want to work for XANA?” Dash asked.
“Probably someone who's arrogant enough to think they can control XANA,” Fluttershy said.
“Either way, if that plan was made by XANA's human partner, then we're in luck,” Sunset said, “We can take advantage of this and track down XANA's personal Lyoko. With luck, this time we will be infiltrating a replica.”
Unlike Twilight, Starlight was allowed to move around freely, as long as she returned back to the base at a certain hour. As such, she went to her favorite restaurant to get a bite to eat while she thought about Twilight's words.
She should have known that there wasn't anything that could be done. No one but XANA could release her bindings, and he was too strong for anyone to oppose. If Twilight tried fighting, she'd end up being killed for sure. When you fought the system, it always turned out terrible. XANA was the new system.
But it wasn't fair for her to be trapped here either. She was only a child, and she was suffering even more than Starlight. She had no freedom, she was torn away from anyone who loved her, and the only contact she had came from her Boss/Master and XANA, both of which who got great pleasure in taunting her.
And then there was that name Twilight said. Was one of her friends…?
“I don't know what to do,” Starlight groaned.
“Having trouble at work, Starlight?” the waitress asked walking up to her.
“Hey Azure,” Starlight said to the blue haired woman with the pink bow in her hair, “Maybe a little.”
“That looks like more than a little,” Azure said, “What's bothering you, hon?”
“Azure, I…” as usual she had to choose her words carefully, “I met someone today who's in a really bad situation. She asked me for help, but…”
“You don't want to help her?” Azure asked.
“It's not that I don't want to help her, it's just…” Starlight sighed, “I don't know if I can help her. Her situation is pretty hopeless, and if I'm being honest, mine isn't much better either. Me helping her could just make things worse for both of us.”
“Hm… that is a problem,” Azure said thoughtfully, “Is her situation really that bad? She's not exaggerating at all?”
“Oh no, she's not,” Starlight said, “It's really screwed up.”
“And… she can't get out of this situation herself, or ask anyone else?”
“No. I'm literally the only one right now who can help her,” Starlight admitted looking down somberly.
“Well then, why not give it a shot?” Azure asked.
“Because if this messes up, then we could both end up in a lot of trouble!” Starlight said.
“But what's the alternative? You telling her that she should just suck it up and deal with the hand life dealt her? From what you just told me, that doesn't seem to be much of an option.”
Starlight wanted to challenge that, but immediately remembered when Twilight broke down in front of her. She couldn't stay here and retain her sanity. The poor thing probably was losing that bit by bit.
“I don't know what's going on,” Azure said turning away, “but if I had the power to help someone, I'd rather try and fail, than to have never tried at all.”
Azure walked off, leaving Starlight to her thoughts. Could she really help Twilight? No, what she could do was limited. But what could she do? How could he help Twilight get back to her friends?
Her friends…?
“I pray this doesn't bite me in the ass later,” Starlight said pulling out her personal tablet, “But if she's really friends with her, then this just might work. I just hope Sunburst's sister remembers this strategy.”
“Alright then, I'll let her know,” Luna said into her office phone, “Is there anything you want to say to her? I could probably-” the woman on the other end's accent was thick, but Luna could understand her well enough, “Yes, I suppose right now giving her space would be the best option. I apologize for everything, Mrs. Dostoevskaia,” Luna smiled at the words of the woman on the other end, “I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that. Have a good night.”
Luna hung up the phone and sat back in the chair relaxing after taking care of that last big issue. Luna contacted Rarity's parents immediately once she learned that she was at the school. She and Applejack had spent the entire day cutting class, and while normally Luna would have thrown a fit, she felt that they needed the time together.
Luna's attention turned to the picture of her with Celestia and a much younger Twilight. Seeing that picture, and realizing that she was the only one not currently being held by XANA in it, put a lump in her throat. She missed them dearly.
KNOCK KNOCK
“Um, Lulu, are you in?” Fluttershy called out from outside, “If you're busy, I can come back later.”
“Please, come in Fluttershy,” Luna said. Fluttershy opened the door and slowly walked in, shuffling nervously.
“Um, I'm sorry to come into your office unannounced,” Fluttershy said, "I heard you were taking care of some important work..."
“Yes, I just finished talking to Rarity's mother,” Luna said, “She feels that for the time being it would be best for Rarity to stay at the dorms, at least until things calm down at home.”
“I see…” Fluttershy said softly. Luna remembered that back before the whole XANA incident, Fluttershy was extremely introverted to the point of social anxiety. Seeing her come out of her shell so much was nice, but lately it seemed like she was beginning to withdraw into herself again.
I owe it to Sombra to not let that happen.
“Is… something on your mind, Fluttershy?” Luna asked Fluttershy, who jumped nervously.
“Oh! Um, it's nothing really… I mean, I did want something, but um…” she sighed and turned to the door, about to leave.
“Fluttershy,” Luna said walking over to her and taking her hand, “I know that before you and I weren't really close, but I was a different person back then, with my own set of issues.”
“I guess… you'd rather not talk about it though…?” Fluttershy asked with a slight smile, who coughed blushing.
“Ahem, glad you understand,” Luna said, “My point is that I have matured a lot since then, and as someone who knew your father well, I wish to be in your life now. Are you still bothered by Twilight's actions yesterday?”
“A little…” Fluttershy said turning to Luna, “Um, can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” Luna said as they walked back into the office to sit down.
“What is Miss Tia to Twilight?” Fluttershy asked.
“What is she to Twilight, hm? Well, it's kind of difficult to describe. I suppose the best way is to tell you how they met,” Luna said sitting back at her desk.
“You don't mind telling me?” Fluttershy asked.
“I think this time, I wouldn't mind talking about it,” Luna said smiling, “You see, Twilight is known as a genius now, but back in elementary school she had a liot trouble. She would ask her teachers to go over things that multiple times, she couldn't wrap her head around more basic concepts, and couldn't get anything higher than a C in anything. Her teachers were frustrated with her, as were her parents. She could learn, but it was hard using conventional means.
“When she was eight years old, her parents enrolled her into the school that Celestia and I were teaching at before coming here. Celestia at the time was a third grade homeroom teacher, and was drawn to Twilight. She saw something special in her. She might have even seen a bit of herself in Twilight. I remember how upset Celestia was when she spoke to Twilight's parents.”
Six years ago
“You think she's slow?” Celestia asked wide eyed, currently wearing a light green and golden dress and fancy boots.
“We've tried everything,” Twilight's mother, Velvet said with a saddened sigh, “We know she's capable, but she has such a hard time in class. Her other teachers-”
Celestia slammed her hands on the table in front of her, “I'm not her other teachers!” she sat back down and composed herself before continuing, “The problem isn't Twilight. It's NEVER Twilight. Whenever a student has trouble learning in class, the fault lies with the teacher. Twilight is a bright student with infinite potential, and I promise you that I will not rest until she sees it herself!”
“Miss Tia was really passionate about helping Twilight,” Fluttershy said.
“She must have felt like she failed you,” Luna said, “She allowed her fears to consume her, and abandoned you in the super computer. The thing about Tia is that when she's grieving, she goes all into whatever she's doing at the time. Her determination to not abandon anyone else again drove her to look out for Twilight.
“So Celestia became Twilight's personal tutor. Through her interactions with Twilight, she learned that Twilight was actually a savant. She couldn't wrap her head around simpler concepts, but she could understand more complicated ones. Celestia also saw that Twilight learned better when left to her own devices. You see, Twilight has her own logic. It's difficult to explain, and it doesn't really make sense to anyone else, but it makes perfect sense to Twilight. Celestia never told Twilight that the way she thought was wrong, or that she was a slow learner.
“But that's not all Celestia did for Twilight. Even after Twilight jumped to the fourth grade and beyond, Celestia remained a constant in her life, always checking on her, helping her keep up with her lessons, she'd even invite Twilight to come with us on special trips. While her parents were a little distant toward Twilight, Celestia and myself actually, were always there for her.
“We became the principals of Canterlot High right around the same time that Twilight was going into high school. We immediately jumped at the chance to enroll Twilight here, as Celestia thought it would be the best place for her. Most of the students thought Twilight didn't have any friends, but the truth is, I think she had one. She spent more time with Celestia than anyone else.”
“So that's why she went so far,” Fluttershy said looking ashamed, “Twilight really loves Miss Tia.”
“That she does,” Luna said, “It's sad to say, but she's more of a mother to Twilight than her biological mother. I don't blame her though. Twilight wouldn't be an easy child to raise. It takes a special person to raise a child, and since Celestia can't have any of her own…”
“She can't?” Fluttershy asked wide eyed.
“She was in an accident a few years before she met Twilight,” Luna explained sadly, “Though she recovered, her uterus was badly damaged, so…”
“Oh dear…” Fluttershy looked like she was on the verge of tears now, “I feel awful.”
“Why?” Luna asked.
“When Twilight was afraid XANA would kill Miss Tia, I don't think I was sensitive enough to her feelings. Even now, I've been more worried about rescuing Twilight, even though Miss Tia is in just as much danger, if not more.”
“Fluttershy, you still did the right thing by calming Twilight down,” Luna said, “You gave her hope. I'd love to get Celestia out of wherever she is right now, but XANA is a direct threat to Twilight right now. I'd like to think that Celestia would want us to prioritize Twilight's safety.”
“Well yeah, but…” Fluttershy's cellphone buzzed. She looked at it and saw it was Sunset Shimmer, “Um, hello?”
“Fluttershy, you have to come quickly!” Sunset said, “I… it's… just come to the factory!”
“Should I bring Lulu with me?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yes, please!” Sunset said, “I've already called the others, including Discord. They're on their way!”
Sunset hung up the phone, and Fluttershy looked at Luna, who raised an eyebrow.
“Are we needed?” Luna asked.
“Sunset told me to bring you as well,” Fluttershy said, “Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” Luna said standing up, “We can take my car. Come Fluttershy.”
A few minutes later, the elevator opened, and Fluttershy and Luna finally walked in. They were the last ones to arrive.
“Looks like we got a full house today,” Applejack said smirking at Luna, “Welcome back ta HQ.”
“It's good to be back, Chief,” Luna said returning the smirk, “Hope you weren't in too much trouble without me holding your hand.”
“Now that everyone's here,” Sunset said, “I can show you guys what I just got.”
Sunset opened up a tad, revealing an email. All that was written in the email were two sets of numbers:
Twilight: 56 LAT, 17 LONG
Celestia: 14 LAT 18 LONG
“Okay, that's odd,” Dash said, “What do you think this means?”
“Well, I was confused too, so I had Spike check the coordinates on the Digital Sea, and I found…” Sunset pulled open the map of the Digital Sea, which now had two locations marked, “These two replicas.”
“You don't think these are where Twilight and Celestia are, do you?” Rarity asked.
“It's kinda fishy,” Applejack stated, “Why all of a sudden?”
“Whoever sent this email was SUPER careful,” Sunset said, “I almost missed it. Not only was it disguised as spam, but it was so encrypted that I had to spend a majority of my time here just getting the damn thing open. Honestly, I don't think even XANA would have been able to get into this.”
“So, we're going, right?” Dash asked.
“Dash, we can't just-” Sunset was cut off by Dash slamming her hand on the dashboard.
“Why the hell not?! Look, the worst thing that could happen is that it turns out to be another trap set by XANA, and that's nothing new. We've got everyone here, just about, including two of the Lyoko Architects. If worst comes to worst, they can pull us out. But what if this is legit? What if we're looking at where Twilight is right now? I don't know about you guys, but I'm not all too keen on spending another week on filler and grinding if I can avoid it. Twilight is my friend, and since I already have a bit of a reckless streak, I'm just gonna say it. With or without you guys, I'm going into Lyoko!”
“I'm going with her!” Pinkie Pie said suddenly, “I want our team to be complete again, and I'm really scared for Twilight and Celestia. Besides, I feel like this is the real deal. Someone on the inside is helping us. If Dashie is going, then so am I.”
Applejack grumbled for a second, “What the hell, Ah'm with 'em too.”
“Applejack, come on,” Sunset groaned, “You're supposed to be the rational one.”
“Rationality was thrown out the window when XANA tried ta kill Rarity,” Applejack said sternly, “Ah say we at least investigate this. If this turns out ta be real, we gotta go for it.”
“Dah,” Rarity added, “I'm going in too. I want to put end to this fight as quickly as possible. If this is means of ending fight, then I'm for it.”
Sunset sighed pinching the bridge of her nose, “I suppose you're siding with this crazy plan too, Fluttershy?”
“More or less,” Fluttershy said, “But, I think… we should search for Miss Tia first.”
That surprised everyone, who thought she'd be the main one jumping at a chance to rescue Twilight.
“Fluttershy, are ya sure?” Applejack asked.
“I am,” Fluttershy said, “Think about it. Miss Tia has been captured the longest, so she's probably in the worst condition. In terms of rescuing Twilight, we might need Miss Tia's help. Also,” she turned to Luna and Discord, “We're not the only ones who lost a friend to XANA. I think they're just as worried about Miss Tia as we are for Twilight.”
“XANA is going to continue using Twilight,” Luna said, “If we rescue my sister first though, we might be able to take away the last edge that XANA has over her. Plus, we can be sure that Twilight's location is heavier guarded than Celestia's.”
“I think you've been outvoted, Sunset,” Discord said with a smile, “Sometimes, there's a time to be careful, and a time to be reckless. This might be time for the latter.”
Sunset looked at everyone and sighed.
“Well, it wouldn't hurt to investigate,” she turned to the computer, “Alright. First I'm going to send the core team to Lyoko so we can take the Argo. Once we're there and the way tower is tagged, I'll have the architects transfer in, and we can split up the teams from there,” she turned to everyone, “The second it looks like you guys are about to die, I'm pulling you out, okay?”
Everyone nodded, and Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack ran to the elevator, taking it down to the scanner room.
“Transfer Applejack!” Sunset said as Applejack got into her scanner.
“Transfer Rarity!” Sunset continued, Rarity stepping into her scanner.
“Scanner Applejack!” Sunset said, now rendering Applejack's avatar.
“Scanner Rarity!” Sunset said, waiting until Rarity's avatar finished rendering before pressing the enter key, “Virtualization!”
This time, Applejack and Rarity took form in Sector 5. A second after they dropped down, they heard Sunset get to work on the second group coming in.
“Transfer Rainbow Dash!” Sunset said, closing Dash's scanner as she entered it.
“Transfer Pinkie Pie!” Sunset said as Pinkie Pie skipped into her scanner, closing it.
“Transfer Fluttershy!” Sunset said, Fluttershy slowly walking into her scanner as it closed.
On Sunset's computer, Rainbow Dash's avatar started rendering, “Scanner Rainbow Dash!”
Next, Pinkie Pie's avatar came up and rendered, “Scanner Pinkie Pie!”
Finally, Fluttershy's avatar rendered, “Scanner Fluttershy! Virtualization!”
Right above Applejack and Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy rendered into Lyoko and dropped down.
“Launching Spike program! Transfer!” Sunset said from the real world. Behind the girls, Spike rendered and gave a determined howl, “I set up the short cut, so you guys can take that to the Argo.”
The five girls and their cybernetic canine companion ran to what looked like an elevator. Once all six of them were on it, the platform rose up at high speed, stopped, and then moved quickly to the right. When it stopped, they ran to the hanger for the Argo.
Fluttershy and Spike stood in the center circle while the others stood on the smaller ones, they vanished, all appearing in their respective cockpits (Spike sitting in the main one with Fluttershy). The Argo detached itself from the field suspending it, and it flew out to the tunnel leading outside of Sector 5.
Once outside, the machine dropped into the water, exiting the sphere that led to their Lyoko and emerging in the Digital Sea.
HOLOWEB SYSTEM
ACTIVATED
The Argo changed to its travel mode, and Fluttershy activated the jets, driving the vessel in the direction of the Lyoko replica closest to them. The one that supposedly had Celestia in it.
Back in a darkened computer room, Starlight Glimmer was sitting at her desk watching the ship disembark on her radar.
“Godspeed, kids,” Starlight said, praying that she didn't send these kids to their deaths. Twilight seemed to believe in them, so she just had to believe as well. She quickly disconnected her computer, and then exited the private room, pretending to be working.
At about halfway to their destination, the entire Digital Sea changed from blue to red, and an alarm was heard.
“Think XANA knows we're here?” Applejack asked.
“This just proves this isn't a trap,” Dash said, “He wouldn't have attacked this soon otherwise.”
“We are close, dah?” Rarity asked.
“About halfway there,” Sunset said, “Fluttershy, try and continue the trip. Everyone else, deploy and defend the Argo.”
“Launching assault drones,” Fluttershy said pulling down four switches on her dashboard. The four small vessels that her friends were sitting in disconnected from the ships main body and flew off in separate directions.
A swarm of monsters that looked like piranhas with long tails swam over to the Argo. These were called kongres, and were the most common monsters found in the Digital Sea. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both flew right into the swarm of monsters.
“Eat this!” Dash shouted, firing a torpedo right into the swarm. Most of the Kongres flew away, but a small group of them were shot down and instantly killed by her attack. Pinkie Pie flew up chasing another group. She fired her torpedoes at the group, using her lock on feature to kill them, but another group fired at her from behind with their eye lasers.
“Hey, I got bogies on my tail!” Pinkie Pie cried.
Applejack, who became a bit of the ace in these missions, flew right over to Pinkie Pie's ship and fired at the kongres, destroying them.
“Thanks Fox,” Pinkie Pie said jokingly.
“One of these days, yer gonna tell me why ya keep callin me that out here,” Applejack said shaking her head.
A few other monsters swam up to the Argo, these looking like black and white sharks without eyes. The three monsters opened their mouths and fired missiles at the Argo, knocking it off balance.
“AHH!!!” Fluttershy screamed. She looked ahead and saw the Lyoko replica they were trying to reach right behind the sharks.
“Fluttershy, hang on!” Rarity called out flying over to the main ship. She fired her torpedoes at the sharks, killing one, but the other swam out of the way. It fired at Rarity, knocking her back away from the Argo.
“Rarity!” Fluttershy cried. She then targeted the last shark and fired her own torpedoes at it, killing it. Once all the monsters were cleared, the sea turned blue again, “I'm bringing you all back in. Recovery.”
Fluttershy pulled the switched again, and the four attack drones flew back to the Argo latching on. Rainbow Dash naturally did a fancy stunt flying around before landing back in place.
“We're almost there,” Sunset said, “Once we're there, tag the way tower so we can work there.”
“Got it,” Fluttershy said, flying the Argo to the replica.
After opening the pathway and going inside, the Argo emerged to find themselves not in any of the outer sectors. It looked like Sector 5.
“Sunset, Ah think this place is a replica of Sector 5,” Applejack said.
“That proves it,” Sunset said, “This is the only Sector 5 replica we've found so far.”
“I don't see the way tower,” Fluttershy said, “I think we're going to need our Tera-Bikes for this place.”
“I can at least send those,” Sunset said, “Rarity, Rainbow Dash, you two go with Fluttershy to tag the way tower. Once that's done, I'll bring the Argo and everyone else to the tower and we can send Discord and Luna into Lyoko.”
Everyone was transported out of the Argo, and Rarity and Rainbow Dash's Tera-Bikes rendered in front of them. Rarity and Dash drove off, and Fluttershy flew after them. On the road, bikers appeared driving after the girls on the road.
“Hey, my old friends!” Dash said with a smirk, “I missed ya guys!” She drove her bike's trail in the way of a biker, making him crash into it and explode.
Rarity slowed down suddenly, causing two bikers to drive ahead of her. She then charged up her sword and slashed at the air, sending a shock wave through the bikers destroying them in one shot. Two mantas flew in and fired at Rarity, causing her to drive out of control.
“Light Arrow!” Fluttershy shouted, firing at one of the mantas impaling it, but the other one flew in her direction and began firing at her while chasing her.
“Fluttershy, I'll get him off you!” Dash said driving up to them. She threw a kunai at the manta to get its attention, “Hey, over here!” she called out to the manta. The monster flew toward Rainbow Dash as she drove down the road firing at her, and Fluttershy fired a Light Arrow at the monster, killing in instantly.
After a little while of riding and dealing with incoming monsters, they found a single tower standing on a platform. Fluttershy landed in front of it and phased inside. She then ran to the center of the tower and allowed herself to be lifted up to the top platform. She elegantly landed and walked over to the control panel, hacking into the tower and sending the information to the Sunset in the real world.
“Alright, I got it,” Sunset said, “I'm going to move the Argo to the tower. Luna, Discord, you two should get ready.”
Luna and Discord nodded and ran to the elevator, taking it down to the scanner room. Once Sunset moved the Argo and led everyone else to the tower, she connected to the Argo and set up the transfer.
“Transfer Luna!” Sunset said as Luna slowly walked into the scanner before it closed.
“Transfer Discord!” Sunset said as Discord walked inside of his scanner, bowing elegantly.
On the computer, Sunset rendered Luna's avatar, “Scanner Luna!”
Finally on the computer, Sunset watched as Discord's avatar rendered, “Scanner Discord! Virtualization!”
She pressed the enter key, and the two of them were pulled into Lyoko.
The Argo moved into position as Luna and Discord rendered into Lyoko and dropped down next to Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie Pie and Applejack drove to them on their Tera-Bikes, and Spike jumped off from the Argo, as he was sitting on top of it as it moved.
“So, who are we sendin up?” Applejack asked.
“I'm going,” Fluttershy said, “If Celestia is here, I need to be here to use the super computer.”
“I'm going as well,” Luna said, “My sister may be here. I am partially to blame for her capture, so I must rectify this error.”
“If she's going, I don't think I'll be needed out there,” Discord said, “Mind you, I'd love to be there, but I'm willing to bet XANA's going to send his crew here to destroy our ride in a bit.”
“Ah'll stay here with Discord,” Applejack said, “Rares, can you go with them?”
“Dah,” Rarity said nodding.
“I'm going out there too,” Dash said, “You need a long range fighter, and I can use my super speed to search the base for Celestia.”
“I'll stay here with Spikey,” Pinkie Pie said petting Spike, who barked in confirmation.
“Alright, I'm transferring everyone going to the real world into the Argo,” Sunset said, “That's Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Luna,” as she spoke, said members all transported into the Argo, Luna appearing inside Applejack's cockpit.
“Translate Fluttershy!” Sunset said as Fluttershy vanished from the main cockpit.
“Translate Rarity!” Sunset said, Rarity looking up seriously as she vanished.
“Translate Rainbow Dash!” Sunset said, Dash grinning in anticipation as she vanished. This was her favorite part.
“Translate Luna!” Sunset finished, Luna folding her arms with her eyes closed as she vanished.
Four orbs of light and electricity formed right outside a base that seemed to be near a mountain at night. The four lights took form, becoming Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Luna in their Lyoko forms. Once they completely translated, Rainbow Dash ran to gate looking inside, where she saw military men guarding the main entrance of the base.
“Yeah, this looks important,” Dash said, “Those guys don't look like specters.”
“Odd,” Luna said walking up to her, “All the replicas you've found before were always guarded by specters or machines, right?”
“Dash, you go and disable guards, dah?” Rarity asked.
“Leave it to me,” Dash said pulling out a kunai. Luna held her hand out before she could run out though, “Huh?”
“Let me,” Luna said looking out at the guards, “I can knock them out without killing them.”
“How can you get over there without being seen though?” Fluttershy asked.
“Quite easily actually,” Luna said smirking, “Super Smoke!” a black mist appeared underneath Luna, and it looked like she fell into the ground. As the mist moved over to the guards, the three girls looked at it surprised.
“Not gonna lie, that's pretty hot,” Dash said.
“Kind of creepy, if you ask me,” Rarity said folding her arms.
The black mist moved behind the guards and stopped, and Luna slowly rose out of the mist with her arms folded. The guards, sensing danger, turned around to face Luna right before she grabbed their heads and slammed them into each other, knocking them both out.
Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy ran over to the gate.
“You are the coolest adult I've ever seen!” Dash cheered.
“Thank you,” Luna said proudly, “That technique is one of my favorites. Combat isn't just about throwing out everything that you have. A true warrior knows the importance of avoiding combat when able.”
“Huh…” Dash said looking down at her kunai. It looked like she really took to what Luna said.
“Sunset, can you get a read on what's inside?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah, and let me tell you, this place is huge,” Sunset said, “But, I see something really odd in the lower section of the base.”
“That's probably super computer,” Rarity said, “We'll need that to get Celestia out, dah?”
“I think you guys understand how this will work,” Sunset said, “I don't know where the dungeons are though.”
“I think… I might be able to lead us there. Follow me,” Luna said running into the base, and the girls ran after her closely.
“DAMIEN!!!” XANA screamed in Twilight's body, bursting into main computer room where Tirek and Starlight were, “The girls have found our base in Germany!”
“What?!” Tirek exclaimed, “How did that happen?!”
“You tell me!” XANA ordered grabbing Tirek by the neck, “That Lyoko sector is encrypted! Literally the only way they'd know would be if someone told them!”
“I wouldn't be that stupid to let that information slip!” Tirek defended, “Contrary to how you see me right now, I'm on your side!”
XANA turned to the side with a glare.
It was you, wasn't it?! You led them here when you faced them, didn't you?!
Looking for someone to blame, XANA? Sorry, but I'm not taking responsibility for this. Maybe your plan isn't so fool proof after all.
“This is why I hate working with humans!” XANA said, “Starlight!”
Starlight shot up to attention, “Yes Master XANA!”
“Translate Twilight into the Germany base!” XANA ordered, “I'll send monsters to attack the ones still in Lyoko, but I'm dealing with this issue personally!”
“Understood, Master XANA,” Starlight said with a bow. XANA exited Twilight's body, and created virtual bands around her arms and waist. Tirek quickly pulled Twilight over to the scanner, but she met eyes with Starlight briefly. Starlight nodded subtly to her, and Twilight was wide eyed.
She did help her.
Tirek threw Twilight into the scanner as Starlight reluctantly got to work.
“Transfer Twilight,” Starlight said closing her scanner and pulling up Twilight's altered avatar, “Scanner Twilight. Virtualization,” inside the transparent scanner, there was a white flash and Twilight vanished from the real world.
“Locking onto the Germany HQ,” Starlight continued, “Translate Twilight.”
“You seem odd today,” Tirek pointed out walking over to Starlight, “More somber than usual, woman.”
“Honestly Mr. Tirek, I'm just tired of fighting teenage girls,” Starlight said quite honestly.
“It's a shame we can't kill them in the virtual plane,” Tirek said.
“Y-yeah,” Starlight agreed, but she looked away somberly to hide how she really felt about that. This was exactly what she was afraid would happen. Once they failed in rescuing Celestia, XANA would hunt them down and kill them in the real world next.
No, she had to believe in them. They hadn't failed yet.
Back in Lyoko, everyone was sitting patiently by the Argo. Discord and Pinkie Pie sat down in front of the tower playing cards, and Applejack was with Spike near the Argo petting him. All of a sudden, Spike's ears perked up and his eyes flashed red as an alarm was heard. Spike stood up and growled looking ahead.
“Guys, Spike senses XANA!” Applejack said standing up and pulling out her guns. Discord and Pinkie Pie shot up and got in fighting stances just as four mantas flew in their direction.
“Oh, is that the best you've got XANA?” Discord said throwing cards at the mantas, “You really need to-” a red laser shot Discord in the side, bringing him to one knee.
Discord: 70 HP
“Discord!” Pinkie Pie said running to his aid. She looked and saw two creepers walking over to them. They fired again, but this time Pinkie Pie pushed Discord out of the way and then ran over to them on all fours.
As the creepers fired at her, Pinkie Pie jumped to the side out of the way and then rolled into a ball tackling one of the creepers knocking it back. Discord jumped into the air and threw down three cards that exploded, killing one of them.
The remaining creeper started firing at Discord, who spun around like a top and swerved out of the way of all of its shots. While the creeper was focused on Discord, Pinkie Pie pressed the balloon shaped emblem on her collar.
“Limit Break!” she shouted. She then turned into a ball and rolled over to the creeper, but instead of tackling it, she began slashing at it with her claws at high speed. Her final attack in her combo consisted of her kicking the creeper high into the air, and then jumping after it as a ball and rolling, damaging it with her body.
“Not bad,” Discord said, “I wish I had one of those Limit Break things.”
“Yeah, it's a shame you and Luna are only temporary party members,” Pinkie Pie said landing in front of Discord, “I mean, you don't have Limit Breaks, but you have killer stats.”
“Aw shucks,” Discord said, pretending to be bashful.
Applejack and Spike focused on firing at the mantas. One manta got a lucky shot in knocking Spike back.
Spike: 80 HP
“Spike!” Applejack cried. Before she could retaliate, two mantas fired at her at the same time.
Applejack: 40 HP
“Applejack, be careful!” Sunset cried, “That attack already knocked out half of your hit points!”
Before Applejack could get back up, three more creepers walked over to her and started firing in her direction. Spike got up and ran to the creepers, turning into a razor wheel and slicing through one, turning around, and slicing through another. She stopped next to Applejack, charged up a fireball, and shot it at the final creeper, actually burning it to death.
“Thanks Spike!” Applejack said, Spike howling in response. The mantas fired in their direction again, and Applejack saw another group of creepers approaching them, some of them walking over to the Argo, “Sunset, how close are they to findin Principal Celestia?”
“I think they're getting close,” Sunset said, “Luna seems to know where she's going.”
“Good. Ah'm countin on ya, Lulu,” Applejack said returning fire on the mantas while Spike ran off to deal with the creepers attacking the Argo.
As Luna led the team through the base, they ran into a number of soldiers. Luna insisted on dealing with them in nonlethal manners if possible, so she and Dash stayed ahead knocking them out in various ways.
After a few minutes, Luna stopped in front of a sealed door with an electric password lock.
“Hold,” she said as they girls stopped near her, “I think this is it.”
“How do you know?” Fluttershy asked.
“When XANA corrupted me, I went here once,” Luna said, “If I'm right, then…” she pushed a few random buttons on the keypad, and the light above the keypad turned green. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy looked in awe as Luna slowly opened the door…
And inside, was Celestia.
Her wrists were chained to the ceiling above her, and her ankles were shackled to the floor. She was in her white bra and panties, but except for the weak and broken appearance, she was pretty well kept.
“I expected Principal to be in worse condition,” Rarity pointed out.
“Honestly, the fact that she isn't in worse condition is a little more disturbing,” Dash pointed out.
“XANA likes to keep his “toys” in good pristine condition,” Luna said tightening her fists and walking over to Celestia, “Tia! Tia, wake up!”
Celestia stirred and opened her eyes, but then looked at Luna in fear, “No…! No!”
“Tia, it's me!” Luna said grabbing her frantic older sister by the shoulders, “Twilight and her friends saved me from XANA! I remember everything!”
“No! It's a trick!” Celestia cried, “XANA is trying to fool me! I won't believe it! I won't!”
“When we were teenagers, you took me the Renaissance Fair! You dressed up as a princess in a white dress, and put me in a black and blue dress that I hated because it was too frumpy! Right before lunch, two knights started courting you and you got pulled into an annoying tournament where the knights all fought for your hand in marriage! I secretly joined the tournament as a knight wearing full black armor, and won the tournament! Afterward, I took off my helmet, and you ran into my arms saying-”
“Thank you… oh brave night… for rescuing me… My life and love… belong to you…!” Celestia finished, tearing up, “Luna…! It's really you this time…!”
“Celestia!” Luna cried embracing her sister, “I'm sorry for everything! I was jealous of you, but I never wanted this! Can you ever forgive me?”
“Dear sister,” Celestia said leaning into Luna, “I forgave you the night it happened. I'm just… so happy that you're my beloved sister again.”
“Girls, help me with these!” Luna urged. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy ran to them and started fiddling with the chains, but Celestia shook her head.
“Girls, you're wasting your time,” Celestia said sadly, “These chains were created by XANA's data, meant to keep me eternally bound. There's no way to remove them. Please, just leave me here.”
“No!” Luna said, “I'm not leaving without you!” she pulled out her sword and used it to try and pry the chains apart, “If I hadn't allowed XANA to manipulate me, I might have been able to protect you! I've always protected you, Celestia, so I will save you!”
Fluttershy turned to the door and gasped, “Everyone, look out!” she cried too late, as a white blast shot into the cell knocking Luna, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash back.
Luna: 80% sync rate
Rainbow Dash: 75% sync rate
Rarity: 80% sync rate
Fluttershy: 60% sync rate
“Can't let you do that, Lyoko Warriors,” XANA said, Twilight dressed like her Lyoko avatar. Celestia looked at XANA, eyes wide in horror.
“T-Twilight…?” Celestia asked.
“XANA…!” Rarity seethed standing up and drawing her sword.
“Ooh, you actually had the nerve to fight again?” XANA said charging up another attack, “I would have thought after Twilight tried to kill you, you'd never come back.”
“I won't stop fighting,” Rarity said, “Not until Twilight is home!”
“We'll hold her off!” Dash said standing next to Rarity, “Lulu, you and Fluttershy need to get Celestia out of here to the scanner room!”
The two of them charged at XANA knocking her out of the cell. Fluttershy knelt down near the chains on Celestia's ankles examining them.
“Sunset, is there a way to break these?” Fluttershy asked.
“Hold on,” Sunset said, “I think can disrupt XANA's connection to them. Fluttershy, use your powers to establish a connection to the chains. Once they phase out a bit, Luna has to strike them with her sword. Doing that should delete the entire set.”
“Got it,” Luna said getting her sword ready, “Let's do it.”
Fluttershy held her hands at the chains and started singing.
“Okay… and now!” Sunset said. The chains turned into static, and Luna struck them with her sword, Celestia screaming in shock. Unfortunately, Luna missed the timing and the chains reinforced themselves.
“Damn!” Luna swore.
“Sunset, the chains look a little different,” Fluttershy said.
“It looks like the chains got stronger,” Sunset said, “They must be designed to get stronger based on the impact they receive.”
“See?” Celestia said helplessly, “XANA has planned this too perfectly. Please, just escape before he gets you all as well.”
Luna looked at Celestia intently, and then got her sword ready, “Fluttershy, Sunset, get ready for the second attempt,” Celestia looked at Luna wide eyed.
“Got it,” Fluttershy said. She began singing again, and the chains turned into static again. Luna charged up her sword and struck the chains again, once again just missing her timing. This time the chains turned silver.
Luna screamed in frustration and slammed a fist on the nearby wall.
“Luna, I-”
“Shut. Up,” Luna seethed, “No one here is giving up yet, and that includes you. Again!”
As they continued to work, Celestia looked at them unsure.
Rainbow Dash ran across the hall throwing her kunai at XANA, who elegantly flipped out of the way of the assaults. She fired an energy blast at Rainbow Dash, but Rarity held out her hand creating a white magic circle to defend Dash.
Rarity ran over to XANA and slashed at her wildly, but XANA moved out of the way of all of her attacks, held her hand at Rarity's stomach and fired a blast knocking her back.
Rarity: 65% sync rate
Rarity flipped to her feet as Rainbow Dash charged over to XANA with two kunai ready. She threw her kunai one by one at XANA, who was able to dodge one, but got hit by the second one.
Twilight: 65% sync rate
“Ugh, I hate how weak Twilight's body is,” XANA said dusting herself off.
“If you hate it so much, why don't you let her have it back?” Rainbow Dash said.
“Oh Rainbow Dash,” XANA said sauntering over to Dash, “If I did that, I couldn't keep tormenting you all.”
Dash growled and threw another kunai at XANA, who flipped out of the way and fired a large blast at Rainbow Dash knocking her far back into a wall.
“Dash!” Rarity cried watching her fly back.
Rainbow Dash: 15% sync rate
Rarity charged up her sword and fired a shock wave at XANA, who ran toward Rarity and slid on her knees under the attack. Rarity slashed down at XANA, but she rolled to the side and fired a small beam at Rarity, who blocked with her sword. Rarity kicked XANA to the ground and was about to stab her, but XANA was engulfed in red electricity, switching with Twilight who looked up at Rarity in fear.
“Rarity!” Twilight cried.
“Twilight?!” Rarity exclaimed.
“Don't stop!” Twilight urged, “You have to devirtualize me before-” she screamed as XANA took over again, “Too late!”
XANA fired, but Rainbow Dash used her Super Sprint to shove Rarity out of the way just in time, both of them landing a bit away from XANA.
“Stop playing dirty!” Dash shouted throwing a kunai at XANA. XANA kicked it away, but Dash sprinted over to her and slashed, punched, and kicked, all of which XANA dodged. Right when it looked like a punch was about to hit her, XANA switched out with Twilight, who in her shock fell back away from Dash's attack.
“Damn it!” Dash shouted. Before Twilight could say anything, XANA took over again and fired at Rainbow Dash, knocking her to the ground.
Rainbow Dash: Desynchronization is imminent. Returning to Virtual Space.
Rainbow Dash turned to static and faded away. XANA stood up and sauntered over to Rarity charging up her next attack.
“One down,” XANA taunted. Rarity tightly gripped her sword, bracing herself for the incoming attack. XANA had a perfect plan, and even though her synchronization gauge had probably gone back to max by now, Twilight's powers could easily bring her back down to zero, sending her back to Lyoko.
She was the only one keeping XANA away from Celestia, Luna, and Fluttershy.
Rainbow Dash reappeared in her cockpit in the Argo, and slowly opened her eyes. Outside it didn't look much better, as there were creepers everywhere and mantas flying around firing at her friends.
“Sunset, why didn't you tell me it was this bad on Lyoko?!” Dash asked.
“Oh, sorry Dash,” Sunset said sarcastically, “I'm just trying to keep up with THREE screens at once! I have XANA fighting Rarity on one screen, the fight on Lyoko on another, and my main project is helping Fluttershy and Luna release Celestia!”
“Sorry,” Dash said rolling her eyes, “Just get me out there so I can join the fight before someone eats it!”
“Got it!” Sunset said, transporting Rainbow Dash outside the Argo. She had to roll out of the way as two creepers nearby tried firing at her, but they were sliced in two by Spike, who had taken to defending their ride home.
“Good boy, Spike!” Dash said. Spike barked in response and fired at two creepers before they could get to the Argo. Dash ran over to Pinkie Pie's side and threw a kunai at a creeper she was fighting killing it.
“Dashie!” Pinkie Pie cried running to Rainbow Dash and hugging her, “What happened in the real world?”
“XANA crashed the party, that's what,” Dash said, “Hopefully they'll be fine though.”
Applejack pressed the apple emblem on her belt, “Limit Break!” she got on one knee, put her two guns together to create her shotgun, and pointed it up to the sky charging it up. She fired a large red beam into the sky, which broke into hundreds of smaller beams that rained down on all the mantas killing them.
Applejack stood up, but a creeper fired at her back, bringing Applejack to one knee as she devirtualized.
Applejack: 0 HP
The scanner opened up, revealing Applejack leaning against the wall looking irritated.
“Ah'm convinced XANA tries ta take me our first,” she groaned, “Me an' Rarity.”
“Ugh! I hit it that time!” Luna shouted, “Why didn't it break?!”
“I think it's gotten too strong for a regular attack,” Sunset said, “Luna, you have to hit it with a stronger attack.”
“But if she misses the timing, the chains will become too strong to delete!” Fluttershy said.
“I know,” Sunset sighed, “If that happens, we can't release Celestia without deleting XANA.”
“Luna, Fluttershy, please,” Celestia said, trembling as tears fell from her eyes, “Just leave me here. I'm not worth saving anymore.”
“Miss Tia…” Fluttershy said standing up looking at Celestia in sadness.
“Twilight blames herself for this, I'm sure,” Celestia said, “You, Luna, blame yourself. If Sombra were here, I'm sure he'd blame himself too. But all of you are wrong. The real one to blame for all of this… is me…” she closed her eyes and started sobbing, “I created the super computer! Had I not done that! Had I just not let my curiosity get the better of me, none of this would have happened!”
“So what? You just quit?!” Luna asked harshly, “If you give up now, XANA wins!”
“HE'S ALREADY WON!!!” Celestia screamed, completely breaking down, “He has sectors all over the planet, and enough power to take over the whole world from the network! Besides, look at me! I'm a mere shadow of my former self! I can't fight XANA, not after everything he's done to me! I just wish… that Twilight didn't have to be involved in this! Twilight…! I'm sorry!”
Fluttershy looked away, unable to see Celestia like this. Luna on the other hand, gritted her teeth looking down.
“You…” Luna seethed, “You… COWARD!!!!”
SLAP
Fluttershy looked at both of them in shock, and Celestia's eyes were wide. Neither one of them could remember the last time Luna had ever been this angry.
“L-Luna…” Celestia said.
“What would Twilight think if she saw you like this?!” Luna asked, “She's currently in a much worse situation that any of us, and probably trying to convince herself everyday that there's hope! If the person she looks up to the most gives up, what hope does she have?!” tears were building up in Luna's eyes as she continued to glare at her older sister, “What hope do we have if you give up?! Yes, you are the one who created the super computer, but you alone to not bear this sin! That sin is shared with all five of us! You, me, Chrysalis, Jon, and Sombra! All of us share the blame, and yet Jon is in Lyoko right now fighting, I'm here, Chrysalis is still in hiding only because Tartarus is actively hunting her, and I know that if Sombra were still alive, he'd be doing everything in his power to fight too!”
“Daddy…” Fluttershy said, looking down painfully.
“And look at her!” Luna continued pointing to Fluttershy, “She and her friends are now stuck in this, fighting our battle! Because they have the source codes, they're the only ones who can possibly destroy XANA! They're children, Celestia! They have no business being involved in this fight, yet they're fighting just as hard if not harder to destroy our enemy! To fix our mistakes! It's not fair that they have to do this, but if they're going to stand even a ghost of a chance, they're going to need our help, and that includes you!” she got her sword ready, “Fluttershy, Sunset, get ready!”
“R-right!” Fluttershy said, quickly getting back in position. She started singing, and Luna closed her eyes, slowing down everything in her mind. She focused her energy into her blade, and got it ready.
The chains phased out, becoming static.
“NOW!!!” Sunset shouted. Immediately, Luna struck the chains. This time, the chains immediately shattered along with the ones around her ankles, and Celestia fell to her knees. Luna swung her blade and put it back in her sheath, turning her back to Celestia.
“You can keep crying about what you've done all you want,” Luna said, “But at least do something about it while you cry, even if it's small. Sunset, guide us to the super computer.”
“On it,” Sunset said, “You need to go down the western hall.”
“Understood,” Luna said walking to the door, “Come you two, we're not out of the woods yet.”
Fluttershy nodded and helped Celestia up. The three of them ran out of the cell to the super computer room, Celestia with an unreadable yet pained expression on her face.
“What's this?!” Tirek said looking over Starlight's shoulder, “Those kids released Celestia?!”
“It… looks like it,” Starlight said.
“Why haven't you warned XANA?!” Tirek asked harshly, grabbing Starlight harshly by the hair.
“I was about to, sir! I'm sorry!” Starlight said quickly. Tirek released her, and she pulled her microphone to her lips, “Master XANA, Luna and Fluttershy have released Celestia. They're heading to the super computer now.”
“Are they now?” XANA asked after kicking Rarity to the ground, “I'll take care of that. Thank you, Starlight.”
XANA charged up Twilight's energy beams to full power, and then fired right at Rarity point blank.
Rarity: Desynchronization is imminent. Returning to Virtual Space.
As Rarity faded from the real world, XANA began running to the super computer of the base.
You've been awfully quiet, Twilight. You didn't think that they'd succeed, did you? Both you and Celestia belong to me.
We'll see, XANA. Don't count my friends out just yet.
Hmph. They are humans. They are imperfect. They will not succeed.
Because you're so perfect, right XANA?
I AM PERFECT!!! I AM THE FUTURE GOD OF THE WORLD!!!
Right…
XANA hated this new brazen Twilight. She was more fun when she was a sniveling mess, crying because she knew her situation was hopeless. Now she had deluded herself into believing that she and her friends stood a chance.
She'd learn soon though. After this, XANA planned on reminding Twilight of her place, by making an example of Eos.
Luna, Fluttershy, and Celestia arrived in a large room featuring a large computer with a few soldiers inside. The soldiers all pointed their guns at them and opened fire, but they took cover behind various parts of the computer.
“Lulu, what are we going to do?” Fluttershy asked.
“We might not have a choice but to take their lives,” Luna said pulling out her rapier, “Stay and watch my sister. I'll deal with this. Someone as young as you shouldn't have blood on her hands.”
“Luna!” Celestia cried as Luna stepped out to the soldiers and ran over to them.
“Super Smoke!” Luna shouted, turning into black mist and flying toward the soldiers. They fired at the mist wildly, but Luna flew over to one soldier, took form again, and impaled him with her rapier. She used him as a human shield as she approached two more soldiers. Once he was certainly dead, she threw him aside and ran over to the soldiers.
She deflected their shots with her rapier, did a spin kick to one knocking him down and stabbing him with her blade, and then she turned to the other one and slashed at him in the chest knocking him back, and then impaling him with her blade.
With the last of them dead, Luna wiped her blade with her cape and sheathed it.
“Come you two,” Luna commanded, “Our time here is short.”
Fluttershy and Celestia slowly walked into the room. Celestia looked horrified and had to cover her mouth, while Fluttershy actually had a somewhat blank look on her face looking at one of the soldiers' dead bodies.
“Luna… why…?” Celestia asked.
“These are the people that have been hunting us for years, Tia,” Luna said, “They probably know where we live by now, and will continue to hunt us. I'm not going to let them hurt you anymore. Fluttershy, are you alright?”
“Y-yes…” Fluttershy said, “I'm okay. I just… um…”
“I apologize, Fluttershy,” Luna said, “This is why I wish you weren't involved with our fight.”
Fluttershy shook it off and walked over to the central computer near a lone scanner and sat down, “I'm going to activate this scanner so we can transfer Miss Tia into Lyoko. Sunset, what do we have to get her to safety?”
“We just need to get her back to our Lyoko, and I can pull her out via our super computer,” Sunset said, “If she gets devirtualized before that though, she'll emerge in that base, so protect her with your-” Sunset gasped, “Fluttershy! XANA is on his way there!”
“XANA is?!” Fluttershy asked.
“Now you know this isn't okay,” XANA asked. Everyone turned to see her leaning against the side of the door suggestively. Celestia backed away, but XANA turned right to her, “Oh Eos, you thought I was going to let you leave? After I eject these two, I'm going to rectify my mistake from before and put you in solitary confinement.”
“No…!” Celestia begged. Luna stood in front of her and held her rapier out.
“Like hell you will!” Luna stated, “Fluttershy, get my sister into Lyoko now!”
“Right!” Fluttershy said pulling Celestia to the scanner, “Come on, Miss Tia!”
“But… Twilight is-” Celestia said.
“She's being used as XANA's personal vessel,” Fluttershy said, “I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do for her yet.”
“Twilight…” Celestia said, tears in her eyes, “Twilight!”
Fluttershy pulled Celestia into the scanner and practically shoved her inside before sitting back at the control panel. XANA charged into the room, but Luna held her at bay with her rapier.
“Don't ignore me,” Luna taunted, “I'm right here in the room, and you haven't even said hi to me.”
“Oh, I apologize Selene,” XANA said, “I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Unfortunately, you are a mere failure, and I have no place in my army for failures like yourself.”
“You cut so deep,” Luna said, pretending to be hurt, “And here I thought I was special to you. I thought you loved me, XANA.”
“You're a cheeky little bitch, aren't you?” XANA asked, Luna laughed.
“Oh no XANA, you got it wrong. You see, according to my best friend, I'm not a bitch. I'm a cunt.”
As Luna and XANA engaged each other, Fluttershy opened the transfer system on the super computer.
“Transfer Celestia!” Fluttershy said closing the scanner, “Scanner Celestia!” Fluttershy continued, pulling up Celestia's avatar information, which she was saddened to see was incomplete much like she was when she was trapped on Lyoko, “Virtualization!”
Fluttershy pressed the enter key, and Celestia vanished from the scanner. Fluttershy then shot up and fired a Light Arrow at XANA, who jumped to the side out of the way.
“Starlight, send me back to Lyoko!” XANA ordered. She turned into static and vanished from the real world.
“Sunset, we need to go back to Lyoko too!” Fluttershy said.
“Transporting!” Sunset said, transporting Luna and Fluttershy back into the Argo.
In XANA's Sector 5, Celestia rendered and landed a little bit away from the fight, where she saw everyone getting overwhelmed by creepers and mantas. It looked like they had been fighting for a while.
Rarity was blocking two creepers shots as they rapidly fired at her trying to get to the Argo. Spike was naturally next to her shooting fireballs at them, but every time one creeper was destroyed, another walked up shortly to join them.
Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were naturally side by side supporting each other in dealing with four creepers. Nearby them, Discord was firing at the mantas with his cards. Celestia held her hand out and tired to fire her Sun Burst at the mantas, but was horrified to see that nothing came out.
“No…! No!” Celestia cried, “What's wrong with me?!” Celestia screamed as something shot her from behind knocking her forward.
Celestia: 60 HP
“What's wrong is that I disabled your combat features,” XANA said sauntering over to Celestia, “You've lost the ability to fight on Lyoko. You're now weak, just like you are in the real world.”
Celestia looked in horror as the creepers charged up their attacks and fired at Dash and Pinkie Pie at the same time, hitting them at all angles.
Rainbow Dash: 0 HP
Pinkie Pie: 0 HP
As XANA charged up her energy beam, Celestia screamed. Discord stopped engaging the creepers and turned to them.
“Celestia!” Discord shouted running over to them. He pulled out a card and threw it at XANA, who held up her hand in defense blocking the attack.
Twilight: 75 HP
“Chaos…” XANA seethed as Discord got in between her and Celestia.
“Celestia, run!” Discord said seriously, pulling out a hand of cards.
“Jon!” Celestia cried.
“I've always wanted to be your hero,” Discord said smiling at Celestia, “You realize that you owe me after this, right?”
Celestia smiled warmly, stood up, and ran away as Discord pulled out a card and threw it at XANA. She did a series of elegant back flips as Discord threw card after card at her. He prepped himself to fire his cards out of his sleeves, but a manta shot him in the back.
“Celestia!” Discord cried as his body vanished from Lyoko.
Discord: 0 HP
“Thank you dear,” XANA said, sauntering over to Celestia. As she ran, she was blocked by four creepers.
Celestia fell back screaming, and backed away as the creepers slowly walked over to her. At the same time, Luna and Fluttershy emerged from the Argo. Right as XANA was about to strike at Celestia, Luna used her Super Smoke ability and charged over to XANA, taking form in front of her. XANA switched to Twilight right before Luna could attack, and Twilight braced herself.
As Luna continued her planned attack, kicking Twilight to the ground.
“Forgive me, Twilight,” Luna said, “but I must defend my sister no matter what.”
Twilight nodded fearfully, and Luna raised her blade to strike Twilight, but XANA took over at the last minute and held her arm out firing a large white beam out at Luna, knocking her onto the ground.
Luna: 50 HP
“Luna!” Sunset cried from the real world.
Fluttershy fired at the creepers with her Light Arrows killing all of them, and then turned to the Argo, where Rarity and Spike were still getting overwhelmed. Poor Spike got shot and fell back, sparking.
Spike: 0 HP
“Spike!” Rarity cried as Spike broke apart.
“Don't worry, I retrieved him,” Sunset said, “Spike will be fine, but we have to get Celestia into the Argo fast.”
Fluttershy flew over to Rarity's side and fired a Light Arrow at the creepers approaching the Argo, killing a few. Unfortunately, now mantas were flying over to the ship also firing at them.
“Sunset, it isn't safe!” Fluttershy said flying out of the way of the mantas shots and returning fire, “If she gets to close to the ship, she'll be instantly devirtualized!”
“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!” Sunset swore, clearly freaking out, “How the fuck are we going to get out of this?!”
“Why isn't Celestia fighting back?!” Pinkie Pie asked.
“Her avatar is fragmented!” Sunset said, “I can't repair the data either! She doesn't have any of her combat abilities!”
“Luna!” Applejack cried, seeing XANA's arrow right in front of Luna's on the radar.
XANA grabbed Luna by the neck and held her up, charging up her next attack.
“This might not be able to kill you,” XANA said with a manic smile, “but I can at least make sure this will hurt, a lot.”
Luna opened her eyes and met eyes with Celestia right before XANA thrust her hand into Luna's chest and fired her biggest attack point blank, blowing her avatar to pieces.
Luna: 0 HP
Back in the real world, a single scanner opened up, revealing an unconscious Luna lying down on the floor of the scanner. Applejack took the ladder jumping down to the scanner room and ran over to Luna helping her out of her scanner.
“Shit! Lulu!” Applejack cried pulling out her cellphone to call Sunset, “She ain't lookin too good! Ah don't know why, but she's unconscious!”
“It's psychological damage,” Sunset explained, “She should recover in a minute.”
“This is getting really bad,” Pinkie Pie said, “This level is too hard! I hate escort missions!”
“Let me!” Discord asked Sunset, who gave him her microphone, “Celestia, listen to me. The state of your avatar is in your mind. You can fight. You just have to believe in yourself.”
“I… I can't!” Celestia said backing away from XANA as she walked over to her, “I'm too weak! I can't do this!”
“Yes you can!” Discord said, “I know you can! You're a lot stronger than this! XANA has broken you, but you can rebuild yourself! You have to rebuild yourself! If not for you, then for Twilight!”
Celestia looked up at XANA, taking in the form she was using. XANA was using Twilight's body as a tool. The poor thing must have been terrified right now. Looking at her, Celestia thought back to how much Twilight depended on her.
Six years ago
An eight year old Twilight was the last one to leave the classroom as school let out. Celestia packed away her papers from the class and then walked over to Twilight.
“What's the matter sweetie?” Celestia asked the somber student, who shuffled nervously and refused to meet her teacher's eyes.
“I'm sorry I didn't do good on the test…” Twilight said sadly, “I did everything I was supposed to do.”
“Oh?” Celestia asked, now sitting on the desk right in front of the teary eyed student.
“I did the homework, I studied, but when the test came, I didn't know any of the answers,” Twilight started crying, “Not even the lessons made sense.”
“Twilight, if you weren't following the lessons, you should have spoken up, honey,” Celestia scolded kindly.
“I didn't want to slow the other students down,” Twilight sobbed, “All of my other teachers got angry at me because I always asked questions. They hated me because I was slow, and now you'll hate me too.”
“Oh honey, come here,” Celestia said holding her arms out for Twilight, who walked into her warm embrace, “I could never hate you. You're not slow at all. You're just a little different.”
“But I can't learn,” Twilight said, “I keep trying, but I always fail.”
“I've never met anyone in the world who can't learn,” Celestia said, “All of your previous teachers gave up on you, but I'm not like them. I'll never give up on you, Twilight.”
“You promise?” Twilight asked looking up to her beloved teacher.
“I promise,” Celestia said with a warm smile.
“Twilight honey…” Celestia said, tearing up looking at her star student, now being held captive by the one thing she was terrified of the most. She didn't know if she could beat XANA, but she knew that Twilight was very much where she was back when they met. She was in a hopeless situation, and felt like giving up.
“Twilight, can you hear me?” Celestia asked standing up, “I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen, and I didn't want you involved with this part of my life. Even worse, I've set a terrible example for you by running away from XANA. I don't know if we can win, and I don't know what I'm capable of doing, but… I made a promise to you that I'd never give up on you! If you can hear me Twilight, please hold on. No matter what XANA tells you, and no matter how much he tries to break you, remember that even in the darkest times, there is always light!”
Celestia's hands started glowing, and she slowly started standing up straighter. XANA frowned looking at her, and actually stepped back a bit.
“What the…?” XANA asked.
“You see XANA,” Celestia said, “A computer can be broken, and once that happens there's nothing that can be done. The human spirit on the other hand,” she held her hand out, “when it breaks, it can always be rebuilt.”
“What can you do against me?!” XANA asked, “I am a perfect being! You're nothing but a lowly human! I broke you once, and I can break you again!”
“No XANA,” Celestia said, “You're not perfect. The mere fact that you'd even assume to be such shows your biggest flaw. You XANA, are my one true failure.”
She fired a golden orb out of her hand that exploded on contact and knocked XANA back, surprisingly devirtualizing Twilight's body.
Twilight: 0 HP
“I'll save you, my beloved student,” Celestia said watching Twilight's body break apart and vanish. She then turned to the creepers approaching Rarity and Fluttershy, and fired another sun blast at them, knocking the creepers away, “We need to get out of here!”
“I'm transporting all of you into the Argo!” Sunset said, “Let's bring you home!”
Rarity, Fluttershy, and Celestia transported into the Argo, and the machine flew off. The monsters fired at the ship as it left, but it immediately dropped into the Digital Sea leaving the replica Sector 5.
Back in Canterlot, Sunset made sure the Argo was docked, and then immediately pulled everyone out of Lyoko. Everyone gathered around the scanner Celestia was in as it opened, revealing Principal Celestia lying on her knees in exhaustion.
“Miss Tia!” Fluttershy cried running to Celestia and embracing her, “I'm so happy that you're okay!”
“Thank you Fluttershy,” Celestia said, tears of joy streaming from her eyes, “Thank you, all of you.” Celestia looked up at the group, her eyes stopping on Discord and Luna, both of which were further back in the room, “Luna, Jon, I…”
Discord pushed though the group and knelt down to Celestia taking her hand, “We're just happy that you're safe.”
“Very,” Luna said smiling, “I knew you wouldn't stay down for too long, Celestia.”
“I'm just sorry that it took so-” Celestia cringed in pain, alerting everyone.
“Hey, are you okay?!” Dash asked.
“Even though XANA kept me in relatively good care,” Celestia said holding her chest, “He did still torture me on a daily basis.”
“We need ta get her to the hospital!” Applejack stated.
“But if she goes to a hospital, the police are gonna start questioning her!” Dash said.
“I know where we can take her,” Discord said, “I'll send her a text telling her to expect us.”
“Where are we going?” Fluttershy asked.
“To see an old friend,” Discord said cryptically.
Minutes later, the group was heading back to the school. The girls were confused, but Discord swore that the person they were meeting would be waiting for them. As Celestia was currently without garments, Luna gave Celestia her blue trench coat.
Discord led them oddly to the nurse's office.
“The school nurse?” Pinkie Pie asked, “Why are we here? Ooh! Ooh! Is this the moment when we learn some major plot relevant secret that changes everything about our journey?”
“Something like that,” Discord said.
“But the school nurse isn't here at this hour,” Sunset said.
“I told her to wait for us here,” Discord said, “Until we can publicize Celestia being okay, this is our best bet.”
Discord knocked on the door, and Nurse Cadance opened the door immediately. When she saw Celestia, she covered her mouth in shock.
“Oh my God! Auntie!” Cadance cried, “Hurry, bring her inside!”
When the group entered the nurse's office, Cadance took Celestia to the bed and immediately began examining her.
“Did XANA do all of this to you?” Cadance asked.
“Yes, he did,” Celestia said weakly, “It's good to see you, honey. I see you're as good at vanishing as ever.”
Cadance smiled, “I told you I'd be okay,” she said.
“Ah knew it,” Applejack said stepping forward, “That day when XANA attacked the school. You seemed like ya knew too much 'bout the situation. You ain't a normal nurse, are ya?”
“I'm afraid not,” Cadance said, “But that's very perceptive of you to see past my disguise,” she laughed playfully, “Not too many people would.”
“I don't believe it…” Fluttershy said, her eyes widening in surprise, “Chrysie… is that you…?”
Cadance closed her eyes, and regarded everyone seriously, “Yeah Fluttershy, it's me. I'm the last Architect of Lyoko, Proteus. My real name… is Chrysalis.”
Ending Theme: Can't Fight the Moonlight