Good Things Can Be Born
Ebon's muzzle hung open while his body softly rose and fell with slumbering breaths. Spread across the cot around the stallion were several sheets of parchment and a dried up quill. A candle was burnt halfway down its length on a shelf across from him.
At some point, the metal door to the crew compartment squeaked open. Eagle Eye poked his head in. He saw Ebon's sleeping figure and quietly stepped inside. A gentle smile crossed his muzzle as he raised a hoof and brushed Ebon's dark bangs. Using his magic, Eagle drew a bedsheet over Ebon. The stallion stirred slightly, but ultimately fell even deeper into slumber.
Slowly turning, Eagle glanced at the parchment. He lifted several sheets from the bed, blinking at the headers of each letter. After a few seconds, the ex-mercenary sighed. He clung a wad of sheets to his chest and hugged himself, staring worriedly into the metal bulkheads.
"We're planning to scale the Sky Stabs," Rainbow Dash said, hovering before Boxer. "It'll be our swiftest way towards Val Roa."
"Wishing to avoid distractions, I take it?"
"Heh..." Rainbow smirked. "If all of Alafreo's 'distractions' are anything like this place, I'd be happy to run into all of them." She gulped. "But there's trouble brewing in the east. It's the sort of thing we'd be jerks to not deal with."
"I presume you speak of this... supposed 'Queen Chrysalis.'"
Rainbow nodded. "Though she may have been rendered powerless after the last time I saw her 'face-to-face,' there's no telling how quickly Chrysalis could regain strength. The mare used to be an alicorn. She could be real versatile."
"Oh, how I do wish I could be of assistance to you in this matter," Boxer remarked. "Alas, conflict is not our strong suit."
"You've helped quite enough. Believe me," Rainbow said. "And—if there's anything I can do about it—I intend to stop this with as little conflict possible."
"Have you a plan in mind?"
Rainbow sighed through a weak smile. "Not yet."
"How invigorating it must be to live in the moment." Boxer's wrinkled lips curved. "Such impulsive heroism has its merit."
"It has a lot of other things too that I could do without," the pegasus muttered. "But, it's all for the best. At least, that's what I have to tell myself."
"I heard that the changeling with Elma Boreal's memories is staying."
"Yes, sir." Rainbow nodded. "That she is."
"Is this a decision she came to on her own?"
Rainbow's brow furrowed. "Why, of c-course! She came to me about it personally. I really couldn't convince her otherwise. Besides, I feel that it's the best thing for her right now, so who am I to talk her out of it?" She exhaled heavily, her ears folding. "Believe me, there're a lot of ponies on the Jury who are sad to see her go."
"She's become part of the family, I imagine."
"For a lot of us, Elma's proof that—even in our darkest hour—good things can be born. Before we found her, we had just climbed out of the roughest spot imaginable. We didn't expect anything miraculously awesome to happen. And yet, it did. She should be a sobbing husk in the northern skystone fields along with the rest of Stratopolis by now, but she isn't. We pulled through for her and she pulled through for us."
"Something tells me that a sign such as this has been a long time coming."
Rainbow gulped, her eyes slightly misty. "Yeah. It was... pretty nice to witness..."
"Look at me, child..."
Rainbow's eyes tilted to meet with Boxer's.
The aged tortoise said, "Remember this moment. Dwell on it. Meditate on it. In the future, when your life once again becomes intolerably bleak, think back to what you've felt today, so that you may remind your future self that not all is lost. Hope stands to bring light to us in the strangest places. There is a purpose to living, otherwise there would be no life whatsoever. Everything would be death."
"There are times, though," Rainbow murmured, "When death is all that I see."
"Which is proof that you are in the position to triumph over it," he said.
She blinked at that. A smile came to her face. "I think Elma's gonna be super okay here."
"And when the day comes that she isn't, and she misses you and the rest of the crew terribly..." Boxer nodded his head. "I'll tell her how you looked and felt this hour before me."
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The actions of freinds create memories. In the memories of freinds, they live on.
Very nice.
Daww. Something nice for the future ponies. This makes me a happy pony.
Boxer? I like him. May we all be that wise in our old age.
C'mon boxer! Give the crew some +def turtle armor!
"Hope stands to bring light to us in the strangest places."
Element of Hope?
Perhaps it's time for them to go. They've done a good thing.
More deeds await past the Sky Stabs! But first, a final chapter to wrap things up.
In my mind, Boxer is voiced by Ian McKellan. It just fits, y'know?
I really like Boxer, a bit sad to see him go but now its time to go to Val Roa. Also, this is a bit of a weird thought but, what if what Ebon is writing isn't what we see it as? What if that's what he thinks hes writing, but its actually something completely different, like crazed ramblings or something that makes no sense at all?
Bye bye, turtles. It was fun.
Awesome.
this eagle eye/ebon problem is worrying me.....
it's past the blow-up-in-everyones-face point, and nearing the make-one-guy-go-crazy-from-worry point........
Those sky stabs really are not looking friendly.
The NJ crew is a trouble magnet, so they should probably leave before turtletropolis explodes and turtles die.
"I shall remember this moment dearly when the end comes."
"You're a morbid one, Cyrus! Why mull over the possibility of a future defeat when there's victory to be celebrated?"
"Death isn't a possibility, it is a certainty. If here or a thousand miles away, one day you will die. And on that day, victory will be very far away unless you still carry it in your heart."
;3 Awwww
4643866
I hear David Carradine personally
-Spirit
4643600 More like Demon of Hope.
is Ebon just writing to no one? cuz it might be kinda hard to send those letters at this point
Boxer, you are amazingly wise. I guess that's what happens after hundreds and hundreds of years.
A Boxer and Celestia conversation would be amazing. So much wisdom in one conversation that you fall asleep because you can't tell which one is trying to out-wisdom the other.
4643866
4646407
I'd love to know what voices folks imagine for all of the jurists.
Always remember the good because it assails the wounds of the bad.
Sometimes it's so easy to forget about the good things in life when you're dealing with the bad.
I hope Rainbow passes on this moment of wisdom someday.
The wisdom of this tortoise is without compare... except for alicorns.
Boxer: both the hero that Rainbow needs and deserves.
6443983
They could totally compare notes though.
Man, I really love Boxer. He's got some great lines here, and pretty much every time he's shown up now. I'm kinda gonna be sad to see him go actually.
EE and Ebon are so fuzzy and adorable
6443983
I'd like to see Celestia try and keep her vaunted poker face when the turtle is practically prophecising her mood and intents.
Boxer, don't you change a single bit. I love you.