Off the Record
////
Off the Record
////
“So, I was thinking… and hear me out!” Alex said, siting up with his back pressed to the backboard of his hospital bed, that he shared with his fiancé, Rainbow Dash.
“Nope.” She said immediately, eliciting a quick sigh from him.
“I haven’t even started talking about it!” He laughed, stretching his front leg around her shoulder, in an uncomfortably vein attempt to woo her.
“Anything that starts with ‘hear me out’ is something I’m not going to agree to.” She said, gazing right at him, with an eyebrow raised, “But ya’ know, maybe I’ll love the idea. So, go ahead.”
“Okay, so, don’t you think dying my white coat blood red would make me look super badass?” He asked, fighting valiantly to not get a shit eating grin, “When the final boss pops up, it’ll run away scared!”
“You? Badass?” She asked, shaking her head slightly as she broke a smile, “Riiiiiight. And like, two days ago when those wasps were chasing you down the street, was that badass?”
“What’s more badass than stealing honey from the world’s most dangerous insect?” He asked, feigning insult as poorly as possible.
“Wasps don’t make honey.” She said, her own smile growing as he lost his composure in his act.
“Well, there could have been something delicious in there that wasps do make…” Alex said, leaning his head on hers and sighing, “I think I’ll just surprise you with the dye job one day.”
“There’s only one pony that could pull a full coat dye off, and we both know that Rarity’d kill you before helping change your ‘clean’ look.” Dash shook her head, indulging his joke more than she had meant to.
“Clean?” He asked, scratching his chin with his free hoof, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Minus the gray spot, you’re fairly similar to her in color scheme. Plus, you’re kinda small and innocent looking, for a stallion.”
“I- I’m not small!” He retorted, his cheeks burning slightly.
“It’s true!” What with the smaller than average wings… and that horn is a few inches shy of average too.” Dash said, smiling at her own inadvertent dirty joke, before deciding to double down, “Oh, and by the way, Rarity says that Spike’s horn is much thicker.”
“What?!” Alex said, sitting upright and pulling away from her, “I don’t remember his horn being that much bigger than mine… But you know, he wasn’t even a pony to start with. It wouldn’t be fair if his was bigger than mine, you know?”
“As opposed to the human turned pony?” She asked, now fully committed to the phallic joke.
“Yeah yeah yeah,” he rolled his eyes as exaggerated as he could, “I’m just saying, last time we compared, they weren’t all that different.”
“Compared, huh?” Dash asked with a wide smile.
“Well, maybe compared is the wrong w-word,” He began, a short huff escaping his lips as he tried to remain composed, “W-we just kinda… touched the tips—“
The two exploded in to laughter immediately, and spent a good minute giggling and holding their sides, before they finally calmed down to continue with any kind of discussion.
“You know, I’m glad you’ll laugh at a good penis joke,” Alex said, his head back on hers, as they rested on the bed, “I don’t think this relationship would work if you didn’t.”
“This relationship would be pretty stale without me being so awesome,” She nodded in agreement, settling back into their comfortable position as a silence filled the room.
Idly biting her lip, Dash looked out the corner of her eye toward him, once again thinking about finding him inside Twilight’s nightmare. It had crossed her mind so many times that she was starting to think it would be impossible to not think about it.
She smiled as she felt him nuzzled into her hair.
A few moments of comfortable silence followed, before Dash began to feel something wet on her head.
“Are you drooling on me?!” She half yelled half whispered.
“Mhmm.” Alex muttered sleepily, making no move to right the situation.
“Jerk.” She said softly, closing her eyes once again, “I’ll only put up with that for another half hour… tops…”
////
Twilight sat in her dark childhood bedroom, the curtains drawn across the window, allowing her privacy from even a fragment of Celestia’s power, so she could silently contemplate the last few hours of her life.
Her parents hadn’t been home when she arrived, so she decided to wait for them in the peace of her old bedroom. However, any comfort it would bring her in a normal situation was non-existent. Even the nostalgia of much better times wasn’t enough for her attitude to change.
“No more Element… and a baby…” Twilight muttered to herself, brining a hoof to her eye, wiping another tear from her now raw cheek, “What did I do to deserve this…”
Thinking to Alpha, the changeling father of her baby, she wondered what exactly the two would do now.
“Am I going to sit on the sidelines with him? Let Trixie take my place?” She muttered, as a pang of anger shot through her, “Trixie…”
However, her reflection was cut short as a knock sounded at the door.
Deciding not to answer, she simply climbed into bed, and closed her eyes.
////
“Twilight?” Fluttershy asked softly, knocking on the door to her bedroom, once again to no avail.
“Are ya’ sure she’s in there?” Applejack asked, leaning down to see under the crack of the door, “The lights’re all off.”
“She’s in there.” She said quietly over her shoulder, biting her lip as she pressed down on the door handle slowly, “We’re coming in!”
The door relented, and slowly creaked open.
The two stuck their heads into the room at the same time, and looked at the bed, to the silent quivering form under the blankets.
“Twi?” Applejack spoke up, “You doin’ alright?”
“No…” She choked out almost silently, “P-please, just leave me alone.”
“But-“ Fluttershy began, before she felt a hoof on her shoulder.
The two pulled out of the room and found Alpha, standing behind them, his concern just as visible as their own.
“How is she?” He asked, his expression telling them that he already knew the answer.
“Pretty upset.” Applejack said softly, “Between gettin’ pregnant, and losin’ the Element of Magic, ah’ don’t know how long she’s gonna be upset.”
“Maybe you should try cheering her up.” Fluttershy said, “She doesn’t seem too interested seeing the two of us right now.”
“Just head in there and cuddle with ‘er” Applejack said, “Ah’ know that always helps me when ah’m in a rut.”
“Who do you cuddle with?” Her pink-haired friend asked, momentarily distracted by the odd admission.
“N-never you mind!” She said defensively, her accent slipping away momentarily, “Look- jus’ go spend some time with‘er. We’ll be out here if ya’ need us.”
Alpha nodded, and stepped past them entering the room silently, closing the door behind him.
“Why don’t we sit down for a bit?” Fluttershy asked, walking over to the kitchen table, “We’ll need to fill Twilight’s mom and dad in on a couple of things when they show up.”
“Yes, we will.” Applejack sighed, joining her friend as they both sat down, “Man… today has just been too much.”
“Do you think things will ever go back to the way they were?” The pegasus asked.
“Ah’… Ah’ don’t know.”
////
Rainbow Dash stood at the top of Canterlot Castle, looking out into an endless pink horizon. It was as if the world had been in swallowed in a pink fog, and the last bastion of clarity was the royal city.
“It’s beautiful.” A voice said from behind her, “To hold the world in my hoof. I am truly a god.”
Then, for no reason that she could place, she was enraged. Angrier than she had ever been.
Turning around, she found herself face-to-face with several familiar faces, and forgot all about her rage.
Princess Celestia, Alex, Twilight, Pinkie, and Trixie stood in front of her.
“When the time comes, you can’t have any doubt.” Twilight’s voice echoed.
She tried to ask what they were talking about, but found the silence around her to be much louder than her voice.
Suddenly, levitating in front of her, was a tiny knife with a black blade. It was unlike any she had seen before. The handle of the utensil was thick, and the sharpened edge tiny.
“Hardened world-ender.” Trixie said.
Tilting her head to the side, she watched as the blade slowly pointed toward the crowd in front of her.
“He should have gone to ‘heaven.’” Celestia recalled.
Then, without any warning, it fired forward, and grazed Alex’s side, doing nothing noticeable to him.
“The bane of the magical.” Pinkie echoed.
Alex fell to his knee, in obvious pain as the nick on his side began to spread a blackness across his coat.
“It’s too late…” He said weakly, as a bright flash behind Dash caught her attention.
Outside, in the endless pink fog surrounding the tower she stood in, a spark seemed to ignite the cloud, lighting the world around the castle in the brightest, most destructive light she had ever seen.
“The end of the world.” All her friends said at once, as the explosion surrounding them flashed through Canterlot, leveling every building, save the tower they all stood in, which still stood in complete silence.
Dash tried to ask how to stop it, but was still unable to speak, as a massive cloud of ash blew across the tower, and surrounded her completely.
“Alex!” Dash shouted, her voice suddenly back to her, “W-where did you go?!”
The world was gone, all that remained was a rushing cloud of ash and sparks surrounding her.
“Take this.” Twilight’s voice echoed once again, as the bracer Dash had worn through her campaign to save Alex from his stone imprisonment appeared in front of her, repelling the ash around her “It just may save your life.”
Dash reached out cautiously, and slipped her arm through the fabric until it rested on her ankle properly.
“Save my life? How—” Before she could finish her question, a massive chunk of stone fired through the cloud, and ran through her chest, slamming her backward in to a wall.
“Save. Your. Life.” Was the last thing she heard as the world faded black.
////
“Twilight!” Dash shouted, sitting up in the bed she was sharing with Alex, a cold sweat running down her face.
“Holy Christ!” Alex shouted, obviously startled from her outburst, sitting up in the bed, looking around the dark room for whatever Dash was yelling about, “W-what’s wrong?”
Looking over her body, the mare was shocked to find herself in perfect condition, with no stone in her chest.
“I- I don’t understand…” She muttered, patting herself all over, “It felt so real.”
“What felt so real?” Alex asked, now content that he wasn’t about to be attacked in bed.
“I just- a dream I just… I watched the world end… I died! We all died…” Dash recalled shakily, quickly placing her left hoof on her right, looking for her bracer, “I need it…”
“You just had a nightmare,” Alex said softly, wrapping his arm around her stomach, as he moved closer to her, “And don’t worry, if anypony tries to kill us, I’ve got my bedpan full of pee to throw at them under the covers with us.”
“What?!” Dash shouted, forgetting all about her nightmare, as she pulled away from him, clambering toward the corner of the bed, “Seriously?!”
“Of course I don’t!” Alex almost shouted through his laughter, “See? All you needed was somepony hilarious to take your mind off your bad dream.”
“How modest…” Dash sighed, climbing back in to the bed next to him.
“I am pretty darn modest,” He said, silently teleporting his bedpan from under the covers to somewhere in the Everfree Forest, “You know, how many times have we been in this hospital since I arrived?”
Dash thought for a moment, “You know, I’ve lost count. But I can tell you how many times I was in it before you got here.”
Alex paused and waited for her to answer.
“Once, actually,” She laughed, stretching her arms, “Pulled a muscle on a trip here from Cloudsdale.”
“I don’t think I’ve been to Canterlot without ending up in the hospital somehow…” He said, scratching his chin as he thought to himself for a moment, “I guess I didn’t end up here when we went to Haven Station.”
“Ugh, that’s a name I’d rather not hear ever again.” Dash said, frowning at the thought of her brainwashed friends, “We almost lost everything to Alpha that weekend.”
“Good thing we had Dax,” Alex said, “The smug, sexy bastard.”
“Is that him talking?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, he’s an exact copy of me, so it wouldn’t be unfair to call him sexy, or smug, would it?” He laughed.
“He did a couple of things for us,” Dash recalled, blinking a couple of times, “Like when he popped up to save Luna’s daughter. Too bad we couldn’t save Bolt too…”
“Speaking of sexy dudes,” Alex said, wagging his hoof, as if a finger was on it, “His hair really got me going.”
“Smooth,” She rolled her eyes, “You must really like my dad then.”
The two laughed at the slightly off-putting joke, as they each ran through the memoires they had made together.
“I miss when things were simpler.” Dash spoke up after a moment, sighing lightly, “Remember how easy things were when you were covering the whole town in trash?”
“Geez, you’re really thinking back for that one, huh?” He asked, furrowing his brow at the memory, “I was still brand new in town when that happened.”
“Yup, you were the new guy trashing the entire town with his magic,” She laughed, recalling how angry she had been at the time, “And how exactly were you using magic after being here for like a day? That sounds like BS to me.”
“I was crap with magic for a long ass time, so it wasn’t all my fault that I caused a few accidents,” He scratched the top of his head, “You sure were pissed at me that day, though.”
“I was just thinking about that,” she smiled, looking up at him.
“I wonder what you would have said if I told you we’d be married in a few years.” Alex said, wincing at the screaming fit he’s sure he would have received.
“I would have probably been a little put off, but happy.” She replied, shaking her head at his reaction, “Since the first time I saw you I thought you were good looking, if not an ass. I, also, have a… sharp character. They didn’t mix too well right off the bat.”
“That is one heck of a way to put it.”
////
Alpha sat in Twilight’s room, a hole covered hoof resting on the pregnant mare’s back, as she cried silently in her bed. He hadn’t tried to talk to her, deciding to let her engage at her own pace.
It had been several minutes of this, before the mare finally spoke up.
“What am I going to do…?” Twilight asked softly, still hidden under the covers of her bed, “I… I’m not special anymore.”
“Don’t say that,” The changeling said softly, running his hoof comfortingly down her back, “Because you know it’s not true.”
“P-Princess Celestia said it herself…” Twilight said shakily, “She told Trixie that I was ordinary! She’s probably done with me now as her student…”
Alpha was confident that she was taking the conversation out of context, but he wasn’t sure how successful he would be in convincing her of that in this moment.
“The Princess had a strong hoof in raising you,” Alpha shook his head, despite her not being able to see him, “She’d move the sun and the stars to make you happy. And you can bet your rump that she’s going to help you through every step of this.”
Twilight sniffled, and slowly lifted her head from under the covers to make eye contact with the black stallion on the end of her bed.
“But… what are we going to do with our baby?” Twilight asked, her cheeks damp, her eyes red, and her nose running, “Everything’s just piling on top of us right now… I don’t know if I can handle it.”
Alpha sighed, and moved himself further up the bed, “We still have month to brush up on parenting. You’ve probably read everything there is to know on child rearing anyway. It’ll be more of a review than anything.”
“I… guess.” Twilight said softly, blinking a couple of times, “But, even if all that works out, I just don’t know what I’m going to do without my magic.”
“You didn’t lose your magic, Twilight.” He shook his head, with a small smile, as he brushed a new tear from her eye, “You’ve just been knocked back two steps.”
“You have no idea how oversimplified that statement is.” She sighed, pulling away from his hoof.
“You know, I don’t think it is.” Alpha shook his head, “Who’s the most powerful unicorn in the history of Equestria?”
“Star Swirl the Bearded… maybe Princess Celestia?” Twilight guessed, unsure of the direction he was taking the conversation.
“Right… and were either of them Elements of Harmony?” He asked.
“Well, no. But it’s—”
“It’s what?” He asked, an eyebrow raised.
Twilight stayed silent for a moment, as her eyes glazed over, falling deep in to thought.
“Yeah, maybe you fell behind a little bit… maybe a whole lot.” Alpha continued, giving her the most confident smile he had ever produced, as she looked back to him, “But in a hundred years, or even a thousand, everypony’s going to have forgotten about Star Swirl, because you’ll have taken his place as the most magically gifted pony in history.”
For the first time since she realized the loss of her element, she smiled. Her eyes welling once again.
“I love you.” She said, sitting up and wrapping her arms around him, “I may not believe you… but I love you.”
Returning the embrace, he wrapped one of his hooves around her head, and pulled her into his chest, exhaling and inhaling slowly, “I love you too.”
The two sat in silence, just enjoying the shared warmth between them.
“Everypony is listening outside the door.” Twilight muttered into him.
“They’ll be happy to know how good I am at comforting you.” Alpha chuckled, still holding on to her.
“And to think, you started out as a bad guy,” she said, pulling back from him to make eye contact once again, “I’m glad you made your way over to the good side.”
“Me too…” he muttered in response, thinking back to his days commanding the Hive army, “When I saw how much you all cared about each other, it made me wonder why it wasn’t like that for the Changelings.”
Twilight nodded as he continued.
“That’s what made it so easy to push Dash off the teleporter pad.” He said, thinking back to how close he came to death that day, “When Alex damaged the machine, I didn’t think I was going to make it home. It was a miracle that I came out on the other side at all. Losing a wing was a small price to pay.”
“And that wing is mostly grown back, thanks to Chrysalis’s chitin,” Twilight said, softly rubbing his repaired wing as a confused look crossed her face.
“You okay?” Alpha asked her, tilting his head to the side.
“Is our baby going to be covered in holes?” The purple mare asked suddenly, looking up to him with a genuinely curious expression on her face.
“Probably a couple,” he chuckled, “You know better than anypony that it’s a roll of the dice. Could be none, could be lots.”
“If she comes out white like my brother, I’m worried that she’ll be called ‘swiss cheese’ by her classmates…” Twilight said, still deep in the thought.
////
“Oh! And remember that time, that you and I were going to that really romantic spot overlooking town to make out?” Dash asked, her grin expanding as she told the story, “We were both so excited to get all hot and heavy—”
“Oh! And Spike was up there with Rarity!” Alex chimed it, the day clearly returning to his mind, “They were having this super romantic moment, and the two of us were like, all messed up from a day of… well, you know.”
“We felt pretty trashy, didn’t we?” Dash giggled, her grin expanding into a large smile, “And to think, we almost considered cleaning up our act that day!”
“Uh, no we didn’t.” Alex cocked an eyebrow, “We had just hooked up for the first time a few days before. I couldn’t keep you off me!”
“Yeah yeah,” she rolled her eyes, secretly knowing it to be the truth.
“Oh!” Alex said suddenly, “What about the time your mom almost walked in on the two of us?”
“The first time you met them! Before they knew we were dating!” Dash said, wide eyed and moved on to the new topic, “Poor Twilight… when you teleported under the bed, and she fell on top of me… my mom for sure thought I was a lesbian!”
“Nice”
“What was that?” She asked, having not heard him properly.
“Oh, nothing.” Alex shook his head, “Although, speaking of your mom, it was a little odd when she started hitting on me too.”
“If my dad wasn’t around to keep her in check, she’d have a different college student every night that she could find one.” Dash sighed, frowning slightly.
“That’s harsh.” Alex said, shaking his head a bit, “But I’ll keep that in mind if things don’t work out between us.”
“Ew. Don’t say that.” Dash said, a little grossed out at the thought.
“I could make you a new brother or sister!” He said excitedly, placing a hoof on her shoulder as he avoided the death glare she gave him, “You’d have to call me dad!”
“That’s enough.” She said, pressing her hoof against his lips, “Like. Really. Seriously. Enough… Seriously.”
////
Pinkie sat in the crowded lobby of the hospital, idly watching ponies be taken in and out of the front doors. The last few hours had been bustling, after Twilight and Trixie disappeared, and the Princess went in to surgery.
Both Luna and Discord had been through, but were staying close to Celestia, as their magic may have been needed in the case of an emergency.
“I hope Celestia is okay…” She muttered, zoned out to the world as a large white stallion, idly flickering his wings, stepped in to her vision, pulling her out of her deep thought, “Oh, Alex! What are you—”
She stopped suddenly upon seeing that it wasn’t actually Alex standing in front of her, but Soarin. His coat was just a pale enough blue to fool her eyes.
“Hey, Pinkie Pie, right?” He asked, looking at her with a polite smile, as he nursed a swollen joint in his right shoulder, “You mind if I sit with you? There aren’t any other open seats…”
Pinkie looked around the room and was a little surprised that the waiting room had filled up so much. It was now filled with lots of mares who were giving her some pretty harsh death glares in response to the Wonderbolt that was asking to spend time with her.
“Oh… uh, sure thing!” She said happily, patting the bench next to her, before noticing a pretty significant amount of swelling on his shoulder, “What the heck happened to your arm?”
“Had some debris drop off the tower you were all just in,” He said, pushing his chest out before he committed to sitting down in order to show her the extent of the damage across to his neck, “I was hoping that I’d be in and out in five minutes, so I could get back to helping the ponies in town. But this is starting to look like an overnight stay…”
“I’m sorry,” Pinkie said, giving him a sympathetic look, “Are all the Wonderbolts out helping right now?”
“Yeah. Half of them are in Ponyville with Spitfire, cleaning up after what happened down there, and the other half are here in Canterlot with me.” He said, sitting down next to the pink mare, “I’m glad nopony got seriously injured though.”
“Well, aside from the Princess.” Pinkie corrected, as Soarin went wide-eyed.
“Wait, what happened!?” He asked, looking over his shoulder down one of the many hallways, “Which Princess? Is she okay?”
“It was Celestia.” Pinkie began, wincing as she spoke, “Twilight’s dark side ripped one of her wings out.”
“What about Luna?” He asked, “I heard that they were both held captive.”
“Nothing happened to her,” Pinkie sighed, glazing over as she once again thought to the injured royalty, “They took Celestia into surgery, and they’re fixing her up.”
“Are they able to reattach a removed wing?” He asked, as he instinctively flexed his own, “I mean, If it’s in good condition, it’d be like reattaching a—”
“It’s not going to happen,” Pinkie shook her head, “The wing was… mangled. All broken up. She’s not going to be able to fly anymore.”
He was stunned into silence for a moment, and as he shook his head slowly.
“That’s terrible.” Soarin finally muttered, rubbing his shoulder once again, “I feel like I shouldn’t be so worked up over a little swelling.”
The pink mare suddenly perked up and gave him a huge grin.
“Oh, I can fix that if you want! I may not be a unicorn, but I officially accepted my dark side! I can do all sorts of magic now!” Pinkie said, happy that she had something to smile about, “I only accepted my chaotic side a day ago, but I’ve been around for all the magic lessons the rest of the girls took! I’m basically a master!”
Soarin was taken off guard as she suddenly placed a hoof on his right shoulder, and closed her eyes.
“Uh, Magic? Are you sure you know what you’re doin— oh, geez!"
To his amazement, a warm pink glow surrounded the entire upper right portion of his chest. It pulsed for ten or so seconds, before fading. She then pulled her hooves away, revealing a perfectly mended shoulder.
“T-that’s amazing!” Soarin said, patting all of his chest for any sign of pain, “How the heck did you do that?”
“Magic!” She winked, before wincing and closing her right eye, “Buuuut, it also hurts a whole lot to use!”
“Oh, damn! Really? You didn’t have to put yourself through that for me!” He said, instinctively reaching out and resting his hoof on the cheek below her closed eye, so he could turn her to face him, “Are you okay?”
Opening her eyes, she found herself a little short of breath, as she gazed at the Wonderbolt Commander. “I- I’m fine. Just a little headache! Nothing a few cupcakes won’t fix!” She said quickly, slowly pulling away from his hoof.
“Thank goodness!” He laughed nervously, pulling back himself and snapping his hoof back to his side, “I just- wasn’t looking to trade an injury for your perfect health.”
“Oh, don’t even worry about it! Planning a big party makes my head hurt a whole lot more than this.” She said, smiling through the intense pain, “Anyways, why don’t you head back out to the ponies that need you? I saved you the overnight stay, after all!”
“Oh- I couldn’t do that after what you just did for me—”
“Just go on!” She giggled, biting her lip lightly, “There are ponies out there that need your help a lot more than I do! I’m already in a hospital for Luna’s sake!”
“Well- okay.” Soarin finally relented, and gave her a confident look, along with a nod and smile, “But take my place in the queue, okay? I’d hate that headache to end up worse than you think it is.”
“I will.” Pinkie said, watching him stand up, then turning around to leave, “Oh!” She blurted out suddenly, an urge to see his smile one more time, “If you, um… are ever in Ponyville, feel free to stop by Sugarcube Corner! We- uh, have a great discount for Wonderbolts!”
Soarin turned to face her again as he walked backward toward the door, “Oh! Really? I might stop by there soon then! Just- just because I’m so… broke! A discount would really help me from… starving!”
He was about to say something else, but wound up bumping into a trolley holding several oxygen tanks, causing them to bang loudly together, effectively drawing every pair of eyes to him.
Then, with an awkward wave, he bolted out the door.
Pinkie blinked a couple of times.
“What the heck was I saying!” she muttered under breath, “We don’t have a Wonderbolt Discount! He’s going to show up and be too broke to afford anything!”
Soarin, as he ran out the door, grumbled to himself, “What the heck was that?! I make tons of money!”
////
“I’d like to see Gilda again someday,” Dash sighed, lying on her back, staring up at the ceiling, a small frown spread across her lips, “The two of us got along so well when we were kids, but I guess her entitlement got the best of her.”
“I still can’t believe Pinkie threw that whole evil scheme together to get rid of her,” Alex said mindlessly, his head still propped up against the wall with his eyes closed.
“Evil scheme?” Dash asked, glancing up to his face, “Uh...What did she do?”
Suddenly his eyes were open, and a wave of worry was running through his body.
“I- uh… did I say evil scheme? What I meant to say, is that the party was so nice! And—”
“Alex.” She said seriously, her purple eyes glaring into him.
“Okay okay, that entire party, with all of the little annoyances that eventually led to Gilda losing her mind, Pinkie came up with the whole thing! Down to the smallest detail.” Alex admitted, bracing for a pretty big fight, “She messed with the wrong pony when she picked on Pinkie Pie.”
Dash blinked a couple of times as she processed the information she had been given.
“Huh…” She muttered, tilting her head slightly, “To be honest, I would have done the same thing, if I ever saw somepony pick on Fluttershy the way I found out she did.”
“Oh, really?” Alex asked, surprised at the lukewarm response his girlfriend gave him, “I was expecting a little more rage, to be honest.”
“After everything we’ve all been through the last few months, I’m not really looking to fight with my best friends, you know?” She asked, returning to her previous position on her back.
“I get it,” he nodded, “Save all the arguments for the happily ever after.”
“Exactly,” She sighed happily.
“Happily ever after…” He said, blinking a couple of times and shifting uncomfortably in his spot, “Seems like it’s never going to get here.”
“I know what you mean,” Dash agreed, nodding slowly, “I feel like I’m going to be sixty before we’re allowed to move on with our lives.”
“I’m scared though,” Alex said suddenly, pulling attention from his girlfriend once again, “I’m so worried that something is going to happen… somepony will get hurt.”
“Look, as long as we stay close together, nothing can come between the two of us, right?” Dash said encouragingly, patting his leg with her hoof, “And just as long as we have each other, nothing bad’ll happen.”
“But it’s not just you and me, you know?” Alex said, meeting her gaze with a surprisingly worried expression, “If even one of us gets hurt, or worse… thing’s won’t ever be the same again.”
Dash hadn’t really considered that.
“There’ll never be another normal day again. Every day would be the day without Applejack, or Pinkie.” He said, his eyes glazing over as he spoke, “I don’t know if I’d ever be happy like I was five years ago.”
Dash didn’t respond, as she mulled over the thought herself.
“I feel sick to my stomach whenever I consider what could happen to any us.” He sighed, before suddenly realizing how he must have sounded to her, “Geez, I’m probably really bumming you out, huh?”
“A bit,” she admitted, shrugging lightly, “But I get it. It’s scary. And stressing is… easy. Sometimes you need to just let the future happen. Because if you sit around and pull your mane out worrying, there’s no way you’ll be at a hundred percent for the ponies that need you when the time comes.”
“I wish it was that easy.” He sighed, “I guess I could always use a spell to mellow myself out.”
“Just make sure you’re not smoking anything,” Dash said, wagging a hoof in his general direction, “Captains of the Royal guard can’t get away with that kinda stuff.”
“Just quit that lame job,” Alex responded, “Easy peasy. So, then we can smoke… what the heck do you even smoke here? Poison Joke?”
“Only if you’re looking for a bad trip,” Dash answered, laughing to herself as she stretched her arms behind her head, “That’s a joke, by the way.”
“I figured,” he said, yawning as he followed suit, and stretched his entire body out.
Rolling out of the hospital bed, Dash looked out the window to the setting sun, and muttered to herself, before turning around to face Alex with a small smile.
“Let’s go for a walk.” She said, gesturing to a small hill across Canterlot that could be seen from their window, “I heard they named Lovers’ Outlook after a couple of ponies that were displaying their ‘love’ to one and other in celebration of Discord’s defeat a thousand years ago.”
“That’s bull crap!” Alex laughed, getting out of the bed and stretching, “If I remember correctly, we were just killing time before Celestia and Luna ascended to their god-like positions.”
“Killing time?” Dash asked, smiling with her eyebrow raised suggestively, “We were rounding second base, and making a break for third!”
“And we would have made it too, if it weren’t for all those creepy old men watching us.” He said, walking over to the mirror and shaking his mane in to a more presentable shape.
“I was happy to give them a show, you were the one that was all shy,” she laughed, a magical brush materializing in her mane, brushing her mess of colors into their straight lines, “Who knows? Maybe there’ll be some more when we get over there.”
“I really hope so.” Alex said.
////
Discord and Luna sat outside the operating room with an unfamiliar silence between them. Usually Discord would be trying to make some kind of annoying conversation, while Luna would try to tune him out, until she eventually failed. But, right now, both were preoccupied with the early casualty in the war to save the world.
After about an hour of this waiting, a nurse exited the operating room with an odd expression that neither Discord, nor Luna could place.
“How is everything?” Luna asked immediately, approaching the mare slowly, “Are there any problems with the surgery? Perhaps in regard to her large size?”
Discord accidentally laughed at her wording, but covered his mouth quickly.
“There are no problems, and she’ll be out soon. I’m just being rotated out because of my… lack of focus,” the nurse shook her head, before looking over her shoulder back to the room, “It’s just… odd to be performing surgery on a pony I’ve always assumed to be invincible.”
“Ah.” Luna said softly, looking at the floor silently.
“Well, you can hardly blame Celestia for this injury.” Discord spoke up, in an attempt to reassure the two mares, “In a room with no magic? Against a monster that came from her own star pupil? Losing just a wing was amazing if you think about it!”
“I- I suppose,” The nurse nodded, “Was it truly so dangerous?”
“It was.” Luna nodded, looking back to her with a sullen stare, “I’m ashamed to admit just how scared I was.”
“Braver than me!” Discord added, slithering over to them, “I was too afraid to even get close! In a room without magic, I’m weaker than a foal! I’d have shrivelled up!”
The two didn’t say anything back to him.
“And I know it’s been said before, but what the heck is with all the magic blocking fields?” He asked them next, trying to spark a conversation, “It seems like a cheap means to an end! I mean, hello! Where’s the creativity in our villains!”
“You’re right about that,” Luna said, giving the nurse a smile, and a comforting pat on her shoulder, before turning to face Discord, “However, I have a question for you. One that you’ve been refusing to answer up until this point.”
“Will I marry you?” Discord asked, closing his eyes and shaking his head ‘no,’ “You already know that my heart belongs to Celestia.”
Luna rolled her eyes, “I wish to know what the plan is, now that everypony has accepted the chaos within them.”
“Oh! That’s easy.” He replied, as the two walked back over to their chairs, “Those little ponies need to do the same thing that they do every time a baddie shows up.”
“Which is?” Luna asked, raising an eyebrow and tilting her head.
“Put their horns together, Twilight- er, well, Trixie makes a sappy speech, then a giant rainbow, or pony silhouette, or generic ol’ beam of magic will shoot at the bad guy, and defeat them!” He said giving her a thumb up, along with a less than convincing smile.
“Discord.” She said seriously, frowning.
He sighed, “That’s the truth. Whether it’ll be enough or not, is going to be seen.”
“What?!” Luna bellowed, her royal voice booming as loud as ever, “Why did you have the Elements of Harmony suffer so much, and cause my sister to lose her wing?! You’re telling me that this wasn’t necessary?”
“It wasn’t necessarily necessary.” Discord corrected her, “But it simply never hurts to be prepared!”
“My sister was gravely injured, Discord!” She growled, “Is it really worth making everypony a little stronger?”
“A lost wing is hardly a loss in the long run,” He responded, rolling his eyes, “It’s well worth it to increase your army’s magic one hundred-fold.”
“You’re exaggerating that power.” Luna said defensively, pulling away from him with a frown, “And downplaying the seriousness of my sister—"
“Hold out your hoof in front of you.” Discord cut her off, confusing the princess, who didn’t follow his command right away. “I’m not going to sit here all day, come along now.”
Doing as instructed, Discord held out his own claw parallel to her, “Now, make the smallest spark of magic you can, and hold it in your hoof.”
Silently doing as she was told, a tiny flicker of light appeared, hovering over her hoof, as he did the same.
“You are holding a spark of harmonious magic, it is all you can make.” He said, then gesturing his own hand, which held a rapidly jumping spark, “I have one of chaotic magic, which is all I can make.”
Luna was silent, as she mentally prepared herself to be taken to school by the draconequus.
“Now, look what happens when we try to bring them together,” Discord said, moving his hand over to her hoof, causing the sparks to drift away from one another, “They repel each other. They aren’t supposed to interact naturally.”
Luna nodded.
“But, force them together…” Discord began, as he suddenly grasped her hoof with his claw, slamming the two sparks together, “And you get something remarkable.”
Pulling apart, the two almost insignificant sparks instantly grew into a glowing ball that had to be bigger than an apple or orange.
“Harmonious magic lacks raw power in exchange for stability, and Chaotic magic is the opposite. Those shortcomings put a ceiling on how powerful their respective spells can be.” He continued, slightly impressed with himself at keeping things so serious for so long, “What we just made, Harmonic magic, combines the strengths, while removing the weaknesses of harmony and chaos.”
Luna gazed in awe at the shining orb of magic in front of her, “And that was just from a spark… But a thousand years ago, did I not combine the Element of Chaos with my sister while she held Harmony? There was no such power.”
Discord shook his head, “You never truly learned how to control it like these ponies have. But despite that, you two were still strong enough to defeat me.”
“So, how much stronger could they get?” Luna asked.
“When the Elements of Harmony combine, you end up with an exponential increase in power,” He continued, scratching his chin for a moment as he crunched some numbers in his head, “One normal Element of Harmony is equal to fifty ponies worth of magic. Plus an accepted chaotic side multiplies that by another one hundred.”
“They’re as stong as an army of five thousand when combined?” Luna asked incredulously, her mouth open slightly.
“No,” Discord responded, smirking slightly, “That’s per pony.”
“So… the seven of them have the magical power of th-thirty-five thousand?” She stammered out next.
“To be honest, I’m not sure where it caps. Observing how the Elements have interacted in the past when they combine, one could reasonably say that their magic would be raised by the power of two from there.” He said, his brain not quite fast enough to keep up with the multiplication, “At that point… maybe saying ‘one hundred-fold’ was a bit of an understatement.”
“That would put their strength well over that of a billion unicorns,” Luna said, shaking her head quickly, not able to wrap her head around the astronomical number she had come to, “That can’t be possible. It’s… I mean, such power would be…”
“Enough to stop any would-be attacker in their tracks.” He finished for her, “and more than enough to justify the loss of a wing.”
////
Trixie slowly opened her eyes to the sound of Alex and Dash walking past her room, both talking loud enough to pierce her slumber.
She couldn’t make out what they were saying, as they were long gone before she was conscious enough to start truly listening. The only word that made it to her properly was Twilight’s name.
“Shit…” She muttered, covering her eyes with her arm, “It’s still not a nightmare…”
After a few more moments of self loathing, she finally sat up from the bed, and looked toward the light switch. Then, with almost zero effort on her part, she clicked the light on.
“Even turning the lights on is way easier.” Trixie sighed, as she looked toward the drawn curtains, “So is opening these, I’ll bet.”
Lighting her horn, she tried to zip them to the side quickly, but accidentally created an enormous amount of friction between the wooden rod, and wooden rings holding the curtain up. Causing them to burst in to flames along the top.
Going wide eyed, she cast another spell, shooting a massive gust of air from her horn to extinguish the flame.
Instead, the window was completely shattered, and the curtains went flying out, luckily burning out long before they came close to the ground.
“Dear sweet Celestia…” Trixie muttered, the increased strength of her magic truly baffling her, “What has Twilight been packing all this time?”
“What happened in here?” A nurse asked, drawing Trixie’s attention away from her inner monologue, “Are you alright?”
“I- I don’t know!” She lied reflexively, “It just woke me up to the crashing! But, don’t worry, I can fix it right up!”
Casting yet another spell, a clean sheet of glass appeared in between the two. It promptly pushed itself into the remaining jagged edges of the old window, and seemed to melt in to place, leaving the window in its old condition, minus the curtains.
“Oh, um, thanks.” The nurse said, looking to Trixie was a surprised expression, “You’re pretty good with magic, huh?”
“Better than I remember being…” She said softly, taking a step toward the door, “Um, I’m just going to head out and get some fresh air, if that’s alright.”
“Of course, dear,” the white pony said, heading out of the room in front of Trixie, “Try not to be too long, it’s going to be dark soon, and along with the shift change, you may have some trouble making it back to this room for the night.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” Trixie said politely, turning the opposite direction down the hall.
Heading down the hallway, she decided that the best way for her to test her new strength, was to go somewhere that was a little less… destructible.
////
“That’s better,” Dash sighed, sitting down next to Alex on the bench that had somehow been erected in their honor.
“Hard to believe it’s only been a thousand years since we’ve sat here together,” Alex joked, looking out over the Everfree Forest, which stretched for miles, until it ended just outside of Ponyville.
The sun was just setting, and the sky, along with the rest of the world, was momentarily painted in a heavy coat of orange. Just as it had been the last time they sat in this spot together.
“You know, I think I’ve finally gotten used to sitting on my butt like this,” Dash said, flicking her tail between her legs, “It’s pretty comfortable once you get used to your rump falling asleep on you.”
“I just can’t bring myself to like… lie down on a bench with all four legs up on it,” He scratched the back of his head, “Lyra has the right idea.”
“You’re lucky that I like you enough to learn to do it myself,” Dash said.
“I am lucky,” he nodded along, tearing his gaze away from the beautiful sky to look at her, “Because there’s no way I like you enough to learn to do it your way.”
She laughed, before lightly hitting his shoulder with her hoof, “I can kick your butt you know. You should be working harder to keep me happy.”
“Just because you can beat me in a fist fight, doesn’t mean that I couldn’t play dirty to win.” He smiled, wrapping his hoof around her hips to slide her closer to him, “All I have to do, is start talking about clothing, and hunky guys, and that one co-worker you have that’s a total bitch, and you’ll forget we were even in a fight.”
“I’m a captain of the royal guard!” Dash placing a hoof on his chest, as she pushed her upper half away from him, “So the only CO-worker that I could consider a bitch would be… Shining Armor? And I mean, he really can be a hard-ass sometimes. I had ponies lining up to work under me while I was in Canterlot.”
“Jokes on them, because I was working under you wayyyyy before any of them got the chance.” He said, unable to suppress the shit-eating grin that was leaking on to his face.
“Huh? You never worked for me befor—” Dash suddenly stopped, and sighed, shaking her head, as Alex exploded in laughter, “Under is the keyword, ya’ flippin creep.”
“You love it!” Alex said, still looking at her, as she gazed on at the view in front of them. He waited for her to respond, but she was so absorbed in the world around them, that he was left with only her content expression, “You know, I don’t know if I say this often enough, but you look beautiful right now.”
This got her attention, as she looked toward him with a beaming smile, her eyes seeming to glisten in the light of the sun, “You’re not so bad yourself.”
Giving her a smile of his own, he brushed some of her long rainbow mane from her eye and tilted his head, “I’m glad you decided to keep it long like this.”
“Well… you told me that you liked it!” She said nervously, her cheeks flushing slightly, “But I mostly did it to get a better rainbow effect when I flew!”
His smile grew in to one of surety, and a fraction of cockiness, setting loose a group of butterflies in Dash’s stomach, causing her to sigh, and quiver uneasily.
“You wanna make out a little?” He asked, his blue eyes drilling in to her soul.
“You always know how to get a girl going,” Dash laughed, as he pushed his lips in to hers.
Closing her eyes, and sighing softly, Dash threw her arms around his neck, and gave herself into the moment.
Neither cared for the view in front of them, as their passionate kiss started to evolve into more of a make-out session, just as it had when they went back in time five years ago. Alex seemed to have more control over his libido this time around, however, as he kept his hoof planted firmly on her hip, instead of letting it roam, as he once had.
Dash withheld her own laughter as she thought back to the same encounter in the past, and the audience they had drawn while they made out at that time. Moving past it, however, she decided to focus on the moment.
////
Trixie stood a fair distance away from Alex and Dash on a hill, as she watched the two kiss on their bench.
“Am I being creepy right now?” She muttered to herself, silently wishing that Aurora would answer her- she didn’t.
Idly, Trixie cast a few spells, as she waded the waters of her new abilities. Her skills had increased by a significant amount, and she wasn’t sure where the ceiling was on what she could do. Looking at a rock lying in the grass next to her, Trixie levitated off the ground, and began to put pressure on the center of the stone. And, after only a few seconds of increased effort, it cracked in half.
“Okay, I guess that was easy enough.” She mumbled, moving her focus over to a large tree, and wrapping the entire trunk in a magic spell, “Let’s see if I can pull this off.”
Her horn began to glow brighter and brighter, as the spell around the trunk grew stronger. Slowly but surely, the rough bark on the coniferous tree pressed into the trunk, as the force around it multiplied.
After a few moments of tree crushing, Trixie came to a somewhat unsurprising revelation, “I couldn’t do this before… but it’s too easy right now.”
Then, as she tilted her head to crack her neck, the rest of the tree, including that parts that hadn’t been encased in her magic, broke down in to splinters from the wood, and needles from the branches. Turning her head to the sky, she silently pondered what kind of spell would truly test her new, unknown limits. What could she do to tire herself?
////
Pinkie was once again walking down the hallway in the Hospital, looking for a stairwell that would lead her to the roof.
After seeing a doctor for her headache, she decided that some fresh air would help her clear her mind, and perhaps help relieve the stress she had been plagued with since she had joined with her chaotic side.
After a few more minutes of searching, she found the stairway, and made her way up to the top level. Then, with a minor spell, she unlocked the door, and stepped out in to the crisp evening air.
The sun was just setting, and the sky was illuminated in every color. From a burning red on the horizon, to a cool dark blue opposite to it. It was truly a picturesque evening. One that Pinkie wished she could have enjoyed with all her friends. But, things were clearly changing.
“I guess moving forward isn’t such a bad thing,” She said, sitting down on the edge of the roof, and crossing her front legs over one another, “We can’t just sit around having parities, and playing games forever…”
Smiling, she looked towards the debris of Star Swirl’s tower, and watched the Wonderbolts work to clear the roads, to allow traffic through.
“It might even be fun to grow up.”
////
“I’m thinking I might start skipping the accent,” Applejack said flawlessly, sitting across from Fluttershy at the kitchen table in Twilight’s childhood home, causing her friend to raise an eyebrow in surprise.
“Really?” She asked, tilting her head, as she brought her small cup of tea up to her mouth to take a sip, “What made you change your mind?”
“Well, the farm I guess, working on it has built character for me and my kin, but I don’t think I want to spend the rest of my life kicking trees, and making pie, you know?” She asked, looking to her friend, clearly wanting some kind of reassurance.
“Well, I mean, your Cutie Mark is an Apple…” Fluttershy said slowly, “Does apple management fall under that?”
“I’m not sure, to be honest.” She shook her head, chuckling a little but, “I’d have to talk to Big Mac about all of it, of course, but moving up to the next level just seems to make sense. Life is about moving forward! And I think that after all of this world-ending business is over with, I’m going to try and finish my parent’s vision for the farm.”
“That all makes sense, I suppose,” Fluttershy nodded with a smile, before tilting her head and expressing some confusion, “But what does that have to do with your accent?”
“Oh yeah!” Applejack laughed, lightly bonking herself on the head, “Well, I don’t know if you’ve seen it before, but my accent has been somewhat… detrimental. Ponies look down on me, assume I’m not very smart… Pisses me off something fierce.”
“I’ve seen you use that to your advantage before though,” The shy mare spoke up, “You can really get the jump on a pony who’s underestimating you.”
“I suppose,” She said, scratching her chin as she looked at the ceiling, “But, isn’t that dishonest? To play ponies? To intentionally give myself that advantage?”
Suddenly, Fluttershy exploded in to a fit of giggles, causing Applejack to frown slightly as she tried to process what the mare had just found so funny.
“Uhhh, you alright, darling?” AJ asked, only momentarily put off by how her words sounded without the accent.
“These Elements of Harmony are a pain in the butt, huh?” She asked, still not fully expressing her point to her friend, “I mean- it’s like a second Cutie Mark! Not only do you have to spend your life being an apple-pony, but you also need to be an honest-apple-pony! You don’t have a lot of wiggle room in there.”
“I get what you’re saying,” She nodded quickly, her smile growing as she continued, “I mean, what would ponies think of me if I told a lie to an orange?”
“Or if I was rude to fish?” Fluttershy managed to say.
It was at that point that the two burst in to uncontrollable laughter at their own jokes, neither one feeling an ounce of shame for it.
“What are you two laughing about?” Twilight’s voice came from the doorway in to the kitchen, surprising the two mares.
“Oh- uh… just talkin’ about our Elemen… uh…” Applejack began , snapping back in to her accent as she stumbled over her words.
“Applejack was telling me about a boy she liked in Elementary school.” Fluttershy injected smoothly, “She tried to show off for him by apple-bucking a soccer ball. It wound up bouncing off a tree, and in to his head! He was scared of her afterward!”
Fluttershy then resumed her fit of laughter, as Applejack looked on, blushing lightly.
“Ah’ told’ya that in confidence…” She whispered to herself.
“That’s our Applejack,” Twilight said, lightly smiling at her friends, “I just came out to get a drink. All that crying really dries a pony out.”
“Are ya’ feelin’ better?” Applejack asked, watching her friend cross the kitchen, levitate a cup from the cupboard, and run some water in to it from the tap.
“Oh, I’m not done bawling my eyes out yet. Not by a long shot.” Twilight shook her head before downing her glass of water, “But Marick is keeping me positive.”
“Ah’ never get used to hearin’ that name,” She said, scratching the back of her head, “He’ll always be Alpha to me.”
“It feels like just yesterday he was trying to brainwash us at Haven Station.” Fluttershy added, once again falling in to a giggling fit.
“Geez, I don’t like laughing Fluttershy,” Twilight said, placing her cup in a small rack next to the sink, and walking over to the table.
“I’m sorry,” she said, calming herself down quickly, “I guess despite everything… I’m just really happy that everypony is okay. Um… sorry for being happy though.”
“Don’t apologize,” Twilight said, looking out the kitchen window at the setting sun, “It makes me happy to see you happy. I’m just… going to have to learn to live this way, as much as I absolutely hate it.”
////
Alex and Dash, both thoroughly done with making out, now rested on each other, as they had been for most of the night at this point, once again reminiscing over past events they had experienced together.
“It’s a good thing that this is a cartoon world,” Alex said, scratching the back of his head idly as Dash’s cheek rested on his shoulder, “Because I’m pretty sure you would have killed me during that Wonderbolt race you were in.”
“When you fell on me from the blimp?” Dash asked, furrowing her brow as she thought about the situation, “I wasn’t moving all that fast I don’t think…”
“You were like, a hair away from sonic boom-ing.” He said, shaking his head, rubbing his own cheek through her hair, “If you got hit like that on earth? Psh, you’d be dead. D-E-D. Dead.”
“You’re a tough guy,” Dash said idly, still mostly absorbed in the view from their vantage point, “You’d be fine if you got hit in your world.”
“I appreciate the confidence, but like, it wouldn’t even be a question,” Alex continued, clearly unaware that his girlfriend wasn’t in on this particular reminiscence with him, “Like, I’d just be red mist. A splat on the wall.”
“Well, just make sure you avoid fast pegasi then…” She mumbled.
“Are you even paying attention?” He asked, following her gaze to look at the multicolored sky in front of them. “Huh, I guess the sun hasn’t moved, what with Celestia being in surgery and all. But, I mean, wouldn’t it just move itself after a while?”
This pulled Dash out of her dream-like state, as she looked up to him incredulously, “You don’t know how the sun works?”
“Well, I mean, I’m not one hundred percent or anything!” He said quickly, feeling dumber by the second, “If Celestia and Luna are busy… it can still set by itself… right?”
“No. It can’t.” Dash said, clearly unimpressed with the man she intended to spend the rest of her life with, “What, you think the sun is alive or something?”
“Have we not had this conversation?” Alex asked, pulling away from her, giving her room to make eye contact with him, “The earth orbits the sun, while rotating. Orbit determines seasons, and rotation determines time of day.”
“You’ve seen us set up for winter before,” Dash said, shaking her head slowly at him, “Nothing controls the season except us.”
“Are you sure?” He asked, “Like, what would happen if Celestia and Luna just vanished?”
“Well, Princess Cadence is can—”
“Okay, what is there was nopony capable of moving the sun left in Equestria suddenly?” He asked.
“Half the planet would have all sun, half would be dark forever.” She answered, “Nopony, short of a princess can move that ball of fire in the sky.”
“Why just them?” He asked next, considering how he might even be able to move a celestial body, “Like, I think my head would explode if I even began to try moving it. What makes them special?”
“It’s some kind of secret spell,” Dash shrugged, turning to face the setting sun once again, “Moving the sun is impossible, any unicorn could tell you that.”
“Do they move the planet then?” He asked idly, looking at the ground, before shaking his head, “No, that’s not it… that would be just as hard, and it’d probably kill everypony.”
“There’s actually a lot of documentation on the impossibility of moving celestial bodies,” Dash said, her inner egg-head starting to show itself, “In the right circles, it’s hotly debated how a such a spell would even be possible.”
“I mean, the way Celestia and Luna can toss those things around,” Alex shook his head, turning back to face his girlfriend, “It’s like they’re nothing.”
“It’s something smarter ponies than us have tried to figure out,” Dash shrugged, looking back to him as well, “There’s no solving this one, I’m afraid.”
Alex huffed, clearly not satisfied with the answers that she was providing him with. “Maybe the sun is just the size of a beach ball, and we were all too dumb to realize it.”
“Or it’s really just a big mirror in the sky that reflects the real sun!” Dash added, laughing a bit at the absurdity of her suggestion.
Just then, a blue aura surrounded the sun, once again drawing their attention toward the beautiful vista. However, something wasn’t right with the way it was moving downward. It was traveling at a snail’s pace, and would often stop for several seconds, before beginning to crawl below the horizon again.
“What the heck is Luna doing?” Dash asked, frowning slightly as she stood up from their bench, tilting her head and squinting at the dimmed sun behind the magical aura, “Is her magic weaker right now?”
“Maybe Luna isn’t used to setting the sun,” Alex offered, stretching his legs out before placing his arms behind him to keep propped up, “She usually just does the moon, right?”
Dash didn’t answer, she simply watched as the last of the sun slid behind the mountains far beyond even Ponyville, removing the rainbow effect from the sky, replacing it with a calming blue expanse littered with distant stars, while also blanketing the world in complete darkness.
“Hmm.”
////
Trixie shook uncontrollably, every nerve in her body was on fire.
“I- I did it…” She said, uneasily lowing herself so she could sit down on her rump, “I moved… the sun.”
If anypony had come along at that moment, they would have insisted that Trixie get to a hospital immediately. She had a constant stream of blood running from both her right eye, and left ear, that was starting to pool in the grass below her head. This was something that she had failed to notice so far.
“I guess I should have taken it a little easier,” she said weakly, mindlessly rubbing her nose, smearing the red ooze on to her cheek and down to her lips, where it still went unnoticed by her. “I can’t believe Twilight had this much power all along… I never stood a chance my first time in Ponyville.”
Sitting in silence for several minutes afterward, Trixie found herself coming back around to the waking world, as the pain radiating through her body began to dim, while other injuries started to become more apparent. Rubbing her eyes, she finally discovered the now drying stream of blood down her face.
“Great.” She mumbled, not really surprised to see the damage she had done to herself.
Luckily, just behind her was a running stream that she was able to spend a few minutes scrubbing herself clean with. Then, after a quick spell to illuminate the area around her, she checked in the resulting reflection in the water to make sure that there weren’t any stray blood streaks on her face.
“I should have seen that coming,” She said to herself, as she turned around to face the dark sky, noticing the lack of lunar light, “I hope nopony is expecting me to move the moon as well.”
And, as if on cue, the moon levitated from under the horizon to high in the sky, illuminating Canterlot, Ponyville, and the Everfree forest in the soft reflected light of the sun.
“Oh good, Luna must have noticed what I did.” She said, her head pounding harder than any headache she had experienced before, “I guess this is what being a god is. The Great, and truly powerful Trixie…”
However, despite the immense power she now had in her possession, there was nothing that she wanted less. Robbing Twilight of the Element of Magic felt like slapping her friend in the face, and she was horrified that this might ruin some of the friendships that she had worked so hard to build with all the ponies in Ponyville.
What if she couldn’t fill the gap that now existed, with Twilight gone?
But, the confidence of her best friend still echoed through her mind.
“Aurora…” Her voice cracking as she spoke the name, “Trixie wishes- ugh, I wish things could have turned out differently,” She said, her voice soft enough that nopony would come looking for the crazy mare who was talking to herself, “I hate that I was only strong enough to save you after you died…”
Looking down to the ground, she closed her eyes and continued.
“You showed me what it was like to be cared for. You taught me how to be compassionate. And made me how rewarding life is when you help others.”
Opening her eyes, she looked up at the sky once again.
“You showed me the kind of pony that I can be proud of. And I’m going to spend every day, for the rest of my life, improving, and becoming a better pony… I don’t think I’ll ever truly get over losing you.”
She didn’t want to start crying. For all she knew, she’d start firing blood out her eye again.
“If you’re watching me from somewhere up there… I’ll make you proud.” Trixie said, her horn glowing a soft blue, as she conjured one of her friend’s favorite spells, “I’ll make the world a better place.”
Then, with a small surge of energy, a ball of white magic shot high in to the air, and exploded in to thousands of sparks of rainbow light, giving the illusion of a blanket of new stars in the sky.
“Goodbye, Aurora.”
////
“What is that?” Alex asked, looking into the night sky at the brilliant display of magic from his seat on the bench, sitting next to his fiancée, “That’s so cool.”
Dash smiled at the shimmering lights covering everything above them, “I think it was Trixie.”
“Huh?” Alex asked, still fixated above, only tilting his head slightly in confusion, “How’d you figure that out?”
“You need to keep up,” Dash laughed, with no shame in her boasting, “First, the sun didn’t turn the right shade of blue when it went down, and whoever was casting the spell was clearly having trouble.”
“I guess it did take a couple of seconds for her to get it down,” he nodded, as the last of the particles in the sky began to dissipate, eliciting a disappointed sigh from him, “But didn’t you say that it was impossible for a normal unicorn to move the celestial bodies?”
“I did,” She nodded, “But, Trixie has an Element, and the chaotic power behind it. She’s going to be stronger than even Twilight was at her peak.”
“Wow.” He said softly, still staring upward, “And those sparkles are also from her?”
“Obviously,” she said, pointing a hoof back at the center of the now-fading spell in the sky, “See that?”
Squinting at the point she was showing him, “Oh yeah, look at those cool ripples of color up there.”
“Aurora Borealis,” Dash finished for him, looking over to him and smiling smugly, “Aurora Borealis.”
Looking at her with a smidge of embarrassment, Alex scratched the back of his head, “And that means…?”
Dash blinked several times, her expression completely still, as she stared directly in to his eyes.
“Oh!” He said quickly, laughing nervously as he put his hoof around her shoulder, “Right. Her friend.”
“How smart are our kids gonna be?” The blue mare said quietly, slowly looking at the hoof now resting on her opposite shoulder.
“Don’t go all high and mighty on me,” Alex laughed, clearing his throat and looking back to the streaks of color in the sky, “You’re the one that jumped head first in to the ‘egg head’ life. I’d have been happy to have dumb kids.”
“I literally spent years researching magic to save your butt.” She laughed out loud.
“You didn’t save me! You saved Alpha!” Alex laughed, earning a grunt of displeasure from her, “Queen Chrysalis saved me.”
“And if we both recall, you two had a great time,” she retorted, shrugging, “You always say her name when we—”
“Okay okay, you win.” He said, patting her shoulder and giving her a smile, “And I guess it helps to have one smart person around to keep me from getting myself in to trouble.”
“If being smart kept us from getting in trouble, I think I’d have stayed dumb.” Dash grinned back.
A comfortable silence followed as the two continued staring out at the horizon. Dash slipped an arm around his side, and pulled herself close enough to him to press her cheek in to his shoulder, slightly squishing her face.
Alex looked down at the top of her head and smiled, wondering just for a moment if it would still be weird at this point if he were to smell her hair.
“Are you staring at me?” She asked, her voice slightly skewed by her squished face.
“I was wondering if it would be weird to sniff the top of your head, to be honest.” Alex responded, a little uneasily.
Dash frowned and tilted her head as much as she could into his shoulder, “A little weird, yeah. But I’ll give you a pass. We are getting married, after all.”
“Yeah, I’d better enjoy you now, because I know what’ll happen once we get married.” Alex said, as he kissed the top of her head, and taking a moment to smell the shampoo in her hair.
“What will happen?” She asked, secretly enjoying the attention he was paying to the top of her head.
“Well, obviously you’ll get really fat- let yourself go.” He answered nonchalantly, silently bracing for the beating that was about to come, “You will stop worrying about your hygiene, your coat around your butt will get all matted and we’ll have to cut the hair out with scissors.”
Dash, again, frowned, and furrowed her brow as he continued.
“I’ll- of course, stay incredibly fit, and handsome.” Alex continued, his stomach starting to do backflips in anticipation of her retribution, “My body will be like a marble statue from all of my muscle. You might even start to resent me for being so hot, compared to your flabby-ness.”
“Where the heck are you going with this?” Dash asked slowly, still facing forward.
Alex laughed for a second before continuing.
“You know, I wanted to get a rise out of you, but now I’m feeling a little dumb that I didn’t get one.” He replied, “I’ll just have to work on my teasing a little bit.”
“Well, you’ve got a long time to master it,” she sighed, pushing back in to him, despite being as close as she could already be, "I'm mentally preparing myself for the next seventy years of teasing."
“It doesn’t bug you when I do it, huh?” He asked, glancing down at the top of her head once again, waiting for her to answer.
“Well, I mean, I give you a tough time too.” She replied, shrugging slightly as she continued, “If you didn’t tease me, then I’d never feel comfortable doing it back. And let’s be honest. When it comes to you, there’s a lot to tease.”
Alex gave a small chuckle, as he leaned his own head down to rest on hers, “I wish I could say the same back. But you’re kinda perfect. I always just have to make stuff up. Like saying that you’re letting yourself go, or something else like that.”
“Oh shut up,” She rolled her eyes, refusing to let herself be flattered by the compliment, “You’re just complementing me so you can get laid tonight.”
“Uh, no duh.” Alex laughed.
“Well, I guess I can’t fault you for seeing how perfect I am,” She said, stretching her arms and legs out, while holding her head in position, “Despite your many, many failings, at least you’re a good judge of character.”
“Hey! I’m more than just a good judge of character! I’m also, uh…” He began, scratching his chin for a moment, taking his time in answering her, “Good at making alfredo?”
“I’ll give you that one,” she laughed out loud, kissing his shoulder, “And you know I’m just joking. You’ve got a lot going for you, but the alfredo is the important one.”
“Oh, so you finally admit it, huh? I’m an awesome guy?” Alex asked.
“Off the record?” Dash asked, her smile growing as she nuzzled his neck, relaxing further in to his body, “The best years of my life have been spent with you. You’re a fucking awesome guy.”
Alex sighed happily, "I really hope that things will stay with way forever."
"Me too..." Dash added.
Suddenly, he pulled away from her, catching the mare off guard, as she suddenly had to support her own weight.
Looking up to him with a bit of confusion, she was surprised as he came in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips, before pulling back a moment later, and giving her the most earnest smile she had ever seen.
“I love you, Colors.”
Feeling the air catch in her throat, she sniffed lightly, then beamed back at him, her stomach fluttering just as it had 5 years ago, when the two watched the sun set on Ponyville together on the hillside.
“I love you too, Spot.”
////
End
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- The King of Hearts · 25k words · 434 9 · 5.4k views
- The King of Hearts · 29k words · 439 13 · 10k views
- The King of Hearts · 40k words · 429 13 · 10k views
- The King of Hearts · 26k words · 370 22 · 7.1k views
- The King of Hearts · 34k words · 343 15 · 4.6k views
- The King of Hearts · 34k words · 287 9 · 6.7k views
- RoyalRainbow · 113k words · 1,734 148 · 34k views
- RoyalRainbow · 180k words · 970 92 · 13k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.093 seconds
Total duration
916 users online
1,370,870 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
and thus the longest and interesting fic that I have read from chapter 1 to all the way to the last chapter comes to an end. It is a very detailed fic, and I enjoyed reading it.
Still waiting for whats gonna happen to twilight. LOst alot of interest in this story when she lost her powers.
Sad to see a story Ive been following pretty much my entire fan life finally come to an end, but then, am so glad that it was wrapped up and closed as well instead of being left to languish in hiatus or cancelled limbo.
Farewell Alex, Dash, friends and populance.
Somewhere, out there, beneath the cool moon light...
It can't end like this...
8522589
8522403
8522274
8522320
One last side story is still coming, if you all didn't know. I added an authors note to the end of the chapter.
Great job. Quick correction.
I think you meant sun.
8522628
That's was a test, and you passed.
8522644
YEAH!!! Can I get a sticker?!?!?!
8522652
You ONLY get the sticker if you can find every single mistake- er- 'Test' that I've put through my entire story.
Good luck, there's a million of 'em
So... It's really finished? No more Friendship is magic? What are you going to do after you put "The final story"? Are you going to make a new story? Or just leave it?
Sequelsequelsequelsequelsequelsequelsequelsequel!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Come on guys sequel with me!
it feels really weird and unsettling to see “Completed”
this was an amazing ride, and I’m so glad that I came along for it
8522606
I'm still sad though. It's hard to find good Dash romance fics these days.
>>Thatdudethere789
As much as a Sequel will sound great I am not sure if there is a plan for one, and even then -- as much as it pains me to say this -- how it will end would probably wrap everything together nicely.
The King of Hearts
I have to say I have been following the story for a long time reading this main story and all the side stories that went with it. Other that one a few other long Fics that I have read you have by far have written a diamond in the rough story that I had great joy reading.
8524789
Feels weird for me too. Been a long five years. Thanks for sticking around to read it all. Hope you're around for the finale.
8524836
I'll still update the rewrite here and there, and I'm gonna focus more on the relationship in that, and less on the adventure aspect, then end it at the end of season 1.
8524854
I do agree with you. I was just messing around. I do hope to see some one shots in the future though.
8524869
So.... What will the future hold for Alex and friends after the final side story? Or is the final side story like a 'some time has passed, here is what happened.' kinda thing?
8525172
You could say that some time has passed in the finale. That is definitely something that happens in one form or another.
8524854
8524872
Thanks a lot. I'm glad you've been reading for so long. It means a lot that people have stuck around for so long.
As for sequels, you're right in a sense. I don't think I could sit down and write something even close to the caliber of this monster. But I'm going to expand my very non-canon universe, and that will probably involve stories that take place after the finale. They'll probably be one shots, however.
8525239
*Strokes beard.* Hmm... Could write about them trying to raise a child..
8525808
I'm going to need to see how readers are feeling after the finale before I can make any decisions. I can't really explain why without spoiling the end.
My sole regret here, is that I wasn't here when this all began.
Welp, 'till next time.
8526263
At least you got to read it all in one go! 5 years is a long time to wait for a lazy bastard like myself
8525929
fair enough
8527419
Where's the fun in that?
Where's the drama? The... Suspense?
Welp, at least the story actually gotten completed. Far too many stories have been abandoned.
Well, we are here then. The supposed end.
KoH, I want to thank you for the effort you have put into this story. Never ever has a story made me fall in love with an oc and canon character as much as this story. I’ve read all the way from chapter one and can say without a doubt, that Alex and RD’s romance was so sweet and perfect that I feel sad to not have any more to read about their lives. ( until you make more, that is.)
Every chapter was great, every character enjoyable, until the completion. I will keep this in my readers list, for I will certainly want to re-read this from scratch at some point.
I’ll keep an eye out to more possible work from you.
what's onec again i am really going to miss this storyand it's going to be hard to say goodbyep ps you're not hinting that the real ending isn't going to be a happily ever after are youi guess it's your story in your decision but personally there's nothing i hate more than a sad endingp p signore the what's at the beginnin
gauto correct fail and for some reason i can't erase
it
What a way to wrap up this story. Twilight is getting the help she needs, Trixie is incredibly powerful, a huge threat still looms on the horizon, but the story still ended on a high, wonderful note.
Now just to anticipate the true ending - knowing your record, it will be one hell of a ride.
Also, that title drop in one of Dash's last sentences.
8531835
There will hopefully be more stories. I'll probably drop a few one shots before the finale comes out, so I can get more dedicated readers.
Thanks for being along for the ride as well. You've been in here for a while, and I really appreciate the support.
8534222
I'm glad you've enjoyed the story, and I'm sad to see it go as well. Also, you're definitely on the right track for how things end.
But don't worry, happy things will happen as well.
8535492
There was a title drop. I decided not to have it be in the last line, because that would have been just a tiny bit cheesy.
And the finale is hopefully going to have people on the edge of their seats. Feeling sad, then happy, then devastated, then happy a bit but mostly sad, then sadder, then happy (but not too happy,) then unsure of what to think.
That's the roller coaster I'm aiming for.
8537170
That sounds pretty exciting. Best of luck with that! I'm looking forward to reading it
8537161
thanks im even more nerves now but I love bitter sweet endings
And this way. One of the most amazing fics I've ever read comes to an end.
But, what is going to happen to Twilight?
8539495
It'll all be explained in the finale. She plays an important roll.
Wow. This was one heck of a ride. Even though this is the end of this particular fic, I still await the TRUE ending in the form of that last side story you plan on writing. So until that is posted, this was a good story to follow. Thanks for the story The King of Hearts.
~ Super-Brony12
8586464
Well Either way I thought it was amazing and I thought of a little spin-off. If you'd like to hear it, Pm me
oh wow, story is finally complete??? Im gonna have to reread a few chapters to remember what the hell was going on lmao. I cant wait to finish reading this masterpiece.
Fantastic as always, I can't wait for the finale. Also I'm calling it, someone will die.
You know, for a Gary Stu Alex kinda sucks at it! 😜
Overall, this fic was really fun! Definitely on the favorites shelf.
Keep going! ;)
8617093
Finally finished, huh?
Well, I hope you liked it! I know I've loved writing it.
And I'm happy to make you the same offer I made the rest of my readers.
I have a 17,000 word summary of the finale on this site, and if you would be willing to give some feedback, you can see how everything ends. But if you wanna wait, that's totally cool too. Just figured I'd give you the option.
8617509
Sure! That should only take a bit less than two hours at my current reading rate. We never really did care about getting spoiled or not, as you might have seen we tend to run predictive plotlines while reading. It will be interesting to see if Twilight's foal will be the next magical prodigy despite or because of her time as element of magic.
Holy shit...
I left this site about 2 years ago and this was my favorite story back then. Now it's coming to an end.
It sucks to see a story like this come to a close but god DAMN was it a trip. I can't wait for the final leg of this story.
This story was so much more than expected and it holds a special place in my heart, because even after I left the fandom I still came back and read THIS singular story.
I'll be back for those last chapters.
I remember beginning to read this story when it first came out, and following it right then and there because your writing really showed some promise for what it could become. All this time later, I'm not disappointed, and look forward to the finale.
8673374
Lol,yeah. Have a good one m80
8676147
Okay?
8676693
Was saying lol to your last comment having been in 2013, and yeah to your ideology( for lack of a better word/too lazy to think of one )
8677757
Ahh, okay.
And I also feel like there's an -ology word to be used, but I'm equally as lazy, and don't feel like finding it.