Journey to the center of Equestria

by Rarity Belle

Chapter LXXXVII

There was a massive feeling of complete and utter relief that went through the three other anthronies. They knew that Twilight had returned to them and most likely was in one piece. Though none of them had known what really happened during the distortion of time. The soothsayer knew that the question was going to be asked, no exception. But not in that moment. In that moment they were all genuinely happy about the fact that their friend had returned to them.

For a couple of seconds they just remained standing there. The mares just stood divided into two little spots. The four beings at one end, and Twilight at the other. To the unicorn it just felt so good that she saw the members of the company once more. She could almost have erupted out in tears of happiness.

But the mares were happy as well, yet they didn’t knew what to do. The last time that they saw the unicorn was when she had been taken over by a force greater than anypony in their area. But Pinkie Pie didn’t care about all of it. She saw how the mare had returned and was the first one who made her way over to her.

It almost seemed to have been that their first meeting had been replayed. The lamia almost launched herself straight at the soothsayer once more, only to have her arms being wrapped around her body. A massive hug was given by the lamia. One which almost squeezed the mare for a second time. Yet in the moment, Twilight didn’t care too much about it.

The pain was something that could be lived with while the feelings of a warm return made her body glow. To them it must have been mere minutes that she had gone, mere minutes that had been passing by in the whole of the world. But she had been gone for hours and hours on end.

The time distortion had caused her mind to live further ahead than that it should have been. A thing of which she wasn’t happy about when the silent realization came through to her.

The arms of Twilight went around the back of the lamia and she couldn’t help herself but to release a deep chuckle. A deep chuckle that spoke of complete and utter happiness. To Pinkie it felt as if the unicorn had thought that she never would have seen them again.

Of course the other mares wanted to show their gladness as well, but just engaging in the hug was something that kept being pushed off. Whether or not they were afraid or something along the lines was unknown. The mares just remained standing there with smiles clearly visible. All of them, except for Rainbow Dash.

“Pinkie, Pinkie, Pinkie, just stay silent for a moment. I know you all missed me,” the soothsayer said while she tried to shush the lamia. For who was already talking the ears off of the unicorn’s head. Words of fright and thought all left her mouth as she told the unicorn that they were all just utterly worried about her.

“Okay,” the lamia said before she placed her head upon the shoulder of the unicorn. And just like that had the silence returned within the forest of White Tails. Just like that had the peaceful moment returned to them all. The smiles gently disappeared from the faces and the eyes were closed for just a moment.

In that very moment it didn’t matter what the origin happened to be of a certain being for they all shared the same feelings inside. And those feelings were the sheer happiness that their Twilight had returned. But those feelings gently would have made way for another feeling, the feeling of confusion and answered that were needed.

In the end did the lamia let go of the unicorn before they together walked back to the company. Twilight already saw it in their eyes, but she would play it out in a manner that suited her. A question for a question, and an answer for an answer. “Where’s Rainbow Dash?” the soothsayer asked as she shook the hands with the three other mares.

Only Fluttershy seemed to have had the very guts to embrace the mare in an equally as massive hug. The soothsayer couldn’t resist the offer and gladly took it. So the two of them plunged themselves in the hug and actually began to laugh for a little moment.

Mere seconds later was the hug broken by the two of them and Fluttershy couldn’t resist herself. She had to stroke the cheek of the unicorn for whatever reason. Almost as if she wanted to say that everything was alright once more. It might have seemed unusual in the eyes of the others, but they didn’t care too much.

Applejack did a step forward to begin the formation of the circle around the unicorn. Twilight noticed it and joined them all quick, taking her spot next to the doctor. “Yar question, is difficult to answer. But basically, she left us after ya teleported away. She said she was done with it all and we decided, it was better for her to take some rest,” explained the admiral in a sober tone.

Twilight nodded calm to the words, she could understand the sheer amount of frustration that had been going through the pegasus. She was thrust into an adventure that was the chance of a lifetime, but limited her to not doing what she could best. Not to mention all the sheer amount of misfortune that they had along the way.

“I, understand her decision and respect it. However, she knows you have moved on further to Manehatten right?” Twilight asked further. The soothsayer had to make certain that the pegasus hadn’t truly abandoned them all just like that.

To which Rarity would have been the only one able to answer. She nodded to the other unicorn as she spoke her words. “I shot a blast in the air which told that we moved on through the forest. She must have seen it and if she is wise, she flies straight to Manehatten and waits there for us. I don’t see Rainbow as the kind of mare that would just drops her team entirely.”

Twilight shook her head in response though. “I don’t see that happening either, so we might see her again,” she replied with a calm tone to her voice.

“But what about you?” Fluttershy asked while she looked over the soothsayer. The unicorn turned her eyes over to the doctor and knew what time it was. The time had come for her to tell her story.

Which was told exactly as she remembered it. Every last detail of her troubling adventure was shared with the lot of them. Everything that she knew, from the time that she tried to fight off Nightmare Moon in her centipede form, to the teleporting back to them all.

The horror was clear as crystal on the faces of the mares after the story was done. None of them could have believed just how much flank the unicorn managed to kick in that moment. She also had told them that the possible grayness they had seen, was due to a time distortion. Everything began to slowly make sense to the other mares of the company.

Slow but sure did everything became clear to them. Yet that never took away on the fact that they were still truly terrified of the facts as they were. “Ah still can’t believe ya managed to kick the devil’s flanks,” said Applejack while she scratched herself behind her head.

“It wasn’t willingly, Applejack. I didn’t realize what I had done until the evil had been done. Once the orb of fire had disappeared, I realized what happened,” commented Twilight while she placed her hands behind her back. The eyes were closed for a moment when she thought back about times that were happier for her.

“But, it doesn’t matter what happened, Twilight, remember that,” said Fluttershy just before she placed a hand upon her shoulder. The unicorn was taken out of her thoughts and looked over to the pegasus. “What has happened, happened. And now you’re back here, with all of us.”

Those words were indeed true, even Twilight had to admit the fact as it was. A weak smile came forth upon her lips before she gave a simple nod. Silence was maintained by her as she didn’t have any other words she could or wanted to speak.

Rarity and Applejack still couldn’t get over the fact that one simple unicorn had managed to drive the original Dark Witch down to her hole deep in the earth. Something about that mare was extraordinary. Something about her magical abilities, especially at her age alone, was truly amazing to see and listen too.

“The battle that Never was,” the pirate captain replied just before she crossed her arms over each other, “a war fought in a distortion of time between the two darkest entities in the land. Makes for a great tale for a book if you ask me.”

Twilight couldn’t help herself but she just had to release a chuckle as a response. Rarity was right, the words that she said and especially in the tone as it was seemed to make a truly whimsical tale. “Who knows, maybe one day I might write it all down and see where it goes from there. Perhaps I’ll become an author as well, next to being a soothsayer of course.”

“Music of the future partner, music of the future,” added Applejack while she gained a smile upon her face as well. “But what do y’all say? We gonna continue towards Manehatten, or what?”

The words of the admiral caught them all by surprise but she did have a point. Sunrise was only perhaps an hour or two away and they couldn’t sleep during the day at all. So the decision was perhaps wisest if they would continue along the path to the settlement at the sea.

“Before we go though, there’s one thing that needed to be done,” the unicorn soothsayer spoke before she charged her horn quick. The other mares could only have watched over the events as they would be going down in history.

Before any of them could have reacted, a blast of raspberry colored magic had been fired into the air. A massive blast that was actually meant for one being alone. And that very being was the pegasus major herself.

For high up in the skies and still drifting over the woods of White Tails she laid. She hadn’t noticed a single thing about the time distortion and still laid peaceful within the cloud she had claimed as her own. She almost seemed to have been actually asleep before a strange coloring caught her attention.

The eyes of the mare were opened up and a rub was given to them. What then followed was a massive yawn that caused her to turn around. She had to know what the mysterious light was and the only way she could have figured it out, was by looking straight at it. The griffons it couldn’t have been as those were hopefully still miles and miles away.

In her eyes she then caught the raspberry blast and the eyes went suddenly wide. “What in the name of..?” she whispered to herself. She had seen Twilight teleport away like that, but now she saw the magic of the unicorn just being fired into the air. It was in fact very similar to the blast that Rarity hurled into the air.

It just didn’t make sense to the pegasus in any form. For all she knew could the all clear signal be given and when she got there, her head could have been chopped off. But still was there something about that very aura that spoke of things that they could be trusted. That she had to come down and see for herself what was laying around and about.

Confusion and curiosity had both managed to strike the major of the air force and she sat up straight on the cloud. With her legs crossed and the hands resting upon the knees, she sat there. The top part of the cloud had curled back to its natural formation and she had just completely exposed herself to not only the elements, but to prying eyes as well.

To her there only seemed to have been one way through which she could see whether or not it was a trick or not. Quickly she reached inside of her jacket and took out the binoculars. If she was going to walk right into a trap, she might as well had taken a look first as to whom had it set up.

The company looked to one another before they nodded. Twilight had discharged her horn completely again and she glanced to each of the mares. They appeared to be ready to make the departure for the port. They signal had been given off to Rainbow Dash as she surely must have seen it, as well as the griffons.

That was the only downside of the whole plan. The fact that the griffons as well could have been just looking around and about. Certainly they must have seen the massive blast of arcane powers as well, right? “Shall we go then?” the soothsayer asked to them all. The mares couldn’t do anything else than to nod. The company wasn’t truly in the mood to just keep on waiting for the mare to show up at her own time.

Though as they were about to leave did Twilight charge up one of her hands in order to summon her staff. But the ground never shattered nor did the thing ever appear. “Now that’s strange, I am certain that’s the right tome to be spoken against it. So, why won’t it come, oh wait…”

“Something wrong, Twilight?” Fluttershy asked when Pinkie had taken the lead of the company. Though the lamia was quickly joined by Applejack and her compass for directions. For the time being it would have been both the lamia and the admiral that were walking up front.

Twilight looked over to the doctor with a surprised expression clearly visible beneath her muzzle. She had thought about the facts as they were and could only shake her head a little bit. “Yes, no it’s fine. Really, I had only forgotten one tiny fact. One moment,” the soothsayer replied before she rose her arm up in the air.

The magic within the hand became more and more with each passing tick of the clock. “I call upon thee, that what is rightfully mine!” the mare spoke in a demanding tone. And then the magic was just released into the world. All of the aura that had been gathered around her hand just vanished in an instant. The company turned around to face her once more as they didn’t really knew what would happen next. Though the answer would be given pretty soon.

It was right above the unicorn that there a portal that appeared out of nothing. A portal that dropped something straight in her hand. The fingers coiled up around it and the arm was lowered again. The portal closed back up and Twilight smiled towards the object in her hand.

Within her hand it rested. Within her hand it laid once more, the very extender of her magical abilities. The unicorn was just so glad that she once more could perform her magical deeds and acts to bigger degrees.

The staff that had been thrown out by Sunset Shimmer during the Battle that Never was, had returned to its rightful owner. Twilight set the bottom of it on the ground as the company finally seemed to have been able to move along again. Once more were they ready to hit for the port of Manehatten.

At least so they thought. For they weren’t even going around for a mere minute when words filled the air. “Twilight! Applejack!” were two of the names being called out. The mares all turned themselves around as they looked over the ground they had just covered. They didn’t realize that they were all looking at the wrong piece of land, for they should have stared into the skies.

Only then they realized the fact that there was a blue missile that seemed to have been heading their way. The eyes of the mares went wide until they were narrowed again a fraction of a second later. The company thought to realize just whom it was that they saw coming in. Though they couldn’t have been too certain about the facts.

Soaring through the skies she flew, with her wings making powerful flaps before a rather graceful and calm landing had been made. The pegasus of Cloudsdale itself had returned to the company of mares. The wings were tucked behind her back and she let out a rather embarrassed smile to the lot of them.

Of course there was an apologize required to be made. And Twilight glanced deep within the eyes of Rainbow. The soothsayer didn’t even knew that her glance was that deep, but she didn’t really care in the moment either. She wanted to hear whatever words the major had to say to her. The arms didn’t went cross over one another though instead were they just placed in her sides.

"Oh this is going to be hard to say for me,” the pegasus spoke before she straightened her back. She had the guts to just leave them for what they were, so she needed to have the spine to take the blows that followed as well. A deep exhale came through her nostrils just before the eyes closed off for a moment.

“Take your time, Rainbow, one mustn’t rush these things,” replied Twilight in an odd and kind tone towards her. The pegasus immediately thought about the fact that the mare knew what she had done and why she had deserted from the company. That fact alone made everything a whole lot easier to deal with.

“Okay, here goes. I’m sorry, I’m sorry for my own stupidity. I said words I shouldn’t have said and did things I shouldn’t have done,” spoke Rainbow with an unusual difficulty in her own voice. She meant her words through and through, that much was certain. She just happened to have a great difficulty with bringing them over and out of her mouth. A thing that was all too obvious.

It wasn’t something that Twilight could have gotten mad about. That was just how the pegasus was. That was whom the pegasus had become in the city of pride. Just admitting the fact that she was wrong with her thing could have been this massive victory for her.

If Twilight would have bashed the words there and then, it would have been a truly devastating blow to the self-esteem of the pegasus though. At worst could she have made the decision to just leave from the group there and then. Which was about one of the last thing that Twilight desired. She wanted to remain complete for as long as it was possible.

So the only thing that she could do was to give a gentle nod to the pegasus. A gentle nod and a warm smile. Only after that did the words follow from her mouth. Words that not even the major had expected to hear. “I forgive you, Rainbow, I can understand your frustration and you have all the right in the world to have them. I can’t be angry about that, a lot of things just work against us on this entire adventure.”

The pegasus mare had to look deep in the eyes of Twilight to see whether or not she actually meant the words that she said. There was that little hint of unbelievable-ness to them that just couldn’t be explained on the spot. Though that still didn’t took away that Rainbow just flung her arms around Twilight and engaged in a hug with the soothsayer.

The other mares of the company couldn’t help themselves but to either giggle in silence or shake their heads. The scene was one that wasn’t played out often before her eyes but it was still one that was heartwarming indeed. The company had been completed once more and there didn’t seemed to have been any old grudges held to the members. With the exception of perhaps the obvious one.

Seconds later was the hug between both Twilight and Rainbow broken and the two mares smiled to one another in silence. Neither of them had the right series of words that could be spoken on the matter. But the looks in their eyes perhaps could have told each other more than enough. One was just happy that she was accepted back and forgiven, while the other was glad that everything turned out for the best.

Out of every possible scenario that could have happened, had the one they managed to pull off been indeed one of the best. They had everypony, they were all in one piece and they were ready to once more head home.

Home was a simple word that had been said so many times already after they had left the mountain. Sooner or later would they all just have returned to the places they grew up in, or meet those with whom they grew up. Home was a warm welcome which was waiting for the mares. Or so they silently hoped.

Yet as Applejack had said, it was still music of the future. One false note and the perfect dream would have turned sour for all of them though. Trouble always had a nick of finding them as a group, there wasn’t any doubt in their minds that at least one more thing would have happened and thrown the whole thing away.

“So…” Rainbow Dash began when the company of mares continued to walk further again. “Did I miss anything important?” The question almost seemed to be hitting a massive sign on the heads of everypony. The mares didn’t knew what they could or should be doing in the matter. They didn’t knew what answer was best to be given to her.

They of course all knew the story of what happened to Twilight, but they all doubted whether or not the mare wanted to tell it again. The looks in the eyes of the soothsayer turned sour almost the second after the words were captured in her ears. The eyes were shut halfway so that she at least had something that looked at the road.

But she wasn’t all too happy about the thoughts that spooked through her mind. She wasn’t in the mood to tell anything in the moment and that was the way she actually liked it. Twilight allowed a gentle sigh to leave through her nostrils as she looked over to Rainbow Dash. “I think it’s best if we don’t discuss that matter here and now. We need to arrange a meeting after it all is over, so you can hear it for yourself.”

“That bad huh?” Rainbow asked of her. She could only imagine the worst of the worst happening to Twilight. Her eyes went over those of the soothsayer and couldn’t help herself but to feel sorry for the mare. The sheer weight that had been placed upon her shoulders became visible for just a fraction of a second.

“You wouldn’t even be able to grasp your head around it,” said Twilight moments before her attention turned back forward.

“Oh I think I can,” the major whispered to herself after which she shook her head. It was just impossible for her to realize the sheer amount of stress that the mare had been going through. Even matters that seemed to have been shut off for the longest of times were still there. As if she still took a massive responsibility for them.

Silence was maintained by the group of mares while they continued to navigate through the woods of White Tails. With Applejack and Pinkie Pie at the head and Rarity forming the rear guard, the group was certain that they would be walking into the right direction. The fog was thick and the moon and stars were only visible for so long.

It terrifying was when they walked without much light. Only Twilight and Rarity shone the light of their horns every so often. The reason for such a thing was to figure out if somepony possibly had managed to get off of the path.

The weak lights that were supposed to get them back to the rest of the group. Though luckily for them had nopony ever seemed to have gotten out of the alignment that was created. How long they had walked through the magical woods was unknown, how far they had covered remained a mystery. All they knew was that they had been going into the right place for Manehatten.

For sooner or later did the vegetation became less and less dense as the fog seemed to be lifting up. All of the mares were just glad that they managed to have gone through the woods of White Tails without much of a problem. Outside of the troubles that had happened so far actually.

~~~~

The company of mares stared at the massive open hillside that stretched before them to almost an eternity. The group released a sigh of content and turned their heads over into the eastern direction. The very direction in which they had to go as well. The sun had been rising itself in a gentle manner over the horizon and the orange glow it created on the skies was a welcome sight.

The mares couldn’t believe how much they had missed such a wonderful sight. The sheer sun that came up was a thing that was taken for granted by the whole of the land, but they had spent days –if not weeks– beneath the surface of the land. And in all that time hadn’t they felt any natural sunlight fallen upon their skins.

Then the chance was given to them all that they could actually have done such a thing. For the first time in weeks did the mares just stand still and closed their eyes. Pinkie didn’t fully realize what was about to happen and she just looked over it with a confused gaze. The lamia felt the warmth in the air again after a cold night though, perhaps it had something to do with it.

Finally was the time there that the sun would have presented itself to them all. It inched over the hill as the air become only more orange in coloring. The heat that was already given off by the massive orb fell upon all of their skins and to them it just felt good. All of the anthronies were bathing within the first lights of the morning sun.

All of their worries, all of their troubles and all of their disasters, were just forgotten for a little moment in time itself. Even Pinkie Pie had to admit on the fact that the light felt comfortable upon her scales. The warmth that was given to her felt good. A lot better than the cold stone of the caverns at least.

The lamia tried to look into the sun to the best of her abilities but couldn’t do it. Something about that orb of light always made her look straight away. Almost as if she wasn’t allowed to look into it. In the end did she became just plain old tired of it the game and closed her eyes as well.

The sun crawled up further and further on the skies which turned from orange back to their usual blue. With the morning sun having risen far enough did the mares open their eyes again. They all looked at one another with a smile. They all knew that that day was going to be great. Even though they hadn’t even seen Manehatten yet and were the griffons most likely still upon their tails.

Though the griffons were in fact set to a lower priority. The beasts had seen where they had departed from the woods. They had seen in which direction they would have walked. Between White Tails and Manehatten was nothing but hillside. The best that the griffons could have done was to make their own escape to the settlement as quick as possible to be one or two steps ahead of them.

The company then finally started to walk again. The lot of them walked up the first hill and were granted the sight of the true vastness of the hilly landscape. They had to conquered each and every one of them if they wanted to make their way.

Nods were given by all of the mares as there was only one thing that could have been done. And that was to just go for it. They all had to go for it if they wanted to have even a chance of getting to Manehatten. They could almost have smelled the seas. They were that close for their feelings.

Time went by as if it was nothing and for the first time in a very, very long time it all seemed to have been going smooth. There weren’t any setbacks for the mares when they walked through the hills. It was a feeling that in fact satisfied the group a whole lot more than they would have expected. Something about walking through the rolling hills as they did caused them all have a new conversation topic.

Fluttershy was the one who opened it up by asking two questions. Two innocent questions by the sounds of them, but their answers were different for all of them. “What will you do when you get back home, and who will be waiting for you?” she asked because she had just gotten curious and needed a conversation to kill the time with.

The mares all had to think a little bit about their response as they would be touching deep into their personal lives. Lives that were actually hidden from all of them for the longest of times. Yet Twilight seemed to have been the first one that was willing to answer.

"When I get back home, I’ll probably go straight back to my parents and, see how it goes from there. My parents and big brother would definitely be waiting for me. Curious about my tales, is another thing,” the soothsayer said to them with a smile.

Next it was Applejack who dared to say the words that were on her mind. “Ah probably be going back to the family farm for the first time in years. Ol’ Granny and mah little sis be hopefully waiting for me,” answered Applejack in a tone that seemed happy but told otherwise.

Next up was Rainbow that said the words of her mind. “I think I will just go to the barracks and hit the hay for a good amount of time. Family, let’s say that’s not much of your concern.” They all understood the words of the pegasus as she wanted to keep her image up for them. But they all had the same thoughts about what she actually would be doing.

Than it was Rarity’s turn to speak the words that were troubling her thoughts. “I think I first would head back to my ship and then return to a place I haven’t gone in a long, long time. Anthronies are still waiting for me, somewhere over the horizon,” she said before a gentle tear was wiped away from her eyes. Whether it was liked or not, the infamous pirate captain still was somepony’s very own daughter. And both of her parents were still alive somewhere in the world.

Fluttershy didn’t reply to the matter and Pinkie Pie didn’t have a home or beings that she could return to. She was an outcast of her own species to begin with. So the lamia remained silent as well. Twilight naturally noticed the facts as they were and began to walk next to her.

An arm was wrapped over both her shoulders before the words were said. “You have a brave new world to look forward to, as well as a new home. Trust me on that one.” Those words alone caused a massive excitement within the heart of the lamia, even though she didn’t knew what she had to expect.

Pinkie had something to look forward to, that alone was more than enough for her. That fact alone could have probably saved her skin in the vast world of the anthronies.