• Published 25th Jan 2018
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XCOM: Ranger - Wanderer D



Sunset Shimmer escapes Equestria... with unforeseen consequences.

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Chapter 219: Friendship

Ranger

Chapter 219: Friendship

By Wanderer D

Rainbow Dash went around Daring Do's home, a thousand thoughts and harsh words on her mind, which faded when she found Twilight, sitting down and leaning her head against the trunk of a tree, repeatedly bumping her head on the tree and muttering to herself. She looked miserable.

"Hey, Twilight?" she ventured, slowing down and stopping behind her friend. "Are you okay?"

Twilight gently smacked her forehead against the tree once more. "No, Dash. I'm not."

Rainbow Dash sighed, walking up to her and sitting down to her side. "Wanna talk about it?"

Twilight rested her head on the trunk and glanced from under her bangs at Rainbow Dash. "Not really."

"But you're going to, right?"

Twilight closed her eyes. "Yeah."

"So what happened back there?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Hostile unit got shot, he has information we need." Twilight said dully, "So I didn't help him and let him fear for his life because I have better things to do than negotiating with terrorists."

"Really?"

Twilight sighed. "Rainbow, you've read the books. What do the Rings of Scorchero do?"

Rainbow frowned, concentrating for a moment before her eyes went wide. "Oh my gosh! They can bring blazing heat that covers all of the ancient Tenochtitlan Empire!" She shook her head. "Is that why you were kinda torturing him for? To stop that?"

Twilight chuckled. "No. But it's one of the many reasons I told myself to justify doing that. Along with Sunset's life being on the line. Along with Laetitia's life being on the line. Along with 'what would Chrysalis do?' and I'm not even sure she'd do that. Every time Caballeron screamed, I thought reasons for why it was okay that I was doing that."

"Twilight—"

"Equestria is not Earth." Twilight turned around, resting her back on the tree trunk and looking up at the sky past the forest around them. "Here I'm a Princess, not an XCOM soldier. Today I showed everyone around what type of ruler I could be."

Rainbow Dash shook her head. "You stopped."

"Because you were here," Twilight said. "Can you imagine, if you hadn't come? If it was only Alejandra, Laetitia, Galahad, Gabby and Gilda?" She sighed. "The last two couldn't stop me. I barely know them and they barely know me. The first three would support my decision and justify it.

"On Earth, the fight is so desperate, that more than one person or resistance group has completely given up on their morals and turned to ruthless torture of anyone that refuses to help them. XCOM comes close a lot of times… hay, I think Vahlen crossed the line if you listen to what Bradford and Tygan have to say about her experiments.

"There's always a very thin line of what is acceptable there… but even they respect that. And that's on Earth. Over here… who tortures or allows their subjects to suffer?" She levitated and threw a small rock. "Sombra." Another small rock. "Chrysalis. Not shining examples of what makes us good, are they?"

Rainbow Dash leaned onto her friend's shoulder. "Come on, you're not that bad."

"Now, but I could be." Twilight licked her lips, looking down at the forest floor. "I brought you because you love Daring Do's books as much as I do. But I almost left you behind with the others."

Ears perked, Rainbow leaned back so she could look at Twilight. "So you left the others behind on purpose? It wasn't because they weren't around?"

Twilight laughed, a bitter, self-recriminating laugh. "Oh Rainbow. I could have made an effort. But I knew that I might have to do things to get what I wanted that they wouldn't approve of." She sighed. "It was easier to leave them behind than to force myself to face the fact that there are different ways of doing things here in Equestria. I knew the others would not have approved of me sending Alejandra out to "take care" of the bad guys." She shook her head. "When I gave the order, I knew. I knew shots would be fired."

"So you left them behind because they would have stopped you."

Twilight nodded. "Worse. Because I knew that this was easier and faster. Alejandra, for all her training, is just like me Dash. We're really rookies. We're both better trained than your average pony, but we're still green. We're still learning as we go. Tala would have handled things differently. Sunset…" she grimaced. "Has been on Earth too long, but if she wanted to, she could've taken the group by herself without really injuring anyone."

"And if the girls had been here?"

"I'd terrify them." Twilight whispered. "And I'm terrified of that. I'm afraid I'll lose your respect. That Fluttershy will hate me. That Applejack will lose her faith in me. That Pinkie would never see me and smile. That Rarity would be disgusted." Her ears flattened and she bit her lip. "That I've turned into someone different. So different, that none of you would want to be with me."

The pair remained quiet for a few moments.

"You changed, Twilight," Rainbow said eventually. "Nopony can look at you now and see the innocent egghead who would close her eyes when she got into any sort of confrontation or beg others for peace and understanding." She sighed. "That pony is gone."

"Oh."

Dash put her hoof on top of Twilight's. "But you, Twilight Sparkle, are still here. And you're different. You've grown and seen things nopony else has. You survived where just about everypony we know from Ponyville would probably not. You earned the respect, admiration and friendship of everypony you met on the other side of the mirror who was willing to listen." She smiled. "That's something only the Princess of Friendship can do!"

Rainbow Dash stood up and beat her wings, opening her forelegs to encompass everything around them. "You came back! You're trying to do the impossible, not to destroy enemies, but to save your friends. You might be Battle Princess Twily now, but that doesn't mean you stopped being the Princess of Friendship." She pointed at Twilight with her hoof. "Just because you changed, doesn't mean you're not yourself! Nopony else can do the things you do. Nopony else can solve the things you can!"

Twilight shook her head. "But I was about to—"

"About to make a mistake!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Everypony makes mistakes. I've made mistakes, and so has Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, you and Rarity. Don't tell me you already forgot all your friendship lessons?

"So you were close to making something worse. But you didn't. When I got through to you, you stopped. It could have been a lot worse. You could have simply not held back. Or ignored me! They could all be dead instead of tied up. You're not perfect Twilight, but you're not Sombra. You're not Queen Chrysalis." She got close so that she could stare at Twilight right in the eyes. "You're not a monster."

Twilight smiled a little. "So what now?"

"The way I see it, you're still in charge," Rainbow Dash said, flapping her wings so she could give her friend some space. "So you might as well get up and talk to the others. Just remember that you are the Princess of Friendship… and that we're all here for you. Everypony. Old friends and new."

She leaned forth, offering Twilight her hoof.

The princess smiled and took it.

o.0.o End Chapter 219 o.0.o

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