Side Story: Flickering Voices
Somewhere in a dark and misty void, lit by various torches, we see Fire Jewel wandering around the area. Aside from the torches flickering, there are no other sounds, that fill the empty and eerie silence. The ground itself is reflective, while the background is just a black void.
"Hello? Anybody here?" The red unicorn asked, but there was no answer in this void. She kept walking and walking. During which, the mare felt a slight, yet cold gust of wind, rushing by. Despite this, she continued walking through the void, when all of a sudden, she heard a voice.
"You demonic criminal!"
When the red unicorn looked back, she saw many of the ponies with angry looks on their faces. But those weren't normal ponies. Many of them had severe burns on their flesh, some of them exposing their bones, their eyes completely black, with blood coming out of them and some of them are still burning. What's worse is, she recognized them as the citizens of Canterlot. Suddenly, they charged and the mare started running away in fear. As the chase went on, the light of the torches started fading away, slowly engulfing everything in total darkness, except for the burning ponies.
"Get away from me!!" She screamed, when all of a sudden, she bumped into someone. As she looked up, she saw her best friend, Tropic Bloom, looking like the creepy burned citizens.
"Oh god no!!! Tropic, what happened to you!?!?" Fire was locked in fear, when the yellow earth pony looked at her in disgust and spoke.
"What happened to me? You tore me apart with your foul words and your hatred! You pushed everyone away with your arrogance and wrath!"
The burning pony looked at the red mare with her cold, black eyes, as she crawled away in fear. Suddenly, she bumped into someone again. It was Cherry Swirl, also charred and bloodied like the rest. Soon, Snow Emerald, Breeze Dasher, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Johnny, Dukey, Sissy and Missy appeared from the dark mist.
"No!!! Look, I'm so sorry for all of this!!! I didn't mean to harm anyone!!" The red mare pleaded for mercy, but it fell on deaf ears, as they went closer and closer to the helpless pony. As if that wasn't bad enough, the heat was increasing to an alarming rate, that even Fire herself couldn't handle it.
"You really have no idea, do you?...
YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF.
SELFISH"
The everlasting chants of "You'll never get everything back." and other hurtful words made the red unicorn curl up into a ball and cry in fear and regret. Suddenly, the ponies around her burn even brighter than ever and the flames getting even closer to Fire. If things couldn't get any worse, her stepfather and Ocean were seen and as Fire Jewel looked at him, they simply shook their heads in disappointment and left into the dark mist, leaving her completely vulnerable to the burning ponies and their wrath. Then, without a warning, the ponies turned fused each other into a demonic lava monster, who grabbed the red mare by throat and shot some lava at her, causing a spontaneous combustion. As Fire Jewel screamed in pain and agony, the flames soon began to char her skin and eventually inside of her body. The cherry on top of this sundae was when hooves grabbed the red mare and dragged her underground, presumably hell, when all of a sudden...
She screamed and opened her eyes, revealing that she was in a cabin. All of this turned out to be a terrible nightmare. At the same time, Princess Luna was standing on the other side and placed her hoof on the mare's shoulder.
"I'm here now." The moon princess looked at the terrified unicorn. "I know, that your nightmare wasn't pleasant, in fact, Ocean had a similar one, except that in the end, she was pulled by horrific versions of her friends into the deep blue, where she drowned. But don't worry, Tempest, Trixie and I will help you overcome it." She pulled the red unicorn into a hug, in which she started to sob. The dark blue alicorn looked down, as she made sure to comfort the terrified pony the entire night.
The next day, the three ponies went outside to discuss on what to do to help the two sisters.
"Why not doing a therapy session?" Trixie suggested.
"Hmm...I suppose, we have to go deeper by hearing their sides of the issues, in order to find the right solutions." Tempest agreed and looked at Luna, who nodded.
"We have to find the root of all of their problems." Luna looked serious.
Soon, the elemental sisters came out of the cabin. Both of them looked very tired and weak, with Fire Jewel even struggling to stay awake, while also dealing with depression. Trixie and Tempest guided the sisters to a flower field and sat down in one circle.
"We start with you, Ocean Spark. How are you feeling?" Luna asked.
"Really bad. I had a nightmare, when my friends and my deceased parents chased me in a dark void, where the ground was reflective like the water. They gained even more speed, while I slowly lost my stamina, causing them to catch and drag me down into the deep blue. It seems like, it represented my thoughts of regret and pain..." the oceanic mare responded.
"The events of the past are still haunting you... You know, all of us had experiences like this before, but with the help of our friends and loved ones, we managed to overcome our own darkness and embracing the light of friendship. And it's time for us to do the same for you." Luna explained, that she, Trixie and Tempest all had similar experiences with guilt of the past, before deciding to listen to their friends' advices. Ocean Spark looked at her sister, only for the red mare to look away.
"I know, how you feel. The scars of your actions are are still fresh in your mind and the constant harassment from the ponies made everything worse. But here is the thing...if you're at the rock bottom, there is no other direction, than to go up. In other words, just because you made something terrible, doesn't mean it's set in stone forever. All you need to do is to tackle your insecurities down and improve yourself for the better, in order to stop those constant nightmares." Trixie hugged the red unicorn with a smile. "Plus, we are here for you, that's for certain." The mare soon remembered her own past, where after she was defeated by Twilight twice, she saw the error of her ways and tried her best to fix them. It wasn't until Trixie befriended Starlight, where she got better with her progress. Ocean watched, as tears formed in her sister's deep blue eyes and hugged the red unicorn as well. Soon, Tempest and Luna joined in for a group hug.
"I know, I've done terrible things before, my dear sister and I'm really sorry for causing all of that heartache in the first place. But...we can start over again and focus on improving....that is, if you forgive me..." Ocean looked at her younger sister.
"It's true. Nopony's perfect. Everyone makes mistakes time after time, but we can learn from them." Luna commented.
"How am I supposed to do that, when I can't even forgive myself?..." Fire quietly answered.
"Remember, we're here for you. We all thought the same, after realizing our mistakes. But we overcame our demons and embraced the light. You just need to forget the past and try to move on." Tempest responded.
As the mares kept hugging the red mare, Fire looked down, while shedding tears in silence. At the same time, Ocean felt a bit of relief, since she found ponies, who also made similar mistakes and changed themselves for the better. However, she and the others have to focus on helping Fire Jewel.
Meanwhile....
Twilight and her friends have been searching through several cities, forests, fields, even up to the skies in Cloudsdale and underwater in Seaquestria, but so far, they found no trace of Tropic and her friends. Even, when Twilight contacted Cadence for their whereabouts, the princess of love couldn't provide them Information. Currently, they're searching in a forested area. They can't leave them completely unnoticed and certainly empty handed...or in this case empty hooved.
"How long is this gonna go on?" Rainbow was impatient.
"There has to be a clue on where they are! They can't just disappear!" Twilight responded.
"This forest is sure quite big." Applejack commented.
"They could be hiding anywhere! Maybe they turned themselves invisible? Oh! They're probably underground or even in space!" Pinkie became curious.
"Whatever it is, they have to be out somewhere, Pinkie." Fluttershy responded.
"Okay, everypony! I think, the best way of finding them is to split up. Spike and I will move forward, while you have to go to different directions. If anyone finds them, give us a sign, got it?" Twilight told to her friends about the plan.
"Okey dokey, Twilight!" The peppy party pony jumped up and down in joy.
"You can count on us." Applejack smiled.
Soon, the six ponies went to separate ways, while Spike stayed with Twilight. Each pony had their own tactics to find some clues. For example, Fluttershy talked to the animals for some assistance, Pinkie Pie just using her Pinkie sense, Applejack looked around very carefully, Rarity using her magic to find something and in this case for Rainbow Dash, flying around.
"Hello? Come on, girls! Where are you?" The prismatic mare shouted, hoping for a response, but nothing came out of it. "This is getting ridiculous... What's up in their minds?..." she sighed, as she continued to fly around. Half an hour has been passed and Rainbow couldn't find any sign of them, when all of a sudden, she hit something hard and crashed to the ground.
"Ow! What was that?!" The pegasus rubber her head to ease the pain. There was nothing to see and yet it felt like, she crashed into something made out of steel. Rainbow Dash reached her hand to touch the unseen object and sure enough, she heard a sound. She started to fly around this thing, while also crashing to more unseen steel, since she had no idea about the size of that object. Eventually, after some bumps and crashes, she went ot the other side and knocked on the unseen object.
"Hello? This isn't funny!" Rainbow shouted, when all of a sudden, something flashed a bit. As she kept knocking, the object became more visible, revealing to be some sort of a headquarters. Or is it a spaceship? The building itself looked futuristic and sleek.
"W-what is this? Is this a spaceship?!" Rainbow became baffled by the appearance and the fact, that it existed. "I gotta find Twilight and the others!"
The prismatic mare flew up and at first shouted: "HEY, GIRLS!!! I FOUND SOMETHING!!!!" But there is a problem: Where would they go, if they heard her shouting? She had to signal them something. Suddenly, an idea came.
"I got it!" The prismatic mare flew up so high and when the time was right, she flew down as fast as she could. During which, she built up more speed and the air around her started to tighten. It became tighter and tighter, until it formed into a cone around her and soon, she broke the sound barrier by unleashing her Sonic Rainboom, in which Rainbow used this to her advantage by flying around the building. She then stopped and waited for her friends to come. She didn't have to wait long, as she heard her friends coming 5 minutes later.
"Rainbow, did you find something?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. This....thing over here." Rainbow pointed at the headquarters. Everyone was in awe at the sight and at the futurists architect. They've never seen something like this in Equestria.
"Oh my goodness..." Fluttershy responded.
"OH MY GOSH!!! A SPACESHIP!!! ARE THERE ALIENS INSIDE? ARE THERE ROBOTS? IF SO, ARE THEY FRIENDLY? DO I NEED TO THROW THEM A WELCOME PARTY?! DO THEY LIKE CAKE AND CUPCAKES??" Pinkie questioned everyone about what was in her mind. Of course, not sure throwing a party towards unknown strangers would sound like a terrible idea, but then again, it's Pinkie Pie, we're talking about. Anything is possible in her eyes.
"Calm down, Pinkie. We have to make sure, if they're friendly." Applejack calmed her peppy friend down.
"I have a question. How can we get inside? The door IS closed, you know?" Spike pointed out the obvious problem: The door is closed! At first, Fluttershy knocked on the door. "Hello? Is anyone in there? We want to know, where Tropic and her friends are." The shy mare softly spoke, but there was no response.
"Excuse me, but we need an answer!" Rarity demanded, but there was nothing.
"Guess we have to go through the door. I know, it sounds wrong, but we have to find a way in." Twilight looked closer at the door to find something. At the same time, Rainbow kept knocking, hoping that someone would open the door for them. Suddenly, Twilight had an idea and called her friends to gather around her. She used her powerful magic to teleport herself and the others inside of the ship.
"That was easy." Twilight commented. "Okay, girls. We have to look around for any signs of them, okay? Maybe they could be anywhere-" Suddenly, a red alarm has been caused and the mares became panicked.
"What is happening?" Rarity freaked out.
Before anyone knew it, a white mist covered the group fully and after while, when the mist has been settled, they've been completely frozen in ice.
"Alright, how dare you to break into our headquarters?!" A voice can be heard, alongside sounds of someone slowly walking in a careful pace. Out of the shadows came out Snow Emerald, who didn't hesitate on using her full ice powers.
"What's going on, Snowy?" The voice of Breeze Dash can be heard, who came in.
"A couple of intruders came in and even bypassed our security." Snow explained, who pushed the blocks of ice to the room with the big table and seven chairs.
"Damn, maybe they're some Shadow Ponies, we probably missed!" Breeze assumed.
"Perhaps. We have to interrogate them!" Snow agreed and used her powers to thaw the ice out, releasing Twilight and her friends. Suddenly, they recognized them as the ponies, who were helping them in Canterlot, especially Twilight, who is the princess of Friendship as well as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who comforted them outside of Canterlot.
"Oh shit!!! I'm so sorry! I thought, you were shadow ponies, intruding out headquarters!" Snow profusely apologised.
"Alright, alright! What's going on here?" Cherry came into the scene and saw the Mane 6 and Spike shivering from the cold. "Seriously, Snowy? Seriously?!?" She scolded the ice pony, before sighing and going to the ponies. "Sorry, girls. There has been a terrible misunderstanding."
"Although I wonder, how they found out about our HQ and got inside undetected." Breeze was wondering.
"But first, we have to warm them up, before asking questions." Cherry noted.
After the elemental ponies used blankets, warm drinks and increased heat from the heaters to warm the heroines of friendship as well as Spike, they sat down around the table.
"We heard a lot of you from Princess Celestia and the guards. It's clear, that you've been dealing with a massive friendship problem, that in the end, there the entire group apart. We wanted to help you with that." Twilight explained her reasoning.
"I really appreciate your concern, but right now, we're really in no mood for anything, given that the mistakes basically destroyed everything, we stood for." Snow sighed.
"I know, that you've been living with the guilt from what happened a few months ago. But keep hiding from everypony else and not doing something actively against it, doesn't really help at all." Fluttershy made a good point. "We can help you overcome your insecurities."
"That is, if you're really willing to accept our help. If you really want those nightmares to end indefinitely, then take my hoof and we'll help you with the magic of friendship." Twilight reached her hoof to the three ponies. At first, they were really hesitant, since the pride is restricting them, but in the end, the will of breaking the chains of hatred and go forward overwhelmed their minds and were about to take Twilight's hoof, when all of a sudden, the ship started to shake and heard the motors starting up.
"What in the name of Equestria is going on?!" Rarity became panicked.
"It comes from the cockpit! Come on, girls!" Breeze found out and the three elemental ponies ran off with the Mane 7 having no other choice than to follow them. Arriving at the cockpit, they saw Tropic Bloom, preparing for launch. With tears in her green eyes, she started the countdown.
"Tropic, stop!" Snow shouted, but the yellow mare didn't listen, as the countdown started from 10 seconds.
"We need to stop her from taking the ship off!" Breeze told to the others. At first, Applejack used her trusty lasso to catch Tropic and restrict her from moving, but she was persistent and pressed the button for launch.
"Breeze, cancel the launch!!" Cherry yelled at the dark blue pegasus and she did presses some buttons to override the launch.
"Launch cancelled." A voice can be heard.
"Tropic, what do you think, you're doing!?" Snow yelled with the yellow mare curling up in fear.
"Please don't yell at her, Snow. You would make her even more terrified." Fluttershy reminded.
"But she just attempted to start the ship!" Snow tried to defend herself, but Applejack silenced her with a single hoof on the pegasus' mouth
"Just take a deep breath, sugarcube. Too much anger is quite unhealthy, y'all." The southern mare made her point, before turning her attention to Tropic. "Tell me, what's the matter?"
"Our arrival caused nothing but trouble, when everything became public...." Tropic was stuck in the blue.
"Yeah, she really hasn't recovered from that second incident at all....especially, since....you know." Breeze sighed.
"We know, darling. It wasn't pretty...." Rarity looked down.
"I swear, everyone would be better off, if we just left and never came back!" Tropic became even more distraught.
"Don't say that! You did some good stuff before! Applejack told me, that you saved Spring Gale, got everyone out of the burning forest and even helped us on out battle against Fire Jewel. Sure, in actuality, it was Ocean who managed to stop her, but we really appreciate your efforts on trying." Twilight responded.
"Plus, you have soothed two of our friends back in the hospital with your powers. I'm impressed, that you could even do that, especially that they've been dealing with their own demons." Spike referred to Johnny and Dukey, who were calmed down by Tropic's nature powers.
"Wait, they've been dealing with their own demons?" Breeze was confused.
"Yes. But instead of explaining it to you, I'll give you his diary." Twilight used her magic to teleport Johnny's blue diary here and give it to the four ponies, who began to read it whole. Needless to say, they were shocked by the extent of the abuse.
"Ey yo, what the fuck?!?!" The dark blue mare was outraged.
"This is horrible! I can't believe, he and his friend would endure all of this..." Cherry felt sorry for them.
"This story alone breaks my heart..." Tropic was in tears.
"When we read his story, we can't help but to remind him of Fire Jewel...She too was a victim of abuse by someone, who's supposed to take care of her." Snow looked down. "Speaking of who, we're not sure, what happened to Fire...She's probably rotting away in the dungeons.."
"Uhm....about that..." Spike responded and proceeded to tell them, what happened to Fire and Ocean, after they left.
"Wait, they've been released!?" Tropic was shocked.
"Yes. It was Princess Luna and Tempest, who came up with the idea. But after they were released, they just disappeared from the public eye." Twilight explained. "It's clear, that they want to help them reform, like my friends and I did the same to them. Speaking of reforming, you girls should do the same. We're here to help you overcome your massive friendship problem."
"Our...friendship problem?" Tropic asked.
"Yeah. We were about to accept their help, when you suddenly decided to start the ship up and leave this world." Snow answered.
"Do you mean it well?" The yellow mare asked to the ponies one more time, but the heroines of friendship nodded their heads. After some consideration and a bit of hesitation, Tropic reached her hoof to Twilight, who grabbed hers in return.
"We're telling the honest truth, dear." Applejack warmly smiled.
"With all of our kind hearts..." Fluttershy came to them.
"...and our loyal instincts..." Rainbow continued.
"...as well as our generous promises..." Rarity smiled.
"And bright laughter!" Pinkie jumped in joy.
"...I promise, we'll help you overcome your insecurities and embrace the magic of friendship." Twilight finished the sentence.
"You know, we've been prideful and stubborn, but that's the part of youth. But now, it's time to shed the demons away and start growing up." Cherry smiled and the ponies engaged in a big group hug, symbolizing their acceptance of friendships and willing for the change.
"Come on, girls. Let's go back to Ponyville." Twilight smiled and the group left the ship. During which, the elemental ponies opened themselves up more and told them, that they came from different planets and became blessed with the powers of the elemental orbs. However, the side effect of those orbs is the bearer would stop aging, until they severed the ties. They would of course do that, when all threats were fully defeated. And of course, since their headquarters was built by different parts from different planets, that would explain its futuristic appearance.
Ponyville, Equestria
The group returned to the village, where business went on as usual. It was around this time, that Eugene came to them, alongside with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
"Hey, where have you been?" The white stallion asked.
"Well, we found Tropic and her friends in a spaceship, in the middle of a forest, nonetheless." Applejack answered.
"A spaceship?" Diamond Tiara was confused.
"It's a complicated story, kid." Cherry giggled.
"Does that mean, that they don't come from here?" Silver Spoon asked.
"No. We come from different planets and we've been travelling through galaxies and stopping threats as galactic guardians. The reason, why nopony heard of us here is because not only that we arrived there a few months ago, but we've been also working in the shadows." Snow explained. "In other words, we were REALLY secretive."
"I see. They've been trying hard to keep their identities secret, like ninjas." Eugene understood.
"In a way, yes." Breeze laughed.
"Anyway, what do you want?" Twilight asked.
"Well, it's about that upcoming Friendship Festival. Aside from someone named, Colortaura, I've heard that a group of four stallions wanted to sign in. They're entertainers, not musicians. I have no idea, who those ponies are, but I do have a picture of them." The obese unicorn gave a picture to Twilight. It showed a group of four stallions posing. We see a pink pegasus with a dad beard, a blue earth pony, who wears glasses and making funny faces, a green earth pony with glasses making an adorable pose and finally a purple unicorn, posing and winking. What makes him different from the others is his eye shape, which looks more oriental.
"I see. I'll talk to them about negotiations." Twilight answered and teleported away.
"How you're doing, man?" Rainbow asked.
"Quite well, actually. Diamond and Silver were really supportive of me and my redemption, since they too did similar mistakes, just because of money." The unicorn stallion explained.
"That's so sweet of you!" Fluttershy was in awe.
"Are you taking good care of him?" Pinkie asked.
"Of course!" Diamond and Silver smiled.
While they exchanged some talks, Snow Emerald decided to take a walk, in order to cleanse her mind. During which, she saw Brain Freezer taking with Zizrar and dealing with a few shenanigans. The snow mare with the emerald mane couldn't help, but giggle. Soon, she came up with an idea. "Hey, guys! Let me join!" She went to them, when Brain Freezer became red again and we can her Zizrar laughing.
Meanwhile, as for Cherry, Breeze and Tropic, they were happy, that they found new friends along the way.
"Hey! Why not hang out in the Sugarcube Corner for some funtime?" Pinkie suggested and everyone agreed. And so, they were on their way to the Sugarcube Corner for some fun.
But wait...haven't we forgotten someone?
???
Meanwhile, in yet another forest area, we see a pink alicorn with messy blue hair, just wandering around with sad thoughts in her mind. It's been a few months after the altercation and she hasn't recovered from it ever since. Suddenly, a voice can be heard inside of her head.
"Yes....Give in to your darkness...."
All while a bit of a dark aura can be seen emitting from the poor pony, while shedding tears along the way.
However, it's not over. At the same time, in a familiar world, in a big mansion, we see a purple male cat with a bowtie, sitting on the window and watching the scenery in silence. Around him was an aura of sorrow. Soon, he shed a single tear, as he felt the wind gently touch him.
To be continued...
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11220459
Discord hasn't met Tempest for the first time yet. Plus, I have yet to finish the side stores, until I get to the main chapters again.