Right Beside You

by Godslittleprincess

Chapter 7: Gonna Make It Through the Night

“Never gonna give you up/Never gonna let you down/Never gonna run around and desert you,” sang First Base from the karaoke stage in an astoundingly accurate impression of Rein Astley. To his left, Sweetie Belle scowled at him with her arms crossed. She was supposed to be the one performing next, but Base had bribed Vinyl Scratch into letting him Rein on her, and she was not happy.

Meanwhile, Button Mash and Micro Chips were duking it out in a game of Street Fighter at the arcade.

“Take that! And that! And that!” Button yelled as he executed a series of attacks with the joystick and buttons. “Oh, you are goin’ DOWN!”

“Yeah, yeah,” Micro replied nonchalantly, attempting to counter Button’s attacks. “I don’t know about you, but I feel kinda weird keeping the party going without the guests of honor present. Heck, not even the party planner is here.”

“Yeah, I guess that is kinda weird,” Button agreed as they both continued to play. “When do you think they’ll be back?”

“Hopefully not long. The girls usually make short work of these kinds of magical threats. Then again, they haven’t dealt with one in a couple of years, so they might be a little out of practice.”

Suddenly, a rainbow blur rushed into the arcade and stopped right behind the boys.

“Micro Chips!” Rainbow Dash cried, causing Micro to take his eyes off the game.

“Wha—?” Before Micro could even finish that thought, Rainbow had grabbed him, slung him over her shoulder, and ran all the way to the park.

“Here’s Micro,” Dash declared before unceremoniously dumping Micro Chips at Twilight’s feet before running back to the restaurant.

Micro sat up and shook his head as he attempted to regain his bearings.

“What the heck?!” he cried as he slowly realized what had happened.

“And here’s Base.” Dash once again plopped her latest catch on the ground. First Base’s response at the turn of events was the same as Micro’s.

“What the heck?!” the 15-going-on-16-year-old cried.

“Guys!” Twilight exclaimed, getting both newcomers’ attention. “I don’t really have time to explain this, but Flash is in trouble, and we need your help.”

Micro blinked in confusion as both he and Base got to their feet.

“Wait. You need OUR help? With a magical threat?” he asked.

“Yes!” Twilight practically dragged them over to where Sunset was standing. Sunset still had her hands on Dark Reverb’s shoulders, and her eyes were still glowing indicating that she was still inside Flash’s mind. However, one of her eyes had begun changing from white to the same color of red as Reverb’s.

“That can’t be good,” Twilight remarked noting the change. “Come on, you two. We have no time to lose.”

“But we don’t even know what we need to do,” Micro protested.

“I’ll explain when we get there. For now, just put your hands on Sunset’s shoulders.”

Twilight grabbed the boys each by the hand and laid their hands on Sunset’s shoulders. Micro and Base’s eyes took on the same white glow as Sunset’s right eye and half of her left eye. The park vanished from their sight, and they found themselves in a white void with Twilight.

“Where are we?” Micro Chips asked as he looked around, seeing nothing but empty space.

Before Twilight could answer, they all heard a scream. The three of them turned towards the sound and gasped at what they saw. They saw Sunset Shimmer kneeling down and bent over with her hands over her ears. She was surrounded by a dome of black fire that was slowly closing in on her. Outside the dome stood Dark Reverb controlling the flames.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Twilight cried, running as fast as she could. To everyone’s amazement, she tackled Reverb to the ground and pinned him down by the shoulders. “You already hurt the man I love. I’m not letting you hurt my best friend.”

With Reverb’s concentration broken, the flames surrounding Sunset dissipated. Sunset hesitantly uncovered her ears sighing with relief at the silence.

“Sunset!” Micro called as he and Base ran over to her. “You okay?” He offered her his hand which she gingerly took.

“Yeah,” she replied as Micro Chips helped her to her feet. “I am now.”

“Ugh!” Twilight cried as Reverb threw her off him causing her to land in front of her friends.

“You’re going to pay for that!” Reverb bellowed as he shapeshifted into the Pony of Shadows. The Pony of Shadows roared before unleashing a bolt of dark energy at the four.

“Let’s move.” Sunset grabbed Micro Chips and First Base as she and Twilight scattered in different directions. She led the two boys to the dome and explained, “Flash is trapped in there with his bad memories, and if we don’t free him, that thing is going to keep using his body to destroy everything he cares about. Twilight got him to remember her and, to some extent, me, but we need to get him to remember more stuff.”

Judging by the look on Micro’s face, Sunset knew that she had done a terrible job of explaining the situation; however, she REALLY didn’t have time to start over from the beginning.

“Flash!” Sunset called through the dome. “Twilight’s back, and she brought help.”

“Who?” Flash answered.

“Wait. What happened to my brother?” First Base asked. “Why does he sound like he’s 10 or something?”

“Little Bro?” Flash replied in recognition. “Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me. What happened, Big Bro? Are you okay?”

No answer.

“Uh, Big Bro?”

“Flash, it’s okay,” Sunset reassured him. “He’s here to help you.”

“Why?” Flash asked. “He hates me. I kept blowing him off and told him to stay out of my life, so he wished me dead. He never forgave me for it.”

“What?!” cried Base incredulously. “That’s not what happened at all! I mean, okay, we did say some stuff to each other that we really regret, but later, I said I was sorry, and he said he was sorry, and we both forgave each other for the whole mess. We even cried it out together, and he hates crying!”

“Oh!” Micro exclaimed, the confusion clearing from his face. “So, when you said Flash was trapped in his bad memories, you meant that his recall of his memories has been warped so that he can only remember his bad memories which distorted his self-perception and his perception of others, so his mind filled the blanks from his good memories with false memories that reinforced his overall negative perception, and as long as Flash’s perception is grossly out of touch with reality, that thing we saw surrounding you with black fire earlier stays in control of him.”

“Yes!” Sunset screamed, partially from relief and partially from annoyance. “Basically!”

---

Meanwhile, Twilight and the Pony of Shadows had taken the fight to the sky. Twilight was flying as nimbly as she could, dodging dark energy blasts left and right. The Pony of Shadows growled as he continued to chase her.

“You can’t keep flying like this forever, little girl,” he taunted.

Twilight clenched her teeth. She hated to admit it, but the dark alicorn was right. She couldn’t stay on defense forever, but what could she do? As her mind went into overdrive finding a solution, she made a stunning realization.

“Wait a minute,” Twilight thought to herself. “I’m in a mind which means everything in here is abstract which means I should be able to do this.”

Twilight concentrated on visualizing Canterlot City Park. As she did so, her surroundings began to morph into an exact replica of the park, well, except for the pink elephants. She must still have that movie on her mind after watching it with Flurry Heart last night. That seemingly insignificant detail ended up working to her advantage when a baby elephant with enormous ears flew by and pelted the Pony of Shadows with peanuts.

---

Back with Sunset and the boys, they quickly noticed the sudden change in their surroundings. They looked up in time to see Twilight telekinetically uproot an imaginary tree and whack the Pony of Shadows with it.

“Twilight, you genius!” Sunset cheered before turning back to Base and Micro. “I’m going to go over and help her. I need you guys to stay here and help Flash unwarp his memories.”

“How are we supposed to do that?” Micro asked feeling completely out of his depth.

“Well, Twilight got him to remember her by singing him their song, so maybe you two should sing him something that will make him think of the two of you,” Sunset explained before charging into the fray mentally arming herself with a lightsaber and Captain America’s shield as she did so.

The boys looked from Sunset to each other before finally turning back towards the dome. The looks on their faces showed that the two of them agreed with each other. They were both in WAY over their heads.

“Uh, Flash?” Micro asked. “Do you recognize me, man?”

“Yeah,” Flash replied. “I think I tried to be friends with you back in kindergarten, but then, we got made fun of, and you didn’t want anything to do with me afterwards.”

“Okay? Do you remember anything else, more specifically what happened directly after we got made fun of?”

“No, after that, the next thing I remember about you is that you were around whenever I got into a fight in fifth grade for some reason and that I bullied you in high school.”

“He never bullied you in high school!” Base refuted. “Sure, you guys started growing apart because he started hanging out with stupid Brawly, but he never bullied you. Uh, did he?”

Micro Chips just gave First Base the most deadpan stare humanly possible.

“No, of course not,” Micro answered matter-of-factly before turning his attention back towards the dome. “Wow! Your memories are pretty distorted, Flash, but I think I know how to fix them or at least the ones that are related to me anyway.”

“How?” Flash and Base asked simultaneously.

“Firstly,” Micro turned to First Base and glared at him intensely, “I need you to swear that nothing you are about to see and hear leaves this place.”

---

Twilight once again swung the uprooted tree at the Pony of Shadows. The Pony of Shadows shot a dark beam from his horn reducing it to ash. He smirked and shapeshifted into Dark Reverb.

“You wouldn’t want to hurt the man you’re going to marry in a week, would you?” Reverb taunted. He was answered by a flying rock which he barely dodged.

“You are NOT the man I’m marrying next week,” Twilight refuted vehemently, telekinetically flinging rocks at him all the while. “HE is trapped in dark, magical energy dome with all his bad memories while YOU are running amok in his body, and I have zero guilt about hitting you or beating you down or worse!”

Before Reverb could respond, he sensed something rapidly flying close to his head and caught it backhanded. It was a round, metal shield with a white star on a blue field in the middle surrounded by three concentric circles of alternating red and white. He turned to the shield’s source and saw Sunset standing firmly on the ground with both hands on her lightsaber. He smiled and ignited his hand, covering the shield in black flames.

“Catch!” he said to Twilight tossing the flaming shield at her. However, when the fire died down, it wasn’t a metal shield that was heading Twilight’s way but a large spider-like creature with a long, whip-like tail and a gaping mouth on its underside.

Twilight screamed but managed to stop the creature with her telekinesis before it could hit her face.

“Heads up!” Twilight called to Sunset tossing the creature towards her. Sunset quickly sliced it right down the middle with her lightsaber, its death squeals sending chills down her spine.

Dark Reverb laughed haughtily, “You thought you were so clever taking advantage of the abstract nature of a mind realm to help you fight me. Well, your ‘cleverness’ will be your undoing!”

With that final declaration, Reverb searched the sky for the flying elephant from earlier. Once he saw the elephant coming his way, he shot a beam of black fire at it causing it to explode in a cloud of smoke. Out of the smoke emerged a gigantic purple and black dragon with lime green eyes spewing out lime green flames. The dragon turned towards Twilight and Sunset with evil burning in its eyes as it let out a ferocious roar.

“Oh crud,” Sunset squeaked out as she and Twilight gaped at the beast.

---

“But the one little duck with the feather on his back/He led the others with a quack, quack, quack!” Micro Chips sang while flapping his arms like a duck. “Quack, quack, quack!/He led the others with a quack, quack, quack!”

First Base just stared at him as if he had just lost his mind.

“How is a song about ducks supposed to help Flash remember you?” the teen cried.

Before Micro could retort, the two of them heard a laugh coming from the dome as its surface rippled. The laugh started out boyish but slowly deepened until it became pubescent-sounding. The rippling surface became transparent allowing Micro and Base to see Flash. Flash had aged into his teens but was still a few years too young. That didn’t stop the boys from celebrating their progress.

“Pitchy as usual, Micro,” Flash said to his best friend with a smile.

“Hey, you can’t knock me for trying,” Micro retorted playfully causing the two friends to laugh.

“Okay, seriously, how did a song about ducks get you to remember Micro Chips?” Base exclaimed incredulously.

“That was the first song I learned from kindergarten,” Flash explained. “Our classroom had one of those board books with the buttons that played music, and the words to the song were written inside.”

“Derpy was trying to read it, but she couldn’t read,” Micro added.

“I tried to help her, but I couldn’t read either.”

“But Micro/I could,” Flash and Micro said simultaneously.

“So, I would read the words while D pushed the button,” Micro continued.

“And I’d put the words and music together into the whole song,” Flash finished. “That’s what got you out from hiding under the table after we got made fun of.”

“And after Lyra and Sweetie Drops became friends with us, the five of us would play that game where we’d pretend to be ducks almost every day.”

The two of them shared another laugh before that sweet little moment was interrupted by the sound of a fearsome, reptilian roar. Everybody turned to the direction of the roar, and their jaws dropped at the sight of Twilight being chased through the air by the dragon from Sleeping Beauty. She was armed with two cat-shaped gauntlets and would turn around every so often to attack the monster with them.

Another roar resounded through the air, this one accompanied by the earth shaking. The source of the roar and earthquake was also a dragon. However, this one seemed entirely made of concrete and twisted metal and remained on the ground. The junk dragon chased Sunset Shimmer who had replaced her lightsaber with a bowcaster. Like Twilight, she was stopping every few seconds to turn around and shoot at her pursuer.

“Have you gotten Flash to normal yet?” Sunset called frantically to the boys.

“Uh, almost,” Micro replied sheepishly.

“Well, hurry up,” Twilight added. “We won’t be able to keep this up for much longer.”

“Why are you trying to fight off dragons with hand weapons anyway?” Base wondered. “Wouldn’t it make better sense to think up something more efficient like…?”

“Base! No, no, no, no!” Twilight tried to warn him, but she was too late. A small, black dragon flew in and pelted the larger, black dragon with blue fireballs.

“Yeah! Now, that’s how it’s done!” First Base cheered.

However, Micro saw the looks of terror Sunset and Twilight were giving Base’s addition to the battle and uttered, “Uh, Base, I don’t think you should have done that.”

First Base quickly figured out why when Dark Reverb flew in and blasted the little dragon with a fistful of black fire. The small dragon went up in smoke, and a larger, less friendly dragon emerged in its place. Not only was the dragon enormous but also heavily built with red spikes covering its entire body. It had a small head frill, six beady eyes, a mouthful of teeth set on a gigantic head. The new dragon turned towards Twilight and let out a guttural roar before sucking her in with its cavernous mouth.

Twilight screamed as she flapped her wings desperately trying to outfly the force that was pulling her back. She was just about to pass over the dragon’s teeth when it yelped and staggered back in pain. Sunset fired two more shots from the bowcaster into the dragon’s face giving Twilight the opening she needed to escape.

“Don’t worry about us,” Sunset called to Micro Chips and First Base. “Just focus on getting Flash to remember.”

“And if you’re going to try and help us, don’t imagine anything bigger than what you can hold, or Reverb will corrupt it into something that can forcibly blast us out of Flash’s mind,” Twilight added before turning her attention back to the two dragons.

“What happens if we get blasted out of Flash’s mind?” Micro asked worriedly.

“Honestly, we’re not sure,” Sunset replied while simultaneously dodging and firing at multiple sources of dragon fire, “but if I had to guess, Dark Reverb will probably re-warp Flash’s memories, take over Flash’s body, and end up stronger than before in the real world.”

Micro, Base, and Flash quickly looked from the dragons attacking the girls to each other, the urgency on their faces as clear as day.

“We’ve got to get Flash to remember who he really is and fast,” Micro pointed out.

“How are we supposed to do that, Captain Obvious?” Base snapped.

“We need a song that really speaks to Flash on a deep level, one that inspires him and puts all his bad memories into a more positive perspective.”

“You guys could try my favorite song,” Flash suggested.

“Oh, perfect, what is it?”

Flash stared at Micro blankly. “If I could remember, do you think I’d still be trapped in here while three ginormous dragons are out there chasing my fiancée and her best friend?”

“Ooooh, right.” Micro bit his lip as he thought about what Flash’s favorite song could be. “Well, I’m assuming that your favorite song is by your favorite band. Uh, what’s that band’s name? I know it shares a name with a kitchen utensil. Uh, Spatula? No. Crockpot? Nuh-uh. Saucepan?”

“Frying Pan!” First Base exclaimed. “His favorite band is Frying Pan, and I think I have an idea what his favorite song could be.”

---

“Ugh!” Sunset cried as a well-timed tail strike from the concrete dragon sent her flying. She landed right in front of the six-eyed dragon. The six-eyed dragon let out a screech of fury before opening her mouth to roast Sunset alive. However, right as it was about to expel a breath of fire, a cold, blue beam struck its mouth negating its fire. Sunset looked up and saw Micro Chips running towards her with a silver, pistol-like weapon in his hand.

The black dragon saw Micro coming, turned her attention from Twilight, and unleashed a stream of fire his direction. Micro pointed his weapon at the fire and shot out another beam once again cancelling out the fire.

“What are you doing here?!” Sunset yelled at him when she got to her feet.

“Didn’t think a two versus three fight was very fair, so I thought I’d even the odds,” Micro replied, shooting a beam at the concrete dragon before it could breathe fire at them freezing its mouth shut.

“Well, if you’re here, then who’s helping Flash?!”

“Relax; First Base has got it taken care of.”

---

“Okay, Bro, feel free to join in if any of this starts sounding familiar to you, okay?” Base began before singing, “I remember when we used to laugh/About nothing at all/It was better than going mad/From trying to solve all the problems we're going through/Forget them all/Cause on those nights/We would stand and never fall/Together we faced it all/Remember when we'd//Stay up late and we'd talk all night/In a dark room lit by the TV light/Through all the hard times in my life/Those nights kept me alive”

As First Base kept singing, several of the black threads going into the dome lit up at once. Flash looked up, and the light spread from the threads near the dome to the memory orbs floating inside of it. Even though the orbs remained dark, the threads connecting them to each other continued to light up. As the light flowed through the threads, scenes from Flash’s past began to play out on the inner surface of the dome.

Flash saw himself at seven years old on the night he found his mom crying on the living room floor after his dad left. He didn’t understand what was going on, just that his mom was sad, so he had offered his plush lion to her for comfort only to end up getting pulled into the hug himself. Next to that scene, he saw himself at ten giving his grandfather a hug after Grandpa had scolded him for talking badly about himself at the father-son field day. Next to that, he saw himself at sixteen breaking down in his mother’s arms after Sunset had brutally torn him down for breaking up with her which segued into him and First Base tearfully hugging each other as they reconciled from that big fight they had the week before. Several more scenes displayed themselves for him showing how both his good and bad memories combined to make him who he was today including but not limited to : Micro Chips and his dad ditching the father-son field day with him and his grandfather just to keep him company, the first time he and Micro Chips just walked away from their bullies with their heads high, him proving Princess Twilight innocent during the Fall Formal in junior year, his Twilight helping him study for his math test at the diner, him spilling his insecurities about her relationship with her ex in the middle of the woods, his family’s first Christmas without his grandfather, his family’s first Christmas without his mother, etc., etc.

Meanwhile, outside the dome, Sunset, Twilight, and Micro were still holding the dragons at bay, and First Base was still singing.

“I remember when/We used to laugh,” Base sang.

“And now I wish those nights would last.” Base’s eyes widened, and an overjoyed smile spread across his face when he heard his brother’s voice joining his in the song. A brilliant glow shone from inside the dome, and cracks began to appear on it. The others stopped fighting and turned back to see what was happening, and the sight brought a look of absolute horror on Dark Reverb’s face.

“No!” the shadow parasite screamed as the dome burst outwards in an explosion of light. The explosion caused the dragons to vanish and the surroundings to return to their original state. When the light died down, it revealed Flash restored to his current age standing tall with renewed confidence.

“Hey, Reverb! I remember who I am, and you can’t control me anymore!” Flash declared as he began to emit a red glow. A beam of red fire blasted out of his hands and struck Reverb who cried out in pain.

“I am not going down that easy!” Reverb bellowed changing into the Pony of Shadows and pushing back against the fire.

“But you are going down,” Twilight added as she began to glow purple and shot out a beam of purple fire at the dark alicorn. One by one, everyone else began to glow and shoot colored fire at the Pony of Shadows. First Base glowed blue, Sunset glowed orange, and Micro Chips glowed yellow. The power of the combined attack began to overwhelm the evil parasite, and it was soon blasted out of Flash’s mind.

Author's Note:

Okay, well, that happened. Yeah, a lot went on in this chapter. I know. By the way, if you're curious about the duck song, it has several versions. The one I remember is "Five Little Ducks that I Once Knew," but there's a version with the same tune and similar lyrics titled "Six Little Ducks" just in case no one knows what I'm talking about. As for the song that I chose for Flash's favorite song, it's Skillet's "Those Nights." Yeah, I didn't feel right about making Flash's favorite artist not be a rock band, but my only references for rock music are a handful of Christian bands, including Skillet, two Fall Out Boy songs, Phil Collins, and "The Sound of Silence".

Comments

[Foxhelm]

how about Nothing Gonna Stop Us... or if you feel edgy Bat Out Of Hell, Bad for Good, Out of The Frying Pan, Paradise By The Dashboard Light, Life is a Lemon, Through The Fire and The Flames... I can go on

[SuperSonicHeroes]

Fighting Reverb with heartfelt songs. That’s actually a pretty nice way to help get rid of Flash’s corruption. Also, I find the idea of Twilight watching Dumbo with Flurry Heart to be adorable.

[Ro994]

The inclusion of First and Micro was a great idea! And those heartfelt memories, OH! 👌💓