Linkin Pony - Recharge: Revamped

by Kaciekk

Chapter 42

A few days later, CharmingRhythm returned to Los Pegasus to pick up Heartfelt so she could come visit the in-progress camp. It was then that HyperBlitz decided it was time he came back. He followed them back while they drove. It wasn’t long before they finally arrived in the late morning.

“Here we go! I know it doesn’t look like much,” Rhythm began, his gaze focused on Heartfelt. “But…”

“It’s a lot better than it was when we first got here,” Hyper finished, hovering above them.

“Yeah.” Rhythm gave Hyper an appreciative nod.

“Hyper!” A voice called from down the road, near the base building. It was BlazingFlair. He galloped quickly where the three ponies were. Hyper landed so Blazing could give him an enthusiastic hug. “It’s good to have you back!”

“Hey, Blaze!” Hyper said, patting his friend’s back. “It’s good to see you too.”

“Oh, and Heartfelt!” Blazing spotted the mint green mare. “It’s good to have you here too! You’re first time in the camp! Stay as long as you like!”

“Thanks,” Heartfelt stated through a meager smile.

“C’mon.” Rhythm tapped her lightly on the shoulder then pointed in the direction they should go. “Let’s get to the base. You can set your stuff down there.”

Heartfelt obediently followed without question. To Rhythm’s surprise, nobody had stopped them on the way there to talk. They’ll come out later and greet her, he thought to himself. When they arrived inside the base, SpinningNote was working on a generator inside. It must have been one for an apartment, given the base had enough already. Spinning’s eyes lit up when he saw Heartfelt.

“Oh hey, Heartfelt! It’s great to see you,” Spinning welcomed and walked over to her. He gave her a brief hug. “It’s been a bit, huh?”

“Yeah. It’s good to see you too,” Heartfelt replied.

“Here, I’ll show you to my room. You can put your stuff in there,” Rhythm stated.

Heartfelt followed him into the hallway and to the first door on the left. Inside she gazed at the small, dark room. Her lime green magic released her bag by the side of the door.

“How long am I going to be staying here?” Heartfelt asked, uneasy.

“That’s for you to decide. If you’d only like to stay the night, that’s fine. If you want to stay longer, you can,” Rhythm reassured her. He then pressed his muzzle close to hers. “You wanna go out and meet some ponies?”

“Sure,” Heartfelt murmured.

Once outside, Rhythm headed straight ahead towards the large tent.

“Alright. This is the gardening tent, but, you probably already guessed that,” Rhythm announced awkwardly. He used his prosthetic leg to push away the curtain and dip inside. “Hey, Echo!”

The red Earth Pony looked away from what he was doing to meet them. “Is Heartfelt with you?”

“Yep.”

“It’s good to see you again,” Echo told the mare.

“You too,” Heartfelt responded with a head dip.

“Hmm, all the gardeners look busy,” Rhythm observed. “We can come back another time. C’mon.” He tilted his head back towards the outside.

The two Unicorns continued down a street to the west. About halfway down the street AgileArrow appeared from one of the apartments.

“Oh. New recruit?” She gestured towards Heartfelt.

“Um, not exactly,” Rhythm said. “This is my wife, Heartfelt.”

“It’s good to meet you. You can call me Aggie,” the purple Unicorn stated.

“Yeah, good to meet you too,” Heartfelt responded flatly, then continued to follow Rhythm down the road.

Then Rhythm showed off the center of the village where they had fixed up the old fountain. There was no running water yet, but Rhythm assured they would have it eventually. The Resistance flag flapped in the wind above them, proudly marking their camp. They then weaved their way into another street. There Iridescent and ThunderCharm were painting the side of a house.

“Hi!” Iridescent said, placing her brush down. “Who’s this?”

“This is Heartfelt, my wife,” Rhythm responded, letting Heartfelt step forward.

“Um, hi,” Heartfelt let out. Thunder glanced at her for a moment and only waved a hoof.

“Keep up the good work girls,” Rhythm addressed as he gently nudged Heartfelt away.

They reached the west end of the camp. There they found the makeshift obstacle course that Blazing had set up. Rhythm explained that it was for when they got new recruits to train. Ash was working on rearranging wooden boards when they got there.

“And this is Ash,” Rhythm was telling Heartfelt. “She’s going to be in charge of training recruits. Well, her and Blazing. They’re sharing the job.”

Ash acknowledged Heartfelt with a wave of the hoof and a head dip before returning to her work.

As they circled around the edge of the camp, they met up with Jet who was working on a generator. He introduced himself to Heartfelt and she and Rhythm were on their way. They continued along the northernmost street.

Suddenly a pony shouted out above them. “Boo!”

Rhythm quickly snapped his head up to see FeatherTune standing on a roof. There was a mischievous grin on his face. His call had startled the already tense Heartfelt. She glared up at him, wide-eyed. Feather opened his wings, jumped and floated to the ground.

“I didn’t really scare you, did I?” Feather cocked his head at Heartfelt. She only shrugged. Feather then wrapped his wing around her. “Hey, it’s alright. It’s good to see you again!”

“Yeah, you too,” Heartfelt stated, still tense.

Feather then turned to Rhythm. “I’m sure you’re busy showing her around, so I’ll let you guys go.”

“See you later, dude,” Rhythm said and let his hooves continue forward.

“Let’s see,” Rhythm pondered out loud. “We still haven’t seen ForestWind, or Sunswirl. Hmm… Blackout is no use. Oh, and there’s Carpenter.”

Just then, he stopped in his place and faced Heartfelt. She seemed on edge. As her eyes met Rhythm’s, something in them expressed anxiety at all the names he was listing. He realized then that she must have been overwhelmed.

“Too many ponies at once for you, huh?” Rhythm guessed. “Okay. How ‘bout we head back to the base?”

Back in the room, Rhythm sat down next to Heartfelt on the bed. She had been oddly quiet today. He placed his hoof on her back and rubbed it.

“Is everything alright?” Rhythm asked.

“No,” Heartfelt admitted, sounding defeated. She rested her head on Rhythm’s shoulder.

“What’s the matter?” He pulled her closer to him.

“It’s just… everything. It feels like everything is too much. My job, your mission, being expected to do so much.”

“Still about all that, huh?” Rhythm confirmed. “It will be alright.”

“It doesn’t feel like it.” Heartfelt’s voice was barely a whisper. She turned her head slightly and pressed her muzzle against Rhythm’s shoulder.

“I know it doesn’t. That’s okay,” Rhythm affirmed. “It won’t stay like that forever.”

Heartfelt didn’t respond. She only shuddered as tears began to roll down her face. Rhythm wasn’t quite sure what to say to soothe her. He wrapped his other leg around her and let her head fall under his chin. There her cheek nuzzled against his chest as her tears began to soak into the fabric of his shirt.

“It’s okay to cry,” Rhythm told her softly. “You probably need this.”

Rhythm knew that Heartfelt had probably been close to a breakdown for a while now. It was only when she was alone with the pony she trusted most could she finally release her true emotions. Rhythm didn’t try to stop her, he only assured her that he was there for her.

After a few moments, Heartfelt pulled away from Rhythm and began rubbing her eyes with her forelegs. She was still shaking and weeping. Rhythm used his magic to pull off his tear stained shirt. He gave it to Heartfelt to use, and reached for a clean one that was set on top of a box.

“Here.” Rhythm used a hoof to gesture to the pillow on the bed. “Why don’t you lie down for a bit? I know, it’s a little weird lying down where my butt just was.”

Heartfelt didn’t speak, she only placed her head down on the pillow, still sniffling. She kept Rhythm’s shirt wrapped in her forelegs.

“I’ll get you some water,” He said.

Rhythm did as he promised and brought water. After that, he left the room and sat in the meeting room, waiting. He took some time to plan what he’d do next. He felt helpless, not sure how to help Heartfelt’s depression. All he could do is be there for her.

Rhythm knew Heartfelt needed time to rest. He could let her nap for an hour or so, and that would still leave them with the rest of the afternoon and evening to spend time together. An idea formed in Rhythm’s mind. It was perfect for bonding and could help Heartfelt open her ideas to new possibilities.

Rhythm stayed in the meeting room while he waited. At last Heartfelt appeared at the door, her eyes still halfway closed.

“Hey,” Rhythm greeted as she made her way to the far end of the table. Rhythm telechnetically pulled out a stool for her to sit on. “You feeling any better?”

Heartfelt didn’t respond, but she did take a seat next to Rhythm.

“So, I have an activity in mind. And I promise I won’t make you talk to anybody, okay? I was thinking we could look around the apartments in camp and see if there’s one we could pick out. I mean, I definitely don’t want to live in that room. What do you say?”

Heartfelt was silent for a moment, then she said quietly, “Okay.”

A bit later the pair of Unicorns roamed around the camp. They passed by ForestWind on their way. The green Pegasus attempted to get their attention, but Rhythm was quick to silence him with a mute spell, only to tell Forest, “No talking.” Heartfelt managed a megear smile, amused by her husband’s wit. Rhythm was relieved to see her smile again, and nudged his head against hers for a moment, smiling back.

The first apartment they looked at was on the northernmost street.It was small, and there was only one bedroom, which couldn’t support a future family. They continued to another one across the street. Once again, it wasn’t a right fit. It was in bad condition, and Rhythm wasn’t sure it could be reconstructed enough to a livable home for his likings.

‘What about this one?” Rhythm asked Heartfelt as they scanned another apartment.

“I guess there’s a good amount of room for the living room,” Heartfelt commented.

Looking around the empty room, Rhythm remembered what it was like when he had first arrived at the camp. There was old furniture, but also his team had found a skeleton in it. That seemed like a bad omen to Rhythm, and gave him unsettling vibes as he stood in the room. He wasn’t sure what Heartfelt would think about that either.

“Hmm, now that I think about it, I’m not sure I like this one,” Rhythm said vaguely. “C’mon, there’s plenty of others we can look at.”

They searched one that was off the middle street. It had been cleared out, except for a repainted bookshelf in the front room. There were two bedrooms, which pleased Rhythm.

“I like this one,” Rhythm thought aloud. “And there’s a bookshelf. That’s gotta be a good sign, huh? What do you think?” He turned to face Heartfelt.

“It’s fine,” she mumbled, her face still bleak.

“Just fine? Oh, no. Fine isn’t good enough. I want something you’re happy with,” Rhythm stated.

Heartfelt didn’t speak, she only glared away from him. She seemed even more discontent than before.

“What’s wrong?” Rhythm pressed.

“You want me to be happy, yet haven’t really considered my feelings about this?”

“W-what do you mean?” Rhythm asked, confused yet concerned.

“About living here. Who said I really wanted to? You may have suggested it, but I never directly agreed upon it,” Heartfelt spoke in an agitated tone.

“But, you never let me know that. Not until now,” Rhythm pointed out.

“Yeah, well I’ve thought about it,” Heartfelt said. “How are we supposed to raise a kid without the resources from the city? We can’t keep going back and forth.”

“I’m sure we could make it work,” Rhythm tried to assure. “And we’ll get more resources here the more the camp develops.”

“And what about school? How is our kid supposed to go to school if we live here?” Heartfelt retorted.

“We could always do homeschool. I’m pretty sure plenty of kids do homeschool in the Resistance. And I’m sure you’d be a great teacher,” Rhythm argued, still with the attempt to appease Heartfelt.

“Who said I wanted to?” She quipped. “And you’re worried about if I’m seeing my therapist. How am I supposed to see her regularly if I’m living all the way out here.

“I could drive you there. I really wouldn’t mind-” Rhythm tried to say.

“It’s just so much hassle, and for what?” Heartfelt shook her head. She twirled around and headed for the door.

Rhythm slipped outside to follow her. He saw her making her way towards the base. “Heartfelt, wait! Maybe we could-”

She kept walking away, only flicking her tail once. Rhythm stood in his place, unsure of what to do. He never thought this would come up as a point of contention again. Maybe he really hadn’t given Heartfelt time to voice her opinion. The future was uncertain, but Rhythm knew they could always make a way to work things out. Right now, all he wanted was Heartfelt to be happy again.