Linkin Pony - Recharge: Revamped

by Kaciekk

Chapter 48

CharmingRhythm stood in the gardening tent and watched over CherryBomb as she padded down soil for a new seed. She stood up to meet him.

“Looks like things are growing well,” He commented.

“Would you like to try one?” Cherry offered, pointing to a ripe strawberry

Cyan magic picked the strawberry off the vine. Rhythm took a bite and after a moment he stated, “Fantastic!”

Rhythm passed a few rows towards the exit. Iridescent was standing by Terra’s garden, shining magical light on the plants. The artificial sunlight caused her rainbow mane to stand out even more than usual. LilyMist, the young filly, was watching Iridescent intently. Rhythm approached the mare.

“Hey, have you seen EchoBeat?”

“I think the last time I saw him he was talking with SunSwirl. Probably some potion stuff,” Iridescent told him.

With a nod, Rhythm replied. “Sounds good, thanks.” He peered down at LilyMist and gave the filly a warm smile.

Exiting the tent, the air outside felt different. There was a slight breeze, and the air was warm. Rhythm looked where he would go next. It had been two days since the big incident between the mine and the dragon. Now, it seemed work in camp was going smoother than ever. Rhythm made his way to team Xero’s base.

Inside the main room of the base, SpinningNote was working on a rectangular generator. His eyes slid up to meet Rhythm.

“Hey, could I use the computer?” Rhythm pointed to the monitor with his horn.

“It’s all yours,” Spinning stated and continued to work.

Rhythm opened up a window on the monitor. He found his way through the Resistance’s systems and to the messaging board. It had been a while since he talked with Heartfelt. He began typing.

Hey, Heartfelt. I hope you are feeling better, or at least taking care of yourself. My shoulder and side don’t hurt anymore and I’ve been keeping busy in camp. I’m sure you’ve been keeping busy too. You’re probably receiving this message while at work. I know it’s hard, but you’ll get through it. I’ve missed you a lot, and can’t wait to see you again. ~ Love, Rhythm

With a single click, he sent the message. Rhythm turned around, startled to see Spinning so close to his face.

“Awe, how cute,” Spinning commented, his gaze flickering between Rhythm and the screen.

“Gah! Spinning!” Rhythm composed himself after being a bit flustered. “She’s my wife. I’m allowed to send ‘cute’ messages to her.” He began to walk past Spinning. “Besides, you have no right to read my messages.”

“Well, then you shouldn’t spend a good twenty seconds to proofread them,” Spinning teased. “Unless you’re too scared Heartfelt will harp on you for any incorrect grammar or typos.”

“Words are her thing,” was all Rhythm said in defence.

“Hey,” Spinning alerted as he went towards the door. “When you go out, could you take this generator out? It needs to go in one of the apartments by the flagpole. If you find Blizzard they should know where it goes.”

“Sure,” Rhythm accepted with a shrug. He began to roll out the generator.

Once Rhythm had passed the generator off to Blizzard, he noticed FeatherTune flying in from the north. He must have been back from his scouting duty. Rhythm met up with him as the Pegasus landed.

“Strawberry?” Rhythm’s magic pulled out a berry from his side pocket and presented it to FeatherTune.

“W-what? No.” Feather waved his hoof.

Rhythm shrugged and popped the strawberry in his mouth.

“I’ve got bad news. I think,” Feather said.

“You think?” Rhythm echoed.

“Yeah. I went to see what happened to the lake camp. It pretty much burned down, but there’s still Hybrids around there,” Feather explained.

“Hmm, so they survived the attack,” Rhythm guessed.

“Yeah. And there seems to be a pretty decent amount of them.”

“Maybe they’re trying to rebuild their camp,” Rhythm suggested. “That means they’ll be focused on that instead of venturing out.”

Feather sighed. “You can be as hopeful as you want, but just know we still have Hybrid neighbors.”

Rhythm nodded, acknowledging that. “If they cause us trouble, we’ll fight back.”

It was late afternoon when Rhythm was returning to the base. On his way there, BlazingFlair trotted up towards the path, coming from the direction of the energy mill. He waved his hoof in greeting.

“Hey!” Rhythm started.

“Sup! I got some news from Chimmy,” Blazing reported.

“Wait- who’s Chimmy,” Rhythm responded, befuddled.

“The chimera,” Blazing said simply.

“Wh- you named her?” Rhythm asked.

“I mean yeah. She can talk. She may as well have a name,” Blazing stated.

“You’re beyond me, Blazing,” Rhythm returned with a head shake and a smile.

“Anyway, yeah. She told me she saw the dragon, and she scared it off!”

“Wait, hold on. A few things.” Rhythm held up a hoof while he sorted through his thoughts. “You actually go to check up on her?”

“Yep! She’s our neighbor, it’s only polite to check on her.”

“And she scared off a dragon?” Rhythm said, baffled. “How the hell? That thing was like four times her size!”

“She said it was injured, it couldn’t fly. It must have been walking back to its cave when it saw her. She said she gave it a nasty bite,” Blazing explained.

“Yeah but like… what about the dragon’s fire?” Rhythm pointed out.

“Chimeras are apparently somewhat fire-resistant. She only got slightly burnt. Also the goat head can breathe fire too.”

Rhythm just gaped, wide-eyed. He wasn’t quite sure what to think of this news.

“Guess it means the dragon will probably stay away from this area. At least I’d like to think,” Blazing concluded.

“I hope you’re right,” Rhythm sighed.

Rhythm returned to the base after speaking with BlazingFlair. SpinningNote notified him that his message he sent was received, and he had one incoming. Rhythm returned to the computer to read the new message.

Rhythm, it’s great to hear you’re feeling better. It means a lot to see a message from you while I’m working. I’ve missed you a lot too.

I’m sorry about how we left things off. I wasn’t in the right mindset, and I didn’t mean to be difficult. I’ve had time to think, and have been talking with SweetHooves. I’ve decided it would be best if we all moved to the camp together. I mean it this time, I promise.

There will be things to work out, but I look forward to the future. Hope we can meet again soon.

With much love, Heartfelt

Rhythm’s heart fluttered with joy. He reread the message two times over just to savor the words Hearfelt had written. He bounced out of the chair and let his hooves dance around a bit.

“Yes!” Rhythm let out in glee.

“What?” Spinning looked over from the other side of the room.

“It’s Heartfelt! She says she wants to stay here!”

The door from the meeting room opened. EchoBeat glanced between the two Unicorns.

“What’s going on?” Echo asked.

“Heartfelt says she wants to live here!” Rhythm exclaimed.

“For real this time?” Echo wondered cautiously.

“She said so. And she said she talked with SweetHooves. I’m sure she could get Heartfelt to change her perspective,” Rhythm surmised. SweetHooves was a very persuasive mare.

“That’s amazing!” Spinning acknowledged.

“Yeah, congrats, dude,” Echo said, reaching out to Rhythm with a hoof.

Rhythm stepped forward and leaned into Echo’s hug. “Thanks, guys!”

Rhythm beamed with excitement. He was so grateful for his friends’ support. Despite all their hardships, it seemed things were looking up for them.

It was now evening, when all the work in the camp had slowed down. Rhythm was concentrating on a small needle hovering in his magic as he sewed together something brown. One of his shirts; the tear caused by Hybrid fighting. HyperBlitz had entered the room, his set on the Unicorn.

Rhythm’s eyes gazed up as he heard Hyper hoofsteps come near him. “Hey. What’s up?”

“Just checking on you. Haven’t seen you all day. How’ve you been?” Hyper asked.

“I’m doing great! Been keeping busy, which is why you probably haven’t seen me. But it’s nice of you to check in,” Rhythm remarked. He continued on his sewing project.

“Spinning told me about Heartfelt. That’s amazing news. I’m happy for you,” Hyper said as he made his way to Rhythm's side of the table.

“Thanks dude. It’s been a good day. For the most part.” Rhythm wanted to ignore the part about Hybrids still left in that burned camp.

Rhythm looked up again and noticed the notebook that was tucked under his left wing. “Whatcha got?” He set down his shirt on the table to the side.

“I’ve got an idea for a song,” Hyper announced as he placed the notebook on the table, a page face up. “But, I need some help with lyrics.”

Rhythm’s eyes lit up, his full attention on Hyper. A red hoof began to slide the notebook over, and Rhythm dragged it with his magic the rest of the way. He read the somewhat messy words and notes that Hyper had written on the page.

“No More Sorrow, huh? Whatcha thinking for this one?” Rhythm asked, intrigued.

“Heavy. Like, heavier than anything we’ve done before,” Hyper said with a devious grin.

“Yeah? Heh, I’m sure I could help,” Rhythm replied, still skimming the page.

“It would be so cool if we had a recording studio here,” Hyper thought aloud.

Rhythm’s head jerked up, ears perked and eyes wide. “Hyper you’re a genius!”

“W-what?” Hyper croaked.

“We could turn one of our rooms into a recording studio! Then we can record music whenever!”

“You really think so?” Hyper wondered with equal excitement.

“Yeah! I mean, we’re not going to be staying in those bedrooms forever. One or two can be for a music studio.” The ideas of how it would look were already swirling in Rhythm’s head.

The future looked bright for Rhythm and team Xero. He looked forward to running the camp with his friends, as well as living with his wife. They could even spend time doing things they loved, like making music. The camp was close to completion. All of this was soon to be a reality.