The Honest Truth
Eventually, the fire died down.
Praying that the satellite wouldn't fire again, Twilight and the other princesses lowered their barrier and fully took in the sight in front of them. Everfree Forest was gone. Wiped off the face of the planet. All that was left was charred ashes, dust and the charred remains of what few trees had managed to avoid being completely eradicated.
But none of that matter to Twilight. Because as her horn came to life and she scanned the area around her, she was hoping against fear that her friend was still there. That somehow Applejack had managed to survive...even when every part of her heart and mind told her that was impossible.
"Applejack! Applejack!" Twilight called out. A wing placed itself on her shoulder and she turned to see Celestia giving Twilight a pained filled look, shaking her head in sorrow. Celestia and Luna each fired a beam of magic into the sky at the station, waiting until they saw the space station start to explode before they turned their attention back to their friends.
"Twilight...please. Don't," Celestia said.
"Split up," Twilight ordered. She shook off Celestia's wing before turning to look at her friends. "Groups of two. Search the entire...remains of the forest. All of it. We'll...we'll find her."
No one said anything in response. They split up and started to search. Tails walked up to Twilight and handed the Element to her before chasing off after Luna, while Silver went with Antoine. Twilight fought down the desire to scream as she returned to her search, Celestia at her side.
"Twilight-"
"Don't say it. She survived. I know she did," Twilight whispered.
"How?" Celestia asked. That single word hurt Twilight far worse than anything Sombra had inflicted upon her. "Applejack was...is strong, but that was powerful enough to wipe an entire forest off the map. I know this is...impossible to hear, but she's gone."
"Impossible. Do not speak to me of impossible!" Twilight growled, spinning around to glare down Celestia. "We found the Elements! WE found the Rainbow power, something even you and Luna could not do! We have defeated foe after monster after world ending threats, even ones you couldn't! So don't go telling me something's impossible when we do the impossible every single DAY!"
For a moment, Celestia and Twilight stared at each other, before Celestia reached out with her wings and pulled Twilight into a hug.
"I am sorry."
Twilight wanted to scream that she was wrong, to push her away and keep searching. But before she could, Antoine and Silver came back, the looks on their faces shattering any hope she had.
"We...found something," Antoine muttered. "This way."
No one said anything as they followed the swordsman. The trip wasn't far, a minute at most, but for Twilight it was an eternity. Then they reached the spot where Tails and Luna were standing and nothing more needed to be said. Hanging from one of the few tree branches that had managed to survive was Applejack's hat, barely in one piece itself. Twilight walked up to it and just stared, a part of her brain wondering how this could get any worse.
Then Sonic and Rainbow Dash arrived and that question was answered.
"Guys, you're alright," Sonic said with relief. "When we saw that satellite fire at you, we feared the-" Rainbow pushed past him and looked around with desperation in her eyes.
"Applejack," she whispered. "Where's...?"
Then she looked from Twilight down to the hat hanging from the tree branch and her soul went cold. Without a word Rainbow walked to the hat, gently removed it from the branch and stared at for it a moment before turning her gaze up to Twilight, her eyes begging for Twilight to tell her otherwise. Twilight closed her eyes and looked away, shattering Rainbow completely.
"No..." she whispered, tearing falling from her eyes. "She...she can't be...my Applejack...she can't...no..."
Rainbow Dash collapsed to the ground and held the hat to her body, clinging to it with all her might. Her voice failed her and all she could do was sob in agony, her body physically shaking as the sobs wracked her body.
Nobody could say anything. Tails fought back his own tears while Celestia, Antoine and Luna all hung their heads in mourning. Silver shook his head bitterly, having seen this too many times before. Sonic stared ahead, his body shaking not with sorrow, but with rage.
Eggman had played him to perfection. Not only had Eggman played him, but the doctor had made him know where his friends had been in danger...and that he would be too slow to save them. He had been too slow. He turned towards Rainbow and opened his mouth to say something, but the words died in his throat. He tried to reach out to her, but found that he couldn't. So he hung his head as well, each sob of Rainbow's stabbing him through the heart.
"Please...I'll give anything...please...give her back," Rainbow begged. "I'll do anything...please...please..."
"Sorry, but you have nothing I want."
Everyone turned to see who had spoken and all sets of eyes went wide. Standing behind them was Shadow the hedgehog, with a blue chaos emerald in one hand...and an unconscious Applejack in the other, who Shadow then held out to Rainbow.
"I believe this is yours?" Only Sonic and Shadow registered how fast Rainbow Dash moved to grab Applejack out of his hands, pulling the orange mare into one of the tightest hugs that they had ever seen while sobbing even harder, this time in relief rather than sorrow. After few moments, Rainbow turned to look up at Shadow.
"She's alive," Rainbow sobbed. "You saved her. I...I don't how, but I promise I'll-"
"Save it. I didn't save her to be owed any favors. She needed to be saved and this will piss off Sombra. Win-win," Shadow replied. Rainbow Dash tried to stammer out her thanks, failed, and went back to holding Applejack tight.
"Well, this is normally the part where I would say something snarky, but considering what you just did for her, I'm just going to say I'm glad to see you Shadow," Sonic admitted. "What are you doing here? How are you up so fast?"
"It's simple. I recovered because I'm strong. And I'm here because Discord told me this is where Sombra was. Discord sensed something was...off and sent me in as backup. Just in case Sombra pulled anything," Shadow replied. Rage then flashed across Shadow's face. "That unicorn dared to mind control me, to turn me against those I care about and treat me as his puppet. I came here to end him, but it seems that I ended up having to save someone instead. Whatever. His day will come."
"There's the Shadow we know and tolerate," Sonic joked. Celestia stepped forward and bowed to Shadow.
"Thank you. You have no idea what you have done for all of us," Celestia said.
"I have an idea," he replied, glancing over his shoulder at Rainbow.
"I notice that you are carrying a chaos emerald with you," Luna pointed out. "Shouldn't they be at the castle where they are safe?"
"The chaos emeralds can enhance my abilities even further than what they already are. That is how I saved her. I used chaos control to slow down time to the point that I walked through the explosion, grabbed the pony and got her out. Though I guess she couldn't handle moving that fast and passed out. Weaker than I had heard."
"Watch it pal," Sonic replied, but there was no fight in his voice.
"You said zat this would piss off Sombra? How so?" Antoine asked.
"While Sombra was in my head, I managed to pick up on some of the things he said. And a lot of the time, he talked about how he wanted to hurt all of you by ripping you and your families apart. Killing the pony would more than do that, as evidence by the rainbow maned one behind me. So by saving her, I've ruined Sombra's plans and his fun. And that brings me a dark joy."
"You're still all smiles and sunshine, aren't you?" Silver mocked.
"You want another kick to the head?"
"Enough. Shadow, whatever your reasons for helping us, know that we are all in your debt. Once this is all over, I will repay you in any way you see fit," Twilight said. Shadow smirked before turning and starting to walk away.
"I don't care about wealth, medals or thanks. You want to repay me? I get first crack at Sombra," Shadow demanded. "But since he's not here anymore, there's no reason for me to be here. Later." He walked past Rainbow Dash, only to come to a halt when she grabbed hold of his hand.
"Thank you," was all she managed to get out. Shadow looked down at her for a second before sighing and pulling his hand free.
"Don't mention it."
Shadow walked off, leaving the group to watch him go. Some were smiling, others were not sure what to make of him. Then Applejack let out a groan and all eyes turned towards her. "Agh, mah head. What in the world happened to me?"
"You...you..." Rainbow tried to answer. Then her eyes filled with tears again and she broke down sobbing before pulling AJ into another hug.
"Rainbow? What's the matter? And uh...what happened to the forest?" Applejack asked.
"Well...a lot happened," Twilight admitted. "Give Rainbow a moment to calm down and we'll tell you."
||==O O==||
"All that?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah. We...thought you were dead, honestly," Twilight replied.
"It was only thanks to Shadow that you survived," Silver added. "Guess he can be a nice guy when he feels like it."
"Yes, you gave us quite ze heart attack. I am...glad that we do not have to tell you family what happened," Antoine softly said.
Aw geez, ah didn't mean to worry all of ya like that," Applejack said. "Oh, what about the Element? Did we manage to-?"
"Oh screw the Element!" Rainbow Dash roared. The group jumped and looked at the mare, who had a look of fury on her face with tears running down her eyes. "You were almost killed! We almost lost you forever!...I almost lost you forever..."
Rainbow then snarled and wiped her tears away with the back of her hoof, before looking at her friends. "Would you all mind if I speak to Applejack alone for a bit?"
"Sure," Sonic said. He and everyone else got up and left the pair alone. Rainbow Dash took a few moments to try to compose herself, before she stared at the ground. For a moment the two sat in silence, before Applejack finally spoke.
"Rainbow, ah didn't mean to upset ya like this. Ah saw Sombra trying to kill Antoine and ah had to stop him and...ah..."
"You were being you. Being the stubborn, heroic, amazing you that you've always been," Rainbow cut her off. Rainbow opened her mouth to say something else, but the words didn't come out.
"Still, ah should say ah'm sorry. Ah've hurt ya. Ah can see that much," Applejack replied. Rainbow didn't say anything and AJ looked at her with concern. "Rainbow, what's wrong? Ya can tell me."
"Nothing wrong...nothing's...ah screw it," Rainbow Dash said before she looked up and stared right into Applejack's eyes. "Applejack...I like you. Like, like like you."
"Uh, by like like ya mean...?"
"Oh for the love of, I'm in love with you, okay?!" Rainbow blurted out. And once the dam broke, she let it all pour out. "I have been for a while now, longer than even I've admitted. I've just been too scared to admit it and with everything going on I thought it would be best if I waited until it was all over and then I would have time to figure things out but..."
"But then you nearly died here. And until Shadow showed up, I thought you were gone forever. Gone before I even got the chance to tell you the truth. Gone and leaving this void in my heart," Rainbow whispered. "It was only a minute, but I spent what felt like an eternity coming to realize that I would have to live my life without you in it. And that that was a life I didn't want to live."
"So I'm telling you this now, before anything else insane happens and I miss this chance forever. Applejack, I love you. I love your stubborn attitude, your ability to always keep our group together, how you both infuriate and captivate me, and the way you always bring out the best in me. Will you be my marefriend?"
Rainbow snapped her eyes shut and looked down, afraid to even look Applejack in the eyes. But only a second passed before she felt a hoof place itself on her cheek, getting her to open her eyes again as Applejack lifted her head so that she could see AJ again. And Applejack was giving Rainbow a smile that melted her heart.
"Sure."
That was all Rainbow needed to hear. Before anything else could be said, she reached out and pulled Applejack close, kissing her. Applejack kissed her back and for a minute there was nothing else in the world but them. Then they pulled apart and pressed their foreheads against each other, smiling at one another.
"Well...that went far better than I thought it would," Rainbow admitted.
"What, ya thought ah would say no? Ah felt the same way fer a long time mahself. Ah mean, ah have been flirting with ya," Applejack revealed.
"Wait, you have?"
"Fer months now, thanks fer noticing."
"Oh, sorry. I guess I am pretty dense at times," Rainbow chuckled.
"At times?"
"Okay, but I eventually got it. And hey, I think my confession was pretty good."
"Yeah, but yer kissing needs work," Applejack teased.
"Well I haven't had much practice, okay?"
"Ah'll just have to fix that then," Applejack giggled. Then the pair stood up and Applejack motioned her head towards where the others had gone. "Come on, let's go. While ah would love nothing more than to spend the rest of the day together, we are trying to save our worlds. We need to get back to work."
"Yeah, I guess we do," Rainbow said with a shrug. Then Applejack pulled Rainbow face to face with her and gave Rainbow a smile she would never forget.
"But when all of this is over, ah plan on making up fer every moment we could have spent together," Applejack promised. "Starting with us taking up Antoine and Bunnie on their offer for a double date."
"Sounds good to me."
The pair headed off towards where their friends were, both of them unable to hide their smiles. And off in the shadows, a certain hedgehog who had seen the whole thing, because he had come back as he needed a ride back, found that even had a small smile on his face. Seeing others be happy together was all the reward he needed.
Not that he'd ever say it aloud.
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its now canon that Silver knows about all the r34 universes and mayhaps even joined in place of his counterparts at times. Loool
Yup. There'e Shadow's usual tude that makes you want to drop an f-bomb at him. I always kind of figured it was due to being raised in the sheltered environment and some of that inhereted Black Arms ego. Funny thing is that for a while Pre-Gen seemed to have him mellow out for a while compared to any recent media. I guess it's because he had Hope Kintobor as a morality pet, yet I could assume he would be all sorts of PO'ed at Eggman If he ever got his memories back in Post-Gen.
I also see that the AppleDash ship is becoming more popular lately with fics, though I'm neutral towards it personally. I am reading up on hints of it may or may not being official though.
Welp, called it. There's no way Applejack would have died.
Still, good to see Shadow doing something useful for once instead of just sulking about like he does in the games.
10932026
It's not "official" official, but the writers did say they purposefully left it ambiguous so that fans can make of it what they will, and they never outright confirmed that the two of them were in a relationship in the end (same with Fluttercord). Most of the people who are using the ship in their stories were probably already Appledash shippers in the first place. The only two outright confirmed ships we got by the end of the series were Lyrabon and Cheesepie.
Like you, I'm neutral about it. If it's there, it's there, it doesn't bother me so much. But I personally prefer Soarindash a lot more (you can thank Calm Wind's Wonderbolt stories for that).
silver has a funny way to pass time when he has it.
10932049
I always thought of Shadow as a wolverine kind of character. Yeah he's got a bad attitude and yeah he has a rough backstory, but he still tries to do the right thing and help other, even if he does it in a darker way than the heroes.
Oh yeah I forgot Shadow was in this story and also forgot he is just as fast as Sonic. So almost completely impossibly fast. So fast reality is not really there.
10932067
Oh, absolutely agreed. I just wish SEGA and Sonic Team had the same mentality. Right now Shadow is just this generic, edgy brooder who avoids everyone, actively scoffs at cute and positive things like "friendship" and "love", and only decides to do something if he's bored, if Eggman actually pisses him off for some reason, or if it's a chance to one-up Sonic. He barely has any personality anymore, unlike in his own game or the old Archie comics (at least when Ian Flynn took over, Penders!Shadow was terrible).
10932083
Technically, Sonic is faster, but Shadow can actively stop time (although Sonic can do this too if he has an Emerald).
So does anyone know who/what Silver is referencing at the end?
The instant that RD said this my brain went into overdrive - yesyesyesyesyesyesyesYesYesYesYesYesYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES IN THE NAME OF FAUST KISS
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!